ALCS Games 1 & 2: Dice-K giveth, Beckett taketh away

All things being said, splitting the first two games of the ALCS is a good thing.  The Sox managed to steal a game on the road in a hostile environment.  Now they come back to Fenway with a good chance to put the Rays on the ropes.  Dice-K is pitching well.  Our ace is set up for Game Three.  Youkilis, Bay and Pedroia have been offensive juggernauts.  So really, everything is fine.  The Sox are in control.  I will remain positive.  I must remain positive.  I couldn't have asked for anything more...

...oh screw this!  Game Two was a missed opportunity.  Not in the sense that the Sox had any business winning that mess, but because it was a game that may well come back to haunt the Sox.  It was a game that has changed the complexion of  this series and left a massive pit in the bottom of my stomach.  Random gripes:

-  First off, why was an injury hobbled Beckett even pitching in this game?  He looked terrible in the ALDS.  Not to mention, Lester was rested enough and could have gotten the start.  This would have had the added bonus of setting Lester up for Game Six.  Now, we'll be lucky if we see Lester twice in this series.

- Second, why did Francona send the ailing Beckett back out in the bottom of the fifth inning after the Sox had just reclaimed the lead?  Even more puzzling, why did he stick with an erratic Beckett after Carlos Peña singled to tie the game?  It was clear to everyone that Beckett's fastball lacked velocity and his breaking pitches lacked that important thing called break.  

-  Third, why was Francona playing wheel of relievers early in the game, leaving the Sox with few options late in the game?  Delcarmen, Okajima and Masterson all pitched well, they just did so over the course of a miserly 3.1 innings.

- Fourth, why Timlin?  Sure it was the bottom of the Ray's order, but its not like the Sox were out of options.  A healthy, reliable inning-eating relief pitcher was busy waiting on the bench.  

ALDS Game 2 Twitter

J.D. Drew has weathered a lot of criticism in the two years since the Sox acquired him.  The chattering classes claimed he was underperforming, that he lacked focus, that he was only in it for the money.  Radio blowhards and casual fans accused him of not playing with heart.  Even after his grand salami in Game Six of the 2007 ALCS, Drew remained the object of suspicion and scorn.  

So I watched with great satisfaction last night as Mr. Roboto lit up the game, going 3-5 with a double, a couple of nifty plays in right, and of course,  the 2-run shot off K-Rod to seal the victory over the Los Angeles Suburbanites of Disneyland.  Here is a guy who has been hobbled with back pain, who had to take not one but two epidurals just to be pain free enough to even take the field.  If that isn't an obvious sign of cardiovascular fortitude, then I don't know what is.  Other random thoughts:

-  Once again, Jason Bay refuses to wilt under the spotlight.  Bay went 3-5 with another home run and 3 RBIs.  How quickly do you think it will take the media to change its tune to how Bay was "hungry for the postseason" and is a "man on a mission"?

-  Acknowledging my obvious biases, I think Coco got back to the bag safely on that pickoff attempt.  I have to admit, however, that Erick "Eric" Aybar does dance a nice protest jig.

-  You have to admire Torii "Tory" Hunter's enthusiasm, but injuring yourself jumping around after getting thrown out at first puts you in company with bastions of stability like Milton Bradley.  

-  By the way, did you know that Jason Varitek uses this magical glove sewn from the webbing of enchanted platypus feet?  I didn't, until Buck Martinez wouldn't stop talking about the damn thing.

-  Once again, as predicted, Angels not named Teixeira, Guerrero or Hunter vanished going a collective 3-20. 

-  Tito's decision to stick with Masterson was a bit mysterious.  Justin didn't exactly appear to have his command down, giving up two walks in the seventh.  Joy of Sox asks a good question:  where in the world is Manny Delcarmen?  

-  Despite two effective and efficient innings, Papelbon is officially credited with a blown save.  Meanwhile, all-time single season save record holder Francisco "The Less Douchy Hyphen-Rod" Rodriguez implodes.  Yet another reason why saves is a useless measure of quality.

-  Is Pedroia's nickname really "Caballito" - the Thoroughbred of Sin?

-  Major league baseball should ban thundersticks.  If your fans cannot get excited enough to make noise with the meaty, fleshy thundersticks that God gave them, then they don't deserve to watch baseball.  Maybe in Japan, where everything is a bit crazy, zany props and inflatable noisemakers are acceptable, but not here in America. 

ALDS Game 1 Twitters

After five tense innings, the Sox claw back for a satisfying win.  Lester was fantastic, but what more can you say about Tacoby Ellsbury?  3-5 with a double, two stolen bases, and a dazzling catch.  There is just something about this guy and October.  Maybe he is stealing sips from Beckett's Kool-Aid?  Some other thoughts:

-  Apparently, Jason Bay didn't get the sportswriter memo that because of his lack of postseason experience he was suddenly supposed to wilt like a delicate flower.  

-  Am I the only one who is amazed that Frank TV is still on the air?  Can we please put this guy down already?

-  The TBS tandem of Caray and Martinez were not nearly as annoying as I had anticipated (although Joe Posnanski caught this gem).  However, "back, track, wall, gone!" is a bit of a lame home run call.  

-  Early on, Jon Lester didn't appear to be locating well when he went inside with his two seam fastball.  The Angels' hitters did him a lot of favors by hacking at that pitch.   

-  Should I be nervous that Drew and Lowell were a collective 0-8 or should I be happy that they are relatively pain-free?

-  Craig Sager is an embarrassment.  (KG agrees!)

-  The Angels lack of offense from anyone outside of the 2-5 spots was abundantly evident tonight.  Players not named Anderson, Teixeira, Guerrero or Hunter were a collective 0-20 last night.

-  How much fun was that strike-out non-call?  Lester pitches a sweeping 2-strike curve ball right over the heart of the plate, prompting both Lester and Anderson back towards their respective dugouts until they realized Tim Welke had called it a ball.  

- I love Vlad Guerrero.  I love watching him teeing off on first pitch balls in the dirt.  I love the sight of him lunging at fastballs three feet off the plate.  I love it when he runs through stop signs on his way to third.  Seriously, I just love watching this guy play.  No really.

"Hi, I'm trying to reach Scott Boras..."

After hiking out of the Yosemite wilderness two days ago, I noticed the following text message from my brother flashing on my cell phone:  "Ramirez first homer for the Dodgers was crazy".

Having been out of coverage form all media for five days, I was a bit confused.  The Cubs traded Aramis Ramirez?  The Marlines moved Hanley Ramirez?  I mean, there is no possible way that the Bo Sox let Manny go...right?

Err...wrong.  Desperate for more information, I quickly flipped to the local California sports station hoping to hear who the Sox had acquired in exchange.  Instead, I was subjected to forty five minutes of debate about which of the 49ers "quarterback triumvirate" of Alex Smith, Shaun Hill and JT O'Sullivan should rein supreme.

(Note to radio host guy:  I think "triumvirate" is the wrong word to describe the niners QB options.  Might I suggest the Defeaterite?  The Committee D'Interception?  The Knights of Teh Suck Table?)

In any event, now that I am back on the East Coast, the shock has worn off a bit.  Manny is a Dodger, and the "Jay Bay" era has officially commenced.  Let the unrealistic expectations and premature judgements begin!

I am not going to wade into the debate about whether Bay is an upgrade or downgrade form Manny.  I will say, however, that the criticisms of the Bay deal have largely been misplaced.  Take Charles Pierce writing in Slate:

"Bay, a talented, Canadian-born Pittsburgh Pirate who, I guarantee you, with his 153 strikeouts per season and his .216 average with men in scoring position this season, has no idea what he's walking into."

I'm not really sure where Pierce pulled his strikeout numbers from.  Bay exceeded 150 strikeouts only once in his career in 2006 with 156, a year he also posted 35 HRs, 109 RBIs, had a .928 OPS and led the NL in all-star voting.

Leaving aside the aggregate totals, its not like Bay is particularly strikeout prone.  His career AB/SO ratio is 3.8 and this season his AB/SO ratio is 4.5  To put that in context, active players who have a career AB/SO ratio around 4.5 include Andruw Jones, Alfonso Soriano, J.D. Drew, and some guy named Manny Ramirez.

Pierce also cites Bay's currently low AVG with RISP as a potential problem.  But everyone knows that this is basically a useless stat.  Bay's previous season numbers with RISP were all equivalent to his normal splits;  this season is simply an aberration.  Plus, if one looks at other clutch splits such as "Late & Close", Bay is doing just fine with a .322 AVG and a 1.091 OPS.

Basically, trying to compare the young, up and coming Bay with the perpetual all-star Ramirez is like comparing apples and a different type of fruit...like mangoes.  It depends a lot on which metrics one uses and a lot on whether one is taking a short or long term view.

For my part,  I will miss Manny's offense and his antics.  He has made watching baseball a whole lot of fun over the past few years.  But I think the Red Sox front office, which was by no means blameless for all of this drama, ended up making a pretty good move.