Friday, October 24, 2008

A Note on Jealousy

By M. Haas

Last night, the national media feel in love with the Rays all over again. Tampa won the game by pitching well, and scratching out just enough runs by playing small ball. The Phillies lineup, while technically more dangerous, failed to move runners over and couldn't come up with a clutch hit.

The Rays have a great young pitching staff. They play great defense. They play with heart and emotion. They have a goofy, media friendly manager. What a great story.

Although we have been critical of the national media's take on the cute, 'doing the little things right' Twins, the fact remains.

I'm jealous.

The Twins have been winning, despite a small payroll, a bad stadium and no power hitters. The Twins win because of shrewd trades, an excellent farm system and pitching and defense. The Twins move guys around, steal and bunt and do the little things right.

Even if those things are completely generalized and simplified, I still like reading them. The Rays do all that stuff better than the Twins. They stole our thunder, and I'm jealous because of that.

Or it could be that they're in the World Series and the Twins aren't.

6 comments:

bizmarkie507 said...

I dunno. Im not jealous, because having like a straight decade of top 5 draft picks tends to give you a lot of young talent. Plus I love Bartlett and Garza

TwinsWin83 said...

Im jealous that the Twins have been winning with that style for nearly a decade now but have yet to break through the barrier and get to the World Series. The Rays have been terrible for a decade, and now, in the first year where it all comes together for them they break right through to the World Series. Thats what Im jealous of.

When is it going to be our turn?

Anonymous said...

FYI - Batting STance Guy just did a video of the top Walk Off HR since 1975 - including Kirby's shot to beat the Braves. Funny stuff.

PS - DId you see his feature that he did on FSN North for the twins - super! Its on the site too
www.battingstanceguy.com

thought you'd want to know.

Daymonster said...

anonymous... aka batting stance guy

soup said...

I agree. I do have mixed feeling when watching the games. My natural instinct is to root for the underdog, but then I have to snap out of it and realize that I want the Phillies to win.

Also, I hate Brad Lidge. I hope someone hits a grown-man homerun like Pujols did in '05, and then Lidge is bad for two years.

soup said...

I guess the Phillies are actually the underdogs, but you know what I mean.