Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 27, 2008
One Series Set

In a battle of the second strings, the Yankees bottom of the order spanked the Red Sox minor leauge pitchers 19-8. The loss settles the AL East, as Tampa Bay wins the division, the first time since 1997 that a team other than New York or Boston won the AL East. It also confirms the first post season series as the Angels host the Red Sox. LAnaheim went 8-1 against Boston this season.

Congratulations to the Rays on their climb from worst to first. With the Angels holding the best record in the AL, and the ALDS holding the extra day off, LAnaheim gets to choose which schedule they'd like to play. It appears they chose the extra day off, although it still says tentative. That allows the Red Sox to be able to bring Beckett back on full rest in game 4. The extra day of rest also means they would face Dice-K twice in Anaheim if the series goes five. He's 9-0 on the road with a 2.37 ERA. That would be the best in the AL if Matsuzaka had pitched five more innings away from Fenway.

I'll see if I can confirm this is true.

Update: Yes, the Angels chose the longer series:

"It was probably more related in-house, what we're looking to do," Scioscia said in announcing the decision to take the longer of the two series, with off-days before Games 2, 3 and 5. "We'll be able to trim our pitching staff."

The Angels figure to go with 10 pitchers and 15 position players. By taking the shorter series, they probably would have needed 11 pitchers.

It's like the good old days when there were plenty of bench players for late inning moves. This should be an interesting strategic series since both managers know how to put the players on their rosters in a position to succeed.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:06 AM | League Division Series | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Dice-k twice? doubt it, Lester should be the sox #2 behind Beckett.

Posted by: Jc at September 27, 2008 08:28 AM

I don't think so. Matsuzaka pitched much better on the road this season, and Lester pitched much better at Fenway. Why start Lester twice against his strength?

Posted by: David Pinto at September 27, 2008 08:43 AM

Lester is a better pitcher than Matsuzaka, period. Road/home splits be damned, if the red sox are serious about winning, Lester should pitch twice.

Posted by: Jc at September 27, 2008 09:12 AM

Lester is going game 3 at home - he's 11-1 at home, 5-5 on the road

Posted by: bandit at September 27, 2008 09:43 AM
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