A Grand Series

A Grand Series
By Aaron M. Smith

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. ... And summer is gone." 

-- Bart Giamatti

Moments after Boston's Carlton Fisk smacked his epic homerun that just did stay fair, Cincinnati's Pete Rose turned to his manager Sparky Anderson.

"Wow," he said with a smile. "What a game."

Sparky, naturally, was too distraught to soak in the majesty of the scintillating game, but Rose understood that although the Reds let one get away, they still had another chance.

"Don't worry, Spark," Rose said. "We'll get Game Seven."

And Cincinnati did. But ask 100 baseball fans who won the 1975 World Series, I bet half will say Boston, citing Fisk's dramatic walk-off home run.

Fast forward to October 27, 2011. Game Six of the World Series. It was one of the most incredible, unforgettable finishes in World Series history. And that is no hyperbole. The Texas Rangers, looking for its first World Series title, were one strike away from a series win ... twice. In back-to-back innings. Leading 7-5 in the 9th inning with two outs, David Freese drilled a triple with two runners on to tie it. After the Rangers went ahead 9-7 on a mammoth 2-run homer by Josh Hamilton, they seemingly had their long-awaited title. But yet again, the Cardinals scored two runs in the 10th to send it to the 11th inning. The Rangers had nothing left.

And in the bottom of the 11th, Freese led off the inning with a 3-2 blast to center that was as epic as Fisk's. As incredible as Kirby Puckett's Game 6 bomb that had Jack Buck screaming, "And we'll see you tomorrow night!" As Freese's homer cleared the fence, Jack's son Joe Buck, calling the game on FOX, echoed his father's closing ... "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"

Brilliant.

This series is nearly a mirror of the '75 series. If the Rangers win, people outside of Texas will most likely remember the series for Freese's heroics. And why not? It was unforgettable. If the Cardinals win, it could go down as one of the all-time best World Series. This series has had it all from great pitching, clutch hitting, brilliant strategy, incredible goofs (bullpen phone-gate).  All of this, including the gaffes, have made this one entertaining finale to the baseball season.

Baseball can be beautiful. And even with five errors and a handful of wild pitches, last night's game was beautiful. Being a Cincinnati Reds fan, I have a certain dislike for the Cardinals. But how you can not respect the way they fought to the end in Game Six? It was incredible. Inspiring. Unbelievable. You name it. I cannot wait for tonight's Game Seven. The two greatest words in sports. Game Seven.

With no pitchers left with any stamina, the pressure of an elimination game, and temperatures dipping into the low 40s, tonight promises to be a thrilling free-for-all for the World Series title.

You can't ask for anything more than that.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds
By Aaron M. Smith

Tony LaRussa unhappy about something.

Last year before a pivotal divisional series between the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips set off a firestorm with a flurry of salty adjectives aimed at the Cardinals players and coaching staff. The Reds were promptly swept and I have always believed that Phillips never should have said what he said on the radio.

The Cardinals, though seem happy to prove Phillips right on seemingly a nightly basis.

I love the unwritten rules of baseball and how players police themselves. But when a guy like LaRussa seems ignorant of these unwritten rules, yet still attempts to police the game via his players, it sours the whole experience. Last night in Milwaukee was a perfect example.

In a titanic struggle between the National League Central's top two teams, Milwaukee and St. Louis had a great game going. The Brewers were clinging to a one-run advantage in the seventh inning as the Cardinals threatened with runners on first and third with no outs. The Cardinals' Albert Pujols, one of the National League leaders in hitting into double plays, was at the plate and was promptly hit on the wrist on a high and tight pitch to load the bases. The Cardinals screamed foul even though putting Pujols on base would have been ridiculous given who the Cardinals have up next in their lineup. Milwaukee's Jonathan Lucroy had this to say about the situation:

"There's no way that we were trying to hit Pujols on purpose. You kidding me in that situation? If we wanted to put him on base, we would have walked him. That's ridiculous. We were trying to pitch inside and get a ground ball to third base."

When the Brewers came to the plate, LaRussa had his hardest throwing pitcher fire inside at Brewers' slugger Ryan Braun. Not once, but twice -- the second pitch was a 97 mile-per-hour fastball that hit Braun's back. LaRussa then claimed that it was not intentional but that he wanted to "send a message" to the Brewers for the way they were pitching to Pujols. Not intentional, but just sending a message? So what LaRussa called it was an unintentional intentional warning to the Brewers. Classic LaRussa. Then he whined about it for a long time to reporters following the game. LaRussa even referred to Brewers fans as "idiots ... not idiots, I mean fans" for booing when Braun was hit.

"We threw two balls in there real good just to send a message," La Russa said, raising his voice. "If he ducks them, it's all over and we don't hit him. The ball that they tried to throw on Pujols was aimed right where they aimed it. Did they try to hit him? No. But there's a small window there."

This is just the latest in a string of whiny behavior from the Cardinals.

Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter and LaRussa have complained on more than one instance that the baseballs in Cincinnati have not been rubbed down properly. No other team has had the same issue. Cardinals' pitching coach Dave Duncan also has complained about this issue, even going as far as saying the Reds' pitchers have pine tar on their caps to help grip the balls.

"I'm sure (Arroyo) had pine tar on his cap. He didn't have any problem getting a grip. Balls like that can generate a lot more movement than a slick ball that hasn't been rubbed up."

Of course, the umpires, who have the final say of whether the baseballs have been rubbed properly, found no evidence of any pine tar on Arroyo's cap.

Carpenter pouting about something.

Carpenter has complained about mound conditions at Great American Ball Park more than once. No other pitcher seems to have the same problem. After surrendering a home run to the Reds on May 15th of this year, Carpenter stood on the mound and pouted like an 8-year-old not getting his way because the smoke from the fireworks bothered him. By the way, the Cardinals shoot off fireworks after home runs, too. Carpenter whined to someone who then whined to the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately, when the Cardinals coughed up another home run to the Reds later in the game, the ballpark staff decided not to shoot off fireworks. Pathetic. I would have fired off the entire arsenal.

Later in that same game, Duncan cried foul the same way LaRussa did last night against the Brewers. The Reds' bullpen let most of a 9-2 lead get away in a five-run ninth inning. Aroldis Chapman walked four of the five batters he faced and then Nick Masset gave up a two-run double to Ryan Theriot that cut it to 9-5. Francisco Cordero came on with one out and gave up a two-run double to Nick Punto, then came high and tight with a two-strike pitch to Pujols that hit the first baseman on his left wrist. Key part of that last sentence: a two-strike pitch. Why would you intentionally hit a guy who you have on the ropes? Even Pujols realized that Cordero didn't want to put the tying run on base, but some of his teammates and coaches started yelling at Cordero. Duncan went ballistic after Cordero finally shut the door on the Cardinals, yelling and screaming like a toddler at nap time. You have to understand the situation and Duncan and LaRussa clearly do not. They simply fire off inaccurate accusations. There is no place in the game of baseball for that kind of ignorance.

No other team in baseball is like the Cardinals. And that's not a compliment to St. Louis. A reputation does not come from a single incident or event. It is earned through a series of events that come to define who or what a person or, in this case, a team is. Saying the Cardinals have a reputation for whining and complaining would be an accurate statement. Just look at the facts. Simply type "Cardinals, whiny" in Google and settle on in for some hardy reading.

The Cardinals whined and complained about the Reds last year when Cincinnati challenged the Cardinals and eventually won the division. This year, Milwaukee is leading the division with the Cardinals in second place. And to no one's surprise, the Cardinals' whines are aimed squarely at the division leaders once again.

Phillips may have been wrong to publicly call out the Cardinals a year ago. But that doesn't make what the second baseman said any less accurate.