Lee Lowenfish

"The only problem with baseball is that someone must lose every day," a veteran baseball scout once wisely noted.  I definitely wanted the Braves to knock out the heavily favored haughty Dodgers in the NLCS, and was happy for Dusty Baker that the Astros eliminated the Bosox.   

 

With the glamor teams gone, I now face a quandary. I guess I'll root for six or seven games and may the games be as memorable as a lot of the NLCS and ALCS were. 

 

Both series went six games and each contained plenty of wonderful unpredictable baseball drama.  It looked like the loss of Houston's number one starter Lance McCullers Jr. would doom the Astros and they did fall behind Boston's explosive offense two games to one.

 

Then, their unheralded young starters, Dominican Republic native Framber Valdez and Venezuelan Luis Garcia, flushed from their memory ineffective performances in the first games in Houston and stepped up big time in the unfriendly confines of Fenway Park.

All of a sudden Boston's bats went silent including that of the amazing ex-Dodger Enrique "Kike" Hernandez.

 

Valdez and Garcia were obviously given confidence boosters by manager Dusty Baker and pitching coach Brent Strom, two baseball lifers in their early 'seventies. How can any longtime baseball fans not like these guys?  And what better leaders to guide the team after the sign-stealing scandal of 2017 that wasn't uncovered until two years later.

 

Strom came up with the Mets but never won a game for them.  He went 22-39 in his MLB career, pitching mainly for his home town San Diego Padres.  In 1978 he became the second pitcher to undergo Tommy John elbow surgery but he never returned to the majors.  

 

He has since become a widely-respected coach. This year he has been working wonders with a largely farm-developed staff along with some trade additions like closer Ryan Pressly and set-up man Kendall Graveman. 

 

Manager Dusty Baker, born Johnnie Baker Jr, is closing in on almost 2,000 regular season victories. He has taken five teams to the post-season but this will be only Baker's second World Series adventure as a manager. 

 

A master story teller, Baker recently told AP sportswriter Kristie Rieken that after losing as Giants skipper the hard-fought 2002 7-game World Series to the Angels. Baker's father groused to him that he would never have another chance at a Series win. 

 

Johnnie Baker Sr. was a career military man and a practitioner of tough love. He coached his son in Little League as well as Bobby Bonds, Barry's father. Baker Sr. died a few years ago but Dusty feels he is looking down over him.  

 

So is Henry Aaron who was Baker's mentor when Dusty signed with the Braves in 1967 and reached the majors to stay in 1972.  Aaron promised Dusty's mother he would look over her son and he certainly did.   

 

In addition to Brent Strom. the Astros possess other fine coaches.  Joe Espada, Joe Girardi's bench coach with the Yankees, has the same role in Houston.

  

Former fine center fielder Gary Pettis just came back to the team after extensive treatments for myeloma. He's not ready to return to his third base post, but he will be a presence in the dugout.

 

Gary's son, Dante Pettis, plays for the New York football Giants and threw and caught a pass from Giant QB Daniel Jones this past Sunday in what turned out to be a rare easy victory for the 2-5 Giants over the Carolina Panthers.

 

I love these connections in sports.  One of the Astros' hitting coaches is Troy Snitker, 32, the son of Braves manager Brian Snitker.  Brian, 66, is another baseball lifer who is impossible to dislike. He was hired by Hank Aaron when the Hammer was the Braves farm director.

 

Snitker's base coaches, Ron Washington, 73, and Eric Young Sr. (the former Rutgers and Dodgers infielder-outfielder), are brimming with passion for teaching the game.   

 

The NY Times reporter Scott Miller wrote a wonderful story over the weekend about Washington's teaching infield fundamentals via pepper, the oft-forgotten drill that keeps players on their toes by having someone batting balls to them as they gather closely together in a circle.  

 

It is hard to recall two better collections of infielders than the ones we will see in this Series. The Astros feature at the corners Alex Bregman and Cuban Yuri Gurriel, the NL batting champion.  The double-play combo is Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve.

 

The Braves have two MVP candidates at the corners, young Austin Riley at third and Freddie Freeman at first.  Dansby Swanson at short and Curacao native Ozzie Albies are superlative at their positions, and all eight of them can really hit, too.

 

There was a touching moment before Game 1 of the NLCS when Atlanta's former star center fielder Dale Murphy went to the mound to throw out the first ball.  Arriving wearing his #3 jersey, he suddenly took it off to reveal underneath the late Henry Aaron's #44. And beneath that, he displayed Austin Riley's #27.

 

One important question about the coming World Series will be:  Can Houston's Yordan Alvarez, another Cuban who was signed as a teenager by the Dodgers, and Atlanta's Eddie Rosario from Puerto Rico keep up their fantastic hitting?  Both hit over .500 in the previous series and were rightly named MVPs. 

 

Another interesting side story is how will LSU's Alex Bregman, a shortstop in college, fare against Vanderbilt's Dansby Swanson.  They went 1-2 in the 2015 amateur draft and Bregman wears #2 as a motivator because Swanson was the number one pick in the country.  

 

I hope the starting pitchers carry good enough stuff to go at least into the

sixth or seventh innings. Series opener Charlie Morton and the youngsters Max Fried and Ian Anderson may be capable of doing it.  Ditto Houston's Valdez and Garcia.  

 

It will be intriguing to see if Will Smith the Braves' lefthanded closer who excelled against

LA can keep up his good work against Houston.  He is known to get into jams. 

 

Can the other lefties in the bullpen, AJ Minter and Tyler Matzek, keep up their fine work?

 

It is not just 20/20 hindsight to say that LA lost the NLCS when they made the odd choice of calling on Mexican Julio Urias, baseball's only 20-game winner in 2021, to try to save Game 1 in Atlanta. He hadn't pitched in relief all season and he couldn't hold the lead. 

 

Max Scherzer, the trade deadline acquisition and likely future Hall of Famer, never fully recovered from his saving the game that eliminated the surprising Giants in the earlier divisional series.  He made only one start in the NLCS and couldn't answer the bell for Game 6.  

 

Kudos to Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez, a onetime LA Dodger, who in the pre-game show on TBS before Game 6 expressed his fervent wish that the Dodgers' analytics department will have to answer to their strange decisions on turning starters into closers and turning over entire crucial games to "openers" and "bulk relievers".

 

I just hope we see memorable baseball in the climactic week of the season. If there are no rain postponements, the Series will shift to Atlanta for the three weekend games after an off day on Thursday.  If games 6 and 7 are needed in Houston, they will be on Election Day Tuesday and Wed Nov 3.  All games starting after 8p EDT.

 

I will grit my teeth and try to blot out the political grandstanding that already is happening in the state of Georgia and probably soon in flamingly red state Texas. 

Before the final game against the Dodgers, the Braves hired country singer Travis Tritt to sing the National Anthem despite his outspoken opposition to vaccine mandates. 

 

It must have been a deliberate slap by Braves management of baseball commissioner Rob Manfred who had ordered the All-Star Game out of Atlanta because of Georgia's passage of voter restriction laws. Manfred has also demanded strict enforcement of Covid protocols since the virus broke out.   

 

All the games will be on Fox TV which means there will a lot of superficial comment from Joe Buck,  forced laughter from the pre-game trio of David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, and Frank Thomas, and only an occasional insight from Buck's sidekick John Smoltz.

 

And now here is one closing baseball quote.  Daisuke Matsusaka, 41, the former Red Sox pitcher, retired last week, pitching one inning in a planned goodbye in his native Japan. In his farewell statement, Dice-K wrote, "I want to thank my wife, my kids, my parents, everyone who was part of my life, even opposing fans who hated me."   

 

That's all for now.  Next time some more as the NYC cultural scene comes back to life with live performances.  In the meantime, always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and

Stay Positive, Test Negative! 

 

On Su August 22, Miguel Cabrera became the 28th member of the very exclusive 500 home run club when he homered to right field in Toronto off the former Met southpaw Steven Matz  (Not to worry about Matz who has had a fine year with double-digit wins for the Blue Jays.)

 

After the day game of Tu Sep 21, Cabrera is just 21 hits shy of 3,000 that when it makes it, probably early in 2022 season, he will be only the 7th member of that even more exclusive club. Albert Pujols was the last member to join, preceded (alphabetically) by Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, and Alex Rodriguez. 

 

Cabrera, a native of Maracay, Venezuela, rocketed on the scene as a 20-year-old on the 2003 World Series-winning Florida Marlins.  A Detroit Tiger since 2008, Cabrera's presence as a first baseman/DH has been an important factor in Detroit's return to respectability. 

 

The Tigers are ending the season winning series from all contenders. Though September results are usually suspect, Detroit has been playing over-.500 baseball since early summer. They may well have established themselves as a future contender in a wide-open AL Central. 

 

I recently heard MLB commentators John Smoltz and Carlos Pena rave about Miggy's preparation.  They said he goes to spring training with the goal of having experienced every kind of uncomfortable at-bat he will face once the regular season begins. 

 

Eg., a broken bat, a pitch on the hands, a pitch hit at the end of the bat, everything that will prepare him for the grind ahead. If you want to know why he is so calm at the plate on a two-strike count, he is prepared for everything.  No wonder he will finish his career with the very-rare-these-days batting average of over .300.

 

Here's another tribute -- to former Oriole (and earlier Met and Expo) outfielder Ken Singleton who since his retirement after the 1984 season has become an excellent color

commentator. 

 

On the Yankees' visit to Baltimore last week, Singleton probably delivered his last Yankee broadcast on the YES Network.  He almost retired after last season but was coaxed back with a shorter schedule in 2021. 

 

In an age of increasing happy talk in the booth, not often about baseball, Singleton was always an exception.  As a fan of the Orioles for over a half-century, I always ate up Singleton's stories about playing for irascible, savvy manager Earl Weaver. 

 

One year when he was barely hitting .200 on Memorial Day, Earl called Ken into his office.   "Are you sick?" Weaver demanded.

"No," Singleton replied.  

"Are you tired?"  

Same answer from Ken.  

"Well, I'm sick and tired of watching you at the plate," Weaver fumed.

 

Last week Singleton told two more beauties about teammates.  

 

One day when Nolan Ryan was scheduled to pitch, second baseman Bobby Grich phoned in sick. The day after, he returned ready to play.  Singleton said Grich's teammates dubbed his illness a case of 24-hour Ryanitis. 

 

Another time when the Orioles were mired in a losing streak, fiery catcher Rick Dempsey stormed into the clubhouse fuming about the team's lack of passion. 

"We're acting like this is a country club," he bellowed, throwing his glove into his locker. When it landed, Singleton chuckled, a bunch of golf clubs fell out of Dempsey's cubicle. 

 

I'm gonna miss Singleton's knowledge of the game and his stories and his refreshing lack of the entitlement that seems to be part of the Yankee DNA on all levels. 

 

The dog days of summer are over and the sprint to the wire on closing day Sunday October 3 is at hand.  The Cardinals in the NL have seized the wild-card lead by three games.  

 

Although they are playing the Milwaukee Brewers in six of their remaining games, they already won the first one on Mon night Sept 20 at Milwaukee.  They seem to have the momentum with veteran starting pitching led by veteran Adam Wainwright.  

 

The 3-2-5 double play that Paul Goldschmidt, Yadier Molina, and Nolan Arenado turned against the Mets in a tied game in the bottom of the 9th during the Redbirds

recent sweep of the New Yorkers on the road was a thing of beauty.  

 

I don't think either the Dodgers or the Giants want to face Wainwright in a one-game wild card playoff but it looks like that might well happen.

 

Meanwhile another bird team is in flight in the AL.  Not my Orioles, who have been

swept EIGHTEEN times this year on their way to their third 100-loss season in a row, but the Toronto Blue Jays.  

 

If Toronto gets effective pitching, they could keep their current razor-thin one game edge to host the wild-card game against either the Red Sox or the Yankees.  I think the A's and the surprising Mariners have too much ground to make up. They still have to play each other five more times, perhaps knocking each other out. 

 

The winner of the AL wild card will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS best-of-five.

The other series is pretty much set - the slumping injury-riddled yet potentially dangerous White Sox face the Houston Astros with third baseman Alex Bregman recovered from injury and in the lineup and manager Dusty Baker vying for his first World Series championship ring.

 

In the NL, the wild card winner will face the NL West winner, either the Dodgers, who have to be favored now with Clayton Kershaw back on the mound and a fairly healthy Mookie

Betts back in the lineup. Maybe the Giants, who NOBODY picked to contend in 2021, can still work their amazing magic with its enticing mixture of veterans and youngsters.

 

In the other matchup, the likely NL East-winning Atlanta Braves should go up against the Milwaukee Brewers who coasted to the NL Central title.  

 

Meanwhile perhaps there is perhaps a glimmer of hope in the Orioles future.  We'll take any flicker these days.  The Double A Bowie Bay Sox knocked the Yankees' Somerset Patriots out of the playoffs by beating the Pirates' Altoona Curve.

 

Starting Tu Sep 21, the Baysox will now face the conquerors of Somerset, Cleveland's Akron Rubber Decks in a best-of-five series.   And in low Single A, the O's Delmarva Shorebirds destroyed the Salem (Virginia) Red Sox's playoff hopes though not making the dance itself. 

 

"Never grow accustomed to the emotions of continuous defeat" was a plea that Branch Rickey often invoked to keep the losing teams he shepherded at the beginning and end of his career.   So I'm glad that at least at the minor league level, there has been some winning going on as the Baltimore organization tries to arise from its sinkhole of ineptitude. 

 

Here's a quick reminder that on Th Sept 23 TCM shows the 1970s fantasy "Rollerball" at 8P  and "Kansas City Bomber" at 1015P.  

 

Sunday Sept 26 at 1130A "Easy Living" (1949) with Victor Mature as a LA Ram with a heart condition who cardiologist Jim Backus (!) urges to give up the game.  There is an excellent cast including Lucille Ball, Lloyd Nolan, Jack Paar, Lisabeth Scott, Sonny Tufts, and Kenny Washington playing himself  (Don't blame me for the last scene, puhleeze!) 

 

It precedes Noir Alley's "Hell Bound" at 10A, a 1957 72 minute feature aka "Cargo X" and "Dope Ship".

 

Tu Sep 28 at 8A Burt Lancaster as "Jim Thorpe All American" followed by a classic 1947 noir set in prison, "Brute Force" directed by Jules Dassin starring Burt Lancaster. 

 

Later that night at 630p there is the silent film classic "The Freshman" as Harold Lloyd tries his hand at football. 

 

That's all for now - always remember:  Stay positive test negative, and take it easy but take it!