The Red Sox still are not hitting the ball, but that is no revelation if you have been following the ALCS.

Home runs and power shots don’t make it in the postseason because good pitchers can shut you down.

The Yankees are handling the bat better than Boston and they are picking up hits after walks, which have led to runs, and that was the story of Tuesday’s game.

Karim Garcia, who has a striking resemblance to Jeremy Giambi, came through with a clutch two out bases loaded single driving in the first two NY runs.

Click below for more on Grady Little. [Read more →]

What really puzzles me about the Curse of the Bambino and the curse of the Billy Goat in Chicago, is the fact that the managers of the Cubs and Red Sox actually respond to questions as to whether the respective curses effect their teams.

Last time I checked curses don’t have any basis in reality, so it amazes me that responsible journalists actually are asking Dusty Baker to comment on the curse and he is answering, albeit denying that such a curse exists.

The drama of postseason baseball, I suppose having nothing to write about on an offday brings out this type of journalism as opposed to analyzing the game and the actual pitching matchup of Mark Prior and Carl Pavano tonight in game six.

The difference for the Red Sox is clearly in the bullpen. When this postseason began, most baseball analysts rightly underplayed the Boston chances of making it to the world series because of Boston’s ineffective bullpen.

No more!

Mike Timlin has been every bit as good as Mariano Rivera was when Rivera set up John Wettlend in the mid 90’s for NY.

If only Grady Little would go to Timlin before trouble starts, he would bypass the nailbiting the Red Sox Nation experienced last night.

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Before getting into a discussion of just how much testosterone is displayed by American League pitchers when throwing at the heads of batters, a brief word or two about the present state of the playoffs this Monday morning.

Click below for an excellent analysis, thanks for the contribution Ed,
Marty [Read more →]

So, what was the most bizarre part of Saturday’s game in Boston?

No surprise in the way Pedro Martinez pitched, basically the same game he threw at the A’s in games one and five of the ALDS. Struggling to keep his head above water every inning.

Pedro is a very frustrated pitcher, knowing that he no longer can just go to the hill and blow the opposition away with 95 MPH fastballs followed by 78 MPH changeups.

It leads him to do strange things like throwing behind the back of Karim Garcia with first base open and a righthanded swinger (Soriano) on deck. What is amazing about Pedro is when he decides to hit someone it is so obvious. He has impeccacble control, probably ranking with the best pitchers over the last fifty years. So, when he goes up and in, it isn’t with a pitch that suddenly got away, but with a toss that is intended to knock someone down or hit them and he doesn’t miss with the knockdown either.

Funny, but Roger Clemens, one of the all time hot heads, turned out to be the calm one in the whole fiasco Saturday.

Click below for more! [Read more →]

Is it just me or are you wondering when the Red Sox are going to start mashing the ball in this postseason? Billed as the greatest hitting team since the 1927 Yankees, and yes, they did break that team’s season slugging record, this bunch has not shown the firepower at the bat to make me believe that they will bust loose this October.

Granted they faced the best starting pitching when the locked up with the A’s in the ALDS, but do you get the feeling that they are still groping at the plate against the Yankees.

David Ortiz crushed one off of Mike Mussina. Nomar has yet to deliver the big bomb. Trot Nixon hit one against Rich Harden, Manny had his big hit facing Barry Zito, etc. etc. Still no consistent hitting from Bill Mueller or Kevin Millar. Jason Varitek is one bright light for the Sox offense, that’s the kind of hitting I’m looking for. The Yankees hit the ball in gaps, they are having tougher at bats right now than the Red Sox, and that doesn’t bode well for a Boston victory in the ALCS.

A long way to go, but it will be Roger Clemens Saturday hooking up with Pedro Martinez in Fenway and the Sox nation better hope the bats come alive at home or this one will not turn out well for the Olde Towne team.

The A’s made two minor moves Thursday, click below for more! [Read more →]

The Marlins needed to win game one knowing that they will face Mark Prior tonight in Chicago. With the wind blowing out, the game tonight is a tough one to figure. Usually pitchers like Prior and Brad Penny can be counted on to hold the opposition down, but you saw what happened last night as the teams continuously blasted the ball over the short fences in Wrigley.

Carlos Zambrano again struggled. At some point he has to learn how to sink the ball and change speeds. Major league hitters can turn around a jet plane if they know it is coming. The key to pitching is changing speeds, throwing something with a wrinkle in it, and keeping hitters off balance.

Prior does that even though he relies on a 96 MPH hard fastball. Kerry Wood is a Nolan Ryan clone, and his curve buckles hitters too.

Jason Schmidt blew the ball past the Marlins with little other than his fastball, perhaps at this time of the year the bats have slowed down a tad allowing a dominant power pitcher to survive with the heater. We’ll see tonight. The script for the Cubs is simple: Wood plus Prior, four starts, four wins.

I’m not so sure it will be that easy.

Click below for more on the AL! [Read more →]

The baseball year is over for the Giants and the postmortems begin. The wise men in the local press are in print, saying the “Giants are a flawed team” or, in the words of a writer not widely known for his appreciation or basic understanding of the game, “the worst week of baseball ever in these parts.” Let’s try and put things in some reasonable perspective. [Read more →]

What was most impressive about the Red Sox win last night was they did it in Oakland where the A’s are a very tough team to beat.

The pitching matchup played out just as I expected. The A’s had their few chances to break the game open against Pedro Martinez, who did not have the career defining performance everyone looked for, rather it was a duplicate of game one with the aid of a twilight start.

Barry Zito, with the same help from the setting sun, breezed through five innings before clearly running out of gas.

Here’s where the game turned in my opinion.

Zito, who had not pitched on three days rest before, had to be watched very carefully. It was obvious to me and about 49,000 other people in the park, that Zito had reached his endurance point after he hit lefty swinging Todd Walker with a pitch to put runners at first and second with Manny Ramirez coming up in the sixth inning.

Forget the pitch count, Zito had lost command of his outpitch, his curveball, earlier in the inning. Jason Varitek homered to start the sixth on a fastball, tying the score 1-1, Zito struggled throwing strikes after the homer.

Now, Zito and Manny got into a classic battle. What makes great sluggers special is they do not miss their pitch if they get it. Barry Bonds comes to mind first. Ramirez fouled off a fastball at 2-2. Zito has been plagued by inside fastballs that don’t make the desired spot all season (Bobby Kielty in Minnesota). Without his curve, Zito threw another 86 MPH fastball, almost in the indentical spot, and Manny didn’t miss this one and the Red Sox were on their way, it was just a question of how far Pedro would take them and who would close the game.

To me this was the moment that the A’s needed to go to the pen, and make sure Manny didn’t do what he is paid to do and that is drive in big runs.

Great players come through in the clutch and great managers do too, this time the manager let his pitcher stay in a game when he should have gone to the pen like he had done all season long. Ramirez wouldn’t have homered off of Chad Bradford, I’ll guarantee that.

The A’s wouldn’t quit and the game got very tense quickly.

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[Read more →]

So, the Giants felt short to an exciting
and young Florida Marlins team while
the Athletics for the ninth time
failed to close a playoff series.
In my humble opinion Sabean
Ball and Beane Ball needs a lot
of changes.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Seen enough of the five game playoff series?

Not so fast, one more game tonight between the A’s and the Red Sox.

The Marlins, Cubs, and Yankees are in, who will follow?

The A’s play differently at home (59-24), they better continue to do that because they have not looked like a championship team the last two days.

Strange series, not much hitting on either side. Eric Chavez is not getting many good swings even though it is different than in other postseasons when he was swinging wildly, neither Chavez nor Miguel Tejada are swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. The ball just isn’t falling for them right now.

Boston’s achilles heel had been its bullpen. Not anymore, in the last two games Mike Timlin and Scott Williamson have emerged and are throwing fastballs past the A’s. To me, that is the biggest change for the Red Sox, no longer can you count on catching them in the late innings as these two look to be on top of their game.

Power pitching in October, just ask the Braves about trying to handle a big league fastball this time of year.

Barry Zito versus Pedro Martinez. How is this game different from game one?

Click below for more! [Read more →]