TBS Makes My Life Difficult

Well, if the schedule is bad for you, imagine what it's like for us, left-coasters. Just awful.

As I'm typing, wow, what a finish for the Rox.

I hope Holliday wasn't hurt too badly. That team is hot, but they're running into a buzz saw in Philly.

Mike is right. The playoffs are difficult on the west coast.

And, I have to back up Don Orsillo here, who was the play-by-play guy. He's more dynamic usually, but whoever the hell they had with him tonight was just painful. So boring. Orsillo couldn't get any real responses out of him for much of anything. And then the guy pissed me off by refusing to admit that the Atkins' home run actually cleared the yellow line in left field.

Hoffman just keeps imploding in big games, what's with that. I guess he's no Mo.

Erin, at least the Sox games are in prime-time, after 5 here, would be doable. But for me, I'll have to listen to a few innings and then skip work early, no way around it. A slingbox would come in handy just about now.

He's just old. No velocity on his fastball anymore, therefore, no margin for error with location.

The funny thing is that this timeslot is the best one, I think. It's like 3 p.m. then a 6 p.m.-ish, then 10 p.m.-ish. I guess their main concern is to have no overlap.

Were those TBS announcers even in the same stadium as the Padres & Rockies? They were lifeless. You better fire up your Tivo, dude.

Who is Frankenstein...Shelly Duncan...?

I love the comments on ESPN after the game.......

"the Rox beat arguably the best closer in the game"

maybe 10 years ago, but now?

I hate to admit it but wouldn't any team take Pap-smear over Hoffman?

anybody got any predictions on the Div. series?

or are we not that bold here?

Yanks in 4, A-rod will not disappoint.

and I am all for Shelley Frankenstein in the DH spot in Gm 1.

Cleveland is good but we're better.

Aaron,

I made my predictions in the last post. Yanks in 4, Angels in 5, Yanks in 6, Yanks win the series over the Phils.

Gerry,

Yep, Frankenstein is Shelley.

I'm a dumbass.....

didn't scroll down when I got the blog this morning. I drank coffee this morning(which is a rarity for me) so I am all over the place.

My employees get a kick out of it b/c I am a naturally energetic person and when coffee is added to the eqaution, I must a spectacle.

needless to say, I scrolled down right after I posted.

Anyway- Like yer predictions. I think the angels will beat the bosox in 4 though. Dice-K is burned out.

Yanks'll beat the Phils in 6.

Ready for the big day tomorrow buddy?

I'm in the middle of my prep work. I should have a few treats for you guys, along with a new format for the live blogs (if my boss, the best boss in the world, I might add, lets me off in time to get home for the games).

Lookin forward to it. Thursday can;t come fast enough!

Sorry bri but no pics from this weekend but my bro scored ALCS tix, so if I can i'll get some pics then.

Haven't been to a postseason game since Boone's HR in '03.

First Sox game is at 3 pm on Wednesday. It's the only one I would get to watch with my girlfriend before I leave town for a week, but there's no way she can leave work early enough to watch even part of it. But, whatever. She'll be at Sunday's game, so it's hard to complain too much.

Damn. I'm always late to the discussion. LOL

Watching that instant replay of the play at home in the final inning, it appears Halliday was out. Who thinks they should have instant replay on plays made at home? The Pads were robbed.

I say that with bias. I would have rather had the Pads than the Rockies for my Phils. I think we could beat up more on the Pads. The Rockies vs. the Phils is a slugfest.

Who will TBS have announcing the NL games?

3 pm is rough. Have the Sox announced who's pitching game 2 yet?

Tony Gwynn, Chip Carey and Bob Brenly. I've heard Gwynn do a couple games this year, he's OK. Brenly and Carey are nothing special, at least they won't make me want to strangle someone like McCarver and Buck.

Cal Ripken is just horrible in the studio. Absolutely horrible.

I've heard Gwynn and he's OK. I've never heard Cal Ripken announce a game. I'm not fond of Joe Morgan or Tim McCarver as announcers, and Joe Buck in football or baseball is just plain annoying, no matter who they pair him up with.

Come to think of it, there aren't many good announcers out there, are there? Brian, you might be missing your calling.

It'll be Beckett, Matsuzaka and Schilling, in that order. They figured Schilling would do better with the extra rest, and wanted Dice-K to at least somewhat keep his momentum from the last few starts, while also getting six days rest. Also, Dice-K has never faced the Angels, so I guess there's a "fear of the unknown" factor they're hoping for. We'll see how that works out.

Schilling's going to have about 2 weeks of rest, right?

Hey everyone,

Do you think it's better to go with three solid starters in the playoffs or a four man rotation?

I think both ALDS series will be tough. Those are 4 high-quality teams. I think Yankees split in Cleveland then beat Byrd and Westbrook in the Bronx. I think Boston holds on to beat the Angels in a tough 5-game series.

Cubs over D'Backs in the NL in what I think will be a pretty easy series. I think Webb takes Game 1 then the Cubs win 3 in a row, and I'm really not sure about Phils/Rockies...I might go with the Phillies, for two main reasons: 1. The Phillies have fan and away the best pitcher in the series (Hamels) and Holliday's home/road splits are much more drastic than I expected. Phils in 5, with Hamels winning games 1 and 5 at CBP.

Did you guys hear Steve Phillips spitting more of his anti-NY biased rhetoric this morning? He was on Mike and Mike in the Morning, and they were wrapping up their segment with him, and he interrupts and says "Oh, one more thing, I just wanted to point out that I think the Indians will beat the Yankees." And then he stammered on a bit and repeated the "Cleveland will win" stuff a few more times. He spent months using flawed logic to explain why the Mariners would beat out the Yankees for the Wild Card, and now he can't leave it alone. He hates NY because he sucked as the Mets GM, and he cant make objective opinions about the Mets or the Yankees...

Phillips is such a moron. He said basically the same thing in a chat session yesterday on ESPN.com. I have to turn off baseball tonight when he's on, he can't go two seconds without saying the Yanks are going to lose.

Schilling last pitched September 25, so that's almost two weeks' rest-- twelve days, to be precise.

Yeah Tom, I listen to Mike and Mike. I wondered why Phillips needed to inject that last comment.

In general, the AL pitching looks much stronger than the NL.

Clemens threw 69 pitches in a simulated game against minor leaguers today.

I wonder what his final line was.

Is anyone still holding out hope that Joe will come to his senses and start Hughes over Mussina in game 4?

I feel like torre is gonna do it. I don't know why, though...

I doubt it. Come on, you know Torre all too well. But, if Moose gets into trouble, I'm sure Phil will come in. I wonder how Phil would handle the pressure. Guess it'll depend whether we're up 1 game or down 1.

Hasn't Moose done well in post season pitching for the Yankees in previous years? Joe loves his veterans, and is loyal to them to a fault. I'll be he starts him a game.

I was talking to Mike from Green Pinstripes and he brought up the "Well, if Moose gets in trouble, we always have Hughes" logic as well. Doesn't it worry you that it might be too late by that point?

Moose had success in previous post seasons, but he was a different pitcher then. Hughes is by far the better pitcher at this point, and he gives the Yankees a much better chance at winning the game. I also don't like the logic that it depends on if we're up a game or down a game. You can't throw away games in the playoffs. If we're up 2-1, then putting them away in the fourth game is crucial. You don't have to travel back to Cleveland, and you don't have to face Sabathia in game 5.

That being said, I'm about 90% sure Moose gets the start. As JJ said, Joe's loyal to his vets, to a fault.

Who knows? Maybe Moose will rise to the occasion. He did have a few strong outings at the end of the season and has had success in post season before.

Stranger things have happened. Remember how much we all hated Farnsworth in April, May and June? He pitched a whole lot better starting the end of July. The playoffs is a whole new ballgame.

Here's hoping for the best possible scenario...
Phils vs. the Yankees!

Wow, you make me sound like a moron.

Anyway, I can see the argument for both pitchers. I'm keeping an open mind. Also, if we're going to look ahead -- I'm more concerned about Clemens than I am about who starts Game 4.

Nah, you aren't a moron Mike, you're just a Piazza-loving Met fan in disguise :)

I get the logic, Mussina is more of a known quantity, sort of. Torre trusts the guys that have done it before. The thing is, it isn't really the guys that have done it before that got us here. It's the young guys. They've energized everyone. I think starting Hughes would give the entire team a lift. If you polled the team, I bet they'd say they want Hughes on the hill. How many times did they have to overcome huge early deficits this year because Mussina didn't have it? They'd rather have the kid out there, because when he's on, he's dominant.

How dare you!!

Fair enough. I'm still more concerned with the old man's start in Game 3. My brain can't get into the Game 4 scenario until it presents itself.

About "being up or down 1" logic, I didn't mean it as far as who should start Game 4, I meant about the pressure Phil will be under if he has to come in to relieve Moose. If we're up 1, Phil may be more relaxed and not try to over-do it. If we're down, the pressure might get to his young self. Or maybe not.

Personally, I'd have Phil start the game with a short leash and have Moose come in if things get crazy (a-la Game 7 '03). But it won't happen, of course. And, yeah, add me to the camp worried about the Rocket start.