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Bar Chat

05/03/2021

Quarterbacks Wild

[Posted early Sunday p.m., prior to Mets-Phillies]

Baseball Quiz: 1) Since the other day I talked about pitching’s Triple Crown, name the nine to win batting’s Triple Crown since Rogers Hornsby’s two in 1922 and 1925.  2) Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit three home runs on Tuesday, age 22.  Name the only two to hit three homers in a game at the age of 20.  Answers below.

Rodgers Steals the Draft

--Just what the NFL didn’t want as the Draft kicked off Thursday night.  Aaron Rodgers chose that day to express his displeasure, again, with being a Packer.

Saturday, Packers president Mark Murphy said the team is committed to Rodgers and not just for 2021.

Writing on the team’s website, Murphy said: “Thursday was definitely a day filled with more intrigue than usual.  The day started with the report that Aaron Rodgers is upset with the Packers and doesn’t want to return to the team. When a report like that involves the reigning MVP, it is obviously a huge story, and it dominated the sports news for most of the day.

“This is an issue that we have been working on for several months. Brian Gutekunst, Matt LaFleur and I have flown out on a number of occasions to meet with Aaron. We are very much aware of Aaron’s concerns and I have been working with him (and his agent Dave Dunn) to resolve them. We remain committed to Aaron in 2021 and beyond.”

GM Gutekunst said Thursday that he would not trade Rodgers and urged patience.

Rodgers is under contract with the Packers through the 2023 season with a base salary of $14.7 million in 2021. He had a $6.8 million roster bonus due in March that was “vested as scheduled.”  Rodgers would need to attend a large portion of the offseason program to earn a $500,000 workout bonus, and sources said that so far he has not participated in the early portion, which has been virtual.

June is going to be a key when the Packers have their only mandatory offseason event – a three-day minicamp. If Rodgers does not report, he would be subject to fines.

June 1 also is significant for the salary cap.  If the Packers traded Rodgers after that date, they would gain more than $22 million in salary-cap space.  Doing so before then would net them only $5.646 million in cap savings.

A lot of Rodgers’ unhappiness still stems from the Packers’ decision last year to trade up and pick quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft.

But Rodgers has major leverage.  He could sit out the season, thus preventing the Packers from getting an enormous haul in a trade.  So they get something for him, or nothing.

At the same time, the Packers hold the money card.  If he opts not to play, he would give up his salary and have to give back his signing bonus money.  That’s tens of millions.  He’s also 37 years old.

As for the draft itself, the Packers did give Rodgers some help in selecting Clemson receiver Amari Rodgers with the 85th overall pick.  Rodgers is dynamic.

--Quarterbacks went 1-2-3 for just the third time in the Super Bowl era, and five were taken in the first 15 picks.

1. Trevor Lawrence / Jacksonville
2. Zach Wilson / Jets
3. Trey Lance / San Francisco

And at No. 4 the Atlanta Falcons selected the best overall athlete in the draft, Florida TE Kyle Pitts, giving Matt Ryan one helluva weapon.

At No. 5, Cincinnati opted to give Joe Burrow a weapon, rather than offensive line support, in going with former teammate, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.  [They did then take Clemson OT Jackson Carman in the second.]

6. Miami selected WR Jaylen Waddle, a former teammate of Tua at Alabama
7. Detroit then grabbed OT Penei Sewell, who perhaps Cincy should have taken
8. Carolina / Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina
9. Denver / Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama
10. Philadelphia (trade with Dallas): DeVonta Smith, WR, Heisman Trophy winner, Alabama

And then at No. 11, look who fell into the Bears’ hands…Ohio State QB Justin Fields.

My Jets traded up to No. 14 and brilliantly took OL Aligjah Vera-Tucker of USC to help protect Zach Wilson.

And at No. 15, Alabama QB Mac Jones fell into the Patriots’ lap, a perfect spot for him even if Jones was bitter he wasn’t selected earlier.  Get over it, kid.  You have an amazing opportunity for riches and fame, though admittedly by falling from a potential No. 3 (San Francisco, as once thought) to No. 15, you did lose some money in your first few years. 

Locally, the Giants selected WR Kadarius Toney of Florida at No. 20, a terrific pick and a big weapon for QB Daniel Jones.

And in the second round, I was psyched to see the Jets nab wide receiver Elijah Moore out of Ole Miss.  Plus, they picked up a steal in the fourth with North Carolina running back Michael Carter.

Very, very happy with what the Jets did.  In the later rounds, they then selected five…five defensive backs/safeties…lots of competition for the most troubling ‘position’ on the team.

Wake Forest defensive end Carlos Basham is a steal for Buffalo at No. 61 overall late in the second round.

Steelers fans will be very happy with running back Najee Harris.  As Mark R. and I agree, I don’t know why many in Steelers Nation are so upset.  Relax.

I didn’t realize Kyle Pitts, at No. 4, was the highest-selected tight end in the common draft era (dating to 1967). I just find that kind of shocking.

Chargers QB Justin Herbert has to be thrilled with his team’s selection of Northwestern OT Rashawn Slater, Herbert’s new bodyguard.

--Alabama tied an all-time NFL draft milestone Saturday when long snapper Thomas Fletcher was drafted in the sixth round.  With the selection, the 2017 Crimson Tide tied the 2001 Miami Hurricanes for most players ever drafted from the same college roster.  Fletcher became the 38th player taken from the 2017 Alabama roster, while Miami 2001 also had 38.

But Alabama has two potential draft picks from 2017 – running back Brian Robinson Jr. and defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis – who are returning next season.  Mathis redshirted in 2017, and Robinson has played four seasons but is taking advantage of an NCAA rule that allows an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic.

Alabama came into the 2021 NFL draft with 32 players from that team already drafted.  Four – DeVonta Smith, Mac Jones, Alex Leatherwood and Najee Harris – came off the board in the first round on Thursday.  Jaylen Waddle and Patrick Surtain II were also taken in the first round, but did not join the Alabama roster until 2018.

The 2017 Crimson Tide won the national championship, as did Miami’s 2001 edition.

--We note the passing of former Jets tight end Pete Lammons.  He was 77.  He died Thursday in a boating accident in Texas; falling overboard at the dock and drowning while preparing for a fishing tournament, according to a press release from Major League Fishing.

An avid fisherman, Lammons was a professional angler and was getting set to compete in the 57th MLF tournament of his career.  Lammons was apparently fatigued from two stent surgeries he had undergone in recent weeks, a family member reported.

Lammons was a very solid player for the Jets for six seasons, 1966-71, catching 184 passes, including a touchdown pass in the 1968 AFL championship win over the Raiders that propelled  them into the Super Bowl, where he caught a pair of throws from Joe Namath in the 16-7 upset of the Colts.

Lammons played a final season in Green Bay, 1972.

MLB

--The Mets had a critical 5-4 win in Philadelphia last night to get to 10-11. They have been in a major funk at the plate despite getting generally superb pitching (2nd in baseball behind San Diego).

But Saturday Michael Conforto hit a tie-breaking homer leading off the top of the ninth and the Mets benefited from an atrocious call by rookie second base umpire Jose Navas, who ruled at a key point in the game in the bottom of the seventh that the Phils’ Andrew McCutchen ran out of the baseline to avoid an attempted tag by shortstop Francisco Lindor on what became an inning-ending double play.  McCutchen clearly ran in a straight line from first to second.  The first base ump also missed the call on the throw to first, originally calling the runner safe when he was clearly out.  Just your basic s---show.

Back to Tuesday and Wednesday, the Mets lost to the Red Sox at home, 2-1, 1-0. Wednesday, Jacob deGrom was off his game, yet yielded just the one run in six, striking out nine, his ERA rising to 0.51, with a 2-2 record.  So Metslike.

But with the nine Ks, deGrom tied Nolan Ryan for most strikeouts through a pitcher’s first five starts of a season, 59.

It was also deGrom’s 33rd career start, and third in 2021, in which he allowed one run or fewer and failed to pick up the win, most in the majors since he made his debut in 2014.  Julio Tehran has the second-most such starts over that time frame with 25.

On the subject of Francisco Lindor, Mets fans are beginning to wonder if he is a $34 million a year Rey Ordonez.  I mean the guy has two…count ‘em, two…extra-base hits the first 21 games of the season.  His slugging percentage is .234.

For 2017-19, Lindor had 81, 82, and 74 XBHs, respectively, with slugging percentages of .505-.519 each campaign. 

At this point, if the guy ended the season with 60, that would be a good sign for the team’s prospects the final 140 games.

[Mets fans, don’t look at the first year(s) of other star middle infielders the Mets obtained with similar pedigrees to Lindor and his first few seasons…namely Carlos Baerga and Roberto Alomar.]

--The Yankees would appear to be getting their act together as the offense is coming around, including Aaron Judge, 8 RBIs in 10-0, 6-4 wins over the Tigers at the Stadium, Friday and Saturday.

Friday, Gerrit Cole improved to 4-1, 1.43, with six innings of shutout ball, 12 strikeouts.

So New York entered play today 13-14…and made it back to .500 as Corey Kluber threw eight masterful innings, no runs, two hits, 10 strikeouts, and the Yankees swept the pathetic Tigers 2-0, in a game that took only 2:14!  Holy Toledo!

After starting his Yankee career with four less than mediocre starts, Kluber’s last two have been terrific, a major shot in the arm for Yankees fans.  And I need to note this was win No. 100 for his career, 100-60.

I also need to add that Aroldis Chapman is off to a rather good start with his sixth save.  10 games, 10 innings, no runs, 2 hits, 24 Ks.

As for Judge, after a big two-homer, 5-RBI win on Friday, he answered questions as to what was the health issue that kept him out of the lineup Wednesday and Thursday in Baltimore and he responded, “Lower leg soreness. That’s about it.”

But then he said it’s something he’ll probably have to deal with the rest of the season and if you’re a fan, or management deciding what to do about the oft-injured Judge’s long-term contract negotiations, you’re like, ‘oh brother.’

For now we’re left with Judge’s, “The biggest thing is learning how to manage it and just being out there for the team.”

--Remember when the Dodgers, a lock to win at least 108 games this season, maybe 116, started the season 13-2?  Well after a 6-5, 11-inning loss to the Brewers last night, L.A. had fallen to 16-12.  And they may have lost starter Dustin May for an extended period of time after he left Saturday’s game in the second inning, wincing in pain.  Manager Dave Roberts said after, “He said he felt a shooting sensation through his arm” and the team is getting an MRI Monday.

But the Dodgers blasted the Brewers today, 16-4, as AJ Pollock (no relation to Jackson Pollock) had two homers, a double and 8 RBIs, while Matt Beaty (no relation to Zelmo) had a grand slam and 7 ribbies.

For Milwaukee, Alec Bettinger was the starter in his major-league debut, yielding 11 earned in four innings, for an ERA of 24.75, which I think was my ERA in my lone start in youth ball, while then you have the case of Jordan Zimmermann.  The former Washington star had retired and was living in Wisconsin when the Brewers, in need of pitching help after a slew of injuries (thus Bettinger), convinced him to throw again and today he yielded 5 in 3 2/3.  [The Mets announcers last night were talking a lot about Zimmermann.]

--Boy, I really hate to say this but you have to hand it to the Nationals, who’ve had a slew of injury issues, most importantly to Juan Soto, yet they are now 12-12 in the N.L. Least after a 3-1 win over the Marlins (11-16) today, Max Scherzer (2-2, 2.54) with a complete game, Ryan Zimmerman (one ‘n’ as opposed to the other guy’s two) hit a 3-run homer for all the runs.

This Zimmerman, like the other, was basically out of the game and decided to return and the dude is batting .319.

--Yes, it’s early, but this is kind of remarkable.

Thru Saturday’s play, both the N.L. and A.L. were hitting .233…ergo, the MLB average is, err, .233!

By comparison, in 1968, the year of the pitcher, the MLB average was .237.  The lowest ‘full season’ batting average since ‘68 was .244 in 1972.

As my friend Ken P. would say, “Eegads!”

--Speaking of Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar, he will no longer be eligible to work in Major League Baseball after an investigation into an allegation of sexual misconduct, MLB announced Friday. Alomar had been consulting for the MLB office, but his employment was terminated after the investigation, which dealt with an incident from 2014.

“At my office’s request, an independent investigation was conducted by an external legal firm to review an allegation of sexual misconduct reported by a baseball industry employee earlier this year involving Mr. Alomar in 2014,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.  “Having reviewed all of the available evidence from the now completed investigation, I have concluded that Mr. Alomar violated MLB’s policies, and that termination of his consultant contract and placement on MLB’s Ineligible List are warranted.”

Alomar released a statement on Twitter in which he did not deny the allegations but did say he was “disappointed, surprised, and upset” by MLB’s decision.  “My hope is that the allegation can be heard in a venue that will allow me to address the accusation directly. I will continue to spend my time helping kids pursue their baseball dreams.”

Alomar’s plaque in Cooperstown is not impacted.  Otherwise, there are no details.

NBA

--The Knicks defeated the Bulls 113-94 at the Garden on Wednesday to move to 35-28 and on the verge of clinching a playoff spot.  But tonight is the start of a crucial six-game road trip, Houston, and then Memphis, Denver, Phoenix, Clippers, and Lakers, before finishing with three games at home.  They must avoid slipping into the play-in affair.

East…thru Sat.

1. Brooklyn 43-21
2. Philadelphia 42-21
3. Milwaukee 39-24
4. Knicks 35-28
5. Atlanta 35-30
6. Boston 34-30
7. Miami 34-30
8. Charlotte 31-32
9. Indiana 30-33
10. Washington 29-35…nice story down there
11. Chicago 26-38
12. Toronto 26-38

The Nets then lost to the Bucks in Milwaukee this afternoon, as Giannis had 49, while Durant had 42 (Kyrie 20).  So adjust the above accordingly.

--Pretty nice game on Friday for the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum.  Like try 60 points and zero turnovers.

And it was an important effort, as the Celtics turned around a woeful first half, storming back from a 32-point deficit and beating the Spurs 143-140 in overtime. Tatum had 21 of the 60 in the fourth quarter and 10 more in OT.

Carmelo Anthony, in a game for the Knicks back in 2014, had 62 points and no turnovers, the best such performance since 1983-84.

--In the Nets’ 128-109 loss to the Trail Blazers, Friday, Kyrie Irving was back in the lineup, but Kevin Durant was out for “management” of his left hamstring after Thursday’s win at Indiana.  Irving missed that one due to a groin injury.

Meanwhile, James Harden missed his 13th straight game Friday, with his hamstring injury and coach Steve Nash said, “I’m not 100 percent certain he will or he won’t (be back before the postseason).”

Which is rather remarkable.  It’s a freakin’ hamstring injury. 

And so it goes with the Nets, who must win the title…period.

Yet the Big Three has been on the court together for literally just a handful of games.  It’s getting stupid.

--With a 109-101 win over the Clippers on Wednesday, the Phoenix Suns ended the second-longest active playoff drought in the NBA, the Suns not having played in the playoffs since 2010.

Sacramento hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2005-06 season.

--The Lakers entered Sunday’s late game against Toronto 36-27, losers of five of six, but at least LeBron James returned after a 20-game absence due to his high-ankle sprain and played solidly (16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 32 minutes).  However, he missed a go-ahead three-pointer with 2.7 seconds to play and L.A. lost to Sacramento (26-37) 110-106.

Kentucky Derby

There was no way Bob Baffert was winning the Derby Saturday.  Last fall and early this year, he had four super horses in his stable, but they flamed out in one fashion or another and he was left with only Medina Spirit in the 20-horse field (one would scratch).

But the little 3-year-old colt went to the front early and stayed there over the course of 1 ¼ miles to hand Baffert his seventh victory, thus passing Ben Jones as the winningest Kentucky Derby trainer.

“Usually, I come in here with these heavy-hitter horses,” Baffert said after.  “This year, I came in and I enjoyed myself and came in under the radar, thinking maybe he’ll get a piece of it” with a top-three finish.  “But [jockey] Johnny [Velazquez] kept telling me if he improves off his last race, he’ll run well.”

Understand, Medina Spirit never led by more than a length (nor has he ever been passed in his career).  It was an amazing race. Down the stretch there were several horses that had an opportunity to take the lead.  Hot Rod Charlie was three wide, and favored Essential Quality was tracking four wide.  But Medina Spirit just wouldn’t give it up.

Mandaloun, who had been basically alongside Medina Spirit throughout, finished second, and Hot Rod Charlie was third.  Essential Quality came in fourth.

Medina Spirit was purchased for $1,000 as a yearling, and then a mere $35,000, as he played backup to Baffert’s more accomplished horses.

One of these, Concert Tour, after a poor third in the Arkansas Derby, was held out of Saturday’s Run for the Roses and pointed toward the Preakness Stakes.  But now Baffert has a decision to make, with Medina Spirit a Triple Crown hopeful. 

By the way, Hall of Famer Johnny Velazquez won his fourth Derby, including last September on Baffert’s Authentic.

Meanwhile, it was good to see about 50,000 fans in the stands at Churchill Downs, roughly 40% of the average attendance in the recent past.  The race was also notable because for the first time in nearly a half-century, Derby entrants ran without being injected with the drug Lasix.

Lasix, or furosemide, is used to prevent respiratory bleeding – blood entering a horse’s lungs during physical activity – and is also a diuretic that causes horses to urinate several gallons of fluid.  The loss of water weight potentially allows a horse to run faster, which critics of Lasix say makes the drug a performance enhancer.

But while Lasix has been in wide use in North America since the mid-1970s, it is now widely prohibited throughout the rest of the racing world.  Lasix is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list because it can also be used by humans to mask performance-enhancing drugs.

I’ve used it to mask the authorship of these pieces.

Golf Balls

--Entering the final round of the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, we had the following leaderboard.

Keegan Bradley -14
Sam Burns -14
Max Homa -13

4 tied at -10

And Sam Burns closed the deal for his first win.  The guy had four top tens in the 2020-21 season coming in and this is no fluke.

Bradley and Burns were tied for the lead at -17 when on the par-3 13th, Bradley put it in the water and that was all she wrote, Bradley managing to finish second by himself, three strokes back.

--Michael Visacki made a name for himself early in the week when he Monday qualified for the Valspar, thus making a PGA Tour field for the first time.  It was an emotional moment for the 27-year-old, captured on social media, as he informed his parents of his professional breakthrough.

So Thursday, Visacki teed off on the par-5 first on the Copperhead Course, and his Tour debut started with a perfect, 334-yard drive, a second shot into a greenside bunker, and an up and down for a birdie.  He bogeyed his next three and went 74-71 to miss the cut, but Visacki has fulfilled his dream, at least Part I.

--Four players were forced to withdraw from the Valspar due to positive Covid-19 tests.

Will Gordon, Brice Garnett, Sepp Straka and Tyrrell Hatton.

All four played in last week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans.  Like I always say, be careful with the shot-pouring barmaids on Bourbon Street.  Last time I was there I ruined a nice white shirt, not that I was too close to them….

In a memo released to players last week, the PGA Tour is changing its testing policy, as well as updating its health and safety protocols, for those who have been vaccinated.  The biggest change involves no more routine testing for those who have been fully vaccinated, stated as 14 days since the last vaccine shot was administered.  For those who are not vaccinated, testing will remain a condition of participation.  On-site testing operations will discontinue end of June and then non-vaccinated players will be required to show proof of a negative test at their own expense 72 hours before tournament arrival.  Same rules apply for caddies, along with others inside the tour’s bubble.

--The PGA Championship at Kiawah’s Ocean Course is just three weeks away and they held the PGA Professional Championship this week to see which club champions qualify for the event, part of what makes the PGA Championship special (though not with the strongest field possible, like The Players Championship).

Omar Uresti, a former PGA Tour member, won the event and at 52, he became the second-oldest PPC champion behind Hall of Famer Sam Snead, who was 59 when he won in 1971.

So Uresti earned a spot for the PGA Championship, as well as six PGA Tour exemptions over the next year.

20 PGA Professionals in all qualified for Kiawah.

--I’ve been meaning to note a piece in Golf Magazine concerning the late Calvin Peete, one of my all-time faves who won 12 times on tour.

Now we all know he was a precise driver of the ball, but from 1980-1990, he was second on the tour in driving, 1980, and then first each year between 1981 and 1990.

As Ronald Reagan would have told Nancy, while reading the publication at lunchtime, Nancy preparing a roast beef sandwich on white with lettuce and tomato, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’

NHL

The playoffs are in a total state of flux.  The league has been plowing through its 56-game regular season, but because of Covid, you have major issues involving Canada.  As you know, the seven Canadian teams have been limited to playing each other because of the Covid border issue and the North division isn’t going to wrap up regular season play until after the playoffs have been running a few days in the other three divisions in the U.S.

For example, because of its coronavirus cases, Vancouver has played only 45 games, far fewer than every other team.

There’s really no telling how this will all end up if Canada’s border issues can’t be resolved.  So stay tuned.  Otherwise, for all but the North, the playoffs are to begin the weekend of May 15.

Premier League

--The season has just a few more weeks left…and some last critical games to get into the four Champions League slots.

Friday, Leicester managed only a 1-1 draw with Southampton.

Saturday, Manchester City basically wrapped up the title with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.  Chelsea took a huge step toward grabbing the final CL berth, 2-0 over Fulham.  And Everton suffered a deadly 2-1 loss to Aston Villa…bye-bye Everton.  [Every time I see the word Everton I think of the memorial at the spot in Clear Lake, Iowa, where Buddy Holly’s plane went down because when I was there, there was an Everton scarf draped on the fence.]

Today, the Manchester United-Liverpool match was at first delayed by a pre-game demonstration on the turf by Man U fans against the Glazer family ownership of the team. 

But this was a serious security breach by about 200 fans, unbelievable, really, and the match was then postponed.  Another black eye for the Premier League.

A loss by Man U would have clinched the title for City.

Tottenham whipped relegated Sheffield in the late game, 4-0, as Gareth Bale had a hat-trick, his second in the PL, the other way back in 2012.

Standings…Played – Points

1. Man City…34 – 80
2. Man U…33 – 67
3. Leicester…34 – 63
4. Chelsea…34 – 61
5. Tottenham…34 – 56 …too late
6. West Ham…33 – 55 …collapsed down the stretch
7. Liverpool…33 – 54
8. Everton…33 – 52

--Meanwhile, the Champions League final is going ahead as planned despite Turkey’s rising number of Covid cases, UEFA said. The final is scheduled to take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on May 29.

After the first legs of their semi-final games, Chelsea and Man City hold commanding positions over Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, which means we could have an all-English affair in the finale.

By the way, in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw in its first leg at Real Madrid, Christian Pulisic, the 22-year-old winger from Hershey, Pennsylvania, scored the lone goal for Chelsea, thus becoming the first U.S. national player to score in a Champions League semifinal, and he’s on the cusp of becoming the first to play in a final – an important steppingstone for American soccer.

Pulisic also now has five Champions League goals overall, a U.S. career record, breaking a tie with Damarcus Beasley.

Stuff

--Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup race at Kansas Speedway, his first of the year, 58th of his spectacular career and the 17th straight year he has a victory, tying him with David Pearson, behind only Richard Petty’s 18.

Talk about frustrating, I picked 1-2-3 in my DraftKings lineup (Harvick, Keselowski the others) and came up empty!  As Charlie Brown would have said, “Drat!!!”

--Iowa State had a godawful hoops campaign, 2-22, 0-18 in the Big 12, but its best player, 6-foot-3 guard Rasir Bolton, who averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists, is headed for Gonzaga, as the transfer portal spits out players onto new teams daily.

--A lot of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship is being held tonight and I’ll have more next time, but Johnny Mac’s St. Francis of Brooklyn won its first-rounder Thursday over Milwaukee 2-1, thus earning the right to face 3-seed Indiana, who it is trailing as I go to post.

Top 3 songs for the week 5/6/78: #Night Fever” (Bee Gees)  #2 “If I Can’t Have You” (Yvonne Elliman)  #3 “Can’t Smile Without You” (Barry Manilow)…and…#4 “The Closer I Get To You” (Roberta Flack with Donny Hathaway)  #5 “With A Little Luck” (Wings…absolutely dreadful…)  #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…not his best effort…)  #9 “Dust In The Wind” (Kansas)  #10 “Count On Me” (Jefferson Starship….crappy week…C- …I was finishing off an equally crappy, historically so, sophomore year at Wake and headed straight to Oklahoma and Kansas to sell books door-to-door, which was also a disaster…)

Baseball Quiz Answers; 1) Nine to win the Triple Crown since Rogers Hornsby…Chuck Klein (PHI), 1933; Jimmie Foxx (PHA), 1933; Lou Gehrig (NYY), 1934; Joe Medwick (STL), 1937; Ted Williams (BOS), 1942, ’47; Mickey Mantle (NYY), 1956; Frank Robinson (BAL), 1966; Carl Yastrzemski (BOS), 1967; Miguel Cabrera (DET), 2012.  2) Only two to hit three home runs in a game at the age of 20 – Al Kaline (DET), 1955; Eddie Mathews (BSN), 1952.

Next Bar Chat, Tuesday p.m. …maybe.

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