With the October Classic upon us, its time for SCL’s Fresh Take, ala Baseball! It’s fitting that the New York Yankees with their 26 Championships and the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies square off in the World Series; on the flip side, how bad is it to be a Cleveland Indians fan? Past Indian pitchers CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee square off in Game One of the Series, while Indians fans get to wonder what if. Not to mention, if you add in the Championship rounds with Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Charlie Manuel, it looked like a Cleveland reunion out there!
The Yankees and Phillies led their respective leagues in runs and home runs and with the right field jet stream in new Yankee Stadium and the short flower beds in Citizens Bank Park, will anyone be surprised if we set an new record for home runs in a World Series this year? The Phillies have 4 guys who hit over thirty home runs while the Yankees counter with 5 who hit more than twenty. Get ready for the shooting gallery!
Is there a cold weather team bias to the World Series now? Everyone talks about the “dog days of summer” and how lousy it is to play in Arlington, TX or Miami, FL in July and August with 100 degree days, but have you noticed that seven of the last ten World Series have been won by cold weather teams? And this year the trend has to continue after Philly and New York spun out the boys from California. As we extend the baseball year later and later, its seems less and less likely to see a team from the South or the West representing their leagues or at least winning the whole thing…
So time for the prediction! It looks like the studs from each team, Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez are ready to rumble, but it’s still pitching that wins in the playoffs. Both teams have Aces and Jokers in their rotations, offenses in high gear and this will be a great series to watch. I’m tired about hearing how suspect the Phillies bullpen is, especially after they knocked out the LA Dodgers in five games. I think the Phillies October magic will continue and I’ll take Philadelphia in Six!
Wow! That is all I can say about blogger Jerod Morris, who in his infinite wisdom, openly opined that Raul Ibanez must be on the juice due to his great start this season. I guess accountability has gone by the wayside in deference to the shock factor in today’s blogs. When did it become okay to say anything about anyone?!? Thankfully Raul did not duck or dodge his accuser, he went back at him with both barrels, calling Morris’ comments ”pathetic and disgusting” and offering to “give you back every dime” he’s earned via baseball if he ever tested positive for PEDs. 
This week, we learned that Manny Ramirez, a current-day MLB icon and one the best right-handed hitters of all time, is being suspended for reportedly having hCG (a female fertility drug) in his system. Is he trying to get pregnant or hit Vegas with another Manny-bomb? He’s been in LA for several months now; is this Manny’s way of telling us he’s buying into the liberal West Coast culture? Do the ‘Mannywood’ tabloids put this in the ‘just Manny being Manny’ section?
In the movie Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones tells Kevin Costner that “the one constant in America has been baseball.” “Baseball has marked the time” as America rolled by, been erased and rolled by again, baseball is a part of our past and is what reminds us all of what once was good. 
Curt Schilling retired from baseball today, bringing to an end the career of one of the best big game pitchers of all time. Schilling won three World Series titles with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox and also led the Philadelphia Phillies to a National League pennant. Schilling’s career numbers don’t scream hall of fame, but his 11-2 post season career mark certainly puts him up for hall consideration. While Schilling sits on the Cooperstown proverbial “Green Monster” for his on the field play, his mouth will skate right into the hall of fame for mouths.
Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon on Thursday stood by his comments he made to a magazine comparing Manny Ramirez to a cancer and that jettisoning the unique slugger to the left coast was in the best interest of Red Sox Nation.
