Day 3 quickie summary: Smoltz bests Clemens which I can't say I'm too unhappy about, and St. Louis continues to roll along. Now, onto more interesting matters...
It seems one of the ESPN announcers during todays Sox2 matchup reads my blog! Along comes the pivotal bottom of the sixth inning and the Red Sox are one run down and threatening to score far more as they've loaded the bases with no men out. MOTLOTT! Ozzie Guillen looks to his bullpen for Señor Octubre who immediately coaxes Varitek and Graffanino into harmless popups. And then, one of the commentators—I'm not sure if it was Berman, Sutcliffe, or Piazza—pipes up with his own warning about the Let Down Hit:
You better not relaxSurprisingly, El Duque didn't relax and fanned Johnny Damon on a check swing. Two more stellar innings from El Duque and a flawless ninth from the unflappable Bobby Jenks later and the world champs are history. A quick victory for the White Sox; a decisive victory for the White Sox.
The Angels vs. Yankees nightcap did not showcase great baseball. A steady rain combined with poor pitching performances, 3 errors, and 31 hits in a slugfest which the Angels won by four. Randy Johnson's typical October persona emerged, allowing five runs in three innings before being yanked to the dulcet tones of more than 50,000 booing Yankee fans. After an impressively quick comeback by the Yankees, the mythos of invincible Aaron Small was shattered when the Angels regained the lead in the sixth, never to relinquish it.
The game was ugly, but perhaps ugliest was the blatant Yankeephilia displayed throughout the game by play-by-play man Jon Miller. Now let's not kid ourselves, he's no Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in this respect, but golly was he in rare form tonight. Three notable instances stuck out in my mind.
- With the Yankees down 5–1, Miller practically blew out his larynx screaming the play-by-play of Bernie Williams single. As the inning progressed, Miller's excitement at the Yankees comeback was palpable. Two innings later with the Angels trailing, Miller could not have sounded any more bored as he lethargically described Juan Rivera's double to left field followed by Darrin Erstad's RBI single. Apparently, only Yankees comebacks warrant unbridled enthusiasm.
- On Jason Giambi's single in the fourth inning, Orlando Cabrera airmailed the relay throw to home plate far over the catcher's head. Jon Miller's completely objective and informative play-by-play call of the action went something like this (paraphrased): "JETER ROUNDS THIRD! HERE'S THE THROW TO THE PLATE! TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!" Um, Jon? Touchdown? What exactly am I listening to here? The following inning Miller was pleased to inform us
I never thought they'd get him at home plate, anyway.
Good for you, Jon, good for you. - Finally, we had to endure a two minute speech from Miller about how Alfonso Soriano used to be one of his favorite players, but now Robinson Cano is. Now, Soriano used to be the Yankees second baseman, and Cano now is the Yankees second baseman. Coincidence? Hmmmm.
So where do my preferences stand now?
- St. Louis Cardinals: Leading 2–0
- San Diego Padres: Trailing 2–0
- Chicago White Sox: Won 3–0
- Houston Astros: Tied 1–1
- California Angels: Leading 2–1
- Boston Red Sox: Swept!
- Atlanta Braves: Tied 1–1
- New York Yankees: Trailing 2–1
All in all, I'm 8 and 2 for a brisk 80% win rate as per my preference list. Not bad so far.
