Random Thoughts....
2003 Baseball Postseason

This is sort of my first sports related article since I wrote the Kobe thing months and months ago and it got kind of long. If you end up reading it to the end and think it’s pointless, I apologize in advance. That being said, I want to write more sports articles (hopefully on weekly basis) that hopefully are little more lighthearted and more fun than this one. I just couldn’t figure out anything to write, so I thought I would bitch for a while. Peace out!

Pudge Rodriguez has reminded everyone that he might be the best catcher to ever play.

Pudge must have felt like Dr. Dre during the offseason, cause everyone forgot about the new Pudge (bonus points for folks who know who the original Pudge is). He’s been hurt the last couple of years and that whole A-Rod thing overshadowed him in Texas. Now he’s on a bigger stage than ever before and is playing like a badass. He might not hit like Piazza, but behind the plate, he’s Bench like and he can hit pretty damn good too.

Fox is a bunch of idiots

I’ve complained about this for a while, but I’m really starting to hate Fox Sports. Sure, they do a nice job with football. I’ll give them that and the Simpsons (maybe even King of the Hill, Bernie Mac, and sometimes That 70s Show).

In addition to fucking up my favorite baseball team, they seem to do a bumblefuck job when they broadcast the big baseball games. From the stupid Sprint PCS Virtual Idiot poll, to dumb sound effects, shameless self promotion of their shows (Clay American Idol singing the national anthem in game one of the World Series, coincidence? I think not.)

I could really give a rat’s ass if “he’s rich” or whatever Joe Millionaire is to the dumb Euro broads. I don’t care if “his father is the district attorney” and I really don’t care what new task Donald Sutherland’s son has to deal with. I’m tired of the promos and I’m tired of the Fox actors getting primo seats in Yankee stadium because they have some show that is soon to be in the shitter.

Don’t get me started on Tim McCarver either. The man knows his baseball, but he also knows how to talk way too much. Every point he makes is long winded and irritating (much like this rant). I always have the feeling he is talking down to his audience, like we are a bunch of idiots. I might be an idiot, but I don’t need Tim McCarver to point it out.

This might be a backhanded compliment to say the least, but Fox does get some extra credit for cutting their “Skin” commercials short when the game gets going.

Maybe Tommy Lasorda was right when he said that Pedro Martinez didn’t have the durability to be a starting pitcher.

This doesn’t make the Dodgers any less stupid for trading Pedro for a box of used baseballs (okay, it was Delino Deshields, but really, wouldn’t a box of baseballs been better?). Pedro has broken down every year for the last three years, gets hammered like a hooker in Tijuana after the 100 pitch mark, and has to have extra rest between starts. Don’t get me wrong, Pedro is still a really good pitcher, but he isn’t the vintage Pedro of a few years ago. He got beat around in his first start of the ALCS and in the exciting game 7, pitched sort of like the old Pedro, but when he hit that 100 pitch mark, he lost the game.

The whole “God Bless America” thing has gotten out of hand

You can call me unpatriotic, but I’m getting tired of seeing “God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch. Give me Harry Caray and some peanuts and cracker jacks and I’ll be fine.

It was a nice touch following the 9/11 thing when baseball fans rejoiced and sang the song. It’s just getting old now.

Maybe the World Series won’t live up to the LCS

Really though, how can it? Kirk Gibson might have to hobble in from Detroit to make this one memorable. The American and National League Championship Series were really great. Between the battles the Cubs and Marlins had and Pedro playing matador with Don Zimmer, the World Series seems like that uneasy feeling you get when you realize that Christmas is over after you open your presents when you’re a kid.

I still think this can be a good World Series. Game 1 was pretty good, but Game 2 sorta sucked (Andy Pettite pitched his ass off though). Unless Jason Giambi or Derrek Lee becomes Billy Buckner, I don’t think this is going to be a memorable series though. Here’s to hoping that I’m wrong though!

Bobby Cox might be the most overrated manager I’ve ever seen

Bobby Cox is heralded in baseball circles as a great manager. He’s managed great teams, but I’m still not sure he’s all that and a bag of jelly beans. For 10 years, he had the best pitching staff in the land, and a pretty decent offense to boot (aside from 2001 & 2002, the Braves were towards the top of the league in runs scored). His teams have won 12 division titles (not 12 straight – they didn’t win 1994, the Expos did) and have 1 World Series to show for it. I think if you lose a few times in the post season, it’s a coincidence (bad luck for your team, good luck for the other team). Doing it 11 times in 12 chances stops being coincidence.

On a related note, as soon as the A’s lost to Red Sox in the division series, people started mocking Billy Beane

The mocking came more from resentment for the book “Moneyball” about Beane’s methods. However, it can be noted that the A’s have been in the playoffs 4 straight years and haven’t gotten past the division series. It can also be noted that this year, they were without 2 of the best pitchers in the American League for much of the series.

How many other teams with a payroll less than $60 million were in the post season this year? Even the Florida Marlins payroll was close to $60 million (about $100 million less than the Yankees). In other words, the A’s had the lowest team payroll of any team in the post season.

How many teams not only lost their team MVP, but the league MVP and still made it to the playoffs the next year? What the A’s have been able to do on a relatively small budget should be heralded, not mocked. Baseball needs more people like Billy Beane to think outside the box and take a different approach to assembling teams. Besides, my Dodgers have an insanely huge payroll and haven't won a postseason game since 1988. 'Nough said...

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