I’m not Pythagoras. I’m more like Moronicus. In math, once I actually have to hold the one, I’m in trouble. But when I were to spin a wheel that carried 30 numbers and all were, say, the number 12, I’d conclude that chances are high the wheel will stop on a 12.
So the speculation has begun on who will replace Yankees manager Aaron Boone next season, when and if the team humanely releases him from his and fans’ misery.
And that’s where the wheel stops on a 12.
Who, in 2023, manages baseball teams any higher or worse? Who defies the absurd code of recent analytics and pregame scripts to as an alternative play winning, here-and-now baseball based on what’s happening fairly than perfect-world, spread-sheeted robotics?
Already, Craig Counsell’s name has come to the fore. The Brewers manager’s teams have been fairly successful, as they’ve qualified for the playoffs 4 times prior to now eight seasons. And his contract is expiring.
And someone has to win greater than they lose in battles to search out illogical ways to lose.
But is Counsell fundamentally different from Boone or, for that matter, some other current MLB manager?
Boone and Counsell have much in common. Each first made their MLB livings playing hard, advancing runners and profiting from their opportunities and in-game circumstances. But neither of them manages their teams that way.
In actual fact, over the past nearly nine seasons, the Brewers, with Counsell on the wheel, have pitched a complete of just five complete games.
Counsell was a teammate of starting pitchers equivalent to Livan Hernandez, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and others who commonly threw stacks of complete games per season.
Counsell, as does Boone, yanks effective relievers after they go 1-2-3 in favor of the subsequent scripted pitcher.
Last week at Yankee Stadium, the Brewers, within the tenth inning, had runners on first and second with none out. No higher time to bunt the runners over. As an alternative, Andruw Monasterio swung away the entire at-bat and grounded right into a double play. The Brewers lost in 13.
Though such “strategy” isn’t any longer surprising, the difference between Counsell the player and Counsell manager is not possible to miss or dismiss.
But ’round and ’round we go, where the wheel stops, well, we already kinda know.
Sean McDonough has been amongst my favorite play-by-players. His candor — his inability to disregard conspicuously ugly stuff that broadcasters commonly and intentionally ignore — has made him a valued companion to viewers preferring the reality.
That’s why, on ABC and ESPN’s college football telecasts this season, his willingness to play the blank-headed “graduate transfer” game has been disappointing.
In what graduate program, masters or doctoral, is the “student-athlete” graduate enrolled? Or is it just one other NCAA eligibility con?
If a faculty refuses to disclose the player’s graduate major, then simply report it: “A university spokesperson wouldn’t say.” Let the colleges behave as in the event that they’re hiding something, not the broadcasters.
If the player is searching for and even appears to be searching for a legit post-grad degree, report that.
But why would McDonough, or anyone else on these broadcasts, decide to be party to what seems a malodorous loophole that’s obscured by lofty-sounding academic baloney?
Gary Danielson, once CBS’s clear-speaking lead college football analyst, has now sacrificed basic, immediately comprehensible football language to hip, but silly and confusing expressions.
Exactly what does Danielson mean when he says a team’s offense “desires to stay ahead of the chains.” In the event you “stay behind the chains” you’re losing yardage, no? In the event you gain 6 yards on first down, you’re inside the chains.
And unless you rating a TD you’ll be able to’t “stay ahead of the chains,” because the chains move to mark a primary down.
But it surely’s amongst the newest spoken artificial intelligence fads, a senseless substitute for each sense and let-TV-be-TV silence.
The compromises that decent-headed folks must make to stay sports fans have gotten more like capitulations.
Last Sunday on CBS, the overstated brilliance of Browns QB Deshaun Watson was heard from hundreds of patrons, and Ian Eagle and Charles Davis, who must’ve been under the impression that he was another Deshaun Watson — definitely not the one who settled with 23 women who sued him for sexual harassment and sexual assault.
In what other business could someone survive even one such settlement and remain employed? Watson signed a $230 million deal to be employed by an NFL team.
And throughout that Bengals-Browns telecast, end zone and helmets carrying social virtue messages were on conspicuous display, as if we watching at home, not the NFL, has a significant issue.
SEC Network play-by-play man Pete Sousa last week was hammered for gross insensitivity when he said of a Kentucky RB:
“Nine months ago, when he jumped within the portal, everybody wanted him. Eleven years ago, as a foster kid, really no person wanted him. And now, here he’s. Found some love, found football, and he has had an incredible journey.”
In a world gone nuts, that qualifies as insensitive.
Adam “Pacman” Jones was arrested again last week. Some might recall a pandering exclusive interview CBS landed with him a few years ago. Jones and CBS declared he’s “a modified man.” He was, he grew worse.
They don’t make doubleheader sweeps like they used to. The Yankees took two in Boston on Tuesday, 3-2, then 4-1 — a two-admission, day-night number. The Yankees totaled 14 hits and 29 strikeouts.
NYU now includes sports betting classes as a part of its Entertainment, Media and Technology parlay, er, program. Here’s hoping that its teacher, Stephen Master — who said he has received support from FanDuel (Ya don’t say?) — emphasizes that sports betting is a business fully reliant on investors losing their investments.
In one other artificial additive, postseason-qualifying “must-win” game last Sunday, how were the Marlins capable of beat the Phillies, 5-4, despite 14 strikeouts? Well, for starters, the Phils K’d 13 times.
Designated Hitter of the Week is awarded to ex-Met and current Diamondback Tommy Pham. In 4 at bats against the Cubs in a “must-win,” he struck out 4 times.
ESPN’s filterless Jets fan Mike Greenberg was dramatically disconsolate on the air Tuesday in response to Aaron Rodgers’ injury the night before. Greenberg became the primary sportscaster to sit down shiva survive the air. At 56, it is perhaps time for him to grow up.
Newly appointed Latest Jersey lieutenant governor Tahesha Way is the wife of former Giants RB Charles Way.
A really special due to the 49ers, who blew out the Steelers early last Sunday, thus liberating us from having to suffer Daryl “Moose” Johnston suffocating one other game on Fox.
