Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 4, 2011 23:01:07 GMT -8
Will the Snake Team see the sausages race one more time this Friday?Facing elimination from their National League Division Series, the Diamondbacks trounced the Brewers before an adoring home crowd Tuesday. They have to win Wednesday to force a Game Five in Milwaukee on Friday. Both teams are managed by former Dodgers, Kirk Gibson and Ron Roenicke. As for the other series, I find myself rooting for the Cardinals after all, mostly because Rafael Furcal, or Furball as I've called him, leads off. The Dodgers traded him after two or three injury ridden seasons, now he has a shot at a World Series ring -- if the Bird Team can defeat the Phillies two more times. Turning my Dodger-centric worldview to the American League: The Texas Rangers are returning to the Championship Series, but at least I'll get to watch Adrian Beltre at the peak of his career, seven years after the Fox-owned Dodgers let him go. He hit three home runs Tuesday. Except for pitcher Brad Penny, the Tigers have no discernible Dodger angle to invoke. They just need to dispatch the Yankees.
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Brian
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Posts: 3,802
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Post by Brian on Oct 9, 2011 23:00:25 GMT -8
My pick, the Diamondbacks, forced an extra inning in Game Five of their division series, but the Brewers prevailed at home, as usual. I got my wish in the Cardinals-Phillies series, yet I don't have a natural affinity for St. Louis. I was hoping to see if I could learn to love them or the Brewers -- two fine Midwest teams who've hated each other all season, I read in the Times -- by watching the first game of the National League Championship Series Sunday afternoon. However, I had to work instead. So I don't know how I feel. The Cardinals certainly have that underdog thing going, overcoming a season of injuries and squeaking into the postseason after a phenomenal September. But the Brewers were a solid, well balanced team all year. Who would be better to best the Tigers or the Rangers in the World Series?
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Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,802
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Post by Brian on Oct 13, 2011 23:01:03 GMT -8
I will have live National League baseball this Sunday on television, radio and the Internet, thanks to the Milwaukee Brewers' victory on Wednesday, tying the best of seven Championship Series 2-2. Four games in, I find myself rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals -- emotionally, because of some individual players and the team's wonderful fans, but practically because I think their pitching and defensive superiority would matter more than the Brewers' amazing hitting in defeating the American League team in the World Series.
Up 3-2, that team appears to be the Texas Rangers. The Detroit Tigers would have to win both of the remaining games in Arlington, Texas, to prevail. The Rangers can end the series with the next game on Saturday and return to the Fall Classic for the second consecutive season. This year, I hope I'm spared the sight of both George Bushes waving to the home crowd from their golf cart on the warning track.
My wish for a reprise of the 1968 World Series, St. Louis versus Detroit, does not seem to be in the cards. Back then, the Tigers helped to heal a city that had been divided by civil strife. Now, Detroit could use another morale boost after suffering some of the worst of this Great Recession.
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