http://winemonthly.com Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:57:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When the Philadelphia Phillies overcame the New York Mets in the final 17 games of the 2007 season and won the National League East title, I attributed the outcome more to the Mets' collapse than to the Phillies' comeback ability. After all, if the Mets hadn't lost 12 of their last 17 games, if they had lost only 10 of the last 17, they would have finished in first place. Two more division championships and two N.L. pennants later, though, I am a believer. The Phillies are a really good team, maybe even good enough to beat the Yankees and become the first National League team in more than 30 years, since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, to win two successive World Series. I am not prepared to say the Phillies will knock off the Yankees, assuming the Yankees don't squander their three games to one lead over the Angels in the American League Championship Series, but I think they are good enough to pull off that feat. My appreciation for the Phillies grew last season and post-season, in which they lost only one game in each series for an 11-3 post-season record. By this year's post-season they seemed certain to get into position to have a chance to defend their World Series championship. They are that good. The Phillies are that good to a great extent because of Pat Gillick. He was the Phillies' general manager for only three years, but moves he made during his tenure have been instrumental in the success of the team that had been a second and third-place team before his arrival.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1040 Joe Torre was celebrated as if he were god-like when he managed the Yankees to four World Series championships in five years. Yet Torre was not perfect. His most glaring weakness was the way he used his pitching staff, particularly the bullpen. Under Torre, a relief pitcher was susceptible to disappearing into a dark corner of the bullpen, not to be seen for weeks at a time. Relievers had to gain Torre's trust. If they pitched ineffectively, they lost the chance to be called upon to work some of those innings between the starter and Mariano Rivera. As a result, Torre overused the relievers he came to trust and wore them out.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1036 Many club executives did good jobs this year. Brian Cashman of the Yankees could be executive of the year for spending the Yankees back to the playoffs. John Mozeliak of St. Louis and Ned Colletti of Los Angeles could be executive of the year for trading their teams into the playoffs. Dan O'Dowd of Colorado could be executive of the year for making a managerial change that sparked the Rockies into the playoffs. Nolan Ryan could be executive of the year for changing the pitching culture in Texas, helping turn the Rangers into a contender. But maybe the most legitimate executive of the year is one whose team didn't make the playoffs.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1029 The argument could be made that the Twins and the Tigers played one of the most scintillating games ever in a meaningless circumstance, and there was nowhere for the post-season games to go but down so they did. That is not to say there weren't any exciting games in the abbreviated division series phase of the post-season (three sweeps and a four-gamer, matching 2007 for the fewest division series games):]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1022 Bobby Valentine is on the loose, which means any manager who is not firmly entrenched in his job as the result of a rousing resume or a lucrative contract could suddenly find the ground beneath him quickly turning to quicksand. News of Valentine's desire to return to the major leagues was still fresh when rumors began circulating that he was talking to the Florida Marlins, whose manager, Fredi Gonzalez, did a terrific job managing the underpaid Marlins into contention for a playoff spot. Early this year Gonzalez signed a contract extension for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Jeffrey Loria, the Marlins' owner, doesn't like to pay anyone, especially for not working, so it seemed unlikely that he would fire Gonzalez. Then again, Loria and other club executives appeared to be disappointed that the team didn't make the playoffs.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1017 The New York Mets probably never imagined that they would have company so soon, but if misery loves company, the Detroit Tigers have provided it. The Mets, for sure, have been miserable since they squandered a 7-game lead with 17 games to play in 2007. They apparently liked their misery so much that they repeated their act of misery in 2008, losing a 3-game lead with 17 games to play. Now the 2009 Tigers can join together in a rousing chorus of "Meet the Mets." They followed the Mets' pattern of collapse perfectly; only some of the numbers were different. The Tigers' collapse began a little earlier, and it contained more games than the Mets' crash.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1013 Zack Greinke pitched two seasons in one this season. If he had pitched only the better of the two, he would be a clear-cut winner of the American League Cy Young award. As it is, he will probably win the award anyway, but if I were voting - and I am not - I would vote for Felix Hernandez. Adam Wainwright will most likely win the National League award, but here, too, I would differ and go with his teammate, Chris Carpenter. Greinke was terrific this season, at times awesome, no question about it. In many of his games he almost seemed unhittable. He won games on his own. He had to because he pitches for the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst offensive teams in the major leagues. But then, the only worse offensive team is the one Hernandez pitches for, the Seattle Mariners.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1010 The headline reflected the current cry from too many baseball observers. "High-Payroll Teams Likely To Dominate MLB Postseason," it said. It is baseball's version of the fable "Chicken Little, or The Sky Is Falling." In the words of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, "The phrase, ‘The sky is falling,' has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent." As it applies to baseball, the cry about high-payroll teams is both hysterical and mistaken. Anyone who cries that baseball's sky is falling hasn't been watching or keeping track of playoff developments in recent years.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1007 Here they go again. For the third time in four seasons, the Minnesota Twins are in the last week of the season scrapping for the American League Central championship. In the previous two instances, they won one and lost one. The outcome of this season's scrap will be determined, to a great extent, by their four-game series with Detroit this week. The Twins were two games behind the Tigers entering Sunday's games. The Twins were playing a three-game weekend series in Kansas City, the Tigers in Chicago. They are scheduled to begin their four-game series in Detroit Monday night.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=1000 There are reasons to like the wild card. Bud Selig likes the wild card because it creates more late-season interest in the cities whose teams have a chance to make the playoffs as a second-place team. Fans in those cities would otherwise have nothing to root for in the final weeks and months, and more interest in more cities means more revenue for teams and for Major League Baseball. The Angels like the wild card because in 2002 they won the World Series after qualifying for the post-season as a wild card. The 2003 Marlins and the 2004 Red Sox followed the same path to their World Series championships. They like the wild card, too.]]> http://winemonthly.com/?p=996