Going into the final weekend of the baseball regular season, the Houston Astros have a one game lead over both the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the tenth and final spot in the upcoming baseball tournament. All the 10th spot contenders have three games remaining.

The Astros face the Arizona Diamondbacks on the road while the Angels are also on the road in Texas vs the Rangers. The Twins are at home vs the Royals.

Incredibly, or maybe not so incredibly, given his penchant for glaring factual errors, WFAN radio host Mike Francesa did not include the Twins among the hopefuls for the last playoff spot.

He said it was “between the Astros and Angels.” At least he did not say among.

There once was etiquette in giving scores with giving or saying the winning team first sacrosanct. For better or worse, usually worse, people have strong emotions involving who won.

That myopic sense of priorities is terribly unfortunate, but does not excuse saying the losing team first as Yankees’ radio analyst Suzyn Waldman did yesterday during a third or fourth inning scoreboard report during the Yankees playoff clinching win vs the Boston Red Sox.

She said the Reds collected their 12th straight loss. Done properly: The Cubs handed the Reds their 12th straight loss.

First of all, I admit to having an almost unfathomable (0-12-1) record this season on my college and pro football predictions. Rather than emphasizing that it is remarkable and even rewarded in some office pools to be that inept, heed the warning about gambling, the so called law of averages (no such thing in this regard) and take it all in stride.

Before the predictions, Mike Francesa, known to “doctor” his record on his predictions, said the other day that the Patriots will play the Packers in the regular season. In addition to the laziness of not looking at the schedule, (Francesa you are a New York based “I don’t know what,”) save the utterly absurd fact you are paid millions, and know the Jets are playing the Giants this season.

You see it is NFC East vs AFC East and without any homework, Francesa who “plugs in what he knows,” obvious stuff like the quarterback and coach are most important, should have known New England from the AFC East will not be playing Green Bay from the NFC North.

Tonight Cincinnati University to keep it close, losing (24-22) to the University of Miami.

Top ranked Ohio State will win by less than “expected” for a fourth straight week, (38-20) vs Indiana University.

The fact a third high school football player this season, Evan Murray, died from injuries sustained during a game will be publicized, mourned briefly even disproportionately and then FORGOTTEN amidst the beer, food, gambling, lack of attention span and most of all hypocrisy (Al Pacino’s “Michael Corleone” to the late, great character actor G.D. Spradlin’s Nevada Senator–“We are part of the same hypocrisy” applies) that is prevalent in our society and epitomized by football.

Finally one prediction I got correct!

Click below for a compelling, well written perspective.

The Death of Evan Murray

G.D. Spradlin, above, who also portrayed an all powerful college coach in the film “One on One,” that helped illustrate the corruption and yes hypocrisy in big time college athletics.

It was sixty one years ago today that the World Series opened at the Polo Grounds in New York between the New York Giants and the heavily favored Cleveland Indians, winners of 111 games that season. Now if the World Series goes six or more games, they will play on or past Election Day.

The Giants, as recounted in Arnold Hano’s great book, “A Day in the Bleachers,” won that game one and shocked the baseball world by sweeping the Indians in four straight games.

Dusty Rhodes won game one with a pinch home run while Willie Mays made his famous over the shoulder catch and great throw in the eighth inning.

Vic Wertz, who was robbed of an extra base hit by Mays on the aforementioned catch, had 4 hits in the game. I recall Howard Cosell’s touching tribute to Wertz, recalling that great individual game but the fact it hurt Vic so much that it was in defeat, on his “Speaking of Sports” show, when Wertz passed away.

Supposedly after the great catch by Mays on Wertz’s drive, the Giants pitcher Don Liddle, who faced just one batter (Wertz) in the game, said “I got my man out.”

The levity being Wertz hit the “bleep/ bleep” out of the ball, only for it to be run down by Mays, whose throw which kept Larry Doby from scoring,  being perhaps more amazing than the famed catch.

For the sixth time in their 54 seasons, the New York Mets finished in first place.

All the first place finishes were division titles, four of the far more impressive and meaningful “one quarter” titles in 1969, 1973, 1986 and 1988. This year’s division title and the one the Mets secured in 2006 were the “one eighth” variety.

Yesterday was the second time in Mets’ history that they became one of eight teams in the baseball tournament, with a win at Cincinnati. The other time was in a “do or die” one game playoff for the bogus wild card berth in 1999.

The Mets also beat the Cincinnati Reds in a best of five NLCS, in 5 games in 1973.

Earlier this season it was noted here that the Colorado Rockies truly helped the Mets overtake the Washington Nationals, by losing all 7 games to the Mets and winning games vs Washington.

The last two days, the Rockies have helped the Mets take a one half lead in the loss column vs the Dodgers in the battle for the National League two seed, with consecutive home wins vs L.A.

Flying well under the radar and at a distance from the top spot for most of the season, the Texas Rangers now stand on the precipice of their first division title since 2011, a season in which they lost a World Series (to the St. Louis Cardinals), they twice were one out from winning.

No team in baseball history was one out from winning the title in two different innings and failed, as was the case for Texas in 2011. That year’s second straight World Series loss (the “odd year’ SF Giants won the first of three titles, ending a 56 year title drought, with a 5 game triumph vs Texas in the 2010 World Series), was followed by an epic collapse by the Rangers in the 2012 A.L. West race, necessitating a play in game, which resulted in a home loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Now this season, after failing miserably in both 2013 and 2014, Texas went and out and acquired Cole Hamels at the trade deadline and led by him ( a record of 5-1) have a 5 game loss column lead, with 9 games to play.

The Rangers almost certainly will be the American League “3” seed and will open the division series in either Toronto or Kansas City on Thursday October 8th.

Despite my horrible record, I venture on with three more pro football predictions for week three in the league.

Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals won both regular season tilts vs the Baltimore Ravens. They also are (2-0) while the Ravens are (0-2).

Thus I am picking the Ravens to win (20-14).

It is dangerous to take the Cleveland Browns as a favorite, but they are home and after both teams won last week, I say Browns 19 Raiders 13.

Despite the absence of quarterback Tony Romo, I say the Dallas Cowboys will win vs the Atlanta Falcons in a clash of (2-0) teams in Dallas. Say (20-12).

Yogi Berra, a great, great baseball player, who responded in the so called “clutch,” as few others ever have, died this week at the age of 90.

He played on ten World Series winning teams with the vaunted New York Yankees and was a big part of their incredible run of 14 pennants in 16 seasons (Al Lopez with two different franchises was the only non Yankees manager to win an AL pennant in that span) from (1949-1964).

In the 1964 season, Yogi guided the Yankees to a World Series appearance, losing in 7 games to the St. Louis Cardinals, one of two times in a ten season span, he managed a team that lost in #7 of the World Series (the Oakland A’s beat Berra’s Mets in the 1973 World Series), a fact omitted from reports on Berra’s death by both Bob Ley on ESPN and MLB Network.

After winning the 1964 flag and losing in the World Series, the Yankees fired Berra, replacing him with Johnny Keane, the Cards’ manager in the 1964 World Series. After firing Berra (at least he was told directly, more on that later), the Yankees who had won an incredible 29 American League Pennants in 44 seasons (1921-1964) did not win another until 1976 with Yogi as a coach.

Yogi Berra known for sayings he largely never said was an untapped treasure of baseball knowledge. My knowledge and love of baseball history is great and how great it would have been if someone like me or face it, me  had tapped into it.

I tried and did register some nice moments with the all time great, who was so modest.

More than once I cited his exploits in game 7 of the 1956 World Series and his retort was always about the great game Johnny Kucks pitched that day.

During the decisive game of the strike marred 1981 season’s NLCS, a nervous Dodgers fan who continued to root for them after they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, suddenly had nightmares that Yogi Berra was playing for the Montreal Expos, the Dodgers opponent.

It did not take Doctor Freud to explain that one, as Yogi had delivered so often, breaking Brooklyn fans’ hearts. In the 1952 World Series, one of two the Dodgers had a chance to win at home in Brooklyn, Mr. Berra hit an all important game tying home runs in game six of a (3-2) Yankees’ win which forced a seventh game, they of course won.

He delivered so often vs Brooklyn and other teams.

Remember about Berra being told directly that he had been fired in 1964. That was not the case when George Steinbrenner fired him 16 games into the 1985 season.

Yogi, for 14 years give or take, kept his word about not going back to Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner was the owner.

When he accepted Steinbrenner’s apology and went back, it made Yankees fans very happy as Berra was not only lovable, but beyond doubt, the greatest living Yankee at that point in time and until his death.

I still have hope there is a better place and if so Lawrence “Yogi” Berra will see beauty there. One example of truly beautiful would be his wife Carmen, who died three years ago.

She was a most wonderful, helpful person who appreciated my sincere praise as to how wonderful she looked and acted at an event at The Yogi Berra Museum.

What is most beautiful about Mr. Berra’s life is that he realized how fortunate he was to love Carmen and have his love returned. Then they went out each day and worked to sustain it and succeeded as few have.

That can also be said about Yogi Berra’s life.  I will “see” him again as I finish reading the 1989 book “Yogi” I am currently reading on which Berra collaborated with author Tom Horton. Additionally, visions of his amazing play and recollections of his charm will manifest  in my recalling and checking baseball history. He will always be one of  baseball’s greatest figures.