From the moment the season ended, my picks were the Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series. Happy to see both of them are advancing.
I've been accused of being disloyal to the Red Sox, but I don't see it that way. With all the pitching woes they had this year, it's surprising they tied for first place in the AL East, tied with the Yankees who had a poor pitching year as well. (Yankee fans like to think that their team won the East, but both teams had the same record, 95-67, [as did the Angels] with the Yankees being granted first place on the technicality that they won one more game against the Red Sox than vice versa. You could look at it from the other side, that the Red Sox won one more game over all other opponents than the Yanks.)
While I would have been very happy to see the BoSox repeat, they won the one we've all been waiting for. No other World Series win will ever mean as much as 2004.
So the Red Sox won last year, the Angels won their first ever in 2002, a happy occurrence (I was rooting for them all through that post-season), and the Yankees have just won too damn many Series. Time for someone else to have a chance. An attitude I know mystifies some people. As a gender, women tend to place much more importance on the issues of fairness and inclusion, the team over the score, which is not to say women are not competitive, just not as whacked about it as men too often are.
The Braves just can't quite ever quite make it quite to the finish, 14 straight division titles with only 4 pennants and 1 World Series win. But I can't feel sorry for Braves fans because, to me, the Braves are the National League version of the Yankees, shoved down our throats, at least here on the east coast, with a glaring lack of personality, corporate crews.
Houston is hard to get excited about, although I know Ron Briley would love to see them at the Dance some day and I'd like Ron to have that opportunity. But the Astros have Roger Clemens and I love seeing him thwarted. Yes, I blame the Rocket for the Red Sox' loss of Game 6, not Bill Buckner, because Rog displayed too much hubris by running down into the clubhouse to shave so he would look good on camera when he was interviewed, post-game, as the winning pitcher in the game that finally brought the Series crown back to Boston in 1986.
I'm not terribly familiar with the current White Sox, though I have seen some of them play with Charlotte, but the few I know I like, A.J., Timo Perez, and Jermaine Dye. My friend Statman would love to see his team win the Series, and I want that for him.
The fans of Chicago, both teams, have been denied a World Series win even longer than the Red Sox fans were, though without a doubt the BoSox fans have suffered the drought with more angst. Since the Curse was broken for the Red Sox in 2004, it would be fitting for the White Sox to finally win again in 2005, and should that happen, look for the Cubs to reach the pinnacle in 2014.
1 comment:
I know the Braves are a bit shoved down people's throats on the east coast, but you have to agree that the braves of 2003-2005 (and maybe even dating back to 2001) are much different than the clubs of the 90s.
They have had, what, an 80 million dollar pay roll so they had to make smart decisions, they couldn't just buy anyone they wanted (they made A big signing) they'd bring in an over and out pitcher or two that Leo would fix up, and then the rookies!!! No one expected them to win in 04 or 05. Ethics all the way up and down the system.
The professionalism (aka stoicism) of previous years is gone--they were hungry, grateful, and passionate this year, and over the last few years. They're a lot more likeable than they used to be. Yes, I am a braves fan, but I have developed a whole new respect for the ballclub.
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