Category: sports

Posted on

Sports: College Football Playoffs, Quarterfinals

The first round of the College Football Playoff had no major surprises. Oregon and Mississippi destroyed both teams that had no business being in the playoffs. In the two competitive games I was wrong on both games which is no surprise either. Oklahoma jumped out to a 17-0 lead on Alabama. Then Oklahoma started to give the game away. A punter that couldn’t punt and a pick 6 at the end of the half enabled Alabama to tie the game and completely turned the game around. It seemed to deflate the Oklahoma defense and a rejuvenated Alabama offense took over the game. There was no rejuvenating the Texas A&M offense. For the second straight game it really could do nothing. Field goal failures continued to plaque them. A late drive to tie the game ended in an interception and Miami pulled out the 10-3 win. The quarterfinals start on New Years Eve night.

Ohio State and Miami kick things off on Wednesday night. Then there is a triple header on Thursday starting with Oregon and Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl. That is followed by Alabama and Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The last game of the day should be the most intriguing with Mississippi playing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. To cut to the chase I think the 3 Big Ten teams will win and Georgia. Having said that, I think all the games will be competitive and all 4 picks will have to be on their game to win. There will be no gimme’s in this round. I think this will be the lowest scoring playoffs in history. These are very elite defenses with the final 8. The rematch between Mississippi and Georgia is by far the most interesting. They played a very strange game when they met earlier this year. Georgia scored a touchdown or field goal on every possession they had. There was no cheapies involved. The drives were all over 70 yards. Mississippi did the same thing until their first drive of the 4th quarter. This was when Georgia took their first lead of the game. I will be shocked if this rematch follows the same pattern. I expect all the games to be hard fought defensive games. Turnovers and special teams will be the keys to victory in all four games. A college football fans dream come true will start on New Year’s Eve.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: The Pirates 2nd Trade

The Pirates made their 2nd trade of the off-season this past weekend. They acquired Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and Mason Montgomery. They gave up Mike Burrows. I have a hard time believing how positively this trade has been received by the Pittsburgh media. The same people who think Ben Cherington should have been fired are now thinking he is brilliant. There is no question this trade could work out for all the clubs involved. The Tampa Bay Rays got two high prospects from the Houston Astros. In this blog, I will look at only the players the Pirates received and who they had to give up. The other news is that Japanese star Munetaka Murakami signed a 2-year, 34 million dollar deal with the Chicago White Sox. Another example of Ben Cherington being asleep at the wheel. Let’s look at the players that are involved in the latest Pirate trade.

Brandon Lowe: He is the biggest piece. Brandon Lowe has had some injury problems that have limited his ability in the last 4 years. His 4-year slash line is .241/.317/.444. His OPS+ over this time is 113. Last year he hit 31 home runs; he hit 16 on the road and 15 at home. He was much better on the road overall last year. He had a 134 OPS+ on the road and 98 at home. This bodes well for the Pirates. He is a below-average fielder, and that is being kind. He will turn 32 in July. This may not be a factor in Pittsburgh, but he has not performed well in the postseason. In 120 plate appearances, his slash line is .115/.167/.257. He will become a free agent in 2027. He is going to be a 1-year rental. The good news here is that many times a player performs really well in his last contract year. Even though the Pirates are not saying this, I would not be surprised if he becomes the primary DH. There is little question in my mind that he will be a considerable upgrade no matter where the Pirates use him.

Jake Mangun: Even though Lowe captured the headline, Jake Mangun may be the best piece of this trade. He will be 30 years old in March. He has only played one year in the majors. He does not have any power. He is a switch hitter. He had a nice 2025 season. He slashed .296/.330/.368 for an OPS+ of 96. He stole 27 bases with a 79% success rate. He is a plus fielder. He is essentially Tommy Pham with speed. He spent 4 seasons in AAA ball where he slashed .313/.357/.439. The Pirates may have found their leadoff man. What I find interesting is that the Rays never used him in that role. He batted in the middle of the lineup, 4 through 6. There is no doubt he would be considered a late bloomer. They do happen, and it would be nice for the Pirates if he turns out this way. He is not going to be a free agent until 2031. I would be even higher on this guy if the Rays hadn’t been the ones to let him go. Maybe it was his lack of power. If the Pirates use him right, and that is leading him off, he could be the best thing about this trade.

Mason Montgomery: Left handed relief pitcher. With the addition of him and Soto a weakness has turned into a strength. Montgomery was up and down between AAA and Tampa all of 2025. You have to wonder why? He appeared in 57 games for the Rays. In 37 of them he gave up no runs. In 13 others he gave up one run. His last outing on September 10th he gave up 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning which caused his ERA to jump almost a run to 5.67. He was sent down and never pitched again. Hopefully the new pitching coaches can help him with his command because this guy has good stuff. In 55 innings he averaged close to 13 strikeouts per 9 innings. At the very least he has some great potential from the left side.

Mike Burrows: The bad news is that he went to Houston. Whatever they do, they bring out the best in every pitcher that goes there. Even elite pitchers are even greater when they go to Houston. Gerrit Cole never achieved the heights that he did with Houston, even when he went to the Yankees. In his 2 years in Houston, he had an ERA+ of 164. If you take his best 2 years out of 5 in Pittsburgh, he averaged 130. Take his best two years in New York, and it’s 158. The same thing can be said about the great Justin Verlander. His best years were with Houston. They obviously see something in Burrows. Burrows last year only threw 96 innings, coming off Tommy John surgery. Fortunately, Houston is not in our division.

The Pirates have helped themselves with this trade. It would be hard not to help themselves with almost any acquisition. It will depend on how they use these players. Frankly, I like Brandon Lowe as the primary DH. Keeping him off the field should help with the defense and his health. He has not DH’d a lot, but when he has, he has been effective. In 2024, with 150 plate appearances as a DH, he slugged .598. Last year, he only had 39 PA’s but still slugged .638. Mangum looks to be the leadoff hitter that the Pirates have never had. He has speed and a good glove. That is the question. Will the Pirates use these players properly? Only time will tell. Mason Montgomery is another left-handed upgrade for the bullpen. There is still work to be done. The Pirates let one slip through their hands yesterday. It is looking more and more like Eugenio Suarez could be the next signing. Despite his many shortcomings—lots of strikeouts, low batting average, and not a great defender—he too would be an asset. I just can’t see him settling for a 2-year deal. He is going to turn 35 in July. It will be interesting to see if the Pirates take the risk and for how long. You never really know how a trade is going to turn out. If the Pirates had unloaded Mitch Keller in either of these trades I would be feeling a lot better about them. It is good to see the Pirates doing SOMETHING. I’m just not sure it is going to have much impact yet.

Posted on

Golf: The Pro Can’t Do This, Why Do You Think You Can?

There are lots of things that seem to frustrate golfers. Everyone wishes that their games were more consistent. Another one is the inability to take their game from the practice tee to the golf course. The reality is that the pros cannot do this either. The tour player is playing the game at its highest level. Their short games are unbelievable. They putt so much better than the recreational golfer. These are all things we can work on and improve. The pros, even though their games are so good, still seem to lack true consistency. They too can never predict how they are going to play based on their pregame warm-up. Let’s look at some examples of both problems. Then I will look at what is the best way to handle the problem, not solve it.

Even at the highest level of the game, the results can be inconsistent. My favorite example of this is when Peter Lonard won the Heritage Classic in the early 2000s. He shot rounds of 62-74-66 and 75 to win the tournament by two shots. His rounds varied by 12 shots worse, 8 shots better, and finally 9 shots worse on the last day. Lonard had won on other tours, but this was his first and only win on the PGA Tour. Even though this is the best example, there are many more instances of players having a great round one day and then shooting badly the next. There have been players who have had the first-round lead in tournaments but shot so poorly the next day that they missed the cut. We have seen players just barely make the cut and then play two great rounds over the weekend to win the tournament. With as much time as these guys work on their games and work hard, you would think they would be a little more consistent with their scores. The point of all this is simple: if this happens to pros on a fairly regular basis, then why do we get so upset when our scores may vary this much on a day-to-day basis? You can explain some of this due to the stress of playing in tournament golf, but certainly not all of it. Let’s get to the second issue before we look at how to handle all of this.

The problem of not being able to take our practice tee results to the golf course is a problem that has been discussed at length in articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos. To cut to the chase, all the solutions to this problem are simply wrong. I don’t care what you do on the practice range. Pretend to play a round. Change clubs at least every 3 or 4 swings. Go through your routine in great detail on every range shot. You are simply not going to fool the brain that this has anything to do with playing real golf. Another thing that proves it really can’t be done is to listen to the tour players after they have shot a particular round. After a very bad round, the player may talk about what a great warm-up session he had, but when he got to the first tee, the wheels fell off immediately. Other times, after a very good round, the player may speak of having a horrible practice session, and then when he got to the first tee, everything just fell into place. Then the final proof of the pudding is to simply watch the players on the practice range. During a big event, many times TV will cover players warming up on the practice tee. These practice tee swings do not even look close to the swings they will be taking coming down the back nine on a Sunday. Check it out. That’s not to say you do not need to practice. You have to take it for what it is worth. Anything from trying a new move or address position to just loosening up the golf muscles. This is what practice is for and nothing more. Do not try to recreate on the golf course. It is just not going to work.

So, what’s a mother to do? Number one, do not look for a solution to either problem. There is none. If there were, then you would not see the wide variance in the scores of tour players. What can you do when your game is going south? It starts with the first tee. Expect nothing and be ready for anything. If things are not going well, then get very conservative. Get the ball in play. Shoot for the middle of the green. Even in putting, just lag the ball to the hole on even shorter putts in the 15 to 20-foot range. Try to make some changes in your address position. Stand closer, open or close your stance, and change your ball position. I would not try to make any swing changes. You might try changing your rhythm or tempo. Sometimes swinging faster or slower will help. Be patient. Sometimes what changes a round is a lucky shot or a long putt that drops. All you can really do is as much damage control as possible and hope something turns it around. Finally, just accept it, get through it, and enjoy the day. Believe me, easier said than done, I will vouch for that. When it comes to practice and pre-round warm-up, you have to change your outlook. To be fair, there are just as many stories of guys having great or bad warm-up sessions and going out to play great or poor rounds. Do not look at any form of practice as the fastest route to game improvement. There are lots of golfers out there who really enjoy practice, and that’s great. It still boils down to once you get on the course, you have to find ways to perform. That is really the key to golf. I am not too sure there is really a wrong way to practice. What is wrong is what people expect from practicing. Remember, expect nothing and be ready for everything. It is your only hope in this goofy game.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Updates

As November comes to an end, the Pirates are making more national noise than normal. They are not really doing anything, but for some reason, the national media thinks they are going to be more active in the free-agent market. They have been connected to Kyle Schwarber and J. T. Realmuto. They supposedly offered a deal to Josh Naylor, but then that was disputed. They may try to sign their no. 1 prospect Konnor Griffin to a long term deal. There have been at least 3 MLB insiders who have written that the Pirates are going to spend more money and make a splash in the free-agent market. Most people around here are taking the attitude of, I will believe it when I see it. I take the same view, plus I really do not want to see the Pirates make a so-called big splash in the free-agent market. J. T. Realmuto has seen better days. Last season, his OPS+ was 91. Joey Bart’s was 96. You could argue that Realmuto is better defensively, but his contract last year paid him almost 24 million dollars. Now he may not make that with a new contract, but Joey Bart, who is arbitration eligible, is projected to make close to 3 million. I do not think Realmuto should be signed by the Pirates. They have greater needs at corner outfield and third base. Schwarber would be a huge upgrade at DH, but he is not going to help where the Pirates need it most. There are only 3 free agents that I feel the Pirates should consider signing: Munetaka Murakami, the third baseman from Japan; Kyle Tucker; and Bo Bichette. These are the only free agents under 30 years of age. Cody Bellinger is 30 years old, but I think he won’t be worth the price. Konnor Griffin is being talked about as the possible starting Pirate shortstop. He has played centerfield, allowing Bichette to move to shortstop. This would also put Oneil Cruz in right field, where he belongs. Cruz could be the DH also, which may be the best move of all. Despite all the media talk about the Pirates spending, I will be surprised if they do. I still think the best way to improve the team is through trades with Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller as the trade chips. Now let’s look at what the Pirates have actually done.

So far it is nothing more than the same old Pirates. Not only in what they have done but also in what they have said. First of all, they had to move some players out of their 40-man roster to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. The Pirates made this sound like they had some tough decisions to make. You’ve got to be kidding me! They let go of Colin Holderman, Dauri Moreta, Alexander Canario, and Ronny Simon. Apparently, Cam Devanney went to Japan. Here is who they left on the 40-man roster: Cam Sanders, 29 years old, with a lifetime 4.39 ERA in the minors and 6 major league appearances. Enmanuel Valdez is going into his age 27 season with a lifetime OPS+ of 87. His lifetime slugging is .392 with 2 years in Fenway Park. Will Robertson heads into his age 28 season with a lifetime major league average of .129. In six minor league seasons, he has a slash line of .247/.334/.458. I do not know if the Pirates will make any more roster moves. If they lose anybody in the Rule 5 draft, could they be any worse than those 3? They could have easily made more room on the 40 man roster. Hopefully, they won’t lose anybody, but time will tell. Then they signed Jack Suwinski and Yohan Ramirez. The combined deals came to about 2 million dollars. Not a lot of money by today’s standards, but why sign them at all, especially Ramirez? Since 2020, he has been with 8 teams and twice with the Pirates. He has a career ERA of 4.71 and an ERA+ of 90. He averages 4.5 walks every 9 innings. Now that’s a guy you want coming in when the game is on the line. If the Pirates lose a pitcher in the Rule 5 draft, he could not be this bad. Obviously, the Pirates are hoping for a miracle when it comes to Jack Suwinski. Maybe he should try batting right-handed; it would make about as much sense. They made a couple of their typical minor league signings. When you look at the way this organization thinks and performs, even if the Pirates were to sign a top 10 free agent, it would probably wind up being a big waste of money. They need to be giving all that potential money to one person: Paul Skenes.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: If I Was The Czar Of The Pirates

Now that baseball season is over, I was going to start doing some golf blogs. I decided to get this blog out as soon as possible. I could also title this “what the Pirates should do but won’t.” I also wanted to get this out while I still feel there is a glimmer of hope for the 2026 season. There are some things that the Pirates could do that would end all hopes for the 2026 season. If they sign Andrew McCutchen—I love Andrew McCutchen—they should have never let him go. They should have re-signed him after the 2018 season. He unfortunately hurt his knee, but at the time, who could have predicted that? The facts are this: he was the 29th ranked DH in baseball. The Pirates can’t afford this from their DH for another season. You can say the same thing about two other players, Jack Suwinski and Alexander Canario. If they are on the 13-player opening day roster, this season is over before it even starts. I am not even wasting my time showing their stats; I have done it way too many times before. Before it is too late and the Pirates take all the fun out of it, this is what I would do if I ran the Pirates.

The number one priority for the off-season should be to sign Paul Skenes to a long-term contract. I feel that he would take a 6-year, 200 million dollar contract. However, if he would go for it, I would offer him 15 years at 600 million, making him a Pirate forever. Both of these deals could be done without increasing the current Pirate payroll all that much. You would trade Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller, which frees up 31 million. Look at it this way: if some other team had Paul Skenes and they said they would give you Paul Skenes for Reynolds and Keller, you would make that trade in 1 second. The Pirates have already freed up 25 million in salaries by getting rid of Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Adam Frazier, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. That is 56 million, more than enough to do either deal. Is the 15-year deal risky? You bet it is. To me, it’s worth the risk. You are dealing with most likely a once-in-a-lifetime pitcher. Of course, Skenes would have to be willing to take the deals. The 6-year deal might have more appeal; who knows? I think either deal would have a good chance of getting the job done. What would be the starting rotation and what would the bullpen look like for 2026? My rotation would be Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Johan Oviedo, Braxton Ashcraft, and Hunter Barco. Barco is by far the least experienced, but I like him as the left-hander in the rotation. I can’t imagine him being any worse than who they had for the 5th and even the 4th starter last year. Where is Mike Burrows? I would put him in the bullpen and make him my new closer. He has the closer arsenal: fastball and changeup. I know that this would be a new role for him, but I think he would do just fine. Dennis Santana would go back to being the setup man. Justin Lawrence and Isaac Mattson would do 7th and 8th inning work also. That gets us up to 9 pitchers. The final 4 spots would be down to 7 candidates, in order of most likely to least likely to make the roster: Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta, Chase Shugart, Evan Sisk, Kyle Nicolas, Eddy Yean, and Thomas Harrington. Then, there is the case of Jared Jones. I do not know what his timetable is exactly, but what better way to bring him back than to start him in the bullpen? You can never predict how injuries are going to affect your pitching staff, but this looks pretty solid to me. This staff looks pretty deep and could weather a few injuries here and there. Does anyone see a need to keep Mitch Keller on the team? I do not.

Now on to the position players. Besides trading Reynolds, I would also trade Jared Triolo. His defense makes him attractive to a lot of teams that have high-powered offenses, something the Pirates do not have. A lot of what I would do here is going to be predicated on not knowing what we might get in a trade for those three players: Keller, Reynolds, and Triolo. I will discuss the free agent market and trades at the end of the blog. I am going to look at this position by position with what the Pirates have after trading those players. At catcher, we have Joey Bart, Henry Davis, and new entry Rafael Flores. I would trade Joey Bart, but I would also be open to trading Davis. For now, the catchers would be Davis and Flores. The first baseman will be Spencer Horwitz. The last 62 games of the season, Horwitz’s slash line was .305/.395/.520. You hope he doesn’t turn out to be Triolo II, but you have to go with him a full season. Obviously, I would not have him lead off. Second base will go to Nick Gonzales. Gonzales slumped the last six weeks of the season to have solid regression from 24 to 25. Right now, he is the only viable option at the moment, but that could change. Hopefully, he will find his groove again. His ankle-foot injury could have been a factor, but time will tell. Hopefully, it will be fully healed by spring training. Third base, Jared Triolo is the only guy that can play third. Cam Devanney and Malcom Nunez are other options. Who is Malcom Nunez? I don’t think even the Pirates know who he is. He is 24 years old and has been with Indianapolis for the last four years. He got hurt this past year, and that could be an issue. In 874 at-bats, he has hit 21 homers at the AAA level. I would rather see Devanney play shortstop. The other possibility is Tsung-Che Cheng. Both he and Devanney are excellent glove men. This is what the shortstop position needs. Even though Devanney had awful batting stats, I am not ready to give up on him yet. Of the two positions, third base is where the biggest hole is, even if the Pirates would decide to keep Triolo. That leads us to the outfield. The first thing I would do is get Oneil Cruz out of center field and put him in right field. I would have Billy Cook and Nick Yorke play left field. Conner Griffin would be my opening day center fielder. I would see no need for him to go to AAA. Then you have three wild cards, all for different reasons. Can Endy Rodriguez, who has had severe elbow issues to say the least stay healthy for a season. Who knows how he will do even if he stays healthy? Even when he has been healthy, he has never had a chance to play regularly. To me, he would make the perfect DH replacement. He can also catch and play first base. Being a switch hitter makes him even more appealing as a DH. The next wild card is Esmerlyn Valdez, soon to be 22-year-old outfielder. He put up insane numbers at the Arizona Fall League. In 77 plate appearances, his slash line was .370/.519/.870. That’s right; he slugged .870. He could be on the team as soon as June. Finally, we have Tremar Johnson, the no. 1 pick of 2022. He had an okay year at AA Altoona, but with a young player—he just turned 21 in June—maturity and development can sometimes come fast. He’s got speed, and he does seem to be able to get on base. It might be too big of a jump, but he should at least start in AAA.

A lot of the lineup will be dictated by what the Pirates would get in return for Keller, Reynolds, Bart/Davis, and Triolo. Hopefully, they would get nothing but position players. They do not need to add pitching. Their biggest need is third base and outfield. As far as the free agent market is concerned, I would not delve into that at all. Having said that, I would consider three players if the contracts are not too big: the Japan star Munetaka Murakami, who has played third base, Bo Bichette, and Kyle Tucker would be the only other two free agents I would even consider because they are under 30 years old. I know there are players on the Pirates that are up for arbitration that will increase their payroll some. With 55 million gone from the payroll, the Pirates could do the six-year Skenes deal and sign one of the three free agents mentioned. It would still keep their payroll manageable at around 120 million. These are the things I would do during this offseason. I think the best bet is to improve the team through trades. Any one of those three free agents would be a big help also, but it would increase the payroll more than what the Pirates are comfortable with. One thing does not change: I finish every article of this type with the same sentence. We all know that this is what the Pirates should do, but we know that they won’t do it. They just do not have a high interest in bringing winning baseball to Pittsburgh.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Game 7, An Unlikely Hero And Missed Opportunities

Final Score: Dodgers 5 Blue Jays 4 in 11 innings

Why The Dodgers Won: The Dodgers became the first team to win back-to-back World Series since the Yankees won 3 in a row from 1998 to 2000. You have heard of bullpen games. This was a starting rotation game. The Dodgers used all of their 4 starting pitchers. Shohei Ohtani went 2 and 1/3 innings, Tyler Glasnow went 2 and 1/3 innings, and Blake Snell went 1 and 1/3 innings. Last but certainly not least, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 2 and 2/3 innings the day after he went 6 innings in game 6. He was the winning pitcher in 3 of the Dodgers’ 4 wins. The Dodgers used only 2 pitchers out of their bullpen, and one of those, Emmet Sheehan, made 12 starts during the regular season out of 15 appearances. It was a sad last 2 games for the vaunted Blue Jay offense. In the last 2 games of the World Series, they were 4 for 26 with runners in scoring position. They left 22 men on base, including 14 in game 7. It is going to be a very long offseason for the Blue Jays.

The Key Moments Of The Game: In the bottom of the third, with a runner on 3rd base and one out, the Dodgers decided to intentionally walk Vlad Guerrero. They paid the price when Bo Bichette took an Ohtani slider and hit it 442 feet into the seats, giving the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead. The Dodgers started chipping away with a run in the 4th and a run in the 6th. Mookie Betts opened the 6th inning with a walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly. Both Dodger runs scored on sacrifice flies. In the bottom of the 6th, the Blue Jays scored a run on a single and a double. Then the Dodgers long balled the Blue Jays to victory. Max Muncy in the 8th made it 4-3. In the top of the 9th, Miguel Rojas took a 3-2 slider and lined it over the fence to tie the game. Rojas, who is 36 years old, had hit only 7 home runs during the regular season. He did not start in the first 5 games of the series. He is at the end of a 3-year, 15 million dollar deal. He is a free agent in 2026. I wonder if anyone will sign him. He is one of the most unlikely World Series heroes of all time. Will Smith, who is 30 years old and has a 10-year, 140 million dollar contract, hit the go-ahead homer in the top of the 11th. It is just too painful to go through all the missed chances the Blue Jays had since the 6th inning of game 6. In the last 15 innings of the World Series, the Blue Jays had a runner on 2nd with no outs 4 times and a runner on third with less than 2 outs 3 times and did not score a run. They could not do what the Dodgers did 2 times in game 7: hit a sacrifice fly. If they could have just done it one out of 3 times, they would be the World Champions. On one final note, I think the bench-clearing incident, as ridiculous as it was, did not really have any bearing on the outcome of the game. It is a little ironic that the most fortunate play of the game for the Dodgers was the line drive by Andres Gimenez that Max Muncy snared, even though he was playing in for the bunt. Gimenez needlessly instigated the confrontation. Just like the Blue Jays, you could say it was not his night.

The 2025 baseball season has come to an end. Even though I did not think they would, I have to give the Dodgers credit for going full bore to try to win two World Series in a row. It took them 11 innings into Game 7, but they got the job done when it needed to be done. As mentioned before, this will be a long offseason for the Blue Jays. It is what I always say: hitting is always a sometime thing. In spring training 2026, I expect the Blue Jays to be practicing hitting fly balls deep enough to score a runner from third base. It was a great season for baseball. This was probably the best postseason baseball has had since the 1986 season. In the coming weeks, I will look at what the Pirates should do but probably won’t do in 2026. I think you will find it to be a bit of a surprise. Not as big of a surprise as the Pirates having a winning season, but surprising nonetheless.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: We Have The 7th Elimination Game Of This Post Season.

Final Score: Dodgers 3 Blue Jays 1

Why The Dodgers Won: The Dodgers were able to put 3 runs on the board after 2 were out in the top of the 3rd. They were able to make it stand up for a 3 to 1 win over the Blue Jays to force a game 7. The Blue Jays did everything they wanted to do except score runs. They were able to get Yoshinobu Yamamoto out of the game after 6 innings. The Blue Jays had chances to score in the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th but failed every time. They were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. The Dodgers were even worse overall in hitting, getting only 4 hits. They got 3 of those in that 3rd inning. It does not take a math major to figure out they got only 1 hit in the other 8 innings. They got 2 walks in the 3rd and another 2 walks for the rest of the game. The Dodger bullpen barely hung on, but hang on they did.

Key Moments Of The Game: In the top of the 3rd, the Dodgers had a runner on 2nd with 2 outs. Then came the dreaded intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani. Will Smith followed that up with a double, making the score 1-0. Freddie Freeman walked on 5 pitches, bringing the slumping Mookie Betts to the plate. He fell behind in the count 1-2 but lined a single to left on an up-and-in fastball. This scored 2 runs and gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. The Blue Jays bounced back in the bottom of the inning when George Springer got a big 2-out single to make the score 3-1. Then came the heartbreaking bottom of the 9th for the Blue Jays. Roki Sasaki got out of a 1st and 2nd, one-out jam in the bottom of the 8th. The bottom of the 9th got even worse. He hit the first batter, Alejandro Kirk. Addison Barger got a ground rule double that turned out to be a bad break for the Blue Jays. Even so, this put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out. The Dodgers brought in Tyler Glasnow. Ernie Clement swung at the first pitch that was up and in off the plate. He blooped it right to Freddie Freeman. This brought up the light-hitting Andres Gimenez. On the 2nd pitch of his at-bat, he swung at a pitch that was just off the outside of the plate. He went with the pitch and blooped it out to left field. That is when Addison Barger made the cardinal sin of breaking too far down the line toward third. The throw by Kiki Hernandez beat Barger to the bag, and the game was suddenly over. Glasnow got out of the inning by only throwing 3 pitches with none of them being in the strike zone.

Next Game: Tonight, in Toronto, game 7. This 7th game of the World Series is really difficult to get a read on. The Dodgers, even though they won game 6, are still in a team hitting slump. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, may be psyched out by not cashing in on all the opportunities they had to tie and win the game. Both pitching staffs are running on fumes. The game could go either way. It could be a wild scoring affair or a close, tight, low-scoring game. The most interesting part of the game will be how each team manages their pitching staffs. This will be the key to victory. I still like the Blue Jays’ chances. No matter what happens, I expect it to be a great game to end one of the best postseasons in the history of baseball. Let’s just hope that some umpire does not screw it up.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: Blue Jays Do It Again.

Final Score: Blue Jays 6 Dodgers 1

Why The Blue Jays Won: The Blue Jays overcame the 1st pitch home run jinx by starting the game with not one but two home runs to jump out to a 2-0 lead. It was 3 pitches and 2 home runs by Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Unlike a lot of games where a team has led off with a home run the Blue Jays won this one. They got an outstanding, record-breaking pitching performance from 22-year-old Trey Yesavage. He went 7 innings, giving up just 1 run and 3 hits. He struck out 12 and walked no one. The Blue Jays’ bullpen gave up only 1 hit and a walk while striking out 3 more. As great as Yesavage was, the Blue Jays played some great defense behind him. They have not made an error in the Series. After the home runs, Blake Snell pitched pretty well for the 6 innings. The Blue Jays were only leading 3-1 going into the top of the 7th. They had scored another run in the top of the third when Teoscar Hernandez misplayed a liner down the right field line, allowing Daulton Varsho to open with a triple. Ernie Clement immediately drove him in with a sacrifice fly. In the top of the 7th, the Dodger management team continued to make bad decisions.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Dodgers made what I call an Aaron Boone panic move by changing the batting order for game 5. One of the oldest sports sayings is to go with what brought you here. Messing with the Dodger top of the order proved to be disastrous. Snell had thrown 93 pitches through 6 innings. I saw no problem on allowing Snell to come out for the 7th inning. Addison Barger opened the inning with a ground ball single down the left field line on a 5-pitch at-bat (98 pitches). The ball was not hit hard but was placed perfectly down the left line. During the Isiah Kiner-Falefa at-bat, Snell wild-pitched the runner to second. IKF, showing his Pirate roots, grounded out to short on 6 pitches (104) not advancing the runner. Snell walked the weak-hitting Andres Gimenez on 7 pitches (111). Even though he does strike out Davis Schneider, he wild-pitched Barger to third base. At this point, he has thrown 119 pitches. This is where the Dodgers decide to take out one of the best pitchers in baseball and bring in 23-year-old Edgardo Henriquez with 1st and 3rd and two outs to face Guerrero. Snell had gotten Guerrero to ground into a double play in his last at-bat. Henriquez threw the 3rd wild pitch of the inning to allow in the 4th Blue Jay run. He walked Guerrero and Bo Bichette singled to make the score 5-1. Henriquez was taken out and replaced by none other than Anthony (Are You Kidding Me) Banda. Miraculously, he gets out of the inning. Even more dumb founding, Banda comes out for the 8th. The Dodgers are not so lucky this time; he gives up a run on 2 hits. To show how bad this guy has been, his ERA actually goes down after this performance. Where in the hell was Roki Sasaki? I would have brought him in after the walk to Gimenez. The Blue Jays, thanks to some questionable moves by the Dodgers, go home with a 3-2 lead in the series.

Next Game: Tomorrow night, in Toronto. Can Yoshinobu Yamamoto do it one more time? Will the Dodgers continue to tinker with their lineup? I know Mookie Betts is in a slump. So was Shohei Ohtani before he had one of the greatest games in postseason history. Will the Dodgers admit their stupid mistake and put Betts back in the No. 2 spot? You have to go with your best in their accustomed positions and hope they figure it out. The other big plus for the Dodgers is that they are getting a day off. If ever a team needs to regroup, it is these Dodgers. Between this and Yamamoto starting, I think the Dodgers have the advantage in Game 6. That is not to say they will win. The one place Yamamoto does seem vulnerable is the 1st inning. It has been a back-and-forth series so far. The only really exciting game was the 18-inning marathon that the Dodgers won. It’s funny, that game may have cost them the series.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: There Will Be A Game Six

Final Score: Blue Jays 6 Dodgers 2

Why The Blue Jays Won: Both teams had to be tired coming off the 18-inning marathon on Monday night. Only the Dodgers really showed it. Two of their hottest hitters, Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith, went 0 for 7 with a walk. The team only scored 2 runs on 6 hits, and one of them was a garbage run in the bottom of the 9th. Shane Bieber pitched a nice 5 and 1/3 innings, but he did not have overwhelming stuff or command. He threw 81 pitches, with 33 being balls. He gave up 4 hits and walked 3, giving up 1 run. The Dodgers were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position. The Dodger bullpen imploded in the 7th. The Blue Jays by far looked like the fresher team. It was a close game through 6 innings. The Blue Jays had a 2-1 lead thanks to a 2-run homer by Vlad Guerrero Jr. in the top of the 3rd. Then came the 7th inning, where a lot of questionable decisions were made.

Key Moments Of The Game: The Dodgers sent Shohei Ohtani out to start the 7th inning. In the previous inning, he had a couple of hard-hit outs. He did strike out the last batter, but his last two fastballs dipped to 96 MPH. Dalton Varsho put the first pitch of the inning, a 97 MPH fastball middle in about belt high, and drilled it into right field for a base hit. Ernie Clement took pitch number 3 of the inning, a 96 MPH fastball that was down and in, and doubled into left center field off the wall. Then the Dodgers decided to go with two of their most ineffective relievers in the postseason, Anthony Banda and Blake Treinen. They paid the price. They finished the inning by giving up 3 hits and a walk, allowing 4 runs to score. If you could have limited the damage to 1 run in that inning, you would have still been in the game, they wound up getting rocked. When the inning was over, Banda’s postseason ERA was 10.38 and Treinen’s was 8.31 even though he was not charged with giving up a run in 1/3 of an inning. This should be their last appearance in the postseason. If it is not, the Dodgers will deserve whatever the results are. The game was broken open 6 to 1, and the Dodgers never really threatened after that. They scored 1 run in the bottom of the 9th, but it was traded for an out. A solid win for the Blue Jays.

Nest Game: Tonight in Los Angeles. With the win, the Blue Jays assured themselves of going back to Toronto for a game 6. After game 2, I wrote that I thought the winner of this series would be the team that would win that close, hard-fought, down-to-the-wire game. What I did not know was that the game would go 18 innings. This 18-inning win seemed to have an adverse effect on the entire Dodger organization. You could argue whether they should have even stayed with the planned battery for game 4. At least consider giving Will Smith a rest after catching 18 innings the night before. Then, with the game on the line, why pitch Banda and Trienen? There were obviously other options. Jack Dreyer was one of them, pitching 2 innings no less. The Dodgers showed their age after the game 3 marathon in more ways than one. No matter what happens tonight, the Blue Jays accomplished their goal of getting back to Toronto. If they win tonight, they have an excellent chance of keeping the Dodgers from winning back-to-back championships.

Posted on

Pirates Morning Report: An Eight Game World Series

Final Score: Dodgers 6 Blue Jays 5 in 18 innings

Why The Dodgers Won: The much-maligned Dodger bullpen held the potent Blue Jay offense scoreless for 11 innings. Will Klein shut out the Blue Jays over the last 4 innings. He gave up 1 hit, walked 2, and struck out 5. He appeared in 14 games for the Dodgers this year. In a game that featured 5 home runs, 31 hits, 19 walks, 6 of which were intentional, 2 hit by pitches, and 2 Dodgers errors, it was amazing that only 11 runs were scored. Shohei Ohtani was 4 for 4 with 5 walks. The scoring opportunities were numerous, and both teams were just as inept in bringing in runs. The Blue Jays were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 19 runners on base. The Dodgers were 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position and left 18 men on base. There were 49 runners on the base paths during the game. Only 6 of those runners scored. Only 4 runs were driven in by hits that were not home runs. There were only 2 runs driven in by singles, one of which was only because Bo Bichette can’t run. The Blue Jays used 9 pitchers. The Dodgers used 10 pitchers. The other surprising fact about this game, besides the Dodger bullpen, was that the Blue Jays struck out 16 times. After 17 and 1/2 grueling innings, the game ended suddenly with Freddie Freeman taking a center-cut 3-2 sinker over the center field fence to walk it off for the Dodgers.

The Key Moments Of The Game: There were too many to mention. The bottom of the 13th had to be an analytical nightmare. Tommy Edman led off the inning with a double. Then the Dodgers bunted, heaven forbid, him over to third base. Eric Lauer then got pinch hitter Alex Call to pop out on a 2-0 pitch. Then the Blue Jays decided to do the cardinal sin of intentionally walking the batter not once but twice to load the bases. Of course, those batters were Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. They did this to face Freddie Freeman. On the 2nd pitch, Freeman hit it hard but right at the center fielder to end the inning. It was a victory for old school baseball. Freeman would get his revenge in the bottom of the 18th.

Next Game: Tonight, in Los Angeles. It will be interesting to see what effects last night’s game will have on both teams. There could be physical and psychological effects. The Blue Jays’ offense has to be down from having so many chances to win the game but not coming through. The Dodgers’ bullpen all of a sudden has to be feeling real good about themselves. The Dodgers are going from one extreme to the other. They went from possibly being over-rested to the point of exhaustion. This is a team that is a little bit long in the tooth. Even though they won and it is a good thing, you have to wonder a little bit just how much they might have in the tank for games 4 and 5. Then there is the injury to George Springer. Will he miss a game or the entire Series? This would definitely hurt the Blue Jays’ cause. This was by far the most exciting and intense game of the Series so far. Will a win like this give the Dodgers momentum, or will they be running on fumes for the rest of the series? We will find out tonight.