Posted by Steve Tomassetti On November - 1 - 20093 COMMENTS
We’re here, Live, in Wachovia Lot F just across the street from Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park… Ground Zero for the double-sport double-header that is about to happen as the Philadelphia Eagles play host to the division rival New York Giants at 1:00pm EST, then at 8:20pm, the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies host the best team money can buy in the New York Yankees.
All updates will be made from the sports complex via the Motorola DROID and the Verizon Wireless 3G Network. All images, audio and video will be recorded and edited on the Droid as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 28 - 20091 COMMENT
It all comes down to this, and it’s really no surprise. The Phillies, the defending World Series Champions, were favored to go back to the World Series all the way back in spring training. On the American League side, it was a tossup between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Always nice when a plan comes together.
For the Yankees, it’s their first trip back since they beat the Red Sox in the now legendary 2003 ALCS. You know the one: That’s the game that Boston manager Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in just a little too long, and he gave up the tying run in the 9th. Then Aaron “F’n” Boone hit the walk-off homer off of Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Ah, but I digressed. This season, we will be treated to an offensive slugfest. We will have the number one offense in the American League against the number one offense in the National League. We will have the Philadelphia Phillies’ powerhouse Ryan Howard (45 HR, 3st in NL) against the New York Yankees powerhouse Mark Tiexiera (39 HR, 1st in AL). Those two should set all kinds of records in the next ten days. Howard, along with Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez, has already tied the record for consecutive post-season games with an RBI (8), with Lou Gehrig.
Both the NLCS between the Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the ALCS between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, were very exciting series that no baseball fan could have been disappointed with.
In the NLCS, the Phillies beat the Dodgers in 5 games. While their overall team batting average was nearly identical, (Phillies .231, Dodgers .232), the Dodgers starting lineup out hit the Phillies’ line up .243 - .235. But, the Phillies made their hits count. They outhomered the Dodgers 9-5, and hit more than twice as many runs in (30-14).
Right fielder Shane Victorino hit .368 in the series with 6 RBI, and constant superstar and NLCS MVP Ryan Howard hit .333 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in the 5 games, with a ridiculous OPS of 1.457. But the unlikely hero was catcher Carlos Ruiz, who hit .385 with 1 HR and 4 RBI, with an OPS of 1.287, much higher than his season average of .255 with a .680 OPS. And while Jason Werth only batted .222, three of his four hits were HRs.
Phillies’ pitcher Cliff Lee continued his mastery that he brought with him from the American League when the Phillies traded for him at the trading deadline in August. He faced the Dodgers once in this series, going 8 solid innings in the win and not allowing a run and lowering his post-season ERA to 0.74. Pedro Martinez also pitched 7.0 masterful innings in Game 2, giving up no runs on two hits, but the one run that Philly scored just wasn’t enough and LA scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th off of reliever Chan Ho Park for their only win of the series.
The Yankees had a tougher time than many expected with the Angels, but still out performed them at every offensive statistic from batting average (.279 - .236), to HR (8-3), to RBI (30-18), to walks (38-18), to OPS (.835-.651). Right fielder Nick Swisher, who hit 29 HR with 82 RBI during the season, provided almost no offensive support during the series. He hit a dismal .150 with no extra base hits and no RBI and 7 strikeouts. On the other hand, center fielder Johnny Damon hit .300 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, and shortstop Derek Jeter, while only batting .254, scored 5 runs while hitting 2 HR and driving in three more.
But, the real Yankees’ hero, and the guy who should have gotten the ALCS MVP in my opinion (sorry Dad), is Alex Rodriguez. While C.C. Sabathia pitched great, and won both games that he pitched, it was Rodriguez who really destroyed his post-season demons, maybe forever. In this series alone he batted .429 with 3 HR and 8 RBI, getting the walk-off HR off of closer Brain Fuentes in the bottom of the 11th in Game 2. Oh, he also had 8 walks and only 3 strikeouts with an OBP of .567.
While Sabathia may not have been deserving of the MVP which he won, it was not because he didn’t do everything asked of him and more. It was more that he just wasn’t as deserving as Rodriguez was, in my opinion. I’m sure there are those of you who are reading this right now who think I’m crazy, and some of that may have nothing at all to do with the MVP award. In 2 games, he pitched 16.0 innings and gave up 2 runs on 9 hits with 12 strikeouts and only 3 walks for a 1.12 ERA. Considerably better than his previous four post-season games with Cleveland and Milwaukee in 2007 and 2008 where he went 1-3 with a 9.47 ERA over 19.0 innings pitched.
Sabathia gets the nod in Game 1 against former Cleveland Indians teammate and fellow Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee (Sabathia won in ’07, Lee won in ’08). Sabathia did pitch one game against the Phillies earlier this season and went 8 innings on a no decision. He gave up 3 runs on 9 hits. Of all the current Philly batters combined, with nearly 100 at bats against him in his career, only Raul Ibanez has 2 HR against him. Both Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino have gone 3-for-7 (.429) against Sabathia.
Phillies’ new ace Cliff Lee has made the most of his first post-season appearance. In his game against the Dodgers, he only allowed 3 hits and no walks with 10 strikeouts. He went 1-1 against the Yankees this season giving up 4 runs on 16 hits over 12 innings. Being an AL pitcher for so long, he has faced the Yankees batters several times. Jeter has done very well against him, batting .407 with 5 RBI. Tiexiera has batted .391 against him with 1 HR and 6 RBI. Johnny Damon is about the only regular Yankee player who has done poorly against him batting a dismal 2-for-22 (.091). If you take him out of the mix, the rest of the regular lineup has hit well over .300 against him.
Game 2 features the Phillies Pedro Martinez against the Yankees A.J. Burnett. For Martinez, facing the Yankees is nothing new. Like Lee, he has faced them many, many times. In fact, he has faced them more than any other opponent, and he has done pretty well against them. While he only has an 11-11record over 32 games, his 3.20 ERA is pretty decent as is his 1.075 WHIP against them. If you look at the top 5 players with the most plate appearances against Martinez, three of them are Yankees: 1) Jeter - 99, 3) Posada - 69, 4) Rodriguez – 60. Overall, individually, he has done great against them, holding the current players to .230 average. Rodriguez has batted .291 against him with 1 HR, 4 RBI, and 19 strikeouts, but this is a different A-Rod. Jeter has a career .256 average against him with 3 HR, 6 RBI and 22 strikeouts. Everyone else in the current Yankees’ lineup has a career average of .200 or less, and many of them have very high strikeout totals. In other words, in the past, he has been their daddy.
The Yankees plan on countering with A.J. Burnett, who will participate in his first World Series. Burnett is an interesting case study. He can be completely unhittable, and he can be knocked all over the park. You never know which Burnett is coming to the mound. That’s what makes it so much fun. The last time he faced the Phillies, he got beat up pretty good. He gave up 5 runs on 8 hits (including 3 HR) over 6 innings pitched. The current Phillies’ lineup has a career batting average of .265 against him. He has faced Jimmy Rollins 50 times and Rollins has a .256 average with 1 HR and 4 RBI. Several of the regular lineup is sub-.200, with the exception of Raul Ibanez (.257) and Chase Utley (.286).
Slugger Tiexiera has a good track record against Phillies’ pitching. He has that career average of .391 against Lee, plus .667 against J.A. Happ. Overall, he’s hitting .315 against them with 6 HR and 19 RBI. Rodriguez is also doing pretty well batting .283 in his career, with 8 HR and 22 RBI. Johnny Damon is batting a pretty lame .194 against Philly pitching with 1 HR and 3 RBI.
On the other side of the diamond, Ryan Howard hasn’t faced many Yankees’ pitchers, but he has faced Burnett and he hasn’t done well against him, batting only .167 with 2 HR. Raul Ibanez, who played most of his career in the AL, has a .282 career average against the Yankees with 5 HR and 26 RBI. He’s batted .275 against Sabathia and .286 vs. Pettite.
The other major factor to consider is how the bullpens match up against each other.
I’m not talking about closers Brad Lidge vs. Mariano Rivera. That’s another discussion that we’ll get to in a moment. I’m talking about the setup guys. The Phillies have Ryan Madsen, J.A. Happ (Possible NL Rookie of the Year), Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, and now Brett Myers. Sorry, I’m still not convinced that Chan Ho Park is legit. He’s too inconsistent. Always was. Always will be. The Yankees have Phil Coke, Philip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Damaso Marte. Advantage – Philadelphia. Their pitchers are much stronger and much more consistent.
Now, let’s talk for just a moment about Rivera vs. Lidge. There is almost no discussion. OK, I’ll give you that Lidge has looked like the Lidge of 2008 this post-season. But he is not Mo Rivera. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he is the greatest post-season pitcher of all time. Until someone can prove me different, he has my vote. Sorry Philly Rob, you couldn’t convince me. Advantage – New York
So, is this going to be a World Series dominated by great pitching? After all, there are some great pitching matchups. Or, is it going to be a World Series where we are going to see hitting clinics on display? Since, as previously mentioned, we have the best offense in the AL against the best offense in the NL. Either way, this has all the makings of being one of the most exciting Fall Classics in a very long time.
If Philly wins, they have the distinction of being the first NL team since the ’75-76 Reds to repeat, and only the 3rd NL team since 1900 to repeat. Even if they lose, they have nothing to be ashamed of, being the first NL team to even make a return trip since the ’96 Atlanta Braves. In fact, it is so difficult to repeat that if you remove the several times that the New York Yankees did it over the past 100 years, the only teams to repeat were:
Philadelphia Athletics (1910-11, 29-30), Boston Red Sox (1914-16), New York Giants (1921-22), Oakland A’s (1972-74), Cincinnati Reds (1975-76), and Toronto Blue Jays (1992-93). Pretty short list.
Game 1: Wed Oct 28, in New York
Game 2: Thu Oct 29, in New York
Game 3: Sat Oct 31, in Philadelphia
Game 4: Sun Nov 1, in Philadelphia
Game 5: Mon Nov 2, in Philadelphia if needed
Game 6: Wed Nov 4, in New York if needed
Game 7: Thu Nov 5, in New York if needed
PREDICTION: NEW YORK IN 7 GAMES (but I have to say, if Philly had home field advantage, I could be persuaded to pick Philly in 7)
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 22 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
In the American League Championship game on Tuesday night between the Yankees and Angels, some very poor base management occurred between Yankees catcher Jorge Posada who was on third base and Yankees’ second baseman Robinson Cano, who was running from second base to third. For some reason, Posada didn’t run home, leaving both men on the third base bag at the same time. Angels’ catcher Mike Napoli alertly and correctly tagged out Cano, who was not on the bag anyway, then he noticed that Posada wasn’t on the bag either and tagged him also.
Third base umpire Tim McClelland incorrectly called Posada safe and play resumed. Instant replay clearly showed Posada was not on third base when Napoli tagged him, not from one, but from every single angle. And it didn’t take several minutes. It was shown on the big screen in right field before Angels’ manager Mike Scocia even reached the third base line to argue.
This was just one more in a series of awful calls this post-season. There is no question that we have seen some of the worst officiating this post-season that we have had the displeasure of seeing in a very long time. In the 21 post-season games we have seen to date, going back to the Divisional Series, we have seen horrendous calls made at first base, second base, third base, along the foul line in the outfield, and some very questionable balls and strikes. No series has been immune.
Three weeks ago, in a Southeast Conference football game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the LSU Tigers, with moments left in the game, Georgia scored what they thought was the winning touchdown. As they behaved like young men, reasonably celebrating their significant accomplishment of possibly beating the then 5th ranked team in the country, something shocking happened: The referee in the end zone threw a flag on them for excessive celebration.
This resulted in LSU getting fantastic field position on the ensuing kickoff and scoring relatively quickly and easily to end the game. Immediately after the game, SEC officials reviewed the penalty and declared that there was no excessive celebration by Georgia players and that no flag should have been thrown. While the penalty didn’t specifically cause the Bulldogs to lose, it certainly contributed to their loss.
Last Saturday, the #1 ranked team in the nation, the Florida Gators, played at home against the unranked Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks gave the Gators one of their toughest games of the season, leading by a touchdown nearly the entire game. Late in the 4th quarter, Arkansas was hit with a 10-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave Florida a 1st down and helped fuel their game tying touchdown. Florida ultimately won the game with a last second field goal. The next day, both SEC officials and the head referee, the one who made the actual call, said that the call should not have been made and it was a bad call. The block thrown by the Arkansas player was a clean hit and there was nothing wrong with the play. Again, the call didn’t cause Florida to win the game, but was a contributing factor.
Oh, the point to this, in case you’re wondering is that it was the exact same referee crew in both the LSU-Georgia game as the Arkansas-Florida game. The SEC has taken swift and decisive action and has suspended the entire crew. They are not eligible to work their next scheduled game, and are not allowed to work another game until November 14th. It is still up in the air whether or not they will be allowed to work a bowl game or not.
Major League Baseball can learn a lot from this example. Note the phrase quick and decisive action. While it’s true that umpires who work one post-series of games do not work the next series (baseball’s way of spreading the wealth). For example, the team that is working the NLCS cannot work the World Series. It’s also very clear that when an umpire makes a call that is so apparently wrong that it’s admitted by all parties immediately after the game, he shouldn’t be allowed to work the next game in the series. Particularly when that botched call directly affects the outcome of the game, or a scoring situation, as we’ve seen several times already this post-season.
Yes, umpires are human, and they make mistakes. But the problem is that baseball’s outright refusal to use instant replay, compounded by the overall arrogance of the umpires in general is so great that they often don’t even feel the need to confer with colleagues to make sure they got the call right, begs for something to be done.
This is the last season under the current umpire’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. A new CBA will begin with the 2010 season. There is still time to work out new details and put in new procedures for umpires to follow. There is still time to give them the help they so desperately need to get the calls right. There is still time to put in punishments for umpires who don’t perform to the levels that is expected of them at the major league level.
Why can’t they be suspended for a series or two? Why can’t they be sent back to Triple-A for 30 days for extra instruction? Players are when they don’t perform. So are coaches and managers. What makes umpires special that they should get any different treatment?
This is the opportunity for change. Right now. If things keep going in the direction they are, or stay the same, baseball has no one to blame but themselves.
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 16 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
This year’s National League Championship Series is a replay of last season’s: The Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers of course, hope it’s not an exact replay, because last season, the Phillies beat them in five games.
It did not take very long for the Dodgers to dispatch the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series. Everyone on the planet expected the Cards to take care of the Dodgers, maybe even sweep them. The Dodgers shocked the baseball world by completely shutting down the Cardinals’ hitting and taking advantage of pitching mistakes, and being the ones doing the sweeping.
Dodgers’ pitchers held the Cardinals’ batters to a .262 average, with 1 HR and only 6 RBI over the 3 games. Matt Holliday was held to a .167 average with a solo HR. Albert Pujols went 3-for-10 (.300) with no homers and only 1 RBI. The Cardinals’ best hitter of the series was rookie Coby Rasmus (likely NL Rookie of the Year). Rasmus hit .444 (4-for-9) with 3 doubles and an RBI.
The Cardinal’s pitchers didn’t do any better. The three starters combined for an 0-2 record with a 4.76 ERA over the three games. The relievers were not bad, however. In 8.2 innings pitched, they only gave up 2 earned runs for a 2.08 ERA. Cy Young Award candidate Chris Carpenter got lit up in Game 1 for 4 runs on 8 hits and 4 walks for a 7.20 ERA. Cardinals’ other Cy Young candidate, Adam Wainwright, faired much better. He pitched a gem in Game 2. He only gave up 1 run on 3 hits over 8 innings. But closer Ryan Franklin couldn’t close the door and gave up 2 walks and 2 singles, with an error sandwiched in the middle, to blow the lead and the save for the Cardinals’ 2nd loss of the series.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, batted when they needed to and pitched much better than anyone expected. As a team, they batted .276. Both Andre Ethier and Rafael Furcal hit .500. Ethier, my series MVP, hit for the series cycle, if there is such a thing. He had a HR, a triple, 2 doubles, and 2 singles, 3 RBI, and 5 runs scored. Not a bad three game set.
Their starting pitching was very, very good. 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA over 17.1 innings pitched. They were anchored by Vincente Padilla, of all people. Padilla was completely given up on and outright released by the Rangers earlier this season. The Dodgers picked him up for nothing, and really made the most of it. Against the Cardinals, he pitched 7 strong shutout innings and only gave up 4 hits. He is the only NL starting pitcher with a 0.00 ERA so far in this post-season.
As expected, the Philadelphia Phillies had little problem with the Colorado Rockies. Well, they had some problems, but they were small and they were quickly overcome. Philadelphia outhit and outpitched the Rockies, and Colorado still came within an out of taking it to Game 5. But, with 2 outs in the top of the 9th inning of Game 4, Ryan Howard and then Jason Werth got a couple of clutch hits, scoring three runs and giving the Phillies a one-run lead that troubled closer Brad Lidge would not give up.
The Rockies hit .254 in the series, which is very misleading because LF Carlos Gonzalez hit a post-season (so far) high of .588 (10-for-17), and catcher Yorvit Torrealba hit .357 (5-for-14), but none of the rest of the starting lineup hit higher than .250, and most were much lower.
The Phillies, on the other hand, had 7 of 8 regular players in the lineup hit over .250, and 6 of them hit over .300. 2B Chase Utley hit .429 (6-for-14) with a solo HR. 1B Ryan Howard hit .375 with 3 doubles and 6 RBI.
Phillies’ pitching was good, doing what it had to do, when it had to do it. Newly anointed staff ace Cliff Lee was just that, the staff ace, as he started Games 1 and 4. He combined for a 1-0 record with a 1.10 ERA over 16.1 innings. He gave up 2 runs on 11 hits. Closer Brad Lidge showed signs of the brilliance he exhibited last season when he was a perfect 48 for 48. He appeared in 2 of the 4 games, pitching 1.1 innings. He gave up 2 walks, but no hits, and most importantly, no runs. So far, his 2009 post-season is perfect. 2 saves in 2 opportunities.
The Rockies’ pitching was as bad as Philadelphia’s was good. Colorado ace, Ubaldo Jimenez, couldn’t get anything going. In 2 games, he gave up 7 runs on 15 hits over 12 innings for a 5.25 ERA and 1 of the 3 Colorado losses. The other 2 losses were both picked up by closer Huston Street. He lost Game 3 when he gave up a sacrifice fly to Ryan Howard, allowing Jimmy Rollins to score. He lost Game 4 on the aforementioned hits to Howard and Werth, sending Colorado home for the winter and sending Philadelphia onward to LA.
The NLCS starts tonight in Los Angeles. The Phillies will start Cole Hamels against the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.
In Hamels last five starts against the Dodgers, going back to last season (including the 2008 NLCS), he is 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA. Matt Kemp is 4-for-12 (.333) against him with a double and Ronnie Belliard is 7-for-26 (.269) with 2 HR. Hamels has handled the rest of the Dodgers lineup pretty handily over the past couple of years. He owned them in the NLSC last year, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and earning MVP honors.
Clayton Kershaw, the young Dodgers hurler, went 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA this season. In two games against the Phillies this season, he went 0-2 with a 5.23 ERA. Raul Ibanez has hit him for 2 doubles in 5 at bats (.400) and 2 RBI, but both slugger Ryan Howard and hitter Shane Victorino have both only hit .125 against him. In last season’s NLCS, Kershaw pitched 2.0 innings in short relief and gave up 1 run.
In Game 2, the Phillies will send out Pedro Martinez and the Dodgers will send out Vincente Padilla. Ironically, Martinez is a former Dodger while Padilla is a former Phillie. Martinez hasn’t pitched in about two weeks, and fortunately he missed his last start against Colorado, which would have been brutal on his sore neck and shoulder.
In his short season, Martinez is 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA. He has never faced the Dodgers, but he has faced some of their current players. Combined, the current Dodger staff is batting .223 against Pedro. Jim Thome is a dismal 6-for-35 (.171) against him with 14 strikeouts, but 3 of those 6 hits are homers. And Manny Ramirez is only 5-for-30 (.167) against Pedro with no homers and 2 doubles, but 13 punchouts.
The Dodgers will counter in Game 2 with Padilla. Padilla has not had a great season. After an erratic 8-6 (4.92 ERA) record with the Texas Rangers, they unceremoniously dropped him. The Dodgers picked him up for the stretch run and the post season and he has paid off in a big way. Since coming to the team, he has only gone undefeated (3.20 ERA) going 4-0 in 8 appearances.
Padilla has faced the Phillies once, last season. He gave up 7 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings pitched. He has faced several of the current roster, however, and combined they are batting .286 against him. Ryan Howard is 1-for-2 with a HR, and Raul Ibanez is 9-for-28 (.321) with 2 HR and 4 RBI.
On the batter’s side, the Dodger’s certainly have Ryan Howard’s number. Coming into this series, he is batting .190 against them in his career. This is the worst batting average he has against any NL team. Jimmy Rollins also has not hit well against the Dodgers. His .232 average against them throughout his career ties them with the Chicago Cubs for the team he has hit the worst against. Chase Utley, however, has done fairly well against them, batting .304. And he particularly likes Chavez Ravine, where he’s batted .354 over his career.
Anytime you talk about the Dodgers’ hitting, you have to start the conversation with Manny. He destroyed the Phillies’ pitching in last season’s LCS, hitting .533 with 2 HR, 2 doubles, and 8 RBI. He hasn’t faced the Phillies since, but they know he can do serious damage anytime he has a bat in his hand. The other guy they have to keep their eye on is Andre Ethier. He only batted .232 in last season’s NLCS, but has hit .275 against them this year, and he is on fire right now.
The number one key to the Phillies winning this series is Brad Lidge. They can and will take several of these games into the 9th inning with a lead. The question is, will he be able to hold on to it for the save. He was pure money last season. This season he led the majors in blown saves with 11. If he can hold the lead the team gives him, they will be in great shape.
The key to the Dodgers having a shot at winning this series is their bench. It is very deep, and it is very good. They have power with Jim Thome, they have speed with Orlando Hudson and Juan Pierre, and they have key hitting with Pierre, Mark Loretta (walk off pinch hit to win Game 2 against Cardinals), and Ronnie Belliard.
NLCS SCHEDULE: Game 1: Thu Oct 15, 8:07pm Game 2: Fri Oct 16, 4:07pm Game 3: Sun Oct 18, 8:07pm Game 4: Mon Oct 19, 8:07pm Game 5: Wed Oct 21, 8:07pm Game 6: Fri Oct 23, 8:07pm Game 7: Sat Oct 24, 8:07pm
PREDICTION: PHILLIES IN 6 GAMES
Let’s make this interactive. Who do you like?? Drop me a line at neil@tmrzoo.com and let me know who you think will win and what you think the keys to the series will be.
Posted by Steve Tomassetti On October - 15 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
The NFL Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week for Week 5 of the 2009 NFL Season have been announced and are shown below. Nobody guessed this week’s offensive winners correctly, but James Harrison was a popular pick for defense. Better luck next week. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Bruce Owens On October - 9 - 20092 COMMENTS
Major League Baseball made a major announcement today. Barack Obama’s spectacular first pitch at July’s St. Louis Cardinals game has earned him this year’s Cy Young Award. The President said that he was humbled by the honor.
The President said he is going to proudly display the Cy Young between the Tony Award he received for “Best Applauding by an Audience Member” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 8 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
It feels like déjà vu all over again. You can’t help but get the feeling we’ve been here before, several times. Oh, wait. We have. Just last year, in fact. And the year before. And many of the same players were in the same positions. Of course, some have grown older, and some have been replaced, but for the most part, the principals remain the same.
So here we are, in yet another version of the Boston Red Sox vs. the Angels of Southern California. While it’s true that this is a new season, we cannot talk about this particular series without at least mentioning the history of the past few years. Since 1986, these two teams have faced each other in four playoff series. The Red Sox have won each of them. More importantly, since Game 7 of the 1986 ALCS, the Red Sox have only lost 1 game, while winning 9. The Red Sox have knocked the Angels out of the first round of the playoffs in each of the last 2 seasons.
Here at Around the Bases, we will take a look at this American League Divisional Series, and see if history will repeat itself for the 3rd straight season or if the Angels have a shot at redemption. This season is a little different than past seasons for the Angels. They are playing with a purpose that they’ve never had before. Their season is dedicated to teammate Nick Adenhart who was killed in early April by a drunk driver, just hours after pitching the best game of his all too short career.
Last week, when the Angels won the AL West, they paused to remember their lost teammate as they stopped their on field celebration for a moment and all ran en masse out to the outfield where his picture is emblazoned on the wall. After gathering around the billboard, they all took turns touching it and giving it high fives.
The remembrance continued back in the clubhouse as they sprayed champagne and beer all over each other. They took Adenhart’s jersey, which has been hanging in the dugout during every single game this season since his death, and made him part of their team celebration also by pouring champagne and beer all over it as well. Just a way for teammates to show their love and bring him into their celebration. They will be playing this off-season with heavy hearts for a teammate that they haven’t forgotten, but they also have a purpose that they haven’t had in the past as they keep his jersey in the dugout to remind them who they’re playing this season for.
Game 1 will be the same match-up as last season’s Game 1 and Game 4: The Red Sox will send out Jon Lester and the Angels will go with John Lackey. Last season, Lester won both contests. In 14 combined innings, Lester gave up zero runs on 10 hits and had 11 strikeouts with 3 walks. Lackey took a loss in Game 1 and no decision in Game 4. Over the two games, gave up 4 runs on 11 hits, including a HR to Jason Bay in the first game, in 13.2 innings with 6 Ks and 4 walks.
This season, Lackey was an uncharacteristic 11-8 with a 3.83 ERA. It was his lowest win total since 2003 (10 wins), his 2nd year in the majors, and his highest ERA since ’04 (4.67). It was still good enough for the 12 best ERA in the AL. He definitely improved over the 2nd half of the season, lowering his ERA almost 2 whole runs, from 4.93 in the first half to 3.05 in the second half. He faced the Sox once this season and took the loss while giving up 2 runs on 8 hits over 7.2 innings.
Over his career, the current Red Sox have hit a combined .298 against him. DH David Ortiz is .333 (11-for-33) with 3 HR, 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 10 RBI, but also 7 Ks. On the other end, catcher Jason Varitek is 5-for-27 (.185), with 3 doubles, but 11 Ks. That is probably one of the several reasons he is benched tonight in favor of Victor Martinez, who is 10-for-21 against Lackey (.476).
Jon Lester finished the season with a 15-8 record, with an ERA of 3.41, slightly off the mark of 16-6, 3.21 he set last season. Since the All-Star break, he’s 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA. He has not faced the Angels this season. However, in his career, with the exception of the post-season, they have done well against him. Outfielder Vlad Guerrero has a .400 average with one double, and Gary Matthews Jr. is 3-for-6 (.500) with 2 HR. For Matthews, it’s either feast or famine because his other 3 at bats are all strikeouts. And both Torii Hunter and Eric Aybar have each faced Lester three times and each have 2 hits (.667).
Game 2 is what this series is going to hinge on. The Red Sox will send out Josh Beckett, and not to put too fine a point on it, but much of the success of their post-season depends on how healthy he really is. Beckett has had some major problems with his back over the past couple of months that has completely knocked him out of Cy Young contention. Over the past couple of weeks, he has had some treatments, and he seems to be back on track. For the sake of the Red Sox, he had better be.
Beckett finished the season 17-6 (tied for 2nd highest wins in AL) with a 3.86 ERA. He also had 4 complete games and 2 shutouts. Those, and the 212.1 innings he pitched were all career highs, as well as his 199 Ks. Most of those stats were compiled in the first half of the season, when he was still relatively healthy. He went 11-3 with an ERA of 3.35. In the 2nd half, his ERA shot up to 4.53 and his record was only 6-3. He faced the Angels twice this season, once in April and once in September. Oddly, the game he lost was in April. Over the two games, he gave up 7 runs on 15 hits.
Beckett typically shines in the post-season and is considered to be one of the premiere “big game” pitchers in the league. In 12 games, he’s 7-2 with a 2.90 ERA with 96 Ks and only 20 BBs. Although, a lot of those stellar numbers were from the ’07 Championship season. Last season he went 1-0 in 3 games, but had a very high 8.79 ERA and gave up a combined 7 HR to the Angels and Tampa Bay Rays.
The Angles will counter with Jared Weaver who finished the season 16-8 with a 3.75 ERA (9th in AL). Weaver led the Angels staff in ERA, WHIP (1.24), Ks (174), innings pitched (211), and tied for most wins (7th in AL). In 2 games against the Sox this season, Weaver went 1-0 with a 0.66 ERA. He gave up only 1 earned run on 8 hits over 13.2 innings with 12 Ks and 3 BBs. The Red Sox only batted .174 against him. J.D. Drew has done well against Weaver, going 6-for-17 (.353) in his career with 1 HR. Ortiz has done well also, going 7-for-20 (.350) with 2 HR.
When the Angels traded away superstar slugger Mark Tiexiera, conventional wisdom thought they traded away much of their power with him. But they brought in Kendry Morales to replace him, and they lost almost nothing. This season, Morales finished 6th in the AL in HR (34), 5th in RBI (108), 2nd in SLG percentage (.569), and 8th in OPS (.924), leading the Angels in each category. Plus he batted .306, good enough to be ranked 12th in the AL. The Red Sox pitchers have handled him pretty well this season. In 9 games, he has zero HR and only 2 RBI, and his .200 average is the 2nd worse against any team in the AL (.172 vs. White Sox). He went 0-for-7 against Beckett in the two games he pitched.
One player the Red Sox will have to watch out for is Erik Aybar. Aybar led the team in average this season (.312), and hit .346 against the Red Sox. He went 1-for-4 (.250) against Beckett this season.
The Red Sox have not done great against the Angels in hitting. This season, they’ve only batted .257 against them as a team or individually. One exception is left fielder Jason Bay (36 HR, 119 RBI, both 2nd in AL). In 9 games, he has batted .313 with 4 HR and 12 RBI. Most of the rest of the starting lineup has barely managed to bat .275 against Angels pitching this season.
The other area that the Angels really have a huge advantage is on the basepaths. They are faster than the Red Sox, and the Red Sox are awful at throwing out runners trying to steal. Varitek has only caught 16 out of 108 baserunners, by far the worse percentage in baseball. By comparison, Angels’ catcher Mike Napoli has thrown out 21 out of 74 runners. Martinez has thrown out 9 of 56 runners.
The Angels ranked 3rd in the majors in stolen bases (148) while the Red Sox ranked 5th (126). Chone Figgins (42 SB, 17 CS) and Bobby Abreu (30 SB, 8 CS) were the main culprits for the Angels. Jacoby Ellsbury (70 SB, new Red Sox record, 12 CS) was the main base stealer for the Sox.
Where the Red Sox have an enormous advantage is the bullpen. Largely considered the best in baseball during the regular season, that notion is only amplified during the post-season. Closer Jonathon Papelbon isn’t quite Mariano Rivera, but he’s well on his way. In 25 post-season innings over 16 games, he hasn’t given up a run. For those of you who have trouble with the higher math, that’s a post-season ERA of 0.00. There isn’t a pitcher out there who can match his level of intensity when he’s on the mound. He’s only given up 10 hits and 6 walks for a post-season WHIP of 0.66. This season, he had 38 saves (4th in AL) and a 1.85 ERA (3rd in AL among relievers w/min 60 innings).
The Angels closer, Brian Fuentes, led the majors in saves this season (48), but it came with a very high ERA for a closer (3.93). In 10 post-season games (9.2 innings pitched) with the Rockies last season, Fuentes had an ERA of 6.52. He gave up 7 runs on 14 hits. This season, against the Red Sox, he appeared in 4 games, saving 2 and blowing one save, earning a loss. He gave up a total of 3 earned runs on 7 hits in a combined total of 3.1 innings pitched.
While the Angels have a couple of advantages, it’s not going to be enough. The bottom line is that Red Sox have better pitching, and a much better bullpen, and that’s going to be the ultimate difference.
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 7 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
The season just didn’t want to end. But, after an extra game, and several very exciting extra innings, end it did. In the bottom of the 12th inning of game 163 between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, Twins speedster Carlos Gomez finally crossed home plate to bring the regular season to a close, giving the Twins the right to meet the New York Yankees in the first round of the American League playoffs. Detroit, fittingly after now losing 6 of their last 8 games, and squandering the 7 game lead they had just 30 days ago, gets to go home and start working on next season’s issues.
The American League Divisional Series between the Twins and Yankees begins today, not even 24 hours after the 1-game playoff ended yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On October - 6 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
It has been a long baseball season, made a bit longer by the Tigers-Twins one game playoff that had no end.
The Philadelphia Phillies led the National League East for much of the year, leaving little doubt that they would take the division. The same can be said for the St. Louis Cardinals who completely dominated the Central Division the entire second half of the year. The West, however, was a little dicey. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Steve Tomassetti On September - 28 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
Another week down and another rollover for the prize pack. In the second-to-last week of the 2009 MLB baseball season, nobody was able to guess both the highest scoring and least run allowing team of the 25th week.
Cubs.
The most popular offensive team this week, once again, was the New York Yankees. They earned the vote of 22.5% of all members who entered. There was a 4way tie between Diamondbacks, Phillies, Nationals and Cardinals for the most popular defensive team.. I don’ know why.
All of the votes are in and locked for the final week, so it’s time to just sit here and wait for the seconds to tick away on this 2009 season. Check back here this time next week if someone makes a last-minute shot to win the prize pack or the full set of Nickent Golf Clubs.
The current prize pack is as follows: Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2, both on Blu ray, a Nerf Pro Grip Football, as shown below, and now we’re going to add another Nerf product… the Nerf Elimination Game, a 4-pistol set with Nerf darts that is perfect for declaring war on your office from your cubicle. Check the Double Play prize page for more information.
Posted by Steve Tomassetti On September - 2 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
After 21 weeks of baseball, we have our third winner of the TMRzoo Double Play Contest! ChrisH successfully picked the Arizona Diamondbacks as the top scoring team of the appropriate week and the St. Louis Cardinals as the team that allowed the least amount of runs. Congrats! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by TMR Newswire On August - 15 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
Discipline has been issued to three members of the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox as a result of the on-field incidents that occurred in the Tuesday, August 11th game at Fenway Park in Boston. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.
Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello has been suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing pitches at Boston’s Victor Martinez in the bottom of the first inning and Kevin Youkilis in the bottom of the second Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Steve Tomassetti On August - 12 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
Another week down and another winless week in our little Double Play competition. I don’t blame any of you for missing it this week… one of the worst teams in baseball, before last week, was the league’s highest scorers. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Neil S. Velleman On August - 10 - 2009ADD COMMENTS
Just as we thought we were finally getting a grip on the elusive shadow that is the steroids era, the Major League Baseball Players Association threw us another curveball. Here we were, fat, happy, and feeling relatively smarter by the day, secure in the knowledge that steroids had seriously damaged the game we love. But we were slowly starting to come back from it.
Yes, there was a list out there with 104 names of players who had failed a drug test in 2003. And names on that list were starting to be leaked, against court order, I should add. But so far, none of the names that had been leaked from that list were a big surprise: Jason Grimsley, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and David Segui. But that all changed last week. Not with the release of Manny Ramirez’s name, but with the release of Red Sox DH David Ortiz’s name. Read the rest of this entry »
We’re here, Live, in Wachovia Lot F just across the street from Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park… Ground Zero for the double-sport double-header that is about to happen as the Philadelphia Eagles play host to the division rival New York Giants at 1:00pm EST, then at 8:20pm, the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies host the best team money can buy in the New York Yankees.![[Digg]](http://www.tmrzoo.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
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It all comes down to this, and it’s really no surprise. The Phillies, the defending World Series Champions, were favored to go back to the World Series all the way back in spring training. On the American League side, it was a tossup between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Always nice when a plan comes together.
In the American League Championship game on Tuesday night between the Yankees and Angels, some very poor base management occurred between Yankees catcher Jorge Posada who was on third base and Yankees’ second baseman Robinson Cano, who was running from second base to third. For some reason, Posada didn’t run home, leaving both men on the third base bag at the same time. Angels’ catcher Mike Napoli alertly and correctly tagged out Cano, who was not on the bag anyway, then he noticed that Posada wasn’t on the bag either and tagged him also. 
This year’s National League Championship Series is a replay of last season’s: The Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers of course, hope it’s not an exact replay, because last season, the Phillies beat them in five games.
Major League Baseball made a major announcement today. Barack Obama’s spectacular first pitch at July’s St. Louis Cardinals game has earned him this year’s Cy Young Award. The President said that he was humbled by the honor.
It feels like déjà vu all over again. You can’t help but get the feeling we’ve been here before, several times. Oh, wait. We have. Just last year, in fact. And the year before. And many of the same players were in the same positions. Of course, some have grown older, and some have been replaced, but for the most part, the principals remain the same.
The season just didn’t want to end. But, after an extra game, and several very exciting extra innings, end it did. In the bottom of the 12th inning of game 163 between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, Twins speedster Carlos Gomez finally crossed home plate to bring the regular season to a close, giving the Twins the right to meet the New York Yankees in the first round of the American League playoffs. Detroit, fittingly after now losing 6 of their last 8 games, and squandering the 7 game lead they had just 30 days ago, gets to go home and start working on next season’s issues.
Another week down and another rollover for the prize pack. In the second-to-last week of the 2009 MLB baseball season, nobody was able to guess both the highest scoring and least run allowing team of the 25th week.
Discipline has been issued to three members of the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox as a result of the on-field incidents that occurred in the Tuesday, August 11th game at Fenway Park in Boston. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.
Just as we thought we were finally getting a grip on the elusive shadow that is the steroids era, the Major League Baseball Players Association threw us another curveball. Here we were, fat, happy, and feeling relatively smarter by the day, secure in the knowledge that steroids had seriously damaged the game we love. But we were slowly starting to come back from it.
