As some of you have noticed, I've been posting my weekly dispatch a bit later than usual. Now that I'm commuting to the city twice a week, I have much time to write during the week (save for homework) and until now I didn't have the foresight to work on the blog ahead of time. In the five-plus years that I've writing this blog, the posting time has alternated between Tuesday morning, afternoon, and evening, and for the time being my latest missive will probably be posted sometime after 9pm Central time. I do apologize for any inconvinience.
I think it's time for some random notes:
+ Two weeks ago, I commented on liberal and conservative anti-Semitism during my rant on the Park 51 controversy. That was some curious foresight on my part, as CNN talking head/professional Twitter creeper Rick Sanchez pretty much confirmed the unfortunate virility of that theory. Luckily, when Jon Stewart --the target of the rant-- addressed Sanchez's firing on "The Daily Show" earlier this week he took the high road rather than predictably vilify the blowhard. This particular controversy will die down, but the ignorance lingers.
+ How's mom? As it turns out, she's made a full recovery. Though the doctors wouldn't say for certain, my family is convinced that her hepatitis treatment caused the stroke. Her physician dropped the treatment in late August after she went cold turkey for three weeks, and she has not shown any stroke-type symptoms since then. Otherwise, she's back to her normal self.
+ Another year, another fantasy baseball title. Though my TV.com team foundered during the stretch, my other team steamrolled to a championship for the second year in a row. I picked up Bruce Chen for my "good" team on the third-to-last day of the season, a strange but justifiable move. Firstly, I wanted to erase Brett Myers' terrible outing on Thursday night. Secondly, I was losing in the ERA category and tied in strikeouts, and I needed a dark horse pitcher who'd been hot in the past month. Thirdly, I could brag that I won my title with three Kansas City Royals on my roster (the others being Butler and Greinke). As it turned out, Chen threw a complete game two-hitter against the typically feast-or-famine Tampa Bay Rays; I had more Ks than my opponent in the matchup but lost ERA by a quarter of a run.
+ Speaking of baseball, here are my divisional round picks: Twins in 5, Rangers in 5, Braves in 5, Phillies in 4. Sure, Yanks-Rays would get boffo ratings, but it'll be nice to see some fresh faces in the league championships. ;)
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Twins in 5 - $99 million payroll vs. $225 million payroll & since the '02 ALCS they are 3-19. Tho it seems the Twins choke against small & big market teams, but there is one other variable: divisional playoff teams never face each other in the 1st round of playoffs & the A.L. Central is soft & the unbalanced schedule produces unfamiliarity. The Twins were only 2-4 against the Yankees this year in the regular season. Here's a long but already amassed & varied selection of '10 division stats:
ReplyDeleteA.L. East
W-L 431-379 .532%. RS 3847, RS/G 4.75
RA 3599, ER 3350, IP 7229.2, ERA 4.17
A.L. Central
W-L 399-411 .493%. RS 3606, RS/G 4.45
RA 3715, ER 3464, IP 7213, ERA 4.32
A.L. West
W-L 312-336 .481%. RS 2644, RS/G 4.08
RA 2713, ER 2481, IP 5774.1, ERA 3.87
N.L. East
W-L 416-394 .514%. RS 3540, RS/G 4.37
RA 3380, ER 3070, IP 7221.1, ERA 3:83
N.L. Central
W-L 462-510 .475%. RS 4159, RS/G 4.28
RA 4492 , ER 4064, IP 8633.1, ERA 4.24
N.L. West
W-L 410-400 .506%. RS 3512, RS/G 4.34
RA 3409, ER 3166, IP 7233, ERA 3.94
The Yankees just had too much talent, too much money, and didn't A-Rod themselves so bad that they lost. I expect the Twins to repeat as Central champs but will exit in the 1st round again, due to the economics of baseball.
Would you be for or against a Best of 7 1st round playoffs? And Instant Replay proved that it didn't fix the main problem in the playoffs: it's the umpires.
I think the MLB Playoffs are fine the way they are. The owners can't add more games without wearing out the players, and the union would never agree to it. It's enough that they play 162 games in the regular season, but a postseason of (maximum) 19 games is just enough.
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