2008 Playoffs: Day 6

Monday brought the close to both ALDS series, and what a day of baseball it was. We here at VendorBall caught all the action.

Tampa Bay Rays 6, Chicago White Sox 2
by Kyle Baxter

And that's that. The Tampa Bay Rays finish off the Chicago White Sox in 4 games (as predicted by both Dan and Kyle). B.J. "Porn Star" Upton lead the offensive charge with two home runs off White Sox starter Gavin Floyd, while Andy Sonnanstine did what only his foes in the A.L. East know he can: shut down an offense with less-than-stellar stuff. He allowed only two runs, both on solo home runs - by Konerko (who started hitting too late) and Dye - in 5.2 innings.

Floyd allowed two solo home runs to Upton in the 1st and 3rd innings and could never quite settle in, and was pulled in the 4th inning before recording an out. Carlos Pena also returned to the lineup, and celebrated by going 3-4 with a walk 2 RBI and 2 SB (WHAT!?). For those curious, he's stolen a grand total of 2 bases in the last four years. This game was never close, the Rays jumped out to a lead and never looked back, and once their bullpen took over the door was closed.

Aside from the two solo shots, the Sox were only able to pick up two hits off of Rays pitching, singles by Konerko and Ramirez. It was a poor series for White Sox hitting, and their swing-for-the-fences attitude never quite worked against the team with the second best ERA in the AL. Even though the Sox could touch up the starters a bit, the Rays 'pen was lights out all series.
The Sox did get good contributions from Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, and AJ Pierzynski, but it was never enough, and never a lot.

The biggest problem for the Sox was that their pitching was giving up over 5 runs per game. The shoddy starting pitching of the White Sox was never going to be good enough to do damage in the playoffs. They will have to try and reload next year and hope for better performances out of Contreras and Buerhle, while keeping Vazquez off the playoff roster.

Win: Andy Sonnanstine (1-0,)
Loss: Gavin Floyd (0-1)
Player of the Game: B.J. Upton (2-4, 2 HR, BB)

Series MVP: Rays bullpen. No one guy carried the offense - it was spread out amongst the team, with different guys stepping up during different games. However, the Rays bullpen (Wheeler, Balfour, Howell, Bradford and Miller) combined for these numbers:

11.2 IP, 0.77 ERA, ER, 6 H, 13 Ks, 2 BB.

The Rays offense managed to put up 6 runs in each of their wins, but it was the bullpen coming in and shutting down the White Sox offense that proved to be the most important. Conventional wisdom says to chase the starting pitcher and try to work into a team's bullpen... maybe not with these guys.



Boston Red Sox 3, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2.
by Dan Zappulla

Fenway magic was in the air Monday night.

By now, I’m sure you know that the Red Sox continued their postseason dominance over the Angels by beating them in walk-off fashion. Jed Lowrie grounded a single through the right side, allowing Jason Bay to slide into home with a series-clinching run. But before we look ahead to the League Championship Series date with the Tampa Bay Rays, last night’s contest deserves a bit more of our attention. I won’t bother with a play-by-play summary of the game and assume that you, our lovely readers, actually watched it. If you didn’t, I’m not sure why you’re reading a sports blog.

Hats off to Jon Lester. A year ago, who would’ve seen this coming? This young southpaw has emerged into the ace of the Boston staff, and perhaps the most dominant left-hander in the American League. After a scintillating performance in Game 1, Lester returned to the hill last night with the weight of a city on his shoulders. It seemed as if he didn’t notice. After seven brilliant innings, Lester cemented himself as the best pitcher remaining in the postseason. The Red Sox have found their latest “big game” hurler.

By the same token, my hat remains on when speaking of Justin Masterson. Last night, he struggled – yet again – in a big spot. He doesn’t seem to have the confidence in his “stuff” that everyone else does, and subsequently ends up issuing walks in critical situations. His free pass to Vladimir Guerrero last night gave Torii Hunter the opportunity to drive in the tying runs. Hunter came through with a sharp line drive to right, and Masterson had coughed up the lead. Lester, for all his stellar work, would earn a no-decision. My advice for Terry Francona? Let the eighth inning belong to Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen. Both have proven worthy of the responsibilities that lie with pitching late postseason innings. Okajima has become more of a left-handed specialist this season anyway, and Delcarmen would prove to be a great complement.

The offense had a bit of trouble with Angels starter John Lackey, just as they did in Game 1. They could only manage two runs off him in seven strong innings that must’ve left the hefty right-hander scratching his head. The Angels couldn’t have asked for anything more from their starting pitcher, and yet, Lackey left the game with a two-run deficit. The Red Sox mustered a fielder’s choice from Jacoby Ellsbury in the fifth to drive in their first run, followed up by Dustin Pedroia’s first hit of the postseason – a double off the Monster – to drive in the second.

I digress. As the game progressed into the ninth inning tied at two, an eerie feeling settled over the Fenway Faithful. It was something that permeated through the television screen, as I could feel it sitting on my bed. I hadn’t felt it in awhile – almost five years. It was a feeling of inevitable doom – that the Red Sox somehow would crumble under the pressure. It brought back mental screen captures of the 2003 American League Championship Series in New York. With Masterson still pitching in the ninth, pinch-hitter Kendry Morales lined a bullet to left-center, and the Angels had the leadoff man on second base. Howie Kendrick moved the runner to third, and then Mike Scioscia decided to inject a bit of his National-League-style managing into the game. In a move that surprised less people than it should’ve, Scioscia called for the suicide squeeze. It didn’t work. I’m usually the first to defend a manager or coach’s decisions during a game, and I’ll live up to that billing right now. Scioscia made the right call. That’s the style of baseball the Angels play. It got them to 100 wins during the regular season, and there was no reason to think it would be any different in the playoffs. It just so happened that it didn’t work this time. I admire the skipper for sticking to his guns.

Now almost twelve hours removed from what will be dubbed as one of the great October games in Fenway history, I can’t help but still be impressed by Jon Lester. As I previously eluded to, Lester has matured exponentially over the last year. Still only 24 years of age, he’s accomplished what most pitchers work a lifetime for. He’s pitched a no-hitter and won the deciding game in the World Series. Lester now has the defending World Series Champions on his shoulders, and he doesn’t seem to mind or notice.

Boston Wins Series, 3-1.

Win: Manny Delcarmen (1-0)
Loss: Scot Shields (0-1)
Player of the Game: Jon Lester (7 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 2 BB.)



Red Sox - Angels Series Analysis
by Kyle Baxter

Jon Lester (BOS): Ace Ace, Baby (Alaskan Governor of Red Sox Nation, David Brescia).
Series Stats: 1-0, 14 IP, 10H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K

What more can you say about Lester that all the announcers all over the country haven’t? Even the preposterously biased TBS guys were throwing so much praise at him over his last two starts that I wouldn’t be surprised to see them writing love notes and folding them up into neat little origami hearts to give to him later. But homoerotic announcer love aside, Lester has risen to be the ace of this staff. Beckett struggled massively in game 3 of the series, and the Sox needed Lester to come out and shut down the Halos. In the first inning he reached 98 on the gun. That’s Randy Johnson speed right there, folks. All series he was dominant, working his fastball in the mid-upper 90’s, his cutter and sinker in the mid-low 90’s and that huge high 70’s curve. There was never any doubt when Lester took the hill.

Announcer (and Hall of Fame pitcher) Dennis Eckersley called Jon Lester the ace of this Boston staff. With all due respect to the hall of famer, but Jon Lester has been the best pitcher in the world over the last 6 weeks (and further respect to CC Sabathia and his postseason choke). Over these last 6 weeks Lester is 5-1 with a 1.49 ERA in 54.1 IP, with 46 K’s and 16 BB’s. That is clutch pitching, and that is what we’ve come to expect from Jon Lester. Unfortunately, we will not be able to send him out there in Game 1 against the Rays, but I still expect him to get two starts in this series.


Jason Bay (BOS): 7-17, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 2 HR, .412/.474/.882 (Avg/OBP/SLG)

Jason Bay is in his first playoffs, but you think a little thing like the fire of the playoffs is going to stop him? Bay is from Canada, he has ice (literally) running through his veins, nothing’s going to bother him. Jason Bay did what the Anaheim order had a hard time doing: he got extra base hits. 4 of them, actually, while the entire Angels’ team only had 6 (the Sox had 13). Although we keep hearing that Bay is not here “to replace Manny” most of us realize the position he’s in is exactly Manny’s replacement. And you know what, he’s not doing so bad. Although Manny has been ablaze since arriving in LA, Bay has been quietly effective. I wouldn’t call him Manny quite yet, he’s not Manny, but he’s under contract next year.

In a series where Pedroia was smoking the ball right at everyone, Lowell’s injury rendered him ineffective (and now out for the ALCS, too), and everyone else was lukewarm, Bay picked up the slack. Even though he started off looking poor – indeed, looking foolish on two back to back strikeouts on curveballs by Lackey in Game 1 – he came back to launch a homerun in his third AB and never looked back. In fact, there was a cool confidence coming from Bay, and as a fan, I could feel it. When a player comes up to bat, as a fan you need to feel something. When it’s Papi in extra innings, you feel “game over.” Last year, when it was Drew you felt “5-6-3 double play.” This year, when it was Pedroia you felt “line drive.” During the playoffs, when it was Bay, I felt “something good.”

We needed an offensively dominating performance from someone in our order, at the beginning of the series it looked like it could have been Ellsbury. However, Ellesbury ended up falling into the category of “all right” as the series went on, but Bay continued to rope hits and have tough ABs. I will not pin him as “Playoff Stud” quite yet, but it does look promising.


8th Inning

At some point this year, Okajima went from solid setup man, to 7th inning + 8th inning with a short leash. And yes, he has not been nearly as effective this year as he was last year. I agree that perhaps better scouting and more looks at his funky delivery are working against him. But for now, it means we need an arm in the 8th inning. Francona has decided to go with Justin Masterson. However, these playoffs have shown us that Masterson has one fatal flaw: no wipeout pitch. (note: a wipeout pitch is the new lingo for a strikeout pitch that when hit gets you an out anyway. Think Schilling’s splitter.) He has no problem getting up 0-2 but as we saw last night, he cannot finish batters particularly well. He throws a 4-seam fastball, sinker, and slider, but despite the velocity on his fastball and sinker, he does not have the secondary pitch to get outs with. That, my friends, makes him a poor 8th inning option.

My vote goes for Manny Delcarmen. Amongst Sox relievers currently on the roster (and not named Jonathan Papelbon), Delcarmen has the best numbers in many categories important to relievers: WHIP (1.12), Slugging Against (.321), AVG Against(.205), K/9 (8.72), H/9 (6.66), plus he’s second to Okajima in BB/9 and K/BB (a difference of .05 for each). Moreover, Delcarmen is the power arm – a fastball in the mid-high 90’s with good movement complemented by a low 80’s change and a strong curve. His repertoire is more advanced than Masterson’s, and he has playoff experience. Although his results have been spotty throughout the season he has come on strong in September and October and his performance in Game 3 solidified his position as the bullpen guy I have the most confidence in (again, not named Papelbon).

And I had to wonder why Francona balked on putting in Papelbon in the 8th. True he threw a lot of pitches last night, but Francona once put Foulke in during the 7th inning during the playoffs. He was the pioneer who decided that a closer should be used when the need is most dire. And in the 8th with one man on and the heart of that lineup coming to bat – the need was dire. I honestly believe that Papelbon should have come in to face Teixeira, Guerrero, and Hunter at the end of the game. Although it did work out, so I suppose I cannot complain.


Angels at the Bat

Listening to the games on TV, I couldn’t help but hear the praise for the middle of the Angels order. Let’s look at some stats for the series (AVG/OBP/SLG).

Teixeira: .389/.421/.389
Guerrero: .467/.579/.533
Hunter: .467/.550/.467

Despite the high batting averages and on base percentages, we see slugging percentages that are quite low for the three guys in the middle of the lineup. True, these are high OPSs, but from your 3-4-5 hitters, you don’t want that statistic dominated by on base percentage. So yes, these three guys were hitting, but they were hitting singles. In fact, between the three of them, the only extra base hit they had was Vlad’s lead-off double against Beckett in the 3rd inning of Game 3. Torii Hunter tried to stretch a single into a double but was thrown out by Jason Bay. The Angel’s picked up Hunter and Teixeira in order to get by the Sox this year, but it did not work. No power, no clutch hitting, no luck.


Josh Beckett

Josh Beckett got knocked around in Game 3 (see 2008 Playoffs: Day 4), and did not look like himself in the playoffs. Some think that Beckett looked “obviously in pain” while throwing. With Dice-K giving Sox fans nightmares of walks and runners on third with no outs, Beckett is going to need to come back to form in the ALCS. Lester has solidified his number 1 spot in the rotation for the playoffs, but Beckett needs to be the number two guy. What that means is that he needs to give strong, quality start (6+ IP, 3 ER or less) performances from here on out. Now Beckett throwing 7 innings and allowing three earned runs is an under-performance for him in the playoffs, but as it stands, he can under-perform and get the job done. That is why he will march out there, hurt, sick, with a 2x4 sticking out of his liver, and pitch.

If Beckett can get back to his playoff form of old, which I think is a possibility, then you can lock in the Sox for another world series. A strong 1-2 punch with starting pitchers has been an unbeatable force in the playoffs before, especially in longer series. You need only look to 2001 (Randy Johnson and Schilling), 2003 (Beckett and Brad Penny), and 2004 (Schilling and Pedro), to see my point. With Beckett back at full tilt, the rest of the league needs to buckle up. Safe to say Red Sox Nation will be watching Beckett’s last start closely.


Commercials

Anyone else getting sick of seeing the same playoff commercials over and over? Even those Frank Caliendo ads, which I usually enjoy, have become painful to watch. Honestly, I hope the Red Sox sweep this series so I don’t have to watch that stupid Captain Morgan’s ad with the costumes (which I liked at first) or that Poltergeist ad for Direct TV.

Announcers

Last point – the announcers during these games were so bad that I almost found myself longing for Joe Buck…. (violently vomits).

ALDS Series MVP: Jon Lester
Runner Up: Jason Bay


What's on Tap?

Thankfully we have a couple days off of playoff baseball to recover before reloading for the Championship Series. Predictions? Of course we will! Rate our previous predictions? Sure! Take a day off of posting to this blog... NEVER!

Feel free to take a few days to catch up on sleep, preseason hockey, fantasy football, and time spent with your significant other. We get back to it in serious on Thursday.