Second I'm going to write about sports, which I've been doing lately at one of my other blogs, Dreaming Up Daily, but it's a bit embarrassing because I doubt that anybody is actually interested. I'm doing this for myself mostly. I mean, I'm following a fairly unique set of teams: namely the Pgh Pirates and SF Giants in baseball, with some interest in the NBA, following the gloomy fortunes of the Lakers for instance. I note that the last post here was kind of down on following the NFL and the Steelers, but the Steelers are such a part of my backstory that I'll have to follow them, even from afar. And again, I am in far northern CA now, and there's the Niners.
But I finally did carry through on my "threat" and dumped cable TV. I was one of the last men in America to get a cell phone, and I'll be one of the last to get a smart phone and their neat sports apps. So these days I listen to the Giants on radio, and otherwise follow sports online.
So on to baseball...
Right now I'm listening to the Giants first game back home after a so-so road trip, playing a fairly weak team (Philadelphia), and having lost their 3-1 lead in the 8th, the Phillies have scored twice in the 10th. I can hear the depression in the announcer's voice--they don't believe they can win this one. (And they didn't.) The only bright spot: Michael Morse broke out of his home run slump with a three-run homer, the only scoring the Giants did.
The Giants just haven't bounced back after their disastrous late June and early July. Once 8 games in first they are 5.5 back to the Dodgers (who fortunately for them lost tonight.) Injuries have been and remain important. The ones that hurt were Angel Pagan and Brandon Belt, and Belt is still out. His hitting has turned out to be crucial. (The top photo is Hunter Pence, who has been one of the bright spots for much of the season, though he's had long dry spells too.) Losing Matt Cain for the season is probably less important, for the remaining starters are brilliant or terrible for any given game. But the bullpen exploding started their losing streak in July, and that's recurring. This game tonight tells the tale. The Giants are toast. Unless they unaccountably catch fire immediately, they aren't going to win the division, and it will be a struggle to get a wild card. (Now I see the SF Chron comes to the same conclusion.)
Right now the Pirates are even more wounded. They lost Marte for many games, now their best hitter, the MVP Andrew McCutchen is out indefinitely, and Neil Walker has been in and out of the lineup. They are now losing one run games they used to win. But they are in better shape than the Giants, and look to remain competitive for at least awhile longer.
So the news isn't good for either team. That they are both at least theoretically in pennant races makes rooting complicated--for example, that Dodger game tonight with the Brewers. The Dodgers lead the Giants' division, and the Brewers lead the Pirates' division. So when it came down to it tonight, I was rooting for the Brewers to lose. It didn't work out that way, so the Pirates lost a game in the standings tonight.
I've commented on Dreaming Up Daily on the disastrous decisions the Lakers have made in the years after losing Phil Jackson--one of which was failing to hire him back when they had a chance. D'Antoni or whoever he was really blew the Dwight Howard possibility. What a waste, all because Jerry Buss died and his son wanted to make his own mark. Now he's hired an honored Laker to coach and the season will start with at least the good will of Lakers fans.
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This was also Michael Jordan's final year as a player, his second for the Washington Wizards. I was surprised that my memory wasn't quite correct--he was much better than I remembered, and became the oldest player to score 40 pts in a game. I saw the game he did some amazing things, including hitting his chin hard on the floor as he scrambled for the loose ball, only to lose by one point. And afterwards he went after his team for not playing hard enough. So when the Wizards dropped back beyond playoff contention, the team abandoned him. I couldn't watch his last game--I just remember how the rest of the players ignored him, wouldn't pass him the ball, until he took himself out. And that wasn't the end--he lost his ownership stake and presidency of the team as soon as he quit playing. Painful.
On the second day of the Little League World Series, Pennsylvania team pitcher Mo'Ne Davis threw a two-hitter to become the first female pitcher to win a LLWS game. She's also black. Apart from the extra-sports significance, these stories are big deals for baseball because the proportion of African American MLB players has been diminishing. So great sports news and more.
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