New York Jets Quiz: First off, a correction from last time. I said Brett Favre set a Jets record with his six touchdown passes on Sunday when I should have said he tied the club mark held by Joe Namath, 9/24/72, a game in which Namath also set the existing mark for most yards by a Jet, 496. That aside, might as well do a little Jets quiz, know what I’m sayin’? 1) Name the two kickers with six field goals in a game. Both are pre-1985. 2) Who holds the team record for receptions in a game with 17. [A running back, trick question.] 3) Who holds the mark for most TDs in a game with 4? 4) Who was the last Jet to lead the AFC/AFL in touchdowns for a season? [Very hard….and it’s not Emerson Boozer, who led the league in 1967 and 1972.] 5) Who was the last Jet to lead the league in receptions? Answers below.
I stumbled on an article from the Irish Independent the other day and it seems there is great doubt in the medical community as to whether or not Tiger Woods will compete in 2009. In a story by Lewine Mair, Lanny L. Johnson, “the American doctor famous for having invented the tools for the arthroscopic surgery undergone by Woods and thousands of others, has warned that it could be 2010 before the player is back in full cry.”
“According to Dr. Johnson, the knee should be entirely functional within 12 months. But it could take another year before the transplanted tendon, which has taken the place of Woods’ damaged anterior cruciate ligament, adapts to its new role and is giving the World No. 1 all the right signals.
“ ‘The tendon,’ said Dr. Johnson, ‘has none of the biological functions necessary for its new role and, as such, needs time to reinvent itself. There are new blood vessels to get established, new nerves and new cells.’
“ ‘If,’ he added, ‘you tear your cruciate ligament in American football, you can play within a year and with full confidence within two years. It is based on this and the recovery period of other athletes that I am guessing that Tiger will need two years.’
“Ernie Els came back after one when he tore his cruciate ligament in a water-sports accident but, if you look at his scores, they weren’t there for another 12 months.”
The bottom line is whenever Woods does come back, he may have only a 4- to 6-year window to beat Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 majors before Tiger has to face issues such as micro fractures and probable arthritis.
[For the archives, I forgot to note that Camilo Villegas won his second straight PGA title in capturing the Tour Championship in a playoff over Sergio Garcia last weekend. Vijay Singh, though, won the FedEx Cup, and the $10 million prize that comes with it.]
Mets third baseman David Wright, who tied Mike Piazza’s club record with 124 RBI, the softest 124 of all time, as I wrote earlier, hit .243 with runners in scoring position by way of evidence. [.314 with the bases empty.] Wright said, “We failed. We failed as a team. It feels like a wasted season.”
It was! Shortstop Jose Reyes, who hit .205 last September during the first collapse, hit just .243 this September. He, like the other Mets, was crying after Sunday’s finale.
Joel Sherman / New York Post
“They are losers. That is how the Mets walk out of one stadium and into another. The Shames of Shea will march into the new Citi Field with the old stigmas: They cannot finish. It is like the spirit of Armando Benitez inhabited the uniforms down the stretch for a second straight year….
“So this group forever will be remembered for collapse. For not closing out Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS at home. For not holding on to a seven-game lead with 17 to play last season. For not holding on to a 3 ½-game lead with 17 to play this season. On consecutive years they received one of the great pitching performances of their history on the final Saturday of the season – John Maine last season and Johan Santana brilliantly on three days’ rest this weekend. Then they were so inspired both times they lost on Sunday when victory would have forced a one-game playoff.”
Owner Jeff Wilpon told everyone afterwards that while disappointed, “This year I felt we overachieved.”
Wha?! Sure, the Mets had all kinds of bullpen issues (they did blow 29 games in which they were either ahead or tied after six innings, the worst in the majors), but understand the core, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran, on paper is as solid a group as you’ll find in baseball, and all played at least 159 games! The last time this happened was something like 40 years ago.
Now I’ve received some notes talking about your own teams’ various collapses, but you’re bringing up clubs that at least made it into the playoffs.
The Mets became the first team in history to blow 3 ½-game division leads in consecutive Septembers, for crying out loud. There is zero comparison, not even with the choke job 2006 Mets, who fell short of making the Series.
But we move on. Or rather, back, because over the weekend I was perusing baseballreference.com, reminiscing about Shea Stadium, and for you fanatics you really should go onto the site. One thing that’s fun, especially if you’re chilling with the baseball playoffs or a football game on the TV in your room, and a cold frosty by the mouse, is to go through some past seasons and individual box scores. [I can’t be the only one who finds this fun.] Some guy you never heard of before had a good game and then you look into his career and you realize he did have one decent season and then disappeared. It’s kind of fascinating, frankly.
Anyway, so I was glancing at the first season Shea opened and a few things caught my eye.
On May 26, 1964, the Mets beat the Cubs at Wrigley, 19-1, to up their record to 12-28. It was a Tuesday afternoon and for all you Cubs fans who see nothing but capacity crowds these days, back on this May day in ’64, there were all of 2,503 in the stands.
Well for the Mets, I see that Dick Smith went 5-for-6, with a double and triple. Dick Smith? Not Charley Smith, who would go on to hit 20 homers that year for the Amazins’. Dick Smith.
Dick Smith ended up playing in 46 games that year and hit .223, 21-for-94, or .181 if you take out his big day. Smith was out of baseball the following season after 6 at bats for the Dodgers, where he had been traded in the offseason. But Dick Smith could forever tell his kids he had a five-hit game in the major leagues. Not bad, not bad at all.
By the way, this 19-1 contest took all of 2:49 to play. My man Jack Fisher went all the way for the Metsies.
’64 was also the year the Phillies’ (and now senator) Jim Bunning threw his perfect game at Shea on Father’s Day. Bunning struck out 10 as the Phils won 6-0. Time of the game was 2:19. But it was actually the first game of a doubleheader and the Phils won the second, 8-2, holding the Mets to just three hits in this one. Yikes. Three hits in two games…shades of Septembers’ past.
But back to “Fat Jack” Fisher, he of the 86-139 career mark and my favorite baseball card (next to Danny Napoleon’s and Oscar Gamble’s…but I digress), as I noted last time he pitched the first game at Shea in ’64. Fisher actually made a little history that day. As reported by Eric Barrow in the New York Daily News.
“Bill Shea was given the honor of throwing out the first ball, but the Mets’ Jack Fisher threw the first pitch, a strike. ‘Fat Jack’ wanted the ball for himself, but the Hall of Fame snatched it up. An inning later Fisher would go in the books for two more firsts, giving up Shea’s first hit and first home run, both on one swing by Willie Stargell. Stargell’s blast was the first of 26 at Shea, tying him with Mike Schmidt for most by an opponent.
“But Fisher would reserve a few more nooks in Shea history. Before the game, Fisher asked Casey Stengel if he could warm up in the bullpen instead of in front of the dugout – as was the norm throughout baseball – to escape the chaotic scene on the field and so he could get warm off a mound instead of flat ground. Teammates soon followed, and in time, so did the rest of the league.
“Says Fisher, ‘In that respect, I had a lasting impact on baseball.’
“Fisher can also be credited for having the players’ open parking lot moved from in front of the entrance to the Diamond Club to where it is now, fenced off beyond the scoreboard. He asked for the move after a disgruntled fan, miffed that Fisher had stopped signing autographs, stomped on the pitcher’s car with both feet, denting his trunk.
“ ‘I went after him,’ remembers Fisher. ‘But he jumped off and went in through the crowd.’
“But Fat Jack’s greatest contribution to Shea’s history was still to come. In December 1967, Fisher became part of a trade with the Chicago White Sox for Miracle Mets Al Weis and Tommie Agee.”
What a year San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum had. 18-5, 2.62 ERA, and 265 strikeouts in 227 innings.
The Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano hit .337 with four homers and 14 RBI. Not bad for a pitcher. Two years ago he only hit .151, but had six homers in just 73 at bats. Zambrano now has 16 career round-trippers.
Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds hit .239 but had 28 homers and 97 RBI. However, Reynolds set a world record by striking out 204 times.
Chipper Jones won his first batting title, .364, just short of Mickey Mantle’s record for a switch-hitter, .365 in 1957.
In finishing 22-3, Cleveland’s Cliff Lee failed to become the first 20-game winner with a .900 winning percentage.
According to ESPN, Pittsburgh had no 10-game winners for the first time since 1890.
Ryan Howard of the Phillies should be the N.L. MVP. He may have hit only .251, but not only were his 48 homers and 146 RBI tops, by far, Howard hit .320 with runners in scoring position, .322 with runners in scoring position and two outs.
Angels center fielder Torii Hunter told ESPN that it’s no surprise why there was a drop off in home runs, with Miguel Cabrera’s A.L.-leading 37 being the fewest for a league champ since Fred McGriff hit 35 for San Diego in 1992.
“I think the steroid testing has something to do with it,” said Hunter. “If there were any guys who were taking it, they’re not taking it anymore. I’d say it’s a small percentage, but of course it’s going to have an impact.”
An average 2.01 home runs per game were hit this year, down from the high of 2.34 set in 2000.
The Yankees’ Mike Mussina, 39, won 20 games for the first time, becoming the 10th oldest to hit that magic mark. The others:
But Mussina, who is now 270-153 for his career, doesn’t know if he’ll come back, let alone pitch the two+ years he would likely need for 300 and an automatic Hall of Fame selection. There are a ton of hurlers with far fewer wins in the Hall, and….
Mussina has 11 seasons of 15 or more wins, he’s been an All-Star five times, won six Gold Gloves, and has been in the top 5 in ERA eight times, but….
He led the league in wins only once, and has no Cy Young awards, though this year will probably mark his seventh in the top five in the voting.
What really hurts him is he is just 7-8 in the postseason and the two times his teams (the Yanks) made it to the Series, they lost.
So the verdict here, assuming he pitches one more year and wins 10 (just guessing he’ll have injury problems), finishing with 280, is he does not make the Hall, but would be a good candidate for a future Veterans Committee.
How awesome was C.C. Sabathia? After coming over to Milwaukee from Cleveland, all he did in carrying the Brewers was go 11-2, with seven complete games and a 1.65 ERA. Alas, no way the Brewers have a shot at signing the soon-to-be free agent. He’s heading to a California club, where he has a home.
The Twins may have fallen short but they had another outstanding season and as Johnny Mac reminded me they have had only two managers since 1986. “Players know the managers are safe and don’t [expletive deleted] with them like a certain local team did with their manager this year.”
–And now you’re exclusive college football bets. Normally this early in the year I’d pick only 3 or 4 games. But I love the lineup this Saturday, so I’m going for six.
Take Penn State giving 13 to Purdue
Take Minnesota giving 7 to Indiana
Take North Carolina giving 6 ½ to UConn [Sorry, Jeff B. With your QB out, a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.]
Take Missouri giving 10 ½ to Nebraska [Sorry, Ken S.]
Take Florida giving 24 to Arkansas
Take Florida International giving 6 ½ to North Texas
Kids, in light of these treacherous times on both Wall and Main Streets, I’m recommending you only bet $33,000 this weekend.
One tidbit…who is leading the nation in rushing thus far? Donald Brown of UConn, 181 yards per game.
–It’s official. I’m going to root for my Jets, even with Brett Favre at the helm. You would too if you had the following three games after the current bye week.
Cincinnati (0-4), Oakland (1-3), Kansas City (1-3)
–Incredible…after just four weeks there are only three undefeated teams in the NFL; Tennessee (4-0), Buffalo (4-0), and the Giants (3-0).
–Back on Sept. 1 in this space, I wrote of the Gateway Gators of Monroeville, Pa. Sports Illustrated had them in a preseason high school football poll and since I have relatives from out this way I decided I’d follow them.
Well, through the first five games, Gateway has advanced to No. 3 in the country in USA Today’s Super 25 survey.
Gateway’s wins are by 45-17, 56-6, 42-0, 44-8, and 49-7. Next up another school I’m familiar with, Hempfield.
–Yikes. Two Australians and three Thais were struck by lightning and killed during a school trip to a waterfall in Thailand. A storm hit after the group reached the waterfall and they sought refuge in a covered area under a large tree. The tree was struck and….well, it wasn’t pretty.
–And here’s another awful one. Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier, who was shot early this month while he and a former teammate were sitting in a car, waiting for some girls they had just met at a club to change, is paralyzed below the waist and his left leg was amputated.
It turns out he was on a ventilator for three weeks after being hit 14 times in the back, the groin, the legs and buttock. One bullet severed his spinal cord. The amputation was a result of damage to his left leg and groin, where blood clots formed. The poor guy also had five bullets removed from his bladder. No arrests have been made.
–Story in Wednesday’s Star-Ledger that the deal to move the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn is very much in jeopardy, a possible victim of the credit crunch. As Ian T. Shearn and George E. Jordan report, “Four months ago, Goldman Sachs assured that all financing would be in place for a $950 million professional basketball arena in Brooklyn by today.
“Bruce Ratner, owner of the New Jersey Nets and developer of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project that included the arena, said he was ‘inches away from completing the deal.’
“That was before prestigious investment firms started to fail and credit markets went into full-scale panic, triggering a financial crisis on Wall Street….
“Yesterday, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs offered only a ‘No comment’ when asked about the financing for the arena, fueling persistent doubts about the viability of Ratner’s plan.”
Understand the Nets’ new home was originally slated to open in 2006. Now it’s 2011 at the earliest.
This is a killer for the Nets, who I thought did a good job in the offseason. The goal has been to show steady improvement, with a much younger lineup, so that in two years they would be in a prime position to go after LeBron James, who has expressed interest in playing in Brooklyn.
–Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was fired by owner Al Davis, after going 1-3 to start the season and just 5-15 in his brief tenure. The day before, St. Louis dropped Scott Linehan. The last time a coach had been fired after just four games was Mike Shanahan, fired four games into the 1989 season by the same Davis. Since the start of the 2003 season, Oakland has a putrid 20-64 record. Good gawd. In fact the Raiders have lost at least 11 games for five straight seasons, thus tying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the 1980s for the worst stretch in league history.
Davis said of the 33-year-old Kiffin, “I think he conned me like he conned all you people.” Incredibly, the classless Raiders are trying to build a case that Kiffin was fired for cause, thus they wouldn’t be liable for the balance of the three-year deal worth about $6 million that has over 1 ½ years left on it.
Davis, now 79 and looking like a cadaver, is the real problem in Oakland. It’s dog track time.
–Speaking of dogs, Brad K. passed along this wire story from Islamorada, Florida.
“A Florida Keys man punched a shark to save his dog from becoming a meal. The rat terrier named Jake, who was badly bitten, is expected to recover….
“The saga began Friday afternoon when Greg LeNoir took Jake to the Worldwide Sportsman’s Bayside Marina pier in Islamorada for the dog’s daily swim. LeNoir said Jake is a fast and fearless swimmer….
“But this time, Jake, a 28-month-old dog adopted from an animal shelter, unexpectedly encountered the shark, which was about five feet long. As Jake disappeared under the water, LeNoir conquered his own fear and sprang to action.
“ ‘I clenched my fists and dove straight in with all my strength, like a battering ram,’ LeNoir, 53, said Sunday. ‘I hit the back of the shark’s neck. It was like hitting concrete.’ ….
“The shark let go of Jake, and the dog popped to the surface [doink], frantically swimming the few yards to shore.”
At the animal hospital, veterinarian Suzanne Sigel [ed. I wanted to give Suzanne the thrill of making Bar Chat] said “Amazingly, he wasn’t critical.”
–I was at the above-mentioned Brad K.’s house on Saturday night and there is a reason why I don’t list last names. You see, Brad proceeded to show me the greatest display of sports and entertainment memorabilia I’ve ever seen in one home. Bats signed by the likes of DiMaggio, baseballs signed by Mantle…even the collector cards from television series like “Lost in Space.” Remember those? Brad says his “Brady Bunch” set is worth a fair penny.
But if you’re thinking of breaking into his house, just understand that Brad’s electricity is sporadic and the lights are likely to go out while you’re descending his basement stairs, at which point you’d break your neck. [Happy 50th Birthday, B.K.]
–Doh! From the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Authorities fear a normally ‘shy’ 5.5m crocodile named Charlie may have snatched a holidaymaker from a riverside campsite in North Queensland.
“Arthur Booker, 62, and his wife…were on a two-day holiday at the Endeavour River Escape campsite at Cooktown, 340km north of Cairns, Channel 9 News reported.
“Mr. Booker went to check a crabpot about 8:30 a.m. yesterday (Tuesday) morning but never returned.
“When his wife went to the spot, she found a snapped rope, large crocodile slide marks and a new video recorder owned by her husband, police said….
“ ‘He’s been missing for quite a long time now, it’s not looking good,’ said an official. [Terry] Rayner said he feared a 5.5m crocodile named Charlie was responsible for the attack. ‘He lives there. That’s his territory. He’s the alpha male there.’….
“Fisherman Barry Jefferies was killed when a crocodile grabbed his arm and pulled him from a canoe.”
Personally, I think Australian officials, worried about the impact on tourism, greatly underreport the death toll. It’s more like 6,000.
–Casper, Wyo. – “A police officer didn’t think much of a call to shoo off a bothersome ‘kitty cat’ at a Casper home on Monday. But after the officer arrived at the home, he ran for cover after seeing a male mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds.
“Beverly Hood said she was inside when she first saw the mountain lion lying on her porch Monday. Hood said the lion hissed at her, but she wasn’t scared.
“She called 911, animal control and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and reported that she had a bothersome ‘big cat.’ A dispatcher told Officer Mike Ableman that it was a house cat.
“A game warden tranquilized the mountain lion and the animal was relocated.”
I’d laugh, but at the same time we should be afraid…very, very afraid. So much for mountain lions being shy.
“Dolphins at a Japanese marine park are going on a low fat diet after developing pot bellies and failing to look sharp in their aquatic performances.
“Kinosaki Marine World in western Japan said Tuesday that all its 19 dolphins have been on a low fat diet since late August, when they started failing to hit jumping targets and keep upright while treading water.”
It turns out the dolphins were eating the same 31 pounds of mackerel every day, but keepers found the mackerels had gotten fatter, adding too many calories for the dolphins.
Freakin’ mackerel. For their part the dolphins are said to be doing better since they are being fed more white fish.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/1/66: #1 “Cherish” (The Association) #2 “You Can’t Hurry Love” (The Supremes) #3 “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep” (The Temptations)… and…#4 “Black Is Black” (Los Bravos) #5 “Bus Stop” (The Hollies) #6 “96 Tears” (? (Question Mark) & The Mysterians) #7 “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Four Tops) #8 “Yellow Submarine” (The Beatles) #9 “Sunshine Superman” (Donovan) #10 “Cherry, Cherry” (Neil Diamond)
New York Jets Quiz Answers: 1) Jim Turner (1968) and Bobby Howfield (1972) are the only two Jets to boot six field goals in a game. 2) Wake Forest alum Clark Gaines holds the record for most receptions in a game, 17, set back in 1980. 3) Receiver Wesley Walker is the only Jet to have four touchdowns in a game. 4) Running back Johnny Hector was the last Jet to lead the league in touchdowns with 11 in 1987. That same year, Jerry Rice led the NFL with 23…slight difference. [If you got this one, pour yourself a 16-oz. frosty.] 5) Al Toon is the last to lead the league in receptions, 1988.
