Unless, I missed something between Joe West's website and MLB site's, but I thought Larry Vanover was assigned to Hirshbeck's crew for the Boston/White Sox series.

I saw in the boxscore that Mark Carlson started at 3rd base last night with Bill Miller and Mark Wegner each moving up one base from their original starting assignments.

Is Larry injured or did he turn it down?

Can't answer your question, but would love to know the answer.

FYI, Bill Miller was at first, Mark Carlson was at 3rd....Mark Wegner didn't move from 2nd.

Mattmets,

Thanks for the information. I just quickly looked at the boxscore and saw the change, and thought I may have placed other names in the wrong spot.

The Boston Globe reported this morning that Vanover had back pain and was a late scratch. I'm guessing Carlson was on hand as a back-up and pinch-hit for him. The rotation change might me in case Vanover can't be back for today's game two; this way Miller gets the plate today. If Vanover is in today, he'd be out a second base I guess. The report didn't say if he's miss the whole series, just that he was replaced in game one.

I know this year at the All-Star Game Mark Wegner was chosen as the alternate in case someone got sick or injured....I bet the same thing happens in the playoffs, especially after Ed Rapuano got hurt last year in the NLCS.

Dale Scott
 

Well, L. Vanover isn't back today, but, strangely, neither is M. Carlson. The rotation wasn't altered yet again to account for M. Carlson's replacement, D. Scott, however, I would have figured that it would have gone back to normal for today's Game 2, regardless of whether L. Vanover had returned or not.
By normal, I mean that they would have gone back to the normal rotation of HP to RF, 1B to HP, 2B to 1B, 3B to 2B, LF to 3B, and RF to LF. And I would have assumed they would have used the initial intended rotation, as well, which was as follows:

Game 1:

HP: J. Hirschbeck (CC)
1B: L. Vanover (M. Carlson - OK, they flipped this with B. Miller)
2B: M. Wegner
3B: B. Miller (see above)
LF: M. Everitt
RF: D. Iassogna

Game 2:

HP: L. Vanover (OK, today, this isn't M. Carlson, it's D. Scott, and the Game 1 flipping is kept intact)
1B: M. Wegner
2B: B. Miller (see above)
3B: M. Everitt
LF: D. Iassogna
RF: J. Hirschbeck (CC)

Game 3:

HP: M. Wegner
1B: B. Miller
2B: M. Everitt
3B: D. Iassogna
LF: J. Hirschbeck (CC)
RF: L. Vanover (depending on his injury)

Game 4 (if necessary):

HP: B. Miller
1B: M. Everitt
2B: D. Iassogna
3B: J. Hirschbeck (CC)
LF: L. Vanover (again, depending on his injury)
RF: M. Wegner

Game 5 (if necessary):

HP: M. Everitt
1B: D. Iassogna
2B: J. Hirschbeck
3B: L. Vanover (again, depending on his injury)
LF: M. Wegner
RF: B. Miller

Dale Scott
 

It looks like Mark Carlson was only filling in because he lives in the Chicago area. Dale Scott will umpire 2B tonight. They probably wanted a more experienced umpire to replace Vanover. They probably did not want to switch the crew even more. They also probably wanted an experience Scott for a Game 4.

On a side note it is very interesting how much commentating the announcers have been doing on the umpire's strike zones so far. Yesterday, they kept commenting on how big Hirschbeck's strike zone was, then they talked about how nobody liked Darling's strike zone, and then today the Braves broadcasters have been very critical of Brinkman's inconsistent zone. It seems like during the season we are lucky if the umpire's name is mentioned, but now they are talking about what pitches he like and doesn't like to call.

Yankees/Angels Crew
 

I don't mean to take this topic on a bit of a tangent, but I still can't seem to sort out, between Joe West's own site and the MLB/WUA press releases, Joe West's site and the MLB press release both state that West is the crew chief. Yet, unless it was a misprint, the WUA press release indicates that Gary Darling is the crew chief. First off, does anyone have a clue who is actually correct? And secondly, if in fact West is the crew chief, why does it seem so ironic that only his crew has the crew chief opening up in LF? Couldn't they have just flipped West and Darling before the series ever started and had West, if he is in fact the crew chief, work HP in Game 1?

Thoughts?

Perhaps West wanted to start in the outfield. I think last year in the world series he was the crew chief and started in the outfield(i think),so maybe its one of those things where if the game came down to a game they want west behind the plate and not darling. Just a thought,who knows the real reasoning..

I also thought it was weird vanover wasnt there,but with back pain its probably better he isnt. I find Dale Scotts zone to be inconsistant,and would rather have a guy like tim tscheda or chuck meriweather do it,but i'm not incharge,so who am to say.

Just my thoughts.

Nope. Ed Montague was last year's crew chief and he worked the plate in game 1.

i knew i should have looked it up....thanks matt!

Well, with Dale Scott working for Vanover, that means either Scott was a replacement for the Division Series, called in from his LCS (if he was selected) assignment, or he was next on the list of umpires to go work the playoffs.

It looks like from the boxscore that Dale Scott will finish the Red Sox/White Sox series out with Hirschbeck's crew.

Hopefully, he will still be able to work his LCS assignment if he was originally assigned to one.

He can't work the LCS too. That would be two consecutive "special events".

That is true, Scott cannot work two "special events" in a row. Bummer, because I enjoy watching Scott whether he is on the plate or in the field.