Can You Believe What We Just Saw?

All right, before I write this post proper, I need to stress that I'm writing this as a baseball fan, not as a Yankee fan. Don't worry, I hate the Red Sox as much as ever.

***

Part of the reason baseball has the magic it does is because on any given day,anything can happen.

Unlike the other major sports, in baseball, there's no clock to run out.

In football or basketball, you can build an insurmountable lead and then play easy the rest of the way--if you're up, in basketball, by 30 points with two minutes to spare, you're pretty much set.

In baseball, it doesn't quite work that way.

The young Tampa Rays learned it the hard way tonight, building a sizable lead and then treating it as though it was a guaranteed win.

As for the game itself, however, regardless of what happens in the rest of the series, this will easily go down as a classic LCS game.

Last year's postseason was generally void of excitement; this year's has had some incredible games, and now, it looks like, one incredible series.

It's been a while since we've had a classic Postseason game, a game that reminds you why October is so important, but tonight we had one.

Tampa still has a three games to two series lead over Boston, but if Yankees' fans learned anything from 2004, it's that one game can change the feeling of an entire series. If tonight wasn't that type of game, I'm not sure what is...

On the bright side, it looks like Joe Maddon did well switching Kazmir and Shields, and now has his ace on the mound for Game Six.

MVP(s) (Random Baseball Trivia, Week Six)

So right now we're waiting to hear that A-Rod is going to be named MVP (at least, we think we are...), so in honor of the MVP, I present this conundrum:

Nine players--enough to field one on-field team--have won the MVP award in back to back years. Not-so-coincidentally, they've got all nine positions covered.

Who's on the mother of all All Star teams?



The Answer

Yogi Berra, Catcher
Jimmy Fox, First Base
Joe Morgan, Second Base
Ernie Banks, Shortstop
Mike Schmidt, Third Base
Mickey Mantle, Outfield
Roger Maris, Outfield
Dale Murphy, Outfield

Hal Newhouser, Pitcher


Now, THAT is some team!

Thank you, Straight Dope

To Be or Not To Be, In the Primary Position?

My friend found this on YouTube last night, and it's too good not to share.

If you're not overcome with side-splitting laughter, check yourself for a pulse and then call 911 ASAP because you won't have one.





I'll be back later with Wednesday round-ups and some notes about this weekend.