San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Dodgers fans blame format ... figures
Sez Me … This isn’t about the Padres so much as the Dodgers, about their juvenile flock, about baseball.
But allow me to say I did wake up the morning following San Diego’s pounding of L.A. with a mural of Joe Musgrove on my back (the last place in town to put one).
The Padres’ dunking the Dodgers is a highlight of my very existence, my career, which began when I carried type for Guttenberg.
It made my year. It made everyone’s year in a year not made for everyone. Our citizens suddenly Petula Clark-ed, forgetting all their troubles, forgetting all their cares, and going downtown.
Growing up in a Giants house, I have despised the Dodgers from the year I was pottytrained, so about 7. And since 1969, when the Padres’ MLB franchise was born — and my affinity for the Giants faded — countless San Diegans have joined me in their hatred for the arrogant team from the north and their spoiled fans.
Now, spoiled (I don’t know why) fans of the blue are seeing through red, weeping eyes, demanding a change to the new playoff system, which they claim ripped apart the World Series banner they expected to hoist. The media also has poured its ink and tonsils into the fray.
Funny how sports can be bent in modern times, when great players and great teams don’t like what they’re reading and edit the book.
In 2008, Tom Brady tore up his knee on a sack, so a rule came about, stating defenders who go after a quarterback’s legs while on the ground will be penalized. Tom Brady Rule.
Remember when Peyton Manning didn’t get a chance to get the ball in playoff OT? Peyton Manning Rule changes that.
Meanwhile, MLB has come out with a new playoff format, eliminating the stupid play-in game, and allowing teams with the best records (Dodgers and Braves in 2022) to bye into the NLDS (where both teams failed to advance).
I like this format — except for playing too many games without off-days.
A playoff bye is a reward. The Dodgers had one of the best regular seasons ever, 111 wins, and deserved it. But L.A.’S angry villagers say the bye threw their beloveds out of sync vs. the Padres, who thankfully won the best-of-5 in four games. They’d also like to see the first round go seven games. Of course they would. But it shouldn’t.
Thing was, the Dodgers were built for the regular season, and they finished 22 games ahead of San Diego in the NL West. The Padres, with better overall pitching front to back, were constructed for the playoffs. They just had to suffer through extreme RISP anemia to get there.
By the fourth game of the NLDS, the Dodgers should have found sync. They couldn’t handle the pitching, which is really a shame. If it had gone seven, they still would have had to win three straight.
The Dodgers have endless resources and a terrific minor league system. A great organization. But, fact is, they’ve spent billions and won one title since 1988 — and that was in Covidabbreviated 2020.
My feeling sorry for them would be tantamount to getting sea sick with no land in sight until Saint Peter calls in all the swells.
But the October game is different from the Aprilthrough-september game. Two seasons.
Maybe they should have won 90 games so they wouldn’t have had time to rest.
Teams don’t turn down byes. Didn’t the Astros and Yankees bye?
My message to the Dodgers? Play better. But please don’t. …
I’m also hearing complaints that it’s wrong for two 100-win teams to meet in the ALCS, with clubs not winning that much going in the NLCS. I even heard that it’s not what the World Series was designed for. Crybabies. …
The World Series was designed for the teams that get to it. …
Did winning the Home Run Derby affect Juan Soto at the plate? It’s happened before. Great hitters should not compete in that thing, anyway. …
More: The Rams want every personal foul reviewed. Launch that ship. I’m onboard. Please add another passenger — review for disputed pass interference, which can’t be called correctly. …
When you’re 1-5 (Carolina) and trade your best player
(Christian Mccaffrey) and the next draft is quarterbackloaded, if you’re not tanking, you’re doing something naughty. …
If Mccaffrey can keep his glass body together, the 49ers got a steal. But he is the Tua among tailbacks. He misses games the way I miss pole vaults. …
Christian is the seventh player drafted in the top 10 of the 2017 draft no longer with his original team. …
Kyle Shanahan, genius, is 0-26 when trailing by five or more going into fourth quarters. …
Aaron Rodgers never has thrown a pass to a first-round receiver. …
Giants-green Bay: The last time the Packers played so poorly at Lambeau, Curly had straight hair. …
When the play clock hits zero and the ball hasn’t been snapped, penalty. NFL is letting it go — too far. …
I’ve seen every great fielding third baseman since Brooks. Manny Machado is in the top five. Manny not being a Gold Glove finalist is an MLB Mortal Sin. …
Vision-impaired managers and coaches represent 75 percent of Gold Glove voters. The other 25? Nerds. Baseball people don’t vote for the Association of Computer Machinery’s Turing Award. …
Meanwhile, Soto is a finalist for right field Gold Glove because the judges mistakenly watched film of Roberto Clemente. If Juan is a Gold Glover, I’m Fyodor Dostoevsky .…
Bruce Bochy, great manager, great guy, is the new skipper of the Texas Rangers, and Stetson already is working on an 80-gallon cowboy hat. (Not being rude. Boch and I often compared our dome sizes, and he always won.) …
San Diego State football will meet Oklahoma three times later in this decade and next. How can that work, with the Aztecs joining the Sooners in the SEC by then? …
San Diego’s Dino Babers is doing a great job at Syracuse, but his bad clock management is good enough to get him in the running for an NFL head coaching gig. …
UCLA is better overall than USC, whose defense isn’t ready. But the Trojans’ Caleb Williams is the college game’s best quarterback. Magical. …
Liz Truss, out as Britain’s prime minister after 44 days in office, is terribly misunderstood. She did accomplish everything she promised. …
Break your wrists on a check swing and it’s a strike. End of sentence. Jurickson Profar got screwed …
Three Philadelphia Eagles are dropping a Christmas album, featuring the classic “I’ll Be Home for February.” …
Living it up. The PGA is pouring money it has always had but never used into purses. Which is why LIV was formed. …
Ham & Eggers: Was on Bike Lane Wonder of the World (30th Street) the other day and actually saw a cyclist. He was riding on the sidewalk going the wrong way. …
Tom Brady may be revealing his real self. Saying that mixing his “personal life with football seasons is like being on military deployment” is so insensitive, so stupid, Kanye West wishes he said it.
sezme.godfather@gmail.com Twitter: @sdutcanepa
Sports poll
If your son/daughter had a choice between playing in the Pac-12 or going to UCLA or USC, where soon they will have to travel often to the Midwest for conference games, which way would you counsel them?
1. Pac-12
2. UCLA/USC
Call (619) 293-2727 to vote by midnight Wednesday or go to www.sandiegouniontribune.com to cast your vote until noon Saturday.
Last week
Who should the Aztecs start at quarterback this week? 1. Braxton Burmeister, 16 (4)
2. Jalen Mayden, 313 (85 percent)