World Series: Game 1 pits Francis against Beckett

Game chat: The white-hot Rockies travel to Boston to take on the favored Red Sox tonight in Game 1 of the World Series. The Sox hand the ball to 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett, who enters the night with a sub-2 ERA in nine post-season appearances. For Colorado, left-hander Jeff Francis toes the rubber having won both his post-season starts. The Red Sox are the favorites in Vegas and in every nerdy statistical simulation I've seen, however the Rockies have been nearly perfect for over a month. Action gets underway around 8:35 p.m. ET on Fox, with Beckett and the Sox as heavy favorites.

Comments

[Ben Keeler]

If anyone can stop Colorado, it is probably Beckett, even though many of the Rockies have hit well against him in the past

[Ribbies]

Is John Williams really the "epitome of our culture"? He did the score for the movie SpaceCamp for pete's sake.

[JD]

Sox are taking care of things early

[Ribbies]

I see Atkins and Utley have matching soul patches. How cute.

[Ribbies]

Nice Tulo. It took me about 5 minutes of watching this game to realize I'm rooting for the Rox.

[J. Weitzel]

Tulo looks like the real deal. There are a couple very nice young players being showcased this fall.

[Ribbies]

That is why Holliday shouldn't be MVP.

[J. Weitzel]

If Francis gets bounced super early and they need to start tearing through the bullpen, it's hard to see how the Red Sox will not be in the drivers seat the rest of the way this series. The Rockies will need to start pounding the hell out of the ball to survive.

[The Other Kevin]

Yeah, so color me unimpressed with the Rockies thus far. Francis has looked fair, at best, and Beckett seems to have them figured out thus far.

[ae]

really not that surprising. the Red Sox are an actual really, really good team. the Rockies are not exactly that.

that being said, I don't think the Red Sox sweep because of the weakness of the back of their rotation and because the Rockies will do much better in Colorado. but this game has really shown the talent gap between a team like the Red Sox and a team like, well, us.

[clout]

I don't think any of us would have said heading into post season that either the Phillies or the D'backs are remotely as good as the Red Sox or even the Indians, for that matter.

[ae]

sure clout, didn't mean to suggest that anyone did. just commenting.

[Bob]

Yeah, this is a pretty sobering reality check about where the Phils stand. Four of the best players in MLB, but boy, we've got a ways to go. Burn that midnight oil, Pat.

[RSB]

Something like 1 out of the 6 Daily News writers picked Boston to win the World Series. Wonder if they're beginning to question that.

[Crazy Jon]

" I don't think the Red Sox sweep because of the weakness of the back of their rotation"
I didn't realize that Dice-K and Jon Lester were worse than Josh Fogg and Aaron Cook.
Looking like a sweep to me.

[Malcolm]

Sox in 5. Probably losing Game 3, but Sox in 5.

[keepaaronarowand]

hell yeah. I'd give a lot to nail ashanti.

[Sophist]

Did anyone else just watch Varitek's interview after the game? Is there something wrong with him?

[MG]

Wow what a crap game. Hopefully this shows Selig that an 8-day layoff doesn't make for good baseball. I doubt it though.

[Bob]

Varitek did seem kind of unfocused, I was disappointed he didn't have something more to offer. What did he say, Beckett did "pretty well", or something to that effect?

[Sophist]

Bob - I've never heard him before. Is that how he normally speaks?

[Bob]

Sorry, Sophist,

That was the first time I'd heard him also. I've read that he is supposed to be future managerial material. The only quote I've heard attributed to him was when he told A-Rod to "Get the F- down to first base" when they had a shoving match a couple of years ago. Sounds like a Cholly wanna be in the making unless he was having a bad night.

[MG]

Guess the Rockies' bandwagon got a little less crowded last night.

[MG]

Thought this was some appropriate advice for Gillick and Co. to follow when rebuilding the bullpen this offseason:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-rockiespen102307&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

"When O'Dowd built the Rockies' bullpen, he sought hard throwers who, preferably, didn't walk many. He traded for Affeldt, who throws 97 mph, and plucked Hawkins, who throws 99 mph, off the free-agent pile. Fuentes can hit the mid-90s with his fastball, Herges has found a couple extra mph to get his past 90 and Corpas alternates between a 94-mph fastball and 79-mph slider, one of the best two-pitch combinations in the NL."

[Parker]

I agree that the Red Sox are a better team than the Phillies this season, but not because of anything that we saw last night. I would say that after the #1 starting pitcher the Red Sox rotation is much better than the Phillies. Their Bullpen is much better as a whole.

I'm not that impressed with the Red Sox scoring 13 runs. I mean, I am impressed with it, but it is not something that the Phillies cannot do or could not do if they were in the WS. They can do that any given night, not that they always do, but they can. The Phillies lineup is not the problem. They have the talent to keep pace with the Red Sox offensively. What they cannot do, at least right now, is trot out #2, 3, 4 starters like Schilling, Matsuzaka, and Lester/Wakefield (I know he is not on the WS roster, but worth mentioning). I consider Hamels and Beckett a wash at the front end, but after that, the Phillies would really just have to out hit the Red Sox.

[ae]

"hard throwers who, preferably, didn't walk many"

as far as advice goes, that's like telling someone the best way to be a millionaire is to make a lot of money. last time I checked, power pitchers with great control were fairly popular.

also worth noting that Affeldt, at least, does walk lots of guys, regardless of what Jeff Passan says. he gave up 5.03 BB/9 this year, and that was actually lower than his last two seasons. Hawkins has improved his control, but his strikeout rate has disappeared.

with bullpen performance, especially by middle relievers, as variable as it is, I wouldn't be surprised if all those guys save Corpas and Fuentes revert to career norms of mediocrity next year.

[The Other Kevin]

Beckett and Hamels are not a wash. Listen, I like Cole as much as any Phillies fan, but at this point in their careers, Josh Beckett is by far the better pitcher, hands down. That's not to say that Cole might not get there one day, but he needs to put up some numbers over the course of a few seasons first.

Oh, and I don't think the Rockies have much hope; didn't think so going in to last night, and they haven't given me much reason to change my mind.

[curt]

All you needed to know about the Sox vs. the Phils is that they didn't even have room for Romero while he was arguably our MVP.

[ae]

curt, that's absurd. Romero wasn't "arguably" our MVP. he was "arguably" not even one of the ten most valuable Phillies this year.

[curt]

ae - in Aug & Sept. he was the guy who got the out when the game was on the line. His numbers make the rest of our staff look like Indy leaguers, which most of them should be.

[John Salmon]

Romero's Phils' stint was a fluke-look at 1)his (overall '07) BB rate: 25 in 36 1/3; and 2) his freakily low 15 H in that same span. The former, which he has some control over (277 BB in 500-some career innings), is a lot more likely to be sustained than the latter.

I wouldn't bring him back. Gillick, being completly innumerate, will jump at a tiny sample and sign him for two years, no doubt.

[John Salmon]

That is, JCR had 40 BB in 56 1/3 overall innings in '07.

[ae]

curt, I'm not saying he wasn't valuable. but he wasn't even close to "most valuable."

[clout]

Parker: How would you compare the performance of the Phillies hitters against the Rockies with the Red Sox hitters?

[Jack]

Yeah, Parker, sorry, but Beckett and Hamels are not close to being a wash. Especially not in the postseason. Beckett has been unbeatable this October, is a top 2 Cy Young candidate, and has a history of playoff dominance. Hamels is one of the top 10 pitchers in the NL. Big difference.

Also, MG- what did you want Selig to do, start the World Series while the ALCS was still going on? Game 7 was played Sunday night, I have no problem with 2 days off before the next series starts- it's not 8 as you claim.. The Rockies swept the NLCS, that's not Bud Selig's fault. That's just the way it goes.

[Sophist]

Jack - the number of days off could have also been reduced if they didn't insert needless days off in-between games of the same series. For instance, between Tuesday the 16th and Thursday the 18th there was a day off in the ALCS, even though both games were in Cleveland.