Anybody But the Yankees
The 2006 Major League Baseball regular season is over, and the eight team tournament is set to begin. In seasons like this one, where the Tigers are not involved (which is most seasons) I slip into a mode which roots for any team but the Yankees. The Indians, who were the rival of the Tigers all season long, thus by default becomes my favorite team, for the moment.The action really got started last night, with the Rockies winning a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Padres in a one-game playoff to beat the Padres. I watched until the eighth inning, and with the game tied at six and my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, I baled. I woke up this morning to learn that the game went 13 innings, with the all-time save leader, Trevor Hoffman, blowing the game, allowing the Rockies to score three times in the bottom of the frame and earning the wild card. They will now play the upstart Phillies in one round of the NLDS, while the Cubs will take on the Diamondbacks in the other. I don't have a particularly strong rooting interest in either series. The Cubs certainly are due--they haven't been in a World Series for sixty-two years, and haven't won it all in 99, an unprecedented stretch of futility. I suppose they could surprise the Arizona club, but I don't see it happening, and will pick the D-Backs in four. Maybe after 100 years they'll turn the trick.
The other series, featuring the Phillies and Rockies, are two good feel-good teams (unless you're a Met fan). I'd be fine with either team winning this one. I think the Phillies have the pitching to shut down the Colorado attack, and will win it in five.
As for the American League, the hated Yankees will take on my newly beloved Indians. The Yankees won all six from the Tribe this year, in dominant fashion. As we saw when they played the Tigers last year, that can all go out the window, though. There are some Yankee players who tend to hibernate in recent Octobers, and it will depend on them to get past this round. The Yankee starting staff is suspect after Wang and Pettitte. I can see them getting past the Indians, who have no playoff experience, with smoke and mirrors, though. The Yankees (sadly), in five.
The other series features experience on both sides, the Red Sox and Angels. I have a soft-spot for the Bosox (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) so will root for them here, and I think they'll win this one in four. The Angels didn't play well down the stretch and are a little banged up.
Looking back, in my predictions last year I only got one out of four series right, so my track record is highly suspect. If you are a wagerer it is probably wise to take what I say and go the opposite. Play ball!
I'm kind of fired up. I was pretty pessimistic throughout the year, but here they are, and I think they have a better shot at the D-Backs than you think. Mostly because the Cubs are a vastly better team when they don't have to start the back of the rotation, which they probably won't in a short series. I guess the series will mostly turn on how well Zambrano pitches - he's been inconsistent of late, but the D-Backs have a pretty awful offense.
ReplyDeleteJeez, I haven't seen the Diamondbacks all year. I'm lucky if I can name five of their players. A Cubs victory would be historically interesting (I would be very happy with Cubs-Indians), but I've never been much of a Lou Piniella fan. May the best team win (except for the Yankees)!
ReplyDeleteI liked Lou Piniella okay as a player, but as a manager I can't stand him.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before, I'm perhaps a strange Yankees fan. The Red Sox are my second-favorite team, so I don't hate them as much as Yankees fans are expected to. But the team I hate the most is the Mets, and to see them get Pedro (who I did not like) and then sink like they did was pretty sweet.
I also don't like to see the Yankees make the playoffs if I don't think they can win the World Series, and that certainly applies this year.
I would be rooting for a Cubs-Red Sox WS, with the Cubs to win, but Piniella..... Hmmm.
I really enjoyed that The Bronx is Burning miniseries on HBO in August. John Tuturro was amazing as Billy Martin (whom I almost worship despite his flaws), and the series gave me some new insight into George Steinbrenner, whom I loathe. I always thought the guy was so misguided in going after high-dollar free agents in order to win it all, but now I see that perhaps the way he sees it is that the free agents are what put fans in the seats, and the manager is the one he counts on to deliver the wins and series rings....
I was really not on board with the Piniella hire, but I've softened somewhat. He's done a lot of things lately that make a lot of sense, and that Dusty Baker would have never done, like start Geovany Soto at catcher last night instead of Jason Kendall.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that he's been an exceptional manager, but for the first time in a long time (at least since the pre-Riggleman days), I feel pretty confident that the Cubs have a manager who won't screw everything up. So I don't mind having him around so much.
Yeah, the Cubs are in the playoffs, so Piniella can't be so bad, right? ;-) But give him a little success, and next season the team is self-destructing around him. I guess there are a lot of managers like that, though, huh?
ReplyDeleteCubs fans (as well as Phillies fans) must be on suicide watch now. The Phils are in the most jeopardy, as they may have no more games at home. But it looks like a Rockies-DBacks NL championship, which I'm sure makes the executives at Fox unhappy. And the Yanks didn't look good. Still to early to tell, but if the Indians did that to their best starter, what will they do to Mussina?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Cubs are in the playoffs, so Piniella can't be so bad, right? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I spent most of the 2003 playoffs yelling through the TV screen at Dusty Baker.
I'm not on suicide watch, personally. Although it has been a crappy sports week, with the Cubs starting 0-2, the Gators losing at home to Auburn, and the Bears' ongoing meltdown.
But I agree, Phillies fans are probably in a pretty bad way. It's easy to get to 'suicidal' when your starting point is 'hopelessly depressed and angry'.