Sports Writing

So, I was kind of surprised that the Cardinals chose to go with only one lefty reliever (Ray King, of whom I see a “raking against Ray King” headline in the making). Then I read this on the Cards’ page:

Matt Morris pitching on 3 days rest tomorrow instead of Jason Marquis. Puzzling decision by La Russa. Morris is better at home than away, and postseason pitchers on 3 days’ rest have a terrible record, Josh Beckett excepted. Let’s hope the Sox can exploit it.

A thought: if Manny and Ortiz didn’t do their bits in the All-Star Game, this may have been Game 1 at Busch Stadium, and Bellhorn’s shot becomes a simple flyball to right.

Adding in the full analysis: okay, bad Manny defense today, but Bellhorn apparently loves that pole like a fat kid loves cake, and Manny broke his RBI duck, so all is forgiven. Three homers in three games, and all at crucial points. Are there still people who like Pokey over him? And how appropriate is it to have a Pesky Pole shot in a World Series against the Cards?

More coverage of baseball in Singapore, this one from the Straits Times. For a country that’s soccer-crazy, to get top half above-the-fold coverage of a baseball game in the sports section is amazing. (Although the article does refer to Johnny Damon as “Jamon Damon”.) Which goes to show: not everyone may understand baseball, but everyone understands what an achievement it is to win 4 in a row. Shot heard round the world indeed.

Hey, thanks to Beau Dure at USA Today for the mention. I shouldn’t take credit for being the first to find the Mount Washington pic, someone sent it to me. It’s 1 in the morning Singapore time so I’ve got to sleep to be up for the game, but if you’re seeing singaporesoxfan.com for the first time, glad to have you onboard. Hang on tight - wild ride approaching. One more win. One more win at a time.

I just clicked on Boston.com to read more Sox stories, then I noticed the ad for some hotel in Key West said something to the effect of “Hey Red Sox fans! Celebrate with us! Book 3 nights and get a 4th night free!”. Come on. If the ALCS taught me anything, it’s that I’m not assuming anything is a given after 3 nights.

Yahoo! Sports has a computer-based World Series simulation. Sox in 6, which is nice. On the other hand, seeing as computers (well, specifically, Baseball Prospectus’s Postseason Odds) left the Sox’s chances of getting to the World Series as good as dead after Game 3 last week, I’m taking any predictions with a HUGE grain of salt.

So here we are. Almost scripted, innit? First the Yankees, the Sox’s (former) nemesis. Now St Louis, where it’s time to visit the ghosts of 1946 and 1967. I’m scared of the St Louis heart of the order - Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen are some scary hitters. But then I guess top-to-bottom we’re more complete. It’s like a battle of baseball philosophies: AL baseball (work the pitch counts, pure-hitting DH, walk don’t run) vs NL baseball (hit-and-run, bunt). Let it be said: I’m scared of seeing Ortiz at 1B, but I feel like Pujols will make a critical error in this series.

Even the Singaporean newspapers have coverage of the Sox’s triumph. Baseball news here is normally relegated to a simple listing of scores. This is unprecedented.

The baseball season begins on Thanksgiving.

So, how is it that of all the New York reporters, it’s Michiko Kakutani who had the best sense of perspective and baseball history? The Times’ book reviewer? Yankees fans have been guilty of seeing the team’s history as one bright line threading its way back through the annals of time, back to Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle, while forgetting the drought years, say, that Don Mattingly suffered through for so long. (Link)

… I would give my right arm to see Pedro and Lowe hit their first career homers in this World Series.

Have a stadium all to yourself.

Damn. Wish they hadn’t stopped showing Letterman over here in Singapore. Edit: here’s the full list.

As I write this it looks like the Cards will be our World Series opponents. Meanwhile, over at Slate, Charles Pierce does some curse-debunking, and calls Babe Ruth a “mental gidget himself”. Don’t ask me why Pierce didn’t capitalise Gidget. Does he not get classic surf movie references?

Soaking it all in… Bill Simmons has it right when he says Matsui never looked quite the same after Pedro’s knockdown pitch… Peter King writes a baseball column, shockingly. His “Kevin Brown is 0-2 with a 27.00ERA in his last 3 starts against Boston” stat made me think: after Jose Contreras took his “I can pitch to everyone else, not Boston” act to Chicago, Brown just stepped right in. Absolutely spot on: “Ghosts make for good stories. Players make for deciding games.” Why doesn’t Dan Shaughnessy know this?

From a few days ago. Sadly, the snow has melted by now. But the message seems to have done its work. Now on. One more win. One more win at a time.

(Using current divisions) American League AL East: NY Yankees. Toronto Blue Jays. AL Central: Cleveland Indians. Minnesota Twins. AL West: Anaheim Angels. Oakland As. Other teams: Boston Red Sox Kansas City Royals (won in ‘85)

Also, I’m glad to read about Yankee fans that will be openly rooting against us. I don’t like this “the rivalry only exists for Boston fans” line. It’s a rivalry that will consume both groups, locked arm in arm like Jacob wrestling with God, eternal. And now that both teams are beefed up and evenly matched, the rivalry just gets better.