Leader, Leader

I watched football and baseball repeat the same lesson yesterday: With talent more or less equal, the team with better coaching wins.

First, Giants-Royals.  KC, up two games to one, jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game four only to lose going away, 11-4.  Can you think of anything Royals’ manager Ned Yost did to stem the tide?  Me neither.  It’s not so much that his pitching choices stunk as it was the Royals seemed as flat as a can of 7Up left out on a summer’s day.

And what does Yost do the next game to shake things up?  Absolutely nothing.  Giants’ lefty starter Madison Bumgarner is in an incredible groove, and Yost runs out the same lineup as the game before; right-handed hitters Billy Butler and Josh Willingham got to watch from the bench.  Nothing like pulling the trigger, right, Ned?  After giving up one run in his first start against the Royals, Bumgarner topped himself by throwing a four-hit shutout without so much as a single walk against eight strikeouts.

And then you have the Chicago Bears, “coached” by Marc Trestman.  Last week, the Bears lost 27-14 to a Miami team they were supposed to beat.  Yesterday, they lost 51-23 to a New England team they knew they had to beat.  The defining moment for both game and season came as time was winding down and high-priced defensive end Lamarr Houston hurt himself while doing a dance after recording his first sack in eight games.  “I am very disappointed for Lamarr,” said Coach Trestman.  “I really am.”

Do you think Trestman will dress up as Winston Churchill for Halloween?