2011 Baseball Thread

[Mister Tee]

I'm even more busy than usual attending to my wife's health, but I feel like I ought to at least note my team's clinching of both a playoff spot and the AL East in the course of yesterday's double-header. It was nice to see the team go for the jugular, after last year's lackadaisical "we wouldn't mind winning, but the Wild Card's just as good" stumbling. They've had the best September record of any of the AL East contenders, and shocked the Rays twice yesterday, the first time in a game featuring only one really major-league Yankee pitcher (the great Rivera), and the second with maybe a final career curtain call for Hip Hip Jorge.

Of course, having the division's best recent record doesn't sound like a great distinction when the competition includes ESPN's 2011 World Champion Red Sox, who look like they're so spooked they just might not win another game till April. I came up with a semi-facetious theory in the late 00s, that the Red Sox only had success during the administrations of Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush -- two presidents who won fluky elections, were re-elected by the smallest margins to that date, flagrantly violated civil liberties, promoted overseas wars and demonized the patriotism of anyone who opposed them, lost both houses of Congress in the sixth year, and left office with a deep recession that led to the opposition party taking over the White House. Now that Bush is gone, though, the team seems to have reverted to its nearly-century-long tradition of failing in grisly ways. If the Red Sox miss the playoffs -- still a long shot, but only because the end is so close -- it'll be hard to take "2004!" taunts from them seriously for a very long time.

[Sonic Youth]

I imagine that there are many Boston'ers rooting for the Yankees (for the first time in their lives) to win these next few games so they can salvage the Wild Card slot. But I bet they're so disenchanted they don't care anymore. My heart really goes out to them, and I'm not being sarcastic. What an epic collapse.

Now, Mister Tee, lets hope Texas ends up with a better record than Detroit so the Yanks can hold off on meeting with that Verlander motherfucker as long as possible.

[danfrank]

I won't go so far as to say anything nice about the Yankees as a team (wink), but as an individual what Rivera has done is beyond impressive. As a National League Wester I've seen Trevor Hoffman, whose record Rivera just beat, pitch a lot more than I've seen Rivera. When Hoffman was on top of his game he was practically unbeatable, but he hasn't been as consistent as Rivera, especially in his later years. As regular season guys the two are statistically pretty comparable. Rivera's postseason play, however, will no doubt be his greatest legacy. No one can compare to him. I really admire the way he calmly goes about his business without a lot of flash (unlike, say, a certain bearded closer whom I probably wouldn't like so much were he playing for another team). It takes enormous mental and emotional strength to be successful as a closer, and Rivera is the most successful of all time, so I will join you in saluting him.

As for this season: Oy! My Giants are hanging by a thread but have been out of the race for a few weeks. Last year they scored few runs but scored the key ones when they needed them. This year they haven't scored at all. It's really the worst offensive team I've ever seen, where every opposing pitcher looks like Cy Young. It's been a waste of what remains a phenomenally good pitching staff. I keep watching them, though, and hoping for one of those late-season miracles. They've won eight in a row, so who knows?

As for the other races, well, there haven't been many exciting ones this year. The best I can hope for is to see the Red Sox lose the AL wild card race. So, Go Rays! I'm ready for the postseason, and will be rooting for the underdogs.

[Mister Tee]

We're about a week from the end of the regular season, so it seemed about time to kick off the post-season thread. Clearly we won't have the enthusiastic participation we had last year from the long-deprived Giants' fans. But we will have FilmFan's Tigers, presumably Sonic's & my Yanks, and someone will actually win the AL Wild Card (as the Red Sox, ESPN's unanimous pre-season pick, come perilously close to re-enacting their 1978 collapse).

But today, I want to start by saluting the great Mariano Rivera, who surpassed the lifetime record for saves and became, by niggling figures, what he has long been in most folks' eyes: the greatest ever at his position. Mo hasn't just performed at as high a level as any closer has, but he has maintained that peak level for a phenomenal 15 years -- a time during which most teams have gone through half a dozen closers, minimum. Even now, at 42, he's easily in the discussion for top closer in the league, as he has been, essentially, every year of his career (excluding his break-in year, '96, when he was an otherworldy-great set-up man). I know, as a Yankee fan, I've been phenomenally blessed throughout my lifetime. But whatever good fortune sent this kid from Panama our way may be the greatest gift the team has ever received. I guarantee the '96 championship wouldn't have happened without him, and you can make a case that all that followed was significantly due to him. Viva Mo!