MuckRaker96 said:

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has there ever been a player who embraced the biggest stage in baseball more than Reggie Jackson?

from baseball-reference: he played in 27 world series games; 35-for-98 with 10 home runs
.357 BA, .457 OBP, .755 SLG, 1.212 OPS

77 World Series when he had the 3-HR game vs LA, he hit .450 and his OPS was 1.792.

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MuckRaker96 said:

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has there ever been a player who embraced the biggest stage in baseball more than Reggie Jackson?

from baseball-reference: he played in 27 world series games; 35-for-98 with 10 home runs
.357 BA, .457 OBP, .755 SLG, 1.212 OPS

77 World Series when he had the 3-HR game vs LA, he hit .450 and his OPS was 1.792.

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gigemJTH12 said:

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Anyone have the highlights of this?

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gigemJTH12 said:

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Anyone have the highlights of this?

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Quote:

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How does Cole beat you? Let us count the ways.
His ability to get swings and misses with four different pitches his fastball, curve, slider and changeup.
Maldonado noted that Cole's 300th strikeout this season came on a changeup (Cole is now up to, ahem, 373 strikeouts for the season, including playoffs.)
"That's the great thing about Gerrit Cole," Maldonado said. "He can strike out anybody with any pitch."
During the regular season, Cole had a 36.6 whiff percentage with his fastball. That rate dropped to slightly more than 25 percent in his first four postseason starts before sinking to 14.8 percent on Sunday night.
Not to worry Cole got swings and misses on nine of his 20 breaking pitches in Game 5, a rate of 45 percent that was even higher than his rate of 37.7 percent during the regular season, according to STATS LLC.
"I thought this stuff was crisper, I thought we executed more pitches," Cole said.
His ability to make in-game adjustments.
Cole escaped a first-and-third, none-out jam in the second inning, preying on Ryan Zimmerman's aggressiveness to strike him out with a curveball, then inducing Victor Robles to ground into a double play.
"I don't know how many pitchers in baseball can get out of that unscathed," Hinch said.
From that point, Cole did not allow his third and final hit until Juan Soto's solo homer off a 99-mph fastball with one out in the seventh, but Strom maintained it was not the smoothest of outings.
"The fourth inning was real bad. He started yanking a lot of stuff. He was upset with his delivery," Strom said.
"He kind of got back on line in the fifth inning. His big thing is his direction, staying behind the ball. His glove got active. A lot of different things happened."
Cole retired nine straight hitters between a one-out walk to Anthony Rendon in the fourth and Soto's homer in the seventh.
His preparation.
I wrote about Cole's extensive note-taking after his victory over the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. He was at it again on Sunday night, retreating to an area behind the dugout between innings to refer to his notes and "kind of take stock of things," Strom said.
"The most impressive thing about him is the way he prepares coming into the game," Maldonado said. "He knows which count I want to throw this, which count I want to throw that. This guy is going to swing early. This guy is going to swing late. Which guy he can throw it by, which guy he's going to pitch backwards. There is stuff behind the scenes people don't know. I think he has learned from one of the best, if not the best JV."
That would be Justin Verlander, whose Hall of Fame resum includes only one blemish his 0-5 record and 5.73 ERA in six World Series starts. Cole's performance put Verlander in position to change that narrative, giving his teammate a chance to close out the Series at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night.
Maldonado acknowledged Cole had a "bad game" in Game 1 but said he had no doubt that Game 5 would be different, knowing Cole would be on regular rest, knowing he would not alter his routine.
"From the first pitch he threw warming up, (I thought), 'This is good. This is the guy.'"
Oh, Cole is the guy, all right. The Angels are his most obvious fit, given his roots in Orange County and the team's need for starting pitching under new manager Joe Maddon. But try to think of a high-revenue team that would not want Cole. All the usual suspects will enter the bidding, and maybe even some of the not-so-usual. No other free-agent pitcher in this class is of Coles' caliber Stephen Strasburg, if he opts out of his contract, is close, but he also is two years older.

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JJxvi said:

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World Series Career WPA
1. Lou Gehrig 2.3 (150 PA)
2. Charlie Keller 1.8 (79 PA)
3. Lance Berkman 1.7 (50 PA)
4. Mickey Mantle 1.5 (273 PA)
5. Home Run Baker 1.4 (97 PA)
6. Reggie Jackson 1.3 (116 PA)
7. George Springer 1.3 (59 PA)
8. David Ortiz 1.2 (59 PA)
9. Babe Ruth, 1.2 (167 PA)
10. Jimmie Foxx 1.2 (73 PA)

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agsquirrel97 said:

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JABQ04 said:

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Game....blouses.

Win it on Tuesday. Great Birthday Present.

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Don't know if you heard, but his birthday was yesterday.

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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W said:

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regarding Cole...timing in life is everything. And his timing in hitting free agency is sublime. He's going to sign a contract for some amount between $200 MM and $250 MM.

one player I feel sympathy for is Yuli. His offense and defense have been outstanding in 2019 -- regular season and postseason. But he's not a free agent until after 2020. He will need to repeat his performance in 2020 to get one last really nice multi-year contract

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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expresswrittenconsent said:

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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It's a pretty easy "NO". That shouldn't take away from his impact and importance but comeon.

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Buck Compton said:

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It's not a discussion and the answer is no. There's already too many up there.

Being in the rafters should mean you were an all-time great and spent like 85% of that career (and most of those accomplishments) in Houston.

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Ag_07 said:

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Here's a interesting off day discussion...

If the book is indeed closed on Cole's career as an Astro does his #45 jersey hang from the rafters at some point?

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Quote:

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Oh, Cole is the guy, all right. The Angels are his most obvious fit, given his roots in Orange County and the team's need for starting pitching under new manager Joe Maddon.

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