Baseball and Days Off

The excitement of the baseball world right now should be at an all time high. Tonight, the two Cy Young Award favorites in the American League are facing off with Josh Beckett hoping to keep his Boston Red Sox alive against CC Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians who lead the ALCS 3-1.

The Rockies swept the D-Backs, much to the surprise of no one. The obvious pick in the World Series is a Rockies sweep whoever they play. They do it with timely two out hitting and good pitching. They are just playing great baseball. Remember in May when I said Tulo would play himself into the ROY race? Well, his regular season numbers speak for themselves, but this kid plays great defense as well. He's the old school shortstop we have been needing in the league.

And even if you are one of 12 million in the New York Metropolitan area, you can still be concerned about the future of Joe Torre. Is it a big surprise to anyone that the Yankees are still trying to steal headlines in a post season in which they aren't participating at the present? You'll have to wait until the end of the World Series to get back into the A-Rod talks.

With as great as Josh Beckett is and the excitement that Cleveland has brought to the table, if there is any reason that the stir across the country would have been hurt about baseball, it would have been because of last night. Well, you may be thinking to yourself, "No one played last night." Exactly.

When was the last time you remember there being an extra day off during a baseball series? I most certainly can't remember, but some say that my memory isn't that good. There is no reason whatsoever for the day off last night to occur. 24 is on Sundays and it doesn't even start until January or something, so I can't find a way (yet) to blame the scheduling on the networks. Is Selig trying to take better care of the players in his league? One day off could end up changing a series. In today's game of pitch counts, it's going to be awfully tough for Terry Francona to justify throwing Josh Beckett on two days rest in Game 7 should the series get there. But, if Beckett threw in Game 4, he would have had a respectable 4 days rest before throwing in Game 7. Apparently, there was a necessity in throwing Tim Wakefield against a homer hitting lineup in the post season. What do I know. For about 4 1/3 innings, Francona seemingly knew more than me. I'll take my 4 2/3.

Now, what would have happened in the NLCS with this day off. Say you throw Brandon Webb on short rest if you are the D-Backs in Game 4. Now, you can potentially throw him again in Game 7 knowing that you have a good bullpen. Didn't happen. There is this word that I like to use in the business world...urgency. If you're a player, I understand that you can't panic. I don't really have a problem with what Manny Ramirez said about how "Losing isn't the end of the world" because as a player, you have to stay loose. I wouldn't question Manny's ability to play the game. He's the best right handed hitter in baseball. A manager however. Yeah, it's time for him to start panicking.

I am from this school..."Play to Win." The Green Bay Packers didn't play to win on Sunday night a few weeks ago, and the Bears took advantage. They played to sit on their lead. Bad.

In the playoffs, you must play to win, now. Not tomorrow, not two days from now, now. You need to find a way to get your best players on the field as much as possible. I'm a Cubs fan. Trust me, I know Josh Beckett is their best player. So too did Jack McKeon. That's why he won a World Series. Pitchers have the whole winter to rest their arms. I understand setting up your rotation, but if you are the Red Sox, how safe do you feel with Schilling and DICE-K, honestly? Do you really think that if this thing goes seven games, that in Game 7 with the World Series on the line, you are going to be comfortable sending DICE-K to the mound? I wouldn't be and I don't even respect the Red Sox anymore.

The other thing is, you don't think Brandon Webb wanted to pitch three games in a seven game series if he could? So he only gets 3-4 days rest on two of his starts. I would take my chances with 5 of Brandon Webb's innings over that guy who pitched Game 4 any day of the week. You remember, that guy who all they talked about was how good of a hitter he was? That's not going to get it done.

We've talked about this in football. You put the best team on the field. In crunch time, that's when you find out who your true horses are. Josh Beckett is that horse, and he's proven. The Red Sox may lose tonight and CC may show up, but at least they put the best team on the field. Too bad they could be throwing Schilling because I'd take my Josh Beckett/Paul Byrd match up any day of the week. Win now, rest in November. It makes you wonder if the manager is really making the lineups or the front office.