Author: David Medsker (Page 17 of 20)

Astros 7, Braves 6 (Houston wins series 3-1)

Last week, I said that the Astros would beat the Braves in five games, and in the most technical sense, I was dead on the money. Sure, they only played four games, but the fourth game was exactly the length of TWO games, therefore they played five games’ worth of baseball.

For a game that lasted 18 innings, only about four or five of them were essential viewing. Lance Berkman’s Grand Slam in the eighth, that was cool. The 400 footer from Brad Ausmus (!) with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, that was really cool. Then Roger Clemens came out to pitch in relief, and that was really, really cool. The only thing that could have topped it was if Clemens had hit a home run to finish the game. And while he was certainly swinging for the fences when he batted in the 18th, he came up a little short. Luckily for him, Chris Burke had something left in the tank, and put the Braves away for good.

The Brave that will have recurring nightmares for the rest of the offseason will be Adam LaRoche, who was gunned down at the plate in the 7th after lollygagging around the bases on Frenchie Francoeur’s double. Note to all of you little league kiddies out there reading this: even when you’re up by four runs, you never let your foot up off of your opponent’s throats. You just never know what they have up their sleeves. If you’re ten runs up, maybe you stop stealing bases. If you’re four runs up, you choke them until they bleed. God knows, St. Louis won’t make that mistake with Houston in the NLCS.

Chicago 5. Boston 3 (Chicago wins series, 3-0)

O, M, G. So much for my ‘Red Sox in 5’ prediction. In the second to last week of the season, the White Sox looked dead in the water, a team that had forgotten how to pitch, how to play defense, and most importantly, how to play small ball, that secret weapon of Scarface’s that got them this far.

But now, they look untouchable. Their pitching has been unhittable. The vaunted Red Sox offense scored two, four, and three runs respectively in the series. If you want to know what the Red Sox did wrong, look at the box score to Game 3. Simply put, they played Cubs’ baseball: they lived and died by the long ball. Those three runs? Three solo home runs, from TWO GUYS; one from Big Papi and two from Manny, who apparently wants out of Boston, again.

I will confess to bleeding Cubbie Blue, and that undoubtedly clouded my judgment of the Pale Hose in the playoffs. But now, I’m pulling all the way for them, and it’s actually for a noble cause: I would love to see two snakebitten, cursed teams win the World Series in back to back years. Has that ever happened?

All of the pundits said before the playoffs began that there were no clear favorites this year. If that’s the case, then why aren’t these games more competitive?

St. Louis 6, San Diego 2
Okay, everyone knew that St. Louis was going to win this series handily, but did anyone think that the Padres would just roll over and play dead like this? You’d figure that guys like Giles, Loretta, and especially Joe “The Joker” Randa, who spent most of his career marooned in cellar-dwelling Kansas City, would make the most of the opportunity. But no, instead they’ve been playing like they’ve got a plane to catch, grounding into double play after double play after double play. I originally said Cardinals in four. They’ll only need three.

Atlanta 7, Houston 1
On the plus side, the series is tied at 1-1, but neither game was close. Houston blows out Hudson in Game 1, and Atlanta blows out Roger Clemens, who everyone thinks is in severe pain, in Game 2. And now they head to the Juice Box for Games 3 and 4, so expect some more offensive fireworks. Hats off to John Smoltz, though, for becoming baseball’s winningest postseason pitcher, a spiffy 15-4 record in his career.

St. Louis 8, San Diego 5

Reggie Sanders, SMASH! Me hit ball far. Izzy nearly blows a six run lead. And for the first time in baseball history, an ace pitcher (Jake Peavy) breaks at least one rib during the clubhouse celebration when they won the NL West, and is lost for the rest of the playoffs. We are waiting with bated breath to find out exactly how he pulled that stunt.

Chicago 14, Boston 2

What a joke this game was. Even Scott freaking Podsednik, who hadn’t hit a homer ALL YEAR, hit a three-run dinger, as did fellow non-slugger Juan Uribe. The funny thing is, Chicago only had two more hits than Boston, but the Pale Hose were the ones playing long ball. Boston hit five doubles, but only scored two runs. Does Francona play small ball tonight in order to put pressure on the South Siders? Don’t bet on it.

New York 4, The The Angels Angels 1

The Yanks spank Fatty yet again (they pulverized him earlier in the year in the Bronx), with the big blow coming from Robinson Cano, a three run double in his first playoff at-bat. Moose threw like a pro, not the bum he was to his fantasy owners. And Rivera sawed off yet another bat handle. For all the wood he’s ruined, we hope he plans on repaying the earth by planting a forest somewhere. And what on earth was Vladimir Guerrero thinking when he tried to steal second on a left handed pitcher with two outs and down by three runs? If I’m Scioscia, I learn a few curse words in Spanish and try them out.

Tonight:

Houston at Atlanta, 4 PM EST. Pettite vs. Hudson
Boston at Chicago Sox, 7 PM EST. Wells vs. Buehrle
New York at Anaheim Anaheim, 10 PM EST. Wang vs. Lackey

This has been almost an annual event of late, hasn’t it? And up until last year, Houston were Atlanta’s bitches in the postseason. And then last season, the ‘Stros stunned the world by winning their first playoff series in team history, and they very nearly made it to the World Series, taking St. Louis to seven games. Both teams are missing crucial pieces from their series a year ago. So who’s got the ups?

The breakdown, piece by piece:

Starting Pitching: Houston. Sweet Jesus, take a look at that rotation. Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt. Oswalt is the third pitcher. I love Smoltzy and Tim Hudson, but Atlanta’s staff can’t compete with that, not in a win-or-go-home scenario.

Relief Pitching: Houston. Sure, nobody tackles as well as Kyle Farnsworth, but we’re not playing football here. Houston’s bullpen doesn’t have any sexy names, but how often do you hear about their relievers blowing a huge lead? Atlanta turned it into an art form (Danny Kolb, Chris Reitsma), until that big lunkhead Kyle stepped in. But he’s no Brad Lidge. That man makes me cry, and I don’t even have to step into the batter’s box against him.

Hitting: Atlanta, by a nose. Andruw Jones finally put an MVP-caliber year together, and Rafael Furcal was an unholy terror at the top of the order. However, Jones’ playoff numbers stink. The other Jones’, too. They press too hard every year, while the ‘Stros, aging players aside, have nothing to lose and will play, wisely, as if there is no tomorrow. It will be a dogfight, and if the Braves are smart, they’ll remember that the Astros have an extra dog, named Jeff Bagwell, sitting on the bench.

Managers: Atlanta. He’s Bobby Cox. The man has Jedi-like powers. He pulls things out of people that they didn’t even know they had. Well, until the NLCS, it appears.

Defense/Intangibles: Houston, for one reason: experience. I’ll give Cox all the credit in the world for getting so much out of so many inexperienced players, but this is where that very lack of experience comes back to bite them. Did you see what Cleveland did the last week of the season? That’s what I’m expecting here.

TSR Pick: Houston in five.

More series previews:
MLB.com
ESPN
Fox Sports
CBS Sportsline