The Drought is Over

Greensboro, NC -- "Phinally!" read the cover of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia's premiere newspaper. In one of the most unconventional, bizarre World Series endings -- a 3 1/2 inning game -- this celebratory anticipation was on the same equator as the greater Philadelphia weather blanket. I believed that the Rays would win this Series with very little trouble because of their superior starting pitching, especially against the Games 3 and 4 mismatches: Garza vs. Moyer and Sonnanstine vs. Blanton. But "Stand Pat" Gillick proved me wrong because of his fortified bullpen. One of the few trading deadlines moves that Gillick did make was trading for Joe Blanton, the hero of Game 4. Everywhere "Stand Pat" is in charge, he's been a winner. If I had a vote for the Hall of Fame, he'd be a first ballot in the executive wing.



I was running through my head this morning all of the four-sport cities to see if DC now had the longest title drought. If I stand corrected, here's what I came up with: If you lump the San Jose Sharks into Oakland's "territory," the greater Oakland area would be a 4-sport region, making them the city possessing the longest title drought (Athletics, 1989 WS Champs). Otherwise, DC ties the Minneapolis region with the longest title drought of 17 years (Redskins were SB Champs and Twins won the WS in 1991). As a tiebreaker, other than a putrid Cinderella run by the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, no other DC sports team has come close to winning any title. Meanwhile, the Twins have won several division titles this decade, the Vikings make the playoffs off and on, and the Timberwolves advanced to the Conference Finals back in 2004 with KG. With Arenas out and the Nats in full rebuilding mode, it's up to the Skins and Caps to take DC to the promiseland.

The baseball season is officially over. One quick note -- the faces on the Rays players didn't show that much disappointment. Perhaps that's because they know they'll be back soon with their ultra talented nucleus of Longoria, Upton, Navarro, Crawford, Pena, Kazmir, Shields, Garza, and their secret weapon David Price.