The Lair is enjoying the Post Season!
Original HBT post here.
Craig had just slid down his pole, once again donning his Braves Bathrobe (if with a little less than its usual luster), took his bubble pipe from his pocket and puffed a few when his large 70″ LED screen lit up and Gleeman’s face appeared:
“Just to confirm Craig, are you ok with the live chat assignments for the rest of the series?”, asked Aaaron.
“Sure thing, Phillies-Cardinals all the way. It’s win-win. Either I get to sneer at LaRussa or at Phillies fans. I’m in postseason heaven.”
“You know Craig, some folks would say you have a sadistic streak… that you’re really into enjoying all that taunting of Phillies fans.”
Craig bit his pipe and chuckled. “Of course not. Sometimes they’re annoying, but it’s healthy baseball snark and fun all the way. Baiting is just a way of making fun of their overreactions or over the top silliness they sometimes exhibit. It’s not like I’m evil or something like that.”
Aaron had a chuckle as well. “I know what you mean, well talk to you later!”
The display turned off and Craig paused a moment, looking to his left and then to his right. He pressed a button on his high chair, and the screen changed once more to a shot of a very sad Phillies fan, a moment captured by TBS.
“Yes! Yesss!! Oh, let me taste your tears… Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness!” he crowed softly.
I am by no means suggesting Craig is evil and actually secretly enjoys watching Phillies fans cry (at least I hope he doesn’t). But it’s just fun to play up his usual baiting and snarkiness to Evil Levels. Bonus points to whoever gets the last line reference.
In the After Action post I ran into a St. Louis fan who was upset that Phillies Phans only posted about how Cliff pitched poorly and said nothing about hey, that St. Louis offense that actually put wood on those hanging off-speed pitches. It’s a matter of persepective. To him offense and pitching have equal importance in the equation. But many fans don’t see it that way. It’s fine to disagree, that’s what baseball is all about (ask Red Sox – Yankees fans… or maybe not). For most Phillies fans, the offense produced enough runs to give Cliff Lee the opportunity to win the game and propel the Phillies to St. Louis, up 2-0 in the series. Usually 4 runs is enough 98% of the time with Cliff Lee on the mound (hyperbole alert, I don’t know the actual statistic, someone came up with 14-2 record in these situations). This is why the focus on most of the comments today are on Cliff Lee and not the fact that the Phillies bats were unable to score off the St. Louis pen which has been hit and miss most of the year.
Some folks believe the bats should get a chunk of the blame for not making a come back, and they should get some blame. Put for the most part even Lee himself says that staked to a 4-0 lead usually means the game is in the bag for the Phillies. The Phillies 1-2-3 guys have been THAT good all year. So forgive the fan base for being a little shocked at the outcome and pinning it on their starting pitching.
Craig's Lair 