Note: I had to rush this one out (before noon on Wed.)…lots of other obligations, including family ones, with the storm and all. Suffice it to say, my state is a mess, just like all the others.
Cincinnati Bengals Quiz: Name the four Bengals who have rushed for 5,000 yards in a Cincy uniform. Answer below.
A Look Back at the Giants
I went to post last time before Game 4 of the World Series, won by the Giants 4-3 in 10 innings as they completed a four-game sweep of the Tigers.
So for the archives, baseball fans will remember that the Giants were behind 2-0 against the Reds in the ALDS and proceeded to win the next three on the road to take that series 3-2.
Then the Giants were down to the Cardinals 3-1, only to win the next three, 5-0, 6-1, and 9-0.
Next up the Tigers in the World Series and the four-game sweep read 8-3, 2-0, 2-0, 4-3.
So seven straight wins for the Giants. Seven runs allowed by the San Fran pitching staff over that stretch…total.
The Giants are just one of three N.L. teams to win 2 in 3 years since World War II; Reds 1975-76 and the Dodgers, 1963-65.
The Tigers hit .159 in the Series.
“Everything has conspired this month to disguise or diminish the feats of the San Francisco Giants. From the dangers and distractions of a gigantic storm to a presidential election, the Giants have been shouldered aside. Yet in a postseason that had few dramatic games, the world champion Giants have now completed 20 days of magnificent marvels.
“In that span, they have come back from a two-game deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds in a division series. Then they rose from the near dead and another two-game deficit to steal the National League pennant from the St. Louis Cardinals, outscoring them, 20-1, in the last three games. That’s six – count ‘em, s-i-x – elimination games that Frisco survived. Only one other team in postseason ever did it: the 1985 Royals.
“Now, the Giants have pushed against the boundaries of baseball possibility again. On Sunday night here at cold, misty Comerica Park, San Francisco completed a sweep of the almost universally favored Detroit Tigers, a team that reached this World Series riding the crest of a sweep of its own – a four-game trouncing of New York that left the Yankees almost mortified.
“This is only the third time that a team has swept a World Series from a team that arrived fresh from its own league championship series sweep….
“When you pitch like the Giants, who allowed only six runs in four games – the lowest total for an entire World Series since 1966 – who has to hit?
“In their two title runs, these are the Giants’ team batting averages in the six playoff series they won: .212, .239, .249, .194, .261 and, in this World Series, .242. Only Sandoval (.500) hit .300 against the Tigers. But the Giants, who play small ball first and long ball almost by accident, hit when it counts.
“So, what have we learned about this elegant team from San Francisco that has now won two World Series in three years after not winning such a title for the previous 50-plus?….
“Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this baseball postseason is that the size of this Giants’ feat could seem almost commonplace by October standards because it contained no walk-off homers, no game-saving plays and no contests for the ages, although this final World Series game was absolutely first rate. The insane theatrics of the cardiac Cardinals last year may have blurred our ability to measure greatness. Maybe we’ve been numbed.
“Entering Game 4, only one postseason game in the previous 15 days had experienced a lead change. And that was a paltry 1-0 early-inning lead. After the final inning of the Nats-Cards division series, nothing mind-searing has happened. Of fine games, there were plenty. But the kind of screaming hair-pulling madness that consumes many postseasons was absent. It wasn’t until this final game that we saw a game sway to and fro – the Giants leading 1-0, trailing 2-1, leading, 3-2, then being tied at 3 before finally winning.
“In doing so, they ended one of the more remarkable, and perhaps least appreciated, October title runs in baseball history. After escaping elimination six times, they swept the sweepers. Case, and season closed.”
“Many of the core players from the Giants’ 2010 team remain, including Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Posey, Sandoval, Madison Bumgarner, Brian Wilson, Aubrey Huff and Sergio Romo. The majority of them are homegrown.
“But the Giants have also demonstrated their strength in scouting by turning over much of their starting lineup since 2010. Posey was the only position player who started both Sunday night and in the Giants’ clincher in the 2010 World Series.
“Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence all came to the Giants in trades over the past year. But the Giants have created a culture and an identity that allows for such changes.
“ ‘More than anything, it’s a vibe,’ pitcher Barry Zito said. ‘It’s a dynamic that this team has, and whoever gets plugged into this equation will just start to have heart, and just start to want to win like that. It’s the X-Factor. You can’t really measure that.’”
“Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who is from the Torre genre of managing, has such ‘a knack of using players correctly’ and fostering internal trust, in the words of general manager Brian Sabean, he could keep the most expensive pitcher in team history, Barry Zito, off the postseason roster during the 2010 championship run and then replace Lincecum with Zito in the rotation this time around, yet not lose the ability and goodwill of either. Zito, as a starter, and Lincecum, in relief, have been Giant weapons this postseason.
“ ‘He didn’t waver on going to the bullpen,’ Bochy said of Lincecum. ‘He said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to go there and help this team move forward.’’
“Keep in mind that during the 1996 title season – among other things – Torre benched Tino Martinez three times in the World Series and pinch-hit for Paul O’Neill four times during those playoffs. Those Yankees dynasty teams thrived, in part, because no one was viewed as The Man, as bigger than the team or individually responsible for success or failure. Thus, the postseason was distributed throughout the club rather than resting on one person.
“In the four Yankees title years, no player hit more than 30 homers. Five different pitchers – Roger Clemens, David Cone, Orlando Hernandez, Andy Pettitte and David Wells – started playoff Game 1s and the team felt powerfully about each of them.
“This is what the Giants are enjoying now, a sense of shared spirit, responsibility and confidence. If the Yankees are looking for a lesson moving forward, it is to see the Giants did not become a Freak Show even while de-emphasizing their most famous player.”
—Giants fans were none too pleased with two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum this year after he pitched to a 5.18 ERA while receiving $18 million. But he accepted his demotion to the pen for the playoffs and allowed just 5 runs in 17 innings during six postseason performances. He’s back in the rotation next year and you have to believe he bounces back, aided by the confidence he regained with his play the last few weeks.
–As expected, World Series ratings were the lowest ever, according to Fox Sports, 10% lower than the previous record-low ratings of 2008 and 2010.
College Football
–All the big games this weekend are at night, except for Boston College (2-6, 1-4) vs. Wake Forest (4-4, 2-4) in Winston-Salem at 3:30, a huge contest since it’s for a lunch for your editor, matched up against Steve D.
No. 4 Oregon at No. 17 USC…7:00 PM ET…super interesting game.
No. 1 Alabama at No. 5 LSU…8:00
No. 24 Oklahoma State at No. 2 Kansas State…8:00…I expect the Cowboys to make a game of it.
—Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. As the Los Angeles Times’ Chris Dufresne pointed out, “The seven teams in the BCS top 15 that lost (last) weekend combined for 29 turnovers. Rutgers led the way with seven. Oklahoma had only one against Notre Dame, but it was a big one: linebacker Manti Te’o’s fourth-quarter interception of a Landry Jones pass.”
–“USC has been penalized 82 times in eight games for 677 yards, including 13 penalties for 117 yards in a loss to Arizona on Saturday. USC is the most penalized team in college football.” [Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times]
In case you were wondering why the Trojans have been such a disappointment.
–I have seen all kinds of reports on South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore. Some say his ligament damage was not career-threatening. The New York Post’s Lenn Robbins said:
“He tore all four ligaments that hold the knee together (I tore two and that was no picnic) and broke his femur. Hopefully he will be able to walk normally again one day, but his football days are probably over.”
Just add my voice to those who are wishing Lattimore the best. By all accounts a terrific kid who has now suffered two awful injuries in two seasons when he otherwise was a Heisman candidate.
“Question: Will Bob Stoops ever win another important game?
“Answer: Does Texas count? The guy they used to call, ‘Big Game Bob’ is now 17-14 the last eight years in games against ranked teams. He won a national championship when he was 40; at 52, his teams beat up on bad teams (like Texas this year) and disappear down the rabbit hole against good ones. The Sooners have gone from playing national title games to The Sun Bowl. Yikes.”
–Tim Smith / New York Daily News…on the Jets’ and what to do at quarterback.
“The question hangs above the team like an ominous cloud. But Rex Ryan remains resolute about not making it Tebow Time by benching Mark Sanchez, whom he described as up and down on the day [last Sunday.]
“ ‘I just think Mark gives us the best chance to win,’ Ryan said. ‘That’s my opinion and that’s the only one that matters.’
“Making a switch to Tebow would be purely cosmetic. But at this point that might be enough to jolt some life into a Jets team that looked like zombies against Miami….
“Here is the problem for Ryan: Switching to Tebow now would signal to the team that the season is lost and the Jets have no chance of making the playoffs. And once Ryan does bench Sanchez, there is no going back. That’s the way it plays particularly after all these weeks of saying that Sanchez gives the Jets the best chance to win. The bigger question is which quarterback is in the Jets’ future plans.”
Coach Rex Ryan reiterated after Sunday’s 30-9 debacle against Miami that “Mark gives us the best chance to win. Can Tim be successful? Yeah, absolutely. But in my opinion, Mark as the starting quarterback gives my football team the best chance to win.”
–Pretty funny how for the sixth time in nine seasons under Coach Tom Coughlin, the Giants are 6-2 at the midway point. In the previous five 6-2 starts, they went 4-4 or worse four times, including last season (3-5) and in 2007 (4-4); both of those seasons ended in Super Bowl triumphs.
Last season they lost their first four games after the 6-2 start.
–As pointed out by Kevin Clark of the Wall Street Journal:
“It’s obvious that the 1-6 Kansas City Chiefs are having a rough season, but it’s actually historically rough: They haven’t even led in regulation….
“Kansas City’s lone win, a Sept. 23rd triumph over the New Orleans Saints, came on a field goal in overtime after never leading during regulation.
“The Chiefs still have work to do if they want to break the all-time record, set by the 1943 Chicago Cardinals and 2011 Indianapolis Colts, who both went eight games without the lead in the middle of their seasons.”
“Just figured out that watching 12 hours of NFL games on TV 20 weeks a year for a half-century or so, I now have spent 500 full days of my shattered life listening to the most bizarre English-language commentary this side of Nancy Grace.
“Most football broadcasting can be divided into four simple categories: smart (10 percent), dumb (54 percent), spectacularly dumb (21 percent) or Tony Siragusa (2 percent). The rest (13 percent) is all clichéd.
“ ‘He is able to walk off the field under his own power.’ How else do you walk off the field? Heck, you never hear about somebody ‘walking away from a meeting under his own power’ or ‘walking away from a marriage under his own power.’….
“ ‘…great hand-eye coordination.’ When you think about it, the key to most success in American history – Edison’s invention of the light bulb, Burger King’s creation of the Whopper, Warren Beatty’s whirlwind courtship of Annette Bening – is the result of great hand-eye coordination.
“ ‘You can throw out the record books when these two teams play.’ I hope they recycle them….
“ ‘He’s deceptively quick.’ How can you tell?….
“ ‘He’s running downhill.’ It’s unbelievable how many tax-funded stadiums are built on a slope….
“NFL Network’s Mike Maycock on the Ravens’ Joe Flacco: ‘When Joe Flacco can set up in a solid pocket, he’s as good as anyone you’ll ever see.’ Wow – that’s a lot of quarterbacks. But, hey, I’ve seen ‘em all since Johnny Unitas, and I only rank Flacco 53rd for quarterbacks setting up in a solid pocket.….
“ ‘They have to establish their running game.’ Actually, they don’t.”
–According to the New York Times, nearly 20,000 of the 47,000 runners in the New York City Marathon are from overseas. So many of them simply won’t make it.
—Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski are essentially tied with three races to go in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.
–The PGA Tour released its schedule for 2013. The Tour’s year officially ends with the Sept. 16-22 Tour Championship, while the 2014 season begins in October…part of the new format.
Sensing as it’s going to be an awful winter around these parts (my guess), I’m already looking forward to The Masters, a tradition unlike any other…only on CBS. [April 11-14]
–We note the passing of former major leaguer Dave May, an All-Star outfielder in 1973 when he had his best season for Milwaukee, 25 homers, 93 RBI, .303, and then following a poor 1974 season, was traded to Atlanta for Hank Aaron. May finished a 12-year career with 96 HR 422 RBI and a .251 average.
“Four people, including a police officer, have been injured in an attack by a wild boar in a residential area of Berlin.
“Police said the boar bit a 74-year-old man on the back and leg, and knocked a 74-year-old woman to the ground and injured her hip in the Charlottenburg area of the German capital.
“It also bit a 24-year-old woman before she climbed on to a parked car to escape it. All three were treated in a hospital.
“A police officer who arrived on the scene was also attacked, suffering a cut leg, before he pulled out his gun and killed the animal with ‘multiple shots.’”
I’ve written in the past of how abundant wild boars are in the areas around Berlin, including some of its bigger parks. Thankfully when I was there a few years ago, I didn’t come upon any because I didn’t have had my official Bar Chat Bazooka handy.
–Scary story in the latest issue of Smithsonian on Ebola in Africa. The evidence is pointing to bats as being the primary transmitters. This could impact Bat’s standing on the All-Species List, they currently being No. 42 due to their positive impact in eating up billions of mosquitoes. The Wild Boar’s own standing, No. 186, is up for review.
Top 3 songs for the week 11/2/68: #1 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles) #2 “Those Were The Days” (Mary Hopkin) #3 “Little Green Apples” (O.C. Smith)…and…#4 “Fire” (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) #5 “Midnight Confessions” (The Grass Roots) #6 “Elenore” (The Turtles) #7 “Over You” (Gary Puckett and The Union Gap) #8 “Hold Me Tight” (Johnny Nash) #9 “Love Child” (Diana Ross and The Supremes) #10 “White Room” (Cream)
Cincinnati Bengals Quiz Answers: 5,000 yards rushing – Corey Dillon (1997-2003) 8,061; James Brooks (1984-91) 6,447; Rudi Johnson (2002-2007) 5,742; Pete Johnson (1977-1983) 5,421.
I’ve written of James Brooks before but it bears repeating. This four-time Pro-Bowler had one outstanding career and his yards came late. After playing for San Diego a few years, at age 27 he finally became a starter for Cincinnati at running back, gaining 929 yards (4.8 per carry), then the following season had 1,087 (5.3), then two years later, after an injury, 931 (5.1), then 1,239 (5.6!) and 1,004 (5.1). So ages 28-32, Brooks had four seasons where he averaged 5.1 per carry or better. As Ronald Reagan surely must have said at the time (I can’t document it), ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
