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Being Wrong Never Felt So Rightby Andy on October 8 at 1:49PM | comments (0)
[ comments (0) ] [ BallHype ] So as Cameron has all too joyfully pointed out, that pre-series prediction was a big swing and a miss. Then again, despite what John Lackey and Torii Hunter want you to believe, this was not an upset, and quite frankly I feel ridiculous making that prediction.Consider the following: 1. The Red Sox were 1st in the majors in OBP. The Angels were 18th. 2. The Red Sox were 3rd in the majors in slugging percentage. Again, the Angels were 18th. 3. The Red Sox were 1st in the American League in run differential (+151), by a wide margin. The Angels were sixth in the AL. 4. The pitching numbers were, more or less a wash (LAA: 3.99 ERA, 1.32 WHIP vs. Boston’s 4.01 ERA, 1.33 WHIP). The Sox pitching staff does walk a hell of a lot more batters than the Angels do, but that’s negated by the fact, as brilliant blogger Joe Posnanski pointed out, that the Angels are not the type of team to work the count, and that seriously inhibited their offensive production. So in conclusion, my predictions are utterly worthless. As for Monday night’s game, the crowd was electric for the whole night, standing and hollering for every two-out, two-strike delivery. When Hunter delivered the game-tying single in the 8th, it was like a balloon being pricked with a thumbtack. And it pretty much stayed that way, at least near where I was, until the failed suicide squeeze, when it immediately returned to its previous level. And truly, there is nothing like being in the park for a walk-off, series-clinching win. I do feel that Cameron was a bit hard on Masterson – he pitched in every game of the series, going at least one inning in all of those appearances (although I don’t think there was any reason for him to come out to start the ninth, if you’re planning on going to Delcarmen anyways). Still, I still believe young Justin will be just fine going forth into Tampa. |
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