So-so, so far

Spitting Seeds' playoff picks? Just OK for the first round of the postseason.

My pre-playoff pick for World Series has no chance of materializing, but a Cubs-Red Sox clash felt very possible going in.

Boston did defeat 100-game winner Los Angeles in the ALDS, but the White Sox couldn't keep up with the Rays. I've been picking against Tampa all year. I thought the Red Sox would catch them by the All-Star break, and they did, but they couldn't hold it for long as the Rays won the division. I'm still taking the BoSox in the ALDS, although these Rays are making me more of a believer. I don't like picking against them, because I do think they have a good team. They just don't impress me like others do. Boston better win one of the first two, however, because this series seems likely to return to St. Petersburg, and it would do them good to have a little confidence winning in the dome for the return trip.

In one NLDS series, the Cubs got swept by the Dodgers, whereas I thought the Cubs would carry the broomstick. Philly made quick and easy work of Milwaukee, as expected. I love the Phillies-Dodgers NLCS matchup, and while I don't like picking against Joe Torre's club, my gut goes with Philadelphia. I think the series goes seven games.

CC you in NY or LA

Ken Rosenthal releases his CC Sabathia odds as the lefty hits the free agent market in November. Only the top two (Yankees at 5-2 and Angels at 4-1) seem possible to this Spitting Seeds. Nothing else in the list seems to work even remotely at this time.

Soriano: "We can't sprint"

Alfonso Soriano has a theory on why the Cubs didn't win in the postseason. Soriano says the Cubs can't win in series play.

"Yeah, it's tough," he said. "We tried, but it just didn't happen. We played all year like a very good team and we expected a little bit more, but it didn't happen."

While he didn't pass the buck, Soriano said he believes the Cubs were built for a marathon, not a sprint.

"We're a very good team for [162] games, but we don't do nothing after that," he said. "That's the difference. We're not put together for [a short series]."

I think this assessment is only fair in terms of the Cubs being too right-handed in terms of their power. Only Jim Edmonds brought a routinely robust bat from the left side. When the Cubs face a team like the Dodgers with a righty-only rotation, this right-handed stacking can only hurt their opportunity to score runs.

The Cubs, however, still thrived against all sorts of pitchers all season long. They dominated the National League, winning 97 games, and they might be the most well-rounded team in baseball. Their rotation trotted out three aces against the Dodgers, yet each looked extremely hittable. Well-rounded teams with front-line pitching is perfectly built for the postseason. The Cubs just failed to put anything together in any facet of the game. Call it tightening up, choking or poor playing; the Cubs were built to succeed but didn't.

Cursed Kenney

Something that went under-published in recent days: Cubs chairman Crane Kenney, who isn't much of a baseball man in the first place, hired a Greek Orthodox priest to lift the "curse" on the Cubs. Cubs players didn't know about it until they saw the curse removal on TV. A TBS camera man happened to catch it.

The story began a couple days ago, when Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney left a message on Greanis’ voice mail to call him. Greanis thought his friends were playing a prank on him, but when he eventually got in contact with Kenney, he found out the reason for the call.

“He said, ‘I’m a devout Catholic, and I’m not superstitious, but if there is anything there, I want to take care of it,’” Greanis said Thursday.

The Billy Goat curse was placed on the Cubs in 1945 when Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis was denied entrance to a World Series game at Wrigley Field because he wanted to bring in his goat. The curse was immortalized in newspaper columns over the years, particularly by syndicated columnist Mike Royko, and gained widespread attention during the 2003 postseason when Fox played it up during the Cubs-Florida match-up in the National League Championship Series.

Kenney told Greanis that they wanted a Greek Orthodox priest to bless the dugout, since the alleged curse was placed by a Greek-American.

Cubs management really doesn't get it, do they? I mean, this sort of thing just promotes the lugubrious hex that some say haunts the Cubs. Get a clue, Crane Kenney. It's a joke that someone in his position would believe in such a silly superstition as a curse. His odd attention to something Lou Piniella himself deems ridiculous only adds distraction to the matter at hand.

On the other side of the same coin, Cubs players should be able to shrug off this sort of misstep by their organization.

Dodgers: Cubs buckled

Whether or not we buy it, the Dodgers are saying that pressure got to the Cubs. Joe Torre may know a thing or two about the pressure of the postseason.

"Starting in Chicago may have been a benefit for us," Torre said. "Because I just thought that with everything going on with them having the record they've had, I've experienced it before.

"It's a lot of pressure when you're playing at home. I may be off base, but that's just my feeling."

Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre, the former Cub, shared Torre's opinion that the Cubs were under big-time pressure.

"In Chicago, everybody worries about the Cubs and you can't relax and go out and play without hearing the hype and it definitely adds pressure, because you're supposed to win," Pierre told MLB.com. "They'd have done better if they opened on the road.

"The fans there are craving it for so long, it escalates and snowballs as soon as any little thing goes wrong, and everybody starts thinking about the past."

White Sox willing to fight

The White Sox 5-3 win in front of a "black out" crowd at Wrigley means the Sox live to fight another day against the Rays. A three-run fourth proved enough to rattle the Rays in their first opportunity to clinch, and the Sox looked comfortable the rest of the way.

Afterwards, A.J. Pierzynski said this was the "loosest" team he's been on in terms of big games. Pierzynski must be on to something. These Sox have won four straight elimination games in the past two weeks, including three straight over three different teams to get into the posteason; something that's never been done before. Closing them out will be tough for the Rays, a feelgood bunch that looked on a roll in the first two games of the series.

Gavin Floyd goes against Andy Sonnanstine Monday afternoon at the Cell. Floyd is extremely tough to hit at home, posting a .209 batting average against.

Angels survive thanks to mercurial Napoli

Mike Napoli continues to baffle with wild streaks of productivity and slump. Tonight, productivity won out in Boston as Napoli belted two home runs and scored the game's winning run in a 5-4 Angels survivor win at Fenway. With the win, Los Angeles forces game four Monday night.

Napoli, who continues his September rampage that saw his average climb from .212 to .273, was down at .197 for a day in mid June before rebounding to .223 in August. He started April off at a solid clip before bottoming out to .218 by the end of the month. He got it back up to the .260's and then .258 in early June before the slide sub-Mendoza.

Overall, his numbers have generally improved over his first three seasons. He's at least a candidate to earn more playing time if he stays hot, but has yet to reach 300 at bats in his career. That makes him an iffy fantasy option again next year, unless youngster Jeff Mathis finally gets his act together. He started hot, but then slumped to .197 himself. Even so, he ended up with more at bats than Napoli.

A steal, or not a steal?

Jacoby Ellsbury's attempted steal of second base tonight, a simple caught stealing in the box score, deserves a little more attention, I think.

For as long as baseball's been scored, players stealing second, who then fall off the bag as Ellsbury did, have been considered "caught" stealing. I've always thought this was a flawed scoring of the play, and I think the remedy should be to give the player a steal and a caught stealing on the same play. Statistically this credits the player with reaching the bag before the throw, giving us a better indicator of his ability to steal, but also explains to us why he was out (over-sliding the bag).

Just an idea I've been kicking around forever. Baseball is unlikely ever to adopt this practice as the could not possibly go back and find out how many caught stealing calls were actually steals and then tag outs. Oh well.

TBS troubles

Anyone notice all the issues TBS is suffering from covering these MLB playoff games? Craig Sager's interview with Mike Napoli is echoing like the two are talking in a tunnel. The same happened during Joe Blanton's postgame interview live on the field in Milwaukee.

TBS has experienced a few technical glitches, as well, with pops in broadcasts and audio dropouts at times. They also employ Chip Caray, which doesn't help their reputation any better. Also, their strike zone indicator appears a bit off on some pitches.

One more note, Ernie Johnson and TNT's pregame/postgame shows are a lot more watchable than MLB's cast. Dennis Eckersley, Curtis Granderson and Cal Ripken don't seem to have the same spark as Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. I think the problem is that TBS is almost entirely copying the way they analyze NBA games for a baseball show. I don't think you can do any two shows on two different sports the same way. Something doesn't sit right, and this comes from a person who's spent a number of years in broadcasting. I can't quite figure it out, but I'm uncomfortable watching the shows. Maybe it's that I feel like baseball needs a ton of analysis and less playfulness among the analysts, where as basketball is sometimes the opposite.

Update: For instance, the TBS panel just talked about a pop fly that dropped into center field, explaining why the ball dropped between Howie Kendrick and Torii Hunter. Whether or not that play matters very much, they spend too much time talking about something that any fan can discern from their couch at home. Yawn.

Bad Backe

Brandon Backe has been arrested on Galveston. Hurricane Brandon blew through what sounds like a wedding party. There's a lot going on here, so I'll allow you to sort it out.

Fukudome to Triple-A?

The Chicago Tribune offers some similar questions to Spitting Seeds on the future of the Chicago Cubs. The Trib also wonders if Kosuke Fukudome might start next season at Triple-A.

One scout interviewed Saturday suggested a course of action that could be tough to swallow.

"He has to go to the minors," the scout said. "He has to get rid of all those habits, pulling out on pitches, collapsing. He'll never hit the way he's hitting now, and this is a tough place to work out your problems. Always has been."

While it's hard to imagine the Cubs paying Fukudome $11.5 million to play for Triple-A Iowa next year, there is precedent.

I think it's a quick judgment to make at this point. Fukudome will first go through spring training with the Cubs even after an entire offseason that should be spent changing his hitting approach. What worked in Japan hasn't worked here. Fukudome needs to stop bailing toward first base. It's what every little leaguer is taught, and you'd think that might help at the MLB level.

Signable Cubs pitchers?

With Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood needing new deals for 2009, here's wondering how quickly the Cubs can act. With the team's sale taking a long time to get done, and with both players finishing off outstanding 2008 seasons, how deep into the pocket book can the Cubs go? Can they afford to wait until the sale until they lock up these two with good deals?

I'd assume Dempster and Wood would be very willing to sign with Chicago, considering the patience the Cubs have had with their previous injury histories. Both seem to enjoy playing on Chicago's North side for manager Lou Piniella, who already was extended through 2010.

Sox get lefties going

With right hander Matt Garza on the hill for Tampa, Dewayne Wise and Ken Griffey, Jr. are back in the lineup for the White Sox. They replace Nick Swisher and Brian Anderson.

No black towel affair?

I was there last week when the White Sox clinched the A.L. Central Division title over Minnesota, 1-0. The White Sox encouraged their fans to wear all black, and I believe they distributed black towels as well, to create a festive atmosphere against the Twins.

Today, they're "blacking out" U.S. Cellular Field again, but the fans are waving white towels. This is not a true blackout!

Pena to face Danks

This time, Rays first baseman Carlos Pena is in the lineup. Considered probable for Friday's second game against the White Sox, Pena will, in fact, be part of the starting lineup tonight. He ended us sitting out of Friday's game two Rays win after experiencing discomfort with the eye in warm ups.

It's good for the Rays to get more pop in the lineup, but they're facing John Danks tonight. Pena hits .190 against lefties. He's 2-9 against Danks with four strikeouts.

The Rays still will go right-handed heavy against Danks.

Brewers bashed

The Phillies makes easy work of the Brewers in game four and the series. Jeff Suppan gives up 3 home runs: one in the first to Jimmy Rollins, and then back-to-back homers to Pat Burrell and Jason Werth in the third. That was that.

Suppan left the game for a pinch-hitting CC Sabathia in the third. You mean Milwaukee doesn't have a bench guy who's a better hitter than Sabathia? CC struck out against Joe Blanton.

The the Brewers come back in the fourth with Yovani Gallardo, who was considered unable to start, but somehow he's capable of relieving a worthless Suppan. That makes zero sense. If Gallardo can pitch, why not start him and get things going on the right foot?

Once again, Milwaukee's in-season slump was not the managing of Ned Yost; it was the lack of talent on the Brewers. This team came out of the gates hard the last two seasons and then fell back to earth. Milwaukee gambled away a trio of good young players for a few months of Sabathia. They've mortgaged at least a part of their future for nothing. Sabathia could easily be gone. Ben Sheets is gone, and Milwaukee still lacks offense. Good luck next year, Beertown. You need it.

Weeks done

Rickie Weeks has been removed from the Brewers NLDS roster with a knee injury. Alicedes Escobar takes his spot, and considering Weeks' limitations as a hitter, Escobar might have been the better choice as a defensive addition, anyway. Escobar it .328 in Double-A, and he can steal a base.

Everybody's Bud

Only in Milwaukee can Bud Selig get a standing ovation. I guess making the postseason for the first time since 1982 has good feelings flowing in Beer City. Don't Milwaukee fans realize how soft Selig's been on policing baseball?

Bud on tickets

Bud Selig rarely reports economic problems in baseball. Things usually look sunny from his perspective, but lost in yesterday's game three matchups between the Dodgers and Phillies and Cubs and Dodgers was Selig's warning to MLB owners about ticket prices.

It's probably not easy for teams to lower prices given the salaries they're paying players, but it will be interesting to see if prices do go up from this year to next year.

Cubs collapse & future

I was going to write up the Cubs' debacle today, but Baseball Musings said close to everything that needed to be said.

There are a few more points on the Cubs, however, and it starts with starting pitching. I don't think anyone could have expected Ryan Dempster to have the kind of year he did, and maybe for one night the old Dempster reared his ugly right arm. For the first time since 2001, Dempster started over 30 games. In '01 he went 15-12 in Florida with a 4.94 ERA, almost two points higher than this year's 2.96 ERA. Despite his great season, Dempster's career ERA improved to just 4.55. I'm a firm believer in using a player's full resume in predicting his future, and to me Dempster was not a front-line starter despite his great year. At best I liked Dempster as a number three starter on this team, because I think both Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden can be more dominant.

That said, both Zambrano and Harden struggled down the stretch. 'Z' suffered through several bad outings while Harden experienced arm troubles. I think Lou Piniella was offered no other alternative than to start with Dempster, and I'm not sure that's what he would've wanted in a perfect world.

Alfonso Soriano is not a leadoff hitter. Piniella gave his player what he wanted rather than going with Piniella's gut or a statistcal analysis, which shows Soriano is a better middle-of-the-order type.

Kosuke Fukudome poses a potential problem in right field for years to come. Fukudome was figured out by MLB pitchers after just over a month of baseball. They pounded him away, realizing his bail-out style cannot catch up to heat on the outside. With a contract at four years and 48-million still on the books for the next three seasons, are the Cubs in a Barry Zito situation? A player too expensive to trade? Certainly the commitment is too strong to give up on the guy. Fukudome has his work cut out this offseason.

Jim Edmonds might retire, might go elsewhere, or might return to the Cubs. That's not a huge question mark, but given his fairly solid play in Chicago, the Cubs might have a hard time improving on his production in center field.

Henry Blanco holds a mutual option with the club on 2009. This needs to be sorted out quickly.