Baseball Playoffs: October Rules

So here's what I love about baseball...EVERYTHING.

Right after football winds down and you are in the middle of a god-awful winter, you start to hear little chirps. A trade, or your pitcher who had surgery is starting to toss the ball...just little peeps. Then you mark your calender for P's and C's (pitchers and catchers) reporting to camp. Little by little, you inch your way to Spring Training. YAY.

Years ago, there were never any televised Spring Training games. But now, where there is revenue to be made, there is media. Now Spring Training games are far from exciting. Maybe an inning or two of your veterans and the rest of the game is filled with guys wearing very high numbers on their backs, who haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of making the team. So you watch a few innings, because you are a junkie and you haven't had a fix since October.

Then, just when you and the players are sick of meaningless games...it's Opening Day. YAY. We now have 162 games to savor. Granted not all of them will be exciting, some will be downright painful to watch, but it's still baseball. The beauty of the field, the ballparks and let's not forget those hot guys in tight uniforms :) ...but I digress.

For those who say the game is boring, I say... learn the game. Not know the rules...learn the game. It is anything but. These days when most everything about the game is based on statistics and rating systems, once in a while you get a classic moment when a manager listens to his gut. Last night in the Yankees-Baltimore game, there was one of those moments.

Bottom of the ninth, one out. Perennial whipping boy Alex Rodriguez is due up at bat. Arod, not exactly lighting up the scoreboard as of late, is pulled by manager Joe Girardi, in favor of 40 year old Raul Ibanez. Two pitches later, the score is tied as Ibanez hit one out of the park. In a move that showed a good deal of class, Arod was the first teammate on the steps of the dugout congratulating Ibanez.

Fast forward to the 12th inning. And guess who comes out to bat again...Raul Ibanez. And yes, another home run to win the game. YAY. Are you kidding me...they make movies out of shit like this.

Tonight we play game four. Hopefully the Yanks will finish the O's and I pray the game will end before midnight.  Then we can on to the next series and keep playing baseball while the frost is forming on the pumpkins.

As Mr. Fogerty sang so sweetly...

"Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun

It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye"

...Play Ball.

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Rangers-Devils: It's Gonna Get Painful

And here we go again.

Tonight begins another round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Only now it gets personal. Rangers-Devils, best of seven...winner goes to the Stanley Cup finals. Can you say "1994?" I can...I remember it well.

We lived in Queens NY at the time, across the river from Manhattan. Each round of the playoffs became more intense as the team attempted to extinguish the chants of 1940 (the last time the Rangers won the Cup) from the rafters of road arenas. Richter, Leetch, Graves and of course, the Captain. Each knew what was expected from him...and they all delivered.

As a fan...it would have been more pleasant to be eaten alive by a pack of wolves. How many game sevens, how many icings in the last minute of play and how many freakin' overtimes can a fan be expected to survive.  But we did, and the champagne that night in June, was flavored with tears of joy and the taste of victory.

A new team with new heroes takes to the ice tonight. As a Ranger fan from the 70's, this Jersey girl has no allegiance to the team from her home state. Personally, I would love to crush the Devils in 4. Realistically, I'm expecting the large knot in my stomach to be a permanent fixture for at least 6 games. All you can ask for is a well-played game, no chippiness, no injuries and good officiating. Oh yeah...and a Ranger win of course.

The agony begins at 8 PM. Anyone hear the howling of wolves in the distance?

Go Rangers.
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Yankees Clinch: The World As It Should Be

Yankees clinch the AL East. Jorge shows the true colors of a champion. A great moment, in a season of great moments for the three remaining members of the core four.

Playoffs Baby!