Series business
Ups and downs of Game 1…
The last team to win Game 1 of the World Series and not finish as champs was the 2002 San Francisco Giants, losers in seven to the Angels.
I still say Rockies in 6, despite what is a now downright scary show by the Red Sox bats. The Beckett game was a certain no-win for Colorado, and if it can get past Curt Schilling, it faces the prospect of uncertain expectations from Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester at Coors Field. The layoff was a huge factor last night, only further magnified against Beckett. But can Ubaldo Jiminez slow down this prodigious attack? On Denver sports radio KKFN this morning, they discussed his erratic performance in an intrasquad game over the weekend. Intrasquad. If that’s the case, how will the rookie react to Fenway?
Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus writes, “Game Two probably features the Rockies’ best hope, as Ubaldo Jimenez is the closest thing they have to a shutdown starter. Jimenez, however, has at times struggled with his command, a deadly problem against the most patient team in baseball. Even in his two postseason starts, allowing two runs in 11 1/3 innings, he’s walked eight men.”
I did say, six, right? Rockies? Just checking.
Nate Silver, chatting during the game last night, brought up a more salient point. The idea of doing this, pulling your ace early in a blowout and getting him back on the mound on short rest, is something that statheads bring up all the time, but managers never seem to execute. Whether a failure of imagination, or simply a desire to stick to his plan, Francona never really considered the aggressive move, and instead went two more innings with Beckett. Now, Beckett still threw only 93 pitches on the night, not nearly enough to count him out of a Game Four start should that seem like a good idea come the weekend, so Francona’s decision likely will have little effect on the series. I wonder, though; if this isn’t a situation for the 11th man on the staff, why have an 11th man on the staff?
For the record, Josh Beckett now has four of Boston’s eight postseason wins.
“My wife told me get to them out of the house,” Bobby laughed. “They’re taking up too much room in the basement.”
“Every time my girls go in there, they’re like, ‘Mommy, what’s in these boxes?'” Bobby’s wife Nicole said.
So, wait. This guy’s wife is making him get rid of these and he thinks it’s good enough to barter a World Series ticket? Sorry, pal. Either way, if it doesn’t work, they’re still hitting the curb come morning. He bought the magazines for $200 from a friend “as a favor.” Now they’re worth somewhere north of $1,000? No.
Padilla so far has a grand total of zero bids on the collection.
If the Rockies lose the World Series, most people in Colorado will go:
A. into a deep depression.
B. straight to the fridge and grab another cold Coors Light.
C. skiing.
If you answered C, then you understand Coloradans all too well and need not read any further.
OK. C seemed like a fairly innocuous answer, but I guess that makes me a fair-weather baseball fan. I’ll try to be better. If the Red Sox lose the World Series to the Rockies, I’ll make it my goal the next day to kick as many puppies as I find necessary on the way to the office. And I won’t ski for at least two months, although the weather pattern will have more to do with that. Happy? Passion, baby.
Besides, it isn’t that Denver isn’t a passionate baseball town – it in fact set attendance records upon the team’s inception back in 1993. But poor ownership and incompetent personnel moves made it such that a general apathy began to populate the town. Sound familiar? Any team in town ring a bell? Hmm? Throwing stones and such…
Cullen goes on to talk with a Red Sox fan going to school in Colorado, who relays the following story:
On Tuesday, Sydney went online and scored four tickets to Monday night’s game at Coors Field. She was shocked to learn that there were something like 18,000 tickets available for that game.
“The Broncos are playing Monday night,” Sydney explained.
Translation: Denver is a football town.
It is. Hockey, too. Oh, and the Rockies computer ticket system underwent a monumental crash on Monday. But that couldn’t have anything to do with it.
And yes, the Rocky Mountain News actually ran a “Baseball 101” in yesterday’s edition. But still, if we were on the outside, wouldn’t we be rolling our collective eyes at “Red Sox pets” and the like?
“We’ll win in three.”
Awesome. Cue “Sweet Caroline.”
They had me a goodbye with their inane “Transformers” highlight wipes.
