Quote:
Originally Posted by Orcin
1944 St. Louis Cardinals
1986 Houston Astros
|
1980 vs. 1986 is tough for me. 1980 Nolan Ryan and J R Richard. I think Richard was way better than Scott. He just didn't have the longevity.
1980
93-70
1st place, NL West
Key Batters HR RBI AVG
C Alan Ashby 3 48 .256
1B Art Howe 10 46 .283
2B Joe Morgan 11 49 .243
3B Enos Cabell 2 55 .276
SS Craig Reynolds 3 28 .226
LF Jose Cruz 11 91 .302
CF Cesar Cedeno 10 73 .309
RF Terry Puhl 13 55 .282
IF Rafael Landestoy 1 27 .247
IF Denny Walling 3 29 .299
C Luis Pujols 0 20 .199
OF Jeff Leonard 3 20 .213
Key Pitchers W L ERA
SP Joe Niekro 20 12 3.55
SP Nolan Ryan 11 10 3.35
SP Ken Forsch 12 13 3.20
SP Vern Ruhle 12 4 2.37
SP J.R. Richard 10 4 1.90
CL Joe Sambito 8 4 2.19
RP Dave Smith 7 5 1.93
RP Frank LaCorte 8 5 2.82
RP Joaquin Andujar 3 8 3.91
1986
96-66
1st place, NL West
Key Batters HR RBI AVG
C Alan Ashby 7 38 .257
1B Glenn Davis 31 101 .265
2B Bill Doran 6 37 .276
3B Denny Walling 13 58 .312
SS Dickie Thon 3 21 .248
LF Jose Cruz 10 72 .278
CF Billy Hatcher 6 36 .258
RF Kevin Bass 20 79 .311
IF Phil Garner 9 41 .265
IF Craig Reynolds 6 41 .249
OF Terry Puhl 3 14 .244
C Mark Bailey 4 15 .176
Key Pitchers W L ERA
SP Mike Scott 18 10 2.22
SP Bob Knepper 17 12 3.14
SP Nolan Ryan 12 8 3.34
SP Jim Deshaies 12 5 3.25
SP Danny Darwin 5 2 2.32
CL Dave Smith 4 7 2.73
RP Charley Kerfeld 11 2 2.59
RP Aurelio Lopez 3 3 3.46
RP Larry Andersen 2 1 2.78
I think 80 clearly had the stronger SP rotation. I liked Darwin and love Deshaises as a broadcaster but Forsch and knuckleball Neikro were better pitchers. That was a hitters nightmare to face Ryan followed by knucleballing Neikro then J R Richard. '86 didn't have that. Granted '86 had Larry Andersen whose trade made Astros fans very happy in the late 90's and early 2000s. Caser Cedeno > Corky Hatcher anyday. I loved Davis and Doran was highly underrated in his day but Joe Morgan was there in '80 and Art Howe was about equal to Davis. Enos Cabel > Denny Walling no debate there.
I think 1980 gets the edge. It was just as good of series against the Phillies as '86 was against the Mets. You don't have a important homerun by a guy later caught with a corked bat either. Hatcher's repuatation just went downhill after '86. Mister it is the lights in the dome that are getting in my eyes that is why I can't catch a fly ball despite the fact he was making errors on the road too.
Maybe I am just a little more attached to the 1980 team. I was 8 years old and my father and I saw some of the games at the dome. In '86 we were overseas seeing replays of the games a week later!