World Series preview

By Rick Morris

Remember the days when the Red Sox were a fuzzy, lovable underdog whom America nuzzled to its soft bosom? Back then, the team was the whipping boy in a very one-sided “rivalry” with America’s Most Hated, aka the New York Yankees, and they hadn’t won a World Series since 1918 and the trade of Babe Ruth.

Those seem like distant memories.

Now, Boston has become “Yankees Junior,” an unlovable, huge-spending behemoth that has left the Yankee organization firmly in the dust, won a World Series title and become the bane of a nation with a spoiled, self-entitled, obnoxious fanbase cheering its every move. They’ve achieved the success they never thought possible, while becoming all that they hated. I’m sure the irony is lost on Chowd Nation.

And now, Boston is on the verge of becoming the “leader in the clubhouse” for the title of Team of the Decade, since no other franchise has won a second championship this decade. Standing in their way: a “magic” team outmatched on paper much like the one they just dispatched in the ALCS: the 21-1 in their last 22 games Colorado Rockies.

The national media will spin this series as the empire against the ragamuffins, but in reality, it’s the most star-studded World Series since 1999 with the Rocks definitely holding up their end of the bargain. Although Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins and Todd Helton toil in relative anonymity, that does not negate what they accomplish between the lines. Holliday is probably The Baddest Man on the Planet right now and is probably the only player who could legitimately reduce Manny Ramirez to being the second best left fielder in the World Series.

So the Rockies are almost as top-heavy as the Sox in terms of superstar power, but as they did in the ALCS and the ALDS, Boston should be able to win with superior depth of starting pitching, relief pitching and the starting lineup. Additionally, the Red Sox’s path to the final stop in October is probably more impressive than Colorado’s insane hotness, given the absolutely huge disparity in talent between the American and National Leagues. Boston has already beaten two teams that probably would have won the NL if they were in it.

I have maintained all along that the winner of the AL would steamroll to win the World Series. There are a couple of caveats I have grown to accept that do make me feel the Fall Classic will be closer than I had previously thought.

^ I picked against Colorado twice and they have defied my expectations. Again, the Phillies and Diamondbacks are supremely inferior to the Red Sox, but credit must be given where it is due for exceeding expectations already and proving pundits like myself wrong repeatedly.

^ David Ortiz or Kevin Youkilis at Coors Field? We won’t see both.

^ Colorado won two of three from Boston at Fenway in interleague play this year, including a game in which they took it to Josh Beckett.

^ Rookie starters Franklin Morales and Ubaldo Jimenez are wildly inexperienced, but also unknown commodities to the Red Sox. Young pitchers can buffalo even great hitters unfamiliar with them.

^ In addition to excellent performances from their core players, Colorado has had timely hitting up and down the order – and they are one of the best defensive teams in baseball, if not the best.

^ While the Rocks will have to deal with the atmosphere at Fenway, the Red Sox must play the middle games of the series at Coors Field. Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball might not be dancing on a cold October night at altitude.

^ There is at least a surface similarity I see, albeit with great irony, between this Series and the 2003 one. Then, an upstart team led by, you guessed it, Josh Beckett, punched the favorite Yankees in the nose and continued their Cinderella run all the way to the top. But the crucial difference I see is that the Sox are not in the decaying-dynasty mode New York was in back in ’03 and that the speed and slightly-more-established power arms of the Marlins were custom-made for pulling off the upset in a way that the Rockies are not.

Notwithstanding these factors, I pick the Red Sox to win in 6. I sincerely hope that I am as wrong about the Rockies as I was in the first two rounds, and moreover, everyone in this country outside of the noxious Red Sox Nation wishes the same.

C-Town, grow up about Lebron!

By Rick Morris

As a lifelong resident of the Cleveland area, you might think I'd be most sick and tired of the perennially horrible and depressing economy -- or perhaps the harsh summers and winters -- or perhaps the single worst market in the country for terrestrial radio (albeit made much more bearable by my sweet, sweet iPod in the car) -- or perhaps the knuckle-dragging, no-vision mediocre politicians sucking at the public teat -- or perhaps the legacy of no major professional sports championship (I said major championship, indoor soccer!) since 1964.

Actually, the element I'm most sick and tired of is none of the above, although it's somewhat related to the legacy of losing sports teams.

You see, the Cleveland area is singular in the barely repressed overcompensating self-loathing that manifests itself in the world's biggest inferiority complex. If somebody at ESPN so much as mentions something unflattering about Cleveland off air and sotto voce to boot, 10 morons would immediately clog the phone lines of a local talk show to whine about it. It's almost impossible for anyone outside of Cleveland to properly appreciate this, but ANYTHING said by ANYONE in the national media can be taken at any time as a reprehensible slam on America's North Coast by its paranoid residents. A mere "Here comes the Yankees" from Chip Carey during the ALDS telecasts was enough for the majority of the Tribe fanbase to complain that its female private parts hurt.

So Lebron James, as a fellow lifelong Northeast Ohioan, should have known the grief he was buying by wearing a Yankees hat to ALDS Game One at Jacobs Field.

Personally, as a lifelong fan of all C-Town sports teams and certified Yankee hater, I didn't appreciate his gesture. But I'm just about unique in this town right now for the fact that I have no great urge to burn him in effigy.

Cleveland fans are actually pretty amusing in their ignorance and lack of any type of perspective on Old Number 23. To date, Lebron has lived up to the NBA pedigree by serving as (unmarried) baby daddy to two young tykes. With urban America plagued by countless ills that could be traced back to births out of wedlock and single parenthood, Lebron has chosen not to set a positive example for so many of his fans. But the "sports is my life" yokels who worshiped him considered him perfect before and now call him the devil incarnate for donning a Yankee lid.

Let me be clear. I have worn, and will continue to wear, Lebron gear including a #23 Cavs jersey. I have never been an immense fan of the man personally, dating back to his Hummer-driving days in high school (just try defending the indefensible on that deal!). I don't harbor dislike for him -- his "King James" persona is a bit much for me, but I think he's fairly well-adjusted when you grade on the curve and factor in that the world has been kissing his tuckus since his mid-teens. But I've always been cold and mercenary in my support of him. He's the single greatest athlete Cleveland has had in my lifetime, inasmuch as Jim Brown was before my time. He represents the greatest hope for a championship for my hometown teams, so I want him to succeed to bring my team a title. But I'm certainly not invested in him personally at all.

So when he does something jerky like taunt Tribe fans with a Yankees cap, I've got it in perspective, unlike the "Lebron hates us just like our evil overlords in the national media" nutcases who populate my hometown. Fortunately for them, The FDH Lounge exists and can demonstrate to those types that sports are important and fun, but there's actually a world that exists beyond it.

2007 ALDS/NLDS preview

By Rick Morris

The first round of the MLB playoffs has resembled “March Madness” almost since the inception of the three-round playoff format instituted in 1994 (but not utilized until 1995 – thanks again, players’ union!). This year could well be the wildest yet, with four fairly evenly-matched teams in the superior American League and a number of hot teams in the National League – with only the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks not needing an insanely hot second half just to make the postseason in another down year for the NL. Before anyone overestimates momentum going into October, however, remember that the Cardinals and Tigers were ice-cold going into the playoffs last year only to turn it on when it counted and that the Cleveland Indians were absolutely dominant heading into the 1996 playoffs only to have their fortunes turn on a dime against Baltimore. Here’s how each of the series looks going in:

RED SOX/ANGELS: More than any other series, this one has many mirror-image elements. Both teams go three-deep with scary starting pitchers and are the only teams in the postseason to be able to make that claim. Both aces are legitimate big-game pitchers with both John Lackey (2002) and Josh Beckett (2003) having been on the hill for their teams in a World Series clincher – and both did it under impressive circumstances with Lackey having achieved it in Game Seven as a rookie and Beckett pitching on short rest. Lackey has been awful at Fenway Park and the Red Sox have home-field advantage, so advantage Boston in terms of the top of the rotation. Both teams have great bullpens, but saw big lapses down the stretch. Both pens are anchored by flamethrowing young dominators. The Red Sox have more power than the Angels, but not as much as you would have thought coming into the season – frankly, the top power hitters for both teams were a bit disappointing this year. The Angels, conversely, have better speed, much as you would expect. With so little appearing to separate the teams, ultimately the advantage seems to go to Boston based on Lackey’s Fenway issues and the marvelous strikeout-to-walk ratio of Curt Schilling seeming to foreshadow another great October. Red Sox in 5.

INDIANS/YANKEES: Too much has been made of the Yankees’ domination of the Tribe in the regular season, when, due to a fluke of the schedule, they did not have to face C.C. Sabathia once. The Indians have the widest edge in starting pitching of any of the eight Division Series teams, as the dual aces of Sabathia and Fausto Carmona blow away anyone the Yanks have at this stage of their careers. Unfortunately for the Indians, they lost the American League #1 seed to Boston on a tiebreaker and, as such, lost the right to choose a more spread-out playoff schedule – and therefore cannot pitch Sabathia and Carmona twice on normal rest as they would have otherwise. That format would have rendered Cleveland a dramatic favorite instead of a narrow one. Still, Jake Westbrook’s matchup against Roger Clemens in Game Three is the only one where the Yanks have a clear-cut advantage on paper. The Yankee bullpen is somewhat shaky outside of super-rookie Joba Chamberlain and the still-somewhat-fearsome Mariano Rivera. For the Tribe, the two Rafaels (Betancourt and Perez) have provided almost all of the great moments, along with up-and-down closer Joe Borowski. The Bronx Bomber lineup is superior to Cleveland’s, although the likelihood of defensive specialist Doug Mientkiewicz appearing regularly at first base diminishes the advantage. SportsTalkNetwork.com analyst Bob Glassman correctly stated that one of the key matchups during the series will come in likely MVP Alex Rodriguez’s first two or three at-bats against C.C. Sabathia, against whom he has done well. If Sabathia, perhaps the Cy Young frontrunner, can shut down ARod, the usual chatter about October failures and the 2008 contract situation could spiral out of control in the New York media. Additionally, the designated hitters could tell the tale as well: Travis Hafner is finally doing well at the end of a disappointing season, while Hideki Matsui is being forced into the DH role right now because he is not 100% physically. Ultimately, timely hitting, which has been the forte of the 2007 Indians, should carry over at least into this series as Cleveland moves on to the ALCS. Indians in 5.

PHILLIES/ROCKIES: These are the poster children for hot teams going into the postseason, with Colorado’s win for the ages on Monday night solidifying the team’s emotional high. Unfortunately, the draining extra-innings extra game may have left them ill-suited to travel cross-country to battle another spirited young team in the Philadelphia with only a day’s rest. As such, the Phillies benefit right off the bat by not only having home field, but the luxury of having everything set up their way. Neither team has great starting or relief pitching, but a minor edge in both areas would go to Philly. Both lineups are fairly deep with explosive young talent, epitomized by MVP candidates Matt Holliday for Colorado and Jimmy Rollins for Philadelphia. They are further exemplified by Rockies Brad Hawpe, Rookie of the Year candidate Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins and crafty veteran Todd Helton for the Rockies and 2006 MVP Ryan Howard, sparkplug Aaron Rowand, slugger Pat Burrell and the best second baseman in the game, Chase Utley, for the Phils. Factor in the element that both teams play in hitters’ parks and the scoring should be quite lively. In the end, several key facts play in Philly’s favor: being battle-tested in one of America’s toughest media markets after having started the season in disgraceful fashion, the slight edge in veteran leadership, a more rested bullpen and their ownership of the best pitcher in this series, Cole Hamels. Phillies in 4.

DIAMONDBACKS/CUBS: As has been widely chronicled, Bob Melvin should win Manager of the Century for the job that he has done in shepherding the BabyBacks to the playoffs. Bursting with awesome young talent, Arizona could legitimately become the best team in the National League in a year or two, but they have without question overachieved en route to the National League #1 seed for the demonstrable reason that their young core is simply not productive enough yet. With one legitimate superstar in the lineup (Eric Byrnes), the defending Cy Young award winner (Brandon Webb) and an admittedly great bullpen, the D-Backs have thrived by flying under the radar – but the harsh glare of October doesn’t allow for this method of success to continue. The Cubs survived a tough start with good-not-great starting and relief pitching and timely hitting that disguised a disappointing power output. For Arizona to have any chance whatsoever, they must win both of Webb’s starts and give their stellar bullpen an opportunity to steal one more game. This seems quite unlikely. Chicago, like Philadelphia, was given up for dead after a brutal start to the season. Now, they are the frontrunners to meet in the National League Championship Series. Cubs in 4.

Projections for the next rounds of playoffs: American League Championship Series (Red Sox over Indians in 6), National League Championship Series (Phillies over Cubs in 6), World Series (Red Sox over Phillies in 5).

Who will become the Team of the Decade?

By Rick Morris

When the Major League Baseball playoffs begin tomorrow, the stakes will be even higher than many analysts have indicated. At stake is more than the 2007 World Series Championship – the designation of “Team of the Decade” may be in the balance as well.

Consider the following: no team has accrued more than one World Series title this decade. Of the teams who have been to the mountaintop, the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels and Diamondbacks are in position to gain a second grand prize (forgetting for a moment that there is no continuity whatsoever between the 2001 D-Backs and this squad – we’re speaking of franchises as a whole). The Yankees, with two additional pennants and one excruciating near-miss of a pennant in 2004, would, for all of their disappointments in recent years, actually be the leaders in the “Team of the Decade” chase so far. This is similar to the situation that St. Louis found itself in back in 1987, with one World Series title and two Game Seven World Series losses. The 1980s were a very similar decade to the present one in terms of the scarcity of repeat World Series winners and the Cards seemed to be in position to stake a fragile claim to the decade crown – until the Dodgers pulled an upset for the ages over the mighty Bash Brothers As in 1988 and became the only team in the 1980s to win two world championships.

With only two more seasons remaining this decade, a team winning its second World Series of the Oughts could stake a strong claim to going down as the best franchise of the era – especially if it is the Yankees and can pair the aforementioned two pennants with two world titles as part of their case. Not every decade has produced a dynasty like the Fifties Yankees, Seventies As or Nineties Yankees. Sometimes the leading team asserts itself in a more subtle manner, such as the Eighties Dodgers, and that’s probably the main reason that this intriguing subplot to the postseason has flown completely beneath the national radar. But if you are a fan of any of the four teams with a chance for your second title in the last few years, you should be aware of just how much is at stake in the eyes of history.