One More Time For Emphasis

Before I get to that, thanks to all of you who commented on my last real, non-blingee entry. I really appreciate it. Also, congratulations to everyone who made the latest leaders. It's quite cumulative, and really gives us an estimate on who has a lot to say consistently. Great job, guys!

And now.

This is 2001.

Seriously, guys, maybe it's not, we all know 2001 was the year of Luck In The World Series: both teams won games based on luck. What if Byung-Hyun Kim threw a different pitch to Derek Jeter? What if Roger Clemens knew how to swing a bat? Things that really made all the difference were small things, and if those things are different, everything is changed. I'm being a bit premature here, we don't even know who's going to the world series. And as we can learn from 2004, you can have the champagne all but fizzing and it might blow up in your face, leaving you with none to drink.

But it's similar.

Quite, quite similar.

Pick a team. Any team.

Say...the Sith Lords. I mean, that's an awful thing to think about, but let's pretend it's a worst-case scenario and they make the series.

They're...well, frankly they could be either team, there are similarities both ways, but because this is me talking they're the Yankees. Well...Joe Torre is their manager. He has won exactly the same amount of world series titles as he did in 2001. Randy Wolf is Roger Clemens (though he is awfully reminiscent of Curt Schilling and he can actually hit), an hired gun who's got about the same number of years left. Broxton is Rivera: closer, very good, got a lot of time left in his career. Martin is Posada, a catcher who's still developing into the very good player we know he can be. These guys have won the division and kinda fell apart at the end, and they have had some luck thus far.

Okay, pick another team.

Do we have the Angels?

The D-Backs? Western team, smart manager, young closer, blah blah blah. Fuentes seems a bit more clutch than Kim, though. Their manager does not closely resemble one of their starting pitchers. And Morales is a bit like Gonzo, just breaking out of a career that's been mostly "meh", and he hits the most homers on that team. You could say Abreu is Gracie, patient at the plate and all, but he doesn't have the glove. That would probably go to Torii Hunter, though not of late.

Okay, so far this analogy doesn't seem so great, but my English teacher told me to save my best arguments for later. So if you haven't given up...

Of course Cliff Lee is Curt Schilling: goes deep into games, is efficient with pitching, hired gun who came up in the AL. And extend to the rest of the Phillies: Jayson Werth is totally Gonzo, he's had a smash year after a fair amount of major league experience. Cole Hamels is Randy Johnson, almost definitely. I can totally see him closing out the games...can't you? Perhaps Pedro Martinez is, though, because you can make similar RJ comparisons. And if he wants 300 wins, he's going to have to pitch that long. Chase Utley is somewhat like Gracie, and Ryan Madsen has definitely had his moments at blowing semi-crucial saves, though pretty much everyone has. It doesn't matter whether they put in at this point, it could be Happ, Park, whoever. They have a chance at blowing it with a homer.

And the Yankees are the Yankees. Some of the same guys, but Sabathia is Clemens (he can hit, though, and he's young and a bit smarter) and Teixeira is Martinez. Johnny Damon is a lesser Paul O'Neil, and you can sense a few parallels between Melky Cabrera and Bernie Williams, especially in the attachment to the organization. Alex Rodriguez is NOT Scott Brosius, but the mantle has been passed. 

Or perhaps it's not like this at all. You can't predict baseball, you can't predict luck, but history does repeat itself.