Lee Lowenfish

I'm must confess that this blog was originally gonna be another embittered rant about the disappointing Orioles who since the early summer of 2024 have been an under-.500 team and perhaps haunted by never winning a game in five tries during playoff action in 2023 and 2024. Last week's trade of switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman, 2019's number one overall draft pick, to the arch-division rival Boston Red Sox no less, was a harsh blow to the Oriole faithful who saw Adley's departure as the waving of the 2026 white flag. Pete Alonso dispelled that despicable thought with a two-home run game on Sunday Aug 9 that sparked a rare 10-3 outburst to salvage one game over the current AL Third Wild Card leader Texas Rangers. Still 4 games under .500 and behind Houston, Detroit, Minnesota, Cleveland as well as Texas, there is a pulse, however flickering, left in my Birds.  

Having not lived in Baltimore since I returned in 1976 to my "home town" of NYC, the Rutschman trade hasn't affected me that deeply.  Adley had become injury-prone, winding up on the Injured List five times in the last two seasons. At the age of only 28, it does look like he is going into an enviable situation in Boston, providing experience to a speedy and talented young team that has rediscovered its offense but has needed a solid receiver.  If Adley finally realizes that he is a line drive hitter and stops swinging for the fences and fretting about his inconsistent "launch angle," he should be a great addition to a Red Sox team that roared from 14 under .500 at the end of June to more than 10 above .500 and the Second Wild Card position behind the Yankees. In the wonderful world of MLB where even the best teams lose at least 60 games a season and the worst ones win at least 60, the lowly Athletics (temporarily in Sacramento) punctured a little of the Bosox bubble by winning this past weekend the Sat and Sun games at Fenway. 

I must admit that I have a soft spot for the Tampa Bay Rays who are now loaded with a bevy of ex-Orioles including gritty center fielder Cedric Mullins, closer Bryan Baker, possessor of 35 saves, and Tyler Wells, a multi-purpose reliever who can also spot start. Another recent Oriole discard, veteran RHP Dean Kremer, is slated to pitch for the Minnesota Twins against his former team on Mon Aug 10. The Twins just lost the rubber match in an intense series against the Brewers, but the Brew Crew needed one of the best catches I've ever seen by rookie right fielder Luis Lara who robbed Koby Clemens of a second home run.  Koby, Roger's son who has found a home in Minnesota after not making it in Philly, had tied the game with a two-run shot off wunderkind Jacob Misiorowski who regularly brings 100 mph heat.  "Mis" seems to be pitching-wise beyond his young age - he understands that changing speeds is the key to sustained success.

It is barely mid-August and we are only at the top of the stretch with more than 45 games to play. Arizona just won its first regular season series since 2018 over the defending champion LA Dodgers. They needed a gritty 115-pitch 7-inning outing by LHP Eduardo Rodriguez in the Sunday rubber match - it was a resilient team effort after losing an extra-inning heartbreaker on Sat night.  With the Dodgers leading 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th, closer Edwin Diaz, just back from injury, gave up back-to-back triples to tie the game.  But the Snakes couldn't bring in the winning run and Shohei Ohtani broke the tie with a 10th inning single. Unheralded reliever Jack Dreyer got the save for LAD.

I do not believe that a three-peat is a shoo-in for LAD.  Age is creeping up on their roster.  Mookie Betts maybe is showing it the most, followed by Max Muncy, and Freddie Freeman a little less. I think Dave Roberts is a great manager because he understands the heartbeats of his players as well as anyone in his profession.  (In the late Scott Miller's marvelous book about managers SKIPPER, Roberts called his job two parts being a baseball man and one part being an emcee.) LAD still features the versatile grinding old pros Tommy Edman and Kike Hernandez, the latter just back from serious injury.They will be forces to reckon with but teams like the Cubs and certainly the Brewers and maybe even the Dbacks, Cardinals, and Phillies could give LAD a run for their money. 

I also don't think a lockout that wipes out a big chunk of the 2027 season is inevitable either. But at this point in time, neither the MLB owners nor

the MLBPA leaders feel like negotiating.  So I'm all for enjoying the intense action that will intensify as we approach the climactic days of late September.

As an Oriole fan living in NYC but with a heart still bleeding Orange and Black, I just hope that when the Yankees come into Camden Yards Aug 18-20 and the

Bosox the four days before Labor Day, there are enough Oriole fans in attendance to hold their own against the invading hordes of winnite Yankee and

Red Sox fans.   

The big TCM tip of this post is the Marx Brothers marathon including of course Margaret Dumont - it runs from 1030A W Aug 12 through a 245A Th Aug 13 showing of "Go West"

1030A "The Big Store" (1941) haven't seen it in decades.  Recall Tony Martin singing the "Tenement Symphony" and Groucho singing "Sing While

You Sell" with such lyrics as "Sell that birdie with some Verdi"

12N "At the Circus" (1939) with Eve Arden and "Lydia The Tattooed Lady"

130P "Room Service" (1938)

3P "A Day At The Races" (1937)

*5P "A Night At the Opera" (1935) with hilarious Sig Rumann as Gottlieb the impresario who Groucho tangles with.  And Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones.  Never

met Kitty but her advice on the secret to her long active life was a beaut:  "Every morning before my yoga, I look in the mirror and say, 'I forgive you.'"

Watch for the brief "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" scene.

*645P "Horse Feathers" (1932) The college football spoof is memorable 

*8P "Duck Soup" (1933) with Louis Calhern as Sylvania foreign minister tangling with the Fredonians 

915P "My Favorite Duck" cartoon short

930P "Animal Crackers" (1930) from whence cometh Groucho's theme for his 1950s "You Bet Your Life" quiz show, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" ("the African explorer/did someone call me schnorrer?/Hooray, hooray, hooray!")

1120P Bugs Bunny cartoon

*1130P "Monkey Business" (1933) the last one with the doomed Thelma Todd

*1A "The Cocoanuts" (1929) the first one, fresh from the NY stage

230A "Go West" (1939)

One other film of note for sports lovers:

Fri Aug 14 3P "The Fortune Cookie" (1966) Billy Wilder directs Walter Matthau as a cunning lawyer trying to win Jack Lemmon a big legal award for injury

incurred on a football sideline. Some of it filmed at Municipal Stadium, then-home of the Cleveland Browns

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Stay Positive Test Negative and Take It Easy But Take It! 

During my more than a half-century of being a loyal Oriole fan, I tried to see my team on major birthdays even though I have been living in my home town of NYC since 1976. I remember well my 40th birthday in 1982 when the Orioles behind Jim Palmer routed Jack Morris and the Tigers, 13-1, with Storm Davis, dubbed Cy Future by fellow Bird pitcher Mike Flanagan, mopping up the victory. (Davis never developed into an ace but he will be inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame this summer along with slugger Chris Davis.) Ten years later in 1992, I saw Kevin Appier of the Royals shut out Mike Mussina in a 2-0 pitcher's duel. In 2002, Jason Giambi's 2 homers accounted for all the Yankee runs as David Wells bested Scott Erickson, 3-2. (Thanks as always to baseballreference.com for confirming my memories although I didn't remember the exact scores.)

I am proud to share June 27 with Jim Johnson, who earned 50 and 51 saves for the Orioles in 2012-13, and infielder-outfielder Jeff Conine who is better known for his earlier work for the KC Royals and the world champion 1997 Florida Marlins. Sadly, this year I didn't even bother to watch the Birds on TV on my birthday.  I chose instead good Cuban food at Guantanamera a couple of blocks south of Manhattan's Columbus Circle and then walked with special friend Maria Patterson (who celebrates her birthday today July 1) a half-mile south to hear a solid jazz quartet led by master tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm who exhibited astonishing range and sound on his impressive instrument that he told me dates from 1955. It was good to attend the new Jazzcultural venue just east of 9th Ave/46th Street (where Swing 46 once held forth). It was filled with a solid mixture of old folks and young'uns who are fueling the latest jazz resurgence in the Big Apple.  

As readers of this blog know, I never expected much from the current Orioles.  The mirage that this team is a wild card contender has vanished as June turns into July.  We have lost two series at home to surprising contenders Washington Nats and Chicago White Sox.  I'm happy for their long-suffering fans, especially the South Side Sox.  Maybe Pope Leo XIV's fandom has added magic elixir to a young, athletic, and hungry team. Whatta moment recently when the Pontiff received in an autographed jersey from his favorite Pale Hose player, retired slugger Paul Konerko who incidentally wore #14.  The White Sox on August 11 will giveaway Papal hats on what will undoubtedly be the hottest ticket in town.     

Meanwhile, the Woerioles have returned.  Incumbent "President of Baseball Operations" Mike Elias - who evidently convinced inexperienced new owner David Rubenstein that he doesn't need a General Manager below him in the management structure - has had eight years to prove that he isn't the man for the job. None of his top draft picks have developed into true stars. If only this drunk-on-analytics crew understood the wisdom of the scout that signed former Oriole star Adam Jones: "You are only a number one draft pick for one day." (Adam is listed as an adviser to the Orioles but I doubt he is consulted very much.) The Birds' top overall pick in 2019, catcher Adley Rutschman, 2019 second rounder shortstop Gunnar Henderson, and 2022 top overall pick infielder Jackson Holliday are not truly developing. (Holliday may deserve a pass because he is only 22 and still recovering from that enervating hamate bone hand injury.) 

Sadly, Gunnar Henderson is becoming a grouchy underachiever who cannot understand why he is not doing better.  Short answer, Gunnar: The opponents know you have difficulty with lefthanded pitching and so far you have not been able to adjust. On defense, too often you fall into the maddening category, The Guy That Makes The Great Play But Not The Basic Play.  Most of Elias's bargain basement mound additions especially in the bullpen have usually imploded after deceivingly promising starts.  Elias's forays into the free agent market have either been outright disasters like oft-injured outfielder Tyler O'Neill or trending negative like this year's addition, closer Ryan Helsley.       

One slightly encouraging news item is that Cal Ripken Jr. who owns a small slice of the team is becoming more actively involved with player development in the minor league system. This development is long overdue not just because of woeful W-L records throughout the system but because young players arrive in the big leagues with an astonishing lack of fundamentals.  But unless something drastic happens in the next two weeks, Oriole fans will have to watch Elias and minions supervising another draft on Sat July 11, televised nationally on Fox.  It will be part of commissioner Rob Manfred's ardent desire to make the All-Star Game on Tu Jul 14 part of an extravaganza matching Super Bowl week.  Lotsa luck on that. After the Minor League Future All-Star Game on Sun Jul 12, Netflix will be exclusively televising the Home Run Derby on Mon Jul 13 and paying more than Fox does for the ASG itself on Tu Jul 14.  Another sign of the times, alas. 

The Orioles, of course, are not the only organization in disarray.  Record-wise, the Mets are even worse but at least their young players like

outfielder Carson Benge and first baseman Jared Young have the makings of future contributing MLB players. I am not sure that I can say that about any of the Elias-drafted crew. There is no guarantee, of course, that blowing up an organization will succeed.  But I think it is time for the self-styled "patriotic philanthropist" owner Rubenstein to make a philanthropic gift to us frustrated fans of a new front office that understands psychological makeup in evaluating players and will not be afraid to practice "tough love" throughout the entire system.  With the lockout looming on Dec 1 that will shut down all MLB baseball activities indefinitely, it would be a good idea to act sooner than later.  

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ALL HAIL TO BASEBALL'S O'BRIEN FAMILY:  The print issue of the New York Times on Mon June 30 had Tyler Kepner's lovely piece about Riley O'Brien, the surprisingly effective closer for the equally surprising St. Louis Cardinals who are definitely in the NL Wild Card race.  Riley is the grand-son of Johnny O'Brien and the grandnephew of Eddie O'Brien, the O'Brien twins who starred at Seattle University and then played middle infield for the Pirates in the 1950s. Kepner tells us that they returned to the Northwest to have notable sports lives, Johnny as manager of the Mariners' first stadium the Kingdome and Eddie as athletic director at his alma mater.  In my happily never-ending research on Branch Rickey, I received some years ago a nice letter from Eddie who remembered the  Catholic Bible signed by the 1953 Pirates to Branch Rickey Mr. Methodist. It miraculously turned up at a flea market on the central California coast and now resides in Rickey's home area of Portsmouth, Ohio. It was probably the idea of Fred Haney, baseball lifer in Southern California who worked in Pittsburgh organization and later managed the 1957 world champion Milwaukee Braves and was GM of the first California Angels franchise and probably with his wife created the team's halo cap.

Here are some TCM BASEBALL MOVIE TIPS:

Th Jul 2 930P "Diamond Demon" (1947) - 15 min display of onetime minor leaguer Jackie Price's dexterity decades before the Savannah Bananas  

F July 3 6P "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" (1949) with Frank Sinatra/Gene Kelly/Esther Williams/Betty Garrett.  A lively musical set in early 20th century with

Esther Williams as a baseball owner wooed by Frank and Gene.

735P "Donkey Baseball" (1935) another showing of Ray Doan's novelty event during the Great Depression

750P "Looney Tunes: Baseball Bugs" (1946)

Followed by 3 great Film Noirs hosted every Friday in July by Eddie Muller, host of the Sunday Noir Alley.

8P "Force of Evil" (1948) Abe Polonsky directs brothers John Garfield and Thomas Gomez in a gangster film with Marie Windsor

930P "Act of Violence" (1948) Fred Zinneman directs Robert Ryan out to avenge POW incident by superior Van Heflin with Janet Leigh as Heflin's wife

11P "Criss Cross" (1949) the great Robert Siodmak directs Burt Lancaster trying to save ex-wife from Dan Duryea

After some recent weak choices, Muller's Noir Alley has some classics coming up:

Su July 5 12M, repeated at 10A "Angel Face" (1953) Otto Preminger directs Robert Mitchum/Jean Simmons/Mona Freeman

Su July 12 "Blues In The Night" (1941) Anatole Litvak driects jazz band members trying to help a member fight addiction with Priscilla Lane/Richard Whorf/Betty Field/Elia Kazan very effective as band clarinetist.

For NYC folks who love the adventure of going to movies:  July 4 thru July 10: The classic Paris Theatre now owned by Netflix, located at 4 W 58 St just west of 5th Ave, will rotate showings of 5 baseball film classics: "42", "Field of Dreams", "A League of Their Own", "Eight Men Out", and "The Sandlot".  Check paristheaternyc.com for exact times.  

And then starting F Jul 10, Paris Theater will start a Noir Film festival hosted by Eddie Muller.

The first night features "Blues In The Night", followed by a live band, and then "Dark Angel" (1946) with a Cornell Woolrich script, with Peter Lorre/June Vincent/Constance Dowling.  For more on this series, again check out paristheaternyc.com  

That's all for now.  Stay Positive Test Negative, still my mantra, and Take It Easy But Take It!