Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 5, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Texas eliminates Tampa Bay in game 4, 4-3, as Adrian Beltre hits 3 homers for the Rangers.
- The Yankees and Tigers will play a 5th and final game tomorrow in New York.
- Today's Schedule: Philadelphia at St. Louis (Phillies lead 2 games to 1). 6:07pm Eastern TBS
2. If You're Scoring at Home
* Yankee pitcher A.J. Burnett pitched well and Alex Rodriguez got his first two hits of the series. Yankee fans exhale.
* There were no sweeps in the four division series. First time that's happened since 2003. TBS exhales.
* Tampa Bay is far from a sellout for game 4, only 78% capacity. 28,299 fans doesn't exactly add up to success for the future of baseball in the Tampa/St. Pete area.
3. Bottoms Up
Shocking. A report out of Boston says some Red Sox players were drinking beer in the clubhouse during games. Aha! That explains everything. Actually it doesn't. The culprits were supposedly starting pitchers on their off-days. If true, the 1999 Mets still have them beat. During game 6 of the National League Championship Series in Atlanta, a game in which the Mets were eliminated, Rickey Henderson was reportedly playing cards with Bobby Bonilla in the clubhouse during the game. Way to keep your eyes on the prize, guys.
4. If a League Falls in the Woods...
Does anybody seem to care that the NBA will start canceling regular season games? Sports fans are yawning. Is it NFL syndrome? Fans just expect things to work out as they did in football? Or is it the sports-overlap reality? The NFL is rocking and the baseball playoffs are fun. In other words, this may be a case of who cares? The season is too long anyway. The old joke about the NBA is you just have to tune in for the last two minutes of a game. Maybe that's the case for the entire schedule. Start the season after the Super Bowl in February, and begin the playoffs in April. More teams alive, a short dash to the championship. Everyone's happy. Except the players and owners who all have to take pay cuts.
5. What's in a Name?
Does the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans sound a bit incongruous? Think Superdome, and you think of those thousands of poor people who were in despair living in the stadium after Katrina. It's kinda hard to associate human suffering with a luxury car brand. Now if Mercedes gave each of those survivors a free car...
Happy Birthday: The great former NHL star Mario Lemieux. 46.
Bonus Birthday: Actress Kate Winslet. 36.
Today in Sports: Brooklyn's Al Gionfriddo makes his famous catch in left field at Yankee Stadium against Joe DiMaggio in game 6 of the World Series. 1947.
Bonus Event: Thank goodness, now we have a place to put Disneyland. The city of Anaheim, California is founded. 1857.
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