The Tom Retro Chronicle (Episode #35)

Taped: 6/24/14

Topics: USA vs Portugal, Suarez biting incident, MLB scores

Major League Baseball 2014 Predictions

There are two seasons: winter and baseball. Or as the old saying goes. It is that time of year again folks. To put away the jackets, and break out the baseball caps. To put away the winter boots, and BBQ while watching a ball-game on a Sunday afternoon. To have the wind blowing in your hair while listening to Vin Scully call a game. Seriously love this time of year. The season starts on Sunday when the Los Angeles Dodgers play against the San Diego Padres. After that it is solid baseball until September 28th when the regular season ends. These predictions include division winners, award winners, and playoff predictions. 

NL West:

1: Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Francisco Giants
3: Colorado Rockies
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San DIego Padres

NL Central:

1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Chicago Cubs
5. Milwaukee Brewers

NL East:

1. Washington Nationals
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Atlanta Braves
4. New York Mets
5. Miami Marlins 

AL West:

1. Oakland Athletics
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners
5. Houston Astros

AL Central: 

1. Detroit Tigers
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Cleveland Indians 
5. Minnesota Twins

AL East:

1. Boston Red Sox
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. Baltimore Orioles
4. New York Yankees
5. Toronto Blue Jays

AL Wild Card: Rays and White Sox
NL Wild Card: Giants and Reds

Awards:

NL Cy Young: Stephen Strasburg 
AL Cy Young: Chris Sale

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Bryce Harper

AL Playoffs: 

Rays over White Sox

Tigers over Red Sox

Athletics over Rays

Tigers over Athletics

NL Playoffs: 

Giants over Reds 

Nationals over Giants

Cardinals over Dodgers 

Nationals over Cardinals 

World Series:

Nationals in 7 games over Tigers

-Tom

The Happy, Angry, Excited, Devastated, Hopeful Post (Red Sox won the World Series!)

You could say that any champion is built from the bottom to the top. Some take years to build (e.g. Muhammad Ali, Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints, Pre-Championship Michael Jordan years) or it just takes one spectacular season (1985 Chicago Bears, 1991 Minnesota Twins, etc.) but others take something much more to achieve. Through tragedy, drama, chicken, beer, and a man named Manny Ramirez, the Boston Red Sox achieved something that only the bottom cellars of the four major sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA) can only dream of. 

After the 2007 championship season, the Red Sox was put under pressure to keep the title in Boston but it wasn’t the case as their almost perennial all-star Manny Ramirez, continued to bloat his ego, move to 1st after grounding out seconds after trying to reach base (I think it took him like 6-7 seconds to reach a base and get grounded out). The Red Sox did go to the playoffs and reached the ALCS to take on the surprising Tampa Bay Rays. It took seven long, hard games but it wasn’t the Red Sox that would go on to take on the Phillies in the Fall Classic that year. 

After making the wild-card spot in 2009 and getting swept by the Anaheim Angels, it looked like the talent that Boston had over the years was starting to grow old and weary. In 2010 the Red Sox missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, a team that included Victor Martinez (before he became a Tiger, such a wuss), Adrian Beltre (whom we should’ve kept), and Josh Reddick (you’re welcome Oakland). Still the 2010 Red Sox finished with a winning record and finished 4 games better than the Toronto Blue Jays (before they became champions of the offseason, and made good use of the “Universal sign of choking” sign). Nothing would come more painful than the season that came next. 

2011 seemed to be a season that would guarantee the Sox a spot in the playoffs and perhaps a shot to win the World Series on the eve of the 100th Anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park back in 1912. Everything went well it seemed, sure Carl Crawford had his ups and downs, but Adrian Gonzales did not disappoint (the way he hit, ran, and played defense just made you drool). The season went well despite a few bumps and holes, which is normal if you follow a team that you love, but if you could give the Red Sox a playoff spot from April to September you’d count your sox to bet that this team would make it to the playoffs. 

Based on odds, the Boston Red Sox would make the playoffs based on the percentage of 99.6%. This was on September 3rd, which the wrong turn of wrong turns would do the Red Sox in. ESPN covered it like it was nothing, TMZ felt like it was something that was better than Britney Spears shaving her head, hell even farmers probably talked about it. Here’s the collapse in a glance: 11-game collapse, 9 consecutive blown saves, 7-20 record in September, 10,000 chickens (Colonel Sanders would go apeshit) and 5,000 Blue Moon’s (I had to slip it in, despite no knowledge what beer it was) was consumed that time. Here’s what it felt like: imagine going through so many breakups, car accidents, bad days, injuries, and you just couldn’t do anything about it. Like it was meant to happen. You couldn’t get away from it.

September 28th and the day after was the worst day that I have felt as a sports fan in my entire lifetime. The Red Sox had the chance to get to the playoffs and slay the demons that they were facing for the entire month, they were in Baltimore, and right next to them was the evil Tampa Bay Rays waiting for them to blow it. I remember it fondly.

I was in my 5th year of college, after coming back from being at an unplugged music event at my alma mater’s cafeteria, I listened to friends play music (one even played “American Girl” I recall) and I kept looking at my phone at the Red Sox @ Orioles score and they certainly kept it interesting. After it was done and said with I quickly turned it to ESPN which showed the Red Sox-Orioles game which was in the 9th and as I got comfy, they blew a save. To add more insult to injury they quickly turned it to the Yankees-Rays game and Evan Longoria hits a walk-off in the 12th inning and just like that the fucking Rays were in the playoffs and the Red Sox choked their way into the worst collapse in professional sports history. 

After that much of the ingredients that had given the Red Sox the championship glory years before were gone. Terry Francona out the door, Jonathan Papelbon goes into free agency and becomes a Phillie, Theo Epstein gets shown the door and starts a project (a very extensive project) with the Chicago Cubs, while Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester the, chicken and beer dinner players were in the clear and still played into the 2012 season. 

What 2012 is was much more than what 2011 had brought to the table. It was just a continuation, an extension of the nightmare that the last month of 2011. Though with less chicken and beer, the drama was still there.

I could go on all night about the horrors of 2012 but essentially it came down to two things that turned the franchise around: August 25th, and October 4th. The day in August was both a blessing and yet a feeling of uncertainty. The blessing was that it was the largest salary dump in sports history. To get rid of these salary-pigs in Gonzales, Beckett, and Crawford felt good. It meant that we could go back to our roots and get players that produced more bang for the buck. The uncertainty part was who? Who could possibly replace these players, there could’ve been many players that management could’ve chosen, what they were only me and my fellow Red Sox fans could possibly think of. October 4th, a day that was cherished by anyone that is/was a Red Sox fan: Bobby Valentine was fired, sacked, dumped, and divorced, quite possibly the best move that the Red Sox made all year. That winter was a hard one to endure, the Yankees were shitting on us for our losing ways, the Giants won their 7th title beating the Tigers (at the time tying us for the all-time World Series titles won), and certainly who could forget the supposed “Mayans forgot to include 12/22/2012 in their calendar, but since they didn’t caused everyone to think that possibly the end of the world would happen the day before” myth, which us Sox fans felt that we would never see the Sox win another title before the end of the world. A Boston Red Sox team that wouldn’t include the drama, the players that hated the team as much as its fans hated them, a team that went back to its roots of playing great pitching, good hitting, and timely defense, a team that wouldn’t have a last-place finish, a team that wouldn’t have its worst season since the Beatles would release Rubber Soul, and one more year of playing concerts before calling it good in 1966.

2013 began with optimism, the hiring of John Farrell was promising, but nothing was guaranteed. The Red Sox would sign David Ross, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli, Koji Uehara, and Stephen Drew during the offseason. The acquisitions were not of the Theo Epstein signings in 2011, but of a different sense. My aunt, who lives in Portland, Maine, commented during the playoffs that it was of a “Moneyball” signings. Meaning that these players were good in certain statistics and situations that the Red Sox got for not a lot of money.  

The season got off to a good start, an 18-8 record in April, their best record during a month since easily 2011. Even as ESPN prepared to have the first game to have (by coincidence) the Red Sox play against the Yankees and won the game. Suddenly the culture changed and if it was John Farrell was the case or not, the Red Sox were now watchable and enjoyable. 

The turning point of this post, the climax, happened with a tragedy. While I didn’t witness it, or saw it happen, I felt, like many of my Red Sox fans, the tragedy of losing someone dear to them, for I knew the pain of loss. It was a rallying cry for not just the team, but the city of Boston and quite possibly the entire region. My aunt had lived in Boston for a good long time and she had lived in the general area where the accused had lived and had the standoff of standoffs. It was destiny for the city to rally on the phrase “Boston Strong!” 

Three of the four professional sports teams were still in play during that time. Celtics squeaked into a 7th seed spot in the playoffs, the Bruins a unlikely favorite to get to the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Red Sox having started their season. Out of all these three teams, two of them reached the championship match, out of the two, one became champions. The Celtics did put up a fight against the New York Knicks and nearly put the Knickerbockers on their knees towards a 7-game series but ended up winning the series in 6. The Boston Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Finals against the heavily favored Chicago Blackhawks and took them to 6 games when the Bruins choked by giving up 2 goals in the last 90 seconds of the 3rd period. The Red Sox were the last chance to give the city a chance to celebrate and to have a relief, a closure to a horrific chapter in their cities history. 

The 2013 Boston Red Sox finished with the best record in the American League with a 97-65 record, homefield advantage throughout the American League playoffs and World Series. Their run began with the team that had been a thorn in their side for five years, the Tampa Bay Rays, They would beat the devilish Rays (see what I did there?) in four games in the ALDS with their biggest challenge coming to them in a crazy way. In their way towards a potential 13th American League pennant was the Detroit Tigers, a team that has been in their 3rd straight trip to the American League Championship Series, and knew how to get to the Fall Classic. It was a slugfest. Detroit took game 1, Boston game 2, Boston again in game 3, Detroit tied it up in game 4, Boston survived a rally in game 5, and Boston cruised on with a victory in game 6. 

It was their 13th American League pennant. They had won the title in 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 2004, and 2007. They lost in the Fall Classic in 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986. In ’46 and ’67 they faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals and lost. The 2004 team took on the Redbirds, which were favored to win, and did what Ted Williams and/or Carl Yaztremski could not do, beat the Cardinals in the Fall classic. 

This series was different the Cardinals won in 2006, Red Sox won in 2007, Cardinals in 2011, so certainly this series meant something to both teams. The Red Sox exercised their bats in game one, to beat the Cards 8-1. In game two, the Red Sox took the lead after a David Ortiz two-run homer in the 6th, but the Cardinals scored three in the 7th on a bad throw by Jarrod Saltalamacchia to third base, Cardinals won 4-2. Game 3 was a classic, all to the end, then with runners on 2nd and 3rd base with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th. A grounder to 2nd Pedroia throws it to Salty to get the 2nd out and thus throws it to 3rd where Will Middlebrooks fucks up the bad throw by Salty and tries to throw his legs up to slow down Allen Craig, which happened, but as he ran to home it wasn’t an out, it ended in a walk-off. As much as it pained me to see it happen that way afterwards (I was working the closing shift at Kohls, where you couldn’t really have electronics on the floor) Will obstructed Craig and thus the Cardinals took game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series which made me and possibly many others doubt about the quest to win a championship for the city of Boston. Game four was a desperate game for the Sox as they needed to have a good start for Clay Bucholz, who wasn’t part of the 2007 squad, and their bats to wake up. Jonny Gomes rose to the occasion on a three-run homer to take a 4-2 win and to force a game 6 in Boston. Game five was possibly the most interesting game of the series outside of game three. The pitching duel of Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright was a sight to behold. Late in the game tied 1-1 at the top of the 7th inning, David Ross hit a ground-rule double and Jacoby Ellsbury hit a RBI single to give the Red Sox a 2 run cushion to gain a game five victory 3-1, heading back to Boston. Game six was what many had felt, the Cardinals needed to have a miracle start for Michael Wacha, and the Red Sox needed was just John Lackey and the bats to come through for him. The Cardinals walked David Ortiz but by the end it wasn’t enough to stave off the Beantown bats as they scored 6 runs in two innings, and it was all that the Red Sox needed. 

It was relief, a conclusion, a reassurance. This is what I felt after the final pitch was recorded. All the bullshit, the heartbreak, the drama, the chicken ‘n beer, the Man-Ram, the taunts from some people, it didn’t matter anymore, the Red Sox were World Champions of Baseball, their 8th championship in franchise history. Their 3rd title since 2004, their first title-clincher at home since 1918. They move to 4th all-time championships with the Yankees 27, Cardinals 11, Athletics 9.

It nearly made me cry, or at least sob as they celebrated on the field. At the end of it all, I played “Tessie” by the Dropkick Murphy’s. While life moves on and baseball is done until February, the night of October 30th, 2013 will always be remembered as the day that hope was restored to the city of Boston and that years of heartbreak conclude in a championship that both the team and its fans will enjoy for years to come. 

“Red Sox, you are the only, only, only.”

‘Nuff Said.

My friend: Baseball is back

Now it has been a long time coming. Both in that I haven’t done a column in nearly 3 months. Why the long period of time? Regardless of the way that my Packers lost to the 49ers in the divisional playoff game a week later the column was released, it was still a decent season for the Green and Gold. I get my revenge on Christian Ponder (who is more of a pussy than anyone else that I know), on stealing who was my interest months before he stole her, Samantha Steele (now Ponder, now obviously the latter last name was better to me). Other than my revenge, the Packers even up their rivalry with the Vikings in the playoffs at 1-1. There is a point to this article.

Baseball has returned. Days are getting longer, Beer doesn’t freeze when you try to drink it, girls start to wear shorts, shirts (yes my guy friends, don’t lie you like it, I do too). Another year of hope for Cubs fans to break the curse of the Billy Goat, Yankee fans claim that this will be the year that they will win #28 (and fail), hot dogs will be consumed, baseballs will be thrown back in disgust, another year of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver destroying the great game of baseball (one idiotic word at a time). Here’s my overall thoughts on the season, and the season so far. 

1. Yankees still suck. 2009 was the last great year of the Yankees opening their checkbook to players in a big way. CC Sabathia and Mark Texeira were the ones that took from going to small-time teams to the big show. Going to the Yankees that year you witnessed many things: the two players actually making an impact on the club, the last year that you witnessed an Alex Rodriguez actually being clutch and put up numbers like he was supposed to make, and the Yankees winning #27 of their overall World Series titles (of which I couldn’t watch ESPN for a month because they loved to give the Yanks so much slack, note this is before Tim Tebow came into their lives and destroyed the network). 

Obviously the Yankee bandwagon has been small these past few months for good reasons. Their players get more injured than an average Yao Ming season. It’s a fact that they have old players (Kuroda 38, Pettite 40, Jeter 38, Overbay 36, A-Rod 37, Youkilis 34). The average age of the team is 30 years old. Certainly no spring chickens on the team. 7 players on the disabled list. 

2. Tigers bullpen is still trash. Biggest reason why they couldn’t win a title last season. As much as starting pitching is key to winning games, relief pitching deserves as much responsibility to winning games. For example, if you work in a McDonalds, your shift is about to end, business has been good, plenty of great compliments from the customers, working area is clean, you head out, and the coworker puts in the wrong order for a customer, bad example I know. That’s what relief pitching is essentially, you keep a good thing going for the one who came before you and you don’t try to screw it up for the person. The team’s ERA is 2.60 (which is good when you think of it) but here’s the relief pitchers ERA (Smyly 13.50, Downs 6.75, Coke 9.00). The season is young I know, these sort of problems happen normally, I feel the Tigers will be alright. 

3. Houston Astros. The Astros as of right now are 1-2 on the season. The logo is nice, the stadium is still pretty cool (AT&T Park is probably my favorite ballpark). On Opening Night last Sunday, these Astros won a game against the Rangers. 8-2 in fact. After that, the honeymoon was over. Losing to the Rangers 7-0 and 0-4 in 2 days was heartbreaking I figure. My overall thoughts on them going from NL to AL is so-so. I personally liked to see the Brewers go back to the AL since that was where they started as a club (established in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots then moving to Milwaukee in 1970, entered the National League in 1998). 

4. Red Sox. As a fan of the Red Sox, I find this year to be a year where we could go almost anywhere in the division. First or last. The division is open. Somewhere we could get closure to the horrid season that was 2012. Jackie Bradley Jr., already is a household name, starting pitching looks good, hitting is impressive, we could go all the way in a possible way. 

That’s all that I have for right now. 

-Tom

2012 World Series: San Francisco Giants vs Detroit Tigers

Well I managed to get something right in my pre-postseason picks. The San Francisco Giants will play against the Detroit Tigers. This is the first time the two clubs have ever met in a World Series, which is odd enough knowing the long history of both clubs. The San Francisco Giants originally established in 1883 when they were in New York as the New York Gothams for two years. Then changed the name to the Giants becoming the New York Giants from 1885-1957. The team moved to San Francisco along with their inner-city rival the Brooklyn Dodgers to California. The Giants have been in San Francisco since 1958. The Detroit Tigers were established in 1894. They have been in the American League since 1901 to the present day.

Here’s some more stats for the two clubs to water your senses:

Both clubs combined for 10 World Series titles. Giants (1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, 1954, 2010) and the Tigers (1935, 1945, 1968, 1984).

Both clubs combined for 33 pennants for their respected leagues.

The Giants (1888, 1889, 1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1962, 1989, 2002, 2010, 2012).

The Tigers (1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2006, 2012).

In terms of picking a winner I’m still standing by my original pick of the Tigers winning the series in 7 games. Two games will be in San Francisco due to the National League winning the All-Star Game this past July (yeah I kind of forgot since that time too…). There’s a good chance if Justin Verlander starts in one of those two games the Tigers will win one of those games. Then three games will go to Detroit, and then the final 2 games (if necessary) will be back in San Francisco.

The pitching match ups have not been set for game 1 yet but one can perhaps feel that Verlander will start game 1. The Giants starter could certainly be Barry Zito, who started for game 5 of the NLCS which was last friday, for game 1.

In terms of match ups between the various areas of the two clubs (i.e. hitting, starting pitching, base running, bullpen, managing, fielding) the two teams are very much alike. Perhaps too much alike. It really could be one of the best World Series match ups in the last 5 years… okay last year’s World Series was probably the best one in the last 5 years too. Here’s a breakdown:

Hitting:

San Francisco: .269 batting average (3rd in National League), 718 runs (6th in National League), 103 home-runs (15th in National League)

Detroit: .268 batting average (3rd in the American League), 726 runs (6th in American League), 163 home-runs (10th in American League

Edge: Detroit. Despite the .001 difference in batting average, the Tigers offense has scored more runs and hit more homers than the Giants.

Pitching (in the 2012 regular season):

San Francisco: 5 complete games, 14, shutouts, 3.68 team ERA (4th in National League), 1,237 strikeouts, .248 against batting average.

Detroit: 9 complete games, 8 shutouts, 3.75 ERA (3rd in American League), 1,318 strikeouts, with a .256 against batting average.

Edge: San Francisco. This one was pretty difficult to take. The Giants pitching has a better ERA and against batting average. The Giants get a nod, but very close to saying the Tigers.

Fielding:

San Francisco: 115 errors, 4,353 putouts, 1,639 assists

Detroit: 99 errors, 4,292 putouts, 1,481 assists

Edge: Detroit. 

Baserunning:

San Francisco: 118 stolen bases

Detroit: 59 stolen bases

Edge: San Francisco.

Managing: 

Bruce Bochy (San Francisco Giants): has taken the San Diego Padres to the World Series in 1998, lost to the Yankees. Won the World Series with the San Francisco Giants in 2010. 3rd trip to the World Series for him. Won 1,454 games and lost 1,444 games in 18 years, .502 winning percentage.

Jim Leyland (Detroit Tigers): Won a World Series with the Florida Marlins in 1997, and took the Detroit Tigers to a World Series in 2006 but lost to the Cardinals. Another trip to the World Series for him with this tigers team. Won 1,676 games and lost 1,659 games with a .503 winning percentage in 21 years as a manger.

Edge: Detroit. 

So I have the Detroit Tigers in 7 games. It looks like a good match up and both teams will fight for every out in the series. Exciting time of year for a baseball fan. Enjoy the series and best of luck to both teams.

2012 MLB Postseason Picks

Well now that the regular season of Major League Baseball is done and finished. I will make my prediction on who wins it all in 2012. Remember instead of 8 teams in the postseason there’s 10 teams. 2 1-game wild card games to determine who gets to go to one of the ALDS/NLDS matchups. Other than that nothing has changed in the postseason system. So lets begin:

Wild Card:

St. Louis @ Atlanta: Cards. I feel the Cardinals will get the win based on a good start by Kyle Lohse. The Braves I’m not sure of. 

Baltimore @ Texas: Rangers. The Rangers have a great team to not lose against the O’s. Its been a great year to be an Orioles fan but their season ends in Arlington.

Division Series: 

Oakland vs Detroit: Tigers in 5. A good matchup between these two teams. I like the Tigers pitching and hitting. Going to be a good series as well.

San Francisco vs Cincinnati: Giants in 4. The Reds sure look good on paper but the Giants have better pitching than the Reds. 

St. Louis vs Washington: Cardinals in 5: The Nationals don’t have Strasburg in this series but this could go on for a while. The Cardinals will put up a great fight and I feel that it will be won in a close 5th game.

Texas vs New York: Rangers in 4. The Rangers have the Yankees number for the past few years. I’ll take the Rangers. 

Detroit vs Oakland: Detroit in 3. Oakland had a great season but they’re no match for the Tigers I feel. 

League Championship Series:

St. Louis vs San Francisco: Giants in 5. The St. Louis train ends. Giants go back to the World Series and represent the National League. Giants pitching is good.

Texas vs Detroit: Detroit in 6. The hopes of a 3rd trip to the World Series ends for the Rangers and the Tigers go to the World Series for the first time since 2006. 

World Series:

Detroit vs San Francisco: Detroit in 7. A great pitching matchup along with great hitting. This one will be just as great as last year’s I can feel it. I love October. Tigers bring the hardware back to the motor city since 1984.