Notes from MLB Postseason on TBS / Wild Card presented by Budweiser – October 5, 2012
The MLB Postseason continues on TBS on Saturday, Oct. 6, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET with TBS MLB On-Deck presented by Dodge Dart followed by the Oakland Athletics at Detroit Tigers ALDS Game 1 at 6 p.m. and the Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants NLDS Game 1 at 9:30 p.m. The night will conclude with the Inside MLB presented by Captain Morgan post-game show.
**** **** **** ****
MLB On-Deck presented by Dodge Dart
Matt Winer (host), Dennis Eckersley and David Wells (analysts)
Wells on Braves veteran Chipper Jones: “He’s a stand-up guy. He leads by example and he can help these young guys, especially in situations like tonight.”
Eckersley on Braves starter Kris Medlen: “Who is this guy? Where did he come from? It’s incredible what he has done. You talk about Greg Maddux…he’s just like him. He’s got three pitches he can throw to either side of the plate. (He has a) great change up and his ball moves all over the plate. The kid is as confident as you possibly can be.”
Wells on Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse: “The key for him is to go out there and hit his spots. He’s their best pitcher this year. For him to be effective, he’s got to be down there in the zone.”
**** **** **** ****
St. Louis Cardinals (6) at Atlanta Braves (3) – Cardinals advance to the NLDS to face the Washington Nationals
Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Ron Darling and Joe Simpson (analysts) with Tom Verducci (reporter)
Simpson on the Wild Card game starting pitchers – the Braves’ Kris Medlen and the Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse: “Both of these pitchers will pitch to contact. They don’t mind you putting it in play as long as they are ahead in the count and you are hitting their pitch.”
Darling: “Although, when [Kris] Medlen is perfect, he can have some high strikeout games.”
Darling on Cardinals manager Mike Matheny’s decision to start Kyle Lohse: “He’s been their most consistent starter. [Chris] Carpenter has only made three starts [this season]. Carpenter though, is 9-2 in the postseason. [Adam] Wainwright has only given up one run in 10 games. Tough choice.”
Darling on Braves right fielder Jason Heyward’s catch at the outfield wall: “Everyone in baseball is now looking for a 6’6” right fielder. He needed every inch [on that play].”
Darling on the Cardinals manufacturing runs following an error by Chipper Jones in the fourth inning: “[It’s been] a situation hitting clinic by the Cardinals in this inning after the error by Chipper Jones.”
Simpson on the Cardinals taking advantage of Jones’ error: “Again, [the Cardinals are] taking advantage of the mistakes, and that’s what St. Louis did last year in the postseason. They were very opportunistic.”
Simpson on Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons’ decision to bunt in the fourth inning: “First of all, I’m going to question why he was bunting [with runners at] first the third and the pitcher up behind him…it wasn’t a suicide squeeze, so he was just trying to get on base or maybe get a guy in from third base if he got a hit. This was not the time for that.”
Darling on the errors by the Braves: “The immediacy of this Wild Card format sure has to cause some nerves and it seems like it has for the Braves.”
Simpson on the Cardinals lineup: “They are relentless up and down their lineup. They put the ball in play. They don’t strike out a lot. They walk a lot and they have a good knowledge of the strike zone. They have a very good lineup.”
**** **** **** ****
Game Break presented by Bank of America
Matt Winer (host), Dennis Eckersley and David Wells (analysts)
Winer on the Cardinals recent postseason success: “A beer town is getting used to the taste of champagne.”
**** **** **** ****
Baltimore Orioles (5) at Texas Rangers (1) – Orioles advance to the ALDS to face the New York Yankees
Ernie Johnson (play-by-play), Cal Ripken, Jr., and John Smoltz (analysts) with Craig Sager (reporter)
Smoltz on the intensity of the Wild Card: “In this format, everything is a rally. A walk or a hit…everything is amplified.”
Smoltz on the mindset of a successful pitcher in big games: “The pitcher that can slow the heartbeat and slow the game down is going to be the most successful. This game has so much emotion around it that you do things you never thought you’d be able to in a regular season game.”
Ripken on the Orioles: “You try to explain Baltimore to a lot of people about what is that they have and the only thing I can tell you is that they have ‘it.’ It’s hard to explain ‘it’ in baseball…but this team seems to have it. They are fun to watch.”
Johnson, Ripken and Smoltz interviewed Orioles manager Buck Showalter during the 4th inning
Showalter on allowing his players to be aggressive: “The best time is when you can trust your players. I’ve told them over the past month that the only time I’m going to get upset is when they don’t go for it. You feel it…you go for it. You have a pitch you want to make [with a count of] 3-2…you go for it. You want to throw to a certain base…you go for it. I’ll get upset when they’re timid and don’t let it fly.”
Smoltz on the importance of experience in the postseason: [Experience] only means what you can do to put pressure on the other team. Baltimore lacks the experience but they are doing everything they can to put pressure on the opposition.”
**** **** **** ****
Inside MLB presented by Captain Morgan
Matt Winer (host), Dennis Eckersley and David Wells (analysts)
Eckersley on whether the controversial infield fly rule cost the Braves the game: “Did it cost them the game? Not necessarily because the bases would’ve been loaded with one out. You never know what would’ve happened.”
Eckersley on Braves pitcher Kris Medlen losing for the first time in 24 starts:“To me, it’s like having 50 saves in a row and then coming into the playoffs. Sooner or later, I don’t care how good you are, you’re going to fall out of that tree. It’s a bad time to fall out of that tree in a one-game Wild Card playoff. [But] hats off to [Medlen] because he made his mark on the National League this season.”
Wells on Orioles starting pitcher Joe Saunders’ “magical” Wild Card performance:“He played ‘Houdini’ and made pitches like no other…he came up huge for [the Orioles].”
Eckersley on the Rangers surprising early postseason exit: “It’s kind of shocking. Texas was supposed to be the best team in baseball most of the season. At the All-Star break, I was picking Texas…last week, I was picking Texas. I think they are as shocked as anybody.”
Wells on Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton’s disappointing end to the season: “He had some bad moments [in the Wild Card game] but when you have something eating at you, like [Hamilton’s] dropped ball in Oakland [in the crucial last game of the regular season], you carry it over to this game…he just didn’t look like Josh Hamilton.”
Eckersley on Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish’s Wild Card performance: “He did his job but the [Rangers’] offense didn’t show up.”
Wells on the Orioles vs. Yankees LDS match-up: “The way that Baltimore is playing right now, New York better be prepared. [The Yankees’] pitching has been suspect all year. They need to take their blinders off and not let anything happen in this situation. Baltimore is hot and they know how to win ball games.”
Tom Verducci interviewed Braves third baseman Chipper Jones following their Wild Card loss and Jones’ final game
Jones on the Braves’ poor defense in the Wild Card game: “It’s disappointing and it starts right here. We just picked a bad time to play a game of defense that we didn’t typically play during the course of the regular season. We made bad throws, didn’t pick the ball clean and ultimately it cost us four or five unearned runs that definitely cost us the ball game.”
Jones on facing the end of his career:“I’m ok with it. Obviously, I would rather have gone out playing a clean defensive ball game and getting a couple of hits. [This] certainly was not how you’d like to end your career. But I can walk out of here today knowing that I brought it every single day. It’s tough and it’s going to take some time to wash this one away but I’ll be ok.”
-30-
Recent Comments