Wow. Yeah, last night’s game was absolutely tremendous. Outside of being the most compelling playoff game in recent memory (non-2004 edition), we get the luxury of watching a Game 7 tonight for the first time since 2002. I can’t wait! Despite my better judgment, I got up and went to work at 5:00 a.m. As it stands right now, I’m running on less than four hours of sleep and absolutely no caffeine. I’m gonna ditch work a couple of hours early, eat lunch, hit the gym, crash for like four hours, and watch some baseball. In the meantime, I thought I’d provide you with a little bit of linky goodness, since I haven’t done that in a while.
- Two links from the folks at Over the Monster this week. This first comes from Marc Normandin who explains that Lackey’s injury situation is not as uncommon as one might think. The second comes Matthew Kory who was in the mailbag sorta mood. The questions he received have a certain international feel to them. It’s definitely an amusing read.
- When the boys at Sabeanmetrics have mastered the art of internet trolling. This week, they “co-hosted” a CSN Bay Area chat, and came away with some pretty funny moments.
- Tony LaRussa has been in the news a lot lately–and for good reason. After all, he is managing one fo the two teams playing in the World Series. On Wednesday, he was in the news for another reason entirely: his ill-advised opinions on Moneyball and the importance of OBP. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs and Bill Petti of Beyond the Boxscore each take unique paths in disproving LaRussa’s opinion.
- Brien at IIATMS is to Murray Chass as I am to Dan Shaughnessy. As awful as we both think these respective authors are at their jobs, we feel compelled to read their trite garbage and provide rational responses. This week, Brien wonders if the World Series is really sacred.
- Who are the worst World Series champions in baseball history? Bill at the Platoon Advantage has the scoop.
- No one doubts that Tony LaRussa is a good manager. Sure, he overmanages his team to death at times, but it’s hard to argue with a man who’s record contains 2728 career wins, six league pennants, and two (and on the verge of three) World Series titles. Still, that hasn’t made him immune to massive doses of criticism (including from yours truly) since he reached the fall classic. Rob Neyer at SB Nation takes a deeper look, and examines LaRussa’s ability to manage in October.
- Christina Kahrl over at the ESPN Sweet Spot the unique challenges incoming President Theo Epstein faces in turning around the loveable losing Cubs.
- Finally, in light of Josh Hamilton’s admission that God told him in advance that he would hit a home run in the tenth inning last night, NBC Hardball Talk’s resident smart ass and blogger-in-chief Craig Calcaterra provides a little rational and amusing commentary on the subject.
Alright folks. Those are all of the links that are fit to print. Soak up tonight’s Game 7. It’s going to be the last game we see for several months. Oh, and in case you were wondering…it’s 158 days until Opening Day. Spring can’t come fast enough.