2008 World Series
31 October 2008
This year’s World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies was the least watched since Nielson began its ratings 40 years ago, according to Bloomberg.com. Fox blamed it on the weather! Huh? The weather was at fault, or even a contributing factor? Where, everywhere in North America? Is anyone else scratching their head on that reasoning? Doesn’t this sound like a ‘dog-ate-my-homework’ excuse? Why don’t they just say it; the media’s beloved and overpaid Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Cubbies and or Dodgers, weren’t in the World Series to produce enough drama for the non-baseball enthusiast. Weather - that’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard. Anyway, whether it’s because I’m a contrarian or a baseball Pollyanna, I’m going to tackle a few noteworthy items that peaked my interest in this year’s postseason play.
Congrats to the Phillies on their big “W” earlier this week; they deserve it! The series was well played and coached! I’m happy for the Phillies and the city of Philadelphia for the long awaited World Series win! It’s been a couple of decades (and two stadiums later), since a victory parade marched through the streets of Center City. One reporter referred to Philly’s quarter-century drought as “Success Starved”. I remember when both the Phillies and the 76ers each had some great years with postseason success back in the early 80’s, although I’m too old & lazy to look up the exact years.
It was clear to me before the season started the Phillies had a great team. The reason they were on my radar is because I just happened to have three Philly players between two different fantasy teams. Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley. BTW, this postseason series, Hamels joined an elite group of just ten hurlers with four wins in one postseason, and he’s now one of four pitchers to have three Game-1 wins in one postseason. Just can’t say enough about this guy, and what a bargain at a half a million bucks.
Brad Lidge is HOF material and a real stud too! He deserved the NL Comeback Player of the Year and I’m wondering out loud if he has enough momentum to edge out Brandon Webb and Tim Lincecum for the CY award. Gillick definitely saw something in Lidge that Houston was ready to throw away. Wow, Pat Gillick, what a story! Three years to get the Phillies to the postseason parade, while concurrently grooming Reuben Amaro, Jr., for the GM job (should be formalized in the next couple of days). Then Gillick goes out and does it! Just like that! Wow!
The old ‘fire-Ed-Wade’ days in Philly are only a distant memory. Hat’s off to Gillick for a job well done. Frankly, most of his job-well-done was positioning talented individuals on his staff. Right people, right time, right place kind-of-stuff. Most of the credit has to go to Mike Arbuckle. Besides Lidge, the success of recruiting Hamels, Rolen, Rollins, as well as, their expansion in Latin America was due in large part to Arbuckle. The Phillies are damn lucky to have him. I’m taking bets; he won’t be there long. Amaro doesn’t hold a candle to him and Arbuckle will be a GM somewhere before the 2010 season.
And how about old-man Jamie Moyer; isn’t it nice to see an oldster contribute too? How thrilling it must be for a 45-year-old to have a late chance before he retires (45 YO = 87½ in baseball years). Hell, he makes Matt Stairs look like a youngster. Not many players have a couple of dozen years; giving them that many opportunities to chase and capture the title where only a few wear the ring. And more recently, he was especially lucky to have a second chance to pitch after stinking up the joint in his previous outing. I’m not sure why I’m giving Jamie a hard time here - I started with good intentions. You can’t ignore 16-7 with a 3.71 ERA during the regular season, regardless of age!
That brings us to Charlie Manuel. He held it together in a tough division for a respectable year finishing 92 – 70 at .568, with the Mets and the Marlins nipping at his heels all season. He didn’t buckle under pressure, with the seesaw, neck and neck, mixing-my-metaphors race with the Mets; a formidable competitor. Hell, that big Willie Randolph shakeup was due, at least in part, to Charlie, his team and crew. (Yeah, I just worked “Big Willie” into this piece). Although I’ve been following Omar Minaya for a longtime, speaking of the Mets, I still hate those frick’n NY teams. I love Omar’s innate ability to leverage his limited intellect with an outstanding ability to scout prospects. Still, how can you shout “hurrah” for those rat-bastard-NY-teams with a combined payroll of a third of a billion dollars? Don’t get me started!! Damn, I think I just hijacked my own paragraph! Oh yeah, good job Charlie!
Joe Maddon, a real “out of the box” manager, did a great job this year too and has nothing to be ashamed about. They started out the year with the second lowest payroll in the majors. Their payroll was 1/5 of the frick’n Yankees’. That requires creative managing. Like the time in August when he walked Texas Rangers’ OF Josh Hamilton with the bases loaded. Intentionally walking a batter with bases loaded?? I read somewhere that this ploy by Maddon was the first time ever that an AL player was walked intentionally with the bases loaded, and only the fifth time since 1900. That’s damn creative. Coincidently, I also had three players from the Rays split between my two fantasy teams. Carlos Pena, and I took a gamble on two young players, Evan Longoria & B.J. Upton. Yikes!
So, there ya have it, this blogger thought the Phillies and Rays offered plenty of baseball entertainment value and even a dose of drama for the true baseball fan. There was great pitching on both sides. Hell we could do an entire piece on each of the pitchers. Like Matt Garza and Scott Kazmir – wow, they’re a couple of powerhouse pitchers, and still young kids with huge upside potential! This blogger enjoyed the final stretch of the season and the thrill of building up to a pleasant crescendo of play-offs and then the World Series. The rugged offense and strong hurlers for both teams, coupled with the drama of the lousy officiating, then the stopping the game, due to the rain, after Tampa Bay tied it up 2-2. Let’s not forget the comical relief the next day when listening to its-never-my-fault Bud Selig. Frankly, I thought the postseason play offered all the ingredients; great play, drama and an electrifying finish.
The Nielson ratings for the World Series may have been lower than ever; however, this old, boring, has-nothing-else-to-do baseball fan found it very interesting. My only regret; I still found myself mentioning the frick’n NY Yankees and Mets in a story that had nothing to do with them. Back to the drawing board!
ChopperJim
Copyright © 2008 ChopperJim All rights reserved.
