The Baseball Nerds

They were just a little excited

The Shot 2.0- Bobby Thompson is a name that many baseball fans know even if they don’t really know why. On this day in 1951 Bobby Thompson hit a home run that put the Giants into the world series after a 3-game play in series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. If you’re unaware of the play, click here. Evan Longoria’s home run in the bottom of the 12th to send the Rays to the playoffs will likely go down in history as similarly remembered. Obviously the Rays being down 2-1 against the Rangers in the ALDS might take a little away from the amazing finish to the regular season, but no matter how their season ends, it was still an amazing finish. The way Wednesday night finished is one of the main reasons why I love baseball.

Division Series Shakedown- 

The ALDS and NLDS will be over the next few days and there are a couple of very interesting match-ups playing out. In the national league the Brewers are handling there stuff, with a 2-0 lead, but the Phillies currently stand tied against the Wild Card St. Louis Cardinals. Cliff Lee has clearly lost some of his magic as the Cardinals were able to knock him around a little bit, with 12 hits and 5 runs in 6 innings it was one of Lee’s worst outings in the playoffs.

ALDS

In the American League there are two great match-ups between the Rays and Rangers and also between the Tigers and Yankees. The Rangers currently hold a 2-1 lead on the Rays with tomorrow’s game set for St. Petersburg. The Rays were flying high heading into the playoffs but will need to win back-to-back games to continue the unbelievable they’ve been riding. It is still possible but the situation is looking good for the Rangers. As this is being written the Yankees and Tigers hold a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the 7th. We still believe the Tigers will come away with a series victory and could possible win without having to go back to New York

Happy Happy-

A large group of birthdays this week. Jered Weaver (29), Tony Gwynn Jr. (29),  Lonnie Chisenhall (23), and Casey Kelly (22) all share birthdays on Tuesday. Alexi Ogando (28) shares his birthday on Wednesday with Diamondback prospect Marc Kraus (24). Freddy Garcia (35) and Joel Hanrahan (30) share Thursday. Friday has Tampa Bay Rays’ teammates Evan Longoria (26) and Alex Cobb (24) sharing a birthday. Sunday has Derek Holland (25) sharing the day with many different minor leaguers.

This Week- 

We’ll have the return of fantastical thoughts on Wednesday. If  you’re reading this and would like to contribute to future fantastical thoughts either send an email to thebaseballnerds@gmail.com or leave a comment here detailing who you think were the most impressive, mainly who you thought had the best years relative to where they were normally drafted. If you are more of a negative glass-half-empty person send in suggestions for the players that were the most disappointing in 2011.