The Daily Dose/October 29, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
DON’T THINK, YOU’LL HURT THE TEAM: Oh, baby, this might be a seminal moment in baseball history, Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash taking starting pitcher Blake Snell out of Game 6 of the World Series despite the fact Snell was pitching a hell of a game. Seminal because it was a head-on collision of old school and new school.
The Rays, needing a win to stay alive, were leading 1-0 in the sixth inning when Cash came out and removed Snell, who had given up exactly zero runs and two hits. Soon enough, the Los Angeles Dodgers were leading 2-1 and would win the game 3-1 to clinch the title.
Dry, Technical Matter: Cash wasn’t doing anything he hadn’t been doing all season. This is new-school Rays thinking: they do not let their starting pitchers go through the lineup a third time, a philosophy that got them to the World Series in the first place.
Running The Numbers: In some respects, Cash’s move made sense because Snell hadn’t pitched as late as the seventh inning since, almost incredibly, May of 2019. Heck, it would have been news had they left him in and if Snell had given up two runs Cash would be taking the same amount of heat he is now.
More Running The Numbers: While not completely extinct, the complete game has, of course, been an endangered species for years…Big league teams threw 29 complete games in 2020, about one every 30 games or so. Ten teams did not throw a complete game at all.
The Bottom Line: You live by the numbers you die by the numbers. Old school thinking would have dictated when your man is giving up a hit every three innings and is striking out a batter-and-a-half every inning you leave him in. Old School vs New School, analytics vs guts. Cash, though, was the only one who had to make the decision then and, as noted, he was merely doing what got him there in the first place.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow and Gloria have some laughs.
I was in the mood for a burger and mentioned the chain restaurant in the next county…Head Housekeepr Gloria looked at me as if I had said I was thinking of lunching at the water treatment plant.
“There are better burgers in the next county…”
She then named the place and yours truly made a mental note to scope it out and the second she left for her office I’m online doing just that…Christ, the pics were incredible…I felt like the English bloke when he opened King Tut’s tomb for the first time and when asked if he saw anything and he replied “yes, wonderful things”.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1863 – The International Red Cross is formed when five committee members and signatories from 12 nations sign the resolutions now known as the Geneva Convention. The Red Cross was formed to improve medical services for soldiers and civilians on the battlefield and has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize three times: in 1917, 1944 and 1963. The terms of the Geneva Convention have been updated several times, most recently in 1977.
In 1995 – Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers establishes a new NFL record for most career receiving yards in an 11-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Rice had eight receptions for 108 yards, giving him 14,040 career yards, breaking the record of 14,004 yards established by James Lofton between 1978-93. Rice retired in 2004 with 22,895 yards, a record that still stands.
In 1955 – Roger Williams is at #1 on Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart – a predecessor to the Hot 100 – for the first of four consecutive weeks with Autumn Leaves. The song was an instrumental version of a song that had been written in 1945, originally with French lyrics. It was the first chart single for Williams, the first of seven Top 40 hits and remains his only #1 song. The song charted again in 1965, appearing on the Hot 100 for three weeks, peaking at #92.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I recognized at once the look of the official who does not know if one is about to be executed or raised to the throne.
Gore Vidal
Julian
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Chuck Berry had three #1 songs on Billboard’s soul chart: Maybelline (eleven weeks, 1955), School Day (five weeks, 1957) and Sweet Littel Sixteen (1958, three weeks).
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Who holds the NFL record for most receiving yards in a season? – Answer next time!
Cheap Sales Pitch
Get out your plastic.
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