Update: The crowd is chanting Eva.

Update: Evan strikes out swinging. He's now 0 for 9 in the series with five strikeouts.

The tarp is off the field in Philadelphia, but it's still raining. Looks like they are shooting for a 10 PM EDT start, but we'll see.

According to the Bats Blog, tonight's game will be delayed. We just don't know how long.

The World Series moves to Philadelphia as Matt Garza of the Tampa Bay Rays faces Jamie Moyer of the Phillies. The age difference between the pitchers almost exactly 20 years. Both were born in November, Moyer in 1962, Garza in 1982. The two nearly matched regular season ERAs as well, Garza posting a 3.70 mark, Moyer 3.71. They also earned those ERAs in very similar ways:

Garza's walks are up this post season, as he issued 10 in 19 innings, but so are his strikeouts, taking down 18 batters without the help of this defense. He was especially tough in the ALCs, striking out 14 Red Sox batters in 13 innings, helping him earn the series MVP.

Moyer's strikeouts are up on a per inning basis, as he's struck out five in 5 1/3 innings. The problem is that he's faced 29 batters in that time, meaning he's getting too many opportunities in that short amount of time. The opposition is 10 for 20 against Moyer when they put the ball in play, leading to his early exits in both this starts.

Garza presents the Phillies with another challenge. The Phillies are hitting very poorly with runners in scoring position in this series. Garza allowed a .245 batting average overall this season, but just .218 with runners in scoring position. He does allow long hits with men on base. His slugging percentage allowed jumps from .360 with the bases empty to .406 with men on. His overall OBA is low enough, however, that Matt doesn't get into the men on base situations too often.

Enjoy!

I guess people don't want to see Cinderella all that much.

A dinner in Harvard Square inspired Joe Maddon's choice for the Rays' travel dress this weekend.

It appears that some are questioning if Jamie Moyer should start in the World Series. Charlie Manuel doesn't agree:

"I think Jamie Moyer, after all these years, I think he's earned the right to start a game in the World Series," Manuel said. "I think he's one of the big reasons why we're here today. He won 16 games this year and at one time this guy was our most consistent pitcher, whether you believe it or not.

"He's done a tremendous job for us," the manager said.

Moyer pitched poorly in the LDS and LCS, but that's not a good reason for holding hime back. Anyone can pitch two bad games in a row.

Really, the only other alternative would have been rookie J.A. Happ. There is no reasonable calculation that would make that sensible. If Moyer gets clobbered, the second-guessing will commence immediately -- a fact and a tradition that is older than Moyer, as old as the game itself. But this is what should happen.

I disagree. Happ is a high-strikeout lefty, and they give the Rays a tougher time. I would have started Blanton in game three and Moyer in game four, but Happ is a perfectly good option for either game. In fact, if the Rays hit Moyer hard in game three, I'd think about starting Happ in game seven if the series goes that far.

The Rays win game two 4-2, and the story of the series so far belongs to the missed opportunities by the Phillies. They put the leadoff man on in six of the nine innings, but only one of those came around to score. That's even more impressive when you consider that three of the leadoff men reached on doubles. The Phillies did pick up a hit with runners in scoring position tonight, but it was of the infield variety and did not plate a runner. The only runs to come across for the Phillies in that situation in this series were on a ground out and an error.

It was a good night to be a number nine hitter. Carlos Ruiz hit two doubles and walked twice, while Jason Bartlett went two for two with a sacrifice on a squeeze play.

The teams get Friday off before Moyer and Garza meet in game three. The Phillies offense is poised to explode. We'll see if that happens at home.

It's Carlos Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth facing David Price in the ninth.

Update: Ruiz smashes a double past Longoria for another leadoff double. He's two for two with two walks and two doubles as duces are wild for the catcher.

Update: A Price pitch catches the front of Rollins shirt, but Danley doesn't call the hit by pitch. That's the second bad call by the home plate ump tonight.

Update: Rollins pops out to Barlett in short leftfield. The tying run remains on deck.

Update: Werth hits a ball hard that kicks off Longoria's leg into leftfield. Ruiz scores from second and Werth is on first after the error by Longoria with Utley the tying run at the plate.

Update: Utley strikes out on three pitches. It's up to Ryan Howard.

Update: Howard grounds out to Iwamura, shifted into rightfield. The Rays win 4-2 and even the series at one game apiece. No sweep in the series this season.

Eric Bruntlett pinch hits for Dobbs and hits a home run off David Price into the leftfield stands. It's the only hit of the eighth for the Phillies, but makes the score 4-1 in favor of the Rays. Three of the four runs scored by the Phillies in the first two games came on homers.

Update: J.C. Romero starts the bottom of the eighth for the Phillies. Myers lasts seven innings, allowing four runs, three earned. He walked three but only struck out two.

Update: Romero retires the side in order. The Phillies have three outs to get three runs as the Rays lead 4-1.

B.J. Upton grounds into his third double play of the World Series, although I thought the play at second base was close enough to call the runner safe. The Rays continue to lead 4-0, needing to get six outs to even the series at one game apiece.

Update: I just looked at the play using the frame by frame on my DVR, and Bartlett sure looked safe.

Carlos Ruiz leads off the seventh with a walk, then steals second as Jimmy Rollins strikes out. Ruiz is at second with one out, giving the Phillies two more chances to deliver with a runner in scoring position.

Update: Werth strikes out. The futility continues.

Update: Dan Wheeler yields to David Price as lefties Utley and Howard are due up next.

Update: Price walks Utley on four pitches. Howard is up with a chance to drive in some runs.

Update: Ryan Howard strikes out looking. Two more strikeouts with runners in scoring position for the Phillies in the inning. Price now has 5 strikeouts in 2 2/3 post-season innings.

Ryan Howard grounds out into the shift leading off the sixth. It's the first time since the first inning that the Phillies failed to put the leadoff batter on base.

Update: Victorino and Dobbs single with two out to put runners on first and third. Upton just missed catching that ball by Dobbs, trapping it instead. Shields is over 100 pitches, and Maddon removes him in favor of Wheeler. A fine performance by Shields, although like Kazmir, high pitch counts early means he can't go deep in the game.

Update: Feliz grounds into a force to end the inning, another failure with runners in scoring position. Joe Buck wondered why Manuel didn't go to Matt Stairs there. It's a good question.

Update: The Rays go down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth. They still lead 4-0.

Carlos Pena walks with one out in the bottom of the fifth. He gets to second on an errant pickoff throw by the catcher Ruiz.

Longoria strikes out, and still doesn't have a hit in the series.

Update: Crawford grounds out, and the fifth ends with Tampa Bay in the lead 4-0.

Ruiz walks to leadoff the fifth, the fourth straight inning the Rays allow the leadoff runner to reach. Rollins grounds into a force play for the first out. Jimmy still has not earned his way on.

Update: Werth falls behind in the count but hits a hard grounder through the middle for a single. That puts runners on first and second with one out for Chase Utley.

Update: Utley flies to Baldelli in shallow right, and he makes a nice catch and a better throw. Werth wandered too far off first, and he's doubled off to end the inning. The Phillies are 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position in the series.

Cliff Floyd and Dioner Navarro single to start the bottom of the fourth. Men on first and second for Baldelli.

Update: Rocco beats out what looks like a double play grounder to third to put runners at first and third with one out.

Update: The saftey squeeze by Jason Barlett works, and the Rays lead 4-0. This despite the fact that the Rays are Men with Hats!

Update: Iwamura grounds out to end the fourth, but the Rays continue to average one run per inning in the game. Myers has only thrown 50 pitches, and he's yet to strike out a batter All those balls in play are leading to hits.

Carlos Ruiz leads off the third inning with a double, the second inning in a row the Phillies put the leadoff man at second.

Update: Rollins remains 0 for the series with a groundout to second. That moves Ruiz to third with one out.

Update: Werth strikes out swinging for the second out.

Update: Utley grounds out to end the inning. The Phillies are now 0-19 with runners in scoring position. During the season they hit .263 in that situation, eight points better than their overall average. They'll need seven hits in a row with runners in scoring position to get their BA up to that level. The Rays still lead 3-0.

With Navarro at first after a single, Baldelli appears to strike out on a 3-2 pitch. He tried to check his swing, but the pitch looked to me like it caught the outside corner. The home plate ump's (Danley) right hand goes up as if calling a strike, but then points to first for help. The first base ump says no swing, and Baldelli goes to first. Even if it was a check swing, it looked like a strike. A bad and confusing call there.

Bartlett picks up an infield single to load the bases for Iwamura.

Update: Iwamura pops out, but Upton singles to plate Navarro. Baldelli tries to score but Werth cuts him down at the plate with a strong throw. A good block by Ruiz kept Rocco from ever making contact with home. The Rays lead 3-0 after two innings.

James Shields gets ahead of Ryan Howard in the count, then Ryan uppercuts a pitch at the knees deep into centerfield, over the head of Upton. He leads off the second inning with a double. It was a nice example of how left-handed hitters generate power on low pitches.

Update: Pat Burrell follows the double with a walk, and the Phillies have a threat going in the second. Victorino pops out to Longoria in foul territory, however, for the first out. Shields isn't throwing a high percentage of his pitches for strikes.

Update: A wild pitch with Dobbs batting puts both runners in scoring position with one out.

Update: Dobbs strikes out. Two down for Feliz.

Update: Feliz lines out to Upton in center. At first, it looked like there was enough top spin on the ball to bring it down for a hit, but it stayed up long enough for Upton to reach it. That may be an example of Upton playing shallow taking away two RBI.

The Phillies are now 0-16 for the series with runners in scoring position. At some point they are going to regress to the mean with a vengeance.

Akinori Iwamura leads off the bottom of the first with a walk on five pitches.

Update: A single and an error puts Upton and Iwamura on second and third. Werth took his eye off the ball as he was reaching for it with his glove.

Update: Pena grounds out to second, plating Iwamura. The Rays take their first lead of the series, 1-0. Upton is at third for Longoria with one out. Evan grounds to short and the Rays lead 2-0.

Update: Crawford grounds out to end the inning, but Tampa Bay scores two runs in the first, just like the Phillies did in game one. We'll see if they can make those hold up.

Jimmy Rollins flies out to start game two of the World Series. Longoria turns a bad play into a good one as he blocks a grounder from Werth with his body, recovers and bounces one to first to get Jayson. Two down.

Update: Utley flies to Upton in straight away center and Shields pitches a one-two-three inning.

Jim Storer sends these pictures from game 2.

Fred McGriff mural, Tropicana Field. According to Jim, "It's like being in a giant Lichtenstein painting."
Photo: Jim Storer

Pedro Feliz takes batting practice. "Fans are even booing Philly during DP!"
Photo: Jim Storer

Jim knows about Lichtenstein because he took art history at Harvard. :-)

Game two of the World Series is scheduled for 8:29 PM EDT, just to force you to miss the last minute of My Name is Earl. James Shields tries to get the Rays back on track as he host Brett Myers. Myers is enjoying a successful post season so far, winning both starts. He pitched very well against the Brewers, allowing two hits and three walks over seven innings. He pitched less well against the Dodgers, as they scored five runs off him, but the Phillies offense built an 8-2 lead, allowing Myers lots of breathing room. That game was also an example of why the Phillies are so strong with a lead, as the bullpen allowed just two hits and three walks in their four innings of work, shuttting out the Dodgers the rest of the way.

Shields hasn't quite been an ace so far in the post season. His 3.72 ERA is good, but only good enough for a 1-2 record. He's getting hit, having allowed 21 in 19 1/3 innings. His walks are low enough, issuing six so far, but his home runs are high as the opposition hit three off him. He needs his defense performing well behind him to keep the Phillies off the board.

Enjoy!

Game one of the World Series was healthier than game seven of the ALCS:

The St. Anthony's Hospital Fan Car Clinic saw 75 ill fans last night, compared to 97 fans during the 7th playoff game.

The clinic is open to all fans. Workers there said they have helped everyone from a woman having a miscarriage to drunk fans to cardiac arrest patients.

The Phillies dominated game one much more than the 3-2 score indicates. Hamels and the bullpen shut down the Rays offense, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out eight. The Phillies picked up plenty of hits, but the Rays pitching was in bend, don't break mode. They allowed no hits with runners in scoring position, but one of those ground outs scored a run. That was the difference maker. One or two big hits and the Phillies win this game in a blow out.

Philadelphia won a game they needed to win. Hamels holds the greatest advantage over the Rays of any of the Phillies starters. He went deep into the game, so the bullpen should be in fine shape for game two. The Rays came back from a similar loss to Boston in game one, and with the pitching matchups favoring them over the next three games, I can see where that might happen again.

Carlos Pena leads off against Brad Lidge.

Update: Pena strikes out. One down.

Update: He strikes out Longoria, and Crawford is down 1-2.

Update: Crawford works the count to 3-2, then pops out to end the game. The Phillies take game one 3-2.

Jayson Werth picks up his second double of the game with one out in the ninth. He also has a walk for a very nice first World Series game. The Rays walk Utley intentionally to face Howard. Trever Miller comes in to pitch.

Update: Miller catches Howard looking at strike three on a pitch high in the strike zone. Two down. Wheeler comes in and Bruntlett is due. This is where they could use Burrell.

Update: The Phillies execute a double steal on an 0-2 count.

Update: Bruntlett pops out to second to end the inning. Lidge comes on to see if he can stay perfect in save situations. This is a tough one, just a one-run lead as the Phillies lead 3-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.

Ryan Madson relieves Hamels to start the eighth. Cole pitches his fourth fine game of the post season, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out five. He gives up his second home run of the post season, but both have been solo shots. He leaves with a 3-2 lead.

Update: Madson retires the side in order in the eighth, preserving the one-run lead. We'll likely see Lidge in the ninth.

Correction: Fixed the context of Hamels' home runs.

J.P. Howell replace Kazmir to start the seventh inning. Scott gives up six hits and four walks, but the Phillies lead seven men on against him.

Utley singles with one out, steals second and goes to third on a wild pitch. Howard has a runner on third with one out in the seventh.

Update: Howard strikes out. A great pitch by Howell, sinking under Howard's bat.

Update: Burrell gets two strikes at him but won't bite at the low pitches like Howard. He walks, and Balfour comes in to face Victorino.

Update: Bruntlett runs for Burrell. That surprises me. In a close game, I'd want Pat's bat in there.

Update: Balfour comes with nothing but heat, all between 94 and 96 miles per hour. Victorino gets a piece of one, but swings and misses three times for a strikeout. The Phillies still have no hits with runners in scoring position tonight despite tons of opportunities. They still lead 3-2 at the stretch, however.

Update: Hamels pitches a 1-2-3 seventh. He's at 100 pitches, and he's still strong. We'll see if Charlie Manuel goes to his bullpen in the eighth.

The Phillies put two more men on base in the fifth, one thanks to a Carlos Pena error. They don't score, and are now 0-9 with runners in scoring position. The Rays, on the other hand, have just two at bats with runners in scoring position.

Kazmir is at 96 pitches after five innings. Once again, he fails to be efficient. The Phillies lead 3-1 going to the bottom of the fifth.

Update: The Rays are now 2 for 3 with runners in scoring position as Iwamura drives in Bartlett from second with a double. That's their first RBI with a runner in scoring position. Upton is up again, and can't hit into a double play. It's 3-2 Phillies in the bottom of the fifth.

Update: Hamels gets Upton to foul out to Howard reaching in the stands and the Phillies remain in the lead 3-2 after five innings.

Hamels hangs a curve ball and Carl Crawford bangs it into the rightfield seats. It's back to a two run game, 3-1 Phillies. Interesting that with two left-handers on the mound this evening, both home runs came off the bats of left-handed hitters.

That's all the Rays get in the fourth.

Victorino and Feliz both single to start the fourth inning. They are on first and second with none out, just like in the second inning. That's eight base runners for the Phillies so far.

Coste grounds to first, advancing both runners a base with one out.

Update: Ruiz grounds to shortstop and the Phillies lead 3-0. Rollins is up for the third time in four innings, this time with a man on second. He strikes out, and the Phillies are 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

With one out, a single, walk and single loads the bases for B.J. Upton in the bottom of the third. The Phillies failing to score in the last two inning may come back to bite them here.

Update: Wow. Upton hits into another double play. He only hit into 13, or about two a month, during the regular season. The Phillies lead remains intact at 2-0 after three innings.

Jayson Werth doubles leading off the third, but a groundout and two strike outs gets Kazmir out of another jam. The Phillies lead 2-0 going to the bottom of the third.

Shane Victorino reaches on an infield hit and Pedro Feliz walks to put two on with none out in the top of the second for the Phillies. Kazmir comes very close to picking off Shane at second. Feliz doesn't walk much, showing how wild Kazmir was throwing.

Update: After a fly out, Kazmir walks Ruiz. The Phillies have the bases loaded with one out and Kazmir continues to be wild. He's thrown 17 balls and 21 strikes so far.

Update: Rollins swings at the first pitch and hits a fly ball to shallow center. Victorino tries to score but B.J. Upton makes a perfect throw to the plate to nail him. That ends the inning. Rollins should have let Kazmir be wild, and Shane should have known better to run on someone with 16 base runner kills. What could have been a big inning turns into nothing. The score remains 2-0 Phillies going to the bottom of the second.

Update: Hamels has no trouble in the bottom of the inning, striking out two as he retires the side in order. He's thrown 25 pitches, 17 for strikes.

Iwamura grounds deep to Howard behind the bag at first, but Akinori beats both Hamels and Howard to the bag. Unfortunately, Upton follows by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Pena grounds to the shifted shortstop and the inning ends with no runs for the Rays. The Phillies lead 2-0 after one inning.

Scott Kazmir gets Jimmy Rollins to fly out to right for the first out of the 2008 World Series.

Update: Kazmir walks Werth on six pitches. Typical of Kazmir using a lot of pitchers to walk a batter.

Update: Scott gets ahead of Chase Utley 0-2, but misses low and inside on what Kazmir thought was a strike. He then brings a pitch further in over the plate, and Chase deposits it in the rightfield stands for a 2-0 Phillies lead. It's Utley's second home run of the post season.

Update: Kazmir finishes strong, getting Ryan Howard to hit into the shift and Pat Burrell to strike out. The damage is done however, and Cole Hamels comes to the mound with a 2-0 lead. The way he pitched so far in the post season, that might be enough.

Jim Storer just sent me the lineups, and Coste will DH for the Phillies and bat ninth. There was some speculation Howard would DH and Coste would play first, but not tonight.

Roving reporter Jim Storer sends this view of Ferg's bar:

Ferg's Sports Bar
Photo: Jim Storer

Jim writes:

This town as gone wild!

He also says the crowd is arriving early.

The World Series kicks off tonight with game one scheduled for 8:35 PM EDT. The series starts with a great pitching matchup as Cole Hamels faces Scott Kazmir. The two were picked on either side of Nick Swisher in the 2002 draft. Both are left-handed power pitchers who rose to staff ace.

In three seasons in the majors, Hamels showed steady improvement. He's increased his innings pitched by about 50 each of the last two seasons, while posting significant decreases in his ERA. His rookie season Cole's ERA came in at 4.08; this year's mark was 3.09.

Hamels multiplied his regular season success in the post season so far. In three starts he's allowed just 13 hits in 22 innings while striking out 22. With a 1.23 ERA he won all three starts. He's even controlled his home runs allowed, his big weakness during the regular season. Only Manny Ramirez took him deep, and the ball was to the opposite field. Hamels, as a high strikeout lefty, should give the Rays a bit of trouble.

His draft twin, Scott Kazmir, made it to the majors two seasons earlier. Traded from the Mets, and with the Rays desperate for pitching, Kazmir debuted in 2002 with lots of strikeouts but less than impressive results. He brought his ERA down from 5.67 to 3.77 the next season, and it hasn't been above 3.49 since. He became very tough to hit this season, but more susceptible to the long ball. Facing a great home run hitting team like the Phillies, keeping the ball in the park will be his biggest challenge.

Scott's pitching has been up and down in his three starts. His game against the White Sox and his second start against the Red Sox were fine. The middle game wasn't. It all depends on the homers. He's given up three this post season, all in that second start.

I love power lefties, Jerry Koosman being one of my early favorites in post-season play. I'm looking forward to a great game from each.

Enjoy!

Cardboard Gods remembers Reggie Jackson's 1977 World Series.

The Big Lead notes the Phillies lost the World Series four times, each time to one of the four other AL East teams. A Rays victory gives the AL East a Phillies sweep.

The following table compares the 2008 pitching seasons of the Phillies and Rays, opponents in the World Series.

Relative to their leagues, the Phillies and Rays pitching staffs are fairly evenly matched. It's impressive that the Rays, in a DH League and playing 36 games against the Yankees and Red Sox managed a lower ERA than the Phillies. Despite not facing a pitcher in most of their games, the Rays struck out more batters per nine innings and walked fewer batters than the Phillies.

(On a side note, the ranks in walk I believe speak to the difference in pitching strength between the two leagues. The Rays walked fewer batters than the Phillies, but ranked much lower compared to their league. That shows how in control the pitchers throw in the AL.)

Cole Hamels and the bullpen represent the strength of the Phillies staff. The bullpen posted an ERA over a run lower than the starters, despite Cole Hamels finishing the year with a 3.09 ERA. The relievers almost equaled that, with a 3.19 ERA. Hamels and the pen combined for nearly half of the Phillies innings pitched this season. The rest of the starters posted a combined ERA in the mid fours. Given this dynamic, it will be important for the Phillies to get an early lead the so the bullpen can take over and finish the game.

Series MVP Matt Garza pitches during game seven of the ALCS.
Photo: Icon SMI

The Rays also get better with their bullpen in the game, but not nearly as dramatically as Philadelphia. Four tenths of a run separate the Tampa Bay starters from the relievers. The difference between the two parts of the staff comes from extra base hits allowed. Both allow home runs at the same rate, but the starters are much more likely to give up doubles and triples. The difference in triples is huge. Starters give up a triple every 143 at bats; for relievers it's one every 296 at bats. Part of that may be hitters are more conservative late in the game. You don't want to make an out at third in a close game.

The Rays starters strike me as more consistent than the Phillies staff. Kazmir, Shields and Garza were separated by 0.21 runs in ERA during the regular season. That's six games in which the Phillies face a starter with a sub 4.00 ERA. On the Phillis, it's over 0.6 runs from Hamels to Moyer, and 0.74 runs separate Moyer, Blanton and Myers.

Both teams look like they are doing their best to gain the platoon advantage against their opponent. The Phillies hitters are slightly better against left-handed pitchers, but the Rays start righties in five of the seven games. The Rays batters hit better against right-handed pitchers, but the Phillies scheduled four starts by left-handers. All left-handers, however, are not created equal.

Jamie Moyer recorded the only two Phillies post-season losses.
Photo: Icon SMI

Hamels and Moyer differ in the amount of batters they strike out. Hamels strikes out a good number of hitters, 7.8 per nine innings. Moyer comes in lower, 5.6. It turns out the low strikeout lefties don't give the Rays trouble:

The Rays should hit Moyer fairly well. Given the above data, the Phillies might be better off pitching Blanton in games 3 and 7 instead of Moyer. He may very well turn out to be the weak link in the Phillies rotation. Given his poor performance in the post season so far, the Phillies are not doing themselves any favors starting him twice, as they are playing into a strength of the Rays. What should be an advantage for the Phillies, for starts by lefties, is only half an advantage.

It's clear to me the Rays hold a good advantage in pitching. They own a deep rotation, and while the Phillies bullpen is top notch, the Rays should need to use theirs less. Hamels very well may beat Kazmir twice, but in the other five games the Rays hold the advantage. If Philadelphia fails to win both of Cole's starts, they are in real trouble.

Given the Phillies only hold a slight edge in offense, the difference in the pitching staffs should throw the series to the Rays. My estimate gives the Rays a 60% chance of winning the series. I'm looking forward to an exciting fall classic.

The Phillies arrived early in Tampa Bay to get in an extra day of practice under the dome:

"One of the biggest challenges we will have is this facility," assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "With the synthetic grass, it's a different kind of a field. It's a very different type of situation in the outfield with popups and fly balls, with the catwalks and other things that will be a factor here. That's one of the reasons why we are here for 2 days instead of 1."

The Phillies imported their fly-ball machine from their spring-training complex in Clearwater to practice fielding popups beneath the unique domed roof, a concern because of the array of catwalks and scaffolding hanging from the top of the building.

It seems the team is not leaving much to chance.

Joe Maddon won't name David Price his closer for the World Series:

Maddon said he does not want to anoint Price the closer because he would be leery of bringing him back on consecutive days. And he wants to leave other options open.

"If a critical situation came up in the seventh and eighth inning when the Phillies had their lefties up, I would use him there," Maddon said.

Good. I liked the fact that Francona was willing to use Papelbon in a non-save situation in game five (even though he allowed two runs to score). Sometimes the game is on the line in the seventh, and using your best pitcher there is the right move.

The following table compares the 2008 offensive seasons of the Phillies and Rays, opponents in the World Series (league ranks are NL for the Phillies, AL for the Rays).

The Phillies and Rays offenses are similar in terms of batting average and getting on base. Neither team hit for a very high average in the regular season, but made up for it somewhat by drawing a good number of walks. Tampa Bay ranked second in the AL in walks drawn, Philadelphia fifth. Power differentiated the teams during the regular season. Philadelphia generated a very high percentage of their hits for extra bases, 38.5%. The Rays finished at 34.7%. The Phillies were slightly ahead in doubles, one behind the Rays in triples, but 34 ahead in home runs. Remember, Philadelphia batted a pitcher in most of their games.

18 OCT 2008: B. J. Upton of the Rays hits a home run in the first inning of game six of the 2008 ALCS.
Photo: Icon SMI

The Rays faced a slugging deficit against both the White Sox and the Red Sox. It didn't turn out that way. The Rays post-season slugging percentage stands at .508. Forty three of their 102 hits advanced the batter past first, 42.2%. Much of the credit for that burst of power goes to B.J. Upton. The Rays centerfield hit seven post season home runs so far after just knocking out nine during the regular season. B.J. reminds me of the hero who lost his power; Superman trapped by kryptonite, Underdog searching for his super energy pill, the Hulk in a good mood. Just when all seems lost, the power returns in time to vanquish the opponent. Upton's power returned at just the right time. With Longoria, Pena and Aybar all slugging over .600, the two through five slots in the Rays lineup knocked the ball out and the runs in.

The Phillies are the post season's second highest slugging team, coming in at .431 through their first nine games. Their surprise power hitter turned out to be a centerfielder as well, Shane Victorino. Of his nine hits, three went for doubles, one for a triple and two for home runs, good for a .625 slugging percentage. The team's 37.6% of hits for extra bases nearly equals their season average.

Shane Victorino
Photo: Icon SMI

The Phillies accomplished this with only one home run between Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Can those two power hitter stay down all post season? If they get hot, they can carry the Phillies the way Upton and Longoria carried the Rays.

Both teams support their offense with a good running game. The Phillies swiped 136 bases with just 25 caught stealings, an 84.5% mark. The Rays ran more, stealing 142 bases, but got caught 50 times, a solid 74%. As with their power, Tampa Bay turned up their base stealing in the post season, swiping 17 bases in 19 attempts while the Phillies were a solid seven for ten. The speed of these two teams also helps them avoid double plays. The Phillies, with 108, grounded into the fifth fewest double plays in the majors, with the Rays right behind them with 111, tied for sixth fewest.

Based on regular season stats, the Phillies appear to have the better offense. It's somewhat difficult to gauge American League hitters against National League hitters this season. The AL appears to be the better league as they dominated interleague play, and pitchers like CC Sabathia and Rich Harden mowed down NL hitters with ease compared to their performances in the AL. Interleague play does give us a clue, however. The Phillies and Rays played ten teams in common, Philadelphia meeting those opponents 62 times and the Rays playing half their games against those common foes. Without weighting the runs per game by number of games against the opponent, the Phillies come out ahead:

The Phillies deserve to be slight favorites in terms of offense. If the Rays can keep powering the ball as they did against Chicago and Boston, they'll be the Phillies equal. Philadelphia does have some pent up power in the likes of Howard and Utley. I expect this series to provide lots of double, triples and home runs, with enough base stealing to keep the pitchers and catchers on their toes.

I'll look at pitchers in the next installment.

Correction: Fixed the team names in the first line.

There's a suggestion here that the Rays will go with a rotation of Kazmir, Shields, Garza and Sonnanstine. Given the Phillies lack of a good designated hitter against left-handed pitching, it would be wise to pitch Kazmir twice in Tampa Bay, games two and six. That would mean, however, pitching Shields on short rest in game one.

Phillies Nation explores the possibilities for a designated hitter against Scott Kazmir:

Game two will likely bring the Phils lefty Scott Kazmir. That takes Dobbs out of the equation. So who's the extra hitter? Wait, let me rephrase that:

Who's the extra hitter? So?

Yes, it's possible So Taguchi will get the extra spot in game two. The case can be made for Eric Bruntlett, however. Chris Coste would get the spot only if he plays first base and Ryan Howard gets the DH spot. That's not a bad idea, as it would allow Coste to stay on as the second catcher, if need be.

Coste only has 177 career at bats against left-handed pitchers, but the results are good. So is just so-so, and Brunlett hasn't shown Coste's power. It may come down to Manuel fearing having both catchers in the same game and one or both of them getting injured. Coste, at the moment, looks like the best choice from a hitting perspective.

Charlie Manuel announced he will use the same rotation in the World Series he used in the first two rounds of the playoffs. He'll send Hamels, Myers, Moyer and Blanton in games 1,2,3 and 4.

The Rays have 9=8, but a Phillies fan came up with his own math slogan for their World Series run:

Then Bartholdi noted an interesting parallel to the Phillies' World Series win in 1980.

"Reverse '80 -- '08," he said.

I like that one.

Curt Schilling notes how his championship rings keep getting bigger. At some point, a player's hand is going to collapse under the weight.

The Hardball Times looks at the greatest World Series game sevens. At the top of the list was a game I wasn't familiar with, the 1924 classic between the Giants and Senators.

In the final game of the Washington's first World Series, player-manager Bucky Harris made a surprising decision, calling on Curly Ogden as his starting pitcher, a completely forgettable right-hander who hadn't yet appeared in the Series. Everyone had expected the team's number-two hurler, southpaw George Mogridge. Huh?

There was a method to Harris's madness. Everything hinged on young first baseman Bill Terry. He was already a robust hitter for the Giants, but John McGraw liked to hide him against southpaws. If Harris started Mogridge, Terry would be available for pinch hitting duty later in the game; that was menacing as he matched up quite well against Harris's relief ace, right-handed Firpo Marberry.

But start Ogden, and you ensure Terry starts the game. Once McGraw had submitted his lineup card, and Ogden began the game, Harris planned on bringing in Mogridge. However, when Ogden struck out the first batter, Harris left him in: maybe it's his day.

No. After he walked the second batter, Ogden's day was done. Mogridge came in. McGraw, aware that was he being played to set up Marberry, refused to blink.

I always thought John McNamara should have done this with Boyd and Hurst in game seven in 1986. Davey Johnson loved his platoons. If the Red Sox started Boyd, then Dystrka and Backman start for the Mets. If McNamara then brings in Hurst, Johnson would either stick with his lefties against the lefties and have a weak lineup, or substitute early and lose flexibility later. Of course, Hurst starts the game and the Mets win the game and the series.

Curt Schilling thanks everyone involved with the Red Sox for making the World Series win possible. He praises the Rockies and ends with this:

To Red Sox Nation we'd like to offer our deepest and most profound thank you for making the last four years some of the greatest moments personally and professionally, of our lives. Much like the fans in Philadelphia, and Arizona, you always treated my wife and my children with respect. You were far better to me than I deserved at times, and never worse than I deserved at others. The only thing I know I can say without a doubt is that I took the ball, every single time, and never ever left anything in the tank.

If October 28, 2007, was the last time I ever wear this uniform, thank you. It was an honor and a privelage to be allowed to play here.

The team that pulled rabbits out of hats since the middle of September lost the magic in the World Series. And that's okay:

When little Jamey Carroll lifted a drive to left in the bottom of the ninth, the 50,041 in attendance held their breath. Could it be? Was it possible?

Well, no. It couldn't. It wasn't. The magic carpet ride is over.

But, man, what a ride.

Give credit to the Red Sox, who dominated the World Series and clearly earned their second championship in four years. The Rockies faithful ceded the ball yard to Red Sox Nation when it was over, and for all their celebrating, they couldn't resist a profane chant aimed at the Yankees, too.

For the Rocks, it ended on as beautiful a night for baseball as Colorado has ever seen.

Like the Red Sox, the Rockies have a model for sustainability, although I suspect it's more like the Twins model than the Red Sox model. The difference is a willingness to pay the price for quality free agents. However, if the Rockies start selling out the stadium due to this run, that could change as well.

Congratulations to the Rockies on a terrific and somewhat surprising season. They found a formula that works for them and had the patience to see it through.

Theo Epstein points out how the Red Sox World Championship was an organizational effort:

"It's a little different," said Sox general manager Theo Epstein when asked to compare that championship feeling. "It's like comparing your children. You can't do it. But this one was sweet because it was a top-to-bottom organizational effort. So much hard work. It wasn't a fluke. We worked hard to get here."

There is no doubt the Red Sox were the best team in the majors this season. They tied for best record, but they blew away the Indians in run differential, as they eventually showed in the ALCS. There weren't many weaknesses on the team, and the few were easily covered in a short series.

What's impressive is that Sox were able to both win and rebuild at the same time. They slid back a bit in 2006, but had pieces ready in 2007. Not only that, but they had pieces ready dispite trading away a potential MVP shortstop. The Red Sox are not taking their future for granted, however. Epstein:

"Maybe, just maybe, we're prepared to compete at a very high level for a long time to come. Baseball will humble you in a hurry. Just when you think you have something, it turns on you.

"No one wants to sit here, spray champagne, and talk about how we're going to be great for a long period of time. That's not the way things work. We have a foundation now, and let's see what we do with it."

It looks like this could be the start of a run like the Braves had and the Yankees continue.

The Red Sox complete the sweep of the Rockies. They take the odd games of the series by blowouts, the even ones by one run. Pedroia, with his 0 for 4 tonight was the only one of the starting position players to hit under .300 in the series, and he was still at .278. I'm not sure if Lowell or Ellsbury should get the MVP.

The Red Sox dominated every aspect of the game. They outscored the Rockies 29-10. They hit more doubles, they stole more bases, they struck out sixteen fewer times and drew nine more walks.

Congratulations to the Red Sox on building a great team, and taking that team all the way to the top. They're a great combination of veterans and youngsters, and it looks like they have a sustainable model. The combination of Henry's money and front office smarts is certainly paying off.

Update: Mike Lowell wins the MVP. Good choice. He hit .400 with a .500 OBA and a .800 slugging percentage. He wins two cars! One for hauling and one for saving gas. Now he gets to compete with A-Rod as free agent third basemen.

Torrealba leads off for Colorado. He grounds out to second. One down.

Update: Carroll comes close, sending Ellsbury back to the wall in left. Good catch, and the Red Sox are one out away from a championship.

Update: Seth Smith runs out of luck as he strikes out to end the series. The Red Sox win 4-3! They're World Champions for the second time in four seasons.

Corpas gets the Red Sox in order in the ninth. The Rockies have three outs to spend to get a run and keep this World Series alive. Papelbon needs three outs for his first World Series ring.

Helton singles with one out in the eighth. He's batting .333 for the series.

Update: Atkins homers to make the score 4-3 as the Red Sox go to Okajima once two often. Papelbon comes in for a five out save. They're really pushing Jon into long save situations in this series.

Four home runs tonight after only two in the first three games.

Update: Papelbon gets the two batters he faces. Now it's up to the Rockies bullpen to keep the game close so the offense has a chance to win it in the ninth.

Bobby Kielty gets the run right back with a home run of his own. The Red Sox appear to be unstoppable, which in this case means they can't be stopped.

Update: Manny Corpas strikes out Manny Ramirez to end the inning. The Rockies have six outs to get three runs.

With one out in the seventh, Sullivan pinch hits and singles. That bring in Mike Timlin to face Matsui.

Update: Matsui strikes out. It's up to Tulowitzki to keep the inning alive.

Update: Timlin strikes out Tulowitzki, doing a great job of getting out of the inning. It's a two-run game going to the eighth.

Brad Hawpe gets all of a Delcarman pitch and sends it into the rightfield stands for a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh. That gets back the run given up in the top of the inning. They still need two more.

Mike Lowell leads off the seventh inning with a home run, forcing Aaron Cook out of the game. The Red Sox lead 3-0.

Jon Lester leaves after two out in the sixth inning. He walks Atkins, bringing his pitch count over 90. I thought the probability of Jon getting knocked around tonight was high. He walked batters as usual, giving up three, but he kept the ball in the park and limited the Rockies to just three hits. A big outing in a big game for the cancer survivor. He's in line for the win if the bullpen (Delcarmen) can hold the lead.

Update: Delcarmen strikes out Spilborghs to end the inning. The Rockies season comes down to three innings.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, the Rockies allow Cook to bat. He pushes a bunt by Lester for a single. Now the Rockies need to capitalize on the pitcher reaching base.

Update: Matsui and Tulowitzki make outs, and the inning ends.

Lowell leads off the Red Sox fifth with a double, ending Cook's streak of retiring ten straight batters.

Update: Varitek pulls the ball into right, and a good slide by Lowell scores the second run of the game for the Red Sox. Lugo singles to put men on first and second for the Red Sox with Lester coming up.

Update: Lester strikes out trying to bunt. That's the only strikeout for Cook tonight.

Update: He also strikes out Ellsbury, and that ends the inning. The Red Sox have out doubled the Rockies 18 to 6 in the series.

Aaron Cook retires the Red Sox in order for the third inning in a row. He's doing his job of keeping the Rockies in the game. Once again, it's time for the offense to step up. Cook has thrown twelve fewer pitches than Lester despite pitching one more inning.

The Rockies get their second double of the game as Manny Ramirez has trouble reading a fly ball off the bat of Kaz Matsui. He doesn't break back right away, and the ball goes over his head.

Update: Tulowitzki strikes out for the second time tonight. Holliday up with a runners in scoring position.

Update: Nice finish by Lester as he also strikes out Holliday. Both teams have two hits, but only the Sox were able to put them together in the same inning to plate a run.

Todd Helton legs out a double leading off the second inning. The big Colorado outfield helped on that as Ellsbury cut the ball off, but still couldn't throw out Todd. It's the first hit of the game for Colorado.

Update: They get another man on with a walk, but fail to score. They are working Lester harder than the Red Sox are walking Cook. Jon has throws 16 more pitches through two innings.

Lester fooled the Rockies in the first with his breaking pitches as he retired the side in order, striking out one. Both starters are throwing a high percentage of strikes so far.

Aaron Cook starts a must win game for the Rockies, but allows a run facing three batters. Ellsbury picks up another double, moves to third on a ground out, then Ortiz pulls a single through the drawn in infield. The Red Sox break on top again, 1-0.

Update: Manny grounds into a DP to end the inning, so bringing in the infield early doesn't hurt the Rockies. But they still find themselves in an early hole.

Two thirds of the post-season series this year ended in sweeps, and the Red Sox hope to make it five of seven tonight as they serve with four match points. It's a comeback night as Aaron Cook returns from a oblique injury and Jon Lester gets a chance to cap his return from cancer with a World Series victory. Cook went down during a very productive part of his season. He wasn't striking out many batters, but he was keeping the bases free of free passes and not allowing many home runs. He posted a 2.95 ERA from July 1st to his injury.

Lester's high ERA this season came from too many walks and too many home runs. Unfortunately in the World Series, drawing walks and hitting home runs is something the Rockies aren't doing. On top of that, Colorado also didn't hit lefties as well as righties this season.

Boston's held sway in every aspect of the game in this World Series. Although I suspect both Lester and Cook will get hit, I'm guessing Cook gets hit more. There's a high probability the Red Sox finish the sweep tonight.

Helton flies out to start the inning.

Update: Atkins grounds out to third. It's up to Hawpe.

Update: Hawpe gets a hit down the rightfield line and ends up at third. The Rockies remain alive. Hawpe gets a triple on the hit.

Update: Torrealba grounds out to short, and the Red Sox win 10-5 in the longest game by time in World Series history, 4:19. The Red Sox offense was relentless for the second time in the series. The Rockies got close, but Boston knocked them right back down. The history of 3-0 series says the Rockies don't have much of a chance of winning game four, let alone coming back to win.

Mike Lowell reaches on a single, gets sacrificed to second, steals third, then scores on a sacrifice fly by Varitek. It's 10-5 Boston as they keep pouring on the offense. The Rockies need a big bottom of the ninth against Papelbon.

With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Delcarmen gives up a single to Matsui and a walk to Tulowitzki. That brings in Papelbon to face Holliday and try to get a four out save.

Update: Holliday flies deep to left, by Manny is there to catch it. The Red Sox still lead by four.

With one out in the eighth, Lugo walks and Crisp singles to bring up the top of the order.

Update: Ellsbury drops a double down the rightfield line just out of the reach of Hawpe. That scores a run, and Pedroia doubles to right to score two more. Fuentes gives back the three runs the Rockies scored in the seventh. A great relief performance by the bullpen is ruined in the eighth.

Update: That's all the Red Sox get. A nice answer to the Rockies seventh as Ellsbury and Pedroia keep hitting. It keeps looking less likely that Crisp will be a regular starter for the Red Sox again.

Kaz Matsui bunts for a single leading off the bottom of the seventh and then steals a base. That's a bit aggressive with a four run deficit.

Update: Tulowitzki singles up the middle. Kaz held up because he didn't want to be caught off second as he was in the first inning, so he only gets to third. But the Rockies now have 1st and 3rd with no one out, and Okajima coming in on a double switch that sends Drew to the bench.

Update: Holliday greets Hideki with a ball over the fence in straight-away center, and the Red Sox lead is down to one run. The Rockies are getting their swings back in the second half of this game.

Update: Helton goes the other way for a single, and there's still no outs in the seventh.

Update: Atkins battles, but strikes out swinging. One out.

Update: Hawpe strikes out for the eighth time in the series, also swinging. It's up to Torrealba to keep the inning going.

Update: Torrealba bounces back to the box for the third out. But it's a close game going to the eighth.

Matt Herges comes on to strike out the side in the top of the seventh. The Rockies bullpen has gone 4 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. The offense needs to match that kind of production.

Matsuzaka gets wild in the sixth as he walks two in a row with one out as he hits the 100 pitch mark. That brings Lopez into the game to face Hawpe.

Update: Hawpe delivers, picking up an opposite field single to left. That pushes Helton across the plate, and the Rockies trail 6-1.

Update: Torrealba singles to drive in the second run of the inning. I'd like to say the crowd is back in the game, but they never left. The Rockies fans have been great tonight, keeping the excitement level high. Notice that all this happened his they took Ortiz out of the game for a better defensive player. :-)

Update: Lugo makes a nice leaping catch of a line drive to end the inning. But the Rockies showed they can still hit the ball hard in the inning. They have three innings to score at least four runs.

Update: Spilborghs hits the ball as far as you can hit it in Colorado and keep it in the park. Two out as Ellsbury goes back to the wall in center to make the catch.

Seth Smith pinch hits for Morales, and once again delivers a pop in just the right place to fall for a hit. Morales pitched very well tonight in his 2 1/3 innings of work, allowing just one hit. It makes you wonder, given the poor start by Fogg and the poor offense by the Rockies if Morales and Smith shouldn't be starting in this series.

Update: The Rockies put two men on in the inning but don't score. Matsuzaka is doing a great job hitting the zone tonight, with 58 of his 83 pitches going for strikes. His pitch count is high for five innings, but given the lead there's no reason to rush him out of the game.

I just got back from a neighborhood dinner. Living in Massachusetts, the group was very pro Red Sox and thoroughly enjoyed the top of the third inning as the Red Sox scored six runs. When Matsuzaka singled to drive in a run, you got the feeling the series was over.

The move of Ellsbury to the leadoff spot worked perfectly as he went 3 for 3 with two doubles off Fogg. He and Pedroia combined for five hits in six at bats, setting up the heart of the order.

Dice-K is having now problem with the high altitude so far, striking out four through three innings. Hawpe was one of those, his seventh in nine at bats. He's been a huge black hole in the middle of the series so far.

The good news for the Rockies is that this is Coors, and anything can happen.

The Red Sox get high tonight as they play game 3 in the Mile High City. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on Josh Fogg. Fogg's nickname, Dragon Slayer, may not fit tonight as Matsuzaka is hardly the Red Sox ace. Dice-K pitched well for two months this year, but has been less than outstanding the rest of the time. His strikeout rate was good all season, but that didn't translate into a low BA allowed, and many of the hits he gave up were for extra bases. That kind of pitching won't go over well at Coors.

Fogg's had a great post season so far, allowing one run over eight innings on a solo home run. Fogg might have made the decision to start David Ortiz at first difficult, since Fogg is a rare reverse righty. Right-handed batters hit for a better average and get on base more than lefties (30 points better), although lefties hit for more power. Fogg did pitch five okay inning against Boston earlier this season, allowing two runs. That was good enough for the win. In fact, against the Red Sox and the Yankees Fogg was a combined 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA.

Enjoy!

The Rockies are not bothered by their 0-2 hole:

This is, after all, a team that had to win 14 of its final 15 regular-season games to get to the postseason, and managed to do just that, the strongest late-season surge in major league history. In the process, they jumped ahead of the Dodgers, Mets and Padres to claim the National League wild card.

They had to rally for a 9-8, 13-inning victory against the Padres by scoring three runs off Trevor Hoffman to win the National League wild-card tiebreaker.

They are only the seventh team to have rallied from being as many as nine games below .500 (18-27 in late May) to get to the World Series.

"We've had some challenges before during the season," Hurdle said. "This is the last challenge. But our focus is on Game 3. We need to win a ballgame, but a sense of urgency hasn't hurt this club. We've been outplayed the first two games and we understand that."

Just another hurdle for Hurdle to hurdle.

Terry Francona decided to go with David Ortiz at first base in game 3, with Kevin Youkilis moving to the bench.

Francona also said his plan is to move Dustin Pedroia into Youkilis' No. 2 spot in the batting order and switch center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury from ninth to Pedroia's slot leading off.

Another option had been to sit Mike Lowell and move Youkilis to third base. Francona indicated in Boston that he could envision playing Ortiz in all three potential games in Denver, but he said Friday he hasn't ruled out a different configuration for Game 4, or 5 if necessary.

"I think David is a really good hitter, and I think Mike Lowell is a really good hitter, and I actually think Youk is a really good hitter," Francona said. "But they won't let us play all three of them. So we'll go with this."

If there was a left-handed pitcher on the mound, I might want to start Youkilis. Ortiz is a perfectly adequate first baseman, so I wouldn't too much about his defense at first. He should be able to make up for any mistakes with his bat.

Don't get cocky:

Speaking of dignity, I'm astonished at just how much my watching-the-game mentality has changed since 2004. My never ending angst and jittahs has been replaced by a cool certitude.

Tracy Ringolsby notes the Rockies offense poor play has been going on for some time:

The Rockies offense has been stopped cold by the Red Sox, looking to repeat the sweep they enjoyed against St. Louis in 2004, their first championship since 1918.

The Rockies have scored one run in each of the two games, a far cry from a regular season in which they ranked second in the NL with 860 runs. It is a problem, though, that has been festering during the postseason.

After a 10-5 victory against Philadelphia in Game 2 of the NLDS, the Rockies won their next five games, finishing the sweep of the Phillies, then sweeping Arizona in four games in the NLCS. They then lost the first two games in the World Series.

During that seven-game stretch, the Rockies have scored only 22 runs and are hitting .217.

Teams were 1097-145 (.883) when holding opponents to two runs or less this season, 437-111 (.797) when holding the opposition to exactly two runs. Despite all the walks, the Rockies pitching staff last night gave the team a great chance to win the game. The offense just lost its punch.

The pick off of Matt Holliday in game 2 was a result of steals against Papelbon in the LDS against the Angels:

They knew that the Rockies were scouting them in the Division Series against the Angels, when Howie Kendrick stole second and third unchallenged against Papelbon in the eighth inning of a tie game.

"If you were advancing us, you would have said the same thing, that Pap is 1.8 [seconds] to the plate, and he doesn't pick," Mills said. "But it was a different situation in the game against the Angels. We didn't care if he stole, because we had confidence in Paps getting the hitter and we didn't want to take anything away from him to try to get the runner on that situation.

If you get the hitter, the runner can steal all he wants. That's why the Yankees should have ignored Dave Roberts in the 2004 ALCS. There was too much concentration on the runner, not enough on the batter.

"We know they're advancing us, they're watching it. That night I was talking to Pap in the shower about that exact thing, and about what was to come. [Bullpen coach] Gary Tuck was talking to him about it, [pitching coach] John Farrell talked to him about it, about different things we were going to do."

When manager Terry Francona went out with trainer Paul Lessard to check on Pedroia, Mills noticed that Glenallen Hill, the Rockies' first base coach, never stopped talking to Holliday. Mills also had a color-coded chart he keeps on every player, that showed that Holliday likes to steal on the first pitch with two outs. "It was right there in my pocket," Mills said.

Now that's being prepared. It's what I love about this organization, top to bottom, they're always thinking ahead. They found a way to turn a pattern others saw into an opportunity for an out.

Like last night, the Red Sox put a lot of men on base. They collected six hits, seven walks, and a hit by pitch, almost doubling the number of runners Colorado put on base. Unlike last night, however, Boston didn't deliver the runs like last night. Two proved to be enough tonight, however.

The Rockies as a team walked just over three batter per nine innings. In these two games they've walked fifteen in sixteen innings. How much is the selectivity of the Red Sox or the wildness of the Rockies is hard to say.

Boston retains the home field advantage. We get to see how well Matsuzaka's pitches bend at high altitude in game three.

The Red Sox get a hit in the bottom of the eight but don't score. Papelbon tries to hold a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth. Helton leads off. He's 0-2 with a walk.

Update: Helton battles, but strikes out swinging. One down.

Update: Atkins flies out to center. It's up to Hawpe.

Update: Fittingly, Hawpe strikes out to end the game. The Red Sox win 2-1 and take a 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Okajima gets the first two out in the eighth, retiring all seven batters he faced. Papelbon is one to face the heart of the Rockies order for a four-out save.

Update: Papelbon gets a Charlie Brown line drive hit back at him. He gets knocked down, Pedroia stops the ball but can't make the play. Holliday has his fourth hit of the night, a two-out single.

Update: Huge blunder by Holliday as he gets picked off at first. He wasn't even close getting back to the bag. The Red Sox are three outs away from a 2-0 series lead.

Okajima retires the Rockies in order in the top of the seventh. Okajima's faced five batters and retired all of them, striking out two.

Herges gives up a leadoff single to Ellsbury in the sixth, and he's advanced with outs to third. The Herges issues the seventh walk of the night to bring up Ortiz with two on and two out. That's it for Matt as Fuentes comes in to face Big Papi.

Update: Ortiz flies out to deep center. The Red Sox put 12 men on so far tonight but only plated two.

With one out, Matt Holliday picks up his third hit of the night, then Schilling loses Helton with a walk after starting him 1-2. With the tying run on second in the top of the sixth, Okajima comes into the game. If Hideki gets out of this jam, Schilling will be in line to get a win with a good pitching performance.

Update: Atkins grounds to first, putting runners on second and third as Brad tries to Hawpe to it.

Update: Hawpe strikes out swinging. That's five K in seven at bats for Hawpe in the World Series. Still 2-1 Red Sox.

After Jimenez walks Ortiz with two out in the fifth, Ramirez and the Rockies starter go at it. Jimenez starts him with a ball, then Manny swings through two pitches. He fouls off the next pitch, then pulls an inside fastball for a hit. Great adjustments by Ramirez in that at bat. Then Lowell pulls one into the leftfield corner to score Ortiz and give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. That's it for Jimenez as Drew comes to bat with men on second and third.

Update: Affeldt walks Drew, failing to get the one lefty. Herges comes in to try to keep it a one-run game. The number of walks issued by the Rockies in this series is amazing.

Update: Herges is no Speier as he gets Varitek to fly out to end the inning. Now the pressure is on the Rockies offense to generate some offense against Schilling.

J.D. Drew picks up the first hit of the night for the Red Sox after a Mike Lowell walk. Drew was hit his first time up. Lowell tries to go first to third, drawing a throw. He's safe and Drew goes to second. Varitek delivers a sacrifice fly and the score is tied at one in the bottom of the fourth. Nice base running by Lowell to make that possible. Both runs came as a result of aggressive base running tonight.

Update: Free Tacos! Ellsbury steals a base!

Update: Lugo grounds out to end the inning. The teams are tied at one after four. Jimenez has only allowed one hit, but he's walked four and hit a batter.

The Red Sox go back to selectivity as Pedroia and Youkilis draw two-out walks in the third. Ortiz misses the Pesky pole by inches, then strikes out as he tries to check his swing. Once again, Jimenez comes up with a strikeout, his seventh in eleven at bats with runners in scoring position in the post season.

Schilling retires the side in order in the third, and faced the minimum in the last two innings. He's throwing strikes with 31 of his 44 pitches resulting in a positive call or a swing. He's struck out three so far.

J.D. Drew gets hit above the ankle. He's the first Red Sox batter to reach base tonight. They continue to swing early as Ubaldo threw 14 pitches to the first six batters.

Update: Jimenez strikes out Varitek looking to end the second. Fox had the font of the night as Jason batted. "Enjoys listening to Dave Matthews Band and Bare Naked Ladies." What ball player doesn't!

Jimenez doesn't strike out a batter in the first, but retires the Red Sox in order. With Boston swinging early in the count, Ubaldo throws just six pitches in the inning. Not the selective Red Sox we're used to.

Taveras reaches base, getting hit in the hand with a pitch. Already, the Rockies are doing better than last night!

Update: With one out, Taveras goes from first to third on a hit and run on an infield hit. The ball went off Lowell's glove and Schilling was slow covering third. The throw to Curt was off, and that let Holliday go to second. Helton has two in scoring position.

Update: Helton grounds out to first, plating Taveras and giving the Rockies their first lead of the World Series.

Update: That's it for the Rockies as Atkins grounds out. They do make Schilling work a bit as he throws over 22 pitches in the inning.

The Red Sox try to build on their blow out win tonight while the Rockies look for a way to stop the Red Sox hitters. Ubaldo Jimenez and Curt Schilling take the mound tonight in game 2 of the World Series. Once again, Schilling is matched with a hard throwing youngster. The Red Sox split his appearances in the ALCS against Fausto Carmona. Jimenez does a better job striking out batters than Carmona does, but he also walks more. And as we saw in game one, the Red Sox are more than willing to wait out a wild pitcher.

Ubaldo got away with walks in the first two rounds (8 in 11 1/3 innings) because he's kept his hits allowed with men in scoring position low (1 for 10). A big reason for that low number is six of his eleven post-season strikeouts came in those ten at bats. The Red Sox as a team don't strike out very much, making that strategy a bit more difficult. He's put plenty of men on base and when you do that they eventually come around to score.

Schilling's song for the playoffs so far is "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." Five of the seven runs he allowed came in game two of the ALCS. In his other fourteen innings, he's allowed just two runs and six hits. And he keeps extra runners off base by limiting the number of walks he allows, just one this post season. He may not have the stuff of Jimenez anymore, but he knows how to control it.

Enjoy!

Kevin Youkilis doesn't think the Rockies hitters were rusty last night:

The Rockies, I don't think, looked that rusty. They swung the bats well. I think we just scored a bunch of runs and had timely hitting.

When people talk about the days off, don't they realize that the Rockies did more than just sit around for a week? Pitchers pitched and hitters hit. Yes, it's not game situations, but they didn't sit on their behinds for a week, either.

A big difference in the game last night was the percentage of strikes thrown by each side's pitchers. Beckett put 2/3 of his pitches in the zone, or at least tempting enough for a batter to swing. Francis was around 60%, about the league average. But Morales and Speier, who took the chance of a comeback from difficult to impossible combined to throw 28 of 41 pitches for balls. That's the kind of environment where a highly selective team like Boston thrives. They waited for their pitch, and when they saw one they liked they smacked it, otherwise, they were happy to take a walk.

Morales' performance ranks with the worst in World Series history:

It ranks among the most ineffective all-time relief outings in World Series history. The last reliever to go through a similar struggle was Yankees right-hander Jay Witasick, who gave up nine runs in 1 1/3 innings against Arizona in Game 6 of the 2001 World Series.

Witasick was a veteran at the time. Morales is a kid who was overwhelmed by the setting.

Pitching coach Bob Apodaca said an overly excited Morales let his body get out of control, and his performance rapidly deteriorated into a series of pitches to bad spots.

The Red Sox take all three game ones in the post season. So far, that's worked out well for them.

The Rockies come to bat in the top of the ninth trailing 13-1.

Update: Gagne retires the side in order, striking out Hawpe to end the game.

The Red Sox set a record for biggest margin of victory in game one of the World Series, twelve runs. The Red Sox put 25 men on base to the Rockies 7. It was a total rout. There won't be an 11-0 team this year.

Thanks to Jim Storer for the photos.

With Tulowitzki's double in the seventh, the teams have now combined for 22 hits, twelve to them doubles.

Update: Beckett finishes the inning stranding the runner. He's now allowed four runs over 30 innings in the post season, a 1.20 ERA. He continues to work very efficiently, averaging 13 pitches an inning tonight.

Neither team scores in the sixth inning. It's only the second such inning, and both were divisible by three.

Franklin Morales starts the fifth inning pitching for the Rockies. Francis turns in a poor start, allowing six runs in four innings. With ten hits and three walks allowed, it could have been a lot worse. Lugo greets Morales with a single.

Update: After a force out and a balk, Youkilis doubles home another run. Morales fails to shut down the Red Sox and they go up 7-1 in the game.

Update: Ortiz follows with a double, his third hit of the night. The Red Sox have seven doubles, two each by Ortiz and Youkilis.

Update: The Red Sox keep pouring it on as Manny singles in Ortiz. It's 9-1.

Update: Lowell picks up the eighth double of the game for the Red Sox and ninth extra-base hit. That ties a World Series record for extra-base hit. Men on 2nd and 3rd with two out for Varitek.

Update: Varitek walks. I can't believe the Rockies are letting Morales get pounded like this. Six of the seven batters to reach base in this inning did so with two out.

Update: Drew singles off the glove of Tulowitzki, and the Red Sox lead 10-1.

Update: Speier enters the game and walks in a run. At this point it seems like the Rockies will never get another out.

Update: Another walk, another run. It's 12-1.

Update: The broadcast just pointed out that the Rockies gave up just eight runs to the DBacks in four games.

Update: Speier walks his third batter in a row. Is there a mercy rule in the World Series? It's 13-1 Boston. Ellsbury is the only starter without a hit, Lugo is the only one who hasn't scored a run, and Lowell is the only one without an RBI.

Update: Herges gets Youkilis to pop out to end the inning. What a debacle.

Jason Varitek collects the third hit of the bottom of the fourth and the second double. It comes with the bases loaded and scores two as Boston extends their lead to 6-1. That's five doubles for Boston in the game. In his game against the Red Sox in June, Francis twice faced batters with the bases loaded and did not give up a hit.

Beckett strikes out two more batters to bring his total for the game to seven through four innings. He has an outside shot at Gibson's 17 K record for a World Series game.

Helton doubles, so all the hits by the Rockies remain doubles. Red Sox still lead 4-1.

Not much action in the third as Lugo's bunt single is the only hit. The Red Sox still lead 4-1.

With two out in the second, Youkilis walks and Ortiz doubles into the left center gap to drive him home. Holliday was unable to cut off the ball, which allowed Youkilis to score. It makes you wonder if instead of letting Spilborghs DH, if he shouldn't be in leftfield tonight and Holliday just batting. At the end of two, the Red Sox lead 4-1.

Beckett strikes out the first four batters of the game. The record is five, but Atkins hits a towering fly ball that just scrapes the top of the front of the wall. A few more feet of horizontally and the ball goes out. Atkins is at second with a one-out double.

Update: It's a good night for rookie middle infielders as Tulowitzki doubles off the wall after a Hawpe strikeout. It's double or nothing tonight for the Rockies. :-)

Update: Torrealba makes the first in-play out for the Rockies, grounding out to short. But Colorado cuts Boston's lead to two runs.

Dustin Pedroia looks at strike one, then deposits strike two onto the top of the green monster. The umps get the call right and Pedroia gets credit for the home run and Boston leads 1-0. Youkilis follows with a double to right-center.

I love Pedroia's home run swing. It's the batting analog of Eckstein throwing from the hole. You don't know how they do it, but they get the job done.

Update: After an Ortiz ground out, Manny Ramirez delivers a single to left to drive in Youkilis. All three right-handed hitters have hits off the lefty Francis.

Update: Nice play by Atkins on a grounder by Lugo to third to end the inning. The Rockies are in a hole, but they're not buried.
Update: Varitek singles and Drew doubles, moving Manny around the bases to score. The Red Sox lead 3-0 and are threatening to put this game out of reach early.

The Rockies and Red Sox start with a light rain falling. Beckett strikes out the first two batters, Taveras looking and Matsui swinging.

Update: Josh strikes out Holliday as well, giving him 29 K in 24 post-season innings. That's impressive.

Roving Baseball Musings reporter Jim Storer is at game one of the World Series and sends this picture of the crowd outside Fenway:

Photo: Jim Storer

Thanks to Ed Vescovi for providing the ticket!

Update: Ed also brought his 89-year-old grandmother and her boyfriend.

I'm told their picture will be on the JumboTron during the sixth inning.

Update: Here's the view from the seats.

Update: Here's Ed and his family near the auxiliary press box.

Spilborghs will DH and bat ninth tonight. Looks like Hurdle is using him as a second leadoff man.

Baseball Reflections looks at who's hot and not going into the World Series.

The World Series gets underway tonight, weather permitting, with Jeff Francis facing Josh Beckett. Both pitched great ball in the first two rounds of the playoffs. However, while Francis posted ace like numbers, Beckett's been in another realm.

October 11, 2007 - Phoenix, AZ, USA - The Colorado Rockies JEFF FRANCIS against the Arizona Diamondbacks during game one of the National League Championship Series at Chase Field. The Rockies won 5-1.

Photo: Sporting News/ZUMA Press/Icon SMI

Francis has, however, kept the ball on the ground with a ground out to air out ratio of 16 to 10. That should be effective against the Red Sox. As the Indians showed, the Red Sox can take themselves out of big innings with the double play.

12 October 2007 Josh Beckett during the ALCS game 1 featuring the Cleveland Indians against the Boston Red Sox played at Fenway Park in Boston, MA.

Photo: Rhona Wise/Icon SMI

The one place Francis out shone Beckett was in their head-to-head meeting in June. The Rockies chases Beckett after five innings and six runs, four on a grand slam by Atkins. It was the only grand slam off Beckett this season, and only one of five times Josh faced a batter with the bases juiced. Francis only lasted five innings as well, as the Red Sox forced him to throw 103 pitches. Jeff didn't allow a run, however, as all seven hits he allowed were singles and none came with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox were 0 for 8 against Francis in those situations, including 0 for 2 with the bases loaded.

Enjoy!

Clint Hurdle gets to decide on a designated hitter tonight. His choices are Ryan Spilborghs and Seth Smith. Smith's minor league numbers are close to Spilborghs' major league numbers, meaning at this point Spliborghs is probably the better hitter. But Smith is a lefty, and lefties against Beckett in 2007 have a 20 point advantage in batting average and a 40 point advantage in OBA. I'm guessing Spilborghs starts, with Smith saved for the role he's excelled in so far, pinch hitting.

The Rockies rotation is set, with Francis, Jimenez, Fogg and Cook getting starts in the first four games. Game 4 NLCS starter Franklin Morales moves to the bullpen, adding even more depth to the relief corps.

I like the matchups. Francis knocked off two fine pitchers in Hamels and Webb, and gets a chance to defeat Beckett. Jimenez and Schilling make a nice contrast in age. Fogg gets Matusaka at Coors, and that game has a good chance to be a slugfest.

My take on the World Series is available at SportingNews.com.

Tim Wakefield is out of the World Series as his shoulder makes it difficult to pitch. The Red Sox go with the same order in games 1-2-3 as they did in the ALCS, Beckett, Schilling and Matsuzaka. I'm a bit surprised they went with Daisuke in game three, as he throws a lot of pitches that depend on movement. Those pitches should be more difficult to throw in high altitude. However, it's possible the Red Sox are thinking about a three man rotation, in which case both Schilling and Matsuzaka would get one start at home and one on the road. Schilling does have a 5.51 ERA at Coors, but that was before the humdior.

The Rockies decided Aaron Cook will start game 4 of the World Series.

In June, Cook lost a 2-1 decision at Boston despite allowing just two runs on seven hits in 7 1-3 innings.

Rocky Mountain News is running a blog as an intrepid fans tries to buy World Series tickets.

The New York Times talks with the Rockies about religion on the team. It seems character rather than affliation is more important to the team:

On the whole, players were relaxed in speaking about their religious convictions but said that faith was not a requirement for peer approval. The Rockies, who will face the Red Sox in the World Series beginning Wednesday, care more about whether a teammate plays hard, is unselfish and treats everyone with respect.

"I think that if they were Catholic or Baptist or didn't believe in God but were quality players and good people and good teammates, there would be a place for them here," Herges said. "But I do see a lot of quality people in this clubhouse. This is the tightest-knit group I've ever been around."

Pitcher Mark Redman, playing for his eighth team in nine seasons, has been with the Rockies for only two months, but he, too, said he sensed a different chemistry. "I've been on teams with guys who you can't wait to leave when the season's over," Redman said. "You don't find a bad guy in here. I'm more than comfortable bringing my son in here. I haven't been able to say that in the past."

Josh Beckett starts game one for the Red Sox at Fenway, but Boston has not gone beyond that yet:

Among the things for Francona & Co. to consider in the days ahead: Where, if anywhere, to slot knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the rotation. If they weren't to hand him the ball for Game 2 at Fenway Thursday night, would they want him to serve up his soft tosses in Denver, where the thin air of the Mile High City might prove too compliant to his pitches? A knuckleball that doesn't dance too often ends up dancing with the stars.

The same sort of worry goes along with Matsuzaka. A number of Daisuke's pitches depend on the ability to break, something that's tougher to do in thin air. A game two starters pitches twice at home. Boston needs to decide if Wakefield or Matsuzaka has the better chance of success at Coors.

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