[Posted Wednesday a.m.]
Golf Quiz: The Players Championship, being played this weekend, has a history of producing a few obscure champions since it was first held in 1974, despite having the strongest field of the year (46 of the world’s top 50 in this year’s field, including the top 20). Five have won it who have had four overall PGA Tour wins or less, none of which was a major. [I am not including Martin Kaymer, who has just three PGA Tour victories but they happen to be a TPC, U.S. Open, and PGA Championship, which is rather impressive.] You get help…but you have to get all five to treat yourself to some domestic. M.H., J.M., C.P., S.A., T.C. Answer below.
NBA Playoffs
—Trailing 2-1 in their series with Golden State, Portland appeared to be in a good position to even it up Monday night as Stephen Curry’s status was thought to be ‘questionable.’ Then the Warriors announced he would play but come off the bench and be limited to about 20 minutes of action.
Portland got off to a 16-2 lead, Curry was inserted and suddenly all was well with the world, if you were a Warriors’ fan.
Oh, sure, Steph missed his first ten from beyond the arc, but he ended up playing 37 minutes, dropping 40 points on 16-of-32 shooting from the field (5-of-16 from three), with 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
But it went into overtime and that’s when Curry really took over, scoring an NBA record 17 points in the extra session as the Warriors defeated the Trail Blazers 132-125 to take a 3-1 lead with the opportunity to end it in Oakland on Wednesday.
For Portland, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum combined for 60 points, but it was on 18-of-53 shooting from the field, with Lillard going just 9-of 30. Al-Farouq Aminu had another solid game, 18 points, 13 rebounds.
Back to Curry, he became the first unanimous NBA Most Valuable Player on Tuesday, winning for a second straight season.
Curry received all 130 first-place votes from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and one from a Kia MVP fan vote. Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James were a distant second and third, respectively.
Curry joins Tom Brady (2010 NFL MVP) and Wayne Gretzky (1982 Hart Trophy winner) as the only unanimous MVPs in their respective leagues. Bryce Harper was a unanimous selection in the N.L. last season, one of 17 in MLB history.
Curry is also the first player in league history to average 30 points per game in less than 35 minutes per contest over a full season. And he joined Steve Nash and his coach, Steve Kerr, as the only players to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 45 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the line in a single season.
–The stars have been stepping up. Sunday night (after I posted), Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant had 29 of his 41 points in the second half as the Thunder evened their series with the Spurs at 2-2 with a 111-97 win in OKC.
And then on Tuesday in San Antonio, the Thunder closed with a rush to take Game 5 and a 3-2 series lead, 95-91. After a terrific steal and thunderous dunk by Kawhi Leonard put the Spurs ahead 88-82, it seemed they had the game in the bag, but then OKC outscored SA 13-3 in the closing minutes. Tony Parker, LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan came up small when it mattered most, and I hate to admit it, but maybe this was finally Duncan’s last game before the home fans. He seems to have aged in the playoffs. Tuesday he was just 1 of 6 from the field in 28 minutes. Aldridge didn’t come through either…6 of 21 and a costly non-blockout at 90-88 OKC.
For the Thunder, Russell Westbrook had 35 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists and 8 turnovers (though six of these were in the first half).
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant is a free agent at the end of the season and Washington harbors dreams of getting him to return ‘home’ to the D.C. area.
But he’d be a fool financially to do so. With the NBA salary cap about to explode, the way these things work he reportedly could make about $225-227 million over the next six seasons by staying with the Thunder, but a maximum $110 million over the next four if he went elsewhere in search of a championship. [Russell Westbrook is a free agent after the 2017 season, by the way.]
Durant is happy in OKC and he should stay there.
—Toronto had a golden opportunity to go up 3-1 in their series with Miami on Monday, but the Heat took it 94-87 in overtime, the third in four to go to OT in this matchup.
Once again it was the inability of the Raptors’ ‘star’ backcourt, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, to play to their regular season marks.
Lowry in 11 playoff games is hitting .331 from the floor (.197 from three), while DeRozan is at .330 (.158). It’s that simple. It’s also, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the worst performance by a starting backcourt duo in the postseason in two decades (min. 150 attempts).
Literally, in 11 games, both Lowry and DeRozan have had one…one…good performance each.
–The Sacramento Kings didn’t take long in hiring former Memphis coach Dave Joerger as their new head coach. Joerger will receive $16 million over four years, with a team option in the fourth.
Ball Bits
–Prior to posting last time, I didn’t have all the records regarding Bryce Harper’s game on Sunday against the Cubs, when he walked six times and was hit by a pitch in seven at-bats. The six walks tied a major league record held by Jeff Bagwell, Andre Thornton and Jimmie Foxx.
Harper saw 27 pitches, two were strikes. In the four-game series in Chicago, Harper went 1 for 4 with 13 walks. None of his last 11 times at the plate were official with 10 walks and a sac fly. With a walk in his first at-bat then on Monday against Detroit, that took the streak to 12, which, according to Elias Sports Bureau is the longest in history. [Thanks, Shu.]
Neil Greenberg / Washington Post
“ ‘If the other guy gets you, that’s fine. You have no problem with that,’ Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said after Sunday’s game. ‘I know [Harper] hasn’t been as hot as he can be coming into this series, but you don’t want him to get hot. We did what we had to do today, and it happened to work.’
“In this case, the ‘other guy’ is Ryan Zimmerman – the Nationals’ everyday cleanup hitter who bats behind Harper.”
Nats manager Dusty Baker, though, has vowed to keep Zimmerman in the 4-hole.
As Neil Greenberg, who has followed the team closely for years, writes:
“It’s killing the Nationals…especially since Zimmerman hasn’t been ‘clutch’ since 2014.”
By the way, while I don’t follow this kind of thing, being a ‘basics’ guy, Daniel Murphy is making contact on 95.9 percent of pitches in the strike zone (thru Sunday), according to Greenberg.
So Harper now has 34 walks in 33 games, thru Tuesday, but he’s hitting ahead of Ryan Zimmerman, who is batting .235 (even after Tuesday’s 2-homer performance in a 5-4 loss to the Tigers), instead of scalding hot Daniel Murphy who is at .398. Why Dusty Baker insists on doing this is beyond me.
–Meanwhile, you have Stephen Strasburg’s new contract. The Washington right-hander stunned a lot of us when he signed a 7-year, $175 million deal, the 21st nine-figure package for a pitcher in baseball history.
I’ve written a lot over the years on big contracts and the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga has some interesting thoughts.
“Over the offseason, David Price signed the most lucrative deal ever granted a pitcher: seven years and $217 million from the Boston Red Sox. Seven starts in his 6.75 ERA is the worst in the American League. Over the same offseason, Zack Greinke set a new mark for average annual value for any player: more than $34.4 million each year for six years. Seven starts in his 5.15 ERA is more than double his mark in the three years he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the years that essentially earned him his new deal.”
You do have former Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, who signed a six-year, $110 million contract with Detroit. Zimmermann leads every starter in baseball with a 1.10 ERA.
But as Svrluga points out, his fastball velocity “is down to 91.7 mph from 93 last year and 93.9 in 2014, according to Pitchf/x data, a drop that can’t be considered insignificant.” He also has the fourth-worst swing-and-miss rate in the American League and his strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark is down to a career-low 5.5, “and those all could indicate that a more difficult summer awaits.”
“Zimmermann, though, could continue to perform in his first year with the Tigers. But facing him Wednesday night is (Max) Scherzer, a walking, talking cautionary tale. His first 15 starts after leaving Detroit for Washington were best-in-baseball brilliant: a 1.79 ERA, a .180 average against, 130 strikeouts and 14 walks in 110-1/3 innings pitched. But in the last calendar year, no pitcher in baseball has allowed more home runs than Scherzer, who has coughed up 34. His career ERA entering this season: 3.46. His ERA after seven starts in 2016: 4.60.
“Scherzer may well fix himself. Zimmermann could continue to dominate. But with these deals, there always seems a reason to fret. (Detroit’s Justin) Verlander is another example, right in front of us: His ERA since 2014 is 4.23; his WHIP, 1.281 – and at least three years at $28 million per remain after this season.” Yikes!
As for Strasburg’s contract, it does include a pair of opt-out clauses – one after 2019, the other after 2020 – and significant deferred money, $70 million to be paid out after the contract expires in 2023.
One more…with Strasburg’s new deal, of course there is renewed talk on what the Nationals will do with Bryce Harper, 23, but he doesn’t become a free agent until after the 2018 season. Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, represents Harper as well and if they wait until after 2018 to test the waters, it’s possible Harper could get as much as $400 million.
I’m guessing he signs a 10-year, $330 million deal, maybe next offseason, with an opt-out.
–I posted before Sunday night’s Boston-New York game and need to get down for the archives that the Big Needle, David Ortiz, hit two monster home runs, Nos. 51 and 52 lifetime against the Yankees (he has 59 against the Blue Jays), both against starter Luis Severino (0-5, 6.12 ERA) in a 5-1 win.
Severino wasn’t awful, Sunday, but his performance in 2016 is hardly what the Yanks expected from a guy who impressed the league in going 5-3, 2.89, in 11 starts last season after being called up in the summer.
Tuesday, the Yanks (13-18) beat the struggling Royals (15-17) 10-7, despite yielding 3 home runs to K.C. outfielder Lorenzo Cain. Aroldis Chapman got the save, Chapman having made his debut the night before in a 6-3 Yanks win.
–The Mets’ Steven Matz opened the season on April 11 by allowing 7 earned in 1 2/3. It was all over the papers the next day that a top scout with a rival club was telling the Mets’ beat writers that Matz needed to be sent down to the minors for a little more seasoning.
So all the lefty has done in his last five starts since the shellacking is go 5-0, allowing just 4 earned in 33 innings, 1.09 ERA; the latest win against the Dodgers on Monday night, 4-2.
Aside from the fact the Mets are hitting a ton of home runs, us fans have been very pleasantly surprised by how efficient the bullpen has been, the 3rd best ERA in baseball, despite Tuesday’s walk-off homer by the Dodgers’ Trayce Thompson (the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson’s brother) off reliever Hansel Robles, Mets losing 3-2. Overall, the Mets’ staff is No. 2 in the majors in ERA, sandwiched in between the Cubs and White Sox.
Meanwhile, Monday was the first time the Mets saw the Dodgers’ Chase Utley this year since he broke Ruben Tejada’s leg with a takeout slide in Game 2 of last year’s NLDS. Manager Terry Collins said the message was clear: Last year is over. “Let’s not get anybody hurt,” said the skipper.
–I said before the season began it would not be a good year for the Los Angeles Angels, but now after the loss of Garrett Richards to probable Tommy John surgery, and shortstop Andrelton Simmons to a tear in his left thumb, it could end up being a dreadful 72-90 campaign, at best. [They are currently 13-19.]
Simmons suffered a full thickness tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in the thumb while diving to stop a grounder on Sunday. While the new acquisition from Atlanta had not been hitting, the two-time Gold Glover’s fielding was solid.
–The Cubs beat the Padres 8-7 on Tuesday to move to 25-6, the best start since the 1984 Tigers were 26-5 out of the gate. Chicago already has an 8-1/2 game lead over the Pirates.
–We’ve been waiting for more drug suspensions and we learned of another one Tuesday. Raul A. Mondesi, a top prospect in the Kansas City Royals’ system, received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for Clenbuterol, a performance-enhancing drug.
The suspension, however, was reduced from the 80 games that are mandated for first-time offenses by an arbitration panel. Mondesi supplied evidence that it came from an over-the-counter cold medicine in the Dominican Republic. The panel also ruled that Mondesi can be eligible for postseason play. He is the son of former outfielder Raul Mondesi.
–There are reports Major League Baseball will suspend Colorado shortstop Jose Reyes 60 games for his alleged domestic violence incident. Reyes is owed $44 million over the next two seasons on his current contract (and a buyout in 2018), but the Rockies might just cut him once the suspension is announced.
–Michael Salfino / Wall Street Journal
“The bunt, the go-to strategy for traditional managers and reliable friend to many weak-hitting pitchers, died this season in Major League Baseball. It was 122 (or thereabouts). The cause of death was logic.
“For nearly two decades, baseball sabermetricians have banded together to decry bunting. They saw it as a rally-killing blunder in which a team willingly surrendered an out despite modest returns. Many in baseball appeared to be listening as the number of bunting attempts dropped steadily. This year, the bunt has all but vanished.
“Overall bunting is down throughout baseball from once every 109 plate appearances in 2004 to once every 179 this year. But that’s not the half of it. If you ignore pitchers altogether and look only at position players, batters are bunting once every 337 plate appearances this year versus once every 162.5 in 2004. That means that non-pitchers are bunting an average of about once every nine games, according to Stats, LLC.”
Salfino points out that in 1927, Lou Gehrig was asked to bunt 21 times, despite slugging 47 home runs and driving in 173! Babe Ruth was asked to bunt the same amount of times in 1930 when he hit 49 homers. Good lord!
NHL Playoffs
Washington Capitals fans have a right to be ticked off. For an eleventh straight time in postseason play the Capitals failed to reach the conference finals, let alone the Stanley Cup, as they lost Game 6 to the Penguins in Pittsburgh, 4-3 in overtime; Penguins center Nick Bonino poking a rebound past netminder Braden Holtby.
What made this one even more painful was the Caps fought back from a 3-0 hole to force OT.
So much for Washington being the best team in hockey in the regular season. Pittsburgh now takes on Tampa Bay in the East
In the West we have two Game Sevens…St. Louis at Dallas, Wed., and Nashville at San Jose, Thursday.
Joe Paterno, part last…we hope…
In the interest of fair play, following are some of the thoughts of Penn State President Eric Barron, from an open letter to the university community concerning the new allegations involving Paterno and convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky.
[Excerpts]
Dear Friends:
Over the past few days, allegations have surfaced from individuals who claim to be Sandusky victims and from unidentified individuals about the alleged knowledge of former University employees. None of these allegations about the supposed knowledge of University employees has been substantiated in a court of law or in any other process to test their veracity.
I want you to know I am appalled by the rumor, innuendo and rush to judgment that have accompanied the media stories surrounding these allegations. All too often in our society, people are convicted in the court of public opinion, only to find a different outcome when all the facts are presented.
In contrast, over the last two days we have worked to be diligent in reanalyzing the record of reports and depositions to ensure that our reactions and comments are both responsible and trustworthy.
First, the allegations related to Penn State are simply not established fact. The two allegations related to knowledge by Coach Paterno are unsubstantiated and unsupported by any evidence other than a claim by an alleged victim. They date from the 1970s. Coach Paterno is not alive to refute them. His family has denied them.
Second, we cannot find any evidence, related to a settlement or otherwise, that an alleged early assault was communicated to Coach Paterno. This raises considerable credibility issues as to this press report. Others cite assistant coaches that were witnesses or had knowledge – stating it as fact in headlines and text – even in the face of a denial and clear failure to corroborate from the individuals allegedly involved. Other stories are clearly incredulous, and should be difficult for any reasonable person to believe. We should not be rendering judgements about the actions of Coach Paterno or any other former employees of Penn State based on incomplete, sensationalized media accounts.
I can think of few crimes as heinous as the sexual assault of a child. We are, as individuals and as an institution, appalled by Sandusky’s actions….
Unfortunately, we can’t control the 24/7 news cycle, and the tendency of some individuals in social media and the blogosphere to rush to judgment. But I have had enough of the continued trial of the institution in various media. We have all had enough….
Sincerely,
Eric Barron
President
Premier League
—Manchester United had its fate in its own hands. With two wins it could pass Manchester City for the final Champions League slot, but Man U lost at West Ham on Tuesday, 3-2, in a game delayed at the start by 45 minutes as a result of West Ham goons attacking the Man U team bus. Bottles were also thrown at Man U goalkeeper David de Gea during the match. West Ham vowed to ban for life any fans responsible for the violence that they could identify.
Premier League fans have been well-behaved all season but not yesterday.
Man U now needs a win over Bournemouth and a Man City loss to Swansea on Sunday to qualify for the Champions League.
4. Man City 65 points
5. Man U 63 points
–Oh noooo! Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino was photographed leaving a dinner with former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, fueling rumors he could be headed to Old Trafford this summer!
Ferguson, a legend, remains an influential director at Man U. This would suck, mused the Tottenham fan.
Stuff
—Nyquist’s sire, Uncle Mo, became just the sixth stallion to sire a Derby winner in his first go ‘round in 142 runnings of the race. In 2010, he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was favored in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, but he was pulled a day before by owner Mike Repole due to illness.
Mo recovered and began a career as a stallion in 2012 and already had a reputation of turning out winners but now with Nyquist, Uncle Mo’s stud fees will go through the roof.
Right now his owners (Repole and breeding operation Coolmore) receive a fee of $75,000, but this will change after the 2016 breeding season, when new stud fees for 2017 will be announced.
If more Nyquist-like runners emerge, as reported by the Wall Street Journal’s Pia Catton, Uncle Mo will be commanding the highest fees in North America: Tapit at $300,000 and War Front at $200,000, who have been breeding since 2005 and 2007, respectively.
American Pharoah is taking in $200,000, but we will be waiting a while to see how successful he has been.
Bottom line, if Nyquist won the Triple Crown, experts in the sport said it would send the industry soaring.
As Michael McMahon, of McMahon & Hill Bloodstock told the Journal: “If your country produces the best horses, other countries come to buy them,” he said, looking back to the 1980s when European, Middle Eastern and Japanese investors bought in big after a string of three Triple Crown wins in the 1970s. “All that investment came to the U.S.”
–As expected, it was officially announced Mike Tirico is leaving ESPN to go to NBC Sports this summer. For “Monday Night Football” he’ll be replaced by Sean McDonough.
–From the AP: “A central Florida man was bitten by an alligator after mistaking it for dead.
“Bryan Rohm, 41, was bitten on the thumb and taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center for treatment, Orlando television station WESH reported Sunday.”
Rohm and his son were on a boat and had a permit to hunt alligators.
“They shot an alligator twice with a specialized firearm known as a ‘bang stick’ and thought it was dead.
“But the alligator bit Rohm as he tried to put the beast in the boat.
“The alligator then jumped back into the water.”
–Ellen Byron / Wall Street Journal
“BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Sharks draw the crowds at marine exhibits with their promise of peril, but in this city’s aquarium lurks a bigger menace.
“Lucy the turtle.
“Lucy is a hawksbill sea turtle with a razor-sharp beak that can bite a chunk out of a keeper or chew away a tank’s fake-coral décor. At 200 pounds behind a hard shell, she can be a battering ram.
“In the New York Aquarium’s tanks, not only is she more fearsome than Axl the shark, she is probably a bit of a thief, too.
“ ‘Divers in an aquarium are much more cautious with sea turtles than sharks,’ says New York Aquarium director Jon Forrest Dohlin. The sharks here are relative milquetoasts. Well fed, they mostly keep their jaws to themselves and avoid expending energy.”
It’s not that the turtles are aggressive, they just like to check out everything and nibble, which is often divers who can’t keep track of them. And their ‘nibble’ is rather severe. They also like to batter objects. Some of these monsters weigh as much as an NFL lineman, including some 340-pounders at the New York Aquarium.
–SOLO, Indonesia: “An endangered Sumatran elephant charged a woman who was taking photographs, trampling her to death Wednesday at a tourist spot on Indonesia’s island of Java.
“Veterinarian Octavia Warahapsari took care of two trained Sumatran elephants used for tourist treks at the Gajah Mungkur scenic reservoir in central Java.”
An official at the reservoir “said one of the elephants charged Warahapsari while she was taking photographs in an open area. She ran but returned to retrieve her dropped cellphone. The elephant caught her in its trunk and threw her to the ground.” [Reuters]
Top 3 songs for the week 5/12/79: #1 “Reunited” (Peaches & Herb) #2 “Heart of Glass” (Blondie…just dreadful…) #3 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer…awful…)…and…#4 “Stumblin’ In” (Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman) #5 “In The Navy” (Village People… never liked ‘em…) #6 “Goodnight Tonight” (Wings…during their ‘crappy period’…) #7 “I Want Your Love” (Chic) #8 “Take Me Home” (Cher…take me out of this year!…) #9 “He’s The Greatest Dancer” (Sister Sledge…never liked these gals either….) #10 “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” (The Jacksons… they get a pass…but I’m back to the Sixties next time, sports fans…)
Golf Quiz Answer: Five who have won The Players Championship but little else. Mark Hayes (3 Tour wins), Jodie Mudd (4), Craig Perks (1…TPC), Stephen Ames (4), Tim Clark (2).
The only 3-time winner of the event is Jack Nicklaus (1974, 76, 78).
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
