this whole alcs series has been a bit shaky; did anyone watch last nights game though? shit was bogus. i stand strongly against fully implementing instant replay in baseball for many reasons, but c'mon, some of these umps are a bunch of wack mc's that need to get it together. scioscia would've never pulled lackey that early.

[URL]http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/index/_/tag/19552/john-lackey[/URL]

[URL]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/276919-john-lackey-re-affirms-his-position-atop-my-cubs-wish-list[/URL]

[QUOTE]Lackey showed, yet again, that he's a big game pitcher. He came out dealing and battled through more miserable "work" from umpires to keep the Angels in the lead into the seventh inning. In that seventh, after a fourth ball call for Jorge Posada that was (as least) questionable and then a walk to Derek Jeter, Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to remove Lackey from the game. The Angels had a four-run lead. Lackey's reaction, part of which you see in the photo on this article, is what I loved about him. The ball call to Posada was horsecrap, let's just put it out there. And Lackey was demonstrative in his reaction, and noticeably rattled as he walked Jeter. But when Scioscia got as far as the top step of the Angels' dugout, Lackey's mouth could clearly be read as saying, "This is mine, coach. This is mine." Lackey was a man, and wanted nothing to do with his manager taking the ball from him. But when Lackey got to the dugout, there wasn't a need for a Gatorade dispenser to press assault charges. There wasn't a bat-to-water fountain incident. There wasn't a tantrum worthy of YouTube. Lackey went to the clubhouse, cooled off, and then joined his teammates back on the bench, now trailing 6-4 (thanks, Darren Oliver). Absolutely NOTHING I saw from Lackey on Thursday night was anywhere close to the Chicago Cubs' bench in 2009. Not only did he win a game in October against the Red Sox (paying attention, Carlos Zambrano?), but he was a bulldog against the best lineup in baseball again tonight. [/QUOTE]-

[IMG]http://i36.tinypic.com/sb57p3.jpg[/IMG]

Re: John Lackey: "This is mine, coach. This is mine."

LAA's manager is a fuckin idiot for pulling Lackey and putting in a reliever with the bases loaded, had they lost that game, that would be grounds for firing

its sad that we cant just get trustworthy officiating in these sports, we need to rely on instant replay because we never know who's on the take.. look at the SEC in college football the past few weeks, its ridiculous

Re: John Lackey: "This is mine, coach. This is mine."

i see the validity in relying on replay as a potential aspect of the game sometime in the future -- but from a traditional standpoint -- i think it would duly ruin baseball, and another umpire strike would ensue. they should work out some kinda of 'middle way' though... :|:what

Re: John Lackey: "This is mine, coach. This is mine."

... the angels won. the man in charge made the right call in the end. whether it was right, wrong or indifferent. lackey looked sharp most of the game though. great to see these close games!

Re: John Lackey: "This is mine, coach. This is mine."

but of course. there is no such thing as accidents in baseball, though. ie. accidents are usually unforseen events; everything is the fruit of a preceding cause, and the preceeding cause cannot touch the individual unless that individual was the producer of the cause, originally or intimately connected with the production of the cause. if mike would've kept lackey in, the game would have been totally different, yeah. very lucky for mike scioscia that the angels won in the end. baseball is a mindfuck lol