I really dislike the radio team these days. Waldman is horrible and she can’t keep Sterling in check. Kay use to keep Sterling from his excesses.
Diomedes: You’re right, I’m sorry.
Wow, A-Rod comes through. We need 3 more. I sure do wish Capt Clutch would wake up. He’s killing me this week.
Come on Jete, redemption time. Please
Abreu makes things a little more interesting.
Borowski can’t pitch an inning without making it interesting. Hell, his presence makes the Indians’ record in 1 run games entirely irrelevant. 
Only one out left. Come on Jorge, keep it going.
Congrats to Cleveland.
Good bye Joe.
I love the fact that you edited this to add the frowny -after- Abreu’s homer. Watching the game on delay?
Is this the appropriate place to quote Major League?
Sorry, Jim. Your guys made a serious run for it, after a dreadful start. I’ll move over a bit so you have room on the “My team didn’t make it to the Series” bench.
Sorry you guys lost, and that you may lose one of the best managers in the history of baseball, What Exit? We’ll take care of the Sox for you guys.
Man, I hope Torre doesn’t get fired - I hope he packs his bags and leaves. Good riddence, Stienbrenner - Joe Torre is a class act!!!
Oh and *double thumbs-up to WhatExit? * 
I listened to the game on the radio at work. I have one complaint: Hey ESPN! Could you turn down the crowd mics a bit? I’m already working next to two white noise generators - I could hardly hear the announcers!
Oh, and …
A-Rod’s homer was high, it was far, it was gone, but still,
The Yankees lose! The Yankees lose! Theeeeeee Yankees loooooooose!
Still, congrats to Torre on a good run. He’s a class act, no matter what happens next. Boo Steinbrenner! Hooray beer!
I’ll be rooting for Cleveland to beat the BoSox, and for the Rockies to triumph over the D-Backs (Gonna have to buy a Colorado hat, though. Still have the Arizona hat I bought for their WS appearance vs the Yankees.)
So, has any heard about this new show starting on TBS. . .Frank something or other?
Hahahaha. TBS all but assured I will never watch an episode of that hot mess, even if it’s the only show on TV ever again. I don’t know, I’ll go outside and play or something. Get back on a bike after 17 years of driving. Something. Anything but that.
Thanks, I’ll be sitting next to you rooting for Cleveland and the Rockies. Maybe next year we can get our match-up.
Thanks and I really hope you win in 4.
I will never, ever, watch it. It could be the best thing ever and I will never watch it. Fox did the same thing to me years ago with 24. Everyone raves about 24. I have never watched it. The overdose of commercials just kills it for me.
Just so, you can have one Yankee fans opinion.
A-Rod: He did fine and the Yanks need to work out an extension that keeps the Rangers paying part of his salary. He could have done better, but that could be said of nearly every Yankee.
Jeter: Capt Clutch had his worst post season ever. That’s ok, we still love him.
Posada: Please come back, but you also stunk this time.
**Cashman ** has the team headed in the right direction. Talk of him being fired is insane.
Torre: It is time to go. He lost game 1, He was damn lucky to survive 2004 and I will never understand how he did.
On that note: I want **Joe Girardi ** as the next manager. I am already hearing talk of Tony LaRussa, that might be fine, maybe he is the genius he says he is, (I mean ESPN says he is), but I would rather have Joe G.
Jim
Not at all. I’m simply pointing out that closers are not as valuable as starters, which is true.
And yes, Scott Proctor pitched 102 innings last year. He wasn’t a closer, so so what?
Getting back to the central issue: Phew. The Yankees losing is the best thing that could happen for baseball in general. I’m not personally a Yankee-hater (in fact, I actually dislike the Red Sox far more) and have nothing against their fans, who are knowledgable and engaged, but the continued Yankee-Red Sox obsession the media, especially ESPN, are mired in isn’t good for MLB’s p;opularity in the long run. It’s the easy route to go, but baseball isn’t well-served by having nothing but New York and Boston fed to the public.
Watching last night’s game - and this wasn’t even on ESPN - I realized you could go long stretches of viewing during which you could close your eyes and believe the Yankees were playing the Yankees. The only stories being told were about the Yankees; all the angles were Yankee angles. I’ll grant that A-Rod and Joe Torre are big BASEBALL stories, not just Yankee stories, but I’d like to know a bit more about the Indians, too. I also noted that it was said at least four times that Cleveland’s victory was “an upset” or a “shock,” which of course it was not. If you’re saying that *the team with the better record and the better pitching staff * has shocked everyone by winning, I think you have to ask yourself if your analysis is a bit skewed.
So now the matchups are:
ALCS: Cleveland Indians (96-66, 3-0) vs. Boston Red Sox (96-66, 3-0)
Both teams had an easier time of it in the ALDS than might have been expected, but I think this definitely brings together the AL’s two finest teams. The contrast is striking, pitting Boston’s buy-the-pennant sluggers against Cleveland’s mostly home-grown pitching and defense. The main difference betwee this series and the similar Cleveland-New York series is that Boston has much stronger pitching than the Yankees do, and might be able to steal a low-scoring game or two the Yankees couldn’t. Boston strikes me as being a much better match for Cleveland, having big starters to go against Sabathia and Carmona, and they were the best team in the AL all year so why give up on them now?
As an aside, the appearance of Joe Borowski last night just feeds my belief that the major leagues are obsessed with the role of “closer” to the point of outright stupidity. Here the Indians have a guy pitching, Betancourt, who had an awesome season and has just blown the Yankees away in the eighth inning and who is obviously still as fresh as a daisy, and winning the series hinges on getting just three more outs, and so… they take him out and replace him with a guy who had a poor year and is prone to giving up home runs and who was last as good as Batancourt in, oh, 2003. Why? Why do you take out the best relief pitcher in the American League and replace him with the inferior Borowski. Oooh, because Borowski is THE CLOSER, and so because the rulebook says a 3-run lead is a save situation, Borowski must be brought forth, even though it doesn’t actually help your chances of winning. Sure enough, Borowski gives up a home run and damn near a second, but they escape. I think Borowski’s gonna lose the ALCS for the Indians, and it’s going to be in a ninth inning where Wedge didn’t need to bring him in, he just reflexively does because of the CLOSER tag. Terry Francona isn’t any smarter, but his closer isn’t a bum.
Boston in 7.
NLCS: Colorado Rockies (90-73, 3-0) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (90-72, 3-0)
Both teams had a much easier time of it in round 1 than expected, especially the D-Backs, who beat a team many favoured to win the pennant. Arizona still isn’t that good a team, and the lack of the O-Dawg at second base is a huge, huge loss; maybe they got away with it in the NLDS, but that’s the best defensive seocnd baseman in the game and a .376 OBP out of a lineup that can ill-afford it. Given that this was a lucky team anyway, losing an All-Star makes them look weak as all hell to me. Fortunately for them, Brandon Webb is rested and likely the best starter on either team. I wonder if perhaps starting Webb three times might not be wise, but even starting just 1 and 5 he can win two ballgames easily and that’s a big thing.
The Rockies are, of course, the hottest team to ever enter an LCS, having now won 17 of 18. But as they say, momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher, and Jeff Francis is not Brandon Webb. Momentum means nothing in baseball; last year’s pennant winners were the coldest of all eight postseason teams, and look at the Yankees this year, who were awesome in the second half and promptly laid an egg in the playoffs. Still, the pitching aside from the Francis-Webb matchup is as good as the Diamondbacks and the offense is healthier and much better. I’d have to pick the Rockies here even if they hadn’t piled up their 93 wins so far in such dramatic fashion. The Rockies get men on base, which the Diamondbacks struggle with, and so I have this feeling the D-Backs are going to lose ballgames by not scoring. Expect some 5-1 Rockies victories.
Colorado in 6.
Great analysis as always and yes indeed, you did say closer. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I think a great closer can be as valuable as starter. Unless Joba is going to be Santana good, if he can be near Rivera good, he would be worth more to me. Of course, this division series does point out, how much we need lights out starters.
Jim
Once again, my true feelings on the subject are best expressed elsewhere.
What exactly does this mean? The only high-priced slugger they bought was Ramirez, which is hardly “buy the pennant.”
Ortiz’s success came a while after he was sent to Boston from Minnesota.
Lowell was thought to be washed-up and sent along as baggage with the Beckett deal.
Drew’s never earned the reputation as a “slugger.”
ETA: FUCK, now we have to watch these games on Fox. :mad:
On the plus side, with Fox I now get the games in HD. On the minus side, I can’t watch it in HD and also sync up the ESPN Radio feed from XM to obliterate most of the downsides of watching it on Fox.
At least we won’t have to listen to McCarver verbally fellate Jeter this year.
No, but the odds are good that we’ll still have to listen to Joe Buck, who makes me want to poke my eyes out via mechanical pencil to my eardrums.
I’m sure he’ll find a way to talk about Jeter. Don’t forget the number Cleveland-NYY flashbacks we’ll have to endure.