10/8: The first marble

Pitcher #11: Byrd Over Delcarmen

With the Red Sox ALDS roster now available to the reading public, Tito has ended any speculation as to whether Manny Delcarmen would be carried over into the Division Series and postseason. Manny struggled for much of the latter part of the season, though his lousy September (7 IP, 14.14 ERA, 8 BB, 10 K, 4 HR) was undoubtedly the final nail in the coffin for what was at first a very promising year.

Heeeere’s your ALDS roster!

No Rocco Baldelli or Manny Delcarmen.

ALDS Game One Preview

With the opening pitch set for 9:37 pm, Eastern Standard Time, the Sox and Angels get ready to kick off their leg of the American League playoffs. The short-series ALDS will rely heavily on the opening game, as a 1-0 lead in a Best of 5 is better than finding money. With Beckett going up against Jered Weaver in Game Two, an opening win by Boston would put quite a damper on Anaheim’s plans.

The first game features a battle of staff leaders. Sox Ace Jon Lester goes up against Angels’ number one John Lackey. Lester and the Sox have the definite edge in this one, as Lester has turned himself into an early Cy Young candidate for 2010, while Lackey has seen the erosion of his skills to a certain extent.

Jon Lester

The consummate field general, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia was likely up late last night game planning for the openeras his lineup is a very interesting match for Lester.

With the option to bat as many as eight players right-handed (Anaheim has four switch hitters: Izturis, Morales, Aybar, and Figgins), Lester’s prominent reverse-platoon splits may give Scioscia pause when instructing his batters to hit right-handed. Lester’s pronounced splits have actually given the edge to left-handers this season, as they went a combined .257/.305/.411 against the ace, while righties compiled a .237/.299/.350 clip.

Fireside Chats #62: Where we prime the pump for the ALDS

Episode #62
Hosts: Paul Testa, Tim Daloisio
Guests: Peter Abraham, Boston.com

The playoffs are finally upon us! Paul and I beat the “series preview horse” to over the head a few more times and call on the esteemed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe and Boston.com to help us out.

*editors note – Joe Haggerty was kind enough to come on with us as well, only to have his interview lost in the netherworlds on the Internet. Joe will never get those twenty minutes of his life back, so for that….we apologize.

Both Paul and I see the series going four games and sending the Red Sox off to face the Yankees in the ALCS. Find out why on this episode of Fireside Chats.