Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
The '04 season was the most fun I've ever had as a baseball fan, even if it didn't end in a series.
That summer was just something to behold. A 90 game stretch of 60-22 baseball where it felt like they were just toying with teams. LaRussa just glowering from the top step and teams literally losing before the first pitch because those teams were smart and mean as ****.
Nobody wanted to play them. Teams were openly intimidated by that squad. The 2011 post-season may have been the best job by a manager I've seen over a short period, but nothing will ever capture the upshot of having Tony LaRussa as your manager (warts notwithstanding) better than that 90 game stretch where they perfectly reflected his style.
It was a short taste of what rooting for the Empire in Star Wars would've been like....right up to the damn death star exploding at the end. They weren't some plucky little darling underdog. They were on a mission man, they were the terminator. They were a soulless killing machine. And yeah, it blew up in the end but for a bit there it was one hell of a ride.
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When they got Walker it just felt like we were rubbing it in, you just couldn't imagine it getting any better.
Anything can happen in a short series, but I just didn't see the Sox coming in on fumes, even after an emotional series against their rival being able to sustain that...yet it happened.
The 69 Orioles won 109 games yet lost to the Mets (who did win 100 games). The Mets were hot at the end and had young arms, a couple of studs up front in Seaver and Koosman and McGraw and Ryan in the bullpen. Other than Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee it was pretty much a journeymen lineup who got hot at the end of the year.