Night Owl Cards

If you are a Phillies fan, you were probably awake for this moment. Rays fans, too, as painful as it was. If you live on the West Coast or in the Mountain time zone you were probably awake for this moment. It happened in the eighth inning of Game 2. If you work, say, a noon-to-8 shift (in my mind, the best work shift in the world), then you were probably awake for this moment. It happened in the fourth inning. For the rest of us, we've been screwed when it comes to World Series starting times. Game 3 last year, for me, was the last straw, starting at 10:06 p.m. and ending at 1:47 a.m. But finally, FINALLY, major league baseball and Fox have had the good sense to move back the start times on World Series games from 8:30-whatever-it's-been for the past few years to 7:57 p.m. They announced the new times yesterday, effective with the 2009 World Series. And to that, I say, what on earth took you so long? Of course, this is only happening because ratings for last year's World...

I'm not the least bit sad that my prediction didn't hold up. After the Dodgers were eliminated, I was rooting for the Phillies to win the Series all the way. Yay, Plan B team ! Congrats to Cliff at Capewood's Collections , and deal at Phungo , Chris at Stale Gum and Ross at Sports Card Info , and any other card blogger/Phillie fan that I may have forgotten. I'm happy for you all. The Phillies overcame whatever flaws they might've had and became champions. They're a likable group of players, too. I guess I'll add Michael Bourn to the list of players traded away in the year before their former team won the World Series. Sorry, Mike, but maybe Cliff's prediction will come true. In the meantime, no more baseball until March. Except around here, where it's baseball EVERY EVER-LIVING DAY. Like it or not.

Firstly, I'd like to direct your attention to this post . I'll wait ... Toot! That's me tooting my own horn for one of the few times I've predicted correctly. Usually, my prognosticating, in a word, sucks. But I stand by my prediction: Rays in 5. I'm not half the visionary as the 11-year-old I saw at the card show Sunday afternoon. He and his dad were going from table to table buying every David Price card they could find. He had a bunch. They're probably all on eBay right now. Anyway, this is the time of the year, as it has been the last 20 years, when I pick out all the ex-Dodgers participating in the World Series. Some years there are none. Some there are a bunch. We have a fairly sizable crop this year. Let's start with Don Zimmer (above), the Rays' "senior baseball advisor." I don't know what a senior baseball advisor does. But on Sunday, his job was throwing out the first pitch. Zimmer, of course, was most known during his Dodger car...