Ev Ehrlich's Everyday Economics

Your Sports Reporter

I don’t want to devolve to sports on this page for a variety of reasons, but I can’t help it.

First, did anybody catch the whipping Harvard put on Princeton Saturday?  I mean, they beat them like a borrowed mule, like a red-headed stepchild, like Gene Krupa’s bass drum during his solo in Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall  rendition of Louis Prima’s Sing Sing Sing.   What a pounding! 

But as much as the eyes of the sports world are focused on Harvard’s quest for its first-ever three-peat atop the pigskin zuggerat of the Ancient Eight, there’s a World Series upon us, the climax of the sports year.  It’s no coincidence or surprise that mammals go into seasonal hibernation and leaves fall off of trees once the Series is over.  After all, that’s the natural cycle of the year – World Series, snow (with occasional college basketball), spring training.

It’s unfortunate that so many of the Series in this decade have been one-sided – 4- and 5-gamers that minimize the event and the worthiness of the losers.  But in some ways it’s to be expected, because so many of the Series in this decade have been anticipated not because the teams involved were great (they all were hot, to be sure—the Rockies in 07 were as hot as you get -- but great is a different and very high standard) but because the match-up was interesting.  How are the Rays – or the Rocks – or the Tigers – or the Marlins – going to handle the week?  What the heck are the Red Sox doing here?”  What are they doing here again?  Is this the Rocket’s last outing – an early pull against the White Sox?  (And I the opener in 2005 in Chicago was like nothing I’ve seen -- Pale Hose fans drinking, crying, and clutching their rosaries – what a scene!)  Will Scioscia pitch to Bonds?  Will Dusty’s kid get into the game?  Fascinating, interesting stuff.

Off the top of my head, this is the first year since 2001, or maybe 1996, when the obvious two best teams in baseball are there at the end.  “Best” is a very normative term, but in this year’s case, I think it’s hard to argue. 

Is there someone in the NL who should be there instead of the Phils?  They have very believable pitching and the first six guys in their line-up are merciless.   And they have team speed and defense that could make the Yankees look old.  When was the last time an NL Club appeared in two in a row, class?  The Braves in the mid-90s.  And when was the last time an NL Club won two in a row?  See the next paragraph.  Ryan Howard aiming at the right field porch in the Bronx – man!  And…Pedro.  Back to him in a minute.

And then there’s the Yanks.  Take the pitching off the table and line them up against the greatest team of the past half-century, the 1975-76 Reds, the last NL team to win two in a row and the last gasp of the century-long Competitive Imbalance Era that was brought to an end by free agency.

Bench, Rose, and Morgan.  Well, Bench might be the greatest MLB catcher ever (allowing me to sidestep Josh Gibson).  Rose, sure, Morgan, great competitor.  But compare them to ARod, Jeter, and Teixeira – ARod might have been the greatest shortstop ever until he moved over – you think Honus Wagner would be ARod if he were around today?  I respect Cal Ripken, Ernie Banks, and Robin Yount  – you really going to start them ahead of ARod and his one-day 800 homers?  And do you want Rose over Jeter on game day?  Jeter dives into seats; Rose only dives into Ray Fosse.  You sure you want Morgan over Teixeira?  You watched Tex this week?

The next three on each side go to the Reds – Perez, Foster, and Griffey against Matsui, Posada, and Cano – I’m saving Damon so that he and Melky line up against Concepcion and Geronimo, which is a push, leaning towards the Yanks, in my view.  So there’s a case for the Reds until we bring back the rotation and Rivera (clearly the greatest relief pitcher ever) and the current Yanks look like All-Timers.

Beyond the two best teams facing each other, there are the stories, and there are two that deserve mention.  For the Yanks, it’s the swansong of the Torre teams – Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Posada – the tree on which the ornaments of ARod, Tex, or Godzilla were hung.  For the Phils, it’s Grover Cleveland Martinez, Pedro, discarded and left sitting by Clubs too cheap to bring his expertise and craft into their dugout – starting with my Nationals – coming back to Yankee Stadium.  Will he have the last laugh, or find himself walking off the mound to taunts of “Who’s your Daddy?”     Please let him start Game Two so we can find out.

I’m not a sports columnist, so I don’t have to make a prediction.  But I will, and here it is  – it’s going to be a great Series.  I’ve rooted for both teams at one point – as a kid New Yorker leading up to the ’77 Yanks (what an incredible year!  And even more than Reggie’s three swings, the apex of that post-season being the way Billy Martin lifted game 5 in Kansas City, like a sneak thief in a crowd, sitting Reggie until he needed him in the eighth, while Reggie’s replacement, Paul Blair, started the three-run ninth) and during my five years in Philadelphia, when the Phils gave me one of the best Father’s day presents I ever got – trading Juan Samuel for Lenny Dykstra and Roger McDowell, the two most interesting Mets.  And I certainly have it better than my Mets fan buddies like Bob or Bob or Gary or Sandy, who have to watch their two nemeses battle it out. 

It makes me recall 1975 when, as a then-Yankee fan, watching the Reds and Red Sox was like watching Hitler and Stalin.  I rooted for Stalin in the end and we lost.  This will be more like the Yankees’ Julius Caesar and the Phils’ U. S. Grant.  How can you not respect both, their common vision and bloody-mindedness?  Too bad the Mets are Andre Maginot. 

Happy World Series, every one.