Bitter, party of one.

[acsguitar]

s.

What a female hygenic product...

Agreed...he's bashing the series before its starts. What a jerk. I'm gonna watch it he doesn't need to tell me that I shouldn't cause the markets aren't big

[BritSox]

The Cards DID get lucky. Pedro and El Duque got hurt. End of story.

Now, I agree that injuries are part of the game. I also agree that luck is fun when it's on your side. I'm a huge Steelers fan. Last year they got some breaks, got hot at the right time and won it all, despite not being the best team. And I'm thrilled about it.

There's no shame in that, but Simmons is right (sort of)...nobody thinks the Cardinals are a great team, except (some) Cards fans.

The Mets, however, are also not a great team.

So the fact that Izzy was missing and Pujols, Rolen and Eckstein playing hurt is irrelevant? You can't say 'oh, the Mets had guys hurt' and just ignore that, dagnabbit, the Cards were pretty beat up too.

[wrveres]

thats the typical New York fan agruement, the ratings ...

Like its some birthright that we should just include a New York Team in the playoffs every year, for the ratings. What many New York fans fail to realize is that the rest of the country is estatic that there are no New York teams in the World Series. We are sick and tired of hearing about them, but you would have a hard time finding a Media outlet that hasn't realized this yet. Even this morning on Mike and Mike, they must have showed Endy Chavez's catch 50 times, and showed Yadier's home run or the final K of the game like maybe twice. If I would have watched the highlights with out audio, I would have been shocked to find out that the Mets didn't win ..

screw the New York teams ...

no one cares about your ratings..
California draws 20% of the fans every year and contributes 20-25% of the league revenue, but you would have a hard time finding those schleps even mentioning a Dodger-Giants series, especially if the Red Sox are on ...

it is a joke. a stupid joke

I hope the New York teams don't make the Series for the next decade, and that ESPN has to lower their advertising rates to neer bankrupt levels ..

screw em.


Go Cardinals
Go tigers..

Go any team, not from the greater New England area.

I hope they rot

[The Miner Part 2]

that subway series ratings were garbage too. the rating argument is only brought up by the bitter trying to rain on the happy peoples day. get a life.

[RAmst23]

How often does the World Series draw amazing ratings anyway? Three sports (to my knowledge) draw huge ratings for their final events; Pro football, college football, and NCAA basketball.

Anyway, I hate talking about ratings because WTF does that have to do with the game??? If you aren't interested in it (Mr. Law), then grab your backpack and start hiking down the road. What a terrible article and a great reminder as to why ESPN insider shouldn't be purchased, read, glanced at while casually strolling through a fantasy baseball forum.

Well, at least i know not to watch the World Series though, seeing as its already over . The sign of a sport's writer without a clue; one who says anything in sports is certain.

[mweir145]

I dislike Keith Law, but it's not because of this article, and certainly not because of his work as an assistant to Ricciardi with the Blue Jays over the years which I heard he was pretty good at, it was a blog piece he wrote a few months ago about Vernon Wells and his contract situation with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Law wrote this in his blog on August 16th of this year (with the bolded section being the real issue):

Vernon Wells has told Blue Jays' management that he has no intention of signing a contract extension to stay in Toronto; he and his family would like to move closer to his home in Texas, and he has become increasingly disenchanted in Toronto as he has faced public criticism from general manager J.P. Ricciardi. It hasn't helped matters that the Blue Jays' clubhouse has become one of the least diverse in baseball, with Wells currently the only African-American player on Toronto's 25-man roster.
Wells has one year remaining on the five-year deal he signed in spring training of 2003 and will earn just $5.6 million in 2006, after which he'll be eligible for free agency entering his age-29 season.

Sources around baseball indicate the Blue Jays will explore trading Wells this winter rather than allow a repeat of the Carlos Delgado situation in 2004, when the team was unable to trade the impending free agent due to Delgado's blanket no-trade clause and thus ended up with nothing after Delgado left. While the Blue Jays could play out 2007 and take two draft picks for Wells, they're looking at Wells as the one chip they might be able to play into some help for their beleaguered rotation.

There will be no shortage of teams interested in Wells, a middle-of-the-order bat and plus defensive center fielder who'll hit the market in the middle of his offensive peak. Texas and Houston are likely to have interest because they might be able to sign him to an extension before he hits free agency, and neither team has a solid incumbent in center fielder.

However, Wells' destination in 2007 is going to come down to which team is willing to give up the most major league-ready talent in exchange for Wells. The Blue Jays are built to win now (what with the balloon payment coming due on A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan, Troy Glaus and Roy Halladay starting in 2008) and aren't going to deal an MVP-caliber player like Wells for guys in Z-ball. It's a trade that can make or break the immediate future of the Blue Jays.

Whether this is true or not true (and I don't believe Law is lying considering his highly regarded past as a writer with BP), it's really not something he should have been reporting considering he was a member of this organization only a few months before. It's an unprofessional move, considering the access he had, as it puts the Jays and Ricciardi into a bit of a tough spot this offseason (because it now appears that the Jays are primed to move Vernon regardless of the trading situation, which in turn would push his market value down, instead of attempting to keep him).

Anyways, as for this new article, well I'll watch any World Series regardless of what teams are in it. Having the Yankees or Mets in it doesn't make it any more interesting to me.

[clevername]

The Cards DID get lucky. Pedro and El Duque got hurt. End of story.

Now, I agree that injuries are part of the game. I also agree that luck is fun when it's on your side. I'm a huge Steelers fan. Last year they got some breaks, got hot at the right time and won it all, despite not being the best team. And I'm thrilled about it.

There's no shame in that, but Simmons is right (sort of)...nobody thinks the Cardinals are a great team, except (some) Cards fans.

The Mets, however, are also not a great team.

So the fact that Izzy was missing and Pujols, Rolen and Eckstein playing hurt is irrelevant? You can't say 'oh, the Mets had guys hurt' and just ignore that, dagnabbit, the Cards were pretty beat up too.

not to mention Mulder.

Did the Mets miss Pedro and El Duque? Sure. But Maine and Perez gave them enough to replace much of what those guys would have contributed, just as Weaver replaced Mulder and Wainwright replaced Izzy.

In the end, it's all decided on the field, just like it is supposed to be. The Cards won 4, the Mets won 3. If they played 7 more games it may be reversed.

That's also the reason we don't need to "assume" Detroit has already won the Series. Let them play the games...and if the underdog wins, don't try to piss all over their parade because you feel some injustice has occurred. It's baseball. The team that wins the Series is the team that wins the Series, no matter who is supposed to be "better".

I, too, am sick of the ratings talk. The Series never has "great" ratings, but I would think there are some pretty compelling stories in this series that should be more than enough to entice people to watch. You have Cardinal Nation (a sizeable group of folks, thank you very much) following their Cinderella team. You've got Detroit's amazing turnaround with Leyland leading them.

I'd love to see a breakdown of the ratings after the series comparing the east coast and the middle of the country. I'd also love to see a breakdown of each for the stupid Subway Series no one watched.

[RynMan]

Ugh, that junk isnt even worth reading. Hindsight is 20-20.

[mak1277]

It's funny, Keith Law is the only ESPN.com writer that I find entertaining (except for Bill Simmons, but even that is waning). He's the only baseball analyst that ever says anything negative, and I like him for that.

I hate all the syrupy BS talking about how great everyone is. You know what, there are people in every walk of life that suck at what they do, including professional sports. I think that should be pointed out more often. Also, who is getting hurt by pointing out that the Cardinals beat the Mets despite having the worse team? Why is that a problem. If you don't like it, ignore it, but don't be outraged because someone else has an opinion.

These comments have nothing at all to do with the WS columns he wrote, they speak to his writing in general.

There is no current trend in sports that is more irritating than the "no respect" card. There is also no such thing as an unbiased fan of a team. I've never heard anyone say, "that announcer/writer/etc. is rooting for my team." I do it to with my teams, so I'm not saying I'm any better. It's annoying as hell though.

[Pogotheostrich]

Keith law is smart and I like that he points out the negative. But more times than not I read him and he comes off like a bitter, grumpy old man. He usually makes some good points but his writing leaves a lot to be desired. And at the exact opposite you have Bill Simmons. He's a great writer but there is no analysis there. It is all gut feelings and pop culture.

Keith Law = Informative not Entertaining
Bill Simmons = Entertaining not Informative