Yankees in the World Series … Again

Yankees in the World Series … again. So I won’t be watching the World Series … again. Yes, I’m a sports fan and a baseball fan. But when the Yankees are in the Series, it’s not baseball. It’s Hollywood. It’s a story when the franchise with the most overwhelming advantages of any team in history doesn’t make the Series.

Sports pundits gloating when they pick the Yanks and are proven right? It’s like betting that a corrupt politician will be elected … You’re bound to be right.

When the Yankees are back, as they inevitably always are, baseball is boring … again.

What’s Wrong with Baseball

As we prepare to continue this series here is a review of numbers 7-10 of the list. Click on the titles to read the articles. Number 6 to appear soon.

10: Wimpy Pitchers

9: The Designated Hitter

8: Cheating

7: The Concept of the Closer

Teams of Destiny to Square Off in Series

11-2, 30-5, 3-0. The numbers that brought the Red Sox back from the brink of defeat … again … and put them back in the World Series. Game seven win: 11-2. Total score against Indians, last three games: 30-5. Games won after Cleveland led 3-1: 3-0.

The Red Sox are a team of destiny.

And now they play the Rockies, a team whose entire payroll is about what Boston paid for Dice-K. With the Red Sox on a roll and Colorado on an extended hiatus, the Rockies have their work cut out for them.

But both teams are teams of destiny, with remarkable comeback stories. The Series awaits.

Byrd Revelation Casts Pall Over Indians-Red Sox Game 7

I have said that game sevens are heaven—seventh heaven if you will—for baseball fans. It is unfortunate when anything takes away from those magical games. But a blog called Sports and Ethics can’t ignore the current revelation about Cleveland starter Paul Byrd.

“Byrd, whose win in Game 4 of the ALCS moved the Indians within one victory of the World Series, bought nearly $25,000 worth of human growth hormone and syringes from 2002 to 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.” (Read the full report here.)

Baseball doesn’t need this. One normally associates steroids with power hitters, like the accusations against Barry Bonds. But a non-superstar-type player seems to have the most to gain from such use. Byrd has denied the accusations in the past. The timing of this revelation seems political, like something that would happen near election time. Game 7 is the closest to election time in baseball there is. It is a shame to see this now. It is even a worse shame if it is true.

No matter what happens, we will be hearing a lot more on this. If the Indians pull one out tonight, it will become front and center until the end of the World Series.

Rockies Are Still Waiting; Red Sox Win Big

The Colorado Rockies knew they had a long wait before their next game after sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. But as of tonight, they also have the maximum wait to discover whom they will play in the Fall Classic.

Shortest possible series in the NLCS, longest in the ALCS. The Boston Red Sox, at home in the friendly confines of Fenway Park, had no difficulty in evening their series with the Cleveland Indians and sending the series to the most exciting of all baseball playoff scenarios … a seventh game, where one is done and the other triumphs.

Behind seven strong innings from the Mr. October of pitchers, Curt Schilling, and an early grand slam by J.D. Drew, the Red Sox coasted to a 12-2 victory. Schilling has already added to his legend; now, will the Sox do it as well by polishing off the Tribe in game seven?

No one knows. That’s why game sevens are heaven for fans. And still, the Rockies wait.

What’s Wrong With Baseball #10: Wimpy Pitchers

With a night off from playoff frenzy, in the midst of a postseason that gives hope to the little guy, I offer the beginning of a series on What’s Wrong With Baseball, from authorities greater than myself. Offering one at a time, in no particular order, we begin with number 10. Agree, disagree or offer your own selections.

#10. “Too many pitchers” pitching too few innings.

Cy Young said, many years ago: “Too many pitchers, that’s all, there are just too many pitchers. Ten or twelve on a team. Don’t see how any of them get enough work. Four starting pitchers and one relief man ought to be enough. Pitch ‘em every three days and you’d find they’d get control and good, strong arms.”

This from the man for whom the top pitching award in each league is named. He ought to know. When Cy Young said this, there were pitchers routinely twirling on two days’ rest. Many years after this, guys like Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn were pitching 16-inning complete games. But, alas, they needed three days’ rest. How many young fans have heard the Braves’ success slogan of old?: “Spahn and Sain and two days of rain.”

Even this is soft by the standard of The Standard (Young). What would he think today? Relievers limited to one inning, starters to 100 pitches, and getting 4 to 5 days of rest.

Cy Young played for the Red Sox. He would have scorned Terry Francona’s decision to rest Beckett the extra day, thus limiting the use of his ace to two games in a seven-game series. … Robbing the Sox and the fans of their best shot. (Young played for two Cleveland teams as well … and a second Boston club.) To Young, pitching made you stronger. Throw more, not less.

From Cy Young, our number 10 thing that is wrong with baseball: “Too many pitchers” pitching too few innings.

Red Sox Will Get the Love; Head Back to Fenway

Beckett dominates again.

Boston knocked out C.C. Sabathia and, behind Josh Beckett’s predictably amazing stuff (at least after the first inning), got ready to head back to the friendly confines of Fenway Park after defeating the Cleveland Indians, 7-1.

And though the game is an elimination game for them, the series is now as close as a five-game series can be, with the visiting team (Cleveland) up 3-2 going into the sixth game. (A number of the players on the Tribe have made it clear they did not want to go back to Boston … and the celebration-ready fans at the Jake were devastated at the loss of the planned festivities.)

Super-closer Jonathan Papelbon was not needed tonight, but still relieved Beckett in the ninth, no doubt to get a bit of work to tune up for the weekend. Somehow it seemed justice for Kenny Lofton, who put on an unsportsmanlike display earlier in the game, to make the final out (he was still grousing about called strikes during this at bat) … but that didn’t happen as he walked on a 3-2 count before the final out.

The Red Sox will have the love and support of their home crowd for the remaining game(s). And Curt Schilling, a Boston folk hero, will carry their hopes to the mound on Saturday. He will have the opportunity to continue to build his legend … and the Boston mystique.

Lofton, Grow Up

This is the playoffs. Don’t act like a little kid.

In the fifth inning, after Kenny Lofton dropped his bat on a 3-0 pitch that was called a strike (and was a strike), he popped up on the next pitch. Beckett yelled something at Lofton and Lofton barked all the way down the first base line, then crossed into the field toward Beckett before being separated from Beckett by umpires. The teams left the dugouts.

Come on, guys, this is the playoffs. Lofton should probably have been ejected but they don’t want to do that in a game of this magnitude. Both of you, play the game and put your insults in your pockets.

Lofton, especially … the old man of the series … should be above this kind of display. And he is more at fault than Beckett, who apparently just barked an impulsive shout. Lofton released a stream of invective and then moved menacingly toward the Red Sox ace. We don’t need to see this, from either man … definitely not from the most-seasoned veteran.

I like Kenny Lofton. He even played for my favorite team once. (Of course he’s played for just about everyone’s favorite team at least once.) But this is beneath him. It’s beneath any Major Leaguer. It’s beneath any adult.

So Kenny, grow up. You can start by apologizing to the fans.

Red Sox Need Some Love (1-1 after 1)

“When I’m in Boston, I always feel like I’m home. I almost cry, I feel so good.” Luis Tiant

The Red Sox need to get home to Boston, or they’ll be crying in Cleveland. Josh Beckett is their best chance for that to happen. Staked to a one-run lead on a Kevin Youkilis home run in the first with their Cy Young-candidate ace on the mound, the Sox felt their chances of getting back to Fenway were good. Then, they feel they can win two there.

But Beckett’s first inning did not look good. There was a parade of base runners and the lead has already been yielded going into the second.

Beckett still looks to beat Sabathia, but he didn’t start well. Before this one is over, Boston may be thinking, Luis Tiant, where are you when we need you?

No Game Tonight … What Are We Going to Do?

There is no real game on tonight. No NFL, no baseball playoffs … I’m not sure, there may be a college game. ESPNU, which is not exactly in every home in America, is advertising teams “tba.” Replays?

Looks like your choices tonight are … preseason basketball, golf, or a replay of Boise State-Nevada on ESPN Classic. I told you here two days ago they would be calling that game on the smurf turf a classic already. It’s a phony classic. Read what I said about that game and the NCAA’s insane OT system here.

Now, here’s a thought. Take a night off from sports. … Nah.

Manny, Just Run Around the Bases

When Manny Ramirez homered to complete the Red Sox’ back-to-back-to-back to close their deficit to 3 runs tonight against the Cleveland Indians, he stood at home plate watching his mammoth shot longer than Barry Bonds ever has.

Not good.

You’re down 4 runs, ready to go down 2 games. This is not the time for grandstanding. Players who do that when down are thinking more about themselves than their team. Just run around the bases. Your team lost and your backs are to the wall. This is like those NFL characters who make a decent play then put on a huge celebration while their team is down 3 touchdowns.

Manny Ramirez is a great player. But even Red Sox fans know he was out of line tonight.

As I said in my previous post, you can’t count the Red Sox out. Hopefully, though, we can count that kind of display out.

Don’t Count Boston Out

Everyone reading this knows the Indians just defeated the Boston Red Sox, 7-3, to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. But we all know what happened in the 2004 ALCS, and the World Series that followed. That year the Red Sox came back from the largest possible deficit, down 3-0, to the New York Yankees no less. Any team that did that can do what it takes to get to the 2007 World Series. This time, they only need to win 3 straight, not 4, and, while the Cleveland Indians are a good team, they are not the New York Yankees.

The odds are still against Boston. It is unlikely there will be another miracle. But there certainly could be. The Red Sox have bequeathed to baseball an atmosphere of hope, and the Colorado Rockies of 2007 haven’t hurt that atmosphere any. What the Red Sox did in 2004 will be good for baseball as long as baseball lasts. Games … and series … are never over till they’re over. Fans on both sides can enjoy every moment of every game.

Now, do the Sox have another miracle run in them?

Don’t count them out.

Keep the Ball

When Kevin Youkilis homered into the left field stands at the Jake to give the Boston Red Sox their first run after falling behind 7-0, the fan who came up with the ball immediately sailed it back onto the field. This is a tradition of disdain for a visiting club’s homers that apparently started—at least was popularized—in Wrigley Field. I always felt bad to see those balls sail back onto the field. I count two souvenir balls, one caught on the fly, from Candlestick Park amongst my most treasured sports possessions, probably more so because I caught the balls in my youth. It hurts to see someone throw such a precious possession back simply for a momentary rush … or worse, because they are pressured by surrounding fans to do so. I’m sure that is the sad reason a lot of balls are thrown back.

When David Ortiz homered, the Cleveland fan who came up with the ball was clearly elated, then, when pressured by surrounding fans, almost threw it back, but hesitated. She later sold it to a Boston fan.

I’m not sure what happened to the ball hit by Manny Ramirez when he completed the back-to-back-to-back to help Cleveland scramble back into the game. But I do know this; a lot of fans regret tossing those balls back. These opportunities don’t come that often. Keep the ball … if not for the love of the game, then for the love of your team. That ball that was tossed back tonight shouldn’t be seen by Indians fans as a despised Red Sox homer, but as one of the balls in Cleveland’s possible victory. And even if the indians were to lose, it’s a historic part of Cleveland’s great 2007 season.

If you catch a homer served up by your home team some day, keep it … as a souvenir of your team. If you don’t, you may regret it some day.

It’s Wakefield

After Josh Beckett’s dominating win over the Indians four days ago, I wrote: “Beckett has pitched on three days’ rest before. But I have to believe if Terry Francona was going to do it, he would have pulled him after five. Bottom line: It wouldn’t be a good risk to take and the Red Sox seem to have signaled they don’t intend to do it. They want Beckett to play longer than Koufax did.” (See here for full post.)

We now know it’s knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Beckett will be well rested for game 5, if there isn’t some deeper reason for holding him back. Francona would be more likely to pitch him tonight down 2-1 than up 2-1. Red Sox are down but feel Wakefield (#3 in Red Sox wins behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens … good company) squares up well against the Indians.

Should be a good game.

Rockie Top

(Or is it Rocky Top?)

The Rockies are at the top of the National League on their way to attempting to gain the summit of the Majors in the coming World Series.

Twenty-one out of 22 games. That’s where the Colorado Rockies stand after their 6-4 win at Coors Field eliminated the Arizona Diamondbacks. If Arizona was thinking The Boston Red Sox did it, they were doing too much thinking and not enough playing. It is too bad that the error by Arizona first baseman Conor Jackson on Willy Taveras’ easy grounder splattered the fourth inning with the unearned runs that led to the victory, robbing the D-Backs of a chance at a Red Sox-like comeback, but there’s no way you can say the unearned runs mean the Rockies didn’t earn their World Series birth.

Series MVP Matt Holliday had the three-run blast that capped a six-run outburst in the fourth inning. The Rockies are definitely on Holliday and the guy’s clutch rep is growing by leaps and bounds.

The Oct. 24 start date of the WS gives the Rocks more than a week off, a record, and a huge rest-up advantage since the Indians and Red Sox give every indication of going seven in the ALCS. The Indians lead the ALCS 2-1 after last night’s victory.

The Rockies’ seven straight wins puts them alone in the company of the Big Red Machine of 1976 as the only teams to start a postseason in such a way.

It’s hard to remember that this invincible-looking team was just one strike from postseason elimination at the end of the season.

The D-Backs have nothing to hang their heads about, though their pain is understandable. “Once the sting of this subsides,” manager Bob Melvin said, “we’ll be able to reflect that we did have a great year.”

Chris Snyder made it close with a three-run homer in the eighth. In the ninth, with a runner at second and the tying run at the plate closer Manny Corpas induced Stephen Drew to pop out on a 3-0 pitch. “If that’s not the tying run,” Melvin said, “then I obviously don’t let him swing. But right there you know you’re going to get a fastball, you know you’re going to get a pitch to drive. He just came off it a hair and popped it up.”

Eric Byrnes made the final out on a check-swing grounder and the celebration was on.

The Boston Red Sox Did It

This of course does not mean tonight. They didn’t do it tonight in Cleveland, falling behind in the ALCS, 2 games to 1. “The Boston Red Sox did it” is of course the rallying cry of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Down 3-0 in Colorado, the D-Backs’ only source of hope is the history of the 2004 playoffs, when the Boston Red Sox kept their October run alive one game at a time after being down 3 games to none in the ALCS … to the Yankees of all teams. Not much hope there, right? Never done before and it surely couldn’t be accomplished against the guys in pinstripes. But all sports fans know the Crimson Stockings kept winning one game at a time until they completed the biggest series comeback in Major League postseason history, eliminated the Yanks, and moved on to the World Series.

Which they swept in 4 against St. Louis.

After they were down 3-0 they never lost again, winning 8 consecutive games to sweep to the title.

Arizona is surely invoking the Boston miracle. I think they are telling themselves, Tonight we start an 8-game winning streak. The Boston Red Sox did it.

Indians in 11, Series Even

Final score 13-6 after a 7-run eleventh inning. Great play, great managing by Eric Wedge. 5 hours and 14 minutes after the first pitch, the Indians walked off the Fenway field even with the Red Sox at one game apiece.

Four Teams Still Playing Are Good for Baseball

Rockies: Never
Diamondbacks: Once in franchise history
Red Sox: Once since 1920
Indians: Last time in 1948

These are the four have-not teams playing in the two League Championship Series with info on their World Series championships. It’s refreshing. Everybody loves an underdog (except maybe some Yankees fans). Red Sox, money wise, have the advantage. But we still love them … after all, it hasn’t been that long since they broke the curse of the Bambino.

If you really favor underdogs, you have to root for Colorado, both for the way they got to where they are and, mostly, because they’re the only team of the four without a title.

As for me, I’m rooting for two seven-game series, followed by a seven-game World Series. And I’ll be happy no matter who wins.

Beckett Dominates; Bring Him Back on Three Days’ Rest?

If tonight’s match-up of the top two contenders for the AL Cy Young award was any predictor of things to come, Josh Beckett will take home the award. But then, the Cy Young is about the regular season, so C.C. Sabathia is still in the running.

But more important is who wins this series, and the Red Sox got a huge jump at home and sent a message to the Indians’ pitching staff. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were on base an amazing 10 straight times between them as the Sox went into double digits.

And Beckett, who gave up a run in the first inning, because of the run support, only pitched 6 innings and 80 pitches. Could he come back on three days’ rest?

What would Hall-of-Famer Sandy Koufax say?

Koufax defined a good pitcher as “a guy that throws what he intends to throw.” That would fit Beckett.

He also said, “If there was any magic formula, it was getting to pitch every fourth day.” And he closed out a World Series on two days’ rest, defeating the Minnesota Twins in game 7 in 1965.

But he paid a price. He said later, when he retired early at the top of his game, “I’ve got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body.”

Pitchers don’t have the steel they used to have when hurlers like Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn started and finished a game no matter how many extra innings they played. (Spahn said, “A sore arm is like a headache or a toothache. It can make you feel bad, but if you just forget about it and do what you have to do, it will go away. If you really like to pitch and you want to pitch, that’s what you’ll do.”) But what today’s pitchers do have is healthier arms and bodies. I admit, I often long for the good old days of invulnerable pitchers. But it’s not the world we live in today. We had only one twenty-game winner this year. There used to be several per year.

Beckett has pitched on three days’ rest before. But I have to believe if Terry Francona was going to do it, he would have pulled him after five. Bottom line: It wouldn’t be a good risk to take and the Red Sox seem to have signaled they don’t intend to do it. They want Beckett to play longer than Koufax did.

Boston Up 2, Down 1

No this is not the Red Sox-Indians score. The Red Sox breezed to a 10-3 first-game win. This is the city’s score.

Up: Boston Red Sox, back in the running.

Up: The city of Boston. I have walked the Freedom Trail, sampled the clam chowdah, and a lot more. It’s one of the best cities in America.

Down: Patriots, the team that didn’t need to cheat, but did. The team that tries to make NFL fans believe it didn’t matter. The coach that besmirched his team and damaged the league. The coach who is not “the best coach in NFL history.”

It would be easier to enjoy the Red Sox run if the Patriots weren’t still around, bothering sports fans.

(But wait; it’s really Foxborough, isn’t it?)