Tag: 2008 MLB Playoffs (Page 8 of 10)

      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

      Red Sox own Angels in postseason Vol. II

      October 4, 2008 /

      As Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe writes, if it’s Red Sox-Angels in the postseason, the BoSox are going to win.

      The Angels lost to their Boston Daddies at home again last night. This time it was Red Sox 7, Halos 5, in what was easily the best game of the postseason anywhere yet this year. J.D. Drew won it for the Sox with a ninth-inning, two-run homer off Francisco Rodriguez while most of New England slept (the game ended at 1:28 a.m. EDT).

      The best-of-five series moves to Fenway tomorrow, and the Sox should be drenched in champagne well before midnight. There might even be a closer with a cardboard box on his head step-dancing on the Fenway lawn. Make sure the bases are bolted down.

      Regarding Red Sox vs. Angels, we have moved well past the arena of standard athletic competition. We have wandered into Rod Serling’s space “between the pit of a man’s fear and the summit of his knowledge.”

      Hmm. Boston columnist used to write about how the Red Sox would blow games, even if things were going the team’s way. Now they’re writing about how wins are already a given. How the times have changed.

      MLB

      Rays proving experience doesn’t mean everything in postseason

      October 3, 2008 /

      Tampa Bay RaysSome will be quick to point out that perhaps the most dangerous team in the American League this postseason is the Boston Red Sox – and with good reason given their playoff experience throughout the years. They’ve not only been here before, but they’ve also won.

      But as the Tampa Bay Rays have proved so far, experience isn’t everything.

      The Rays are the seventh youngest team in MLB, with an average age of 27.5. Before this season, they had never won their division, never reached the postseason and had never won a playoff game. Yet after their 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night, Tampa sits just one win away from reaching the ALCS.

      It’s hard to downplay experience in the postseason and if the Red Sox go on to beat the Angels (arguably the most talented team in the AL this year) in their best of five series, they’ll once again provide an example of how important it is to have a veteran roster.

      But the Rays have built a 2-0 lead in the ALDS despite most of their roster never appearing in a postseason game. And it’s because they not only believe that they can compete with anyone, but they’re also playing complete baseball. They can hit (see Evan Longoria’s 2 HRs in Game 1), they can pitch (see Grant Balfour’s excellent relief appearances in the series), they can run (see their three total stolen bases) and they can play defense (see zero errors). The veteran Sox, on the other hand, have shown to be one-dimensional and now are on the brink of elimination.

      So it’ll be interesting to see if the Rays’ youth eventually catches up with them this postseason. Because of right now, experience isn’t holding this club back one bit.

      MLB

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