The Dugout: Common Ground

The playoffs are almost over and the stage is set for the defending World Champion Philadelphia Phillies to face the dreadnought New York Yankees ... or the Los Angeles Angels Angels, pending a dead Christopher Lloyd-style miracle.

The bottom line is this: the World Series is like one block to our left, and we're going to have to start buckling down and making some declarative statements. Before we do that, though, today's Dugout features some pre-ALCS decision arguing and some sad realities.

The Dugout

	Online Host Welcome to the 2009 MLB Playoffs Chat!
	NeedsABathia: ...and then if we beat the Angels tonight, we go to the World Series. I can't believe it.
	ManuelLabor: that's great... it's gonna be the very best team in the AL against the very best team in the NL.
	BenFranciscoGiants: it's fun to hate on you because y'all are a bunch of greedy homosexual ingrate dirtbags, but "baseball success" and "Yankees" are pretty much synonymous
	ACliffLeeTiltingPlanet: And hey, if we're gonna win, we should win against the best!
	CarlNotLenny: well yeah they're good, but "best in the AL?" I don't know, I thought we had a real shot at it
	PeteRoseWentToBetancourt: the yankees won 161 1/2 of 162 games this year no offense to the twins but
	FightTheHerges: It doesn't matter! The Angels aren't out of this yet. The ANGELS are the best team in the AL.
	TheDefeatedVictor: yeah right, they're the best team because they're in the AL West, even the Orioles could win 80 games in the AL West
	InTheSpringBecomesDeRosa: dude, have you SEEN the Orioles?
	TheDefeatedVictor: not since I came to Boston, they wouldn't let me play, they've got me washing their dishes
	LudwickVanBeethoven: the AL West isn't so bad, you've still gotta beat the Mariners 55 times out of 60
	InTheSpringBecomesDeRosa: washing their dishes??
	FightTheHerges: Angels/Phils Angels win in 5
	TheDefeatedVictor: yeah I hear next season they're gonna sign David Eckstein and David Wright and move Fenway Park to Berlin
	PointBlake: we kept telling people to "think blue," but I guess we should've specified the shade
	PunchedYourBelliard: anybody still picking the angels is a dumb, i'm still picking the angels to lose in the first round i don't care what you say
	NeedsABathia: come on, guys, calm down, I can't tell where the conversation is going anymore
	ManuelLabor: Everyone here deserved to be here. We all had great seasons, win or lose, and we gotta remember that.
	ACliffLeeTiltingPlanet: maybe if we could all find some common ground
	NeedsABathia: I'm pitching my next two games on one day and twenty minutes rest respectively, is anybody else doing that
	CarlNotLenny: lol no
	InTheSpringBecomesDeRosa: well we all like 30 Rock, don't we? That's new tonight, we could watch that instead of the Yankees
	PointBlake: I find 30 Rock to be pedantic, overrated, and mediocre at best. Also, "underwhelming"
	LudwickVanBeethoven: give me a break, what kind of shows do you like then
	FightTheHerges: I bet he says "Scrubs"
	PointBlake: why yes I do like Scrubs, I like how they go from jokey to serious without any warning and I also love the use of low-distrubition rock songs to show emotion instead of dialogue or acting
	PointBlake: I also like "My Name Is Earl." Your point???
	PeteRoseWentToBetancourt: we should check and see if we all have the same birthday, in case we are merely fragments of an insane man's imagination
	BenFranciscoGiants: maybe we all been dead this whole time!
	ManuelLabor: What about baseball? We all love baseball, right?
	NeedsABathia: nah man I f***in hate baseball
	ManuelLabor: What!! Since when?
	NeedsABathia: when you get traded to New York they put you under and remove the part of your brain that thinks baseball is fun and happy and replace it with one that treats it like a stressful obligation
	NeedsABathia: it also makes you think Ed Hardy clothes and Affliction t-shirts are cool
	CarlNotLenny: come to think of it Ed Hardy is pretty bad ass
	TheDefeatedVictor: I guess we're never gonna find common ground
	ManuelLabor: Yeah, you're right. I mean, what could EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US have in common?
	Online Host Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles Dodgers Chatroom...
	WordUpThome: /sits on bench with head in hands
	MannyTheTorpedoes: nyah hee hee /makes bizarre scooping gesture with hands
	WordUpThome: WHAT ARE YOU DOING
	MannyTheTorpedoes: signelling to payro that we are oud of playoffs
	MannyTheTorpedoes: r u ok do u wan hifive
	WordUpThome: NO, I'M NOT FINE. IT FEELS LIKE IT IS JUST NEVER GONNA...
	WordUpThome: NEVERMIND, I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABO
	WordUpThome: ABOUT IT
	MannyTheTorpedoes: what r u gona do neg season /puts entire sunflower into mouth
	WordUpThome: HEAD BACK TO THE AMERICAN LEAGUE, SEE IF ANY TEAMS NEED A NIGH IMMOBILE OLD MAN D.H. HOW ABOUT YOU
	MannyTheTorpedoes: gona get millons of dollar to be gray at baseball sometime an sometime not care go home watch spontchbob
	WordUpThome: ALL THAT WORK WE DID TRAVELING THE COUNTRY ON A TANDEM BICYCLE, AND WHAT DID IT GET US
	MannyTheTorpedoes: cople extra weeks of beisbol
	WordUpThome: I GUESS I SHOULDN'T HAVE EXPECTED A BUNCH OF CLEVELAND INDIANS TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS
	WordUpThome: SEE YOU NEXT SEASON, BUDDY
	MannyTheTorpedoes: bye jim tommy
	Online Host WordUpThome has left the chatroom.