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P-P-P-Playoffs!!
- Thread starter Counterfit
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So far my picks in the American League have come through, and Houston is looking very good. However, those Dodgers, even with Jose Lima's surprise performance, are on death's door. No gloating here - just keeping up with events. Oh, and can't 99% of all baseball fans out there agree the Yanks need to never again win another Series? Go Sox! 
One thing I don't like about the Sox facing the Yanks is that now the ALCS becomes the series that everyone gears up for - it becomes the world series. We saw it last year - the Yanks beat the sox in a grueling 7 game series... everyone figured the winner of the ALCS would roll through the world series... and then those rag-tag marlins stopped the Yankees cold.
I think the Yanks were too drained by their battle with the sox, and it would have been the same if the Sox had won. And it's the same this year. I think this matchup gives a HUGE advantage to the NL team (cards or 'stros I'm assuming) that makes it - which is great if the Yanks win, but really sucks if the Sox win.
I think the Yanks were too drained by their battle with the sox, and it would have been the same if the Sox had won. And it's the same this year. I think this matchup gives a HUGE advantage to the NL team (cards or 'stros I'm assuming) that makes it - which is great if the Yanks win, but really sucks if the Sox win.
QCassidy352 said:One thing I don't like about the Sox facing the Yanks is that now the ALCS becomes the series that everyone gears up for - it becomes the world series. We saw it last year - the Yanks beat the sox in a grueling 7 game series... everyone figured the winner of the ALCS would roll through the world series... and then those rag-tag marlins stopped the Yankees cold.
I think the Yanks were too drained by their battle with the sox, and it would have been the same if the Sox had won. And it's the same this year. I think this matchup gives a HUGE advantage to the NL team (cards or 'stros I'm assuming) that makes it - which is great if the Yanks win, but really sucks if the Sox win.
I understand this "letdown" by the Yankees after facing their hated rivals, but how does a team that hasn't won a series since 1918 letdown once they have beaten the Yankees? I think you give your Sox too little credit. If they make it through to the Series they won't be overconfident. They might be too tight, but not the reverse. What you have is a great balanced team that, if it avoids stupid mistakes, should be the favorite to win.
jxyama said:yep, and i think the failure for them to win the last three years, especially 2001 and 2003 when they even made the world series, also gives me the right to talk trash too.
Seeing as how you haven't one it since 1918.........
NO
Sayhey said:
I don't think the sox would be too loose... just too drained, mentally and physically.
p.s. Koodauw, I think it's funny how you say "you haven't won one since 1918..." as if anyone here has won the world series!
I am hoping my Saint Louis Cardinals go all the way. I think we will be playing the astros, and i am hoping for a Red Sox win. (over the yankees)
QCassidy352 said:
I hope that's not the case. Since the Giants didn't make it this year, I'm rooting for them. It helps to have an ace like Schilling who has been through this before. I know the Fenway crowds will help pump the Sox players up both for the Yanks and beyond. Anyway, good luck. I know what it is to want your home team to win it year after year and suffer disappointment. From an outsider's perspective it looks like you have a very good chance in Beantown.
sad news for the rivera's family...
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2004/news/story?id=1898875
i hope it doesn't affect him... i hate the yanks, but that doesn't mean i don't want the ALCS to be nothing but a great series contested under the best circumstances.
lots of second guessing for phil garner and the astros... in retrospect, it's so easy to say clemens should have pitched game 5 with oswalt in short rest relief, but i can't blame garner for wanting to start clemens...
only reason jack mckeon is hailed as a hero is because beckett actually won the game 6 last year. if marlins had lost with beckett on three-day rest in game 6, there was no way they could have won game 7 because their starting rotation would have been severely shorthanded...
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2004/news/story?id=1898875
i hope it doesn't affect him... i hate the yanks, but that doesn't mean i don't want the ALCS to be nothing but a great series contested under the best circumstances.
lots of second guessing for phil garner and the astros... in retrospect, it's so easy to say clemens should have pitched game 5 with oswalt in short rest relief, but i can't blame garner for wanting to start clemens...
only reason jack mckeon is hailed as a hero is because beckett actually won the game 6 last year. if marlins had lost with beckett on three-day rest in game 6, there was no way they could have won game 7 because their starting rotation would have been severely shorthanded...
Rivera is said to be back in time for game 1 Tuesday so hopefully he will be ready to pitch. Clemens pitched a great game, it was the bullpen that blew the lead so I don't think it would of mattered what day he pitched if he didn't go a complete game the pen could still blow it.
The Yankees and Red Sox will have a battle to the death again this year and the winner that comes out with the less amount of blood loss will have to face probably the Cards. I agree who ever wins the NLCS will have the advantage and as St Louis is the best team in baseball this year they might chew and spit out either the Yankees or Red Sox with ease.
decksnap said:
Indeed they do. If Torre was being totally logical, he would make Gordon the closer against the Sox (has he given up *any* runs to them this season?). But just as the yanks illogically left jeter at SS and moved a-rod, they would never replace Rivera, even if it were the smart thing to do.
i think there's another (revived) thread after the game last night, but might as well revive this one too...
wow, what a game. matsui was single-handedly responsible for scoring 5 runs for the yanks and then giving up 4 runs due to (albeit tough) misses in the OF.
at least sox forced yanks into using the bullpen...
and man, ortiz... just a couple more feet! and this also confirmed that varitek is the MAN.
hopefully, shill will recover. he just wasn't himself yesterday.
anyone else enjoy al leiter's commentary? i think he's very good. he conveys his insights very well and doesn't just talk about "obvious" stuff like many other "active players" may. (like justice on espn... he just says very fluffy stuff. the only reason it's somewhat credible is because he was a player... leiter actually talks about interesting stuff.)
wow, what a game. matsui was single-handedly responsible for scoring 5 runs for the yanks and then giving up 4 runs due to (albeit tough) misses in the OF.
at least sox forced yanks into using the bullpen...
and man, ortiz... just a couple more feet! and this also confirmed that varitek is the MAN.
hopefully, shill will recover. he just wasn't himself yesterday.
anyone else enjoy al leiter's commentary? i think he's very good. he conveys his insights very well and doesn't just talk about "obvious" stuff like many other "active players" may. (like justice on espn... he just says very fluffy stuff. the only reason it's somewhat credible is because he was a player... leiter actually talks about interesting stuff.)
The announcers in these games are simply the worst I have ever heard. They pretend to know things about the Red Sox when clearly they know pretty much nothing, and then just make stuff up and state it as fact. It makes me cringe to listen to them. Calling Bill Meuller 'Billy', talking about how David Ortiz is an opposite field hitter (WTF?), about how Cabrera has somehow saved the Red Sox defense (Hello, I don't think Nomar was the hole in the defense!), How Mike Myers has been some indespensible pickup, and on, and on...
decksnap said:
i don't think they are that bad...
yeah, calling names was weird...
but ortiz, while not exactly a prototype opposite field hitter (like, say, jeter), is definitely not a pull hitter. so i think that comment could have been excused.
also, cabrera is a much better defensive SS than nomar - this year. for one reason or another, nomar's defense has been very mediocre - only thing "saving" him was his strong arm. but it was clear nomar had lost a few steps. cabrera was a gold glover. not that the gold glove is an objective measure of the fielding excellence, but it counts for something. it's also a no wonder sox was fine with pokey reese in there while nomar was hurt - because while pokey is an awful hitter, he's a great fielder. (much, much better than either nomar or cabrera) and goodness, sox needed defense more than offense at the beginning of the year...
not sure about myers. they are probably wrong about him being *that* important...
I don't know which Ortiz you've been watching, but he most certainly is a pull hitter. His wheelhouse is down and inside- I'd say more than 30 of his 41 homers were to right field-(I've seen them all). Cabrera is a great fielder- but people tend to forget the range and arm Nomar had- and the fact that he wasn't even playing most of the season punches a hole in the theory that Cabrera has improved the defense so much, considering they had Pokey in there. The real defensive improvement was Meintkewicz, (sp?).
I guess it's just irritating to know 5000x more about the team than the announcers do (as most Sox fans do) and then have to listen to them make completely incorrect statements all night.
I guess it's just irritating to know 5000x more about the team than the announcers do (as most Sox fans do) and then have to listen to them make completely incorrect statements all night.
decksnap said:
i believe you, i'm just thinking that the announcers aren't THAT bad. afterall, they do announcements for all teams... if a local boston radio show hosts made those comments, i'd think they are nuts, but, anyway...
you can always mute...
anyway, i enjoyed leiter's insights. i haven't been particularly impressed by buck or mccarver but i don't find them that awful.
I can't stand the national announcers because they are blatently pro-yankee (or is it just anti-red sox?). I couldn't listen to them in game 3 of the ALDS after the Vlad grand slam. The way you were going on you'd think the Angels had taken the lead in a game in which *they* could clinch... not that they'd tied the game and were barely hanging on for dear life. For 3 innings all they could say was how great Vlad, Scioscia, and the Angels were, as if it weren't a tie game with the sox one win from a series victory!
They really are insufferable, and as decksnap says, not that knowledgable about the Sox. Give us Jerry Remy back... he may inanely banter on inning after inning, but at least he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the red sox.
Anyway... sounds like shilling's ankle is really messed up. This is very very bad news for the Sox, even if they do win this series. No way they can win the world series without shilling. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, the Yankees looked horribly vulnerable as well, with both sturtze and gordon getting rocked, and rivera allowing 2 to reach, bringing the tying run to the plate, in the 9th. With the Yankee's starting pitching, they need a lot better than that from their bullpen or the cards/astros would eat them alive. Basically, in my analysis, it was an ugly game, and though a yankees fan should feel a lot better than a sox fan today, yankees fans shouldn't really be feeling all that good.
They really are insufferable, and as decksnap says, not that knowledgable about the Sox. Give us Jerry Remy back... he may inanely banter on inning after inning, but at least he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the red sox.
Anyway... sounds like shilling's ankle is really messed up. This is very very bad news for the Sox, even if they do win this series. No way they can win the world series without shilling. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, the Yankees looked horribly vulnerable as well, with both sturtze and gordon getting rocked, and rivera allowing 2 to reach, bringing the tying run to the plate, in the 9th. With the Yankee's starting pitching, they need a lot better than that from their bullpen or the cards/astros would eat them alive. Basically, in my analysis, it was an ugly game, and though a yankees fan should feel a lot better than a sox fan today, yankees fans shouldn't really be feeling all that good.
one announcer i can't stand is joe morgan. he's one of those guys who gets to be an announcer since he's a hall of famer. he never takes any stance on any issues.
ask him if he thinks yanks or sox will win and he will just list reasons why both teams can win, etc. he's also always repeating all sort of cliches. never good insights.
during the division series, he commented on how miguel cairo didn't know how to cut the angle on turf since he's not used to playing on it, whereas christian guzman knew how because he's used to it. it was utter crap - two clips he showed were for completely different hits. cairo's hit was hit much harder than guzman's - cairo didn't cut the angle because he couldn't, not because he didn't think to. guzman cut the angle because he had to, not because he "knew" to do it.
compared to that, leiter actually commented on schilling's pitch selections (and how he thought schilling must be hurt) and rivera's cut fastball. those were insights i'd like to see being described by an active player.
off topic, but morgan is also one of those silly people who's advocating keeping track of two sets of records: 154 games and 162 games. so that both sisler and ichiro's name will be in the "record" books for hits in a season. that's non-sense too. for once, selig did the right thing and said that since the record is for any given season, ichiro is the record holder, period.
of course, morgan fails to note that when sisler played, he didn't have to face any negro league stars or specialized relievers in late innings. shoule we have a record for hits in a season only playing against white players too?
ask him if he thinks yanks or sox will win and he will just list reasons why both teams can win, etc. he's also always repeating all sort of cliches. never good insights.
during the division series, he commented on how miguel cairo didn't know how to cut the angle on turf since he's not used to playing on it, whereas christian guzman knew how because he's used to it. it was utter crap - two clips he showed were for completely different hits. cairo's hit was hit much harder than guzman's - cairo didn't cut the angle because he couldn't, not because he didn't think to. guzman cut the angle because he had to, not because he "knew" to do it.
compared to that, leiter actually commented on schilling's pitch selections (and how he thought schilling must be hurt) and rivera's cut fastball. those were insights i'd like to see being described by an active player.
off topic, but morgan is also one of those silly people who's advocating keeping track of two sets of records: 154 games and 162 games. so that both sisler and ichiro's name will be in the "record" books for hits in a season. that's non-sense too. for once, selig did the right thing and said that since the record is for any given season, ichiro is the record holder, period.
of course, morgan fails to note that when sisler played, he didn't have to face any negro league stars or specialized relievers in late innings. shoule we have a record for hits in a season only playing against white players too?
After the Astros took a beating tonight its looking like ST Louis is gonna steamroll there way to the World Series, The Big question is can the Red Sox make a comeback especially since it looks like Schilling may be out for the remainder off the playoffs.
Not this game but last game (game 1) of the cards/astros game stl hit 6 runs in the 6th i believe and last night they had 4 homeruns! go Pujols!MacNut said:
Congratulations, all you Red Sox fans! I have to admit I worried a little when the Yankees were up in the series 3-0, but in the end it only made the victory that much sweeter.
I know I picked a Astros-Sox World Series, but I'd much rather have the Cards make it in. So here's to LaRussa's band for a great day tomorrow. Then, whoever makes it, it's go Sox!
btw - what was the idea of taking Lowe out for Pedro? I almost had a heart attack!
I know I picked a Astros-Sox World Series, but I'd much rather have the Cards make it in. So here's to LaRussa's band for a great day tomorrow. Then, whoever makes it, it's go Sox!
btw - what was the idea of taking Lowe out for Pedro? I almost had a heart attack!
I hope the Red Sox crash and burn in the playoffs and that Houston wins it all. I want to see Clemens kill the Sox and give the Astros their first World Series title. Am I a sore loser Yankee fan, yes, I will never root for the Red Sox and I hope they get a royal beating.