Lee Lowenfish

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!

I must admit that I was one of those Knicks fans that gave up on the NBA Final Game 4 (W Jun 10) when they trailed the youthful Spurs by 27 at the half.  Even when the rally started in the second half, I was switching to baseball games.  Lucked into seeing Pirates outfielder Tyler Callihan in his first MLB game hit the game-changing 3-run HR in bottom of 8th against the Dodgers. I missed his first HR against none other than Shohei Ohtani.  Quite a debut for a Cincinnati Reds castoff. Just hope that Buccos brilliant rookie shortstop Conner Griffin recovers quickly from injury because Pirates are hovering too close to .500 line right now. 

I have to also admit that I even fell asleep in the fourth quarter of the Knicks' stirring comeback but was awake for the miraculous tipin by OG Anunody of Jalen Brunson's desperation shot that gave the New Yorkers a 107-106 victory and a 3-1 lead in games.  Kudos to Brunson who used a baseball analogy after

the game to explain the comeback. He said they needed "a lot of singles" to get back into the game.  The modest Anunoby - born in London but grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri and played college ball at Indiana U - said that he was just trying to help the team win.

Like Charles Barkley and I think many others, I'm having a hard time mastering OG's last name.  It is "an-uh-NOH-bee". As a baseball fanatic, I kept putting in a "d" near the end to make it resemble Larry Doby, the American League's Jackie Robinson, the future Hall of Famer that broke the color line in mid-1947 and didn't flourish until 1948, Cleveland's last World Series-winning season. Happily, there is a clear baseball connection on the Knicks.  Josh Hart, one of the three Villanova Wildcats on the team with Brunson and Mikal Bridges, is the grand-nephew of Elston Howard, who broke the color line for the Yankees in 1955. Howard died in 1980 so Hart never him but he is very proud of the family connection.

Before the series began, I hoped for Knicks in 6 so we could clinch at home.  Now I believe it is time to strike when the iron is hot.  Let's finish it off in San Antonio this Sat June 13 at 835P on ABC, channel 7 in NYC area.   If not, then Game 6 at MSG Tu Jun 16 and Game 7 in San Antonio F Jun 19. It won't be easy but getting off to a good start certainly will help.  Have not watched the finals closely in recent years. One oddity to me is that Knicks are wearing white unis and Spurs dark ones in every game. 

Turning to baseball, the Orioles continue to confound with their inconsistency. I tried to tell myself that I won't get emotionally involved with the team until they are at .500 and showing signs of staying above it.  I didn't succeed LOL.  As I post Fri morning Jun 12, they are still 4 under .500. Just when you think that their starting rotation is serviceable, would-be ace Kyle Bradish comes up with two straight clunkers of only 4 innings each. Then I have to read that he thought he pitched well mentally (if not physically). You don't know what you are getting from either Shane Baz - bestowed a 5-year contract before even throwing a pitch for Orioles - or Trevor Rogers from game to game.  Had to read Rogers saying after he gave up a game-losing 3-run HR that it was a good pitch but the batter was sitting on it (how can you call that a "good pitch"?!). Thank God for unheralded Brandon Young, who was the organization's Pitcher of Year in 2024 but was shaky last season. On the position player front, Gunnar Henderson remains in the worst offensive funk of his career and as a shortstop he often makes the great play but his overall mechanics and defensive game awareness are not elite. 

Every team has problems I know so enough of my whining.  It has been a weird MLB year in general with only a handful of teams with double-digit records over .500 - the Rays and the Yankees in the AL East, Atlanta in the NL East, Milwaukee in the NL Central, and of course the Dodgers in the NL West (even they have some eyebrow-raising issues with Mookie Betts hitting well below .200). The best news for fans of genuine competitive balance are the surprise St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central, the currently first-place White Sox in the AL Central, and a little less impressively the Washington Nationals in the NL East.   

The College World Series begins today at 2P EDT in Omaha with an entirely different group of eight teams from last season. Good for collegiate competitive balance.   Format is double-elimination in two four-team brackets winding up with best-of-3 series ending on June 21 or 22.   Today June 12 is Troy v West Virginia followed at 7P by Ole Miss vs UNC-Chapel Hill.  Sat matchups are highest seed standing Georgia vs Texas & Alabama vs Oklahoma.

Congrats to the PSAL NYC high school champions Tottenville from Staten Island that beat John Jay HS from Brooklyn, 4-2 in last weekend's title game. 

And program note for Su Jun 14 at 1P on MLB Network -  "Grass Routes" visits the storied minor league franchise, Rochester Red Wings.

That's all for now but always remember - Stay Positive, Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It.