UP AGAINST IT

I keep hearing people complain that the Red Sox "aren't showing any intensity." How the hell can a baseball player show intensity? Baseball requires a calm and relaxed attitude. In '04, the Sox were down 3-0 to the Yankees but won 4 straight because they were relaxed, not "intense." In '07, they were down 3-1 to Cleveland, but calmly and confidently came back in that series. And if they have any chance of producing another miracle, they'll need to remain cool and collected.

Sox fans who paid attention for the regular season have seen a familiar thing these past two nights: a Sox offense with everyone slumping. This lineup is capable of a relentless onslaught. It's also capable of what we've witnessed lately. Maybe 2 or 3 guys put up good at-bats, and nobody can string hits together.

The good news is that this is self-correctable. And returning to Fenway won't hurt. The Sox scored 90 more runs at home than on the road. They average 1.1 more runs per game in Fenway. So that's something to look forward to.

But the Sox have dug themselves a deep hole. They can come back from this 2-0 deficit, but the hitting has to improve ASAP, and the pitching also has to be lights out.

Game 3 Sunday afternoon at 12:07 PM. Apparently TBS wants all Sox fans to lose sleep at night, and Angels fans to lose sleep in the morning because that's 9:07 AM in Anaheim.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

DUCKS FLOCK UP THE BRUINS

The B's utterly dominated the 1st period of play. Even though they only had a 1-0 advantage to show for it, they put 19 shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes. They only had 15 for the rest of the game. Give credit to Jonas Hiller for keeping the Ducks in this one early.

The problem with the Bruins in this young season isn't heart or fire. It's focus. They weren't focused in the Washington game. They were focused in Carolina, and focused for 20 minutes last night. Then they just stopped. Perhaps it was complacency, perhaps it was over-confidence. But even though they were up 1-0, they played like they were up 4-0, or down by 4.

Hunwick and Sturm committed silly penalties. Light stuff, but the kind of stuff that's clearly against the rules and is almost always called. Pair of power play goals and Anaheim was up 2-1 only 3:36 into the 2nd. I miss PJ Axelsson.

The Bruins looked awful from that point on. Impotent power plays. Really dumb turnover. I've seen college hockey games between a drunk team and a sober team. The Bruins looked buzzed.

Hopefully they recover with some maintained, consistent, slow-burning fire. They host the worst team in hockey Saturday night when the Islanders come to town.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

IS THE SKY REALLY FALLING?

Even in my gloomy "Angels in 4" prediction, I thought the Sox would prevail in Game 1. So how bad of shape are the Sox in right now? I won't sugar coat it. Things don't look good.

John Lackey was magnificent last night. And the Sox offense was dismal. In the 1st inning, they worked the counts a bit, but after that, Lackey was throwing too many strikes to take pitches, so at-bats grew shorter and shorter.

The Sox squandered some 2 out opportunities in the 4th and 6th, but other than that, they never mounted any kind of offense against Lackey.

Meanwhile, Lester had to pitch around CB Bucknor's missed calls at 1st base (how is HE a playoff umpire?), and Joe West's inconsistent low strike zone. Lackey got every knee-high pitch called a strike. Lester got every knee-high pitch called a ball. But unlike Mike "God's Gift to Managing" Scioscia, Francona won't blame the umps and neither will I.



Apart from the umpiring handicap, Lester did enough to screw himself. He walked 4, and one of those walks came back to bite him by scoring on Torii Hunter's homerun. What grinds my gears is that he was ahead of the count in the at-bat in which he walked that guy.



Ramon Ramirez put the icing on the cake in the 7th by loading the bases with a walk, hit batter, and infield single. The Sox were fortunate to leave that inning only down 5-0. But that was more than enough for Lackey and then Darren Oliver. The Angels' pen can implode, but 5 run implosions will be rare.

The Angels simply played better, in every aspect of the game. Torii Hunter got the timely hit no Sox batter could come up with. Lackey was lights out, Lester was only solid (and only for 6 innings). And all those CB Bucknor missed calls were allowed to happen by missed throws from Alex Gonzalez and Mike Lowell.

And no, Mike Scioscia and all his running, and all his bunting, none of that had anything to do with the Angels' win.

Game 2 is close to a must-win for the Sox. Tonight at 9:37 again: Beckett vs. Jared Weaver. We need a vintage Josh Beckett October outing.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
AP Photo/Chris Carlson

FRED TAYLOR TO HAVE SURGERY

The Patriots RB Corps took a big hit today, as it was reported by various sources that Fred Taylor will undergo surgery on his injured right ankle. It's still unclear as to how long this would keep Taylor on the sidelines.

From the Silver Lining Department, any time off could help keep Taylor relatively fresh for the stretch run and potential playoffs. Nevertheless, Taylor's the only RB on this team who has shown the kind of stuff to be a featured back.

Source:
ESPN.com

MARONEY BOLOGNA

Only in the English language could words spelled like that rhyme.



Laurence Maroney, who's struggled in Foxborough ever since the departure of Corey Dillon, made an enemy out of me this week. I've never been a huge fan, based mostly on his on-field performances. But I never held a personal grudge against him either. Until now.

Fresh off a disappointing 6 yard, 7 carry performance against the Ravens, Maroney addressed his being booed by the Gillette Stadium crowd. He then analyzed his performance:

"I just look at it as I had seven carries, and after looking at the film, I could have done a couple of the carries better, a couple of them probably weren’t blocked correctly, but hey, I still could have made a couple of them better."

He's not throwing the O-Line under the bus in full-blown Peyton Manning style, but he shouldn't be talking about them at all. You never heard Rodney Harrison say things like "We'd stop the run better if the linemen filled the gaps better." Or Brady say "We would've beaten the Giants had the line held up their pass rush."

Maroney is still a college back. In college rushing, defensive players overcommit like crazy. By the time Maroney hit the line of scrimmage, most of the defense was out of position. And only a few of them had the physical attributes to atone for this. So a fast guy like Maroney gets 10, 15 yards with ease. Here are some of Maroney's highlights, with Marion Barber mixed in as well. Maroney is #22, Barber is #21.



Maroney's not soft. He's fast. He just isn't fast enough and decisive enough to consistently succeed as an NFL back.

That being said, he does have a role on this team. I would like to see him as the 4th quarter RB (when the Pats have the lead, of course). When the opposing defense is tired from rushing the passer 40 times, and tackling Fred Taylor 15 times, that's when Maroney can excel. We saw that in 2006 when Corey Dillon would wear out the defense, then Laurence would run circles around them.

Source:
Boston.com

RED SOX ALDS ROSTER

The notable aspect of this is that Paul Byrd is on the roster, Manny Delcarmen is not. Byrd can provide long-relief, just in case the injured Beckett, semi-injured Lester, semi-rookie Buchholz, or 5 inning wonder Matsuzaka need it. Rocco Baldelli also failed to make the ALDS roster.

Here's the full pitching staff:
SP Jon Lester
SP Josh Beckett
SP Clay Buchholz
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka
P Paul Byrd
RP Jonathan Papelbon
RP Billy Wagner
RP Daniel Bard
RP Takashi Saito
RP Ramon Ramirez
RP Hideki Okajima

The position players:
C/1B Victor Martinez
C Jason Varitek
1B Kevin Youkilis
1B Casey Kotchman
2B Dustin Pedroia
3B Mike Lowell
SS Alex Gonzalez
IF Jed Lowrie
LF Jason Bay
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
RF JD Drew
OF Brian Anderson
OF Joey Gathright
DH David Ortiz

ALDS PREVIEW

Red Sox vs. Angels... again. Just like 1986, 2004, 2007, 2008. This is the 5th time these two teams have met in the postseason, and the Red Sox have won all 4 previous series. The Sox are 13-4 against the Angels in the playoffs.

But that's small comfort to me.

Here are the pitching matchups for this series:

Game 1: Jon Lester vs. John Lackey
Game 2: Josh Beckett vs. Jared Weaver
Game 3: Clay Buchholz vs. Scott Kazmir
Game 4: TBD vs. TBD
Game 5: TBD vs. TBD

Game 1 looks like an offensive shootout in disguise. The Sox hit Lackey well. The Angels hit Lester really well. Victor Martinez is 10/21 against Lackey. Vlad Guerrero is 4/10 against Lester. This game will surpass 10 total runs and will be determined by the bullpens. The Angels' pen isn't as deep as the Sox, so Game 1 will go to the good guys.



Game 2 worries me. Josh Beckett worries me. He had 20 Quality Starts, but a 3.86 ERA. He's been up and down all season. I really hope I'm wrong, and that 2007's Josh Beckett comes out to shine in the 2009 postseason, but I think we'll see what we saw in the '08 LCS against Tampa. The Sox hit Weaver well, so it'll be close, but I have to give the Angels the edge in Game 2.

Splitting two games in Anaheim would be a fantastic result for the Sox, who have the 2nd best home record in all of baseball. But the Angels have a secret weapon in Scott Kazmir. V-Mart, Ellsbury, and Pedroia will be able to hit Kazmir. The rest of the lineup will be lulled to sleep. I'm looking forward to seeing Buchholz in the playoffs. I think he'll do fine. But Kazmir will be lights out. Angels in Game 3.

This means Game 4 will be crazy. Matsuzaka is the likeliest candidate to start, but if the Sox are down 2-1, Lester might get the nod on short rest. Either way, I have little faith. Matsuzaka is a ticking timebomb waiting to implode. Lester's a lot like Pedro Martinez in that he needs his 4 days rest, and is a great pitcher for 100 pitches. But mess with that, and you're playing with fire. Angels win Game 4.

I really really hope I'm wrong. But I can't shake the feeling that the Angels will win this series in 4. Maybe it's just my late 90s pessimism reemerging. I certainly hope so.



And if the Angels do win, it won't be because of Mike Scioscia's managerial style. It won't be because of stolen bases. It will all come down to pitching. As great as the Sox starters can be, they can be equally as bad.

TODAY'S PLAYOFF GAMES

Last night was a great way to kick off the postseason. An epic 12 inning clash between the Twins and Tigers. And the people who enjoyed the game the most were the New York Yankees, watching both teams drain themselves before having to travel to New York tonight.

2:37 PM - TBS
Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies
Ubaldo Jimenez vs. Cliff Lee
The Phillies won the season series 4-2, but Jimenez is no slouch. Then again, the Phillies have had success against Jimenez in the past. Cliff Lee was a huge pick-up for the Phillies, who will win this game 5-3.



6:07 PM - TBS
Minnesota Twins @ New York Yankees
Brian Duensing vs. CC Sabathia
The Yankees may have made a mistake in allowing Sabathia to pitch 230 innings this season. Although it's a bit lower than last year (253), or the year before (241), he still tends to wear out at the 240ish inning mark. Unfortunately for Minnesota, that means CC has at least 7 strong innings left in him. Duensing, the 26 year old rookie will get smoked. Joe Mauer is 5 for 22 (.217) in his career against Sabathia.

Yannkees 6, Twins 2



9:37 PM - TBS
St. Louis Cardinals @ LA Dodgers
Chris Carpenter vs. Randy Wolf
This might be one of the more exciting series to watch. I think with Carpenter, the Cardinals have an advantage in Game 1. Although neither lineup has found much success against either of these guys in the past. The Dodgers are the better team overall, but tonight Carpenter will propel the Cards to a 1-0 series lead. Cardinals 4, Dodgers 1.