By Tim Clark / / Baseball, Column, Tim's Two Cents, Golf
Two

Sport’s longest regular season has reached the home stretch yet again.

Yet again I say, “Thank God.”

See, I am an old school type. I am also a Pirates fan. I hate a lot about how the game is played these days. And I hate how the Pirates play most days, and I despise that Bob Nutting is destroying baseball in the ‘Burgh.

I have no more rants in me about Nutting and the Pirates. For now.

I have always loved baseball, but the way it is played today is frustrating.

I am told I should no longer worry about batting average. Strange for an old schooler. The first statistic listed in my local newspaper back in the day was batting average. I knew it was a down year if the top ten included somebody not hitting .300. Currently there are 7 players in all of baseball hitting over .300.

Pitchers may have 8 starts left in the season. There are 4 pitchers that mathematically could reach 20 wins. There have been three total 20 win pitchers in the last 8 seasons. Of course I’m told wins is a lousy indicator of pitching success. I guess I need to focus on spin rate and drop angles. I would look to innings pitched, but why bother. Pitch counts seem to be getting lower and lower. I actually heard an announcer question whether a pitcher should stay in the game to face the opposing lineup a third time. When did that become a thing? What happened to my pitcher is dealing and I’m going to leave him in until he isn’t dealing?

Many players wouldn’t know fundamental baseball if it picked them off second base. Stuff we learned when we were in Little League is being screwed up by guys making 30 million dollars per year. Everyone thinks they are a home run hitter, concentrating more on launch angle than contact rate. Rules had to be changed so players could start stealing bases again. We care more about pitch framing than throwing out runners. Umpires aren’t up to the challenge of viewers having a strike zone box on their TV screens.

It is bad. Very bad.

Yet, I can’t look away.

Some fascinating things are unfolding as we suffer through the dog days.

 New York baseball fans’ heads are ready to explode. The only question at this point is who loses their minds first. The Mets and Yankees are currently in a fairly long stretch of finding different ways to lose games. From bad defense to bad base running to bullpen blow ups, these two teams are going from division winners to bubble wild card teams. I won’t lie, I find it completely glorious. Now, if only the Dodgers would start to implode we would have the holy trinity of divine downfalls.

The White Sox are awful still, but won’t outdo the Rockies this year in that department. The Pirates still can’t score much, the A’s young nucleus can bash with the best but still nobody knows where they are located, Brian Snitker is defying the odds by still being employed by the Braves, and we had our first female umpire. Jen Pawol became the first female umpire and called balls and strikes Sunday. She got 91% of her calls correct. Angel Hernandez and CB Bucknor were appalled at such a high percentage of correct calls.

Anyway, it is time for me to change my picks again. Don’t worry, I will change them again when the playoffs actually start.

American League

Toronto continues to fly high. They are one of the best offensive teams in the American League led by Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Bo Bichette. I still worry about their pitching holding up. Max Scherzer is coming on and could be what the doctor ordered for the Jays. Boston is good enough to stay on the heels of Toronto. Jarren Duran has 12 triples, and leads a solid offense that compliments a solid pitching staff. The Yankees playoff spot is about to be put on life support.

The Tigers are a great story. After hurtling themselves into the playoffs out of nowhere last year, Detroit has dominated the AL Central all season. Cleveland is charging hard despite having multiple pitchers suspended for gambling. The Guardians are trying to be this year’s Tigers and come out of nowhere to make the playoffs. They most assuredly have the Yankees sweating.

Houston will win the AL West, while Seattle and basher Cal Raleigh should be able to maintain their wildcard position. Texas has been slowly gaining ground and find themselves in position to slip into the playoffs. A three team battle with the Yankees and Guardians is forming.

I am rooting for Seattle and Detroit, but when the leaves turn brown it will be Houston wearing the AL crown.

National League

The Milwaukee Brewers are simply amazing. The Brewers are on a 25-4 run, including a 10 game win streak(and the Pirates are in town). Everyone with more than 75 at bats has a positive WAR for the Brewers. They are getting the maximum out of every pitcher on the staff. Pat Murphy is, once again, manager of the year, as well as most interesting manager in baseball. As a fan of a fellow small market team I am so jealous of the Brewers success. A packed house every night to watch a team play great baseball. What a novel concept. The Cubs won’t catch the Brewers at this point, but Craig Counsell’s club will easily make the playoffs. The Cubs have one of the best offenses in the National League. It really is an all star lineup of mashers. The Cubs could potentially —and may have to— outscore teams in the playoffs.

With the Mets spiraling out of control, the Phillies are about to run away with the NL East. When management goes out and acquires a huge piece at the trade deadline —in this case closer Jhoan Duran— it can really give an entire team a lift. Duran gives the team a lockdown closer and has already proven himself since arriving in Philly. Now the offense is picking it up, riding the smoking hot bat of potential MVP Kyle Schwarber. With that pitching staff —Wheeler, Suarez, Sanchez— this team will be a tough out in the playoffs if manager Robby Thompson stays out of the way.

The Dodgers will win the NL West…I think. The Padres are charging hard, and stand only two games back. The Dodgers have the best lineup in the league, But the pitching staff resembles a MASH unit only Jamie Farr could love. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are back now, and Shohei Ohtani is back to pitching. Roki Sasaki is on a rehab assignment and will join the staff soon. The downside is that you hate to be just now building everyone’s innings up. It is August. The Padres sold out at the trade deadline. Literally. Most of their top prospects were traded in order to go for it right now. I think that will pay off in the end. The Padres have the deepest bullpen in baseball, aided by the acquisition of flamethrower Mason Miller. That will really help come October. Remember, too, that we haven’t seen a real explosion from Fernando Tatis yet and Jackson Merrill hasn’t busted out of his sophomore slump. If those two get going the Padres offense changes.

The last wildcard is getting interesting. The Mets are currently awful. The Reds have been slowly gaining ground and have the pitching to stay in most games. Having said that, I think the talent on the Mets will get this thing fixed in time to make the playoffs. The Reds are a team to watch going forward. With Terry Francona at the helm, the Reds just need to find a couple more bats and they will be a team to reckon with next year.

In October think it could be a San Diego serenade —shout out to Tom Waits— when the pumpkin pie is getting made.

My latest World Series picks—better known as the Clark jinx

AL: Houston Astros

NL: San Diego Padres

San Diego wins it all.

My gut is telling me Phillies, but I jinxed them once already so I didn’t have the heart to do it again. Plus, I don’t need these guys mad at me.

 

Two Cent Takes

NFL

~It is preseason, and you know how I feel about preseason. Still, it was fun to see the Bengals are still the Bengals. Joe Burrow lights it up but the defense can’t stop anyone.

~Word has it that Shedeur Sanders’s bust is already being carved for Canton. Word also has it that he will present himself.

~Teams that play the Ravens should be very eager to get to their backup quarterback.

~If Cam Heyward gets a new contract AGAIN, are the Steelers allowed to cut his useless brother? This is a really bad look for a guy that won the Walter Payton Man of the Year.

~I have softened my stance on Aaron Rodgers to an extent, but Mason Rudolph is a fine security blanket if Rodgers doesn’t cut it.

~Will Dallas make it to the regular season?

 


College Hoops

~The NCAA Tournament will remain at 68 teams. Smart move. It will, however, be revisited next year and 76 seems to be the popular number. 76 just doesn’t make sense.

~Like most humans, Rick Pitino has made his share of mistakes. He is still one of the great basketball coaches of all time, and I love listening to him. I especially like when he is effusive with praise of Louisville’s head coach.

 


College Football

~The polls are out, which means it is a perfect time to remind fans that polls shouldn’t come out until October.

~Bumped into three people over the past two weeks and Penn State football came up in conversation. Each person included this sentiment: “Yea, but we are stuck with James Franklin.” I am not sure I have ever seen a fan base hate a coach more who has one 11 games or more in 5 of 11 seasons.

~College football preview column next week.

The Weekly Shiny Penny

Soon, I will have to make this the Josh Allen Shiny Penny section. The guy is genuinely a great dude.

 


A Penny For My Final Thought…

Leg one of the FedEx Cup is in the books. This week the top 50 will square off in the BMW Championship in Owings Mills, Maryland. From there the top 30 will play for all the marbles at East Lake in Atlanta.

I love the format which allows fans to watch the top of the leaderboard as well as the cut number. Fan favorite Rickie Fowler played well enough to sneak into the top 50 and hold on to advance to this week’s second leg. Having a playoff type system to end the year sure beats just playing out the summer season.

I could write about how Scottie Scheffler wasn’t at his best Sunday and finished all the way one shot back.

 I could spend time on how JJ Spaun locked up his rightful spot on the American Ryder Cup team.

 I most certainly could wax poetic on the drive, fire, and talent of a 45 year old Justin Rose not letting up until he was the winner. Rose is the guy that just doesn’t go away.

Instead I am going to focus on golf’s favorite loveable choker.

Tommy Fleetwood has been a premiere golfer on the PGA Tour for the better part of a decade. Yet, Fleetwood has never won a Tour event. It isn’t like he doesn’t know how to win. Fleetwood has won 8 times internationally. He has also been a successful Ryder Cup player for Europe. Yet, the place where every golfer wants to win —the PGA Tour— Fleetwood just can’t seal the deal.

In an era where we have seen Rory McIlroy storm off after a bitter loss and Colin Morikawa declining to speak after a tough round, Fleetwood’s attitude is refreshing. I would be the first to admit I don’t know if I would be able to duplicate his approach.

Two weeks ago we all watched Fleetwood cough and sputter down the stretch at the Traveler’s Championship, allowing Keegan Bradley to overtake him on the final hole.

This past weekend Fleetwood birdied the 15th hole to surge ahead of the field by two. Then the choking began once again. A wobbly par on the easiest hole on the course thanks to a horrible chip shot, followed by a bogey. By this point Fleetwood had lost the lead to Rose and Spaun.

After both events Fleetwood was more than willing to speak to the press. The things he said could be taken as a lesson for all of us in how to handle adversity. Fleetwood stressed that he would definitely look for things he needs to do better to get across the finish line, but that he was going to focus on all of the positive things he did to put himself in position to win.

 


That sure is a better look than McIlroy and Morikawa slinking away after bad days.

We can all learn from what Fleetwood said and how he handles his adversity. The cynic in me says it is easier to accept when you’ve earned 7.5 million dollars this year. Nevertheless, Fleetwood is a competitor and no competitor wants to choke away victories. But it happens to almost everyone at some point, at least if you are good enough to be leading in the first place.

Wallowing in self pity won’t get it done. Throwing clubs won’t get it done(that one I can attest to). Storming off doesn’t set a great example.

I felt bad for Fleetwood because you could feel it happening for the second time in two months. Just a blatant choke job. But then he stood up. He smiled. He focused on the positives and tried to learn from the negatives.

Tommy Fleetwood did something just as good as winning a golf tournament. He set a great example for us all to strive to follow. 

Just my two cents…