2009 MLB Playoffs Thread

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

I'm glad Boston lost because once the Tigers are out of contention, my only concern with the sport consists of the Yankees losing, and the Angels have a much better chance of making that a reality.

[vansmack]

say, smackie, does the weight of that chip on your shoulder cause you to walk around in circles? 

Red Sox fans should know what it's like to carry a chip on their shoulder.  This wasn't about the last 3 years - I've carried that chip since 1986 when Hendu broke my 12 year old heart.  I was at that game and I was devastated -cried for days.  When they rolled him out to throw the first pitch today, I laughed.  Then he did the jump spin and pointed at the Angel dugout (jokingly, I know) I was filled with rage.  I can't begin to tell you how good this feels, but again, Sox fans should know.

There were demons exorcised for me today.  And exorcised in dramatic fashion...

[blinkboy]

  no, we get what your saying smackie.  and now, you'll get to know what its like to be smacked about by the Yankees next week. 

  as much as i may be bummed out about the loss. no one, i repeat, no one, will be beating NY this year. so at least i wont have to endure 4 beatdowns at the hand of Jeter and A-Rod this year.

  good luck to ya though, i certainly wont be rooting against the Angels.

[blinkboy]

say, smackie, does the weight of that chip on your shoulder cause you to walk around in circles? 

Red Sox fans should know what it's like to carry a chip on their shoulder.  This wasn't about the last 3 years - I've carried that chip since 1986 when Hendu broke my 12 year old heart.  I was at that game and I was devastated -cried for days.  When they rolled him out to throw the first pitch today, I laughed.  Then he did the jump spin and pointed at the Angel dugout (jokingly, I know) I was filled with rage.  I can't begin to tell you how good this feels, but again, Sox fans should know.

There were demons exorcised for me today.  And exorcised in dramatic fashion...

yeah, its funny cause 1986......ugh, that Henderson homerun was like....pretty much forgotten within 2 weeks.

[renton007]

Thanks to a Saturday wedding and an early tee time Sunday I slept through game three. According to the sports radio show I was listening to as I went to Wawa it was only one of the top five Phillies games evar. I did get to watch last night and I'm glad.  Howard knocks in two in the bottom of the ninth for the tie and Werth gets a RBI go ahead single. If I was a cliched sports writer I would say that this and a Lidge (who has shook off the regular season woes) define "clutch". Hopefully they can handle the Dodgers as easily as last year.

[vansmack]

@ vamsmacks brother in law - just got to my seats at the dodger game in row dd. thats a good omen.

[vansmack]

Well that was uncharacteristic of the Halo's I've watched all season.  I hope this means we got that out of our system.

That sinker/screwball pitch that tailed away from the right hand batter was simply disgusting all night.  Not on my scouting report for CC and obviously not on the Angels reports either....

[Mobius]

Perhaps the los angeles angels of anaheim were thrown off by the awesome northeast weather.

The yankees look and feel like a classic yankees team . . .a 'total' baseball team that has finally solved the chemistry problem, and filled the holes, that has plagued them all decade.  i don't see anyone stopping them.   Their only issue is age, but that doesn't seem to be a problem right now.  If the angels were red hot and some of the big yankees bats were cold, maybe they'd have a shot, but that's not the case at all.

[vansmack]

I heard similar arguments last night.  But for the three errors and the two that weren't called errors (the ball that landed between Aybar and Figgins for example was not called an error), that was a 1-1 or 2-1 ball game.  On the road against their Cy Young starter and uncharacteristically granting them 5 extra outs/free bases, I hardly call a 4-1 victory impressive.  CC was impressive that's for sure, but all in all Anaheim was in that game all night.

The Yanks are good, there's no doubt about that.  But I think Burnett is beatable and is the one game Anaheim will win in NY.  They've only got to win one in NY and won't face CC in NY again until game 7.

[Mobius]

amazing game in the bronx last night.  very impressed with how the angels went toe to toe and the yankees pulling it out was exactly why you have to at least respect them even though they're the yankees.  hopefully the rest of the series continues like this.  great hitters, great pitchers, great defense (moreso w/ the angels, but the yankees seem to compensate by playing super smart), great managers, great role players . . .with every at bat meaningful . . .awesome.

[vansmack]

A day and ahalf is not enough time off for me...I need at least on full day of work to forget about what happened on Saturday night. 

I'm stil reeling from that loss and have to leave work to watch today's game.  This is not good for my fragile psyche.

[renton007]

Rollins!!! Rollins!!!! It's an odd feeling to get excited about that name when not refering to Henry. I had doubts J-Ro could pull it off last night because he seems to always take the first pitch and ground out to short. The Phillies celebration at third base was more enthuisastic than their WS celebration at the mound. If they get one more we can see if they can embarass CC like they did in the NLDS last year. 

[Mobius]

Very interested to see how CC pitches tonight.  Baseball Tonight had a great stat that since 1995 playoff pitchers with three days' rest have a 20-34 record versus a 29-19 record in their preceding start on full rest.  A watered down CC may be better than Chad Gaudin, but is he better than Scott Kazmir . . .or is he just an ox and not watered down at all?

It seems surprising that a manager with a Larussian-like obsession with match-ups like Giraldi wouldn't have CC pitch game 5 where he has a greater chance of dominating, knowing that Burnett and Petite are pitching at a high level going into a potential game 6 and 7.

[vansmack]

Yes.  Haven't stopped thinking about it all day.  Sabathia had good numbers on 3 days rest last year getting the Brewers to the playoffs, but I remember his only playoff game on 3-days rest (6H, 5 ER, in 3 2/3 inn), and that was in the AAAA league.  I think he really wants Sabathia for game 7.

I've also been staring at these numbers all day. Teix hits him well, and maybe Posada, but that's about it.  If the Halo's can minimize the mistakes (which truthfully, even in yesterday's win, we weren't able to do), the Angels can win another close one.

[vansmack]

Ugh.  That was an ugly beat down.  When it was 5-1 I was going to joke that the only person having a worse day than the Angels was Tim McClelland, but then it just kept getting worse for the Halo's.

Absolutely no answer for CC tonight.