BOB’S WORLD SERIES PICK: DODGERS IN SIX OVER ASTROS
This should be a true Fall Classic.
In my opinion, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros were two of three genuinely excellent baseball teams this season. The Cleveland Indians were great, too, but they were upset by the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.
This is the first World Series with two 100-win teams since 1970, when Baltimore (108-54) beat Cincinnati (102-60). This season’s Dodgers were 104-58 and Houston was 101-61.
Five reasons why my pick is the Dodgers in six games:
1-Starting pitching.
2-Relief pitching.
3-A superior infield.
4-Depth.
5-The home-field advantage.
Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers is baseball’s best starting pitcher. He’ll be well-rested and could start three games, if necessary. His career record in the playoffs is spotty, but he’s eager to shine in his first World Series.
Yu Darvish is an outstanding No. 2 starter for Los Angeles. Rich Hall and Alex Wood aren’t bad.
Houston has two top starting pitchers in Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel, but there is considerable drop-off to Charlie Morton, Brad Peacock and Lance McCullers Jr.
Los Angeles has a lights-out closer in Kenley Jansen and the entire bullpen was terrific in the playoffs: allowed one earned run in 28 2/3 innings.
Houston’s closer, Ken Giles, isn’t in Jansen’s class. Houston’s collective bullpen is several notches below the Dodgers.
I really like Houston’s infield, particularly 2B Jose Altuve and SS Carlos Correa. 1B Yuli Gurriel and 3B Alex Bregman are very good. But I love the Los Angeles infield: 1B Cody Bellinger, 2B when Chris Taylor starts instead of Logan Forsythe or Chase Utley, SS Corey Seager (assuming he’s healthy enough to play) and 3B Justin Turner.
Los Angeles has the deeper roster in terms of quality depth.
The Dodgers will open at home for Games 1 and 2 and would host Games 6 and 7 if necessary. Los Angeles was baseball’s best team at home this season (57-24). Houston was 48-33 at home. The Dodgers were 47-34 on the road and the Astros were 53-28.
PLENTY TO LIKE ABOUT THE BILLS AFTER CLUTCH 30-27 WIN OVER BUCS
The Buffalo Bills are 4-2 – honest, did you envision that? – and this team has become very interesting and, of course, very easy to like.
The defense wasn’t sharp in Sunday’s exciting 30-27 home victory over the dangerous and hungry Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The oft-maligned offense picked up the slack.
Buffalo’s two most important offensive skill players stepped up big time.
Tyrod Taylor threw for 268 yards and ran for 53 more yards on six timely scrambles. At the end of the day, he was forgiven for his part in the mess that cost the Bills an easy field-goal try to end the first half.
LeSean McCoy had 122 yards from scrimmage and scored two TDs. He more than made up for the team’s first lost fumble of the season.
The Bills had 173 yards on 33 carries (5.2-yard averaged) and resembled the team that led the NFL in rushing the past two seasons.
The passing attack was the big surprise. Deonte Thompson joined the Bills Tuesday via the Chicago Bears and had 4 catches for 107 yards (he’s already second among the team’s wideouts in yards receiving). QB-turned-tight end Logan Thomas caught his first TD pass. Nick O’Leary averaged 29 yards on 2 catches. Jordan Matthews had 2 catches for 10 yards in his return from a broken thumb. There was an Andre Holmes sighting – 2 catches for 11 yards. Zay Jones? Two catches for 17 yards and the rookie now has 7 catches out of 32 targets. Do Tyrod and Zay need more target practice?
The really encouraging note on Buffalo’s passing game is that it actually might be pretty good pretty soon. Matthews returned Sunday. Tight end Charles Clay is expected back soon. Thompson might be the real deal. Maybe all Jones needs is a shot of confidence.
So now the Bills have four opponents lined up that are defensively challenged: Oakland Sunday (the Raiders are 27th in total defense), at the Jets (26th in total defense), New Orleans (16th in total defense) and at the Los Angeles Chargers (19th in total defense). Maybe the offense is waking up at just the right time.
SOME FUN NFL NUMBERS
Only three teams remain undefeated at home this season: Buffalo 3-0...Philadelphia 2-0 (hosts Washington Monday night)...Seattle 2-0.
Entering Monday night, home teams are 54-51.
The best division is the AFC East at 16-10. The worst division is AFC North at 10-17.
Buffalo is tops in the NFL turnover table at +10 (13 takeaways and 3 giveaways), followed by Jacksonville +8 and Kansas City +7...Cleveland is 32nd at -11 (8 takeaways/19 giveaways).
The Bills dropped from 1st to 4th in scoring defense (16.8 points allowed per game), behind Seattle (15.7), Jacksonville (15.7) and Pittsburgh (16.6).
Potential warning signs: Buffalo ranks 25th in total offense (298.7 yards per game), 19th in scoring (19.8 points per game) and 21st in total defense (343.2 yards allowed per game).
The only team ranked in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense is Jacksonville (10th/6th). The Jaguars also lead the NFL with 33 sacks. No other team has more than 24.
The Tampa Bay team the Bills beat Sunday is no slouch. The Buccaneers lead the NFL with 312.3 yards passing per game and rank second in total offense (392.8 yards per game behind only New England’s 410.7).
There were only two shutouts in the first six weeks of this season. There were three shutouts Sunday, including both teams based in Los Angeles: Rams 33, Arizona 0; Chargers 21, Denver 0; and Jacksonville 27, Indianapolis 0.
NFL WEEK 8 EARLY ODDS: BILLS FAVORED BY 3 OVER RAIDERS
Here are the early odds for NFL Week 8 (13 games; byes for 6 teams):
Thursday – Miami at Baltimore (-3 ½)...Sunday – Minnesotas vs. Cleveland (+8) in London...Oakland at Buffalo (-3)...Indianapolis at Cincinnati (-10)...Los Angeles Chargers at New England (-7)...Chicago at New Orleans (-7 ½)...Atlanta at New York Jets (+4 ½)...San Francisco at Philadelphia (-10 ½)...Carolina at Tampa Bay (-2 ½)...Houston at Seattle (-5 ½)...Dallas at Washington (-1 ½)...Pittsburgh at Detroit (+3)...Monday night – Denver at Kansas City (-7).
SU’S ERIC DUNGEY SHOWED TRUE GRIT IN LOSS TO MIAMI
Syracuse University junior quarterback Eric Dungey threw four interceptions in last Saturday’s 27-19 loss at eighth-ranked Miami but impressed a lot of people – including SU coach Dino Babers – with his effort in defeat. He obviously wasn’t 100 percent healthy but he never stopped attacking. His attempt to hurdle an opponent made all the highlights shows.
Said Babers, “I mean, don’t you get energy from the way he competes? When you’re watching him, you’re going ‘OMG’, He’s fearless. He’s reckless. And we love him.”
The Orange are 4-4 with four games to go: idle this week...at Florida State November 4...home vs. Wake Forest November 11...at Louisville November 18...home vs. much-improved Boston College November 25.
WHERE ARE THE FANS FOR THE AMERKS?
Unseasonably great weather – too nice to be indoors. Lots of high school sports. Baseball playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres and lots of other pro sports on TV.
Those are some of the explanations for the slow start at the box office for the Rochester Americans.
The Amerks are coming off a lost weekend with back-to-back home losses by a combined 10-3: Friday (5-2 to the Charlotte Checkers) and Saturday (5-1 to the Utica Comets). Attendance for the two games was 5,865 – total (3,021 and 2,844).
Rochester plays at the Laval Rocket Wednesday and will be home Friday vs. Laval and Saturday vs. the Syracuse Crunch.
The Amerks started 2-0 but are 0-3 since and were outscored 12-3 over that span. Larger crowds probably would help the home team. Playing better would help draw larger crowds.
FORMER RED WINGS STAR PITCHER ED BARNOWSKI DIES
Ed Barnowski, who was a star pitcher and briefly a general manager for the Rochester Red Wings, died Tuesday in Naples, Fla. He was 74.
Barnowski was 17-8 with a 3.23 ERA for an excellent Red Wings team in 1966. He fulfilled his boyhood dream by appearing in six big-league games with Baltimore in 1965 and 1966.
He blew out his shoulder in 1967 and his pitching career was all but over.
He was co-general manager of the Red Wings with Sam Lippa in 1974 and general manager in 1975.
Barnowski was arguably the best high school ever in Schenectady and played at Syracuse University – when SU had a baseball team.
BIG YEAR IN THE NWSL FOR THREE WNY FLASH ALUM
The late and often great Western New York Flash are playing in Cary, North Carolina now, but a trio of prominent Flash alumni had super seasons in the 2017 National Women’s Soccer League:
Samantha Kerr (Sky Blue FC) – The 24-year-old Australian was selected NWSL Most Valuable Player this season after scoring a league-record 17 goals...She was with the Flash in 2013 and 2014 and scored 15 goals in 41 games. She was traded to Sky Blue FC after the 2014 season.
Adrianna Franch – The 26-year-old Oklahoma State product and No. 6 overall pick by the Flash in the 2013 NWSL college draft was selected NSWL Goalkeeper of the Year this season as a member of the Portland Thorns...With WNY in 2013, she was 10-4-8 and led the league with a 0.91 GAA and 7 clean sheets. She missed all of the 2014 with a knee injury and wound up with Portland in 2015.
McCall Zerboni – The 30-year-old midfielder had an outstanding 2017 NWSL season with the North Carolina Courage and last week was recalled to the US national women’s team for the first time...Zerboni played in 46 games for the WNY Flash in 2011 through 2014 and 2016.
Former Flash coach Paul Riley was selected 2017 Coach of the Year with North Carolina. The Courage won this year’s regular-season title and lost the championship game 1-0 to Portland.
SHORT SHOTS
World Series odds (courtesy of Las Vegas Westgate SuperBook): opened at Dodgers (bet $140 to win and Astros bet $100 to win $120)...after 24 hours, the Dodgers were bet up to $160 to win $100 and the Astros $100 to win $135)...The FiveThirtyEight sports computer World Series win probabilities: Dodgers 56 percent; Astros 44 percent.
The Rochester Rhinos have enthusiastic civic-minded owners and loyal fans – there just aren’t enough of them, at least not now. The Rhinos beat the Charlotte Independence last Saturday 2-1 in extra time before only 1,647 at Capelli Sport Stadium. They’ll play at Louisville City FC Saturday in the USL Eastern Conference semifinals. Rochester ranked 22nd in attendance this season in the 30-team National Soccer League with 2,031 per game (a total of 302,498 for 16 home dates). The average crowd for the league was 4,301.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Monday, October 23
Jordan Crawford (29)...Kyle Gibson (30)...John Lackey (39)...Keith Van Horn (42)...LaVar Ball (50)...Al Leiter (52)...Doug Flutie (55)...Pele (77)...Chi-Chi Rodriguez (82).
Tuesday, October 24
Rafael Devers (21)...Jaylen Brown (21)...Kyla Ross (21)...Jalen Ramsey (23)...Nikola Vucevic (27)...Eric Hosmer (28)...Chris Hogan (29)...Wayne Rooney (32)...Chris Colabello (34)...Brian Vickers (34)...Rafael Furcal (40)...Corey Dillon (43)...Pat Williams (45)...Arthud Rhodes (48)...Jay Novacek (55)...Ron Gardenhire (60)...Jim “Seaweed” Pettie (64). Drake (31) can sing Happy Birthday.