ALCS vs. the Tampa Bay Rays, Discussion.

Im assuming whoever wins tonite(us)pecota will give the other guys points.Seems a little thin. even though its likely true.

Go Rays.

I hated them, and now I'd like to watch the Series and at least be happy that I actually like both teams.

It's going to be good, and the baseball record will record that we made it to the ALCS (again).

2003-lost in ALCS
2004-won World Series
2005-lost in ALDS
2006-out
2007-won World Series
2008-lost in ALCS.

Better than 2005 (lost in ALDS) or 2006 (tied for third place).

ALCS with a historic comeback game.

But damn... just one timely hit, or some decent, non-stupid home-plate umpiring (tonight's was shameful, especially in the late innings).

Coulda been, but I'm OK with this season. We need a bat to replace Manny, I think. The pitching is there.

If we were that moribund at the plate (and we were, oh boy were we) that it really mattered THAT much what the ump's calls were, then we deserved to lose.

The Rays were the better team, in the final analysis.

Here are my what-ifs... (please don't mistake them for excuses)

What if Mike Lowell had been in the lineup instead of Kotsay, who stranded 17 baserunners in the series including 3 more last night?

What if Josh Beckett had pitched like he's capable of in game 2?

What if Jon Lester had pitched like he's capable of in game 3?

What if Tito had gone to Byrd instead of Timlin in extras in game 2?

What if Ortiz was not banged up (at least I hope that's the reason) and hit like he did in game 6 for the whole series?

What if in the first 5 games BJ Upton hit like BJ Upton?

What if Curt Schilling had undergone surgery last off-season and been able to go in the post-season instead of Wake?

What if the Red Sox had not run themselves out of the 6th inning last night, but instead added 5-10 more pitches to Garza's count and forced Maddon to go to his pen in the 7th? Thereby limiting his ability to play the matchups in the 8th like he did?

What if Jason Varitek had gotten even 2 hits in the series?

This is the one I really, really, really don't get. I just remember thinking, Timlin? Really??? I mean, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but he's useless beyond anything but mop up innings at this point. That was one of the only really bad decisions that I saw made, the rest just happened due to injury or happenstance.

By the way, I don't really fault Tito - he did a terrific job this season, and especially this post season, given all the injuries he was dealt, the Manny situation, etc.

As i said this team was really playing with house money all things considered.having said that ,when you add up all the what ifs they add up to a ot of questions going into the offseason.Here is another thing what if we had had production from the leadoff spot or had the type of back of the order we have hd recently?If you are deemphasizing power than you have to have an order capable of moving the line even against good pitching and that was a problem all season long.but this teams year was really good.

I disagree that the Sox are de-emphasizing power, we just have different definitions of what power *is*. OPS (because of its SLG component) is most definitely a power stat.

After watching this series and how the rays bludgened us at times,i dont know,i said we are more concerned with keeping the line moving than hrs,i think thats true.As we saw its hard to do that against upper echalon pitching where you are likely to get a few mistakes during a game as opposed to a lot of hittable pitches.

But if you don't have men on base, your home run just becomes an impressive solo shot (Dustin Pedroia waves from Game 7 and says "hello"). And since it's insanity to expect that each player who steps up to the plate is going to hit one out of the park, you need to get hits, any hits, or just get men on base however you can.

One single yesterday when we had the bases loaded could've made a world of difference.

my comments are being taken a step too far,if you look at the back of our line up this post season we were pretty impotant,tack on a pretty bad performance from leadoff folks,that makes it hard to keep the line moving, a little more hr type power might have been helpful in compensating,im not saying for example to sighn(god forbid) jason giambi,but a little more pop might makeup for the lack of production we have been gettinf from the back.It strikes me that the offense will need to be upgraded for next season,this division has very good pitching jays,rays and if the mfy get wang back and actually get cc than they too will have a solid rotation....likely.