HERE REX

The return of Mr. Mouth, Rex Ryan is now in effect! He’s not back a day and declares himself the best defensive coach in the game. Maybe he should speak louder to his defensive squad, they didn’t hear him last year very well, there are at least 8 games to back that up.

Meanwhile Ryan refuses to predict a Super Bowl win this year, which is refreshing since he never won one. The Jets are probably the most dysfunctional team in the NFL, what with the coach, the quarterback situation and Santonio Holmes’ big mouth and non-professionalism. I sure most Jets fans recall last year’s antics in the end zone after Holmes touchdown against the Eagles, who at that point were killing the Jets late in the game. All in good taste!

TERRY COLLINS

It seems everyone wanted to give NY Mets manager Terry Collins the Manager of the Year award up to the All Star break, including myself. Seems it should be for half a year only. The man is doing an incredible job with very little talent to work with. None of these guys with the exception of David Wright and maybe Johann Santana will ever get into the Hall. (Most are lucky to find their way in the dugout) They show promise then one of two things happens, they either stop playing and get sent down, or the fall down and hurt themselves and can’t play for extended periods of time.

To lose an entire home stand is inexcusable and in the end tells you there is really no honest hope for the team. As they used to say in Brooklyn after another losing World Series: “Wait ‘til next year!”

Charlie Manuel and Bobby V.

As I been saying all along and wrote on Wednesday, July 04, 2012, it’s the horses you have and NOT the manager that wins games. A horse’s ass can win if he has the players, and the greatest baseball minds will look like the horse’s ass if they don’t have the horses. Case in point, Charlie Manuel and Bobby Valentine. Both managers are highly respected, the Phillies under Manuel have had stunning success, and Bobby Valentine has in the past proved to be a pretty decent manager, leading the Mets to a World Series once and winning a wild card a few times.

 

This year, both the Phillies and Red Sox have no bullpen, no hitting and even the starting pitching is not all that great. Both I think have conceded the race and look to next year or later to come back again. For Sox fans, disappointment is part of their makeup, they are loyal fans and stay with their team, the Phillies fans however, are considered the most arrogant in the league, and so they will either beome crazed or indifferent to it all.

 

That’s all I wrote, folks!

THE STARTING ROTATIONS IN BASEBALL HISTORY

It is hard to determine who had the best starting rotation in baseball history, You need to have 5 good winning starters that dominate when they pitch for the most part. And winning isn’t everything; control, strikeouts and hits allowed all count. But the ultimate test is to get to a World Series, win or lose.

To rank the choices I selected, would be impossible because of the many variables that go into pitching and the team that surrounds each pitcher. Some great starters may not have had a lot of wins because their relief was weak, and so another variable comes into play.

But these are the staffs that I knew at one time or another, and the first two that come to mind, and maybe the best, both come from the same year and actually met in a World Series. The Series is remembered for four things: Dusty Rhodes, ‘The Catch’ by Willie Mays, the sweep by the underdog and the great pitching staffs.

1954 Cleveland Indians
Early Wynn (23-11, 2.73), Mike Garcia (19-8, 2.64), Bob Lemon (23-7, 2.72), Art Houtteman (15-7, 3.35), Bob Feller (13-3, 3.09)

When your team amasses 111 wins, 93 of them from your starters, you have a dominating teamBut image a staff of: Garcia, Lemon, and Wynn finishing 1-3-4 in the league ERA standings, and 1-3-4 in adjusted ERA+! Both Lemon first and Wynn third lead in complete games, and Garcia tied for the AL lead with five shutouts. Their combined ERA was 2.86, compared to a league average of 3.72.

The staff, with an average age of 32, was an older staff, but with three future Hall of Famers (Wynn, Lemon and Feller). This staff as great as it was, was no match for the New York Giants, in those four games, but the Indian hitting got only 9 runs in thise 4 games. Which takes me to the

1954 New York Giants
Johnny Antonelli (21-7, 2.30), Ruben Gomez (17-9, 2.88), Sal Maglie (14-6, 3.26), Don Liddle (9-4, 3.06), Jim Hearn (8-8, 4.15) sounds like a hitter should feebly wave the bat and sit down if that is the pitching he is facing! These five pitchers were tough gritty in your face types. The pitching staff of: Antonelli, Gomez and Sal (The Barber) Maglie finished 1-4-8 in ERA, and Liddle with Hearn combined to make a solid fourth starter. This staff hung tough throughout the Series, winning it all in 4 games, against the best and most winning team in baseball that year with 111 American League vistories.

1993 Atlanta Braves

Greg Maddux (20-10, 2.36), Tom Glavine (22-6, 3.20), Steve Avery (18-6, 2.94), John Smoltz (15-11, 3.62)

Greg Maddux won the Cy Young award in ’93 and Avery, Smoltz and Glavine were All-Stars. The Braves' pitching staff combined for a league-leading 3.14 ERA, .35 lower than the second-best NL team in 1993. The starters combined for 972 innings. Maddux led the league in ERA, Glavine tied the league leader in wins, and Smoltz was second and Maddux third in strikeouts. They started 35 to 36 games each, and Maddux led in complete games.

1986 New York Mets
Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81), Dwight Gooden (17-6, 2.84), Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52), Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57), Rick Aguilera (10-7, 3.88)

In my oinion, one of the most formidable staffs ever. Each starter pitched 200+ innings, while Gooden and Fernandez each struck out 200 batters. Ojeda, Darling and Gooden had the 2nd-, 3rd- and 5th-lowest ERAs in the NL. Fernandez, Gooden and Darling were among the top 7 in NL strikeouts. Ojeda, Darling and Gooden were all among the league leaders in adjusted ERA. And all four received votes for the Cy Young award. They then went on and sweated out the World Series in their victory over the Red Sox.

1971 Baltimore Orioles
Dave McNally (21-5, 2.68), Mike Cueller (20-9, 3.08), Pat Dobson (20-8, 2.90), Jim Palmer (20-9, 2.68), Incredibly I don’t pick them as the best because I’m oo chicken to say that. If there were a staff that I would select for my team, this would be it. The only rotation since the 1920 White Sox to have four 20-game winners with a combined 2.89 ERA, almost a full run less than the 1971 AL average of 3.87. Palmer, McNally and Dobson finished 3-7-8 in ERA, and all four cracked the top 10 in wins (with McNally taking the winning percentage crown).

I have to go with an honorable mention, but I don’t think they belong with the above, the 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers with Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73), Don Drysdale (13-16, 3.42), Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99)

A rotation of Koufax and Drysdale alone should be great add on the other two in Osteen and Sutton and wow, but their record without Koufax is mediocre at best, but the cumulative ERA was a 2.68 and almost a full run under the NL average.

The Dodgers were swept by the Orioles in the World Series that year in ‘66, scoring only two runs total -- both in Game 1!

IF ITS’ JULY-IT MUST BE FADE TIME

The season is over, the last meaningful game was played in June, and the Mets are dead: long live the Mets.

The annual rite of losing, the thing that the Mets are known for and do so well is now under way. The free fall has begun, wait until next year, again. Since 2007, this phenomenal occurrence has occurred, what is it about the Mets? You can’t blame the stadium, this started in Shea, you can’t blame the managers, there have been three, Jason Bay is maligned, Johann Santana can’t seem to get it going, especially after the no-hit game, and they can’t even get along on the field.

The Nationals look unbeatable, their manager Davey Johnson is a genius and was once the guiding light of the 86 World Series, Atlanta was once the #1 Public Enemy for New York until they started their own fall, so the Phillies stepped up and took on the onus of being the Public Enemy #1 for the Mets, but couldn’t handle it, and so now the Nationals are! What does this mean? It means that the Mets still stink, the Phillies will probably pass them by the end of August, and most Mets fans will be looking for the opening Sunday of the NFL.

Meanwhile the Yankees seem to have control of first place, but I wonder about it all with A-Rod down and Ichiro getting older by the minute and the team going down on injuries it seems every week. Meanwhile the Angels look like they can’t compete with the Texas Rangers, then come alive, yet their fans are wondering out loud about “Fat” and “Old” and “Slow” Pujols!

In the National League, I’m looking for the Pirates and Dodgers to come on strong, and for the Nationals to finish with the best record in baseball when it is all said and done, while a great race has developed in the American League Central Division between Detroit and Chicago, but Detroit with the Prince of Field, will win it, and the White Sox a playoff berth. Look for the Dodgers/Giants as one, two, the Pirates Red as one two and the Nationals who I think will win it all.

As much as the Orioles have played well this season, no one in the American League East is going to overtake the Yankees, and so Detroit/Chicago and Texas Los Angeles seems to be the ticket to the playoffs.

How does a all Los Angeles World Series sound?

That’s all I wrote, folks!

MONEY, MONEY AND MORE MONEY

“Hamels' deal beats Johan Santana's $137.5-million six-year deal, making it the second-highest ever given a pitcher. CC Sabathia's $161-million, seven-year deal is the record.

Hamels' new contract gives him the same annual salary as his teammate and friend Cliff Lee, who has a $120-million, five-year deal.” – Jon Heyman of CBS Sports

Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a $144 Million deal 6-year contract extension, or cool $24 million a year! This is in spite of all the trade rumors that Hamels would be traded. Does this mean that the Phillies are still in the race as far as they are concerned, that they may be buyers? Is Shane Victorino staying? Do the Phils think that they are not out of the wildcard race, now that Ryan Howard is returning as well as the return of Chase Utley?

The contract makes sense if you look at him without the money coming into play. He is 28-years old and a 6-year contract for a pitcher of that age: one with his talent is smart. Do they really mean to commit so much money over the long haul of six years is my question. What happens if he is injured, or drops off in say 4 or 5 years? I guess we could play what if with a lot of the players today, but this is a lot of money, committed for 6 long years.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers seem to be getting better and better all the time, picking up three time all star and golden Glove shortstop Hanley Ramirez. The departure of Ramirez from Miami is not surprising, and I didn’t expect him to stay in Miami, with Jose Reyes playing at his position.

The Dodgers will be adding about $38 million in financial commitments, for Ramirez, the 2009 National League batting champion.

The Dodgers will assume all of what remains on Ramirez's contract who, is still owed about $6 million of his $15-million salary this year. He will earn $15.5 million next year and $16 million in 2014, the final year of his contract.

What this means is that the Dodgers new ownership is willing to spend the big bucks to win and win now. This is in contrast to another team that also had financial trouble and saw their way out of them yet has not made any significant moves, namely, the New York Mets.

That’s all I wrote, folk!

THEY HAVE THE CASHen BUT I GIVE THEM THE CREDIT

They have done it again! Why should anyone be surprised? The New York Yankees buy another pennant and a quality player falls in their lap. There should be some kind of rule that says the Yankees can’t play this year, so everyone else gets a chance to win. Ichiro Suzuki is now the Yankees latest acquisition.

OK, he is 38 and not what he was, but the Yankees are just what he needs to be better once again. Being on the club after playing in Siberia, should bring new life to his dormant career as of late!

The speculation seems to be that he wasn’t exactly into the game while playing for Seattle, and with a team with one of the worst records in baseball, why would he be?

Once Brett Gardner was down for the year, the Yankees, like no other team in baseball, made the right move, and got the right man for the job. He just might not be the same man he was, then maybe a little pin stripe magic will cure him.

And what do the Yankees give up? NOTHING! Not surprisingly, they also get $2 million in the deal for Ichiro to help pay his salary. Giving up two marginal pitchers at best for a 38-year old superstar who may still have something in the tank besides his speed and defense, this is a very smart deal. Once again, Cashan has proven his worth to the franchise.

With both Gardner and Swisher down, the Yankees immediately find the right part to fit their machine, amazing! Ichiro will bring some excitement to the game in New York, become a big hit and maybe a following. However, this is his last year on the current contract, will the Yanks resign him?

That’s all I wrote, folks!

AND SO YOU HAVE IT

The verdict came down, and now the cost assessed and the price will be paid.

The Penn State football program is now faced with the hard reality of what happens when you don’t do the right thing. One of the greatest coaches in college football has suffered, even from the grave, and you may say that the football program is buried along with him.

$60 million dollars over five years to be paid out, the college will vacate the wins of the last 14 years or so by the NCAA of Joe Paterno wins, reducing his record accordingly and the college itself has removed his statue. JoPa is no longer a god.

The recruited players may go to another school to play and become eligible immediately or they can stay and maintain a academic standard and continue at Penn State. Justice has been served.

There will be weeping and wringing of hands, sobbing and protesting that all this is too harsh, yet I feel it is not harsh enough. Keeping the team from playing in any bowl game is fine for four or five years, but the program should not be aloud to continue period for that least that amount of time.

The $60 million assessment is what the school will lose in a year so that will really translate to $120 million, the $60 million they will pay off in 5 years and the $60 million they will lose as income for the year. Good for the NCAA.

Now maybe we will learn that people come first, and children are the first of the first.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

THAT TIME OF THE YEAR

If you are a Yankee fan and just looked up, they lost 4 straight to the Oakland A’s! The reason I mention this is that this the time of year when collapse is a nasty word to a first place team. Granted there is a lot of room for the Yankees at this writing, a 6-game lead, but it was 10, which should look very insurmountable and daunting.

Most teams have to hit the skids at least once in the course of the season, and so the Yankees are hitting theirs, or, are they? This is either the start of something big or just a blip on their way to the pennant. The teams in their division are not so great this year, in spite of their records.

Of course this point of view is from the top looking down, looking upward is the Baltimore Orioles, Nee; St. Louis Browns. While the Yankees lost four straight, the Orioles were winning 5 straight! Picking up those 4 games is what starts a team on a surge right up to the end of the season. Once they get hot, the leaders start looking over their shoulders and the pressure builds.

This is not a prediction, but something to consider: the Orioles have managed to surprise everyone this year, they helped themselves over the winter and they have a very capable manager in Showalter, who has no one particular hitter or pitcher carrying the team, and there lies the possibility of a miracle run for the birds. It seems everyday someone else picks them up.

If the Yanks don’t take all their games from the slumping hitters on the Mariners, then the hunt is on.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

IT’S IN THE BEER

Years ago when the New York City area had three teams playing, the New York Yankees, The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, it seemed that everything had a comparison. For instance in centerfield, the Yanks had Mantle, the Giants Mays and the Dodgers Snider.

If you looked at first, it was Skowron for the Yanks, Lockman for the Jints and Hodges for the Bums. Short had just two, Rizzuto for the Yanks and Reese for the Dodgers, and even catching had Berra for the Yankees and Campanella for the Dodgers. The stadiums were all unique in layout, as were the fans in comportment.

Then there were the sponsorships.

The Yankees had Ballantine Beer,

“Hey, get your cold beer,

hey, get your Ballantine,

Hey get your cold, cold beer,

Get your ice cold Ballantine beer.”

The camera would then switch to Mel Allen on a hot afternoon, as he poured the glass, making sure to create a perfect head, and you knowing he was dying to drink it in its cold glass, but couldn’t.

The Giants had Rheingold Beer.

“My beer is Rheingold the dry beer

think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer,

Its not bitter not sweet the extra dry treat

Won’t you try extra dry Rheingold beer?”

The Giants sponsor had the best commercials too for their beer when they changed sponsorships, with the star being Mr. Knick R, Bocker for Knickerbocker beer, the New York Beer of the day.

The Dodgers had a local brewery in Brooklyn for their sponsor, Schaefer Beer.

“Schaefer is the one beer to have

when you’re having more than one,

“Schaefer is the one beer to have

when you’re having more than one.

The most rewarding flavor in this man’s world

For people who are having fun!

Schaefer is the one beer to have

when you’re having more than one”

This also held true for cigarettes as the Yankees sold Winstons, the Dodgers Lucky Strikes and the Giants Chesterfields.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

MUNICH OLYMPICS, 1972

It was 40 years ago on September 12, 1972, and the summer Olympics were in full swing, in Munich, Germany. It was a time of TV coverage being instantaneous and comprehensive, as the whole world could simultaneously view the games.

The world was filled with tensions, the Soviets were rattling their swords, the Chinese were reading the works of Mao and purging themselves and in the Middle East, Arafat was in the midst of trying to bring down Israel.

Suddenly the TV shows across the world were interrupted by a sudden news flash, across every major TV network. In the Olympic Village, terror was happening.

What was the symbol of world peace was being used to advance the sick policy’s of the PLO, as they invaded the Israeli compound and took the Israeli Olympic team hostage, and then murdered many of them.

John McKay for ABC Sports was the commentator that horrific day and reported:

“When I was a kid, my father used to say: "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized." Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They've now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone.”

HOSTAGES

And so, 40 years later, we begin the Summer Olympics, and many across the world are asking to memorialize and note this tragic event of 40 years ago, only to be denied by the IOC, a band of spineless vagrants who have no conscience, and no humanity in them.

When the opening ceremonies begin on TV, look for Bob Costas, as when the Israeli delegation arrives, he will call out the IOC, and rightfully so.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

1978 BOSTON RED SOX

99 wins and only 64 loses and a team doesn’t go to the big dance?

That was the way things worked out for the Boston Red Sox in 1978. The Red Sox were playing great baseball, with the New York Yankees far behind, as the month of July was concerned.

Boston led by 14 games in July and still held a 7.5-game lead with 32 games remaining. It seemed certain that the American League East was all but settled in Boston’s favor. But then, something happened.

Something always happened or so it seems with the Sox. Suddenly, the Bean-town nine couldn’t win anymore, things were happening, calls were going against them, errors were made but hits weren’t and it all contributed losing 14-of-17 games. That losing streak was the opening the Yankees needed and they began to close the gap, which included a four-game sweep at Fenway Park.

In a panic, the Red Sox won their final eight games, and needing a Cleveland victory over the New York Yankees to force a one-game playoff at Fenway Park.

And so the stage was set, on October 2, 1978 in Boston Mass., as two rivals, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, would square off for all the marbles in the American League East. Winning a coin toss gave the Sox the home field advantage that was the last thing they would win that year from the Yankees.

And that's when the name Bucky Dent became an expletive in New England, as the Yankees' light-hitting shortstop hit a home run in a 5-4 New York victory. The Yankees won their second consecutive World Series.

32,925 fans crowded into the old ballpark, and Ron Guidry for the New Yorkers and Mike Torrez for the home town Sox squared off. The Red Sox jumped to an early 2-0 lead with a home run by Carl Yaztrzemski and a base hit RBI by Jim Rice.

Then in the top of the 7^th, the walls came crumbling down all around the Sox fans when Bucky Dent, light-hitting Bucky Dent, connected for a three-run homer and create the most hated name in Bean Town history to give the Yankees the pennant and a consecutive World Series victory. And so the collapse was complete.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN!

The New York Mets are definitely a minor league ball club. They should be on an 81-game schedule that ends on the All-Star break, and they all should go home.

Year after year since the ’06 playoffs, they have quit in August, and this season they have it down pat, so well that they quit in mid-July.

The relief pitching has cost them 1^st place. A bunch of someone else’s rejects have come to the Mets and thrown away at least 10 games. The hitting has been competitive and David Wright has been a leader, both in the field and in the batter’s box, as has many of the young players they brought up from Buffalo.

How does Sandy Alderson fix the problem? Does he trade for more of the same in terms of relief pitching? Does he trade one of his young everyday players for someone else’s rejects? Collins has done a credible job for the Mets. He deserves better from the front office, and right now I would place this all on the doorstep of

Alderson and Wilpon. Wilpon for getting the Mets into a mess early on with the Madoff affair, and Alderson for his selection of relief pitchers, based on a protracted budget that was meant to just hold on with.

Since 2007 when they finished in 2^nd one game behind they went ’08 three games behind then in ’09  total disappointment of 23 games off the pace, ’10 they went 18 games behind and they finished in 4^th place, 25 games behind the Phillies! It is time for the culture to change, for the attitude in the front office to change, and for the team to start considering the quality they bring to CitiField in both ability and character.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

LINSANITY?

The Houston Rockets have signed Jeremy Lin to a contract, snatching him away form the New York Knicks. Prior to the signing, the Knicks signed Jason Kidd to a contract, and what makes sense here?

To make this even more interesting, the Rockets had let go of Lin and the Knicks under D’Antonio took him on, and used him when the Knicks suffered injuries to their point guard, and Lin ran with the ball.

His new team mates, who are really his old teammates, don’t remember Lin at training camp, his old teammates, now his ex-teammates can’t forget him and will miss him at this year’s training camp. The headline writer’s for the tabloids in NY will certainly miss him except for the few games played with New York, and Brooklyn.

The Knicks didn’t think that Lin was worth $24 million, so they let him go. I have to wonder how that will translate with all those missing Asian fans who took great pride that Lin was on the hardwood? The 1.135 million Asian population in New York has a potential for ticket sales at the Garden, and in the sports stores. The electric energy he generated on the floor, in the stands and on the media range is and will be missed in the NY area.

But did the Knicks really think he wasn’t worth matching the Rockets offer, or did Carmelo Anthony have something to do with it all? Was coach Woodson feeling pressure about using Lin in his lineup, fitting him into his game plans as a shooting guard? Did Lin really fit in New York after Woodson took over?

There are few players that make or break a team. Maybe LeBron James, or Michael Jordan, but few, and Lin is not one of them.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

DISILLUSIONMENT

Welcome to the real world. Simply stated, one of the heroes of my youth: Joe Paterno, was a bum! He was worst than a bum: he was as much a scum bag as Jerry Sandusky is. It goes to show you, there are no real heroes in the sports world anymore, it has to do with the bottom line and self-perception.

There is a statue that is standing outside the Penn State locker/shower rooms, and it depicts JoePa leading the team out to the field. They should leave him standing there and remove the team, showing him running, and then they should move it to the main entrance, facing outward, just beyond the gate.

It angers me that a program is more important than an individual’s peace of mind, sanctity of body and loss of innocence and distrust in all that is perceived as good and/or wholesome. The university was a good one, and the alumni need to come to grips with the fact that someone dear to them was a scumbag. In all his humility, Joe Paterno was a liar, a betrayer of the trust, a mean vicious man who thought not of the individual, but of the program, and his own legacy. Well, guess what, his legacy is now completed and his good will depleted.

The sun will come up tomorrow, the birds will sing, and perhaps somehow, someway, they can restore the once proud name and reputation of a once great university, but that will be a long time in coming.

My feeling is out of respect for those poor kids that were abused by the SOB Sandusky, that the powers that be suspend the football program for at least 4 years, that should be enough time for all those who experienced this horrific scandal will have moved on. But football is not enough, I think the school should suspend all their sports programs for 4 years as well.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

1995 CALIFORNIA ANGELSIn 1986, the California Angels faced off the Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant and a chance to enter the World Series. The Angels held a 3 to 1 series lead over the Sox and lost the last two games. It was a bitter disappointment for California, and but what loomed ahead in 1995 was far greater in the sense that it wasn’t as quick, the Angels had a slow death. The 1995 Angels went through perhaps one of the greatest and worst late-season collapses in Major League Baseball history. With a 10½-game lead over the Texas Rangers and 11½-game lead over the Seattle Mariners, on August 6th, they suffered through a late season slump, including a nine-game losing streak from August 25 to September 3. Still leading their division: Seattle by six games and Texas by 7½, a second identical nine-game losing streak from September 13 to September 23 dropped them temporarily out of first place. The Angels did rebound to win the last five games, tying Seattle for the division lead, and forcing a one-game playoff to contest the division championship. The Mariners Randy Johnson ace of the Mariner’s staff pitched his team to a 9–1 triumph over the Angel’s Mark Langston for all the marbles, ending the Angels' season. Leading by 11.5 games on Aug. 9 the Angels collapsed, going 12-27 in their final 39 games giving the Seattle Mariners the playoffs for the first time in their history. The Angels won their final five to force the one-game playoff with the Mariners, but Randy Johnson proved too much for the angelic nine. That’s all I wrote, folks!

In 1986, the California Angels faced off the Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant and a chance to enter the World Series. The Angels held a 3 to 1 series lead over the Sox and lost the last two games. It was a bitter disappointment for California, and but what loomed ahead in 1995 was far greater in the sense that it wasn’t as quick, the Angels had a slow death.

The 1995 Angels went through perhaps one of the greatest and worst late-season collapses in Major League Baseball history. With a 10½-game lead over the Texas Rangers and 11½-game lead over the Seattle Mariners, on August 6^th, they suffered through a late season slump, including a nine-game losing streak from August 25 to September 3. Still leading their division: Seattle by six games and Texas by 7½, a second identical nine-game losing streak from September 13 to September 23 dropped them temporarily out of first place.

The Angels did rebound to win the last five games, tying Seattle for the division lead, and forcing a one-game playoff to contest the division championship. The Mariners Randy Johnson ace of the Mariner’s staff pitched his team to a 9–1 triumph over the Angel’s Mark Langston for all the marbles, ending the Angels' season.

Leading by 11.5 games on Aug. 9 the Angels collapsed, going 12-27 in their final 39 games giving the Seattle Mariners the playoffs for the first time in their history. The Angels won their final five to force the one-game playoff with the Mariners, but Randy Johnson proved too much for the angelic nine.

That’s all I wrote, folks!

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTON PART 5

New York City had three baseball teams at one time, the Yankees in the American League and the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants in the National League. Baseball from 1900 to 1957 was at the Zenith of the sport’s world because of New York. The Giants were one of the oldest franchises in the Majors and is rich with history and tradition, all of which no longer exists for New Yorkers.

New York Giants 1883 – 1957

Five of the franchise's World Series wins and 17 of its National League pennants were won in New York City. Playing in the odd shaped Polo Grounds, it would burn down and be rebuilt, move form one location to another and be the home also of the New York Yankees.

The Gothams entered the National League for the 1883 and played their home games at a site called the Polo Grounds.

1888 NY GIANTS

The Giants' original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, also dates from the late 1800’s. The first of the Polo Grounds was located north of Central Park adjacent to Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets in Harlem. Evicted from the Polo Grounds after the 1888 season, the Giants moved uptown and renamed various fields the Polo Grounds that were located between 155th and 159th Streets in the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem and Washington Heights. The Giants played at the Polo Grounds until the end of the 1957 season

HALL TROPHY

In 1902, after a series of disastrous moves that left the Giants 53½ games behind, the Giants signed John McGraw as a player-manager. McGraw went on to manage the Giants for three decades, one of the longest tenures in professional sports.  Under McGraw, the Giants would win ten National League pennants and three World Series championships.

The Giants boycotted their first ever World Series in 1904—with the existing World Champion Boston club the Americans. Original McGraw’s reluctance was because of the rival New York Highlanders who looked like they would win the AL pennant. The Highlanders lost to Boston on the last day, but the Giants stuck by their refusal.

The Giants won the 1905 World Series besting the Philadelphia Athletics, with Christy Mathewson almost winning the Series single-handedly.

In 1908 they finished in a tie with the Chicago Cubs and had a one-game playoff at the Polo Grounds. The game was a replay of a tied game that resulted from the Merkle Boner That they lost to the Cubs.

PRE-1930

The Giants faced some hard luck in the early 1910s, losing three straight World Series to the A's, the Red Sox, then the A's again.  After losing the 1917 Series to the Chicago White Sox (the White Sox's last World Series win until 2005), the Giants played in four straight World Series in the early 1920s, winning the first two over their tenants, the Yankees, then losing to the Yankees in 1923 when Yankee Stadium opened after the Giants evicted them from the Polo Grounds. 1924, found the Giants losing to the Washington Senators who won their only World Series in their history (prior to their move to Minnesota).

1930–57: Five pennants in 28 seasons

In 1932, Bill Terry took over as manager and played for the Giants for ten years, winning pennants, and the 1933 World Series and losing to the Yankees in 1936 and 1937.

POLO GROUNDS 1954

Mel Ott succeeded Terry as manager in 1942, and during the 1948 season Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher left the Dodgers to became manager of the Giants. Durocher had been accused of gambling in 1947 and subsequently suspended for the entire 1947 season by Baseball Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler. Durocher remained at the helm of the Giants through the 1955 season, and those eight years proved to be some of the most memorable for Giants fans, particularly because of the arrival of Willie Mays and arguably the two most famous plays in Giants' history.

LEO DUROCHER

1951: The "Shot Heard 'Round the World"

One of the greatest moments in sports history was the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" Bobby Thomson's walk-off home run clinched the National League pennant for the Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants thirteen and a half games behind the league-leading Dodgers in August, went on a sixteen-game winning streak, caught the Dodgers to tie for the lead on the last day of the season.

The underdog Giants went on to sweep the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 series in four straight, despite the Indians having won a then American League record 111 games that year. This was the Giants' last World Series victory in New.

In between World Series titles, the Giants lost the World Series in 1962 to the Yankees, the 1989 to the Oakland A's, whom they defeated in their first World Series when both clubs were in the Northeast, and the 2002 to the Anaheim Angels. The 1954 World Series would also be the Giants' last appearance in the Fall Classic as the New York Giants, as the team moved to San Francisco prior to 1958 season.

San Francisco Giants 1957-present

The Giants' final three years in New York City were uneventful. The Giants needed a new stadium to replace the crumbling Polo Grounds and began to contemplate a move from New York. At this time, the Giants were approached by the San Francisco mayor to move to SanFrancisco. Horace Stoneham entered into negotiations with San Francisco officials around the same time that Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley was courting the city of Los Angeles. The Dodgers would not be allowed to move to Los Angeles unless a second team moved to California as well. He convinced Stoneham to relocate. In the summer of 1957, both the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers announced their moves to California, and the golden age of baseball in the New York was over.

That's all I wrote, folks!