As most of you have noticed since 2017….when including talk about the Houston Baseball team, I’ve referred to them as the Asstroes! They deserved it for their depth & frequency of their sign-stealing techniques as a team!! That extra ‘s” seem to describe well my feelings for them.
…. Their codebreaking system of 2017, based on using video camera in CF and analyzed by this program of use by Houston’s players in the clubhouse then relayed by banging trash cans in a certain manner. I was shocked to learn that Houston, apparently, still used their illegal “techniques into 2018. Other MLB players had strong suspicions….their only way to “get even”….throw at the Houston batters. Apparently in 2018, certain types of whistles replaced the primitive trash-can banging mode of relaying the pitch. Carrying a bit more “weight” in the discussion, Rafael Garcia did a deep analysis of Astros games and claimed he identified a pattern with the sounds of the whistles. In a video Garcia put together, it shows 2 different whistles different whistle for fastballs and another to signify off speed pitches. The alleged fastball whistle was a longer, flat whistle. It could be a complete coincidence, but that whistle sounded identical to the one we heard before Altuve’s Game 4 homer.
….In 2020, Dusty Baker, a blue-blood baseball man & manager, was brought in to wipe out this fraud. Since then, there hasn’t been any cheating allegations. He’s asked the other teams to stop “hitting his batters”. I suppose this was his way of saying, ”we’re not going to cheat any more…so, don’t throw at us” (it may end our careers). The Astros lost in the ALCS in 2020 his 1st year @ Houston and are headed to the World Series again this year. While I’m happy that Dusty…. hopefully…. has righted in the integrity ship, it took Houston way tooooo long to face the music.. oops… bad reference with the whistling! But…better late than never…so… it’ll be the Astroes without that extra “s” from now on for me. It’ll be that missing “s” 😊
….The S in hockey is for Scoring! It’s not missing right, it’s shining brightly, now for the Blues!! Their 5-0 mark isn’t by chance. Leading the Western Div in Goals and also holding the lowest Goals Against % will usually put you in 1st place. The Blues Shooting % is tops in the entire NHL at 15.8%. The Blues DH in back-back games against the LA Kings saw 2 different styles. In game 1, the Blues movement w/o the puck in the offensive end was terrific. Many players were“slicing” into the net area for quick passes or tip-ins. On both ends of the ice the game was wide open as StL won 7-3.. In game 2, it was much, much tighter checking by both teams. Vladimir Tarasenko scored 2 tremendous goals to lead them to a 3-0 win. Vlady has shown energy w & w/o the puck early in this season. He leads the team in Shots on Goal(26) in 5 games and has regained his “touch” with the puck. Vlady’s play has been Superlative in the first 10 days of the long NHL season. It’s clear, to this point, that the trade talk, expansion exposure in the off-season has motivated this Scorer for the Blues.
…Another type of “s” is missing for the Cards! It’s the one that belongs to Max Scherzer. He won’t be staying with LA. In my mind, he wanted to go to a post-season team so he could pitch in the big games again. LA burned him out in the playoffs with 4 appearances in 12 days. Then… his arm “went dead”. From the Dodger perspective, Scherzer “showed them up” with his antics on the mound when being removed from the game. Now I realize that the Cards aren’t going to fork over $34m (like this year) but I’m hoping that he’d reduce his salary demands to pitch regularly in front of his home friends, family & town in his final year(s) AND be on a contending team that just fired their manager because he didn’t advance in the playoffs. I know Scherzer has been paid over $221m during his career. Does he really need that much more money? I’m not asking him to earn the minimum but maybe $10-15m? He really could help the Cards who need starting pitchers who last beyond the 5th inning. Scherzer’s combined 2021 stats — 15-4(7-0 in LA), 179 inn in regular season, 2.46 ERA for the season, WHIP of 0.864, 6.0 hits/9 innings. By comparison to our ’21 ace, Adam Wainwright, pitched 174 innings, ERA of 3.05, WHIP 1.057. Let’s hope that this “S” can reach an agreement that’s suitable for him & the Cards. Think of that trio—Wainwright, Flaherty & Scherzer—maybe then our bullpen wouldn’t be asked to supply 4 relief hurlers every game.
….another “S” that is often missed is attached to the word “winS”. Quietly, since 2010, Brian Kelly (HC-Notre Dame) has taken over the top spot in most wins for the Irish Football program. His 106-39 record has moved him just past the legendary Knute Rockne who held a 105-12-5 record from 1918-1030. Think that there’s not much pressure to win @ND…. Only Joe Kuharich had a losing record 17-23 from 1959-62 for the Irish (excluding a coach who did only 1 game). Ya better have plenty of winS to stay around or YOU’LL be AOL @S. Bend!
…Who’s this new “S”tar? The Superstar HS athlete seldom reaches the NFL. But, I was lucky, to cover Marcus Golden while he played for Affton HS Football Team. I usually remember only bits & pieces, if anything, from all the games that I’ve announced. But…I do remember Golden dominating on offense AND defense for the Cougars. He moved on to Mizzou and was drafted in the 2nd round of 2015 by AZ Cardinals Now he’s become a Star after returning to Cardinals this year with his solid, consistent pressure on the opposing QB.
…Missing the S…like in Seasoning…..the Cards hired their 3rd straight “rookie” manager in Oly Marmol. Apparently, he’s checked all their boxes, except for experience in the MLB as a manager. He’ll dive deep, very deep into the Analytic Waters, apparently deeper than Shildt wanted to do. Will he bring fresh idea(S)? But, he does seem to have the respect of the players when things are not going well. Will he run the bullpen like Shildt (like a subway transfer station in NY)? Or…will he lead them to a World Series Championship? Making the playoffs isn’t enough any longer…ask Shildt.
….. Check out the responses from other readers on my FB page. If you want to “catch up, my past blogs are found on http://www.bobryansportsblog.com or on my Facebook page (Bob Ryan). Thanks for the read! Keep Spreading the word….cracked 700+ readers last week. Bob