Turning Of The Seasons

I. BASEBALL

October, and the moon is hanging in the twilight sky, a faded object that looks like a scuffed baseball. Autumn, Halloween, the time of year when the white of the baseball gives way to the brown of footballs and the orange of basketballs.

Given that the Yankees are in the World Series, and given that I have decided to ignore any World Series in which the Yankees might win--on the theory that it would only encourage them--I've decided to skip right over the World Series and talk about the Giants' off-season.

Okay, so I will watch the World Series. It is what I do. But I won't be happy if the Yankees win.

In any case, I read today the Giants signed Freddy Sanchez to a two year contract. This pleases me.

To acquire Sanchez, the Giants traded a prospect, Tim Alderson, to the Pirates at the trade deadline this year, looking for a spark of momentum to qualify for the playoffs. Sanchez was injured for much of the final months, and the other acquisition, Ryan Garko, did not set the league on fire. Many people on the message boards at sfgate.com second-guessed the trade. But I liked it, and I like the contract extension, and here is why:

1) when he played, I enjoyed watching his defensive work around second base. Smooth and nimble, with a few nifty grabs. When you score few runs and rely on your pitchers, you should back up those pitchers with as strong a defense as possible;

2) he has shown the ability to use the bat to good effect, with a good average. We need all the hitters we can get;

3) and he is a veteran. Specifically, he is a young veteran, which beats our frequent predilection for the end-of-career veteran.

Here's a toast to the burgeoning hopes of the off-season, with all the possibilities that might unfurl.

II. SOCCER

I watched the first leg of the Houston Dynamo--Seattle Sounders Western Conference semifinals last night. It was a good game, but ended up 0-0. It turns out that the anti-soccer zealots are right when they say that soccer needs more scoring. However, they aren't right about why that is.

For one thing, soccer isn't that much different from football in terms of scoring, just in how much each score is worth. Consider a football game that finishes with a score of 21-7; many games like that would be considered very exciting. But consider how to translate that score into the number of times each team scores: the winner scores three times, the loser scores once. Is that much different from a 3-1 result in soccer?

Okay, so Seattle and Houston failed to score goals. But that isn't to say there were no close calls, no great chances. The two keepers, Pat Onstad and the ever elegant Kasey Keller, had strong games. But there were a few glaring chances that should have found the back of the net. And that is the problem that has haunted US soccer for years, both with the national team and in Major League Soccer: a lack of cold-blooded finishing.

There was quite a bit of clever and exciting build up from either team, especially from Stewart Holden and Freddi Ljungberg on Houston and Seattle respectively. But the teams did not finish. And at times, near the end, the passing degenerated into long, telegraphed kicks that were easily intercepted by the defense.

But the atmosphere itself was outstanding. A crowd of 30000-plus in Seattle, standing and cheering, an electric atmosphere that might have been from out of Europe--not that we necessarily need to emulate Europe, mind you, but still, it's a sign of progress, I suppose.

There is a tradition in Seattle among the core fans, a three block march to the Stadium while holding scarves and banners aloft, that is just fantastic. The Sounders are a very exciting franchise in this, their debut season in Major League Soccer. Honestly, if the current incarnation of the San Jose Earthquakes continues to be blandly mediocre, I could see myself adopting the Sounders, especially with a local rivalry soon to arise when the Portland franchise begins play. I've cleverly arranged to have my friends Peter and Roni move to Seattle, thereby giving me a beachhead in terms of developing a local affiliation with the team, and while living in Montana, Seattle was the closest town for professional sports.

The quality of the soccer, and the quality of the broadcast on ESPN, could be considered a hopeful sign of progress for the MLS. Now if only someone could have scored a damn goal to go with the dramatic saves produced on a couple fine efforts.