Posted on 09/29/2007 7:41:34 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- On the next-to-last day of the regular season, the Cleveland Indians absorbed a postseason setback.
Joey Gathright singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth, lifting the Kansas City Royals over Cleveland 4-3 Saturday night and ending the Indians' hope of getting home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs.
The Indians already had clinched the AL Central title and were set to play the New York Yankees in the first round.
Cleveland's loss gave AL East champion Boston the home field. The Red Sox were to pick later Saturday night whether they wanted to open against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday or Thursday.
If the Indians start Wednesday, it would have enabled 19-game winners C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona to get two starts each in the five-game series against the Yankees.
Cleveland and Boston went into the final two games tied with 95-65 records. But the Red Sox, who own the tiebreaker over the Indians, beat Minnesota 6-4 earlier Saturday for their 96th win. ...
The road to the World Series goes through Fenway Park...
Check out all the Kennedy voters.
The Red Sox can now rest everyone up tomorrow, with nothing left to play for.
Place me on the ping list please. :-)
Done.
BOSTON — The Red Sox erased another October question mark in the season’s penultimate game. Red-hot J.D. Drew made the emphatic statement on Saturday night, carrying Boston to a 6-4 victory over the Twins.
The win, coupled with the Indians’ loss to the Royals, gives the Red Sox home-field advantage for the entire postseason.
Drew entered the day on a seven-game RBI streak, which looked unsustainable when each of his first three plate appearances came without runners on base. Boston’s offense struggled for six listless innings against Minnesota starter Carlos Silva a night after clinching the American League East title.
The Red Sox first showed signs of life in the fourth. Drew hit a leadoff triple and Kevin Youkilis, who has battled right wrist pain since getting hit by a Chien-Ming Wang fastball on Sept. 15, cracked a high double to deep center, scoring Drew.
A sixth-inning Mike Lowell homer pulled the Red Sox within two runs and Silva left before the seventh. That set the stage for Drew, who entered with a .441 on-base percentage and a .542 slugging percentage this month, second only to David Ortiz among Red Sox regulars. After Coco Crisp and Alex Cora each singled with one out, and Lowell drove in Crisp, Drew blasted a 3-2 fastball into the right-field bleachers.
Boston starter Tim Wakefield, who had struggled since returning from back trouble, pitched seven strong innings, allowing just three earned runs.
courtesy: Red Steel via MLB.com
Countdown to Yankee pinstripe trolls posting their spam 5...4...3...2...1
Yankees had a damned good year and really pulled it together. If they hadn’t sucked ass the first two months of the year they win the division by 10 games. They win the division if they could beat the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
That’s baseball though....
See post #2....not a Yankee fan but someone who needs to bash sports teams that he doesn’t root for like a whiny little boy.
The Red Sox have notified MLB that they want to start on Wednesday instead of Thursday, known as Series B. The Red Sox will now have the option of sending out Beckett and Schilling/DiceK for two starts (I’m guessing Schill as our Game 2 starter). Similarly, the Yanks will face Game 2 starter Carmona only once.
This team has better pitching than the 2004 team.
Also, as crazy as it sounds, David Ortiz is far more fearsome right now than he was this time in 2004 (1.365 OPS vs. 1.008 OPS). He’s getting on base practically every time up, getting a ton of hits and hitting doubles or homers when he gets hits. Manny, Ortiz, Lowell, and Drew is far tougher for pitchers to face in October than Ortiz, Manny, Millar, and Tek.
I am so happy that the Red Sox are in the postseason..especially for Sen. John Kerry (D-France)..now he can watch his favorite Red Sox players like Steve Grogan and Sam Cunningham beat those hated New York Knicks..
I agree. Drew’s bat is coming alive. I hope it lives through October. Dice K found his second wind...in yesterday’s game, he threw his hardest in the 7th and 8th inning, clocking in at 95mph+.
The line ups are going to be interesting. Who bats first? Pedroia has stopped drawing walks and Youk has been a very marginal hitter the past 3 months. Both of these guys fancy themselves as home run hitters with the way they try to hit balls in the air. Lugo is an easy out and Crisp reminds me of Willie Mays Hayes from Major League with his tendancy to hit pop ups. I think that Ellsbury needs to bat lead off since he’s better than Crisp at the plate and far more of a guy who makes things happen. His bat is quicker and he can put balls in play the other way. Francona won’t bench Crisp even though Ellsbury is the better option.
Yawn Kerry was always a “Manny” Big Poppy Ortiz fan.
Did you know Kerry was the 1968 Cambodian batting champion?
Psssst...Yankees, quit babying the Chambermaid let him pitch.
I am sorry..but you have been listening to the Swift Boat liars..Kerry was NOT the 1968 Cambodian batting champion..that was Jinghis Khan...Kerry was a pitcher..his best season was in Washington when he threw someone else's medals at the congress claiming it was his..I believe that is a balk..
Pettite didn’t look so hot tonight which has to be a bit troubling for the Yanks. He has 2 quality starts out of his last six. Combine that with Roger’s 45 year old carcass and Mussina’s collapse that’s a lot of question marks.
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