COLUMN: Baseball playoffs rock viewers like hurricane
Editors note: This article was written Wednesday night.
Anyone who read last week’s column should know by now what a great baseball psychic I am.
If you didn’t read it, let me sum up last week’s predictions with a quote from my mom after she saw my article: “It’s a good thing you’re not a betting man.”
Um, thanks mom.
Hearing something like that was like that scene in “The Rookie” when Jimmy Morris goes to visit his dad to get advice on whether or not to pursue baseball in his later age.
Ouch.
Like Jimmy, I’m shaking off the words of my parental unit and going forth with my dream (well, kind of).
Let’s look at the matchups, but before we do, one word of caution: If the Cubs and the Red Sox end up facing off in the World Series, you better have your 72-hour emergency kits and year’s worth of food supply handy.
Marlins vs. Cubs
This is the matchup I did not predict, although I’m glad to see the Marlins made it.
The Marlins pulled off a big upset by taking down the San Francisco Giants. After game one, the Giants went down faster than a bucket of chicken at Oprah’s house.
Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez was clutch in the final game of their previous series and the rest of the team outplayed the Giants like Emilio Estevez and his Mighty Ducks outplayed Team Trinidad in “Mighty Ducks 2.” Their momentum from the last 10 games of the regular season has them rolling into the National League Championship Series.
Meanwhile, the screws came loose off Atlanta’s Jamaican bobsled and the Braves fell apart. I mean, did I not call this one? As a matter of fact, yes I did (with the exception of my choosing them to beat the Cubs).
Starting pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were lights-out and the Chicago offense didn’t swing a bad bat, to boot. Dusty Baker has done some great things with this ball club. San Francisco was foolish to fire him last year.
By the way, doesn’t Kerry Wood look like he should have a mullet? It’s as if you see him pitching on the mound and an imaginary mullet falls out of his cap. He reminds me of one of those guys back in the ’80s/early ’90s who drove a rusty Camaro and hung out at Checker Auto Parts, but without the blonde mud flap in the back.
I’ll quit rambling about this but, you know, this topic deserves its own column someday.
The Marlins have a lot of confidence. They’re in the zone like Hansel was in that “walk-off” with Derek Zoolander.
Manager Jack McKeon has turned this team around.
Meanwhile, the Cubs have an all-around solid pitching staff, a few strong bats, hard-core fans and Dusty Baker.
I hate the Cubs.
Marlins in six.
Red Sox vs. Yankees
Two storied franchises, an age-old rivalry and playing against each other for the opportunity to represent the American League in the World Series will make the Boston vs. Yankees series the most intense match-up to watch since “Freddy vs. Jason.”
Boston had a heck of a series with Oakland, hands down the best one so far this postseason. The Red Sox have an excellent team that can win the World Series, despite the so-called “Curse of the Bambino.”
It’s not the Bambino the Bo Sox should worry about, but Manager Grady Little. Has any other manager in baseball history been able to make as many mistakes as Tommy Boy and still get his team into the American League Championship Series?
Foolish moves such as pinch hitting for a batter who’s 4-for-4 (with the game on the line, mind you) and bringing in tired pitchers who just pitched the night before to close out a nerve-wrecking game five, among other bonehead decisions, is bound to bite a manage in the butt.
Now, if Little can learn from Tommy Callahan’s example and start doing it right (remember, “chicken wings?”) then this team can cut any team down to size, even the Yankees.
The Yankees easily took care of the Minnesota Twins after a sloppy game one. Everything started to work for them and now they’re winning like a team with a $180 million payroll should. ($180 million? There’s more money in this team than in the WNBA and South Dakota combined! OK, bad examples. But still …)
A lot of people seem to hate the New York boys in black pinstripes because of their enormous payroll, but if George Steinbrenner (the owner of the Yankees) wants to spend all that big money on his team, then so be it.
On paper, the Yankees look as if they have the edge in this one: Better hitters, better base running, better pitching rotation, better payroll and better managing.
The Red Sox have a better bull pen. But remember, these advantages are only on paper. These teams have to play a best of seven series against each other and with that come intangibles such as emotions and home field advantage, to name a couple.
Who’ll win? I give Boston credit, but Little is bound to screw this team up with decisions that will eventually become the demise of the Bo Sox.
Yankees in seven.
Dan Phelps is a senior majoring in public relations. Comments can be sent to djphelps@cc.usu.edu.