Monday Morning Coffee

October 19, 2020

Look guys, I won’t lie. I pre-wrote this column when the Dodgers were trailing yesterday, ripping everybody in the organization to shreds. I’m happy to say I was wrong, and got to re-write it. The Dodgers are back in the World Series for the third time in four years, after overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the Braves. When the playoffs started, I said that the Dodgers could succeed if they relied on their depth, rather than over rely on one player like Clayton Kershaw or Kenley Jansen. That almost didn’t happen in game 4, when Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman (yes I said Friedman), let Kershaw go an inning too long. They put him in position to fail. However, give Friedman and Roberts credit, because they stuck with Julio Urias yesterday late in the game when he was rolling, rather than going back to Jansen, which his computer usually tells them to do. Jansen and Kershaw will get their chance to be important contributors in the World Series, but there is no need to put them in position to fail. They have weapons in the bullpen. They have weapons in the lineup. They have good young starting pitching. The Rays are great, but if the Dodgers use that depth, they’ll bring home a championship. Corey Seager had a hell of a series, and Mookie Betts is worth every penny. The defensive plays he made alone provided so much energy to the team. Here’s to hoping Andrew Friedman keeps his computer running after last night, and doesn’t click on some malware by watching porn, giving his computer a virus. It’s no wonder the Braves blew a 3-1 lead though. Prior to moving to LA, the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves.

The Lakers are still slamming shots of Patron and showering themselves with champagne in Vegas after winning the NBA Championship. However, there’s already rumblings of some big roster changes next season. The biggest of these rumblings is that Chris Paul could be traded to the Lakers. On one hand, this could be fun and sweet justice because Paul should have been a Laker long ago. Paul is still a great player, and could probably make it work with Lebron and AD. Lebron would also be stoked because he could drink wine every week and get a head start planning his Banana Boat vacation with CP3. However, there’s too much risk here. The Lake Show would be trading 4-5 players just to make the salaries work, including the 3-point shooting of Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green. It’s also risky to have a top heavy big 3, where two of the big 3 are 35 years-of-age. More importantly though, the Lakers would be saying goodbye to any chance they have at signing Giannis next summer, or maybe even trading for Bradley Beal. There’s nothing wrong with running it back with the same group, especially since great chemistry matters.

Meanwhile, across the hall the Clippers hired Ty Lue as their next coach. However, they have some Kawhi Leonard drama to sort through. According to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha and Joe Vardon, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, and Patrick Beverley “bristled” over Kawhi being able to dictate his load management. In other words, they didn’t like the special treatment he received. Of course Williams and Harrell denied this was true on Twitter, but the fact this report is out there with their names attached to it is a big deal. One has to seriously question whether or not those three are going to be back with the Clippers next year, or at least not without repairing the relationship between Kawhi and those 3. Kawhi is also reportedly urging Clippers management to acquire a good point guard. I’m surprised he hasn’t told them he wants Paul George sent to the WNBA for a player to be named. Once free agency opens, it’s going to be fascinating to see how this drama continues to unfold.

To the NFL where the Rams got pounded by the 49ers on Sunday Night Football. Jimmy G looked like Johnny Unitas, while Jared Goff was more like Jared “Off” with all his missed throws. I know the Rams got behind early, but they needed to give the ball to Daryl Henderson more. He looks like the most explosive weapon they have on offense. The rest of the offense was totally out of sink against a 49ers team that was missing two of its best defensive players in Nick Bosa and Richard Sherman. The Rams are 4-2, but it’s starting to feel like their first four wins were just because they played a bunch of trash teams in the NFC East. Unfortunately, they can’t petition the league to play the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins every week. Things aren’t going to get any easier next week against a Bears team that is starting to look really good.

The Chargers enjoyed a bye week, however, they are still licking their wounds from last Monday’s loss to the Saints. The Bolts are 2-15 in one score games since the start of the 2019 season. They can’t even stumble into a win in a close game this season. Even more sad is the fact it looks like they might have found themselves a superstar quarterback in Justin Herbert, yet can’t get it together. This man is a touchdown throwing machine, despite the fact he’s basically been throwing to Door Dash drivers for the past few weeks. The Chargers need to do everything in their power to support his success. In the NFL much of your success is all about the system and culture you go to. It’s not impossible to succeed otherwise, but its an uphill battle. Sam Darnold’s career stinks because he got stuck with the Jets. Patrick Mahomes career does not because he’s with the Chiefs. It’s like being born in the hood vs being born as a trust fund baby. Right now, the Chargers are making it look like Herbert was born in the hood, and need to fix that ASAP.

Elsewhere around Week 6 in the NFL, Tom Brady and the Bucs hammered the Packers. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been dominated like that since going out with Danica Patrick. Baker Mayfield lived up to his named and was serving up turnovers like a baker in the Browns loss to the Steelers. The Jets got beat up by the Dolphins and should have all their games televised on Comedy Central from now on. Kirk Cousins was so bad yesterday against the Falcons, Vikings fans would take Dak Prescott one week after surgery instead of him. Derrick Henry was so good in the Titans win over the Texans, I’m beginning to wonder if he was made in a lab. The Giants have won 12 games in the last three years. 4 of them have come against Washington! Philip Rivers just got bullied by Twitter into playing an elite game in a win against the Bengals. Everything went great for the Eagles yesterday, except for the game against the Ravens. Cam Newton also looked more like Olivia Newton in the Patriots’ loss to the Broncos.

Finally, what a joke the Pac 12 is continuing to be, this time thanks to California Governor Gavin Newsom. I mean the Pac 12 clearly doesn’t need any help to be the laughing stock of College Football, but apparently Newsom thinks they do. Pac 12 parents will not be allowed to attend games to watch their kids play. So let me get this straight. Maybe 100 people are incapable of sitting socially distanced in a 90,000 seat stadium? People are allowed to eat at restaurants, fly on planes, and go to the beach with many more people around them in close quarters. I would say this makes no sense, but then again we live in California where nothing makes sense. Pretty soon Newsom is going to mandating that the trees in the forest put masks on to avoid catching COVID.

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