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Bar Chat

05/04/2017

Noah and the Mets, part deux

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

Seattle Mariners Quiz: 1) Name the only three Seattle players to drive in 140 runs in a season.  2)Who holds the single-season mark with 21 wins?  Answers below.

MLB

--As I told you would be the case last time, the fallout over the Mets and their handling of Noah Syndergaard, and for that matter Yoenis Cespedes, was topic A in these parts Monday on all the talk shows and sportscasts. 

“Thor” had his MRI early Monday morning and shortly thereafter the team confirmed he had a partially torn lat muscle, and should be out at least two months (not official), which is based solely on the fact fellow Mets hurler Steven Matz had the same injury in 2015 and was out that long.

But to close the circle, for now, on this story, I wrote my own thoughts last chat.  Now a few notes from the local scribes, who didn’t know what the outcome of the MRI was when they penned their pieces.

Bob Klapisch / The Bergen Record...for USA TODAY

“There’s plenty of blame to go around in the wake of Noah Syndergaards’ lat injury on Sunday, from the stubborn pitcher who refused to undergo an MRI last week, to the higher-ups who weakly backed away from a possible confrontation with their ace, to the buck-passing after an embarrassing 23-5 loss to the Nationals.

“[As we awaited word on the severity of the injury], this much is certain: He’ll undergo an MRI on Monday morning, and this time there’ll be no defiance on his part.  Unfortunately for the Mets, Syndergaard’s cooperation comes too late, as more aggressive monitoring might have kept him from taking the ball and prevented the injury.

“GM Sandy Alderson admitted, ‘We’ll never know’ if an MRI of the biceps area – where Syndergaard experienced pain five days ago – would have revealed a secondary area of concern. That’s what’s unforgivable: for a team that’s had a horrific record of caring for its players, not nearly enough was done to protect Thor.

“Steering clear of injury was the Mets’ No. 1 concern in spring training.  They repeated the mantra countless times, promising to avoid a repeat of 2016, when practically the entire starting rotation ended up on the disabled list. Everyone except Syndergaard, that is, who until this month has been a billboard of durability.

“So how could the Mets have taken any chances, especially after Syndergaard was unable to lift his arm over his shoulder on Tuesday?  Alderson defended the club’s response, suggesting the lat and biceps area are unrelated, as if Syndergaard’s injury on Sunday was a mere coincidence.  They should know better than that – the shoulder, elbow and peripheral areas are all part of the same kinetic chain. Weakness in one part of the mechanism could have overtaxed another.

“That’s why it’s unforgivable for the Mets to have stopped exerting their authority over an employee.  Syndergaard said he felt fine after missing the start against the Braves.  He said he would have been OK to face the Braves after all.  And after the doctors suggested a precautionary MRI, he said no, insisting, ‘I know my body, I know what’s going on in there.’

“Incredibly, the Mets’ front office allowed Syndergaard to have the last word; they withdrew the request for the MRI.  And perhaps just to prove how tough he was, Syndergaard came out firing 100-mph fastballs in the first inning against Washington...until pitching coach Dan Warthen came to the mound and told him to stop trying to set a land-speed record and use his entire arsenal.

“Catcher Rene Rivera said, ‘I didn’t really see anything wrong,’ but the Nationals jumped on Syndergaard for five runs.  Clearly, his universe was already upside down....

“Remember this, too: Syndergaard was warned about the risk of a heavy weight-lifting regimen that added thickness to his upper body last winter.  The Mets were against his unorthodox approach.  Motion analysis expert Tom House said Syndergaard’s obsession with new muscle was a ‘worst-case scenario.’  House told The Record two months ago there was a strong probability Syndergaard would be injured before June 1.

“Syndergaard, however, blew off the prediction as casually as he said no to the MRI.  He knew better.  ‘My arm is loose, my flexibility is good,’ Thor said back in February.  ‘I’m not worried.’

“Now everyone is more than worried; they’re in full freak-out mode.”

John Harper / New York Daily News

“Nobody is going to admit they were wrong here.  Not Noah Syndergaard for refusing to get an MRI on his pitching arm.  Not the Mets for failing to insist he do so.

“Yet clearly all parties most assuredly are to blame, and now, after Syndergaard walked off the mound in the second inning on Sunday due to pitching-related pain, they can only hope the lack of caution doesn’t cost them too, too dearly....

“(Syndergaard), who gave up five runs in the first inning before he was injured, was stubborn, even hard-headed in insisting there was no need to take a look inside his arm, despite the fact that he twice experienced some level of pain last week.

“More than once he has said he doesn’t want any sort of negative thoughts about the possibility of injury in his head, but that’s no excuse.  A pitcher needs the information an MRI provides to know if there is an issue that could lead to serious injury.

“Syndergaard said he didn’t need it because he knew his own body so well....

“Either way the MRI would have provided more information, and in this day and age, teams send players to get them as routinely as if giving out a couple of aspirin.

“So Syndergaard should have been smarter about it....

“In Syndergaard’s case, the Mets have made protecting their pitchers a priority this season.  From day one of spring training Collins has said over and over that, after all the injuries last season, they would go to extremes in that regard....

“Yet in this case they were willing to let Syndergaard say no to their request that he get the MRI.  When asked why, GM Sandy Alderson on Saturday here said, ‘I can’t tie him down and throw him in the (MRI) tube.’

“No, but the Mets could have exerted more influence, or flat out told him that if he didn’t get one, he was going on the disabled list.

“Of course, that could have gotten messy, perhaps even involving the Players Association claiming a team can’t put a healthy player on the DL.  Except it was Syndergaard who reported the issue with his arm to the trainers last week, so he really wouldn’t have had a case....

“ ‘We took him at face value,’ Alderson said, ‘but he also threw a pen and felt fine.  We also had a recommendation made by the doctor, who felt strongly that he was fine.’

“OK, but again, what was the harm in getting the MRI? There was none.”

Mike Vaccaro / New York Post

“There have been more than a smattering of bad days for the Mets so far this year, but they were all dress rehearsals for the one that finally, mercifully, closed the door on an April from hell....

“(The horrors of Sunday’s 23-5 loss) were simply the footnotes to a display of dyspepsia that we’ll long remember, even measured against the long and colorful history of the Mets being...well, the Mets.  These horrific adventures are always inexcusable; what makes this one worse is that it was perfectly avoidable....

“The preliminary diagnosis on the player: probable lat strain.

“The permanent diagnosis on the franchise: gross malpractice.

“Again....

“So we are back to standard default position with the Mets, rolling our eyes at how they so expertly dump kerosene on their own heads, how they never, ever learn from history and are forever doomed to repeat it.

“If you believe Syndergaard’s lat has nothing to do with what was bothering him before?  You surely believe you can purchase both the Whitestone AND Throgs Neck bridges at a yard sale in Ozone Park.

“This doesn’t just defy logic and explanation; it would also run counter to the Mets’ vast chronology of chronically underplaying injuries, something they’ve been doing for parts of two decades and two front-office regimes....

“Once upon a time Matt Harvey thought he knew better than the Mets brass and their doctors, too, and once upon a time it was Harvey who sat where Syndergaard now sits – king of the hill, top of the heap, impervious to the wishes of his bosses.  Harvey paid a hard price for that hubris, and the humbler version of No. 33 that inhabits the Mets clubhouse now is proof of that.

“This is no way to run a baseball club, with ballplayers calling their own shots on matters of such import.  It was certainly enough to drive a manager nuts:  Terry Collins was angrily stewing in the dugout....

“The front office?  The player?  Their responsibility is different, and they both ultimately decided to play Russian roulette with a priceless franchise asset. And discovered, too late, that the chamber wasn’t empty.  The Mets will tell you that’s bad luck. Everyone else would call it standard operating procedure.”

--Boy, this pains me to do this, but I come to honor the Washington Nationals, for their 17-8 April and totally stupendous offensive display, even as their team ERA, 4.49, is just 24th in baseball.

In April, the Nationals scored 170 runs in 25 games, Arizona second with 141 in 27.

The Nats were second in homers (43) to Milwaukee’s 45.  Washington was #1 in all of baseball in doubles, 58.  #1 in slugging at .510.  #1 in batting average at .295. #1 in OPS, .879 (Yankees second but at .804).

They had the top three in all of baseball in RBIs...Ryan Zimmerman, 29; Daniel Murphy, 26; Bryce Harper, 26.  Staggering.

And what a month for Zimmerman, who also hit .420 with 11 home runs.

This is a guy who last played a full season in 2013.  Last season, he played in 115 games, but had 15 HR, 46 RBI and hit a whopping .218.

How does this happen?!

Also....

Washington was the first team in major league history to score 14-plus runs in five April games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The 170 runs were the most the team has ever scored in any calendar month.

Zimmerman’s 29 ribbies set a Nationals record for a calendar month.

--Other April stats / records that jump out at you....not updated to reflect play Monday and Tuesday, on purpose....

The Mets’ vaunted pitching staff had a team ERA of 4.53, 25th (again, just thru April), with Detroit the worst at 5.19.  The surprising White Sox were #1 at 3.11, the Yankees second, 3.35.

How lousy was 7-16 Kansas City?  They scored 63 runs in 23 games for the month, .336 slugging, .605 OPS...yikes. This blows.

Minnesota was a surprising 12-11 in April, thanks in no small part to soon-to-be 24-year-old outfielder Miguel Sano, 7 HR, 25 RBI, .316, who is busting out in his third season. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t seen him play, but he’s a massive man...6’4”, 262.

And a team I thought would have the worst record in baseball this season, the Angels, are suddenly 14-13 after a hot streak.  I guess Mike Scioscia isn’t washed up as a manager just yet, because outside of the best player in the game, Mike Trout, I don’t see anything there.

I mean I just looked at all the stats and there is zero distinctive about the lads...but there they are, hangin’ in there.  Good for you, Mr. Scioscia.  [Trout has also been hot as hell.  14-game hitting streak thru Sunday, average up to .364.]

And how ‘bout those Arizona Diamondbacks, 16-11, and Colorado Rockies, 16-10?!  If you had these two at the top of the NL West, pour yourself a frosty.

--So in Sunday’s 23-5 pasting of the Mets, Washington’s Anthony Rendon had six hits and three home runs, but he was only the second player to accomplish the 6 and 3 with 10 RBI, the other being Walker Cooper, the longtime catcher.

Now while I know the name Walker Cooper, I had to look him up and I forgot just how solid an offensive performer he was in his day.   Cooper played only catcher, and did so from 1940-57.  He was an 8-time All-Star and played in three World Series for the Cardinals (1942-44, winning two of them...and hitting .300).

Overall, he slammed 173 homers, drove in 812, and batted .285.  As Dutch Reagan no doubt said then, “Not bad, not bad at all.”

Heck, in 1947, he hit 35 home runs and drove in 122, while batting .305!

So this week we honor the memory of Walker Cooper.  He passed away in 1991 at the age of 76.

--On to May....Monday, Baltimore outfielder Adam Jones had an ugly time of it with the Boston fans at Fenway, claiming at the end of the game that he was “called the  n-word a handful of times,” while a bag of peanuts was thrown at him.

Jones told USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale of the night’s events.  “Very unfortunate.  I heard there was 59 or 60 ejections tonight in the ballpark.  It is what it is, right.  I just go out and play baseball.  It’s unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being.  I’m trying to make a living for myself and for my family.”

The Red Sox called the behavior “inexcusable” and apologized to Jones on Tuesday, with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh saying, “We are better than this.”

Team president Sam Kennedy said in part: “The Red Sox have zero tolerance for such inexcusable behavior and our entire organization and our fans are sickened by the conduct of an ignorant few....any spectator behaving in this manner forfeits his/her rights to remain in the ballpark and may be subject to further action.  Our review of last night’s events is ongoing.”

Last figure I saw in terms of ejections was far less than the 50+ Jones spoke of.  Jones said before the game he hoped offenders were fined, “10 grand, 20 grand, 30 grand.  Something that really hurts somebody.”

Tensions are bad enough as it is between the Orioles and Red Sox after a number of incidents, and on Monday, Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy hit Boston’s Mookie Betts on the hip with a pitch, leading to speculation that retaliation was part of it.

Jones has been outspoken about racism in baseball, saying, for example, that when it came to Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests, that few black MLB players were likely to emulate his example because baseball “is a white man’s sport.”

Unfortunately, Boston has a history with racism when it comes to baseball.  [More on this topic next time.] 

Baltimore won the game Monday 5-2.

So Tuesday, while the Red Sox took it 5-2, the bad blood between these two clubs continued, as Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado went into an epic postgame tirade after Boston ace Chris Sale threw behind him, saying he has lost all respect for the Red Sox organization.

Sale’s first pitch to Machado in the first inning was thrown behind him, in retaliation for  Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy hitting Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts on Monday, in retaliation for Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes throwing at Machado’s head on Sunday, which was in retaliation for Machado’s hard slide on Friday that injured Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Yup, these two clubs hate each other.

--The Yankees played before the smallest announced crowd at Yankee Stadium on Monday night, which is a little worrisome as it was a nice evening...25,566 (which means it was really a lot less).  They didn’t award the faithful, falling 7-1 to Toronto.

But last night, the Yanks resumed their winning ways, 11-5, with Aaron Judge hitting another two home runs, stretching his total to 12 (with 25 RBIs).

--As for the Mets, they had a nice 7-5 win in Atlanta on Monday, but then Matt Harvey got rocked the next day and after a solid first four starts of the season, he has struggled and is now just 2-2, 5.14, the Mets losing 9-7, while wasting a two-homer, six-RBI effort from Jay Bruce.

--Monday, the Giants beat Clayton Kershaw (4-2, 2.61) and the Dodgers, 4-3.

--The aforementioned Kansas City Royals broke out on May 1, taking the White Sox 6-1, but then Chicago shut out K.C. last night, 6-0.

--Luis Olmo, the first Puerto Rican position player in the major leagues when he made his debut with the 1943 Brooklyn Dodgers, died over the weekend in Puerto Rico at the age of 97.  He had been the oldest living Dodger.

In 1945, he had 10 home runs and 110 RBIs, while hitting .313, playing mostly in the outfield, though also some at third.

But then he was one of 20 major league players who signed contracts for far more money to play in the newly formed Mexican League, and the players were barred by Major League Baseball for five years for jumping, though the suspensions were rescinded after three years.

Olmo returned to the Dodgers in 1949, hit .305 and homered in their World Series loss to the Yankees.  [Richard Goldstein / New York Times]

--Finally, the Oakland A’s announced a 2016 draft pick, Casey Thomas, died suddenly.  He was 24.  The cause of death is unknown.

Just a year ago, the A’s lost Triple-A pitcher Sean Murphy, who died from a heart muscle disease.

Thomas was a 34th-round pick last year and was currently in extended spring training, after batting .258 in rookie ball last season.

College Baseball Poll (May 1...Baseball America)

1. Oregon State
2. Louisville
3. North Carolina
4. Auburn
5. Tesas Tech
6. Kentucky
7. TCU
8. Long Beach State
9. Mississippi State
10. Clemson
17. Wake Forest
22. St. John’s

NBA Playoffs          

--Monday, the Cavs won the opener of their series with the Raptors, 116-105, behind LeBron James’ 35 points and 10 rebounds.

The Rockets whipped the Spurs 126-99, in San Antonio, and it will be interesting to see how the Spurs respond, the last six weeks or so seemingly being just Kawhi Leonard, with little help.

Houston took 50 three-point shots, making 22 (San Antonio was 9 of 29), the most a team had taken, and made, against the Spurs in their postseason history.

--Tuesday, Boston took a 2-0 lead over Washington, 129-119 in overtime, as Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points, nine in OT.  He dedicated the effort to his sister, who died on the eve of the first round.  Now the series heads back to Washington.

Golden State opened up its series with Utah, winning 106-94. The Warriors had been off a week since dismantling Portland in four.

--I was reading a piece by Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post on the L.A. Clippers when it comes to the playoffs.  Lots of regular season success and them pfff.

But not giving a damn about the franchise, I had no idea what a lousy GM Doc Rivers is.  [He’s officially coach and president of basketball operations.]

Which means he’s in charge of the draft...and the Clippers have been awful in this regard.

I mean even I know that the Big Three of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan has never had a well-rounded supporting cast, save for J.J. Redick.

Rivers, while a good coach, doesn’t have the cap space with the money allotted to the Big Three, so he has to fill out his bench each summer with new spare parts.

Paul, Griffin and Redick all have the option to leave this summer.  It would be best for the Clippers that they do so and just start from scratch, with a different approach, and a new GM.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

--The New York Rangers returned to the Garden on Tuesday, down 2-0 to Ottawa, tails between their legs, and came out flying, and did so the entire contest in a 4-1 win.  They played just great.

--In the Washington-Pittsburgh heavyweight series, the Capitals pulled out a stunning 3-2 overtime win in Pittsburgh, Monday, to cut the Penguins lead to 2-1 when it was assumed Washington would just collapse again, as is their wont come playoff time.

But in the game, Penguins star Sidney Crosby suffered a concussion early and he’s out for tonight’s Game 4.  This will be interesting.

NFL

--While the following is ridiculous, as reporter Will Brinson of CBSSports.com admits himself, these are some names to keep in the back of your mind, the college football season less than four months away.

Brinson came up with a mock draft for next April, and I’ll just list the five QBs he says could go in the first round.  If the season plays out as now projected, and these guys stay healthy....

1. Sam Darnold, USC
2. Josh Allen, Wyoming...boy, haven’t seen him play yet
3. Josh Rosen, UCLA...can he stay healthy?  USC-UCLA could be a fun game
16. Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State
21. Luke Falk, Washington State

Ergo, if my Jets end up at No. 3, they could still nab a good one.

Yup, it’s a theme you’re going to hear from us Jets fans ceaselessly the next 8 months...Tank! Tank!  Tank!

Kentucky Derby

The critical draw for post positions takes place after I post this column today, Wednesday, With a whopping 20 horses entered, the unlucky stalls include the first two, as it has been over 30 years since a horse from the No. 1 position has won the Derby, and almost 40 years for the No. 2.  It’s just too difficult because they are so close to the rail and they get crowded out.

But then you don’t want to be way wide either.  In 143 runnings, for instance, believe it or not, there has never been a winner from the 17-slot.

While I have seen a lot of the Derby prep races, I don’t have a freakin’ clue.  So, what the hell, I’m going with a long-shot, McCracken.... “Release the McCracken!”...Girvin second.

“Shu” is going with Always Dreaming, Gunnevera second.

Johnny Mac has Irish War Cry and Always Dreaming.

--By the way, there will be no Bob Baffert sightings on Saturday.  He has no entrants.

Golf Balls

I confess to not watching more than a few minutes of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last weekend, with all the other local sports on, including the Rangers Saturday afternoon, but first, for the record, in Monday’s playoff, Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith defeated Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown on the fourth hole, the 3rd career PGA Tour title for Blixt of Sweden, first for Smith of Australia.

But by all accounts, it was a hugely successful tournament that the players, for one, loved...a change of pace from the weekly grind.  It’s been decades since the last official two-man team event.

World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins told Golf World’s Jaime Diaz: “It’s a more fun way to play.  It’s always fun having a partner. It breaks up that lone wolf world we live in on the tour.”

Wadkins was infamous for his money-game matches on Tuesdays.  He told Diaz of a match at Hilton Head in the 1970s between he and Bert Yancey against Tom Weiskopf and Arnold Palmer that went 36 holes because Arnie insisted on playing two “emergency” nines.  “Can you imagine, 36 holes on a Tuesday in practice?” Wadkins said.  “At the PGA Championship at Canterbury in 1973, the four of us played money games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  It was wonderful.”

Phil Mickelson is now the Godfather of Tuesdays.

Anyway, look for the two-man team format to continue next year at the Zurich.

NASCAR

--Chairman Brian France made a rare appearance at a race Sunday in Richmond to honor Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had announced his retirement days earlier.  France didn’t do that for Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart.  France said Sunday:

“He’s meant a lot to the sport in many, many ways, on and off the track and not just his popularity and whatever, carrying on the Earnhardt name in such a good way.  [He] always worked with NASCAR to make the sport better, just like his father did. That’s not always the case with drivers that come in.”

Like I’ve been saying, NASCAR is reeling.  I keep forgetting when I bring up the departures of  Gordon and Stewart, and now Dale Jr., to also mention Carl Edwards, who had suddenly retired the other month.

Too bad Danica Patrick hasn’t developed at all, and Daniel Suarez has been slow to get acclimated to the sport as a rookie.

Dale Jr. is a 14-time most popular driver of his sport.

Stuff

--I forgot to mention last time that in beating Arsenal the other day 2-0, Tottenham ensured it would finish ahead of its bitter North London rival for the first time since 1995.  Arsenal fans for years have marked “St. Totteringham’s Day,” when it was confirmed they would finish ahead of the Spurs.

Tottenham hasn’t won the Premier League title in 56 years.  Their current 9-game winning streak is their best since 1960.

--The No. 1 Wake Forest men’s tennis team lost the ACC championship to Virginia, 4-3, a repeat of last year’s ACC title match, which the Deacs won.

On to the NCAA Championship and the Deacs earned the No. 1 overall seed...play begins for them May 12.

--The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Germano reports that “Track and field officials have proposed reforms that would wipe more than half of Olympic-discipline world records from the books, a drastic step to clean up the image of a sport dogged by a long history of doping.”

A report from the European Athletics Council summed it up on Monday, saying the proposal seeks to ensure “today’s generation of athletes are not chasing records set in completely different circumstances” and “to regain public trust.”

Two records that could fall are the women’s 100 and 200 meters, held by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner of the U.S., set in the 1980s, during a time that is perceived to have been rampant with PED use.

Al Joyner, a track coach and the husband of Ms. Griffith-Joyner, said he considers the proposal unfair and that his wife, and others, were clean.

--SHARK!

Carl Prine, Lyndsay Winkley / San Diego Union-Tribune

“A woman who was attacked by a shark while swimming at a popular surf spot off Camp Pendleton’s San Onofre State Beach is ‘fighting for her life,’ her mother wrote Sunday.

“Leanne Ericson was in the water at a surf break dubbed ‘Church’ when she was bitten on her thigh about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Bystanders helped pull her to shore and stanch the bleeding until she could be airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, authorities said.”

Unfortunately, Ms. Ericson will have to undergo several surgeries and her recovery will be lengthy, according to her mother.

No word on what kind of shark it was, though recent webcams in the area have caught great white sharks breaching waves in the same area over the past month.

The last fatal shark attack in San Diego County was in 2010, when a retired veterinarian was killed by a great white while on a triathlon training swim off Fletcher Cove.

--In an incredible story of survival, Matthew Bryce, 22, of Glasgow, was rescued by helicopter on Monday night after holding on to his surfboard for 32 hours after being swept out to sea while attempting to surf along the west coast of Scotland.

The water temperature dropped to 46 degrees, but he was conscious, though suffering from hypothermia.  He at least had a thick neoprene suit on.

Major kudos, of course, to the helicopter rescue crew which was close to giving up the search when they spotted something in the water 13 miles offshore. Initially they thought it was a buoy.

Top 3 songs for the week 5/6/78: #1 “Night Fever” (Bee Gees)  #2 “If I Can’t Have You” (Yvonne Elliman...not bad for a discoish tune...)  #3 “Can’t Smile Without You” (Barry Manilow...Mets fans lamenting the losses of Cespedes and Thor...)...and...#4 “The Closer I Get To You” (Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway)  #5 “With A Little Luck” (Wings...dreadful....do do do dooo do doo dooo...)  #6 “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” (Johnny Mathis/Deniece Williams)  #7 “You’re The One That I Want” (John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John)  #8 “Lay Down Sally” (Eric Clapton...thought this one sucked....just play “Layla!”...)  #9 “Dust In The Wind” (Kansas...pre-Swiffer products...)  #10 “Count On Me” (Jefferson Starship...so I’m finishing up a horrendous sophomore year at Wake Forest and decide to run away to sell books door-to-door in Oklahoma and Kansas that summer...becoming the world’s worst book salesman...but I was good at asking for glasses of water in the 100-degree heat...next chat, is the editor still at Wake?....)

Seattle Mariners Quiz Answers: 1) 140 or more RBIs: Ken Griffey Jr., 1997, 147; Griffey, 1998, 146; Edgar Martinez, 2000, 145; Bret Boone, 2001, 141; Griffey, 1996, 140.  [Of course I thought I’d stump you on Boone, though he drove in 100 three straight season, 2001-03. Hmmm.]  2) Jamie Moyer holds the Seattle single-season mark in wins with 21, which he did at the age of 40.  Shockingly, when you examine Felix Hernandez’ career, he being 156-111 lifetime in this his 13th season, he’s only had three seasons of 15 wins (19-5, 18-6, 15-6).

And while I’m on the topic, King Felix is yet another example of how with pitchers you never freakin’ know.  He showed signs last year of beginning to break down, starting just 25 games, and now he’s on the DL.  He threw an awful lot of innings in his prime.  But Seattle is paying him $26.8 million this season, $26.8m next year, and $27.8m in 2019, when, granted, he’ll still just be 33.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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