Ramble On’s World Series preview

We couldn’t let the start of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants come and go tonight without weighing in on what we think is going to happen. Granted, the Boston Red Sox have been on the golf course for quite a while now and we don’t really care who wins now that the New York Yankees have joined them, but we love America’s Pastime here at Ramble On. We’ll be tuned into Game 1 just like any loyal baseball fan would be, and we’re hoping to see some great things. Here’s a breakdown for those of you who might not have been following the postseason, along with our prediction for the series.

Starting lineups
There’s no nice way of saying this – Texas has one of the best offenses in baseball and San Francisco has one of the worst. Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler would all be the best hitter in the Giants’ lineup, and they’ll all be in the batting order for the Rangers tonight. Add in a white-hot Bengie Molina, who will have extensive knowledge of the Giants’ pitching staff as their former catcher, and we expect some fireworks from Texas.
Cody Ross will crash back to Earth at some point, right? We think so. Pablo Sandoval is as worthless in the postseason as Vladimir Guerrero and Buster Posey looks like he’s starting to hit the wall a little bit after catching more games than he ever has during any one season of his baseball life. San Francisco has gone cold at the wrong time, bad news against a crew that can put up runs in bunches.
(BIG) Advantage: Rangers

Starting rotations
This is San Francisco’s strength, and it’s how the Giants managed to fight their way into their first World Series since 2002. Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner are young, talented and fearless, and they should be as tough on the Texas lineup as they were against Philadelphia in the National League Championship Series. Lincecum and Cain have some of the best stuff that you would see anywhere in the majors.
This group earns a slight edge over the Rangers, and it’s only a slight edge because Cliff Lee is just about unbeatable. Put him down for at least two wins right now, and figure that Texas will do anything in its power to coax a solid performance out of C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis or Tommy Hunter.
(slight) Advantage: Giants

Bullpens
We gained a lot more respect for the Giants’ relievers in Game 6 against the Phillies when they managed to piece together 21 outs against one of the most dangerous lineups in the majors. Brian Wilson is one of the weirdest characters we’ve seen in a long while – perfect for a closer who can block out postseason pressure and dominate opposing hitters.
Texas really doesn’t get a chance to put its best foot forward thanks to the way its relievers are used (we’ll get to that a bit more when we break down the managers). The Rangers have some power arms to turn to, including electric rookie Neftali Feliz, but their reliance on a career journeyman like Darren Oliver and the struggles of sidearming righty Darren O’Day make Texas vulnerable while trying to protect any lead in the late innings.
Advantage: Giants

Managers
Ron Washington is a scatter-brained cokehead whose reliance on guys like O’Day and Oliver at nut-cutting time has made for a few cardiac finishes in Texas’ postseason run. We also don’t think that Washington will be able to find the balance that will keep Guerrero from hurting his club defensively during the games in San Francisco. When to take Vlad out? When to leave him in to protect Hamilton in the order? Washington doesn’t know.
Bruce Bochy doesn’t inspire us with all that much faith either, but he’s the lesser of two evils here. We base this on his destruction of Sanchez’s confidence in Game 6 against the Phillies. The move might have been necessary, but Sanchez leaving that game in the third inning in what at the time looked like a panicked reaction from Bochy won’t help matters when he turns to Sanchez in this series. Still, we usually tend to favor the National League manager in these formats when the double switches and late game strategy take hold.
Advantage: Giants

Prediction
How can we pick the Rangers if we just gave the Giants three of our four categories? To be honest, very easily. Texas has a massive advantage at the plate and we really don’t think Lincecum will be able to sit at 90-91 on the radar gun and shut down the Rangers’ lineup. He’d be very ordinary in the American League throwing that sort of puss up there on a regular basis. Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in these playoffs by a landslide and might be able to win three games all by himself. Colby Lewis is dealing right now and Wilson has the potential to hold Cain or Sanchez to a standstill. The Rangers look like the Florida Marlins of 1997 and 2003 – a team full of guys who are hot at the right time, don’t know any better and have the full support of a fraud fan base who just discovered baseball two weeks ago. There are claws and antlers all over the place right now – it’s like when slap bracelets were popular. We hate when teams like this win championships, and much too often things happen that we hate. This feels like one of those times yet again.
Prediction: Rangers in 7 games

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Cox calls it a career

We would be slacking on our responsibilities here at Ramble On if we let tonight pass without a word about Bobby Cox, the Atlanta Braves’ manager who walked off the diamond for the final time after his club was dropped out of the National League Division Series by the San Francisco Giants in four games.

It’s oddly fitting that San Francisco is the team that ended Cox’s storied career, because he is one of the true modern giants of the game. We won’t see many men who last two uninterrupted decades with any baseball team in any capacity ever again. Free agency and durability questions make it virtually impossible as a player while the crushing demand to win and the impatience of ownership makes it virtually impossible as a manager or general manager.

Cox has survived the test of time thanks to brilliant pitching (Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz chief among them), clutch performances from a handful of terrific position players (Terry Pendleton, Ron Gant, David Justice, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Brian McCann come to mind) and steady, understanding ownership (working for Ted Turner is much less complex than trying to last under the late George Steinbrenner, for example). It was a perfect storm of circumstances that brought Cox to the moment when he tipped his cap to the Turner Field crowd one last time after Monday’s 3-2 loss to San Francisco. It was all of the above that helped Cox lead his teams to 16 postseasons, a Major League Baseball record that should stand for a long while.

Want some local perspective? Let’s turn to the Boston Red Sox for some examples. Theo Epstein, the man who built the team that broke The Curse, can’t do it – he skipped town in a gorilla suit once before and won’t have the stomach to last under this spotlight forever. Terry Francona, the man who managed that Red Sox team and still currently fills out the lineup card, can’t do it – his health has been in decline since the day he took the job due to the incomparable stress of dealing with 162 one-game seasons per year. None of their players will be able to do it – pitchers both young (Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard) and old (Tim Wakefield) won’t last that long, the position players who were the cornerstones are gone (Manny Ramirez, Trot Nixon, Johnny Damon) or almost gone (David Ortiz, Jason Varitek), the veterans (Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts) have retired and moved on with their lives. None of those men who made history of their own can do what Cox has done. Very few in the game that we love the most can say that they have.