Sept 1 - Oct 2 MLB Thread

[JMK]

Bottom line: It's a toss up everywhere in the AL. It's too bad we never get to see the Angels out east. I'd love to be able to watch my boys Vladi and Orlando try and take the Angels all the way.

[wishful thinking]If the Yanks are out by monday, then I think this would be the first year ever that I'd be happy for any team that wins the WS. Maybe not so happy should the Braves win, but it would cap off an incredible season for them so I'd have to give props. If Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Anaheim, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, won the WS, I could find reasons to be happy about it.[/wishful thinking]

[CMJ]

I pretty much agree Kyle. I'd be happy with just about anyone but NY this year. I have seen the Angels play a bunch this year. Strong team, and very underrated because no one back East ever sees them.

[Jedi Master Carr]

If Boston didn't win, I would like to see Cleveland or Chicago win, only because neither has won in ages.

[JMK]

Here are the teams I'd like to see win, in order from most happy, to least

1. Boston
2. Anaheim
3. Cleveland
4. St. Louis
5. Houston
6. San Diego
7. Atlanta
8. New York

[CMJ]

Where's Chicago?

My list -

1. Boston
2. Chicago
3. Atlanta
4. San Diego
5. Anaheim
6. Cleveland
7. St Louis
8. Houston
9. Philly
10. New York

[JMK]

Oops. I guess Chicago would come in just above San Diego.

[Jedi Master Carr]

For me
1 Boston
2 Cleveland
3 Chicago
4 La Angels
5 St. Louis
6 San Diego
7 Houston
8 Philadelphia
9 Atlanta
10 New York Y

[jjwr]

Wells very shaky in the first inning. Good hit by Matsui but the rest were gifts.

As soon as Renteria was thrown out in the first the crowd started cheering cause it knew Big Papi was coming up. Incredible sight if nothing else, regardless what happens this series that guy is just huge right now.

[CMJ]

Both guys already showed their worth. A-Rod steals 2 bases, and Ortiz gets another game tying RBI.

[Jedieb]

Posada has just killed us tonight. With the bases loaded in the first, he had a horrendous AB. Wells was uncharacteristically wild and Posada started hacking away at the first pitch. He killed any chance of a big inning. He stranded 3 more in his next two AB's. Now in the 6th he had a chance to make a play on Giambi's bad throw, but didn't. Luckily that passed ball didn't make things worse. Ughh, I'll be leaving now. Lots of crying and drinking to do. Playoff baseball is here, and the losses hurt that much more. :cry

[CMJ]

Eight outs till we're even.

The White Sox might be doing both of us a favor though.

[CMJ]

And Jeter goes yard. Typical.

:\

[jjwr]

Not over yet, Jeter just hit a 2 run homer.

[jjwr]

If the Yanks lose heres why...

7th inning - 5 Runs - 4 Hits - 7 Walks - 1 Error

[CMJ]

Six outs away now as we're about to start the 8th. Wells is out.

[jjwr]

3 Outs to go!

[CMJ]

Cleveland ties Chicago in bottom of the 9th. Makes this game even more important once again.

[jjwr]

And the Sox win!

Huge win, now all they need is a split to be guaranteed at least the 1 game playoff.

[CMJ]

Red Sox win, all even once again.

[CMJ]

The Cubs beat Houston. The fightin' Phills close to within one for the NL WC.

[CMJ]

The Tribe goes down. Looks likely both AL East teams get in now.

[Jedi Master Carr]

It was a big win, and Cleveland's lost is huge. Cleveland needs to win both games left to try at least to force a one game playoff.

[Jedieb]

Cleveland is now one behind both AL East teams. If either AL team gets swept in these last 2 they could find themselves out of the playoffs. What's more likely is that we're going to get some kind of one game play off. One win by either AL team gaurantees them at least a WC tie and a Division tie. One more Cleveland loss and both AL teams can do no worse than a one game playoff with Cleveland.

I was really surprised by the Tribe. The White Sox rested most of their team but still played a tough game and pulled out that win. Ozzie G. did exactly what he needed to do, get his team ready for the post season. He doesn't owe Red Sox or Yankees fans any apologies, even if Chicago gets hammered these next 2 games.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Cleveland though has to win two games to get that playoff, if they lose once more they are looking at not making the playoffs most likely.

[Jedieb]

I had no idea these two were at yesterday's game!
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/offbeat/gallery/2005/0929/super.07.starwars.ap.jpg

And no, that's not Johnny Damon's Dad throwing out the first pitch.

[Jedi Master Carr]

LOL yeah I saw that it is from the toronto series. It was promotion of the SW exhibit in Boston.

[Jedieb]

What the hell was Wakefield thinking with that fastball to Shef? Early on, he doesn't have his good knuckler, but it could magically appear in the next inning.

[Jedieb]

Monster shot by Manny. I blame that partly on Flaherty. With 2 strikes, no way Johnson should have been throwing that pitch. He had a pitch to waste. It should have been really high heat or a slider in the dirt.

[JMK]

Wakefield doesn't have the knuckler jumping today. Guys are smoking his mistakes all over the park. Matsui just hit an absolutel rocket over the fence in center. Not a lot of balls get to where that one landed. 6-2 Yanks. Time for a pitching change. 4 runs vs Johnson is a big enough deficit. Gotta stop the bleeding now.

[JMK]

What an MVP race. A-Rod comes up with 4 hits today as the Yankees are up in game 2, 8-4.

[Doc Milo]

8-4 Yankees in the top of the 9th. Announcers just said that if the Yankees win this game, since Cleveland just lost to the Chi-Sox 4-3, then the Yankees win the East, even if the Red Sox beat the Yankees tomorrow.

Go Yankees!

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well at this point I rather have boston have the Wild Card. They get the White Sox, I don't want to face the Angels honestly they seemed deterimed after last year and might knock the crap out of who ever they play in the first series.

[Jedieb]

New York Yankees: AL East CHAMPS! :crack

[CMJ]

Congrats Yankee fans.

I really wanted the division this year. I just feel empty.

[Jedieb]

I'm really impressed by the White Sox. They've won two tough games against a Cleveland team that had everything to play for. Cleveland looks tight and tired. Everything is set up for tomorrow. Red Sox win or the Tribe loses, they're in. The Red Sox lose and Cleveland wins, playoff game at Fenway on Tuesday. Torre just said he may start Wright instead of Mussina tomorrow and that he'll rest some starters. If you're the Red Sox you want to see Wright on the mound, and Shef, Giambi, and Rivera on the bench.

[CMJ]

The White Sox pitching is starting to come back to early season form. They're gonna be tough as hell for us.

[jjwr]

I'm really suprised at the Indians, losing these two games were huge for them. A week ago they had a shot at the division now they may get swept right out of it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think the Indians are just chocking, because they are a young team and have few players to turn to for a boost. I am not worried about the White Sox because they don't have much offense. The Angels scare me because of their offense and their bullpen. If you are down in the 7th against them its almost over.

[CMJ]

The White Sox pen is just as dangerous as the Angels(reference yesterday's game for an example, 1 run allowed in 7+ innings). And as a group their starters are better.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't know the Angels just scare me more. The white sox are unproven in the postseason. You know what you are going to get from the Angels since they have been there. Plus Colon has been pitching amazing lately.

[CMJ]

As much as we've spent talking about the AL races, let's not forget that the NL wildcard is still up in the air.

[Jedieb]

Clemens came up big for Houston today. If they win tomorrow they clinch. Anyone know how the match ups look so far?

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah that is going to be interesting. I say Houston gets it though.

[CMJ]

Oswalt vs Maddux in the Houston game. Phillies have Lieber on the hill.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Maddux would be 50-50 really, they could beat Houston but I think Houston wins right now.

[jjwr]

One thing I don't understand, had the Indians won today and the Sox Won tomorrow and the Indians won as well the Sox & Yanks would have played for the Division and then the loser would have played the Indians for the Wild Card.

In that scenario both the Sox & Yanks would have finished the same record but the Indians would have won. So why does the indians losing give the division to the Yankee's? I can understand the Season series, Yanks won the series so in the case of a tie they get the division but when they were talking 3 way tie why did it matter if the Indians won or not?

Sorry, just confused...

[JMK]

I think Cleveland just ran out of gas. They spent everything just getting close to the Chi Sox. Oh well, look out for them next year.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah they are a young team, could be a dangerous team next year.

[Doc Milo]

I believe that the head-to-head tie-breaker scenario only occurs if both teams that are tied have a better record than any other second place club in the other divisions. In this case, the Yankees and Sox have a better record than Cleveland, therefore the division is decided in the head-to-head season series scenario.

If Cleveland had swept the Chi-Sox and Boston had won two of three against the Yankees, giving Boston and the Yankees the same record, and Cleveland a better record, then Cleveland would have been the Wild Card and Boston and the Yankees would have had to play a one game playoff for the division (since the Indians had a better record, the head-to-head scenario doesn't come into play.)

[Jedieb]

The tie-breaker rules were changed recently. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being reworked yet again in the offseason. Jason Stark had a good article on what happened yesterday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2178227

[CMJ]

Millar glanced around at that point. His eyes seemed glazed. Everyone listening looked just as perplexed as he was.

"I don't know, man," he said. "The main thing is, we have to find a way to win a game tomorrow."


Pretty much. :lol

[sirdizzy]

wow cleveland has everything to play for and yet they are still down 3-0 in the 5th

[Jedieb]

3-1 in Cleveland now. It really has been shocking that the White Sox have been sticking it to the Indians like this. It's not only that they have EVERYTHING to play for, they're at HOME. It just looks like that team ran out of gas. The Red Sox have a 1-0 lead going into the 4th.

[JMK]

Yeah, ever since Sizemore dropped that flyball in the sun last week it's been ALL downhill for the Indians. It seems that play literally destroyed their season. No one in the world would have guessed that the Indians would get swept at home on the most important weekend of the year. It still may not happen but still, they needed to come out stronger and just couldn't. Props to the White Sox though. They had nothing to play for and they've taken to them.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Glad to see the Red Sox win that wild card, now New York has to travel to LA that won't be easy. Who knows everybody wants a Sox-Yankee rematch, but we might get a Angel-White Sox series.

[Doc Milo]

Chi-Sox 99-63
Angels 95-67
Yankees 95-67
Red Sox 95-67


Pretty evenly matched teams we got here. No one dominant one. Angels may be the best well-rounded, a good offense, good defense, and good pitching, great bull-pen.

Chi-Sox, good pitching and defense, but the hitting, while good, doesn't measure up to the offenses of the other three.

Yankees -- shaky starting pitching, although more sure now than early season, no middle/long relief whatsoever, unbelievable late inning relief, and a great offense.

Red Sox -- similar to the Yankees, shaky starting pitching, shaky middle/long relief, no closer, and a great offense.

Should be interesting to say the least.

[JMK]

It seems that everyone has a good/great offense. Not a big change from the past few years, but who was the last team to go all the way on pitching & defense?