Baseball

Any Cleveland fan with a decent short-term memory knows that, for the past several seasons, the Tribe has experienced consistent inconsistency at third base.

Since Travis Fryman hung up his cap, the Indians have had a revolving door at the hot corner. The Indians have had four different Opening Day third basemen in the last seven seasons, none of them for more than two years in a row.

The San Diego Padre fans are done losing, they're done with empty promises that have yet to be fulfilled. Could things possibly be changing with a new regime coming into their first official off season?

As the baseball season wraps up, with the New York Yankees just one game away from walking away with yet another World Series championship to add to their trophy case, Padre fans watch and wonder when that's going to be their team.

Every Yankees championship season in recent memory has had a signature moment that defined that particular postseason run.

Let's take a look back, shall we?

1996: The One With Jim Leyritz (World Series, Game Four)

The Yanks were down two-games-to-one against the defending world champion Braves and trailing by three runs in the eighth when Leyritz stepped into the box with two on against closer Mark Wohlers.

Charlie Manuel says his team is resilient. He points out the fact that the team has lost 22 games this season in which they led after the seventh inning. That sounds like the 2008 New York Mets to me. But, it was the Phillies and not the Mets who ultimately wound up winning the 2008 World Series. (ouch)

So.

Here we are again.

I just can't help it.

I promised that I wouldn't write any more nasty articles questioning the intelligence or motivations of the Toronto Blue Jays.

I also promised to up the dose of my medication so that I'd stop thinking that MLB was conspiring to get rid of the Blue Jays, a la Montreal Expos.

That's all done.

A-Rod delivered the big blow last night—but, was he more the hero or Lidge more the goat?

Let's build the case for each...


A-Rod as the hero

A-Rod hammered a fastball to left that was just one mile-per-hour and about three inches different then the pitch he'd just taken for strike one.

(Technically the pitch seemed to A-Rod about two to three miles-per-hour different given the three inches higher, but that's easy pickins for a decent three-spot hitter.)

Year: 1989

Record: 59-103

Win Percentage: .364

Win Percentage Change: -.179

Run Differential: -199

Pythagorean Record: 61-101

AL Finish: 14th of 14

Manager: Sparky Anderson

Best Transaction: The re-signing of Dave Bergman

Last December, my little nephew had a speech impediment and a very specific list. A total boy and a Toy Story fan since birth, he spouted his Christmas wish as only he could:

“I want a big fruck an’ Woody.”

Okay, maybe that’s not funny.

I am not going to blast Brad Lidge, but he is not on the same planet as Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera.

Then again, no one else is.

The key moment of this game is shown above.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Johnny Damon hit a bloop single to left field.

With Mark Teixeira batting, Damon took off for second. After beating the throw, he realized no one was on third (due to the Phillies using a heavy shift for Teixeira). He judged that he could beat Pedro Feliz, who's momentum was carrying him toward first, to the bag.