Lee Lowenfish

As major league baseball passes the quarter-pole in the 2022 season, both the Yankees and the Mets have solid leads in their eastern divisions.  Neither success is that much of a surprise, but certainly a pleasant experience for fans of New York pro sports who have suffered greatly in recent years with the constant failures of the football Giants and Jets and the Knicks and the Nets.  

 

Expectation was high for the Nets but the Celtics wiped them out in four straight. I must say I almost enjoyed it because I don't like teams built from the top down with expensive free agents, especially one like self-absorbed Kyrie Irving who refused to get vaccinated and missed most of the season.   

 

Another positive development in Gotham this spring has been the emergence of a young and likable New York Rangers hockey team.  They knocked out the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round in a gripping seven-game series.  They have rallied to tie at two games apiece the Carolina Hurricanes with the pivotal fith game scheduled for tomorrow (Th night May 26).

 

I never learned to ice skate but as a fan of many sports, I say that there is nothing like the intensity of Stanley Cup hockey where there is no doubt that players are going all out to inscribe their name in undoubtedly sports' most captivating trophy.

 

I have never liked the term "warriors" to describe athletes who usually will have another season to try again, unlike real soldiers who may never come home.  But when you see the bloody faces of hockey players and their near-exhaustion, maybe warrior does fit them.

 

I saw my first major league game of the season at New Shea last Thursday afternoon May 19.  It was a dramatic encounter, won in the bottom of the 10th on a long Pete Alonso home run.  

It was very comforting to be in a crowd again - although with Covid-19 still a constant danger, I don't blame anyone for staying away. 

 

It was tonic for my soul to gaze upon the wonderful variety of fan affection for their heroes.  

I saw two Met fans sitting near the home dugout wearing Javier Baez jerseys, a homage to last season's rental who was only here for two months before signing a big free agent contract with the Tigers. (It is one of the season's early disappointments that the Tigers and their rival in the AL Central, Kansas City, are dong so poorly after signs of growth in 2021.)

 

I also saw a Cardinal fan wearing an Allen Craig jersey - a hero of many years ago who flamed out quickly.  An older woman sporting a gray ponytail and carrying a cane honored a more durable Cardinal hero with her jersey, Stan Musial.

 

I have not made a journey to Yankee Stadium yet but on the first Sunday in June, I will see them against the Tigers.  But I've been alerted that the game will start at 1135A as part of MLB's exclusive arrangement with NBC's Peacock streaming service. 

 

How many shekels baseball's moguls are receiving from its deals with "advanced media" is a highly-guarded secret.  It is obvious, though, that the inconvenience of early times to both fans and players was not a concern when MLB made this decision.

 

I mentioned Four Cheers in the title line for this blog so it is time to salute Columbia and Rutgers, two outstanding local baseball teams whose seasons are continuing.  My Lions pulled off a doubleheader sweep at Penn on Sunday May 22 to win their sixth Ivy League title

in the last fifteen years under the steady hand of coach Brett Boretti.  

 

I was a bit uneasy when they ran off 19 games in a row after losing their first series of the season to Penn at home. Baseball gods exist and you don't tempt with long streaks.  Sure enough, Dartmouth broke Columbia's streak in Hanover on the last weekend of the regular season. 

 

Then in the rubber match, the Big Green erased a 10-4 deficit in the eighth inning to win in the tenth inning.   It cost Columbia home field advantage against Penn for the best-of-three Ivy League Playoff.

 

After losing the first game at Penn, 13-4, this past Saturday May 21, the Lions shut down the powerful Quaker offense in the Sunday twinbill by the scores of 4-2 and 9-1. 

 

Nothing exemplifed the balance in their lineup than the 9-1 victory in which leadoff man Cole Hage drove in four runs and number nine hitter Austin Mowrey also drove in four. Coach Boretti's team now have an impressive 18-6 record in elimination games.

 

Down in New Brunswick, Rutgers set a school record with forty-one wins this season and they will have a number 2 seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament in Omaha. Rain has delayed the opening of the tourney until Th May 26.  

 

Maryland will be the top seed in the 8-team tourney with the winner getting an automatic bid to the competition leading up to the College World Series also in Omaha starting on June 17.  Who said that northeastern baseball can't hold its own against any region of the country? 

 

The sad one note in this blog is the loss of Roger Angell at the age of 101 on Friday May 20.  Beginning in the early 1960s, Angell's thoughtful and beautiful essays on baseball in "The New Yorker" were must-readings for baseball fans who appreciated good writing.   

 

He occasionally guested on my WBAI-Pacifica "Seventh Inning Stretch" baseball shows in the 1980s.  I will never forget his inviting me to the memorial for baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti at Carnegie Hall in November 1989.  Harvard man Angell shared a profound love for the game along with the former Yale classics professor and university president. 

 

That's all for now.  Don't forget Noir Alley on TCM Sat after midnight and repeated at 10A on Sunday.  May 28-29's offering is "Bad Day At Black Rock" (1955) with Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Spencer Tracy.  

 

The film is usually labeled a Western but I'm sure host Eddie Muller will inform us about its Noir attributes. Coming up on June 4-5 is a truly classic Noir, "Out of the Past" (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer.

 

Always remember: Take it easy but take it! 

On the first Saturday night of May on Star Wars Night at Camden Yards, struggling Dylan Bundy threw the best game of his career.  He pitched into the 8th inning to lead the Orioles to a 3-0 victory over the first place Tampa Bay Rays.

 
Last night (Mon May 6) rookie southpaw John Means contributed a similarly deep outing in a 4-1 victory over the Red Sox. Though my Birds seem consigned to permanent basement residence in  the AL East, they are now 13-22 and on a two-game winning streak.  Whoopee! and I am not being sarcastic.  

 
Two years ago harboring dreams of contention, the Orioles started 22-10 before reality set in.  They wound up 2017 under .500 setting the stage for the disastrous 47-115 of 2018.     

 
Allow me to note some cautiously hopeful signs for 2019.

 

**The overall defense is improved.

**Some decent offense has been provided (and good defense) by Blue Jays castoff outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. and young veteran Trey Mancini (gamely playing right field these days though better suited for first base). 

**Chris Davis is no longer an automatic out but certainly not yet a consistent threat.

**Rookie manager Brandon Hyde has the team playing hard if not always well or smart. 

Any solid hope will depend on the pitching staff.  Much has been expected of Dylan Bundy once a top pick in the draft.  His latest efforts have been encouraging.

 

Nothing was expected of John Means.  "I was never a prospect," he says, but he developed four pitches during his five-year minor league apprenticeship. So far he is rising to the occasion at the major league level.

 

A third starter veteran Andrew Cashner looks like he can provide five or six innings most of the time. Don't ask about where other starters will come from or what the bullpen will look like. Converted shortstop Mychal Givens has closer potential but hasn't shown consistency.

 

Repeat after me class - "If consistency were a place, it would be lightly populated." Don't know who coined the phrase but you can quote me.

 
One thing I've learned in nearly 70 years of intense baseball watching is that won-lost records don't mean much until at least Memorial Day weekend. In the 24/7/365 frenzied mass media world we live in today, it is a good point to remember. 

 
Good examples:  The once high-flying Seattle Mariners now limp towards .500 or worse.

The early promise of the Mets has sunk along with a record now below .500.

Turning to the much shorter season of college baseball, Columbia on Saturday May 4th earned its ticket into the Ivy League Championship Series with a 4-0 shutout in Philadelphia over perennial power Penn. 

 
Needing just one victory to make the playoffs, the Lions had lost four in a row. Gone was the hope of hosting the championship series that will now open at Harvard on Sa May 18.

 
The Lions faced elimination in Saturday's second game after a tough 5-2 loss in the first game when Penn got four runs in the bottom of the 8th. The Quakers had won a similar Winner Take All game two years ago. 

 
Short memories are so essential for baseball success. So senior righthander Ethan Abrams pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and junior southpaw Leo Pollack earned the save in a 4-0 win. Junior catcher Liam McGill delivered two RBI, a single in the first and a huge insurance HR in the eighth.  

 

It's been quite a run for the Lions under coach Brett Boretti now in his 14th season.  A win over Harvard in two weeks will mean the fifth Ivy League title in the last seven seasons for the native of the North Shore of Boston. Though he still roots for all New England pro teams, there is no doubt that proud alums and all fans of the Columbia Light Blue and White feel that he is the answer to the question posed in the great school fight song, "Who owns New York?" 

 
Harvard will provide stiff competition for Columbia as they seek to repeat their thrilling series win two weeks ago. They have a deep pitching staff and a formidable one-two punch  in senior first baseman Patrick McColl, in the running for the Golden Spikes award as college player of year, and junior right fielder Jake Suddleson.

 
In case of a split on Saturday May 18, there will be a winner take all game on May 19. Games can be seen on the paying service ESPN+ but this is a matchup I must see in person.

You'll read about it and other college baseball matchups in this area in future posts. 

 

There are at least two college tourneys in the NYC area before Memorial Day: Fordham's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx will host the Atlantic 10 tournament May 22-25. On the same days the MAAC will have their tourney at the Yankees' Staten Island ballpark.

 

Coming up in early June will be the PSAL high school championship game. More info on these matchups in the next post.

 

The NYC PSAL has been using wooden bats for several years now. Colleges still use composite bats. I don't like their ping sound any more than baseball purists do, but if you want to see baseball with plenty of hustle and stress on fundamentals, check out the college game.  

That's all for now!  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it!