Scranton and The Bird

Two of the most consistently funny shows on TV hit it out of the park this past weekend. First, there was SNL, always a sure bet during political season. They opened with a spoof of the VP debate, which was spot on. The funniest part to me was Joe Biden (Jason Sudekis) ranting about coming from Scranton, "the worst place on the planet." See below:



Then, there was Family Guy, which was as funny as it's been in awhile, as Peter became super-obsessed with the "Bird Song"- see one of the many funny clips below:

Division Series Notes- 10/5

The Dodgers finished off the Cubs early Sunday morning, 3-1, to advance to the NLCS for the first time in 20 years. Hiroki Kuroda (above) continued the string of great starting performances, and questionable Jonathan Broxton was able to close it out. Next stop Philadelphia, who finished off the Brewers on Sunday. The euphoria I felt as the game ended is indescribable, 20 years is a long time not to win any playoff series. The series vs. the Phils should be even harder, as LA will be taken more seriously than the Cubs took them.

But that's not till Thursday. For now, I will bask in the glow of finally being paid back a little for being a diehard fan.

Division Series Notes- 10/3

The Dodgers won again last night, a 10-3 thrashing of a bad-looking Cubs team. In 2 nights, the Dodgers have won more playoff games than they had in 20 years. Manny continued his amazing hitting with another home run, extending his postseason record to 26 dingers. Manny is the first Dodger to hit home runs in consecutive road playoff games since...Kirk Gibson. Wow. As bad as the Cubs played (4 errors and such), the Dodgers played that well. Besides taking advantage of the mistakes, they also played good hit-and-run, timely bunts, and Chad Billingsley (above) pitching his ass off. Now it moves to LA for Game 3, where we face the best Cubs pitcher in Rich Harden.

In other LDS news:

- The Phils beat baseball's best pitcher and thumped the Brewers 5-2. Milwaukee barely squeaked in, lost their #2 pitcher in Ben Sheets, and kept pushing CC on 3 days' rest. But Brett Myers looked unhittable and Philly should finish them off quickly this weekend.

- The Tampa Bay rays won their first-ever playoff game, 6-4, as Evan Longoria hit 2 home runs in his 1st 2 at-bats, becoming only the 2nd player to ever accomplish that.

Division Series Notes- 10/2

In "Could it be true?" news, the Dodgers beat the Cubs in Game 1 of their NLDS, 7-2. This brings the Dodgers' record in the playoffs since the fateful 1988 season to 2-12. Jose Lima won a game in '04 that barely kept the series alive. This time, James Loney (above) became the 3rd Dodger to ever hit a grand slam in the postseason (Ron Cey and Dusty Baker were the others in 1977), and MVP candidate Manny hit a home run as well that he golfed out. I have allowed myself a brief moment of joy, now back to the belief that we will return to our playoff-failure ways tonight.

In other 1st round news:

- Phils won over the Brewers, 3-1, for their first playoff game win since 1993. Brewers need to win today with the best pitcher in baseball, CC Sabathia, or it's over.

- Red Sox beat the Angels for the 10th playoff game in a row. Home losses don't bode well in the first round, and Anaheim needs to regroup quickly.

Playoff Preview

Here we are, at the most exciting time of the baseball year, as the playoffs start in just a couple of hours. It's really nice for me this year, as a) the Dodgers are in the hunt, and b) there is not a team that I hate in the playoffs for the first time since time since '93 (thanks mostly to no Yankees and/or NL West rivals). There are some great stories this year as well. Just a couple to watch:

- The Tampa Bay Rays will be the darling of everyone who doesn't have a horse in this race, having come from worst to first and with alot of young talent.
- The Chicago Cubs will try to break their 100-year curse with a World Championship.
- The Milwaukee Brewers dodged a huge collapse to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982.

Some intriguing possible World Series matchups:

- Red Sox vs. Dodgers- Manny vs. his old teammates
- Angels vs. Dodgers- The LA team vs. the pretends-to-be-LA team in the first-ever Southern California Series
- Rays vs. Brewers- The Fox execs' heads would explode at this small-market match-up, but 2 teams that have never won it all is always exciting.
- White Sox vs. Cubs- an all Chicago series would be super-annoying, but would make a Cubs victory all the more satisfying.

So here are my predictions:

NLDS

Cubs over Dodgers in 4 games
Phillies over Brewers in 5 games

ALDS

Rays over White Sox in 5 games
Angels over Red Sox in 4 games

NLCS

Cubs over Phillies in 7 games

ALCS

Angels over Rays in 6 games

World Series

Cubs over Angels in 7 games

Remember, these picks are un-scientific and not guaranteed to make you any money whatsoever. Enjoy the next 4 weeks of baseball at its best!

Preseason Baseball Picks Revisted- AL

As decent as I did with my NL predictions in March, is how bad I did with my AL predictions.

The good:

I had 1 of the 4 playoff teams right (Red Sox).
I knew that the Orioles would stink and the Yankees would be mediocre and miss the playoffs.

The bad:

Just about everything else. My other 3 playoff picks (Mariners, Indians, Tigers) were pretty horrible, with 2 of those teams finishing dead last in their divisions.

I will not let this deter me, though, as I will make my new playoff predictions tomorrow.

See my original AL choices here, here, and here.

Preseason Baseball Picks Revisted- NL

With playoffs set to begin on Wednesday, it's time to look back at my National League Predictions.

The good:

I predicted 3 out of the 4 NL playoff teams (Brewers, Dodgers, Phillies).
I had the Phils and Mets as 1 and 1A in the NL East and got killed for that. Needless to say, I was absolutely correct.
The Pirates, Braves, Rockies and Giants all stunk as bad as originally thought.

The bad:

My 4th playoff team, the Padres, were the 2nd worst team in the NL.
The Nats were not as improved as hoped, in fact they were the worst team in baseball.
The Cubs were much better than thought, even though I did pick them 2nd.

Tomorrow, the AL.

For my original predictions, see here, here, and here.

NL West Champs!!

The Dodgers clinched the NL West division last night, and oh, what a feeling! A team that is clearly different since the acquisitions of Casey Blake, and of course, Manny Ramirez (above). Joe Torre went as far to say yesterday that Manny taught this team how to play. It has been an exhaustively up and down year for the Boys on Blue, but now we head to October, and for the first time since 1988, they have a few days to set their rotation (every appearance since then, LA didn't clinch till the final 2 days of the season). Anything can happen in October, and it will be a little more fun for me now.

Midwest Trip Part Two- St. Louis

After 2 days in KC, we drove back to St. Louis to spend some time there. We started this leg of the trip at the Budweiser Brewery, which was alot of fun, alot of interesting buildings, and Staci even got to pet one of their dalmatians.



We then headed to the Arch, and though we didn't go to the top, we got to sit underneath it and look out at the Mississippi River.



Finally we finished up at Busch Stadium III, #26 on my stadium list. Only 3 years old, it is a beautiful stadium, I saw a little bit of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philly in their design. And the view looking out at the Arch is fantastic. The only disappointment was not getting to meet my hero (and current D-Backs bench coach) Kirk Gibson. It is very fan un-friendly down by the dugouts which made it impossible to get close enough. But I did get to watch him lead BP, and as you can see from the picture (#23 on the left), he's got the same swing that made him a legend 20 autumns ago.



A great trip, to be sure- and now the planning begins for next year's baseball journeys!

Midwest Trip Part One- Kansas City

Staci and I had a nice 4-day weekend in Missouri, flying into St Louis, then immediately driving 3+ hours to Kansas City. We began our trip at the Negro League Museum, which was both fascinating and sad.



Friday night, in an effort to get both famous aspects of KC culture, we went to BB's Lawnside BBQ, a fantastic rib joint that doubled as a blues bar. Neither disappointed, as both the music and food were out of this world.



On Sunday, we went to a Royals game. Stadium #25 for me was nothing special, but it was still a decent ballpark, and it may be my favorite location for an MLB park yet, as it was nestled on the outskirts of town, with no traffic and a laid-back atmosphere. Kansas City was a place I wouldn't mind visiting again.



Coming up tomorrow: St Louis.