The following players will be on the next HOF ballot:
Moises Alou
Jeff Bagwell
Armando Benitez
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Sean Casey
Roger Clemens
Ray Durham
Eric Gagne
Tom Glavine
Luis Gonzalez
Jacque Jones
Todd Jones
Jeff Kent
Paul Lo Duca
Greg Maddux
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Mike Mussina
Hideo Nomo
Rafael Palmeiro
Mike Piazza
Tim Raines
Kenny Rogers
Curt Schilling
Richie Sexson
Lee Smith
J.T. Snow
Sammy Sosa
Frank Thomas
Mike Timlin
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker
Other players eligible on the ballot are:
Moises Alou
Armando Benitez
Sean Casey
Ray Durham
Eric Gagne
Luis Gonzalez
Jacque Jones
Todd Jones
Paul Lo Duca
Hideo Nomo
Kenny Rogers
Richie Sexson
J.T. Snow
Mike Timlin
The players passed over by the BBWAA for the HOF for at least fifteen years, who are now eligible this year via the Expansion Era Committee (formerly known as the Veterans Committee), and the managers and executives now eligible for the HOF, are:
Dave Concepcion
Bobby Cox
Steve Garvey
Tommy John
Tony La Russa
Billy Martin
Marvin Miller
Dave Parker
Dan Quisenberry
Ted Simmons
George Steinbrenner
Joe Torre
That's a lotta names. I'll cover them, their stats, their HOF worthiness, and their HOF chances in the upcoming blogs here. Feel free to pipe in now or then for your favorite (or least favorite) player.
This might be one of the best ballots ever in the sport, all of them very good, many of them borderline great, and many of them jumping over that line into actual greatness. The sheer quality of players here makes the list also one of the hardest ever to vote on, and PEDs is the monkey wrench into the whole system that might keep a few HOF-worthy players out permanently, even though they were never actually convicted by MLB for ever using them.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Boston Red Sox Win the 2013 World Series
One of my favorite teams, and favorite baseball years, ever. An over-achieving Cinderella team of mostly baseball nobodies that wins a World Series just as improbably as the much more talented 2004 team. Francona's team is still the emotional highlight of my baseball life, but you cannot ignore the feel-good of watching this team keep on winning, going from "worst to first" and climbing that mountain all the way. Even David Ortiz said that this team was one of the least-talented (and I mean that with affection) that has ever won a World Series. Consider:
* No pitcher on the team won more than 15 games. Nobody had the chance to win 20.
* No pitcher (besides Buchholz, who didn't finish with enough innings to qualify) was close to winning an ERA title.
* No pitcher was in the Cy Young conversation.
* Only one player drove in 100 RBIs. And he didn't drive in more than 110.
* Only two everyday players hit over .300. Neither hit over .310.
* No player came close to leading the league in homers, RBIs, or average.
* No player was in the MVP conversation.
* Players in the top-10 in the league in any positive category were in the middle of the pack, or the back of it.
* And that player was either Ortiz (for average, on-base %, slugging %, and maybe homers and RBIs--but, again, placing 5-10 in the top-10 for any of those), Pedroia (for average and maybe on-base % only) or Ellsbury (for stolen bases, stolen base %, and, maybe, batting average).
* World Champions--and Division and League Leaders--always have someone in the Cy Young or MVP conversation, with eye-popping stats, like those of Chris Davis, but not these guys.
So how did they win?
How can a guy who almost led the league in strikeouts also lead the league (and the majors) in pitches seen per at-bat, and be the offensive star of the 1-0 win over Verlander in the ALCS?
How can a player like Daniel Nava, who finished in the top-10 in the league (but who just barely qualified with his low number of ABs) not play in the World Series, or many of the postseason games in general, and be replaced by a guy who, literally, didn't hit his own weight? And not one Sox fan, including me, complained!
How can a staff without a 20-game winner (or even a 17-game winner) and without a Cy Young or MVP candidate win the World Series?
How can such a team beat a Tigers team in 6 games, when the Tigers have the MVP (Cabrera), the Cy Young (Scherzer), the perpetual Great Pitcher (Verlander), the overlooked Gold Glove-candidate (and ROY-candidate) and the wise sage as manager?
How can Shane Victorino win games in the ALCS and in the World Series with a grand slam and a three-run double, and yet still hit way below .200 in each series?
How can a team win two out of three in another stadium when they lost the first one in the bottom of the ninth due to an obstruction call?
For that matter, how can a team go without a World Series title in 85 years, and then win three in the next ten?
God help us cynics, but I think the Sox did it with....teamwork? Consistency? Preparation? Desire? And a lot of luck, of course.
How lucky were they in the postseason?
Lucky enough that the best hitter in all of baseball had such a bad groin injury that it needed to be operated on at the end of the World Series--and it made him unable to get to the outside fastball. How did Tazawa get him out in all of those clutch situations? Outside fastballs. It even hurt him to foul them off.
Lucky enough that a rookie pinch runner gets picked off first base, with one of the best hitters in postseason history at the plate, to end the game.
Lucky enough that they won although Ortiz had just two hits in all of the ALCS. That's right--he was 2 for 22, or something horrible like that. The second hit was a little blooper over second base. The first was the grand slam that tied the second game and woke up Boston.
Lucky enough that Boston had one hit in the first fourteen innings of the ALCS--and still won the second game, and lost the first just 1-0.
Lucky enough that Victor Martinez decided to stop rather than run to second. And lucky enough that Prince Fielder decided to stop rather than score from third. On the same play.
Lucky enough that a magician at shortstop booted an easy double-play ball--and then watched as Victorino hit his grand slam.
Lucky enough that an umpire didn't see that Stephen Drew's foot was a zip code away from second base when Drew started the first of the many double plays that sank the Tigers.
Lucky enough that the Cardinals inexplicably decided to pitch to Ortiz in every single clutch situation in the first five games of the World Series. Or did Napoli scare them that much? Was Napoli the guy they couldn't let beat them, and not Ortiz?
Lucky enough that the other teams ran themselves, or fielded themselves, into all of their losses. The Sox certainly did not hit themselves into all of their wins. Their scarce hits were enough to win the game because the other teams kept shooting themselves in the foot, and not hitting with men on base.
Lucky enough that the one or two hits that a particular player got in an entire series was enough to win one game apiece in that series. Ortiz in the ALCS. Napoli in the ALCS. Ross in the World Series. And Victorino in both the ALCS and in the World Series.
Lucky enough that they were able to win despite David Ross being an offensive improvement over another catcher.
Lucky enough that, during the regular season, they lost their legit closer to injury, then lost their other legit closer to injury, and then plugged an embattled 7th and 8th inning guy as the closer--and got the best results of all! (Bailey and Hanrahan return next year, BTW, so where do you pitch them if Uehara still closes?)
Lucky enough that the team loses three more games than it should have, according to the Pythagorean W-L Theorem--which is a huge sway in the wrong direction--and still handily wins its division?
Lucky enough that, during the regular season, Uehara (4-1), Breslow (5-2), Bailey (3-1), Brandon Workman (6-3), Jake Peavy (4-1), Alfredo Aceves (4-1) and Steven Wright (2-0) go a combined 28-9. Read that one again.
Lucky enough that they win it all even though their top five starters (Lester, 15-8; Lackey 10-13; Dempster 8-9; Doubront, 11-6; Buchholz, 12-1) go a combined 56-37. Which is pretty damn good, but not in the same universe as the top-5 starters for the Tigers, Rays, or Cardinals. Or did you think most World Series-winning teams have two of their top-5 starters finish below .500?
And little things--but lots of little things--like great baserunning, good starting pitching and great relief pitching, and awesome defense. And timely hitting, to the extent that they were either hitting in the clutch or they weren't hitting at all.
And--by far the most important thing this whole year--fouling off pitches, taking the pitch just outside or inside, driving the pitch count up, and getting the starters out of there and slapping around the bullpen.
And having a Gold Glove-winner at second base, and in right field, and--with a combination of Iglesias and Drew--at shortstop. And Napoli was very smooth, and a great scooper, at first.
Unbelievable. What a great team to watch all year, especially after the catastrophe of last year. Especially in the playoffs, when they hit under .220 total and still won each series in six.
We won't see anything like it anytime soon, maybe not even next year, so I hope you were watching as many games, and appreciating them, as I was. You know how we hear all that B.S. about chemistry, about leadership, about working hard and sticking together, about playing hard until the very last pitch?
This year, it was all true. All of it.
* No pitcher on the team won more than 15 games. Nobody had the chance to win 20.
* No pitcher (besides Buchholz, who didn't finish with enough innings to qualify) was close to winning an ERA title.
* No pitcher was in the Cy Young conversation.
* Only one player drove in 100 RBIs. And he didn't drive in more than 110.
* Only two everyday players hit over .300. Neither hit over .310.
* No player came close to leading the league in homers, RBIs, or average.
* No player was in the MVP conversation.
* Players in the top-10 in the league in any positive category were in the middle of the pack, or the back of it.
* And that player was either Ortiz (for average, on-base %, slugging %, and maybe homers and RBIs--but, again, placing 5-10 in the top-10 for any of those), Pedroia (for average and maybe on-base % only) or Ellsbury (for stolen bases, stolen base %, and, maybe, batting average).
* World Champions--and Division and League Leaders--always have someone in the Cy Young or MVP conversation, with eye-popping stats, like those of Chris Davis, but not these guys.
So how did they win?
How can a guy who almost led the league in strikeouts also lead the league (and the majors) in pitches seen per at-bat, and be the offensive star of the 1-0 win over Verlander in the ALCS?
How can a player like Daniel Nava, who finished in the top-10 in the league (but who just barely qualified with his low number of ABs) not play in the World Series, or many of the postseason games in general, and be replaced by a guy who, literally, didn't hit his own weight? And not one Sox fan, including me, complained!
How can a staff without a 20-game winner (or even a 17-game winner) and without a Cy Young or MVP candidate win the World Series?
How can such a team beat a Tigers team in 6 games, when the Tigers have the MVP (Cabrera), the Cy Young (Scherzer), the perpetual Great Pitcher (Verlander), the overlooked Gold Glove-candidate (and ROY-candidate) and the wise sage as manager?
How can Shane Victorino win games in the ALCS and in the World Series with a grand slam and a three-run double, and yet still hit way below .200 in each series?
How can a team win two out of three in another stadium when they lost the first one in the bottom of the ninth due to an obstruction call?
For that matter, how can a team go without a World Series title in 85 years, and then win three in the next ten?
God help us cynics, but I think the Sox did it with....teamwork? Consistency? Preparation? Desire? And a lot of luck, of course.
How lucky were they in the postseason?
Lucky enough that the best hitter in all of baseball had such a bad groin injury that it needed to be operated on at the end of the World Series--and it made him unable to get to the outside fastball. How did Tazawa get him out in all of those clutch situations? Outside fastballs. It even hurt him to foul them off.
Lucky enough that a rookie pinch runner gets picked off first base, with one of the best hitters in postseason history at the plate, to end the game.
Lucky enough that they won although Ortiz had just two hits in all of the ALCS. That's right--he was 2 for 22, or something horrible like that. The second hit was a little blooper over second base. The first was the grand slam that tied the second game and woke up Boston.
Lucky enough that Boston had one hit in the first fourteen innings of the ALCS--and still won the second game, and lost the first just 1-0.
Lucky enough that Victor Martinez decided to stop rather than run to second. And lucky enough that Prince Fielder decided to stop rather than score from third. On the same play.
Lucky enough that a magician at shortstop booted an easy double-play ball--and then watched as Victorino hit his grand slam.
Lucky enough that an umpire didn't see that Stephen Drew's foot was a zip code away from second base when Drew started the first of the many double plays that sank the Tigers.
Lucky enough that the Cardinals inexplicably decided to pitch to Ortiz in every single clutch situation in the first five games of the World Series. Or did Napoli scare them that much? Was Napoli the guy they couldn't let beat them, and not Ortiz?
Lucky enough that the other teams ran themselves, or fielded themselves, into all of their losses. The Sox certainly did not hit themselves into all of their wins. Their scarce hits were enough to win the game because the other teams kept shooting themselves in the foot, and not hitting with men on base.
Lucky enough that the one or two hits that a particular player got in an entire series was enough to win one game apiece in that series. Ortiz in the ALCS. Napoli in the ALCS. Ross in the World Series. And Victorino in both the ALCS and in the World Series.
Lucky enough that they were able to win despite David Ross being an offensive improvement over another catcher.
Lucky enough that, during the regular season, they lost their legit closer to injury, then lost their other legit closer to injury, and then plugged an embattled 7th and 8th inning guy as the closer--and got the best results of all! (Bailey and Hanrahan return next year, BTW, so where do you pitch them if Uehara still closes?)
Lucky enough that the team loses three more games than it should have, according to the Pythagorean W-L Theorem--which is a huge sway in the wrong direction--and still handily wins its division?
Lucky enough that, during the regular season, Uehara (4-1), Breslow (5-2), Bailey (3-1), Brandon Workman (6-3), Jake Peavy (4-1), Alfredo Aceves (4-1) and Steven Wright (2-0) go a combined 28-9. Read that one again.
Lucky enough that they win it all even though their top five starters (Lester, 15-8; Lackey 10-13; Dempster 8-9; Doubront, 11-6; Buchholz, 12-1) go a combined 56-37. Which is pretty damn good, but not in the same universe as the top-5 starters for the Tigers, Rays, or Cardinals. Or did you think most World Series-winning teams have two of their top-5 starters finish below .500?
And little things--but lots of little things--like great baserunning, good starting pitching and great relief pitching, and awesome defense. And timely hitting, to the extent that they were either hitting in the clutch or they weren't hitting at all.
And--by far the most important thing this whole year--fouling off pitches, taking the pitch just outside or inside, driving the pitch count up, and getting the starters out of there and slapping around the bullpen.
And having a Gold Glove-winner at second base, and in right field, and--with a combination of Iglesias and Drew--at shortstop. And Napoli was very smooth, and a great scooper, at first.
Unbelievable. What a great team to watch all year, especially after the catastrophe of last year. Especially in the playoffs, when they hit under .220 total and still won each series in six.
We won't see anything like it anytime soon, maybe not even next year, so I hope you were watching as many games, and appreciating them, as I was. You know how we hear all that B.S. about chemistry, about leadership, about working hard and sticking together, about playing hard until the very last pitch?
This year, it was all true. All of it.
Monday, October 28, 2013
World Series Tied, 2-2.
Quite a bit, so let's get to it:
--I've never seen a World Series game--or any game--end on an obstruction play.
--But when you commit lots of errors over two games in the World Series, you're likely to lose them.
--I've never seen a World Series game end on a pick-off. But, as a holder of useless information, I can tell you that Babe Ruth, of all people, was thrown out trying to steal second to end a World Series. Not just the game--the entire series.
--Ortiz singles, and Tim McCarver says that Napoli should come in at first for the bottom of the eighth. With that, McCarver finally said something in this World Series that I agreed with.
--No matter what happens tomorrow, it's going back to Fenway. What else could you ask for?
--The Sox are hitting a combined .189 in this World Series. The Cardinals are hitting .234. Also not good, but they're Murderer's Row by comparison.
--Considering this, the Sox are lucky to be 2-2.
--With two more errors tonight, they've now committed six in the past three games. Again, lucky to be 2-2. This is after they won Game 1 because of the Cardinals' errors.
--I don't want to see Middlebrooks in the field for the rest of the Series.
--I already didn't want to see him at the plate. Neither, for that matter, did his manager, John Farrell.
--That goes for all of next year, too. I'm happy with Drew at short for his defense, and Bogaerts at third. Middlebrooks can go. Get whatever you can for him, even if it's just a middle-of-the-road reliever.
--With the game ending on a pick-off, does the batter--Carlos Beltran--get credit for an at-bat, or a plate appearance? I think the at-bat has to end before you get credit for it. Feel free to weigh in if you know the (irrelevant) answer.
--Sox World Series ERA after this game: 2.27. St. Louis's ERA: 3.60.
--That tells you how many Sox errors there've been. Many, if not most, of the runs are unearned for St. Louis. They still count, of course.
--Craig Breslow needs to sit for awhile.
--Seven total errors for the Sox in four World Series games.
--That was Gomes's first, and only, hit of this World Series.
--Kudos to John Lackey for coming in for a scoreless eighth for his first relief appearance at all since 2004.
--And kudos to Big Papi for firing up the troops in the dugout.
--Speaking of Ortiz, he doesn't make the pick-off tag that Napoli did to end the game.
--Doubront is suddenly effective in the past few games. He can be Breslow for now.
--Why was Tazawa allowed to just face one batter, especially since he got him in the most tense part of the game? I'm guessing his tank is empty.
--Just found out why I've never seen a World Series game end in the way the past two games have: Because neither has ever ended a World Series game before. If it's never happened, I won't see it.
--Stephen Drew can hit zip for the rest of this World Series, and all of next year, and I'll still play him at short for his defense alone.
--At one point in this game, David Ortiz had 7 of the 21 total hits the Sox had in this World Series at that moment. That's one player having 33% of his team's hits, for you math lovers out there.
--Buchholz was maxed out after just four innings. He topped out in the mid- to high-80s. Worried?
--I hope Uehara doesn't have to pitch tomorrow so he can have two days' rest.
--Has it occurred to anyone that, incredibly, the Cardinals have been better without Albert Pujols? With the money they saved by not re-signing him, they signed two good starters and two relievers.
--For that matter, who would've known that the Angels would be much worse after they sign Pujols and Josh Hamilton? And with Mike Trout leading off for them to drive in, if he doesn't drive himself in?
--Take a look at my regular blog soon to read about an actual nightmare I had with Will Middlebrooks in it. Bizarre, is all I can say.
--I've never seen a World Series game--or any game--end on an obstruction play.
--But when you commit lots of errors over two games in the World Series, you're likely to lose them.
--I've never seen a World Series game end on a pick-off. But, as a holder of useless information, I can tell you that Babe Ruth, of all people, was thrown out trying to steal second to end a World Series. Not just the game--the entire series.
--Ortiz singles, and Tim McCarver says that Napoli should come in at first for the bottom of the eighth. With that, McCarver finally said something in this World Series that I agreed with.
--No matter what happens tomorrow, it's going back to Fenway. What else could you ask for?
--The Sox are hitting a combined .189 in this World Series. The Cardinals are hitting .234. Also not good, but they're Murderer's Row by comparison.
--Considering this, the Sox are lucky to be 2-2.
--With two more errors tonight, they've now committed six in the past three games. Again, lucky to be 2-2. This is after they won Game 1 because of the Cardinals' errors.
--I don't want to see Middlebrooks in the field for the rest of the Series.
--I already didn't want to see him at the plate. Neither, for that matter, did his manager, John Farrell.
--That goes for all of next year, too. I'm happy with Drew at short for his defense, and Bogaerts at third. Middlebrooks can go. Get whatever you can for him, even if it's just a middle-of-the-road reliever.
--With the game ending on a pick-off, does the batter--Carlos Beltran--get credit for an at-bat, or a plate appearance? I think the at-bat has to end before you get credit for it. Feel free to weigh in if you know the (irrelevant) answer.
--Sox World Series ERA after this game: 2.27. St. Louis's ERA: 3.60.
--That tells you how many Sox errors there've been. Many, if not most, of the runs are unearned for St. Louis. They still count, of course.
--Craig Breslow needs to sit for awhile.
--Seven total errors for the Sox in four World Series games.
--That was Gomes's first, and only, hit of this World Series.
--Kudos to John Lackey for coming in for a scoreless eighth for his first relief appearance at all since 2004.
--And kudos to Big Papi for firing up the troops in the dugout.
--Speaking of Ortiz, he doesn't make the pick-off tag that Napoli did to end the game.
--Doubront is suddenly effective in the past few games. He can be Breslow for now.
--Why was Tazawa allowed to just face one batter, especially since he got him in the most tense part of the game? I'm guessing his tank is empty.
--Just found out why I've never seen a World Series game end in the way the past two games have: Because neither has ever ended a World Series game before. If it's never happened, I won't see it.
--Stephen Drew can hit zip for the rest of this World Series, and all of next year, and I'll still play him at short for his defense alone.
--At one point in this game, David Ortiz had 7 of the 21 total hits the Sox had in this World Series at that moment. That's one player having 33% of his team's hits, for you math lovers out there.
--Buchholz was maxed out after just four innings. He topped out in the mid- to high-80s. Worried?
--I hope Uehara doesn't have to pitch tomorrow so he can have two days' rest.
--Has it occurred to anyone that, incredibly, the Cardinals have been better without Albert Pujols? With the money they saved by not re-signing him, they signed two good starters and two relievers.
--For that matter, who would've known that the Angels would be much worse after they sign Pujols and Josh Hamilton? And with Mike Trout leading off for them to drive in, if he doesn't drive himself in?
--Take a look at my regular blog soon to read about an actual nightmare I had with Will Middlebrooks in it. Bizarre, is all I can say.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Sox Win ALCS; Face Cards in World Series
A few thoughts after an exciting Game Six victory that opens the door to the 2013 World Series:
--I said in the last post that a commentator said the Tigers were a glorified softball team, and that I "sort of" knew what he meant. Now I definitely know what he meant. Great softball teams are usually big, slow sluggers who can't run or defend. They throw hard and they hit hard, and that's usually enough for softball tournaments.
But that's not enough for baseball's postseason. You have to be much more balanced. You have to hit, but more important in a series is that you pitch, run and defend. Though their starting pitching was perhaps the best ever in an ALCS, the relief pitching, the baserunning and the defending was terrible--perhaps the worst I've ever seen in an ALCS. All of that reared its ugly head in Game 6:
* Austin Jackson, usually a very good baserunner, gets picked off first base by rookie Brandon Workman. By a mile.
* Rather than get caught in a rundown so the (very fat and slow) runner from third can score, Victor Martinez--otherwise a very smart player--just stops in front of Dustin Pedroia. Perhaps he wanted to block Pedroia's view and throw home, but Pedroia simply stepped around him, saw that Fielder had inexplicably stopped running home, and tagged Martinez out. If V-Mart continues running, he at least makes it to second base, so there's one out and not two. Or he gets caught in a rundown, which is what he should've done (and which he was taught in Little League to do), and so he's out but the run scores. This is a common play, one he perhaps has done over a hundred times.
* Prince Fielder, one of the more seemingly-uncaring players I've ever heard and seen play in the ALCS (when told fans would get angry about his uncaring attitude, he said, "They don't play."), unforgivably stops halfway down the baseline and doesn't try to score on the aforementioned groundout. Why? If he's tagged out, again, there's just one out and runners are on first and second. He shouldn't have tried to score at all, of course, with the ball never leaving the infield and his, shall we say, lack of speed. Leaving third base is bad baserunning, but not continuing home to try to score is an unforgivable mistake that had his manager looking defeated and had Tim McCarver, who usually babbles incessantly about nothing, saying, "That's bad baserunning." Fielder's unstylish bellyflop back to third base, which he missed by a few feet, will be a Defense Exhibit A of poor baserunning for years to come. Adding insult to injury, he was signed last year to a 9-year / $215 million contract. And he hasn't driven in a run in 18 consecutive postseason games. No wonder why Detroit fans are booing him. He would've already been driven out of Boston, a la Carl Crawford.
The Tiger defense was okay, since Iglesias is usually a magician in the field, and he loaded the bases, but he didn't give up the grand slam. (And Pedroia booted an easy double-play ball earlier in the game.) But the Detroit relief pitching was the worst in memory, or can you name another relief corp that gave up two grand slams in the same series? The Tigers had the best starting pitching, and the worst relief pitching, in the same postseason series, at the same time. Amazing.
--Speaking of $200 million and no playoffs, wave goodbye to the Dodgers. I still don't get why they lost. Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, or Clayton Kershaw are each able to win a postseason series, just by himself. But they didn't, and Puig made more mistakes than even a rookie should make.
--The postseason brings out the worst in some players' personalities. See: Alex Rodriguez. Case Exhibit A was when he slapped the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand in the 2004 ALCS as the Yanks were blowing it. Players learn in Little League that they can't do that. And if they do it anyway, they don't have the nerve to look shocked, arms stretched out in surprise, while standing on second base.
--The two teams with the best record in each league are in the World Series for the first time since 1999.
--Stephen Drew doesn't get hits, but he does take them away. He helped save Game Six with his great play in the seventh. That's been heavily covered, but nobody remembers his athletic grab of John Lester's errant throw to second base to turn an important double play. Lester has Roger Clemens's illness: Neither can throw the ball to any base with accuracy.
--Ortiz hit .091 in the ALCS. Both hits were opposite extremes. A little blooper over second base. And a game-tying grand slam that woke up Boston in Game Two.
--Victorino hit .125, with just three hits. But, like Ortiz, he made the big one count.
--Drew went 1 for 20, with 10 strikeouts. But, again, the hits he didn't get aren't as important as the ones he took away.
--I'm okay with Drew at short and Bogaerts at third throughout the World Series. Middlebrooks can sit.
--Middlebrooks and Mike Carp will be important pinch-hitters in the World Series while in St. Louis. Though here's hoping the Sox don't need them.
--Good to see Uehara win the MVP of the series. If for no other reason than to show that I don't just pluck these predictions out of thin air.
--I don't remember a single game in which two different players on the same team lost homeruns by about half a foot--combined.
--The Sox relief was perhaps the best I've ever seen in one series. The whole bullpen deserved the MVP. Tazawa, especially, manhandled the best hitter (only less so when injured) in the majors.
--I wouldn't want Fielder on my team, even with his homers and RBIs. I just read that he's already over his offensive ineptitude--at the plate and on the basepaths--because he has two kids to raise, and he has to show them how to be men. Like he doesn't have his wife and some hired help raise them during the season?
--Note to Prince: Not caring is not being a man. Real men accept responsibility for their mistakes, internally if not externally. (He doesn't have to say it to the press, but it doesn't sound like he's saying it to himself, either.)
--I wouldn't let Buchholz throw more than 85 pitches in the World Series, unless he has a huge lead, and / or he's just breezing along.
--Ditto for Lester, who, like Buchholz, start walking everyone when they're losing it.
--Peavy gets the chance to redeem himself. He's the only one on the pitching staff who needs to.
--Like I said in the previous entry--Having come this far, let's go all the way.
--I said in the last post that a commentator said the Tigers were a glorified softball team, and that I "sort of" knew what he meant. Now I definitely know what he meant. Great softball teams are usually big, slow sluggers who can't run or defend. They throw hard and they hit hard, and that's usually enough for softball tournaments.
But that's not enough for baseball's postseason. You have to be much more balanced. You have to hit, but more important in a series is that you pitch, run and defend. Though their starting pitching was perhaps the best ever in an ALCS, the relief pitching, the baserunning and the defending was terrible--perhaps the worst I've ever seen in an ALCS. All of that reared its ugly head in Game 6:
* Austin Jackson, usually a very good baserunner, gets picked off first base by rookie Brandon Workman. By a mile.
* Rather than get caught in a rundown so the (very fat and slow) runner from third can score, Victor Martinez--otherwise a very smart player--just stops in front of Dustin Pedroia. Perhaps he wanted to block Pedroia's view and throw home, but Pedroia simply stepped around him, saw that Fielder had inexplicably stopped running home, and tagged Martinez out. If V-Mart continues running, he at least makes it to second base, so there's one out and not two. Or he gets caught in a rundown, which is what he should've done (and which he was taught in Little League to do), and so he's out but the run scores. This is a common play, one he perhaps has done over a hundred times.
* Prince Fielder, one of the more seemingly-uncaring players I've ever heard and seen play in the ALCS (when told fans would get angry about his uncaring attitude, he said, "They don't play."), unforgivably stops halfway down the baseline and doesn't try to score on the aforementioned groundout. Why? If he's tagged out, again, there's just one out and runners are on first and second. He shouldn't have tried to score at all, of course, with the ball never leaving the infield and his, shall we say, lack of speed. Leaving third base is bad baserunning, but not continuing home to try to score is an unforgivable mistake that had his manager looking defeated and had Tim McCarver, who usually babbles incessantly about nothing, saying, "That's bad baserunning." Fielder's unstylish bellyflop back to third base, which he missed by a few feet, will be a Defense Exhibit A of poor baserunning for years to come. Adding insult to injury, he was signed last year to a 9-year / $215 million contract. And he hasn't driven in a run in 18 consecutive postseason games. No wonder why Detroit fans are booing him. He would've already been driven out of Boston, a la Carl Crawford.
The Tiger defense was okay, since Iglesias is usually a magician in the field, and he loaded the bases, but he didn't give up the grand slam. (And Pedroia booted an easy double-play ball earlier in the game.) But the Detroit relief pitching was the worst in memory, or can you name another relief corp that gave up two grand slams in the same series? The Tigers had the best starting pitching, and the worst relief pitching, in the same postseason series, at the same time. Amazing.
--Speaking of $200 million and no playoffs, wave goodbye to the Dodgers. I still don't get why they lost. Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, or Clayton Kershaw are each able to win a postseason series, just by himself. But they didn't, and Puig made more mistakes than even a rookie should make.
--The postseason brings out the worst in some players' personalities. See: Alex Rodriguez. Case Exhibit A was when he slapped the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's hand in the 2004 ALCS as the Yanks were blowing it. Players learn in Little League that they can't do that. And if they do it anyway, they don't have the nerve to look shocked, arms stretched out in surprise, while standing on second base.
--The two teams with the best record in each league are in the World Series for the first time since 1999.
--Stephen Drew doesn't get hits, but he does take them away. He helped save Game Six with his great play in the seventh. That's been heavily covered, but nobody remembers his athletic grab of John Lester's errant throw to second base to turn an important double play. Lester has Roger Clemens's illness: Neither can throw the ball to any base with accuracy.
--Ortiz hit .091 in the ALCS. Both hits were opposite extremes. A little blooper over second base. And a game-tying grand slam that woke up Boston in Game Two.
--Victorino hit .125, with just three hits. But, like Ortiz, he made the big one count.
--Drew went 1 for 20, with 10 strikeouts. But, again, the hits he didn't get aren't as important as the ones he took away.
--I'm okay with Drew at short and Bogaerts at third throughout the World Series. Middlebrooks can sit.
--Middlebrooks and Mike Carp will be important pinch-hitters in the World Series while in St. Louis. Though here's hoping the Sox don't need them.
--Good to see Uehara win the MVP of the series. If for no other reason than to show that I don't just pluck these predictions out of thin air.
--I don't remember a single game in which two different players on the same team lost homeruns by about half a foot--combined.
--The Sox relief was perhaps the best I've ever seen in one series. The whole bullpen deserved the MVP. Tazawa, especially, manhandled the best hitter (only less so when injured) in the majors.
--I wouldn't want Fielder on my team, even with his homers and RBIs. I just read that he's already over his offensive ineptitude--at the plate and on the basepaths--because he has two kids to raise, and he has to show them how to be men. Like he doesn't have his wife and some hired help raise them during the season?
--Note to Prince: Not caring is not being a man. Real men accept responsibility for their mistakes, internally if not externally. (He doesn't have to say it to the press, but it doesn't sound like he's saying it to himself, either.)
--I wouldn't let Buchholz throw more than 85 pitches in the World Series, unless he has a huge lead, and / or he's just breezing along.
--Ditto for Lester, who, like Buchholz, start walking everyone when they're losing it.
--Peavy gets the chance to redeem himself. He's the only one on the pitching staff who needs to.
--Like I said in the previous entry--Having come this far, let's go all the way.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
ALCS Sox Lead Tigers, 3-2
A few thoughts before the hopefully series-ending Game 6:
--If I'm the Tigers, I still like my chances. Sure, they're down three games to two, with two games to play at Fenway, but they have the league's two best pitchers going back-to-back. These two guys have given up one earned run between them in their two starts--and that was on one bad pitch to Mike Napoli. I hate to say it, but the Tigers' chances are good.
--And so are the Sox's chances, of course. They're at home. They have the last at-bats and they're a last at-bat kind of team. And their relievers are much better. And they can play the park better. And despite the success of the Tigers' two aforementioned starters, they're just 0-1 against the Sox in those two starts in this series.
--The way it's been so far, the Sox just need a lead by the seventh inning. (Knock on wood.)
--Uehara is the MVP so far. No one else comes close, not even Napoli.
--Neither team's offense has played correct fundamentals this series. Runners aren't getting moved over, and they're not being driven in from third with less than two outs. Frustrating to watch.
--I wonder if Peavy is in the bullpen tonight. Everyone's in the bullpen if there's a game tomorrow.
--The first-half Clay needs to show up tonight. If not, I hope Farrell has as quick a hook with him as he did with Lester last game. Go with your strength; right now, that's the bullpen, not the starters.
--I agree with keeping Drew at short as long as Bogaerts starts at third. Who would you rather see on the bench, Drew or Middlebrooks? With his defense, Drew needs to play. If the other batters hit like they should, his offense won't be necessary, anyway. And I'll bet his defensive WAR is very good.
--What's the chance of Victorino sticking a forearm out there and getting hit to force in the winning run? Better than me driving it in, that's for sure.
--Prince Fielder, who makes about $19 million a year and who hasn't driven in a run in about 16 postseason games, needs not to say things like he did the other night in Detroit. When asked about the boos he got, he essentially said that if the fans could hit the ball, they'd be playing the game themselves. Win or lose, at least the Sox have accountability. If a player sucks lately, he'll say so.
--The talk radio station I listen to here called the Tigers the league's best softball team. Reasons? They're fat and slow at the corners, and the offense is not well-balanced. Of course, their starting pitching is much better than a softball team's, but I sort of get what they meant.
--The Sox offense (actually, both teams' offense) has done much worse than anyone would've thought. Not one single starter has hit well overall. But they've hit well at the most opportune times.
--Then again, the Sox pitching has done much better than anyone would've thought.
--And who would've thought that the Sox would make it this far, anyway?
--But having done so, let's go all the way, waddaya say?
--If I'm the Tigers, I still like my chances. Sure, they're down three games to two, with two games to play at Fenway, but they have the league's two best pitchers going back-to-back. These two guys have given up one earned run between them in their two starts--and that was on one bad pitch to Mike Napoli. I hate to say it, but the Tigers' chances are good.
--And so are the Sox's chances, of course. They're at home. They have the last at-bats and they're a last at-bat kind of team. And their relievers are much better. And they can play the park better. And despite the success of the Tigers' two aforementioned starters, they're just 0-1 against the Sox in those two starts in this series.
--The way it's been so far, the Sox just need a lead by the seventh inning. (Knock on wood.)
--Uehara is the MVP so far. No one else comes close, not even Napoli.
--Neither team's offense has played correct fundamentals this series. Runners aren't getting moved over, and they're not being driven in from third with less than two outs. Frustrating to watch.
--I wonder if Peavy is in the bullpen tonight. Everyone's in the bullpen if there's a game tomorrow.
--The first-half Clay needs to show up tonight. If not, I hope Farrell has as quick a hook with him as he did with Lester last game. Go with your strength; right now, that's the bullpen, not the starters.
--I agree with keeping Drew at short as long as Bogaerts starts at third. Who would you rather see on the bench, Drew or Middlebrooks? With his defense, Drew needs to play. If the other batters hit like they should, his offense won't be necessary, anyway. And I'll bet his defensive WAR is very good.
--What's the chance of Victorino sticking a forearm out there and getting hit to force in the winning run? Better than me driving it in, that's for sure.
--Prince Fielder, who makes about $19 million a year and who hasn't driven in a run in about 16 postseason games, needs not to say things like he did the other night in Detroit. When asked about the boos he got, he essentially said that if the fans could hit the ball, they'd be playing the game themselves. Win or lose, at least the Sox have accountability. If a player sucks lately, he'll say so.
--The talk radio station I listen to here called the Tigers the league's best softball team. Reasons? They're fat and slow at the corners, and the offense is not well-balanced. Of course, their starting pitching is much better than a softball team's, but I sort of get what they meant.
--The Sox offense (actually, both teams' offense) has done much worse than anyone would've thought. Not one single starter has hit well overall. But they've hit well at the most opportune times.
--Then again, the Sox pitching has done much better than anyone would've thought.
--And who would've thought that the Sox would make it this far, anyway?
--But having done so, let's go all the way, waddaya say?
Monday, October 14, 2013
ALCS Tied at 1
A few quick notes on this late night / early morning:
--I happened to have been lucky enough to watch the Patriots' comeback with 5 seconds left, and this Sox comeback, in the same night. Ever since 2003, it's been great to be a Boston-area baseball and football fan.
--And I just caught the tail-end of both. But what else was there to see?
--I know Bill James says there's no such thing as clutch, but I've been watching these two guys for a very long time now, and David Ortiz and Tom Brady sure look like clutch players to me.
--If there's no such thing as a clutch player, why would I want David Ortiz up at a crucial time, and not A-Rod, when the latter's numbers are clearly so much better overall?
--If there's no such thing as a clutch player, why is David Ortiz so respected as one by the other players--and why is A-Rod so not respected as one by the other players? The players would know, right?
--Bill James has an open reservation to come to my house--or to take me out to dinner, preferably at a sports bar, so I can watch the games--and explain why he says that, statistically, there's no such thing as clutch.
--When your team has been held hitless for over 15 innings over two ALCS games, you should lose both.
--It is a testament to this team that they won one tonight, and actually could have, and perhaps should have, won it last night.
--I would agree that there's no such thing as momentum, but I saw the 2004 ALCS. Then again, I also saw the 2008 ALCS, and was at Fenway for the eight-run comeback win, down by seven in the seventh, in Game 5. If they come back from the brink and win that game, and they win game six, momentum stipulates that they'd also win game seven, right? Nope. So I'm undecided about whether momentum really exists.
--If it does, the Sox have it going to Detroit. But you're only as good as your last game.
--Part of me thinks the Sox should be up 2-0. The other half of me slaps around the first half, and says to be thankful that they're tied. The Sox really should have won last night, and they really should have lost tonight, so I'll agree that the slate is as it should be.
--The Tigers bullpen doesn't impress me. The only advantage the Tigers have is in starting pitching. Which is huge, but if the Sox can hang in there and get into their bullpen, they have a good chance of winning one, and perhaps two, in Detroit. They'll have to win at least one to bring it back to Boston.
--Cabrera's swing is coming around. And most of the Sox's swings are not. Even with the slam, Ortiz is hitting below a buck fifty. And Ellsbury still doesn't have a hit.
--There've been four grand slams by Sox players in the playoffs, and I've seen them all. Ortiz's tonight. J.D. Drew's in the 2007 ALCS. Johnny Damon's, of course, in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. And Troy O'Leary's in the 1999 ALDS, in Game 5, after Nomar was intentionally walked to get to him.
--In his next at-bat in that same game, after another intentional walk to Nomar, O'Leary hit a three-run homer. This was Mike Hargrove's famously mismanaged series, when even the announcers said he used his bullpen like he was panicking--up two games to zero. He was fired after that ALDS. This was the same game that Pedro came in with a busted back and pitched six hitless innings. For those who care about such things. Don't ask me how I remember such things--I just do. But don't ask me anything about yesterday.
--I'm not surprised that the Sox have struck out over 30 times in the two games. Isn't that what some of them have been doing all year? Luckily they walk a lot, too, which is why Napoli can strike out a team-record 187 times this year, and still have an on-base percentage of around .350, which is decent.
--Left unnoticed is the job of the Sox bullpen these last two games. And, for the most part, its defense.
--And Joe West's strike zone was amongst the most inconsistent I've ever seen, for both teams. He's just happy this ALCS isn't between the Sox and Yanks. (He infamously said two years ago that those teams make a mockery of the game because their games last so long. How dare the hitters work the count and try to get on base?)
--Let's not get greedy if the Sox lose. I know you expected them to be middle of the pack, if not in the basement, this year. I know you did, because I did, too.
--Ortiz is hitting about .500 against Verlander for his career, and the Sox overall handle him pretty well, considering how dominating he is to everyone else. Daniel Nava infamously had a great game against him.
--Go Sox. They do better when I don't watch, so I'll continue not to, and just catch the last few innings.
--I happened to have been lucky enough to watch the Patriots' comeback with 5 seconds left, and this Sox comeback, in the same night. Ever since 2003, it's been great to be a Boston-area baseball and football fan.
--And I just caught the tail-end of both. But what else was there to see?
--I know Bill James says there's no such thing as clutch, but I've been watching these two guys for a very long time now, and David Ortiz and Tom Brady sure look like clutch players to me.
--If there's no such thing as a clutch player, why would I want David Ortiz up at a crucial time, and not A-Rod, when the latter's numbers are clearly so much better overall?
--If there's no such thing as a clutch player, why is David Ortiz so respected as one by the other players--and why is A-Rod so not respected as one by the other players? The players would know, right?
--Bill James has an open reservation to come to my house--or to take me out to dinner, preferably at a sports bar, so I can watch the games--and explain why he says that, statistically, there's no such thing as clutch.
--When your team has been held hitless for over 15 innings over two ALCS games, you should lose both.
--It is a testament to this team that they won one tonight, and actually could have, and perhaps should have, won it last night.
--I would agree that there's no such thing as momentum, but I saw the 2004 ALCS. Then again, I also saw the 2008 ALCS, and was at Fenway for the eight-run comeback win, down by seven in the seventh, in Game 5. If they come back from the brink and win that game, and they win game six, momentum stipulates that they'd also win game seven, right? Nope. So I'm undecided about whether momentum really exists.
--If it does, the Sox have it going to Detroit. But you're only as good as your last game.
--Part of me thinks the Sox should be up 2-0. The other half of me slaps around the first half, and says to be thankful that they're tied. The Sox really should have won last night, and they really should have lost tonight, so I'll agree that the slate is as it should be.
--The Tigers bullpen doesn't impress me. The only advantage the Tigers have is in starting pitching. Which is huge, but if the Sox can hang in there and get into their bullpen, they have a good chance of winning one, and perhaps two, in Detroit. They'll have to win at least one to bring it back to Boston.
--Cabrera's swing is coming around. And most of the Sox's swings are not. Even with the slam, Ortiz is hitting below a buck fifty. And Ellsbury still doesn't have a hit.
--There've been four grand slams by Sox players in the playoffs, and I've seen them all. Ortiz's tonight. J.D. Drew's in the 2007 ALCS. Johnny Damon's, of course, in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. And Troy O'Leary's in the 1999 ALDS, in Game 5, after Nomar was intentionally walked to get to him.
--In his next at-bat in that same game, after another intentional walk to Nomar, O'Leary hit a three-run homer. This was Mike Hargrove's famously mismanaged series, when even the announcers said he used his bullpen like he was panicking--up two games to zero. He was fired after that ALDS. This was the same game that Pedro came in with a busted back and pitched six hitless innings. For those who care about such things. Don't ask me how I remember such things--I just do. But don't ask me anything about yesterday.
--I'm not surprised that the Sox have struck out over 30 times in the two games. Isn't that what some of them have been doing all year? Luckily they walk a lot, too, which is why Napoli can strike out a team-record 187 times this year, and still have an on-base percentage of around .350, which is decent.
--Left unnoticed is the job of the Sox bullpen these last two games. And, for the most part, its defense.
--And Joe West's strike zone was amongst the most inconsistent I've ever seen, for both teams. He's just happy this ALCS isn't between the Sox and Yanks. (He infamously said two years ago that those teams make a mockery of the game because their games last so long. How dare the hitters work the count and try to get on base?)
--Let's not get greedy if the Sox lose. I know you expected them to be middle of the pack, if not in the basement, this year. I know you did, because I did, too.
--Ortiz is hitting about .500 against Verlander for his career, and the Sox overall handle him pretty well, considering how dominating he is to everyone else. Daniel Nava infamously had a great game against him.
--Go Sox. They do better when I don't watch, so I'll continue not to, and just catch the last few innings.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Red Sox to the ALCS
A few quick thoughts about the last few games of the ALDS:
--Peralta can quick-pitch Napoli for strike-three as often as he wants, as long as he uncorks a game-tying wild pitch first, like he did last night.
--The results were good, but I can't say I approve of how Maddon managed his bullpen yesterday. Why he didn't do the same the night before--which was also a must-win game for them--is a mystery, if he thought the situation that dire.
--And you're instilling a sense of fear in your team if you're mixing and matching your pitchers so often that you're basically screaming out that your team can't afford to make even one wrong pitch. I think that made the team more stiff at the plate as well. Some players do not perform well under such intense alarm. See: Fernando Rodney. Perhaps Longoria as well; he had more indecisive half-swings in that one game that he probably had in the past few weeks combined.
--Farrell managed his team much better than Maddon, who's also a good manager, but sometimes steals the spotlight from the players during games and post-game interviews. Pinch-hitting Bogaerts for Drew was a helluva move, and not one he made all year. He normally sticks with Drew even at times when he must know he shouldn't. But Bogaerts drew two walks in two PAs, and scored the tying run. Taking out Peavy at just the right moment, after just 74 pitches, took steel nerve. Bringing in Breslow earlier than usual, and leaving him in longer than usual, was just the right move. Letting Tazawa face just that one batter, rather than having him finish the eighth, which he would normally do, was also just right. Perfect decisions at exactly the right moments.
--Breslow speaks just like the Ivy-League educated guy that he is. And I mean that as a compliment. For a ballplayer, he's extremely well-spoken, and I mean that in the kindest of all possible ways.
--I don't know why Maddon didn't leave Moore in longer. When he came in, the announcers (and me) thought he was in for at least four innings.
--The game lasted just under four hours, until 1:30 a.m., for those keeping track. TBS might want to consider that next time it wants to start a playoff game at 8:30 pm. If Girardi had managed the way Maddon did, and had the game been Sox / Yanks instead, it would have lasted past 2:30 a.m.
--Bottom line: The Rays were tired, and couldn't hit.
--I wouldn't want Rodney for my closer. There seems to be something a little off-kilter rattling around in there. And even when he does well--one person can't have a completely askew cap, off-center to the point that it draws unnecessary attention to itself, and a bow-and-arrow genuflect to God. If he wanted to scream "Hey, look at me!" then he should have literally screamed "Hey, look at me!" as he was walking two and hitting a batter in the ninth inning of a must-win game.
--The Trop is a travesty that simply needs to go. Has anyone considered the possibility that the team draws like crap not because the fanbase sucks, but because it doesn't want to come to that park? It even looks terrible on television. And what if the catwalk fiasco had been the final play of a Game 7 of the World Series? If there was a great team playing in a great park and the fans still didn't come, then it would be time to move the team. First, how about playing in an actual ballpark first?
--Tigers or A's? Are you kidding? Go A's!!! (I wish a World Series for Billy Beane. But not this year.)
--Peralta can quick-pitch Napoli for strike-three as often as he wants, as long as he uncorks a game-tying wild pitch first, like he did last night.
--The results were good, but I can't say I approve of how Maddon managed his bullpen yesterday. Why he didn't do the same the night before--which was also a must-win game for them--is a mystery, if he thought the situation that dire.
--And you're instilling a sense of fear in your team if you're mixing and matching your pitchers so often that you're basically screaming out that your team can't afford to make even one wrong pitch. I think that made the team more stiff at the plate as well. Some players do not perform well under such intense alarm. See: Fernando Rodney. Perhaps Longoria as well; he had more indecisive half-swings in that one game that he probably had in the past few weeks combined.
--Farrell managed his team much better than Maddon, who's also a good manager, but sometimes steals the spotlight from the players during games and post-game interviews. Pinch-hitting Bogaerts for Drew was a helluva move, and not one he made all year. He normally sticks with Drew even at times when he must know he shouldn't. But Bogaerts drew two walks in two PAs, and scored the tying run. Taking out Peavy at just the right moment, after just 74 pitches, took steel nerve. Bringing in Breslow earlier than usual, and leaving him in longer than usual, was just the right move. Letting Tazawa face just that one batter, rather than having him finish the eighth, which he would normally do, was also just right. Perfect decisions at exactly the right moments.
--Breslow speaks just like the Ivy-League educated guy that he is. And I mean that as a compliment. For a ballplayer, he's extremely well-spoken, and I mean that in the kindest of all possible ways.
--I don't know why Maddon didn't leave Moore in longer. When he came in, the announcers (and me) thought he was in for at least four innings.
--The game lasted just under four hours, until 1:30 a.m., for those keeping track. TBS might want to consider that next time it wants to start a playoff game at 8:30 pm. If Girardi had managed the way Maddon did, and had the game been Sox / Yanks instead, it would have lasted past 2:30 a.m.
--Bottom line: The Rays were tired, and couldn't hit.
--I wouldn't want Rodney for my closer. There seems to be something a little off-kilter rattling around in there. And even when he does well--one person can't have a completely askew cap, off-center to the point that it draws unnecessary attention to itself, and a bow-and-arrow genuflect to God. If he wanted to scream "Hey, look at me!" then he should have literally screamed "Hey, look at me!" as he was walking two and hitting a batter in the ninth inning of a must-win game.
--The Trop is a travesty that simply needs to go. Has anyone considered the possibility that the team draws like crap not because the fanbase sucks, but because it doesn't want to come to that park? It even looks terrible on television. And what if the catwalk fiasco had been the final play of a Game 7 of the World Series? If there was a great team playing in a great park and the fans still didn't come, then it would be time to move the team. First, how about playing in an actual ballpark first?
--Tigers or A's? Are you kidding? Go A's!!! (I wish a World Series for Billy Beane. But not this year.)
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