Baseball

[SanFranHibs]

I think a lot depends on Dice-K. He is certainly not pitching at his best but is number two in the rotation. Need him to compete with Carmona in game 2.

Boston - Cleveland should be a great series.

[SanFranHibs]

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As much as I hate to say it,think Indians will take this one,unless the Sox bats stay hot!

Indians pitching looked pretty damn good against the Yankees aswell as consistently having base runners.

Just feel their starters at the moment look more on form than the Sox other than Beckett,and not sure how many more big games Schilling can throw.

Pitching very smartly and his post season numbers are tremendous. I actually think the Red Sox offense is too strong and Cleveland lived dangerously against New York with most of their hits with RISP coming with two outs. Now I commend them heartily for that but Beckett/Schilling are too good to consistently give up 2 out hits. Or I HOPE so !!!!

Dice-K's performance is critical.

[rossevenil]

Agree about Dice-K,as commentators have said batters have learned how to hit him and he needs to cut down the number of pitches he thinks he can throw to a few he can really throw if you know what I mean?

As for Schilling,I know where you are coming from and hope you are correct as we all know he is a big time pitcher,lets hope he can do it a couple of times more,aswell as Manny and Papi getting hot for the Post Season.

[heretoday]

Love the Indians. I started watching baseball on Channel 4 ten years ago when I was ill and couldn't sleep. The Tribe should have won the WS then and had a great team for some years afterwards with Thome, Vizquel, Colon, Ramirez etc. It was always pitching that let them down but now they seem to have a strong bullpen which they never had before and I reckon that is one of the secrets to baseball success - that and "clutch hitting" which they also do well these days. Good to see Lofton back too.
I have a tenner on them this year!

[Part/Time Supporter]

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I think a lot depends on Dice-K. He is certainly not pitching at his best but is number two in the rotation. Need him to compete with Carmona in game 2.

Boston - Cleveland should be a great series.

Boston has moved Schilling up to game 2 to counter Carmona. They're running scared already.

[Shrekko]

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Pitching very smartly and his post season numbers are tremendous. I actually think the Red Sox offense is too strong and Cleveland lived dangerously against New York with most of their hits with RISP coming with two outs. Now I commend them heartily for that but Beckett/Schilling are too good to consistently give up 2 out hits. Or I HOPE so !!!!

Dice-K's performance is critical.

Dice-K is just downright average. All the hype was just that. This season should have been a good one for him as he had the advantage over the hitters but his ERA was 4.4 and rose as the season went on. Seeing as he's more or less the finished article he'll never be what they said he might.

I think this is a cracking match up. Pitching wise, you've got 2 aces each- Beckett/Schilling and Sabathia/Carmona. Then you've got 2 each that are average Dice-K/Wakefield and Westbrook/Bryd. So you might get a mixture of slug-fests and pitching duels. Two very good but not great hitting line-ups- so should be good. The Ortiz factor will more than likely be what swings it but you never know.

I also think it's more or less a World Series as the winner will go on to win in it all (much as I'd love to see the Rockies do that now).

[Part/Time Supporter]

A quick thought - the Indians, Rockies and Diamondbacks have a lower combined payroll than the Yankees. Here's what you could get for a combined team:

SP1 LHP CC Sabathia
SP2 RHP Brandon Webb
SP3 LHP Jeff Francis
SP4 RHP Fausto Carmona
SP5 LHP Randy Johnson

CL RHP Jose Valverde
RP RHP Rafael Betancourt
RP LHP Rafael Perez
RP RHP Brandon Lyon
RP RHP Manny Corpas
RP RHP Jensen Lewis

C SH Victor Martinez
C RH Chris Snyder

1B LH Todd Helton
1B LH Travis Hafner
2B SH Orlando Hudson
2B SH Asdrubal Cabrera
3B RH Garret Atkins
SS RH Troy Tulowitzki

LF RH Matt Holliday
LF LH Kenny Lofton
CF LH Grady Sizemore
CF RH Chris Young
RF LH Brad Hawpe
RF RH Franklin Gutierrez

That is sick.

[heretoday]

Luck is a big player in most sports but never more so than in baseball. By rights the batter shouldn't have a chance against a hard ball thrown at over 90 mph from a short distance away.
The fascinating thing about baseball is the way that certain batters can achieve consistent success against the odds.
By the same token certain pitchers can come top of their class on a regular basis despite the constant fear that a slightly wayward throw can result in disaster.
That is the fascination of baseball.

[Shrekko]

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Luck is a big player in most sports but never more so than in baseball. By rights the batter shouldn't have a chance against a hard ball thrown at over 90 mph from a short distance away.
The fascinating thing about baseball is the way that certain batters can achieve consistent success against the odds.
By the same token certain pitchers can come top of their class on a regular basis despite the constant fear that a slightly wayward throw can result in disaster.
That is the fascination of baseball.

What other sport in the world can you get superstar status by FAILING 70 PERCENT of the time??

Obviously the more talented you are the more chance you have of being lucky more often but yeah- a lot of it's down to pure luck. Very little difference between a double play ball and an RBI grounder up the middle.

It's a great sport and the drama you get in these later stages is phenomenal- every pitch has you on the edge of your seat, sometimes for 7 whole games.

[HibsMax]

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Hibsmax- I'm well aware that the Red Sox have always been well supported. I'm referring in particular to UK fans.

that's kinda what I thought you meant, hence my preamble. :)

[HibsMax]

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Max

I can't believe that Ortiz isn't in the top 20 in terms of payroll. Varitek also signed a big deal after the 2004 WS win. Is Drew on more than Papi and Tek - say it aint so.

I wish I had kept the link. I'll find it again I just can't find it right now. What I can tell you is that Ortiz has always been on a tiny amount compared to Ramirez. Drew was signed for 5 years, 14mm per year!!!! :-O That's why he has been under the microscopes this season.

[HibsMax]

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Out of interest, how much bigger is the NYY payroll in comparison to the Sox?

for 2007, about 52 million dollars.

[hibsboy90]

I flew to the states today and i'm currently watching the ALCS on FOX.

Sabbathia has been pulled out in the 5th inning, after an ERA of 8!!!!!

Red Sox batting has been very impressive, but the number of walks given has been extraordinary. The Indians LF went to catch a bouncing ball near the track, and ended up knocking it out for a ground rules double. That triggered a free scoring inning.

I'm going to the NHL tomorrow night, Tampa Bay Lightening at Florida Panthers, both of whom i've seen before.

[Fat Stu]

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I flew to the states today and i'm currently watching the ALCS on FOX.

Sabbathia has been pulled out in the 5th inning, after an ERA of 8!!!!!

Red Sox batting has been very impressive, but the number of walks given has been extraordinary. The Indians LF went to catch a bouncing ball near the track, and ended up knocking it out for a ground rules double. That triggered a free scoring inning.

I'm going to the NHL tomorrow night, Tampa Bay Lightening at Florida Panthers, both of whom i've seen before.

his era for that game will be about 15 as he has given up 8 runs in 5 innings

[hibsboy90]

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his era for that game will be about 15 as he has given up 8 runs in 5 innings

Yes, i'd forgotten completely about that. I hope people don't think that he's rubbisha as he most definately isn't.

As for the NLCS, Colorado 2-0 up and now heading home to Denver. Last night's game 2-2 until the 11th. With a man on base, 3 men were walked. 3-2 Rockies.

[Part/Time Supporter]

Well, I'm not quite sure how, but the Indians survived another wild performance by a starter and eventually erupted in the 11th inning to win game 2 by 13-6. The game lasted so long that it was still going when I woke up this morning (about 6.20). The guys showed their confidence in Borowski by not settling for anything less than a 7 run lead.



I know this sounds a bit perverse, but I'm quite confident about the next two games being started by Westbrook and Byrd. Hopefully they will pitch to contact and not try to finesse too much (I know Byrd won't, at least). It's a strange series already. It could develop into an endurance battle between the two bullpens, although the extra day off between games #4 and #5 eases that a bit.

[hibsboy90]

Quick update:

Rockies won the NLCS 4-0 to go through to the World Series.

In that time, Boston's bats stopped working (apart from manny and ortiz basically) at the same time, Cleveland were scoring for fun. Last night Beckett was immense and helped the sox make it 3-2 and take it back home to fenway, with schilling on the mound tonight.

I still think that back at fenway we can still reach the world series!!!

[HibsMax]

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Quick update:

Rockies won the NLCS 4-0 to go through to the World Series.

In that time, Boston's bats stopped working (apart from manny and ortiz basically) at the same time, Cleveland were scoring for fun. Last night Beckett was immense and helped the sox make it 3-2 and take it back home to fenway, with schilling on the mound tonight.

I still think that back at fenway we can still reach the world series!!!

tomorrow night.

I sure hope you're right. It was good to see some hitting last night after the recent drought. I worry about our pitching though. We need a really strong performance from Schilling this time.

[hibsboy90]

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tomorrow night.

I sure hope you're right. It was good to see some hitting last night after the recent drought. I worry about our pitching though. We need a really strong performance from Schilling this time.

Yeh i meant tomorrow!!

I don't think curt is quite as good as he was when we won it last time. Although i have a good feeling about game 6.

IF we win tomorrow, then i really think that game 7 would come as well, because the tribe would be demoralised. Although Manny's comments the other night about being knocked out "No big deal" won't have gone down too well in Boston.

And no Joe Torre next year, RichH

[Dropkick Murphy]

Josh Beckett was brilliant in game 5. He should definately win the Cy Young

[hibsboy90]

Watching game 5 at the moment, 3-2 red sox

BUT, it seems like Dice-K wants to throw the game away, i'm very nervous about this boy. Lets get Beckett in for 2 innings, or even Timlin or Okajina.

[HibsMax]

This looks like it's gonna be a helluva good World Series!

[NYHibby]

I hope Colorado wins. I can't stand Red Soxs fans. They were so obnoxious when they won the last time.

[duncs]

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I hope Colorado wins. I can't stand Red Soxs fans. They were so obnoxious when they won the last time.

How so? Surely they are entitled to celebrate winning the holy grail, the one thing that had been deprived of them for over 80 years?

[ancienthibby]

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How so? Surely they are entitled to celebrate winning the holy grail, the one thing that had been deprived of them for over 80 years?

BoSox all the way!!

[Falkirk Hibby]

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I hope Colorado wins. I can't stand Red Soxs fans. They were so obnoxious when they won the last time.

Those grapes smell real sour!

[heretoday]

All Tribe fans must be disconsolate after being so close. If they keep that team together, add another bat and a starter they'll be back next year.
I hope they give Kenny Lofton another year. He's still lightning fast.
Fair play to the Sox. They are a dynamic outfit and should win the WS pretty quick.

[HibsMax]

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I hope Colorado wins. I can't stand Red Soxs fans. They were so obnoxious when they won the last time.

Hmmmm, it only took 86 f'ing years to win it so I think they / we have some entitlement to be a little obnoxious. That said, I didn't meet any obnoxious fans, maybe you just attract obnoxious people?

[hibsboy90]

There were a fair few Red Sox hats, t-shirts etc on show today in Florida, one problem, i'm going up to New York tomorrow for a few days, nervous about the world series up there, if this is anything to go by

And the obnoxious thing, it did take 86 years, can you imagine how us hibees would act if we won our holy grail??? We would be letting everyone know about it.

As for the game last night, had Lofton gone home instead of stopping at third, we could have been here chatting about how the Tribe deserve to be there.

It's snowing in Denver though, should be a great WS.

PS - I know the beating has been revealed to be otherwise motivated

[HibsMax]

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There were a fair few Red Sox hats, t-shirts etc on show today in Florida, one problem, i'm going up to New York tomorrow for a few days, nervous about the world series up there, if this is anything to go by

And the obnoxious thing, it did take 86 years, can you imagine how us hibees would act if we won our holy grail??? We would be letting everyone know about it.

As for the game last night, had Lofton gone home instead of stopping at third, we could have been here chatting about how the Tribe deserve to be there.

It's snowing in Denver though, should be a great WS.

PS - I know the beating has been revealed to be otherwise motivated

You can never tell how you will be treated. I've never seen any trouble with rival fans but I also stay out of certain areas e.g. Times Square when it's really late. I'm guessing since this incident took place outside a bar that alcohol was involved and who knows what was said. Still scary though. Just exercise caution and you should be OK. Most of the fans are fine.