And yet Larnach spent most of the year in St. Paul, Kirilloff ended up hurt (shocking) when the moment got big and Matt Wallner's biggest achievement was playing Gallo out of the lineup but there's a real good chance that he himself strikes his way out of the league in three years too.
That bad and yet we've never adequately replaced him in LF. AND he's a Gold Glove finalist this year. AND he's the type of guy who probably would have come up big in big moments against Houston. Lord knows not enough other guys did.
Serves as an annual reminder that some moves don't work out. Convince me that we've ever adequately replaced Rosario. Did I mention he's a Gold Glove finalist this year?
The only place I'd give Ober the edge is in allowing the big fly and it's not that different. I grew up watching Bert serve up a ton of them but if you limit walks and keep runners off base I don't mind seeing the occasional gopher ball. They gave Ryan the ball on opening day last year and Ober was in St. Paul on opening day this year both of which tell me that they see the bulldog in Ryan, the guy who responds to big moments just a little better. I think they out cuted themselves by going with Ober.
Ryan gives up 1.8 HR/9 and Ober gives up 1.4 HR/9. Throw in Saturday and that disparity is a little less. I believe it was a man we've all heard from a LOT over the past five decades who will attest to the fact that giving up HRs is also not that big of a deal if you don't walk batters ahead of them and actually the two of them give up the fewest BB/9 of the top dozen pitchers on the staff. Bottom line for me was the Ryan is the better pitcher in the big picture.
Ryan is the better pitcher. He won more games, started more games, pitched more innings, had more strikeouts, had more strikeouts/walks. And to be honest I don't really care what happened in other games.
I personally don't have a clue. Nor do I think anyone on this site does. But a lot of folks on here seem to feel that was why the decision was made and why it was the correct one.
The whole "analytics say start Ober instead of Ryan" thing is cute but Ryan is the better pitcher and and the end of the day analytics don't get hitters out, pitchers do. Playoffs are a different animal that I think Ryan is better suited for than Ober at this point.
The analytics says Ober instead of Ryan in Game 1 was cute but Ryan was/is the better pitcher and at the end of the day analytics don't get hitters out, pitchers do. Dumb move.
I would remind everyone that we won the World Series with Les as the # 3 starter. And that his ERA in the series was 4.00. Viola won the MVP with an ERA of 3.72
Wildcard: Julien to CF. Crazy? Probably. Worth a shot? Maybe. Eddie Rosario spent a lot of MiLB time at 2B but his bat translated to OF. Take the shot.