Big League Stew

I'm not sure if you've been following along with The Heater, the Rays blog run by the St. Petersburg Times, but you really should be. A few of their metro reporters have been filing "fan" stories from the stands at Tropicana Field and, after reading them, I'm confused as to whether they're staging a baseball series down there in Florida or a European soccer match.

A sampling from one post:

Police have ejected more than 16 fans tonight, many of them after they got in arguments with fans from the opposing teams, police said. Meanwhile, the common refrain from the ejected was that they did nothing wrong.

Late in the game, police dragged a barefoot, handcuffed Red Sox fan in the holding pen. He wouldn't stand up as an officer yelled, "Get up on your knees!"

There are more specific stories over there, so go check 'em out if you're bored and home alone on a Saturday night. Personally, I like the fact that a team most Bay area residents ignored all summer are now suddenly worth fighting for, though I guess most people only need the smallest of reasons to engage in a Smackdown re-enactment.

Anyway, game time is almost here and it'll be lefty Scott Kazmir trying to last longer than five innings in an attempt to tie the series for the Rays. He'll be facing Boston righty Josh Beckett, who only hopes to just keep his health for the rest of the postseason.

Neither of them had particularly good LDS starts, so they'll both have something to prove.

You know the drill. AP story about Rocco Baldelli here, Gordon Edes' story about the Rays' lost advantage here and Inside Edge preview here. Your in-game comments are below.

The line on Daisuke Matsuzaka's great performance in Game 1:

7 innings pitched, 0 runs, 4 hits, 9 strikeouts, 4 walks, 2 really weird warmup moves 

When appropriate, Big League Stew will take a look at the key points of postseason games to see if the right decision was made.

The Turning Point: Joe Maddon greenlighted Evan Longoria in the sixth against Dice-K, only to see his third baseman foul out on the fourth pitch.

Later in the game, he did the same for Carlos Pena who was facing a 3-0 count against lefthander Hideki Okajima. Pena's at-bat came with the Rays down 2-0, but also after they put the first two men aboard in the eighth. He flied out to shallow right, and Longoria followed with an inning-ending double play (a lousy at-bat that had started 2-0) against righty Justin Masterson.

The Question: Should the Rays manager, especially in Pena's case, have rolled the dice and green-lighted 3-0 swings?

No way: Conventional wisdom says for a batter to take a 3-0 pitch because he stands a good chance to reach base via a walk. In the 14,040 plate appearances that started 3-0 in 2008, 29.9 percent ended with a ball on the next pitch. Pena swung at a strike, but caught the ball off the end of the bat. Like most lefthanded batters, Pena is much weaker against southpaws; he batted .190 against them with a .352 slugging percentage in 2008. Red light.

Yes, sir: Toss out the phrase "conventional wisdom" to Maddon, and he's liable to toss his cookies. Maddon prides himself on being a maverick (to borrow a phrase) or, putting it a little differently, to do what the other guy doesn't expect. Giving Longoria a 3-0 green light in the sixth, with no one aboard and two outs, made sense. Longoria is the Rays best power source, with Pena probably second or third, considering B.J. Upton. Also, the 257 batters who swung at a 3-0 pitch in '08 hit .370, by far the highest average of any count. What's more, the majors had 16 grand slams on 3-0 counts in '08 and Pena had one of them. Based on the kind of pitch Okajima threw on 3-0 (fat), he wasn't expecting Pena to swing, but lucked out. Green light.

Hindsight is 20/20: Whatever buttons Maddon pushed, the Rays needed to turn the decisions into runs before Boston went to its closer. Jonathan Papelbon needed only 12 pitches to ease through a 1-2-3 ninth and finish off a 2-0 victory in Game 1.

Their say: "He was making pitches," Longoria said of Matsuzuka. "A 3-0 [count], one-run game — I guessed fastball, like I said, I guessed right. I just didn't put a good swing on it."

"It's one of those gambles you take," Pena said. "And Joe knows. He came right up to me and said, 'That's exactly what I wanted you to do. I wanted you to take that swing.' "

"I gave him the green light right there, absolutely. I felt good about it, actually," Maddon said. "It does not matter to him, right- or left-handed pitcher. I've done that often with our guys in certain situations, with certain guys."

Stew Verdict — Bad call, Joe!: It was cool for Longoria to swing away in the sixth, but not Pena in the eighth. The Rays had squandered a similar chance in the seventh after the first two batters reached and Maddon probably got a little jumpy trying to force something before Papelbon. True, Pena did hit a grand slam on a 3-0 count in the regular season, and he's been better against lefties in recent appearances, but he's a much weaker hitter against them overall. He would have been better off working a walk, loading the bases and putting some real pressure on the Red Sox.

What do you think? Did Maddon make the right decision?

Each October morning, the Stew will take a look at what they're writing about in the hometown papers of the postseason teams

• It was an extremely emotional day for Charlie Manuel and Shane Victorino. [LA Times]

• Bob Ford believes the Phillies look like a team of destiny. [Philly.com]

• Brett Myers 4.0 has the look of a keeper according to Phil Sheridan. [Philly.com]

• Bill Plaschke is wondering where the Cubs-crushing Dodgers went. [LA Times]

• Manny wonders if it's time to break out an old Red Sox tradition and do some shots of Crown Royal before the next few playoff games. [LA Times]

• The Phillies' Jayson Werth isn't stupid, he knows the series is far from over. [LA Times]

• Scott Kazmir and Josh Beckett are both from the Houston area and the Rays lefty has been watching Beckett pitch since high school. [Tampa Tribune]

• The usual Rays' magic just wasn't there last night writes Martin Fennelly. [Tampa Tribune]

• Game 1 of the ALCS was a classic except for the outcome if you were a Rays fan writes Joe Henderson. [Tampa Tribune]

• The Rays wasted a great pitching by James Shields writes Gary Shelton. [St. Pete Times]

• Former Tampa Bay general manager Chuck Lamar may be working for the Phillies now but it sounds like he still has a soft spot in his heart for the Rays. [St. Pete Times]

• Daisuke Matsuzaka picked a great time to perform like a number one starter writes Steve Buckley. [Boston Herald]

• Mike Lowell isn't coming back this postseason according to John Tomase. [Boston Herald]

• Game 2 starter Scott Kazmir has a chance to prove himself on the biggest of stages tonight. [Boston Herald]

The Tampa Bay Rays enjoyed a 10-8 edge against the Red Sox during the regular season, including a 8-1 clip at Tropicana Field.

But as the Red Sox showed against the Los Anaheim Angels in the first round, the regular season don't necessarily mean squawwwt come playoff time.

The Bostons took back home-field advantage in the ALCS thanks to a 2-0 victory in Game 1 at the Trop, with the Rays appearing to show some jitters for the first time in a long time. Here's a few thoughts from the game: 

Rolling: Dice-K put up phat numbers (18-3, 2.90 ERA) in the regular season and had 200 Ks in '07, but this was the first time I ever remember him doing anything worth a darn in a game that mattered this much. After he walked the bases loaded in the first, Matsuzaka was spectacular, taking a no-no into the seventh, and finishing with 9 Ks over seven IP. Hideki Okajima was shaky in the eighth, but Jonathan Papelbon went an easy 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Flailing: The game had the look of a neo-classic Rays comeback, but the Sawx just wouldn't let 'em. Or maybe it was a little jumpiness by the home team. T-St. P put the first two men on base in the seventh (Carl Crawford broke up the no-hitter and Cliff Floyd followed with a gapper to put runners at the corners) but they were stranded. T-St. P did likewise in the eighth (singles by Akinori Iwamura and Bossman J. Upton) but Carlos Pena flied out weakly on a 3-0 pitch and Evan Longoria finished a poor at-bat with a weak double play grounder.

Efficiency experts: Boston, meanwhile manufactured a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Jed Lowrie (who apparently ain't been around long enough to merit a mugshot on Yahoo GameChannel) brought home JayBay on a sac fly. In the eighth, Yook doubled in Pedroia — on a ball Crawford should have caught/usually catches — for insurance. That's all they got. It was all they needed. That's why they're world champs, folks.

Fright night: If you watched the game on DirecTV, you saw a recurring commercial for "Friday Night Lights," the TV series about high school football in West Texas. Except the commercial, I swear, should have been for the stylish new HBO show about vampires, or the old one about the traveling carnival from hell. There was ne'er a football thrown in the spot. And it looked like they all wanted to suck some blood. WTH(eck)?

Kitchen: Grant Balfour went up and in and hit brittle J.D. Drew with a pitch in the eighth, and the announcers speculated a little bit about bad blood still left over from the regular-season pugilism between the two clubs. However, Balfour looked spooked by the HBP and emotions never boiled over.

Menu: Josh Beckett has a chance to put the Rays in a big ol' hole in Game 2 with what would be his first strong performance in a long time. Conversely, Scott Kazmir has been struggling with command and confidence. Not a good combo for the ALCS.

Anyone watching Chad Billingsley blow up the Dodgers' hopes in Friday's Game Two could tell that he was putting on a pretty bad performance against Philadelphia.

But how many knew they were watching Billingsley put on a historically bad performance against the Phillies?

As noted by our own Tim Brown in his game story,  Billingsley became just the third starter in postseason history to allow eight runs (seven of his were earned) in less than three innings of work. The 24-year-old righthander retired only seven batters before being pulled for the Dodgers bullpen, which didn't allow the Phillies an earned run the rest of the game.

So who were the other two poor postseason pitchers that Billingsley joined?

Well, there was Tom Glavine in Game 6 in the 1992 NLCS. He allowed eight runs (seven ER) in just one inning of work, allowing homers to both Barry Bonds and Jay Bell before being relieved by Charlie Leibrandt.

Then there was old Pete Alexander in Game 2 of the 1928 World Series, who allowed eight runs, including a home run to Lou Gehrig, against the Yankees.

Billingsley can take a little bit of solace in the fact that he didn't allow any home runs in the effort.

Of course, neither of those other pitchers allowed the opposing pitcher two hits and three RBI like Billingsley did Brett Myers — he of the four hits and one RBI during the '08 season — on Friday

So, yeah .... welcome to the club, Chad!

Look, if you're going to risk a suspension with a Rayhawk, this is the Rayhawk to risk it with.

TV picture taken by Da Boss.

The two NLCS contestants played eight games during the 2008 regular season. The Phillies won the four held in Philadelphia; the Dodgers took the four in Los Angeles.

So it should come as no surprise, then, that everything is holding firm in the NLCS.  With a high-powered 8-5 win over the Dodgers in Game 2 on Friday night, the Phillies held their home field advantage and will head to Dodger Stadium for Sunday's Game 3 holding a 2-0 edge.

Good: The owner of only four hits during the regular season, Philadelphia pitcher Brett Myers went 3-for-3 with three RBI during the game. He had competition for the silver bat in this one, though. Teammate Shane Victorino hit a two-run single in the second and a two-run triple in the third, helping the Phils to a pair of four-run frames that put them over the top.

Bad: Myers needed every bit of that run support he gave himself, considering he allowed five runs and four walks over five innings of work. His offensive output also overshadowed the 0-for-4 night from cleanup hitter Ryan Howard, whose struggles at the plate continue to be a cause for concern.

Good: Victorino also might have earned the game's golden glove, hauling in Casey Blake's long drive to the center field wall to end a serious Dodgers threat (two runners were on) in the seventh.

Bad: The Dodgers' Rafael Furcal reached first on a dropped third strike with two outs in the fourth, a play that eventually extended the Los Angeles inning for ...

Good: Manny Ramirez (who else?). The Human Controversy continued to blaze his way through the postseason. After shaking off a Brett Myers pitch that almost hit him in the first inning, he took advantage of the Dodgers' second life in the fourth by hitting a three-run homer off Myers that put his team back within three runs. After the shot, Ramirez was caught on television yelling at Myers.

Bad: The Dodgers could not score the rest of the way after that homer, even though Manny Ramirez led off the ninth with a walk against Brad Lidge and James Loney followed with one of his own one batter later. Nomar Garciaparra ended the game with a particularly embarrassing at-bat (even for him) flailing at three pitches that were outside and in the dirt.

Good: The Dodgers bullpen was strong for the second game in a row, allowing the Phillies only three hits and no runs over 5 2/3 innings of work in relief of starter Chad Billingsley, who was ...

Bad: ... decidedly not strong. Turning in one of the worst starting performances Joe Torre could have imagined, Billingsley only went 2 1/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs and eight hits in a NLCS debut he'd probably like to forget. Now the Dodgers will head back to Los Angeles, hoping that the season's home advantage holds up.