Only three teams in baseball history have lost two straight World Series and then won a third consecutive pennant. No team has done so since the Yankees in 1923 (they won the first of their 27 titles that year avenging two straight Series losses to the New York Giants). The two other teams to accomplish the feat lost in all 3 World Series. Both the Detroit Tigers with Ty Cobb (1907-1909) and the New York Giants (1911-1913) lost in all 3 World Series.
The Texas Rangers hope to join the 1923 Yankees as the only team to win a World Series after losing the Series the previous two seasons. They are off to a (20-10) start which I feel is remarkable after last season’s heartbreaking World Series loss to the St.Louis Cardinals. In Game 6 of last year’s World Series, Texas had a (7-5) lead with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and were one strike away from a World Series victory. However, eventual World Series MVP David Freese delivered a 2 run triple that tied the epic game. Texas had a (9-7) lead after Josh Hamilton’s 2 run homer in the top of the 10th inning but again failed to hold the lead. This time, Lance Berkman had a 2 out, 2 strike game tying single. The Cardinals won the game on Freese’s homer in the bottom of the 11th inning and then won their 11th title in Game 7 the following night.
Josh Hamilton hit four home runs (all 2 run homers) in a win vs the Baltimore Orioles on May 8th. Texas also has a nice divisional lead early this season. However, no matter their regular season (I do not think it will be so great), it assures the Rangers or any other team very little. Baseball has become a tournament requiring the World Series winner to win at least 3 playoff rounds. Home field advantage in the World Series is determined by which league wins the All Star Game. The team with home advantage has won the World Series an incredible 21 of the last 26 times. Texas faces a long road ahead in its title quest.
My cheers for the Broadway show, “Leap of Faith” at the St. James Theatre, which really dazzled me this past Saturday night. The story was good, evoking Burt Lancaster’s performance in “The Rainmaker.” Raul Esparza is in the starring role as Reverend Jonas Nightingale. The musical numbers, complete with great staging and dancing, were sensational.
The cast was excellent with special kudos to Jessica Phillips as the conflicted sheriff/mother and Talon Ackerman, who plays her son. At times, the characters speak directly to the audience specifying it as a New York audience, one ripe with sinners.
Esparza was brilliant as the con man preacher, who never seemed too far from his moral center. The chemistry with Phillips and his compassion for her 13 or so year old son (Ackerman) really made the show.
After the show I watched as Mr. Esparza accommodated each and every person that stood outside the theater. He patiently signed programs and posed for pictures. This man not only has star quality on stage but real quality off stage as he went well beyond the “call of duty” with the people. Watching that interaction capped a great performance.
Raul Esparza
The NBA and NHL playoffs are running concurrently, (the NHL in the quarterfinals and the NBA in the first round) and the series have been very one sided to this point. 10 series are through 4 games. Only one stands at 2 games apiece. One other is (3-0) leaving at most 2 of the 12 at 2 games apiece. Eight series are at 3 games to one, one is (2-1) and there have been two 4 games to none sweeps.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, getting a big bounce their way on Kevin Durant’s winning shot in game 1, went on to sweep the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. Likely they will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the quarterfinal round. The Lakers played 40 years to the night of their first LA title and won versus the Denver Nuggets to take a 3-1 series lead. This win was Sunday night May 6th while the first title win was on Sunday night May 7, 1972. Both games started at about the same time.
Some history repeating with a bit of a stretch regarding those old rivals, the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. First of all, each is up 3 games to 1 in its first round series and are on a collision course to meet in the NBA quarterfinals. Each won a Sunday game to take a 3-1 series lead. In at least 4 Boston vs Philadelphia semi-finals, games played on a Sunday left the series 3 games to 1 in favor of Philadelphia. Now Sunday’s results leave each team up (3-1) and likely to face each other in the next round. By the way, Boston came back to win two of those semi-final series in which they trailed the Sixers 3 games to 1, and lost in Game 7 in another one.
Before this season, the Los Angeles Kings had won but two quarterfinal series and one of those series wins was in an all expansion team division in 1969. They were (0-8) vs the St. Louis Blues in as many playoff games. Right now, the Kings lead their quarterfinal series against the Blues 3 games to none meaning LA is virtually certain to play in just its 3rd NHL semi-final in their 44 year history.
In the history of major league baseball, the NBA, and NHL, only 4 times has a team come back to win a series after falling down 3 games to none. Three of those times were in the NHL. One team to do so was the Philadelphia Flyers vs the Boston Bruins just 2 years ago. That year, the Flyers won their next series before before bowing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the finals. At that point, Chicago ended a 49 year Title drought. Last year, the Boston Bruins, the team that dissipated the (3-0) series lead to the Flyers the year before won its first Stanley Cup in 39 years. Currently the Flyers down 2 games to 1 to the New Jersey Devils in their quarterfinal series have a long way to go if they are to end a 37 year title drought.
One of the most famous championship droughts in history was 54 years endured by the New York Rangers. That lasted from 1940’s Cup victory until their next such triumph in 1994. Right now in a bid to make their current drought only one third as long as their famous one, the Rangers lead the Washington Capitals 2 games to 1 in their quarterfinal series. When the Rangers won the Cup in 1994 they beat Washington in the quarterfinals and the Devils in the semi-finals. If both the Rangers and Devils, as cited each up (2-1) in its series, both win, they will meet in the semi finals 18 years later. Then, Martin Brodeur was a young, inexperienced goaltender. He turns 40 on April 6th the date of the Devils’ game 4 vs the Flyers.
The Phoenix Coyotes are the other NHL quarterfinal series leader at this point. They lead the Nashville Predators 2 games to one. Before this season the Coyotes were (0-8) in quarterfinal series games having been swept by Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and the mighty Edmonton Oilers in both such appearances. They were still the Winnipeg Jets. In this 2011-2012 season when the NHL returned to Winnipeg, the Coyotes nee Winnipeg Jets have made some history. They might make more.
Martin Brodeur
It would seem much of the mystery as to who wins the NBA East disappeared when Chicago lost Derrick Rose to injury. The Miami Heat are clearly the favorites to return to the NBA Finals. While San Antonio has the best record in the Western Conference and Oklahoma City is also ahead of them let’s consider two Los Angeles basketball teams.
Right now, and it is really early in both baseball and the NBA playoffs but Los Angeles teams are on a roll. The Kings of the NHL gained the last spot in the playoffs and knocked off the top seed Vancouver Canucks in the first round. Now LA leads the 2nd seed, St. Louis Blues 2 games to none, winning both games in St. Louis. In the NBA, both the Lakers, seeded 3rd in the West, and the Clippers (5th seed), made the playoffs. This is just the 5th time both teams made the playoffs in the same season and one occasion was rightfully, completely overshadowed by the riots in Los Angeles 20 years ago. Then, a horrible situation forced scheduling problems. Now, an abundance of LA team wins may cause far more pleasant scheduling problems as the Lakers playing at home and the Clippers overcoming a 21 point deficit after 3 quarters at Memphis, won their first round opening games.
If all 3 win and since all 3 teams play at the Staples Center there could be scheduling problems. If San Antonio up 1 game to none and heavily favored vs Utah and Oklahoma City, up 2-0 vs defending champion Dallas, win their series, both the Lakers and Clippers would open their next series on the road. Add the Kings up 2-0, who definitely would open a semi-final series on the road, and the likely simultaneous starts of the next rounds (NHL semi-finals and NBA quarterfinals) and you see the potential problem. Alas it is one game into basketball; the Lakers are about 3 to 1 series favorites and the Clippers, without home advantage, are only slight favorites. Even the Kings, though seemingly in command, are not quite there. Yet it is a nice situation in LA sports with the Dodgers off to a 16-7 start as well. Only the most highly touted LA (or is it Anaheim?) team, the Angels, are not doing well, already 9 games behind Texas in its division. However, remember there are 2 wild card slots open to them if they can not catch Texas.
After one goal wins by the Washington Capitals, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, the Eastern Conference semi finals are set in the NHL. The top ranked Rangers will face Washington while 5th seed Philadelphia opens at home vs the 6th seed, New Jersey Devils.
The Capitals ousted the defending champion Bruins in 7 games winning on Joel Ward’s goal in overtime. Caps coach Dale Hunter once scored an overtime goal for the Caps in a 7th game and he also scored an overtime goal in a decisive 5th game for Quebec in 1982. Hunter was still with Quebec when they won 3 games at Montreal including the 5th and 7th games to win a quarterfinal series in 1985. In the just completed series, the Caps won three at Boston including the 5th and 7th games. The Bruins have won 6 Stanley Cups and only once in 1930 have they won a playoff series in the following season. They have never repeated as Stanley Cup Champions.
The Caps opponents, the New York Rangers, are now (4-0) in home 7th games while they are (0-5) in road 7th games. Since the top ranked Canucks are out of the playoffs, the Rangers are the highest ranked team remaining and any 7th game this year would be at home. The Rangers won 2-1 vs Ottawa in the first round 7th game. The Ottawa Senators are (0-5) in 7th games and have never won a Stanley Cup.
Philadelphia is one of only three remaining teams that has ever won the Stanley Cup. They last won it all in 1975 while their opponent New Jersey last won in 2003. The Flyers upset the Penguins in the first round while the Devils got a goal from Adam Henrique in the 2nd overtime of the 7th game to beat the Florida Panthers. As is the case with the Senators, Florida lost in its only NHL Finals appearance. They were swept by Colorado in 1996 while the Senators managed just one win vs Anaheim in the 2007 Finals.
In the NHL, there are 3 seventh and deciding games in the preliminary round all in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile in the Western Conference, “new blood” is the order of the day. None of the four first round winners; St.Louis, Los Angeles, Phoenix or Nashville has ever won the Stanley Cup. One of them will play for the Stanley Cup in the NHL Finals about one month from now.
Only the Los Angeles Kings, among the four West first round winners has made the Cup Finals since 1970, the last year in which the NHL had an “all expansion team” division whose playoff winner automatically made the Finals. The St. Louis Blues were the “expansion team division” winner in each of its 3 years of existence, losing to the more established division winner in 4 straight games all three times. The Kings who will face the Blues next, won its 1993 Finals opener at Montreal but lost the next four games.
The other Western Conference semi-final matches the Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators. Phoenix and Nashville are two cities whose previous association with ice usually involved vodka. The Predators are in their 13th season and won just their 2nd playoff series ever when they beat Detroit in 5 games. The Coyotes, who came into the NHL as the Winnipeg Jets in 1979-1980, have a longer, more incredible history of playoffs failure. They just ended a 12 playoff series losing streak when they ousted Chicago and have won just three playoff series in their NHL history.
Some history will be made in and from the NHL West. Either Phoenix or Nashville will make its first semi-finals appearance. Nashville is favored to win the series though Phoenix has the home ice advantage. Thus far in the NHL, playoffs road teams are (28-17) going (15-6) in the Western Conference games. St. Louis which had an outstanding regular season has home ice advantage (?) and is favored in its series vs Los Angeles.
Phoenix Coyotes Cheerleader
Time Magazine writers Michael Duffy and Nancy Gibbs spoke about their just released book, “The Presidents Club,” at a Time Life luncheon. The book is about the really special relationship among the presidents which transcends political differences and stresses the individual and the office. The former presidents actually have a “clubhouse;” a place to stay just for them near the White House. This fraternity started in 1945 just after Harry Truman became president and, facing the aftermath of the second world war, reached out to longtime rival Herbert Hoover. This angered many FDR Democrats but Truman felt only Hoover as an ex President, and one who served in the office at the beginning of the Great Depression, could understand his situation.
Both Gibbs and Duffy presented wonderful photos of the presidents together as well as more fascinating and sometimes humorous history. One unlikely friendship that formed was between Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon which resulted in many late night conversations particularly about foreign policy. Mr. Nixon eventually wrote a letter to Mr. Clinton just before Nixon’s death in 1994 that moved Clinton so much that he reads it every year.
It is not all “peaches and cream” among the former presidents and the current one, no matter who the president happens to be. A deal between Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon produced its share of trouble and the tension between Truman and Eisenhower lasted for a decade plus from Ike’s landslide victory until the two went for a drink after the tragic death and funeral of John F. Kennedy.
Overall the well done presentation by Duffy and Gibbs provided tremendous insight, great stories, and humor that made me feel a tinge more pride and certainly some understanding of this incredible office. I truly look forward to reading The Presidents Club as history will come alive on its pages. Gibbs and Duffy really went “inside” with their determined research that yields great stories and tells part of the office’s and country’s incredible history.
The Presidents Club
Sadly, I have never been to a baseball game at Fenway Park but I did stand outside the venerable park one Sunday morning Halloween 1999. The Yankees had won a third World Series in 4 seasons, dispatching the Red Sox in a 5 game ALCS along the way. At that point, 81 years had passed since the last Red Sox World Series win. Hence my thoughts and memories were essentially about gallant Red Sox teams in 1967, 1975 and 1986 that lost the World Series in 7 games. I knew about the equally gallant 1946 team that also lost a World Series in 7 games and about near miss first place finishes in 1948 and 1972, the latter affected by an early season work stoppage. Most of all, I recalled the one game playoff loss to the Yankees in 1978.
Now after Red Sox World Series wins in 2004 and 2007 the history is not as heartbreaking and some of the near misses reflect well as to the positive history of the games there. Last week a tragedy of 1912, the lost lives of people aboard the Titanic, was recalled with much publicity. Often in the past, the association of the Red Sox World series failures and the corresponding years of Fenway Park opening and The Titanic tragedy were linked. Perhaps we have gained perspective on the importance and intensity of each.
In that spirit, recall Harry Brecheen who won 3 games for the Cardinals to help beat the Red Sox in the 1946 World Series and died in 2004 not long before the Red Sox won the World Series ending the 86 year Title drought. 86 and 1986, a number and year that recall how much Bob Murphy, the late dedicated Mets broadcaster, enjoyed returning to broadcast at Fenway during that 1986 World Series. Murphy, who also died in 2004, once broadcast for the Red Sox. Why did Danny Galehouse pitch the one game playoff vs the Indians in 1948 is a question that has echoed throughout baseball history especially when Mel Parnell, a tremendous Sox lefty, especially in Fenway, could have pitched. Recently, Mel Parnell died. Oh, did the Red Sox dissipate a great advantage to fail to make the baseball “tournament” last year. That means less than the two legitimate one game playoff losses including the great game of 1978 vs the rival Yankees. If the wild card had existed that game never would have been played.
Fenway Park
The music at the disco event, “Legends of Disco” was sensational. What great memories collectively flooded the crowd’s senses as such artists as “Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes,” Tavares, and the incredible Trampps performed their big hits and other songs as well. Deney Terrio, who co-hosted the event with Joe Causi, danced with many women, one at a time, on stage, between each act. As stated before Deney is still a great dancer and it was nice to see the “young” ladies up there with him.
I had a chance to talk with some of the artists, actually telling “The Blue Notes” that Kentucky, which went on to win an 8th Basketball title, had won by 8 points vs Louisville. The group members were so gracious in posing for pictures and talking with the fans. They opened the show and sounded great. “The Love I Lost,” my personal favorite song by the group, really set the tone for a great evening.
Finally, I had a chance to briefly interview the fabulous Earl Young of The Trampps, who was so gracious as he talked of missing Jimmy Ellis, the Trampps long time lead singer, who died in the last month. Young called performing in New York, especially without Ellis, a really emotional experience. He founded the group at age 32 in 1972 and is 72 now. We all should move nearly as well now, no less at 72 years old. He is a truly gracious man, really great with the fans and cognizant of their importance. He truly understands his situation. Earl actually sang a line of “Disco Inferno” with me and far more important, The Trampps brought the house down with mega hit, “Disco Inferno” on stage.
Deney Terrio
