World Series Observations
After having the pleasure of watching five relatively exciting World Series games, there are a few things that have stood out in my mind as noteworthy. The following is a list of some observations from this year’s series thus far:
- With his half-dozen mound visits per inning, Jorge Posada is the sole reason these World Series games take four hours to complete. It is my hope that Baseball Reference starts keeping track of this statistic next season, which will be called MVI (mound visits per inning).
- Ryan Howard strikes out a lot. And when he does, he always mutters something under his breath in disbelief … even when it’s a swinging strike three.
- Kate Hudson just might be the most famous baseball groupie since Alyssa Milano.
- Among many other things, Joba Chamberlain needs to wash his hat.
- It appears as though Chase Utley has starting using the John Stamos/Jesse Katsopolis line of hair products. Have mercy!
- There is so much loose jersey hanging off C.C. Sabathia, that the spare materials could be used as a tarp to cover the entire country of Cambodia.
- Cliff Lee is non-chalant about everything, so would he even get excited if the Phillies won the World Series?
- There is no stopping Mariano Rivera. If this World Series goes to a Game Seven, Joe Girardi might be best served to let Mo pitch the entire game himself.
- After seeing all the camera time that the Philly Phanatic has been getting, I realized the Yankees don’t even have an official team mascot. How sad is that?
Good call Ian. I wonder what Mo's endpoint actually is – I know he has bad outings, but I don't think I've ever seen a good outing turn into a bad outing with him. Still, I hope if I see him anymore this year it's for a choke session.
I'm fine with no mascot personally (my young son was actually a bit scared of Youppi back at the Big Owe) but I was wondering, what would this hypothetical Yankee mascot look like?
The safest explanation for Rivera is that he is just plain invincible. Those most saves he has ever blown in a single season was nine – and that was in his first full year as the Yankees closer. Since then, he has posted an 87 % conversion rate or higher ever since. That's why they call him The Sandman.
I'm sure the Phillies keep wishing and praying that Mo will eventually implode, but I don't think it will happen. As soon as he gets the ball, it's lights out.
Sorry, and about the mascot thing – I can see how some of those mascots can scare the hell out of children.
The Yankees used to have a mascot up until a few years ago. His name was Dandy (check out a pic here), but I think the Yankees themselves are mascots enough.
Dandy is one scary looking dude, that's for sure 🙂