Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

John Donovan of SI does a position by position comparison for the NLCS and gives pretty much the edge to everything except starting pitching to the Rockies. I'll quibble on a couple of things such as saying Todd Helton is "just OK defensively" and that the Diamondbacks have the "intangibles" going for them (I'd disagree on both of these points). Donovan picks the Rockies in 6 games but with home field advantage and better starting pitching - I still find it tough to pick against the Diamondbacks... There is a pretty good chance that game 1 of the ALCS in Boston could be rained out. This would make it much more difficult to have the game 1 starters also start games 4 and 7 (if necessary) because it would eliminate an off-day between starts. This means the teams probably would be forced to go with 4 starters each which I think gives an edge to Boston since they have a deeper pitching staff. The Red Sox can use Tim Wakefield as their 4th starter with Jon Lester as long relief.... ESPN's Tim Kurkjian picks the Red Sox in 7... I think an aspect that is not discussed enough is how the Indians chose to support manager Eric Wedge in 2004 when they basically picked him over supposedly budding star Milton Bradley (who has never lived up to his supposed talent levels). That decision to trade away the disgruntled Bradley has allowed Cleveland to get to the point they are today - as a cohesive, gruntled unit. It is a lesson that GM's should not forget... David Pinto has an ALCS preview at The Sporting news which focuses in on strikeouts. Largely because Boston pitchers strikeout more batters and Cleveland hitters tend to strikeout more often - Pinto picks the Red Sox in 7 games.... Speaking of strikeouts - I've been meaning to mention the incredible fact that this year Dustin Pedroia has walked 47 times yet struck out just 42 times in 520 at bats. His number of strikeouts is mind numbingly low for a rookie who has a seemingly swing for it all approach at the plate. Which is why I'm bothered by the fact that Pedroia struck out twice against the Angels in the ALDS. If Pedroia can work the counts and not strikeout against the Indians - that's a big advantage in helping to get at Cleveland's bullpen...