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Bar Chat

07/01/2024

Talkin' Baseball...Knicks...Euro 24 and more....

Add-on posted early Tues. a.m.

MLB

--After I posted Sunday, the Mets and Astros completed a rain-delayed extra-inning contest and after the Astros drove in their free-runner in the top of the tenth for a 5-4 lead, Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom of the inning with a double to score the Mets’ free runner, winning run on second, no outs, J.D. Martinez struck out, failing to advance Nimmo to third and the Mets didn’t score.  Houston then scored 5 in the top of the 11th, and that’s where it ended, 10-5.  A really crappy loss for the Metsies.  They need to rebound immediately down in Washington Monday night.

So Monday, the Nationals unveiled their next star, outfielder James Wood, all of 6-foot-7, 234-pounds, who had 10 home runs and a 1.058 OPS in the minors. Woods came over to the Nats in the Juan Soto trade, which also brought Washington shortstop CJ Abrams and Monday’s starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore.

San Diego is left with the players the Yanks sent them for Soto last offseason.

Wood singled in his first at bat and went 1-for-4 with a walk. Gore went 5 2/3, one earned.  And it went to extra innings, 3-3, when the Mets scored six in the top of the tenth, including a 3-run homer by J.D. Martinez, so it was 9-3, but the Mets, sans Edwin Diaz, have no bullpen whatsoever and had to hang on, 9-7.  As J. Mac said after, “I’m too old for this (stuff).”  Me too.

--Back to Sunday night, Wyatt Langford was the No. 4 overall pick in last year’s MLB Draft out of Florida, where he had his star turn in the College World Series.  He’s already contributing for the Texas Rangers, batting .260, 4 home runs, 35 RBIs, as an outfielder/DH.

But Sunday he hit for the cycle at Camden Yards, completing it with a 3-run homer into the left field corner that finished the Rangers’ scoring in an 11-2 rout of the Orioles.

Langford, who was out for a stretch with a hamstring injury, capped off a terrific June in which he batted .309 (30-for-97) with 3 homers and 22 RBIs.

Of course, Paul Skenes was No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft.  No. 7 was pitcher Rhett Lowder out of Wake Forest, drafted by Cincinnati, and he’s struggling.

After a solid start at High A this year, Lowder was advanced to AA Chattanooga and in nine starts he has a 6.69 ERA, 53 hits in 39 innings.  Uh oh.

NBA

--Free Agency tidbits since I last posted....

Paul George is heading to the Sixers, four years, $212 million.  So he’s now paired with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.  Philadelphia was 31-8 with Embiid in the starting lineup and 16-27 without him as he had another injury-riddled campaign.  George, 34, has had his own injury issues.

James Harden agreed to remain with the Clippers on a two-year, $70-million deal.

Chris Paul is signing a one-year deal to play with Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio, having been waived by the Warriors and $19 million as a result (between the $30 million the Warriors saved and the $11 million Paul then had to sign for).

Klay Thompson is leaving the Warriors after 11 years with the team, 4-time NBA champ, signing a 3-year, $50 million contract with Dallas. He’s no longer an All-Star, but he can be a leader on a team featuring Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Jayson Tatum signed a 5-year, $314 million extension with the Celtics – the largest contract in NBA history.  Tatum is just 26.

And the Knicks lost center Isaiah Hartenstein to the Thunder, a 3-year, $87 million deal.  Knicks fans are disappointed, but we get it.  The most New York could pay him was $18 million per, and they were outbid.  It happens.  No one begrudges Hartenstein.  And the taxes are much better out in OK.

So, as I discussed in depth on Sunday, it’s up to Mitchell Robinson, Jericho Sims and whoever else the Knicks can bring in in the coming months.  Robinson would be just fine as the main guy (he was, after all, before all his injuries last season), and if you told me he could play 65+ games next season and be available for the playoffs, I’d say, no big deal.  [One problem...Robinson has only played 65 games in two out of six seasons, and he averages just 25 minutes a game.]

As in they do have to find a potential alternative.  Did the Knicks go from title contenders to pretenders with Hartenstein’s departure?  Ask Knicks fans in November.  I’m not concerned myself...yet.

Olympic Trials

--Local Jersey girl Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone amazed again Sunday night in Eugene, Oregon, breaking her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles for a fifth time, covering the race in a blistering 50.65 seconds.  She left her competitors – among the best in the world – in the dust; Anna Cockrell (52.64) was second and Jasmine Jones (52.77) was third and will join Sydney in Paris.

“Honestly, praise God, I was not expecting that,” McLaughlin-Levrone said on NBC after the race.  “Anything is possible in Christ. I’m amazed, baffled, and in shock.”

No one else is.  This is what the Union Catholic High School grad has done now for years.  She was the youngest track athlete in a generation on Team USA when, still a high school junior, she qualified for the Rio Games as a 16-year-old.  She failed to make it out of the semifinals then, but five years later in Tokyo, she won a much-anticipated duel with fellow American star Dalilah Muhammad with a world-record-setting performance for her first Olympic gold medal.  She would add another gold in the 4X400-meter relay later that week, establishing herself as one of brightest stars in American track and field.

In addition to leaving the trials with the world record in hurdles, she’s also the world leader this year in the flat 400, running 48.75 in New York at the start of June – just more speed work, but a daunting sign for any country that hopes to challenge the U.S. in the 4X400 relay come Paris.

McLaughlin-Levrone made the decision a number of months ago to just focus on the hurdles and probable relay and not try to double up in the 400 this go ‘round in the Olympics.

--Meanwhile, Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old Maryland native, is heading to Paris as part of the 4X400-meter relay pool.  If he runs in Paris – and I imagine he will in a prelim but maybe not the finals (assuming Team USA gets there) – he would become the youngest male U.S. track and field Olympian in history. Pretty remarkable.

Wilson finished sixth in the 400-meter final last Monday in Eugene and captivated the crowds.

Stuff

--In a pathetic display last night in Kansas City, the USMNT flamed out of the Copa America tournament with a 1-0 loss to Uruguay, having scored three goals in three games.  By the time you read this, expect coach Gregg Berhalter to have been fired.  I don’t how the U.S. is going to turn things around before the World Cup in just two years. We’re just not that good.

--In Euro 2024 action Monday...France beat Belgium 1-0 and Portugal defeated Slovenia, 3-0 in PKs after a 0-0 draw.

--In the rain-delayed finish to the U.S. Senior Open on Monday, held at Newport Country Club in Newport, RI, Richard Bland won his second consecutive senior major in a playoff over Hiroyuki Fujita.

--Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway Sunday night, holding off Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick in a record quintuple overtime.  It broke Logano’s winless drought dating back to the spring of 2023.

Logano won on the fifth overtime restart on Lap 330, Chase Briscoe running out of fuel with Briscoe alongside Logano, and Logano had just enough fuel himself to race for two laps and cross the finish line.

Career win No. 33 should lock him into the playoffs and a shot at winning his third NASCAR Cup Series championship after winning titles in 2018 and 2022.

--Wimbledon is underway....

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

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[Posted Sunday p.m.]

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.

*If you have never donated to StocksandNews, please consider doing so.  Costs are skyrocketing. Click on the gofundme link or send a check to PO Box 990, New Providence, NJ 07974.

Baseball Quiz: When Willie Mays died, one of the records he holds that is kind of fascinating is outfield putouts.  He is the career leader at 7112.  Of the other nine in the top ten, seven are Hall of Famers.  One other, some say should be, leaving the last one, who played 1989-2007, but didn’t sniff the Hall of Fame.  Name the other nine.  [Hints: I’ll give you Max Carey, but two played from 1907-28, and 1905-28.  No. 11 is Willie Davis.]  Answer below.

MLB

--Us Mets fans are giddy these days.  We whipped the Yankees in the Subway Series, Tuesday and Wednesday at Citi Field, 9-7*, 12-2, and then the Mets won Friday night against the red-hot Astros, 7-2.

*[Tuesday, the Mets hit four home runs off Gerrit Cole, who didn’t strike out a batter in four innings.]

The Mets improved to an MLB best 16-6 in June (Houston was 15-8 for the month after the loss), 16 of 20, to move from a season-worst 24-35 to 40-39.  Even Jeff McNeil (.221 BA) had three hits, including a 3-run homer Friday.

Alas, Saturday, after racing out to a 6-1 lead in the third, the offense shut down and the absence of closer Edwin Diaz, in Game 4 of his 10-game suspension for sticky stuff, came back to bite the Metropolitans, who fell 9-6, thus setting up an important rubber game this afternoon.  [The Mets had also lost reliever Drew Smith earlier in the week to a second Tommy John surgery.]

Sunday, the Mets were down 4-0 early, but Luis Severino hung in there and gave them seven innings, and the Mets came back to tie it 4-4 going to the bottom of the ninth when the rains came.

And it’s after 6:30, I know they could resume play shortly, but I’m not hanging on for extra-innings.

--The Yankees had lost 9 of 11, including Thursday’s 9-2 to the Blue Jays in Toronto, Carlos Rodon getting hit hard yet again, 8 earned in five innings, now 9-5, his ERA up to 4.42. Rodon has now given up 20 earned in his last 13 2/3!  Good lord, that sucks.

The Yanks then managed to break out Friday, 16-5, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto with a combined five hits, five RBIs, Soto home run No. 20.  Judge and Soto have 139 RBIs combined, 79 for Judge, 60 for Soto.

But Saturday, playing without Soto who bruised his hand sliding into home the night before, the Yankees were shelled 9-3, as Toronto’s Chris Bassitt threw six innings, zero earned, to go to 7-6, 3.24.

This is the same Bassitt who in his first 9 starts of the season was 3-6, 5.03 ERA.  Give the guy a ton of credit, because since, he is 4-0 in his last 8 starts, 1.47.

Bassitt pitched one year for the Mets in 2022 and went 15-9, but the team didn’t want to sign him to a big contract in free agency, he signed with Toronto for three years, $63 million, and he’s produced.  [A la Zack Wheeler, who exited the Mets under similar circumstances.]

Today, the Yanks cruised 8-1, Gerrit Cole with his best start since coming back, five innings, one earned, 90 pitches, while Aaron Judge hit home run No. 31, a 2-run shot giving him 82 RBIs, very Ruth and Gehrig like.

Juan Soto played and had an RBI single.

--The Phillies continue to roll in the NL East, beating the Marlins in Philadelphia Friday night, 2-0, as Cristopher Sanchez pitched his first career complete game and shutout.

Since Sanchez signed his contract extension, he has 16 innings of shutout ball.

But earlier Friday, the Phillies put stars Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the injured list with what are being described as minor injuries that should sideline them for just two weeks (Harper a hamstring, Schwarber a groin injury).  Philadelphia, on offense, is already dealing with the absence of catcher J.T. Realmuto.

The Phils then lost to the Marlins, Saturday, 3-2.

Today, the Marlins got to Ranger Suarez, 6 earned in 4 2/3, Suarez’ ERA going from 1.83 to 2.27, but he had a no-decision as the Phillies (55-29) came back to win 7-6; Alec Bohm with a 2-run homer, giving him a whopping 68 RBIs, and Nick Castellanos with four hits and 3 ribbies.

--The Pirates lost to the Braves Friday night in Atlanta, 6-1, but Brian Reynolds got an eighth-inning single to extend his hitting streak to 24, longest in the majors this season, and longest for a Pirates player since 2003.

So Saturday was Paul Skenes Day and once again he delivered, six innings, one run (another leadoff homer), 9 strikeouts, but another no-decision!  Atlanta won 2-1 in 10 innings, Skenes, in nine starts, 4-0, 2.06.  But, yes, 5 NDs.

Reynolds extended his streak to 25, going 1-for-5.

Alas, while the Pirates won today, 4-2, now 40-43, Reynolds went 0-for-4.  Atlanta is 46-36.

--The Dodgers were in San Francisco to face their bitter rivals (always accompanied by an obligatory stabbing or two in the parking lot), and Friday the Giants got a 5-3 walk-off win on Brett Wisely’s 2-run home run off reliever Blake Treinen.  Shohei Ohtani’s franchise-record streak of 10 consecutive games with an RBI came to an end.

And so did the peculiar streak of the Dodgers winning 24 straight games in which Miguel Rojas got a hit.  They fell to 24-1 after Rojas got a fifth-inning single.

Saturday, L.A. rebounded 14-7 in 11 innings (yes, seven in the top of the 11th), despite a poor outing by Tyler Glasnow (3 innings, 5 earned), Ohtani with home run No. 26, Rojas with three hits and four RBIs.

--When the Washington Nationals host the Mets on Monday, the game is expected to mark the debut of the highly touted Nats prospect James Wood.

Wood, 21, began the year with AAA Rochester and is hitting .346 with a 1.036 OPS in 51 games.

--Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda died Friday. He was 86.  One of the most feared hitters of the 1950s and 1960s, Cepeda played in three World Series, winning once with St. Louis in 1967, which was also his MVP season.

Cepeda came up with the Giants as a 20-year-old rookie in 1958, the franchise’s first year on the West Coast.  He homered in his first game and went on to win Rookie of the Year honors (25 home runs, 96 RBIs, .312 batting average), and was initially more of a fan favorite than Willie Mays.

Cepeda, nicknamed the Baby Rull, in a nod to his father, Pedro, a Puerto Rican baseball star known as “El Toro.”  His teammates dubbed him “Cha Cha” for his love of lively Latin music and his outgoing manner.

“You have to remember that Orlando was the most popular player when the franchise moved from New York,” team owner and managing partner Peter Magowan told the New York Times in 1993.  “Orlando played the game with flamboyance. He was an all-around player. He got our fans interested in the team.”

In the early 1960s, the Giants had a fearsome lineup featuring Mays, Cepeda and a third Hall of Famer, Willie McCovey.  During each of his first seven seasons, Cepeda slugged no fewer than 24 home runs and drove in at least 96 runs. He led the National League in both homers (46) and RBIs (142) in 1961, which were also his single-season career highs.

He was a key player on the Giants’ 1962 team that beat out the Dodgers in a three-game playoff and went on to lose to the Yankees in that memorable seven-game series, Cepeda on deck when McCovey lined out to Yankees infielder Bobby Richardson in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7.

During their years in San Francisco, Cepeda and McCovey alternated between left field and first base, leading to resentment from Cepeda, who believed he should be the full-time first baseman. He also played in pain after injuring his knee in a collision at home plate against the Dodgers in 1961.

His manager, Alvin Dark, never grasped the severity of the injury, Cepeda said, hinting that Cepeda wasn’t playing hard enough.  Dark also ordered the Giants’ Latin American players to stop speaking Spanish and listening to music in the clubhouse.  Mays had to intercede to prevent a revolt against the manager.

“He treated me like a child,” Cepeda said of Dark in a 1967 interview with Sports Illustrated.  “I am a human being, whether I am blue or black or white or green.  We Latins are different, but we are still human beings. Dark did not respect our differences.”

Cepeda appeared in only 33 games in 1965 before having surgery on his knee.  He was traded in 1966 to the Cardinals for pitcher Ray Sadecki, in one of the worst trades in MLB history. Sadecki had been a 20-game winner for St. Louis in 1964, was respectable in 1967 and ‘68 for the Giants, but nothing more than a spot-starter, middle reliever after.

Cepeda won his NL MVP award in ’67, helping to lead the Cardinals to a World Series championship.  He was then traded to the Braves, where he had a stellar 1970 with 34 home runs and 111 RBIs, and then later finished up with the A’s, Red Sox and Royals.  He credits his lone season in Boston as their first DH in 1973, when he hit 20 homers and drove in 86, as being key to his eventual enshrinement into the Hall of Fame.

For his career, Cepeda hit 379 home runs, drove in 1,365 and hit .297.  He got as high as 73.5% in his final year on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1994, and then got in on the Veterans Committee ballot in 1999.

It didn’t help that in 1975, he was arrested at San Juan International Airport while attempting to retrieve two boxes allegedly containing 170 pounds of marijuana.  He was convicted of marijuana possession with intent to sell and sentenced to federal prison, released in 1979 after serving 10 months.

Cepeda’s reputation was shattered in Puerto Rico, where he had been hailed as the island’s greatest baseball hero after the death of Roberto Clemente in a plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972.

“I made a huge mistake,” Cepeda told the San Jose Mercury News in 1999.  “When Roberto Clemente died, they said in Puerto Rico that at least we have Orlando Cepeda alive.  So when I let everybody down, they got very mad. We are very emotional as a people. We are hard on people who mess it up.”

Cepeda would end up going back to San Francisco, where he became a goodwill ambassador, extremely popular with the fans.  He was a regular at Giants home games through the 2017 season until he had to deal with some health challenges.

--College Baseball, already on a roll, actually got a further boost in the announcement that Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle took the job at rival Texas, a day after he flat-out denied he would make such a move, Schlossnagle having just led the Aggies to the CWS championship series.

The games between these two, Texas moving to the SEC to join A&M, will be a tension convention, with a probable brushback pitch or two...or six.

NBA

--Six years after Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr first competed against each other in youth tournaments, the French teenagers were selected first and second in the NBA Draft on Wednesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The Atlanta Hawks, who landed the No. 1 pick after having just a 3 percent chance to win the lottery, selected Risacher, a 19-year-old forward, and minutes later, the Wizards tabbed Sarr, a 19-year-old center who played for Perth in Australia’s National Basketball League. The Charlotte Hornets grabbed Tidjane Salaun, another French forward, at No. 6.

The three French picks followed San Antonio’s choice of French center Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick last year.

As you know, I couldn’t have cared less about the draft, my Knicks having made some key moves prior, but I loved our nabbing Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek at No. 34.  He will be a crowd favorite, perfect backup for Jalen Brunson.  More on the Knicks below.

In the first round, among the interesting, or super, selections was Zach Edey at No. 9 by the Grizzlies, which shocked a slew of so-called experts.  I hope Edey proves his doubters wrong.

Jared McCain (Duke), at No. 16 by the Sixers, is going to be a star, maybe not an All-Star over the years, but a consistent scorer.

The Lakers’ new coach, JJ Redick, got what he wanted, scoring, in stealing Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht at No. 17.  Many GMs, it seems, were turned off by Knecht’s age, 23, which is incredibly stupid. He’s NBA ready!

Minnesota got Illinois guard Terence Shannon Jr. at No. 27, Shannon able to be a first-rounder after his acquittal on a rape charge.  His progression will be interesting to follow.

The Celtics made a smart move in taking Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman at No. 30.  Perfect fit.

In the second round, the story was the Lakers who, as expected, took Bronny James with the No. 55 overall pick.

Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times

“It’s historical, it’s heartwarming, it’s the brightest of headlines for a franchise desperately in need of some good news.

“But it’s not very smart. And, for two of the main people involved, it’s not very fair....

“Yeah, they did it, of course they did it, they drafted an untested 19-year-old kid named Bronny James Thursday to unite him with his father LeBron in becoming the NBA’s first father-son duo.

“They did it even though Bronny was ignored by virtually every other NBA team with a chance to draft him.

“They did it even though Bronny struggled last season for USC in his return from a cardiac arrest episode that cost him five months.

“They did it even though most experts agreed that his game – five points, three rebounds and two assists per appearance for the Trojans – could have used at least another year of college tutoring.

“They did it seemingly for the reason they do a lot of things – to keep their superstar happy.  LeBron had professed a desire to play with his son, LeBron can opt out of his contract this summer, they probably figured LeBron needed to be kept satisfied at all costs.

“But this is seemingly a high price to pay....

“(The) highest price here will be exacted from, sadly, Bronny himself.

“All the poetic waxing by commentators about the beauty of a father-son pairing failed to look at it from what could be the son’s point of view.

“Does Bronny really need this kind of pressure? Is it really fair to ask him to develop his game while sitting on the same bench as arguably the greatest player in history who also happens to be his father?

“Critics will cry ‘nepotism’ with every dribble. Experts will examine his father’s reaction with every shot.  It was tough enough for Bronny to play college games with his father attracting all the attention while sitting courtside. Can you imagine the heat he will feel with his father wearing the same uniform and hanging out in a nearby locker?”

LeBron then opted out of his contract, a $51.4 million player option, to no-doubt negotiate a new 2-year deal...with the Lakers.

--The Hawks reached a deal with New Orleans to send guard Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, a 2025 first-round pick and a 2027 first-round pick, a significant backcourt upgrade for New Orleans, which went 49-33 last season but was swept in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs by Oklahoma City.

The Hawks had acquired Murray from San Antonio in 2022 to pair alongside All-Star guard Trae Young, but the experiment didn’t work out as the Hawks had hoped.

Murray, an All-Star in 2022, averaged 22.5 points, 6.4 assists and 5.4 rebounds, shooting 36.3% from 3 in 2023-24 for Atlanta.

--Back to the Knicks, prior to the draft, the Knicks signed forward OG Anunoby to a five-year contract worth $212.5 million that includes a player option for the final season.

Anunoby is a terrific defender and at 26, his offensive game is still improving.  He’s also unselfish, which is the mantra of this Knicks team.

But with the Knicks’ payroll suddenly soaring, they will likely lose unrestricted free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein, which is a blow, but not as much so as the Knicks made another move that thrilled their fan base...trading with Brooklyn for shooting guard/small forward Mikal Bridges.  It was a huge week for team president Leon Rose.

Getting Bridges, another former Villanova teammate of Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo for a bevy of draft picks (and Bojan Bogdanovich) turns the Knicks into an immediate favorite for the NBA title.  He’s not an All-Star, but he averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists, can shoot from 3-point range, and he’s a top defender, plus, Bridges is another unselfish player.  He’s the missing piece.

Understand for those of you outside the New York area, this is the player, not Devon Booker, Kevin Durant, Paul George or other higher-profile studs that may be available, that us fans wanted.  Very, very pumped. We’ll figure out what to do at center, and we still have Mitchell Robinson.

As the New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro noted, “The Knicks are a team whose success is based on chemistry.  That has been Leon Rose’s careful calibration the last few years, ever since he signed Jalen Brunson to kick-start them into contention.  He’s had all these picks in his pocket, waiting for a chance to strike, and was determined to make sure the fit was right.  That meant saying no to Donovan Mitchell.  It meant allowing Dejounte Murray to go to Atlanta. It meant never getting involved with the Damian Lillard sweepstakes last year.

“They weren’t fits. Josh Hart was. Donte DiVincenzo was.  OG Anunoby was. And Bridges is.  There were some who lament the exodus of so many draft picks, but draft picks – especially for good teams, who pick in the mid and low 20s – are decidedly unknown commodities....

“We know what Bridges is.  And we know how he plays on good teams, as evidenced by his blossoming in Phoenix and the way he played upon first arriving in Brooklyn before the Nets blew up.

“And, of course, you know how he plays with the three other guys from Villanova, because we’ve seen them reach the highest highs together in college.  We saw how first Hart, and then DiVincenzo, immediately re-bonded with Brunson.  For most of last year it sure felt like Brunson and Hart were quietly wooing him on their podcast; Bridges was less subtle, all but blinking out in Morse code ‘TAKE ME WITH YOU’ the two times the Knicks visited Brooklyn this year.

“You swap known for unknown every time....

“We wondered for years what the Knicks were going to look like when Leon Rose was ready to finally cash in his assets. We have a pretty good idea now.  No more working on spec anymore. This is about today. This is about right now.”

I can’t wait for next season.  The Garden will rock even more than last year.

--Detroit hired J.B. Bickerstaff to be its next head coach, after the Pistons fired Monte Williams with a $zillion left on his contract, Monte having a helluva time these days, easily able to absorb the McDonald’s price increases.

Bickerstaff was the coach of the Cavs, 170-159 record, 6-11 in the playoffs.  As Derrick Coleman would say, ‘Whoopty-damn-do.’

Golf Balls

--At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Country Club, Detroit, MI, after 36 holes....

Akshay Bhatia -13
Aaron Rai -13

Cameron Young among a group at -11

A huge opportunity for Young to finally capture that elusive first victory.

Local New Jersey boy Ryan McCormick, in his rookie year on tour and with few opportunities to play, made the cut and sits at -6.

After three....

Bhatia -17
Rai -17
Young -16
Cam Davis -16
Sam Stevens -15
Erik van Rooyen -15

In the group at -14...amateur Luke Clanton, a rising junior at Florida State.

It was last January that amateur Nick Dunlap captured the American Express Championship to become only the third amateur since 1957 to win on the PGA Tour.

Will Zalatoris exited eight holes into the third round with a reported hip injury. CBS reporter Amanda Balionis reported that Zalatoris told her that he felt a “pop” in his hip and noted that it was on his “good side.”  The former Demon Deacon star underwent a microdiscectomy in April 2023 for herniated disks in his back.  But PGA Tour Communications said the withdrawal was for a back injury.

Zalatoris mentioned to Balionis he was playing for a fourth straight week.

After the surgery, he had made a spectacular, some would say early, return to tour action as last winter he had a T13 at The Farmers, a T2 at The Genesis, and a T4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

But after a T9 at the Masters, he went seven straight events without a top 40, and then this.

Zalatoris admitted that after his hot start this season he had pushed it, and it’s clear he needed to spread out his tour play a lot more because of the seriousness of the surgery (see Tiger).

--So in the fourth round....we had a ton of players going for their first win, and near the end it was.....

Min Woo Lee -18 thru 17...who could be a huge fan favorite down the road...he loves the spotlight, has charisma....
Bhatia -18...15

But Lee butchers the 18th, finishes -17.

Cam Davis, whose only win was at the same tournament in 2021, birdies 17 to tie Bhatia, who is thru 16.

And Bhatia 3-putts the 18th, his first 3-putt of the week, and Cam Davis wins his second, both at the same event.

Cameron Young finishes T6, -15, and needs to change his miserable demeanor and attitude.  Too bad fellow Deac Arnie isn’t still alive...he’d give Young a needed kick in the ass.

--Ryan McCormick finished T31, -9, and improved just four spots to No. 164 on the FedEx Cup points list.  You need top 20s, and a few top 10s over the course of a year to get into the top 70 for the playoffs.  McCormick will be playing this fall to get into the top 125 to keep his tour card.  That’s how this all works.  It ain’t easy.

--This tournament marked the PGA Tour debut, as an amateur, of 15-year-old Miles Russell, who got in on a sponsor’s exemption.  Russell shot 74-70, even par and four shots off the cut line at -4.

U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials

--Noah Lyles added to his win in the 100 meters by taking the 200 in Eugene, Oregon, last night, beating out rival Kenny Bednarek and first-time Olympian Erriyon Knight.

--Gabby Thomas won the women’s 200, with Brittany Brown and McKenzie Long also heading to Paris.

Sha’Carri Richardson finished fourth, after winning the 100 meters. 

--The U.S. women’s gymnastics team suffered a number of injuries this week, but they still go to Paris with Simone Biles, who is clearly on top of her game.

Euro 2024 / Copa America

--Georgia pulled off the upset of the Euro 24 championship with a 2-0 win over Portugal on Wednesday, the biggest upset by FIFA rankings in Euro Championship history.  Georgia was ranked 74th, Portugal sixth.

Portugal was already into the Round of 16, so they did not play most of their top players, but terrific for Georgia.

Saturday in the Round of 16 (or Last 16), Switzerland eliminated Italy, reigning champs, 2-0, the Swiss in the quarterfinals a second straight time.

Germany beat Denmark, 2-0, a match interrupted by a “spectacular storm,” with lightning, hail and heavy rain.

Germany and Switzerland sat back to see who their next opponents would be, decided in Sunday’s matches; England-Slovakia, Spain-Georgia.

And in a phenomenal game, England was losing to Slovakia 1-0, the announcers totally dissing the Three Lions, a favorite for the Cup going in, when at the 94:30 mark (six minutes having been added on), out of nowhere, Jude Bellingham had a spectacular, stunning, acrobatic, bicycle-kick equalizer to send it into extra time.

Harry Kane, who was equally dissed at the intermission (and for good reason), then added a superb header, England wins 2-1 to move on to a quarterfinal match with Switzerland next Saturday.  For football/soccer fans, it was amazing.  Bellingham’s goal is being called one of the 3 or 4 greatest ever in a clutch moment in all tournament play.

Spain, after falling behind Georgia 1-0, rolled 4-1 and will play Germany next in a heavyweight bout.

--In Copa America play, I watched the U.S.-Panama game on Thursday in Atlanta, and it was an awful 2-1 defeat for our boys, the U.S. playing with 10 men most of the way.

The Americans now face Uruguay on Monday night in Kansas City, and, in all likelihood will need to beat the 15-time Copa champions to advance to the quarterfinals.

--Locally, the Short Hills Hilton is a fine hotel literally two minutes from where I live, across from the famous Mall at Short Hills.  So my good friend LT, who has connections at the Hilton, told me Tuesday that Lionel Messi and his Argentina team were staying there and that it was a zoo...with an intense police presence.  It would have been fun if you had long been booked as a guest and just happened to be there.  Alas, I didn’t venture over, figuring I’d accidentally get gunned down in a hail of bullets, a la Sonny Corleone in the Godfather.

But it turns out the team was there a few days and Sunday night was Messi’s birthday, so one of his teammates called a bakery in West New York (about 30 minutes away), Dulce de Leche Bakery, to order a birthday cake, Messi then posting a photo of it to Instagram, and you can imagine the attention that got Dulce de Leche.  Good for them. [But I could have recommended a terrific place just five minutes away; Bakehouse in New Providence.]

Alas, Messi hurt his leg in Argentina’s win over Chile at MetLife Stadium, 1-0, and was out for Saturday’s contest, a 2-0 win over Peru in Miami.

Stuff

--They held the NHL Draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas.  I didn’t watch more than a minute of this but critics said the choice of the venue was pure genius...a great moment for the league.

The NHL was in a bind because of the late finish to the season and the beginning of free agency on July 1.  It had to work the draft in before.

So the league was going to use T-Mobile Arena in Vegas but that was booked for UFC 303.  Thus they turned to the Sphere.

Macklin Celebrini of Boston University was the first overall selection by the San Jose Sharks.

--The NFL suffered a huge setback Thursday and was ordered to pay about $4.1 billion in damages for violating antitrust law in a class-action suit over pricing of DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” package (now sold through YouTube).

A Los Angeles jury voted unanimously that the league colluded with DirecTV, along with CBS and Fox, to drive up pricing of the premium product.

If the verdict stands, the NFL could be liable up to $12.3 billion under federal laws that triple the amount won in antitrust cases.

I have to admit, this topic bores me, as much as I realize the potential massive hit the NFL would take, because the whole process could take years and it’s simply unknowable how this will impact the sport, who fits the bill (I assume the owners would have to split somehow), and I could be dead before it’s all settled.

That said, post-trial motions will be heard by the trial judge on July 31.  If the verdict is not set aside, the judge could be asked to consider possible structural changes in the Sunday Ticket package, as well as plaintiff’s lawyers request for an award of legal fees.

Once those issues are resolved, the NFL will then appeal any adverse rulings.

I also admit I’ve never personally taken the Sunday Ticket package because I see all of my favorite team’s games, and I already see the bigger contests. 

When it’s settled, it’s settled.  By the way, by the league’s estimate, a mere 3% of fans subscribe to “Sunday Ticket,” which this season costs $449 absent any discounts or promotions.

--A “severe bite” from a shark in East Florida on Friday left a man in critical condition from blood loss, authorities said.

The Nasau County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit said they found a man on a boat.  He was losing a lot of blood from a critical injury to his forearm.

“Acting swiftly, a deputy boarded the vessel and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding,” the sheriff’s office said.  An official then commandeered the watercraft and took the man to a boat ramp, where local fire rescue officials were waiting. 

The victim was airlifted to a hospital and was in critical condition.

It seems the man caught the shark and then it bit him.

--We note the passing of actor and comedian Martin Mull, known for his work on TV sitcoms “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Roseanne,” among others.  He was 80.

His daughter, Maggie, posted on Instagram that her father “was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and for doing Red Roof Inn commercials.  He would find that joke funny.  He was never not funny.”

Mull’s first notable role was in 1976, playing, first, Garth Gimble on the soap opera spoof “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” which led to two additional spin-off roles, including in the series “Fernwood 2 Night,” my favorite, where Mull was Barth Gimble, Garth’s twin brother.  Around this time, Mull also began voicing Red Roof Inn advertisements.

Mull also appeared in the critically acclaimed sitcom “Arrested Development,” playing hapless private detective Gene Parmesan.  He also had roles on “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.”

In the early 1970s, he opened as a musical comedian for the likes of Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen.

Top 3 songs for the week 7/4/64:  #1 “I Get Around” (The Beach Boys)  #2 “My Boy Lollipop” (Millie Small)  #3 “Memphis” (Johnny Rivers)...and...#4 “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” (Gerry and the Pacemakers)  #5 “People” (Barbra Streisand)  #6 “A World Without Love” (Peter and Gordon) #7 “Chapel Of Love” (The Dixie Cups) #8 “Rag Doll” (The 4 Seasons)  #9 “Bad To Me” (Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas)* #10 “Can’t You See That She’s Mine” (The Dave Clark Five...A- week...)

*Billy was born William Ashton near Liverpool and was discovered by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who then teamed him with the group The Dakotas.  His other top ten was “Little Children,” a month earlier.  “Bad To Me” was written by Lennon and McCartney.

Baseball Quiz Answer: Top ten, career, outfield putouts....

1. Willie Mays...7112
2. Tris Speaker...6788
3. Rickey Henderson...6468
4. Max Carey...6363
5. Ty Cobb...6361
6. Richie Ashburn...6089
7. Steve Finley...5664
8. Barry Bonds...5637
9. Ken Griffey Jr. ...5606
10. Hank Aaron...5539

11. Willie Davis...interesting career, 2561 hits, .279 BA, but only a .311 OBP.

18. Willie Wilson!

If you got Steve Finley, you’re good.  He had a great career, 1989-2007, 2548 hits, 304 HR, 1167 RBI, .271 BA, five Gold Gloves, but far from a Hall of Famer and some of his power numbers came, you know, in an iffy era.  I was also shocked to see Richie Ashburn on the list.

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

 

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