Congratulations to the ChiSox.
They played and won, and they deserved to win through they way in which they played. The Astros did not play as they ought, did not win, and did not deserve to win.
That is an absolute.
That said....
The ALDS and ALCS opponents of the ChiSox have a beef coming. As does every baseball fan in the country, including Braves and Cards fans. Officiating in the post-season has been abysmally bad. All the teams in the post-season derived benefits from this - the Astros included; all (yes, including the White Sox) suffered penalties from this. The teams that faced the ChiSox before the World Series have a legitimate beef, however, in that Chicago benefited far more from poor calls than did their AL postseason opponents. The same could be said of the officiating in the World Series, but is irrelevant: the Astros had innumerable opportunities to win despite miserable umpiring, and failed utterly and embarrassingly. The Astros are not entitled to complain.
Astros fans, by contrast, are entitled to complain. They are entitled to complain of officiating errors that far more often favored the Sox than the Astros. They are entitled to complain that their team faced not only nine opponents in the field, but Blue as well. And they are entitled to sheer fury against the contemptible little used-car salesman who occupies and disgraces the office of Commissioner of Baseball. Either the Commissioner's Office or the home team ought have the absolute authority to open or close the roof at Minute Maid as it sees fit; and if it is to be the Commissioner's Office, there must be absolute, objective, bright-line rules, and those rules must not change between the NLDS and NLCS on the one hand, and the World Series on the other. The invariably disgusting Bud Selig should be lynched, not that that is anything new: the man is beneath contempt, an utterly despicable and abject creature who has done more to hurt the game, and not only this year, than Joe Jackson and Black Sox ever did.
Nonetheless, the Astros as a team had myriad chances even with all of these things working against them, and they failed utterly and noisomely, and the stench of their failure hangs over the city that has put up with them for 43 years like a gas cloud from a Channel refinery explosion.
Mostly, of course, the Astros fans have a beef against their team. It is simply inexcusable for men making millions of dollars for playing a child's game to fail to execute in this fashion. There ought to be a sliding scale next year, based upon the position of the runners and the number of outs, under which substantial club fines are levied against batters who fail to advance baserunners. Alternatively, Messrs Garner, Gaetti, and Hickey ought to be issued cattle prods for use in the dugout.
Chicago can hold its collective head high: they played to win, deserved to win, and did win, and would have won against the Astros, with the Astros playing as they played, had every call gone in Houston's favor and the game been played in a broom-closet. They deserve their victory and the congratulations that go with it.
The fans of the Astros deserve commiseration.
The Astros as a team, or at least the position players and the pen, deserve nothing but execration for the World Series performances, if you can call those performances, they turned in.
Congratulations, ChiSox. Astros ... well, this is a family blog, so, never mind.
That is an absolute.
That said....
The ALDS and ALCS opponents of the ChiSox have a beef coming. As does every baseball fan in the country, including Braves and Cards fans. Officiating in the post-season has been abysmally bad. All the teams in the post-season derived benefits from this - the Astros included; all (yes, including the White Sox) suffered penalties from this. The teams that faced the ChiSox before the World Series have a legitimate beef, however, in that Chicago benefited far more from poor calls than did their AL postseason opponents. The same could be said of the officiating in the World Series, but is irrelevant: the Astros had innumerable opportunities to win despite miserable umpiring, and failed utterly and embarrassingly. The Astros are not entitled to complain.
Astros fans, by contrast, are entitled to complain. They are entitled to complain of officiating errors that far more often favored the Sox than the Astros. They are entitled to complain that their team faced not only nine opponents in the field, but Blue as well. And they are entitled to sheer fury against the contemptible little used-car salesman who occupies and disgraces the office of Commissioner of Baseball. Either the Commissioner's Office or the home team ought have the absolute authority to open or close the roof at Minute Maid as it sees fit; and if it is to be the Commissioner's Office, there must be absolute, objective, bright-line rules, and those rules must not change between the NLDS and NLCS on the one hand, and the World Series on the other. The invariably disgusting Bud Selig should be lynched, not that that is anything new: the man is beneath contempt, an utterly despicable and abject creature who has done more to hurt the game, and not only this year, than Joe Jackson and Black Sox ever did.
Nonetheless, the Astros as a team had myriad chances even with all of these things working against them, and they failed utterly and noisomely, and the stench of their failure hangs over the city that has put up with them for 43 years like a gas cloud from a Channel refinery explosion.
Mostly, of course, the Astros fans have a beef against their team. It is simply inexcusable for men making millions of dollars for playing a child's game to fail to execute in this fashion. There ought to be a sliding scale next year, based upon the position of the runners and the number of outs, under which substantial club fines are levied against batters who fail to advance baserunners. Alternatively, Messrs Garner, Gaetti, and Hickey ought to be issued cattle prods for use in the dugout.
Chicago can hold its collective head high: they played to win, deserved to win, and did win, and would have won against the Astros, with the Astros playing as they played, had every call gone in Houston's favor and the game been played in a broom-closet. They deserve their victory and the congratulations that go with it.
The fans of the Astros deserve commiseration.
The Astros as a team, or at least the position players and the pen, deserve nothing but execration for the World Series performances, if you can call those performances, they turned in.
Congratulations, ChiSox. Astros ... well, this is a family blog, so, never mind.
posted by Markham at 23:10
2 Comments:
Gaetti should have been with Ensberg 24/7 since he came back from the busted hand to get his pwoer back.
Gaetti is part of the problem, not the cure.
Man, I was jumpin' just because they made it to the big show. And I'm looking forward to next year.
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