Add-on posted early Tuesday a.m.
MLB
–Going back to Sunday night, Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez threw eight scoreless against the Tigers in Philly, and the Phillies new closer, Jhoan Duran closed it out in the ninth, throwing 103 mph gas, a 2-0 win in a clean 2:05 that put Philly back in front of the Mets by a ½-game in the NL East.
—Monday, Philadelphia blasted Baltimore 13-3, Kyle Schwarber with two homers, Nos. 39 and 40, six RBIs.
At the same time the Mets, hosting the Giants at Citi Field, fell behind San Francisco 5-0 in the sixth, only to come back to tie it at 5-5 in the eighth.
On to extra innings we went and Mets third baseman Brett Baty had a brutal throwing error, leading to two runs, Mets fall 7-6 and Philadelphia’s lead is extended to 1 ½. Ugh.
During the rain delay last Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Fox Sports pre-game crew was talking about the trade deadline news and how some teams, like the Mets and Phillies, had bolstered their bullpens, but Derek Jeter said it was still going to be about starting pitching down the stretch.
And that’s what Mets fans are worried about. Right now, our starters are abysmal, save for David Peterson. Let alone the offense is incredibly inconsistent.
–Meanwhile, the Yankees lost in ten innings, too…8-5 to the Rangers in Arlington last night as Josh Jung hit a 3-run walk-off homer off new Yankees acquisition Jake Bird.
The Yanks have lost four straight, now 5 ½ back in the AL East, and barely holding on in the wild card race, while the Mets have lost 6 of 7.
Golf / FedEx Cup Playoffs
–Going back to the Wyndham Championship, the last five in the top 70 to qualify for the playoffs were….
- Kevin Yu
67. Emiliano Grillo
68. Erik van Rooyen
69. Cam Davis
70. Matti Schmid…the “Bubble Boy” starting the week and the Bubble Boy in the end. He had quite a heroic final round after playing his first 11 holes in 5-over. Matti was out of the playoffs at the point.
But he made four birdies the rest of the way, including the final three holes, with a clutch 25-foot birdie putt on 18 to finish T-31 and secure the final spot for Memphis.
- Davis Thompson…on the other hand, Thompson bogeyed 18 to miss the playoffs, after working his way up to No. 67 during Sunday’s round (having started the week 78).
“Sucks ending the regular season this way,” he said after. He added he probably won’t touch a club for the next few weeks.
Personally, I’d go on a pub crawl.
- Gary Woodland. He was another who was right there on Sunday, No. 70 to start the day, but he played the final five holes in 1-over and that was it.
- Nicolai Hojgaard
74. Ben An….started the week No. 69 but missed the cut.
75. Keith Mitchell
But back to van Rooyen, this was a shocker. He came in No. 64, but withdrew citing a back injury on Friday after playing 14 holes. He was 4-over and well outside the cut line.
Sunday morning, he stood No. 71 and I just assumed a bunch of folks would pass him, but at the end of the day, there he was. Still in the playoffs.
–So, the field for the FedEx St. Jude Championship is 70, but Rory McIlroy is not playing, skipping it, his position more than secure, even for East Lake and the final 30. He doesn’t need the money.
Now there are some who complain. Rory skipped three Signature Events this year. But I get it. He plays a truly global schedule, and it’s a heavy one this fall, with DP World Tour events in Europe, the Ryder Cup and the final two events of the DPWT in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Plus, he’s playing the India Championship and is scheduled to play the Australian Open.
And Rory played in some events he normally wouldn’t this year, such as the Houston Open, and he returned to New Orleans to defend his winning partnership with Shane Lowry and played in the Canadian Open.
So I’m giving him a pass. But the PGA Tour said 2025 is a bridge year when it comes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs and they will continue to tinker with the format.
Stuff
–Since I was talking about Katie Ledecky’s latest heroics at the Swimming World Championships in Singapore, they wrapped up over the weekend and, for the record, Team USA led the medal table.
USA…9 Gold – 29 total
Australia…8 Gold – 20 total
France…4 Gold – 8 total
Canada…4 Gold – 8 total
–And then Sunday night at the U.S. Track and Field Championships, we had a dramatic 200-meter men’s final, with Noah Lyles beating rival Kenny Bednarek. For the final five meters, Lyles gave a long, taunting stare to Bednarek in the lane to his left. The staredown continued even after they crossed the finish line, with Lyles posting a world-leading time of 19.63 seconds. Bednarek shoved him in the back.
“Unsportsmanlike s— and I don’t deal with that,” Bednarek said. “…Don’t do that to me. I don’t do any of that stuff.” But, “At the end of the day, he won the race, so I gotta give him his props. He was the better man today.”
Bednarek won the 100-meter championship on Friday after Lyles pulled out.
Lyles said at the time of the shove, “What was that?” Bednarek approached Lyles to shake his hand and Lyles refused at first. He finally did after they talked.
Noah heads to Tokyo in September to defend his world championship crowns in the 100 and 200. Bednarek is also aiming for a sprint double at worlds.
Could be great fun…Sept. 19, a rematch in the 200, for the world championship.
—William Byron won the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway Sunday for his second win of the 2025 season, the first since he earned back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in February, and the 15th of his career.
Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.
—–
[Posted Sunday p.m.]
Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.
Baseball Quiz: 1) Post-1940, name the only four pitchers to throw 350 innings in a season. [One is in the Hall of Fame.] 2) Who am I? I threw 342.2 and 344 innings in 1972-73 and didn’t lead my league in innings pitched. Answers below.
MLB
First, to clear the table of some big moves at the trade deadline, San Diego GM A.J. Preller went all-in, acquiring Athletics closer Mason Miller and starter JP Sears, along with Orioles’ first baseman Ryan O’Hearn (.283 BA, 13 homers, 43 RBIs) and outfielder Ramon Laureano (.290, 15-46), Laureano probably the best bat available at the deadline. Preller also nabbed catcher Freddy Fermin from the Royals.
Preller had to give up 17 prospects, including one of the top ones in baseball, 18-year-old shortstop Leo De Vries.
But no one knows why the A’s gave up Miller, who is under control through 2028. Granted, they got a lot of prospects in return.
The Mets beefed up their bullpen in a huge way. After acquiring Gregory Soto earlier in the week, they traded a bunch of prospects for St. Louis closer Ryan Helsley (49 saves in 2024) and Giants setup man Tyler Rogers. The bullpen is now suddenly so deep, setup man Ryne Stanek told reporters, “I might be pitching the fourth inning.”
The Mets, needing a centerfielder, then got veteran Cedric Mullins from the Orioles for more prospects. A very solid move. And GM David Stearns didn’t have to give up any of the Mets’ top seven prospects, including their three top starting pitchers currently in AAA and AA.
The Yankees, having filled a third base need in acquiring Ryan McMahon (and utility player Ahmed Rosario), then went out and got relievers Jake Bird, Pittsburgh closer David Bednar, and San Francisco closer Camilo Doval. They also picked up speedster Jose Caballero from the Rays, as well as outfielder Austin Slater from the White Sox. But they didn’t get a needed starting pitcher.
The Mariners picked up slugger Eugenio Suarez (36 homers) from the Diamondbacks, giving Seattle one helluva 1-2 power combination with Cal Raleigh (42 homers).
The Astros, after learning that third baseman Isaac Paredes will be out the rest of the season, made the most stunning trade of the day, bringing back shortstop Carlos Correa from the Twins.
It wasn’t easy. The Twins are up for sale but owed Correa $103 million for the remainder of his contract. Houston owner Jim Crane knew Twins chairman Joe Pohlad’s predicament and Minnesota agreed to send Correa to Houston if the Astros ate $70 million of the contract. Correa gladly waived his no-trade clause and here we are.
The Phillies picked up closer Jhoan Duran from the Twins in exchange for two solid prospects, a big move for Philadelphia…a needed one.
So on to the weekend’s action….
—The Mets have had one strange season…they can look like World Series contenders one week, and like total chumps the next. Friday at Citi Field, it was the latter, the Mets falling to the Giants 4-3 in 10, failing to score the ghost runner after San Francisco did just that against Edwin Diaz, the Metsies fourth straight defeat after a 7-game winning streak.
Here are the slumps our ‘big bats’ have been in.
Pete Alonso…For the month of July, .141 batting average, .548 OPS.
Juan Soto…After a .322 BA, 1.196 OPS in June, a .210 BA, .760 OPS in July.
Francisco Lindor…an atrocious June and July.
June… .204 BA, .628 OPS; July… .206, .629.
And now Brandon Nimmo, at the top of the lineup, is slumping and the freakin’ “Fab Four,” as owner Uncle Stevie called them, is the height of blowdom.
Further, entering Saturday’s game, Soto was batting .136 his last 17 games, and Alonso was 6-for-63!
Well, for one game at least, yesterday afternoon the Fab Four, sans Soto, was electric…Nimmo with three, run-scoring singles; Lindor three hits, 4 RBIs; and Alonso a homer (No. 250 of his career) and double, 3 RBI. [Soto 1-for-5.] Eight hits, 10 RBIs from three of them, the Mets, weathering another lousy start from ‘ace’ Kodai Senga to prevail 12-6 and snap the losing streak.
So, Sunday, which Mets team would show up?
The lousy one…hideous performance, Mets lose 12-4, starter Frankie Montas, who has a $17 million player option for next year, allowed 7 earned in 4 innings, his ERA 6.68 in 7 starts after being injured in spring training. Yes, one of David Stearns’ bad moves.
And reliever Ryne Stanek gave up 5 earned in 2/3 in the ninth, his ERA 5.03, and without a long-term obligation on him, he needs to be released…pronto.
[And for real Mets fans, release Tyrone Taylor….good lord, he sucks….]
–The Phillies overtook the Mets Friday with a 5-4 win over the Tigers in the City of Brotherly Love, as new acquisition Jhoan Duran picked up his first save in a Philadelphia uniform.
But in a pitchers’ duel for the ages, Tarik Skubal vs. Zack Wheeler Saturday, the Tigers (65-47) won it 7-5, Javy Baez with four RBIs.
Skubal got the win, now 11-3, 2.18, with seven innings, 3 earned, 10 strikeouts.
Wheeler took the loss, six innings, 3 earned, 10 Ks, as he falls to 9-5, 2.64.
The two sides play in the ESPN Sunday night game.
—In a shocking, absolutely awful, “worst loss of the season,” the three big relievers the Yankees picked up at the trade deadline, Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval gave up a combined 8 earned in 2 1/3 innings, the Yanks falling to the Marlins in Miami Friday night, 13-12.
Another new acquisition, utility player Jose Caballero, contributed with an awful play in the outfield.
[It was the first time since 1973 the Yankees had lost after scoring 12 runs, and the first time on the road since 1940!]
Saturday, Eury Perez and three Miami relievers held the Yanks to just two hits in a 2-0 win; rookie catcher Augustin Ramirez with two solo homers. The Marlins are 29-14 since June 13 and just one game under .500.
Miami also has had its two best crowds of the season for the first two games of the series, 32,200 and 34,600.
And the Marlins are now .500…incredible…sweeping the Yanks Sunday 7-3.
For New York, Luis Gil made his first start of 2025 and he allowed 5 earned in 3 1/3. They miss Aaron Judge bigly.
–The Red Sox took the first of an important series against the Astros in Boston Friday night, 2-1.
And in winning again on Saturday, 7-3, Boston, 61-51, moved a half game ahead of New York in the wild card race.
And they won today, 6-1, completing the sweep and beating Framber Valdez, 6 innings, 4 earned, in the process.
Lucas Giolito moved to 8-2 for the Red Sox with eight innings of one-run ball, the only Houston run on a Carlos Correa homer.
–The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw threw six scoreless in L.A.’s 5-0 win over the Rays in Tampa Friday, Kershaw moving to 5-2, 3.29, as he gears up for the playoffs.
But Tampa Bay turned the tables on L.A. Saturday, 4-0, despite the return for of Blake Snell for the Dodgers.
Snell had been out since April 4, but rather shockingly threw 86 pitches in going five innings, 3 earned.
Sunday, another shutout, this one spun by L.A., 3-0, Yoshinobu Yamamoto going 5 2/3 and four relievers doing the rest.
—Friday night in Colorado, the Rockies became the first team to overcome a nine-run, 1st-inning deficit since Cleveland on Aug. 23, 2006 against Kansas City, beating the Pirates 17-16 in an insane game, the Rockies with 5 in the bottom of the ninth to take it.
Saturday, Paul Skenes made his first start in Colorado and it didn’t go well, 5 innings, 4 earned, a no-decision (ERA rising to 2.02), as the Rockies (30-80) won again, 8-5, despite Pittsburgh’s Liover Peguero’s 3 home runs.
–Going back to Thursday, the Braves broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning at Cincinnati by exploding for eight runs, only to allow the Reds to storm back with eight of their own in the bottom of the frame.
It was just the third time in major league history that both teams scored eight or more runs in the same inning, according to Elias Sports Bureau. It was also the third time in the expansion era (since 1961) that two teams combined for 16 or more hits in the same inning, with each team posting eight.
Atlanta would win it 12-11 in 10 innings.
Friday, Cincinnati prevailed 3-2.
Saturday, the two teams then moved on to Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee for a first-ever game on a NASCAR track, a stadium built in the track infield, and we were ready for first pitch at 7:15 p.m. Saturday night on FOX. The Mets game had just ended in terms of my attention, and I was looking forward to catching the action in Bristol.
Then the rains came, and any amateur meteorologist looking at the radar knew it was no brief shower. Over two hours later, around 10:00 p.m., they tried to start again, and in the bottom of the first, the rains came again, and the game was suspended…to be resumed Sunday afternoon.
Since both teams already had Sunday scheduled as an off day because of the unique nature of this event, they could have postponed the game far earlier in the evening until today. I know MLB was thinking of the logistics of having a record crowd of 85,000 on hand…I was thinking of how muddy the parking lots must have been…but it is what it is. I sure as heck didn’t lose sleep over it…just feel sorry for the locals.
Atlanta ended up winning it, 4-2. The announced crowd was 91,032. Wow.
–The A’s Nick Kurtz cooled off after his insane, historic run. Kurtz was 1-for-3 with two walks Friday in the A’s 5-1 win over the Diamondbacks; 2-for-4 Saturday in a 7-2 loss.
In his last five games, just 4-for-16, 4 walks, with no extra-base hits. Hardly a deep slump, but he was on a pace that was impossible to maintain, especially as a rookie.
–On a different matter, Phillies star Bryce Harper got some press for telling commissioner Rob Manfred to “get the f— out of our clubhouse” if Manfred wanted to talk about the potential implementation of a salary cap, as first reported by ESPN last week.
The confrontation came in a meeting – one of the 30 that Manfred conducts annually in an effort to improve his relations with every team’s players – that lasted more than an hour. Though Manfred apparently never said the words “salary cap,” the discussion about the game’s economics raised the ire of Harper, one of MLB’s most influential players.
Just a preview of coming attractions. The collective-bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association expires on Dec. 1, 2026, and multiple owners have stumped for a salary cap.
Harper, listening quietly during the meeting, suddenly blurted out that players “are not scared to lose 162 games,” according to a source in the room. Harper then stood up, faced up to Manfred and said: “If you want to speak about that, you can get the f— out of our clubhouse.”
Manfred reportedly said that he was “not going to get the f— out of here,” saying it was important to talk about threats to MLB’s business and ways to grow the game.
All of next season is going to have this dark cloud hanging over the sport. Yes, the 2027 season could be wiped out.
–Going back to the death of Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg, “Ryno” said some of the following in his 2005 Hall of Fame induction speech:
“If I had ever allowed myself to think this was possible, if I had ever taken one day in pro ball for granted, I’m sure I would not be here today.
“The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I don’t know about that, but I do know this: I had too much respect for the game to play it any other way.
“I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager – and never, ever your uniform. Make a great play, act like you’ve done it before. Get a big hit, look for the third-base coach and get ready to run the bases. Hit a home run, put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases. Because the name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back.”
Golf Balls
—The final weekend of the regular season for the PGA Tour, the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, N.C., and through the first three rounds, it was all about Cameron Young, the Demon Deacon who has seven runner-up finishes in his career but has never closed the deal.
But after seven holes in the third round, Saturday, Young had an 8-shot lead, and he would still lead by five heading into today’s final round.
Young -20
Nico Echevarria -15
Three at -12.
But this being the final event for qualifying for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the top 70, Sunday was also about the ‘cut line.’ All 21 players between Nos. 60 and 80 on the points list were in the field.
Such as Chris Kirk, who started the week 73rd in the standings but stood at No. 59 at
T3, -12.
Davis Thompson started the week 78 and was 68 with his T7, -10.
Gary Woodland has gone from 75 to 70, “Bubble Boy,” at T9, -9.
And Matti Schmid, who started this week in the role of Bubble Boy, had improved to 65 at T13, -8.
Two terrific story lines. Everyone wants Woodland to survive, for example, and this being Greensboro, 30 minutes from Wake Forest, the vast majority of the crowd is pulling for Cameron Young.
So starting round four, Young bogeyed, lead down to four…but then he went birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie…-24…8 clear…kind of over.
And Young closed it out, by six…finally, win No. 1. [And the 1,000th winner on the PGA Tour overall.]
I’ll go over all the FedEx Cup point jumps and falls in my Add-on.
But Woodland fell short, Kirk is in, and Bubble Boy Schmid is in.
And kudos to amateur Jackson Koivun, out of Auburn, for his super T5. He is returning to Auburn, but he’ll be joining the tour next summer, and will be playing in a lot of pro events before. Yup, the kid got game.
—Scottie Scheffler earned a whopping $18 million on Sunday by sitting on his couch, or hitting balls.
This comes as part of two bonuses for being the best player in the regular season.
Earlier this year the PGA Tour’s Policy Board approved changes that allowed the top 10 players in FedEx Cup points after the Wyndham to split $20 million, with the No. 1 player earning $10 million.
The tour also has the Comcast Business Top 10 standings which essentially goes to the top 10 in FedEx Cup points after the Wyndham. No. 1 on that list, of course, is Scheffler and that person will earn $8 million.
Voila…$18 million.
Scheffler over the coming three weeks will earn a boatload more. The top 30 players after the BMW Championship – the second playoff event – will share $23 million, with the top players earning $5 million.
The following week at East Lake for the Tour Championship, the winner will take home $10 million.
—Miyu Yamashita won the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcrawl, two shots over Charley Hull.
The new golf wonder, Lottie Woad, who won her first professional event last week at the Scottish Open, finished T8.
–Finally, congratulations to Ian Baker-Finch, retiring after 19 years at CBS, 30 overall in broadcasting. A good guy. He wasn’t one to criticize the players, wanting to still be one of them, as he had a successful playing career himself, but also some deep slumps that forced him into the booth early on…which meant he knew what they were going through, the good and the bad, and his golf tips were terrific, ‘IBF’ known as a good teacher as well.
He’s going to do some work back home for the Australian PGA network.
NFL
—Jets fans were pleased to see the team signed veteran kicker Nick Folk. The 40-year-old was solid for seven seasons with the Jets earlier in his career, but it’s rather extraordinary that his last two seasons with Tennessee, he went 50 of 52 on field goals, including 11 of 12 from 50+! Goodness gracious!
The Jets also have ‘Thiccer Kicker’ (sic) Harrison Mevis in camp. He is Missouri’s all-time scoring leader and spent last year with the UFL’s Birmingham Stallions.
–Regarding the Micah Parsons–Jerry Jones situation in Dallas, last season QB Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb didn’t get their respective new deals done until close to the season, but Friday, Parson posted he was requesting a trade.
“I no longer want to play for the Dallas Cowboys,” he wrote. “My trade request has been submitted to (executive vice president) Stephen Jones personally.”
Parsons said “repeated shots” led to this decision. At the opening news conference of training camp, owner and GM Jerry Jones made a flippant remark that even if the Cowboys signed Parsons, it would not guarantee his availability because he “could get hit by a car.”
Both Jerry and Stephen Jones have made some stupid statements the last few weeks.
Stuff
—Katie Ledecky is still unbeatable in the 1,500-meter freestyle, winning it again last Tuesday in the swimming world championships in Singapore, besting Simona Quadarella of Italy by five seconds.
“I love this race,” Ledecky said. “It was the race I broke my first world record in 2013.”
Ledecky also won gold in the 800 and a bronze in the 400 free behind Canadian Summer McIntosh.
In the 800, Ledecky had a dramatic finish to edge out Lani Pallister of Australia and McIntosh. She has now won the 800 all 11 times she’s tried at the Olympics and world championships, with four golds at the Olympics and seven at worlds.
Ledecky has four gold medals at the last two Olympics in the 800 and 1,500, and she’ll be trying to duplicate that in 2028 in L.A., but Pallister and McIntosh will have a say in that.
—Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the unbeatable 400 hurdles champion, has said she wanted to give herself a new challenge in taking on the 400 this season, and in winning the U.S. track and field championship in the event Saturday she had a season-best 48.90, just 0.20 off Sanya Richards’ American record of 48.70 set back in 2006.
You go, Girl! [Jersey Girl, I hasten to add.]
—Caitlin Clark has played in just 13 of the Indiana Fever’s 28 games (as of Saturday) and the other day she was seen kicking a soccer ball at a Middle School in Des Moines where she opened a new basketball court with her foundation.
So many were wondering, she’s supposed to be suffering from a groin injury. What is she doing kicking a soccer ball?
When Clark has played, she’s shooting 36.7% from the field, 27.9% from three.
Sorry I haven’t covered the WNBA at all this year. My interest level is zero.
Clark sat out today, Sunday, so she has played in 13 of 29. [See, I’m kind of following!]
—Lando Norris won the Hungarian Grand Prix today, beating McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and closing the gap to just nine points in their championship battle.
Mercedes’ George Russell took third.
—Luca Doncic signed a 3-year, $165 million extension with the Lakers, which sets him up to get a five-year, $400 million-plus contract offer from L.A. in 2028. He will have a player option for 2028, his 10th year in the NBA, making him eligible for the massive deal.
Doncic is reportedly getting in much better shape this offseason.
—Tottenham captain Son Heung-min is leaving the club this summer after 10 years, 173 goals in 454 appearances. Just a ton of fun to watch, especially when he was teamed with Harry Kane.
The 33-year-old is supposedly in advanced negotiations with MLS side Los Angeles FC.
–Finally, I have to note a 5K held recently in the memory of Johnny and Matt Gaudreau, which helped raise more than $500,000, enough to break ground later this year on an accessible playground at the special education school where the hockey players’ mother works.
Thousands attended the Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day in May (financial details just becoming available this week) at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey. From money raised in the walk, along with contributions made in memory of the two brothers, the financial goal was met for the planned accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School, where Jane Gaudreau and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause Johnny and Matt had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.
If you forgot, former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and Matt were killed last Aug. 29 while bicycling in south Jersey, where they grew up. Sean Higgins was charged with reckless vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter and several other changes.
Top 3 songs for the week 8/7/71: #1 “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart” (The Bee Gees) #2 “Indian Reservation” (Raiders) #3 “You’ve Got A Friend” (James Taylor)…and…#4 “Mr. Big Stuff” (Jean Knight) #5 “Draggin’ The Line” (Tommy James) #6 “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (John Denver) #7 “It’s Too Late” (Carole King) #8 “Beginnings / Colour My World” (Chicago) #9 “What The World Needs Now Is Love/Abraham, Martin and John” (Tom Clay) #10 “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” (Marvin Gaye…some outstanding tunes…#3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #10… ‘A-’ Week…)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Post-1940, only four pitchers to throw 350 innings in a season….
Wilbur Wood…376.2, 1972, White Sox
Mickey Lolich…376.0, 1971, Tigers
Bob Feller…371.1, 1946, Indians
Wilbur Wood…359.1, 1973, White Sox
Dizzy Trout…352.1, 1944, Tigers
2) Gaylord Perry threw 342.2 and 344.0 innings in 1972-73 when he was with Cleveland and obviously was behind Wood both seasons.
Knuckleballer Wood made 49 and 48 starts those years. Lolich made 45.
But I love Bob Feller’s season…42 starts, 36 complete games…but six relief appearances and four saves!
He was 26-15, 2.18 ERA, for a team that went 68-86. And, of course, he was a year removed from having missed 1942-45 due to heroic military service in World War II. [Feller made nine starts for Cleveland end of 1945 after the war ended.]
Feller, who signed up immediately for the armed forces following Pearl Harbor, and after going 24-9, 27-11 and 25-13 for the Indians, ages 20-22, 1939-41, served on board the battleship USS Alabama as chief gunnery officer of an anti-aircraft crew, with major combat duty in the Pacific, particularly in support of the landing at Saipan. [Been there, 1995, and got the opportunity to talk to the locals about their harrowing experience.]
“One day our fleet shot down 400-and-some Jap planes; the Mariannas Turkey Shoot they called it…
“Scary? Yes, particularly at night. You’re zig-zagging at high speed, and the plane comes in low, to get underneath our shells, sometimes so low they would fly right into a wave or a big swell.
“I’d be up there on the main deck with a bunch of kids, banging away with [twin gun] Bofors. You’ve got all your other ships out there, and it was nothing unusual to have the ships in the periphery get raked by bullets from our own guns, and a lot of guys get killed.”
Bob Feller, like Ted Williams, Yogi Berra and the rest, was a real American hero. [Source: “Duty, Honor, Victory: America’s Athletes in World War II,” by Gary Bloomfield…a terrific book, I must add….]
Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.
