There's Always Next Year, Phillies Fans

It was looking more and more like the Philadelphia Phillies were headed for their third straight trip to the World Series Saturday night, right up until Big Bad Ryan Howard stood at the plate, bat still in hand, watching the San Francisco Giants celebrate their first NL pennant since 2002.

Stranding 11 runners on base during Game 6, Philadelphia just couldn’t seem to get a timely hit, resulting in a 3-2 loss in front of a sad and stunned crowd at Citizens Bank Park.

There's Always Next Year, Yankees Fans

It's been two whole years since we've seen the ever-loving New York Yankees in a There's Always Next Year post.

Maybe the Spring Training cap general manager Brian Cashman was sporting during postgame interviews in the visitor's clubhouse will make Yankees fans feel better about going home after their Game 6 loss to the AL Champion Texas Rangers.

Probably not.

There's Always Next Year, Rays Fans

Last week it looked as though the Tampa Bay Rays might be headed to another ALCS before they went and dropped the first two games against the Rangers in St. Petersburg. Then they came back to win the next two in Arlington before losing the finale to a dominant Cliff Lee Tuesday night at home while the Rangers won their first postseason series ever. Pretty impressive.

The Rays had the American League's best regular season record this year, so their 2010 wasn't a complete failure. Hang in there Rays fans, don't be sad... there's always next year!

Tonight's Badass ALDS Pitching Matchup

Oh boy are we in for a treat.

Down 2-0 after dropping the first two games of the ALDS at home, the AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays bounced back to take the next two from the Texas Rangers on the road in Arlington. Tuesday night at 8pm ET, they'll play Game 5 at Tropicana Field, deciding who will play the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Cliff Lee, who is 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA in six career postseason starts, will get the ball for Texas with the full intention of finishing what he started in his fantastic Game 1 performance.

There's Always Next Year, Braves Fans

Well that series was definitely torture -- if your idea of "torture" is four incredible baseball games.

The San Francisco Giants are one (really difficult) series closer to fans being able to scream THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! But first they must face the hardcore Philadelphia Phillies. While they wait, they'll belt out their catchy rendition of Don't Stop Believing.

There's Always Next Year, Reds Fans

First Roy Halladay tossed a no-hitter. Then the offense rallied behind Roy Oswalt. Then Cole Hamels struck out nine in a five-hit performance.

Then Jayson Werth soaked his beard in champagne for the second time in about a week.

After polishing off the sweep of the once-hopeful Cincinnati Reds, the seemingly unstoppable Philadelphia Philles are headed to the NLCS once again with their eye on a third straight pennant.

No fans ran onto the field, no little girls were puked on. All in all, it was a successful series for the Phillies.

There's Always Next Year, Twins Fans

The Minnesota Twins were the first team to enter the playoffs this season, and upon meeting the New York Yankees in the ALDS, they were the first team to make an exit.

Between the lack of hitting, poor pitching, awful base-running, craptastic bullpen management, ridiculous throwing errors, etc. on behalf of the Twins, I'm not exactly sure what happened there.

There's Always Next Year, Angels Fans

So once again, the Boston Red Sox are off to the American League Championship Series. Another year, another pennant, yada, yada, yada.

Instead of going on and on about how fricking awesome the Sawx are, we're gonna go ahead and make fun of the Los Angeles Angels for being the best team in baseball from start to finish, yet still managing to deflate like A.J.'s ego after Sunday's loss.

And Then There Were Four

The Tampa Bay Rays need to update their math. They began the season with 9=8, Manager Joe Maddon's philosophy that nine players playing consistently good baseball for nine innings every game will get them to be one of the eight teams in the playoffs. Well it worked. So well in fact that with yesterday's defeat of the Chicago White Sox, the Rays have moved on to the ALCS. So for now 9=4.

And who will the Rays be playing in the ALCS? The Red Sox. Yes, the Red Sox beat the Angels in Game 4 with a walk off hit by Jed Lowrie. Jason Bay scored the winning run, which was probably the highlight of his career. He should really thank Manny for being Manny.

There's Always Next Year, Sox Fans

The Chicago White Sox won four straight elimination games this weekend, only to blow it on a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of their AL Division Series Monday night.

Gavin Floyd had seen better days, after a breakout season which ended with a fourth-inning bow-out to put the nail in the coffin of a craptastic postseason for the South Siders. Even Junior went 0-for-4 in the final game.

There's Always Next Year, Brewers Fans

Was there anyone who didn't want the Milwaukee Brewers to do well this post-season?

We could wax poetic about how the baseball world was pretty excited to see the Beer Makers playing baseball in October after 26 looooong years, how CC totally kicked ass, the late-season slumping, Prince Fielder's awesomeness, the steamrolling at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies...

Instead, like always, we'll let the pictures do the talking. Click to enlarge the goodness:

It's Going to Be a Long Winter in Chicago

In the spirit of the Chicago Cubs' epic collapse into oblivion, I'd like to recommend some awesome reading material.

Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy is a fun and informative look at the Cubbies' long road to the 1908 World Series Championship, and seriously one of the best books on baseball I've read.

A snippet...

Baseball in 1908 has riots and deaths, scandal and arrests, the bizarre (stealing first base) and the beautiful (a perfect game); the sublime (the Brown-Mathewson pitching duels) and the ridiculous (anything to do with Rube Waddell). In 1908, players take the vaudeville stage, knockwurst is sold from wicker baskets, and poetry appears on the sports pages. The whole season is rife with drama -- comic, tragic, odd, and merely incredible.

Enjoy!

TASTE THE HAPPY, YANKEE FANS!

The Yankees playoff run, and probably the Joe Torre Era came to an abrupt end tonight when the Bronx Bombers dropped Game 4 to The Tribe, 6-4. This is truly a sad day for us here at Babes, as it means Roger Clemens has most likely marched his fat, old man ass out to the mound for the last time.

Rally Cap Schmally Cap

Eighteen days ago, the New York Mets had a nice, comfy seven-game cushion in the NL East and that broad to your right had a big grin on her face. Not even a stuffed animal wearing a ball cap can cheer her up, now.

They say "broads" in New York, right?

The Mets went on to drop six of their last seven games, each and every one at Shea Stadium. It seems that all the prayers of all the Mets fans in the world couldn't stop the hopes and dreams of the Philadelphia Phillies.

And really, what better way to polish off a monumental collapse than with a craptastic start by your trusty veteran?

After blowing a substantial division lead, the Mets were officially eliminated from the playoffs Sunday when Tom Glavine was bitch-slapped for seven runs -- in the first inning -- of the season-ending 8-1 loss to the Florida Marlins. Yes, those rotten Marlins who just love to play the spoiler.

New York's defeat paired with the Phillies' 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals handed the division title to Philadelphia for the first time since 1993 and sent the shocked Mets packing for a long, long winter.

The eulogies out of Amazin' Nation...

[New York Times]

There's a Tear in My Beer

The Milwaukee Brewers, after kicking so much unbelievable ass for the first half of the season, have officially been eliminated from the playoffs.

After the Chicago Cubs beat the Reds on Friday, clinching at least a tie for the NL Central, the Brewers had to beat the Padres. Instead, they lost 6-3 and erased the opportunity to head to the postseason.

So, how do things like this happen? They have the NL homeruns leader in Prince Fielder, a kid with a great shot at Rookie of the Year in Ryan Braun and some damn good pitching. I guess those April games matter just as much as the September ones, huh.

Here are some eulogies out of Beer Country... mostly calling for the firing of Ned Yost and lots of alcohol-induced ranting. Just our style.

[Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
[Brew City Beat]
[Brew Crew Ball]
[Brewers' Bar]
[The View From Wisconsin]
[The Brewer Nation]

It's the End of the World as We Know It

We all know the pain of Elimination. Some of us know it better than others.

But when the calendar turns to April and we feel like school girls in love, nothing will stop our team from winning the World Series. THIS IS OUR YEAR, DAMN IT.

May and June pass, and before you can say "player to be named later," the Mid Summer Classic is upon us. Some of our teams are enjoying a bountiful season, brimming with milestones and exciting acquisitions. Others are plagued by injuries and traumatic events, or clawing their way out of the cellar, just trying to avoid the sweep.

Then there are the pure, unadulterated shenanigans that no one can believe even went down... dawg.

Still, we love our team into August and September, when time begins to run out. Abruptly, it ends: our boys of summer are golfing in the Keys and we're staring down the impending loss of quality free agents and another quiet year at the Winter Meetings.

As a Minnesota Twins fan, I am spitefully elated by the doom that the Detroit Tigers face with just 5 games remaining in their season. After Carlos Silva and the Twins took the first of a three-game series in Detroit Monday, the Tigers are hoping for nothing short of a miracle to get into the playoffs this year, sitting 5.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card race.

Muuuahahahahahahahaha...

Thank Baby Jesus For Football.

[New York Times]

Wednesday's Babelicious Scoreboard

Let me just make it known to the world that I hate the Cleveland Indians... in case you weren't aware. Sure, I try my best to be impartial and crap when it comes to writing about them, but for the record - $*@% the Tribe. Furthermore, $*!% C.C. Sabathia.

Anyway, Sabathia  allowed two runs on 7 hits, struck out two and walked two over six good innings for his 15th win. He also totally pissed me off when he hit Jason Bartlett (kind of meek and harmless... C.C. would eat him for dinner) and again when he beaned Rondell White (elderly... it's just wrong).

Torii Hunter grounded into a forceout in the fifth that scored Jason Tyner for his 94th RBI before Justin Morneau struck out swinging with men on the corners to end the inning. Then, Rondell scored on a Mike Redmond single to center in the sixth as the Minnesota Twins continued to threaten.

Morneau led off the eighth with a strikeout and after a Michael Cuddyer triple, Old Man White drove him in to get within one, but they couldn't hang on for the rally.

Something that troubles me: my Canadian Crusher went 0-for-3 last night and is batting .284 right now. Time to step it up, pal. Man, the expression on his face sums up last night's sentiment perfectly, just without the F-bombs and flung objects.

Johan Santana dropped to 0-4 in five starts this season against the Indians, the only team in the history of ever to beat him thrice in the same season. He gave up 10 hits, which matched a career-high, but managed to stick around for six innings with two K's. So not Johanesque.

Rookie infielder Asdrubal Cabrera's two-run shot off the two-time Cy Young winner paired with Victor Martinez's solo shot in the four-run first was all the Indians needed to complete the three-game sweep for their fifth straight victory and earn a 4.5-game lead in the AL Central over the second-place Detroit Tigers.

The defending ALC champs fell to a miserable 8.5 games behind Cleveland. The Twins, however, manage to hang on with every thread of hope until elimination. God, that's an ugly word.