Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Seven Games, Seven Days
That's how much ground the Astros have gained on the Cardinals in the last seven days: seven games. Barring doubleheaders, you can't gain seven games on an opponent any faster than that. And don't look now, but the Astros are just a game-and-a-half behind St. Louis now with six games left for the Cards and five left for Houston. So an exciting division race is going to happen after all in the N.L. Central. Houston finished 2004 on a 36-10 tear that effectively eliminated our Giants from the wild-card race. Are the 'Stros coming up with another great down-the-stretch run?
Forget any exciting down-the-stretch ball in the Junior Ciruit: The American League's Final Four is already set. New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics. So there's no real drama; it's just a matter of determining who plays who in the Divisional Series. In the previous set-up, the Yankees and Tigers would be tied for the East lead, and the A's and Twins would be separated by just a game-and-a-half. But forget that. Baseball fans got what they wanted: More teams in the playoffs. Ho-hum.
The National League group is not decided yet. The New York Mets are the only team that has clinched so far, doing so in, like, April. The Padres and Cardinals hold slight leads, and both divisions are contested by teams that could still wind-up in the wild card spot. Even the Reds are just two-and-a-half games out of first in the Central. We'll see how exciting the race for second place can be.
Barry Bonds Returning: Word is that Barry will come back and play in 2007, and his agent expects the Giants to want to bring him back. As this article states, it would be great for the Giants. We'd like to see Barry break Hank's record in a Giants' uniform, and the All-Star Game will be in San Francisco next year. It would be nice to have him around for that, if somehow he can make it to the team.
Forget any exciting down-the-stretch ball in the Junior Ciruit: The American League's Final Four is already set. New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics. So there's no real drama; it's just a matter of determining who plays who in the Divisional Series. In the previous set-up, the Yankees and Tigers would be tied for the East lead, and the A's and Twins would be separated by just a game-and-a-half. But forget that. Baseball fans got what they wanted: More teams in the playoffs. Ho-hum.
The National League group is not decided yet. The New York Mets are the only team that has clinched so far, doing so in, like, April. The Padres and Cardinals hold slight leads, and both divisions are contested by teams that could still wind-up in the wild card spot. Even the Reds are just two-and-a-half games out of first in the Central. We'll see how exciting the race for second place can be.
Barry Bonds Returning: Word is that Barry will come back and play in 2007, and his agent expects the Giants to want to bring him back. As this article states, it would be great for the Giants. We'd like to see Barry break Hank's record in a Giants' uniform, and the All-Star Game will be in San Francisco next year. It would be nice to have him around for that, if somehow he can make it to the team.
In memory of
Bandit the Dog, 1995-2008
