No matter who pitched what game, the central mystery of this series (so far) is the Sox' inability to hit the Indians' two slopballers, after hammering their aces out of the park. I've said this before, but how can they manage to figure out Carmona's filthy stuff, and then look so foolish against Byrd and Westbrook?
Or, as you put it: "If the Sox get beat by Jake Westbrook and Byrd, then they simply don't deserve to go to the World Series."
That's it. The rest of it is details.
Of course, the Sox can still win it. All through this season, they've pulled out some of their best performances just about when we're giving up on them. But if their offense doesn't wake up, it's over.
Chaddie Finn, you may want to explain to Mannie that his homer is pretty, but without someone on the bases, it is just a homer.
Cut him some slack. He thought it was a five-run homer.
You have to admit, for a starter, 16 innings on 3 days rest over his career is a d*mn small sample size. (1,072 IP total including postseason appearances)
Even after tonight, I still say Wake-Byrd and Beckett-Sabathia gave us the best chance to win Games 4 AND 5, nevermind the issue of rest. And if Beckett had failed tonight, Tito would've been blasted to smithereens for it, despite essentially going along with what that very media had been wanting him to do as soon as Borowski threw his last definitely non-spit-covered pitch in Game III.
I assume you'll want to give Pedroia some derogatory nickname after he tried to slap the ball out of Victor Martinez's hands as he dove into first to lead off the game. Shrimpy McSlapster, perhaps?
Also, LOVED Manny putting his hands up after he cut the lead to four. Nothing epitomizes the arrogance of the Sox better than that.
I love Manny, but he's long overdue for a fastball to the ribs.
I wish there was a way the Sox pitchers could skip the 5ht inning. The Tribe tied the score in Game 2's, they got the deciding 2-run HR in Game 3's, and all of their f$&#ing offense was in tonight's 5th inning. MDC had a bad showing, and he was supposed to quell the bleeding. This puts him down the totem pole, and with Lopez and the Ghost of Gagne already occupying 2 dead roster spots, we can't afford to have another ineffective reliever. Thank goodness Josh is up on Thursday, he can be the stopper we need to turn this series around. How I'd love to see that friggin' drum go silent.
Perhaps its just a conspiracy by the Sox FO that they don't want to win the ALCS because then they won't get swept by the Rockies. The ROCKIES! Of all teams?!?
You had to start Wake for the same reason you resist holding closed-door meetings.
Start Beckett and lose, then what do you do.
With the loss in Game 4, every move looks like desperation.
Should have been Keilty and Ellsbury last night.
Now, it may be too late.
Drew, Coco, Lugo, slumping Pedroia and Youk. Add Mirabelli. Ouch. Not a WS team. Too much dead wood for Papi's knee to carry.
They don't deserve it. Unless they rip off three wins in a row. That will earn a WS berth on multiple levels.
The Red Sox haven't been playing well but they also haven't exactly gotten a whole load of luck on their side either. Take the entire bottom of the 5th inning of Game 4 for example. They could've easily been out of it if Youkilis held onto that foul pop and even after that if Wakefield had held onto the ball. But alas, it wasn't. Then Game 3 with the postage stamp sized strike zone and the Red Sox getting burned on two non called walks that ended up being outs. The cards hadn't been stacked in their favor teh past two games.
Maybe this next hand will have something in the favor of teh Red Sox. We at least have our best gambler on the mound in Beckett.
The ALCS and the WOrld Series is played just to remind all those people from the East Coast, who watch only their own baseball teams all year (this includes ESPN which is 90% Red SOx/Yankees) that some pretty good teams do play baseball in the Midwest (including each of the last 2 years AL pennant winner and the 07 presmptive winner. It also reminds thaose East COast teams that the biggest payroll doesn't always (in fact, seldom) wins.
Two or three games is not a slump.
Assuming Beckett's stiff back is not the issue, maybe Francona's real reason for not pitching him on 3 days rest was because he really felt that he HAD to give the aged Schilling and the tired DiceK the extra day? Or maybe there's a difference between pitching the very last game of the season on 3 days rest after having thrown 150 innings, than pitching one of what would be several more games after already having gone over 200 innings?
The Red Sox have to win one game. And in that game, they have their best pitcher pitching. What's the problem?
Is it just me, or have these East Coast Bias complainers been ruining their arguments by doing just that.
Professional sports is a business. You're not mad at the fans here, you're not mad at Chad, you're mad because whichever (mid)west team you're a fan of doesn't get the same exposure as the Sox or the Yankees.
Tough $#!t to be honest. The Sox and the Yankees equals the most advertising $$ for MLB, ESPN, FOX, TBS, etc. If you don't think they're going to play that angle to make the most money they can, you're MFY-insane. It's a business. All those organizations I just named are not charities. They're not in it for journalistic integrity or honor. They're in it for the $$. The Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Cubs and to a slightly lesser extent, Dodgers, Angels, and White Sox = most $$.
I have a lemonade stand. I can sell the classic lemonade which I KNOW will sell and make me money, and will ensure financial security for my business and for all of those who come after me. Or I can sell a different drink that is just as tasty, but that won't make me as much money. WhyTF wouldn't I just sell the MF lemonade?
If you don't think CF and most of the commenters here are aware of how good the other teams in the league are, you're, again, MFY-crazy. Complaining on a blog just makes you look like you have no idea about the core issue.
Good teams (anywhere) should get as much as exposure as the Yankees and Red Sox.
Hyping those 2 teams perpetuates the reason why they bring in the most advertising $$.
Some 10-year old from Des Moines likes baseball, and chooses to be a Yankees or Sox fan because that is who he's been exposed to.
Had he been exposed to the Tigers, or Indians, or Rockies, he might have chosen to be a fan of those teams instead.
And maybe those teams would be on ESPN, Fox, etc., because they would draw the most advertising $$.
The kid doesn't care about the advertising $$. He cares about the team he gets to see and hear about on a regular basis.
Robert,
People like to associate themselves with winning. Is this right? Is this ethical? Is this sensical? The answers to those questions don't matter.
People, in this case, also = Ambien, Viagra, and whatever else gets hawked in commercials.
ESPN isn't interesting in spreading that around.
The Sox and Yankees are always going to spend enough money and do just enough player development to be continually competitive, even if they don't reach the playoffs each season.
Spreading the love around just makes it more of a crapshoot. I don't disagree with your sentiments, but I'm not sure anything is going to be changed by the major 'news' outlets to make the situation more palatable to the baseball audience at-large.
The Posnanski quote was brilliant. Of course my reaction to seeing Gagne coming out of the pen was the same as every other Sox fan...oh f--k, what's he doing heading towards the mound.
This whole East Coast bias whining is lame and here’s why: The majority of Red Sox fans hate the ESPN/FOX coverage, partially because it’s annoying and mostly because it’s misguided. If you want it, you can have it. Also, most Sox fans respected/feared the Indians well before this series and knew exactly where they were located (even if we didn't want to live there). Personally, I’d take Cleveland’s hitters 1-2-6-7-8-9 and pitchers 2-3-4 over their Sox counterparts right now. I’m sure there are Sox fans that would agree. So, if the point of pissing and moaning about East Coast bias is because you want us to respect - even like - your little team, then you’re too late. But if you’re here to complain about East Coast exposure when more exposure – and all its evils - is what you covet then excuse me while I mock your hypocrisy.
The above comment was mine. I forgot to enter the name.
Media coverage -- and fan interest -- always lag behind a team's performance. The Yankees and Red Sox have been dominant teams for years; everyone else has been up and down.
If the Indians or the Rockies keep their core together and become perennial contenders, they'll get more attention.
Look at the NFL: the Colts are a successful team with a compelling superstar, and they get loads of media coverage. (And Manning gets more endorsements than Derek Jeter.) The Patriots didn't get any ink until they got good. Now, they're getting the coverage they deserve. The New York teams lag behind, and they don't get the pub. Same with the NBA: nobody cares about the Knicks, and until this year, they didn't care about the Celtics. Get good, stay good, and you'll get yours.
Let me add....
"Be careful what you wish for."
Having most of the dunces baselessly opining daily on the home team can be quite annoying. If Tim McCarver professed to not knowing any players on the RedSox and thus had to remain silent, the broadcast would be better.
Big Papi sure looks creaky at the moment. Carrying seven or eight ball players on one's shoulder, even Papi's, has to eventually wear down the knees...
On a totally separate note, does anyone else wonder if Fenway fans hold up a "STOP MANNY STOP!" sign as Manny runs full tilt past Coco Crisp on fly balls hit towards left center field?
Seriously, every fly ball hit to that section of the park, there goes Manny running for his life straight into right field. And I think, where is he going? Is Manny chasing squirrels? Is he after a shiny quarter in the grass?
Everything CF wrote before Tuesday's game came true, didn't it? Although considering Schill and Dice-K's struggles, I thought maybe Wake would be a good shot to give us at least one non-Beckett win; he can't pitch 4 games. It looked pretty good for 4 innings, and then...
All the problems we complained about through a season in first place have come home to roost. Almost makes you wonder how we won 96.
Cleveland has kicked our butts 3 straight times, and there isn't one player on their team I could come close to hating. This is exponentially better than the Yankees. We can live with losing this. A first-place season. Let the Indians have their turn, if that's how it turns out.
I dunno, hating Kenny Lofton comes pretty easily for me.
"...forced to listen to Tim McCarver give Derek Jeter verbal backrubs every night..."
That's not what McCarver is giving, if you know what I mean....
i wish some one would bludgeon tim mccarver and joe buck with a heavy object. they are stupid and biased against the red sox. it was CLEARLY a home run. mccarver is a bitter maggot still with his panties in a twist b/c the red sox once dumped him. STFU!
I am not a McCarver fan but I think he's been excellent. It's easy for people to pile on because it's the cool thing to do, but I've found him to be dead on with almost everything he's said tonight. It's not terrible to sometimes go against the grain.
Sincerely, Joe Morgan.
No, McCarver and Buck make egregious mistakes all the time because they usually only read the NY media. Obviously, if they didn't make a mistake in Game 5 it was because they were in Cleveland and were only able to read the media there. They stink, they most likely have YES tatooed on some body part and they are too lazy to get off their asses and actually talk to the people they talk about, which leads them to propagate half-truths and myths about anything not MFY related.
Other than that, yes, they're ok.
FWIW--Tim McCarver once hit a 380 foot single.
http://www.retrosheet.org/
boxese...7041PIT1976.htm
(scroll down to the p-b-p):
PHILLIES 2ND: Luzinski tripled to right; Allen walked; Johnstone
doubled to center [Luzinski scored, Allen to third]; Maddox was
walked intentionally; McCarver singled to right [Allen scored,
Johnstone scored, Maddox scored, McCarver out at second (first
unassisted)]; 'Grand Slam' on which McCarver passed Maddox at
1B; Carlton grounded out (second to first); Cash singled to
first; Bowa grounded out (second to first); 4 R, 4 H, 0 E, 1
LOB. Phillies 4, Pirates 0.
Did Buck & McCarver come to bury Manny, or to praise him? Watching the 10/18 game, I was getting damn tired of them regurgitating the same old crap about Manny's "antics," not running hard, The Quote, etc.
All of a sudden, a producer must have spoken in their ears, saying the Sox might win this one. And they were falling all over themselves praising Manny's hitting, plate discipline, post-season performance this year, etc. Which is it, guys?
After 7 years, we know what you get with Manny. And gee, shouldn't Cleveland, his former home, know as well? I have never seen another power hitter who avoids bad pitches like he does. Are Manny's shortcomings worse than J.D. Drew's? Crisp's? Mr. April A-Rod? No. Give it a rest. And get your story straight, Joe & Tim.
Haven't seen the foxsports column in a few weeks, is it still running? Or am I just looking in the wrong place?
Yep, it's still running. Last week's was on Grady Sizemore and the Lowell/Helton trade rumors from spring training. You can find it by searching for Nine Innings.
As for this week's, I just found out a few hours ago that they never received it when I emailed it at 3 a.m. I hoping to resubmit it when I get home from work, but I had major problems with the file last night, so I may be on hiatus until next week. What a pain in the ass.
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