Deep breaths. The end is upon us! The very final game of the MLB baseball season. The final round of this fight is upon us and may the best Indians team win!
I have included a Tweet I wrote on July 13, 2016 allegedly at 10:15am.
At the time of this tweet I was half-serious, half-joking. The half-joking part of me was because Kluber was kind of in the right place, at the right time kind of deal to be credited with the All-Star game win. The half-serious part of me believes until the end of each baseball season that my Indians will finally win a championship no matter the odds or the ridicule I annually receive for my blind devotion. If the planets should align and the cosmic forces relent for one day and this comes to pass, I will do a little happy dance and plan my permanent body art. The game itself is hours away as I write this but once again, I have faith in my team and hope in my spirit to persevere the coming hours and mounting stress that each inning will undoubtedly unpack.
Regardless of the outcome, I think it is most fitting that the ‘GUY’ who got them to this point is the guy to try to finish off an incredible season for not only him and the team but the whole coaching staff and front office. Here’s to hoping for one more win for Cleveland tonight. The team, the city and the fans have been patient and provided an experience that wont soon be forgotten. Go Cleveland. Good Luck. I’ll be watching and sending all the positive juju I can muster.
Play ball!
Good morning and Happy Friday to one and all.
For fun I like to look at things from a different perspective and see what others see. We could be talking about politics or the latest TMZ scandal or whatever. There are many situations where people weigh in with their thoughts and gut reactions based only on a fraction of the story. So I thought it would be amusing to pose a scenario below and see how it would be perceived. With a bit of prolonged ado…and some more…alright, now in the immortal words of pop/rap star Flo-rida: here we go.
Since the MLB baseball season has concluded I thought it would be amusing (too soon?) to focus on the ending of the season for the St Louis Cardinals. For this argument I need the reader to suspend any and all knowledge of this past baseball season. Pretend you are a Cardinals fan (if you presently are not) but you have been stranded on a deserted island since about February. Keep in mind that Cardinals fans tend to be very emotionally rooted to this team and live and die with how the Cardinals do. The Cardinals have a rich tradition of winning baseball and are perpetually in the playoff hunt.
The St Louis Cardinals baseball team, which was beset by injuries, lost their highest paid players on both the pitching side (Wainwright) and the hitting side (Holliday) for a large chunk of the season. But in their absences, the younger, unproven minor leaguers stepped in and made admirable contributions. At the All-Star Break, the team had the best record in all of baseball. Fast forward to the end of the season. Most of the injury issues with the team were resolved but from an offensive standpoint, the team struggled for weeks. To finish out the season the team lost six of their last seven games. In a three game series with the Atlanta Braves, the team was completely shutout losing all three games by scores of 4-0, 6-0 and 2-0. These three wins gave Atlanta their 64th, 65th and 66th wins respectively. Following that ugly series in Atlanta, the Cardinals lost three of four games to the Cubs. After a 4-0 win engineered by wiley veteran John Lackey, the team lost the next three by giving up 20 runs and a whopping 10 home runs. The Cardinals Stephen Piscotty in the series, who started the year in the minor leagues, hit three home runs by himself.
So just based on this end to the season for the Cardinals, after being the best team in baseball at the essential midway point, do you fire the manager Mike Matheny? Three ugly losses to one of the worst teams in baseball (Atlanta) without scoring a run and then follow that up with losing three more to end the season against the hated Chicago Cubs who are young but improving. Did the team quit on their manager? Maybe the organization needs a new voice to get the players to play all the way until the end of the year?
OK so reveal…yes you did choose Coke over Pepsi in this blind taste test! Wait, wrong topic. In the above scenario just based on the slanted information given, you might be inclined to question if firing Mike Matheny was indeed the right choice based on the outcome. Now let’s rope in some more of the facts and see if you change your viewpoint.
The Cardinals were in fact the best team in baseball at the All-Star Break – and likewise at the end of the regular season with 100 wins. The team secured the best record before the final regular season series against Atlanta and essentially treated the series like spring training games. The players got to get some live looks and game action but with nothing on the line except maybe pride, the team went through the motions and no-harm, no-foul on the win-loss results. The Chicago Cubs had a stellar season and behind the Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates had the third best record in all of baseball. The Cubs defeated the Pirates in a wildcard game to advance to the Division Series which was best of five format. After the Cardinals looked like the classic Cardinals in game one, playing good defense and pitching flawlessly, the young Cub hitters tee’d off the rest of the way hitting home run after home run – including six in a game three 8-6 Cubs win. Somehow Mike Matheny and Company held the team on course (during the regular season) despite significant injuries to the team’s pitching ace, bullpen setup man, starting first baseman and starting left fielder plus perennial underdog part-time center-fielder Jon Jay was injured and never returned to form. Despite all the obstacles, Matheny kept his team together and on the shoulders of a pitching staff kept the team focused and made the most of the scarce run support to eek out win after win.
So based on the full picture, I would not fire Mike Matheny. In the grand scheme of things, he should probably be manager of the year in the National League for the accomplishments of his team and overcoming key injuries that would have torpedoed just about any other club. Kudos to Mike Matheny and the St Louis Cardinals even though they did bow to the Chicago Cubs. lol
Have a great weekend.
Hello and October Pumpkin greetings! How many of you are excited about the team’s current three game winning streak? Yes I know the regular season is over and the Indians did not qualify for the playoffs (again). But how about that three game sweep of the Red Sox?
*sigh*
Yeah I know it’s over. When Terry Francona took the reins prior to the 2013 season and promptly lead them from the previous season’s win total of 68 to 92 wins and a wildcard playoff berth, things seemed dandy. Even super-duper maybe! But in the two subsequent seasons, the team regressed to 85 and 81 wins respectively. Granted some will say he has had three ‘winning’ seasons after the team had posted 5 straight non-winning seasons.
Except for the crazy 2013 push in the finals months to clinch the top wildcard spot and home field for that one game playoff, the Indians have been floating around average or below average for the tenure of Tito. Take the first month of the season (April) for instance. The Indians record for April in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 are: 11-13, 11-17 and 7-14 respectively for a .397 winning percentage. Just for torturous fun, if you flip the Indians record in April (substitute the loss number for the win number and vice versa) and keep the other team’s win-loss records the same, this is what could have happened.
In 2013 instead of being the top wildcard team, they would have beat out Detroit for the division title and had a chance in the division series to advance against Oakland. Intriguing since Cleveland won 5 of 7 meetings with the A’s. In theory, the Indians would have then played the Red Sox whom they did not fare well against that season going 1-6.
In 2014 instead of being four games behind Kansas City for the last wildcard spot (missing playoffs), again the Indians would have beat out Detroit for the division title causing the upstart Royals team to have to play Detroit (in Detroit instead of in Kansas City) and possibly wipe out their amazing run to the World Series. Cleveland in turn would have drawn Baltimore in the division series whom they bested four times out of seven tries during the regular season. If the Indians would have advanced to the ALCS (American League Championship series) it could have been against Kansas City and the Royals did win the season series over the Indians so things might have just ended up playing out the way they did last year.
In 2015 by being seven games better after April, the Indians would not have had enough wins to overtake the division leading Royals but would have had the best record for a wildcard qualifying team – pitting them against the New York Yankees (bumping out the Astros) for a showdown at Progressive Field (aka The Jake). The Indians this year won five of seven meetings with that Yankees including winning three of four at home. From there the Indians could have been matched up against the Royals who edged the Indians in the season series 10 wins to 9 for the Indians. So who knows?
OK so based on the reversal of fortunes in April for each of those years, the season and post season outcome could have been radically different. But year after year the team has floundered out of the gate and had to fight uphill all season (see Eric Wedge) to get near the playoff picture. Somehow Tito needs to prepare the team better for the April games because they seem to count the same in the win column as the ones in August and September.
Also the front office needs to realistically evaluate the talent and factor in some regression as opposed to increased production – a little Murphy’s Law and diminished returns to see where they keep coming up short (see first base defense and power right handed bat). The team’s pitching seems like a good base (starters, middle and closing relief) but they need steady production from right field (Chisenhall?), first base (trade Santana?), center field (Brantley needs to be a left fielder full time) and third base (Urshela?).
Ideally I think the team just needs to find a Sean Casey-type player for first base (sorry Carlos) who hits for average like Brantley and has a solid glove. I think with the minor league options, the team can platoon in right field and be OK with Chisenhall. If Urshela can hit around .250 and play a steady glove at third base I think the team is fine. Jettison the streaky Santana and get a full-time DH/bench bat like Mark Trumbo or someone with his upside and no real fielding position. The Bourn and Swisher signings were dismal failures and I am grateful the team just ate their contracts to lift those albatrosses. In 2015, coming into camp, basically the team was set from a roster standpoint that won 85 games in 2014 and the team had to scratch and claw to score runs with Ramirez and Chisenhall on the infield (along with Santana). I do not know if there is an heir apparent at second base in the organization but maybe Kipnis could be a trading chip as his stock is as high as it has been in recent years and after this year he will probably slip back in production and his defense is nothing spectacular. Just saying. Spit balling here. The team as it is comprised doesn’t appear poised to make any huge leaps to overtake the Royals anytime soon or the Twins for that matter.
So a tip of the cap to Tito for pulling out a winning season even if it has an asterisk due to the non-makeup game with the Tigers due to disinterest. LOL.
In five months, the Indians will get a chance to try out my “winning in April is important” theory. Until then, hope you enjoy the baseball playoffs or your fantasy football match-ups.
…might be being attacked by a tiger.
– Presence of a tiger
– Blood on the tiger in your presence (not tiger blood, Charlie)
– Tiger paws with claws extended making contact with your person
– Memory of you bypassing the barrier at the zoo resulting in you landing suddenly in the midst of a tiger plus missing portions of consciousness
– High pitched screams emanating from your throat due to extreme pain caused by puncture wounds
– A wall of bystanders holding and pointing their cell phones at you but not actively doing anything to assist you
These are just some of the ways to tell if you are being attacked by a tiger or other large predatory cat. I’m sure if you thought about it you could find some to add to the list. Until next time (if you aren’t fatally mauled by a tiger) have a terrific Hump Day!
Went to the Huzzah Valley. This is my last report. Lol
Aside the from obvious homage paid to Papa Roach I am here to report on a weekend gone by that included bloodshed, sun, booze, fire, illegal substances, sweat, a redneck love-triangle and much much more!
The day began like just about any other muggy summery day with broken clouds and steadily rising temperatures. The Google Maps app route took us in a squiggly round-about way that reached the Huzzah Valley Resort main office in roughly an hour and half. Once our background checks, strip searches and mandatory debriefing sessions were completed, we were allowed to ‘check-in’ and use the restrooms to void excess bodily fluids. While waiting in line, I was molested by a taller, hairy individual but due to the shame I felt, I chose to just wave at Josh as opposed to reporting him. We completed the process and all four of us headed to our two designated campsites.
Down the road we turned right, noting the long slip’n’slide being setup for later festivities, and headed past a port-a-potty and dumpster towards the area designated Zoo II. Arriving at our designated sites, I noticed two things: we were the first of our group to arrive and there were no visible animals. Some Zoo.
My girlfriend Kristi and I assisted our friends in setting up their tent that could have probably housed Jay-Z’s entourage. As we surveyed the landscape around us, other individuals in our group started arriving and with it our ‘borrowed’ tent so we could set up ourselves. We had been noticing some of the adjacent campers milling about and heading towards the river which was about 150 feet directly behind us. Once setup was completed we sent an exploratory group to check out the river and best route to arrive there. After rejecting a muddy downward slide of a path, we decided upon a sandy stair-step path to the river. A couple of small other groups were in the vicinity but still there was plenty of room on the river for our group. So we back tracked to the camp and put on our swim suits and appropriate footwear, grabbed some coolers full of beer, and marched back to the river.
The spot on the river we were utilizing was naturally a concavity. We walked down the bank about 10-12 feet to the river bed and the spot was about 120 feet from bank to bank with half of it water and the other half sand and gravel. After being in our spot for about 30-40 minutes, socializing and playing some modified Frisbee, we collectively couldn’t help but notice a campsite along the top of the bank from where we walked down. The attention was initially drawn to them because one of the camper’s trucks horn would intermittently blare. Then an obviously intoxicated male started trying to fight another male but that was quickly broken up. Some time thereafter the drunken male was up in the face of a female. This situation tensely went on for a few minutes with the other occupants of the campsite not interceding. Finally the drunken male lost his balance and toppled to the ground. At this point, I think everyone in my group had lost interest and began to pick up their conversations and enjoy the river again.
But wait! Drunken male got up and made a mad dash for the river. He got to the edge of the river bank and half jumped, half tripped causing him to plummet down to the shallow water and waiting log below. This is where I will ask you to have young children and the squeamish leave the room. The drunken male floundered for a second or two then came to rest face up in a shallow side pool of the river. Katie from our group went to investigate the drunken victim – not anyone from the guy’s group mind you – but Katie from our group. She pulled him to a more shallow area to check his injuries. My girlfriend, who is studying nursing, also went over to assist and assess. Somewhere in the dive and flop process, Mr Drunken Hot Mess who was already shirtless somehow lost his swim trunks. Those of you familiar with the male form unclothed can draw your own mental picture, granted the water was cold and this guy was hung like an acorn. So with our group ringing the fallen drunk and his friends still up on the bank looking down with obvious disinterest, our people started yelling up to them to please bring down a pair of shorts for this man. It only took about 10 minutes for them to finally leave the camp area and descend with the shorts to cover his business.
Someone in the camp must have realized the gravity of the situation and called for emergency response to tend to his injuries. Personnel from the Huzzah Valley Resort arrived but did not get hands on with the victim but only observed until the ambulance team arrived. In the meantime, it got to be Jerry Springer time. Turns out the jumper was upset with his girlfriend, who was up on bank but did not come down to the his side, because she was allegedly sleeping with his twin brother. Eventually the ambulance team arrived and trekked down the embankment to place the drunken jumper on a backboard and hoist him up into the ambulance. Note: It was later purported that Mr Drunken Jumper refused medical attention and was taken to jail for public intoxication.
With the light starting to fail, we headed back to camp for food and several hours of a drinking game called Flip Cup (I did not participate because I hate playing Flip Cup). On this (Friday) night we were the semi-rowdy campsite. The night carried on and eventually everyone went to sleep in their corresponding tents.
The next morning arrived and it was time to prep for our float! Naturally there were swimming suits and sun screen applied and coolers packed for the half day excursion forthcoming. The buses arrived and we managed to all board the correct bus and head to our drop off spot. Once there we grouped up (there was 20+ in our group) and took multiple rafts onto the river. Alicia (God love her) was first to oops, plunge and get soaked in the chilly waters.
Floating is not an exact science but it’s not rocket science either. Some like to hang out in the raft, some like to walk in front or behind the raft, some like to hang out in an inner tube and some like to swim. There really is no right or wrong way to do it. Periodically the group stops on sandbars and drinks or eats or both. A fun component to this is the people watching. You see people of all ages and races enjoying the river. Some rafting and others in canoes drifting by with music playing nearby. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors as long as you don’t have social anxiety. Social! Take a drink!
This is the first year in awhile that the river was elevated (due to recent consistent rains) so the floating experience was more enjoyable as the rafts did not have to be dragged as much through necessity. My pal Becca’s boyfriend, Mr. Urfer, still chose to get in some cardio and upper body workout by guiding the floating party in the forward position. Mr. B, which is Becca’s cat, would have been very impressed had he been somehow forced to join the floating party in a protective water-tight but oxygen-fed bubble with food.
On the river there was very little drama and it was nice. Of course there were still antics that are associated with most float trips: accidental nudity, not so accidental nudity, drinking, excessive drinking, water sports (football anyone?), dunking, smoking, ‘smoking’, falling, laughing, injuries (ouch Madie!), tanning, swimming, kissing, squirting (with squirt gun type devices), people watching and other shades of gray.
As with all good things, the floating portion came to an end and we were rounded up and rode the bus back to the campsite. There some of us replenished our supply of beer and headed back to our section of river. This time there was no drunken jumper hi-jinx. After a couple of hours there, we headed back to camp for food and to chill.
Epilogue:
After retiring for the night on Saturday to our tent, the campsite adjacent which was relatively calm and mostly quiet the night before was a ruckus of laughter and activity. Later, it was reported that the site next to us had some persons who were partaking in illegal substances ingested through the nasal orafice.
My takeaways from the weekend were a slight irregular sunburn and a general sense of a good time. Camping and floating with friends is my idea of a good time. Granted not everyone in the group of two dozen people is my ideal BFF but still a fun group. The weather was hot and muggy and the beer was cold and the food was delicious. Hundreds of people pee’d in the river and around the campsites but aint that what it’s all about? OK not entirely I hope.
Happy Belated Birthday to Becca as that was the central reason for the float in the first place – also an honorable mention to my girlfriend as her birthday was earlier in the week too.
Happy Birthday today to Daniel Jacob Radcliffe aka Harry Potter who is a ripe old 26 today.
Have a great post Hump Day everyone!
P.S. I just found out that the band Disturbed has a new album coming out August 21st!! Small happy dance.
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