Red Sox Win Game 1 of World Series

If you watched last night's game or have seen any kind of news, social media, or interacted with someone today, you'll know that the Red Sox won game 1 of the World Series 8-1.  The game was great for Red Sox fans.  I was surprised by how quiet my Facebook Newsfeed was from the Cardinals fans last night, even before the game.  The Red Sox fans, however, were alert and into it.

Jon Lester was magnificent, pitching 7 2/3 innings and giving up 0 runs, 1 walk, and 5 hits.  He struck out 8 and threw 112 pitches.

Photo from The Boston Globe

David Ortiz had a 2-run home run in the 7th inning, and he was robbed of a home run earlier in the game when it was grabbed by Carlos Beltran reaching into the Red Sox bullpen.  This was reminiscent of the home run Ortiz hit in the ALCS when Torii Hunter went flipping into the bullpen without retrieving the ball.  Unlike Hunter, Beltran was able to make the out, but he would later leave the game and be checked out at the hospital for a rib contusion.

Photo from The Boston Globe

Ortiz ended the night with 2 hits and 3 RBIs.  Pedroia had 2 singles, 2 runs, and 1 RBI for the Red Sox.  Napoli had a bases clearing double in the first inning and earned 3 RBIs.  Jonny Gomes made a spectacular catch in left field before committing the Red Sox's only error of the game.  The Cardinals, however, committed 3 errors.

Cardinals starter, Adam Wainwright, only lasted 5 innings, and had an embarrassing fiscal where a pop out landed between him and catcher, Yadier Molina (this was not counted as an error, but it seemed like a big error of judgment).  Wainwright gave up 5 runs, in the first 2 innings.  Kozma committed 2 errors for the Cardinals (a missed catch and a fielding error), and Freese committed throwing error.

I think it's pretty much a guarantee the Cardinals won't repeat their mistakes from last night.  Those errors were costly for the Cardinals, and they're not a team that commits many errors.  Tonight's Game 2 will feature John Lackey for the Red Sox against Michael Wacha for the Cardinals.

I saw today where Jimmy Fallon had his famous "Puppy Predictors" predict the outcome to the World Series, and the Red Sox are favored to win.  Here's the clip:

I don't know; that seems like the odds are in the Red Sox favor based on that.  And, I admit, I did the whole "Awh..." thing when I saw the puppies in the clip.  Couldn't help it.

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my best friends is a Cardinals fan, and I was afraid we wouldn't be able to wager during this series.  We're going to do it cross-country-like though.  Her husband will bite the bullet and drink delicious Sam Adams' Oktoberfest because the Red Sox won last night.  If the Cardinals would have won, my boyfriend and I would be drinking 312.

Well, that's it for me today.  I don't know if I'll be able to post tomorrow; but if I get the time, I'll make sure I post and get the word out.  

Go Red Sox!

2004 World Series Rematch: Red Sox vs Cardinals

Photo from NESN

I'm back.  I apologize about the absence; and honestly, I don't have a best excuses.  Long story short: my iPad stopped connecting to the wi-fi for a couple days, and I couldn't get an appointment with the Apple Store on the day I tried.  It started working again on Sunday, but I was so backed up on Tweets that I didn't think it would do any good to do Twitter Friday.  I was still have a couple issues connecting this week (it was the internet this time, not the iPad), so there will not be a Twitter Friday as well.

As if I needed to mention it, the World Series starts tonight.  It's a rematch of 2004 with the Red Sox to take on the Cardinals.  I'm feeling all nostalgic and feel the need to watch "Fever Pitch" and get back into the mindset from 2004.

Photo from The Boston Globe

Of course, this series in 2013, is so different from the series in 2004.

For one, the Red Sox have won the World Series twice since then: 2004 and 2007.  The Cardinals, after being swept in 2004 (Swept 4 in '04, as I liked to remind a former co-worker of mine), have been to the World Series 3 times (2004, 2006, and 2011) and won twice (2006 and 2011).  The Cardinals have been at the top or close to the top of the NL Central for years.

Much like 2004, the Red Sox have overcome a disappointing outcome the previous season.  Not that 2003 was a disappointing season for the Red Sox, but it still stings to think of the 2003 ALCS, though it stings less after the 2004 ALCS.  2012 was a horrendous season for the Red Sox, especially after the September 2011 collapse.  The Red Sox have overcome hardships to be in this position again.

Photo from NESN

So, here we are: Game 1 of the World Series is tonight.  Jon Lester gets the start for the Red Sox tonight, and Adam Wainwright gets the start for the Cardinals.  The Red Sox and the Cardinals had the most wins in the Majors this season with 97-65 records.

When it comes to the World Series, I believe seasonal stats aren't that important (which is why I'm not going into them in this post).  The postseason is about which team is hot at the moment; they're usually the ones who can go far and potentially win the World Series.  I also believe that heroes of the series can come from unlikely sources, such as Victorino hitting the go-ahead grand slam Saturday night after struggling throughout the ALCS.  In 2007, the World Series MVP was Mike Lowell, a beloved Red Sox player but not a superstar.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, where I lived in Iowa, baseball fans were pretty equally split between Cardinals and Cubs fans (with occasional White Sox, Twins, and Royals fans sprinkled about).  Over the years, it seemed like Cardinals fans were taking over (or it could be that Cubs fans were shrinking into the background with each frustrating season).

One of my best friends, a Cardinals fan, has already sent me messages on Twitter regarding the series.  If I was still in Iowa, we'd probably be watching the games together, since we watched the Stanley Cup together (she and her husband are Blackhawks fans, while me and my boyfriend are obviously Bruins fans).  So, Laura, if you're reading this, I'm going to say it again: I hope the outcome to this World Series is the same as 2004.

The game starts at 8:07 PM Eastern time tonight on FOX.  Yaz will be throwing out the opening pitch. Go Sox!

Twitter Friday (Postponed)

Well, I'm going to have to postpone Twitter Friday today.  My iPad, where I keep all my saved Tweets throughout the week, is not connecting to wi-fi; which means, I can't post the tweets the way I usually do.  It's been this way since Wednesday night, which also means I haven't been able to save Tweets since Wednesday morning.  I'm planning on going to the Apple Store tonight to have them take a look at it; and hopefully, I'll be able to post soon (I'm going with Sunday at the earliest).

With that said, the Red Sox looked good last night.  They still have some issues to work out (mainly: leaving men on base, Drew not hitting- especially in key positions, and some defense problems), but they're coming a long way.  Lester looked great last night.  Napoli's home run was HUGE!  Ellsbury seems to have found his groove, and Ross appeared to have succeeded in taking out Tigers' catcher Avila (though, I'm sure that wasn't his intention).  Good game.

Hopefully, the Sox can shut the door on the ALCS tomorrow behind Clay Buchholz.

Be Back Tomorrow

Hello all!

As you may have noticed, I didn't do a post yesterday, and I won't be doing a Red Sox related post today (and not because the Red Sox lost either).  I won't go into why I'm not doing a post; but rest assured, I will be doing the Twitter Friday post tomorrow, so make sure to come back for that!

Thanks for following the blog!

Preview of Game 3 of the ALCS

The Red Sox and Tigers are set to face off for Game 3 of the ALCS.  The series is tied 1-1, and it's really anyone series at this point.  The Red Sox will send John Lackey to the mound today, while the Tigers will send Justin Verlander.

Let's recap the series to this point:

After Game 1, I think it was safe to say the Tigers looked like they had the advantage.  Their starting pitching is electric, and the Sox looked like Little Leaguers at bat.  Lester had a great outing, but it was no match to the Tigers' Sanchez.  The Red Sox lost a heartbreaker 1-0.

Game 2 started out much like Game 1, with the Red Sox seeing pitch after pitch fly by them for strikes at the plate.  Unlike Game 1, Buchholz wasn't challenging the Tigers batters like Lester had been, and he gave up 5 runs, including 2 home runs.

As we now know, the Red Sox bat came alive, punctuated by a David Ortiz grand slam in the 8th inning, and the Red Sox Game 2 6-5.

Photo from USAToday

Which Red Sox will we see today- the Red Sox who are power hitters or the Red Sox who look more like zombies at the plate?

As stated, the Red Sox will be going against Justin Verlander, 2011 Cy Young Winner (he came in 2nd to David Price last year).  This season, Verlander is 13-12 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.315 WHIP.  His career postseason numbers are: 7-4, 3.48 ERA, and a 1.113 WHIP.

Against the Red Sox, Verlander's results have been mixed, to say the least.  In three of the eleven starts against the Sox, Verlander has surrender 5 runs, which is the same amount of games he's surrender 0 runs.

The Red Sox faced Verlander once this season, which was a 7-5 lost for the Sox.  However, the Sox chased Verlander out of the game after 5 innings, making him throw 112 pitches.  That should be the strategy for the Red Sox tonight- to make Verlander work hard, throw a lot of pitches, and force him out earlier in the game.

Photo from ESPN.GO

Conversely, Lackey started his career against the Tigers winning 7 out of his first 8 starts while with the Angels.  However, since 2007, Lackey has not won against the Tigers.

Lackey has faced the Tigers twice this season, and they were both quality starts.  On June 20th, Lackey went 7 innings and allowed 3 runs; and on September 2nd, he went 7 1/3 innings and allowed to runs.  However, both of these games the Red Sox lost.

Photo from Bleacherreport.com

To win this game, the Red Sox will need to battle against Verlander and the Tigers.  As I stated before, the key to the Red Sox success tonight will be to get Verlander out of the game early.  Outside of Benoit and Smyly, the Tigers bullpen was pretty shaky this season.

Photo from NESN

Another thing the Red Sox need to work on is getting Ellsbury and Victorino on base.  They have 1 hit between the 2 of them in the first 2 games of the ALCS.  These two need to get on base to put pressure on both Verlander and the rest of the Tigers defense.  If Ellsbury and Victornio can get on base, they should be able to manufacture more runs.

As I mentioned yesterday, I will be live tweeting during the game today.  You can either follow the tweets directly from Twitter @BornIntoItInIA or here on the blog (on the right side of the screen).  Here's hoping for a Red Sox win!

Red Sox Stage Huge Comeback

Photo from masslive.com

What a game last night!  For all of you who went to bed when the Red Sox were still hitless, or even when they were down 5-1 in the 8th inning, you missed the best outcome to a horrendous start of a game that you could have imagine!  Plus, if you are a Patriots fan, yesterday was a great day for Boston comebacks!

But, before we get into the heroics and celebration from last night, there needs to be something said about Game 1.  In Game 1, we saw a great pitching performance by starter Jon Lester wasted by a close-to-no-hit performance by the offensive.  The Red Sox almost became the first team in history to be no-hit in an LCS series until Daniel Nava hit a single in the bottom of the 9th inning with one out.  Unfortunately, that was the extent of the offensive prowess for the Red Sox.

Last night's game started out much like Saturday's night's game.  Buchholz was pitching well until the the 6th inning, when the wheels seemed to fall off and he gave up 4 out of the Tigers' 5 runs.  The Red Sox didn't get their first hit until Shane Victorino singled with two-outs in the bottom of the 6th inning.  Next at-bat, Pedroia doubled to score Victorino.  The score was now 5-1, and it was the first run scored by the Red Sox.

Then, the 8th inning happened.  With one out, Middlebrooks doubled to left.  Next batter, Ellsbury walked.  Victorino struck out swinging before Pedroia singled to right field.  It wasn't deep enough to score Middlebrooks, so the bases were loaded when Ortiz came to bat.  The Tigers decided to go with their closer, and Joaquin Benoit was brought in to face Papi.  The first pitch he saw, Ortiz hit a grand slam into the Red Sox bullpen.  Red Sox bullpen catcher Mani Martinez snagged the ball as Torii Hunter came crashing over the wall into the bullpen.  You really need to watch it (again and again) to believe it.

Here's a close up of Torii Hunter falling into the bullpen:

Photo from The Boston Globe

And here's a close-up of the now viral sensation Boston bullpen cop:

Photo from The Boston Globe

The Red Sox were now tied 5-5, making a MASSIVE comeback to tie the game, but they weren't done there.  In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the momentum fully in the Red Sox's favor, Jonny Gomes singled to Jose Iglesias, who uncharacteristically over threw to first base, and Gomes was able to advance to 2nd base.  Next pitch with Saltalamacchia batting, Gomes was able to advance to 3rd base on a wild pitch.  Salty singled to left field, Gomes scored, and the Red Sox won in dramatic fashion 6-5!  It was amazing!

Don't take my word for it.  Here's the video to Salty's game-winning single:

My favorite part is watching the Red Sox players chase Saltalamacchia around the bases!  The players were pumped, as were the fans.  I couldn't fall asleep for another hour after that game because of how much adrenaline was pumping through me.  

The players took to Twitter during (for the players who weren't on the roster) and after the game to show their excitement.  I posted these responses below:

 The Red Sox and Tigers are now tied 1 a piece in the ALCS.  Tomorrow, John Lackey will be taking on Justin Verlander in Detroit at 4:00 PM Eastern at Comerica Park in Detroit on FOX.  I think it'll be a great game, as both teams will have something to prove.

I will be live tweeting during tomorrow's game, so make sure to follow the blog on Twitter @BornIntoItInIA.  If I can get it working, I'll try and get the streaming of the Twitter account on the blog as well.  Thanks for checking out the blog today!

Red Sox To Face Tigers In The ALCS

With a 3-0 win over the A's last night, the Detroit Tigers punched their ticket to play the Red Sox in the ALCS.  As I stated yesterday, I was pulling for the A's, but the Red Sox playing the Tigers is also exciting.  These are two teams with storied franchises with superstars, great pitching, and managers that demand respect.

Photo from SteveTheUmp.com

The series starts tomorrow night at 7:30 PM Eastern on FOX.  I can only imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like at Fenway Park tomorrow night.  If anyone is attending the game, I'd love to hear how it is.

The rest of the ALCS schedule is as follows:

Game 2: at Boston, Sunday, October 13th at 8:00 PM ET, on FOX
Game 3: at Detroit, Tuesday, October 15th at 4:00 PM ET, on FOX
Game 4: at Detroit, Wednesday, October 16th at 8:00 PM ET, on FOX
Game 5 (if needed): at Detroit, Thursday, October 17th at 8:00 PM ET, on FOX
Game 6 (if needed): at Boston, Saturday, October 19th at 4:30 PM ET, on FOX
Game 7 (If needed): at Boston, Sunday, October 20th at 8:00 PM ET, on FOX

How do the Red Sox and Tigers compare?  I went into this a little in yesterday's post, but I was mostly comparing the A's and the Tigers.  Let's take a look at these he Tigers in how the compare to the Red Sox:

Pitching

The Tigers probable rotation (with their 2013 season stats following):

Tigers
Game 1)  Anibal Sanchez (14-8, 2.57 ERA, 1.154 WHIP, 3.74 SO/BB)
Game 2)  Max Scherzer (21-3, 2.90 ERA, 0.970 WHIP, 4.29 SO/BB)
Game 3)  Doug Fister (14-9, 3.67 ERA, 1.308 WHIP, 3.61 SO/BB)
Game 4)  Justin Verlander (13-12, 3.46 ERA, 1.315 WHIP, 2.89 SO/BB)

Some projections show Fister and Verlander switched, but I'm thinking since Verlander pitched 8.0 innings last night, they'll give him the extra rest.  If you recall, Tampa Bays' Price was in a similar position before his Game 2 start against Boston last Saturday.  Price didn't fair too well, and I'm sure Tigers' manager Leyland has taken note of that.

Red Sox
Game 1)  Jon Lester (15-8, 3.75 ERA, 1.294 WHIP, 2.64 SO/BB)
Game 2)  John Lackey (10-13, 3.52 ERA, 1.157 WHIP, 4.03 SO/BB)
Game 3)  Clay Buchholz (12-1, 1.74 ERA, 1.025 WHIP, 2.67 SO/BB)
Game 4)  Jake Peavy with Red Sox (4-1, 4.04 ERA, 1.160 WHIP, 2.37 SO/BB)

John Farrell has not announced the rotation at the time of this posting, so this is just a guess based on the ALDS rotation.  I've read that Lackey and Buchholz may be switched around, which I think may be best with Scherzer slotted for Game 2 for the Tigers.

Offense

For offense, I'm going to take the 3 "top" offensive threats for each team; otherwise, we could be here all day.  

Tigers

Miguel Cabrera: .348 BA, 44 HR, 137 RBI, 103 R, 94 SO, 90 BB, 3 SB

Prince Fielder:  .279 BA, 25 HR, 106 RBI, 82 R, 117 SO, 75 BB, 1 SB

Torii Hunter:  .304 BA, 17 HR, 84 RBI, 90 R, 113 SO, 26 BB, 3 SB

Austin Jackson lead the Tigers in 8 stolen bases for the season.  Some of the Tigers best hitters, Omar Infante and Jhonny Peralta, played only 118 and 107 respectively.  

Red Sox

David Ortiz:  .309 BA, 30 HR, 103 RBI, 84 R, 88 SO, 76 BB, 4 SB

Mike Napoli: .259 BA, 23 HR, 92 RBI, 70 R, 187 SO, 73 BB, 1 SB

Dustin Pedroia:  .301 BA, 9 HR, 84 RBI, 91 R, 75 SO, 73 BB, 17 SB

Jacoby Ellsbury had 52 stolen bases for the season, which lead the Majors.  Daniel Nava had a .303 batting average in 134 games for the Red Sox.

I'm not going to go out on a limb and say the Red Sox have the advantage over the Tigers in the ALCS.  Cabrera lead most of the offensive categories this season, but he had been slumping towards the end of the season.  The Red Sox need to get on base, manufacture runs, and have some great pitching performances to win these games against the Tigers.  Hopefully, they wind up on top at the end of the ALCS and head to the World Series.