Waldman makes World Series history
NEW YORK -- In the beginning, Suzyn Waldman had to endure begrudging players and sexist fans. That's the product of being first.
But Waldman relished the opportunity that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner gave her, hiring her as a television analyst at a time when women simply didn't hold such positions. It was because of Steinbrenner that Waldman was able to climb to the top of a male-dominated field, and because of Steinbrenner that Waldman on Wednesday became the first woman in history to broadcast a World Series game.
"If I live to be 150, I could never thank George Steinbrenner enough," Waldman said.
A fixture in the Yankees' clubhouse for more than two decades, Waldman has worked as a play-by-play woman, an analyst, a host and a reporter, but has never had the privilege of broadcasting a World Series game.
In Waldman's fifth year in a position to do so, as an analyst for WCBS radio, the Yankees finally made the World Series again. And so the team's public relations staff took a moment to recognize her during the middle of Wednesday's World Series Game 1.
"It was very important to me, and it meant a lot," Waldman said. "It really meant a lot to me. It's the highest thing you can do in baseball, broadcast a World Series game."
Waldman, 63, was the second woman in history to regularly serve as a full-time color commentator for a Major League Baseball team, and the second woman to serve as a play-by-play announcer. Since 2005, she has worked as an analyst alongside WCBS radio play-by-play man John Sterling, after spending nearly two decades covering the Yankees for WFAN and the YES Network.
Waldman has also endured her share of criticism, most recently for an on-air outburst in 2007 when the Yankees announced that Roger Clemens was rejoining the team, then in the clubhouse in '08, when she shed tears after what became Joe Torre's final game managing the Yankees. After that incident, Waldman, a breast cancer survivor, publicly decried her critics as "sexist."
It was just one of the numerous battles Waldman has had to fight over more than two decades in the game. But the payoff, she said, has been worth it.
More than her groundbreaking work in radio and television, Waldman said minutes after the final out Wednesday that the night was the highlight of her career.
"Oh, it's No. 1," Waldman said. "It's the World Series."
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Yankees stand in Phillies' path to history
New York expects 'a battle' as Philadelphia seeks repeat.
George Steinbrenner is Bronx-bound. So are the Philadelphia Phillies, for Wednesday night's start of the 105th World Series.
In 1950, they were the Whiz Kids. Fifty-nine years later, the Phillies return to take on the Yankees in another World Series as the Gee-Whiz Men, bent on squaring the historical ledger by defending their title.
All season, Dodgers billboards declared "This Is Our Town." As it turned out, neither they nor the Angels had the deed. The Phillies and the Yankees owned Los Angeles -- although the latter had a bit tougher time proving it in the probate court of the American League Championship Series -- and now they lock bumpers in the Turnpike Series.
"It's going to be a battle, a fight," promised CC Sabathia, the ALCS MVP and New York's Game 1 starter against fellow left-hander -- and former Cleveland mound-mate -- Cliff Lee.
The 127-year-old Phillies are in their seventh World Series, seeking their third title and second straight to become only the third National League team to repeat, the first since the 1975-76 Reds.
"What we did last year, that was something special," said Philadelphia's NLCS MVP, Ryan Howard. "But to get back to this point, to have the opportunity to do it two years in a row, that's even more special."
The Phillies, in fact, are the first defending NL champs to even make it back to the Classic in years, since the 1996 Braves, who lost to the Yankees one October after beating Cleveland.
Two in a row is "the only way you can really be remembered for being great," in Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins' estimation.
The 109-year-old Yankees are in their 40th World Series, seeking their 27th title and first since 2000.
It may be old hat to the American League's premier franchise, but not to its premier player, Alex Rodriguez, who after 16 seasons, 2,166 games and 583 home runs will finally make his first World Series appearance.
"I've dreamt about this since I was a child," A-Rod said after his eighth postseason team finally reached the summit. "To win it, you have to get there first, and I couldn't be happier."
In baseball's classless society, the two teams are equals. Maybe in everything but idle time. By making quick work of the Dodgers, the Phillies had a week to kill between games. Pushed to six games by the Angels, the Yankees have only a two-day break.
Significant? History's answer is no. The Phils had a similar wait problem last year, after also ousting the Dodgers in five while Tampa Bay went seven games with Boston, and defeated the Rays. And in the 2007 World Series, the Red Sox, after only two off-days, swept the Rockies, who had an eight-day rest. All told, four of seven Series between teams with a rest differential of three-plus days have been won by teams on short rest.
This Fall Classic reunion generations in the making certainly arrives through a time warp.
In 1950, the Yankees were the defending World Series champs -- and swept out the Phils for the second of their still-record five straight titles.
Then, the 59 years between meetings is the longest wait for a Classic rematch (and will remain so, until the Red Sox and the Pirates, opponents in the very first modern World Series in 1903, get around to meeting again).
As a final historical note, those 1950 Phillies were defined by pioneer closer Jim Konstanty -- the bespectacled reliever whose 22 saves at the time were the second-most in history -- pretty much the way unflappable Mariano Rivera comes closest to defining this era's Yankees.
So much for history. Because there is so much to these teams' presents and presence, two heavy-handed, strong-armed, ice-blooded teams who could pass in front of a window and mistake it for a mirror.
To former Yankees manager and latest Phillies victim Joe Torre, the chief parallel between them is that look in their eyes.
"As far as the similarities between the Philly club and the Yankees, there's a lot of fearlessness," Torre said.
They've punched out entire divisions and two playoff foes to step into the diamond ring against each other. If the World Series had a promoter, it would have to be Don King, bringing us The Thrilla in Philadelphia.
Of course, the teams haven't really waited 59 years to meet again, only five months, since the Phillies took two games of a three-game Interleague series in Yankee Stadium on May 22-24.
That precedent gives little insight into what will ensue. While in those games the Yankees did start their World Series rotation -- A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte (who started their lone win) and CC Sabathia -- the Phillies were "sandbagging."
Cole Hamels did start, and got the best of Sabathia, but the other two games were started by a pitcher who may continue his inactive postseason (Brett Myers) and another likely to be in the bullpen (J.A. Happ).
On the other hand, the dozen homers smashed in those games by the teams could be a harbinger of the mashing to come.
The Phillies and the Yankees, designated "natural geographic rivals" at the outset of Interleague Play, met each season between 1997-2001. Overall, the Yankees lead, 11 games to 10.
Due to the vagaries of Interleague scheduling, this will be the fifth World Series rematch between regular-season opponents, and three of the first four yielded reverse outcomes. Only the 2000 Yankees prevailed over the Mets, after having taken four of six summer Subway Series games from them.
In 2007, the Red Sox swept the Rockies after having gone 1-2 against them, in 2006 the Cardinals won in five over a Detroit team that had swept them in a three-game series, and in 1999 the Yankees swept Atlanta after the Braves had taken two out of three in July.
Hamels, who in fact may not get to do so unless the Series returns to the Bronx for Games 6 and 7, said, "I think everybody has dreamed of playing in Yankee Stadium in the World Series."
And in the intoxicating first few minutes after the Phillies had earned their return to the World Series, one of their fans said, "I want to play the Yankees. A win over the Yankees would validate how good a team this is."
Dream realized. Wish granted. Validation or repudiation? The stage is set.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Rockies to ink Tracy to long-term deal; are they making a mistake?
ON MAY 29, THE COLORADO ROCKIES sat 10 games under .500. They had just been swept by the Dodgers in consecutive weekends and were playing with no heart.
That day, manager Clint Hurdle was given his walking papers. Despite being less than two years removed from captaining a young team to a surprise World Series appearance, Hurdle was no longer the manager of the Rockies. It was a move that surprised no one.
Jim Tracy, brought in before the 2009 season as bench coach, was handed the reins. If nothing else, Tracy was Hurdle's the polar opposite. Hurdle was loud and boisterous. He spent time in the clubhouse with the players. He was like one of the guys. Hurdle was very likable, and in the end, that is what got him fired. When he needed to make a tough decision, he struggled. He did not want to disrupt the chemistry in the clubhouse that he felt a part of.
Hurdle managed with his heart. He would play the hot hand instead of going with a routine. This often led to confusion as to what role a player was in. There was no better example of this than the early-season move to declare Huston Street the closer, and then go with Manny Corpas, and then go back to Street. All the while, neither of the pitchers had blown a save.
Tracy, on the other hand, is very soft-spoken. Instead of being ''one of the guys'' in the clubhouse, he was often locked in his office scouring through numbers, trying to be one step ahead of the opposing manager, studying the intricacies of every hitter in the opposing lineup. In his two previous managerial jobs, Tracy's critics accused him of being too much of a micromanager. They said he blamed the players when things went wrong but took the credit when they went right. That seemed odd to Rockies fans because Tracy was letting the players play and seemed far too humble to take credit for the success.
Instead of going with the hot hand, Tracy instead put the talent on the field. This included inserting Clint Barmes into the two-hole in the lineup and playing second base every day. In addition, he made Ian Stewart the third baseman, planting Garrett Atkins and his struggling bat on the bench. Tracy retooled the bullpen, finishing the season with only one pitcher, Street, still there from the opening-day roster. That enabled him to find the right person for each job and for that person to understand his job.
Starting pitchers were given a longer leash. Instead of being tied to a pitch count, Tracy would allow a starter to pitch deep into games, giving them the opportunity to pick up the win or loss, not the bullpen.
The changes were felt in a positive way almost immediately. Barmes looked like the best-hitting second baseman in baseball. Stewart hit for power and improved the infield defense. Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge De La Rosa turned into top-shelf pitchers. Everyone knew his role and became comfortable in that role.
The turnaround the team experienced made history. No team had ever been as far behind as the Rockies and managed to go to the postseason.
Tracy had the Midas touch; it seemed nothing he did went wrong. The team had turned around completely with him at the helm.
Then, as the summer nights turned chilly, it seemed as if the Tracy who had calmly led one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history had turned into the Tracy whom the critics had described. Tracy began to micromanage. A prime example was on Sept. 24. Jason Hammel was pitching brilliantly against the Padres. Through six innings he was staked to a 3-1 lead courtesy of a first-inning Troy Tulowitzki home run. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Rockies had runners on second and third with two outs. With the game a hit away from being secured as Hammel stepped to the plate, Hammel, not much of a hitter, grounded weakly to the second baseman.
Tracy's allowing Hammel to hit for himself was not a big deal. The righty was getting outs and had his best stuff working. What left Rockies fans scratching their heads came in the top of the next inning. After getting the first out, Tracy elected to go to the bullpen to face the light-hitting Tony Gwynn Jr.
Franklin Morales came to the mound and promptly walked Gwynn, allowed a hit and walked another hitter, allowing the Padres to even the score. In the next inning, the San Diego scored two more runs and the game was lost.
The way the playoffs were handled made many fans second-guess the previously unassailable Tracy.
Because the Phillies' starting rotation is dominated by left-handers, Tracy elected to go with Atkins at third base. To say Atkins slumped all season would be a huge understatement. He looked lost at the plate and could not turn on fastballs the way he did earlier in his career, presenting questions about his off-season work ethic.
While Atkins added a right-handed power threat, Stewart was on the bench because Tracy did not want too many lefty-lefty matchups. While stats would suggest that right-handers tend to hit right-handers better and lefties hit lefties better, this is not always the case. In Stewart's case, just one year ago he hit .370 against left-handed pitchers, which led the league Early in '09, the Rockies bragged about his ability to hit left-handers.
For the playoffs, Stewart's absence left the Rockies short both on defense and offense.
Another of Tracy's decisions kept Seth Smith on the bench in favor of playing Dexter Fowler in center field. Smith in the lineup would have pushed Carlos Gonzalez to center field and put Smith in left. The switch-hitting Fowler is far better from the right side of the plate but was still going through the growing pains of a player who never set foot on a Triple-A field. In 433 regular-season at-bats, Fowler struck out 116 times.
Smith, on the other hand, had been one of the hottest hitters for the Rockies. He was the National League Player of the Week in the first week of September and contributed in the clutch several times down the stretch.
The moves seemed all too familiar. They seemed eerily similar to the moves of a former manager, one who had worn out his welcome in the clubhouse and lost control of his team. It seemed as if Tracy decided to use the Hurdle book on managing down the stretch and in the playoffs.
The fact that Tracy managed the Rockies to the playoffs at all in 2009 is proof that he deserves a long-term contract. However, it will be interesting to see which Tracy shows up in the dugout next year, the Tracy who let the players play or the Tracy who micromanaged his way out of the playoffs.
(c) 2009 INDenverTimes. All Rights Reserved.
Dodgers, Phils renew rich playoff history
Storied franchises prepare for fifth meeting in NLCS.
For much of the season, the Dodgers and the Phillies were penciled in as the top teams in the National League.
And because the two clubs met in last season's NL Championship Series -- which the Phillies won in five games -- it felt as though everything that happened this year was building toward another clash with a trip to the World Series on the line.
Well what once was the in vogue pick for an NLCS matchup has become a reality. The Dodgers and the Phillies will resume their history of postseason matchups beginning at 8:07 p.m. ET on Thursday night on TBS at Dodger Stadium.
Philadelphia is in the NLCS for the eighth time since it was introduced in 1969, and the Phillies will play Los Angeles for the fifth time.
This is the Dodgers' ninth trip to the NLCS.
This year's series affords the Dodgers the opportunity to avenge their loss to the Phillies in 2008, while the Phillies have another chance to end the Dodgers' season and advance to the World Series in one fell swoop.
Many might look at the Phillies' 4-1 triumph last year and think that they steamrolled the Dodgers to reach the World Series, but a closer look shows that the series could have gone either way.
The Dodgers held a lead in each of the first four games, but three times they let it slip through their fingers.
The most painful loss came in Game 4 at Dodger Stadium when the Dodgers had a chance to even the series at two games apiece.
The Dodgers led, 5-3, in the top of the eighth, but the Phillies' Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs hit a pair of two-run homers off relievers Cory Wade and Jonathan Broxton.
"It was right over the middle and they capitalized on it," Broxton said at the time.
After the demoralizing Game 4 loss, the Dodgers dropped Game 5 by a score of 5-1 and watched the Phillies celebrate on their home field.
Last season's series and all of its drama fits in well with the history of Phillies-Dodgers postseason matchups.
It was 1977, and the Dodgers had a chance to close out their best-of-five NLCS against the Phillies on the artificial turf at old Veterans Stadium, but the game was delayed two hours because of a steady downpour that didn't let up all evening.
After Commissioner Bowie Kuhn decided that the game should begin, he and Chub Feeney, then the NL president, sat in their lower box seats all night, sans raincoats, defying the weather.
Tommy John defied the Phillies and eventual Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, pitching a complete-game seven-hitter to win the contest, 4-1, and the NL pennant.
"That was a heartbreaking series," said Dallas Green, who was in the Phils' front office then and went down to the field in 1980 to manage the first World Series winner in franchise history. "I think we had the best team in the NL by far, if not baseball."
The first three clashes went four games with the Dodgers winning in 1977 and '78 and the Phils prevailing in '83. This is only the third time the Phils have been back to the NLCS since and the fourth time for the Dodgers.
Whose heart will be broken this time around is still a matter of conjecture.
"There's always been the history there and there's always been a rivalry," said Fred Claire, the Dodgers' vice president of communications during the late '70s and general manager from 1987-98. "And I'd like to think there's been a mutual respect at all levels. It's extremely exciting. It's East Coast-West Coast and two storied franchises that some people thought weren't going to be there."
The teams that played each other all three times back in the day include a roster of Hall of Famers: Carlton and Mike Schmidt for the Phillies ('77, '78 and '83), Don Sutton for the Dodgers ('77 and '78), Joe Morgan and Tony Perez for the Phillies ('83) and Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda ('77, '78 and '83).
The non-Hall of Famers are a plethora of big names for both teams, too: For the Phils, there's Larry Bowa, now the third-base coach for the Dodgers ('77, 78); Pete Rose, the Major League's all-time hits leader ('83); and Bob Boone ('77 and '78). For the Dodgers, there's John ('77 and '78), Fernando Valenzuela ('83) and the infield of Steve Garvey, Dave Lopes and Ron Cey ('77 and '78) and Bill Russell ('77, '78 and '83). Lopes is now the first-base coach for the Phils.
And that doesn't include players like Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, Pedro Guerrero, Dusty Baker, Tug McGraw, Garry Maddox and Gary Matthews Sr.
"I have many fond memories of this rivalry," said Bill Giles, the Phils' chairman who's been with the team since 1969, but watched it even further back as a kid when his father, Warren, was president of the NL. "It goes all the way back to when they were in Brooklyn with [Don] Newcombe and [Robin] Roberts and all those guys."
There was the closing regular-season game in 1951 at Connie Mack Stadium in North Philly that the Dodgers just had to have to tie the Giants for the lead in the NL standings and force what was then a three-game playoff for the pennant.
The game went into extra innings, and Jackie Robinson proved to be the overwhelming difference. In the bottom of the 12th inning, the Phils loaded the bases with one out when Robinson dived for a soft liner to his right. Although he injured his elbow as he dived flat out for the catch, Robinson was able to turn it into an inning-ending double play.
For added measure, in the 14th, Robinson hit a home run to win the game, 5-4. The Dodgers, however, lost the three-game playoff to the Giants on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World" at the Polo Grounds in Game 3.
But it wasn't until that 1977 series that the Dodgers and Phils would play for anything serious again.
The teams split the first two games at Dodger Stadium and the Phils held a 5-3 lead at the Vet in the ninth inning of Game 3, with reliever Gene Garber on the mound and two outs.
What happened afterward is one of the greatest postseason collapses in Phillies history, and certainly the most controversial half-inning in the recent playoff rivalry between the two clubs.
Vic Davalillo pinch-hit and beat out a drag bunt. Manny Mota also pinch-hit and lifted a routine, very catchable fly toward the warning track in the left-field corner. It probably would have been caught if then-manager Danny Ozark had removed the lumbering Greg "The Bull" Luzinski and replaced him in left as usual with defensive wiz Jerry Martin.
"I never understood that," Bowa said. "All year long, Danny is taking Bull out for a defensive replacement late in the game. Wouldn't you know it? A fly ball goes out there that Martin just sucks up. If he's out there, we win the game."
It was a formidable mistake. Luzinski missed the ball, Mota had a double, Davalillo scored and Mota went to third when the relay throw skipped through second baseman Ted Sizemore for an error. It was now 5-4 with Lopes coming to the plate.
The next play was the season's pivotal one. Lopes smashed a grounder toward Schmidt at third, which apparently hit a seam on the artificial surface and kicked off Schmidt's glove. Bowa, at short, was right behind him in the hole to grab it with his bare hand, a remarkable heads-up play.
In one fluid motion, Bowa caught the ball and threw it to first baseman Richie Hebner. First-base umpire Bruce Froemming spread his arms wide to signal the speedy Lopes safe in a call that would be countered by every television replay angle. A huge argument ensued.
"I'll never forget that," Bowa said. "Man, Froemming anticipated that just because Schmidty didn't catch the ball, I couldn't throw Lopes out. I went crazy. That was the game. We win that game, we win the series."
As it turned out, the Dodgers won the game, 6-5, when Lopes went to second on Garber's errant pickoff throw and scored on Russell's single. A soggy John wrapped up the series the next night.
"I'll never forget the reaction Bowa made and the great throw he made. It was unbelievable," Giles said. "And the guy was out."
Claire said he thinks those Phillies who took part in that series should get over it after all these years.
"Well, maybe it's selective Philadelphia memory," he said. "For some reason what I remember most about the '77 series is Tommy John winning the final game in as much rain as I've ever sat through in a stadium in my entire life."
In the 1978 NLCS, the Phils lost the first two games to the Dodgers at home, and despite winning Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, they were never quite in that series.
Game 4 and the NLCS ended in the bottom of the 10th inning, when the usually unflappable Maddox dropped Baker's routine liner to center field just before Russell won it again with a two-out single.
And in 1983, it was the Dodgers who were never really in it despite splitting the first two games at Dodger Stadium. Back at the Vet, the Phils slammed the Dodgers, 7-2, in Games 3 and 4.
Matthews led the charge for the Phils, batting .429 (6-for-14) with three homers and eight RBIs. And Schmidt started it all with a first-inning Game 1 homer off Jerry Reuss that stood up, as Carlton outdueled Reuss in a 1-0 victory.
Now, these two teams can make some history again.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Dan Uggla Becomes the First Second Baseman in MLB History to Top 30 HRs Three Years in a Row
With a home run off Jamie Moyer that keyed a 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins second baseman and member of Supreme Protein's Team Supreme Dan Uggla carved himself a unique niche in the Major League Baseball all-time record book. The solo shot was Uggla's 30th of the season and established him as the only second baseman in MLB history to hit 30 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons.
Manasquan, NJ (Vocus/PRWEB ) October 7, 2009 -- Jackie Robinson never did it. Joe Morgan? Nope. Ryne Sandberg, Rogers Hornsby, Rod Carew? They're all second basemen enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and none of them have come close to a unique slugging mark achieved by Florida Marlins' second baseman Dan Uggla.
Batting in the second inning against Philadelphia Phillies' starter Jamie Moyer (whom Uggla has hit a meager .184 against in his career), the slugging second baseman jacked his 30th home run of the season, giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead in a game they would go on to win 3-0. More importantly, the dinger marked the third consecutive season that Uggla has surpassed the 30-homer threshold. No other second baseman (based on 100 or more starts at the position in each season) in baseball history has ever achieved such a remarkable feat.
The blast capped off another remarkable season for Uggla, who has become widely recognized by fans across the nation for his power-hitting prowess and by virtue of the increased visibility that has accompanied his promotional deal with elite protein bar manufacturer Supreme Protein. After hitting 31 home runs in 2007 and 32 in 2008, the sky appeared to be the limit for Uggla entering the 2009 season. Uggla however, got off to a slow start this year, mired in a slump that saw him struggle at the plate from Opening Day right through the end of June. Uggla overcame adversity with his teammates' support and returned to his power-hitting ways in the second half of the Marlins' season. His second-half tear resulted in a season in which he not only topped the 30-HR mark again, but also significantly reduced his strikeout total while drawing a career high in walks.
The record-setting second baseman, who attributes his strength and season-long stamina to an extensive workout program and a targeted dietary regimen anchored by Supreme Protein bars, his favorite muscle-building protein snack, also became the first Marlins player at any position to hit at least 30 home runs in three consecutive seasons. Remarkably, Uggla narrowly missed hitting 30 home runs in his rookie season, hitting 27 HRs in 2006, or 2009 would have marked an unprecedented fourth consecutive season of thirty or more.
"It's something to be proud of," Uggla has said of the record, "but I don't really know what to think of it or what to make of it right now."
(c) 1997-2009, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
History vs. Sox means nothing to Angels
ANAHEIM -- Torii Hunter doesn't believe in ghosts.
"I don't want to hear about the history and any so-called Red Sox jinxes and hexes," the Angels' center fielder and emotional leader said. "I wasn't here for any of that. I know we can play with those guys, and that's the way every guy on this team feels."
The Angels are going to the postseason for the third year in a row and ninth time in franchise history, and you know who is coming to see them.
It could only be the difficult, dangerous, supremely confident and inhospitable Red Sox, right?
"We think we're prepared for the postseason," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "I think our starting pitching lines up pretty well."
With the Halos' 5-2 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday night, Boston was handed the American League Wild Card berth and an AL Division Series showdown with the best of the West for the third year in a row.
No one has to remind the Angels how the other two turned out.
The Angels have won three consecutive AL West titles and five in six seasons, but they've won only one postseason series in five tries since their first World Series championship magically arrived in 2002, Scioscia's third year at the helm.
That one series triumph came in 2005 at the expense of the Yankees, who could be waiting in the AL Championship Series with their Major League-best record.
"You never know what might happen," Bobby Abreu, the ex-Yankees outfielder, said when asked if he'd like to see his old friends in October. "I like this team, how these guys play the game. It's been a great year here, the support I've gotten from everybody.
"I've really enjoyed playing here and helping the young guys. If I help them, they can help me get the ring I want so bad."
Unlike their pleasurable experiences against the Bronx Bombers, the Angels' October history with the Red Sox is decidedly and unhappily one-sided -- and troubling in no small measure to Angels fans.
Boston has knocked out Scioscia's troupe three times in the past five seasons, sweeping the Angels in 2004 and '07 and sending them packing in four games last season.
For longtime fans, there also is the harrowing memory of 1986. The Angels were poised to make their first World Series trip before the Red Sox rallied, improbably and dramatically, in Game 5 in Anaheim to send it back to Boston for a pair of wrenching defeats for Halos enthusiasts.
If you're keeping score -- and why would you unless you're a Red Sox fan? -- it's 13 postseason wins for Boston, four for the Angels on the grand stage of October.
The Angels are itching, as Hunter said, to make some history of their own, of a positive kind.
All they need to do, with home-field advantage, is win all their games in Angel Stadium. If they do that, it won't matter what happens in Fenway Park, where the horrors never seem to cease for the Angels.
They lashed out in a variety of directions after a 9-8 loss in Boston's famous yard on Sept. 16 during their most recent visit, feeling they'd had it stolen by several critical balls and strikes calls going to the Red Sox.
But the Angels rebounded the following night with a 4-3 win that, psychologically, might have been the most important of their season.
"We showed the dog I've been looking for in that game," Hunter said. "We came back and played good, smart baseball and beat a great pitcher, Josh Beckett. I think we really showed something, rebounding like that."
Beckett was forced out of his start at home on Monday night with upper back pain. The Red Sox indicated it wasn't serious, but it certainly has to be cause for some concern, if not alarm.
The Angels expect to see Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched superbly against them in a win on Sept. 15 after missing almost three months.
Lester, recovering from a line drive off the right knee by the Yankees' Melky Cabrera on Friday night, is scheduled to return to the mound on Thursday. The southpaw could be manager Terry Francona's choice to open the ALDS at Angel Stadium.
Switch-hitting Maicer Izturis figures to play second base against the right-handers, with Howard Kendrick starting against Lester.
"We'd love to go in there and beat those guys," Kendrick said. "We'll have two games at home, so hopefully we can get those and head into Boston."
John Lackey, the voice of experience, emphasized that the past has nothing to do with today.
"It's a new year," the right-handed ace said. "We both have lots of new players. You can't let one year carry over to the next."
No matter who's on the mound, or where the game is played, Hunter wants his buddies to play with fire and passion, from the heart -- and without fear of failure.
"Play the same way you have all season," Hunter said. "Play the game, have fun. Don't change a thing because it's the Red Sox or the Yankees. Play nervous, you're going to make mistakes."
Play free of burdens, the man is saying, and it might just set you free.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Mark Reynolds whiffs way into history for second straight year
Another of the milestones we were tracking was passed on Tuesday night.
But unlike Ichiro topping Wee Willie Keeler or Derek Jeter taking down Lou Gehrig, Mark Reynolds(notes) broke the record no ballplayer wants to break.
And the Arizona third baseman broke it for the second year in a row, no less.
With a fourth-inning strikeout against San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner(notes), Reynolds did the walk of shame back to the dugout for the 205th time this season, surpassing the MLB-record 204 whiffs he set in 2008.
Reynolds struck out three times on the night to reach 206, but he also recorded his 100th RBI of the season, continuing an offensive output -- he also has 43 home runs in 2009 -- that make all those misses a lot easier to take.
But despite his insistence to our own Tim Brown that he keeps the Ks in a proper perspective, he didn't appear too eager to talk about the new record after the game.
From the Arizona Republic:
Reynolds said getting 100 RBIs was a goal he was proud to reach, but when asked if it helped to temper his disappointment over back-to-back 200-plus strikeout seasons, he quickly appeared irritated.
"So what?" he said. " . . . So what?"
Arizona manager A.J. Hinch believes the record "bothers (Reynolds) more than he likes to portray," but Hinch remains pleased as a manager because of Reynolds' production. After all, Reynolds wouldn't have been sent to the plate as many times to reach that record if he weren't getting the job done when connecting with the ball.
Still, it's nice to see that Reynolds is at least a little bit irked by making headlines for another year. The strikeouts may be offset by his numbers, but those numbers will go higher if the punchouts go lower. Given that Reynolds is just 26 years old and on the path to being a big star, such a reduction is something to definitely work toward.
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