[Breeze]

TSPC Television – SportsZone


3…2…1…floor producer points to Ken Dawl, one of the talking heads on the Total Sports Programming Channel that is currently hosting…

“Good Morning, and welcome SportsZone…Ken Dawl here, along with my sidekick, like Robin to Batman, Dick Grayson.”

Grayson smiles politely at the camera and thinks ‘wow, that’s original, I’ve only heard it, oh I don’t know…about a million times, and that’s only the fourth time you’ve used that same line to open the show with this week…IDIOT…’

Grayson doesn’t respond to Dawl’s inane comment and just starts reading the teleprompter, “Lots to talk about today, Football training camps are opening and there have already been some injuries that may impact the season, plus some interesting veteran cuts to talk about, but the big story right now is in Baseball…” Grayson, turns to Dawl, who is so busy primping his hair he missed his queue for the verbal handoff…

“So Dawl, what’s going on in BASEBALL?”, Grayson emphasizes the last word to snap Ken out of his narcissistic indulgence, again thinking IDIOT…

Dawl, with a startled look on his face initially recovers quickly, “Um…the baseball season has only about 50 games to go, and things are starting to tighten up. The American League is looking like a 4 team race with the AL Pre WW2 team making a charge, the Negro League Ones hanging tough, and the Old Timers and Late 20s scratching to stay relevant in the division.”

Grayson jumps in, “As great as the AL is right now, the standings have been basically the same for most of the season. The real interesting development is in the National League, where the once dominate FOFC All-Stars currently lead by just a half a game.”

Dawl, not missing the queue this time around, “It was less than 2 weeks ago when the FOFC team was sitting on a pretty comfortable 5 game lead, now they find themselves scrambling. To discuss this with us, we’ve brought in Lou Scribe, baseball writer from the National Herald, and former players and managers Roger Craig, and Gil Hodges…”

Screen pans out and to the right where we see the three guests sitting at a table with Grayson, who obviously moved while Dawl was finishing up the introductions on a tight shot.

“Guys, the big talk in baseball right now is what’s wrong with the FOFC All-Stars?…They’ve dominated the league until now, and currently they find themselves just a half a game up on the National Post War team.”

Lou, not surprisingly jumps in first, “Actually, I think the FOFCers are finished. I think they are going to struggle the rest of the way, and backslide to the point where they might not even finish second.”

Grayson, honestly surprised by the comment responds, “Wow, that’s a strong statement. They are sitting about 11 games up on third place, so for them to fall that far back they’d have to really play poorly down the stretch.”

Hodges almost interupts, “I don’t know where you’re getting that opinion on the FOFCers from.”

Lou defending his position, “I think the FOFCers got a great early start and really took the league by surprise, but at this point, I think these great Hall of Fame teams, as well as the Negro Leaguers, Japanese All-Starts and Caribbean team have figured them out. The book is out on them and these other teams now know what it takes to beat them.”

Hodges, “So you think the entire team is like a rookie that other teams get a book on and they become a mediocre player once the book is out?”

“I do.” Lou replies…

Craig finally speaks, “And what evidence other than the losses recently makes you think a book is out on the FOFCers.”

“Is there any better evidence than the losses?” Lou counters.

Grayson directing traffic to prevent these short clipped responses focuses in on Scribe, “Lou, you make a good point that losses are an indicator a team isn’t playing well, but that doesn’t mean a book is out on them. Do you see anything specifically that caused you to come to this opinion?”

“The biggest reason that I believe the FOFCers are in trouble is the pitching. Teams seems to have figured out those once dominating pitchers. Let’s look at some of the recent starts shall we…Williams last night 6 innings 5 earned runs, Nielsen, who at one time looked like a lock for the Premium Pitcher Award 4 innings, 4 earned runs, Fozborg, given a chance to start because Mighty had been struggling goes 6 innings, 5 runs…I’m seeing a very disturbing pattern.”

Craig, “A few bad outings isn’t an indication of teams figuring players out. It could easily be a situation where the pitchers are tired, a bit of dead arm, or maybe it is mentally tired. It is a long season, and you aren’t going to pitch well the entire time. The key is to win when you don’t have your best stuff, and the FOFCers have done a decent job of that recently.”

Lou, adding to his argument, “The offense is also scraping it around. Other than the 8 runs scored the other day in Babson’s start, I don’t think they’ve managed to push more than 4 across in a week. That’s not going to cut it in this league.”

Hodges, “Lou, you’re right, the offense like the pitching isn’t playing well, but again, I don’t think that means that the league’s pitches now know what to do to get these guys out all the time.”

“Oh really, let’s look at some of the pitchers that have shut them down recently shall we…Jenkins, who shut them out a few days back, 5.33 ERA, after the shutout. Sutton a 7.32 ERA with 7 and two-thirds strong innings, and Roberts with a 6.02 ERA and 8 terrific innings pitched. These aren’t the elite pitchers of the league, and they have the FOFCers tied in knots.”

Grayson, “So Lou, what do you expect from the FOFCers the rest of the way?”

Lou, “Sub 500 ball.”

Grayson, “I believe the FOFCers have 47 games remaining, if they go 1 game under 500 the rest of the way, they would end up around 85 wins…is that about what you are thinking?”

“That might be high actually...but If I remember correctly 85 wins was my prediction heading into the season, and right now I’m not seeing anything that would make me change that opinion for a better win total,” Lou states.

Grayson, “Gil, thoughts?”

Gil smiles, “Lou does make some good points, but I think the idea that a book is out on this team is a bit far-fetched. I think they are just playing poorly right now, and one thing we haven’t discussed is how well the Post War NL team is playing. I believe they’ve won 8 or 9 in a row. When you go on a win streak like that standings start to change. “

Craig steps in, “I’m not sure the FOFCers are going to win, because the Post
War NL team seems to have hit their stride. Have you looked at the
numbers those guys are putting up offensively. Aaron, Matthews, Mays, Morgan, Musial…every one of their starters are raking the ball…They are hard to stop. Plus their pitching is starting to kick in. Seaver looks like the front runner for the Premium Pitcher award, Koufax has found his rhythm, and the back half of the rotation is producing well enough for that offense.”

“Ok, with that in mind, how do you see this playing out…” Grayson again, asking his quick question and getting out of the way so the expert can comment.

“I think 85 wins is probably low. I think the FOFCer will win around 88 or 89, but I don’t think it will be enough. I think the Post NLers will win the division, and ultimately the Series.”

“Hodges?” Grayson.

“I’m a little different than Roger…I think the FOFCers are going to find a way
to pull this out. I like their manager, he’s kept them on an even keel
through this rough patch, and we all know in baseball, things always seem to come back to the middle. Extremes just don’t continue. So I expect FOFC to start playing better again, and I expect the red hot Post NLers to slow down. I think FOFC might still get to 90 wins…and in an 154 game season, that’s really good.”

Pan to Ken Dawl, “Thanks guys, we’ll get back to our group to discuss the AL later in the show…”

.......I turn the TV in my office off and head out to get some breakfast...