Too Late In Askin’

~ latskojerry ~ 3 Comments

In the early Fall season of 1954 I was in the second grade and one day I came through the front door of my house after school to learn that a big deal had happened in New York City, one of the places where really big deals occur. The Cleveland Indians had won 111 games and only lost 43 that season to comfortably win the American League pennant over the Yankees, the team that had won the previous five years. I had not known that at the time but I looked it up later in my brother Paul’s 1954 Baseball Almanac, which I read through hungrily one day when I should have been in school but wasn’t. Because this Autumn day was the day that I became fascinated with baseball, in particular the big leagues. The big deal in New York was that the New York Giants beat those unbeatable Indians ,5-2 ,in the first game of the World Series. The game was played at the Polo Grounds, an oddly shaped stadium that the Giants would abandon after three more seasons. The dimensions of the Polo Grounds played a very big part in the outcome of that first game and, ultimately the Series. Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off Giants starting pitcher Sal Maglie. Vic Wertz hit a triple to score Al Smith and Bobby Avila. Don Mueller and Hank Thompson drove in runs off Cleveland pitcher Bob Lemon in the third inning. The 2-2 tie score was still holding in the eighth inning. Maglie walked Larry Doby to start the inning. Al Rosen hit an infield single and New York manager Leo Durocher replaced Maglie with Don Liddle. Up to the plate stepped Wertz, who had already added a pair of singles to his first inning triple. Wertz hit another tremendous drive, this one over the head of young New York center fielder Willie Mays. The ball traveled 445 feet but Mays caught up to it, swiveled around and made a throw for the ages back to the infield. Doby took third base but Rosen had to hold at first. Even people who never cared about baseball have seen the film of this play, which ever since has been known as The Catch. Yes, the center field wall was 480 feet from home plate. Pull hitters enjoyed the Polo Grounds, however. Both the left and right field walls were a little more than 250 feet away. That helped make Dusty Rhodes a New York hero when he delivered a pinch hit three run homer to win the game in the tenth inning. Lemon was still pitching then; in fact, he was such a good hitter that he batted in the top of the 10th and made the third out. Wertz had led off that inning with his fourth hit of the game, a double, before being lifted for pinch runner Rudy Regalado.

Cleveland never recovered from that and lost all four World Series games to a New York team that actually, despite winning a mere 97 games to beat Brooklyn by three games, was probably a little better overall team. Why? Mainly because they had Willie Mays who could, as scouts would often say, beat you every which way.

So Mays helped get this author interested in the game. I was a western Pennsylvania kid who rooted for the Pirates and Cleveland. I was a Dodgers fan from 1955 on and after I moved to L.A. in 1964 but like all folks who got to watch him or play with him or against him, I was a Willie Mays fan. His story is one of the ones that brighten our lives. Like so many of our athletic heroes, his story began in relative poverty. We think of professional athletes now as coddled millionaires but it has not always been such. I remember Chuck Tanner coming to our school when I was in fifth grade to take our class photographs. I remember Bill Skowron signing his photo for me at a super market opening in the off season. Many ball players had off season jobs in days of old. Many minor leaguers still do.

Willie Mays died after 93 say hey years and right before the game June 20th between the Giants and Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham Alabama. It was a great and overdue event to recognize and honor the old Negro Leagues but of course MLB and FOX TV choreographed a rather untidy whitewashing, shall we say, of the actual history. The only reason the Negro leagues existed was that the major league owners would not allow descendants of slaves to play for their teams no matter how well they could play. It was all mostly happy happy joy joy until Alex Rodriguez asked Reggie Jackson how it was playing for Birmingham in 1967.Jackson replied that he would not wish that experience on anyone and that he was lucky to have a manager and some team mates that helped him control his anger at being treated as a sub human or else he may have very well been lynched. Heartfelt honesty on FOX startled us all but I will forever be grateful for that moment.

Mays began his professional career playing for the Birmingham Black Barons at age 17. By 1951 he was National League Rookie of the Year and center fielder for the World Champion New York Giants. In 1973 I moved to San Francisco and the Giants had a great trio of outfielders but Willie Mays was not one of them. That season ended with Mays back in New York playing in a World Series for the Mets. Hard economic times was the given reason that Giants owner Horace Stoneham traded Willie away in ’72. He was 41 and a shadow of his former self but that was a very sad day. Like all of us he wanted to play forever but cold reality overtakes even the best of us.

It put me in mind of an old John Prine song a week before Willie’s passing when another hero of my youth died. That was Jerry West. And Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where paradise lay I’m sorry my son but you’re too late in askin’ Mr. Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

Death still shocks and alarms me. Death near like our dogs and friends and family, death far like two of the athletes that I no longer want to admit to idolizing, Willie Mays and Jerry West. It’s all subjective of course. When Roberto Clemente died I was 26 and I told myself that it would be good not to have to watch him age. Me first of course. But it would have been good to see him maintain his dignity like those two did and Henry Aaron as well. Perspective changes.

I think I tried not to have heroes because I wanted the hero to be me. Growing up in western Pennsylvania Jerry West could not be denied as a hero. Zeke from Cabin Creek was just admirable. He went from West Virginia to Los Angeles, which is where I wanted to go as soon as I could. I wore number 44 in my CYO league. I wasn’t good enough to even try out for the high school team but I loved basketball. By 1964 I lived near L.A., watching him as a Laker just will his team to victory. I saw West, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain in a pre-season game in Santa Barbara and by college days I shouldn’t have been in awe but damn. Mister Clutch. The unbeaten streak. Heartache after heartache versus the Celtics while epitomizing what hard work, humility, and determination could accomplish–or not. Just an unforgettable human being. My wife at the time worked at a department store in Huntington Beach in 1968 and he was there signing photos. She got one for me and I still have it. But I try not to have heroes.

The Goal Was Parity

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

The most noticeable thing about the 2024 major league baseball season so far, other than the high number of broken bats and strained hamstrings, is the absence of many teams from the races for first place. Coming into this weekend, eight of the fifteen American League teams had winning records, but four of those were in the Central Division. There,the Cleveland Guardians held a five game lead over Kansas City. Both of those clubs are considered pleasant surprises by the National Committee of Baseball Know It Alls but, as the opthalmologists say, we will see. The fifth team in that division, the Chicago White Sox, are not in contention for anything other than 122 defeats at their current rate of play. In the A.L. West, the Costa Mesa Angels are in a race with Oakland for fifth place and Seattle is the only team that has won more than it has lost. Baltimore and the New York Yankees are the only teams above .500 in the East, and they are the two teams clearly superior to the rest of the league. In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Dodgers are your three good teams out of fifteen –so far, I have to add, since we are only a bit more than a third of the way through the schedule. It is no doubt fun to be a follower of those successful franchises, but success in competitive sports associations (business) is dependent on, well, competition. When the people know who is going to win most of the time, the interest in each individual game sags to a dangerous low and not even television can adequately compensate.

Back in the days of Elvis, Ed Sullivan, and ubiquitous movies about World War II, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers dominated the post season, which consisted of the World Series only unless there was a tie for a pennant. So all of us got to be familiar with Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford. Those were very good teams but the sad sack teams like the St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh Pirates, and any team from Philadelphia were usually not really worthy opponents. Things began to change as the sixties appeared, and the lords of the diamonds made an admirable leap toward progress, otherwise known as parity. The amateur draft was instituted in 1965. Rick Monday was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics and the team with the worst record each season would get that first “draft pick” followed in order by each of the other teams in reverse order of the standings. The goal was to help the losers catch up to the winners and, to a certain extent, it helped. Before long, teams like Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and, yes, even the expansion teams won pennants and World Series.

Years later, free agency came along and it was very good for the players as far as salaries and other conditions of employment. Expansion and subsequent widening of the post season participation helped the game become more popular and television contracts enriched all teams and increased the money available. At long last, we may have reached the point that, like most big businesses, MLB had so much cash at its disposal that some teams, like some corporations, had a whole lot more to spend on things like free agents than others. That may account for today’s disparity. Now is a good time, by the way, to tell all baseball commentators around North America that a “ton” equals 2,000 pounds, although Webster says that it can also mean a great quantity, but I would not use it a “ton” of the time.

OTHER MATTERS: May 26 marked the 65th anniversary of one of the weirdest baseball games ever. On that date in 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pirates pitched 12 perfect innings against the Braves in Milwaukee. He lost the game in the 13th when Felix Mantilla reached on Pirate third baseman Don Hoak‘s throwing error. Eddie Mathews sacrifice bunted Mantilla to second base. Henry Aaron was then intentionally walked. Joe Adcock then delivered a home run except it wasn’t. Adcock passed Aaron between second and third base because Aaron stopped, thinking the ball had landed inside the fence. The umpire ruled Adcock out (correctly) and said the Braves won 2-0. Later, National league president Warren Giles ruled Adcock’s hit a double and the score therefore 1-0. Lew Burdette was the winning pitcher with a 13 inning 12 hitter (all singles). The question is, how many pitches did they throw? They were not counted. Haddix walked one (Aaron) and Burdette none.

More trivia:Who were the first Most Valuable Players to wear glasses at the time? Jim Konstanty of the 1950 Phillies in the National League and Dick Allen of the White Sox in the 1972 American League. You needed to know that, right?

Reduce Fun, Add Revenue, Then Play

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

We might just be reaching the peak of the Era of Analytics, emphasis on the first two syllables of that word. Everyone has studied and learned the catechism: loopy, launch angle swings, pitchers throwing as hard as they can for as long as they can, buying Tommy John insurance, miles per hour obsession whether hitting or throwing, on base percentage et cetera ad infinitum.

Heretics are beginning to assemble, however. His Eminence Justin Verlander is a skeptic. We are not teaching pitchers to pitch the whole game anymore. That’s old school rubbish. Pitchers batting is way long ago now. Bunting might make a comeback, but I don’t think it is being taught anymore. Home runs are losing their luster as spectators yawn waiting for walks and strikeouts to be reduced. Runners are being stranded after reaching third base with fewer than two out. Things got better last season with the “speed up”, although pitchers aren’t getting much rest between pitches, batters, innings, or seasons. If your child can’t learn to hit balls over the fence or throw 100 mph, send him or her to med school to learn arm, shoulder, or elbow surgery. This is the 21st century, nimrod.

There are a couple of things I’ve noticed in the first quarter of the 2024 major league season that have me bothered a bit. Oh, I’ve noticed that the Philadelphia Phillies are kicking ass and taking names and also that Shohei Ohtani apparently does his own bookkeeping, but, no these are other, perhaps less significant things. One is, why do batters always have something in their back pockets now? What would Ted Williams say about that? I didn’t play anything close to professional baseball, but when I was trying to hit a pitch I needed to relax, feel comfortable and have some balance. I didn’t want a wallet or car keys or loose change upsetting the balance. Now nobody minds that. Maybe it’s part of the “speed up”, which has never affected between innings commercials. They don’t want a batter reaching base to have to wait for someone to bring them the oven mitt, even though it would be an opportunity to say that “…this oven mitt delivery and shin guard retrieval is brought to you by Door Dash.” More important than that, this marriage of MLB (and other pro sports too) with the gambling vampires is outlandish and dangerous and no one seems to care. There is now even ESPN Bet. We can see the odds not only of Kansas City overcoming a 12-1 deficit after six innings but also the over/under on how many Jack in the Box ads we’ll see by the seventh inning stretch. Genuinely disgusting.

The thing that is most bugging me though is another thing that has been spawned by the analytic bunch. Patrick Bailey has been one of the bright new talents to come along in baseball. He is a gamer, a smart player, and infinite fun behind the plate. The “smart” people, who are kind of like “smart” phones, “smart” doorbells, and “smart” vacuum cleaners, have convinced baseball management that having catchers creep closer to batters and catch on one knee is smart. The motivation is to “steal” strikes for the pitcher by “framing”. That is probably worth 2.346 runs per season so it’s “smart”. Patrick Bailey is just one of several catchers who have been drilled by 100 mph foul tips and served time on the concussion injury list more than once. I don’t have a degree in physics but it is becoming obvious that this tactic is too dangerous and needs be outlawed. Careers are in jeopardy. Ask Mike Matheny.

On a brighter note, congratulations to, besides the Phillies, the Atlanta Braves, the Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians and the Kansas City Royals for giving their fans lots to cheer about so far. Dodgers fans have been busy with their GO FUND ME account raising money to get a “smart” calculator for their designated sitter.

Those Silly Millionaires

~ latskojerry ~ 1 Comment

Imagine what you could do with 4.5 million dollars. Perhaps some of you don’t have to imagine. If so, congratulations. You can probably afford season tickets. We may never learn the real story with the probably untouchable Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher/slugger. His interpreter said he had a problem and his buddy helped him out. I really wish that I had a second language. I keep going back in my mind to Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.

In today’s world, gambling and sports are partners, simultaneously raking in the big bucks with little or no consternation. Not so long ago, their paths were separate. Betting made money for some, but the whole thing was mostly underground, illegal, and considered by many to be immoral. The Black Sox scandal of 1919 nearly destroyed the integrity of the game of baseball when Chicago White Sox players were paid by “gamblers” to throw the World Series to the obliging Cincinnati Reds. Professional boxing and horse racing were other “sports” often linked to “fixes”. From club owners’ point of view, people buying tickets to watch sporting events need reassurance that the outcomes are not prearranged.

1951 was the first season that Mays and Mantle played for the Giants and Yankees and New York City simultaneously claimed three of the best center fielders of all time. Duke Snider was already established in Brooklyn. They each eventually played in World Series and were elected to the Hall of Fame. They were all three extremely talented and relatively well paid. Plus, if you played in New York, it was easier to make a few extra bucks endorsing products enjoyed by baseball fans of the day such as tobacco, beer, shaving cream, and razor blades. They didn’t have the kind of paydays we see now. One hundred thousand dollars was a huge salary in those days, not tens of millions. However, for a quick study of the ravages of inflation, please note that $65,000 then was like $500,000 today.

Players not named Yogi Berra were not able to manage their money so well. It would be a couple of decades before free agency,player agents, and financial managers joined the game. Neither Mays nor Mantle was headed for the poorhouse after retirement but they needed work. After former Cleveland star Al Rosen left his job with the Yankees to become executive vice president at Bally’s casino in Atlantic City, he quickly offered Mays a ten year contract at $100,000 per year to become a Bally’s employee, essentially a casino greeter. Soon, another casino, Claridge, made the same offer to Mantle.

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn countered that the two stars could work for casinos if they wanted to but they could not be employed by any baseball team at the same time. That was how squeaky clean the sports world wanted to be or at least look to be as late as the 1970s. A later commissioner, Peter Ueberroth of Los Angeles Olympics fame, lifted the ban and, oh how far we have come since then. Some of us had reflexes of shock and dismay to the recent merger of sport and betting. Now, articles concerning ballplayers note their salaries and length of contract details as much if not more than their batting averages, earned run averages and other statistics. Now we see the odds on everything from winning a game, winning a pennant, or striking out as part of every telecast brought to us by Fan Dual and other venues for dropping cash. I’ve lately been watching a lot of European soccer matches and the advertising in the stadiums and even on the uniforms for betting outlets is widespread.

Millionaires abound, paid by billionaires in the world of professional sports. Is this a good thing? Young people in their twenties or early thirties have enough spare wealth to “help their friends” in million dollar debt. it’s worrisome.

Brave New World

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

Now I really have to have faith in Bob Melvin. Blake Snell is a Giant. He will probably pitch for them this year. I have always hated watching him pitch. Of all the pitchers I have watched pitch,he gets top prize for looking as though the world was coming to an end while he worked and he seldom goes more than five innings. In my mind, that describes a reliever. But no, old school idiot, a reliever is a guy who goes all out for one inning. In many cases, if a reliever gets three guys out before three runs score, he gets a “save”. As we slip and slide through life, it’s important to remember that the meaning of many words changes over time.

Okay, everybody, tell your sons and daughters to get off their butts right now and start throwing. Take your time learning how to break those muscles and other body parts in to the grind of doing that. Tell them to put half of their early paychecks into a fund that will help them during rehab or perhaps when the contract isn’t guaranteed. There’s big money in goose eggs. But Bob Melvin managed Snell three seasons and together they almost got somewhere. So I guess I’m over my hissy fit about how MLB shafted the baseball fans of Oakland California, who were many and faithful. I’m back to raise Hell again. Maybe, when I wake up tomorrow, I will read about Rob Manfred retiring.

We’ll Miss Tito

~ latskojerry ~ 1 Comment

 

In 2024 major league baseball will have to proceed for the first time in a very long while without the on field presence of one of the best managers in its history. It’s a good thing that Bruce Bochy came out of retirement last season so that he could win another World Series because we are faced with the retirement of Terry Francona. We like Francona because, while he was very successful as a manager and as a player, he also has been a leader with about as positive an attitude as could be imagined and he is a good sport, something that seems to be in short supply these days.

In his eleven seasons managing Cleveland, his teams won 921 games and lost 757, a nifty .549 percentage. In 2016, they made the World Series and lost to Joe Maddon and his Chicago Cubs. Francona was manager of the year that season, as he was selected also in 2013 and 2022. His record over a 23 year managing career was 1950-1672 (.538). He had managed the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997 to 2000 and then, perhaps most memorably, the Boston Red Sox from 2004 to 2011. The Sox won it all in 2004 and 2007. There are countless ups and downs throughout any baseball season just like there are at your house, but Terry Francona was never one to look for scapegoats or make excuses. That’s why he had the support of his players and did well.

2004 was the most fun season for those of us who are fond of beating the Yankees. New York won the American league East division by three games over Boston and, after being shut out by Johan Santana and friends in the first game, won the next three division series games while Boston was sweeping Anaheim. The League Championship Series opened October 12 with the Yankees routing Curt Schilling and the Sox 10-7. New York’s Jon Lieber bested Pedro Martinez the next day, 3-1, and then it was off to Boston. Fenway Park was no help at all as the Yankees totally thrashed Boston, 19-8. Was it over? Not quite. The Red Sox won the next two at home, two more in the Bronx, and then four straight over Tony LaRussa, Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals to rid themselves of the Bambino Curse as World Champions. Terry Francona could have been governor of Massachusetts after that triumph but he had a better job.

From 1981 to 1990 Terry Francona was a pretty good outfielder for the Montreal Expos, the Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland and the Milwaukee Brewers. He was among the league leaders in batting average after 58 games in 1984 when he twisted a knee trying to avoid a John Tudor tag. He and his .346 average were finished for the season and Terry was never the same, losing much of his speed. He pitched one scoreless inning for the Brewers in that final ’90 season.

Terry was the son of John Patsy “Tito” Francona of New Brighton, Pennsylvania, who died February 13, 2018, and is frequently called Tito as well. Terry was born in April of 1959, which just happens to be the best year of his father’s major league career. Papa was born in Aliquippa, Pa. , not far from New Brighton. The elder Francona played for Cleveland in ’59 and, in 122 games, tore up the American League for a .363 batting average with 20 home runs. He stayed with Cleveland through 1964. He, like his son, played outfield, first base, and pinch hit a lot in the days before designated sitters. Both Franconas ended their careers playing for Milwaukee, father in the American League and son in the National. Another interesting fact for Tito the elder is that, before that big ’59 season, he was traded to Cleveland by Detroit in exchange for Larry Doby, who is famous for many important things such as winning a pennant in 1954 and earlier becoming the first black player in the American League.

Of the Rich, By the Rich, and For the Rich

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

Old John was right. Major League Baseball is a business, not a game, not a sport. If any of us had any doubt of the truth of that statement, the signs have been numerous and obvious. Support your chosen team by spending hundreds of dollars on caps, shirts, and other “gear”.Disfigure the uniforms worn by the players with patches on the sleeves advertising businesses that have nothing to do with the game. Drive the prices of tickets and concessions up so high that only the well to do can afford to see games in person, and then make them pay even more to park their cars. Owners, executives, and players now make so much money that it is hard for them to relate to common folks. We all know the shameful practice of building stadiums with unearned shiploads of taxpayer dollars. The latest example is the sadistic treatment of the human beings in Oakland, California who happen to like baseball by, not only the hopelessly clueless billionaire who never worked a day in his life but owns the Oakland Athletics, but also the entire roster of other super rich major league baseball owners. It’s no wonder that gambling , which once threatened the viability of the game, is welcomed and fully endorsed by these blood sucking vermin: none of them apparently knows the difference between right and wrong.

John Fisher is the owner who is , with the blessing of his fellow vampires, moving the Athletics to Las Vegas, the same desert crime scene where the son of Al Davis moved the Oakland professional football team a while back. Why anyone would want to move a thriving business with a large following to a tiny sand trap that has been previewing global warming for us for years is a question that I really don’t think I want to know the answer to but I’m sure it’s not good.

If you think I’m annoyed, let me assure you that I am not the only one. Here is part of what Scott Ostler, the venerable sports writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote,” Oakland is no longer held captive by the worst owner in baseball, if not in all sports…Oakland is no longer exposed to the massive risk of entering into a partnership with a guy who has the business acumen of a pair of Gap blue jeans.”

Then there is Ann Killion, also of the S.F. Chronicle. “The owners waived their own chance at a massive relocation fee, accepted and parroted lies from Fisher and his minions, ignored the reality of the situation, all to protect one of their own. The most dysfunctional of their own. A man who has deliberately ruined his own franchise. Which sends a pretty clear message. The people who run baseball do not care about you, the fan…they care only about circling their gold-plated wagons and taking another sip of Macallan single malt while stuffing public tax money in their pockets”

Here are the names of players who not long ago played for the Oakland A’s but were visible among playoff teams this season: Marcus Semien,Matt Chapman , Matt Olson,Chris Bassitt,Sonny Gray, Max Muncy, and Sean Murphy. If you combine them with others who didn’t make the playoffs, you would have a pretty damn good team, wouldn’t you.? Fisher ditched it all for more free money. Welfare for billionaires, apparently the American way.

From now on, Baseball Anarchy will continue reporting on baseball, but not these schmucks.

 

No Game Today

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

The season has ended. People are sick of the repetition, but I’ll say it again: every year it goes faster. No bats are hitting baseballs, neither are they swinging and missing. The television stays cool now except for night time streaming or maybe some futbol. Baseball in 2023 was pretty interesting and the post season, as we call it, was a lot of fun. Some of us like to poke fun at Texas but the state produced two of the the best this year and they both might stay that way for a while.

There were names prominent near the end that were new to the big stage: Adolis Garcia, Zac Gallen,Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll, Kevin Ginkel, Merrill Kelly, Gabriel Moreno, Mitch Garver,Leody Taveras, Jon Gray, Jonah Heim, Josh Jung all became familiar to us as Halloween drew near. Other names were more familiar in the spotlight, like Corey Seager, Max Scherzer, Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovoldi, and Aroldis Chapman.

The best “new” name in the World Series was Bruce Bochy. After he was dumped as New York Yankees manager when they lost the 1960 World Series to a slightly better Pittsburgh Pirates team, Casey Stengel remarked that he had made the mistake of becoming 70 years old and many of us who were quite a bit younger at the time felt like it was time for senior citizens to step aside. Bochy won the World Series for the fourth time as a manager at the age of 68 after taking three years off from the game. Coupled with rule changes that invigorated the game and got games moving at a faster pace and resurrected “small ball” by increasing the use of sacrifice bunts and stolen bases and eliminating defensive shifts, the success of senior citizen managers like Bochy and Dusty Baker may have started a new trend that, while accepting what is called analytics, recognizes as well the value of veteran experience and human instincts. Now the Santa Ana Angels have hired 71 year old Ron Washington to try to right that floundering ship and it will be interesting to see how that works out as the career of Mike Trout enters its final phase and Shohei Ohtani decides whose checks he will cash next.

So it is time to rest the weary eyeballs and the worn eardrums that absorbed endless, repetitive commercials for insurance, new cars, and countless ads for pharmaceutical remedies for previously unmentionable ailments. That’s not to mention the ceaseless analysis of each and every pitch by John Smoltz, who is a good guy and was a great pitcher but still needs help in using the English language paired with non stop yakking by Joe Davis, who apparently thinks we like hearing the same stories over and over. The TBS coverage was so much better. But no more complaints, it’s great to be able to witness good ball, and we had a great lot of that. Thanks to the Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros ,Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins for a really fun adventure. Okay, Los Angeles Dodgers too.

 

One of the Best

~ latskojerry ~ 1 Comment

Summer is long gone. Juncos and sparrows have displaced the grosbeaks at the bird feeders and the winnowing of contenders for the Major League Baseball championship has left us with two very interesting teams to compete in the World Series. Just like you all guessed back in March, it will be the Texas Rangers versus the Arizona Diamondbacks after a lively and challenging set of playoff matches. These teams are led by managers who have proven their leadership skills and baseball intelligence, Torey Lovullo and Bruce Bochy. As happy as it made us to see Bochy back in the game and succeeding, as has become his habit, it was truly sad to witness the sorrowful end of Dusty Baker‘s managing career. And the gracious and capable manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Rob Thomson,once again led his team to a thumping of yours truly’s pick to win it all, the Atlanta Braves for the City of Brotherly Shove. I cleverly chose to favor Baltimore and Atlanta to meet in the 2023 series not long after the All Star Game, but , if nothing else, I have become well acquainted with being wrong.

There were even more teams involved in the post season this year with two wild card teams in each league having a three game series to start the show and the new format proved good. For one thing, the noticeable absence of any New York teams made it easy to , if not root for, at least accept all of the teams involved, especially after The Dodgers disappeared.

The Minnesota Twins had won the “easy” division in the American League and that made them just about everyone’s favorite to be the early dropout, although the Diamondbacks no doubt got lots of votes as well. Carlos Correa and company proved themselves as formidable, however, as they eliminated a very good Toronto Blue Jays team. Jhoan Duran may have been the best relief pitcher out of all the ones we witnessed. Miami was dispatched quickly but one gets the feeling that the Marlins will be back. The days of Yankees and Red Sox dominating the A.L. are surely not gone forever but it’s good to see some competition.

Not having seen much of the Orioles all season, I had mostly a box score reader’s impression before the Rangers swept them, but they definitely appear to be strong and getting stronger. Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and company are for real, and the most important observation is that this organization knows how to build a team. The loss to injury of Felix Bautista hurt, but we all have learned that Texas was not to be denied.

The Atlanta Braves dominated all season but the same Phillies team that finished far behind them in the division got hot at the right time and blew right by them. Philadelphia’s only weak link was the former Brave Craig Kimbrel. For any team to face Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper to start their day requires courage and tenacity. Next year Harper will either have more experience at first base or he can return to right field and give the inconsistent Nick Castellanos a break. Their pitching was much stronger than I had anticipated. Relief dudes need to get better at holding base runners than burning holes in catchers’ mitts all around both leagues.

Houston battled all the way against the Rangers, Seattle, and even the Angels before slipping into first place at the end. We loved the way Dusty Baker worked Mauricio Dubon into just about an every day player and the continuing story of Jose Altuve‘s greatness. Jeremy Pena slipped a bit offensively after his big rookie season but is solid at shortstop, Martin Maldonado is an excellent player coach, and Alex Bregman is a player any manager would love to have . It is a roster full of stars, especially Yordan Alvarez, but the steady, nurturing hand of Baker will be missed. Don’t bet against them next year, though. In fact, despite the urging of Fan Dual and all of those other vampires, don’t bet.

What we liked best about the 2023 season was the emergence of the Arizona team. They are a bit old fashioned but in the best sense of the word. They run hard, steal bases, and chase down fly balls. They bunt effectively. They have youthful exuberance. They play defense well. They gave up a very good fundamental player in Daulton Varsho but got back in trade two gems in Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno. In other words, they have built a very good team and now the whole country has seen them at work. Corbin Carroll took a couple of games to get going in the LCS but watch out, he is rolling now.

Texas has power, starting pitching, and very good defense. Max Scherzer is a good addition and could, one way or the other, make the difference. They need a six run lead going to the seventh inning, but guess what? A lot of times they have it. Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim, and Josh Jung have all become nationally known names now. We already knew about Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi, and Jordan Montgomery.

This World Series could be one of the best.

Upon Further Review

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

What has been learned from watching major league baseball on television for the past six months? For one thing,we are reminded again that predictions made in April are almost always proven wrong by now. With a week and a half left in the regular season one merely has to look at the standings to affirm that. For another, I have learned that I should stay as far as possible away from Jim Beam bourbon whiskey or else I might find myself crooning “Sweet Caroline” with a room full of ugly people and thinking it was fun. So good, so good, so good.

Congratulations to fans of the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays who have watched their favorites climb to the top of the American League East. Here’s hoping that the Toronto Blue Jays can get in on the fun as well. Don’t worry, Yankees and Red Sox, ESPN and Fox still love you. It’s probably a safe assumption that Aaron Boone and Alex Cora will continue in their jobs as managers, but will they really want to?

Also, I have finally discovered an excellent way to keep my weight down. Just keep watching all of those fast food restaurant ads featuring unhealthy looking items of questionable nutrition. Also,I have learned that no matter what we are eating, there needs to be a dip of some sort to go with it.

Minnesota will be in the playoffs by not being as awful as the rest of the A.L. Central. They do have a reasonable facsimile of Carlos Correa.

It has really been fun following the A.L. West. Texas, Houston, and Seattle all have great rosters somewhat hampered by injuries and the competition has been exciting. A real race to the finish. I want all three teams to win it. The injuries to Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani have helped make the Bellflower Angels a sad story but Arte Moreno should have kept his word about selling the team. The Oakland story is the biggest bummer in baseball and it may get even worse before it gets better

Don’t you want to drive in a car commercial so that you can really be allowed to drive as fast as possible with no other cars on the road?

The National League East certainly did not go the way New York Mets fans and a number of experts planned, did it? We need to recognize the fact that the Atlanta Braves organization has been really good at assembling talent and brains. Philadelphia is plucky and strong but it’s hard to picture another strong finish like last year’s. Miami is up and coming but I really wish they would move to Havana. While we’re at it,let’s send the Rays to Puerto Rico. That would be really fun, and then we could change the the division name to the Roberto Clemente Division. Wait a minute, they are in different divisions. Bit of a geography lapse there.

The N.L. Central had a good race for most of the year. Milwaukee’s pitching helped them pull away as did the return of Willy Adames. Cincinnati, Chicago, and Pittsburgh all gave glimpses of how good things can happen if you develop young ballplayers as opposed to gambling on free agents.

In the N.L. West, the Dodgers proved again that money walks while BS talks, or is it the other way around? Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy almost do it all by themselves. The Arizona Diamondbacks are looming in the very near future however. They have put together a real team with speed,defense, and pitching. The Giants are confused and stumbling toward ineptitude. The Padres lost the contest to the Mets and Cardinals to see who would be the most disappointing team in 2023. The Rockies don’t seem to care.

Here’s an October prediction:the playoffs are going to be very interesting and will include no games in New York. Also, a lot of bad pizza and beer will be consumed.