Posts by Jacob Wheatley Schaller at FanHouse

The Baseball Writers' Association of America announced its final 2008 award on Tuesday, as Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia emerged from a wide open field to edge out Minnesota's Justin Morneau.

Pedroia had a breakout season in 2007, taking AL Rookie of the Year honors, and he improved this year, with a .326 batting average, .376 on-base percentage, and 54 doubles while playing an above average second base. He received 16 first place votes, and was in the top four on every ballot except one, which strangely left him off entirely.

The top four finishers all came from the Red Sox and Twins, as Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis finished third, and Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer came in fourth. Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez finished sixth, receiving a single first place vote.

Though it wasn't always pretty, the BBWAA ended up with entirely reasonable selections for each of the eight awards it hands out. Pedroia wasn't head and shoulders above the competition like Albert Pujols, who won the NL MVP on Monday, but he was a deserving candidate. It's very rare to find a second baseman who hits for a high average, draws some walks, steals bases at a high clip (20/21 on the year), and even displays some power.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

2008 was a very successful year for the Twins. Afterthoughts back in March, when everybody thought the Tigers and Indians would battle for the division crown, Minnesota finished the regular season in a tie with Chicago atop the Central, before losing to the White Sox in a one-game playoff. After a rocky April, it eventually saw the successful return of Francisco Liriano; other highlights included another MVP-caliber year from Joe Mauer, and the emergence of some of their young arms, most notably Kevin Slowey.

But it's hard not to look back at July and wonder what else the Twins could have accomplished. In that month, Livan Hernandez made five starts, allowing 21 runs in 29 1/3 innings for a 6.44 ERA. Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano was inexplicably still in Triple-A, where he was absolutely dominating, striking out almost a third of the batters he faced. If the Twins -- who have a history of being reluctant to promote guys, and had already pushed Liriano too soon in April -- had recalled him just a week sooner, they probably wouldn't have needed the playoff against Chicago, instead winning the division outright and advancing to face the Rays in the ALDS.

Normally, losing Game 1 at home is a very large blow to a team's chances of winning the series. That's not really the case here; this was a tough loss for the Rays, but the way the series set up it was almost expected. The first game was much more vital for Philadelphia than for Tampa Bay, as a good portion of the Phillies' hopes lie on the shoulders of Cole Hamels, who was again excellent tonight.

This loss does make Game 2 huge for the Rays though. And they have a favorable matchup, with James Shields going at home against Brett Myers. It's not a must win, but it's close, as going back to Philly down 2-0 would put the Rays in a tough spot, even with the pitching advantage in Games 3 and 4.

Scott Kazmir's start was typical for him, as he displayed good stuff but had some control issues and struggled early, giving up a two-run homer to Chase Utley in the first. Kazmir allowed three runs in six innings, and then four relievers combined to shut the Phillies down the rest of the way. Tampa Bay was actually fortunate that this game was so close, as Philadelphia left 11 men on base. Ryan Howard was a big part of that problem; he continued to struggle, with three strikeouts in four ABs.

Aside from Akinori Iwamura, Tampa Bay's offense didn't show much life with the rest of the lineup getting just two hits. B.J. Upton, one of the stars of the first two rounds, struggled mightily, hitting into two double plays and striking out once. The middle of the Rays' order also looked helpless against Brad Lidge's slider in the ninth, which could end up playing a big role in the rest of the series. They're not in terrible shape, but they need a big performance from Shields on Thursday night to tie things up.

The immediate spotlight from the deciding game of the ALCS focused on two players. One was Matt Garza, the series MVP who pitched seven brilliant innings in Game 7, allowing just two hits and one run. The other, as has been covered at length, was David Price, who went from pitching in the Florida State League at the start of the year to getting the four outs that clinched the pennant for Tampa Bay.

Somewhat overlooked in this process was Rays centerfielder B.J. Upton, who was hitless on Sunday night. But we can't ignore his contribution just because of one 0/4. Upton ended up hitting .321/394/.786 for the series, with four homers, a double, four walks, and 11 RBIs. Combine that performance with three homers in four games against the White Sox, and he's had a pretty special month. In fact, those seven homers put him just one shy of the record for a single postseason, shared by Carlos Beltran (2004) and Barry Bonds (2002).

Upton hit just nine homers during the regular season, but that can at least partially be attributed to a nagging shoulder injury. He hit 22 in 2007, and the 24-year old is considered to have outstanding power potential. When this is all said and done, he may be the breakout star of this postseason, and he's yet another bright spot in Tampa's future plans.

They didn't make it easy, but they did it. After letting a seven-run lead slip away late in Game 5, and losing at home in Game 6, the Rays beat Boston's best pitcher to advance to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The star of the game was Matt Garza, who allowed just two hits and one run over seven innings. Garza walked three and struck out nine, giving up only a Dustin Pedroia solo homer in the first. That performance, combined with his Game 3 win, was enough to win him the MVP.

After the Rays went ahead on a Rocco Baldelli single in the fifth, and added an insurance run when Willy Aybar homered in the seventh, the Red Sox had a chance in the eighth. But with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth, Joe Maddon brought in 23-year-old lefty David Price. The 2007 No. 1 pick out of Vanderbilt, who didn't make his first major league appearance until September 14, struck out J.D. Drew, and then retired the side in the ninth.

Game 1 of the World Series will be Wednesday night, with Scott Kazmir being the likely starter for the Rays. The Phillies have already announced that Cole Hamels will be on the mound in the first game.

For those looking to watch playoff baseball, no luck.

As I write this, TBS is experiencing "technical difficulties," rendering them unable to broadcast the beginning of ALCS Game 6 between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. The problems started a little before 8:00 pm EST, when a bloopers show hosted by Dick Clark interrupted the network's pregame show. The problems continued through at least 8:20 PM, when The Steve Harvey Show came on.

Despite the lack of television coverage, the game is continuing as normal. Coco Crisp led of the game with a bunt single, but got picked off first. Dustin Pedroia then popped out to third, and David Ortiz struck out to end the top of the first.

Possibly the strangest part was for the first 20 or so minutes of the delay, when the only indication TBS gave that they were having issues was a scrolling display across that bottom that came by twice and said, "We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by for coverage of Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays." Viewers who missed the scroll were left in the dark as to what was going on.

Update: The delay continued until 8:28 PM EST, when the TBS feed returned. They missed the entire top of the first, as well as three hitters in the bottom half, including a B.J. Upton solo homer.

Well, so much for another boring series that goes one game over the minimum. After an intriguing but not classic Game 1, the ALCS has sandwiched two brilliant games around two blowouts.

Tonight, it's "Big Game" James Shields against a pitcher who has quite a big game resúmé himself, Josh Beckett.

Join us after the jump at 8:00 pm EST to follow along as the Rays try to advance to the World Series, and the Red Sox attempt to stave off elimination. Again.

As well as the Dodgers played against the Cubs, they were just as bad in the NLCS. Chad Billingsley, one of the main reasons they got this far in the first place, struggled mightily in both of his starts, not making it out of the third inning in either. Rafael Furcal completely fell apart in the fifth inning of Game 5, managing to make three errors on two plays, which led to two Philadelphia runs. And Blake DeWitt hit into double plays in both the second and fifth, killing two of L.A.'s scoring chances, which were few and far between against Cole Hamels.

Despite their poor play against the Phillies, the team the Dodgers put on the field in October was excellent, and would be a threat to make some noise again in 2009. Problem is, they won't get that opportunity. Everyone knows Manny Ramirez is a free agent, but the list is a lot longer than just him: Furcal, Derek Lowe, Casey Blake, Takashi Saito, Jeff Kent, and Nomar Garciaparra will all have the opportunity to test the market. This was L.A.'s only opportunity with this group, and they squandered it with their performance over the last seven days.

Even with all the potential departures, the Dodgers do still have a strong core. Russ Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier will all be in the lineup for years to come, and the rotation will continue to be strong with Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, and Clayton Kershaw at the top. They're also fortunate enough to play in the weak NL West, so getting back to the postseason won't be as difficult as it might be otherwise. But L.A. had all of those guys (save Kershaw) this year, and still managed only 84 regular season wins, even with Lowe at the top of the rotation and Ramirez for the last couple months. The Dodgers aren't going to suddenly turn into the Royals, but this was probably their best shot for awhile, and they couldn't capitalize.

In the end, there wasn't all that much drama, as the Phillies beat the Dodgers 5-1 to win the pennant and advance to their first World Series since 1993. Cole Hamels won the MVP, and deservedly so, as he pitched a total of 14 innings, allowing just three runs. With the Series not starting until Wednesday, he'll have plenty of rest before starting the Game 1.

Chase Utley was probably Philadelphia's best position player over the five games, as he went 6/17 with six walks, two doubles, and a memorable homer in the sixth inning of Game 1 that tied the score at two. He also made numerous tough plays at second, as his reputation may finally be catching up with his immense defensive value. Ryan Howard sort of broke out of his slump, but all three of his hits were singles, and he still hasn't homered since September 26.

The Phillies now have six days to rest up and wait to see who their opponent will be. They're probably rooting for the ALCS to go seven, and for the winner to not have time to set its rotation, although the AL champ will have a minimum of two days off. The Rays would likely be a more difficult opponent, as they're hitting on all cylinders right now while Boston is struggling with various injuries to key components. But for now Philadelphia can celebrate as they aim for their first championship in 28 years.

After losing eight of nine in Tampa during the regular season, the Red Sox managed to split the first two games of the ALCS. They'll now send their 24-year old ace, Jon Lester to the mound to try to put them a step closer to another World Series appearance.

Matt Garza goes for the Rays, who came out of Saturday night's 11 inning marathon victorious. Join us after the jump at 4:15 PM ET to follow the action.