It's Playoff Time! The 2009 Official Baseball Post-Season Thread

[Radiobarry]

Today's the day! Day one of the League Division Series! So, let us know your innermost postseason thoughts, feelings, and most of all...

Who ya got, to go all the way?

And your thoughts about all the series and news along the way, as always, is most welcome here.

Obviously, I made a mental error in slotting in the Tigers instead of the Minnesota Twins. I am contacting a moderator to fix this!

[royaldisneyfan]

I want to see a Philly/Angels WS match-up Barry. If LAA's pen can get the job done, they have a great chance of winning it all.

Phillies win Game 1 against the Rox. Crazy game with the wind.

Twins/ Yankees are under way.

[sir clinksalot]

I was also tempted to change LOS ANGELES Angels to ANAHEIM Angels ... but I'll let it stand since you created the thread Barry.

I think my two "wants" are clearly stated in my avatar, but I don't like the chances. I'll be happy with either the Angels or Dodgers making the series. I'll be most unhappy with a Yankees/Phillies or Red Sox/Phillies World Series.

[aashee]

I really think the Yanks are too strong this year. However, if you can work the starters and get into the bullpen, they are very beatable. Assuming that bullpen pitcher you are facing isn't named Mariano Rivera.

[Polar_Bear]

Originally Posted by aashee

Assuming that bullpen pitcher you are facing isn't named Mariano Rivera.

Or Phil Huges, or Joba Chamberlain, or Alfredo Aceves, or Dave Robertson, or Phil Coke, or...... Yankees have 40 wins out of their bullpen this year (most in the majors by far). If your going to beat this team in a series, you need to get to the starter, not the pen.

[aashee]

Originally Posted by Polar_Bear

Or Phil Huges, or Joba Chamberlain, or Alfredo Aceves, or Dave Robertson, or Phil Coke, or...... Yankees have 40 wins out of their bullpen this year (most in the majors by far). If your going to beat this team in a series, you need to get to the starter, not the pen.

If CC & Burnett pitch like Carpenter & Wainright, Yankees can't be beat. Hughes has been good but I wouldn't count on Coke & Joba.

[Polar_Bear]

Originally Posted by aashee

If CC & Burnett pitch like Carpenter & Wainright, Yankees can't be beat. Hughes has been good but I wouldn't count on Coke & Joba.

Coke is a good lefty specialist out of the pen and Joba's inning out of the pen against Tampa showed he still had the mid to high 90's fastball and a lot more bite to his upper 80's slider, plus most importantly, he was aggressive. Aceves has been lights out for up to 3 innings at a time coming out of the pen this year and Robertson has the highest strikeout to innings pitched ratio of any pitcher (starter or reliever) in MLB this year. All I'm saying is that their pen is the reason why they are in the post season. Their 4 consistent starters this year have a combined 53 wins but if you take CC out it goes down to 34.

[aashee]

Originally Posted by Polar_Bear

Coke is a good lefty specialist out of the pen and Joba's inning out of the pen against Tampa showed he still had the mid to high 90's fastball and a lot more bite to his upper 80's slider, plus most importantly, he was aggressive. Aceves has been lights out for up to 3 innings at a time coming out of the pen this year and Robertson has the highest strikeout to innings pitched ratio of any pitcher (starter or reliever) in MLB this year. All I'm saying is that their pen is the reason why they are in the post season. Their 4 consistent starters this year have a combined 53 wins but if you take CC out it goes down to 34.

Well, everyone else is looking for that chink in the armor and you just can't find it in the lineup. Other than ARod disappearing in October you have to hope you can hold the offense to 3 runs and hope you somehow get a few pitches to hit and take advantage.

Twins are looking good today but find themselves behind again. Jeter produces, Arod doesn't - sounds like a broken record for the Playoffs.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I'm holding out hope for my Dodgers. Nobody thought they could win in '88 and I'm not ready to give up hope yet. Would like to see them face the Angels, we can beat them, but another historical matchup against the Yanks would be awesome too. Not that I'm in any way convinced we could beat the Yanks, but I would still love to see those teams face each other yet again. It's been a long time.

[sgtpeper]

Since my d'backs never stood a chance i'm rooting for the Dodgers and my man "The Big O" Orlando Hudson. AZ should've tried harder to keep him instead of losing him to free agency.

Oh and I'm still holding out hope Manny gets injured and Kirk Gibson steps in to take care of business!

[Radiobarry]

The Phillies looked very impressive earlier today, and so far tonight the Yankees have ...well, in the words of a former football coach..."They are, who we thought they were".

Anyway, not that it would make a difference, but MLB needs to look at what it asks teams to do.

Making the Twins play a day after the play-in game was just, wrong. Yes, I know - they had to delay that game because of matters outside their control (Monday Night Football). But that game had to be played today, while Angels-Red Sox waits til tomorrow night to start?

It reminds me of 2005, when after a rainout, the Angels played the Yankees in New York in game 4 of the ALDS, on a Sunday night.

They lost, so it was back across country to Anaheim for game 5 on Monday, a day later than scheduled, and the Angels won.

Rather than do the fair thing and push the ALCS back a day, they made the Angels fly back across 2/3 of the country again that night, for a Tuesday opener with the White Sox.

And the Angels won, somehow, that night. Lost the next four, of course.

[Wotan]

I don't see how anyone is going to beat the Yankees; they are really loaded for bear. I suspect that if they don't win it all, it will mean that they either beat themselves, or that someone else played so far over their heads that their noses will bleed for a week.

I, for one, am hoping that the gopher-ball throwing Josh Beckett doesn't pitch, but the one who looks unstoppable steps up to the mound instead...

[royaldisneyfan]

2-1 Dodgers in the 1st inning. Kemp with the 2-run shot off of Carpenter

[cositaluvsmickey]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

I'm holding out hope for my Dodgers. Nobody thought they could win in '88 and I'm not ready to give up hope yet. Would like to see them face the Angels, we can beat them, but another historical matchup against the Yanks would be awesome too. Not that I'm in any way convinced we could beat the Yanks, but I would still love to see those teams face each other yet again. It's been a long time.

I've been waiting 21 years to go back to the world series..I hoping with all hope that they make it all the way and win it all..I honestly think they can beat the yanks (hey a girl can dream right)
GO DODGERS!!!!!

[Polar_Bear]

Originally Posted by Radiobarry

Anyway, not that it would make a difference, but MLB needs to look at what it asks teams to do.

Making the Twins play a day after the play-in game was just, wrong. Yes, I know - they had to delay that game because of matters outside their control (Monday Night Football). But that game had to be played today, while Angels-Red Sox waits til tomorrow night to start?

I agree with that and I want to pose another question to you guys. Do you think the Wild Card from each perspective league should be penalized a little more for being the Wild Card? Let me explain. Right now the Wild Cards "biggest" hurdle to overcome is that they don't get home field advantage for the first 2 rounds of the playoffs (if their league wins the All-Star game, they can get home field in the WS). The other "hurdle" they are supposed to overcome is facing the team with the best record but was we saw this year, due to the "same division" rule, the Yankees are facing a division winner, not the Wild Card. Right now the Twins, a division winner, are facing the team with the best record. Is that right? Plus, I thought the last series between the Sox and the Yankees looked bland. The Red Sox were not playing for division crown because they just wanted to be "in the playoffs" (the same thing for my Yankees in 2007). I find this lack of effort and unwillingness to try to win the division as a bad side effect of the Wild Card. I would have liked to see a more exciting series down the stretch. If you agree with me, what could be done in order to make a team in the Wild Card hunt actually go all out and try for the division crown? I would say that the Wild Card team doesn't get a home game in Division or Championship Series' and they could not get home field advantage at all in the WS, no matter the outcome of the All Star game (I'll leave that rant for another day). Thoughts?