humblethorn: October 2007

Unbelievable. Six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning in game 4 have all but guaranteed that the Colorado Rockies have swept the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League Pennant, and will play in the 2007 World Series for the right to be called World Champions.

October belongs to the Colorado Rockies.

I have to say, I am really sad not to be in Colorado. To have a chance to watch our home team play in the World Series from a seat at Coors field - that's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity.

Coors Field : I would love to be back there this October.

Then I remember: every day I spend in Thailand, among my Akha friends, in my bamboo hut. These are rare opportunities as well, and I am incredibly blessed to live a life full of these moments.

Doi Mae Salong : Actually, I guess I would rather be here.

So I guess I'll just enjoy the World Series whenever I can catch bits of it in the city. Go Rockies!

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baseball

It's been a long time since Lori or I have updated our personal blogs as we have been happily engrossed in life with Abi. However, I have found myself in a strange moment of calm as Abi is sleeping with mom and I have received an unexpected day off from working with Aje. In the spirit of enjoyment I have to write about one of my favorite subjects : Baseball.

Just before opening day I placed my annual predictions for the 2007 MLB season. I generally try to update those forecasts during the AllStar break, but as we were apparently doing something else at the time, that date slipped by. So lets take a look at the ~~end~~ - day before the 163rd game of the year - at how I did:

First, the ~~easy predictions~~:

The Rockies will still be a bad baseball team. I could not be happier to have been so wrong. Josh Fogg and the Rockies bullpen found enough gas in the tank to carry the team until the offense exploded late in the year - winning 13 out of 14 games to force the first Game 163 in nearly a decade.

I'll be on the road to Chiang Mai during the game, taking Manoon's family out to get another of their children into a home that can care for his polio, so I'll miss it - but I'm sure glad for the Rockies, and would like to predict that they will lose big to the Padres (after all, I predicted that the they would be a bad baseball team and they were a good team, so if I predict that they will lose big... )

"I'm not superstitious... I'm just a little stitious." .: listen :.
-Michael Scott, The Office

Albert Pujols will still be the best player in baseball. No MVP season for Pujols, but another incredible year, batting over .320 with 30+ hr and 100+ RBI. The only thing is, after a "disappointing" season last year, Alex Rodriguez has again established himself as the best regular-season player in baseball. If he wants to overtake Pujols as the "best player in baseball" he will have to show that flash in October.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are the greatest rivalry in sports. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Now, for the hard calls, my 2007 MLB predictions:

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks ... Looks like I knew what I was talking about.
NL Central: St. Louis Cardinals ... Oops, maybe I didn't. It really hurts to lose your Ace in the first month. Make that the Chicago Cubs.
NL East: New York Mets ... Fell apart late. Opened the Door for the Phillies.
NL WildCard: Philadelphia Phillies ... Actually won the NL East, leaving San Diego and Colorado to battle it out for the NL Wild Card role.

AL West: Oakland A's ... Oops. 10 games under .500 Make that the Angels
AL Central: Minnesota Twins ... 17 games behind Cleveland
AL East: Boston Red Sox ... Just barely - pitching is looking older.
AL WildCard: New York Yankees* ... Overcame a horrendous start to almost catch Boston, but will settle for the WildCard - Young pitching looks good.

*it is very possible that the WildCard will go to a very good Cleveland Indians team who will not have to endure the difficult schedule of the AL East teams who will all beat up on each other. See? I did know that Cleveland was good.

NLCS: St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets ... hmmm. Let's change that to Chicago against NOT Phillidelphia (Seriously, I love the Rockies chances against Philly, if they can beat Peavy tomorrow.)
ALCS: Oakland A's vs. Minnesota Twins ... Once again - Nope. Make it: New York vs. Boston. I have to say this is what I wanted to write in April, but I couldn't believe it might happen again

World Series: Oakland A's over New York Mets in 6 ... Lets make the world right again. After beating the Red Sox, the Yankees keep the Cubs winless in the last 99 years, back to 1908. However, next year will be interesting again as ARod might be off to friendlier fields in 2008, but we'll save that discussion for my predictions next spring.

2007 Awards

AL MVP - Alex Rodriguez, NYY
AL ROY - Dustin Pedroia, BOS
AL CY - C.C. Sabathia, CLE

NL MVP - Matt Holliday, COL (actually, it might be Rollins, PHI - but it SHOULD be Holliday)
NL ROY - Troy Tulowitzky, COL (that's right, the playoffs, MVP and ROY all in one year for COL)
NL CY - Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. Jake Peavy, SD. And guess who's pitching game 163 tomorrow?

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