Yes, the call was offensive.
The prevailing wisdom on ESPN (insert joke here) is that the call was right. My initial reaction was that the call was right. I was wrong. There are a number of problems with the call.
1. We ran a very similar play earlier in the game (Kelly says it was a different play, but there was very similar action). No flag was thrown and Corey Robinson scored a touchdown. If it's not a penalty then, it can't be a penalty with 13 seconds left in the game.
2. The official standing right there on the goal line signaled touchdown. The official on the same side in the back corner didn't throw a flag either. An official away from the play that didn't have nearly as good of a look is the one who threw the flag.
3. There is a quite obvious penalty on Florida State. After the play, number 26 takes off his helmet. You can see it clearly at the 0:52 mark of that video. I'm not sure how the enforcement would have worked. Some people seem to think the penalties would offset and they'd replay the down. I've also read that both penalties would be enforced because pass interference was during the play, but taking the helmet off was a dead ball foul. In that case, we would have had a new set of downs. We would have moved back 15 yards on the pass interference, but then it would have been half the distance from there. So the net result would have been that we'd be around the 8 or 9 yard line, but we'd have a chance for two or three plays. I'm not sure which scenario is right, but they obviously just missed an indisputable penalty on Florida State.
4. I've written about this before, but having officials work for a conference makes absolutely no sense. Which result is better for the ACC, Notre Dame winning or Florida State winning? Obviously, Florida State winning is better for the ACC (Florida State is probably their only hope for a playoff team). Is there any reason to believe that people who work for the ACC will be completely impartial? Would that call have been made against Florida State if the roles were reversed?
5. Now, I'm not an expert on the rule book, but what I do know is that part of the standard for defensive pass interference is that the contact has to be consequential. If a ball is uncatchable, you can't have defensive pass interference. Also, you can't have pass interference away from the play. If the ball is thrown to Corey Robinson, you can't have pass interference called on the guy covering Will Fuller. It doesn't matter what he does to Fuller since it would have no effect on the play. Now maybe the standard for offensive pass interference is different. But if that's the case, there's a problem with the rule. Whoever was allegedly interfered with (hold on, I'll get there) had no chance of preventing the pass from being completed or preventing Robinson from scoring. Florida State was playing man to man coverage. Whichever guy was allegedly interfered with was not covering Corey Robinson. The guy that was supposed to be covering Robinson was totally lost (the other way to look at it is that they guy who should have adjusted to try to defend Robinson never did). On defense, it's no harm no foul. It should be that way on offense too.
6. I don't know if the call was on C.J. Procise or Will Fuller. It was announced by the referee as number 7 (Fuller), but some people seem to think it was Procise. Let's go through both possibilities.
If it was on Procise, he was grabbed as soon as the ball was snapped by the defender (you can see that in the first second of the video linked above). How can Procise interfere when the defender was the one who initiated the contact?
If it was on Fuller, it's just as bad of a call (maybe worse). The claim on ESPN was that the receivers were just blocking and made no effort to run a route. This video shows that claim is completely untrue in the case of Fuller. Fuller takes a step to the outside and the corner goes with him (go to 1:38 of the video). Then Fuller cuts inside and the defender goes with him. The defender is running away from where Corey Robinson is going at that point. He had no chance to make a play. And like with Procise, the defender initiates contact.
7. The defenders were mad. Why? Because they knew they blew the coverage. Usually when there's pass interference, the players will complain to the officials right away. The only thing the defenders were upset with was each other because they blew it.
Perhaps according the rule book, the call was right. Again, if it was, there's a problem with the rule. This play was the equivalent of wiping off a game winning shot in basketball because of a moving screen that had absolutely nothing to do with getting the shooter open. And there's no defense for missing a penalty on Florida State after the play (there's no debate about whether or not taking the helmet off is a penalty).
I'm not one to complain about officials. I didn't complain about the Bush Push because that call never would have been made against Notre Dame in that situation (I did complain after the fact about USC using a professional football player in a college football game). You don't make that call. And you don't make this call either. Notre Dame had other opportunities to make plays that could have won the game. But when they did make the play to win the game, one of the officials took it away from them.
The good news is that we should control our own destiny for the playoff. At most, there will be two undefeated teams from the power conferences. If you want to put an SEC team with one loss ahead of us, I can live with that. But Oregon and Michigan State and whoever else do not deserve to be ahead of us (Oregon lost at home to Arizona by seven and Michigan State lost by 19 against Oregon). I'm not sure that we'll finish 11-1, but we should go to the playoff if we do.
And I've changed my name on here to Jim Slice. Because Jimbo Fisher is a scumbag. Him talking about the class and dignity of Florida State and Jameis Winston after the game was just as offensive as the pass interference call on Will Fuller. Or C.J. Procise. Or whoever.
What happened on Saturday night was wrong. Let's take this out on the rest of the schedule. The rest of these games don't need to be close. Let's finish 13-1 and National Champions. Go Irish!
Monday, October 20, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
My Favorite College Football Games
I went to the Notre Dame-Stanford game two weeks ago. The forecast kept getting worse and worse as I checked the week before the game. It ended up being 41 degrees and it rained throughout the entire game. A check of the und.com archives showed that it was the second coldest game I've ever been to. Despite that, it was one of my favorite Notre Dame football experiences. Let's get to a quick recap of the day:
I planned to get to campus around 11:00. Probably because of the weather, I wasn't motivated enough to get there that early. I ended up parking at St. Mary's a little after noon. It's a good place to park for a Notre Dame game. You walk from there to campus and you come to the Grotto. From there, I walked past the dome and my old home, St. Edward's Hall. Apparently St. Ed's was just renovated, but I didn't go in to check it out. After that, I walked over to the Joyce Center, which was set up for volleyball. My favorite student plays volleyball. I keep telling her that she's going to play volleyball at Notre Dame someday. Then I walked over to the Compton Family Ice Arena. It was built as our new hockey arena after I graduated so I've never been inside. I've heard that it's really nice. I figured it would be open like the Joyce Center is before football games. I reached the doors and tried to go in, but the doors were locked and the signs on the doors said that the building hours were like 10:00-1:00 and the doors locked at 12:50. I checked my watch and it was 12:51. Nuts.
From there, I met up with Wilhelm and Courtney for some tailgating. At that point, it wasn't too cold (the rain hadn't started yet). I went over five years without seeing Wilhelm. Since then, I've seen him for the Championship Game, three games last season (Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Navy), and this year's Stanford game. I hope to make it back to Texas for the 2015 season to see a Rangers game so maybe I'll see him then also. It sounds like the next time I see Courtney will be next year at the Courtney-Dennis wedding in St. Paul. Tailgating was fun, but it started to rain maybe around 2:00 and it started to get cold.
Wilhelm and I ended up sitting together for the game. It was a sloppy game and it was really cold. I was getting texts from my brother and Jon and Kyle. It was too cold and wet to answer them, but they did provide good information about replays and and the backup holder warming up and stuff like that. At halftime, I made the adjustment to putting my arms under my poncho. That was a good move.
We took our first lead at 10-7 in the fourth quarter. With the way our defense was playing, I felt pretty confident. But Stanford marched right down the field and took the lead. I felt like it was setting up for a great finish. On the plane the night before, I had read the chapters in Lou Holtz's autobiography about his first three seasons at Notre Dame. If there's anybody who believes in Notre Dame more than me, it's Lou Holtz. As Lou has said, "If you've been here, no explanation is necessary. If you haven't been, no explanation will suffice." Notre Dame is a special place and this was going to be a special win. I was completely confident that we were going to win. And then it was fourth and 11. I was praying the Hail Mary over and over again, but I was still confident that we'd win. And then the ball was snapped and I didn't see anybody open. But then Everett Golson threw the ball to Ben Koyack who was wide open. The ball got there before the defender could get there and it was awesome. I took the arms out from under the poncho to high five Wilhelm for that play.
We still needed to stop them on defense. Stanford didn't have a lot of time, but they still had a chance. On the last play, we brought the blitz and forced an intentional grounding. There were six seconds left on the clock, but I knew we were going to get a ten-second run off on the penalty and the game would be over. It was over and it was awesome. I wouldn't change anything about the day. The weather was all part of the experience.
So let's go through my favorite Notre Dame games ever, starting with ones I didn't go to:
11. Florida State 1993- This probably should rank higher, but the fact that we were cheated out of a National Championship that year puts it behind the next three games on the list.
10. West Virginia 1989 Fiesta Bowl- This win secured the 1988 National Championship.
9. USC 1988- 1 vs. 2 on the road against our biggest rival. We won to finish the 1988 regular season undefeated.
8. Miami 1988- Catholics vs. Convicts. 4 vs. 1. "Save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me!" 31-30. It was also the same day that Kirk Gibson hit a pinch hit home run to win Game 1 of the World Series. If I had any memory of any of this, it would probably be the greatest day of my life.
7. USC 2010- Not nearly as awesome as the games I've mentioned so far, but I actually watched this game. It wasn't a great season, but it felt great to finally beat USC for the first time since 2001.
6. Michigan State 2006- It was a great comeback to win. This was one of the better moments of the Charlie Weis Era.
5. Wake Forest 2012- Easy win against a bad opponent. It's on the list because we got to number 1 that day.
4. Oklahoma 2012- The win that showed people we were for real in 2012
3. Michigan 2014- I despise Michigan with a passion. Beating them 31-0 in the last game of the series was perfect.
2. Stanford 2012- The goal line stand in overtime in the rain. It was awesome.
1. USC 2012- We beat our biggest rival to clinch a spot in the National Championship Game.
And now my favorite games that I attended:
12. Arizona State 2013- Shamrock Series game in Dallas with my brother Sean and Wilhelm. Wilhelm and I didn't have high hopes going into this game, but we won and Sean and I had a good time in Dallas.
11. Army 2010- The first football game at the new Yankee Stadium. There's nothing significant about this game other than that, but I was pretending it was Notre Dame and Army playing at Yankee Stadium in 1943.
10. BYU 2005- Brady Quinn threw six touchdown passes and it was the first win I ever saw at Notre Dame Stadium.
9. Navy 2012- The game was in Dublin. So many Notre Dame fans having a good time in Ireland and a great start to a great regular season.
8. USC 2013- It was a really ugly game, but I needed to see us beat USC in person.
7. Georgia Tech 2006- Jon, Wilhelm, Dennis, Chris and I made the road trip to Atlanta. Not a great performance, but we got the win to start the season.
6. Penn State 2006- We pounded Penn State to start the home schedule and we thought we were on our way to a great season.
5. Army 2006- My last home game as a student. We were happy late in the game when we fumbled trying to run out the clock because it gave Kyle an opportunity to get on the field and become a Notre Dame football legend.
4. UCLA 2006- I remember saying before the game that this game was the last one that I might attend as a student that could be competitive. And we nearly lost. Quinn to Samardzija for 45 yards to win was amazing.
3. Pittsburgh 2005- Jorge, Mike, Dane and I made the road trip to Pittsburgh for the first game of the 2005. It was the first game I ever attended and it was awesome. We won easily and had a great time celebrating the victory with other Notre Dame fans in Pittsburgh afterwards.
2. Michigan 2012- It wasn't pretty, but again, I really hate Michigan. That was the game where I started to believe in 2012.
1. Stanford 2014- I hate Stanford, but not as much as I hate Michigan. But the fact that we scored the game winning touchdown on fourth and 11 late in the game gives it the top spot. It was a special win. And the weather is just part of a great story.
Let's add another game to my list of favorite games I didn't attend tonight. Go Irish!
I planned to get to campus around 11:00. Probably because of the weather, I wasn't motivated enough to get there that early. I ended up parking at St. Mary's a little after noon. It's a good place to park for a Notre Dame game. You walk from there to campus and you come to the Grotto. From there, I walked past the dome and my old home, St. Edward's Hall. Apparently St. Ed's was just renovated, but I didn't go in to check it out. After that, I walked over to the Joyce Center, which was set up for volleyball. My favorite student plays volleyball. I keep telling her that she's going to play volleyball at Notre Dame someday. Then I walked over to the Compton Family Ice Arena. It was built as our new hockey arena after I graduated so I've never been inside. I've heard that it's really nice. I figured it would be open like the Joyce Center is before football games. I reached the doors and tried to go in, but the doors were locked and the signs on the doors said that the building hours were like 10:00-1:00 and the doors locked at 12:50. I checked my watch and it was 12:51. Nuts.
From there, I met up with Wilhelm and Courtney for some tailgating. At that point, it wasn't too cold (the rain hadn't started yet). I went over five years without seeing Wilhelm. Since then, I've seen him for the Championship Game, three games last season (Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Navy), and this year's Stanford game. I hope to make it back to Texas for the 2015 season to see a Rangers game so maybe I'll see him then also. It sounds like the next time I see Courtney will be next year at the Courtney-Dennis wedding in St. Paul. Tailgating was fun, but it started to rain maybe around 2:00 and it started to get cold.
Wilhelm and I ended up sitting together for the game. It was a sloppy game and it was really cold. I was getting texts from my brother and Jon and Kyle. It was too cold and wet to answer them, but they did provide good information about replays and and the backup holder warming up and stuff like that. At halftime, I made the adjustment to putting my arms under my poncho. That was a good move.
We took our first lead at 10-7 in the fourth quarter. With the way our defense was playing, I felt pretty confident. But Stanford marched right down the field and took the lead. I felt like it was setting up for a great finish. On the plane the night before, I had read the chapters in Lou Holtz's autobiography about his first three seasons at Notre Dame. If there's anybody who believes in Notre Dame more than me, it's Lou Holtz. As Lou has said, "If you've been here, no explanation is necessary. If you haven't been, no explanation will suffice." Notre Dame is a special place and this was going to be a special win. I was completely confident that we were going to win. And then it was fourth and 11. I was praying the Hail Mary over and over again, but I was still confident that we'd win. And then the ball was snapped and I didn't see anybody open. But then Everett Golson threw the ball to Ben Koyack who was wide open. The ball got there before the defender could get there and it was awesome. I took the arms out from under the poncho to high five Wilhelm for that play.
 |
| I think I took this picture on the game-winning drive. It was too cold and wet for me to take pictures before the fourth quarter. |
We still needed to stop them on defense. Stanford didn't have a lot of time, but they still had a chance. On the last play, we brought the blitz and forced an intentional grounding. There were six seconds left on the clock, but I knew we were going to get a ten-second run off on the penalty and the game would be over. It was over and it was awesome. I wouldn't change anything about the day. The weather was all part of the experience.
 |
| Me, Wilhelm, and the finger of the girl that took our picture after the game. |
So let's go through my favorite Notre Dame games ever, starting with ones I didn't go to:
11. Florida State 1993- This probably should rank higher, but the fact that we were cheated out of a National Championship that year puts it behind the next three games on the list.
10. West Virginia 1989 Fiesta Bowl- This win secured the 1988 National Championship.
9. USC 1988- 1 vs. 2 on the road against our biggest rival. We won to finish the 1988 regular season undefeated.
8. Miami 1988- Catholics vs. Convicts. 4 vs. 1. "Save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me!" 31-30. It was also the same day that Kirk Gibson hit a pinch hit home run to win Game 1 of the World Series. If I had any memory of any of this, it would probably be the greatest day of my life.
7. USC 2010- Not nearly as awesome as the games I've mentioned so far, but I actually watched this game. It wasn't a great season, but it felt great to finally beat USC for the first time since 2001.
6. Michigan State 2006- It was a great comeback to win. This was one of the better moments of the Charlie Weis Era.
5. Wake Forest 2012- Easy win against a bad opponent. It's on the list because we got to number 1 that day.
4. Oklahoma 2012- The win that showed people we were for real in 2012
3. Michigan 2014- I despise Michigan with a passion. Beating them 31-0 in the last game of the series was perfect.
2. Stanford 2012- The goal line stand in overtime in the rain. It was awesome.
1. USC 2012- We beat our biggest rival to clinch a spot in the National Championship Game.
And now my favorite games that I attended:
12. Arizona State 2013- Shamrock Series game in Dallas with my brother Sean and Wilhelm. Wilhelm and I didn't have high hopes going into this game, but we won and Sean and I had a good time in Dallas.
11. Army 2010- The first football game at the new Yankee Stadium. There's nothing significant about this game other than that, but I was pretending it was Notre Dame and Army playing at Yankee Stadium in 1943.
10. BYU 2005- Brady Quinn threw six touchdown passes and it was the first win I ever saw at Notre Dame Stadium.
9. Navy 2012- The game was in Dublin. So many Notre Dame fans having a good time in Ireland and a great start to a great regular season.
8. USC 2013- It was a really ugly game, but I needed to see us beat USC in person.
7. Georgia Tech 2006- Jon, Wilhelm, Dennis, Chris and I made the road trip to Atlanta. Not a great performance, but we got the win to start the season.
6. Penn State 2006- We pounded Penn State to start the home schedule and we thought we were on our way to a great season.
5. Army 2006- My last home game as a student. We were happy late in the game when we fumbled trying to run out the clock because it gave Kyle an opportunity to get on the field and become a Notre Dame football legend.
4. UCLA 2006- I remember saying before the game that this game was the last one that I might attend as a student that could be competitive. And we nearly lost. Quinn to Samardzija for 45 yards to win was amazing.
3. Pittsburgh 2005- Jorge, Mike, Dane and I made the road trip to Pittsburgh for the first game of the 2005. It was the first game I ever attended and it was awesome. We won easily and had a great time celebrating the victory with other Notre Dame fans in Pittsburgh afterwards.
2. Michigan 2012- It wasn't pretty, but again, I really hate Michigan. That was the game where I started to believe in 2012.
1. Stanford 2014- I hate Stanford, but not as much as I hate Michigan. But the fact that we scored the game winning touchdown on fourth and 11 late in the game gives it the top spot. It was a special win. And the weather is just part of a great story.
 |
| So wet. So cold. So awesome. |
Let's add another game to my list of favorite games I didn't attend tonight. Go Irish!
Saturday, October 11, 2014
A Disappointing Finish
It was a fun season for the Dodgers, but a disappointing finish. They lost for three reasons:
1. Their best pitcher (and the best pitcher in the world) didn't get the job done.
2. Their bullpen stunk.
3. They only scored six runs the last three games of the series.
Everybody knows how much I love Clayton Kershaw. I heard a podcast talking about how Kershaw's numbers against the Cardinals aren't that bad. Except for ERA. The rest of his numbers are slightly worse than his numbers against the rest of the league. And you would expect that because the Cardinals are a consistently good team. But this is where statistics can be used to prove anything. The Cardinals being able to hit Kershaw is a thing until he proves that it isn't. I don't care what fielding independent pitching and all these other crazy statistics say, he hasn't gotten the job done against the Cardinals in the playoffs the last two years. Of course, if all 30 teams redrafted the entire league, Kershaw is the first pitcher taken. And deservedly so. I'm looking forward to another great year from Kershaw in 2015. Hopefully the Dodgers can avoid the Cardinals in the playoffs next year.
I wrote before about how the Dodgers weren't that good without Kershaw pitching this year. In the regular season, they went 23-4 with Kershaw on the mound and they were slightly over .500 with anybody else. Well, in the playoffs, they were 0-2 with Kershaw on the mound and 1-1 with anybody else. That wasn't good enough. Their bullpen stunk. I don't think there's an easy fix for that. Great relievers become closers and aren't available during the offseason. Other relievers might be really good one year and not so good the next year. You need to develop good young arms. Chris Withrow looked like he might be one of those guys for the Dodgers early this year, but then he needed Tommy John surgery. So I don't know how to fix it, but I have to believe that the Dodgers' bullpen will be at least a little better next year.
As for the hitting, it wasn't good for the last three games, but I'm not too concerned. They were hitting really well at the end of the season. You just have to give the Cardinals credit. A.J. Ellis was outstanding in the playoffs (one of the few Dodgers that was), but they need more production from the catcher position in the regular season. I'd love to have Ellis as a backup catcher who caught Kershaw (he loves Ellis) and maybe one other game every two times through the rotation. I would probably let Hanley Ramirez go in free agency. He can't play shortstop anymore (although he actually did make a couple of nice plays in the field in the playoffs). That would definitely mean losing something at the plate, but I'd be willing to trade Ramirez's hitting and high salary for a guy that will field better and not cost as much. And they have to figure out what to do with the outfield. I think they should be willing to move anybody other than Yasiel Puig. I love Andre Ethier, but if anybody wants to give him a starting job, the Dodgers have to make that move. Carl Crawford was great late in the season, but I don't think anybody will want to pay him. There might be some teams interested in Scott Van Slyke. I like him and he doesn't have a big salary, but if the Dodgers can get something for him, they should. Matt Kemp was great in the second half. It's a good thing they didn't trade him before the trade deadline. Now that he has some value again, I think I'd try to sell high on Kemp. Joc Pederson has done everything there is to do in the minors. He should either be playing for the Dodgers next year or they should trade him.
I love baseball and the Dodgers. It really hurt this year losing so quickly. Last year, the season ended the night I flew to Chicago for the USC game. The good thing was that instead of going to work the next day, I got to watch Notre Dame beat USC. I was not happy to go to work on Wednesday after the Dodgers were eliminated.
I'm already thinking about what games I'll go to next season. The Dodgers play in Cincinnati in late August and I still have to get there, so that's a possibility. I have to get to Anaheim also, so I'd like to figure out how to combine that with another trip to Dodger Stadium. And they're in New York for a four-game series starting on my dad's birthday, so I'll probably go to at least one of those games.
I'm definitely rooting for the Royals now. They're a great story and I really like their stadium. And they wear the same colors as the Dodgers. As for the National League, I'm now haunted by Part 8 of Why I Love Baseball. I still respect the Cardinals, but I really hate them now. If I rewrote my Sports Hate Power Rankings, they'd be in the top 10. But they're playing the number 3 team on that list. So let's go Cardinals! I'm not happy about rooting for them, but I have no choice.
1. Their best pitcher (and the best pitcher in the world) didn't get the job done.
2. Their bullpen stunk.
3. They only scored six runs the last three games of the series.
Everybody knows how much I love Clayton Kershaw. I heard a podcast talking about how Kershaw's numbers against the Cardinals aren't that bad. Except for ERA. The rest of his numbers are slightly worse than his numbers against the rest of the league. And you would expect that because the Cardinals are a consistently good team. But this is where statistics can be used to prove anything. The Cardinals being able to hit Kershaw is a thing until he proves that it isn't. I don't care what fielding independent pitching and all these other crazy statistics say, he hasn't gotten the job done against the Cardinals in the playoffs the last two years. Of course, if all 30 teams redrafted the entire league, Kershaw is the first pitcher taken. And deservedly so. I'm looking forward to another great year from Kershaw in 2015. Hopefully the Dodgers can avoid the Cardinals in the playoffs next year.
I wrote before about how the Dodgers weren't that good without Kershaw pitching this year. In the regular season, they went 23-4 with Kershaw on the mound and they were slightly over .500 with anybody else. Well, in the playoffs, they were 0-2 with Kershaw on the mound and 1-1 with anybody else. That wasn't good enough. Their bullpen stunk. I don't think there's an easy fix for that. Great relievers become closers and aren't available during the offseason. Other relievers might be really good one year and not so good the next year. You need to develop good young arms. Chris Withrow looked like he might be one of those guys for the Dodgers early this year, but then he needed Tommy John surgery. So I don't know how to fix it, but I have to believe that the Dodgers' bullpen will be at least a little better next year.
As for the hitting, it wasn't good for the last three games, but I'm not too concerned. They were hitting really well at the end of the season. You just have to give the Cardinals credit. A.J. Ellis was outstanding in the playoffs (one of the few Dodgers that was), but they need more production from the catcher position in the regular season. I'd love to have Ellis as a backup catcher who caught Kershaw (he loves Ellis) and maybe one other game every two times through the rotation. I would probably let Hanley Ramirez go in free agency. He can't play shortstop anymore (although he actually did make a couple of nice plays in the field in the playoffs). That would definitely mean losing something at the plate, but I'd be willing to trade Ramirez's hitting and high salary for a guy that will field better and not cost as much. And they have to figure out what to do with the outfield. I think they should be willing to move anybody other than Yasiel Puig. I love Andre Ethier, but if anybody wants to give him a starting job, the Dodgers have to make that move. Carl Crawford was great late in the season, but I don't think anybody will want to pay him. There might be some teams interested in Scott Van Slyke. I like him and he doesn't have a big salary, but if the Dodgers can get something for him, they should. Matt Kemp was great in the second half. It's a good thing they didn't trade him before the trade deadline. Now that he has some value again, I think I'd try to sell high on Kemp. Joc Pederson has done everything there is to do in the minors. He should either be playing for the Dodgers next year or they should trade him.
I love baseball and the Dodgers. It really hurt this year losing so quickly. Last year, the season ended the night I flew to Chicago for the USC game. The good thing was that instead of going to work the next day, I got to watch Notre Dame beat USC. I was not happy to go to work on Wednesday after the Dodgers were eliminated.
I'm already thinking about what games I'll go to next season. The Dodgers play in Cincinnati in late August and I still have to get there, so that's a possibility. I have to get to Anaheim also, so I'd like to figure out how to combine that with another trip to Dodger Stadium. And they're in New York for a four-game series starting on my dad's birthday, so I'll probably go to at least one of those games.
I'm definitely rooting for the Royals now. They're a great story and I really like their stadium. And they wear the same colors as the Dodgers. As for the National League, I'm now haunted by Part 8 of Why I Love Baseball. I still respect the Cardinals, but I really hate them now. If I rewrote my Sports Hate Power Rankings, they'd be in the top 10. But they're playing the number 3 team on that list. So let's go Cardinals! I'm not happy about rooting for them, but I have no choice.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
The Most Necessary Bar Rescue Ever
I have few rules in life, but one of them is this: any time Jon Taffer is rescuing my former favorite bar for his TV show, I have to keep a running diary. I started watching early on my phone before the first airing on TV on Sunday night, but it stopped working about halfway through the episode. You'll notice the times from the beginning of the episode are from when I started watching on Wednesday or Thursday night, but I finished when the episode aired on TV on Sunday night. If you haven't seen the episode yet, don't read this if you plan on watching.
I will never forget the summer of 2005. I had turned 21 and three of my friends were working at the Artful Dodger in Huntington. John bartended on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Vin and Sean worked as bar backs on Saturdays. I went every night that they worked there. Many of those nights I was driving so I didn't drink a lot, but I at least made an appearance. Then there were the nights I wasn't driving. Those were fun. John rarely charged me for my drinks. So many good times there that summer. Other summers were fun, but it's hard to top being 21 and having three of my friends working at a bar. I remember when I found out that the Dodger had been sold. I had just gotten back to my dorm after the Bush Push game and I saw on people's away messages that it was the last night of the Dodger. I was coming home for fall break the next morning. We had just lost a heartbreaking game and I was going to miss the last night of the Dodger by one day. It was a rough day. I went back to the Dodger a handful of times after that, but its steady decline had begun.
Here was my Yelp review from 2010:
"Back in the day, the Artful Dodger was my favorite bar. Much like Moe on the Simpsons once did, they made the mistake of getting rid of the dank (actually it was a new owner, but that doesn't work with my analogy). Now I go there and the bouncer rejects me without even checking my ID because I'm not dressed properly. No thanks. I'll go to Katie Mc's."
I've only written four Yelp reviews ever. It's the only bad review I've ever given (one star). Anyway, let's get to the show:
7:07- According to the introduction, the owner bought the bar in 2006. I thought it had changed hands more than once. It also claims that the bar did well for the first five years. I question that claim.
7:08- The name changed to Radio in 2011. I didn't even know. When we did 12 Bars of Christmas in 2012, I never even considered going to the Artful Dodger or whatever it was called by then.
7:10- They're talking about the underage crowd. The last time I tried to go there, I couldn't get in because I wasn't wearing long pants. Or something stupid like that. But now it seems like they'd let any scumbag in.
7:10- Jon Taffer doesn't embrace excuses; he embraces solutions.
7:11- Phil Wills is Jon's bartender tonight. Jon compares its outside appearance to an autobody shop. He's going somewhere with that.
7:12- Teen night was Thursday. How dumb was that idea?
7:13- The name was Radio, but it still said Artful Dodger on the outside. So dumb.
7:14- Jon's going to check out some other bars. He wants to steal some customers for recon. This is different.
7:14- Jon is impressed by Christopher's. Sure it's better than Artful Dodger, but that's a low bar to clear (pun intended). I hate Christopher's, but I'm willing to go there, which is more than I would say about whatever the Artful Dodger became.
7:16- Jon's sending in a bunch of people from other bars. Artful Dodger bartender Jen needs some work.
7:17- One of the customers suspects a rat was chewing on the furniture. Entirely possible. They also have fruit flies.
7:18- You're not going to believe this, but Jon Taffer is getting angry. He's storming in.
7:19- Bugs in a bottle. The crowd is getting angry.
7:26- Jon shuts the bar down.
7:27- Jon had his crew work all night to clean and sanitize the bar.
7:28- They had mosquitoes in the drain. Jon talks about the dangers of mosquitoes. Ned Flanders might disagree.
7:29- We get an explanation of the life cycle of fruit flies.
7:30- My phone is not cooperating right now.
7:37- We're back. The owner Mike is in debt over $100,000.
7:38- There's friction between the owner and the manager.
7:39- Phil and Jesse Barnes are brought in to start training the staff. By the way, the bar looks totally different than it did the last time I ever went to the Dodger. I miss that bar. It was so much fun.
7:41- Jen says she's never going to make a drink the way Phil does. Jon says, "The more you speak, the more of a fool you look like." Jen starts crying.
7:47- More phone issues.
7:56- We're finally back on my phone and so is Jen.
8:01- More phone issues. Baseball is starting soon so I'm going to put the diary on hold for now.
9:30- I'm back and they're training Jen.
9:31- Jon is doing an 18 and over night for the stress test. He says he would never do this himself, but he's going to let them do what they do.
9:32- Two black X's on the hands for people under 21 and pink wristbands for somebody over 21. Jon sends in somebody over 21 who is posing as an 18 year old. She wipes off the X's pretty easily.
9:33- Ten Bud Lights sold to a customer. They have no idea who's getting those drinks.
9:34- Jon's mole has had a drink for over 20 minutes and nobody notices.
9:35- We have some bad bartending going on.
9:36- Jon finally lets the owner know that his mole had been drinking as an allegedly underage girl. And we have some real underage people fighting and being crazy. There's a good reason I hadn't been there in a long time.
9:41- The Royals are up 7-2, but the Angels are threatening. A Royals-Orioles ALCS would be a lot of fun. A Giants-Cardinals NLCS would be miserable. The Dodgers need to win a game or two in St. Louis.
9:42- Jon has them shut down the bar. Jon calls the stress test "a dismal failure." Jon goes through the Huntington demographics with his experts. Jon tells them about his speakeasy idea.
9:44- Jon makes the owner and manager promise that they won't allow anybody under 21 in the bar ever again. When I was going to the Dodger, there definitely were under 21 people there, but they were my friends and they didn't act like morons. And they weren't there when the bar was busy.
9:46- Phil is teaching the bartenders some cocktails. I'm a beer guy. One drawback of the Dodger in its glory days was the beer selection. They only have a few beers on tap.
9:48- Jon unveils the new bar to the owners (which we will see after the commercial). How does this work? Don't they see it before Jon counts to three and has them turn around? Or are they led there blindfolded?
9:49- The Royals got out of the jam. They still lead by five in the bottom of the fifth.
9:52- The Bengals are down 14-3 against the Patriots. People love the Bengals right now. Yeah, I'm not convinced.
9:54- We get the first look at P's & Q's Autobody. "You weren't very good at the bar business so I built you an autobody shop." P's & Q's is a reference to pints and quarts. You drink beer in pints, but you don't drink anything in quarts. I'm confused.
9:55- Jon shows them the secret door. My brother and I went there a month and a half ago. The secret door was pretty cool.
9:57- Once the bar is redone, it's the least interesting part of the show for me. I love watching the bar be terrible and Jon getting angry. But the new bar is open for business.
9:59- Jon says goodbye to the owner and manager.
10:00- Sales are supposedly up 30% six weeks after the relaunch. I'll finish with my review of my visit back in August:
As big Bar Rescue fans and former fans of the Artful Dodger, my brother Sean and I had to check out P's & Q's Autobody. As I already said, the secret door was pretty cool. They really do up the speakeasy theme. We were there early on a Saturday night and it was not very crowded. They're definitely going to have to attract an older, wealthier crowd. Mixed drinks were expensive ($12.50 each). My brother had two and liked them. This is not going to be a place where college kids go when they come home. It's not a place that I'll go to very often. I had a beer on tap. There wasn't a wide selection, but it was fine (I think it was $7). I was interested to see if they'd do anything about food. The Dodger never had food, but Jon is always very big on having food at the bar on the show. It was interesting that there was no mention of food at all. I don't really know if there was anything he could have done. Like I said, I won't go there often, but I would go there for 12 Bars of Christmas if we brought that back for 2014. So I guess that's an improvement.
I will never forget the summer of 2005. I had turned 21 and three of my friends were working at the Artful Dodger in Huntington. John bartended on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Vin and Sean worked as bar backs on Saturdays. I went every night that they worked there. Many of those nights I was driving so I didn't drink a lot, but I at least made an appearance. Then there were the nights I wasn't driving. Those were fun. John rarely charged me for my drinks. So many good times there that summer. Other summers were fun, but it's hard to top being 21 and having three of my friends working at a bar. I remember when I found out that the Dodger had been sold. I had just gotten back to my dorm after the Bush Push game and I saw on people's away messages that it was the last night of the Dodger. I was coming home for fall break the next morning. We had just lost a heartbreaking game and I was going to miss the last night of the Dodger by one day. It was a rough day. I went back to the Dodger a handful of times after that, but its steady decline had begun.
Here was my Yelp review from 2010:
"Back in the day, the Artful Dodger was my favorite bar. Much like Moe on the Simpsons once did, they made the mistake of getting rid of the dank (actually it was a new owner, but that doesn't work with my analogy). Now I go there and the bouncer rejects me without even checking my ID because I'm not dressed properly. No thanks. I'll go to Katie Mc's."
I've only written four Yelp reviews ever. It's the only bad review I've ever given (one star). Anyway, let's get to the show:
7:07- According to the introduction, the owner bought the bar in 2006. I thought it had changed hands more than once. It also claims that the bar did well for the first five years. I question that claim.
7:08- The name changed to Radio in 2011. I didn't even know. When we did 12 Bars of Christmas in 2012, I never even considered going to the Artful Dodger or whatever it was called by then.
7:10- They're talking about the underage crowd. The last time I tried to go there, I couldn't get in because I wasn't wearing long pants. Or something stupid like that. But now it seems like they'd let any scumbag in.
7:10- Jon Taffer doesn't embrace excuses; he embraces solutions.
7:11- Phil Wills is Jon's bartender tonight. Jon compares its outside appearance to an autobody shop. He's going somewhere with that.
7:12- Teen night was Thursday. How dumb was that idea?
7:13- The name was Radio, but it still said Artful Dodger on the outside. So dumb.
7:14- Jon's going to check out some other bars. He wants to steal some customers for recon. This is different.
7:14- Jon is impressed by Christopher's. Sure it's better than Artful Dodger, but that's a low bar to clear (pun intended). I hate Christopher's, but I'm willing to go there, which is more than I would say about whatever the Artful Dodger became.
7:16- Jon's sending in a bunch of people from other bars. Artful Dodger bartender Jen needs some work.
7:17- One of the customers suspects a rat was chewing on the furniture. Entirely possible. They also have fruit flies.
7:18- You're not going to believe this, but Jon Taffer is getting angry. He's storming in.
7:19- Bugs in a bottle. The crowd is getting angry.
7:26- Jon shuts the bar down.
7:27- Jon had his crew work all night to clean and sanitize the bar.
7:28- They had mosquitoes in the drain. Jon talks about the dangers of mosquitoes. Ned Flanders might disagree.
7:29- We get an explanation of the life cycle of fruit flies.
7:30- My phone is not cooperating right now.
7:37- We're back. The owner Mike is in debt over $100,000.
7:38- There's friction between the owner and the manager.
7:39- Phil and Jesse Barnes are brought in to start training the staff. By the way, the bar looks totally different than it did the last time I ever went to the Dodger. I miss that bar. It was so much fun.
7:41- Jen says she's never going to make a drink the way Phil does. Jon says, "The more you speak, the more of a fool you look like." Jen starts crying.
7:47- More phone issues.
7:56- We're finally back on my phone and so is Jen.
8:01- More phone issues. Baseball is starting soon so I'm going to put the diary on hold for now.
9:30- I'm back and they're training Jen.
9:31- Jon is doing an 18 and over night for the stress test. He says he would never do this himself, but he's going to let them do what they do.
9:32- Two black X's on the hands for people under 21 and pink wristbands for somebody over 21. Jon sends in somebody over 21 who is posing as an 18 year old. She wipes off the X's pretty easily.
9:33- Ten Bud Lights sold to a customer. They have no idea who's getting those drinks.
9:34- Jon's mole has had a drink for over 20 minutes and nobody notices.
9:35- We have some bad bartending going on.
9:36- Jon finally lets the owner know that his mole had been drinking as an allegedly underage girl. And we have some real underage people fighting and being crazy. There's a good reason I hadn't been there in a long time.
9:41- The Royals are up 7-2, but the Angels are threatening. A Royals-Orioles ALCS would be a lot of fun. A Giants-Cardinals NLCS would be miserable. The Dodgers need to win a game or two in St. Louis.
9:42- Jon has them shut down the bar. Jon calls the stress test "a dismal failure." Jon goes through the Huntington demographics with his experts. Jon tells them about his speakeasy idea.
9:44- Jon makes the owner and manager promise that they won't allow anybody under 21 in the bar ever again. When I was going to the Dodger, there definitely were under 21 people there, but they were my friends and they didn't act like morons. And they weren't there when the bar was busy.
9:46- Phil is teaching the bartenders some cocktails. I'm a beer guy. One drawback of the Dodger in its glory days was the beer selection. They only have a few beers on tap.
9:48- Jon unveils the new bar to the owners (which we will see after the commercial). How does this work? Don't they see it before Jon counts to three and has them turn around? Or are they led there blindfolded?
9:49- The Royals got out of the jam. They still lead by five in the bottom of the fifth.
9:52- The Bengals are down 14-3 against the Patriots. People love the Bengals right now. Yeah, I'm not convinced.
9:54- We get the first look at P's & Q's Autobody. "You weren't very good at the bar business so I built you an autobody shop." P's & Q's is a reference to pints and quarts. You drink beer in pints, but you don't drink anything in quarts. I'm confused.
9:55- Jon shows them the secret door. My brother and I went there a month and a half ago. The secret door was pretty cool.
9:57- Once the bar is redone, it's the least interesting part of the show for me. I love watching the bar be terrible and Jon getting angry. But the new bar is open for business.
9:59- Jon says goodbye to the owner and manager.
10:00- Sales are supposedly up 30% six weeks after the relaunch. I'll finish with my review of my visit back in August:
As big Bar Rescue fans and former fans of the Artful Dodger, my brother Sean and I had to check out P's & Q's Autobody. As I already said, the secret door was pretty cool. They really do up the speakeasy theme. We were there early on a Saturday night and it was not very crowded. They're definitely going to have to attract an older, wealthier crowd. Mixed drinks were expensive ($12.50 each). My brother had two and liked them. This is not going to be a place where college kids go when they come home. It's not a place that I'll go to very often. I had a beer on tap. There wasn't a wide selection, but it was fine (I think it was $7). I was interested to see if they'd do anything about food. The Dodger never had food, but Jon is always very big on having food at the bar on the show. It was interesting that there was no mention of food at all. I don't really know if there was anything he could have done. Like I said, I won't go there often, but I would go there for 12 Bars of Christmas if we brought that back for 2014. So I guess that's an improvement.
Monday, September 29, 2014
A Football Game at a Football Stadium in New Jersey
Notre Dame played Syracuse on Saturday night at the Meadowlands. Not thinking about Notre Dame's disastrous first game at MetLife Stadium back in 2010, I bought tickets back in November of last year. I was there in 2010. Tailgating before the game was fun. The game itself, not so much. That was a miserable day. I drank away my sorrows at my friend John's engagement party that night. I also didn't think of the last Notre Dame-Syracuse game I went to back in 2008. We lost 24-23 to a bad Syracuse team and it was 27 degrees at kickoff. Let us never speak of those two games ever again.
Anyway, this year's game was a night game. I really hate having so many night games. It's not the worst thing in the world when you're watching at home. I like being able to go to mass before the game and then not have to worry about it on Sunday morning. But my favorite thing is watching us win in the afternoon and then just relaxing, drinking some good beer, and watching the other games at night. All of our road games this year are probably going to end up being night games. Fortunately, the rest of our home games are day games. So my dad and I went to mass at 4:30 and then drove to the Meadowlands. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the stadium, but we were there with plenty of time before kickoff.
Our seats were up high, right in the middle of the end zone. They were the cheapest tickets I've gotten for a football game in a long time (maybe since I was a student). But it actually wasn't that bad of a view. If you're sitting behind the endzone, I'd rather be up high so that you can tell what's going on when the ball is on the other side of the field (although I definitely would have taken a little bit lower in this case). I've sat down low by the end zone and that's great when the ball is close to you, but terrible when it's far away. I'm going to the game against Stanford this coming weekend and I have seats down low behind the south end zone. Hopefully Notre Dame will score a few touchdowns on that side of the field.
My friends Jon and Notre Dame football legend Kyle were at the game. They came over to our section at halftime. It was good to see them, but it was too bad I only saw them for about ten minutes. I should see them both again before the season is over though.
It was a weird game. We were minus 4 in turnovers and we won by 16. That shouldn't happen. Everett Golson turned the ball over four times, but tied or came one short of the NCAA record for consecutive completions (I saw different things on that and I don't feel like doing the research to see if he actually tied the record or not). He also had four touchdown passes. The defense played really well. Syracuse's offensive statistics were skewed by a fake punt and some late yards. We won fairly easily, but we should have won by a lot more than 16. We'll have to play better to beat Stanford. I thought it was a well coached game. Brian Kelly called a ton of wide receiver screens, a lot more than I can remember us running in one game. And Syracuse never stopped them. We also broke out some formations that I've never seen us run. People complain about our running game, but I thought it was pretty good in this game. It certainly wasn't spectacular, but our three running backs had a total of 131 yards and they all averaged at least four yards per carry. I felt like we were able to get the tough yards on the ground when we needed them with the two tight end formations we were running. The only thing that kept the game from being a blowout was us giving the ball away.
The game reminded me a little bit of the Big East Tournament, my favorite meaningless sporting event. I love the Big East Tournament, but the atmosphere isn't great until Friday night or so. For the earlier nights, you have a decent crowd for the early game and then the crowd clears out. This game was a little bit like that. Fans were looking for a reason to leave early. It never felt like Syracuse was going to win, but lots of fans had cleared out before the game was decided. As for the makeup of the crowd, I was a little surprised. If we played Syracuse in basketball at Madison Square Garden, that would be pretty close to a Syracuse home game. Obviously that's their sport and football is our sport, but I was still expecting more Syracuse fans considering it was technically a Syracuse home game. It definitely seemed like we outnumbered them. I wasn't sitting in a section that had been allotted to Notre Dame fans (I got my tickets through Ticketmaster rather than Notre Dame) and there were definitely more Notre Dame fans in my section.
So it was a football game. Not a great atmosphere and not a great game. We didn't play very well, but we won and it was never in much doubt. MetLife Stadium is one of my least favorite sports venues that I've been to. It's just a football stadium in New Jersey. I once heard somebody describe it as sterile. I think that's a good description. We play Syracuse in the Meadowlands again in two years. I feel like I'd rather watch it on TV than go to the game, but there's a decent chance that my friends will be there, in which case I'd probably go.
We've played four bad teams so far and we're 4-0. This week we get our first real test. I'm hoping we beat Stanford a little easier than we beat them in 2012. Go Irish!
Anyway, this year's game was a night game. I really hate having so many night games. It's not the worst thing in the world when you're watching at home. I like being able to go to mass before the game and then not have to worry about it on Sunday morning. But my favorite thing is watching us win in the afternoon and then just relaxing, drinking some good beer, and watching the other games at night. All of our road games this year are probably going to end up being night games. Fortunately, the rest of our home games are day games. So my dad and I went to mass at 4:30 and then drove to the Meadowlands. It took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the stadium, but we were there with plenty of time before kickoff.
Our seats were up high, right in the middle of the end zone. They were the cheapest tickets I've gotten for a football game in a long time (maybe since I was a student). But it actually wasn't that bad of a view. If you're sitting behind the endzone, I'd rather be up high so that you can tell what's going on when the ball is on the other side of the field (although I definitely would have taken a little bit lower in this case). I've sat down low by the end zone and that's great when the ball is close to you, but terrible when it's far away. I'm going to the game against Stanford this coming weekend and I have seats down low behind the south end zone. Hopefully Notre Dame will score a few touchdowns on that side of the field.
My friends Jon and Notre Dame football legend Kyle were at the game. They came over to our section at halftime. It was good to see them, but it was too bad I only saw them for about ten minutes. I should see them both again before the season is over though.
It was a weird game. We were minus 4 in turnovers and we won by 16. That shouldn't happen. Everett Golson turned the ball over four times, but tied or came one short of the NCAA record for consecutive completions (I saw different things on that and I don't feel like doing the research to see if he actually tied the record or not). He also had four touchdown passes. The defense played really well. Syracuse's offensive statistics were skewed by a fake punt and some late yards. We won fairly easily, but we should have won by a lot more than 16. We'll have to play better to beat Stanford. I thought it was a well coached game. Brian Kelly called a ton of wide receiver screens, a lot more than I can remember us running in one game. And Syracuse never stopped them. We also broke out some formations that I've never seen us run. People complain about our running game, but I thought it was pretty good in this game. It certainly wasn't spectacular, but our three running backs had a total of 131 yards and they all averaged at least four yards per carry. I felt like we were able to get the tough yards on the ground when we needed them with the two tight end formations we were running. The only thing that kept the game from being a blowout was us giving the ball away.
The game reminded me a little bit of the Big East Tournament, my favorite meaningless sporting event. I love the Big East Tournament, but the atmosphere isn't great until Friday night or so. For the earlier nights, you have a decent crowd for the early game and then the crowd clears out. This game was a little bit like that. Fans were looking for a reason to leave early. It never felt like Syracuse was going to win, but lots of fans had cleared out before the game was decided. As for the makeup of the crowd, I was a little surprised. If we played Syracuse in basketball at Madison Square Garden, that would be pretty close to a Syracuse home game. Obviously that's their sport and football is our sport, but I was still expecting more Syracuse fans considering it was technically a Syracuse home game. It definitely seemed like we outnumbered them. I wasn't sitting in a section that had been allotted to Notre Dame fans (I got my tickets through Ticketmaster rather than Notre Dame) and there were definitely more Notre Dame fans in my section.
 |
| My view for the opening kickoff. |
So it was a football game. Not a great atmosphere and not a great game. We didn't play very well, but we won and it was never in much doubt. MetLife Stadium is one of my least favorite sports venues that I've been to. It's just a football stadium in New Jersey. I once heard somebody describe it as sterile. I think that's a good description. We play Syracuse in the Meadowlands again in two years. I feel like I'd rather watch it on TV than go to the game, but there's a decent chance that my friends will be there, in which case I'd probably go.
We've played four bad teams so far and we're 4-0. This week we get our first real test. I'm hoping we beat Stanford a little easier than we beat them in 2012. Go Irish!
Friday, September 26, 2014
MVP
This is an update from an earlier post of how awesome Clayton Kershaw is. There have been many, I know, but right now I'm talking about the one I wrote in July. I won't go into as much detail here since I have some really simple numbers that show how awesome Kershaw is.
First of all, I thought when Kershaw got hurt early in the season that this wasn't going to be a year when he won the Cy Young. The lesson, as always, I'm an idiot. Despite missing over a month, he's going to win the Cy Young easily. It should be his fourth in a row, but three in four years isn't bad.
Why should he be MVP? Because he's meant more to his team than any other player in the National League. In the post I linked, I went through how Clayton Kershaw's WAR was too low back in July. Right now, ESPN and Baseball Reference have his WAR at 7.7. Fangraphs has him at 7.2. Still way too low.
Rather than talking about theoretical wins above theoretical replacement players, let's talk about actual wins and actual players. The Dodgers went 23-4 in Kershaw's 27 starts (20-1 in his last 21 starts). When Kershaw didn't pitch, the Dodgers went 68-64. The Dodgers still have three more games, but they mean absolutely nothing, so I think it's appropriate to go through this exercise now. Another way to think about that is that they went 14-13 in every 27 games Kershaw didn't start. So Kershaw was worth nine wins over the rest of the Dodgers starters. Zack Greinke is way above the theoretical replacement level. Hyun-Jin Ryu is also well above replacement level. Josh Beckett pitched above replacement level until he got hurt. Dan Haren has been up and down. Sometimes he was at or below replacement level, but he's had several starts that were well above replacement level (especially the last two months). The other guys that started for the Dodgers, sure, they were replacement level, but most of their starts not made by Kershaw were made by somebody above replacement level. And Kershaw was nine wins better than those guys. But his WAR is 7.7 or 7.2? Ridiculous.
He's the first pitcher ever to lead the Majors in ERA four years in a row (Koufax led the NL five years in a row, but only led the Majors three of those years). There are all sorts of numbers that show how amazing Kershaw was this year so I won't get into them all. This year wasn't as impressive as Pedro Martinez's best year, but it was still amazing and this is a better four-year run than any pitcher in a long time.
Kershaw's regular seasons are officially Koufaxian. I know Koufax pitched a lot more innings, but the game has changed. Kershaw pitches more than any other starter (he averaged 7.8 innings per start against teams with winning records). He is dominating the game the way Koufax did. What Koufax dominated in a way that nobody else has is the postseason (Rivera did too, but he wasn't a starter). I hope Kershaw can come close to Koufax's dominance in the postseason this year. He should be the regular season MVP. I hope he gets the World Series MVP also.
Let's finish up with my Favorite Dodgers Power Rankings (current players only):
1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Matt Kemp
3. Andre Ethier
4. Juan Uribe
5. A.J. Ellis
6. Adrian Gonzalez
7. Justin Turner (he's the man, the only thing that's keeping him from being higher on the list is the fact that it's his first year with the team)
8. Yasiel Puig
9. Zack Greinke
10. Scott Van Slyke
11. Dee Gordon
12. Carl Crawford
13. Hyun-Jin Ryu
14. J.P. Howell
15. Kenley Jansen
16. Miguel Rojas (for saving Kershaw's no-hitter)
17. Hanley Ramirez- Last year was great. This year, not so much. The Dodgers should probably let him leave as a free agent. But help them win the World Series this year, and I will love him forever.
First of all, I thought when Kershaw got hurt early in the season that this wasn't going to be a year when he won the Cy Young. The lesson, as always, I'm an idiot. Despite missing over a month, he's going to win the Cy Young easily. It should be his fourth in a row, but three in four years isn't bad.
Why should he be MVP? Because he's meant more to his team than any other player in the National League. In the post I linked, I went through how Clayton Kershaw's WAR was too low back in July. Right now, ESPN and Baseball Reference have his WAR at 7.7. Fangraphs has him at 7.2. Still way too low.
Rather than talking about theoretical wins above theoretical replacement players, let's talk about actual wins and actual players. The Dodgers went 23-4 in Kershaw's 27 starts (20-1 in his last 21 starts). When Kershaw didn't pitch, the Dodgers went 68-64. The Dodgers still have three more games, but they mean absolutely nothing, so I think it's appropriate to go through this exercise now. Another way to think about that is that they went 14-13 in every 27 games Kershaw didn't start. So Kershaw was worth nine wins over the rest of the Dodgers starters. Zack Greinke is way above the theoretical replacement level. Hyun-Jin Ryu is also well above replacement level. Josh Beckett pitched above replacement level until he got hurt. Dan Haren has been up and down. Sometimes he was at or below replacement level, but he's had several starts that were well above replacement level (especially the last two months). The other guys that started for the Dodgers, sure, they were replacement level, but most of their starts not made by Kershaw were made by somebody above replacement level. And Kershaw was nine wins better than those guys. But his WAR is 7.7 or 7.2? Ridiculous.
He's the first pitcher ever to lead the Majors in ERA four years in a row (Koufax led the NL five years in a row, but only led the Majors three of those years). There are all sorts of numbers that show how amazing Kershaw was this year so I won't get into them all. This year wasn't as impressive as Pedro Martinez's best year, but it was still amazing and this is a better four-year run than any pitcher in a long time.
Kershaw's regular seasons are officially Koufaxian. I know Koufax pitched a lot more innings, but the game has changed. Kershaw pitches more than any other starter (he averaged 7.8 innings per start against teams with winning records). He is dominating the game the way Koufax did. What Koufax dominated in a way that nobody else has is the postseason (Rivera did too, but he wasn't a starter). I hope Kershaw can come close to Koufax's dominance in the postseason this year. He should be the regular season MVP. I hope he gets the World Series MVP also.
Let's finish up with my Favorite Dodgers Power Rankings (current players only):
1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Matt Kemp
3. Andre Ethier
4. Juan Uribe
5. A.J. Ellis
6. Adrian Gonzalez
7. Justin Turner (he's the man, the only thing that's keeping him from being higher on the list is the fact that it's his first year with the team)
8. Yasiel Puig
9. Zack Greinke
10. Scott Van Slyke
11. Dee Gordon
12. Carl Crawford
13. Hyun-Jin Ryu
14. J.P. Howell
15. Kenley Jansen
16. Miguel Rojas (for saving Kershaw's no-hitter)
17. Hanley Ramirez- Last year was great. This year, not so much. The Dodgers should probably let him leave as a free agent. But help them win the World Series this year, and I will love him forever.
Friday, August 29, 2014
New York Baseball and New Stadium Rankings
Way back in May, I went to a Dodgers-Mets game that I never blogged about. It was the last of a three-game series. The Dodgers had won the first two and were going for the sweep. Clayton Kershaw was not pitching in the series, so I purposely picked the game I went to so that I could see Zack Greinke. I had never seen him in person and he was clearly the second best pitcher on the Dodgers. Bad decision. The Mets had a 3-1 lead after five. Justin Turner hit a home run to tie it in the seventh, but the Mets scored two more to win 5-3. Going into that game, Turner was hitting .218. He's hit just a little bit better since then. He would lead the NL in batting average if he had enough at bats to qualify. I love that guy. He's been huge for the Dodgers as a pinch hitter and as a starter with the injuries to Juan Uribe.
The only other notable thing about that game for the Dodgers was what was going on in the field. It was Matt Kemp's last start in center field and there was a reason it was his last start in center field. He made an error and if I remember correctly, there were a few balls he didn't get to. Future center fielder Yasiel Puig made this catch. The Dodgers had been horrendous in the field up to that point. They've been solid since then. Definitely not great, but solid.
I came away from that game disappointed with Citi Field. My dad and I sat up high between home plate and the first base dugout. Our view was fine. We were in the wheelchair row of the 400 level, which is a great seat for a lot of reasons. It's not too expensive, you can get in and out very easily, and it's elevated from the row below it so you never have people in front of you blocking your view when they get up. But I was really disappointed with the Citi Field food selection, especially on the upper level. I got a Sam Adams Summer Ale so the beer selection was fine, but the food selection, not so much. I got a Pat LaFrieda hamburger. I don't remember seeing Pat LaFrieda at Citi Field before this year, but that was all over Citi Field this year. It was a totally bland hamburger. Nothing special about it. And the concession stand where I got it used to be the Keith Hernandez hamburger stand. Keith's burgers were better and they were served with a Tootsie Pop (just like the real Keith Hernandez likes, this seemed like something out of a Seinfeld episode). Pat LaFrieda's hamburger was like a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese. Lame.
Last week, I made it to Yankee Stadium with my friend Adam. I definitely wanted to get there to say goodbye to Derek Jeter. The Yankees were taking on the Astros. Michael Pineda pitched well for six innings and didn't get caught with any pine tar, but the Yankees bullpen couldn't hold a 2-1 lead. The Astros scored four in the seventh and won 5-2. But Jeter was good. He DHed and went 2-4 with a walk. It was nice to see him play well one last time. I have Mariano Rivera ranked as the greatest player I've ever seen. Ken Griffey, Jr. would be next on my list, but I don't know if I ever saw him in person. Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez would all be high on the list, but I don't think I ever saw any of them in person. Derek Jeter might be the second greatest player I ever saw in person. I'll miss him.
Yankee Stadium had a better food selection than Citi Field, but the beer selection was seriously lacking. Apparently they have no craft beer except for Yuengling. They have no beer brewed in New York. The Bronx has a brewery. It's three miles away from Yankee Stadium. I think I've only had it once at Madison Square Garden, so I can't really say how good it is, but it has to be better than a lot of the bad beer they have at Yankee Stadium. Brooklyn has a brewery that makes some good beers. Come on Yankees, that's weak. I decided not to pay a ridiculous amount for a beer that probably wasn't going to be too good. I had a Summer Ale on tap at Penn Station on the way home (probably my last one on tap for the year), so it worked out fine for me.
So both stadiums are falling in my rankings. The fact that it's Yankee Stadium and the fact that Yankee Stadium gets better crowds than Citi Field (42,102 at Yankee Stadium and 23,416 at Citi Field for these two games) will keep Yankee Stadium ahead of Citi Field. But Yankee Stadium really needs better beer. I can't stress that enough.
Anyway, here are my updated stadium rankings. I've visited some stadiums for the first time this year and some that I had been to already have moved up or down. If I've been to a game at these stadiums since the start of the 2012 season, I've blogged about it, so I've included links. Let's go in reverse order:
26. SkyDome. Toronto was fun. Its baseball stadium needs work.
25. US Cellular Field. I was there in 2006. I'm in no rush to get back.
24. Marlins Park. It's much better than playing in a football stadium, but I'm not much of a fan.
23. Minute Maid Park. There's nothing special about it.
22. Turner Field. It's crazy that the Braves are getting a new stadium so soon, but hopefully it will be better than Turner Field. By the way, click on that link if you want to see how I had the stadiums ranked before this year.
21. Progressive Field. It's like Oriole Park, only not as good.
20. Chase Field. I don't like indoor baseball, but you need it in the desert.
19. Miller Park. Again, the roof. But it helps when you go to a game in Milwaukee in early April.
18. Coors Field. It's a nice stadium, but baseball shouldn't be played at that altitude.
17. Shea Stadium. Totally overrated, I know, but I probably saw 50 games there.
16. Comerica Park. I mean considering it's in Detroit, this is a pretty good ranking.
15. Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It's nice, but I think it's overrated by most people.
14. Citi Field. You just read about Citi Field.
13. New Yankee Stadium. You just read about that too, but I included a link because it's a great story.
12. Safeco Field. They only use the roof as an umbrella. I like that.
11. Citizens Bank Park. It's good. Really close between this one and number 10.
10. Nationals Park. I had this one underrated before.
9. Busch Stadium. St. Louis is a great baseball town. It's a good stadium, but it left me wanting more.
8. AT&T Park. San Francisco is full of hippies and I hate the Giants, but it is a very good baseball stadium.
7. Kauffman Stadium. I had high hopes for this one and I was really impressed. It's a beautiful stadium.
6. Wrigley Field. I've moved it down from where I had it before because the Cubs have been so bad that it hurts the atmosphere. The only time I was there was five years ago. It was early in the season and the ivy hadn't grown in yet. I would love to get back there later in the season and blog about it.
5. Petco Park. I really liked Petco Park, but I had to move it down a spot because of the Bud Selig Hall of Fame Plaza. It makes no sense. If it was in Milwaukee, fine, but Selig has no connection to San Diego.
4. PNC Park. Pittsburgh is an underrated city, but people do seem to realize how good their baseball stadium is. The team has been better the last couple of years which makes the atmosphere better than a place like Wrigley Field or Petco Park.
3. Old Yankee Stadium. If you wanted a stadium with a great atmosphere and history, it was the old Yankee Stadium.
2. Dodger Stadium. I'm biased, but I love Dodger Stadium.
1. Fenway Park. Fenway Park is the gold standard. I would love to get back to Fenway to see a game played when the weather is warmer than 25 degrees. I haven't been to Fenway for a baseball game since 2010. It would be great to get back for a baseball game and blog about it. Maybe in 2015 (and if not for baseball in 2015, hopefully the Notre Dame-Boston College football game).
Of the stadiums I've been to, I consider the top eight on my list as the elite category. Since I don't care about getting to Oakland or Tampa, I have four stadiums to go. All the ones I still have to get to have some appeal to me. My friend Wilhelm lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so hopefully I'd see him when I make the trip to Texas to see the Rangers (who I think are the only team that I haven't seen play in person in the last ten years or so). I was supposed to get to Cincinnati this year, but that didn't happen. Apparently Great American Park has the best beer selection in baseball. A trip to Minnesota to see the Twins would mean crossing at least one more state off my list (I'd try to get to a few more than just Minnesota, the Field of Dreams in Iowa would be within driving distance). And a trip to Anaheim would mean more time in southern California, which is always a good thing. Hopefully I'd be able to catch a Dodger game also and maybe go to Disneyland or something.
Notre Dame football starts tomorrow. College football means that my baseball travels are done for 2014, but I have plenty of baseball left to watch on TV. Hopefully that will include the Dodgers winning the World Series. Go Irish! Go Dodgers!
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| Our view at Citi Field |
The only other notable thing about that game for the Dodgers was what was going on in the field. It was Matt Kemp's last start in center field and there was a reason it was his last start in center field. He made an error and if I remember correctly, there were a few balls he didn't get to. Future center fielder Yasiel Puig made this catch. The Dodgers had been horrendous in the field up to that point. They've been solid since then. Definitely not great, but solid.
I came away from that game disappointed with Citi Field. My dad and I sat up high between home plate and the first base dugout. Our view was fine. We were in the wheelchair row of the 400 level, which is a great seat for a lot of reasons. It's not too expensive, you can get in and out very easily, and it's elevated from the row below it so you never have people in front of you blocking your view when they get up. But I was really disappointed with the Citi Field food selection, especially on the upper level. I got a Sam Adams Summer Ale so the beer selection was fine, but the food selection, not so much. I got a Pat LaFrieda hamburger. I don't remember seeing Pat LaFrieda at Citi Field before this year, but that was all over Citi Field this year. It was a totally bland hamburger. Nothing special about it. And the concession stand where I got it used to be the Keith Hernandez hamburger stand. Keith's burgers were better and they were served with a Tootsie Pop (just like the real Keith Hernandez likes, this seemed like something out of a Seinfeld episode). Pat LaFrieda's hamburger was like a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese. Lame.
Last week, I made it to Yankee Stadium with my friend Adam. I definitely wanted to get there to say goodbye to Derek Jeter. The Yankees were taking on the Astros. Michael Pineda pitched well for six innings and didn't get caught with any pine tar, but the Yankees bullpen couldn't hold a 2-1 lead. The Astros scored four in the seventh and won 5-2. But Jeter was good. He DHed and went 2-4 with a walk. It was nice to see him play well one last time. I have Mariano Rivera ranked as the greatest player I've ever seen. Ken Griffey, Jr. would be next on my list, but I don't know if I ever saw him in person. Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez would all be high on the list, but I don't think I ever saw any of them in person. Derek Jeter might be the second greatest player I ever saw in person. I'll miss him.
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| Our view at Yankee Stadium |
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| Derek Jeter gets a single. |
Yankee Stadium had a better food selection than Citi Field, but the beer selection was seriously lacking. Apparently they have no craft beer except for Yuengling. They have no beer brewed in New York. The Bronx has a brewery. It's three miles away from Yankee Stadium. I think I've only had it once at Madison Square Garden, so I can't really say how good it is, but it has to be better than a lot of the bad beer they have at Yankee Stadium. Brooklyn has a brewery that makes some good beers. Come on Yankees, that's weak. I decided not to pay a ridiculous amount for a beer that probably wasn't going to be too good. I had a Summer Ale on tap at Penn Station on the way home (probably my last one on tap for the year), so it worked out fine for me.
So both stadiums are falling in my rankings. The fact that it's Yankee Stadium and the fact that Yankee Stadium gets better crowds than Citi Field (42,102 at Yankee Stadium and 23,416 at Citi Field for these two games) will keep Yankee Stadium ahead of Citi Field. But Yankee Stadium really needs better beer. I can't stress that enough.
Anyway, here are my updated stadium rankings. I've visited some stadiums for the first time this year and some that I had been to already have moved up or down. If I've been to a game at these stadiums since the start of the 2012 season, I've blogged about it, so I've included links. Let's go in reverse order:
26. SkyDome. Toronto was fun. Its baseball stadium needs work.
25. US Cellular Field. I was there in 2006. I'm in no rush to get back.
24. Marlins Park. It's much better than playing in a football stadium, but I'm not much of a fan.
23. Minute Maid Park. There's nothing special about it.
22. Turner Field. It's crazy that the Braves are getting a new stadium so soon, but hopefully it will be better than Turner Field. By the way, click on that link if you want to see how I had the stadiums ranked before this year.
21. Progressive Field. It's like Oriole Park, only not as good.
20. Chase Field. I don't like indoor baseball, but you need it in the desert.
19. Miller Park. Again, the roof. But it helps when you go to a game in Milwaukee in early April.
18. Coors Field. It's a nice stadium, but baseball shouldn't be played at that altitude.
17. Shea Stadium. Totally overrated, I know, but I probably saw 50 games there.
16. Comerica Park. I mean considering it's in Detroit, this is a pretty good ranking.
15. Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It's nice, but I think it's overrated by most people.
14. Citi Field. You just read about Citi Field.
13. New Yankee Stadium. You just read about that too, but I included a link because it's a great story.
12. Safeco Field. They only use the roof as an umbrella. I like that.
11. Citizens Bank Park. It's good. Really close between this one and number 10.
10. Nationals Park. I had this one underrated before.
9. Busch Stadium. St. Louis is a great baseball town. It's a good stadium, but it left me wanting more.
8. AT&T Park. San Francisco is full of hippies and I hate the Giants, but it is a very good baseball stadium.
7. Kauffman Stadium. I had high hopes for this one and I was really impressed. It's a beautiful stadium.
6. Wrigley Field. I've moved it down from where I had it before because the Cubs have been so bad that it hurts the atmosphere. The only time I was there was five years ago. It was early in the season and the ivy hadn't grown in yet. I would love to get back there later in the season and blog about it.
5. Petco Park. I really liked Petco Park, but I had to move it down a spot because of the Bud Selig Hall of Fame Plaza. It makes no sense. If it was in Milwaukee, fine, but Selig has no connection to San Diego.
4. PNC Park. Pittsburgh is an underrated city, but people do seem to realize how good their baseball stadium is. The team has been better the last couple of years which makes the atmosphere better than a place like Wrigley Field or Petco Park.
3. Old Yankee Stadium. If you wanted a stadium with a great atmosphere and history, it was the old Yankee Stadium.
2. Dodger Stadium. I'm biased, but I love Dodger Stadium.
1. Fenway Park. Fenway Park is the gold standard. I would love to get back to Fenway to see a game played when the weather is warmer than 25 degrees. I haven't been to Fenway for a baseball game since 2010. It would be great to get back for a baseball game and blog about it. Maybe in 2015 (and if not for baseball in 2015, hopefully the Notre Dame-Boston College football game).
Of the stadiums I've been to, I consider the top eight on my list as the elite category. Since I don't care about getting to Oakland or Tampa, I have four stadiums to go. All the ones I still have to get to have some appeal to me. My friend Wilhelm lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so hopefully I'd see him when I make the trip to Texas to see the Rangers (who I think are the only team that I haven't seen play in person in the last ten years or so). I was supposed to get to Cincinnati this year, but that didn't happen. Apparently Great American Park has the best beer selection in baseball. A trip to Minnesota to see the Twins would mean crossing at least one more state off my list (I'd try to get to a few more than just Minnesota, the Field of Dreams in Iowa would be within driving distance). And a trip to Anaheim would mean more time in southern California, which is always a good thing. Hopefully I'd be able to catch a Dodger game also and maybe go to Disneyland or something.
Notre Dame football starts tomorrow. College football means that my baseball travels are done for 2014, but I have plenty of baseball left to watch on TV. Hopefully that will include the Dodgers winning the World Series. Go Irish! Go Dodgers!
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