Lee Lowenfish

The Thursday July 23 off-day is very welcome for Oriole players, non-uniformed personnel, and fans.  The narrative as the All-Star Game approached was the under-achieving Birds had not won more than 3 games in a row all season.  Then, thanks to some very sloppy play by Kansas City, the young Maryland men in Orange and Black swept KC at home and went into the All-Star Game break with a 4-game winning streak.  They came out of the break by sweeping a just-as-sloppy Astros in Houston. Then, in a meeting of streaking teams in Boston, the Orioles competed decently but lost the first two games to the red-hot Red Sox that extended the Bosox streak to 15 games, tying the team record set by the 1946 Bosox world champions. 

Last night (W July 22) Kyle Bradish pitched like an ace to break that streak in a tidy 5-1 win.  He only went 6 innings but he was in command all game, proving at least for now that he has ace-like potential and is worthy of the 5-year extension he signed that reportedly is worth $90 million. (Two of his arbitration years and two of his free agent years have been bought out.)

The NL East-leading Atlanta Braves come into Camden Yards this weekend and they will certainly pose another formidable test although they have been battered by mound injuries. The Birds know all about injuries, too - both catchers Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo are on the IL. And the broken hand of Orioles breakout star Blaze Alexander - the result of an errant pitch by Royals closer Lucas Erceg just before the ASG break - has been a blow to the Birds sporadic offense, but it has provided a chance for Christian Encarnacion-Strand, once a top prospect for Cincinnati Reds who is only 26. He hails from Walnut Creek, CA and played at Oklahoma State where the brother of teammate second baseman Jackson Holliday, Josh Holliday, is the head coach and where Jackson's father Matt Holliday was a star after being the Gatorade High School Player of Year twice in both football and baseball. (Maybe living up to that family athletic royalty has been an obstacle in Jackson's uncertain progress but he is only 22.) 

Christian blasted a couple of home runs at Fenway and did OK at third base where he might compete for playing time with the younger Coby Mayo, one of the many highly-touted young Orioles who have not yet proven themselves as consistent major leaguers.  There is always room for humor in baseball, such a difficult sport to master and stay in rhythm with.  So I wonder when C E-S makes his home debut tomorrow, will his hyphenated last name appear on the back of his uni? It didn't on the road. He carries the longest name in baseball history, supplanting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia who retired in 2018 after a 12-year MLB career.   

The trading deadline is M Aug 3 and IMHO the Orioles need to get to .500 to become buyers. The schedule after Atlanta has a visit to the Tigers, another team on the bubble in a weak AL Central, and then a weekend tussle with the Phillies who under interim manager Don Mattingly have emerged as a possible challenger to the Braves in NL East.  The Marlins have faded after reaching a 10-over .500 peak.  Sure hope they hold on to their ace Sandy Alcantara who seems fully recovered from TJ surgery.  Miami owner Bruce Sherman claims he wants Sandy as a core piece of his future team but he is also a hawk about the salary cap and is on commissioner Rob Manfred's Executive Council. 

My TCM tips salute the SEVEN Joe E Brown films that will appear on TU JULY 28 from 10AM through a little before 8P

10A "On With The Show" (1929) his first film and the first in technicolor - it's about the misadventures of a traveling theater troupe (Joe had been an acrobat, a vaudeville performer, and starting in early 1920s a big Broadway star) 

1145A "Sally" (1930) with Marilyn Miller - Joe sings a plaintive beautiful version of Jerome Kern's "Look for the Silver Lining"

130P "Going Wild" (1930) Joe pretends to be a pilot.  With a young Walter Pidgeon long before he is Mr. Miniver or the producer yearning for a kiss at the

end of a film with plenty of black on the bottom line in "The Bad and the Beautiful"

245P "Sit Tight" (1931) featuring a hilarious scene at a health spa with Winnie Lightner as his formidable adversary

415P "You Said A Mouthful" (1932) Joe as a swimmer. With Ginger Rogers in one of her first starring roles.  She paid homage in her memoirs to what a helpful mentor he was. 

545P "Elmer the Great" (1933) Joe's favorite of his baseball trilogy.  Opening scene is priceless.  Joe initially spurns an offer from the Cubs to disbelief of his younger brother Sterling Holloway.  Mike Frankovich, UCLA football star and later virtually an adoptive Joe son and soon to become big producer, has cameo

645P "Alibi Ike" (1935) the last and probably best put-together of his baseball films. With William "Future Fred Mertz" Frawley as his manager, Olivia DeHavilland in her first year of stardom as love interest, underappreciated Ruth Donnelly as her sister. 

That's all for now.  My next post could well be from Chautauqua where I'm co-teaching the last week in July a class "Baseball Couples: Odd and Other".

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!