The final word

Well, actually, possibly not the final word, but I felt that no celebration of the Red Sox' World Series victory would be complete without a word from one of the funniest sportswriters out there (and self-confessed member of Red Sox Nation), Bill Simmons. His latest column is a running diary of Game 4, which contains some real gems.

On Scott Rolen (who had a terrible Series):

Thank God for Scott Rolen -- he just stranded Womack on third to end the first. Even Ben Affleck isn't in this big of a slump.

Rolen flies out to right, then gets taken in a hearse to the local morgue.

On the Cardinals in general:

Yep. Mabry strikes out, followed by Black Sheep Molina grounding out to end the inning. You know what? It's not happening for the Cards. It's just not. They should just put on Finland's 1980 hockey uniforms and get it over with. At the rate they're going, they may not even get 10 minutes in the Red Sox World Series DVD.

On the extremely Cardinal-oriented (and, more importantly, extremely irritating) Fox coverage of the game:

Our announcers for tonight: Joe Buck (son of the famous Cards announcer) and Tim McCarver (longtime Cardinals catcher). Why not just go the whole way and have Ozzie Smith, Whitey Herzog and Dizzy Dean as sideline reporters? And where's Al Leiter? Did McCarver have him liquidated?

After Womack's leadoff hit over Cabrera's head, [Fox analyst Tim] McCarver claimed that Cabrera "jumped too soon," was proven wrong by the replay, then continued to discuss the dangers of "jumping too soon." I love when announcers refuse to admit they were wrong despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is exactly how I would announce games. You can't let little things like facts and indisputable evidence get in the way of your points. You just can't.

And my own personal favourite (as someone who jumped on the Sox bandwagon as it got rolling last season):

Following a Ramirez single, Fox shows Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore wearing Red Sox sweatshirts and clapping excitedly. I wish I was actually driving the Red Sox Bandwagon right now, just so I could screech to a halt, whirl around, point to them and scream, "Get off! RIGHT NOW! I mean it! Get off! Move it! Gather your things and GET OFF!"

I'll leave it at that, before I quote the whole article - just go and read it.

The Curse is laid to rest

No, not that one (well, kind of) - I'm talking about Bambino's Curse, Ed Cossette's "Diary of a Red Sox Fan". Ed says that now that the Sox have finally won the World Series, the blog has lost its raison d'être:

This will be the final, regular post to the Bambino's Curse weblog. The site, however, and all the archives will remain online forever, as a small testament and recollection of what it was like to be a fan before the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918. (Like anyone wants to relive that!)

Ed says that he will be back with a new project by Opening Day 2005. Thanks for sharing a great blog with us, Ed, and best wishes for the new project.

What we saw

I'd love to be able to sit down and write a long piece on Boston's incredible win, but I have neither the time nor the energy right now. Instead, I'll point you in the direction of a bunch of people who all watched the same game, but through different eyes.

Take your pick of the views: the press box, the Boston press box, the sympathisers' press box, the Boston fans, even the view from the Bronx.

As has often been the case this season, I will leave the last word to Beth, whose view reflects the feeling deep inside Red Sox Nation. This was not just about a game, it was about redemption and how the present can finally reconcile us with the past.

What a great day, one of those that you wish would never end. It will end, but no matter - the record books will forever show that the Boston Red Sox were the 2004 World Series Champions. Whatever happens, we'll always have the memories of this incredible season - they can't take that away from us.

How sweet it is

Words fail me right now, so if you're happy and you know it, just clap your hands.

You'd better believe it

A lot is being written, but if you want the situation in a nutshell, check out The Soxaholix.

Radio silence

There have been two World Series games played since I last posted, both of them won by the Red Sox, but I just haven't felt the urge to post anything on them. Apologies to those of you who've stopped by looking for some wit and wisdom on the two biggest games of the season so far, but there seems to be so much to say and so little time in which to say it. Meredith sums it up nicely:

I don't feel like writing. I feel like living. I want to experience every second of this, and I fear finding that it passed me by.

I want to enjoy this great and possibly historic week of baseball, simple as that.

Game 3 tonight - I can't wait.

Lost for words

"World Series to begin at Fenway" - what else is there to say?

If you need some more playoff baseball to get any more pumped up, then check out the Interactive Baseball Network on MLB.com - currently they're showing one of my all-time favoutite games: Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

Now I'm not someone who looks for signs and omens, but if you are, then you might want to look up who the losing manager was in that game... ;-)

Little ball

It's been a week of intense baseball, so the two rest-days (for me, at least) before the World Series are more than welcome. But resting doesn't mean not thinking about baseball, and this morning - whilst sat on the train reading Thomas Boswell's "How Life Imitates The World Series", I got to thinking about the differences between the regular season and the postseason.

In the introductory chapter of the book, Boswell - speaking about the rhythm of the game - quotes Earl Weaver: "This ain't a football game. We do this every day". It's true - the four teams playing playoff baseball this week have done this more or less every day for the past six months. As Boswell says:

This is baseball's greatest blessing and the source of its richness: you play it every day. Consequently, baseball has no "game face" - no mood of real or feigned mortal crisis that must be put on like a protective psychological mask before leaping into the fray. As Weaver's pitching coach Ray Miller puts it, "It's never fourth-and-one in baseball".

As far as the level of intensity, it's true, both for the regular season and for the postseason. The big difference in the postseason is that they're short series and there's much less margin for error, which means that even after almost 170 games, the season can come down to a single play.

In the ALCS, that single play would probably have to be Dave Roberts' stolen base in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 4. Red Sox down 3-0 in the series and 4-3 in the game, three outs away from elimination, Rivera on the mound. Millar walked, Roberts pinch-ran for him and stole second base, putting him in a position to score. ESPN's Bill Simmons called it "the most exciting stolen base in my lifetime as a Sox fan". The most exciting, and the most important - Bill Mueller then singled (after showing bunt - also a nice play) and Roberts scored to tie the game, sparking the Red Sox and their incredible comeback.

In the NLCS, the play you could point to was in last night's game, and, as an outfielder, I'm pleased to say that it happened in center field. Series tied 3-3, Astros up 1-0 in the second inning, runners on first and second, one out. Brad Ausmus belted a line-drive to center field, but instead of it falling in for a double, Jim Edmonds ran it down and made a spectacular diving catch:


Instead of it being a 3-0 game with only one out, it was still 1-0 with two outs. The Cardinals managed to keep the Astros in check, and that play set the stage for St Louis's comeback win.

If there's a moral to this story, I guess it's "watch the games closely". We're always amazed at the big home runs, the strikeouts and the game-winning hits, but sometimes the true essence of the game is to be found elsewhere.

That Friday feeling

I woke up this morning and did that mental checklist that you do when you're no longer asleep but not quite awake:

1. Got 8 hours' sleep for the first time in a week - I feel good (na-na-na-na-na-na-na)...
2. It's Friday - I feel good (na-na-na-na-na-na-na)...
3. New mp3 player should arrive today - I feel good (na-na-na-na-na-na-na)...
4. Game 1 of the World Series tomorrow at Fenway Park - I feel... better than James Brown! Jump out of bed and do the dance: (thanks to Steve for the image).

I have a couple of days to savour the Red Sox' victory and get reacquainted with my family and friends before the Series starts and I once again hit that melodramatic nocturnal scene. Never before have I wanted so badly to suffer serious sleep deprivation. Roll on Saturday night.

Most Valuable Papi

A .387 batting average, 3 home runs and 11 RBIs - David Ortiz thoroughly deserves his MVP award.

"I tell you, one day I was driving from my house to the stadium on a workout day and I saw a big sign on the street that said, 'Keep the faith. And I saw it was a photo of Manny (Ramirez), it had the big smile.

I just parked in front of the photo and I just sat down for a minute and just thought about it, you know, we've been through the whole year. Then I went to the field and I just expressed myself to my teammates about what the Boston nation has been waiting for us and what they expect from us.

So it doesn't matter if we are down 3-0. We just have got to keep the faith. ... Because the game is not over till the last out."

If that doesn't warm the cockles of your heart, then either you're clinically dead, or your Yankees hat is preventing you from reading the text clearly.

Public Service Announcement

"Ladies and gentlemen - The Baseball Desert is pleased to inform you that there will be a baseball game played at Fenway Park on Saturday night".

This is not a time for serious analysis - it's a time for silly faces

jumping around like an Idiot™

and just enjoying the moment


I'll maybe post later today, if I can get beyond the word "UN-BE-F*CKIN-LIEVABLE...!"

In the wee small hours of the morning

I don't know what to say - it's 6.30am, I'm exhausted (despite upping my CSSA to 3.5), I'm drained and I have to go to work in about an hour's time, but I don't care. I'll do it, and no matter how crappy my day might be, I'll be wearing a smile, because there will be Red Sox baseball tomorrow night.

Curt Schilling gave everything he had tonight and came up huge for the Red Sox - despite his injured ankle, he pitched 7 innings and gave up just one earned run. Things got a little hairy in the 8th (way to go, Yankee fans...) but Boston regrouped and made sure that the four runs scored in the fourth were enough for the win.

This now changes my personal agenda - having slept through last year's ALCS Game 7, I'm not going to make the same mistake again. Unfortunately, that means that I won't be able to see the NLCS Game 6 between the Astros and the Cardinals (a 10pm start here). I've been rooting for the Astros all the way, so I don't feel comfortable hoping for a St. Louis win tonight, although but it has to be said that it would give me a chance to catch Game 7 on Thursday. No, on second thoughts, I can't do it - I've got to be a team player on this one and not worry about trying to fit one more extraordinary baseball game into my life, so it's "Go Astros!". If they win, there'll be plenty of time to catch the game on MLB.TV; if they lose, then we get our second Game 7 in as many days.

Ain't life great?

Backe on top

A brief glimpse at the blog entries of the last few days will show you that I'm as guilty as anyone of having an ALCS focus, almost to the point of ignoring the National League Championship Series. However, the Astros are making it harder and harder to ignore their amazing comeback from 2-0 down in the series - last night they took Game 5 from the Cardinals thanks to an incredible performance from Brandon Backe, a walk-off home run from Jeff Kent and assorted wizadry from Carlos Beltran. Jayson Stark has all the juicy details.

The scheduling gods have finally got on the Astros' side - a possibly historic Game 6 is scheduled to take place at 4pm ET on Wednesday and it clashes with nothing else. Of course, if Curt Schilling and the Red Sox were to win tonight in the Bronx, the Astros' game would still be overshadowed by the spectre of an ALCS Game 7, but I would think that the Astros would be willing to take second billing in exchange for the first World Series appearance in franchise history.

It's going to be a great few days of baseball. The one downside is that my CSSA is taking a serious nosedive - I haven't been keeping the stats over the whole of the Championship Series period, but over the past three days my CSSA has dipped to a an impressive, borderline insomniac 3.33 (2 hours Saturday, 6 hours Sunday, 2 hours last night). At this rate I'm on track to break my own personal record, but it's no big deal: I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Who's your Papi?

Unbelievable...

No, you're not seeing things, you didn't fall asleep and wake up in Bill Murray's shoes: that really is David Ortiz celebrating after his second walk-off hit in under 24 hours. This one was only a single, but it was enough to give the Red Sox an incredible 5-4 win in the bottom of the 14th inning.

The game started at 11:10pm here in France and didn't end until just before 5am, and all I can say is that I'm glad I hung in there to see all of it. It was a classic game - not pretty, but intense, hard-fought and, ultimately, exhilarating. As Denton says on Surviving Grady, it was a redemption song.

The victory now sets up what was almost unthinkable only a few days ago - Game 6 in Yankee Stadium, with Curt Schilling on the mound for the Red Sox. I've learned enough over the past few days to know that it's not a good idea to count your chickens, so there'll be no rash predictions from the Baseball Desert, just a sincere hope that the game lives up to the rest of the series. I know what outcome I want, and I'll be there rooting for it at 2 o'clock tomorrow morning, but, more than anything else, I'll be enjoying the ride with these 25 guys - no matter what happens from here on in, this team has proved that it is worthy of our support and affection.

Keep the faith...

Down, but not out

Well, the Red Sox decided that they didn’t just want to roll over and let the Yankees walk all over them on their way to the World Series, and, of course, I wasn’t there to see it. It wasn’t that I lost the faith (although the Red Sox gave its fans plenty of reason to do that over the three previous games) – I just simply lost the physical ability to follow the game. I got up at 2am on Saturday morning for the game that never was, then on Saturday night I thought it might be nice to boost morale a little bit by seeing what Roger Clemens might be able to do against the mighty Cardinals. That game ran straight into Game 3 of the Yankees – Red Sox and I stayed right to the end of that one, despite the fact that the game turned into a batting-practice romp for the Yankees. Even at the best of times I’m someone who gets easily ticked off by the cool, calm confidence that the Yankees seem to exude, but Saturday night was the nightmare to end all nightmares. By the time the game was in its fifth inning I was yelling obscenities at every single Yankee who came to the plate, and those normally mildly-annoying mannerisms that they have at the plate (Jeter holding his hand up to the home-plate umpire until he’s ready to face the pitch, Sheffield’s menacing psycho-killer bat-waggle, Matsui’s nervous twitch of the shoulder as he waits for the pitch to arrive) were driving me up the wall.

When the massacre was finally over, I packed up my baseball gear, jumped in the car and headed out to our ballpark for our final game of the season – a third-place playoff game with no real impact on our position in the division (our fate had already been sealed last weekend when we lost the first playoff game to the division winners). Having seen the Red Sox gets their collective rear end kicked only hours before, there was definitely a distinct feeling of déjà vu on the field, as we ended up on the wrong end of a 22-8 scoreline.

So, sleepless night + draining, frustrating ballgame = very little chance to see much baseball last night. I tried to hang in there and catch some of the Astros – Cardinals game, which turned out to be a thriller, but I didn’t make it past the second inning, and then I slept through what sounds like an even better game at Fenway – the Sox tied it in the ninth off Mariano Rivera and then David Ortiz’s walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the twelfth gave Red Sox Nation reason to believe.

The Red Sox still have a mountain to climb – they are going to have to re–write the record books if they want to progress to the World Series, but they proved last night that they’re still breathing. They’ve needed inspiration all through the season – sometimes it came from “No way!” trades, sometimes it came from brawls on the field, sometimes it came from the fact that these “Idiots” just seemed to be enjoying playing baseball together – so here’s hoping that Ortiz’s home run can light a fire under this team and allow them to accomplish the impossible.

Go figure

All I can say is: "Merde...!" This was supposed to be the Yankees' weakest starting rotation in ages, and a lot of people said Boston had a good chance to beat New York, yet here the Red Sox are, headed back to Fenway down 0-2.

I don't understand why (outside of "the Yankees scored more runs in both games"), so I'm not going to try to analyse the situation. The Sox are down, but not out - they proved over the regular season that they can claw their way out of tough situations, so all I'm going to do is hope that the rest day is going to do them as much good as it is me. By tomorrow night we (that's the royal 'we' - me and the Red Sox) will be raring to go. The Empire has struck back - we now await with baited breath the return of the Jedi.

Silver lining

I followed last night's game on the MLB.TV international feed, so I don't know if this got a mention on the national Fox coverage or not, but I felt it was worth a mention here. Respect to Johnny Damon (and to Rivera for acknowledging the gesture with a tip of his cap) - some things are still more important than baseball.

Damn Yankees!

As a "reasonable observer" of the game, I promised myself I wouldn’t get lured in by the Red Sox last night. I failed miserably in my attempt, and so now I find myself having a sh*tty day because of a bunch of guys I’ve never met or even seen in person, who earn their living chasing a little while ball around a big green field.

Larry Mahnken has a good piece on a game that began very black-and-white and ended a subtle shade of grey, and his thoughts are echoed over at Surviving Grady. As Larry says, a win is a win, but both teams have good reason to be both optimistic and cautious.

Right now, I’m trying to think positive thoughts and focus on Pedro’s Game 2 start, but all I keep seeing is Matsui at the plate with runners on base. I’ll be better by tonight, but until then, a word of warning: I've been up since 2am and I'm not in the best of moods, so don’t p*ss me off, OK, or I will not be responsible for my actions...

Time-out

In the midst of all the League Championship fever, Jay Jaffe has taken time out to write a great piece on the Dodgers' season, their brief-but-sparkling playoff run and how they managed to win him back:

Eric Gagne's 84 consecutive saves, Alex Cora's 18-pitch at-bat, Lima Time, night after night of pinch-grand slams, 53 come-from-behind victories including 26 in their final at-bat, their first postseason victory in 16 years as Lima shut down the league's most feared offense and got L.A. fans to stay right to the end -- the Dodgers showed their hearts every single day and won mine all over again. If I'm a bit misty-eyed, whatever tears I've shed over the end of their season have been tears of gratitude and joy. Thank you, Dodgers, for bringing me home.

He also bids farewell to Robin Ventura, who announced his retirement from the game after the Dodgers' defeat. Ventura has always been one of my favourite players, and I'll be sad to see him go. The stats tell part of the story (6 Gold Gloves, 294 HR, 1,182 RBI, a .267 batting average and 18 career grand slams, good for third on the all-time list) but I'll leave the last word to Dodger skipper Jim Tracy:

"I've been fortunate in the four years I've managed in the big leagues to be around some very professional people. Robin Ventura transcends about every possible thing you can think of when it comes to professionalism."

He not only played the game, but he played it right.

When the losers are winners too

Some people might see it as a little bit cheesy, especially as it was all orchestrated in advance, but "cheesy" is my middle name (as even the briefest glance at my, erm, eclectic CD collection will reveal), so I enjoyed seeing the Dodgers and the Cardinals out on the field shaking hands after the Cardinals' 6-2 win sealed their spot in the NLCS.

We're about to head into a crazy couple of weeks of baseball, so this is a timely reminder that, although baseball thrills and frustrates us, provides us with moments of inexplicable joy and horrible sleepless nights, gives our lives a steady rhythm year in, year out, when all's said and done, it's still just a game - a beautiful one, but a game nonetheless. You go out, you play hard, you even leave something of your heart and soul out there on the field, but when it's done and you realise that you didn't quite have what it took to go the distance, you shake the other guys' hands, congratulate them and hope that you come back bigger and better next year.

The sweet taste of victory

I was going to write something about the Red Sox' rollercoaster of a win at Fenway last night, but then I went to see what Beth had to say over at Cursed and First and decided that I couldn't possibly write anything that would capture the excitement, tension and beauty of the game as well as she did. It's all there in her post: Fenway, the crowd, the roars, the silence, even the terrible announcers on ESPN.

I was fortunate enough to follow the game in the virtual company of a bunch of Red Sox fans (including Beth, Meredith and Steve on the Surviving Grady message board, and that made the evening that much sweeter. It was nice to feel that I wasn't alone in my darkened living-room at 2 o'clock in the morning, that others were going through the same anguish, and, ultimately, experiencing the same joy.

I'll leave the last words (as in "a picture speaks a thousand...") on the subject to Messrs Martinez and Ortiz. I'm not going to be the only one posting this picture on the Web today, but it sums up the postgame feelings so well that I couldn't resist:

Headline news

"Man Complains At Being Fined A Day's Wages For Not Bothering To Turn Up To Work".

Hey Sammy, wake up and smell the roses. Welcome to the real world (you know, the one where it might take someone maybe 3 or 4 years to earn $87,400). It's not even about the money, it's about the principle - this is what happens to us lowly folk when we decide we might just not turn up at the office today, so why shouldn't ballplayers be treated the same way?

I've had it with the Cubs in general and Sammy in particular - the beaming homer-run slugger who teamed up with Mark McGwire to charm a nation in '98 has slowly metamorphosed into this whiny shell of his former self, and his ballclub seems to be following suit (a comprehensive list of the most relevant quotes can be found at The Cub Reporter). Meanwhile The View From The Bleachers suggests at least a partial remedy to the problem, but I'm past caring - I don't care if they have grounds for their variations on a "we're being persecuted" theme, I'm just fed up of hearing them. Thanks for the memories, guys, but I'm outta here...

Turning the tide

ESPN's Bill Simmons shares his 'inside-the-park' thoughts on the Red Sox' victory in Game 2.

I have to admit that I sympathise with his point of view on Angels' fans. This was not a 22-6 blowout in the middle of April - it was Game 2 of the ALDS, a one-run game, and yet there they were, leaving the ballpark in droves in order to beat the traffic.

The more I'm thinking about it, they're like the Stepford Wives of baseball fans: Everyone wearing red, everyone banging those Stix, nobody actually knowing anything about ins and outs of the game. They would chant "Pedro sucks! Pedro sucks!", but at odd times, like when there were 2 outs in the inning and he had just struck someone out. They would stand and cheer when the scoreboard told them, but they wouldn't stand with two outs at the end of the inning when Colon had two strikes on someone. It was like watching a bunch of foreigners. There was almost something cute about them, like they made you want to say, "Ohhhhhh," like watching a dog wag their tail when they get a treat.

I'm sure there are thousands of fans like myself who would love nothing more than to have a ticket to a playoff game, and it kills me to see these people leaving the game early with everything still left to play for.

So, the aim of today's post is to suggest to the powers-that-be at Major League Baseball (who of course read this blog on a regular basis) that they start employing "Outta Here" stewards at the ballpark gates. Anyone leaving the ballpark before the end of the game must provide clear and irrefutable evidence that they have a medical emergency / a family bereavement / an audience with the Pope. Failure to do so will result in the 'fan' forfeiting their rights to future postseason games in favour of more needy individuals.

Of course, Angels fans don't need to worry about the "Outta Here" stewards, since this series - according to Dan Shaugnessy - is not coming back to Anaheim.

Breakfast baseball

It began at 4am and ended just as I was finishing up my toast and coffee around 8 o'clock, but I don't feel that tired because it was a great win. In fact, I was so happy about the victory that I didn't even throw a nervous fit when my Internet connection went down in the middle of the Red Sox' crucial seventh inning rally. It came back in time for me to see Pedro close out a fine performance which ought to lay to rest any doubts about the kind of form he's in.

I think we can safely say that I'm now officially off the "fan of the game" fence - I was leaping around the living-room by the time the Red Sox got a little 'Orlando Magic' in the ninth to put the game out of the Angels' reach. There were other games played last night (the Astros took Game 1 against the Braves and the Yankees squared the series against the Twins), but right now it's a case of "Yeah, right, so when's the next Red Sox game?" The answer is "Friday night", which means that despite the fact that some good games could be played tonight, today is officially a rest day for me - the laptop stays in the office and I'll spend my evening chilling out, watching something other than baseball and just recharging the batteries for Game 3 at Fenway on Friday.

Houston, we have a problem

Game 1 of the NLDS between the Astros and the Braves gets under way in about 40 minutes (10.20pm local time). If anyone knows of a way I can watch that game, catch the Red Sox / Angels game at 4.00am and still make it through a day's work tomorrow in one piece, I'm all ears.

One down, ten to go

The Red Sox rode their big bats and Curt Schilling's great pitching to beat the Angels 9-3 in Game 1 of the ALDS yesterday. Boston blew the game open with a seven-run fourth inning, thanks to some timely hitting (a two-run homer from Kevin Millar, a three-run blast from Manny) and to some sloppy defense by Anaheim (Chone Figgins made a throwing error with the bases loaded which allowed two runs to score and which also set the table for Manny's three-run homer).

Schilling - true to his postseason form (he's lost just one of 11 postseason starts) - was lights-out. It wasn't anwhere near no-hit baseball - Schilling gave up 9 hits - but his dominance prevented the Angels from driving runners home in key situations and meant that he got the job done. The nine hits he gave up resulted in only two earned runs (both of them solo shots) and his teammates gaves him enough offensive support to win three games, never mind just one. As Buster Olney says, Schilling was methodical in his disposal of the Angels:

He came to the Red Sox because he wins big games, and Schilling methodically dispensed of the Angels like he was loading a dishwasher: The fastballs go there, the splitters over there, the sliders down, one or two curves, slam the door and you're done.

Round two is tonight: Pedro vs. Colon. It's a 4am start for those of us unfortunate enough to live in Paris (I know, tough life ;-)), but I'll be there. It'll probably mean missing most of what promises to be an interesting Astros / Braves matchup, but I'm saving my real postseason heroics for later in the month...

Bonds, Sheffield: MVPs

Only "MVP" in this case might well stand for Mightily Vexed Player.

Sparks are flying in Chicago too: Dusty Baker is at odds with both Sammy Sosa and Steve Stone over the Cubs' poor showing this season. ESPN's Phil Taylor says that the Cubs are losing their 'lovable loser' tag, but not in the way they would have hoped - they're still losing; they're just less and less lovable.

[Update: I missed this one on Sammy, commented on by The Cub Reporter. All is not well in the Windy City.]

Are you ready?

Thomas Boswell whets our appetite:

At first, purists groaned at the hideous sight of two wild cards, eight teams in the postseason and three tiers of playoffs. Then, we grudgingly accepted. Finally, over the last three years, we cheered wildly as we realized that an October format that virtually ensures upsets, controversies, instant heroes and continuous nightly madness for four weeks with barely a chance to catch our breath is a good thing. A really, really good thing, in fact.

Oh yeah... :-)

The Schill factor

The Globe's Gordon Edes examines the Red Sox on the eve of the opening game against the Angels and comes to the conclusion that Curt Schilling is the reason the Red Sox should keep the faith.

The Internet-savvy Schilling expresses the same idea himself over at the Sons of Sam Horn message board where he opens the game day thread. Schilling (gehrig38) - whose post has the telling title "Game One of the Real Season" - has this to say:

"Why not us? There is no reason the last team standing can't be us, you know it, we know it. Now is the time to go out and prove to ourselves, the fans, the game, how good of a team we are. If 25 guys believe that what we are after is the most important thing in their lives for 4 weeks, there is _nothing_ that can't be done. Figured I may as well start one game thread this year, considering that coming in here and reading them is sometimes more entertaining than any movie you could see, and often times more entertaining than the game itself."

It's unlikely that today's game thread will be more entertaining than the Red Sox' biggest game of the season so far, but you can see why Red Sox Nation loves this guy.

Simple answer

If my boss needs an explanation for any possible lethargy in the office over the next couple of weeks, he should click here.

October baseball

We do indeed live for this.

Great weekend

This weekend was a good one to be a 'fan of the game' - I was able to put my worries about the Red Sox and the upcoming ALDS to one side and enjoy watching some good baseball: the Dodgers came back from 3-0 down in the ninth to win 7-3 and secure their spot in the playoffs and the Astros completed an amazing second-half comeback (and drove the final nail into the coffin of the Giants' season) by beating the Rockies in front of 43,082 wild fans in Houston.

However, the warmest and fuzziest moments were to be had at Safeco, where Ichiro broke the single-season hit record in front of George Sisler's family and rewarded us all with that shy-yet-enigmatic smile of his. (On a side note - I've spent a lot of time worrying about Ichiro's record being over a 162-game season, rather than a 154-game season, but having thought about the record, I've come to the conclusion that it's not that big a deal. There's a reason that Sisler's record had stood for 84 years, and that simply because getting 257 hits in a season - regardless of its length - is a hell of a hard thing to do, so respect to Ichiro). I also saw Edgar Martinez's final at-bat in the major leagues - in the bottom of the 8th inning in the game against Texas he got a standing ovation as he came to the plate, (two batters after Ichiro got one for his last at-bat of the season, an at-bat in which he extended the record to 262 hits). The end result wasn't very sexy - Edgar hit into a double play - but it was a great moment and he got a fine send-off.

I know that Mariners manager Bob Melvin has been criticised for his management this season, but I'd like to tip my cap to him for orchestrating some good feel-good moments this weekend: having Edgar play third base for one pitch in yesterday's game; sending him out to make a pitching change in the top of the 9th in today's game so that he could get another standing ovation; sending out Hiram Bocachica to replace Ichiro in right field later in the same inning so that Ichiro could get a standing ovation as well. The Mariners lost the ballgame 3-0 but - for once - it really wasn't important. It was simply a good day to be at Safeco field and salute two great baseball players.

So now we know

Things are finally clear:

Houston vs. Atlanta
Los Angeles vs. St. Louis
Minnesota vs. New York
Boston vs. Anaheim

Gentlemen - let the fun begin...

Adieu, les Expos

I briefly touched on the relocation of the Expos the other day but in a "thank God the whole mess is over" kind of way - it never really occurred to me that the move will leave a huge hole in a lot of people's lives. It's like natural (or even unnatural) disasters - you feel sympathy for those who lose their lives or loved ones close to them, but it only really hits home when you start to read the personal accounts. I'm not going to be foolish enough to put Montreal's loss on the same level as the losses of September 11th 2001, but in a sense the accounts have affected me in the same way - I felt for the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, but I was only truly touched when I started to read the individual accounts or the long list of obituaries in the New York Times.

And so it is with the Expos - the powers-that-be have decided that the team should move: OK, c'est la vie, let's move on. But that move means a lot of people losing something that they have held dear for many years. It's easy to sit in front of my MLB.TV screen and say it's no big deal or that it's a good thing for baseball, but how would I feel if I found out tomorrow that I would no longer have access to the games I watch, the blogs I read, the people I talk about the game with? I guess I would feel like Katie Hynes and other die-hard Montreal fans.

It's only a game, but it's our game and we love it, and it hurts when it's taken away from us. The Expos play their last game at Shea Stadium on Sunday - you might not shed a tear, but have a good thought for the faithful fans they will be leaving behind. I'll leave the last words on the subject to Expos' infielder Jamey Carroll, who had this to say to the fans after Wednesday night's final game at Olympic Stadium:

"I want to thank everybody in the front office, from the ushers to the security people. I want to try to touch everybody in the clubhouse. I want to let them know that the people that we run into every day have been a part of this thing. Also, I want to touch the fans that have been part of it for 30-something years. We appreciate it, and I appreciate it."

"This ballclub will self-destruct in five seconds..."

Mark Prior pitched nine innings yesterday, giving up just on run on three hits and striking out a career-high sixteen, but at the end of the day he had nothing to show for his efforts as the Cubs lost a heartbreaker to the Reds, 2-1.

It was a great game to watch, as Prior was matched for seven innings by Aaron Harang, who gave up four hits and one earned run, but the Cubs ended up paying the price for leaving 12 men on base. Six of those twelve men were stranded by Prior himself, who came up to bat twice with the bases loaded, but the blame for the Cubs not winning the game can hardly be laid at Prior's doorstep - his job is put up zeroes and stop the other team from scoring, which he did magnificently. The Cubs' offense, however, picked a bad day to have a bad day - they really needed this win to stay abreast of the other clubs in the Wild Card race. Houston didn't play last night, but the Giants beat the Padres 4-1 to tie the Astros for the Wild Card lead.

The Yankees finally clinched the AL East title yesterday, leaving Boston the consolation prize of the AL Wild Card berth, so the playoffs are finally starting to take shape. So far, those invited to the prom are: the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Twins, the Braves and the Cardinals, but there are still three playoff spots to be won (AL West, NL West, NL Wild Card), so it's going to be a fascinating weekend of baseball.

In the AL West Anaheim and Oakland are tied for first place, and the scheduling gods have decided to serve up a three-game series between the clubs this weekend, so it's easy to work out - the first club to win two of those three goes to the postseason. The NL is a little more complicated - the Dodgers need just one win against the Giants to clinch the division, but if the Giants were to sweep the Dodgers, they would be in a tie for first place. Outside of the division race, the Giants are also tied for first place in the Wild Card (see above), and whilst they play a rivalry-fuelled three-game series in California, the two other pretenders to the Wild Card throne have very different schedules - Chicago has three games against the 94-65 Braves, whilst Houston gets to face the 49-110 Diamondbacks. You would have to figure that the Astros have a huge advantage, but baseball is a funny old game, and I'm not willing to make any rash predictions - I'm just going to let the weekend play itself out and look forward to the start of the playoffs.

Oh, and just one other thing - I know that there are a lot of things up in the air right now, but it would be nice if Major League Baseball could put at least some kind of tentative postseason schedule on their website. Do they not realise that, for this baseball exile, the postseason is an operation that needs to be organised with almost military precision? I can't just come home and flip the TV on at 8pm to watch the games - 8pm ET is 2am here, so it would be useful to know more than a couple of days in advance on which precise days I need to re-organise my life around the games.