Yankees-Red Sox ALCS Thread

[Armitage]

Quote: Originally Posted by Karlos05

I mean the Tim Wakefield who held the big, bad Yankees to a .179 average this year. And over the last 3 years held them to a 2.84 ERA with a .202 average. He gave up the homerun last year but whenever Wakefield pitches the Yankees have a tough time scoring runs.

Wakefield should share as much blame for the Sox losing Game 7 last year as Lohse should share the blame for Twins this year, and Buckner in '86.. meaning, no blame. It should've NEVER had to come down to a Boone homer/wild pitch/error at first.. but it did.

Wakefield this year should be fine against the Yankees if he appears.

[ehh]

I think this series will be very interesting, and Game 1 will be a coin flip and absolutely huge. If the Sox win then the series will go 7, but if the Yanks win I think they wrap it up in 5 or 6 games and never be under too much pressure. For some reason I think the Yanks will beat Schilling, and if they do then the Sox are in deep trouble. Pedro has 17 losses in his last 23 starts against the Yanks, and they bombarded him in his last outing at Yankee Stadium. This could go 0-2 quickly in favor of the Yanks. And the Yanks always play well in Fenway in the postseason, that crazy atmosphere just doesn't seem to affect them like other teams. And if A-Rod keeps on hitting, forget about it. Plus the small ball, 5 straight two-out singles against the Twins in Game 3. If they're playing smallball which they don't usually, the Yanks will be in control. Being a huge Yankee fan (incase you couldn't tell by now, hehe.... I watch every game when I'm home in the summer on YES, and when I'm at college just outside of Boston, I watch (involuntarily, housemates dominate the TV) every Sox game, so I have seen plenty of games from both sides.

The thing that suprises me the most is that all of the Boston media is saying how good their bullpen is this year, when I think it was FAR better last year. Just because you have an official closer in Foulke (who just about everyone at my school HATES) doesn't mean anything. He might be the goat of the series. Plus Williamson is out who was great in last years post season. Timlin is solid as hell (besides his slip-up against Vladdy) and he'll be great for the Sox again. Everyone else though is pretty shaky IMO.

I was honestly scared outta my mind last year during the ALCS and thought for sure the Sox would win. But this year I don't have that feeling, I have confidence in my squad. Their lineup was better last year (basically everyone had better numbers), bullpen was much better, and laugh if you want, yes...their starting pitching was better. Wakefield was unhittable: seriously if Schilling puts up Wakefield's numbers from last year's ALCS I'll be impressed.

Wakefield '03 ALCS: 2-1, 14.0 IP, 4 earned runs, 8 hits, 2.57 era. Take out Boone's homer...

Two starts, two wins, 14.0 IP, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, and an ERA around 2.50. That's pretty damn amazing.


Lowe was having a career year, and Pedro pitched two very good games despite going winless. Now you have Schilling who is basically equivalent to Wakefield last year, a lesser version of Pedro than last year (see homers given up, opp batting average, etc) and then Arroyo as your #3 vs. Lowe of last year. Honestly, as dumb as it sounds, Arroyo is the guy who scares me the most right now in your rotation. I watched all of Game 1 against the Angels and Schilling wasn't all that impressive. The Angels had plenty of chances but just didn't capitalize. Pedro was better than he's looked recently when he pitched Game 2, but it's been a different story against the Yanks recently.


As for my boys, Game 2 against the Twinkies seems to have turned their season around and jump started the team. Last week when ESPN.com had their gigantic playoff preview up, a buncha writers were asked a variety of questions and one was "What will the biggest suprise of this post season be?" Answers ranged from Johnny Damon winning the WS MVP, others saying that the Twins would win it all, etc. Then one guy simply wrote, "Alex Rodriguez will have a monster postseason." I thought about it for a second when I read it and it occured to me, every single person, especially Sox fans, are just assuming that A-Rod will choke. So he goes 8-19 (.476) with 3 doubles, a homer, 3 runs, and 3 RBI. He basically won Game 2 with his clutch double, and took control and won the series for them today by stealing third then scoring on the passball. He's on the top of his game, and maybe behind Bonds, he's the best player in the world when he's on top of his game. Sheff may have carried this team and been the MVP in the regular season, but A-Rod is stepping it up right now big time.

As for pitching, we got...

Game 1: Moose - 7 IP, 2 runs, 7 hits, 7 K's
Game 2: Lieber - 6.2 IP, 3 runs, 7 hits, 4 K's
Game 3: Brown - 6 IP, 1 run, 8 hits

19.2 IP, 6 earned runs. That's not exactly bad starting pitching, plus it's without our ace, El Duque. His health is still a question, but hopefully he can pitch Game 3 or 4 in the ALCS. Mussina and Lieber have been very good in recent starts and Mussina is finally healthy for the first time in quite a while. Certainly you can make the arguement that the Twins offense pales in comparision to the Red Sox, but those are some numbers to build on for our staff. The big question for us will be our bullpen and if it can hold up with all the innings it will pitch. It won't suprise me if Gordon pitches 2 innings one game, then Rivera pitches 2 the next night. Torre said he manages every post season game like it's a Game 7, so it'll be interesting to see.


Bottom line, I can see this series being everything from a Yankee sweep to a 7-game classic like last year. My prediction, Yankees clinch in the Bronx in Game 6 and go on to face the Cardinals in the World Series....

[nyisles16]

Bucky Bleeping Dent, Aaron Boone.. which Yankee will it be this year? I cant believe I'm saying this, but go yanks..just gotta make the streak continue..

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by hulkster29

Bucky Bleeping Dent, Aaron Boone.. which Yankee will it be this year? I cant believe I'm saying this, but go yanks..just gotta make the streak continue..

Well you gotta keep the B's going.

The Babe
Bucky
Buckner
Boone


My vote is for a costly error or something stupid from Mark Bellhorn.

[Brandwin]

WOuld be nice to see this series go 7 games and ( im not sure who is home) if Red Sox are home to see them win it in the bottom of the 9th.

[nkhera1]

plus look for the other yanks to hit much better, I think only Matsui, Jeter, and A-Rod had a batting average over .300 and yet they were still able to score many runs.

[NYJets]

Quote: Originally Posted by DookieMowf

WOuld be nice to see this series go 7 games and ( im not sure who is home) if Red Sox are home to see them win it in the bottom of the 9th.

Yankees are home for 1,2,6, and 7.

The Yankees have had success against Schilling this year, but he also beat them in the World Series in 2001. Then again, that was a different Yankee team. I think Schilling is going to have a big series though, and the Yankees will lose game 1 once again. Pedro is still a good pitcher, but he's only good for 7 innings, and they aren't always 7 dominant innings like they used to be. He's better than Leiber, but the Yankees have beaten Boston when Pedro pitched with Brad Halsey this year. Leiber could very well do it too.

Brown still scares me. He pitched well against the Twins, but I didn't think he was as good as the numbers indicate. He made quite a few mistakes, and left quite as few balls up in the zone. Pitches that the Red Sox lineup will hit hard. Hopefully El Duque can go in this series. They said he's felt better lately, and they'll have a better idea of it after he pitches a bullpen session on Monday. I've pretty much given up on the idea that Vazquez will do anything for the Yankees this year. El Duque was always a big game pitcher, and hopefully that will continue.

On paper, Boston might actually be the favorite. But I still say Yankees in 7. Me being a Yankees fan probably has a lot to do with it, but the Yankees always seem to find a way to win, all through their run, and especially this season. Historically, Boston always finds a new way to lose. Hopefully that will continue.

No matter what, this is going to be an AMAZING series.

[TheMatrix31]

I dont see how this series can top last years, but I sure hope so. I mean damn, the biggest rivalry in baseball (probably all sports), game 7, extra innings, a rally, and a walkoff HR. Amazing.