Lee Lowenfish

I have no complaints about the late August weather in my beloved home town of NYC.  Humidity has been a constant issue but, fortunately, temps have remained in manageable 80s.  I haven't posted too much since my return from another glorious week teaching about baseball culture at Chautauqua because I'm heading in for left knee replacement surgery on Fri the 28th. Getting my apartment cleaner and paths open for walking without stumbling have taken high priority. I'm approaching a 50th anniversary of living in the shadows of Riverside Park and a mere 1/2 mile from my undergraduate alma mater Columbia (where, incidentally, the always-contending women's basketball team just returned from 10 days in Japan, giving clinics, playing a very competitive exhibition against the Japanese national team, and exploring many of the remarkable points of interest in that island-nation.)  

What does "Laura" have to do with all of this?  Well, TCM devoted much of yesterday M Aug 24 to the films of Dana Andrews. I had seen at least a couple of times the 1944 film "Laura" (produced/directed by Otto Preminger with David Raksin's title tune and effective accompanying score) which was a breakthrough for both Andrews and Gene Tierney who played the title character. I've always been fascinated that in the film's first scene Andrews as a detective investigating a murder is doodling with a hand-held game "Baseball" as he interrogates supercilious radio personality Clifton Webb.  I didn't realize until last night that there is a second scene with the Baseball game during which Webb complains that the game is "getting on my nerves" and sneers that it must have been "something you confiscated in a raid on a kindergarten."  Andrews replies calmly, "It keeps me calm."  (Exploration for future research:  Whether Vera Caspary's original story had anything like a miniature hand-held Baseball game or any baseball reference.)

Baseball probably was simpler in the days of "Laura," especially diluted wartime baseball with most of the stars in military service.  Because there is nothing calm about the wacky MLB season especially in the under-achieving American League where there is a good chance that the third wild card might have an under-.500 record.  A longtime Tigers fan disses his division as the AL Comedy Central. As for me, I have basically given up any hope that my Orioles can ever reach .500 in the 30+ games remaining in the regular season.  Whenever I think they are ready to make a push towards the respectability of .500, they fall backwards. The biggest problem IMHO is that I see no hunger in the so-called "core" of players that Mike Elias the "President of Baseball Operations Who Needs No General Manager Below Him" claimed nearly three years ago were ready for "liftoff". 

I sometimes wonder if Elias picked up the term "liftoff" from his right hand man Sig Mejdal who prior to his baseball career worked for NASA.  I may be wrong but I don't think Mejdal has been very visible these days. The Elias crew does deserve credit for the addition of slugging Pete "Polar Bear" Alonso who has excelled in every aspect of the game, not least team leadership. Credit must also be given for picking up their utilityman Blaze Alexander from Arizona where he was stuck behind Ketel Marte (who unfortunately missed a Dbacks game recently and was discovered to be at a casino - all of MLB and its fans must hope that a gambling problem is not at the root of Marte's problem).  Despite the plusses of Alonso and Alexander (BTW Blaze is his real name, a homage his father paid to a minor leaguel teammate), I think a change after 8 years of this front office crew is merited after the season. 

The problem is that the lockout by the owners is almost definitely occurring on December 1.  If prior lockouts are any guide to the future, no baseball business of any kind will be allowed after December 1 until ?   I for one have never believed that the entire 2027 season will be wiped out even though the hard core owners want a salary cap and salary floor at any price.  But no one knows for sure.  Maybe the only truth about baseball has always been, "Every season is different," lockout or not.   

I want to close on a positive note.  There have been many great individual exploits this season, often associated with contending teams.  High on my list is 6' 8"

RHP Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers. He is only 24 and in his FIRST FULL SEASON in MLB, he is setting astounding strikeout records. More importantly, Mis is showing a maturity rare in today's baseball  He doesn't want to keep throwing harder in the 100+ mph range.  I just hope he stays healthy and doesn't succumb to media pressure to break mph records.  The same good wishes to the young pitcher Mis has currently eclipsed, Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes.  Also only 24, Skenes seems to have a good head on his shoulders and more power to him as he tries to work out the reasons for his declining velocity. What may be a key is that Skenes may weigh around 260 pounds, more than 50 pounds heavier than Misiorowski.  It may be that his kind of huge athletic body needs somewhat of a reshaping.  Just a guess on my part.  As Tom Seaver said in THE ART OF PITCHING that I collaborated on over 50 years ago, "Every pitch has velocity, movement, and location, and velocity is the least important." 

See you sometime in September and always remember Stay Positive Test Negative, and Take It Easy But Take It!  

There are almost 150 games left in the regular MLB season so reason should dictate not to jump to any conclusions on such limited evidence.  But as Shakespeare's King Lear cried, "Reason not the need." Yours truly, the Prince of Paranoia, is not ready for a full-bore rant after the Birds opened the season 5-8 (before they resume play at home on Fri Apr 11).

However . . . There are disturbing signs that last year's mediocre second half slump and a second straight early exit in the playoffs were not an aberration.  The front office, led by Mike Elias and Sig Mejdal, a former NASA analyst who was bestowed the title of Director of Decision Sciences for the Houston Astros and now the Orioles, had to know that losing to free agency last year's ace Corbin Burnes and 44-HR man Anthony Santander left gaping holes in the roster. 

So far in the early going of 2025,  Burnes for the Diamondbacks and Santander for the Blue Jays haven't done much. But their track record indicates they will produce wins on the mound and at the plate, respectively.  As always, I fear the spurned player coming back to haunt his former team. 

Santander will get a deserved ovation from Oriole fans when he comes into Baltimore this weekend (Apr 11-13). He didn't do much in their first series in Toronto but I don't expect that drought to last.  Consider that Vladimir Guerrero Jr, fresh from signing his 15-year-$500 million contract, loves hitting in Charm City.  At least the O's don't have to face Kevin Gausman this time - another Oriole castoff, Gausman pitched yesterday as the Jays completed a sweep of the Bosox in Boston..

Meanwhile, the new (and holdover) Orioles have been underwhelming except for Zack Eflin who pitched three good games but is now on the injured list with the same shoulder issue that IL-ed him last season.  Former number one draft choice Grayson Rodriguez hasn't pitched all year and won't be available for a few more weeks and maybe longer. 

Santander's replacement in right field, Tyler O'Neill, was bestowed with a "modest" by today's standards 3-year $49 million free agent contract by Elias and company. O'Neill possesses a great arm, but relatively new to right field, he has needed a refresher course on what base to throw to.  And his base running has the subtlety of what you might expect from the son of a onetime Mr. Canada body builder.  It was so bad in St. Louis that his Cardinals manager Olli Marmol called him out publicly.

Well, I said I won't go full bore Prince of Paranoia. (You have a right to ask what full bore would sound like!) So instead, cue Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" and Beethoven's "Spring" Sonata while I tell you about the celebration of NYU's exceptional women's basketball team.  On Sat March 22 they completed their second straight undefeated season by beating Smith College of Northamapton MA for the second straight year in the Division III final, this year held in Salem, VA.

Yesterday (W Apr 9) they were celebrated at the Paulson Center gym on Mercer and Bleecker Streets in the heart of Greenwich Village. Deserved kudos for a team that has won 62 games in a row. That kind of winning has to be celebrated on any level in any sport. It's the 7th longest winning streak in the history of women's basketball on any level.  They are the 4th double champion in NCAA history. The 2024-2025 team won its games by an average of 37 points and their closest margin of victory was 19 points. The seniors were part of a team that went 112-5 in 4 years - perhaps not coincidentally because they were a pandemic team recruited by Zoom, including 3 from NY State, 3 from New Jersey, 2 from NYC, 1 from Australia.

Several NYU administrators and District 2 NYC Councilwoman Carlina Rivera spoke glowingly, but I think it was head coach Meg Barber's words that I will most remember.  Addressing her team, she said, "You willed it when no one was watching . . . and when everyone was watching."  

A winning culture is one of the great cliches of our age, so easy to say and so hard to achieve. Meg Barber listed some of its attributes that fans don't see:

*A freshman that finally gets a drill right in practice

*A player that learns to get a bad game out of her head while preparing for the next game

*Working well with the men's team [that made the Final Four too this season] - "I learned so much from them," Barber said.

*The off-court bonding of players that means so much once on the court

*The bond-building of parents and the importance of parents of veteran players explaining the ropes to parents of new players

Before the Mets' 710P game against the Diamondbacks on W April 30, Meg Barber, a former NYU player and a Mets fan, will have the honor 

of throwing out the first ball.  It is also Bark in the Park night.  So Violet and Mets fans and dog lovers, mark the date down.

In closing, some sad RIPs: Former Mets pitcher Octavio Dotel, 51, died in the roof collapse at the Santo Domingo night club early in the morning of Tu April 8.  Nelsy Cruz, a prominent goverment official in the DR and sister of retired slugger Nelson Cruz, also perished.  As did Tony Blanco, Washington Nats first baseman in 2005. Members of the family of Hall of Famer pitcher Pedro Martinez are still unaccounted for.  

That's all for now - always remember Take it easy but take it, and stay positive, test negative.