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Bar Chat

07/11/2013

Andy Murray, Part II

Washington Senators-Texas Rangers Quiz: 1) Name the four to drive in 140 in a season. 2) Name the only two to win 130 games in a Senators-Rangers’ uniform. 3) Name the only two pitchers to strike out 225 in a season. Answers below.

Ball Bits

--While as I’ve previously said I really don’t care about the All-Star Game, other than to watch David Wright and Matt Harvey, as a Mets fan, there is one possibility to be aware of.

“Well, brace yourselves: We could have a tainted player win the All-Star Game MVP Award again.

“It happened last year when San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera took home the trophy and a little more than a month later was suspended for 50 games for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy.

“The odds are actually greater this year, with four players on All-Star rosters whose names have been linked to MLB’s investigation of the Biogenesis Clinic in South Florida.

“They are Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres and Bartolo Colon of the Oakland Athletics, and they are at risk of being suspended by MLB at the conclusion of its investigation.”

MLB is not going to be able to close its case until after the All-Star Game

As for Melky, who signed a two-year, $16 million deal with Toronto despite his suspension, Nightengale notes:

“It sure makes you feel warm and fuzzy knowing that even if you get caught cheating, you still can get rewarded. Look no further than Texas to realize the insanity of this drug culture.

“The Rangers just brought back Manny Ramirez from the baseball graveyard, signing him to a minor league contract at age 41.  The irony is that he’s their insurance policy in the event Cruz is suspended, a high-ranking Rangers executive who was unauthorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY Sports.

--A-Rod is meeting with MLB investigators regarding the Biogenesis scandal on Friday, according to reports. Previously, the other big target in this case, Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun, refused to answer questions. A-Rod could easily take the same tack, having previously denied any relationship with Biogenesis and its director, Tony Bosch.

--Derek Jeter could return on Thursday or Friday, not a week later after the All-Star break as initially believed, as he has looked that good in his rehab efforts.

--Tom Seaver, battling back from a vicious case of Lyme disease, is throwing out the first pitch in the All-Star Game, another reason for us Mets fans to watch.

--Since April 25, a span of 14 outings, the Mets’ Jeremy Hefner has an ERA of 2.79. Since June 4, over seven outings, it’s 1.64...the best in baseball over that time. That’s Jeremy Hefner.

No wonder, then, that suddenly he’s in some trade conversations. Now, as a Mets fan, I don’t want them trading the guy. He’s only 27, went to the Moore, Okla., elementary school that was destroyed in the tornado, and is supposed to be just about the nicest guy on the team.

So here’s something you won’t find anywhere else...I guarantee it. Hefner was devastated by the storm that ripped apart his old community. The tornado hit May 20.

Since then he hasn’t allowed more than 3 earned runs in any of his 9 starts. [And no more than two walks in any of those appearances.]

Back in early April, I thought Jeremy Hefner was a bum.

--The Mets are the first team in baseball history to have played four 15-inning games before the All-Star break. The season record is five, most recently accomplished by the 1980 Cubs.

Actually, the Mets have played in 11 extra-inning contests thus far and they take a toll. They are only 3-8 in games following one, including Tuesday’s win over the Giants, which followed Monday’s 16-inning affair between the two (also won by the Mets).

So the Mets have played 40 extra innings thus far in 2013. The all-time record is 76, held by the 1969 Minnesota Twins.

--Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times had a piece on Detroit pitcher Max Scherzer, he of the 13-0 mark to start 2013 after a no-decision on Monday.

But Hoffman brings up former Pirates reliever Roy Face, who started the 1959 season 17-0, on the way to an eventual 18-1 record. Before Face’s first loss, on Sept. 11, he had appeared in 53 games and had also saved nine games.

However, what I didn’t know is that Face had also blown eight saves during his streak and on four occasions turned a blown save into a win for himself, thus making the streak a bit suspect.

--I do not believe Baltimore slugger Chris Davis is using steroids, despite his 33 homers (vs. a prior career best of 33 for last season), but what do I know? I mean this isn’t Brady Anderson going from a career high of 21 in 1992 to 50 in 1996, and then no more than 24 after that. Davis’ 33 home runs in 2012 proved he was a slugger to be reckoned with.

Nonetheless, of course every baseball fan wonders if Davis’ performance is real. So Rick Reilly of ESPN.com had a piece the other day concerning a 17-year-old’s question to Davis on his Twitter account... “Are you on steroids?”

“This caused a twitter twunami. Hundreds of people decided this meant Davis was innocent. Hundreds decided this meant Davis was guilty.   One guy said that because Davis didn’t have a period after the ‘No’ he was admitting he’d done something. 

“It was a milepost in player/fan history, the modern-day equivalent of ‘Say it ain’t so, Joe.’”

“I was scrolling through and happened to land on that one,” he said. “It was the first time I’d really seen anybody just ask me. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of people accuse me, say stuff like, ‘Ah, he’s GOTTA be on steroids.’ But at least this kid was asking me. And I get it. I remember, when I was a kid, being disappointed in players later on. You know McGwire and Sosa. So I understand.”

Reilly then asked the follow-up the kid didn’t have a chance to ask.

You said you weren’t on steroids, but have you ever done any performance-enhancing drug, period?

“I have not,” Davis said, simply. “I have not ever taken any PEDs. I’m not sure fans realize, we have the strictest drug testing in all of sports, even more than the Olympics. If anybody was going to try to cheat in our game, they couldn’t. It’s impossible to try to beat the system. Anyway, I’ve never taken PEDs, no. I wouldn’t. Half the stuff on the list I can’t even pronounce.”

Reilly: “Which is a great answer. And carries less power with me than a mosquito’s burp.

“I’ve lived through the entire steroids era. I’ve heard every impassioned denial from every accused baseball superstar since the Reagan Administration....

“And, yes, Davis has passed all three drug tests he’s taken this season, he says. But Barry Bonds passed every test he ever took. So did Lance Armstrong. Tells me nothing.

“That’s not fair to Chris Davis – who can prove a negative? – but it’s what baseball deserves.”

--Ah yes, Atlanta’s Upton brothers. B.J. was signed to a five-year, $75.25 million deal as a free agent. Justin was acquired in a seven-player trade with Arizona.

Justin hit 12 home runs in April, but only four since. Overall, he’s batting .251, 16 HR, 44 RBI.

B.J. is hitting .178 with 8 HR 20 RBI in 269 ABs.

--79 years ago, July 10, 1934, Carl Hubbell consecutively struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin...five future Hall of Famers.

Hubbell, “King Carl,” finished up his own Hall of Fame, 16-year career with the New York Giants with a 253-154 mark, 2.98 ERA. He picked up two MVP Awards and didn’t allow an earned run in 20 innings during New York’s 1933 World Series triumph over Washington.

NBA Fever

--So there have been a few stories on center Jason Collins, the first openly gay male athlete still active in a major American team sport, and how he hasn’t found a new team yet.

Hey, the guy blows! Err, the guy just isn’t any good! I won’t belabor a point I’ve been making about him since the early days of Bar Chat, but why wouldn’t you sign a reserve center off some European roster for a fraction of the cost? Or some kid straight out of college who might have some legitimate potential?

Anyway, there is zero reason for any team to sign Jason Collins, period.

--What’s this? Talk of Carmelo Anthony going to L.A.? To the Lakers?

OK, not until he’s a free agent after next season. Certainly Anthony’s wife, La La Vasquez, would love it, she already spending half her time in L.A. It seems Melo and Kobe are good buddies and Bryant has said he’d love to be teammates with the guy.

The Knicks can offer Anthony an extension beginning next February so it looks like we have a major topic of conversation in these parts early 2014, which means the talk will start with the first game of the 2013-2014 campaign.

More Thoughts On Andy Murray

When I went to post last time, the editorials and post-Wimbledon columns hadn’t come out yet so some further thoughts on Murray’s great triumph over Novak Djokovic.

British Prime Minister David Cameron says Murray deserves a knighthood after becoming the first Briton to win the Wimbledon’s men’s singles since 1936.

“I can’t think of anyone who deserves one more,” said Cameron, who watched the match from the Royal Box.

But Murray replied: “It’s a nice thing to have or be offered but I don’t know if it merits that.”

John McEnroe, by the way, now feels with the monkey off Murray’s back, he’ll win at least six Grand Slam titles (he also won last fall’s U.S. Open). I wouldn’t disagree with six. Sure, why not?

“There are two ways a champion arrives. The first way is sudden, premature, almost shocking. Talent rushes in, and talent cannot be denied. It happens so fast the young champion can’t really process what has happened, how hard this accomplishment is, what it all means.

“The second way a champion arrives is much harder. It takes time, more than expected. There is suffering. Agony. Public doubt. Self-doubt. Failure steps inside the head, folds bed sheets in the brain. The possible begins to curve toward impossible. There are moments when it starts to feel like it will never happen.

“And yet this is so much more than that. Andy Murray winning Wimbledon isn’t a story; it’s a saga, complicated by Murray’s own internal roller coaster and the crushing pressures of a hungry nation, eager for a title. Murray, a Scot, becomes the first British men’s player to take Wimbledon in 77 years – a heavy assignment given to Murray as a teenage phenom, finally completed at 26, but not before many disappointments and unravelings. There was a Charlie Brown quality to Murray’s quest, all of the exasperation and near-misses. A year before Murray had taken runner-up to Roger Federer here, and in the trophy ceremony he had emotionally pledged: ‘I’m getting closer.’

“He was getting closer. He knew it, even if others couldn’t quite yet. Murray long ago established himself as a top-five talent, but he’d been a bit of a dour valet to the magical trio of Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. A rangy player with outstanding defensive skills, Murray had the essential physical tools, but it was unclear if he possessed the mental hardware to close out major tournaments; he often could be seen muttering to himself as he battled on the court, a monologuist seesawing between fury and despair....

“It is a tricky business to say anybody deserves to win anything, but Murray seemed to deserve this title, if not for the history and what it meant for the tournament and Scotland and Great Britain, then because this road had begun so long ago. He had taken the harder path, the arduous one with valleys unexpected and self-inflicted, and the journey took not months, but years. In the buildup and heartbreak and all of the waiting, this title had swelled into something unwieldy and unfair, almost a living being, shadowing Murray wherever he went. That shadow is gone now, vanquished like all of those doubts and second-guesses. Andy Murray had won many tennis matches before, but now he has won Wimbledon, and it is everything, because he earned it.”

“A few years after a calamitous crash in financial markets, with the coalition Government struggling to revive a dormant economy, the sun smiled on a British win at Wimbledon. The maverick star, the man from a part of the country not usually associated with the bourgeois gentility of the game of tennis, lifted the nation. The year was 1936 and his name was Fred Perry. Yesterday, finally, it all happened again.

“In winning the men’s singles title, Andy Murray achieved something that nobody present in the Centre Court at Wimbledon under the age of 77 had seen. Novak Djokovic, the apparently indomitable Serb and world number one, flickered and threatened to spoil the day but Murray was too relentless, too strong even for him. Every time that it looked as if Djokovic were finding a way back into contention, Murray had an answer.

“His victory brings to an end the longest wait in British sporting life. This country places itself at a significant disadvantage when it comes to sporting excellence at world level. First, as a small nation, it has a relatively meager population from which to choose. Then, second, Britain attempts to compete at more international sports than any other nation. It is a rare country that burdens its sportsmen and women such that they should win international tournaments in football, cricket, rugby union, tennis and athletics.

“This would all be tough enough were it not for the fact that these islands then, for petty reasons of sporting politics, divides itself to compete as five separate nations. It is no coincidence that the two sporting triumphs of a remarkable weekend were in rugby union when the British Lions had come together to defeat Australia and in tennis, an individual sport in which nationality does not count for much. It was fascinating, in that context, to see David Cameron, the Prime Minister, sharing a box with Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland. There will be quite a battle now to claim Murray either for Scotland or for Britain....

“After 77 years without a victory, Britain has a Wimbledon winner in the men’s singles. Andy Murray, take the title, take the applause, take a bow.”

More Wimbledon

[WARNING: There is some very harsh language at the end of this bit, but it’s necessary to include to make a point.]

For the record, this is exactly what I wrote the last time concerning the Women’s Final.

“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.”

Nothing sexist...I was just bored to tears by the prospects of watching this so I opted not to.

But I was also well aware of some of the other chatter concerning Bartoli in particular as the tournament advanced. So for the archives, here is an example, post-Bartoli’s triumph.

“Sometimes I think that the day a major women’s sporting event passes without some commentator spouting sexist ‘humor’ will likely also be the day I ride my flying pig to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in Atlantis.

“This weekend just past, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli took out the Wimbledon women’s title in straight sets, beating Germany’s Sabine Lisicki with a determined performance that marked her as one of tennis’ new stars.

“Any one of those aspects of her win would have provided reams of commentary material, but BBC Radio 5’s John Inverdale had other concerns on his mind, asking his fellow commentators ‘Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little ‘You’re never going to be a looker. You’ll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight’?’

“The response was swift and outraged, and soon enough the Beeb had released a statement apologizing for Inverdale’s comments. He had himself attempted to undo his gaffe while still on-air, waffling, ‘We poked fun, in a nice way, about how she looks...but Marion Bartoli is an incredible role model.’

“At a press briefing, Bartoli told the assembled media, on the topic of Inverdale’s remarks, ‘I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I’m sorry. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes. And to share this moment with my dad was absolutely amazing and I am so proud of it.’

“(Bartoli’s dad, bless him, reacted with nothing but love for his champion daughter: ‘The relationship between Marion and me has always been unbelievable so I don’t know what this reporter is talking about. When she was five years old she was playing like every kid and having fun on the tennis court. She’s my beautiful daughter.’)”

So John Inverdale gets thrown in the December file for “Jerk of the Year” consideration.

The thing is the story is really much worse. Clem Bastow, in discussing the Bartoli aftermath, adds the following:

“Over on Twitter, scores of men – many of them in their 20s or younger – unleashed a tirade of abuse at Bartoli.

“If you’re looking for true misogyny in action, these tweets are it; pure and simple. Inverdale’s comments were less misogynistic than they were daft, old-fashioned sexism (and there is a difference, despite what the Macquarie Dictionary would have you believe), but I see little more in the response of the young men of social media than hatred of women (particularly successful ones).

“This, to me, is the real news story here: what has happened to make a large portion of this generation of young men so virulently contemptuous of women?....

“These are young men who spend their time sounding off on Twitter, leaving abusive comments on YouTube, browsing ‘creepshots’ on Reddit or, in the case of a drunk young man I sat next to on a plane last week, calling a woman (i.e. me) who is more interested in reading her book than enduring his booze-stinking conversation a ‘cum-guzzler’ and taking an upskirt photo of her.

“While I’m willing to accept the fact that the echo-chamber of social media has encouraged a certain amount of consequence-free ‘commentary’ online, Twitter’s position as the toilet wall of our time can’t be the sole reason a young man thinks it’s okay to directly (via Twitter’s @-reply function) tell a woman who has just won a major sporting title, ‘YOUUU F-CKING C—T C-CKSUCKING UGLY ASS BITCH! DROP DEAD WHORE.’

“I wish I had an answer, but I am inclined to think that John Inverdale’s comment, however dunderheaded and sexist it was, is the news story that will be wrapping tomorrow’s fish and chips. It’s the Twitter comments – and everything they stand for – that are the ones we should be really concerned about.”

--Good job by the football Giants in granting receiver Victor Cruz a six-year extension through 2018; a $46 million contract with $15.625 fully guaranteed the first two seasons, which seems very fair for both sides these days, and Cruz is pleased. He’s also, by all accounts, a real good guy. Nice to see good things happen to good people, especially talented ones.

“I (decided) it would be therapeutic to think about all the broadcasters I appreciate – as opposed to the ones who drive me to crush half-empty cans of PBR on my forehead – so here is a list of some of my favorite sports talkers, otherwise known as Slouch Sweeties:

[Ed. selecting just a few of Chad’s picks...including his first four.]

“Marv Albert (TNT): Ageless and peerless. Still hits the high notes just right, still makes his partners sound better. Probably could use some sun from time to time.

“Al Michaels (NBC): Ageless and peerless, too. If he called tiddlywinks or tic-tac-toe, it would sound like a big event. Probably gets more sun than most because he doesn’t work that often.

“Verne Lundquist (CBS): If he sat next to you in any bar in any city in the world, you’d buy him a beer.

“Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith (TNT): We forgive Barkley for all his outrageous statements – actually, maybe we encourage them – because he is so entertaining; he’s the guy you invite over to watch the game with your buddies. Smith, meanwhile, is sneaky good and silky smooth.”

[Ed. I think Smith is totally incoherent, but I’ve really come to love Barkley.]

“Gary McCord and David Feherty (CBS): These fellas are always having a good time, and why shouldn’t they? Golf’s a game; thankfully, they’re more relaxed with it than reverential. And any time someone hits a poor shot, neither talks about ‘Sunday nerves’ or ‘choking’ like the killjoy on NBC.”

“Mike Breen (ABC/ESPN): Wow, does he do solid play-by-play.

[Ed. I like Shulman...the ESPN Sunday night baseball booth is generally pretty good. I didn’t think it would be.]

“Vin Scully: I’ve been lucky enough to live in Los Angeles the last 20 years, so on the occasion I stumble upon a Dodgers game on radio or TV and hear his sublime voice of summer, everything feels right in the world for a few minutes.

“Phil Simms (CBS): A sensible, reasonable ex-jock voice in a sea of senseless, unreasonable ex-jock voices.”

“Ernie Johnson (TNT/TBS): Likable and listenable; never gets in the way, whether at a game or in the studio. Is there a nicer guy in the business? He’s welcome in my home any time, though he should call first.”

--Anna Benson, the ex-wife of former major league hurler Kris Benson, was arrested after an incident where she broke into his Georgia apartment with weapons and demanded money.

According to a TMZ report, “Anna had Kris at gunpoint and ordered him to pay her cash a day after a court order forced her to vacate the residence. She was wearing a bulletproof vest and also had a metal baton.”

Benson, of course, is the former FHM model who once famously said she would sleep with the entire Mets roster after he cheated on her.

--From BBC News: “An Italian judge has ordered 49 suspected Latin American gang members to stand trial for allegedly using dogs to smuggle cocaine into the country.

“A vet in Mexico forced large dogs to swallow drug packages before they were flown into Milan, police say.

“On arrival, they were killed and dismembered to retrieve the cocaine in a case which has outraged animal rights activists.

“The Ecuadorean, Peruvian and Salvadoran nationals will face trial in Italy.”

The suspected gang members operate under the name Latin King Chicago, among others.

--While Dog is solidly No. 1 on the ASL, yes, from time to time I ignore bad news, like an attack...so the Wall Street Journal had a piece on Tuesday, “What Signals a Dog Is About to Attack?” details of which I won’t get into except for two.

If an unfamiliar dog rolls on its back to expose its belly, “it doesn’t necessarily want to be petted. It might be asking you to move away.”

It also makes sense to carry treats when walking your own dog. Said veteran trainer Victoria Stilwell, “If I see a dog coming toward mine and I don’t like the look of it, I’ll take a bunch of treats and throw them far away. Nine times out of 10 they go get the food.”

--From the AP...Cairns, Australia: “Australian police were mystified by a chaotic crime scene including a hole in the ceiling and a smelly pool of vomit-like liquid – until they found the culprit was a 19-foot python....

“ ‘It’s head was the size of a small dog,’ Police Sgt. Don Auld said Wednesday.

“Before they found the python, investigators’ working theory was that a human burglar with an appetite for destruction – and a serious illness – had gone on a rampage inside the St. Vincent de Paul store in the small town of Ingham.

“ ‘We thought a person had fallen through the ceiling because the roof panel was cut in half,’ Auld said. ‘When they hit the floor, they vomited and then staggered and fell over. That’s what we thought anyway.’

“Police now suspect the python entered the store through the roof, which was damaged in a cyclone two years ago.

“The animal then plummeted through the ceiling, knocking over dishes, clothes and other items, before relieving itself on the floor. It somehow managed to hide from officials until staff spotted it lying alongside a wall the next day.”

--Charlie Carr, the driver for Hank Williams on his final journey, died at the age of 79.

Carr was just 18 and a college freshman when he picked up Williams New Year’s Eve, 1952, around 11:00 PM to take the country superstar from Knoxville* to Oak Hill, West Virginia, for his next performance. When he arrived the following morning, Carr opened the door to the back seat and Hank was dead. On the floor of the Cadillac was a piece of paper with lyrics to a cryptic new song he was working on.

“Tonight we both are all alone
and here’s all that I can say
I love you still and always will
But that’s the price we have to pay.”

Williams was on morphine for back pain, and he was carrying chloral hydrate, a sleep aid that can slow the heart. At some point during the trip, Carr reached back to put a blanket on a sleeping Williams. “When I lifted his hand I felt resistance, and I knew there was a problem,” Carr told the Tennessean in 2002.

He drove to a nearby hospital, where the singer was pronounced dead. Heart failure was given as the cause.

The Cadillac the two were driving in became the centerpiece of the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

*I wrote of this itinerary years ago for Bar Chat. But an obituary in the Los Angeles Times for Carr says he was hired to drive Williams from Montgomery to a New Year’s Eve show in Charleston, W.Va., and then to another concert scheduled for Jan. 1, 1953, in Canton, Ohio.

--As I go to post, Randy Travis remains in critical condition in a Texas hospital, suffering from viral cardiomyopathy, a viral condition that the Mayo Clinic website describes as a disease that weakens and enlarges the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood and carry it to the rest of the body. Heart failure can be the result. It’s been a tough stretch for the 54-year-old country superstar, much of it self-inflicted.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/14/84: #1 “When Doves Cry” (Prince...doo do do do....doo do do do....)  #2 “Dancing In The Dark” (Bruce Springsteen...hey, week starts out strong) #3 “Jump (For My Love)” (Pointer Sisters....until this one)...and...#4 “Eyes Without A Face” (Billy Idol...if I meet a girl at a bar with nice eyes but no face, it kind of creeps me out...) #5 “The Reflex” (Duran Duran...I mean I don’t want to be rude, but my reflex when seeing a girl with no face is to turn away...) #6 “Self Control” (Laura Branigan...It takes a lot of this to carry on a conversation with said No Face Girl...as for Ms. Branigan ... what a mess she was...) #7 “Almost Paradise – Love Theme From Footloose” (Mike Reno and Ann Wilson... whatever...) #8 “Ghostbusters” (Ray Parker Jr. ...talk about a tune not aging well...) #9 “The Heart Of Rock And Roll” (Huey Lewis and the News...carved out a nice career ...) #10 “Legs” (ZZ Top...I’m about to get a badly needed haircut myself, for those of you playing along at home...)

Senators-Rangers Quiz Answers: 1) 140 RBI: Juan Gonzalez, 157 (1998); Rafael Palmeiro, 148 (1999); Gonzalez, 144 (1996); Mark Teixeira, 144 (2005); Alex Rodriguez, 142 (2002). [Quite a list for PEDs, kids. And this is how you ruin a baseball record book. Frank Howard, by the way, never drove in more than 126...not that this is anything to sneeze at, Mr. Howard never known to be doing steroids...] 2) Wins: Charlie Hough, 139; Kenny Rogers, 133. 2) 225 strikeouts: Nolan Ryan, 301 (1989), Ryan, 232 (1990), Fergie Jenkins, 225 (1974). [Soon to be joined by Yu Darvish, who is on track for about 275-280 this season.]

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