Beirne Brightly: 2010 Fall Classic

It has been almost 48 hours since Brian Wilson (Blackbeard) retired Hamilton, Guererro and Cruz and brought the Rangers fantastic run in 2010 to an end. While it was no fun watching the Giants do a dogpile on our home field, the opportunity to attend the ultimate game of a World Series with 52,000 others will never be forgotten. My ticket came courtesy of a driver who lacks rudimentary skills behind the wheel. It is an interesting anecdote and will be detailed in another post.

I was at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (RBPIA!!!) by 4.30pm in time to watch the Rangers take batting practice. First pitch was not until 7pm. The seats you see on Fox TV where Dubya and Nolan Ryan sit - well that is where I took up position to watch BP. About 10 feet from the field! Vlady actually looked good in the cage but man did Lincecum do a number on him (and the others) later. Nelson Cruz gave several interviews. Elvis Andrus signed countless autographs on hats, towels, programs, etc, all while perched on the home dugout. Maybe he should have spent more time warming up? And Wash throws BP? What the heck! I guess "that's how baseball go".

Dave Winfield, as imposing as ever, wandered by. Peter Gammons of ESPN was a few feet away, doing an interview. Nomar Garciaparra stood alone, back to the crowd, watching the batting cages. As good as he was, I do not believe he ever played in a World Series and I am sure he was reflecting on his career. "No-Maah" as the Red Sox fan would say, is the only player in MLB history to hit two grandslams in the same game at home. A legend and likely headed to Cooperstown.

The gravity of the situation hit home when some MLB dude wandered out of the Rangers dugout with what looked like a birdcage under a blue sheet. I was the first to recognize the shape - I had seen 27 of them when we went to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009. "That's the World Series Trophy" I said to the guy next to me. I don't think he believed me at first.

Now that I think about it, why would any normal Rangers fan recognize the trophy? It's not like the Rangers ever won it... Anyway, it was then I realized that Bud Selig planned on maybe presenting the award tonight and that meant an L for the Rangers... How come I was so confident we could beat Lincecum and Selig saw it otherwise?

The Giants took over the infield for their BP and when the bluebloods with the $2,000 seats showed up, I made my way up to Section 339 to my perch in the rafters.

Why were Hamilton, Young, Guererro, Elvis, Murphy, Kinsler, Molina so poor? All were stars in the regular season. Are Cain, Lincecum, Wilson et al, that good? Time will tell. All I can say is the Rangers had a fantastic run in 2010 and I am looking forward to 2011 and taking the boys to lots of exciting games at the "RBPIA" in the years to come.

Batting Practice. In the foreground is 6 boxes of popcorn for Dubya, Nolan etc.

Nelson Cruz streches while giving an interview. He would later hit a solo home run to left. One of the few Rangers to actually catch up with the Giants pitching. In the foreground is Nomar Garciaparra.