Rays and Red Sox move on

It's almost too bad the Sox eliminated Anaheim tonight, because that series was just beginning to get good.

Scioscia will take a lot of flak for attempting the suicide squeeze in a tie game in the ninth. He had a lot going for him on that call, however. 2-0 count. His best bunter at the plate. A speedy runner at third. The only problem was, the Red Sox were looking for it; they've read the scouting report, too. The first 2 pitches Delcarmen threw were not bunt-able, no way. The third one wasn't buntable either. In fact, I can't believe it didn't hit Aybar on the way by. A perfect pitch to spoil the bunt.

Here's why that play didn't make sense. Assume Aybar does something that doesn't drive in the run. On deck is Figgins. He tripled in his last AB of game 2, and scored the tying run in that game. Including that at bat, he was 6 for 12 since - .500 - after starting 1 for his first 9. He's their hottest hitter not named Teixiera. Although he was 0 for 1 against Delcarmen in this post-season, and 0 for 2 with a walk all time against Delcarmen, I like the odds of him getting a hit to drive in that run.

Rays? It seemed preordained they'd make it this far. That should be a fun series.

Now, the next question is why o why are we made to wait until Thursday for the LCS to start? Why can't the NLCS start tomorrow? Why can't MLB run its playoffs like the NHL does?

Update 10/7 0845: A thought occurred to me while driving in to work this morning (yes, most drivers are concentrating on the road ahead, I'm replaying baseball in my head. You may shake your head in dismay.....now). Why didn't Scioscia call for a safety squeeze? Willits is in the game solely because he is one of the fastest guys on the Anaheim roster. With a good secondary lead off third, and a bunt, he could easily beat the play home. Why take the riskiest option available to try and force that run? I know hindsight is always 20/20, but I wonder why he chose that path.