“If you get strike three on a batter with two outs in the ninth, doesn’t that mean you win the game?” 

Yes.  I believe Green had but two.  If he had made it all the way to three, I believe the game would have ended at that point.

Just because you or the Angels *want* a call to be a strike doesn’t necessarily make it so. So Rivera and the rest of the team had best exert some effort to…you know…actually *get* that third out, even if they “really should have had” three of five or eleventy-seven already.

I didn’t watch the game, but Fuentes might want to challenge a guy like Green with the bases loaded rather than nibbling.

It’s fun to quibble all day about Angels and Sawx- someone lost, leading to better HFA, and someone won, not really going beyond WC, are they?  Sure we had some trouble against the foreigners Tuesday, but our #3 catcher and #2 CFer can take care of them with some 8th inning help from our old friend from overseas.

I am not looking forward to staying up late watching the Angels-Sox ALDS and will be taking half-day at work after night games in Anaheim.  The games may not be as long as the Sox-Yanks but they will be close.  No offense to Rangers fans in my presumption of the Sox winning the WC but I cannot imagine a scenario in which the Rangers overtake Boston.

As for the Angels getting hosed - I do think the Sox were given a gift win but I suspect that it just balances out a game earlier in the season in which the Sox got hosed.  I got to spend some time with a PGA Tour player and in asking how he dealt with all the bad bounces he got that day (he had two putts lip out that cost him a chance at a win).  He calmly told me that in the big picture he had as many good breaks as he had bad and that you need to find your peace with them if you want to have long-term success. 

Granted it may be hard to find that peace in the moment and maybe Scioscia’s barking will get him some makeup calls in another game.  To me, Riveria’s lack of effort is a bigger concern for Scioscia than getting hosed by the umps in one game.

The Sox got a couple of gift *calls*, but they *won* becuase the Angels couldn’t close the door in the 9th. After 2 outs, Fuentes gave up 2 BB and 3 singles, including making the strange choice (as someone above mentioned) to nibble on Green after blowing strikes 1 & 2 past him. the Angels can whine about the calls all they want, but they lost because they couldn’t get the 3rd out.

I get an MLB update text from Verizon once a day.  They take the first line of a baseball-related story from sources around the country and use that for the update.  Today’s was a slight variation on the AP story on the Marlins/Cards game and Josh Johnson’s 9K performance, sourced to the AP.

Also, on the Red Sox/Angels game, bad umpiring is bad umpiring regardless of the situation and the relative play of the teams involved.

Juan Rivera’s lack of effort on Alex Gonzalez’ game-winning hit was notable, and the silence from the ESPN crew in the booth was deafening. Rivera has got to lay out for that ball, no? As it was, it fell 2 feet in front of him.