in the light of the new day, now that I have survived the night (having put away all sharp instruments yesterday afternoon and confining myself to the first floor last night), here are my morning after thoughts:
*Give the Rays and Cards all the credit. They took advantage of the Sox’ and Braves’ decline, had terrific Septembers, and won when they had to. I wish them well for the playoffs and will be rooting for them both in the postseason.
*I’ll leave it to the sports’ writers, radio/TV pundits, bloggers, stove league fans, and MillersTime readers to pin the blame for the Sox’ and Braves’ September disasters. For the Sox, I think everyone on the team contributed to the breakdown, with the exception of Ellsbury and Pedroia.
*Judged against the preseason expectations of being in and possibly winning the WS, there’s no way to avoid the disappointment of the season’s results. I, for one, boldly and mistakenly (for the second year in a row) said the Sox would win 100 games or more. Beware of giving too much weight to my predictions.
*However, I also said that what excited me most about the season was the opportunity for the Sox to be in every one of their 162 games. And from that perspective, the Sox provided me with six months worth of excitement and enjoyment, along with the angst of September.
And a few other thoughts:
*I still think the Phillies will win it all, tho I won’t be rooting for them.
*Don’t be surprised if the Yankees don’t make it into the WS.
*The Nats ended the season almost at .500 with a record of 80-81 (a rained out game apparently will not be made up) and in third place in their division. They continued to improve, especially after Davey Johnson took over. Look for them to be in the ‘hunt’ next year with an even stronger team.
*Adrian Gonzoles is everything, and more, he was touted to be. Not so Carl Crawford. Ellsbury and Pedroia are the heart of the team and hopefully Jacoby will return.
*Jose Reyes is no Ted Williams.
*Baseball is wonderful: three races decided in the 9th or extra innings of the final game(s) of the season.
One piece of MillersTime business left: figuring out the winners of the 2011 MillersTime Baseball Contests. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, please leave a comment below.
Randy Kessler said:
Where’s the silver lining? Maybe that in life, you should never give up? The Braves and the Sox, both leaders in the wild card race for the last month, each falter in ninth inning of the last game of the season. They each only needed to finish off the ninth with the lead of 3-2 they had going into it. Too weird and too sad. But this is, unfortunately a year to remember (since it will be impossible to forget).
Brian Steinbach said:
Where is the outrage that the team-which-shall-not-be-named “allowed” themselves to be beat so that the Red Sox would not make it in the playoffs? Clearly there was something nefarious going on there. Not to mention the very convenient rain delay that allowed the Red Sox to go cold and the O’s to regroup for a victory. Conspiracy theorists, add your post!
I immediately thought of 1979 when I worked for a federal judge in Providence – after Dent, all three clerks and the Judge walked out of different offices shaking our heads and thereby revealing that all of us were listening to the game while “working.”
My condolences, Rick, and as always, there is next year.
Lincer said:
You are a good soldier. Courage, mon vieux.
Richard said:
My cousin emailed me saying it was Dan Shaughnessy’s fault because, and I quote my dear cousin:
“Early in rain delay on Sox broadcast, he [Shaughnessy] says “no chance Rays can come back” from 7-0. Heidi Watney warns him not to spook it and he persists!
All is his fault. Simple.”