loveofthegameproductions.com - Game Seven For the AL Pennant and More!

Posted on Sunday, October 19 @ 02:10:34 CDT by marty

Batter Up October 19th, 2008

Major League Baseball got the shot in the arm it needed when the Red Sox knocked off the Rays Saturday night forcing a game seven show down for the American League pennant.

Sunday night’s game is for the ultimate league prize; Forget the phrase American League Championship Series, this game is for the pennant, the right to go to the World Series.

Did Rays manager Joe Maddon error in game five by removing starter Scott Kazmir after six dominating innings, going to his bullpen in the seventh inning with a 7-0 lead? Did Maddon’s gaffe give the Red Sox the break it needed to get back into the series?

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No he didn’t and it didn’t. Tampa Bay had a seven run lead needing only nine outs to win the pennant. If the top pitchers in your ‘pen can’t hold a seven run lead with a trip to the series on the line, something is terribly wrong.

The problem for Maddon that night was his closer Dan Wheeler looked very similar to a nervous Calvin Schiraldi, Boston’s 1986 closer who let the Mets back into the World Series in games six and seven when he melted down on national television when all seemed lost for the New Yorkers.

Game seven pitchers are special. Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Jack Morris, Lew Burdette, Steve Blass, Kenny Holtzman, Blue Moon Odom, Derek Lowe, and Mickey Lolich come to mind as pitchers who took the ball with the season on the line.

Which pitcher Matt Garza or Jon Lester will write his name in the game seven record- book?

If the Phillies meet the Rays in the series look for high scoring games as the baseballs will fly out of these two homerun happy ball parks.

The Phils ‘pen is in much better shape these days with Ryan Madson becoming a lights out eighth inning reliever. Brad Lidge is the equal to Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon and is far superior to Wheeler. Lidge can seal the deal in the ninth inning for his club while Wheeler seems awfully shaky right now.

Lefty Cole Hamels is the key to the Phillies chances in the series. If Hamels falters in his starts, then the burden falls on Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton to give Charlie Manuel’s team seven good innings each time out.

The Phils will have to out hit the Red Sox and that will be difficult if recent history is an example. The Phils will have one week off before game one on Wednesday night. The Tigers and Rockies came into the last two World Series after week long layoffs and fell flat on their faces.

Boston beats the Phillies in seven exciting games.

If the Rays survive game seven against the Sox, then I think the Phils will win the series in six games because even with their solid starting pitching, the Rays ‘pen is starting to wilt under the bright lights of October baseball (see Grant Balfour, JP Howell, and Dan Wheeler) and that will be the difference in the series.

Philadelphia take note: Boston finally figured out that BJ Upton will kill the fastball ala Eric Davis in his prime. Upton should see nothing but pitches down and away for the rest of the post season.

Did Joe Torre ruin the Dodgers chances for a comeback similar to Boston’s by going to his ‘pen in the sixth inning of game four with a 3-2 lead and Derek Lowe seemingly in command of the game.

Yes, I think he did especially by using two of his three left handed relievers in that sixth inning leaving only one lefty in the ‘pen to face the Phils lefty laden line-up over the next three innings. The move eventually cost the Dodgers the game as left handed swingers Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs homered off righties Cory Wade and Jonathan Broxton in the eighth inning wiping out the lead, thus effectively ending the series for LA.

Also other than Manny Ramirez, who was all-world for the Dodgers after coming over from the Red Sox in July, LA lacked a serious power bat to hit in the fourth spot in the order. Why wasn’t Jeff Kent hitting clean-up in game five instead of Russell Martin who couldn’t buy a hit in the NLCS?

Now the question becomes will the Dodgers resign Ramirez for his asking price of about 80 million dollars? The Dodgers will make an effort to appease the fans by offering Manny a lucrative contract. Ramirez will decline their offer. The Mets trying to wipe away the memory of their past two September failures will meet Manny’s price and sign the slugger to a four- year deal ensuring his presence on the team when it opens the 2009 season in its new park.

Now let’s move on to a more leisurely subject.

There is no better way for a baseball fan easing into the off-season than watching baseball in the Phoenix Metropolitan area.

The Arizona Fall League opened its17th season on October 7th. The Fall League is comprised of six teams playing games each day of the week other than Sunday in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Mesa, Surprise, and Peoria.

The teams are stocked with baseball’s top prospects mainly 22-25 year olds all who have caught their organization’s eye during their minor league season. Some players are rehabilitating from injury (NY Yankee pitcher Philip Hughes) or transitioning into a starting pitcher (Arizona’s Max Scherzer) or just trying to regain his form (Boston’s Clay Buchholz).

Over 1,600 former Fall leaguers have reached the major leagues including MVPs Jason Giambi, Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Albert Pujols, and Jimmy Rollins.

A typical day at the Fall League consists of finding a shady spot in the stands where all seats are open to the public. Making sure one has a large bottle of water, a Fall League media guide, and a couple of hours to talk baseball with the scouts and front office personnel in attendance.

I’ve watched Fall League ball for two weeks and here are some of my thoughts on the players I’ve seen in the Valley of the Sun.

A’s: Outfielder/First baseman Sean Doolittle, a left handed hitter lofted a nice sacrifice fly against Orioles top left-handed pitching prospect Brian Matusz. Matusz, the fourth selection in the 2008 Draft has a tremendous fast ball, poise on the mound, and a big league breaking pitch. He will pitch in Baltimore this summer. Doolittle appears to be a Travis Buck type player who might one day hit for power.

Second baseman Adrian Cardenas joined the A’s in the Joe Blanton trade from the Phillies organization. Second base seems to be his position. Matusz and another lefty overwhelmed him, but Cardenas appears to have a solid bat.

A’s relief pitcher Andrew Carnigan is a 5’ 11” 215 lb right hander who throws a fastball in the mid 90’s. In addition, he has a hard slider as his breaking pitch. The day I saw Carnigan close for the Phoenix Desert Dogs he blew a two run lead with the key hit being delivered by the Orioles top hitting prospect Matt Wieters, a switch hitting catcher. Wieters reminds me of Joe Mauer, with more of a power stroke. Scouts tells me both Wieters and Carnigan will be in the majors sometime during the 2009 season.

The Rangers have a legitimate prospect in center fielder Julio Borbon who resembles former big leaguer Dion Sanders at the plate. Borbon can run and has a good arm. He’ll be leading off for the Rangers perhaps as early as next season.

Dodger shortstop Ivan De Jesus, Jr. will play in the big leagues. The son of former Cubs shortstop Ivan De Jesus has a good glove, swings the bat reasonably well, and hustles on the field. He is the type of player the A’s should be looking at if they are inclined to make a deal for a high level prospect at short to replace Bobby Crosby.

First baseman/DH Beau Mills, the 13th selection in the ’08 draft by Cleveland, is a real power threat. Mills is a DH out of the Travis Hafner mold for the Indians.

Colorado’s Eric Young, Jr. is a spark plug type ball player who can steal bases and play center field; in addition he has good bloodlines as his Dad Eric Young played for numerous major league teams during his career.

The best starting pitcher I’ve seen so far other than Matusz is Atlanta’s 22 year old righty Tommy Hanson. This young man throws around 93-94 with control. The day I saw him he struck out nine batters in four innings without allowing a hit.

Seattle has a phenom in 18 year-old infielder Carlos Triunfel. An acrobatic second baseman he made two plays going to his right that were worthy of a big league highlight reel.

Toronto’s future catcher is power hitting JP Arencibia who not only hits the ball over the fence, but threw out a base runner attempting to steal second from his knees this week.

The Giants Emmanuel Burris is looking very confident as he should after spending the ’08 campaign in the majors.

The White Sox have two talented players with infielder Gordon Beckham, the 8th overall pick in this June’s draft and smooth lefty Aaron Poreda who will be on the Sox staff sometime this year as either a reliever or a starter.

If the A’s or Giants are able to make a deal with the Yankees they should go after two terrific looking hitters in outfielder Austin Jackson and Cuban born first baseman Juan Miranda. Both will be impact players in the majors.

The Marlins have two good prospects in outfielder John Raynor who already hit for the cycle this fall and lefty Sean West who resembles former big leaguer Kenny Holtzman when he releases the ball.

These are just a few of the players I’ve seen and believe me I’m no expert when it comes to scouting, but these players look like legit future big leaguers.

Not a bad way to pass the day here in Arizona.


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