In which The Archlaic predicts

One week to go until Election Day.  And-oh-by-the-way the World Series starts tomorrow night.  The Archlaic found himself in a prognosticative mood today, herewith some predictions on current events:

• House: The G.O.P.gains 55+ seats for a 31 seat majority. Nancy Pelosi will resign her seat in the House to “spend more time with the grandchildren” and then demand use of a government jet to ship her goods back home.
• Senate: The G.O.P. gains 9 seats, thereby resulting in a technical Republican “majority”of 2. The 48 Democrats will claim it is a “tie” because the one socialist member and the one independent member caucus with them, then they will claim that since the Vice President casts the tie-breaking vote on matters before the Senate they are entitled to retain (at least) a majority of chairmanships and also a majority of the memberships of committees. The media will side with the Democrats.
• Massachusetts: Governor’s race will require a recount. Perry will beat Keating by 5 points. Barney will eke out a win over Sean Bielat and be typically ingracious in victory. The surprise of the night will come in the 6th District…
• Rhode Island: John Loughlin will defeat David Cicilline by a very narrow margin.  The ProJo will be beside themselves.
• Tea Party triumph that the media will attempt to explain away: Sharron Angle beating Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada.
• Tea Party defeat that the media will trumpet day and night: Christine O’Donnell’s loss to Chris Coons in Delaware.
• Story the MSM will attempt to ignore: Marco Rubio's win in Flroida
• Stock Market: the Dow will go up by at least 350 points on Wednesday 3 November!
• World Series: I’ll hedge and say that whomever wins Game 1 will win the series in seven. Both teams have good starting pitching, Texas has a better lineup but the Giants have a better bullpen. Since postseason series usually come down to the bullpen, if I *had* to bet one way or the other I’d say the Giants in seven.

As an aside, the media is really downplaying this WS matchup, and the television ratings will certainly be far below those for a series involving New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, L.A., or even St. Louis. Interesting to think that if this were a football game involving teams from these two cities (the Rangers play in Arlington, just outside of Dallas), say an NFC championship game between the Coyboys and 49ers, the hype would be considerably higher. At one time that was one of the NFL’s great rivalries, although it has cooled-off in recent years.

The Catching Molinas...

Remember "The Flying Wallendas"? They were a famous circus and stunt act when I was growing up, probably best remembered for their patriarch's death in a fall from the high wire in the 1970's

Several years ago I was at a Sox-Angels game when the catcher for Los Angeles California Anaheim Los Angeles of Anaheim, noted slowpoke Bengie Molina, was removed for a pinch runner. After the side was retired, another Molina - younger brother Jose - popped out of the dugout and entered the game to catch.

"I wonder", I said to the friend with whom I was attending the game, "how many more of those Molinas they've got in the dugout?"

"Don't laugh", he replied, "there's another brother in the minors, and he's a catcher too!"

"Hmm, 'The Catching Molinas', eh? Sounds like a vaudeville act or something at the circus. Like 'The Flying Wallendas'"

Thus piqued, my interest has endured and so I have followed the careers of the "Catching Molinas", now joined in the bigs by the aforementioned 3rd brother, Yadier (wouldn't he have been perfect for an episode of Seinfeld?) They've all had pretty good careers and each one has a World Series ring, so you could say that it's not a bad thing to have a "Catching Molina" on your team. So naturally I was happy to hear last week that the Sox had signed... minor league catcher Gustavo Molina!

Wait a minute, Gustavo? A fourth brother? Never heard of him, so I looked him up. Turns out that despite his surname and shinguards he's not a member of the "real" Molina tribe. In fact he's not even from the same country. Quel dommage! But hey, he must be a cousin or something, right? One imagines a grizzled scout spotting the line "Molina C" in a high school box score and thinking "gotta check that guy out!"

While atempthing to vet Gustavo's lineage I ran across an interesting fact: There have been only six men with the surname 'Molina' who've played major league baseball, and five of them have been catchers. I remembered ol' Izzy Molina from the 90's but I don't think I'd ever heard of Gabe Molina, the only non-catching Molina, who pitched briefly and ineffectively for the Orioles, Braves, and Cardinals.

Just one of those odd bits of baseball knowledge that fans seem to enjoy. Even in the bleak mid-Winter, baseball holds our attention like no other game.

[A colleague told me that there are also three boxing Molina brothers who are, alas, unrelated to the Catching Molinas. Seems to me that three beefy catchers plus three boxers might be the foundation for a pretty good hockey team...]