Friday, October 12, 2007

Beatdown in Beantown (ALCS Game 1 Postgame Notes)

So, apparently, I was wrong about the whole Cleveland-has-a-better-offense thing...well, at least for tonight.


To be fair, Josh Beckett was on his game tonight, and CC Sabathia...wasn't. Boston took advantage of every mistake Sabathia made, and when he was knocked out in the fifth, it wasn't pretty. At least, not for those of us rooting against Boston!

My Red Sox fan friend thoroughly enjoyed the beat down...that is, until the game got out of hand, in which he did then tell me that he was bored.

Bored.

Yea, I know.


Anyway, given Sabathia's performance in game one of the ALDS, you have to wonder if Sabathia's just having a bad postseason this year, or if he's simply not a big game pitcher, in which case Cleveland's got to think about his place as their number one. If Carmona pitches well tomorrow, there are some rotation questions that they might need to address--and fast.

Beckett pitched a great game; Cleveland's offense was never really given much of a chance, as is what happens with good pitching. Still, they did manage to load the bases against Eric Gagne, which shows that they aren't dead in the water...though, if a team can't load the bases against Gagne circa Second Half 2007, you might want to check for a pulse.


Game Two should be a more interesting affair...and one I think Cleveland has a much better chance of winning.



NLCS game 2 has a late start, so I'll post some notes tomorrow, as I'm taking the rest of the day to be vaguely productive.

4 comments:

  1. Only one ball was hit hard against gagne. The other was a blooper. He also walked a guy. He only hurt himself, as he normally does. It's not like suddenly they started to hit him hard. Just thought I'd bring that up in case someone didn't see the game and read your blog and was misinformed.

    Also, every boston hitter had a hit. Pretty balanced huh?

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  2. Here's the thing I don't get about Sox fans (nothing personal, Anonymous...)

    I kind of compare Gagne to Farnsworth. I realize they're not the same guy, but it's the closest Red Sox-Yankee correlation I can make.

    A lot of Sox fans seem to defend Gagne, as Mr/Ms Anonymous seems to be doing. Yankee fans acknowledge that Farnsworth is crap and groan when he comes into a game. I just don't get it!

    I'd want til tomorrow, Rebecca. Watching a team against Beckett just isn't fair. He's too good. I bet they'll hit better tomorrow.

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  3. Very good debate that you brought up about C.C. He is really having a tough go. I got home from work in time to watch some of the NLCS, which meant Doug Davis in Game 2. YUCK! Davis works so slllllooooowwww when he allows a baserunner. He takes five to ten minutes in between pitches!

    P.S. Good pick from Thursday- Titans over Buccaneers! I like that. I also think that the Jets will knock off the Eagles. They can pressure McNabb, he isn't close to 100 percent yet!

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  4. Gags is a shell of his former self. Bloops, walks, no diff. Bottom line is he's erratic and ineffective. Good point, Andrea, and maybe it's symptomatic of the difference between the two franchises: we don't accept anything less than success.

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