The Trolley Dodger

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals on their amazing run to become the 2011 World Series Champions. While I was rooting for the Rangers (and, like last year, was thwarted ;) it was great to see Raffy Furcal celebrating last night, not to mention it was impossible not to be astounded by the never-say-die Cards. I guess the power of the Rally Squirrel is for real. ;D

I won’t lie, it was hard to see. Doubly so. But I want to congratulate the San Francisco Giants on being the 2010 World Series Champions. Thanks for doing California proud.

I grew up a few miles from where the Texas Rangers play, used to go to games at the old Arlington Stadium. Last year, I wrote the post “Dodgers and Rangers” talking about the feelings seeing the two teams playing each other during interleague play.

The team was never that good during my fan years of the mid-70s to mid-80s, though they turned in a few close calls in the AL West. The Rangers didn’t make the playoffs until the 90s. Luckily for my childhood sports fan ego, I had the Cowboys to cheer for in the 70s.

But despite it all, if it was summer time (and the heat + humidity outside wasn’t fatal ;) I was running around the “bases” in my back yard, throwing and batting a tennis ball off a brick wall, playing as a Ranger.

Tonight, the Texas Rangers have been crowned American League Champions, beating the Yankees (which makes it even sweeter), and getting ready to play whoever winds up winning the Phillies/Giants series.

Tonight, I’m more misty-eyed than I expected I’d be.

Congrats to the Rangers, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.

Congratulations to the New York Yankees on their 27th world championship. Nice job inaugurating the new stadium.

And while I can’t say I was too sad by the looks of disappointment on the Phillies’ faces ;) congrats to them as well for a hard-fought battle and a great year.

Now the off season can commence. Not that there’s anything going on in LA this time around. Should be real quiet in the Dodger world. Yep. Real quiet.

Until 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers had gone through a long series of near-misses at World Series glory, coming close but not close enough. It became a running theme and spawned a team slogan: “Wait ’til next year!” Next year finally did show up, but it was a long wait.

The Yankees were the Dodgers’ perennial opponents when they made it to the series back then, so the Bombers losing it in 1955 to the Bums made it even sweeter. Putting it in video-game terms for the younger set, they were the final boss that it took forever to beat. This was one of the reasons I was hoping for a Yankee-Dodger World Series this year.

Apart from the wrenching disappointment the past week, and a few issues here and there, the 2009 season has been more of a joy to follow than not. On a personal level, having the opportunity to attend the Bluetopia premiere, the annual Dodger Blogger Night (the night before the Manny revelation), and particularly getting to cover the game as a member of the press are memories I’ll never lose.

Thanks to the Dodgers organization and team for a great year and for continuing to reach out to the online fan community. Thanks to my fellow Dodger bloggers for lots of entertaining and thoughtful commentary this season — especial thanks and kudos to Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, the sundry Sons of Steve Garvey, the intrepid lads of True Blue LA, the aptly named Blue Heaven, Ken Steinhorn of isportsweb, and Larry and Keith over at the always-fascinating Daily Mirror.

Congratulations to the Phillies on the NL Pennant, and while I don’t see myself exactly cheering you on the next few weeks, please destroy the Yankees if you get the opportunity. Pretty please? ;)

Finally, thanks to everybody for reading Trolley Dodger in 2009. The site’s third anniversary is coming up next week. Can’t believe it’s been three years!

I expect to be posting here during the off season, as there will be the inevitable melodrama, speculation, and other craziness, but I’m guessing a short break will do a body good. So we won’t have to wait ’til next year to solve the myriad problems of the baseball universe, thanks to 24-hour sports news and the Internet, but we will have to wait ’til then for more Dodger baseball.

See ya!