Tag: MLB (Page 5 of 9)

Sports Shorts

August 9, 2010 / DB

A few thoughts on the burning issues of the day(s).

Tiger I know everyone wants to flip out on what’s going on with Tiger Woods, but let’s all just take a deep breath and relax. If he’s still shooting +18 next year, then we can start talking about the biggest fall from grace in sports history. But, given what he’s been dealing with this year, I don’t see how you can chalk this up as a normal year.

I haven’t written much about it because I’m really not sure what to say. I do think it is wise to delay making judgements about his golf career until he has more time to get healthy, rebuild his swing (again), and better deal with the mess he’s made of his private life. He may never be the fearsome competitor of his prime, but I think it’s far too early to write off the rest of his career.

Lance OK, depending on what happens with the investigation in Lance Armstrong’s past, maybe Tiger has some competition for the biggest sports fall from grace. I’m indifferent to PEDs; I believe everyone in cycling was doing something. But I tend to agree with those who say, at least in America, people won’t care if we do eventually learn that Lance was doping. They will talk about all that he’s done in the fight against cancer and say that was a reasonable bargain. I don’t know that I completely agree with that argument, but there is some logic to it.

Colts Like the rest of the NFL, the Colts arrived at camp a week ago and have been working out hard in preparation for another 12-win season. The normal questions abound: Will Bob Sanders play more than two games? Can the offensive line continue to protect Peyton? Can the running game move the chains? Will there be enough balls to go around for a fantastic, deep receiving corps?

But the biggest question surrounding football in Indianapolis is what’s going to happen to next year’s Super Bowl, scheduled for Lucas Oil Stadium? Will a lockout, which seems to be a given at this point, destroy the 2011 season? Will owners try to run out replacement players like they did in 1987? What if, in a worst case, the season is cancelled? Will Indy get another shot to host or was this our one chance to be in the rotation?

Prediction: if for some reason the Super Bowl does not take place in February 2012, the day it was scheduled to be played will be unseasonably warm in Indy and people will be saying, “What a great day this would have been for the Super Bowl!”

Baseball Thank goodness the Royals made a few moves around the trading deadline. The smartly wrote off the rest of the season in exchange for finally figuring out if some of their young guys will factor in what happens to the team over the next couple years. I expect them to mess up the bushel of prospects in the minors, but I remain cautiously optimistic about the future.

One other baseball note: we keep hearing about what a tough year it’s been for the Red Sox. They’ve been hammered by injuries all year, with nearly every key player spending time on the DL. They are basically out of the race in the first week of August, despite their massive payroll. Then you look at the numbers and see that they’ve won 63 games. Before the Yankees took three-straight over the weekend, those 63 wins would have put the Red Sox in first place in every other division in baseball. Even now, they’d be within two games of first everywhere but the AL East. Yet their season is a disaster. They could easily win 90 games and still finish third in their division. Baseball is a crazy game.

❖

ASG

July 14, 2010 / DB

I remember when watching baseball on Fox wasn’t such a chore. When I still liked Joe Buck and Tim McCarver was at least tolerable. Really can’t stand either one these days, which makes watching the All Star Game tough.

Since this game will probably last until midnight or so,¹ I’ll just toss out some assorted baseball thoughts whilst I watch.

❖ The Boss is Dead. I should probably say something nice. But George Steinbrenner was the personification of evil when I was growing up. I only adjusted my view slightly over the years. So, too bad for his family and friends, but I refuse to reevaluate my opinion of the man.

❖ You know what really annoys me? All the gnashing of teeth a couple weeks back when MLB officially announced that the 2012 All Star Game would be in Kansas City. Maybe I’ve been under an incorrect impression my entire life, but I always thought that the All Star Game was supposed to rotate around every big league city. Yet lots of people thought it was some kind of joke that KC would host the game for the first time since 1973, kind of like the Super Bowl coming to Indy in two years. Sure, the franchise has been a joke for most of the last 25 years, but it’s still a great ballpark and, maybe just barely, still a major league franchise.

Since Kansas City’s last All Star Game, Pittsburgh and Chicago² have hosted three games, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco, Houston, the Angels and Yankees two each. I think KC is more than deserving of the game.

❖ Speaking of the Royals, astute readers have probably noticed I haven’t written a thing about them this year, unlike last year. The second half of last season sucked the life out of me. A winter of more curious-to-stupid roster decisions kept me from getting excited during spring training. And another poor start pretty much made me not care this season.

But, it’s been a surprisingly positive year. Why? It seems like some of the minor league talent is really starting to develop. We can now, finally, realistically look a couple years down the road and think the team might finally put nine guys on the field who deserve to hold a big league roster spot.

Rany, as always, does a fine job of looking at this season and how the organization can parlay the assets they have into some more pieces to help in two years.

This fine feature from last week’s Sports Illustrated, however, should serve as a reminder that it’s never easy crawling out of such a deep hole.

And before we get too excited, remember Alex Gordon was as can’t miss as can’t miss be. Until he missed.³

11:49 EDT was the official ending time. ↩
The White Sox have hosted two games and the Cubs one in that period. ↩
There’s still a tiny chance Alex will provide some value to the Royals. I’m not holding my breath, though. ↩

NBA Draft, 2010

June 29, 2010 / DB

Seven years ago (June 27, 2003 to be exact) I launched the first version of TBB. I kicked things off with an epic, Bill Simmons-style NBA draft breakdown. In fact, if you want to read it for old time’s sake, here it is.

For a few years it was my tradition to either keep a running diary of draft night, or do a breakdown the next day. But as we added more girls to the house and Ron Artest destroyed the Pacers and killed my interest in the NBA, I scaled back my efforts.

This year, the Mrs. was working and I spent most of the evening attempting to get our non-sleeping child to sleep. But I was able to follow along via Twitter. And I’ve read a number of post-draft articles and posts. So while this may not match the early years, I will share some draft thoughts.

I was following three things this year:

Where the three Jayhawks would go.
What the Pacers would do.
If there were any blockbuster trades that would affect the LeBron sweepstakes.

So, in that order…

❖ Xavier Henry and Cole Aldrich kind of summed up what this draft was all about, after the first 3-4 players. Talented guys with holes in their games that will probably have solid, if unspectacular NBA careers. Neither will be an All Star, nor do I expect either of them be a bust.

Cole went first, to New Orleans at 11, and was then traded to Oklahoma City. Perfect. No pressure on him to do anything other than what he’s good at: rebound, swat a shot or two, and set some picks for Kevin Durant. It helps that Sam Presti is (arguably) the best GM in the league; that validates Cole’s value.

Xavier went a pick later to Memphis. Ironic, no? Remember, he had signed to play at the University of Memphis before John Calipari fled for Kentucky.¹ I’m not sure if that’s karma or something else. Rumor has it Xavier looked less than enthused about playing for the Grizzlies. ESPN’s Chad Ford made a fine point on Bill Simmons’ podcast this week: players who don’t attack the basket in high school or college, despite being much bigger than the people that are guarding them, generally don’t become slashers when they get to the NBA. Xavier has a sweet shot. That’s how he’s going to make his money in the NBA. He’s going to be one of those physical studs that can play defense and crash the boards from the perimeter, but if he’s going to last for ten years, it’s going to be because he becomes a deadly outside shooter. He seems like a guy who might do well in a system like Phoenix’s. Memphis….?

And then there was Sherron. I was pulling for him, no doubt, but not surprised when he did not get drafted. I read the reports that he showed up for pre-draft workouts 10-15 pounds heavier than he should have been. I know Bill Self tried to help him, saying he had been battling some injuries, but I’ve heard that was nothing more than cover. Sherron, despite his height, can play in the NBA. But only if he can ever stay in shape. You can’t be fat and slow and expect to run an offense or get your shot off at that level. Hopefully he’ll figure things out, impress in the summer leagues, and stick with Charlotte or another team.

To be honest, I’m just thrilled the guy got his degree. Coming from his upbringing, that’s a far bigger accomplishment than getting picked in the NBA Draft.

❖ After years of playing it safe, Larry Bird got a little nutty this year. Paul George may have the biggest range of where his career could go of any player in the draft. Some have compared him to Tracy McGrady. Others think he has bust written all over him. I don’t know a thing about him, so it’s tough for me to say. Lance Stephenson in the second round was another interesting pick. So much for going the safe route, taking a guy who is certainly talented enough to play in the NBA, but had so many issues in high school that just about every major program in the country backed off of him at some point.²

Interesting picks, for sure, but I’m not sure what to make of them. If George works out, it could be brilliant and the draft that gets the Pacers out of that fighting for the last playoff spot limbo they’ve been in for three years. If he busts, that’s the end for Larry, for sure, and if there’s an investor in Kansas City or Seattle that can pay the bills, perhaps the end for the Pacers in Indy.

One thing is for sure, the pressure is on Brandon Rush. Two more perimeter players join the team and it’s time for B-Rush to decide if he wants to be a rotation player or ride the bench in the NBA.

Whatever, they still need a point guard.

❖ The only big trade was when the Bulls sent Kirk Hinrich³ to Washington, which got them the cap space to sign two max free agents. So there is a chance that when the season begins in the fall, we could see the Bulls trot out a lineup that features Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Joakim Noah, and Chris Bosh. Sick. A lot of people my age will be digging through their attics to see if any of their Bulls gear from the 90s still fits.

I suppose I’ll write more about LeBron once he makes a decision and signs somewhere, but I’m already sick of all the hype. Yeah, it’s a decision that will affect the course of the league for (perhaps) the next decade. But the wall-to-wall coverage of rumors and guesses when negotiations haven’t even begun is annoying.

So that’s it, I guess. It does kick off what should be a fascinating 18-24 months for the NBA. The LeBron sweepstakes, all the other free agent pieces, and the likely lockout a year from now as the owners and players attempt to cleanup the financial mess they’ve made for themselves. I’m hoping they just announce the lockout early so Josh Selby spends two years in Lawrence.

Rumor has it Calipari was insufferable on draft night. I find that very difficult to believe. I’ve been kicking around a post comparing Calipari to Pete Carroll. Keep that in the back of your mind in case it actually happens. ↩
I wonder how different KU’s season would have been with Stephenson rather than Xavier Henry. Xavier may have fit in to a fault. Might Lance’s bigger personality freed the team from Sherron’s a little, or would he have weakened them by adding another alpha dog? More importantly, would he have shit the bed against Northern Iowa or not? I’m going to my happy place now… ↩
How about that, Hinrich was one of the important players in my first draft breakdown and here he is, seven years later, still playing a role! I did assert he was the best pick of the draft that night. ↩

Businessman’s Special

April 9, 2010 / DB

I made my first-ever visit to Cincinnati’s Great America Ballpark on Thursday to catch a Cardinals-Reds matinee. Good times all around.

We cruised down I-74 and arrived in Cincy just in time to hook up with some friends who just happened to have a pocket-full of extra tickets. I’m pretty sure you can’t beat $20 for three tickets on a day when you can pick your seat. With only about 13,000 people in attendance, we were able to sit with our friends who had front row seats down the right field line. We got some good natured hassling from an older usher, but as soon as he saw we had friends with legit tickets in his section, he began ripping his supervisors for making him check tickets on a day when the ballpark was roughly 1/4 full.

It was an overcast and cool day, but each time the sun popped out, we toasted our good fortune for being at a major league baseball game on a weekday.

The stadium is nicer than I expected. It’s still fairly new, but was never hailed as an architectural wonder like some of the other parks that have gone up in the last 20 years. I’ve watched plenty of Reds games since we moved to Indy and never got a good feel for the park on TV. It is much more attractive in person. It is compact and has some old-timey qualities that make it feel like it’s been there forever. There are plenty of amenities, but it doesn’t feel like you’re at am amusement park. It fits Cincinnati’s personality nicely.

The game was solid, a pitchers-duel that ended with a Reds walk-off home run. I was in a mixed group with a couple Reds fans, one Cardinals fan, and a couple neutrals. Our host in the good seats is a bit of a loud mouth and was drinking liberally. Throw in his familiarity with the ballboy, security guys, and groundskeepers because of his season tickets and we had a recipe for a good time. He spent most of the day heckling the Cardinals’ right fielder, the guys in the Cardinals’ bullpen, and anyone else who he thought deserved some choice words. After the game, as the Cardinals bullpen staff was walking back to the dugout, one pitcher even stared him down and faked tossing a ball his way. We all lost it at the psych-move, which the Cardinals pitchers seemed to enjoy. Good times.

Great America was only the sixth big league park I’ve seen a game in. With the easy road trip and plenty of day games to choose from, I’m hoping to make it back again soon.

❖

R’s – Playoffs

October 8, 2009 / DB

What a waste. One of the great pitching seasons of the past 20 years blown on a team that lost 97 games and had to rally in September to earn a tie for last place. Worse, they were so bad that they’ve put what should be a shoe-in Cy Young award for Zack Greinke in danger by their inability to hit or field the ball. Not exactly the progress I and other Royals fans were looking for last spring. At least Billy Butler had a breakout season. Two fun things out of the entire season.

So, needless to say, I’m a little less enthused about the baseball playoffs than I was about Opening Day back in April. Not that I expected the Royals to be playing. But I also did not expect them to be so bad that they turned me off of baseball back in July. The Yankees being about as close to a lock as we’ve seen in recent years to win the World Series does not help.

But I do have a tradition of making playoff picks here, so here goes.

ALDS:
Yankees over Twins: How do the Twins have to play a tie breaker on Tuesday then fly to play the #1 seed Wednesday afternoon? And how bad was Chip Caray Tuesday?

Angels over Red Sox: I made this pick last year and the Sox rolled over the Angels. The Sox have the better pitching, but I’m stubborn. Plus, I do not want another Yanks-Sox ALCS.*

(Yes, the 2003 and 2004 ALCSes were two of the great playoff series ever. I probably had a bigger emotional investment in those series than of any other that did not involve a team I was a fan of. But we’ve been there, done that. I still much prefer the Sox to the Yankees, and want them to do well just to be the foil to the Evil Empire. However, the current Red Sox roster lacks the personality of the ’03-04 squads. Manny is gone. Papi is washed up. Plus the Sox play in a second tier all to themselves, looking up only at the Yankees when it comes to finances. Other than hating the Yankees, it is a much less compelling argument to pull for the Sox now.)

NLDS:
Phillies over Rockies: As I told my brother-in-law who lives in Denver, I’m not sure why I didn’t pick the Rockies as my adopted team for the summer. They would have been fun to watch. Too bad their run ends here.

Cardinals over Dodgers: Back in June, the Dodgers seemed unstoppable. In August it was the Cardinals who were world beaters. Both have tailed off from their hottest play. I take the Cards here just because of their pitching and Pujols-Holliday combo.

ALCS:
Yankees over Angels: Man I wish the Angels had the pitching to pull this off. Maybe they can wear down the Yankees’ pitching and stay in this, but I fear it will be over quickly.

NLCS:
Phillies over Cardinals: Depending on how the DLSes go, there could be some epic pitching match ups in this series. I think the Phillies don’t get much respect, and since teams love to play that card, that will put them over the top. I hope we see a Pujols-Lidge battle in a ninth inning, though.

World Series:
Yankees over Phillies: Fuck. Hopefully A-Rod will have a shitty series so I can salvage something from this. Damn Yankees.

A-Rodgate

February 10, 2009 / DB

The best thing about the scandalous revelations that A-Rod, too, has ‘roided? That many less hours ESPN has to push the Duke-Carolina game on us. I bet they were sweating it, though, and were worried A-Rod wouldn’t talk to Peter Gammons until Wednesday. No way they devote the entire 6:00 p.m. Sportscenter to the interview and reactions on the night of the <strong>BIGGEST RIVALRY IN THE HISTORY OF RIVALRIES AND PROBABLY THE UNIVERSE ITSELF</strong>.

Quick take on A-Rod: not surprised, everyone was doing it, right? Nice that he’s manning up, to a point, instead of offering up vague apologies. But it’s not like he came out and admitted this on his own. It took the report of a positive test six years ago to get him to come clean.

And can all the sports writers out there just chill on the “Wait until Player X, who is clean, wipes away all the records from the steroid era” chatter? See what it gets you? Everyone is doing something for an edge. Never forget that.

Joy In Philly

October 30, 2008 / DB

And thus ends the World Series I’ve watched the least in the past ten years or so.

But that was a spectacular ending. Suddenly baseball is like the NBA, and you only need to watch the last three innings (or two minutes) to get the important stuff.

Despite my long-time hate for all things Philly, it was kind of cool that they won. I learned after the Series started that Ryan Howard’s brother is in the athletic department at KU. And Jimmy Rollins has always seemed like a good guy. So good for them and the other Philly players. Piss on the city.

I know Philly fans were emoting a lot last night, but was I the only one who wondered if Fox wasn’t augmenting the crowd sounds a little? The roars in the eighth and ninth innings last night seemed louder than anything I’ve ever heard at a baseball game. It’s not like they haven’t played fast-and-loose with the sounds and images from the field before.

As Evan Longoria batted in the ninth, I’m sure most baseball fans thought about the terrific potential he and the Rays have. But, I also thought about what if this is it for them? What if they turn into Toronto, a team that can win 80-90 games a year, but more often than not will end up behind New York and/or Boston in the division, and then miss on the wild card because a Central or West team played an easier schedule and get an extra 2-4 wins? It would seem a shame for them not to become a playoff regular, but sports can be fickle like that.

I’ll admit, I got a lump in my throat every time the showed Willie Wilson swinging at that high fastball from Tug McGraw to end the 1980 World Series. Man WIllie was bad in that Series. <a href=”http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1980ws.shtml”>6-26 with 12 Ks</a>.

I think I say this every year, but I wish postseason baseball records were offered with a per game qualifier. Sure, in absolute numbers Manny Ramirez is the all-time leading home run hitter in post-season history. But he’s had a lot more opportunities than players from earlier eras. So, tell us he’s hit 57 home runs (or whatever) in X games for .25 HR/pg. Then tell us how many Micky Mantle, Reggie Jackson, or George Brett hit per game in their postseason careers.

Monday I was switching back-and-forth between the first five + innings of game five and the shitty Colts game. There has been a discussion across the sports blogosphere about whether Fox might give up baseball rights, thus putting someone other than Joe Buck in the main announcer’s chair going forward. I couldn’t help but think he sounded bored and tired Monday. He used to be one of my favorite announcers, but his broadcasts often seem joyless now.

On to the hot stove league and counting down until pitchers and catchers report.

Beisbol

October 2, 2008 / DB

We’ve been busy around the house, getting everything cleaned, sorted, and stored in advance of the arrival of Baby Sister, some house guests, and the inevitable flood of visitors that will want to stare at the baby. In the rush, I forgot to put together my patented, much anticipated baseball playoff previews. As with my football previews, which are already about 75% worthless a month into the season, take these with a generous helping of salt.

American League

I said back in August that the Angels were going to win it all this year. I continued to think that going into the playoffs. Then, I woke up this morning and saw the Red Sox had beaten their ace John Lackey in game one. Maybe the Sox still have the Angels’ number in the playoffs, despite losing eight of nine to the Halos in the regular season. Still, the Sox are fighting a number of injuries. I think the Angels right the ship, even if Vlad never gets a hit (he did go 2-4 last night, so maybe he’s finally ready to perform in October), and win in five.

I keep writing off the Rays as little more than a nice story and they keep winning. I keep looking at the White Sox and seeing an old team missing some important bats. The Rays are the better team, but I’m still not a believer. Sox in five.

ALCS

Why pick against my summer prediction now? The Angels get some (over-hyped) revenge for 2005, winning in five.

National League

I’m not a Cubs fan. Never have been, since as a kid, when it was hard to find baseball on the TV, the only games I could predictably find were the always horrible Cubs and Braves. Moving into Cubs territory has not helped. So I was inclined to pick against the Cubs. All summer I kept saying it wasn’t going to happen, and Cubs fans would again be crushed. Then they kept winning, ran away from everyone in the NL, and I started to get worried. However, getting the Dodgers in the opening round is a bad match-up for them. The Dodgers have Joe Torre and the October Machine Manny Ramirez. Dodgers in four. I made this pick before last night, I promise.

Milwaukee is another great story, making its first post-season since 1982. A team built from within but not afraid to go get some horses to help them get into the playoffs. But they struggled to get this far and are another team facing injury issues. The Phillies are due to do some damage in the playoffs. Philly in four.

NLCS

What is this, 1977-8? Dodgers-Phillies in a throw-back series for all of us who grew up on afternoon baseball on NBC with Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek. I don’t watch much NL baseball, but when I have seen the Dodgers this year, they’ve always looked good, even when fighting injuries early in the season. Since ESPN was always more interested in showing us three Yankees or Red Sox games each week, I don’t know that I saw the Phillies more than once. The Phillies seem deeper and more experienced. The key could be Brad Lidge. He was shaky yesterday. If he reverts to his old October form, Manny Ramirez may go all Albert Pujols on his ass at an inopportune moment. Yet, I’m going with the Phillies in six.

World Series

Fox misses out on the Cubs, Red Sox, White Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees. Instead, they get SoCal’s second favorite team and a team with a rabid home fan base but little beyond that. I bet they’re thrilled. The Angels have been here before (some of them), the Phillies are just glad to have finally advanced beyond the opening round. * Angels in five*.

American League Pace

July 16, 2008 / DB

No way did I stay up and watch the end of the All-Star Game. I made it to midnight, which coincided with the end of the 10th inning and the AL wasting the bases loaded, no outs situation. If the All-Star Game is a big gimmick anyway, what with it determining home field for the World Series and all, why not just go to a league-vs-league Home Run Derby after the 9th inning. The Midsummer Classic version of a shoot-out. Three guys from both teams get three swings, with coaches throwing BP-quality fast balls down the middle, team with the highest combined HR total at the end wins. If tied, it goes to sudden death. That’s not any stupider than tie games or letting guys from last place teams determine where the World Series will start.

Game Seven Live Blog (Kind Of)

October 22, 2007 / DB

I didn’t get this going until late in the game, but some baseball thoughts, wrapped around the last three innings of the Indians – Red Sox battle.

Games sevens rock. And this has been a fine one, full of momentum swings, close calls, blunders, and clutch plays. In the first third, it looked like the Red Sox would run away and hide. In the middle third, it seemed like the Sox couldn’t touch Jake Westbrook and it was only a matter of time before the Indians took the lead. Then, Dustin Pedroia of all people lights up Rafael Betancourt and we’ve got a 5-3 game in the 8th, with Jonathan Papelbon coming in to try to get a six out save and send the Sox to the World Series. So I’m going to be a bit distracted by this terrific drama. Also, I think I ate one too many brownies tonight, so my stomach is a little upset.

In the wake of the Joe Torre firing/not firing in New York, I’ve been thinking about how there really aren’t any great managers anymore. Torre was pretty mediocre until he had the biggest payroll in baseball. The Fox guys keep telling us that Terry Francona is a great manager. I think he’s decent, but great? Growing up in the 80s skews my thinking, though. In that era, we had Billy Martin, Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver, Whitey Herzog. Some might even say Tommy Lasorda was a great manager, although they would be wrong. Outside of Tony Larussa, who in today’s game can match what those guys did? I wonder if it is because baseball teams are so similar these days, leaving little room for managers to distinguish themselves. Billy Ball, Whitey Ball, The Oriole Way, and Sparky’s style were all distinct ways of playing the game. Today, everyone bashes.

Papelbon gets out of the 8th with a very loud third out. Fenway is going nuts.

I have to admit, I hate Roger Clemens, but I love the AT&T commercial he’s in. He doesn’t seem the type who would be willing to make fun of himself.

I said back at the beginning of the season that I really wanted Daisuke Matsuzaka to work out so the Japanese methods of training pitchers might be adopted here. You can’t draw conclusions from just one season, but so far he’s not scoring any big points for dropping the Baby the Arms technique we’ve been using in the States for 20 years. It seems like the key difference is that in Japan, pitchers pitch only once a week, where here they go every fifth day. I wonder if, going deeper into his contract, they will find a happy medium of the rigorous off-day workouts they use in Japan and the lighter training that is used here.

Back to managers for a moment, I wonder what the average tenure of a manger was from 1970-1990 compared to the post-strike era. It seems like managers staying in one place for ages is rare anymore, with only Larussa and Torre doing it recently. Was it any more common back in the day, which made it easier to think a manager was “great”? Or, is it just that since that was the era of the Dynasty and this is the era of different champs each year, that it’s harder now to reach greatness?

Seriously, I can’t believe Kenny Lofton is still playing. He’s pretty much never played for a team that I like, so I’ve never liked him. But I’m starting to respect the fact a guy who was in the 1988 Final Four is still playing major league baseball.

6-2 Sox, Mike Lowell scores on a JD Drew single. Ever since Mike Lowell arrived in Boston two years ago, there’s been talk of getting rid of him. Dude had a monster year, is continuing that in the playoffs, and seems to be loved by the Red Sox faithful. I don’t know if the Sox will resign him, but he’s going to make a lot of money this winter. In fact, he’s probably going to pick up a lot of that money that Eric Gagne has lost for himself in the past two months.

It seems like, since Theo Epstein brought a World Series title to Boston in his second year as GM, that the media has bought into the idea that he’s a genius. But, he apparently tried to move Lowell a couple times last year, keeps making the wrong move at shortstop, and Coco Crisp’s ass is now on the bench. And JD Drew is always a question mark. He’s made some fine moves along the way, as well, but it’s not as if he hasn’t had more than his share of whiffs.

Hjonhnhy Peralta and Casey Blake just ran into each other and let an easy pop drop for a base hit. Didn’t these things used to happen TO the Red Sox instead of FOR them? I still remember how weird those last four games of the ’04 ALCS were, when every single break went the Sox way. Apparently they still have some karma they haven’t cashed in from those 86 years of deposits.

Buck has mentioned at least twice tonight that there were four inches of snow in Denver today. It’s supposed to get very chilly and rainy here later in the week and if I remember right, weather moves west to east. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it snowed in Boston rather than Denver for the World Series?

Dustin Pedroia clears the bases. 9-2 Sox. I think Tommy and Timmy and Bobby and Davey and Sully can all start getting wicked drunk. The Sox are going to the Series again. And New England people are going to be even harder to take, between Tom Brady and the Pats and the Sox.

Who pitches the 9th, now? Why use Papelbon up seven? I say Wakefield, for sentimental reasons, but I assume it’s anyone but Gagne. Seriously, might they take away his playoff share?

Youkilis goes deep. So much for terrific drama, this is turning into game seven of the 85 World Series: it’s really only fun if you love the Sox or hate the Indians. It’s kind of embarrassing otherwise.

Sox outscore Indians 30-5 (so far) in the last three games. Talk about responding to the pressure of being down 3-1. “You don’t want to get Terry Francona down 3-1!”

So I guess you do use Papelbon up nine runs. I guess Francona figures it’s better to get those three outs quickly and avoid having to get Beckett up if Wakefield or Lester gave up a few runs.

Coco Crisp is a defensive replacement. And he combed out the braids, which I think we can all agree is a very fine choice.

Is Mark Shapiro’s companion (wife? girlfriend? friend?) incapable of facial movement?

OK, I kidded, but Coco just made a phenomenal catch to end the game. Easy to let that ball drop, and not risk injury, up nine. But that’s a hell of a catch.

That’s it. I’m off to bed. Oh, one more thing: KU is #9 in the BCS. Rock Chalk, bitches.