RED SOX WIN GAME 1

[daryn]

oh baby, what a performance by Wake!

[Dynasty]

For Red Sox fans who want to feel optomistic, here are the three options the Yankees have.

1. Win four of the next five games.
2. Beat Pedro Martinez in game 7.
3. Lose.

[daryn]

well put!

[southerndog]

Nice!

[andyfox]

Masterful performance by Wakefield. No walks thru 6 innings was the key.

Mussina has pitched relatively poorly his last 3 outings (last start of the regular season, Minnesota start, and last night).

Is it me, or do the Cubs and Marlins look like minor league teams compared to the Red Sox and Yankees?

[J.R.]

"Is it me, or do the Cubs and Marlins look like minor league teams compared to the Red Sox and Yankees?"

If so, its time to get rid of some dead weight on the big league roster and bring the kids up. You can't be serious, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, Ivan Rodriquez and Mike Lowell (yeah, he put up those numbers missing a month of the season) have you seen Derek Lee play first, Luis Castillo might be the perfect 2 hitter, Juan Pierre on top of the lineup, Sammy, amongst others.

I mean, are the Red Sox a major league team, cause who in their right mind would let a 28 year old (in all fairness he did a great job down the stretch getting bullpen help) and Grady Little run a big league ballclub? Shouldn't Grady Little be selling insurance instead of making all the wrong moves in the national spotlight.

I think this has been one of the most exciting playoffs in recent years, and I honestly think any team can win it. I love baseball.

[daryn]

[virgolettewho in their right mind would let a 28 year old (in all fairness he did a great job down the stretch getting bullpen help) and Grady Little run a big league ballclub?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, because we all know that your age is directly proportional to your ability to run a baseball team.

theo is a big reason why they are where they are right now.

[J.R.]

I honestly think that age (ie experience), is important in running a baseball team. I think Theo has done a great job that has been greatly suprising to me, but I still can't believe they made a 28 year old their GM. I don't think they would have won the wild card if he didn't make the bullpen improvements he made. I'd also love to see them beat the Yankees, Grady's antics notwithstanding.

[andyfox]

Gutsy job by a sub-par Pettitte. Looks like Torre has lost confidence in Jeff Nelson (and with good reason). Contreras looks very solid.

Prediction: the team that wins game 4 will win the series.

Yeah, Wood and Prior are special, and there are certainly some other talented players on both the Cubs and Marlins. Must have been the influence of those 13 home runs that made me feel like those two teams couldn't stand up to the AL teams. I agree: I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the four teams take it all down.

As for a 28 year-old running the club, the old time general managers are, how shall I say, idiots. Cashman has the bank to play with, but it's the younger GMs in Oakland, Boston and New York (Yankees) who know what they're doing. Theo is a Beane (who was John Henry's first choice) and Bill James disciple. I think the Sox are in good hands, better than they would be had they recycled an old-timer with old-time ideas about running a team.

As for Grady, I have to admit I haven't been impressed by his in-game strategic decisions, but then again Bobby Cox is bad too, so who knows.

One thing we are definitely in agreement on, and that's your last sentence.

Saturday's Re Sox/Yankees game should be a classic. Hopefully it won't turn out to be a 13-1 non-classic like it was a few years back.

[Dynasty]

[ QUOTE ]
Prediction: the team that wins game 4 will win the series.

[/ QUOTE ]

From the Red Sox perspective, that's the least important game. John Burkett should be starting.

[andyfox]

After 3 games, the game score is either 3-0 or 2-1. No team has ever come back after being down 3-0 and since the game score is 1-1 now, it's a moot point.

But up 2-1, if you can win game 4, you're in the driver's seat. If you're down 2-1 and win game 4, you're back in the hunt.

For the Sox, suppose the Yankees beat Pedro on Saturday. Now game 4 becomes crucial, Burkett or not.

BTW, given Lowe's performance on the road this year, would you have moved up Burkett to start tonight? I'm not sure when he last pitched, but given the Sox were sort of playing with house money having won the first game, and that Lowe pitched two games in relief recently, what do you think?

[bugstud]

Not to beat a dead horse here, but each of the 3 teams remaining have a decided weakness, and probably aren't as familiar with the NL teams. It's ok, I'm probably not 100% correct that the Yankees hitting is utter crap with Bernie not playing like Bernie and the gaping void in RF, and their lack of bullpen (and anymore starting pitching) to get to Rivera. The Red Sox can't count on anyone besides Pedro to completely shut down anyone, and the bullpen...is the bullpen.

The Cubs seem to have no idea when the bats will show up, and no relief other than Borowski or Farnsworth to reliably bring in. The Marlins can't play Cabrera and Lowell at the same time (nice trade for a useless Conine at this point) and have inexperienced and very unsteady starting pitching.

I'm a Cubs fan, but I think a Cubs - Sox series is not only perfect, but it's going to happen. I just hope that Chicago doesn't sink into the lake after a New Madrid quake when the Cubs are on the verge of clinching in game 5.

[Dynasty]

Lowe's home/road split is mostly an anomaly. He pitched very well in September so I'm sure he'll be fine when he pitches again in game 6.

If you look at game 4 after three games have been played, it's always going to seem important. Then, when 4 games have been played, game 5 seems most important. Then, when 5 games have been played, game 6 seems most important. Game 7 is rarely important though.

[Ed Miller]

But for the love of god, please Red Sox, beat the !@#$ing Yankees for once.

Who couldn't want a Cubs-Sox series?

[andyfox]

I'm not quite sure "utter crap" is an accurate description of the Yankees's hitting, but it is certainly a less imposing lineup than that of the Red Sox. Even more critical, I think, than Bernie not being Bernie is Giambi not being Giambi. When he was with Oakland, he was absolutely the toughest out possible with men on base; same thing for last year with the Yankees. Now, as a Yankee fan, I cringe when he's up in a crucial situation. Injuries, whatever, he's just not the same hitter he was.

The Yankees have always had a hole in their outfield. The problem used to be left field, now it's right field. I guess they figure they get more offense from catcher, second base, and shortstop than most other teams, they can afford the weak hitting from an outfielder.

Next game in each series is interesting in that the Cubs and Sox have their ace going and figure to win. But if they lose, it might be a psychological blow, and then they each have a weaker pitcher going in game 4.

[adios]

As the venerable Casey Stengel once said:

"Pitching is 90% of the game and vice versa"

Or to take change Yogi Berra's quote of:

"Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical."

And change it to:

"Pitching is ninety percent of baseball. The other half is hitting"

Perhaps Casey said it best with:

"It's high time something was done for the pitchers. They put up the stands and take down fences to make more home runs and plague the pitchers. Let them revive the spitter and help the pitchers make a living."

Casey had this to say about Yogi Berra once:

"They say he's funny. Well, he has a lovely wife and family, a beautiful home, money in the bank, and he plays golf with millionaires. What's funny about that?"

Anyway might enjoy this web page if you haven't come across it yet:

Baseball Quotations (http://baseball-almanac.com/quomenu.shtml)

[andyfox]

Good page, Tom.

Yogi really didn't become that funny until Joe Garagiola started to make a living off of it. The two of them grew up together on the "hill" in St. Louis.

Yogi won 3 MVP awards in 1951, 1954, 1955. In 1955, he hit .272 and Mickey Mantle hit .306 while leading the league in home runs. Shows you how much the writers thought of Yogi's value even in an "off" year. Stengel said the secret of his success with the Yankees was that he never played a game without "my man," by which he meant Berra. Berra played in more World Series games and has more rings (10) than anyone in history. A great, great player, maybe the greatest catcher ever.

[jstnrgrs]

You know that if we get a Cubs - Redsox series, instead of inteligent comentary on these two great teams and discussions of how they will match up, the media will talk of nothing but curses for the length of the series.
Thats a shame because it would be a great series just based on the quality of the baseball alone.