With a 162 game season, it’s very easy to dismiss a game here or there because you’re looking at it over the course of a very long season. But on those last few games when you’re looking at the team in front of you by a game or two or looking at the team behind you with only a game or two lead, those dismissed games look larger.
Bud Black will realize his mistake of not starting Jake Peavy on Sunday in favor of Brett Tomko. Granted, Tomko has been much more successful since leaving the Los Angeles Dodgers. A Monday play-off game with the Colorado Rockies should have been a backup plan. Instead, the team lost on Sunday making Monday’s game with the Rockies a must-win. The Pads were leading with Trevor Hoffman trying to close. What more can you ask for.
And the Rockies come from behind to win. No matter if Matt Holiday’s foot didn’t touch homeplate, the Pads should never have been themselves in that position to NEED to win Monday when they could have sealed the deal on Sunday. Starting Peavy on Sunday would mean if they did win, they have gotten him earlier in the divisional series against the Philadelphia Philles.
Although to blame Black is unfair. The Padres blew every opportunity to win the wild card.
And the only remaining thing that I will say about the New York Mets collapsing is the fact that most of those games that the team lost WERE HOME GAMES!
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1. Congrats to Washington Nationals 1B Dmitri Young and Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1B Carlos Pena for winning the NL and AL comback players of the year (respectively).
2. The San Francisco Giants are rebuilding and looking toward 2008.
3. Andruw Jones won’t be back as an Atlanta Brave.
4. highest commercial spots in fall television at $419,000 per. Last year’s leading show Desperate Housewives dropped from $394,000 to $270,000. It’s weird how Heroes hadn’t crossed the $300,000 barrier given how much it kills in the 18-49 age demographic.
On the flipside, age demographic is reason why CSI only commands $248,000. It might be one of the most watched shows, but the fact remains most of those eyes are half a century old.