Lee Lowenfish

Since we last met, dear readers, there have been a lot of exciting MLB baseball games. There are too many strikeouts and good team defense is an endangered species so maybe it is not a surprise that nearly 20 teams are close enough to .500 to keep playoff dreams alive.  I'm not even counting the six division leaders in that number: The surprising Blue Jays up by two over the Yankees and 3 over the Red Sox in the AL East; the runaway Tigers who still have a 11-game lead in the AL Central despite being swept by Seattle just before the ASG break; and the always-contending Astros 5 games up over Seattle in the AL West.

 

In the NL East, the Phillies have only a half-game lead on the Mets; the Cubs are only 1 up on the Brewers in the NL Central with that fierce Midwest rivalry likely to go down to the wire like Mets-Phillies; and in the NL West, the perennially top dog high-spending Dodgers are still in command with the Padres 5 behind and the Giants 6 out.

 

Sadly, I cannot harbor any hopes for my Orioles. I thought there was a glimmer of hope when the Birds swept the Mets in a doubleheader last Thursday July 10 in Baltimore. But when the Marlins followed the New Yorkers into Baltimore and won the weekend series convincingly, it felt like a crushing blow. 

Both teams entered the series with identical 42-50 records, but the surprising youngsters from Miami demonstrated superior pitching and far more fundamental baseball.  Nothing like having no expectations as compared to the burden of contention that the Birds have carried since their emergence as a 101-team two seasons ago.

 

To add to the embarrssment of the Sunday Jul 13 11-1 shellacking was a 3-HR 5-hit 6-RBI performance by former Oriole outfielder Kyle Stowers, a second-round pick in 2019 from Stanford.  The Birds brass evidently decided that U of Arkansas's Heston Kjerstad, a top pick in 2020, was a better prospect, but now he is back in the minors and scuffling there too. The only saving grace is that southpaw Trevor Rogers, who they got in the Stowers trade and is only 27, has seemingly emerged as a top-flight lefthanded starter.  I hope he sustains his excellence. 

 

It looks like newbie Orioles owner David Rubenstein, the honcho from the private equity fund the Carlyle Group who is also an author and moderator discussing books on the Bloomberg TV channel and other places, still has confidence in GM Mike Elias who tore down the 100-loss Orioles teams six years ago and might be doing a lot of trading before the July 31 deadline.  I hope I'm wrong, but it could be that the road back to contention will be a long one for my team. 

 

I do try to avoid the negativity surrounding my favorite sport.  Bobby Winkles, the great Arizona State baseball coach and less successful pro manager of Angels/A's, once even said, "Half the fun of baseball is laying blame."  So I'm gonna take a different tack now and close with some bouquets.

 

**To the AL All-Stars who rallied from a 6-0 deficit to tie the Tu July 15 ASG game in the top of the 9th on two doubles and an infield hit despite two great defensive plays by the NL.  The 10th inning Home Run Derby that ended the game with an NL victory got all the attention, but I say there is nothing like an old-fashioned rally with this time situational hitting trumping great defense to warm the heart of an old-fashioned lover of old-fashioned baseball.  

 

**To Joe Girardi whose commentary on YES cable TV Yankee broadcasts has been insightful and humorous. Recently, after a player hit a weak infield popup to third, Girardi recalled that when he was a rookie with the Cubs and he endured a similar poor excuse for an at-bat, puckish teammate Rick Sutcliffe quipped, "I guess the wind is blowing in from third at Wrigley today, Joe." 

 

**To roaming Mets broadcaster Steve Gelbs for finding 12-year-old Antonio from Long Island in the crowd at one of last week's Oriole-Met games and telling him that he had won the award to substitute for Gary Cohen for an inning on an upcoming Mets cable TV broadcast. With most of his face smeared with eye black (a player's trend these days),  Antonio's jubilation virtually poured out of my TV set. He also gladly responded to Gelbs' request to give a rendition of his contest-winning call of a Francisco Lindor home run. The big event will happen during the Tu July 22 Mets game on SNY-TV.

 

**Last but not least, here's a shoutout to the Bonnefont Restaurant at the entrance to Fort Tryon Park at the footsteps of the renowned Cloisters museum in Upper Manhattan. I had a wonderful 4th of July dinner there celebrating my special friend Maria Patterson's birthday.  The ambience and food were excellent and when I complimented a waiter for his colorful shirt, they even had an extra to give me. 

 

The Bonnefont cafe and main restaurant are open Wed through Sunday for lunch and dinner. The M4 NYC bus takes you virtually to the doorstep of the Cloisters. More info at thebonnefont.com and 212/740-2939

 

That's all for now - always remember to Take It Easy But Take It! and Stay Positive, Test Negative! 

How does someone root in this upcoming World Series when he feels the unfairness of the richest teams fighting for baseball's biggest prize?

My JCS - Jaded Cynical Side - thinks perhaps a sweep by either team might be enjoyable.  Because then one outrageously entitled fan base would be

miserable. Calls for beheading underachieving players and non-uniformed personnel would become constant and hilarious.

 

The late great college baseball coach Bobby Winkles - who was less successful managing in MLB - once said, "Half the fun of baseball is laying blame."

I remember vividly the days of my yout' (as Casey Stengel would pronounce it) when cartoonist Bill Gallo in the NY Daily News would name a hero and a goat after every game. 

 

However, as readers of this blog know by now, I have a PBF persona - Pure Baseball Fan.  In these stressful times with the end of Daylight Savings Time coming on Su Nov 3 at 2A and Election Day two days later, here's my wish for a well-played series with more heroes than goats. 

 

Although the Dodgers have many weapons starting with Shohei Ohtani at top of order, their starting pitching is in disarray.  And the Yankee offense though it has sputtered at times is formidable. 

 

It is hard to beat the symmetry of Juan Soto's season. On Opening Night in Houston, he threw out from right field the game-tying run at home plate.

Then in the 10th inning of the ALCS clincher at Cleveland, he climaxed a long at-bat against reliever Hunter Gaddis with a three-run HR.

 

lt was pure Soto exuberance that JCS LeeLow would call cockiness.  Soto just turned 26 and will sign a hefty long-term contract from some team in off-season.  Probably the Yankees I would say, but he and agent Scott Boras are likely to string it out for a while. 

 

Two Bronx Bombers have LAD connections, one direct and one indirect ,  LF Alex Verdugo, often a target of home boobirds, has come up big at least defensively, the most underappreciated and necessary trait in any winner. Verdugo was originally signed by the Dodgers and was included in the trade to Boston that brought Mookie Betts to LAD.  Verdugo may have extra incentive in this WS. 

 

So may Gian-Carlo Stanton who is from just north of LA and yearned to play for his home town team. But as author Dan Taylor explained in his

wonderful book about scout George Genovese, A SCOUT'S REPORT, the Dodgers let him slip to the Marlins in the second round of the 2007 draft. 

They used the lame excuse that they thought Stanton preferred to play football for USC. 

 

Like Dave Winfield, Stanton could have starred in any major sport but he loved baseball most of all.  Injuries have taken a toll during his career and he can be pitched to, but he provides a fearsome presence not far behind Soto and Aaron Judge in the batting order. 

 

At the right time, he's locked in both physically and mentally.  He told Bryan Hoch of mlb.com that the moment Yankees won the pennant, he turned off his cell phone. 

 

PBF LeeLow wishes no harm on other well-paid players that seem like good guys like Betts and Judge. Each has a vulnerable side that they are willing to express to the public.  Both have had post-season slumps and have felt that they are letting their teams down. By the end of the LCS's, though, they wre showing signs that their transcendant talent was coming back to the fore. 

 

Since the Yankees have played very well on the road this year, I see them in 6 at LAD. 

 

One Live Movie note to stoke the baseball hot stove league fires: 

Aviva Kempner's "The LIfe and Times of Hank Greenberg" will be shown at the New Plaza Cinema, 35 W 67 west of Central Park West:

F Oct 25 615P

Su Oct 27 230P

Sa Nov 2 1245P 

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and Stay Positive Test Negative!