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“Houston-Then & Now”

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I’ve been a fan of the game forever, whether I liked the teams or not.

It’s a product of being brought up in a baseball family, a father who was in the Philadelphia A’s system, an uncle who was a beat writer for the old Brooklyn Eagle, covering the Dodges.

I grew up collecting baseball cards. And then it was autographs. And it was watching the Yankees-Dodgers and Giants on black and white television, when they were all part of Gotham.

Big games, big-time teams, big trades, and following those clubs out of town.

And I bet the mermories are flooding back in the city that was devastated by the floods just a month ago.

Houston is celebrating the Astros World Series victory at this hour, saluting a spectacular team, with an array of talent, just as flashy as the ‘rainbow’ uniforms they used to wear.

You’d have to be a lifetime baseball fan to remember the original Houston Colt 45’s, with that gun logo on the front of the jerseys.

They played in an outdoor stadium in those early years, where the joke was the mosquitos on hot-humid nights, were as big as your dad’s old Buick.

It was an era of old time names stocking an expansion team roster beginning in 1962.

Dick ‘Turk’ Farrell, little Bobby Shanty, John Bateman and Bob Aspromonte.

They had good players early on, led by Rusty Staub, (Le Grande Orange), and the (Toy Cannon), Jimmy Wynn.

Spectacular pitching followed with the likes of JR Richard and Don Wilson.

It was the birth place of Little Joe Morgan, who went on to stardom years later with the Big Red Machine.

There was Larry Deirker and Mike Scott, the closer Dave Smith, and Roy Oswalt.

Oh there were some stars too, like the Killer Bs….Birkman, Biggio and Bagwell, now Hall of Fame eligible.

It was the launching point of all the great things that Ken Caminiti became.

Houston gave us Judge Roy Hofheinz, who gave us the Houston Astrodome, the so-called 8th wonder of the world.

It had spectacular leadership too in the Tal Smith era, and the current genius in Jeff Luhnow and his staff.

Today’s Astros stars earned this one. What a great team, what great talent. Altuve….Springer… Correa….Verlander and more,

But as I sat and watched the final outs, lots of names came flooding back.

Somewhere else, names like Don Nottebart and Hal Woodeshcik’s families, original Colt 45’s, must be feeling the elation of what those players in that victories clubhouse were feeling.

It’s a feel good story that took 55-years in the making. The 100-loss seasons were washed away as the champagne sprayed everywhere.

‘Houston-Strong’, so many meanings now, linked forever to Astros baseball.

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“The Dodgers Way”

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Branch Rickey wrote the book on how the game was to be played….”The Dodgers Way”

And so it was last night, in the must win-or go home for good World Series game.

The Dodgers were going to do it their way, by their own book, regardless of what anyone thought, wrote or said.

And so they went to the bullpen, time and time again, and for at least this one night, the bullpen bailed them out, in the LA win over the Houston Astros, forcing Game 7-tonight.

Dodgers Stadium has never seen a Game 7-in its long history.

There were flashback responses thru out the night.

Page 2 of the Dodgers analytics, said pull starter Rich Hill at the first sign of trouble.

They did it again, yanking him early, leading to a temper tantrum by the volatile left-hander in the dugout.

They did it again, getting to page three, asking overworked Brandon Morrow to get a key out or two, and somehow he did, despite pitching for the 12th time in the 13-postseason games his team has played.

And then the parade of relievers continued. Tony Watson, Kenta Maeda, and again the request of ace relieved Kenley Jansen, ‘get us another 6-out save’.

And somehow, someway, the fatigued bullpen brigade came thru.

It was not easy.

While the Dodgers wore down Justin Verlander, despite a 9-strikeout-3 hit outing, it was the timely hits that got LA into the position to win.

Chris Taylor and Joc Pederson did the heavy lifting.

But it was the boys in blue, marching out of the pen that was the difference.

Morrow worked out of a bases loaded jam.

Watson bailed them out of a 1st and 2nd man on scrape.

Maeda stranded runners at first and third.

And Jansen willed his stuff to overwhelm the Astros in the 8th and 9th frame.

I almost came out of my chair, when they went by the book, and yanked Hill.

I did come out of my chair when they went to Morrow. And I slumped back in my seat, wondering if the rest of the arm weary staff could get this done.

The Dodgers were going to live, or die, by the book, the book of analytics.

Bring on game seven, Yu Darvish-Alex Wood-Clayton Kershaw will be ready, plus whatever gas is left in the arms in the bullpen.

By the book, right or wrong, it got them the Game 6-win.

It’s a new version of the Dodgers Way.

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“Last Chance Saloon-Last Rites”

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Some night ahead of us…Game 6-World Series…Dodgers-Astros.

Home Run Derby…or maybe just a War of Attrition.

That was something on Sunday night…25-runs…28-hits…all those walks…hits batsmen and a (13-12) Astros win over the Dodgers.

LA is running on fumes, at least their pitching staff is.

The Astros high octane offense is hitting on all cylinders, at least at Minute Maid Park they did.

The Dodgers have to win, or there is no tomorrow (Wednesday) for them, down 3-games to two, and facing the Astros high powered pitching ace Justin Verlander.

Verlander is (4-0) in the post season with Houston. He is (16-1) dating all the way back in starts to July 31st. He is now (11-1) in starts since he put on the Astros colors.

The Dodgers are staggering badly. A pitching staff worn out, by over-use.

An every day lineup that needs home runs to score runs, since they don’t seem capable of putting the ball in play to create big rallies very often, at least not as often as the Houston batting order.

How did we get here?

Put it on the manager Dave Roberts…the pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, but maybe equally so on the front office and their analytics scouting reports.

This all began in Game 2, when Roberts pulled starting pitcher Rich Hill after four solid innings. They didn’t want him to have to face the Houston batting order a 3rd time in the game, They didn’t want the left-hander to face four right-handed bats in a row in that 5th inning.

This despite the fact Hill had thrown only 60-pitches, and had astounding success against right-handed bats.

On came long reliever Kenta Maeda, but then Roberts yanked him early. Maedea was built to give the team 4-or-5 quality innings in long relief, but he was gone too soon.

It led to LA during up 8-relievers in the game two loss, and it has spilled over since then.

LA burned thru its left-handed relievers, over used Brandon Morrow, asked to pitch 4-straight games, coming off his surgeries, and the expansion of the duties of relief ace Kenley Jansen.

Yes Jansen can get a 6-out save over two innings. But against this Astros lineup? That’s expecting too much, and he hasn’t. Getting 6-outs against the Padres and Phillies is different than facing Houston’s booming bats.

The stunning stats, Heading into tontines do-or-die game, Jansen-Maeda and Morrow have a combined (5.78-ERA) against the Astros. This is a group that had posted a spectacular combined (0.98-ERA) in the Cubs and Arizona series.

The trio made 19-appearances in the Cubs-Diamondbacks series, giving up just 2-runs-5 hits in 21-combined innings.

Since the debacle in game two, the trio has gone 14-innings…allowed 15hits…and 9-runs)

And Roberts and his smart people did it again on Sunday, yanking long reliever Maeda after just 2/3rds of an inning, setting off the chain reaction to the rest of the relief corps.

Can you say panic set in in that Dodgers dugout. In the scouting report meetings, did the consortium of Andrew Friedman and his collective assistant GMs, all tell Roberts to get to the bullpen at the first sign of trouble?

This more than anything has led to the demise of the Dodgers.

And now with the memories of Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit 1988-Game winning World series home run, serving as a back drop, the Dodgers are facing doom and gloom.

Can they hit Verlander? Can Hill give them a quality start, deep into the game? Is the gas tank on ’empty’ for that bullpen?

This could have been averted, had LA handled its pitching better early on.

The scoreboard does not lie. Down 3-to-2. Facing the fierce competitor that is the ex-Tigers ace-Verlander. And now haunted by the combined bullpen stats I just wrote about.

Last chance for the Dodgers to extend the series. Last rites about to be given to their World Series ring hopes.

Dodgers leadership may have to go to confession to ask for forgiveness, for wrecking the bullpen, which means wrecking their World Series chances.

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“What I Saw-What I Think”

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WORLD SERIES….Enough tension for you. Clayton Kershaw at war against he Astros batting order…..then the Astro start pound the ball including a barrage of home runs……Then LA plays long ball to get back into it….A struggling Dallas Keuchel gets knocked out…then both bullpens get scorched….Manager Dave Roberts misses his bullpen again-yanking Kenta Maeda after just 2/3rd inning…forcing him to use a gassed bullpen….Who would ever think a game started by Kershaw-Keuchel would wind up with 25-runs..28-hits..10-walks….Add to that…….Yu Darvish getting strafed in his start…LA erupting for 5-runs in the 9th inning infront of raging Astros fans …some mood swings….What a Fall Classic as we come back for Game 6-and maybe Game 7-in LA.

PADRES…Andy Green’s coaching staff keeps changing. Wondering if GM-AJ Preller is pulling all those strings about all those changes? Seems to be happening lots of places in the major leagues, where the analytical guys are bossing around the guys in the dugout.

CHARGERS…Yes the defense front played hard, but not much else good happened in the loss to the Patriots. Tom Brady’s offense piled up (414-yards) and had an (82-52) edge in snaps…It would have been a lot worse had it not been for a couple of missed Patriots field goal attempts in the rain and wind…Melvin Gordon’s 87-yard TD run was special, but so many mistakes destroyed virtually the rest of the game.

CHARGERS…The 1st family of football (Spanos family) has seen its team lose 30 of its last 43-games….Just saying.

CHARGERS…So we got to the midseason with the Bolts (3-5), and special teams continue to be a horror. Travis Benjamin retreats 11-yards on a punt return and gets tackled for a safety. The free kick is poor and that gives the Pats get field position. It also forces the defense to go back on the field for what would be 19-snaps in a row…..The Bolts trying to bring kickoffs out of the end zone-fail 4-times to get beyond the 20-yard line…Taking a penalty on a fair catch punt….12-men on the field twice in the game….Just pitiful leadership.

CHARGERS IN MOURNING….Iconic AFL running back Paul Lowe has lost his two grand children, aged 7-and-10, who died in an apartment fire in Rancho Bernardo early Saturday morning…

AZTECS…Return to normal, with Rashaad Penny running for a 243-yard night at Hawaii and the defense chokes off the Warriors….SDSU headed to a (10-2) record…but it was a surprising Saturday night with Colorado State and Fresno State both losing.

FIESTA BOWL….Still 4-weeks of football to play, but how would a USC-Washington-Washington State-Oregon to represent the PAC-12, to go against a Michigan-Wisconsin- rep from Big 10?

LAKERS…They continue to play and lose…Lonzo Ball is still not scoring, and over the weekend was a (-15) and (-19) on the floor.

KINGS…This is some start for Rob Blake’s-John Stevens team hockey team. LA is (9-1-1) heading into St. Louis.

GULLS…Wow-some wild night for Stu Bickel in Texas….Fighting penalty…instigator and then a triple misconduct….40-minutes worth of penalties….I’ve never seen that before, and I was in the Eastern Hockey League…’Snapshot’ and all.

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“NFL TV Ratings-Why Are They Down?”

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We’re headed to the midway point of the NFL season, starting with the Thursday night football game.

The NFL is headed for a season of failing TV ratings, virtually across the board.

Is there a real reason? Is there a cause? What can be done about it?

NFL network TV ratings are down 7.5% for the first half of the season far.

Of the 32-cities in the NFL, television numbers for the home teams are down in 26-sof those cities.

Here close to home, the Chargers have posted some of the worst TV numbers ever for a ‘home market game’, not just in meaningless preseason, but now in regular season.

Their games have been the 5th most watched game in the LA market of the 5-games showed on a Sunday in the market.

Why, what has happened.

Quality of play has to be in play in all this.

There is a lot of bad football being played.

For example last week, the Chicago Bears completed 4-passes in their game with Carolina. The Bengals Pro Bowl quarterback had 44-yards passing in the first half of his game. Eli Manning and the Giants had 47-yards in offense in the fist half of their game. Minnesota needed 6-field goals to win. The Steelers had to have 5-field goals.

The quality of the game seems to be at an all time low. I think it is a huge factor.

Add in the injury factor to quarterbacks and star players. Mix in some flashback over the whole national anthem issue. Don’t think it has much to do with the on going concussion incident.

But the real reason, over saturation.

Games on Thursday, and not many great matches because there are not a lot of great teams.

Then the early games from London which seem to be audience killers.

The doubleheaders in the two big Sunday afternoon network windows, have more lousy matches than must watch games.

By Sunday night, there’s not always a great game there. And Monday, which used to e special, now seems to drag us to watch some bad outings too, Colts-Bucs etc.

Not often discussed is the proliferation of different ways to get games on technologies, apps, streaming etc, all which seem to drain viewers away.

And of course, on any given Saturday in San Diego, there could ge 20-collegege football games to view, because everybody seems to have a conference TV package, and there are so many networks that need games to fill.

Sorry for every Penn State-Ohio State game, we also get our fill of Bowling Green-vs-Marshall.

The NFL cant have everything. Revenue from all the networks, and the ancillary revenue from all these streaming partners. The prices will likely fall because the ratings have.

Now it’s caught up to them. TV ratings dropping, which means revenue will drop, though they are getting the sidebar revenue from other places.

And now the NFL has to fight off the image, they are squeezing every dollar out of everything they do from the paying public.

And yes, attendance is falling too in a chunk of these NFL cities.

Lots of things to think about.

Greed is not always good, in the long term. The NFL is about to find that out.

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