Good morning, all!
As you know, Buck Showalter was not allowed to manage the New York Mets in the final year of his three-year contract. Don’t feel too sorry for him, as I am sure he received a nice settlement. However, a column by Bill Madden of the New York Daily News leaves Mets fans wondering what might have been. He quotes Showalter as saying owner Steve Cohen and GM Billy Eppler never consulted him, while they unloaded several of the club’s stars, before the trade deadline.
Showalter, who is rumored to be in the running for the Angels managerial opening, felt the Mets injured players were healing and ready to return and that the Mets could have made a run.
I’d have told them I still think we can get a wild card. - Buck Showalter
Instead, pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer were traded, along with some other players and Showalter was denied the chance to right the ship. Now we have a World Series, featuring two wild card teams, while 100-win clubs like the Orioles, Braves and Dodgers are on the outside looking in.
NFL refs and another thoughts
Forget how much Sunday’s Giants-Jets game set back professional football. Former QB Boomer Esiason said the Giants were robbed of a victory, because the officials never spotted the football on the last play of regulation, leaving one second left for the Jets to kick the game-tying field goal and win in overtime. Had they spotted the ball time would have expired with the Jets unable to run another play. However, Football Zebras, a website devoted to officiating, claims although the ball was not spotted, an official did touch it, before the next play, making it legal.
The NFL could be very active, as today marks the league’s trade deadline.
Through the first two games of the World Series, neither the Diamondbacks nor the Rangers have committed an error.
Good for the NBA to bring some relevance to the regular season. Players must now play in 65 of the 82 regularly scheduled games to qualify for the MVP award. Coaches have been making a mockery out of the season by sitting stars to preserve them for the playoffs.
Regular season NFL games consistently clobber MLB postseason games in the TV ratings, but sometimes the World Series offers stiff competition. Monday night, a pivotal Game 3 of the Series will go head-to-head against the LV Raiders at Detroit, not the most compelling NFL matchup. The viewer numbers will produce plenty of website content.
That is it for this week’s newsletter. As always, thank you for your support and pray for peace.
DAN LOVALLO