All Ball Sports: ‘Shohei Time,’ Costa, Sea Hawks 3-1
by Paul Teetor
It’s official.
Shohei Ohtani is now the greatest baseball player who ever lived. Better than Babe Ruth, better than Ty Cobb, better than Ted Williams, Willie Mays or Joe DiMaggio.
Better than anybody you can name in the long, glorious history of major league baseball, which goes back 140 years.
Greatest. Of. All. Time.
And the Dodgers got him for only $700 million over 10 years.
By the end of that contract, the deal he signed is going to be seen as one of the all-time steals (pun intended) in the history of sports contracts.
The player who has made a career out of doing what others said was impossible has done it again.
Shohei Ohtani played the greatest game ever – or at least the greatest game in the modern era – Thursday night. He went six for six, hit three home runs, stole two bases and drove in 10 runs.
In the process of leading the Dodgers to a 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins he proved that he is the greatest combination of speed and power ever seen on a big-league ball field by becoming the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season.
Oh, and he clinched his case for National League Most Valuable Player and the victory clinched the Dodgers’ 12th straight playoff appearance. Not a bad night’s work.
Up till now, no designated hitter has ever received the Most Valuable Player award because of the unspoken feeling that DH’s only play half the game. They’re offense only and don’t play a position on defense.
But Ohtani – who had to skip pitching this year because of an arm injury — has shattered that mistaken bias, just like he has shattered so many other outdated beliefs.
And if all that offensive firepower wasn’t enough exciting news for Dodger fans, there was more good news: Ohtani, who has been unable to pitch this season because of elbow surgery, may soon be pitching in the playoffs and, hopefully, the World Series.
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani’s rehab is nearly complete and he is close to getting medical clearance to pitch in a real game. Roberts added that while he probably wouldn’t start Ohtani in a postseason game – Lord knows the Dodgers desperately need a starting pitching, but not at the expense of Ohtani’s long-term future – but he could see calling on Ohtani to come in and pitch to one, two, or three hitters in late-inning, high-leverage situations.
It’s easy to envision a story-book ending to the Dodgers season – he strikes out the side with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of game 7 of the World Series — because Ohtani has been incredible every step of the way this season.
In his first spring training game he hit a home run. Then he dealt with the pressure and huge media headlines when his personal interpreter and best friend, Ippei Mizuhara, was discovered to have stolen $16 million from him to pay off gambling debts.
That kind of personal and professional betrayal could rattle a player enough to screw up his whole season.
Not Ohtani.
Back on April 16, when the news broke that Ohtani had been cleared of any involvement in the gambling scandal surrounding Mizuhara, All Ball made the following prediction:
“Now that Ohtani can once again concentrate solely on baseball, and not have to worry about pitching until next season, he will have the greatest season of any player in major league history.”
Bingo!
Mustangs Come Back to Earth; Sea Hawks Flying
Mira Costa’s three-game winning streak to start the football season came to a crashing halt Friday night as the Mustangs fell to the Stallions of San Juan Hills 28-7.
Costa was never really in this game. They gave up touchdowns on four of the SJH’s first five possessions and did not score themselves until late in the third quarter.
Junior quarterback Liam Meeker, who is filling in for injured star quarterback Nicolas De La Cruz, had little time to find his receivers as San Juan Hills dominated the line of scrimmage.
“Their front is pretty good defensively and they bothered us the whole night,” Mustangs coach Don Morrow said. “Meeker was under duress most of the time when he went back there and I don’t think he had any particular time when he could stand there and scan.”
Things went south for Mira Costa on the first drive when Meeker, who completed 19 of his 31 attempts, was unable to handle a muffed snap which resulted in Stallions senior linebacker Weston Port falling on the ball on Mira Costa’s 15-yard-line. Junior running back Elijah Ayala did the rest on four plays with a 13-yard catch and three runs to get into the end zone after four minutes of play.
Mira Costa never recovered from its rough start as their offense mustered just 96 yards on its four first-half possessions – 57 of which came on its longest trip down the field from its own 21-yard-line to the Stallions’ 31 as time ran out in the second quarter with no score.
San Juan Hills went into the locker room ahead by three touchdowns after scoring on three of four drives following a missed field goal attempt on its only scoreless drive in the first half.
San Juan quarterback Tommy Herr racked up impressive stats, connecting on 14 of 16 pass attempts and rushing for 42 yards.
“Herr has a lot of experience,” Morrow said about the San Juan Hills quarterback’s display of offensive versatility. “He led them deep into the playoffs last year and I thought he played a great first half.”
The Stallions started the fourth quarter by marching 74 yards for a 6-yard touchdown run by Herr. The signal-caller capped his night by showing his strength to bulldoze his way into the end zone after shaking off multiple tacklers.
On the next drive, the Mustangs went on to score via junior fullback Joaquin Wagner-Bagues’ 4-yard run with eight seconds left in the third quarter.
But that was it for the Mustang offense, which struggled most of the night.
Mira Costa takes a 3-1 record to Villa Park next week for its final non-league game. After their 34-30 upset of Damien last week, the Mustangs were seen as Bay League contenders. A win over Villa Park would go a long way towards restoring that status.
Meanwhile, Redondo ran its record to 3-1 with a 24-3 win over Orange. They will host Banning next Friday night.
Up till now, their stout defense has been the strength of the Sea Hawks team. That could change Friday night when highly touted transfer quarterback Cole Leinert becomes eligible to play this season.
The son of former USC quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinert, he is expected to take some snaps and perhaps even start. If he is as good as the scouting reports on him say he is, it could unlock the Sea Hawk offense that already has lethal weapons in wide receiver Cadence Turner and running back Ethan Maleman.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com