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Bar Chat

10/26/2017

Kershaw Delivers

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

World Series Quiz: 1) Who is the all-time leader in both games played and hits?  2) Who is the only player in their World Series career to have a .500 batting average? [36 plates appearances, or 14 BB and Hits] 3) Name the six to hit 10 home runs.  Answers below.

Dodgers-Astros

In record heat for a World Series game, game-time temperature 103, Los Angeles and Houston kicked things off last night, the first time since 1970 that two 100-win teams were squaring off (Houston 101, Dodgers 104), and Clayton Kershaw officially exorcised any postseason demons with a sterling 7-inning, 3-hit, 11-strikeouts performance, the Dodgers beating Houston and Dallas Keuchel 3-1 on home runs by Chris Taylor and Justin Turner, Turner’s two-run blast in the sixth breaking a 1-1 tie.

Kershaw’s lone blemish was a solo shot by Alex Bregman in the fourth.

Of course Kershaw’s issues in the playoffs have been long been documented, but he has never been on the ultimate stage, the World Series, and he got the job done in superb fashion.  Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen breezed through the Astros in the eighth and ninth, the Dodgers’ bullpen now with 25 straight scoreless inning this postseason.

And wasn’t that an amazing stat about Morrow? He has allowed just one extra-base hit his last 151 at-bats.

The game was played in two hours, 28 minutes, the quickest World Series contest since Game 4 in 1992.

All-Star shortstop Corey Seager returned to the lineup for L.A. (Curtis Granderson being a roster casualty) and was none the worse for wear, going 2-for-3.

I was also impressed how the Los Angeles crowd was all there before the first pitch, a real rarity if you follow baseball closely.

As for Houston, which can’t be unhappy with Keuchel’s 6 2/3 innings effort, they’ll depend on Justin Verlander tonight against L.A.’s Rich Hill.

--But prior to last night, if you were thinking that the postseason games did seem longer than ever, you’re right. The average has been 3 hours 31 minutes, six minutes more than last postseason and 17 minutes longer than the one before.  In the regular season, the average nine-inning game lasted three hours and five minutes, longest in history.

Bob Costas weighed in for USA TODAY Sports, saying the issue was less pressing in the postseason because the games are close and the stakes high.

“And with so much at stake, the strategic moves are all the more interesting. But in the regular season, pace of play is a real concern.   A pitch clock, at least with no one on base, is a real possibility.”

Steve Scalise, majority whip of the House of Representatives, and a huge baseball fan, told USA TODAY: “I think fans expect playoff games to take a little longer because of the increased pressure involved in every at bat....but the quality of playoff baseball is so high that you just don’t want to turn it off.”

--It is kind of shocking that the Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez, who was shut down with a stubborn back injury in late September, isn’t with the team now but vacationing in Europe.  Reliever Kenley Jansen said, “He’s going to support us. He doesn’t want to be a distraction.”

Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi said, “We totally respect his decision.  He’s meant a lot to this organization...Everybody here knows he’s fully behind us.”

Part of me kind of gets it...the other 2/3s doesn’t.

--So I knew nothing about former Cleveland Indians pitching coach, Mikey Callaway, when the Mets suddenly hired him to be their new manager on Sunday, but now I’m kind of fired up.  I’m also a little surprised Mets management went for some young blood at the helm in what was definitely an out-of-the-box move for the organization.  Knowing we weren’t getting Alex Cora, everyone’s favorite who ended up being hired by the Red Sox, I just didn’t want the Mets tabbing some old retread and Callaway definitely is not.

This should be a refreshing change, and he has definite ideas on how to keep the Mets pitchers healthy.  We’ll now wait to see how his first 20 or so games go next April, during which time we should learn a lot about the man.

College Football

So this Saturday there are three highlight games us College Football Playoff followers can’t miss.

2 Penn State at 6 Ohio State, 14 North Carolina State at 9 Notre Dame, and 4 TCU at 25 Iowa State (which upset Oklahoma a few weeks ago in Norman).

That’s a fun lineup.  Except they are all on at 3:30!!!!  Drat!!!!  Reschedule them, for cryin’ out loud.  Gosh, this ticks me off. 

[TCU should be the noon game (even if it is 11:00 local), Notre Dame 3:30, Penn State 7:30 (not 8:00, which is irritating when the games can last up to four hours).  I am open to being hired as a network programmer, or even your local cable access channel host, doing town hall meetings.  “I agree the basketball court should be repaved, but what happens if ISIS, after being routed from Raqqa, establishes a new base at Johnson Park?”]

Meanwhile, after zero upsets last weekend, my CFP final four remains intact.  Alabama and Georgia (baring a total blowout of the Bulldogs in the SEC title game by ‘Bama), the Big Ten winner, and TCU...both ACC and Pac-12 looking on from the outside.  [Regarding Pac-12, this is the last time I’ll mention it regarding this topic.  They are officially irrelevant.]

Of course there will be one or two upsets before the conference title games that totally upset the apple cart.  I guess Iowa State could pull one off this week.

Clemson is not getting in even if they run a formidable table that includes Georgia Tech, N.C. State and the ACC title game; ditto Miami, with Virginia Tech and Notre Dame on the schedule before a meeting with the N.C. State-Clemson winner for the ACC Championship.

And there is just no way Notre Dame gets in, even if they win this week, then against Miami, and at Stanford to end their season.

There are two things that could really screw things up (aside from something like Iowa State beating TCU...as I ramble and ramble, because that is what these kinds of discussions involve...endless random musings......)......

TCU beats Oklahoma in their biggie, Nov. 11, but then, assuming Oklahoma has defeated Oklahoma State in their 11/4 tussle, turns around and beats TCU in the Big 12 title game.  Under that scenario, I’m still putting TCU in.

The other is a Georgia blowout at the hands of Alabama, like literally 40-10 or worse.  That could give the CFP voters pause and bring into the conversation someone like Clemson or an undefeated Miami (but still not Notre Dame).

--I have studied all the supposedly great quarterbacks and their seasons thus far and the Heisman (which isn’t going to running back Bryce Love) should go to J.T. Barrett of Ohio State....as of today.

However, while he has 21 touchdown passes and just one interception, that lone INT was in the Buckeyes’ loss to Oklahoma, a game he just didn’t play well in.  Since then, Ohio State simply hasn’t really played anyone.

So this Saturday we are going to find out just how good the 2017 edition of J.T. Barrett is.  [Talk of Saquon Barkley getting the Heisman is absurd.  The guy has had some lousy games.  Now if you tell me he will go off for 250 yards this Saturday, that could change things.]

NFL

--Sunday night, New England improved to 5-2 (the early-season panic mode now history) as the Pats won their Super Bowl rematch with Atlanta (3-3) 23-7 in foggy Foxborough.

The Falcons didn’t score until late, so consider this.  After New England fell behind 28-3 in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, the Patriots scored the next 54 points.

New England had allowed the first six passers it faced to throw for over 300 yards, but held Matt Ryan to 233 (23/33, 1-0).  [As I noted the other day, from a ‘team passing’ standpoint, the official figure was under 300 one of the six earlier contests, just to cover the full story.]

Tom Brady had another good game, 21/29, 249, 2-0, 121.2.

--Monday night, Philadelphia completed the season sweep of the Redskins, winning 34-24 at Lincoln Financial Field, after beating Washington in Week 1 30-17, the Redskins now 3-3, Philly a somewhat surprising 6-1 (at least to some of us).

The key for the Eagles is the rapid development of Carson Wentz into a true star, Wentz 17/25, 268, 4-1, 126.3, with eight carries for another 63 yards.  He is now 17-4 (TD/INT) with a 104.0 PR.  Pretty, pretty good.

His counterpart, Kirk Cousins, was just fine, 30/40, 303, 3-1, 110.7, and he’s 12-3, 107.2 in 2017.

[Philly suffered two big losses, though, in Sunday’s game...nine-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Jason Peters, and middle linebacker Jordan Hicks, both out for the season with injuries.]

So after Week 7, the top teams in the NFL....

NFC: Philadelphia 6-1, Minnesota 5-2, L.A. Rams 5-2

AFC: Kansas City 5-2, Pittsburgh 5-2, New England 5-2

Cleveland 0-7, San Francisco 0-7 and the Giants 1-6, are looking sweet...for the No. 1 pick in 2018 draft.

The Rams, by the way, are 5-2 for the first time in 14 years, as 31-year-old head coach Sean McVay is pulling all the right strings, with second-year quarterback Jared Goff shocking a lot of people in the league after a miserable rookie campaign.  Plus Todd Gurley has had a big comeback season from a poor 2016 (after a strong rookie campaign in 2015).

--The postmortem for the Jets’ crushing 31-28 loss to Miami on Sunday continued after I posted that evening.  For instance, I noted the Jets committed 12 penalties for 124 yards, but I didn’t realize until reading Manish Mehta’s piece in the New York Daily News later that seven were in the fourth quarter!  SEVEN!

And, “The Jets’ five fourth-quarter possessions: Punt, punt, punt, interception, lost fumble (lateral on the final play).”

Quarterback Josh McCown was 3-for-6 for minus-3 yards and the crushing interception late when it mattered most.

To not be able to close it out, two straight weeks, each time blowing 14-point leads, is inexcusable for any team.

--Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas tore the triceps in his left arm last Sunday and the 33-year-old will undergo season-ending surgery that could also spell the end of the line for the guy.

The thing is, the injury ended his otherworldly consecutive snaps streak at 10,363.  Also, for all the frustration, Thomas said he never wanted to play anywhere else but Cleveland.  He had also never missed a game in this his eleventh season and was a Pro Bowler the first ten.  I’d say he’s Canton bound.  [He was the third overall pick in the 2007 draft out of Wisconsin.]

--In the Bears’ 17-3 win over the Panthers, Sunday, Chicago ran just 37 plays, with rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky throwing only 7 passes, completing 4, and as a result joining Tim Tebow as a quarterback who won a game with fewer than five completions, Tebow going 2 of 8 when he was Denver in 2011, Bears coach John Fox also being Tebow’s coach with the Broncos.

According to NFL Research, the Bears became the first team to win consecutive games with fewer completions since – Tebow in 2011, Trubisky 8 of 17 the week before.

But there are some in Chicago that are like, c’mon, let’s see what the kid can do!  You drafted him second overall last spring, quit babying the guy.

--Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant is a talented, big-play wideout, but he’s been requesting a trade because he is upset with his role in the offense, and then Bryant claimed he wanted to stay as last week, Ben Roethlisberger said he spoke to Bryant and everything was good.  That was after Week 6.  This past Sunday, after Pittsburgh beat Cleveland, though, Bryant once again said he wants to be traded, having been targeted just twice in the game, one catch for three yards.

Bryant went on social media and in a since-deleted Instagram post from a different user that tagged Bryant, said “(Teammate) JuJu [Smith-Schuster] is no where near better than me, fool. All they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have JuJu and whoever else.”

Bryant then clarified himself, following up: “JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game....I just want mines, period, point-blank...”

You can just imagine what Roethlisberger, and coach Mike Tomlin, must think of all this.

--In a highly troubling ruling in terms of the NFL’s, and football’s, future, a Los Angeles federal court judge ruled that two California mothers looking to hold Pop Warner liable for brain injuries that led to the deaths of their sons can proceed with their lawsuit.

The judge agreed with the mothers that Pop Warner “misrepresented that safety was its top priority,” rejecting a motion by the company to toss the suit.

California has the biggest youth football league in the U.S. with 200,000 participants.

One mother lost her son at age 24 in a motorcycle accident (where he was found to be driving erratically), and the other, age 25, committed suicide.  Both were then found to be suffering from CTE.  One played youth football five years, the other eight.

As noted in a story in the New York Post, in 2014, Pop Warner had $2.1 million in total assets.  The league’s insurance carrier covers each player, in certain cases, up to $2 million, according to a source.  Last year, Pop Warner settled the first CTE-related lawsuit against it for less than $2 million.

NBA

--What a bizarre story in Phoenix, as the Suns fired coach Earl Watson after just the first three games. Phoenix had started 0-3, but two of the losses were by 40 points, including 124-76 in the opener, the most one-sided loss in franchise history, and then last Saturday they were blown out by the Clippers, 130-88.

Then Sunday, star point guard Eric Bledsoe tweeted “I Don’t wanna be here,” to which Bledsoe’s former Clippers teammate, DeAndre Jordan responded, “Come back home bro.”

Bledsoe has been in trade rumors for months.

So he was sent away by team officials and did not play Monday night against the Kings, Phoenix winning 117-115 under interim coach Jay Triano. 

Back to Watson, he compiled a 33-85 record and was 24-58 in his only full season, 2016-17.

Kind of surprisingly, this was the NBA’s first coaching change in well over a year.

Meanwhile, Bledsoe’s wishes for a trade will no doubt be accommodated.  I wish the Knicks would get him.  He’s solid and lord knows we need a point guard.

--The Lakers host the Wizards tonight, Wednesday, and the focus is going to be on the matchup between rookie Lonzo Ball and Washington’s John Wall; only because LaVar Ball won’t shut up, saying “[The Wizards] better beware because Lonzo ain’t losing again!  Not in the same week!”

This was in an Instagram post, which the outlets all picked up, after which Washington’s Marcin Gortat tweeted, “@JohnWall will torture [Lonzo] for 48 minutes.”

Wall didn’t join in, except when asked if he would show leniency to the 19-year-old rookie despite his a-hole father, “Nah, no mercy.”

For his part, Lonzo said, “I don’t pay no mind to it,” referring to Gortat’s tweet.

Meanwhile, LaVar sure isn’t changing.  He’s promoting his family’s clothing and shoe company with everyone following his every tweet and Instagram post, so he’s accomplishing what he set out to.  Eventually, like I imagine soon, we’ll stop publicizing the jerk. I hope this is one of the last times I have to write about him.

But tonight will be interesting.

--The Knicks really, really suck.  Now 0-3, they were demolished by Boston at TD Garden last night, 110-89.  Heck, the Knicks were 0-5 in the preseason, too.

One of the early culprits is Tim Hardaway Jr., he of the whopping four-year, $71 million deal in free agency that had every single Knicks fan scratching their heads in the offseason.  He was 2-for-11 last night and has started off 9-for-37 from the field!  Good gawd, that blows.  Plus he was never known for any kind of defense.  As the New York Post’s Marc Berman put it: “The facial expressions of Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry moments after the game spoke volumes. They looked ashen.”

--LeBron James played point last night in a 119-112 Cavs win over the Bulls, scoring 34 points and dishing out 13 assists, a move necessitated by the injury to starting point guard Derrick Rose.

Stuff

--Cristiano Ronaldo won Fifa’s award for best player in the world, with 43% of the vote to Lionel Messi’s 19%.  For a while, Fifa had a joint award with France Football’s Ballon d’Or, but now Ballon d’Or is separate. This award, which goes back to 1956, has been won by Ronaldo or Messi every year since 2008, which kind of tells you all you need to know about the impact of these two on the sport.  Maybe this season is the one where Tottenham’s Harry Kane breaks into this duo (not likely).

--Last time I noted that Everton was already struggling with the relegation line in the Premier League. The next day their manager, Ronald Koeman, was fired.  Boy, owners of these clubs are not a patient lot, but there is a ton of money involved in staying in the PL and not getting sent down to the next level...plus as we’ve seen, a return to the top league is far from guaranteed.  [Plus the fan bases go into a deep state of depression and commit hari-kari en masse.]

In winning just two of their first nine league games, Everton was off to its worst start since 2005-06, as they otherwise are a perennial middle of the pack club, just behind the Big Six.  They last won the league title in 1987.

--This coming weekend in Parsippany, there is an event where the likes of Michael Nesmith, Verne Troyer, Barry Williams and Danny Bonaduce are giving out autographs (chillertheatre.com).  Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers are also going to be there and the Star-Ledger’s Mark Voger interviewed Dow.

I was a huge “Leave It To Beaver” fan growing up, and I forgot that by the time I started watching it, probably 1964, the show was already in re-runs, having run from 1957 through 1963.

But for Tony Dow, I was kind of shocked to see that this week’s autograph show was his first ever in New Jersey, after all these years.

After “Beaver” went off the air, Dow branched out into producing and directing, and he was also open about his struggles with depression.  Today he is 72.

Q: When you and Jerry make appearances, is it like two brothers catching up?

Dow: It’s interesting, because our relationship was a lot like brothers. I was a big brother; he tagged along a lot, wanting to hang out with the bigger guys. Just like on the show.

Q: Do you think you were cast in part because of your athleticism?  [Tony Dow was a big swimmer, diver and volleyball player in California.]  Wally was a star athlete at Mayfield High.

Dow: Those guys, (co-producers) Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, were really smart. They were terrific writers.  They played to our strengths.  Especially me, because I was a novice, Jerry had been acting since he was 2 years old or something ridiculous like that.  They tried to write to who we were.  I guess if they had cast a bookworm as Wally, he’d be on the debating team instead of the basketball team.

Dow: Originally the show was going to be called “Wally and the Beaver.”  The original idea was to show the craziness of the adult world from the child’s point of view – Beaver being a little kid and Wally being a little bit more grown up.  I’m not sure how structured it was when they wrote the pilot.  [Paul Sullivan was actually Wally initially and he wasn’t an athlete.]

Dow: Those scenes in the bedroom, those were moments that everybody had in real life. All the shows were written from real life. Especially the first 100.

Q: Whose real life?

Dow: They (Connelly and Mosher) had seven kids (between them). Usually, Ricky (one of Connelly’s children) would come home from school and tell his dad about something that happened in school that day.  Then Joe would say, “That sounds like a good story.”

[On Wally being such a good brother....]

Dow: A lot of people say they wish their family had been as close as the Cleavers.  That’s why people love to watch the show. It makes them feel good.

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The dynamic in my own family, growing up, was similar, I hasten to add.  I was lucky to have a terrific older brother, the same age difference essentially as Beav and Wally.  And he still is! 

--Steve G. shared with me an email exchange he had with a good friend who went to San Diego State, and Steve, who matriculated at Jacksonville University said, hey, his school produced Artis Gilmore, Pembrook Burrows III and Daniel Murphy, and the buddy, a big Aztec fan, countered that they had Tony Gwynn, Stephen Strasburg and Marshall Faulk

So Steve guys, ‘Oh yeah?  We had Dee Brown.’ To which Mr. SDSU countered, “We had Raquel Welch” and it was game over. Advantage Aztecs.  [Actually, it was game over earlier, but I had to add some drama to it.]

--I didn’t have time to note the following last time, but USA TODAY had a good piece on the anniversary of a tragic event in the music world, Oct. 20, 1977...the day Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane went down in Gillsburg, Miss.

“The original members of Lynyrd Skynryd put together a sound and an attitude that institutionalized the phrase ‘Southern rock.’

“Four years before the crash, Skynryd opened for the Who and quickly attracted a loyal following.

“ ‘Free Bird,’ a song that all cover bands seem to have in their repertoire, was one of the group’s first major hits.

“ ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ elevated Skynyrd to the top of the Southern rock genre and took their sound worldwide....

“Seemingly on top of the world, the band boarded a twin-engine, propeller-driven CV-240 Convair airplane after a show in Greenville, S.C., heading to Baton Rouge to perform at Louisiana State University.  Record has it that Aerosmith’s flight crew, once interested in the plane for their own touring, turned it down due to safety concerns.

“At about 6:47 on the night of Oct. 20, 1977, the chartered plane ran short of fuel and skittered about 100 yards along the tops of a tree line before smashing into a tree and splitting into pieces.  In the crash, Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines and road manager Dean Kilpatrick, along with the two pilots, lost their lives.”

The other 20 survived, basically all seated in the back of the plane.

I was a sophomore at Wake Forest and remember hearing of this news vividly. 

What the USA TODAY story emphasized is how the locals descended on the scene, “hopping into their vehicles and racing to where they saw the plane go down.

“Many that night would jump into swampy, snake-infested waters, traverse a waist-deep river tributary and help pull victims from the crash site,” which is a big reason why 20 survived, because of the actions of those rural Mississippians.

They had no idea, of course, just who was on the plane until later.

Top 3 songs for the week 10/23/71: #1 “Maggie May” (Rod Stewart) #2 “Superstar” (Carpenters) #3 “Yo-Yo” (The Osmonds)...and...#4 “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” (Cher)  #5 “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (Joan Baez)  #6 “Do You Know What I Mean” (Lee Michaels)  #7 “Go Away Little Girl” (Donny Osmond)  #8 “Sweet City Woman” (Stampeders)  #9 “Theme From Shaft” (Isaac Hayes)  #10 “If You Really Love Me” (Stevie Wonder...one of my faves of his...)

World Series Quiz Answers: 1) Yogi Berra leads in games, 75, and hits, 71.  2) Phil Garner is the only one to have a .500 career average (12 for 24, 3 walks, in the 1979 Series for Pittsburgh against Baltimore...enough for the career mark).  3) 10 career home runs: Mickey Mantle 18, Babe Ruth 15, Yogi Berra 12, Duke Snider 11, Lou Gehrig 10, Reggie Jackson 10.

Reggie had 10 homers and 24 RBIs in just 98 at-bats, .357 BA in five Series.  He is very much deserving of the Mr. October label.

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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