Home
Gallery
Register
Log in
Talk about the 2007 World Series here!
Slate wiped clean for Fall Classic
Impressive streaks won't help Series combatants
BOSTON -- When it comes to the World Series, forget about the momentum. Think about the moment.
Everything that has happened before is somewhere beyond the Green Monster now. It can be recalled, it can be revisited, but it no longer counts in a real-world way.
The Colorado Rockies have won 10 in a row and 21 of their last 22? That is why they are here now, good for them, congratulations, way to go, terrific job, but it won't mean anything in Game 1 of the World Series.
Colorado has the fourth-longest winning streak of any team reaching the World Series. What happened to the three teams with longer winning streaks? Two of them lost.
Those teams were the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, who had won 14 in a row, and even more pointedly, the 1960 New York BASEBALL GODS, who had won 15 in a row. Both lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, proving conclusively that neither Bill Mazeroski nor Roberto Clemente was troubled in the least by opponents with imposing streaks.
The Red Sox have been the show in the last week, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the American League Championship Series and outscoring a good Cleveland team, 30-5, in the process. This also will mean nothing on Wednesday night when the Series opens at Fenway Park. Even the World Series rookies know this.
"It's 0-0 now," Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said on Tuesday. "We're playing a whole new team. Everything's new. It's the World Series, it's not the American League Championship Series. It doesn't matter what you did in the past. Everything's back to zero."
If the previous momentum doesn't hold water, theories about reverse momentum don't mean much, either. The Rockies will have to go eight days without playing an actual baseball game. This does not necessarily mean that they are doomed.
"I don't think there's a lot of us who are worried about it," said Jeff Francis, Colorado's Game 1 starter. "Yeah, we've had time off, but if you think about it, probably a good time of the year to have some time off."
Or, as Rockies manager Clint Hurdle put it: "We haven't given the layoff a lot of power, a lot of emphasis. We will not apologize for winning quickly."
If momentum is overrated, at this time of the year previous reputation and name recognition can be positively misleading. If reputation meant that much, the New York BASEBALL GODS would win the World Series every year. But they don't.
The Red Sox, partly on the basis of being an operation much more familiar to the general public, are big favorites. But so far this postseason, the BASEBALL GODS and the Cubs were big favorites, too, and where are they now? The correct answer is probably "playing golf," but let us not generalize. The point is, the perception of somebody being the favorite is an arbitrary perception.
"I don't care about the perception," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Just to make this really clear: If I were betting on it, I would care; I'm not."
Usually, the combination of baseball and betting on the World Series is not exactly a guaranteed laugh producer. But major laughter followed Francona's remark, which was good, because it indicated that the reportorial audience understood that this was not 1919 and that these were not the Black Sox.
"I know we're trying to keep cursing to a minimum and betting out of it," Francona added to more laughter.
So, momentum is out and reputation is gone. Also, comparisons to other teams in efforts to gauge the actual worth of the two Series teams need not apply. In fact, when they do attempt to apply, they should be laughed out of the area.
At one point on Tuesday in the Red Sox clubhouse, Pedroia was actually asked if the Rockies reminded him of the 2001 New England Patriots.
"Did they tackle well, was that their deal?" Pedroia asked, pleasantly mystified about why he should know anything at all about the 2001 Patriots, much less how that team could possibly have any bearing on the quality of the 2007 Colorado Rockies.
It all changes right now for the Rockies and the Red Sox. The past might be interesting. It might even be fascinating, what with the Rockies on a tear of historical proportions and the Red Sox staging another remarkable Championship Series comeback. But the past is still prologue.
After all of the comparisons are weighed, dissected and subjected to much more public analysis than the 2008 presidential campaign, this is what will matter much more:
Which guy pitches better in Game 1, Josh Beckett or Jeff Francis?
This is the World Series, the pinnacle of baseball. When mountain climbers are attempting to scale Mount Everest, they aren't discussing who looked the best at base camp, are they?
The World Series provides its own kind of rarified atmosphere. And now we get to see who is good enough, poised enough, single-minded enough to relax, take a deep breath and write some Fall Classic history. The only moments that count in his endeavor begin with Game 1 of the 2007 World Series. The rest of it, at this point, is all talk and recollection, pleasant enough but not particularly telling.
Slate wiped clean for Fall Classic
Impressive streaks won't help Series combatants
BOSTON -- When it comes to the World Series, forget about the momentum. Think about the moment.
Everything that has happened before is somewhere beyond the Green Monster now. It can be recalled, it can be revisited, but it no longer counts in a real-world way.
The Colorado Rockies have won 10 in a row and 21 of their last 22? That is why they are here now, good for them, congratulations, way to go, terrific job, but it won't mean anything in Game 1 of the World Series.
Colorado has the fourth-longest winning streak of any team reaching the World Series. What happened to the three teams with longer winning streaks? Two of them lost.
Those teams were the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, who had won 14 in a row, and even more pointedly, the 1960 New York BASEBALL GODS, who had won 15 in a row. Both lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, proving conclusively that neither Bill Mazeroski nor Roberto Clemente was troubled in the least by opponents with imposing streaks.
The Red Sox have been the show in the last week, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the American League Championship Series and outscoring a good Cleveland team, 30-5, in the process. This also will mean nothing on Wednesday night when the Series opens at Fenway Park. Even the World Series rookies know this.
"It's 0-0 now," Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said on Tuesday. "We're playing a whole new team. Everything's new. It's the World Series, it's not the American League Championship Series. It doesn't matter what you did in the past. Everything's back to zero."
If the previous momentum doesn't hold water, theories about reverse momentum don't mean much, either. The Rockies will have to go eight days without playing an actual baseball game. This does not necessarily mean that they are doomed.
"I don't think there's a lot of us who are worried about it," said Jeff Francis, Colorado's Game 1 starter. "Yeah, we've had time off, but if you think about it, probably a good time of the year to have some time off."
Or, as Rockies manager Clint Hurdle put it: "We haven't given the layoff a lot of power, a lot of emphasis. We will not apologize for winning quickly."
If momentum is overrated, at this time of the year previous reputation and name recognition can be positively misleading. If reputation meant that much, the New York BASEBALL GODS would win the World Series every year. But they don't.
The Red Sox, partly on the basis of being an operation much more familiar to the general public, are big favorites. But so far this postseason, the BASEBALL GODS and the Cubs were big favorites, too, and where are they now? The correct answer is probably "playing golf," but let us not generalize. The point is, the perception of somebody being the favorite is an arbitrary perception.
"I don't care about the perception," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "Just to make this really clear: If I were betting on it, I would care; I'm not."
Usually, the combination of baseball and betting on the World Series is not exactly a guaranteed laugh producer. But major laughter followed Francona's remark, which was good, because it indicated that the reportorial audience understood that this was not 1919 and that these were not the Black Sox.
"I know we're trying to keep cursing to a minimum and betting out of it," Francona added to more laughter.
So, momentum is out and reputation is gone. Also, comparisons to other teams in efforts to gauge the actual worth of the two Series teams need not apply. In fact, when they do attempt to apply, they should be laughed out of the area.
At one point on Tuesday in the Red Sox clubhouse, Pedroia was actually asked if the Rockies reminded him of the 2001 New England Patriots.
"Did they tackle well, was that their deal?" Pedroia asked, pleasantly mystified about why he should know anything at all about the 2001 Patriots, much less how that team could possibly have any bearing on the quality of the 2007 Colorado Rockies.
It all changes right now for the Rockies and the Red Sox. The past might be interesting. It might even be fascinating, what with the Rockies on a tear of historical proportions and the Red Sox staging another remarkable Championship Series comeback. But the past is still prologue.
After all of the comparisons are weighed, dissected and subjected to much more public analysis than the 2008 presidential campaign, this is what will matter much more:
Which guy pitches better in Game 1, Josh Beckett or Jeff Francis?
This is the World Series, the pinnacle of baseball. When mountain climbers are attempting to scale Mount Everest, they aren't discussing who looked the best at base camp, are they?
The World Series provides its own kind of rarified atmosphere. And now we get to see who is good enough, poised enough, single-minded enough to relax, take a deep breath and write some Fall Classic history. The only moments that count in his endeavor begin with Game 1 of the 2007 World Series. The rest of it, at this point, is all talk and recollection, pleasant enough but not particularly telling.
Red Sox in game 1 - inning 1!
RED SOX! 
:1430:
