Got predictions? Observations? Questions, comments, concerns? Post all your Red Sox/Indians witticisms and dissertational items right here, Bauxites!
A suitably no-name prediction- red sox in 7. Their double play combination will shine.
Prediction: Josh Beckett is going to find out fast, that the Indians offense does not closely resemble the Angels so-called offense.
Josh Beckett is going to find out fast, that the Indians offense does not closely resemble the Angels so-called offense.
While the Angels were not at 100% (Guerrero was creaky, Anderson was pink, Matthews' 323/419 was missing), they scored 5.07 R/G this season, virtually identical to the Indians' 5.01.
I imagine that the Indians are going to stop hitting .900 with men on base, or whatever the number was. That said, I think they'll still present a formidable challenge to the Red Sox and the series will go long. Matsuzaka is the wild card in all this, methinks.
Anybody But Boston!
And hey, my mom is an Indians fan, so CLE dumps Da Sox in seven behind the standout play of new post-season hero Asdrubal Cabrera. He is the only big leaguer in history and the only current player at any professional level with that first name, though there have been two Asdrubals in the minors previously.
Asdrubal looked like a deer caught in the headlights in Game 3.
For the first time in his life, he probably thought "holy crap, my parents named me Asdrubal" and lost the capacity to focus on anything else.
My heart near to broke when the Yankees lost. Tears nearly formed in my baby blues. I'll get over it. Hee..hee..hee..hee.
Now if only some similar wretched fate awaits the pompous red hosed bullies of Boston.
I know it's immature, churlish and unflattering of me to wish it so. But, oh I do wish it...so much!
PS Note to Diary - Add to 08 New Years wish list; "Next year I'll worry about becoming a better person."
Are we done now with the three-headed beast that is Caray/Brenly/Gwynn? Man, they're dreadful. Caray with his overhyped sense of drama and ridiculous infatuation with the bunt, as if this were 1908. Gwynn with his bizarre huckleberry accent, praising like crazy any lefty hitter who goes the other way (because, you know, Gwynn used to be a lefty hitter who did pretty well going the other way). And Brenly, who speaks only in absolute assurances. Nothing gray in his world.
I didn't catch much of the TBS control room. Not sure how Frank Thomas fared as a commentator.
Chip & Company are going to be around for the NLCS, I'm afraid. The other TBS broadcast teams weren't bad, but we've heard the last from them for this postseason.
Certainly off-topic for the thread, but the Jays have hired Yankees minor league roving hitting instructor Gary Denbo as their new hitting coach.
Well, I'll comment on the Denbo hiring if no one else will. I think it's a good hire. Denbo seems to like a flat swing that lets the hitter take the ball to all fields, and he's dogged in the video room. I don't know why he didn't stick with the Yankees after that one failed year in 2001, other than being an easy target. But if he's the guy that resurrected Mike Lowell, as they say, then he's got something going for him.
I think at the very least it gives us a reason to be optimistic that the Jays approach at the plate will change in '08.
I think at the very least it gives us a reason to be optimistic that the Jays approach at the plate will change in '08.
Denbo seems to be a very good choice to replace Brantley. Why do the Blue Jays consistently go outside the Organization to bring in Coaches? Why not Murphy, LeBeouf or Joyce? Anybody know why these three were not gven a chance?
I suspect a reason for not promoting from within are
A) The minor league teams didn't exactly light the world on fire offensively
B) The skills needed to succeed in AAA and the majors are very different
In the minors you want a coach who can teach kids and you know most kids will be easy to impress quickly. In the majors you mainly tune up a guys swing who has already had some success. The hitters in the majors have the cash to go sign their own coach so to be useful you have to be able to work with those guys as well. I know if I was a major leaguer I'd spend a portion of my salary to sign a personal hitting coach who would be dedicated to knowing everything there was to know about my swing and if I was off would know right away what went wrong. They would also track all pitchers in the majors and minors for me, providing personal scouting reports on how their skills would match up against mine. If you make $10 million a year you darn well should spend 1% to keep your job.
A) The minor league teams didn't exactly light the world on fire offensively
B) The skills needed to succeed in AAA and the majors are very different
In the minors you want a coach who can teach kids and you know most kids will be easy to impress quickly. In the majors you mainly tune up a guys swing who has already had some success. The hitters in the majors have the cash to go sign their own coach so to be useful you have to be able to work with those guys as well. I know if I was a major leaguer I'd spend a portion of my salary to sign a personal hitting coach who would be dedicated to knowing everything there was to know about my swing and if I was off would know right away what went wrong. They would also track all pitchers in the majors and minors for me, providing personal scouting reports on how their skills would match up against mine. If you make $10 million a year you darn well should spend 1% to keep your job.
While seeing some great pitching matchups in games one and two should be great, I'm not looking forward to 9 innings in 4.5 hours in games three and four. Ugh.
Why do the Blue Jays consistently go outside the Organization to bring in Coaches?
I wouldn't say they consistently do this. During the last round of coaching changes after the 2004 season, Whitt, Pevey and Arnsberg were all promoted from Toronto's minor league system. On the current coaching staff, Whitt, Pevey and Walton were in the organization for several years before J.P. Ricciardi took over.
The Blue Jays do sometimes bring in people from outside, but all teams need to do that. It a smart thing to do because you can bring in people with new ideas and a different viewpoint.
I wouldn't say they consistently do this. During the last round of coaching changes after the 2004 season, Whitt, Pevey and Arnsberg were all promoted from Toronto's minor league system. On the current coaching staff, Whitt, Pevey and Walton were in the organization for several years before J.P. Ricciardi took over.
The Blue Jays do sometimes bring in people from outside, but all teams need to do that. It a smart thing to do because you can bring in people with new ideas and a different viewpoint.
Manny is on a mission. This was a lost season for him. He's going to make up for it over the next couple of weeks.
The humanitarian in me smiles when teams like Detroit and Cleveland go deep into playoffs just because it really helps out that local economy for cities that really don't offer alot besides sports. (And especially now that the Browns don't suck).
And with that said, there's great baseball fans on the Lake Erie Coast, that really deserve a winning team. And besides, how can you not like these guys?
This is The Year of Cleveland Sports.
And with that said, there's great baseball fans on the Lake Erie Coast, that really deserve a winning team. And besides, how can you not like these guys?
This is The Year of Cleveland Sports.
The Browns still suck. 2-3 is nothing to get excited about and their defense still can't stop anyone.
With that said, I really feel that the Red Sox are going to mash the Indians. Manny and Papi look great and the pitching staff should continue to roll. I'm seeing the Sox in 5, however, I see the Sox losing to the Rockies in 6 in the World Series.
With that said, I really feel that the Red Sox are going to mash the Indians. Manny and Papi look great and the pitching staff should continue to roll. I'm seeing the Sox in 5, however, I see the Sox losing to the Rockies in 6 in the World Series.
Magpie, it just don't work that way. Manny is NOT on a mission. If anyone could just turn it up a notch when they wanted to get on a "mission" and start hitting like they had a direct line to God then they would take two holy wines on sunday and do so. Hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely is nearly impossible...Manny is having a hot streak - it happens. Remember Pat "Hall of Fame" Borders in the playoffs those many years ago?
Manny is a special case. I think the rules don't all apply to him. It is true though that added focus could help him or hurt him - I've heard that his aloof attitude has been one of the keys to his prolonged success.
Mylegacy, there must be some players who do better in certain high pressure situations than in normal games - if you have 650 players or whatever the number of baseball players is, you're going to have some who do better when they are in key situations.
Mylegacy, there must be some players who do better in certain high pressure situations than in normal games - if you have 650 players or whatever the number of baseball players is, you're going to have some who do better when they are in key situations.
One player I've been quite impressed with in the few games I've seen so far in the playoffs is Victor Martinez. I missed all the Jays/Indians games this year and while I knew Martinez was a great hitter, I had always heard and read about his atrocious defence. Well, he looked at least average to me and - I just looked it up - had a better caught stealing % than Pudge this year.
Not only that, but I was just reading at BTF and someone supplied a list ranking Martinez as the 2nd best hitting catcher this year, just behind Posada [I'm completely ignorant, however, of the stats behind the rankings...a type of +/- system...]. Suprisingly, in this ranking, Zaun sat at 11nth out of both leagues. That was news to me.
Not only that, but I was just reading at BTF and someone supplied a list ranking Martinez as the 2nd best hitting catcher this year, just behind Posada [I'm completely ignorant, however, of the stats behind the rankings...a type of +/- system...]. Suprisingly, in this ranking, Zaun sat at 11nth out of both leagues. That was news to me.
If anyone could just turn it up a notch when they wanted to get on a
"mission" and start hitting like they had a direct line to God then
they would take two holy wines on sunday and do so.
Absolutely right.
Nevertheless, Manny is on a mission.
Absolutely right.
Nevertheless, Manny is on a mission.
"Not only that, but I was just reading at BTF and someone supplied a
list ranking Martinez as the 2nd best hitting catcher this year, just
behind Posada [I'm completely ignorant, however, of the stats behind
the rankings...a type of +/- system...]. Suprisingly, in this ranking,
Zaun sat at 11nth out of both leagues. That was news to me."
Well, I have no idea what they used, but it could have been something as simple as OPS, where VMart was 2nd and Zaun 10th amongst catchers with a minimum of 375 PAs. Zaun is not the weak link everyone makes him out to be - he was in the upper tier of catchers offensively in an injury riddled year, and is a rather strong defensive catcher. He might have a noodle for an arm but most of the Jays problems holding runners on stems from the pitchers' deliveries and not his throws. Very few runners were able to run on someone like Casey Janssen even if Zaun was catching. I am more than happy with a tandem of Zaun/Thigpen heading into next year.
Well, I have no idea what they used, but it could have been something as simple as OPS, where VMart was 2nd and Zaun 10th amongst catchers with a minimum of 375 PAs. Zaun is not the weak link everyone makes him out to be - he was in the upper tier of catchers offensively in an injury riddled year, and is a rather strong defensive catcher. He might have a noodle for an arm but most of the Jays problems holding runners on stems from the pitchers' deliveries and not his throws. Very few runners were able to run on someone like Casey Janssen even if Zaun was catching. I am more than happy with a tandem of Zaun/Thigpen heading into next year.