Pedro’s padre, the New York Yankees, wins World Series
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Championship, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
The kings are dead. Pedro Martinez has re-discovered his daddy. The New York Yankees are World Champs. With a 7-3 defeat of the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, the Yankees un-crowned the defending World Series winners and christened New Yankee Stadium in exactly the way – and perhaps the only acceptable way – that Yankee fans had hoped for. They managed to redeem the woes of 2008 with a runaway season this year and a dominating October. And what better way to finish it than by once again playing father to ‘the only man who can incite fear in Yankee fans without taking the mound’?
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A.J. Burnett Blows Big Ballgame
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Championship, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
Half the nation sat and held their breath last night as the other half erupted in cheers. The Philadelphia Phillies staved off elimination in the World Series, taking Game 5 from the New York Yankees with a 8-6 victory behind the first less-than-stellar performance by ace Cliff Lee. Aiding in the win was the long-overdue, yet widely expected blowup from Yankees righty A.J. Burnett, who couldn’t got the pull before managing to record a single out in the third inning. The six runs charged to him really set the tone for the game, as the Yankees rallied strongly, but not strongly enough as the series returns to New Yankee Stadium.
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Simp-Lee Amazing; Phils Take Game 1
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Championship, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
The World Series has officially begun, and in a surprising break from expectations with the New York Yankees, the game was over before midnight. But that was probably because Phillies starter (and finisher) Cliff Lee was used to not playing and wanted to get back to it. The last time Lee had pitched was Oct. 18 in Game 3 of the NLCS. His Phillies clinched the series three days later and then had six days off before last night’s game. There’s no doubt that Lee wanted to get back to his comfortable bed.
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Cleveland’s Tears Land at World Series
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Championship, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
The first pitch of the World Series flies Wednesday night, and it will be thrown by the New York Yankees’ own CC Sabathia. Opposite him will be the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cliff Lee. The two will be dueling in the biggest game of their careers. These are two of the best pitchers in baseball, and both are throwing in their first World Series. Perhaps the most interesting part of this matchup is that these guys are former teammates with the Cleveland,Indians and both won Cy Young Awards with the Indians, Lee in 2008 and Sabathia in 2007. Fans in Cleveland must be watching this World Series with two black eyes.
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The Tortoise and the Hare and Major League Baseball
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Championship, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
If the start of the baseball season is the unofficial beginning of summer, then the start of the World Series has to be the unofficial beginning of winter. The 2009 edition of the so-called “Fall Classic” begins this Wednesday, and features the New York Yankees against the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies. This will mark the first time that any of the first four games will be played in November, as game four is scheduled for Nov. 1. The only other time a World Series champion was named in November was in 2001, due to the postponement of games from Sept. 11.
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Yankees Rolling Towards The Show
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
Talk about a workhorse. CC Sabathia just may be one of the only pitchers in baseball who can pitch on short rest and make it seem like there’s nothing out of the ordinary. This was proven last year when he was with Milwaukee and pitched each of his final four starts of the year on three days’ rest. The New York Yankees put his arm to the test again for Game Four of this year’s ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels.
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Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the New York Yankees move on
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Editorial, MLB, Playoffs
The American League Championship Series is set. The Los Angeles Angels will take on the New York Yankees. As half of the nation turns their collective support from the Minnesota Twins to the Angels, the other half will continue to battle against the opposition’s growing fan base as the playoffs roll on. The Yankees and their 103 regular season victories will welcome the Angels into New Yankee Stadium on Friday night for a weekend of “Bronx cheers”, if you will, and serenades by Frank Sinatra.
The Yankees versus anybody is like the classic battle between good versus evil… or evil versus good. They are arguably one of the most fan-polarizing teams in professional sports. What’s to like about a team that spends almost twice as much as the rest of the league in order to buy their way into the playoffs, stall games to put them near the four-hour mark on average, and basically beat their opponents with nothing more than their sense of entitlement.
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The Best Logo in Baseball
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Editorial, MLB
Every team has its star player; it’s “face of the franchise”. Whether that player is recognized outside of his home city is a different story. Whether that player lasts is another one as well. The one constant you can expect from a baseball franchise is the logo that the players go out and represent everyday. Each team’s logo is unique, and each tries to capture some essence of the city it represents. So in the spirit of the September Road to the World Series, here’s my choices for best logo in baseball.
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The Art of Switch Pitching
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Athletes, MLB
Pat Venditte is a right-handed pitcher who throws left-handed. Or if you prefer, he’s a left-handed pitcher who throws right-handed. To settle it, he’s a switch-pitcher; and he’s the only of his kind currently throwing in professional baseball.
Born on June 30, 1985 in Omaha, Nebraska, Venditte began throwing right-handed, but at the age of three tried with his left as well, and the legacy of this switch-pitcher began. With his right arm he throws over the top with a fastball and a curveball, while his left comes in side-arm with a slider and a slower fastball. His six-fingered glove has two thumbs and can be worn on either hand, which saves him the trouble of having to switch gloves every time a batter comes to the opposite side of the plate of the one he faced previously.
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The Toughest League in Baseball
Posted by Rob Boudreau Categories: Editorial, MLB
Baseball has been widely criticized in recent years for its “unbalanced” schedule. Thanks to 18 interleague games per season, teams in each league face teams in other divisions an unequal amount of times, which seems unfair since every team not in first place competes for the same Wild Card playoff berth. This makes it extremely hard for some teams to compete, especially in a division such as the American League East, which is arguably not just the toughest division in baseball, but also the toughest division in professional sports.
If you’re a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, or Baltimore Orioles, you need to face a grim reality. There are 27 other teams in the majors who have a better chance at making the playoffs than your team. With money-spending powerhouses like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, teams with smaller payrolls need a lot more to go “right” for them in order to compete. A lot of people argue this with the fact that the Rays made it all the way to the World Series in 2008, but face it – that was the only AL East team in the last 11 seasons who were not the Yanks or Sox to make it into the playoffs, and it was also the first time in franchise history that the Rays had a winning record.
The Toronto Blue Jays have had six winning records in the last 11 years, but have only finished better than third once. With an 86-76 record last year, they actually finished in fourth place in the AL East. It took the Los Angeles Dodgers 84 victories to win the NL West by two full games. The Orioles haven’t been as fortunate. Ever since Cal Ripken Jr. left town, the O’s haven’t finished with more than 78 wins and have only reached as high as third place once.
It’s very likely that the AL East has three or four of the best teams in the league, but only two can get into the playoffs. The only way to make it fair – to give the four best teams a chance to be in the playoffs – is to eliminate divisional play. But we all know that isn’t going to happen. At the very least, balancing the schedule and eliminating interleague play would give every team a chance to face every other team an equal amount of times, giving value and fairness to the always important Wild Card team. But while baseball stands to make money by sending the Yankees and the Red Sox to any city in the majors, don’t hold your breath.
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