Friday, October 21, 2011

Meanwhile, In the Central Time Zone...


They say there's a World Series going on somewhere in the middle of America. One of the two teams will win four games and thus will become the new world champions of major league baseball. And the San Francisco Giants will no longer be regarded as such and will henceforth be referred to as "former world champions."

Any questions? Comments?

18 comments:

Brother Bob said...

(insert audio of crickets chirping...)

Anonymous said...

I hope we do not have to wait another 56 years.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Quite a performance by Pujols last night. The Rangers are good at imploding in the World Series. I was hoping for seven games, but I'm not so optimistic after the epic thrashing by St. Louis. The Cards are still riding that hot streak. Only a few more days and we'll no longer be the "holders." It was a grand run while it lasted. Let's hope 2012 brings us another shot at glory.

Ron said...

Apparently, the Rangers have their own Madison Bumgarner. That guy was unhittable last night. Luckily, the Rangers don't have a Lincecum & a Cain. So, the Cardinals need to win the next 2 games. Otherwise, Ron Washington would be an idiot not to bring back Holland for Game 7 - clearly the most effective starter for either team up to this point. Carpenter & Garcia were both pretty good the first time around, so they can get it done.

Brother Bob said...

After Pujols and the Cards went berserk in game three I said something to the effect of "They shot their whole wad. Watch, now they won't score anything for a while." Turns out I was right.
I have mixed feelings r/t who I "want" to win. Rationally I should be 100% for the Cards- I want the NL to win, I have the utmost respect for Pujols & LaRussa. In addition I despise the state of Texas. And f'crissakes the Rangers used to belong to George Effin' Bush.
And yet. I have a friend at work who wants the Rangers to win. So I want him to be happy. And the thing is, this friend is a Dodgers fan. But he's the one guy at work with whom I most enjoy talking about baseball.
So Go Rangers. Whatever.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Wow, Texas has certainly surprised me. But hey, they are a good club. Back-to-back pennants is no mean feat. The Cardinals fell in love with the bunt and the hit-and-run and that cost them too many outs. Why do you bunt with a man on 2nd and zero outs? I could see it at home in the bottom of the 9th or any "walk-off" situation, but otherwise I think the out is more valuable than the 90 feet. LaRussa looked like an idiot when he put in a reliever to issue an IBB and then yanked him.

I'm enjoying the Series--I really don't care who wins.

Ron said...

I hated that game last night. If that game had involved the Giants, I would have been unable to function this morning.

Here are just a few reasons:

- I hated when Ron Washington looked like a genius for making ridiculous moves (there were many, but the most annoying one was walking Pujols intentionally with no one on base). Pujols had only been intentionally walked 15 times all season - 3 times last night.

- I hated when Allen Craig was thrown out stealing by a mile by one of the worst defensive Catchers in baseball ... twice! Including in a ridiculous rally-killing fashion in the 9th inning. Did it really matter whether he was on 2nd at that point?

- Tony LaRussa? What the hell was on his mind last night? There were too many examples, but, of course, the biggest one was wasting a Pitcher to make an intentional walk. As usual, I was watching Fox Deportes. They (Rolando Nichols & Manny Mota) were beside themselves & kept showing replays of the perplexed look on Octavio Dotel's face as it was unfolding (Dotel had been yanked earlier in the inning in favor of Rzyncpclyncyznsky, the guy who should have stayed in the game to issue the intentional walk). Of course, Dotel's own intentional walk, featuring several near wild pitches, was quite an adventure, too.

- I hated watching the Cardinals squander chance after chance, inventing different ways to do it each time.

- I hated watching Beltre hit a game-tying HR while standing on one knee.

Mostly, I hated the inevitable outcome & watching a bunch of loser, George W. Bush-loving Texas Ranger fans, who never show up for games or stick around when the going gets rough, celebrate. Even Nolan Ryan almost smiled once. Blccch!

Come on National League! Come on Cardinals!

And, what is the deal on Ron Washington, anyway? Baseball Reference says that he's only 59 years old - why does he look older than Willie McCovey (age 73) & B. B. King (age 86).

Ron said...

One more thing that sucked about Game 5:

Albert Pujols, like any super-stud, decided that, given all of the Cardinals' ineptitude at getting home runners in scoring postion, what the fuck, he was going to go all Enos Slaughter on everyone & score from first on a single by Holliday - only to have Jose Oquendo practically tackle him between 3rd & home (thereby dangerously stranding him between 3rd & home). The ironic thing was that the relay throw was way off, so Pujols WOULD have scored. Luckily for Oquendo, the throw was so far off that Pujols didn't also get caught out at third base, although Beltre certainly thought that it was still worth a throw there.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I think the Rangers just had THEIR Game Six. One strike from glory in back-to-back innings and they lose? I think they are done. Bad bullpen work, but even worse managing. Washington may be good at working with players but he's made some really startling moves in crucial situations. Nelson Cruz made a wretched play in RF. We are so used to seeing good work from our RFs so I thought Freese's hit was going to be an out. Most RFs would make that play, I think. I wonder if Texas even has an option for late inning defense in those situations. It's not a Bill Buckner moment, but it's close.

One thought that's been nagging me is that we really should be rooting for Texas as them being champs this year makes our 2010 team's victory over them even more impressive. Consecutive pennants is a hell of an accomplishment. Other than that, I don't really care who wins. I usually favor NL teams, but I'm having a hard time liking this one. Too much TLR on the TV screen has probably done it for me. Crazy game. Ugly game. Weird game. Exciting game.

Baseball is the greatest sport!

Brother Bob said...

Boy howdy, this year's game 6 was WAY more exciting than last year's game 6. Oh wait, duh, there was no game 6 last year.
One of the things about last year's WS, we made it look damn easy. We kicked the Rangers asses early and often and the outcome was only ever hypothetically in doubt.
I prefer a Rangers victory for the same reason written by MC, it makes what we did last year look better.

Ron said...

You guys can't be serious. Comparing the 2011 Rangers to the 2010 team is ludicrous. Beltre & Napoli instead of Vlad & Bengie? Harrison & Holland have outperformed Cliff Lee. The addition of Mike Adams. This is a much better Rangers team - one that the 2010 SF Giants could have beaten, but just barely.

Thanks to the rain & last night's miraculous Cardinals' win, we are reigning champs for 2 more days! I hope to celebrate a Cardinals' win tonight!

Zo said...

Well, you GWBush-loving, Texas-sucking fools. Yes, too much TLR on the tube, that is what sports is these days, celebrity. Thank you Fox and ESPN. Have you heard enough "this might be the last bat for Pujols in a Cardinal uniform" yet? Only about 30 times. No reason to deviate from your script just because there is a game going on.

No, a Texas victory does NOT make what we did in 2010 look better. I am thinking that with our 2010 pitching, we could be either of these teams. I almost felt sympathy last night for the Rangers and Ranger fans because I thought of the gut punch from game 6 in 2002. Then, after a good night's sleep, and remembering that fat guy painted red with a white T on his face, I thought, fuck 'em.

Winning two pennants in a row is quite an accomplishment. No team has lost two World Series in a row since the 91-92 Atlanta Braves. And before that it was the 77-78 doggers. Hasn't happened all that often since 1920 - Yankees (63-64), Brooklyn doggers (52-53), NY Giants (23-24) and Yankees again (21-22, who were beaten by the NY Giants both times).

Now, what I would like to see is Texas lose the World Series THREE TIMES IN A ROW - next year to the Giants. That hasn't been done since 1911-13 (by the NY Giants) and 1907-09 (by the Detroit Tigers). Now THAT would be a compelling story. I just hope that you good-ole boys won't feel too much conflicted.

Zo said...

....we could be(at) either of those teams....

beat (bēt) verb. To whip, humiliate, pummel into submission, outscore, crap upon, destroy or annihilate, as in sports.

Brother Bob said...

Okay, so St. Louis won game 7. I was not happy, I was not sad. The 2010 Giants looked neither better nor worse as a result.
I'm pleased that my little blog post from over a week ago has served adequately to support a conversation to take us through a World Series.

Zo said...

So you and Mark are not happy that Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinal and a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at BERKELEY GOLDEN BEAR alumnus, was a key player in the deciding game of the World Series? Jon should shun you.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I'm unhappy that baseball is over. I really could care less who won the Series. I'm happy it went seven games. I think it is great that a Cal man was the hero, but it doesn't change the fact that I couldn't "like" St. Louis any more than Texas. I usually detest all Texas sports teams, but the older I get the less I care about that. I respect how hard it is for a team to repeat as league champs. I learned to appreciate that they were indeed a good club. And I feel for ANY fan that has to go through a gut-wrenching loss like that because I remember our own Game Six and how I felt for so long after that.

The Cardinals are deserving champs. I respect what they've done, particularly when they lost a great pitcher at the start of the season and were so improbably far behind. They are the class of the NL with 18 pennants and 11 titles. But I reserve my emotional involvement for the Giants. The rest is just fun baseball, and the outcomes are nearly irrelevant to me.

Ron said...

I made an exception to my normal rule of rooting against Texas teams to root for Mavericks in the NBA Finals against the superlatively disgusting Miami Heat. Once a decade is enough. The George Bush connection should be reason enough to detest the Texas Rangers. Sitting next to the grouchiest man in America (Nolan Ryan) at baseball games is what that worthless, country-destroying heap of shit is contributing since becoming ex-President. But, what would you expect from him? A useful contribution to society? Now that yet another one of their despotic Family chronies, Khadafi, is gone, that Family must really have nothing left to do. You can give me your 'nothing except the Giants matters' emotional detachment line all day, but flash one more picture of George Bush, &, aside from a few other reasons, I say 'Go [anybody who the Texas Rangers are playing]'.

Yes, I can have empathy for what Texas's other fans went through on Thursday night. They will feel the pain deeply & for a long time. But, it is all over-ridden by their continued association with the person who pulled off a miracle: he managed to become an even more detestable & destructive President than Ronald Reagan. I thought that I'd never see the day.

I am delighted that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. It was nice of TV to show glimpses of the action, in-between long camera pans on Nolan Ryan & George Bush. Even after the Game 7 ended, the first reaction shot they showed was that grouch. Was his stupid face the most interesting thing to show in Busch Stadium at that moment?

We're not the reigning champs anymore. Time to get cracking on our 2012 Championship.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Well, I'm certainly no fan of Mr Bush, and I suspect many of the billionaires who run our favorite sport have blood on their resumes. I'd have to toss the baby out with the bath water on that one and give up MLB entirely if I was a more morally-outraged fellow. My brother Brian went to USF with T.R. Sullivan who was the beat reporter for the Rangers (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) for many seasons and now writes for mlb.com. They are good friends and I suspect he's a little shell-shocked right now. The old crew gets together annually and tries to influence T.R.'s HOF vote. Brian says he feels like he has "1/5" of a ballot!