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Bar Chat

05/15/2017

Ball Bits

[Posted Sunday p.m.]

Note: I was down at the Jersey Shore this weekend and just caught snippets of many events, though my high school poker group (8 of us get together once a year after first meeting in middle school about 45 years ago, which is kind of special) did have a good contest centering around Saturday’s third round of The Players Championship, which I lost on ‘matching cards,’ so we watched a lot of that.  The weather was atrocious and our normal marathon whiffle ball games were postponed.  Alas, I need a little time to catch up with the world.  And I really need some sleep.... cough cough.... cough....

Baseball Quiz: Baltimore Orioles (1954-2017; St. Louis Browns 1902-53...forgot that in 1901, only, they were the Milwaukee Brewers): Name the four to hit 250 home runs in an Orioles uniform (no Browns involved). 2) Name the only Baltimore pitcher to win 25 games in a season.  Answers below.

MLB

--It’s official...the New York Mets are in freefall. Friday night in Milwaukee, Matt Harvey made his return to the mound following his suspension and promptly got shelled, allowing 5 earned in 5 innings, including three home runs, as part of a 7-4 loss at Miller Park.  Harvey fell to 2-3, 5.63 ERA, which is pathetic.

Then Saturday, the Mets lost 11-4 as another starter, Robert Gsellman, was whacked around by the Brew Crew, Gsellman giving up 5 earned in 4 innings.  After going 4-2 with a 2.42 ERA in seven starts last season, he’s 2-3, 7.07 this year.

Thru Saturday’s play, the Mets were last in all of baseball with a 4.89 team ERA, with the once-vaunted starting staff also the worst at 5.13. 

Kevin Kernan / New York Post

“The Force is not with Terry Collins and the Mets.

“The starting pitching is the worst in the majors.  An Amazin’ disappointment.  The Mets’ arms used to be blasters.  Now, they are throwing batting practice, if they can manage to get the ball over the plate.

“One night after Matt Harvey turned to dust on the mound, Robert Gsellman was horrific...

“ ‘It’s shocking to me, shocking,’ Collins said of the Mets’ starting pitching collapse....

“The time for excuse-making is over. The starters need to do their job.

“They were handled with kid gloves throughout spring training, and that has blown up in the Mets’ faces.”

The Mets also announced Friday that closer Jeurys Familia will miss “several months” following surgery to deal with a blood clot in his underarm.  No one really expects him to return this year.

Familia was diagnosed with the clot Thursday after mentioning tingling in his right ring finger for the first time before Wednesday’s game, when he blew a save against the Giants.

But wait...there’s more!  Sunday, the Mets (16-20) were up 7-1 in the sixth inning with Jacob deGrom on the mound, and we lost, 11-9.  Just shoot me.

--Today the Yankees retired Derek Jeter’s No. 2.  As Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes, it was the afternoon of Aug. 31, 1997, when the Yankees held a day for Don Mattingly, who growing up Jeter had long revered.

So there was Jeter that Aug. day, watching from the dugout.

“I’ve tried to give you all a hundred percent of myself every time I walked out on the field,” Mattingly told the crowd of over 55,000.  “I tried to keep it pure, I tried to keep it simple, and just play great baseball for you over the years. I hope you appreciated it.”

Vaccaro:

“Sunday night, someone will be listening. Aaron Judge? Gary Sanchez?  Didi Gregorius?  Someone will hear Jeter as he tries to summarize this spectacular baseball life into a five-minute speech, and he will carry it with him.  He will learn what it means to be a forever Yankee, maybe create a vision of another night   He will learn what it means to be a forever Yankee, maybe create a vision of another night like this one 15, 20 years from now

“Joe DiMaggio was there on July 4, 1939, when Lou Gehrig somehow crafted the most eloquent sentence in baseball history, telling 61,808 people that despite his body betraying him he still considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.  DiMaggio kept that day with him, and also Babe Ruth Day, April 27, 1947, when the mighty Bambino, his voice reduced to a rasp, addressed 58,339 in his final public speech.

“ ‘The only real game in the world,’ he said that day, ‘is baseball.’”

Mike Lupica / New York Daily News

“This is what you must always remember about Derek Jeter, on the occasion of No. 2 being retired at Yankee Stadium: As much winning as he did as the most important Yankee of his time and one of the most important of all time, in those years when he was the leader of the team that made the Yankees the Yankees again, Jeter even managed to win when he and his team lost.

“We have talked all week, the way we will talk forever, about that flip play against the A’s in the 2001 playoffs, when he came from shortstop to cut off that throw and made the baseball equivalent of a no-look pass in basketball to Jorge Posada at the plate, before Posada tagged out Jeremy Giambi.

“Out of everything that Jeter ever did as a Yankee, perhaps this was the play that best symbolized what he meant:

“Because he was there when the Yankees needed him the most that night in Oakland....

“You look back on it all now, on the occasion of the retirement of his number, how he spent 20 years as a star of his team and his city, and how he remained that kind of star even when his skills began to fade.  Jeter managed this without scandal or real controversy or becoming the kind of tabloid poster child that Alex Rodriguez would become when he came from Texas to play alongside of Jeter.  In so many ways, and we have spoken of this so much over the years, he did become his team’s DiMaggio.  It was never about what he said. It was about what he did, and how he did it, and the way he carried himself.

“ ‘It wasn’t about how I thought Yankees were supposed to act,’ he told me once in front of his locker.  ‘It was about the way I was raised.  My parents taught me there was a way everybody was supposed to act.’....

“The winning didn’t just keep going and going for him.  He did.  He wasn’t just the Yankee kids wanted to be.  He was – and is – what everybody wanted the Yankees to be.”

--Shu sent me a piece from Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and as you know, the Pirates have been struggling mightily this season.

But it’s really pretty extraordinary they used 30 different batting lineups in their first 33 games, with 29 different iterations of their defensive lineup.  That seems almost impossible.

It doesn’t help the Pirates now have had 18 players make their major league debuts since the start of the 2016 season, second-most to the Reds (20).

--The Washington Nationals reached agreement with Bryce Harper on a deal for 2018, $21.625 million, eliminating the need for arbitration and what promised to be a rather messy affair next winter.

“I think it’s huge,” Harper said of the highest salary for an arbitration-eligible player in baseball history.  “We’re able to go into the offseason and worry about different things...and not have to worry about me going into arbitration for another year or anything like that.”

Someday there will be a bidding war for Harper, but that remains down the road.  He celebrated Saturday night with a two-out, walk-off home run at Nationals Park to beat the Phillies, 6-4.

“Just trying to be like John Wall,” Harper said, referencing the Wizards star and his game-winning shot the previous night.

NBA Playoffs

--Speaking of John Wall, I caught the last few minutes of Friday night’s Eastern Conference semifinal, won by Washington in dramatic fashion on a Wall 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left, sending the series back to Boston for a Game 7 Monday night.

Wall overcame a 1-for-12 start to finish with 26 points, while Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 33.

--Going back to Thursday night, the Spurs and Rockets hooked up for Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal, with Houston playing at home, a seeming lock to take the series to a Game 7, San Antonio playing without star Kawhi Leonard (plus Tony Parker).

But in a staggering result, the Spurs destroyed the Rockets 114-75, as Houston star James Harden flat out disappeared, shooting just 2 of 11 from the field, 10 points in more than 36 minutes, hardly looking like a leading contender for NBA MVP honors.

No one had an explanation for Harden not showing up. After the game he said, “They just dominated,” dismissing speculation he was injured, or had a concussion.

“You have to take it for what it is,” Harden said.  “Everything falls on my shoulders...I take responsibility for both ends of the floor.

“It’s tough. Especially the way we lost at home...it happened. Now we move forward.” 

If Harden did have a head injury, which some say he may have suffered in Game 5, it didn’t stop him from hitting the clubs after Thursday’s season-ending loss.  According to TMZ, Harden followed up a trip to Set in Houston with a visit to a strip club.

What is such a mystery is that Houston should have won Game 5, when Leonard was forced to leave with an ankle injury, but during crunch time of that one in regulation, and then overtime, Harden was just 1-of-6 shooting and turned the ball over four times, while committing two costly fouls.

After Thursday game, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith expressed befuddlement with Harden’s performance, saying, “I think there needs to be an investigation, to be quite honest with you.  He looked like he was drugged out there, for crying out loud.  Literally comatose.”

This season Harden because the first in NBA history to total 2,000 points, 900 assists, and 600 rebounds in a single season.  [Russell Westbrook fell shy on 900 assists, in case you were wondering.]

Meanwhile, Houston coach Mike D’Antoni is now 6-20 in five playoff series against San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.

--So Sunday, San Antonio traveled to Golden State for Game 1 of the conference finals, no one giving the Spurs a shot, and after one half, there was Popovich’s crew, up 62-42, and up 23 early in the third, only to have Kawhi Leonard reinjure his ankle.  After he exited, the Warriors went on an 18-0 run and would end up winning, 113-111, as Steph Curry had 19 points in the third quarter and 40 for the game.

Leonard had 26 points in just 24 minutes before he was taken out and his status the rest of the way is unclear.  San Antonio also missed Tony Parker, out for the playoffs, as his substitute, Patty Mills, sucked.

The Players Championship

--It wasn’t particularly dramatic, but it’s still the fifth major and 21-year-old South Korean Si Woo Kim captured the title, the youngest winner of the event ever (his second PGA Tour title), taking it by three strokes over Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen.

Kim shot 68-69 over the weekend, while the co-leaders heading into the final round, J.B. Holmes and Kyle Stanley, shot 84 and 75, respectively, today.

--Jordan Spieth missed the cut at The Players for the third straight year.

--Lee McCoy is a former All-American golfer who advanced through local qualifying for the U.S. Open the other day, thanks to a two-under 70 at RTJ Golf Trail-Silver Lakes.

But what caught everyone’s attention is a tweet he sent regarding a fellow competitor’s score...127!  59-68, including a 14 on the par-5 16th, and on 11 on the par-4 18th.

You are supposed to have a handicap of no worse than 1.4 under the USGA system to be able to compete in the Open qualifying, but there is a loophole.  If you declare yourself as a professional, you don’t need to submit a handicap, as it’s assumed you’re capable.

The golfer in question – Clifton McDonald – was not signified as an amateur on the local qualifier score board.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

--Superstar Alex Ovechkin has been with the Capitals since 2005 and he’s never been beyond the second round of the playoffs, after Washington lost its Game 7 to Pittsburgh 2-0, in Washington.  In all Game 7s of the Ovechkin era, the Caps are 3-7.

Twice, in 2010 and last year, the Capitals won the Presidents’ Trophy, but now the Caps still have not been to a conference final since 1998, and that was only the second time in franchise history.

Barry Svrluga / Washington Post

“Turn out the lights.  Pull the covers over your face. Curl up into a ball. All forms of self-medication are permitted.  None may be effective.”

Oh, one more.  Washington is now 1-9 all-time against Pittsburgh in postseason series, including four Game 7 losses.

--So in Saturday’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Ottawa upset Pittsburgh, on the road, 2-1 in overtime, Bobby Ryan with the decider in OT.

Premier League

--Chelsea formally wrapped up the league title on Friday with a 1-0 win over West Brom. Congratulations to manager Antonio Conte, who became the fourth to win the PL in his first season in English soccer.

--And on Sunday, Tottenham clinched second for the first time since 1963 with a 2-1 victory over Manchester United, the last game at White Hart Lane after 118 years.  Harry Kane appropriately had the last goal for the Spurs at the grand old place, but Wayne Rooney of Man U can claim the very last one by any player.  Tottenham will be moving into a new palace for the 2018-19 campaign, but next year will be playing in Wembley Stadium, where they have had virtually zero success over the years in all competitions.

I watched the stadium closing ceremony and it was very cool...with the club bringing back all their greats.  And while it was raining, wouldn’t you know but a rainbow showed up at the very end.

--Meanwhile, in the battle for the final two Champions League positions, Manchester City beat Leicester City 2-1, while Arsenal defeated Stoke 4-1 and Liverpool whipped West Ham 4-0.

1. Chelsea 36 (of 38 matches) – 87 points
2. Tottenham 36 – 80
3. Liverpool 37 – 73
4. Man City 36 – 72
5. Arsenal 36 – 69
6. Man U 36 – 65

So Arsenal needs Man City to stumble, which doesn’t seem likely in its last two, or have Liverpool do the same in its last game next Sunday, while the Gunners win their last two. 

--And at the bottom, in the final relegation battle, Swansea defeated Sunderland 2-0, while Crystal Palace eliminated Hull City from the Premier League, 4-0, Swansea living to play another season at the top level.

17. Swansea 37 – 38
18. Hull 37 – 34
19. Middlesbrough 37 – 28
20. Sunderland 36 - 24

As for Hull, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, down to the Championship League they go.

NASCAR

--Martin Truex Jr. ended a string of bad luck at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night, winning the Cup Series race, the ninth of his career.

But the race was halted with 67 laps to go when a broken brake rotor turned Joey Logano’s car into Danica Patrick, sending her hard into the fence.  With nowhere to go, Aric Almirola then slammed into Logano, the force of the impact lifting his car into the air with fire everywhere.

Logano and Patrick were treated and released from the infield care center, but Almirola was airlifted to the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Incredibly, he was released on Sunday, having suffered a compression fracture to his back, with his future driving status unknown.

But back to Patrick, she has been involved in a number of hard crashes the last two years, yet has escaped serious injury.  However, she said herself on Saturday, she’s not always going to be so fortunate. I kind of fear for her.

Stuff

--Pro Football Hall of Famer Yale Lary died.  He was 86.

Lary played defensive back and punted for the Detroit Lions from 1952-64, missing two years for service in the U.S. Army.  He not only intercepted 50 passes in his outstanding career, he was one of the better punters in league history, especially given the era, averaging 44.3 yards a punt for his career.

Yale Lary was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1979.

--Former NFL wide receiver Michael Jackson died in a motorcycle accident in Louisiana late Friday night.  He was 48.

Jackson played with Cleveland and Baltimore from 1991-98, with 353 receptions for a 15.3 average and 46 touchdowns.  He led the league in TD receptions in 1996 with 14 while with the Ravens.

Top 3 songs of the week 5/16/81: #1 “Bette Davis Eyes” (Kim Carnes...how this ever made it to #1, I’ll never know...hideous...)  #2 “Just The Two Of Us” (Grover Washington, Jr., with Bill Withers)  #3 “Being With You” (Smokey Robinson)...and...#4 “Angel Of The Morning” (Juice Newton)  #5 “Morning Train (Nine To Five)” (Sheena Easton)  #6 “Take It On The Run” (REO Speedwagon)  #7 “Living Inside Myself” (Gino Vannelli)  #8 “Sukiyaki” (A Taste Of Honey)  #9 “Kiss On My List” (Daryl Hall & Oates)  #10 “Too Much Time On My Hands” (Styx...at this point in my life, I was turning increasingly back to the ‘60s...we’ll go back soon...)

Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Four to hit 250 home runs for the Orioles: Cal Ripken, 431; Eddie Murray, 343; Boog Powell, 303; and Brooks Robinson, 268.  These are also the only four to drive in 1,000 [Ripken, 1695; Robinson, 1357; Murray, 1224; Powell, 1063.]  2) Steve Stone is the only Orioles pitcher to win 25, 1980, in a Baltimore uniform.

Next Bar Chat, Thursday.

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