Three Cheers for Greedy Corporate Executives

We’re not even going to acknowledge last week’s poll because it’s become pretty clear to us that you’re all a pack of cheaters. Since the poll was “who is staging a comeback,” regarding the holes the Yankees and Phillies had dug themselves into during the Championship Series, the outcome was going to be determined rather quickly. Well ahead of today’s blog posting. No one, repeat NO ONE, voted before Game 6 of either series was played. Conveniently, everyone voted the day after both teams were eliminated from playoff contention. You do understand that these are opinion polls, right? You get nothing for guessing right. You baffle us. How do you sleep at night? Since you’re so gung-ho about being rule breakers, this week’s poll is going to be something you CAN’T cheat on. Enjoy it.
Serena made a bet with The Favorite’s brother that the Giants would win the World Series this year. So far, the Bay Area Boys are doing right by her and making The Favorite’s brother feel like a NTAC…because he IS a NTAC for choosing the Rangers. This is nothing personal. It’s business.

The series moves to Arlington for the next 3 games. The schedule for this weekend is as follows:

Game 3 – Saturday at 6:30 pm
Jonathan Sanchez vs. Colby Lewis

Game 4 – Sunday at 8:00 pm
Madison Baumgarner vs. Tommy Hunter

Sadly, the ratings for this year’s World Series have been pretty bleak. The Giants 11-7 win over the Rangers on Wednesday that featured a Tim Lincecum/Cliff Lee billing had an 8.9 rating and 15 share, which is down 25% from last year’s Yankees/Phillies World Series opener. This could be chocked up to the fact that there are a lot of New York transplants all over the country who may have had a vested interest in that particular series. However, this number is also down 3% from the Rays-Phillies’ Game 1 in 2008, a series that had scored a record low-rating. FOX stated that Thursday’s Game 2 peaked at 10.4/16 at about 9:30 pm before dropping steadily following a 6-run 5th inning, which is somewhat understandable. Personally, when the Yankees were losing Game 6 by 6 runs, we stopped watching too and we actually gave a crap about the outcome of that game.

Here’s the deal. The Giants have a great young pitching staff that deserves to be watched by the world. Cliff Lee is an amazing pitcher who deserves to be in this type of atmosphere. We all know Josh Hamilton’s story and it’s fantastic that he has this opportunity. All that being said, FOX has lost 3 million viewers in the New York area because they’re Cablevision customers and unable to watch the World Series. Granted, 3 million people do not equal the country’s population, but it’s a staggering number nevertheless. With two “non-local” teams in the World Series, people are not going to take the time to travel to the nearest sports bar to watch these games. They’re going to reserve those trips for football Sunday in order to watch the Jets and Giants. That lost consumer base might not equal the 25% decrease in ratings from last year’s Game 1, but it certainly would’ve contributed to a higher rating than the 2008 Game 1. So well done, greedy network executives. Here’s to you! Way to lose all that money and steal the limelight from players who deserve it. Don’t worry. No one thinks you’re selfish or anything.

Despite the low ratings of the World Series, this past week still managed to produce a few interesting baseball notes. Brian Cashman, GM for the Yankees, announced on Monday that pitching coach, Dave Eiland, has been fired for reasons that Cashman refuses to disclose. This should be good. Apparently, AJ Burnett has an umbilical cord attached to Eiland, so we can’t wait to see AJ’s performance come 2011. Just when you think it couldn’t get worse, AJ loses his lifeline. FAN-friggin’-tastic. Furthermore, “reasons he can’t disclose?” What’s that about? Is Eiland KGB? MI6? Bank robber?

The head of the Players’ Union says that his members are open to adding more Wild Card teams for the 2012 season and possibly extending the Division Series to a best-of-seven series. Exactly how full of their own BS is the MLB? Adding more Wild Card teams gets you what? The whole excitement of the Wild Card race is that only one team from each league gets to be the Wild Card. OF COURSE, they’re willing to consider this. It’s just another way to earn money via an additional round of playoffs. Money is also clearly the only motive for extending the Division Series. The MLB doesn’t need another dime in its coffer. It’s revolting. Remove head from ass, please.

In case anyone was worried, Joe Girardi signed a 3-year contract with the Yankees worth $9 million with bonuses that could total $500,000/year based on the team’s performance. So $9 million isn’t enough for an individual hired by a professional baseball team? We need bonuses? It’s not cool enough to be paid a crap-ton of money to work for a baseball team? Incentives are needed? Meanwhile, we can’t even get a $1.00 raise. Awesome. No. The TBB isn’t bitter. We totally love hearing numbers associated with the word “million” tossed around like they’re Frisbees.

3 weeks after Omar Minaya got the boot, the Mets have decided to hire Sammy Alderson as the new GM. Contract details are still pending, but we’re pretty confident that it’s a good chunk of change. Probably more than the $1.00/hour extra that we’re asking for this year. Alderson is best known for an A’s team that didn’t have Zrad Biegler and actually won shit over the course of 15 seasons: 4 Division Titles, 3 Pennants, and 1 World Series from 1983-1997.

Carly Simon understood our frame of mind when she serenaded us with, “but you took away the channels we love and one of them was FOX 5. We had some dreams, they were clouds in our beer. Clouds in our beer and…you’re so vain. You probably think this song is about you. You’re so vain. I’ll bet you think this song is about you. Don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t you? Well, it is!”

Have a delicious, drunk, and safe Halloween, you Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown