Category: MLB (Page 312 of 448)

      Jon Lester new Josh Beckett of postseason for Red Sox?

      October 7, 2008 /

      In the 2007 MLB Playoffs, there wasn’t more dominant pitcher than Boston’s Josh Beckett. The Red Sox essentially rode his postseason performances to another World Series title and are doing the same thing again this year, only with a new face: 24-year old Jon Lester.

      Boston set up an ALCS showdown with the Tampa Bay Rays by beating the L.A. Angels 3-2 in Game 4 of the ALDS Monday night. And as Adam Kilgore of The Boston Globe writes, Lester was superb.

      Jon LesterFor the second time in a week, the Red Sox placed the hopes of their season on the broad, 24-year-old shoulders of Jon Lester. He had already replaced Josh Beckett, spitting at the pressure of the Game 1 assignment as easily as he dispatched the Los Angeles Angels. Lester did even more last night, taking a leap toward becoming every bit the October legend Beckett is.

      Lester’s feats so far this postseason challenge belief, defy expectation. He has twice faced the lineup that won more games than any other major league team and for 14 innings has not allowed an earned run.

      Lester hurled blinding fastballs and devastating curveballs for seven innings last night, giving up four hits and zero runs in the Red Sox’ 3-2, ALDS-clinching victory.

      Lester has grabbed these playoffs by the throat and made them his personal showcase. He has now thrown 22 2/3 consecutive innings in the postseason without allowing an earned run.

      Do you want to know why the Yankees and their billion-dollar lineup have continued to fail to reach the World Series lately? Because of pitching. It’s that simple. They don’t have the pitching that Boston continues to produce. Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jonathan Papelbon – the BoSox win in the postseason because of their pitching. And we’re witnessing let another great performance by a Boston pitcher this year.

      MLB

      Rays prove they’re more than just a nice story

      October 6, 2008 /

      With their 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox Monday in Game 4 of the ALDS, the Tampa Bay Rays are moving on to the ALCS for the first time in franchise history. And as Tommy Rancel of MVN.com puts it so perfectly, the Rays no longer should just be considered a “nice story”, “pleasant surprise” or a “Cinderella tale.” They’re legitimate World Series contenders, no matter who they play in the next round.

      Tampa Bay RaysThe Rays were supposed to contend for .500 at season’s beginning. In June, they were just a nice story, but they were destine to fail. Before the All Star break, they crashed to reality and lost first place and were supposed to never get it back. In August, they were peaking too early and would collapse in September. In September, the pressure would get to them and the Red Sox were supposed catch them and win the East. Once the Rays won the East and clinched a spot in the ALDS their experience was going catch up to them come October.

      They would open the ALDS against the more experienced White Sox, who won three straight elimination games to get there. The Sox would have much of their 2005 World Series team in tact and Mark Buehrle, one of the tough lefties that was supposed shut the Rays down, said he wanted to face the Rays because he thought they were the easier matchup. Oops, somebody forgot to tell the Rays all that. The Rays brushed the dirt off their shoulders all season long and now are just four wins away from going to the World Series.

      Well now what are they going to say? My bet is nothing. When push comes to shove the Rays have passed every test put in front of them.

      Well said. It’s easy for the media to follow trends. The White Sox had the experience and had won recently at this level. But as I wrote after the Rays’ win in Game 2, experience isn’t everything. Congrats to the Rays.

      Not to take anything away from Tampa, but it must be noted how depleted Chicago was coming into the playoffs. Not having bats like Carlos Quentin (36 HRs, 100 RBI, 96 runs) and Joe Crede (17 HRs) in the lineup certainly hurt. And the Sox run production in this series is a clear indication of that.

      MLB

      Angels finally figure out Red Sox in postseason

      October 6, 2008 /

      It took the L.A. Angels 11 tries, but they finally beat the Boston Red Sox in the postseason. The Halos pushed a Game 4 and staved off elimination in the ALDS by beating the BoSox 5-4 in 12 innings on Sunday night.

      Among several observations he made in the 12-inning affair, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe notes that Josh Beckett is hittable in the postseason after all.

      Josh BeckettOne of the evening’s big revelations was that Josh Beckett is not always going to be Superman in the postseason. The Sox starter’s mortality was evident from the first pitch of the game, which Chone Figgins ripped for a ground-rule double down the right-field line.

      That was the beginning of a rocky five-inning stint in which Beckett was reached for nine hits and four earned runs while twice being taken deep by Angels catcher Mike Napoli (the first caroming off the light tower nearest the left-field foul pole and landing on Lansdowne Street). In addition, Beckett walked four, which doubled his entire 2007 postseason total.

      He was never really comfortable, holding the ball for endless stretches between pitches, as if telling the world he really had little interest in throwing it. Catcher Jason Varitek added to the tedium with several visits to the mound, and thus it was still the fourth inning two hours into the game.

      Beckett deserves credit for gutting it out knowing his team needs him. He wasn’t at his best Sunday night, but he’s hobbled and despite not showing it in the previous two games, the Angels have a great lineup. Boston will just have to tip their hats to L.A. and get ready to try and clinch again.

      MLB

      Is this Phillies team one of destiny?

      October 5, 2008 /

      Not since the 1993 World Series team has the Philadelphia Phillies gone this far. With their 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the NLDS, the Phillies are heading to the NLCS to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. And as Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes, this Phillies team might be one of destiny.

      Philadelphia PhilliesFor the homegrown nucleus of this team – Utley and Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell, Cole Hamels and Brett Myers – reaching the NLCS marks a major milestone. Having grown up in this organization together through mostly futile years, they have lived in the shadow of the 1980 world champions and the beloved 1993 World Series club.

      Now it is their time. Now they can write their own chapters in the book of Schmidt and Carlton, of Dykstra and Schilling.

      “This team has a lot of heart,” Myers said. “To be the first team to go this far since ’93, it’s huge. We’re going to try to put ’93 in the past where it should be. We’re going to try to take it a little further and actually win this whole thing.”

      Rollins, who led off the game with a towering home run to right field, has been this team’s oracle. He predicted 100 wins for these Phillies, a number he realized was still attainable. After all, he never said “in the regular season.”

      “We can get to 103,” Rollins said. “That’s the number.”

      It would take eight more wins, of course, to get to 103: four against the Dodgers and four more in the World Series.

      The Phillies’ 95th victory was a perfect example of what they will have to do to beat a Dodgers team that exploded offensively to sweep the Chicago Cubs in the division series. They will have to continue pitching well, but they will also have to hit the ball. They did just that today, blasting four home runs – two by Burrell, one by Rollins, and one by Jayson Werth. It was the kind of game this lineup hadn’t produced in its six previous playoff games, going back to last year.

      I think Philly was fortunate to get a weary Milwaukee team, but that’s not to take anything away from them. They’ll get a great test in the Dodgers and I think it’s a great matchup all the way around.

      Cole Hamels vs. Manny Ramirez? Sign me up.

      MLB

      Worst Cubs collapse to date?

      October 5, 2008 /

      After being swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS, Rick Telander of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that this is the worst Cubs postseason collapse to date.

      Chicago CubsThe Cubs are now 9-22 in postseason play since 1984. They’re 0-6 the last two years. They’re 18-50 since they last won a World Series in 1908.

      In this final game of 2008, starting pitcher Rich Harden was average, and everybody else … aw, the whole team simply stunk.

      This is the thing about Cubs players and managers. They always say they don’t believe in curses, they don’t believe in any of that nonsense, they only play ’em one game at a time.

      This may all be true. Indeed, there are times when I believe Soriano is not sure what planet he is on, let alone what century.

      But the fans, the people who live in Chicago, the ones who aren’t on free-agent contracts but who throw in with the Cubs year after year, without fail, from childhood ’til senility — those are the people who get wounded again and again, without let up, without relief.
      One hundred years are over, and now we start on another century.

      To trust in the Cubs is to expect — and get — the worst.

      Cubs fans deserve better. There seems to be the belief that Cubs fans almost want the club to lose so that they can remain everybody’s “lovable losers.” But not true Cub fans – they’re dying right now with each excruciating loss. When a team wins 97 games and runs away with their division, one would think they could produce one postseason victory.

      Maybe curses are real.

      MLB

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