Baseball 2007

With the completion of yet another dreary World Series, the long long baseball season finally drew to a close just short of November. Both the League Championship Series and the World Series were played in conditions more suited to football. It should not be surprising that outside of the cities involved no one paid much attention to these games. Many post season games were televised by cable networks not available to many fans and the World Series was televised by the worst of the big networks, Fox.

The season itself held the usual number of compelling stories, unexpected developments, and outstanding games. Baseball has not made the move into the realm of marketing driven entertainment as well as football, or I'd argue, even basketball. Its future does not look as rosy as that of the other sports. Still, management blithely keeps its head well buried in the sand. The broad outlines of where this is heading are beginning to come into focus and it's not going to be good if you have any love for the game.

But, on the other hand, you get a story like the Rockies and all seems well again. Largely ignored by the alleged experts in March and not visible for most of the season, the Colorado entry went on a late season winning record the likes of which is seen very often, if ever.

The Rockies are constructed on what I like to call the post-Moneyball model which, because it was so successful in this instance, we can expect more of. That is to say, their roster was dominated by young players that had been carefully evaluated by scouts and coaches who watched them play as opposed to evaluating their statistics. These guys were then trained to play a particular type of baseball that stressed collective over individual accomplishment.

Playing in the insipid National League West Division, they dawdled around .500 for most of the season, good enough to stay within sight of the prize in their talent poor environment and then caught fire in September, managing to tie the flawed Padres for the Wild Card position in the playoffs. This tie was settled in a single game that will long be remembered, the Rockies prevailing in the 13th inning. After giving up two runs in the top of the frame, they surged back with three in the home half, the winner coming on a disputed play at the plate on a sacrifice fly. History will note that replays showed the umpire's "safe" call to be doubtful at best. Let's hope history does not also tell how this led to the institution of replay reviews. I mean please God, spare us.

Looking back on the season as a whole, the first thing that strikes the observer is the wide gap between the leagues. No one who was still paying attention was surprised by the ease with which the Red Sox dispatched the Rockies in the series. The gap in abilities was considerable and, besides, management in their wisdom made the Rockies sit for nine days prior to Game 1. Only one team in the National League had the kind of talent needed to compete on the other side, the Mets, and they put themselves on the shelf early with one of the more spectacular choke jobs in recent memory. Their unexpected demise left the Phillies to pick up the division crown and quietly drop three in a row, two at home, so they could start thinking about next year early. Elsewhere in the division, the Braves once more showed that their rebuild hasn't panned out just yet while the Marlins and Nationals, both built on the Rockies' model, brought up the rear.

The Central supplanted the West as most pathetic division in the game. The Reds, Astros, and Pirates were pretty much uniformly dreadful, while the Cardinals had one of the worst seasons for a defending champion in recent memory. It started bad for them with their slightly off manager Tony LaRussa getting busted for a DUI at spring training while passed out in his vehicle at a stop light. Things turned worse when one of their players, thoroughly drunk, hit a stopped vehicle at high speed and killed himself. On the field they were not very good and stumbled throughout the season. Their one bright light, Rick Ankeil the erstwhile pitcher who suffered one of the worst meltdowns even in the playoffs a few years ago, came back as a hard hitting outfielder to provide a boost in August that looked very promising. Then it was revealed that he was probably using illegal drugs.

So the division was left to the unlikely Brewers and perennially hopeful Cubs. For a long time the Milwaukee crew, another one built on the Colorado model, led, but they finally folded under the pressure of their unexpected success. This left the Cubs and for a few days, dreamers envisioned a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. This idea died quickly as the Cubs quietly lost three in a row.

The team that bested the Cubbies were yet another built in the post-Moneyball mode, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They won out in the west after a protracted four way race with Colorado, San Diego, and the Dodgers. Arizona actually gave up more total runs than they scored during the season and statistically were middle of the pack or lower in most major categories. So much for the wonders of Bill James and other Moneyball advocates. Their problem is that those elements of the game not subject to statistical analysis get short shrift. So the Diamondbacks played tough defense, saved their pitching to when it counted, and played smart throughout. It won them a trip to the LCS where they were swept by the Rockies, in retrospect the better team.

The Padres were expected to win the division, but faded badly in September. As did the talent rich Dodgers, beset by internal friction. As for the Giants, they were as dreadful as anything in the Central Division plus had to endure the Barry Bonds sideshow. Their future is not bright.

In the good league, the Red Sox prevailed in the annual struggle with the Yankees primarily because of superior pitching. David Ortiz established himself as the premiere clutch hitter in the game and teamed with my favorite eccentric, Man Ram, presents a serious problem to any pitcher trying to navigate the middle of their batting order. With solid hitters throughout the rest of the order, the Red Sox were deserving winners of this year's title. But it was their pitching that cinched it. Beckett is probably the best today and Schilling is usually tough in the important games. Dice K was a worthy addition and a pleasing sideshow. All in all a very worthy champion.

Elsewhere in the East, the Yankees managed to capture the Wild Card berth with a lineup that rivaled the Sox but not much pitching. And then of course they presented the usual off field drama culminating in the retirement/sacking of Torre. The Yanks managed to take one from the Indians before throwing in the the towel. The rest of the East was pretty dreadful, although the Jays showed some mid summer life. The Orioles continue to be the worst managed franchise in the game and the Rays are simply an embarrassment to the game.

The Indians won out over the most competitive division, the American League Central. They parlayed a stout lineup with a couple of first rate starting pitchers to hold off the Tigers and Twins, both of whom made strong showings. Of the White Sox and Royals nothing need be said. Meanwhile, out west, the Angels cruised in a division weakened by Oakland injuries and Ranger strife. Seattle made a run for awhile but laked the horses in the end.

The Red Sox and Indians played the only series worth watching and for a time it looked like there'd be an upset that would set Cleveland up for their first championship in 60 years. But they couldn't close the deal at home and the Sox rolled them badly back in Boston.

The series was a total bust, I couldn't watch it after three innings. It looked a lot like the Little League World Series back in the day when Taiwan routinely sent a team of ringers. The Rockies magic was melted by the nine day layoff and the Sox picked them off like fish in a barrel. Yet another black eye for baseball.

Two years ago Ozzie Guillen was hailed as a genius when his White Sox cam out of nowhere to capture the prize. Now with a comparable roster he's just another Venezuelan piece of fecal material. The point being is there's not much form in the game any more. Yes the best team won this year but they had to overcome three match points against the Indians. And the extremely unlikely Rockies played in the series. The best team in the National League, in fact the only team that could even compete in the Junior circuit, failed to even reach the playoffs. Here in the Bay Area, the GM of the Giants reacts to criticism that he's built a marginally talented team by pointing these things out. How the Cardinals took the flag even thought hey only won 83 games in the season, by noting the Red Sox have won twice in four years after waiting over 90 years. The message is simple, luck has become very prevalent in determining championships. The smart strategy is to play well enough to get into the playoffs then hope to get lucky. This worked for the Angels in 2002, the Marlins in 2003, both the White Sox and Cardinals in 2005, the Cards again in 2006 and the Rockies this year. With the exception of the Angels all these teams were far from first rate. But all played in the World Series and three of them won.