How great is it to see the Yankees falling short of the postseason? I'm in the enviable position right now of just wanting the Yankees to keep winning against the Rays and help us out.

Lee is a nobrainer for the AL cy young, really, but what do people think behind him...Do Halladay's two extra wins, 8 complete games, two shut outs and far superior strike-outs cancel out Dice-k's far fewer losses? Do the six games less and far fewer innings the Boston pitcher has had play in is favour - almost the same number of wins and strikeouts to innings ratio is more or less equal). And where does the new single season saves record holder stand - should a closer be up for the award at all?

Can anyone catch longoria for Rookie?

And MVP...can Pedrioa take the award without the raditional HR-heavy numbers? Very possibly the AL batting champion, excellent figures in many other categories, but HR so often picks the winner for this. And will Youkilis split his vote - or even finish ahead of him?

Any idea when the World Series is likely to be concluded? We don't get Hockey back on Five until your glorified rounders season finishes!

End of October. Unless the BoSox are there again, in which case it tends to finish almost a week early

They'll be there for sure. Twins are blowing now.

I meant if they were in the WS itself

Made the mistake of betting with my heart not my head on Sunday. Knew that a Yankees loss and a RedSox win would have seen the last game celebration at Yankee Stadium come the same day that the RedSox eliminated them - the ultimate BoSox dream bet.

Bloody Orioles throwing a three run lead away. Bloody traitor Damon.

At least now we know that a single win for us (or a single Yankees defeat) and we're in. Who do you think is more nervous now?

Yes it's glorious. Yankees may have own the 90's, but the Sox are poised to win a third title this decade!

Well, let's face it - we're not gonna sweep the Yankees, let alone have the rays get swept in their closing games, so it looks luike they've actually done the unlikely and held out for the division.

I know there was talk of saving some of the first team once the wildcard was clinched, but I'd rather have won the division to avoid the top AL seed. That said, we make the ALCS now and we should have a damn good chance of another WS appearance

Well there we go. Wild card it is. Interesting races going on now in the AL Central and NL East.

And on a side note, the Angels are going to finish with the best record in the MLB, with potentially over 100 wins. They did that rather quietly didn't they?

Philllllllllllllllllllllllllllies!

"Lights Out" Lidge almost pulled a "Wild Man" Mitch Williams, but the NL East Champs are going to the playoffs!

Woo!

The Phenom wrote:Well there we go. Wild card it is. Interesting races going on now in the AL Central and NL East.

And on a side note, the Angels are going to finish with the best record in the MLB, with potentially over 100 wins. They did that rather quietly didn't they?

it is certainly a great record to have. Hats off to them for that.

I do think they made a mistake option for the earlier start and the three man rotation option though. Boston have had three well documented problems this year - injuries, no set 5 for the rotation (see reason 1) and bullpen. With three starters needed, Lester and Dice-K are there, Beckett, health permitting, makes three top pitchers for the rotation, with Wakefield and Byrd strengthening the bullpen and available as injury cover. They'll have to face two of them (most likely Beckett and Dice-K) twice.

With the four-man line-up and less rest between games, Wakefield would have moved from Bullpen to no. 4 slot, leaving only Byrd as cover with both him and beckett having had injury problems this season, plus they could go into game 4 2-1 up without having to face Beckett (uber-playoff pitcher) or Dice-k (Doesn't lose) at Fenway. Also, with less time, Drew, Lowell, Timlin and the others who have carried knocks have less time between games to recover and become more of a risk.

I seriously think that if they don't sweep this, then Boston will clean it up when Beckett and Dice-K pitch their second games.

Every series looking like a sweep at the moment now, with the better team in both League bowing out (Angels and Cubs). I really want a Sox/Dodgers series, would be so interesting with Torre and Manny vs. them.

Been thinking the same. Derek Lowe too

Plus given Boston's policy of "everyone on the roster over the year gets a ring", Manny gets one win or lose then. Wonder how that would go down in the Dodgers locker room?

Phillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllies!!!!!!!!

Can't believe the Cubs got swept, and not only that but because of their own poor play (4 errors??). It's not like the Dodgers were playing incredible baseball exception maybe the 2nd game. No Bartman to blame now...

Tampa just eliminated the White Sox, and now await the winner of Boston/Angels. I think Boston will do it tonight.

Kind of want to see Griffey Jr. win a title before he retires.

Phillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllies!!!!!!!!

Dice-k...worth every penny!

I was 8 years old when the Phillies went to the World Series...

I fear Tampa Bay though. I hear Boston pulled for the Phillies, I'm pulling for Boston, although they've got more championships then the Phillies have been in the World Series since I was born...

Go Phillies!

I went to bed at 7-0 down, middle of the seventh...nice to wake up to that one!

2004 Yankees lead 3-0, redsox win 8 straight to close out the season as champs

2007 Indians lead 3-1, redsox win 7 straight to close out the season as champs

2008 Rays lead 3-1.......could it be?

Whatever happens, this is now a damn close finish. Have to assume Lester won't blow up twice, the momentum has swung back, Boston have started scoring again - anything could happen now.

Besides I have money on a 4-3 series win to the BoSox

I was very close to turning it off, but we couldn't go out that way so I kept it on. Simply amazing. And don't forget we came back from 3-1 to the Angels in '86 as well, but of course didn't go all the way.

Wow, if Boston holds the lead tonight I can't imagine them losing the series in Game 7.

Was watching at work, and a mate had a bet on under 8 1/2 runs, so c0ome bottom of the 9th, I had to keep reassuring him just how good Pap actually was.

What was it....about 7 pitches?

£30 now riding on a game I can actually watch!!!

Well done Tampa. A close fought series which went down to the wire, and fair reward for their excellent season. (we don't have a baseball one atm)

Garza had a fantastic game today. Lester was strong at the start but should have been pulled when he started to flag once Garza's strong performance showed how close the game would probably be.

Probably the worst thiong that could have happened to us was the bases loaded in the eighth. If drew had not come up to bat, then we would have had two strong bats in the ninth.

And loved the dogpile.

They showed Crawford running in and, without breaking his stride, launching on top of his team mates.

They showed Upton running in and, without breaking his stride, launching on top of his team mates. unfortunately this actually happened first and he was promptly blatted by Crawford landing on top of him!

Then they showed Baldelli running in....and sort of stuttering as he realised he couldn't get up, so he looked to join the group.....only no-one would let him in, so he ended up inserting himself under someones arm on an edge of the group like an unwanted photo-crasher

Wooooooooooooooooooo! 1 game down, 3 to go baby.

Hm... Guess all I can say is...

PHILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First Philadelphia championship in my life! 25 years is ov-a! Heh, my bro's first as well and he's only 11.

Great team, great pitching, great batting, a great underated team throughout the post season.

A shame we'll probably lose Burrell but I can see this team being a great team for awhile with Lidge, Hamels, and Madson being locked up to long term deals.

I kind of thought Ruiz should've been MVP since he batted in the game winning RBIs and he's a great defensive catcher, but Hamels was the more sexy choice, even though he only played 2 games.

Go Phillies!!!!!!!

Last edited by Mtank325 on Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:59 am; edited 1 time in total

For once two red sox high up the voting didn't hurt the redsox in the MVP race as Pedroia walks it.

If you were the one person who actually left him off your ballot, you'd have to feel a complete tit right now!

I like Pujols comment in 2006 whereas he said a player (referring to Ryan Howard at the time) shouldn't win MVP if his team doesn't go to the playoffs. Fast forward to 2008...

Very interesting off season so far, with New York spending everything on three guys (2 of whom are not extremely reliable), the Red Sox picking up Smoltz and Brad Penny among others.

The Sox need to make a move with Lowell, pick up a good hitting 1B, and move Youk to 3B. I won't be surprised if we move Clay Buchholz or Masterson (maybe even Ellsbury) to accomplish this. We are set with pitching. Rotation will be Beckett, Lester, Daisuke, Penny, Smoltz. Wakefield could be in there too, or he could make longer relief appearances. The bullpen is set as well. So it's really just that 1B position that needs a boost.

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids back in 2003, Sports Illustrated is reporting. This certainly is a big blow for baseball and for his legacy.

Yeah, there's a load about it on MLB.com. That said, he's only one of something like 109 and it's the year before they actually brought in the compulsory testing.

Apparently he takes criticism really hard, so this and the slagging he got in Torre's book could really affect him this season.