MDXS

Both of those were great. I had the distinct pleasure of watching that first game in New York. I'll also add that Pedro was hurt in that game against Cleveland.

Manny's saying all the right things (save for perhaps a poorly worded line (delivered in his second language no less)), is performing magnificently, and clearly has the best possible mindset (i.e. he's not on tilt like some of the other Sox players) and yet the media's jumping all over him. It's beyond stupid. It annoys me that the media gives Manny the treatment he gets. He works harder than anyone on the team, yet all you hear about is how he's an idiot savant who couldn't care less.

Big fan of Ty Cobb...ignoring the whole racism thing (though I seem to remember him saying something to the effect that everyone should be allowed to play because he was better than everyone).He's the all time leader in steals of home with 50. He's also the all-time leader in stealing second, third, and home in succession, having done it four times. That hasn't happened since 1996 when Eric Young and Chris Stynes of all people did it. All info from here.

I disagree with most of the above, but agree with the overall sentiment. Once you get to the playoffs, every team has pretty much an equal shot of winning. Baseball's a game of small edges. Differences appear over the course of a long season, but they are minimized in the course of a short series.Edit: Agreed 7-1 on the Sox is a horrible, horrible bet. 15-1's probably break even.

Heh...well, not Manny. Like water off a duck's back.But yeah, a team like Colorado has a whole lot of confidence right now. They're a lesser team than Cleveland or Boston, but they certainly don't think so. The playoffs are a different animal compared to the regular season. The psychological aspects of the game are magnified and you need the right mindset going in. The Rockies couldn't be in better shape.

My condolences.

Indians are looking good. Lots of baseball left though. (And how much did that umpire suck tonight...for both teams?)

Yeah, that rule is pretty much in effect. I can't believe how awful he's been some coming over. Thankfully, he's currently the last arm on the depth chart. The good thing to come out of that trade is that he'll still probably get an A free agent rating and we'll get two draft picks from any team daft enough to sign him (even though he'll likely rebound nicely once he's gone, the prick).

They celebrate every time because it's an accomplishment. And why not? For what its worth, the Red Sox celebration after the ALDS was quite restrained. Certainly much more so than after the clinching the division.

Just about time. Should be a real tough series. BPro has an excellent (and free!) breakdown of the series:http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6821Who's they pick? The Red Sox! Or the Indians! Who knows?...Jesus Christ, McCarver and Buck. I'd rather be skinned alive...

Wow. You know, I'm not even...I'll just point this out:In 1995 they got to the playoffs under Buck. In 1994, they only won 70 games....but had a .619 winning percentage (strike year!). That'd be 100 games over the course of the season, so claiming he could only get 88 wins out of that bunch is more than a little disingenuous. Except for the ridiculous 1998 team, Torre's Yankees didn't win at that kind of clip until 2002, which didn't share that much in common with Buck's teams. And this:Coming on the scene in 1996: Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Tino Martinez...those guys had a bit of a hand in

How much do you attribute those four titles to Torre and how much to players? Just wondering.

I'd say they're probably at worst a 57/43 dog.

Congratulations! Looking forward to Friday.

I think this is part of why it's more forgivable in Manny's case. It comes across to me (admittedly as a Sox fan) as more of the joy of playing the game than trying to show up the other team. Now if Youkilis did that, they'd knock his teeth out and I wouldn't blame them.

I might even argue that Wagner was a better offensive player than ARod. It's moot now that ARod's moved to third. Would be an interesting comparison at the end of ARod's career if he stayed a shortstop. Also, I'll apologize for calling you a troll Cappy. I saw just about every game Pedro pitched while he was with the Sox, so I've got to come to his aid when I can. He was absolutely awesome. During that 2000 season, his first loss came in a game where he gave up 1 run and struck out 17.

Yeah, he was amped up last night.

It was over when he hit it...no doubter. It's the playoffs and it's Manny. Also, it was hit off K-Rod, who is not really known for his restraint.

Pedro doesn't come close? Ridiculous. Koufax's best year: ERA+ of 190Pedro's best years: ERA+ of 285 (and a WHIP of .737 - both best ever...factor in the bad defense he played in front of and an unlucky BABIP of around .350 and his numbers should be even better...this is more dominant than you could possibly understand and you missed it. Sucks to be you.), 245, 221, 212, 196, 189.Pedro's top 6 years go 5-0-1 against Koufax in dominance level. His peak was longer than Koufax's, so I don't know where this long stretch of time garbage comes from. And Gibson? '68 and '69 were filthy...but outside

Jesus. That may have reached the Pike.

So much for all that. Matsuzaka was not sharp tonight. Since he'd be going in game 5, I think winning tonight is more important than I thought earlier.

TBS may not be perfect, but it's still so much less obnoxious than FOX. I mean...no McCarver! No Scooter!

And we were worried about C.B. BucknorAlso, sorry we have jobs TBags. Better luck next year.

Uphill battle for the Angels now. They don't play us well to begin with, and they're down one going back into Fenway. Matsuzaka has struggled towards the end of the season, but he's been able to get a lot of rest lately. He looked great his last time out and most importantly, the Angels are the type of team that will have problems with a pitcher like Daisuke. When he misses, he misses out of the strike zone and the Angels love to hack. Combine that with the added pressure of losing game one and I think they're going to come out swinging, which is the wrong approach against Matsuzaka. Further m

I'm feeling good about this series...I don't want to jinx anything (or open myself up to ridicule if I'm wrong) so I'm not making predictions. I was happy to see this analysis today. Not sure how much I buy into the methodology (smells of small sample sizes), but I'm not going to go out of my way to tear apart anything with this quote in it:"On paper, no-one is going to stop the Red Sox. They roll over the Indians almost as easily as they outclass the Angels. The Yankees haven’t got the pitching while the Red Sox have almost as good an offense."Of course, even if this analysis is dead on and t