Congratulations, Texas Rangers

I was rooting for Rays as well, right up until Jamie Moyer started game 3 and I realized I could not possibly root against him. My loyalty switched instantaneously. I happily watched the Phillies take the Rays down for the ring.

Watching Texas win was great for three reasons. Number one is that Cliff Lee deserves to see another World Series. Number two is that it was great to see Nolan Ryan be really, really happy. Lastly, I hate the Yankees like testicular cancer. I’ve never for a moment grown tired of loathing them. Nor shall I. I enjoy the fact that some things in sports are constants. And even if the Yankees descend into Raideresque levels of sports irrelevance—I will still nurture my hatred for them like a prize tomato.

So thanks, Texas. Now go Giants.

Gives an added bonus to the rivalry aspect when a team with a worse history than yours makes the World Series. Without it, the AL West is pretty much a fistfight in the back of the short bus.

(Are the Angels really the only team during the 4-team AL West setup to bring home a title?)

and I’d like either Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay to get a ring.

And I still associate the Giants with Bonds, and even leaving steroids out of the picture I always hated Bonds.

When the Mariners get good they’ll be good enough to beat Texas with Felix &co

Which is exactly how I’ve always envisioned the Mariners doing it. Fantasized is more like it, it’s just the right way to get there. If the Mariners get there by knocking off some fluke bullshit pansy ass teams, I’m really going to despise the Rangers. They finished off the Yankees at home, even. Dammit. Perfect.

and have Cliff Lee be the MVP so that it boost his value even more in the off-season and he signs the most ridiculous contract ever with some team (hopefully Texas) which no mortal could hope to live up to even in their prime; thus, hindering the team he signs with for the duration of the inevitably long contract (and more so at the end), because Fuck You team that signed Cliff Lee! Fuck You very much. (particularly if it’s Texas)

The Rangers are a division rival so rooting for them would be as if I was cheating on my girlfriend. (Who at the moment’s pissing me off, but there were good times at some point too.)

The Phillies would be there for the third time in a row and I was sick and tired of them last year.

I grew up hating the Giants and my roommate, along with my brother-in-law, happen to be die hard Giant fans. I will never, ever, hear the end of it if the Giants win the World Series.

Maybe I’ll just watch the Cliff Lee starts and follow nothing else. Cliff Lee’s amazing.

Does he have the intestinal fortitude to start Lee in games 1, 4 and 7? Will he be the only manager this year to ask one of his pitchers to do something extraordinary?

If he cannot pull the trigger on this gutsy move the Rangers will lose no matter who they play.

And as far as the future goes the Rangers are not as big a threat as is supposed. Josh Hamilton is nearing his decline phase as an injury prone player, expect a precipitous dropoff ala Griffey Jr. The Rangers don’t draw well even when they win and will soon have to pay arbitration and market rates to Hamilton, Kinsler, Cruz and Andrus. Meanwhile they have their franchise guy in Young who will always be paid and never be pushed out the door. Cliff Lee will not be a Ranger next year. Vlad may want to cash in on this years success with a last long term deal the Rangers may not be able to afford. The Rangers window is closing fast just as the window of the Rays has now closed. The Mariners under Z are being built to challenge the Angels over the long haul and by the end of the decade it will be the Angels and Mariners who dominate the West, not the Rangers.

Depressing.

The Rangers get more money so they can sign better free agents and they become a more attractive destination because their path to the playoffs is not comparatively difficult and they are now a successful team or whatever. Rooting for your direct rivals is shameful and you should be sent to bed without dinner.

I certainly won’t root for the Rangers as much as I did last night, with the strikeout of Alex to end it, that was perfect. But unlike many here,against ALL common sense, I think I will root for the Rangers in the World Series. Oh and great writeup Jeff, your articles are one of the many reasons I still check back here even during the offseason.

About 10 years ago the Rangers were absolute crap. They had a huge payroll and simply sucked. Sound familiar? They unloaded and started acquiring young talent. It took them less than 10 years to make the World Series.

Watching them win last night reminded me that the Mariners won’t suck forever, which allowed me some peace of mind before I went to bed. Congrats Rangers. Thanks for reminding me that the time and effort I spend on this shitty ass baseball team of mine might not go to waste after all.

And yes… Go Giants.

The entire series was a lose/lose scenario. I can’t stand watching the Yankees make it, but it’s worse for the Mariners if Texas makes it. Either way I wasn’t getting what I wanted, so I was okay rooting for Texas – a talented team that is still fun to watch – to take down the giant.

Now it’s over though, so now I want them to be swept in embarrassing fashion and their best players cast into a never-ending depression that leaves them lifeless and listless for 2011 onward.

when they recieved Cliff Lee. Stupid trade off.

As a little kid, I lived equidistant from Wrigley and Milwaukee County Stadium (where the Braves played, kids, not the Brewers). My mom took me to Wrigley and my dad took me to Milwaukee. Naturally, I was a Dodgers fan, and so hated the fucking Giants. As an adult, I lived in the Bay Area for a few years, but never became a Giants fan, and the A’s were out of the question, as I was a NL guy.
Ten or twelve years ago, I started listening to Mariners games, because that was all I could get on the radio an hour south of Portland. Even then, the radio petered out after sunset, but I did get to hear some of the end of the Randy/Griffey/A-Rod era. At least the early innings.
When MLB came up with Gameday Audio, I was able to listen to either team’s broadcast of any game. My childhood allegiances had faded, so I chose to continue listening to the Mariners. I became a fan, and read all the blogs every day, as well as listening to nearly all the games. But I did listen to a lot of other teams’ broadcasts as well, because I could, and because the Mariners don’t play every day all day. In the process of listening to random games, I chanced upon the Giants broadcasters.
It turns out that the Giants’ broadcasters are, to a man, smart and funny and entertaining as hell. The Mariners’ broadcasters, on the other hand, are mainly insipid. How Dave got into the hall of fame is beyond me, unless it just has to do with longevity. He’s awful. Sure, he has a good grand slam call, but he can’t even remember it correctly now, and has to insert ‘this time’ and ‘that time’ into it and every other sentence. Rizzs is better, but not a lot, a repetitive gladhander, Captain Obvious. I actually like Sims best, but he’s nothing to write home about. The Giants broadcasting team, on the other hand, is always entertaining, sophisticated, and insightful, and has the best/funniest post-game wrap in the business.
So as the seasons have worn on, I have dutifully listened to Mariners games, but lived for days when the time difference allowed me to listen to Giants games as well. I don’t really have time to listen to two whole games, but sometimes I’d listen to archived Giants games, just for the announcing, not because I had any particular love for the team. I really wanted to listen to the Giants games, but loyalty to the Mariners kept me from doing so as often as I wanted. Gradually, I started switching games in the late innings, after it became clear the M’s would not only lose again, but not do anything interesting. I till read 4 of their blogs and listened to the start of every game, but it seemed increasingly pointless.
This year, around mid-season, I finally made the switch. I mean, what the hell point was there in listening to the Mariners? I still read the blogs and checked in on Felix Day, but listening to good broadcasters was so much more satisfying than listening to bad broadcasters chronicle Mariners’ losses, even when the Giants weren’t setting the world on fire, either. And so I started to get more familiar with the Giants’ players. And then, the Giants started to win. And then, they were in a division race. And then, they won the division in the final week. And then they were in a pennant race. And then they won the pennant and are going to the World Series.
I rooted for Texas because of Cliff Lee, and, let’s face it, I was originally a Dodger fan who had to hate the Yankers even more than the Giants, because they almost always beat my guys in the World Series. And because you shouldn’t be able to buy a championship. But now we have a Mariners rival in the Series. How the hell can you root for them? There’s a better choice: forget about the TV announcers and listen to the audio from KNBR (via MLB Gameday). Then you’ll feel like you’re best friends with John Miller, Dave Fleming, Dwayne Kuiper, Mike Krukow, and J.T. Snow. You’ll appreciate their spot-on analysis. And you won’t be tempted to root for the fucking Rangers.
Go Giants.