New York 4, Boston 2
I’ve been writing a lot about things that bug me lately, the main recipient of this bile being Tim McCarver and Don Zimmer. I would assume that many people share my opinion on McCarver, as 2/3 of all Google searches that bring people to this site have some variation of McCarver and suck (or asshole, as some people say). This is less true for Zimmer, even though he is the more harmful entity in my opinion.
Before I get to the meat of this post, McCarver didn’t annoy me yesterday, because I played a lot of NHL 2004 hockey, while looking at the TV for the pitches. Not only did this allow me to mute the TV, but it kept me distracted from the crapfest that the Red Sox and Yankees collectively put on. In fact, McCarver gave me the most entertainment of the night last night. When Mariano Rivera came into the game, McCarver was giving him the usual backrub, and then he said that “Rivera’s elegant and easy gait is one of the reasons for his success.” If you don’t find humor in that, then you don’t have a soul. There was the usually McCarver bluster of course, but nothing to get up in arms about. Derek Jeter made some pretty good plays and got the McCarver seal of approval. McCarver said the only way the Red Sox can get hits is broken bat singles right after Walker tripled to deep right. You know, the usual. Him admiring Rivera’s gait made me stop hating him, and realize he is just an old fool trying to keep his job. While admiring men’s gaits.
Anyway, the reason I’m posting wasn’t to tell you that. I’m posting because I got an e-mail that asked me why I’m not doing game summaries anymore on this site. Why is everything during the ALCS a bitchfest. Well Mike, the answer is that this series has been terrible. There has been absolutely no excitement from this series, save the Saturday showdown. The runs scored have come in bunches. There have been no rallies so far. Offenses have been terrible. In other words, we’re playing baseball in 2003, by guys who think its 1968.
I’m a big fan of offense, which surprises my friends because I was a pitcher. Offense makes for good baseball, because the game is in doubt with offense. With pitching, because runs are so scarce, if a handful are scored early, then you have guys trading zeroes, like yesterday. Offense makes the game better to watch. Now I don’t mean I like Coors Field offense, 14-11 games just drag. I’m talking offense like the Cubs/Marlins series so far, which has been great.
The Red Sox/Yankees series has been horrible so far. If I was Fox, I wouldn’t show the games in primetime either. They have two games left to catch my interest, before I can anoint this series watchable, let alone good.
And just for frame of reference, here are the rates for the Red Sox and Yankees:
Boston vs. New York .250/.309/.409/.718 vs. Oakland .211/.290/.378/.668
New York vs. Boston .196/.285/.291/.576 vs. Minnesota .275/.344/.384/.728
Here is the best player comps for those four offenses:
Bos (Nyy) Pat Burrell PHI .209/.309/.404/.713
Bos (Oak) Vance Wilson NYM .243/.293/.373/.666
Nyy (Bos) Brent Butler COL .211/.276/.300/.576
Nyy (Min) Mark Kotsay SDP .266/.343/.384/.726
Those aren’t offenses. Those are two guys struggling to hold jobs, a guy who had one of the most disappointing years ever, and a centerfielder who is playing in an extreme pitchers park.
No one ever says “I can’t wait to see Mark Kotsay play.” The reason is he just isn’t very good. I’m sure as hell not excited to see a Pat Burrell and Brent Butler battle either. That is why this series has been terrible.
