Quality Starts
The national TV networks will pack up their gear and return to the USA this evening and tomorrow after 11 days of non-stop coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s mourning and funeral. No more dumb stories on where and what Prince Harry and Meghan stand, sit and wear and what receptions they attend.
Commentary is not one of those who say the networks overdid it on wall-to-wall coverage. Only because these days there are a kazillion channels you can watch. If you don’t want to see the pomp and circumstance, there is always the Hallmark Channel.
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This headline is from the front page of today’s Chron hard copy:
Despite growth, Latinos lack clout
Fari enough. If we wake up Wednesday morning, November 9 with 3 Democratic Latinas and Latino on the Harris County Commissioners Court, I am going to expect a screaming headline in the hard copy front page on Thursday morning, November 10. Got it?
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I saw where Rice University’s Mariachi Luna Llena performed the National Anthem at the Astros game this past weekend as part of the Astros’s Hispanic Heritage Month festivities. I saw a tweet with the performance. It wasn’t a high-quality video. I went online to see if it was posted. I couldn’t find it, but I did find one of the Mariachi groups performing the Anthem at a Rockets game.
First rate performance. I have to hand it to them for the sound and rendition they created. It reminded me of Ennio Morricone’s “The Funeral” theme for the “American Sniper” flick, where Morricone kind of put a “Taps” sound to it.
Go check out the Mariachi Luna Llena Rockets National Anthem performance on YouTube.
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One of Commentary’s favorites, journalist Soledad O’Brien is 56 today. I like Soledad because she is not afraid to call out dumb and lazy journalists. Happy Birthday, Soledad!
#SpringerDinger is 33 today. Maybe we will see George in the MLB playoffs next month. Happy Birthday, George!
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We just finished a stretch of 18 games with non-contending teams. We went 14-4 which is what you are supposed to do if you want to go deep into the playoffs.
With 15 games remaining, we hold a 7 ½ game lead over the Yankees for best AL record. Our magic number to clinch the AL West is 1 game. We can clinch tonight with a win in Tampa or a Mariners loss. 13 of our remaining games are with contenders.
96-51. We have to go 4-11 to reach 100 games won for the season. Here is a weird bit of info. We lost Saturday night to the A’s. The last time we won a game on a Saturday was against the – you guessed it – A’s back on August 13 at The Yard. We have lost Saturday games since then to The ATL, B’More, Angels, Angels again, and the A’s.
Framber Valdez set an MLB record yesterday by pitching 25 consecutive quality starts in a season. This is from MLB.com:
Definition:
A starting pitcher records a quality start when he pitches at least six innings and allows three earned runs or fewer. A starting pitcher has two jobs: to prevent runs and get outs. The quality start statistic helps to quantify which pitchers did a “quality” job in those two departments.
Origin:
John Lowe, then a sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, coined the term in 1985 as a means to gauge whether a pitcher did his job. Lowe also created another wrinkle to go along with the stat. He called quality starts in which a pitcher got the loss “tough losses.” And he called non-quality starts in which a pitcher earned the win “cheap wins.”
Now you know.