Rays Get No Relief; Arizona's Sleaze; Two More Papers Bite Dust

73 pitches.

That was all the Tampa Bay Rays would allow their ace pitcher to throw in Game 6 of the World Series.

And it cost them the game, if not the Series.

Blake Snell had the Dodgers eating out of his hand in a totally dominating performance. With the Rays leading 1-0 and one out in the sixth inning, Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash pulled Snell. After just 73 pitches.

All he had done to that point was allow two hits, walk none, and strike out nine.

The next three batters up for the Dodgers—Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, and Blake Turner—had gone 0 for 6 against Snell. And all six at bats were strikeouts.

Yet the Rays believe pitchers should only go through the lineup twice, that somehow hitters will magically figure them out on the third try. Even if that pitcher had struck them out in the two previous at bats.

Hogwash.

As soon as Snell departed, the Dodgers jumped on Rays’ relief pitchers to score two runs to take the lead and later add an insurance run, thereby closing out the Series with a 3-1 victory.

I won't bore you with all the stats about how pitchers like Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal and others used to routinely throw 150 pitches a game.

Or how the complete game is now basically extinct.

But the fact of the matter is that "analytics" are ruining the game of baseball. Who needs a four-hour game featuring five or six relief pitchers on both sides?

No one.

That's why TV rating are down and why young people want nothing to do with Major League Baseball.

And why the Tampa Bay Rays blew game 6.

When Snell saw his manager coming out of the dugout to yank him, he turned his head and yelled a familiar epithet.

He was speaking for millions of baseball fans everywhere.

Arizona Slime: Over the weekend Arizona received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA with five Level One charges, including the dreaded “lack of institutional control” by the University and Athletic Department, and a lack of control by head basketball coach Sean Miller.

The fact that the sleazy Miller—who was caught on tape discussing payments to recruits and is known throughout his sport as a serial bag man—still has a job is an example of how college basketball has become a cesspool.

As Yahoo’s highly-respected Pete Thamel noted: “Arizona has clearly shown that some pesky cheating allegations won’t get in the way of them keeping a very good basketball coach…We’ve long passed the point in this where the schools are daring the NCAA to force their hands with their coaches...Every scam needs a rube, and Arizona president Bobby Robbins and athletic director Dave Heeke have gladly played the role.”

And Then There Were None: As noted previously, I’m one of the dying breed of folks who still like to read a newspaper, you know, the old-fashioned way. By holding a paper in my hands.

It’s getting more and more difficult. With a subscription to the San Francisco Chronicle now costing over $800 a year, deadlines moved up to 5:40 pm, and delivery a constant problem, we’ve regretfully moved to the online edition.

This week, both of Salt Lake City’s major papers decided to cut print days to one day a week.

The Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune made similar announcements on Monday and Tuesday that they’d stop publishing daily starting next year and instead offer a weekly publication.

So Utah’s largest city will no longer have a daily paper.

Unfortunately, this is likely to become the rule rather than the exception.