102 wins? Means nothing. Great players with gutty performances? Means nothing. 2011 season? Means nothing. It will go down as the year the lineup choked and the rotation barely kept its head above water in the playoffs.
How many regulars hit .200 or below for the series? Four. Small sample size, one can claim. Well, small sample size is not the malady that leads to a playoff series loss. Poor approaches, poor situational hitting, swinging at any pitch outside the zone, going meekly with hardly any hustle.
Don't get me wrong...it was hustle, but of desperation, trying to make something happen when it wasn't possible to be there. Running into outs on the basepaths in this game just doesn't cut it.
For one word of praise for the opposition....Carpenter's curveball was practically unhittable.
Game 2 was the real killer of the series. 4-0 lead, knocked out the ace, and then it was frittered away by Ryan Theriot and Jon Jay at the expense of Cliff Lee. A 2-1 lead in the series, and then David Freese gets inside Oswalt's head and has 2 large extra-base hits.
The bullpen pitched admirably, only 3 runs allowed total after the mop-up time in game 1. Ryan Madson will make a lot of money in the free agent market. The starting pitching was gutsy, but not spectacular. Halladay could not get off the first inning schneid and it cost him in this game. He sure pitched incredibly after that though. Hamels struggled and still ended up giving up nothing.
Everything up to this point was a waste...great season....to only be remembered for the 102 wins....when someone else asks what happened to this team? The only answer is they lost in the first round of the playoffs....not the championship series or World Series, but the first round. There is no sense of accomplishment for the 2011 season,just a pile of happy memories shadowed by this overarching fact.
4 comments:
Well put. Sadly, well put.
22 other teams...including mine would have loved a first round defeat in the playoffs. Don't feel too bad at least they got there.
102 wins and the season is a complete waste?! Trade hats with a Twins fan, my friend.
hiflew & mmrhubarb,
After the last few years, the bar in Philadelphia has been set much higher than "just happy to be there"!
2008: WS champs
2009: lost in 3rd round
2010: lost in 2nd round
2011: lost in 1st round
The team is going in the wrong direction! Charlie Manuel (the supposed "hitting guru" should be fired for 2 reasons:
1) He is either ineffective or inept at passing along his hitting knlwledge to these free-swinging, undisciplined Philly batters. The exception is Pence, but maybe he hasn't been here long ennough to develop a lackadasical approach.
2) Just a change in direction at the top.
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