This Date in Baseball - August 24, 2017

We will not know for certain just how significant the above date will be in terms of the 2017 Major League Baseball season until the World Series is over several weeks from now, but from the vantage point of today, September 13, something  happened to flip a switch in the fortunes of two MLB teams or about that date.

On August 24, the Dodgers defeated the Pirates 5-2 in Pittsburgh to complete a 3-of-4 series victory over the Pirates.  The next night, they defeated the Brewers in LA and pushed their record to an astonishing 91-36, a pace that would have them winning 116 games over a full season.  As I said, astonishing, and talk of the Dodgers being a Super Team was being bandied about freely.  

Over the next seventeen games since then, the Dodgers have gone 1-16, and 3-16 over the next nineteen games (they are now on a two game winning streak).  What was a 21 game lead over Arizona in the NL West has now shrunk to a 10 game lead.  It is still almost inconceivable that thay will not win their division, but all talk of then being a super team has long been abandoned, and they are as shaky as the San Andreas Fault upon which they sit as they enter into the MLB post-season.

Maybe Rich Hill losing that no-hitter on Josh Harrison's tenth inning walk off home run on August 23 took more out of them than we realized at the time.

Meanwhile, over in the American League Central, on the morning of August 24, the Cleveland Indians were chugging along nicely at 69-56 and had a 4.5 game lead in the Central over the Minnesota Twins.  That night they beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-6, and THEY HAVE NOT LOST A GAME SINCE THEN!!!!  Their winning streak is now at 21 games, they are 90-56, and hold a 13.5 game lead over the Twins.

Like I say, a remarkable turn of events for two different MLB teams, and it all began on August 24 (sort of).

Cubs Win!

Okay, let's gets this out of the way first.  From The Grandstander of October 24, 2016:

The CUBS to win in six games.

So I was off by one game, but (all together now)....I BELIEVE I HAD THAT!

So, what about that just completed World Series?  Through the first six games, only two of those games, the Indians 1-0 win in Game Three and the Cubs 3-2 win in Game Five, were exciting. None of the other four games were particularly noteworthy, and all of them were actually pretty one-sided and unmemorable affairs. However, those six games DID produce a need for a seventh game, and, really, is there anything in sports more exciting than the Seventh Game of the World Series?  

And this particular Seventh Game did not let us down.  It provided drama in the following forms:

• A game pitcher, Cory Kluber, trying to gut it out on short rest for the second time in the Series to win it for the Indians.  In the end, he fell short.
• Another game pitcher, Jon Lester, coming into a game in relief for the first time in nine years, and providing some tough and gritty innings for the Cubs.
• Ample opportunities for managerial second guessing. More on that later.
• The unlikeliest of heroes in ex-Pirate Rajai Davis.
• Extra innings!!
• A rain delay that preceded the extra inning.
• For the fans of both teams, a yo-yo-ing of emotions throughout the game that had to be almost unbearable.

It was a terrific game that ended up marking the 2016 World Series as one for the ages, and it was a game that produced a worthy and deserving Champion.  The best team doesn't always win its sport's Championship in any given season, but the Cubs were, undeniably, the best team in baseball throughout 2016, and now they have that World Series Trophy to prove it.

Some other unrelated thoughts an observations from here in The Grandstand....

• Managerial Second Guessing Dept. Joe Maddon is hailed by many as the Best Manager in Baseball.  He has now taken two moribund franchises, the Rays and the Cubs, to the World Series, so he has something going for him, no question.  He also doesn't do much to hide his light under a bushel, which can be grating if you root for the "other guys".  That said, his use of ace reliever Aroldis Chapman over parts of three innings in Game Six is mystifying.  To summarize: Chapman threw over fifty pitches in Game Five in recording an eight out save, something Chapman had never - as in NEVER - done before.  It was a one run game that the Cubs absolutely had to win, so you could understand it.  After a day off, Madden then brought in Chapman in the seventh inning of Game Six with the Cubs holding a five run lead, and kept him to pitch the eighth and part of the ninth even after the Cubs had opened the lead to seven runs.  It was inexplicable, and it almost cost the Cubs the Series, when a clearly out-of-gas Chapman came into Game Seven in the eighth inning and proceeded to blow the lead when he gave up a home run to Davis that tied the game.
• In the end, we know what happened.  Chapman got through the ninth and the Cubs won it in the tenth.  History is written by the winners, so Maddon's use of Chapman in Game Six will be little more than a footnote in the story, but had the Indians managed to win that seventh game, it would have been a tough winter for Joe Maddon and he'd have had a lot of 'splaining to do.
• I didn't see much of Cleveland play throughout the season, so I admit that this comment is unfair and uninformed, but the outfield defense that I saw in that seven game Series from the Indians was awful.  At time it looked an outfield full of Dave Kingmans playing out there.  
• And the play in the first inning of Game Six, when the Taylor Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall almost collided, and let a sure out drop between them was a play that you would not expect to see beyond a Little League game was mind blowing.  On the major league level, that should have been an out one thousand times out of a thousand, but this happened in Game Six of the World Series.  The play took the Cleveland crowd completely out of the game.  It turned a 1-0 game into a 3-0 game, and  you just had the feeling when it happened  that that three run deficit was going to be an insurmountable one for Cleveland, and it was.  
• I feel bad for Cleveland.  I was really rooting for them, but in the end, I suppose that the injuries that they were somehow able to overcome all season long, just caught up to them.  A valiant effort and a great season for them.  Twenty-eight other teams would like to have been in their place.
• Theo Epstein.  How about that guy?  Ex-Pirates general manager Syd Thrift once said that "It ain't easy resurrecting the dead", and Epstein has now done it with two different teams.  Is he the best baseball executive since Branch Rickey?  Maybe yes, maybe no, but he sure is the best baseball exec of the twenty-first century, and whoever is in second place on the list isn't even close.
• It is maddening to watch Pirates batters hit a fly ball deep to the outfield and watch them stand in the box admiring it and lazily run down to first, only to see it drop out of reach of the outfielder, and then see the batter turn on the jets and just make it into second when he should have been in there easily, or, possibly, on third base.  Guess what?  This is not unique to our Buccos.  Throughout the MLB post-season, I saw batter after batter committing this cardinal baseball sin.  Or maybe it isn't a baseball sin any more, because nobody seems to run hard out of the batter's box on a fly ball anymore.  

• Every ballpark and team, I suppose, has their quirky and unique customs, but do we all have to be exposed to them?  I refer to the singing of "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field.  I suppose that the Cubs faithful love it, but did Fox need to show it to us for all three games at Wrigley Field?  I am sue that the Indians must have some similar gimmicky thing that they do every game.  Why didn't Fox show us that?
• Harry Carey has been dead for eighteen years now, so I am guessing that there are even a bunch of Cubs fans who are bored with that little tradition by now.
• Ah, the broadcasters.  Normally, Joe Buck doesn't inspire in me the passionate dislike that he apparently does in many others. In fact, I think he is among the best of the national network play-by-play guys.  I also recognize that reporters, which is what Buck and other play-by-play guys ostensibly are, supposedly, always "root for the story" and the Cubs were The Story this time around.  I also don't usually jump on the trope that this or that announcer is "for" one team and "against" the other one.  All that said, Buck really did seem to be almost orgasmic whenever things went the Cubs way.  And the constant slurping of Kyle Schwarber was embarrassing.
• On the other hand, John Smoltz as analyst was terrific.  After a season of listening to Bob Walk and Steve Blass, hearing Smoltz (and Ron Darling on TBS earlier in the playoffs) was like manna from Heaven.
• Can Cubs fans now just enjoy the success of their team and forever SHUT UP about curses, billy goats, black cats, Steve Bartman, and how star-crossed they are?     No one outside of Chicago cared about that before, and we REALLY don't want to hear about it now.
• And maybe the citizenry of Cubs Nation should consider some sort of restitution to the aforementioned Steve Bartman?  Those "fans" pretty  much ruined that guy's life.

As for the Cubs themselves, get used to seeing them on this stage for awhile.  Lots of good players, some destined to be superstars, in Bryant, Rizzo, Schwarber, Russell, Baez, Contreras, and others.  They could win a couple more of these things over the course of the next six or seven seasons.  

If you are a fan of the Pirates, that is going to be one pretty big obstacle to overcome.

Four Games Into the World Series.....

Quick thoughts.....

• Did even the most die hard of Cleveland Indians fans envision their team being up 3-1 after four games?
• Is there anything better than watching those smug Chicago Cubs fans getting quieter and quieter as the ninth inning wound down in games three and four?
• Okay, I know something that might be better, and that is seeing Joe "I Invented Baseball" Maddon standing in the dugout watching his team lose.
• Wonder what Vince Vaughn thought when Jason Kipness hit that three run dinger moments before he had to sing Take Me Out to The Ballgame?
• Speaking of which, Harry Carey has been dead for eighteen years now.  There are probably legions of Cubs fans who would like to see that tired seventh inning stretch trope done away with by now.  For people outside of Chicago, I'm guessing that the number is close to 99.9% who are sick and tired of it and want to see it go.
• I'm surprised that the Cubs didn't send Kyle Schwarber up in the ninth to hit a six-run home run.  I'm sure that Joe Buck thought it was possible.
• I am not one who subscribes to the theory that national TV announcers are "for" one team or "against" another.  I think that the top network guys, including Joe Buck, do a really good job in their neutrality.  That said, Buck and the Fox team were so positively gleeful when the Cubs evened the Series after the second game, that it was noteworthy to me.  And the love affair with Schwarber has been really hard to take.  It's making me root against Schwarber, and it's not even his fault!
• As much as I would love to see the Indians wrap this up tonight, I would say that the Jon Lester - Trevor Bauer pitching match up favors the Cubs, so I am thinking that there is a good chance this Series goes back to Cleveland.
• While I am enjoying the outcome of the Series so far, three of the four games have been yawners.  Only that 1-0 Game Three has offered edge of the seat tension from start to finish.
• Terry Francona has managed in twelve World Series games.  His record is 11-1. That's pretty good.
• Speaking of tropes that should be done away with, when did the City of Cleveland become known as "The Land"?  Yuck.  Dislike that as much as I dislike Pittsburgh being called "The Burg".
• Pirates fans dislike of Maddon and the Cubs may border on the irrational at times  - or maybe not - but I think it is absolutely delicious that the Cubs could lose the Series on the Hallowed Grounds of the Friendly Confines, and in fact, could be swept in all three games at Wrigley right in front of their home town fans.
• All that said, I am not considering this Series over quite yet.  Lester is tough, and that Cubs lineup CAN hit. Anything can still happen.
• Still, I think I'll just post this picture for the hell of it...

• Go Tribe!!

World Series Time!

The time has come for the Grand-Daddy of All Important Sporting Events in America, the World Series.  If you have been following this Blog, you know that I have continually been picking against both the Indians and the Cubs, and calling for a Dodgers World Series victory from Day One.  Well, when you are wrong you are wrong.  (For the record, I went 3-for-4 in picking the Division Series, and 0-for-2 in the League Championship Series.)

So, time for a do-over.  I admit that my picking against the Cubs had more to do with a dislike for Joe Maddon, and my own personal rooting preferences, than it did with sound baseball logic.  Somewhere amidst all of those prediction posts, I believe that I did say that the Cubs were, in fact, the best team among all of those in the post-season.  It is now time that I bow to the inevitable in making a prediction, and here it is:

The CUBS to win in six games.  And as an added prediction, the Series MVP will be Anthony Rizzo.  I know that Kris Bryant is terrific, and will probably win the NL MVP Award this year, but when the Pirates play the Cubs, the guy that I fear the most in that line up is Anthony Rizzo.

As for a rooting interest, well, that is a different story.  Marilyn and I lived in Cleveland from 1974-78. Yes, the glory days of Frank Robinson, Gaylord Perry, Buddy Bell, Wayne Garland, Rick Manning, and, yes, a young George Hendrick, before he was Joggin' George.  My first loyalties were always with our Beloved Buccos in those years, but, yes, we became Tribe fans during those years, and that rooting interest will be with us once again as this World Series plays itself out.  Plus, in a battle between smug and self-important Joe Maddon and Terry Francona, there really is no contest as to who you see want to hoist that trophy.

So, Let's Go Tribe. It's how to root, but probably not how you want to bet.

Some Baseball Thoughts...and One Football Thought

Spring Training camps have opened across Florida and Arizona this past week, so how about a couple of baseball thoughts and a cold and very snowy Pittsburgh morning?

Major League Baseball is very much in the news today because of procedures that will be implemented this season aimed at increasing the pace of play, which will eliminate some dead time in the course of a game, and, perhaps, shorten the average length of time it takes to play a major league game these days.  Personally, I am all for these changes, but, predictably, people who just want to take shots at whomever a sport's commissioner happens to be at any given time, and so-called Baseball Purists, are outraged.

"Baseball is the only game without a time clock.  You just can't DO this.",  seems to be a common response.

First of all, no one is suggesting this:

Baseball is still a nine inning game.  A team will still have to record 27 outs to win a ballgame.  No one is proposing four fifteen minute quarters or three thirty minute periods for baseball.  Strictly enforcing the time between innings, requiring that a pitch be delivered in a certain amount of time, and, most importantly, not allowing the batter to step out of the box after every pitch to readjust their batting gloves and protective cups, and eliminating the slow stroll by a manager while his bench coach decides if a replay challenge should be requested....these measures ARE NOT PUTTING A TIME CLOCK IN BASEBALL.

Will these measure reduce a 3 hour and twenty minute game to 2 hours and forty minutes?  Not likely, but even a three hour plus game will not SEEM that long, if there is not so much interminable dead time in game.

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In an move that is also no doubt related to the length of time it takes to play a ball game, the Cleveland Indians have announced that their home night games (not sure if it is all night games or just the Monday through Thursday games) this season will start at 6:10 PM, instead of 7:05.  In a town where the ball park is located in the downtown business district, this will be an interesting experiment.

Recalling the days when I was working, I can say for sure that I would have stayed in town after the work day ended at 5:00 and walked across the Clemente Bridge for a 6:00 game a lot more times than I ever left work, drove back home, changed clothes, and drove back into town for a ball game.

Plus, these games will end, give or take, sometime between 9:00 and 9:30, which is a big difference than between 10:00 and 10:30 to someone whose alarm will be going off at 5:30 the next morning.

I am guessing that a lot of teams, including the Pirates, will be paying attention to this experiment in Cleveland throughput this season.

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And now to football....

Speaking of Cleveland, is there a more dysfunctional franchise in all of professional sports than the Cleveland Browns?

Just this week, GM Larry Farmer, when he was not fessing up to illegally texting his coaching staff during games, announced that the Browns will strongly consider drafting a quarterback early, if not in the first round, of the upcoming draft. The is coming on the heels of the fiasco that was the Johnny Manziel experiment this past season, and on the heels of the news that QB Brian Hoyer, who has had a winning record as the Browns' QB, by the way, will not be re-signed by the team.  ( It should be noted that in the sixteen seasons since the Browns rejoined the NFL, they have started twenty-two [22!] different guys at QB.)

All of this is overseen by owner Jimmy Haslim, who was, briefly, a minority owner of the Steelers.  Neutral observers always will tell you that the Steelers are one of the NFL's model franchises in the operation of their team.  Either Haslim never hung around the office to see how things were done, or he wasn't paying attention when he was there, during his time with the Steelers.  He appears to be cut from the Dan Snyder Cloth, just another rich guy with a shiny toy who gets to hang out with real football players.

Too bad for the loyal fans in Cleveland.