The Great American Pastime: Napping

I'm tongue in cheek in my tone most of the time when I make fun of baseball. I played it into high school and enjoy going to a game (as long as I like the people I'm with). But seriously, baseball apologists, what can you say about these stories?

While I've never been diagnosed with it, I'm positive I've got some level of Attention Deficit Disorder...and I'm OK with that. But the byproduct of my inability to focus makes baseball tough to watch. In fact, in the desert times of the summer months, I'll sometimes doze to an MLB game. But, sleeping on the job doesn't have a place in any self-respecting institution...let alone an athletic endeavor...right?

Guess not.
An extra innings contest was so slow for former Met great, Keith Hernandez, that he recently fell into a deep, commercial break sleep. Perhaps he deserves credit for not sleeping during the first nine?
And future Hall-of-Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. was so zonked between innings that he couldn't get himself to the field...to hit. That's right, during a game, Griffey moseyed down to the clubhouse...probably to grab some Geritol...and couldn't resist the quiet calm of an empty locker room...so he got a lil' shuteye.

When was the last time someone outside the Raiders organization fell asleep in a football locker room during a game? How often have you heard of a young-ish play-by-play announcer dozing off...even for an NBA regular season basketball game?

Really it's not their fault...it's the game's. The season's too long, the games are too long.
Go Yankees.

SI Ballpark Rankings

Cleveland just can't stop winning.

I meant to bring this up a while back, but SI released their ballpark rankings (just a few short years after ESPN had already done it).

My issue with how they handled it was that they had the fans rate the parks. Well, isn't this a little inaccurate? Maybe it's because part of my day job involves survey research, but I can't help but feel surveying people about things as personal as their team's ballpark isn't likely to produce a non-skewed result.

Tim and I have been to over 20 MLB ballparks each so we know a bit about this sort of thing. And if I recall correctly, Tim thought his favorite of all the ones we've visited was Citizens Bank Park in Philly. As for me, the ones I've enjoyed the most have been Miller Park in Milwaukee, Pac Bell in SF (or whatever it's called now -- the place where Barry hit pellets into the bay) and Minute Maid in Houston.

According to SI's research, Progressive Field (formerly the Jake) in Cleveland is number one, followed by Miller Park, PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Comerica Park in Detroit, the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Safeco Field in Seattle, Coors Field in Denver, US Cellular in Chicago (this one really surprises me), the Big A in Anahem and Citizens Bank in Philly rounding out the top ten.

Where did my beloved Yankee Stadium finish? Well, in 20th place out of the thirty parks in play. As much as I love it there, I guess I can't argue with this. It's not new, it's not state-of-the-art and there's nothing particularly fancy about it. But if you're a Yankee fan, there's a very special feel when you walk into it. Just trust me. When my lovely wife and I went there two weeks ago and walked up the tunnel to our seats, she said, "I just don't get this feeling at an Astros game!" Well, sure, you're not from Houston, honey. But I knew what she meant.

Fenway was right behind Yankee Stadium in 21st place. Fenway and Yankee went 1-2 in "Tradition" and 2-3 in "Fan IQ" (trailing only St. Louis, which I can't argue -- they know their baseball). Yankee Stadium was second to last in both "Affordability" and "Food." While I have no argument about the affordability thing, the food isn't that bad. They have a real food court, plus a cheesesteak grill, gyros, a deli area, etc. It's not horrible. So I would argue that. But I realize it's not as plentiful as the new parks.

It's interesting to me that a couple of pretty new parks finished in the bottom ten, including the Diamondbacks' park, Chase Field, and the Rangers' park, the Ballpark in Arlington. And, like I said, US Cellular, home of the White Sox, made the top ten. This interests me because it's widely regarded as the last park built before the boom of "retro" parks happened. I've been to one or two games there and I liked it but I can see why people might not. Not as much forced "charm" or hills in center field. Those sorts of goofy-ass things.

Other interesting rankings:

The Tigers were rated number 1 in "Team Quality." While I realize they've been competitive again in recent years, they really only had one really good year -- when they made the World Series (and lost) in 2006. Otherwise, this is still the team that lost 109 games five or six years ago. So that's interesting.

US Cellular was rated number 1 in "Traffic," with 1 being the best. I'd ask South-siders to weigh in on this. I don't remember it being disasterous when I went but come on -- it's Chicago! How good could it be?

The bottom five in "Hospitality," in order starting with the worst: Philly, Shea (Mets), Yankee, Fenway, Dodger. Only one Western team in that and they're originally from New York.

A great night out for the whole family? Go to KC. The Royals' Kauffman Stadium provides the cheapest tickets (1), good food (8), really nice fans (2), and cool promotions (7). Eh, but they have a low team quality (25) and, according to SI, the fourth-worst neighborhood of any team (27). Which is, like, ridiculous, since Kauffman is in the middle of a field in Missouri. I guess they just mean it's not a hip, happening neighborhood. When I think bad neighborhood, I think of bullets.

Opinions?

October Is Different, Part II

Today it's on to the league where the big boys play. The American League.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim versus Boston Red Sox of Massachusetts

This is a hard series to call, mainly because both teams are good but also have had some terrible times this season. Yes, the Angels are healthy and that's a good thing for them. But they played in the AL West, which wasn't exactly an intimidating division this year. The Angels could have fallen out of bed and won that division this year... and that's basically what they did.

Bartolo Colon was useless (and isn't even on the ALDS roster), Garrett Anderson was hurt a lot and is clearly aging and the Angels bullpen is far more mortal these days than ever before. If they'd gotten the Yankees, you know they would have moved on because they simply own the Yanks, but the Red Sox are different story. The Sox manhandled the Angels a few years ago in the first round of the playoffs and that carries some weight, I think. The Sox aren't afraid of the Angels. They know they can beat them and they and their fans don't obsess over the Halos. It's a lot easier to focus on simply winning baseball games when that's the case.

The Sox have a potent offense, Manny is (supposedly) back, Ortiz is still Ortiz, and except for a couple minor blips, Jonathan Papelbon has continued to be a lights-out closer. I don't think the Angels will be able to touch him late in games.

"Dice-K" Fatsuzaka doesn't impress me for the Sox, but Beckett is a money playoff pitcher, as is Schilling. Are there two starters out there that are more confident, "money" guys in the playoffs? I don't think so, and these two guys are on the same team. Yikes.

I think home field might play a big role in this one. If it goes five games, it means that the Angels will have flown back and forth across the country three times in about a week. Plus they'd be playing Game 5 in Boston. Not many teams are comfortable as a visitor in Fenway. I dislike the Red Sox with a passionate fury and I really, really want to pick the Angels. But I just don't think I can do it. The Sox are the better team and have dealt with more challenges this year that will help them when it comes to steeling themselves in the playoffs.

Sox in four.

Cleveland Indians versus New York Yankees

These two have played each other in the playoffs a couple of times since the mid-90s. In 1997, the Tribe knocked off the Yanks in the ALDS, interruping what might have been a run of five consecutive World Series for the Yankees -- they won in '96, '98, '99, and '00 and looked as strong as ever in '97. I remember being shocked when the Tribe pulled it out in front of their raucous fans at the Jake. Then in 1998 the Yankees went 114-48 in the regular season and began steamrolling their way through the playoffs when, oops, they suddenly were down 2-1 in the ALCS against Cleveland and they had two more games in Cleveland ahead of them. They pulled out Game 4 behind El Duque (who was only 64 years old at the time) and didn't look back. But it was one of those "what could have been" series for the Yankees and many fans, myself included, remember how close they were to going down 3-1 in their most dominant season.

Cleveland is a city that loves its baseball and is starving for a champion. The Indians have now won the Central Division seven times since 1995. They were in the World Series in '95 and '97. They're so close and this current team is young and talented and may have several more shots at this.

The Yankees are also starving for a championship, but only because people are obnoxiously spoiled in the Bronx. The Yankees have won 26 World Series, just had their string of nine straight division titles broken, and have been to the playoffs thirteen consecutive years. Thirteen! The last time they missed the playoffs (not counting 1994 when there were no playoffs), Jim Colletto was Purdue's coach, Bill Clinton was in his second year in the White House, I was a senior in high school, practically nobody had email, there weren't any blogs, OJ hadn't killed anyone yet and Joe Morgan was only in his fourth year being an ignorant jackass on ESPN baseball telecasts. This is truly an amazing run the Yankees have been on, and save your bonehead comments about how it's all about their salary. Take a look at the payrolls of teams like the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Orioles and many others in recent years and notice how they don't make the playoffs year after year after year. What bothers me, though, is the fact that winning the World Series would simply allow the players relief. They'd be relieved, not overjoyed. And that sucks.

Anyway, as for this series, the Yankees went 6-0 against the Tribe this year and most publications are saying to ignore that. Well, I'm not sure I would. The Yankees have always played well at the Jake and certainly aren't intimidated going in there. Could it be in the Indians heads that they can't beat the big bad Yankees? I think it could be. There is truth, however, to the fact that the Yanks haven't seen Sabathia this year (or since 2004) and Fausto Carmona has only pitched against them once. Those two guys are damn good and could win three games by themselves. The Yankees, on the other hand, have Wang going in Game 1, who I would have complete confidence in, and then Andy Pettitte in Game 2, who I wish I had complete confidence in. Yeah, he's pitched a lot of big postseason games for the Yankees, but he's also gotten his doors blown off (Game 6 of the 2001 World Series, for example) in big spots. So we'll see.

As you can tell, I really don't want to make a pick here. I honestly think this Yanks team is nothing like the one that got bounced by Detroit last year. They're focused, they're playing well, and there are no distractions. However, it was a young team with good pitching that shut them down last year and when this season started and I was asked how they would do, I predicted they'd win 95+ games again and then get beat in the postseason by better pitching than you face on average when you're pummelling the Devil Rays and Orioles in July.

So what do I think? I think the Yankees will probably lose to the Indians. Yes, there, I said it. But I refuse to believe myself. So my pick is...

Yankees in four.

October is Different

I feel like I bring this up every year when I talk about postseason baseball but no matter where I look, I'm not able to find it. A number of years ago, MLB launched an ad campaign for the playoffs where they had several calm, mild-mannered people at what appeared to be a kid's birthday party or something, and they were wearing shirts that said "September," "August," etc. Then suddenly a guy comes in screaming, all intense, and jumping around getting loud and wild. His shirt is bright red and says "October," and then the tag line comes up and it says, "October is different." I think it might have been my favorite MLB-related ad campaign. Certainly a lot better that senile Tommy Lasorda telling weirdo people to go to the couch to watch the playoffs or Dane Cook enunciating at us that "There's only one October."

Anyway, before we get too ramped up into our Boilers matchup this coming weekend against the Buckeyes of Ohio State, I wanted to do some MLB playoff prognosticating since this is, after all, a sports site and I'm the resident seamhead. Oh, sure, the other two guys like baseball just fine but boilerdowd complains about how long the games are more than my wife and Tim is too busy antiquing to write about his beloved Indians. (Oh, by the way, Tim is a lifelong Indians fan and I'm a lifelong Yanks fan.)

Today I'll talk about the two National League series that we have on tap and tomorrow I'll ramble about the AL.

Chicago Cubs versus Arizona Diamondbacks

The Cubs started the season terribly and Lou Pinella looked like he was going to melt down in the season's first month. Apparently, this fired up his troops. Or maybe the NL Central was just that awful (again). When the Milwaukee Brewers completely melted down in the second half of the season (and make no mistake, if their season happened in New York, it'd be just as big a deal as the Mets collapse), the Cubs were there waiting, happy to take the division off their hands. As bad as the Central is, it's produced the past three NL representatives to the World Series (Cards in '04 and '06, Astros in '05). Could this be four straight? It's actually not so far-fetched.

The Diamondbacks, by all accounts, are freaks of nature. They've been outscored on the season by twenty runs and that almost always means you're in for a sub-.500 season. (To give you examples, the Cubs outscored their opposition by 62 runs, the Rockies outscored opponents by 102 runs and the Red Sox outscored opponents by 210 runs.) Yet their pitching kept them in it and they won an awful lot of close games. Call it heart, grit, stick-to-itive-ness or whatever, but understand that they're not nearly as good as their 90 wins suggests.

The Cubs have the dominant #1 starter in Carlos Zambrano and they have a potent offense led by Alfonso Soriano. They also have Wrigley Field, which is absolutely zany in October. As much as I don't think the Cubs are all that good, I really think they'll handle the Diamondbacks in the NLDS.

Cubs in four.

Colorado Rockies versus Philadelphia Phillies

Well, you all know how the Rockies stormed into the playoffs and how the Phillies occupied first place for two days after April (and one of those was yesterday). These two teams are both red-hot and I do mean red-hot. The Rockies have gone 14-1 in their last 15 and the Phillies have gone 13-4 in their last 17. Both teams were pretty much left for dead in mid-September and found a way to plow their way into the playoffs by simply willing their way to play good baseball. It didn't seem to matter who was getting in their pathes -- they were going to run them over. And that's pretty cool.

The Phillies probably have a slightly better team, although that's a tough call. While the Rockies have some slugs you've never heard of for good reason, they also have some fantastic up-and-coming players that you should have heard of, such as Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe. The Phils are stocked with mashers like Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins. One thing is for sure -- this series will not lack for offense, especially with two of the games at Coors Field in Denver.

I'll admit I'm biased in this one. I don't like Philadelphia, although that's got more to do with their fans than the team. But they've been knocking on the NL East door for a few years now so I'm not as excited about them getting this opportunity as I am for the Rockies. The Rox have been putting up marginal baseball for more than a decade since the only other time they ever slipped into the playoffs (in '95). I was so happy to see the fans in Denver have some good baseball to watch and they seemed to appreciative. Plus the Rockies are just fun to watch.

So regardless of what logic says, I think the Rockies will win this series and then be, improbably, just four wins away from the World Series. And if there's baseball in Denver in late October, it damn well could snow. That alone is worth rooting for.

Rockies in five.