MLB Stupid, CFB Stupid

Just a couple of sports rants here. Perhaps "annoying" is the more appropriate word for one of the two  mentioned in the post's title, but I'm sticking with "stupid."

Major League Baseball: They decided to add a second Wild Card team in each league, determining that the two Wild Card teams in each league would have a one-game playoff to decide which team moves to the Division Series. Then, they decided to rush to implement it this year. First, it allowed mediocre and underachieving teams like the Diamondbacks, Angels and, yes, Phillies to pretend they were actually contending at the end of the season.

Then, because they rushed it into effect this year, when the schedule had already been set and there was little flexibility for fitting another playoff game into the schedule, it was decided that the winner of the Wild Card game would start the best-of-five Division Series at home instead of flying to the city of their opponent, the team with the best record in the league. So that team got punished by starting with two games on the road followed by three at home, instead of the customary two home, two road, final game at home. I didn't realize it at first but the same rule applied to the Division Series involving the other division winners as well.

The result of this, besides a World Series between the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants (Tigers in 5, by the way)? Home field disadvantage. There have been 33 games in the playoffs so far, and the road team has won 17 -- more than half. The two Wild Card games went to the road teams, and in the four Division Series the road teams went 11-9. Some sanity was restored in the League Championship Series as home teams won 7 of 11 games.

College Football: This is the one that's more annoying, and part of my problem is that, because I didn't go to college, I have no true rooting interest. I can sort of root for the local schools, but that only goes so far. What's made things worse is the big schools' switching conferences in recent years, chasing after more and more money. It's watered down or ended a number of traditional rivalry games, caused ridiculous anomalies such as the Big Ten conference having 12 teams and the Big East soon to include schools from places like Idaho and California, all of which makes it more difficult for the casual fan to keep track of. And (helped by the television networks) it's led to about thirty different games available on TV every Saturday, many of them being played at the same time on different networks. With all of this, when I do want to sit and watch a game, I have no idea which one I should watch, so I end up flipping back and forth hoping to find something compelling, usually without success.

And don't even get me started on the BCS or the eventual switch to a four-team playoff.

Ballpark Rankings Update - O.co Coliseum

While I was in the San Francisco area I was able to get to an Oakland Athletics game. They play in what is now called the O.co Coliseum. O.co is the new name for Overstock.com. It's a terrible name but the sponsorship makes sense, since the whole Moneyball theory the A's operate on is based on trying to get quality players at a cheap price. Anyway, O.co is an old place -- older than the Vet. It opened in 1966 for the NFL Raiders and the A's moved in from Kansas City in 1968. So old that the men's room had troughs instead of urinals. I've taken a vow to never use a trough.

Being one of those multi-purpose places, the sightlines aren't so great in some areas. And even where I sat (seven rows behind the visitors' dugout; thanks for not buying up the good seats, A's fans), it seemed far away because there's a lot of room between the stands and the foul lines. That helps pitchers a lot, because foul pops that go into the seats in many places are easily caught here.

I stood up between innings of the game (in which the former Philadelphia A's beat Detroit, the day after the Tigers clinched the AL Central title) and circled around to take this video. YouTube is having issues again, or something, because the sound

Phillies: So Much For Those "Previews"

At the end of June the Phillies and Boston Red Sox played a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The media, fans, etc. hyped it as a "World Series preview."

The Phils took two of three. The Red Sox aren't in the playoffs after their mighty September collapse, capped off by last night's stunning 9th-inning loss at Baltimore combined with the Tampa Bay Rays' rally from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in extra innings.

At the end of July, and again in early August, the Phils and San Francisco Giants got together for the first time since last year's NL Championship Series. The matchup was hyped, again, as a "preview" of a possible playoff rematch.

The Phils took 4 of 7, including 3 of 4 out west. The Giants faded badly and finished eight games out of first place. They aren't in the playoffs.

At the beginning of September the Phils welcomed the Atlanta Braves to town

Burrell As "The Gimp" Again!

Another picture of San Francisco Giants (and former Phillies) outfielder Pat Burrell wearing the infamous "gimp" outfit has surfaced, along with a second pic where he's not in that costume but still showing a lot of skin. The "gimp" gear is what he wore when strolling casually within camera range while Giants pitcher Brian Wilson was doing a TV interview last summer. Then another picture of Burrell in the outfit surfaced, from a party at his home a few years earlier. The pics below, said to be taken at Giants pitcher Barry Zito's mansion (yes, wealthy athletes seem to fancy themselves as modern-day Hugh Hefners) are from a site called Barstool Sports:

I have two wishes. One is a repeat of a previous wish: I need to be invited to parties hosted or attended by Pat Burrell. Two, whatever he does to get rid of his body hair, he should stop before I attend said parties.

A Machine? Yes. THE Machine? No.

At AfterElton.com there's a column that links to two videos from "The Tonight Show" with guest Brian Wilson, closer for the (ugh) World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. Needless to say, his "friend" called The Machine also appears. I am not going to embed the video here. You can go to the link and see it if you want.

I am not posting the links because:

• The "Machine" that showed up is obviously NOT Pat Burrell. It's obvious even before he's seen sideways and from the rear. (The real deal follows after the jump. Again, might be NSFW for some.)
• I hate Jay Leno.

I'll leave it to you to decide which of these reasons is more important.

Some More Random Musings

Random funny picture.

A few randomly random items to hold you over while I gear up to write about those three movies I saw recently. Starting with some sports stuff...

• The World Series is over. Praise Jebus. So much for my prediction of Texas winning. The San Francisco Giants won in five games, in one of the least exciting Series I can remember. It got off to a decent start in Game 1 -- the Rangers scored single runs in the first two innings, and the Giants tied it with two in the third -- but after that it was virtually all Giants. They routed the Rangers in the first two games. The series shifted to Texas and the Rangers managed their only win, but the Giants then took the final two games. Except for that first game, there were no lead changes in the entire series. Once a team scored, they were ahead the rest of the way. The only interesting thing about tonight's game is that it was scoreless until the 7th. But at least George W. Bush's team lost.
• The Eagles had the week off. Just as well since the NFL is just bizarre. From week to week, you can't say for sure who's going to win a game, and the off-field stuff is mind-boggling. Just today, adding to the continuing Brett Favre drama in Minnesota is the Randy Moss drama -- the Vikings announced they would release Moss less than a month after giving up a 3rd-round draft pick to get him from New England, to the apparent consternation of the team's owner, who wanted Moss back.
  
  And remember all the drama over Donovan McNabb's being traded by the Eagles to Washington? Well, on Sunday, near the end of the game he was benched in favor of Rex Grossman with the Redskins trailing Detroit by 6. Rex freakin' Grossman! After the game Washington coach Mike Shanahan said that he benched McNabb because he felt Grossman was more comfortable running the two-minute offense. Today he said it was because...well, here's the quote: "The cardiovascular endurance that it takes to run a two-minute, going all the way down with no timeouts, calling plays, it's just not easy." So McNabb has gone from being a hero, the guy who would lead the Redskins back to glory, to a guy whose coach thinks he's not smart enough and/or out of shape! Wow.

More Naked Pat Burrell

Remember the item I posted on Monday about the YouTube video that featured someone strongly believed to be former Phil Pat Burrell walking by briefly, his face covered (by a mask) but almost everything else uncovered, while Giants teammate Brian Wilson was doing a TV interview from his home? I don't understand the costume's name, but according to TheFightins.com it's called a gimp outfit. And today they revealed -- with photgraphic proof -- that Burrell's worn it before:

I don’t really want to go into detail about how I acquired this picture, but it was taken at Pat Burrell’s house in Arizona during a Christmas party in (I believe) December of ’04 (possibly ’05). According to my picture-taking accomplice, every year during his Christmas party — which is attended by a veritable who’s who of baseballers who spend their winters out in AZ — Pat wanders upstairs and slips into his assless-chapped gimp outfit to entertain his party guests while making them feel extremely uncomfortable all at the same time.

I took this at the Phils' Photo Day in '04. Pat was more fully dressed

It's not of very high quality, but there's some buttcheek there. I'd be drooling if it was a clearer shot. Seriously. Drooling. And I need to get invited to this year's party.

The (possibly NSFW) picture from TheFightins.com follows the jump:

My 2010 World Series Thoughts

Okay, so I didn't think either team would get to this point. That doesn't mean anything except that postseason experience isn't always so important. That won't come into play here, because the Texas Rangers have never been to the World Series and the San Francisco Giants haven't been here since 2002, almost a lifetime ago in baseball years. If my guess is true I won't be too happy because while they're the Texas Rangers, it's basically a Dallas team, and we all know Dallas sucks. Plus, the Rangers are the team that used to be owned by George W. Bush, and who wants him to celebrate anything? Unfortunately, Texas will win. Unlike the Phillies, the Rangers have hit well all year and continued to do so in the playoffs. The Giants can't match the Rangers' hitting prowess, and while they have a strong pitching staff, they don't have Cliff Lee. Rangers in 5.

Is That REALLY Pat Burrell?

Via AfterElton's link to this blog I discovered the video below. It's from a Fox Sports interview with San Francisco Giants' closer Brian Wilson. At about the 43-second mark, the provocatively (and barely) dressed man who walks into the picture is allegedly none other than Pat Burrell.



Obviously what we need is a look at the original video on a 50-inch HDTV.

Brings back memories of this, doesn't it?

Phillies: The U Word Resurfaces

The end of the Phillies' season played out very much like most of the season itself: with a lack of offense. So often the team's bats went south this year that it shouldn't have been a surprise when it happened in the playoffs, especially against the solid pitching of the San Francisco Giants. And yet, somehow, it was. Because they told us all year long that when it really mattered, they'd be fine. After the three consecutive shutout losses against the Mets at Taxpayer Bailout Field. After losing three of four to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates (the worst franchise despite the best ballpark). After losing 6 of 7 coming out of the All-Star break. After falling 7 games behind Atlanta in the NL East. After the four-game sweep at home against the also-ran Houston Astros. They always told us they'd turn it around.

And they did, for a while. The Phils roared to their 4th straight NL East title and the best record in the major leagues. And you couldn't ask for a better beginning to the postseason than Roy Halladay pitching a no-hitter in his first-ever playoff start. But during the entire postseason the team struggled to score, often needing subpar fielding from the Reds and Giants in order to get some runs. Their lack of hitting with runners in scoring position was excruciating, especially in NLCS Game 6, in which the Phils scored twice in the first, and Giants' starter Jonathan Sanchez was so shaky that he was removed before getting an out in the third inning. But they never scored again. They were 2-for-11 with RISP and both of those hits came in the first. Making things worse, the Phils' own fielding let them down at times.

And so I feel the need to use a word to describe this team that hasn't applied in a few years now:

Phillies, Yankees Still Alive

The hopes of those people who wanted to see a rematch of the 2009 World Series (not to mention my predictions for the League Championship Series) took a pair of deep hits this week, but both the Phillies and Yankees are still alive. I'll deal with the Phillies in a moment.

I didn't really expect, after their hideous collapse late in Game 1, blowing a 5-0 lead after 6 and losing 6-5, that the Texas Rangers would bounce back so well. They scored early in Game 2, rolling to a 7-2 win. Then the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, and the Rangers took Games 3 (8-0) and 4 (10-3), with Cliff Lee again displaying his mastery of the Yankee hitters in Game 3. The Yankees rebounded in Game 5 with a 7-2 win despite the Rangers picking up 13 hits -- 11 off CC Sabathia in 6 innings. What disturbed me was a quote I read in today's paper, from Rangers manager Ron Washington after Game 4: "We are not thinking about how we are going to close anyone out. If it happens, it happens. And if it don't, it doesn't happen."

That just sounds a little too casual for my tastes. The experience of the Yankees over the years means that they weren't just going to roll over and die. If you have a team like that down, you have to keep them down. Sure enough, now the series goes back to Texas. The advantage the Rangers have, on paper, is that even if they lose Game 6, they'll have Yankee-killer and postseason stud Lee pitching Game 7. Then again, too often in sports such advantages aren't worth

Phillies: Same Old, Same Old, Sort Of

I sensed a bit of panic after the Phillies lost the first game of the NL Championship Series on Saturday night. I didn't actually see any online comments that were pessimistic and I didn't hear anything on WIP. Well, I actually didn't listen to the station at all. I just had a feeling that there was a little bit of worry setting in.

That's almost understandable considering our city's pro sports history. But anyone who's watched this Phillies team the last four seasons has to realize that they aren't beaten until they're actually beaten, and to panic prematurely is just silly. And after Sunday's 6-1 win, the series is tied at 1-1. Just like last year's NLCS. So they lost the first one instead of the second. Big deal.

Saturday night was actually hyped somewhere as the greatest pitching matchup in postseason history, with the Phils' Roy Halladay and the Giants' Tim Lincecum. But the final score was 4-3, not 1-0 with a no-hitter. Halladay gave up a pair of solo homers to Cody Ross, and those would've been the only runs he allowed, except that with two outs and a runner on first in the 6th, Raul Ibanez misplayed a deep fly by Pat Burrell into a double that made the score 3-1, with another hit right after making it 4-1. And while Lincecum was good enough to get the win, the Phils had some opportunities to score but didn't take advantage. So when Halladay pitches again, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Game 2 was dominated by Roy Oswalt, who (despite also giving up a home run to Ross) outdid both of the Game 1 starters on the mound and, with the Phils holding on to a 2-1 lead in the 7th, on the bases. He led off the 7th with a single, moved to second on a Shane Victorino bunt and scored on a Placido Polanco single, running right through the stop sign of third-base coach Sam Perlozzo. Unlike the first game, where the Phils' 3 runs all scored on homers, their 6 runs Sunday came without the benefit of the home run. That is a good sign for the next 3 games in San Francisco's AT&T Park.

The Phils need to stop giving up home runs to Cody Ross. If they do that, they'll be fine.

2010 League Championship Series Picks

Since it's about a half-hour until the first pitch of the American League Championship Series, I figured I shouldn't wait any longer to go on record with my predictions. In the first round I had Giants in 4 (perfect), Phillies in 4 (they won in 3), Yankees in 5 (they also won in 3) and Rays in 4 (womp womp).

Texas Rangers vs. New York Yankees: The Rangers won the first two in Tampa, then lost two at home, then went back to Tampa and won. This means a couple of things: they aren't entirely fazed by playoff pressure, but they're also not quite up to the task here, as much as I'd like them to be. Losing those games at home meant Cliff Lee had to start Game 5 against the Rays, meaning he can't pitch until Game 3 in this series and can only start twice against the Yankees. I really want to be wrong here, but...Yankees in 6.


Philadelphia Phillies vs. San Francisco Giants: Will the much-hyped Roy Halladay-Tim Lincecum matchup in Game 1 live up to its billing? Speaking of which, some stat nut decided that Lincecum's complete-game shutout against Atlanta was a better performance than Halladay's no-hitter against the Reds based on some idiotic numerical crap. These Moneyball freaks just live to ruin everything. I think "The Simpsons" summed it up best in Sunday's "MoneyBART" episode, in which Lisa took over as Bart's Little League coach and then had to learn the game. (I thought it was one of their better episodes in recent years, actually.) She came upon Springfield's sabermetricians (at Moe's), and leader of the stat nuts Bill James has a cameo -- he's shown on an online video in which he says, "I made baseball as much fun as doing your taxes!" Truer words were never spoken, Bill, even if you think you were making fun of yourself. But I digress. Both teams have strong pitching, so it'll come down to which offense can generate enough production on a given night, making it probably a tough series. But the Phils' offense has more potential to explode, and if they do, it'll end more quickly. Phillies in 6.

A Few Non-Phillies Baseball Thoughts

While we wait to see if Roy II (Oswalt) can live up to the performance of Roy I (Halladay) in Game 2 of the NL Division Series tomorrow, here are some comments on some of the other series...

Both Tampa Bay and Minnesota are on the brink of elimination already, both losing twice at home to fall behind 2-0 in the best-of-five series. And today, both teams' managers were ejected under similar circumstances.

At Tampa Bay, the Texas Rangers' Michael Young tried to check his swing on a 2-2 pitch in the 5th inning. The umpires ruled he did. On the next pitch he hit a 3-run homer to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Rays manager Joe Maddon (who was just shown in a vitamin commercial saying it's important he keep his focus, or something) went out to talk to his pitcher, yelled at the first-base ump who made the checked-swing ruling, and was thrown out of the game.

At Minnesota, Twins pitcher Carl Pavano thought he had the Yankees' Lance Berkman struck out looking in the 7th, but the pitch was called a ball, and Berkman then doubled in the go-ahead run. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire came out to talk to Pavano, and stayed until the home plate umpire came out to break up the gathering at the mound, and Gardenhire then said something that led to his ejection.

Just a strange coincidence, but both the Rays and Twins are struggling and the loss of composure needs to be solved if either team wants to make a miraculous comeback and prevent a Yankees-Rangers AL championship series.

2010 Division Series Predictions

I figured I'd better document these before tomorrow, when the baseball playoffs begin.


American League

Texas vs. Tampa Bay: Texas has Cliff Lee now but Tampa has playoff experience from 2008 and had a much tougher road to get into the postseason than did the Rangers. Rays in 4.

NY Yankees vs. Minnesota: Boy, would I love love love to see the Twins finally break through and beat the Yankees. Unfortunately, Yankees in 5.

National League

Atlanta vs. San Francisco: Braves staggered in September. Giants not only caught up to San Diego but held off Colorado as well. Low-scoring series. Giants in 4.

And, as always, saving the best for last...

Cincinnati vs. Philadelphia: The Reds are the Phillies...of 2007: an upstart division winner that goes out in the first round. The Phillies are the Reds...of 1976, the Big Red Machine that easily pushed aside another upstart division winner, the Phils. Phillies in 4.