by John Walters

Starting Five

Brim Shot

Rule No. 6: Just when you think you’ve seen it all in baseball…you haven’t.

In the top of the third inning, with Astro runners on first and third, Alex Bregman‘s hard liner bounces off the brim of Dodger center fielder Chris Taylor‘s hat and ricochets directly into left fielder Joc Pederson‘s glove, preventing the runner on first from advancing beyond second.

Later, Pederson hit a game-tying home run (“Joc-tober!“), the first of a record-eight home runs in a single World Series contest (See Rule No. 6). This 11-inning classic featured the Astros becoming the first club to score off the Dodger bullpen in 28 innings this month, tying the game in the 9th, then taking a two-run lead in the tenth, then the Dodgers tying it with two outs in the bottom of the tenth, then taking another two-run lead in the 11th, then the Dodgers hitting a home run with two down in the 11th, setting the stage for Yasiel Puig to take the count to 3-2 before finally breaking Mary’s Hart and losing.

There were FIVE home runs hit in the two extra innings. Nutty.

7-6, Astros. Series tied 1-1. Hope you enjoyed this four-hour plus classic.

2. The Chips Were Down (And Then They Reversed Course)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xiOPyk0AkY

Thoughts and prayers to Denver’s Channel 2 Daybreak anchor Natalie Tysdal, whose on-air regurgitation will live in infamy. She’s a good sport for not backing down from the chip challenge.

3. Vin, Vidi, Vici

 

The winner of Game 2 were Dodger fans, who were treated to a ceremonial first pitch featuring Vin Scully, Steve Yeager and Fernando Valenzuela. The classiest man in baseball if not all sports, Scully deflected the attention due him to Yeager and Fernando. I noticed a little shaking in the left wrist on the 89 year-old (he turns 90 next month), but the voice and sense of humor were pure and true.

 

Greatest World Series first pitch ever! #Vin #legend pic.twitter.com/Rgx862lest

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 26, 2017

As our friend Matt Zemek tweeted, “He delivers performance art but conveys warmth and humility more than any other qualities.”

As for Yeager, a youthful 68, he looked like that neighbor who is washing his car on the driveway and blasting the Scorpions.

Also, it’s 2017 so even a timeless Scully moment had to be compromised: Did you notice an inning or two later when Fox was obligated to show, and Buck was obligated to gush about (for YouTube promotional purposes), the five guys from Dude Perfect also having tossed out a ceremonial first pitch.

Finally, Buck said he’d drive to Vin Scully’s house to deliver him to the booth to call a World Series game. Joe, name that tune!

4. London Crawling

This is Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, which in 1884 became the world’s first skyscraper. At the time, the tallest building in London was St. Paul’s Cathedral. In this decade, London’s skyline is due for some dramatic changes.

The above is being called The Scalpel, a 38-story building that will soon be completed.

And this is One Blackfriars, also known as The Vase, a 52-story apartment building that will also soon be completed.

This BBC piece on London’s changing skyline is fantastic and an example of the potential of internet journalism that your rolled-up newspaper just cannot match.

5. Roam (If You Want To)

The New York Times will release its 13th annual “52 Places To Go” list in January, but this year they are searching for a writer to travel to all those spots. We discussed it with the MH staff, and even our intern, and their response was…

“I wanna go to cool places with you/I wanna take you cool places tonight...”

“I wanna go, I wanna go, I wanna go, I WANNA GO!”

Here’s last year’s list. It’s real and it’s spectacular.

Reserves

From the MeToo fallout: The latest lecherous male to lose a gig over being an alleged sexual harasser? MSNBC’s Mark Halperin:

 

How Morning Joe covered the “allegations regarding our friend Mark Halperin”: pic.twitter.com/nSor2IajhK

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) October 26, 2017

 

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The Rockets beat the Sixers last night on this buzzer beater three by Eric Gordon…

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After four games, Lonzo Ball is shooting 31.6% from the field. That ranks LAST in the NBA of the 131 players listed on ESPN’s stat charts…

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Donald Trump yesterday: “I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person.”

Fredo Corleone:

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Shouldn’t the Five Guys hamburger chain make these dudes an offer?

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The other day two climbers, Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds, set a speed record of 2 hours and 19 minutes ascending the Nose Route of Yosemite’s El Capitan. As our friend Leigh Torbin reminds us, it is not a “new record,” as that is redundant, and I am telling you that for “the last and final time” as per Jamie Reidy reminds us, “an added bonus.”

Here’s the 90-degree route from afar…

Music 101

Searchin’ So Long

I doubt NBC aired any of it, but Chicago (minus, alas, Peter Cetera) played halftime of last Saturday’s USC-Notre Dame game. Their manager, Peter Schivarelli, is a former Fighting Irish football player (1968-70). This song reached No. 9 on the Billboard chart in early 1974. I’ll reiterate: some day someone will bring a musical to Broadway centered around this band’s songs. I cannot believe it has not already happened.

Remote Patrol

Stanford at Oregon State

ESPN 9 p.m.

Either Bryce Love plays on national TV and this is a must-watch, or he sits (he’s banged up) against the 1-6 Beavers in Corvallis and there’s a load of time to fill.