October Baseball In The Daytime: Rockies-Phillies Game 2

Before we get into a breakdown of today's contest at Citizen's Bank Park, I have a few thoughts about Lou Piniella, the Cubs' loss and pitch counts.

First of all, I wasn't watching that game really closely. It was getting late, I had already seen two awesome games, and I was kind of multi-tasking with TBS in the background. It was very hard for me to take a baseball game announced by Dick Stockton seriously. So I have no idea if Big Z was struggling at all before Piniella pulled him. I just remember looking up and thinking it was odd that Chicago's ace was lounging in the dugout during the seventh inning of a 1-1 game.

And now, everyone's pissed off about it. Rightfully so. Yanking Zambrano after 85 pitches to save him for Game Four in that situation is dumb as shit. Only thing is, I don't think that's why Lou made the move. Carlos Marmol has been fantastic lately, and he was obviously fresher at that point than Big Z. I think it was a calculated move to get his best pitcher for that spot in the game on the mound. Of course Zambrano could have pitched another inning or two, but why sit around waiting for him to tire and/or implode?

Of course, if Marmol did his job this would all be a moot point and the Jay Marriottis of the world would be singing Lou's praises. The thing that raises the most eyebrows is the Game Four Excuse, which I think is a total B.S. job by the manager. It's a smokescreen to draw attention from the fact that Lou (rightfully) does not have full faith in his top pitcher.

And the way that casual fans and commentators throw around pitch counts is ludicrous. Baseball is all about numbers, and certain statistical plateaus. Over the last century and a half, something like a .300 batting average becomes entrenched. If you're above it consistently, you're a great hitter. There is some validity in talking about 100 RBIs in a season, or 300 wins in a career, because those levels represent meaningful achievements that happen to coincide with nice round numbers. They've been around a while and they've stood the test of time.

Enter pitch counts, a stat that debuted in the general baseball lexicon in the last decade. We treat 100 pitches as some sacred number, with no relation to the arm that has delivered them. 100 pitches for Nolan Ryan is way different than 100 pitches for Mark Prior. Everyone loses it when Big Z hits the showers after 85, but if he was at 115, everyone would have lost it had he been allowed to pitch the seventh. Fuck pitch counts--they should be a tool for organizations to monitor players, not dime-store analysts to second-guess strategic decisions.

Does it all matter? Sure, but it's not like the Cubs and their inconsistent offense had much of a shot against Brandon Webb anyway. They simply need Ted Lilly to save their season tonight, which may be almost as preposterous as it sounds.

Back to Philly, where those same casual baseball fans and media types will be baffled by today's pitching matchup. Franklin Morales is your Colorado starter, while Kyle Kendrick is slated to throw for the Phils. Who? I'll tell you who. Morales is the flamethrowing lefty that spent most of the year in Triple-A before heading up I-25 to the big club in August. The Rockies didn't really want to lean on him, but injuries to Aaron Cook and Rodrigo Lopez forced their hand. He's been fairly excellent since.

Kendrick has a few months more experience, but has followed a reasonably similar arc with his club. The Phillies found themselves minus Freddie Garcia midseason and young Kendrick saved their bacon for a while. He definitely sputtered a bit in early August, but he's excelled down the stretch and stands at 10-4 on the year. He's a perfect pitcher for this team, as he eats innings and rarely gets lit, and the sticks do the rest.

Our first pitch will once again occur at one o'clock Mountain on the Turner Broadcasting System and XM 183. One note to Major League Baseball: Fuck You. I paid for a subscription to MLB.TV in April to watch day games in the office, but you're charging extra for the playoffs? Eat a dick. Eat a bucket full of dicks. I'll simply roll to a bar and drink my lunch again. No choice.

And finally, let's talk more about conspiracies, cheating and Colorado teams that can't just win clean. Courtesy of the always-intrepid Buster Olney, here's an interview with the umpire that called Matt Holliday safe on Monday (my favorite part is the last paragraph, where he admits to being somewhat of a drunk). And here's some blatant rumormongering concerning Rockies closer Manny Corpas, who some suspect was doctoring baseballs in Wednesday's win. And I'm sure they steal signs, and distribute HGH openly in their clubhouse, and Clint Hurdle was probably on the Viagra when he banged that hooker in his Philadelphia hotel room last night. Cheers!