Lee Lowenfish

There is certainly still a chance (mathematical) that Cleveland and the Mets can make a good series out of their matchups prior to the World Series.  But as of this writing on Thursday afternoon Oct 17, the Mets will have to clean up their game defensively and start their bats producing again. Even if they rediscover their magic sauce, down two games to one, they'll have to win it in LA. 

As for the Yankees-In-Guardians series (I've decided that since most of us folks of a certain age can't help calling them Indians, let's at least reclaim the

first syllable of the old name, OK?), Cleveland's lack of starting pitching has really been exposed.  I hope home-cooking allows at least one win and more chances for us to marvel at Steven Kwan, their great left fielder/leadoff man who has made Oregon State proud (in ways that the Orioles' Adley Rutschman could not duplicate this season). 

Here's the back story on why a Yankee-Dodger World Series is my least favorite of any Fall Classic.  I think my character was definitely shaped (warped?) by growing up a New York Giant fan when the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers were seemingly in every World Series - to be exact, 1947, 1949, 1952-53, 1955-1956. As a National League fan, I pulled for the Dodgers in the World Series, but it certainly wasn't like rooting for your team. 

1955 was the only World Series the Brooklyn Dodgers ever won. The outrageously entitled Yankee fans still insist that blip happened only because Mickey Mantle was injured.  In a wound in the heart that still exists in most of the Flatbush Faithful older generation, almost exactly two years after Johnny Podres shut out the Yankees in Game 7, the Dodgers were on their way to Los Angeles. 

The Giants accompanied the Dodgers to the West Coast settling in San Francisco. To give you an idea of how much of a blow the departure of the historic NL franchises meant to NYC fans, the Yankees with the NYC market all to themselves drew fewer fans in 1958 than they did in 1957.  It didn't stop the Bronx Bombers from avenging their 7-game 1957 World Series loss to the Milwaukee Braves by overcoming a 3-1 games deficit in 1958 to beat the Braves. 

Fortunately with expansion, a Yankee-LA Dodger WS matchup hasn't happened that often and the LAD in 1963 and 1981 actually won two World Series

over the NYY.  But the Yankees did beat the Dodgers in back-to-back 1977-1978 World Series.  I

I remember 1977 painfully because the Orioles won 97 games in the first year of free agency.  They lost Reggie Jackson to the Yankees and Bobby Grich and Don Baylor to the Angels, but they stayed in the pennant race until the last weekend of regular season. 

On Friday night as I watching the Tigers' lefty John Hiller beat the Yankees at the second incarnation of Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox eliminated the Birds at Fenway in a slugfest.  I was watching the score throughout the game whenever the scoreboard deigned to show it. Shortly after the Tigers won, I looked at the scoreboard and it read "Bost 12 Balt 8 - F".

It turned out it was fake news. As I was coming home in the subway, a fan told me that final score was 12-11 and Al Bumbry had made the last out with tying run on second. How much disappointment can a fan take?!  The next afternoon, the Orioles eliminated the Red Sox.  Elliott Maddox, only briefly with the Orioles, insouciantly caught the last out, a routine fly ball to center. 

I was so bummed out that I vowed not to watch the World Series at all.  During Game 1, I went to see Win Wenders' neo-noir movie "The American Friend".  But when every time I glimpsed the mustache of actor Bruno Ganz I thought of Thurman Munson, I decided, "If the Yankees are still on my mind at the movies, I might as well watch the games." I did but with little passion. Reggie Jackson hit 3 home runs in the final game.  Ho-hum. 

47 years after that 1977 World Series, I think I've attained A LITTLE philosophical distance from my earlier self.  I don't really hate any of the players on NYY/LAA. And I find it amusing that the boobirds at Yankee Stadium will have to cheer at the success of their targets in recent years who are really producing now, Gian-Carlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, and Alex Verdugo (a former Dodger who will have extra incentive against LAA).

You never know in baseball so I hope that the remaining LCS games have some memorable moments.  Like the last two games of the Cleveland-Detroit division series. When David Fry's pinch-hit home run silenced Detroit's Comerica Park in Game 4 forcing a return to Cleveland's Progressive Field for Game 5.

And Lane Thomas, former Cardinals farmhand and Nats outfielder, hit a grand slam off the brilliant southpaw Tarik Skubal, this year's likely AL Cy Young winner. 

Two pitches in succession turned around Skubal's season. First, a bases loaded HBP to Jose Ramirez and then Thomas' line drive HR that gave Cleveland the lead they would not relinquish.  It pays to watch the game closely - things can happen in a twinkling. 

I heard a wonderful story from a friend whose mother-in-law lives in an assisted living facility in Cleveland.  She was dutifully going to 4p Saturday Mass when the game was not yet final.  The service was delayed slightly to make sure the team had won and then it opened with a nun on piano playing a rousing version of"Take Me Out To The Ballgame". 

Speaking of rousing performances, how about that WNBA final between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx!  On their sixth visit to the finals as a WNBA charter member, the Liberty need one more victory either Fri night Oct 18 or back home in Brooklyn on Sun night Oct 20 to earn their first title.

This series has not been for the weak in heart.  The Liberty blew double-digit leads in the first two games at home, salvaging a split. The Lynx led all the

way in Game 3 until they didn't late in 4th quarter.  Only a 28-foot straight away jump shot by Sabrina Ionescu kept Game 3 from going into overtime. 

Another star from the Northwest like Steven Kwan, Ionesco, the former Oregon Ducks sensation, gave credit to her preparation for her ability to sink 

that shot.  It reminds me of the saying I once saw in the Tampa Bay Rays clubhouse or maybe on one of the their T-shirts:

"Champions Are Made When Nobody Is Looking." 

That's all for now - stay positive, test negative, still my mantra, and take it easy but take it.

It really helps to remember baseball cliches as the marathon of a baseball season turns into the upcoming September sprint. One of my favorite adages remains "Tomorrow is your best friend."  Especially when there are still 30 games left to play. 

Of course, being a fan means you can't be rational about your team because you can do absolutely nothing about influencing the outcome.  If you start thinking in macro terms about how the fates will do your team in, you wind up a total emotional mess. 

You have to remember that you signed up for this by becoming a fan. Think George C. Scott as Patton and Patton himself before D-Day:  "It beats shoveling shit in Louisiana." 

Saying all this, let me try to answer my question:  "What has happened to the Orioles?"  Injuries are clearly a factor for a team that is playing under .500 ball since late June. Here are some of the key ones to players that were leaders as well as statistical contributors: 

**Starter Kyle Bradish, gone until deep into next year with Tommy John surgery.

**Reliever Danny Coulombe, who might return in late September to provide steady bullpen work.  I'm pretty sure manager Brandon Hyde rues

having him pitch a second inning in his last appearance before the bone chips had to be removed from his left pitching elbow. But then again, winning the game at hand is the manager's first duty.  

**Second and third baseman Jordan Westburg whose broken throwing hand from an HBP may not heal until late in September.  Hard to put into words and certainly statistics what his scrappiness and will to win means to the Birds. 

**Second baseman Jorge Mateo out with a serious elbow ligament injury after a freak collision up the middle with shortstop Gunnar Henderson.  He may well need surgery that could end his career with the Orioles.  Originally signed as a 16-year-old by the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic, it took Mateo more than 10 years and a stint with the Padres organization to finally get a nearly-regular chance to play - his speed and baseball sense are sorely missed. 

Yet every team has injuries. For a variety of reasons, obvious and less obvious, the 101-win team of 2023 has not re-emerged. The macro view - "Every season is different," another favorite cliche - reminds us that the 2023 Orioles were swept in three games by the eventual World Series-winning Texas Rangers.  (The Rangers will not make the playoffs this season, another lesson in how hard it is to repeat in this age of free agent baseball and 24/7/365 media coverage that adds to the noise that can overwhelm struggling players and teams.) 

On the micro level, I don't what has happened to Adley Rutschman.  He hit only .132 in July and while his BA has doubled in August, he is not consistently driving the ball.   The George Steinbrenner in me - my Hobbesian view of human nature insists that we all have the angry boss in us somewhere - wonders why he is doing shoe commercials instead of finding his stroke! 

Adley did recently miss a couple of games with a bad back, perhaps from too much weight lifting. My guess - and it is just a guess - is that the serious injury to Bradish and to pitcher Grayson Rodriguez - still on the IL at this crucial time of season -  may have come from excessive lifting. 

When Adley is on, a switch-hitter with good gap power, the whole lineup seems better. Maybe he has a hidden injury not disclosed or the pressure of a pennant race and never failing at anything he has ever done in his heralded career has gotten to him.  He remains an easy player to root for. 

Meanwhile, backup James McCann has been invaluable for his courage exemplified by his unbelievable refusal a few weeks ago to leave the first inning of the first game of a doubleheader after being hit in the face with an errant pitch from a Blue Jay pitcher.  He suffered several nose fractures but after changing his bloody uniform top, he returned to the game to keep Rutschman from having to catch the whole doubleheader. 

The Orioles' remaining schedule is not particularly onerous although they must face the Dodgers in LA Tues thru Thurday Aug 27-29 and then go to tailend Colorado Aug 30-Sep 1.  I wrote down the September schedule eagerly not long ago, but now my anticipation has faded for the three games in New York against the Yankees Tu-Th Sep 24-26 for the AL East title. 

If we manage somehow to stay in the wild card race, those final three games at Minnesota Sep 27-29 may be even more important. Minnesota and Kansas City are very alive in the wild card race and both have a chance to knock Cleveland out of first place.  As a congenital supporter of the underdog, I hope the Royals and Guardians have a chance at October baseball. 

I haven't even gone into Oriole pitching woes - other injuries to starters and bullpen meltdowns. It is not all demoted closer Criag Kimbrel's fault either.  But enough of my whining! We still have a chance if the players believe. And forget the unexpected triumph of last year and maybe more important, forget the end of the streak earlier this season where they had not been swept in a series for over a year and a half.  

They did have two dramatic victories against Houston this past weekend:  An 8th inning grand slam by Anthony Santander and a pinch-hit bases-clearing double by 20-year-old Jackson Holliday (but his only hit in his last 24 ABs.)

Holliday's hit came after the Orioles honored the three new members of the Orioles Hall of Fame.  So here's the good news from the stories of the new inductees.   

**Scout Dick Bowie who signed outfielder Al Bumbry, future major league pitchers Ken Dixon and Jesse Jefferson, and was the only scout in the

organization (and a rare one throughout baseball) that saw Cal Ripken Jr's future as an infielder not a pitcher.  Bowie's son accepted the honor.

**Terry Crowley, outfielder and pinch-hitter extraordinaire who became an outstanding hitting coach for Orioles and other teams.  I am proud to

mention Crowley was excelled at Staten Island's Curtis High School.   

**Right fielder Nick Markakis, one of Crowley's star pupils who collected 2388 hits with .288 BA, .780 OBP in a career mainly with the Orioles. He was another player that many scouts projected as a pitcher but Tony DeMacio, Orioles scouting director at the time, insisted that (a) Nick was a definite number one draft pick with the kind of swing that would make him an everyday player (and also the talent to become a fine defender), and (b) he held off the critics who claimed Nick was only being signed because then-owner Peter Angelos was also of Greek descent. 

BTW I added Markakis's OBP above, but I can do without the high-tech scoreboards like the one I saw at the NY Mets' CitiField during the recent Oriole series.  It lists first OBP (On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage) and BA is hard to find.  This is a rant for another time.

And I do want to thank the Mets for replaying a great defensive play that Gunnar Henderson made against the Mets in last

week's series. It is so rare for a home team to credit visitors with great plays!  

Here's a sad closing note that needs mention  - In today's NY Times (M Aug 26) I read Emily Schmall's story about the late night fire on Th Aug 22 at Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario, California, that destroyed the old wooden ballpark where "A League of Their Own" was filmed over 30 years ago.  Earlier John Goodman as the "Babe" and John Sayles' "Eight Men Out" had also been filmed there.  

For a commercial film, "A League of Their Own' has always rested in a special place in my heart for its love of baseball.  Many years ago I met Jon Lovitz at the US Open not far from the Mets ballpark (then Shea Stadium, now CitiField).  I told him I liked his portrayal of the scout and he was humble, saying it was a well-written part - I must add that in re-seeing the film recently I found the role a bit too stereotyped. 

In the lively recent book by Erin Carlson, "No Crying In Baseball," about the making of Penny Marshall's film, Tom Hanks, who played the team manager loosely based on Jimmy Foxx, said:  "Football is war.  Basketball is struggle.  Baseball is life." 

BTW Another tidbit in Carlson's book is that someone who tried out for the film and didn't get cast but did OK in her tryout was Marla Maples. 

RIP, Jay Littleton Ball Park, that according to Schmall's story was named after a former semi-pro ballplayer who became an MLB scout and passed on in 2003.  Am always glad to remember any scout devoted to the game.  

That's all for now - Stay Positive Test Negative and Take It Easy But Take It, still my mantras.