2007 MLB Playoffs Thread
 

Rockies v. Phillies are on TBS right now. October is here!

Rockies are up 3-0 with the bases loaded. Cole Hamels just walked home a run in the top of the 2nd with 2 outs.

Yay, they made contact!!!

Hey, it's the small victories... :)

Anyone attempting to watch this online via TBS' Hotcorner? It's eminently unwatchable. It's a mosaic of 4 screens, one of which is two "hosts" yapping and taking emails from fans while the game is going on. Of course, the audio used for all 4 screens is the two hosts waxing poetic on Joe from Bayonne's email.

I'm still confused as to why baseball thought showing playoff games on TBS was a good idea.

Well, it has gotten us some earlier games with the lack of a need for prime time.

True, true.

Looks like we've got a ballgame on our hands.

I hate Philadelphia.

and I don't mean the Phillies, I mean Philadelphia.

I hate everything about it.

People from Philadelphia hate Philadelphia, get in line :D

lol

I like rocky, rocky is cool.

tbs hd baby!!

What happened? Did the city turn you down or something? Stood you up for the prom? Picked on you as a kid?

We hate you right back.

THIS FUCKING UMPIRE IS TERRIBLE

I was thinking that about the Phillies hitters actually. What is with Utley today?

The Phillies crowd doesn't seem to realize that this is a playoff game. Reminds me of Braves playoff crowds.

LOL....fans with front row seats leaving in a 2 run game in the bottom of the 9th. WTF? All it takes is a bloop and a blast, people.

Shhhh it is a long standing tradition in philly to blame the umps, or the league, before the players. I know for a fact that the NHL has had it out for the flyers for years. :mad:

Good the Rockies got the first one out of the way.

Go any teams except the Cubs and Yankees.

And Red Sox.

One of the rare times that Bucc and I agree on something.

I'm rooting hardest for the Rockies, though. Moved to Denver just in time for their first season, and I've been to way more of their games than I have Astros games (though none in the last eight years or so...only player left is Helton).

My rooting interests (in order): Red Sox, Indians, Phillies.
My rooting dislikes: Angels, Yanks, Cubs,

Indifference to disdain: Rockies, D-Backs.

Never really paid attention to just how good tonight's pitching matchup is at Fenway. Not only do we have the seeming CY Young favorite versus the AL ERA leader, we also have the 2003 World Series MVP against one of only two pitchers in baseball history to start and win a WS Game Seven as a rookie.

Of course, Lackey has looked a bit shakey so far. Go Halos!

Phantom tag at 2nd there on Lugo.

Lackey looking shaky as always at Fenway, but only given up 1 run thru 2.

He got me on it. Granted, I'm not 5 feet away like that ump, but I thought he snapped the tag down onto his chest before he got the foot in.

HOOAH! Papi!

I didn't realize C.C. Sabathia was a Red Sox ...:confused:

But yeah, its a hell of a matchup.

Maybe, I don't have DVR on this TV, so I only saw the one replay, but it looked safe to me. Not a big deal. (Just wait until CB Bucknor is behind the plate.)

Papi curls one around the pole. 3-0 Sox. 2nd half .600 OPS Youkilis is gone it appears, replaced with 1st half .900 OPS Youkilis.

And Lackey's career #'s at Fenway - 1-4 (7 GS), 7.46 ERA, 35IP, 59H, 7HR, 25Ks, 12BB, 1.032 OPSa

C.C. should be the favorite, but given the writers who vote for it, Beckett getting 20 wins plus playing in Boston will probably be enough.

4-0.. Lackey is just cursed here, I guess.

Was a hell of a matchup. :(

If you think everyone thinks Sabathia is the favorite, you must be watching completely different media than I am (not saying I agree, just repeating what I hear).

I just wanted to take this moment to applaud Scioscia's move last week to sit his regulars and play backups for the last week of the season, instead of his regulars, removing all chance the Angels would avoid starting the Divisional Series in Fenway, against a team that plays them like they play the Yankees, and which is dominant at home. Way to go, Mike!

I don't know what it is about these two teams, but I absolutely dread playing the Angels in Anaheim, but have no fear whatsoever in Fenway. Playing Cleveland or NY there doesn't seem to be the same home/road split in performance. Given the difference in this series, I really don't get why the teams weren't going harder for homefield advantage.

No, he was definitely safe. I was just saying that his quick tag fooled me into thinking he got him, even though it turned out to be an ole!

I'm glad Steve Stone gets some national games. Always one of my favorites :)

SI

Agreed. There is no place I would rather start a five game series less than at Fenway playing the Red Sox, especially as the Angels. What Scioscia did would be kinda like Torre saying last week, "Hey, let's totally tank it and be sure to go to Angel Stadium next week!" Makes no sense at all. It would make more sense for the Chargers to want to go back to play the Pats in New England than for the Angels want to play the Red Sox in Fenway.

I was annoyed as heck last week with his decision, and now I'm pretty pissed. And trust me, I love Mike Scioscia as much as any straight man can love another man he has never met in a nonsexual manner. ;)

I thought he was safe, too. Weird call there by the umps.

BTW, I know it counts just the same, but I feel sorta shorted when I see a big bomber like Ortiz get a chintzy dinger into the corner with the claustrophobically close right field foul pole. I mean, if we're going to get beat by Ortiz, I want the guy to kill the ball, none of that wimpy stuff. :)

That was a Chone Figgins homerun.

Be honest though, that was far enough back that would have been a homer in about 25 ballparks..

Nope, without the absurd stuck in corner, that would have been a fairly long foul ball in just about every other ballpark. :D

Strangely enough, one ballpark with a similar corner and which probably would have had that be a homerun is...Angel Stadium.

Guess we don't have to wait for CB to be behind the plate for hitters to start complaining about strikes.... Manny's looked to be one, but the call on Youk seemed low and outside.

I take that back. Neither of those were close.

Wow. I'm loving the announcers and studio guys (particularly Ripken.) ++ compared to Fox.

Ok, so what about these "gamebreaks" or whatever they are calling them? It's kindof like they are trying to make it feel like football with a halftime studio show or something. But I kindof like it.

SI

Speaking of, it's nice to know that John Cougar Mellancamp has now invaded baseball.

My favorite part was where one of them said "the Angels can't wait to get their Rod in the game."

It is better than the same commercials over and over.

I like the format of playing the games back to back to back.

UCLA side note. That flat buns commercial is on here (is that being shown nationally? do they show the same commercial, but for Hardee's east of Colorado?).

All that said--if you get the chance to look up pictures of UCLA super frosh Kevin Love, I think he looks a lot like the guy on the right in those flat buns commercials.

Ok, what the fuck is with this Jose Mota sideline reporter?

I have been asking myself the same damn question all game.

He's hilarious. I actually find myself looking forward to his next segment. His delivery is over the top, yet he says nothing interesting. It feels like we could break into Youtube territory at any moment.

Ahhh I see he is a PBP guy for the Angels.

Amen.

SI

I'm not trying to be a dick here, but he sounds like he just walked out of an "English as a Second Language" class with the way he pauses after damn near every word.

West Coast bias.

Beckett is glad to be back in the post-season it seems.

Anyone going to any of the games this postseason?

Actually, he's very well spoken. Much more than his father.

That said, yeah, sometimes us Angels fans would rather watch grass grow. You want utter comedy? Put Mota next to Hudler. You can almost see the Wonder Dog sucking the life out of Mota to feed his own enthusiasm.

I would've, if not for the greatest collapse of all time. :(

I might get tickets to Game Four. So...no.

that was one of the best games I've ever seen, pitching wise.

Great game for Beckett. Good start for the Sox. The good news is that this is just one game. We knew coming in that if we split the series in Fenway, we would be looking good coming back to Anaheim. We have one more chance here, and I like our pitching matchup on Friday much better than tonight's.

Yeah, I have tickets to all of the Royals postseason games ;)

SI

I said this postseason. ;) Not 2027.

Woah. What was that guy who the Umps were yelling at in that box behind home plate flashing? It almost looked like one of those Moonite devices that so frightened Boston this summer. That's freakin bizarre.

Optimist.

Dbacks game was a blast last night. I was very impressed with all the DBacks fans in attendance. Driving to the park, I heard on the radio how the Cubs fans would nearly outnumber DBacks fans. When I got there, it was about 6-1 Arizona-Chicago.

Given how young the DBacks are, getting that first win is big. Here's hoping Pinella continues to pull successful starters early from here on out ;)

KAZ MATSUI. Woo hoo.

Wow. I've got tickets to Game 3 and was hoping it might be a possible series closeout game. Awesome.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

What a great bunch of guys.

Coolbaugh family voted playoff share
Rockies remember Minor League coach killed by foul ball
By Thomas Harding / MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- The Rockies weren't too busy winning to try to help a family through the worst kind of loss.
Manager Clint Hurdle revealed Thursday that the team last week voted a full playoff share to Amanda Coolbaugh, whose husband, Mike Coolbaugh, was killed when hit by a foul ball while coaching first base for the Rockies' Double-A Tulsa squad on July 22.

Hurdle said the gesture "speaks to their awareness, speaks to their passion, speaks to their ... I don't know, everything good about them."

Rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who was with Hurdle at a press conference when the manager revealed the players' decision, said some of the veteran players brought up the idea and the rest of the squad agreed.

"We decided as a team ... it was the right thing to do," Tulowitzki said.

At the time of the incident, Coolbaugh, 35, and his wife had two children, Joseph, 5, and Jacob, 3, and were expecting their third child this month.

Are these idiots doing the game on right now (Phillies vs. Rockies) the same morons that do games on WGN?

Well, Rox go up 2-0 in the Series. These boys are on a mission, apparently.

I take the smallest bit of comfort in knowing both the Mets and Phils will probably win the same number of postseason games this year.

How did the Rockies get so hot the past few weeks? Did they get someone back from injuries or something?

Not really. I think you have to figure that while they are a young team, they have veterans in the right spots. Helton's been here forever. Matsui's been around the block. The pitching staff is the real mystery. It's a bunch of unheralded guys outside of Francis, none of them are #1 starter material and yet, they're making stuff happen.

Ubaldo Jimenez did give them a spark in the rotation down the stretch, but I think they've just learned to come together as a team. Most of the core were here last year, they didn't make a ton of changes or it's guys who came from within. Well and Tulowitzki knocked off Clint Barmes and has been on fire all year, despite being a rookie, which doesn't really hurt either.

Sabathia gets out of a real jam in the top of the 5th with the bases loaded. Good work.

I wondered if that was Tony Gwynn in the booth with them. I don't think I mind him in there. I do however, mind that graphic that tells you how much of a lead the runner has. Does that really enhance our viewing experience?

Geez. How does the Indians drummer get that drum into the stadium? Isn't it heavy?

Wrong guy. I dunno why I thought that was Ryan Garko.

Oh, that's why. He was next in the order. But I'm all for the Yankees losing. Go Indians.

But damn if Chief Wahoo isn't about the most offensive thing you ever did see.

But seeing that the Indians are beating the Yanks is not (the most offensive).

Why is LeBron wearing a Yankees cap? What a goofball.

Man, Kenny Lofton is dialed in. I forgot he played for the Yankees not too long ago. Not that I think that matters to him, he's probably just happy to be back in Cleveland and in the playoffs.

I was at Fenway last night!!! Whoo!

Wow. This Jensen Lewis kid has an interesting windup, but he's throwing straight heat. Geez.

1) They got unexpected hot starts from a couple of call up pitchers. After getting a series of starters hurt, Jimenez and Morales gave them a solid group of starters. Even Mark Redmon pitched out of his mind.

2) Speaking of pitching out of their mind, the bullpen went crazy. Corpas, Fuentes, Hawkins, Herges, etc. Whatever the situation, whatever they needed, they got. Every single time.

3) The bats just all came to life at the same time. Look at these numbers for the month of September: (AVG, OBP, SLG)

Holliday .367, .448, .796
Helton .390, .488, .619
Hawpe .316, .400, .537
Tulo .273, .341, .518
Atkins .390, .448, .562

That's the 2-6 hitters in the lineup. And they were doing that in places like Petco Park and Dodger Stadium, not just Coors Field. They simply caught fire.

4) They always had the defense. They don't give teams extra outs and they make some spectacular plays in the field. (especially Tulowitzki)

Put that mix together along with a little "belief" and you have a seriously dangerous team. Starting pitching, bullpen, hot bats, defense and a group that believes they can win no matter what happens? Now you combine that with a lot of the kids stupid enough to not understand they should be in this situation? Frightening.

I think if someone were to just pound them in a game it might blow the entire thing up. I figured the Phillies had a good chance to do just that. Didn't happen. I'm not sure if the Cubs or D-Backs have the bats to really pull it off. It may take one of the AL powerhouses to do it. (I think the Rockies pitching is still suspect in big games and I think a team like the Red Sox, Indians or Yankees could destroy them. (of course of that, only the Indians and Red Sox could also shut down the Rocks)

All in all, I think they get to the WS now. I think they get beat if they play the Red Sox or Indians. I think they beat the Angles. And I think a series with the Yankees would be a toss up. Of course, one unexpected thing to end the run and suspend belief for a few hours could change all of that.

Eric Wedge is an idiot - using his 3 best relievers with large leads? If you don't have faith in your pitching scrubs, don't put them on the roster!

Many, Grady Sizemore sure can burn those basepaths.

Ugh. Did anyone else hear that disaster of a "joke?"

No, I had it on mute. What did he say? I'm still laughing at the gnats beating the Yankees.

Something along the lines of "We saw the 'Nats' cause a lot of trouble in the NL last week too."

LOL. Stupid commentators. I guess at least it's not Tim McCarver.

And I haven't minded Tony Gwynn in there.

Wow. Nice grab by Mienkietwicz. Damn.

So I just turned this on. What the hell is with the gnats? Is this normal for Cleveland?

Would be terrible to play in.

Annnndd we're tied.

Those overhead view of third to home is actually really, really cool.

Started getting bad at the top of this inning, and has gotten worse as it's moved along.