First of all, Joel Skinner. Lay off FOX. Seriously, the ball bounced hard and directly to Manny. He holds Lofton up at third because he doesn't want to force the issue. If Casey Blake puts together a decent at bat, maybe its different. Instead he swung at the first pitch to hit into a double play and then proceeded to boot a grounder and watch it roll away the next inning (and then he ran into Peralta in the 8th).
Thats the ball game right there. Not converting in the top of the 7th and subsequently blowing it in the bottom half of the same inning. I honestly have no issue with Skinner holding Lofton. I have a issue with guys swinging at first pitches in big situations.
I also have a bone to pick with Lofton getting thrown out at second base despite beating the tag (and if that happened a Boston player, FOX is shitting themselves. Instead, it's simply an unlucky break, but even I'm getting sick of this rant).
As for Jake Westbrook, what can you say? The guy has guts. He kept the Tribe in the ballgame despite having mediocre stuff. He pitched his ass off and gave them a chance to win (and I fully expected him to get shelled tonight).
The bullpen imploded. Raffy's run ended. The defense screwed up. Everything went wrong.
It happened. They managed to do it. The Tribe scored 5 runs in 29 innings. They were outscored 30-5 over the last three games. They blew a 3-1 lead to Boston. The cocky fans. The cocky players (can more Boston hitters watch their home runs please? That'd be great). The hype. For a while there I almost forgot that I was rooting for a team from Cleveland. I'm extremely angry and yet completely numb.
Not only did they blow a 3-1 lead, they did it against a team and fanbase I absolutely despise. Both aces failed to show up (twice). And the entire time I sat watching the sad, predicable debacle unfold, I had to listen to Tim fucking McCarver. Just... wow.
16 comments:
I don't know about that Skinner call. That ball took a long time getting to Manny, there's no way there was a play at home at all, let along a close one. Huge error there.
I tried, but I couldn't have said it better. You know, the Sox used to be one of my two favorite teams. And now, I don't even want to watch a single game of the World Series.
Ben,
Have to agree with Drew, you pretty much summed it up perfectly.
I hate their team (Pedroia, Schilling, and Drew especially), how they build their team through massive payrolls, and most of all, their obnoxious, annoying fan base.
I live in Denver and now they'll be all over the place. It makes me sick.
Looking back at the replay, I can understand why people want Skinner to send him. But as the play was going on, I thought it was the right call. The ball bounced hard off the wall and basically right to Manny. If it doesn't kick back as hard, maybe he sends him.
They had their chances, holding Lofton at third or not. Blake absolutely has to put together a good at bat in that situation, instead he swings first pitch. To me, thats a bigger mistake (which he compounded the next inning).
The game ended when Blake grounded into that double play. Blake is Mr. Patient at the plate, almost to a fault when he takes called third strikes. For him to go up there and swing away, that's the proof that the Indians had disintegrated under the pressure.
Here's something I've been thinking about: Eric Wedge now has two of the biggest choke jobs in franchise history on his resume. You can make the case that the Indians choked in '99 and '01 with different managers, so why single out Wedge, but blowing a 2-0 or 2-1 lead in a best-of-5 is not the same as blowing a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 with a trip to the World Series on the line.
The last-week collapse in '05 and this ALCS debacle have now occurred on Wedge's watch. Is it a trend? Do we read anything into it?
This Indians team is always 'learning'.
They'll screw something up but we'll always be like, "they're young, this was their first time in a late season race" and we'll give 'em another chance.
Now its, "CC needs to get acclimated to the postseason pressure" and "this is their first time in a Game 7".
I know these guys are young and they should be back in this playoffs in the coming years... but this isn't a good sign.
It's going to take awhile to recover from this one.
In all of this, I really feel for the Colorado Rockies and their fan base. If they thought they had it bad on TBS, just wait for these shit-heads on FOX. Seriously, if that call against Lofton at second happens to Boston, Tim McCarver would probably be bitching about it on the field. Horrible.
Anyway, good luck to the Colorado Rockies. I'm officially on their bandwagon.
The whole game was ugly. It felt familiar though. Blake played badly all night, most of it bad defense, some of it bad ofensive offense. Hey, at least Sizemore made it onto base. That's gotta be something, right? And now, I get to watch the obnoxious Red Sox fans buried within my roomates (one from Mass, one from Denver- let's see which way he swings, he's been screaming Go Rockies for weeks- I didn't even know he liked baseball.) come to the surface, let alone the ones who'll fly into town for cheap series tickets. On that same note, I've been sitting on the Rockies' ticket page for 80 minutes now to no avail. How long can I do this while still justifying it as worth skipping class? -Aaron
A couple things:
1. We lost for two main reasons: CC and Fausto went 1-3 collectively. You just can't win a 7 game series when you're studs are losing
2. This team IS pretty young if you think about it. Many are just up from the minors or have no postseason experience (Grady, Gutierrez, Asdrubal, Garko, Peralta, Jensen, Raffy Perez, Carmona). The problem is it does matter, but when you can't afford to sign these guys after you develop them b/c team like Boston or NY rip them off you hands, you have to win when you get the chance if you're a small market club.
2. With that said, I like this team a lot and I hope the core remains intact for some time. I'd rather root for a losing Cleveland team than cheer for a team like Boston who overpays free agents every couple years.
3. JD Drew is reportedly mad he still has to keep playing baseball because the World Series is gonna cut into his vacation time. Geez, still can't believe that guy beat us.
you may be ok, it looks like no one has gotten tix yet.
suck it cleveland...
love NY
Ben,
Your title for this post sums up that series.
I understand where you are coming from. You probably summed it up better than any Indians fan I've read.
You all sound bitter, Don't worry, You'll be back !
These fans aren't bitter. Cleveland fans are just coping again....just like the Mets.
I hate Boston.
bitter? maybe. jaded? definitely.
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