Championship Series Daily "Linkin' Logs" (10/7/08)

Well, thanks to Tampa Bay finishing off Chicago yesterday afternoon/evening, 6-2, the dream of an All-Chicago World Series ended with a wimper, a collective 1 win between two teams who had 186 throughout the regular season.

And thanks to Boston, who late last night (maybe early morning?), who stunned Los Angeles (or Anaheim...I still don't get that) 3-2 with a Jed Lowrie single in the 9th (and a miscue during the top of that inning...more later), the dream of a freeway series in L.A. ended with the team who appeared primed for a World Series Birth, simply collapsing, squandering and wasting their opportunities.

For now its' Boston and Tampa Bay in a battle for final AL East supremacy in 2008 and Philadelphia and Los Angeles in a cross-continental challenge. Two of those teams will meet in the World Series and one will walk away a winner.

• As previously mentioned, what did happen on that squeeze play. From fellow BNBer Kelsdad: "Willits was out, no question. I think Scoscia argued so much because he knew he fucked up. Scoscia had just bunted Willits to third, two bunts in a row? I would have pinchhit for Aybar and hoped for a flyball."
• ArmchairGM's Davis21Wylie provides complete analysis of the NBA Atlantic and Central Divisions; complete with rankings (both teams and players) and analysis. We'll provide more links as they come.
  
• PFT Rips Ed Hochuli again for a poor performance Monday night. While I think Florio has a valid point about bad calls, I challenge him to find an official (crew) who doesn't make mistakes like that on a consistent basis. Fact of the matter is, nobody's perfect and its unfair to scrutinize Hochuli to this degree without considering other officials.
  
• Tim Dierkes of MLBTraderumors.com provides some insight (and links) regarding Manny's future contract status. Dierkes is right, the team offering the most years (apparently 4) will get Manny's services, headaches and frankly the overpaid (probably $20 million) late thirties slugger's twilight years. 35/6 year old Manny is still pretty good...39 year old Manny? Not so much.
  
• Plexiglass makes an not so righteous return. While his talent is undeniable and Eli's love for him is clear. I'm curious to know how far the Giants let him go before the hammer comes down.
  
• And finally, Thefightins provide some commentary on the salespitch whore, Ryan Howard's worst promo yet.