World Series Wrapola

Dave Paisley

So the great anti-climax has come and gone. The Padres ran out of steam under the ham-handed leadership of Bruce Bochy, who managed to lose six of his last seven games. It was astonishing to watch just how thoroughly he botched his pitching staff in the NLCS, and to see how that carried over to the World Series. I could see the panic in his eyes in Games 4 and 5 against Atlanta, and he never lost that deer-in-the-headlights look for the rest of the playoffs. If there was panic button to push, he pushed it. If there was wrong move to be made, he made it.

San Diego stacked up as the fourth-best team in the playoffs behind New York, Atlanta and Houston, with one of the weakest offenses in the playoffs, a decent bunch of starting pitchers and a pretty good bullpen. The pen, anchored by Trevor Hoffman, was perhaps their only advantage over Houston and Atlanta.

However, their wins in the NL playoffs were anchored by starting pitching more than anything else. Their weak offensive performance was masked by even weaker performances by the Astros and Braves. Throw in some brutal Braves defense, and the Padres were able to slide by.

The Yankees, however, were a completely different story. Better offense, equal starting pitching, and a bullpen that features Mariano Rivera -- for my money, twice the closer Trevor Hoffman is. Throw in a steady hand at the tiller by Joe Torre, just keeping on doing what worked all year, and the no-contest was on.

And so it proved. The Padres' weak offense is unable to answer a challenge if they get behind. Their starting lineup is weak, and their bench is pretty pathetic. Suffice it to say that their offensive star was probably Chris Gomez, who just about matched his regular season performance in the playoffs. When the rest of the team made that look spectacular by comparison, you know you're in trouble.

But what of the other side of the coin? It's incredible that Scott Brosius can go from pathetic has-been to World Series MVP in just one year. In many ways a personal worst-to-first. Worthy or not, good for him, it's what makes this game so much fun to watch.

So for the Yankees, it's on to another World Series defense. For the other twenty-nine teams, the clock to next year begins ticking now.

about the author

Dave Paisley has been in hiding lately, and we suspect it's due to his work on a top-secret substitute for the protective cup. Offer to perform wind-tunnel testing at drdjp@strikethree.com.