Moneyball

What a great movie to end the baseball season! It definitely took the sting off the Phillies losing so early in the playoffs. It's always a long off season but I know as soon as the snow starts to melt I will begin to romanticize about baseball again. It's such an amazing game and as a Mickey Mantle was quoted in the movie, "It's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing (or watching) all your life."

Just some follow up facts and stats from the movie:

• The A's made the playoffs every year from 2000-2003, every year losing 2 games to 3 in the ALDS.
• The character Peter Brand is actually based on the person Paul DePodesta. In reality DePodesta graduated from Harvard, not Yale, and joined the A's in 1999, not 2001. DePodesta is now the vice-president of player development for the New York Mets.
• Billy Beane continues to be general manager of the Oakland A's. They have only made the playoffs once since 2002. Beane is now focusing more on defense, his club led the league in 2010.
• The Oakland A's 2011 payroll was $66 million, 21st among Major League teams. The New York Yankees payroll was $202 million. The two teams in the World Series, St. Louis and Texas, had payrolls of $105 million and $92 million respectively.

161 down, 1 to go!

What a great baseball season! It amazes me that after 161 games, the playoff picture still hasn't been figured out.. and if things fall just the right way, there could be, count them, two play-in games for the final spots. Talk about the playoffs starting a little early. I'm rooting for the Braves and Sox.

Luckily the Phillies won't have to worry about making the fall season. A win tonight over the Braves will give them their most successful season in franchise history with a record of 102-62 and the best record in the MLB for the year. The team was on track to break all kinds of records before an eight game slide the last couple of weeks. The starting pitchers finished with an ERA under 3.0 for the season and are all looking good for the playoffs. Can't wait!

On side note, be sure to catch ESPN's 30 for 30 movie, Catching Hell. It puts you in the mood for playoff baseball and gives ya some perspective on just how crazy sports fans are.

Play Ball!

My good buddy Aaron hates this, but baseball is truly is America's Past Time. A couple quotes from the movie Fever Pitch can explain my feelings a little better than I can.

"I like being part of something that's bigger than me, than I. It's good for your soul to invest in something you can't control."

Troy: Why do we inflict this on ourselves?
Ben: Why? I'll tell you why, 'cause the Red Sox never let you down.
Troy: Huh?
Ben: That's right. I mean - why? Because they haven't won a World Series in a century or so? So what? They're here. Every April, they're here. At 1:05 or at 7:05, there is a game. And if it gets rained out, guess what? They make it up to you. Does anyone else in your life do that? The Red Sox don't get divorced. This is a real family. This is the family that's here for you.

To be honest up until a few years back I didn't really like watching baseball on TV and with no major leauge team within 500 miles, it was a hard sport to follow, especially after the nostagila of little leauge wore off. Don't get me wrong, I still had my favorite teams and I stilled cared about the big games but I didn't really have a love for the sport. Then about a year and a half ago my friends had all left on their missions and I was kinda going through a rough stage in my life when one crazy October night I bought tickets to the National League Championship Series. It was game 5 in Los Angeles, the Dodgers against the Philadelphia Phillies. My dad had always loved the Phillies and I chose them as my team.

It was a hell of a trip to LA, a story that needs to be saved for another blog, but all in all I came back with a new found love for the Phillies and the game of baseball. The Phillies won that game, advancing to the World Series, and made everything that went wrong on that trip, feel alright, it made everything in my life feel alright. A week later the Phils won it all! I've been hooked ever since. And last summer when I had no job, I looked forward to baseball games because when there was nothing else to do, baseball was there for me. Everyday.

Tonight was the seasons first game, it was a great start to the season, especially with the Yankees losing! 1 game down, 2429 more regular season games to go!

Sorry Aaron, baseball truly is America's Past Time!