112. Talkin' Baseball

OK, this time we mean it. The baseball team that shall remain nameless is in St. Louis this week for three games and the Cardinals really need this series to stay alive in the playoff hunt. The Cards have not had much success against the @*!$ this season. But it is time for St. Louis to fish or cut bait. And I had feared that a bait-cutting festival would ensue.

However, results are mixed so far, with St. Louis winning Tuesday night in dramatic fashion, but tonight's Cardinal rally fell short. We gotta win tomorrow, that's all.

Incidentally, there will be no logos from the team that shall not be named posted on this blog. Granted, the logo has a classic look and, under different circumstances, it would be displayed.

But you gotta draw the line some where.

On a baseball related note, one writer is proposing two wild card teams in each league for the playoffs and I actually like the idea.

Basically, I hate the Wild Card. I will not spill a lot a ink over why, but it boils down to a couple of things. Briefly, I think you should actually win something to advance. There's a reason they play 162 games and a season that long usually grinds things pretty fine. You know who the first place teams are and who they are not. The other thing is that any team can win 4 games in 9 days in October and this is borne out by that fact that one third of the World Series Champs since inception of the Wild Card have been, in fact, teams that could not win their division during the year. Wild Cards.

But, get a load of this idea. ". . . there is a way to restore full meaning to the 162-game schedule, and give teams a significant incentive to win their division rather than be happy just to make the playoffs. Tom Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau has suggested that instead of one wild-card team in each league, there should be two – and that these two teams should face each other in a one-game playoff to determine who moves on to the divisional series."

There's more - "Under this new structure, winning your division is of paramount importance. You’ll do anything you can to stay out of that one-game win-or-go-home situation. Late-season games against your division rivals become vital and electric." (emphasis mine)

I like it. I hope it comes about. Write your congressman.

Better yet, call Sarah Palin.

How can you measure the effect of Palin on the election?

The other day my wife, who typically would ask me, "OK, who are we voting for?" on the day before an election day, is all fired up to go pull the lever for McCain/Palin. My wife is very intelligent, but generally uninterested in politics.

But that was then and this is now.

And after watching and hearing the relentless, uninformed, mindless, partisan and biased attacks lobbed Palin's way and enabled by mainstream media that has abandoned all pretense concerning fairness, my bride remarked, "I miss Tim Russert."

We all do.