Rays 6, White Sox 2: Ken Griffey ended it with a rather indifferent-looking whiff. Ozzie Guillen said that the Rays "really did a tremendous job." Jerry Reinsdorf said "it's good for baseball for a team like Tampa to win." Nothing like a hard fought series.Red Sox 3, Angels 2: Wow. Live by small ball, die by small ball. Despite what John Lackey says, I think the better team won this series, and quite frankly, I'd much rather watch a Sox-Rays series than one involving the Angels or White Sox. Just a personal aesthetic choice, folks, so don't feel the need to take me to task in the comments.
Aw, screw it. Feel free to take me to task all you want. It's a free country.
One thing I think we can all agree on, however, is how good it is that TBS, and not Fox, will be broadcasting the ALCS. Given Fox's habit of running "storylines" into the ground, I don't think we would have made it past the third inning of Game 1 before we all wanted to kill ourselves due to "back to back" and "worst to first" overload.
14 comments:
Why try a squeeze in such a high leverage situation? If you squeeze, you have one try at one run -- fail and it's 2 out, no one on. If you DON'T squeeze, you have two tries at one run -- fail the first time, and you still have one try at one run.
I'm sure much ink will be spilled today on this bizarre choice by Scioscia, but the odds say this is a stupid way to go.
um... Boston won 3-2, not 2-0.
Even Buck Martinez was saying they might try a suicide squeeze in that situation, so I am pretty sure the Sox could see that one coming.
Did they have nobody else to pinch hit for Aybar in that situation to get a flyball to get Willits home? I really don't know - I am asking for real.
That said, I would still rather let the batter swing away.
I don't even get TBS and I'm glad they're showing it instead of Fox.
Dre -- I think I had that as a placeholder last night during the game and forgot to change it. Thanks for the heads up.
This just proves that you can't win in the post-season playing small ball. Of course, you can't win the post-season playing "moneyball," either. Perhaps the only way to win in the post-season is to play badminton ... or perhaps such conclusions are hyperbolic foolishness. Keep up the good fight, Shyster!
I think one of the unfortunate things that's going to happen to today will be the tremendous piling on Socscia by statheads for playing small ball. Not that I don't agree with the sentiment -- I do. It's just that statheads always seem to show their worst side when they're playing the "I told you so game," so I hope the tone stays civil.
So Lackey thinks the better team lost, wonder if he felt that way last year, the time before that and ... well you should know where this is heading.
Lackey pitched great but was matched by equally impressive performance both times and I am so glad that Lester for Santana trade never took place or another of the other trades Lester was rumored to be in - I suspect that he will not be dangled in trade talks again.
I was surprised by the squeeze, too, less because of the game situation than because the first two pitches had been a bit wild, definitely unbuntable, and because Aybar's left-handedness left the play so wide-open. Not an indefensible choice, but not the choice I would have made.
But overall, those last two games were a hell of a lot of fun. I was rooting for the Angels, but a Sox/Rays matchup should be good.
Is Harold Reynolds doing anymore games? I really hope not for my TV's sake.
APBA Guy-
Amen to the sentiment about TBS's superiority to Fox. Even with the post-game show dragging on forever, the insights from the former players are worth it because of who they are. Two guys who were HOF locks and a guy currently playing at a high level.
You suck Craig. This postseason is worse now that the Angels are out of it.
(I don't really mean that, but you told me to pile on, and I'm in a bit of a sour mood today so there it is. I said it. Now where did I put that bottle of Jack...)
To clarify my last post. I don't really mean that you suck. I DO mean that the postseason is worse now.
As one who has been predicting The Halos to take it all for the last two months, I'm more than a little bitter. The Rays - BoSox games should be great baseball, but I really thought The Angels were plenty deep enough to handle Boston. Dang!
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