2022 World Series: The Phillies seek to complete the underdog mission

The 2022 World Series begins today, Friday, October 28, 2022. It pits the two-time defending American League champion Houston Astros, versus the Philadelphia Phillies, a franchise making their first World Series appearance in 11 years.

The Astros’ presence in this year’s World Series is not a shocking result. They led all American League teams in victories this season with 106, and subsequently swept their two playoff series in the American League side of the Major League Baseball post-season bracket, defeating the Seattle Mariners in three games in the American League Division Series, and the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series in four games.

The Phillies’ road to the World Series was a lot more improbable. Their former manager, Joe Girardi, who led the New York Yankees to a championship in 2009, was fired after only 51 games played, with the team posting a lackluster 22-29 record. He was replaced, on an interim basis, by Girardi’s bench coach Rob Thomson. The team responded more favorably to Thomson winning 65 of the remaining 111 games, clinching the last National League wild card playoff position in the season’s waning days.

However, with three 100+ win teams (Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets) in the league, as well as theit first-round opponent, the 93-win St. Louis Cardinals, it did not seem likely that the Phillies would be long for this year’s post-season. However, with an amazing display of timely hitting and pitching, the Phillies managed to defeat the Cardinals, Braves, and fellow wild card qualifier, the San Diego Padres, winning 9 of 11 games along the way to winning the National League Championship. The National League playoffs saw the lower seeded team win each playoff series, something that happened only once on the American League side of the playoff bracket.

The Astros are led by future Hall of Fame ace Justin Verlander, who in his first full season of action in three years, posted a Major League-leading 1.75 Earned Run Average, and, leading the American League in wins with 18. Along with pitchers Framber Valdez (17 wins) and Luis Garcia (15 wins), the Astros will pose a formidable challenge for the Phillies.

The Phillies are led by their power hitting, MVP-caliber star Bryce Harper, who hit the go-ahead home run in the NLCS-clinching game versus the Padres, capping off a great post-season stretch to this point. Harper has a .419 batting average, with six doubles, five home runs and 11 runs batted in, in 11 post-season games, rounding his game back into shape at a most opportune time, after missing a substantial amount of the regular season after sustaining a thumb injury, while hit by a pitch in San Diego in June.

Sam Jones, Basketball Hall of Famer (1933-2021)

Sam Jones, Basketball Hall of Famer

Sam Jones, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and 10-time NBA champion, all as an integral part of the Boston Celtics’ championship dynasty, passed away on December 30, 2021, at the age of 88.

Jones was drafted into the NBA in 1957, after playing at the collegiate level at North Carolina Central University, a historically Black college. He played his entire 12-year NBA career with the Celtics’, alongside a group of Hall of Fame teammates such as Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones and John Havlicek

Regarded as one of the most clutch performers during his career, Jones was an excellent rebounding guard as well, averaging 4.9 rebounds per game. Jones also led the Celtics in scoring in three of his seasons.

Sam Jones’ presence on 10 NBA championship teams as a player was only surpassed by Bill Russell, who in addition to being Jones’ teammate on all ten of Jones’ championship teams, won an NBA championship in 1957, his rookie year, and the year before Jones joined the NBA.

Photo Credit: Dick Raphael/Getty Images

MLB: Indians’ Rookie Pitcher McKenzie Making People Take Notice

On August 22, 2020, at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, Cleveland Indians’ rookie right-handed pitcher Triston McKenzie made his much-anticipated major league debut versus the Detroit Tigers. He did not disappoint, striking out 10 batters in six innings, contributing to a 6-1 Indians’ victory, with the only Detroit run coming via a solo home run by shortstop Willi Castro. His 10 strikeouts in his debut was the second most achieved by a Cleveland Indians’ pitcher in his first career start, just one shy of the mark set by Luis Tiant in 1964. In five total starts, McKenzie has a 2-1 record, 3.91 ERA, with 33 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings. Opposing batters are hitting a paltry .161 against him. His ERA was somewhat inflated in his last start, where he suffered his first major league loss against the Minnesota Twins, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings, including yielding three home runs. Nevertheless, his big-league beginning is likely a big relief to the pennant-contending Indians’ management and fans alike, helping to reinforce some of the depth lost when pitcher Mike Clevinger was traded to the San Diego Padres on August 31.

McKenzie, drafted #42 overall in 2015 by the Indians, was ranked the tenth highest prospect in the Indians’ system. He compiled a composite minor league record of 26-16, with a 2.68 ERA, allowing only 230 hits and 98 walks in 329 innings, while striking out 394 batters over 60 games (59 starts.) He did not pitch in 2019 due to injuries, most notably a strained rotator cuff.

He features three pitches, a fastball that can approach 95 miles per hour, along with a overhand slow curveball and changeup that helps to keep batters guessing.

2020 Summer Olympics Postponed Until 2021

After weeks of speculation, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially decided to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and 2020 Paralympic Games until 2021. The Summer Olympics were scheduled to begin on July 24th.

The decision by IOC Chairman Thomas Bach was made in consultation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The gaining momentum towards postponement due to concerns about the uncertainty of the Coronavirus pandemic was catalyzed by the decision of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) on March 22nd to withdraw their participation in the Games.

MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL offering free access to their online game archives

In the shadow of the suspensions of ongoing and upcoming seasons, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the four major North American sports leagues have chosen to provide live sports-deprived viewers access to their respective online game archives.

Major League Baseball (MLB) has made available archives for the entire 2018 and 2019 seasons.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has made available, until April 22nd, their full-game and condensed archives of the 2019-2020 season-to-date, as well as select classic game archives.

The National Hockey League (NHL) has also decided to make their full 2019-2020 season-to-date game archive available for no charge.

The National Football League (NFL) was the one league spared an immediately tough decision to defer an ongoing or upcoming season. Their on-field season concluded on February 2nd with Super Bowl 54. However, the NFL has chosen to join the gesture of goodwill by providing for free archival access to games from each of their last two seasons, through May 31st.

NFL: Redskins fire Gruden after 0-5 start

Early this morning, the NFL’s Washington Redskins made the decision to fire head coach Jay Gruden, following the team’s lackluster 0-5 beginning to the 2019 NFL season. According to the Washington Post, Gruden was fired during an early morning meeting at the Redskins’ Park training facility in Auburn, Virginia, that was attended by the team’s majority owner Daniel Snyder and President Bruce Allen.

Over the span of five-plus seasons, Gruden compiled a 35-49-1 record in 85 regular-season games, and an 0-1 record in the lone postseason appearance made by Washington during his tenure, a 35-18 defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. Gruden was the eighth coach employed by Snyder since he assumed control of the franchise in 1999. And, he was the longest-tenured coach during Snyder’s reign of owning the team.

Assistant Head Coach Bill Callahan has been selected as the interim head coach for the remainder of this season. Callahan has previously been a head coach at the NFL-level in Oakland, and at the NCAA Division I-level at the University of Nebraska.

 

NHL: A high level of hockey expectation in Newark has, so far, not been matched with the desired results

The summer of 2019 offseason saw the New Jersey Devils execute a series of promising acquisitions that raised the level of expectations for a franchise who fell short of reaching the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs this past spring. However, two games into the new season have resulted in a 0-1-1 record and a noticeable gap between the high expectations and the reality of starting the season without a win in the first two contests.

The Devils, by way of winning the NHL 2019 draft lottery, possessed the first overall draft pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and selected forward Jack Hughes. This was the second time in three seasons that New Jersey selected a player with the number one overall draft choice (Nico Hischier, 2017.) These picks, along with the July trade for all-star defenseman P.K. Subban, and the free agent-signings of veteran forward and six-time 20-plus goal scorer Wayne Simmonds boosted hopes for a potential return to the postseason in 2020.

Things started out well enough on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, with New Jersey scoring the first four goals of the game, led by two goals from forward Blake Coleman, who had a career-high 22 goals in 2018-2019. However, a late second-period goal from the Jets ended the Devils’ shutout bid and served as a bridge to huge third-period, three-goal surge by Winnipeg to tie the game. The Jets eventually won 5-4 via a fourth-round shootout goal by their captain Blake Wheeler.

On Saturday, New Jersey played their first road game, in Buffalo versus the Sabres who were opening their home schedule. This game saw a continuation of the defensive breakdowns and turnovers that plagued the Devils in Friday’s third period. The result of Saturday’s game was a 7-2 defeat to the Sabres, the faster-skating, more responsive team during the game.

The Devils’ next game is a Wednesday, October 9 game in Philadelphia versus the 1-0 Philadelphia Flyers, who won their season opener 4-3 in a game played in Prague, Czech Republic. The game will serve as the Flyers’ home-opener, and Simmonds first game in Philadelphia since being traded last season to Nashville from Philadelphia, where he played for eight seasons.

NHL: Rangers win season opener 6-4 over Winnipeg

The New York Rangers showed plenty of energy and offense in their 2019-2020 season-opening 6-4 victory versus the Winnipeg Jets, at Madison Square Garden last night. They were led by center Mika Zibanejad, who tallied a goal and three assists. Zibanejad picked up where he left off last season when he led the Rangers with 30 goals and 72 points, both career-highs for the 26-year-old.

The Rangers also received a strong game from their long-time all-star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 43 of 47 shots from the Jets. The Rangers also received strong multipoint performances from two of their new acquisitions, defenseman Jacob Trouba (goal, two assists) and free-agent forward Artemi Panarin (goal, assist.) Trouba played his first six NHL seasons in Winnipeg, before being traded to the Rangers in June of this year.

And while the result of the win was positive enough, the Rangers still need to shore up their play on the defensive end of the ice. As great as Lundqvist still is, at 37 years of age, any stretch of games in which he has to face 40 to 50 shots per game will not serve the Rangers’ chances of success this season well. Defensive lapses led to many quality chances in front of the Rangers’ net, particularly for Winnipeg’s first line of Mark Schiefele, Blake Wheeler, and Nikolaj Ehlers, who almost beat the home team single-handedly, combining for three goals, three assists and a plus-four rating between the trio.

The 2019 Mets: Go Figure

Just nine days ago, on July 27th, the New York Mets seemingly appeared to be a team that was ready to offer just about everyone on their starting pitching staff away for the best return possible.

This appeared to be “changing time” for the orange and blue. Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler,  Jason Vargas…all on the trade block.

The Mets then surprised many by acquiring Long Island-reared pitcher Marcus Stroman from Toronto. The addition of Stroman, who had pitched to an earned run average of 2.93 in the AL, despite being on a subpar Blue Jays team, sent contradictory signals. What were the Mets trying to accomplish?

Soon afterwards, following a sweep of the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates, Vargas did indeed get traded, to the division rival Philadelphia Phillies. However, the Mets, bolstered by an excellent Syndergaard performance in the first game of the following series against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, extended their win streak, and fueled speculation that a “wave-the-white-flag” strategy was possibly being abandoned.

The combination of events really energized the fan base,  since it now appeared that General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen would now join the remainder of the rotation with Stroman, to attempt a playoff run this season.

The July 31st trade deadline did come and go without any additional major changes, and the Mets have so far rewarded the GM’s faith in the group, sweeping the White Sox, and winning two more games versus Pittsburgh, while compiling 9-1 record in the team’s last ten games.

The Mets season-to-date record is now 55-56. They begin a four-game home series against the last place Miami Marlins.  The Mets also have 33 of their remaining 51 games at home, at Citi Field. And while that is a good position to be in, time will tell if the Mets are up to the challenge.