Lee Lowenfish

There are almost 150 games left in the regular MLB season so reason should dictate not to jump to any conclusions on such limited evidence.  But as Shakespeare's King Lear cried, "Reason not the need." Yours truly, the Prince of Paranoia, is not ready for a full-bore rant after the Birds opened the season 5-8 (before they resume play at home on Fri Apr 11).

 

However . . . There are disturbing signs that last year's mediocre second half slump and a second straight early exit in the playoffs were not an aberration.  The front office, led by Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal, a former NASA analyst who was bestowed the title of Director of Decision Sciences for the Houston Astros and now the Orioles, had to know that losing to free agency last year's ace Corbin Burnes and 44-HR man Anthony Santander left gaping holes in the roster. 

 

So far in the early going of 2025,  Burnes for the Diamondbacks and Santander for the Blue Jays haven't done much. But their track record indicates they will produce wins on the mound and at the plate, respectively.  As always, I fear the spurned player coming back to haunt his former team. 

 

Santander will get a deserved ovation from Oriole fans when he comes into Baltimore this weekend (Apr 11-13). He didn't do much in their first series in Toronto but I don't expect that drought to last.  Consider that Vladimir Guerrero Jr, fresh from signing his 15-year-$500 million contract, loves hitting in Charm City.  At least the O's don't have to face Kevin Gausman this time - another Oriole castoff, Gausman pitched yesterday as the Jays completed a sweep of the Bosox in Boston..

 

Meanwhile, the new (and holdover) Orioles have been underwhelming except for Zack Eflin who pitched three good games but is now on the injured list with the same shoulder issue that IL-ed him last season.  Former number one draft choice Grayson Rodriguez hasn't pitched all year and won't be available for a few more weeks and maybe longer. 

 

Santander's replacement in right field, Tyler O'Neill, was bestowed with a "modest" by today's standards 3-year $49 million free agent contract by Elias and company. O'Neill possesses a great arm, but relatively new to right field, he has needed a refresher course on what base to throw to.  And his base running has the subtlety of what you might expect from the son of a onetime Mr. Canada body builder.  It was so bad in St. Louis that his Cardinals manager Olli Marmol called him out publicly.

 

Well, I said I won't go full bore Prince of Paranoia. (You have a right to ask what full bore would sound like!) So instead, cue Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" and Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata while I tell you about the celebration of NYU's exceptional women's basketball team.  On Sat March 22 they completed their second straight undefeated season by beating Smith College of Northamapton MA for the second straight year in the Division III final, this year held in Salem, VA.

 

Yesterday (W Apr 9) they were celebrated at the Paulson Center gym on Mercer and Bleecker Streets in the heart of Greenwich Village. Deserved kudos for a team that has won 62 games in a row. That kind of winning has to be celebrated on any level in any sport. It's the 7th longest winning streak in the history of women's basketball on any level.  They are the 4th double champion in NCAA history. The 2024-2025 team won its games by an average of 37 points and their closest margin of victory was 19 points. The seniors were part of a team that went 112-5 in 4 years - perhaps not coincidentally because they were a pandemic team recruited by Zoom, including 3 from NY State, 3 from New Jersey, 2 from NYC, 1 from Australia.

 

Several NYU administrators and District 2 NYC Councilwoman Carlina Rivera spoke glowingly, but I think it was head coach Meg Barber's words that I will most remember.  Addressing her team, she said, "You willed it when no one was watching . . . and when everyone was watching."  

 

A winning culture is one of the great cliches of our age, so easy to say and so hard to achieve. Meg Barber listed some of its attributes that fans don't see:

*A freshman that finally gets a drill right in practice

*A player that learns to get a bad game out of her head while preparing for the next game

*Working well with the men's team [that made the Final Four too this season] - "I learned so much from them," Barber said.

*The off-court bonding of players that means so much once on the court

*The bond-building of parents and the importance of parents of veteran players explaining the ropes to parents of new players

 

Before the Mets' 710P game against the Diamondbacks on W April 30, Meg Barber, a former NYU player and a Mets fan, will have the honor 

of throwing out the first ball.  It is also Bark in the Park night.  So Violet and Mets fans and dog lovers, mark the date down.

 

In closing, some sad RIPs: Former Mets pitcher Octavio Dotel, 51, died in the roof collapse at the Santo Domingo night club early in the morning of Tu April 8.  Nelsy Cruz, a prominent goverment official in the DR and sister of retired slugger Nelson Cruz, also perished.  As did Tony Blanco, Washington Nats first baseman in 2005. Members of the family of Hall of Famer pitcher Pedro Martinez are still unaccounted for.  

 

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

 

        

The surprising Baltimore Orioles have played many memorable games this season, but their 5-4 11th inning walkoff victory over the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday afternoon (Sun Sep 17) at Camden Yards was truly remarkable.  Even gracious Rays GM Erik Neander admitted afterwards that it was a great game.  

 

The Birds trailed in the bottom of the 8th, 9th and 10th innings. Young budding superstar catcher Adley Rutschman somehow managed to homer on a 101 mph fastball off fearsome Rays closer Pete Fairbanks to cut the lead to 3-2 in the 8th. 

 

Down to their last out in bottom of 9th, journeyman Adam Frazier came through with an opposite field double to send the game into extra innings as  speedy Jorge Mateo, pinch-running for Austin Hays who had singled up the middle, went flying around the bases. The Rays grabbed the lead in top of 10th on two Baltimore chop grounders that scored the ghost runner from second. More on that annoying innovation in a moment.

 

 

In top of 11th, young southpaw D.L. Hall had perhaps his finest moment as an Oriole holding the Rays scoreless. And then Oriole baseball 2023 style won the game in the bottom half. 

 

Ryan O'Hearn, who didn't even make the Orioles out of spring training after 5 pedestrian years with Kansas City, laid down the first sacrifice bunt of his MLB career. O'Hearn has been a godsend to the lineup. making up for the injuries to regular first baseman Ryan Mountcastle.  Also a corner outfielder,

O'Hearn has a chance to finish as the team's only .300 hitter. 

 

How fitting it was that Cedric Mullins, who came up at end of 2018 and has endured more losses than any current Oriole, hit a deep sacrifice fly to score ghost runner Rutschman with the winning run.

 

Now about that ghost runner or Manfred Man, as one wit wth pop music cred calls it.  I was happy to learn that the joint player-management rules committee UNANIMOUSLY voted to not to use it in playoffs.  I ask: Why keep it in regular season?  The whole point of baseball should be earning bases not being given bases. 

 

And while I'm ranting a bit, how about doing away with the oven mitt for base runners? It's an unfair advantage to the runner to augment the hand with five fingers that God gave you.  I might call it is a performance enhancement and we don't like that, do we?  

 

Several minutes of our lives were wasted yesterday during a replay of whether Rays outfielder Josh Lowe was safe or out on a close play at the plate that would have given Tampa a big insurance run in the 9th inning.  Fortunately the Orioles won the challenge, but if Lowe had not been wearing the oven mitt, there would have been no doubt in real time that Adley Rutschman tagged him.

 

With 13 games left, the Orioles are assured a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2016.  They hold in effect a 3-game lead on Tampa Bay because Birds won season series from Tampa 8-5. The Rays must play 6 with Toronto including the final 3 of regular season in Canada.  The Blue Jays could be a very dangerous team in playoffs and they will have much to play for since they are now leading for the second wild card over Texas with Seattle right behind Texas.  

 

The Orioles face a big hurdle starting tonight (Mon Sep 18) in Houston against the enigmatic defending champion Astros who have been only a .500

team at home this year.  In last week's post, I predicted wrongly that Houston had an advantage playing tailend KC and Oakland. Somehow the Astros managed to lose both series.  Yet the defending world champions are narrowly holding on to first place ahead of Texas and Seattle. 

 

Time will tell how the Orioles end the season and with what kind of momentum they enter the playoffs. I still love the cliche, "Momentum in baseball is the next day's starting pitcher."  Certainly after this past weekend, a split never seemed more sweet because the Rays had won the first 2 games, 4-3 and

7-0.

 

A rare Orioles 4-game losing streak was snapped on Sat night behind 8 shutout innings from highly-touted rookie Grayson Rodriguez, the longest outing of his young career. They took charge early led by rookie Gunnar Henderson's booming bat and won 8-0.  Then came the 5-4 Sunday classic. 

 

Tampa's rout on Fri night behind RHP Zack Eflin happened despite a capacity crowd that came out to honor center fielder Adam Jones who signed a one-day contract so he could retire as an Oriole.  I've never met Adam but he is a refreshing person, a Southern Californian originally signed by Seattle who spent much of his career in Baltimore. 

 

What Adam Jones does and says is worthy of our attention.  One of his great gestures came when Cedric Mullins arrived in Baltimore to take his place in center field. As Adam prepared to run out to right field, he let Cedric lead the team out onto the field.

 

A one-time number draft pick of the Mariners, Jones often cites the advice from the scout that signed him:  "You're only a number one draft pick for one day."   About the rise of the today's Orioles, Jones said this weekend, "There's nothing better than when you go through the mud and then you get out." 

 

That's all for now. By next post, I hope the NL wild card race has at least one team with a record 10 games above .500. The Phillies are pretty much set as number one WC but there is a fierce competition among Diamondbacks, Cubs, Marlins, and Reds with Giants now looking like long shots. 

 

The level of play hasn't been particularly distinguished, but it is exciting fans in the involved cities. NL.   Division winners LA Dodgers and Atlanta Braves have long ago clinched their titles.  The Dodgers swept Seattle on the road to make a statement while somehow the Braves were swept in Miami.

Milwaukee will soon clinch the NL Central ,but they will have to play the last wild card winner - no byes for the Brew Srew. 

 

Happy Autumn to all and always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative!