MLB Playoffs

[oddball]

Has anyone been on a great team that had to make a great comeback to stay alive, only to get beat the next game and be eliminated because you exhausted yourself to just win that one game? I know I have, and I wonder if Boston used everything it had just to win game 5 and if they have anything left for game 6.

But baseball's not really an exhausting game. Physically, hitting a Home Run isn't any more exhausting than hitting a ball to the rightfielder, aside from the extra trot around the bases. Mentally, I don't know -- but if that's an issue, they would've had a mental let down in their two World Series wins as opposed to two sweeps.

I think the experience this team has in situations where they've been down kind of makes the mental aspect of what they're trying to do right now a non-issue. Helps having a manager who's 8-1 all-time in elimination games.

Physically exhausting? No not really? Mentally? You can say it's not, but I don't know. I don't place too much emphaisis on what a team did last year or whenever in the past. If experience had anything to do with it Tampa wouldn't have won the division and wouldn't be up 3-2 right now. They are playing a different team, and the manager is 8-1 because his players came through, not because of him. You can have the perfect game plan, but if the players don't execute, you look like an idiot. So Terry Francona is a good manager and 8-1 in elimination games because of his players, not the other way around. Not once do these players look at him and say, "I'm glad we have him, because he's 8-1 in elimination games." They look out on the field and either love the player for making a great play or hate him when he screws up. Don't tell me they don't because they do. You can be the greatest teammate in the world but when you see someone screw up, you're ticked at him.

[infrared41]

We might be on the same page here, just a few things. I don't think that first statement is quite true. A 7 run lead is a 7 run lead anywhere. Second, it's 100% true anything can happen in baseball. And the Sox were vastly underperforming, yes. But you say if they did the same comeback in the 4th inning to start with we wouldn't be saying this, well yes but that's the whole point because it was the 7th. at this point they are getting 2-hit and h\are losing by 7 runs with 9 outs left and have not shown any signs of performing at their usual level for the last 26 innings. This is basically a matter of having confidence that they will snap back, in a sense, at this particular time. If the Red Sox were playing a 20-game series with the Rays I would agree, baseball regresses to the mean and at some point in the series they would play at a normal level. However, the playoffs are such a short period of time there isn't much regression. A player or team hits a 3-game funk all of a sudden, like what happens in the regular season, and all of a sudden they're done, and there's no more time to come back. That's why the playoffs are such a crapshoot, and fun to watch. But you point being that eventually they had a good chance of coming back is wrong I think because they had to turn it around in the middle of a game, had only 9 outs to do so (a miniscule timeframe), and even if a team gets on fire there is still a really low chance of scoring 7 (or 8) runs in any given 9 outs. I never said it was impossible but even given the difference in play they were almost due for because of the previous 26 innings, the odds were still so low that I would still call you crazy if you even partly saw this coming. And no, because of this, I don't think faith has anything to do with this (although I don't quite grasp the meaning of your last sentence).

Does that clear anything up at all?

1. Due to the size of the park, the nature of the team and the fans, and past performance by this team in playoff and big game settings, a 7 run lead in Fenway isn't like a 7 run lead anywhere else. Even if you take out the intangibles I mentioned, it's still a different game at Fenway. For example, a routine fly ball to left anywhere else can easily become a home run at Fenway. Does the name Bucky Dent ring any bells? Like a day where the wind is blowing out at Wrigley, Fenway also has the capability to turn 7 run deficits into one run wins.

2. Other than the added "drama", the point at where the hits "happened" are of no consequence. The Rays' 7 runs don't count for less because they happened early. Example, it was no "easier" for B.J. Upton to hit a 2 run homer simply because the team had yet to make an out in the game. If anything, it may have been more difficult because the pitcher was still "fresh." The fact that The Red Sox had performed at less then "their usual" level is all the more reason to think that they were "due."

Go back over the entire season and find any point where The Red Sox got their asses kicked at home for three straight games. It may have happened but I seriously doubt it. But that's beside the point.They were getting 2 hit by Scott Kazmir. Clearly The Rays bullpen did not perform at the same level Kazmir had. Again the amount of outs left had nothing to do with it. The fact that The Sox had a great deal of trouble with one pitcher and no trouble with the others did.

3. No, my point was not wrong as Game 5 easily proves. You act like what happened was some sort of miracle. Here's what I saw. 7th inning: One pitcher had The Red Sox tied in knots. That pitcher leaves the game. New pitcher comes in. A double, a couple of fly balls, a single, an rbi single, a 3 run homer by one of the top power hitters in the game. 4 runs scored. What's so miraculous about that? Did any of the players involved do something that aren't normally capable of doing? No. Was that some sort of unusual inning? No. It was a very typical Red Sox big inning. 7-4 Rays

8th inning: Lead off walk. (look up how often lead off walks cause problems) Another decent power hitter homers. 7-6 Rays. OK what's so unusual at this point? J.D Drew hitting a home run isn't completely out of the ordinary is it? Next, a K followed by a double. A Mark Kotsay double is some sort of miracle? Hardly. Coco Crisp hits a single and we have a tie game. So we've got a couple of contact hitters doing what they do and a run scores. No miracle, just two guys doing what they do around 20% of the time. Where's the big miracle you're talking about? So far all I've seen is a baseball team doing exactly what it did all season long. The timing the events is certainly more fun and more dramatic but at this point they have done exactly nothing that I would call surprising.

9th inning: Two quick outs. An infield single then an error. (look up how often errors lead to trouble. Even Tim McCarver knows you never give a team extra outs.) Runner in scoring position. Intentional walk followed by a single that scores the game winning run. Three innings and I've yet to see anything that I would label "unusual." Maybe the Longoria error because he's a solid fielder but otherwise I just watched a team perform at their usual level and win a ball game. They used the same number of outs to get there that they would have if the exact scenario had happened in innings 1 through 3.

And that my young friend is why I have been saying all along that I'll believe The Red Sox are finished when The Rays record out number 27 in their fourth win in the series. There was nothing miraculous about game 5. I just know your team better than you do.

[infrared41]

Double post. Hit reply instead of edit. Sorry.

[Still MIGHTY]

I turned on the T.V. to TBS and all I got was America's Funniest TV Bloopers and now I have the Steve Harvey show... No game...

Anybody else?

[tp49]

Am I the only one having this issue? Turned on TBS to watch the game (supposed to start at 5 PM here) but instead of the game they're showing The Steve Harvey Show. WTF! I want to watch the game.

[Still MIGHTY]

Am I the only one having this issue? Turned on TBS to watch the game (supposed to start at 5 PM here) but instead of the game they're showing The Steve Harvey Show. WTF! I want to watch the game.

Yeah Me too... WTF?

I see you're in Sacto... I wonder if it's just California?

Anybody?

[Brass]

The Steve Harvey Show instead of Game Six of the ALCS?

This is literally a blackout....

[robbman21]

YES!!!! I came to this thread just to check on that...didn't see it...then hit "refresh" and now four straight posts with that issue. I thought it was my region (N.Louisiana) but I see the two above me are Californians.

[Still MIGHTY]

ing TBS!

Don't let them have baseball... ever again...

Did they forget Game 6 was on?

[tp49]

They just flashed a technical difficulties graphic on the screen. I tried calling their comment line in Atlanta and it's solid busy.

Could they at least find something better to show than Steve Harvey while we wait?

[Still MIGHTY]

"We are experiencing technical difficulties..."

What the eff?

[NJTank]

MLB on TBS is a DISASTER

[robbman21]

My program guide/menu shows it as being on....but nothing. I'm with Comcast but it's the HD package...BOTH my HD TBS AND regular TBS have Steve F'N Harvey. Will this go down as Jets/Raiders Heidi infamy??

[NJTank]

Could TBS find anything worse to show?

[Still MIGHTY]

Apparently there is a power outage in the Atlanta area from what I could find out... So TBS's studios and their feed are down... !!!!

[tp49]

My program guide/menu shows it as being on....but nothing. I'm with Comcast but it's the HD package...BOTH my HD TBS AND regular TBS have Steve F'N Harvey. Will this go down as Jets/Raiders Heidi infamy??

Funny you mention that since I'm going to the Jets Raiders game tomorrow. The problem is TBS who should have stuck to doing Braves games only.

[Still MIGHTY]

Apparently Sox go down 1-2-3 in the first...

On to the bottom of the 1st

[MilkCookies]

Hopefully TBS can get the game on the air soon. I wish they'd show more Bloopers rather than Steve Harvey in the interim (anyone see the blooper with the butter? That one's gross).

[infrared41]

Could TBS find anything worse to show?

I don't know, do they still have the rights to Gilligan's Island? What a -ing bush league network. Wouldn't it be better to put up some sort of studio show that could update us on what the hell is going on? No score in the first for anyone who might be interested...it is the Steve Harvey show after all. -ing idiots.

[Still MIGHTY]

You can watch the game via TBS HotCorner on TBS.com

Or there is radio

or ESPN Gamecast...

This is LAME!