Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 21, 2007
Playoffs Today

The sun won't come out tomorrow for one of these teams. The season for the Indians and Red Sox comes down to a warm night in Boston with their number three starters on the mound. Can Daisuke deliver? Can Westbrook's sinker sink the Sox? Will Wedge or Francona make a strategic blunder that turns victory into defeat? Will Pronk poke? Will Manny be Manny?

Westbrook handled the Red Sox much better than the Yankees. He didn't walk a batter in his start against New York, but the Yankees pounded the balls he put in the strike zone. Jake didn't try to be quite as fine against the Red Sox, walking three. Boston picked up hits against Jake, but by keeping the ball on the ground he induced three double plays, two of them with men in scoring position. The Red Sox need to try to get Westbrook to elevate his sinker so the Sox can hit line drives instead of ground balls.

The Red Sox committed to $100 million dollars too bring Matsuzaka to the United States, and the eyes of two nations are on him tonight. Red Sox Nation hopes to his first two post-season starts turn out to be flukes. There's nothing on Dice-K in the English language Japanese news yet. The big difference between Matsuzaka in the playoffs and during the regular season is his hits allowed. He held opponents to a .246 BA in the regular season, but they've hit .317 against him so far in the post season.

These finished the regular season even in wins, and the difference in the post season is Cleveland's one loss to the Yankees. The series so far saw big score differences in each game except the one pitched by these two starters. Westbrook and Matsuzaka approach the game differently, but they are evenly matched as well. I'm hoping for a close contest to end the AL season.

Enjoy!


Posted by David Pinto at 02:31 PM | League Championship Series | TrackBack (0)
Comments

"There's nothing on Dice-K in the English language Japanese news yet. "

Well, there is, but it's from AP: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/sports/news/20071021p2a00m0sp006000c.html

Posted by: Steve H at October 21, 2007 05:36 PM
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