Well, you could knock me over with a feather. I didn't think the NL team would have a snowball's chance in hell to win the World Series. The Cards not only did it - they did it in only five games.
Of course, many would say Detroit was not the best team in the AL, either.
I'm not sure what this means. Has baseball achieved the much-ballyhooed "parity"? Is it just a fluke - any team can win a short series?
In any case, it's given me new appreciation for the Yankees' dynasty years in the late '90s. They made it look easy. It ain't.
Jon Heyman of SI called this the Worst Series, and I agree. Though I really don't mind that the teams were from relatively small markets, lowering the ratings, and there weren't a lot of superstars on the rosters. What sucked about this series was the feeling that the best teams weren't playing. Not just because they didn't have great regular season records, but because the play on the field was sloppy. Detroit basically gave the series away with their defensive errors. And their impatience at the plate finally came back to bite them.
Then there's the pine tar thing. I didn't really care who won this Series, not feeling strongly about either team. But after that pine tar thing, I started rooting for the Cards. I hate to see cheaters win.
If there was a bright spot in this psotseason, it was seeing the little guys step up. Guys like Taguchi So and yes, Jeff Weaver. It's annoying he never pitched like this for the Yanks, but it's also kind of neat to see a castoff make good.
Then there's the littlest (literally) guy of all: David Eckstein, the World Series MVP. Looking at the cold, hard numbers, he shouldn't even be starting. Looking at the way he played, he deserved to be MVP.
Sigh. I admit it. Earlier in this season, I had hopes that it would be Bubba who would be World Series MVP. Like Eckstein, he's an undersized guy known for his hard work and hustle. The kind of player they call "scrappy."
Is there a lesson for the Yankees in all this? Maybe that there's more to a player than just numbers, and more to building a team than collecting free agent superstars. It wasn't the superstar sluggers like Pujols that won this Series for the Cards.
And in Yankees news...Craig Wilson, Octavio Dotel and Miguel Cairo filed for free agency today.
Poor Craig Wilson. I had high hopes for him, but he just didn't hit very well, and Torre had a very short leash for him. I don't know if he just went into a slump (he's always been streaky), or if AL pitching was too much for him.
