Patrick

Park effects and a DH may explain small parts of it (and it's a tiny sample of games), but for the 2007 postseason, it looks like the Red Sox have the pitching AND the hitting. Red Sox/Beckett had a dominant game 1 win against Tribe in a series that went 7, after Tribe took game 2 at Fenway. I agree that this is pretty much must-win territory for Rockies.

Who does? Julian Tavarez is a horse's ass and a certifiable nutburger. Gagne has playoff experience. Makes more sense. Good call on Francona's part, IMHO. Makes less sense. Julian Tavarez has much more playoff experience Eric Gagne (...it's not even close): Tavarez: 31 games, 30.2 innings, 12 ER, 12 DS games, 12 CS games, 7 WS games Gagne: 6 games, 6.1 innings, 3 ER, 3 DS games, 3 CS games, 0 WS games

We probably don't disagree much about Manny. You've likely watched a lot more of Manny in left at Fenway then I have, and yes he made a nice throw to second. Good job Manny. But the guy gets replaced defensively after his last AB in many games. My reaction was mainly to the foaming at the mouth coming from McCarver. The guy is adequate, if that. Let's not call him a great player if he's a space case or worse on the bases (a real detriment, to me Lowell was being extremely diplomatic), and adequate/mediocre at best in left. And he looked a bit lost in left at the Jake, a not too challenging left field to play. He's an awesome hitter. Let's call him that. On the fan arrogance point, I should have been clearer at the end of a long post. I'm not complaining about current behavior or making any generalizations. All teams have some knucklehead fans. As you note, successful teams may have a few more of the frontrunner variety, and like you, I'd happily deal with them while witnessing continued success of my beloved team. I saw a little of it walking to the Jake, but I'm not complaining about it. In small doses it can even be amusing (hey, look at that complete knucklehead in the Beckett t-shirt). The initial post was speculating about what it might possibly be like in the upcoming offseason. My mother grew up in RI, so I know, and am happy for, a lot of reasonable Sawx fans. Yes, Youk was especially tough in ALCS. Some of that likely comes from batting in front of Ortiz and Manny rather than behind them, but if I had to choose between Lowell and Youk at third (and the other player pinch hits) I think I'd go for Youk. Of course, this is coming from a fan that watched Youkilis really swat against the Tribe (Lowell had some nice hits as well, but KY, man...). I haven't been paying attention to much of the WS hype. Any chance Beckett is set up to start 3 times? Looks like that would require pitching on 3 days rest in both games 4 and 7 if there is no offday in Denver. Then Dice and Wake pitch only once each, and Schilling twice (but on 5 days rest).

I adore the soundtrack to North By Northwest. I really should buy that someday. Me too. Surprised it took 3 pages of posts to mention this one by name. Perhaps my favorite film as well. Signature Hitchcock sound!

First post back home after a fun and exciting week visiting the folks in Cleveland, Ohio, and catching ALCS games 3, 4, and 5 at the Jake. Pardon the long post. I haven’t read any of the past week of this thread (…maybe later, ...maybe not). First off, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for making it through the tough AL to the World Series. Throughout the season, the Bosox had an impressive collection of talent, and but for a surge by the Yankees that occurred at the same time as a Red Sox stumble, they would/could/should have run away with the East and the best record in baseball. Combination of high priced talent (Ramirez, Ortiz, Drew, Schilling, Varitek, Lowell, Lugo) and some impressive young players (Youkilis, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Papelbon). Kind of unfair for the rest of us. Early on, the Red Sox were vulnerable in the ALCS because the only starter that did much was Beckett (but he was awesome) and the only hitters that contributed were Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez. Ultimately, the rest of the offense woke up and the rest of the rotation made some contribution (modest in some instances). While all but one of the games ended up with blowout scores, most of the games were quite competitive late into the game, and game 2 qualifies as a classic. For the Tribe, they got to a game 7 with close to no contribution from the strength of their ballclub (Sabathia and Carmona). Based on the extremely small sample of the ALCS, one would have to conclude that Westbrook and Byrd pitched as well as Schilling, Matsuzaka, and Wakefield. They just get a lot less pub (…though Byrd appears to be getting some now…). Hafner’s brutal postseason obviously didn’t help. Sizemore also underperformed. Some quick hits on each of the games (apologies since y’all’ve probably discussed to death already). Game 1. Absolutely wretched for everyone but members of Red Sox Nation. An initial thought was that Sabathia was a bit too amped up in ALDS game 1. This performance suggested that perhaps he was out of gas. About the only positive for the Tribe was Casey Blake finding his bat. I adapted the Pettitte statement following ALDS game 1-- hope they (here, the Red Sox) get all that scoring out of their system before game 2. Game 2. Mediocre performance by Carmona (…whatever Sabathia has may be contagious?), but what a game! Francona said it was one of the best played games that he has ever been involved with. Once Papelbon came on, only chance for Tribe was to outlast him, ...and they did. Tribe bullpen matches Boston’s inning for inning, until Gagne comes out. Sweet to deal against a high priced, underachieving reliever that was supposed to seal the deal for the Red Sox. Staying up to 1:30am sitting in my parents living room (moved into their home 30+ years ago) with my brother and my mother (father conked out in inning 6 or 7), high-fiving, hoping, and encouraging the Indians infielders… Talking ‘bout the home team (rather than hospital visits/health/aging issues). Nothing better. Game 3. First at the Jake. Beautiful evening for baseball (…all of them were in Cleveland) instead of the rain/snow that I feared. Westbrook getting it done. Just a mistake to Varitek late. Thought that Francona left Dice out there a bit too long (but easy to Monday morning quarterback, and to be paranoid about all starters not named Beckett). The Lofton home run was awesome! So much love there for Kenny, call it K-Love! Screaming and yelling for Kenny--made me feel like I was 12 again (never mind that I’m about the same age as Lofton). Reasonable crowd cheering loudly for the home team and booing just a few Red Sox. Sat next to a couple of Red Sox fans who were well behaved throughout. Great night. Game 4. Another 7 run inning! Byrd pitches well enough. Again, thought Francona left Wake out there a bit too long. Before the scoring, couple of Indians had really hard swats at some of that Wakefield junk. A few obnoxious Red Sox fans, but at least most of them left early. Up 3 games to 1, obviously thought the Tribe had a great chance to eliminate the Nation (after taking care of the Evil Empire), but knew that recent Sabathia and Carmona performances did not instill a great deal of confidence, and that Beckett was going to be tough. Game 5. Beckett was tough. Sabathia wasn’t. That’s probably the series right there. Lofton may be a bit of a prima donna with the bat flip, but Beckett should just shut up, at least as long as he’s wearing the same uniform as Manny. Manny is a tremendous hitter, apparently making several Indian pitchers wet their pants (esp with bases loaded), but he is not a tremendous player. Tremendous players run the bases and field their position well (Just ask Lowell how he appreciates the double play opportunity with Manny on first instead of an RBI opportunity with him on second). Despite Buck/McCarver assertions to the contrary, Manny neither runs nor fields well. Game 6. Still a chance for the Tribe if Carmona can return to the form he had against NYY in ALDS. Unfortunately for Tribe fans, he doesn’t. Worse, Red Sox are now getting contributions from elsewhere in the order. Schilling significantly better than in Game 2. Game 7. Still a chance for the Tribe (…stop for a moment and think about that y’all!). Westbrook pretty good. Dice K about the same. Tribe cannot capitalize much on their opportunities, Red Sox do, and then blow it wide open late. McCarver/Buck totally wrong about Ramirez throwing out Lofton at second. If any other Sawk is in left (Ellsbury, Crisp, Drew, Kielty, Yastrzemski), I don’t think Lofton even tries for second. Manny’s out there and Lofton goes for it, beats the throw, but gets called out. Manny is still a mediocre leftfielder (Albert Belle was similarly skilled ). Ultimately, it appears that Sabathia, Carmona, and Raphael Perez just ran out of gas at the end of the series. Sabathia didn’t contribute in the postseason, while Carmona and Perez were huge against NYY but then nothing in ALCS. CC and Fausto had career high IPs this season. Wasn’t sure how I’d feel about coming so close, especially with the prospect of facing the Rockies. Given the small payroll, gotta carpe diem when your team has a chance. Obviously a bit disappointed, but not really that frustrated or irritated by it. Wedge went with his strength (Sabathia and Carmona) and they didn’t deliver. I was more frustrated in ’95 and especially ’97 when the Tribe was the team stacked with talent that didn’t bring home the big prize. There is reason to be optimistic (though 2008 may be Sabathia’s last in Cleveland). Hopefully Red Sox Nation will remember that they got pushed to the limit by one of those teams in the Central, and it wasn’t due to an inordinate amount of Wahoo luck. And if they do not remember, it’ll be a bit irritating listening to the arrogance (present company not implicated), but maybe the Tribe will be able to continue to fly a bit under the radar next season. WS will be interesting if the Rockies can keep their mojo going, or it could be a quick 4 and out. Haven’t made up my mind yet, but I think I’ll be rooting for the former because they’re the fresher faces, lower payroll, and better story. And maybe I'll catch Jason Moran and Bad Plus at George Washington Univ on Saturday rather than game 3. Looks like Rockies tix are still available...

Call us (...or at least our butts) smug rather than explain your logic, or how we've misinterpreted it. I gently try to understand the supposed logic, or even what point you're trying to make, and this is all you can offer? Silence on the NL parity point, and some name calling. Pretty weak. Why bother trying to discuss any of the offered wisdom... Yes I'm a fan of an AL team that is still alive in the 2007 postseason, and apparently you're an "NL guy". Kumbaya.

If Torre is done, it's because King George wants a change, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Torre is still a fine (if not invincible) manager. Giambi and Mussina on the payroll at big $ is a bigger problem than the limping manager.

I'm having difficulty understanding how any of these points support your contention. Are you trying to say something about relative success in interleague play, that one league is "more competitive" than another (whatever that means), or something else? My reaction to #1: AL teams score more runs, they also play more games against AL teams which score more runs. So I don't see where that goes. When AL teams play against NL teams they don't get to use a DH if the NL team is using a pitcher--both use a pitcher, or both use a DH. Is there a big difference between a DH in the AL and the first pinch-hitter available on most teams in the NL? Some DH's can't field well, so they play first (...or in the AL). If anything, wouldn't the argument be that NL pitchers are better batters than AL pitchers (...so advantage to NL)? My reaction to #2: NL teams have pitchers bat, and they play almost all of their games against teams with pitchers that bat. And I predict (at the beginning of the year, last year, and next August ) that the NL's record against the NL will be .500. If this is specifically about interleague, then my point above about AL pitchers applies. If anything, the NL is advantaged when pitchers bat. As for the unnumbered point, I continue to predict (based on zero observations ) that the NL record against the NL is going to be .500. Are you suggesting that there aren't any really great or really bad teams in the NL, and therefore all of the records will be closer to .500 (in comparison to the AL where there are really good records (4 playoff teams) plus a lot of really bad teams (Baltimore, TB, KC, etc)? This is a tough argument to make. Is Boston's success largely explained by feasting on Baltimore and TB who are really bad, or are Balt and TB really bad because they have to play a lot against Bos and NY? And if this type of parity is deemed "more competitive" I don't think that says much of anything about interleague comparisons.

Sheesh. Relax buddy. I acknowledged the NL West was exciting and competitive. Where's the tipping of the cap smiley? Can we take from your last comment that we should ignore everything anyone says before (late) August? If we flipped back to the first pages of this thread is there some non-Bonds wisdom there from you that should have been ignored (...then and now). [i have no idea if there is, and I'm not going to spend the time sifting, but maybe it'll save me some reading time next spring ] I'm not arguing that the AL Central was, or should have been, better. Big, giant HUGE deal. Kudos to the NL West. They will have a team in the World Series this year for the first time since '01 and '02. SD, LA, and their respective fandoms can inflate their chests with the knowledge that they finished with winning records in a tough division--especially SD, they nearly won the thing. SF can try to take solace from the fact that they played in a division that was tough this year, and were almost .500 at home. I'm happy to see some new faces, not the usual suspects, in the postseason. Anyone making plans for a trip to 'Zona for games 1 and 2? Should the DBacks reach out to the local Cubs fandom to fill their LCS seats?? Maybe a Bartman bobblehead promotion will help the seats. MartyJazz: totally agree with you with respect to Mussina. I guess Torre figured he and Wang were both available, and started with Wang. Trouble with that approach is knowing when to switch between them (before too many runs have scored), and the potential for inherited runners to score (given that neither pitcher is a certain "shut down" guy at the moment). I was fearing that Moose might provide something like the "turn back the clock" type performance that many figured Clemens would provide (and that Pettitte did).

I generally like Jon Miller (though he seems to be getting old/stale--might be from too much Joe Morgan exposure), but I was a bit surprised by how offhand he was on the radio broadcast about the last batter. Couldn't tell if he didn't really care, or was a bit distracted by something else (...like the NFL game??). I also was slightly irritated about how the postgame coverage was entirely about NY. Yes an era in NY likely has ended. Can we limit how much time we talk about it, at least to the national audience, especially before the best part of the season is over? [Or do the best parts have to have NY playing??] Maybe folks could wait until Torre is officially canned or ARod officially bolts. It will only be a few days/weeks longer. Or maybe they can talk about it now and get it completely out of their system before Friday (...like that's going to happen!). Nevermind how well the Tribe played. Given the large numbers that were confident that the Cleveland kids would choke and the senior citizen pinstripers would benefit immensely from their wealth of postseason experience, I'd think someone would step up and discuss how surprisingly well (to these NY pundits) the small market team played (regular season and DS). Somehow if Cleveland had been eliminated, I don't think the media would spend one tenth the time on Westbrook/Byrd/Borowski shortcomings. Ah, to not live in NY. Your baseball analysis has been shown to be lacking. Hope you are not in the forecasting business. Apparently, you haven't been following the National League for the past month. The lead changed multiple times in the NL West and the deciding game for the Wildcard was a playoff between San Diego and Colorado with Arizona already the NL West Champs. Any one of those three teams could have won the West. LA hung around untill the Giants knocked them out of first place back on September 9th. AZ and Colorado sweep Philly and the Cubs respectively and now meet to decide who goes to the World Series. Now, I don't know what you're seeing, but that sure as hell looks like very competitive division to me. Sure hope you aren't in the sporting news business. Before the season started, I think one could make a pretty good argument for the AL Central, but Minnesota and CWS had miserable seasons (...yet Ozzie Guillen somehow managed to sign a very lucrative multiyear extension). Hooray for the NL west. They were exciting down the stretch and impressive in the first round. Lots of fresh faces. After going a combined 3-15 in recent postseasons, it's about damn time. And did I hear correctly on PTI that there still are 10K+ tickets available for each of the first two NLCS games? If true, that is really lame. Edit: I may have misheard this--there may be 12K tickets in total still available for the 2 games. Still lame.

Haven't posted since the Cleveland clinch, too busy juggling work so that I can disappear to the Jake for a week of potentially classic postseason action. First off, to state the obvious, a great clinching game for the Tribe! Perhaps their biggest weakness through much of the season was not putting hits together in bunches. Right now, they are in a zone in that regard. Hopefully it continues for another couple weeks! Really a team win series-wise, tough to single out individual hitters or pitchers as carrying the team (Lofton started the clutch hitting in game 1, Rafael Perez pitched two effective innings in each Tribe win, Carmona was super tough and unflappable, but just about everybody contributed). Would all those media types insisting on pitching Sabathia on short rest in game 4 please step forward for a well-deserved smackdown? Worked tremendously for Wang, didn't it? Byrd was just effective enough, and unlike Game 3, Wedge took him out before NY really got to him. We'll start this parade with ESPN's own Howard Bryant. Well, I'm not Dan, but the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5 of the last 6 they played, so I sure would rather them face the Indians than the Yankees regardless of who is pitching! Well it certainly looks like it will be the Indians and Patrick will get his wish of having his two aces ready to start Games 1 and 2, but at the same time I have to point out that Manny missed all but about five innings of those 6 games when he hurt his oblique, and now he is back and crushing the ball. I'd still feel pretty good if its the Yankees if Manny is in the lineup and hot as Georgia asphalt. Maybe it's different when it's a team in your own division and the games were recent, but I think the Tribe's post-season success against NY after getting swept in the regular season demonstrates that past success is no guarantee of future performance. As Dan notes, Manny missed almost all of those games. And do you guys really fear the Yankees behind Pettitte, a suddenly unreliable Wang, junkballer Mussina, rookie Hughes, and no Clemens, more than Tribe with Sabathia/Carmona/Westbrook/Byrd? That bullpen of Joba and Mariano and ...? Is the Tribe lineup that inferior? If yes, then I think you're nuts, ...but I admit to being a bit biased. Or maybe it's this psycological nonsense within Red Sox Nation that explains it. I also found this pretty amusing, Jeter was brutal but got no abuse. I guess he's only making $21.6M in 2007 and arrived a long time prior to ARod. This is a silly comment. Do the Indians need someone to get especially fired up about facing their old team? Trot Nixon is the fifth outfielder on the Indians. Perhaps the only position player that means less to Tribe success at this point is reserve infielder/pinchrunner Josh Barfield. Will Alex Cora get fired up about facing his old team (the Indians)? Likewise you know which one I'll be rooting for, and I share this sentiment. Both teams appear reasonably healthy and equally rested. Tribe didn't have the benefit of facing an injured lineup in their ALDS series. Here's hoping the play on both sides (and the umpiring) is at a high level. Hop on the bandwagon, plenty of room, let's knock out another one of those long world series droughts like in Boston and CWS (...too bad Cubs didn't get anything done in the postseason).

It would be a fitting end to a season that started (...or was postponed) in the snow at the Jake in April. If it went 7, they'd be playing in Cleveland on November 1!!! But let's not get way ahead of ourselves, just yet--a Boston/Colorado series is a bit more likely and would feature similarly crisp weather.

Your unease about Byrd is well founded. If Cliff Lee hadn't imploded, Byrd would have been an above average 5th guy in the rotation. He had a good year, much of it as the 3rd guy with Lee and Westbrook down for long periods, and his relatively cheap option almost certainly will be picked up (after having a brutal season last year--I was pleading for him to be traded for used fungo bats). Byrd, however, pitched better earlier in the year. Like Westbrook, he doesn't strike out a lot of guys, so Peralta, Cabrera, and company will have to do well in the field, and the bats will have to contribute substantially.

So now there's a series again between NY and Cleveland. Seems like Wedge and company just didn't feel the urgency to get things done tonight. Westbrook was reasonably effective early, but he was getting his pitches up to several batters before Damon went yard. Just not much of a margin for error in the post-season. Victor Martinez gave them a run when he was stunned to see Matsui going to third on a swinging bunt. Trot's fielding error was another. But mainly I put it on Wedge. He even put Westbrook out there in the sixth after JW had demonstrated for at least a full innning that he was no longer effective, and Wedge had a completely available bullpen that has demonstrated great effectiveness thus far (only Rafael Perez would have been limited). And why Fultz, and why does he pitch to several batters? Oy. As he did in August, Hughes pitched well against the Tribe. Jensen Lewis had another effective inning--better than this Joba cat everybody is nuts about (...so far ) So it looks like it will be Moose and Wang tomorrow v. Paul Byrd. I believe Moose had a pretty good outing against Tribe in August (one of his few). Hopefully the Tribe bats will continue to provide lots of offense, Byrd will be reasonably effective, and perhaps most importantly, the manager and his coaches realize what's happening before it's too late. Good to be relaxed in NY, but ... If not, it's Sabathia and Pettitte back at the Jake on Wednesday. Certainly will be dramatic if we get that far. Dan, if you had to choose between a 4 game series won by Cleveland (LCS starts with Sabathia and Carmona) or a 5 gamer won by NY in which Pettitte and Wong are not available for game one and maybe game 2, which would you choose? Is the fear/hatred/concern/whatever for NYY so deep that you'd prefer the Tribe on regular rest?

Astute observation, Trot is in fact in the starting lineup! Hopefully this will work and hopefully Clemens won't be nearly as effective as Schilling... I TOLD you he should be in the lineup!!! My initial Trot observation was also fairly astute as it turns out... ugh

Astute observation, Trot is in fact in the starting lineup! Hopefully this will work and hopefully Clemens won't be nearly as effective as Schilling...

Intersting idea, Trot's career numbers against Clemens: 35 AB, .371 BA, 7 walks, SLG .800, OPS 1.276. Haven't tracked it down in greater detail, but this success has to be pretty stale by now. I seriously doubt Trot sees action. Gutierrez or Michaels may be overmatched (...or not) against Clemens, but at least they both can run and throw. Gutierrez is gold glove caliber (or close to it) in right and has excellent speed. Lofton is the only other starter with more than 9 ABs against Clemens (which I guess favors Clemens), and Lofton hasn't fared too well (BA .226, but KL also had historic difficulties against Pettitte but got 2 hits the other night). Another possibility (extremely unlikely I believe) is that Chris Gomez gets inserted for Jhonny Peralta or possibly Asdrubal Cabrera (who appeared to be pressing a bit in game 2). Gomez has 21 ABs against RC and a .286 average. [Peralta is 0-5.] Westbrook had two starts against NYY this year, both losses. In April, when he was injured, he gave up 8 ER in 1 1/3 innings. In August, he gave up 4 ER over 7 innings. His numbers for the second half: 5-5 with a 3.44 ERA. A little bit less success in September: 1-2 (in 6 starts), 4.14 ERA, 6 IP/start, BAA .309 [opponents were Det, LA, Oak, CWS twice, KC (post clinch)]. To compare, Clemens in second half: 4-3 with a 4.55 ERA. A little less action in September: 0-1 (2 starts), 4.50 ERA, 5 IP/start, BAA .263 [opponents were Bos, Sea]. Obviously Clemens has a ton of post-season experience that Westbrook does not have, a lower BAA (for the season .261 for Clemens, .273 for Westbrook), and faced tougher opponents in his September action. Yanks also have more exposure to Westbrook. So the Yankees should be favored, but not by much. Either of these starters could implode (yes even Roger) or be the second coming of ...Jamie Moyer! Like Carmona, Westbrook is a sinkerball pitcher--his just isn't as nasty as Fausto's. Ultimately, it will depend on how the kids from Cleveland (essentially everyone not named Lofton) handle postseason games in the Bronx zoo. If you're Torre, do you insert Giambi into the lineup, and if so, who do you replace, Meincantspellvich or Godzilla?

So much for the Cubs. They did have a good season. Agree that Philly is the team least likely to be toast (scoreless as I type this), and that (besides the Cubs) the Angels are the most. I didn't see a whole lot of his starts, but I am seriously underwhelmed by Weaver (all Weavers, actually). Schilling may be getting a little too much hype based on past performance, but he's at least as effective as Weaver, and the Angels have too many guys at less than 100%. That was my reaction to the pitch track graphic--way off.

hopefully he still is.

More excitement at the Jake last night. While game 1 was tight until the end of the fifth when the Tribe blew it open, game 2 obviously was ultra close the whole way. Much of the game I was thinking how it would be a shame to have Fausto lose on just one mistake to Melky (throwing his third best pitch). And then have to listen to a bunch of nonsense about how green Carmona is and what a great pro Pettitte is, etc. Pettitte was tough, but the Tribe had plenty of opportunities (...and eventually your luck runs out). I think the Yankees got about as much out of him as they could reasonably expect (maybe he could have gone a little deeper, but he was putting a lot of guys on). Like Sabathia in game 1, he battled out of all of his jams. Difference is I think one can reasonably expect better pitching from Sabathia. Unlucky with bugs I suppose (...though Yankees dodged harm when Peralta's double would have been a home run if it were hit 4 ft closer to center, and Hafner lined out right to Meinkcantspellvich... [somehow I'm thinking Giambi doesn't make that play]). Bugs bothered players on both teams in both halves of the innings (and they seemed to subside after 2 innings). Should Torre have gotten Mo when it was clear Joba was getting ticked?? A day off and then we see how non-aces fare--Westbrook v. Clemens. Jake could be anywhere from VG+ to pretty bad. Same for Clemens (at least for a few innings), I guess. Seems a fair amount of the media/fandom is thinking it's 1997 or so. That there is a bunch of old guys in that rotation (crafty, experienced, etc, but...). And you out there (in the press) who claim the Yankee bullpen is so superior to the Tribe's, can we get a few redactions or "yes, I'm an idiot, I swallow NY hype before tasting it first"? thank you. And you manager Wedgie, see what good things happen when Joe Borowski remains safely secured in the bullpen? [And the verdict is in, Eric, the spouse and the mother don't like your beard--give it up.] Obviously I missed the start of the other AL game, but from what I saw, it looks like it was Manny being Manny: some adventures in left field, and then a monster blast late. They said it was his first walkoff homer since an Indians/Angels game. If I'm remembering the right game, I think the Tribe went back-to-back-to-back off of Troy Percival in that one (Belle and maybe Murray or Thome hit the first two?).

Just doublechecking with all these tweaks to accommodate television etc. I successfully purchased a pair of tickets for each of four possible LCS games to be played at the Jake. (Yeah, the fourth one requires enduring a 7 game series against the Angels--unlikely to happen for a variety of reasons). If the Tribe gets that far, gotta figure out whether to fly or drive from the DC area, how much annual leave to take, how long I can wait before purchasing airfare with miles etc. ...My daily commute is about an hour, so these early evening weeknight starts are killin me. At least Monday is Columbus Day. Tribe definitely hasn't locked anything up yet, but you gotta figure tonight's game is pretty darn close to "must win" territory for the Yankees. Anyone else a tad bit underwhelmed by the TBS coverage? Nothing outrageously bad, but...(1) I put Tony Gwynn in the same category as a lot of other ex-player analyst/talking heads (Eduardo Perez, Fernando Vina, ...). Is he really providing any value over the course of a 3 hour plus game? Brenly is serviceable if not spectacular, at least he's not McCarver. As far as talking heads go, I guess I prefer the reporters Kurkjian, Olney, Gammons. (2) I was amused that the TBS graphics initially credited Martinez' homer to Ryan Garko. Never mind that Martinez is their MVP (and should finish top 5 for AL honors). I guess they were too distracted at that moment by Craig Sager's compelling interview with drummer John Adams out in the left field bleachers. (3) And the TBS version of K-zone. At least when I saw it in action, the graphic seems to always make the pitch appear much more off the plate than it actually is. Not a big deal, but kinda lame. On the plus side, Ernie Johnson does a fine job hosting, and maybe Cal and Big Hurt are alright in the studio (though I haven't yet been overwhelmed by keen insights). Initially I thought they were spending a whole break between innings in the studio because they didn't sell the time for commercials (...or couldn't figure which Law & Order to promote). That break from playing another chorus of the Lofton DHL commercial is nice.

Recognizing that no one (...at least fans of AL teams) should get ahead of themselves, what is the home/away format for the LCS? Is is 2-2-1-1-1, 2-3-2 (like the World Series), or something else?

Fun game at the Jake for Tribe fans, though there was quite a bit of drama early. C.C. Sabathia really struggled with his control (and Froemming's strike zone) all night (which for him was just 5 innings). I think quite a bit of it was being amped up for his first playoff game since 2001. Uncharacteristically, he walked six. Surprisingly, none of the six scored. He "scattered" four hits, including solo homers to Damon and Cano and a double to Abreu. Perhaps the biggest moment was his last inning. Yankees had the bases loaded, only one out, the hyped Jorge Posada up with a 3-0 count, and Sabathia really struggling to throw strikes. Jorge gets the green light and fouls it off. About 3 pitches later, he strikes out. Matsui then pops out to shortstop and the inning ends with the Tribe still ahead 4-3. This really shows how Sabathia has matured--in previous seasons he would have lost his cool, started yappin at the umpire, and just start throwing as hard as he could. Tonight, he fought threw his tough situations (...of his own making). Then in the bottom of the 5th, the big sticks come out for the home team... Wang had as much difficulty, if not more, throwing for the Yankees. One of the few bright spots for NYY might have been Phil Hughes who pitched well in two innings (though it was definitely a blowout by then, and he did surrender one of the 4 Tribe HRs). It will be interesting to see if this goes 5, how well CC does, and how confident the Yankees will be about facing him. Kenny Lofton was huge. A couple of key RBI hits with two outs, especially early when the game was still close. He was my favorite player on the teams of the mid-90s. Great to see him getting key hits, and stealing a base. And the bullpen returned the favor to Sabathia (who averaged 7+ innings per start and threw 4 complete games during the regular season). The combination of Rafael Perez, Jensen Lewis, and Rafael Betancourt combined to throw 4 innings, giving up just 1 single (which should/could have been caught), and striking out 6. This may be the source of Indian fan frustration if Joe Borowski melts down in some other game--there are other talented relievers who could close much more effectively for this team than JoeBo (at the very least, the 2 Rafaels). So it's just one game, but a good start for the underdog Tribe. Hopefully Fausto will be dealing tomorrow afternoon, and Old Man Pettitte won't be. One cost to the Tribe is that their best lefty reliever, Perez, threw 31 pitches (in the sixth and seventh), so he probably is not available Friday night. skeith: wear that Tribe hat proudly!! (you only live once...and after all the fun may last only another week or so)

Go George Go! I haven't heard much of his work with Pepper, and I have not yet connected with Cables Vision. For me, it's Frank Morgan's Mood Indigo (Antilles 1989) which I guess got mixed reviews (Frank plays too slow, Wynton is on a few cuts, boring, etc.). I don't listen to it that often now, but it was a recording (of standards) that re-energized what was then only a passing curiosity I had in jazz. Frank's story of return may have also played a role. A very subdued album, it begins and ends with a beautiful short theme "Lullaby" composed by George. Very moving. I will spin it later tonight. Continue on, George!

...cue the MG's for the outtro...