Expect Nothing, Everything, or at Least the Unexpected...

I guess this is why they play the games. The smart money Friday night was on the Cardinals winning and win they did. If I told you that a closer blew the game, no doubt you’d believe it to be the Cardinals precocious Adam Wainwright, not the Mets Billy Wagner. Even if I told you that the Cards won and asked you to guess how, I’m sure you’d have begun by telling me about starter Chris Carpenter and his fabulous October record. Of course he gave up 5 runs in 5 innings, so they won in spite of his work, not because of it. Finally if I told you a Cardinal hit a game winning home run, the smart money would have to be on Albert Pujols, the decent money on Edmonds, the risky money on Rolen, the sCrappy money on Eckstein, the replacement money on Spezio, and the rookie money on Duncan, but nobody’s money, anywhere, would have been on So Taguchi, he of the 16 career home runs. Yet there he was, a defensive replacement for Duncan in the eighth, sending a Wagner fastball into the New York skyline to end an improbable night in Queens.

The series now heads back to St Louis, where the Mets will hand the ball to Steve Trachsel, Oliver Perez, and (after only three days rest) the ageless Tom Glavine. The Cardinals counter with Jeff Suppan, Anthony Reyes, and… Jeff Weaver? Seriously, is this what National League baseball has come to? That a guy who was pounded out of the AL with a 6.29 ERA will be tabbed to start on three days rest as though he’s Randy Johnson. Glavine has traditionally been terrible when throwing on three days rest, but can the Cardinals be any better with Weaver (who admittedly was very good in game 1). Either way, can there be any doubt that the AL champion will wipe the floor with whoever makes it out of this craptastic pitchers duel? Of course there can, because this is baseball and weird things happen in baseball.

By all appearances, after their sixth straight victory that AL team waiting for the NL champion will be the Tigers, whose hitters are peaking at the right time and whose pitchers are unbelievable. I’m not sure what Cuban voodoo dolls Tigers manager Jim Leyland found when he was managing the Marlins, but he obviously brought them to Detroit (which begs the question, did he forget to unpack them in Colorado, did the mountain air negate their power? Did Dante Bichette find them strewn on the buffet table and eat them? These are questions we need answers to), because Kenny Rogers just threw his second straight gem (2 hits, 6 Ks, and only 2 walks in 7.1 innings, giving him a 15 shutout innings this postseason), and those Tigers pitchers are looking like the great Dodgers of the mid sixties. I know that two years ago the Red Sox came back from 3-0 down, but remember that was the first time in baseball history, so yes it can be done, but that doesn’t mean it will. The Tigers are a good story and if any franchise deserves a little success it’s certainly them.

Still, I cannot help feeling badly for Oakland who had the best team in baseball in 2001, 2002 and probably even 2003. Like the Cleveland teams of the mid to late nineties, you look back at those A’s and go, wow. There was the three headed pitching monster (Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito), the top closer (Jason Isringhausen), the MVP first baseman (Jason Giambi), and MVP shortstop (Miguel Tejada), the all star third baseman (Eric Chavez), all star right fielder (Jermaine Dye), and even fancy mid season acquisitions (centerfielder Johnny Damon). Yet because baseball is a inherently random, those teams failed survive the first round, and because the players were really good, they priced themselves out of Oakland. So now you have Zito, who maybe made his final start for Oakland and Chavez, whose injuries have limited his offence (although not his defense). And while Oakland GM Billy Beane remains one of the best at putting competitive players on the field for reasonable prices, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the A’s under his stewardship are destined to always fall short. This is in no way indicative of Beane, nor a call for his removal, but just as John Hart’s great moves never resulted in a World Series title, it seems like Beane’s moves in Oakland will somehow continually fall short. He might be the best GM in the Majors, but in Baseball, some things just don’t happen the way you’d expect.