Baseball predictions

Since Matt's baseball playoff predictions are always so spot on, we don't want to deprive the world of them. No deep analysis this year; just winging it.

Rays vs. Rangers

Rooting for: Rays

Will win: Rays in five, 'cause Rangers pitching isn't good enough

Playoff intrigue rank: 1st (Most intriguing series. Pitching and destiny vs. experience and hitting.)

Tigers vs. Yankees

Rooting for: I really don't like either of these teams. Sabathia and Jeter seem like all right guys.

Will win: Tigers in four, 'cause Yankee pitching isn't good enough. Oh and Verlander is a God.

Playoff intrigue ranking: 2nd

Cardinals vs. Phillies

Rooting for: Cardinals (the only playoff team Matt saw in person this year)

Will win: Phils in four, 'cause their pitching is great

Playoff intrigue ranking: 3 (Can the Phillies be beat?)

Diamondbacks vs. Brewers

Rooting for: Brew Crew

Will win: Brewers in three, 'cause they're just too darn good

Playoff intrigue rank: 4 (No one thinks the DBacks have a chance, right?)

What would you ask for?

So, we're pretty sure you noticed that on Saturday the world - the entire world! - stopped when Derek Jeter hit a home run and recorded his 3,000 hit.

Matt, by virtue of his own fan heritage, is inclined to hate almost all things Yankee. They bring it on themselves.
However, some Yankeeisms transcend the hype. Yogi Berra. Joe D. The Babe. Gehrig. These are true legends.
Is Jeter a legend? Well...that's complicated. Joe Posanski probably said it best when he called Jeter one of the most overrated, and underrated players, ever. The die-hard Yankee fans think he's much better than he is. The people sick of seeing him on TV every half minute denigrate him far too much. Derek Jeter is a very, very good baseball player. He's a big step below those other Yankee legends (and the Mick, Ford and Dickey, too) but he's very, very good. And classy.
But that's not what this post is about. It's about stuff.

It has been reported that the fan who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit (it happened to be a home run) asked, in exchange for the historic baseball, to meet Jeter and get an autographed baseball. In turn, the Yankees gave him a whole bunch of stuff: autographed bats, jerseys, signed balls and some suite tickets to every game the rest of the year.
Lots of people are debating if this guy is super classy or a big idiot. (The ball might be worth $150,000.)
Matt says classy. But that's still not the point of this post. This is about getting stuff.

It just so happens that Matt and Lynne have debated this very subject. Matt and Lynne were in the stands the day Jim Thome hit his 500th home run. (Matt nearly cried.) They weren't anywhere near the baseball, but Matt couldn't help but dream...what if?
So, after much too much debate, here's what Matt would ask for if he caught a landmark baseball:
1. Get to meet the player in-person to return the ball, and get a picture together.
2. A baseball signed: "Thanks for catching my 500th home run, Jim Thome."
3. A baseball signed to Mark.
4. A real jersey.
5. Two tickets if they make the playoffs.

It's pushing the line a little bit but, hey, at least it's not selling the ball. And if the player doesn't want it? College fund!

So....what would you ask for?

(By the way, the guy who caught the Thome's 500th, also gave it back and declined tickets because he was from out of town. Staying classy!)

Yes, Matt is World Serious.

OK, so these World Series predictions are very late. But Matt had a good reason for being late. (More about that later.) You'll just have to take Matt at this word that he made these predictions before the Series started, not three games in.
So Matt picked the Phillies to win game one, followed by two Yankees victories...
Just kidding. Matt picked the Phillies in four. Which sounds bad because 1) it's clearly wrong, even at this point and 2) it sounds like Yankee hating. That second one isn't true. It's not Yankee hating, it's just faulty logic and bad hunches.
That being said, here's a recap of how we got here:
Matt picked one of the four first-round division championship matchups correct. Hooray!
Then, in the League Championship Series, Matt picked the Angels in seven and the Phillies in four. That's a .500 batting average. That would be an all-time record! Success! Or something like that.
And now the Yankees and Phillies are matched up. This is going to be a classic series. The Series is filled with great players amid two storied franchises. There are several positions where you could spend all month debating which player you'd rather have (Utley or Cano, Jeter or Rollins, Teixeira or Howard, Sabathia or Lee, Posada or Ruiz?). The starting staffs are excellent and both managers have different styles and strategies. It should be great, great baseball.
So Matt picks the Phillies in four. Why?
Well, Matt is picking the Phillies because he believes the team is just too deep. One through eight, the lineup never lets up. And the pitching has been dynamite - even the relievers.
Either way, Matt believes the key players in the Series are Cole Hamels and Alex Roidriguez. If Hamels can pitch like last year (he hasn't shown he can) then the Phillies will win, easily. If A-Rod continues to tear up pitchers (as he has in the first two rounds), the Yankees may be unstoppable.
So why Phils in Phour? This is all about bad instincts and nothing to do with good baseball logic. Matt has had A LOT of time to sit and watch baseball as he feeds Mark, burps Mark and tries to get Mark to go to sleep. In each round, there has been lots of bad serieses (seri?) but almost all great, close games.
So why not predict the trend will continue, even though - logically speaking - those past serieseseses are not a predictor for future results.
So Matt believes - for no solid reason - there will be four great games and the Phillies will have a little more in each one.
Which is clearly wrong.

See ya, Yankee Stadium

We promise to finish our journey through Peru, if you'll just indulge a brief baseball break. All month long, Matt had heard endless promotion of the last game at Yankee Stadium. The last game at Yankee Stadium. The last game...blah, blah, blah.

Matt, like many other people, has Yankee fatigue. If a Yankee sneezes, it's news. And, as previously mentioned, Yankee Stadium is not among Matt's favorite ballparks. Besides, Matt's a Mets fan. And this also happens to be the last year for Shea Stadium, the Mets' home park, and there's barely mention of that.

But...then, well, Matt happened to be going through some boxes Sunday night and flipped past the Yankee game. And there was Yogi, and Whitey, and Reggie. And of course, Mariano and Jeter and A-Rod. And you start to remember all the other legends that have roamed the field. Joe D. The Babe. The Iron Horse. Scooter. The Mick. Casey. Maris. Pepitone. Munson. Dickey. And bunch of other guys they rented for a year or two.

And, well, the game was pretty cool to watch. ESPN did a pretty nice job of basically ignoring the game vs. the Orioles and showing the highlights of 85 years of Yankee Stadium. As Matt watched it, he was sort of glad he got to visit The House That Ruth Built. Matt drove out to New York and met his Dad, Uncle Larry and cousin LJ for a game against the Blue Jays in August 2006.

The stadium was ...well, it was old. The tunnels were crowded and too low. And there were 600 reminders of the 26 World Championships the team has won - the years on the flagpoles, team pictures on the exits, etc., etc.

But Matt got there early and walked around the park. That day, he was one of the last people let into Monument Park, where they honor all the Yankees who have had their numbers retired. Not only do they have plaques for all those players, they had plaques commemorating three papal visits. Pretty cool. (Afterwards, when LJ's mom asked how he liked the game, he said he liked it just fine...except that Uncle Mark and Cousin Matt took him to see some graves before the game. He thought they buried the players in the outfield.)

As for the game, Cory Lidle pitched (moment of silence...thank you) and Jason Giambi hit a home run. It was 97 degrees and the Yankees actually gave away free water. And some guy named Ryan Roberts got his first major league hit - and what remains his only big league homer. It was one of the first games Bobby Abreu played with the Yanks. The Yankees won 8-1.

The only scorecard you could buy was $7 and parking was a nightmare, but hey, Matt was there. He got to see Yankee Stadium, smell it and sit in the seats. Pretty cool. So, yeah, even Matt enjoyed watching the highlights Sunday night of Reggie's three home runs in the Series, and Larsen's perfect game and Jackie Robinson stealing home. For a real baseball fan, it's hard not to appreciate the history there.

Of course, Matt will have to wait to celebrate Shea's finale. You know, because the Mets are actually going to make the playoffs. Oh yeah, he said it.

Meet the ring bearer!

It's about time we introduced the best looking people in the wedding. Yesterday, you met the flower girl. Now it's time to meet the ring bearer, Lawrence Hawley Jr.

LJ is the son of Gail (Mark's sister) and Larry.
LJ just finished fourth grade at Deer Park Elementary, Deer Park, NY, where he's a very smart and well-liked student, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. He likes video games, hanging out with his sisters (three older and one younger), and - sadly - the Yankees. Matt's working on that last part.
But he's a fantastic and funny young man.
Matt and LJ got to hang out two years ago when Matt visited. They went to a Yankees game and Mets game (Matt's first trip to Shea, pictured at right). Since then, Matt's been told that LJ has become "a little man." The only bad news about that is he'll probably look better in his tuxedo than Matt. But Matt still gets the girl.
Lynne and Matt are very honored and excited that LJ will be part of The Big Day.

Further, Matt and Lynne feel very lucky that Matt's other NY cousins will be passing out programs. We'll introduce them here, because you can't tell your NY cousins without a scorecard.

- Anne (pictured below on the left, although she's older now) will be a junior in high school next year. Besides being a good swimmer, she's a good student and a good writer.

- Erin (Matt's goddaughter, in the second picture she's on far right) is heading for eighth grade and excels in softball.

- Kaitlyn (second picture, left) just finished sixth grade and is famous for making up magic tricks and plays.

- And Jessica (second picture, middle) is in second grade and she likes horses.
They're fantastic kids - friendly, smart and good looking. Must run in the family!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

So, if you're going to read about the ring bearer, shouldn't you know something about the rings? Yeah, that would have been a good idea.