If baseball's rich history has taught us anything, it's that truly great pitchers make names for themselves in the World Series.
Just look at Christy Mathewson, who made history in the 1905 Series when he pitched three shutouts in six days and won the Giants their first title. Or Sandy Koufax, who carried the Dodgers in the 1963 Series, going 2-0 in two complete games. Or Bob Gibson, who threw nine straight World Series complete games in the 1960s, going 7-2 and striking out 92 batters.
I could go on forever. World Series history is loaded with incredible pitching performances. There's Walter Johnson. Dizzy Dean. Don Larsen. Whitey Ford. Catfish Hunter. Jack Morris. Tom Glavine. Randy Johnson. Anthony Reyes.
Wait a minute. Something isn't right here. Did I just say ... Anthony Reyes?
Apparently I did. That's strange.
Make no mistake about it - I'm referring to the same Anthony Reyes who was picked in the 15th round in 2003, pitched two mediocre seasons in the Cardinals' farm system, and worked his way up to St. Louis, where he turned in a spectacular 5-8 season in 2006, with an ERA of 5.06 in the pitcher-friendly National League. Somehow, Reyes was the Cardinals' starter in Game 1 of the World Series, and somehow, he beat Justin Verlander to give the Cards a 1-0 series lead.
That second "somehow" isn't really a big deal - anyone can get lucky for one night. But the real question is this: what kind of World Series team starts Anthony Reyes in Game 1?
I'll tell you what kind: the worst team the World Series has ever seen.
That's right, the worst ever. I'm fully aware that the Cardinals won Game 1, and I also know that by the time this column gets published, they may even be-god forbid-up two games to one.
I couldn't possibly care less. They're still the worst World Series team ever.
Technically, the numbers beg to differ. The 1972 Mets won just 82 games en route to an NL East title and eventual Series berth, while the 2006 Cards won a whopping 83. But the Mets upset Sparky Anderson's Big Red Machine in the NLCS, and that earns them some bonus points.
The Cardinals this October have beaten the Padres (silencing an already-slumping Mike Piazza and Brian Giles? Color me unimpressed) and the Mets (the version with Steve Trachsel and Ollie Perez, not Pedro and El Duque). Yes, the Cardinals won seven games in the NL playoffs, but if you ask me, it was little more than a drunken stumble into the World Series.
So to recap, this year's World Series features a pathetic joke of an NL champion in one corner, and a 95-win powerhouse with one of the best pitching rotations in recent history in the other. Let's count the reasons the Tigers should have swept the first two games of the World Series:
Well, let's see. They're just flat-out better? Yep, that's one. They had home-field advantage? Yes sir, that's two. Verlander and Rogers were facing Reyes and (shudder) Jeff Weaver? Indeed, that's three reasons. The Tigers are representing the AL, a league that hadn't lost a World Series game in three years and hasn't lost an All-Star Game in a decade? I do believe that's four. They already swept the Cards earlier this year, including a game in which they walloped Chris Carpenter for seven runs? By golly, that's five.
At least that was my line of thinking going into Saturday night. But incidentally, Saturday happened to be the night that pigs flew, hell froze over, and the Cards routed the Tigers 7-2 to win Game 1.
The Tigers better wake up, and they better do it fast. As a devoted American League fan, I was outraged at what happened Saturday night. This can't go on any longer.
Hey Tigers fans, remember Juan Encarnacion? He was the guy you chased out of town five years ago when he hit .242 and made six errors. And Weaver? You got rid of him in a hurry when he went 6-8 to start 2002. You guys were downright terrible back then, but you still weren't settling for stiffs like Encarnacion and Weaver. And now you're telling me you're gonna let these guys beat you? For the love of all that's holy, don't let this happen.
I've read countless columnists over the past week writing about how great a story a Tigers championship would be. For Jim Leyland and Pudge Rodriguez to win another title, for Rogers to redeem himself for all his terrible postseasons, and for all those young pitchers to win in October...it would be great.
I'll be honest - I myself even wrote such an article, and it was in yesterday's Daily. But I've come a long way over the past 24 hours. Now I'm bitter, I'm jaded, and I'm angry. I've got a new perspective.
Here's the real story of this World Series: the Tigers need to win. Desperately. Because if they don't, it should go down in history as the most humiliating loss in World Series history. You don't lose a best of seven series to a team this bad. You just don't.
Evans Clinchy is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
