October 22, 2006
After the first two games of the World Series it is clear why this is called the Fall Classic. The St. Louis Cardinals obviously didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to be the underdogs and roll over to the superior Detroit pitching staff. In game 1 the Cardinals faced Detroit ace Justin Verlander. Verlander has been dominating most of the season going 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA. Instead, the Cardinals took advantage of an off night by the Tigers and jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the series. The Cardinals were led by a strong pitching performance by rookie Anthony Reyes who threw 8 strong innings allowing 2 runs on 4 hits. The Cardinals offense was led by Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen who accounted for 5 of the 8 hits and drove in 4 of the 7 runs that were scored.
Continue reading ‘Why It’s the Fall Classic’ »
October 21, 2006
Well the match-up is finally set. The 2006 World Series will be a sequel to the 1968 series with the Detroit Tigers facing the St. Louis Cardinals. This is an unlikely outcome to a post season that has been filled with strange results. The Detroit Tigers began the year with a fairly uneventful April that led to their manager Jim Leyland raking the players over the coals during a news conference. This obviously intensified the Tigers and for much of the year they played some of the best baseball in the major leagues. But as the season came to an end, the Tigers faltered and lost the American League Central division title reaching the play-offs as the wild card team. The St. Louis Cardinals came into the season as one of the favorites for the National League Central division along with the Houston Astros. The Cardinals had a roller coaster run during the regular season and in September they faltered finally clinching a play-off spot on the last day of the season. Few people gave them much of a chance against the San Diego Padres in the first round and gave them even a lesser chance against the New York Mets in the League Championship series. In each case the Cardinals pitching staff rose to the occasion which brings us to game one of the World Series.
Continue reading ‘Hey It’s the World Series!’ »
October 20, 2006
At the beginning of August when the Arizona Diamondbacks were still having delusions of grandeur, I received a letter in the mail providing instructions on how to order post season tickets for when the Diamondbacks made the play-offs. The letter had pricing for my two season tickets for all play-off games and a deadline of when payment had to be received. At the time I was very excited and planned on buying the ticket package. But soon the Diamondbacks began falling away and by the time the deadline arrived Arizona was for the most part eliminated. I kept the letter and the invoice for my tickets just to remind me how close we were at one point in the season. Today I was going through papers on my desk and I came across that envelope and looked through it again. What I didn’t notice was that there was another piece of paper in the envelope as well.
Continue reading ‘What’s Taking So Long?’ »
October 19, 2006
There is nothing quite like a game 7 in a series. One single game in a winner take all contest to see who moves on and who goes home. This is the kind of drama that every American sports fan loves to see. After 162 regular season games (161 in the case of the Cardinals) and the first round divisional play-offs then 6 games of the League Championship Series it will come down to the final 27 outs to decide who will represent the National League in the World Series. This would be equivalent to two runners in a marathon who go stride for stride through the race. The first runner stakes an early lead and cruises through the race while the other struggles and barely reaches the final leg. But when that final leg of the race begins, it is the struggling runner who finds his pace while the seemingly invincible runner struggles with aches, pains and minor injuries.
Continue reading ‘Do or Die Time for NL’ »
October 18, 2006
The thing about play-off baseball is that all kinds of celebrities and wanna be’s come out to be seen at the game. Earlier in the National League Championship series Fox showed Steven Tyler of Aerosmith in the stands. I don’t know Tyler so I can’t really say whether he is a diehard baseball fan and if he is that’s great but I have to say he didn’t look like the most comfortable guy in the stands. Maybe you get used to seeing someone in a certain light and environment and when you see them somewhere else you just can’t get your arms around it. Besides celebrities you also get former players and executives from other teams and the league who attend the games. Most of the time it is a “be seen” factor but sometimes they are there for a reason. At last night’s game commissioner Bud Selig was at the game and when you get the commissioner you obviously have to try and corner him and ask some questions. Most of the questions are ridiculous like whether the commissioner thinks Barry Bonds takes steroids or if he thinks baseball should recognize Barry if he breaks Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. Seriously, do you really expect the commissioner to upstage the play-offs and give you a quote like, “I think Barry and his big old head needs to get out of the game before my head witch hunter George Mitchell buries him.” Granted that would be awesome if Selig would come out and say that but you probably should not expect it. So instead the interview consisted of asking the commissioner what he thought of the new Busch Stadium.
Continue reading ‘When Is It Our Turn?’ »
October 17, 2006
The Arizona Fall League came into existence in 1992. It was designed as a short season almost all-star atmosphere where each team could send a select few top prospects to compete against each other. This has become a breeding ground for Rookie of the Year candidates and gives clubs an opportunity to see how their prospects respond when matched with other high caliber talent. The Fall League is made up of 6 teams: Grand Canyon Rafters, Peoria Javelinas, Phoenix Desert Dogs, Mesa Solar Sox, Peoria Saguaros, and Scottsdale Scorpions. As in the past, the Arizona Diamondbacks will send players to the Scottsdale Scorpions.
Continue reading ‘Arizona Fall League’ »
October 16, 2006
I sat on the couch blankly watching the local Fox affiliate which was playing some sort of infomercial about a miracle plastic tube filled with pasta that would cook the noodles if you added boiling water and sealed the container for 15 minutes. I kept looking back and forth from the television to the clock and back again. My remote finger was just itching to pull the trigger moving from channel to channel saving myself from the possibility that I might actually think this product was useful and reach for the phone to speak with one of the operators who were standing by in the next 90 seconds to save me money and offer me a free gift which seems to consist of some sort of rubber doily or something. I look back at the clock and it is a minute since the last time I looked and a full 45 minutes past when game 5 of the National League Championship series was supposed to start. You know what would be good while I wait? A bowl of pasta cooked slightly al dente. Wait I need to focus, what was I doing? Oh yeah baseball.
Continue reading ‘Play-offs Versus Pasta’ »
October 15, 2006
The Detroit Tigers began the season with everyone thinking they would be marginally better this year than last. Then Jim Leyland woke up the team and made them think they were winners. Suddenly the Tigers were one of the hottest teams in baseball and had the best record in baseball. Like many, I expected that they would come back to earth and I wondered whether they would even make the play-offs. In September this nearly became a self-fulfilling prophesy as the Tigers stumbled blowing games and having to settle for the American League wild card when they lost to Kansas City on the last day of the season. Surely they would not last more than 4 games in the first round as they were playing the immense line-up of the New York Yankees. It was just a matter of time before they would be sent packing. After the first game of the season I was very confident that my prediction was correct. Instead Detroit came storming back to beat the Yankees 3-1 moving on to the second round of the play-offs.
Continue reading ‘And Then There Was One’ »
October 14, 2006
Earlier this year the Arizona Diamondbacks were recognized as the best franchise in Major League Baseball. Many media outlets have also proclaimed that the Diamondbacks have the deepest and most talent laden minor league system in baseball. This talent began to be showcased during the latter half of the season as Stephen Drew, Carlos Quentin, Chris Young, and Alberto Callespo joined Conor Jackson at the Major League level and contributed to wins by the team. Having this kind of depth in the minor league system provides some salary flexibility since those with little major league experience typically are less expensive than an establish superstar. It also means that the Diamondbacks have alternatives and options to create a package that may land the team a needed pitcher or hitter. On the surface it would seem there are no downsides to a loaded farm system but that is not necessarily the case.
Continue reading ‘And So It Begins’ »
