Mets Off-Season Recap (So Far)

I was taught from a young age, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all....

SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!!!

Well... Jose Reyes is a Marlin...

Why?
 
This is why:

Well, best of luck in Miami Jose.  I hope you enjoy playing in front of the Marlins fan.

The Future of Jose Reyes

     Sunday, August 7th, 2011, it's early in the game when Jose Reyes leaves the game with pain in his left hamstring. An MRI later would reveal that it is a strain in the hamstring, which is the same injury that kept Reyes out of the lineup for several weeks back around the All-Star Game. Later in the game second basemen Daniel Murphy was taken out with a leg injury and will miss the rest of the season. Monday, both players were put on the 15-day Disabled List leaving Mets fans worried about the rest of their season, not to mention Jose Reyes's MVP caliber season. At the time of this post the Mets are 58-57, 17 games back in the division and 8.5 back for the Wild Card. In a season that has been plagued my injuries (ace Johan Santana out for the year, Ike Davis out since May, David Wright missed significant time in May, Angel Pagan missed time, Reyes in July, and now Reyes and Murphy) I think it's safe to say that the Mets aren't catching the Phillies for the NL East. Though, as 2007 and 2008 told us, anything can happen. But, if the Braves, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks start losing and the Mets keep finding ways to win, it's not impossible to think that the Mets have an shot at the Wild Card (although an outside chance). So, unless by some miracle the Mets make the postseason, the absence of Reyes and Murphy doesn't matter a whole lot as far as this year is concerned. But what about next year?

     There has been a lot of talk regarding Reyes's upcoming free agency. Earlier this season Mets' owner Fred Wilpon bashed Reyes claiming that "he thinks he'll get Carl Crawford money, he won't," referring to the 7-year $142 million contract the outfielder signed with Boston this past offseason. Reyes, by many accounts, is arguably the best leadoff hitter and best defensive shortstop in the game. He is the catalyst to the Mets offense, from 2005-2008 when Jose Reyes scored the Mets had a record of 237-98. He's currently leading the majors in triples (16), 6th in hits (144), tied for 4th in steals (34 with 7 Caught Stealing), and 3rd in Batting Average (.336). Who wouldn't want those numbers out of their leadoff spot? A lot of teams... Reyes has been hampered by injuries since his call up back in 2003. Despite playing 161 games in 2005, 160 in 2007, and 159 in 2008, Reyes played only 36 games in 2009, and was out of the lineup in 29 games last season, with the aforementioned two DL stints this year. So the issue remains, will teams take a risk on a player of Reyes's caliber despite the injury issues? Mets fans hope not.

     Jose Reyes is arguably the most exciting player in the majors, and one of the few things Mets fans have had to cheer about since... well... this.  Despite cries from fans that the Mets should "dump everyone and just start over," I daresay that the majority of Mets fans would like to see #7 finish his career in blue and orange.  But there are many factors that may or may not make this a reality.  The first, and most important is $MONEY$.  With the MVP caliber season Reyes is having its realistic that he will become the next $100 million dollar player.  It's also no secret that the Mets have had their fair share of financial issues over the past year, perhaps only to be outdone by the Dodgers.  So the question is, can the Mets afford Reyes?  Thanks to about $50 million or more coming off the books this year with the expiration of the Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, Carlos Beltran, and Frankie Rodriguez contracts in addition to the recent acquisition of minority owner David Einhorn's $200 million investment (not to mention his deep, deep pockets), it seems possible that the Mets could afford to pay their shortstop.  The second factor (more an addendum to the first) is that of loyalty.  Reyes said earlier this season that he will not give the Mets a "hometown discount."  Well... that sucks.  But perhaps he'll change his mind.  He already spurned super agent Scott Boras's offer to represent him out of loyalty to his current agent Peter E. Greenberg and Associates.  Which is good for many reasons 1) Reyes decided to stick with the agency that gave him a chance at 16 when he first signed with the Mets (perhaps he will stick with the team who gave him a chance at 16), 2) Reyes is the godfather of one of Greenberg's children and Greenberg is the godfather of one of Reyes's children, imagine the awkward conversations that would present.  The third factor is timing.  In June Reyes said he would not talk about a new contract with the Mets until the end of the season.  This can be seen as good and bad.  The bad is, maybe he doesn't want to re-sign with the Mets, maybe he wants to leave the only organization he's ever played for.  The good is, he said this to prevent any mental strain throughout the season (out of loyalty to his team), many players have done this (see Pujols, Albert). Also, the timing of the injuries may have scared a lot of teams (Giants, Red Sox, Angels) away from trying to sign Reyes meaning a return to the Mets looks better and better every day.

     Thankfully, with 47 regular season games left in addition to the postseason, it will be at least another two months before Mets fans have to seriously worry about the future of their superstar shortstop.  But let's hope the Mets front office does the right thing (for once) and prevents this from becoming this.   

Welcome Back!

So... it's been a while since I last posted anything... my bad! But we're back in action and making another attempt at keeping this thing moving!!! So keep an eye out for my latest rants and raves!!!

Why the little things shouldn't bother you

     One of my favorite television shows is The Big Bang Theory.  The theme song is written by Barenaked Ladies which is one of my favorite bands.  For the longest time I could not find the song on iTunes which was very frustrating because it's a catchy little jingle and I wanted it.  Well somehow I managed to find it a week or so ago and have been listening to it a lot, to the point where I've memorized every word.



     And the part in the song that goes "it's expanding ever outward but one day, it will cause the stars to go the other way..." is just mind boggling.  First of all, if space is expanding, what's it expanding into?  If the universe didn't exist before the big bang what was there before?  Assuming that whatever was there before is what the universe is expanding into then that sort of answers one of our questions.  But still, what is it?!  The other question that arises is, if it will suddenly stop expanding and stop contracting, why?  Will it hit a wall?  A wall in space where it can't go any further?  Whats the wall attached to?  Is it really a big gigantic building another bigger universe (sort of end of Men In Black style)?  Baffling.

     All this thinking reminded me of reading the first chapter of my Intro to Astronomy textbook my freshman year of college.  In this chapter it explored the creation and expansion of the universe and how planets formed and how starts formed and died.  Also, that looking into space is really like looking back in time because of the speed of light.  That what you see in space is not whats currently out there.  A star you see now could have died years ago but the light of it not being there hasn't reached us yet.  One really mind blowing piece of trivia is that even with a strong enough telescope (that doesn't currently exist) that because of the speed of light, it is impossible to see past the center of the universe.  This is because the light from the other side of the center of the universe has not yet reached us and because of the rate of expansion of the universe based on the speed of light it never will.  So theoretically, you could witness the big bang occurring with a strong enough telescope but nothing on the other side of the center of the universe because it... hasn't... happened.... yet. WHAT?!?!  I know, ridiculous.

     Really makes you think about the possibility of life on other planets.  Because let's be honest, why would there be billions of stars which each have dozens or more planets revolving around it, and our little blue sphere be the only one that can support life?  And if it is... then why are we so special?  But even if we are the only living planet in the universe what purpose do we have?  What purpose do I as an individual have?  Why does one little argument I have with a friend or family member upset me for so long when really in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter!  Now I'm not saying this to make you go "WHOA! Life is unimportant I'm going to drop out of school or quit my job and just do whatever because nothing matters!"

     No that's not what I'm saying.  I'm saying that the next time you break a plate on the floor, or have an argument with someone close to you, or fail a test, or whatever minuscule problem that isn't life threatening to not sweat it.  Don't worry about it!  You can get over it quickly enough and move on with the rest of your life and it won't mean a thing.  By the time you're 35 you won't remember that math test you failed all the way back in 4th grade.  And how many times did you have an argument with a friend and you were mad at them for weeks and then when you finally talk to them again neither of you can remember why you're fighting.  DUH!  Don't let little things like that wear on you.  It's not worth the aggravation and stress!  Just walk around and take everything in stride with your head held high and a smile on your face.  That's my lecture for the day.  Take it or leave it.  It's just something to think about, and quite mind boggling if you take the time to really do it.

      Before I leave you, let me show you one of my favorite clips from The Big Bang Theory (it's the least I could do after embedding the theme song):

Finally Found a Problem

     After three years my beloved PlayStation 3 kicked the bucket (much to the pleasure of my XBox 360 owning friends).  My system happened to be in the less than half of one percent of the systems out there to receive the YLOD, or Yellow Light of Death.  The YLOD is considered the PS3 equivalent of the 360's Red Ring of Death (RROD).  For those of you unfamiliar with what the YLOD looks like, there's a standby/power light on the front of the system.  Standby is red, power on is green.  Mine would go from red, to green for a second then beep three times, turn yellow, and blink red until you turned off the system.  Uh-oh.  After much Googling I determined it was mostly hopeless.  Apparently this is caused by long term overheating and it melts away the solder on the GPU and/or the CPU chip on the motherboard.  I tried a few "safe" tricks to try and revive my system but nothing worked and I'm nowhere near competent enough to try and solder the chips back into place.  Worst of all, I had a game stuck in there (NBA 2K11, in case you were wondering).  So now what?

     Sony's policy is that their systems are perfect and never break and they will vehemently deny that the YLOD or the problem it's caused by exist.  Interesting, considering that they are the ones that would have had to program the system to show the yellow light in the first place.  But here's where it really sucks.  Unlike Microsoft who decided that since so many systems were dropping like flies all the time and therefore have a more or less free replacement service (plus you keep your hard drive) Sony... doesn't.  Sony apparently makes you pay upwards of $150 to ship your system back in its entirety (wires and all) and then they send you a refurbished system instead of fixing yours.  And if you have a game stuck inside it?  You can get it back... after months of phone calls and emails and begging.  This is all according to the online forums and previous PS3 owner's experiences.  I decided that I would just avoid the headache and put my 80gb system to sleep and go buy a new one. 

     I went out and purchased a brand new 250 gb PS3 Slim (I wanted the 320gb but Target was all out and everywhere else was closed and I didn't want to wait).  It was the Toy Story bundle which was kind of cool.  I got the first two movies on Blu Ray which went to the family and then I kept the Toy Story 3 game.  Now that I officially had a new PS3 I didn't have to worry about what I did to or with the old one.  I needed to get my game out of the console which meant surgery.  I peeled back the "do not peel" sticker that violates your one year warranty (of a three year old system - I think I'm safe) and took the system apart.  It was kind of cool and I meant to take pictures to show you but I couldn't find my camera (sorry).  The disk drive was staring me in the face and after I unplugged it from the motherboard I could see that further unscrewing would be needed.  I removed the necessary screws and opened the first case.  Now I could see part of my disc, but it was still under another inner shell.  Once again I grabbed my screwdriver and four screw later I could retrieve my game!  There was only one more obstacle left.

     I then set off on the quest of trying to retrieve my saved game data from my old system and put it on my new system.  Should be easy enough right?  WRONG!  My guess was that Sony would have designed their hard drives much like XBox, where you can unplug yours from your system and put it in your friends system and play your files on his system.  Makes sense right, basically makes your hard drive a really big memory card like we had for the PS2.  So I took the hard drive out of my old system, took the hard drive out of the new system and immediately noticed something wrong.  The two hard drives were oriented in the opposite direction, one length wise and one width wise.  Not having and engineering skills at all I didn't even bother trying to see how to remedy this and set off on Plan B.  Plan B was to find a working older version PS3 that I could use to put my old hard drive in and do the easy data transfer outlined on the PS3 Slim's box.  But where to find one of those?  It helps to have a neighbor who has one.  So I gave him a call and he let me borrow his system and I took it home and was all excited and switched the hard drives and plugged it in to get the thing going and.... uh-oh.  In order to allow my hard drive to work in his system I had to format it to his system because apparently Sony didn't go the Microsoft method.  So now I have all of my information on a perfectly good hard drive forever stuck in cyber space. 

     While I still would buy a PS3 99 times out of 100 over an XBox 360 (that one other time I'm assuming that every store is out of PS3's and I don't have another choice) I am rather disappointed in Sony for taking their time to release their system in order to make it "perfect" and then still have that problem malfunction irreparably.  I'm confused as to why, when the 360 had been on the shelves for a full year before the PS3 that they didn't look at the 360 and say "wow interchangeable hard drives, there's an idea!" and do it!  So while my brand loyalty to Sony still exists, it's a little shaken.  Here's to hoping the PS4 will be even "perfecter."   

Hollywood time vs. Real World time

     Picture this... you go to bed at night and know that you need to wake up at a specific time the next morning so you set your alarm.  But you don't like the sound of the alarm so you set it to go off on your favorite radio station.  You go to sleep with no other concerns.  After a (hopefully) restful sleep your alarm clock goes off.  Now, tell me what you hear.  More than likely it's the middle of a song or the middle of the morning drive banter.  You wake up, hit snooze, and get up and go about your day.

     Now picture this.  You're watching your favorite TV show or movie, and the main character is lying in bed.  The camera focuses on the alarm clock next to their bed.  It usually says 6:29 or 7:59 or something just at the bottom or top of the hour.  And then it always flips over to the half hour or the hour and the radio goes off.  The main character wakes up to the morning DJ saying "Good Morning! It's 8 am and its a brisk Tuesday morning out there so bundle up."  When was the last time you heard a morning DJ say Good Morning in the middle of his/her show?  They certainly don't do it EVERY hour or half hour.

     People often wish their lives could be like movies: the action, the romance, the general awesomeness.  But I wish my life was like a movie so that when I set my alarm for 7:27, the morning DJ is sitting around waiting for me to wake up so he can greet me with a "Good Morning! It's 7:27..."

Quick Little Rant

     Hello again!  I realize I have more or less neglected this blog for the last (ahem) months, but I'm back!  You're just going to have to deal!  Anyway, I've been working in the seafood department at my grocery store lately and haven't been enjoying it to say the least, mood affected means no blogging (sorry about that).  But anyway, I only bring this up because there's not too many people to talk to in seafood seeing as I'm the only one that works behind the counter on my shift, so there's a lot of time to think.  And one random thought that came to mind is "why is doing a bad job considered 'sub par' and a good job 'above par?'" 
   
     Think about it!  It doesn't make sense!  I realize many words have multiple definitions and par is one of them.  But let's be honest when I say the word "par" the majority of you would more than likely think of the sport of golf.  In which case wouldn't doing a "sub par job" be the best thing you can do?  In golf if the hole is a par 4 and your goal is to shoot par (4) or under(sub) par (3 or less).  So why, when working in the real world would you want to do an "above par(?)" job, that, technically, speaking is bad. 
    
     So next time someone tells you your performance is "sub par," look at them with a smile on your face and say "thank you!" 

What am I going to do for the next five months?!?!

"There it is.  Struck him out.  And for the first time since 1954 the Giants are World Champions."  That was the call from Joe Buck (you can tell he said it because of the lack of exclamation points) that signified the end of the 2010 baseball season.  Sure it signified a great moment for a historical franchise that hadn't won a World Series since relocating from New York 52 years ago.  It also signified the end to a Cinderella season for the Texas Rangers who had never previously won a postseason series let alone actually make it to the World Series.  Both of which they did.  More importantly though, it signified the darkest time of the year for a baseball fan like me.  You see, since April it has been very easy to find something to watch on TV, to read about online, and actually gave me a reason to turn on ESPN and risk watching FavreCenter with the promise of getting to see 10 minutes of baseball highlights.  But let's take a look at the season that was and the offseason to be.

     The 2010 season will forever be known as "The Year of the Pitcher."  First it was Ubaldo Jimenez no hitting the Braves, then it was Dallas Braden pitching to perfection on Mothers Day, Roy Halladay followed suit against the Marlins 20 days later, then it was Edwin Jackson throwing a no-no against the Rays, next a month later Matt Garza no hit the Tigers for the Rays, and of course the capper was the no hitter against the Reds in the ALDS, Roy Halladay's second of the season.  Oh, and lest we forget Armando Galarraga's imperfect game on June 2.

     Everyone who knows baseball remembers this story.  Armando Galarraga takes the mound against the Indians and retires 26 straight batters.  Indians Rookie Jason Donald hit a hard grounder to Tigers first basemen Miguel Cabrera who flipped the ball to Galarraga covering first to make the final... I mean, second to final out.  Umpire James Joyce, later voted by the players as the best umpire in the major leagues, called McDonald safe on a bang bang play.  Replays later showed that Donald was actually out and Galaragga had indeed thrown a perfect game.  Galaragga's reaction was priceless.  No argument, no temper tantrum, just a wry smile, standing in disbelief.  Tigers manager Jim Leyland came out to argue, but with no policy in place for instant replay, the argument went no where.   

     To be fair to Joyce, watching it in real time, it is a very close play.  But, the second you slow it down, it becomes blatantly clear that Donald was out.  The best part of this video (or any video you watch of this moment) is the reactions.  Of course we've already mentioned Galarraga's reaction.  Then there's Cabrera, already in full celebration mode when he suddenly screeches to a halt and realizes the game must continue.  He puts his hands on his head in astonishment.  There's the members of the Tigers dugout with their jaws dropped, hands on their heads, astonished.  The shot of the Tigers front office, hands on head, astonished (there's a trend here).  And then listening to the broadcasters who have the luxury of instant replay questioning "why was he safe?"  My favorite reaction of all is Donald's.  Here he is, a rookie.  The nine hitter in the lineup.  It's a forgone conclusion that he won't get a hit with this much pressure.  And sure enough he's called safe.  While I cannot claim to be a professional ballplayer, having spent 15 years of my childhood playing the game I can tell you honestly that, as a runner, you know when you're safe and when you're out.  Donald knew.  Look at his reaction.  He's as astonished as everyone else that he was called safe.  He also knows in that split second that he will go down in history as the only base runner in the infamous "imperfect game."  This game is much more important than the aforementioned no hitters because of the sportsmanship displayed as a result.

     First off, a perfect game is one of, in not the greatest accomplishment for a pitcher and to have that taken away from you on a blown call would infuriate most men.  Galarraga has to be commended for his composure after seeing his name erased from history.  Joyce also has to be commended for openly admitting that he "flat out blew the call" after reviewing the play in the locker room, something a professional sports official NEVER does.  And then the following day, when Joyce suited up as home plate umpire and Leyland sent Galarraga out with the lineup card was an emotional moment for both.  Galarraga showing no hard feelings and Joyce actually breaking down and crying.  Crying... real tears... on a baseball field... you never see that!  Except for, maybe, this:

     There are only two things that could have made this moment more interesting.  First, among all the sportsmanship exhibited the only piece missing would be Donald talking to Joyce after the play and telling him that he was in fact out.  This is not entirely unprecedented, while I cannot exactly recall the game, team, or player, I seem to recall a ruled home run that was in fact a ground rule double and after the opposing manager argued the player that hit the "homer" actually pleaded his case for a ground rule double.  However, I can't say I blame Donald, he's a rookie looking to make his case to stay in the majors.  Arguing that he was out wouldn't necessarily cement his place on the team.  Perhaps if this had been a veteran slotted for the Hall of Fame, they may have had the courage to do this.  Oh well, water under the bridge.  The other act that could have rectified the situation came from the big house.  Within a day or so of the blown call, Commissioner Bud Selig came down with the ruling that the call was not going to be changed "to protect the integrity of the game."   Many claimed that changing a call to change the result of a game has never happened.  To which I present to you the 1983 "Pine Tar Incident" in which a call was reversed to maintain the "spirit of the rule."  Is the "spirit of the rule" in regards to safe and out, not to call batters who are actually out, out?  So Selig could have reversed the call and not come under too much fire.

     Although, this whole situation could have been prevented if Major League Baseball came up with a proper way of implementing... INSTANT REPLAY.  After making home run and boundary disputes reviewable a little over a year ago the debate has continued: should MLB increase the use of instant replay?  This has split baseball fans, players, coaches, and broadcasters down party lines that make even the House of Representatives look like a unified group of friends.  There is a definite cause for concern with an increase in instant replay.  Such as, how do you avoid the imminent delay in a game that already lasts upwards of two and a half hours.  Problem solved.  Looked at the NFL, they use instant replay.  A standard televised NFL game lasts somewhere around 3-4 hours.  Since implementing instant replay, the NFL has not noticeably increased the average time of the game to the point where it upsets fans, broadcasters, or players.  And look at the numbers.  From 1999 when the NFL began using instant replay to its 10th anniversary in 2008, there were 2,067 challenges and 916 reversals (Source).  So why wouldn't a league want to implement instant replay to correct that many wrong calls.  And that number doesn't even include the number of blown calls that weren't challenged because they weren't relevant to the outcome of the game at the time.

     But what is the best way to use instant replay in baseball.  Here is my idea:  much like the NFL each manager will be given two challenges.  However, unlike the NFL one challenge can only be used in the first six innings and the other can only be used in the last three innings.  If the first challenge is not used in the first six innings, it will not carry over into the latter innings.  A challenge can only be used in a game that is currently within the same rules that  allow for a save.  Balls and strikes will not be reviewable except to settle at bats that are worked to a full count with two outs.  Pretty much any call made on the base paths (settling the Armando Galarraga incident), fly balls that are in dispute of being trapped rather than caught (or vice versa), issues of fair vs. foul, and issues of fan interference will all be reviewable.  The way in which plays are reviewed will also be tweaked.  The new system will be a hybrid of the NFL and NHL system.  The crew chief will review the play using the same "solitary confinement hood" as the NFL.  Then, similar to the NHL where they send the video to the League Office, the "video review official" will aid the crew chief in making the correct decision.  Unlike the NHL, baseballs review official will be in the officials booth in the stadium.  The only problem with any plans of replay are how to penalize an challenge that doesn't get reversed.  In football you lose a timeout, in baseball there are no timeouts.  This is a question that I, unfortunately, do not have an answer for.  But I believe that my system, if put into place, can fix the problem that has been presented: an increase of blown calls.  There were a lot of them in 2010.  Many of which directly affected the outcome of the game.  It's almost as if the umpires were purposely blowing calls as a message to the league saying "give us replay."

     But unfortunately, the powers that be don't seem to eager to expand instant replay.  That isn't likely to change as long as Bud Selig is commissioner.  Although, I can't criticize him too much, he's not in favor of realignment which means he's willing to prevent this.  But there were many more exciting things to talk about in the 2010 major league season.

     Lets look at Opening Day.  And of course I'm referring to "the play by which all future plays will be measured" and the play that inspired "the Buerhrle Meter."  I'm talking about this.  What pitcher does that?!?!  What pitcher CAN do that?!?! What player, of any position, does that on Opening Day?!?!  That's what we call going ALL out.  

     In July there was All-Star Weekend.  A fairly mediocre Home Run Derby that was won by David Ortiz.  It was nice to see Big Papi rebound from his one home run month of April and win the Battle of the Bombers to silence all okay, most, of the critics.  But the best part of the break was the National League finally breaking their 0-12-1 streak to claim their first Mid-Summer Classic since 1996.  This was due in large part to Brian McCann's two out three RBI double and nine NL pitchers combining for just one unearned run.  Oh, and as it turns out, this is the first time the NL has had home field advantage in the World Series since before the 2002 ASG tie.  I'm sure Brian McCann is so happy he could help the Giants out like that!

     There were also a number of milestones in the 2010 season, at the plate, on the mound, and miscellaneous milestones.  Among the most notable: Andruw Jones and Albert Pujols hit their 400th homers; A-Rod hit his 600th; Derrek Lee hit his 300th homer, scored his 1000th run, and recorded his 1000th RBI; Carl Crawford stole his 400th base, hit his 100th triple, and his 100th homer run.  On the mound there were the numerous no-hitters but there were also a number of other milestones.  Roy Halladay, Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, CC Sabathia, Javier Vazquez and Roy Oswalt each recorded their 150th wins with Oswalt, Lowe, and Hudson reaching their 1500th strike out.  Trevor Hoffman recorded his 600th save (the only closer to reach that mark) and Billy Wagner added his 400th save.  For a full list of milestones, go here.  

     The biggest surprise of the 2010 season was the postseason.  As always it was a tight race for the NL Wil Card with three teams competing for the last two playoff spots on the very last day of the season.  If all the cards had fallen properly there would have been a three way tie forcing two one game playoffs.  But, unfortunately, it was not to be.  Then there were the teams that participated in the 2010 postseason.  It was a foregone conclusion from day one that the Phillies and Yankees would make it to the postseason barring a collapse of Mets-ian proportions (Yes, I can laugh at my team!).  But let's take a look at the 2009 participants.  From the American League: Yankees, Angels, Red Sox, Twins.  And from the senior circuit: Phillies, Rockies, Dodgers, Cardinals.  Now for the 2010 teams: the Yankees and Twins returned for the second straight year joined by the Rays who returned to the postseason after making it to the Series in 08 and the Rangers who are one of the remaining teams to never have won a World Series.  In the NL the Phillies reached their 4th straight postseason and were joined by newcomers: the Reds, Giants, and the Braves.  The Braves of course had that amazing run in the 90s but have since not been able to return to the playoffs.  The Giants made the Series in 02.  The Reds... well they were good in the 70s and had a good year in 1990, but have been found in the basement, or near the basement, ever since.  I always like when new teams make it to the playoffs.  After seeing the Yankees win three titles in a row from 98-00 it was great to see the new millennium start with different winners in every year and no repeat winners... until the Boston Red Sox won it in 04 and 07... the Red Sox of all teams!  

     If you had told me at the beginning of the season that the Reds and Rangers would make it into the postseason and all but run away with their divisions I would have laughed in your face.  I'm glad I was wrong!  I was hoping that the Yankees would fizzle and miss the postseason, but beggars can't be choosers.  However, they didn't clinch the division, so that was cool.  And I always feel bad for the Twins.  They seem to make the postseason every year, or at least a majority of the seasons, and can't win a game.  Course they always seem to have to play the Yankees in the first round and that could contribute to the 11 game postseason losing streak.  They haven't won a game since the 2004 postseason.  The Reds are lucky that the Pirates are in their division or otherwise they would be thought of as one of the worst NL Central teams in recent memory.  And them BOOM, this year they win 91 games!  Who saw that coming?!?!  But the real standouts were the Giants and Rangers, who, as you may have noticed, made it to the World Series.  The old adage that good pitching beats good hitting, was definitely true of the 2010 World Series.

     The Giants pitching staff held the Rangers to just 12 runs in 5 games, 7 of those in game 1.  For perspective the Giants scored 12 runs in the 8th inning of all five games. The Rangers bats that were so alive against the Yankees in the ALCS couldn't do anything against the rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Lewis, and Bumgarner.  Texas hoped that Cliff Lee could be as good as he was against the Yankees when it came time to take on the Giants but after both he and Lincecum were shaky in Game 1, Lee couldn't bounce back as well as "the Freak" in Game 5.  And the Giants won their first title since moving to San Francisco.  

     And as Joe Buck made the call and Edgar Renteria was named MVP after batting .412 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs (all with torn bicep muscles) I realized that I had nothing to keep me busy for the next five months.  I have no baseball games to occupy my nights.  Luckily its that time of year when my shows are back in season.  But there's still an absence.  So how will I fill this?  By speculating where the free agents will go of course!  Stay tuned for that sometime next week.  I will also have up, in the near future, my Year in Review for my beloved New York Mets and where they should go from here.  Stay Tuned!