It's here. The second-best sports season, behind the NCAA tournament, is upon us: The MLB Playoffs. I'm a Red Sox fan and as I'm waiting for Game 2 to start I thought I'd give my early thoughts on the postseason.
Los Angeles vs. Boston
Boston got a dominant performance from Josh Beckett but with Dice-K making his first MLB postseason start, coming after a month or so of less than stellar outings, anything is possible. But kudos go out to Garret Anderson for standing in that batter's box with his right eye swollen with a case of pink eye. Yes, that's right. Pink eye. That has to be scary, standing in a batter's box facing 90+ mile-per-hour heat unable to fully see. Even though Boston won the game fairly easily, the offense never really exploded. I expect both offense to be better, especially LA's, for Game 2. For what it's worth, I picked Boston over L.A. back in March. Don't believe me? Check out my facebook notes.
New York vs. Cleveland
The Yankees got whooped on! They had a chance to explode against Sabathia, but a huge out with the bases loaded doomed them. And what's up with Kenny Lofton pounding out three hits for the Tribe. I had to check my calendar to make sure it really is 2007 and not '96 when Lofton was doing the same thing for the Indians. This just might be the best trade this season for any club. Teixieira and Dotel couldn't even get the Braves to the postseason. And Gagne? Don't get me started. He's luck he's even on the postseason roster for the Sox. I'm just waiting for him to be on the mound for a walk-off series clinching homer as I'm throwing my shoes, shirt, furniture, and television set across my room. Could happen in the ALDS, ALCS, or World Series. But it will happen. Mark it down. But back to this series. It has potential to go all five. I think Cleveland fans may think of their closer, Joe Borowski, as I do about Gagne. At some point in the playoffs he will kill them. But I just don't know what the Yankees can expect from their rotation. With Wang losing Game 1, they are in much more trouble down 0-1 than the Angels.
Colorado (is that right?!) vs Philadelphia
How bout them Rockies? They've won 16 of 17!!!!! Talk about on a roll. And I don't want to hear anything about Holliday not touching the plate against San Diego, because the Rockies already had a run taken away from them after a home run was mistakenly ruled a double. If any team in the playoffs is capable of coming back from an 0-2 deficit, it's the Phillies and their offense, but I'm not seeing it. The Rockies are hot. However, I must point out that during their play-in-game against San Diego, with the winner set to play Philly, a fan had a sign saying "Bring on the Cubs." Is it possible to be a Colorado bandwagon fan?
Chicago vs. Arizona
Sorry Cubbies fans. Yes, the team you are down to 0-2 was next-to-last in the majors this season in batting average (.250), but they still led the N.L. in wins. And, once again, I picked them to beat Chicago back in March. It's quite possible that if Piniella had gone with a four-man rotation that this would be a 1-1 series. Instead of giving Zambrano a quick hook after only 85 pitches to give him more rest with a three-man rotation, Sweet Lou pulled his horse and the bear Cubs were left talking about goats. Wow that's a lot of animal references.
More News
I read several months back that St. Louis GM Walt Jocketty might be a good fit in Cincinnati. Well he's available now. I wonder if the Reds will make a push for Tony La Russa too possibly? It would be a shame for interim manager Pete Mackanin who did well for the club after taking over mid-season.
Stat of the week
This one comes from Buster Olney on espn.com
• At the All-Star break, the teams with the most wins in the NL were as follows: San Diego (49), Los Angeles (49), Milwaukee (49), NY Mets (48) and Atlanta (47). And none of them made the playoffs.
WOW!!!!!! I wonder if that's EVER happened before. That's literally mind boggling.
I Hate TBS
Is any one else insanely annoyed at TBS' feeble attempts to actually cover this great game's postseason. I have no problem with the in-game color and play-by-play. Shoot we all know Sox broadcaster Don Orsillo is the best. But everything else is awful!!! Jose Mota, Frank Thomas, and Cal Ripken are painful. Especially Thomas. Did anyone at TBS even have him tryout on camera before they put him on air? I mean, he's looking at his notes more than the camera. In fact, he's not sure where to set his eyes. I give host Ernie Johnson a 50/50 chance at surviving this postseason without hurting himself. And Craig Sager and David Aldridge need to stick with what they know: the NBA. If I was the Indians guy who beats the drum, I'm pretty sure I would have taken that drum stick and attacked the crazy suit guy. Now THAT would give every baseball fan something to cheer about. I thought Tim McCarver was bad. I never thought I'd say this in my wildest dreams, but I miss Ti..................awwwww never mind! I'm also getting sick of seeing all those Frank TV commercials! Holy crap! I should have been used to endless self-promotion after watching the playoffs on Fox all these years but I'm not. But those are awfully good voice impersonations that guy does....................... Go Sox! ~ Chris Lowry
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Chris, you forgot that Dick Stockton is absolutely awful. In two games I've heard more factually incorrect information about the Cubs than I've ever heard before. And he actually called our third baseman Rodrigo Ramirez once. I don't think I'll ever get over that.
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