Amid various howlings by baseball’s corporate overlords, a pitching and defense-oriented team from San Francisco stumbled into postseason and took it from there.
Many had figured on it; some iteration of “if Giants can just get in, they could do something.”
It showed that teams whose rosters resemble a stratigraphy of current and former All-Stars, Cy Young trophies and hulking home run Kings can be beaten into submission by teamwork, determination and talent.
Of course, every Team must assemble a collection, and Blog by no means seeks to wage “war on success;” point is that some collections are curated with care and grace, while others are curated with brute force.
Postseason must be seen as especially encouraging to fans of Team (with exception, perhaps, of those unable to see past fancy statistical measures to realize that wins derive from far more than just numbers).
Team seems to have assembled core of talent that, perhaps, can realize that losing isn’t written in stone, no matter what SportsYakSphere intones year-in and year-out.
Image via SF Gate
Not that it’s all warm and fuzzy. Mistakes have been made. Bridges have been burnt and new ones must be forged.
“The rally thong is going to the Hall of Fame,” Aubrey Huff told his adoring San Francisco fans the other day. They accepted it for what it was and didn’t take to the airwaves to declare him unfit for their city.
Looking on was former co-voice of Team, Jon Miller, who blessed the many lights that have shone on Bay Area over decades. Miller still has a soft spot for Team. Blog knows this because he often talks of Baltimore when calling various games and, in doing so, continues to acknowledge Team’s existence.
Others are not so kind.
Baseball appears poised to enter into potentially maddening new Fox-ified era with more replays, more playoffs and more attention-grabbing stunts. But core of game has withstood other, more ferocious assaults, and with Steroid issues seemingly under control for moment, Team could very well be in position to succeed on level of pure baseball, which really is only thing that matters.
But it’s going to need help from market.
