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Taking shelter from the storm
I've got a couple questions that relate to Nelson Cruz and last year's World Series. I wasn't sure where this belonged and I hope this is the right forum to post it.
The first one regards a decision I made with game 7. As a Mariners fan, the Rangers are a bitter rival, but despite that, I was hoping they'd beat St. Louis because they were someone different playing against a team that gets all the coverage in the world when they contend, while Western Division teams in both leagues are usually overlooked. And with all the difficult years Texas had had before, I really felt like they deserved to win.
Even though game 6 is definitely one that deserves to be remembered for a long time, I was crushed as much as everyone else in Texas when David Freese hit that walk-off homer. To me, it felt like the only teams that have any business winning the World Series are the ones the media and TV networks love to cover and because the Rangers aren't one of those teams, they're cursed to lose. I know in reality that's not the case because the last two World Series the Yankees lost were to the Diamondbacks and Marlins. And if Ichiro had been playing right field for Texas instead of Nelson Cruz (assuming the Rangers weren't pulling a Black Sox scandal), the Rangers would've won.
Because I was devastated by the game 6 loss, I chose to watch game 7 on a short leash and turned it off in the bottom of the 5th when the Cardinals were leading 4-2 with the bases loaded. Then I chose to find out how it ended when I felt like I was ready to and it was the first time since 1990 that I didn't see the end of a World Series. I ended up waiting until Opening Day of this year and felt like it was one of the best decisions I made made because if I hadn't, it would've been the longest winter of my life.
What I'm asking is, did I do the right thing or was I being a coward? I felt like I needed to get some other opinions on this It's not something I normally think fans should do and I don't intend to do it on a regular basis. I just felt like I'd have an easier time focusing on my normal life if I made an exception that one time and doing so made the off-season a lot easier (with the exception of Greg Halman's passing).
My next question is, because I chose to "take shelter from the storm," how much does Nelson Cruz get blamed for that ball he misplayed? When I watched today's game between the Marlins and Cardinals, they were portraying the game 6 as one of the game's most historic comebacks (and even treated David Freese as one of the great World Series heroes even though it was an over-achievement), but they never gave Cruz Buckner treatment, even though his gaffe defined the series.
I agree that it was one of the great World Series comebacks, but game 6 of the '86 World Series is considered one too with Buckner's name still being mentioned.
Also, does anyone feel suspicious of teams trying to lose in the post-season? Over the past several years, there are times where it's looked like it.
In the '04 and '09 ALDS's between the Twins the Yankees, the Twins played like they were trying to lose, along with the Angels of Anaheim when they played New York in the ALCS that year
Then in game 6 of last year's World Series, Ron Washington made a series of bonehead decisions and not only did Cruz run a few steps forward before running back on the ball he should've caught, he didn't even run that hard after the ball.
When the Rangers play their first game tomorrow night, I'd really like to see how the fans react when he gets introduced.
The first one regards a decision I made with game 7. As a Mariners fan, the Rangers are a bitter rival, but despite that, I was hoping they'd beat St. Louis because they were someone different playing against a team that gets all the coverage in the world when they contend, while Western Division teams in both leagues are usually overlooked. And with all the difficult years Texas had had before, I really felt like they deserved to win.
Even though game 6 is definitely one that deserves to be remembered for a long time, I was crushed as much as everyone else in Texas when David Freese hit that walk-off homer. To me, it felt like the only teams that have any business winning the World Series are the ones the media and TV networks love to cover and because the Rangers aren't one of those teams, they're cursed to lose. I know in reality that's not the case because the last two World Series the Yankees lost were to the Diamondbacks and Marlins. And if Ichiro had been playing right field for Texas instead of Nelson Cruz (assuming the Rangers weren't pulling a Black Sox scandal), the Rangers would've won.
Because I was devastated by the game 6 loss, I chose to watch game 7 on a short leash and turned it off in the bottom of the 5th when the Cardinals were leading 4-2 with the bases loaded. Then I chose to find out how it ended when I felt like I was ready to and it was the first time since 1990 that I didn't see the end of a World Series. I ended up waiting until Opening Day of this year and felt like it was one of the best decisions I made made because if I hadn't, it would've been the longest winter of my life.
What I'm asking is, did I do the right thing or was I being a coward? I felt like I needed to get some other opinions on this It's not something I normally think fans should do and I don't intend to do it on a regular basis. I just felt like I'd have an easier time focusing on my normal life if I made an exception that one time and doing so made the off-season a lot easier (with the exception of Greg Halman's passing).
My next question is, because I chose to "take shelter from the storm," how much does Nelson Cruz get blamed for that ball he misplayed? When I watched today's game between the Marlins and Cardinals, they were portraying the game 6 as one of the game's most historic comebacks (and even treated David Freese as one of the great World Series heroes even though it was an over-achievement), but they never gave Cruz Buckner treatment, even though his gaffe defined the series.
I agree that it was one of the great World Series comebacks, but game 6 of the '86 World Series is considered one too with Buckner's name still being mentioned.
Also, does anyone feel suspicious of teams trying to lose in the post-season? Over the past several years, there are times where it's looked like it.
In the '04 and '09 ALDS's between the Twins the Yankees, the Twins played like they were trying to lose, along with the Angels of Anaheim when they played New York in the ALCS that year
Then in game 6 of last year's World Series, Ron Washington made a series of bonehead decisions and not only did Cruz run a few steps forward before running back on the ball he should've caught, he didn't even run that hard after the ball.
When the Rangers play their first game tomorrow night, I'd really like to see how the fans react when he gets introduced.
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