Sports Then and Now

Ryan Howard and the Phillies will look to launch more long balls as they return home for game three of the World Series.

Game Three of the 2009 World series shifts today to the new launching pad in the National League, Citizens Bank Park. It’s a bit ironic that the Philadelphia “Mashers” at one point in time had a far better record on the road than they did at home. They righted that situation in the second half of the season to finish nine games over .500 at home.

The post-season is a completely different story as the Phillies have lost a grand total of three games over the past three post seasons. They’ve won 12 games and the only team to beat them at home was the Colorado Rockies.

Today they try to keep that streak going with 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels going up against one of the great post-season pitchers, Andy Pettitte.

Game three has always been a critical game in the World Series. In the past 10 World Series where the two teams were tied at one a piece, the team who took Game Three went on to win the World Series nine out of the last ten times. Those are pretty darn good odds for the winner of today’s game.

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Fans of the Phillies are hoping to have more to celebrate following the World Series.

Asked last April who were the last two teams I would like to see in the World Series, anybody and everybody who knows me well enough would have said the Yankees vs. the Phillies.

As a lifetime New York Mets fan and college student Red Sox, fan nothing in baseball could be worse than to have these two rivals competing for a world title. For close to 15 years, I hated the Atlanta Braves. They gave me so many ugly nights and subsequent nightmares it’s no wonder I still can’t get enough sleep.

In the last three or four years or so, the Phillies and their legions where I lived for 20 years, have crept past the Braves to receive my ultimate disdain.

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Last year’s World Series was marred by inclement Philadelphia weather.

Since the playoffs were modified for the 1995 season and the divisional rounds were added, only one World Series has gone into November. In 2001 the Yankees’ game seven loss to the Diamondbacks was played on November 4th. Beyond that, the latest any World Series has gone is October 28th.

This year, if either the Yankees or Phillies sweeps, game four will be played on November 1st. Should the series need all seven games, the last one would be played (barring weather delays that are certainly possible in cities like Philadelphia and New York) November 5th.

Shouldn’t baseball be over by the time November rolls around? Why doesn’t it?

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It was snowing in Foxboro in October. How will the weather be for baseball in November?

Let It Snow!!!

For the first time, the World Series is actually scheduled to finish up in November. The Series did go into November in 2001, but that was because of 9/11, but this year for some reason the baseball powers think November baseball is a good thing.

Now I love baseball and will miss it when the season is over, but that doesn’t mean I think they need to be playing past Halloween.

Sports seasons used to be pretty clean. Baseball started in early April and ended in mid-October. Football started in early-September and ended in mid-January. Basketball started in early November and ended in mid-June. Hockey started in early October and ended in mid-May.

For some reason, in recent years each of the seasons seems to be gradually getting bigger, much like my waistline. They just keep extending further out little by little until eventually you don’t even remember when it wasn’t at its current (enlarged) size.

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