Why the Cubs Won
The last 3 days, the Cubs have pulled off the upset of the year defeating the team with the best record in baseball in their own ballpark. How did they pull it off? Let's count the ways:
1: Judging from the noise, there were apparently just as many Cubs fans as Sox fans, if not even more so, at U.S. Cellular Field. Either that or the Sox fans were concentrating on eating and drinking and making themselves merry and did not pay that much attention to what was actually transpiring on the field. All the noise coming in on the side of the Cubs, undoubtedly helped keep the team's spirits high.
2: The White Sox's 12-2 victory in the opening match caused the Cubs to get angry and redouble their efforts much like the Yankees' blowout victory in the 3rd game of last year's ALCS led to the Red Sox's sweep of the remaining 4 games.
3: Minnesota has lost 5 out of the last 6 games and seems more and more like a rudderless ship. This has lessened the pressure on the Sox to play like a team and instead led to their playing more for personal stats than for the best interests of the team. For instance, hardly anybody even tried running the pitching count up to wazoo against Mark Prior in the final game.
4: Corey Patterson started playing on the level that Cubs mgmt always believed that he could. Whether or not he keeps it up in the games ahead is anybody's guess.
5: Dusty Baker actually showed some intelligent managing in the final game. In the 2003 NLCS, when the Marlins threw their starting pitchers into the bullpen, Baker refused to reciprocate since the bullpen is for relief pitchers only. This time around, he had Jerome Williams on the mound for 2 crucial innings that could have been easily blown if the likes of Bartosh, Borowski, Remlinger or Wuertz had been doing relief. Believe it or not, the old dog Baker really can learn new tricks.
- Charles Rector's blog
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agreed
This time around, he had Jerome Williams on the mound for 2 crucial innings
Good move on Baker's part.
Derek Smart has more on why t
Derek Smart has more on why this was a good move.
broadcasters
I was flipping between the Cubs and the College World Series yesterday, so I didn't hear Brenly express his concerns when Williams came in. It seemed like the most natural move in the world to me, given that, like Derek pointed out, he wasn't going to be starting anytime soon.
Figures that Brenly wouldn't like it, though, given that he was formerly one of the worst managers in the game. In the limited time I've had to listen to him this season, I've gained some perspective on Dusty that I was formerly lacking. I say this in all seriousness.
How can you call a manager wh
How can you call a manager who's won a World Series "one of the worst managers in the game"? Granted, Brenly comes off as an idiot in the broadcasts, but in light of what happened to Steve Stone, Brenly likely does not have too much leeway in what he can and cannot say.
Brenly's managing
As SI's Jeff Pearlman wrote in 2002, "Last year, during the D'Backs' seven-game World Series triumph over the Yankees, Brenly managed one of the poorer postseason series in modern history. Arizona won in spite of their skipper, and many players on the roster knew it."
Brenly won a World Series because of Schilling and Johnson. A prime example was his excessive bunting in Game 4 and his overuse of Byung-Hyun Kim in that game (after having taken Schilling out with only 88 pitches).
Brenly
Well, ask yourself this. Would you want Brenly to take over for Dusty? If the answer is no, you might question just how much you value that WS on his resume.