Bad umpiring,poor base running and below average base coaching,but after the Boston barrage in the eighth to make the final a deceiving 11-2,one can blame nothing at all.
The better team won.
Cleveland sent their two top pitchers to the mound 4 times and came away with an 0-3 record with a no decision.
When your top hurlers produce that little,it makes it tough to win series against quality teams.
You looking for scapegoats?
Look no further than C.C Sabathia and Fausto Carmona.
Last night had its share of bad breaks,but after the Boston 7th,none of those cost the game for the Tribe.
Yes,the umpiring cost Cleveland 1 run after Kenny Lofton was called out at second as he tried to stretch a single into a double.
The replays showed Lofton clearly safe and the next three hitters all hit singles.
And the odd decision by Joel Skinner to hold Lofton at 3rd ,when he would have scored easily, cost them another run in the seventh,but both plays looked like they would be far more important than they turned out to be.
In the end,the better team won-no excuses.
Lets hope Mark Shapiro has learned from this experience and adds some more pitching.
In the playoffs,pitching wins every time.
The Seattle Seahawks defense dominated the winless St.Louis Rams and the offense played just well enough not to hurt things in a 33-6 Seattle romp.
Outside of two Matt Hasselbeck touchdown passes to tight end Will Heller (one in garbage time) the offense generally was blase'.
Josh Brown booted 4 field goals with 3 being 43 yards or longer and Nate Burleson took the second half kickoff for a touchdown,which basically ended the game for the visiting Rams.
But Shaun Alexander struggled again and Hasselbeck seemed to suffer communication problems with receivers on many occasions.
Most of these seemed to be with veteran Bobby Engram.
There is no reason to have these type problems
with players that have been with the team for years.The defense had 7 sacks,led by Darryl Tapp with 4,but I did question the coaches keeping Tapp in the game after a hand injury that was clearly visible.
Why keep a key player that is banged up in an already decided game?
Let me know if you can figure that one.
The 4-3 Seahawks moved into sole possession of first place in the NFC West with the Cardinals loss in Washington and have a bye week next week.
Seattle returns to action November 4th in Cleveland vs the Browns.
Bullpen Notes
Rumors are flying that the NFL Network could be in trouble.
Their 8 game package of late season games could be going elsewhere and a few owners would like to drop it completely.
I like the NFL Films stuff,but they tend to show the same shows all the time and that gets old.
Besides 10 minutes of Rich Eisen is too much,let alone replaying the same show of his for 10 hours of the day.
Was preparing a DVD of an XFL game for a trader and decided to watch a bit to see how it holds up 6 years after its 1 year run.
It looks even cheesier than I remembered.
I still think that spring football can work,but a setup similar to the USFL is what is needed.
Deep pocketed owners that sign top notch talent and then can afford the inevitable long term money losses until the profits come in way down the road.
Did anyone else notice Kevin Millar's opening for the Red Sox starting
lineup?
The ORIOLE first baseman was using words for the Red Sox as "we and us".
If I were an Oriole fan,I would be pretty mad.
Photo Credits
Lofton-Jim Rogash-Getty Images
Seahawks-John Froschauer-AP Photo
Photo Credits
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