ALDS Game 1 Quick Thoughts

Well, now that it's back to serious baseball time, I suppose I'd better have a few things to say...what the hell, it's only been a year since my last post!

First, knee jerk reaction to Lester's performance last night...if he can develop his command just a bit more, he should be the one of the front runners for the AL Cy Young award next season. I never realized that he threw THAT hard, and that cutter just keeps driving at right handed batters.

Second, Big Papi looks done...he needs to have wrist surgery as soon as this season is over...even if it means he misses a bunch of time next year. It is pretty sad that the Angels pitched around Dustin Pedrioa late in the game just to get to Ortiz. That should never happen, no matter how much of a roll Dustin is on. Funny how 2 years ago, Ortiz and Travis Hafner were the gold standard of DH power hitters, and now they are both just shells of their former selves. Don't get me wrong, Ortiz can still hit, but he is not scaring pitchers anymore.

Third, nice to see the return of Tacoby Shellsbury in the postseason. He looked lost at the plate quite a bit in the regular season, but he now seems to be locked in again. He was on base 4 or 5 times last night, stole 2 bags, and made a heck of a catch in center in the 8th. Speaking of the 8th inning, great play by Youk in short right. Everyone wants to blame Vladi for going to third on that ball, but he was just going on instinct. 90% of the time, flares like that get away from the fielders and it's an easy extra base. This time, the ball took a perfect hop and Youk was able to smother it quickly and come up firing. That being said, Guerrero looks like a drunken horse trying to run around the bases...didn't he used to be fast?

Not sure I like Masterson in the 8th inning role...hard to have a guy that pitches to contact in a shut down role. If it wasn't for the D, he'd have blown that lead last night. But with that bullpen, he's probably the best option...I sure don't trust Manny Del Carmen or even Oki that much.

Hopefully Dice-K remembers what the strike zone looks like tomorrow night, and we head back to Bean town up 2-0!