Lee Lowenfish

I have a historical mind. So here's some consolation for Mets fans enduring a 11-game losing streak: Back in the 1951 season when I was a precocious naive 9-year old, the NY Giants lost 11 in a row in April and wound up winning the National League pennant on Bobby Thomson's dramatic playoff home run.  I'm not predicting a great rebound for this bunch of aging strangers playing out of position brought in to replace such still-serviceable fan favorites like Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo - and how can I not mention onetime Yankee relievers Luke Weaver and Devin Williams that owner Steve Cohen thought would stick it to his crosstown rivals! - but there are still around 140 games to play.

 

Of course, daily reminders about how awful you are on so-called "social" media doesn't help turn around a team. But if misery loves company, the Mets are not the only supposed contender stuck right now way under .500.  Houston endured a 7-game losing streak and are now 8 under .500. The Phillies and Red Sox are limping along at 5 under .500. And so is defending AL champion Toronto - considered somewhat of a contender, Kansas City is 8 under as they return home to meet the Orioles.

 

I sure wish that I didn't have to revive the nickname Woerioles, but my team though only 2 below .500 at 10-12 is giving no indication of improving in any area of its game - hitting, starting pitching, and defense. They are striking out at an alarming rate even in this day when strikeouts are almost encouraged by the analytic geniuses in every organization. Woeriole injuries started pre-season and haven't stopped. Baltimore lost over a half-million fans last season when it became clear that the magic sauce that defied analytic predictions in 2023 and 2024 had lost its potency. Gunnar Henderson, the Birds' most talented player, has stayed healthy but is hitting barely over .200 and his defense at shortstop is erratic: Makes great plays, botches easier ones. I still think he might be more suited for third base where he played a couple of games to acclaim in the World Baseball Classic. Even more disturbing, he still throws tantrums on the field when things don't go his way. 

 

This past Sat night Apr 18 in Cleveland, a pitcher's duel was lost in Cleveland when with the pitch clock winding down, Dean Kremer couldn't communicate on his pitch.com device with rookie catcher Samuel Basallo. Instead of calling for time, Kremer threw the pitch anyway and Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio belted a 3-run homer that turned a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 hole and ultimate 4-2 loss. Memo to majority owner David Rubenstein and President of Baseball Operations Mike Elias who has not even named a GM beneath him because he evidently possesses supernatural powers: Those half a million lost Baltimore fans are not gonna flock back despite the bells and whistles brought in by Katie Griggs, former business manager of the Mariners who remain BTW the only franchise in MLB never to have been to a World Series (although they came close to World Series last season and their attendance is healthy. It should be noted that Seattle doesn't face competition from a nearby franchise in Washington DC as the Orioles do. And although Portland, Oregon, three hours away has one of the better and money-rich proposals for an expansion team, Seattle has quietly opposed that entry.)

 

Enough of today's rant. (Tomorrow is another day LOL.) Here are some surprisingly good stories in the early going.  The NL Central has seen the resurgence of three recent non-contenders, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. They are currently enough games over .500 that a series sweep won't sink them. I am happy for these historic franchises and their fans that have not tasted glory for a long time, especially the Pirates.  I don't know how long Paul Skenes - pronounced Beans - can stay a Pirate given the huge price tag for reliable starters, but every contender must have an ace and it seems that the rest of the rotation is improving too.  Cincinnati has been winning some remarkable games with late rallies.  Yesterday Sun Apr 19, manager Terry "Tito" Francona started a lineup at Minnesota of 6 players hitting WELL under .200. They still rallied to take a late lead that wasn't held but the Reds won it in the 10th helped by two Twins errors.  Kudos to Hall of Fame sportswriter Hal McCoy for his lively game story yesterday.  (Fighting blindness earlier this century, McCoy thought about retiring but Reds infielder Aaron Boone - yes that Aaron Boone! - encouraged him to fight on which he has done nobly.)

 

There have been some other heartwarming individual stories that warm the heartstrings of this snarky realistic-romantic.

**First baseman Dom Smith, once a backup on the Mets to his friend Pete Alonso, has found a home in Atlanta. He has hit some big home runs for his new team and befriended the family of fans who caught one of his round-trippers.

**Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who may be moving on after the team was eliminated in the play-in round of NBA playoffs, sent a handwritten letter to Toronto manager John Schneider after the Blue Jays lost that winnable extra-inning Game 7 to the Dodgers lin the thrilling 2025 World Series. Kerr praised Schneider for how he kept his team together during that series when they were down 2-0 at the start.  He offered Schneider solace by noting that after his Warriors lost a 7-game NBA final to LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers, they rebounded to win the next two titles.

 

A reminder:  I'll be appearing on a panel this Friday night Apr 24 after a 6P showing of "42" the 2013 movie starring Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey and

the late Chadwick Boseman as "42," Jack Roosevelt Robinson.  Event will be held at the Ferguson Public Library in downtown Stamford, CT. Admission is free.

 

That's all for now.  Always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and Stay Positive, Test Negative!   

There are light years of difference between watching a game with emotional involvement for one of your teams and merely being interested in a good World Series game.  With my Woerioles under current management sadly headed nowhere (would love to be proven wrong), I adopted the gritty unheralded Blue Jays in the just-concluded Fall Classic.  By Games 6 and 7, I was really hoping Toronto would win over the Evil Empire West or less pejoratively, the Deferral Dodgers whose management has shrewdly backloaded many contracts to avoid paying luxury taxes to their less-financially-endowed and less-interested-in-winning partners.   

 

I watched Game 7 in a local Upper West Side bar, the Dive 106 on Amsterdam Ave.  It was a lively evening but not too raucous because the local Mets and Yankees were long gone from the playoffs - the Mets never even made them. It says here that having Juan Soto as a third MVP candidate doesn't seem right. My lasting memory of Soto this year was watching him take strike three called to end the penultimate game of the season in Miami and then arguing the call with the ump.  The Mets were still alive in the pennant race and NO WAY an MVP ends a crucial game with the bat on his shoulder.. 

 

There was an intense Dodger fan at the tavern wearing a blue Dodger T-shirt with the names on the front of Clayton Kershaw-Jackie Robinson-Sandy Koufax-and a 4th I can't remember. He told me that earlier in the season when the Dodgers came to New York to play both the Mets and Yankees, he met manager Dave Roberts at a downtown restaurant and he couldn't have been nicer. I thought to myself that the Jays' less-experienced manager John Schneider seemed like a good guy, too. 

 

Dive 106 customers might have been evenly split between Toronto and LAD rooters but when Alejandro Kirk hit into a Series-ending 6-6-3 DP started by Mookie Betts, T-shirted LAD fan erupted in bellicose joy.  Another happy camper was a Yankee fan who booed Blue Jay George Springer every time he came up.  She still held a grudge against any former Astro involved in the sign-stealing scandal that may have cost the Yankees the 2017 ALCS.  She did know the game though, learning it in Texas from her Brooklyn-born father.  She surmised accurately that walking potent Vladimir Guerrero Jr set up a double play trap for Kirk that he soon fell into.  Inning over, game over, World Series over, Dodgers win.

(Without John Sterling's screaming.)

 

The LA Dodgers are now the first back-to-back champions since the 1998-99-2000 Yankees. I don't want to nitpick too much because both teams could have won, but in the cruel crucible of baseball with its immensely long season, there is only one winner.  I did think after Toronto won Games 4 and 5 convincingly at Chavez Ravine they could win it all.  But the Dodgers are battle-tested and at least it was their grinders that made most of the difference. 

 

Not just the well-paid Mookie Betts who broke out of his slump long enough to get the huge hit in Game 6 - the two-run single off Kevin Gausman on an off-speed pitch after a long at-bat. They wouldn't have won without third baseman Max Muncy, a scrap heap pickup years ago, breaking out of his slump to homer in the 8th inning of Game 7 to bring the Dodgers within a run.   And then most improbably Miguel Rojas, 36-year-old former Miami Marlin who late in regular season announced his retirement after playoffs, hit the tying homer off recently-reliable closer Jeff Hoffman to tie the game with one out in the 9th. 

 

In a Series in which each team almost always answered runs quickly, the Blue Jays almost won it all in the bottom of the 9th. Alas, with the bases loaded and two out, defensive substitute Andy Pages made a leaping catch in left center knocking left fielder Kike Hernandez to the ground in the process.  The game was decided in the 11th when catcher Will Smith hit Shane Bieber's 2-0 pitch for a homer to deep left. LAD's young Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was voted the Series MVP for winning 3 games and saving Game 7 with almost 3 innings of relief after throwing nearly 100 pitches in Game 6. 

 

I think Will Smith could have easily been the co-MVP because he caught every inning of every Series game. I counted at least 3 wild pitches he saved in the early innings of Game 7 when unicorn Shohei Ohtani was ineffective.  Smith reminds me of Yankee catcher Jorge Posada during the Bronx Bombers' most recent dynasty.  You love him if he's on your team and loathe him if he's an opponent.  Smith at least is a home-grown Dodger and came back from injury just in time to make his mark in the post-season. 

 

In many ways, I think Dodger manager Dave Roberts was the MVP. He manipulated his roster brilliantly, moving catcher Smith to second in the batting order to take pressure off Betts who until his big single in Game 6 was not contributing at the plate (but he was a whiz in the field, defying the pundits by playing shortstop for first time in MLB career.)

Roberts also inserted Rojas at second base for the last games and he came through on both sides of the ball.  Inserting rarely-used Justin Dean for defense in Game 6 proved very crucial when he immediately reacted to a line dlrive in the gap stuck in the outfield fence and got the umps to end the play without a run scoring.  

 

There is a revealing chapter on Dave Roberts in Scott Miller's recent book on managers SKIPPER. "I say a prayer every day, don't make it be about me."  More on this indispensable book coming up in Hot Stove League posts of this blog.  It is so sad that veteran sportswriter Scott Miller didn't live to enjoy most of the plaudits for SKIPPER because he died iof cancer n June at age 62.  It is a work that not only brings familiar managerial names back to life - Tom Kelly, Sparky Anderson, Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog, and others.  Miller also tells the stories of less-remembered managers like Cito Gaston, Art Howe, Jim Tracy, among others, who lost their jobs to the inexorable wave of analytics. 

 

Speaking of books, keep your eyes open for Steve Somers, ME HERE, YOU THERE which is available now on pre-order from Triumph Books and officially debuts on November 18. The San Francisco-born Somers made his New York radio debut in 1987 when WFAN went on the air as the first all-sports talk radio station.  Steve brought great knowledge and welcome humor to his overnight broadcasts. His carefully crafted well-written opening monologues were especially delightful after the host and caller screamings that punctuated sports talk radio then and now.   

 

Here's some TCM Turner Classic Movies tips, most notably Claude Rains marathon from 6A until 8P on Mon Nov 10.  I have dreamed of being reincarnated as Rains and (also Robert Preston and James Garner).  Here's the lineup for Rains:

6A "Four Daughters" (1938). Music teacher Rains is wary of his daughters, some of the Lane sisters, getting too friendly with John Garfield.

745A "Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) Rains contends with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland

945A "Mr. Skeffington" (1942) Michael Curtiz reunites with Rains after "Casablanca" - Bette Davis has to contend with Rains who is spared her worst side in "Deception"

   which is not shown today.

1215P "Passage to Marseilles" (1944) - Curtiz again this time with Bogart along for a WW II story

215P "The Unsuspected" (1947) another villain role for Claude with Joan Caulfield and Audrey Totter

4P "Casablanca" (1943)

545P "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945)

This amazing day on TCM opens at 1215A with the silent "Body and Soul" (1925) with Paul Robeson as philandering minister.  ("Ol' Man River" had not yet made its debut) 

And at 8P the oft-shown but always gripping "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966). Mike Nichols directs Liz and Burton in Edward Albee's searing play

 

On the live music front for those in NYC area, Sa Nov 8 10A-10P - "Wall-To-Wall Stevie Wonder" - Symphony Space, Broadway/95th Street Manhattan

 

That's all for now.  Stay strong without baseball until late winter.  And always remember:  Stay Positive, Test Negative & Take It Easy But Take It!