Joe Chat 10/30

Ah, finally another Joe Chat. Let the fun begin.

Joe Morgan (11:25 AM)

The Series was shorter than I anticipated it to be. But I still think it was interesting. Not great, but interesting. The Giants proved that not only were they playing the best, but they were the best team. The best team won and the Giants are world champions.

Hey Joe, good to have you here. The chat only started 25 minutes ago.

Jose (The Bronx)

Do you think Edgar Renteria deserved to be the MVP? Did Tim Lincecum get robbed?

Joe Morgan (11:26 AM)

No, he didn't get robbed. Lincecum gave up a lot of runs in the first game. He only won because his team outscored the Rangers.

Huh, that’s funny. It sounds like you’re saying that a pitcher’s win is dependent upon how many runs his team scores. It’s almost like you’re saying that Lincecum didn’t pitch that well but because his teammates scored a lot of runs, he was able to get the win. I know that can’t be right, though, because you have been constantly insisting that CC Sabathia is a better pitcher than Felix Hernandez solely because he has won more games. It doesn’t matter that Felix gave up a lot less runs, Felix just didn’t win, and that is 100% his fault. I almost fell into your trap there, Joe. Almost.

Mark (Texas)

What was wrong with our hitting? Was it the Rangers hitting or the Giants pitching?

Joe Morgan (11:28 AM)

I think it was a combination of both. What you need to understand is when a guy like Hamilton hits .359 and a lot of the other guys have high batting averages, they have a chance to hit against the mediocre pitchers as well. It's an average. Hamilton might hit .400 against some of the worse teams, but he's not going to hit .400 against the better teams. They just ran into better pitching and the better pitching stopped them.

Holy crap! Wow, I never noticed that before. I assumed that if Hamilton’s batting average was .359, he would hit .359 against Felix Hernandez and also hit .359 against Jason Marquis. Thanks for pointing that out, Joe. I now see why there might not be as much hitting in the World Series when they’re facing one of the best pitching staffs in the entire fucking league.

However, they did not make a lot of adjustments either. It didn't seem like they made a lot of adjustments to how the Giants were getting them out.

These two sentences are literally the exact same thing.

Lincecum was just great yesterday. He wasn't as good in Game 1, but he was fabulous yesterday.

This has absolutely nothing to do with your answer and should not have been written.

Jose (The Bronx)

Who do you think is the better manager: Bruce Bochy or Ron Washington?

Joe Morgan (11:30 AM)

I would have to give the edge to Bochy, as far as this series is concerned. I think there are two points to be made here. Ron Washington's bullpen was not nearly as good as Bruce Bochy's. So the moves that he made with the bullpen were not going to look as good as Bochy's.

Ok, so the Giants had a better bullpen than the Rangers. How is that any fault of the manager’s? You can say Bochy is the better manager if you want, but you cannot defend it with the reason “Bochy has a better bullpen.” That has nothing to do with how good the actual manager is. You are a dumbfuck.

Otherwise, I'm not sure there were enough great manager moves or poor manager moves to make a difference in this series. The Giants just played better. They're the better team at this moment.

1) You just said Bochy was the better manager in this series, and now you are saying that there was no difference between the managers in this series.

2)You said “there are two points to be made here” and then promptly listed only one reason, and one that doesn’t make sense at that.

Jose (The Bronx)

With the strong pitching of the Rangers and Giants, will this World Series usher in a new era of dominant pitching?

Joe Morgan (11:34 AM)

We go through cycles in baseball. Sometimes the hitters catch up with the pitchers and the pitchers respond with something new. I think every pitcher has a changeup now. That's the most important pitch to keep the hitters off the fastball. And other pitchers are throwing the cut fastball. Now, the hitters will have to adjust. We've gone through cycles where the split finger fastball was getting everyone out. The hitters make the adjustments. I don't think the pitching will be as dominant two years from now as it is now.

A typical Joe answer. He rambles on about things that don’t really have anything at all to do with the questions that was asked, probably in order to avoid having to answer other questions that he doesn’t know the answer to.

Joe Morgan (11:34 AM)

But remember, hitting a baseball is always the hardest thing in sports to do.

I love how he throws this sentence in afterwards just to contradict himself.

Richard (Stratton Mountain, Vt.)

I think the Yankees and Phillies will be back in 2011 playoffs. Do you think the Rangers and Giants will be back next year as well as the Reds, Red Sox and Rays?

Joe Morgan (11:36 AM)

No one is guaranteed a spot, probably other than the Yankees and Phillies. I thought the Phillies were the best team in the NL for a long time. I thought the Yankees were the best team for a spell, but then I thought the Rays and the Red Sox for a time. It makes you think, is the AL East as good as we give it credit for? It's supposed to be the best division in baseball, but after what happened this year, do you still think that way.

I realize that the Yankees and Phillies will probably be very good next year, but they really aren’t guaranteed a spot. Joe, you of all people are the one I would think would be saying nobody is guaranteed anything and that we have to wait and see. Also, why are you talking about what you used to think about teams? And if you jumped from the Yankees to the Red Sox and Rays bandwagon, then why do you say the Yankees are guaranteed a playoff spot? And what does the relative strength of the AL East compared to other divisions have to do with this man’s question? P.S. Joe, you’re the one supposed to be answering our questions, not asking us questions (even though you put a period in the last sentence, it really should be a question mark).

Jose (The Bronx)

With the Phillies missing the World Series, do you think their dynasty is coming to an end?

Joe Morgan (11:37 AM)

Well, it's not a dynasty, because they only won one championship. You're measured by championships. As good as the Braves were in winning division titles, they only won one world championship. That's not a dynasty, even though they were winning their division. You can't be called a dynasty by only winning one. The Yankees were a dynasty earlier this century. Just having a good team is not a dynasty.

When were the Yankees a dynasty earlier this century? They have won two titles in the 2000’s, 2000 and 2009. I assume you mean when they won in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000, but in case you didn’t know, 1996, 1998, and 1999 were not in this century, Joe.

Tito (Brooklyn)

What did you think of the overall umpiring this postseason?

Joe Morgan (11:39 AM)

There weren't as many obvious missed calls as there were last year, but there were some. The easiest call is out/safe at first base. There were two calls missed in Game 5. I just think they need to be held more accountable and that they can be better. I'm not for all of the replays, because you will never get through a whole ball game with all of the calls that could be reviewed. It would ruin the rhythm of the game.

Yeah, the umpires will get more calls right if they are held more accountable. It’s not like they constantly get criticized after blowing a huge call for days after a World Series game. Jim Joyce still lives in infamy from a game that happened months ago, you think that’s not accountability? And even if they were held more accountable, what would that do? It’s not like the umpires don’t care and are just out there messing around, but if we make them more accountable they will suddenly step it up and do a better job. They are already doing their 100% best, and the only way to be more accurate is to institute instant replay. (For the record, I am not saying I am in favor of instant replay, only that it is the only way to be more accurate with calls.)

Brian (Dayton)

What do you think the Reds need to do in order to have the best chance to get to the World Series next year?

Joe Morgan (11:43 AM)

I thought the Reds intensity level in the playoffs wasn't high enough. By that, I mean it seemed they played the game the way they played during the regular season. You have to turn it up a notch in the playoffs. That's what we say with the Rangers in the World Series. The Reds needed a higher intensity level. Sometimes teams that haven't been there or haven't been there in a long time, sometimes you're just happy to be there.

I thought the problem was more of having to face one of the best trio of starting pitchers we have seen in the last decade.

Chris (Boston)

This post-season confirmed my belief that the Twins will never get past the first round of the playoffs. They simply don't have the pitching.... It's amazing that they're there every year, but never seem to advance...

Joe Morgan (11:45 AM)

You're right in a way, because in 162 games, you can have enough depth to get through 162 games. But to go deep in the playoffs, you need at least one dominant pitcher. The Twins end up facing the Yankees every year and last year the Yankees had three dominant pitchers and this year they had Sabathia and Hughes pitched well. The Twins haven't had that. Jack Morris was that guy a while ago. And Santana was that guy before he left. You have to have at least one. The Rangers had Lee. The Giants had Lincecum and Cain.

Joe, every single chat in September you said something along the lines of “every team in the playoffs has a chance to win the World Series.” Now you’re saying that’s not true. Make up your damn mind. Also, I would consider Francisco Liriano an ace. Also, I think it’s hilarious that you brought up Jack Morris

Joe Morgan (11:46 AM)

There are teams that are built for 162 games, which the Twins are. There are teams built for the short run, which the Yankees always are.

Which is why the Yankees won the World Series this year…

Chris Fiegler (Latham,NY)

Who do you think will win the Rookie of the Year,Manager of the Year,Cy Young & MVP in Both the A.L.

Joe Morgan (11:48 AM)

I have my own opinion. My opinion is that Cano should win the AL MVP (wrong), but there are a lot of people that believe it's Josh Hamilton (a legitimate opinion and a better option than Cano). But he missed a month of the season. I think Sabathia should be the Cy Young award winner (also wrong), because he won the most games (terrible reasoning). But others are saying Felix Hernandez (correct), but he was only 13-12 (irrelevant), I think and he was pitching in a more pitcher friendly park (probably but Felix is still better when this is taken into consideration), and wasn't pitching in a playoff race (also irrelevant).

Joe, please go back and look at what you wrote in your very first answer of this chat.

Joe Morgan (11:49 AM)

In the NL, I think it's Halladay (correct), even though he lost 10 games. In the MVP race, I think Joey Votto of the Reds (again I would agree, good work Joe!). Pujols was the leader most of the year, but he had a struggle toward the end of the season.

Question: why do the win-loss records matter in the AL Cy Young race but not in the NL race?

Hunter (New Jersey)

In 07, 08, and 09 I think we could I say the best team won the World Series, but this year I'm thinking luck played a huge part in the Giants winning the WS. Can you honestly say the BEST team won?

Joe Morgan (11:51 AM)

I agree with you in that you need some luck along the way. The Giants got lucky in that they got some contributions from guys that played well. You look at it in two seasons. The 162 game season and then the short playoff season. I've said this for a long time that any team that gets into the playoffs can win.

I know you’ve been saying this for a long time. In fact, I even pointed that out when you contradicted this statement earlier in the chat.

Obviously, there is a certain amount of luck that goes along with it.

“The Giants proved that not only were they playing the best, but they were the best team.” Recognize this, Joe? You wrote it in your little intro to today’s chat. Now you are saying that it was in large part due to luck. I cannot even believe how much you contradict yourself. I would pay a large sum of money to be able to sit down and tell you exactly how fucking retarded you are. You piss me off so god-damn much. The best day of my life was yesterday when I found out you are no longer announcing Sunday Night Baseball. I literally pissed my pants with excitement. Fuck you, Joe.

Joe Morgan (11:52 AM)

It's 3.5 months until spring training. All of those teams saying wait until next year, that's when the next year will start. As every year, when the season is over spring training comes up quickly. That's the way baseball is. It was a good season. We did see two teams in the World Series that hadn't been there in a long time, even one that hadn't been there. Even though the ratings were down, in some ways, I think it was good for the game. We did find some new stars.

Per usual, Joe ends his chat 8 minutes early, meaning he was here for a grand total of 33 minutes out of the hour long chat session. You could use a lesson from Keith Law, who apologizes for leaving early after chatting for an hour and a half. Also, he knows what he’s talking about.