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Bar Chat

05/28/2014

Bits and Pieces

Update...Wed. AM...

Just clearing some stuff off the plate....

--Indiana fell to Miami on Monday, 102-90, in Game 4 of their playoff series as the Heat took a 3-1 lead. Once again the big story was Roy Hibbert, scoreless in 22 minutes on 0-for-4 from the field. It was the fourth time in the playoffs he did not score a single point; the same guy who averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds in last year’s 7-game conference finals against the Heat.

--On Tuesday, San Antonio lost their second straight to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, 105-92, as Kevin Durant (31) and Russell Westbrook (40 point, 10 assists, 5 steals) combined to dismantle the Spurs as OKC continued to thrive with the return of Serge Ibaka. For the first time there appears to be a bit of dissension on San Antonio, as Coach Gregg Popovich has looked totally disgusted the last two games, more so than usual, while Tim Duncan is increasingly frustrated with Popovich (or so it seems) as the series heads back to San Antonio knotted at 2-2. 

Can Timmy D., Tony Parker and Kawhi get their mojo back? Or are the memories of 2012, when the Spurs led 2-0 in the conference finals over Oklahoma City, only to see the Thunder win the next four, too tough to overcome?

--Speaking of mojo, the Rangers lost theirs in Game 5 in Montreal as the Canadiens forced a Game 6 in New York on Thursday with a 7-4 win on Tuesday. The Rangers got off on the wrong foot 30 seconds into the game with a stupid penalty that led to an early Canadiens score, Montreal got it to 4-1, knocking out Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist, and then the Rangers stormed back to tie it at 4, only to lose their discipline again.

The Rangers wasted a heroic effort by Derek Stepan, who played with a broken jaw and had two goals. But Rene Bourque had a hat-trick for Montreal.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles has a commanding 3-1 lead over Chicago, the Kings having outscored the Blackhawks 15-7 in their three consecutive wins.

--Despite the stories over the weekend that Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was looking to sell and avoid a protracted fight with the NBA over his lifetime ban, Sterling responded forcefully on Tuesday, saying through his attorney that he was “going to fight to the bloody end,” and has disavowed an agreement he had with his wife, Shelly, to allow her to negotiate a sale.

Attorney Max Blecher said Sterling believes “what (the NBA) has done is illegal and it will not hold up in court.” Sterling, in his statement to the league, points out that he is being unfairly punished commensurate with other offenses, such as the $100,000 fine Kobe Bryant received for directing a gay slur at a referee, or the anti-gay comments of Orlando Magic owner Richard DeVos.

As for Shelly, she is attempting to hurriedly sell the team regardless of her husband’s legal maneuvering and, according to the Los Angeles Times, could name a prospective new owner by the end of the week.

So it’s a mess, but, Donald Sterling’s moves could be just posturing ahead of the inevitable. He himself is saying he had received offers “in excess of $2.5 billion.” Just a while ago we were talking $1 billion.

--Oh, the dysfunctional New York Mets. Dysfunctional and, this season more than ever, simply unwatchable.

2009...70-92
2010...79-83
2011...77-85
2012...74-88
2013...74-88
2014...23-28 (thru Tues.)

The fan base is collapsing at lightspeed. We can’t take it anymore. General Manager Sandy Alderson has gotten a free ride, but no more. The record speaks for itself.

So on Sunday, after another godawful loss, 5-3 to the Pirates, with the bullpen imploding (and the worst offender, Jose Valverde, being released after the contest), a team that had now gone 12 straight games in which the offense hadn’t exceeded five runs, Alderson fired the hitting coach, Dave Hudgens, replacing him with longtime minor-league hitting coordinator Lamar Johnson.

Hudgens had been in this position for four awful seasons, yet Alderson stressed the organizational philosophy that emphasizes a patient approach and selectivity would continue. Oh yeah, that’s worked wonders. [The Mets have the fewest home runs since the start of the ’09 season in the majors, by the way.]

Alderson also undercut manager Terry Collins, who wasn’t happy with the dual moves, saying, when asked if he was on the hot seat: “Well, everybody could be next....We just released one of the best professionals I’ve ever been around in my life in Jose Valverde. S--- happens.”

For his part Hudgens chose to take a shot at the fans: “I think the fans are really tough on the guys at home. How can you boo Curtis Granderson? They have no idea how hard this guy works and how he goes about doing his business, doing his job. He gets off to a slow start and they’re booing him? Come on.”

Oh brother. As two of the local guys on WFAN sports said on Tuesday, ‘What are we supposed to do? Throw this team a party?!’

But the Mets keep telling us that they are pitching rich, and, indeed, we are finally seeing some of this younger talent, including Matt Harvey last year before he went down with Tommy John surgery.

Yet now the organization’s top pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard, has a forearm issue, though we are being told it is not serious. 

--The Boston Red Sox ended their 10-game losing streak, the longest for the team in 20 years, on Monday in Atlanta, beating the Braves 8-6 (and then 6-3 on Tuesday). Red Sox Nation should take heart in the fact two teams once had 11-game losing streaks and still made the postseason; the 1951 New York Giants and the 1982 Atlanta Braves.

--First-place Toronto defeated the Rays 9-6 on Tuesday for their eighth in a row as Mark Buehrle moved to 9-1.

--The College Baseball World Series begins Friday, but I thought it was interesting defending champion UCLA is not in the field. In fact, they were just 25-30-1 this season.

--I forgot to note Rory McIlroy’s performance at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the top European tour event. It was, frankly, staggering after he had broken up days earlier with fiancée Caroline Wozniacki.

All Rory did was come from seven shots back in the final round, firing a 66, to take the title. Rory mused after, “How the hell did it happen this week.”

“Bricklayers and barristers, bus conductors, brain surgeons...most people simply get up and go to work the next morning after a close personal relationship fractures.

“The difference for McIlroy, however, is that from the moment of last Wednesday’s stunning announcement of the end of his engagement, his personal heartache was thrust into the global spotlight.

“He may have turned off his phone and given away his laptop, adopting what he described as a lifestyle from the ‘sixties or seventies,’ but McIlroy was faced with reminders at every turn over the past five days, whether it was on the newsstands, under media questioning or in the eyes of sympathetic tour colleagues.

“ ‘I guess when I got inside the ropes this week, it was a little bit of a release,’ he explained. ‘I was on my own and doing what I do best, which is playing golf. It sort of gave me four or five hours of serenity or sanctuary or whatever you want to call it.”

The victory was Rory’s sixth on the European Tour, to go with his two majors in the States (six total PGA Tour wins), and now it’s on to Pinehurst.

--As for Wozniacki, whose career has fallen to the point where she was just a 13th-seed at the French Open, she lost in the first round to 64th-ranked Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

Afterwards, she spoke at a news conference and said, “I don’t really want to talk about my personal life. I hope that you all can understand that. The only thing I really have to say is that, you know, [I want to] thank everybody for their support and sweet messages....You know, I just have to move on.”

Two other notes from the French Open...Australian Open singles champion Li Na and Aussie men’s champ Stan Wawrinka both lost their first-round matches at Roland Garros, the first time that both singles champions of a Grand Slam event were eliminated in the first round of the next major, according to the International Tennis Federation.

--Duke defeated Notre Dame for the NCAA men’s lacrosse title, 11-9, the Blue Devils’ third title in five years.

--Brazilians are not looking forward to the World Cup, which starts June 12, at least a majority of them are not.

A poll by Datafolha found 55% of Brazilians surveyed believe the World Cup will bring “more losses than benefits...to Brazilians in general,” up from 44% in a survey last year.

The number who support the World Cup being held in their homeland dropped to 48% compared with 79% in late 2008. [Marissa Payne / Washington Post; Wall Street Journal]

--The Philippine Senate approved a bill to grant the Brooklyn Nets’ Andray Blatche citizenship for the express purpose of allowing him to play for the Philippines in the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Here’s the thing. Blatche has neither been to the Philippines nor has any Philippine heritage. No problem. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is expected to sign the bill.

The Philippines hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1978.

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