It's October

[mik3 1]

IMO, if the Phillies get out of the NL then they'll win the title. Throw Stairs in there as the DH in AL parks, they'd be dangerous. I don't like the Rays and Red Sox, but they both have positives. I just think the Angels have the most going for them in the AL.

[LegoDoom 0]

The DH would be tough for the Phils. Against righties, they'd probably play Dobbs at 3rd and DH Stairs. Against lefties... I have no idea.

[troy 12]

I don't see the Cubs ending the drought this year, but I also didn't see them dropping the first game to the Dodgers. And it looks the Red Sox are going to take the first game too.

[D-MaN88 0]

4-1 win for the Sox is final. God this team looked pretty damn good for game 1, I know it's only game 1 but I was nervous going into tonight. Lester pitched one hell of a game. Also, hopefully Ellsbury starts getting more recognition, he deserves it. Hell of a catch in the 8th and the dude has one of the best sets of wheels under him I have ever seen.

No real complaints here as a Red Sox fan for tonights game. :)

The Cubs looked horrible against the Dodgers. I won't exactly count them out after the 1st game but Dempster didn't pitch a good game at all.

[mack 44]

I don't see an NL team with a bench deep enough that could win the WS.

[barrett 0]

I'm going for the angels or philly's. But as someone else said as long as the Bo sox don't win i will be perfectly fine.

[wildebeest 0]

Curious to see what would happen if Tampa Bay won it since they have maybe one solid player. Especially if Price somehow stays on the roster. Other than that...go Brewers. Let's go middle America!

How does Bud Selig handle the trophy presentation?

LOL

I hope the prick falls on it like Mr. Costanza did with the Fusilli Jerry.

It was a million-to-one shot, doc.

[DCott 0]

I don't see an NL team with a bench deep enough that could win the WS.

amen to that.

gotta pinch hit and put in defensive subs to win playoff games. my vote goes to the defending champs and their three catchers.

Red Sox over Angels in 4-Angels stopped playing for anything a month ago, hard to get moving again

Rays over White Sox in 5 - Sox don't have the pitching

Dodgers over Cubs in 5 - Cubs choke - lose to the winner of the worst division in baseball (anyone in the AL east could win out there)

Phillies over Brewers in 5 - Sabathia can't pitch every day - series will be shorter if he faces Hamels

Red Sox over Rays in 6 - No big game experience anywhere for Tampa

Phillies over Dodgers in 7 - Manny loses in the playoffs and is fine with it

Red Sox over Phillies in 4 - Red Sox prove the vast differences in caliber of baseball between the two leagues...Go DH!

[EBondo 233]

Another lights-out game by the Phils today has me thinking they really got sometihng going here. They took it to CC every chance they had, and giving up seven total hits in two games is unbelievable.

[LegoDoom 0]

Another lights-out game by the Phils today has me thinking they really got sometihng going here. They took it to CC every chance they had, and giving up seven total hits in two games is unbelievable.

Myers was great and the Flyin' Hawaiian had a career game to take out Sabathia. Great game.

Now I just hope that Moyer goes 6 quality on Saturday and Durbin, Madson, and Lidge can close it out for the win.

[mik3 1]

The Cubs are showing yet again that teams with nothing to play for in September get jumped on in October. You'd think a Sweet Lou managed team wouldn't do this, but then I guess I should have remembered he managed the 2001 Mariners.

[mack 44]

Good first AB for Myers. Haven't seen him fight off or hit anything like that since his wife.

[wildebeest 0]

Good first AB for Myers. Haven't seen him fight off or hit anything like that since his wife.

You think he crushed it?

[LegoDoom 0]

I think he hit .058 this season. So anything he gets a piece of is a good hit.

[mrusse01 0]

Great Bill Simmons article on Manny if you haven't seen it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=manny

Also a great way to waste away an afternoon at work if you are bored...it's a long one.

I generally agree with him, I think the Red Sox were insane to trade that guy. Is there any doubt that if it's LA/BOS in the World Series that Manny doesn't crush at least one massive HR at Fenway?

[D-MaN88 0]

I still don't understand why people think Boston was "insane" for trading him? Do the Red Sox and the fans miss his hitting and presence in the play-offs, line-up, absolutely there's no doubt about it. But at the same time do they miss the antics he pulls not playing 100%, faking injuries, clearly missing fly balls and playing terrible in the field, no way in hell.

Look, all fans, players, and management give props to Manny for what he did while he was in Boston and will always give him credit for helping the team win the championships they did but his time was up and he needed to go.

I for one have been and am very impressed with Jason Bay. I'll always think of Manny Ramirez as a Boston Red Sox but the rest of their season post trade deadline wouldn't have gone like it did had they not traded Manny. Look at it like this, do the Red Sox make the playoffs if Manny is kept and the way he was acting before he was traded continued?

Props the Theo as well for having the stones and pulling the trigger on something that big that eventually turned the season around and more than likely the move that got them into the playoffs and in the position they are in today.

EDIT: I am a Red Sox fan. I take the whole situation as un-biased as possible. There are no doubts that Manny has tore it up in the NL with the Dodgers, I'm happy to see him enjoying playing again and putting up big numbers again. If the Red Sox/Dodgers meet in the playoffs, I won't have any ill-feelings towards Manny. I wouldn't expect anything less than for him to come out and do something big in the clutch, I mean the man has hit the most HRs in the post season...he's obviously a big time player.

[mrusse01 0]

I still don't understand why people think Boston was "insane" for trading him? Do the Red Sox and the fans miss his hitting and presence in the play-offs, line-up, absolutely there's no doubt about it. But at the same time do they miss the antics he pulls not playing 100%, faking injuries, clearly missing fly balls and playing terrible in the field, no way in hell.

Look, all fans, players, and management give props to Manny for what he did while he was in Boston and will always give him credit for helping the team win the championships they did but his time was up and he needed to go.

I for one have been and am very impressed with Jason Bay. I'll always think of Manny Ramirez as a Boston Red Sox but the rest of their season post trade deadline wouldn't have gone like it did had they not traded Manny. Look at it like this, do the Red Sox make the playoffs if Manny is kept and the way he was acting before he was traded continued?

Props the Theo as well for having the stones and pulling the trigger on something that big that eventually turned the season around and more than likely the move that got them into the playoffs and in the position they are in today.

EDIT: I am a Red Sox fan. I take the whole situation as un-biased as possible. There are no doubts that Manny has tore it up in the NL with the Dodgers, I'm happy to see him enjoying playing again and putting up big numbers again. If the Red Sox/Dodgers meet in the playoffs, I won't have any ill-feelings towards Manny. I wouldn't expect anything less than for him to come out and do something big in the clutch, I mean the man has hit the most HRs in the post season...he's obviously a big time player.

Simmons says it all far better than I could in that article, but fact is Manny Ramirez > Jason Bay. Period. End of discussion. I don't care if he's 'being Manny' for a couple of weeks, he did that EVERY year. Why is 'now' the time to trade him?

[LegoDoom 0]

Why is 'now' the time to trade him?

Manny wanted his option to not be picked up and Boston wanted to get something for him while they could?

[D-MaN88 0]

Because the shit had finally hit the fan. I mean there's no doubt, I'd love to have Manny in the line-up still but you can only ask the players that go out and give 100% to put up with only so much shit day in and day out. He was turning into a serious locker room cancer, hell for all we know, god knows what shit he was pulling behind doors in the club-house.

Like I said though, I'll always be a Manny fan, it's just it was his time and the Red Sox time to say goodbye to one another and move on.

While Jason Bay doesn't have the track record that Manny does, especially in the play-offs, he's still one hell of a player and as a fan I have all the confidence that he can put the bat on the ball when needed. He's an excellent fielder, which is a huge upgrade over Manny and no-one I don't think can disagree with that statement.

I guess by the end of the month we'll see how the move for both clubs ends up. It'll be interesting and exciting for sure.

[mik3 1]

All they had to do was pick up Manny's options, two more years, that's it. He's, at worst, the third best righty of the last 40 years or so. And, Bay isn't a good enough fielder to make up for Manny's bat.

I'd rather have about 30 players before Jason Bay, I'd have maybe 3-4 before Manny Ramirez.

[LegoDoom 0]

All they had to do was pick up Manny's options, two more years, that's it.

Manny didn't want them to, which is what this was all about.

[Jason Harris 31]

I found Simmons' article disappointing because he was schizophrenic between assigning blame to Manny and suggesting Manny was an innocent puppet, as well as suggesting that only he (Simmons) wrote about the connection to Boras. The Boras effect on the deteriorating relationship was well documented. Word leaked out that Manny had promised to play hard if the Red Sox agreed to "cancel" the team options, just as word leaked out that Manny wouldn't agree to waive his no-trade unless the options were dropped.

Would the Red Sox want this Dodger incarnation of Manny? In a split second. But it became obvious that Manny wasn't going to let that happen. After what Manny said in the last few days up to the trade deadline, I no longer believe he is quite the idiot savant or non-greedy man we've all believe. Those were words that were designed to get him traded, period. Boras may have been whispering in his ear, but Manny had to decide whether he would say those words.

It's a shame because the fans adored Manny.

[mik3 1]

All they had to do was pick up Manny's options, two more years, that's it.

Manny didn't want them to, which is what this was all about.

No, he wanted either to be a full on free agent after the year or two have both options picked up. The Red Sox said they'd go year to year.

[Jason Harris 31]

That's not true. He did NOT want his options picked up because he would then be looking at securing a contract at 38.

My guess is he signed with Boras with the hope of getting the Sox to rip up the options and give him a four year contract starting next season, but the problem is he had too many episodes of not playing full tilt, so the Sox wouldn't take the chance of giving a long term contract to a guy who appeared to have diminishing power, let alone inconsistent effort.

[LegoDoom 0]

No, he wanted either to be a full on free agent after the year or two have both options picked up. The Red Sox said they'd go year to year.

That's not true. Why do you think his options were voided before the trade to the Dodgers was finalized?