During the playoffs (hate the term "postseason") it's 3 minutes between each inning. During the season it's less, 2 minutes I think. As I recall, it used to be a lot less when I was a kid in the 70s, around 90 seconds for regualr season games. If you go from 3 minutes to 2, that's 17 minutes for a nine inning game. I'd be surprised if the average playoff game time has increaed much more than that over the last 30 years or so.

I'll wait for King's final numbers but the early returns clearly favor his thesis. I just figured out that the average game of the 1968 WS took 2:37. The seven nine inning games of the last two WS took on average 3:19. A 42 minute difference.

Anyone who thinks Zumaya made the right decision in throwing to third is putting an unthinking reliance on numbers ahead of common sense and what baseball fans instinctively know to be true based on experience.

There's a simple reason why you never see a 1-5-3 DP. It's too hard to pull off to be worth it. It would be interesting if anyone (King perhaps) could track down the frequency of 1-5-3 DPs. I'd be shocked if there were more than a handful in baseball all year, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were none

I would also bet that virtually all 1-5-3 DPs, if there are any, come on attempted sacrifices where the 3rd baseman is already moving toward third to be ready for the throw. here, is first step was no doubt toward the batted ball, which is why he was completely unprepared for the throw.

For example, if your teen-age son takes the car without permission (equivalent to making the unusual choice to throw to third), but brings the car back an hour later with no harm other than wasting some gas (getting the force but losing the DP), your pissed at him but you let it go. If he takes the car but has an accident or gets a ticket (equivalent to throwing the ball away), you let him have hit for being so stupid. However, if while he's out he pulls two people out of a burning car saving their lives (equivalent to pulling off the 1-5-3 DP), you praise him for being a hero and forget what an ass he was to take the car. Sports is no different, poor choices are always forgiven when they work out, that doesn't change the fact that the choice was poor, however.

In my mind, the Cardinals are as legitimate a champ as George Bush was president from 2001-2005. They both won under the system in place for choosing the winner. So if that's what is meant by legitimate champ, then they are legitimate. The problem, however, is under that definition only a proven cheater could ever be deemed an illegitimate champ. While legitimate, the Cardinals are less deserving of being champs than say, the 1976 Reds, '70 Orioles or the '98 Yankees. Teams that didn't need much luck along the way.

The fact remains that the '06 Cardinals are probably the worst team to ever win the world series, but hey they are the champs, kind of like the guy who finishes last in his class at medical school is just as much a doctor as the guy who finishes first.

Will the Cardinals fans who have written to dispute the assertion that the '06 Cardinals are the worst team to ever win the WS please name the team which they believe was worse or else please step aside and enjoy their undeserving championship and let the rest of us ease our wounds. In considering the issue of whether the Cardinals "deserved" to win the title you might also consider the philosophical issue of how a team which didn't even deserve to make the playoffs can be a deserving champ, and please don't act like the Cards were the only team who had injuries. They were fortunate that their injured players came back for the playoffs while those of others went down right before the playoffs.

In my memory the '87 Twins were the previous "biggest loser." This Cardinals team I think was worse. Before 1969 it becomes almost impossible to find a worse champ since they all had to win the pennant the old fashioned way, which was way harder than winning two series.

If you predict that all your predictions will be wrong then you can never be wrong

I agree there are no best fans, only worst fans, Yankees and Cowboys. The ultimate fair weather fans. They will turn on the team in an instant if things don't go well.