THINGS I READ ABOUT

Since Vod "covered" the game:

***REALLY, JOE? REALLY?***
Joe Torre just heard that there may have been drinking going on in the Red Sox clubhouse. Now I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this. Joe has already commented to the Boston Globe: "I know I have plans just to talk to some people." Way to go go, Joe, we don't want to move too fast on this. "It's something we're going to look at and find the best way to approach it, let's put it that way," he said, according to the paper. "That's one thing where I feel comfortable..." Right, not solving the problem, just deciding how to investigate it. Then we'll see some action (Hah!). He may even go so far as to (Gulp!) ban beer from the clubhouse. "If we do happen to bar alcohol from the clubhouses, you have to understand the intent of this thing and what it looks like." Whatever that means.
Gosh, wait till he hears about the possible drinking in the dugout.

***WAIT A MINUTE, IT'S NOT 'SILLY SEASON' YET***
The Yankees are hard at work scouting the latest Japanese super-star, pitcher Yu Darvish. I guess they figure that Kei Igawa needs a roommate down in Trenton. This is expected to be another one of those $50 million auction bids for the right to negotiate with him. That's an awfully expensive way to steal the headlines back from Theo Epstein's defection to the windy city.

***OH YEAH, THE ACTUAL 'GAME' OF BASEBALL***
If you are not among the few people watching the series (along with Vod), the Rangers have tied it up at two games apiece. MLB is not happy with the low ratings the series is getting, and their reasons (excuses, actually) are many. The participants are from small market areas, the teams with the best records aren't playing, etc.
One sports writer, Mike Lupica in fact, has an interesting take on this. We've already had four "world series" before we got down to two teams. Remember when the winning team from each league, and therefore the teams with the best record, played for the championship? From the time the teams clinched until the WS started, there was the usual buildup in the press to whet the appetite for the Championship Series. Now, we get that buildup four times before we have the final series and the momentum is long gone. Plus, as happened this year, the two 'best' teams aren't even in it. And don't give me the "they didn't earn it" argument. The Phillies earned it all year. St Louis just happened to start playing over their heads at the right time.
I think Lupica has a good point.

CP-