Baseball analyst Peter Gammons stopped by The Big Show on Friday to talk playoff matchups, the acquisition of the Liverpool soccer team by Sox ownership, and the Red Sox offseason. The ownership group behind the Red Sox recently bought the Liverpool soccer team, and Gammons offered his own insight for Red Sox management: “A friend of mine last week brought this whole thing up and he said ‘You know what, if things go bad, the Red Sox marketing campaign could be ‘It could be worse, we could be the McCourts.”’

Following are some highlights from the conversation. To hear the interview, visit The Big Show audio on demand page here.

On Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay matchup in the NLCS:

“It’s a great pitching matchup. There were some studies done today of some of the great matchups. I think this is greater than [Bob] Gibson against [Denny] McLain in ’68, just because McLain wasn’t very good down the stretch.  It was a little different; I mean he was fortunate to get to 30 wins. I mean, it still was 31 wins against Bob Gibson but not quite the same. They listed [Sandy] Koufax against Whitey Ford in ‘63. There were a couple of names in the ‘50s. But this is probably in 25-30 years, the best postseason matchup. The one that I could remember that I looked forward the same way was Catfish Hunter for the A’s and Tom Seaver for the Mets in ‘73. What is fascinating to me, what we saw in the divisional series, is the return to the point where the elite pitchers have become the stars again. We’re not sitting there waiting to see how far Barry Bonds can hit the ball into McCovey Cove. We’re not thinking about, ‘It’s going to be 11-9.’ We saw so many elite pitchers; I think the losing teams of the 15 games of the divisional series combined for 24 runs. The elite pitchers were dominant, and I think from a fans standpoint, while it might be more fun to see a 9-6 game, people anticipate and will watch the great pitching matchups. Back in the 70’s when we had [Luis] Tiant against [Jim] Palmer, everybody in the city closed over that. Even though a 3-1 game might not be the most exciting, the pitching matchups are.

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Peter Gammons of the MLB Network and NESN checked in with The Big Show on Friday to talk about the playoffs, instant replay, and the Red Sox owners’ acquisition of the Liverpool soccer club. Gammons started by making a pitch to Boston baseball fans to watch the playoffs: “I realize people in Boston don’t want to watch the Yankees. It’s just the Giants and the Phillies are so fun to watch…I think the most compelling potential series without a doubt is the Giants playing the Phillies.”

Following are some highlights from the conversation. To hear the interview, visit The Big Show audio on demand page here.

On Roy Halladay’s no-hitter :

I don’t know if anybody had too many doubts about it. He’s such a special guy. I was writing a column today about the Yankees and if you look at [Andy] Pettitte and [Derek] Jeter, their numbers for the postseason are exactly the same for the career and regular season. But their ability just to space everything out and have that tunnel vision and concentrate exactly and they don’t get wrapped up in this game, and that’s the way for Halladay, the same thing, it’s the norm rather than being dramatic about it. I guess some of these teams get too fired [up], and think, ‘Oh boy, we’re going to play with the crowd.’ Just concentrate on what you do. Halladay shuts everything out so well. I actually think you’re going to see that in Roy Oswalt, too. He’s different than Halladay. Halladay is incredibly creative and so forth and he has, what, five different fastballs now, two different cutters, change-up, a split, and all the rest. Oswalt is so convicted in everything he does. I mean, I once asked [former teammate] Brad Ausmus, ‘Is that arrogance or conviction?’ And he said, ‘When you’re good it’s not arrogance, its conviction.’ And I think you’ll really see that from him too.

Is it time for Instant replay? Will it slow down games that much?

I maintain that it would speed up games because you wouldn’t have coaches, players, managers everybody running around the field; getting 14 different groups of umpires converging on the field. If you had in the playoffs a seventh umpire with all the technology they have, they could make the decision in 30 seconds.

I’ll give you an example that just amazed me. At the Hall of Fame induction, Doug Harvey got in. That’s great. He was a tremendous umpire. There were a lot of current and former umpires up there who made it very clear to me that they were very upset with Jim Joyce. They thought the umpire’s association should’ve disciplined Jim Joyce for admitting he was wrong in the [Armando] Galarraga case [when Joyce admitted to blowing a call that ruined a perfect game]. I actually thought it was the best moment of the year for an umpire. First of all, Jim Joyce, I believe was second in the player rankings. The fact is, okay I’m a human, I’m really sorry I ruined a place in history for this guy. There’s the whole point where you should never, ever admit you’re wrong, we don’t need replay. The administration of umpiring for me; for instance, you can’t have a replay on a check swing, I understand that. But I wish they had it in the rule book. About five years ago I was working with Bobby Valentine and there was a check swing that was a very controversial call. Now I have to admit I don’t do what Bobby Valentine did, which was always have the rule book in the bathroom, to study it every day about three times. So we called up one of the umpire administrators, a really good one. We said, ‘Could you go through the manuals and find what the definition of a check swing is?’ He called us back about four hours later and said ‘There is no rule in any manual about what a check swing is.’ It’s like pornography, you know it when you see it.

On the importance of the bullpen in undermining the Red Sox:

I think it’s more like one to eight on your pitching staff. If you’re bringing your bullpen in in the fifth and sixth inning, it’s never a good thing. I said this a bunch of times in September, I never realized how important Hideki Okajima was to that team for three years. That guy did every role possible. He was great at it, and when he went, they basically ended up with a two-man bullpen. All those different things that Okajima did: get left handers out, pitch two and a third innings here, and close…There’s no question. There was no seventh inning-get-you-into-the-eighth-inning guy… They didn’t get the innings, the outs out of [Josh] Beckett that they would normally expect. He got three outs after the seventh inning the entire season.

Should Red Sox fans be concerned about $450 million purchase of Liverpool Soccer Team?

Listen, I think it’s fair. We don’t know yet exactly what the economics are of this. I know that they have said this doesn’t affect baseball operations at all. We don’t know. The fans are going to be screaming, ‘Wait a minute, is this going to expand income or make it tougher?’ We’re not going to be adding that much payroll at the trading deadline. I understand that. The budget, they went over by signing [Adrian] Beltre for $10 million dollars. Is this going to impact them? …The fans have a right to ask that. I don’t have any problem but it’s up to the Red Sox to answer that. How much of Tom Hicks’ debt do they have to take in this? …

I think they are going to have to be proactive and address it. OK, they’re not going to spend $205 million. OK, [if Adrian] Beltre goes, and they end up playing [Jed] Lowrie at third, sign Carl Crawford, and have the first five guys in the lineup being [Jacoby] Ellsbury, [Dustin] Pedroia, Crawford, Victor Martinez, [Kevin] Youkilis. OK, fans can buy into this, go out and get a few relievers. OK, fans can buy into this. If it’s, OK, we’re going to get Adam LaRoche and who else, you know fans are going to be screaming. And that amazing sell out streak may not be so amazing. I was amazed that last Saturday night, starting a game at 9:15, with [Daisuke Matsuzaka] starting, assuring it wasn’t going to get done until one in the morning, that place was packed, I couldn’t believe it. It can come to an end and it’s one of those dangers when you try to do too many things. I think most fans say, ‘Well why can’t they focus on baseball and nothing else?’

Now I happen to feel there’s a chance that the Yankees get old in a few years, especially if they have to sign [Derek] Jeter for five years…I think they have a chance to get old and the division has a chance to be a 90-95 win division instead of a 95-105 win division. Fans are always going to believe the Yankees are going to have 100 wins every year.

On Cliff Lee’s Future with the Rangers, and the Rangers having a ton of money thanks to a new TV deal:

I think there’s a lot of debt they have to deal with. I know there are a lot of people, owners and general managers saying, ‘Major League Baseball was paying the bills. You can’t tell me that they didn’t know this $3 billlion dollar deal was coming.’ … I can see Texas really being in that hunt with Cliff Lee, I think they’ll be very active. The rest of that pitching staff is low cost…There’s no question that the new ownership with Nolan Ryan, the group is going to be saying, ‘We’re building around Cliff.’ I think that would be a big blow to the Yankees. When I heard about that [TV] deal, I thought Cliff Lee might end up in Texas.

With the end of the regular season approaching, Peter Gammons of the MLB Network and NESN joined the Big Show to discuss the upcoming playoffs, the changes the Red Sox have to make in the offseason, and the retirement of Mike Lowell.

Following are some highlights from the conversation. To hear the interview, visit The Big Show audio on demand page. Click here for the interview.

On a season of injuries for Red Sox:

If you take [Jacoby] Ellsbury, [Dustin] Pedroia, Victor Martinez and [Kevin] Youkilis, you probably have the best front four in baseball. They were together eight times all year. But there were other factors. The fact that their pitchers have a 4.99 ERA besides [Clay] Buchholz and [Jon] Lester, there’s blame there. … I never realized how important Okajima was to this team until they didn’t have him. …

I have no idea where they are going to go. I think the number of options that they have from here, there’s like ten scenarios, and I don’t know where they’ll go.

On how the Sox will proceed with David Ortiz:

I think they will pick [David Ortiz' option] up because I know they are really worried that if they don’t he’s going to be hitting against right-handed pitchers in either New York or Tampa, and I think that’s a tough thing to swallow. Now, he may not be happy about them picking up the one year … [but] he did sign the contract. I understand where he’s coming from and what he’s given to this franchise but that’s the luck of the draw.

On whether free agent Adrian Beltre might be back:

I think that’s going to be a very tough signing. I find Beltre a really compelling guy. He plays so hard. Now he’s at the point where he won’t tell them when he’s hurt because he’s afraid that they’ll make him sit down. Beltre just plays so hard all the time. I love the thing when on breaking balls he drops to one knee and hits the balls into the seats.

He has to be comfortable. He was really comfortable in Los Angeles and he’s really comfortable here. He was uncomfortable in Seattle. If he ends up in Detroit — which I think might be a stopping point for him — how comfortable is he going to be there? Very bad ballpark for him. It will be very interesting to see how he and [agent Scott Boras] come to this.

Could Adam Dunn end up in New York?

Adam is so adamant about not wanting to DH, I don’t think he’s going to have any choice. I really don’t. The Nationals are putting up a great front because people love him and he’s a great guy. They’re not going to sign him because they don’t know where to play him in the field. I can see that. He’s a big on-base guy. I could see the Yankees doing it. But the other problem there is, if you bring him in as the DH, what do you do with [Jorge] Posada?

On Carl Crawford’s free agent destination:

I’ll be fascinated by the Crawford thing. Everybody assumes he’s going to go to the Angels. I’m not so sure. First of all, [Angels owner] Arte Moreno isn’t always great with free agents. Arte likes to kind of do business, ‘OK, this is what I’ll pay you and that’s that.’

Crawford would like to move from being a leadoff guy to being a third hitter. He’d like to win batting titles. He likes this ballpark. This will be an interesting situation. If the Red Sox went to him, and said, ‘You’re going to play left field. Ellsbury is still going to be leading off. He’ll do more running. You only have to run 40 times a year and hit line drives all over the ballpark.’ That’s an intriguing guy.

On whether he thinks it more likely that the Sox pursue free agent Carl Crawford of Jayson Werth this offseason:

I think Crawford. I think. It’s clear that they believe in 2012 that [Ryan] Kalish is going to become a really good player in right field. And I buy that, I think he’s going to become a tremendous player. He’s going to hit, and I love the whole Darin Erstad, Grady Sizemore personality that he brings to a team. I was amazed — he walked in here and all the veteran players were like ‘Great, this is better than a trade, we brought up Ryan Kalish,’ which speaks volumes about who he is, what he is, the way he plays. I’m sure he’ll play at least half the season next year in Triple-A, but he’s the one guy who’s come up and made quite an impression.

Who are the contenders in the playoffs this year?

I think the shift has started to the National League. The best young players are in the National League. I think the best two postseason teams are Philadelphia and San Francisco. … Don’t underestimate the fact that the Giants’ ERA is the best in one month since May 1968 and that the three main guys [Matt] Cain, [Tim] Lincecum, and [Madison] Bumgarner are 12-1 with an ERA of about 1.20 in September, even better than Halladay, Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

I still think it’s going to be Minnesota [coming out of the American League]. They’ve got to get their pitching back. [Francisco] Liriano has had three bad starts in a row. The Yankees have lost  nine consecutive starts by opposing left-handers. If the Yankees play the Twins, who they usually have beaten, Liriano and [Brian] Duensing have to come up big.

On John Lackey’s struggles for Boston:

I think he should be better than this. He’s been OK. But it’s not just like they found a few holes. His stuff has not been as crisp. He’s been durable but his stuff hasn’t been as good as it was in Anaheim. I don’t think that that consistency he showed last year using both his off-speed pitches and his fastball was there this year. But it’s also different being here. Maybe his father-in-law is upset at him because he’s not winning all his games for the Red Sox. He has had a couple of arm problems and it will be interesting to see how he comes out next year. … In his case, it is how does he get his velocity back? In Beckett’s case, it’s how do I get my arrogance back?

Does Daisuke Matsuzaka come back:

I think they might trade him. Because his contract is not bad and he can pitch in the National League. Let’s say they lose Victor Martinez and Beltre, I can see them trading Daisuke for Carlos Beltran and putting him in left field. I think Beltran will come back and have a monster year. The Mets would love to do that if they have a general manager by Opening Day. I think there are a number of places he can be traded to. The Dodgers, Seattle. Of course, he may end up in court if he gets traded to the Dodgers.

On Mike Lowell’s retirement and legacy:

One of the most popular players in my time covering here. The number of people every day who come up and say, ‘I really love Mike Lowell,’ it’s great. He won two World Series rings, which means two more World Series rings than Ted Williams. He had great years in 2003 for the Marlins and 2007 for the Red Sox. He knocked in, what, 120 and 110 runs in those two years. He’s been a really good player, he’s played hurt and never recovered from the hip. It’s a nice thing to leave the game, or your job, and be that respected and that well-liked. I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about Mike Lowell losing his money. He got hurt and he kept trying to play, but there was nothing he could do.