Thursday, October 21, 2004
ON FUMES
It happened. As Tom Paciorek would say, "Wow."
The Yankees blew a 3-0 series lead and lost. My goodness. After being crap for most of the series, Johnny Damon and Mark Bellhorn pulled a 180 and became sluggers.
Mariano Rivera is vulnerable to someone not named Edgar Martinez or Luis Gonzalez (he didn't quite pull a Byung-Hyun Kim in the process). Derek Jeter and the Yankees go home for the fourth straight year without a World Series title. Alex Rodriguez STILL hasn't played in the World Series, and even joining the Yankees couldn't get him there.
Technically, the "Curse" won't be fully extinguished until the Red Sox come away with a title, but who cares? They beat the Yankees, mounted a comeback heretofore unseen in Major League history, and George Steinbrenner is going to go nuts. Yes, the Red Sox have helped give us both the last great competitive Mariner moment (Raf Soriano whiffing Nomar in August 2003) and the best Yankee-hating moment of recent memory. Thanks, Red Sox.
Well, it turns out I actually got to go to work and make money today, but that means I missed most of the NLCS game. I did, however, get to see the end of it. I'll give it to David Locke, who saw Brad Lidge pitch against the Mariners earlier in the season (with the pre-Beltran Astros) and simply said his stuff was sick. Lidge has some heat, and he kinda steps toward first base when he plants his lead foot; it reminds me of a sped-up Kerry Ligtenberg step mixed with a dash of Brendan Donnelly, except Lidge is better.
But I guess my next point is that it's gotta be all in the mechanics for Jim Edmonds. Visually, his swing doesn't look all that powerful; it just looks smooth as silk. The fact that it's smooth combined with the fact that it's a blatant uppercut swing just leaves me almost mystified when baseballs start flying out of the yard off his bat. Of course, many people thought the same thing when they saw a certain Ken Griffey, Jr. He once said he hadn't lifted a weight in his life. But oh, the swing.
I guess the one thing I've missed about the Astros' run is a good vintage Jeff Bagwell opposite-field smash of a homer. If there's an image of Bagwell that replays in my mind, it's Bagpipes smashing one to the opposite field, and sort of leaning and running toward first base after making contact. I miss that, Bagwell. Make it happen!
The Yankees blew a 3-0 series lead and lost. My goodness. After being crap for most of the series, Johnny Damon and Mark Bellhorn pulled a 180 and became sluggers.
Mariano Rivera is vulnerable to someone not named Edgar Martinez or Luis Gonzalez (he didn't quite pull a Byung-Hyun Kim in the process). Derek Jeter and the Yankees go home for the fourth straight year without a World Series title. Alex Rodriguez STILL hasn't played in the World Series, and even joining the Yankees couldn't get him there.
Technically, the "Curse" won't be fully extinguished until the Red Sox come away with a title, but who cares? They beat the Yankees, mounted a comeback heretofore unseen in Major League history, and George Steinbrenner is going to go nuts. Yes, the Red Sox have helped give us both the last great competitive Mariner moment (Raf Soriano whiffing Nomar in August 2003) and the best Yankee-hating moment of recent memory. Thanks, Red Sox.
Well, it turns out I actually got to go to work and make money today, but that means I missed most of the NLCS game. I did, however, get to see the end of it. I'll give it to David Locke, who saw Brad Lidge pitch against the Mariners earlier in the season (with the pre-Beltran Astros) and simply said his stuff was sick. Lidge has some heat, and he kinda steps toward first base when he plants his lead foot; it reminds me of a sped-up Kerry Ligtenberg step mixed with a dash of Brendan Donnelly, except Lidge is better.
But I guess my next point is that it's gotta be all in the mechanics for Jim Edmonds. Visually, his swing doesn't look all that powerful; it just looks smooth as silk. The fact that it's smooth combined with the fact that it's a blatant uppercut swing just leaves me almost mystified when baseballs start flying out of the yard off his bat. Of course, many people thought the same thing when they saw a certain Ken Griffey, Jr. He once said he hadn't lifted a weight in his life. But oh, the swing.
I guess the one thing I've missed about the Astros' run is a good vintage Jeff Bagwell opposite-field smash of a homer. If there's an image of Bagwell that replays in my mind, it's Bagpipes smashing one to the opposite field, and sort of leaning and running toward first base after making contact. I miss that, Bagwell. Make it happen!
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