Who Knew?

Know one knew. Who could really know?  Most sports prognosticators had the Dodgers on life support. ESPN talent had 22 picking Padres and 5 going with Dodgers. Fernando Tatis Jr., the manchild, was on fire. Each time he came to the plate Dodger fans clenched their cheeks and Padre fans hissed their pent-up venom. The Padres won eight of the thirteen games this year. The Padres Dodger Rivalry has evolved suddenly.  Do we need another?  Everyone wants to hate the Dodgers except their fans. The Padres posterized the Blue Crew in Game 2 a lifetime ago behind Superhero Tatis. In “must win” game 3 had Walker struggling and the defense was Keystone Cops. The Dodger nominal lead became a 6-1 deficit in 34 pitches. Tatis launched a 2-run bomb to cap the scoring.  Still, no one knew what was coming. San Diego fans were delirious. The Padre batting order was being lionized. Dave Roberts’ future was being questioned with another NLDS failure. There were no breadcrumbs to the future.  Who could know that the Tatis bomb in the second inning of Game 3 would be the last run the Padres would score?  Tatis might have known because he watched it like he was taking a selfie. For the Padres to not score another run from that moment through almost three games seems impossible to allow for. It would have been FU money on a FanDuel bet.  What would be those odds? Do these Dodgers have a shot at the title?  Magic 8 Ball says Future Uncertain. Many difficult situations will test our intestinal walls. But our chances are better than San Diego’s!

 

With the Dodger’s game one shutout of the New York Mets, the Dodgers tied the playoff records for scoreless innings at 33.  The record ended abruptly but the record was set in the 1966 World Series.  That fall classic pitted the Dodgers of Koufax and Drysdale against the Orioles of Jim Palmer and Moe Drabowsky.  LA scored in the 2^nd and 3^rd innings of game 1 and would not score again in the last 3.5 games.  It would take almost another decade before the Dodgers scored a WS run. As a young Dodger fan, The Yard learned a very early lesson in Dodger PTSD-Playoff Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since Brooklyn the Dodgers have won the National League pennant 24 times.  They have the NL record for most appearances.  Saint Louis is in 2^nd place with 17.  Where the PTSD comes in, is the Dodgers have only won the title seven times in those two dozen tries.  The Yard was witness to several of these falls.  The Yankees and Dodgers faced 11 times in the WS with the Pinstripes winning 8 times.  The World Series in 1977, 78 & 81 were some of the bests in history with the Yankees winning the first two and then the first two games in 1981.  Coming back to LA for three games seemed like another fiasco awaiting. The Dodgers roared back and swept the last four games to win their first WS since 1965. Are we anxious today? You bet and we are not.

 

The Padres with the Sons of O’Malley managing went all in with this 2024 team.  There is still a runway in the San Diego future, but the sands of time are starting to cover it.  Padre management took big swings with Machado, Snell, Soto, Hader and others. The bar was set to beat the Dodgers.  The road to the promised land goes through Los Angeles. Could be I-5 or the 405 to the 605 depending on time of day but that is the route.  The Padres had already swept the Dodgers in the NLDS and so had the Diamondbacks. The next step was so tantalizingly close. The cost was their farm system.  The Padre top prospects are now another team’s future.  When that happens, you become the San Francisco Giants. Padre nation, the Giants have three titles to show for it, what say you? That very first title for San Diego should be special. Let us know where we should send the Participation Trophies for 2024.

 

Peter Rose was one of our favorite baseball players growing up.  He was one of our first Topps baseball cards. He died in Las Vegas which is appropriate. Charlie Hustle was an old school grinder. His all-time hits record will never be broken. Pete did not play for the money, and it was not great back then.  It was for the love of the game. He played every game like it was game 7 of the WS.  He practically ended Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse’s career on a play at the plate in the 1970 All-Star game.  He famously brawled with Bud Harrelson in the 1973 NLCS after the inning was over.  Rose's body slammed him into the infield dirt while everyone else was headed to the dugout. He was also a hustler.  He liked to bet, and it was his ultimate undoing. He denied the allegations for years.  When contrition was suggested, he admitted his misdeeds.  Baseball maintained the lifetime ban.  Maybe now he can get recognition for his unparallelled hitting instead just for his mistakes.  RIP PR.

Legends of the Fall

On September 29, 1941, Ted Williams would become the last major league baseball player to hit .400 for a season.  A batter hitting .400 for a season has always been a mystical thing for baseball fans.  There have been thirteen .400 seasons in the World Series era.  Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby each accomplished it three times. George Sisler did it twice. On this day, Williams defined his legend. The Red Sox had to play a doubleheader on the final day of the season against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s.  The Red Sox were 17.5 games out and nothing was at stake except Williams hitting .400.  New York Giant Bill Terry in 1930 was the last player to achieve the milestone before Williams. Statistically, Ted had already qualified with his average at game time .39955. Baseball now rounded statistics up.  Williams could have sat and secured .400.  The tempestuous Williams would have none of that. He played both games and went 6 for 8 for a final average of .406. It has never happened since.  Tony Gwynn .394, George Brett .390 and Rod Carew .388 all gave it a run in our era.  Pitching dominates today’s game. The Splendid Splinter will be the last .400 hitter in baseball history.

 

Williams' exploits have stood the test of time and so will Shohei Ohtani’s.  He cost a billion but so far it looks like a great investment.  He is a unicorn.  The first 50/50 person in baseball history is a ridiculous stat in a career full of them and he is only 30.  Any team would love for their leadoff batter steal 50 bases but to hit 50 home runs also WTF?  Ricky Henderson never did that. After the season, he will be named MVP of the National League, becoming only the second player to win the award in both leagues. Next year, he starts 30 games on the mound and bats leadoff.  Who has ever done that or will ever do that in the future? This is a generational player for generations to come. Shohei is not done for this season or with his legend.  Fans will be discussing his exploits for decades after he is done playing.

 

After the first 150+ games, baseball becomes a must see for baseball fans.  There are many outstanding regular season games and an evening at Chavez Ravine is special.  Baseball in the fall is where heroes are revealed. Exploits and errors are exaggerated.  Billy Buckner could never get that squibbed roller between his legs back.  Carlton Fisk willing his walk off homer fair in 1975 will never get old.  David Ross hitting a game 7 homerun in the last at bat of his entire career is ridiculous. Madison Bumgarner trotting out to pitch five innings of relief to help the Giants win the 2014 WS title is legend. There will be stories in the coming weeks that will be told for years.

 

Padre fans are all clamoring with the second half play of San Diego.  They have the best record in baseball since the all-star break.  They played the Dodgers tough and swept them last year in the playoffs.  They will be a handful for any team this postseason.  The Yard forecasted this when the sons of O’Malley’s bought the franchise in 2012.  The Padres have been middling for most of their history.  Dodger fans would go to see the Blue play at San Diego because the tickets were cheaper and more readily available.  Those games were like Dodger home games. The Padres have won one WS game in franchise history in nine tries.  The city is a proud one but has suffered the ignominy of having the Clippers and Chargers both leave for the verdant pastures of LA.  The city is eager for their first championship in any professional sport. The Padres won’t ever match the Dodgers six titles, but this might be their best chance for a first.  The Yard is rooting against it but won’t begrudge them if it comes to pass.

 

Billy Joe Armstrong called out Las Vegas from the stage at whatever the name of the place the Giants play is.  He laid some serious expletives on LV about being an accomplice in the A’s moving to the desert.  Since his outburst, Green Day has been banished from the airwaves in Las Vegas.  They will never play another date or festivals in Las Vegas. Rock and Roll bands generally want to play dates here. And Armstrong could not have been more wrong.  The real criminal in this story is the San Francisco Giants.  The Oakland Athletics had several proposals over the decades to relocate the team to the San Jose/Santa Clara area.  The SF 49ers got that deal done. But every time the A’s started to get traction on a new stadium, the Giants cried sovereign market and the A’s could not close the deal.  MLB supported the Giants claim and forced the A’s to make a deal with Oakland or leave.  The investment in the Raiders has been great financially.  Allegiant Stadium is the most profitable venue in the world.  That Yard does not care about those metrics because the team sucks.  Good for the city, not so great for the fans and we are not sure if we are one?! The jury is out on the ROI on a baseball stadium and this version of the Oakland Athletics sucks also.  Mark your calendars, The Tropicana is getting imploded on October 9, 2024, at 2:00 AM.  This might be the last LV hotel implosion in our lifetimes.  There will still be personal implosions in the casinos nightly.

 

Local News: UNLV football has their best team in 40 years.  One must go back to the halcyon days of John Robinson coaching the Rebels to recall such football success.  Head coach Barry Odom has done an outstanding job of building a team in his character.  After a 3-0 start, starting QB Matthew Sluka resigned from the team declaring the team had reneged on promises.  Sluka contended the offensive coordinator told him UNLV would get him $100,000 to transfer from Holy Cross.  The NIL money did not materialize and Sluka left the program to pursue his last year of eligibility somewhere else. Casino owner Derek Stevens offered to pay the $100,000 but that was against the rules. With the transfer portal and NIL money, rules are being broken faster than they are written.  Barry Odom’s UNLV football team crushed Fresno State with their second-string guy.  With the transfer portal and NIL money, rules are being broken faster than they are written.  Story for 30 for 30.

The Olympic Edition

The Yard and our loyal staff have always held the Olympics atop our Mount Olympus.  Legends and goats, heroes and villains, triumph and tragedy are spread across 16 days every four years.  COVID truncated 2020 into the 2021 Olympics so it has only been three years since last we gushed.  It is truly a world stage for 205 delegations from around the world to send athletes to compete in mainstream to obscure sports, some with weapons.  With traditional television and streaming platforms so much content is available to every possible device. With war going on all over the world, the Olympics persists.  Iran, Iraq and Israel all have delegations at the Games.  Fortunately, the flag ceremony is not in alphabetical order or there could have been trouble.  Afghanistan has athletes in attendance and surprisingly none are women.  Haiti is a country without leadership and violent gangs are running the place, yet they have a delegation.  The Olympics can’t solve the world’s problems but at least it can keep the Russians at home. No one else has been able to do that.

 

After WW2, Russia retained “influence” in eastern Europe for decades.  This influence was ensured by Soviet troops and tanks. One of these satellite countries was Hungary.  The Hungarian People’s republic was a shadow government of Russia. Nikita Khrushchev was the Putin of the 1950’s.  When the Hungarian people revolted against their puppet government in 1956, Nikki released the Kraken just like Vlade in 2021 against Ukraine.  NK KO’d Hungary quickly killing 2000+ and seeing 200,000 flee the country.  Putin is still trying to figure out how to claim a W with his incursion of Ukraine.

 

 The 1956 Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia commencing in November in the southern hemisphere.  This was approximately 60 days after the Hungarian rebellion. The Hungarian men’s water polo team were the Olympic defending champions winning the gold in1952.  The Russians studied the Hungarian Water Polo teams training methods and strategies while occupying the country. Hungary and Russia would meet in the semifinals.  This epic match was immortalized with Ervin Zador’s blood in the water.  The Hungarian team's plan was simply to taunt the Russians and force them into fouling. The supremist Russians lost their composure in their battle against their subjugated foe.  Hungary won 4-0 and won the gold medal the next day over Yugoslavia.  The iconic picture of Zador standing defiant in his speedo with blood streaming down his face will forever define an Olympic hero.

 

The 1984 Olympics still burn brightly in Yard folklore.  The Games were in Los Angeles and were forecasted to host a biblical traffic jam and financial black hole for city coffers.  The Yard was a fledgling downtown sales rep watching the preparations in rapture. Lanier BP afforded us tickets to see several events. Peter Ueberroth was the chairman of the Los Angeles Organizing committee that was going to oversee this potential municipal fiasco. The 1976 Olympics left the city of Montreal with a $1.5 billion deficit that took 30 years to pay off.  In the end, Saint Pete delivered the goods for the city.  The Los Angeles Olympics generated a profit of over $233 million. It was the first Olympics completely funded by the private sector. The city planning for work schedules and traffic patterns was amazing. It was the easiest time ever to get around Los Angeles during those Olympics.  It went right back to road rage immediately following the games.

 

Beyond the logistical and financial successes, the US athletes delivered feats of greatness.  The Russians petulantly did not participate because the US did not attend their show in 1980.  The US did not attend because Russia had invaded Afghanistan! The US had righteous indignation back then, go figure. Anyways, it was good not to have those douches there.  They would always win gymnastics and volleyball gold medals.  The US won Men’s and Women’s gymnastics team gold.  Mary Lou Retton and Peter Vidmar lead the way.  US men won their first ever volleyball gold medal with a sprinkling of Bruins and Trojans leading the charge. US women’s Olympic volleyball coach Karch Kiraly was the fierce leader of the squad. Michael Jordan led a dominant men’s team to the title.  Head coach Bobby Knight famously clashed with Charles Barkley and cut the basketball HOF star from the team.  The women’s team lead by Cheryl Miller would win their first Gold medal in the sport and have won every one since 1984. Flo Jo, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner, Edwin Moses dominated the track and field when the Coliseum had a track. The US won 174 total medals, 83 of which were gold.  With the gold Peter U generated, Los Angeles had a financial windfall that is still felt to this day.  Bring on the games in 2028. Peter will be 90, I hope he can be a part. Was Katie Ledecky in the 1984 Olympics?

 

Alas, what has become of the Dodgers? It seemed that starting pitching would be a strength at the beginning of the season.  Now, we are not sure who is pitching daily.  Buehler is trying to work himself into form, but the current one is not for the MLB.  Kershaw’s first start was a disaster.  Dustin May ruptured his esophagus and is lost for 2024.  Yamamoto is out for now.  Muncy has been missed all season. Mookie should be back, but this pitching is not getting out of the first round of the playoffs against anyone.  Then Freddie Freeman’s young son Max was stricken with a rare neurological disorder. Suddenly, baseball is not that important. #Maxstrong!