Longoria in short company

Evan Longoria's bust-out against the White Sox got me thinking: has anyone else homered in their first two MLB postseason at bats? The answer is yes, just one: Gary Gaetti. Here's guessing that Longoria has the better career between the two third sackers.

Friday predictions

Only two games on the docket for Friday, and I'm probably only going to see half of each. Oh well, here goes:

Chicago White Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays
Buehrle (15-12, 3.79) vs. Kazmir (12-8, 3.49)

-Mark Buehrle's really done a good job on righties the past couple of seasons, and that's helped him against Evan Longoria (0-6 vs. Buehrle). The Rays, however, have a number of players with robust numbers against the White Sox left hander, including Carlos Pena's .500 mark. The Rays will hope he can get back in the lineup after scratching his eye in Thursday's opener. Buehrle didn't have much success against the Rays, going 0-1 with a 4.58 ERA in three starts.

He'll meet hard-throwing lefty Scott Kazmir, who struggled in two of his last three outings. Kazmir, however, had the better year between the two pitchers, and he's dominant at home. Kazmir won eight of his 12 games at the Trop, and held opposing hitters to a .197 average. The White Sox will stack righties against him as Kazmir served up 22 of his 23 home runs to right handed hitters. Expect Nick Swisher to take one outfield spot, and perhaps Brian Anderson to start in center over Ken Griffey Junior. Expect the Rays to win, too. Kazmir is too tough at home, and the White Sox looked sloppy fielding in the dome on Thursday.

Boston Red Sox @ Los Angeles Angels
Matsuzaka (18-3, 2.90) vs. Santana (16-7, 3.49)

-Boston always beats Los Angeles, but not when Daisuke Matsuzaka's pitching. In his only meeting with the Angles this year, the BoSox ace gave up six runs in five innings to pick up the loss. Matsuzaka was cruising, however, until giving up five earned runs in the sixth inning.

Quick, who was the best pitcher in baseball named Santana this year? You might be surprised to learn that Ervin Santana matched or exceeded Johan Santana in several categories this year. The two had identical records (16-7), Ervin struck out more batters in fewer innings the Johan, and Ervin also owned the better WHIP at 1.12 to 1.15 for Johan. Then again, he wasn't better at keeping those runners from scoring, as Johan's ERA ended up almost a full point lower. The point is, the Angels young right hander came into his own in 2008, or came into conversations with the game's elite, which is incredibly good. Where he struggled, however, was in pressure situations. With runners in scoring position, Santana's ERA soared to 8.29. He's even worse in the clutch, posting an ERA of 19.68 with RISP and two out. Here's guessing that a potent Red Sox lineup is just too much. Boston takes game two, but it's a close one. Matsuzaka will enjoy his revenge.

Thursday picks revisited

Winning two of three is pretty good in baseball, so I should be happy with calling the Dodgers and Phillies wins on Thursday while misfiring on the Rays' 6-4 win over the White Sox.

After writing that Javier Vazquez would outperform a rusty Rays offense, I read in the paper that Vazquez's 16 losses were second most in baseball history for a pitcher throwing game one of a series. I should've remembered how poor his September went, but I'm of the opinion that hot streaks are abnormalities, as are cold streaks. Players typically even-out over time, and I figured a rested Vazquez against the wide-eyed Rays would do the trick. Ozzie Guillen must've thought the same thing. Nope.

Cubs crazies

This is funny. Cubs fans are some of the more irrational in sports, especially when the Cubs go belly up.

Fukudome will sit in game three

Lou Piniella responded angrily to a post game question regarding Kosuke Fukudome. Before the reporter finished, Piniella said Fukudome would not be playing any more. The Cubs right fielder, who struck out three times in four trips to the plate Wednesday night, does not yet have a hit in the series.

Piniella said "The kid's struggling." Then he walked off the podium. Piniella said Mike Fontenot or Reed Johnson would be taking Fukudome's place. Which one plays depends on the health of Mark DeRosa, who's been nursing a strained calf. DeRosa was considered unavailable to play right field because of the injury, as he started at second base instead. DeRosa made a key error in the second inning as the Dodgers scored four undearned runs.

With the Dodgers up 2-0 headed back to Los Angeles after a 10-3 win in game three, the Cubs have been outscored 17-5. They need better bats in the lineup. If DeRosa can play right, Fontenot is probably the better option at second defensively.

Minaya stays with Mets

The Mets extended GM Omar Minaya through 2012. This has to be the worst decision of the day, but the New York National League ball club is using reverse logic to explain why Minaya gets to stay.

"We failed this year, and we want to get the redemption that we need and move forward," Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said. "We obviously were not a very good team when Omar came aboard, and he's turned this thing around, and we think he deserves another chance to keep getting us to where we want to be."

Minaya understands some fans blame him for the Mets' collapses the past two seasons.

"It comes with the territory," he said during a conference call.

New York failed to make the playoffs after leading the NL East by seven games with 17 games left in 2007 and by 3½ games with 17 to go this year. Wilpon and Minaya have begun reviewing what went wrong.

"What is it that we lack? What is it that we need to get across that finish line?" Minaya said.

Wilpon said "there might be some addition by subtraction" on the roster.

"We're going to find out why we fell short the last two seasons," he said. "It's up to Omar and his staff to correct that, but we are asking those tough questions."

Deleting manager Willie Randolph this past season was subtraction by subtraction; the Mets didn't make the postseason anyway. The Mets needed to go in a new direction organizationally and missed the boat.

Cubbie blues

If you're new to understanding Chicago's Northside fragility, read this. It explains almost everything.

Obama on steroids

Swipe at John McCain or not, I totally agree with Barack Obama that steroids in baseball should not be part of Congress's daily docket. It never should have come up in Washington, and it should be even less of an issue now.

"I gotta admit that seeing a lot of congressional hearings around steroid use is not probably the best use of congressional time," Obama said.

Exactly. Lawmakers have a war waging in several countries, plus a balky (pun intended) economy to deal with.

Steroids are an important issue, especially with kids and young adults tempted to use them the way their heroes do, or did. Baseball needs to police the problem, and I still contend that it is Bud Selig's fault that the lack of policing by MLB led Congress to get into into the fray in the first place.

The Tampa Rays of St. Petersburg

This article might split hairs a bit, considering the Tampa Bay Rays aren't the only team that play in a city next door to their actual hometown (the New York Jets and Giants play in a whole other state!), but we get their point. The Tampa Bay Rays don't play in the city of Tampa; they play in St. Petersburg.

Obama gets a pass on messing up the Tampa/St. Pete deal, but broadcasters should know better.

Heave Javy, Ozzie

Chicagoland's Daily Herald published a postseason White Sox by the numbers piece. Most interesting - Javier Vazquez's horrible month of September.

3.66

White Sox pitcher Javier Vazquez's September ERA through his first 10 seasons (not including this year). It's the only month over his career in which he has posted a sub-4.00 ERA. His ERA this September: 6.25.

Vazquez still gets the nod as the Sox opening-game starter against Tampa. He lost 16 games this year, which is tough to do on a winning team.

October Reign

Which sport has the best postseason? That's what ESPN is asking, and Baseball Musings' David Pinto defends his favorite pastime quite well.

Red alert: keep an eye on this guy

Alex Buchholz has the full attention of his parent club, the Cincinnati Reds. He pounded the ball at Delaware, and now in his injury-riddled first pro season, Buchholz continued to rip.

Buchholz, whom the Reds selected out of the University of Delaware in the sixth round of June's First-Year Player Draft, hit .396 in 134 at-bats for Billings. He flirted with .400 for nearly two weeks at season's end before going "only" 1-for-4 in his final game to finish just shy of the magical mark. He also fell short of qualifying for the league batting title, which was won by Orem's Roberto Lopez (.400).

"I would call it an almost seamless transition," Cincinnati director of player development Terry Reynolds said. "A majority of guys have a problem moving from aluminum to wood bats. But he didn't seem to have that issue."

The Reds want to move him from second base to shortstop, which might make him a high riser in their organization thanks to the revolving door at that position at the big league level. Keep an eye on him through the winter and spring. He might be a minor leaguer to grab for future fantasy help.

Rays the roof

If the Rays get fans under the roof at Tropicana Field, they win. According to this ESPN.com article, however, they only put 30-thousand in the seats 23 times this year.

The Rays drew crowds of 30,000 or more on 23 occasions (winning 21 times), though eight of those were boosted by free Saturday-night postgame concerts by the likes of LL Cool J, Trace Adkins, and Kool & the Gang. As recently as Sept. 18, with the Rays closing in on a playoff berth, they drew just 17,296 against the Minnesota Twins.

In its 11th season, the team continues to suffer an identity crisis. No longer do out-of-town broadcasters use the former Devil Rays moniker, but the team's home still often is referenced as "Tampa" even though it plays 15 miles south in St. Petersburg.

An ambitious plan unveiled in November to replace the quirky, domed Tropicana Field with a $450 million ballpark on the downtown waterfront in St. Petersburg by 2012 was abandoned in June amid citizen protest and little support from city and Pinellas County officials.

Is Tampa, er, St. Pete eventually doomed? Watching Joe Maddon ask fans to show up at his Wednesday press conference, you might think so. They'll probably draw in the postseason, but in the future? That's a big question mark without a new ballpark.

Thursday predictions

Good matchups for Thursday, here's what Spitting Seeds is forecasting:

Chicago White Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays - Game 1
Vazquez (12-16, 4.67) vs. Shields (14-8, 3.56) - 2:35 p.m. EST

I'm not a big believer in "momentum" from game to game in baseball. I think you're either playing well or you're not. The Sox are playing well enough to beat three different teams in three games. Tampa hasn't played in three days, and Carl Crawford, who's been out since August, is in the starting lineup. Can you say rusty? Chicago will win game one of this series with Tampa's bats swinging through Javier Vazquez's pitches.

Milwaukee Brewers @ Philadelphia Phillies - PHI leads 1-0
Sabathia (11-2, 1.65) vs. Myers (10-13, 4.55)

All signs point to Milwaukee winning this one. CC Sabathia looked outstanding the last two times out, including a complete game win to clinch the Wild Card Sunday against the Cubs. He's working on just three days of rest, but even so, Philadelphia starter Brett Myers gave up 14 runs in his last 8 1/3 innings. Myers could easily be rusty, too, not having pitched since September 24th. But there's something about these Brewers finding ways to lose, including a three-game sweep at Philly late in the year. It's going to happen again, as Philly shakes Milwaukee badly with a surprising win in a Sabathia start.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs - LAD leads 1-0
Billingsley (16-10, 3.14) vs. Zambrano (14-6, 3.91)

This is a flip of the coin, really. Both pitchers are dominant at times, but both got beat up by their opponent this season. Billingsley, however, has been very consistent with seven quality starts the last nine times out. Zambrano, who runs hot and cold, sandwiched four clunkers around a no-hitter late in the year. He brought it for his one game in last year's postseason, but the Cubs still lost. Now they're going to lose game two of their series to the Dodgers, and panic will set in on Chicago's north side.

Sox win, other Sox tomorrow

Jonathan Papelbon earns his first save of the 2008 postseason, closing out the Angels in the ninth for a 4-1 Boston road win. I must say I expected the BoSox to start this series strong, but it could easily go the distance.

That makes two road winners in the three divisional series openers on Wednesday. Chicago visits Tampa on Thursday to get the final series started. I think Chicago must win if they're going to take that series.

Ellsbury burying Angels

Jacoby Ellsbury loves the end of the year. He shined last season in the playoffs, and after a hot streak to conclude September this year, he's looking just as strong this postseason.

Ellsbury made a diving catch in the eigth inning, then collected his third hit in five at bats in the top of the ninth, knocking home Boston's third run in the form of Jed Lowrie. Ellsbury scored Boston's fourth run a short while later off a David Ortiz single.

Jonathan Papelbon is in to close things out in the ninth, and Ellsbury is the player of this game if JP gets the job done.

Atypical, but typical, Torre

Watching Joe Torre, Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez go through the post game press conference routine I was struck with the fact that here was a former Yankees manager getting the job done for Los Angeles with Boston Red Sox spare parts.

Lowe pitched a very good game against the Cubs, giving up two early runs on a second-inning Mark DeRosa home run, then shutting out Chicago for his final four innings. Lowe worked six, struck out seven and walked one while counterpart Ryan Dempster issues seven free passes in less than five innings.

Ramirez didn't deliver the big blow, but his seventh inning solo homer padded L.A.'s lead at 5-2, and cast doubt on a Cubs comeback that never materialized.

If Torre got it done with two of his former foes, he still got his typical Texas production. Torre used to lean on native Texans Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens as staff aces on the Yankees championship teams. Tonight, Texan James Loney delivered a fourth inning grand slam off of Dempster that propelled the Dodgers.

Running out of a big inning

Vladimir Guerrero, in typical Angels fashion, tried to go from first to third on Torii Hunter's bloops single in the eighth with Anaheim trailing Boston, 2-1. Kevin Youkilis proved why he's a gold glove first baseman on the play, gathering the ball quickly in shallow right field and gunning Vlady out at third. It was an aggressive move Guerrero, and he looked to run through a stop sign from the Angels' third base coach.

Boston's Justin Masterson got out of the inning without giving up the tying run. Sometimes aggressiveness can cost you, but I still think Mike Scioscia is the best manager in the American League.

Can't pitch or catch

Yovani Gallardo certainly didn't help himself in game one of his Brewers NLDS series against Philadelphia, but he also deserved better from his teammates. Milwaukee failed to produce a run until it was too late, and the Brewers defense coughed up three unearned runs in the 3rd.

After a walk in the third, Gallardo (75 pitches in just his second start back from ACL surgery) saw Rickie Weeks drop a throw a first on Cole Hamels' attempted sacrafice bunt. The error allowed Chase Utley to come to the plate with two runners on, and the Philadelphia second baseman rifled a ball at center fielder Mike Cameron. Cameron misjudged the ball, then dove and dropped it, allowing Philadelphia's first two runs to score. Utley earned a double from the official scorekeeper, which was the correct call. He later scored in a three-run Philadelphia third.

Gallardo only lasted four innings and walked five, but none of his runs were earned. He could have used some help from his offense and defense.

Dempser can't dodge the big inning

Ryan Dempster said his problems in the NLDS opener against the Dodger (7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings) were due to "not executing" his pitches. Dempster didn't pitch badly, but struggled to close out at bats, especially when he got ahead. Manny Ramirez walked after going down 0-2, then James Loney swatted a grand slam after also falling behind 0-2. Dempster gave up four in the the fourth and couldn't get through the inning, going over 100 pitches on the evening as the Cubs fall, 7-2 to Los Angeles.