World Series Game Four = 3:16 Boredom Factor = 22

Apparently, the rules implemented by Major League  Baseball before the 2023 season don't apply in the World Series.  Actually, they do apply but this game logged in at three hours and 16 minutes.  The Yankees finally got a win in Game 4 as Aaron Judge got a hit and contributed to the Yanks 11-4 win over the Dodgers.  Judge is still below the Mendoza line hitting a "whopping" .152 for the series.

The boredom factor is a metric I came up with to count the number of times a batter came to the plate and failed to put the ball in play.  There were a combined 12 strikeouts, nine walks and a hit batsman.  There were also 9 pitching changes where a national TV audience watched commercials and Yankee Fans sat around waiting for the game to continue.

The Dodgers now lead the Yankees three games to one.

World Series Game Three = 3:25; Boredom Factor is 31

The World Series shifted cross country from Los Angeles to the Bronx.  The Dodgers behind the strong pitching of Walker Buehler  won the game 4-2.  For the third consecutive game Freddie Freeman homered for the Dodgers.

The boredom factor of the game is 28.  This is a statistic I've developed that counts the times a batter fails to put the ball into play during an at bat. This game there were18 strikeouts, 12 walks and one hit batsman.

The game as you saw in the headline for this post lasted a whopping three hours and 25 minutes. The main reason for this is both managers over used their bullpens. The Yankees used nine pitchers and the Dodgers employed 8 pitchers.  The TV talking heads tried to tell the public this was exciting baseball.  But, I doubt many people who watched it agree with that assessment.  

World Series Game Two = 2:53

The Los Angeles Dodgers won for the second night in a row downing the New York Yankees 4-2 behind the pitching of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.  And for the second night in a row Freddie Freeman homered for the Dodgers.

There were a lot of dull moments in this game too as 18 plate appearances took place without the hitter putting the ball into play.  There were 13 strikeouts, three walks and two hit batsmen, both times Anthony Rizzo was hanging out over the plate when he got plunked.  Rizzo needs to remember half of that plate belongs to the pitcher.

If you are looking for the time and boredom factor in Game One you may read about it by going to this post.

Dodgers Are the New World Series Champions

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers on their defeat of the New York Yankees four games to one.  I didn't watch any of the games, because they are too long and boring. But, I did read the Associated Press stories and it will not go down as a great series.

I will post my annual time and lack of action blogs in the coming day or two.  To give you an idea of what I mean, Game 1 lasted 3:27. (It went one extra inning before the Dodgers won on a walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman; one of the few highlights of the five game championship).

There were 24 trips to the plate in game one which the ball was not put into play.  There were 17 strikeouts (three by the Yankees Mike Judge), six walks and one hit batsman.  All just a waste of fans time.

One final thought on the completed series, Game Three of the "Fall Classic" just barely beat a mid-season NFL game in the night's TV rating.  You would think the baseball championship would have fared much better in the rating than the Steelers and Giants.

Random Thoughts in Late September

It's been seven and a half weeks since I last posted to this blog. It's not I don't have anything to say, it's just that as I continue to get my life back, I have less time to write than while I was recovering from the kidney transplant.  As an update, my doctors have lifted all of my dietary and fluid restrictions and I am able to eat and drink pretty much whatever I like. I don't see any of my transplant team until mid December and my lab work is down to every other Monday morning.  So, life is good and I am keeping busy working a part time job and looking after my 97 year old mother.

I have spent the last four weekends in my old stomping grounds, Columbia, Mo. watching my beloved Missouri Tigers play football. Mizzou is 4-0 and really hasn't played anyone tough. They were rated as high as number six, but then beat 24 ranked Boston College and slipped to 8. A win last week over Vanderbilt dropped the Tigers to #11. My guess is the voters in the A-P poll don't think the Tigers schedule is as tough as the rest of the SEC teams ahead of them.  That is a logical assumption but keep  in mind Missouri has beaten ranked Power 4 opponent and the conference schedule was set by the SEC conference.  You know what's strange?  Today Mizzou climbed back into the ninth spot in the Associated Press poll despite having a bye yesterday. They've also moved up to number 9 in the coaches poll. I guess the writers and coaches think not playing anyone is better than winning.  Go figure.

As far as the NFL I haven't watched a game all season and have a lot of other things I can do on fall Sunday afternoons.  I might watch a game once it gets cold in December, but I have better things to do than waste my time on a league that has twice crapped on St. Louis football fans.

The 2024 MLB regular season came to a conclusion today with my beloved St. Louis Cardinals finishing eleven games back of the Brewers in the NL Central and missing the playoffs, again.  I haven't watched the team in over a month because they had mediocre starting pitching, a crappy bullpen outside of their closer and an offense that never came close to it's potential.  Still the birds ended up four games over .500 in a lame Central division.  If I owned the organization (the DeWitt Family does) I would give someone else beside John Mozielak a chance to be the general manager.  And, while he appears to be a nice guy, I would fire manager Ollie Marmol too.  He hasn't won in two years. It's not entirely his fault because Mozielak hasn't given him much of a team to work with.  But, as the saying goes, you can't fire the whole team.

Have people in the United States gone insane?  I can't believe millions and millions of voters say they will vote for Donald Trump.  The man is a pathological lawyer, somewhat senile and apparently thinks the voters are dumber than he is. Kamala Harris is more liberal than I care for but I will vote for her to save our democracy in the United States of America.  Now, having written that, I don't think anyone has ever said "I think I'll go look at a random blog to decide whom to vote for as president."

Does anyone know why Google no longer has a workable system for posting images on a Blogger? I've tried reading the instructions and even that doesn't work.

Have a great rest of September!