Blogger fucks me again. I had good points about the ALCS and stuff. Now, whatever I have to say will have no impact. In summary, Grady Little blew that game, as Mike said. I think his dumb decision to allow Pedro to pitch the 8th at all, and after the Jeter double, and after the Williams RBI single, and after the Matsui double, and to the Posada 2-RBI single will go down as one of the worst managing jobs in baseball history.

Red Sox: Need pitching on all fronts. If there's one iota of support for Grady Little, it's that his bullpen had let him down in the past and it put a certain doubt in his mind. But that does not excuse not putting in Mike Timlin, a guy who had allowed only one hit to 26 batters in the postseason, in the 8th inning and closing it with Williamson.

I still think Prior and Wood need more postseason starts before we really decide about their ability to handle pressure. I think Prior is very good, but he's a tad bit like Maddux in that, can you count on him to keep a low-scoring, close game in your favor? I think Wood is a lot like Glavine in that they stubbornly pitch one way even when things aren't going well. They tease you with good performances (I cited the 1995 World Series and Glavine, and you can take your pick of the two Wood starts against the Braves) and then later can't repeat that performance. In other words, inconsistency. Is there trust? What is being said about Wood and Prior are very similar to what has been said about Glavine and Maddux. The media will make it out to be this insurmountable task to beat both of them in a row, and when they are beaten, it's made out to be this incredible feat. It's not really, if the pitchers in question don't follow through. I also made a point that where the pressure is at its greatest, at Wrigley, Wood is 0-2 in postseason (1998 Braves, 2003 Marlins).

It was, of course, much longer, but Blogger decides to do things in such a way that your message disappears in the "new post" window when you publish it, and if it doesn't publish, you're screwed. I guess I'll make sure I use the "copy" feature when I can.