An announcer on Sporting News was comparing Matt Holliday's mistake to some NFL player in the Super Bowl, who made a tragic goof that cost them the game. When the mistake happen, one of the announcers said, "Ohhhhhh.....bless his heart." Saturday, the fans are going to do something to show support for Matt Holliday...the guy has to feel lower than dog dirt right now. As Tony La Russa said, "He is a man, he is not a machine."
Right, they got the hits to capitalize on the error, but went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. I don't call that clutch. I call that being able to capitalize on mistakes by the opponent (like Rasmus going for third and getting thrown out). Clutch would be not needing the opponent to screw up.
Jackie Smith in Super Bowl XIII. That's going back a ways. His drop in the end zone arguably cost the Cowboys the Super Bowl and opened the door for the Steelers. It's even in his Wikipedia article. It came to define his career, even though he'd had played 15 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals before that one season with Dallas. It has some similarities to Bill Buckner.
You're going by an if, as in if Holiday caught the ball, but that didn't happen so they didn't go down 1-2-3. And the drop didn't end the game, it was still 2-1 St. Louis with 2 outs in the 9th. From that point on the Dodgers were clutch, otherwise they would have still lost. I'm not saying they didn't get a huge break, I'm saying they were clutch in taking advantage of it. The next batter could have popped up and we'd have still lost, that wouldn't have been clutch.
that ridiculous. there was one mistake. the next three batters were clutch. they could have easily struck out but didn't. if drawing a walk (which turns into the game winning run) and getting the tieing hit and game winning hit aren't clutch, what is? those batters were clutch. what happened before their at bats doesn't change their at bats. what next, Viniaterri wasn't clutch in the Super Bowl against the Panthers because it was set up by the Panther's kicking the kickoff out of bounds? I guess the game tying 3 pointer for Kansas wasn't clutch two years ago in the NCAA Championship game because it was only set up off of Memphis missing their free throws down the stretch. glad to see you redefining what clutch is based on what somebody else does, not who is actually performing the act themself. by your logic, almost every clutch play in the history of sports can be dismissed as not clutch because all plays are only made possible by an opponent not coming through before them.
But they should have gone down 1-2-3. They took advantage of it, but their performance up to and including the play where Holliday dropped a routine fly ball was not clutch. Holliday dropping an easy fly gave them life, and they took advantage of it. They still get credit for taking advantage, but I have a hard time calling it clutch when they went down so easily in the 9th.
I agree. on that same token, Michael Jordan's game winner against the Jazz wasn't clutch because Karl Malone wasn't paying attention and gave MJ an opportunity to steal it. I have a hard time calling MJ clutch when the Jazz gave him the opportunity to hit that shot so easily. and I'm not so certain Kirk Gibson's homer in the 89 series off of Dennis Eckersely was clutch either, considering Eck's gave him such a good pitch to hit so easily. Gibson shouldn't have had an opportunity to hit that pitch because he should have been thrown a different pitch.
Again, "should have" and "if" don't define it. Up until and including Loney's AB they weren't clutch the whole game except for Ethier's HR in the 4th, but the game didn't end there. Should have, could have, but didn't. So since the game was still being played and two guys came up with two-out hits to avoid a loss, I'll stick with defining it as clutch.
So then how do you define the team if they weren't clutch until 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th? And again, I think the fact that it was a routine fly ball that gets caught 99.5% of the time has an effect on the discussion.
That's why it WAS clutch, because they were down to their last out. I didn't say they were dominant or hot, they were clutch. They got a break and parlayed it into a win when the game appeared lost. Almost the definition of clutch. Not Loney, I'll give you that one, but Blake, Belliard, Martin and Loretta--all clutch.
they were clutch hits after Holliday dropped it, can't argue with that. Holliday dropping it really swung the momentum. When you have the game in your grasp like that...
Franklin still blew it after Holliday's error. A big league pitcher still gets people out despite other errors. Both Holliday and Franklin lost that game. At least Holliday also gave them a run in that game with the HR. I feel bad for Wainwright. I'd rather see Smoltz as the closer, at least for the playoffs. Looks like my Cards have the same closer problem the Phillies have. I just hope maybe they can at least win one so they don't get swept. The Dodgers capitalized and got big hits. Can't take anything away from them.
I'd say Torre & Co. are steam-rolling to the NLDS. I thought this series was going to be a battle. It would have been nice if the Cards had actually shown up for this series.
