Lee Lowenfish

There are light years of difference between watching a game with emotional involvement for one of your teams and merely being interested in a good World Series game.  With my Woerioles under current management sadly headed nowhere (would love to be proven wrong), I adopted the gritty unheralded Blue Jays in the just-concluded Fall Classic.  By Games 6 and 7, I was really hoping Toronto would win over the Evil Empire West or less pejoratively, the Deferral Dodgers whose management has shrewdly backloaded many contracts to avoid paying luxury taxes to their less-financially-endowed and less-interested-in-winning partners.   

 

I watched Game 7 in a local Upper West Side bar, the Dive 106 on Amsterdam Ave.  It was a lively evening but not too raucous because the local Mets and Yankees were long gone from the playoffs - the Mets never even made them. It says here that having Juan Soto as a third MVP candidate doesn't seem right. My lasting memory of Soto this year was watching him take strike three called to end the penultimate game of the season in Miami and then arguing the call with the ump.  The Mets were still alive in the pennant race and NO WAY an MVP ends a crucial game with the bat on his shoulder.. 

 

There was an intense Dodger fan at the tavern wearing a blue Dodger T-shirt with the names on the front of Clayton Kershaw-Jackie Robinson-Sandy Koufax-and a 4th I can't remember. He told me that earlier in the season when the Dodgers came to New York to play both the Mets and Yankees, he met manager Dave Roberts at a downtown restaurant and he couldn't have been nicer. I thought to myself that the Jays' less-experienced manager John Schneider seemed like a good guy, too. 

 

Dive 106 customers might have been evenly split between Toronto and LAD rooters but when Alejandro Kirk hit into a Series-ending 6-6-3 DP started by Mookie Betts, T-shirted LAD fan erupted in bellicose joy.  Another happy camper was a Yankee fan who booed Blue Jay George Springer every time he came up.  She still held a grudge against any former Astro involved in the sign-stealing scandal that may have cost the Yankees the 2017 ALCS.  She did know the game though, learning it in Texas from her Brooklyn-born father.  She surmised accurately that walking potent Vladimir Guerrero Jr set up a double play trap for Kirk that he soon fell into.  Inning over, game over, World Series over, Dodgers win.

(Without John Sterling's screaming.)

 

The LA Dodgers are now the first back-to-back champions since the 1998-99-2000 Yankees. I don't want to nitpick too much because both teams could have won, but in the cruel crucible of baseball with its immensely long season, there is only one winner.  I did think after Toronto won Games 4 and 5 convincingly at Chavez Ravine they could win it all.  But the Dodgers are battle-tested and at least it was their grinders that made most of the difference. 

 

Not just the well-paid Mookie Betts who broke out of his slump long enough to get the huge hit in Game 6 - the two-run single off Kevin Gausman on an off-speed pitch after a long at-bat. They wouldn't have won without third baseman Max Muncy, a scrap heap pickup years ago, breaking out of his slump to homer in the 8th inning of Game 7 to bring the Dodgers within a run.   And then most improbably Miguel Rojas, 36-year-old former Miami Marlin who late in regular season announced his retirement after playoffs, hit the tying homer off recently-reliable closer Jeff Hoffman to tie the game with one out in the 9th. 

 

In a Series in which each team almost always answered runs quickly, the Blue Jays almost won it all in the bottom of the 9th. Alas, with the bases loaded and two out, defensive substitute Andy Pages made a leaping catch in left center knocking left fielder Kike Hernandez to the ground in the process.  The game was decided in the 11th when catcher Will Smith hit Shane Bieber's 2-0 pitch for a homer to deep left. LAD's young Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was voted the Series MVP for winning 3 games and saving Game 7 with almost 3 innings of relief after throwing nearly 100 pitches in Game 6. 

 

I think Will Smith could have easily been the co-MVP because he caught every inning of every Series game. I counted at least 3 wild pitches he saved in the early innings of Game 7 when unicorn Shohei Ohtani was ineffective.  Smith reminds me of Yankee catcher Jorge Posada during the Bronx Bombers' most recent dynasty.  You love him if he's on your team and loathe him if he's an opponent.  Smith at least is a home-grown Dodger and came back from injury just in time to make his mark in the post-season. 

 

In many ways, I think Dodger manager Dave Roberts was the MVP. He manipulated his roster brilliantly, moving catcher Smith to second in the batting order to take pressure off Betts who until his big single in Game 6 was not contributing at the plate (but he was a whiz in the field, defying the pundits by playing shortstop for first time in MLB career.)

Roberts also inserted Rojas at second base for the last games and he came through on both sides of the ball.  Inserting rarely-used Justin Dean for defense in Game 6 proved very crucial when he immediately reacted to a line dlrive in the gap stuck in the outfield fence and got the umps to end the play without a run scoring.  

 

There is a revealing chapter on Dave Roberts in Scott Miller's recent book on managers SKIPPER. "I say a prayer every day, don't make it be about me."  More on this indispensable book coming up in Hot Stove League posts of this blog.  It is so sad that veteran sportswriter Scott Miller didn't live to enjoy most of the plaudits for SKIPPER because he died iof cancer n June at age 62.  It is a work that not only brings familiar managerial names back to life - Tom Kelly, Sparky Anderson, Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog, and others.  Miller also tells the stories of less-remembered managers like Cito Gaston, Art Howe, Jim Tracy, among others, who lost their jobs to the inexorable wave of analytics. 

 

Speaking of books, keep your eyes open for Steve Somers, ME HERE, YOU THERE which is available now on pre-order from Triumph Books and officially debuts on November 18. The San Francisco-born Somers made his New York radio debut in 1987 when WFAN went on the air as the first all-sports talk radio station.  Steve brought great knowledge and welcome humor to his overnight broadcasts. His carefully crafted well-written opening monologues were especially delightful after the host and caller screamings that punctuated sports talk radio then and now.   

 

Here's some TCM Turner Classic Movies tips, most notably Claude Rains marathon from 6A until 8P on Mon Nov 10.  I have dreamed of being reincarnated as Rains and (also Robert Preston and James Garner).  Here's the lineup for Rains:

6A "Four Daughters" (1938). Music teacher Rains is wary of his daughters, some of the Lane sisters, getting too friendly with John Garfield.

745A "Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) Rains contends with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland

945A "Mr. Skeffington" (1942) Michael Curtiz reunites with Rains after "Casablanca" - Bette Davis has to contend with Rains who is spared her worst side in "Deception"

   which is not shown today.

1215P "Passage to Marseilles" (1944) - Curtiz again this time with Bogart along for a WW II story

215P "The Unsuspected" (1947) another villain role for Claude with Joan Caulfield and Audrey Totter

4P "Casablanca" (1943)

545P "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945)

This amazing day on TCM opens at 1215A with the silent "Body and Soul" (1925) with Paul Robeson as philandering minister.  ("Ol' Man River" had not yet made its debut) 

And at 8P the oft-shown but always gripping "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). Mike Nichols directs Liz and Burton in Edward Albee's searing play

 

On the live music front for those in NYC area, Sa Nov 8 10A-10P - "Wall-To-Wall Stevie Wonder" - Symphony Space, Broadway/95th Street Manhattan

 

That's all for now.  Stay strong without baseball until late winter.  And always remember:  Stay Positive, Test Negative & Take It Easy But Take It!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

 

    

As readers of this blog know, I don't bet on sports except once in a blue moon I might make a friendly bet with someone from a rival alma mater.  

 

Don't think I'll be doing even that this season with Wisconsin football off to a horrific start and basketball not likely to be a real contender.  

 

But this year's baseball playoffs are certainly intriguing. What I want to see is a pairing in the World Series of the Braves or Giants with any of the AL teams except the Yankees.  

 

Even before Mick Jagger sang about it, I know that you can't always get what you want. 

So here is what I think may happen but don't necessarily want to happen.  

 

The Red Sox in the wild card game against Yankees will be missing J. D. Martinez who suffered the second most absurd injury on the eve of the playoffs. He tripped over second base and sprained his ankle running into the outfield in the last game of regular season.   

 

So that's advantage Yankees in Wild Card game at Fenway just six hours away as I finish this blog.  They will miss D. J. LeMahieu out with a sports hernia but they may have enough offense with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

 

Anything can happen in a short series let alone one game, but the Yankees do have a better defense and bullpen than their longtime rivals.   

 

If I have forceast correctly, the Yankees will then take on the Tampa Bay Rays in a best of five series.

 

The Rays amaze everyone in baseball, succeeding with a low payroll invested in winning players throughout the roster.  They are adventurous, experimental, and fun to watch (if you can tolerate all the strikeouts and the endless shifts).  

 

They don't have a traditional starting rotation or one real closer.  The Yankees or Red Sox don't have overwhelming starters either but the Yankees do have a rejuvenated Aroldis Chapman at the back end which could be a deciding factor.  I hope not.

 

In the other division series, two septuagenarians lead the White Sox and Astros into the fray.  As nearly an octogenarian myself. I can't miss in this series.  These guys are living proof that older folks have much to offer.  

 

I'd like to see Dusty Baker go deep into the playoffs despite the stain of chicanery indelibly upon the Astros. The scandal, of course, happened before Baker arrived on the scene. 

 

The White Sox coasted in the second half with no AL Central team mounting any real challenge.  We'll see if Tony LaRussa's lads led by the most consistent of all the Cubans in MLB, dh/1b Jose Abreu, can turn it on when it matters most.

 

In the NL wild card, it would be great if Adam Wainwright, 40, can outpitch the very talented and enormously high-paid Max Scherzer, no youngster himself at 36 or 37.  I am not sure St. Louis has the bullpen to stifle LA once the game goes into late innings.

 

The loss of Max Muncy to an elbow injury in a collision at first base will hurt the Dodgers. But they have another oldster and former Cardinal, Albert Pujols, to replace him. Or perhaps the slumping former MVP Cody Bellinger who could relish a chance to redeem himself in October.  

 

The Dodgers are favored in the wild card game and to go all the way to their second straight World Series championship.  But if they beat the Cardinals, they'll have to go through the Giants who won 107 games this year.

 

No one expected the Giants to soar, including me.  But they have a wonderful mixutre of vets from the world champs last decade, including Buster Posey, Johnny Cueto, and Brandon Belt.  Plus some good youngsters like Lamont Wade Jr. and pitcher Logan Webb, only 26 but he already possesses the visage of a gritty savvy veteran.

 

Belt got hit by a pitch and his broken finger may keep him out of the entire post-season.  But the Giants have always found a way in 2021 and I hope they do so again.

 

Winner of the first NLDS will face either the Braves or the Brewers, both teams with

Milwaukee in their history. Unfortunately, a key Brewers reliever, Devin Williams, suffered the most absurd and stupid injury shortly before the playoffs.  

 

After the NL Central-winning celebration, Williams had too much to drink. He went home and in undisclosed circumstances, he punched a wall in his house and broke his hand.  

 

He is out until at least the World Series if the Brewers get that far.  Since manager Craig Counsell micro-manages his bullpen seemingly more than any other manager, the loss of Williams to set up for closer Josh Hader might be too much to overcome. 

 

The Braves finished strong and I think have an edge over Milwaukee. They have two MVP candidates in the heart of their lineup, Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley.  (They might split the vote which could allow a poseur to win it like Bryce Harper - he always electioneers for the award but usually plays golf in October.)  

 

I am sure the Braves would like to meet the Dodgers in the NLCS and avenge last year's wrenching loss. Their one Achilles heel is closer Will Smith who is shaky far too often.  

 

Well, there you have my analysis for what it is worth.  And the old adage still applies.

"Opinions are like assholes - everyone has them."  

 

Always remember:  Take it easy but take it!