---

Bar Chat

07/10/2017

Yanks Continue to Struggle

[Posted early Sunday p.m.]

Minnesota Twins Quiz: 1) Since the Twins moved to Minnesota from Washington in 1961, three pitchers have won 24 games in a season.  Name ‘em.  2) Harmon Killebrew has 559 homers for both Washington (1954-60) and Minnesota.  Name the other seven to hit 200 home runs in a Minnesota uniform (one played a few years with Washington as well).  Answers below.

MLB

--I have to keep repeating for the record that on June 12 the Yankees were the surprise of baseball with a 38-23 record, and after another debacle on Friday (July 7), they were 44-40, a 6-17 stretch. They haven’t won two in a row since June 12.

They lost to Milwaukee at the Stadium on Friday 9-4, despite the Brewers having made five errors in the first four innings!  The 43,400 fans in attendance were pissed off and booed the Yanks unmercifully, as they deserve these days. And at times like these, of course Manager Joe Girardi and his always questionable use of the bullpen was at the forefront of talk radio discussion Saturday morning.

Tyler Clippard and Dellin Betances have been just horrid during this streak and Friday, Clippard was shelled again, taking the loss and moving to 1-5, 5.24 ERA.

[Aaron Judge hit his 30th home run Friday, breaking Joe DiMaggio’s team record for a rookie of 29, Judge joining Mark McGwire as the only rookies to have 30 at the All-Star break.]

So Saturday the Yankees managed to beat Milwaukee 5-3 as Betances and Aroldis Chapman threw scoreless innings and rookie Clint Frazier clubbed a dramatic 3-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for the walk-off victory.

But the Yanks lost 5-3 to the Brew Crew today, batting 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position, and Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez striking out in the bottom of the ninth with a chance to tie it.

Masahiro Tanaka gave up all 5 runs in just 4 1/3 and is now 7-8, 5.47 ERA.

All together now...the Yankees will not make the playoffs without Tanaka being an ace.

But I do have to say, the Mets are so hard to watch these days I ended up watching a lot of today’s Yankees game and the home plate umpiring of Larry Vanover was beyond atrocious.

[For those of you who watched, I also couldn’t believe that Chase Headley’s phantom 3-run homer that would have put the Yanks up 6-5 wasn’t called properly from the git go.  It was obvious watching it live...foul.]

So New York is now 45-41, 3 ½ back of Boston, with the Yankees not having won two in a row for 25 games.

Separately, the Yankees are reportedly looking to trade for Miami slugging first baseman, Justin Bour, who has a very team-friendly contract and isn’t eligible to become a free agent until after 2020.  Bour is having a terrific season, with 20 home runs and 57 RBI.

[Miami is also looking to move Giancarlo Stanton, he of the 13-year, $325 million contract, but he is owed $77 million over the next three seasons, after which he can opt out of his deal, which would seem stupid since he’s then owed another $218 million through 2027. Ergo, what team is going to pick this deal up that has 10 years remaining?  Plus Stanton has played 130 games only once the last five seasons.]

But going after Justin Bour, or potentially the Mets’ Lucas Duda, tells you everything about how the Yanks feel about Greg Bird these days.  The guy who was supposed to be the first baseman for the next decade, Bird burst on the scene in 2015, hitting 11 home runs and driving in 31 in 157 at-bats and the job was seemingly his.

But he was out all 2016 with a shoulder injury and then this year, after a white-hot spring training, he started the season 6-for-60 in the Bronx. Then he suffered an ankle injury and there is no timetable for his return as he deals with a bone bruise that the team now says occurred late in spring training but just isn’t getting better.

Some are beginning to whisper that the guy isn’t tough enough.  The Yankees have sent him to the leading specialists and the diagnostic tests are all negative.

--The Mets were a bit surprised, and disappointed, to hear that Bartolo Colon chose the Minnesota Twins and a minor league contract over the Mets, after Colon, off to a dreadful start, was designated for assignment by Atlanta. GM Sandy Alderson said, “We made a strong effort to re-sign Bartolo. But he decided to go elsewhere.”

It’s a bit mystifying, but the Twins would appear to be able to give Colon more starts than the Mets probably would and he has been on a mission to catch Juan Marichal and become the winningest Dominican-born pitcher in the majors, with Bartolo currently eight wins shy of Marichal’s 243.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitans are playing out the schedule, players wondering if they’ll be traded.  They lost 4-1 and 6-0 Sat. and Sun. at St. Louis to hit the break at 39-47.  Total blowdom.

Yoenis Cespedes is in a 6-for-45 slump after Sunday’s play, average down to .265, and suddenly you have to wonder what the Mets are going to get 2018-20 when he is owed $87.5 million and can’t keep himself off the disabled list.

This franchise is in deep, deep trouble, with, save for two players (Rosario and Smith), zero talent in the minors; at least that would help the team in 2018.

--Alex Wood, 10-0 and with a 1.67 ERA, was named to replace Clayton Kershaw on the All-Star team, due to the fact Kershaw was pitching Sunday, thus making him ineligible to play on Tuesday.  Wood became the first Dodgers starter to open a season 10-0 since the team moved to Los Angeles (Don Newcombe last did it, for the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1955).  Wood threw seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Arizona last Wednesday night.

Justin Turner of the Dodgers won the “Final Vote” for the National League on Thursday, a well-deserved first time being selected.

So speaking of Kershaw, he pitched a complete game today, 5-2 over the Royals, giving up a two-run homer to Eric Hosmer in an otherwise masterful performance, Kershaw striking out 13 and walking none to move his record to 14-2, 2.18 ERA. In 132 1/3 innings this season, he has 159 strikeouts with but 22 walks.

The Dodgers started the season 22-18 and go to the break at 61-29.  [38-25, then a 23 of 27 streak.]

--The Cubs recalled Kyle Schwarber from Triple-A on Thursday, after he was 12-for-35 with four home runs in Iowa.  He is 4 for 14 with a homer thus far in his return.

But the Cubbies continue to struggle mightily.  Last year they were 53-35 at the break, World Series bound.  This season they are 43-45 following their 14-3 loss to the Pirates today.  Pittsburgh scored 10 runs in the top of the first off Jon Lester (though only four were earned...that said, it was only the fourth time in over a 100 years a pitcher gave up 10 runs and didn’t get out of the first inning).

For the Pirates, Jameson Taillon got the victory and he is now 3-1, 1.98 ERA in his five starts since undergoing testicular cancer surgery.

--The Astros defeated Toronto 19-1 today, with budding superstar (if he’s not already there) Carlos Correa going 4-for-5, with two home runs and 5 RBIs.  He is now batting .325, 20 home runs and 65 RBI out of the shortstop position.  Shades of A-Rod in his early years.

Houston, by the way, is 60-29 and 16 ½...16 ½...ahead of Texas and California in the A.L. West.

--Colorado Rockies rookie Kyle Freeland took a no-hitter into the ninth today against the White Sox, but Melky Cabrera got a one-out single to spoil things.  Freeland exited after throwing 126 pitches, Colorado won 10-0, and he moved to 9-7, 3.77.

--The Washington Nationals and Mets were rained out on Wednesday, the game not being called until after nearly two hours, despite a deluge, and then on Thursday, with Washington hosting Atlanta, they had a 3 hour and 10 minute rain delay, but played the game!

And here’s the payoff.  It rained about 15 minutes, yes, 15 minutes, lightly, the entire time and the tarp didn’t go on for 74 minutes.  Plus the team didn’t tell fans until 9:35 (7:05 start) that the game was starting at 10:10!

Talk about getting screwed. The deal was so bizarre that there were folks who had heard what was happening and showed up at 10:00 for essentially a free game, including free street parking and the Nats kicked in free soda, water and ice cream for anyone stupid enough to stay.

Atlanta won 5-2, the game ending at 1:30 a.m.

--With the Mets-Nats game rained out Wednesday, and having posted last Tuesday, I do have to note for the record that Daniel Murphy is hitting .405 with 8 home runs and 34 RBIs in 31 games against his old team.  As Ronald Reagan would have said to Nancy, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

--According to Stats LLC, and the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Salfino and Andrew Beaton, “There have been a record 243 injury trips by pitchers this year, an increase of nearly 20% from the next highest year since 2000. And it’s not just because of the new 10-day DL, either – they’ve spent about 25% more days on the shelf through June than the average since 2000.”

Yes, as the obsession with velocity grows, the injuries mount.

And as Mets broadcaster, and former pitcher, Ron Darling puts it: “Pitchers are told to pitch to the gun to get money so they’re trying to hit a number knowing millions of dollars are waiting.”

--Derek Jeter’s bid for the Miami Marlins took another hit when Chicago billionaire Richard Chaifetz exited Jeter’s group.  According to the New York Daily News, Chaifetz was uncomfortable with Jeter seeking control despite putting up little of his own money.

--Umpire Angel Hernandez, who sued Major League Baseball  for race discrimination, arguing he had been passed over for professional advancement because  of his ethnicity, while dealing with Joe Torre’s personal “animosity,” is working first base at the All-Star Game.

Seeing as MLB has to notify umpires at least 30 days in advance of their assignment, this means Hernandez knew he was working the game prior to his filing his lawsuit.

--We note the passing of Gene Conley, 86, one of only two people to have won major American professional sports titles in two sports. Conley pitched for the 1957 World Series champion Milwaukee Braves (going 91-96 in his career, 1952-63), while also winning three titles with the Boston Celtics from 1958-61.  He played six seasons in the NBA, including with the Knicks, mixing it in with baseball.

Otto Graham is the other pro athlete to rival Conley’s feat.  Aside from his titles with the Cleveland Browns in the 1940s and 50s, Graham, in 1946, won a championship with the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League, a precursor of the NBA.

But Graham never played in two different sports seasons in one year the way Conley did.  Consider that in six seasons, Conley played 12 professional seasons without taking a break.

Conley’s baseball owners and managers were not thrilled with his playing two sports and cut his salary accordingly whenever they could.  But Conley said his basketball coaches were less concerned about his dual career.

“Red Auerbach used to say, ‘Well, Gene, the playoffs are over, the season’s over, now you can go down and try to get out of shape so you can pitch.”

A major reason why Conley pursued his dual career was simply money.  All pro athletes had to find a second job for the offseason in those days.

NBA Free Agency, cont’d

--The Knicks, whose fans were accepting that the team needed to go into serious rebuilding mode, inexplicably signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a four-year, $71 million offer sheet, when his current team, the Atlanta Hawks, were prepared to offer him two years, $10 million, max.

Hardaway played his first two seasons in New York, averaging 10.2 and 11.5 points per game, but all he did was chuck it up, and not that accurately, while playing zero defense.  There are a million guys like him in the league, that you can fill a roster with, cheaply, and after two seasons, the Knicks traded him away.

Last year his scoring average moved up to 14.5, but he’s the same one-dimensional player, thus the reason why the Hawks were lukewarm about even re-signing him for virtually nothing, in NBA $s, that is.

So WTF were the Knicks thinking?

Mike Vaccaro / New York Post

“Here’s the thing:

“The Knicks actually had built for themselves a safe place that is rare in professional sports, rarer still in the NBA, and all but impossible to achieve when you are talking about basketball fans in New York City.

“They finally had been freed from the basketball tyrannies of Phil Jackson, paroled from his triangular worldview, spared any further attempts by him to shape the roster into whatever mystical and inexplicable foundation he was seeking. They had sent a warning flare out across the sky: we are rebooting.  We are rebuilding. We are taking the long view.

“And Knicks fans believed them.

“Which is, as always, the most dangerous place to be as a Knicks fan.

“That is what makes the signing of Tim Hardaway Jr. so egregious. Knicks fans, almost uniformly, were prepared to swallow the medicine that will come with a complete and profound rebuilding process.  If that was the tariff for getting rid of Jackson?

“They’d pay it.  They’d watch Kristaps Porzingis and Willy Hernangomez get another year under their belts. They’d grind their way through another 20-62 with an eye on another lottery....

“So (owner) James Dolan’s duties were simple:

“1. Hire a trustworthy basketball guy.

“2. Let him hire a trustworthy head coach.

“3. Introduce a trustworthy ‘process.’

“Under none of those headings did ‘Sign Tim Hardaway Jr. to a contract roughly 75 percent higher than his present team is likely willing to go to retain him’ fall.  Under none of those headings did ‘squander as much salary-cap space (and much of the fans’ goodwill) for a B-mnius player (and a D-minus defender)’ appear.”

[David Griffin, the recently ousted GM from Cleveland, pulled out of the Knicks’ GM search today, according to reports...further exemplifying the dysfunction at Madison Square Garden.]

--The Celtics traded guard Avery Bradley and a 2019 second-round pick to the Pistons for forward Marcus Morris. The deal creates salary-cap space needed to sign free-agent Gordon Hayward to his four-year, $128 million maximum contract.

Bradley had his best year in Boston, averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds this past season, but he probably wasn’t a fit long term as he enters the final year of his contract.

Morris averaged 14 points, 4.6 rebounds for Detroit.

--The Rockets extended James Harden’s contract for four years, a supermax deal that guarantees him $228 million through the 2022-23 season; Harden having two years and $59 million left on his current contract.   Now Houston is said to be trying to figure out how to bring Carmelo Anthony to Houston.

--The Clippers, trying to reboot after losing Chris Paul to the Rockets, acquired serviceable forward Danilo Gallinari in a sign-and-trade with Denver, Gallinari averaging 18 points and 5 rebounds last season.  The problem is he has played 70 games only twice in his 9 seasons.

--Miami signed free-agent 7-footer Kelly Olynk to a four-year, $50 million-plus deal.  Olynk averaged 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds in 20 minutes a game for the Celtics. 

The Heat also re-signed forward James Johnson to a four-year, $60 million deal, Johnson having a career year last season, averaging 12.8 points, 4.9 rebounds in 27 minutes per for Miami. What a deal this is for the former Demon Deacon who has been close to seeing his NBA career end numerous times.

--San Antonio signed veteran forward Rudy Gay to a contract, details of which I didn’t see, after Gay averaged 18.7 points last season for Sacramento, though he was limited to 30 games when he ruptured his left Achilles’ tendon in January.  Gay has averaged 18.4 points in 753 career games.

--Golden State pulled off a little coup in signing former Lakers forward Nick Young to a one-year, $5.2 million deal, Young having averaged 13.2 points for the Lakers a year ago. Another terrific bench addition.

Wimbledon

--Andy Murray (1), Novak Djokovic (2), Roger Federer (3) and Rafael Nadal (4) all advanced to the Round of 16.  Sam Query (24) is the only American to do so.

For the women Angelique Kerber (1), Simona Halep (2), Caroline Wozniakci (5) and Venus Williams (10) are among those in the Round of 16.  American Coco Vandeweghe (24) is also in the group.

There were no matches today.  Everyone is in action tomorrow.

--Footage emerged Friday showing Venus Williams was driving lawfully during a car crash that killed a 78-year-old man, with the victim’s family filing a wrongful death suit against Williams.

Surveillance video obtained by Palm Beach Gardens police in Florida shows that Williams’ vehicle entered an intersection on a green light, but was forced to brake to avoid a collision with an oncoming vehicle, which delayed her from clearing the intersection.

Then, as she began to move forward, a second vehicle entered from a different direction, broadsiding Williams.

Earlier, a police report said Williams was at fault for violating the right of way of the other driver.  Police now say they are reevaluating.  The victim’s family doesn’t have a case, pure and simple.

I was careful not to comment the other day on the incident beyond what the police report initially stated and now we’ll see  how a greatly relieved Williams performs the rest of the way at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, with the relentless sun and heat at Wimbledon, the grass is non-existent and playing conditions are poor, which has the players complaining.

Golf Balls

--23-year-old Xander Schauffele is another first-time winner on the PGA Tour with a one-shot win over Robert Streb at the Greenbrier.  With a terrible leaderboard, my interest all weekend was minimal.

--Rory McIlroy singlehandedly saved the Irish Open, which was on the rocks financially and dropped as an event by the European Tour for a spell.  But Rory has now missed the cut in the event for the fourth time in five years, which he hosts to benefit his foundation.  He has yet to get a win in 2017 in a year in which he has had to take two breaks for a rib injury.

So who won it at gorgeous Portstewart in Northern Ireland?  Jon Rahm, by six strokes.  Rahm has been playing very poorly in the States recently after his hot start, but with this win he obviously served notice that he is one to watch in two weeks at The Open Championship.

However, Rahm survived a rules scare.  On the sixth green Sunday, Rahm marked his ball to the side, and then moved his marker one putter head away so his marker wasn’t on Daniel Im’s line.  But when he replaced the ball, he appeared to mark the ball in front of the marker.

I caught the action right after and saw the replays, so imagine all the viewers watching on Golf Channel live (or European TV) who quickly emailed in their comments. 

European Tour chief referee Andy McFee confronted Rahm seven holes later, McFee not needing the emails to know something was wrong in Denmark, err, Northern Ireland.

So McFee talked with both Rahm and Im on the 13th green and cleared Rahm.

“We’re talking fine margins here,” McFee explained. “The reason why there’s no penalty is because I think Jon’s made a reasonable judgement.  He’s marked the ball at say 10 o’clock. When he’s put the ball back down, he’s definitely not back down in front of the ball marker which would be 12 o’clock.  We’re talking about the difference between the ball being lifted at 10 o’clock on the ball marker and put back at 11 o’clock which is not a problem.

“Secondly, we’re talking about a player moving his ball marker off to the side to get out of the way of his fellow competitor and then moving it back again.  Now there’s always going to be a small margin of error in this.”

This kind of deal was highlighted earlier this year when Lexi Thompson was assessed a two-shot penalty and another two shots for an incorrect scorecard at an LPGA event and then lost in a playoff.

After the Thompson incident, the R&A and USGA said they were limiting the use of video evidence and focusing more on player’s intent.

I give Rahm the benefit of the doubt on this one.

--Bernhard Langer and Scott McCarron came out with statements insisting they were not trying to circumvent the rules on anchoring the putter.  The USGA then issued a statement, providing the two some cover in specifying that it has “seen no evidence of a player breaching the Rule.”  The USGA also said that simply touching a piece of one’s clothing does not mean a player is in violation.

Langer said: “During my 45-year career as a professional golfer, I have called penalties on myself.  I believe in honesty and integrity, and I could not live with myself if I broke a rule and did not incur the penalty.”

--Jim Mackay isn’t wasting any time starting a new chapter in his life after 25 years on Phil Mickelson’s bag.  ‘Bones’ signed with Golf Channel and NBC to be an on-course reporter, debuting at The Open Championship and working the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Presidents Cup in August and September.

As NBC producer Tommy Roy put it, “First of all, he’s a great communicator.”  Second, Bones has been in the arena, “Under the most pressure packed circumstances, and to get through those with the highest highs and some of the lowest lows is an incredible wealth of experience to call on.”

NASCAR

New Jersey’s Martin Truex Jr. dominated Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway in the Monster Energy (love those girls!) NASCAR Cup Series race.  Near the end he was a whopping 15 seconds ahead but a next-to-last lap caution suddenly went up, forcing him to win in overtime, which would have been a crushing loss, but he came through in the critical restart.

It was Truex’ 3rd win of the year and 10th of his career.  All three 2017 triumphs are on 1.5-mile tracks.

Stuff

--Soccer superstar Lionel Messi had his 21-month prison sentence for tax fraud lifted by a Spanish court in turn for Messi paying a 250,000 euro fine.  Messi’s father, who had received 15 months, instead had to pay a fine of 180,000 euro.  Neither would have served time anyway.

Earlier, Messi signed a contract extension which will keep him with Barcelona until 2021.  The Argentinian has scored a club-record 507 goals in 583 matches for Barca since his competitive debut in 2004.  He is also La Liga’s record scorer with 349 goals.

No doubt the contract extension had something to do with the size of the tax settlement, Spain not wanting to lose Messi to, say, the Premier League.  It’s the same situation with Cristiano Ronaldo, including the tax angle.

--The company that distributed Dak Prescott-autographed sports cards that were allegedly signed by an autopen said Friday it had concluded after an investigation that some of the signatures “may not be authentic.”

Panini America is recalling the 167 cards it sent to its customers and will be placing them with new autographs from Prescott.

ESPN had reported that Beckett Grading Services refused to verify Prescott’s signature on Panini’s 2016 Prizm set, after the company looked at five autographed cards from collectors who received Prescott autographs. “They had a very machine-like feel,” Steve Grad, principal authenticator at Beckett, said.  [Darren Rovell / ESPN]

--Sorry Tour de France fans, but I couldn’t care less about the event.  Plus it’s pretty bogus that one of the favorites, Mark Cavendish, was forced out after suffering a fractured shoulder in a serious crash caused by world champion Peter Sagan, who was then disqualified from the Tour, the incident occurring in Stage 4.

--I forgot to note an item the other day that is very cool.  There are now 323 breeding pair of bald eagles in New York State, a record.

Top 3 songs for week 7/10/76: #1 “Afternoon Delight” (Starland Vocal Band...not about watching the Mets on a Sunday afternoon...)  #2 “Kiss And Say Goodbye” (Manhattans)  #3 “I’ll Be Good To You” (The Brothers Johnson)...and...#4 “Shop Around” (Captain & Tennille)  #5 “More, More, More” (Andrea True Connection...not bad for a disco tune...)  #6 “Silly Love Songs” (Wings...Sir Paul mailing it in again...)  #7 “Misty Blue” (Dorothy Moore)  #8 “Love Is Alive” (Gary Wright)  #9 “Sara Smile” (Daryl Hall & John Oates...one of my faves of theirs...)  #10 “Got To Get You Into My Life” (The Beatles)

Minnesota Twins Quiz Answers: 1) 24-game winners in Minnesota: Jim Kaat, 25, 1966; Jim Perry, 24, 1970; Frank Viola, 24, 1988.  2) 200 home runs: Harmon Killebrew 559; Kent Hrbek 293; Bob Allison 256 (played in Wash., 1958-60); Justin Morneau 221; Tony Oliva 220; Torii Hunter 214; Kirby Puckett 207; Gary Gaetti 201.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

---