Changes and Adversity

I am sequestered in my son’s former room, located above the garage and perhaps the warmest room in the house, as it is exposed the most to the sun during the warmest parts of the day. It is now where we have relocated our office from the cellar, using a combination of his childhood gray furniture and my sturdy metal desk, which my wife and I hauled upstairs amid some one-sided bickering. 

We are changing the look of the house in our early 70’s for a number of reasons. First reason is to make the house more functional, with us not having to repeatedly go up and down the three flights of stairs in our split level house built in the 1950’s. While the major TV and second bathroom are located on the garage level, I will likely begin to use the upper bathroom as my main showering place. Again, a concession to age, at least for now. 

This empties the “Man Cave,” a.k.a. the cellar of much furniture and allows us to have a ton of space for a multitude of purposes. While I might re-hang the beautiful longhorns my father acquired in 1960 in Amarillo, Texas, I am uncertain whether I want to continue to have the ESPN banner which our daughter obtained in Pittsburgh many moons ago, adorn the freshly painted walls. 

Therein lies why I am upstairs in the warmer bedroom, typing away. We have had a trio of painters here since Monday. On a brutally hot first day, they re-painted the foundation and the shed near the patio. They drank a lot of water, but only could really work about six hours in the scorching heat. 

Steadily progressing, they have reached the middle level, closing off the living and dining rooms in a curtain of plastic. It is my understanding that they will reach the kitchen on Saturday, thus claiming that some for the duration of their time here will stretch into Wednesday. 

We will have a task ahead of us of returning items to their rightful location and tossing things we didn’t throw away the first go through. That won’t be completed until two sets of blinds are replaced and we have new carpeting installed in the living and dining rooms as well as on the stairwell from the kitchen to the den. By the end of the month, everything will be done. For now. 

What more is to be done? For starters, our 8 year old in wall microwave convection oven died on Thursday. Only the fan, timer and lights work properly. On the Internet, I learned that evidently GE microwaves last an average of 7 years. 

The bad news with this is that microwaves are difficult if not impossible to procure. Due to the pandemic and parts as well as manpower shortages, appliances in the big ticket stores as well as the smaller appliance dealers are hard to come by. While I have a date of August 14 for delivery, the reality is that date is not accurate. I know from my editor that she has been waiting ages for parts for her Jennair oven, which makes me feel more uncomfortable. 

However, I lived without a microwave oven for much of my life. Anything can be heated on a stove or in an oven (sorry, editor!!), and my regular oven and toaster oven are working as of this moment. Fingers and toes crossed. 

Eventually, we will repurpose and paint the remainder of the house, which will be the center hall, the steps and upper hallway, the three bedrooms, three hall closets, and the three bedrooms. Some furniture will go, replaced by couches with folding beds. We will replace the old TVs with modern, state of the art models.  Hardwood floors will be refinished and area rugs will lie in lieu of the older wall-to-wall carpeting that is so worn and aged. 

That won’t begin until the middle of 2022. Some of the necessary steps of tossing or donating items will occur in the interim. 

Come the end of July, the disruption within this house will be over. While I mourned the demise of my 2003 Dell computer, my savvy younger neighbor helped me save much of the data I needed as I now use this I Pad as my primary computer. We can finally settle in, becoming comfortable with our new environment and invite guests to see the new beauty inside of our hime.

So why did I write about the changes we have undertaken? I believe it is a metaphor for what is happening in the  sports world. 

This weekend is the first leg of the Subway Series. While the Mets are in first place in the NL West, pundits toss cold water on their performance thus far, noting that the Mets play in the weakest division. 

I don’t know if I agree with that assessment. The Mets come limping back to New York after being thumped by the Atlanta Braves 20-2 on Wednesday night. Great way to prep for three intense games at Yankee Stadium. Even Jacob deGrom surrendered 3 earned runs to the Braves in a no decision on Tuesday (he did strike out 14), raising his bodacious E.R.A. to an ungodly 0.96. Heavens to Murgatroyd!! (Thank you,  Snagglepuss!) 

The Mets bats are mediocre. Fransisco Lindor, the high-priced free agent, remains mired at a ghastly .213 average along with 26 R.B.I. The switch-hitters’ HR production is 9 in 2021, far from the numbers he put up in 2017-19 when he averaged 34 dingers for the Indians. I have heard many Mets fans bellyaching about this. I get it. 

Still, the Mets hold a lead on the fast-charging Washington Nationals. They still have 1B Pete Alonso, who is hitting better than his lifetime average and has 13 homers with 40 R.B.I. And Michale Conforto and Jeff Mc Neil are back in the lineup. It will be a short time before the offense kicks back into gear.

However, the pitching is encountering mounting injuries and inconsistencies. Which does not bode well for the Mets. Broadcasters Gary Cohen and Ron Darling have advocated for the team to acquire German Marquez, the up and coming pitcher on Colorado, who almost no-hit the Pirates. Noah Syndergaard isn’t to be counted on yet. Former Yankee Dellin Betances will have shoulder surgery, further placing a promising career in doubt. 

Bobby Bonilla Day came again on July 1. This legacy of stupidity in contracts allowed the Mets to once again shell out nearly $2 million to Bonilla, who is now 58 years old. The payments continue until 2035. When Bonilla is 72. Nice life. 

Mets’ owner Steve Cohen actually loves the day. He is running a contest for an Air B&B at Citi Field as a promotion related to Bonilla Day. 

Cohen is so flushed with money and owning his team that one could easily surmise that the Mets will be buyers as we head to the July 31 trade deadline. Dependable pitching and a slugger might be in order. Don’t count the Mets out—they are a team still ascending.

Unlike the other team in New York which allegedly plays baseball. Let’s start with the good news—Aaron Judge has been voted to a starting spot on the American League All-Star team.

My wife has been vocal about Judge, contending he hasn’t done enough as a superstar to keep the Yankees ship afloat. The guy leads the team in homers and R.B.I.’s, even with the most atrocious strike zone terrible umpires assign to him. He can only do so much. And with the Yankees aversion to the luxury tax, could Judge actually be a goner in a trade? OMG! (A more modern and trendy response) 

After Judge, the cupboard is now bare. Name a name and you cannot give a reason why this player or pitcher should be kept. That includes Gerrit Cole, who was lit up by Boston in his last outing, starting with surrendering a first pitch homer.

Shohei Ohtani, the Angels OF/P, arrived in town this week. Already a feared slugger, he added to his MLB-leading home run count with three bombs in the first two game of the series. 

Ohtani’s  bat speed is incredible and his launch angle is amazing. His homers are not cheapies. The guy is legit. 

Los Angeles is not a very good team. Star player Mike Trout remains sidelined over six weeks after suffering a Grade 2 calf strain. Thus Ohtani has carried the team to a near .500 record. 

The Angels have very little good pitching. Ohtani was 3-1 heading into his Wednesday night outing in the Bronx. 

The Angels were an opportunity for the Yankees to right the ship after the Boston debacle. Yet they lost on Monday night by a score of 5-3, promoting slugger Giancarlo Stanton to remark that the team has failed to show up and do its job thus far. Really? Thanks, GS, for the assessment. Which is very troubling. 

On Tuesday night, the Yankees awoke and won by a score of 11-5. Homers abounded and, for one night, the team looked like it was supposed to be. 

Wednesday night they got to Ohtani early, bouncing him out of the game in the first inning after skating 7 runs. The Yankees were ahead 7-3 when a rain delay occurred. 

After the rain delay, Luis Cessa gave up a home run, but the Yankees got that run back. It was 8-4 entering the 9th inning, well after midnight. 

Enter Aroldis Chapman, once reliable flame-throwing closer, to shut the Angels down and preserve the victory. Except that he didn’t. Chapman walked three batters, then threw a pitch that was promptly deposited in the seats. Tie score. Luis Luege came on and the Angels tacked on more runs. 

I went to sleep when it was 7-4. I was uncomfortable for good reason. Chapman is pitching to an over 13.00 E.R.A. recently. He claims he has lost his release point, which corresponds to his lack of control. 

I still say that he has stopped using a substance and this is the real culprit of his pitching woes. Prove me wrong. Same goes for the underwhelming performances by Cole. 

Every Yankees fan I know proclaims how unwatchable the team is right now. Which is very true. I turn into the broadcasts, hoping for a miracle but realizing that this is highly unlikely. 

Owner Hal Steinbrenner finally spoke on the team’s fortunes. He harassed Manager Aaron Boone and GM Brian Cashman. No changes there, for the foreseeable future, despite the howls of the faithful and the harsh words coming from the writers following the team (and even team broadcasters Michael Kay, David Cone and Paul O’Neill). 

Steinbrenner praised so many for their handwork and dedication. While he is the anthesis of his mercurial father, George, who would have had heads roll and players be shunted off to who knows where, Hal did say he is very unhappy with the level of play exhibited by his team. 

What to do about this? Keep a level head and stay with what is on the field? I think not. The Yankees received a little-known outfielder in a trade with a very bad Arizona team who is batting below .200. This is to add depth to the team as Clint Frazier, a major disappointment again this season, suffered dizziness and was removed from Tuesday night’s game. Heat affecting him like the Angels Dylan Bundy, who was caught on camera upchucking his guts before the cameras panned to a distressed D.J. LeMahieu, who was watching this ghastly sight unfold. 

Waiting for Corey Kluber and Luis Severino to resuscitate the pitching staff seems to be too late to salvage the season and make the Wild Card. New York is 6 games behind the A’s for the second slot. 

If the team could reasonably pick up players for the future in the outfield and in the infield, that would be good. There is no one untouchable on this team who couldn’t use a change of scenery. I include Judge, Cole. LeMahieu and Chapman. If there is a no-trade clause, there can be a waiver if the player can land on a team which can win it all this season. 

If you sense my frustration, then that makes me like my Yankee fan brethren. Which includes my wife, who won’t watch any more. She is saner than I am with this, and plenty of other things, too. 

I will restrain my rants about the team for awhile. Maybe they can actually win a game or two from the Mets. They are capable. Or maybe this team is fried and that just can’t happen.

Much more happened in sports this week than this narrow perspective I sometimes espouse. Serena Williams suffered a leg injury and had to withdraw from Wimbledon. Her time to surpass Margaret Court is dwindling. 

Colleges are giving student-athletes the opportunity to market their NIL (Name, Image and Likeness). Finally. Break up the cartels of riches known as the NCAA and the College Football Playoff. 

I am avoiding the Trevor Bauer fiasco. Good that MLB isn’t letting him play. Everything sounds so sordid. 

The Phoenix Suns downed the Clippers to win the Western Conference. Sure, Kawhi Leonard was hurt and this made the Clippers chances to win very slim (even if Paul George stepped up and scored like he hasn’t done before). Phoenix appeared to be a juggernaut in the bubble last playoffs, and I am unsurprised about their ascension to the elites of the NBA.

Milwaukee and Atlanta struggle without their stars. Kris Middleton has led the Bucks and placed them on the verge of making the NBA Finals. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks will not beat the Suns. Without Trae Young, the Hawks cannot beat the Bucks. 

Shout outs to Arnie, who has a badly torn hamstring, and to Rob, recovering from hernia surgery. Go slow, guys. It isn’t so bad to be on the IL if the goal is to get better. 

Thus, the theme here is change and adversity. For the teams and individuals cited in this blog, it’s all about how they react to the test before them.