Nine Year Old Yankees Fans Finally Get Their Championship

After what must have felt like an eternity, it finally happened.

After years and years of disappointment and despair, happiness and joy finally reigned down on a forlorn franchise and its fans.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, after nearly a full decade without a World Series championship, New York Yankees fans finally awoke from their unbearable nightmare to fulfill their dreams of World Series euphoria.

I mean, look at the picture of this little boy. He is perhaps seven or eight or nine years old. Do you realize that until last night, this deprived young soul had never experienced a World Series championship?

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Quick World Series Five-Game Recap and Revised Prediction

I need not recap the past five games too much, since TV ratings, as expected, have been extraordinary.

I think any baseball fan (not of the Yankees, I suppose) is happy we’ll see a World Series Game Six for the first time since 2003, due primarily to AJ Burnett’s ineffectiveness on three days rest, and of course, the magical bat of one Chase Utley.

I picked the Phillies in five, especially after they split in New York, and was wrong.

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Friday Morning Would…You Rather Have Your Teams’ Best Player Date Minka Kelly or Kate Hudson?

The 2009 World Series embodies everything that a Midwest baseball fan hates.

1) No representation from either of the Central Divisions. That’s right, no White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, Tigers, Twins, Brewers, Astros, Indians, etc. In fact, none of these teams even really came close.

2) Two straight weeks of complete immersion in the East Coast bias/obsession that can become so annoying and grating during the regular season.

3) A battle of two teams with enormous payrolls who, on a yearly basis, pluck the best players off of teams in smaller markets who cannot afford them. (And yes, I know the Cubs, and to a certain extent the White Sox, have a high payroll…but Chicago gets Milton Bradley and Alex Rios, New York and Philly get C.C. and Cliff Lee.)

With all of that being said, I’ve decided that we have done enough actual analysis of this year’s World Series. AJ wrote a great preview piece earlier this week, and that will have to suffice.

In place of the article that I was going to write about the 2009 World Series (currently tied at 1-1 if you live in The Shire and don’t get Fox or have an Internet connection) before I thought more about it and just got pissed off, I decided that we could all benefit from a couple of gratuitous photo galleries of two of the most attractive WAGs on either team.

So while there are many legit questions out there as the series heads to Philly (What’s up with ARod and Ryan Howard? Does either manager have faith in its bullpen?), we are going to tackle one that is perhaps a little less exigent as part of our usual Friday Morning Would series.

Would you rather have your favorite baseball hero date Minka Kelly or Kate Hudson?

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MSF Podcast with SI’s Jimmy Traina: Meeting Derek Jeter, Chiding Chip Caray, and the Greatest SI Swimsuit Model Ever

Earlier this afternoon Myles and I had the great pleasure to host SI.com’s Jimmy Traina on the latest edition of the MSF Podcast.

We are grateful that he was able to take 30+ minutes out of his afternoon to talk with us, and impressed that he was able to be so composed…what with his beloved Yankees (especially Derek and Minka) preparing for Game 1 of the 2009 World Series tonight.

But I guess when you’ve already won 27 of them and can buy your way into the playoffs every year, it’s easy to stay even keel. (Actually, more on this topic later.)

If you are not familiar with his work, Jimmy Traina runs the Hot Clicks blog on SI.com and is an editor of the always entertaining Extra Mustard section of the site, which fuses sports, pop culture, and humor. Hot Clicks is one of the most visited sports pages on a daily basis, as any publisher knows who has ever received a link from Traina.

Let’s just say it can put a strain on your server.

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Yankees-Phillies 2009 World Series Preview and TV Schedule

There will not be a freeway series this year in baseball, nor will there be a cross-country coastal series. There will be an “Amtrak” Series, however.

And hopefully the Phils and Yanks will travel like The Babe did in the old days when they commute back and forth over the next week or so in the Fall Classic.

By virtue of a clutch game 4 win that gave them series control and an eventual second consecutive NL pennant, the Philadelphia Phillies will take on the New York Yankees, fresh off another close victory and series win over the gutsy Anaheim Angels.

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World Series Game 5 Postponed | Rays-Phillies to Resume Wednesday Night

(Stay up to date with latest news on the World Series schedule at http://www.worldseries.com.)

Game 5 of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies was suspended due to rain in Philadelphia before the bottom half of the 6th inning began.

The game is currently scheduled to resume Tuesday night at 8:00 and according to Commissioner Bud Selig will not be moved to Tampa Bay under any circumstances. Furthermore, regardless of what day the game is ultimately played, it will begin at 8:00 ET.

Tomorrow’s scheduled start time is obviously contingent on the weather. Click here to stay up to date on the latest Philadelphia area weather forecast. As of right now, according to the hour-by-hour forecast, it looks like rain is expected for tomorrow night as well. The 10-day forecast shows sunshine on Thursday. … Continue Reading

Phillies-Rays World Series Game 4 Preview | Philadelphia Weather Update

Click here for the latest updates on the suspended Game 5

Last night, after an hour and a half rain delay, the Philadelphia Phillies took advantage of the Tampa Bay Rays’ late-inning pitching mistakes to claim victory in Game 3 that ended at 1:47 am. The Phillies took a 2-1 advantage in the World Series. According to the SI.com account of the game, the Rays were also treated to the typically brotherly warm chilly reception given to visitors from the notorious Philadelphia fans.

Game 4 is scheduled for tonight, and the NFL does not have a Sunday Night Football game scheduled to accommodate the World Series. According to Weather.com, the projected forecast around Citizens Bank Park is clear for the entire evening. So the game should start on time, giving more people a chance to watch the finish, which many fans (including me), were not able to stay up and do last night.

The pitching matchup for tonight’s World Series Game 4, scheduled to begin at 8:00 on Fox, is as follows:

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Backstreet Boys Sing National Anthem for Game 1 – Video | Why?

Why?

Seriously, that is my only question: why? The Backstreet Boys. Really?

If you don’t what I am talking about, the Backstreet Boys sang the National Anthem last night for Game 1 of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies. Yes, those Backstreet Boys — Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Joe Buck.

Here, just hit play and watch the annoying video below:

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World Series | Tampa Bay Rays – Philadelphia Phillies | TV Schedule – Pitching

Click here for the latest updates on the suspended Game 5

No, neither of the Chicago teams that we were rooting for here at Midwest Sports Fans made the World Series. But still, as baseball fans, most of us will be taking an interest in the World Series.

I think that Boston-LA would have made for, at least on paper, better storylines and drama; but a Tampa Bay-Philadelphia World Series definitely features two exciting teams with great young players, and it features the best and most positive story in Major League Baseball since all the steroids madness started: the improbable run of the young, perennially down-trodden Tampa Bay Rays to the World Series.

The World Series follows the 2-3-2 format at all of the games are, of course, televised on Fox (Joe Buck! Tim McCarver!) and while MLB.com currently lists the Rays’ pitching rotation as TBD (as of this posting), ESPN.com at least made an educated guess. You may want to check these on a daily basis though, as the Rays getting stretched to 7 games by the Red Sox may necessitate Joe Maddon switching things up a bit.

Here is the schedule:

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Chicago White Sox: Don’t Stop Believing

by Jerod Morris

Since July 1st, the Chicago White Sox are basically a .500 team. Look at the numbers. After tonight’s loss to the Red Sox (which dropped us to a half game behind the Twins) we are now 17-16 since the beginning of July. This is not good. And remember earlier in the season when Ozzie Guillen was ripping the offense in the press and our pitching staff was carrying us to respectability? My, my…how the tables have turned.

I remember watching an ESPN game that I am pretty sure was against the Cubs and hearing the oracle of baseball wisdom Joe Morgan (please note the heavy sarcasm) say that our bullpen was one of the best he’d ever seen. Granted, our bullpen was dominating at the time…but the best he’d ever seen? Really Joe? Well, pretty much since that point our pitching staff’s performance, especially the bullpen, has taken a nosedive.

Consider the following statistics, from the last 30 days:

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