It’s been a long time since I blogged and I have a lot of thoughts. I’ll divide this post with headings so read whatever you’re interested in.
Dodgers-Mets
I went to a bunch of baseball games this summer, but I didn’t get to my first Major League game of the year until the last day of August. The Dodgers were in town for a three game series with the Mets. I had tickets for my dad and me for the second game. As it turned out, Clayton Kershaw was coming back from the injured list in the third game so we decided to go to that one also.
After the Dodgers won the first game of the series, it was Tyler Anderson against Jacob deGrom. Both starters went seven innings. Unfortunately Anderson gave up a two-run home run in the third to Starling Marte. Mookie Betts hit a solo home run off of deGrom in the sixth. And that was all the scoring. Justin Turner hit a ball that would have tied it in the seventh, but Brandon Nimmo made a great catch. The Mets had Timmy Trumpet there to play Edwin Diaz’s song live. It would have been awesome if Diaz had blown the save after that, but he did not. With the good pitching, the game only took two hours and 19 minutes. Attendance was 41,799.
It was a big crowd on a Wednesday night for a possible playoff preview (but hopefully not, given the result). 
His name is Timmy Trumpet and he plays the trumpet. What are the odds?
In the final game of the series, it was Clayton Kershaw against Chris Bassett. Kershaw had a rough first inning. The Mets scored a run on a single and three walks. The Dodgers responded in the second with a two-run single by Chris Taylor. After the bad first inning, Kershaw was excellent. He didn’t allow a baserunner the next four innings. Since it was his first game back, he was done for the day at 74 pitches. He pitched really well and left in position to win. As he walked off the mound after five, I figured he was done. I also thought about the possibility that this could be the last time I ever see him pitch and I was sad. I hope not, but there’s at least a chance. If the Dodgers win the World Series this year and he decides to retire, the only better way for him to go out would be to retire after winning his third or fourth World Series a few years down the road. There’s also the possibility that he’ll sign with the Rangers (the only team I could imagine him leaving the Dodgers for). If he does that, I will still root for him and I would still try to go see him pitch when he’s in town to play the Yankees or Mets, but I hope he won’t pitch for another team. And then there’s always the possibility that Clayton Kershaw keeps pitching for the Dodgers and things just don’t work out for me to see him in person. This game was the first time I had seen him since September 2019. I’ve been to 12 games at Dodger Stadium (all during Kershaw’s career) and Kershaw has only pitched in one of them. So I hope I get to see him again, but we’ll see what happens.
I didn’t want to miss a chance to see the greatest Dodger since Sandy Koufax.
Unfortunately, the bullpen could not hold the lead. The Mets scored two in the sixth and two in the seventh. The Dodgers got a run in the eighth, but it was not enough and the Mets won 5-3. Attendance was 36,908. Pete texted me saying he was sorry that the Dodgers lost the two games I went to. They were pretty much the least disappointing losses I could imagine going to. They were 90-40 after losing those two games. They hadn’t lost a series since July. Kershaw was really good after a bad first inning. And as I said to Pete, “Oh no, the Dodgers are only going to win 108 regular season games instead of 109.” As I write this a month later, the Dodgers have 110 wins with four games to go. The last time I didn’t get to see the Dodgers win a game in person, they won the World Series. So hopefully this year will be a repeat of that. It was the first time I was in attendance to see the Dodgers lose a game started by Kershaw. Here are his numbers with me in attendance:
11 starts, two pinch hit appearances (0-1 with a sacrifice bunt)
Dodgers: 11-2 (the other loss was when he unsuccessfully pinch hit)
Kershaw’s Win-Loss: 5-0
70 innings
1.29 ERA
74 strikeouts
39 hits
17 walks
0.80 WHIP
2 complete game shutouts
Some other notes on the two games at Citi Field before I move on: Late summer sounds like a great time to go see some baseball. It’s usually not too hot and it’s a great way to pass some time while you’re waiting for football to start. The second game we went to was a 4:00 start, which is nice because it’s day baseball and the sun is going down so it’s not too much of a factor. Also it was the same day as the first Thursday of college football so we could go to the game and be home to watch some football at night. The problem with all of that was it was also when the US Open was going on in Flushing. Traffic was bad. We made it to our seats just in time for the first pitch on Wednesday night. It wasn’t as bad getting there on Thursday, but getting home after both games was rough. Food and beverage could be improved at Citi Field. I had buffalo chicken mac and cheese on Wednesday night, which was pretty good, but also expensive. The craft beer selection could definitely be improved. There was one little stand on the upper level with craft beer cans. The good news was that it didn’t take too long to get a beer. But I would definitely like to see a better selection of craft beer on tap. I had a Montauk Summer Ale on Wednesday night. I had a Brooklyn Lager on Thursday afternoon. It’s not my favorite beer, but it’s pretty good. If the Dodgers win the World Series, that will be one of the beers I drink to celebrate since I don’t know of any Los Angeles beer that I could get around here (I could find Northern California beer or San Diego beer pretty easily and maybe some Orange County beer, but I don’t know about any Los Angeles beer that’s available on Long Island). I wanted to do Brooklyn Lager and a hot dog with Kershaw pitching. I’ve had some really good hot dogs at Citi Field and some not so good ones. Unfortunately this was a not so good one. Citi Field also brought back the edible cookie dough. They used to have a couple of stands where they would scoop it and it was nice and fresh and delicious. Now they have it pre-scooped in a refrigerator at a lot of the stands. I get why they did that because it’s much easier, but it wasn’t as good. It was really hard and I broke the plastic spoon. My dad and I also shared a pretzel. I got it at the same stand I got the hot dog. It was like an artisanal pretzel. There were regular pretzels available at other stands, but I got the one that was available where I was getting a hot dog. The regular pretzels probably would have been better. So overall, the food and beverage experience left something to be desired.
Vin Scully
Today is six years since Vin Scully’s last game. It's been two months since he died. I did a running diary of a random August game in 2016 and got a great Vin Scully story about Pearl Harbor. I hope that the Dodgers win the World Series this year and that Vin Scully is doing the play-by-play in heaven. I watched a whole bunch of Vin Scully games on YouTube in August. Here are my top 11:
11. 1989 All Star Game- “Bo Jackson says hello!” Bo Jackson led off the bottom of the first with a home run as Vin calls the game with an uncomfortable Ronald Reagan. Reagan was in the booth for the first inning and it wasn’t like he was a guest being interviewed. He was calling the game with Vin for an inning. He admits to being uncomfortable. Tom Seaver called the rest of the game with Vin.
9. (Tie) 1965 World Series Games 5 and 7- They’re both Sandy Koufax pitching a complete game shutout (four hits, one walk, and 10 strikeouts in Game 5 and three hits, three walks, and 10 strikeouts in Game 7). So why don’t these rank higher? It’s baseball from another century and it feels like it. Vin splits the games with Ray Scott, the Twins’ play by play guy. Vin had the second half of both of these games. That means that you only got four innings of Vin calling Koufax pitching in Game 5. He took over in the bottom of the fifth with the Dodgers hitting. Vin also took over in the bottom of the fifth with the Twins hitting in Game 7 so you would have gotten five innings of him calling Koufax in Game 7, except they went back to Ray Scott for the bottom of the ninth because Vin was sent down to the Dodgers’ clubhouse to interview people once the game ended. And the quality of the broadcast is obviously not great since it was 1965. They say several times how they’re in color, but I guess only black and white versions were preserved because that’s what’s on YouTube.
8. The Catch (Montana to Clark)- The 49ers beat the Cowboys to advance to the Super Bowl. Vin will always be remembered for baseball, but it’s cool that he was on the call for one of the great moments in Joe Montana’s career.
7. 2013 Opening Day- The only bad part of being at this game was not being able to listen to Vin call Kershaw’s shutout and go ahead home run against the Giants.
6. Vin’s last game at Dodger Stadium- This was one of those late season games where Vin would be calling two games at once. The Dodgers could clinch the division with a win or a Giants’ loss. The Dodgers were losing with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Corey Seager tied it with a home run. Then it was a race to see if the Dodgers could win before the Giants lost. Charlie Culberson hit a home run in the tenth to win it before the Giants lost.
5. 1986 World Series Game 6- This is the greatest win in the history of the Mets and probably the second best call ever for Vin. We’ll get to number one. Other contenders for his second best call would be Sandy Koufax’s perfect game and Hank Aaron’s 715th home run.
4. 1988 World Series Game 2- It’s Vin calling Orel Hershiser at his best. He pitched a complete game shutout (three hits and two walks). And Hershiser was 3-3 with two doubles and an RBI. As always, the DH is stupid.
3. 1988 World Series Game 5- Along with Game 7 from 1965, it’s the other game when the Dodgers won the World Series with Vin on the call on TV that was preserved. Game 7 in 1965 is better than this one, but this has Vin doing play-by-play for the whole game and the quality of the broadcast is much better. And it’s Orel Hershiser on the mound again.
2. Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter- Vin was on to the possibility of a no-hitter early in this one. Seeing Kershaw pitch a no-hitter was going to be great no matter what, but having Vin call it made it even better.
1. 1988 World Series Game 1- Kirk Gibson’s home run. It’s an amazing game and Vin’s greatest call.
I limited this to full games that are available on YouTube. You can find his radio call of the last inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game, but not the whole game. You can easily find his call of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, but I don’t think the whole game is available. The one game that I wish I could hear Vin call is Game 7 of the 1955 World Series. He did the game on TV. The radio call of that game was preserved, but the TV call was not. I limited this to games that I watched in August. Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter at Coors Field should probably be on the list. And there are a bunch of other great Clayton Kershaw games that Vin called that you can find, but I didn’t watch those in August (I think I watched Nomo’s no-hitter and I definitely watched a bunch of other Kershaw games in 2020 when there were no sports). I probably missed some other great Vin games. He was the best. I miss him.
Maris, Judge, and Ruth
I have some thoughts on Aaron Judge and Babe Ruth. I’ve been trying to watch all of Judge’s at bats since he got to 59 home runs. I wish he would hit 62 so that I can get some more sleep before the playoffs start. I think I’ve only missed two at bats since he got to 59. He’s tied Roger Maris and that is the real record. I’m a teacher. I wouldn’t give a student credit for cheating and I don’t give Barroid, McGwire, and Sosa credit for cheating. They ruined the greatest record in American sports. Hopefully somebody will break Bonds’s career “record,” but nobody is hitting 74 in a season without cheating. I’ve really enjoyed watching Judge chase the real record, but it would have been so much cooler if the cheaters hadn’t “broken” the record first.
Judge has been awesome, but we don’t need to exaggerate how awesome he’s been. I saw Buster Olney refer to Judge’s season as “the greatest single-season performance by any hitter in the history of baseball.” In the words of Mr. Burns, whoa, whoa, slow down there, maestro. In 1920, Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs (the all time record at the time) with 135 RBIs and his slash line was .376/.532/.847. The second highest home run total was 19. The second highest slugging percentage was .632. The Phillies hit 64 home runs. The rest of the Yankees hit 61 home runs. The other 14 teams hit 50 home runs or less. Much like I had to unslander Bill Russell (another legend who died this summer), I have to unslander Babe Ruth. I get so annoyed any time I hear that anybody was better than Babe Ruth. Even if Barry Bonds wasn’t cheating, he’s still not better than Babe Ruth. Mike Trout is not better than Babe Ruth. This Judge season is not better than several Babe Ruth seasons. The one player that we can compare is Shohei Ohtani. I hear people saying that Ohtani is doing something that’s never been done before. Yes and no on that. No in that Ruth was both a great pitcher and a great hitter. But yes in that he didn’t really do it at the same time. Ruth was a great pitcher from 1915-1917. He hit a total of nine home runs in those years. In 1918, he was kind of half pitcher and half hitter. He was 13-7 with a 2.22 ERA. He hit 11 home runs in 382 plate appearances (but that was enough to lead the league). In 1919, he was 9-5 with a 2.97 ERA. He hit 29 home runs in 543 plate appearances (again he led the league). And then he was traded to the Yankees in 1920 and he only pitched 31 more innings for the rest of his career (he was 5-0 with the Yankees with a 5.52 ERA).
People who put anybody ahead of Ruth use the same logic as the “plumbers and firemen” logic of people who don’t give Russell enough credit. Yes, there were no black players in the Majors when Ruth was playing. And great Negro League players deserve a lot of credit for what they did (Josh Gibson might be the most underrated player of all time). But it wasn’t Babe Ruth’s fault that he didn’t play with them. And if it was so easy for the white players back then, why didn’t anybody else do what Ruth did? The only Ruth contemporary who was anywhere close to him as a player were Lou Gehrig. He was the only other player with more than 302 home runs when Ruth retired (he had 378 at that point and ended up with 493). If we want to stretch the definition of Ruth contemporaries, we can include Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott. I’ll listen to a case for Ted Williams being close to Ruth. He had a slightly higher batting average and on base percentage, but Ruth has him beat by a pretty good margin in slugging. He probably would have hit around 675 home runs if not for World War II and the Korean War. But besides being the greatest hitter of all time, Ruth was also 94-46 with a 2.28 ERA and 1.16 WHIP as a pitcher. So get out of here telling me that anybody was as good as Babe Ruth.
Updated Sports Villain Power Rankings
I’ll finish this off with my updated Sports Villain Power Rankings. I have some changes because it’s seasonal (Kyrie Irving had to be number 1 at the start of the NBA Playoffs, but not in October), one new person earned a spot, and because I just forgot some people the first time. Here we go:
29. David Shaw
28. James Harden
27. Anthony Davis- He would have been on the original rankings if not for how bad the Lakers were last year.
26. Sidney Crosby
25. Gabe Kapler- I had Brandon Crawford and Logan Webb on my original list. But Gabe Kapler is much more dislikeable than either of them. If the Giants were good this year, he’d be higher on the list.
24. Lane Kiffin
23. John Calipari
22. Geno Auriema
21. Dabo Swinney
20. Madison Bumgarner- He was a glaring omission on my original rankings.
19. Lincoln Riley- He’s moved ahead of a few people, but he could move up a lot more in the next couple of months.
18. Jim Boeheim
17. Manny Machado- He was another glaring omission.
16. Carlos Correa- He’ll be much higher once next baseball season starts, but he’s not going to the playoffs this year.
15. Bill Belichick
14. Jim Harbaugh
13. Trevor Bauer- He deserves a spot on this list, but you could make the case that he shouldn’t be on the list since I’m limiting it to active players/managers/coaches and his career is hopefully over.
12. LeBron James
11. Kevin Durant
10. Kyrie Irving
9. Fernando Tatis Jr.- It took another cheater to keep Manny Machado from being the highest baseball player that isn’t Trevor Bauer/wasn’t part of the 2017 Astros on this list.
8. Tom Brady
7. Rob Manfred
6. Brian Kelly- Watching him lose to Florida State to start the season was awesome. Every time Notre Dame’s wide receivers finish a game with a total of 4 catches for 26 yards, I’m reminded of his lazy recruiting and bad decisions in hiring assistant coaches. I need some SEC teams to start beating him by multiple touchdowns.
1. (Tie) Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel, George Springer, Marwin Gonzalez- They’re the 2017 Astros who will be in the playoffs this year.
