The_BaseBlog's Blog

How rude of me to abandon this blog just because my precious little Cleveland Indians were eliminated from the postseason. I'm so self-centered, right?

Well, it was a bitter pill to swallow. I think Clevelanders are the only ones who can be pessimistic leading a 3-1 best-of-seven series, but that's how I was knowing the Tribe had to face Beckett, then Schilling in a likely Game 6 at Fenway, then a deciding Game 7 a night later at Fenway. Tough odds to even win just one of those against a far more playoff-savvy Boston team.

Cubs fans certainly have their famous incompetence, but those in the Windy City have been able to celebrate a Bears Super Bowl and 450 Bulls NBA championships in my lifetime, so spare me the sob story. Clevelanders have been stabbed in the jugular so often and so publicly that our postseason disappointments are known by one- or two-word little subtitles -- "The Drive" and "The Fumble" first come to mind. But don't forget about "Michael Jordan" or "The Mesa."

So the future does look bright for the Tribe, but that's what we all said in Cleveland 10 or 12 years ago when John Hart started to turn the Indians into a powerhouse, and we still never could seal the deal.

Does Cleveland still have a WNBA team?

-- John P. Wise

Well the World Series is finally here and it looks like it will be a good matchup.

I actually picked the winners right in the last round - even if I was way off on the games - but I'll take what I can get.

On to the World Series prediction.

The 8-day layoff will put an end to the Rockies' magical run. If they can somehow beat Beckett in Game 1 maybe they will sweep this series too, but I highly doubt it. If they don't sweep they lose.

Boston's pitching is superior and the entire lineup is hitting again. Red Sox win the series 4-1.

-- Green Monstah

I'm down with loyalty and what not. And Eric Wedge showed it -- as well as some understandable confidence in his ace C.C. Sabathia.

But I'm also into doing whatever it takes to keep a one-run deficit a one-run deficit of a game that, if won, advances you to the World Series.

Sabathia has shown he's not the money pitcher in the postseason that he is in the regular season. He topped the 100-pitch plateau in the sixth inning, and was due to face the top of that dangerous Boston order in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Indians' bullpen has shown this postseason that it is indeed money. Whether you want to bring in lefty Rafael Perez or righty Rafael Betancourt, either of those guys would have fared better than Sabathia. So now it's 4-1, still in the top half of the seventh, and I hope this blog post doesn't jinx things.

-- John P. Wise

I really thought Game 4 was pretty key, because there would have been a gigantic shift in momentum had the Sox won with Beckett looming in Game 5 and a return to Boston for Game 6 and an if-necessary Game 7.

Hopefully, Sabathia can give the home team a Sabathia-like performance in Thursday's Game 5, and maybe those bats can get to Beckett. He doesn't seem like someone who'd get rattled just because he's away from Fenway -- shoot, he pitched a gem at Yankee Stadium to finish off the 2003 Series -- but I'm looking forward to seeing if there's any accuracy in the speculation about the health of his right arm. Here's to a chilly night on the lakefront tomorrow night!

-- John P. Wise

It doesn't matter how you get the 2-1 series lead, just as long as you get it. That's my initial take after the Indians got a strong start from Jake Westbrook to win Game Three on Monday night.

A solid outing by Westbrook kind of balances things out with the shaky Game One effort by Tribe ace C.C. Sabathia. If I was greedy, tho, I'm sure I'd be saying, "Shoot, if C.C. would have shown up, the Indians would be up 3-0 right now."

First of all, there's no guarantee that Cleveland would have taken Game One against Josh Beckett, who was excellent on Friday and will likely be excellent when he starts Game Five on Thursday.

Hopefully, Wakefield's knucklers will be flat and the Indians' bats can knock him around tonight in Game Four. And hopefully Paul Byrd can deliver a Westbrook-like -- yeah, Westbrook-like -- effort tonight and keep Ortiz and Ramirez from doing damage.

-- John P. Wise

Despite what the brilliant FOX announcers claim, Terry Francona is not an upper echelon MLB manager.  The Sox won in spite of him in '04 and now they will have to do the same this year.

Why would he take out Timlin after a perfect 1-2-3 inning in Game 2 when it was obvious he needed to save his best pitcher, Papelbon, for extra innings?

And can somebody please tell him that the most important thing in the playoffs is to play your best players. Gagne had 3 months to prove himself and all he did was give up runs every time he pitched. He should not even be on the playoff roster.

J.D. Drew is a bust. It's time for the Red Sox to swallow their pride - and their check books - and bench Drew in favor of Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury was arguably the best player on the team in September, and would provide a spark at the top of the lineup and speed on the bases and in the field.

Beckett should be starting Game 4 also, more so he could start Game 7 if necessary than anything else. If this series does go 7 games and Dice-K is on the mound for game 7, he'll be lucky to get to the 4th inning.

-- Green Monstah