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On Gunnar Henderson's Non-Cycle and Other Musings About The Orioles As The Dog Days of August Morph Into Meaningful Games in September

If you want an understanding of what baseball purism is all about, check out Gunnar Henderson's second double of the game in yesterday's (Sun Aug 20) rout of the lowly Oakland A's.  Seemingly all the broadcasters and even most of his teammates wanted him just to get a single to complete a cycle, having already gotten the triple, homer, and double.

 

Gunnar's baseball instincts, though, took over. His smash down the right field line "looked double," he said after the game almost sheepishly. He just couldn't turn off his highly competitive and wonderful-to-watch jets. 

 

Now, listen, I am not against any change in baseball.  I'm all for the pitch clock and the end of the infield shift that turned the right side of the baseball diamond into a grotesque facsimile of a football backfield. 

 

But if purism means endorsing playing the game hard, smart, and well, running out every at-bat, and hitting the cutoff man on outfield relays, call me a purist. And after sweeping the lowly Oakland A's to finish a West Coast trip with a solid 6-3 record, the AL East-leading Orioles got to enjoy the Monday off-day, three games ahead of (and four games in lost column) Tampa Bay. 

 

Tomorrow (Tu Aug 22) the Birds open at home their last series of the year with division rival Toronto. Although nine games out of first place with 38 to play, the Blue Jays still look formidable to me. They are coming off an impressive road series victory over the surprising Cincinnati Reds. Toronto's outstanding young shortstop Bo Bichette is back from a leg injury and he is always a bundle to deal with. 

 

Because of the so-called "balanced schedule" that downplays intra-divisional play, the Orioles finished with the Yankees at the end of July and now Toronto before end of August.  At least there are four left with Tampa Bay in Baltimore from Sep 14-17. 

 

One thing the Orioles should be proud of is their consistency which, of course, is the most hallowed hallmark in any sport. As a wise sports psychologist once said, "If consistency were an island, it would be lightly populated. 

 

The Birds have not been swept in any three- or four-game series since mid-May 2022, a record that is the fifth longest in MLB history.  Not coincidentally, the streak started at almost the same time as the MLB arrival of deservedly-touted switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman. 

 

I can here former Oriole manager Earl Weaver grousing from the Great Baseball Beyond, "What's the big deal? You are supposed to win most of your games if you are a good team."  That is true, Earl, but the stat does speak to keeping one's focus on each and every game.  And realizing that Nothing Is Guaranteed. 

 

It looks like there will be plenty of drama throughout MLB in the final weeks of the season.  It seemed likely that the runner-up in the AL West would be the second of the three wild cards, but this weekend both the Rangers and Astros were swept at home by the Brewers and Mariners, respectively. 

 

Despite losing to suddenly potent Milwaukee, leaders of the NL Central, Texas still has a four game lead on defending World Series-champion Houston. But Seattle spanked the Astros and is on a roll to at least capture the third wild card over Toronto.

 

The Mariners came on strong last season and made the playoffs and certainly they look tough with possibly the best starting pitching in baseball and a red-hot young star in Julio Rodriguez. The Red Sox cannot be counted out after sweeping the reeling Yankees on the road. 

 

The National League has quite a wild card race going on, too, with two surprising teams, the Cubs and the Reds, vying with defending NL champion Phlllies for post-season play.  The Braves and Dodgers have sewed up their NL East and NL West titles and the Brewers with less breathing room seem to have at last the NL Central under control.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of the expanded wild cards but as long as the teams are somewhat over .500 I can reluctantly accept them.  With Cleveland now 8 games under .500 and Minnesota four over, it looks like the AL Central is close to being settled. 

 

I must remind myself that the calendar still says August.  Yet there is that lack of dramatic intra-divisional matchups in September because of the so-called "balanced" schedule (sigh). 

 

In closing, a tip of the cap to three Rutgers baseball players who led the Bourne Braves earlier this month to their second straight Cape Cod Baseball League championship. They are outfielders Josh Kuroda-Grauer, the championship series MVP; Pete Cuifffreda, an incoming graduate transfer; and catcher Hugh Pinkney. 

 

It was the second consecutive year that 3 Scarlet Knights played for champion Bourne.   

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and stay positive test negative. 

 

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Reflections on Watching Gary Cohen and Ron Darling Call The Orioles Sweep Of The Mets (corrected version) + TCM Tips

I must admit I don't watch the Mets on SNY very often.  I'm too busy draining my emotions rooting for the Orioles and when not doing that, I'm rooting against the Yankees on the YES Network.

 

Today Sunday August 6 the Yankees were not on YES network - the game must have been on a "premium" network so I was focused entirely on the Orioles successfully pulling off a sweep against the bedraggled Mets on the SNY network. (Without too much agonizing on my part, I let Houston salvage a split with the Yankees in a four-game series in New York.)

 

I also watched the Fri and Sat night games on SNY with Gary Cohen and Ron Darling providing a pleasant and informative listen. As the cameras zeroed in on Mets southpaw Jose Quintana kicking the dirt to create an ideal landing area, Darling said he used to imitate Gerry Cheevers clearing the goal crease with his skates for Darling's beloved Boston Bruins.  (Quintana deserved a much better fate than a 2-0 loss but such is life

these days for the unmoored Mets.) 

 

The Orioles put on a defensive clinic the whole weekend. Near the end of Sunday's 2-0 shutout, Jeff MacNeil

was shaking his head in disbelief when Ryan McKenna robbed him with a running catch in left field foul

territory. Every Oriole player this season has been flashing the leather which is wonderful to see, and virtually every batter hustles out of the box thinking extra bases.   

 

A sense of humility is also evident. On Sat night the camera caught Oriole starter Kyle Gibson saying "Wow!" when MacNeil pulled an inner half fast ball for a two-run homer just inside the right field foul pole.  It brought the Mets within a run but as they have done so often this season, the O's quickly answered the runs and went on to a relatively stress-free 7-3 win. 

 

Same was true of the 10-3 Friday night opener as 22-year-old shortstop Gunnar Henderson (who also plays a very good third base) delivered big hits. Vengeance was also sweet for backup catcher James McCann who had a five-RBI game against his former team that is still paying most of the salary from the Mets' four-year deal he signed.  

  

My only nitpick with the broadcasts was when Gary Cohen criticized the larger left field playing area at Camden Yards.  I still maintain the triple and being thrown out trying for a triple are the most exciting plays in baseball, and the new acreage in left-center adds to that possibility.  IMO, Cohen's criticism should be leveled at the bandboxes in the new stadia in Cincinnati, Philly, and yes the third Yankee Stadium, too.

 

There are still more than 50 games of regular season baseball left, and the Orioles must travel twice to the West Coast and also play 6 games with defending champion Houston beginning with a three-game series in Charm City, first game on Tuesday night Aug 8. 

 

But the Birds have met every challenge so far in 2023.  They possess the "deep depth" that Hall of Famers Yogi Berra and Earl Weaver emphasized as the key to success. 

 

So far the Orioles new right-handed mound additions, starter Jack Flaherty from Cardinals and reliever Shintaro Fujinami from Oakland, have looked promising. 

 

Over 10 years ago, Fujinami and Shohei Ohtani were considered the two best prospects in Japan.  Ohtani is already a deserved legend as hitter as well as pitcher. Alas, all the trade deadline additions to the Angels have not helped the team and the odds of Ohtani leaving for a better team after the season are increasing. 

 

As for Fujinami, after many years in minors, Fujinami failed as a starter in Oakland. The Orioles took a chance on his improved early summer work as a reliever and he almost threw an "immaculate" 8th inning in Sunday's 2-0 shutout.  He struck out first two batters on three pitches and then got an easy out after going 0-2 on the third batter. 

 

The caveats with Fujinami are his bouts of wildness and his high-strung nature that may make him only

successful when he starts a "clean" inning, i.e. with no runners on.  Lurking in the minors for my Birds is D.L.

Hall, once hailed as a can't-miss starter drafted out of a Georgia high school in 2017 (!).  He's now regaining his strength in Triple A and could be a wild card bullpen addition come September/October.   

 

That's all the baseball for now.   Let me close with some TCM tips starting with

MON AUG 7 a cornicopia of Robert Ryan films starting at 6A with Fritz Lang's "Woman on the Beach" (1947) a triangle with Joan Bennett and Charles Bickford; at 730A Fred Zinnemann's searing "Act of Violence" (1949) with Van Heflin and Janet Leigh; 1030A Anthony Mann's "Naked Spur" (1953) with Janet Leigh and Jimmy Stewart; and also at 545P "Billy Budd" (1962); and 945P Robert Wise's "The Set Up" (1949) perhaps the greatest boxing movie ever, at 1115P Nicholas Ray's "On Dangerous Ground" with Ida Lupino, music by Bernard Herrmann, and ending at 430A Tues with "Secret Fury" (1950). 

 

TUES AUG 8 has three Busby Berkeley classics from the Great Depression 1930s:

315P "We're In the Money" (1935);  8P "Golddiggers of 1933" and "Footlight Parade" (1933) 

 

TH AUG 10 has three Noir classics back-to-back:

6P "Out of the Past" (1947) a triangle among Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer

8P "While The City Sleeps" (1956) I believe Fritz Lang's last American film set in a newspaper office with Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Sally Forrest, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price

10P "The Killer Is Loose" (1956) - former Ohio State footballer Budd Boetticher directs Wendell Corey, Joseph Cotten, Rhonda Fleming

 

F AUG 11 a lot of Alan Ladd including: 

8P "Shane" (1953) with Brandon DeWilde wanting Shane to come back

10P "This Gun For Hire" (1942) an early Noir with Veronica Lake at height of pageboy craze - soon government urged her to get haircut because too many women were getting hair caught at defense jobs  

SA AUG 12 12A "Blue Dahlia" (1946)

2A "The Glass Key" (1942)

 

SU AUG 13 - A Paul Newman day starting at 6A

 

And coming on W Aug 16 8p "High Noon" (1952) 

 

That's all for now.  Take it easy but take it and stay positive test negative. 

 

 

 

 

 

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