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Bar Chat

09/06/2018

Bring on the NFL

[Posted Wed. a.m.]

NFL Quiz: Name the six with 1,100 career receptions.  Answer below.

MLB

--Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom tied a major league record Monday in Los Angeles by allowing three or fewer runs in 25 straight starts in a single season.  But deGrom remains just 8-8, as Monday he went six innings, giving up a first-inning solo shot to the Dodgers’ Justin Turner.  Exiting in the seventh, the game tied 1-1. Brandon Nimmo then hit a pinch-hit three-run homer in the top of the ninth, the Mets would win 4-2, but another no-decision for the star right-hander.

So in the N.L. Cy Young Award race...

Jacob deGrom...8-8, 1.68
Aaron Nola...15-4, 2.23
Max Scherzer...16-6, 2.28

Nola was hit hard in his last outing; Scherzer has been just so-so in his last two.

As for the record streak of 25 starts, back in 1910, King Cole went 25 straight yielding three or fewer runs, a year in which he finished 20-4 with a 1.80 ERA, to give you an idea of what kind of W/L record deGrom could have had with some luck.  [Poor Cole died at the age of 29 in 1916 from tuberculosis.]

Some articles say deGrom set a new record Monday, but they are choosing an era beginning after 1910. Whatever.  It’s impressive, and he can eliminate any discussion whatsoever with one more start of three runs or fewer.

[In terms of the definition of a quality start, six innings, three runs or less, deGrom’s streak is at 20.]

Meanwhile, as for the Dodgers, their hold on the N.L. West was short-lived, one day, after they had taken 3 of 4 from Arizona.  The Dodgers then rebounded Tuesday against the Mets, beating New York 11-4.

Colorado, in winning four in a row, suddenly has the lead....

Rockies 76-62
Dodgers 76-63...0.5
Diamondbacks 75-64...1.5

--The Yankees, in splitting their first two in Oakland, maintain a 4 ½-game lead over the A’s in terms of hosting the wild card playoff.  In last night’s 5-1 victory in Oakland, New York’s Luke Voit hit a key eighth-inning home run and the unheralded rookie now has 8 homers and 18 RBIs in just 70 at-bats.

--Shohei Ohtani made a start against the Astros Sunday night and lasted only 2 1/3, throwing 49 pitches in his first outing in nearly three months after being shelved from pitching duties due to his ulnar collateral ligament issue.  But what seemed worrisome was not that Ohtani was ineffective, giving up two runs, on two hits and two walks, but that his fastball was clocked at a mere 88 mph.  How this all ends in terms of Ohtani’s future on the mound remains to be seen.  The Angels, and Ohtani, are committed to him remaining a two-way player.  But he still may need surgery that would likely keep him out a full season.

At the plate, focusing on his hitting in August, he hit .328 with six home runs and 18 RBIs.  He hit home run No. 16 last night in a 4-2 Angels loss to Texas.

Manager Mike Scioscia said, “He’s too good of a pitcher, he loves pitching too much, to just give up on it right now. I think it’s important from now to the end of the year for Shohei to go out there and feel that he’s 100% going into the offseason, not only important for him, but important for the Angels.”

One thing is for sure...Ohtani picked the right organization for him to pursue his dreams of two-way success.

--The minor league regular season ended Monday, at least for all full-season leagues, and Mets prospect Peter Alonso, first baseman, tied Ibandel Isabel of the Reds for the minor league home run title at 36.  Alonso led all of the minors in RBIs at a rather impressive 119 (132 games).   Alonso should be a lock for the big league roster next spring, though there are questions about his fielding.

Speaking of ribbies, I can’t help but note that former Wake Forest Demon Deacon Will Craig, a first-round pick of the Pirates in 2016, completed his double-A season at Altoona (the “Altoona Curve”...which is a great name...as a kid the family often took the train ‘home’ to the Pittsburgh area from Newark and anyone who has ever done that route knows there is a famous, kind of unnerving, curve in the tracks around Altoona)...and Craig had 20 home runs and 102 RBIs, which is impressive, except he only hit .248 and he’s not that highly rated in the organization. 

Baseball America had a list of all the leaders in full-season minor league play this year and it was kind of interesting that the leader in innings pitched was James Marvel of the Pirates at 167, the minors being so careful these days in managing innings limits.

As for the minors’ batting champion, it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays.  Guerrero was above .400 for most of the year but fell off a bit the last three weeks to finish at .381.  This was still like 40 or so points above the next hitter in all of minor league baseball.  The dude doesn’t turn 20 until next March, by the way, and no doubt he’ll be on the big-league roster come April.  [Haven’t seen if he was being called up by the big club for September.]

NFL

--Are you ready for some football?  I’m all in on my Jets (save for the Super Bowl), who officially designated Sam Darnold to start the opener.  Darnold, at 21 years 97 days, will be the youngest starting QB in NFL history for Week 1*,surpassing Drew Bledsoe (21 years 203 days), who held the distinction since starting his first game for New England in 1993.

*Technically, Tommy Maddox, who made his first appearance for the Broncos back in 1992, was 21 years 81 days but in Week 12.

Of the five quarterbacks selected in the first round this year, Darnold was the only one named his team’s starter for the opener.  Baker Mayfield (Cleveland), Josh Allen (Buffalo), Josh Rosen (Arizona) and Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) being backups for now.

Meanwhile, two days after Giants quarterback Davis Webb was shockingly released, he ended up in Jets camp, took a physical, and was signed to the practice squad.  Another great QB move by the Jets.

An emotional Webb said, “There are no words,” to describe his 48-hour whirlwind.  “The biggest thing is having all your teammates call you, especially Eli (Manning), how emotional he took it and how shocked he was.”

“I didn’t need (to hear) a person,” Webb said.  “They made a decision.  I didn’t agree with it.  Not many people did, especially my teammates. At the same time, I’ve moved  on.  I wish them nothing but the best.”

The Giants, according to Webb, gave no reason for their move.

The stunning thing was that Webb was taking the snaps behind Manning, not the new backups Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney, but clearly new Giants management wanted their own people in there and Webb wasn’t their pick.

Former Wake Forest QB John Wolford, who had been placed on the Jets’ practice squad after being released over the weekend, was then released to make room for Webb.  It’s a cruel business.

--As I go to post, Le’Veon Bell has not signed his franchise tender and rejoined his teammates in Pittsburgh, but this is actually no surprise.  Bell has only played in two of the possible five season openers in his career, two times not appearing because of suspensions and a third because of an injury.

Bell is upset, again, that he was franchised a second straight season, seeking a multi-year deal with a huge Odell Beckham, Aaron Rodgers-like guarantee.

But at $14.5 million, which he is slated to be paid, he would forfeit $853,000 for every game he goes unsigned.

James Conner is the Steelers’ lead back in Bell’s absence.

--Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden commented on the shocking trade of All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack to the Bears for draft picks and salary cap room.

“It wasn’t my goal to trade Khalil when we got here,” Gruden said Sunday.  “One of the reasons I’m here is because of him.  Unfortunately, we had a standoff with a contract, and we could not come to terms. The Bears made us an offer of two first-round draft choices and here we are today.”

Gruden added: “It’s tough when you have two players that are the highest paid at their positions, so the economic part of it certainly weighs in. We’ve got free agents on our team that are going to be (up) next year; we’ve got to find a way to bring them back. So you’ve got to field a 53-man roster and there are some implications of having two players making that much money. That’s no mystery to anybody.”

Oakland has the oldest roster in the league and Gruden said the team needs to get younger and “we’re trying to draft and develop.”  The coach also admitted management has not been drafting well the past few years and there are a lot of holes to fill.

--Just what the NFL didn’t need...Nike launching an advertising campaign commemorating the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” motto featuring Colin Kaepernick.

“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.  #JustDoIt,” Kaepernick tweeted Monday.

The NFL will now no doubt draw Donald Trump’s ire, especially in light of other breaking developments more appropriate for another column I do.

It is going to be interesting how much the league’s ratings continue to slide, as no doubt they will...down 8 percent in 2016, nearly 10 percent last year, and I imagine a like amount in 2018. 

The anthem controversy is not going away, with the league and the NFL Players Association now silent.  Their most recent joint statement was back on July 20.

“No new rules relating to the anthem will be issued or enforced for the next several weeks while these confidential discussions are ongoing.”

And you have the concussion issue, and the huge decline in youth football, as much as 40 percent since 2006, according to research firm Statista.

--Sports Illustrated has the Steelers over the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, with the Falcons over the Vikings in the NFC. The Falcons then over the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

I’m going with Jacksonville...just for the hell of it, but I think, locally, the Jets and Giants will surprise to the upside, though Sports Illustrated goes against the grain and has the Jets actually making the playoffs as a wild card, a projected 9-7.  [Giants were listed 8-8.]

College Football

No. 20 Virginia Tech handled 19 Florida State in the rain in Tallahassee Monday night, 24-3, with the Seminoles, in coach Willie Taggart’s FSU debut, looking awful, finishing with five turnovers (the Hokies had zero), a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown and a missed field goal.  It was the first time the Seminoles failed to score a touchdown at home since losing 12-3 to Wake Forest on Sept. 20, 2008. Go Deacs!

Sunday night, 25 LSU whipped 8 Miami 33-17, Miami needing 14 fourth-quarter points to make it seem closer than it was.  Malik Rosier threw two interceptions for Miami, one returned for a touchdown by LSU’s Jacob Phillips.

So...the new AP Top 25 poll....

1. Alabama (48) 1-0
2. Clemson (12) 1-0
3. Georgia 1-0
4. Ohio State 1-0
5. Wisconsin (1) 1-0
6. Oklahoma 1-0
7. Auburn 1-0
8. Notre Dame 1-0
9. Washington 0-1
10. Stanford 1-0
11. LSU 1-0...up from No. 25 preseason
14. West Virginia 1-0
21. Michigan 0-1
22. Miami 0-1...down from No. 8

Big games this coming weekend, on paper....

18 Mississippi State at Kansas State
3 Georgia at 24 South Carolina
2 Clemson at Texas A&M
13 Penn State at Pitt...intriguing, PSU only 8 ½-point favorite
17 USC at 10 Stanford
15 Michigan State vs. Arizona State

And a biggie among unranked teams...Duke at Northwestern.

--Drat...just saw my Wake Forest boys lost redshirt senior offensive lineman Justin Herron for the season to a knee injury. The O-Line is Wake’s strength this year and Herron was judged by Pro Football Focus as the top returning pass-blocking lineman in the country, going 469 snaps last season without allowing a sack.

Herron meets all the NCAA requirements for a sixth season of eligibility should he so choose.

--Alabama coach Nick Saban called ESPN reporter Maria Taylor to apologize for his reaction to her question about the Crimson Tide’s quarterback situation following their win over Louisville on Saturday night.

Saban was frustrated when Taylor asked a pretty simple question...what is the coach going to do, as in who is the starter – Tua Tagovailoa or Jalen Hurts?

“Well, I still like both guys,” Saban said.  “I think both guys are good players. I think both guys can help our team, all right? So why do you continually try to get me to say something that doesn’t respect one of them?  I’m not going to. So quit asking.”

Tagovailoa started Saturday’s 51-14 win over Louisville, going 12/16, 227 yards and two touchdowns.  Hurts also played and was 5/9, 70 yards.

Recall it was Tagovailoa who came off the bench in the CFP Championship Game to lead the Tide to a 26-23 win over Georgia, after Georgia had built up a 13-0 halftime lead.

US Open

In one of the all-time tennis upsets, unheralded Australian John Millman, ranked No. 55 in the world and unseeded, defeated Roger Federer Monday night at Flushing Meadows. 

The 29-year-old had never previously beaten a top-10 opponent, but he fought back after Federer was a set and a break up to clinch a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 victory.

While this was easily the biggest performance of Millman’s undistinguished career, it was one of the poorest of Federer’s, who was clearly suffering from the heat, Federer making 76 unforced errors.  [Some say that his heavy perspiration was from more than the humidity...a story since he’s renowned for never sweating.]

Federer said after, “I just thought it was very hot tonight. It was just one of those nights, I guess, I felt I couldn’t get air.  There was no circulation. ...Maybe when you feel like that, you start missing chances. ...I just struggled with the conditions tonight, one of the first times that’s happened to me.  John was able to deal with it better.”

It was the 37-year-old’s earliest loss at a slam since the Australian Open in 2015 and the first time he has ever lost to a player ranked outside the top 50 in New York.  Federer’s serves were awful.

The air was thus sucked out of the U.S. Open, at least on the men’s side.  Wednesday was to be a classic, Federer vs. Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side Monday, Maria Sharapova lost to Suarez Navarro.  Curiously, Sharapova had never lost a night match at the U.S. Open.

Tuesday (into Wednesday), top-seeded Rafael Nadal took 4 hours, 49 minutes to dispatch with No. 9 Dominic Thiem after getting blown out in the first set, 6-0. The match concluded after 2 a.m. this morning.

Friday, Nadal will take on No. 3 seed Juan Martin del Potro, who defeated No. 11 John Isner in their quarterfinal.

Tuesday, on the women’s side, Serena advanced to the semis with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, while No. 3, and defending champion, Sloane Stephens was ousted by No. 19 Anastasija Sevastova.

Golf Balls

--The traditional Monday finish for the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship in Norton, Mass., yielded a second consecutive win for Bryson DeChambeau (third in nine starts, fourth for his career), by two strokes over Justin Rose.  Phil Mickelson finished T-12 thanks to a final round 63, but Tiger Woods faded to T-24, but good enough.

So Monday, Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk selected all three to be part of the team in Paris in three weeks, and Furyk has one more selection after this week’s third leg of the FedExCup at Aronomink in Pennsylvania.

It’s clearly going to be Tony Finau, who was T-4 this past weekend.  I can’t envision a scenario where he doesn’t make the squad. 

On the European side, captain Thomas Bjorn was making his four captain’s picks today, Wednesday, with Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren and Thorbyorn Olesen the eight automatic qualifiers.

A Euro player, Matt Wallace, has mucked up the selection process for Bjorn by, out of nowhere, claiming his third Euro Tour win in 15 tournaments this past weekend in Denmark.

So add Wallace to a list including veterans Ian Poulter, Henrick Stenson and Paul Casey, plus Rafael Cabrera Bello, Thomas Pieters and Matthew Fitzpatrick. 

Forget Sergio Garcia...ain’t gonna happen.

*This just in...an hour after I first posted...it's Poulter, Stenson, Casey and...Garcia!  Unreal.

--I didn’t note the finish to the Champions’ Tour event on Sunday at the Shaw Charity Classic in Canada, but for one golfer it was gruesome.

Joe Durant missed a tap-in putt...a mere tap-in...on the 17th hole of the final round and he finished one  shot behind winner Scott McCarron.  Durant ended up tied for second with Scott Parel and Kirk Triplett.

NASCAR

After I posted last time, Brad Keselowski won the Southern 500 – giving Team Penske its first victory at Darlington Raceway in 43 years, Bobby Allison the last to do so in 1975.  It was Keselowski’s first victory of the season and 25th of his career.

Next week’s race at Indianapolis is the last before the 10-race playoffs and the Chase for the Cup.

Stuff

--Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has reached a deal with the Spanish tax authorities to serve one year in prison in a tax evasion case, El Mundo newspaper reported Tuesday.

But Mourinho is unlikely  to serve any time in jail under the deal because Spanish law states that a sentence of under two years for a first offense can be served on probation.  The Spanish tax agency hasn’t commented yet, but Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have also been accused in Spain of tax fraud and reached settlements with the government.

--‘Man’ goes down another notch on the All-Species List after this story out of South Hero, Vt., from the Associated Press:  

“A moose drowned in Lake Champlain after people crowded around the animal to take its picture, Vermont wildlife officials said.

“Fish and Wildlife Warden Robert Currier said the moose swam across the lake from New York to South Hero, Vermont, on Saturday. He said it made it onto land but was forced back into the water, likely feeling threatened by onlookers. The moose succumbed to exhaustion and drowned.

“Currier said he wasn’t there when the moose re-entered the water, but believes onlookers played a role based on what he heard from them and from local authorities. He arrived shortly before the animal drowned.

“ ‘It was struggling pretty good at that point.  We were waiting for a boat to respond to try to assist it, but before the boat arrived, it had drowned,’ he said Monday.  ‘It was really rough out there, probably 4- to 5-foot swells and high wind.’”

One witness, however, says there wasn’t a mob, but about half a dozen people, the incident happening near a bike path popular with tourists.

Regardless, another sad story.

--And this one...the New York Times reported this morning that there has been an elephant massacre in Botswana...at least 87 animals over the past few months...what conservationists are calling one of the biggest slaughters in recent years.

Top 3 songs for the week 9/7/68: #1 “People Got To Be Free” (The Rascals)  #2 “Born To Be Wild” (Steppenwolf)  #3 “Light My Fire” (Jose Feliciano)...and...#4 “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (Jeannie C. Riley)  #5 “Hello, I Love You” (The Doors)  #6 “The House That Jack Built” (Aretha Franklin)  #7 “1,2,3, Red Light” (1910 Fruitgum Company)  #8 “You’re All I Need To Get By” (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell)  #9 “I Can’t Stop Dancing” (Archie Bell & The Drells)  #10 “Stay In My Corner” (The Dells...I was about to drop this week from A to A- over #7, but then just re-listened to it and it was solid...so an ‘A’...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Six with 1,100 receptions....

Jerry Rice 1,549
Tony Gonzalez 1,325
Larry Fitzgerald 1,234
Jason Witten 1,152
Marvin Harrison 1,102
Cris Carter 1,101

Next Bar Chat, Monday.

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