World Series thoughts
Posted by Andy on October 27, 2009
Here are a few random World Series thoughts as well as two polls at the bottom for you to vote in.
- Has there ever before been a Game 1 of the World Series where the two starting pitchers were teammates the previous season, but not on either World Series team? I'm referring of course to Cliff Lee and C. C. Sabathia, who were teammates on the Indians last season. Seeing them face each other in the World Series has got to be extremely bitter for the Indians franchise and their fans.
- The Phillies are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back World Series championships since the Yankees in 1998-2000. Prior to that it was the Blue Jays in 1992-1993 and the Pirates in 1979-1980. It feels weird to mention the Pirates and the World Series in the same paragraph.
- The Yankees and Phillies last met in the World Series in 1950.
- These two teams played earlier this season in a wild 3-game series in May starting with this game. Brad Lidge blew two saves in the series, Brett Myers started one game, Chien-Ming Wang pitched in relief, A-rod had been playing for just a couple of weeks, and Bret Tomko was pitching for the Yankees. Seems like a million years ago.
Anyway, here are two polls. First is what you think will happen and second is what you'd like to happen.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:44 am
The Phillies won the Series in 1980, not the Pirates.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I'm taking a mulligan on that one. I was really tired when I wrote this post. Thanks.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I believe the only previous WS in which teammates from another team the previous year got the start for opposing teams was in 1982 when Joaquin Andujar and Don Sutton made the migration from Houston to St. Louis and Milwaukee, but they didn't face each other.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
And neither Andujar or Sutton had won a Cy Young, and their migration still left the Astros with a pitching staff led by Nolan Ryan. As interesting as that is, it shows how unreal this game 1 will feel. I'm sooooooo glad I have Wednesday night off from work!
As much as I'd like to see the Phillies win back-to-back series, I'm rooting for the Yanks. I just can't forget how Girardi took on jersey # 27 when he became manager, because he wanted it to mean 27th championship...or something along that line. I just love that. Besides, the Yankees were my first favorite baseball team
October 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
It's been a rough couple of days for Indians fans. On Sunday, the team announces they've hired Manny Acta, on Monday we find out game 1 of the WS will be Sabathia vs. Lee. On the Manny Acta thing, I'm willing to give him some benefit of the doubt considering how bad the Nationals would be with any manager, but their record improved greatly after Acta was fired. Plus Acta is similar to Wedge, he's a 'player's coach' who saw great success in the minors, but hasn't translated it to he big leagues. I feel Acta got hired for 3 main reasons: he's cheap, he's controllable, he'll make a great goat in 2014 when Shapiro decides to "rebuild" again.
As to the polls, is there anyone out there rooting for the Yankees because they hate the Phillies? I'm not really up on who the current Phillies rivals are, but looking at the NL East, I can't imagine any of these fans rooting for the Yankees. The Marlins and Braves have recent WS history against NY, the Mets fans hate the Yankees, and a lot of Nats fans are transplanted Philadelphians. Do Pirates fans hate the Phillies?
October 27th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
As someone who knows a fair amount about all the teams and their fans, I feel comfortable in saying that no team is as hated as the Yankees, and the only other rivalry that's close is Dodgers/Giants. Giants fans would definitely be rooting against the Dodgers if the latter were in the Series, as would Dodgers fans in the opposite case. Yankees fans hate the Red Sox, Dodgers fans hate the Giants, Giants fans hate the Dodgers, but many fans of EVERY team other than the Yankees hate the Yankees.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Back to back World series wins is indeed unusual, but back to back World Series wins for an NL team is especially rare.
Reds 1975-76
Giants 1921-22
Cubs 1907-08
That's it. These three franchises seem to have rather exhausted themselves with their back-to-back achievements. Among them, they have played, by my count, 221 seasons after their respective consecutive championship years and have a total of just three later championships among them (Giants in 1933 and 1954, the Reds in 1990)
October 27th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
This is the time of year when I mostly worry about whether any kids will actually be able to watch the games and become / remain lifelong fans. Can they stay up til 10:00 ET on a school night to catch four innings? It's a senseless shame.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Yeah...I'm actually old enough to remember daytime World Series games and I really miss them. Makes me sad every year.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
"The Yankees and Phillies last met in the World Series in 1950." It's also true that the Yankees and Phillies first met in the World Series in 1950.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
It's absolutely ridiculous that first pitch is scheduled for 8:19 PM EST. No reason why it can't be 7:05 like every other game played between April and September.
And God fobrid they play a 4:00 game on a weekend afternoon.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Is there league loyalty? Don't all NL fans root for Phillies now? When the Red Sox are out of it I almost always root for the AL team...unless they are the team beat that beat the Sox to get there (Angels, Tampa last year)....unless or course they face the Yanks. Even though I live in NY, I still want the Yanks to go 0 fer Century.
How can you not love the Happless, ever-losing Phillies?
October 27th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
There certainly used to be league loyalty, back in the days when it meant something to the players for the team from their own league to win the All-Star game or the World Series.
Did you just think about Pete Rose barreling into Ray Fosse? Me too... 🙂
October 27th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
12. "unless they are the team beat that beat the Sox to get there"
When I was a kid, I used to use the opposite logic. I figured that if the team that eliminated you won it all, you could still lay claim to being #2.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I live on the East Coast (born and raised), but personally, I only have so much sympathy for the games-start-too-late argument. This year, it's not such a big deal, because it's too eastern teams. But in earlier rounds, you had games played on the West Coast that started at 1PM or 4PM local time there on a weekday. What fans were able to watch these games? When you're trying to reach a nationwide audience, there is no ideal time. Yes, it's a shame that the games start late on the East Coast. But it's also a shame when they start too early on the West Coast.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:49 am
i've been too busy this week/month to have the time to dig up some interesting tidbits about this World Series. But Andy, at least I can offer this...Andy, to help research your Lee/Sabathia question, about two years ago I created this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Series_starting_pitchers
i hope to have some time later to contribute more about this WS.
see you all in the funny pages.
October 28th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
okay, here are some tidbits.
*the Yankees had the highest Batters' Average Age in the AL, while the Phillies were 2nd only to the Astros. The Phillies had the highest Pitchers' Average Age in the NL, while the Yankees were 3rd (behind BOS and CHW)
*the Yankees and Phillies each led their League in R/G, Home Runs, Total Bases, Offensive Winning Percentage, Total Average, Extra Base Hit Percentage, AB/RBI, HRs vs. RHP, HRs vs. LHP, HRs at Home, HRs on the Road, and Pitchers HBP
*The Phillies led the NL in SB% while the Yankees were 2nd only to the Rangers.
*The Phillies led the Majors with 9 pinch hit homers (the Yankees had 3), 11 Grand Slams (the Yankees had 3), 39 times swinging on a 3-0 count (the Yanks were 2nd in the AL with 23 times), Least Bequeathed Runners Scored (48) (Yanks bequeathed 69)
*The Yankees led the AL with an 83% Contact Percentage (the Phillies were at 79%), 51 Saves (the Phillies had 44), 1260 Strikeouts issued (the Phillies had 1153), 52 Opponents' CS (the Phillies caught 37), Wins in Relief (40) (Phillies had 27), least Losses in Relief (17) (Phillies had 23), Saves (51) (Phillies had 44)
*The Phillies led the NL with 5 Complete Game Shut Outs (the Yanks had 1), least Tough Losses (6) (Phillies had 11), least Wins Lost (7) (Phillies had 11), most Losses Saved (29) (Phillies had 26)
*The Phillies were 2nd in the NL with most HRs given up with 189 (the Yanks gave up 181) and 2nd with 489 BBs issued (the Yanks issued 574)
*Yankee pitchers were 2nd in lowest BA given up with .251 (Phillies were at .264) and 2nd in Save% (76%) (Phillies had 68%)
*The Phillies' defense was last in the NL with 107 GIDPs created; the Yankees were 2nd to last in the AL with 110.
*The Yankees and Phillies were both 2nd in their Leagues with least Losses by Starting Pitchers
*The Yankkes led the AL in least Inherited Score % (27%); The Phillies (26%) were 2nd in the NL only to the Cardinals (23%)