Lee Lowenfish

The Orioles' thrilling season continues on its merry way.  After being embarrassed 13-1 in the opening Fri June 23 game of a three-game home series against a Seattle Mariners team hovering around .500, they came from behind to win the next two games, 6-4 in 10 innings and 3-2 in Sunday's rubber match. 

 

If the 6-4 game Sat. game had been played during the post-season, a wider audience would have called it a classic.  Even though the Birds managed the dubious distinction of "running for the cycle" - 4 men were thrown out on the bases. 

 

Red-hot Anthony Santander hit a tying homer (did the same thing on Sunday and made a sensational catch) and Aaron Hicks, finding new life after trying times with the Yankees, hit a go-ahead homer.  But Yankee castoff Mike Ford, the undrafted slugger from Princeton, hit two long home runs, the second one tying the game with two out in top of the ninth off the huge Oriole closer Felix "The Mountain" Bautista. 

 

Julio Rodriguez, last year's AL Rookie of the Year, also homered and kept the game close by a sensational robbing of a two-run homer off the bat of Ryan O'Hearn.  O'Hearn is a KC Royals castoff who has stepped in productively for the injured and struggling Ryan Mountcastle who might be in danger of being Wally Pipp-ed although the farm system has younger, possibly more talented players than O'Hearn waiting in the wings.

 

The game was won in bottom of the tenth by a two-run homer by defensive replacement Ryan McKenna. It has been that kind of year for the Orioles - major contributions from unlikely members of the roster.  

 

Sunday's game-winning hit came off the bat of third-string catcher Anthony Bemboom who blooped the ball over second baseman Jose Caballero who kicked it towards the tarp and fleet shortstop Jorge Mateo scored all the way from first base on the error. 

 

Baltimore enters the last week of June 4 1/2 games behind Tampa Ray but only two in the loss column. They immediately host another even more surprising team the Cincinnati Reds who rolled off 12 wins in a row before losing two close games to the NL East leaders Atlanta Braves. 

 

The Reds have caught the nation's attention because they have been downtrodden for so long.  Some impressive rookies led by shortstop-third baseman Elly de la Cruz have fueled the surge and the return of future Hall of Famer Joey Votto will undoubtedly help.  Votto is one of the most thoughtful and team-oriented players in MLB and I hope he stays healthy now (but not too healthy against the Orioles). 

 

Maybe the most encouraging development this weekend was the solid seven-inning starts by young Oriole starters Dean Kremer, the first dual Israeli-American citizen in MLB history (and the last Oriole remnant of the

Manny Machado fire sale of 2018), and Kyle Bradish obtained as a minor leaguer in a trade for the fading

Dylan Bundy (last seen pitching for the Mets' Triple-A farm club in Syracuse).  

 

Nothing like the feeling of hope for one's team and the inevitable anxiety - can't have one without another - as summer moves on. On the local NYC high school baseball scene, congrats to Tottenville of Staten Island and Hunter of Manhattan's East Side for their triumphs at Yankee Stadium on June 12 in the AAA and AA divisions. 

 

More next time on the law suit brought by older MLB scouts against the MLB hierachy that may have committed age discrimination violations by severing many experienced veteran scouts. As I stressed in my new book BASEBALL'S ENDANGERED SPECIES, there is no substitute for the informed opinions of those who have worked in the trenches trying to evaluate and project the success of aspiring young players. 

 

The saddest entry this post focuses on the passing last week of two outstanding pitchers and baseball personages, Roger Craig, 93, who died on June 4, and Dick Hall, 92, who died on June 18. 

 

I will never forget Craig coming up with Don Bessent in the middle of the 1955 season to help the Brooklyn Dodgers win their only World Series. After winning another ring with 1959 LA Dodgers, Craig went on to become an anchor on early Mets staffs. 

 

He managed the San Diego Padres in 1978 and 1979 and later became a great pitching coach for the 1984 world champion Tigers. He managed mainly contending SF Giants teams from 1985-1992, losing the 1989 "earthquake" World Series to the Oakland A's.

 

Craig was a renowned teacher of the split-fingered fastball, the pitch du jour of the 1980s. He looked like a more avuncular and kinder former President Lyndon B. Johnson. His signature phrase will be remembered as "Humm baby!" but he was more importantly a wise dispenser of wisdom learned in his home state of North Carolina.  

 

Dick Hall was a lanky young outfielder-third baseman on Branch Rickey's young Pittsburgh Pirates teams in the 1950s before his conversion to the mound.  He blossomed as a relief pitcher for the Orioles in the 1960s winning two World Series rings in 1966 and 1970. 

 

The only Swarthmore graduate who made the field in MLB history (Larry and Lee MacPhail made the Hall of Fame as executives), Hall became an accomplished accountant and a persuasive advocate for the game.  

 

Hall grew up near NYC in Haworth NJ and I met not long ago one of his neighbors who remembered the sound of Hall's practicing his throwing on a cushioned wall or maybe a barn near my friend's house.  The sound of ball on wall night after night became the percussive musical background of my late friend's youth.    

 

In closing let's also cross fingers that the recent termination of several TCM (Turner Classic Movies) executives doesn't lead to a diminuition of that valuable cable channel's programming of classic films.

 

There have been a lot of layoffs at TCM recently, and chief executive David Zaslav is trying to dampen criticism by saying he believes in the station.  For now, my favorite show on TCM - Eddie Muller's Noir Alley Sat at midnight, rebroadcast at 10A Sun - remains on.  Even if the Noir formula grows tiresome and predictable, Eddie's intros and outros are must-see watching.

 

That's all for now. Next post comes from Chautauqua where I'm teaching a class from July 3, 5-7 on "Can Baseball Survive the 21st Century?"   Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

I try to be an optimist or at least a glass half-full kinda guy when trying to cope with life's inevitable problems. It may be hard to find any silver lining in the revelation of the Houston Astros's high-tech sign stealing operation that places in doubt the legitimacy of their 2017 World Series triumph and deep runs in the 2018 and 2019 playoffs. 

 

Acting firmly, Commissioner Rob Manfred suspended both Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A. J. Hinch for a year without pay, took away the first two Houston draft picks for the next two seasons, and fined the team the maximum allowed under his contract with the owners, $5 million.  Going one step further, Astro owner Jim Crane fired Luhnow and Hinch and will soon name replacements. 

 

Two more casualties have been Red Sox manager Alex Cora who was the Houston bench coach in 2017 and was named 11 times in Manfred's nine page single-spaced decision. Incoming Mets manager Carlos Beltran also walked the plank.

 

Beltran had been hailed as a veteran presence on the 2017 Astros but he was intimately involved in the sign-stealing shenanigans - one of those coordinating center field camera footage with replay equipment closer to the dugout so that batters knew what pitches were coming at key moments of the game. 

 

Many people have wondered why the players who were active participants in the scheme

have not been disciplined.  The reason is that their Players Association had never been informed of Manfred's directive late in the 2017 season warning teams to cease using technology illegally. 

 

Luhnow and Hinch had received the warning and ignored it. Interestingly, Manfred reported that Hinch was annoyed at the use of electronic equipment in the dugout and twice even broke the instruments.  But he never reported his dissatisfaction to his superiors.

 

Maybe, just maybe, the harsh punishments will lead to a realization throughout MLB that unbridled technology is dangerous without practicing common sense and simple sporting ethics. The dream of winning a World Series, former MLB outfielder Doug Glanville wrote eloquently after the scandal broke, drives "every professional player, [but it] loses meaning when champions cut corners." 

 

"Small enhancements lead to big advantages in the realm of the elite," Glanville added in two similar articles in newyorktimes.com and theathletic.com .  He concluded with a stirring observation:  "In times like these, I hope we all recognize that the case full of trophies brimming with records broken, blinding us with statistical opulence, may sometimes be the one that is actually empty." 

 

Old-fashioned sign-stealing has been going on forever in baseball.  It remains the only sport I know of where a "stolen base" is built into the rules.  But it is one thing to use eyes and ears methods - tipping of caps from bullpens, hand signals, uniform tugs, and the like - and quite another to take advantage of ballyhooed technology to gain an advantage. 

 

There will be more shoes to drop soon. Alex Cora has not yet been disciplined by MLB because an investigation of possible Red Sox chicanery during their 2018 championship season is still ongoing.

 

With all the headlines going to the sign-stealing scandal, there has hardly been a word written recently about MLB's plan to cut 42 minor league teams including some entire low-level leagues.  It is a plan, not coincidentally, pushed by the Houston analytic genuises. 

 

Let's hope some more thoughtful and empathetic people arise in the MLB hierarchy to keep the worst aspects of that proposal from happening. Perceptive scouting and patient player development remain the key to baseball success (although as more and more wealthy owners come into the game, these basic truths can easily get obscured). 

 

At the 55th annual New York Pro Scouts Hot Stove League banquet this past Friday night January 24, guest speaker Bobby Valentine reminded us that analytics is not really new but there has always been room in baseball for good thinking.  As long as one didn't forget the element of luck and being in the right place at the right time.

 

The former Mets manager's own story is illustrative of good fortune.  A great all-around athlete from Stamford, CT Valentine had the rare opportunity for a high school junior to play in the summer Cape Cod Baseball League.  His manager was none other than Lou Lamoriello who went on to great success as a Stanley Cup-winning National Hockey League general manager for the Jersey Devils (and now trying to do the same for the New York islanders).

 

Valentine gave tribute to another awardee Edgardo Alfonzo who he called "the best all-around player he ever managed".  The ever-humble Alfonzo expressed gratitude for all the plaudits he received this evening. 

 

The former Mets second-third baseman led the Brooklyn Cyclones to their first-ever New York Penn League championship in 2019.  He always told his players:  "Don't ever let anyone take your dreams away."  (Inexplicably, the Mets did not rehire Alfonzo for 2020 - his replacement will be former Seton Hall player/St. Johns coach Ed Blankmeyer.)    

 

Another highlight of the dinner was Billy Blitzer's reading the names of 13 northeastern players who broke into the majors in 2019. All but three came from the seventh round of the draft or later, a sign of the talent in this area that diligent hard-working scouts have discovered. 

 

Among the 13 are Mike Ford from Princeton, undrafted but who shone at 1B/DH for Yankees.

*Justin Dunn RHP from Boston College traded to Seattle in the Cano/Edwin Diaz deal

*Anthony Kay LHP from UConn, Mariners

*Mike King RHP from Boston College, Yankees 

*Nick Margevicus, LHP from Rider, Padres

*Aaron Civale, RHP from Northeastern, Indians (Civale was honored as Future Star awardee)

*Frank Schwindel 1B and Cody Stashak RHP, both from St. Johns, signed by John Wilson for the Twins. 

 

That's all for now.  Always remember: Take it easy but take it!