Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Sox in, Yanks out!

The Yankees Loooose! Theeeeee Yankees Lose!

Alright, that's out of my system! And thank goodness I no longer have to hear "An A-bomb, from A-Rod," "theeeeee pitch," and "There's a strike." Not to mention that Susan is the Madden of baseball! Some select quotes: "They're losing because they are swinging at pitches that they aren't hitting." Because that never happens in baseball. "It's Mientkiewicz's job to determine if the pitch is going to be a ball or a strike, because you don't want to swing at it if it's a ball." Really? Wow, no kidding. Who is she broadcasting to? Preschoolers? Aliens? Cricket-lovers? Yeah, that and she was crying in the clubhouse after the game. I'm sure we all know: "There's no crying in baseball!" I hope one of the Yankees off season moves is to trade her for an announcer to be named later.

Further Yankees thoughts: It's been rumored that if the Yankees lost in the first round that it would end Joe Torre's relationship with the Evil Empire. As a Red Sox fan, I'm thrilled about this. There is no manager that I fear or respect more than Mr Torre. As a sports fan, however, I have to say this is probably one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time. Torre has been with the team for twelve years. During his tenure, they've had twelve post season appearances (that's 100% for those not paying attention), they've won the division ten times, they've had eight ALDS victories, six world series appearances and four championships. If that isn't a manager who needs to be fired, I don't know who is! (Dungy and Belichick better watch out, they're next!) He dealt with injuries, slumps, and inconsistent players and still managed to bring the team to the playoffs yet again! But this idiocy is all part of Steinbrenner's lunacy and lust for power. Let him make the mistake. Maybe Lou Panella or Ozzie Guillen will be available!

How'd the AL MVP do in the series? Well, he was 0-5 in the first two games. Went 2-4 with a 1B and a HR tonight. Sounds like typical A-Rod October ball.

Hey Roger: Why'd you go to New York, again? The chance to win it all, right? Oooo, so sorry. Why don't you retire again for about eight months and then come back and earn 15 mill for four months of work? Sounds like a plan. Oh, one more thing, don't call us, we'll call you.

Ok, now that the ALDS's are over, baseball is no longer just for the elite! (I can actually catch some games now!) What the heck was MLB thinking putting all of the games on TBS?! Not only did this alter the way the games were called (Game two of the Yankees/Indians matchup was running long, so suddenly everything became a strike. It was either TBS putting the pressure on the umps, or the man behind the plate had a roast in the oven!) but it meant that your blue collar fan (the "average American" baseball is supposed to be aimed at) couldn't watch his team unless he subscribed to a cable package that offered TBS. The SuperStation must have paid a SuperFortune for MLB to have made as SuperHuge of a SuperBlunder as they did. I'm SuperIrked! Go FOX!

So we have the next step of the playoff picture in view: Boston vs Cleveland and Arizona vs Colorado. Colorado is on fire, winning 18 of their last 20 (which means it's gotta end eventually, I see Arizona taking this series in 5). Boston took the regular season series against the tribe and I expect them to take this one as well. Watch for Boston in 6.

Now for some straight Boston thoughts: If there ever were a time for Manny and David to find their groove it's now! I swear, Mike Lowell has been carrying the power load for this time all season and now he's got some help! Cleveland may have Sabathia, but Boston has Becket, Dice-K, and Schilling (who ever would have thought that Schilling would be the third pitcher for the Sox!) Then who? Lester? Four and oh. Buchholz? No-hitter. Wakefield? 18 wins. I'm not cocky, I'm not even confident. I am very very hopeful.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Marc,

What's your overall assessment of Dice-K? Do you think he's a bit like Beckett was last year, struggling to get used to the AL? Maybe next year he'll be more consistent, and more what he was hyped up to be?

Great post, by the way! I'm hoping that some of the games are played -- or at least replayed -- on ESPN because then I'll get to watch them here. Crazy.

Marc said...

When I learned how the Japanese league used it's pitchers I wasn't surprised that Dice-K started to struggle late in the season. In Japan they use 6 pitchers and play 6 games/week. DK used to pitch once a week, not once every 5 days. Their league is also short in number of games. So, even though they don't have their pitchers on a 100 pitch-count leash, it seemed inevitable that he'd tail off as we entered late August and September.

However, he's got plenty of time to rest. The earliest he'd pitch is Saturday.

I think next year he'll be more accustomed to this schedule and will be dominant longer.

Great to hear from you!