What do I want for the playoffs? 40 GAMES!

Last night's victory by the Cardinals was the 29th playoff game played this year. Between the 4 Division Series, the ALCS and the NLCS, the tally so far has been 29 games.

And both LCS are still up in the air. The Tigers can win today and the Brewers could win tomorrow and we'd have a pair of 7th games.

Now keep this in mind. In 2007, between the 4 Division Series, ALCS, NLCS and World Series, only 28 games were played... total.

Three of the Division Series were sweeps. The NLCS and the World Series were both sweeps.
Only the Indians 4 game victory over the Yankees and the Red Sox 7 game ALCS clinching kept the post season from being the minimum. (I could be generous and say there were 29 post season games by including the Padres and Rockies one game playoff.)

The MAXIMUM number of possible post season games is 41.
That's if all Division Series, the ALCS, NLCS and World Series all go the distance.

That's impossible this year because the Rays and Rangers series went 4 and not 5 games.
But the other three Division Series went the full 5 and there is the possibility of both LCS going all 7.

The maximum number of games that can be played this post season is 40.
And THAT'S what I am rooting for.
Two LCS being decided by one game and the World Series going 7.

Now, because I wonder about things like this, I tried to see how many games each post season went since the Wild Card was introduced.

2007 was the quickest post season with 28.
The longest? That would be 2003 when 2 Division Series and both LCS went the distance.

In 1998 and 2009, not a single post season series had a winner take all deciding game.

Here are how the post seasons unfolded.

1995 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
1996 32 games. NLCS went the distance.
1997 34 games. 1 Division Series and World Series went the distance.
1998 30 games. No series went the distance.
1999 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2000 31 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2001 35 games. 3 Division Series and the World Series went the distance.
2002 34 games. 2 Division Series and the World Series went the distance.
2003 38 games. 2 Division Series, the NLCS and ALCS went the distance.
2004 34 games. 1 Division Series, the NLCS and ALCS went the distance.
2005 30 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.
2006 30 games. NLCS went the distance.
2007 28 games. ALCS went the distance.
2008 32 games. ALCS went the distance.
2009 30 games. No series went the distance.
2010 32 games. 1 Division Series went the distance.


So unless you are from Texas or St. Louis or have a friend or family member on the Rangers or Cardinals, root for the Tigers and Brewers in Game 6. Let's have some 7 game series.

It's been 9 years since a World Series went 7 games. It's been 3 years since the ALCS went 7 and 5 years since the NLCS had 7.

Let's have 40 post season games for the first time ever.
Trust me, it will be fun.

Arizona fans... You don't know how good you have it

It's Memorial Day and yes, the Arizona Diamondbacks are in first place all by themselves. I've been looking up pre season predictions for the past few minutes. I couldn't find one expert who picked the D'Backs to win the west.

But here they are about 1/3 of the way through.

Is there a stranger franchise than Arizona?
They were an expansion team who won 100 games in their second year.
By year 4 they won the best World Series of the past 20 years.
3 years later they were a 100 loss team.
3 years later they were hosting the NLCS.
3 years later they nearly lost 100 games.

And now they are in first place again.

When they were reckless in their spending, they created their signature moment (the 2001 Championship.)

When they built the team responsibly, they tore it down almost instantly.

They've had four unique managers in Buck Showalter, Bob Brenly, Bob Melvin and Kirk Gibson.

And in 14 seasons they seem to average 3 or 4 different uniform combinations per year.

I took Diamondback fans to task in 2007 for not selling out their games and in 2008 for not supporting their team.

Of course I am a raging hypocrite. I am a transplant who won't root for the local team, but I am asking the good people of Phoenix to do just that.

As I understand there are a ton of Cubs fans who have somehow landed in Arizona. There could be happiness for Cub fans if they root for the local team. In the last 103 years, the Cubs have won a grand total of one post season series (the 2003 Division Series.)

The Diamondbacks have won 4 post season series, including one against the Cubs.

Seriously, I understand how hard it can be to change loyalties. But in less than 15 seasons the Diamondbacks have given their fans thrills and enough valleys to weed out the bandwagon fans.

They are 1/3 of the way to ANOTHER Division winner.
That would be the team's 5th in 14 years.

That's a 35% success rate.
For the Cubs if they made the post season 35% of the time they would have 37 Octobers as opposed to 16.

I'm just saying.

The D'Backs are fun.
Just try and keep up with the correct up to date hat.

Good Luck Manny Delcarmen

Another member of a World Champion Red Sox team is gone.
And if I could salute Julio Lugo then I can damn sure salute Manny Delcarmen, who got traded to the Colorado Rockies (ironically the team he helped beat in the 2007 World Series.)

It may not have ended well in Boston, let's not forget what a wonderful Red Sox story his is.
He is a native Bostonian and "The Pride of Hyde Park" pitched at West Roxbury High School, dreaming of pitching for the Red Sox.

The Sox drafted him in the second round and in 2005 was called up to pitch for the Defending World Champs.

In 2007 he was up for good and contributing. With Papelbon and Okajima anchoring an All Star Bullpen, Delcarmen posted a 2.05 ERA over 44 relief innings. He kept the Angels off the board with 1 1/3 perfect innings in Game 2 of the Division Series that year (which ended on Manny Ramirez's walk off homer.)

He pitched in the clinching Game 4 of the World Series where he got to accomplish what so many kids in Boston had dreamed of and so few ACTUALLY have achieved:

He won a World Series ring as a player for the Red Sox.

He did it.
All of us who grew up in New England all wanted what he actually got done.

So while this year has been rocky and his season will end AS a Rockie, let me just say, from one life long Red Sox fan to another, thank you Manny Delcarmen for living out all of our dreams.

It was fun for us. I assume it was even more fun for you.

Does Kevin Cash belong in that elite group of Red Sox/Yankees champions?

The Red Sox today welcomed back old friend and knuckleball catching specialist Kevin Cash in a deal with Houston.

With Victor Martinez hurt, it is good to have someone with big league experience backing up "The Lobster" and catching Wakefield (who goes tonight in search if his 178th win in a Red Sox uniform.)

Cash was on the 2007 Division Series roster but didn't get into a game. (He played and homered in the 2008 ALCS for the Sox.)

So he earned a ring with the '07 Red Sox.

But remember, he also played for the 2009 Yankees... which as painful as it is to remember... also won the World Series.

Now he only played 10 games for the Yankees that year and was released in September... but I wonder if he got a ring from the Yankees as well.

I guess he would join Ramiro Mendoza, Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske as the only living players to get a World Series ring as a player with the Red Sox and Yankees.

But I have a hard time putting him in that list because Mendoza, Damon and Hinske were all on the active roster for the post season while Cash was cut from the team before the season was over.

It's the sort of thing that a lunatic like me thinks about at this late hour.

Either way, welcome back... and don't get hurt.

I won't boo ANY member of the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox... not even these guys

When I wrote about how I would give Manny Ramirez an ovation if I were at Fenway (and I do cheer for Manny when I go the six miles from my house to Dodger Stadium) I got some people asking me privately (and someone asked on the site) would I also cheer for Johnny Damon.

Of course.
Both Manny and Johnny were big parts of the 2004 team that all of us Red Sox fans waited our whole lives for. And the make up of the 2004 team was NOT a bunch of home grown Red Sox who all played together in Pawtucket. The 1975, 1978 and 1986 Red Sox teams were primarily home grown.

With the exception of Youk, Nixon, Varitek and Lowe, none of them spent their rookie years with the Red Sox. And even Varitek and Lowe were actually originally drafted by Seattle.

Most of the 2004 squad were picked up from other teams and assembled like a baseball answer to The Dirty Dozen, slapped together for a crazy mission to reverse the curse.

So it is disingenuous to get mad when a mercenary leaves for more money. Pedro, Damon, Manny, Foulke, Schilling et al came to the Red Sox via free agency or forced trades to make dough.

When Pedro signed with the Mets, Damon signed with the Yankees and Manny forced the deal to LA, they were doing to us what they did to the Expos, A's and Indians before coming to Fenway.

I just say "thank you" and have them on their way.
And I have my policy... if you were on the Red Sox playoff rosters for 2004 or 2007 then I can not boo you.

But there are a few guys who test that theory... and it isn't Manny nor Damon.

There are 4 guys who at first make me want to boo... then I have to stop and say "But they helped the Sox win a ring" and reluctantly say "Oh alright. I won't boo."

They are...

RAMIRO MENDOZA, Relief Pitcher. 2004

He always felt like a Yankee mole, didn't he? I still remember him being on the mound in 1999, clinching the ALCS. (No offense to El Duque, but Mendoza should have been the MVP of the 1999 ALCS.)

He was a big pile of "eh" in his 2 seasons in Boston, compiling a combined 5.73 over 2003 and 2004. And he was the last Red Sox pitcher to record a loss in 2004, getting the decision in the 19-8 Game 3 Fiasco... against the Yankees. It was the last game he pitched in a Red Sox uniform and the Sox went 8-0 the rest of the way. I admit it looked odd seeing his celebrate with the other Red Sox at Yankee Stadium after Game 7. When he received his ring the next season, he was a member of the Yankees again.

I never trusted him. But I can't boo him.


ERIC GAGNE, Relief Pitcher. 2007

He was supposed to be the pick up that solidified the bullpen and made the World Series a lock. Instead he became the 800 pound gorilla reliever and the very symbol of how badly someone could suck when they get off the juice.

By the time the playoffs came about, he was banished to mop up duty. The only time he pitched in a close game, it was Game 2 of the 2007 ALCS which he of course lost.

The only two positive things about Gagne's Red Sox stay were his closing out the Division Series (in a mercy move by Tito) and this song inspired by his time in Boston.

He has a ring and Yaz doesn't? It's sick. But I can't boo him.


JAVIER LOPEZ, Relief Pitcher. 2007

I watched a lot of Red Sox games in 2007. And I watched a lot of games where Javier Lopez came into the game. And I honestly have no recollection of him recording an out.

I'm not being snarky. I am sure he MUST have got a batter out. But I don't remember it. It seemed like all of his appearances were listed in the Box Score as 0 IP, faced 2 batters.

When he came into the game, you just KNEW that Tito was going to relieve him before the inning was over. You KNEW that the rally was going to continue.

He was tough to root for... and I bid him farewell last year. As poorly as he pitched, I can't boo him.

JULIO LUGO, Shortstop. 2007

Oh boy this is the ultimate litmus test. This guy was TOUGH to root for. Not only was he obscenely overpaid ($36 million for a guy who lost his starting job with the Dodgers) but was BRUTAL in the field and had an 0-33 stretch at the plate.

Someday we'll learn what Orlando Cabrera did to tick off the Red Sox front office. But until then, Sox fans will all be scratching our collective heads wondering why he couldn't stay instead of shelling out tons of money for Edgar Renteria and Julio Lugo.

But he won a ring with the Sox (and made a few nice plays in the World Series.) Swallow hard... I can't boo him.



And folks, if I refrain from booing those guys, then I think I can find it in myself to cheer some of the heroes of the '04 and '07 titles.