Postseason Pieces Day 3

by Moritz Wollert

What a night it was yesterday!!! We witnessed legendary postseason baseball at it's best and saw two absolute nailbiters that both went down to a walkoff hit. Dramatic is an understatement, especially when you look at the situation for the Yankees and the Angels who are both going home in an 0-2 hole. Meanwhile the fans in Cleveland and Boston had reasons to celebrate... "Postseason Pieces" was there every minute!!!

The Good

Indians/Yankees: This game was an instant classic... every minute of it was dramatic, exciting and intense! Great pitching, good defense, every pitch counted, thousands of stories for the record books and even the squirrel was there again. This is why we watch baseball (well, not because of the squirrel but the other stuff), this is why we love this game and it showed what postseason baseball is all about. Too bad this game had to have a loser in the end.

Mariano Rivera: This guy is simply one of the greatest of all time and I just feel fortunate to have seen him in my lifetime. Franklin Gutierrez might tell his kids a few tales someday about swinging at balls where there weren't any balls. "They just dissappeared in front of my eyes!"

Andy Pettitte vs. Fausto Carmona: These two guys were setting the tone for the great game we saw last night and proved once again that pitching matters most in the postseason. "Dandy Andy" threw a terrific game, working out of trouble numerous times and he seemed as if he never had to break a sweat. If anyone ever doubted that Pettitte is a big game pitcher... well, just go hide somewhere. Carmona performed magic in the first postseason start of his career, too, dominating the proud Yankee lineup with his devastating hard sinker (19 groundball outs) and a terrific mound presence. Fausto and the fans in Cleveland will remember that performance for many years to come. Too bad Pettitte had to leave the game relatively early, I could have watched these two matching each other toe to toe all night long.

Manny Ramirez: "Manny?! He's a crazy mother******!" That's how his buddy David Ortiz described Manny Ramirez one day. But as we saw last night, Manny is also a clutch mother*****. With 2 outs in the 9th he blasted a 3 run Mass Pike shot over the Green Monster to give the Red Sox the second win in the series. He did it against one of the greatest closers of our time, Francisco Rodriguez. On these nights you just realize how deadly the Boston lineup can be - in front of Manny KRod was ordered to walk Big Papi and his .900 OBP for the series, only to face a surefire Hall Of Famer. For today and with Manny's heroics, we just pretend he also played "exciting" defense.

[1] Red Sox Fan: With Manny up, a man on third and one out, Angels starter Kelvim Escobar got the Boston slugger to pop up a fastball high behind homeplate. Catcher Jeff Mathis had a clear play near the stands but young Danny Vinik wrote another chapter in the long story of postseason fan interference. Mathis wasn't too excited about the kid grabbing the ball right above his glove. The result: Manny stayed alive, walked and Lowell hit a sac fly after him to tie the game. What would the Red Sox be without their fans!

First Base Defense: No, I'm not talking about Shelley Duncan but the starting first basemen yesterday put on a defensive clinic on the diamond. Boston's Kevin Youkilis (errorless in his last 190 games btw), Anaheim's Casey Kotchman, Cleveland's Ryan Garko and most impressively New York's Doug Mientkiewicz (who saved the Yankees two full runs with his glove) all played exceptional defense and it was a just joy to watch them. Too bad there's only one Gold Glove Award in the American League, all of these guys would be worthy winners.

Grady Sizemore: I never really liked him as he was so damn near perfect and all that, but geeez this kid can flat out play. He is a terror on the bases, plays outstanding D and did a terrific job yesterday manufacturing a run. That slide which chopped down Joba Chamberlain was nasty.

The Bad

[2] Dasiuke Matsuzaka: It's an adjustment year for him and while not being as young as he looks, Fenway Park in the playoffs can be a little rattling for a 26 year old from a country far far away. With that said, if you only last 4.2 innings and struggle with your control all night long, then you can't expect to have your start called "good".

Yankees bats: The middle of the Yankees with ARod, Posada and Matsui are a combined 0 for 20 in the ALDS. Nice job but the most shocking Yankees at bat belonged to Bobby Abreu as his bat just broke in half just by sliding on the ground. Maybe that happens when you spend about 200 million on your team, maybe you just don't have the bucks to buy adequate bats. Just maybe.

TBS reliever graphic: Now I'm really tired of harping about the TBS broadcast and actually they aren't that bad. Yet they aren't good either. When they show their graphic on the incoming relief pitcher, baseball fans are spared of a key stat of the actual reliever: His hits given up! I mean how in hell can you leave this stat out as it is basically the most important stat for a bullpen pitcher. Plus Jeff Weaver isn't Jered Weaver.

Running Red Sox: Slowly but surely I'm sick and tired of hearing about how the Red Sox changed their philosophy, especially after Steve Stone mentioned it almost every freaking at bat yesterday. Sure, it's true, the Sox have some speedy guys now but let's not go nuts about that. Oh, and thanks to Coco Crisp for giving me the laugh of the day with his baserunning blunder.

The Ugly

Vladimir Guerrero's injury: I'm really upset about this event. Manny Delcarmen wasn't trying to hit him and Jason Varitek was a complete class act (asking the Angels outfielder if he was all right and giving him a pat on the back) after a mid 90s fastball had bounced off Vlad's back. Yet it's sad to see such a great player leave the game and possibly be handicapped for the rest of this postseason. Guerrero wasn't healthy to begin with but now it got even more painful for him and the Angels fans.

Craig Saiger's outfit: I'm not trying to identify any of the colors or styles Craig Saiger was sporting at Jacobs Field on Friday night. He managed to be the eye catcher even next to the big and beautiful presence of Queen Latifah. Saiger's so called "dress" was like a car accident, you just couldn't look away.

[3] Alex Rodriguez: Ahhh, Arod, it doesn't look good for you! I'm actually tired of this whole topic and I hate to write about it, but the Yankees MVP just can't get the postseason monkey off his back. It wouldn't matter if he was 0 for 35487356827569, he once again had a chance yesterday to come up big late in a postseason game (not against Joe Borowski in April) but of course he struck out with a runner on second in the 9th. New contract?! 35 million dollars?!? We'll see, Mr. Rodriguez. And to make ARod's nightmare even worse, let's take a quick look what other great sluggers in this postseason have done for their teams: Vladimir Guerrero is injured, David Ortiz is batting .750 with a .900 OBP, Manny Ramirez hit a walkoff homer in Game 2 and Travis Hafner also came up with a game ending hit. It doesn't matter that Jorge Posada or Hideki Matsui or whoever are also hitless, Rodriguez is the big bat on this team and with his ability he has to carry them. Just like all these other superstars are doing.

[4] The Bugs: Geez, as if the game alone wasn't wild enough at Jacobs Field... the millions of bugs certainly felt they would like to participate in the MLB playoffs, too. Nobody is to blame here, we are playing an outdoor game and in the end we are still part of mother nature, even if we don't always believe that. Joba Chamberlain might not sign in with PETA anytime soon though despite not blaming the bugs for his bad pitching.

I could add my eyerings to the "ugly" section as I'm living in Germany and the times I went to bed in the last couple of days were pretty late... but nights like yesterday are worth every minute of missed sleep. This is why we love the game, this is why we love postseason baseball! See you soon on Postseason Pieces, make sure you get your sleep and be ready to watch the MLB PLAYOFFS!

( For the version with pictures visit http://mos-baseball.blogspot.com )

DonatevoMajor Leaguer

788 days ago

Score 1

Its in the bag for the Sox.

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Yakob878MVP

788 days ago

Score 1

remeber 2004 i am not ready to say that yet.... Manny was do to make them pay he had not hit an hr for awhile.....Dice is driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I can not take this any more, I mean we paid 100 Million for him. I hope its just a rookie slump because he will not last long in boston if its not. Last Thing The Red Sox lucked out by geting to have the longer series in the ALDS because now we might not have to use Gange as much with extra rest for the pen. Go Sox !!!

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Moritz WollertWaterboy

788 days ago

Score 0

We gotta be patient with Dice K. Remember how Beckett looked in his first year in Boston and see how he is pitching now. Dice K has good stuff, dominant at times, and he is young...

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