October 4, 2008

Where We Stand

AL
Red Sox lead the Angels 2-0
Rays lead the White Sox 2-0

NL
Dodgers lead the Cubs 2-0
Phillies lead the Brewers 2-0
Today:
Phillies (2)/Brewers (0) at 6:30
Cubs (0)/Dodgers (2) at 10
The AL is off today.

First of all, thank you to the hacktastic Angels hitters for making six outs against Jonathan Paplebon on only 21 pitches. And 13 of those pitches were to the final two batters. After Chone Figgins's triple, the next four LAA hitters saw 1, 2, 4 and 1 pitches. Excellent strategy! The Angels' roster is now 2-for-48 (.042) against the Bot.

J.D. Drew said he
absolutely ... thought at some point I was going to have shut it down and just watch the team through the playoffs. ... [M]y legs are coming back underneath me and I'm trying to grind out at-bats, play good defense...
More on Drew. ... Jason Bay is enjoying the playoffs. ... Jacoby Ellsbury has a 20-game hitting streak, including the regular season and ALDS.

Where was Manny Delcarmen last night? I cannot find any information on whether he was ill, hurt, in Tito's doghouse ... nothing. Amalie Benjamin notes that
Going to Justin Masterson out of the bullpen instead of fellow righthander Manny Delcarmen in the eighth inning of Game 1 demonstrated how far Masterson has come this season
which is certainly true, but it doesn't explain why Francona chose to not go to him in the final three innings last night.

Lots of fun facts here, including
Dating to the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series, the Angels have led in just seven of the past 94 playoff innings against the Red Sox.
That's only 7.4%.

34 comments:

laura k said...

What a game last night!! We are ON FIRE. Time to break out the brooms.

Hey gamethreaders, sorry to bail on last night's thread. I'm sure I missed a great party. But I won't miss Sunday's extremely dirty water party.

Red Sox Monster said...

I could be mistaken, but I think I remember Delcarmen warming up at one point. Wonder what happened there.

tim said...

What an amazing game. I was at my old summer apartment visiting with the regulars that live there (back for the fall school term) and watched it there, thus the lack of threading.

That was INTENSE. And yeah, MDC was warming last night. Not sure what happened there either...

allan said...

Having turned off the sound by the late innings and not always watching the screen (being at work and all), I must have missed any shots of MDC.

Maybe his stuff was off in the pen (perhaps Bot's migraines are contagious!) and they opted to not risk it.

andy said...

I woke up this morning hangover free. Championship Juice for the win.

nick said...

bummer I couldn't stay away for the rest of the game (lasted 5 innings), but I've been working long days lately and succumbing to a cold.

Woke up this morning to see the line score.. wow! Sounds like a great game to watch.

Jason Adams said...

RevHalofan over at halosheaven.com called last night's game the "most painful moment in the history of this franchise".

nixon33 said...

theres chatter over at SoSH that manny was in the tunnel that K-Rod came out of when he entered the game. unconfirmed reports, of course, but people swearing that its him.

"Yup...it's Manny. You can see him at 3:12:23 on the MLB.com archived game. He's wearing a white bandana and a green shirt, and is standing in the tunnel where K-Rod comes out.

It's a pain to get to: you have to get the archived game to 3:10:26, right when Shields strikes out Cora, and watch it through Ellsbury's walk."

Ajax said...

Doesn't that Pedroia/Ortiz pic remind you of these two guys?

http://www.picturepush.com/public/1087992

s1c said...

Hey gamethreaders, sorry to bail on last night's thread. I'm sure I missed a great party. But I won't miss Sunday's extremely dirty water party

Chances of me making the party is nil, BH and I off for the annual anniversary (24 years into a life sentence). This year it will be at the lake where internet is spotty. Still looking forward to Captain Kick Ass well, kicking ass.

allan said...

Missing Game 3 sucks, but the ALCS will be the place we finally get some competition.

laura k said...

Chances of me making the party is nil, BH and I off for the annual anniversary (24 years into a life sentence). This year it will be at the lake where internet is spotty.

I remember when you missed a post-season game for last year's anniversary - happily and uncomplainingly, it seemed. (As I recall, you did sneak in a bit of threading anyway!)

Happy Anniversary to you and BH! Enjoy and we'll see you for the ALCS.

laura k said...

I did actually watch the whole game last night, but the announcers were driving me insane. It was simply unbearable. I had to put the TV on mute, which means I can't thread.

allan said...

Check this out. From SoSHer Eric Van:

Biggest plays of last night's game, according to WPA:

10. Hunter 5th inning 2-out RBI 1B makes it 5-3 (.115)
9. Papelbon gets Anderson to pop up with tying run on 3B and 0 out in 8th (.125)
8. Masterson fans Kendrick with bases loaded and 1 out in the 8th (.131)
7. Masterson walks Napoli with 2 outs to force in a run and make it 5-4 (.138)
6. Masterson fans Aybar with bases loaded and 2 out to keep it 5-4 (.155)
5. Ortiz leads off the 9th with a 2B off the wall (.171)
4. Bill Miller squeezes Masterson on a 3-2 slider to Rivera that grabs 2" or 3" of the zone high, loading the bases with 1 out rather than leaving runners at the corners with 2 (.184)
3. Bay hits 3-run HR in first (.205)
2. Figgins triples to lead off the 8th (.268)
1. Drew homers in 9th (.359)

Van: "Did anyone realize that a blown umpire's strike call was the single biggest play of the dramatic 8th? And that it was nearly as big a play as a 3-run homer in the first inning? Getting a 3-2 pitch wrong in the middle of a late-inning rally is a huge, potentially game-changing event. (Not to mention any blown safe / out call on the bases.)"

************

9casey said...

redsock said...
Missing Game 3 sucks, but the ALCS will be the place we finally get some competition.

Let's finish this one first, and when we do , I believe the trend will continue Angels dominates us in the regular season , Red Sox dominate in the postseason......Rays beat us in the regular season we dominate in the postseason......I was shocked when I read this last night, I don't know if he was kidding or not.....

phil said...
I hate the FKR, mostly because I fear them. I'd rather face Chicago.



Good thing he doesn't play....We are the defending champions, and like I said earlier if Beckett dominates tommorrow I believe the Rays will fear us, If they already don't....

allan said...

PHI: 0
MIL: 2

(phillies up 2-0)

laura k said...

the trend will continue Angels dominates us in the regular season , Red Sox dominate in the postseason......Rays beat us in the regular season we dominate in the postseason

1, there is no postseason trend when it comes to the Rays.

2, postseason trends don't mean anything anyway. If they did, the Yankees would have won the WS in 2001, and would have the ALCS in 2004.

It's all new. It's good to be optimistic, but there's no real reason to think the Rays will go down quietly.

nixon33 said...

well, im officially "shipping up to Boston" tonight for tomorrows game.
WIN.
have fun everybody!


LETS FUCKING GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

s1c said...

Happy Anniversary to you and BH! Enjoy and we'll see you for the ALCS

Thanks, when does that ALCS start?

Looking forward to this get away. First time in years that BH won't be having any problems (knock on wood). Will be leaving here shortly for the lake as BH and B-fly just got back from dance meetings etc. See you all on Wednesday!!!

love that 3rd important play being a blown call on a 3-2 pitch.

allan said...

ALCS Game 1 - Friday

9casey said...

L-girl said...

It's all new. It's good to be optimistic, but there's no real reason to think the Rays will go down quietly.



I'm not trying to be optimistic, I am being realistic....



All new? Not for us....


L-girl said...

but there's no real reason to think the Rays will go down quietly.


There is a real reason, and thats Beckett and Lester.its a formula that has worked well for the Sox , have 2 dominating pitchers in the postseason = World Series..Thats why Becketts start is so huge tommorrow....We maybe up 2-0 but we need him to be Beckett....

You look at '05 and its obvious why we lost....Clement, Wells, and Wakefield= sweep


'04 Martinez and Schilling
'07 Beckett and Schilling


With all due respect it's not Rocket Science...

The only thing that could fuck up my whole fucked up thought process is the bullpen, both of them the Rays and ours......

laura k said...

You're right, it's not rocket science, it's baseball, which means it's unpredictable.

laura k said...

Bye s1c, bye Nix, HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!

allan said...

L-girl said...
but there's no real reason to think the Rays will go down quietly.

9casey...
There is a real reason, and thats Beckett and Lester.


I went off to check their stats against the Rays this year and they are superb. I'm sure I'll be mentioning them in greater detail later in the week!

allan said...

PHI: 000 001 0
MIL: 200 010 1

allan said...

Still 4-1, last chance for the Phillies.

allan said...

PHI: 000 001 000 - 1 9 0
MIL: 200 010 10x - 4 11 0

9th: Phils get 3 straight singles to load the bases, but Feliz GIDP on the 1st pitch. But the run does not score??? WTF?. Then 3rd out.

PHI leads 2 games to 1.

allan said...

CHC:
LAD:

underway, lee with 2-out double in top 1st.

harden/kuroda

Rob said...

9th: Phils get 3 straight singles to load the bases, but Feliz GIDP on the 1st pitch. But the run does not score??? WTF?. Then 3rd out.

Victorino didn't slide into second, instead ran at the second baseman and hip checked him out of the way. Feliz was out at first but it was an automatic DP anyways for interference.

The run scored, but then Dale Sveum came out and argued the point, "reaching deep into the MLB rule book" according to TBS guys, and the umpires agreed, sent the runner who scored back to third base.

Rob said...

This TBS crew has a fucked up crowd mic. It was the same thing in Chicago... it makes it sound like the crowd is constantly booing.

Rob said...

Dick Stockton just said Vin Scully covered "many more" World Series before 1955. lolz.

andy said...

Any screen shots of the manny in the tunnel thing? I do remember seeing the dreadlocks and a rag on a guys head that resembled manny but it did not jump out at me. I more intrigued that Fraud had to walk out through people. I am sure I would have noticed if it were manny. It makes sense since he was back in LA last night. Maybe the Angels are courting him.

Rob said...

Oi, I'm having a hard time staying awake in this game! All of this late night baseball's catching up to me.

Rob said...

Let's root, root root for the Cubbies, if they don't win it's the same....