Sure, we all did it….when our friends got their 1^st car in HS, we’d join him to CRUISE AROUND. It led us down all different types of streets/avenues/boulevards. Let’s do the same now.

…1^st we turned down the Baseball HOF avenue. It’s strange…not about who’s “in” but who isn’t. We know why Roger Clemens with 354 wins isn’t in….drug use. But.. how about CC Sabathia who posted 251 wins (same exact # of wins as Bob Gibson) in 19 years of MLB competition. He struck out over 3000 batters in 3500+ innings! He recorded more wins than these HOF’ers—Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Roy Holliday, Jim Bunning, Catfish Hunter, Juan Marichal and more. I kept wondering why Sabathia isn’t in….then I looked at the list again. Sabathia didn’t enjoy the luxury of being on “good” teams” and was locked into a “small” market w/o a big-time winning tradition for much of his career. Or…was it his “personal” problems or a demeanor that wasn’t appreciated by the writers?  It “bummed me out” so I left and cruised away.

…CRUSING AROUND, I decided to drive right on past the “Bash Ollie Boulevard” that I had been down several times recently.

…Still CRUISING AROUND…I turned down the Blues Road. As usual, it was icy but causing me to slip around more than expected was the talk on the street that Jordan Binnington should be moved. Those fans point out that he’s been on a continued slide since the glorious 2019 Cup year. His save percentage has dropped each year. The .891% of 22-23 year was 41^st of the 51 NHL goalies who appeared in at least 25 games. Personal meltdowns on the ice with opposing players have become too frequent. Unfortunately, he won’t be easy to move with 4 more years @ $6m/year remaining on his contract. I slipped my way back to the main road w/o any incidents.

…CRUISING AROUND and staying on the local roads. I turned onto Hometown Road. Things were bright on this road..especially @ 2 spots. Max Scherzer’s house on this road was the brightest. A future  HOF’er, this Parkway Central grad(we just HAVE to know his HS in the LOU) where he played 3 sports (baseball, football, basketball). In the 2006 draft he was the 11th-overall selection by the Az Diamondbacks – the highest any MU Tiger had been drafted at the time. He was the first Tiger to go in the first round. He was named the Diamondbacks’ Rookie of the Year in 2008 after posting a 3.05 ERA in 16 trips to the mound. Traded in 2010 to Detroit, he won 15 games in his 1st year w/the Tigers. His career has continued to shine brightly… He’s broken the 3,000 strikeout barrier. Was the tops in Strikeouts in a MLB season-3x! He’s won the Cy Young Award (league’s best pitcher) THREE times –in the NL & AL! He’s only 1 of 18 pitchers that owns wins over ALL 30 MLB teams! Scherzer has been named to the MLB All-Star game 8x and has been a starter in the All-Star game for both the AL & NL! Has tied MLB record for strikeouts in a 9 inning game with 20. He’s posted 250 strikeouts in 5 straight seasons. And…to top it off he had an immaculate Inning (3 strikeouts on 9 pitches) on 2 different occasions. Only Sandy Koufax &  Randy Johnson have done it previously. He’s a definite HOF’er from my view. But….we really don’t hear much about him here in the Lou. I wish that somehow he’d finish his career wearing Cardinal Red!! As my hopes controlled my mind, I found myself turning back to the main “drag”.

….CRUSING AROUND into the “newer” part of down-town, immediately I noticed one of the newest Sports teams—St Louis City SC. The area was bright, shiny and fun to attend the matches. City SC has responded by pushing itself into 1st place in the Western Conference. Their 9-1-5 record is listed in European style (W-T-L), they’ve piled up 28 points (a win=3pt; tie=1 pt). They lead the Western Conference with 32 goals. City as allowed 16 goals sooo…they are  +16 (Goals vs Goals against)—the overall  Best margin  in the entire league. However, they’ve been best known for their persistent, aggressive, non-relenting style of defense that chases the ball & continues to pressure all over the pitch. This, from what I’ve learned, is quite unusual. Many, many times, teams are allowed by their opponents to pass the ball around defensively from one side of the pitch to the other side. Which I’ve seen European teams do frequently (a part that I find ,personally, boring—there’s really no action). Not so with City!  Also highly charged are the crowds @ City Park. Their energy seems to ignite City throughout each home match. Everything was bright, happy, successful & smiling as we pulled away.

….Back to CRUISING AROUND, I headed for the highways. There I saw plenty of billboards. I couldn’t help myself…I took my eyes off the road as I read a sign that read “WANT TO WIN…PITCH”.  I turned down that road wondering what it meant. Well…it turns out that the 4 teams with the lowest Earned Run Average in the MLB  in 2023 are all in 1^st place or battling for 1^st place in their division. The Biggest Billboard was held by Houston’s  3.25 ERA (who are 2^nd behind Texas).Division leader– Texas is 4^th in the MLB in ERA. 2^nd in team ERA is Minnesota (tops in AL Cen). In the 3^rd spot is the amazing Tampa Bay Rays @ 3.53. I watched a part of a Rays game recently. It was really enjoyable—their pitchers get ahead in the count & throw strikes; batters often swing & make contact with the 1^st pitch. They run the bases aggressively, play stout defense. The game really “moves along” . Yet… much to my surprise… Tampa juggles their lineup almost every day and still wins!!

….Turning around, I went back to the main road as I was still CRUISING AROUND.  A billboard caught my eye, it read,” SIGN UP NOW”.  Soooo, my curiosity got the best of me & I turned on to the road. It was about NCAA-M Basketball recruiting. One of the brightest lights belonged to Mizzou. They were rated #5 in the SEC and #23 overall in the USA for the recruiting class in 2023.  HC Dennis Gates appears to have the Tigers headed for another exciting basketball season in 23-24.

…Well… the CRUISING AROUND ended for this ride. Usually, this happened because we were low on gas & low in the wallet 😊 But…. I’ll be continuing my own CRUSING AROUND as I take a break and will return in a couple weeks. I’d still LOVE to have YOUR thoughts on any of the “CRUISES” or for that matter … any other sports topic. Post directly on Facebook or send to me, rjryansr@charter.net, and I’ll post it for you. I would suggest that all of you go to Bob Ryan Facebook & read the terrific thoughts of the readers.