Posts tagged ‘Playoffs’

How did they do that?

No, seriously, I want an explanation. How the f&*k did they just do that?

Three straight elimination games. Three different opponents. A clubhouse seemingly divided against itself with a manger who can’t even really be accused of running the asylum since he’s basically one of the inmates. A team that managed to cough up a 2.5 game lead with six to play. A team that couldn’t beat a pair of tomato can pitchers thrown out by the Cleveland Indians Friday and Saturday. A team without it’s best hitter, best third baseman, pitching a young lefthander on short rest for the first time in his career.

A team that’s going to the playoffs. Your 2008 AL Central Champions, against all the odds…

Bring on Tampa.

Let’s address Irrational Fear #1 right off the bat: everybody breathe. The sun is going to come up tomorrow.

As for the rest of the 2008 AL Central Race, let’s just say the shocking third-act twist has occurred and only if the writer’s are REALLY bold and decide to pen another will the suspense last.

Call me a liar if you must, but the worst I ever felt during this series was actually AFTER the Sox had gotten a 6-1 lead. I couldn’t help but surrender to those thoughts in the deep, dark, nagging corner of my brain that remember all the pain and heartache already inflicted on the Sox over the past seven years inside the Metrodome. I couldn’t put to bed the horrifying thought: “This is what Minnesota does. They lull things down, they spot you runs, but they just nibble and gnaw and scrap and don’t ever go away.” What happpened next? Well, you can read about it here if you like doing the sports equivalent of stabbing out your own eyes while simultaneously punching yourself in the nuts repeatedly.

I wish I could boil it down to something simple, something plain and quantifiable like, “The Twins just have an incredible lineup” or “The Sox have a horrible bullpen” and just leave it at that. But the Twins should’ve rolled in that type of circumstance; instead the combined score over the last two days was 10-8 as the Twins continued to race their way around the HHH basepaths (and got a couple of timely assists from second and third base umpire Alfonso Marquez). And if it were the kind of performance that came from nowhere, from a team clinging desperately to its playoff chances, I could live with that. But this happens routinely, always to the Sox and always at the Metrodome. Of the 8 games the Sox lost in that building this year, five were by two runs or less. Three times, including tonight, they blew leads of four runs or more. Bottom line: if it’s close against the Twins in their home park, pray for the worst, but expect the absolutely f&*kin’ disastrous.

Umpiring Sidenote: I do not subscribe to the theory that any officiating decision can single-handedly change the outcome of a ballgame, no matter how egregious or influential it might seem (Doug Eddings included). So don’t just cop-out and assume a different final outcome (no matter how badly you want to) had Marquez made the correct call on Wednesday and called Carlos Gomez out at second base on the pickoff throw, which is what he was - out. Picked off. Orlando Cabrera had the ball in his glove and his glove on Gomez’s back well ahead of Gomez making any sort of physical contact with the base. Gomez was out. Instead he was called safe, moved up on a walk and scored what went on to be the decisive third run on a ground ball to second. But even if he’s called out, who’s to say Mark Buehrle, suddenly feeling more secure after picking a runner out of scoring position, doesn’t serve up a meatball which Joe Mauer clubs for a three-run homer? So I don’t blame Marquez for the Sox being beaten on Wednesday (or on Thursday, when he called a Denard Span double fair despite the ball landing in foul territory, or when he rung up Nick Swisher for swinging when he quite clearly did not…that latter call was so bad even Twins announcer Bert Blyleven called bulls&*t on it.) Even umpiring that’s bad can’t unilateraly determine how the game plays out. That doesn’t change the fact that Marquez was wrong. Moving on…

The Sox only recourse now is to win the remaining games. They have to pretend Minnesota and it’s Chinese Water Torture offense don’t exist for the next four days. Everything has to be about beating Cleveland tonight, then again on Saturday, then on Sunday. Then, if necessary, 100% focus must turn to beating Detroit on Monday. And, should it come to pass, on Tuesday, they can allow Minnesota to exist again for a possible one-game playoff. If you had to gauge my feelings on the Sox making the postseason…what’s the polar opposite of optimism? Pessimism just doesn’t quite seem to do the trick.

Fair warning to all baseball pundits, regardless of team allegiance: he who attempts to declare that he has the AL Central “figured out” does so at his own peril.

Monday’s crucial series opener between the Twins and White Sox, who stood just 2.5 games apart in the standings, did confirm a few things that have long been status quo for anybody who follows the White Sox:

A) The Sox do not play well in domes.
B) The Sox really, really, really don’t play well in the MetroDome.

The 2008 AL Central race has, up to this point, been a complete blueprint for what life will one day look like through the looking glass (or inside the Matrix, take your metaphorical pick). Up is down. Black is white. The guy who’s been on a roll for two straight months and has 9 years of big league experience and a World Series ring gets taken deep by a rookie with a name that would make a good alias for a minor member of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. It’s what happens after everybody has it figured out that counts.

As mentioned in Monday’s episode of the podcast, it wasn’t until after I saw how much the pitching matchup for Monday’s game would “supposedly” favor the Sox that I began to get that gnawing, abysmal feeling in the pit of my stomach that surfaces every time the Sox play a critical game in Minnesota. Coming into this game, Mark Buehrle had been 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in his last 10 starts. For his career against the Twins he was a stellar 21-11 (his most wins against opponent) and has been one of the few successful Sox pitchers in Minneapolis (10-5 career mark). Opposing him was Kevin Slowey, his dominant run of late June a fading memory as he allowed 15 runs in his last 14 innings to go with a finger injury that pushed back another start. Oh, and did we mention he was 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA against the Sox in two starts this season?

So naturally Buehrle got tagged for a pair of two-run homers by Justin Morneau and Denard Span, two left-handed hitters (lefties had only 3 HR against Mark all season) while Slowey threw a complete game shutout. You decide what it means. All I know is it gives me a lot of comfort seeing as how the deck is now “supposedly” stacked in Minnesota’s favor tomorrow with Glen Perkins matched against Clayton Richard, who’ll be making his second major-league start.

Here we are at Memorial Day weekend, and the Cubs and Sox are both in first place. ESPN’s latest Power Rankings elevated the Cubs to the top spot and the Pale Hose to fourth on the heels of their eight-game winning streak that pushed them 3.5 games ahead of the Twins in the AL Central.

Before we got too giddy with the idea of both Chicago teams in the playoffs, let alone the possibility of a Red Line World Series, remember there’s four full months of baseball left to play. The expected giants of the AL Central are stuck in sleep-mode, and while there haven’t been a ton of signs that they’ll be able to wake up and run away from the pack like all predicted they would, I certainly wouldn’t discount the possibility. Right now, the Sox even at 26-22 should be, like Kenny Williams, looking back at a handful of games they’ve already squandered that could’ve really put the pressure on their divisional opponents heading into the summer.

Since Ozzie Guillen’s drastic changes to the lineup - AJ Pierzynski and Carlos Quentin rising to 2 & 3, Thome and Konerko dropping to 5 & 6, along with increased playing time for Alexei Ramirez and sliding Nick Swisher to the eighth spot, the Sox have gone 8-2. More importantly, they have gotten a quality start in 10 of the last 11 games. Joining Mark Buehrle in the “If it weren’t for bad luck, he’d have none at all” category is John Danks, who has had a total of 8 runs scored on his behalf in his four losses (and hasn’t gotten much more support in his wins, even when including the 13-run outburst in San Francisco last Sunday when most of the offense came after he left the game). Bottom line: Sox pitchers are the real deal. Sox offense? I’ll get back to you.

On the heels of the eight-game streak that stretched between the West Coast trip and a home sweep of the floundering Cleveland Indians, the Sox bats have been put back in the deep freezer against Joe Saunder and Jered Weaver of the Angels. It was a disturbing return to the early-May trend of atrocious hitting and starting pitchers turning into their own worst enemy at the most inopportune moment - the Angels scored in only one inning against Gavin Floyd on Friday, and the second and third runs came via two walks, a single, and consecutive hit batsmen. They scored in just one inning against Danks on Saturday. Five runs in 18 innings and the Sox couldn’t win either game.

Of course, before running for the nearest ledge, it’s helpful to remember this Sox team has already outplayed the expectations and people have been saying since mid-April that their pitching staff would come back to earth. They can’t say that now. Meanwhile, the offense that should’ve made some strides by plugging in Cabrera & Swisher has looked to the young Carlos Quentin to carry the load. As we move into summer, the Sox have playoff-caliber pitching. To justify the dreams of an all-Chitown October, they still need to complete the quest for consistent offense.