World Series

Finally, after 4,860 games from 30 teams, we have the World Series that we had all hoped for. We have the two juggernauts of baseball. The two cities, separated by 26 exits of Turnpike through the great state of New Jersey, will indeed give us the World Series that we could only wish for at the beginning of the season.

The 2009 World Series has arrived after a long and quite interesting season. Along with the arrival of the Fall Classic comes the World Series buzz and debates on who's got the edge. The Phillies and the Yankees make great cases for themselves, respectively.

The New York Yankees are trying to get back to their previous state of baseball dominance. Yankees like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte hope to end this decade the way they started it, with a World Series Championship.

We should have known.

Back in late May, during Memorial Day weekend, as people were lighting up the BBQ, cuing up the music, and opening up swimming pools, a series was being played in Yankee Stadium.

In a rare and intriguing interleague match up, the world champion Philadelphia Phillies paid a visit to the new Yankee Stadium to play the Bronx Bombers. At the time, both teams had identical records coming in; the Phillies were 23-17, and struggling to take off on the 2009 season.

In fact, the Mets were in first place at that time!

The two best teams in baseball will meet in the World Series, and oddly enough each is similar to the other. 

Both have dynamite, strike-at-any-moment lineups loaded with former MVPs and future Hall-of-Famers. Both have lefty aces that were on the Cleveland Indians only a season ago. Both have inconsistent fireballers who, if on their game, are unhittable. 

So, I’ve been trying this week to actually write some insightful columns and conduct some interviews, both for the folks over at CBS and here. In addition to that, I’ve been accumulating a tremendous amount of notes that I’ve slipped into various columns or interviews.

However, not everything made the cut, or fit, or whatever. So, just for the sake of having everything in one place, or in case this is the only Web site you go to on your Internet machine, let’s review the events from the last few days:

Tonight, if the rain lets up, the World Series will begin between the Phillies and the Yankees. While on paper this seems like a great matchup, featuring the teams that have been the best in their respective leagues all season, I'm completely uninterested.

At the risk of sounding like a whiny blogger, this is not a World Series that captivates my interest.

Perhaps it's the story, or lack there of. While A-Rod's rise from a playoff failure to juggernaut has been interesting, I honestly can't get into it.

Now with the World Series set to begin, people have started to talk about the Yankees winning their 27th World Championship and "Mr. November", Derek Jeter, will help the team once the World Series gets that far.

However, I completely disagree with the term "Mr. November" for Derek Jeter and I argue that Randy Johnson should instead be called Mr. November.

To tell you about my argument, I will turn back the clocks to 2001 and how this entire event concerning Mr. November unfolded.

Okay, so perhaps a better throwback matchup would have been if the Yankees were preparing to face the Dodgers.  But let's face it.  Since the Dodgers bolted from Brooklyn, the matchups haven't been nearly as exciting.

This will do, however.  In fact, this will do quite nicely.

In a sport which depends so much on tradition and is so steeped in its own history, a matchup between two of its elder statesmen is perfect.