Somebody didn't send the memo to Philadelphia and Colorado: this was the year the Division Series match ups were all supposed to end in sweeps. All three of the other series ended that way, surprising and not all at the same time. The Dodgers pleasantly surprised me, and the Angels and Yankees merely did what I thought they'd do, win their respective series to meet in the ALCS.
I must say, though, while I thought all along that the Anaheim team would make it through, I didn't expect them to do it with such relative ease. Something about Boston just didn't seem to be there. Something wasn't clicking right. Their usual fire just didn't catch, as it was through the final stretch of the regular season. Their starting pitching did fine, a mistake or two costing them big, but their bats just couldn't support those mistakes.
Worst of all was Jonathan Papelbon's big time blown save yesterday. He of the big mouth completely fell apart, a trend amongst most of the closers thus far in the playoffs. Even Mariano Rivera gave up a run in Game 2. Mike Scoiscia's team turned it on when it counted yesterday, allowing them to celebrate within the usually unforgiving green walls of Fenway.
Another highly regarded closer, Joe Nathan of the Twins, was terrible in their series as the Yankees took advantage of what his blown confidence and abilities offered up. ARod hurt him in game two, and yesterday he gave the Yanks a cushion by allowing two in the top of the ninth.
Is it because of the level of competition? Does a better hitter triumph over a good closer in these situations? Or is it just luck? I'd love to see a stat on this.
In a stunning turn of events, though, Brad Lidge got the save for the Phillies last night putting them ahead 3-2. So you never know how these things will work out. The Phillies will try to close it out tonight behind Cliff Lee.
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