The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay. And while the Yankees made the very same call last summer with no hope of acquiring Halladay, this time they have a real reason to believe they may actually have a legitimate chance to make a blockbuster trade.
CHICAGO -- The Cubs are trying hard to dump the perennially malcontented Milton Bradley here at the GM meetings, as it isn't just manager Lou Piniella who didn't connect with him in his season here. Apparently, several key members of the team -- including Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano -- barely speak to Bradley.
CHICAGO -- No team is going to spend or presumably improve via free agency like the Yankees did last winter, when they doled out $423.5 million to three star players alone. Post-parade, and as the GM meetings get underway here on Monday, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Yankees spent wisely. But with the Yankees far less needy this winter and this year's free-agent list less star-studded -- Matt Holliday, Jason Bay and John Lackey are the only in-their-prime players who can reasonably aim for $100 million deals and the only ones even sure to crack $50 million -- no team is expected to try to duplicate such a spending spree. Nor would one even be possible this time around.
NEW YORK -- The fabulous Phillies were unfazed by their Game 2 defeat that left the World Series even. This team does not lack confidence. Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins was asked whether he still believed in his prediction of a five-game Phillies victory after the Yankees' 3-1 Game 2 victory, and Rollins responded, nonchalantly, "If that's what it takes."
Another critical piece of the Washington Nationals efforts to rebuild their operations abroad was put into place Wednesday afternoon when Boston Red Sox Latin American coordinator Johnny DiPuglia accepted a position as the Nationals director of international operations.
1. Charlie Manuel caught a break. The postponement of tonight's Phillies-Rockies game saved the Philadelphia manager from having to throw his worst cold-weather pitcher on the coldest of days. Pedro Martinez had been scheduled to start, despite a forecast calling for 34 degrees and the always-unpleasant "ice pellets." Not the best of scenarios for the 37-year-old native Dominican, who has had arm trouble in recent years and has often spoken about his affinity to pitch in warm weather.
1. Boston's offense looked anemic in Anaheim, but the truth is that the Red Sox have had a mediocre offense on the road all year. They hit only .257 away from home this season -- 27 points worse than they hit at Fenway Park -- and their slugging percentage was 80 points lower. They scored three runs or fewer on the road 33 times and were 4-29 in those games. They had a losing record (39-42) overall on the road.
They teach it in Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Cedar Rapids and 40 miles down the road in Rancho Cucamonga, a breakneck brand of baseball known as the Angel Way. It is highly entertaining -- stolen bases, hit-and-runs, speed merchants rushing from first to third in a blur -- but come playoff time it has been highly suspect.
1. Angels right-hander John Lackey dominated the Red Sox lineup in ALDS Game 1 predominantly by throwing fastballs in what turned out to be a 5-0 win for Los Angeles. Should you be surprised that Boston was shut out for the first time in a postseason game since 1995, so long ago that Orel Hershiser started that game for Cleveland? Well, maybe not. This is not your usual grind-it-out offense for Boston, especially when the Red Sox have to play outside of Fenway Park.
The Angels and Red Sox are not traditional rivals, but their playoff meetings are becoming an annual occurrence, with the Red Sox prevailing and the Angels wondering why they can't ever draw someone else. The Angels, traditionally built on speed, pitching and defense, have changed their approach this season, becoming more patient and powerful at the plate. In other words, they have become more like the Red Sox, in the hope of finally outlasting them. The matchup between L.A.'s rejuvenated offense and Boston's stellar starting pitchers -- particularly Jon Lester and Josh Beckett -- will determine if the Angels have caught up to their October rivals or if nothing has really changed.
The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay. And while the Yankees made the very same call last summer with no hope of acquiring Halladay, this time they have a real reason to believe they may actually have a legitimate chance to make a blockbuster trade.
CHICAGO -- The Cubs are trying hard to dump the perennially malcontented Milton Bradley here at the GM meetings, as it isn't just manager Lou Piniella who didn't connect with him in his season here. Apparently, several key members of the team -- including Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano -- barely speak to Bradley.
CHICAGO -- No team is going to spend or presumably improve via free agency like the Yankees did last winter, when they doled out $423.5 million to three star players alone. Post-parade, and as the GM meetings get underway here on Monday, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Yankees spent wisely. But with the Yankees far less needy this winter and this year's free-agent list less star-studded -- Matt Holliday, Jason Bay and John Lackey are the only in-their-prime players who can reasonably aim for $100 million deals and the only ones even sure to crack $50 million -- no team is expected to try to duplicate such a spending spree. Nor would one even be possible this time around.
NEW YORK -- The fabulous Phillies were unfazed by their Game 2 defeat that left the World Series even. This team does not lack confidence. Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins was asked whether he still believed in his prediction of a five-game Phillies victory after the Yankees' 3-1 Game 2 victory, and Rollins responded, nonchalantly, "If that's what it takes."
Another critical piece of the Washington Nationals efforts to rebuild their operations abroad was put into place Wednesday afternoon when Boston Red Sox Latin American coordinator Johnny DiPuglia accepted a position as the Nationals director of international operations.
1. Charlie Manuel caught a break. The postponement of tonight's Phillies-Rockies game saved the Philadelphia manager from having to throw his worst cold-weather pitcher on the coldest of days. Pedro Martinez had been scheduled to start, despite a forecast calling for 34 degrees and the always-unpleasant "ice pellets." Not the best of scenarios for the 37-year-old native Dominican, who has had arm trouble in recent years and has often spoken about his affinity to pitch in warm weather.
1. Boston's offense looked anemic in Anaheim, but the truth is that the Red Sox have had a mediocre offense on the road all year. They hit only .257 away from home this season -- 27 points worse than they hit at Fenway Park -- and their slugging percentage was 80 points lower. They scored three runs or fewer on the road 33 times and were 4-29 in those games. They had a losing record (39-42) overall on the road.
They teach it in Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Cedar Rapids and 40 miles down the road in Rancho Cucamonga, a breakneck brand of baseball known as the Angel Way. It is highly entertaining -- stolen bases, hit-and-runs, speed merchants rushing from first to third in a blur -- but come playoff time it has been highly suspect.
1. Angels right-hander John Lackey dominated the Red Sox lineup in ALDS Game 1 predominantly by throwing fastballs in what turned out to be a 5-0 win for Los Angeles. Should you be surprised that Boston was shut out for the first time in a postseason game since 1995, so long ago that Orel Hershiser started that game for Cleveland? Well, maybe not. This is not your usual grind-it-out offense for Boston, especially when the Red Sox have to play outside of Fenway Park.
The Angels and Red Sox are not traditional rivals, but their playoff meetings are becoming an annual occurrence, with the Red Sox prevailing and the Angels wondering why they can't ever draw someone else. The Angels, traditionally built on speed, pitching and defense, have changed their approach this season, becoming more patient and powerful at the plate. In other words, they have become more like the Red Sox, in the hope of finally outlasting them. The matchup between L.A.'s rejuvenated offense and Boston's stellar starting pitchers -- particularly Jon Lester and Josh Beckett -- will determine if the Angels have caught up to their October rivals or if nothing has really changed.
There is every reason in the world for me to love the Boston Red Sox fan. One, I love Boston. Love it. Love walking around Boston, love being around people from Boston, love the accent, love The Sports Guy, love it. Two, the Red Sox hired two of my absolute favorite people in baseball -- Bill James and Allard Baird. Three, the Red Sox play baseball the way I believe in baseball -- especially with Fenway Park as the home park. And four, they're good. Is it so wrong to love a team that is actually GOOD?
Two of the best moves of the year involved Matt Holliday. One was a deal to acquire Holliday, the other was a deal to be rid of Holliday.
I have no idea who's going to win the World Series. To end the year dancing on the field, all a team has to do is win 11 of 19 games, and no team in baseball is so bad that it can't do that. The Kansas City Royals, a miserable club, won 12 of 19 earlier this month during a run that included two series with the Detroit Tigers and one each with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels, playoff teams all. Enter the Royals in the postseason tournament and their chances of walking off with gaudy jewelry wouldn't be all that worse than those of the mighty Yankees.
Only five teams in baseball history have made the playoffs while getting outscored by their opponents (excluding strike years).* This year's Detroit Tigers have a chance to become the sixth. It's not a proud achievement. The Tigers have, so far, been outscored by three runs -- three is also the number of games that the Tigers are ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the loss column, which is the only column that matters in the defective American League Central.
John Smoltz, who posted an 8.32 ERA for the Red Sox, has turned his game around since getting to St. Louis and has a 2.65 ERA for the Cardinals. Rafael Betancourt, who was an average reliever for the Indians, didn't allow a run his first 14 outings for the Rockies. Cliff Lee, who pitched well but lost more games than he won with the Indians this year, transformed into an almost-unhittable hurler in his first five starts for the Phillies.
Thank goodness for the wild card.
When a team is struggling and falling far behind in the standings, its players will often invoke the Colorado Rockies, the team most famous for coming out of nowhere to make it to the World Series. Players on these fading teams inevitably suggest they could become the new Rockies. But few do.
Thoughts and observations on the Yankees and Red Sox after watching New York salt away the division last weekend by winning the series at Fenway Park ...
BOSTON (AP) -- Billy Wagner is on his way to the Boston Red Sox, leaving the New York Mets for the chance to pitch in a pennant race as a setup man for All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon.
It's time now to start dreaming about the best possible World Series matchups. Here are my favorites for this year.
BOSTON (AP) -- Derek Jeter hit the first pitch of the game for one of New York's five homers off Josh Beckett, CC Sabathia became the majors' first 15-game winner, and the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 8-4 Sunday night.
This week's Diamond Digits looks at a speedy rookie and his impact on the playoff race, a first-ballot Hall of Famer reaching the pinnacle of his position and a hitter who hasn't been as advertised, yet still has gained a lofty honor, reserved solely for his countrymen.
The Red Sox were rightly considered a winner on deadline day for acquiring big-time hitter Victor Martinez, who has continued to thrive since leaving Cleveland for Boston. But now, a couple weeks later, with the Red Sox still struggling, it looks like they could have used even more help.
As we head into the stretch run, we take a look at a team winning in a very uncharacteristic fashion, a situation where less is more behind the plate and one of the more memorable games of this or any season.
The Yankees vacuumed any drama out of the AL East race with their four-game sweep of Boston last weekend, a testament to how well they constructed a relentless lineup full of switch hitters and left-handed hitters, not to mention the kind of power pitching they have lacked in recent years. They are a nightmare matchup for opposing managers. The last breath of the Red Sox ended when manager Terry Francona gave a 2-1 lead in the eighth Sunday to rookie right-hander Daniel Bard.
1. This year has not been kind to future Hall of Famers and buddies Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. First, Glavine gets dumped by the Braves just when he was finishing a minor league rehab assignment -- and then no team wanted him. Now, Smoltz, in the wake of one of the worst of his 474 big league starts Thursday night for Boston against the Yankees, gets designated for assignment, essentially cut from the Red Sox in what could be a humbling end to a Hall of Fame career.
If there is to be October baseball in the new Yankee Stadium this season, we now know what that will be like. We know how a sellout crowd in this stadium sounds. We know how an electric atmosphere feels. And now we know what a championship-level Yankees team looks like.
Given the glaring spotlight that shines with blinding intensity on them at all times and the significance that is attached to their every encounter, it would seem odd at best and sacrilegious at worst to suggest that the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is not what it once was. But look closer: After their epic playoff duels of 2003 and 2004 and a first-place tie in 2005, the two teams, like partners who have spent too much time together in close quarters for too long, have drifted apart. The heat of the flame has been turned down. Over the past three seasons their late summer showdowns -- which should be the time where they most justify their relentless hype -- have been just that: mere shows, spectacles with little or no real consequence at stake.
Baseball is hard. You can lose 5 1/2 games in the standings and first place at the drop of a hat -- it just happened to the Red Sox.
We are back with the continuing evolution of an experiment that last appeared three weeks ago: a combination column with Boston Red Sox senior advisor and baseball writer extraordinaire Bill James...
1. You have to give the Phillies and the Red Sox credit. Yes, they have large payrolls and have resource advantages most clubs do not have. But both organizations were able to draw from fertile farm systems to make key deadline deals this week -- and do so without giving up their very elite prospects. The Phillies made themselves the team to beat in the National League by getting pitcher Cliff Lee without trading pitcher Kyle Drabek or outfielder Dominic Brown.
Amid a flurry of smaller deals, the Red Sox landed one of the trading deadline's big fish on Friday, sending right-hander Justin Masterson and minor league pitchers Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price to the Indians for switch-hitting All-Star catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez. In terms of the raw talent exchange, this is a great swap for Boston. None of the three pitchers they gave up were among the elite prospects in their organization, while Martinez is one of the elite hitting catchers in the majors, ranking third in VORP among catchers, behind only Joe Mauer and Brian McCann. As an upgrade on what they already had, however, the deal may not actually make the Red Sox all that much better over the remainder of the season, though it does make them less vulnerable.
In a statement he released Thursday afternoon, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz acknowledged that a New York Times report that said he was one of the players to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 was accurate.
Twenty-three years after Jose Canseco, 19 years after Ken Caminiti, six years after Alex Rodriguez, there still exist people who would like to believe that somehow their team and their players avoided steroids. People actually broke down The Mitchell Report on a team-by-team basis, as if it were the official box score of the Steroid Era. For such people there is a day of reckoning with reality, the day that ends the charade of "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with the syringe." Thursday was such a day for Red Sox Nation.
Can we learn anything about this week's trade deadline by looking back at the past two? Absolutely. There were 58 trades completed combined in July 2007 and July 2008. These are the lessons to keep in mind as Friday, 4 p.m. ET nears:
As the July 31 non-waiver deadline approaches, names of baseball prospects loom larger than usual. Their names pop up in reporters' notebooks and on the crawl on ESPN as trade rumors come and go.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Red Sox are hoping this latest trade for Pittsburgh's leading power hitter turns out as well as last season's.
While the Phillies remain almost everyone's favorite to land superstar pitcher Roy Halladay, and the best-in-baseball Dodgers are now believed to be showing interest, two big-market contenders for the summer's big pitching prize -- the Yankees and Red Sox -- recently have been informed by the Blue Jays that their chances to land Halladay are slim.
That the American League East is the best division in baseball is a truism. That obvious fact distorts our picture of the state of play entering the second half like a black hole swallowing all near light.
The Jays are serious about looking for a trade for superstar pitcher Roy Halladay, but they probably prefer to deal him out of the American League East, will want a premium bat back and likely have particular interest in a shortstop because breakout performer Marco Scutaro will be a free agent after this year, according to one person familiar with the team's inner workings.
Indians higher-ups say they aren't likely to trade hitting star Victor Martinez. Not only is Martinez one of the better hitters in baseball, with 14 home runs, 57 RBIs and .313 batting average, but the Indians hold a bargain 2010 club option on Martinez for $7 million.
It is fitting that Tim Wakefield throws the slowest pitch in baseball, because no major leaguer better represents the Tortoise. Slowly and surely, one knuckleball at a time, Wakefield has become, perhaps, the most unlikely legend in Red Sox history.
While waiting to pitch for the first time this season, and the first time in his storied career for anyone other than the Atlanta Braves, time stood still for John Smoltz. He was done with his pregame warmup session early and all he could do now was wait. For the man who had already waited through more than a year of surgery, rehab and minor league tuneups to get back to this moment, the delay felt interminable. "Each minute seemed like 10 minutes," he would say later.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees on Wednesday night [Recap | Box], which in and of itself is not an especially remarkable occurrence. But the stunning regularity with which it has been happening this season, the alarming ease that has accompanied virtually every one of Boston's seven consecutive wins over their longtime rivals, and the ripple effect that domination is having on the American League East standings and the balance of power in the game's premier rivalry, has been quite remarkable.
Out of those guys you named for your dream team, I wonder how many will be playing for the Yankees in three years? -- Joe, New York
Now that Manny Ramirez can no longer be considered that great feel-good story of the poor, goofy kid who rose from Washington Heights, N.Y., to become one of the greatest hitters of all-time, what are the best remaining feel-good stories in the game? Some might suggest Manny was never an honest-to-goodness feel-good story because he forced his way out of Boston with bad behavior, and there's a point to be made there. Yet most folks still looked at Manny as the happy-go-lucky hitting savant, not the conniving fool he was in Boston in early 2008. Anyway, here are the remaining contenders:
When Jason Bay first found out Thursday that Manny Ramirez, the man whom he had replaced in left field at Fenway Park, had been suspended for failing a drug test, his first reaction was "I'm going to get a lot of questions about him and I don't even know him."
Tony La Russa topped my list of best managers in the game two years ago. But last year I switched to Mike Scioscia. This year I am back to La Russa. It's nothing Scioscia has done wrong. In fact, under impossible and tragic circumstances he's kept his Angels team together as well as anyone possibly could have. I am just back to recognizing the true genius of La Russa.
On Monday evening, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz stood in the visitor's dugout at new Yankee Stadium wearing short sleeves and a big smile, seemingly oblivious to both the cold rain that had cancelled batting practice and would delay the start of the game and the .208 batting average he lugged with him to the Bronx. "You know why I came out here?" Ortiz asked. "Because I got lost in the clubhouse like three times and I said, 'I'm done.'"
Earlier this season, Padres closer Heath Bell caused a stir when he said that ESPN "only cares about promoting the Yankees and Red Sox and Mets and nobody else." And after last weekend's Yanks-Sox series, readers were playing a familiar tune.
As the Red Sox and Yankees renew their rivalry with tonight's first meeting of 2009, Boston fans have been preparing their wrath for New York's third baseman.
The Red Sox can blame the World Baseball Classic all they want for the shoulder fatigue of right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, and to a certain degree, they do have a point. It wasn't so much that Matsuzaka threw 65, 86 and 98 pitches in his three WBC starts -- with seven and six days of rest between his second and third starts, respectively. That workload is not excessive.
Welcome to the season's first mailbag. Technically it's the second, but I'm putting an asterisk next to the one from February about Alex Rodriguez. Speaking of which, let's put aside any A-Rod or steroids talk now that the games are (finally) here and providing plenty of other discussion points, including the Big Apple's two new stadiums, the upside-down standings and baseball's continuing efforts to have every player sport ridiculous looking facial hair. Let's dive in.
BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Red Sox are in discussions with the NHL to hold the next Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
One of the saddest ironies about the possible demise of the Boston Globe is that most of us in Boston got the news when we woke up last Saturday morning and read about it in the Globe. "Times Co. threatens to shut Globe, seeks $20m in cuts from unions," was the front-page headline.
On the first day the entire Baltimore Orioles team gathered for spring training, club president Andy MacPhail spoke to the players about the importance of being especially mindful of their paying customers. "In these times," MacPhail said, "it's even more important to recognize and appreciate the people who do decide to use their discretionary income at the ballpark."
Like anyone else who writes about baseball, I like to think I know what I'm most accurate about, which makes it a good thing for my self-esteem that I don't spend much time going over old predictions. A quick review shows that over the last two years I've called just six of 16 playoff teams correctly. There are likely circus animals who did better.
TAMPA, Fla. -- The man sitting in front of Alex Rodriguez's corner locker at Legends Field on Tuesday afternoon was most decidedly not Alex Rodriguez.
1) All quiet on the Red Sox front. The home clubhouse at the Red Sox's City of Palms Park has been an unusually quiet place so far this spring, due largely to the World Baseball Classic. An MLB-high 15 members of the organization (both major and minor leaguers) played in the WBC for 11 different nations. The missing players include the presumptive two through five hitters in the batting order -- Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay -- plus Daisuke Matsuzaka. "Some of our personality's not here right now, missing David and Petey and Youk and Jason," catcher Jason Varitek said.
1. Rays pitcher Matt Garza throttled the Boston lineup in ALCS Game 3 even though they knew what was coming; his fastball is that good. Garza fell behind 1-and-0 to 19 of the 27 batters he faced, and threw fastballs on 93 of his 116 pitches -- and yet the Red Sox, with little doubt as to what he was throwing, managed only one run and six hits off Garza while he pitched into the seventh inning.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- At precisely 9:50 a.m. Thursday morning, Manny Ramirez opened the door to the Dodgers clubhouse and was immediately greeted by a sound that has followed him, for better and for worse, throughout his Hall of Fame career: laughter.
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Down here, about 120 miles south of Camp A-Roid, where the archrival Red Sox train, tranquility rules. Everything is neat and orderly. Boredom reigns. Or is it just better?
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The first salvo of what promises to be the most entertaining -- and quite possibly the best -- division race in years was fired at Fenway Park on a frozen January day in the midst of what was supposed to be a relatively friendly roundtable discussion for a charity event.
Small-market teams love salary caps. Or rather, they think they do. At least on paper, caps stop teams in New York, Boston and Chicago from oligopolizing the free-agent market, and should therefore help level the economic playing field. And, to a certain extent, they do; a small-market team in a capped league is more likely to acquire or retain top-tier talent. But there's a catch. That same small-market team will need to win, and keep winning, just to stay financially viable. And sometimes, winning might not even be enough.
Are the Boston Red Sox filling out their roster or casting a Celebrity Rehab spin-off focused on sports injuries?
At one point this winter, the Red Sox made a play to re-acquire Marlins superstar Hanley Ramirez, league sources tell SI.com. But while the Marlins listened to Boston's overtures, talks were quickly scuttled and it appears there's very little chance they will be revived as Florida isn't anxious to trade its best player.
Brad Penny has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox with a base salary of $5 million and incentives that increase the value of the deal to $8 million. That might seem like a weak answer to the $243.5 million the Yankees lavished on CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, but it's important to remember that it's not the Red Sox who are trying to keep up with the Yankees, but the other way around. The Red Sox have finished ahead of the Yankees in the American League East standings in each of the last two seasons. The last time that happened was 1990 and '91, when the Yankees were among the worst teams in baseball.
The Red Sox haven't given up on the idea of signing Mark Teixeira, according to multiple baseball sources.
With perhaps only days to go, many baseball executives seem to believe the Red Sox have the best chance to sign Mark Teixeira.
1. The Red Sox are intrigued with the idea of a potential postseason rotation of Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester and . . . John Smoltz? Despite losing on their gambit last year to bring back Curt Schilling (felled by a shoulder problem), the Red Sox have interest in adding Smoltz, one of the greatest postseason pitchers of his generation. Smoltz, 42, has resumed throwing off a mound after undergoing shoulder surgery in June.
It was 10 minutes until 1 in the morning, and the Red Sox were, somehow, alive. Coco Crisp stood at his locker in the Boston clubhouse -- still in full uniform, down to his dirty pair of cleats -- with the look of a man who had just been through one of the most incredible, unlikely, stupefying comebacks of anyone's baseball-playing career. Which, in fact, he had.
1. The Red Sox showed championship character in Game 6 (Recap | Box Score), just as they did in Game 5, only with more subtlety this time than staging the greatest elimination game comeback of all time. Game 6 featured tremendous efforts by pitchers Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon to find a way to get people out with nothing close to their best stuff.
St. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- They are at their best when they are beat up, lying by the side of the road and barely breathing. They laugh at pain. They feed on adversity. If the Red Sox don't fall hopelessly behind in a postseason series every once in a while and live to tell about it ... well, heck, they just don't feel like they've been true to themselves.
Breaking down tonight's American League Championship Series matchup. All statistics for starting pitchers are for this postseason only.
I had another post more or less ready to go, a congratulatory post to the Tampa Bay Rays. It dies in the same trash bin where my Yankees-win-the-2001-World-Series column, my Memphis-wins-the-national-championship column and my Greg Norman-wins-the-Masters column now have book club meetings.
Jonny Gomes straddled the first base line like a bouncer at a biker bar, Mohawk stretched across his scalp, barbed wire tattooed around his biceps, beard hiding half his face. As the last verse of the national anthem hung over Tropicana Field before Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Gomes turned toward the third base line and doffed his cap to the Boston Red Sox, who doffed their caps back, baseball's version of an armistice.
Breaking down tonight's American League Championship Series matchup. All statistics for starting pitchers are for this postseason only.
We might forget this now after all that happened next, but it appeared, albeit briefly, that the Red Sox were on the verge of turning things around in the bottom of the second inning of Tuesday night's ALCS Game 4. After he had allowed back-to-back one-out homers to the Rays' Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria in the bottom of the first, starter Tim Wakefield had his knuckler fluttering again, and he had retired Jason Bartlett, Akinori Iwamura and B.J. Upton in order in the top of the inning. The P.A. system blasted the classic Asia song Heat of the Moment in the middle of the inning, to the delight of the fans. Then, after Kevin Youkilis crushed a long liner to center that Upton just barely tracked down, Jason Bay, after having his bat sawed off, reached first due to a double error by Longoria, and Mark Kotsay stroked a hard single over the shortstop. First and third, one out: The Sox were in business.
LOS ANGELES -- There are some early signs that the Dodgers' negotiations involving Manny Ramirez, who almost single-handedly lifted the storied franchise to the postseason, will not necessarily go smoothly. Ramirez is believed to be seeking a six-year deal for as much as $25 million per year, and Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is said to be skeptical that the competition will be keen for the controversial but ultra-productive superstar he acquired for virtually nothing a minute before the trade deadline.
BOSTON -- It is getting to the point now, after a decade of ineptitude and a single season destined for a Disney screenplay, that the Tampa Bay Rays can almost taste it. They can allow themselves to really think about it now, if only briefly, and to maybe even let it creep into their dreams.
BOSTON -- By now the deflated and nearly defeated denizens of Red Sox Nation have seen all they want to see from Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena. The Tampa Bay Rays are up three games to one in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, with a possibly clinching Game 5 scheduled for Thursday night at Fenway Park. The Rays' starting lineup is for real. The Red Sox and their fans get it.
1. Rays pitcher Matt Garza throttled the Boston lineup in Game 3 of the ALCS even though they knew what was coming; his fastball is that good. Garza fell behind 1-and-0 to 19 of the 27 batters he faced, and threw fastballs on 93 of his 116 pitches -- and yet the Red Sox, with little doubt as to what he was throwing, managed only one run and six hits off Garza while he pitched into the seventh inning.
Downplay it all you want. After Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday, that's what both the Rays and the Red Sox tried to do.
BOSTON -- It gets a little tiring for the Tampa Bay Rays, trying to prove themselves to everybody all the time. That's understandable, considering that for the first 10 years of their existence they proved nothing except that they couldn't prove anything.
They're going to Boston both tied and dead tired, which is actually good for the Tampa Bay Rays. Even if the way that they got to both of those points wasn't necessarily something you can call "good."
1. Joe Maddon is a terrific manager and should be a unanimous pick for AL Manager of the Year for the job he did with the Tampa Bay Rays. But postseason baseball requires more urgency than he showed in running ALCS Game 1 (Recap | Box Score).
It had to come to this, the league's two best teams from the league's strongest division. The Rays as a representation of all that can be right about an organization on the way up, the Red Sox as a representation of all that can be right about an organization that already has it made. Every bit as much as the NLCS, this year's ALCS promises a tight, exciting, and hard-fought matchup.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- It's 2004, and Stanford's Jed Lowrie is taking some ground balls before a late-season game against Arizona State. By this time, Lowrie has heard all about ASU's mouthy shortstop, Dustin Pedroia, a rival for the Pac-10 Player of the Year award. Now, he's about to hear from him.
Breaking down today's two League Championship Series games. All times are Eastern; all stats for starting pitchers are for this postseason only.
They may not be as well-known as the Fall Classic, but baseball's hotly-contested playoffs have an attraction all their own
Baseball history is filled with examples of players who go from clutching their throat in one postseason round to being Mr. Clutch in the next .Or the other way around. Craig Counsell, with the Diamondbacks back in '01, had just three hits in a five-game National League Division Series against the Cardinals. But the Diamondbacks, thanks to a couple of pitchers named Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, moved on, and in the NL Championship Series that year against the Braves, Counsell had eight hits in the five-game win, including three doubles. He drove in six runs and hit .381 in being named the NLCS MVP.
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