Lee Lowenfish

I don't have a vote in Baseball Writers Association of America awards, but everyone with a computer has an opinion so why not me? 

 

I can understand why Pirates wunderkind pitcher Paul Skenes won the NL award over everyday outfielders Jackson Chourio of Brewers and Jackson Merrill of Padres. Skenes possesses generational talent and he is out of central casting as a former pitcher at Air Force Academy who is thinking of Air Force career after baseball.  (Not even mentioning his girl friend Olivia "Livvy" Dunne the gymnast who he probably met at LSU where he finished his college pitching career).

 

But the vote should have been much closer. I would have voted for Jackson Merrill because from day one of the season, the converted shortstop had a sensational year in center field for San Diego as well as contributing big time with his bat. Chourio finished strongly after a slow start but I think consistency especially in the young and promising player should be rewarded. 

 

In the much closer AL vote, I would have picked Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser for the same reason of consistency although he endured some droughts at the plate. The winner, Yankee RHP Luis Gil, slumped badly in the latter part of season and was basically a non-factor in the Yankees' surge to the AL East title.  His teammate catcher Austin Wells proved to be a better receiver than advertised though he slumped badly at end of season.

 

There is always room for improvement in the infinitely hard sport of baseball so I hope that Cowser can now concentrate more on striking out less - 172 times is Aaron Judge country and Cowser only hit 24 HRs to Judge's 58 in 2024. 

 

The losers in this year's competitions can take heart that the ROY title doesn't guarantee a great career.  I did some checking and since both leagues started awarding a ROY in 1949 - Jackie Robinson was the first ROY in 1947 and his future NY Giants rival shortstop Alvin Dark won in 1948 as a Boston Brave - here are the names of people who were ROYs but didn't have memorable careers:

 

Starting with P Harry Byrd in 1952, it goes through P Bob Grim, P Don Schwall, OF Curt Blefary, OF Joe Charbonneau, OF Ron Kittle, SS Pat Listach, OF Bob Hamelin, OF Marty Cordova, OF Ben Grieve, SS Angel Berroa, SS Bobby Crosby, P Huston Street, P Neftali Feliz, OF Will Myers (2013), and P Michael Fulmer in 2016. 

 

AL future H of Fers who were ROYs in alphabetical order: Luis Aparicio, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Derek Jeter, Eddie Murray, Tony Oliva, and Cal Ripken Jr.

I'm pretty sure that the list is shorter in the AL because its teams were late in racially integrating. 

 

Here's the larger list of NL future H of Famers in alphabetical order:  Jeff Bagwell, Johnny Bench, Orlando Cepeda, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey,

Frank Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Scott Rolen, Tom Seaver, and Billy Williams.   

 

There was no surprise in rookie Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt winning AL manager of the year in a landslide.  I think that the late season slump of the Royals cost Royals manager Matt Quatraro some votes.  I guess the consistent year of Pat Murphy's Brewers made him the NL choice but I certainly could argue for the Mets' Carlos Mendoza and the Padres' Mike Schildt. 

 

I wonder if it is time for two big awards to be given instead of one MVP.  Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were unanimous MVPs in AL and NL but I'd call them

Players of the Year for their outstanding performances.  As for MVP, I think Juan Soto was just or more valuable to Yanks than Judge.  Ditto Teoscar Hernandez for the Dodgers.  Interestingly, both of them are free agents. 

 

We'll see how that plays out in this year's installment of the Scott Boras Media Show.  I don't doubt that he cares for his clients very much.  But the less I hear in the off-season about the tens of millions being thrown around at free agents, the better my psyche will be.  I like to believe I'm rooting for people who care about winning as much as I do!     

 

 AND NOW TURNING TO HOOPS . . . 

I always love it when my teams not predicted to do anything in a season surprise the pundits and elate their world-weary fans.  My undergraduate alma mater Columbia's basketball team, under veteran coach Jim Engles, has gotten off to a 5-0 start. 

 

Early in Nov the Lions won convincingly on the road at Villanova, still adjusting to life without stellar coach Jay Wright who left the profession (at least for the time being) not being able to adjust to the new world of NIL (Name Image Likeness) benefits for players and expanded transfer portal rights.

Columbia plays Stony Brook at home on Sa Nov 23 at 7P followed by New Hampshire on M Nov 25 also at 7P. 

 

The Columbia women's team are defending co-Ivy League champion women's team. Plagued by poor foul shooting, they suffered their first loss last Saturday at Villanova but they bounced back at home against the University of Pacific. They play some big teams in the Bahamas this weekend including Indiana. 

 

Then they go to Duke on Dec 1 and return for their last home game in 2024 on Tu Dec 4 at 11A against U of San Francisco. Coach Megan Griffith has done a wonderful job of building a winning culture and this game is the annual game played in memory of coach Kay Yow with hundreds of NYC area school kids filling the stands to near-capacity.  

 

Last Friday, my graduate alma mater Wisconsin's cagers knocked over #10-ranked Arizona, 103-88, on the night that former coach Bo Ryan's banner was hoisted to the Kohl Center roof after his induction a few weeks ago into the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. 

 

Many of the players on Ryan's 2014-2015 back-to-back Final Four teams attended the game including 7 foot center Frank Kaminsky. Graduate transfer John Tongi threatened Kaminsky's school scoring record of 43, settling for 41 points in another all-around effort.  Picked for the middle of the Big Ten pack this year after the losses of point guard Chucky Hepburn to Louisville and peripatetic AJ Storr to Kansas, the Badgers are undefeated in the early going. 

 

The mosh pit that is the Big Ten regular season has yet to begin so I'm not getting too carried away with optimism.  Wisconsin started well last season too and then folded down the stretch and was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  But there is some cautious hope that the current team has a workable mix of veterans and newcomers to make the season exciting. 

 

They need more consistency from the front court. Ah that word again. It was a sport psycholgist that Greg Gard hired to speak to one of his teams a few years ago that famously said:  "If consistency were an island, it would be lightly populated.   

 

In the early going neither Hepburn nor Storr are doing great things for their new teams, Lousiville and Kansas, respectively. When you go back to his high school years, Storr is now playing for his 7th team in the last 7 seasons. 

 

Like stratospheric salaries for pro players, I don't begrudge amateur players taking advantage of the long-delayed freedoms from NCAA control, but many should realize that there is some truth in the old adage: "The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence." 

 

On the distaff side in Madison, I'm happy to report that under former UConn star Marisa Moseley, Wisconsin women's basketball is off to a 4-1 start. It's the early going of course but they beat Georgetown on the road and so far are undefeated at home.

 

I root vigorously for my alma maters but it's nice to report that in a NYC area where the pro football teams are in dire shape, other college hoops programs are off to undefeated starts - Rutgers and St. John's high among them.  And the NYU women are starting the season obviously determined to successfully defend 

the school's first national basketball title.  They play Colby College from Maine on Su Nov 24 at 2P in the heart of Greenwich Village on Mercer Street one block north of Houston Street and one block west of Broadway.

 

AND ABOUT THE GRIDIRON . . . 

Columbia under first-year coach Jon Poppe enters the Sa Nov 23 noon matchup with Cornell with a chance to tie for their first Ivy League title since 1961 when your correspondent was a callow sophomore.  Yale must upset Harvard in The Game for the tie to happen.  Whatever, at 6-3 the Lions are assured of a winning

season.  

 

On Sat night Nov 16 before a national TV audience, Wisconsin Badger football almost pulled the major upset of the season, leading #1 in the country Oregon by 7 points going into the 4th quarter.  But the resourceful Ducks rallied for a tying touchdown not long after the sold-out crowd did the Jump-Around at the beginning of the final quarter.  Dan Lanning's team had prepared in practice by playing an approximation of the noise generated by the longtime Badger tradition. 

 

Once again Luke Fickell's team, especially the offense, proved not ready for prime time.  Firing his hand-picked offensive coordinator Phil Longo after the Oregon loss smacks of desperation.  We'll see how they do in their last games against Nebraska and Minnesota.  Their 22-year consecutive bowl streak is in jeopardy as if a program that dreamt of the college playoff should be satisfied with the sub-runnerup bowls. 

 

A last cultural note.  Went to my first NY Philharmonic concert of the season last week - Young Finnish conductor Matias Rouvali conducted a stirring version of his national hero Sibelius's Fifth Symphony which has opened new doors into my musical consciousness.  I am looking forward to the night before Thanksgiving when the program includes Chopin's Second Piano Concerto and one of my all time favorite pieces, Rachmaninoff's Symphony #2 with the lush and lyrical slow movement that inspired the popular song "I'll Never Love Again".  

 

Here's hoping you do love again, dear readers, and always remember:  Take it easy but take it! And still stay positive, test negative.

 

 

 

I must admit that I've come down with a real case of March Madness.  I don't bet, I don't intend to bet, and I don't make up brackets for either the men's or the women's tournaments. 

 

But there is something intoxicating about the winner-take-all atmosphere that will dominate the sports scene into the first days of April. I'm especially thrilled that my two favorite teams, Columbia women and Wisconsin men, are still alive and dreaming of advancing. 

 

I attended the Ivy League tournament this past weekend, held for the first time at my alma mater's Levien Gym that was pretty much filled to the rafters with almost 3000 people.  There was disappointment on Saturday afternoon when perennial Ivy League women's champion Princeton proved too much for Columbia, who shared the regular season title with the Tigers. On this afternoon Princeton dominated in a 75-58 whipping.

 

The crowd did its best, shouting "De-fense! De-fense!" in the first minute and reviving it even in the second half when the outcome was clear. The gloom over the next 24 hours turned to elation when Columbia was selected to play against Vanderbilt in a play-in game.

 

It will be on Wed Mar 20 at 9p on ESPNU (channel 370 on Spectrum in Manhattan).  It marks the first NCAA tournament appearance ever for the Lions who have come a long way under Megan Griffith, a passionate and talented coach now in her 8th year. She was a 1000 point scorer during her Columbia playing career and after playing as a pro overseas she served as a Princeton assistant coach. 

 

The Vanderbilt game gives the nation another chance at seeing Columbia's all-around senior guard Abbey Hsu. A four-year starter who has improved each season, she is a quiet leader who leads by example.  She has the kind of shot and follow-through that, as Griffith says, you will see it today and then three months later, it will look exactly the same.  

 

The earlier game this Wed at 7p on ESPNU will feature the Presbyterian Blue Hose from Clinton, SC, v the Sacred Heart Pioneers from Fairfield, CT.  The winner of Columbia-Vanderbilt will play Baylor on Fri at 6p on ESPNU. The Sacred Heart-Presbyterian winner will face overall number 1 seed the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks on Fri at 2p on ESPN. 

 

On Sat Mar 23 at 530p on ESPN2, Princeton will meet West Virginia at Iowa City. 

Earlier on Sat, Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes will meet a play-in winner at 3p on ABC. 

 

In the second round a possible matchup looms between Iowa and Princeton.  The Ivy League champ has beaten top teams in prior tournaments so

Princeton will not be an easy game for any opponent. First things first in March Madness, win the game today!

 

On Sat at 130p on ESPN, the undefeated Fairfield Stags from Fairfield, CT  take on Indiana in Bloomington

30 minutes earlier, perennial contender/often champion UConn Huskies take on Jackson State in Storrs. 1p on ABC.

 

On the Division III side, the NYU Violets completed their 31-game undefeated season by bringing home the title to Greenwich Village with two impressive wins. They handled defending champion the Transylvania U. Pioneers, 57-42, in the semi-final, thereby breaking the Kentucky school's 64-game winning streak. The following night Sat Mar 16, NYU held off the Smith College Pioneers, 51-41, to win their first national title since 1997 and 2nd overall in the school's history.   

 

There is plenty of news on the men's side of March Madness. In the men's final of the Ivy tournament at Columbia, the Yale Bulldogs won the title in dramatic fashion by beating the upset-minded Brown Bears, 62-61. Conquerors of top-seeded Princeton, Brown could not hold a 6-point lead in the last minute. A deadly elixir of missed foul shots, two timely Yale three-pointers, and a lay-in as time ran out led to a very painful loss for the men from Providence RI.

 

Under longtime coach James Jones, Yale has won games in March Madness and they have enough balance to cause trouble for any team.

On Fri Mar 22 they play the Auburn Tigers, alma mater of Charles Barkley and football/baseball legend Bo Jackson, at 415p on TNT.

    

A special shout-out to Wagner College of Staten Island whose men will also compete in a play-in game:

Tues Mar 19 245p on CBS against Howard of Washington DC (a school named after Oliver O. Howard who was the first director of the Freedmen's Bureau formed after the Civil War - a little dose of history in this vital year of 2024 always seems necessary). 

The winner goes against formidable 4th national seed North Carolina on Th Mar 21 245p CBS.

 

Here's a kudo to the Wagner band that performed very capably during the Princeton-Columbia game.  It is a band for hire, I learned, and they completed a reamrkable week of playing in four other tournaments!  

 

The Wisconsin men Badgers have recovered from a ghastly 3-8 finish to the regular season to garner a 5 seed and will play the James Madison Dukes from Harrisonburg, Virginia on Friday night Mar 22 at 940p on CBS.  I had a chance to see them in person at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn but the upper deck at that dimly-lit home of the Brooklyn Nets is much too steep for my unsteady gait and balance to deal with.

 

I hope 7-foot Steven Crowl will want to shoot the basketball and grab the defensive rebound with two hands which he didn't do at two crucial points in the loss to formidable Illinois in the Big Ten tourney final on St. Patrick's Day. Normally a fairly reliable rebounder, Crowl on two crucial plays slapped at the ball, tipping it to where alert Illini players regained possession and converted key baskets in a hard-fought 93-87 victory that allowed Illinois to cut down the nets in celebration.

 

Ah the rituals of sports that we have lost touch with in this age of analytics where legions of young men and women are looking at computer screens and other new-fangled devices and losing sight of the powerful drama and the tactile pleasures of rituals.

 

On the positive side for Wisconsin, the return of an aggressive Chucky Hepburn has been a wonderful development.  He is a remarkable point guard, a junior from Omaha Nebraska who has had to deal with a personal tragedy - his best friend was killed during Hepburn's freshman season.  When he is looking to score as well as to pass and play his devilish "hand-is-quicker-than-eye" defense, he adds so much to the Badger cause.

 

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME! 

Time now for some college baseball talk.  Kudos to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights who returned from their pre-Big Ten season southern trip with a 13-6 record and a 3-game winning streak.  Shortstop Josh Kuroda-Grauer was named Big Ten player of the week for his stellar play.

 

Rutgers plays 6 games at home at Bainton Field this week, starting with:

Tu Mar 19 at 3p vs. Rider Broncs of Trenton NJ

W Mar 20 3p vs. Lafayette Leopards from Easton PA

F thru Su Mar 22, 23, 24 against Connecticut Huskies

     F at 4p, Sa at 2p, Su at 1p.

Tu Mar 26 3p NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology)

 

After a winless road trip to California and East Carolina (not uncommon in the career of highly successful Lions coach Brett Boretti who stresses playing a tough non-league schedule), Columbia hosts contenders Harvard and defending champion Penn the last two weekends in March.

Sat Mar 23 1130a and approximately 3p - twinbill against harvard,  Sun noon Mar 24 single game.  Sat weather looks rainy so checking with

gocolumbialions.com a good idea before you make the trek to Satow Stadium, just north of the Baker Field complex.

 

Sat Mar 30 1130 & approx. 3p Penn twinbill - Sun Mar 31 noon single game. 

 

More on the other college teams in NYC area including St. John's, Seton Hall, and Manhattan in the next posts.

 

As far as pro baseball in NY, the long 162-game season starts with Mets at home first against the Milwaukee Brewers

Th Mar 28 110p  After an off-day, they finish with the Brew Crew Sat Sun and then Detroit Tigers come in Apr 1-3.

 

The Yankees start on the road in Houston and Arizona and then open at home against Toronto. 

Opening Day Apr 5 at 110 and then no day off but a rare Sa night Apr 6 at 710 followed by Sun at 110. 

Marlins come in Apr 8-10 and Yankees are away until Rays come in Apr 19-21. 

 

With so many - too many, I say - teams eligible for post-season play now, our old great game aint what it used to be.

The Dodgers and Padres will be playing games that count in Seoul, Korea as early as Mar 20 and Mar 22.  They call it "growing the game"

and both owners and players are in agreement on this (although the players cannot like the huge amount of travel so early in season). 

 

I would love to see baseball return to its 154-game schedule or preferably less.  But no one is even talking about it and there is a limit to how

many windmills I can tilt against.  So let me conclude as I have done since the pandemic by urging "Stay positive, test negative," and

as always, there remains nothing as good as the advice:  "Take it easy but take it."