Baseball

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You know: in the 1960s and 1970s there was The Carol Burnett Show and in an ongoing skit they'd do a spoof of the soap opera As The World Turns with As The Stomach Turns.

If the show were on now, they'd do a skit called As The Houston Astros' Fans' Stomachs Turn.

Phil Garner, the former Astro who managed Houston to its first and only World Series appearance, was fired and replaced by Cecil Cooper, who was fired this season. Cooper, a good hitter when in his Major League career, showed that as a manager he's, well, a good hitter.

The Detroit Tigers' 2007 first round selection surprised many when he made the team directly out of spring training. Jim Leyland, on the other hand, was not. His love of big power arms fit Rick Porcello's game to a tee.
 
Rick Porcello, a 20-year-old native of Morristown, New Jersey and just two years removed from high school, made an impact on the Detroit Tigers season and it shouldn't go unnoticed by Major League Baseball and its fans.
 

When it comes two building a championship team for next season, the names Matt Holliday and Jason Bay usually spearhead the list as essential additions the club must make.

However, the Mets will need more than just a single free agent slugger to be competitive in the National League East.

It could be a "Freeway Series," between Los Angeles and Anaheim for two southern California teams. Or it could be a (New Jersey) "Turnpike Series" for two teams in major cities in different Mid-Atlantic states, just off the one turnpike.

Or the two league rivalries of one Los Angeles-based team and one east coaster could reduce to a final contest featuring one of each.

What are absent from the pennant races this year are "small market teams" from the interior of the United States. No Minnesota Twins or Tampa Bay Rays. Not to mention Cleveland Indians or Pittsburgh Pirates.

I received the news as most others seem to receive news these days—via an online social network. According to the A's Facebook fan page status update, what Oakland loyalists had suspected and dreaded was official, delivered with all the cheeriness of Pravda reporting that the Politburo had again thrown its support to Dear Leader Stalin:

It was the kind of moment where legends are born.

Two outs.

Two on.

Two strikes.

Trailing by two.

The stage was set. Except that the man standing in the batters box had already started writing his legendary story years before.

Rookie of the Year.

Fastest to 100 home runs.

National League MVP.

And his most recent accolade, 2008 World Series Champion.

Quite a resume for any baseball career.  Yet Ryan Howard is just warming up.

Recently, the home movies of a New Hampshire family contained new, never before seen footage of the legendary Babe Ruth.

The footage can be seen here: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/10/08/sports/baseball/1247465064285/the-great-bambino-resurfaces.html?th&emc=th

Without question, the most thankless job in sports is held by officials.

Referees, umpires, line judges—all are as greatly despised as they are under-appreciated. And in many cases, the vitriol aimed at them is entirely unjust.

No one ever congratulates an ump for calling a good game or a ref for throwing a flag. Instead, fans rain vicious auditory attacks down upon the weary officials, whether or not they've earned them.

In this year's baseball playoffs, however, the bleacher creature jeers and jests are well-deserved.