Final Round of the Playoffs
The Red Sox are in the World Series. Give credit to the Cleveland Indians, they are a good squad and will probably be good for the next few years, unfortunately for the Red Sox and the rest of baseball.
Boston was able to win the game without having to use a starter in relief or by completely taxing the bullpen, although Terry Francona was plain wrong in having Hideki Okajima start the 8th inning. Hideki had thrown 2 quality innings and just doesn't have more than that in him, that's why he was shut down in September because he had, for lack of a better term, a tired arm. Come on Terry. The team does have 2 days off now, so that is a good thing.
That criticism aside, good series Terry. You eventually made a solid decision in benching Coco Crisp and inserting Jacoby Ellsbury.
I can't believe how close this game was and then how it went out of control. Dustin Pedroia proved anyone (me) that doubted how ready he was for post-season play, wrong. If it were up to me, I would have benched him in game 6 (2-4 with a walk) and maybe tonight (3-5, 5 rbi). Down 3-1, the Red Sox pulled it out. I was fairly grumpy these past few days, but never threw up the flag. This team is good, perhaps not great, but certainly good enough to compete.
Classic postgame moment: Chris Myers, interviewing Manny Ramirez, tried to ask Manny about the "controversial" play when Kenny Lofton was held at 3rd on the ball hit off the grandstand seats along 3rd. Manny clearly thought Myers was asking about the ball Julio Lugo dropped when Manny had a chance to call him off. Total miscommunication, quality entertainment.
In game complaints with Fox. Both Joe Buck and Tim McCarver said it was a forgone conclusion that Lofton would have scored had Joel Skinner waived him in on the previously mentioned play, yet Fox never showed a shot of where Lofton was when Manny fielded the ball. So to tell me that something is a guarantee, yet not provide anything to back it up is weak.
Anyway, here is the schedule, get your sleep in now.
World Series game 1 Wednesday @ Fenway, time TBD (I imagine some later than late times as usual). UPDATE: SOME TIMES NOW PUBLISHED.
| Game | Matchup | Day | Date | Time ET | TV |
| Gm 1 | COL @ BOS | Wed | Oct. 24 | 8:23pm | FOX |
| Gm 2 | COL @ BOS | Thu | Oct. 25 | 8:23pm | FOX |
| Gm 3 | BOS @ COL | Sat | Oct. 27 | 8:23pm | FOX |
| Gm 4 | BOS @ COL | Sun | Oct. 28 | 8:23pm | FOX |
| Gm 5* | BOS @ COL | Mon | Oct. 29 | TBD | FOX |
| Gm 6* | COL @ BOS | Wed | Oct. 31 | TBD | FOX |
| Gm 7* | COL @ BOS | Thu | Nov. 1 | TBD | FOX |
| * - if necessary | |||||
Comments
Andy, I found it very annoying that Buck/McCarver kept harping on the holding Lofton at third play. Would he have scored? Probably. But given Lofton had been thrown out once already by Ramirez and that the Indians had clawed their way back into the game at that point, don't think it was as controversial as those two made it out to be. That's a tough call to make in a tight game when you have a split second to decide. It was also good to see Daiske not fall apart. Wasn't a great performance, but he kept us in the game and got some big outs to end innings that he had not been getting before. Kudos to the Sox for not giving up when things looked bad, and hats off to the Tribe, definitely a good young team with a lot of potential.
Posted by: wade | October 22, 2007 07:49 AM |
Wade, a good broadcast would have shown a split screen letting us decide for ourselves if Lofton could have scored or not.
Even the postgame show harped on the same topic. It turned out to be entirely moot.
Posted by: Andy | October 22, 2007 07:57 AM |
they did show the split screen shot later in the broadcast, much later.
I wrote many of the comments you did Andy both about the game and the series (in my blog)
Posted by: blmeanie | October 22, 2007 09:16 AM |
I'm amazed you would consider benching Pedroia. At least we knew what he was capable of doing vs what Lugo accomplished this year.
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October 23, 2007 06:55 AM
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I feel like I have cheated. I got drawn to Mnookin's blog, and felt compelled post the following in relation to his piece on "who sits when we get to Colorado". I posted the following, for what its worth:
OK, no shortage of tough calls on this one. Dont you think however this decision needs to be made after game 2 is played? Where is the series at that point 2-0, 1-1, 0-2? Who has the hot hand at that point, or maybe more importantly, who has gone cold (if Youk or Lowell or Papi goes 0-10 in the first two games, the decision sure would be easier -- lets just hope it isnt some combination of those guys going 0-20)? How is Papi's knee at that point? Fly ball or ground ball pitcher?
All things to consider, however not right now. Its a long flight from Boston to Denver, and I'd guess the answers to these questions will be a lot easier to answer late Thrusday/early Friday, than they are today.
More pressing questions really are, 10 or 11 pitchers (if 11 stick with Gagne (please no), and who in his place (Tavarez gets my vote; expereinced, played for COL in 2000, on good Cardinals teams that got to the WS), and who throws out the 1st pitch tomorrow night? If I were Executive Producers at Fox Sports, I'd be pushing hard for either Bill Buckner or Doug Mientkiewicz, no shortage of pre-game hype footage on either of those.
FURTHER, I THOUGHT I'D TAKE A LOOK AT THE RED SOX PROBABLE STARTERS VS. THE ROCKIES PROBABLE STARTERS, AND STUDY THEIR POST SEASON RECORDS. HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTOIDS:
Post Season Series Pitched in (DS, LCS, WS):
Red Sox: 28
Rockies: 8 (all this year)
Wins/Losses:
Red Sox: 21-11
Rockies: 4-0
Innings Pitched:
RS: 277
ROX: 39
ERA:
RS: 3.35
ROX: 2.31
WHIP:
RS: 1.054
ROX: 1.282
Now, the Rockies win out in the W/L (% at least) and ERA. However the W/L can be attributed to a hot streak, and the ERA can be attributed to opponents cant hit. That, plus they will be facing Beckett and Schilling who, together have 3 Rings, and a WS MVP each, cant be ignored in the comarison.
The experience, sheer # of innings, and WHIPs of the Red Sox staff have to scare Clint Hurdle a bit.
Now, anyone can get hot, and anyone can get cold, so I appreciate that these stats might be completely meaningless, however I like our chances.
Lets get it on.
Posted by: Matt | October 23, 2007 02:20 PM |
Matt you did cheat, but this is an open arrangement, so no worries. And Mnookin is a very popular blog and well done.
That being said, the roster is in, see my latest post. Also, the decision on who to sit/start is probably one to be made after game 2. I would expect Ortiz will sit against Francis (lefty).
Those stats are interesting as Colorado has impressed, but with such a small sample size, just how much stock can you put into them? But certainly they can't be overlooked.
Posted by: Andy | October 23, 2007 09:33 PM |
"Final Round of the Playoffs"? After two days of Rox-Sox, it's beginning to look like the World Series was over days ago. Boston defeated Cleveland, 4-3.
Posted by: Greg | October 26, 2007 09:49 AM |
Greg, I sure hope you are right, but things like 1986 are still fresh in my memory.
Posted by: Andy | October 26, 2007 11:03 AM |