As I See It

The questions resonating within my jumbled mind are where do I begin this week’s blog and what do I discuss? There is so much to talk about and, then again, what do my avid readers want to read?

Miguel Cabrera was the name my editor roared at me earlier in the week. Well, not his name but “the one who hit 500 home runs” is more exact. Which means she can’t help but stay on top of the developing story lines each week. Good. 

What about Miggy? He is a relic—a dinosaur throwback to the years when hitters might swat 500 home runs and others might garner 3000 hits. He is both—a 500 home run hitter and he is 42 hits shy of 3000 hits. 

While toiling with a sub-par Detroit team for years now, those who follow baseball cannot ignore that, from 2003 through 2007, Cabrera was a force on a Florida Marlins team which won a World Series. And oh, by the way, Cabrera is a 2X M.V.P., an 11X All-Star and  won the elusive Triple Crown in 2012 with  .330 average, 44 homers and 139 R.B.I.

Cherish him, baseball fans. We should do the same for Albert Pujols, who is probably in his last year as a part-time player on a talent-laden Dodgers club. There are few who stand a chance of hitting 500 homers or accumulating 3,000 hits who are active. Mike Trout was thought to be that kind of guy—except he has missed the bulk of this season with a calf injury. Bryce Harper is another. He may have an outside chance to hit 500 homers. Joey Votto, of whom I spoke glowingly last week, isn’t going to get near 3,000 hits. 

I looked at the top 50 active players in hits. Most everyone is 30 years old or over. As for home runs, there are some possibilities. Giancarlo Stanton is at  335 and he’s 31. Justin Upton, 33, has 324 homers. Trout is 29 and has 310 dingers. I look at Aaron Judge and he’s 29 and has 146 homers. Not a chance for 500 for number 99. 

In the same context, the Cardinals and Yadier Molina agreed to one final $10 million contract for 2022. Molina will retire as a Cardinal. That will be his 19th year catching for St. Louis. Molina is a 10X All-Star, 2X World Series winner and has won 9 Gold Gloves. He has amassed 2000 hits and a .280 average. In my mind, he is going to land in Cooperstown, too, but maybe not in his first attempt. 

I know you expect my dose of Yankees reverie. I won’t disappoint. This team has been on an epic streak, which reached 12 consecutive wins on Thursday night against a reeling but competitive Oakland team. Pick a player—seemingly everyone is contributing mightily. And Gio Urshela rejoined the club on Thursday and Corey Kluber has progressed enough that management has penciled him in to start on Monday in Anaheim. 

It is a boatload of riches. A.L. Player of the Week Luke Voit had to sit out when there was no DH in Atlanta, yet struck a critical pinch hit. He will play more this weekend. 

Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo were mired in slumps. Both drove in runs on Thursday night—Rizzo via a double and Gallo blasted a monstrous shot into the right field seats. 

Of course, there is the enigma. Aroldis Chapman had to be pulled from Tuesday’s night’s win in Atlanta, as he almost blew the game; ironically, he received credit for his first hold of the season because the Braves didn’t score. On Thursday night, he barely made it through the bottom of the ninth, providing viewers with more gut-wrenching TV. 

What is scary is this—Aaron Judge says this team still isn’t clicking on all cylinders. I mean—if they aren’t doing everything and the team is in the midst of a 13 game winning streak and they have taken 5 of 6 from the leaders in the A.L. Central and N.L. East on the road—then what will the Yankees be like when they are at full strength? If the team has been fun to watch since the All-Star break and even more so after the trading deadline, the last 36 games are going to be even better than one can imagine. 

The problem facing the Yankees march to the World Series is that there are three teams with better records, one of which leads the A.L. East. The Dodgers and Giants have the best records in baseball. 

But there is the omnipresent Tampa Bay Rays team which has managed to go on and on at an 8-2 clip. With that reduced payroll, a mausoleum for a stadium and no name players, again and again the Rays keep on winning. Manager Kevin Cash is s magician. He has kept the pedal to the metal.

Tampa drops into Baltimore this weekend. The Rays manhandled the Orioles last weekend in Florida.However, after spraying the clubhouse and stadium to rid all sports of evil influences like in the classic move Major League, the O’s broke their 17 game losing streak by hitting three home runs against Shohei Othani Wednesday night—the first time he has surrendered three in any MLB game (he was not the losing pitcher), then pummeled the Angels 13-1 on Thursday, overcoming Ohtani’s 41st home run leading off the game. Maybe Baltimore can derail the Rays a tiny little bit this weekend? Big maybe…

Being a baseball lifer, I seemingly cannot stop myself from watching games other than the Yankees. On Monday night I actually enjoyed a close contest between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Pittsburgh Pirates at the beautiful setting known as PNC Park. These two teams are not very good. They are far behind the leaders in their respective divisions. 

Before a sparse crowd, they played a very compelling game. It may not have had great fielding and flashy plays. Yet it was hotly contested and both teams really tried to win, despite their obvious flaws. The Pirates mounted a rally with 3 in the seventh inning and adding one more in the eighth before pitcher David Bednar collected his second save of the campaign. 

This was a contrast to watching the Yankees and the teams they had been facing—all tough teams except for the Twins. Besides, I root hard for the Yankees. 

While I recognized a few of the players on both sides, their stats didn’t jump out at me. Their competitiveness did. It was nice to watch.

More dramatic was the 16 inning game in San Diego between the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers and the Padres. I went to bed with Walker Buehler, the new favorite to win the N.L. Cy Young Award, training the Padres 1-0. Catcher Will Smith tied the game in the eighth inning with his 20th home run. 

I was overheated from too much exercise and not enough fluid, so I awoke at 12:58 EDT and started watching. It was the 11th inning. The tension was ever-present. The managerial wheels were turning overtime. Two out intentional walks to load the bases. Remember, each extra inning began with a runner on second base. 

Neither team broke through until the 15th inning when LAD scored two. I was nodding off so I turned off the TV. 

I missed phenom Fernando Tatis, Jr. hit a two run shot to tie the score. Which was matched and the ante raised  with a two run blast by Dodgers outfielder A.J. Pollock. LAD held on to win. The Padres, who had already fired venerable pitching coach Larry Rothschild, suffered another defeat to their arch rivals. 

LAD ultimately swept the series. San Diego, once a contender in the N.L. West, is now on the outside looking in at the Wild Card. Cincinnati has a claim to the second slot. As a commentator said, the Padres have a lot to learn from their brethren to the north.

I also tuned into the Mets twice this week. Largely because the team with the best record in baseball, the San Francisco Giants, was in town. 

Watching the Mets play is akin to getting a root canal. You have to do it, but it simply is not a pleasure. The Mets cannot hit and their folding and pitching isn’t much better. Manager Luis Rojas caused a furor when he inexplicably yanked starter Taijuan Walker in the seventh inning, with the Mets leading 2-1 and Walker having surrendered only one hit on a low pitch count.  Of course the Mets lost. The howls for Rojas to be fired have intensified. Something to keep an eye on. 

Coincidentally to the Orioles streak ending, the Chicago Cubs stopped their 13 game losing streak against the Reds. The Cubbies head to the South Side to meet the White Sox. Oh well. 

One other observation. The Atlanta Braves are a really good team. They are talented and this is without their best player, Ronald Acuna, Jr. who is out for the remainder of the season. The Yankees were very fortunate that a relay throw from Aaron Judge to Anthony Velazquez was called an out, because on replay, the call was hard to overturn. Had the call been safe, Freddie Freeman would have scored and the game would have had an entirely different look to it. 

Atlanta will give someone fits in the playoffs, should they be the N.L. East representative. They face those Giants tonight—two of the best teams, back-to-back at home. But it doesn’t get any easier. The Braves fly to the West Coast where they meet the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. That is some gauntlet—Yankees, Giants and Dodgers. The three best teams in baseball. If the Braves do not lose much ground to the suddenly reeling Phillies during this stretch, they make the playoffs. 

The ACC, Big Ten and PAC 12 entered into an alliance. No formal papers. Just banding together for their common interests. Which is to offset the SEC and ESPN. All about the money. 

The fact that the SEC poached Texas and Oklahoma set off my college roommate. In a series of texts, he voiced his displeasure. His call was for regional divisions and to place the teams together based on how much money teams in each division can draw. He hates the greed of the college presidents, citing his distaste for the President of the University of Maryland. Who came to College Park from the University of Iowa, with stops at PAC-12 schools Colorado and Washington. 

We agreed that the setting at our alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College, is much better. We might even see the Diplomats host Muhlenberg at the end of October; the Mules are picked to be the best in the Centennial Conference, followed by Johns Hopkins, Susquehanna and F&M. Shadek Stadium and its newness is a much nicer setting than Maryland anyway. 

And the players play hard and without the benefit of the scholarships prevalent in Division I. Plus they cannot match the kind of player who went into the transfer protocol to leave Rutgers because of the mandatory student vaccination requirement. 

This unnamed individual (by me) left that fine academic institution in Waco, Texas, Baylor University, for greener pastures. (For the record, I have been to Waco and Baylor; the best thing to come from those parts is Dr.Pepper) RU took a shot on him. He bolted because he wants to retain his right to decide about the vaccine. I just don’t put much into this “student-athlete” and his academics because he mentioned the school as the University of Rutgers.

The NFL is starting to settle into place. Trevor Lawrence will be the starter in Jacksonville. Teddy Bridgewater is the QB in Denver. Jameis Winston will succeed Drew Brees in New Orleans. Plus COVID is decimating the Tennessee Titans. 

On Friday night to Met Life Stadium to test the transportation and atmosphere there. The Eagles met the Jets. Will I like to see Zach Wilson excel tonight? Nope. He was didn’t suit up. For both teams, the final score (a 31-31 tie via a Hail Mary pass and a two point conversion by the Jets at the end of the game) meant nothing. Fans like me have to wait until September 12, when the season begins for real.

At least I saw my son and tasted the subs from a Queens deli which he raved about. (Pretty darn good) It took both of us a lot of time to get to the parking lots of Met Life Stadium—it was rush hour and there were thunder showers in the area, delaying the game’s start for 30 minutes. 

As I see it, I could have been watching baseball or waiting until 9:40 for the Yankees game. Easy choice here.

For that matter everything I espouse on these pages is as I see it, isn’t it?

I’m not blogging until the second weekend in September. Stay cool. Be safe. 

Humpty Grumpy

I’m grumpy. Yeah, I’m irritable today. I am sure that the sudden soreness originating from my neck and traveling into the upper back isn’t helping. No more weights for awhile. No crunches. No planks. Walking on solid surfaces or indoor recumbent biking. Ugh.

I am pretty sure the weather is playing a factor in my grumpiness too. We have had a heap of humidity with the remnants of T.S. Fred (Fred? What a name for a tropical system!!), a stalled front and the onset of T.S Henri surging towards Long Island and New England where it will become a Category 1 hurricane. A nice 80-85 degree day with puffy clouds and low humidity would suit me just fine.

I’m even overwhelmed by the number of tomatoes ripening in my little garden. I have 20 ripe tomatoes on the vine or in my garage to be devoured. I never heard of a tomato smoothie before, so I guess hat I will be eating them daily at lunch and dinner. Or making sauce. Three or four a week  might have been a bit nicer. 

What isn’t making me too grumpy is the play of the New York Yankees. With the wins over the Minnesota Twins at the Stadium on Thursday and Friday nights, the Bombers are riding a season-high 8 game winning streak. This streak would have been 9 wins in a row if they had won the Field of Dreams game. Since the July 31 trade deadline, the team is a staggering 18-4. Talk about a turn around. 

At this point, which is hard to believe, the Yankees are the top Wild Card team, with a 1/2 game advantage over Oakland and a 1 1/2 game marking over the slumping Red Sox.  Winning has made them relevant in the A.L. East again, with the team trailing Tampa Bay by only 5 games. The Rays and the Yankees finish the season with a three game set at Yankee Stadium in October. That is looking to be more and more a series which could determine the post-season ambitions for the two franchises. And remember—the teams dislike each other intensely. 

Somehow, the Yankees are getting the job done. During this August stretch, Anthony Rizzo, Aroldis Chapman, Luke Voit, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, Domingo German, Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Miguel Andujar, Corey Kluber, Clint Frazier and Clint Holmes have been out of the lineup at various times. These are some serious  moving parts not available for Manager Aaron Boone. 

Yet the team has overcome Boston’s 10 1/2 game lead—which is the third biggest deficit overcome by either team in the rivalry—and become a veritable monster. Plus some of the necessary cogs are beginning go get better. 

I am still not totally enamored with this team. They lead MLB in the most games played where the score differential was 2 or fewer runs. And they have the most wins in those contests. With a bullpen that causes one to scratch one’s head and wonder: “Who are these guys?”

Chapman returned and he melted down and needed to be removed from the Yankee Stadium mound on Wednesday night before he cost the Yanks the game. Former All-Star Zach Britton, once a closer himself with the Orioles, isn’t right yet after his COVID battles and elbow surgery; he is an uncertainty as the season presses towards September. Chad Green almost blew the game on Thursday night, looking shaky while surrendering a long home run to the Twins’ slugger Miguel Sano, who, if I heard Michael Kay correctly, has hit 10 home runs in his first 20 games against the Yankees. That is a record. 

The Yankees lineup on Thursday night featured Voit as the DH, batting lead off; Rizzo, back at first, was up second; Aaron Judge, the team’s leader and normally the right fielder, was in center and batting third; Joey Gallo was in left and hitting cleanup; Giancarlo Stanton was out in right field and batting fifth. That is one formidable group. 

While Voit has begun to contribute since his return from injury, the player of the game was Kyle Higashioka. He drove in 3 runs, which included a two run homer, and threw out a runner attempting to steal second. 

Then there is the local kid, Andrew Velazquez. Filing in for Torres at shortstop, he has become a key contributor and highlight reel player while living his dream of playing for his hometown club. The 27 year old switch hitter is living at home; he has had a smattering of major league games under his belt. While he is hitting.269, he has put together two multi-hit games in a row, shown blazing speed and made a game saving stop and throw to end the Wednesday night victory. He has become a wow factor for this club.

Speaking of clubbing, Stanton is absolutely tearing the cover off of the ball. He hit a home run on Thursday night into the lower right field stands which took three seconds to reach the seats from the time it left his bat. The ball struck a young man in the head and bounced higher into the happy fans. Thankfully the boy was all right and he received a ball from a very concerned umpire. 

Despite everything, Judge is his old self—even stealing bases. Rizzo and Gallo are contributing more than their lower batting averages would indicate. The Yankees needed  more left-handed hitting and, with the resurgence of Tyler Wade and Brett Gardner, the Yankees lineup is hard to contain. 

This team has become so deep with starting pitching for the moment. Cole and Montgomery returned and were right back in form. Andrew Heaney two hit Boston for seven innings. Nestor Cortes, Jr. has been a revelation as fifth starter. 

The return of Cole, Montgomery and Chapman necessitated the return of Luis Gil to Scranton-Wiles-Barre. All that Gil did was log a 0.00 E.R.A. as a starter. Which is a shame because he has demonstrated a mound presence beyond his 23 years. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Gil is he only major league pitcher since 1893 to throw at least 4 2/3 scoreless innings in each of his first three appearances. Right now there is simply no place for him to pitch for the big boys, and with Kluber nearing a return, it is even more remote that Gil will be with the Yankees until the rosters expand to 28 players in September. 

The Yankees have 40 games left in the season. There are three more with the Twins. Then the team starts a defining 9 game road trip starting with the red-hot Atlanta Braves, currently in first place in the N.L. East and led by perennial star Freddie Freeman, who has thrust his name into the N.L. M.V.P. conversation. (the A.L. M.V.P. race has already been decided—Shohei Otani of the Angels has hit 40 home runs, driven 88 runs and has an 8-1 record with a 2,79 E.R.A.) With a travel day on Wednesday, the Yankees land in Oakland for four pivotal games. The road trip ends with three contests in Anaheim against Otani and he Angels. The remainder of the schedule has multiple series against the Blue Jays and hapless Orioles; visits by also-rans Cleveland and Texas; with trips to Citi Field to play the Mets, and one visit to Fenway Park to play the Red Sox before the final three games with Tampa Bay. 

I have no crystal ball. The torrid stretch has to end, one would expect. 

I have a lot of questions which I believe are valid. Is Boston, even with the presence of ace Chris Sale, that bad that they have played themselves out of contention for the division and Wild Card? Will Oakland be able to control the Bombers and their own destiny? How many healthy bodies will be available to significantly contribute in these last 40 games? Could Tampa Bay fall back to the pack beginning with the three games they host the A.L. Central-leading Chicago White Sox this weekend? We shall see and I will continue to watch as best I can. 

I watched the Dodgers take on the Mets late on Thursday night. The Mets are in a tizzy. Their owner called the team out for their recent horrible play. While Steven Cohen is right that the statistics show a lack of productivity, maybe he is missing the fact that two stars, Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez are out, and Jacob deGrom isn’t likely to pitch until September—if at all. Doing a George Steinbrenner on this group isn’t going to win their hearts or make them int better hitters. Bombast and shouting along with media hype won’t generate results. 

Looking at the Dodgers, I see a heck of a team. In any other years, they would be the best team in MLB. Perhaps they are. The pitching, without lefties Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urias, is phenomenal, with Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer and David Price up next to face the Mets. 

Let me throw some names at you—Will Smith, Max Muncy, Justin Turner, AJ Pollock. Corey Seager, Trea Turner and Cody Bellinger. These are all All-Stars with immense talent. This team is thriving, going 9-1 in their last 10 games and 15-4 since the trade deadline—with out superstar Mookie Betts in the lineup. 

Barring a collapse, and even with a solo bullpen, I think that the Dodgers are the best team in baseball. Unfortunately for them, the San Francisco Giants, their long-time rivals, have amassed a 78-43 record thus far. They meet one more time—September 3-5. Which ought to be special.

LAD’s schedule is difficult. They play the Padres in three series, which are always hotly contested; there are trips to Cincinnati and the suddenly surging St. Louis Cardinals. While the Dodgers do meet poorer teams like the Rockies and D-backs, they host the N.L. Central leading Brewers to end the season. Survive this and have to play in the WildCard game—that’s the way outcomes in baseball sometimes work. 

Another baseball item of note. On last Saturday night, Arizona rookie righty Tyler Gilbert tossed the eighth no-hitter this season in his first start and only fourth MLB game. The no-hitter against the Padres broke the record for the most no-hitters in a season. 

Which was not unexpected. This is the season of the pitcher despite the crackdown on foreign substances. 

What astonished me was that Gilbert was not the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first start. Three. Others have accomplished that feat—the last was the infamous Bob Holloman of the St. Louis Browns in 1953. 

Also, earlier in the week, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto just crossed the 2000 mark in base hits. Votto has a career .303 average along with 322 home runs thus far. Twenty-seven of those homers have come this year and Votto has been a catalyst in bringing a struggling Reds team to 9 games over .500 and within 1 game of the slumping Padres for the second N.L. Wild Card spot. 

Votto turns 38 on September 10. He has been hitting like he is 28. A group of experts at MLB.com have conclude that Votto is a lock for the Hall of Fame. He has led the N.L. in on-base percentage in 9 seasons. He was a great fielder at first base. Votto has one M.V.P. under his belt; a second would cinch any indecision voters might have. So would a run in the playoffs—Votto’s teams have not won a game in four visits to the post-season. And if I was voting on the HOF ballot when he is eligible, he would make my list. 

Carli Lloyd announced that she will be retiring from competition when she plays her last game with the Women’s U.S. National Soccer team this fall. The Delran, NJ native and Rutgers grad is a two-time FiFA Player of the Year. She has won 2 gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the Olympics for the U.S. women. Lloyd is a two-time FIFA World Cup champion. 

The resume is impressive. I remember her at Rutgers when she was playing well above the rest of her team, earning All-American honors. From those solid roots she became the highest paid female soccer player in the world. 

Talk about an icon. One who is married to her high school sweetheart, Brian Hollins,  who has his own career as a golf professional at the Trenton Country Club. 

When I think about U.S. Women’s soccer, I think of Megan Rapinoe, Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Julie Fouty and Hope Solo. All winners. 

Yet my thoughts always return to Carli Lloyd. Hey, Hamm, Michelle Akers, Wambach and Kristine Lilly are rated ahead of Lloyd. Can’t help myself from being a fan of a RU legend and a Jersey native.

So, with the rainy forecast, I wonder if the Yankees will get their games in with the Twins. Rain delays, postponements and gloomy weather won’t brighten my mood any. I’ll have to find some Netflix or TV program not named Ted Lasso to watch. Oy.

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men might not be able to help Humpty Grumpy this weekend.

Iowa Was OPEN Today

It happened. It really happened The Field of Dreams Game in an Iowa cornfield. What a spectacle. 

I had envisioned this production to be a game for the ages. Just by where it was being played—in Dyersvile, Iowa, tucked into the northeastern corner of the state. A brilliant baseball diamond surrounded by some stands and acres of corn. 

I alerted my editor to watch the game, including the hour-long pre-game show on FOX. Which she did. And asked plenty of questions, too. Until just before 9:00. That’s when Rachel Maddow appears on MSNBC. Liberalism triumphed over mainstream sports in the early Iowa voting, I guess. 

Too bad, too, for she missed a whale of a ballgame. A ballgame that became an instant classic. More on that later.

I started to watch the MLB Network coverage a bit before 5:00 P.M. Eastern time. I did this knowing that I had finished cooking the night’s meal and that my wife and I would be eating in front of the TV set. 

For the record, dinner was Mushroom Chicken Marsala over rice, with a salad that included home grown tomato and green squash. It was delicious and I am not big on praising my own cooking. 

In the end, this was another baseball game. But it was far from the home stadiums of the two participants. Outside of what a regulation baseball field should look like, everything else was not cookie cutter-ish.

Besides the omnipresent corn stalks, rising as high as 12 feet into the hot Iowa atmosphere, there was a different feel to the place. The stands were created to hold about 8,000 spectators. Tickets were described to be the hardest to obtain since Game 7 of the 2015 World Series, when the Chicago Cubs were on the brink of winning for the first time in seemingly forever. 

For some, it literally cost thousands of dollars to make the pilgrimage to Dyersville. Those who plunked down that kind of moolah could not have possibly left that night too disappointed if they were Yankees fans. 

The entire atmosphere was incredible. There was a connection to the movie set, and boys played on the field while the major leaguers played on theirs. 

A corn maize, in the distinct logo of Major League Baseball, was prominent and managed to perplex young and old, with a few of the Yankees and White Sox players getting lost for a moment or two. Because they were acting just like kids—and who wouldn’t?

Ballplayers and fans were asked their opinions about how they felt when they first arrived and as they soaked up the atmosphere. Most were effusive in their praise for the entirety of the surroundings. Others were almost speechless. 

The word spectacle came to my mind. What I saw was indeed spectacular. In the middle of nowhere near any major population hub, a major league baseball game was going to be played between two of the original MLB franchises. 

There was a feel to the coverage by MLB Network and then FOX that this was truly special. The lead ins to segments were specially made for this event. Cuts of the movie were played again and again, to no one’s dismay. 

After all, to answer Shoeless Joe’s question to Ray if this was heaven, what else could be said? No, this really was Iowa. 

I loved the manual scoreboard on a faux wooden facade in the corn beyond the right field fence. Announcer Joe Buck remarked that there was no electricity at the board. There were three young men and women who used a ladder to mount the scores. But I still wonder how the clock a the apex of the scoreboard operated so accurately when I never saw anybody move the arms. 

Sure, there was an electronic video board in the corn beyond the left field fence. And plenty of modern music permeated the very loud sound system. I mean, after all, we were in 202, not 1921. 

I liked the center field batter’s eye/camera well which looked like a barn. To my surprise at the end of the game, fireworks roared into the hot night from that edifice. 

The fences had a wooden and cornfield motif. The tarpaulin covers were decorated like ears of corn, with the GEICO logo prominently displayed. I thought that was kind of corny, in a good way of course. 

The dugouts appeared to be wooden and actually had posts to hold up the roof—something only seen in the oldest of MLB parks—like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Yankees manager Aaron Boone perched himself at an entrance to the dugout, his arm resting on top of a high wooden and mesh fence. 

Players wore throw back uniforms. The White Sox wore white uniforms with blue pin stripes and the Yankees were in their road grays. Unlike in bygone eras, these uniforms were tailored and fit snuggly. White Sox starter Lance Lynn’s girth was quite evident. 

Reports about batting practice was that the ball carried very well in the heated air. Repeated questions to players about how they would like to hit homers into the corn were met with an “Aw, Shucks” response, even if you knew that they would dearly love to launch a ball that would land in the stalks. I wondered how many BP swings landed in the corn and how many balls are still there. 

To me, this night had a World Series/All Star Game feel to it. So much media coverage by MLB Network and a full hour pre-game show by FOX didn’t dispel that notion. 

I had wondered leading up to the game if Kevin Costner, star of the movie would be in attendance. How silly could I have been thinking that? Of course Costner was here and he was a big part of the festivities. 

Costner was interviewed at length by MLB Network. He shared many tidbits about his feelings and how it was all those years ago when the filming occurred. He also shared how much he loved playing catch Wednesday with his son at the move set site. 

FOX let him sit in the booth with Buck and Hall of Fame analyst John Smoltz. His insights were good, but the sound system drowned out way too much of the conversation. Memo to MLB and FOX—don’t let that EVER happen again!!

But that wasn’t why Kevin Costner was there in Iowa on this audacious evening. It was for the on field festivities. Followed by cameras seemingly everywhere, Costner emerged from the cornstalks holding a baseball. He walked to mid-center field. Then the players came out of the corn in waves, just as in the movie. Group after group. Seeing Araon Judge stride through the stalks which were not much taller than him was awesome. The entrance was powerful. It was majestic. 

Starting with the Yankees Gerrit Cole, in uniform and unmasked after his bout with COVID-19, players veered to shake the actor’s hand. It was unscripted and natural. 

The teams lined up on respective sides of the infield. Costner used poetic license from the movie to get the night started. The starting lineups were announced. An Iowa native and a winner of American Idol, sang the National Anthem from the middle of the move set field. A flyover with Iowa pilots serenaded the start. It was finally time for baseball. 

New York came into the contest red hot despite injuries and positive COVID tests decimating the lineup. On Monday, the Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals despite four blown saves. That game featured an MLB first—both teams scoring in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th innings. 

Tuesday KC prevailed 8-4, where the Yankees defense failed miserably—to the tune of 4 costly errors. This was a game they could have won.

Wednesday’s matinee was a New York win. It was another bullpen game due to three starting pitchers either being on the IL or COVID IL. Aaron Judge, Luke Voit and D.J. LeMahieu each drove in runs. Reserve Tyler Wade, pressed into service in left field as Judge was the DH, continued his hot hitting. 

The Yankees were the hottest team in the majors. Chicago had the best record in the American League. This was going to be a clash of the titans. Very fitting for such an auspicious day.

Lynn started for the White Sox. He surrendered a hit to LeMahieu in the first inning. 

Andrew Heaney was the New York starter. Acquired at the trading deadline from the Angels where he had been inconsistent, Heaney was no better with the Yankees. 

He put Chicago ahead 1-0 by hanging a curve ball to slugger Jose Abreu. 1-0 Sox. 

In the top of the third inning, New York got to Lynn. With LeMahieu and Brett Garnder aboard, Just smashed a homer deep into the corn behind the right field fence. 3-1 NYY.

Heaney promptly threw away that lead, allowing the Sox to plate four runs, three coming off the bat of the powerful Eloy Jimenez, who drove a shot into the corn. 5-3 CWS. 

Unfortunately, Heaney wasn’t finished. He dished another homer to the White Sox. The score was now 7-3. New York looked stunned and perhaps finished.

Speaking of finished, when the staff shortly becomes whole with the return of Cole, Jordan Montgomery and the season debut of Luis Severino, with the already red-hot pitching of Jameson Taillon, thee should be no room for Heaney. Which is good, for after his five innings on Thursday night, Heaney’s E.R.A. is a fat 9.00. 

In the 6th, Gardner lifted a ball into the corn. It was now 7-4. Which the score remained at, due to excellent relief pitching for both sides. 

Chicago  interim manager Miguel Cairo, a former Yankees player, guiding the team in the absence of Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, who was away for the death of a family member, brought in All-Star closer Liam Hendricks. Hendricks is a ball of fire, who leads baseball in saves.

However, the Aussie-born receiver hadn’t pitched in almost a week, and his rust showed. Wade singled. Hendricks retired LeMahieu and Garnder. New York was down to its last out.

I was hoping Judge would get one more chance. Which he made the most of, dramatically slugging a ball further than the first one. It was now 7-6.

I rooted from the outset for new arrival Joey Gallo to walk. And he did. Which then allowed Slugger Giancarlo Stanton to pulverize a line just over the fence in left field. Miracles of miracles. It was 8-7 NYY.

Boone elected to go with former Baltimore closer Zach Britton to save the game. He had few options. While this was a scenario suited for closer Aroldis Chapman to blow away the

White Sox and preserve the victory, Chapman was present and in uniform, but unable to pitch as he was on the IL with elbow inflammation. 

Britton hasn’t looked sharp since his return from early season elbow surgery. I was not very comfortable watching him pitch. 

He recorded the first out with a grounder to Voit. Then Britton walked catcher Sevy Zavala, the ninth place hitter. And he lost his cool and probably his focus. 

For his next pitch to All-Star SS Tim Anderson quickly left the yard. 9-8. Game over. 

What was euphoria on the Yankees bench must have devolved into eerie silence. Judge walked off the field, mired in his thoughts. 

The long day, starting in Kansas City, with a flight to Dubuque and a 30 mile bus trip to the field, had become longer and the trip back to Dubuque and the plane ride to Chicago with his nightmare must have been bad.

New York needed a victory like this. It would have catapulted them into the stratosphere  and would have given notice to the American League that they are really formidable. 

Instead, the weaknesses of the team remain and we are left to wonder if they can pick up the pieces on Saturday night when the series resumes. 

Despite the the heart-breaking loss, this was a night for MLB to shine. The lighting and field were superb. FOX and all those who participated were superb. The look was authentic. The effect was sublime. 

Too bad my editor didn’t remain with the game. She would have been awed by the ebb and flow in the ninth inning. I know I was.

While at Penn State, my daughter produced a cute, short film which garnered a couple of regional awards. The title is Iowa Is Closed Today. Look it up on Google.

Thursday night showed us one more thing. That Iowa Was OPEN Today.

No Mention Of The Kardashians Here

Our family watches this reality show on Bravo titled Below Deck. It is an Andy Cohen production, centered around charters on yachts and observing the crew and the guests. Roy Oberson, Jr. was just on and Johnny Damon was on in an earlier season. 

It is trashy. It is inane. Boorish behavior abounds. Things go awry. Yet somehow each trip, Captain Sandy or Captain Lee navigates the waters and the crew performs despite the obstacles which beset them. 

Watching the New York Yankees resembles this kind of TV. Andy Cohen is the Brian Cashman of the show, assembling the parties for the high seas. Aaron Boone is the skipper whose job it is to make the trip happen and end satisfactorily. And the crew are the ballplayers who are out there, day after day, trying to perform to the best of their abilities, with some clearly better than others. 

My wife and I spent Friday afternoon into evening in Astoria, visiting our son and his partner. Our plans changed (and our son graciously changed his plans) when the traffic to return to New Jersey was so horrendous that we decided to wait until the clogged arteries opened before heading home. 

When we did leave Queens, our route took us onto the Major Deegan Expressway. Historical fact: William Francis Deegan was a Major in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the command of George Goethals, as well as a Democratic figure of some renown in the 1920’s. My mind wanders so much—I wondered if Goethals played bridge. Oy.

Anyway, I digress. While in the Bronx, the roadway takes drivers right past the vista of the new Yankee Stadium. It was all lit up, as the Bombers were hosting the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of a fairly important four game series. 

I smiled and hoped for a quick trip across the George Washington Bridge, so I could see the end of the game. Why? Because suddenly, after being morose for so long, the Yankees have awakened from the coma they were in and are winning games. Watching Yankees baseball is once again fun and must see TV. 

In the last 27 games, the Yankees have the best record in MLB. Since the Boston debacle two weekends ago, the Yankees have played AL East leading Tampa Bay evenly, swept the Marlins, took 2 out of 3 from the woeful Baltimore Orioles, and won the first three games against the Mariners before suffering a shutout on Sunday.

While the Yankees have that new infusion of talent in Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo, there has been a series of events which would have throttled other teams but instead has worked to the Yankees advantage. In the past week plus, top starting pitcher Gerrit Cole and Joran Montgomery and starting catcher Gary Sanchez all have tested positive for COVID-19. Then a bombshell exploded on Sunday—Rizzo tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Plus All-Star reliever Aroldis Chapman, after a very shaky save on Thursday night, is suddenly on the 10 day IL with elbow tendonitis. Ditto starting pitcher Domingo German, who has rotator cuff soreness and is shut down. Starting third baseman Gio Urshela has a hamstring issue which landed him on the IL. Luke Voit, last year’s AL home run king, is back to replace Rizzo after rehabbing at Triple A. 

That’s a veritable who’s who of the Yankees. And remember this—Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Roghned Odor, DJ LeMahieu are now playing but they were either injured or contracted COVID. 

Yet the youngsters brought up each and every time have performed more than admirably. This week, the Yankees set a franchise record using pitchers in one game who were making their MLB debuts. One of them, Steven Ridings, had been a pitcher at Haverford College, a Centennial Conference rival of my alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College. In my day, the Haverford pitchers were hardly MLB caliber. Then again, they weren’t 6’6” at Haverford in my day, with a fastball that reached 100 m.p.h. (We didn’t use radar guns to clock pitches back then).

It was also apropos that injured and out of the year CF Aaron Hicks was on the bench during the homestead. He is the poster boy for all that went wrong with the team and why there is no recognizable every day centerfielder on the squad. 

I have said it before, and it bears repeating—this is a flawed squad. Chapman is not the same as he was at the beginning of the season. Same applies to Chad Green. Zach Britton is getting better, but he is not close to his previous form. Only Jonathan Loiasiga appears to be the real deal in the bullpen, and I believe he is the closer of the future—if not now.  

Judge and Stanton are streaky. Gallo may have hit a winning home run and he has some key hits, but he is a low average hitter. Rizzo had begun to tail off from his incredible start; he still brings so much to the game when he plays. His untimely loss will add even more frustration to a team that seemed on an upward arc. LeMahieu is showing signs of coming to life. Odor has performed very well filling in at third base and he smashed a home run on Saturday. Even Brett Gardner, in what must be the last year of his career—one which links him as the only remaining player from the 2009 World Champion team—hung in on Friday night to deliver the 11th inning game winner. 

The Yankees are doing what is needed to become part of the conversation. As we head through the dog days of August—apologies to those dogs that might be reading this blog—and into the stretch run, the Yankees are peaking as Boston and Oakland are sliding. Should this keep up, next week the New York Yankees might be leading the Wild Card standings.

How long that will last is a guess. Will Cole and Montgomery come back strong? And when? What about Rizzo and Urshela? How long might Gleyber Torres be out after leaving Sunday’s game? Can the bats keep it up? Are the rookies going to play like minor leaguers? How will the bullpen fare? Are Rays, Red Sox, A’s, Mariners, Angels and Blue Jays going to fold? 

So many questions. No answers to this puzzle right now. But it sure is exciting to watch. Which I did, from the time I was settled in after coming home from 

Queens until Gardener’s hit which led him being mobbed by his teammates. 

After the Mariners series ends, the Yankees head to KC for three. Then they bus to Dyersville, Iowa fr the Field of Dreams game versus the AL Central leaders, the Chicago White Sox, before finishing the series on Saturday and Sunday in Chicago. 

I think it is great that MLB came up with this novelty. A field with 10,000 capacity and lights has been constructed on the edge of a whole lot of corn stalks. The weather looks to be hot and clear for Thursday. The teams are going to wear throwback jerseys specially designed for the game. FOX will cover the spectacle. Roads are going to be closed (except to those who live nearby) and a whole array of events at the move set site and in town are on tap. And the game counts. Gotta love it. 

I switched from the YES Network to NBC for the Men’s Basketball Gold Medal game. I joined the telecast in time for the beginning of the third quarter. The US was leading France 54-49 at the half behind 21 points from Kevin Durant; Durant became the highest scoring American in Olympic history this week. 

Greg Popvich’s squad out performed the French team overall, but they had to sweat it out at the end of the contest to win 87-82. Who sunk his clutch free throws when the game was on the line? Kevin Durant, that’s who. 

Durant has collected three gold medals. He has been said to be the best American Olympic player ever. 

Would he have fit in on the 1992 Dream Team? Yes. But you are talking about Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippin, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Chris Mullin and amateur Christian Laettner. 

Who exactly would he have replaced? Barkley was the leading scorer. Malone and Ewing were the top rebounders. Pippen led the team in assists. 

Did I mention the names Jordan, Bird and Johnson? Nope. He certainly would not have supplanted them. 

No, I see him taking playing time from David Robinson and Chris Mullin. That’s how talented the 1992 team was, stocked with all future Hall of Fame players. 

I am not diminishing Durant’s accomplishments as an Olympian. He probably is the best player in the world right now. If you wanted to ride the back of a player. For one game, it might be Durant. I would say that Giannis Antetokoumpo and Steph Curry are his rivals for that honor. 

Let’s be fair. This was not the top team the US could have fielded. Had Lebron James and Curry decided to play, Durant’s role in leading the team might have differed. Same thing if Kawhi Leonard had been healthy. Or if Brooklyn teammates Kyrie Irving and James Harden were on the roster. The dynamic of the team would have been completely different.

With the team that Popovich had constructed, minus the defections of Kevin Love and Bradley Beal, this was Durant’s team. They lost in exhibition games because Durant wasn’t in top form and he needed to assess and learn to play with his teammates. 

The opening loss to France wasn’t a fluke. That is a very talented team. If the two teams played best-of-seven series, it might have taken seven games to crown a winner. 

Durant did exactly what he needed to do to will his team to the gold medal. Taking the JV team to win the top honors is no small feat. 

He has been called a patriot. I agree. He wrapped himself in an American flag after the victory. It was meaningful to him—despite the titles he won at Golden State and despite the prior two gold medals he had earned. Bravo, KD.

Thus, it has been a week full of good TV viewing—at least for me. There was Ted Lasso, Episode 2 in Season 2. Reality TV mirroring sports on TV. Sports looking like reality TV. 

No mention of the Kardashians here.