Are You Stephin Kidding Me?

After two wins in Florida on back to back nights, the Warriors flew back across the country to Oklahoma to play the Thunder on Saturday night.  Recall that Steph Curry had a total of 93 points in those two games, and in the last one at Orlando he hit 10 3 pointers.

Besides San Antonio, Oklahoma Thunder are this year's strongest competition in the West.  Their two superstars, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, were hitting on all cylinders for the entire game.  When Westbrook fell on Steph Curry, sending him to the locker room with a possible ankle injury, the game seemed lost.

It wasn't.  Curry returned and helped spark a comeback.  Even though the Thunder were up by 11 with 4 minutes left in the game, the Warriors tied it with no time left, on two foul shots by not their best foul shooter, Andre Iguodala.

They fell behind again in overtime, and again the game seemed lost with 14 seconds, and then with 7 seconds to play.  Then--well, except for all the shots that came before it, all those buzzer beaters from another galaxy far, far away--this would go down in history as The Shot.

But for Steph Curry?  Another night at the office.  A shot from outer space and the game was won.  This season for the Warriors and Steph Curry is transcending the history they are making--this is the stuff of myth.

As emerging Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis tweeted, "Is this real life?"

With that shot, Curry tied the single game record for 3s, with 12.  Something like 40% is considered pretty good for making 3s.  Curry's 12 came on 16 attempts. And those were about half of the 46 points he added to the road trip total. By the end of the game, Curry had broken his own record for 3s in a season and the Warriors clinched a playoff spot--with more than two months left in this season.

Now they're going home, where they are undefeated this year.

Here's the ESPN story with the video.  It's a keeper.

More on Curry from the New York Times.

Magic

Orlando hosted a game Wednesday but it was Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors who were Magic.  In back to back games on the road, the Warriors beat Miami and Orlando.  In those two games Steph Curry scored a total of 93 points, and broke the consecutive game record for at least one 3 pointer.  On Wednesday he had 10.  The Warriors have won 3 of 4 games on this road trip since the All Star Break.

His ten included another half court shot at the buzzer.  He does that so often it's like going to a Giants game in one of Barry Bonds record homer years--if you didn't see him hit one, you might feel cheated.  Now if you're lucky enough to get into a Golden State game, if you don't see Curry make a half court shot during the game, you might be disappointed.  But if you got there early, you certainly saw him make a few in warm-ups.

After they beat the Clippers, the LA Times sportswriter contrasted the two locker rooms.  The Clippers being tentative and a bit fractious.  But the Warriors, he wrote, don't just all like each other, they love each other.

That doesn't happen very often.  Which is part of this year's Golden State Magic.  52-5, on their way to Oklahoma Saturday.  Then home.

50-5

The Golden State Warriors became the fastest team to 50 wins in NBA history by beating Atlanta, which could be the start of several records between now and the end of the season.

They came out of the All Star break rusty and dropped their first road game of a challenging trip in Portland.  They rebounded with a victory over the Clippers the next night.  Then with just a travel day across 3 time zones, they hit the court running against Atlanta.  They lost big leads in both of their victories, so Steph got no rest in the fourth quarters.

Now they fly down to Florida for back to back games with Miami and Orlando, before another single travel day to cross time zones to Oklahoma on Saturday.  It's the most punishing trip of the year, and may determine a number of things for the remainder of the season, which they spent mostly at home, but with a quick rematch with Oklahoma and three games later with San Antonio.

To break the all-time victories for a season record they need to go 23-4 for the rest of the season.  They also have the all time record in consecutive home wins in their sights.  Why should they bother with these records instead of resting players for the playoffs?  One championship related answer is San Antonio, which is 47-9 and is riding their own consecutive home wins streak.  Golden State's goal is to give itself the best possible position in the playoffs, and that means holding the best record in the West.  So they'll be out to win every game for the foreseeable future. April is another question, to be answered by what happens this month and through March.

Catching Up Links

As the NFL season becomes a memory, an article on the increasing number of players retiring before they're 30, suggesting it's related to medical findings on the perils of concussion and other injury to a healthy life.

As the NBA gets back in gear, here's a keeper about Kobe and his last All Star game.

And as MLB spring training begins, a suggestion that takeout slides of the kind that caused the injury that pretty much doomed the Pittsburgh Pirates postseason hopes late last season, may be outlawed.

Here We Go

The Golden State Warriors chase history as the NBA season resumes after the All-Star break.

And spring training begins in MLB.  Neither the San Francisco Giants nor the Pittsburgh Pirates are expected to win their divisions--but hopes are high among their fans that this will be a great year.  For the Giants of course, it's an even-numbered year, when they're used to winning it all.

A Beautiful Game--and a Once Beautiful Game

The day after Steph Curry went off on the surprisingly good Washington Wizards for 51 points, the Golden State Warriors went to the White House to get praised and teased by President Obama, for what they did last season.  Meanwhile the New Yorker published a terrific piece describing the Warriors' "beautiful game."  It puts into words why it's so much fun to watch them.

In football:
An opinion piece in the New York Times affirms much of what I've tried to say here about football and physical trauma.

George Lundberg begins with the cautionary tale of boxing, a popular sport which brutal injury consigned to a lesser role.  His example of football's growing brutality is the one I've mentioned (though I'm hardly the only one): the Steelers-Bengals playoff game.

But while Lundberg (a pathologist and football fan) called for banning boxing, he concedes that he can't yet do so for football.  He makes the same point I tried to make: "In part, I admit, because of my own bias toward football, but also because I believe that violence is a byproduct of football — one that can be reduced — not the intended result, as was the case for boxing."

If the NFL could redesign the game to emphasize violence, which it has (with the full and enthusiastic cooperation of sports media) then it can redesign it to make it less violent, and no less a sport of skill, strategy and athleticism.

So far the NFL has shown no leadership in this area, and is therefore dooming the sport to a slow but certain death. "At a bare minimum, the N.F.L. should publicly admit that there is a real problem with the risk of player brain damage (as it has in court documents). It should follow the lead of college football, which now punishes offending players with immediate expulsions from the game."

There are other ideas out there, such as widening the playing field.  But the NFL is not exploring them, and it's not hard to see why.  Besides avoiding costly lawsuits by not admitting the links to brain damage, this violence is deep in the NFL culture, though that might be changing at least among players, and certainly among parents.

I won't be watching the Super Bowl.  I haven't watched one in several years.  All those commercials and injury time-outs.  But I may well watch highlights, of what I expect to be a Carolina victory, 40-16.

Back to Back

What probably doomed the New York Knicks on Sunday happened in Philadelphia on Saturday.  It took a last second tie-breaker for the Golden State Warriors, with the best record in the NBA, to beat the Sixers, with the worst record, after being ahead in the second half by 24 points.

So even though Steph Curry had a bad shooting night in New York, and the Warriors sloppily turned the ball over too much again, they won their second of the back-to-backs by 21 points, 116-95.

Draymond Green helped compensate for Curry by hitting 9 for 9 and 20 points.  Klay Thompson had 34.  The break can't come too soon for the Warriors as they are showing signs of weariness.  And yet...two victories, and a big second half against the Knicks to win by 21.

The Long Goodbye

Thanks largely to the Bengals and their homicidal players (though that team is not unique in that respect), the Pittsburgh Steelers lost their second playoff game in a year they had a real shot at the Super Bowl.  The following week, one of the heroes of their first Super Bowl victory since the 70s glory years, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El told a Pittsburgh reporter than he wished he had never played football.  Not yet 40, he has trouble walking and maintaining balance, and is showing since of cognitive problems similar to those suffered by people twice his age.

Randle El was not a bruising lineman, but a swift and graceful wide receiver.  He did not take hits on every down.  Yet he apparently suffered substantial damage.  He told the reporter he thought professional football would be gone in 25 years because of the results of its fashionable brutality.

Apart from the injury to quarterback Big Ben which involved some extra action meant to injure, the felonious hit that hurt the Steelers was a visibly brutal one to its latest swift and graceful wide receiver, Antonio Brown.  Though to my knowledge he hasn't made waves over this incident, he also took a group of high school players to see the Will Smith movie about NFL football called "Concussion."

In his meditations on the subject in the New Yorker, its editor David Remnick relates aspects of  football's history to make the case that this brutality has always been part of the game.  It was in many ways worse when it was primarily a college sport, in the early 20th century, when 19 players were actually killed in one season.

Rules were changed, equipment improved, but Remnick writes the pressure to make big showy hits was unrelenting.  Yet, he says, people who see this violence and its results can't quite back away from watching:

 But the modern football fan in possession of a conscience and a reasonable knowledge of the horrific statistics about injuries suffered by players comes to resemble a nacho-scarfing version of St. Augustine, who, faced with his own lust, addresses God: “Lord, let me be pure . . . but not yet.” Precisely. Let’s confront the crisis in football . . . but not yet. It’s kickoff!

In a way I fall into this category, but for me it is not because I have a love-hate relationship with the violence.  Maybe I'm a pollyanna on this, but I maintain that football is a great game that doesn't need homicidal hitting.  I played it, though not in more than a semi-organized way, up until leaving high school, and though high school football was king in my western Pennsylvania (which was known for incubating college and NFL stars), there was blocking and tackling, but not hitting. Not really, or at least not much.

It's those aspects of the game--the skills, the strategies--that appeal to many fans.  It's harder and harder to look past the homicidal hits and the people (the NFL, non-playing team leaders and sports media) that promote it.

Unless the NFL radically reforms its game, it is doomed.  As Remnick says, even legendary figures of the game like Mike Ditka say they wouldn't let their children play football now.  In the short term, teams from high school to colleges will survive on players from poor families, the analogue of slaves in the gladitorial ring, with the ability to take care of their families as the suicide incentive.  Before the whole thing collapses.

For now we've got Denver and Carolina in Super Bowl Fifty.  Denver doesn't have a chance.

Basketball in the NBA is about to get especially interesting, as the much publicized Golden State Warriors have the first of four regular season games with the San Antonio Spurs, who have quietly had a season almost the match of Golden State's.  Incredibly they have not played each other this year yet.  Golden State demolished Cleveland last week--a forty point destruction of their Finals opponent last year, that probably led directly to their coach being fired, despite a winning record at the top of their division.  The Spurs seem like the Warriors real competition.

Update: The Spurs brought a 13 game winning streak and a 38-6 record to the Golden State arena in a meeting of the two most dominant NBA teams in at least a generation.  The Warriors destroyed them by 30 points, 120-90.  Department of defending Steph Curry--guarding him close and harrassing him provided him opportunities to make them look silly with his ball handling and magnetic attraction to the hoop.

Pop and Shame

In baseball, the SF Giants added an important free agent outfielder--just not one anybody was talking about, Denard Span.  Strikingly like their other big name acquisitions, Span is coming off a sub-par year, beset by injuries.  So they are all more obvious risks, though the potential of each of them is high.

Span is also much in the mold of players they have, only more so: he's fast, a good fielder (mostly center), and an excellent contact hitter with not much home run pop. So the Giants may do their mix and match outfield on a somewhat higher level, with Span, Pagan (who Span may replace in center and as lead-off), Blanco and Pence.  While this makes for a team character of play, it also has that conspicuous limitation of not much home run threat in the lineup.  They'll probably take a hard look at Jared Parker, their rookie last year who had a brief show of power.

There are contingencies to address, especially given the number of injuries these days, like quality back-ups at first and third.  Good opportunities for the farm system, and lesser known additions.  Even if only one of the three new Giants has a year towards the top of their potential, it should keep SF competitive in their division.  That will probably remain their best option for postseason.

In football, I keep getting drawn back in and rudely pushed away--basically by the violence and the injuries they cause.  I played tackle football as a kid, and I loved the game.  But at that time it was about tackling and blocking, not hitting.

The Bengals player who leveled Antonio Brown of the Steelers and gave him a concussion in one of the ugliest hits I've ever seen was penalized.  He should have been arrested.  Forget suspension.  He belongs in prison.   The Steelers are complicit in this travesty, with the coaches and organization repeatedly refusing to criticize this kind of play.  Sports media are more that complicit--they're largely responsible for the elevation of the vicious hit.  (ESPN is so bad in other ways as well.  Their on-air reporters are often wrong in the most obvious way, their writers can't even get the day of the game right--but then editors appear to be a thing of the past.)

From a fan standpoint, that vicious hit and some pretty clearly intentional attempts to cause pain and injury in the sack that injured Big Ben's shoulder, deprives us of the game we have a right to expect.  Even if both play in Denver, neither is likely to be at full strength and skill, as befits a playoff game.

But beyond that, the violence is just shameful.  And I am ashamed.  

It's Not the Baseball Hall of Fame...Yet

Back to baseball for a moment.

Department of I could still kick myself:  Some years ago I found myself footloose in Seattle and a couple of hours too late realized it was the home opener of the baseball season.  Bad enough, but Ken Griffey, Jr. homered that day.  It wasn't one of his best years but still...I never saw him play.

He made it into the Hall of Fame today with a record proportion of votes, all but unanimous.  But frankly I can't take the Hall of Fame seriously.  It's just not a Baseball Hall of Fame if Barry Bonds isn't in it, period.  It's just another hall of politics.

On another note, I've written here several times about my belief that the San Francisco Giants broadcasting team is as good as it gets, especially after listening to announcers for other cities.  Now here's a piece by someone who claims to have heard announcers for every MLB team--and he agrees.

Tea leaves seem to fall in favor of Dexter Fowler as the free agent outfielder most likely to come to the Giants.  Not the acquisition some are hoping for, and bigger names are still out there, but the Giants have won championships with over-achieving outfielders in the postseason.

Hype or Hope? Steelers The Most Feared

Is it hype, hope or what?   A long article by Andy Benoit details reasons for the headlines' assertions: Nobody Wants to Face the Steelers: An explosive downfield passing game and a creative defense make Pittsburgh the most dangerous team in the AFC bracket.

Another article by Hunter Felt in the Guardian details why the Steelers are "a force to fear" in the AFC playoffs.

Benoit's reasons are the lethal passing attack as deployed by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who he calls "the league's most gifted QB."  In addition to a quick and big scoring offense, enabled by a sturdy offensive line, Benoit cites an improving defense in the later part of the season.  He also sees intelligence in defensive designs that make up for weaknesses as cornerback.  He concludes: "The Steelers, on both sides of the ball, give an opponent a lot to prepare for. That alone is dangerous. Factor in that the Steelers in many places, including everywhere on offense, are more talented than those opponents and what you have is the scariest team entering the AFC postseason."

Hunter Felt admits the defensive breakdowns and Big Ben's interceptions, but if they can be controlled he sees the Steelers as strong against less than stellar AFC opponents.  A lot of quarterback uncertainty on the other teams is the big factor, he believes (including Tom Brady's ankle).  The Steelers may not be the best team in the conference he concludes. "They could, however, very well be the team that none of the others want to face when the games matter the most."

So is the remarkable coincidence of two such articles due to sportwriters talking to players etc. or to each other?  There's undoubted merit in the case they make, but it doesn't seem Pittsburgh sportwriters are so buoyant.

Anyway, the passing game may depend on a versatile running game, and so far that's been DeAngelo Williams.  Late Monday the unofficial word/rumors are that his ankle is sprained, the MRI was negative, so he's "day to day" (hopeful) but the Post-Gazette writers are suggesting that his chances of playing Saturday against the Bengals are slim (hopes dashed.)

With injuries for a playoff game, teams get cagey.  But if Williams isn't near 100% he might not be effective anyway.  His yardage gains slowed towards the end of the season, but he's been important as an outlet and short pass receiver.  So it's a good thing that the next guy up, Fitzgerald Touissaint, caught a two-point conversion in Sunday's game, though his 24 yards on 12 carries wasn't great.

The Bengals announced that they aren't preparing to bring back their injured starter at QB for the Steelers game Saturday, so McCarran will start again.  He did pretty well against the Steelers before, but one stat from the Bengals victory over Baltimore Sunday stands out: they went the entire game without converting a third down.

New Year Updates

First the (unexpected) good news for Steelers fans: they're in the playoffs.  After they unaccountably lost to a terrible Ravens team (for the second time this season), they needed Buffalo to defeat the Jets, and they had to win against an even more terrible team, the Browns.  Underdog Buffalo did win, and the Steelers mostly let Cleveland defeat itself.  Within minutes after the game, just about everybody on the Browns was fired.  Quarterback Johnny Football was reportedly in Las Vegas gambling.

The Steelers are the sixth seed but they won their first Super Bowl of this century from that position.  However the difference is in the Bad News: in the Cleveland game, running back DeAngelo Williams had what looks like a serious ankle injury.  Not many teams had a running back as good as Williams when their star running back went down for the season.  But if Williams is gone, too, the Steelers prospects even for a win against the Bengals in the wild card game are pretty dim.  Even the ever-impressive receiver Antonio Brown can't win it by himself.

That's the difference--the Steelers got healthy at the end of the seasons when they got to the Super Bowl and won it.  They are not healthy now, and though essentially backing into a playoff spot isn't fatal (witness the 2014 SF Giants in baseball), they already have little margin for error, without a dominating defense.

What the Steelers do have going for them is playoff experience, especially at quarterback but also across the team.  That made a big difference for the 2014 Giants, who had great heroic moments but also profited mightily from the jitters and mistakes of opponents.  The Steelers will need lots of mistakes by their opponents to get very far.

On the other hand there's an NBA team so deep that injuries barely register: the Golden State Warriors.  Steph Curry's current nagging bruise is clearly having an impact, but in the 3 games he didn't play or played little, the Warriors won two.  If not Klay Thompson, then Draymon Green or somebody else steps up and looks superhuman.   Granted the Warriors haven't been putting teams away lately but a record of 31-2 is merely ridiculous.

In baseball, everybody's waiting for the remaining name free agent outfielders to make their choices, but none of them are.  It's rumored that the Giants are actively interested in at least one, but of course nobody really knows.  There's certainly no panic about it in San Francisco.

Meanwhile the Pirates seem to be having a decent off-season with acquisitions.  There are several ex-Giants on the team now, most recently pitcher Ryan Vogelsong.  With the Cubs making a big offseason push to dominate in the division, the Pirates are basically strong but will need perseverance and steadiness to weather things in the toughest division in baseball.

December Brides

The San Francisco Giants blindsided pretty much everyone by making a major deal with pitcher Johnny Cueto.  It's for six years though in practical terms, it's really for two.

So no sooner did Jeff Samardzija convince everyone that he was a great fit as a San Francisco Giant than the Cueto news had to be absorbed.  On the face of it, he seems a less certain fit. His undeniable talent and uneven temperament, and a demonstrated penchant for getting rattled by hostile fans in away game ballparks, will require the kind of support the Giants organization and his teammates can provide, if he responds to it.

It's a big roll of the dice--even more so than Samardzija, who may not have his raw talent but really wants to be with the Giants, for all the right reasons.  After a bad half season in Kansas City, Cueto wasn't getting the free agent offers he probably expected, and this deal with the choice of becoming a free agent again in two years was apparently the decider, not the team.  Of course he has ample motivation for doing well in the next two years.   Cause $46 million a year isn't enough, I guess.  Update: Cueto sounds like a better fit in this account.

The Giants probably had little choice really, as division rivals the Diamondbacks and to a lesser extent the Dodgers strengthened their pitching.  The guy who loses in all this is pitcher Mike Leake.  A couple of weeks ago he was in the driver's seat, choosing between Arizona and SF, both good situations for him.  Now he's probably not getting an offer from either.

If the Giants can stay healthy--or healthier than last season--they may need just one of those guys to rebound.  Cueto has the bigger upside, they say, if he can return to form.  Both can give innings (which was Leake's m.o., so he becomes unnecessary) and Cueto can be dominating.  If both do well, the Giants will be hard to stop.  But with the Cubs strengthening their team, the Central division is also going to be very competitive.  Wild Cards may again be hard to come by in the West.

Now it looks as though the Giants will look at rookies for the outfield, with Gregor Blanco getting the start in left but able to play center when needed.  Though a deal for a second-tier player might yet happen, they say, it doesn't look like a proven home run hitter is headed this way.

In basketball, less than 24 hours after they beat the Celtics in Boston in double overtime, the Golden State Warriors lost their first game of the season, to the Bucks in Milwaukee, at the end of a 7 game road trip.  A game that should never have been scheduled that way.  So they stand at 24-1, with only a couple of more games in December.  Does that make sense, NBA?

In football, the Pittsburgh Steelers luck may have turned this season.  Though the running back the Bengals injured out for the season is still out, Big Ben is healthy, and the Bengals quarterback essentially injured himself, and he's out for the season, too.  The Steelers won big, but picking off the second string quarterback for two touchdowns really helped.  Next game is Denver at home, against their second string quarterback.  The division is still possible but unlikely--the Bengals, like the Steelers, have some relatively easy opponents late.  But if the Steelers beat Denver and don't screw up against weaker teams in the final two games, chances are pretty good for a wild card.  And the team that gets healthy and jells at the end of the season can go pretty far.

Winter Update

Time for a sports update, as the baseball deals come fast and furious.

The San Francisco Giants again this offseason whiffed on their high profile targets of acquisition, most recently on pitcher Grienke.  They went immediately to plan B by signing Jeff Samardzgia to a five year deal, as the second starter behind MadBum.  He gives them the durability they've been lacking, even with his off-year last year.  He could help or he could be another albatross.  That's baseball.

Why have high profile pitchers passed on the Giants?  In addition to individual reasons of where they want to play, it seems mostly ego and greed.  Who will give them the contract that pays more than the last guy to get the biggest contract.

The Giants don't need those guys.  The Giants play complete baseball and they are a real team.  Brandon Crawford--Golden Glove winner and top hitting shortstop who the Giants signed to a long-term contract this offseason--is the model.  For pure baseball fans and for San Francisco area fans, the Giants will continue to be fun to watch, and to feel good about rooting for.

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are utterly amazing.  Tonight was their biggest test so far--on the road against a good Brooklyn team, second of back-to-back games, with some beat-up players.  They lost their early lead in the third quarter and were briefly behind before surging in the fourth to win by their biggest margin in several games.  22-0.  Wow.

I've read about the new style of NBA games, but watching Warriors games on the net made it very clear: it's all 3 pointers and attacking the basket.  The 2-pointer jump shot that used to dominate, even on the throw it in, kick it out teams, has almost disappeared.

So Steve Kerr, one of the best 3 point shooters before Steph Curry and company blew all predecessors away, probably helped establish the Warriors game as their coach last year, but I haven't followed closely enough to know if that's what changed the league.

Former Laker Luke Walton is getting a lot of attention in that weird interim coach thing he's doing, for managing this incredible streak.  How can it be he's not getting official credit for these victories?

Big money egos taints major league baseball for me, and the injuries in football--especially concussions--have drained much of my enthusiasm for the NFL.  The Steelers play Indianapolis tonight, but this doesn't look like their year.  I've been through this particular frustration before---when the Steelers seem loaded with talent but can't put it together consistently to win.  Their defense in particular is suspect.  And Carolina and now Seattle seem the teams with the mojo working.

Later...

On the other hand...after a rocky first quarter, the Steelers manhandled the Colts 45-10 and they looked like magic.  Big Ben had an amazing touch on passes long and short, and his receivers looked superhuman.  The defense came up with takeaways and gave up only one touchdown.  Effective running game set up the pass barrage.  Suddenly the Steelers look like they might make noise this year.  Their next two games--New England and Cinncy--will tell the tale.  Commentators are prone to inflation these days, but I did hear words saying the Steelers may be better than both.  Guess we'll see.

Bad Day, Bad Plays in New York & Pittsburgh

Daniel Murphy went from hero to goat for the Mets in the World Series, but he had serious competition.  His errors in the field led to victories for Kansas City, including in the final game in New York.  But other errors, possibly including managerial mistakes, will keep New Yorkers moaning all winter.  KC won the Series in five games.  What could be more demoralizing that leading in the eighth inning and losing--three times, including KC scoring 5 runs in the 12th inning of the final game.

The Mets had starting pitching and hitting, but KC exploited their weaknesses of defense (especially infield) and relief pitching.  Ultimately however it may be Series experience that made the difference.  KC played last year, losing to the Giants in seven.  The Giants played relaxed but also with nerves of steel.  They'd been there before, and even though key players like Joe Panik hadn't been, the team had--and the Giants are always a team.  KC took it all in.  This year they were the team that played relaxed, with nerves of steel.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh Sunday, things also started in very promising fashion.  Big Ben was back from his injury and had the Steelers ahead in the fourth quarter against the undefeated Cinncy Bengals.  But whether it was fatigue or just bad luck, his fourth quarter interceptions gave the game away.

Perhaps even worse for Pittsburgh, they lost their franchise running back to injury--likely for the year.  It's not as bad as losing Ben, but almost.  It's just November but it's hard to see a path to the playoffs.

Cutch Apparent

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

 Andrew McCutchen learned the Roberto Clemente story many years ago, long before being drafted by Clemente’s former team, the Pirates, in 2005. When he was 11 or 12, McCutchen went to a baseball camp in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the city where Clemente was born and raised. There, McCutchen met Manny Sanguillen, the former Pirates catcher who played alongside Clemente, and heard the story of a Hall of Fame outfielder, the pride of Pittsburgh, who died in a New Year’s Eve plane crash in 1972 while on a mission to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

 The Commissioner’s Award, given annually to the player who best represented the game of baseball on and off the field, was renamed in 1973 to honor Clemente. On Friday, McCutchen was named the 2015 Roberto Clemente Award winner in a ceremony at Citi Field prior to Game 3 of the World Series, joining Willie Stargell as just the second Pirates player to win the award...

I want to strive to be like he was,” McCutchen said, “a person who would give you the clothes off of his back just to make this world a better place.”

I saw Clemente play many times, mostly at Forbes Field in the late 50s and 60s.  I shook his hand on the field once, on one of those pre-game events when kids could meet the players.  His last regular season game was on September 30, 1972.  I saw him last on September 21, in New York, in a game with the Mets.  He got at least one hit that day, closing in on 3,000 hits for his career, a mark he hit with his last at-bat.  He hit .325 in the NLCS, but the Pirates lost to the Reds in the fifth game.

Clemente was the most exciting player I ever saw play.  Only Barry Bonds came close.  I've never seen McCutchen play, which means I haven't seen a game in Pittsburgh since 2008.  Horrors!  But everything I know about him makes him a fitting heir to Clemente, on and off the field.

This Was A Job for Superman

The Team of Destiny is in part predictable: it's the team that's peaking at playoff time, often because their lineup is healthy after an uneasy season, and/or they made late season acquisitions that just jelled.  In retrospect, you can see this pattern a lot--in the 2012 and 2014 San Francisco Giants, for example.

But the unpredictable part is the Guy Who Becomes Superman.  Marco Scutaro.  Cody Ross. Madison Bumgarner. And of course, the payoff of things done right by managers, coaches and the front office, and team unselfishness.  But often enough you need the superhero.

The Mets got healthy, they seem to have team chemistry, their strength of starting pitching stayed strong, and second baseman Daniel Murphy put on a cape and flew.

Murphy hit a home run in six consecutive postseason games, including all four in the NLCS Mets sweep of the Cubs. That's an All Time Record, which in baseball means it hadn't happened in more than a hundred years.  In tonight's game he had four hits, the last one--in the eighth inning--a home run to center field.  He'd missed a homer to center field earlier by feet, getting instead a double that splashed off the warning track onto the ivy.  He was named series MVP.

Murphy had his biggest home run season this year--he hit 14.  But that's back when he was Clark Kent, mild mannered utility infielder for a not so great Metropolitan baseball team.

I've written here several times that I've never been able to figure out how the Cubs won so many games.  Once the Mets (and Murphy) beat Arietta, the series was functionally over.  The Mets, who lost all their regular season games against the Cubs, never even trailed the Cubs in any of the four playoff games.

Now the question becomes whether they will meet another apparent Team of Destiny, Toronto, which must win the next two games, both in Kansas City.

Schadenfreude 3 Dodgers 2

I won't lie.  It's the Dodgers losing rather than the Mets winning that did it for me, that actually had me excited in the bottom of the ninth on the MLB gametracker.  The criminal Chase Utley making the first out of the ninth was sweet, in his first appearance since he crippled the Mets' shortstop.

And on almost the same grounds I'm sticking with the Mets against the sentimental favorite (outside of New York) Chicago Cubs.  Yes, Barack's team, but they employ a serial criminal, however legal.

But I won't bring the same feeling to it.  I spent 5 years in Illinois, give or take, though outside of Areitta I still can't figure out why the Cubs win.   The Dodgers are not only the Giants perennial rival, these days they are their opposite.  The Giants clubhouse ethic is inclusive, personal and team-oriented, with a manager who is both respected and loved.  The operative word for the Giants is loyalty, as it is for their fans.  The Dodgers with their huge payroll appear to be the opposite.  Not as bad as Washington perhaps but by tomorrow they'll probably have a new manager, too.  Update 10/22: It took a few more days, but Dodger manager Mattingly is gone.

Meanwhile Toronto won their first series, and despite the fan damage in their ultimate home win, I'm sticking with them.  TO!  (And Trudeau!)

No More of This, Baseball

The Dodgers' Chase Utley has been suspended for his "slide" that broke the leg of Mets shortstop Tejada in their second playoff game. The play went a long way to enabling the Dodgers to win the game.  The immediate two game suspension is being appealed.

I don't think it's enough.  The Dodgers should forfeit this game, and Utley should be charged with assault.

This story contrasts this case with the Cubs incident that injured Pirates star Kang.  The Utley play is clearly illegal, the Cubs play just hard baseball, in this view.  I don't agree.  There is no place in today's baseball for a play that carries with it the significant likelihood of injury to a player.  Especially the Cubs player in question, who is a repeat offender.  He's already ruined one career.  That can't happen.

All I can do now is reinforce my distaste for the Dodgers and the Cubs.  Go Mets!

Last Games

Update 10/7: Unfortunately the wild card game went according to script, with Cubs ace Jake Arrieta blanking the Bucs and ending their season.  One of those rating guys had the Pirates at 10th of 10 teams in the playoffs, but mostly because they were facing Arrieta.  If they'd won this game, they would have been rated 2nd. Which by the way is where they finished in the majors in number of games won.

 So now a lot of pure baseball fans, and possibly Giants fans, will be rooting for the Cubs to go all the way, because they haven't in such a long time.  Not me.  I've got enough Pittsburgh still in me to wish them ill, particularly after they put one of the Pirates hitting stars on the disabled list, and after Arrieta plunked two hitters Wednesday.  He's riding high now, so he has a "winning attitude" but he seems like an asshole to me. Go, Toronto.  Anyway, my baseball season is really over now.

10/4:It went down to the wire but the Pirates won their final regular season game to get home field for the wild card game on Wednesday.  Their loss to the Reds Saturday along with the Cubs win meant they had to win Sunday to host the game, which they did.  With the likelihood that it's going to be a tense pitchers' duel, home field might mean nothing or it might mean everything in a low scoring game.

This is the third straight year the Pirates will play the wild card game, with a record of 1-1.  It's not a fair system, especially when the team with the second best record in all of the Majors--the Pirates--can be eliminated by one bad game, while other teams with a worse record (like the Dodgers) get a series.  This is the third year for this system, and though it produced the World Champs last year, it is due for an overhaul.

But where I am, the season is effectively over, because it's over for the SF Giants, and therefore their broadcasters.  So the dials on the radios return to the classical station instead of the one that plays really awful country music when it isn't carrying the Giants games.

I doubt I can go cold turkey though, so I'll probably spend some recreational time watching selected games from last year's postseason on YouTube.  I'll stick with the Pirates live this year in any medium I can, of course, as long as they're in it.

Saturday at the ball park on the Bay, Tim Hudson was honored, and Sunday it was Jeremy Affeldt, with the astonishing postseason record of 22 consecutive game appearances without giving up a run, including the seventh game of the World Series last year.  In the postseasons he pitched in every inning except the first and the ninth.

The best part of the game was the return of Matt Cain, who started and pitched 5 scoreless innings.  That was a good transition to next year, though the outcome of the game wasn't--the Giants proceeded with a lead and a shutout throughout the game in some majesty, giving pitchers a few batters and a bow, until with one out in the ninth the Rockies erupted and won the game.

It was Star Wars day on Saturday, so the Giants victory--on 425 foot homers by Marlon Byrd and Brandon Crawford, and an inside-the-park homer by Kelby Tomlinson, who finished the year with a .301 average--was witnessed by a number of Wookies.  Jake Peavy pitched another stellar game and got the win.

Sunday was fan appreciation day, and several Giants talked about the unique qualities of Giants fans, and how this combines with the team, from front office to clubhouse.  Ryan Vogelsong said it best: "I don't know where I'm going to be next year, or what name is going to be on the front of my uniform.  But I do know this--I will always, always be a Giant."

I'm sure lots of teams and cities claim that their fans are the best of all, but in my limited observation, the Giants have a good claim.  Pittsburgh fans are passionate, and though that passion extends to the game itself (football or baseball), it is all or nothing, depending on winning or losing.  There's deep loyalty but such mood swings of adulation or disgust.  Giants fans are more about the fun of the game, loyalty to the team they know, and just constant support.  It's probably a class thing but I don't want to get into that now.  It adds up to a different kind of excitement.  I've seen lots of Pirates games but I've never felt the electricity in the stands as I did in San Francisco.

Most of all, and not surprisingly, I'll miss the announcing team.  They've utterly spoiled me.  I can't listen to anybody else without wincing.  Well, some of the national TV guys are bland enough not to matter, but for radio, nothing like the fab four.