Lee Lowenfish

Playoff-starved Baltimore Oriole fans know there will be post-season games in October for the first time in 9 seasons. Pennant fever is so high in Charm City that I've heard that the city is already getting decorated in Oriole orange and black. 

 

But the race for the AL East division title against Tampa Bay with the coveted first round bye at stake was still undecided as the last week of the regular season began. Yesterday (Sunday Sept 24) the Orioles salvaged a split in a 4-game series with the Guardians with a relatively easy 5-1 victory behind 7 strong innings by veteran starter Kyle Gibson. 

 

Gibson managed to contain former Met second baseman Andres Gimenez at the plate although the brilliant Venezuelan was a marvel in the field the

whole series.  He constantly robbed our hitters in the same spectacular way as our infield - and outfield - defenders have displayed all year.   

 

Even more encouraging for Oriole hopes was southpaw John Means who hurled one-hit 7 & a 1/3 innings on Sat night.  Out because of Tommy John surgery for almost two whole seasons, Means had a no-hitter until the 7th when that man again Gimenez homered for Cleveland's only hit. 

 

The weekend proved yet again the wisdom of the old baseball adage, "The best bullpen is a starter that goes 7 innings." Since Baltimore's breakout

closer Felix "The Mountain" Bautista went down in early August with a partial tear of his UCL (ulnar collateral ligament), the Bird bullpen has become

unsteady.   

 

By the end of the 17 games in 17 days road trip that mercifully ended on Sunday, you could sense the fatigue on the bullpen arms, not to mention the agita of those of us in front of our TV sets.  I don't even want to think about what it might have felt like if a playoff position hadn't already been secured. 

 

As it turned out, a righty-lefty combo of Yennier Cano and Cionel Perez secured the 4-1 Sat victory for Means and two lefties Danny Coulombe and DL Hall locked down the Sunday 5-1 win for Gibson.  Felix The Mountain has been throwing bullpen sessions but I would consider it very doubtful that he can return this season.  He is traveling with the team and though on the IL, you know the presence of the 6' 7 280 pounder who was signed by the Marlins at 16 and is only 28 means a lot to his teammates. 

 

AL and NL wild cards are still be determined this week and it is still wide open with only Tampa Bay definitely in although they will miss two recently injured stars, first baseman Yandy Diaz and second baseman Brandon Lowe.  The schedule has the Red Sox in the spoiler role, playing two at home with Tampa Tu and W and then four on the road in Baltimore. 

 

The Orioles play two at home with Washington before greeting the divisional rival Bosox for the last four at home.  The earliest Baltimore can clinch is Wed with a magic number of 3 (any combination of Balt. wins and TB losses).  

 

Oriole manager Brandon Hyde has been critical of the schedule that put Birds on the road for those 17 games in 17 days.  He hopes for a correction in

the future but how about the Diamondbacks having to make TWO trips to New York in the last weeks of the season. 

 

They didn't too well in the Big City and now find themselves in tie with Cubs for last wild cards with the dangerous Phillies already assured of a place in the tournament. The Reds and Marlins still have chances too, the Giants much less so. 

 

Toronto could be the sleeper team in the AL.  They have been winning series in September and just took a big one at Tampa.  They end season at home against Tampa Bay but first must play the Yankees who are likely to pitch Gerrit Cole on Wed or Thurs.  Stay tuned for some great drama in the AL East.

As well as the AL West where Houston, shockingly swept at home by 102-loss Royals, and Seattle are basically in a Survivor series before Texas

visits Seattle and Houston goes to Arizona to end season. 

 

Let me close with a couple of TCM sporting tips. 

Th Sep 28 8p "A Night At The Opera" (1935) the Marx Brothers classic with a memorable rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

 

Su Oct 1 1215A repeated at 10P - "Whiplash" (1948)   A Noir Alley presentation with as seemingly as preposterous a script for even Noir.

But could be a lot of unintended fun.  Dane Clark is a painter turned boxer gets into a triangle with Alexis Smith and Zachary Scott who becomes Clark's manager and names him Mike Angelo. You can't beat the supporting players, Eve Arden and S. K. "Cuddles" Sakall. (Obviously this film has no relation to the "Whiplash" of a few years ago about music that won an Oscar for J. K. Simmons.)

 

Su Oct 1 1015P  "On Moonlight Bay" (1951) - Doris Day as the tomboy who falls in love with next door neighbor Gordon McRae.  In addition to the title tune, we hear "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile".  Those of a certain age will remember this song as I believe the theme song on WOR Radio's morning "Rambling With Gambling" show. 

 

That's all for now.  Take it easy but take it and stay positive, test negative.

 

 

 

The Orioles' magical 2023 ride hit a serious bump on Fri night Aug 25 when ace closer Felix "The Mountain" Bautista, one strike away from completing a save against the Colorado Rockies, stumbled off the mound after throwing a 102+ mph fastball.

 

Head trainer Brian Ebel and manager Brandon Hyde rushed to the mound and led Bautista away without him even throwing a practice pitch. Some kind of elbow injury was quickly diagnosed and Felix was put on the injured list. He will undoubtedly be lost for the season, and if he needs Tommy John surgery out for all of 2004 and maybe beyond. 

 

Danny Coulombe, a recently re-activated southpaw reliever also having a career year, completed the save on only one pitch.  In a cruel irony, Felix Bautista Bobblehead Day was celebrated the next night and over 42,000

packed Camden Yards to see another Oriole win. 

 

Bautista was present in the dugout to show solidarity with his teammates on a surprising Oriole team that continues to win despite the huge loss - both figuratively and metaphorically - at the back end of the bullpen. 

 

On the eve of their second West Coast trip in the last few weeks, the Orioles are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, winners of 10 of their 12 games after a disappointing July in which they let the Orioles overtake them. 

 

Tampa has endured its share of injuries, too.  They lost their Cy Young Award-candidate Ryan McClanahan to Tommy John surgery and their pitching roster as always is a merry-go-round of other pitchers going and coming back from surgery. 

 

Even more seriously in the longer run, star shortstop Wander Franco has been indefinitely suspended with pay He is being investigated for several relationships with under-age women in his homeland of the Dominican Republic.  Earlier in the season, he had been briefly suspended by the team for behavior not worthy of "a good teammate." 

 

One wonders what was in the minds of Rays management when they signed Franco a couple of years ago to a 11-year contract reportedly worth upwards of $200 million. I guess the red flags about his questionable behavior faded when they considered what other owners might pay one day on the open market for his transcendent on-field talents.  

 

In spite of these distractions, the Rays have regained the winning touch that saw them begin the year with 13 straight wins and a 30-11 record.  Not the Detroit Tigers 35-5 of 1984 on their way to a wire-to-wire World Series win but quite impressive. They are now 30 games over .500 and for me a MVP-candidate in corner infielder Yandy Diaz.  

 

Fortunately, the crazy-quilt so-called "balanced" schedule at least allows for a big head-to-head matchup of Rays at Orioles Th Sept 14-Su Sept 17.  The inconsistent Red Sox, recently swept at home by defending World Series champ Houston and only 4 games over .500, will have a large say in how the AL East turns out.  They play Tampa 5 times and the Birds 7, including the last 4 games of the season at Camden Yards. 

 

Winning the division will not just be a psychological prize, especially for the Orioles who haven't been in the playoffs since 2016.  It gives the victor almost a week's rest by avoiding the best-of-three wild card round.  There is an argument that a team can get rusty with too much time off, but for me the ability to heal minor injuries and to set up one's pitching rotation are the great positives. 

 

The drama in the AL West is even greater than in the AL East because barring a total collapse, the Rays and Orioles should make the playoffs.  Before games of F Sep 1, Seattle and Houston were virtually tied although Houston had one more win and one more loss. Texas was one full game behind Seattle. 

 

For the sake of drama, I'm hoping that Texas with formidable hitting but questionable pitching stays relevant into the last 10 days of the season because the Rangers and Mariners play each other 7 times in last 10 days of regular season, the final 4 in Seattle.  Houston might have the edge overall because they are the only team that still plays the 2 worst teams in baseball record-wise, the Royals and the Athletics.

 

In the AL Central, the Twins had a chance to bury the Guardians this past week, but they couldn't do it

Minnesota is only four games over .500 but Cleveland is still 6 games under.  The NL Central is not much better but at least the Brewers have been playing much better baseball.

 

They are 15 games over .500,  but did lose a chance on Wed Aug 30 to win a series in Chicago against the surprising Cubs. They couldn't do it and their divisional lead in only 3 games. 

 

In the other NL divisioins, the Braves and Dodgers are running away with their division titles. But the race for the 3 Wild Cards is appropriately wild. The Phillies with the same record as Milwaukee, 74-59, has a 3 game lead on the Cubs.  The third wild card at this juncture is being tightly contested among the Giants who are 1 lost game ahead of the Diamondbacks, 2 lost games ahead of the Reds, and 3 lost games ahead of the Marlins. 

 

A wise person once described the MLB season as really 4 seasons:  spring training, April through August, September, and the playoffs.  We are entering September now and as the late legendary Mets announcer Bob Murphy used to say, "Fasten your seat belts!" 

 

Before I conclude this post, here are some sports-related movies coming up on TCM Turner Classic Movie

cable channel:

Tu Sept 5 features these boxing classics:

1145A "The Champ" (1931) - King Vidor directs irrepressible Wallace Beery and young Jackie Cooper

6P "The Prizefighter & The Lady" (1933) - W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke directs Myrna Loy and heavyweight

    boxers Max Baer and Primo Carnera

 

Wed Sep 6 for night owls or more likely for those can record them: 

215A "Knute Rockne All American" (1940) with Pat O'Brien in title role and Ronald Reagan as the Gipper

400A "Jim Thorpe All American" (1952) with Burt Lancaster in title role, the underappreciated Charles Bickford as Pop Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz

 

The next two have no real sports connection but wanted to list them: 

Th Sep 7 10p "It Happened In Brooklyn" (1947) with Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Kathryn Grayson and the introduction for first time of Sammy Cahn's classic "Time After Time" - not much on baseball except likely brief shots of Ebbets Field - also of interest to Noir fans:  Gloria Grahame as a nurse! 

 

F Sep 8 10A "The Petrified Forest" (1936) directed by Archie Mayo from Robert Sherwood's play, a real classic with Humphrey Bogart as the outlaw Duke Mantee, Bette Davis the poems of Villon-reading waitress, and Leslie Howard as the disconsolate writer with a vague desire to see the Pacific Ocean and drown in it

 

F Sep 8 11:15P  "Boys Town" (1938)  Norman Taurog directs Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan and Mickey Rooney as one of his charges.  

 

And happily Eddie Muller's "Noir Alley" returns before Labor Day

Su Sep 3 12 M/repeated 10A  "The Secret Fury" (1950) Mel Ferrer directs Robert Ryan and Claudette Colbert and keep eyes open for Vivian Vance before she inhabited Ethel Mertz! 

Su Sep 10 Alfred Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man" (1956) with Henry Fonda in title role

 

That's all for now - always remember: Take it easy but take it, and stay positive test negative.