Which team will be the 2003 World Series Champions?

Fox better be prayin for some barnburners or Marlin blowouts early cause if the Yankees pull away fast it may be ugly.

Marlins will win!

The Yankees seem to be running out of energy after that exhausting series with Boston.

Mariano must be spent after tonight, so hopefully blowouts in Games 1 & 2 won't require his services.

The Marlins are this year's team of destiny (not unlike the Halos last season)....I've never been a big fan of the Fish but considering they have the best record in the majors since mid-May (not coincidentally the same time Jack McKeon became dugout boss) isn't it time someone in the media gave them a little credit for being a decent team?....their impressive young starters combined with veteran clutch hitters like Pudge and Conine (another O's castoff )will result in South Florida getting their second World Championship in seven years.

Besides, how can anyone not be happy for "Trader Jack" after he finally made it to the postseason for the FIRST time (let alone the World Series) after all his years in the game?....all those folks who were laughing when the last place Marlins hired the oldest manager in the HISTORY of the game five months ago shouldn't be laughing anymore, huh?

[ October 17, 2003, 12:30 AM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

gawd i hope the marlins win it.

GO FISH!

I hope the Marlins win it too.

I can't stand those bastard yankees

Josh

GO YANKEES!

Bring on the fish! After that heart-breaking defeat of the Cubs, let's kick some butt. What's a Pudge anyway?

Yankees in 5!

My prediction is that the ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

I can't believe some of the comments I'm reading on these threads.

Just because the Yankees are in it again doesn't mean they're automatically going to win. Did they win in 2001 against Arizona? Most people thought they would back then, I bet, especially after B.K. Kim's meltdowns in Yankee Stadium.

Just because the Cubs and Red Sox didn't make it doesn't mean the Series is going to be a bore. Didn't you all watch the Marlins this year? Didn't you see how they came from the back of the pack to win the wild card? Didn't you see how they knocked off Barry Bonds and the Giants? Didn't you see how they came back from a 3-1 gap to beat the Cubs, with the last two games being at Wrigley and against the best two Cubs pitchers? Didn't you notice how exciting many of their games were and the great finishes that occurred?

I'll tell you what would've been a bore: if the Cubs made the World Series. The team and the town would have been so happy to finally be there, the Yankees would've swept them!

But NY won't sweep the Marlins. In fact, my guess is that Florida will win the series.

"The ALCS was the real World Series..." Kiss my hairy Irish patoot.

These ARE, it turns out, the two best teams.

I'm picking the Yankees... in order to assure that the Marlins will provide a "shock" unlike any since the 1990 Reds.

Also, Bush will be "re"-elected, Return of the King will win Best Picture, Kelly Ripa will be the next Red Sox skipper, and the human race will be virtually extinct by century's end. Did I get everything?

[ October 17, 2003, 02:55 PM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

*Swoon*

Joe, your points are correct, but, I dunno, on Saturday night, I'm going to watch DVD's and not the baseball game. As time goes on, I become less of a "I'll watch it just because it's baseball" person, if it doesn't "connect" with me, I'll watch or do something else.

The Yankees had the "Subway" series a few years back against the Mets. I am officially dubbing this series the "Sominex" series!

Somebody in one of the NYC papers said that this series would be ''Yankee Fans vs Their Grandparents.''

(because so many Florida retirees come from NYC)

Well I thought it was funny.

I agree with Joe in Philly's comments above, this is not a done deal, the Marlins are an excellent team and they have IMHO a better than even chance to win. The series could be exciting and well-played.

That said I probably won't watch much of it. While I could be interested in a college bball game between Alaska-Anchorage and Hawaii-Hilo, I am just not interested in baseball as a game, and I fear most people these days are the same, except for fans of the Yankees and Marlins. I need an added twist to get me involved with the game. The Cubs and Red Sox stories were added motivation for me, it made the games interesting.

You have to admit that baseball is not the fastest of games. They start slow and unless there is an early blowout the drama builds and builds. But even with the drama, last night was great because I was at a bar where I could watch the baseball game AND a college football game. Baseball to me is just too slow to watch by itself.

I know the baseball purists scoff, as I would if you said that the NCAA basketball tournament was not all that interesting, but that is because they enjoy the game itself. I have never learned to do that. Probably my loss. True baseball fans will watch, but sports fans and the public at large will not tune in because there is no compelling reason to root for or against either team (except that one team is the Yankees).

Gee, the Marlins had a rather exhausting series too, didn't they?

Yes, but they didn't use 3 starters on Thursday. Does Torre have any choice besides starting Contreras on Saturday?

Will McKeon start Willis partly because the Yankees haven't seen the crazy motion before? Or would he have the guts to, say, use a different starter for 3-5 innings, followed by long relief? The safe thing to do with Beckett, it was suggested on BP, is to save him for Games 3 and 7.

Yes, Torre is in a bit of a bind. But Contreras pitched Wed. night as well. I think I saw that Wells is pitching tomorrow night. Wells could be a decent choice since he only pitched to three batters last night. The other choice (which is scary to me as a Yankee fan) is to have Jeff Weaver start. Don't know if he's on the roster though.

Go Yanks!!!

I'm going to tomorrow's game. Look for me in front row behind first base. I'll be wearing a yellow fleece.

Ung you lucky guy have a great time.

I think the Marlins have a chance to pull it off in seven. They don't seem to feel any pressure at all in these games. Once again it all comes down to pitching and the bullpens. They both have good closers so it's the middle relievers that may make the difference.

I'll be watching the game, but only in the hopes that the Marlins whoop the Yankees. wink

As much as I want Pudge and his buddies to take the ring... I'm afraid the Yanks have the stuff to powerhouse their way to their next world title.

Sitting down to watch Game 1.

American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken (introduced as being a baseball fan--who'd a thunk it?) sings the national anthem.

And Joe Buck--that man just keeps getting better and better looking.

Play ball!

And go..... fish!

[ October 18, 2003, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

You've got to be joking! Joe Buck is so repulsive. eek! Those waxed eyebrows just make my stomach turn and the bleached blond hair... :confused:

Those who said the Yanks would win easily and so they wouldn't even watch the Series might be interested to learn the result of game one: Marlins 3, Yankees 2. They got good bullpen work from Dontrelle Willis.

Two of the most idiotic and ill-informed comments (non-political variety) neatly combined in one single post.

Neither of you like baseball, or sports for that matter, apparently. We've just had five extraordinary, thrilling playoffs series leading up to the World Series. The two league championship series alone were the best since 1986, and possibly the best ever. Three of the four divisional series were instant classics, too, even the Marlins/Giants series that didn't go five. Pudge surviving a plate collision, right after scoring on one, to decide the Giants series was an all-timer. Only Yankees/Twins was a dud.

And you two think this World Series is going to be dullsville? If you are so bored with baseball, why are you even boring people with your uninformed opinions on a baseball thread? For real baseball fans, we're expecting a classic (and Game One was a good starting point). The Marlins speed and defense against Yankee tradition and veteran coolness. These are two exciting teams and if you don't like this World Series, you don't like baseball.

(Cubs and Red Sox fans, of couse, are excused from being excited about this series for the obvious reasons.)

A good point, Charlie.

Those who are true baseball fans wouldn't care who was in the World Series; they'd watch it regardless. After all, it's the high point of the Game itself.

Florida cannot be some slouch team if they can eliminate both the Giants and the Cubs in a rather fierce battle (particularly the latter series). And the Yankees? America's perennial postseason team is up against something America tends to embrace: An underdog.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the granddaddy of professional sports' world championships.

Despite all the players and the owners, particularly MLB's leadership, and what they do to screw up Baseball, the Game awes us with another wonderful round of postseason series. Its resiliency is amazing.

grrr..way one want to talk about it?

ok. So I sat at third base instead of first base. At first I was disappointed cuz I thought Giambi would be starting and I would not get to stare at his magnificent form. But Nick Johnson started instead.

disappointed? Not as soon as I realized that I would be staring at Aaron Boone's amazing ass all night long.

did I mention that Boonie's ass is hot? I mean.... I had ben staring at it during the TV coverage. But when up close and personal... in the tight white home unis (thank you Jesus!) his butt looks more impressive than on TV. I know I know. This isn't the hot jock sector..... so back to baseball

There definitely was a drop off in the energy level from game 7. not only in the players. But also in the crowd. But that was inevitable I suppose.

But CITT, I think that's exactly the point behind all the negativity -- so many people, including myself, were so excited about the prospect of the Cubs and/or Sox in the Series, that, in fact, we ALL became fans of those clubs during the division series.

It was a MAJOR letdown when neither went ... and bigger letdown when a team that's ALWAYS there -- the Yankees -- are in it again. And probably a bit of jealousy when a 10 year old franchise makes it twice in their history.

Even good baseball fans can be negative about this.

I have a dumb question for Yankee fans - I could have sworn when I was a kid the Yankees team colors were blue and white. Have they always been black and white ??

I didn't. Especially the Red Sox. Especially after that Game Three debacle with Pedro's headhunting (and tossing around of elderly Don Zimmer) and Ramirez's bizarre over-reaction to a head-high fastball over the plate. Good riddance to that undisciplined, unintelligent team (except for Varitek) with its bitter, yet arrogant, fan base.

Getting back to the two posts I was criticizing. Negativity is one thing. I have no objection to Sox and Cubs fans not being interested after their bitter defeats, and needing time to lick their collective psychic wounds, but I was responding to two people (neither of whom appear to be from New England or Chicagoland) who were declaring Yankees/Marlins to be a boring, snoozefest. Boring! And after those two classic league championship series. This is going to be great baseball.

This may not be the match-up you want, but it certainly won't be boring. Not with the Marlins great defense and Juan Pierre's emergence as the best lead-off man in the game. Not with Pudge Rodriguez's star turn. Not with Derek Jeter's October magic. Not with all the Yankee tradition that guarantees that team won't give up.

This series will not put America to sleep. It won't get the ratings it would've had, had Bud Selig gotten his wish and the Cubs were still playing. (Cubs/Yankees would have gotten just as good of rating as Cubs/Sox; Marlins/Sox probably would've been the lowest rated possible combo.) Negativity is one thing, but it's just plain ignorance to dismiss this soon-to-be classic match-up as \"boring.\"

Their colors are a very dark navy blue and white. Yankee uniforms are timeless. They don't change them every coupla years to up merchandise sales like way too many teams. That's one of the few things I respect about the Yankees.

[ October 19, 2003, 08:53 AM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]

I think this is an exciting series because it's pitting the young up 'n comers Florida Marlins against the aging warhorse dynasty New York Yankees.

Cubs? Red Sox? Pah. Those teams are better off thinking they're cursed.

I'm cheering for the Fish because they're the obvious underdog, the Yanks being stocked with All Stars and Cy Young winners. But like the recent one-hit wonders the Anaheim Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins, this Fish team with their youth and speed and vitality could defeat those tired Yanks.

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Opera queen Renee Fleming... how could you forget the words to the national anthem? Thank goodness she wrote the words on her hand; it would have been humiliating to start over.

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And yes, billsf, I think Joe Buck is very handsome. He has a wonderful, manly voice, too.

[ October 19, 2003, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]

Joe Buck? Bah!!!

I find Tim McCarver to be much more hunky. He's less hunky now than before. But as recently as a few years ago, Tim was a hottie.

Damn, Matsui's 3-run homer is not a good thing. frown

huhh, the kiss is being shown again. Did it cause any controversy? Rodriques and Carbrera. Then they go on to explain it as a Latin American thing and being ever so insightful, they tell us that Spanish is the major language there. Brilliant, but I can't tell Buck from McCarver.

OMG, the Budwiser Twelve Inch Weiner commercial is too funny. I think I'll start drinking a Bud.

[ October 19, 2003, 07:09 PM: Message edited by: shore ]

We interrupt these commercials to bring you a World Series game.

Egads! These commercials are sickening. How many times must we miss the first pitch because FOX is too busy telling us Budweiser is thankful for giving us 2 more inches on our weiners?

Hell, in the Boston market in the last series, FOX missed a lead-off friggin' home run by coming out of a commercial too late.

You can't have both teams break their curse in the same year. Have one team win it one year, and the other win it on their own. Why should the two stories happen simultaneously and have their impact diluted?

I think Joe Buck is handsome, too. I guess, as always, it's a matter of taste. wink

Way to go, Mark Redman! Who are you going to blame tonight's lousy performance on? Randy Wolf's umpire brother is not on the field.

And for those of you who said no one would watch this: Game 1 ratings were UP 16 percent from last year.

Bullshit. Total, utter, complete bullshit.

Here's the deal. Baseball is entertainment. It's not life itself; my fandom does not depend on watching because I'm supposed to, only because I want to. I have options for what I choose for entertainment value. On Saturday, I chose selections from the director's cut of the Woodstock DVD and selections from the new Zeppelin DVD. I suspect that watching The Who do See Me, Feel Me or Jimi Hendrix shred through Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) or Zeppelin doing a searing In My Time of Dying gave me more pleasure than watching two teams I don't care about play.

Tonight, I switched to BBC America after 3 innings tonight to watch The Office.

So what? From The Umpire on the Red Sox thread: Count me as one of them. I have a huge stack of DVD and VHS movies waiting for my attention. What the Yankees do or don't do matters very little to me.

[ October 19, 2003, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

16% increase over last year's record low ratings are nothing to be proud of, Joe. That's still abysmal ratings-wise. Note the huge decline from any of the division or LCS series.

Umm, you left out a key detail:

It was the third-lowest rating for a Series opener.

A 10.9 rating for a championship event, especially one like the World Series, is pathetic. NASCAR almost does as well.

Face it, millions of people lost interest when the Cubs and Red Sox went out.

It's still a higher rating than last year. The fact that those who wanted to watch the Cubs and Red Sox dropped out is undisputed. But there are still plenty of people interested in the remaining teams.

It scored a 9.7 the first hour, 9.3 the 2nd, and 10.3 the 3rd. National ratings out in a few days may change that somewhat either way.

Whether compared to other years or not, that is pretty pathetic. I can only imagine that Sunday's blowout game was equally bad for it's time slot.

There are many reports that even New Yorkers aren't very enthusiastic for this series, in comparison to others, and especially in comparison to the Sox series that preceded it.

3+ hours of "whooshing" Fox bumpers between each replay, and Joe Buck intoning on Any & Every Thing isn't enough to keep my attention. Even the cross-promoted Joe Millionaire just happening to be sitting in front box seats [with empty seats around him] can't keep me glued. On the other hand...if he were sitting shirtless with another guy...or if they all played in shorts....

And why was Fox interviewing Michael Strahan by phone? Who gives a shit?

That kiss from Rodriguez to Urbina was hot. I wish Rodriguez and Posada could engage in some activity like that and just say it is a latin american thing as Pudge called it.

The fact is it was 16% higher than last year, which was supposedly compelling because of the "feel-good" aspect of the Angels playing in the Series. I think it's unrealistic to expect the blockbuster ratings of the two LCS series, but a 16% increase shouldn't be scoffed at, either. As for "fans" who won't watch because they're "tired" of one of the teams, I think the more appropriate term for them is "poseurs."

When did this kiss happen? I missed it! Rodriguez and Urbina? Or Cabrera? I want to see Urbina and Cabrera throw down, French style....

Get your terms right. A poseur would be a Dodger fan who suddenly bought a Rally Monkey and a pair of thunderstix and started wearing red, not blue. A quite common species round these parts last year.

A poseur is the majority of Marlins fans who couldn't be bothered in the regular season, but now that their team is on a roll are suddenly \"rabid\" fans.

And, wow! What a shock! An avid Yankee fan that thinks those of us that don't care are poseurs. Lawdy. I've been watching baseball since 1967, I've done my time, thank you very much.

Put the ratings another way. Each rating point = roughly a million viewers. So, that means about 10 million people in a country of 270 million--fine, not all of whom are of TV watching age--watched the games. That's pathetic. And this year, with the whole \"All-Star Game league winner gets home field advantage\" is such crap that it's just another nail in the coffin.

I simply don't get the idea that I--or anyone else--am obligated to watch this Series. Give us some credit; we're adults, we can make informed choices. My days of watching sports because I think I should are long gone; the days of me coming home from work and immediately flipping on the TV to ESPN/Fox/WGN/TBS to watch a ball game are long gone. I mean, I'm a big Lakers fan, but the last two series that they won the title? Boring as all hell! Everybody knew they were going to be beforehand, so it's no surprise that people found other things to do. I'm not 22 anymore, I have a lot of other interests. Life is too short, with too many other things to do, to spend it watching something I don't care about. Is that such a difficult concept to grasp?
Let's be clear: it's not a kiss, it's a peck on the cheek. It's happened when he goes to the mound after a final out etc.

[ October 20, 2003, 08:52 AM: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

Well a peck on the cheek is still something in the World Series on national television in the United States! The replayed it a couple of times. It looked even better in slow motion. Rodriguez was whispering to him and kissing him at the same time. It was pretty hot.