Knuckle Curve » playoffsPlayoffs

Red Sox Sweep Rockies, Hooray for Money

Geoff Young — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:06:36 +0000

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox on beating the Colorado Rockies in four straight to win the World Series. It would have been nice to see the small-market team win, but oh well. Red Sox fans were going to be obnoxious all winter either way, so what’s the difference.

Bottom line, it’s done. Let the hot stove league begin…

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Three Haiku

Geoff Young — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 05:43:37 +0000

I
Seventeen base hits
weren’t all that doomed the Rockies –
too much Josh Beckett

II
Schilling kept things close
before bullpen sealed the deal
despite Matt’s four hits

III
No DH, no prob –
surge in the sixth and seventh
couldn’t beat Red Sox

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Competition or Destruction?

Geoff Young — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:06:54 +0000

So much for invincibility. Now that the Rockies can’t rely on that anymore, they’ll have to pick themselves back up and start playing good baseball.

The bad news is that Colorado got spanked in Game 1. The good news is that a 12-run loss counts exactly the same as a 1-run loss, so there’s plenty of time to regroup. Seriously, ask the 1960 Pirates.

Unfortunately, if the Rockies are going to make a stand, they’ll have to do it behind a kid making his 19th big-league start (Ubaldo Jimenez). Oh, and they’re facing a guy with 216 regular-season wins under his belt and a 9-2 career postseason record (Curt Schilling).

This could be a problem, especially given how well the Red Sox are playing. They’ve won their last four games by scores of 7-1, 12-2, 11-2, and 13-1. That’s not competition, it’s destruction…

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Red Sox Take the Opener

Geoff Young — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:52:11 +0000

Well, that certainly was exciting. Boston beat the Rockies, 13-1, in the first game of the World Series at Fenway on Wednesday night. Colorado left-hander Franklin Morales, working in relief of starter Jeff Francis, had a particularly rough outing:

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World Series Starts Now

Geoff Young — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:38:21 +0000

Half a million of my neighbors have been forced from their homes by wildfires that surround San Diego, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t really give a damn about baseball just now. That said, the World Series starts on Wednesday night (first pitch, 5 p.m. PT), and I expect you’ll be wanting some cogent analysis.

Might I recommend Purple Row for Rockies coverage and, er, pretty much anywhere on the Internet for Red Sox coverage. Oh, I have to pick just one? Okay, give Fire Brand of the American League a shot.

Good luck to your team. Good luck to my city…

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Will the Rockies Win the World Series?

Geoff Young — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:55:00 +0000

I think they’ve got a pretty good chance. I support that statement with actual facts in my latest offering at Hardball Times.

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Insufferable

Geoff Young — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:57:55 +0000

The Red Sox are back in the World Series. They rolled over Cleveland on Sunday night, 11-2. They outscored the Indians, 30-5, over the final three games of the ALCS, which is as good a definition of “domination” as I can find.

Ladies and gentleman, prepare for the insufferable. Ben Affleck has just become vaguely relevant again, and the world is a better place for it.

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ALCS Game 7 at Fenway

Geoff Young — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:39:15 +0000

Uh-oh. The Red Sox aren’t going away.

You had to figure the Indians were hosed when the series returned to Fenway. On the one hand, they’ve never lost a postseason series to a team from Boston — they swept the Red Sox in three games in ‘95 and beat the Braves in six in the ‘48 World Series. On the other, the Indians historically haven’t had a lot of success in New England.

Game 7 starts at 5 p.m. PT on Sunday. Jake Westbrook and Daisuke Matsuzaka hook up in one final game to determine which of these teams advances to the World Series. On behalf of everyone who doesn’t have unlimited resources at their disposal, here’s hoping it’s Cleveland.

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Fausto Faces Curt, Coco Sits

Geoff Young — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:41:41 +0000

The ALCS heads back to Boston. While the Rockies do whatever it is teams do while they’re waiting for their opponent to be determined, the Indians and Red Sox hook up for Game 6 on Saturday night (first pitch: 5 p.m. PT).

This is a rematch of last week’s Fausto Carmona/Curt Schilling showdown. The Indians won the earlier contest on the strength of a seven-run 11th inning. (Hey, if the Rockies are trying to trademark “Rocktober”, maybe the Indians could trademark “7-11″; you think?)

Where there are Red Sox, there is drama. This time it comes in the form of rookie Jacoby Ellsbury starting in center field over Coco Crisp. As a Padres fan, I love this move because maybe it will help drive Crisp’s price down this off-season.

Oh wait, we’re talking about the playoffs. Sorry ’bout that.

Well, then, I don’t really care who plays center. What I do find interesting is that apparently Boston considered replacing Dustin Pedroia at second base with Alex Cora. Then someone remembered that the Red Sox actually need to win this game, so that idea was shelved.

What was my point here? I dunno; you tell me…

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Beckett Dominates, Indians Look to Jobu for Guidance

Geoff Young — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:44:51 +0000

Remember that thing I said yesterday about Josh Beckett? I believe my exact words were, “time for Beckett to pitch the game of his life.”

Heh. I suppose 11 strikeouts over eight innings qualifies.

Now we have a day off (on a Friday, so I can watch Stargate Atlantis in real time) before the series returns to Boston. That is a place the Indians did not want to go.

The good news is they’ve split in Fenway once before in this series. The bad news is, well, asking them to do that twice in the span of a 10 days might be a bit much.

If the Indians are planning to make a sacrifice to Jobu, now would be a real good time…

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