This Game's Fun

I'd hemmed and hawed a lot over who to pick in the ALCS if only because it pitted a pair of teams that on paper were quite evenly matched. I had to dig a little deeper to arrive at the decision to pick the Red Sox, if only because they're a team built of real grinders, guys who peck and scrape and battle tooth and nail to the end. The Red Sox went out and proved this to a tee in their 6-game series win over the Tigers. Though the Tigers starting pitching proved every bit as good as they're written up to be, the Sox hitters ground them down and eventually forced tight games into the hands of the Tigers excessively shaky bullpen, and ultimately they found ways to prevail.

It was a different hero every day for the Red Sox, which is generally how the most successful teams do it. David Ortiz, who's made a career out of big hits in October, did it last Sunday night, hitting a spectacular game-tying Grand Slam in the 8th inning that sent Torii Hunter flying into the bullpen and setting the stage for Jarrod Saltalamacchia's winning hit in the 9th. In Detroit, the Sox beat Justin Verlander 1-0 on a Mike Napoli Home Run and in Game 5, they relied on their bullpen to carry home a 4-3 victory.

This set the stage for last night's Game 6, a real Major League ballgame that featured a little bit of everything; great pitching, clutch hitting, controversial plays, serious momentum swings and one huge, memorable moment, which was provided by Shane Victorino. I could tell it was that kind of game when it had hit the 3 hour mark in the top of the 7th inning. By this point, Max Scherzer had done just about everything he could to try to carry his team to a 7th game and a shot for Verlander (or, more appropriately, the exact opposite of the complete bed-shitting Clayton Kershaw did on Friday). His offense had done very little in support of him, save for a 2-run single from Victor Martinez. This was promptly followed by the rarely seen 4-4-2 Double Play, where Prince Fielder completely vapor-locked on an infield ground ball, allowing Pedroia to tag out Martinez and then throw home to get Fielder in a rundown, which he ended by pulling a Lucas Duda and belly-flopping not particularly close to 3rd Base. But, despite all that, the Tigers still had a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately, Scherzer's weakness is that he's only been conditioned for 7 innings or so of work. Jim Leyland has never nursed him further. Plus the Red Sox, as is their wont, had made him throw an awful lot of pitches, and in pressure situations. So, after he walked Xander Bogaerts in the 7th, he was gone, and the game unraveled for the Tigers from there, culminating with Victorino's Grand Slam that ultimately won the game and sent the Red Sox on to the World Series. 

I'd mentioned at the beginning of the ALCS that the Red Sox were sort of unlikeable, and that I get why people don't like them. But I don't consider myself one of them. I'm not a great lover of Boston, and maybe the main reason I like the Red Sox is because of the common dislike of a particular team. But I didn't have a hard time pulling for them against Detroit, and I'm certainly going to be pulling for them in the World Series. They have a similar team to the Cardinals, built around unheralded pitching and hitters that bug the hell out of you. Hell, they've even made me admit appreciation for my main man Shane Victorino, who I've spent years trashing because of how many times he got clutch hits or made important plays when he played for Philly. The difference is, I like it a lot more when he's not doing it for the Phillies. When he hits a Grand Slam and pounds his chest around the bases for the Red Sox, it's OK. He's an emotional guy and that's always been his game, and that's absolutely a double-standard because I hate the Phillies.

That should illustrate the difference between these two teams. A friend said to me after Saturday's game ended that "The Cards look like a team of quiet professionals. The Red Sox look like a team of destiny." The Cardinals seem to have taken on the feel of a particular team I don't like very much, and given that I didn't like the Cardinals much to begin with, it makes me like them even less. The Red Sox play the same kind of game, but you can see them enjoying it. I'm sure that if the Cardinals spent so much time bitching and moaning about the Dodgers, someone will chime in about the bunch of ragamuffins on the Red Sox. Maybe. One of the problems these holier-than-thou teams have is an inability to keep their mouths shut. Sometimes it can backfire. It didn't happen to the Cardinals in the NLCS. But the Red Sox have proven they're a better, headier team than the Dodgers. This will be a really interesting World Series to watch. It's probably going to come down to whatever team blinks first on any given night. But I don't think much guesswork is involved when it comes to who I'm picking: Sox in 7.

The No-Fun Bunch

There's no Hex quite like consistency. I totally bought into the Dodgers mojo, and after they took apart the Braves in the NLDS, I really believed they were on their way to the World Series. But I didn't account for the Cardinals, who seemed to have an answer for the Dodgers at every avenue. The Cardinals proved themselves impervious to the Dodgers Hex and really threw it back in their faces, culminating in last night's truly methodical 9-0 bombardment that clinched what feels like the Cardinals' 10th consecutive National League Pennant.

It really couldn't happen to a worse bunch of people. I have no particular love for the Dodgers, but in getting as far as they did, they exhibited a certain amount of joy in doing so. There's nothing inherently wrong with winning and celebrating doing so. Sure, Yasiel Puig may be a bit over the top, but he's 22 and hasn't learned how to have a filter. This has rubbed more than a few teams the wrong way, including the DBacks and the Braves, who seem to feel as though they're the MLB Morality Police, and the Cardinals picked on them again throughout the NLCS. I'm sure, were they playing the Mets, I might have felt differently, but then again, the Mets had their own young, irksome star in Jose Reyes. And the Mets haven't won much of anything since 2006, but that's another story. I watched a majority of the NLCS games, and I didn't see anything particularly over the top about the Dodgers (except perhaps Puig pimping on a ball that didn't go out of the park in Game 3). When they were winning, for example in Game 3, they expressed some emotion, and it was emotion that was probably pretty pent up after two games of the Cardinals frustrating them.

The Cardinals are a bunch of jerks, we all know that. So many years of being led by Innovative Tony LaRussa has poisoned all of them. I didn't like them back when their holier-than-thou "great" fans called the Mets "Pond Scum" back in the 80s, and 2006 rekindled that dislike. They're all hypocrites. Yadier Molina tagged out a runner at the plate in Game 1 and started yelling and pumping his fist like he was Ivan Rodriguez. But the Dodgers celebrate their success, as Puig and Adrian Gonzalez did, and they're a bunch of clowns. Even Vin Scully though the Cardinals were being ridiculous in their criticism of the Dodgers. Prior to Game 6, some Cardinal fans brought in signs mocking Puig and Gonzalez. This clearly got under Puig's skin, because he was seen laughing and posing for photos with the signs, and even signed some autographs. But no, a pox on the Dodgers, and praise for the squeaky-clean Cardinals.

The fact that the Cardinals are now looked at as a model franchise and the picture of success in today's MLB really sickens me, but unfortunately, this is the reality. You can't argue with a team that's bounced back after LaRussa retired and Albert Pujols defected and went to an NLCS the next year and a World Series after that. They went up against a team that had been absolutely rolling for 4 months and took them apart, piece by piece. That thing, that little extra bit of magic that had carried the Dodgers through the second half of the season abandoned them and seemed to shift over to the Cardinals. Carlos Beltran didn't hit much in the NLCS, but every hit he got mattered. Yasiel Puig's golden glove turned to pyrite and his failures in the field became more and more embarrassing and costly. And the no-name Cardinal pitching staff, featuring guys like Michael Wacha, Trevor Rosenthal and 7 guys named Tyler dominated, holding the Dodgers to 13 runs in 6 games. But this is what they do. They get on top and don't let you breathe.

So, the World Series will feature one team that's almost universally reviled by everyone outside their home town. They'll be facing an AL Champion that will boast a tough lineup and good pitching, and also a team that plays with a lot of camaraderie and emotion, which of course the Cardinals will wag their fingers at. Rest assured, I'll be rooting for the Cardinals' opponent come Wednesday night. But lord only knows what kind of bullshit they'll be pulling out of their ass this time around.

The Other Half of the Deal

I sort of backdoored my way into an NLCS prediction yesterday, although while I said I pick the Dodgers to beat the Cardinals, I didn't say how many games. It's too close to call I suppose. And since I made an impromptu prediction I suppose I have to follow that up by saying a few words about the impending ALCS between the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, a pair of old school teams built around the power of the big names.

Many Baseball fans tend to dislike the Red Sox, particularly after they won World Series Championships in 2004. It's perfectly reasonable; winning two titles after 86 years of not winning much of anything (and losing in spectacular ways), many frontrunning fans came out of the woodwork and Red Sox Nation sort of exploded into this big, really annoying "thing," sort of like the "thing" that makes me hate teams like the Green Bay Doublechecks, the 0-6 Dancing Victor Cruzs and another team that plays in the northern reaches of New York City, where the fans think their shit don't stink and it's somehow their God-Given right to win every time. That being said, because I'm not living in Boston rooting for another team, and because what the Red Sox did to that New York team in 2004 is, perhaps, one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed in Baseball, I will always have a soft spot for the Red Sox. The Tigers and the Mets have no particular rivalry although had things broken one way or another 7 years ago, maybe that would be different. But their paths never crossed in anything beyond some interleague games here and there and so my feelings towards them are somewhat indifferent, although I like their roster very much.

The Tigers coasted through the season behind the exploits of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, and rode outstanding starting pitching to their 3rd straight Division title. Their offense was good enough to cover up a really suspect bullpen although they kind of tailed off towards the end of the season when Cabrera got hurt. Then, they barely survived the ALDS against Oakland. After Jim Leyland stupidly left Anibal Sanchez out to drown in Game 3, the Tigers appeared headed for a colossal upset. But the series turned on Victor Martinez' Maier-like Home Run late in Game 4, and last night back in Oakland, they laid down the hammer in the name of Justin Verlander to stop the A's in their tracks. The Red Sox kind of bulldozed their way through the AL East and through their Division Series with the Rays. They have the pop in their lineup behind David Ortiz and Mike Napoli, but their greater strength is the fact that the majority of their lineup just grinds pitchers up. Ellsbury, my man Victorino and Dustin Pedroia at the top of the lineup are 3 guys who waste pitches like they mean it and ensure that by the 5th inning of every game a) the Starting Pitcher is totally taxed and b) the game is no less than 2 hours long. This creates problems for Detroit, whose bullpen is not as bad as the 2008 Mets, but perhaps a tick below the 2013 Mets, if that's a good reference point.

I was somewhat torn on who to pick in this series, if only because Detroit can fall back on the "good pitching beats good hitting" adage, and they certainly boast the better starters. Also, the Tigers have more to prove, because they made it through to the World Series last year only to get swept and embarrassed by the Giants. Everything from here on out is Gravy for the Red Sox. They didn't have a Postseason to get embarrassed in last year because they were an embarrassment from Day 1, right on the heels of a catastrophic collapse in 2011. But John Farrell and a few new faces (like my man Victorino) changed the culture and made the Sox winners again. They may not have the pure firepower that the Tigers have, but they're a more complete team, and sometimes the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. I say Sox in 7.

Ruining All The Fun

Much like 95% of the nation, I was rooting for the Pittsburgh Pirates to knock off the Cardinals in the NLDS. How could anyone not root for a team that had spent 20 years in Baseball Purgatory, suffering through perhaps the worst black hole of mismanagement in Professional Sports History? After enduring a 20-year losing streak, the Pirates were finally back in the playoffs, a young, hungry team with a rabid fan base that pretty much incited Johnny Cueto to crap his pants in the Wildcard Game.

Unfortunately, they ran into the St. Louis Cardinals, perhaps the most irritating, businesslike buzzsaw in the game today. The Cardinals, who served as Killjoy to the Nationals last season, the Rangers 2 years ago, and the Mets for a generation, stopped the Pirates in their tracks. After the Pirates won Game 3 on Sunday, they took the field on Monday with a golden opportunity to stomp out the Cardinals and perhaps shut up everyone who continues to heap praise on their resiliency and character. But, the Cardinals played like the Cardinals, won Game 4 behind rookie Michael Wacha, and then went back to St. Louis, put their ace Adam Wainwright on the hill, sat back and watched as Wainwright mowed the Pirates down, ending their season with a 6-1 victory that everyone hoped wouldn't happen but figured probably would.

My disdain for the Cardinals was rekindled in 2006, but it's been stewing ever since I was a kid and the Cardinals screwed up my childhood by winning multiple pennant races against the Mets. I have since referred to them as a plague, a nuisance and a swarm of moths, or perhaps one of those enemies in a video game that you stomp on repeatedly but it keeps coming back to life. That's what the Cardinals are. I don't dislike them as much as, say, the Braves, or that other team from Northern New York City, but I wish they would just disappear. I wish the Cardinals would just get swallowed up in a hole and go away forever, so we don't have to hear about their storied past, or their recent success, or their innovative managers, or their uniforms, or their great fans or anything else.

However, they're still here and still wreaking havoc in the postseason. They beat the Pirates, so nobody likes them, and now they get to go and face the Dodgefathers. This should be interesting. The Dodgers and their Voodoo Hex vs. the Cardinals that never die. I'm picking the Dodgers to win, not so much because I think they're that much better than the Cardinals, but I just want the Dodgers to win. I don't even like either of these teams, but I guess one of them has to win. Unless they just refuse to get out of each other's way and end up playing a game that lasts forever, which I wouldn't put past either of these teams. So...yeah. That's what I've got for you. Go Dodgefathers.

Voodoo Logic

I've got no particular affection for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but after they wiped the floor with the Mets back in August, I more or less pegged them as this year's team of Destiny. They romped, as I expected, to the NL West title, where they met the Atlanta Braves, a team I never liked, even before they decided they were the arbiters of morality in the Major Leagues. Twice in the last month of the season, they basically took it upon themselves to be Miss Manners and police the behavior of their opponents, pretty much removing any of the joy a ballplayer might derive from playing the game. True, in some instances it may have been justified, but the Braves can just as easily be accused of crossing the line between eye-for-an-eye and acting like a bunch of crybabies.

So, when the Dodgers knocked the Braves out of the Playoffs and really whooped it up afterwards, I have to say I enjoyed it. The Braves have proven themselves a joyless, curmudgeonly bunch that seems to be content to petulantly pick fights to somehow prove that they're the real men in the league, but I could tell all year that they were little more than a Paper Tiger. Against the Dodgefathers, as I've started to refer to them based on their ability to a) win in every way imaginable and b) somehow manage to make their opponent capitulate to them at every crucial moment, the Braves proved unable to keep pace. The Dodgers beat the wildly overrated Kris Medlen in Game 1, and although the Braves won Game 2, the Dodgers blew the Braves' doors off in Game 3 as the series moved to Dodger Stadium and its celebrities and excessively loud music.

Game 4 on Monday Night was more of a nailbiter, but even when the Braves took the lead in the 7th inning, I was pretty sure the Dodgers would come back, and I was almost certain that they would do it against God's Gift to Closing, Craig Kimbrel. That's just how the Dodgers Voodoo works, but there was a little more to it than that. See, nobody ever wants to talk about it, but every time Kimbrel has been put in an important game, he's shit the bed. He did it in the last game of the year in 2011, he did it in the Wildcard game last year, and he did it in the World Baseball Classic. This would have been Kimbrel's chance to get blown up on a big stage, and I hoped it would be spectacular. Unfortunately, he never got a chance to blow the game because his Manager never gave him the chance. Rather than making him man up for a 6-out save, Fredi Manuel Gonzalez brought in David Carpenter and Carpenter surrendered Juan Uribe's truly massive Game Winning Home Run while Kimbrel was left to stand in the bullpen holding his jock.

But whether it was Carpenter or Kimbrel who was victimized, it didn't matter. The Dodgefathers were going to will themselves to win that game last night, it didn't matter how. That's just how this mojo seems to work. We saw the Dodgers do this to the Mets on three consecutive nights in August and it seems like they're up to the same old tricks. Whether it's the Pirates or the Cardinals who show up to face them in the NLCS, they'll probably fall victim to the same hex. It's going to carry the Dodgers all the way to the World Series, and probably to a Championship.