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Saturday, October 29, 2011

No More "Play Ball" Until March :-(

So how about those St. Louis Cardinals?  They won the 2011 Major League Baseball championship in what turned out to be one of the most exciting World Series in a long, long time.  To me, it was almost as exciting as the 1991 World Series, which the Minnesota Twins won over the Atlanta Braves in seven games (I was a huge Kirby Puckett fan at the time, and I'll never forget watching him hit a home run during that World Series on a black and white TV in a friend's dorm room while I was in college).  Anyway, it was a bit sad to see the Texas Rangers lose (again) and poor Ron Washington, the Rangers' manager who is now loved by practically everyone, has to go home without a championship trophy.  But the games were exciting to watch, David Freese did deserve to be the MVP of the Series, and the Cardinals got to walk away with their eleventh World Series trophy.

So now what?  There's still some excitement left for baseball fans - they still have to announce all those post-season awards, like MVP, Cy Young award Winner, Rookie of the Year, etc.  Wanna know who I think will win each award?  Check it out.

American League Cy Young:  This is the biggest no-brainer since people tried to figure out if Ricky Martin was gay.  Detroit's Justin Verlander should win the award unanimously in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (they're the ones who vote for these awards - oh, how I would love to be a part of their little group someday!).  He finished the season with a 24-5 record and 2.40 ERA, and it didn't hurt that he pitched a no-hitter in there as well.
American League Most Valuable Player: There are some fans out there who think that Justin Verlander should become the first pitcher since Boston's Roger Clemens in 1986 to win the Cy Young and MVP, but the real debate should be between the Yankees' Curtis Granderson (.266 batting average) and the Tigers' Miguel Cabrera, who batted .341 with 29 home runs and 103RBIs.  I, of course, the Yankee-hater, think Cabrera should get the award.

American League Manager of the Year: Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon is the hands-down winner.  The Rays became the first team to make the postseason by overcoming a nine-game deficit during September, and while I knew they wouldn't make it far into the playoffs, Maddon's leadership was definitely admirable (sorry, Ron Washington; you get my honorable mention!).

American League Rookie of the Year:  Some of the names being tossed around are Rays' pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, Angels' first baseman Mark Trumbo, the Royals' Eric Hosmer and the Yankees' Ivan Nova.  I say give it to Hosmer for the simple fact that Royals' fans haven't heard any good news since George Brett was inducted into the Hall of Fame (Hosmer's .293 batting average and 19 home runs don't hurt either). 

National League Cy Young Award:  Lefty Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers is the man, with 21 wins, a 2.28 ERA and 241 strikeouts. Roy Halladay has pitched well for Philadelphia, but since I don't like the Phillies, I think Kershaw should get the award (good thing they don't ask me, eh?)

National League MVP: Tough call between Milwaukee teammates Ryan Braun (.333 batting average, 33 home runs and 110 RBIs) and Prince Fielder (.293, 35, and 114).  Braun actually stole 31 bases though (my father can run faster than Fielder), so I think the MVP will go to him.

National League Manager of the Year: Arizona's Kirk Gibson has two strong starting pitchers (Ian Kennedy and Daniel Hudson) and a decent bullpen.  I couldn't stand him as a player with the Dodgers when he hit that famous home run against the Mets in the 1988 playoffs (yes, the one where he was fist-pumping as he ran the bases), but in his first full season as manager he led the Diamondbacks with intensity and took them to the playoffs.
National League Rookie of the Year: Braves' first baseman Freddy Freeman (.287 batting average with 21 homers and 76RBIs) is a good candidate, but Atlanta's closer, Craig Kimbrel, has 46 saves, a 2.00 ERA, and 126 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings.  It's safe to say that this award will go to a Brave.

So now we'll see how accurate I am when the awards start being announced in the coming weeks.  Between my All-Star picks that didn't make it and my World Series prediction that didn't come true, you all are going to think that I'm just full of hot air!  But please keep checking my blog on occasion during the off-season; there's some wheeling and dealing to be had (with Fielder and Pujols headlining the list of free agents), contracts to be signed, and players to be traded.  The off-season promises to get interesting!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Are you Serious?

I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who enjoys her sleep.  I like getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, and when I get that many, I am a happy mom/wife/employee/neighbor/friend.  So on most nights, I go to bed at 10:00 so that I can wake up at 5:45 the next day and get an early start.  Last night was no exception, and because of that, I missed most of game 3 of the World Series.  Now you're probably thinking "If you claim to be such a big baseball fan, why didn't you stay up?" and the answer to that is that I knew I would have a busy day today so I wanted to get plenty of rest, and believe it or not, sleep is more important than baseball (but not by much).  Plus games 1 and 2 were honestly not that interesting, so I figured I wouldn't miss much.  Boy, was I wrong!

When I went to bed in the fourth inning, the St. Louis Cardinals were leading the Texas Rangers 5-3.  Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa had just pulled starter Kyle Lohse and was replacing him with Fernando Salas.  Apparently after that, Albert Pujols (who had already had 2 base hits earlier in the game) hit three home runs, tying Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players ever to hit 3 home runs in one World Series game.  Albert had started the day without having had any hits in the first two games, and had been criticized for not speaking to the media after game 2.  In Albert's defense, baseball players are paid to play, not to talk to people.  But the media had a field day speculating what was wrong with Pujols, and since he will be a free agent after the World Series is over, there was all kinds of crazy talk about what was going to happen to this player who all of a sudden sucked.  I guess after last night he doesn't suck anymore!

So the Cardinals won game 3 by a score of 16-7, and they lead the Series 2 games to 1.  Now I'm still not sure which team I'm rooting for - I've been cheering for individual players from both teams - but I'm leaning towards the Rangers mainly because I like their manager.  Ron Washington is fiery and animated, just like I was yesterday morning while my son played goalie for his soccer team.  Tony LaRussa is just kind of there, unemotional and serious and just kind of blah.  Yes, he has a law degree and he's very intelligent and he knows how to manage a winning team (though I think he relies too heavily on his bullpen), but I would have a much better time hanging out with Ron Washington and chatting about baseball.  I've said before that I don't care for passive managers - I like the ones who get all riled up and show some emotion.  Not Bobby Knight/Billy Martin kind of emotion, but a little bit Lasorda and a little bit Pitino with some Parcells thrown in (See?  I can reference other sports too!).

So tonight it's anybody's game - Jackson vs. Holland, Pujols vs. Cruz, Washington vs. LaRussa.  I'm going to try and stay up a little bit later this time; hopefully I won't be disappointed and there will be lots of excitement worth the sleep deprivation.

Monday, October 17, 2011

I'm Baaack!

Hola, everyone!  I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged here – life got busy with the kids going back to school and with me writing my Washington Nationals blog (www.prosportsblogging.com).  But now that the World Series is about to begin (and my obligations with PSB are less since my team was not in the playoffs), I figured I would come back to my humble little blog and share my thoughts on the upcoming baseball championship.

First of all, I have to admit that I was wrong in my prediction of which two teams would go to the World Series.  I wasn’t totally blatantly wrong (I didn’t predict it would be the Tampa Bay Rays against the Arizona Diamondbacks), but I was pretty certain that the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers would be the final two teams left after all the playoffs were over.  Well, it ISN’T the Tigers (they lost to the Texas Rangers) and it ISN’T the Brewers (they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals), but at least it won’t be a Yankees/Phillies series so I’m OK with that. 

It was very interesting watching the League Championship Series games this past week.  In the National League series I realized that even I could probably hit a home run in the Brewer’s ballpark; I’m glad the Nationals got rid of Jerry Hairston; and Yadier Molina looks like a gang member with those stupid tattoos on his neck.  I mean, I’m not anti-tattoo or anything, but those neck ones are just trashy.

The ALCS was also fun to watch.  Not only did I enjoy seeing Nelson Cruz hitting home run after home run (7 total in the postseason, which is a record), but he did that while supposedly having an oblique strain.  I’m not fully convinced he had one, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.  It was also interesting to see this season’s probable Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander, throwing over 130 pitches in game 4.  Tigers’ manager, Jim Leyland, said he would leave Verlander in the game until his arm fell off, as opposed to Cardinals’ manager, Tony LaRussa, whose starting pitchers didn’t last more than 5 innings and he relied more heavily on his bullpen.

So now for which team am I going to root?  That’s a hard one – they are so evenly matched that I may just root for both teams!  The Texas Rangers have excellent pitching, decent hitting, and an owner named Nolan Ryan (though I wish he would smile more and not always look so stoic).  The Cardinals have Holliday, Freese, Pujols, and fellow Puerto Rican (and catcher!) Molina.  And me being a fan of the National League (and hater of the Designated Hitter), I don’t think I’ve ever rooted for an American League team in the World Series since the days of Kirby Puckett and the Minnesota Twins.  So I am torn – completely and absolutely torn!  Instead I will root for exciting defensive plays, good calls from umpires (good luck with that one!), and decent renditions of the National Anthem.  And I hope the World Series goes seven games – sweeps are boring and the more games they play, the more fans will watch and will buy tickets and hot dogs and souvenirs.  So go out and buy your tickets, people of St. Louis and Texas – it’s going to be an exciting World Series!