Why are the Boston Red Sox here?

One of the biggest commodities to have in baseball is pitching.  It’s hard to obtain, hard to train, and even harder to scrape from the minor leagues and have faith in.  Over my entire baseball career, I have been able to watch the grandmaster of closing out games work out of my team’s bullpen.  Yes, that would be The Sandman, Mariano Rivera.  That luxury is gone now, and leads will never seem as safe.  However, it seems as if the team I hate the most may have found that new luxury.

The Boston Red Sox are in the 2013 World Series due to their pitching.  Feel free to look it up; they scored just over three runs a game in the ALCS.  That average is in large part due to two timely swings of David Ortiz and Shane Victorino, without those eight runs they had less than two a game.  The starters were not always perfect for the Sox in this ALCS, but their ‘pen basically was.  The numbers were astounding, with a 0.45 ERA as a group (a run allowed in twenty innings of work) and a WHIP of 1.20.  It is pretty easy to see why Koji Uehara received the MVP of the ALCS.  The Tigers must have known that they needed to create scoring opportunities on the starters, and the Cardinals need to be thinking the same thing.

I am in no way shape or form excited for the Red Sox to be in the position they’re in, especially with the fact that they have a good chance to pull it all off.  However, I think there are a lot of factors aiding them.  The aura they have working in the clubhouse, a never say die attitude, clutch hitting, and a shutdown bullpen has turned this team from worst to first.  Maybe it’s the playoff beards, or the Boston Strong, but much like 2004 this team seems destined to win it all.  With the beards, they have the look of a baseball team.  A team that enjoys the grind of playing every day, not a stoic business organization that can’t have facial hair (if you know who I mean).  I am rooting against you Boston, but I can already see what will likely happen and it’s a good thing for baseball.

Who turned out the lights?

Something that has been pretty peculiar in sports lately is that the lights in stadiums are not exactly staying on.  It’s kind of a big deal, seeing that any sport starting after 4 p.m. needs lighting.  These events have hit three of the main four American sports in recent memory.  In the NFL, there was a thirty-four-minute delay in this year’s Super Bowl, which seemed to have a dramatic effect on the San Francisco 49ers nearly completing an unheard of comeback over the Baltimore Ravens.  Coincidentally, in the first game of the 2013-2014 season the Baltimore Ravens experienced another thirty-four-minute delay against the Denver Broncos.  In the NHL just this past Sunday, there was a sixteen-minute lighting delay in the game featuring the Minnesota Wild at the Buffalo Sabres.  To top that, even though the game was being played in the afternoon, Game 3 of the ALCS was delayed this Tuesday at Comerica Park due to banks of lights going out.  Maybe I am wrong, but the issue seems near rampant.  Has there ever been a time in the history of sports that something like this has occurred?

Due to me being a college student and not exactly an electrician, physics major, or have any sort of knowledge on the topic, I will not even attempt to understand how to fix it.  My best personal guess is Buffalo Wild Wings is buying someone out at every stadium.  They started with the Super Bowl and figured they would work their way down.  Not sure how to explain the First Niagara Center as target number three, but they know what they’re doing better than I do.  All jokes aside, what is being done to figure out the problems with this electricity?  It is costing sports games viewers (I basically quit watching the ALCS game for a few hours due to the delay) and simply disgruntling fans that are at the game.  If you are at a game, there is already enough stoppage time and no one wants to wait through a lighting delay.

Turn the switch back on please, Buffalo Wild Wings.

Let the ranting begin

Well, this is going to be about sports.  And if you didn’t know that this was going to be about sports then A) you probably can’t understand a theme and B) you don’t know me.  I guess it is entirely possible that you don’t know me, but my writing will bring insight into that.  I’ll start off by saying that I do have favorite sports teams, as any actual fan of sports does.  They would be (in a relatively important order): the New York Yankees, the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Sabres, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, the New York Knicks, and the RIT Tigers.  They each have a special place in my heart, and never expect any of them to change.  I will follow that up with the fact that I will try to talk about them as little as possible, and if I do, it will probably be in a bashing fashion.  I have a very wide interest in sports, and it effects just about every waking moment of my life.  I understand that that may seem naïve, or pointless, but hey there is something that gets you out of bed in the morning.

I guess I can begin my first rant at this point.  Being that it is the month of October that means one thing, no not pumpkin spice lattes and the coming of the Uggs, but playoff baseball.  It has been a pretty entertaining post-season so far, witnessing a game 163 and Buctober was cool for a wee bit.  However, my rant will be aimed at the Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics.  The Indians were able to become the lead pony in the hectic AL Wild Card scene down the stretch, earning a home game against the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card game.  The A’s looked awfully good in September and were able to win the AL West, meaning a divisional series against the Detroit Tigers.

Now I realize in both of the games I am about to talk about that the teams scored a combined zero runs, and well you can’t win that way last time I checked.  However, in the Indians game they decided to throw Danny Salazar, a rookie with ten starts in the big leagues.  The Indians went on to lose 4-0, but my question is did starting Salazar really give them the best chance of winning that game?  I know it was his turn in the rotation, but Justin Masterson pitched in relief.  Your ace was pretty well rested from not starting for most of September, so what were you saving him for your hopeful Game 1 of the ALDS?  Toss zeroes with your ace.

Now, please keep in mind that I was actually rooting for these teams in each of these games.  The A’s came down to the winner-take-all Game 5 of the ALDS with the Tigers.  Bob Melvin decided to throw his rookie Sonny Gray, who had made waves after his sparkler in Game 2.  Evidently, he decided that Gray made more sense than the revitalized, ever-so-slim Bartolo Colon.  Going up against Justin Verlander, and knowing that you aren’t an offensive team means you need zeroes!  How can you have faith in a 23 year old that only made twelve appearances all year?  Start the more proven guy.

Maybe I’m wrong, but sometimes I wonder if I could do your job.