October 26, 2003 [LINK]

Marlins "outspunk" Yanks

Oct. ~ Josh Beckett had the Yankee batters flummoxed all night, and they could never figure out how to hit off him. He deserved the MVP award, though it's too bad Ivan Rodriguez didn't get more credit for his clutch batting and defensive work that put the Marlins into the World Series in the first place. He's a 13-year veteran who was repeatedly frustrated by the Yankees when he played for the Texas Rangers, so I suppose he's due. (NOTE: Of the 2003 Marlins team, only one member -- Jeff Conine -- also played for the 1997 championship team. Let's hope the franchise owner Jeffrey Loria doesn't cash in like Wayne Huizenga did in 1998.) Andy Pettitle pitched seven superb innings, with only one earned run -- the other Marlins' run was the result of an error by Derek Jeter. The 55,773 fans in Yankee Stadium (why so many empty seats?) were pretty subdued for most of the game, negating one of the pinstripers' key advantages. To us Yankee fans, last night's shutout loss was a rude slap in the face, as hardly anyone imagined that the Yanks would not even win three games. Marlins' relief pitcher Chad Fox said,

It wasn't a fluke that we beat the Giants, it wasn't a fluke that we beat the Cubs, and it wasn't a fluke that we beat the Yankees. (SOURCE: mlb.com)

Fair enough. Was it a fluke, then, that the Marlins finished the regular season ten games behind the Braves?? The Marlins are the only team to win two World Series in their first decade as an MLB franchise, and yet they have never won their own division! In contrast, four expansion teams have won divisional titles during their first decade of play, and two of them -- the Mets and the Diamondbacks -- went on to win the World Series. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Jacqueline (my wife) has hated the wild card system ever since the Mets beat the Braves in the 2000 postseason, but I'm convinced that the wide-open playoff system implemented in 1995 has greatly enlivened the sport, boosting public interest and TV ratings. It penalizes teams with high winning percentages who get complacent, and it rewards teams with grit and spunk. Which reminds me of a famous moment from The Mary Tyler Moore show back in the mid-1970s, when Mary's boss was seeming to congratulate her on some gutsy piece of independent journalism she did:

Ed Asner (as Lou Grant): You've got spunk!
Mary Tyler Moore (as Mary Richards, blushing): Oh, Mr. Grant...
Ed Asner: I HATE spunk!

That's kind of the way I feel right now, too.