Unable to resist, I decided to listen to this clip. Talk about adding fuel to the flames of my anguish. The clip is Dave Campbell, the guy who provided color commentary for ESPN's radio broadcast of the Angel game, explaining to Mike & Mike why he thought that Reggie Willits should have been safe at third on the failed squeeze play.
I will say that everyone I watched with immediately concluded that Willits was out. Varitek seemed to hold the ball long enough. Campbell's point is twofold: 1) The umpires should have at least conferred, especially with the left field ump who also had a good look at the play and 2) If this play had happened in other circumstances (say a play at the plate where Varitek had lost the ball when he hit the ground), Willits would have been unquestionably safe. The rulebook also has a statement that the tagger has to maintain possession of the ball after the tag until the ball is given up intentionally.
He makes good points and if you enjoy torturing yourself with "what ifs," feel free to listen. I did. It doesn't quite convince me to send Tim Welke hate mail, but his secondary point is valid too - if this had happened to Boston, there would be a gigantic uproar in the Northeast. The Angels seem to be content to let it go. Food for dark thought.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Scioscia's Options
So this is obviously on my mind. I’m going to be like this for a few days. Just bear with me.
What were Scioscia’s options other than squeezing in that situation?
1. Squeeze on a different pitch. Probably a good call since Delcarmen hadn’t thrown a strike.
2. Let Aybar swing away. Well, Aybar is not all that great of a hitter. And he has no pop. A decent portion of his hits this year were from infield singles. I’m not all that optimistic about Aybar getting the run home by swinging away. Of course if he makes an out you have Figgins up, but now Figgins HAS to get a hit to get the run in.
3. Pinch hit for Aybar. Let’s look at our options:
A. Wood, Mathis, Quinlan: All of them would be at a disadvantage from the righty-righty matchup. Especially against a hard thrower like Delcarmer. Mathis and Wood are strikeout machines, which is the last thing you want when you’ve got a guy on third.
B. Matthews Jr.: Well, he is a lefty with some pop, so he would have a chance to bring the runner home with a well-placed out. But there are two problems with this as well. One is that GMJ looked terrible against Papelbon. And I know, Papelbon is good, so that’s not terrible, but his bat looked really slow and he’s prone to the strikeout as well. The second is that if you take out Aybar, you lose a decent amount of defense at shortstop when you have to replace him with Wood or Figgins. Aybar has better range and a better arm than both of them, even if his hands aren’t quite as good. If the Angels were losing by one (and thus needed the run to even keep the game going) or this was a home game where the game ends if a run scores, then I say you do it. But even if the Angels had scored there, they need to go out and play defense.
None of these options really excite me. The stat guys and bitter Angels fans will all say that number 2 or number 3B were the ways to go. I still think number 1 gives us a pretty good shot to win. The Angels are a small ball team and had their best bunter at the plate. He just didn’t get it done.
What were Scioscia’s options other than squeezing in that situation?
1. Squeeze on a different pitch. Probably a good call since Delcarmen hadn’t thrown a strike.
2. Let Aybar swing away. Well, Aybar is not all that great of a hitter. And he has no pop. A decent portion of his hits this year were from infield singles. I’m not all that optimistic about Aybar getting the run home by swinging away. Of course if he makes an out you have Figgins up, but now Figgins HAS to get a hit to get the run in.
3. Pinch hit for Aybar. Let’s look at our options:
A. Wood, Mathis, Quinlan: All of them would be at a disadvantage from the righty-righty matchup. Especially against a hard thrower like Delcarmer. Mathis and Wood are strikeout machines, which is the last thing you want when you’ve got a guy on third.
B. Matthews Jr.: Well, he is a lefty with some pop, so he would have a chance to bring the runner home with a well-placed out. But there are two problems with this as well. One is that GMJ looked terrible against Papelbon. And I know, Papelbon is good, so that’s not terrible, but his bat looked really slow and he’s prone to the strikeout as well. The second is that if you take out Aybar, you lose a decent amount of defense at shortstop when you have to replace him with Wood or Figgins. Aybar has better range and a better arm than both of them, even if his hands aren’t quite as good. If the Angels were losing by one (and thus needed the run to even keep the game going) or this was a home game where the game ends if a run scores, then I say you do it. But even if the Angels had scored there, they need to go out and play defense.
None of these options really excite me. The stat guys and bitter Angels fans will all say that number 2 or number 3B were the ways to go. I still think number 1 gives us a pretty good shot to win. The Angels are a small ball team and had their best bunter at the plate. He just didn’t get it done.
Game 4: Last Dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain. Yeah, this one was painful. But this brings up an interesting dilemma. Which is more painful, losing like this or getting pounded by a clearly better team like the Angels did last year?
This one is hard. On the one hand, I enjoyed watching this series WAY more than last year. But I have a feeling this loss will linger into the offseason, while it was easy to write off the loss last year. I’m thinking this one will be more painful.
How about this one: is it more painful to be the better team and lose or to be the worse team and lose even though you should have won? I think the former is a lot more painful. And I think that’s why the Angels are so mad (Lackey said afterwards that he wanted to throw someone through a wall). They feel they were the better team and lost. Were they better?
There are so many ways to define better. Did they perform better during the regular season? Survey says: Maybe. The Red Sox outscored them by like 80 runs and gave up the same, which indicates the Red Sox were better. But the Angels won more games, which at the end of the day, is the ultimate measuring stick for a baseball team. Inconclusive.
Were they fundamentally a better team (as in, were the players who comprised the Angels more talented than those of the Red Sox?) This is a tough one too. I think you could definitely make the argument that the Red Sox were more talented offensively (Ortiz, Bay, Youkilis, Pedroia, Drew vs Vlad, Teixeira, Hunter, Anderson, and Napoli). But I would put the Angels top 4 starters and top 4 relievers ahead of the Sox. I think the Sox are probably a little bit more talented overall, but after adding Teix, I don’t think the gap is all that big.
Lastly, who was the better team as measured by their performance in this series? Game 1 was definitely the Sox. Game 2 was tough – the Angels had guys on base almost every inning, they just couldn’t get the big hit (ultimately what doomed them in this series). The Sox got the big hit, but the Angels played a better game overall. It’s kind of a wash, maybe give the Sox a slight edge. Game 3 was definitely played better by the Angels. One mistake cost them 3 runs, otherwise, they were the better team.
Game 4 was another tough one. Lester was good for 7 innings. Lackey was good, but not quite as good. The hitters were equally baffled except for a couple of innings where they put some hits together. The difference is that once again, the Angels made one crucial error (crucial may be the understatement of the eon). The Red Sox didn’t. I’ve done my share of doubting when it comes to K-Rod, but I really believe, with the second half of the Sox lineup coming up, that he would have held a one run lead in the ninth. My belief doesn’t mean anything of course, because it didn’t happen. Anyway, I think the Sox outplayed them again, but not by much at all. When you factor in Lackey’s pride and belief in his team’s abilities, you can’t fault him for thinking the Angels got beat by a worse team. And the difference between the two seems so close, it’s hard to even know if he’s wrong.
So where to lay the blame for this one? There’s essentially four possible places:
1. The hitters (as a whole): They couldn’t get anything going and for the most part couldn’t capitalize the few times they DID have something going. However, I don’t think this is place for blame. Sometimes you give credit where credit is due, and Jon Lester was very very good last night.
2. Shields. Again, I don’t think you can blame Shields very much. Bay’s double was an opposite field bloop. Lowrie’s hit was a seeing eye single that came about 6 inches from Kendrick’s glove. The guy had pitched 3 and two thirds innings in the last two nights and had pretty much shut the Sox down. He does get some blame for not mixing up his pitches at all (more on that in a second). So I give him 7% of the blame.
3. The coaching staff: Namely, Scioscia for calling the squeeze and Scioscia/Butcher for not at least going out to talk to Shields after he gave up that rocket to Kotsay and had thrown about 90% curveballs in the inning (when the curveball is not his best pitch). Last one first. Not going out to visit Shields was poor coaching. Who knows what would have happened, but it might have helped. As for the squeeze, I don’t think the squeeze itself was a bad call, but I wouldn’t have called it on that pitch. Delcarmen had just come in the game and hadn’t really come all that close to the strike zone. It’s a pretty tough assumption that Delcarmen would throw a strike since he hadn’t shown he could. Delcarmen’s a young guy in a HUGE pressure cooker. I would have waited until the guy threw a strike to make that call. I put about 30% of the blame here.
4. Aybar: The rest of the blame goes here. Yeah, it might have been a questionable call, but you absolutely have to put the bat on the ball. You have to. You do whatever the heck it takes. That pitch should haunt him all offseason long.
So yeah, this was painful. I’ll be transferring my allegiance to the Rays, and to the Dodgers to some extent. I really just hope for good baseball from here on out. (EDIT: This isn't true. I actually hope the Red Sox get humiliated in the ALCS.)
I might be offering some insight as to the rest of the postseason, especially if there’s a particularly interesting game that I have the chance to watch. Outside of that, I’m not sure what I’ll be putting on this blog. I’m going to try to update it several times a week, but who knows what it will look like. We’ll see. Check back regularly.
Good season Angels, despite the bad ending. I’ll be here next season.
This one is hard. On the one hand, I enjoyed watching this series WAY more than last year. But I have a feeling this loss will linger into the offseason, while it was easy to write off the loss last year. I’m thinking this one will be more painful.
How about this one: is it more painful to be the better team and lose or to be the worse team and lose even though you should have won? I think the former is a lot more painful. And I think that’s why the Angels are so mad (Lackey said afterwards that he wanted to throw someone through a wall). They feel they were the better team and lost. Were they better?
There are so many ways to define better. Did they perform better during the regular season? Survey says: Maybe. The Red Sox outscored them by like 80 runs and gave up the same, which indicates the Red Sox were better. But the Angels won more games, which at the end of the day, is the ultimate measuring stick for a baseball team. Inconclusive.
Were they fundamentally a better team (as in, were the players who comprised the Angels more talented than those of the Red Sox?) This is a tough one too. I think you could definitely make the argument that the Red Sox were more talented offensively (Ortiz, Bay, Youkilis, Pedroia, Drew vs Vlad, Teixeira, Hunter, Anderson, and Napoli). But I would put the Angels top 4 starters and top 4 relievers ahead of the Sox. I think the Sox are probably a little bit more talented overall, but after adding Teix, I don’t think the gap is all that big.
Lastly, who was the better team as measured by their performance in this series? Game 1 was definitely the Sox. Game 2 was tough – the Angels had guys on base almost every inning, they just couldn’t get the big hit (ultimately what doomed them in this series). The Sox got the big hit, but the Angels played a better game overall. It’s kind of a wash, maybe give the Sox a slight edge. Game 3 was definitely played better by the Angels. One mistake cost them 3 runs, otherwise, they were the better team.
Game 4 was another tough one. Lester was good for 7 innings. Lackey was good, but not quite as good. The hitters were equally baffled except for a couple of innings where they put some hits together. The difference is that once again, the Angels made one crucial error (crucial may be the understatement of the eon). The Red Sox didn’t. I’ve done my share of doubting when it comes to K-Rod, but I really believe, with the second half of the Sox lineup coming up, that he would have held a one run lead in the ninth. My belief doesn’t mean anything of course, because it didn’t happen. Anyway, I think the Sox outplayed them again, but not by much at all. When you factor in Lackey’s pride and belief in his team’s abilities, you can’t fault him for thinking the Angels got beat by a worse team. And the difference between the two seems so close, it’s hard to even know if he’s wrong.
So where to lay the blame for this one? There’s essentially four possible places:
1. The hitters (as a whole): They couldn’t get anything going and for the most part couldn’t capitalize the few times they DID have something going. However, I don’t think this is place for blame. Sometimes you give credit where credit is due, and Jon Lester was very very good last night.
2. Shields. Again, I don’t think you can blame Shields very much. Bay’s double was an opposite field bloop. Lowrie’s hit was a seeing eye single that came about 6 inches from Kendrick’s glove. The guy had pitched 3 and two thirds innings in the last two nights and had pretty much shut the Sox down. He does get some blame for not mixing up his pitches at all (more on that in a second). So I give him 7% of the blame.
3. The coaching staff: Namely, Scioscia for calling the squeeze and Scioscia/Butcher for not at least going out to talk to Shields after he gave up that rocket to Kotsay and had thrown about 90% curveballs in the inning (when the curveball is not his best pitch). Last one first. Not going out to visit Shields was poor coaching. Who knows what would have happened, but it might have helped. As for the squeeze, I don’t think the squeeze itself was a bad call, but I wouldn’t have called it on that pitch. Delcarmen had just come in the game and hadn’t really come all that close to the strike zone. It’s a pretty tough assumption that Delcarmen would throw a strike since he hadn’t shown he could. Delcarmen’s a young guy in a HUGE pressure cooker. I would have waited until the guy threw a strike to make that call. I put about 30% of the blame here.
4. Aybar: The rest of the blame goes here. Yeah, it might have been a questionable call, but you absolutely have to put the bat on the ball. You have to. You do whatever the heck it takes. That pitch should haunt him all offseason long.
So yeah, this was painful. I’ll be transferring my allegiance to the Rays, and to the Dodgers to some extent. I really just hope for good baseball from here on out. (EDIT: This isn't true. I actually hope the Red Sox get humiliated in the ALCS.)
I might be offering some insight as to the rest of the postseason, especially if there’s a particularly interesting game that I have the chance to watch. Outside of that, I’m not sure what I’ll be putting on this blog. I’m going to try to update it several times a week, but who knows what it will look like. We’ll see. Check back regularly.
Good season Angels, despite the bad ending. I’ll be here next season.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Game 3: All I Need is a Miracle
What an intense game. I'd like to thank the Angels for helping me with my weight loss program. I lost 7 pounds in sweat last night while waiting for the Halos to win it. Of course I put that weight back on by nervously eating various snack foods all evening. I also developed an ulcer. I withdraw my thanks.
Still, that was quite a contest. I was sure at 483 different moments that the Red Sox were about to win it. That has nothing to do with lacking faith, or hope, or belief or whatever. It also has nothing to do with the quality of our relievers, who, by most objective measures, are pretty darn good. It has everything to do with the fact that the Red Sox had beaten us in the playoffs 11 times in a row and seemed to always be able to pull off that win.
Pretty much all of the at bats in the 10th were nerve-wracking (thank you and your 62 saves, K-Rod). Youkilis, Bay, Lowell, Lowrie...I was sure all of them were going to end it. Lowell's at bat in particular made me nervous, although I'm not sure why. I guess I just figured it would be some dinky single that did it this year. Pedroia was up with a man in scoring position in the 11th. They walked Ortiz for the 9th time that game in the 12th inning.
But the relievers held firm. What a game.
Player of the game: Easily Mike Napoli. He had a rough start in game 1 when everyone was expecting him to continue his September (OPS in September? 1.414. Wow), further "justifying" Scioscia starting Mathis in game 2. But man did he explode in this game. Two absolute BOMBS off of Beckett that silenced the Boston crowd. And then he went ahead and scored the winning run.
Unsung hero: Scot Shields. The ESPN game recap link is titled: "Napoli's bat, K-Rod's arm help Halos avoid sweep." Except Shields was the one who threw 2 and a third scoreless innings, not allowing a baserunner and striking out three. That was huge. (Anyone care to take a guess as to Shields's career ERA in Fenway? 13.85 in 13 innings. Yeah...)
Game changing play: Aybar's single in the top of the 12th to score Napoli. I'd like to say that I was sure that the Angels would pull this out in extra innings, but that's not true at all. Aybar's single was the first time I let myself dare to hope.
The "Johnny Damon Award for Best Throw from Center" goes to...Coco Crisp! This is his first "Caveman."
Coco: I'd like to thank my sister and my grandma for teaching me how to throw. I love you guys! And thanks to God for not letting anyone's criticism get me down. You helped keep me going.
Play that would have been game changing and also would have caused most Angels fans to become alcoholics: That stupid pop up in the 2nd inning. We were debating whether this play would give Howie Kendrick the honor of having the worst postseason ever. He's packed a lot of awfulness into three games. This is not to exonerate Torii Hunter, who should have called that ball all the way. Torii gave up on it, thinking Kendrick had it. I still think more of the blame goes to Kendrick who was closer to the ball and looked like he would get it the whole time. This totally ruined a solid start by Saunders. We were joking in the 11th inning (at which point we'd become mostly hysterical) that Saunders was probably on his second bottle of Jack Daniels in the clubhouse and was going to brawl with Kendrick as soon as the game was over.
Biggest mystery: The strike zone. Did anyone have any idea where exactly this was? I'm also giving a big runner up to the "K-Zone" or whatever they call it on TBS. On one low, inside pitch to Garret Anderson, they brought up K-Zone and I was sure they were going to show the pitch going right down the middle.
Chip Caray: Well, it looks like the umpire missed that one. K-Zone shows a strike there.
Buck Martinez: Well Chip, the replay shows that this pitch actually grazed Garret Anderson's kneecap, but his knee must have been hovering over the middle of the plate, because that's clearly a strike according to K-Zone.
Chip: Well, that's just a professional, big league K-Zone. What a gamer that K-Zone is.
Angel grades:
Everyone gets an A, except for Mike Napoli and Shields, who both get an A+. I'm feeling generous.
Final word:
It's hard to believe that the Angels still have to win two more games. That one should be worth two. Still, I don't anticipate a let down tonight. In fact, I think this win will give them confidence, since they haven't been able to do anything against Boston so far in the playoffs. This broke the seal, so to speak. Plus they've got their ace Lackey going for them tonight and last time he was in Boston, he came two outs away from a no hitter. Let's hope we see that again.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Oh irony, how you mock me...
I'm not sure if this will change before you can see it, but check out the ad on the very top of this page.
Yep, that's an encouragement to vote for Francisco Rodriguez as the Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Year.
I'm not sure if that's hilarious or tragic.
Yep, that's an encouragement to vote for Francisco Rodriguez as the Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Year.
I'm not sure if that's hilarious or tragic.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Game 2: Mission Impossible
I...don't know where to begin. This post might be 10,000 words. So many things going through my head.
I guess I'll start with this: I was at this game in person. I have been to one playoff game every year the Angels made the playoffs since 2002. ALDS game 1 in 2004. ALDS game 5 in 2005. ALDS game 3 last year. And this game.
This was, without a doubt, the loudest, most raucous, most intense baseball game I have ever been to. It was amazing. It was a TON of fun. Angel fans as a group caught flak the other night for walking out after Boston scored in the ninth. They took that as a challenge and came through. Even after that disastrous first inning from Santana, the crowd was in it until the end. But the end was bitterly painful.
Let me make an analogy to describe it; one that is completely over-the-top. You start dating this girl. You think it's love at first sight, but on the first date, she drops a bomb. "I hate all television shows except soap operas and Grey's Anatomy. I refuse to watch any other television," she tells you. Well that sucks, but it doesn't HAVE to be a deal-breaker, you know? So you keep dating. And every so often, you find another thing you have in common. And another thing. And another. You're having a great time and it just keeps improving.
Finally, you have this great breakthrough and you immediately go out and buy a ring. You show up the next day, ready to surprise her and take this to the next level. This is it. You're ready to be happier than ever. You open the door...and see that she's banging JD Drew. Done. Game over.
That's kind of how it felt to be an Angel fan tonight. There was this incredible emotion; this palpable energy; all of that cliched stuff. It was October baseball as only October baseball can be. As fans in that 8th inning, we took some ownership of that comeback. We felt it was ours. We'd screamed and yelled our asses off for 8 innings, and we were finally back in it. We worked hard for that comeback. Every time an Angel got on base after the third inning, the entire crowd was up. Even when the Sox got some guys on base and Sox fans started the "Let's go Red Sox," they were drowned out in seconds. Best crowd I've ever been a part of.
And it was all thrown out the window in about 5 minutes.
Alright, now for the objective analysis.
Player of the game: Mark Teixeira. F*** you, JD. That's right, you're garbage. I picked Teixeira. The guy was 3 for 3 with a walk and a sac fly, scored three runs, and made a couple of nice plays at first. This is what's scary. Teix, Vlad and Hunter in this series: 14 for 23 with three walks. Yeah, they've all been singles, but a lot of them have been hit hard. If the Angels can't win when the middle of the order does THAT, it's time to be worried.
Game changing play: Don't make me say it. Nope. I won't say it. I refuse.
Blown call of the game: That pickoff at second in the ninth. Man was that bad. Crisp couldn't even get to the base because Aybar was blocking it. Yeah, the tag was late, but it didn't matter because Crisp DIDN'T GET TO THE BASE. Who knows if that changes the way K-Rod pitches to Drew? Probably doesn't. But a one run lead is a lot different than a two run lead against Papelbon.
Angel Grades
Figgins (B+): He did have some frustrating at bats in this game. That .200 OBP is the main reason why the middle of the order only has 4 RBI's, even though they have 14 hits. But man, that triple was SWEET.
Anderson (F+): The plus was for that ball he almost hit out off of Okajima. The rest of the game was awful, especially that pop up with Figgins on third.
Teixeira (A): No A+ because he still only hit singles, but so much for Teixeira being intimidated by his first postseason action. Can you smell a $200 million contract, Scott Boras?
Vlad (A-): This might be rough since he did go 3 for 4 with a walk, but man could the Angels have used some extra base fireworks.
Hunter (B+): Two clutch RBI's. His error in center didn't hurt anything. Should have been safe at first.
Rivera (C+): A solid "meh." The two walks were nice, but I thought he could have gotten to Ellsbury's double in the 4th.
Kendrick (G): That's right, he doesn't even deserve an F. He was terrible. Left 6 guys on base, again. Ugh, he's gotta figure this out. He swung at some BAAAAD pitches.
Mathis (C): Struck out terribly, and got lucky with that blooper.
Aybar (F+): Left a lot of guys on base. Made an error.
Bench (B-): Napoli was the redeeming factor here with that bases loaded walk. Matthews fouled out, Willits didn't do much, and Morales popped up.
Santana (C): Yeah, he gave up 5 runs. But he also kept the team in it and never let momentum swing back over to the Sox. He had the one bad inning, otherwise he looked decent.
Bullpen (excluding K-Rod) (B+): Arredondo was shaky but got the job done. Shields looked good for two batters at least.
K-Rod (F): Could very well have been his last appearance as an Angel at Angel Stadium. Way to go out there, buddy.
Scioscia (B): The only quibble I have is going to K-Rod in the eighth when I think Shields could have gotten Pedroia. If Pedroia reaches, then you go to K-Rod to face Ortiz. But I think he would have been better served letting K-Rod start the ninth. That isn't that big a deal. It seemed like an okay move at the time. I liked the aggressiveness in pinch hitting Morales for Mathis early in the game, even though it didn't work out.
Final word
Intense game. This probably would have been the best baseball game I'd ever seen live if the Angels had won it. Even still, it ranks way up there.
Well, they gotta win three in a row, including two in Boston. Not impossible, to be sure, but not very easy, either. One at a time, boys. You can do it.
I guess I'll start with this: I was at this game in person. I have been to one playoff game every year the Angels made the playoffs since 2002. ALDS game 1 in 2004. ALDS game 5 in 2005. ALDS game 3 last year. And this game.
This was, without a doubt, the loudest, most raucous, most intense baseball game I have ever been to. It was amazing. It was a TON of fun. Angel fans as a group caught flak the other night for walking out after Boston scored in the ninth. They took that as a challenge and came through. Even after that disastrous first inning from Santana, the crowd was in it until the end. But the end was bitterly painful.
Let me make an analogy to describe it; one that is completely over-the-top. You start dating this girl. You think it's love at first sight, but on the first date, she drops a bomb. "I hate all television shows except soap operas and Grey's Anatomy. I refuse to watch any other television," she tells you. Well that sucks, but it doesn't HAVE to be a deal-breaker, you know? So you keep dating. And every so often, you find another thing you have in common. And another thing. And another. You're having a great time and it just keeps improving.
Finally, you have this great breakthrough and you immediately go out and buy a ring. You show up the next day, ready to surprise her and take this to the next level. This is it. You're ready to be happier than ever. You open the door...and see that she's banging JD Drew. Done. Game over.
That's kind of how it felt to be an Angel fan tonight. There was this incredible emotion; this palpable energy; all of that cliched stuff. It was October baseball as only October baseball can be. As fans in that 8th inning, we took some ownership of that comeback. We felt it was ours. We'd screamed and yelled our asses off for 8 innings, and we were finally back in it. We worked hard for that comeback. Every time an Angel got on base after the third inning, the entire crowd was up. Even when the Sox got some guys on base and Sox fans started the "Let's go Red Sox," they were drowned out in seconds. Best crowd I've ever been a part of.
And it was all thrown out the window in about 5 minutes.
Alright, now for the objective analysis.
Player of the game: Mark Teixeira. F*** you, JD. That's right, you're garbage. I picked Teixeira. The guy was 3 for 3 with a walk and a sac fly, scored three runs, and made a couple of nice plays at first. This is what's scary. Teix, Vlad and Hunter in this series: 14 for 23 with three walks. Yeah, they've all been singles, but a lot of them have been hit hard. If the Angels can't win when the middle of the order does THAT, it's time to be worried.
Game changing play: Don't make me say it. Nope. I won't say it. I refuse.
Blown call of the game: That pickoff at second in the ninth. Man was that bad. Crisp couldn't even get to the base because Aybar was blocking it. Yeah, the tag was late, but it didn't matter because Crisp DIDN'T GET TO THE BASE. Who knows if that changes the way K-Rod pitches to Drew? Probably doesn't. But a one run lead is a lot different than a two run lead against Papelbon.
Angel Grades
Figgins (B+): He did have some frustrating at bats in this game. That .200 OBP is the main reason why the middle of the order only has 4 RBI's, even though they have 14 hits. But man, that triple was SWEET.
Anderson (F+): The plus was for that ball he almost hit out off of Okajima. The rest of the game was awful, especially that pop up with Figgins on third.
Teixeira (A): No A+ because he still only hit singles, but so much for Teixeira being intimidated by his first postseason action. Can you smell a $200 million contract, Scott Boras?
Vlad (A-): This might be rough since he did go 3 for 4 with a walk, but man could the Angels have used some extra base fireworks.
Hunter (B+): Two clutch RBI's. His error in center didn't hurt anything. Should have been safe at first.
Rivera (C+): A solid "meh." The two walks were nice, but I thought he could have gotten to Ellsbury's double in the 4th.
Kendrick (G): That's right, he doesn't even deserve an F. He was terrible. Left 6 guys on base, again. Ugh, he's gotta figure this out. He swung at some BAAAAD pitches.
Mathis (C): Struck out terribly, and got lucky with that blooper.
Aybar (F+): Left a lot of guys on base. Made an error.
Bench (B-): Napoli was the redeeming factor here with that bases loaded walk. Matthews fouled out, Willits didn't do much, and Morales popped up.
Santana (C): Yeah, he gave up 5 runs. But he also kept the team in it and never let momentum swing back over to the Sox. He had the one bad inning, otherwise he looked decent.
Bullpen (excluding K-Rod) (B+): Arredondo was shaky but got the job done. Shields looked good for two batters at least.
K-Rod (F): Could very well have been his last appearance as an Angel at Angel Stadium. Way to go out there, buddy.
Scioscia (B): The only quibble I have is going to K-Rod in the eighth when I think Shields could have gotten Pedroia. If Pedroia reaches, then you go to K-Rod to face Ortiz. But I think he would have been better served letting K-Rod start the ninth. That isn't that big a deal. It seemed like an okay move at the time. I liked the aggressiveness in pinch hitting Morales for Mathis early in the game, even though it didn't work out.
Final word
Intense game. This probably would have been the best baseball game I'd ever seen live if the Angels had won it. Even still, it ranks way up there.
Well, they gotta win three in a row, including two in Boston. Not impossible, to be sure, but not very easy, either. One at a time, boys. You can do it.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Game 1 Analysis
Crappy. That pretty much describes last night’s game. Alright, I’m done here. See ya guys on Friday! Just kidding.
I think what I’ll do for these game analyses is give out grades and mention some key players/plays. We’ll see how it goes.
Player of the game: Jon Lester. He wasn’t phenomenal or brilliant or any of those other superlatives broadcasters and media personnel are probably using to describe him, but he was good. And against the Angels last night, that was enough. He did get better as the night went on; he looked stronger in the sixth and seventh than he did in the first three innings.
Game changing play: Bay’s homerun. It did a few things: gave the Red Sox the lead in a tight game, gave the Red Sox confidence when John Lackey had been pretty good, shot down the Angels confidence (which wasn’t all that high to begin with), and took the crowd partially out of the game.
Game changing play – Runner Up: Vlad getting thrown out at third. This was the first time the Angels had strung hits together in a few innings. The play was bad on so many levels: if Vlad plays it cautious the whole way, he’s standing on second base with one out, which is just fine. I have no problem with Vlad being aggressive, but he needed to be aggressive right off the bat. He hesitated and that was that. This completely hosed a possible Angels rally (even though Howie Kendrick might have grounded into a double play right after that anyway). This also served to take the crowd, who represented themselves pretty well, I must say, the rest of the way out of the game.
Managerial move that looks bad in hindsight, but wasn’t: Not pinch running for Vlad, who’s running like a lame musk ox at this point. Why not pinch run Willits? Because that means you take one of the only two legitimate power threats out of your lineup. If Vlad’s spot comes up in the ninth with a chance to tie the game and you’ve got Juan Rivera or Brandon Wood in there, you’re losing a lot. You could argue that with the way the Angels were hitting, they couldn’t really afford to mess around with that tying run, but I don’t think you take Vlad out of the game.
Managerial move that looked bad at the time, and then bad in hindsight as well: Pitching to David Ortiz with two outs and a guy in scoring position. Dumb. And Dumber. Youkilis isn’t chopped liver coming up next, but you’ve got one of the premier RBI guys in the game at the plate, you have a lefty-righty matchup that would turn to a righty-righty matchup, and Shields wasn’t looking good anyway. I couldn’t believe it when Scioscia didn’t call for the walk. A minute later, a bouncer up the middle through the shift and an "insurmountable" 3-run lead.
Angel grades:
Figgins: (F) He looked overmatched. All those singles hit by the middle of the order guys might have been useful if he’d been on base. 3 K’s. Yuck.
Anderson: (B) A couple of nicely hit singles. He also scored the only run. He didn’t leave anyone on base, which might have been the best thing he did (or didn’t do).
Teix: (B) He had a couple of singles as well. He DID leave a guy on base, but also made a nice play over at first. Not a bad playoff debut.
Vlad: (C -) He had some nice hits, but also left guys on base. Plus there was that gigantic base-running mistake that killed our comeback chances.
Hunter: (B+) He was the only one who got a hit with guys in scoring position and he was on base three times. All his hits were singles, but this was a good game for Hunter.
Kendrick: (F) He was as bad as Figgins, except in the opposite way. Instead of leaving the tables bare, he left them full. 6 guys left on base. No hard hit balls.
Napoli: (D) The only reason this isn’t lower is because Kendrick never gave him the chance to do anything meaningful. Napoli looked awful.
Matthews: (F +) Same as Napoli, except he had that awful error in right. It wound up not costing us, but man, that was bad.
Aybar: (D) See Napoli, except replace Kendrick with Matthews.
Bench: (A) Morales singled in the one chance the bench got, so we can’t complain about that. This is like getting an A on 10 point quiz when you're failing the class.
Lackey: (A -) He was by far our best player. He made one mistake pitch (although he shouldn’t have walked Youkilis, but that happens against the Sox). He probably could have gotten through 8 innings if Matthews doesn’t blow that play in right.
Oliver: (A) He was our second best player, in a limited role. That strikeout of Ortiz was HUGE and helped get the crowd back into it.
Shields: (D) The two run scoring singles he gave up were seeing eye grounders. But he didn’t pitch well by any stretch. He was behind most hitters.
Scioscia (D) He didn’t have many opportunities to affect the game, but he blew the big ones he could have made. It was a good move to bring in Oliver to face Ortiz. I think he made the right non-call when it came to pinch-running for Vlad. But the decision to pitch to Ortiz later was awful. And he stuck with Shields too long. It’s usually clear when Shields has his A stuff, and he clearly did not have that. Arredondo is not as good a pitcher as Shields (their ERA’s this year notwithstanding), but Shields wasn't on. And with the Angels hitting like that, it was imperative to keep the lead at one run.
Final Word: Overall, the Angels just got beat by a better team. Sometimes that happens. The Sox were better last night. But it’s not the end of the world. The Angels beat the Sox 8 straight times during the season, so it’s not like they can’t beat them 3 out of 4. I do think Friday’s game is as close to a do-or-die as it gets without actually being one. The Angels DO NOT WANT to go to Fenway needing to win both games. I think they can, but it’s a lot of pressure.
I think what I’ll do for these game analyses is give out grades and mention some key players/plays. We’ll see how it goes.
Player of the game: Jon Lester. He wasn’t phenomenal or brilliant or any of those other superlatives broadcasters and media personnel are probably using to describe him, but he was good. And against the Angels last night, that was enough. He did get better as the night went on; he looked stronger in the sixth and seventh than he did in the first three innings.
Game changing play: Bay’s homerun. It did a few things: gave the Red Sox the lead in a tight game, gave the Red Sox confidence when John Lackey had been pretty good, shot down the Angels confidence (which wasn’t all that high to begin with), and took the crowd partially out of the game.
Game changing play – Runner Up: Vlad getting thrown out at third. This was the first time the Angels had strung hits together in a few innings. The play was bad on so many levels: if Vlad plays it cautious the whole way, he’s standing on second base with one out, which is just fine. I have no problem with Vlad being aggressive, but he needed to be aggressive right off the bat. He hesitated and that was that. This completely hosed a possible Angels rally (even though Howie Kendrick might have grounded into a double play right after that anyway). This also served to take the crowd, who represented themselves pretty well, I must say, the rest of the way out of the game.
Managerial move that looks bad in hindsight, but wasn’t: Not pinch running for Vlad, who’s running like a lame musk ox at this point. Why not pinch run Willits? Because that means you take one of the only two legitimate power threats out of your lineup. If Vlad’s spot comes up in the ninth with a chance to tie the game and you’ve got Juan Rivera or Brandon Wood in there, you’re losing a lot. You could argue that with the way the Angels were hitting, they couldn’t really afford to mess around with that tying run, but I don’t think you take Vlad out of the game.
Managerial move that looked bad at the time, and then bad in hindsight as well: Pitching to David Ortiz with two outs and a guy in scoring position. Dumb. And Dumber. Youkilis isn’t chopped liver coming up next, but you’ve got one of the premier RBI guys in the game at the plate, you have a lefty-righty matchup that would turn to a righty-righty matchup, and Shields wasn’t looking good anyway. I couldn’t believe it when Scioscia didn’t call for the walk. A minute later, a bouncer up the middle through the shift and an "insurmountable" 3-run lead.
Angel grades:
Figgins: (F) He looked overmatched. All those singles hit by the middle of the order guys might have been useful if he’d been on base. 3 K’s. Yuck.
Anderson: (B) A couple of nicely hit singles. He also scored the only run. He didn’t leave anyone on base, which might have been the best thing he did (or didn’t do).
Teix: (B) He had a couple of singles as well. He DID leave a guy on base, but also made a nice play over at first. Not a bad playoff debut.
Vlad: (C -) He had some nice hits, but also left guys on base. Plus there was that gigantic base-running mistake that killed our comeback chances.
Hunter: (B+) He was the only one who got a hit with guys in scoring position and he was on base three times. All his hits were singles, but this was a good game for Hunter.
Kendrick: (F) He was as bad as Figgins, except in the opposite way. Instead of leaving the tables bare, he left them full. 6 guys left on base. No hard hit balls.
Napoli: (D) The only reason this isn’t lower is because Kendrick never gave him the chance to do anything meaningful. Napoli looked awful.
Matthews: (F +) Same as Napoli, except he had that awful error in right. It wound up not costing us, but man, that was bad.
Aybar: (D) See Napoli, except replace Kendrick with Matthews.
Bench: (A) Morales singled in the one chance the bench got, so we can’t complain about that. This is like getting an A on 10 point quiz when you're failing the class.
Lackey: (A -) He was by far our best player. He made one mistake pitch (although he shouldn’t have walked Youkilis, but that happens against the Sox). He probably could have gotten through 8 innings if Matthews doesn’t blow that play in right.
Oliver: (A) He was our second best player, in a limited role. That strikeout of Ortiz was HUGE and helped get the crowd back into it.
Shields: (D) The two run scoring singles he gave up were seeing eye grounders. But he didn’t pitch well by any stretch. He was behind most hitters.
Scioscia (D) He didn’t have many opportunities to affect the game, but he blew the big ones he could have made. It was a good move to bring in Oliver to face Ortiz. I think he made the right non-call when it came to pinch-running for Vlad. But the decision to pitch to Ortiz later was awful. And he stuck with Shields too long. It’s usually clear when Shields has his A stuff, and he clearly did not have that. Arredondo is not as good a pitcher as Shields (their ERA’s this year notwithstanding), but Shields wasn't on. And with the Angels hitting like that, it was imperative to keep the lead at one run.
Final Word: Overall, the Angels just got beat by a better team. Sometimes that happens. The Sox were better last night. But it’s not the end of the world. The Angels beat the Sox 8 straight times during the season, so it’s not like they can’t beat them 3 out of 4. I do think Friday’s game is as close to a do-or-die as it gets without actually being one. The Angels DO NOT WANT to go to Fenway needing to win both games. I think they can, but it’s a lot of pressure.
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