MLB League Championship Series Thread

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

O's got Roberto Novoa off waivers from the Cubs. Why do the Orioles keep rimming us?

[Guest Smues]

Am I the only one who thinks it's retarded that game 5 is tomorrow and not tonight? This is baseball, they don't need off days in the playoffs that aren't travel days.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

J.D. Drew: 3 of 11 (all singles), .273 OBP, .545 OPS

Julio Lugo: 2 for 14, .200 OBP, a fucking .414 OPS

 

This has to have been Theo's worst offseason in his tenure. All of his big pickups are flopping when the team needs them most. Plus, Pedroia's giving them nothing at the leadoff spot.

I don't know if you can fairly assess an offseason based on one postseason series. The Sox certainly didn't lool too vulnerable during the division series versus the Angels. If the Sox made a critical error however, clearly it was leaving Clay Buchholz off the postseason roster in favor of underachieving veteran pitchers. While Matsuzaka and Wakefield fall flat, there's a hot prospect collecting dust the Sox could have used.

 

 

The Red Sox' medical staff has a fairly rigorous strength and mobility testing program that they employ with all their young pitchers. According to front office, Clay Buchholz failed all of these tests towards the end of the season, necessitating he be shut down. The normal course of action for his sort of fatigue was two weeks off coupled with two weeks of rehab. He wouldn't have been ready for the ALDS or ALCS. We could second guess that decision based on the possibility of losing out on a championship, but six good years of Clay may be worth more than a few high leverage outings in the postseason.

 

As for Theo's offseason, you don't judge it by one series. The offseason moves transformed them from a 3rd place team in the AL East to the best overall record in baseball. Lugo and Drew were failures in year one monetarily, but were upgrades over their predecessors on the field. Dice-K and Okajima bolstered weaknesses and the decision to let Loretta go in favor of Pedroia was an excellent one. The hiring of John Farrell as pitching coach is often overlooked, but the results are undeniable. Like all of Epstein's previous offseasons, it's a mixed-bag of underperforming free agents, excellent prospect development and good long-term decision making.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

As for Theo's offseason, you don't judge it by one series. The offseason moves transformed them from a 3rd place team in the AL East to the best overall record in baseball.

 

That is in danger of getting eliminated.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

As for Theo's offseason, you don't judge it by one series. The offseason moves transformed them from a 3rd place team in the AL East to the best overall record in baseball.

 

That is in danger of getting eliminated.

 

Are we now judging teams by what they do over a five game stretch instead of what happened for the past six months? That's preposterous.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't, but I can't imagine some Boston fans going "Well we had the best record in baseball, its okay!". I think Theo will see pressure for the elimination if it does go down. No offense to Colorado but if Boston wins this series, the championship is almost theirs for the taking.

[KingPK 0]

J.D. Drew: 3 of 11 (all singles), .273 OBP, .545 OPS

Julio Lugo: 2 for 14, .200 OBP, a fucking .414 OPS

 

This has to have been Theo's worst offseason in his tenure. All of his big pickups are flopping when the team needs them most. Plus, Pedroia's giving them nothing at the leadoff spot.

I don't know if you can fairly assess an offseason based on one postseason series. The Sox certainly didn't lool too vulnerable during the division series versus the Angels. If the Sox made a critical error however, clearly it was leaving Clay Buchholz off the postseason roster in favor of underachieving veteran pitchers. While Matsuzaka and Wakefield fall flat, there's a hot prospect collecting dust the Sox could have used.

 

Of course I'm not basing it on just these 4 games. Lugo didn't drive in a run in the LDS either and Drew had one good hit (and neither guy had an extra base hit in that series). It's just a continuation of the futility of both guys (save for a few streaks by Drew early and late in the season) at the plate during the season.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

So did anyone catch Tim McCarver once again mentioning that more multi-run innings start with a homerun instead of a walk? Is he dense or something? I can't believe that someone around baseball as much as him has so much difficulty grasping this easy concept.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

It's not THAT ridiculous. I mean, yes, obviously more multi-run innings start with home runs, and there's clearly evidence proving this, but it's not like he's absolutely mindnumbingly dumb for being surprised. I don't have a problem with him being a bit surprised.

[CanadianChris 0]

So did anyone catch Tim McCarver once again mentioning that more multi-run innings start with a homerun instead of a walk? Is he dense or something? I can't believe that someone around baseball as much as him has so much difficulty grasping this easy concept.

Yeah, and the worst part is he made it seem like this year was some kind of aberration in terms of homers starting more multi-run innings than walks. He seems legitimately amazed by this fact. If it weren't so comical, it's be sad.

[Guest Gym Class Fallout]

Innings in which a run is immediately scored tend to be multi-run innings more often than innings in which a run isn't immediately scored? Ya don't say!

[Guest Vitamin X]

I'm shocked, personally.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Well, as far as the Red Sox, all that "The Matsuzaka era" begins bullshit on ESPN at the start of the season looks pretty stupid now. Other than that, Theo Epstein has done a good job as their GM. The playoffs are kind of a crap shoot at best...you do your best to get them there, and then it's up to the guys to play well, and hope for some breaks to fall your way.

[randomguy 0]

A lot of the Red Sox success this year was due to the decline of other teams and moves they made in previous years.

 

A lot of major teams regressed this year in the AL - Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Tigers. In addition Beckett and Pedroia blossomed while Lowell continued to perform well above expectations. If you look at who they acquired last season they've made almost no difference. Okajima is the only new player you can point to that made any impact above a decent replacement player.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I can't believe we are going through another phase of Theo Epstein's not a good GM. Not only from fans, but also Dan Shaugnessy, who implied recently that Epstein is, or at least should be, on the hot seat. In his five years running the team, they've made the playoffs four times, been to the ALCS three times and won their first World Series title in 86 years. He has a lot of payroll flexibility, I admit, but that doesn't guarantee success. There are other teams out there with $100 million payrolls that put much worse teams on the field.

 

Everyone is quick to criticize his free agent signings, but look at the players he passed on resigning: Pedro, Damon, Mueller, Nixon, Foulke, and Cabrera. All of them signed for decent to big money other places and shit the bed. Where's the credit for identifying players that aren't worth resigning? The problem with being a big market GM is your mistakes become big mistakes because of the payroll you are working with (look at Cashman's critics regarding his work with the Yankees). If you suck somewhere like Pittsburgh, no one really notices.

[CanadianChris 0]

Why does anyone still listen to anything the CHB has to say?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

McCarver with more of the "players don't get to police themselves" crap. I read an excellent piece a few days ago, written sometime in the '80s. Essentially, HBP's in McCarver's era were much higher than average. The attitude carried by Drysdale, Gibson etc. was an anomaly and not a historical norm. Headhunting is stupid, stupid, stupid and MLB has every right to stamp it out.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

McCarver again with that crap. Ask Dickie Thon about pitching inside, you jackass.

[randomguy 0]

This reminds of the Mets vs. Yankees world series when a guy hit a ball he thought was a homer and jogged around the bases.

 

I don't understand why you wouldn't run on a ball that if it is going to be a homer it will be by inches. It's one thing if you crush it 500 feet, but if you hit a big pop fly that will be out by a foot at best you might want to at least jog.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

"Longest single in postseason history."

 

Umm, Robin Ventura anyone?

[Cartman 0]

[Guest NYankees]

Lofton should have punched him.

 

Edit

 

 

Lofton sure knows how to say FUCK YOU.

[Brett Favre 0]

Beckett is a fag.

[Boon 0]

Everyone is quick to criticize his free agent signings, but look at the players he passed on resigning: Pedro, Damon, Mueller, Nixon, Foulke, and Cabrera. All of them signed for decent to big money other places and shit the bed. Where's the credit for identifying players that aren't worth resigning? The problem with being a big market GM is your mistakes become big mistakes because of the payroll you are working with (look at Cashman's critics regarding his work with the Yankees). If you suck somewhere like Pittsburgh, no one really notices.

Cabrera did not shit the bed. Neither did Renteria for that matter. Props for the rest.

 

Theo's a fantastic GM for his homegrown talent. He is absolutely terrible at identifying good free agents.

[Brett Favre 0]

Damon didn't shit the bed either. He had a very good year last year, was hurt for the first part of the year this year and finished strong.

[Boon 0]

"Damon is a fag."

[Guest NYankees]

This reminds of the Mets vs. Yankees world series when a guy hit a ball he thought was a homer and jogged around the bases.

 

I don't understand why you wouldn't run on a ball that if it is going to be a homer it will be by inches. It's one thing if you crush it 500 feet, but if you hit a big pop fly that will be out by a foot at best you might want to at least jog.

 

You have it wrong. Timo Perez was on first and Todd Zeile hit a flyball into Lf that Timo thought was going to be a homerun and he didn't run hard around the bases and was thrown out at home. The Mets ended up blowing the lead in the bottom of the ninth and lost by a run in extra innings.

[Guest NYankees]

"Damon is a fag."

 

Maybe, but I sure would love to fuck his gf/wife or whatever she is.

[Cartman 0]

Ok I can't take it anymore. Please fucking bench Coco Crisp and at least give Ellsbury a fucking chance.

[randomguy 0]

You have it wrong. Timo Perez was on first and Todd Zeile hit a flyball into Lf that Timo thought was going to be a homerun and he didn't run hard around the bases and was thrown out at home. The Mets ended up blowing the lead in the bottom of the ninth and lost by a run in extra innings.

 

Yeah that sounds right, but it's the same idea. Jogging on what was at marginal shot at a homer.