Lee Lowenfish

I was disappointed but not really surprised when the Orioles were swept out of the playoffs by the suddenly red-hot Texas Rangers who swept Tampa Bay Rays in two-game wild-card series.  Baltimore ended the regular season in a team-wide hitting slump with the possible exception of Adley Rutschman. 

 

And wouldn't you know it! Rutschman got only 1 hit against the Rangers and was outplayed by Texas catcher Jonah Heim, a former Oriole farmhand and fellow All-Star.  Adley also couldn't guide young pitchers Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer out of the second inning in their ineffective starts in the second and final games.   

 

I know it is a stretch to blame a catcher for a pitcher's inability to put batters away. But there were two instances when the games were still close that Texas batters kept fouling off pitches, obviously frustrating the hurlers.  Couldn't Adley have visited the mound to suggest some other pitches or at least console them?   

 

This is probably too picky. With Oriole bats largely silent, probably nothing could have changed the outcome. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Adley during the season. He has yet to play two full seasons in the majors and Rookie of the Year candidate Gunnar Henderson was in his first full season.

 

I believe they will be core members of a good team. Whether the Orioles become a great team remains to be seen. Spring training 2024 will be very important as the Birds try to figure out how to integrate top prospect Jackson Holliday, not yet 20, into the infield perhaps moving Gunnar permanently to third base. Also late-developing Joey Ortiz might find a utility role somewhere. 

 

EVERY SEASON IS DIFFERENT is one of the few accurate generalizations about baseball. The Birds have 16 players eligible for arbitration and one key Oriole, switch-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander, is eligible for free agency after 2024. 

  

Extending Santander would be one of my priorities if I had any influence.  He is in his prime, not even 30, is durable, and has been with the team the longest, a Rule 5 pick who played 6 years in the minors for Cleveland after they signed him as a Venezuelan teenager. 

 

He is an effective switch-hitter and an improving defensive outfielder.  He also can handle first base at least competently. In the last series of the regular season, he alertly threw out a Red Sox runner trying to go from first to third when couldn't scoop the ball cleanly on a double play throw.

 

I know there are a lot of outfielders and infielders on the farm waiting for their chance.  But I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping veterans who have been through the grind of a long season and who obviously love to play. 

 

Which is why I wouldn't be hasty in letting Kyle Gibson go.  He pitched very well in September, unlike 2022 when he faded out with the Phillies though he

did make their post-season roster. As I discussed in an earlier blog, Gibson talks about the art of pitching like a venerable schoolmaster, something the very young staff benefited from. He also led the AL with 24 double plays created + 1 in his brief but effective appearance in the final playoff game. 

 

Having no team in the hunt in baseball's "Final Four," I'm only rooting for good games with plenty of action and not over-reliance on home runs and

strikeouts. I guess because they are relatively new to the party, Texas and Arizona might be a nice World Series matchup.

 

If third baseman Josh Jung had not missed a few weeks with a hand injury, he certainly would be in the running for the ROY award that Henderson will probably win.  Jung is an impressive player on both sides of the ball.  Brooks Robinson was his idol and when Brooks found that out, he befriended him

and sent him all kinds of baseball goodies. (As I mentioned in my last post, there will always be more heartwarming stories about Brooks Robinson.)  

 

Arizona also has a very impressive rookie, outfielder Corbin Carroll who grew up a Seattle Mariners fan and used to watch Ichiro from upper deck left field seats and still idolizes him. With one early swing, Carroll's 430-foot HR off Brewers ace Corbin Burnes turned around Game 1 of the wild card series for Arizona and the Diamondbacks carried that momentum into sweeping the Dodgers as well. 

  

I wouldn't have wanted a Dodger-Yankee rematch, but I can live with a Houston-Philadelphia rematch if fate so decrees. Houston has reached the ALCS for the 7th year in a row, the last 4 under Dusty Baker who was not around when the Astros were caught in the high tech and low tech sign-stealing scandal. (PBS aired a valuable Frontline documentary on October 3 about this scandal with reportage by Ben Reiter, former Sports Illustrated reporter and author of a glowing book ASTROBALL but he has now reconsidered and even repented.  More on this subject in later blogs.) 

  

Stopping Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez will be a key for the Rangers and the Phillies if they beat Arizona (I am happy to mention Alvarez because I misspelled his first name in a recent blog).  Houston also has a feel-good story in the return of smooth-swinging Michael Brantley after injuries that cost him almost two seasons.  

 

It should be noted that Philadelphia, if they dispense with Arizona, will have home-field advantage against Houston but not against Texas who will be playing in a closed new stadium. The raucous Philadelphia crowd and the team's potent offense will be ready for anything, of that I am sure. Since Arizona won only 84 games and the other 3 finished with 90 wins, Arizona will always start on the road and finish on the road if their series run long.

 

One other item of interest for this young octogenarian is the age of the managers.  Torey Lovullo is the baby of the group at 58 = he grew up in LA, a show biz kid whose father produced TV's "Hee Haw" among other shows.   Then we have Canadian-born Rob Thomson, 60, who was Joe Girardi's trusted coach in both New York and Philadelphia before he replaced Girardi in late May 2022. 

 

Bruce Bochy, back from his 3-year retirement and previously winner of three World Series rings with the Giants, is 68, and venerable Johnnie "Dusty" Baker, Jr. checks in at 74.  Their matchup will be fascinating to watch. They prove that retirement is overrated.     

    

That's all for now - take it easy but take it, and stay positive test negative. I am happy to report I am on the mend from my mild Covid positive but

I intend to keep on masking in indoor settings.      

Everything you have read about Brooks Robinson is true.  There never was a more modest and genuine athlete and person than the Orioles Hall of Fame third baseman who died in Baltimore on Tu Sep 26 at the age of 86.  The sad news arrived as the Orioles were on the verge of clinching their first AL East divisional title since 2014. 

 

On Monday Oct 2, Camden Yards hosted a public memorial for a man who truly believed that his admirers were "not fans but friends." Maybe the late AP sportswriter Gordon Beard said it best on "Thanks, Brooks" Day in August 1977 just after he retired. Reggie Jackson might have a candy bar named after him in NYC (briefly), but Gordon said that in Baltimore people name babies after Brooks. And Brooks made it a point to keep in touch with most of his namesakes.

 

In one of the touching remembrances that have poured out since Brooks' passing, Baltimore writer Michael Olesker remembered that Brooks' mother,

Ethel, told him that he grew up across the street from a school for children with disabilities.  He always played with those kids as if they were his equals. 

 

When I was working in the late 1970s on my book about baseball's chaotic labor relations THE IMPERFECT DIAMOND, I talked to Brooks about his role as an important leader in the nascent Players Association. One of the big reasons for my Oriole fandom that began in the late 1960s was that their great teams were not just excellent on the field but they had leaders in the MLBPA like Brooks and shortstop Mark Belanger. Even manager Earl Weaver didn't spew the owners' line of death to the game if the perpetual reserve system was reformed. 

 

Brooks told me the story about how he was signed after his high school graduation in 1955 by the Orioles.  The Birds' major domo Paul Richards had played in the minor leagues with Lindsey Deal, an Arkansas area scout for the club who projected Brooks as the future real deal at third base. 

Brooks' father, a fine semi-pro player who was now a fire department captain, was able to negotiate a major league contract and a $4000 bonus, just small enough to keep his son from being forced on a major league roster (under the bonus rules from 1953-1957). 

 

The Cincinnati Reds cried foul, claiming more money had been slipped under the table.  Brooks remembered that after he was flown to commissioner Ford Frick's office in New York, he had to put his hand on a Bible and swear that he didn't accept any additional money.

 

As the Players Association developed muscle starting in 1966 under Marvin Miller's leadership, Brooks emerged as one of the leaders wanting to get the players a fair deal. During the 1972 strike over payments to the players pension fund, Brooks offered his home to Miller for a meeting with the

entire team to explain the union's position. 

 

He would call that period "the worst ten days of my life" and he was even booed when the season started 10 days late. But that ill-feeling among the fans  couldn't last.  He was always so likable and genuine. Along with Baltimore Colts football quarterback John Unitas, he became one of the most revered people in the city.  And unlike Unitas, Brooks wound up playing his entire career in Baltimore. 

 

There has long been no other player wearing a #5 in a Baltimore uniform.  But his spirit will certainly be felt as the Orioles take on the powerful

Texas Rangers this weekend in the best-of-five ALDS (divisional series).   Fortunately I don't have to predict for a living and I just hope there is some memorable baseball ahead for us.  Because as I often say, "The only reason to play baseball is to keep winter away."

 

In closing, here is a link to a Zoom conversation about my new book on scouting BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES.  I will be having it with Bruce Markusen of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Thursday Oct 12 at 7p EDT.  

https://baseballhall.org/events/virtual-author-series-lee-lowenfish

 

It is a free Zoom, but you must register in advance. lf there is a problem with the link, go to baseballhall.org - Click Visit, then Events, then

Virtual Authors Series. 

 

As always, take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative.   I did test positive a couple of weeks ago but I'm on the mend but being more

cautious in public places.  Keep those masks handy!