Superman:

I am a standup guy; obviously I misfired in the first round (who, really, could have predicted, tho, that the Cubbies could dump the Braves juggernaut-- that Bobby Cox is a helluva motivator in the playoffs, I must say)...

Twins/Yanquis?...Apparently the Twins' lost weekend in Detroit never quite faded from their system...

Anyway: predictions for the ALCS and NLCS are as follows:

Florida wins the NL Pennent (Marlins look strangely like last year's Angels, and Baker is bound to screw something-up over in that Cubs dugout at a crucial juncture) and...

The Yankees win the AL Pennent (curses die hard in our National Pastime-- which is as it should be)...

YoungBrig

Farsider:

The Bay Area implosion was striking, to say the least...

With the Giants, it was like, they were up 1-0 and then I woke up the next morning and the Marlins had eliminated them...Apparently, Alue wanted Schmidt to take the ball for game 4 but he balked on 3 days rest...Hmmm...

As for the A's, wow, a brutal combination of baserunning blunders and barroom brawls in Beantown...They are closing ranks around Hudson but everyone in that Boston bar ("Q," I think it was-- you ever been in there, Milkman?...I get the feeling that it will go down in history as Boston's version of the "Dapper Dan Boutique") had him throwing "Haymakers" around the place...

And then he only lasts an inning in the most important start of his career....

Hmmm...

YoungBrig

YB,

I was just messing with you. I know you're a standup guy. I felt bad for you way back when you were first touting the Mariners. Kind of like Keyshawn talking smack on Marvin Harrison last night when the Bucs were ahead 21-0! Guess what Key ... Harrison is better than you!

Yankees should be able to beat every remaining team ... of course we all know that means nothing. I'm for the Yanks/Marlins series ... although the sweet, sweet "rub it in" satisfaction of the Yanks dispatching the Red Sox and Cubs back to back would be perfection. "Greatest franchise of all time eliminates the two most frustrated franchises of all time" would be classic, and would only lead to more Yankee haters!

BoSox are no pushovers though ... naturally the curse will come into play (in the minds of the Sox players only, BuyRon, since there is no such thing in the minds of rational thinking persons), and the Yanks will win.

I had not seen the Cubs much this year ... I was shocked when I saw Sammy Sosa looking all skinny the other night. Last time I saw him he was all rocked out. Strange that MLB introduced their steroid policy this season, and Sammy suddenly looks about 20 pounds lighter ...

-Superman-

Key move by Boston: dropping Byung-Hyun Kim from the roster. Man, that guy is a monumental choker and the Sox just increased their odds of winning by dumping him now.

Kim's like the Atlanta Braves - excellent when the pressures off, death to his own team when the pressure is on.

In addition, Kim's "flipping the bird" at the Bosox faithful during player introductions at the beginning of Game 3 of the ALDS could not have sat well with Bosox decision-makers...

YoungBrig

Wood threw great for 6 IP tonight and will probably have nothing to show for it and may end up losing still. Sucks.

Pedro vs. Rocket tomorrow, wish it was in the Bronx. Clemens has had some UGLY starts at Fenway since putting on the pinstripes. Maybe Pedro will pull a Tyson and get ejected in the 2nd inning or something, though!

How the hell could Johnny Damon not have MAJOR dain bramage after that collision? MY head hurt watching that. OUCH!

I felt that Wood had good stuff...He was especially dominating until 2 outs into the 5th, at which point he inexplicably walked P Redmond after being ahead 0-2 in the count...He got out of that particular inning after loading the bases, but he struggled with control thereafter...

From the Marlins perspective, they have to feel really bad about chasing Wood and not having a W to show for it...Plus, their whole "we're invincible at Pro Player" thing got shattered...Set-up guy Chad Fox simply did not get the job done in the 8th...

YoungBrig

Pedro takes out Ben !
I mean Don Zimmer

now you know why I am a tuff guy I am from Boston !!
Tuff Guy Manny tuff guy Pedro

tuff tuff tuff
Milktuff

Pedro obviously TRIED to pull a Tyson and get thrown out in the 4th. Whoda thunk that old man Clemens would outpitch the great Pedro?

Watching the 72 year old Gerbil get tossed on his ASS was indeed quite humorous. Why Manny wasn't thrown out of the game for freaking out when a ball was thrown 3 feet from his head I have no iea.

Neither Pedro nor Manny are tuff guys. Wannabe's maybe. Pedro is just a little punk, throwing behind guys and talking shit. Manny was all tuff guy when Clemens "brushed him back" (LOL). He looked real tuff swinging at the very next pitch which was about 5 feet out of the strike zone. Swinging scared. K Clemens.

As I documented long ago in this thread, Clemens V. Pedro is really not much of a contest ... Pedro generally has better stuff, but Clemens has all the intangibles. Big game? Roger. Intimidation? Roger. Martinez and Clemens one on one in the tunnel after the game? Roger.

Hopefully we'll get to see them go again in Game 7. Nothing in the world I'd like better than Boston being one strike away in Game 7, bottom of the 9th, then the Yanks cranking one. Ha ha.

The thing I hate about old men is when they still act like they're the shit. I'd have lit Zimmer up just like Pedro did. That was some funny shit.

-Superman-

I let the score do the talking.

Yankees 4 Red Sox 3

Winner Clemens, LOSER = PEDRO

While I do not share Superman's sentiments viz-a-viz Clemons vs. Martinez-- in no way is it a slamdunk for Clemons, particularly in a big game setting-- Clemons' performance today was especially clutch given the setting (Fenway) and status of the series (tied 1-1 with no clear momentum either way)...

Coming-in, this game, frankly, looked like a "Martinez three-hitter and Clemons chased in the Fourth" Special, but the aging Clemons willed it another way...

YoungBrig

Re: Don Zimmer...

Somewhere in that plethora of lights that is Beantown on a windswept Saturday night in October, a couple of aging Fenway diehards must be toasting their boy Pedro and his moshing of "Metalbrain" Zimmer-- that traitorous lout who, prior to Dent's 1978 wedge-shot over the Monster, managed thru the months of August and September to piss away a 14-game lead over the Yankees...

"Metalbrain" has found a second calling recently in the dugout of The Enemy, basically acting as Torre's personal caddy-- blacking Joe's boots and performing whatever else Prince Joe may ask of him over there...

Zimmer was yakking it up and got himself into a situation this afternoon he never should have been involved in...He definitely lunged at Martinez and, frankly, was fortunate that streetwise Pedro let him off with nothing more than a mouthful of Boston sod and a cut on the nose...

While the Bible tells us that "'Vengeance is Mine' saith the Lord," I have no doubt that in some remote Boston bar this evening-- probably around closing time-- a few of the Fenway faithful will wistfully add "and I have taken a bit of it"...

YoungBrig

cubs win again, D train gets derailed, cant find the zone and ARamirez makes him pay with the grand slam.. Zambrano goes tomorrow in game 5, and he may get rocked like willis did tonight.. Cubs have prior and wood for game 6 and 7 if necessary...

josh beckett shuts downs the cubs on a two hit shutout, wow... cubs have prior for game 6 in wrigleyville, should be able to wrap it up tuesday night, i hope

What was the Twins old playoff rallying cry?...Something like, "Pascual and Kaat, and two days of Swat!"...Something like that...

Updated to Chicago, circa 2003, we would have something like, "Prior and Wood, and two days of Good!"...um, or Food! or Mood!...Obviously, I'm missing something here...

Uh, anyway, anyone care to take a flier on the Marlins going up against Prior and Wood in Wrigley to take the series?...This is usually where YoungBrig swoops in and makes the impossible call, but hey, I am YB and even I am not going to touch this one...

YoungBrig

Hadn't heard "Pascual and Katt, and two days of Swat!" before but in 1987 they had

"Viloa and Bert" then pray for Snert.

In '91 there was a saying "It's Chili so Puckett"

No way the Cubs can lose the next two unless there is unbelivable rain and Beckett pitches both games.

Mussina the quietest ace of all time falls to 0-3 in the playoffs and gets beaten by Tim Frickin' Wakefield? Oh well, wouldn't be any fun to the curse if the Bosox got swept every series, now would it?

Beckett's game yesterday was unbelievable. Maybe the 'next Kerry Wood' will end up better than the original.

Yankees gave the game anyway last night stranding ten and bad coaching holding Soriano at third in addition to the bad call by the ump at first.

With all these things the Yankees still only lost by one run. The Bosox definitely lucked out by cancelling the game Sunday night when the sun was out. I look forward to the Yankees kicking some ass tonight which should have been done on Sunday.

TBone:

Harmon Killebrew was the "Swat" for the Twins back in the days of Pascual and Kaat...1960s era Twins...

I am getting really old...

YoungBrig

For whatever it was worth, those of us that hung around until the 9th inning last night were treated to "The Village Idiot's" probable Swan Song when the legendary (or legendarily infamous?) Ruben Sierra lifted a two-strike pitch high into the Boston night and just over the short right-field wall in Fenway...

Sierra looked so bad and rusty on the first two pitches, that once the ball sailed-out both dugouts were left eerily speechless...

To Sierra's credit, there were no histrionics; he nonchalantly trotted around the bases without so much as a glance at either the first-base coach or the third base-coach...He was equally non-plussed in the dugout, where his teammates barely acknowledged him...

Ahh, poignancy!!....

Reports out of Boston this morning are that Tony La Russa called immediately after the game to proffer a heartfelt "Congratulations" to Sierra for his effort last night, but, I, for one, am waiting for an independent confirmation of this...

YoungBrig

The original rallying cry involving the names of two starting pitchers goes back to the old Boston Braves of the late '40s and early '50s. "Spahn, Sain, and pray for rain".

And let me point out that is WELL before my time. Anyone out there old enough to remember that one? Ben?

Actually, it was "Spahn and Sain and 2 days of rain".

As a matter of fact Warren Spahn use to come down from Tulsa for the Oklahoma football games as his son was my faternity brother, but a couple of years younger than me (the son that is). The father was a really nice guy and so was the son. The son was a pitcher/shortstop for OU, but unfortunately, no Warren Spahn.

The greatest game Spahn didn't pitch in was when he was changed as the starter in game seven against the 1967 Yankees and replaced by Lew Burdette(sp?).

I think Spahn pitched for over twenty years.

Yeah, it's the CURSE that has No-Mah hitting my Honey Ko's weight in the LCS.

Prior's incredible. Probably the greatest pitching prospect EVER -- surely since Tom Seaver. Well, maybe Dwight Gooden, but we all know what happened to HIM.

LOL, but Prior better stop running out of gas in the 8th!

Red Sox/Cubs in the World Series? I watched the Cubs game today to see the Cub celebrate their first World Series in a century. I guess I may have to wait another century.

Curse???...What Curse???!!...

All you Cubbie fans had to be real confident with old firmhand Baker making the late-inning pitching decisions tonight...He was flawless...

Playoff decision-making-- that's Baker...

Here's an interesting parallel:

1979 World Series, Orioles go-up 3-1 on the Pirates, and then "waste" one in Pittsburgh, figuring they can go back to Baltimore up 3-2 and wrap it up with Jim Palmer and Mike Flanagan on the mound...

Unbeatable, right?...

Wrong...Pirates used game 5 momentum to beat Palmer in game 6, and after an early Mark Belanger home run in Game 7, Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Co. jumped all over Flanagan to steal the series...

Hmmm...Prior and Wood-- unbeatable back-to-back in Wrigley, right?...

Great job, Florida...5 outs from The End and you suck it up and get it done...Inspiring...

YoungBrig

Oh my God, The curse of the billy goat now.Cubs blow a 3 run lead in the 8th.I hope that fan who got in the way got a police escort out of Wrigley.Game 7 with Wood on the hill.I hope this isn't another classic choke.

jeez, what a disaster, the fan interference, gonzalez dropping the ball for a sure second out, then baker leaves in prior too long, farns gives up a three run triple off the wall, and its game over.....I was going to write the cubs off, but kerry was pretty impressive for game 5 of the NLDS against the braves.. I think he will come out and dominate again...

Bill,

That fan DID get a police escort out for his own safety.

Harry

Not only did the fan get an escort, they took him in a holding room gave him a new jacket so he wouldn't be recognized. There were fans waiting at the exits to do some vigilante justice.

Let's hope Woodie does the job. Sutcliff tried to do it in 84 but that was off short rest.

YB... don't know if you can pin this one on Baker. There's not much he can do about over-zealous fans grabbing foul balls and shortstops who boot easy grounders. And I'm not so sure he left Prior in too long. He'd done great up to that point and it's not like the Cubs' bullpen is a sure thing.

Could you imagine what it would be like to be in that fan's shoes, especially if the Cubs lose Game 7? That shot of him sitting dejectedly while doused with beer was priceless. The press isn't identifying him, but you know his identity will be revealed somewhere, if it hasn't been already. He won't be able to show his face in Chicago. Maybe he should move to TJ and become the belle of the ball at Kinkle.

Upon reviewing the events in the 8th inning, on second thought, yeah, I might've yanked Prior after Pudge Rodriguez' single. But in Baker's defense, the guy he eventually brought in (Farnsworth) did nothing but throw gasoline on the fire, anyhow. If the shortstop makes that play, this discussion isn't even taking place.

Farsider:

Gonzalez wasn't going to be able to turn two, but getting at least one would have gone a long way towards limiting the damage...

With Baker, its a cumulative effect...I agree that he didn't make any decisions that were egregiously out of line last night, but the bottom line is that once again with a playoff series on the line, his moves (or "non-moves") did not work...

Frankly, in my mind-- and I certainly have no way to prove it now-- I thought it a bit strange that he would let Prior bat in the bottom of the 7th with the Cubs making noise offensively-- thus providing a chance to really seal the deal on the series...I mean, Prior had brought them to the 7th-- don't you pinch-hit there and let your set-up guy go in the 8th and let your closer finish in the 9th?...That's percentage baseball in the National League, anyway...

But Prior WAS sailing along, and everything pointed to a Cubs win...I banished the thought from my mind...I imagine that Baker did the same...

As it turned-out, however...WOW!...

Its games like the one last night that keep you coming back...What a strange reality is the world of Sport...

YoungBrig

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that our "Man in the Stands" is a 26-year old diehard Cubs fan who works for an international consulting firm and coaches youth baseball...

Due to his headset, he apparently was unaware of the firestorm around him, until the situation swirled out of control with fans approaching from around the park...He finally left his seat crying, his head buried in a sweater...The police gave him a disguise to use as he exited the ballpark...

Friends and family are defending Steve Bartman as a "fine guy," a "wonderful son," and "a good baseball coach to my son"...

YoungBrig

Geez, do you think the Sox could leave any more men on base?

I'm not sure if this link will work, but we'll give it a shot.

Video Clip: Headphone Guy Leaving the Cubs Game

Ha ha. Guy crying. What a fucking knob. I read today the guy sitting next to the loser received 50 hate calls already. 50/50 on the poor girlie man blowing his own head off.

Curses rule, even if they can't logically exist ...

-Superman-

What can you say?Wood gets bombed,and the "curse" is alive,and well.Wouldn't be ironic if the the Marlins play the Red Sox now,and get a chance to extend both "curses".I don't really believe in curses,but I do believe in the power of suggestion.If enough people believe in that sort of thing then it takes on kind of a life of its own.

If the Cubs had actually won Game 7, that "Headphone Guy" would have been transformed into a cult hero. He'd have been branded as the embodiment of the curse finally being broken, he'd have appeared on Letterman and Leno, and probably would have been asked to throw out the first pitch at one of the World Series games. But now, it's the goat, the black cat, and Steve Bartman forevermore, at least till the Cubs get that monkey off their back (and who knows when that will be). Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The guy sitting next to the poor schmuck also said that if he'd had the chance to think about it, he'd have pushed Mr. Headphone away from the action before he grabbed for the ball. Wouldn't that have been hilarious if they'd caught it on TV?

And so, with one curse firmly intact, the question begs to be asked: what unspeakably cruel fate awaits the Red Sox tonight? Will they carry a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, only to be torched by a two-out, three-run homer? Will Pedro have a mid-game meltdown? Will Nomar boot a ground ball in the ninth, allowing the winning run to score? Or will a feebly-hit grounder bounce about 12 times across the infield before finding its way its way through the legs of first baseman Kevin Millar? And how many (more) times will Fox's cameras zero in on Babe Ruth's plaque?

I'm neither a Yankee fan nor a Red Sox fan, but this series (in fact, the whole postseason) has been quite entertaining.

Bad news and good news:

Bad news: I have to miss the Red Sox/Yankees game tonight.

Good news: I will miss yet another victory by the #$%$%^& Yankees over the Red Sox, the crusher of all crushers.

(Message edited by catocony on October 16, 2003)

Oh man the bsoox are aahed - This has got me so uespt that I can hlrady type - I waetnd a Cgcaiho New Yrok Wolrd Sriees and now it lokos lkie Btoson and Flrodia - Oh well mbyae nxet yaer

Derek Jeter in the dugout, 6th innning: "The ghosts will show up eventually." Ha ha. No shit Derek.

Curses rule.

-Superman-

I'd have left Pedro in until his arm fell off too. Bucky 'bleepin' Dent meet Aaron 'BLEEPIN' Boone, ignominiously benched for 'Pedro Killer' Enrique 'bleepin' Wilson! Unbelievable comeback by the Yankees, unbelievable ending. Good thing too, because I think Joe Torre was gonna shit his pants thinking about possibly having to use Jeff Weaver!

A question that will take 25-30 years to answer, but how many Hall of Famers were on that field tonight? I would imagine it's more than any postseason series since the Yankees/Dodgers series in the 50's.

Clemens, Pedro, Garciaparra are automatics. Jeter's almost there too. Mariano Rivera will make it. Mike Mussina will make it. Manny Ramirez would have to fade VERY badly to not make it. Jason Giambi certainly will have a chance. So will Bernie Williams. Alfonso Soriano has had one of the greatest starts to a career ever. Jorge Posada will have a good shot some day. FAT Wells has 200 wins and all those guys get consideration, though I seriously doubt anyone would vote him in. But I think it's a lock that at least 10 of the players in tonight's game make the Hall of Fame. What a WAR!

If the Marlins can beat Wood and Prior they can beat anyone. But I think it's Yankees in 5.

WOW...that was some very tense big fun! And it may not have come down to Boone's Bucky-like blast in the 11th if Boone had started with Pedro Killer Enrique being the source of at least one unearned Red Sox run.

The Yankees showed incredible toughness and fortitude as always, but I don't think they really played tremendous baseball in this series. The Red Sox may well be a better overall club (I am a Yankee fan so I'm not exactly being a sore loser).

Jeff Weaver may have to start one of these early Series games with all the starters but Pettite pitching tonight. Florida feels like a team of destiny though (DUH!). No Word Series predictions here.

BTW Porker, Mariano Rivera is as "automatic" for the Hall of Fame as any major leaguer still in uniform. His accomplishments are unprecedented in the history of baseball and he still has a future.