Dirty! Scrappy! Hustle! Grit! Your Guide to ALCS Hyperbole

A good point was made in the comments of my post about NLCS hyperbole; despite the fact that the Rockies and the D'Backs are probably the two best teams in the NL this year, most so-called experts didn't expect them to be good this year and so rather than actually trying to understand why they're good, they just spew gobbledegook about "hustle." That makes this AL version a bit harder because both the Sox and Indians were "supposed" to be good. Still, Tim McCarver will find a way.

Player: Dustin Pedroia
What you'll likely hear: "He just reminds me of David Eckstein so much with his big heart and the way he hustles and isn't afraid to get dirty and play the game right!"
The truth: You know how people invariably compare white athletes to other white athletes and black athletes to other black athletes? At best, it's a lazy way to do things. Now the trend has extended to short people. This year, in his rookie season, Pedroia hit .317/.380/.442. Eckstein has never topped one part of that stat line in his seven-year career. David Eckstein is short. Dustin Pedroia is good.

Player: Paul Byrd
What you'll likely hear: "He sure is a crafty pitcher and that makes him as tough to beat in these big games as anyone. Just look at game 4 of the division series when he finished the Yankees off."
The truth: Take a look at this line: 5 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR. Do you want anything to do with that in a playoff game? I don't. That's Paul Byrd's game 4 line with runs removed. The Indians won that game in spite of his start, not because of it. It kills me that of all the great ALDS performances the Indians had, somehow his is held out above the others despite the fact that it wasn't that impressive to start with and was mostly luck anyways.

Player: Bobby Kielty
What you'll likely hear: "Now THIS is what Bobby Kielty brings to the plate that JD Drew doesn't!" It will likely come after Kielty does something hustle-y and scrappy, because doing hustle-y and scrappy things would kill JD Drew.
The truth: Bobby Kielty brings a career .882 OPS against left handed pitchers while JD Drew's is only .785. The left hand is the hand that CC Sabathia happens to use to sling the ball from the pitcher's mound to home plate. Drew will be back to play against every other pitcher the Indians have because even in this abysmal year, he had an .846 OPS against righties. That's really all there is to it.

Player: Kenny Lofton
What you'll likely hear: "He came in here this summer and really taught this young Indians team how to win ballgames!"
The truth: On June 25th, the Indians were 44-31. They were doing a pretty decent job of winning. Lofton did give them an alternative to the washed-up Trot Nixon, though. Poor Trot Nixon, he probably watched the 1988 Final Four at the age of 14 and had no idea he'd be a washed up baseball player before Arizona's backup point guard.

Team: Cleveland Indians
What you'll likely hear: "Blah blah blah TWO OUT RBIs!!! Blah blah blah YANKEES CHOKED!!!"
The truth: Why anyone is remotely surprised that a team that can start CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, two of the best (if not the two best) pitchers in the American League this year, in over half of their playoff games won a series against anyone, much less a team that won fewer games than they did, is beyond me. If anything the Indians do at this point surprises you, it's just because you haven't been paying attention all year.