World Series Game 3: Futile Resistance

Not all World Series are created equal. In 2011 we were treated to close games, including an all-time classic in Game 6, while the 2012 edition is ready to go down as a clunker. San Francisco's 2-0 win last night leaves them one win away from a sweep, great news for Giants fans, but not so exciting for the rest of us. In the 2004 ALCS, the Red Sox proved that a team CAN come back from down three games to none, but that's the lone example in baseball history. In fact, of the twenty three World Series that have begun 3-0, twenty ended in a sweep and none went farther than a fifth game. The Giants are on the verge of their second championship in three years, and the Tigers don't seem interested in doing much about it.

World Series Game 2: Running to Defeat

I know from dozens of trips to ball games, and from watching on TV with countless people over the years, that the vast majority of baseball viewers want to see a whole lot of scoring. Home runs are preferable, but in their absence, ground rule doubles, bloop singles, or horrific defense will all suffice. Whatever gets someone across home plate. I have a confession... I prefer pitching duels. That isn't to say I don't enjoy a good slug fest, but the games that make me happiest are the ones when both starting pitchers it going and the late innings approach with a sense that the first side to break will be going home empty-handed.

World Series Game 1: When Pandas Attack

Babe Ruth and Albert Pujols, two of the greatest players in history, each of them hit three home runs in a single World Series game (Ruth did it twice, in fact). Most famously, Reggie Jackson did it too. He got his nickname on account of that accomplishment. Pablo Sandoval got his nickname from a cartoon panda bear. But last night, in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, Sandoval became the fourth member of this exclusive club. It's been said before and it will be said again: You can't predict baseball.

Alex Rodriguez in the Playoffs

I did not expect to find myself in the position of standing up for one of my least favorite players, but that's what it's come to. I'm basking in the glow of the Yankees being swept in a best-of-seven series for the first time since I was born, but the amount of blame being sent Rodriguez' way is far out of proportion and the way his entire career has been downgraded by some in the last few days is ridiculous. Rodriguez is one of the twenty or so best players in MLB history and during his time with the Yankees he's been the best player in the American League. He's had some bad postseason series, but so has just about everyone who's played in more than a handful of them.

Oh, How I Hate the New York Yankees

Born in 1980, I never really had any reason to care about the Yankees as a kid. Of course I knew many of their players, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Dave Righetti, and Dave Winfield were all familiar names to me, but little more than the Blue Jays, Rangers, or Royals I pulled from packs of Topps trading cards back then. When I began high school in 1994, I'd never seen the Yankees in the playoffs. On my 15th birthday my sister's boyfriend gave me a Yankees hat, saying "I figure either you'll love it or hate it." But I honestly had no real reaction at all. A few days later I quietly exchanged it at a local sporting goods store for a new Indians hat, because mine was getting worn out.

Playoff Predictions

It's a fool's errand to try and predict the baseball playoffs, because anything can and will happen during a short series. And hell, before we even get to any short series, there will be two do or die Wildcard Games this evening. You might as well flip a coin at that point. I'd like to think I'm smarter than a nickel though, and I'm nothing if not a fool, so I figure I might as well try my hand at guessing what happens over the next four weeks. I will totally gloat if I'm right about anything, because it will prove just how smart I am, and when I'm not about things, we'll just pretend this never happened.

A New Home: Let's Go Tribe

Last week I applied for a spot at Let's Go Tribe, the biggest and best Indians blog on the internet. I am happy to report that I've been added to the team there and can now expect thousands of Indians fans to read what I have to say (it's true, there are thousands of Indians fans out there. The internet can reach really far, like across oceans and everything). It was only six months ago that I started this blog. I missed having a community of baseball fans I could shoot the breeze with. Many of my friends are baseball fans, but not the way I am. Besides, grown up lives seem to allow less and less time for hanging out and shooting the breeze with friends.

Melky Cabrera: Math is Dead

Earlier this season the San Franciso Giants' Melky Cabrera was suspended for 50 games after failing a test for an illegal performance enhancing drug (PED), specifically for artificially inflated testosterone levels. The suspension meant he would miss the rest of the 2012 regular season, along with the next five games, either in the playoffs or at the start of next season. Cabrera was having a great season. Most notably, he was carrying a .346 batting average, good for second in the National League at the time. There was clearly a good chance that Andrew McCutchen's, who was ahead of Cabrera, would fall off and Cabrera would finish with the highest average in the league, a distinction which has long been considered the "batting title," making its holder the "batting champion."

The Poor, Poor Pirates

I became a baseball fan in the late 1980s and so fairly early on in my experience with the game, I saw some very good Pittsburgh Pirate teams. In 1990, 1991, and 1992 they won the National League East division crown and played for the right to advance to the World Series. When you're a kid, it doesn't take much to get you to temporarily jump on a bandwagon (or to decide you hate a team with every fiber of your being... Hello, Yankees!) and in the early 90s while I certainly didn't consider myself a fan, I was certainly Pro-Pirates.

I vividly remember watching Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS (my mom thought I was already asleep but I'd turned the TV on and was watching with the volume turned down), Pittsburgh took a lead into the 9th inning, only to blow the lead and lost the game on Francisco Cabrera's single to left field that scored Sid Bream. Following that season, Pittsburgh let Barry Bonds, who'd won two of the last three N.L. MVP awards, leave as a free agent. Things would not be the same.

The Thome: a Home Run, Strikeout, and Walk in the Same Game

Earlier this season I made note of the fact that Jim Thome had become the all-time three true outcomes (TTO) king, as he amassed the highest combined career total of home runs, walks, and strikeouts (which are the three true outcomes, the three results of any plate appearance that require no one but the pitch and hitter). It's fun to look at career totals, but I like counting individual games too, so I'm going to look at instances in which a player collected all the TTO in a single game. As with many of my statistical scavenger hunts, this one owes a tip of the hat to Baseball-Reference and its Play Index.