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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast…1:30-pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on the Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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“A NOTEBOOK FULL OF THOUGHTS”
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Cleaning out the cluttered pages from a sports notebook

PADRES…Red hot-lefthanded bats, watching Gavin Sheets and Ryan O’Hearn lace hits and home runs all over Petco Park.

DODGERS..Shohei Ohtani had never pitched at Coors Field, never in the thin air, and probably, will never want to to again…His line (4inn-5R-9H).  File it-  Forget it.  A 1-off for Ohtani.

GIANTS..Typical looking team in rebuild mode.  Young pitching, stressed out, bad defensive plays, extra outs, lead to big innings.  Nothing looks right in San Francisco.

ANGELS..You can only ask Zach Neto-Logan O’Hoppe to do so much over the course of a long season.  They look worn out.  The Halos are losing now more than they are winning.

METS..How’s that big payroll working out?  Not so well.  The Mets have lost 15-of-20 and do not resemble a playoff team.  Juan Soto, all that money, is hitting an occasional home run enroute to a (.250) batting average.

YANKEES…Nice homecoming as they got to play at Steinbrenner Legends Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays are playing home games this year.  The Yankees hit 9-home runs in Tuesday night’s game.  Then add 5-more bombs in the Wednesday game.

PHILLIES…Once viewed as having the best rotation in baseball, now they have a problem with 5-weeks left in the season.  Aaron Nola is back after a near season long stay on the DL with shoulder issues.  As he arrives, ace Zach Wheeler has just had season ending blood clot surgery on his shoulder-neck area.

BREWERS…An impressive 14-game win streak, the Brew-Crew has been brought back to earth.  The Cubs have beaten them 3-straight games in a row.

MARINERS…Go figure.  They make key trades at the deadline, the Suarez-Naylor trades, and now they have lost 7-of-8 games.  Surprising.

TEXAS..An injury filled season gets worse, now with their ace Jacob deGrom shutdown with shoulder fatigue.

BRAVES…Not sure what is worse, losing the top 6-starters in your rotation or losing virtually everyone in your batting order over the course of the season because of nagging injuries.  It started with Ron Acuna, and now has drydocked  Austin Riley again.

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“THIS IS THE WRONG TIME”
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What seemed to be so right a week or two ago, now seems to be so wrong.

The Padres, who looked so complete, so dominant, are staggering right now, at this hour with more questions than answers.

The pennant race in the NL-West is not over, though this coming Friday-Saturday-Sunday games will really have a bearing on the Padres-vs-Dodgers first place hope.

But suddenly the Friars have people hurt, players struggling, and seemingly more questions to be answered as the clock ticks down on this long hot summer.

Headlines everywhere:

CEASE..The once ace of the Padres staff has turned in more bad outings than the few good outings this year.  An enigma, he cannot harness his mechanics.

DARVISH…He has thrown alot of pitches, has had no elbow setbacks.  But he has been knocked around.  Home runs, walks, hits allowed.  He has changed his arm slot and release point, and a dominant outing was followed by a rough one.  You never know start to start.  You’d wish the Padres could use a full 6-man rotation and have Darvish go just once a week.

KING..The swelling knee comes after the long rehab of the shoulder issues.  This is a great unknown as if he can stay healthy and what kind of quality starts they get from him.

VASQUEZ..They have to use him in the rotation and they have gotten quality innings, but he has gone months with just 1-win in the rotation.

SEARS…Gets his second chance to start, but the first start was not a good outing.

WALDREN…He saved them last year for half a season, but has drifted back into the minor leagues and has not dominated in start to start at El Paso.  The fact he has not been recalled, even if the Friars are shorthanded in that rotation means they are no longer believers.

BULLPEN..So dominant, but you wonder about the juggling of roles that Mike Shildt is experimenting with.  Strange the early use of setup guy Jason Adam.  Same with how they utilized Mason Miller in different roles.  Wandy Peralta is taking on more and more responsibility, earlier and earlier out of the pen.  A wealth of riches, the ‘6-Pack’ of relievers.  Are they being deployed the right way.

MERRILL..3-different injuries this year for the Padres centerfielder, and it has impacted him at home plate. Not the same hitter.

CRONENWORTH…Leads the team in getting plunked and out of the lineup right now with the swollen elbow.  12-times he has been hit by pitches.

MACHADO…Hard to see the wide variety of errors he has made, most of them on tough chances, but 13-miscues none the less.  Tell me he is not headed into another at bat tailspin, the latest being a (6-35) ice spell.  Alarming to is the fact Machado is a (.215) career post season hitter.  Think about that.

TATIS..No home runs in some 78-at bats.  More critical outs than timely hits.  Still chasing everything down in the field and running the bases with abandon, but not the dominant star he was in the past.

ARRAEZ…Still sprays the ball, but the batting average is sub .300 and not in the .320s we have been used to seeing.

SHEETS-O’HEARN..Trying to configure how to use them, and where to use them, and we are nearly 3-weeks beyond the trade deadline.

The season is far from over, but the Padres seem to be grasping for answers.  That is complicated by the fact the Dodgers seem to be getting alot of their injured pitchers back.  But there is no Max Muncy yet, the bench is weak, and there are defensive lapses too.

Who gets answers the quickest might be the difference maker in this pennant chase.  But this is the wrong time to have problems.

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=======Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
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“JIM HARBAUGH VS NCAA”
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Michigan football took a big hit.
The Michigan man, the former head coach, Jim Harbaugh, took a big sack.

His name is splattered everywhere in the 73-page NCAA document after the NCAA found Michigan guilty of 3-years worth of violations for Spygate, for illegal scouting, sign stealing.

It was not an isolated incident.  It covered 38-games over three years, during Michigan’s glory years, triggered by assistant staffer Connor Stallions, that involved 11-members of Harbaugh’s coaching staff.

The NCAA will hand out 30M-in financial penalties to the U-of-M,  Included will be fines, stripping them of future Wolverine Bowl revenue from bowls, and claiming any Big 10-bowl revenue from all the bonus money UM would get when other teams get bowl and playoff invites.

Head coach Sharrone Moore got a 3-game suspension.  QB coach Dennard Robinson was suspended for 3-years from working at any NCAA school.

They stripped them of recruiting visits, imposed a dark period on contacting prospective recruits too.

Harbaugh was hit with 10-years of sanctions, on top of the 4-years of coaching bans from prior violations.  In addition, his assistants Jess Minter and Steve Clinkscale had a combined 6-years of college sanction tagged on their resume.

Of course Harbaugh and those two assistants are part of the Chargers staff now.

The big issues about Harbaugh are about what else the NCAA said in the documents.

..This was an overwhelming coverup
..Harbaugh was defiant
..He refused to cooperate
..Not embraced a culture of compliance
..A contentious relationship with UM compliance staff
..Disregard of NCAA rules

You could say ‘no big thing’, Harbaugh is in the NFL and not coming back.

But you could also cite the Covid violations committed by Harbaugh in 2020m that led to sanctions and the other scandal, a key assistant indicted for identity theft, for accessing via computer, personal files of other players and students, not just at UM but in other programs.  All these people were on Harbaugh’s staff.

And remember this, this is the same Harbaugh who has lectured the media about his life’s philosophy, “never lie…never cheat…never steal…apologize for mistakes-move on”.

Since the release of the NCAA document, Harbaugh has been silent, and scowled at media who dared asked him.

So the man who preaches ethics, honesty, in tent-revival tones, has all this now attached to his reputation, his legacy, his personality.

By the way, the NCAA elected not to strip Michigan of wins in those 3-years, take back the bowl and playoff money, or vacate the NCAA title Harbaugh got.

Wonder how USC feels about all thise.  You remember the Trojans, the Reggie Bush financial scandal.  That episode cost the Trojans wins, Pac 12 titles, bowl wins, Bush’s Heisman Trophy, and 30-scholarships too.

None of that were part of the hit job on the Wolverines, and in fact, there is no bowl ban coming or loss of scholarships either.  Nice discipline decision from what’s left of NCAA Infractions credibility.

We know all the Harbaugh accomplishments, at USD, Stanford, the 49ers and at Michigan.  Now we also know alot more about the DNA and the fabric of man.

So much for the ‘Michigan Man’.  A big time sack to his reputation and credibility.
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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast-1:30pm
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on the Table..Stay for Fans Forum”
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That was a letdown of a weekend.
That was a message delivered by the Dodgers.
That was statement made by the LA-stars
That was a reality check of San Diego pitching problems
That was a dose of an up and down Friars batting ordee..

The season is not over.  The pennant race is not over.
You will see these two back at Petco Park next weekend.

But for all the adversity they have faced this year, the early season starting staff problems, the bullpen’s current crisis, the illness that derailed Mookie Betts, the multiple injuries of Max Muncy, the half season slump of Shohei Ohtani, and the injury prone Tommy Edman, none of that seemed to impact the Dodgers in this weekend’s beatings of the Padres.

For all the excitement the Friars have given the community lately, what we saw from Friday night thru Sunday afternoon, was a rude awakening, this team still has problems that have to be solved in the next 5-weeks.

A bit disconcerting to see all their starts at the top of batting order go (0-14) when it was San Diego stars vs LA’s star pitchers.  The Tatis-Machado strikeouts thruout the weekend have to drive you crazy when you consider how potent the top of that lineup is.  They capped it going (1-10) on Sunday as the team went (2-14) with runners in scoring position.

Dylan Cease, for all his accomplishments, his grit, his fastball, remains an enigma.  His quality starts have been few and far between, the back to back good outings, were washed away by the 6-walks in 2-innings he issued on Saturday.

Yu Darvish gave up home run balls early on Sunday, and has had odd-bad innings every start but one, and does not look vintage Yu Darvish right now.

Trusting Randy Vasquez with lots of innings is a risky business.

And as excited as we were with the “Six Pack” in the bullpen, there’s honesty in concern that the Padres decided to trade two starting pitchers to the Royals to solve their catching crisis.  But now they seem paper-thin in the starting rotation beyond 12-game winner Nick Pivetta.

The guys thrown out on the bases by the Dodgers are equivalent to running yourself out of rallies.

Those fans in LA booed and booed alot, whether it was Manny Machado or Fernando Tatis and they wilted completely…

And the historically enhanced Dodgers, all those pennants, 1st place finishes and World Series rings, subscribe to the old time saying, good pitching beats good hitting.

And therefore Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow were really dominant.
Battered as they are, that starting staff flexed its muscle on the  mound.  Gut wrenching to see a bullpen, who had blown 5-saves opportunities in 7-games, come back and choke off the Padres three games in a row.

The season is not over, but that was a pretty impressive display the Dodgers flashed over the Padres, in the fight for 1st place.

The Friars leave LA now with more questions than answers, because when they have to play good teams this year, those with winning records, they are (27-40) vs them.

Lost weekend in Lost Angeles.
 

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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“NL WEST-..FIGHT FOR FIRST PLACE”
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A  statement weekend for both the Dodgers and Padres.

Yes it’s only 3-games on the schedule with 6-weeks to play and they will face each other 3-more times next weekend in San Diego, and in all likelihood then again in October in the playoffs.

Yes the Friars are on a (14-3) heater-beating anyone anywhere.
Yes the Dodgers are a miserable (12-21) since July 3rd.
Yes, a 9-game LA lead is now a 1-game Padres lead.

But this weekend at Chavez Ravine is a series that will carry some meaning and a message.

Questions to be answered by Sunday night.

PADRES…Have they arrived as a complete team since winning the Baseball Trading Deadline?

Is the lineup more complete and more explosive than we have seen much of the year?

Is this the best Baseball IQ Padres team you have seen in years, considering they seem to be fundamentally sound and creatively driven in how to manufacture and score runs?

How concerned should you be with what just happened to Michael King, back on the DL with that knee inflammation after just one start?

Has Dylan Cease unlocked the mechanical mystery that has plagued him all year, and is he back to his dominant stuff now?

Can you trust Randy Vasquez now that you have to put him back on the mound and into the rotation again?

Yu Darvish is giving you lots of solid innings in his starts since returning-can this keep up?

Is Nick Pivetta the biggest surprise pitching acquisition that AJ Preller has made in years?

How quickly does Mike Shildt make the call to the bullpen this weekend to bring in any one of the ‘6 Pack’ of relievers he has?

Is this a better Padres batting order than last fall’s team that had the Dodgers by the throat 2-games to one before the playoffs got away from them?

Last year the Dodgers analytics guys outsmarted the Padres game planners in winning that playoff series, so is there creative payback coming from the San Diego analytics guys?

Ever see so many squeeze bunts, stolen base attempts, hit and run as Shildt has called from the dugout this year?

Is the Padres Baseball IQ thru the roof in terms of making the right decision,right play, right throw than you have seen in years?

Bring it on.  I know it is just 3-games, but this is more about sending a message how things have changed with the Friars, than it is just about the Dodgers struggles-troubles.

Enjoy it.
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