---

Bar Chat

07/08/2013

The Celtics Pull a Stunner

Boston Red Sox Quiz: 1) Who am I? I am the only non-Hall of Famer to score 130 runs in a season in a BoSox uniform. 2) Who are the only two to hit 50 home runs in a single season? 3) Who is third all time for Boston in career runs scored behind Yastrzemski (1816) and Williams (1798)? Answers below.

Talk about boring, 15th-seed Marion Bartoli defeated 23rd-seed Sabine Lisicki for the women’s crown, Bartoli’s first Grand Slam title, 6-1, 6-4. You couldn’t have paid me to watch this one. Bartoli was actually the first woman in the Open era to win without facing anyone seeded in the top 10, owing to injuries and upsets involving the likes of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in Bartoli’s bracket. Lisicki had of course knocked off No. 1 Serena Williams.

But I watched 2-seed Andy Murray go up against No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the men’s final, as Murray came through, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, to become the first Brit since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the title, Murray’s second major to go along with his U.S. Open triumph over Djokovic last fall. 

Murray was down 4-2 in the third and then roared back in dramatic fashion, before almost blowing it in the last game, a truly terrific one. Murray avenged his loss in the 2012 Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer.

Ball Bits

--Nothing to say on the All-Star team selections. Can’t argue with any of them (I’m not going to waste my breath on debating the merits of Bryce Harper’s inclusion). Just glad a deserving  David Wright of the Mets will get to hear the hometown ovation as he starts at third.

As for Yasiel Puig, Major League Baseball found a compromise by not offending others, as virtually everyone connected to the sport said Puig should not be picked after playing in only 30 games, no matter how good his record is.

So, Puig instead is on a ballot with four others for the final N.L. roster spot; teammate Adrian Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, Freddie Freeman and Hunter Pence. It’s assumed Gonzalez and Puig will split some of the Dodgers’ fans support and baseball won’t have to worry about any controversy.

--Adam Jones blasted a 2-run homer off the great Mariano Rivera in the ninth, giving Baltimore a key 2-1 win over the Yankees.

So Baltimore is 49-40, Tampa Bay 49-40, and New York 48-40. At least one will win a wildcard berth and we should expect it to be super tight the rest of the way in the A.L. East.

--Meanwhile, for the Yanks, A-Rod and Derek Jeter continue their rehab assignments. A-Rod, who turns 38 on July 27, appears to be aiming for a return on July 22. Jeter is looking like July 16, the first series after the All-Star break, in Fenway. It’s going to be fascinating watching these two. No one is expecting anything.

--The Washington Nationals have won their last four to move to 46-42, perhaps the start of the run Nats fans have been waiting for all season.

--The Dodgers obtained right-hander Ricky Nolasco from the Marlins for three minor leaguers. Nolasco is 5-8 with a 3.85 ERA and is a solid addition for the suddenly streaking L.A. ballclub.

--Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard is on the DL with knee issues. It is just season number two in Howard’s five-year, $125 million nightmare of a contract, with the one-time slugger posting very pedestrian totals of 11 home runs and 43 RBI thus far in 2013.

--The Mets signed pitcher Shaun Marcum in the offseason to a guaranteed $4 million deal. He is now 1-10 after losing Saturday to the Brewers, 7-6.

--Interesting piece by Hunter Atkins in the New York Times on baseball drafts. Specifically, Atkins looked at the 52 players drafted by the Mets in 2008. 42 signed contracts and “All but 12 of them had washed out of organized baseball by the start of the 2013 season.

“That put the Mets at the bottom of the list for 2008, tied with the Seattle Mariners... But the figures for most of the 28 other clubs weren’t that much better. Three teams had 13 players left from 2008, one had 14, another had 15, and three more had 16. Only four teams had more than 20 players in organized ball, with the Boston Red Sox topping the list with 28.

“Taken together, the numbers are a boldfaced warning to anyone dreaming of a major league career...

“Whereas NBA teams combine to draft 60 players and NFL teams draft slightly more than 200, the 30 major league baseball teams select about 1,200 players each June.”

--The New York Post’s Kevin Kernan had a piece on the legendary pitcher, Steve Dalkowski, generally recognized to be the hardest thrower of a baseball ever. Only one problem. Dalkowski never made it to the major leagues, but is amazingly still alive at the age of 74 despite some very trying times. [Too much domestic if you catch my drift.]

Dalkowski pitched in the minor leagues from 1957-65, after signing with the Orioles for $13,000 and a new Pontiac out of New Britain High School in Connecticut.

In 1960 for Stockton (Class-C League), Dalkowski struck out 262 in 170 innings. But he also walked 262.

And now you know why Steve Dalkowski never made the big time.

NBA Action

--The Boston Celtics shocked the hoops world in replacing Doc Rivers with Butler’s 36-year-old Brad Stevens. I love the move. [Butler replaced Stevens with 34-year-old assistant Brandon Miller.]

“In one of the more stunning coaching moves in years, the Boston Celtics hired Stevens as their coach on Wednesday. To everyone in basketball, Danny Ainge’s way-outside-the-box decision came from nowhere. Stevens’ name had never been mentioned. At 36, he is unquestionably one of basketball’s great young coaches, but if he left Butler – considered a big if by everyone in the sport including Stevens – it was considered a given that it would be for one of the college jobs: Indiana, Duke, North Carolina, Kansas....

“Stevens had already turned down several big-time openings – including UCLA this past spring – after becoming one of the game’s bright lights in the wake of Butler’s back-to-back trips to the national title game in 2010 and 2011.

“The thought that Stevens’ next stop might in the NBA crossed very few minds. He loved coaching at Butler. He had grown up in the Indianapolis area, gone to college there and worked there – first as the young corporate executive he is often mistaken for, then as a coach at Butler for 13 years: the first seven as an assistant; the last six as the boss.

“His departure is a loss for Butler, but more than that it is a punch in the stomach for college basketball. Stevens wasn’t just one of the best and the brightest, he was one of the college game’s truly good people.”

Stevens was in the midst of a contract at Butler that would have paid him $1.2 million per through 2022. The Celtics are reportedly paying him $22 million over the next six years.

The Celtics are in major rebuilding mode, having jettisoned Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, and before that, Ray Allen. But Boston has nine draft picks the next five drafts.

“That’s one reason why this is such a brilliant hire. The Celtics are going to be a young team and Stevens will be the perfect young coach to mold them in the same kind of tough-minded, get-after-it-on-defense culture that he nurtured so well at Butler.”

“Hiring Brad Stevens is a shrewd move by the Celtics.

“Completely out of left, right, center and all the other fields in between Indiana and Massachusetts....

“It’s a fantastic hire. And here’s why: It’s all about risk vs. reward.

“The Celtics are transitioning and, within that, they need a new vision, a new energy and a new mind-set. Danny Ainge is accomplishing something very specific by hiring Stevens: If his new coach crashes and burns, the team stinks, they strategically tank, get better draft picks and then go hire a proven NBA coach once the cupboard gets restocked with talent and assets.

“If he succeeds – which I think he will – then Ainge has one of the brightest young coaching talents to lead and develop his revamped roster for the long term. And, best of all, Ainge looks like a smarty pants in the meantime.

“Instead of recycling a has-been coach who’s bounced around different teams the past decade, Ainge is going bold and taking a shot....

“(Stevens) coaches, but he doesn’t overcoach. Stevens has always thought that a calm, focused coach leads to calm, focused players. He intently coached his players with optimism and encouragement while finding that very challenging balance to also command their unwavering respect. That stuff is true coaching talent.

“And Stevens will immediately have his work cut out for him in that regard. His mercurial point guard is an enigma who needs coddling, attention and special treatment. Stevens will have to cultivate his relationship with Rajon Rondo, build trust and understand what both want to get out of this. Rondo is a tough player to coach but, again, Stevens isn’t going to point a finger in his face and tell him what to do. Stevens’ unique coaching style is more about working with a player, hearing them out and then making a decision together....

“The Celtics have taken some serious blows over the past couple of weeks and have had to reevaluate who they are and what their future is going to be. But they’ve taken a very clever and a very positive step forward by bringing in Stevens. Win or lose, the Celtics are big winners.”

--Dwight Howard agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets, joining rising superstar James Harden. Howard thus became the biggest free-agent name ever to spurn the Lakers.

“[Houston] was the best fit for me basketball-wise,” Howard said. “And no offense to [Lakers Coach] Mike D’Antoni, but we’re talking about [Houston Coach] Kevin McHale, who had a million moves in the post.”

Howard declined a five-year, $118-million contract offer from the Lakers to accept a four-year, $88-million deal with the Rockets, his third team in an 11-month period.

“It’s a big sacrifice leaving $30 million. Really, really a big sacrifice. But I want to win a championship and I want to get back to being the person who I am and have some fun and enjoy playing basketball. And I think that’s what I’ll find in Houston.”

Kobe Bryant responded by “unfollowing” Howard on Twitter.

Lakers General manager Mitch Kupchak provided the organization’s lone comment.

“We will now move forward in a different direction with the future of the franchise and, as always, will do our best to build the best team possible, one our great Lakers fans will be proud to support.”

But with Kobe’s health uncertain, and Pau Gasol having just turned 33, and Steve Nash just old, there is zero cause for optimism.

Except, after next season, they could be a whopping $50 million under the salary cap and the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Zach Randolph could be free agents.

“The Lakers didn’t lose a center, they dodged a bullet.

“Take a hike, Dwight, and don’t let your cape hit you on the way out.

“Dwight Howard has been formally chased out the door of basketball’s greatest franchise by its legacy, its pressure, and, apparently, a rousing recruiting challenge from Kobe Bryant.

“Does a city of starry expectations want its favorite basketball team built around somebody who doesn’t have the shoulders for it?

“It’s a good day for the Houston Rockets, but a great day for the Lakers, who will watch Howard walk to the Rockets for less money, lower expectations, and probably four more years of mediocrity.

“Gone is perhaps the biggest one-year disappointment in Lakers history, an All-Star center who arrived here last summer bearing a championship promise he quickly broke with a lack of consistent intensity, a shortage of competitive focus and an absence of any sort of measurable refusal to lose.

“His first play as a Laker perfectly summed up the dream that was D12. It was a thunderous dunk. His last play as a Laker perfectly summed up the reality that was Dwight Howard. He was ejected from the final loss in a four-game sweep by the San Antonio Spurs, abandoning his short-handed teammates and disappearing through the tunnel as an injured Kobe Bryant was hobbling out.”

--Josh Smith, one of the year’s top free agents, and the Pistons agreed on a four-year, $54 million contract. Smith averaged 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds a game last season for the Hawks. The Hawks in turn signed Paul Millsap, who averaged 14.6 points and 7.1 rebounds for Utah.

--The Knicks re-signed J.R. Smith, but lost Chris Copeland to the Pacers, where he no doubt will haunt New York.

Smith agreed to a four-year, $24.5 million deal. In a perfect world, Smith would be signed one year at a time. He is too unpredictable, mercurial, but no doubt a major talent who averaged a career-best 18.1 points per game in winning the sixth man of the year award; before he reverted to ‘Bad’ J.R., threw that elbow in the playoffs, and flamed out.

New York made another important move in re-signing backup point guard Pablo Prigioni.

Chestnut Rolls Again

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut broke his own record by scarfing down 69 wieners and buns at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, while earning a record seventh-consecutive victory (breaking a tie with Takeru Kobayashi).

The 69 was one better than his old record of 68, achieved in ten minutes.

For defending his mustard-yellow belt, Chestnut took home $10,000. With hot dog No. 27, he hit the magical 400 mark since he started competing; the equivalent of Hank Aaron’s 755 in the world of competitive eating.

Meanwhile, Sonya Thomas defended her title in the women’s competition, swallowing 37 dogs whole.

--Jimmie Johnson survived two big wrecks near the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona to earn win No. 64 in his spectacular career. 

--At the PGA Tour event at the Greenbrier, 63-year-old Tom Watson not only made the cut, but he finished T-38, 4-under, shooting 68-69-72-67. Pretty awesome.

[Due to a rain delay on Sunday, the leaders hadn’t finished as I went to post.]

“As the University of Florida dominated college football for the better half of a decade under Coach Urban Meyer, the Gators accumulated numbers – of victories and accolades and championships – at dizzying rates. In six seasons, they won 65 games, two Southeastern Conference championships and two national titles.

“In recent years, though, another number has been affixed to the Meyer era. That number is 31, as in, at least 31 arrests of Florida’s football players from 2005 to 2010.”

Many of the charges were minor, “But other, more serious charges included aggravated stalking, domestic violence by strangulation, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and fraudulent use of credit cards, according to criminal record databases.”

The 2008 team photo lists 121 players, “41 of whom have been arrested, either in college or afterward, and sometimes both.” Nine of them were starters.

For his part, Meyer, about to start his second season at Ohio State, told an Ohio sportswriter, “Relating or blaming these serious charges to the University of Florida, myself or our staff is wrong and irresponsible.”

--Usain Bolt ran the fastest time of the season in the 200 at a meet in Paris, 19.73, besting Tyson Gay’s 2013 mark by 0.01. The world championships are coming up next month in Moscow.

--The United States has moved up to No. 22 in the latest FIFA world rankings for football (soccer). Spain is No. 1, despite losing 3-0 to Brazil (now 9th), 3-0, in last week’s Confederations Cup final. Germany is No. 2 followed by Colombia.

Mali is tied with Montenegro at No. 28, for all you Malian readers out there. [cough cough]

--Sao Paulo (AP) – “Police say enraged spectators invaded a football field, stoned the referee to death and quartered his body after he stabbed a player to death.

“The Public Safety Department of the state of Maranhao says in a statement that it all started when referee Otavio da Silva expelled player Josenir Abreu from a game last weekend. The two got into a fist fight, then Silva took out a knife and stabbed Abreu, who died on his way to the hospital....

“Local news media say the spectators also decapitated Silva and stuck his head on a stake in the middle of the field.”

--The Rolling Stones returned to London’s Hyde Park for the first time in 44 years, playing an outdoor gig for 65,000 who paid up to $300 for a ticket. Back in 1969, it was free, performed two days after the death of founding member Brian Jones.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/9/83: #1 “Every Breath You Take” (The Police...they did some great stuff....this was not one of them...)   #2 “Electric Avenue” (Eddy Grant...this is so hideous...I mean you have to be doin’ major [stuff] to keep this one on....) #3 “Flashdance...What A Feeling” (Irene Cara....sorry, fans of this one....it blows...)...and...#4 “Never Gonna Let You Go” (Sergio Mendes...whatever... way too precious for me...) #5 “Too Shy” (Kajagoogoo... OK, seriously....I give everyone a chance, especially after 30 years...and my key is how did the tune hold up...and I just listened to this one....needing to be reminded....and parts are OK...so if you’re at a bar, with Bar Rafaeli, and this comes on in the background, and you’ve had two or three...you might nod at each other and say, “This isn’t bad...”....and that’s the best I can do...) #6 “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (Michael Jackson...heard of him...) #7 “Time (Clock Of The Heart)” (Culture Club...these guys totally depressed the hell out of me...but this one is so-so...and that’s good, on my Culture Club meter...) #8 “Come Dancing” (The Kinks...obviously not their best, far from it...but listenable...) #9 “Don’t Let It End” (Styx...you have to understand, I was 25 at this point in my life and big-time into the oldies...I just didn’t listen to this crap ....) #10 “Our House” (Madness....oh, geezuz...put a bullet in my left temporal...)

Boston Red Sox Quiz Answers: 1) Dom DiMaggio is the only non-BoSox Hall of Famer to score 130 runs in a season, 131 in 1950.* 2) David Ortiz, 54 (2006) and Jimmie Foxx, 50 (1938) are the only two to hit 50 HR. 3) Dwight Evans is number three on the all-time Boston runs scored list, 1435, behind Carl Yastrzemski and Ted Williams. [Pssst....Yaz was incredibly overrated...just don’t tell him, he being a rather surly type.]

*Dom DiMaggio was pretty underrated. A 7-time All-Star, he scored 100 runs six seasons and finished his career at .298, with a .383 OBP. Plus he missed three full seasons due to World War II. Had he not, he might have been one of those who made the Hall through the Veterans Committee. Of course his career was helped by the fact he was a teammate of Ted Williams. By the way, just go to baseballreference.com and remind yourself how sick Williams’ numbers are. In fact there should be one day each year where it is required of every baseball fan that they do this. And then remember how much time he lost to World War II and Korea, and extrapolate out, as I have in this space a few times over the years, just what Teddy Ballgame’s numbers could have been. [Hint: Being extremely conservative, Williams would be No. 1 or No. 2 in RBI, for starters. 3 or 4 in runs scored. 4 or 5 in home runs....] 

---