Who do you pick to win the two ALDS matchups?

I'm sure all the Red Sox fans here will throw it back at all the people who voted for the A's to win their series. *Cough* Like me...

Crap. I just checked the MLB site to find out the dates of these games. It breaks down like this:

Twins v. Yankees
Game 1: 9/30 at NY
Game 2: 10/2 at NY
Game 3: 10/4 at MN
Game 4: 10/5 at MN
Game 5: 10/6 at NY

Red Sox v. A's
Game 1: 10/1 at Oakland
Game 2: 10/2 at Oakland
Game 3: 10/4 at Boston
Game 4: 10/5 at Boston
Game 5: 10/6 at Oakland

I'm going to Boston from 10/9-13 to watch Jim, Cyd and others in a flag football tournament. I was hoping the Sox would be in the playoffs while I was there, just to get caught up in the fever. But even if the Sox extend the A's to 5, Game 5 is on the 6th in Oakland. So, mass despression, that'll be the Boston I'm going to!

Or: the Sox advance to the ALCS, in which case Boston will really be rockin' while I'm there. Hmmmm...if the Sox are still in the playoffs, how many of the Boston flag football people will suddenly get "sick" if there's a scheduling conflict?

Go Twins!

[ September 26, 2003, 12:57 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Surprisingly, more Outsporters believe the Twins can upset the Yanks than believe the Red Sox will beat the A's. So far it's 10-5 in favor of the Yanks and 12-3 the A's way.

I hope the Yankees meet the A's for the pennant, and then the Yankees play either the Giants or Cubs (oh, that would be worth it, though I'd be rooting for the Yankees to win) in the Series. Actually, Yankees versus ATL, SF or Chi would be fine. If not the Yankees, then the As.

In a short series I "predict" the teams I'm rooting for -- how else would you do it? -- so I think it's just there are more A's and Yankees admirers here.

Santana, being the Twins' top starting pitcher this year, is their best hope for an upset. He only pitched 5-2/3 scoreless innings against NY early in the year before he joined the rotation. If he can manage to beat Mussina, I think Minnesota's chances of winning the series approach 50%. Otherwise, it could be a swift exit.

Since the Bosox and A's are both run by "Moneyball" men, I'd flip a coin on who to root for, if not for my Barry & Tim & Mark daydreams.

Tickets for the ALCS games scheduled at Fenway Oct 11-12-13 went on sale via the 'Net at 6:00 this evening, so my friend Roy and I each spent like four hours on our respective PCs trying to get seats. No luck, JA, sorry...

As somebody on one of the Red Sox discussion boards said, "Can we go back to the old fashioned system? Sleep on the street for 4 days??? I miss camping out on Yawkey Way!"

Redsoxbreath, you bastard.

Sleeping four nights in mid-40 degree weather builds character.

Anybody but the Yankees will be fine with me. Worst nightmare? Yankees v. Braves.

[ September 29, 2003, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Just got home from work to the news that I've scored tix to Game 1 of the Twins-Yanks!!! I've never seen any of my favorite teams in the playoffs, so I'm psyched! Go Twins!!!

It's going to be a bumpy ride, all the way down the line, but in the end, I'm sticking with the Yanks.

They're not going to be an easy wins. I predict a lot of good nail-biting baseball. A lot of drama, but in the end... THE YANKEES WIN!

George must be giving his Twins good luck this afternoon: Twins 3 - Yanks 0 (top of the 7th). Let's see if they hold on.

(thank god for the internet -- I can follow the game while at work -- our feeble cable system here only gets the broadcast networks, the news channels and all 3 C-SPANs -- yawn)

Congrats George_vikingfan, your team beat the Yanks!! Yippee!!

Good win for the Twins. Fielding seemed to be the difference in this game. Poor fielding by the Yankees (Williams and Matsui) allowed two runs to score, while a great play by the Twins outfielder (forgot who) saved two runs.

Bernie's stunk it up in the field for a couple years now. (Yes, Virginia, there are things John Sterling omits...)

Santana leaves after 4 scoreless with LEG CRAMPS ... a seemingly unmistakeable sign of satanic intervention... and STILL the Twins take a must-win, 3-1! I also followed the game on the web and had to leave my desk during the last AB. Couldn't take it!

We'll have to see if Santana is OK to go again. If yes, we may be 2 losses from a sweet Bronx housecleaning.

[ September 30, 2003, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

I fear for GVF's safety.

3-1 Twins. *Tee hee* Yankees lost *Tee hee* Get the brooms out. (Apologies to Pat125!)

I followed it on the web, from the MLB site. The pitch-by-pitch thing would not resize so I couldn't see what happened after about the 3rd pitch in an AB. Damn my boss for not letting us have TV's on our desk.

[ September 30, 2003, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Did you see Matsui's drive to left field? Shannon Stewart makes a leaping catch at the wall. I saw a few gloves hanging over the wall looking to steal the catch. Sorry Yankee fans! No snot-nose Jeffrey Mayer miracle plays on this day.

I love it. Lets hope for a Twins sweep!
Yankees SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh

Tremendous catch by ex-Jay Shannon Stewart. Yea Twins!!

I don't think you can blame the Yankee loss entirely on sloppy fielding. They only managed to scratch 1 run (in the ninth inning) off of the Twins pitching. Terrific performances by Santana, Romero and Hawkins.

Has anyone noticed how many times that "Tempted" Gap add is being shown during the baseball games. I'm actually getting tired of seeing scrummy Raoul Bova get in and out of bed (oh, why couldn't it be mine?).

That's blasphemy!

The Twins came into the series on a big roll (ignoring the final series against the Tigers after they clinched their division). It's not surprising to see they won the game. It won't be too surprising if they win the series. Remember, they were here last year. This year they struggled more but they're dangerous. It's not a stretch to me to say that the Twins may very well win it all.

I wouldn't exactly put the World Series ring on the Twins yet. It's only one game folks. This is not the first time the Yankees have lost game one in a best of five or seven series (think: Athletics or Braves). This will definitely wake the Yanks up for Game Two.

I hope so.

It'll be fine, Pat. ...and I will probably need to keep telling myself this every 10 minutes for the next 48+ hours!

Now that was fun! I proudly wore my retro Twins cap and actually didn't run into any problems. Some mostly good natured razzing.

Lots of empty seats. I guess the fact that it was a day game. Yankees fans are so spoiled and fickle though. The number of people that poured out of the stadium after the eighth inning was ridiculous. Haven't these folks seen enough Yankee comebacks over the years. And they did indeed get some baserunners in the ninth. And booing Bernie Williams is just stupid. I know he's had an off year, but come on.

Bummer that Santana had to come out. He was pitching pretty well. But the Twins bullpen is solid.

I'll be going again Thursday night. But I don't think I'll risk wearing any Twins gear for that game. Different atmosphere at night.

Wow, I'm still in shock that the Twins were able to beat the Yankees today, but I've seen the Yanks make surprising comebacks over the years, so the Twins shoudn't get too confident just yet. Congrats to GVF, maybe they'll make it to the WS this year!

They had an article in today's Los Angeles Times, asking some of the Angels who they liked to win it all. The Twins got a few votes because they've been so hot in the last month or so. I'll love reading the NY press if the Yankees get bounced in the first round again.

The astute King Kaufman has some nice Yankee myth-puncturing here (it's a Salon Premium column, so I've quoted at length):

"'The throw is poor, and he scores!' shouted ESPN announcer Jon Miller, and there you had it -- the first criticism of Bernie Williams in the history of national television.

"Williams, who is 35, won four straight gold gloves from 1997 to 2000, and he maintains his reputation as a stellar center fielder even as age and injuries have drastically reduced his range and throwing ability. You simply never hear anything about Williams' fielding on TV except that he's terrific at it, which used to be true but no longer is. He's an illustration of the fact that we tend to judge fielders by their reputations, and by the anecdotal evidence of plays we happen to see, a tiny fraction of the whole league-wide picture.

"...Among the 20 major league center fielders who played in two-thirds of their team's games, Williams was tied for first in fielding percentage, having made only one error all year, but he was well down the list in two stats that measure -- imperfectly -- a fielder's range. He was ninth in range factor, which is simply assists and putouts divided by games played, and 16th in zone rating, which attempts to measure the percentage of balls hit into a fielder's typical area that he fields. ...

"Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui also enjoys a fine defensive reputation. I can't figure out why [given his two misplays]...

"Of the 19 major league left fielders who played in two-thirds of their team's games, Matsui was 18th in fielding percentage, 12th in range factor and 18th in zone rating. I'm not sure where his defensive reputation comes from, but from what I've seen this year, and the numbers, it certainly looks like he's a disaster out there."

He's also got some nice snipes at Fox's unbearable idiocies, bigmouth Javy and Chris Berman.

I wonder how many Red Sox fans on the East Coast were ready to hit the sack when they had a one run lead in the bottom of the 9th (after all it was past 1AM ET)?....but, lo and behold, Yankee favorite B.K. Kim put two runners on base and Grady Little surprisingly pulled his closer with two out and two on only to see Alan Embree give up the game-tying hit and cost Pedro a post-season victory....right now the game is still tied going to the 11th but me thinks there are gonna be a lot of angry, bleary-eyed workers in Beantown Thursday morning (either that, or a lot of folks will be calling in sick).

Who says Kim's problems only occur in Yankee Stadium or that the Curse of the Bambino is over? ....just getting a chance to see all those young hotties in the Oakland dugout jumping up and down, laughing and hugging one another is reason enough to make me root for the A's. wink

[ October 01, 2003, 10:56 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Ok, its nearly 11pm in Calif and this Oak-Bos game is still going. It may even go past MY bedtime...how the hell are BoSox fans dealing with this?

It is an exciting game, though. The BoSox look lifeless, at least compared with the frequent shots of the A's dugout. I have to wonder if the 3-hour time difference hasn't been overcome yet for Boston's players. And the longer this thing goes the worse it has to be for them. Regardless the outcome, tomorrow is a new day for both teams - should be an intresting series.

The fact that it is now nearly 11:45PM PT and game 2 tomorrow is a DAY GAME (1PM PT) should make this series even more interesting....not to mention that both bullpens are potentially gonna be depleted after pitching all these innings tonight -- although Oakland did bring in rookie Rich Harden (who is as cute as the rest of the A's staff wink ) to pitch the 12th and considering he was a starter all year should mean he'll be on the mound for a while.

I can't imagine how all those long-suffering, loyal BoSox fans are taking this -- you know they CAN'T force themselves to voluntarily turn off the set and go to bed now....then again, the way this game is looking they may be able to watch the end of game one LIVE while they are having breakfast Thursday morning.

[ October 01, 2003, 11:38 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

It's over: 11:46 pm. A's 5-4. I wonder if whoever goes through to the next round is going to pay the price for tonight.

[ October 01, 2003, 11:48 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Squeeze bunt...at 11:45pm. That's just wrong. Great game, though.

Well, the A's won it 5-4 thanks to catcher Ramon Hernandez' bases loaded, two out BUNT against Derek Lowe (who is still scheduled to start game 3 Sunday at Fenway) in the bottom of the 12th....this may be a bit premature but I gotta figure after the way they collapsed tonight (with Pedro as their starter) that the Red Sox are toast -- again!....I've been hoping for a Twins-A's ALCS and it's lookin good so far.

Great win for the A's tonight! Not exactly the best pitching by Hudson or Martinez, but it turned out to be an exciting game nonetheless. I like how Ramon Hernandez finally ended it with a squeeze bunt. very unexpected!

Try 2:45am for us Right Coasters. I actually gave up after the 11th, put the VCR on, and watched that amazing finish when I got up.

Here's to Durazo for being in the middle of everything, and assuring Pedro's exit with that 11-pitch AB in the 7th.

For you naysayers of the Beane approach: A's walk 10 times, win.

Not if they have lotsa time to rest after a 3-game sweep.

[ October 02, 2003, 07:30 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

Wow what a game. Huge win for the A's winning a Martinez pitched game. And what about Kim? I wonder if Williams is still going to use him to close games or is he going ot be on the bench? Do you take a chance on Kim blowing up in the post season again..especially in a short series? Hmmmmm. With the A's pitching staff, today is a must win situation for Boston.

Start time for today's game is only 13 hours from the end of last night's affair. Game 2 will be a do-or-die thing for the BoSox. If they can rally and win, the series is winnable. But if they come out flat in the first few winnings, something tells me they may well roll over and die. I really feel this series will be determined by what the Sox show us in the first three innings. I am miffed that the start time is during the middle of the day out here...I'll probably miss the whole game due to this darned thing called a job. Arrggghhh!
Of course, you east coasters missed last night's finish due to that darned thing called sleep.

I applaud your committment. I just don't have the stamina anymore. Hope the Yankees can get their shit together tonight. There should be no more excuses about faulty scouting reports.

Being a bit of a night-owl and living in the time zone just one hour ahead of Oakland's, I thought I'd be able to stick it out, but it was too late even for me. And to top it off, my VCR ran out of tape and so I only got as far as the llth inning this AM, missing the A's winning run. But I enjoyed what I saw; bring on Game Two, go A's!

I'm going to Boston next week and while I'm looking forward to the Sox still being alive when I'm in town--I'd love to watch a game in a bar with tons of cute, pale Irish-Americans--I'm not looking forward to being in town if they lose. Could get ugly.

Hardly. The A's have blown 2-0 leads in the divisional series before. They don't have this thing won until they win three games total.

That said: the Red Sox looked awful at the end. Drained of life. Their bullpen exposed as frauds. Their rotation is now out of sync for the rest of the series (using up Derek Lowe and making Pedro throw a season-high 130 pitches). Their infield defense -- just like I said right here -- has been exposed as an Achilles heel. (Note: Garciaparra and Walker both made awful throws to the first during the game and what was Bill Mueller doing not even bothering to try to throw out the painfully slow Ramon Hernandez at first?)

Even the A's may not be able to blow this baby.

[ October 02, 2003, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]

Especially since it's 5-0 A's in the 3rd. Yikes.

This must be a day-time night-mare for Red Sox fans. 5-0 for the A's after just two innings!

It's early yet. :confused:

Ah, the optimism of the terminally deluded! Oh, well, at least the Sox will get one game at Fenway at least.

Zito had the great curveball working today, while Wakefield couldn't control the knuckleball early on. If not for the disastrous 2nd inning, it would've been a very close game. Great win for the A's once again!

[ October 02, 2003, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Mike T. ]

Ok, working today and missed the game, and on the east coast so I wasn't about to watch last night. Damn, I have seen one inning of the entire series (the 2nd, last night), and the darn thing is almost over. What happened? Are the RedSox that overrated or are the As that good? The suicide squeeze I would have love to have seen, but now it is old news, even ESPN will show highlights of today's game and not this morning's/last night's.

Ruh roh. Make sure the suicide hotlines in the greater Boston area are fully staffed.

The Sox will probably win Game 3 but I predict A's in 4.

Both. So-called experts just thought that teams like the Yankees, Athletics, and Braves were going to just lay down and die in this post-season. Oh, and Boston fans... 1918

I’m melting, melting! What a world, what a world!

What. the. f**k? "Rally Karaoke Guy"? Well, whatever dignity the Red Sox had is utterly gone. Least Coast "Rally Monkey" bandwagon hoppers.

There sure are a lot of cute guys at Fenway tonight, though.

Way to go, Tro Nixon. You're so cute in some pictures I have of you, why do you look so bad here? Ah, Fu Mancu stache, buzz cut, that'll do it.

I still think the Sox are toast though.

Edit: OK, Trot? Go f**k yourself. You "asked the Lord" blah blah blah? Twat.

[ October 04, 2003, 08:55 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]