Rockies Up 2-0; Red Sox Take Game 1

The Red Sox took advantage of a, once again, erratic C.C. Sabathia (4 1/3 IP 5 BB 7H 8ER). C.C. has really got to calm down, he's trying to rear back and blow the ball by everyone, by doing that he's very wild and leaving too many pitched over the plate. The Tribe scored first on a Travis Hafner solo shot in the first and the Sox quickly responded with a RBI single by Manny Ramirez (2-2 3RBI) in the bottom half of the inning. From then on the Red Sox had control of the game (10 runs on 12 hits), Josh Beckett was Josh Beckett (6IP 2ER 7K) and continued his dominance in the postseason. Eric Gagne is still very scary even with a good lead, giving up a double to Lofton and a single to Peralta in the 9th but he did register 3 K's.

The D'Backs played a better game last night by continually putting runners on base but they lacked a few big hits to really put the game away. Ubaldo Jimenez looked very impressive until the 3rd when there were runners on, he was rushing his delivery and was working into very deep counts. The 5th inning was a major dissapointment for Arizona, Alberto Callaspo, pinch hitting for Doug Davis, went after the first pitch he saw and grounded out instead of working the count and getting a pitch to hit. Chirs Young and Stephen Drew both reached base on a HBP and a walk. Eric Byrnes on a 2-1 count popped a curve ball, which was in the dirt of the left handed batters box, into foul territory for an easy out and squashed what could have been a big inning. The bullpens for both teams have been outstanding. I'm questioning Bob Melvin on leaving Jose Valverde in for his third inning of work. Yeah, he was lights out the whole season but not even having anybody ready in the bullpen and waiting in the wings in case of a meltdown was a really bad move. Despite a few major mistakes by Arizona, this game was one of the best games in the playoffs by far.

Rox Keep on Rollin'; ALCS Game 1

The Rockies have to be playing with cheat codes because they are on fire winning 18 of 19 games and 9 straight on the road. They took the lead, 1-0, in the NLCS with a 5-1 win. Willy Taveras made a huge impact with his speed threat, despite only getting on base once. Taveras and Matsui at the top is a very dangerous duo when on the bases. The most impressive thing is that the Rox didn't get an extra base hit last nite and still scored 5 runs. Also I really don't think that Jeff Francis had his best stuff last night but he knew what was working and worked out of some jams with DPs and slick fielding by Tulowitzki. Speaking of Tulowitzki, he and Helton left four runners on base a piece, imagine what they could've done with a few more hits. The ALCS starts tonight in Boston, pitting two Cy Young contenders against each other (Sabathia v. Beckett). The Red Sox are easily the best team in baseball and I think are favorate (Boston in 5?), if Manny can stay hot and the pitching staff can stay hot, they're unbeatable. The big key for the Indians is C.C.'s control if he's all over the place and continually falling behind hitters like he did against the Yankees in the ALDS (5 BB and 114 pitches in 5 IP) then Cleveland is in for a long night.

It's Been Awhile: NLCS Game 1

Ok so I'm shaking the dust of this thing and it's been a long time since I've been around, so onward we go.... Tonite we got Game 1 of the NLCS (8:37pm on TBS), Rockies/D'Backs. The starters are Francis vs. Webb. One of the premeir pitchers against a very underrated one (IMO). Francis looked like vintage Glavine in Game 1 of the NLDS against Philly, continually pounding the zone with first pitch strikes and stayed ahead of alot of the hitters and we all know about what Webb can do, the groundball machine. This series should be very good, two very evenly matched teams who are setting the world on fire right now. The Rocks have Willy Taveres, who is going to start apparently in center, coming back from a quad injury. Series should go deep 6 or 7 games. Rocks in 7, maybe?

Other News:

• Rather shocking news from Atlanta, John Schuerholz is leaving his post as GM and will become the new Braves President. Assistant GM Frank Wren will take over full-time for JS. With new ownership who's willing to spend $$$ and increase payroll, as a Braves fan, I feel pretty good about this.

Bonds, Sosa And More

It looked as if the Giants and Barry Bonds came to an agreement on a one year, $15.8 million contract but it was rejected by the comissioner's office because of a personal appearence provision. Bonds is unwilling to sign any new deal.

More news:

• Phillies sign Myers to a 3 year deal
• Roberts signs one year deal with Baltimore, avoids arbitration
• Ron Washington is drinking out of the same cup as Jim Tracy
• Mike Matheny calls it a day
• Clemens: "I'm failing at retirement"
• Kearns gets 3 years from Washington

Drew And Other Rumblings

After 7 weeks J.D. Drew and the Red Sox finally came to terms on a 5 year, $70 million contract. The deal allows the Sox to opt out of the deal in '10 and '11 if his right shoulder sidlines him at any time. Drew hit .283 with 20 homers and drove in 100 runs with the Dodgers last year.

Other rumblings:

• Jeff Weaver and Arthur Rhoades are now Mariners.
• Darin Erstad and the White Sox agreed to a one year deal.
• Cliff Floyd signs with the Cubs.
• Tomo Ohka signs with the Blue Jays.
• Todd Helton a Red Sox?
• Jim Tracy is offically stupid.

Utley Gets 7 Years, $85 Million From Phils

Chase Utley and the Phillies have agreed upon a 7 year, $85 million dollar contract to avoid arbitration. Utley is one of the top second basemen in all of baseball and the deal is great for the Phillies because Utley would command more money if they went the arbitration route. Chase hit .379 with 32 homers and drove in 102 last season and he also had a 35-game hit streak (6/4-8/23). The deal keeps him a Philly through 2013.