Fitting and Proper

This is not supposed to be the way it happens in MLB. The two best teams win their respective pennants? Their power hitters perform admirably in outrageously clutch situations? Their top starters pitch brilliantly and their relievers function as they should? Well, now that sanity has returned to the White House, maybe it also has to the National Pastime.

[Sidebar observation--since 1958, that's over 50 years, the Yankees have only won their World Series titles when Democrats have been in the Oval Office.]

The League Championship series were not the barn burners they promised to be, largely because of poor pitching from the Dodgers and appalling fielding/baserunning by the otherwise well-coached Angels. I'd like to give the Yankees credit for their wins, but aside from Arod's series -turning game-tying wallop in the second contest, the Pinstripers were not all that great at the plate. Swisher and Tex and Cano and Posada left a lot of guys on base. And Philadelphia would have been in deep water had not Jonathon Broxton grooved one to Jimmy Rollins that enabled the Phils to take a 3-1 series lead when a tie seemed imminent.

Those were the only two memorable moments from the LCS's, though, despite the close NY-LA games. This is why I have strong hopes for a very exciting World Series, for a change. These two ball clubs are wonderfully well-matched, practically mirror images of each other. Each have three strong starters and line-ups full of big swatters. The Phils have four batters who hit 30 or more HRs; the Yanks have seven who hit over 20, and that doesn't include Derek Jeter. Both teams can mix in a little speed, though with Rollins, Victorino and Utley, the Phils trump the Yanks there. Meanwhile the Yanks have Mariano River, who trumps practically everything the Phils can throw at the Yanks.

There are a few interesting storylines, but none as intrigiung as Joe Torre/Manny Ramirez in Yankee Stadium, which would have provided some compelling emotional moments for the Yankee fans. As it is they can hoot at Pedro Martinez, though they'd better watch out. He was awfully good against the Dodgers. The all-Cleveland pairing of Sabathia vs. Lee will rile all the baseball fans back at the Mistake By the Lake (Erie). But after what may be a low-scoring opener, start looking out for some scary power displays from both sides. A.J. Burnett and Pettitte are both vulnerable to the long ball, though Pettitte can perhaps neutralize the Philly lefty power guys (if not their wild card, Jason Werth). Meanwhile, Pedro had better be good, because Hamels has a gopher ball, and Joe Blanton is not exactly Christy Mathewson.

The difference, if it falls the Yanks' way, will be in the late-inning bull pen. Will Phil Hughes get his confidence back, or Joba Chamberlain recall his magic from 2007? If so they will bridge nicely to Rivera. As for long relief, the Phils have a better man in J. Happ than anything the Yanks offer, though Gaudin can be useful in short spurts.

In short, the Phils' advantage in the outfield is balanced by the Yanks' slight edge in the infield, and in catching and relief. There's no reason in the world that the Series should not end up in New York, in six games or seven. This should make Fox happy, and baseball purists. My call, I fear, is the Phils in six, because they are better rested, and because it has been nearly forty years since a National League team has repeated a championship, so that fait is due. I hope I am wrong, of course, as I was not in my LCS predictions.

However the post-season concludes, though, it will not be a farcical decision. One of the best two teams will win. And with the Perennial contenders slugging it out with the current World Champions, the baseball world will not be cheated.

Where the Wild Times Are

A poll recently published in the Geezer Monthly (aka the AARP Bulletin) cited only 17% of seniors 65 -plus who named the World Series as their favorite sporting event (a close second to the Super Bowl, at 19%). Sadly this 17% was the high-water mark for baseball's seasonal climax. For youngsters 45-64, the group in which I fall, the number is a mere 6%. I'd hate to see how the Series would score with Gen Xers, Yers, and Millennials. Then, to my shock, I realized it was not even my favorite sporting event any more, although my heart remains with baseball.

The problem is that the World Series has become not so much a climax as an anticlimax in the elongated post-season. So much drama and conflict has been packed into the three-round play-off system, with its dramatic eliminations, that by the time the two surviving teams reach the World Series, both they and their fans are exhausted. The Series has become more of a showcase than a competition. To make matters worse, most World Series of the Ought Decade have been undistinguished and boring. There hasn't been a competitive one since 2002. And what memorable moments have the Series provided since Scott Spezios's home run to ignite the Angels' brave comeback in Game Six? Not a one.

On the other hand, the League Championship series--purportedly the penultimate events of the Season--have been the source of most of the postseason highlight reels and lingering memories. A brief list includes the Aaron Boone Yankee win over the Red Sox; the epochal Red Sox revenge on the Yanks in 2004; the Yadier Molina homer that beat the Mets in 2006 after Endy Chavez made a miracle catch; the Albert Pujols two-out homer that briefly reprieved the Cards against the Astros in 2005; , the Jeffrey Maier homer interference that got the Yanks going in 1996; the Robin Ventura 15th inning single/grand slam that extended the Braves in 1999. Etcetera. Somehow it seems there is a lot more drama in the qualifying rounds than in the Finals.

This season certainly promises the same potential for high LCS drama in both pairings. For a change, the two most deserving teams in the two leagues are competing. (An argument can be made for the Cardinals, though the op three NL teams were all equally matched). I have a slight rooting interest in the Dodgers, but only because I placed a World Series wager on them back in June when the odds were a propitious 5-1. I also like Joe Torre and would be happy to see him succeed (up to a point of course, that point being a Yankee participation in the finals). The NLCS is a quality match that repeats last year's event, which the Phils won rather easily. The Phils are slightly favored this year, but their relief pitching has to hold up against an improved Dodger offense. Getting Cliff Lee may have been the master stroke for Philadelphia, though. Like all quality AL starters, he is overwhelming in the NL. The Dodgers will need breaks to win this one, like when Matt Holliday dropped the ball in the NLDS and handed a pivotal game back to the Dodgers.

As for the ALCS, it's about time that the Yanks and Angels met in a seven-game series, a truer test of comparative skills. Over the past decade the Angels have figured out how to beat the Yanks with their combination of speed and timely hitting. They will certainly default to that strategy again, now that Posada is getting older and Sabathia and Burnett are not the best in holding runners on base. One advantage the Angels don't have as they did in their 2002 and 2005 LDS victories over the Yanks is that the Yanks' relief corps is stronger, so the L.A. late-inning rallies may not find the same fruition.

Although the Yanks have been pegged by Vegas and the Media as this year's best baseball team, I worry for them as a unit if they continue as they did in their series win over the Twins. In their three victories the team batted about .223, which sucks. Damon struck out about a million times, Cano was wretched, and Melky and Swisher did very little at the plate (though they contribute defensively). The Yanks won because of timely homers (thanks Arod for being good), clutch pitching, and some horrific baserunning by Minnesota. There's no reason to expect the same formula this time. The Angels are too well-coached. I would prefer to see Girardi replace Johnny Damon, who seems to be exhausted, with Brett Gardner, to add a dimension of speed to the offense and improve the outfield defense as well. It's not going to happen, though, and perhaps I am mistakenly assuming that performances in the LDS will be repeated now (though I hope so for Arod's sake). But wating for those late home runs is not a superior strategy.

Based on seasonal performances, a fair prediction would be the Yanks in seven and the Phils in six. I can certainly be wrong--I'd prefer a Yanks/Dodgers finale, which would return to the historic roots of the Fall Classic and make the execs at Fox very happy. In any case it will be a more marquee match-up than in past years. But I expect the most memorable competitive moments to occur in the next ten days, and the pageantry thereafter.

Catching Up

It's been more than a month since my last entry, so bear with me. First I have to salute and thank my biggest fan Terry for his thoughtful birthday wishes. I also have to announce the results of my Fantasy Baseball excursions this year. My Bronx Cheers team did very well, finishing 2nd with a powerful lineup including Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Troy Tulowitsky, Nelson Cruz, Michael Cuddyer, Chase Utley and Pablo Sandoval, and pitchers CC Sabathia, Jon Lester, Matt Cain and heath Bell. Of my Internet team, the Little Cheers, the less said the better. Suffice it to say that in all, I made money.

Now in regards to the month of September, celebrating my 60th year, things went amazingly well. The Yanks won their division (so far so good), and I hit a Royal Flush on a Vegas slot machine to pocket another grand (and did not give it all back). Then I proceeded on a spending spree of tech devices to finally bring me into the 21st century, even as the Ought Decade drove to a well-deserved ending.

I'm not a person of deep material need, and a techie moron to boot, so any acquisitions are by definition vanity additions. So I've added to my clutter several items unheard of in the prior century, including a Sony Bravia LCD TV, a Samsung Blue Ray DVD player, and a portable Garmin Nuvi GPS device which I attach to my dashboard so I can make believe I am James Bond in "Goldfinger." It's very cool, though I've found that generally by the time it acquires a satellite signal, I have already reached my destination. I was also thinking of purchasing a Wii player, but I'm already overburdened by three tech manuals so I'll save that one for Christmas.

My favorite device of all, though this may sound like apostasy from a writer/literature professor, is my Kindle 2 Electronic Reader from Amazon. This was actually a gift from my brother and sister-in-law, though it was on my list of purchases had they not so aptly come through. Now I am not yet sold on the preference of reading from a screen and turning pages with a push of a button rather than a sweep of my fingers. I would prefer a screen with a backlight, too, and am not certain the Kindle screen is more eye-friendly than a standard text. I have downloaded three books already, though, at relatively low cost ($10 a pop), and the purchases, expedited by a wireless connection, were remarkably easy, even for a dunderhead. Wow, even Sarah Palin could manage it, though she'd have to follow through by actually trying to read. You know, read all the newspapers, as she boasted to Katie Couric.

But the Kindle can do one thing that no paperback has ever managed. It can read back to me. I can't express how comforting that is when you are lying in bed and a warmish voice (not computerish, more like the friendly guide on a GPS), narrates a story to help you fall asleep. This is a technology that really impresses me, though it is not yet perfected (an "experimental feature" as Amazon denotes it). Apparently the device has an internal dictionary that allows the voice to recognize most common English words and abbreviations, and to intelligently attempt phonetic readings of unfamiliar words.

To test this ability, I downloaded a personal text, a fantasy novel that I wrote myself (this is another good feature of the Kindle--you can download documents from your computer via the e-mail). Since my novel takes place in a fictional foreign country with an invented lexicon, the Kindle had its work cut out, and did a yeoman-like job coping with such words as "Ungagwapitz" and "Svutzenklarg."

The only true glitch I've encountered so far--besides the fact that some authors won't permit a text-to-speech transcription of their works, so fuck you Dan Brown--is that it has limited capacity to judge abbreviations. Every time I made a reference to a saint--as in St. Peter, for example--the voice would read "Street Peter." I guess streets are a lot more common than saints, especially nowadays. But the most charming mistake--one that I continued to play for my friends, because it so tickled me--was in its interpretation of the following phrase that I wrote, which was "It resembled a procession from "The Wizard of Oz."

Quoth the Kindle, "It resembled a procession from 'The Wizard of Ounces.'"