Wednesday, October 21, 2009

CC and A-ROD: END OF STORY

***FIRST, THE GAME***
There isn't too much you can say. The Bronx Bombers finally showed up in the post-season and simply destroyed the Angels. Swisher and Matsui did nothing but that still left 7 other guys pounding Angel pitching. Even when he got into some minor jams, you just had the feeling that CC was going to bear down and snuff the fire out. One thing I don't understand is why the Angels continue to throw pitches within a foot of the plate to A-Rod. He is in such a zone that they should give him an intentional walk even with the bases loaded. The Yanks are on such a roll, I can't see this series heading back to NY.

***SECOND, THE UMPS***
It's really laughable, now. I can see close plays and judgement calls being missed, but there have been obvious calls right out in the open that are being botched. At least Tim McClelland came out and admitted his mistakes, but he would have looked even sillier if he hadn't or if he tried to defend his calls. According to the rules, there will be an entirely new set of umpires for the World Series. You would hope they will be better than these guys. They're so bad, it almost makes you wish for Joe West. Almost.

***THIRD, THE ANNOUNCERS & ANALYSTS***
In a blowout situation, the announcers can only praise the winning team, so I can't harangue Joe Buck & Tim McCarver too much. And they didn't try to defend or justify the umpires mistakes.
I did see an interesting video earlier in the day, when an ESPN anchor and John Kruk discussed pitching CC on 3 days rest. The anchor reminded Kruk that Steve Phillips ("When I was GM of the Mets, I...") said it was silly for the Yanks to pitch CC with 3 days rest, Kruk said, "Well, Steve Phillips is silly to say that." To which the anchor replied, "If you're going to say that, you're going to have to get in line and take a number." I hope the bigwigs at ESPN are listening. Why is Phillips still on the air? Comic relief?

***LAST CHANCE FOR A MANNY STORY***
After he was pulled for defensive purposes last game, instead of sitting on the bench and watching the last inning, he went in to take a shower . While he was busy lathering up, the Dodgers were busy blowing the game. So Manny went into the shower a winner and came out a loser. Of course, Joe Torre, that strict disciplinarian, had the right response: "What? He's done that before. It's no big deal." Yeah, right Joe. It takes a long time to dry that long mop on his head. You remember. That's the mop he was supposed to cut LAST year.

***THE SCHEDULE***
Since the Phillies could end it tonight, and the Yanks could do likewise tomorrow night, Is there any reason that the Series couldn't start Saturday? Even if it went 7 games, the Series would be over on November 1st. But, no, that will never happen. Instead of brushing off the plate, they're going to have to give the umps snow shovels.

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