Outside the Diamond - Thoughts on Politics and Sports

My First Blogging Project

2007-10-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

I've decided to do something that interests me with this blog as opposed to just commenting on what goes on in the every day sporting world, though I should really start doing that consistently as well.

But my addiction really lies with baseball history. I'm an historophile in all walks of life, but it really comes out in baseball.

I'm obsessed with pitching as well and I fell in love with the Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers when it originally came out. They have also done a really great job cataloguing pitches and giving a definition of each. However I'd like to get some extensive biographies of these pitches and, if they were prevalent at some point, why they aren't anymore.

The first pitch I'll be doing is the circle change-up. My research on this one has been on-going and I'll probably have up the "biography" in the next day or so.

2007 Game 7 ALCS Preview

2007-10-21T18:50:00.000-04:00

If there is a sacred catechism in baseball, it's Game 7. Tonight someone, a superstar or a role player, will have their name firmly entrenched in baseball's postseason mythology. What are the things I'll be paying attention to tonight?

* In what has become a one-game playoff, the team's 2% advantage of playing at home comes into play. Ryan Garko wrote in his blog that they didn't want to go back to Boston, and as we face baseball's equivalent to a football playoff game, we understand why.

* Matsuzaka, pictured above announcing what was, for the Red Sox, an eight figure deal, has looked tired in his last few starts. He wasn't prepared for his American workload, working every fourth or fifth day as opposed to every sixth. I can't recall who said it, but someone said that Dice-K's pitches haven't looked anywhere near as crisp in the second half of the season. For a guy that was supposed to carry Boston's pitching staff, Dice-K needs to step-up in a big way tonight. As I said earlier today neither team will be shy about yanking their starter early if they prove to not be effective.

Jake Westbrook, Matsuzaka's mound opponent, lost the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALDS and defeated the Sox in the third game of this ALCS. He's a groundball pitcher and has one the highest groundball ratios this side of Derek Lowe. If he can keep the ball down, and Sox hitters don't lay off of his pitches, I can't think of another starter that I want to go for the Indians. Especially considering the fatigue that both Carmona and Sabathia appear to be suffering from.

* Travis Hafner needs to hit. As the ALCS headed to Cleveland, it seemed like Travis Hafner remembered that he was Travis Hafner, but all of a sudden he's slipped into a terrible slump at the most inopportune time. Grady Sizemore is another guy that the Tribe needs to step-up, but Grady has posted a .321 OBP for the series, so at least he's been drawing some walks to go along with his putrid hitting. Asdrubal Cabrera has also posted a low OBP coming out of the number two hole for Cleveland.

* Jacoby Ellsbury is a smart option for his offense and he does play above-average defense but I wouldn't be surprised if Francona puts Crisp back in center as a late-inning defensive replacement. Watching Ellsbury's inexperienced trot around Fenway's centerfield last night only strengthened my opinion that Francona needs Coco there in late innings. Or he could put Ellsbury in left and put Coco in center as a late inning defensive replacement for Manny Ramirez.

Bottom Line: As I said earlier, the 2% advantage of playing at home has to give Boston the advantage going into this one. Other than that, it's like any other baseball game, it's a toss-up. The gap between Westbrook and Matsuzaka doesn't appear to be large enough to give any team an advantage, though that will depend on what Dice-K takes the mound. I said Boston in seven at the start of the series, so I guess I'll stick with that prediction. Let's just hope we get one of the few good games of this year's postseason.

Sunday Preview

2007-10-21T07:14:00.000-04:00

The brilliant post-modern satirist Stephen Colbert livens up the set of Meet This Press this week, in what is sure to be the most intentionally funny appearance on the show in quite some time. Generally I turn on the show with a certain degree of melancholy, but my spirits are already lifted just knowing that Colbert is this morning's guest. It's nice for even the historically serious Meet the Press to take a break sometimes.

The sports day for me is a bit of a bore. Living in Atlanta, I get the Falcons/Saints at one and then Jets/Bengals and Vikings/Cowboys at four. The Saints are looking for their second victory of the season, coming off their win last Sunday against the Seahawks. I don't think they could ask for a better team to get a winning streak going than the Falcons. The Vikings are hoping their weak pass rush can stop Tony Romo and the 5-1 Cowboys who are coming off their first loss of the season last week against the Patriots.

Of course later in the day we get Game 7 of the ALCS. It's nearly impossible to prognosticate on a single baseball game, but both bullpens are rested and if the starters show any inability to get the job done early, Francona nor Wedge will hesitate in going to their respective bullpens. I'll check in later in the day, probably during Fox News Sunday, with my thoughts on football and more of a preview for Game 7 of the ALCS.

He Did It Again...

2007-10-20T23:16:00.000-04:00

As I type this, Curt Schilling is talking to FOX on-field correspondent Ken Rosenthal about his start tonight and Daisuke "Dice-K" Matsuzaka's chances of putting the Red Sox in the World Series tomorrow evening. In his performance against the Indians tonight, Schilling sealed his legacy of being the "go to" guy in postseason elimination situations, giving the Boston club seven innings of two-run baseball. Schilling also struck out five Tribe hitters. No, it wasn't his most impressive outing, but it was a good one.

It has been stated over and over again that Curt Schilling isn't the same pitcher that dominated National League hitters in 1993 or 2001. Nor is he the same pitcher who took the hill at Yankee Stadium for game six of the 2004 ALCS. That Curt Schilling simply doesn't exist anymore. The one who does will suffice for Red Sox fans, especially if they win tomorrow night and go on to play Colorado in the World Series.

Whether or not you believe that players have an intrinsic ability to perform in the clutch, and while I don't discount it completely I do strongly believe that it doesn't exist, these are the games that Curt Schilling will be remembered for and rightfully so. If you asked him what he wanted to be remembered for, it wouldn't be his regular season accomplishments. Though I'm sure he's proud of those as well. He wants to be remembered as the king of elimination. The guy with the bloody sock. The guy who, after losing his stuff, redefined himself as a finesse pitcher and carried his team to live another day.

Tipping his cap to the Red Sox faithful after his seventh and final inning, Schilling joined former Yankee left-hander Whitey Ford as the only man to have three stellar playoff elimination game starts. Adding that accomplishment to an already impressive postseason and regular season résumé the Red Sox right-hander increased his chances of becoming a Hall-of-Famer tenfold, if he wasn't already a shoo-in. It might sound hyperbolic to base a baseball player's career on a small sampling of games, but that's the way the voters vote, intelligent or not.

The Red Sox won the penultimate game 12-2.

Game 7 takes place tomorrow night and will see Jake Westbrook starting for the Indians and Daisuke Matsuzaka for the Red Sox. Westbrook was the winner of game three and Dice-K the loser. First pitch is at 8:21 PM.