UPDATE: Yankees win World Series in Game 6

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[rickl]

The final score was 6-1, but most of the game was much closer than that.  The Phils led 2-0 after seven innings, and a two-run lead is not secure at all against an offense like the Yankees have, with a bullpen like the Phillies have.  

Luckily the Phils tacked on more runs in the eighth and ninth, while starter Cliff Lee was sensational.

Winning Game 1 on the road is HUGE.  That took away the Yankees' home field advantage.  I've always maintained that I would be very happy with a split in the first two games at Yankee Stadium, then come back home for Games 3, 4, and 5 at Citizens Bank Park.  That worked out very well in the NLCS.

Game 2 is Thursday night in NY, and Game 3 is back home in Philly on Saturday night.  It's Halloween night, and this will only be the second time a World Series game has been played on Halloween.  The other time was in 2001, because the regular season games were suspended for about a week after 9/11.  This time it's apparently just a fluke of the calendar.

[ZinOwl]

" good pitchin beats good hittin every time "

[Glenzo]

 Lee pitched awsome. In my opinion the best guy on your team is Pat Gillick. Looks like he is going to put together another back to back World Series team. Remember Mitch Williams?

[rickl]

Lee pitched awsome. In my opinion the best guy on your team is Pat Gillick. Looks like he is going to put together another back to back World Series team. Remember Mitch Williams?

I wasn't familiar with Pat Gillick's name, so I looked him up.  Looks like he's had a pretty successful career as General Manager.  Unfortunately, Wiki says he retired after last season, but is still serving in an advisory role.

As for Williams, believe it or not, he's practically an icon around here.  Everybody loves him and have mostly forgiven him for that little unpleasantness with Joe Carter back in '93.  For the last couple of seasons, he's hosted the pre-game show on the local radio station, although he's been working more and more at ESPN.

[rickl]

The Yankees won Game 2 tonight by a score of 3-1.  Like last night, it was a close pitcher's duel for the most part.  A.J. Burnette was almost as dominating as Lee was in Game 1.  The Yankees' Alex Rodriguez struck out three times again tonight, making him 0 for 8 overall.  The Phillies' Ryan Howard struck out four times, although the called strike three in the 9th inning was ridiculously outside.

Each team got a double play that wasn't quite, so that was a wash.  Bad calls by umpires are part of the game, and tend to even out over the long run.  They're only human, after all.  Batters, pitchers, fielders, and baserunners all make mistakes from time to time; and umpires are no different.  There are no more bad umpiring calls today than there were in the 1920s or 1950s.  The only difference is that today we have high-definition super slow motion replays from six different angles.

Friday is an off day, then the Series resumes with Game 3 in Philadelphia on Saturday night, which is Halloween.  If it were up to me, I'd have the Phillie Phanatic dressed in a Yankee uniform.   

[rickl]

I saw an interesting statistic on ESPN after the game.  Starting with last year's World Series, and continuing through this year's NLDS, NLCS, and World Series, the Phillies are 0-4 in Game 2, but 12-0 in all the other games.

[Glenzo]

 After watching Burnett pitch in Toronto for 3 years, the key to beating him is get to him early. He will usually melt down if things dont go well in the first few innings. That didnt happen last night. The Phillies needed to play some small ball early on with some bunt singles and speed on the base pads. This would have put some pressure on Burnett.

 I normally cheer for the A.L. but in this case I am going to back your team against the Yankees. Thank God the despised Red Sox are out.

[ZinOwl]

Good game, good series, good teams, let's hope we still have good weather.
 

[Ed Mahmoud]

It is impressive how just a couple of generations of a higher protein diet have really let Japanese athletes catch up.


Or even one generation.


BTW, I don't know what they'd call it, but a baseball series between the World Series winner and the Japanese champions would be interesting, even if the games in November where played in sub-freezing weather.

[Ed Mahmoud]

If we could get a game in 6 days in New York, Euro suggests favorable humidity, thickness and 850 mb temps for NYC snow Thursday, but this early in November, any wind component at all off the Atlantic would mean rain along the I-95 corridor.

[ZinOwl]

forecast:  Sat Rain, Sun Rain

http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:USPA1276&q=Philadelphia%2c+PA

[rickl]

Game 7 (if necessary) is scheduled for Nov. 5, but if the dates get pushed back by this weekend's rain, then Ed might get his snow.

[ZinOwl]

maybe the World Series should be treated like the Super Bowl.  A neutral dome or fair weather clime locale bids on the Series each year and both teams agree to play there, etc, etc, ? ? ? ?

[rickl]

maybe the World Series should be treated like the Super Bowl.  A neutral dome or fair weather clime locale bids on the Series each year and both teams agree to play there, etc, etc, ? ? ? ?

Not only No, but HELL NO!!!  

Weather has always been a factor in baseball.  The 1911 World Series was delayed for six days because of rain, and in 1962 it took a record 13 days to play seven games due to rainouts in both cities.  Actually, modern stadiums have better drainage systems than the old-time ballparks and can recover faster from a drenching.

Several factors conspired to make the World Series unusually late this year, as outlined in this NY Times article.  But the biggest reason why the World Series is now played in late October instead of early October is the expansion of the major leagues to put more teams in more cities.

In the first half of the 20th century, there were two leagues of eight teams each.  They played a 154 game schedule, and each league champion met in the World Series.  If you look at past season schedules on the magnificent website Retrosheet, in those days the season typically began in mid-April and ended at the end of September.  The World Series was played in the first week of October.

But the 16 major league teams in those days were all in the Northeast and Midwest.  As the nation's population grew and spread out, cities in other parts of the country wanted in.  In the late 50s the Giants and Dodgers moved to the West Coast, and in the early 60s each league expanded to 10 teams.  They also lengthened the schedule to 162 games so that each team played every other team in the league the same number of times.  Still, the champion of each league met in the World Series after the end of the regular season.

In 1969 the leagues expanded again, to 12 teams each.  They reasoned, correctly IMO, that 12-team leagues were just too big and that more than half of the teams would start the season knowing they didn't have a prayer of winning the pennant.  That would be bad for the morale of both players and fans (and consequently, ticket revenue).  So the two leagues were split into two divisions each, and a new best-of-five round of playoffs called the League Championship Series was inserted before the traditional best-of-seven World Series.  So that pushed the World Series back to mid-October.

In 1986 the LCS in each league was increased to a best-of-seven series.  After 1994 the leagues expanded again and reorganized into three divisions each instead of two.  That necessitated yet another round of playoffs called the Division Series.  It is a best-of-five series and includes a wild-card team, the second-place team with the best record.  And ever since then the World Series has been played in late October.

But throughout all this the regular season has been kept at 162 games since the early 60s.  I don't favor tampering with that since it would render meaningless all the individual and team records and statistics that have been compiled since then.

Now that baseball has expanded to include major cities around the country, it is played in places with more extremes of climate than back in the old days.  The stadiums in some of those cities have domes, which is probably necessary.  But I sure wouldn't advocate playing the World Series only in those cities with domed stadiums or with warm climates every year.  It just isn't like the Super Bowl, which is one single game.  In the case of the Super Bowl, a neutral city makes sense.

What baseball needs to do is tighten up the regular season schedule some, and possibly eliminate some of the traditional travel days in the postseason series when the teams are near each other, like Philadelphia and New York.  Also, up until the 1970s all postseason games were played in the afternoon, but nowadays most of them are played at night due to television scheduling.  Obviously, temperatures are colder at night.  So it would make sense to play more postseason games in the daytime, at least on the weekends.  But the TV networks would scream bloody murder about that.

[ZinOwl]

OK, but it seems a bit sad to see 80 and 150 million dollar contract players underachieving due to the weather, as well as disappointing their fan base while they try and pitch, hit, and field with temperatures close to the freezing point.

just sayin'

[rickl]

The Yankees won Game 3 by a score of 8-5.  There was on and off rain pretty much all day and all evening today and the start of the game was delayed.  At least the temperature was pretty mild for this time of year.

Cole Hamels got off to a great start but came apart in the 5th inning.  I don't know what's the matter with him.  After a great postseason last year, he has struggled all season and seems to get flustered easily.  The bullpen lived up to my fears about them and coughed up three more runs.

The Phillies managed to put five runs on the board, but it would really be nice if they would quit swinging at pitches that are out of the strike zone.

Onward to Game 4 Sunday night.  It's a late start, 8:20 p.m. EST.  Wouldn't want to interfere with the TV network's football schedule.

[Ed Mahmoud]

Even post season MLB baseball would struggle against the NFL, although, really, with the advent of Sunday night football, a game the kids could go to and still make it to school the next day wouldn't seem such a bad idea.

[rickl]

Even post season MLB baseball would struggle against the NFL, although, really, with the advent of Sunday night football, a game the kids could go to and still make it to school the next day wouldn't seem such a bad idea.

Or even just watch on TV.  You're exactly right, and many fans have been complaining about this ever since they started playing postseason games at night.  How are kids supposed to develop an interest in baseball if they can't watch the most important games of the season?  I can remember rushing home from school to catch the last few innings of World Series games that were played on weekday afternoons.  Nowadays kids can only watch the first few innings.  Hell, even I have trouble staying awake late in the evening.  I actually did doze off during two of the LCS games, but luckily woke up in time to see the end. 

I can understand playing weekday games at night so people can watch them after work or school.  But regular-season weeknight games never start this late.  They usually begin around 7:00 or 7:30 local time.  And that's in the summer, when the days are longer and the temperature is warmer.  It makes no sense whatsoever to be starting postseason games later as it's getting dark earlier, especially when temperature is a factor.  It's like Daylight Savings Time in reverse.  And to top it off, the vast majority of Sunday games during the regular season are played in the afternoon.

But MLB and the TV networks don't seem to care.  Tonight's game is starting at 8:20 because Fox has two football games scheduled before it.  Would it kill them to only televise one football game today so the baseball game could start earlier, or as you said, show one of the football games at night?

[rickl]

Yankees 7, Phillies 4.  An exciting game; a nonstop nail-biter from the start until two out in the top of the 9th, but an ugly and frustrating loss for Phillies fans.

Two stolen bases on one play, by the same baserunner?  No matter how long you watch this game, you can always see something you never saw before.

[rickl]

Game 5:  Phillies 8, Yankees 6.  They were leading 8-2 after seven innings.  They certainly don't make it look easy.

Chase Utley hit two more home runs, just as he did in Game 1.  He became only the second player in Series history to have two two-homer games in one Series (Willie Aikens of the Kansas City Royals in 1980 was the other).  He also now has five homers total in this Series, tying a mark set by Reggie "Mr. October" Jackson in 1977.  One of the Phillies radio announcers called Utley "Mr. Octember".

Actually, I wish the Phils would string together more base hits rather than solo homers, as most of them have been.  Put together a couple of singles and walks, then hit a homer.  You get more runs that way.

So the Series moves back to Yankee Stadium for Game 6 on Wednesday night.  Tuesday is a travel day.  I'll use the opportunity to go to the store and replenish my Tums supply.  I have a feeling I'll be needing them.

[RTLM]

This is a great World Series -

...even if it is a bunch of East Coast yahoos   

[rickl]

I get nervous if they go to the bullpen with less than a 5 or 6 run lead.

/Keep in mind I've been watching them all season.

[Glenzo]

 Well this time they got to Burnett early and he did melt down just as predicted. I think he only got 6 outs before he got the hook. Phillies bullpen is not as good as I thought they were.

[rickl]

Well this time they got to Burnett early and he did melt down just as predicted. I think he only got 6 outs before he got the hook. Phillies bullpen is not as good as I thought they were.

Yes, you were right about Burnett!  The bullpen was great last year, but this year "uneven" and "unpredictable" are words that come to mind.  The closer, Brad Lidge, had a horrible season but has been great in the postseason up until Game 4.  He came unglued after Damon got on with two out.

Actually, the bullpen wasn't too bad tonight.  The three runs in the eighth were charged to Lee, and were more the fault of the defense than anything.  And the Phillies' defense is normally outstanding.  First Rollins couldn't make a throw on what was a fairly routine grounder, then Ibañez couldn't get to the fly ball near the wall.  Normally Ben Francisco would have been put in left as a defensive replacement and he probably could have gotten it.  But this time he was in center replacing the injured Victorino, who is one of the best defensive outfielders in the game.  If Victorino had caught the ball in shallow center field, Rodriguez probably wouldn't have tried to score on that play.  So under normal circumstances the Yankees probably wouldn't have gotten more than one run in the inning, if that.

[rickl]

I'm glad there is no game tonight.  I can use a breather.