Thursday, October 30, 2008

Phillies win 3-1/2 inning game to claim World Series

Last night I watched the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Tampa Bay Rays to end the World Series 4 games to 1 and win their second overall championship (first was in 1980). Game 5 had started Monday night, but had to be postponed after 6-1/2 innings of play due to very heavy rain / cold (a "Nor-easter"? -- aw, hell, I'm from Texas, I don't know anything about Yankee weather patterns...). Link here for game recap / highlights. My analysis? Tampa would have had a much better chance of winning had they not allowed leadoff doubles to Philly in the bottom of the 6th and 7th innings.

So last night they finished game 5, on Fox TV. It was unusual to go through a pre-game show then start the game in the middle of the 6th inning. But actually, it turned out to be about the perfect length of time for me to watch a baseball game -- about an hour (with some DVR-ing of commercials). My favorite moment was just after closer Brad Lidge got the strikeout with a wicked slider to end the game and dropped to his knees in celebration, then 1st baseman Ryan Howard (who, to quote the movie Fargo, is "kind of a big fella") tackled Lidge from the side to start the traditional baseball championship dogpile. Nice hit!

Anyway, this short game got me thinking about doing this with other sports. NBA games should begin in the 4th quarter, or maybe even the final two minutes. NHL games could start in the 3rd period (or perhaps should skip straight to the penalty shoot-out phase). Soccer should definitely just skip to the shootout. Football is cool -- we'll keep full-length games for that.

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