Note: Posted prior to Wednesday’s playoff games.
New England Patriots Quiz: 1) Name the four to throw 100 TD passes in a Pats’ uniform. 2) Name the three to rush for 4,000 yards. Answers below.
So I watched the first hour of Tuesday’s Game 3 between the Yankees and Tigers, switched to the debate, and then watched the end of the game, another Justin Verlander masterpiece, a 2-1 triumph as Detroit went up 3-0 in the ALCS. Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher were benched but the Yanks managed just five hits and while Robinson Cano broke an 0-for-29 record hitless streak with a single in the ninth, that left him 3-for-36, .083, for the playoffs, while Curtis Granderson is now 3-for-29, .103, with 15 strikeouts. Oh, and A-Rod’s replacement, Eric Chavez, is hitless in 14 at-bats, plus Chavez booted a grounder that led to Detroit’s first run.
But as Harvey Araton wrote in the New York Times, while Granderson has 108 home runs in his three seasons in New York, consider the three-way trade that brought him to Gotham, with the Tigers getting Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer (the latter from the Diamondbacks) while Ian Kennedy went from the Yankees to Arizona. Jackson, just 25, is developing into a real star, and Scherzer won 16, while Granderson is, well, Curtis…lots of home runs, a solid player all-around, but also limited, as in he’s fanned 364 times in the last two regular seasons combined.
On Monday night, I was flipping back and forth between the Denver-San Diego game and San Francisco-St. Louis (before settling on the Giants after about the third inning with San Diego beginning to roll) and so missed the Matt Holliday slide (seemingly illegal) that took out Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro that eventually took him out of the game. The Giants went on to win 7-1 to even their NL Championship Series at one game apiece, but now the question is, how long is Scutaro out? And just when do the Giants get their revenge?
I mean consider that Marco Scutaro, a solid, if totally underappreciated player, hit .400 with runners in scoring position since the Giants acquired him from Colorado on July 27.
And despite the hard slide, Scutaro stayed in the game to the point where he had the decisive hit that put the game away, though he then left the contest due to the pain.
Late word…the Giants are acting as if Scutaro will play today, Wednesday, while the team is also saying it won’t seek out Holliday for revenge (as in plugging him in the back with a fastball).
“Shameless Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez was playing so poorly against the Detroit Tigers Saturday night that he was yanked from the lineup – but that didn’t stop him from trying to score.
“After being replaced in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, the highest-paid Yankee openly flirted with a pair of pretty women two rows behind the dugout – even sending them a ball bearing a note asking for their phone numbers, a witness told The Post.
“ ‘I watched him flirt with two admittedly very cute young women nearby,’ the witness said.
“Instead of rooting on his teammates as they struggled to stay alive during the tense game at Yankee Stadium, A-Rod, 37, had a ball boy toss the young women a baseball inscribed with a message asking for their numbers.
“ ‘Alex was holding a pen and wrote a note on a ball which was thrown at the women by a ball boy,’ the witness explained.
“ ‘The girls, who had already caught two balls, seemed bemused at first and tried to hand the ball to another fan, but other fans noticed the note on it and yelled at them to read it.
“ ‘The note asked them to write their phone numbers on the ball and throw it back,’ the witness said.
“ ‘One of the girls, with darker bond hair, wrote…on the ball and threw it back at A-Rod, who gave her a big smile.’
“ ‘They exchanged a few glances after that,’ as A-Rod took a powder while a pinch-hitter took his place at the plate.
“Raul Ibanez performed under pressure, tying the score in the bottom of the ninth.
“In the 12th, team captain Derek Jeter broke his ankle – and A-Rod finally wised up, the witness said.
“ ‘The flirtation stopped once Derek Jeter got hurt,’ the source said….
“Fans sitting behind the dugout at Saturday’s game said they were disgusted after witnessing A-Rod’s shenanigans, which were more befitting a sixth-grader than a serious ballplayer.”
A-Rod’s rep referred questions to a team spokesman, who didn’t get back to The Post.
Emily Smith and Kate Sheehy / New York Post…a few days later…
“A-Rod’s hitting stinks, but there’s nothing wrong with his eyes – he managed to pick out a bikini model to flirt with during last Saturday’s playoff game at Yankee Stadium.
“Slumping slugger Alex Rodriguez zeroed in on fan Kyna Treacy, a leggy 33-year-old, in the ninth inning of his team’s crucial playoff game against the Detroit Tigers, openly flirting with her and getting her phone number even as he was yanked from the lineup and the Bombers struggled to stay alive.
“Treacy – a sexy catwalker who started her own swimwear line, Kini Bikini, which specializes in tiny crocheted suits….”
Meanwhile, Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher, who’s a clown, and I don’t say that in an endearing way, couldn’t understand why the Yankee fans in the bleachers had turned on him after he spent years cultivating a good relationship with the self-named “bleacher creatures.”
“It hurts,” he said. “Sometimes I’m a sensitive guy and some of the things people say, they get under your skin a little bit.”
Swisher is a free agent this offseason and no way the Yanks re-sign him.
But you know who I miss these days? Boss George. George Steinbrenner. Oh, if he was around and in fine form, imagine his reaction to his team’s play today, let alone A-Rod’s antics. It would be great fun.
In the meantime, as the New York Daily News’ John Harper pointed out, it was General Manager Brian Cashman who played the heavy on Tuesday, explaining the decision to bench A-Rod even though he had gone 4-for-6 with two home runs against Verlander this season. Instead, the 0-for-18 with 12 strikeouts against righthanded pitching in the postseason stands out.
“I’m shocked, to be honest,” Cashman said of A-Rod’s slump. “It’s something you really don’t see, especially in a playoff situation with players of such high caliber.”
So this is going to be an interesting offseason. Clearly, the Yankees would love to unload A-Rod, it’s just that no one is going to take him without the Yankees having to eat like 90% of the remaining $114 million on his contract (plus $30 million in home run incentives).
Oct. 17, 1979
“Willie Stargell had already crafted the majority of his Hall of Fame career when the 1979 World Series began. But by the end of those seven games against the Baltimore Orioles, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ lovable slugger had cemented a legacy destined for Cooperstown.
“Thirty-three years ago this week, on Oct. 17, 1979, Stargell hammered a two-run homer off Baltimore’s Scott McGregor in the sixth inning of Game 7, erasing a 1-0 Orioles lead. The Pirates went on to win the game 4-1, capturing the World Series title.
“It remains the last time a team has won Game 7 of the Fall Classic on the road, with nine home teams posting wins since.”
Stargell was named MVP of the World Series, capping a season in which he was co-MVP in the National League, along with Keith Hernandez, and also MVP of the NLCS. All at the age of 39.
In the ’79 postseason, Stargell was 17-for-41, .415, with five homers and 13 RBI in ten games.
Now let’s compare this to A-Rod, Cano, Granderson and Swisher, shall we?
College Football
Not a lot of games this Saturday that I’m interested in, but at least one for each time slot (plus I need to get to my undefeated high school alma mater’s game, Summit having won something like 33 straight regular-season contests).
No. 6 LSU at No. 18 Texas A&M…intriguing
No. 7 South Carolina at No. 2 Florida…brutal two-game road trip for the Gamecocks, having lost to LSU last Saturday.
No. 4 Kansas State vs. No. 13 West Virginia…should be a fun game.
[The New York Post’s Lenn Robbins on the above: “The West Virginia fans will be well lubricated for Saturday’s showdown. You just wonder if they know who the heck Kansas State is.”]
Another game that I’ll catch a little of on the computer if it’s close is No. 21 Cincinnati (5-0) at Toledo (6-1, 4-0 MAC).
But talk about a bust, ABC’s Saturday night prime time affair is No. 14 Florida State at Miami. There will be a ton of empty seats for that one, I imagine. It looked good on paper…about ten years ago.
Lastly, Thursday night, No. 3 Oregon is at Arizona State in a potentially tough game for the Ducks.
BCS title game: Alabama vs. Oregon…that would be awesome.
Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Southern California…I’d watch, but with zero excitement. With Ohio State ineligible, the Big Ten entrant is going to have two losses, minimum.
Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Louisville…no thank you.
Fiesta Bowl: West Virginia vs. Notre Dame…this would be terrific, and assumes WVU has run the table from here and moved up to about No. 5 in the BCS race.
Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Florida…this means the Gators have one loss, in the SEC title game against Alabama…thus little interest for me in this one.
But no room in the above lineup for the Beavers?! ‘Sup wit dat? [Conference tie-ins, that’s what.]
–Out of nowhere, the NHL owners made a solid offer, putting a 50-50 split in hockey-related revenue on the table and a full 82-game season starting Nov. 2. In the expired collective bargaining agreement, the players earned 57 percent. The Players Association considers the offer to be an honest one and now we’ll see if the two sides can wrap it up. NHLPA head Donald Fehr said the offer is “at least six years in length.”
–I do have to note for the archives that I had posted my last Bar Chat prior to the conclusion of the Sunday night football game between the Packers and undefeated Houston Texans, with Green Bay prevailing, 42-24, as Aaron Rodgers had a career high six touchdown passes, tying the franchise mark held by Matt Flynn, who set the record in last season’s finale as Rodgers rested in preparation for the playoffs.
–Baltimore Ravens superstar linebacker Ray Lewis is out for the season with a torn right triceps muscle. Lewis, 37, is nowhere near the player he used to be but he’s still the true leader of the 5-1 Ravens.
–On Monday night, Nielsen says 12.8 million people watched the Denver Broncos’ miraculous comeback over the San Diego Chargers, and just 5.6 million watched the Giants beat the Cardinals.
–Speaking of the Chargers game, for years, San Diego QB Philip Rivers has wanted to be considered in the same breath as the game’s true stars; Peyton and Eli Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers, though all five of them have Super Bowl titles on their resume and Rivers, despite some gaudy stats, doesn’t.
Well, he didn’t help his cause any on Monday night as he threw four interceptions, a career high, and San Diego blew a 24-0 halftime lead as Peyton Manning was 13 of 14 for 167 yards in the second half in leading Denver to a shocking 35-24 victory, tying for the fourth-biggest regular-season comeback in NFL history. Rivers also lost two fumbles…six total turnovers!
–Nike told Lance Armstrong to get lost, ending its contract with him after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s detailed report of Armstrong’s usage of PEDs.
–The United States got its act together in the 2014 World Cup qualifying round in defeating Guatemala, 3-1, and thus moving on to the next stage, but it shouldn’t have come down to the U.S. needing at least a draw in this final match of group play to do so.
–For the record, Felix Baumgartner plunged 128,100 feet…24 miles…hitting Mach 1.2, 833 mph. Forget going down, I can’t imagine what he was thinking for the two hours it took to get up that high.
I watched the news reports on Sunday and the video since but didn’t have a chance to get down the particulars last Bar Chat so also for the record, it took “Fearless Felix” about five minutes to complete his fall, including with the deployment of the parachute the last mile or two.
I must say I had no idea Felix’s flight suit and helmet weighed 100 pounds.
Anyway, he broke the record set in 1960 by Col. Joe Kittinger, who fell from 102,000 feet during an Air Force mission. What is remarkable is Kittinger was the lone person from Mission Control talking to Baumgartner throughout the attempt.
–The NCAA is removing a Division I women’s basketball regional scheduled for 2013 as a result of New Jersey’s plan to introduce sports betting. Boooo! Boooo!!!
“Maintaining the integrity of sports and protecting student-athlete well-being are at the bedrock of the NCAA’s mission, and are reflected in our policies prohibiting the hosting of our championships in states that provide for single-game sports wagering,” said Mark Lewis, the NCAA’s executive vice president of championships and alliances. [Wall Street Journal]
The NCAA also removed other previously scheduled events from the state, such as the Division III women’s lacrosse championship. Whoopty-damn-do.
–As noted in Golfweek, Davis Love III is going to end the year in the top 125 on the money list for a 27th consecutive season, which matches Tom Watson, who ran off 27 inside the top 125 as well, while Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus had 25-year streaks. This is the last year, though, that the top 125 on the money list is the target for players in retaining their Tour card. Next year it shifts to top 125 on the FedEx Cup Points list, which will really piss off purists like me, though the two lists will certainly be similar. This is also the last year for Q School as we know it.
“Basil L. Plumley, a renowned career soldier whose exploits as an Army infantryman were portrayed in a book and the movie ‘We Were Soldiers,’ died Oct. 10 at 92 – an age his friends are amazed that he lived to see.
“Plumley fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam and was awarded a medal for making five parachute jumps into combat.
“Friends said Plumley, a retired command sergeant major, never told war stories and was known to hang up on people who called to interview him. Still, he was near legendary in the Army and gained more widespread fame though a 1992 Vietnam War book that was the basis for the 2002 movie starring Mel Gibson. Actor Sam Elliott played Plumley in the film….
[Ed. this was one of the two or three best books I ever read.]
“In World War II, he fought in the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno and the D-Day invasion at Normandy. He later fought with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment in Korea. In Vietnam, Plumley served as sergeant major in 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment.
“ ‘That puts him in the rarest of clubs,’ said journalist Joseph L. Galloway, who met Plumley while covering the Vietnam War for United Press International and remained lifelong friends with him. ‘To be combat infantry in those three wars, in the battles he participated in, and to have survived – that is miraculous.’
“It was during Vietnam in November 1965 that Plumley served in the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major engagement between the U.S. Army and North Vietnamese forces. That battle was the basis for the book ‘We Were Soldiers Once…And Young,’ written nearly three decades later by Galloway and retired Lt. Gen. Hal G. Moore, who had been Plumley’s battalion commander in Vietnam.”
“Gabe, a yellow Labrador retriever who completed more than 200 combat missions before retiring, has won this year’s American Humane Association Hero Dog award.
“His job was to sniff out insurgent bombs and other weapons in Iraq.
“Gabe accepted the honor at an Oct. 6 ceremony at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles with his human, Sgt. 1st Class Chuck Shuck of the Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, S.C.
“ ‘Winning the award was an amazing feeling because I knew that many soldiers were going to benefit from the $15,000 we just won,’ Shuck said. ‘Looking out at the crowd, who gave Gabe a standing ovation, was also amazing. Seeing Betty White and many other celebrities honor Gabe was a moment I will never forget.’”
–Director of Southwestern Wildlife Management and Vice President of Catering for Bar Chat, Brad K., passed along this piece from the Daily Mail’s Emma Reynolds.
“An Alaskan forester was mauled to death by a brown bear while making a boat trip to collect groceries for his workmates, police believe.
“Tomas Puerta, 54, left Peril Strait in a skiff to make what should have been a two-hour round-trip across flat, protected water – but he never completed it.
“Some other boaters spotted the unattended skiff at Poison Bay on Chichagof Island, three days after Mr. Puerta went missing.
“They went to shore to investigate and were met by a brown bear sow with two cubs.”
Well, police were then called to the scene and eventually came across “pieces of clothing to the human remains, which had been partially eaten, according to KCAW-FM.
“Bears protecting a food cache can be hostile, and the sow and cub acted aggressively, said Sitka police Lieutenant Barry Allen.
“ ‘It looks like he had engine problems and he wound up on the beach,’ said Lt. Allen. ‘They found where he built a fire on the beach, and some groceries.’”
Our sympathies to the Puerta family. The bear’s attorneys said their client has no comment.
“A British man has died after being thrown from a whale-watching boat as it capsized…about ten miles from Cape Town, on Saturday.”
I’m leaving out the names on this one…two women “survived by breathing from an air pocket after they were trapped for more than three hours in the hull of the boat in shark-infested waters.”
“Some 38 people from Britain, France and South Africa were thrown overboard. Observers suggested that a large wave flipped the boat over.”
–Did you see the story of the giant blue eyeball that washed up near Pompano Beach, Fla., the other day? Florida officials have concluded it belonged to a swordfish. Thus a fisherman cut it out. Swordfish can reach 1,100 pounds.
–Regarding the huge art heist in Rotterdam, where thieves stole seven major works from a private collection being displayed for the first time at the Kunsthal museum, Charles Hill, a retired Scotland Yard art detective who once retrieved a version of “The Scream,” by Edvard Munch, after it was stolen in 1994 in Oslo, told the New York Times, “The volume suggests that whoever stole it owes somebody a lot of money, and it’s got to be a major-league villain.”
But I’m just ticked that all the headlines say “A Picasso and a Gauguin among 7 works stolen…”
Gauguin blows. Of far more import were the two Monets that were taken, “Waterloo Bridge, London” and “Charing Cross Bridge, London.” Monet rules!
–Catching up on some reading from last weekend, did you know there are now over 16,000 books in print about Abraham Lincoln? 20 more are in the works for next year. Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” is coming out Nov. 16.
–It’s official. The Rolling Stones are doing two dates at the Prudential Center in Newark. That’s Newark, New Jersey, Dec. 13 and 15. Ticket prices are going to be $95 to $750. The Dec. 15 show, though, will be a pay-per-view event. Yippee! At least I’ll catch that for sure.
The other two currently scheduled shows are for November at the O2 Arena in London, and while there are rumors the Stones will end up doing a more extended tour, it’s possible as of today the Dec. 15 show is their last as they celebrate their 50th anniversary.
Then again, Keith Richards told BBC Radio on Monday, “Nobody has given us a heads up” when it comes to doing more shows in 2013, “but this band isn’t going to wind up with four shows. Next year looks like it is on.”
The Stones also have a documentary, “Crossfire Hurricane,” that will be shown on HBO on Nov. 15, two days after the 50-track greatest hits collection, “Grrr!,” is due in stores.
–And it appears Beyonce is the halftime performer for the Super Bowl. No doubt Jay-Z will make an appearance…but all eyes will be focused on Beyonce’s magical…err, err….
Top 3 songs for the week 10/17/64: #1 “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” (Manfred Mann) #2 “Dancing In The Street” (Martha & The Vandellas) #3 “Oh, Pretty Woman” (Roy Orbison)…and…#4 “We’ll Sing In The Sunshine” (Gale Garnett…did you ever listen to the lyrics to this one…very depressing…) #5 “Last Kiss” (J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers…ditto…) #6 “Remember (Walkin’ in the Sand)” (The Shangri-Las…loved the blonde…nice sweaters on all of them…) #7 “A Summer Song” (Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde) #8 “It Hurts To Be In Love” (Gene Pitney…gets play in the car when I feel like belting out a tune…helps if the voice is properly lubed…) #9 “When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)” (The Beach Boys…easily one of my top five BB songs of all time) #10 “Let It Be Me” (Betty Everett & Jerry Butler…fantastic tune…will be great 600 years from now…hoping Mets are out from under the Madoff stench by 2612 as well…)
New England Patriots Quiz Answers: 1) 100 TD passes: Tom Brady (2000-2012) 310; Steve Grogan (1975-90) 182; Drew Bledsoe (1993-2001) 166; Babe Parilli (1961-67) 132. 2) 4,000 yards rushing: Sam Cunningham (1973-82) 5,453; Jim Nance (1965-71) 5,323; Tony Collins (1981-87) 4,647.
