The 2009 World Series: Great? Or Just Great by Comparison?

The 2009 World Series has provided just about everything we could ask for in a great baseball matchup.  Since the first pitch we've had great pitching, timely hitting, and enough star power to fill up an issue of Us Weekly.  Look at the lineups and how many certain or at least potential Hall of Famers are on the field at a given time.


New York Yankees:
Mariano Rivera
Derek Jeter
CC Sabathia
Andy Pettite
Mark Teixiera
Alex Rodriguez
Jorge Posada
Hideki Matsui (well, does the Japanese Hall of Fame count?)


Philadelphia Phillies:
Chase Utley
Cole Hamels
Cliff Lee
Pedro Martinez
Ryan Howard

Game 4 brought all of the best quality baseball to the biggest possible stage and I loved every second of it.  You had two top-5 media markets competing within a couple hundred miles (making for easy travel).  I can't speak to the ratings, but I'm sure with Sabathia going at Joe Blanton, everyone couldn't wait to see what would happen (oh wait, nevermind).  But despite the Phillies putting someone out there that no one cares about, it was still a great game with great drama.  Early on, Blanton hit A-Rod and we were treated to a nice little stare-down that made me remember the good ole days when Jason Varitek would plant his glove in A-Roid's mirror-kissing face.  But he takes his base then comes up in the top of the 9th and wins the game for the pintripes.  Sabathia pitched well, but Utley owned him (again).  Joba Chamberlain came in before that and made the Phillies look like little leaguers until Pedro Feliz made him  look like a little leaguer.  After the Yanks got three in the 9th it was Enter Sandman and Rivera shuts it down like he's done forever.  It was just a classic World Series game.

This got me thinking about past series and made me realize how forgettable last year's World Series was.  Comparing the two is such a mismatch that it makes me wonder if this year is really great or if it's just a great series because last year's sucked so bad.


To recount, the Series was Tampa Bay vs. Philly.  Philly hadn't won a World Series since 1980.  The Rays hadn't been relevant since they entered the MLB with the Diamondbacks in 1998.  To begin with, the Series started out in Tampa Bay (specifically, St. Pete at that abomination of a stadium known as the Trop). I've been to Tropicana Field.  There are sting rays in a tank in left center that people walk by and pet because the games are so boring.  It's a retirement community, and most of the fans at Rays games are fans of other teams that are transplanted into Tampa to live out their last days.  When Red Sox fans start chanting "Let's Go Red Sox" the Rays fans usually can't even muster a response. 

The Rays were also basically an AL team built as an NL team, relying on base-stealing and small ball with a few bits of power infused by Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria.  Meanwhile the Phillies were an NL team built as an AL team with power up and down the line up.  It was just weird to watch, and the ratings for the Series were some of the lowest that the MLB has gotten in recent years.

Then there came the Game 5 debacle, where they went ahead and played the game on Monday despite the forecast, then called the game in the middle for the first time in World Series history.  Do you know how many World Series there have been (105 including 2009)?  The result was another rain delay on Tuesday, and then a Series clincher in a ridiculously miserable Philly that last only three innings on a Wednesday night.  People already didn't care because the Rays and Phils have no national following, then they play a 10-2 stinker in Game 4 that Philly dominated.  So Game 5 is already an afterthought and then it gets spread across three days.  Just a crappy World Series all around.

And the 2008 matchup was preceeded by Rockies-Red Sox (2007), Cardinals-Tigers (2006), and Astros-White Sox (2005).  Bottom line: I haven't cared about the World Series since the Red Sox made me care by coming back from 0-3 against the Yankees and then breaking an 86-year streak against the Cardinals.  But even that World Series was a boring mismatch of a sweep and was only interesting for the Curse of the Babe drama that came along with the '04 Red Sox.


So this year, in 2009, we have our first intriguing matchup since Yankees-Marlins in '03 (watching a young Josh Beckett mow down the Yankee's vaunted lineup and watching what was supposed to be Roger Clemens's last appearance in the Fall Classic has to be more intriguing than the previous years I've mentioned, but maybe I misremember).


Well thank goodness both teams are living up to their billing.  This has been a classic World Series in every facet of the game (did any of YOU expect Ryan Howard to steal a base last night or Johnny Damon to steal two at one time?). I fully expect Cliff Lee to hit the mound and dominate again, sending this thing back for a classic finish in six or seven at baseball's new cathedral / Coors Field East.  To answer my own question: the 2009 World Series is great on it's own merits, but it doesn't hurt that it was preceeded by so many crappy ones, with the ultimate turd bowl ocurring last year.


Even if the Yanks do clinch in Philly, at least the forecast is clear, so we won't have to deal with that two-day rain delay bullshit.


So we got that going for us...which is nice.

JNG: Is this supposed to be a satirical piece? I can't tell, because I swore you just used the term "great" to describe the 2009 World Series. Now you could use "great" to describe a lot of things ( Mad Men, Dave Matthews on the guitar, and Blake Lively's legs to name a few) and I'd be fine with it. But when you throw around the word with such ill regard, well then I have to take issue.

The 2009 edition of the Fall Classic is not great. I wouldn't even call it good. I'll admit it started with such promise, Cliff Lee and A.J. Burnett's gems, but it has dissipated fast since coming to Liberty City. Pitching and fielding errors have cost the Phils a chance at making this series respectable. Last night's game was a microcosm of it all. Some heroic and well-time hitting had gotten them back in the game and electrified the crowd. Two outs down in the top of the ninth and it looked like we were headed for a memorable comeback or an extra inning classic. Nope. Instead Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz decided to disappear with the Wild Things while Johnny Damon stole not one, but two bases. The rest is history with the Centaur, excuse me, A-Rod (if you haven't heard there are reports that A-Rod has paintings in his house with him painted as a Centaur, half-man, half-horse) getting the winning RBIs and Mariano Rivera going into his standard lock down mode. It was all very anticlimactic. Just like this series.

So,  I'm sorry Mitch, but there is a high chance this series gets done tonight and I am banging my head against my desk at work while the Yanks victory parade goes on outside my office. No matter how you spin it, there is nothing "great" about a 4-1 series. Visit www.thesaurus.com, they'll provide a better adjective.