I’ve caught at least a few innings of all but one division series game so far, in part because I’ve had the time, in part because these matchups are actually sort of interesting. I don’t know if I would have been able to stomach another Red Sox-Angels/Twins-Yankees quartet, and I’m glad the Dodgers aren’t here to be swept again (same for the Cubs). For the last couple of years, I’ve been so soured by the new, horrible ways the Mets have found to remove themselves from contention that by the time the Division Series rolls around, especially two and three years ago, I’ve needed to take a little break from baseball. Just a week, usually, because the League Championship Series are great fun. If I hadn’t taken that week for those couple of years, I would have angered myself for no real reason, and I would have had a month straight of seeing certain smug faces, the faces of winning players to which the Mets seem always destined to lose. Ah well, every year a new year.
The four matchups:
-Minnesota and New York: Beautiful new ballpark in Minnesota, same old crap. No matter the personnel, the Twins can never hold a lead against the Yankees. Usually whenever a point is brought up that Team A is always however successful against Team B, I argue that with such player turnover, any pattern in there is circumstantial, coincidental, generally meaningless. Not so with these Twins and these Yankees. The Twins have been dramatically overmatched recently. Maybe they’re just too nice. Seriously. Even without Morneau and a dominating pitching staff I thought they had a chance to capitalize on the problems of a Yankees team that slouched toward the end of the season. Beating Sabathia was key, and that faded away. Winning yesterday was nearly essential and that’s about it, except for the fact that Pavano’s mustache winning any postseason accolades seems less and less likely.
-Tampa Bay and Texas: Can an entire series turn on one pitch? Of course. But one so early? In Game 1, the 2-and-1 fastball to Carlos Pena from Cliff Lee that should have been ball three but became strike two eventually neutralized the Tampa Bay threat and bolstered the already confident Cliff Lee. Texas’ batters, meanwhile, sat on David Price’s fastball (as they should have, with his throwing it three-quarters of the time) and knocked him around. The wheels fell off yesterday in a game I only heard about. If Texas wins the series, it’ll be their first postseason series win ever, and that’s fine by me. Incidentally, I’m happy for Nolan Ryan’s success there, especially his realignment of the perception that pitchers should be babied, that pitch counts can be more detrimental than helpful (Strasburg notwithstanding).
-San Francisco and Atlanta: Kind of a nice throwback to 1993, with the race they had, plus with Philadelphia in it. But really, Lincecum, man. I looked at San Francisco’s lineup and thought, wow, besides Posey, there’s not a whole lot there, at least in name. In the end, one run had to be enough to win it against October stalwart Derek Lowe, and it was. Lincecum was phenomenal, got more than half his outs by strikeout, and can’t be overlooked despite Halladay’s no-hitter. He and Matt Cain have always been a formidable duo but if the rest of the staff and team falls in line, they really might have something. Maybe not enough to beat Philadelphia, but something. For the Braves, I forgot how much I used to hate them. For a decade and a half they were all I heard about, all I saw in the standings. They were like an alien spaceship from District 9 hovering over Queens, always there, never moving. They had some down years these past few, the Phillies rose to power, and my short memory did all but forgive Atlanta’s stranglehold on the East. Well, that animosity is back now. With Cox retiring and Chipper trying to come back, but certainly near the end, I have a new crop of Braves to despise. Feels good. Feels like home.
-Philadelphia and Cincinnati: What more can you say about Roy Halladay? On that earlier Ryan note about pitching, Halladay threw so far into games, even games he was about to lose, that he gained decisions in 31 of his 33 starts. Now, I hate the Phillies, hate them, hate Utley for his dirty slide against the Mets, hate Victorino for his precious little dual-flapped helmet he stole from Vince Coleman, hate them all for almost every reason. But they’re a great team. Even I can admit that. They’re put together well, striking gold with their homegrown players and having brought in players via trade or free agency that shored up any weaknesses. Halladay’s determination fits this Philly team and makes me reconsider feeling bad for Johan Santana, he of the no-decision. You want wins, pitch for another team. You want wins with the Mets, earn them. Stay in the game. Anyway, I was gunning for a Reds-Giants NLCS but Philadelphia, especially their rotation, just seems too damn good for them not to win the pennant. We’ll see.
‘Til next time.