ALDS Game 2 Hopes for John Lackey and Co.

[Photo source]

Today is the first ACC football game here at Syracuse University, so of course I'll be there. However, kickoff is at 3:30pm, and Game 2 of the Red Sox/Rays ALDS starts at 5:37pm, so I'll probably leave at halftime to get home in time for my real love in life: baseball.

Yesterday's game was glorious. I won't rehash all of my reactions here (if you want them, check out the premier episode of my new podcast), but I will say that my favorite part of Game 1 was the team-first nature of the victory.

Sure, my favorite player is Dustin Pedroia; anyone who's spent two minutes with me or on this blog could tell you that. Yes, it was awesome that Pedey had the first hit in the Red Sox rally.

But the most incredible thing about yesterday was the most incredible thing about this team: it was truly a collaborative effort. Every Red Sox batter had at least one hit and one run scored. No Red Sox batter had a home run, and all that incredible production was the result of guys getting on base and trusting their compatriots to drive them in.

Jon Lester had an incredible start, and Junichi Tazawa and Ryan Dempster finished the game with barely a hiccup. Fenway aficionado John Lackey takes the mound tonight. The last time Lackey pitched in an ALDS, he took home the win - for the Angels, against Lester in 2009.

Once upon a time, before Tommy John surgery, before the chicken and beer debacle, John Lackey was lauded as a big-game pitcher. The Angels handed him the ball in their biggest moments, and he didn't let them down.

After a tough first few years in Boston, and the beginnings of redemption this season, John Lackey will climb the mound tonight looking to be that big-game guy once again. Earlier this season, I predicted a John Lackey resurgence... hopefully he'll continue to provide evidence for that point of view tonight.

And hopefully his teammates can duplicate some of the offensive fireworks from yesterday against Rays ace David Price. I have a good feeling about tonight.

West Coast takes its toll

Source: The Washington Post

Before last night's loss, the Red Sox hadn't lost three games in a row since May 11-14th against the Blue Jays and Rays. The beginning of May was rough on the Sox, as they lost three in a row three separate times in a span of just over two weeks, but the beginning of July isn't shaping up too well, either.

Since making it over to the West Coast, the Red Sox have just one win in four games, and they're playing like they hate the time change as much as I do. The first loss was credited to Craig Breslow, but we all know that the big loser was Andrew Miller, who hurt himself and will be out for the rest of the season.

John Lackey actually pitched very well on Sunday, allowing just two runs in seven innings. Unfortunately, he was charged with a loss because his teammates couldn't get anything done against Angels starter (and Lackey's former teammate) Jered Weaver. Last night was a toss up from the get-go, as Jon Lester has been less than impressive lately, and the Mariners had King Felix Hernandez on the mound.

So who do we look to in order to stop this skid? None other than Allen Webster, the rookie righthander who earned his very first win just last week. It's a tall order, especially since the Mariners will trot out Hisashi Iwakuma, who has seven wins this season to go with a sparkling 2.60 ERA. But the Red Sox bats are due for some firepower after being silenced pretty effectively the past few days. I have faith in Webster, even if I might not have the energy to stay up and watch his entire start. 

Rotation keeps rolling

Photo via NESN

The last time a Red Sox starter didn't turn in a quality start was about a week ago, on June 30th; the team still managed to come away with a win, but starter Ryan Dempster earned a no decision. Since Dempster's last turn in the rotation, all four of his peers have managed to record quality starts (at least six innings pitched and no more than three earned runs allowed), and all but the unlucky Jon Lester also saw their efforts rewarded with a win. 

John Lackey started the run of excellence with a truly outstanding start against the Padres on Tuesday, tossing eight innings and allowing just one run. The next day, Lester pitched seven innings, allowing just a single run, but taking a no-decision. Allen Webster completed the sweep of the Padres on Thursday with six innings pitched, two earned runs allowed, and his first major league win.

Yesterday's game saw Felix Doubront make it through 6.2 innings and give up two earned runs in a win to kick off the ten-day West Coast road trip.  Dempster will look to continue this run of spectacular performances tonight as he faces off against Angels starter Jerome Williams. The usual Angels suspects are those who have fared the best against Dempster in their careers: Albert Pujols is 21-for-60 with eight home runs, Mike Trout is 4-for-10 with one home run, and, interestingly enough, Mark Trumbo is 5-for-10 with a home run.

But Dempster should be able to depend on his teammates, as those who have faced Williams in the past have done pretty well for themselves: Mike Napoli is 6-for-14 with two home runs, Mike Carp is 3-for-10 with no homers but four RBIs, and David Ortiz is 3-for-5 with two home runs. However, I'd hazard a guess that Big Papi might not see too many pitches to hit after his towering homer off of Dane De La Rosa last night clinched the win for the Sox.

It's not as if Dempster's last start was anything to be ashamed off, as he was just two outs shy of a quality start when he was pulled for Craig Breslow, but his teammates have all managed to show him up since then. Obviously Dempster's the kind of player who shows up determined to win, regardless of what his teammates have been up to - but it never hurts to have a little extra motivation.

Preparing for sleep deprivation

I hate Red Sox West Coast road trips. Like, I really, seriously LOATHE West Coast road trips. I'm one of those people who's really finicky about my sleep schedule, to the point that I'll ditch my friends to go home and sleep. But as you all know by now, I'm also extremely serious about the Red Sox, and I'm willing to sacrifice a consistent sleep schedule for a few days to watch them play.

That being said, I'm pretty happy that there are two afternoon starts during this particular trip, as well as Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, meaning that the game will start at 8pm this Sunday. If ESPN didn't have this Sunday's game, we'd get a third afternoon start, so in addition to suffering through the inanity of non-NESN play-by-play, we have to do it until around 11pm.

The Red Sox will have Felix Doubront starting for them tonight against Angels lefty C.J. Wilson. Though Doubront's ERA is nearly a run higher than Wilson's, I have confidence that he can begin the road trip on a high note for the Sox. The Red Sox bats have been on a roll lately, and they made quick work of Wilson the last time they faced him, so Doubront should have enough run support to earn the win... around 1am tomorrow.

Run support and Ryan Dempster

Ryan Dempster earned his second win in a row and third win of the season this afternoon against the Angels, giving the Red Sox six innings and allowing just three runs, and earning a quality start on a beautiful afternoon at Fenway Park. The bats were alive and well, giving Dempster fantastic run support to the tune of ten runs - though any offensive outburst would pale in comparison to the absolute explosion during Dempster's last start, when the Sox punished Rangers pitching for seventeen runs.

I certainly picked a great time to put Ryan Dempster on my fantasy roster, as I added him before that ridiculous victory against the Rangers. He seems to be coming into his own now: up to today, his season ERA is 4.39, significantly higher than the 3.74 that Bill James has projected for the full campaign.

I see Dempster continuing to build on his recent success, and as the weather continues to get warmer, he can probably expect a respectable amount of run support going forward (though perhaps not as extreme as today and last week). A sizable amount of the blame for Dempster's six losses can be attributed squarely to a lack of run support early on, and it seems like the Sox bats have been trying to make it up to him all at once.

Sox fall to Halos in the day game

After inclement weather postponed the first game of the Red Sox-Angels series last night, I looked forward to the day-night doubleheader today. It's always fun to be able to spend an entire day watching baseball; there aren't many things that indicate SUMMER IS HERE louder than that.

Unfortunately, despite a ninth inning two-out rally, the Red Sox came out of today's first game with a loss. Felix Doubront just couldn't find the strike zone, but he did manage to get through six innings and give up three runs, earning a quality start and a loss. His Angels counterpart was Tommy Hanson, who got the win despite making it through the minimum number of innings to qualify as the pitcher of record.

Both bullpens were taxed rather more than the respective managers would have liked with another game to play this evening, as the Sox used Franklin Morales, Clayton Mortensen, and Andrew Miller, while the Halos needed four bullpen arms to make it through the final four innings.

It didn't look as if Angels closer Ernesto Frieri would be needed heading into the bottom of the ninth inning as the Sox were trailing by seven runs. Garrett Richards managed to record two quick outs, but then the Red Sox began to rally. Mike Napoli, Jarrod Salalamacchia, and Mike Carp all hit singles, then Stephen Drew doubled, and Jose Iglesias singled to bring the score to 9-5. Frieri came in and struck out Ellsbury to end the game, but the momentum certainly had started to turn.

Clay Buchholz and CJ Wilson will face off in the nightcap. Buchholz is still undefeated in 2013, and will be trying for his ninth win and attempting to preserve his sub-2 ERA, while Wilson's season record is 4-4 with a 3.93 ERA. Buchholz's presence on the mound is even better for the state of the bullpen, as he's likely to be able to go for a lot of innings.

Out of position umpire

In a strange series of events today, umpire Tim McClelland ended up standing about twenty feet behind Brewers pitcher Wily Peralta for a portion of the first inning after an errant pitch took out home plate umpire Seth Buckminster.

Buckminster left the game and was attended to by Brewers training staff, and another umpire, Anthony Johnson, left the game briefly to don home plate umpiring gear. This exodus left just two umpires, McClelland and Jim Joyce, to cover the entire field and call balls and strikes, leading to McClelland's bizarre field position.

On the players' side of things, how long must it have been since Peralta pitched to a catcher without the looming presence of the umpire behind him? Even in Little League, where games often have just one umpire, that umpire is always behind the plate.

Everyone involved handled the situation admirably, and when Johnson ran out to take his place behind the plate, the crowd showed its relief with a round of applause. If you'd like, you can watch a video of the incident here.

Thanks again, Cliff Lee!

 With all of the starpower on its way to the American League for the upcoming season, I think it's time to once again thank Cliff Lee for shunning the Yankees' offer of more money to go to Philadelphia last offseason.  With Albert Pujols heading to Anaheim, Prince Fielder going to Detroit, and Roy Oswalt talking to the Rangers, I'm happier than ever that Lee opted for the National League.

Thankfully, neither Pujols nor Fielder are in our division, so we'll be facing the Angels just six times and the Tigers ten times during the regular season (in contrast, we'll play the Yankees, Rays, and other divisional rivals eighteen times each).

Of course, it was especially sweet to finally see a high caliber player rejecting New York, just because their endless money tends to see them getting every player they want, but one year later there's a different perspective - not having to face Lee and his Phils could be the difference between a playoff berth and a third straight year at home in October.

Given the pedigree of hitter now in the AL (and the fact that the DH rule means one more good hitter in the lineup of every non-interleague game), I'm sure Lee is even more content with his decision than he was a year ago.

No offense?

Not last night. The Red Sox lineup came through in a big way during last night's game against Jered Weaver and the Angels, scoring nine runs, six of them in the bottom of the seventh inning, to assure Clay Buchholz of his second win of the season.

The Red Sox were 11-for-36 on the game, with two walks and seven strikeouts, and they extended their prodigious winning streak to TWO GAMES.

All sarcasm aside, last night's game was a gem, complete with a grinding battle pitting Dustin Pedroia against Weaver to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth inning (essentially guaranteeing the win for Buchholz, as the Sox did not trail after the fifth).  Pedey fouled off nine pitches in a 13-pitch at bat, before shooting a single back up the middle to score Carl Crawford from third.

Pedroia is one of the only players I have ever seen who can literally WILL himself to win: to win at-bats, to win ballgames, and even to win honors like ROY or MVP.  The man clearly has a lot of talent, and as much as I make fun of "intangibles" in this space, Pedey might be the King of them (sorry, Jetes).

Pedroia also went on to walk in the seventh inning, and come around to score on Adrian Gonzalez's 3-RBI double (Youkilis would then double to score Gonzalez, and David Ortiz bashed his second homer, scoring Youk).

This team seems to be back on track, or at least headed that way, as Adrian Gonzalez has 18 RBIs on the season, and Carl Crawford is 4-for-8 in May - hopefully a glimmer of things to come.  Now, the pitching needs to get back on a roll, perhaps jump-started by Clay Buchholz's performance last night. Despite putting ten men on base on eight hits and two walks in 6.2 innings, Buch gave up just two runs - pulling a "quality start" out of a start that was slightly less than quality.

I was concerned last night about Buch, since he was going against the previously 6-0, .99 ERA Jered Weaver, but, like the day before, my worries were for naught.  Tonight the Sox have Jon Lester facing off against Dan Haren - I don't think I should worry too much, but if this team has taught me anything, it's that games aren't played on paper.

Five-minute Musings (Live from Buenos Aires!)

The Red Sox won again yesterday afternoon, and slowly but surely seem to be emerging from their funk.  Though the team is just 6-11, 4.5 games behind the firs-place Yankees, they seem to be coming to life.  So since I'm sitting in class on a day when the entire country of Argentina is on holiday (again, BEST STUDENT EVER), I'll leave you with five semi-related points:

1. Clay Buchholz notched his first win of the season.  Sadly, I forgot to put him in my fantasy league starting roster for yesterday, so I didn't profit from his fortune.  I was unable to catch the beginning of the game, so by the time I tuned in Clay was out, but from what I hear he was pretty good until the sixth inning, when he loaded the bases with one out, which leads us to...

2. Daniel Bard: The Stopper.  Saves are a wildly overrated statistic.  Without Bard's brilliance in the sixth and seventh innings yesterday, Jonathan Papelbon would not have had the chance to give us all heart palpitations getting the save.  Bard came in with the go-ahead run at the plate and one out - a much more high-pressure situation than the one Jonathan Papelbon dealt with (bases empty, 3-run lead, no outs).  Bard is clearly capable of being poised under pressure, and I'm glad he's on our side.

3. Jed Lowrie is a champion.  The 27-year-old is demanding that terry Francona find a way to put him into the lineup every day, with his .462 batting average, 3 homers, and 11 RBIs in just 13 games. The beauty of Lowrie is that he can play all four infield positions (though only 19 innings in his career at first base), and so Tito can utilize him at a variety of positions to get his potent bat in the lineup.  Clearly, this crazy hot streak can't continue, but if Lowrie continues to produce better than Scutaro, something's gotta give, so stay tuned for that.

4. Despite struggles, the Red Sox CAN be successful against lefties.  Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez is a southpaw, and yet the Sox managed to score four runs off of him.  Notable lefthanded hitter David Ortiz was sitting, though part of that was the shuffling required to get red-hot Lowrie into the game (Youkilis DHed, Lowrie played at third).  However, lefties Carl Crawford, JD Drew, Adrian Gonzalez, and Jacoby Ellsbury were in the lineup, and they managed three hits and two RBIs between them. However...

5. ...Looking ahead, the Sox have a lot of right-handed opponents.  The Angels have four right-handed starters on the docket for this weekend, according to the match-ups just posted on Boston.com's extra bases Blog, and the Sox have Josh Beckett, John Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and John Lackey ready to go.  With the wealth of good left-handed batters on the Sox' roster, this weekend could be a slugfest - hopefully our pitchers can build off the success they had during the last turn through the rotation.

I see good things ahead for the Red Sox.  Sadly, I won't be watching much, as I'm still an hour ahead of Eastern Standard time, so today's and tomorrow's games won't end until after 2am for me... Hopefully Saturday and Sunday will find me watching some baseball.

Pinch me, I'm dreaming.

[Screengrabbed from Boston.com]

This was my thought in the wee hours of this morning. I had gone to be early for me, around 11pm, about 25 minutes before the Globe first reported the Crawford deal. At 4am I woke up to see my phone glowing. I got out of bed, picked it up, and read a text from a friend that said: "Carl crawford signs w/ Boston 7 yrs $142 mill". Since I was up already (and in a slight state of panicked excitement) I checked on the internet, and it was true.

My efforts to go back to sleep after the confirmation that Carl Crawford is now a Red Sox were pretty futile, but I managed to doze off around six. When I woke up for class two hours later, my first thought was that the whole thing had been a wonderful dream, but, as you know, it was true.

I have to be honest: I never thought Crawford would be coming to Boston. Especially after the Adrian Gonzalez deal, I assumed the Red Sox would stay in on the speedy outfielder simply to drive up the price for New York while they were still preoccupied with Cliff Lee. Like many people (Torii Hunter among them), I took it for granted that Crawford would be patrolling the field at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, but I'm certainly thrilled to have him in Boston.

Bill James predicts a typically good year for Crawford in 2011: 149 games played, .300 BA, .350 OBP, .398 SLG, 14 HR, 71 RBI, and 42 SB. Keep in mind that Crawford's power numbers will likely improve from those predictions because he'll be playing 81 games in the friendly confines of Fenway.

Perhaps the best part of the Crawford deal is the fact that he'll no longer swipe about a million bags on us every season (including six in one game) - he'll be stealing all those bases on our behalf. Coupled with a (hopefully) recovered Jacoby Ellsbury and the perennially discounted JD Drew, Crawford makes our outfield one of the speediest in baseball.

I can't believe this is real...

Finally some good news

Led by Marco Scutaro's grand slam, the Sox defeated the Angels yesterday, 7-3.

The Red Sox completed a sweep of the Angels yesterday afternoon in Anaheim, their first sweep since June 18-20 when when they swept the Dodgers at Fenway Park. The Sox have not swept a series on the road since they victimized the Rays at the Trop, May 24-26.

An encouraging sign, to be sure, especially since they managed to do it on the West coast, at the tail end of an absolutely brutal roadtrip. The local nine managed to salvage a 6-4 record in the last 10 games, and will head home to the friendly confines of Fenway Park to face the likes of the Tigers and Indians before taking to the road once again.

After a well-deserved offday today, the Sox take the field at a normal hour tomorrow, when Jon Lester takes on Mr. [Not] Perfect Game himself, Armando Galarraga. Galarraga has a 4.50 ERA, and has been pretty unimpressive of late, notching just one win since his near-perfect game on June second.

The way Lester has been pitching, I'm not too worried, and the bats seem to have hit their stride, too. Here's hoping the Yanks and Rays can lose some games so we can gain some ground.

Lackey not lacking

Angelic no more.

Lackey put up one of his best efforts of the season last night against his former team out in Anaheim. The big righty threw 124 pitches in 7.1 innings, giving up just two runs, and notched his tenth win of the season, finally looking like that third ace we were promised back in the offseason.

Somehow, the Sox haven't lost to the Angels this season, despite having well-documented issues beating most everyone else over the course of the schedule. Perhaps it's a timing issue, since the Sox played the Halos in May, before they lost too many people to the DL, and then again now, when they're starting to see some reinforcements.

Lackey has been much maligned this season for performing at a level that was lower than advertised. Where was that guy who screamed at his manager for trying to take him out in the 2009 playoffs? And why were we paying his salary to THIS guy?

Last night, Lackey sent a message to Red Sox Nation. Unfortunately, many of them were likely asleep, but they'll catch it this morning on talk radio, or SportsCenter, or Quick Pitch. THIS is the John Lackey we were all hoping for, and he's finally arrived. I can't wait to see what he'll do with the rest of the season.

The Adventures of Y-FAB

After the debacle of last night's game, I didn't get to bed until after 3 (for a variety of reasons, all ridiculous). When I finally woke up, it was no longer an appropriate time for breakfast, so I went to get some lunch with my roommate. At the Cave (on-campus sandwich place), I was once again verbally accosted by my BFF, Yankee-Fan Asshole-Boy (hereafter referred to as Y-FAB).


(Y-FAB): So did you watch the game last night?



(Me): Yes, in fact, I watched the entire thing.



: So you saw how it ended...?



: Your team won on an error... Congrats!



: *Dirty look, pause* ...At least my team is still in it.



: True.


And then I walked away.

However, the exchange got me thinking: who are these Angels, and why didn't THEY show up for the LDS? Anaheim made one total error in their entire three-game performance against the Red Sox (catchers interference in Game 1). In the last two games alone, the Angels defense has recorded five miscues against New York, including the game changer from last night.

What the hell, Angels?!?

You're playing against a team who shrugged off one of its pitcher's DUI conviction, while you still mourn a fallen teammate for Christ's sake! If that's not enough to make you angry enough to punch Joba Chamberlain in the face, I don't know what it will take!

Here's some more reasons for the Angels to hate New York:

A*Rod blatantly tackled your catcher in Game 1, and didn't even try to slide.

Jeter patronizes your teammates (and does unnecessary pirouettes).

And they pie each other in the face whenever they have a walkoff win.

KICK THEIR BUTTS, ANGELS!!!

Five Years Ago Tonight...

On October 4, 2004, the Boston Red Sox beat the LA Angels of Anaheim, 8-3, and took a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS. Pedro Martinez went seven innings strong, giving up three earned runs, while his counter part, old friend Bartolo Colon, went just six, also giving up three runs. The difference was in the bullpens: Boston's kept the Angels to just one hit, while the LA delegation surrendered five hits and five runs.
The only men to appear in that game that are on Boston's roster today are Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and Kevin Youkilis (defensive replacement at third base), and as different as the roster looks these days, the attitudes of Sox fans have been even more changed.

In 2004, we were just one year removed from Aaron Boone. We were at eighty-six years without a title, and (as far as the world was concerned), "wait 'til next year" was the regional motto. Red Sox fans of all ages looked at the 2-0 series lead and decided that the home town team would doubtless find some way to blow it, if not against that Angels then against the Yankees. As painful as it is to revisit that mindset, the 2004 Red Sox might have been lovable and talented "Idiots," but the skeptics always won out when it came to playoff predictions: after all, the pessimists had history on their side.

Of course, the moral of Sox fans would fall to its lowest point just ten days later, when New York took a 3-0 series lead in the ALCS. No one, we told ourselves, had ever come back from such a deficit in the history of professional baseball. You know the rest, but most fans (let's be honest, ourselves included) were convinced that they would somehow blow it until the very last out was made. As Yogi Berra so famously said: "It ain't over 'til it's over."

And then? It was over. The years of suffering, the "1918" chants, and the lovable losers moniker. The people of New England, raised in the Puritan tradition of self-inflicted torture, had something to celebrate, and celebrate we did. I was fourteen at the time, so I didn't celebrate in quite the same way most people did, and not just because I was seven years away from the legal drinking age. My relative youth meant that the victory just didn't have the same significance for me as it did for those who had lived through decades of disappointment: I'm not belittling the joy of young Sox fans, but it's a fact that we lacked a certain perspective.
Now, of course, we start every season with the expectation of making it to the playoffs, but we need to remember that wasn't always the case, and that even within my short lifetime the Sox were more likely to finish their season in September than October (or November). Let's not take the Angels for granted: it's miraculous what the death of a teammate or a loved one can do for motivation. The major networks are already advertising for a Red Sox/Yankees ALCS, and honestly, it's what most fans of both teams expect. There would be a certain poetic justice in celebrating the five year anniversary of Boston's fist World Title in living memory by going through the same teams (Anaheim, New York, and St. Louis) to get another one, but the playoffs are often more luck than skill.

So let's find out if Lady Luck is a Red Sox fan.

World Baseball Classic 2009

So, contrary to what I said in the last post, there are actually fifteen Sox players on tentative WBC rosters.

Dominican Republic: David Ortiz and Ramon Ramirez

United States: Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia

Japan: Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima

Canada: Jason Bay and George Kottaras*

Puerto Rico: Mike Lowell and Javier Lopez

The Netherlands: Dennis Neuman*

South Africa: Justin Erasmus*

Chinese Taipei: Chih-Hsien Chiang*

Panama: Angel Chavez*

Australia: Mitchell Dening*

* denotes minor league player

Fifteen players from ten countries is pretty impressive.  Also participating from the Red Sox is Jon Deeble, a scout, who will manage for Australia.  However, it is important to note that the more players participate in the Classic, the more disrupted Spring Training could be.  Assuming for a moment that both Mike Lowell and David Ortiz are healthy enough to compete so early [doubtful, especially in Lowell's case], the Sox Spring Training could be short nine contributors from the presumptive Major League roster.  If you believe that such a shortage might adversely affect the team's performance over the season, it might be instrumental to take a look at WBC participation among rival American League teams.

Yankees:  The newly retooled team to the south currently has thirteen players on provisional rosters, representing six countries, but most are minor leaguers.  The participants off of their Major League roster include Derek Jeter [US], Alex Rodriquez, Melky Cabrera, and Robinson Cano [Dominican Republic].  On one hand, this bodes well for the Sox: they have more established star power that will be competing early.  However, it cannot be overlooked that the Yankees will have a more normal Spring Training.

Rays:  The reigning American League champs have eight players in the WBC, all part of the Major League club, and all important contributers.  The Rays represent six countries: Australia [Grant Balfour], Mexico [Matt Garza], Japan [Akinori Iwamura], Venezuela [Dioner Navarro], DR [Carlos Pena], and USA [JP Howell, Scott Kazmir, and Evan Longoria].  This is especially worrisome for the rays, since their offseason has been shorter than both the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Angels:  The AL West Champion Angels have fifteen players representing nine countries.  Major contributers to the Major League Club include Joe Saunders, Scot Shields, and Brian Fuentes [USA].

White Sox:  President Obama's favorite team will send seven players, most notably Carlos Quentin, AJ Pierzynski, Matt Thornton, and John Danks all playing for the United States.

At first glance, the clubs most impacted by the Classic will be Boston and Tampa Bay, coincidentally the two teams that went furthest into the Postseason [Boston losing to Tampa Bay in Game 7 of the ALCS; Tampa Bay bowing out to Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series].  We already knew that the AL East would be the toughest in baseball next year, and the WBC will only make the stories that much more interesting.