Lee Lowenfish

It is always a bittersweet time when the precious days of September fade away.  The autumn leaves tell us that winter is not behind and even worse, that the regular season of baseball is over.

 

The Orioles' improbable run into contention surprised everyone, certainly yours truly who was glad by summer to ditch my alter ego of Masochist Mel.  Alas, another alter ego, Pessimistic Pete, lurks nearby

because there are no guarantees for 2023.

 

The Birds still need more reliable starting pitching that can go deep into games and more consistent hitting to truly contend in a tough AL East Division.  I know that the number of intra-division games will

be cut from 19 to 13 in 2023 - not the greatest idea BTW - but you still must win the majority of

your games and get comfortably over .500 which the 2022 Orioles never could do.  

 

And repeat after me, class:  EVERY SEASON IS DIFFERENT. There is still much to dream about - full

seasons from catcher Adley Rutschman - voted the Oriole MVP though I would have picked spectacularly-fielding shortstop Jorge Mateo in a very close vote - and versatile infielder 21-year-old Gunnar Henderson.

 

I saw Henderson play last year in the lower minors and twice this year at Norfolk.  You could see not only the talent but his love of the game in his every movement on the field and in the dugout.  Same is true of Rutschman who is reminscent of Gary Carter in his joy in catching.

 

And get this!  Henderson's older brother is an Orioles fan.  Natives of Alabama, Gunnar couldn't

wait to come to Baltimore to hear the Oriole fans shout "O!" near the last lines of the National Anthem.

That note has dwindled in the recent years of losing, but it is definitely making a comeback.

 

I happily report that I now wear my Oriole jacket again - it led to an interesting encounter a few days ago. I was sitting on a bench in Riverside Park near the Columbia campus reading a book when a man walking a dog gave me a thumbs up for my baseball allegiance. 

 

It turned out that not only was he an Oriole fan but I had seen his son on TV a couple of nights earlier.  Watching the Red Sox feed on my MLB Extra Innings package, the Boston announcers kept replaying the shot of a fan in an Oriole cap botching a home run catch in the bleachers.

 

Earlier he had caught one easily but not this time. and was he ever mad at himself.  And does TV ever love to focus on the agory of defeat as well as the ecstasy of victory.   

 

It turns out that the 30-something fellow, a graduate of Manhattan College, is virtually a professional ball game attendee.  He drove with his father to that Monday night game.  Because there was a long rain delay, they didn't return to NYC until 4AM.

 

The father, Shelley Barasch, told me that Greg always gets over 10 baseballs at every game, mostly during batting practice.  They intend to drive to the season's last game at Fenway to get in on the giveaways of jerseys, batting gloves, more baseballs, and other memorabilia.  

 

I wished them luck and we saluted each other's Oriole fandom. He walked back to his apartment

and I continued reading the deeply moving book "1947: Where Now Begins," published in 2016 by Swedish writer Elisabeth Asbrink (translated by Fiona Graham).  Rarely have I have read such a combination of poetic memoir and historically keen observation.   

 

A few minutes later Shelley came back to the park bench with a gift that I will treasure, a baseball from Greg's collection. O, those little things that make baseball-loving so special. 

 

And while I have the Red Sox on my mind, here's to a good retirement for Dennis Eckersley, 65, who I was glad I could hear on that Red Sox-Oriole broadcast.  The Hall of Fame pitcher developed an unique

language as a commentator.  

 

He was the one who coined "walkoff" homer to describe a game-winning blast.

Here's another Eckersley coinage, describing a pitcher's statistical line:

   "9 strikeouts, 7 swinging, 2 pairs of shoes" (i.e., just standing at the plate, not swinging the bat).

 

Eckersley, of course, gave up one of the most famous walkoffs to the LA Dodgers' Kirk Gibson in the first game of the 1988 World Series, but he survived to have more good years.  

 

TIME TO WARILY PUT ON PREDICTION CAP!

The 12-team October playoffs begin on Friday October 8 with four best-of-three wild card series.  I don't bet although TV and MLB certainly want me and millions of others to do so. Here's two examples:

 

An ad on the Yankees' YES network for a betting service show a man sitting on a toilet seat placing bets on his cellphone.  At the Mets' CitiField, the lines for the third base coaching box are now dwarfed by a huge plug for Caesar's Sports Book.

 

I still want to put in my 37 cents of playoff predictions (my two cents corrected for inflation).

 

I will go with the home teams in the wild cards - Tampa Bay bowing to Cleveland the youngest team in the playoffs with a great manager in Terry Francona (who everyone calls Tito after his late father a former MLB slugger); solid if playoff-inexperienced pitching; two infielders they got from the Mets for Francisco Lindor, Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, both having excellent years; and a fertile player development system.

 

They also have third baseman Jose Ramirez who in any other year would be a top-rank MVP candidate.

(Aaron Judge will win with Shohei Ohtani getting some votes, but I for one cannot see how even a

great hitting-pitching talent like Ohtani can be most valuable on a bad team.)

 

That Jose Ramirez decided to stay in Cleveland on a long-term contract was a refreshing sign that not every player wants to come to the highest-paying big market cities.  I just hope Cleveland gets crowds

approaching 30,000 for the games against Tampa Bay. 

 

I think Toronto, my pre-season pick to win the AL East, will prevail over Seattle, the Mariners in playoffs for first time since 2001.  But the Blue Jays must run the bases better than they did recently against the Yankees.

 

One of my favorite Jays is stocky catcher/DH Alejandro Kirk signed out of high school in Tijuana. He appears to be the picture of grizzled experience at the plate but he won't be 23 until next month. 

 

In the NL wild cards, I think the Mets have had enough time to lick their wounds from Atlanta's sweep last weekend to beat the Padres in New York. Deeper starts from Max Scherzer and Jacob DeGrom will be needed and the red-hot closer Edwin Diaz must stay at his near-perfection level.  

 

A return to health of Mets outfielder Sterling Marte would be welcome but finger fractures are tricky

things and he may not be ready.  The Padres rallied late in the season behind their new veteran manager Bob Melvin and even beat their nemesis Dodgers a couple of times to insure they made the playoffs.  

 

I hope Yu Darvish does well because I think the Iranian-Japanese righthander is one of baseball's more endearing players. But I hope the Mets prevail in what certainly will not be a slam dunk because the Mets offense without Marte has been sputtering.

 

Solid shortsotp Francisco Lindor needs to step it up and add his offense to power-hitting Pete Alonso and potential batting champion champ Jeff McNeil - a versatile, intense easy-to-root-for mainstay. Otherwise, there are too many holes in the lineup.  

 

The Cardinals should hold off the Phillies in St. Louis but their pitching is not proven except for aging Adam Wainwright. He is one of three grand old men along with retiring slugger Albert Pujols and catcher Yadier Molina that may make the Cardinals a sentimental favorite.  

 

St. Louis also features two potent corner men, third baseman Nolan Arenado and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Likely Hall of Famers along with sure-fire immortals Molina and Pujols who passed the

700 career HR mark late this season.  

 

The Cardinals' nabbing Arenado from Colorado and Goldschmidt from Arizona, two chronic losing franchises, reflects the sad state of those expansion franchises .  The Rockies and Diamondbacks have gotten little in return, but baseball history is replete with the rich picking on the poor and the bright on the dumb and some things may never change.   

 

In the best-of-five division series, picks are less clear to me.  I'd like to see a Cleveland-Houston

best-of-seven in the ALCS with Dusty Baker going all the way to win his first World Series as a manager.

In fact, it could well be that we have a repeat of 2021, an Atlanta-Houston World Series with

the Astros this time coming out on top. 

 

The Cardinals will have to face the Braves if they win the wild card series and the Mets the Dodgers

if they win, and both rested teams will be favored with the home field advantage. The Dodgers are

loaded as usual with baseball's largest payroll and a playoff-tested roster.  

 

But they have question marks at closer and in the starting rotation so their advance is not a slam dunk.

Such a sign of the times - me using basketball terminology to describe baseball! I love basketball

but it is not baseball.   

 

The Yankees bullpen is a work in progress with no consistent closer.  A return to form of pending free agent Aroldis Chapman would be a godsend. They probably have enough to beat Cleveland.

 

After its August slumber, the Yankee offense has re-emerged. If DJ LeMahieu is healthy and Giancarlo Stanton gets on a roll which is conceivable, the Yankees will be very dangerous.  

 

And, of course, add a relaxed Aaron Judge to that picture. I am very happy he got his 62nd home run to

relieve the pressure building on him.  He should be the face of baseball for his genuine team-

orientation and his humble yet perceptive demeanor.

 

Rumors persist that he might bolt to the West Coast after the season because he is a free agent.  

I personally doubt he will leave, but let's table that emotional discussion into later November when the hot stove fires really start buring. 

 

 

That's all for now.  Always remember: take it easy but take it, and hard as it is sometimes, 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!