Beaneater

A final check-in for gloating purposes: Got the opponent wrong but the important part right! 6 out of 9 correct winners picked, which is not bad for me. Doesn't look like anyone else did way better or worse.

I just borrowed that set from a friend. I was looking at those three discs wondering when I would ever want to watch them. Still drawing a blank on that question.

Just watched the video of the Ellsbury rundown. That was pretty pathetic. He was dead to rights twice in that rundown. The last time Adams threw the ball, he was just about on top of Ellsbury, who was already slowing and turning back toward Adams. All Adams has to do is take another step and tag him; instead he throws (low) to Kozma (I think). Then Kozma and the pitcher have him dead to rights and Kozma double pumps when Ellsbury is already almost past the pitcher. Lame-o. Here's an actual question for those of you who watched the game. My understanding was that Wacha's deadliness was due to a mid/upper 90's fastball and a devastating ~87 mph change. Victorino's double was hit off a ~93.5 mph pitch and Drew's HR was off a 91.7 mph pitch, according to pitch f/x. I guess my question is, was the guy running out of gas after an arduous postseason? He did top out at 97.4 mph last night, which is pretty dang fast. But he couldn't muster up extra velocity for Victorino in a crucial situation and he basically threw a nothing pitch to Drew. (Though admittedly there wasn't much reason for him to suspect that Drew was going to jump all over a get-me-over first pitch fastball and hit it almost 400 feet.) Just a bad night for the kid?

And a 1-2-3 Kid WWF Heavyweight Champion shirt for Beaneater Jr.!

I'd say he did OK. In the C+/B- sort of range.

Since taking up residence in the Third World, I have been keeping my eyes peeled for these castoffs. I would really like a Red Sox 2003 AL Champions shirt; a Yankees 2004 AL Champions shirt (for the lols); and maybe a 2011 Red Sox Wild Card shirt. I can say that I wouldn't mind finding a Cardinals 2013 World Champions shirt a couple months from now. That would be acceptable too.

I'm late to the party but... BOSTON RED SOX -- 2013 WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!! Holy cow, I can hardly believe this. Thanks to all of you for providing details and analysis for me in my miserable state of not being able to see the games. It's much appreciated.

That's how I'm feeling too. You might get a lucky Lobaton off of Koji, but you're not going to score a boatload of runs off him. Taz goes in the 8th until there's a baserunner, then Koji comes in for the fatality. Also, more runs would not go unappreciated.

Beaneater posting at almost 3 AM from Africa mojo! I see you fine folks did an excellent job of ensuring a Sox lead. Now let's finish this off!

I was just saying this to 8-year-old Beaneater Jr. He was in the oven in 2004 and too young to remember 2007. He's got a solid chance of having his 2nd Sox championship (and the first one he'll remember) before he turns 9. He was trying to roll over in his mind that there was a span of time equal to the current lifespan of his great-grandfather where the Sox won zilch. It's freaky. Dang, I hope they win tonight. I think they win Game 7 if it comes to that -- there will just be too much Lester and Doubront (did I seriously just say that?) available out of the 'pen. But I need a full night's sleep sometime...

This makes a lot of sense to me.

This is one of the very most important reasons that I need the Sox to win one more game. I don't get to see any of the action for all intents and purposes, and getting a championship DVD would just be fantastic for me. I happened to be in the States for 2004, which was otherworldly. In 2007, I was back in Africa for the whole season. A friend's championship DVD went a long way toward filling the void.

Obviously Ortiz and Lester are 1-2, with Ortiz getting the nod because he is annihilating the Cards' pitchers at an unprecedented level. Like many others have said, Lester gets a further bump if he throws a few quality innings in a hypothetical-and-not-going-to-happen-because-John-Lackey Game 7. Just want to put some Ross love out there. Is he the WS MVP? No, not with what Papi and Jon are doing. But he's taken a staff that could have been spooked after two bad, bad losses and he's guided them to consistent excellence. 3 ERs over 3 games with him behind the dish, if my memory serves. Not to mention the fact that he has come up big with the bat too. Ross is my #3.

Obvious point here, but consider just how huge Lester being his own bridge was. Taz has pitched about 35 straight games (very well, mind you), but I assume he would have been up for another appearance tonight. After that? Breslow, much as I love him from his work in the previous two rounds, is not currently trustable. Lackey's not giving us an inning of side work tonight. Can you imagine if we had to bring Dempster or Morales into the 7th or 8th inning of a tight game? Now everyone not named Koji gets an extra day's rest and we go into Game 6 knowing that in the unlikely event that Lackey doesn't shut the Cards down, we've got a well-rested 'pen ready to pitch multiple innings. And for (the highly improbable) Game 7 I assume that Peavy, Doubs, Lester, and maybe even Buch are available. Awesome. Especially Lester and Doubs, since the Cards are apparently as helpless as advertised against LH pitching. If Peavy can even give us 3 reasonable innings, there will be enough quality arms to take us home.

Lester says, "I may only play in two games this series, but wait just a sec before you start engraving Papi's name on any trophies..."

It's a testament to Lester's awesomeness that Koji is coming in and we're saying, "I dunno..." I mean, it's Koji. And that's why Koji coming in is just fine. Boom!

I am getting heartburn just thinking about this. Good thing Koji's got a swing-'n'-miss pitch so he doesn't have to rely entirely on the ump.

Awful decision by Salty. Yes, he had Craig dead to rights... when he got the ball. But he had to wait about half an hour for Molina to come to the tag, which negated any possibility of getting Craig at third. That being said, what an unaccountably ridiculous ticky-tack call by the ump. Two guys get tangled up when four things (two men, a base, and a thrown ball) all coincide in space and time. That cannot be the end of a World Series game. No, no, no. Just watched the replay about a million times. I'm not God, but here's how I interpret what I saw. Salty makes crappy throw. Middlebrooks goes down trying to snag it. He looks back -- not at Craig but to see where the ball is bouncing off to. His legs are pretty near the chalk line so he lifts them up to let Craig have the basepath. He's not aware that Craig is 2-3 feet up the second base path -- he thinks he's actually doing whatever the opposite of obstruction is. Do I expect the ump to agree with me? No. Do I expect him to agree with me upon seeing it one time in real time? No. I expect him to realize that no one has actually done anything wrong and that ending a World Series game on a highly debatable obstruction call is, how you say, not a good idea. Watched the replay again and am even surer than I was. Plus the fact that Craig, to my eyes, falls over the prone portion of Middlebrooks and doesn't even come in contact with the upraised legs. The umpire of course can't see that (especially since he was looking the other way!) but he has to NOT make that call. Awful decision by Salty, awful call by blue. Now it's time to reverse the stupidity curse and put the next 3 games away so far that no bad calls can make any difference.

Nava sighting! And Bogaerts batting 6th, eh? That's really not a bad lineup. If Salty or Drew would decide to start hitting, it would give pitchers fits. I want to see Bogaerts driving in Nava who has just driven in Ortiz all night long. You know, for the one or two at-bats where Papi doesn't just drive himself in.

I think you're right about Farrell's psychology, Bellhorn. On the other hand, I find it a bit odd to prefer Gomes over Nava because Gomes got a certain big hit. When Gomes is playing and Nava isn't, it's hardly to Gomes' credit if he outperforms Nava. We just have no idea about the counterfactuals -- i.e. what would Nava have done in the same situation? Maybe he gets a couple of big hits earlier in the game, reducing the need for one big hit late in the game. Maybe he GIDPs every time he's at bat. Who knows? Unless Gomes had gone crazy with the bat (which he didn't), it's still just the wrong decision. It's a wrong decision that paid off in the win/loss column, but a wrong decision nonetheless.

I agree 100%. Morales is the last and final person out of our 'pen in that spot. Farrell could have gone with either of the big guns, Taz or Breslow, or failing that, maybe Workman. If he was dead set on it being a lefty, I'd much rather have seen Doubs out there than Morales. Honestly, I'd be happy enough to hear that Morales is off the WS roster. He's lost right now. I have a lot of hope for the guy. I see him being another Andrew Miller -- big lefty arm with astounding stuff but needing to get his mind in the right place. That has worked out great for Miller, and I hope it can work out for Morales. The WS is not the time for that tinkering, though. Not that replacing him on the roster with Thornton is a huge confidence-inspiring move either...

OK, how did we do in the LCS series? One out of two isn't bad, unless you're a parachute packer I guess. I am feeling pretty good about this line explaining why I thought the Tigers would lose to the A's in the ALDS: We saw pretty much all the Tigers' failure modes. Starting pitching wasn't going to be a problem, but they lost due to defense, base-running, bullpen, and (to some smaller and unquantifiable degree) coaching. And lack of beards. OK, just one prediction left to go. Go prove me right, Sox!

I read somewhere that the Tigers players were giving each other "goodbye and thanks for a nice season" hugs in the dugout during the 8th inning. If that's true, well, it's just one more intangible that the Sox have. This team could be down 7-0 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, with an 0-2 count on John MacDonald and they'd still be thinking, "Alright, just get on base!" Down by a mere three with at least three outs to go? Shoot, that's no time for consolation hugs! That's time for planning your walk-off HR celebration!

Just got a chance to watch a few of the highlights. What a hit by Vic. That curveball was pretty nasty. True, Veras left it a bit higher than he would have liked, but it wasn't a real hanger. It had some bite and it looked like broke close to a foot. Vic just waited on it and put the barrel right on it. I understand Hunter's frustration because maybe that's not a homer everywhere, but I don't think there's a ballpark in America where Peralta (come on, it's Peralta!) actually goes back and makes that play. So it's a 3-2 or 4-2 lead instead of 5-2. It would have held up anyway. Helluva play by Drew in the 7th. Good thing it was Cabrera running! Or should I say "running". I agree with YOTN. Each round has been less stressful for me, and honestly at this point winning the WS will be gravy for me. Losing to the Rays would have been agonizing. Losing to the Tigers -- eh, I have MI ties and I'd have been happy enough to root with them for the Tigers in the WS. Losing the WS -- are you kidding me? We made it to the World Series!!! Not that I'm planning or expecting to lose the WS, but the ride has been so good thus far that I can handle it ending now.

Why indeed? With all due respect to Gomes, Nava is better. Nava is a righty killer. Gomes is deadly off the bench late in the game. There is just no reason at all for Nava not to be starting, other than a hunch which might just be indigestion. Put the best team on the field, Farrell!