Well, in case you don’t know what baseball is, there was a rather important game played tonight. In case you don’t know who Boston is, they are the team that plays in Fenway Park. In case you don’t know who the Indians are, they are the team that choked away a 3-1 series lead and are not going to the World Series.
I am Tim McCarver and this is FOX.
However, baseballgirl has some more to add. This was one of the things that you saw from the first inning on: Nothing was going to go Cleveland’s way tonight. After the first half of the series, where every bounce, every call, every slightly questionable play fell on the side of the Indians, that trend reversed itself on Thursday and stayed with Boston the rest of the series, including tonight.
From the blown call at second base in the fifth inning to the terrible hold by the gun-shy Indians’ third base coach, which both cost the Indians the tie at the time, tonight just seemed a formality for Boston. And it was a shame too, because the Indians played so well overall in the playoffs. But their pitching failed them in games 5 and 6, and everything failed them tonight. They were not going to win the game, and that was pretty clear from the start.
Good pitching will beat good hitting in the playoffs, and it’s never been truer than in this series. The Indians’ pitching simply let them down. They had three chances to advance, and blew all three, and there isn’t much more to say than that.
It was a mixed bag for Westbrook tonight, who, if you didn’t know better, was replaced by a look-alike pitcher halfway through his outing. His first three innings, to put it kindly, sucked. He almost went the Carmona route early, but was saved by three double-plays in the first four innings, but interestingly after the third, he looked every bit the part of an elite pitcher. However, it must be said: If I was managing, he never would have made it out of the second inning.
His three runs combined with Betancourt’s unusually bad outing (Pedroia, really?!), mixed with a blown call at second base that would have later scored a run, the third base coach’s inability to send Lofton home for another run, and finally the defensive breakdown was simply too much for Cleveland to overcome.
For his part, Dice K looked as good as I’ve ever seen him, and Jonathan Paplebon might have well entered the game with a giant ‘GAME OVER’ sign.
I imagine this takes all the ambivalence out of the World Series for everyone; there are Red Sox fans and then there is everyone else, who has suddenly become Rockies fans.
I feel for Cleveland fans. We know this pain well.
And MLB and TV execs rejoice as they not only get their highly-coveted game seven, but also one of their East Coast powerhouses.
<sigh>
Here’s to hoping that the Colorado Rockies can keep their streak alive.
The World Series starts on Wednesday. Red Sox vs. Rockies. Go Colorado!