The Rangers, The Giants, and The Dangers of Winning...

My only trip to the Gorgeous ballpark by the bay in SanFran
was in 2000.  It was PacBell park then.  Today it's AT&T.
Next year... who knows.  Carrier Pigeon Park?  

As we began the Fall Classic last night in San Francisco, a fittingly wonderful atmosphere for an autumn ballgame, it was easy to look around and see all the great things about baseball.  Two great teams, two great fan-bases, with a chance to make history.  So much to get excited about!  Could it be putting me into baseball-recovery mode?  Hmmm, seems like I've said this before.  Yes, as I’ve admitted in numerous past blogs, for one reason or another baseball has lost me in recent years.  The season’s too long, the lack of a salary cap favors larger market teams, and the league has basically done Squadoosh to punish admitted past-Steroid users.  (Need an example?  Mark Maguire is a hitting coach in St Louis after a smug, calculated “confession” that was both egotistical and somehow also “whoa is me.”  Seriously, he made it sound like he was a victim!  After ten years of lying, he knew he had to perform a little lip service to make some money again.  So he hired a P.R. firm to handle his “apology.”  And it worked!  Ugh… my sheer disgust at his lame press-conference this past spring probably cost me six months of baseball.  Y'know, like how after watching Super-Size Me, you couldn't look at a McDonalds sign for a while?  Like that.)  But if I had to be honest about it, I’d guess that the real reason I’ve been so down on baseball the last few years is because the Mets have been, in a word, garbage (please to be pronouncing this ala a French accent with the liquid second G, gAR-baGE.)  And really, when that is the case, no matter who your team is, the baseball season inevitably turns into a long, excruciating, slow-motion-speed-walk to nowhere.

In August the Giants were forming up, the Rockies forming out

I felt it from the fans in Denver as they began to sense their Rockies slipping out of the pennant race in early August.  Two weeks later the Dodgers fans had already entered their acceptance period, and the Mets… forgetaboutit…. seems like it has been accepted since May.  The one certainty in the Major League season every year is that by the last third of the schedule, close to two-thirds of the league’s fanbases have already checked out.  Why?  Because our culture has become obsessed with championships; banners and trophies and as many of them as you can carry.  It’s not about the game anymore, it’s about the standings, and sadly, virtue is not its own reward.  So when your team is looking like a good triple-A team in late July and that sneaking feeling starts sinking in, you realize that the dream of attaining the ultimate prize is not happening.  So why not find something else to do, right?

With Tim Tebow now waiving Towels in Denver
Gator fans have had a rude awakening

I’m not proud of this attitude mind you.  I think it is rather despicable actually, but I also have to think that it is the inevitable result of winning.  That thrilling taste of the promised-land in every sports context always must be followed at some point with disappointment.  I first noticed it in myself in 2007 when the Florida Gators lost a game midway though the college football season, and my immediate thought was, “well this year is out.”  Who cares about an SEC Championship or a Bowl Game?  It’s National Championship or bust.  What a terrible attitude to have!  I’m ashamed of it.  It certainly is an awful example to set for the impressionable youngsters of this country (Cue that Whitney Houston song from the 80's) but time and time again we set this example.  It's not about overall achievement anymore, most sports fans simply ask, “What have you done for me lately?”  (Which oddly, is a Janet Jackson song from the 80's.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Okay, that's why I never made the debate team :)

With Derek Roland at Yankee stadium.  I've only been to the
Death Star twice.  First in 1997 and then pictured here in 2007.
I guess I'm due to visit the new one in 2017 :)

I’ve lived in New York for the last ten years and if the city has taught me anything, it is that every year pretty-much every Yankee fan expects a World Championship.  I’ve never seen anything like it!  Anything short of that is a failed season.  In the last ten years the  Evil Empire has won 973 regular season games.  973!  That’s an incredible average of 97.3 wins a season.  But with the exception of last fall when they finally played a great World Series and brought home the hardware, most Yankee fans consider it a lost decade.  One out of Ten is not enough.  Any other fan base would be doing coordinated cartwheels!  Is it just possible that a great many Yankee fans don't enjoy the post season as much as they fear their eventual disappointment.  And maybe that is a completely natural attitude to have when your team has won Twenty-Seven Championships and been to the playoffs Forty-NINE times.  Their team is so good that the only thing that can possibly be note-worthy is when they fail.  It's not their fault, it's human nature.  After all, philosophically, we only know what we know.  But whatever the reason may be, it appears that only the win-starved fan-bases can truly appreciate their team’s success. So really, Cubs fans should count themselves lucky; they will never become jaded! See, there is some good baseball news on Chicago’s north side.  You just have to know where to find it.  But then again the Cubs know that; they've been selling it for 101 years.  (Uh-oh better cue up Billy Joel's 80's ditty, "Wooah, oh-oh-Oh... For the Longest Tiiiime."  Sorry Pops, couldn't resist!     

Will it be the Rangers or the Giants taking the big prize?

So as our Underdog Heroes, the Texas Rangers, go into game two tonight in San Francisco, keep in mind that before this year, in their fifty-year history, the Rangers had only been to the post season three times.  Their all-time post-season record: 1-9.  Until this year they had never even won a playoff game at home!  Those fans don’t know the meaning of being jaded, right?  And that is a beautiful thing.  It makes me happy that baseball can make people feel this way.  Texas girls Catia, Kristen Beth, and Miss Oristano know what I’m talking about.  So does Mr Golden Gate himself, Joel Blum.    

It should be also noted that the Giants aren’t exactly perennial favorites either.  Since moving to San Francisco in 1958, these guys have only reached the playoffs eight times, and have never won the Championship.  (Really, the only reason the Underdogs list them as Evil is because of Barry Bonds, but don’t worry, that stigma should wear off in about fifteen or twenty years.)  Basically, either way this shakes out, one of these two teams is walking out of this World Series forever changed.  And their fans will celebrate an elation that can only come from decades of hopeful anticipation.    Indeed, one of those two fan bases will finally be a winner!  Whether or not that is a good thing, is anyone’s guess.

Rangers vs Giants.  A brilliant Underdog Match Up!

Enjoy the World Series.

And Happy Halloween!!!  :)

Thanks for reading!

Underdogs OUT 

The 2010 Baseball Playoffs and the Ojeda Factor...

Jimenez faded down the stretch, as did Colorado

Did anyone notice that the last three installments of the Underdogs have focused on non-sports related topics?  No?  Well they did.  And people were probably getting upset.  I actually don't have any evidence of that, but, just in case anyone actually did get upset, we will now attempt to set things right with a triumphant return to the world of sports blogs.  Indeed, the Underdogs are back with the first baseball blog of the year.  YAY!  Just in time for October!  yay?  Ah yes.  On a crisp fall day on which the Major League Baseball Playoffs will begin, the big question on my mind is… does anyone care???  (Aw, I love saying that because all my Yankee fan friends get all bent outa shape :)  But really, what a season!  To me it felt like it ended 6 months ago.  Wait, didn’t I say the same thing LAST year???  UGH.  The Mets were abysmal… so were the Cubs, and the San Diego Padres choked away a big Divisional lead to give the Evil San Francisco Giants a playoff birth. I tried to get excited about the Rockies while passing through Denver, when I got to see the masterful Ubaldo Jimenez beat the Giants to win his 17^th game, but even he couldn't carry them to the promised land.

The day after giving away Manny Ramirez to the White Sox
the Dodgers pretty much gave up on the season.

Then when we got here to LA we headed out to Dodger Stadium (right next to Elysian Park, where we play tennis) to see the Dodgers lay down and die against the Evil Philadelphia Phillies.  The Dodgers, Rockies, and Padres all had a chance with about a month and a half to go in the season to turn things around and somehow oust the Phils or Giants from contention, but none of them could.  The only saving grace in the National League was that the Cincinnati Reds were able to hold off the (also Evil) St. Louis Cardinals.

Coors Field in Denver

So here we are at baseball playoff time and if you take a look around, there are actually lots of good Underdog types to root for.  No teams from LA or Chicago, no Boston Redsox.  Seriously, as I am writing this out I am actually getting excited about baseball for the first time since Spring Training.  The Tampa Bay Rays beat out the Evil New York Yankees for the AL East Divisional Championship (while spending about a third as much on payroll as the Empire.)  The small market Minnesota Twins and the previously mentioned Cincinnati Reds defied the odds to make the postseason, but the most surprising contender this year has to be the Texas Rangers. 

Dodger Stadium.

Alex's Least favorite place to watch a baseball game.
But not because of a Perfect-Game-related spat :)

Amazingly only three teams had a lower payroll this season than the Rangers did, so their playoff appearance is definitely a remarkable achievement.  Clearly they are doing something right down there in Arlington.  Also, the 101D’s own Catia Ojeda is the biggest Ranger Fanatic I’ve ever met, so I like to live vicariously and pull for them.  And I can’t reiterate this point enough… she is a serious fan folks.  If you want an example ask her about the “Perfect-Game story” that went down at Fenway a few years back.  She still gets mad at her (now husband) Alex, (congrats guys! :) when it comes up because even though he was not a Sox fan he had the temerity to root against her boys as the night went on, tantalized by the chance to witness a perfect game.  She didn’t buy the “history-of-the-game” argument and was horrified at his lack of respect.  In fact, since she was probably the only person in the ballpark wearing a Rangers hat, she considered it a full-fledged betrayal!  To this day if you bring it up (and of course I love to do so) she will momentarily go back to that place and look at Alex as if he is the scourge of the earth, with those “how DARE you eyes.”  Always a priceless moment. 

Catia and Alex last Halloween as Deviled Egg

Anyway, so when the Rangers finally broke up the perfect game in the seventh inning with a single up the middle, Catia immediately jumped up joyously to cheer the hit.  Then she started defiantly talking smack to the surrounding Red Sox Nation as they looked at her in disbelief.  When we get to this part of the story, I like to watch Alex as he relives the moment as well with a slightly nervous expression.  Because at that point he suddenly had to turn his attention from their little spat about the Perfect Game to the current problem… of how to get them out of Fenway alive that night.  Imagine that spectacle!  One diehard Texas fan swimming proudly in a sea of crazy (possibly dangerous) Boston fans?  Now, that’s a brave underdog!

Everything turned out alright in the end though.  They made it out of there and today Catia and Alex are a brilliant married couple.  (Just off of the honeymoon in fact.)  And I think that without a doubt the Perfect Game spat made them stronger.  I mean, when you think about it, if that is the biggest fight they’ve ever had in their relationship… they must be the ones playing the perfect game.  HHHMmm.  Catia just cringed at my bad pun.    

Anyway, when you add it all up the AL has three good-guy teams (Twins, Rays, and Rangers) to the NL’s one (Reds.)  And that’s not such a bad postseason for Underdogs.  Because of the Ojeda connection, I am pulling for the Rangers over the Rays in their first round matchup, and hopefully the Reds can somehow come out of the NL, but the biggest first round series has to be the Yankees against the Twins.  Game one is tonight in Minneapolis, right back where the Underdogs started a year ago.  Last year we made it out to the Twins last regular season game at the Metrodome (we even got Certificates saying as much) as they finished the season on an incredible tear to beat out Detroit for the last playoff spot.  The Yankees ended Minnesota's playoff dreams quickly however in the first round, and the Cinderella story hit midnight.  This year though the Twins have home field advantage (in their new outdoor stadium, where it might get down to 45 degrees tonight) and a good chance to redeem themselves against the mighty Yanks.  At last count, the Twins have two World Championships compared to the Yankees' twenty-seven, so there is no doubt that it is a tall order facing the Minne-boys.  The Yankees are really really good.  But for Underdogs everywhere… It would be fun to see the upset!  And eventually, perhaps, the chance to see the Ultimate Dream Scenario...   

Reds vs Rangers in the World Series!!  :)  aw That would KILL Vegas! 

2009 in Minneapolis.  The Underdogs have come full circle.  

Baseball is BACK baby!  Hmmmm, I think that is also something I said a year ago when we started this thing.  Hard to believe it’s been a year already.  Seems like three doesn’t it?  Happy Baseball Watching!

And as always, thanks for reading,
Underdogs out!