Rocks Swept Under The Rug

The Boston Red Sox proved me wrong by completing a sweep of the Colorado Rockies on Sunday night. Mike Lowell was named MVP, as the Red Sox won their second championship in four years.

The playoff road was similar to their 2004 championship: ALDS sweep, ALCS comeback, World Series sweep. These Red Sox were on their game, doing something that the Rockies could not, getting hits with runners in scoring position. They could not do any wrong.

Shoot, even Ronald McDonald Bobby Kielty got in on the action, hitting a solo shot in the eighth inning, proving to be the winning run.

The thing that sucks for Boston haters is that this team will be good for years to come. They have a solid bullpen, good starting pitching, and guys that can swing the bat. Kind of crazy how it looks like the Yankees are going in the opposite direction (more on that later).

I do not think the Rockies would have faired much better even if they did not have that long layoff... the Red Sox are just that good.

Congratulations to the Rockies for making that improbable run and to Ben Affleck. Your team won! Yeah right, you are a douche Affleck... sit next to me at Angels stadium and we will see how long you last.

I cannot believe JD Drew and Eric Gagne are getting World Series rings. Ah, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

I will miss you baseball, the focus of MLB will shift to awards and rumors.

World Series Game 1

Josh Beckett was at it again last night, pitching the Red Sox to another victory in the 2007 postseason.

Okay, maybe the rust was present in the Colorado lineup, but Boston is just clicking on all cylinders right now. Shoot, even Eric Gagne pitched a perfect inning last night.

They are coming through with hits when runners are in scoring position, fielding the ball well, and their pitching is lights out. It is quite sickening to watch this team hit double after double, scoring run after run. Even Julio Lugo could not be kept off the bases as we went 3-for-4 and had a walk.

The game was over by the fourth inning and should have been called after the fifth. It got so out of hand we even had a Alex Cora sighting.

All the game really was after the fifth was background eye noise, as music was turned up and attention away from the game.

Know doubt Boston fan thought that game was a "wicked pissah!" and will proclaim the series is over already.

Game was the anticlimatic that any non-Red Sox or Rockies baseball fans hate to watch. You want a competitive game to watch if your team is not in it.

Beckett is completely killing it in the playoffs. He dropped his career postseason ERA to 1.73, third on the all-time list for those with 70 or more innings. This year he has gone 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA while striking out 35 to issuing two walks. I need to write that again. In his four games this postseason, 35 have struck out against him, while only two have drawn a walk.

Was anyone else freaked out by Ashanti's hand during the seventh inning stretch? Her hand looked like the prosthetic hand of Happy Gilmore's golf coach, Apollo Creed Chubbs Peterson.

Game 2 tonight, 8PM ET.

World Series 2007

The 2007 Fall Classic is set to begin tomorrow evening at Fenway Park in Boston, with the Red Sox facing the Colorado Rockies.

So here it is. Wally the Green Monster v. Dinger. Soxtober v. Rocktober. AL. v. NL.
Personally I think the "Rocktober" slogan has a much better ring to it. Why does Boston have to copy?

As you may know by now, I am not a big fan of anything out of Boston. They have turned into monsters, not their players, but their fans (okay, some of their players).

Boston fans have essentially turned into what they hate, Yankees fans. But they have surpassed the Yankees fans in being more obnoxious, rude, and arrogant. Five years ago? I would have taken Red Sox fans over Yankees fans any day of the week.

Today, I would take Yankees and Dodgers fans in the same room with no way out, over three Red Sox fans in an empty stadium.

Oh yes, the World Series (I guess you can tell by now who I am rooting for).

The Rockies are coming off an eight-day layoff after their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Red Sox completed their series comeback versus the Cleveland Chokers Indians. Like I said in the past, I am not a fan of the long days off between games. I feel sorry for the Rockies.

The following are the pitching matchups for the first few games:

Josh Beckett v. Jeff Francis
Curt Schilling v. Ubaldo Jimenez
Daisuke Matsuzaka v. Josh Fogg
Josh Beckett v. Aaron Cook

The Red Sox have to love their chances with Beckett potentially starting three games in a seven game series (due to the fact that Tim Wakefield is not on the World Series roster). But I like the game 4 pitcher of Cook pitching against Beckett, saving Francis for game 5.

The sports nation outside of Colorado is giving the Rockies no chance at winning this series, and based on what we saw in last year's World Series I do not blame them. Let me say this though, this Rockies team is not the same as the Detroit Tigers of yesteryear that lost to the St. Louis Cardinals after their long layoff.

The Tigers were still the favorites going into the series even though they had a seven-day layoff. The Rockies would still be the underdogs even if they had won their NLCS matchup in seven games. It is always a dangerous thing to place a chip on the shoulder of a talented team.

These Rockies fought their way into the playoffs and they will be the first to tell you that they are not done.

Do not believe the hype, this series is going six or seven games.

My breakdowns:

Batting lineup
Boston has the two big bats of Ortiz and Ramirez, with Lowell capable of cleaning it up. And Colorado has five guys that hit 90+ RBIs during the season. The patience of the Red Sox gives them the edge. Red Sox.

Starting pitching
Boston has a veteran, playoff battled pitcher in Schilling, and a young playoff stud on a tear in Beckett. Colorado has a nifty lefthander in Francis and a hard-throwing young cat in Jimenez. It will be interesting to see how Aaron Cook pitches in his first postseason appearance this year. Based on the way Beckett is dealing I have to go with Boston. Red Sox

Bullpen
I know what you are thinking, Boston by far. But hold on Voltaire. The Rockies made their miraculous run into, and through the playoffs thanks to its bullpen play over the last month. As hot as they are, there is no denying their effectiveness. Rockies.

Intangibles
Yes, the Rockies are going in with eight days off, but like I said, they have a different makeup. Every night they have a new hero emerge during their current run. And that is a real intangible. Boston mystique, blah, blah. Rockies.

Mascots
On one hand you have a purple dinosaur representing the Rockies, and on the other you have a "Green Monster" representing a green monster wall. Although Dinger the dinosaur has a girlie purple color, I say he can beat up the Green Monster of Boston. Plus, Wally the Green Monster would not come down to my seats to face off against me when he was in Anaheim for game 3 of the ALDS. I called him down and he walked away. Coward. Rockies

With my heart I am picking the Rockies in seven.
With my head I am picking the Red Sox in six.

Normally I do not want the NL team to win it all unless there is a certain AL team in the World Series. Yes, you guessed it, that team is the Red Sox.

Go Rockies!

I Blame Red Sox Nation

Colorado Rockies fans are irate today over the internet sales of World Series tickets.

The ticket sales had to be suspended due a failure of the computer system. Many fans secured tickets in the system but were unable to go through the checkout process.

That has to be the worst feeling ever. Bad enough you have to sit on your computer in a panic; clicking away, heart pounding, and mind racing (I guess I have gone through it before). And it all comes crashing down when you get an "error" screen.

It has to be Red Sox nation hacking into the system and directing those from the Colorado area to the error screen. Expect to see 20,000 Red Sox fans at Coors Field when the series shifts to Colorado.

The Red Sox fans will no doubt get their tickets from season ticket holders of the Rockies. I saw this first hand with the Angels.

Outside the stadium a gentleman started talking to me and later revealed that he was a Red Sox fan. He was not wearing any Red Sox gear, saying he did not want to disrespect, so I just continued to talk to this man from Vegas. We talked for a few more minutes and told me he bought his tickets off of an Angels season ticket holder. He then had the audacity to ask if we had a good following here. Was that a real question, or sarcasm?

Poor Colorado, you do not know what you have to deal with. Good luck, do not take any crap.

The Angels playoff tickets were a mess as well. The computer systems did not crash, but you had to win in the "playoff lottery" for a chance to guy tickets. Luckily I had season tickets or else I would have flipped my noodle.

Go Dinger.

Cleveland Rocks Chokes!

Well, the Cleveland Indians completed their choke job last night by losing game 7 at Fenway Park, after holding a 3-1 series edge.

Granted, the Red Sox played well, but it comes down to Cleveland giving the series away. 3-1 series lead and all they had to do is win one game out of three. Their two aces were pitching games 5 & 6, and they came up short.

Travis "Pronk" Hafner what happened to your bat? You are the DH and cannot go 1-for-19 in the final five games of the ALCS. This young team either ran out of gas at the wrong time, or they got ahead of themselves with a 3-1 series lead.

I hope it is the latter because you have to man up and bring your game to take your team to the World Series. Actually, both reasons are unacceptable, but they happen. Just ask Tracy McGrady.

The Indians had a great season and may be there again next year, but you never know. A long season and injuries can make anything crazy happen. This may have been their only shot, and that is not good news for Kenny Lofton. Another lost chance at his first ring.

World Series predictions coming tomorrow.

In the mean time, enjoy this classic sound bite from Major League which includes an "F" bomb from Pedro Cerrano: You no help me now. I do it myself.

Three dreams broken for me in these MLB playoffs: the Philly Phanatic getting his spotlight in the playoffs, the Angels getting to the World Series, and the chance to hear, "the Indians win it, the Indians win it. Oh my God! The Indians win it! AHuhhahamwahaha!"

American League Championship Series 2007

The ALCS starts in a few hours between the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park. The Red Sox will throw potential Cy Young winner Josh Beckett against his biggest competition for that title, Eddie Harris C.C. Sabathia.

Both are rock solid this season and look to get their respective teams out to a great start. It should be a low-scoring game with the wind blowing into the park today at Fenway.


Josh Beckett v. C.C. Sabathia
Curt Schilling v. Fausto Carmona
Daisuke Matsuzaka v. Jake Westbrook
Tim Wakefield v. Paul Byrd

Everyone is making a big deal about the bats of Boston and Cleveland, but the real story is about both teams pitching. Cleveland has a nice 1-2 punch of Sabathia and Carmona, and Boston counters with Beckett and Schilling. Both tandems were stellar in their ALDS starts.

I think the format of 2-3-2 favors the Indians because I see a split in the first two games of the series. Allowing the Indians to go home tied at 1-1. From there they would essentially have to win two games at home and bank on one of their aces when the series shifts back to Boston for the final two games.

Analysts are doubting game four starter, Paul Byrd, even though he had a good outing against the Yankees. Like I said before, this guy is the realness.

Both lineups are solid and get men on base all the time. Its going to be all about staying out of the double plays for each squad. Ladies somehow always pick the series winners correctly, and Grady Sizemore is a ladies man. Listen to the women.

INDIANS in SEVEN

Major League is on the all-time best movies ever list.

Someone Buy Back The Rights...

to the divisional series and the one league championship series that Turner Sports bought. TBS is in the first year of their seven year contract that allows them to air the division series of the playoffs.

The announcers in the Los Angeles Angels-Boston Red Sox series have been horrible. Their East Coast bias and obvious love for the Red Sox should not be aired on television. In the first game of the series they were already talking about the prospect of a New York Yankees-Red Sox matchup in the ALCS, in the SECOND inning.

I do not know where they found these guys, but they need to slapped around. They obviously do not watch any West Coast teams based on their gushing for the Red Sox.

They are not the only guilty party. The production team is favoring the Red Sox as well. I cannot even count on my hands and feet combined the amount of times that they did not show their "pitchtrax" when Angels pitchers got a questionable call from the homeplate umpire (a whole other issue that makes my blood boil).

But they conveniently continued to show the "pitchtrax" each time the Red Sox pitchers were on the mound.

I do not think I have seen a more screwed up strike zone than the one lat night. I understand that the first couple of innings has a loose strike zone, but later in the game it is supposed to tighten up.

Homeplate umpire, Dan Iassogna, was the second Red Sox player behind the plate. His strike zone mysteriously turned to the size of DVD case when Angels pitchers were on the mound. Yet, somehow when Red Sox pitchers were pitching, the strike zone became the size of a oversized beach towel.

It was the worst pitch calling I have ever seen. In a key at-bat, Kevin Youkilis got away with five strikes looking and ended up drawing a walk on balls. A ball thrown to Chone Figgins that was clearly outside the strike zone (they actually showed this one on "pitchtrax") was called a strike, and would have issued a walk to Figgins.

And now onto the devil... I hate you forever Danny Vinik


Jeff Mathis would have caught that ball if it weren't for the extra wall made for the photographers in the playoffs.

Tomorrow its on.

MLB Playoffs Day 2

Where has the Phillie Phanatic been? If Fox had been broadcasting the games I know for a fact that they would have shown him in the spotlight. Yet, that may not be entirely true, seeing to how the Phillies decided that winning the NL East was good enough for them.

The Phillies dropped their second game AT HOME to the scorching Colorado Rockies to fall to an 0-2 deficit in the best-of-five series, and now head to Colorado for two games (or so they hope). Now instead of the Phanatic, we have "Dinger" here for you.

What happened to the charging Phillies who gunned down the New York Mets? Did they forget that the World Series is not winning the NL East? This choke job may not be as bad as the New York Mets, but it will hurt just as much if they get swept. Just win at least one game Philllies.

Like predicted, hopeful Cy Young winner C.C. Sabathia pitched a solid game against the New York Yankees in the 12-3 win for the Cleveland Indians. The best strikeout of Sabathia's may have been against Derek Jeter in the third inning, when Jeter had to stop himself from falling on his butt after missing badly on a slider.

I do not know why no one was giving Cleveland love before the playoffs. This team does it all: runs the bases well, pitching, big bats, defense, and the list goes on. I remember watching them against the Angels several times this year and thinking to myself, "this will be a dangerous team if the Angels have to face them in the playoffs."

Kenny Lofton hit the fountain of youth before the game, and then collected a career high in RBIs in a playoff game with four. Of the 84 games of playoff experience among the Indians players, Lofton played all of them.

I may have to change my playoff prediction for the series to: Cleveland in four.

NL series predictions? Forget about it.

Thanks Philadelphia, and now, thanks Chicago Cubs.

But, Chicago has something working for them that Philly does not, they have two games at home. The Cubs fell to an 0-2 deficit after losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4, even though Cubs' pitcher Ted Lilly had a 9-1 record following a Cubs loss this season.

I still believe in the Cubbies. Two games at Wrigley Field, let me say it right this time, fuggetaboutit! Maybe Steve Bartman should show up?

Drinking rules...

I am really emotional any time that my favorite team is in the playoffs.

I remember when I was 19 I had scored a nice date with a Latina hottie who was the hostess at a restaurant. The Lakers were in the playoffs at the time, trying to go back-to-back.

Her and I went on a date following a Lakers loss, not good. The whole time I thought about the game and ignored anything she was saying to me. Conversations were ruined because all I was thinking about was how the Lakers ruined the opportunity to go undefeated in the playoffs. That stupid step-over-stomp that Allen Iverson did over Tyronne Lue still is a vivid image in my head.

Needless to say, we never went out again but the Lakers won the championship, so all was not lost.

If you are going to be an obnoxious fan, do so where it is welcome. And it is best to keep your mouth shut if your team is not in the playoffs.

Boston Red Sox fans, I hope none of you are sitting in my section on Sunday... yet I know all of you have been scouring and paying any price to see the Red Sox (you should have bought tickets for a game IN Boston). This is Orange County, if you like Boston so much, go back.

*Bar pictured: Mutt Lynch's in Newport Beach - I am going to have to visit this establishment. If you head there before I do, please let me know.*

Lights Out

The Boston Red Sox took a 1-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last night behind a "lights out" performance from starting pitcher Josh Beckett. The Angels were shutout on four hits as Beckett threw a complete game.

Beckett was just straight dealing last night. The NL and AL allstar team could have been in the batter's box last night against Beckett and still would have managed only four hits. He was getting ahead of batters all night and only had one Angels player reach third base.

The sports world is giving the Angels no shot to win this series, and this start with Beckett did nothing to help win the Angels any supporters.

The other two games featured excellent pitching as well; no team scored more than four runs yesterday.

Lou Piniella may have wanted to leave Carlos Zambrano in the game longer as the Cubs' relievers gave up the winning runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks as soon as Zambrano left the game. Not that keeping Zambrano may have helped though, because Brandon Webb pitched just as well, holding the Cubs to one run over seven innings.

It was just one game, and I still like the Cubs in this series because of their starting pitching.

And the Colorado Rockies continued to ride their emotions as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 behind Jeff Francis. The Phillies were swinging at everything, striking out a total of ten times, four of which by Chase Utley.

Matt Holliday can just rack. He carried the Rockies throughout the season, "scored" the winning run in the one-game playoff, and is continuing his clutch hitting into the NLDS. He hit a homerun off of Tom Gordon in the eighth inning to add an insurance run for the Rockies relievers. NL MVP anybody?