Some things that are happening that aren’t cricket

Today England have been thrashed by India. But that is not the only sporting event; game five of the NLCS is tonight and Zach Greinke pitches for Milwaukee. Both the ALCS and NLCS are guaranteed to go at least six games, and if Greinke can get another win (he got the win in game one as well) the Brewers would be very much in the driving seat going back to Milwaukee for Sunday’s game. The Rangers have a similar edge in the ALCS, though the Tigers have a bit of momentum after finally getting their offence going behind Verlander and sending the series back to Texas. Their game six is tomorrow. My prediction is that the Brewers will win the next two games to secure the NL pennant and that the Tigers will force a game seven, but lose and the Rangers will win the AL crown.

That is my take on the cricket and baseball, which like all good sports are played on weekdays and weekends. Because anyone who values high workplace productivity over sport is not a real fan. It’s coming up on the weekend though so there are some lesser, but still fun, events coming up.

The most important one is this Saturday at 12.45 BST/06.45 CDT. Liverpool v Manchester United. Liverpool won last year’s fixture 3-1 with Dirk Kuyt netting one of the easiest hat-tricks in history. That was during Liverpool’s late season resurgence. This year they have had a slightly mercurial but mostly indifferent start. I think I was in the majority of Reds in expecting a bit more bang from our big signings. Suarez has been consistently impressive, however, and Carroll finally broke his duck so things may be looking up. United, meanwhile, are United and thus will be a) hard to beat and b) bring with them the most loud-mouthed and ignorant fans outside of New York. My prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Man Utd, Suarez scoring a late winner.

Still in football, this morning UEFA handed down a three match ban for Wayne Rooney. Seeing as England will play at most six games in Euro 2012, (and in reality will probably not play more than four) there is a chance now that Rooney will be omitted from the squad entirely. As I stated last week, I’m not sure that will be a bad thing.

Tomorrow morning and Sunday morning (09.00 BST/03.00 CDT) are the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Wales will play France and Australia will play New Zealand. In the quarter-finals Wales played outstandingly well against Ireland; France played well enough as England imploded; the Wallabies were pretty fortunate to win, but beat South Africa in the breakdowns and New Zealand were shaky early, but settled down to beat Argentina fairly comfortably. I’d be pretty surprised if Wales and New Zealand don’t see each other in the final, but the All Blacks have historically lost when they shouldn’t and les Bleus have historically done the exact opposite of what everyone expects, so I’m looking forward to watching those matches.

Predictions for today

It’s been a pretty good postseason so far. Mostly because the Wankers lost, but also because three of the four division series went to five games, which is a welcome change from the past few years. Not only were there three deciding games, all three were decided by just one run. After Fuck-Rod struck out to send the Wankers home (the memory of which still gives me a warm feeling) the Brewers walked off in the tenth inning against Arizona and the Chris Carpenter out-duelled Roy Halliday. (The last one was the best; all deciding games should be 1-0 pitcher’s duels.) Neither of the championship series will be sweeps either, which makes for a good start.

The Rangers are leading the Tigers two games to one, with the home team winning every game so far. This is not surprising; the Rangers have the most hitter friendly park in the AL, and the Tigers have one of the least. The Tigers have actually looked the better side so far; the Rangers only narrowly won their home games whilst the Tigers looked quite assured at home last night. Indeed, with a few breaks in the first two games the Tigers could be 3-0 up right now. Today (imminently, actually) Rick Porcello starts against Matt Harrison. Neither have been dominant this year, which will probably give the Rangers a slight edge, even though the game is in Detroit. I’m tipping the Rangers to win, but only just. (Just barely tipping them, that is. I don’t think the game will necessarily be close and I do think it will be high scoring.)

The National League, after having a much better pair of division series, has not had an enthralling championship series so far. The Brewers and Cardinals traded blowouts in the first two games and now the series is level going to St Louis. I expect the trend may change tonight though as both aces are starting. Gallardo has actually pitched better during the postseason so far, giving up just one run in each of his two starts. Carpenter, however, gave up four runs in three innings in game two of the NLDS before his famous performance in game five. Carpenter also had a complete game shutout in the last regular season game, but that was against Houston and I’m pretty sure I could shut out Houston. So it should be a good game. Carpenter is pitching at home for the first time this postseason and Gallardo is pitching on the road for the first time, so it will be interesting to see if that affects either of them. I think the Cardinals will win a close game.

As I type this the Tigers-Rangers game ought to have started, but it has been raining in Detroit and the new start time is set for 16.45 CDT.

It’s such a beautiful night

Tonight was a good night. Tigers 3-2 Yankees. Since the Royals have not made it to the postseason in my lifetime, my biggest October desire is to see the Yankees lose. I despise the Yankees, to an extent not normally seen outside top tier football leagues. (Look at my tweets during game five if you doubt me.) I also despise several Yankees individually. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher are the three that spring most readily to mind, and the fact that two of them struck out with the bases loaded in the seventh gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I won’t say that I despise all Yankee fans, but I have hated every one of them with which I have ever come in contact. The amount of schadenfreude gained from watching 50,000 of them with their heads in their hands is almost incomparable.

Wankers

Season’s over, assholes

The game could hardly have gone better. A blowout would have been fun, but the air of crushing disappointment when Fuck-Rod struck out to end the game was palpable even watching on TV and it was wonderful. A blowout would have been much more gradual, and a lot of the ‘fans’ in attendance would have gone home early, as they did in game seven of the 2004 ALCS. It’s fun, but it’s not as fun. Also a blowout would not have involved Fuck-Rod striking out with the tying run on second in the seventh inning, and you can’t put a price on that sort of thing. (In fact, Fuck-Rod struck out three times to finish his ALDS 2-18. It’s those sort of numbers that give me faith in humanity.)

Fuck-Rod

There isn’t a cloud in the sky here. The moon is out and it’s quite warm in spite of the lateness of the hour and the month. And the New York Yankees and their fans will have six months of drinking their own tears.

Who needs sleep?

Tomorrow is set to be a busy day. My schedule is currently:
14.00 – 16.00 (CDT): Montenegro v England
16.00 – 17.00: Errands
17.00 – 20.30: Brewers v Diamondbacks
20.30 – 00.00: Phillies v Cardinals
00.00 – 01.45: Ireland v Wales
01.45 – 02.30: Tea (nonstop consumption)
02.30 – 04.15: England v France
04.15 – ? Sleep.

Luckily there is nothing on the calendar for the rest of Saturday. Not so next weekend: England have their first ODI against India, there will probably be a playoff game, a RWC semi-final and Liverpool v Man Utd. I can sleep on Sunday.

Tea

Don’t let me down

I’m very disappointed that the Yankees forced a game five. I really didn’t think they would, but not so much due to the immediate stats. Whilst AJ Burnett had an ERA above five in the regular season, and 6.99 in his last ten starts, he got enough run support to go 3-2 in that stretch. Porcello, meantime, had an ERA in his last ten starts of 5.28, so I didn’t expect either pitcher to last long (Burnett was very lucky to only give up one run).

Why I really expected the Yankees to fail was because of their decidedly ordinary record recently in the ALDS. In the 21st century they have a record of 22-18. It’s not bad, mind, but it’s not great. If you throw out their record against the Twins, however, it drops to just 10-16. (As an aside: Both losses against the Twins were in New York. In Minnesota in the ALDS the Yankees are 7-0.) When facing elimination in game four the Yankees had lost three out of their previous four (lost to the Angels in 2002, beat the Angels in 2005, lost to the Tigers in 2006 and lost to the Indians in 2007).

So the Yankees have done well to force a game five, and now it’s a rematch of game one (sort of). They have home field advantage, but I think the Tigers will win. (I really, really hope I’m right this time.) Doug Fister is, I am convinced, a better pitcher than Ivan Nova (game one notwithstanding). I don’t think Nova will succumb to the pressure of the occasion, but I do think that he will be outpitched. Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, will succumb to the pressure or whatever it is that causes him to play like he’s too busy copulating with himself to remember how to use a bat in the month of October. (The simplest explanation is often the best, and I suspect the reason he plays like that is because he’s too busy copulating with himself in the dugout to remember how to use a bat.)

I hope I’m right though, because I really f*cking hate the Yankees.