Finger Food

Measuring up

During the past month it's been very difficult not to get excited about the Phillies. They have scored runs with impunity, won games at nearly a 1993 rate all while the bullpen corps established itself as one of the better groups in the game. When it comes to rallying for a lead in the middle to late innings before the relievers come in and nail it down, the Phillies are as good as any team in baseball. In the process, the Phillies have established themselves as the best team in the NL East and baring a collapse of New York Mets-like proportions, the Philllies should return to the playoffs in 2008. But that's where it gets complicated. Yes, the Phillies are a playoff-caliber team. And, yes, the '08 Phillies are better than the version that slipped into the playoffs during the 2007 season. Those two points are given. But what complicates things is that the Phillies are now forced with a pretty difficult decision that must come to a conclusion by the end of next month. What are they in this for? Do the Phillies simply want to improve on last season's short ride through the playoffs, or are they going for the rings, trophies and champagne? Sure, it sounds like an easy question to answer. Every player on every team - even the ones who secretly know they have no shot - say they won't be satisfied unless they win the World Series. That's the whole point of playing, they say. But the facts are much more austere. Some teams just aren't built for the long haul of a 162-game season. Others are built to win a division or a wild-card berth, but flame out in the playoffs. But only a couple of teams every season are built to go all the way. With some clubs the brass gets together to compile the components that will carry the team during late October. Sometimes those teams even go on autopilot for the first few months of the regular season. The Phillies saw firsthand what those really good teams look like when the Boston Red Sox came to town for three games this week. The players and the management got to see how the Red Sox set up the Phillies' pitchers, patiently waiting for a pitch to bash for extra-base hits or base-clogging walk. The Red Sox made the Phillies hurlers work and then they exposed all their little, tiny weaknesses. If that wasn't enough, the Sox pitchers worked over the heart of the Phillies' batting order and held Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell to a combined 1-for-24 (.042) during the final two games of the series and 6-for-36 (.167) during the entire three-game series. No, the Red Sox didn't come right out and embarrass the Phillies. After all, Cole Hamels pitched splendidly in the Phillies' 8-2 victory last Monday where Howard, Burrell, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino spurred the offense. Instead, the Red Sox treated the Phillies as if they were a tiny winged insect there for amusement and all they had to do when they got finished plucking the wings off one-by-one was stomp on them. "Obviously they've been successful a long time and there's a reason why. They have some good players over there," Utley said. "I thought we played well the first game. We faced a tough pitcher the second game and today we had some opportunities we didn't capitalize on." This was the Red Sox with Jon Lester and Justin Masterson and not Josh Beckett or Dice-K. It was the Sox with Sean Casey and J.D. Drew leading the way and not sluggers David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez or Kevin Youkilis. It wasn't exactly the B-team... that was the Phillies. Better yet, it was a Phillies club that came away from the series with a handful of lessons. "The first night, we went out and won and everybody's talking about the Phillies finally proving they can do it. Then, we lose the next two," Victorino said. "It's not a learning process. It's just a matter of seeing what they have. "I think we match up with them. I know we can." Thinking it and doing it are two different things. As a result it has become quite clear that if the Phillies are interested in playing the Red Sox again this season, they need to make an addition or two. That's because the only sure thing the Phillies have in the starting rotation is Hamels. After that, it's pray the bats are hot. Fortunately for the Phillies and their fans, management was hip to the team's weaknesses all along. In fact, reports have surfaced which indicate the team has dispatched scouts specifically to watch the Indians' C.C. Sabathia and the Padres' Greg Maddux pitch. Both players could be available for a trade before the July 31 deadline, though the price won't be cheap. Meanwhile, the proverbial gauntlet has been thrown down for Opening Day starter Brett Myers, who thus far has limped to a 3-8 record with a 5.58 ERA. Both manager Charlie Manuel and assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. have stated that the big right-hander has to improve quickly... Or what? Fortunes turn fast in baseball. Suddenly the Phillies have lost three straight series and six out of their last nine immediately on the heels of a stretch in which they won 12 of 14 games. Plus, the first-place Los Angeles Angels head to town this weekend. Like the Red Sox, the Angels are another tam built for games to be played when the leaves have dropped from the trees and the air takes on a chilly bite. Have we seen the real Phillies or are they still on the way? "I'm concerned, I'm not worried," Manuel said. "We got three more games on this homestand. I'd like to see the Angels come in here and finish this homestand real well. I'd to see us get some things going."

Wait, do these games really count?

Apparently, Opening Day for the 2008 baseball season is today or tomorrow or soon. The reason why I can't pin it down in my head is because the Red Sox and the A's will play the opener in Japan. The Red Sox, in case folks have forgotten, play their home games in Boston. Though the so-called New England "hub" is home to all sorts of people from all over the world, it hasn't picked up and moved to Japan. It's still up there north of Cape Cod and south of New Hampshire last time anyone checked. Oakland, the home of the A's, remains in the United States of America, too. Out in California's Bay Area, Oakland has the reputation as being the ugly cousin of next-door neighbor, San Francisco. But the truth is Oakland was named by Rand McNally as having the best weather in the U.S. And according to the 2000 U.S. census, Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. Boston is also home to the most ravenous baseball fans in the country where the big-moneyed Sox have supplanted the deep-pocketed Yankees as baseball's best team to hate. Perhaps winning the World Series twice in the past four years gives a team that kind of reputation. The A's, meanwhile, are the opposite of the Red Sox when it comes to buying the best players needed, but helped establish the blueprint for how modern baseball front offices are run. In essence, the Red Sox have cribbed the A's and general manager Billy Beane's notes only they have the cash to back it up. However, in the early 1970s, the A's were the most dominant and disliked team in baseball. With stars like Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, and Vida Blue, the A's won the World Series three years in a row with flamboyant and controversial owner Charlie Finley pulling the strings. Plus, the A's went to the World Series three years in a row from 1988 to 1990 and have been to the playoffs five times since 2000. Needless to say the Red Sox and A's have some impressive recent history and are clearly a pair of the better franchises in all of baseball. As a result, the fans in both cities are some of the savviest in the Major Leagues, which means a ballgame in Oakland or Boston - especially an Opening Day game - is as good a venue as any place in the world. So why would the Red Sox and A's want to play the first batch of baseball games of the season in Japan? Well, actually they don't, but the players got paid an extra $40,000 to make the trip to help Major League Baseball internationalize a game in a country where it already is king. The Japanese are as baseball crazy as any country in the world and the Japanese big leagues are more than just a proving ground for potential Major Leaguers. It would be one thing if the Major League teams never staged exhibitions in Japan, but that's not the case. In fact, U.S. ballclubs have been touring Japan since the 1930s when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig barnstormed through the Far East. Recently, big league All-Stars play Japanese All-Stars in a series up and down the island where they are just as well known as they would be in most big U.S. cities. After all, the American game is followed fairly closely in Japan. In fact, Japanese media outlets send teams of reporters to cover the dozens of Japanese players toiling away in the big leagues. So why "internationalize" something that is just as ubiquitous there as it is here? Is MLB out-smarting itself again? Don't you hate when that happens? More importantly, the A's are losing a pair of home games, which to the fans in Oakland is kind of like a kick in the crotch. Though there are 162 games in the baseball season, each one of them is precious and has equal importance. Think about how much wear-and-tear a team goes through by crossing the International Dateline in all-day flights just to play a game that feels like an exhibition but really counts toward the bottom line. And that's not just the bottom line in the standings, either. It also counts in the stats ledger where ballplayers' fortunes and futures are decided. Let's just say a pitcher goes out and gets shelled because his body clock is all messed up from such a long trip. Or maybe he can't shake the lethargy because he's used to eating grits and home fries at the Waffle House on the way to the ballpark every morning and because he's out of his tried-and-true routine, the pitches have no snap, his ERA balloons and he gets released at the end of the season. Is that fair? And is it fair to assume that a Major League Baseball player knows there are no Waffle Houses in Japan. Come on... what was the first thing Kyle Kendrick asked the press when they played that little prank on him about getting traded to Japan? You remember -- it was about the food. "Do they have good food over there?" Yeah, but don't expect the International House of Pancakes to be truly international. So the A's and Red Sox opened the season in Japan and here in the U.S. fans are getting the shaft... again. Worse, the A's are losing two games in their home ballpark, which can't be replaced for any amount of cash. Coming up: The Beijing Olympics followed by Jimmy Rollins. Later, we go to the ballpark.

When pelicans attack

There is a story out there about how all sorts of crazy, goofy accidents have beset certain beat writers covering the Boston Red Sox. For instance, Seitaro Shimomura, who covers the Red Sox for the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, turned up late for a game against the Mets because a pelican flew into the windshield of his rental car. I wonder if he bought the insurance. Having just returned from Florida a week ago and seen some things up close, those pelicans look like they can do some damage. Pelicans are big, sturdy and have those tremendous beaks. The look mean, too, and if approached they spread their wings and stand on one foot like Daniel-san in The Karate Kid. My guess is if a pelican makes it through the windshield alive, look out - chances are it will peck your eyes out. Those things are like flying wolverines... pretty, elegant, wolverines. While Shimomura nearly had his eyes gauged out and missed part of the Sox-Mets Grapefruit League game, the Providence Journal's Joe McDonald had his laptop smashed to bits when a foul ball blasted into it. No big deal there, though. Foul balls fly into the press box and sometimes they hit computers. Sometimes those computers break. It happens every day, which is why baseball fans are lucky to even read one sentence about the local nine. It's also why baseball writers are qualified to operate teletype machines at the regional Western Union office. Also, if you ever need something notarized like a deed, a will or a marriage license, a baseball writer can handle that, too. Anyway, a busted laptop - You know, no big whoop... we live in a land where laptops are easily replaced. Besides, it's not like Joe was the victim of a pelican attack. Foul balls are hardly an "exclusive" in baseball, but a pelican attack is no laughing matter. Still, these stories are only getting out there because it's the Red Sox. Really, in Boston they cover the writers nearly as much as they cover the baseball team. They are really into navel gazing up there. After all, here in Philadelphia we have had a beat writer attacked by the Baltimore Oriole mascot [ed. note: it was the writer's "special lady"]. Another guy (maybe the same dude) took a header between innings of a game at RFK when he dashed onto the field in some sort of Thomas Jefferson outfit. That was a crazy thing, yet no one talked about that. It happened and there were all sorts of witnesses, but it didn't make the national Internets. Nope, no one ever talked about those things. *** Wisconsin-ite Bon Iver plays tonight in Austin's SXSW fest. *** There are about six weeks to go until the Pennsylvania Primary and I'm already tired of hearing the so-called pundits referring to the Commonwealth as "Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other and the rest is Alabama." Come on... that's just like those tired, old "booing Santa Claus" bits that folks like to trot out for Philadelphia. It's so boring. Please, from now on try referring to Pennsylvania as "Pennsyltucky." It flows better. *** Hey! Do pushups. Also: If you are a distance man, don't worry so much about stretching... unless it's a quasi-regular yoga regime.

The price of success

Here's a question: Did it matter that the Rockies had eight days off before facing the Red Sox in the World Series? Did it matter a little, a lot or not at all? Oh sure, the Rockies players will say that the vacation in between the NLCS and the World Series didn't matter because they got beat by a better team, but that doesn't really answer the question, does it? Did it make a bit of difference? Rockies' manager Clint Hurdle told the Fox sideline boy after his team was broomed out of the World Series that there was no way to quantify how an eight-day layoff affected his team and kind of threw aside the question in order to give the Red Sox credit for winning the series. But Hurdle did not say that the layoff didn't have an effect on his team. Why not? Because it did. Since Cactus League games began during the end of February, the Rockies played nearly every day. In fact, the Rockies, like every other Major League team played 162 regular-season games in 180 days, plus a wild-card playoff the day after the season, plus three games of the NLDS against the Phillies with just two days off, plus four games of the NLCS with just one day off. That's 170 games and the longest break some of the players on the team got was the three days for the All-Star Break. Though three days doesn't seem like much to some, that break is like an oasis in the middle of a desert to guys who are used to going to work every single day of the week. And it's not just baseball either. Research shows that runners and endurance athletes start to lose some fitness in as little as 48 hours of inactivity. Some rest is good to help the body recover, but imagine taking eight days off after playing every game for a month as if it were do-or-die only to be given eight days off before being told to go out there to play in the biggest set of games in your life. Good luck. Worse it's kind of rude... the Rockies got all worked up and became the biggest story in baseball by winning 21 of 22 games. But then, because the Indians nor Red Sox could figure things out, Hurdle and the guys were left to wait. It was like... vasocongestion. Yeah, that's what it was. After a heroic and historic run, the Rockies could never shake the lingering sensation of heaviness, aching, or discomfort when the Series finally came around like an old man trying to figure out what to order in a deli. It just wasn't fair. With the aid of hindsight, there's no question that the Rockies this season and the Tigers in 2006 were penalized for doing their jobs too efficiently. I'm not saying the Tigers or the Rockies would have beaten the Cardinals or the Red Sox to win the World Series, but the fact that both clubs breezed through their respective league playoffs so easily proved to be a determent while the winners of the last two World Series were aided by playing seven-game series in the league championships. The Tigers in '06 and the Rockies in '07 were penalized for being too successful. How can this be fixed? Is there anything Bud Selig and his gang can do to make it so teams that win with ease can have a fair shot in the World Series? I don't know. It seems as if the baseball playoffs are full of imperfections and everyone seems to appreciate the quirkiness for it. In other words, the Rockies and Tigers just have to take their beatings and enjoy them. But how about this: In the instance where a team like the Rockies and Tigers rip through the league championship only to wait a week or more for their future opponent to take care of business, allow the team that's waiting for it all to be sorted out to get home-field advantage in the World Series. I don't know if it will solve anything, but it's better than giving the home-field advantage to the league that wins a meaningless, midseason exhibition that features players that will be at a Sandals resort when the playoffs roll around. No, having the last at-bat in the first two games of the Series won't be significant - after all, it didn't help the Tigers too much last year - but at least it's a gesture or a reward. It might not be much, but if a team has to sit around like the rest of us and listen to those dudes from Fox, they ought to get something out of it. *** The latest issue of The New Yorker features a very riveting story on Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez. It's written by Ben McGrath and is another sprawling, erudite pieces that the magazine always seems to run, but it's definitely worth the time and effort. The Extortionist: Scott Boras, the Yankees' bête noire, has changed baseball forever. Meanwhile, ESPN's Peter Gammons calls out Boras and A-Rod for the timing of the announcement that they had chosen to opt out of the deal with the Yankees: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVS04n3Q3mI&rel=1]

The new dynasty?

So we live in a world where the Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series. Meanwhile, the White Sox, a club that had not won the Series since 1917, took the one of those titles during the Red Sox current "dynasty." What's next? Will the Cubs finally win a World Series? Let's not get ahead of ourselves... Anyway, two out of the last four counts for a pretty good dynasty these days. Though Major League Baseball does not have parity like the anti-American NFL, generally any team can win the World Series if they follow the Sox and Yankees' formula. Since the institution of the Division Series in 1995, three teams have won the World Series more than once (the Yankees; the Marlins; and the Red Sox). That means any team can do it at least once... or at least get there. Only four teams (all of them expansion) haven't won a pennant: the Mariners, Devil Rays, Rangers and the Nationals. Of that four, one team clearly is not interested in winning. The Red Sox second World Series title since 2004 makes one wonder what the hell they were doing for the 86 seasons between 1918 and 2004. No, there was no curse and people who believe in curses and jinxes in sports should put on their pink hat, untuck their jersey, sit down quietly in the club box seat, ask the waitress for another "Lite" beer and wait for the wave to come around again. The real reason it took the Red Sox 86 seasons to win the World Series? They were stupid. What's the Phillies' excuse? It approaching three decades since the Phillies' last (and only) title, which would be worrisome if the Pirates had won since 1979, the Giants since 1954, the Indians since 1948, and, of course, the Cubs since '08. Ty Cobb was in his second full big-league season when the Cubs last won the World Series. So how can the Phillies do what the Red Sox have done? Do they have to clean house of all the old-time thinking and get some new, fresh ideas like the Red Sox did? Do have to continue to build the team around their offense and the uber-cozy confines of their home ballpark? Hey, if the Rockies can win with good pitching at Coors Field, why can't the Phillies do the same thing at Coors East? Or do they need a manager like that Terry Francona who seems to always push the right buttons for the Red Sox over the last four seasons? Why can't the Phillies ever get a guy like that? *** As the World Series entered the late innings last night, whipper-snapper sideline dude, Ken Rosenthal, announced that Alex Rodriguez had opted out of his contract with the Yankees and will become a free agent. No surprise there. Some say the Phillies could take a big step at building a World Series contender by signing Alex Rodriguez as the team's new third baseman. In theory, this is a nice idea, but for one season of A-Rod, the Phillies would likely have to pay him 30 times what they paid Ryan Howard in 2007. Besides, if I had to bet, A-Rod will not be playing third base in 2008... he'll be playing shortstop for the Red Sox. The Red Sox third baseman will likely remain Mike Lowell, who priced himself out of the Phillies' budget last night by being named MVP of the World Series. If I had to guess, the Red Sox other free agent on the Phillies' radar, Curt Schilling, will likely return to Boston for one more run, too. Schilling and Lowell would (could?) fit in nicely with the Phillies, but maybe Joe Crede could fit in nicely at third base as well? As far as starting pitchers go, free agents Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon and Carlos Silva will cost more than $10 million per season. Is that out of the Phillies' budget? If it is, perhaps Randy Wolf would be a bargain at $8 million or so? Better yet, maybe the Phillies can work on a trade. Next: The Trials are four days away, which means we will have all sorts of running stuff coming this week. This past weekend I watched the Centennial Conference cross-country championships, which (damn-near literally) took place in my back yard. If there were such a thing as a cross country video game, the designers should have pixelized Baker Field. That's because the rain on Friday and Saturday morning turned the course into the quintessential mess, featuring standing water, slippery mounds and mud so deep in spots that when I ran the course on Saturday afternoon, my foot was buried up to my calf. Though the World Series is over and the baseball season has come to an end until the middle of February, we will continue to write about baseball here. I'd write about sports outside of my realm (baseball, running, cycling, etc.), but I'm not so interested and I'm not good at faking it.

913

The new dynasty?

So we live in a world where the Red Sox have won two of the last four World Series. Meanwhile, the White Sox, a club that had not won the Series since 1917, took the one of those titles during the Red Sox current "dynasty." What's next? Will the Cubs finally win a World Series? Let's not get ahead of ourselves... Anyway, two out of the last four counts for a pretty good dynasty these days. Though Major League Baseball does not have parity like the anti-American NFL, generally any team can win the World Series if they follow the Sox and Yankees' formula. Since the institution of the Division Series in 1995, three teams have won the World Series more than once (the Yankees; the Marlins; and the Red Sox). That means any team can do it at least once... or at least get there. Only four teams (all of them expansion) haven't won a pennant: the Mariners, Devil Rays, Rangers and the Nationals. Of that four, one team clearly is not interested in winning. The Red Sox second World Series title since 2004 makes one wonder what the hell they were doing for the 86 seasons between 1918 and 2004. No, there was no curse and people who believe in curses and jinxes in sports should put on their pink hat, untuck their jersey, sit down quietly in the club box seat, ask the waitress for another "Lite" beer and wait for the wave to come around again. The real reason it took the Red Sox 86 seasons to win the World Series? They were stupid. What's the Phillies' excuse? It approaching three decades since the Phillies' last (and only) title, which would be worrisome if the Pirates had won since 1979, the Giants since 1954, the Indians since 1948, and, of course, the Cubs since '08. Ty Cobb was in his second full big-league season when the Cubs last won the World Series. So how can the Phillies do what the Red Sox have done? Do they have to clean house of all the old-time thinking and get some new, fresh ideas like the Red Sox did? Do have to continue to build the team around their offense and the uber-cozy confines of their home ballpark? Hey, if the Rockies can win with good pitching at Coors Field, why can't the Phillies do the same thing at Coors East? Or do they need a manager like that Terry Francona who seems to always push the right buttons for the Red Sox over the last four seasons? Why can't the Phillies ever get a guy like that? *** As the World Series entered the late innings last night, whipper-snapper sideline dude, Ken Rosenthal, announced that Alex Rodriguez had opted out of his contract with the Yankees and will become a free agent. No surprise there. Some say the Phillies could take a big step at building a World Series contender by signing Alex Rodriguez as the team's new third baseman. In theory, this is a nice idea, but for one season of A-Rod, the Phillies would likely have to pay him 30 times what they paid Ryan Howard in 2007. Besides, if I had to bet, A-Rod will not be playing third base in 2008... he'll be playing shortstop for the Red Sox. The Red Sox third baseman will likely remain Mike Lowell, who priced himself out of the Phillies' budget last night by being named MVP of the World Series. If I had to guess, the Red Sox other free agent on the Phillies' radar, Curt Schilling, will likely return to Boston for one more run, too. Schilling and Lowell would (could?) fit in nicely with the Phillies, but maybe Joe Crede could fit in nicely at third base as well? As far as starting pitchers go, free agents Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon and Carlos Silva will cost more than $10 million per season. Is that out of the Phillies' budget? If it is, perhaps Randy Wolf would be a bargain at $8 million or so? Better yet, maybe the Phillies can work on a trade. Next: The Trials are four days away, which means we will have all sorts of running stuff coming this week. This past weekend I watched the Centennial Conference cross-country championships, which (damn-near literally) took place in my back yard. If there were such a thing as a cross country video game, the designers should have pixelized Baker Field. That's because the rain on Friday and Saturday morning turned the course into the quintessential mess, featuring standing water, slippery mounds and mud so deep in spots that when I ran the course on Saturday afternoon, my foot was buried up to my calf. Though the World Series is over and the baseball season has come to an end until the middle of February, we will continue to write about baseball here. I'd write about sports outside of my realm (baseball, running, cycling, etc.), but I'm not so interested and I'm not good at faking it.

PSA for Red Sox fans

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X7Zi_p-5ww&rel=1]

The first rule of Fight Club...

Here’s my Saturday night: Sitting downstairs with my laptop, remote and 1,529 Comcast Digital Cable channels, I found myself drawn to two different shows that were on simultaneously. One was Game 6 of the ALCS where the Red Sox bludgeoned the Cleveland Indians thanks in part to a pair of players that were once tied to the Phillies. One, of course, was the pitcher Curt Schilling, who came up big in another huge game. The other was J.D. Drew, whose first-inning grand slam pretty much ensured that there was going to be a Game 7 on Sunday night. As the rout carried on into the middle innings I flipped to the epic movie, Fight Club where I found myself riveted to that scene where Ed Norton pummels the holy living hell out of Jared Leto in a hard, spare concrete basement. Folks who have seen the film agree that it’s a pretty ridiculous scene. It’s where Norton as Tyler Durden beats Leto, a soldier to the “movement,” with an unbridled rage and fury that leaves the onlookers to ponder the meaning of the beating. With Leto prone and Norton forcing his knees onto his chest to gain leverage in order to rain blows onto his face well past the breaking point, the camera switches to Brad Pitt, Norton’s alter ego, who simply shakes his head with disgust at the sight of Norton's handiwork. Clearly Norton/Durden didn’t "get it" at all, Pitt/Durden implied. Nevertheless, Leto returned to the so-called “Project Mayhem” undeterred. With his face grotesquely swollen and most of his teeth scattered back on that basement floor, Leto’s character chastises Norton in a later scene for not sticking with the Nietzsche/Robin Hood principles of Project Mayhem. The message seems to be that Leto is clearly a "believer" who realizes that everyone has to take a beating every once in a while. Norton, on the other hand, is conflicted about his role as leader of a “guerrilla terrorist of the service industry.” So as I’m flipping back and forth between the two beatings I was trying to figure out if I could apply the scene in Fight Club to either the Red Sox or Indians. Are the Red Sox like Leto in that they remained resolute in achieving the goals of Project Mayhem despite the beatings in three straight games that left them on the brink of elimination? Or are the Sox more like Norton, who in the end of the movie has to destroy his alter ego in order to (re)gain control of himself? Quickly I realized that my inner dialogue was just talking bleep. I was just looking to spice up a Saturday night spent in front of a laptop and TV. Yes, it was all a stretch. The Red Sox and Indians is just another baseball series that will come down to one, final Game 7 tonight. Fight Club is nothing more than a movie based on a novel that, according to the author Chuck Palahniuk, is about “a lonely person looking for some way to connect with other people.” I suppose that’s one way to look at it. I also suppose that when it comes down to it I was looking for some way to make the ALCS meaningful and relate it to the esoteric – yet mainstream – pop culture. And I failed. It just doesn’t work. Be that as it may, it should be interesting to see the Red Sox Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch in Game 7. Remember when he first arrived in the U.S. last spring? Remember how he was supposed to be the second-coming of Walter Johnson because he could pitch 900 innings a season and throw 300 pitches a game with his wacky, gravity-defying “GiroBall?” Yeah, well, Matsuzaka went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA in 32 starts in 2007 for the Red Sox. From a statistical standpoint, Matsuzaka is less like Walter Johnson and more like Paul Byrd but with more whiffs per nine innings. Speaking of Paul Byrd…

Game 5: Three outs to go

When the Red Sox were three outs away from beating the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, I woke up my then six-month old son and made him sit there with me to watch it end.

I thought the proper fatherly thing to do was to make sure that my son could say that he watched the Red Sox win their first World Series since 1918. After all, the last time the Red Sox had won the World Series, my grandmother was my son’s age.

But like my 88-year old grandmother, my son was born into a world where the Red Sox were the defending World Series champions.

Tonight, my son is 2½ and fast asleep. I’m not going to wake him even though the Cardinals are three outs away from winning the World Series after Jeff Weaver mowed the Tigers down in the eighth and picked up his ninth strikeout of the game. These days it’s just too hard to get him back to sleep, especially with the threat of monsters moving into hiding places in his room while he watches the end of the game.

Besides, he’s already seen the Red Sox win it all. I’d never seen it until my mid-30s.

Generally, though, I don’t root for teams, but I’ll admit that I’m happy for Scott Rolen. He’s my favorite player to watch and as I’ve stated on these pages before, if my son is ever interested in playing baseball and wants to learn how I’ll tell him to copy No. 27 for St. Louis.

It would be much more fun if I could say No. 17 for Philadelphia.

But there is no sense re-hashing all of that.

St. Louis sits on the verge thanks to eight errors by the Tigers. I suppose that’s how this series will be remembered. The Pirates in 1979 was the last time a team made errors in each of the first five games of the World Series. But unlike “The Family,” the Tigers didn’t have the fire power – or Willie Stargell – to overcome their ineptitude.

Three outs to go. The boy is fast asleep.