jacksonianmarch

Neither are the sox on the road

G-Men vs Patriots in the superbowl

Well, the pitching was the difference. Right after the ASB, Burnett, Joba, CC and Pettitte were on tears. When 4 of your pitchers are going deep into games and pitching effectively, you will win a good amount. But fatigue, Joba rules, inconsistent play and some rest have slowed them down. The offense has slowed considerably since Girardi started sitting players.

As a tactician, he's bottom of the barrel. As the coach of the red sox and their wealth of talent, he's a HOF caliber manager.

I dont care what the end total of W/L is gonna be. I think its more important to pick when they clinch home field and the division. The yankees have 6 games prior to the sox series. The Sox have 7 games, 6 on the road, prior to the yankees series. I expect that the magic number will be down to 5 by the time the yankees and sox match up in the Bronx. As it stands, the yankees will be throwing CC, Joba and Pettitte vs the sox and the sox will be throwing DiceK, Byrd and Beckett. I think we nab 2 of those games and clinch at home vs KC. That would leave us with 5 games and 6 days to rearrange the rotation and get key guys some rest.

The sox got a gift call that gave them a win. So be it.

Good win anytime you pull one out when Gaudin or Mitre pitch. Magic number now 11

it was stupid, but it shouldnt hurt the team due to the lead

Fielder is gonna cost a TON. Young, still controlled for a few more yrs, and an MVP candidate. With Buchholz likely securing a spot in the rotation for 2010, your leverage has just dropped significantly, assuming you dont consider him a possibility for trade.

The Hughes-Mo combo has shortened the game to 7 innings in the regular season, and I would assume 6 innings when the postseason comes along. Also, Joba has been everything I expected him to be. Dominant some days, awful the next. You dont give up on that one yr into the starting plan. We saw last night that he can take down the second best offense in baseball with relative ease when he's on his game. I look forward to a rotation that houses CC, AJ, Hughes and Joba for 2010, with likely Pettitte or Lackey in the other position. But for now, Hughes is so huge in the pen that I wouldnt move him. In terms of his replacement in the pen in 2010, I think Melancon will be pretty good come 2010, but I see a FA acquisition as well.

I am actually not worried about CC. He has been worked this yr, but he wont be on 3 days rest down the stretch like he was last yr. I am also not worried about Pettitte. Burnett is the kind of guy who would cause me to bite my nails a bit. Its almost a 50/50 thing with him. Lights out or Lights off. Also, if we dont put up a good fight in the playoffs, it will be exceedingly disappointing.

VMart is not going to be your catcher long term. He'll be a half time catcher in 2010, which is why I think Tek's option gets picked up and then he'll be a full time 1b in 2011, either in Boston or elsewhere

Are you 12? Cause those are the exact same teams the sox have played and sucked hard against. Stop being an idiot

You can continue to pick your matchups all you want. The fact is, 1-3 Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte can stack up with anyone's top 3. Hughes and Mariano are better than anyone's 8-9 punch in the bullpen. And our offense will roll with anyone's pitching. Put that together with probable home field in a stadium where the yankees are a ridiculous 50-22, and you have to say that NY is the favorite. Now, as we all know, that doesnt guarantee s***. But any predictions of them getting steamrolled in the early going are nothing but homerism. Going team by team, I have to say that Detroit is the weakest. They do have a nice 1-2 punch of Verlander and Jackson, but Verlander really is the big #1. Jackson is still wild at times and easily waited out by a patient team. After those two, you run into a rookie in Porcello, and a guy who has been miserable since coming to Detroit in Washburn. Also, they have a bullpen that has been porous through the yr and also is missing their most important piece in Zumaya. Their offense is centered around 2 guys in Granderson and Cabrera, and as a whole has been incredibly disappointing. The Angels are actually the second weakest team IMO, in the AL. Not based on record, mind you, but based on what they have become. Over the yrs, when they would steamroll us out of the playoffs, their starting pitching would be good and their bullpen would be completely and totally stacked. That is no longer the case in the pen, but the rotation remains strong. Lackey remains their ace and is starting to pitch like one. Weaver and Kazmir get to slot in as the #2 and #3 and Saunders has been an inconsistent #4. But their bullpen, the crux of their postseason success has crumbled. KRod is gone. Shields is out for the yr. Fuentes is in, and while he has saved a bunch of games, he has really been a middle of the road reliever with the ERA over 4. And there are a bunch of inconsistent guys in the middle. Their biggest improvement has been the offense with Morales and Hunter stepping into the middle of the order, and Vlady falling back a bit due to injury. Regardless, their offense can hang with NY and Boston. Their starting pitching can hang up front with Boston and 1-3 with NYY. But their bullpen no longer has that lock down quality that they used to have, which was the absolute dagger that they could throw into the hearts of NY. Boston and NY are the top two teams in the AL, and this is after the sox slipped from that ranking for a short period of time around the AS break when their pitchers went down like flies and the offense hibernated. They are 1 and 2 in run differential. Both teams clobber opponents in their venues (1 and 2 in Home records). Both teams have a rather good 1-2 punch for the playoffs. Both teams have the lights out October closer. And both teams have offenses that score. So, to expound on my predictions.... ALE winner- NYY ALC winner- DET ALW winner- LAA ALWC winner- BOS First round- NYY def DET 3-1 NY with the home field and pretty much the full team advantage should take this series based on the overwhelming offensive advantage and the bullpen advantage. I would assume we split the first 2 games but close it out in Detroit with Sabathia on the hill First round- BOS def LAA 3-2 The sox will have to lean heavily on their top 2 in this series IMO. They have sucked on the road this yr, but they always seem to play LAA tough in any venue. My prediction is based on Boston taking 1 of 2 in Anaheim with Lackey outlasting Beckett and the sox team sleeping through one of the games on the road. My prediction also assumes that Saunders is outlasted in game 4 in Boston with Kazmir winning game 3 vs Buchholz and the sox sending Beckett to the hill in game 5 with everything on the line. Second Round- NYY def BOS 4-3 Home field advantage comes into play something fierce in this one. We can hit Beckett. We havent been hitting Lester, but outlasting him. We can hit Buchholz and any other slop you throw out there. Its gonna be a war, predicting individual games is gonna be a waste cause nothing ever comes out the way it should. But, this time around, the home field will make all the difference. I think it ends with Pettitte facing off vs Buchholz in game 7 and a possible long game going deep into the night. Would it be any other way?

CC looked pedestrian, but gutted out a win. Nice to see the O put it out of reach.

Yanks vs Phils in the series

Dont anticipate that being a problem. 2 game snag vs Baltimore aside, we have CC going tomorrow and a bunch of off days coming down the stretch

It will likely mean home field advantage, which is crucial when you consider the advantage the yankees have at home

laugh all you want. Just look at the standings.

Davis is a highly touted rookie, good enough to where they got rid of Kazmir to give the kid a chance

We have our problems. AJ is showing that right now as his inconsistency from start to start which is maddening. But, in a playoff sense, being able to throw CC, Pettitte, and AJ out there 1-3 with the 8-9 of Hughes and Mo is pretty nice. Joba is a wildcard at the 4 spot and thank god we dont have to go to a 5th guy. Our staff isnt nearly as deep as the 98 team, but we do run 3 pretty nice starters out there and a pretty strong back end of the pen. To go along with a better offense than anyone can throw at us, I dont see how we arent the favorites. That being said, we have been both the favorites and the underdogs since 2004 and have won a series, so we'll see how that works out for us.

Cause we really put our best foot forward with Marte pitching against righties, Edwar and Alby in for clutch situations and the like. Pettitte had nothing yesterday, but still had a gutty performance that should have gotten him a win

His demands are going to be on the CC Sabathia order. Young, powerful, ace, recently has been durable and even more so than CC, a ton of playoff success. Someone is gonna pay him a ton of money

I really dont consider golf a sport. Its a hobby that old people pick up. And I know its difficult, but so is table tennis and pool.

I have a very hard time picturing Lackey in Boston without seeing Beckett exit after 2010.