Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Well, I am a happy camper. Everything went according to my predictions today.
The Red Sox pitching fell apart completely, allowing 14 runs and 5 homers. A.J. Pierzynski had two, and Paul Konerko, Juan Uribe, and Scott Podsednik had one each.
What's even odder is that Podsednik had a sum total of zero home runs in 507 at-bats this year, one year after recording a career high of 12 with Milwaukee last year.
Only 23 players have hit a home run in a postseason series after recording none in the regular season. Podsednik's 507 are the most at-bats for anyone on the list. Podsednik is second:
| Player | Team | Yr | Round | Regular Season Hr | AB | Post HR | AB |
| Lance Johnson | Chicago White Sox | 1993 | ALCS | 0 | 540 | 1 | 23 |
| Scott Podsednik | Chicago White Sox | 2005 | ALDS | 0 | 507 | 1 | 3 |
| Jose Lind | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1992 | NLCS | 0 | 468 | 1 | 27 |
| Larry Twitchell | Detroit Wolverines | 1887 | WS | 0 | 264 | 1 | 20 |
| Davy Jones | Detroit Tigers | 1909 | WS | 0 | 204 | 1 | 30 |
| Raul Chavez | Houston Astros | 2004 | NLDS | 0 | 162 | 1 | 5 |
| Jack Bentley | New York Giants | 1924 | WS | 0 | 98 | 1 | 7 |
| Mudcat Grant | Minnesota Twins | 1965 | WS | 0 | 97 | 1 | 8 |
| Bob Gibson | St. Louis Cardinals | 1968 | WS | 0 | 94 | 1 | 8 |
| Steve Carlton | Philadelphia Phillies | 1978 | NLCS | 0 | 86 | 1 | 4 |
| Mickey Lolich | Detroit Tigers | 1968 | WS | 0 | 70 | 1 | 12 |
| Don Gullett | Cincinnati Reds | 1975 | NLCS | 0 | 62 | 1 | 4 |
| Jesse Haines | St. Louis Cardinals | 1926 | WS | 0 | 61 | 1 | 5 |
| Bob Gibson | St. Louis Cardinals | 1967 | WS | 0 | 60 | 1 | 11 |
| Frank Demaree | Chicago Cubs | 1932 | WS | 0 | 56 | 1 | 7 |
| Rick Sutcliffe | Chicago Cubs | 1984 | NLCS | 0 | 56 | 1 | 6 |
| Rosy Ryan | New York Giants | 1924 | WS | 0 | 36 | 1 | 2 |
| Bill Bathe | San Francisco Giants | 1989 | WS | 0 | 32 | 1 | 2 |
| Melvin Mora | New York Mets | 1999 | NLCS | 0 | 31 | 1 | 14 |
| Tom Lawless | St. Louis Cardinals | 1987 | WS | 0 | 25 | 1 | 10 |
| Marv Rickert | Boston Braves | 1948 | WS | 0 | 19 | 1 | 19 |
| Tom Wilson | Los Angeles Dodgers | 2004 | NLDS | 0 | 12 | 1 | 1 |
| Ken Holtzman | Oakland Athletics | 1974 | WS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
The Red Sox now appear one bad outing by David Wells away from being swept.
The Yankees won 4-2 with the help of a great, albeit short, outing by Mike Mussina, who crept up to a tie for 16th place on the all-time postseason win list. Mariano Rivera, despite a bit of trouble in the ninth, recorded his record 33rd postseason save. He has more than double the next pitcher:
| Name | Post Sv |
| Mariano Rivera | 33 |
| Dennis Eckersley | 15 |
| Robb Nen | 11 |
| Mark Wohlers | 10 |
| Rollie Fingers | 10 |
| Jason Isringhausen | 9 |
| Randy Myers | 8 |
| Rich Gossage | 8 |
| Troy Percival | 7 |
| John Wetteland | 7 |
Speaking of the all-time postseason win leaders, the Astros-Braves has the two pitchers on the list in Andy Pettitte (13 wins) and John Smoltz (14). It also includes Roger Clemens who's tied with many for fifth (10 wins). Pettitte is pitching game one, and Clemens and Smoltz f gamce off in game two.
Here's the all-time list:
| Name | W | L | IP | ERA |
| John Smoltz | 14 | 4 | 199.7 | 2.70 |
| Andy Pettitte | 13 | 8 | 186.7 | 4.05 |
| Tom Glavine | 12 | 15 | 194.0 | 3.71 |
| Greg Maddux | 11 | 14 | 190.0 | 3.22 |
| Whitey Ford | 10 | 8 | 146.0 | 2.71 |
| Dave Stewart | 10 | 6 | 133.0 | 2.84 |
| David Wells | 10 | 3 | 113.3 | 3.18 |
| Roger Clemens | 10 | 7 | 180.7 | 3.54 |
| Catfish Hunter | 9 | 6 | 132.3 | 3.26 |
| Orlando Hernandez | 9 | 3 | 102.0 | 2.65 |
| Curt Schilling | 8 | 2 | 109.3 | 2.22 |
| Jim Palmer | 8 | 3 | 124.3 | 2.61 |
| Mariano Rivera | 8 | 1 | 109.7 | 0.82 |
| David Cone | 8 | 3 | 111.3 | 3.80 |
| Orel Hershiser | 8 | 3 | 132.0 | 2.59 |
| Jack Morris | 7 | 4 | 92.3 | 3.80 |
| Red Ruffing | 7 | 2 | 85.7 | 2.63 |
| Allie Reynolds | 7 | 2 | 77.3 | 2.79 |
| Bob Caruthers | 7 | 8 | 147.0 | 2.51 |
| Dave McNally | 7 | 4 | 90.3 | 2.49 |
| Randy Johnson | 7 | 8 | 108.0 | 3.08 |
| Bob Gibson | 7 | 2 | 81.0 | 1.89 |
| Mike Mussina | 7 | 6 | 125.3 | 3.02 |
Oh, and as for Rivera, that earned run drove his postseason ERA up from 0.75 to 0.82. He still is second in career postseason ERA among pitchers with 25 innings pitched, however:
| Name | W | L | IP | ERA |
| Dave Dravecky | 1 | 1 | 25.7 | 0.35 |
| Mariano Rivera | 8 | 1 | 109.7 | 0.82 |
| Harry Brecheen | 4 | 1 | 32.7 | 0.83 |
| Babe Ruth | 3 | 0 | 31.0 | 0.87 |
| Sherry Smith | 1 | 2 | 30.3 | 0.89 |
| Jack Stivetts | 2 | 0 | 29.0 | 0.93 |
| Sandy Koufax | 4 | 3 | 57.0 | 0.95 |
| Christy Mathewson | 5 | 5 | 101.7 | 0.97 |
| Steve Rogers | 3 | 1 | 27.7 | 0.98 |
| Hippo Vaughn | 1 | 2 | 27.0 | 1.00 |
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