Lee Lowenfish

During the 11 PM hour on Oct 24th, the Arizona Diamondbacks shocked the world by eliminating the Philadelphia Phillies and setting up an All-Wild Card and All-Expansion Team World Series against the Texas Rangers (a francise born as the second Washington Senators in 1961) starting on Friday Oct 27 at 8p EDT on FOX.

 

The international trend of today's baseball couldn't have been more on display as the MVPs in each league's Championship Series hail from outside the USA. Rangers' right fielder Adolis Garcia, 30, grew up in Ciego De Avila, Cuba, and the Diamondbacks' switch-hitting second baseman Ketel Marte (Valdez), also 30, comes from Nizao, Dominican Republic. 

 

Nobody talks about October 24th being United Nations Day any more, but I am old enough to remember United Nations Day being celebrated at my small public school in midtown Manhattan.  We sang "The United Nations March" written by great Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.  It began, "The sun and the stars are all shining," and continued, "A hymn to a new world in birth." 

 

That age of hope sure didn't last, did it? The UN and the very idea of a UN is in dire straits these days, but I've always believed that a baseball field suggests harmony more than any political structure.  There is a left-center-and-right in both baseball and a legislature, but to hit consistently in the gaps and up the middle remains the best strategy in both our beloved game and politics.  Even though we are not in a pleasant political place these days - to understate our situation I know - I still believe in the analogy.  

 

So let's now hail some of the young international stars whose talents will be on display in the World Series. The Diamondbacks starting catcher Gabriel Moreno, 23, is from Barquisimeta, Venezuela. He may be the toughest hombre still playing in 2023, surviving many recent injuries, one nearly a concussion, to shine this post-season on both sides of the ball. 

 

Arizona left fielder Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., 30, is part of the first family of recent Cuban baseball.  Older brother Yuli Gurriel played for last year's Houston World Series winners and this year for the Miami Marlins. The defection of the Gurriels from Cuba earlier this century was a devastating blow to the Cuban National Team. 

 

What a steal the Diamondbacks pulled off last off-season when they received from Toronto both Gurriel and Moreno in a trade for journeyman outfielder Daulton Varsho.  I understand that the Blue Jays had a backog at catcher but choosing to keep Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jansen - the latter was hurt for crucial parts of this season - now looks like a serious misjudgment.  

 

Every successful team has happy stories like this. I'm pretty sure famed Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy was not a baseball fan, but what he said about all happy families are alike and all unhappy families are unhappy in unique ways sure holds for baseball teams.

 

You cannot talk about the rise of the Diamondbacks - sometimes called Snakes and Serpientes - without mentioning outfielder Corbin Carroll, 23, odds-on favorite to be NL Rookie of the Year.  He comes from Seattle and early on fell in love with Ichiro (Suziki) watching from the upper right field stands the Mariners' great import from Japan.  His game is beginning to remind people of Ichiro's, a deserved compliment.

 

Here's another happy Arizona story - Merrill Kelly, 35, one of the two aces on the pitching staff along with the much younger Zac Gallen.  Kelly, a native of Houston, spent three years playing baseball in the Korean pro league before Arizona brought him back to the States. 

 

I've lauded the Orioles' own 35-year-old finesse pitcher Kyle Gibson many times in this blog for explaining pitching very accessibly to the lay person. Merrill Kelly shared similar insights during the NLCS:  "I have to live on the edges [of the strike zone]," he said. "I make a living by having people [batters] make decisions [on what to swing at]."

 

The Texas Rangers are a less surprising entrant to the World Series because they led the AL West for much of the season until injuries and pitching woes relegated them to a wild card. But like Arizona they had to win the last two games on the road to dethrone the defending world champion Houston Astros.

 

Adolis Garcia was a no-brainer choice for ALCS MVP with his monster homers and fierce presence. The Rangers have another international presence in center fielder Leody Taveras (Salazar), 25, who hails from Tenares, Dominican Republic.  As a key setup man, they have Aroldis Chapman, 35, the former Yankee southpaw from Holguin, Cuba, who is guaranteed to make life interesting for both sides.   

 

On paper, the Rangers look deeper on both sides of the ball, but after sweeping the Brewers and Dodgers and eliminating last year's NL champion Phillies in a seven-game thriller, don't count out Arizona.  If they lose this weekend's two games in Dallas, they can easily say, "We've got them where we want

them on." 

 

That's all for now but here's this weekend's Nor Alley tip - Blake Edwards' "Experiment in Terror" from 1962-63 sometimes called a Hitchcock film that Alfred Hitchcock didn't make.  Lee Remick is stalked by a phone caller (Ross Martin), her sister Stefanie Powers is scared too, and Glenn Ford,

who in real life was a Canadian which may explain his no-nonsense mien, is a policeman trying to help.  The last scene is set in Candlestick Park,

no more spoilers.  Sat Oct 28 at 12M, repeated Su at 10A on TCM.    

 

Always remember - take it easy but take it,  and stay positive, test negative.  I'm happy to report that I am feeling better but always have masks

handy for outdoor/indoor excursions. 

 

 

The youth, speed, and grit of the 2023 Birds have won me over. No more Woerioles but increasingly Wowrioles. I'm posting on the Monday off-day before they come into Yankee Stadium for three night games against the resurgent Yankees.

There are 115 games left in regular season so a lot can happen, good and bad, but a 31-16 record, to use Phil Rizzuto's term, is not too shabby.

 

RHP Kyle Gibson is at 35 the oldest member of the team and the veteran has become the leader of the pitching staff. 

The title of this post comes from an interview he gave last week to sportswriter Steve Melewski of masnsports.com 

 

In addition to urging his young teammates to avoid the madness of social media, Gibson shared some of the quiet advice he has given rookie teammate Grayson Rodriguez, billed as the best pitching prospect in the majors but who is yet to establish consistency.

 

Among Gibson's words of wisdom: 

**Triple-A hitters face you as an individual. They are not meeting beforehand as a team to help the team win by exposing your weaknesses. In the majors, "Your bad stuff at this level gets exposed."

 

He ended with this sage observation: "Here it's trying to figure out how to limit the damage when you are bad, how to maximize when you are average, and how not to mess it up when you are having a really good day." 

These almost fatalistic comments reminds me of the sub-title to Joe Maddon's fine new book, "The Book of Joe", written with Tom Verducci: "Trying Not To Suck At Baseball and Life." 

 

Gibson was once a number one draft pick himself, in 2009 by the Twins out of the University of Missouri, the alma mater BTW of Max Scherzer who turned pro in 2006.  Gibson doesn't have the stuff or the reputation of a Scherzer, but there is nothing like veteran leadership behind the scenes - it is maybe the key contribution to a winning culture. 

 

Here are some other impressions about the MLB season as we are past the quarter-pole of the regular season.

**The AL East could be the first division ever to finish with every team having a winning record.  Now in the basement, the Blue Jays, losers of 9 out of 10 recent games to Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox, would be near the top in the AL and NL Central. 

 

Toronto might take solace in the old baseball adage, "You're never as good as you look when you are winning or as bad as you look when you are losing." But pessimists say: "You could be as bad as you look when you are losing."

 

Certainly Vlad Guerrero Jr. will certainly start to hit again and with George Springer and Bo Bichette ahead of him in lineup and Matt Chapman looming below that's an impressive group. Catchers Alejandro Kirk and Danny Jarsen are good bats,

too - Jansen's extra-inning home run against the Yankees won the only game Toronto picked up in this horrendous stretch.

 

(A wonderful detail I heard on an Oriole broadcast some years ago is that Jansen's parents housed retired Oriole star Adam Jones when he was starting out on his career as a Seattle minor leaguer.)  

 

Fans are filling Toronto's Rogers Center for a team that also looks pretty good on the pitching side.  They are dying to forget another hockey collapse in the playoffs that gave life to the old saying" "Toronto is the only city where the Leafs fall in April." (Sorry, couldn't resist a good joke.)   Toronto plays four in Tampa Bay starting tonight and they need a good showing against the top team in the division. 

 

**As for the other MLB teams, Oakland is an embarrassment with only 10 wins after games of April 21. For

Colorado, Kansas City, and White Sox, the playoffs already look out of sight.  At least Kansas City has some promising young players led by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., drafted 2nd after Adley Rutschman in the 2019 draft. 

 

Speaking of my favorite subject and their star catcher, Adley has now played a full season from late May 2022 to late May 2023. The Birds are 90-60 since his arrival, not a coincidence. 

 

Mets fans will be surprised to learn that new backup catcher James McCann has played very well, too.  His good hitting seasons are probably in the past, but his skilled receving has added another effective piece to this year's team. 

Not enough can be said about the emergence of center fielder Cedric Mullins on both sides of the ball.  More on his achievements in later posts. 

 

On the college scene, Columbia lost to Penn and Princeton in the first-ever four team double elimination Ivy League playoff. At home on Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium, Penn pounded its way to the title and will ride a huge winning streak and 33-14 overall record (16-5 in the Ivies) into the regional tourney.  Seedings announced on Memorial Day Monday leading to the mid-June College World Series in Omaha. 

 

After a slow start to season, Rutgers finished strong and will open Big Ten Tournament as #5 seed against #4 Nebraska on Wed May 24 at 2p.  Top-seeded Maryland plays #8 Michigan State at 6p on Tues May 23.  All games will be televised on Big

Ten Network and available on Fox Sports app.  Games will be played in same stadium as the CWS final round. 

 

Finally on the NYC high school scene, the PSAL Triple AAA playoffs - representing the largest schools - open play on Wed afternoon May 24 after 330p.  The final will be on Mon June 12 at Yankee Stadium.  More on that in future blogs.

 

For now, take it easy but take it, and more and more these days, stay positive, test negative.