ALDS: Sox vs Rays

SportsWorld · Post #1 » by **SportsWorld** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 4:12 am

Discuss all things ALDS here. Should be a great series.

vs

Shootdabull · Post #2 » by **Shootdabull** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 3:36 pm

Well this is the moment we have been waiting all season for. Game 1 looks to be a very difficult one for us. The match up of vasquez vs shields would seem to heavily favor tampa. Jave last two pressure outings down the strech he has come out with poor performances as he has crumbled under the big inning. I think Jave is going to crumble again in the big game and it is going to be up to MB, Floyd and Danks to dig us out of the hole. Game one to the rays unless Ozzie is willing to give Jave a quick hook, before the 4-5 run inning hits. Keep a short lease Ozzie - and we have a shot.

Post #3 » by **dougthonus** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 5:20 pm

Over / Under 1 win for the Sox in the playoffs?

I'd take the push, but if I had to bet I'd go under. Of course, the 2006 Cardinals can give us hope.

Shootdabull · Post #4 » by **Shootdabull** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 6:09 pm

Over / Under 1 win for the Sox in the playoffs?

Give me the over - I've got a bad feeling about game one, but good feeling about the series. The rays are very good at home and will give us problems so winning on the road. I think we can beat them in cell and that leaves MB pitching the final game against shields. In one game anything can happen, so I'm sticking with them even if we drop the first two.

natedog125 · Post #5 » by **natedog125** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 11:27 pm

Shootdabull wrote:Well this is the moment we have been waiting all season for. Game 1 looks to be a very difficult one for us. The match up of vasquez vs shields would seem to heavily favor tampa. Jave last two pressure outings down the strech he has come out with poor performances as he has crumbled under the big inning. I think Jave is going to crumble again in the big game and it is going to be up to MB, Floyd and Danks to dig us out of the hole. Game one to the rays unless Ozzie is willing to give Jave a quick hook, before the 4-5 run inning hits. Keep a short lease Ozzie - and we have a shot.

Javy has also pitched very well against the Rays this year. Sox win game 1. 5-2

natedog125 · Post #6 » by **natedog125** » Wed Oct 1, 2008 11:31 pm

dougthonus wrote:Over / Under 1 win for the Sox in the playoffs?

I'd take the push, but if I had to bet I'd go under. Of course, the 2006 Cardinals can give us hope.

1 win?? Wow thats pretty harsh.

We have some good things going for us. This team went through a collapse in 2005 and won 11 of 12 in the postseason.

We have some key peeps still left from that team.

We have a couple old peeps that are new but need that ring to complete their legacies in Thome and Griffey

We have more experience

All 4 of our starters when they get on a roll can be dominant.

We own the Angels

The rays are very inexperienced

Im picking the Sox to go to the World Series IF Anaheim takes out Boston.

Another thing to think of is we will get home field advantage if we beat the Rays and Boston beats Anaheim.

I think we have a great chance to get there. Im also a huge homer

Yea i know i posted this in the other thread but wasnt sure which one i should put it in.. Sorry

GOOOO SOXXXXXX

Shootdabull · Post #7 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Oct 2, 2008 7:29 pm

Game one is 3-1 so far. - Let's go white sox.

Wise comes through with the three run homer with two outs. Big time hit.
The good JV has four strike outs in two innings - bad JV a homer & double in two innings.

Shootdabull · Post #8 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Oct 2, 2008 7:37 pm

Horrible Javy strikes again - Ozzie get him out of there while its still close. Two homer to the same guy Javy never never learns.

bottom of the third
Rays 4 Sox 3

Shootdabull · Post #9 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Oct 2, 2008 9:08 pm

Bottom of the seventh
Rays 6 Sox 3

What a major wiff in the top of seventh - we were an Uribe/OC hit away from being back in this thing. Ozzie needs to do better job managing than to let vasquez dig us such a deep hole.

Shootdabull · Post #10 » by **Shootdabull** » Thu Oct 2, 2008 10:05 pm

Rays 6 Sox 4

Well were not off to a good start, but on the bright side we were able to hit a couple of long balls. If we can duplicate that again we will have a much better shot at winning with MB on the mound.

Only three wins away.

Post #11 » by **dougthonus** » Fri Oct 3, 2008 1:03 pm

Javy is the worst starting pitcher on the staff right now, so getting off to a loss with him on the mound in a road game is about as good a situation you could be in while being down 0-1. He won't pitch again in the series I assume, so to get his start out of the way in a losing road game isn't the worst case scenario.

That said, I was hoping we'd have just started Richard instead due to the fact that Javy has chocked big time in big situations his last two outings. I suppose you have to go with the guy who's proven himself, and Richard hasn't exactly pitched well either, so who knows how that would have gone.

I still think the Rays are just a much better team, but anything can happen in a 5 game series, and the 0-1 hole isn't so bad given we got our worst starter in the series out of the way. Still no guarantee we win tonight, and if we don't win tonight it's going to take something awfully special to climb out of an 0-2 hole against a superior team.

Shootdabull · Post #12 » by **Shootdabull** » Fri Oct 3, 2008 1:47 pm

Like we did in 2005, I think we are going to need some amazing starting pitching from MB, Gavin & Danks. I am not expecting big offensive numbers so for me the starters are going to be the key. If Buerle can get us a victory it will be a huge lift for us coming back to chicago. It will be though to take 3 fo 4 from a team as good as the rays, but I still think we can do it......

Post #13 » by **dougthonus** » Fri Oct 3, 2008 3:16 pm

I don't think our pitching now is as dominant as it was in 2005, and we had a team that could manufacturer runs and put pressure on opposing defenses. We don't have that ability with this team. We're dependent almost exclusively on hitting home runs to score runs, and that's tougher against better pitching staffs. Obviously, lights out starting pitching would make a large difference.

Post #14 » by **dougthonus** » Sat Oct 4, 2008 1:12 pm

Chicago teams in the playoffs 0-4. I figured the Sox would either get swept or lose 3-1 in the first round, so that doesn't surprise me much that they're down 0-2, but the Cubs are a real shocker.

Howling Mad · Post #15 » by **Howling Mad** » Sat Oct 4, 2008 1:53 pm

I had a gut feeling both Chicago teams would go down hard.

TB played a hell of a series with the Whitesox in the regular season. Same with the Cubs... The Dodgers were probably the team that gave the Cubs the best fight and had the perfect matchups. Although both teams didn't get swept in their respective series' I think the two teams gave the Chicago teams the best fight and the best matchups.

Plus, both teams got better through guys coming back from injury.

Post #16 » by **dougthonus** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 1:36 pm

I think the Angels or Red Sox would have dismantled the Sox just as well.

The way the Cubs played, I don't think it matters who they played either. The whole team tightened up and choked big time. It wasn't about the Dodgers beating them, but they just beat themselves.

Sebastian · Post #17 » by **Sebastian** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 9:47 pm

I think the Sox are 12-17 since Quentin went down. Who knows what could have happened had he not gone down. It's really tough to lose your best player.

natedog125 · Post #18 » by **natedog125** » Sun Oct 5, 2008 11:54 pm

and thats a White Sox winner. Floyd tommorow against Sonnanstine. I like this match up.. We take this one also.. Then back to Tampa and Buehrle.. We can do this..

GOOO SOXXXXXXX!!!!

Post #19 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 1:51 am

Well, it's like I say.

The closest you can be after 3 games is 2-1.

Post #20 » by **dougthonus** » Mon Oct 6, 2008 2:29 am

natedog125 wrote:and thats a White Sox winner. Floyd tommorow against Sonnanstine. I like this match up.. We take this one also.. Then back to Tampa and Buehrle.. We can do this..

GOOO SOXXXXXXX!!!!

If we make it back to Tampa, I'd say we have about a 40% chance of winning. I think Tampa's the better team, but the pressure on them will be immense if we bring it back to a game 5 and have our best pitcher on the mound.