Baseball

I love baseball, even if the Braves aren't in the World Series this year. I've been watching the first game tonight and it's been somewhat interesting. It's amazing to think that the Phillies haven't been to the World Series since 1993. I swear, the strike devastated them almost more than any other team in the NL (the most devastated was the Expos, now the Nationals). It's more amazing to me to think that the city of Philadelphia hasn't won a title in something close to thirty years now.

Of course, we have the upstart Tampa Bay Rays. Who would have thought they would have come out of the AL East against three teams that had winning records! Of course, the comparisons to the 1991 Braves are uncanny. Both are worst-to-first, and they have a collection of really no-name players before the season that have made a name for themselves now. Their rotation is stacked with guys who have won on every level, and their bullpen is stocked with guys who have seen a few years. I don't know if they will win the series this year, but I can tell you before the next ten years are up, they will (depending on who they are able to keep and who gets bought out by the high rollers).

For the Braves, it's another year of sitting at home. Amazing to think that their whole season came apart on just one play, and especially one that Tasha and I were there to see! Early in the season, we were invited to come with our neighbor and her boyfriend to go to the game. The Braves had the Phillies down to their final out, and their player popped out towards shallow right field. Instead of letter Jeff Francouer get it, Kelly Johnson (our second baseman) called him off and promptly dropped the ball. The Phillies tied the game, and then went on to win it in extra innings. We went on something like a 19 of 20 game losing streak after that and were out of it. It was also when Smoltz went down, then Glavine, then Hudson. I was amazed to see that our wins leader was Jair Jurjens (a rookie!).

The talk is that the Braves are going to try to get Jake Peavy from the Padres. What a great move that would be! If we get him, that would hold the rotation for next year, and then the year after that, we would be excellent! It's going to be an interesting off-season!

More later!