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“Championship Series–Surprise-Surprise”

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We are ready for the American and National League Championship Series.

We can celebrate a wild baseball season and we can question how some of these people got there and others didn’t.

The ache over the demise of the Dodgers, the failure of the Cubs to get back there, the erosion of the pitching staff in Boston, the up and down chaos of the Mets, the dismantling of the Indians and the underachieving season of the Phillies are all part of the end of season storylines.  Minnesota’s and Tampa Bay’s great runs earned respect.

But the survivors deserve to be there.

A quick look at Baseball’s version of the Final Four.

WASHINGTON….It’s been a long time since Washington went to the World Series and won it.  The old Washington Senators did it in 1924, the era of Walter Johnson.  The Nationals earned this trip, rallying from a (19-31) start, and showing patience to let Manager Dave Martinez solve the teams issues.  It took them awhile to overcome the emotional trauma of losing Bryce Harper to free agency.  It took awhile for them to figure out if the kid hitters, Victor Robles-Juan Soto and others would become solid major leaguers.  It took a summer’s worth of aggravation as to whether they could trust their bullpen.  But the young star SS-Trea Turner, the old hand 1B-Ryan Zimmerman and the kids really came around.  Of course, a big three rotation led by Max Scherzer, the emergence of Stephen Strasburg to superstar status, and the arrival of Patrick Corbin gave them quality starts every week.  Only concern going in, will the rotation be operating on fumes, and can the bullpen really be trusted?.

ST LOUIS…No one could have imagined this team would still be playing this late into the fall.  It took Paul Goldschmidt time to adjust to playing in a new Stadium, but his second half of the season was superb.  Yadier Molina got healthy and got hot the second half of the season. Marcel Ozuna has become a star since coming from Miami.   Dexter Fowler had a really strong bounce back season. , Paul DeJong, Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter might not beat you everyday, but they really make things happen.  Pitching was to be a concern, the age of Adam Wainwright, the spring training injury to Carlos Martinez, the in season hurt of Michael Wacha.  But could anyone have imagined that Jack Flaherty and Dakota Hudson would become cornerstones of the rotation.  A better team than anyone thought possible, especially with Martinez’s move to the bullpen. .

YANKEES…18 players, including virtually every star on the roster, spent time on the disabled list.  Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton cannot hurt you from the injured list, but so many other players stepped up and had hot streaks.  Journeyman Cam Maybin and Gio Ursula contributed.  Gary Sanchez fought back from multiple injuries to hit again.  Luke Voit had a strong year till he got hurt late in the season.  Didi Gregarious got hurt early but hot late.  Miguel Andujar went down never to come back.  Brett Gardner had a career power year.  The Yankees might not be there were it not for the acquisitions of ex Rockies star DJ LeMahieu and longtime power hitter Edwin Encarnarcio.  The pitching staff is battered, at least the rotation is, the bullpen will get a lot of work in the series.  Wha an accomplishment though, not just the 100-win season, but the ability to have so many players make so many contributions.

HOUSTON….The beat goes on in the Lone Star State.  Enormous starting pitching, a Cy Young season from Gerritt Cole, Justin Verlander being Justin Verlander, and the late season arrival of Zach Greinke.  Find me a better starting three.  And the Astros had a great season eventhough everyone of their superstars spent time on the DL.  Alex Bregman became an established star, joining the likes of George Springer, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.  What an acquisition Michael Brantley turned out to be.  And they got months of productivity from Yander Alvarez power bat.  Streaky Yuli Gurriell had hot spells and cold segments, but there was always someone to step in.  The only glitch might be do they have enough relief pitching, but maybe with those starters you don’t need much out of the bullpen.

Bring it on.  This will be a superb two weeks of baseball.

Oh by the way, look for a Houston-Washington World Series.

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Strange day, strange things, bad days in baseball too.  Scatter gunning comments on all this.

PADRES…..You mean to tell me, because sources are telling me, the Padres are not going to interview the lead veteran managerial candidates for their vacant manager’s job?  They are not going to interview Bruce Bochy, Joe Girardi, Joe Maddon or Buck Showalter?  Guys who have won World Series rings don’t warrant a sit down with Padres ownership and their GM?

DODGERS…I thought they nearly cost themselves the series with the Nationals, when they elected to start aging and ailing Rich Hill in Game 4-instead of Kenta Maeda.  They let Washington back in the series.  Then they die in the 5th and final game, when Clayton Kershaw gives up 2-homers on 2-pitches and Joe Kelly gives up the grand slam homer in the tenth.  Manager Dave Roberts pulled Maeda early after a strong 1-inning relief outing, and pulled him early in the 4th game.  The Dodgers win 106 during the regular season, but Roberts pitching choices kill the team again.  All this coming after 2-World Series failures.  You do remember the failures with Brandon Morrow and Yu Darvish the last two fall classics?  Unbelievable, shocking finish, for a third year in a row.

BRAVES…No one has ever seen that  in the history of the baseball post-season, a 10-run first inning posted by the Cardinals against the Atlanta Braves.  3-two run doubles, 3-bases loaded walks, and blown double play ground ball, and a passed ball on a third strike.  Atlanta had a really good season, but this will leave a bad taste in the mouth for a long off season.

TAMPA BAY…Hard to believe they play the Astors in the fifth and final game of their playoff series on Thursday night.  The big-bad Astros, with those great bits and the three tremendous starting pitchers, struggling to put away a team of no-names own the Rays roster playing in a city that doesn’t turn out for their home games.  Can you name any stars on the Tampa roster?

YANKEES…Just sitting there waiting for the ALCS after wiping out the Twins.  New York has bats, all types of bats, and it offsets the shortages they have in that pitching rotation, and now they have all these days off to get ready for the ALCS.  Just think how dangerous they would be if Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were playing up to par.

MINNESOTA…A tremendous season, in fact I would give the Manager of the Year and the Executive of the Year Awards to Rocco Baldelli and Thad Levine, but what a long off season it will be.  The 90-win campaign undercut by the fact they have lost 12-games in a  row to the Yankees in the postseason, and have lost 16-playoff games in a row dating backs lots of years..

CARDINALS…It took them half a season to find their offense, and almost as many games to get all their hurt pitchers back on the roster and in different roles.  I don’t think anyone would have thought this team would be good enough to get this deep into October in postseason play.  But they’ve found enough offense around Paul Goldschmidt to win games, and their pitching has been really scrappy enough to hang in there.

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Aztecs Football–Junkyard Dogs”

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San Diego State is (4-1) on the season.  They’re coming off an impressive road win at Colorado State.

Next up, a (4-1) Wyoming football team, much like the Aztecs, having already claimed an impressive win, beating Missouri in a non conference game early in the season.

The Aztecs are growing.  The spotty offense has shown flashes of being complete.  Throwing the ball better than they have in recent years, and winning with a ‘running back by committee’ concept because of the Juwan Washington injury early in the season.

But he real story on the Mesa, is the Red & Black defense.  They are choking off people, taking the ball away, and slowing down, if not stuffing top quarterbacks they are facing.

Witness last weekends dominant win over Colorado State, a Rams team that was averaging (501YPG).  When they were done, SDSU tore apart the Rams, with 3-interceptions, a fumble recovery, 4-quarterback sacks, and held CSU to (2.6) yards per carry when they tried to run the ball.

In the Mountain West Conference stats, they are giving up just (270) yards per game.  They have 11-takeaways and 14-sacks in 5-games.  Add in 41-tackles for losses and holding opposing running backs to (1.8) yards per carry, this defense has arrived.  The defense is the real deal.

Watch them closely, they are playing like crazed-junkyard dogs.  Ask UCLA, Utah State, Colorado State how tough it was to move the ball against them.

And now Wyoming gets an opportunity to experience this year’s edition of SDSU defense.

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Coach Rocky Long on his team heading to the game with the Cowboys on Saturday night.

..This is a chance to be a great game.
..Wyoming is most complete team we’ve played
..They run the ball…stop the run…sack the quarterbacks.
..Was not surprised when they beat Missouri..they are good team
..A whole bunch of our teams have won against Power 5 teams

..Wyoming is coming off a bye week…healthy-fresh…be excited.
..They will be ready to play-trust me.

..Cowboys are running a ‘Wildcat formation’..where the quarterback is almost a running back
..Wyoming QB-Sean Chambers is big, strong..will run..can throw
..Cowboys offense has 1-extra blocker for their run game with the formation they run
..They had 377-yards rushing against UNLV.
..They average 250-yards per game running the ball
..We know they will run the Wildcat formation-but they have advantage with Chambers-he can throw it too..
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..SDSU did not practice well…we didn’t get home till 4am on Sunday
..Our Monday practice wasn’t good….

..Our whole team is inconsistent…especially on offense…on defense too.
..If we had played that way against Utah State-we’d have won that game
..Each game is a new experience
..Losing our strong safety-who could play corner, is a setback.
Kyree Woods played really well…in essence we lost two players with that injury.

..No this is not the fastest defense we have ever had.
..We’ve had a lot of good defenses here and put a lot of guys in the NFL.

..I’d like to see our offense more consistent…we stall out some time.
..We will continue running back by committee because Juwan Washington is till not 100%
..We have 3-other backs who can play well.

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“What If—In October?”

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I tried to imagine what it would be like to experience all this.

You are a Yankees fan in New York, where the team broke all of its home run records this year.  You name it, Judge-Stanton-Gregorious-Sanchez-Voit-Gardner-Andujar.  There’s always someone to take you yard any at-bat, anytime in the game.

At Minute Maid Park in Houston, the Astros fans get to see as good a 3-man rotation as baseball has, in Verlander-Cole-Greinke.  And when it’s not the arms, it’s the bats, Altuve-Correa-Springer-Bregman and so many more.

In Tampa Bay, what few fans there are, with the 2nd best worst attendance in baseball, but with a tremendous young team of talent, the Rays play great ball at Tropicana Field.

Minnesota, in that shiny new stadium, constructed a team of big-dangerous bats, and gave the Twin Cities fans a 100-win team…flashing back to times of Rod Carew-Tony Oliva-Harmon Killebrew and more.

We all know the hated Dodgers, with a batting order that wears you out, and a rotation almost equal to anyone in baseball.  A franchise that draws nearly 4M per year.  This has been going on, this winning, dating all the way back to Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn.

St Louis is one of the best baseball cities in history, with its amazing tradition that goes back to the Gas House Gang days thru the Bob Gibson-Stan Musial era, to today.

Braves baseball has had such great stretches of time, from Hammerin Hank Aaron thru the Smoltz-Glavine-Maddux-Bobby Cox games.  And now they have rebuilt the team for the umpteenth time.

Washington treats its Nationals Park fans to a tremendous starting rotation and put a different type team together after Bryce Harper left.  Imagine running out the likes of Strasberg-Scherzer-Corbin in a 3-game series.

The Athletics got edged out in the wildcard game for the second year in a row, but built another 90-win team that hit homers and played A’s ball and won a lot.

Heck, the Red Sox and the Cubs, playing in the shrines that are Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, give their paying public superb baseball each summer, even if this was not a playoff season.

I mention all that, because if you are a baseball junkie, and if you ware watching these playoff games, you are drawn to the electricity in these parks.  The fanaticism of the fans, wearing their colors, bringing their signs, screaming the chants.

Winning and drawing fans go hand in hand.  Once you get inside the park, the atmosphere is so exciting it makes you want to come back.

I think back to early in the season at Petco Park, when the Padres had that (11-5) start to the campaign.  Home games were like being at an NFL playoff game.  The noise, the bedlam, the singing, the cheering, the hoping.

Had to believe this turned into another typical San Diego summer, hot, humid, and last place baseball.  So many promises, so many expectations, and another year of let downs.

You get a taste of it, you want it all the time.  That was my experience watching the Padres-Yankees World Series, in that short span of time with Gwynn-Hoffman-Caminetti-Kevin Brown and that bunch.  You never forget the excitement and the awe of that short era.

That is why it is so important for Padres ownership to get this next managerial hire right.  To get someone with leadership skills, who commands respect, and has a history of structure and success.

The Padres are a lot closer to success than they are to more failure.  Think of what it is like right now to be an Orloles-Tigers-Royals-Pirates fan these days.

Time to get something done and await the results.

Just think of what you see at Yankees Stadium, in St Louis, in Washington, or at Dodgers Stadium, as distasteful as that might be.

Think of the Gaslamp Quarter, a daylong party. Think of the noise level at Petco Park. Think of the electricity created that yard, and what that type of baseball energy  would mean to the community.

The Padres are about to bring back the brown.  It would be nice if they brought us winning baseball in 2020.

San Diego fans are awaiting the chance to go crazy at the yard.  Be like these other cities.

What If?  What would it be like to be there?

You know, play in October.

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“Teams in Town–Time for Trauma”

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CHARGERS….The early season woes continues for a team many thought could be an AFC-power.  They lose to the winless Denver Broncos.  Quarterback Philip Rivers throws another interception in the end zone. RB-Austin Ekeler fumbles at the goal line going for a score-again.  The defense gets gashed for big runs and gives up some big plays thru the air early.  RB-Melvin Gordon plays for the first time since ending his holdout and looks out of sync, breaks off no big plays, and takes playing time away from the productive Ekeler.  .And another kicker misses another field goal as the teams kicking woes moved into the 3rd straight fall.  Rock solid C-Mike Pouncey exited the game with a neck injury, continuing a trend of losing a starter a week.  You hope he is not out long.  How bad was it Sunday.  Against an (0-4) team that came in with no sacks and no takeaways, the Chargers turned it over 3-times, gave up sacks and hits, and went 8-striaght possessions without scoring an offensive touchdown.  Not good, not good at all.Oh by the way, a lot of Broncos fans show up in Carson for what was supposed to be a Bolts home game, leading the CBS-broadcast crew, led by Jim Nantz-Tony Romo to talk multiple times that the Chargers have ‘no home field advantage’.  They’re not winning and week by week the Dean Spanos decision to vacate San Diego for what was supposed to be the riches of the LA market look like a disaster-growing,season by season.

AZTECS….Rocky Long has been know for great defenses.  What we saw Saturday night might be the best outing his crew has had in his years in San Diego.  When they were done in the lopsided win in Ft-Collins….SDSU’s defense put up staggering numbers.  3-interceptions…1-fumble recovery…4-sacks…2-4th down stops including a goal line stand..holding the run game to (2.6YPC)…and possibly the most athletic back seven SDSU has ever seen from the linebackers and secondary.  It was as if SDSU had 13-men on the field.  They were everywhere.  And this was against a Rams team that was averaging )501YPG).  A (4-1) record ou too the gate, but there should be concern on the 2nd floor of the Fowler Athletic Center.  But there is something they must consider, In those coaching offices, they have to find a way to uncover a more explosive offense.

USD….They look poised to make a run for another Pioneer Conference championship.  The Torerors QB-Reid Sennett, who threw for (341Y-3TD) in a win over Marist of New York.  He now has 12-TDs in 4-games…enroute to a 30-TD season if not more, and possibly a berth in the 1-AA playoffs.

UCLA…How low can you go?  The Bruins are (1-5).  Chip Kelly is (4-14) as head coach.  They just lost to lowly Oregon State, in the Rose Bowl, or rather got their heads handed to them by the Beavers.  Hard to believe, the man who built Oregon into a national power, with a (46-7) record in Eugene, can’t recruit any longer, can’t design an offense to succeed, and has a pitiful defense.  An amazing fall from grace, with no explanation as to why this is happening.  Is UCLA going to be patient?  Will they eat the contract?  How far down is this program?

USC….They’ve now gone thru 3-quarterbacks at Heritage Hall this season, wiped out with injuries.  Clay Helton is holding onto his job by a thread, and the Athletic Director Lynn Swann, has already been removed by the new incoming President.  Not a good atmosphere to operate in right now.

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