The World Series Is Here!!!!

The 2014 World Series begins tonight!!  Magic words, indeed.

Once upon a time, the World Series was THE biggest event on the sports calendar.  In the minds of many, it still is the biggest event in sports, but even the most die hard baseball fans have to concede that that is no longer the case.  The reasons for that are, as Chuck Noll might have put it, many and they are great, but that is the subject for another time.  For now, however, let's talk about this upcoming addition of the Fall Classic.

I cannot remember a time when the playoffs leading up to the Series have been as dramatic and exciting as the two wild card games and four series that have produced the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants as opponents for the Championship.  (OK, I concede that one of those Wild Card games wasn't all that dramatic.  Traumatic, maybe, but not dramatic.) I can only hope that the World Series will continue serving the drama that we have seen thus far, and I am truly hoping that this one goes the distance and produces what to me is the greatest event in sports: a Seventh Game of the World Series.

I usually develop a rooting interest in one team or another over the course of a post season.  Oft times, that rooting interest is produced by a fervent dislike for one of the teams.  Not so in 2014.  In my mind, there a lot of reasons to root FOR either team, and not any compelling reason to root AGAINST either of them.  All things being equal, I will usually choose the National League team to root for, and the Giants give an additional reason, for me anyway, in that they are seeking to win their third World Series title within a five year period.  As I detailed on this Blog in post a few days ago, such a feat has been done before, but it is, apart from the New York Yankees, still a somewhat rare feat.  The last time it was done by a non-Yankee team was when the Oakland A's won three consecutive Series from 1972-74. So, the historical excellence of such a feat intrigues me.

The Royals, on the other hand, are a great story. A small market team that has been in baseball's wasteland for 29 seasons gets a wild card spot, and precedes to compile an 8-0 record in the Playoffs to make the Series.  I mean, who can't root for an underdog like that?

So let's just go to the Cliche Closet and just "root for a great Series".

Okay, you want a prediction.  I'll give you the Giants to win in six games.  The biggest reason for that will be the ace pitcher of the Giants, Madison Bumgarner.  He has been completely dominant in the post-season, and I believe that he will be the difference between the two teams.  I also believe that this simply amazing run of the Royals cannot sustain itself to produce another four wins, and there is the chance that KC manager Ned Yost will do something to screw things up.

One more thing.  There has been much gnashing of teeth among the baseball purists over the fact that, because the both LCS ended early, there has been a four and five day layoff for the teams, and that this will somehow cause the players to get stale and rusty leading up to the World Series.  Are you kidding me?  Both the Giants and Royals have played over 170 games since April to lead to this point, and in four off days, they have all gotten, fat, lazy, and unprepared?  Please, give me a break on that one, or should I just say...

PLAYYYYYY BALLLLLLLL!!!!!!

Hall of Famers?

Please take a look at these statistics for two, unidentified ballplayers.  Each played in the same era, with nine years of their respective careers overlapping.

	Player A	Player B
Career:
Seasons	14	18
At Bats	6,503	7,030
Hits	1,730	1,921
Runs	971	1,105
Home Runs	374	370
RBI	1,159	1,274
Batting Average	0.266	0.273
OPS	0.848	0.846
Average/162 Games:
At Bats	572	550
Hits	152	150
Runs	85	86
Home Runs	33	29
RBI	102	100
Batting Average	0.266	0.273
OPS	0.848	0.846

Remarkably similar, wouldn't you say?  

A couple of more bits of info.  Player A was a six time All-Star.  Player B was an eight time All Star. Player A led his league in HR and RBI once.  Player B never led his league in either category.  Neither ever won an MVP Award, although both of them received MVP votes in multiple seasons.

When Baseball-Reference.com lists the "Similarity Scores" for other players with these two, they are deemed to be similar to each other and to such players as Jack Clark, Boog Powell, Willie Horton, George Foster, Frank Howard, and Greg Luzinski,  All pretty good ball players but none of them Hall of Famers.  Nor, I might add, are any of the other "similar" players whom I didn't bother to list here.

So, my question to you is - if you were a Hall of Fame voter, which guy would you choose to vote a place in Cooperstown's Hallowed Hall?  Player A? Player B? Both? Neither?

For my own part, I have no great emotional stake in this one way or another, and I don't normally get fired up over who is or is not in any particular Hall of Fame.  If a guy gets in, good for him, and if he doesn't, I don't lose sleep over it.  As for the two guys above, I'd have no issue with either of them being enshrined, but at the same time I say that there must be a reason why the experts, the HOF voters, have been continually passed them over, year after year.

Anyway, what do you think?

Book Review: "Scribe" by Bob Ryan

Bob Ryan is an award winning sportswriter and columnist for the Boston Globe.   He has been on the job for the Globe since 1970 (although he is semi-retired now).  I first read Bob Ryan sometime back in the early 1970's when he wrote a basketball column for The Sporting News.  He is probably most known these days for his appearances as a talking head on such ESPN shows as The Sports Reporters, Around he Horn, and Pardon the Interruption.  I also hear him on a weekly basis on the podcasts of Tony Kornheiser's Washington DC radio show.  Kornheiser refers to Ryan as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and few other sportswriters would argue the point.

Ryan has finally gotten down to writing a memoir, "Scribe, My Life in Sports".   It was released earlier this month, and I just finished reading it.  As one would expect from Ryan, it is well written, informative, and entertaining.  You an almost hear his voice talking to you, as he would across the desk on PTI or Around the Horn or while having a beer with you at your favorite sports bar as you read it.  

While at the Globe, Ryan spent three separate turns as the beat writer covering the Boston Celtics, so a lot of the book - a LOT - is spent talking about the NBA in general and the Celtics in particular.  If I have on criticism of the book, that would be it, but that said, it was still enjoyable.  Lots of good stories about Red Auerbach, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Dave Cowans and other Celtics, and I loved his tales of covering the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, and his take on the "Who's Better, Michael or LeBron?" arguments.

Some great stories about his youth in Trenton, NJ, and talking about his father, who died when Ryan was 11 years old.

I also like how Ryan dismisses the notion of sportswriters who always say that they don't care about who wins or loses, they aren't fans, and that they always "root for the story".  Well, Ryan calls b.s. on such pretensions, and makes no bones about the fact that he is a Sports FAN, as well as a sports WRITER.  And he is, indeed, the quintessential American sportswriter, so who is going to argue that he is incorrect?

Good book by a great writer.

Hail to the Giants!

Another come-from-behind-to-tie-it-up-and-win-it-with-a-walk-off-homer to decide the National League pennant last night.  

Giants 6 - Cardinals 3.  Giants win series, four games to one.

As I was at the Pitt football game last night, I didn't get to see what appeared to be a classic Bumgarner-Wainwright pitcher's duel, and a bunch of home runs.  I did get to the car after the football game in time to hear the bottom of the ninth inning, just in time to hear Travis Ishikawa - TRAVIS ISHIKAWA!!!! - go Bobby Thomson and deliver the pennant to the Giants.

Really, these games in the WC, LDS, and LCS leading up to the World Series....could they possibly have been any better or more exciting?

(Well, yeah, the Pirates could have beaten the Giants in that Wild Card game, but I digress.)

Here's hoping that the Giants-Royals World Series will not be anti-climactic, and that the tension, suspense, and terrific baseball will continue...and that it will go seven games.

Allow me to cogitate a bit before giving you a revised prediction (I had called Cardinals and Royals prior to the LCS).  Game One is Tuesday night.  I will have it for you prior to the first pitch.

Pitt 21 - Virginia Tech 16

Okay, this is what I saw last night.

The Pitt Panthers, in desperate need of a decent showing and a victory after three straight losses, took on Virginia Tech, and behind solid, if not terrific, performances by Chad Voytek, James Conner, and Tyler Boyd, not to mention a defensive performance that kept Tech without a touchdown for the first 56 minutes of the game, the Panthers delivered up a 21-16 victory at Heinz Field last night.  Yeah, there were penalties and some poor turnovers, but it was an entertaining and exciting (perhaps a little too exciting near the end) football game.  I had a great time and went home happy.

Then, this morning I read Ron Cook's column in the Post-Gazette and realized what an awful, terrible and sloppy game it was, and how Pitt was just plain lucky to win.

Huh?  

I mean, was I even at the same game "Cookie" was at?

********

This is my second year as a season ticket holder for Pitt football, and generally speaking, I enjoy the experience of attending college football at Heinz Field.  I enjoy the company of the people in the ticket group, and while Heinz Field is no PNC Park, it is a comfortable place to watch a game, and the University does a nice job in making an effort to make game days a real "College Football Experience".  That said, going to a game on a Thursday night, just takes away a little something from that experience.  I'm sure it would have been different had Pitt not been coming off a three game losing streak, and a drizzle throughout the night didn't help.  Primarily though, I just think that college football games should be played on Saturday afternoons.

H2P!!!

Hail to the Royals!

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals for nailing down their first American League pennant in twenty-nine years after completing their four game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles last night.

This run that the Royals have put on in the post-season has been amazing.  I mean, 8-0!  Who does that?  Well, since this is the first time it has ever been done, I guess the answer to that question is "nobody".  The really amazing thing is how close the Royals came to elimination in the Wild Card game thanks to an amazingly dumb move by manager Ned Yost when he yanked James Shields in the fifth inning with the lead, which was promptly blown when he brought in a starting pitcher who had never pitched in relief, let alone in a lose-and-go-home playoff situation.  His team bailed him out that night, and has proceeded to boot out the Angels and Orioles without losing a game.  I look at Yost standing in the dugout and he just seems totally clueless to me, but, hey, what do I know?  Right now, he seems, to me at least, to be the luckiest guy in the baseball world.

I spoke with my brother Jim the other night prior to game three.  Jim follows the American League much more closely than I, and he frankly stated that the Royals "bubble would burst" that night and that they wouldn't win another game after that.  I'm hoping that he didn't bet on that one.  He also stated that there was no way that the Royals were a better team than either the Angels or the Orioles, and by any objective measure, he is no doubt correct, but here they are in the World Series.  Baseball is an amazing sport in that it takes 162 games to identify the best teams, yet the sport's championship is decided in short bursts: short series that can end in only three or four games.  Is that fair?  Maybe not, but in the words of Hyman Roth, "This is the business that they have chosen".

And speaking of managers, most of the so-called experts will tell you that Buck Showalter is one of the very best managers in the game (and in comparison to Yost, he is Miller Huggins and John McGraw rolled into one), yet I was intrigued by his demeanor throughout the series with the Royals.  I don't want to say he seemed disinterested, but he seemed almost emotionless in the dugout.  He seemed to make all the right moves, and despite being swept, his team was in every game and could easily have won any of this games with the Royals.  I guess he figured that Durocher- or Weaver-like tantrums weren't going to do any good, so I suppose we should salute him for bringing some level of maturity to the dugout.

********

Over in the National League, the Giants took a three to one series lead with another thrilling, come from behind win over the Cardinals, and could close it all out tonight.

None of the series played so far have been pushed to the maximum limit, which would seem to indicate a strict lack of drama in the MLB Playoffs this year.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  With the exception of our own Pirates' 8-0 loss to the Giants, these playoffs have been exciting and thrilling almost beyond compare.  Extra inning games, walk off wins, lead changes, come from behind wins, great pitching performances, all sorts of managerial strategies, both good and bad ...these playoffs have had them all.  They have been totally and completely compelling in my view.

Yeah, I know that they start too late, take too long to play (four hour, nine inning games are becoming the norm), and are telecast on fourth tier, backwater cable outlets, but if you have been watching them, you have been seeing some absolutely terrific baseball games.  I am sorry that I will miss the Bumgarner-Wainwright match-up tonight due to a date with the Pitt Panthers at Heinz Field, but I look forward to the balance of that series (no, I am not writing off the Cardinals until I actually see the the final nails pounded into their coffin), and the World Series ahead.

The "Blue Collar" Cliche

There is a place in the world for cliches.  Regular readers of The Grandstander know that I use them all the time, and, in fact, the reason that cliches become cliches in the first place is because they are usually stating a basic and obvious truth.

All that said, I would like to make a motion that we retire the age old cliche about this-or-that sports team being a bunch of "blue collar guys" or that this-or-that athlete is a real "blue collar guy".  In an in-game interview with Giants pitcher Jake Peavy during last night's NLCS game, Peavy left no cliche unturned when he spoke of how the Giants always "come to play" and about how they will always "show up and grind it out"...that kind of fun drivel, but he concluded by saying, and I may not have it exactly correct, that "we (the Giants) are a bunch of blue collar guys who show up everyday with our lunch buckets and thermos bottles" and so on and so forth.

Marilyn, whose father actually WAS a blue collar guy (an electrician at J&L Steel), and who knows what baseball players make in terms of salaries, looked at me and said "Do you think any of those guys actually know what a lunch bucket and thermos bottle actually is?" 

So, yeah, let's put that old "blue collar ethic" cliche to rest, once and for all, at least where it applies to professional athletes and sports teams in America.'

(Having said that, I'll bet you a dollar that such a reference will made by the network announcers at least once during today's Steelers-Browns game.  After all, Pittsburgh and Cleveland are two "rust belt" cities that were built by the "blue collar work ethic" that both teams will no doubt be displaying his afternoon.)