Maybe the announcers, talk radio guys, studio talking heads, make up silly narratives, keep bringing up steroids, Brett Favre, etc., because they don't really like sports that much. Is it really because they think we want to hear that crap? Can they be in such a massive cocoon? I'm sure that's part of it, but I also think they're just not very imaginative, or passionate about their sports.

Joba got two tough outs and then missed badly with a fastball and gave up a HR to the weakest non-pitcher in the lineup. You can't predict baseball, Suzyn...

Girardi needed 6 outs. You can't second guess his decision to use Joba there and say "4 outs away." No, it was 6. Joba got 2 of them before giving up the tying HR, and then got the third after. Mo would have had to pitch two full innings. Not using Mo in the 8th was probably a consequence of being overly jumpy and using him in game 3. That, if anything, was the mistake in Mo-useage, and game 4 follows from that.

I agree re: Phil Coke. When it looked like Lidge was going to get through the top of the 9th, I was very worried.

Something you didn't mention: letting CC hit for himself in the 7th was a mistake, I thought. I think you pinch hit there and start the bottom of the inning with Marte.

Things that drive me crazy about McCarver, #n+1: Saying what a great play it was for Melky to run through Thompson's stop sign. The throw had him beat, if Ruiz catches it Melky is out even if he misses the tag (because Melky missed the plate). Luck was the only reason they got that run, and without that luck the game might have been different.

Damon makes a lot of sense for the White Sox, considering everything you said about Damon's defense could be applied in equal force to Podsednik, and Damon's a much better hitter in every way.

Second guessing = what makes baseball fun.

Anyhow, was that not the worst implementation of a strike zone that you have ever seen in your life? Anyone? I read seven Arod articles and six Damon articles, none of which mentioned the zone. I think that it was consistently horrid for both teams, but I was just amazed at how bad the zone was.

I was stunned when Damon took third. My first thought was that I could not remember the last time I saw a third baseman catch the ball on an attempted steal. My second thought was, if the defense chooses to play Tex this way all the time (even with a fast runner at first), why hasn't the runner taken third more often?

I don't know if Madson would have kept the Yankees off the board if he pitched the 9th instead of Lidge, but as a Phillies fan this loss is a killer, because if the game stayed tied, we were looking at facing a non-Rivera reliever in the bottom of the inning and I think the Phillies would have had a solid chance at walking off with the win.

Obviously we can still win (however remote the chances), but that half inning was just awful for Phillies fans - everything from Damon's at bat and steal to hitting Texeira - I think it was the half inning that turned or changed the series.

Re use of Mo: the problem was Girardi panicking and using him for no good reason in game 3, when Hughes would have been fine protecting an 8-5 lead with 1 out in the 9th. (Had Hughes given up a single instead of solo HR, which are equivalent events in the bottom of the 9th, no way Girardi would have pulled him.) Only 5 pitches, but with warmu-up clearly enough to have Girardi decide he was only using Mo 1 inning, thus compounding his mistake. Had Damon/ARod not come through, excellent chance he would've lost with Phil Coke. Thus repeating almost exactly the strategy Joe Torre employed in 2003: overuse Rivera in low leverage innings in game 3, then lose with your 10th or 11th best pitcher in game 4 while holding Rivera for the save situation that never materializes.

"Maybe, just maybe, Alex Rodriguez did not only himself a favor, but did one for hundreds upon hundreds of baseball players to follow him."

Doubtful, unfortunately. We saw with Bonds's 2002 postseason that, while they stopped writing it about Bonds, it didn't prevent them from applying the silliness to ARod.

ARod's bad first two games of the WS had already started the silliness creeping back. The game-winning double last night probably saves him until his next postseason, but since the 2004-2009 stories were irrational I don't see why we shouldn't expect more irrationality.

It's like expecting an insane dictator or Charlie Manson or someone to behave rationally.

Arod will take the "no clutch" to his grave. Statheads can rant all they want but he has been branded. Just like Jeter will be "Mr. Clutch" forever. It is one of those goofy times when perception is reality.