On Baseball

For the second straight year, the National League Divisional Series have been a total snore. Both series were decided within an inning.

The Cubs were hugely disappointing. When faced with the unexplainable, people tend to invent superstition (see: the entire history of mythology). The curse of the goat, while silly, makes as much sense as magic men, immaculate conceptions, magic eyewear and alien homunculi. Many folks on Chicago's north side will be looking to the goat to explain the Cubs collapse. Personally, I'm with them. There is no rational explanation for their collapse. Yes, one can cite incompetent defense, a return to form for Dempster and a general inability to hit. One can also bring up the fact that folks like Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez just don't lose in the post season. Still, The Cubs were playing well as recently as a week ago. I know it's just one series, but why now? Why the most important series of the season? One is inclined to think that there are unseen forces at work. And those forces are likely put into action by a goat.

The Brewers never had much of a chance. As we saw in last year's ALCS, C.C. Sabathia doesn't seem to perform well under pressure. And The Brewers hopes hinge on Sabathia. In fact, the Brewers just pinch hit Sabathia (in place of the always terrible Jeff Suppan - remember his brilliant base-running in the '04 World Series?). You don't pinch hit a pitcher in the post season. Rather, if you are forced to, you likely don't have the depth to advance. I know this series isn't officially over, but The Brewers are totally overmatched. The Phillies are better at just about every position.

The ALDS:

Anyone who actually hopped on the Angels bandwagon was foolish. The Red Sox absolutely own the Angels in postseason play. To best understand the complexion of this series, watch Howie Kendrick the next time he comes to the plate (is Scioscia is brave/dumb enough to play Kendrick again). He's absolutely killing his team. He swung at everything Daisuke and Lester threw at him. Most dramatic we're the breaking balls he was striking out on against Matsuzaka. Most of them would have been passed balls had a lesser catcher been behind the plate. Howie needs to take a game off.

Oh, and how about J.D. Drew? That home run against K-Rod was awesome. I love to see "bad ass" closers get destroyed. That was definitely the final straw. The Angels are not coming back from that. Not with Beckett at Fenway standing in their way.

The Rays/Red Sox ALCS will be the de facto World Series (just like last year). As great as Manny and Lowe are in the post season, I don't think those two can beat the AL pennant winner alone. In any case, I'm looking forward to the ALCS. I really like both teams. I'll give the edge to The Red Sox because of the post season experience thing. Hopefully, the series will be as exciting as last year's ALCS.