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Bar Chat

05/15/2023

NBA/NHL Playoffs Continue....

Add-on posted early Tues. a.m.

NBA Playoffs

--We’re under way in the semis, with the Lakers taking on the Nuggets in Denver last night for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals and it was all Denver, at least for most of the contest, 132-126, as Nikola Jokic had another monster game…34 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists…while Jamal Murray chipped in with 31, Denver with a 72-54 lead at the half.

The thing is the Lakers shot the ball well…54.8% from the field, 45.8% from three…as Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron was 26-12-9.

Game 2 Thursday.

Miami is at Boston for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight.

--Looking back one last time at Philadelphia’s disastrous end to Game 6 and then Game 7 against Boston, as Dan Wolken of USA TODAY wrote:

“Today we need to talk about the 76ers, about league MVP Joel Embiid, about the incredibly shrinking James Harden and about a team-building experiment that has reached its expiration date.

“They’ve tried different stars to put around Embiid. They’ve had three front office iterations and two head coaches since the beginning of the so-called ‘Process.’  They’ve thrown Ben Simmons under the bus.  They’ve tweaked the edges of the roster.

“And six years since the 76ers emerged as a theoretical championship contender, the bottom line hasn’t changed: They are too close to blow it up, and yet too far to believe there’s anything better waiting for them at the end of this road.

“Embiid, who finally got his MVP trophy after years of whining for votes, was sluggish and helpless Sunday when it mattered most.

“Harden, whose playoff failures are canon, lived down to his reputation by disappearing completely with a 3-for-11 performance in Game 7 – after going 4-for-16 at home in Game 6 with a chance to end the series on Thursday….

“So now what?

“We have seen what this version of the 76ers is capable of.  Winning an NBA championship does not appear to be one of those things….

“The 76ers have played their worst basketball in Games 6 and 7.  That isn’t an accident.  It’s been part of who they are with Embiid as the best player, and while that isn’t entirely his fault, he has had multiple opportunities to be part of the solution and has not delivered.”

--The San Antonio Spurs struck gold Tuesday night, winning the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes in the most anticipated draft lottery of the past 20 years.

The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama, 19, is the most acclaimed teenage basketball prospect since LeBron James, who has called the Frenchman an “alien” as talent evaluators compare him to a young Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

--Ja Morant spoke for the first time since his second gun incident, issuing another apology.  NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed his extreme disappointment and said the league is investigating the episode before levying a penalty, which all are in agreement should be a hefty suspension, potentially for one year.

Morant is slated to begin his five-year, $194 million max contract this coming season.  He has deals with Nike and Powerade, though the latter pulled an ad featuring Morant almost immediately after the first gun video emerged in March.

NHL

--Monday night, newly-20-year-old Wyatt Johnston scored a crucial goal for Dallas in their 2-1 victory over Seattle in their Game 7 second-round series.

As a 19-year-old in the regular season, Johnston, a first-round pick in the 2021 draft, scored 24 goals.

So Dallas moves on to play the Vegas Golden Knights in the West finals Friday night in Vegas.

The Golden Knights had taken out the Oilers in Game 6 Sunday in Edmonton, 5-2, to wrap up their series.

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t care less what happens from here on.  We had a chance after the likes of the Rangers and Bruins were knocked out, to have an Edmonton-Toronto final, which would have showcased young superstars Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Auston Matthews, but noooo!  Us fans got blowdom instead.

The Panthers take on the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thursday in Game 1 of the East finals.

MLB

--Shohei Ohtani Monday night had another game for the ages, this time at Camden Yards, where Ohtani nearly hit for the cycle, while pitching 7 innings to beat the Orioles 9-5.

Ohtani hit a 456-foot go-ahead three-run homer and a triple, in consecutive innings, finishing a double shy of the cycle.  Overall, 4-for-5 and a walk, 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored.

Ohtani thus became the first pitcher to reach base five times as a pitcher since the Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyre* against the Senators on Sept. 26, 1964.

Granted, Ohtani was hit hard, yielding three home runs and five earned, but he went the seven, improving to 5-1, though his ERA rose to 3.23.  At the plate he has 9 home runs, 29 RBIs and a .923 OPS (thru Mon.).

*Stottlemyre was a famous 5-for-5 at the plate that day, 2 RBIs, as he twirled a 7-0 shutout.

--Speaking of the Yankees, they have won 7 of 9, 6 of 8 since the return of Aaron Judge, including last night’s 6-3 win over the Blue Jays (24-18) in Toronto.

Judge hit his fifth home run in four games in Tuesday’s 6-3 win, but starter Domingo German was ejected after three perfect innings for having a sticky substance on his pitching hand.  It was his second infraction of the season and he faces a 10-game suspension.

--The Mets lost to the Rays (32-11) at Citi Field last night, 8-5, as Justin Verlander was booed off the mound, having yielded 6 earned in five innings.  The only good thing you can say about this increasingly unwatchable team is that they broke a 57-inning homerless streak with three dingers. 

It bears repeating. The Mets started out 14-7 and are now 20-23…a godawful 6-16 stretch.

--The Oakland A’s cleared the first hurdle of their proposed move to Las Vegas on Monday, with the owners of the Tropicana Hotel land announcing they had reached agreement with the team to reserve nine acres of that 35-acre site for a ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.

The deal is contingent on “the passing of legislation for public funding and related agreements,” and state legislators are expected to learn exactly how much taxpayer money the A’s seek shortly.  [For now, the cost of the stadium is estimated to be $1.5 billion, with $395 million in public financing.]

But two numbers jumped out from the statement: The ballpark would hold “approximately 30,000 fans” and is expected to attract “more than 2.5 million fans and visitors annually.”

As in every one of the 81 home games would be a sellout.  As Nelson Muntz on the Simpsons would say, “Haw haw!”

Initial plans call for the ballpark to have a partially-retractable roof.   

Think of this…the A’s would be playing in the smallest ballpark in the major leagues, in the smallest media market in the majors, in a market where the NFL and NHL already are there and the NBA could follow soon.  They would need a lot of fans from the booming communities outside Las Vegas itself – which some say is possible; the triple-A team there is a perennial league leader in attendance and has averaged as many as 9,299 fans per game.

Of the 30 teams in the major leagues, only 11 announced an attendance of at least 2.5 million last season (though two others were at 2.45 million+).

It is hoped the A’s could move into their new stadium in time for the 2027 season. The big immediate issue is what does the team do until then.  The city of Oakland is rather pissed for starters.  The A’s have a lease at the Oakland Coliseum through 2024, and it’s assumed they could play the 2025 and ’26 seasons at Las Vegas Ballpark, home to the triple-A affiliate Aviators.

--In College Baseball…Baseball America Top Ten (5/15)

1. Wake Forest
2. Arkansas
3. Florida
4. Stanford
5. LSU…second straight weekend with an SEC series loss
6. Vanderbilt
7. West Virginia
8. Coastal Carolina…very cool for J. Mac, who lives nearby
9. Miami
10. South Carolina

Everything is so fickle.  As fellow Demon Deacon Gregg D. keeps reminding me, Wake has been going most of the season without four pitchers due to injuries and for now, doesn’t seem like any are coming back for the stretch run.  We’ve been lucky to be relatively healthy with the everyday lineup.

It’s just that every team has issues.  This weekend Wake hosts a mediocre Virginia Tech squad, we need to win 2 of 3, we’re the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament the following week, we need to get to at least the semis of that, and then we would definitely be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA championship…meaning we would play at home for both the regionals and super-regionals (should we get that far).  Specifically, the Deacs are 27-2 at home.

In case you haven’t figured it out, your editor is Omaha bound, IF we get there. 

But one game at a time, boys.  I never thought I’d be following every Wake baseball game online, pitch by pitch, like I have the past two months.

[For you very old guys…remember how in the 1980s, long before the internet, where you would call “King Wally” for the sports scores…and like for key college games, football and basketball, you’d be calling in every 15 minutes?  Funny to think back on those times….and that was a huge advancement then.]

Golf Balls

--This is going to be a fun weekend with the PGA Golf Championship and Round Two of LIV vs. the PGA Tour.  Historic Oak Hill CC in Rochester, NY, is the site, though the course has undergone some major changes from the last time it hosted a biggie…starting with three new holes, if I recall correctly.  The weather is going to rather changeable (both warm and chilly), but as of today, it looks like just one day of rain (Saturday).  You just always want to see them get the first two rounds in with no issues.

Ninety-nine of the top 100 in the world rankings are in the field this week, the strongest of any of the four majors.  The only one missing from the top 100 is Will Zalatoris, out for the rest of the season after surgery on his lower back.

Here's my stance heading in.  I have no problem if Dustin Johnson or Brooks Koepka are in the hunt on Sunday.  And only because Cam Smith is a good guy would I not commit hari-kari if he’s right there on the back nine either.

But I have to be honest, I don’t want to see more than three LIV golfers in the top ten (of the 17 who are playing), let alone three in the top five.

And I really do not want to see the loathsome Phil Mickelson anywhere on the leaderboard.  I said after The Masters, a tradition unlike any other, on CBS, that the only reason he did well was because it was Augusta and the familiarity with the place.  I predicted then Mickelson would not do well at Oak Hill….and I certainly stick to that. 

--Speaking of LIV, they had a tournament in Tulsa, Okla., last weekend and I didn’t say anything in my column because they had a two-hour rain delay and play was still going on as I went to post.  Dustin Johnson had a 3-shot lead, then frittered it away and found himself in a playoff with Branden Grace and Cam Smith.

DJ won it, but there was a serious problem.  Most fans watching on the CW broadcast were cut off at 6:30 and didn’t get to see the playoff!    The Miami audience instead got “The Goldbergs.”  New York City folks got “Penn & Teller: Fool Us.”

Not exactly how you build loyalty to the brand.  And obviously LIV doesn’t have the option of switching to the Golf Channel like the PGA Tour does.

LIV did supposedly get a decent three-day attendance of 40,000.

Stuff

--Kentucky Derby winner Mage is an 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday.  Post time is 7:01 p.m. ET on NBC.  Mage drew the No. 3 post position.

After trainer Steve Asmussen decided Monday not to enter the Preakness with Disarm, who finished fourth in the Derby, Mage is thus the only horse who also competed in the Run for the Roses.

Trainer Brad Cox is the second choice in the morning line with First Mission, and trainer Bob Baffert is back in a Triple Crown race for the first time since the 2021 Preakness.  His horse, National Treasure, is the third choice.

It’s just an eight-horse field, which I imagine could be reduced another one or two, just because that is the way these things go.

--From the Associated Press and last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington (S.C.).

“William Byron saw Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson ahead of him late at Darlington Raceway.

“Byron made sure he was prepared for the fireworks he thought could happen.

“Boom!

“Byron moved in front when Chastain and Larson wrecked while racing for the lead on a restart with six laps left and held off Kevin Harvick in overtime to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

“ ‘We talked about it under the caution,’ Byron said of a potential dustup.  ‘I didn’t think that they would wreck, but, obviously, it happened and we rolled on by.’”

Byron stayed clear for his third win of the season and seventh of his career.  Kevin Harvick was second.

With Chastain involved in another key crash late in a race, TV analyst and racing great Bill Elliott said, “Children, you put ‘em in a sandbox together and they can’t play.”

“He doesn’t have to be that aggressive,” winning owner Rick Hendrick said of Chastain.  “He’s going to make a lot of enemies.”

This weekend we have a NASCAR All-Star Open race at revamped North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina.  The 0.625 mile short track was a regular on the NASCAR schedule from 1949 through 1996 before the series left, like with Rockingham.  But the track is back, revived after many fits and starts.

I have very fond memories of this place.  Phil W. and I went one year, and two times I went with Ed F., a friend I had made back in the 1980s when I was with Thomson McKinnon Securities.  Totally lost touch with Ed.  Hope he’s doing well.

Phil W. will vouch for the fact that I could have eaten 50 of the pulled pork sandwiches offered up at North Wilkesboro…they were so freakin’ good.

--The NFL is taking a risk…striking a one-year with NBCUniversal’s Peacock to carry a playoff game exclusively on the streaming service this coming season, the two parties said Monday.  The deal is said to be in the range of $110 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The Peacock playoff game will be in prime time on Saturday, Jan. 13, which is the first weekend of the playoffs, the Wild Card Weekend.

--Doyle Brunson, the “Godfather of Poker,” one of the most influential poker players of all time and a two-time world champion, died Sunday, according to his agent.  Brunson was 89.

Brunson, also known as “Texas Dolly,” won 10 World Series of Poker tournaments – second only to Phil Helmuth’s 16.  His world championships came in 1976 and 1977 and he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988.

Brunson wrote a book called “Super System” in 1979, which was one of the first book to delve into Poker strategy and created a lasting impact that helped bring many others to the game.

His influence carried beyond poker.

“This one is a heartbreaker,” actor James Woods tweeted.  “Doyle Brunson, the greatest poker player who ever lived, has cashed in his chips.

“Doyle was so kind and helpful to me.  He was gracious to my late dear brother and every friend I introduced him to. A gentleman and a genuine legend.”

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

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[Posted early Sunday p.m.]

Happy Mother's Day!

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

Minutes before going to post, I was like, ‘Oh [shoot], I forgot to do a quiz.’  Which is why I stopped doing them for my Add-ons.

Denver Nuggets Quiz: Name the six to score 10,000 points in a Nuggets’ uniform, including ABA, going back to 1967-68.  Answer below.

NBA

--It is rather amazing to think the Los Angeles Lakers started the regular season 2-10 and are now in the Western Conference finals, where they will face Denver. And the Lakers struggled to just make the play-in tournament.

Yet here they are, having wrapped up their semifinals Game 6 matchup against Golden State Friday night in L.A., 122-101.

LeBron James was superb, 30 points (on 10 of 14 from the field), 9 rebounds, and 9 assists, while Anthony Davis had 17 points and 20 rebounds, showing no ill effects from the shot he took to the head in Game 5 in San Francisco.

The matchup with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets starts Tuesday night in Denver.

The Nuggets wrapped up their series with the Suns, 4-2, with a 125-100 Game 6 romp* in Phoenix, Jokic doing his thing again…32 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists. 

*Denver scored 81 points in the first half, 81-51, the most first half points scored by a road team in the NBA playoffs.

And what happened to the Suns’ Devin Booker, just 12 points!  Not exactly Mr. Clutch.

Well, the Suns then fired Monty Williams on Saturday, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he was overwhelming choice as the coach of the year.  Earlier, Milwaukee had fired coach Mike Budenholzer after the Bucks had the best regular-season record in the league, only to flame out in the first round of the playoffs, defeated by the play-in Heat. Budenholzer had won a title with the Bucks just two years ago.

As in I don’t recall two such highly successful coaches being canned like this in the same offseason, but I’m sure I’m wrong.  It’s also shades of Gerard Gallant, the New York Rangers coached fired after two highly successful seasons but a disappointing exit in the playoffs.

Williams and the Suns had a 2-0 lead in the 2021 NBA Finals, only to lose in six games to Budenholzer’s Bucks.  And they lost in the second round in each of the last two seasons, both times in an embarrassing home finale – last year to Dallas.

But it’s also true the Suns started the season 16-7, and were only 29-30 the rest of the way.

So…in hindsight, yes, this makes total sense.  Strike all my prior comments.

--My Knicks fell to the Heat down in Miami in their Game 6 Friday night, 96-92.  Jalen Brunson had another heroic effort for New York, 41 points on 14 of 22 shooting, after his stupendous 48-minute, 38 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists in Game 5 that kept the Knicks alive, 112-103.

But Friday, Brunson had zero support…Julius Randle 3 of 14 from the field (1-7 from 3), RJ Barrett a pathetic 1-10, and Quentin Grimes 1 of 6 from 3.  Outside of Brunson, the Knicks were 5 of 25 from behind the arc.

And the Knicks big men, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, combined for four points, while Bam Adebayo had 23 in the post for the Heat.

Part of you wants to say the Knicks had a very successful season getting this far, but the other part of you as a fan is like, hell, the Heat had to emerge from the play-in and we still couldn’t beat them?

The Knicks have to do something in the middle.  Robinson and Hartenstein are under contract but neither has a shot from even 10-feet out.  It’s really pathetic, let alone Robinson’s ability at the foul line.

And Julius Randle is so freakin’ moody.  Stephen A. Smith is right.  When Randle isn’t going well and his shoulders sag, it carries over to the rest of the team.  He was a deserved NBA All-Star in the regular season and just another schlub in the playoffs.

But what an awful way to go out…Randle and Barrett in particular showing us nothing when it mattered most.

--Back to the Heat, they then awaited the winner of Boston-Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon in Beantown.

The Sixers had a chance to put the Celts away on home court Thursday but Jayson Tatum, in the midst of a truly godawful performance, got hot late in the fourth quarter, drilling three crucial 3s in the final few minutes, Boston pulling away 95-86.

I mean the guy missed 14 of his first 15 shots overall from the floor – and his first six 3s, only to see him make 4 of his next 5 3-point attempts, 16 points overall in the fourth quarter after three points in the first three quarters.

And so this afternoon, I watched the first half of Game 7, the Celtics up 55-52 at the half, Tatum carrying over from Thursday with 25 at the intermission.

I then switched over to golf to watch that conclusion and glanced online and like Charlie Brown gazed after Linus and Co. took care of his Christmas tree, I had to look a few times at the third quarter score, 88-62, Philadelphia scoring 10 points…Joel Embiid at that point 4 of 16 from the field.  The MVP coming up very, very small.  The guy who’s been bitching for years that he didn’t win the award, finally gets it and does this.  I couldn’t give a damn about Embiid, but I’ll really be tired of listening to his act in the future.  [Cue Jeff Spicoli.]

And Doc Rivers needs to be fired.

As for Tatum, all he did was score a Game 7 record 51 points.

Final score…Boston 112, Philadelphia 88.

ESPN/ABC are praying for a Boston-L.A. final, which would have huge ratings.

--Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant was suspended from all team activities indefinitely by the team Sunday after another video popped up of Morant holding a gun in a social media live stream.  This comes about two months after he was suspended eight games by the NBA for conduct detrimental to the league after appearing to display a gun in an Instagram live video taken at a strip club.

The new video has Morant and a friend listening to rap music while in a car.  The camera pans toward Morant a few seconds into the video, when he appears to be holding the gun before the camera quickly turns away.

The league is investigating.

I keep telling you, he’ll never be able to get rid of his posse.

Or as I wrote in this space 3/20, “You’re an idiot.  And you can’t just get rid of your posse.  They’ll go after you.”

The kid will die sooner than later. These are obviously big-time drug dealers, at least some of them, and he’ll get hit in the crossfire.  Sorry to write this, but it’s a prediction.

--The All-NBA team was announced, with Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the first team.

Nikola Jokic was the second team center, with Jimmy Butler, Jaylen Brown, Stephen Curry and Donovan Mitchell.

Next year, the All-NBA team will no longer be broken down by position, so Jokic would be first team along with Embiid, the two best players in the game this season…and the past few, for that matter.

--In College Hoops, since I last posted, West Virginia decided that coach Bob Huggins will return despite his using an anti-gay slur in a radio interview earlier in the week.

Huggins agreed to a $million-dollar salary reduction, a three-game suspension and sensitivity training.  More than a few folks thought he would be fired…that he had to be fired.

The most significant aspect of his contract reworking, however, is that it will be amended from a multiyear agreement to a year-by-year pact that will begin May 10, 2023, and end April 30, 2024.  His salary reduction is from $4.2 million to $3.2 million.

The university, in a statement from president Gordon Gee and AD Wren Baker, said that “any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination.”

Huggins has also agreed to make “a substantial donation” to Xavier, whom he had disparaged.

But as Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post noted:

“I have covered Bob Huggins’ games. I do not know Bob Huggins.  But I do know him better than I did over the weekend.  And the disturbing part about that new familiarity isn’t so much that the words were broadcast on the air and later distributed on the internet. The disturbing part is that a man entrusted with molding young minds kept that kind of thinking in his own.”

Meanwhile, former St. John’s basketball coach Mike Anderson is seeking $45.6 million from the school, saying he was fired with cause in March only so the school could avoid paying his buyout and use the money to hire Rick Pitino, per arbitration documents obtained by ESPN on Thursday.

The $45.6 million figure is broken down into the $11.4 million that was left on his contract and an additional $34.2 million for “punitive” damages.

According to the university’s termination letter obtained by ESPN, Anderson was fired for “failure to create and support an environment that strongly encourages student-athletes who are in the men’s basketball program to meet all university academic requirements,” “failure to perform your duties and responsibilities in a manner that reflected positively on St. John’s University…in actions [that] brought serious discredit” to the school and “failure to appropriately supervise and communicate with your assistant coaches.”

Anderson says the school offered him a buyout for less than the $11.4 million remaining on the contract before the school accused him of “fictitious” problems within his program and fired him for cause.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, St. John’s said it disputed “the wildly inaccurate claims” and that it would “vigorously defend those claims in arbitration.”

Anderson had a record of 68-56 in his four seasons and was 30-46 in the Big East, which blows.

I’m guessing the two sides settle for $5 million.

NHL

--After the Rangers were eliminated, the only thing that was going to keep me interested in the Stanley Cup Playoffs was a Toronto-Edmonton final.

Now the Florida Panthers took out the Maple Leafs with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 5, taking the series 4-1.  Well, at least Toronto won a playoff series this go ‘round for the first time 2004.  [And it was too bad they were robbed on a controversial no-goal call, the referee ruling after a nine-minute review that the play was dead before the puck crossed the line, so it was disallowed.]

So in the Eastern Conference finals, it’s Florida vs. Carolina, the Hurricanes having taken out the Devils in five.

Carolina won Game 5 in overtime, making it seven wins in OT in the last three playoffs, more than any other team in that timeframe.

Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, the Vegas Golden Knights rallied Friday to beat the Oilers 4-3 to take a 3-2 series lead.  Game 6 Sunday night in Edmonton.

And the Stars-Kraken series is going to a Game 7 Monday in Dallas, after the Kraken defeated the Stars 6-3 in Seattle Saturday night.

MLB

--The Yankees took on the Rays for four at the Stadium this weekend, and after getting blitzed 8-2 in the opener on Thursday, the Yanks came back with 6-5 and 9-8 victories Friday and Saturday.  Yesterday, Aaron Judge hit two, 2-run homers as New York came back from being down 6-0 in the fifth. Shane McClanahan, who hadn’t given up more than two earned in his eight previous starts this season, yielded 4 in four innings, his ERA rising from 1.76 to 2.34.

But New York lost today, 8-7, another late rally this time falling short.

Tampa Bay is 31-11, the Yanks 23-19.  Ergo, 8 games, as they say in the hood, though they aren’t referring to baseball.

--As I go to post, the Mets are in the midst of a split ‘pseudo’ doubleheader, losing the first 3-2 to the Nationals to fall to 19-21.  I’ll comment next time on the second game, which has some significance.

--At the same time, Baltimore was beating up on Pittsburgh.  In Saturday’s contest, Tyler Wells through seven innings of one-hit ball, the Orioles winning 2-0.  Reliever Yennier Cano, a 29-year-old who has done nothing in a few cups of coffee in the big leagues prior to the past month when he was called up, has yet to yield a run in 19 2/3, just 4 hits, and zero walks.  I’d say that’s pretty freakin’ good.

As for the Pirates, they have gone from a sizzling 20-8 start to 21-19.

Make that 22-19, as the Pirates beat Baltimore today, 4-0, behind Mitch Keller’s 7 shutout innings, 13 Ks!  Keller, who hasn’t really done squat in four previous seasons in Pittsburgh, is 5-1, 2.38.  Wanna play for the Mets, Mr. Keller?

--Toronto beat the Braves the first two of their 3-game series, 3-0 and 5-2.  In the first one, ex-Met Chris Bassitt pitched a 2-hit shutout, Bassitt now 5-2, 3.49.  The Mets had no interest in giving Bassitt a long-term deal last offseason and even with his start in Toronto, I can’t say I’m upset…yet!

But Atlanta has lost three in a row as they deal with the losses of starters Max Fried and Kyle Wright, both expected to be out at least two months; Fried with a left forearm strain, Wright with a right shoulder ailment.

Wright was 21-5, 3.19, last season; Fried 14-7, 2.48…both making 30 starts.

So Atlanta took a 5-4 lead to the bottom of the ninth today and Raisel Iglesias, so phenomenal last season, blew it, Jays win 6-5, and sweep the Bravos.

--The streaking Dodgers (25-15) have won 12 of 14, taking the first two of their 3-game set with the Padres at Chavez Ravine.

--The Cardinals (15-25, but winners of 5 of 6 as they try to right the ship) take on the Red Sox (22-18) at Fenway on Sunday Night Baseball, but what a dreadful 4-3 loss Boston suffered yesterday.  Chris Sale had gone 8 innings, one run (his longest stint since 2019), the Red Sox up 3-1 going to the top of the ninth, when Kenley Jansen, who earlier in the week became the seventh pitcher in MLB history to record 400 saves, blew his second straight ninth-inning lead, consecutive days.

--Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner was taken to the hospital Saturday after being struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of the Phillies’ Nick Castellanos in the second inning against the Phillies.  “He’s under observation at a local hospital,” Rockies manager Bud Black said afterwards.

The ball went off the back right side of Feltner’s head.  The right-hander immediately collapsed to the ground but was able to walk off the field with assistance.

Then Sunday, the Rockies announced Feltner has a skull fracture and concussion, but he was likely to be discharged later Sunday and will not require surgery.

“Overall, he’s fine,” said Bud Black today.  “I think the feeling is that it could have been worse.”  No s---…inches from the temple.

Feltner was placed on the 15-day injured list, but Black strongly hinted he will be out for months.

Thank God, all in all. 

--Carlos Correa signed a six-year, $200 million contract with Minnesota this offseason after richer agreements with San Francisco and the Mets fell through amid concern about the long-term health of his ankle.

Well he’s not hurt, but he’s getting booed in Minnesota as he’s hitting .200 with a .676 OPS through Saturday (though he had two hits and his sixth home run last night).

[Correa had two hits today, as the Twinkies destroyed the Cubbies, 16-3, his average at .207.]

--Christian Yelich of the Brewers has become a .250 hitter with 10-15 home run power the last three seasons due to his back issues (a la Don Mattingly, though he hit for a higher average after he lost his power…David Wright is another example).

But Brewers fans have to be a little hopeful.  Not only did Yelich hit home runs No. 5 and 6 Saturday night in a win over the Royals, but he’s 14-for-42, .333, in May.

The Pete Davidson lookalike is still owed $26 million per through 2028!

Hey, today Yelich homered again, No. 7, with two more hits as Milwaukee beat the godawful Royals 9-6.

--In College Baseball, No. 1 Wake Forest was in Tallahassee this weekend to take on Florida State and in the opener, Friday night, once again our ace, Rhett Lowder, who could be pitching in the majors next season (or late this season after a needed rest), tossed another seven scoreless, lowering his ERA to 1.52, the Deacs winning 10-0, Lowder 11-0.

The Deacs then won Saturday, 7-3, with four in the top of the ninth, clinching their first regular-season ACC title since 1963!  Good lord. We’ve had a lot of good teams in those 50 years between titles.

With each win we are certainly on the path for a No. 1 seed in the regionals (critical as it means you are the host team), and with Lowder, you gotta like our chances to get to Omaha.  [No. 2 starter Josh Hartle (9-2, 2.03) isn’t exactly chopped liver.]

But we lost today to FSU, 4-3, blowing a 3-0 lead late owing to the bullpen.  Can’t win ‘em all.  We should still be No. 1 in tomorrow’s Baseball America poll. 

[Seth Keener, who has emerged as the third starter for the Deacs, threw five scoreless to lower his ERA to 1.40!  But the bullpen has become a problem, for those of us with College World Series dreams.]

Golf Balls

With the PGA Championship looming next week, and another PGA Tour vs. LIV matchup, we had the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, and it was a strange leaderboard.

Austin Eckroat -16
Zecheng “Marty” Dou -16
Ryan Palmer -16
Scottie Scheffler -14
Jason Day -14
Vincent Norrman (sic) -14
Si Woo Kim -14

And Jason Day closed the deal with a 62!  Good for him, and good for the PGA Tour, as Day’s 13th career win was his first since 2018.  Everyone likes the guy, and he’s someone who can sell a few tickets.

Kim and Eckroat finished T2, a shot back, while Scheffler was T5.  Huge tournament for Eckroat.

Premier League

With the schedule winding down to a precious few, all about the battle at the top and the battle to avoid relegation down at the bottom.

Today, Everton, part of the latter, hosted Manchester City (seeking the title) and City took care of business, 3-0, meaning they just had to win two of their remaining three against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford.

Make that City needs just one win in three as in a stunning development, Arsenal lost at home to Brighton 3-0.  Should Arsenal lose next Saturday at Nottingham Forest, City would win the title without even playing, as their next match is Sunday vs. Chelsea.

So City is in line to pick up its third title in a row, fifth in six seasons.

And now they can focus on the Champions League semifinal second leg clash against Real Madrid, Wednesday, the first leg ending in a 1-1 draw.  This is huge.

Plus, Manchester City next month will be facing off against Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley, as City guns for the historic treble (PL, FA Cup and Champions League titles).  Only one other English team has accomplished this, Man U in 1999.

As for the relegation battle, Saturday, Leeds picked up a big point in a 2-2 draw with Newcastle (costly for them), while Forest did the same in tying Chelsea 2-2.

Standings…Played (35/36 of 38) – Points

1. Man City…35 – 85
2. Arsenal…36 – 81
3. Newcastle…35 – 66
4. Man U…35 – 66
5. Liverpool…35 – 62

16. Nottingham Forest…36 – 34
17. Everton…36 – 32
18. Leeds…36 – 31
19. Leicester City…35 – 30
20. Southampton…36 – 24

A huge one Monday, Leicester hosting Liverpool.

What sucks for casual PL fans is that none of us want to see Forest, Everton, Leeds or Leicester go down, and yet two of them will.

Stuff

--Kentucky Derby winner Mage is running in the Preakness next Saturday following an encouraging workout at Churchill Downs, its co-owner said.

Mage galloped about 1 ½ miles at a brisk pace, as described by co-owner Ramiro Restrepo, who said the colt was “thriving” with good energy levels.

Restrepo called this past week after the Derby “a magnificent week of training… So, it’s on to Baltimore and crab cakes, here we come.”

As for Forte, the favorite for the Derby who was a scratch hours before the race, trainer Todd Pletcher was suspended 10 days and fined as the result of a positive Sept. 2022 drug test involving the horse at Saratoga.

Pletcher appealed and a stay of the suspension was granted, allowing him to work.  However, the commission may terminate the stay if the hearing isn’t completed within 90 days of the ruling.

Pletcher appeared before New York stewards Wednesday.

It seemed that Forte was primed for the Preakness, but since the colt is on the Kentucky vets’ list for 14 days over a bruised right front foot, that meant he was not eligible for the Preakness.

When I did my Add-on early Wednesday, this was far from clear and it seemed Forte would be able to run.

So with the timeline of the suspension and the ‘stay’ for up to 90 days, you’d think Forte would get to run in the Belmont at least.  We’ll see.  But that would juice that race a bit…the sport needing every little bit of help it can get these days.

--No, I can’t get excited about the NFL schedule release, as much as the league and the networks want me to be. 

But thanks to Aaron Rodgers, it will be nice to have the Jets in prime time a lot.  How many of those I make it through the whole game will be a different matter.  Most of them will be school nights, after all.

--The Washington Commanders announced Friday that a group led by Josh Harris had reached a signed, exclusive agreement to purchase the team from Daniel Snyder.

But while Harris’ $6.05 billion deal to buy the team is near the finish line, it still must be vetted and approved by the NFL finance committee and then ratified by a vote of the league’s team owners. And members of the eight-owner finance committee raised issues during their meeting Wednesday in New York that threaten to delay the vote of the owners beyond their meeting this month.

A person familiar with the sale process told the Washington Post yesterday that if not for the other owners’ strong desire to remove Snyder from the league, the Harris deal probably would not be approved without some revisions.

The issue is the deal has been described as complex and including a large number of limited partners.  Harris identified a dozen investors in his group in Friday’s announcement, including two families, and said that was “amongst others.”

Ergo, final approval by the owners during their May 22-23 meeting in Minneapolis seems increasingly unlikely.  Ultimately, 24 of the 32 owners must vote ‘yes.’

--Loreen of Sweden won the Eurovision Song Congest in Liverpool, England, becoming the first woman, and only the second person, to do so twice.  The singer, who previously triumphed in 2012 with Euphoria, narrowly beat Finland’s Kaarija after the public and jury votes were combined.

Irish singer Johnny Logan won the contest in 1980 and 1987.  Sweden is also now level with Ireland’s record seven Eurovision wins.

I just looked at the list of past winners, the contest beginning in 1956, and some of the ‘names’ to pull it off were Lulu (1969), ABBA (1974), Brotherhood of Man (1976), and Celine Dion (1988).

The Brotherhood of Man was known here in the U.S. for the top ten 1970 hit, “United We Stand.”  But their Eurovision win in 1976 was for “Save Your Kisses For Me,” which topped out on the Billboard chart at #27.  [A nice tune…YouTube it…]

So I had no idea the Brotherhood of Man was a studio group from the UK.  The lead singer, Tony Burrows, was also the lead for Edison Lighthouse, First Class, the Pipkins and White Plains.

All of these were one-hit wonders!

Edison Lighthouse – 1970 #5 “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”
First Class  - 1974 #4 “Beach Baby”
The Pipkins – 1970 #9 “Gimme Dat Ding” [Used on the “Benny Hill Show”]
White Plains – 1970 #13 “My Baby Loves Lovin’”

But think about Tony Burrows’ life in 1970!

Burrows is still alive, the lad turning 81 in April.  I mean how cool would it be to meet the guy in a pub in England today and know of his history and asking him how he pulled it all off that one magical year.

Top 3 songs for the week 5/15/71:  #1 “Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night)  #2 “Never Can Say Goodbye” (The Jackson 5…one of their top 3) #3 “Put Your Hand In The Hand” (Ocean)…and…#4 “If” (Bread)  #5 “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo” (Lobo)  #6 “Brown Sugar” (The Rolling Stones)  #7 “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Aretha Franklin)  #8 “Stay Awhile” (The Bells)  #9 “I Am…I Said” (Neil Diamond)  #10 “Chick-A-Boom” (Daddy Dewdrop…B week…)

Denver Nuggets Quiz Answer: Six with 10,000 points in a Denver uniform….

Alex English 21645
Dan Issel 16589
Carmelo Anthony 13970
Nikola Jokic 12054
David Thompson 11992
Ralph Simpson 10130

Add-on up top by noon, Wed.

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