Long layoff no help for Rockies: Other thoughts

By ERIC PFAHLER
Scripps Howard News Service
Monday, October 22, 2007

By the time the Colorado Rockies play again, the team could watch a full season of "Lost," play a mini-season against its minor league franchises and come up with some solutions for world peace.

The World Series begins Wednesday in Boston -- a full nine days after the Rockies swept the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 6-4 Game 4 victory in the National League Championship Series.

Football teams look forward to time off to recuperate from wounds endured through the season. Baseball is a feel game. Hitting requires timing. So don't be surprised if the Rockies' miracle run ends when Colorado takes on an American League champion Red Sox team that has only a few days' rest.

It's a big factor and the people running Major League Baseball should realize that. Can they predict one team will sweep while the other endures a long series? No, that's not practical.

The easy answer is to eliminate the off days. That way if both teams sweep, at least it's an equal disadvantage since MLB would be hurting local fans by moving World Series dates.

But to sit nine days is ridiculous in a sport where a two-day break can make teams stale. The team could build an ark in that time.

-- It's a good thing the Cleveland Indians have Fausto Carmona as an ace for the future. C.C. Sabathia has not looked much like an ace this postseason with a 1-2 record and an 8.80 ERA. Also hit hard by the Red Sox in the ALCS, Carmona has the excuse that he threw well more than 200 innings this season after only having 74 2/3 last year. Sabathia has looked like a liability, not someone who could match up with the amazing Josh Beckett.

On the plus side, closer Joe Borowski has been solid for the Tribe this postseason. Just remember that he arguably could become the second-best free agent closer this offseason behind Mariano Rivera if the Indians don't pick up his option for 2008. That's a big gap, which means the Yankees must overpay for the aging legend. By a lot. If Borowski stays with the Tribe, the drop gets even bigger.

The same goes for Jorge Posada. New York fans should watch Colorado's Yorvit Torrealba. He might be the best free agent catcher behind Posada. Again, there's a big gap there.

-- Manny Ramirez did the right thing -- whether he knew it or not -- by making his comments prior to Game 5 of the ALCS about how life will move on if the Red Sox don't make the World Series. Everyone was bashing the Red Sox for playing tight, so Manny becomes Manny and says something silly all the while bashing the ball as if he's playing with an aluminum bat.

Regardless of what people might think, it was exactly what the Red Sox needed. The team needed to loosen up and it showed in Game 5. No one is better at creating a fun distraction than Ramirez. We in the media are the silly ones who lap it up.

(Eric Pfahler is a sportswriter for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. E-mail eric.phahler(at)scripps.com.)