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2005 Baseball Playoffs

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Dikaiosyne

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Anybody have a favourite for the World Series? Philosophical or otherwise.

Personally I was hoping for an A's / Yankees ALCS all summer, that is, two sucessful businesses in baseball competing for the American League Championship. It erks me when people say that the Yankees shouldn't win because they "buy" all their players. Money does not spend itself wisely, and for most of these players (A-Rod and Jason Giambi come to mind) they are being paid the market rate for their services. If these players can draw 4 million fans a year, why not spend $200 million dollars on them and compete for a championship every single year?

The A's, infamous for their "Moneyball" philosophy, are the posterboys for "smart baseball." Although the religious war that that book started has become more a running joke to announcers and press, they are still one of the most cost-effective businesses in baseball. And they have also expanded on their intial metrics and still run their team based on exploiting market inefficiencies.

I admit I don't know as much about the NL as I should, other than the Dodgers (run by former A's wunderkind, Harvard Grad and media whipping boy Paul DePosdesta) had their team fall apart on them. But just curious.

Baseball seems to be the most intellectually digestable sport out of the Big Four (the others being Football, Basketball, and Hockey), and I think there are probably baseball fans lurking out here somewhere.

Oh, and GO YANKEES!

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Anybody have a favourite for the World Series? Philosophical or otherwise.

Red Sox fan here, so you'll have to cheer that team on your own :):lol:

I'm naturally going for Boston, but they're pitching's suspect. Assuming they don't make it, I'd root for the White Sox, since they haven't won a playoff series since 1917 :(

NL-wise, I'm a Braves fan, but I'd root for the Cards since they're arguably the best team in baseball right now. They probably deserve to win more than any other team.

Philosophically, I could only root for the Yankees so much. While Boston's payroll isn't exactly moderate, the Yankees blow everyone (including the Sox) out the water in terms of the money spent.

Everytime Tampa Bay beat NYY (11 out of 19) this year, I laughed. When David beats Goliath, you can't help but cheer him on.

Course the same could be said for Toronto and Boston, I suppose :santa:

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Anybody have a favourite for the World Series? Philosophical or otherwise.

It's somewhat arbitrary which team you root for. I grew up in St. Louis, so I'm a Cardinals fan.

Personally I was hoping for an A's / Yankees ALCS all summer, that is, two sucessful businesses in baseball competing for the American League Championship. It erks me when people say that the Yankees shouldn't win because they "buy" all their players. Money does not spend itself wisely, and for most of these players (A-Rod and Jason Giambi come to mind) they are being paid the market rate for their services. If these players can draw 4 million fans a year, why not spend $200 million dollars on them and compete for a championship every single year?
The only thing I'd say is that major league baseball is a league, and to make the games competitive, you can't have teams that can far out do others financially if you want a viable enterprise. It's not the same thing as a free market in that sense, i.e. team competing with team. You want your competition to be in business and thriving.

You're right that you have to know how to spend the money, but it can still be a great advantage. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Yankees fan. I love the lore of the team, and, in my opinion, they're the best team in all of sports from an historical perspective.

Btw, you've got to hand it to Giambi. People were saying he was washed up, and the second half of the season he went on a tear.

As to philosophy, consider Scott Rolen, the third baseman for the Cards. He's is an avid reader and his favorite book is The Fountainhead. So, there's a reason to root for the Cards! :) Unfortunately, he was injured in a collision in the basepads this year, and thus is out for the season. A major loss, as he's the best defensive third baseman in the National league and a great hitter.

I'm naturally going for Boston, but they're pitching's suspect. Assuming they don't make it, I'd root for the White Sox, since they haven't won a playoff series since 1917

Man is that a long time. Of course, the Cubs have the longest. I think they last won in 1908! Getting close to 100 years!, yet the Cubbies have big time fans who attend the games in large numbers. Go figure.

Boston is a great hitting club, but their pitching isn't as strong as it was last year. Schilling has been shakey due to injury, but he appears to be getting stronger. Pedro Martinez is with the Mets, a big loss. David Wells is a solid pitcher, or has been in the past, but not on Martinez's level. Wakefield is an effective pitcher. Your closers may not be as good this year. Clearly the Red Sox have the talent to do it again, but it may be harder this year, because they'll have more to over come, and it seems like the teams in the America league are a bit stronger this year. The White Sox won 99 games. The Angels are an excellent team.

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Red Sawx. I grew up near Boston. One thing I really like about them objectively is their approach to player evaluation and management. For one, they have uber-statistician Bill James on their payroll, whose professed goal in creating sabermetrics was to find "objective knowledge" about baseball.

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I would like to take this moment to objectively salute the pursuit of excellence and greatness and all that displayed tonight by Tony Graffanino, who gave us a tutorial in costing your team a crucial game by botching a ground ball Felipe's dogs could have fielded cleanly. :(

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Yeah!

A mixed blessing:

A. Finally an ALCS without the Yankees or Red Sox. Change is good.

B. Considering what has already been said, announcer and media-wise, the Angels/White Sox Series is going to be a big bully-pulpet for "faith-based" baseball.

C. Assuming the Astros beat the Cardinals this year, The 2005 World Series may set a record for most games decided by one-run (considering the offensive weakness and superior pitching of both the Angels and White Sox)

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I'm rooting for the Angels as well...however if they keep playing like they did today against the White Sox... =( I heard on an interview today that its John Wooden's favorite baseball team because they don't have any individual stars but play as a team.

p.s. on a side note...ucla football team is playing much better this year. they actually beat berkeley and i'm hoping they beat usc...i've already bought my ticket!

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I'll add a hearty congratulations to the Astros.

As a Cardinals fan, I was hoping to see them go all the way, but without Scott Rolen, and a fully healthy offense, it would have been a tough task. Next year I'm hoping.

But I did enjoy that Pujols homer in game 5, wow. Ironically, the only three innings of the series I listened to were when the Cards were behind 4 to 2 in the 7th, and ended up winning 5 to 2.

You can have Alex Rodriguez and Vladimir Guerrero , et.al. Pujols is clutch in the big games.

This is going to be one of the best ever World Series match ups for pitching. So, it should be good.

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As a lifelong Houstonian, the Astros going to the World Series still hasn't sunk in. Considering how many times we've deserved the name Choke City with the exception of Hockey, which makes no sense considering how warm it is.

I think if I hadn't just retruned from my honeymoon and I had been at work, I would have been more into it. Of course, I work for a St Louis based firm and there was a significant amount of smack talk last year. Sadly, I'm due for an office audit and my auditor is a died-in-the-wool cards fan. :dough:

Actually, there are only 2 teams I really route for: Texas Thunderbears, the now defunct AFL team that was here in Houston and the South Sydney Rabbitohs, a rugby team. Both are definant underdogs and play/played their games for the love of it and not for the money or the fame.

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As a lifelong Houstonian, the Astros going to the World Series still hasn't sunk in. Considering how many times we've deserved the name Choke City with the exception of Hockey, which makes no sense considering how warm it is.

I assume you mean minor league hockey. Unless you're thinking of the Dallas Stars?

Anyway, don't forget that the Houston Rockets won the NBA championship, when? 1996?

It's good to see Houston finally make it. Still, this is true of both franchises, since the White Sox haven't been in it since 1959 and haven't won it since 1917 (longer than the Red Sox streak by a year).

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I assume you mean minor league hockey. Unless you're thinking of the Dallas Stars?

Anyway, don't forget that the Houston Rockets won the NBA championship, when? 1996?

It's good to see Houston finally make it. Still, this is true of both franchises, since the White Sox haven't been in it since 1959 and haven't won it since 1917 (longer than the Red Sox streak by a year).

Yes, it is minor league hockey but it is like AAA. At least that is what the owner feeds us. Hey, the only ice we get here is out of a box on top of our fridge. The Houston Aeros are supposedly good. But like I said, I don't know hockey. Though the irony of 2 good hockey teams being from Texas is something I mention to my family members in the frozen whiles of Wisconsin etc. Or what we called "Canada" here in Texas because it's close enough for us. Hey, the county (which is mostly Houston) I live in has over 4 million residents. That's alot more than most of "states" but does allow us a healthy respect for NY & LA. Gotta respect the size.

Yes, the Rockets won the year Jordan sat out. No coincidence there though. The Houston Comets, which is the WNBA dream team winning the championship every year they played and the darling of all 17 fans of the WNBA. <jab> We did have a major league soccer team here in the very ealy 70's when soccer "was America's fastest growing sport" (isn't it always?) that was good.

<sopabox on> I'm just glad that something finally came of the 1/2 billion+ freakin' tax dollars that were stolen by the Texans, Astros, and Rockets (which includes the WNBA and hockey team) owners. We still pay the highest hotel/motel taxes in America and dear lord (in the figurative sense of course) don't ever rent a car here. The taxes will make the enamel on your teeth peel. That is why so many of the car rental places just outside of the country do well.

Actually, there is a quasi-governmental agency called the Houston Sports Authority that is in theory private but acts as a taxing agency to build stadiums for the owners, oops, increase tax revenue, by hosting things like the Superbowl, (1 down, 1 to go) and the Livestock Show and Rodeo. <off soapbox>

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Anybody have a favourite for the World Series? Philosophical or otherwise.

Personally I was hoping for an A's / Yankees ALCS all summer, that is, two sucessful businesses in baseball competing for the American League Championship. It erks me when people say that the Yankees shouldn't win because they "buy" all their players. Money does not spend itself wisely, and for most of these players (A-Rod and Jason Giambi come to mind) they are being paid the market rate for their services. If these players can draw 4 million fans a year, why not spend $200 million dollars on them and compete for a championship every single year?

........Oh, and GO YANKEES!

I, too, am a fan of the Yankees and wanted them to succeed, despite their owner's and the front office's total disregard for values.

In MLB, virtually every team engages in buying players for whatever the market may bear. It, however, becomes incumbent upon each team to put together a team that can play with a common purpose-to win- and to play (i.e. produce) to the best of each player's ability.

In team sports, the team is always as strong as the effort the individuals put into it. That is why when certain teams' individual players falter, usually by physical injury, the team falters. So it goes then that the individual is stronger than the team.

In the case of the Yankees, the front office did not do a proper and intelligent job of evaluating the talent they obtained. For example, pitchers Wright, Pavano, and Brown were obtained in spite of the fact that each had suffered debilitating injuries and, therefore, should have been considered risky acquisitions. Thus, the Yankee organization spent millions of dollars on talent that did not produce. As a result, the team bumped and ground its way through a season that met its demise in the playoffs.

Other teams invested carefully and wisely in their talent. This explains in great part the two teams in the World Series.

It is not so much the final cost of an entity, as much as it is how wisely you spent such resources.

Anyone with the resources of a George Steinbrenner could spend according to his whims, but it requires the makings of a sound mind to put together a winning team with whatever resources one has at one's disposal.

Taking this one step further, this is the difference between a capitalist and a pragmatist. The capitalist uses his reason to achieve his end, whereas the pragmatist relies on whim and past experience- neither of which produces the same level of success as what the capitalist could.

Edited by Yes
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So, the White Sox take it for the first time since 1917!

Red Sox get it last year for the first time since 1918, and then this.

Poor Cubbies. :thumbsup:

Some observations about the series:

The pitching, while at times excellent, was not quite up to par. The Astros especially didn't seem to pitch up to par, with Lidge, Oswalt and Clemens all three having bad performances. Although, I really admire Lidge, because I think he's very reality oriented. He judges his performances (from my non-experts perspective, at any rate) objectively, and seems to know when he's pitching well. He even handled the Pujols' home run amazingly well.

Jenks is a phenomenal pitcher.

Even though the Astros were swept, every one of the games could have gone either way. So, it was in that respect a close series, unlike the series between the Cards and the Red Sox last year, where the Red Sox pitching shut down the Cardinal's offense.

The best team in baseball definitely won it this year. They only lost one game in the playoffs.

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