Now We’ Up in the Big Leagues...

Gettin’ our turn at bat!
Long as we live:
’s you and me, baby...
Ain’t nothin wrong with that!

Cuz we're a'movin' on up...
(movin' on up...)
to the East Side
(movin' on up...)
to a dee-luxe apartment,
in the skyyy-high-high...

Ah, the 70's:
Archie, George, Alice, Carol... Schneider and Mrs. Romano on a different night. (Nevermind Sabrina, Kelly, and Chris... JR, or Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal: remember folks, there can be good Ewings in the family...)


All of which is my stream-of-consciousness way of wishing my readers a Happy May Day! Seize the Day! There's something in the air, which naysayers can deny but not discount.

It's funny how Change -- capital C -- works in our culture like that. You can wait and wait and wait, work incrementally, but then when things get going...

Maureen Dowd yesterday urged the president to get the bat off his shoulder and start swinging, at least.

An American president should never say, as you did Monday in Manila when you got frustrated in a press conference with the Philippine president: “You hit singles; you hit doubles. Every once in a while, we may be able to hit a home run.”

Especially now that we have this scary World War III vibe with the Russians, we expect the president, especially one who ran as Babe Ruth, to hit home runs.

In the immortal words of Earl Weaver, the Hall of Famer who managed the Baltimore Orioles: “The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three-run homers.” A singles hitter doesn’t scare anybody.

It doesn’t feel like leadership. It doesn’t feel like you’re in command of your world.

How can we accept these reduced expectations and truculent passivity from the man who offered himself up as the moral beacon of the world, even before he was elected?

I agree. He's no home-run hitter, just not built like that, but who has conceded that American politics is not still a team game and why does this administration operate under the assumption that the victory must always go to the moneyed elite?

You see:
If you focus solely on meeting the elite players' needs -- or what the elites have convinced you, perhaps erroneously, that they need to survive -- you miss out on helping your other contributors too. Lesser contributors? Sez who?

Do you remember the last World Series game held in the original Yankee Stadium? The 2003 Marlins team, who pretty much topped from the bottom in that Series?

The Florida Marlins defeated the heavily favored New York Yankees in six games, 4–2. The Yankees lost, despite outscoring the Marlins 21–17 in the Series.

The Yankees were playing in their sixth Series in eight years.

Opposing them were the wild card Florida Marlins, appearing in their second World Series in their 11-year franchise history. The Marlins became the second straight wild card team to win the World Series.
...
The Marlins started the season 16–22 when they fired manager Jeff Torborg and hired Jack McKeon, who had been retired from baseball for more than two years. They went 75–49 under McKeon to win the wild card. At 72, McKeon would become the oldest manager to ever win a World Series.

The Marlins lost the first game of the NLDS to the San Francisco Giants, but came back to win the final three. After going down three games to one to the Cubs in the NLCS, they rallied to win the final three games.

In the World Series, the Marlins put up their young roster with a $54 million payroll up against the storied Yankees and their $164 million payroll.
... The Yankees had been awarded home-field advantage for this World Series, because the AL won the 2003 All-Star game..

After the Marlins gained the Series advantage in Game 5...

The series headed back to New York for Game 6, marking the 100th World Series game ever played at Yankee Stadium. Marlins manager Jack McKeon decided to start 23-year-old Josh Beckett on three days' rest. Beckett made the move seem brilliant — his complete game shutout in the final game of the World Series made him the first to accomplish the feat since Jack Morris of the Minnesota Twins in 1991.

With the victory, the Marlins became the first National League team since the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers, the last opposing team to win a Series championship at Yankee Stadium, to win the World Series without having home field advantage. ... They also became the fastest expansion team to win two World Series titles, as the Mets won their second title in their 25th season.

Brad Penny, Dontrelle Willis, Ugueth Urbina, Juan Pierre, Derrek Lee, Rick Helling, Mark Redman, Josh Beckett, Miguel Cabrera, Chad Fox, Luis Castillo, Carl Pavano, Braden Looper, Álex González, Mike Lowell, Juan Encarnación...

If you don't remember all their names, that's ok.
They've got their rings.

Trying to win it all again... Posada, slow roller, right side. Beckett picks it up, tags Posada, and the Florida Marlins are World Champions. The Marlins have stunned the Yankees. Shocked New York. And this improbable team, improbable ride. They end up on top.

—Joe Buck, FOX Sports