Lee Lowenfish

No doubt the schedule came at the right time to help my scuffling Orioles. Although my Birds couldn't sweep either the tail-end Colorado Rockies in Denver or the historically bad Chicago White Sox at home, at least they won each series. And even won 3 games in a row for the first time since June.  

 

It is a very strange AL East pennant race this season.  It's remarkable how since the early summer neither the Orioles or Yankees have managed to play like a real World Series contender. With the demotion of Yankee closer Clay Holmes and the season-long doubt on who really can close for Baltimore, both teams have question marks in a key area of the bullpen.

 

Since I last posted, the injury bug has again bitten the Orioles, two in the same Sat night Aug 31 game in Colorado. Third baseman Ramon Urias, who had provided an unexpected offensive boost in August, sprained an ankle when he stumbled on the third base bag trying to make a tag on a Colorado base stealer.

 

Earlier that game, starting pitcher Dean Kremer got smoked just above the wrist on his pitching hand by a 103-mph one-hopper hit by Colorado

outfielder Jordan Beck.  Rarely does a couch potato like yours truly see the swelling come up immediately on the TV screen but it did in this case.   

 

Kremer, the only dual citizen-Israeli-American player in MLB history, is vowing to not miss a turn which manager Brandon Hyde calls "incredible".

Sure enough he plans to start on Friday Sep 6 in the opener of a home series against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

 

I am not a big one for highlighting strength of schedule in the last month of the season. IT'S HOW YOU ARE PLAYING, NOT WHO YOU ARE PLAYING AT THIS TIME OF YEAR. 

 

After Tampa Bay, Orioles go on to Fenway to play fading Red Sox whose recent offensive drought has surprised me - their pitching and their overall defense doesn't seem ready for prime time.   

 

Over the weekend of Sep 13, Birds go on to Detroit for 3 games, a .500 team playing much better these days. The Tigers also have the leading contender for AL Cy Young award, southpaw Tarik Skubal.  The Baltimore final home stand consists of 3 with the SF Giants Sep 17-19 and then the final home games of the regular season against the Tigers. 

 

The Orioles wind up season on the road - 3 big night games at Yankee Stadium likely to determine AL East winner, Tu-Th Sep 24-26. Then to Minnesota to play an inconsistent, oft-injured Twins team fighting for a wild card with Kansas City.  Cleveland seems to be in driver's seat to win AL Central with 4 game lead on Minnesota, 5 over KC before games of Fri Sep 6. 

 

The Yankee September schedule starts with 3 at the Cubs Sept 6-8, then 3 big ones back home against the Royals, then 4 with the Red Sox Sept 13-16.  Then a road trip to the west coast at Seattle Sep 17-19, three at Oakland Sep 20-22 with the A's .

 

All things considered, Oakland has had a good season, given their pending move to Sacramento for three seasons until the supposed new stadium in Las Vegas is built.  Mark Kotsay will get some deserved Manager of the Year votes but I think Cleveland's rookie skipper Stephen Vogt has to be

considered the leading candidate. 

 

Yankees return home for the 3 big night games against the Orioles. Yankees have an edge in that they host fading Pirates for the last three games.  I kinda doubt that Pittsburgh will send out possible NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes in one of those games.  

 

At least the Pirates have announced that Skenes will pitch deep into September to get the experience of competing in the climactic month of regular season, something the Buccos have sadly not enjoyed first-hand for too long.  (As promising as Skenes looks, it will be hard to deny ROY award to the Padres' productive center fielder Jackson Merrill.) 

 

In the National League races, the Dodgers, Phillies, and Brewers have almost clinched division titles but there is quite a wild card crunch coming among Padres, Diamondbacks, Braves, and Mets. One of those teams will not make it - as of morning of Sep 6, only 2 games separated them. 

 

I have been tardy in not giving props to the Mets' resurgence.  Stuck at 22-33 in first half of season, they are now a bona fide wild card contender.

If Shohei Ohtani were not also in the National League, shortstop Francisco Lindor would be an MVP favorite.

 

He's been playing sensationally on both sides of the ball and even came up with a great quote after he won an eleven-pitch AB in the Aug 29 win over the also resurgent defending-NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks.   "I GET PAID TO HIT THE BALL FORWARD," Lindor said.

 

The arrival of veteran infielder Jose Iglesias has provided spark and levity to a team that seemed to lack it.  The starting pitching has settled in

with Sean Manaea and former number one draft pick David Peterson really looking good.  If Edwin Diaz at the back end of the bullpen can get

the saves, they could be a dangerous team in the playoffs. 

 

I've often been a critic of the so-called balanced schedule that reduced intra-division games from 19 to 13.  It turns out though that the Mets play 4 of their final series against NL East teams.   After the Reds at home Sep 6-8 and Blue Jays on road, they go to Philly and return to play Washington

and Philadelphia again, the last home regular season series Sep 20-22. 

 

Then likely a very big series at Atlanta Sep 24-26 - as I post on morning Fri Sep 6, Mets are tied with Braves for 3rd wild card.

Mets wind up with 3 with Brewers in Milwaukee, the runaway winners of the NL Central. There will likely be more pressure on Mets at this time because Brewers would only be playing for best record in the National League. 

 

Best advice for baseball in September still comes from legendary Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy:  "Fasten your seat belts."    

 

Now it's time for a new feature . . .  LEE LOW'S TIPS OF CAP!

**Mets cable channel, SNY.TV, featured a fascinating interview in late August with former Mets reliever/now broadcaster Jerry Blevins and Mets rookie third baseman Mark Vientos. In separate segments, they interviewed each other about their careers.  It was not typical pap but provided frank and revealing insights.  I hope it can be accessed on the sny.tv website.

 

**"I don't want flowers at my retirement," tennis star Danielle Collins explained last week after turning down an offering from tennis officials when she lost her singles match last week at the US Open.   She said she didn't want to be like the character Gaylord in "Meet The Parents," the 2004 film in which Ben Stiller plays the son of doting parents that fills his bedroom with runner-up trophies.

 

**Speaking of tennis, here's to the two Americans who made or will make the men's and women's finals for the first time since 2002:

Jennifer Pegula who plays Belorussian Aryna Sabalenka in the women's final on Sa Sep 7 at 4P EDT on ESPN

 

**And either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe who play each other on F Sep 6 at 7P on ESPN

The winner meets either highly-favored Italian Jannik Sinner or English southpaw Jack Draper on Fri Sep 6 an 3P on ESPN

Men's final will be Su Sep 6 at 2P on ABC network - rebroadcast at 830P that night on ESPN2. 

  

That's all for now - my mantras remain:  Stay positive test negative & Take it easy but take it.  

 

I ran across last night a 1923 poem by William Carlos Williams, the physician-poet from nearby Paterson, New Jersey.  The title is from the first line. The first three couplets go: 

 

"The crowd at the ballgame

is moved continuously

 
by a spirit of uselessness

which delights them—

 
all the exciting detail 

of the chase"

 
It's nice to have games to watch again on TV, but it's the genuine crowd reaction that I miss the most. I think most of the players, managers, and coaches agree - canned cheering doens't cut it.  

 

I realize that in a time of pandemic, there was no other route to choose but fan-less games.

Still, the cardboard cutouts substituting for fans at most ballparks doesn't do it for me.

 

I also miss the attendance figures at the bottom of every box score.  I would love to miss ballplayers' cheat sheets on positioning and pitch sequences that they are sticking in their caps or pockets.  Can they just play the game on what used to be called muscle memory?! 

 

There have been humorous responses to this strange season. A clever fellow wrote Phil Mushnick of the NY Post yesterday that the cutouts at Dodger Stadium are actually real because they leave the game in the 7th inning. 

 

I also liked the humor of the person that selects the music at the White Sox's Guaranteed Rate Field. On the Sunday night game against the Indians, the Beatles' "Let It Be" came over the loudspeaker as the umps were going to replay to perhaps change a call that aided the home team. 

 

Voila! The music must have worked - Cleveland baserunner Delino DeShields Jr. remained out at second on a close call.  The White Sox have invested heavily in Cuban ballplayers, batting four of them the other day in the first four spots in the batting order.  

 

Only DH/first baseman Jose Abreu is a proven player but hopes are high for Eloy Jimenez, Juan Moncada, and rookie Luis Robert. If they come through with improved pitching, maybe hard-bitten Chisox fans will stop calling the home park Guaranteed Second-Rate Field.

 
As for me, I am happy that the Orioles are surprising people by reaching .500 after 14 games.  Corner infielders Rio Ruiz and Renato Nunez are showing that they learned something playing for last year's horrible Oriole team.  

 

Ditto for second baseman Hanser Alberto and well-traveled Cuban-born shortstop Jose Iglesias.  Their pop and run-production have been fun to watch. 

 
Maybe "experience is your best teacher" is not so old-fashioned an adage even if you can't put an "advanced metric" on it.  Somehow Oriole pitching, with three lefty starters, retreads Wade Leblanc and Tom Milone and last year's breakout winner John Means, has been OK.  

 

So has the bullpen with young veteran Miguel Castro and the castoff Cole Sulser showing the way.  I'm not reserving playoff tickets yet, esp. since there won't be live attendance most likely until next season at the earliest. 

  
How long the MLB baseball season can continue remains in doubt.  I feel for St. Louis players and fans because the Cardinals have only played five games. Positive Covid-19 tests of several players including All-Star catcher Yadier Molina and shortstop Paul DeJong (and several non-playing personnel) mean that St. Louis won't play again until this weekend. 

 
There is no way that St. Louis will be able to play a full schedule in this truncated 60-game season. Even with seven-inning doubleheaders to lessen the wear-and-tear on pitchers.  

 
Interestingly, MLB broadcaster Jim Kaat (and winner of 283 MLB games) thinks that all games should be seven innings. He may be talking tongue-in-cheek but he has a valid point. 

 
If the length of games is the huge issue that commissioner Rob Manfred claims it is (and the TV networks too), why not shorten every game to 7 innings?  Most starters including great ones like the Mets' Jacob DeGrom rarely go more than six innings anyway. 

 

If good faith bargaining ever happens in baseball. a frank exchange of views and real leadership would address this issue and many others.  In the meantime, let me end with the last couplets of WC Williams' "The Crowd at the ballgame":

 

"It is summer, it is the solstice

the crowd is

 
cheering, the crowd is laughing

in detail

 
permanently, seriously 

without thought."

 

Here's to "laughing in detail . . . permanently, seriously without thought."

 

And always remember:  Take it easy but take it.