World Series

More on the WFAN curse I tweeted last weekend. (The Mets haven’t won the World Series since WFAN has been in Queens. Now that they’re in Manhattan…good sign for 2010?).

WFAN’s first broadcast in Queens was July 1st, 1987. The Mets were the defending World Champions. The Mets went 17-30 from that point for the rest of the season, finishing in second place. The Mets have been back to the World Series just once in that time.

It's safe to say that there is a lot of pressure on Alex Rodriguez going into the ALCS.

It is no secret among these parts of my love affair with Pedro Martinez. I can qualify that statement by the countless number of articles I have devoted to him in the past year on these very pages. I have been enormously critical of the Mets organization for their lack of foresight when it comes to this living legend.

Last year, some of us got all googly-eyed at the potential of seeing a World Series where Manny Ramirez would go against the very same team that traded him just a few months prior. It had all the makings of the perfect media circus.

But then it never even happened.

If you missed part one of this installment, check it out here.  Now, for part two:

Eddie Cicotte

This is the man that inspired this little project.  Cicotte won 208 big league games before receiving a lifetime ban for his roll in conspiring to throw the 1919 World Series as a member of the Chicago White Sox. Cicotte threw 18 innings and won one game as a member of the Detroit Tigers. He was born and passed away in the state of Michigan.

With Major League Baseball down to the final four teams of the Yankees, Angels, Dodgers, and Phillies it seems the Vegas bookmakers have the most faith in the manager with the least experience. The VegasInsider.com has the New York Yankees as an even money bet to win the 2009 World Series despite the Yankees having a skipper who has never managed in the World Series. The odds for the final four teams are the following: Yankees (Even), Angels (3/1), Dodgers (3/1), and the defending champs Phillies are (5/1).

Now that the first round of the Major League Baseball playoffs are behind us, I thought I’d check back in and see how well my prognostic skills were doing.  When I made my predictions for the 2009 post season I was clearly hopped up on cough syrup or some sort of delusional medication.

The temperature was a little chilly as I stepped out of my front door that day. Earlier, it had reached a high of around 54, but it felt as if it had dropped nearly ten degrees since then.

Billy Martin picked up where he had left off the year before.

In the seventh inning of the seventh game of the 1952 World Series, Martin had made a spectacular catch of a wind-blown Jackie Robinson pop-up with the bases loaded and two outs to save the game and World Series.

The Yankees and Dodgers repeated as pennant winners in 1953, and Billy Martin again was instrumental in the Yankees winning the World Series.

Because the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have made it to the postseason nearly every year this decade, it’s easy to forget that these teams have not had much success in October in recent seasons. The Yankees’ ALDS sweep of the Minnesota Twins earned them a berth in the ALCS for the first time since 2004. The Angels advanced to the ALCS for the first time since 2005.