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By Michael Elliott

Run The Ruts- Happy Fall everyone! It’s a beautiful time of year here on the Central Coast.  But really, it is beautiful year-around in our little corner of the world. You know, the holidays are right around that little corner and if one perhaps thinks ahead they can mitigate the effects of all the wonderful, delicious foods coming our way by getting out and walking, jogging, running, biking or engaging in any type of “ing” you may wish!

Going to exercise on the beach in the sand is really a lifesaver for your knees and feet as the cushion of the sand is a preventative measure versus exercising on dirt or asphalt.  Now, here is a little self-learned tip for beach joggers:  When the tide is high move away from the waterline until you see tire tracks in the sand from lifeguard vehicles.  If you run the ruts of those vehicles you shall avoid the softer sand which is tough to run in and your experience will be enhanced.

While jogging with high tide present you may end up jogging among lots and lots of seaweed and the accompanying gnats!  They are yucky and quite prevalent and may end up in one’s mouth.  No worries however, as personal experience has shown that they taste like, what else: chicken.

Nats Of A Different Kind- The second-seeded Major League Baseball Washington Nationals were primed to advance onward in the final game of their five-gave series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers as Nats ace Max Scherzer was cruising along with a one-run lead until the Dodgers put up a four-spot in the seventh inning.  Washington battled back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the same frame and the score stood 4-3 Dodgers going into the eighth inning.

LA reliever Kenley Jansen did a terrific job fending off the Nationals until two outs remained in the bottom of the ninth and Dodger rookie manager Dave Roberts summoned his #1 starter Clayton Kershaw to the mound to try to put away the pesky Nationals.  His bold move worked, the Dodgers advanced to face the Cubs for the right to go to the World Series and the Nats lost by a gnats…bum!

Technical Error(s)- Let’s stay right here with the Dodgers and their aforementioned rookie manager Dave Roberts. Mr. Roberts’ team battled back to tie their initial game against the Chicago Cubs by scoring two runs in the top of the eighth inning off all-world Cubby reliever Aroldis Chapman.  Dude was bringing 102 mph straight fire to the plate, but Dodger first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hit a shot up the middle with two outs for the tie. Nice hit!

Now we are going to delve into the strategy and cat-and mouse game which ensued in the bottom of the eighth.  Ya gotta stay with me here.  Cubs have men on first and second with two outs.  LA right-hand reliever Joe Blanton is toeing the rubber. The #8 batter in the Chicago lineup is walking to the plate.  Not a particularly good hitter. With virtually nowhere for the batter to go Roberts orders Blanton to walk him, thus loading the bases. The average fan can see that this is a very risky move on behalf of Roberts.

Roberts’ theory was that he believed that perhaps Chapman was going to bat for himself and that would be a relatively easy third out or that the Cubs would send up a pinch hitter and Chapman would be out of the game and the Dodgers would not have to face his heat in the ninth.  That intentional walk was one technical error.

The next technical error occurred as left-hand pinch hitter Miguel Montero was announced to hit for Chapman.  Blanton was sweating bullets on the mound by now and Roberts had a lefty reliever already warmed up in his bullpen.  The percentages were that the lefty reliever would have had a MUCH better chance against the cold-swinging lefty Montero.  Roberts fails to go to the lefty reliever and Montero promptly blasts a grand slam off Blanton to effectively end the game and the Cubs went on to win 8-4.

Those two strategical moves by Roberts were glaring in that both backfired and ultimately led to the Dodger defeat.  It shall be interesting to see if LA can rebound from that particularly devastating loss.  Anyhoo, sorry to get so technical on you.

Get technical on Michael, if you wish, at [email protected]

Upcoming Events

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