ALCS discussion

[Master P]

haven't seen a discussion thread on ALCS, hope you guys don't mind i started one

well

espn had already announced... dicek for game one... game two beckett, game three lester, game four wakefield http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3632253

if that is the case and tampa uses its normal rotation we may see

GAME ONE: SHIELDS vs DICE K

GAME TWO: KAZMIR vs BECKETT

GAME THREE: GARZA vs LESTER

GAME FOUR: SONNANSTINE vs WAKEFIELD


should be a great series, likely a back and fourth one

thoughts? :cheers:

 

[matteson83]

I like the red sox rotation alot. Gets Dice-K a start on the road where he finds better success, Beckett 2 starts indoors and out of the cold northeast weather, and it gives Lester a start at fenway where he has been lights out and the possibility of the ace pitching game 7. Wake could be the wildcard. Over his career Wake has pitched very well against the Rays.
I agree with you Master P, neither team will run away with the series. I see Boston taking atleast one of the first 2 at the Trop, and the Rays taking one in Boston. Leaving Boston up 3-2 returning to Tampa with Beckett and Lester ready to close it out.

 

[barmeezee]

tampa will fuck DiceK up ..

 

[AgainstThePublic]

TB in seven.

Pitching slight edge to Boston
RP edge to TB
Coaching slight edge to Bos
Defense edge to TB
Hitting Bos slight edge
Everything points to Boston BUT TB is the COL and Cards of a few years. TB doesn't go away. Upton, Iwamura and Longoria swinging hot bats. Kazmir scares me. Game 1 is huge IMO. TB could be down 2-0 going back to Bos and this could be a short series. HFA will be huge for TB as well. Dodgers vs. TB in the WS.

 

[cogenman]

I'm hoping TB can take both game 1 and 2. Then I'll take Boston in game 3 with Lester on the mound facing Garza. The price will be steep but it sets up for a nice game 3 if TB can take the first 2 IMO.

 

[MusicCityGambler]

I love the Rays in games 1,2 and 4. Red Sox have a huge edge in game 3. Rays in 6.

 

[matteson83]

I love the Rays in games 1,2 and 4. Red Sox have a huge edge in game 3. Rays in 6.

Lester would pitch game 6 on full rest if facing elimination or if something happens with Becketts injury. Wake can handle the Rays like he has in the past. This will be a great series going the full 7 games.

 

[barmeezee]

any props on it goin 7 games?

 

[BetCrimes1984]

I like the Rays to win in 6.

Deciding on my betting approach now.

The Sox are pitching in order-Dice K-Beckett-Lester-Wake-Dice-Beckett and Lester

 

[Throwback420]

 

[tigercub]

i really see the sox taking this in 5 or 6. they will be coming back to boston with at the very least a split. its humorous how down everyone is on beckett all of a sudden, when his last start was nothing but a tune-up essentially. combine that with the fact that the heart of the angels order had a solid history against becketts fastball, it was only normal for him to have a tough outing. add in the fact the the sox will put up at least 5 against kazmir, i like them A LOT in game 2. that will be my big bet of the series reguardless of how the first game goes. now game 1 will be a grind with dice k as always, but he (and beckett for that matter) have been basically unhittable in their 4 combined starts at the trop this year. so i would expect a close, low scoring game to start off the series.


starting pitching edge boston
relief pitching slight edge tampa
defense edge boston
coaching edge boston
hitting slight edge boston
annoying fucking cowbells big edge tampa

 

[CapTwo]

what a homer ^^

how can you give the defensive edge to boston? hands down TB has the edge in this category. its not even a debate

and SP, if anything, would be a VERY slight edge to boston.

as far as offense- i guess you could give the hitting edge to boston, but tampa has the speed/ability to make things happen on the basepaths.
boston has ellsbury. and coco to pinch run. thats about it.

 

[tigercub]

cap, what are we going by here boston has the best fielding pct. in the al by a very slight margin. less errors this year than the rays. youk and pedroia are gold glove infielders. ellbury, drew, bay, crisp is about a deep an outfield you can have, and the vet captain tek behind the plate. i see no reason you give the edge to tampa, so ill stick by my leans.

as for starting pitching, um look at the matchups. dont think of this of me being a homer at all, because im always very cautious in postseason series. the last two years i had feelings of the angels beating the sox, gladly i was dead wrong. when they matched up with cleveland last year iwas very confident we'd move on, much like i am now. shields is the only game where the rays have the pitching advantage. ill even give you sonnanstine over wake because that is a toss up for wake, and sonnanstine pitched well last time against us. but lets see, dice k was 1-0 in 2 starts at the trop this year posting a 1.80 era and .143 batting average. he gave up his fair of walks (7) but also struck out 12. so that matchup will be extremely close.

now i would think both teams will be under alot of pressure this series due to the fact tampa feels they got alot to prove again, and the sox not wanting to get beat by the rays like they did in the regular season. but me as a fan, i think it would be an embarrassment if boston lost this series. not to say it cant be done, or to say that boston if that much better than tb, cuz they AREN'T that much better. its just the simple fact that the players know how much it means around here, and they do whatever the hell is possible to come through. they get down but never give in. now tampa on the other hand, have played in front of what 10,000 fans all year except when playing the sox, yanks, and cubs? the people down in tampa, they dont really care. the rays, obviously they want to win, but they have nothing to prove anymore. that may help them, but what wont help them is when they step on the big stage vs. a team thats been there before and that has everything to lose. then things may start to go south for the poor devil rays.

 

[AgainstThePublic]

cap, what are we going by here boston has the best fielding pct. in the al by a very slight margin. less errors this year than the rays. youk and pedroia are gold glove infielders. ellbury, drew, bay, crisp is about a deep an outfield you can have, and the vet captain tek behind the plate. i see no reason you give the edge to tampa, so ill stick by my leans.

as for starting pitching, um look at the matchups. dont think of this of me being a homer at all, because im always very cautious in postseason series. the last two years i had feelings of the angels beating the sox, gladly i was dead wrong. when they matched up with cleveland last year iwas very confident we'd move on, much like i am now. shields is the only game where the rays have the pitching advantage. ill even give you sonnanstine over wake because that is a toss up for wake, and sonnanstine pitched well last time against us. but lets see, dice k was 1-0 in 2 starts at the trop this year posting a 1.80 era and .143 batting average. he gave up his fair of walks (7) but also struck out 12. so that matchup will be extremely close.

now i would think both teams will be under alot of pressure this series due to the fact tampa feels they got alot to prove again, and the sox not wanting to get beat by the rays like they did in the regular season. but me as a fan, i think it would be an embarrassment if boston lost this series. not to say it cant be done, or to say that boston if that much better than tb, cuz they AREN'T that much better. its just the simple fact that the players know how much it means around here, and they do whatever the hell is possible to come through. they get down but never give in. now tampa on the other hand, have played in front of what 10,000 fans all year except when playing the sox, yanks, and cubs? the people down in tampa, they dont really care. the rays, obviously they want to win, but they have nothing to prove anymore. that may help them, but what wont help them is when they step on the big stage vs. a team thats been there before and that has everything to lose. then things may start to go south for the poor devil rays.

I respect your thoughts and opinions but I have to disagree with both these statements. How can the TB area not care about their team making it to the ALCS for the first time in their history? Yes the crowds may not have been up to par but this area DOES care. Unless you have been to every TB game (which I doubt it cause you obviously have the Bos homer goggles on) you don't know what this area brings to the table. The Naimoli management screwed this team up from the beginning. New ownership turned things around in just two years. They have sold out their first two games of the playoffs (sorry Braves fans but how many times had the Braves not sold out games when they were in the playoffs?).

Embarrassment if they get beat by TB (who for 95% of the year was one of the top three teams in baseball, in arguably the toguhest division in baseball). Just because TB hasn't been around longer than the Sox doesn't mean it will be an embarrassment. You are seriously selling this TB team short. I am a Yankee homer but live in the TB area and have seen this team come through in the clutch time after time. IMO the best two teams in baseball are squaring off this series. LAA was no doubt a solid team but these two teams have been battle tested all year. LAA plays in a (per Sammy Mickey Mouse division) but they are still a very good team. TB was either 4th or 6th (can't remember stats not in front of me)in outfield assists this year in all of baseball. Boston was 16th. Rays have more speed and that will cause problems for Boston. Lowell is out. Big loss. Drew is just coming back from injury as well as Beckett. Also I believe Boston found a way to win that series against LAA while LAA time and time again shot themselves in the foot. Good teams find a way to win. Boston is just that. My point is that many people are discounting this Rays team. They are damn good. They are the better "team" IMO but Boston is the champs. Should be a good series.

 

[tigercub]

i didnt mean the area doesnt care now, but since when did they start caring? it seems apparent to me they starting caring this past month when finally people started filling the stands and they knew they were headed to the playoffs. you can always tell what fans dont really care as much, when your home team doesnt have faith in its crowd and has to hand out things such as rally stick, and in this case cow bells before home games, right? now i didnt mean it would be embarrassing as a whole if tb won this series, i meant as boston fans i feel it would be a kick to the nuts type deal having a team with no real fan base be celebrating a pennant when prob 90% of the people down there couldve cared less 5 months ago.

i dont feel i am selling this tampa team short at all. i know they're a very good team and deserve to be where they are. they've battled all year long and will be competitve this series im sure, but i just dont think they have it in them this year. call me a homer all you want, but i take our top 3 starters over anyone in baseball. we have 2 aces at the top end of our rotation, and that doesnt include someone who went 18-3, and 9-0 on the road. think about it. pitching wins this time of year and i think ill go with boston's staff over tampa's.

 

[Capt. Slap]

Tampa in 6 or 7

 

[Inspekdah]

Lester would pitch game 6 on full rest if facing elimination or if something happens with Becketts injury. Wake can handle the Rays like he has in the past. This will be a great series going the full 7 games.

Not in 40 degree weather. He will have nothing with that lame duck knuckle. He's useless in the post season.

 

[Inspekdah]

I'm not a baseball expert by any means... but what I noticed...

Rays been getting dogged all year, and handled their business in impressive style vs. the Sox. Winning a clincher on the road is difficult and they made it look easy visiting the "blackout".

Angels really gave the Sox that series with errors, and poor defense and execution. They should have at least split those first games. In the post season, errors will kill you and the Rays are IMO the best defensive club in baseball.

That dome is a mess, but provides probably the largest home field advantage you could ever possibly want. Wakefield, as well stinks in the cold.



This to me reminds me of Lakers-Celtics... I can get + money on the home team? Might have to indulge.

 

[matteson83]

The sox accomplished what they needed to accomplish at the very least last night. Dice K shut the rays line up down. Hopefully the Rays line up can figure out Beckett and Lester or they will be in a large hole coming back to the trop.

 

[matteson83]

Even money on one of the most dominant post season starters in recent history. Not Bad.

 

[AgainstThePublic]

Yeah that was a huge loss for the Rays but it's still early. Not too sold on Kazmir. Dice K looked dominant and the one mistake for the most part cost the Rays. Like I said good teams find a way to win and Boston did that.

 

[tigercub]

wow good for dice k last night. giving him the ball in game 1 i think really gave him extra confidence and the feeling that his team actually has faith in him. i loved how tito let him go out for the 8th, i was hoping he did. not to jinx or anything, but this series is as good as over i think. tonight is the game i really loved the sox to take, hopefully they do what is expected. beckett will be on tonight and kazmir really has a load of pressure on him tonight. i think he buckles and the sox win this one in 6-2 type game.

 

[tuck321]

Today is Saturday so of course I bet Tampa

 

[BetCrimes1984]

The little birdie that was on Boston's shoulder for their first 5 games of this post season has well and truly flown away.