October 01, 2007

Parody, NOT Parity!

In nearly 40 years of watching baseball, I can’t remember a weaker N.L. playoff bunch then this year’s version. This is not sour grapes because the Mets’ didn’t get in, as I am including our beloved orange and blue right in that mix, as they didn’t even GET to the play-offs. What does that really say about a team that we all thought was far better than this? Growing up, my favorite 2 days of the year, after my birthday, of course, was the All-Star Game and the first game of the World Series. With names like Morgan, Schmidt, Garvey, Seaver, Carlton, Bench, Rose, Concepcion, Bowa and Simmons in the mix every year throughout the 70’s, there were always familiar names throughout the roster, many of whom became Hall-of-Famers. It’s not like the N.L. won every year, as the A’s and Yankees were just as memorable as the Big Red Machine was, but whichever N.L. team made it to the Series’ at least looked like they could go all the way to the championship.

This year, it is as far from certain as I have ever seen it (and yes, that includes last year’s under-achieving Cards, who in spite of their record had a lot of great players who came through when they had to.) Who looks powerful this year- the Cubs? Please – they simply out-lasted the Brewers, in the worst division in the game. The D-Backs? Their roster is laden with youngsters and beyond Webb, their pitching isn’t going to scare anyone. The Padres? IF they make it after today’s game vs. the Rockies, after Jake Peavey, there’s not a lot to be scared of, especially with the losses of Cameron and Bradley. The Phils? While their hitting can surpass anyone this side of the Yankees, their pitching, especially in short series action, leaves much to be desired and isn’t set up for a championship run. That leaves the Rockies, who have to beat the Padres in that one-game series today. Their offense is as potent as the Phils, especially with now-probably MVP winner Matt Holliday in their line-up, and their pitching is a mite bit better than the Phils and their momentum could very well carry them all the way to the Series…

…and that is EXACTLY where it seems like it would stop, or any other National League team’s momentum should stop, as it doesn’t matter if it’s the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels or Indians, the A.L. should have no problem rolling over their senior circuit counterpart. IF the Mets’ had made it all the way to the series, they probably wouldn’t have been able to defeat the A.L. team, either; at least we would have had an opportunity though. If Commissioner Bud really wants parity, well, he’s got it…it just seems more parody than parity to me right now…

It’s horrible how things finished up, just horrible, and I’ll be back within the next day or so to recap what went wrong, what went right, and some suggestions for next season. Right now, it’s still a bit too painful to get into, but after a few meals and some more time, the words will start to flow.

I wish I could say it was a great season, but it wasn’t, and the reality that we didn’t deserve it with the kind of play we showed in September is evidence that all of the advancements we thought we’d made might be more illusory than reality…but we’ll talk more about that tomorrow. In the meantime, I have to figure out how to get rid of a pair of Padres tickets for Sundays’ game – I thought it was going to be a Mets- Padres game and John Y was going to fly out here to see the game…there’s always next year, because we’re all Mets’ fans and we’ve only been to 4 World Series in 45 years of existence – what’s another few years (or year, hopefully)? (LOL)

Some quick notes: After tomorrow’s recap column, and one more with our long-awaited (and long-promised) awards nominees, we’ll be taking about 3 weeks off. That will just about bring us to the GM meetings in November, followed by the Winter Meetings in December, and we’ll be speculating with the best and the rest as to what moves we might make this off-season to right this ship.

Back tomorrow…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

a great season would have at least making it to the nlcs again

Anonymous said...

it was shameful and they should be repromanded for how they just dont care anymore

Anonymous said...

well here is to next year