MLB: World Series, Giants Sweep Tigers // NFL: Broncos Beat the Saints, Other Week Eight Results.
For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver
“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.
MLB: THE San Francisco Giants won a fourth straight game against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, securing the World Series title for a second time in three years, having won in 2010.
And, the Giants accomplished its WS victory after coming back from a 3-1 game deficit versus the St. Louis Cardinals (last year’s WS winner) to grab the National League Championship Series title.
We’re talking a post-season seven game winning streak for the NL West Giants, a remarkable and unusual feat in any sport.
The shock to the system in Detroit
For many baseball analysts and fans, two questions have surfaced above others, “What was it that empowered the Giants for each of the team’s four WS wins?” And, “What was it that held the Tigers back from performing as they had vs. the Yankees?”
Of course, the team delivering from the larger array of game winning attributes is likely to prevail over an opposing ball club, and the Giants seemed to be an example of this during WS games one through four, among those attributes, a starter rotation throwing from the full gamut of possible pitches against known vulnerabilities of the Tigers line-up, preventing even triple-crown winner, Miguel Cabrera, and super hitter, Prince Fielder, from executing the RBI at-bats that they provided in the regular season and earlier in the post-season. It seemed that for the Giants hurlers each at-bat up was a new ballgame, that starters and relievers pitched “correctly” against the information that they had on individual batter competencies, undoing batters by adjusting throws to fit what they knew and understood about the eyes and arms of the batter they faced. If this wasn’t so, then the Giants starters were just plain lucky, choosing the right throws randomly from among the different options available to any pitcher. Moreover, the Giants relievers were fully capable of sustaining leads, even a shut-out, and the Giants had a perfect closer.
Also, the Giants infield and outfield performed as though supporting the guy on the mound was their only reason for living, no! their means of survival. And, the Giants had “Game-changers,” players that stood out in ways causing observers to think that it was really their show, not that of the rest of the team, e.g., Giants second baseman, Marco Scutaro, third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, and reliever, Tim Lincecum, also closer, Sergio Romo.
No matter the endeavor being looked at, it’s a lot easier to find the causes of victory than to uncover why failure occurred. Perhaps the Tigers super-reliance on hurler, Justin Verlander, to win games, and on hitters Cabrera, Fielder, Jhonny Peralta and Delmon Young to outfox the Giants starter rotation + relievers is a factor behind the Tigers being defeated so mercilessly, and maybe the momentum lost during a rest after winning the ALCS became a factor behind the Tigers inability to sustain game initiative, struggling from behind almost continuously.
Possibly poor readings of the damage that the Giants intrepid and scrappy Scutaro could inflict from the plate, is another reason for the Tigers defeat. Same re. misplaced ideas about how to pitch against Sandoval (this powerful hitter banged out three home runs in a single game, joining Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols as the only MLB players to do so).
A team that can focus on performing from its strengths and suppressing its vulnerabilities wins often against the team that relies only on its top of the list strengths without focusing sufficiently on suppression of its vulnerabilities: the Tigers were certainly of the weaker mound control in each of the four WS games, and of the weaker infield and outfield throughout the WS---its best ball crunchers couldn’t offset that.
NFL: IT was Peyton Manning’s game from the get-go, the Broncos 34-14 win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, pinning the suddenly 4-3 Denver franchise to the NFL/American Football Conference West’s first place position over the now 3-4 San Diego Chargers, Denver also carrying the fourth place position within the greater AFC, though tied with three other 3.4/.571 teams---the Miami Dolphins (2d place, AFC East), the Pittsburgh Steelers (2d, AFC North) and the Indianapolis Colts (2d, AFC South).
But surely it was QB Manning’s game only to a point. No quarterback succeeds without the kind of timing and speed executed by Broncos receivers, Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker, for the deep and short Manning throws resulting in three touchdowns, or the rushing from running back, Willis McGahee, for the Broncos fourth TD.
Manning was exceptionally accurate getting rid of the football, completing 22 of his 30 passing attempts for 305 yards (Saints QB Drew Brees completed 22 of 42 for 213 yards). Denver
A payoff from Denver Denver ’s possession oft the ball exceeded 35 minutes, New Orleans
The Saints pass rush failed to stop Manning in the pocket, largely due to improvements in Denver
Particularly noteworthy were the fast circumvention tactics employed by Decker and Thomas for openings for the Manning pass, the best timing exhibited by the two since the year’s pre-season, underlining likelihood that Manning and his receivers have been practicing between games to ad nauseam. Should this timing become a strong habit, Denver
Noteworthy, too, and different from previous games since September, was that the Broncos scored early in the first half and dominated the field throughout most of the rest of the game.
And kudos have been delivered to the Denver
Bottom of the 32 NFL teams with but one win during the NFL’s 16 game season are the Carolina Panthers, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs, each .250 or below, yet four NFL teams that are at or just below the Broncos 3-4 record of just last week (Week 7) are at the very bottom of their divisions, the 3.5/.375 New York Jets (AFC East), the 3-5 /.375 St. Louis Rams (NFC West), the 3-5/.375 Washington Redskins (NFC East) and the 3-4/.429 Detroit Lions (NFC North).
Of course, those eyes preferring to be on teams that can reach the post-season will focus on the 6.0 and above franchises. Those eyes distracted by moderate odds will be watching the 4-3 Miami Dolphins (2d, AFC East), the 4.3/.571 Pittsburgh Steelers (2d, AFC North), the 4-4/.500 Arizona Cardinals (2d, NFC West), the 4.3/.571 Indianapolis Colts (2d, AFC South), and analysts + fans seduced by long-shot odds will probably be keeping a close watch on the 3-5/.375 Washington Redskins.
END/ml
No comments:
Post a Comment