Saturday, October 08, 2005

So much for the wind

What bothers me most is the thought the White Sox were just better than the Red Sox. They had better pitching, more clutch hitting, and better defense. But at the same time, it wasn't like they were that much better. Take my list from a few days ago:

1) Pick any one starting pitcher and turn him into "Josh Beckett" from a few years ago.
5) the 5,6,7 and 8 hitters will pick up the slack they've been dropping lately.

If either 1 or 5 was true, the Sox on Sox series would still be going on. If Clement had been able to pitch better that first day (or Wells, or Wakefield), the Sox offense (i.e. Manny and Ortiz) would have made up the difference. But the truth is the pitching wasn't good enough. But at the same time, neither were the 5,6,7,8 hitters. In the last two games, they went 4/31, which just wasn't good enough.

But I think the bullpen did well enough (Is anyone not impressed by Papelbon?). Timlin did fine (not great, but who expected him to be?). Manny and Ortiz surely did their part (despite all the complaints about Manny's hustle).

So was it a successfull season? I don't think so. They may not have been talented enough to win it all, but they were too good to be swept in the ALDS. Before the playoffs started, I would have said it was a success if they made it into the ALCS. After the second game, I would have said it was a success if they had made it to a fifth game. But losing in three just doesn't cut it.

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