Another baseball season has come and gone, and as the San Francisco Giants celebrate their sweep of the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series, it is time for me to look back and reflect on what, if anything, I have learned over the past seven months.
1. One player does not a team make. The Washington Nationals made it to the playoffs without Stephen Strasburg being available to pitch in the last month of the season. The Giants won the World Series despite Tim Lincecum's lousy year. The Los Angeles Angels did NOT make it to the playoffs this year despite having Albert Pujols on their team. This is why baseball is a team sport - it takes a nine-man lineup and a strong pitching staff (bullpen included) to win (or lose) a baseball game.
2. David Freese and Marco Scutaro are both very good baseball players. This past season, Freese hit .293 with 20 homers, 79 RBIs, 70 runs scored, and three stolen bases. Meanwhile, Scutaro his .300 for the season, with 7 home runs, 70 RBIs, 87 runs scored, and 53 stolen bases. These two guys are true athletes and also performed very well during the playoffs.
3. They sell very yummy quesadillas at Nationals Park. While many people go to baseball games and indulge in the traditional hot dogs or Cracker Jacks, I like trying out new things, and the chicken quesadillas at the "Taste of the Majors" concession stand were delicious!
4. Baseball umpires really do a good job, and the playoffs were no exception. While they are human and do make mistakes, there weren't any real major controversial calls this year. Some may call that boring; I call it effective.
5. The double play is still my favorite play in baseball. Never mind the grand slam; never mind a player stealing home (that IS exciting, but it just doesn't happen very often). Watching a well-executed double play just doesn't get old. Speaking of double plays...
6. The "infield fly rule" is dumb. For those of you unfamiliar with it, the infield fly rule is intended to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping pop-ups in order to turn double or triple plays. Without this rule, a defense could easily turn a pop fly into a double play when there are runners at first and second base. If the runners stay near their bases to tag up, the defense could let the ball drop, throw to third base and then to second, for a force-out at each base. If any of the runners stray too far from their bases, the defense could catch the pop-up, and double-off any runner who failed to tag up. What's wrong with that? It's called strategy, man! If you are the runner, you need to pay attention; if you get doubled-up, that's your own darn fault!
7. It is possible to get so consumed and caught up in a team's successes during the season that it affects your moods, your appetite, and your sleep pattern. Then when that team is done for the season because of a heartbreaking loss during the playoffs, it also affects your moods, your appetite, and your sleep pattern. Luckily there are four months left until Spring Training, so you have plenty of time to get your moods, appetite, and sleep pattern back to where they should be.
8. Tim McCarver needs to retire from doing color commentary for the FOX network during the playoffs. He may be a former catcher, but he's old, crotchety, and he jinxed Ryan Vogelsong's no-hitter in game 6 of the NLCS. I'm not the only one who thinks so either; Don Cherry of the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) said that Tim McCarver "has lost his feel for baseball." Now, I know that the Huffingon Post is not the top authority in all things baseball, but I had to find someone out there who agreed with me. Hang 'em up, Tim; your glory days are long-gone!
9. On the flip side, MASN Sports' Bob Carpenter and FP Santangelo really grew on me this past season (not just because I got to meet them!). They are funny, lighthearted, knowledgeable, and Santangelo (the former player) doesn't get all anecdotal nor does he bore us with stories of "back in the day when I used to play" (which has been my problem with Jim Palmer and the main reason I have to watch Orioles games on "mute" when he's announcing). Since the days of Joe Morgan and John Miller doing the ESPN game of the week are gone, Bob and FP are now my favorite broadcast team.
And finally...
10. Stan Musial (91) and Bobby Doerr (94) are not dead. Other old basebll players I was surprised to learn are still alive include Ralph Kiner (90), Red Schoendienst (89), and Sandy Koufax (only 76). Who knew? Willie Mays is still around too - he's 81 and still saying "hey!"
I hope you enjoyed my blog posts during this past season - I am definitely grateful for you all reading them and therefore putting me above 2,000 views in only two seasons. I will probably post a few times during the off-season as trades and free-agent signings start happening (and hopefully after Bryce Harper gets the Rookie of the Year award or Gio Gonzalez gets the Cy Young), and I will fill you in on the World Baseball Classic, which is played every 4 years and will be expanded for the 2013 season. In the meantime, watch some football and enjoy the upcoming holidays with your family. Signing off for now,
Mudville Mom :-)
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