BoSox survive

The battle of solo homers is won with the help of two non-home run scoring plays as Boston beats Tampa Bay 4-2 to force a seventh game in the series.

Justin Upton smoked a solo homer in the first off of Josh Beckett, but then Kevin Youkilis ripped his own in the top of the second for a 1-1 tie. After Youkilis knocked in the go-ahead run on a ground out, Jason Bartlett tied things up with a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th. The very next inning, Jason Varitek sent out his solo shot, giving Boston the lead for good. David Ortiz singled home an insurance run later in the inning.

Boston lives to fight another day, and on paper earns the advantage in the pitching matchup with Jon Lester facing Matt Garza in game seven.

Upton's upswing

B.J. Upton is Mr. This October after hitting his seventh home run of the postseason. Here's what he's accomplished so far in the 2008 playoffs.

What happened, TBS?

I guess TBS wouldn't tell the AP why they couldn't broadcast the beginning of ALCS game six.

The Boston Globe says it was a router issue.

(T)ypically (B)ad (S)tuff

TBS continues to bungle the postseason. You might disagree, but their coverage has been less than good.

Tonight, due to technical difficulties, there's no baseball on right now from the Trop. Insanely bad.

You can watch a live feed at MLB.com.

CC you in Milwaukee?

The Brewers will go after CC Sabathia this offseason, contrary to many reports saying they had no chance to sign the free agent pitcher. Money is not the only motivating factor for Sabathia, and he seemed to enjoy playing in Milwaukee.

Gross in the lineup

Apparently Joe Maddon doesn't believe in momentum like our previous MLB story on the Red Sox lineup. Maddon put Gabe Gross in the lineup tonight, who not only hasn't hit in the postseason (1-15), Gross has also struggled against the Red Sox (.204 this year), although he did hit three of his 13 homers against Boston and went 2-4 against tonight's Red Sox starter Josh Beckett.

ALCS - game six going Rays way

Forget a Rays collapse. I'm picking Tampa Bay over Boston tonight. The reason is two-fold. James Shields dominates at home (9-2, 2.59 ERA at the Trop in the regular season; 1-0, 3.29 ERA in the postseason), and Josh Beckett hasn't been his dominant self since September 16th (11.57 ERA, .400 BAA in the postseason).

There are, however, a couple of caveats in this prediction. Beckett's last dominant start came at Tampa Bay, going eight innings with seven strike outs and one earned run in a no-decision. Beckett went 2-1 with a 2.09 ERA against the Rays this season. Shields struggled twice against the BoSox in Boston this year (5.85 ERA), but pitched well against the Sox the two times he faced them at home (15.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 W). Don't forget his solid performance in game one of the ALCS (7.1 IP, 2 ER), when he was simply outperformed by Daisuke Matsuzaka in a 2-0 Boston win.

Sticking with Shields, I think. Yes, Shields and the Rays it is.

Update: Daisuke can pitch tonight if needed. This is going to be a great night of baseball.

Final Yankee Stadium HR ball yanked

The final home run ball hit at Yankee Stadium wasn't much of a hit at an auction.

It was expected to fetch up to $400,000, but was pulled after offers fell short of the suggested opening bid of $100,000.

The reason it didn't go for much? Quick, who was the guy that hit it? That's why.

Update: That's not the only piece of Yankee Stadium memorabilia not going for the assumed value. Perhaps fans picked enough paint chips off the left field foul pole for everyone.

Three AFL amigos

No surprise that three of the five pitchers leading the Arizona Fall League after just a couple of starts each are players who got a cup of coffee in MLB this year.

Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz have combined to give up one run (Hughes' run) in 18 innings. Max Scherzer has given up three runs in 12 innings and struck out 12.

Scherzer looked pretty strong at the Major League level this year, and might've stayed with Arizona for longer had he not experienced some arm troubles. Hughes struggled, although he, too, wasn't healthy. Buchholz showed a couple of flashes with the Red Sox, but there's a good reason he's not on the postseason roster: he wasn't very good (2-9, 6.75 ERA) most of the time.

Fantasy Update:Scherzer deserves a serious look from the Diamondbacks in spring training. The other two have the stuff to be MLB starters, but if the Yankees and Red Sox do some offseason spending on their respective rotations, they might be left out of the mix. Does that make them trade bait?

Brewers stale on Dale

Baseball Musings makes a good point that Dale Sveum as manager of the Brewers makes more sense than Jerry Manuel as manager of the Mets. Sveum will not be considered to lead the Brewers next year while Manuel kept his job after New York failed to make the playoffs.

The Sveum firing, however, makes me wonder if the Brewers were not impressed with the postseason fallout. He only has about of month of managerial experience, and if Milwaukee still thinks it is close to competing for a World Series, it probably wants a manager with a long postseason resume.

Manuel, at least, is a known quality to the Mets, as he led the Chicago White Sox to an A.L. Central crown in 2000.

Big mo - no, not that Mo - with Boston?

The Red Sox will stay with the same lineup for game six as they did with game five of the ALCS.

The article talks about having offensive "momentum" going from game five to six. I'm not sure I can buy into the idea of momentum from game to game in baseball. Teams score 10 runs in game one of a double-header, then turn around and score one in the next game. I'm not sure there are any statistics to back me up on this hunch, but just from my time playing the game, there is little momentum from one game to the next in baseball.

Maddon out of context

One more note out of the Chicago Tribune today. Phil Rogers scolds Rays manager Joe Maddon for this comment:

"Of course, if we had won it, we'd be in the World Series by now," Maddon said. "We'll just have to wait one more day, hopefully, to get that done."

He meant one more game, as Friday was a travel day. And he did add an important qualifier with the word "hopefully." But still …

When your team gets as close to the World Series as the Rays were—seven outs away, seven-run lead—and then unravels, the task ahead is about a lot more than waiting "one more day."

The Red Sox had to wait 18 years to get it right after that grounder went between Bill Buckner's legs in Game 6 at Shea Stadium. The Cleveland Indians are at 11 years and counting since Jose Mesa couldn't hold a lead over Florida in Game 7 of the World Series.

Then there are the Cubs. They are at 79 years and counting since failing to protect an eight-run lead in Game 4 of the 1929 World Series —the last time anyone lost a bigger lead than the 7-0 margin Maddon's Rays held in the seventh inning.

They are at 24 years and counting since the grounder went through Leon Durham's legs in San Diego. They are at five years and counting since Florida's eight-run eighth inning in 2003.

OK, I get it. There have been precipitous falls after meltdowns like the Rays had in game five. Maddon, however, was merely stating that his team is in good position to clinch in the next game. What do you want him to say? The sky is falling? I think this is a non-issue, and the article is better left unwritten.

On Manny being a Cub

Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune ponders what it might take the Cubs to land Manny Ramirez.

Manny Ramirez won't be going to Boston for the World Series. No one knows where he will wind up in 2009, including Ramirez or his agent, Scott Boras, both of whom are the cleanup hitters of their businesses.

Despite unprecedented production under the brightest lights, the baggage Ramirez carries is so heavy that it's unclear if the Los Angeles Dodgers will pay to bring him back. His fit elsewhere is equally unclear, as is the outlook for improving a Cubs team that has gone 0-6 the last two Octobers.

...

If there's a fan base ripe for that pitch, it's the fans in the bars in Wrigleyville. They have watched Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez go a combined 5-for-51 in the crushing first-round losses to the Dodgers and Arizona and are hungrier than ever for the full ride, not just the big tease.

There's no way the Cubs can play two left fielders, so Soriano would have to go for Ramirez to come. Soriano seems to be essentially an immovable object with six years and $106 million left on his contract, but the Dodgers will need two things if they don't re-sign Ramirez—power hitting and another buzz guy.

Could Soriano soften the blow of losing Ramirez?

Up until this rumorville article all the talk was of the Cubs going after a left-handed bat like Adam Dunn. That, and the potential devaluation of the Cubs franchise as it is sold should make it pretty tough to pay Manny. He's 36, and if he wants a five- or six-year contract, he'll be well past his prime by the end of the deal.

Singing praises of Carroll

Thanks to a revolving door at second base, Jamey Carroll got a chance to play in over 100 games for the Indians this year. The team rewarded him by picking up his $2.5 million option for 2009.

Fantasy Update: The 34-year-old Carroll is hardly a viable fantasy option, or is he? He hit .306 this past season, and he might get to play again in 2009. Follow him, but don't think he's worth starting next season.

BoSox on the bubble: ALCS game five preview

One of the most misleading stats in baseball comes to the forefront tonight as the Rays and Red Sox fight for the final time at Fenway this year. That stat? Team wins in a pitcher's start.

Scott Kazmir tosses for the Rays in game five, with Tampa Bay on the verge of clinching the A.L. pennant. He got shelled in game two, giving up five runs in less than five innings in a 9-8 Rays victory. Long have pitchers been revered for keeping their teams in games even if they don't win. In this case, however, Kazmir kept a pulse and little else as Boston hit him all over the field, including three home runs. Kazmir's team won, but he lost his battle badly.

The reason Kazmir is starting tonight at Fenway has little to do with the Rays feeling confident that they beat Boston in Kazmir's latest start. Kazmir is much worse on the road (4.10 ERA vs. 2.90 at home), and with the right-handed hulks in Boston's lineup, the BoSox should be taking aim at the green monster. The reason Kazmir is pitching is so James Shields doesn't have to. The Tampa right hander carries a 2.59 ERA at Tropicana Field and just a 4.82 mark on the road. Getting him back to the Trop might be the death knell for the Red Sox. Pitching a serviceable Kazmir tonight gives Tampa a better opportunity if the series returns home.

Pick Boston tonight. Daisuke Matsuzaka has pitched brilliantly in the postseason, and the Rays are gearing up for a one- or two-game fight back home. Sure, they'd take the win tonight, but sometimes stockpiling an arsenal means losing a battle to get ready.

What's your name?

Lost in the fray of a Dodgers five-game meltdown in the NLCS was the story that Dodger Stadium might, for the first time, hand out naming rights in 2009. Alas, that won't end up happening, although everything else in the ballpark is up for sale.

Available canvases include the bullpens, dugouts, base lines, outfield pavilions, parking gates, press box, Stadium Club, luxury suites and clubhouse. The team's newly adopted spring training facilities in Arizona are also up for grabs.

The Dodgers said Monday that they had formed a partnership with the William Morris Agency of Beverly Hills to identify opportunities to rename parts of the stadium and its planned $500-million addition. The expansion is intended to transform the ballpark into a year-round destination for dining, shopping and recreation -- and could also serve up numerous branding opportunities.

That brings us to this little piece on stadium naming rights. It's very interesting, especially if you've ever tuned into a broadcast and wondered why you always thought Bank of America stadium was actually called Ericsson Stadium. It was.

All the changes make it really tough on bulletin board warfare; especially for fans visiting another team's message board.

Rockies fan: "We're gonna wipe you out at Pac Bell!"
Giants fan: "It's AT&T Park."
Rockies fan: "Seriously?"
Giants fan: "Yes."
Rockies fan: "Not for long!"

Everyone is right, and everyone is wrong. One more note, why wasn't Fenway ever called "Yankees Suck Stadium?"

Political delay for game six

Forget rain delays, we'll potentially experience our first political delay for this year's World Series. Barack Obama's campaign has a deal with Major League Baseball in place for a 15-minute ad that will push back the start time of game six of the World Series from 8:22 p.m. to 8:35 p.m., or later.

This massive hypothetical inconvenience to the world of baseball fans is notable for a few reasons. First, this would be the first time a network has moved the start time for an event back due to political advertising. Second, the World Series will likely involve the Phillies (already in) and the Tampa Bay Rays, both of whom sit in key swing states in this election; whether the Obama campaign will be willing to take the marginal risk of offending the public of either state in exchange for "roadblock" coverage on all four major networks for their ad is a legitimate question. ("Roadblock" meaning on all four majors at once, meaning you'll have to flip to the Food Network for a few minutes to get away from it.)

I have to say, this is probably a good move on Obama's part, especially considering that a very small segment of the audience will be upset by a later start time. Game six is no guarantee, however, so John McCain should work on snapping up games one through five, asap.

Does a bad economy affect sports? Youbetcha

USA Today publishes this article, which deals with sports and money across the spectrum. It's a pretty interesting read. Baseball receives a blurb just short of halfway down.

Major League Baseball: Attendance fell this season after four straight record years, proving commissioner Bud Selig was wrong when he estimated the sport could break 80 million in attendance for the first time. But the economic slowdown is felt beyond the turnstiles: Team coverage in many newspapers has been cut back, leading to a decreased presence in print for teams. And MLB expects a decrease in car ads - long a major sponsor - forcing clubs and networks to search for other advertisers.

Sales of licensed goods - such as jerseys and caps - is flat when compared with last year. It would be down factoring out the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, which produced extra revenue.

Imagine that, Bud Selig was wrong. Never!

Don't worry, Bud, Spitting Seeds will always write articles on you and baseball; there will be no shrinking column inches here. That's perhaps good for baseball, but not for you, Bud.

If you build it close, they will come

Some major moves occurred in the minors this September with parent club affiliation changes. Among the most notable: Columbus changes from Nationals Triple-A affiliate to the Cleveland Indians. Buffalo, the Indians former Triple-A team, won a battle with Syracuse to take over as Mets Triple-A club.

As the article points out, teams are attempting to tap into proximity with regard to fan base. Columbus, just a few hours drive from Cleveland, should benefit from the close ties between the two ball clubs, including the buzz of showcasing soon-to-be Indians. While Buffalo is closer to Cleveland than New York City, there are still tons of Mets fans across the state of New York, and it certainly doesn't hurt to bolster the fan base in the western edge of the state.

Just look at how the Toledo-Detroit, Iowa-Chicago and Sacramento-Oakland do it. Close proximity tends to build a winner, or at least a lot of fan interest.

Clemens unlikely to pitch in '09

Roger Clemens says he has "no desire" to play baseball in 2009, but the only reason he's not interested is he can't guarantee that he can survive a full season at the MLB level. He did leave the slightest amount of wiggle room, but this sounds like a player who doesn't want to quit knowing he has to head toward the sunset.

“I don’t know if I will ever say no. I would have to know that I could perform at a high level and that my body would be able to hold up.”

Clemens, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time Cy Young award winner, said he did not feel he could play any longer.

“I think I said a long time ago that I’m not a quitter,” Clemens said. “I’m never going to quit. I think I’m just going to walk away. I think I will never be too far from the game.”

There's some poetic justice in that first statement. You know, the part about having to perform at a high level and a body breaking down. Clemens seemed to find the fountain of youth as an older player, and now with his name forever attached to steroids the comments contain an ironic twist.

Good luck, Roger, and good bye.