[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Time to check out my prediction score”] [/caption] Another season is now behind us and the playoffs begin this afternoon at 1330 EST in Tampa Bay. How did I do in my projections? Who do I predict for the World Series? Let’s check it out! ...
[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“It’s not over yet, but we’re getting close”] [/caption] It seems that fall is rapidly approaching, despite my fiendish plot to seize control of the planet’s weather with my mind. With the change in the climate comes a change in sports programming. Back for two weeks is college football while the NFL opener was played over the past few days as well. Baseball no longer holds the brunt of the spotlight, but I guess that’s not all bad. ...
I realize that he’s just playing to win, but A.J. Pierzynski just has this style of hoodwinking umpires and gaming the system that annoys me to no end. Consider the 2008 ALDS when the Sox played the Rays. I have distinct memories of Pierzynski getting himself a free base on a fake “obstructing the runner” call that he drew by elbowing the fielder and making it look like he was the one who was being jostled. The Sox still ended up losing the series, but the point remains that A.J. is willing to do what he has to for a win. ...
It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Just like that we’re fully back to our regularly scheduled programming. I’ve gotta say, I missed this, but I’m also glad that I wasn’t here to write about Tampa Bay’s 11-game losing streak or the elimination of both Florida teams from playoff contention. You were spared my regular season woes (and the sobbing that would go with it), but now you’ve gotta endure my complaining about postseason results. ...
We’ve finally reached the resolution of the ALDS series with victories by both Boston and Tampa Bay. As me move toward the ALCS and NLCS, the ability to predict the outcome becomes way less possible. Take the Phillies and Dodgers series: The Dodgers steamrolled the Cubs where no one expected them to to get them to this point against the Phillies. Philadephia, on the other hand, has solid pitching and defense and their lineup can hit the long ball all day long. L.A. has got Manny. The Phillies have Ryan Howard. The Dodgers have had an epic second half with a strong postseason manager. Philadelphia has had a solid team all year and wants to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1993. I have no idea what will happen, but I think it will be closer than the NLDS. Let’s go with the Dodgers (I hate the Phillies) in 6. ...
I really thought by this point we’d be completely done with the Division Series games, but now we’ve still got another day, at the very least, for the ALDS series. Philadelphia finally turned in its win and gave us what we expected. They beat the Brew Crew 6-2 and now don’t have any games until Thursday when they will be starting their NLCS series against the Dodgers at home. Josh Beckett remarkably managed to not put together as solid an outing as he usually does, so the 11-game win postseason win streak against the Angels ended as LA put up a 5-4 win in the 12th. They play again tonight to see if they can lock it down. Lester gets the nod for pitching and he’s been doing well so far. ...
It was National League day last night in the LDS series and both the Brewers and Cubs faced elimination with a loss. Milwaukee was luckier, getting the home field nod, but the Cubs were headed to hostile Dodger territory face to face with the culmination of their hundred year curse. It’s hard to deal with 100 years of pressure and expectations and the Cubs showed their inability to clinch further rounds of playoff eligibility by losing 1-3 to the Dodgers last night and prolonging the curse, despite having the best record in the National League. There goes that prediction for me! ...
Another day another pair of division games, this time exclusively ALDS games. With these two the Division Series are all looking rather one-sided. Thanks to the always clutch hitting of Dioner Navarro, the Rays were able to start posting runs and making up the two run deficit that Kazmir rounded up in Game 2 of their series. After scoring two in the first, the White Sox are unable to answer any of the next six runs scored by the Rays. They win it 6-2 and push their lifetime postseason record to 2-0. ...
What a great day for baseball yesterday was! Boston had a bye today (lucky them and lucky Beckett), the Rays and Evan Longoria made franchise history, and the NLDS races are starting to look a bit more one-sided. We start in Philadelphia with the Brew Crew putting its faith in C.C. Sabathia to even out the series. What happened instead was a Shane Victorino grand slam that kept the Phillies up above the Brewers for a 5-2 finish. ...
I know I promised you some simulated game results to go along with my post-game analysis, but as I booted up MLB Power Pros 2008 and started to rearrange the final team rosters, it quickly became apparent to me that I would be much better served just waiting until we had World Series teams so I’d only have to do two (for those of you playing at home, I only managed to set up the Red Sox before I gave up). ...