Evan Longoria, Dan Johnson, Chris Carpenter and Robert Andino delivered in big moments for their respective teams on this incredible night of baseball, as the Cardinals and Rays won the wild cards. Some links as the season winds down…
- Pat Burrell told Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News that he'll give his chronic foot strain a month to recover before he decides on his future in baseball. If he does play again, it would only be with the Giants.
- Carlos Beltran told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle that he'll give the Giants the first chance to sign him when he hits free agency this offseason (Twitter link). The Giants will have five days of exclusive negotiating rights after the World Series, plus the month of October.
- Carlos Lee hinted that he might retire after the 2012 season, when his six-year, $100MM contract expires with the Astros, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Lee, 35, says he wants to spend more time with his family.
- Hong-Chih Kuo told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com that he needs a break and is currently unsure if he'll play again. "If I want to still play and somebody wants to give me a try, I play," he said. "If not, fine with me. I'll miss it." The 30-year-old was sidelined with an anxiety disorder this year and may return home to Taiwan and open a restaurant. The Dodgers will consider non-tendering Kuo and he said he'll understand if they do.
– i’d definitely give kuo a shot
– i feel for braves fans, but this has really been a great night of baseball. i know the yanks gave them every chance, but that was still an amazing turnaround by the rays
Braves fans will be ok. I would’ve loved me some playoffs (even though we’d have gotten swept), but it’s obvious the team didn’t deserve to go there.
sounds familiar (written a minute after papelbon blows the save with 2 outs and 2 strikes)
and carl crawford drops the ball to end the game. poetic justice. go rays
I’m beside myself. I want to gloat or something but it’s not like the Yanks did anything positive to make this happen. Yanks better destroy the Rays if they face them in the playoffs though. Couldn’t take the irony.
it would be hard for anyone to say something negative about the sox right now that isn’t true. dug their own grave, deserved to miss the playoffs
but just as a baseball fan first and foremost, this was just an incredible, awesome night. i think the yanks can handle the rays if and when the time comes, but right now is their moment of glory. what a game
it couldn’t have been written any better..
the italian in me is screaming match fixing scandal.. the absolute improbable unfolded right before everyone.
from FG:
Red Sox had a win expectancy of 95.3% with Papelbon on the hill in the
bottom of the 9th with 1 out and nobody on, and they lost. The Rays had a
0.3% win expectancy in various points during the 7th and 8th innings,
and they won. The Red Sox had a 99.6% of winning the division on
September 3rd, blew that lead, then had a 95.3% chance of winning the
division tonight, and blew that.
if I had a sports almanac I would be an extremely rich guy right now..
Who do you like in the playoffs?… too soon?
i know it’s blasphemy, but i’m not that upset by this. maybe it’s because i felt like they deserved to lose or maybe it’s just because the rays really friggen earned it tonight, dunno
just like before, i still like philly to win it all. if their bats stay hot, the tigers might make it that far. i’d love to see a dbacks rays WS though
I don’t know why but I have a good feeling about the brew crew..
so hard to pick though.. last year I won so much on the rangers and lost so much on the phillys..
you and me both on the 2010 rangers. i think the brewers could be the sleepers this year. that rotation can hang tough and there’s enough pop in the lineup to steal a series from the better team. feel the same way about the tigers
Brewers are gonna make some splashes but Phillies are taking this. No one is going to take down that pitching Juggernaut.
Cardinals did in the regular season… in fact STL is the only team that has beat the Phils this year and they are Red Hot right now
“Not for nuttin’ but I think dey had the ole Malocchio on ’em. Fuggagetabout it”.
hahah very nice
Yeah,…Dan Johnson owns the Yankees. 7 hrs in 70 AB. 4 in his last 26 AB.
I was looking at Paps and his intense stare after the 1st two outs thinking “why do I think this might be his last pitch as a red sox playr”. Then I thought “naaa” he’s so locked in.
dan johnson and his -7 wRC+. they have got to make a movie about this
thishasgottobeajokenofreakinway ball
So do Boston fans root for the Yankees now?? Hows this work?
Ya know…that went over my head. Crawford the ex-Ray. Wow.
the ex-ray superstar, paid in large part for his amazing defense, blew the play
perfect circle
the only thing I have against Crawford is who he plays for now but DAMN….what a horrible ending to what was a horrible season for him. I bet you he can’t get back to Texas any sooner. Someone needs to take away his shoe laces and belt and put him on a 24 hr watch (obviously isn’t that deep).
it’s about as bad as it gets for an established pro. his numbers are better than adam dunn’s, but when you consider the environment and how it all played out, he may have the worse situation
isn’t it so poetic though?? Kinda bad karma in a sense for leaving the small market comfortable environment for the big pressure lights and big paycheck attached to boston?
I don’t care what anyone says, you can make 18 million a year and be absolutely miserable.
yeah but he has $18 mil ways to help get over it. How many of us can afford to go on vacation for the next 4 months and not even miss the money?
crawford and dunn still probably hate their lives.. I mean, I’ve never been booed at work, well once but I deserved it..
No amount of money would be worth having people literally hate you and talk so much about you negatively.. I mean in retrospect, the heckling I did towards Rios and Wells was pretty bad and I shouldnt have been such a prick while they struggled, but meh.
Imagine dunn or crawford don’t turn things around, how could someone go through that for a few years?
“Imagine dunn or crawford don’t turn things around, how could someone go through that for a few years?”
Really? If you were actually making 14-20 MILLION dollars for 1 years worth of work, you wouldn’t be able to shrug off the people that hate you for your mistakes?
hate is one thing, being booed, and tortured in the media is another.. money isn’t everything
I’m not saying that money solves all problems (although it would solve most of mine), but I just don’t think Dunn or Crawford really need any sympathy from anyone and that they should be able to let negative comments roll of their respective shoulders.
man, that really sucked. i don’t even know which of my vacation homes to go to
if it makes you feel better, proctor blowing the game and letting the rays in was reminiscent of so many games he blew for the braves before they woke up and released him.
(i know it won’t actually make you feel better, but it’s still fun to vent)
more like
HATS OFF TO THE RED SOX 0-7 START!
I don’t understand why they pitched to Pence. I’m not trying to gloat or anything I’m just wondering if the Braves announcers thought it was as… misguided… as the Phillies announcers did.
Hell if I know. Why has Derek Lowe been starting for the past two months? Why didn’t Heyward start more against righties after Constanza finally cooled off? Freddi G. makes a lot of moves I flat out can’t fathom.
And holy ish I just realized the Braves would have won if Alex Gonzalez had played (wouldn’t have made the error presumably). This may be the only time those words will ever be uttered.
Wait. You wanted someone else to play defense.. over Jack Wilson? (Didn’t see that specific play, but my god, that was the greatest day of baseball I’ve ever seen)
Alex Gonzalez only has one redeeming quality, and that is his SS defense.
What an epic day of baseball. WOW! Absolutely unreal.
Epic Boston Collapse!
Shows you that spending won’t win championships.
…you know the yanks won the division right? i think the lesson is that a large payroll isn’t necessary to win
…and that a large payroll doesn’t guarantee shizzle. So we should all just shut up and let them play the game.
I thought it was mandatory in every post for someone to bring up a payroll debate?
it doesn’t guarantee it, but it makes it a hell-of-a-lot more likely.
Not when media and fans were calling it the best team ever assembled in the history of the game, comparing it the Yankees team if 1927. It was laughable then and it still is now.
what does that have to do with anything anyone here is saying. people like you sound more to me like pro wrestling fans than a baseball fans. take it over to ESPN
he’s just bitter he isnt going to win the AL MVP
Except for the fact the Yankees won the division . . .
Amazing night. How far was that Longo homer? It looked like it was about 316 ft.
It made it the 6 extra inches above the ground it needed to be, and that’s what matters.
That was the greatest night of baseball I ever watched. Wow. If tonight was a taste of what’s to come for the playoffs… It’s going to be a heck of a post season.
Boston, Atlanta, I feel for you. Should be a great October for baseball though.
tigers, rays, brewers, diamondbacks. good stuff
Ready…..
Rays, brewers, Dbacks, Cardinals, Rangers….yes baseball is broken. Meanwhile the Mets and Dodgers have spent the entire year trying to stay out of bankruptcy court, the Angels have become the dumping ground for bad contracts and the Cubs and the White Sox are in a state of disrepair.
highest profits in 2010 reported by the san diego padres, who traded the superstar they “couldn’t afford” to the red sox – the team that for $140M also signed crawford away from the rays, who then beat them for the last playoff spot
lovin’ it
So do they do a mini-blow up and bring some new blood? Maybe let Paps, Ortiz, Drew, Vtek and Wake walk? Maybe too much nostalgia?
I was wondering the same thing..
I was actually routing for them to make it.. now I fear they will go all 2009 Yankees and improve their team drastically… Hello Cj Wilson and Jose Reyes
really hope that doesn’t happen
well you know more than me about the culture there..
isn’t the media going to go all nuts and want heads to roll and for the team to improve??
I’m thinking of the 2008 yanks, miss the playoffs, media panic ensues, they sign 3 top FA’s and then win the world series.
they’re already going nuts, already asking theo what he’s going to do in an interview just now. but i think the most reactionary thing they could be pressured into would be firing francona. unless someone goes over his head, i can’t see them getting reyes or fielder or whatever
a starter maybe, just because the lackey fiasco was so bad and matsuzaka is gone. but i don’t think they’re gonna go nuts. i really hope they don’t, at least, because otherwise by 2014 they’ll be watching from 3rd or 4th place
I’m not sure how they will go. They just saw their last two major signings collapse miserably on them (Lackey and Crawford). They don’t have a TON prospect of depth to use in a trade. I’m not sure which way to go.
I just want to know how long before we can start talking the King Felix for Lavarnay, Anderson, Kalish, Bowden and Iglesias talks?
right after we finish up the cashman gossip. have you seen that rumor yet?
No what are those? Cashman to the Cubs?
“cashman having an affair” – pics and everything. pleasantly surprised the NY media isn’t gobbling it up. google cashman deadspin if you’re curious
I think CJ Wilson and Jose Reyes are two of the biggest trap free agents out there. I feel bad for whoever drops massive $ there (please say it isn’t the Orioles).
if they do, it will be caving to the pressure of sports radio goofiness. “somebody’s gotta pay” and all that. the only coach that needs to be fired is bogar (3B coach), and that was true in july
there’s a real chance papelbon walks, that’s always been the case. i think ortiz stays. varitek wakefield and drew can all hit the road
As shocked as I am about the Sox collapse and tampa making the playoffs. I’m even more shocked at the cards winning the wildcard. Wow braves fans, I feel for you
And who would’ve thought that the main issues for the Sox (7.68 ERA) and the Braves (4.68 ERA) would be their starting pitching in the month of September?
well sox I kinda figured.. but the braves? no way.. Braves really had no excuse for their collapse, atleast the red sox can blame injuries.
injuries were a factor, but josh beckett and jon lester would be at the top of my blame list if i had to make one. you don’t depend on your 3-5 (or 6 or 7) starters in september, you count on your aces. they both had good years, but they both came up small when it mattered most
I can always count on to be honest. I was going to say the same thing. YES…injuries to Bucch and Dice hurt but Lackey, Beckett and Lester were a collective 3-8 with a 6.59 ERA and just an avg of 5.2 IP per start in September. And Bard and Wheeler a collective 0-5 with 3 blown saves and ERA’s over 10.00 in September.
Braves can too to some extent. They lost Tommy Hanson. I’m not sure how big of an impact losing Jurjens was since he was stinking it up post all star break.
Their issue was the fact their offense was so bad all year that they had to use Venters and Kimbrel too much and they wore them down.
… and the manager not calling for an intentional walk with a sub .200 hitter on deck.
I’ve read more “I feel for you’s” in the comments to this post than in all of my 3 or so years here on mlbtraderumors
I wasn’t on MLBTR for San Diego’s collapse of epic proportions last year, but I wonder if there was a similar outpouring.
Not me, I’ve been laughing all night.
@HummBaby:disqus I feel for you.
Isn’t it ironic though that it looked as if half of the Rays fans left when the score was 7-0 but it seems that half the fans in B’more were Red Sox fans and they stayed thru the rain delay. Two distinctively different fan bases.
Stayed through the rain delay with their team leading against one of the worst teams in the majors.
The Orioles fans stayed too. Tampa Bay just isn’t, and has never been a great city for sports teams, but I still love their teams anyways.
75% of the people there were seniors who simply couldnt stay awake
admire the team but saying the Rays have a “fan base” is like saying Tampa has a “baseball” stadium
Orioles + Meaningful Baseball = Happy Rabbitov
This article featured two Giants, an Astro and a Dodger. So why is everyone talking about the AL here?
the typical east coast bias
The 30-year-old was sidelined with an anxiety disorder this year and may return home to Taiwan and open a restaurant.
~~~~~~~~~~
Kuo obviously has never worked in a restaurant.
Maybe he should run a bar instead, with an old coach of his and a mouthy waitress.
Doubt the Giants will resign Beltran.
They would probably look into signing Reyes and maybe someone like cuddyer to enhance their teams in two areas of need.
Signing Reyes is a bigger long shot than re-sgning Beltran. I could totally see them ending up with Cuddyer though.