3. September, 2003 - one win in the playoffs
- Saints rally for two in ninth to take series lead. Woo! It was a nail-biter, though. The Saints had the lead from the fourth to the seventh, but it was never more than a one-run difference, and both teams played pretty well. We got to a number (four?) of the Winnipeg relievers, including Rich Bell and Rodney Dickinson (who both pitched with the Saints before), but none of them for a very long stretch. It may wear on them a bit if we can get into their pen again, but at this rate, it’s the bats that are deciding it, and that leaves me a little worried, since the Saints stranded a lot of men on base.
- The thing I took the most exception to during the game was in the bottom of the ninth, when with a man on first and nobody out, Tsamis called for Justin Hall to bunt. And then when Hall reached on an error (on his bunt), Tsamis called for Dave Callahan to bunt, too. To me, that seems like playing for one run. When you’re down one, I guess it makes some sense to try and tie the game up, but I would’ve let the boys swing away and try to get two in one shot. I’m starting to think that the Sacrifice Bunt is one of the worst plays in baseball. You give up one of your three outs for the inning in exchange for a chance of moving a guy up one base, and with as badly as most players bunt, the odds aren’t that much better than just letting the boys swing away. I don’t mind the surprise bunt every now and again to the help sow confusion in the defence, but once they’ve figured out that you’re bunting and pulled in the corners, I think you should swing away, since that gives you more park to hit to.
- We met Rod from Winnipeg last night. He’s down for the playoffs. Seems a nice enough guy, and if I decide to drive to Winnipeg, he’s offered to introduce me to some folks up there.
- Jody’s probably out for the rest of the season with his bad knee, but he’s said he can help get me tickets if I head to Winnpeg. Cool.
- Last night’s attendance was only 2,083, so if you have any interest in seeing a Saints playoff game, order a ticket online or come down to the stadium and pick one up at the gate tonight. In spite of the small crowd last night, we made a fair amount of noise, but more people would be a good thing. And with buck beers and hot-dogs, you can eat and drink pretty cheaply. Just remember that the game starts at 6:30pm, not the normal 7:05. It’s supposed to be a beautiful evening, though it’ll probably get a bit chilly by the time the game is done.
- In some on-scoreboard thing last night (no idea when it was taped), it was apparently decided that Chris Chavez has the worst hair on the team. But when you’ve got a team with as many bald-guys as we do on the team, that’s not saying much.
- Hamm’s, the ____ refreshing. There’s a monument to the Hamm’s Bear that some folks are trying to get installed at Como Park, but there’s plenty of opposition too, because people don’t want to see a monument to advertising.
Copyright 2008, Dave Polaschek.
Last updated on Wed, 03 Sep 2003 07:42:41.