there was nothing clsoe about the score. The game sucked. The crowd was dead. The life was sucked out of the Angels after that 3 run first inning. Lackey wasn't awful, but he wasn't great either. Cabrera had the big home run but it really didn't make any difference.
This team is not going to advance if Vlad and Figgins don't start hitting. They made it past the yankees without them, but to make it past the White Sox, and even if they do, this team stands no chance against St. Louis.
TJ
PS This series is by no means over, being down 2-1 in a best of 7 is just like being down 1-0 in a best of 5 which the angels have overcomed many times.
That being said htey need to start making the opposing pitchers throw more pitches! This is the THIRD consecutive night that a white sox pitcher has made it into the 9th inning. Thats just not going to cut it.
Not all the time! Believe me, it was sheer hell from 1982-1996 and wondering if there'd ever be a year of glory again. I intend to write a book about those lean years of the Yankees some day, because they haven't gotten the kind of proper treatment like the infamous "CBS decade" of 1965-75 has.
I intend to write a book about those lean years of the Yankees some day, because they haven't gotten the kind of proper treatment like the infamous "CBS decade" of 1965-75 has.
Is that the other dark time for the Yankees? After the 1964 WS when nothing happened?
Yes, that was the first major drought period personified by the likes of Horace Clarke and Rich McKinney. The difference between 65-75 and 82-95 though was the collapse in the first instance was rapid and the latter was a case of a slow decline that took seven years for them to bottom out.
I have to say that another reason why I'd like to see the White Sox do it is because having lived five years in the Chicago area recently (and four years of college there a decade previously) I always felt more for the White Sox and how they got (and continue to get) second-rate treatment compared to the Cubs. I can even remember when they were on the verge of moving to St. Petersburg in 1988 but a deal at the last minute saved them. So remembering all of that, it would be far more appropriate that they be the ones to end Chicago's pennant drought.
Old Comiskey Park had without question the best food of any ballpart ever. A veritable ethnic food carnival, even if the rest of the facilities were horrible.
The one thing I can't stand about the White Sox though is their TV announcing crew. Whenever I read some NY media critic ripping John Sterling on Yankee broadcasts, my instant rejoinder is to point out that they should try enduring Hawk Harrelson and his former partner Tom Paciorek on a daily basis, and then they'll find out what BAD baseball announcing truly is. And even with Paciorek gone, Harrelson is still as bad as he ever was.
I'm also rooting for a White Sox pennant, but there's still part of me that believes they'll pull an '03 Cubs and collapse.
I don't know Eric, Bill White and Phil Rizzuto were awful announcers, too. "Holy cow, it's a home run! No, it's a ground out to the pitcher. That was so close to being out of here! Roy Smalley really got a hold of that one, Bill!" Ugh.
Couldn't disagree more on Scooter and White, though truthfully they were at their best when the late Frank Messer was part of the mix as a three man announcing team. Rizzuto-Messer-White had the best on-air chemistry of any broadcast trio I ever heard and they all complemented each other perfectly. But after Frank was unceremoniously dumped after the 85 season the two of them had lost their anchor and were never as good as they'd been before.
Kudos to you, Eric. You really are a loyal Yankees fan for liking Rizzuto/White! I always thought the Braves crew were excellent.
The Angels are in serious trouble! It's tough for them to be competitive when the offense can't even knock out the opposing starting pitchers. Why they got rid of Troy Glaus is beyond me, as Figgins is strictly a regular season player, like Err-Rod. But 3-1 isn't insurmountable, as last year's BoSox proved, being down 3-0 and all. (Still can't believe more wasn't made of that Yankee collapse)
I learned to love baseball from Rizzuto-Messer-White and to love being a Yankees fan. They'll always be the best local team with me. The only Yankee team to match them in the years since was John Sterling and Michael Kay on radio from 92-01 and ever since they went their separate ways with Kay going to TV, Yankee broadcasting hasn't been quite the same either. The worst Yankee announcing team I ever suffered through, bar none, was Hank Greenwald and Tommy Hutton in 87-88.
Difference between last year and this year is that the White Sox have a rested bullpen to use in case the series gets prolonged whereas the big choke job by the Yankees was the result of their bullpen in Games 4 and 5, and then having nada in quality starting to come back to.
So far, the post-2002 Yankees are shaping up to be what the 1983-88 Yankees probably would have done had there been a wildcard in those days. In that span, the Yankees had the best record in baseball with nothing to show for it, but if there'd been a wildcard they would have made postseason at least three times. But the Dave Winfield Yankees lacked important depth in starting pitching as well as the gravitas of players who could rise to the occasion in the clutch pennant situation. Winfield was really for all intents and purposes the equivalent of A-Rod. It's just that his feuds with Steinbrenner enabled Winfield to as time went by, get a total free pass on his inability to live up to his big money contract beyond good regular season stats. Whenever someone brings up the time Steinbrenner referred to Winfield as "Mr. May" they cite as an example of how mean and cruel Steinbrenner is, but the blunt truth is that Steinbrenner was right. Winfield choked in his only post-season (1981) and did nada during the pennant stretches the Yankees always folded in, in subsequent years.
Personally, I'm glad Winfield didn't go into the HOF as a Yankee and that his number wasn't retired because he wasn't a Yankee in the same class as Reggie.
Given that the Astros (then the Colt 45's) and Mets both were born as franchises in 1962, and that Astros have yet to win a World Series championship, I will root on for the Astros. This might be the last chance the "killer B's" Biggio and Bagwell might have to win it all.
I'm also impressed by, and have been rooting for the "pale hose" as well. It should size up to be a really exciting World Series matchup.
But no Oscar for "Best supporting actor" as Gumby for Jim Edmunds though..
The Cards lost some respect with their bellyachin' re: The Ump's strike zone. The Angels were victimized by a far greater screw-up and Scioscia and co. carried themselves like gentlemen.
It is refreshing to see the 'Stros doing well, but I'm especially pleased that the Northeastern Empires are absent this year.
At least you're an equal opportunity hater when it comes to the Red Sox as well as my team! That's more than I can say for the talentless hacks who give the art of earning honest money a bad name when they get books published with titles like "Diary Of A Yankee Hater"; "Devil In Pinstripes"; "Yankees Suck" etc. and proceed to depict the Red Sox as pure and odor-free in their conduct over the years and just victims of the big bad Yankees and the "unfairness" of it all.
I'm worried about Beltran,oh yeah, the Astros did not seem to miss him at all this year.
The Mets also expected big things after shelling out the bucks for bust Bobby Bonilla.
They are still paying millions to Art Howe, and Mo Vaughn to sit home and watch the games. (Am I the only one that cringes every time ex Met GM Steve Phillips is in the booth broadcasting games as an "expert?")
At least you're an equal opportunity hater when it comes to the Red Sox as well as my team! That's more than I can say for the talentless hacks who give the art of earning honest money a bad name when they get books published with titles like "Diary Of A Yankee Hater"; "Devil In Pinstripes"; "Yankees Suck" etc. and proceed to depict the Red Sox as pure and odor-free in their conduct over the years and just victims of the big bad Yankees and the "unfairness" of it all.
I've never really cared for the Red Sox, but what really got me despising them was the "Yankees Suck!" mantra I was bombarded with during the '03 ALCS. It made the bombastic Yankee fans I'd met seem tame by comparison. As a matter of fact, the Yankees always had my respect even if Steinbrenner was a meddling jerk (IMO). But guys like Jeter, Bernie and Torre had my respect for being class acts. I found no such "honor" in people like Manny Ramirez, who was arrogance beyond belief. I hate his baggy uniform, too.
Oh, and I'll also never forget the absolute no class behavior displayed by Red Sox fans at (then KC Royals) outfielder Jim Eisenreich, when they used to chant "Shake!" at him because he was prone to seizures.
I always thought the Braves crew were excellent.
