Oct 07
Whether you want to blame Mike Scioscia or not, the Red Sox will now face the Rays in the ALCS.
Get ready for an overabundance of Don Zimmer in the spotlight.
You know, if the Red Sox win this ALCS, and if not for Grady Little trusting Pedro too much back in oh-three, we might be looking at Boston being in the World Series four times in the last six years. As much as it kills me, to that, you have to tip your cap to their front office.
What’s a Yankees fan to do here? The mission here is simple and clear: Hope that Boston wins the first three games of this LCS and then the Rays win the final four games.
Hey, if you’re gonna hope, hope big, right?
23 Responses to “2008 ALCS”
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October 7th, 2008 at 9:25 am
The Angels played horribly in this series and the Red Sox still struggled to beat them. The Angels defense was awful. Kendrick made Robinson Cano look like a Hall of Famer. He probably should have at least knocked down that ball that Lowrie hit. I have no idea why he wasn’t playing him to pull more either. They didn’t hit in the clutch at all. The Rays are better defensively and hit better in the clutch. I would argue that they have better starting and relief pitching as well. You could probably make a case that K-Rod is a better closer than what the Rays have, but even he blew a game.
The bunt play was incredibly stupid to me. I don’t think you pull that one off in an elimination game in the 9th inning on the road. That’s a play you try early on in a series or when you have a lead in the series or at least when you are at home and get to bat last. You really shoot yourself in the foot if you don’t get the bunt down as we saw. You don’t give yourself as much chance to win because you are relying on that ONE pitch basically instead of several pitches and TWO different batters instead of one. There are two many things that could go wrong. Plus, it’s not like Papelbon was on the mound…it was Delcarmen who is definitely wild sometimes and hittable.
The Angels played like crap anyway though and didn’t deserve to win. It’s amazing that they actually had a chance despite how awful they played.
I like the Rays chances.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:31 am
~~Kendrick made Robinson Cano look like a Hall of Famer. ~~
And, yet, the SOB Kendrick is a career .468 hitter (in 91 PA!) against the Yankees.
I hope New York was taking notes on how Boston pitched him.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:32 am
~~The bunt play was incredibly stupid to me. I don’t think you pull that one off in an elimination game in the 9th inning on the road. ~~
With a lefty-batter no less…
October 7th, 2008 at 10:07 am
With a lefty-batter no less…
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Especially with a pitcher who was wild. Several times this series, I was like ‘WTF’ with the way the Halos were playing, and some of the moves they made.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Angels looked like crap in the playoffs. They’re 5-15 in their last 20 playoff games, including first round sweeps in 2004 and 2007 against Boston.
In short, if this were NYC, people would be calling for Mike Scioscia’s head.
October 7th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Yeah, they look like a completely different team against the Red Sox. I honestly think the Angels played WORSE in this series against Boston than the Yankees ever played against the Angels. That’s how bad they looked.
Good point about the lefty batter too! At least if a righty was up then Varitek would have had to go around him somewhat and Willits would have had a chance to get back! Scioscia is a good manager, but that had to be his worst move by far.
I think Francona got a little lucky too, because I would have let Lester pitch the 8th. The only argument against that would be the pitch count(109), but still he threw 130 pitches for his no-hitter.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Anyone else catch Cal Ripken’s point in the TBS post-game?
Ripken asked, how come, when there’s a play at the plate, and the ball beats the runner, and the catcher blocks the plate, and the runner bowls him over, but is clearly ‘tagged’ in doing so, the runner is later called safe when the catcher then falls to the ground, and upon contact with the ground, the ball rolls out of the catcher’s hand, yet, on that play at third, it was OK when the ball rolled out of Varitek’s mitt when he hit the ground?
Gotta admit, at the least, it’s an interesting question.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I think it’s because the runner didn’t knock the ball loose. Varitek dropped it on his own and there was some delay between the tag and the drop. That’s the only explanation I can think of.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:30 am
How the hell did Willits let Varitek catch him anyway?
October 7th, 2008 at 11:54 am
I think it’s because the runner didn’t knock the ball loose. Varitek dropped it on his own and there was some delay between the tag and the drop. That’s the only explanation I can think of.
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That’s the explanation they gave on the postgame report. Willits was already tagged, he was out, Varitek had possession & control of the ball when he hit the ground. Had the ball popped out as he was applying the tag, the runner would’ve been called safe.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Look, Cal has a good point. In Butch’s Universe, the guy was safe. The Red Pox like the Yanks of the 90s get all the calls. I highly doubt if the roles were reversed, that the Angels would have gotten the call. MLB and the umps want a Dodgers/Red Sox matchup, no doubt. If that play happened againat Boston, the Globe and the Herald would have plastered that on the front page. Baseball is starting to remind me of the WWF and World Cup soccer, fixed , fixed ,fixed…….
I had no problem with the bunt play, because Aybar was so successful in that situation this year. In addition, Scioscia plays an NL style of ball that’s his MO. Honestly, it wasn’t like the Angels were bashing the ball all day long.
In addition, there is one thing I need to say about the Rays. The Red Pox are like the Dynasty Yankees of the 90s, then the Rays are their Marlins. Not only are the Rays are not afraid of playing the Pox, they are not afraid to get into a physical altercation with them either! When the Rays went into Fenway this September and took two, I said that this team is no fluke. In the heat of a pennant race they didn’t fold. Even though I love the Yanks, there is nothing like rooting for the underdog….Go Rays!
One last thing, for those who think I’m not objective, that Jeffrey Mayer helping out Jeter home run was a bad call! Yeah, it helped the Yankees from becoming the Tankees but what’s fair is fair.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Worst excuse ever for the bunt play is Scioscia being an NL style manager. What they can’t drive guys in with sacrifice flies in the NL? no RBI groundouts in the NL either? He didn’t need to get a hit…if he put the ball in play chances are he would have scored the run. Hell he might even have hit a little dribber down the first base line that could have worked like a bunt. I’d say the chance of him driving in a run in that situation by swinging away is about 75% better than trying that stupid bunt.
Let’s not forget that it was 2-0 count on Aybar when the bunt was put on…the perfect pitch to swing at and put into play. There’s also a chance he could have walked Aybar and then you could have probably stolen second and put the pressure on even more. Just a dumb move.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
What, no cute nickname for the Rays, butchie?
October 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
The Red Pox like the Yanks of the 90s get all the calls ~~~~ Baseball is starting to remind me of the WWF and World Cup soccer, fixed , fixed ,fixed…….
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So all those times the Yanks won, does that mean the game was fixed as well?
October 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I’ve yet to see any sort of serious argument that the call on the tag was anything but correct. Steve Palermo said it himself: its not football. He tagged him and had possession of the ball. Raf is correct, and Butchie is insane for postulating any sort of “fix”.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Red Sox fan…Butchie always has a conspiracy, so I wouldn’t even bother responding to that.
As much as I hate to say it, I thought the call was correct because the ball was not knocked loose “during” the tag, it was knocked loose after the tag.
By the way, this will be the first time since 1987 that the AL will be represented by a team with a losing road record in the World Series. That year the Twins were a horrific 29-52 on the road. So this season definitely is not the norm in the AL, but I was starting to wonder if the poor road records of the Rays and Sox have to do with the fact they play in the strong AL East.
Here are their road records in the AL East:
TBR: 16-20 ( at BOS: 2-7)
BOS: 15-21 ( at TBR: 1-8)
Here are their road records against everyone else:
TBR: 24-21
BOS: 24-21
So both teams had a winning road record outside of the division and neither one can beat each other on the road. Seems like home field is going to be huge in this series. Whoever can steal a game on the road could end up winning this thing.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Once I was, that was very rude of you. That is an ad hominem attack, But what do I expect from a Benedict Arnold???!!!Once, do you only watch Red Stocking games? I watch a lot of different teams AND the Pox got so many calls this year it was silly.The big teams usually get the calls, it’s as simple as that. You must be naive to think otherwise. Cal Ripken also mentioned the fact that a guy is safe at home when that happens. The spirit of that call was safe, the letter was out.
One more thing, do you think MLB would prefer to have the Stockings and the Hollywood Dodgers rather than the Philly Cheesesteaks or the Artists formerly known as the Devil Rays? ONce was, you probably don’t know about the collusion that goes on in the World Cup and went on in Germany and Italy regarding refs and the owners fixing calls.Germans are such upstanding and honest people, right? Wrong, the Albanian mafia was colluding with teams to fix games. We also had that NBA ref that was betting and giving crappy calls. So I am very suspicious of MLB umps especially this year where the calls looked like soccer calls during the World Cup. Thank God for the advent of instant replay and that the umps either get new glasses or stop betting(I’m joking or am I). I am not a purist on umps, because the last couples of years they have given calls that are headstratching. Don’t be surprised if you hear anything about MLB ump corruption in the future. If you think that won’t happen, then everyone’s favorite players didn’t do steroids or HGH and no one did speed. Ah, the woefully naive……….
Pete, I call the Rays 3 things: the Sunrays , the Rays of Sunshine or the Artists formerly known as the Devil Rays! It would be fun to see the Cheesesteaks play the SunRays with the Rays coming out on top. BUT I’m waiting for Joe West to try and steal runs from the Sunrays against the Red pox! I can’t wait to see the fight that happens between both teams when Wolf Boy,Pedroia, or Coco” I am not a cereal” Crisp acts up. The Sunrays will get ghetto on their Baked Beaned New England butts……
Antone, the hitter in question was successful at these types of bunts 9 times this year??!!! This was not a fluke call.Del Carmen is hardly a finesse pitcher, so you have to try and get that win any way you can. A sac fly? Isn’t Del Carmen a power pitcher, so what is the guarantee of even hitting the ball. When the Angels are starving for offense (they struggled to come up with those 2 runs) AND a game is on the line, something like a suicide bunt is not out of the question. It wasn’t stupid and it wasn’t a bad call by Scioscia of the LA Assholes of Anaheim Orange County California.
Raf, when that Jeffrey Mayer call was a home run what was that? The Yanks got many calls in their favor back in their day when they actually had a Dynasty. The big teams in baseball always get the calls. Someone must be ignoring 75% of the games in the MLB if they think otherwise.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Raf, when that Jeffrey Mayer call was a home run what was that? The Yanks got many calls in their favor back in their day when they actually had a Dynasty.
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Ok, I see what you’re saying… MLB had a vested interest seeing that the Yanks then won the series, like they have a vested interest in the Sox winning the series now.
So the Yanks’ 3rd place finish isn’t Cashman’s fault, it’s MLB’s fault; after all they’ve implemented rules specifically designed to target the Yanks
Guess someone didn’t get the memos in ‘05 & ‘06
October 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Butchie….
#1) Aybar has 9 Sac. bunts the whole season..I find it hard to believe that ALL 9 were SUICIDE SQUEEZES…there is a different between bunting a guy over and a suicide squeeze…if you don’t realize that then you don’t understand baseball.
#2) The count was 2-0…Delcarmen was most likely going to through a fastball in that situation and I believe he did…that gives an advantage to the hitter. He should have been able to at least get the bat on the ball and pull it to the right side. If not you still have another batter after Aybar to drive in the run.
#3) Yes, Delcarmen is a power pitcher, but let’s not get carried away here and start thinking he is unhittable because he is not. He ain’t Papelbon…he ain’t Mo…and even those guys get hit once in a while.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
BTW, I agree the Maier call was a bad one, Tino Martinez struck out on the pitch before the GS against the Padres, and that the umpires got the slap tag call as well as the Bellhorn HR’s right.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
The count was 2-0…Delcarmen was most likely going to through a fastball in that situation and I believe he did…
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A 2-0 fastball that was another ball.
Scioscia gambled that Delcarmen would throw a strike. Why he didn’t have Aybar take, or swing away, or even safety squeeze, is beyond me.
Anyway, it’s one of those things that if the play’s executed Scioscia’s a genius, and an idiot if he fails…
October 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Antone, I don’t think everything is a conspiracy. That was woefully misstated. That was pure newpeak, but then som people can’t just disagree can they?BUT I am actually a skeptic and if you think that the big teams don’t get the calls then you are living on Ur anus , mate! Maybe, you just watch the YES network mand believe everything Yankee, I have no idea but I tell it like it is. Cash man is a crappy GM, Bill James is brilliant and the Red Pox have the new dynasty.
Anyway, it’s one of those things that if the play’s executed Scioscia’s a genius, and an idiot if he fails… Quote
Raf, we agree on something! Wow, I can’t believe it. Like I have said, the Angels weren’t scoring squat against Boston. This type of bunt makes somthing unsettling happen, if it’s a groundout Pedroia throws home, no? A sacrifice fly?? Del Cramen is a very hard thrower, how do you even know that he could hit it that far? Imagine , if Aybar struck out, then some assholes would have said Scioscia should have had him suicide and play his NL style of ball.
October 7th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Raf, we agree on something!
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I understand why he may have done it, I don’t necessarily agree with it. Not a big fan of playing for one run on the road, especially when you have a pitcher that isn’t throwing strikes.