Image taken from Google Images

For the second straight season, the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays to advance to the ALCS.  For the second straight season, their success was largely based on recent player acquisitions.

In 2010, Rangers GM Jon Daniels made several key moves in both the offseason and prior to the trade deadline, including the additions of Colby Lewis, Bengie Molina, Jeff Francoeur, and the biggest splash, Cliff Lee.  Lee and Lewis earned wins in five of Texas’ eight total postseason victories, and Molina and Francoeur had big hits that led to the club’s first ever American League pennant.

Despite the Rangers’ well-publicized failure to retain Lee for 2011 and beyond, the front office remained vigilant.  Daniels resisted the temptation to shell out the nine figures necessary to lure Carl Crawford to his home state, and opted to sign Adrian Beltre away from Boston for $85 million.  When an opportunity arose to jump in on a three way deal with the Angels and Blue Jays, Daniels pounced, landing Mike Napoli in exchange for reliever Frank Francisco.

While Napoli’s addition gave the offense a boost, the loss of Francisco, combined with the transition of Alexi Ogando from set up man to starter left a large hole in the bullpen.  Daniels responded.  The Rangers dealt for two of the top relief options available in Mike Adams and Koji Uehara in July.  Seemingly never satisfied, Daniels didn’t stop there, and dealt for lefty-specialist and former closer Mike Gonzalez.

Fast forward to the 2011 ALDS.  Napoli and Beltre hit six of the team’s eight total home runs and propelled Texas past Tampa Bay by razor thin margins.  The added bullpen depth gave Ron Washington favorable matchups to work with, and Texas held off the Comeback Kids.

It’s easy to look ahead to next year and expect the Rangers to once again have a good team.  It’s easy to wonder what will happen to them if C.J. Wilson departs as a free agent.  It’s also easy to imagine that the front office will respond accordingly, and make the right moves to send the Rangers deep into October again in 2012.  After all, possibly the best acquisition they have ever made was not a player.  The best move in franchise history may have been the chance they took in signing a young and inexperienced general manager named Jon Daniels.

Photo taken from Google Images

With Cole Hamels on the mound Tuesday night, I bet you couldn’t keep your eyes off the little blue batter’s box on TBS with a teeny pitch count above it. We watched Hamels’ pitch count climb higher and higher, while Garcia finished his innings quicker than a trip to the bathroom.

By the third inning it was clear that Hamels was struggling.

Then Rich Dubee made some funny comments. Dubee praised Hamels for his poise and presence on the mound, the velocity on his fastball and the movement on his pitches. Were we watching the same game?

Wait a minute. Let’s think about this for a second. Maybe Hamels deserves the praise. He faced a very dangerous Cardinals team who showed us exactly why they have the best offense in the league. Yes, Hamels threw a lot of pitches, but that was his only choice against a patient Cardinals squad. I mean, look at what happened to Halladay and Lee when they left pitches over the plate, giving up 8 runs between the two of them.

Hamels explained his approach perfectly. “I was trying to make pitches and just keep them down. If I missed, I knew I got another opportunity. If you’re making your mistakes up in the zone, you’re pretty much going to pay for it really bad. But if they’re down, you give yourself probably a better opportunity to get out of the inning.”

You have two choices against an offense like the St. Louis Cardinals. You keep working the corners and watch your pitch count rise or you start creeping toward the middle of the plate and meet the same fate as Hamels’ opponent. Garcia made one mistake and it lost him the game. Hamels made none and wound up the victor.

“I knew that every pitch mattered,” he said. “Every inning mattered. They had a great pitcher on the mound . . . We were 1-1 in the series . . . We’re not in our home park anymore. You definitely focus and try to dig deep.”

Yet his performance has already been gone and forgotten. Go to philly.com and phillies.com and you will see what I mean. Only one article on philly.com about Hamels and none on Phillies.com. In fact, Cole Hamels name was mentioned exactly 4 times in three Game 3 articles on phillies.com. He has the second lowest ERA (1.81) in Division Series history and became the winningest pitcher in Phillies postseason history, yet he had a GRAND TOTAL OF 4 MENTIONS.

A World Series ring and 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP honors didn’t get Hamels noticed and neither did 4 postseason wins in 2008, 7 postseason wins overall, a 2.65 postseason ERA since 2007, or 6 shutout innings last night.

The question is, how many championships will it take before Hamels gets the respect he deserves?

Image taken from Zimbio

When did Michael Stutes all of a sudden become Adam Eaton?

Michael Stutes had one bad month in August and all of a sudden everyone is ready to toss him aside like yesterday’s sports page.

This weekend I heard two reporters (David Murphy and some other guy) agree that essentially Stutes is no more than a last resort or a “mop-up” guy.

Chris Coste said he would have chosen Herndon over Stutes for the final NLDS roster spot. Herndon?! David Herndon?! Admittedly, Herndon’s ERA (3.32) is better than Stutes (3.63), but c’mon! Tell me he hasn’t fallen that far?

Stutes ran into some big time struggles in August, surrendering eight runs in 12.1 innings and an 5.84 ERA for the month. But that was a month ago. Stutes bounced back with a 3.00 ERA in September and seemed to regain his form, but it apparently didn’t put him in favor of the Phillies media.

In some ways, you might say there is reason to have MORE confidence in Stutes, not less. In The Mental ABC’s of Pitching the author writes, “If you want to know who I am, watch me when things aren’t going my way.” Things clearly weren’t going his way in August. But Stutes’ ERA in September ranked 2nd out of his five full months and it was his third best month in BB/9, K/9, and WHIP. Stutes struggled for the first time in his young big league career and survived to find the light at the end of the tunnel. That speaks volumes to the character of Michael Stutes!

Maybe this argument would have been better BEFORE he gave up three runs in a third of an inning in Game 1 of the NLDS, but Stutes does not belong in the back of the bus just yet. You can argue that Madson, Bastardo, Lidge, Worley, and even Kendrick all belong ahead of Stutes, but just not Herndon.

Day One!

Photo of Phillies Ace Roy Halladay by Icon SMI

After six games played (4 in the AL and 2 in the NL) we have seen the second No-hitter in playoff history (the last one was 54 years ago by Don Larson) by the Phillies Ace Roy “Doc” Halladay over the Reds in game one. The second game of this series is playing tonight at 6pm (EST) on TBS.

Before that game, Rangers Ace Cliff Lee pitched seven strong innings only allowing one run off a Ben Zobrist HR with one out in the seventh inning. He also struck out 10 Rays batters! The Rangers went on to win the game 5-1.

In the nightcap that day (Wednesday, October 6th) neither Yankees Ace CC Sabathia (an AL Cy Young Award candidate with his 21-7 record) nor Francisco Liriano (AL comeback player of the year) pitched too well, each giving up four earned runs. The Yankkes won that game 6-4.

Day Two!

The first game of the day saw Ranger 2009 closer CJ Wilson pitch 6.1 scoreless innings against the AL East Champion Rays in a 6-0 victory to take a 2 games to none lead in the series. Wilson struck out 7 Rays in his outing!

In the Middle game of the day (last night: Thursday, October 7th) 38 year old Yankees pitcher won his 19th playoff game of his career with seven strong innings only allowing two runs. The Yankees now lead that series 2 games to none*. They move this series onto New York for games three and four (if needed).

*only the New York Yankees of earlier this decade (either 2000 or 2001) have lost the first two games at home in the division series AND came back to win the next three games and move onto the League Championship Series.

Photo of Giants Ace Tim Lincecum by Icon SMI

In last night’s game we saw the Braves veteran (and 2004 Red Sox playoff hero**) Derek Lowe take on the Giants Ace Tim “the Freak” Lincencum. Lowe pitched well going 5.1 innings and allowing just one run while striking out 6 it just wasn’t enough to beat “The Freak”. Lincecum threw a complete game 2 hitter AND, if that wasn’t enough, set a Giants playoff record by stricking out 14 Braves! The second game of this series is playing tonight at 9:30pm (EST) on TBS.

To recap, that’s 3 shutouts, 1 one run game and 1 two run game thrown by the 6 starters so far. Most of the bullpens, except for maybe the Twins, have been almost as good as the starters.

This is what October baseball is all about if you ask me!

Major League Baseball’s “Year of the Pitcher” has a new defining moment following Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opening game of the 2010 National League playoffs.

In his first-ever post season appearance, Halladay enters some heady company as he joins Don Larsen as the only pitchers in major league history to toss a post season no-hitter. In addition, he became the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1973, and the fourth ever, to toss two no-hitters in the same season.

After winning 148 games while toiling away for a decade on a perennial second division team in Toronto, this season Halladay showed that he could also have success on a winner. After being traded to the Phillies in the off-season, Halladay won 21 games in the regular season to help lift Philadelphia to their fourth straight Eastern Division title.

Even though Halladay was facing the best offensive team in the National League in his playoff debut, there was little surprise when he started the game by mowing down the Cincinnati hitters.

He was perfect until surrendering a two-out walk to Jay Bruce in the fifth inning. However, he quickly regrouped and continued to mow down hitter after hitter.

Many no-hitters have at least one signature defensive play to save the no-no, but Halladay was so dominant that the only close call was the last play of the game when Brandon Phillips tapped the ball in front of the plate and Carlos Ruiz briefly stumbled before firing the ball to Ryan Howard to end the game.

Halladay’s second no-hitter of the season is the sixth in Major League baseball in 2010. That is the highest single season total since 1991 when there were seven no-hitters. In fact, during the height of the steroid era from 2000 through 2003, there were only six no-hitters during a four-year stretch.

Though the playoffs are only hours old, it will be hard for another moment to eclipse Halladay’s no-no as the most memorable moment of the 2010 post season.

Of course, for Halladay, the post season won’t be complete unless he and the Phillies are bathing in champagne when the World Series ends in early November.

I now see that it is much easier doing one of these with at least one more person like on the BBA Baseball Talk podcasts or online with the guys over at Pro Rumors TV.

Either way, I hope you enjoy this & I’ll work on improving this as I do more of these solo webcasts thanks to my new laptop with the built in webcam!

So without further ado, on with the webcast…

Sorry for the delay…we have some technical difficulties with YouTube earlier that had to wait until I got home from work. I went 2:05 over the allowed 15 minute time frame.

American & National League Divisional Series Preview/Predictions from Peter Schiller on Vimeo.

This 17 minute webcast (my first) is my American & National League Divisional Series Preview/Predictions.

Please let me know if you think it is too long.
Thanks!

As an aside, I had the privilege of reading a recent post by our Yankees writer Lisa Swan over at The Faster Times

Of the ten teams to have a winning percentage above .700 in the last month of the regular season, firing on all cylinders, only one of them – the 2007 Rockies – even made it to the World Series, where they were swept by the Red Sox. And just four of the hottest teams down the stretch even advanced past the first round of the playoffs in those years:

Six playoff teams had sub-.500 records down the stretch, stumbling into October. Yet four of them made it to the World Series, and two won it:

To read the rest of her article click on the article’s title, “MLB Teams That Sizzle in September Often Fizzle in October“.

Now onto my predictions:

ALDS

Twins vs. Yankees: Despite being one of the hottest teams in baseball down the stretch, the Twins, in my humble opinion, just don’t have the starting pitching to compete with the Yankees ferocious offense and without former MVP Justin Morneau at 1B and more importantly, in the offense, I just don’t see them giving the Yankkes much trouble at all. Yankees in 4 (out of 5). Although the Yankees may sweep.

Angels vs. Red Sox: Despite being the best hitting team in baseball as far as batting average goes, the Angels, like the Twins, just don’t have the pitching to out duel the Red Sox. Sure they have a lot of base stealers on this team, but a power pitching team like the Red Sox might be able to keep them off the bases for the most part. The Angels also have home field advantage and the intangibles that are the Nick Adenhart tragedy and their past history of falling to the Red Sox in the post season to motivate them, but I still see them falling to the Red Sox. Red Sox in 4.

NLDS

Dodgers vs. Cardinals: A clash of the managerial titans! Torre vs. LaRussa, pitching vs. pitching, Manny vs. Pujols, etc. As much as I’d like to see LaRussa’s team get eliminated, I think they are just stronger and healthier especially in the starting rotation as the Dodgers’ Kuroda is not slated to start games 1, 2 or 3 and Billingsley hasn’t looked like his old self since his return from injury and neither has Kershaw, but they’re both young enough to surprise. Still, I’ll take the Cardinals in 5.

Rockies vs. Phillies: I honestly do not see the Rockies giving the Phillies much of a run in this one even though the Phillies pitching is in question. The Rockies just don’t seem to have enough power to compete especially in games played in these two stadiums! The Rockies also do not impress me with their rotation. I’ll take the Phillies in 4. Although the Phillies may also sweep.

Meanwhile, it looks as if overworking CC Sabathia finally caught up to the Brewers this weekend as he didn’t even last 4 complete innings this weekend. I wonder how former Brewer’s manager Ned Yost is feeling today? After non being in the playoffs since 1982, the team formerly owned by Commissioner Bud Selig have been eliminated in the first round by the Phillies. Will Robin Yount be their manager in 2009? To hear the outcry from Milwaukee, please check out Brewers Bar who have an easy going approach to the end of their team’s playoff push as written HERE and Brew Crew Ball was pretty laid back, too; check it out HERE .

Both NL Central teams are out if it early!

Both the White Sox and the Angels have stayed alive for one more game as both teams won their game 3′s against the Rays and the Red Sox. I still think that the ALCS will be an AL East rematch for the pennant between the Red Sox and the Rays. It should be a great series. The Sox should win tonight with Lester going against Lackey, but the Rays might have to go to 5 with Sonnanstine going against Floyd this afternoon. We’ll just have to wait and see…

Behind the arm of Ace Cole Hammels andd the bat of 2B Chase Utley, with a little help from a Brewers error, the Phillies took game one. In game two, will CC Sabathia be too tired to pitch deep into this game after pitching on short rest 4 starts in a row? If history is to repeat itself, then the Brewers should have looked at last year’s ALCS where CC looked wornout against the Red Sox in his two games. Only time will tell.

Dodgers vs. Cubs

Dempster looked good until the 5th inning when he topped 100 pitches, the same inning where 1B James Loney launched a game winning grand slam to secure game one for the Dodgers as Derek Lowe gets the win. Big Z is up against Billingsley in game two and my gut tells me that even though the Cubs have lost 10 playoff series after losing game one, this isn’t your average Cubs team. I think that Big Z comes up real big in game 2 to tie the series.

Red Sox vs. Angels

The Sox continue to dominate the halos in the post season. Surviving cancer patient Jon Lester is looking like potential ace status as he closed the door after a mildly rough 1st inning where he allowed a run to score. He pitched 7 innings and recorded 7 K’s, then rookie Justin Masterson pitched the 8th and closer Jonathan Papelbon struck out 3 of the 4 he faced to get the save. Big night at the bat came from rookie Jacoby Ellsbury (3 hits, 2 SB and a great diving catch in the 8th), and Jason Bay (aquired in the Manny Ramirez trade at the deadline) who hit the game winner, a HR to LF. One other key note was Vlad Guerrero’s base running blunder in the 8th. Vlad was on 1B when a bloop single was hit just past the diving reach of 1B Kevin Youkilis who threw out the hoppling Vlad (DH) as he, in true Angel aggressive base running style, tried to make it to 3B and was thrown out! Just about killing any chance of an Angel rally. It’s hard to say if it was just a bad base running decision or a great play by Youkilis, but in reality, it was probably a little of both. Matsuzaka goes against E. Santana tomorrow night. Edge, Red Sox as Matsuzaka has been lights out on the road this year and has walked fewer batters of late.

Rays vs. White Sox Game 1 Tonight

Shields pitches against Vasquez tonight in game one. Edge goes to the Rays due to the pitching match up and the exhaustion factor the Sox have to be facing with those two extra and stress filled games played against the Tigers and Twins just to make it to the ALDS. Focus on the Rays pitching to outduel the White Sox and Griffey Jr. to shine in the first playoff series he’s been in for quite some time. Other players to watch in this series are the rookies Evan Longoria, the Rays 3B and Alexei Ramirez, middle infielder for the Soxwhose grand slam against the Tigers got them to the duel against the Twins. My pick in this series is the Rays. The fairytale will continue…