Trevino, LeMahieu Gold Glove winners.

Jose Trevino and D.J. LeMahieu were named winners of the Gold Glove Award for defensive excellence yesterday. For catcher Trevino, it is his first. For LeMahieu, his fourth, but first in a newly created category for utility men.

Nominated for the award but losing out were Yankee P Jameson Taillon, 1B Anthony Rizzo and LF Andrew Benintendi. Why OF Aaron Judge, an excellent defender as well as slugger, wasn’t nominated, escapes me.

Trevino was also up for, but lost out on, the Roberto Clemente Award for community service. That was won by Justin Turner of the Dodgers.

A couple of guys with Yankees’ ties were interviewed for, but didn’t get, managerial positions. One was current Yankees’ bench coach Carlos Mendoza, another was former Yankees coach Joe Espada, and another was former Yankees 2B Miguel Cairo. Cairo took over as interim manager for the White Sox when 76-year-old Tony LaRussa’s health failed him and forced him to retire again. Instead, the White Sox went with Pedro Grifol and the Royals have chosen Matt Quataro. These follow Texas’ choice to bring Bruce Bochy out of retirement.

The Astros got hammered by the Phillies in Game 3 of the WS last night 7-0. The Phils hit five HR, and before one of them, Bryce Harper, who had homered, was giving advice to Alec Bohm, who then homered. Could Harper have seen something that Astro starter Lance McCullers, Jr. was tipping pitches? McCullers denies doing so of course, but you have to wonder.

The Phils took a two-games-to one lead in the Series, and the decisions of both managers regarding their rotations now are a factor. With the rainout, Phillies’ manager Rob Thomson (a former Yankees coach) switched off of Game 3 scheduled starter Noah Syndergaard to Ranger Suarez, keeping Aaron Nola on his regular rest for Game 4. Suarez rewarded the Phils with shutout pitching. Meanwhile, Astros’ manager Dusty Baker kept his rotation the same, starting McCullers, who got rocked, and instead of bringing back Justin Verlander for Game 4, appears to be sticking with Cristian Javier. Javier better come through, because if the Phils win Game 4 to go up three games to one, Philadelphia will REALLY be rocking for Game 5. Of course, Verlander has been surprisingly bad in WS play, going 0-6, 6.07. But you think sooner or later he’d pitch a good one, right? But the choice of whether to switch after the rainout (Thomson did) or not (Baker) could play a huge part as far as the Series is concerned.

Baseball Thoughts.

Game 3 of the WS was postponed last night and will be played tonight, weather permitting. The series is tied at a game apiece.

So, a few thoughts in the meantime.

First off, I won’t post anything regarding free agency until it happens or there is a great certainty that it will happen. Reading all this conjecture about Aaron Judge going to SF, the Dodgers, staying with the Yankees, is all bullshit. When you read predictions about who is going where and for how much each year, what percentage of those predictions is actually accurate? Answer: Not many. So, until something happens, I will do my best not to spread unfounded rumors.

Justin Turner of the Dodgers won the Roberto Clemente Award for community service. The Yankees’ nominee was Jose Trevino.

A couple of managerial decisions have been made, with the biggest surprise probably being Bruce Bochy (3 WS rings, future HOF) coming out of retirement to manage Texas.

The Yanks will be keeping Aaron Boone as manager, and most likely Brain Cashman as GM as well. I think the retention of Cashman (and by retaining him, he’d retain Boone) is tied into the Judge situation. You don’t want a novice GM trying to work out the details of trying to re-sign Judge, whose contract could be not only very expensive, but also very involved and intricate.

Game 162. Yanks lose 6-1, look to ALDS vs. Twins.

There was no Game 161 recap since I was attending my niece’s wedding.

Briefly: The Yanks lost that game 9-4. There were no homers hit, Didi Gregorius drove in 3 runs, and the losing pitcher was starter Luis Severino (L, 1-1, 1.50), who gave up two runs in 3 IP. David Hale came off the IL. Luis Cessa and Nestor Cortes (who gave up a grand slam) pitched poorly. Yankees’ pitchers walked 11.

As for the last regular season game, the Yanks lost 6-1, getting just three hits, and striking out 13x. Aaron Judge hit a HR (27) for the Yanks’ only run. The Yanks wound up with 306 HR on the season, but the new team HR record goes to the Twins with 307.

The Yanks wound up 103-59, with the third best record in baseball. They won the AL East by 7 games.

A great season, but I am disappointed by how they finished it, losing four of the last five games and in those losses, were shutout in one of them and scored only one run in two others. They sure weren’t “savages” lately. With the ALDS starting Friday against the Twins, this is no time to go into any slumps.

We will see what the postseason roster looks like.

The ALDS will start Friday in the Bronx for the Yankees. Time TBA.

A few teams are looking for new managers. Besides SD letting Andy Green go, and going with interim Rod Barajas to close the year out, SF manager Bruce Bochy retired, KC’s Ned Yost retired, Clint Hurdle was fired by Pittsburgh, and Joe Maddon and the Cubs are parting ways.

We’ll see about other teams and their managers. For example, if the Phillies decide to switch managers, they may go after Maddon, who was born in Hazleton, PA and who attended Lafayette College in Easton, PA.

Maybe the Mets make a move. You have to wonder if one of these teams lures ex-Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi back to managing.

Game 162 recap:

Judge HR (27).

Green 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  4.17
Tanaka (L, 11-9, 4.45) 3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 W, 2 K.
Kahnle 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.  3.67
Ottavino 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.  1.90
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.91
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   2.21

P.S.: I wasn’t pleased with the way Texas ran against the Yankees this past weekend. The Yanks have to hold runners on better.

 

 

 

Giants Manager Bochy to retire after this upcoming season.

Bruce Bochy, SF Giants manager who led the Giants to WS titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, has announced that he will retire after the 2019 season.

Besides those 3 WS titles, Bochy managed the 1998 SD Padres to the NL pennant. They were swept by the Yankees in that year’s WS.

Going into this, his final season, Bochy’s managerial record is 1926-1944 in 24 seasons. A .498 winning percentage. Despite the losing record, the 3 WS titles in five seasons may merit him HOF consideration, as well as his longevity, 25 years what with this season.

He managed the Padres 1995-2006 and the Giants 2007-present.

He has managed 8 teams to the postseason.

As a catcher from 1978-1980, then 1982-1987, Astros, Mets and Padres, he never played in more than 63 games in a season. In 802 at bats, he hit .239 with 26 HR.

162 g. average .239-12-42, OPS+ 92.

He did play a little for the 1980 Astros (NL West Champs) and 1984 Padres (NL Champs).

 

 

Dynasty? SF wins 3rd title in 5 years.

When you think of baseball dynasties, you think of the Ruth-Gehrig-DiMaggio-Mantle Yankees of 1921-1964. The Big Red Machine. The Bronx Zoo. The Torre Yankees of 1996-2003. When you look at the makeup of the San Francisco Giants, you don’t see dynasty. But after winning their third title in the last five years, maybe that qualifies them as one now. At the very least, with the decade half-over, they can already call themselves the team of the decade (unless someone else runs off three or four titles over the next five years). The Giants became the first road team since the 1979 Pirates to win Game 7 when they beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 last night.

Madison Bumgarner joined a very select group of pitchers to win three WS games in the same Series. Bumgarner got the save. For his efforts, Bumgarner was named WS MVP. 2012 WS MVP Pedro “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval went 3 for 3, Mike Morse drove in two runs, and all the damage was done by the 4-7 hitters. Neither starting pitcher went four innings. Both managers had quick hooks. SF starter Tim Hudson went just 1 2/3, and KC starter Jeremy Guthrie 3 1/3. With neither starter going five innings, the decision on who got the win came down to an official scorer’s decision. Usually, they just hand the win to the pitcher who was on the mound when the eventual game-winning run was scored. That was Jeremy Affeldt, who was credited with the win. But the official scorer did not get it right. He handed the win to Affeldt. He did not have to. This was “official scorer’s discretion” and the guy who should have been given the win was Bumgarner, who came out of the bullpen on two days rest to pitch five innings of scoreless relief and preserve a 3-2 lead. Bumgarner thus wound up winning Games 1, 5 and saving Game 7 of this WS. No guts by the official scorer there. He went “formula.”

The difference in the series turned out to be one run, and one man. And perhaps, one slip. With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the fourth, Sandoval reached on an infield single. KC 2B Omar Infante made a nice play getting to the ball, but his right leg slipped out from under him as he tried to throw out Sandoval at first. Had he not slipped, who knows? That’s baseball. Sandoval eventually scored the eventual WS-winning run later that inning on a single by Morse. SF manager Bruce Bochy showed guts in going to Bumgarner. 3 titles in 5 years should put him into the HOF one day. Funny how he did go to Bumgarner after some “experts” I heard on ESPN radio said that there was no way Bumgarner should pitch, and no more than one inning. What pansies. To me, it was refreshing seeing Game 7 the way it should be. You manage that game differently than other games. The players have all offseason to rest, and although he didn’t start, Bumgarner winning pitching in a third WS game reminded me of Randy Johnson coming out of the bullpen in Game 7 of the 2001 WS (a painful memory for us Yankees fans), or Lew Burdette starting on two days rest in 1957 (another painful memory for Yankees fans),  Sandy Koufax in 1965 pitching a CG shutout on two days rest, Bob Gibson going 1-4-7 in 1967 or Mickey Lolich going 1-5-7 in 1968 (and facing and beating 1-4-7 Gibson in that 1968 Game 7). You go with your best in Game 7. You manage differently.

Bochy managed it brilliantly. If Bumgarner would have been too tired after only two days of rest, Bochy would have heard it from here to eternity. But Bochy played his trump card. He went with, and stayed with, his best. That’s one thing I’ll take out of this WS. One run, and one man (Bumgarner) made the difference. KC has nothing to be ashamed of.

So the offseason begins… with free agency, trades, etc. and oh yeah,….. A-Rod is now officially back. (Crying.).

In other news, it looks like a few moves are coming soon. Joe Maddon, who just left the Rays, is expected to take the manager job with the Cubs, and there are rumors that the Yanks are after Raul Ibanez to be their next hitting coach.