off topic....

During the "hot stove" months, there is only so much one can write about baseball.

Sure, I can write about my beloved 49ers, who after half a decade of futility which pushed them off the screens here in the UK I now can see in almost HD glory each weekend through NFL.com's HD Gamepass.

Sadly, a sharper TV image does not equate to a sharper pass defense or a more accurate journeyman QB. Thankfully Gamepass did not include a HD shot of Mike Singletary's pantsless display.

However, despite a win yesterday, 2008 is truly yet another transport journey to a top 10 draft pick. Alas, I do not think this will change until the Niners get an owner who actually knows enough about football to own a team, but conversely realises he knows too little to meddle in everyday runnings of the actual team. (Hi Al Davis and John York). Although it now seems abandoned to an extent, you can still visit www.dumpyork.com for some more musings on this topic.

So, with no baseball, no football and nothing really to write about the premiership right now apart from another weekend of poor referreeing (ok, so the 'Pool will be top after tonights game!), what can I write about?

The frustrations of international migration? The fact that it seems near impossible for a highly educated career driven person to move to another continent?

Alas, as I don't want to ruin any chances in the future, I'll keep my frustrations inside whilst I wait for a more sports oriented topic to come around.

US State Dept, please find my application among the other millions...

Dream Team

1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia
3. DH David Ortiz
4. 1B Mark Teixera
5. 3B Kevin Youkilis
6. RF JD Drew
7. LF Jason Bay
8. SS Jed Lowrie
9. C Jason Varitek

RH Josh Beckett
LH Jon Lester
RH Daisuke Matsusaka
RH Jake Peavy
RH Tim Wakefield


CL Jonathan Papelbon
SU Hideki Okajima
SU Ramon Ramirez
MR Manny Delcarmen
MR Javier Lopez
LR/Spot Starter Justin Masterson
LR David Aardsma

Bench:
OF Rocco Baldelli
C Jarrod Saltalamaccia
IF Julio Lugo
1B Jeff Bailey

On can dream, can't we?

If you can't stand the heat....

For those who follow international rugby, the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, are well known for their pre game ritual.

They perform a Haka, a maori war dance, before the kick-off of every game. Whilst I find it very entertaining, nobody in their right mind can refute the fact that part of the ritual is to intimidate the opposition.

So why is it now that the All Blacks throw their toys out of the pram when an opposing team very classily refuse to be intimidated by their gamesmanship?

My blood pressure was pretty high but then I regained my composure. I was a bit upset about it.

This quote comes from the All Black's centre Ma'a Nonu, who got his panties in a bunch when the Welsh team decided to form a line and stare down the war dancing Kiwis.

But it was really hard. The haka is a war dance. If you're going to stand there like that then in the past people would have charged, but it's a rugby match and you can't do that.

Ehh...really??

So one team is allowed 2 mins of choreographed intimidation, but the other team forming a single line and staring back is outrageous?

Honestly Nonu, wake up and smell what you're shovelling. I enjoy the Haka as much as anyone, but if you do gamesmanship, then you better be prepared for getting some your way.

These mean Welsh are not playing fair when they're not being intimidated by our war dance...

To quote an OC girl....

Oh, puh-leeze

The little engine that could

For the second time in three years we have the previous years ROY become the MVP the following season.

After gargantuan Ryan Howard did it in the NL for the Phillies, the somewhat more vertically challenged Dustin Pedroia did it for the Red Sox.

And yes, the vote should have probably been closer, and yes, Joe Mauer was also a very valid choice, but I will not argue with the voters....for once.

Dustin Pedroia plays with a chip much larger than his shoulder. His size has always been an argument thrown in by perhaps less knowledgable pundits, and yet everytime he's confounded his critics by outperforming expectations.

Yes, he only hit 9 HRs in 2008, but he also led the league in doubles and his clutch hitting was on occasion superb.

Whilst Youk and Mourneau had v good years, I suspect part of the issue is that we simply don't expect that much offensively neither from a catcher or a second baseman.

This year we had two standout 2B, Chase Utley and D-Ped, which shows that the game is continually evolving.

Now we just wait for the recession busting contract coming to a tv screen near you.

9 figures? Honestly?

MLB Idol

After a short break, we return to the regular programme schedule....

With the actual awards based on merit; Silver Slugger and Cy Young, out of the way we now head on to the popularity contest that is the MVP.

To clarify for the uninformed, the MVP should be by definition be given to a player, who in comparison with his team mates has stood out across the MLB as the Most Valuable Player, i.e the team would not have been anywhere near where they ended up without said player. Also, it is not supposed to include post season feats, regardless what a bitter Albert Pujols said in 2006 when he lead the Cards to the playoffs but still lost out to Phillies' Ryan Howard who was spending October on the couch.

I see it this way: Someone who doesn't take his team to the playoffs doesn't deserve to win the MVP - Pujols, November 2006

"You have to consider everything. You have to put all the numbers together" - Pujols, November 2008

Way to turn the coat Albert. Now, don't get me wrong. Based on the context that only regular season feats playing part in the decision, both choices were correct. Pujols is a maginificent player, and his .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs was head and shoulders above anyone else on the Cardinals and he carried, on a dodgy elbow, the team for most of the season.

However, it still raises issues about how the selection process is made. Just consider these figures for a second:

AB H HR BA OPS SB
546 173 50 .317 1.091 5

AB H HR BA OPS SB
550 165 39 .300 .963 11

Here's a hint - the second line, clearly inferior to the first one was awarded the AL MVP in 1995. The first line belongs to the Indians' former slugger Albert Belle, generally considered among sportswriters (as in the people voting for the MVP) as one of the surliest jack-asses in baseball. The second line belongs to Mo Vaughn, an mountain of a man (towards the end of his career a completely immobile mountain of a man) and a very genial man in dealing with the press.

Buster Olney of ESPN once wrote about Albert Belle:

It was a taken in baseball circles that Albert Belle was nuts... The Indians billed him $10,000 a year for the damage he caused in clubhouses on the road and at home, and tolerated his behavior only because he was an awesome slugger... He slurped coffee constantly and seemed to be on a perpetual caffeinated frenzy. Few escaped his anger: on some days he would destroy the postgame buffet...launching plates into the shower... after one poor at-bat against Boston, he retreated to the visitor's clubhouse and took a bat to teammate Kenny Lofton's boombox. Belle preferred to have the clubhouse cold, below 60 degrees, and when one chilly teammate turned up the heat, Belle walked over, turned down the thermostat, and smashed it with his bat. His nickname, thereafter, was "Mr. Freeze."

When Belle retired, the NY Daily News' Bill Madden wrote:

Sorry, there'll be no words of sympathy here for Albert Belle. He was a surly jerk before he got hurt and now he's a hurt surly jerk....He was no credit to the game. Belle's boorish behavior should be remembered by every member of the Baseball Writers' Association when it comes time to consider him for the Hall of Fame.

Hold on for a second...shouldn't the MVP be given to the best player, not the most friendly good player? NY Times writer Robert Lipsyte agreed:

Madden is basically saying, 'He was not nice to me, so let's screw him.' Sportswriters anoint heroes in basically the same way you have crushes in junior high school... you've got someone like Albert Belle, who is somehow basically ungrateful for this enormous opportunity to play this game. If he's going to appear to us as a surly asshole, then we'll cover him that way. And then, of course, he's not gonna talk to us anymore—it's self-fulfilling.

This is one of the two fundamental flaws in the voting process. It simply becomes a popularity contest. In 1947 the Red Sox splendid splinter Ted Williams, who was no friend of the 4th Republic, lost to the friendly Hollywood Yankee Joe DiMaggio, despite Williams winning the Triple Crown.

Williams numbers; .343, 32 home runs and 125 RBIs were far superior to DiMaggio's .315 with 20 home runs and 97 RBI, but one writer left Williams off the ballot completely after a clash with Williams, thus allowing DiMaggio to win the MVP by one point.

The second issue normally affects the top teams. A team cannot win 90+ games by having just one great player. Therefore teams like the Red Sox and the Yankees sometimes lose out on MVPs because other players "splinter" the vote.

This year it seems the 4 front runners for the AL MVP come from two teams; Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis from the Red Sox and Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer from the Twins. An outsider with a considerable shot is Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who of course set a new single season record with 62 saves (but in the process lowered his strike outs to a career low 77 since becoming the closer in 2002 and had a not too impressive 2.24 ERA).

The announcement is made later today. Now we wait.

In space nobody can hear you screaming

Did you hear that?

For the second time in less than a week, Fox executives let out angst ridden screams. First the whole Manny vs. the Red Sox story was eliminated with the Dodgers, and now the Phillies will face a team that couldn't even sell out much less their own arena than stadiums across the country.

Phillies v. Rays.

Chew on that for a second.

Taste as good as a Red Sox vs. Dodgers WS?

Not for Fox management....

Even last year's Red Sox vs. Rockies series, with RSN fans across the country watching every play, still produced the second to last rated series in terms of television ratings ever.

Think the Rays and Phillies will beat that? Analysts say not. And I don't doubt them. Sure, the Rays from zero-to-hero story makes for great headlines, and most fans now know of Longoria, Upton and perhaps even Shields. Baldelli's story also makes for a heartwarming tale, as does Maddon's unorthodox views on baseball management.

Big ratings it does not.

For a World Series to rate, it requires a sub plot that non-partisan casual followers of baseball can be bothered to turn on the television set for. Manny trying to shove it to the Red Sox, or the Sox trying to shove it to Manny, etc.

This is why the CS normally rates higher than the World Series. Non-Yankees and Red Sox fans would still watch an ALCS between the two teams. Dodgers vs. Giants (not that such a matchup is likely in the near future) or a Cubs-Cardinals series would increase the ratings.

And honestly folks, ratings is what it's all about.

Ratings allow YES to generate enough income for the Steinbrenner family to consider buying every player in the MLB.

Ratings allow Fox and TBS to pay MLB enough money that allows the Mariners to give a 4 year $48m contract to Carlos Silva. And the SF Giants to sign Barry Zito to a $126m contract for that matter.

Ray-Phillies? As much as baseball purists might enjoy the quality of baseball, a ratings driver it ain't.

Now what?

The Rays were throughout the season, and eventually in the postseason, the better team.

One can look at injuries to Lowell, Beckett and Big Papi as reasons for the Red Sox slump, but ultimately the Rays were simply better.

As much as I am glad to be free of "Manny-being-an-asshole", it was clear that we did not have a hitter that made the pitcher, the opposing manager and their fans quake in their seats - the way BJ Upton made most of us feel during the ALCS.

So, whilst most of the current Red Sox no doubt will be back there are some question marks.

"Guaranteed" to come back are of course Youk and Pedroia. The OF will most likely consist of Bay, Ellsbury/Crisp and Drew, and Lowell should have a few more years in him. If not Lars Anderson is hitting the skin of the ball in the minors and could come up to play 1B with Youk moving over to third.

The rotation looks pretty set if Beckett comes back to health, with Lester, Dice-K, Beckett. Wakefield and Byrd are bigger question marks, but Buchholz and especially Bowden in the minors.

The bullpen could do with some help as Timlin most likely is hanging up his hat (at least he should). Okajima found his form a little bit towards the end of the season, but Ardsmaa could assist and Daniel Bard might find his way up towards the end of 2009.

However, the big issues facing Epstein and co are of course shortstop and catcher.

Shortstop could be solved internally with dumping Lugo and putting Lowrie permanently at short, but catchers are in short supply within the organisation. Kevin Cash is not a long term answer, and as there are not many options on the open market a trade, possibly for Laird or Saltalamacchia from Texas being mentioned.

Now I'm taking a few days (or weeks) off from baseball - if nothing else I'll be able to sleep!

MMMoney, money, money, money

Imagine you being a highly paid surgeon for a top hospital. Now imagine you choose to, just through pride, to help out your vet friend and end up injuring your hand, rendering you useless for your actual employer.

Think the hospital executives would be more than a little miffed? And probably rightly so.

However, in the world of international sports, although my analogy perhaps isn't the most watertight of comparisons, this happens with a scary frequency.

Now, I'm one of the biggest fans of international football there is, especially the World Cup, which normally takes my already certifiable sports madness to new heights.

Still, I am feeling more and more for the teams that actually pay huge transfer fees and sometimes even higher salaries for top athletes, only to have them go away to play a bunch of former Soviet minions only to come back on a stretcher.

The most recent round of World Cup qualifiers saw Liverpool's Fernando Torres carried of with a thigh injury after 16 mins in Spain's game against Belgium, Manchester City's Bulgarian midfielder Martin Petrov tearing his ACL in his country's WC qualifier against Georgia and City's recent last minute acquisition Robinho strain his thigh in Brazil's qualifier against Colombia.

Now, players will always want to play for their country (with a few notable exceptions), but sooner or later a huge lawsuit will be filed against a national football federation from a team losing its top star for the season, or god forbid career. Only after more than a year of negotiations did the English FA agree to reimburse Newcastle for Michael Owen's season ending injury during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

I suspect that international qualifiers are now one of the most dreaded times of the year for club managers, as their own futures can in cases completely rely on their stars making it back from their international duties unscathed.

Oh Captain, my Captain

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head;

It is some dream that on the deck,

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;

Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

There's a general consensus in the baseball world, especially among executives - catchers are not able to sustain their performance very long into their 30s. Anyone who's ever caught behind the plate at any level of baseball surely realises it's pretty hard work. Now image doing that 5 days per week for 3-4 hours a pop for at least 6 months per year!

Pudge Rodriguez (aided by Scott Boras) signed a 4 year $40m deal with the then hapless Tigers at the age of 33. Pudge is, and rightly so, considered as one of the best "two-tool" catchers of all time. Apart from a sensational defensive catcher (48% of all basestealers gunned down in his career, by far the best ever), he was also a very potent batter. Not very surprisingly Rodriguez average and slugging percentage peak of .332/.588 came at the age of 28 in 1999 (Excluding his injury shortened .347/.667 2000 season when he only played 91 games). Clearly, there are more than just stats in play when it comes to the catcher position, such as leadership and the ability to handle and guide the pitching staff, something Pudge did well for most of his time with the Tigers (although there were a few grumblings in Detroit) . However, in his 5 years there, he never bettered his first season of .334/.510 with 19 HRs (admittedly, a superb year for anyone, much more so for a catcher), and anyone who saw his sorry shadow of a former self in his .219/.323 in 33 games with the Yankees must be joining me in thinking - "Pudge, you've got countless of millions in the bank, pack it up now..."

After the 2004 season, at the age of 32 the Red Sox went against their own policy and offered Jason Varitek (and Scott Boras) a similar $40m, 4 year contract (albeit without the flood of injury protection the Tigers managed to put in theirs). Uptil then, the Red Sox would not go past 3 years for any player older than 30. (See Martinez, Pedro and Schilling, Curt.) V-Tek, considered without equals in regards to handling a pitching staff, was never a batter of Rodriguez standards, but coming off a .297/.482 season with a career best average (He was a .271 life time batter after the 2004 season), the Red Sox decided he was a risk worth taking.

As my math skills are not at Bill James' level, I am unable to look at how much Varitek's handling of the Red Sox pitchers have aided the teams success, but I think it's safe to say that he has been a huge factor in that respect, especially considering he's been behind the plate for 4 no-no's in his career. However, as many Sox fans, I have with pain watched his steady decline in the batters box. From .281 in 2005 to .220 in 2008, Varitek is now just marginally more dangerous at the plate than an NL pitcher. A sad indicator is the increasingly frequent number of times Francona has lifted Varitek for a pinch hitter late in games, most recently in game 5 of the ALCS when pinch hitter Sean Davis sadly struck out.

If the Rays, and they're still clearly odds on favourites, knock out the Red Sox in either game 6 or 7, game 5 might have been the last time for Varitek in a Red Sox uniform at Fenway. Question is if Varitek, a Boras client, would be willing to take a more limited role in a short deal with the Red Sox for 2009, or if he would seek a longer contract elsewhere.

I am personally torn.

As with Pedro leaving in 2004, Varitek's best days are long gone, and sometimes it's better to remember someone at their best rather than to see their decline in front of your very eyes. 2008 has not been a good year for Varitek, neither professionally (disregarding Lester's no-no in May and still the faint hope of a WS place) nor personally, but I still wonder if he will walk away happy with a career including 2 rings, a Little League WS and a College WS, or if he will be yet another professional athlete staying in the game just that little bit too long.

My heart does not want him to be finished, but my head suspects it is so. I hope he proves me wrong, not that he really needs to prove anything to anyone anymore.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

(Apologies to Walt Whitman)

O M G....

Wow. Just wow.

Do they do this intentionally? Have they come to the conclusion that the only way they can win the CS is to tank it initially so that their backs are against the wall? Is that how they get motivated?

Well, good for them. Although my left arm is still tingling a bit - is that good or bad?

Honestly, how the hell do you come back from down 7-0 in the 7th of an elimination game with your offense at that point having gone 0-fer-a billion?

Big Papi, 1 for 15 in the series swatting a fastball down and in like it was an annoying little bug and launching it 325 feet into the corner past the Pesky pole. Just like he used to do on a weekly basis in previous years, but have been so painfully unable to do since...well, I was going to say his wrist injury, but actually more or less all of 2008. Apart from a surge in May prior to his wrist injury, he's clearly been less than his lethal self for most of the year.

Let's hope that this is the start of a Big Papi revival. Despite monster performances during the regular season from Pedroia and Youk and from Bay in the post season, the Red Sox does not, I repeat, NOT stand a chance against the Rays unless they have a more potent home run threat from the heart of the order.

I am still waiting for Francona to announce that he's changing the rotation and letting Lester pitch on Saturday in game 6. Don't you think that would put some thoughts in the Rays' heads?

I know they roughed him up last time at Fenway, but he's simply too good to have his intimates handed to him on a plate twice in a row. Also, a long, solid, outing from Lester would allow the Sox to throw Beckett (on a short leach), Dice-K, Masterson et al at the Rays in game 7.

I thought they were dead donkey's last night prior to the 7th. Now I'm not so sure.

True, there is no question of which team is the better one. The Rays hit better, pitch better, field better and run better, but we're almost through the looking glass now. Now it comes down to cojones and experience. Let's see if last night brings a return to the Rays of game 1. The Rays that looked tighter than Ari Gold's golfing trousers.

If so the Red Sox have a fighting chance. Although damn you Phillies for clinching it in 5 so that Saturday's game starts at 2am here... I have to leave for the airport at 7am on Sunday morning, so that will be difficult to fit in...

Schwetty Balls

Wow.

This is heavy stuff. I'm still a little bit surprised at the Rays' batters impatience at the plate.

Top 9th, Bos 2 Tam 0...

Deja Vu all over again.

I suspect the rotation will be:

Game 1) Dice-K
Game 2) Beckett
Game 3) Lester

Sometimes you're good, sometimes you're just lucky... :) As the Globe wrote, because the 1-2-3 starters would get two starts each in a 7 game series, the only important factor is not the order of the starters but more the rest period, which made it completely sensible to start the rotation in the order it pitched in the ALDS.

Tonight it's Dice-K v James Shields. The Rays and the Red Sox are going out of their way to play down the past skirmishes between the teams, and I think they're right. I doubt any Red Sox players would be so stupid to risk being thrown out of a CS game, but we'll see if the Rays are as cool headed, considering their lack of post season experience.

As ESPN pointed out, Varitek and Ortiz have on their own more post season at-bats than the entire Rays roster, but the Rays looked very composed against the White Sox. Peter Gammons asked for a 7 game classic and I think he will get one in this series. Shields has been solid, Sonnenstein has been outstanding but Garza and Kazmir has been below average recently. Kazmir had a good year, but has been lit up by the Red Sox, going 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the regular season. Similar with the Red Sox, Dice-K has been solid, Lester outstanding and Beckett has been hurting. It will come down to the rotation depth and form, but I'm predicting (with my heart), the Red Sox in 7.

8.37pm ET. I will be in front of the TV - where will you be?

A horseman

This day is one I did not think would happen - I actually agree with Tim McCarver....

"It's extraordinary -- the dichotomy between what he was in Boston and what he is in Los Angeles," McCarver said, according to the Philadelphia Inqurier. "I mean, talk about wearing out your welcome in a town, and it was a long welcome with the Red Sox. But some of the things he did were simply despicable, despicable -- like not playing, refusing to play. Forgetting what knee to limp on. And now it's washed, it's gone."

However, as I commented on before, this is more a making of Boras than Manny, but still it's good to see that more people are seeing the light of what happened...

Another Ludicrously Draining Series

After the Sunday night blip, the Red Sox clinched the series after more than a few plays going their way during the ALDS.

Now, after going 1-13 against the Red Sox in the post season since 1994, including 11 straight losses, I can understand the Angels being less than happy. I agree with the Halos' ace John Lackey when he says:

[On Sunday] they scored on a pop fly they called a hit, which is a joke

And it must be difficult to contain the emotions, and in fact it's not healthy to, after another difficult exit, but the Halos have many other points that I'll just give them the benefit of the doubt considering their new vacation plans.

[On Monday], they score on a broken-bat ground ball and a fly ball anywhere else in America [except in Fenway Park]. And [Pedroia's] fist-pumping on second like he did something great.

Ehh...yes. Pedroia kind of did. He used his surroundings to the fullest. Whilst the Green Monster turns what would have been fly ball outs into doubles, it also turns what would be line drive homeruns into doubles. Pedroia is a good example. On would on the surface expect that his diminutive stature is helped by the Green Monster, giving him a home run advantage at home. However, looking at his stats, it's the opposite. He's hit 7 of his 17 HRs at Fenway this season. True, of his 54 doubles, 35 came at home, clearly an advantage, but you have to wonder how many of those would have been a homerun in any other park.

Finally Lackey brings out the old chestnut to disparage the winning opponent:

We are way better than they are. We lost to a team not as good as us.

Ehh....no. If you win, you are better. If you lose, you are not. It's a pretty simple equation. Of course the Angels point to their league leading 100-62 regular season record. Looks good on paper, doesn't it?

A closer look points out that the Angels went 36-21 within the AL West, against such powerhouses as the Rangers (79-83 final record), Athletics (75-86) and of course the punching bags the Mariners (61-101) who the Halos went 14-5 against (The Red Sox when 6-3 against the Mariners). The Mariners won all season series agains their AL West opponents.

In comparison, the AL East had 4 out of 5 teams with winning records, with the Red Sox only winning one season series (Baltimore, 12-6), whilst tying the season 9-9 with the Blue Jays and Yankees and losing 8-10 against the Rays.

So sure, following the motto "You can only beat the team put in front of you" the Angels were clearly better in the regular season, including a spanking 8-1 record against the Red Sox.....

...but the Red Sox have gone from October hopeless to October hopefuls. The Red Sox, always sure to lose in the most agonising way in the post season, or even stumble on the last steps leading there, are now the mental giants of the pressure cooker that is October baseball (or November if we let the MLB decide).

No matter what obstacles arise, the Red Sox believe that plastic wrap will adorn the locker stalls come October. They expect closer Jonathan Papelbon to dance a jig eventually, designated hitter David Ortiz to man the clubhouse stereo with flair, and the home clubhouse carpet to require about four industrial strength cleanings over a four-week span.

The new mindset is analysed by ESPN's Jerry Crasnick, and it does indeed seem as the Red Sox is a different animal after its recent post season success. However, you only need to ask the Patriots if you think that a feeling of entitlement gets you anywhere...

(And as a matter of full disclosure - going into this series I thought Papelbon would be playing golf in Florida by now...)

Finally, a quick look at the upcoming ALCS;

Thankfully, the MLB seems to have listened to my complains about the starting times of many games ;)

Game 1: Friday, Oct. 10, 8:37 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)
Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 11, 8:07 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)
Game 3: Monday, Oct. 13, 4:37 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 14, 8:07 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 5*: Thursday, Oct. 16, 8:07 p.m. (at Boston)
Game 6*: Saturday, Oct. 18, 4:37 p.m. if NLCS is still being played; 8:07 p.m. if not (at Tampa Bay)
Game 7*: Sunday, Oct. 19, 8:07 p.m. (at Tampa Bay)

It seems as we might be able to get 2 reasonable start times and two weekend evening starts, which obviously helps the sleep deprived of us, in and outside the US.

As for roster, the biggest debate is which rotation to go with. The Red Sox are announcing their starting pitcher for Friday's game 1 sometime today, and Francona have a few conundrums to deal with.

Does he start Lester on 4 days rest on the road, or does he save him for game 3 at Fenway where Lester has been almost unbeatable this season? A Game 3 start would mean Lester would start a possible game 7, alternatively Game 1 of the World Series if the Red Sox make it that far.

If not Lester, who to start? Beckett could go on his normal 5 days rest, but Sunday proved that this is not the same Beckett as last year - or perhaps this Sunday's game was a blip? His start against the Rangers at the end of September was magnificent. Still, I think there are some remaining physical issues going on.

Or Francona could go with the long term record and start Wake? The main question is which Wake would show up - the one who went9-1 at Tropicana Field up to September 2007 or the one who went 0-2 in three starts there this year.

Finally, there's Dice-K, who somehow laboured himself to a somewhat deceiving 18-3 record this year, but finally showed that he can pitch with runners on, something he struggled with in 2007.

I suspect the rotation will be:

Game 1) Dice-K
Game 2) Beckett
Game 3) Lester

after that it's a crap shoot!

Now to wait another two days....

Geography

As I have no real affiliation to any particular region in the US, but instead picked my NFL team based on the first game I ever saw and my MLB team on a multitude of factors, including feelings for that particular city and events from moments there, I sometimes end up in strange emotional places.

Also, subsequent directly and indirectly related events and other people's affection for certain teams have elevated a general feeling of indifference to a true sense of dislike of the coach and certain supporters.

With this in mind, I still found it a bit odd that I found myself on Sunday night rooting fiercely first for my beloved San Francisco 49ers against the increasingly loathsome Patriots, and a few moments later passionately for my Red Sox against the Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels of California/Anaheim/Pasadena/Los Angeles. Now, I am the first one to admit that Tom Brady reminds me in many many ways of my first football idol; Joe Montana. Brady's poise in the pocket, with small adjustments to get away from pass rushers before launching another beautiful pass and his cool head in the face of extreme pressure is very reminiscent of the Bay Area favourite. Still, whilst Belichick has proven that he is a superb coach, he's also proven that he has can bend and break rules without compunction, both in his professional life and his personal life, thus at least for me not a deserving target of my respect. Also, my feelings towards the Patriots are compounded by the presence of Randy Moss and some fans.

Simply put - I don't like the Patriots.

Of course this causes raised eyebrows considering my immense devition to the Red Sox, as "normal" people follow the teams from the same city. If you're a Boston devotee, then it should be the Celtics, the Red Sox, the Patriots and if you're a glutton for punishment - the Bruins.

However, when I decided to follow the MLB, I could not bring myself to follow a team with Barry Bonds, and the A's are almost as close to Candlestick as the Mariners, so that was not really an option.

So here I am, cursing the Patriots one second and rooting for the Red Sox the next. I suspect something only a non-US person can relate to.

And those years when I was knee deep into Fantasy Football it got even worse...I once found myself wanting the Cowboys to score because I had Cowboy WR on my FFL team.

That's probably a step too far.

Wow...

Jason Bay is doing his best to make us forget about the Manny era...

4 runs against the Halos, all with 2 out, in the top of the first. And pushing Santana's pitchcount close to 30 after 1.

As I write this, Dice-K sat down the first two Halos...this could be a hole the LA gang might not crawl out of.

And yes, this one I am watching live...wearing my 38 jersey :)

Another 100 years?

The Cubs really have run out of excuses this time.

Despite a very good performance from Carlos Zambrano (if you exclude the pitch to Martin in the third and Manny's homer), this time there was no Goat Curse, not Bartman to blame it on. In a game where all four infielders committed errors, including a howler by second baseman Mark DeRosa that essentially blew the game for the Cubbies, they are now in a hole that I doubt they'll be able to get out of. With the Dodgers flying, and with one loss in the next 3 games knocking the North Siders out, I suspect that Going Back to Cali will be more enjoyable for the LA natives than the Cubs.

Interestingly, this is a series that the "experts" all got wrong. Of ESPN's ten strong jury, only Jim Caple went with the Dodgers.

Admittedly, this is a little bit late, but here are my predictions:

ALDS: Red Sox over Angels (3-1) and Rays over White Sox (3-1)
NLDS: Dodgers over Cubs (3-1) and Phillies over Brewers (3-0)

CS: Red Sox over Rays (4-2) and Dodgers over Phillies (4-3)

WS: Red Sox over Dodgers (4-1)

As for the Red Sox, I think that unless Dice-K is actually willing to challenge batters on the inside half of the plate and keep his off-speed pitches down (he leaves a lot of them way to up in the zone), the Angels have enough power to take advantage of him. Luckily we should have Beckett on Sunday and Lester either in game 4 on Monday or certainly if needed in game 5 on Wednesday.

The Puppet Master

Following on to Bill Simmons brief post about Scott Boras' puppet master role that I commented on in an earlier post, Bill has now followed up with a very intruiging post on ESPN's Outside The Lines.

He is to some extents flabbergasted about the sudden change in attitude towards Manny and his antics, considering that his "Manny Being Manny" act hardly was news. Even in his Cleveland days did he act like he didn't really care about anything.

Wasn't it hypocritical for any Boston fan to turn on Manny after we willingly signed up for the Manny Experience in December 2000 ... for better or worse, like marriage? We knew we were getting a happy-go-lucky, mercurial slugger with Hall of Fame numbers whom everyone described as "odd but lovable."

He also looks at the role played by the sometimes incredibly virtiolic Boston press (That means among others, you CHB), and the control of the media the Henry ownership has established since taking over the club:

Although it's usually impossible to jettison a popular star without a backlash from fans, the Red Sox wield unprecedented sway over nearly every relevant media outlet that covers them. One of the team's minority partners, the New York Times Company, happens to own Boston's signature newspaper (The Globe). The team owns a cable channel (NESN) that shows every Sox game, pregame show and postgame show. The Sox signed cushy deals with Boston's signature sports radio station (WEEI) and sister station (WRKO), and since those rights always can be shopped to a competitor down the road, you'll see CC Sabathia hit an inside-the-park home run before a Red Sox owner gets ripped to shreds on WEEI. They even have good relationships with every relevant national writer, including Peter Gammons, the face of baseball for ESPN, a beloved figure in New England and a longtime friend of general manager Theo Epstein.

This is not a mean feat considering the animosity between the Yawkey trust and the Boston press prior to Henry's purchase of the Red Sox, as Seth Mnookin chronicled in his book Feeding the Monster that I wrote about earlier this year.

Simmons highlights one of the biggest issues in Manny's departure from Boston, something very rarely mentioned in the press. As the original 8 year contract with two option years held by Boston at $20m per year was negotiated by Ramirez' previous agent, Boras would not get a cent of commision if the Red Sox picked up the options, as was generally expected of them.

As Manny Ramirez's memorable Red Sox career began to crumble for good, two people were to blame (Manny and Boras), and yet we only heard about one of them. Had the identity of the second villain been revealed, maybe Boston fans wouldn't have been so eager to downgrade from a first-ballot Hall of Famer to Jason Bay.

I myself, like many others, was getting more and more tired of Manny's antics this year, especially his treatment of Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick. However, Simmons points out that apart from the McCormick event and the fracas with Youkilis in the dugout, what was Manny doing differently than before?

But what was Manny doing exactly? How was Manny's latest "funk" much different than Carlos Delgado seemingly mailing it in until Willie Randolph was fired, then miraculously regaining the ability to smile and hit home runs for Jerry Manuel?

He also points out the obvious - if Manny had not been traded, would Boras have allowed Manny to tank the last 2 months of essentially a contract year?

Once the trade was complete, the hatchets were brought out in full by the Boston press, with only Jerry Remy being the single voice of restraint.

Only NESN's Remy handled the situation diplomatically, defending Manny's tenure in Boston while expressing the appropriate amount of outrage at his recent behavior. Remy said he believed the Manny soap opera had affected the clubhouse and needed to be resolved. You know, because these guys were tired of being distracted from more important things, like playing poker, texting their friends or having 15-minute conversations centered around topics like "Does my bat feel heavy?" or "If it burns when I pee, that's bad, right?"²³ But like me, Remy had developed genuine affection for Manny and seemed perplexed by those final few weeks. He kept coming back to the one question that nobody else seemed to be asking.

"Why?"

And that, folks, is the million dollar question. Do we actually think that Manny masterminded a plot to get him out of Boston, or did the greediest and most ruthless agent of all time have more than a finger in the pie?

I know who I think is responsible, but of course the Devil claims complete innocence.

Imagine a Red Sox - Dodgers World Series. How sad would it be to hear the Fenway crowd boo a player that contributed so immensely to the Red Sox two championships?

I for one hope that the Dodgers get knocked out, but with a 2-0 lead going back to LA, that looks difficult, and I'm not sure if the Phillies have enough to stop the Dodgers in a possible NLCS.

Simmons final point is the most difficult to deal with. What if he ends up with the Yankees and we get to face him 19 times per year. Here's to Frank McCourt doing the only sensible thing and giving Manny a 4 year deal - hopefully not for more than $20 per year. If Manny thought playing in Boston came with a media pressure he didn't like, imagine what it would be like in NYC. Or perhaps he can just ask A-Rod.

Image from ESPN.com

Speed kills

It is well known that excessive speed kills. It kills in people in traffic, and last night it killed the Halos too.

Jacoby "Roadrunner" Ellsbury got on base 5 times, stole 2 bases and clearly rattled Lackey everytime he got on. Not to forget his incredible speed to catch up to Teixera's bloop hit into shallow CF. Think JD would have caught up to that one if the Sox had agreed to that 4 year deal?

I think not.

Also, in this case a lack of speed from a previous speed demon killed a Halos rally when Youk's heads up play got Vlad out trying to go 1st to 3rd - Halos normal mantra.

So now the Red Sox are 10-0 against in the post season against Scioscia's men, and 1-0 in 2008 with Dice-K and Beckett to follow. If only TBS would even remotely consider the timeslot of these games...

Still, in the interest of full disclosure - I did not watch the game live. I caught the replay this morning, going out of my way not to find out the score.

At least game two is on Friday...

Actober time again

NFL is going country to country, playing games in Japan, Mexico, Canada and the UK, pulling out all the stops to make pigskin a truly international sport. Or at least have a truly international following. Sundays during the NFL season are quite easily enjoyed by fans in Europe with games starting at 6pm, 9pm, and if you have the energy, midnight.

In the mean time, the MLB is scheduling the post season games for the Halos-Sawx series to when?.....that's right, a lovely 3am GMT first pitch on a Wednesday. Even the people on the US East Coast must be going WTF??? Even if it's the best pitcher matchup in post season history and the game is only 3 hours long (they increase the inbetween inning breaks during the post season) it will finish at 1am local time in Boston.

Way to go MLB...

In other news, despite going 0-3 in his final game of the season, Joe Mauer managed to finish on a .328 average to sneak the batting title from Dustin Pedroia who finished with a .326. Still, I'm sure D-Ped is happier to be in the post season with the Sox sans batting title than Joe is, sitting in Minnesota watching the games on TV (if he can stay awake that is).

Also, with Beckett pushed to game 3 of the ALDS, The Kid Lester will take the mound for game 1. Unfortunately the Halos have very few lefty batters, but I still am confident in Lester and his 2.95 post all-star game ERA to give the west coasters a few things to think about when they take the batters box. And not to forget the shellacking the Red Sox gave Lackey in the last post-season game a year ago.

Sadly, the Red Sox are not the team they were a year ago. With lingering injury worries for Lowell and Drew, and a substantially more shaky bullpen, this will not be an easy series.

I just hope I'm able to see any of it...

MVP race

Remarkably, the second post of the day, albeit a short one.

Jerry Crasnick goes through the numbers and cases for the main 5 AL MVP candidates, and of course two of them are from the Red Sox; Youkilis and Pedroia.

Bitter grapes you say? I don't care, I still find it ironic that the Red Sox best shot at an AL MVP for several years is after Manny's departure...

However, I still find it wrong that MVP votes are affected by whether the team or not makes the playoffs - it shouldn't, and without Cliff Lee the Indians would have struggled to beat AAA teams.

Class act..and not

So, the Rays faltered, yet again, ever-so close to their ultimate dream and the first ever AL East title. With three games left, the Red Sox need to sweep the Yankees while the Tigers do the same to the Rays. Stranger things have happened (see Nationals vs Mets, Sept 2007), but I doubt it. Especially as Tito is setting up the team for the playoffs, holding Lester to an 85 pitch count last night.

I told him that was the first time I've ever rooted against him. The only way you're going to see something like that, it would've had to have been a group effort.

When Lester had gone through 5 innings without allowing a single hit, the Red Sox found themselves in the strange situation of wanting a hit for the Indians to break it up, so that Lester could have a short and nice 86 pitch outing instead of another essentially meaningless 130+ pitch bid for his second no-hitter of the season. (The first one was magic - trust me, I was there!). His forced departure after 6 innings also allowed Sox fans the comfort of actually watching three innings of 1-2-3 pitching by Masterson, Okajima and Pap. I think Masterson will turn out to be the ace in the hole for an intermittently shaky 2008 bullpen in the playoffs.

And although I didn't make it to the final in my fantasy team, I had the pleasure to ride Lester and Dice-K's arms all season...

On another note, and the reason for today's post title, away from the Yankees, their unceremoniously ejected former leader Joe Torre is enjoying another trip to the playoffs - and despite his statements to the contrary, I suspect it deep down inside Torre might be even moreso as his former team is looking forward to golf rounds in early October for the first time since 1993.

Although there are members of the Yankees that I do not care for, I've always respected some of them; Torre and Jeter comes to mind. In Stephen A. Smith's column on ESPN, Torre takes the high road, which is understandable considering his close ties to several of the Yankees players and current manager.

Still, whilst I rate Torre very highly - his post game press outings were always a smidgen more open and honest than you normally hear, although one of Torre's strengths was handling the rabid NYC media very well - as a Red Sox fan enduring Ramirez complete abandon of his duties and responsibilities until he got what he wanted (unbelievable that you can throw your toys out of the pram to such a degree when you're loved by the fans and paid $20m per year) it's a bit annoying that the ultimate reason the Dodgers made the playoffs was because of the arrival of a certain Manuel Aristide Ramirez.

Whilst I loved watching one of the best hitters of all time torment Red Sox opposing pitchers, his "Manny being Manny" act was tiresome, but somewhat manageable.

However, as Bill Simmons points out in his current ESPN The Mag column, we shouldn't perhaps focus the blame for Manny's transition from annoying yet affable to downright tanking and manipulative on Manny himself. Let's be honest, if he didn't have the best eye of the strike zone and pitches since the nineteenhundreds, his most common frase would most likely be "Do you want to supersize that?". Sharpest tool in the box he is not.

We must never forget that Scott Boras is the greediest, most manipulative agent in sports history.

How true that is. And to think I was considering a career in the sports agency business once upon a time....I only hope that GM's realise both sides to the Manny coin and do not fall for the sudden "resurgence" and give him the $25m per year, 4 year contract he wants. As soon as Manny gets it, he'll be back to "Manny being Manny".

Finally, it's worrying to see that more and more young Red Sox players are tempted by the dark side of the force...

Image from Soxnation.net.

Pesky Shirt

Despite the Sox win last night, the Rays improbable comeback from an 0-6 hole against the O's means that the Rays magic number for the Division title is now 1.

With 4 games to play.

I think it's safe to say that Tito will now turn his attention to the upcoming Halos of Southern California series starting either Wednesday or Thursday next week. The start date is up to the Halos - as the holders of the best record in the AL, they get to choose if they want to play a 7 or 8 day ALDS. The questions surrounding the playoff roster are many and could heavily affect the Sox chances. With two semi-healthy position players in Lowell and Drew, can Tito risk a recurrance of their injuries? John Tomase goes through many of these issues in today's Boston Herald.

Although I'm normally somewhat hesitant of retiring numbers in sport - for me it's the ultimate honour and possibly even carries more weight than the HOF - for Johnny Pesky I am willing to make an exception. In my limited lifespan as a Red Sox fan, I have never encountered a player that was so loyal to the team and followed them with a fervour so, so long after his playing days were over. It warms my heart to see that no.6 will be retired on Friday.

Finally, Steve Buckley goes through D-Ped's sensational season for the Sox. Honestly, I think he should be a very, very serious candidate for AL MVP. I'll go through the contenders later to see how he measures up stat by stat.

Insomnia time again...

After a lot of near misses in the last week or so, the Red Sox finally clinched a play off spot last night after taking 22 game winner and possible AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee of the Indians to the cleaners in an eventful 5th inning.

However, despite the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993 (Buster Olney at ESPN has an interesting look at the pillaging the Yankees did to its own farm system over the last money-laden, drug-binging years), the Red Sox still look unlikely to clinch the AL East like it did in 2007. Those Icarus like Rays have a 3 game lead over the Sox in the division, and despite ending the regular season on the road, one final game against the O's followed by 4 games at Tiger Stadium makes it unlikely they'll lose the grip on the division.

The Red Sox finish with two more games at home to the Indians before a three game series at Fenway against a demoralised Yankees. Despite the Yanks being out of it, there are several factors coming into play.

Will Tito go all out for the title in an attempt to avoid an away ALDS series against the Angels in Anahem and try to get a home series against the ChiSox/Twins, or will he instead rest players and adjust the rotation for the playoffs. I suspect everything hangs on tonight's games.

(Check out ESPN's Hunt for October for all the possibilities)

As usual, the NL is a mess, with teams falling over each other in an attempt to fall out of the playoffs....

As DC said, there's only one Soxtober..

Love/hate relationship

Being a relative newcomer to baseball (7 years) and as a Red Sox fan (almost 6 years), plus not being a Boston native, I have yet to develop the “standard” love/hate relationship to the Red Sox that many long time fans seem to have. At least those who became fans prior to 2004.

When I started following the Sox in 2002/2003, the general atmosphere was one of extreme loyalty, but also combined with the somewhat fatalistic view honed by decades of nearly-rans.

Sure, the Sox are great in June-July, but come September they’ll slump.

As I was not following baseball during most of the horrible 86 years between 1918 and 2004, (apart from witnessing my own obvious horror show hosted by Aaron Boone at 5am one October morning in 2003) I have had to understand history by reading many a book on baseball and the Red Sox. It is painfully obvious that being a Red Sox fan prior to 2004 was like being a sucker for punishment. Every opening day was filled with new belief, but also a little bit of trepidation of the inevitable letdown that will come at some point. You would love the Sox, but they would also break your heart every year.

Personally, the City of Boston nowadays holds a similar emotion in my psyche. Boston is without a doubt one of my favourite cities in the world. One snowy February night 5 ½ years ago I proposed to my then girlfriend there, and for years that amplified my attraction and love for Boston. Finding out years later that some horrible things affecting me personally had happened in the very same city shattered my love for Boston. I struggled very much just watching my beloved Sox on television, knowing what Boston now represented for me, looking in the crowd on the TV feed for people I loathed, and loathing even more that people I hated with a passion were also supposedly Red Sox fans.

How could I reconcile these conflicting feelings in my head? How could I love the Sox while having such a love/hate relationship with the concept of Boston itself. Only then did I realise a little what the long time Sox fans had been going through. Falling in love with the Sox, only to have your heart shattered. I truly felt like a “proper” Red Sox fan….

Today the atmosphere is very different. I returned to Boston, found love again, not only for the city, but also for people there. Like my love returned and healed my heart, Bostonians now encounter different emotions for the Sox than before.

8 games behind the AL East top? Doesn’t matter, we can catch them!

As strange as it might seem, there are young Red Sox fans who think that the team always wins in the end. There are new “fans” that came to the Nation after the 2004 glorious (yet for me personally with hindsight very difficult) win, certain people without any baseball interest paying fortunes for World Series tickets so that they can say “I was there”. Whilst I’m of course happy that people flock to the gorgeous temple that is Fenway, like with any other successful team there will be bandwagon jumpers (see: Manchester United). Although I do not feel that the pink B caps are an abomination like Kristen does in her great Basegirl blog, (in fact I got my girlfriend a pink cap – sorry…), I feel more annoyance towards the bandwagon fans who think the Sox will do no wrong.

Similar to my personal life where I am now a little bit guarded, I follow the Red Sox with a smidgen of concern, knowing how fragile a team ultimately is. A season ending injury (god forbid) to Lester or Beckett would have serious effects on any post season chances.

However, I still find myself opening up and allowing old battle scars to fade, knowing that life will go on even if the Sox lose, but life will be just that little bit better if they do win.

Upside down world...

What has happened?

Was that one of the four horsemen I saw?

Since when do the Red Sox utter a sigh of relief that they're leaving the Trop and heading to the Stadium?

Sure, the Rays are for real, no doubt. They have, after 12 or so consecutive top 3 draft picks managed to field a very talented and young team (and let's not forget the Kazmir for Zambrano trade - yet another brilliant move by the Mets). Longoria leads a superb defense and they are certainly for real. However, the difference maker this year is that several players are having career years, including the old sock Hinske, who's playing out of his skin.

We'll see if the Rays are still in it when injuries hit in August/early September, as they inevitably will.

Still, not complaining that we're 6 games ahead of 4th (!) place Yankees.