FanHouse Mlb Fans

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday. It has returned from a playoffs-induced hiatus.

Though I'll admit I was rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series last week, a part of me was sad that Alex Rodriguez would get a World Series ring. No, I don't hate A-Rod, nor do I wish anything bad on him. I'm not one of those "haters."

This was selfish. My friends and I had now lost a main component of a storied -- and heated, at times -- bar debate. If you were starting a major league team and had the choice between the two, would you rather have A-Rod or Derek Jeter?

NEW YORK -- This won't feel like a World Series, Jimmy Rollins said after two games were in the books, until the scene shifts to Philadelphia.

Yes, the latest man New York loves to hate is at it again.

The Phillies shortstop got Mets fans riled up in 2007 when he called the Phillies the team to beat in the NL East. And he was right.

Then this week he predicted a Philadelphia victory in the World Series, in five games.

And now he is on Yankee Stadium fans for being "tame."

NEW YORK -- While making one of those decades-old World Series trips on the subway from Manhattan to the Bronx, the New York Yankees' official theme song kept rattling my bones as much as the D-train.

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York

Then, all of a sudden, when I arrived at the corner of East 161st Street and River Avenue, another Frank Sinatra song popped into my head. It got louder and louder, especially the closer I got to an 86-year-old structure whose distinctive roar during every summer and most Octobers was gone. So were its seats. So was nearly everything else in the place, including its pinstriped monuments.

Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday night was a pretty exciting game for fans of both teams, and interested observers as well. Of course, not everybody in the world has an attention span long enough to focus on a baseball game for too long without deciding they need the world to be paying attention to them.

When alcohol is introduced into the mix, it speeds up this process, and we end up seeing a situation like the one that occurred in the sixth inning last night. That's when an Angels fan decided to make his way into the waterfall/rock formation that is beyond the left-field wall in Angels Stadium.

Bucky Dent is one in a long line of October heroes in Yankee lore, best known for his game-winning homer at Fenway Park in the 1978 one-game playoff against the Red Sox.

Even though he's known best for one of the most gripping, back-breaking moments in the New York-Boston blood feud, Dent played parts of six seasons with the Yankees, won two World Series rings and was MVP of the 1978 Fall Classic, a series in which he hit .417.

FanHouse was lucky enough to catch up with Dent last Friday to talk about this year's Yankee team, his experience in the postseason and an auction of memorabilia from old Yankee Stadium that he's promoting with Steiner Sports.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig likes what he sees in his crystal ball for next season.

According to Sports Business Journal, Selig is predicting a rebound in 2010 from this year's attendance decline of 6.65 percent to 73.42 million, a season in which 22 of 30 teams posted drop-offs in attendance.

The reason for Selig's optimism is the improvement in the economy, including the 13 percent increase this year in the Dow Jones industrial average. Some experts, though, are arguing that the improvements may be short-lived because unemployment is continuing to rise. Many have argued that the economic recovery in the U.S. will be painfully slow to help many Americans hurt by the recession.

Contrary to popular belief, Ralph Branca didn't throw away a pennant with his pitch that became Bobby Thomson's shot heard around the world. All of the Brooklyn Dodgers kept themselves out of the World Series back then. They choked away a huge lead in September to force that playoff against the New York Giants.

Remember Bill Buckner's gaffe?

Overrated.

That was in Game 6. The Boston Red Sox still had a chance to win the world championship in Game 7, but they didn't.

There won't be a happier fan in all of Kauffman Stadium on Wednesday night than Randy Aaron Barker. As you can probably guess by the fact that we referred to him by three names, Barker has had some trouble with the law, but unlike most of those thrown behind bars, Barker's pleas for mercy fell on willing ears.

A judge in Iowa allowed Barker, who is serving a 10-day sentence for interference with official acts and violation of a protective order, to be temporarily released so he could join his father and brother at the game. Barker told the judge that the three of them had been planning a trip to the game for three months, that they hadn't been able to attend a game in 25 years and that baseball was one of the "few pleasures" of his life.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime.

Being a fan of certain sports teams, by definition, means we aren't exactly the most rational people around. "Fan," after all, is short for "fanatic." The dictionary definition of fanatic? A person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal. So, yeah, when I say I'm a Cubs fan, you'll have to keep that definition in mind as you read this.

If bees are going to invade your dugout-level suite, just make sure you aren't there when they do. Fortunately, superagent Scott Boras didn't appear to be at the Angels-Athletics game on Sunday when a swarm took over his front-row seats directly behind home plate for the first two innings.