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Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
10 Reasons why this will be a World Series worth watching
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Ratings-wise, without a team from New York or Chicago or L.A. or Boston, the World Series will not be a TV bonanza. Figure something a lot closer to a re-run of The Steve Harvey Show than to American Idol.
Baseball-wise, though, a Series between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays is intriguing on a lot of fronts -- not the least of which is that it features no teams from New York or Chicago or L.A. or Boston. This will be a Series filled with fresh faces, different skylines and new storylines, a best-of-seven on Eastern Time. It might not play in San Francisco or Seattle. But, heck, they don't play much ball there, anyway.
Here are 10 reasons that this year's World Series -- Game 1 is on Wednesday night at St. Pete's Tropicana Field, the first Series game in a fixed-roof stadium in the wild-card era -- might be worth watching:
1. Worst to first
The Rays have been the best story in baseball this year. Never before winners, now in the World Series, the Rays are trying to become the first team in major league history -- the first in North America's four major professional sports, in fact -- to go from the worst record in its league one year to winning a championship the next.
The list of teams that have gone from worst to the championship, only to lose: the 1991 Braves (fell to the Twins in the World Series), the 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers (to the Celtics in the NBA Finals), the 1949-50 New York Rangers (to the Red Wings for the Stanley Cup) and the 1958-59 Maple Leafs (to the Canadiens).
2. The 28-year itch
When you're talking about bad teams, you have to start with the Phillies. Their last World Series title, in 1980, remains their only World Series title. And they've been playing baseball in Philadelphia since 1883, when the Quakers went 17-81.
The Phillies once went 16 straight years without a winning record. Last year they became the first professional team to lose 10,000 games. "I don't know too much about 10,000 losses," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said at the time. "I try and concentrate on the wins."
3. Joe and Charlie
Probably no two managers in the game are more different in style than the Phillies' Manuel and the Rays' Joe Maddon. They both come from working-class towns -- Manuel from Northfork, West Va., and Maddon from Hazleton, Pa. -- but where Manuel exudes a rural and homespun vibe, Maddon seems worldly and erudite.
Maddon often bikes to work, even when he's on the road. Manuel looks as if he would want nothing to do with a bike. No one eschews the sacrifice bunt more than Maddon. Manuel's team is among the foremost practitioners of it. Maddon always seems cool and under control. When he was in Japan, Manuel was known as the Red Devil for his temper.
These guys are different. And different is almost always good, or at least almost always entertaining.
4. Cole Hamels
The Phillies have a few glamour players -- last year's National League MVP, for example, shortstop Jimmy Rollins -- but none matches the potential of Hamels, the team's left-handed ace.
Hamels, 24, started two games in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, gave up 11 hits in 14 innings, struck out 13 and won both games, including a start against the Brewers in the Division Series, Hamels -- scheduled to start Game 1 against Tampa -- is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA this postseason.
5. Matt Garza
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Entire article: 10 Reasons why Phillies-Rays will be a Series worth watching - John Donovan - SI.com
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Ratings-wise, without a team from New York or Chicago or L.A. or Boston, the World Series will not be a TV bonanza. Figure something a lot closer to a re-run of The Steve Harvey Show than to American Idol.
Baseball-wise, though, a Series between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays is intriguing on a lot of fronts -- not the least of which is that it features no teams from New York or Chicago or L.A. or Boston. This will be a Series filled with fresh faces, different skylines and new storylines, a best-of-seven on Eastern Time. It might not play in San Francisco or Seattle. But, heck, they don't play much ball there, anyway.
Here are 10 reasons that this year's World Series -- Game 1 is on Wednesday night at St. Pete's Tropicana Field, the first Series game in a fixed-roof stadium in the wild-card era -- might be worth watching:
1. Worst to first
The Rays have been the best story in baseball this year. Never before winners, now in the World Series, the Rays are trying to become the first team in major league history -- the first in North America's four major professional sports, in fact -- to go from the worst record in its league one year to winning a championship the next.
The list of teams that have gone from worst to the championship, only to lose: the 1991 Braves (fell to the Twins in the World Series), the 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers (to the Celtics in the NBA Finals), the 1949-50 New York Rangers (to the Red Wings for the Stanley Cup) and the 1958-59 Maple Leafs (to the Canadiens).
2. The 28-year itch
When you're talking about bad teams, you have to start with the Phillies. Their last World Series title, in 1980, remains their only World Series title. And they've been playing baseball in Philadelphia since 1883, when the Quakers went 17-81.
The Phillies once went 16 straight years without a winning record. Last year they became the first professional team to lose 10,000 games. "I don't know too much about 10,000 losses," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said at the time. "I try and concentrate on the wins."
3. Joe and Charlie
Probably no two managers in the game are more different in style than the Phillies' Manuel and the Rays' Joe Maddon. They both come from working-class towns -- Manuel from Northfork, West Va., and Maddon from Hazleton, Pa. -- but where Manuel exudes a rural and homespun vibe, Maddon seems worldly and erudite.
Maddon often bikes to work, even when he's on the road. Manuel looks as if he would want nothing to do with a bike. No one eschews the sacrifice bunt more than Maddon. Manuel's team is among the foremost practitioners of it. Maddon always seems cool and under control. When he was in Japan, Manuel was known as the Red Devil for his temper.
These guys are different. And different is almost always good, or at least almost always entertaining.
4. Cole Hamels
The Phillies have a few glamour players -- last year's National League MVP, for example, shortstop Jimmy Rollins -- but none matches the potential of Hamels, the team's left-handed ace.
Hamels, 24, started two games in the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, gave up 11 hits in 14 innings, struck out 13 and won both games, including a start against the Brewers in the Division Series, Hamels -- scheduled to start Game 1 against Tampa -- is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA this postseason.
5. Matt Garza
.
.
.
.
continued
Entire article: 10 Reasons why Phillies-Rays will be a Series worth watching - John Donovan - SI.com
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