Choose your baseball champion

[Brewster]

Red Sox, of course. Some, but not all of the reasons:
1) Manny and Youk are back.
2) Nancy Drew has actually started to hit.
3) With so many days off, they will be able to trot out Beckett often.
4) Deep bullpen
5) Ortiz's visits to the doctor for cortisone shots appear to be working.
6) Mike Lowell--team MVP--will continue to smack the ball

[izzarina]

Red Sox, of course. Some, but not all of the reasons:
1) Manny and Youk are back.
2) Nancy Drew has actually started to hit.
3) With so many days off, they will be able to trot out Beckett often.
4) Deep bullpen
5) Ortiz's visits to the doctor for cortisone shots appear to be working.
6) Mike Lowell--team MVP--will continue to smack the ball

You forgot one....Jason Varitek. No reason really...although he's a fantastic catcher, one of the best team captains around, a fairly solid hitter...but really, it's only because I just absolutely love him

[fyffer]

Another reason I feel real good about the Red Sox going all the way to the WS (and then winning it hands-down -- the NL has nothing on the Red Sox) comes from hearing two separate interviews: one from the RS team captain, Jason Varitek, and another from Derek Jeter, the team captain for the Evil Empire (aka the Yankees).

Jason was asked something about whether Beckett felt personally good about being so dominant in Game 1, personal this, personal that, and Varitek replied that no one on the *team* thought that way. They play ball one pitch at a time.

When Jeter was asked a similar question, he responded something like, the important thing was winning one game at a time.

Personally, I think Tek got it right. But perhaps I'm a bit biased (see Avatar at left).

P.S. Though I do think Beckett felt pretty darn good about himself. Did you see that self-satified smirk on his face all night long? He was in the zone, knew it, and knew LA had nuttin' on him. Ever. Period.

[izzarina]

Personally, I think Tek got it right. But perhaps I'm a bit biased (see Avatar at left).

I agree with you...and of course I don't think I'm biased at all

P.S. Though I do think Beckett felt pretty darn good about himself. Did you see that self-satified smirk on his face all night long? He was in the zone, knew it, and knew LA had nuttin' on him. Ever. Period.

He deserved to feel good about himself...and if I pitched my first game of the playoffs that well, I'd have a self-satisfied smirk on my face too. He was just plain great last night. It's times like this that I love being part of the Red Sox Nation

[Walden]

Walden, you might be interested that the Red Sox have a Navajo on their team named Jacoby Ellsbury. His mother is full-blood, and he speaks Navajo on the phone with her and looks forward to going home so that he can speak his native tongue more. I've been watching baseball for 40 years and he's the fastest player I've ever seen.

I think I'll vote for Cleveland. They have a WHOLE TEAM of Indians.

[crookedtune]

I think I'll vote for Cleveland. They have a WHOLE TEAM of Indians.

Yeah, pretty much like Amos & Andy represented the African-American community of the 1940s. BTW, what's this thing about Nike making a special shoe for native Americans? I'm a French Canadian/British crossbreed ---- I haven't seen a shoe designed especially for me! Wussup wit dat?

[Walden]

BTW, what's this thing about Nike making a special shoe for native Americans? I'm a French Canadian/British crossbreed ---- I haven't seen a shoe designed especially for me! Wussup wit dat?

It's because American Indians have a different foot shape.

[Sandy McLeod]

I hear the surf is up!

[crookedtune]

BTW, what's this thing about Nike making a special shoe for native Americans? I'm a French Canadian/British crossbreed ---- I haven't seen a shoe designed especially for me! Wussup wit dat?

It's because American Indians have a different foot shape.

Yeah, actually I found that all pretty interesting. If it was someone other than Nike, I'd salute the gesture.

[rebl_rn]

Oh, well, just wait until next year.

In the meantime:

Steve Goodman (1983)
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request

By the shores of old Lake Michigan
Where the "hawk wind" blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, "Its late and its getting dark in here"
And I know its time to go
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

Told his friends "You know the law of averages says:
Anything will happen that can"
That's what it says
"But the last time the Cubs won a National League pennant
Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan"
The Cubs made me a criminal
Sent me down a wayward path
They stole my youth from me
(that's the truth)
I'd forsake my teachers
To go sit in the bleachers
In flagrant truancy

and then one thing led to another
and soon I'd discovered alcohol, gambling, dope
football, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
But what do you expect,
When you raise up a young boy's hopes
And then just crush 'em like so many paper beer cups.

Year after year after year
after year, after year, after year, after year, after year
'Til those hopes are just so much popcorn
for the pigeons beneath the 'L' tracks to eat
He said, "You know I'll never see Wrigley Field, anymore before my eternal rest
So if you have your pencils and your score cards ready,
and I'll read you my last request
He said, "Give me a double header funeral in Wrigley Field
On some sunny weekend day (no lights)
Have the organ play the "National Anthem"
and then a little 'na, na, na, na, hey hey, hey, Goodbye'
Make six bullpen pitchers, carry my coffin
and six ground keepers clear my path
Have the umpires bark me out at every base
In all their holy wrath
Its a beautiful day for a funeral, Hey Ernie lets play two!
Somebody go get Jack Brickhouse to come back,
and conduct just one more interview
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt
And I'll be ready to die

Build a big fire on home plate out of your Louisville Sluggers baseball bats,
And toss my coffin in
Let my ashes blow in a beautiful snow
From the prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest wind
When my last remains go flying over the left-field wall
Will bid the bleacher bums ad?eu
And I will come to my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue

The dying man's friends told him to cut it out
They said stop it that's an awful shame
He whispered, "Don't Cry, we'll meet by and by near the Heavenly Hall of Fame
He said, "I've got season's tickets to watch the Angels now,
So its just what I'm going to do
He said, "but you the living, you're stuck here with the Cubs,
So its me that feels sorry for you!"

And he said, "Ahh Play, play that lonesome losers tune,
That's the one I like the best"
And he closed his eyes, and slipped away
What we got is the Dying Cub Fan's Last Request
And here it is

Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League

[izzarina]

Oh, well, just wait until next year.

As a Red Sox fan, I can so totally understand. I wanted them to make it as well. They had done so well all season. SIGH! I'm sorry!

[Flyingcursor]

Yankees.

Since I've not always been very nice to Bloomy I will swallow my Tiger pride and say "agree".
After all Dereck Jeter went to my own high school and then to UofM (Go Blue!)

[izzarina]

After all Dereck Jeter went to my own high school....

I am so sorry.

[Jeferson]

My vote for Colorado is the only one thus far, even now after they knocked out the Phillies in a sweep. They don't appear as strong on paper as some of the big powerhouses, but they ended the final two weeks of the season on an amazing roll and I feel they can go all the way! Oh, and that Jeff Francis is a local gem.

Enjoying watching the mighty Yankees sputter,

Jef

[FJohnSharp]

Indians will down Yankees in 5.

Ahem. (It FELT like 5)