TRUMP, ELECTION DAY 2025, WORLD SERIES and SNL

 Let me begin with President Donald Trump, for he is on the cover of the current Time magazine.

His biggest problem today?  Says he won't be extorted by Democrats to end the government shutdown, which tomorrow will tie the record of 35 days his administration set in 2018-2019.

His record will also be tested tomorrow when several states vote. His unpopularity in these races has kept him away, but his funding assistance will be helpful to Republicans.  He does have a tele-rally for those governors races tonight at 7PM EDT.  Interesting that, while he has endorsed Ciattarelli, he has not quite officially said so for Earle-Sears.

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  The most watched is for Mayor of New York City.
• Pits 34-year-old state Democratic lawmaker Zohran Mamdani against former state governor 67-year-old now independent Andrew Cuomo and 71-year old Republican Curtis Sliwa.
• At last check, Mamdani held a +14.7 point lead over nearest rival Cuomo.
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  Two are for governor.
• In New Jersey, one poll shows Democrat Mikie Sherrill leading Republican Ciattarelli 51-43.  There is a sense that this race is narrowing, even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 2-1.

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  In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is leading Republican Winsome Earle-Sears 55 to 44.  Virginia has never before had a female governor.
• Republicans have been gerrymandering like crazy for a very long time.  Democratic states are finally pushing back, and California has Proposition 50 to make electing Democrats to House next year easier.  This could well give California five more Democrats in the House.  About the House of Representatives, one forecast has it returning to Democratic control in 2026.

The Los Angeles Dodgers somehow managed to sneak by the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series to become the Major League Champion, a repeat for the first time in a quarter century.  I've been citing Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated the past week, so will send you to him again.  

The hero Saturday night was Will Smith, who hit that walk-off 11th inning homer.

But I'll select two human interest stories worthy of your memory.

• One hero was Dodger Miguel Rojas, who on leaving home on Saturday for Game 7 receiving from his wife Mariana a kiss and a message:  You're going to hit a home run today.
• He chuckled, because she did had done the same before every post-season game.
• Rojas had two problems, for he hardly started and did not have a hit in 31 days.
• But Saturday was to be very different:

Mariana told him she had prayed on it and received a vision from God of the number 11, the number Miguel wore as a child in Venezuela and then adopted in 2022 with the Marlins to honor his grandfather and mother, who passed away within the same week that January. He kept No. 11 with the Dodgers until yielding it to rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki this year.

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  “I am 100% sure you’re going to hit a home run in this game,” she said. “You have to believe it. You have to trust in God that this is going to happen for us.”

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  So came the bottom of the ninth inning with one out, Rojas came up to bat with the Dodgers behind 4-3.
• Count was two balls and two strikes.
• Rojas took the next pitch...ball three.
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  Mariana was in the stands and happened to look at the digital clock in right-center field.  The numbers glowed 11:11.  Our number, she said.
• Oh, Shohei Ohtani was the next batter, so Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman just had to throw a strike.

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  Rojas is not a long-ball threat, especially against breaking pitches from righthanders, like Hoffman.  Three homers in 3,696 pitches.  What are the odds of another?
• Rojas hit the next pitch farther (387 feet) and harder (104.9 MPH) than any of his previous homers.  It was the swing of his life.
• Maria?  Miguel crossed home plate and pointed toward her in the stands.

“But I was screaming and crying,” she said, “so I really didn’t know. ... It was like I felt God is telling me, ‘I told you it's going to happen, and you have to have your faith in me no matter what happened.’  Because it looked like everything was lost. It’s amazing. God is amazing.”

The second story I would like to share was about the Most Valuable 2025 World Series Player.

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw 96 pitches in Game 6 of the World Series on Friday night, the previous day.  Allowed one run, and won the game.
• He decided not to celebrate that night because he was thinking about Game 7....could he possibly contribute?

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  So he arrived the next afternoon at Rogers Centre, 2PM, for the 8PM start of Game 7.
• With Mark Prior, former star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, who is now in his 5th season as the Dodgers pitching coach, Yamamoto in the outfield tried a long toss to see how his arm felt.  
• Said Prior, most guys can't lift their arms the next day.
• Said Yamamoto, I don't know how much I've got, but I can give you something.  All I need is to be given enough time to warm up.

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  But going way back to the 17th inning of Game 3, two days after Yamamoto threw a World Series complete game for the win, he gave Manager Dave Roberts a look that showed eagerness.  Roberts was thinking about using Miguel Rojas (there was no one else left) in the next inning if the Dodgers did not score.  So he told Yamamoto to go warm up.  Turned out that Freddie Freeman hit a home run to end the game in the 18th.  Yamamoto was not needed.

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  So late in this 7th Game, Yamamoto gives Roberts that same look.  Yamamoto again is asked to warm up in the bullpen.
• Rojas hit that ninth inning homer to tie the game, 4-4.

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  In the bottom of the 9th, Toronto had two runners on and one out.  
• Yamamoto was summoned to pitch.  Remember that he had just pitched six innings the previous night and won that game for the Dodgers.
• He hit Alejandro Kirk, bases loaded.
• Daulton Varsho bounced a hard grounder to Rojas, who stumbled, but somehow recovered to throw home to Smith to barely force an out.  Two outs.
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  Then Ernie Clement hits a long fly ball just over the head of left fielder Kike Hernandez in left center field that seemed headed for the wall to score two runs for the win.  Out of nowhere comes Andy Pages, just inserted into center field that inning for defense purposes, who shows up in time, jumping for the series winning-catch.  There are many heroes.  Manager Roberts is prescient.

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  Bottom of the 10th inning, Yamamoto is back, and has a 1-2-3 inning.  Returns to the dugout and says to Roberts, Daijoubu, meaning I'm good in Japanese.  Roberts is half-Japanese.  He was born in Okinawa to a local girl and an African-American father who was stationed there.
• Top of the 11th, Smith hits his home run, Dodgers lead, 5-4.
• Bottom of 11th.
• Yamamoto is back still again.
• The person who would have won the Most Valuable award if Toronto was victorious, Vlad Guerrero, opens with a leadoff double.
• Gets sacrificed to third base. One out.
• Addison Barger gains a walk.  Men on first and third.

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  Alejandro Kirk hits a ground ball to Mookie Betts, who steps on second base and throws to Freddie Freeman for a double play.  Guerrero scores, but, so what, three outs, score doesn't count, so the Dodgers win the 2025 World Series.

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  Borrowing again from Verducci.

Back in 1926, Grover Cleveland Alexander won World Series Game 6 for the Cardinals and saved Game 7 the next day. Randy Johnson won Game 6 for the Diamondbacks in 2001 and Game 7 the next day. Yamamoto joined them in World Series tireless excellence in crunch time. Said Prior, “He’s been in his zone for this last month. And we’re just kind of the beneficiaries of being able to watch as fans, as coaches, as people who support him. It’s pretty special. He cares about winning. 

• Yamamoto selected as 2025 World Series MVP.
• You know, after reading this article, I'm beginning to think that the most valuable person for the 2025 was Dave Roberts.  They call him Doc because his initials are DR.

Third championship next year to match the Yankees in 1998, 1999 and 2000?  They will then call it the Yo, Ro and Sho Show, all from Japan.  The most likely Japanese player to join the Major Leagues in 2026 is 26-year old slugger Munetaka Murakami, a left-handed power hitter, having a single-season record of 56 home runs in 2022, also winning the Triple Crown that year.  It would be so unfair for the Dodgers to have him next year at third base.  Anyway, Mu would not rhyme with Yo/Ro/Sho.

Saturday Night Live was live on Saturday, so here is the cold opening.

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1962

The 15 Craigside Photo Club meets the first Sunday of the month.  The originators are Irene, who lives on my floor in this seniors community, and Scott Kubo from the Honolulu Museum of Art, our mentor.  Here is a photo of the two.  We are asked by Scott to submit a few photos on a theme he selects for show and tell at our gathering.  This month it had something to do with being thankful.  Of course, family, friends and health are at the top of the list.  At least, Google AI indicated that to me, and I agree.  Most members here will no doubt submit these kinds of photos.  Or something to do with religion.

However, when I thought about this earlier in the month, I couldn't come up with interesting enough photos to take or from my photo file.  So I picked rainbows and sunsets, because those photos had a lot of color.  I then narrowed my choice down to only sunsets.

Thus, when I sat at the computer this morning, I had further thoughts about what I am mostly thankful for, and came to a personal conclusion about three years in particular.  They all have a lot to do with my life.

I was born in 1940, the most important year ever for me, for I was born.  Why?  Because my very existence is a 1 in 400 trillion bit of luck.

Why that number?  Came from Google AI.  So I further asked:  why?

The "one in 400 trillion" chance is a popular, but unscientific, figure 

used to highlight the statistical unlikelihood of any one person's existence. It is a calculation that multiplies the odds of a specific sperm fertilizing a specific egg, combined with the astronomical odds of all the preceding ancestors, events, and circumstances leading up to that conception. 

The second most important year of my life will be when I pass away.  

• That is a 100% probability.  
• Many of you will go to heaven or hell, but my belief about my ultimate termination is that it will be black gloom forever....or eternal peace.  I'm trying to lean towards the latter.  
• Then, there are others who will be praying for me to make it to Heaven, so I can also hope that they will succeed.

• 
  The Catholic religion has a decision point called Purgatory. 
• When I first moved into 15 Craigside, I only then noticed that I was surrounded by churches.
• My lifestyle here was secure and comfortable.
• So for fun I wondered if this could actually be Purgatory.  Read that posting.
• Two years ago I revisited this notion.  

So about my third most important year, I think it was 1962.  That was momentous.

• January:  Cuba and the Soviet Union sign a trade pact.
• February:  U.S embargo against Cuba is announced.

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  February:  During a new moon and solar eclipse, there is a grand conjunction of the five classical planets, plus the Sun and Moon.
• March:  A military flight with 107 on board headed for Vietnam vanishes.  No wreckage or bodies are ever found.

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  April:  Jawaharlal Nehru is elected Prime Minister of India, for the fourth time.
• April:  West Side Story wins Best Picture.  My girlfriend at Stanford arranges to get us to San Francisco back to campus, pays for dinner and treats me for the West Coast premiere of this film.
• May:  Project Mercury--Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times.
• June:  I graduate from Stanford University and, on my way home to Honolulu, I stop by Seattle for the World's Fair.  My first.  Made many more of these Expo trips, with latest being this year in Osaka.

• 
  June:  Rachel Carson publishes Silent Spring.
• June:  I begin my first full-time job at the Hutchison Sugar Company on the Big Island of Hawaii as a sugar factory engineer.
• 
  July:  Bought my first car, a Triumph TR-3, probably the best I ever owned.
• August:  Jamaica gains independence from the UK and is the first to begin to form the Commonwealth of Nations.  (Considering the severity of Hurricane Melissa, latest reports indicate "only" 28 deaths.)
• September:  John F. Kennedy gives his We choose to go the Moon speech.

• September:  Manager of Hutchinson Sugar Company, Bill Baldwin, introduces me to Pearl.
• October:  Cuban missile crisis.
• November:  First personal computer.
• December:  I marry Pearl.

In the totality of world events, my existence, of course, is infinitesimal.  To close, those sunset photos I will show at the 15C photo club session today.

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THE FINAL GAME OF THE 2025 WORLD SERIES

I am into fantasy baseball, but I have no fantasy teams for this World Series.  Usually, I don't care much about these games after the regular season ends because I have no players to follow.  Plus, I'm almost always on a world journey in the Fall.  This year, I just returned from a short trip to California to search for Petite Sirah in Paso Robles, and won't do my end of the year spectacular until November 21, when I embark on what looks to be an incredible adventure through the Orient, where I won't return to Honolulu until January 24.  

While I know that my global readers couldn't care less about American baseball, there is something about the World Series this year that has fully captured my interest.  I spent around 8 hours, for example, glued to my TV watching the pre-game, Game 3 and post-game of the 18-inning victory by the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Toronto Blue Jays.  I enjoy sports watching, but this was kind of ridiculous.

But first, for many of you, but not those in Hawaii and Arizona in the USA, you will be able to sleep an hour more tonight.   

• 
  Congress is not close abandoning this practice, which began with the Uniform Time Act of 1966.  Now Secretary of State Marco Rubio long led the effort to keep daylight savings time forever.

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  18 states have passed measured in support of this.  If the nation adopts thing change, Hawaii and Arizona will be faced with a one-time need to go on what will be permanent daylight savings time.
• 31 states are currently considering doing something about this twice/year change.
• Where does your  state stand on this matter?  Read this.
• 
  Time magazine makes a case for repeal.
• Sleep deprivation abounds.
• Sleep deprivation lads to more car accidents, greater risk of diabetes and a higher risk of heart attacks.
• Dr. Elizabeth Klerman of Harvard Medical School says:

These studies show a fascinating pattern: “There's more cancer on the western edge of the time zone,” she says. Higher levels of obesity and diabetes, which have been linked to circadian disruption, crop up more, too. People are also more likely to be sleep deprived

• These problems are compounded by those two changes annually.
• The European Parliament in 2019 voted to end daylight savings time, but implementation has been difficult.  The problem is which one to take, standard  or day light savings time.

About the upcoming Game of 7 of the World Series Today, Tom Verducci of Fox Sports and Sport Illustrated, says it best.  So I liberally quote him.

On three days of rest. After throwing 93 pitches in Game 4 just 17 hours after reaching base nine times and fighting through body cramps in an 18-inning marathon. After 65 innings pitched coming off a second elbow surgery while throwing more 100 mph pitches than every pitcher with at least 15 starts except Hunter Greene and Tarik Skubal. After taking 801 plate appearances, fifth most ever. After hitting 63 home runs and stealing 20 bases, the first 60-20 player in an extended season. After scoring 158 runs. Against 41-year-old Max Scherzer, who will be the oldest of the 90 pitchers to ever start a World Series Game 7 and who will have started more double-elimination games (six) than any pitcher in history.

It’s amazing when you stop and think about it. After taking 801 at-bats and playing in 174 games, 17 of them as a two-way player with a twice-repaired elbow, Ohtani is likely to be pitching the final game of the season on short rest after a start, something no Dodger has done this year. There is no wrong answer—not when the answer is Ohtani.

“Nothing makes sense with that guy,” Wrobleski said. “He's a … I'm not sure if he’s a robot or an alien or, or which one he is, but we will find out eventually. But no, it's crazy! He’s a special, special player. Special, special dude. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes the ball tomorrow.

Who is Wrobleski?  First name Justin, just one of those nobodies you never heard of in the Dodgers bullpen.

Wrobleski is a guy who survived Tommy John surgery, a broken nose, getting cut from the first of three college teams, a season wiped out by COVID-19 and 28 days without pitching entering the World Series only to get meaningful outs with his team facing elimination. What doesn’t make sense even to a pitching survivor like himself, he said, is that a pitcher could be taking the ball for Game 7 after playing for 6 ½ hours Monday, throwing into the seventh inning Tuesday, going 0-for-4 Wednesday and scoring the winning run Friday after the Blue Jays didn’t have their ace, Kevin Gausman, dare pitch to him.

Now about that World Series demon, who is not hitting that well this time.  Defensively, Kiké Hernandez saved the Dodgers twice in the ninth inning.

The Dodgers in the ninth would need Glasnow and two high IQ baseball plays from Kiké Hernández to make the runs stand. With one on against Roki Sasaki, Addison Barger smashed a long fly ball to center. Improbably, the ball lodged between the ground and the padding of the wall. As center fielder Justin Dean raced after it, he turned and looked over his left shoulder. He saw and heard Hernández, the hustling left fielder, throwing his arms up and declaring “Dead ball!” Dean took his cue and immediately did likewise, thus rendering the play immediately dead, stopping the runners at second and third.

Then with one out and men on second and third.

Two pitches later, Giménez drove a pitch to left field that initially looked like a run-scoring single. But Hernández’s shallow positioning made it easy for him to get there on the catch. An overeager Barger drifted too far, thinking the ball would not be caught and was doubled up on a quick throw from Hernández. 

Now on to Game 7 of the World Series, 8PM on Fox Sports from Toronto.

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