The Top Ten Things I Learned From the 2012 Baseball Season

Another baseball season has come and gone, and as the San Francisco Giants celebrate their sweep of the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series, it is time for me to look back and reflect on what, if anything, I have learned over the past seven months.

1.  One player does not a team make.  The Washington Nationals made it to the playoffs without Stephen Strasburg being available to pitch in the last month of the season.  The Giants won the World Series despite Tim Lincecum's lousy year.  The Los Angeles Angels did NOT make it to the playoffs this year despite having Albert Pujols on their team.  This is why baseball is a team sport - it takes a nine-man lineup and a strong pitching staff (bullpen included) to win (or lose) a baseball game.

2.  David Freese and Marco Scutaro are both very good baseball players.  This past season, Freese hit .293 with 20 homers, 79 RBIs, 70 runs scored, and three stolen bases.  Meanwhile, Scutaro his .300 for the season, with 7 home runs, 70 RBIs, 87 runs scored, and 53 stolen bases.  These two guys are true athletes and also performed very well during the playoffs.

3.  They sell very yummy quesadillas at Nationals Park.  While many people go to baseball games and indulge in the traditional hot dogs or Cracker Jacks, I like trying out new things, and the chicken quesadillas at the "Taste of the Majors" concession stand were delicious!

4.  Baseball umpires really do a good job, and the playoffs were no exception.  While they are human and do make mistakes, there weren't any real major controversial calls this year.  Some may call that boring; I call it effective.

5.  The double play is still my favorite play in baseball.  Never mind the grand slam; never mind a player stealing home (that IS exciting, but it just doesn't happen very often).  Watching a well-executed double play just doesn't get old.  Speaking of double plays...

6.  The "infield fly rule" is dumb.   For those of you unfamiliar with it, the infield fly rule is intended to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping pop-ups in order to turn double or triple plays. Without this rule, a defense could easily turn a pop fly into a double play when there are runners at first and second base. If the runners stay near their bases to tag up, the defense could let the ball drop, throw to third base and then to second, for a force-out at each base.  If any of the runners stray too far from their bases, the defense could catch the pop-up, and double-off any runner who failed to tag up.  What's wrong with that?  It's called strategy, man!  If you are the runner, you need to pay attention; if you get doubled-up, that's your own darn fault!

7.  It is possible to get so consumed and caught up in a team's successes during the season that it affects your moods, your appetite, and your sleep pattern.  Then when that team is done for the season because of a heartbreaking loss during the playoffs, it also affects your moods, your appetite, and your sleep pattern.  Luckily there are four months left until Spring Training, so you have plenty of time to get your moods, appetite, and sleep pattern back to where they should be.

8.  Tim McCarver needs to retire from doing color commentary for the FOX network during the playoffs.  He may be a former catcher, but he's old, crotchety, and he jinxed Ryan Vogelsong's no-hitter in game 6 of the NLCS.  I'm not the only one who thinks so either; Don Cherry of the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) said that Tim McCarver "has lost his feel for baseball."  Now, I know that the Huffingon Post is not the top authority in all things baseball, but I had to find someone out there who agreed with me.  Hang 'em up, Tim; your glory days are long-gone!

9.  On the flip side, MASN Sports' Bob Carpenter and FP Santangelo really grew on me this past season (not just because I got to meet them!).  They are funny, lighthearted, knowledgeable, and Santangelo (the former player) doesn't get all anecdotal nor does he bore us with stories of "back in the day when I used to play" (which has been my problem with Jim Palmer and the main reason I have to watch Orioles games on "mute" when he's announcing).  Since the days of Joe Morgan and John Miller doing the ESPN game of the week are gone, Bob and FP are now my favorite broadcast team.

And finally...

10.  Stan Musial (91) and Bobby Doerr (94) are not dead.  Other old basebll players I was surprised to learn are still alive include Ralph Kiner (90), Red Schoendienst (89), and Sandy Koufax (only 76).  Who knew?  Willie Mays is still around too - he's 81 and still saying "hey!"

I hope you enjoyed my blog posts during this past season - I am definitely grateful for you all reading them and therefore putting me above 2,000 views in only two seasons.  I will probably post a few times during the off-season as trades and free-agent signings start happening (and hopefully after Bryce Harper gets the Rookie of the Year award or Gio Gonzalez gets the Cy Young), and I will fill you in on the World Baseball Classic, which is played every 4 years and will be expanded for the 2013 season.  In the meantime, watch some football and enjoy the upcoming holidays with your family.  Signing off for now,

Mudville Mom  :-)

In the Blink of an Eye...

Hello, my friends.  I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I was so caught up in the baseball playoffs that I wasn’t sure what to write about – the surprising Oakland A’s, the feisty Orioles, the Strasburg-less Nationals…  But as a true Nationals fan, I have to accept what happened Friday night, and I’m hoping that by writing about it, I can move on and look forward to next year’s baseball season.

The Nationals went into the post-season with the best record in baseball – 98 wins that surprised many skeptics who had said that the Nationals were too young, too inexperienced, and relied too much on their pitching.  But regular-season records and statistics are erased come October, when everyone starts with a clean slate (including major-league-leading 21-game winner, Gio Gonzalez, who was less than stellar in his two post-season starts).

In game 1 of the National League Division Series (NLDS), the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 3-2.  This despite Bryce Harper going 0-5, Gonzalez walking 7 batters in 5 innings, and 10 runners left on base.  It was Tyler Moore’s 2-run single in the 8^th inning that made the difference, and it was all the Nats needed to squeak by the Cards, who also didn’t play particularly well on that day.

In the second game, the Cards won by a score of 12-4, thanks to two home runs by outfielder Carlos Beltrán.  The Nats left 9 runners on base that night – again, a game they did not play very well.

For game 3, the Nationals came home to DC but still lost 8-0.  The Cardinals had 14 hits, and their starter, Chris Carpenter, pitched 5 2/3 innings very well despite having missed most of the regular season with injuries.  This time, the Nationals left 11 players on base (are you sensing a pattern here with the LOB?).  For sure, the Nationals were playing so lousy that they were certain to be eliminated in game 4.

However, in game 4, after Jordan Zimmermann and Tyler Clippard each struck out their 3 batters in relief, Jayson Werth hit a towering home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Nationals a 3-1 win.  It was one of those moments you’ll never forget, whether you were one of the lucky 45,000 fans to be at Nationals Park that night or whether you were watching at home.  It’s right up there with Kirk Gibson’s home run in the NLCS back in 1988 and Curt Schilling’s bloody sock in the 2004 postseason.  The Nationals were still alive, and all of a sudden everyone thought they could beat the Cardinals in game 5 and move on to face the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS.

But as memorable as game 4 was because of Werth’s home run, game 5 will go down in Nationals infamy as the biggest heartbreak in the team’s short history.  In the top of the ninth inning, with the Nationals leading 7-5 and one more out to go before they could clinch their division, Nationals’ closer, Drew Storen, loaded the bases.  Then the Cardinals’ Daniel Descalso ripped a two-run single off the glove of shortstop Ian Desmond, bringing in two runs to tie the game.  Pete Kozma then followed with a two-run single to right, and before you knew it, the Nationals trailed by two.

The Nationals were unable to get on base in the bottom of the ninth, so just like that, the Cardinals move on to the NLCS.  It was a stunning and crushing loss, and some of us still can’t believe that the team that we supported all season is all done for the year.

So now what?  With both the Orioles and the Nationals being eliminated on the same day, what are DC/Baltimore fans supposed to do now?  Well I, for one, am going to root for the Detroit Tigers (though I seldom root for an American League team).  I’m going to keep watching the next 2 weeks of baseball (hoping that the Yankees choke and that Verlander, Cabrera, and Fielder can put on a good show), and I’m going to look forward to next year, when my husband and I can buy another five-game ticket plan, pitching ace Stephen Strasburg will hopefully be able to pitch for a full season, and most of the players in the Nationals team will be returning next year.  Their fans will still be here (including the new ones who joined the bandwagon this season); wearing our Nationals jerseys with pride and showing off our NATTITUDE. 

So stay tuned, amigos - I'm sure I'll still have plenty to say during the playoffs!  :-)