Baseball and Relativism

Ask my wife, and she’ll tell you that I love baseball.  It doesn’t matter if its the Padres/Nationals or the Cubs/White Sox, I love to watch the game.  Since I was a little guy, I’ve loved to play the game as well – from t-ball and juice boxes to high school and sunflower seeds, it was an everyday part of my life growing up.  So its with baseball that I choose as my “arena” to test a belief system that many in our culture associate themselves with.  That belief system is relativism.  WordNet would define relativism as “the philosophical doctrine that all criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved”.  Webster’s dictionary defines it as “a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them”.  So in summary: I am doing an “experiment” of sorts.  The guinea pig is relativism, and the maze that the guinea pig is tested in is called baseball.   Any questions?  anyone?  ANYONE??

Lets say that the Chicago Cubs are playing the Philadelphia Phillies. (this is a total random pairing, and has no relation to who is actually playing tonight, the teams and characters are purely coincidental…)   Pedro Martinez is pitching, and Derrek Lee is batting (again, purely coincidental).  Martinez throws a pitch, that hits the catcher’s mitt with a loud SMACK and the umpire gestures the third strike, effectively striking out Derrek Lee.  But Lee turns around to the umpire and says, “I don’t see it that way.  It may mean to you that it takes 3 strikes for a strike-out, but for me, it takes 5 strikes for a strike out.”  The umpire rolls his eyes, but lets Lee step back into the batters box.  On the next pitch, Derrek Lee hits a line drive, and the ball bounces off the center field wall.  As he is rounding the first base to head to second, Phillie first baseman Ryan Howard steps right in the baseline path, blocking Lee from getting to second.  As soon as the ball is thrown in to the infield, Phillie second baseman Chase Utley tags out Lee, who is still caught in the basepath behind Howard.  “That is fielder interference!” exclaims Lee.  Howard turns around with a chuckle and says “It all depends on what the phrase ‘fielder interference’ means”.  Hopefully you all get the picture.

At the risk of giving my “opinion” in a sports blog, I must say that relativism is a dead-end philosophy that would be contradicted in so many ways in our society.  In a world where no accountability is desired, “anything goes”, and it all depends what “is” means, a society cannot function without objective truths, in the same way that baseball cannot function without objective rules.  If you don’t believe me, then try telling me that all truth is relative.  Isn’t that an objective statement?  Anyone???

It’s More Than Turning Left

Well, I’m back. (Sighs of relief echo throughout the TwoNateShow faithful). Some of you probably wondered if I was in hiding due to my insightful prediction that the Rays would win the World Series in 7 games.

Oops.

Yes, I’m sure the last two weeks have been filled with sleepless nights as you’ve wondered where the Second Nate was. Well, I’ll tell you.  The last 12 days have seen me visit 4 cities. Both Nates went to North Carolina to visit Joe Gibbs Racing.  More on that in a bit.  Then I was in Baton Rouge to witness my beloved Dawgs defeat the LSU Tigers.  Then I was in Chicago where I took a self guided Dark Knight scenic tour and also watched my previously mentioned Dawgs have just a little bit of a tough game against those freakin’ Gators.  Then I closed out my “tour” with a trip to Colorado Springs where I had the opportunity to see the greatest band ever give an amazing performance. 

A little while ago I wrote a post on how the NHL is a very unappreciated sport. It’s fans are die hard, but those that don’t follow it don’t appreciate the skill that it requires.  I’d like to put NASCAR in that category as well. 

Seriously. 

We know about the drivers, and we give the occasional shout out to the pit crews that can gas a car and change it’s tires in a matter of seconds.  But we very much take for granted the engineering and skill that is displayed behind the scenes. 

When we toured the shop, we hung out with the 400+ employees it takes to give 3 drivers a chance to win.  They make each car part themselves.  They build the cars from scratch.  They test the engines, shocks, and aerodynamics in state of the art simulators.  They have 45 cars for each driver, not including the numerous quarter scale models that they use for additional testing. 

So racing may not be your can of beer….er…cup of tea, but I can say for a fact that it’s way more than fast cars and corporate sponsorship.  It’s a sport of tremendous skill and intellect, and I’ve got a newfound respect for it.

On To the Classic

So I guess that’s why they play the games.  

I liked the Rays chances in game 6, but Josh Beckett bounced back from a rough postseason to pitch the way we all know he can and get the Red Sox even in the series.  Once that happened I thought Boston would probably take gave 7 since the Rays were having to face Lester a second time.  But he was outpitched by Matt Garza, and the Rays are in their first World Series.  

It’s almost like what I think will happen has no bearing on the actual outcome.  Weird. 

Anyways, congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays.  Apparently it was the word “devil” that was holding them back all this time.  Suddenly they drop that and they’re one of the best teams in baseball. 

That sets up a less than ideal matchup from Fox’s point of view.  But I think it should be a good series.  We’ve got two teams who have a lot of young talent (excluding Jamie Moyer), and they were both in the thick of things all season long.  It’s the first time in a few years where one of the World Series teams didn’t come out of nowhere and make the playoffs via a torrid run at the end of the season.  

Tampa Bay was a surprise because no one was picking them to win in Spring Training, but they’re not in it because they got hot at the right time.  They’re in it because they got clutch performances all year.

Philly battled the Mets all season and came from behind again to take the division.  They’re one of the best offensive teams in baseball, and the rejuvenated Lidge has solidified the back of the bullpen.  Throw a solid starting staff in there and they’re a well-rounded team.  

If I have to pick a winner (which I do as a responsible blogger), I’m going with the Rays.  At first I was going to say the Phillies because they have the experience, but then I remembered that the Rays just made it through a very experienced and talented Red Sox team.  And they did that the entire season.  They didn’t make it this far by a fluke.  They haven’t just gotten lucky and they haven’t looked overmatched.  

So I think the Rays will win, but I don’t think Philly will suffer the same fate that the first LSC victor has experienced the last couple of years.  Colorado and Detroit both had long layoffs after they clinched the LCS, and both teams played like it once the World Series started.  I think this will be a tough series, and I think it will take the Rays 7 games to win it.  

And speaking of 7 games, congrats to the Red Sox for almost completing the improbable comeback.  An exciting series is something we need to start expecting from that team now.  After some quick research, I discovered that since 2003, there have been 7 LCS series to go the full 7 games.  The Boston Red Sox, have been involved in 4 of them.