Filowitz's Friday Five

1) I know it’s become cliché to say this at this point, but it really is hard to get overly excited about the Rockies-Diamondbacks series. The Rockies have been a fun story and everything, but there’s not that emotional aspect to the series that adds any additional drama. What this has become, in essence, is an NHL playoff series. There are certainly fans that care passionately, but for most of us, it’s just something you watch if you have the time and otherwise just check in on to see what happened. This would not have been true, of course, if either the Phillies or the Cubs had made it.

2) How could it be that in the best sports month of the year there were two consecutive days without baseball? Baseball is all about not having very many days off. Giving so many days off in the playoffs changes the dynamic of the game. We want to see games every day. So what if all the first round series ended early? I wish, just once, a sport would care more about the sport and less about TV dollars and luring in the casual fan who doesn’t really care.

3) I don’t wish to alarm anyone, but it looks like the Celtics are going to be really freakin’ good with KG. This is a major conflict for people like me who love watching KG play, and have hoped for so long that he’d finally get a supporting cast that will help him shine. If only this wasn’t going to happen in Boston. Right now, the Red Sox are the favorite to win the World Series, the Pats are the favorite to win the Super Bowl, and the Celtics are one of the favorites to at least make the Finals out of the East. And, hey, is that a couple of horsemen I see riding towards us? So now we know it is the duty of good people everywhere to root for the Indians, and probably the Cavs, if only to stave off apocalypse and a string of really annoying columns from Bill Simmons.

4) I saw an incredible Yo La Tengo concert last night. They were at this relatively small venue, The Lakeshore Theater, and it was a sit-down thing (which is great, as in my older age, I don’t have as good a time standing around for hours.) The band sat on stage, played songs, answered questions from the audience, joked around, and generally created this very intimate setting, like they came over to your house to play a show for you and your friends. This is my favorite band, and to see them in this setting was just about perfect, inspiring, even.

5) Happened to catch an “NFL Greatest Games” showing of the NFC championship game from 1992, Cowboys vs 49ers. Do you realize how many people from that game are now TV personalities? Troy Aikman, Moose Johnson, Jimmie Johnson, Emmit Smith, Jerry Rice, Steve Young, even Michael Irvin up until his recent firing. I hated both those teams, and now they are everywhere. Things are not looking up for me right now.

The Sherman Avenue Block Party Completely Biased Baseball Playoff Preview: NLDS, Phillies vs. Rockies

I shouldn't be writing this.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. It was the beginning of a new era in the NL East and my new baby girl was destined to live in a time where her father didn't worry about the Braves. He didn't worry about missing the playoffs because these were the new Mets, Los Mets. This was our season, our year and all that crashed down in the span of 17 days...

17 painful days.

17 days that could age a baby girl like Naomi into a full-fledged teenager, watching Jose Reyes disappear into another harmless pop-up as Jimmy Rollins' preseason decree proved true for a total of 24 hours, but the placement of that time was vital.

Everyone is quick to jump on the Philthies bandwagon since the Mets figured out a way to lose to the bottom feeders while the No-Account Philthies beat those same crappy teams.

My advice, stay away from this train wreck and remember, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when you're not talking about their sports teams. The city is cursed and chock full of crap teams that can't get it done when it matters.

As bad as the Mets collapsed, I will take some pleasure in watching NL MVP to be Matt Holliday and NL Rookie of the Year Troy Tulowitzki wait on Jamie Moyer (14-12, 5.01 ERA) and his 56 MPH arsenal.

Yeah, I'm picking the Rockies but not for the reasons you may believe. I don't really care about the Philthies like that. I'm not like some bitter Yankee fan, finding reasons to hate another franchise that has little to nothing to do with the one I root for and that should tell you exactly how much I respect the Philthies.

Sure, they won the last eight meetings against my Mets, big deal. Any team that sweeps a four-game series, then lose five of the next seven against the same no-account Marlins that delivered the final blow by sending Tom Glavine packing for Atlanta with an exit befitting a Brave.

By the way, the best SS in the National League during the first half, second half and likely next year is Hanley Ramirez. Reyes was the best in the first half of the season, but his attitude and numbers dipped as the year wore on.

Nevertheless, I'm willing to bet that 28 GMs would take Ramirez and Reyes before Rollins and not just if they were going in alphabetical order.

While Cole Hamels (15-5, 3.39 ERA) and Oliver Perez (15-10, 3.56 ERA) are both lefties, there are big differences. Oli P. throws at 94 MPH and has Game 7 experience. Hamels throws a really good changeup and gets to pitch the rest of this season in that joke of a stadium, Citizen Bank Park.

Here's why the Rockies will win.
1. They have a complete lineup for top to bottom, kind of like my Mets do when healthy. Willie Tavarez and Kaz Matsui are to Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo at the top of the lineup. Holliday and Todd Helton are hotter than David Wright and Carlos Beltran and guys like Garrett Adkins and Brad Hawpe batted over .290 this year from the bottom of the lineup like Moises Alou.

2. The Philthies bullpen
They have Jose Mesa AND Roberto Hernandez. Need I say more?
Oh, OK. How about Tom Gordon?

3. Honestly, does anyone really want to see the Philthies in the NLCS? I thought not.

4. While it may seem like this will be an offensive series, it will come down to pitching and the Rockies are better. The games will be close and the Philthies are horrible in 1-run game, low scoring games and they might throw Jose Mesa AND Roberto Hernandez...

5. The Denver metro area is due something after trading for Iverson and getting bounced early in the NBA playoffs, after banking on Jake "The Snake" Plummer at QB and that not working out and with the gap of time since the Avalanche were great and the NHL mattered.

6. This was Wally Backman's number and since the Diamondbacks gave him a job, then fired him just because he was a drunk wife beater, I'm rooting for the Cubs.

7. I got nothing else, but I was a little disappointed with the Eureka season finale.

And with that, I return my focus back to the Giants hopes of finding a way to have
Eli succeed while giving enough reason to fire Tom Coughlin.