Whoa, hey, a post that has nothing whatsoever to do with baseball!?
Hello again and welcome to real life circa fall 2007, which is just getting back underway as I write this. Let's do some updating of where things are at this moment in time, shall we?
After three months of dicking and dallying around with two different dentists getting bite molds done, a root canal performed, a few cavities (re)filled, and my roots scraped so deeply I thought I might lose an eye or get a hole in my chin, I have a crown at last, and it feels awful. Huzzah!
That is the good news.
The bad news? I am also right back to square one again in a monetary sense after having burned up all of my carefully-maintained emergency funds over this ongoing dental adventure (the costs of which I greatly underestimated at the outset, apparently). So, in addition to maintaining minty oral freshness, I am now back to performing breathtaking feats of financial gymnastics as I seek to sprint through the next two months keeping bills caught up, setting aside some more money for an cleaning appointment in three weeks and getting a Christmas shopping plan ready for a few weeks after that.
The situation at work is still cautiously optimistic, though we took a punch in the mouth in September figures-wise. While we were against a freakishly busy month, this still knocks us back from being flat with the year-to-date 2006 figures a bit and we're hoping to make that up by the time the holidays roll around ... though with October coming in as underwhelming at is has been, we're now looking at long odds of having another "up" year. Not helping matters much is an absolutely anemic fourth-quarter release schedule and, perhaps, some increased competition in the form of a shiny new Target location that opened a few miles down the road from us.
Lastly, in the category of "any publicity = good publicity," the store had a backhandedly positive mention in a recent "Best Of Cleveland" poll run by Scene magazine. Apparently, our most notable feature at the store is our amazing cassette tape selection! This is tantamount to handing Best Buy an achievement award for their magazine rack. Even funnier still, we were just talking a few months ago about finally ridding ourselves of these things once and for all, and now we're actually selling them too well to do so, thanks to this article. Life remains chock full of surprises ...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
A Last Look Back At The 2007 Season
For the first time since Sunday night, I managed to make it through a whole day without wanting to deck someone or curl up all fetal-style under my desk ... though if the everfucking Boston Red Sox manage to sweep the suddenly stale Colorado Rockies, as it looks like they just might, that might change in a big ol' hurry.
Anyway, the point to be made here is that life does indeed go on. So, before it does, here is a recounting of my favorite memories of this past season (in order of their occurrence) ...
Thanks for indulging me. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog programming, already in progress.
Anyway, the point to be made here is that life does indeed go on. So, before it does, here is a recounting of my favorite memories of this past season (in order of their occurrence) ...
- Watching C.C. Sabathia pitch a full game against the Oakland Athletics on June 25 (my birthday gift from Sarah) from killer seats behind home plate.
- That late-June/pre-Break stretch of exhilarating come-from-behind wins. Watching these guys finding ways to win (in generally dramatic last-minute fashion) made me start to believe that anything was possible once again and managed to lock me in for the rest of the season.
- July 2. My first Fausto Carmona game at the Jake. Almost overshadowing the brilliance of the Icy Cold One was Rafael Perez's eye-opening performance: summoned into a bases-loaded-and-no-one-out situation, Raffy-L not only got 3 outs in a row, but didn't allow a single runner to cross home plate while doing so. Oh yeah, Grady Sizemore also belted a grand slam an inning or so later. Bonus.
- July 25. Fausto vs. Josh Beckett in a white-knuckler 1-0 game, which followed a 0-1 loss to the Red Sox the previous night. Probably my favorite regular season game of the year right there. Just about any time Carmona pitched this year was not to be missed: you were always wondering if this would be the night he'd pull off a no hitter (or perhaps something even grander).
- July 16. Seeing Jensen Lewis pitch in his first major league appearance (a shoot-out against the Chicago White Sox).
- THA BEER GUY!!! He makes The Upper Deck Experience that much richer.
- July 27. Kenny Lofton comes home and promptly reminds everyone why we missed him so much over the years since he was last around. At the time of this move, I was a bit apprehensive of what could happen to this club as I remembered Lofton as a brooder and therefore a possible disruptive influence on this close-knit bunch. Now, I'm wishing he wasn't leaving again. :(
- That hilariously craptastic "Let's Go Tribe!" song. Kinda like an unholy fusion of Toni Basil and Def Leppard.
- August 27. The Triple Play. We saw this at the game and I fairly rocketed out of my chair at the end. WOW! I still watch that clip every week or so, and it never gets old.
- We got to the Jake early enough on 8/27 to catch the team taking batting practice. A whole bunch of kids around us were chirping "FAUSTO!! FAUSTO!!! FAUSTO!! FAUSTO!!" every single time Carmona had a ball in his hand as he paced center field, chatting with another player. At one point, Fausto, without turning around, barked a faux-irritated "NO!" to shut them up. That gave us a good laugh.
- Listening to ninth innings on the way home from work nearly every night and cracking up as Tom Hamilton riffed on such pitchers as Mike MacDougal: "You could stand at the plate without a bat and he'd walk you!" and Rick White: "He hasn't changed a bit!"
- September 2. The Jake (both the venue and the pitcher) was buzzed by jets from the lakefront air show all afternoon, which was really about the only cool part of an otherwise gorgeous Sunday afternoon spent watching the Tribe getting completely wiped out by the freakin' White Sox.
- C0mpl3+3l7 pwn1ng the great Johan Santana all season long.
- The statue of Bob Feller in front of The Jake wearing the "IT'S TRIBE TIME NOW" t-shirt.
- September 17. Watching Casey Blake bean walk-off home run #2 of the weekend against the Detroit Tigers. My first walk-off victory game. When that was over, you could feel the post-season oh so very close indeed. What a total rush.
- September 23. We went down and watched the AL-C clinching game against Oakland. One of the most joyous experiences I can remember: an equal dose of beauty, bedlam and nirvana.
- ALDS Game 2. Carmona 3-hits the god damned New York Yankees, allowing one run in nine solid innings of work. Sadly, this was the last time in 2007 we were to see Fausto in his outstanding regular season form.
- The appearance of the midges during ALDS Game 2, if for no other reason than the near-supernatural timing of their arrival. I was listening to the radio broadcast of that game over the 'net while at work and literally could not believe what I was hearing. It was even better to watch it later. What a remarkable, weird and most unexpected comeback.
- Trot freakin' Nixon goes yard on Roger Clemens in ALDS Game 3. Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa. You couldn't make up a more poetic end to The Drama Queen's pitching career if you tried.
- Paul Byrd in Game 4 of the ALDS. I was part of the "oh shit, pitch C.C.!!" bandwagon for this game and Byrdie proved me and everyone else dead wrong. I just hope that the news that broke a week later won't end up staining this game in my memory.
- Torching the god damned Yankees 3-1 in the playoffs ... and in their stadium. Yessssss!!! Thuuuuuuuuuh Yankees lose!!
- Hamilton on Dustin Pedroia: "A very easy player to dislike."
- The 10th and 11th innings of ALCS Game 2. During the 10th, Tom Mastny took on the heart of the Red Sox batting order and gave up nothing. As someone on Let's Go Tribe wrote, "this is like setting your puppy against an SUV" and, somehow, the puppy won. An inning later, the Tribe went on a scoring tear and blew this sucker wiiiiide open, grabbing the road split they so desperately needed.
- Kenny Lofton's home run off of Daisuke Matsuzaka in ALCS Game 3. It was like 1995 all over again.
- Rafael Betancourt for an entire season of badass setup pitching, but especially for the superhuman performance he gave while was systematically defanging the heaviest hitters of the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.
- Aaron Laffey's flawless relief outing in ALCS Game 6 after Fausto and Perez went straight down the tubes (again).
- Jake Westbrook in ALCS Games 3 and (especially) 7. I can't say enough about this guy during Game 7: he wasn't perfect out of the starting gate, but as that awful night dragged on, he just got stronger and kept us in the game every second he was on the mound. I have not given Westbrook his due most of the year, but he truly earned my respect with that performance. A true hero when we needed one the most.
Thanks for indulging me. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog programming, already in progress.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The 2007 Cleveland Indians: A Gallery
Though the ache is still fresh from another Game 7 gone bad, it's time to move on from baseball and back into normal life as we know it.
Before we continuing onward, though, here's the active roster in pictures of my favorite baseball team, the 2007 Cleveland Indians.
Thanks for the best summer of baseball Cleveland has seen in years, guys. Go Tribe in '08!
Monday, October 22, 2007
ALCS Game 7: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
So I guess that's what they mean by "home field advantage."
It's now official: there will be no World Series in Ohio this year, or even an American League title. Just three days ago, it looked like Cleveland had a real shot at a sports championship for the first time in over four decades. This morning, a brilliant sun shone cruelly down on Northeast Ohio: the perfect summery conditions a mockery of the darkened mood that has fallen over the Cleveland area over the last two days. As I type this post now, the weather is more appropriately cold and rainy as I join in with other sports fans around the area wondering what the hell just happened here.
One thing I am not going to start in on is this "God Hates Cleveland Sports"/Curse Of Rocky Colavito shit (though I half-jokingly alluded to the former in the Game 6 post) because that is just engaging in sheer denial. Five reasons why ...
During what little of the victory celebration I managed to endure after this latest heartbreaking disaster, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona mentioned that the lopsided scores of these games (particularly those of Games 2, 6 and 7) belied how close these contests really were, and he was largely correct as during four of the seven games in the ALCS, the damage was largely compressed to a bad inning or two on either side. The rest of the time, these teams grappled over a tie or 1-2 run advantage, and those occasions made for some dynamite baseball, which makes this collapse even more frustrating.
While Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd turned in sterling games (particularly the former's gutsy performance last night which kept the Indians well within striking range until his removal at the bottom of the sixth inning), theirs were the only remarkable performances Cleveland would see from their starting rotation. Incredibly, four games of this series were marred by a sickening pitching horror show of epic proportions (the nadir of which arrived during Game 6), as the Tribe's twin 19-game-winning/Cy Young Award-nominated starters imploded to an extent never before seen in baseball playoff history (those performances, from C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona accounted for 3 of the 4 series losses). Making matters worse, the once-humming Indians offense stalled under the merciless curveball of Josh Beckett and never fully recovered. Defense began to misfire all around the horn as what should have been basic fielding exercises were blown at the worst possible times. Finally, the vaunted Indians bullpen began to completely come apart, with Betancourt's unwatchable eighth inning meltdown last night in particular putting the final nails in the coffin.
While credit must be awarded to the Red Sox for never letting up in the face of near-certain doom after Wednesday (they appear to be practiced at this kind of thing, I'm told), the Indians for whatever reason seemed to lose the will to put this series away overnight. I find it almost impossible to believe that one loss after 3 wins in a row could suddenly derail this entire postseason, but that is almost exactly what happened. Though much had been made of the Tribe's run of 1-run victories and losses during July and August serving to "toughen up" the squad and prepare them for the pressure of postseason play, it apparently didn't do enough. What seems likely here (and Sabathia has admitted this was the case as far as we was concerned) is that the rest of the club wanted a title so badly that they played "tight" instead of staying loose: in other words, they were so afraid of screwing up that they lost sight of winning the freakin' games instead, as they had done during the first four games. If that was indeed the case, then what a terrible time they picked to learn such a simple, bitter lesson the hard way.
How striking it is to realize now that a week ago many Tribe fans were thanking their lucky stars that the team had drawn a seven game series with Boston instead of New York (had Cleveland been playing this as a 5-game series, Boston would have been eliminated after Game 4). Perhaps the most ironic revelation of this series: remember how grown men trembled, women fainted and atheists crossed themselves at the idea of Joe Borowski on the mound trying for a save a game in a clinching situation ... and look what happened instead with the man everyone wanted as series closer instead. The realities of the past three days have been a cruel surprise, almost diametrically opposed to reasonable probability ... and that's baseball for ya.
So, Cleveland will have to wait until next year once again. Those of us who let this team into their hearts will be hurting pretty good for a while, but eventually that ache will fade as we focus instead on the wild, joyous ride that the Indians embarked upon in the regular season: outperforming all expectations and having the time of their lives while doing so. Perhaps the new year will bring greater glories, but we'll have to wait a while to find out. This is a young, talented, and refreshingly ego-free club, and I want that particular aspect left unchanged above all else. While some long-suffering fans are now screaming for more payroll and more free-agents on next year's roster, I want this club to remain as homegrown as possible, with a veteran (maybe Lofton again?) or two around to shepherd the youngsters and help keep their heads and emotions in check when it counts the most. Most of all, I hope the 2008 version of this club remembers to bring the magic to the field once again.
Here's to next spring. Cheers.
It's now official: there will be no World Series in Ohio this year, or even an American League title. Just three days ago, it looked like Cleveland had a real shot at a sports championship for the first time in over four decades. This morning, a brilliant sun shone cruelly down on Northeast Ohio: the perfect summery conditions a mockery of the darkened mood that has fallen over the Cleveland area over the last two days. As I type this post now, the weather is more appropriately cold and rainy as I join in with other sports fans around the area wondering what the hell just happened here.
One thing I am not going to start in on is this "God Hates Cleveland Sports"/Curse Of Rocky Colavito shit (though I half-jokingly alluded to the former in the Game 6 post) because that is just engaging in sheer denial. Five reasons why ...
1. It has been recently documented that Rocky Colavito has never wished a curse upon the team that traded him nearly fifty years ago.No, what we had over the last week was kind of like the last two weeks of the 2005 season in three-game microcosm. Call it a "choke" of epic proportions if you must (and judging as how the Indians somehow went from outplaying the rest of the league on Wednesday to playing their worst baseball of the year starting on Friday, I might allow the term to be used), but it appears that not only was the Tribe finally bested by the better overall team, but they were quite clearly running on fumes to boot.
2. We can be fairly certain that God (or whatever supreme omnipotent being you may or may not believe in) had far better things to do than make sure third base coach Joel Skinner held up Kenny Lofton ninety feet from tying the game in the seventh inning instead of sending him home to almost certainly beat a throw to the plate from Manny Ramirez.
3. It seems to me beneath God's style to flinch out Casey Blake (the real goat of this game, by the way) with an "AYYYYYBATTABATTABATTASWING!!!" during the very first pitch of the next at-bat.
4. I'd also put pretty good money on the idea that God did not whisper into Dustin Pedroia's ear to swing for the fences on the next 0-1 count that squawking half-orc midget got from Rafael Betancourt. In fact, nowhere in any scripture is it even hinted at that He is a member of the Red Sox Nation, or has grounds to hold any kind of supernatural bias against the Cleveland Indians.
5. It's possibly reasonably to assume that God isn't even a baseball fan at all (it's likely He finds entertainment in more graceful and "pure" human pastimes like Curling and Smear The Queer).
During what little of the victory celebration I managed to endure after this latest heartbreaking disaster, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona mentioned that the lopsided scores of these games (particularly those of Games 2, 6 and 7) belied how close these contests really were, and he was largely correct as during four of the seven games in the ALCS, the damage was largely compressed to a bad inning or two on either side. The rest of the time, these teams grappled over a tie or 1-2 run advantage, and those occasions made for some dynamite baseball, which makes this collapse even more frustrating.
While Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd turned in sterling games (particularly the former's gutsy performance last night which kept the Indians well within striking range until his removal at the bottom of the sixth inning), theirs were the only remarkable performances Cleveland would see from their starting rotation. Incredibly, four games of this series were marred by a sickening pitching horror show of epic proportions (the nadir of which arrived during Game 6), as the Tribe's twin 19-game-winning/Cy Young Award-nominated starters imploded to an extent never before seen in baseball playoff history (those performances, from C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona accounted for 3 of the 4 series losses). Making matters worse, the once-humming Indians offense stalled under the merciless curveball of Josh Beckett and never fully recovered. Defense began to misfire all around the horn as what should have been basic fielding exercises were blown at the worst possible times. Finally, the vaunted Indians bullpen began to completely come apart, with Betancourt's unwatchable eighth inning meltdown last night in particular putting the final nails in the coffin.
While credit must be awarded to the Red Sox for never letting up in the face of near-certain doom after Wednesday (they appear to be practiced at this kind of thing, I'm told), the Indians for whatever reason seemed to lose the will to put this series away overnight. I find it almost impossible to believe that one loss after 3 wins in a row could suddenly derail this entire postseason, but that is almost exactly what happened. Though much had been made of the Tribe's run of 1-run victories and losses during July and August serving to "toughen up" the squad and prepare them for the pressure of postseason play, it apparently didn't do enough. What seems likely here (and Sabathia has admitted this was the case as far as we was concerned) is that the rest of the club wanted a title so badly that they played "tight" instead of staying loose: in other words, they were so afraid of screwing up that they lost sight of winning the freakin' games instead, as they had done during the first four games. If that was indeed the case, then what a terrible time they picked to learn such a simple, bitter lesson the hard way.
How striking it is to realize now that a week ago many Tribe fans were thanking their lucky stars that the team had drawn a seven game series with Boston instead of New York (had Cleveland been playing this as a 5-game series, Boston would have been eliminated after Game 4). Perhaps the most ironic revelation of this series: remember how grown men trembled, women fainted and atheists crossed themselves at the idea of Joe Borowski on the mound trying for a save a game in a clinching situation ... and look what happened instead with the man everyone wanted as series closer instead. The realities of the past three days have been a cruel surprise, almost diametrically opposed to reasonable probability ... and that's baseball for ya.
So, Cleveland will have to wait until next year once again. Those of us who let this team into their hearts will be hurting pretty good for a while, but eventually that ache will fade as we focus instead on the wild, joyous ride that the Indians embarked upon in the regular season: outperforming all expectations and having the time of their lives while doing so. Perhaps the new year will bring greater glories, but we'll have to wait a while to find out. This is a young, talented, and refreshingly ego-free club, and I want that particular aspect left unchanged above all else. While some long-suffering fans are now screaming for more payroll and more free-agents on next year's roster, I want this club to remain as homegrown as possible, with a veteran (maybe Lofton again?) or two around to shepherd the youngsters and help keep their heads and emotions in check when it counts the most. Most of all, I hope the 2008 version of this club remembers to bring the magic to the field once again.
Here's to next spring. Cheers.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
ALCS Game 6: Boston 12, Cleveland 2
*sigh*
I am getting really tired of using this intro, but here we go again:
At times you may hear me refer to what I call the "the beauty and the horror" of baseball: barring a rain out or some kind of natural calamity, a ball game isn't over until the 27th out is recorded. There is no time limit on innings or on the game itself as a whole, and there is no "shot clock" on individual at-bats. Therefore, anything can and does happen.
This was the most probably disheartening baseball game I've seen since a certain recently-dispatched New York ball club swept a horribly scuffling Tribe in three games back in August. What else can I say? You can look the score and easily guess out how this fiasco went. Who screwed the pooch (and when and how) is immaterial right now ... all that matters is that ALCS Game 7 has been forced, and what was once Cleveland's series to lose two days ago has now become a complete toss-up with one game left to decide who advances to the Fall Classic and who spends a long winter playing golf and wondering what could have been. Unbelievable.
I'll speak frankly here: for the first time since that awful stretch in the weeks after the All-Star Break, my confidence is not high (in fact, I feel pretty sick to my stomach typing this out right now). Even though I don't believe much in things like "momentum" and "karma," it is impossible to not sense the World Series slipping out of Cleveland's grasp. Game 6 represented the Cleveland Indians' last shot at putting the Boston Red Sox away once for all, but instead the fans were witness to a complete disaster on just about every imaginable level of play. Yes, I wrote over a week ago that this series would likely stretch the entire seven games, but being up 3-1 and then falling to pieces afterward is not quite what I'd had in mind when I wrote that.
So, what in the samhell is going on around here? Put simply, the last two weeks have seen the near-complete collapse of half the Indians' starting rotation (as well as a crucial cog in the team's once-impenetrable bullpen), while the last two games have seen large portions of the Tribe offense gone AWOL. While the team has been able to get around the former problem until three days ago, the second issue is now rearing its ugly head at the worst possible time. A few reasons for these events swim to mind:
What do you do, Cleveland? What do you do?
I am getting really tired of using this intro, but here we go again:
At times you may hear me refer to what I call the "the beauty and the horror" of baseball: barring a rain out or some kind of natural calamity, a ball game isn't over until the 27th out is recorded. There is no time limit on innings or on the game itself as a whole, and there is no "shot clock" on individual at-bats. Therefore, anything can and does happen.
This was the most probably disheartening baseball game I've seen since a certain recently-dispatched New York ball club swept a horribly scuffling Tribe in three games back in August. What else can I say? You can look the score and easily guess out how this fiasco went. Who screwed the pooch (and when and how) is immaterial right now ... all that matters is that ALCS Game 7 has been forced, and what was once Cleveland's series to lose two days ago has now become a complete toss-up with one game left to decide who advances to the Fall Classic and who spends a long winter playing golf and wondering what could have been. Unbelievable.
I'll speak frankly here: for the first time since that awful stretch in the weeks after the All-Star Break, my confidence is not high (in fact, I feel pretty sick to my stomach typing this out right now). Even though I don't believe much in things like "momentum" and "karma," it is impossible to not sense the World Series slipping out of Cleveland's grasp. Game 6 represented the Cleveland Indians' last shot at putting the Boston Red Sox away once for all, but instead the fans were witness to a complete disaster on just about every imaginable level of play. Yes, I wrote over a week ago that this series would likely stretch the entire seven games, but being up 3-1 and then falling to pieces afterward is not quite what I'd had in mind when I wrote that.
So, what in the samhell is going on around here? Put simply, the last two weeks have seen the near-complete collapse of half the Indians' starting rotation (as well as a crucial cog in the team's once-impenetrable bullpen), while the last two games have seen large portions of the Tribe offense gone AWOL. While the team has been able to get around the former problem until three days ago, the second issue is now rearing its ugly head at the worst possible time. A few reasons for these events swim to mind:
1. Wear and tear from 200+ innings of work catching up to Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia at last.So, here it comes, Cleveland fans, ready or not. Either tonight's ALCS Game 7 will represent the most cathartic (not to mention miraculous) postseason Indians comeback since the 1997 ALDS or it will be the hardest (and cruellest) punch in the gut this team has suffered since at least the final week of 2005 (if not the end October 1997).
2. A horrendous group of umpires, a few of whom enforce a moving strike zone that is apparently shaped like a live amoeba.
3. That lack of all-important "post season experience" I keep hearing about whenever I happen to walk by a TV set broadcasting the game.
4. "The Fix" is on.
5. John Farrell, Boston's pitching coach, was in charge of Indians player development from 2001-2006, which gives him an uncomfortable amount of insight into Indians pitching.
6. A flummoxed God realizes that Cleveland might have actually have a realistic shot at winning the World Series for the first time in 59 years and is hurriedly correcting that little problem.
What do you do, Cleveland? What do you do?
Friday, October 19, 2007
ALCS Game 5: Boston 7, Cleveland 1
Well, we finally got our Game 1 pitcher's duel at last ... and while the game itself was different, the end result was pretty much the same, if marginally less humiliating. D'ohhh.
Rather than doing so in enemy territory (as had been the case in 1995 and 1997), the Cleveland Indians wanted to take the American League title in front of a packed house at Jacobs' Field on another unseasonably warm and breezy October evening. Already up 3 games to 1 over the Boston Red Sox, it may have been a bit much to expect a fourth consecutive win against this club, particularly with Josh Beckett on the mound once again. Much as he did in a shortened performance in the series opener, the boyish Texan completely dominated the proceedings: effortlessly sawing down Tribe batters all night long. Really, there really isn't much more to say than that: in Internet parlance, we got ourselves +o+4lly pwn3d.
(Gosh, that intro sounded an awful lot like this one, eh?)
If there was any good news to be had on this night, it was that C.C. Sabathia pitched far better than he did in Game 1 (while still never quite attaining his regular-season form). Until the 7th inning (which is when Boston started to pull away), the beseiged Cleveland ace had only allowed 2 runs to score, using luck and his defense to smash down multiple Red Sox threats. Problem is, when you're facing Beckett, handing him any kind of lead is never a good idea, and a humbled Cleveland offense scored only once in the entire evening when a badly scuffling Travis Hafner knocked in Grady Sizemore while batting into a double play. Barring that lone instance, the night belonged entirely to Beantown.
To the horror of the sold-out crowd, things got worse in the 8th inning. A possibly shell-shocked Rafael Perez, making his first appearance since his Game 2 debacle, couldn't find the strike zone and managed to boost his ALCS ERA even higher into the stratosphere than it already was (holy crap, 45.00!?!?), creating a mess that Game 2 hero Tom Mastny did his best to clean up. By the time that frame had mercifully ended, the contest was well beyond lost. With slightly rusty BoSox closer Jonathan Papelbon showing up in the ninth to finish off the proceedings (and get in an inning of needed work), this game could only have been beautiful to a Red Sox fan.
And so, another travel day follows, with the series moving back to cramped Fenway Park for a Game 2 rematch of Fausto Carmona and Curt Schilling. For the Indians, they can tell everyone that Game 6 isn't a "must-win" situation as much as they like, but for them to allow Boston to force a Game 7 free-for-all is something no one rooting for the Indians wants to see happen. Assuming Carmona can revert to at least a semblance of his season caliber, this series is still well within Cleveland's reach at this moment in time, but the idea of another loss begetting a sudden death toss-up on Sunday night instills more than a glimmer of anxiety in my chest.
Bah, we'll worry about that when and if the time comes. For today, all either side and their millions of fans can do is wait.
Rather than doing so in enemy territory (as had been the case in 1995 and 1997), the Cleveland Indians wanted to take the American League title in front of a packed house at Jacobs' Field on another unseasonably warm and breezy October evening. Already up 3 games to 1 over the Boston Red Sox, it may have been a bit much to expect a fourth consecutive win against this club, particularly with Josh Beckett on the mound once again. Much as he did in a shortened performance in the series opener, the boyish Texan completely dominated the proceedings: effortlessly sawing down Tribe batters all night long. Really, there really isn't much more to say than that: in Internet parlance, we got ourselves +o+4lly pwn3d.
(Gosh, that intro sounded an awful lot like this one, eh?)
If there was any good news to be had on this night, it was that C.C. Sabathia pitched far better than he did in Game 1 (while still never quite attaining his regular-season form). Until the 7th inning (which is when Boston started to pull away), the beseiged Cleveland ace had only allowed 2 runs to score, using luck and his defense to smash down multiple Red Sox threats. Problem is, when you're facing Beckett, handing him any kind of lead is never a good idea, and a humbled Cleveland offense scored only once in the entire evening when a badly scuffling Travis Hafner knocked in Grady Sizemore while batting into a double play. Barring that lone instance, the night belonged entirely to Beantown.
To the horror of the sold-out crowd, things got worse in the 8th inning. A possibly shell-shocked Rafael Perez, making his first appearance since his Game 2 debacle, couldn't find the strike zone and managed to boost his ALCS ERA even higher into the stratosphere than it already was (holy crap, 45.00!?!?), creating a mess that Game 2 hero Tom Mastny did his best to clean up. By the time that frame had mercifully ended, the contest was well beyond lost. With slightly rusty BoSox closer Jonathan Papelbon showing up in the ninth to finish off the proceedings (and get in an inning of needed work), this game could only have been beautiful to a Red Sox fan.
And so, another travel day follows, with the series moving back to cramped Fenway Park for a Game 2 rematch of Fausto Carmona and Curt Schilling. For the Indians, they can tell everyone that Game 6 isn't a "must-win" situation as much as they like, but for them to allow Boston to force a Game 7 free-for-all is something no one rooting for the Indians wants to see happen. Assuming Carmona can revert to at least a semblance of his season caliber, this series is still well within Cleveland's reach at this moment in time, but the idea of another loss begetting a sudden death toss-up on Sunday night instills more than a glimmer of anxiety in my chest.
Bah, we'll worry about that when and if the time comes. For today, all either side and their millions of fans can do is wait.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
ALCS Game 4: Boston 3, Cleveland 7
Wow. For four solid innings tonight, we actually had a real, honest-to-Goat scoreless pitcher's duel going. Then, all hell broke loose ... but we're getting ahead of ourselves ...
Almost from the instant Game 2 of the American League Championship Series finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona had found himself in the same spot occupied by Cleveland Indians skipper Eric Wedge a week and change before as the national media (and many in the Red Sox Nation) wondered if he was going to move staff ace Josh Beckett forward in the rotation to face the Tribe on short rest in Game 4, instead of sticking with veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield as originally scheduled. A week earlier, Wedge stuck with Paul Byrd to start Game 4 of the ALDS, ignoring the cries of many who wanted C.C. Sabathia starting in that situation instead, and the Tribe manager's decision paid off as Byrd's Houdini-like performance led the Indians to eliminating the New York Yankees, and served up a heapin' helpin' of crow to everyone who doubted him (including this writer). Ignoring similar protests from the press and the fans, Francona, like Wedge a week before, stuck to his planned rotation.
The problems the doubters have with Wakefield run the gamut from physical issues (he had been sidelined from the ALDS due to nagging back problems and was making his first start in 2 weeks), to his less-than-stellar postseason record, and perhaps most importantly to the unpredictable nature of his specialty: any pitcher specializing in tossing knuckleballs has to basically do a high wire act on the mound in order to keep the opposing team at bay, with weather conditions and skill playing into the effectiveness of the pitch during the course of the game. As Game 4 got started, the weather was definitely on Wakefield's side (breezy, unseasonably warm mid-sixties temperatures with some clammy humidity from rain showers earlier -- perfect for knuckleballs), and his command was devastating.
Then along came the fifth inning and the roof caved in on the Sox in a hurry. "Mountain Man" Casey Blake blasted a pitch onto the Home Run Porch to break the scoreless tie, and it seemed like Wakefield's control seemed to waver afterwards as he then gave up a single to Franklin Gutierrez, hit Kelly Shoppach with a pitch, gave up a fielder's choice to Grady Sizemore, misplayed what should have been a double-play ball by Asdrubal Cabrera (which scored a run) and then gave up a RBI single to Victor Martinez.
With the score now 3-0, Francona lifted Wakefield in an attempt to cease the onslaught, but the Red Sox pitching only continued to melt down as reliever Manny Delcarmen suddenly lost his ability to throw his usually effective curve ball for a strike, giving up a three-run bomb to Cleveland's own Mr. October, followed by a single to Kenny Lofton (who then stole second base), a Blake RBI single and a walk to Gutierrez before finally getting a third out. Throughout Boston's 35-minute ordeal, 12 Indians batted, and 7 touched home plate. Oh my ...
For the Indians, starting Byrd was nowhere near as risky a move in this situation as it seemed to be in New York, but one of the devout veteran's more interesting stats is that is home ERA during the regular season was nearly two points higher than his road total, which seemed to indicate a possible shooting gallery for the Red Sox offense, who had been held to two runs over the previous 14 innings. Said shooting gallery arrived at the top of the sixth, when Byrd (probably feeling the effects of an unplanned half-hour of inactivity) suddenly gave up two consecutive home runs. Wedge, not taking any chances, pulled his starter immediately and replaced him with Jensen Lewis, who allowed yet another Boston home run before settling down and ending the inning.
Once the mid game offensive freak out was over, the rest of the contest was as barren of runs as the first half as the bullpens for both teams clamped down and prevented either side from mounting additional rallies. By the end of the night (on top of two perfect innings from Rafael Betancourt) Cleveland, the underdog coming into the ALCS, now stood atop a reeling Boston by a 3-1 margin.
And so, the postseason continues in two days: with the Red Sox now facing elimination on unfriendly turf unless they can somehow pull off three victories in a row (one more at Jacobs' Field, and then two at Fenway Park), while the Indians need only to win one of the next three games to take the American League pennant. Meanwhile, way out west, the white-hot 2007 National League champion Colorado Rockies are forced to idle for the next week, waiting to find out who they'll be facing in the 2007 World Series.
Almost from the instant Game 2 of the American League Championship Series finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona had found himself in the same spot occupied by Cleveland Indians skipper Eric Wedge a week and change before as the national media (and many in the Red Sox Nation) wondered if he was going to move staff ace Josh Beckett forward in the rotation to face the Tribe on short rest in Game 4, instead of sticking with veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield as originally scheduled. A week earlier, Wedge stuck with Paul Byrd to start Game 4 of the ALDS, ignoring the cries of many who wanted C.C. Sabathia starting in that situation instead, and the Tribe manager's decision paid off as Byrd's Houdini-like performance led the Indians to eliminating the New York Yankees, and served up a heapin' helpin' of crow to everyone who doubted him (including this writer). Ignoring similar protests from the press and the fans, Francona, like Wedge a week before, stuck to his planned rotation.
The problems the doubters have with Wakefield run the gamut from physical issues (he had been sidelined from the ALDS due to nagging back problems and was making his first start in 2 weeks), to his less-than-stellar postseason record, and perhaps most importantly to the unpredictable nature of his specialty: any pitcher specializing in tossing knuckleballs has to basically do a high wire act on the mound in order to keep the opposing team at bay, with weather conditions and skill playing into the effectiveness of the pitch during the course of the game. As Game 4 got started, the weather was definitely on Wakefield's side (breezy, unseasonably warm mid-sixties temperatures with some clammy humidity from rain showers earlier -- perfect for knuckleballs), and his command was devastating.
Then along came the fifth inning and the roof caved in on the Sox in a hurry. "Mountain Man" Casey Blake blasted a pitch onto the Home Run Porch to break the scoreless tie, and it seemed like Wakefield's control seemed to waver afterwards as he then gave up a single to Franklin Gutierrez, hit Kelly Shoppach with a pitch, gave up a fielder's choice to Grady Sizemore, misplayed what should have been a double-play ball by Asdrubal Cabrera (which scored a run) and then gave up a RBI single to Victor Martinez.
With the score now 3-0, Francona lifted Wakefield in an attempt to cease the onslaught, but the Red Sox pitching only continued to melt down as reliever Manny Delcarmen suddenly lost his ability to throw his usually effective curve ball for a strike, giving up a three-run bomb to Cleveland's own Mr. October, followed by a single to Kenny Lofton (who then stole second base), a Blake RBI single and a walk to Gutierrez before finally getting a third out. Throughout Boston's 35-minute ordeal, 12 Indians batted, and 7 touched home plate. Oh my ...
For the Indians, starting Byrd was nowhere near as risky a move in this situation as it seemed to be in New York, but one of the devout veteran's more interesting stats is that is home ERA during the regular season was nearly two points higher than his road total, which seemed to indicate a possible shooting gallery for the Red Sox offense, who had been held to two runs over the previous 14 innings. Said shooting gallery arrived at the top of the sixth, when Byrd (probably feeling the effects of an unplanned half-hour of inactivity) suddenly gave up two consecutive home runs. Wedge, not taking any chances, pulled his starter immediately and replaced him with Jensen Lewis, who allowed yet another Boston home run before settling down and ending the inning.
Once the mid game offensive freak out was over, the rest of the contest was as barren of runs as the first half as the bullpens for both teams clamped down and prevented either side from mounting additional rallies. By the end of the night (on top of two perfect innings from Rafael Betancourt) Cleveland, the underdog coming into the ALCS, now stood atop a reeling Boston by a 3-1 margin.
And so, the postseason continues in two days: with the Red Sox now facing elimination on unfriendly turf unless they can somehow pull off three victories in a row (one more at Jacobs' Field, and then two at Fenway Park), while the Indians need only to win one of the next three games to take the American League pennant. Meanwhile, way out west, the white-hot 2007 National League champion Colorado Rockies are forced to idle for the next week, waiting to find out who they'll be facing in the 2007 World Series.
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