Confession

So I didn't actually watch Game 4. Seriously - I did not watch the Red Sox win the World Series. I read about it the next morning at 9am in Helsinki, a couple hours after it was over. It bums me out, but it was just impossible - no TV, internet was spotty, plus I was suffering from serious sleep deprivation - I'd watched the previous 8+ games at 2-3am; they ended at between 6 and 7:30, and I had to be at work by 8. So by Game 4 it just didn't happen.

Some people I tell this to just can't believe it. As if it makes me a bad Red Sox fan. Yes, it was a great, close game, and I would've loved to see the on-field celebration. But really: was there any doubt? Did anyone seriously think the Rockies were going to pull it off after Game 3? Hell, even after Game 2, or Game 1? After Game 3 - their best offensive game of the series - they were batting a miserable .222 in the Series (OPS was around .650). Despite bringing out their number 1-3 starters, they gave up ten or more runs, twice. While Game 2 was great, even then they looked completely and totally outmatched. There was simply no way they were going to win four in a row. Now, I've been told that one team actually has come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a 7-game postseason series (the name of the team escapes me at the moment), but there's just no comparison - after 3 games they were batting .289, and showed some signs of life throughout all three of those games.

I'm sure I'm hardly the first to note this, but the World Series has been sort of...uh, lame lately. In the last 4 years the losing team has won exactly one game (and pine tar may have had something to do with that...). Before that, the 2003 Series (Yanks-Marlins) didn't feel nearly as close as it really was, and the 2002 Series (Giants-Angels) was big on drama (7 games!) but not so big on good baseball. You have to go back 6 years, to 2001 (Yankees-Diamondbacks) to find a truly great World Series.

Which is weird since during this time of boring World Series the LCS's have been absolutely epic.

2003: Marlins-Cubs (7 games, Bartman play), Yanks-Sox (7 games, Little/Boone)
2004: Astros-Cards (7 games, Edmonds 12th inning HR, Pujols/Beltran HR-fest), Yanks-Sox (7 games, the Steal, Foulke, etc etc etc)
2005: Astros-Cards (only 6 games, but that blast by Pujols off Lidge...yow.)
2006: Mets-Cards (7 games, the Catch)
2007: Indians-Sox (7 games, most of which were insanely close through 5+ innings)

Not sure if it means anything, but it's pretty weird that I can recount many more events from the last five years of LCS's than I can of the (non-Red Sox) World Series.

Holy Cow

Having grown up in enemy territory, I was exposed to many aspects of Yankeedom. Probably one of the best aspects was Phil Rizzuto. Not only did I get to watch him call many games but I got to see him in an endless stream of cheesy local commercials yelling, "Holy Cow" at the low prices. Maybe Grieve will actually remember what they were selling.

I learned a couple of cool things about Phil from his wikipedia page (linked above). First, he didn't always play close attention to the game! If he missed a play, he'd score it "WW" - "wasn't watching". I like that! Second, apparently he said a lot of stupid things, but my favorite is, "Bouncer to third, they'll never get him! No, why don't I just shut up!". Thirdly, I think my most memorable moment is his call of the famous George Brett pine tar incident. Finally, he was the play-by-play voice in Meat Loaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

Scouter, rest in piece. Even Red Sox fans could appreciate the lucky, wonderful life you lived!

Baseball Folklore

So I made the idiotic assertion this weekend that George Brett's Pine Tar incident was one of the top 10 moments in the past 25 years in MLB. As my brothers regailed me with multiple examples it became clear that it wasn't and that I was probably just drunk. Below are a handful of moments that we came up with that top Brett's. I think that particular moment sticks out for me, because he put up such a fuss. Plus I love how the umpire measures the bat with the plate!


1. Barry hits 73
2. Sammy and McQwire
3. Kirk Gibso
4. Carlton Fisk (see above)
5. Buckner
6. Red Sox win and Dennis loses a nut
7. Aaron F. Boone/Bucky F. Dent
8. Arizona beats Yankees
9. Cal Ripken

World Series wrap-up

From the Onion:

"I don't know what we could've done differently," second-baseman Ronnie Belliard said. "We gave the Tigers every opportunity to win ballgames, but when their pitchers keep making errors on simple ground balls, what are we supposed to do, pretend we forgot the rules and start running to third base?"

Desperate for a Tigers win in Game 2, the Cardinals chose to overlook the fact that starter Kenny Rogers was pitching with the aid of a foreign substance on his left hand.

"Of course we all knew it was pine tar, but it seemed like they were finally finding their rhythm… We certainly didn't want to shake their confidence, so we decided to just let it go," La Russa said. "Frankly, if the umpires didn't bring it up, we probably would've let him pitch with it the whole game."

This is pretty good also.

Poopgate

As X pointed out, there's big news about the steroids in the NFL; the ~450 articles on it show it's gotten some attention. But compare this to the 2200 articles on the mysterious brown stuff (with no proof of any wrongdoing!) on Kenny Rogers' hand. Yes, yes, I know, World Series, Sanctity of the Game, etc. But there were at least as many articles were written about Sammy Sosa's corked bat in a meaningless game. I agree the double standard is ridiculous.

Stil, I've decided: I don't care. I follow only baseball closely, and want the one sport I follow to be relatively free of cheating and scandal; I try not to let it bother me if the fans and the media and Congress completely ignore the ridiculousness in the NFL...because fans and the media and Congress are stupid.

I don't have much to add about the Kenny Rogers thing - the evidence is all circumstantial, but it's pretty damning. The discrepancies in everyone's stories didn't make much sense, and the cap thing discovered by Uni Watch is what convinced me. But whatever. What I can't stand is argument that "Well, he pitched really well after cleaning his hands, so it's no big deal." Talk about a great ethical standard. So if Barry Bonds stops using steroids, and passes Hank Aaron, apparently we're supposed to ignore all the steroid use from before?

On a related note, Jeff Passan quotes Todd Jones (who's the reason Kenny Rogers is my second-least favorite Tiger) admitting to he's used pine tar. "It's whether you think it's cheating or not." Awesome.

Update: apparently everyone's doing it. Well, that's exciting. It would certainly explain why LaRussa and MLB aren't making a big deal about it. Double awesome.

Triumph

As the Sox have a much-deserved day off, we can take a break from baseball for a second. Ten minutes, tops. If you haven't yet seen the video of Triumph interviewing Michael Jackson supporters, watch it now.

Okay, back to baseball. Yanks are beating up on the Pirates and SP Oliver Perez, making this article seem sort of silly; the Big Eunuch looks dominant, for the second start in a row. And the fireworks continue in yet another Great Interleague Baseball Rivalry, with managers and players of the Angels and Nats going at it. Brendan Donnelly is ejected for having pine tar on his glove; Robinson claims he also used sandpaper the day before, and bizarrely brings nice-guy Adam Kennedy into it; Scioscia gets all petulant (and defends Kennedy more than Donnelly); Guillen suddenly reverts to 2004 form and starts talking trash about Scioscia and the Angels. The whole thing sounds sort of silly, but there's one thing about it that keeps bothering me...back on June 4 (the Great Sox Bullpen Implosion), didn't Donnelly pitch with an extra baseball in his back pocket? Or was that all just a Vicodin-fueled hallucination?