Posts Tagged ‘2009 ALCS’

Looking forward...SOMETHING has to get me through the winter, right?

Well the 2009 MLB season ended for me with the Yankees winning the ALCS.  I’ll have to spend  my time figuring out how to follow Kyle Snyder and Los Lobos de Arecibo in winter ball but I’m surely not watching the Yankees play in the World Series.  First time I haven’t watched the Series since 2003.

I’m pleased Slappy didn’t win MVP (and truly believe CC deserved it) – it’s bad enough he’ll be in the World Series – proving, once again, that the universe doesn’t care much about character and often rewards those who don’t deserve to be rewarded.

The Angels…well, they did what they could but, ultimately, came up short.  6 games deep into the ALCS is nothing to sneeze at, though.  I just find it sad that they came so close, especially this season, just to falter at the end.

So, goodbye until Spring Training, Major League Baseball.  I certainly hope the Phillies can beat the Yankees but I won’t be watching them do it.

Edit on a Monday Morning A message for the trolls:  I have it set up so that most of the trollish behavior goes automatically to spam, which means I don’t see it nor does it get posted.  If you have, in the past, trolled here and got yourself deleted/banned, regardless of how much you try to play nice, your message won’t be posted.  I don’t go to Yankees message boards or blogs talking trash about your team so I don’t expect people to come here to rub it in.  And, really, your team just won the ALCS for the first time since 2003, if you’re a real fan aren’t you enjoying this with  your fellow fans?  Why visit a blog that doesn’t support your team?

I have some friends trying to convince me to give the WS a chance since so many believe the Phillies will wreak havoc on the Yankees…we’ll see.  Maybe I can try it with the sound muted?

Remember this feeling, Angels? Go for it again! (Photo taken by Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.)

One of the many reasons I love New England:  Last night it was raining so hard I was waiting for the parade of animals walking two by two to begin.  This morning I woke up to the sun blinding me through the skylight in my bedroom.  It’s another gorgeous fall day in New England and I’m loving it!

All the talk this weekend is the Patriots in London.  I’d love to be more excited about it.  Hey, I like the Pats and I want them to win but I hate this in-season promotion stuff.  So while it is pretty cool to be playing American football in England, I just want them to win and get back home so I can stop reading the tweets of sports writers who are acting like England is not only a different country but in a different dimension.  It’s England not Mars, people.

Truthfully, my mind is on baseball still so it’s tough to get excited for football even this deep int the season.  I was disappointed that the game was called last night (although a tweet from my friend Caryn in NY at least helped put to rest the conspiracy theory that Fox and MLB postponed the game to get better ratings on Sunday after all the football:  “I cannot begin to stress how horrible the weather is and how necessary calling the game was.“).  A fresh start, no wet conditions to get anyone hurt, and not reason to lose either starting pitcher because of delays.  I can wait another night to see a game.  I wonder, though, how the Phillies feel?  Can you ever determine whether waiting around for the start of the next series is better than starting up right away?  I think back to 2007 when the Rockies tied up the NLCS quickly and had to hang around waiting for the Red Sox and Indians to play all seven games.  Initially folks kept reporting about how rested the Rockies would be but by game 1 of the Series they were wondering if rested = rusty.  On the other hand, if they could push THIS series to 7 games, whichever teams comes out of it alive could either be riding high on the fumes of momentum (see Red Sox in 2004 and 2007) or crash and burn from the exhaustion (see Yankees in 2003).  After the first two games, I was giving up on the ALCS this year and now I can’t wait for another game.  Baseball loves to mess with me.

Go enjoy the day, folks.  If you’re like me and watching the baseball game tonight, don’t forget it starts at 8:20 -  it’s going to be a long one!

Let's hope Papi gave Torii some pointers on coming back in the ALCS! (Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.)

Before last night, I can’t remember the last time I got that genuinely worked up over a baseball game that didn’t involve the Red Sox.  Mike Scioscia replacing John Lackey with Darren Oliver (to face Slappy, Teixeira and Matsui!) could have gone down in baseball history as the worst managerial decision in an LCS since 2003.   Thankfully, aside from Lackey possibly having already set all of Oliver’s (and/or Scioscia’s) things on fire, no long-term harm was done.

There seem to be a few Yankees fans reading my blog.   One or two occasionally email me and actually have nice things to say (well, usually not NICE but at least they just want to discuss baseball not how fat, stupid, ugly or mean I am!) – last night I received an email from one, “Mike in Paramus” (I asked Mike if he minded my mentioning him today)…Mike wanted to know if I was taking “great joy” in Nick Swisher’s struggles in the ALCS since I had “dissed” him earlier this season by saying I didn’t think he was an all-star.

I like Nick Swisher.   He’s one of those players I truly believe plays because he loves it and tries to get as much fun out of it as he can. I hate that he’s with the Yankees but they offered him a job and why wouldn’t he take it, right?    I DID say earlier this season that I didn’t think he was an all-star…but he was definitely an important part of what got the Yankees to the post-season this year.   In spite of that, I’m not reveling in his struggles.    Hell YES I’m enjoying the Angels taking it to the Yankees and I hope to see more of the same Saturday night – but it actually annoys me a bit that so many in New York are choosing to stick Swisher’s head on a stick and parade it about so that the fans have their pound of flesh.   (Incidentally, “Mike” thinks Swisher should be benched.   Me?    As long as it helps the Yanks lose, I’m good with keeping him in!)

So while the Phillies rest up, the Yankees and Angels have to head back to New York for at least one more game.   In thinking about the World Series, it occurred to me that since 2000 all three teams in the hunt have won a World Series so there isn’t that much drama (for me, anyway) surrounding them.    I have no emotional attachment to the Phillies, I admittedly can’t stand the Yankees…so that leaves the Angels.   If I have to pick a team that I’d genuinely enjoy watching win it all this year – and these three are my only choices, I’m going with the Angels.   After the ALDS, I didn’t think I’d be able to root for them.   But watching them during this LCS, well, I like most of the guys on the team and their fans seem to be the least of the three evils…and I honestly can’t deny that Nick Adenhart is on my mind.   I’m not a fan of the “they have to win because something bad happened to them” way of thinking, but it certainly has attached itself to me – at least it did last night.  Watching last night I kept thinking about the team running over to his likeness on the wall in the park after they made it into the playoffs and the idea that the Yankees could have made it to the World Series in front of him upset me greatly.   Sure it’s still a tough road for the Angels – winning two in a row in the Bronx won’t be easy – but I think they can do it.   More importantly, I’m hoping they can do it.   Everyone needs to root for something positive, right?   It isn’t as much fun to root AGAINST a team as it is to root for them.

So Saturday night I won’t be rooting for the Yankees to lose (as I’ve been doing each of these games) I’ll be rooting for the Angels to win!  Two more games, fellas, two more games!

Here's to another year with Wake!

Good news is always welcomed!

According to Ian Browne at MLB.com, the surgery on Tim Wakefield’s back was a success and, if the recovery process goes as planned, “he should be fully recovered long before the start of Spring Training”.  Wake has already expressed his desire to play another season and Theo has already expressed that Wake fits into the plans of the team so there is still much hope that number 49 will be taking the mound quite a few times in 2010.  I’ll take the good news, thanks!

Phillies are another step closer to back to back World Series championships.  Have to admit that I’m genuinely happy for the team.  They worked hard to get to where they are and they won in an impressive manner.  I’m also more than a bit excited for Pedro Martinez to be returning to the Series.  Pedro isn’t even sure he’ll make the WS roster, let alone get to pitch, but he was still so obviously thrilled about it all last night I couldn’t help but share his happiness.  Sure, the idea of a team that isn’t mine being the first this decade/millennium to go back to back is a little disappointing – I always have such high hopes for the Sox – but, Brett Myers aside, I like the guys on the Phillies (granted, a lot of their fans haven’t impressed me) and I hope they do well in the Series.

Unless, of course, the Angels come back to put the beat down on the Yankees.  Something I still hold out hope for.  (Actually, if the Angels beat the Yankees I wouldn’t really care which team won the World Series – but the team beating the Yankees coming out and winning the Series would be pretty sweet!)

After the Angels won that game that other night, I had a genuine belief they could pull it off.  Then they showed up in the following game playing like they spent the night before out too late partying.  There was no life to the team and the Yankees took full advantage.  So I’ll watch some of tonight’s game – depending on how it ends up – and hope for the best.  I’m annoyed that everyone is just assuming the Yankees will be playing the Phillies…that kind of arrogance pisses me off and I hope it pisses off the Angels enough to do something about it.  I know it looks bad for the Angels right now but baseball is one of those games where genuinely anything can happen…so they have as much of a chance to win this as they do to lose it.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the chances are better for the Yankees to win the ALCS than the Angels but that doesn’t mean I’ve given up hope.  At the VERY least it would be nice for the Angels to make a series of it and force the Yanks to a game 7.  Wear them down, fellas, wear them down.

A video this morning that I absolutely adore:  Mark Salling on “Glee” singing “Sweet Caroline.  Bring some of that Neil Diamond mojo to the Angels tonight!

Lee on Saturday, gearing up for last night's masterpiece! (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

It isn’t often that I don’t post because of good things but that’s what happened this weekend.  It was a good weekend, fun to relax and just enjoy it – and we even got some snow to ogle for a few hours!

It’s given me a much better outlook baseball-wise.

After game 2 of the ALCS, I decided that I was “done” with it.  I was giving up on the ALCS because watching the Angels losing in such creative and gut-wrenching ways was taking its toll on me.  So I was going to stick with the NLCS and just hope for the best with the American League.

Oddly enough, it was the fantastic NLCS game (relatively speaking – not so fantastic if you’re rooting against the Phillies or are a Dodgers fan) last night that has encouraged me to give the ALCS another chance.  Serendipitously, today’s ALCS game starts while I’m away from a television, so I won’t have to pay much attention.  But if the Angels can scratch one out, I’m in for game 4.  Don’t let me down, Jered Weaver.

The first post I made (after the obligatory “HEY! Not only did I change the look of the blog but I changed the name!” entry) when the blog morphed from “Red Sox Chick” to “Toeing the Rubber” was about Cliff Lee.  In spite of how I feel about MLB beating us to death with the “inspirational” story of Josh Hamilton, I think it’s obvious that I root for the underdog whenever I can.

A quick digression:  When I was at WEEI.com a very nice and quite talented fella named Jesse did all the cosmetic (and other non content-related) work on the blog.  He designed the header that I used for the time I was there.  I loved it.  I loved the color, I loved what it looked  like.  I loved everything about it.  Except the players he used.  Originally it was supposed to be Lowell, Pedroia and Ortiz and I asked him to switch at least one out for a pitcher, preferably a reliever, and I got Okajima up there.  Now, it wasn’t Jesse’s fault I didn’t like the players in the banner.  Hell, I like the players, but if I were to use photos of players to represent my blog it wouldn’t be the superstars I’d have up there.  I can’t remember if it was something Jesse and I discussed or just something I assumed, but I figured for a mainstream website it made more sense to have better known players in the header.  It turned out fine, like I said, I love the banner, but it never fully felt right for me given the my strongest allegiances seem to go to the guys who don’t have McFarlane figures of their likenesses out there, players who don’t have t-shirts with their faces on them and who don’t have legions of fans.

Cliff Lee had his struggles and people thought he was done.  No Cinderella story for him since his only problem seemed to be that he wasn’t any good.  No drug addiction, no depression, nothing fancy MLB could capitalize on.  He just started playing poorly and then he turned it around.   In 2008 he came back after a disastrous 2007 and won the Cy Young award.  This year he’s pitching in the post-season and dominating every time he appears.  (How great and somewhat ironic is this headline from July 28th of this year?  Cliff, yet again, brought me happiness.  Giving the Phillies a 2-1 edge over the Dodgers.  Who knows how the NLCS will turn out?  Right now it’s just an awful lot more fun to watch than the ALCS.  Much less painful too.

I had no plans to still be invested in the outcome of the ALCS.  I was happy to just let it  happen.  But Cliff Lee has inspired me to not give up…not yet.

Wake at "Hot Stove, Cool Music" in 2005 (Taken by me)

Generally speaking, it shouldn’t be difficult to find something to write about on a baseball-themed blog during the playoffs, right?  I mean, sure, I’m a Red Sox fan and the majority of my blog writing is dedicated to them but it’s the PLAYOFFS, I should get some joy out of them since I’m also just a straight-out baseball fan.  I should be writing about game 2 of the NLCS and game 1 of the ALCS.

But, see, both games annoyed the crap out of me so what would I write about?  I’d love to write about Pedro’s dominance (and, make no mistake, he DID dominate, just ask Manny Ramirez) but since it was capped by a Phillies meltdown it’s a bit bittersweet.  (Shout out to Phillies fans who have had to deal with Charlie Manuel all this time.  I’m sure he’s a wonderful manager – hell he got the team the World Series last year  – but could he be MORE trigger happy when it comes to pulling pitchers?  Chan Ho Park was a victim of bad defense and weird hops not his own pitching.  He should have left him in.  Speaking of Chan Ho, how is it that I never noticed how pretty his face is?  Even with all that hair.  The man is quite a handsome fella. )

There is some news out of Red Sox country…according to various sources, Tim Wakefield’s back surgery is set for next Wednesday at Mass General.  Nick Green will also be evaluated next week with surgery being a possible option and the word on Jed Lowrie is that his wrist is doing well and he should be ready to play when Spring Training arrives.  If Wake’s surgery goes well, the Red Sox plan on bringing him back for another season.  So not only for his health but for the team I’m sending out positive vibes for Wake’s surgery next week.  I want him back in the red socks.  Ditto for Jed Lowrie.  (Nick Green?  Well, I wish him good health but will be okay if his road doesn’t lead to Ft Myers next year.)

Only one MLB game tonight and it comes from the Bronx.  Let’s hope Saunders fares better than Lackey did!