Baseball Preview For Today

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Boston @ Oakland

4pm ESPN

Tim Wakefield vs. Barry Zito

 

Wow. 4 hours and 37 minutes of baseball, and the Athletics edge the Red Sox in a thriller. It's fashionable to say the Sox bullpen blew it, but 2 runs in 5 innings isn't a catastrophe. What's interesting is pulling Byung Hyun Kim before the final out. Situational lefties suck. Half the time they don't work anyway, and they just take a good pitcher out of the game. Kim has had his postseason meltdowns, but he also gathers a heck of alot of strikeouts. The pitcher who really killed the Sox was Derek Lowe. 4 BBs in less than 2 innings? Terrible. So now we have game 2, barely 1/2 a day later. The bullpens are spent. No way the A's can pitch Keith Foulke tonight. It comes down to the starters, Wakefield and Zito. Its no contest. Wakefield needs to have the game of his life to win this one for the Sox.

 

Minnesota @ New York

8pm fox

Brad Radke vs. Andy Pettitte

 

The Yankees have lost six of their last seven postseason games. Just more proof that large market teams cannot compete in today's enviroment, I'm afraid. In fact, no team in the top 5 of payroll has won a playoff series since the Yankees beat the Mariners in the 2001 ALCS.

 

Oh yeah, the game. The Yankees are pitching a lefty in Yankee Stadium. Pettitte should keep the Yankees in the game. Just hope that the bats show up.

[Guest Bobby Cox is God]

I think the Yankees will take game 2, and the Twins will probably take the two at the dome. Wakefield is hit or miss, and he better on tonight or just hope that Zito is way off.

 

Zito was the better pitcher post-all star break, but we all know that is meaningless when it comes to the playoffs.

[Guest Choken One]

Well, It'll be a lethargic Sox/A's game that's for sure since Zito will likely shut the Tired Sox down...Expect the 24th/25th man to make the difference...