Deja vu in the 2018 playoffs.

 On Monday: Mike Moustakas was 1-4. Ben Zobrist, 0-3 with a walk. Joakim Soria came on in relief to get a key third out with two men on in the 6^th. Lorenzo Cain knocked in the winning run. On Tuesday: Zobrist went 1-6 and showed his defensive versatility by playing RF, LF and 2B. Second-string catcher Drew Butera entered the game in the 7^th and almost became the goat of the game. With two men on and two out, a batter grounded out to end the 7^th – but wait. Butera’s glove had interfered with the swing and the batter was awarded first, loading the bases. Butera got off the hook when the next hitter made the third out. In the 8^th, Terrance Gore came in as a pinch runner, stole second and scurried home on a hit to tie the game. Wade Davis entered the game with two outs in the 8^th. He was paired with Butera at catcher, just as they were at the end of the final game of the 2015 World Series. Davis got the third out in the 8^th and allowed no runs in the 9^th, sending the game into extra innings. The winning run scored in the 13^th on a single by the third-string catcher who had replaced Butera.

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The playoffs are almost set. The Wild Card Games are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Rita and I will be watching those games in Lake Havasu City in Arizona with our friends Larry and Diana Brewer. Havasu’s claim to fame is that it is the home of the original London Bridge built in the 1830’s to cross the Thames. The bridge was dismantled in 1967, shipped in parts to Arizona, and reassembled to cross a channel of the Colorado River. I wonder if we have to drive on the left when crossing the bridge.

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This post is given the number “80” in honor of Mike Maloney and Hollis Hanover who both turned 80 this month. And yes, it also is the first post after Hot Stove #79, but don’t tell them. Fresh out of law school in the 1960’s, the three of us toiled together at the Popham firm. We now have a monthly lunch to reminisce (tell lies) about the good old days.

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I am bringing in a guest writer for part of this post – my long-time law partner Tim Sear. Tim was raised in Dubuque, Iowa, and the town once had a Pittsburgh Pirates minor league team. Tim’s family made annual trips to see the Pirates play the Cubs in Chicago. Tim’s hero, to this day, is Roberto Clemente. Tim often calls me to complain if he thinks I have missed some opportunity to inject Roberto into a Hot Stove post. “Obsessive” is as kind as I know how to say it.

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I am taking my Hot Stove editor to dinner on Wednesday night. It will be our 37^th Wedding Anniversary. To further celebrate, Rita has arranged a baseball stadium tour (June 18-24) that will take us to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Nashville and Atlanta.

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I thought my collusion topic would be good for one post. But I kept getting intrigued by side stories. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Curt Flood. Catfish Hunter. Kirk Gibson. Andre Dawson. All those commissioners. Marvin Miller. The Brothers Fehr. Others who you will see below. So it has taken three posts. I don’t know what the next post will be about, but it won’t be this. Perhaps the Royals will surge.

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