Houston Astros Quiz, part deux: Name the seven Astros hurlers to win 20 games in a season. Answer below. Must get them all to be able to reward yourself with a Shiner Bock, with Shiner, Texas being about 140 miles west of Houston.
Heat vs. Thunder
With Boston’s choke job in Games 6 and 7, America turns its attention to Oklahoma City and for the next two weeks we all become Thunder fans…that is unless you like the Heat, and outside of those in the Miami area I don’t see how you possibly can.
But in Saturday’s Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh scored Miami’s final 31 points, including all 28 in the fourth quarter, with James having a game-high 31, including the go-ahead slam that made it 83-82 Heat.
Road teams, incidentally, are now 22-89 in Game 7s since 1946-47.
As for the Celts, it was undoubtedly the last appearance of the Big Four; Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Allen and Garnett are free agents.
Meanwhile, LeBron had that awesome Game 6…45 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists…and Rick Reilly of ESPN.com comments.
“This whole We Hate LeBron thing reminds me of a story.
“A woman is in front of an apartment house that’s engulfed in flames. She’s screaming, ‘Help! Help! My baby’s in there!’
“He rips off his coat and goes running in. Five minutes later, he’s back, coughing, choking, and handing the woman the baby.
“She looks at the man with a frown and sniffs, ‘He had a hat.’
“Anything short of an NBA title makes James a useless wad of pre-chewed pork gristle in your eyes. Whatever he does – three MVPs in nine seasons – it’s never enough.
“You hate him – still! – for the way he botched the announcement of his free-agent move from Cleveland to Miami….
“It was only one mistake. Has he showed up in any police reports since? Has he cheated on his fiancée? Has he left his children stranded in the pick-up circle at school?
“Has he refused to speak to reporters after a single game this season? Has he called out his teammates for their poor play, as Kobe Bryant did twice this postseason? Has he gotten his coach fired? Been fined for criticizing refs? Asked to be traded, released or named general manager?
“Smashed a chair? Drop-kicked any equipment? Tiger Woods does that on the front nine.
“OK, LeBron is not perfect. Threw a Gatorade cup. Punched a walking stick. Carries that stupid little man purse. But if you were to fill a plane with the most spoiled superstars in the country, he’d be boarding in the D group.”
Here’s the thing. None of the above means I have to like the guy! I can’t stand him. I’m allowed to have that feeling. LeBron is the enemy. Were he on the Knicks, of course I’d love the guy. But he’s not. And while I’ve always said in this space I like the “greats” to win it all now and then, I’m not referring to LeBron.
Of course I wanted the Heat to be facing the Spurs but there is zero reason to hate Oklahoma City. In fact I love the place. Been there many a time. Super nice people. Some of my best friends on the planet live in the Oklahoma Panhandle. I’d do anything for them.
So excuuuse me, Mr. Reilly, for not wanting LeBron to win a title, let alone Dwyane Wade who has already proved himself to be quite the a-hole this postseason.
Kings 3 Devils 2
Gotta hand it to New Jersey, big time, for staving off elimination twice and sending the Stanley Cup Finals back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Monday as the Kings once again try to win the Cup for the first time in the franchise’s 45-year history.
I also have to admit I’ve only been catching the scores but I will watch all of tonight’s game. Once the Rangers lost I just couldn’t get into it.
Maria Is No.1 Again
Maria Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam in defeating 21st-seed Sara Erranti of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, in the French Open, thus adding the title to her wins at Wimbledon in 2004, the 2006 U.S. Open and the 2008 Australia Open. She thus becomes the 10th woman to complete the slam and moves back to No. 1 in the world, thus cementing more than a few endorsement contracts for years to come.
The men’s final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was interrupted by rain on Sunday, with Nadal leading 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 1-2. Djokovic is attempting to become the first since 1969 to win four Grand Slams in a row. Nadal is looking to win a record seventh French Open. He is currently tied at six with Bjorn Borg.
Union Rags Finally Gets A Professional Jock
“Under a brilliant ride by jockey John Velazquez, Union Rags shed his reputation as a hard-luck horse by charging up the rail down Belmont Park’s long stretch to nail pacesetter Paynter in the final strides, winning yesterday’s 144th Belmont Stakes by a neck.”
I’ve gotta hand it to the racing crowd for turning out in such large numbers (85,000 vs. an average 56,800 without a Triple Crown possibility) after the incredible disappointment of I’ll Have Another’s sudden withdrawal and retirement.
But Union Rags’ trainer Michael Matz got religion and switched riders from the pathetic Julien Leparoux to Velazquez, who is heading into the Racing Hall of Fame in August. [Great museum in Saratoga, by the way.]
It was Leparoux who allowed Rags to get stuck in traffic at both the Florida Derby and then the Kentucky Derby.
But in finishing second with Paynter, trainer Bob Baffert got a triple crown of a different sort, second in all three legs, with Bodemeister being runner up to I’ll Have Another at the Derby and Preakness. The total margin of defeat for Baffert’s colts was about one length.
“Is there a Triple Crown for seconds?” asked Baffert afterwards. Jockey Mike Smith rode both Bodemeister and Paynter and blamed himself for allowing Union Rags to squeeze in along the rail down the stretch but Baffert thought Smith did “a tremendous job.”
As for the whole deal with I’ll Have Another being first scratched and then retired owing to a tendon injury, it will take a long time for the sport to recover, assuming the colt had closed the deal, and after Union Rags’ slow time one can assume this would have been the case (as much as you can given these are horses we’re talking about).
The Star-Ledger’s Jerry Izenberg, though, commented on the many conspiracy theories that emerged with I’ll Have Another’s withdrawal.
“Why else, they reason with their typical lack of even a scintilla of logic, would a man scratch a horse that had a chance to ride off into history – even if he had to do it on three legs? Hell, real athletes they know would compete under any circumstances. They surely must not make horses like they use to make them.
“So using their measuring sticks as criteria, hit ‘em, kick ‘em, let ‘em run and so what if they have to bring out the horse ambulance and set up the big, black screen behind which they can euthanize an animal who gave his all for win, place and show?
“And if you are one of the conspiracy critics what do you want to see that you haven’t already seen?
“Do you want to see potential Triple Crown winner Big Brown in 2008 staggering with an injured hoof as though he were an aging, worn out Willie Mays, stumbling around the Mets outfield in the twilight of his career?
“Oh, that’s right, they did. They ran him in the Belmont when he shouldn’t have run. He won the Derby and the Preakness, but in the Belmont, he ran with a set of stainless steel sutures on the inside of his hoof and an acrylic and fiberglass adhesive patch attached to it. The jockey eventually pulled him up.
“Afterward, these eager acolytes then turned on the trainer and booed him to not deliver to the winner’s circle a ‘sure thing.’ If that section of the crowd is emotionally indentured to the ‘sport of kings,’ then the king or emperor in question must be named Caligula.
“Or do this morning’s conspiracy theorists want to see a repeat of 1999 when a former claimer named Charismatic had a shot at the Triple and wound up on three legs just past the finish line?
“Nobody is quite sure exactly when the cannon bone in Charismatic’s left front leg surrendered to the kind of pressure nobody can foresee. He broke it, and he also cracked his sesamoid. But we do know this:
“Charismatic never stopped running to get third. Every muscle, every fiber – and we will never know how much pain shot through them – tensed and strained for the wire. Athletes love to talk about playing in pain. This horse had gone a mile and a half and stayed with the leaders, but somewhere the two bones split like fragile porcelain that had been dropped from a great height.
“But still this colt ran on. You cannot be sure at what point this happened, but this was a horse that refused to do anything except what he knew – by instinct, by training and by the size of his heart – he was supposed to do. He finished the race and got third. But, again is this what the conspiracy theorists believe they are entitled to see?….
“For the record, I’ll Have Another never has flunked a drug test.
“Let the cuckoo birds whine about this until they find something else – which they will. I’ll Have Another will not run the mile-and-a-half on three legs.
“Doug O’Neill did the right thing by his horse – for once.
“This is hardly proof that thoroughbred racing has cured its creeping moral sickness. It only proves that O’Neill knows he can’t take another major public scandal at the moment, and neither can his sport. The real, longer-view truth is that Doug O’Neill hurts horses, and everybody in this beautiful-turned-rotten game knows it, and won’t do anything about it.
“We should be grateful that I’ll Have Another won’t be on the track at risk of a public breakdown on Saturday. But somewhere, on another track, in a less publicized race, a sore-legged horse will run. About 800 horses die racing each year, an average of two per day, and another 3,500 or so suffer injuries so bad they can’t hobble to the finish. That rate is intolerably high – but you know what? It’s nothing compared with O’Neill’s.
“On Thursday, the Thoroughbred Times posted an item looking at O’Neill’s safety record. It was the worst in the Belmont Stakes Field: 6.1 incidents for every 1,000 starts, ‘a rate of nearly twice the average of such incidents.’ That report followed one by the New York Times last week that found O’Neill’s horses were injured at more than twice the national rate….
“Horse racing, perhaps more than any other sport, confronts the participants with their own characters. In other games we are only responsible for ourselves. In racing, the entire content of the sport is about how we handle the horses, what our obligations are to them. And we are failing them.”
Pac Man Goes Down
Undefeated Timothy Bradley (29-0) won a stunning split decision over Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight championship, despite injuring both ankles as early as the second round in Las Vegas. Pacquiao, now 54-4-2, with 38 Kos, suffered his first loss since 2005. A rematch is thus in the cards, possibly in November and back in Vegas. But as Bob Velin wrote in USA TODAY, “Virtually every reporter at ringside had scored it clearly for Pacquiao. HBO’s resident judge Harold Lederman scored it 119-109 in favor of Pac Man.”
But two of the three ringside judges scored it in Bradley’s favor, 115-113, while the third favored Pacquiao by the same score.
The CompuBox punch count favored Pacquiao by a wide margin as it showed him connecting on 253 total punches to Bradley’s 159.
Promoter Bob Arum said after he had scored it 10 rounds to 2 for Pacquiao.
“We’ll make a lot of money on the rematch, but this is (expletive) nuts. People don’t even know what they’re watching anymore. They’re trying to kill boxing,” Arum said. Arum doesn’t believe, however, anything funny was going on in terms of the betting and the decision.
Ball Bits
–When Seattle’s Kevin Millwood was forced to leave after six innings Friday night due to a groin injury, he was deeply disappointed, seeing as he was no-hitting the Los Angeles Dodgers and was possibly on his way to his second career no-no, having tossed one in 2003 when he was with the Philadelphia Phillies.
But then five Mariners relievers completed the task and for the second time in history there was a no-hitter with six different hurlers.
It was the second no-hitter at Seattle’s Safeco Field this season; Philip Humber’s perfect game in April being the other – the first two in the park’s 13-year history.
–This weekend represented round one of the Subway Series. It sucks for us Mets fans that every year we are always playing six games against the Yankees because they obviously are one of the better teams in baseball, year in and year out. It’s like every year the Mets are penalized. No other team has this situation.
And so it was that the Mets got swept. As I wrote a week ago, there was a good reason why I was loath to say much about the Mets’ fast start because I kept waiting for the train to go off the rails…and now it has…six losses in their last seven games. Brutal late-inning fielding and a sudden lack of clutch hitting.
But Sunday also showed once again what a joke the New Yankee Stadium is…a total freakin’ bandbox as Russell Martin’s two homers, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, would have been pop flies at your local high school field.
As for who wins the popularity contest in Gotham, a Quinnipiac poll found that among New York City residents, 62% describe themselves as Yankees fans and just 21% Mets fans. The Phillies and Red Sox pick up 3% apiece.
–You know what’s irritating? When a national TV crew comes into New York, such as was the case on Saturday night with Fox’s Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, and suddenly all the Mets are made out to be All-Stars or MVP candidates.
Like Joe Buck was going on and on about David Wright and how he was having his “best year ever” and the guy, despite a high batting average, may not even drive in 90 runs when he’s driven in over 100 five times in his career.
Or McCarver going on about Daniel Murphy… “Boy, he can hit!”…when the guy is at .280 with zero home runs. Like as Derrick Coleman would say, “Whoopty-damn-do!”
Back to Wright, I hope the Mets give him an extension. But there are a lot of major leaguers just as good, if not better.
–One thing baseball fans have to look forward to the next 12-15 years, or more, is the play of Washington’s Bryce Harper and the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout.
Harper is 19 and won’t turn 20 until October. In 38 games he has 6 HR 17 RBI and is batting .282. A quality start to what could be one of the great careers of all time.
Ditto Trout, 20, who turns 21 in August. In 39 games he has 5 HR 24 RBI and is hitting .350 with 13 steals.
Oh, there are others, like Giancarlo Stanton, but these two alone are worth the price of admission. At least “general admission.” I don’t know if I’d spend $75 on a box seat to see them when I can catch their acts on television for free, but I digress.
—Davey Johnson’s Washington Nationals are now 35-23 after sweeping the Red Sox up in Fenway. Here’s the starting four…won-loss records for two of them being very deceiving.
Stephen Strasburg 7-1, 2.41
Gio Gonzalez 8-2, 2.35
Jordan Zimmerman 3-5, 2.91
Edwin Jackson 2-3, 3.11
On Friday night, Strasburg struck out 13 in six innings for a second time this season and now has 92 in 71 innings.
–How about the Pittsburgh Pirates? After 19 consecutive seasons below .500, the Pirates are once again teasing their fans…32-27 and playing the best ball in the major leagues. They even drew 39,000 on Saturday against the lowly Royals.
So should I get tickets to see them in September again? Nope. Won’t jinx ‘em. Wouldn’t be prudent.
–My boy Adam Dunn (Ichiro being the other) whacked his 20th homer of the year on Sunday, almost doubling his total for all of last year when in 415 at-bats, Dunn had just 11 and drove in 42. This year he has driven in 46 in 212 ABs.
–The number of home runs at Colorado’s Coors Field has decreased from 3.20 a game from 1995-2001 to 2.39 a game from 2002-2011 after the team installed a room-sized humidor in which baseballs are stored at 50% relative humidity and 70 degrees.
Colorado GM Jerry Dipoto, who pitched for the Rockies from 1997-2000, told the Los Angeles Times:
“It’s huge,” in talking of the difference. “It gives the pitcher a chance. It’s not because of how the ball carries but how it feels. It feels like a baseball instead of a cue ball. You can make a ball sink, run, which is significantly different than before.”
–In the Roger Clemens perjury trial, Debbie Clemens testified her husband was not in the room when she received a shot of HGH from trainer Brian McNamee, which contradicts what McNamee has long claimed; that Clemens was present.
McNamee has testified that Debbie looked at her husband and said, “I can’t believe you’re going to let him do this to me,” and Clemens responded, “He injects me. Why can’t he inject you?”
However, on cross-examination by the prosecution, Debbie said of her husband’s view of HGH, “I don’t think he thought it was bad. It wasn’t like doing heroin.”
–In the College World Series, as I go to post Sunday evening, many of the best of three series haven’t been concluded owing to the awful weather in the Southeast. Thus far only Arizona, Florida and UCLA have advanced to Omaha.
Golf Bits
—Dustin Johnson, who was out ten weeks with a back injury, captured the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, his 6th career win on tour.
–I missed that Texas won its first NCAA Division I men’s golf championship since 1972 in defeating Alabama, 3-2; the match-play format having been implemented in 2009.
–So you know how I mentioned that my local club pro, Mark McCormick, made the U.S. Open field for the first time at the age of 49? His son, Ryan, 20, just won the New Jersey Amateur Championship by five strokes, 12-under at famed Baltusrol. It was the lowest 72-hole score since the event went to stroke play in 1971.
What a whirlwind for father, son and the rest of the family as they scrambled to make arrangements to get the clan out to San Francisco and the Olympic Club.
In case you’re wondering, us members at Suburban GC are helping subsidize the costs, very willingly (and voluntarily). Mark is a great guy. But it’s not like he’s Tiger or Phil, know what I’m sayin’?
Q: Beside yourself, who would you like to see win the U.S. Open?
Q: Will Tiger break Jack Nicklaus’ record for most majors?
Q: Based on what you saw at the Masters, are Tiger’s issues physical or mental?
A: 61% Masters, 22% British Open, 15% U.S. Open, 2% PGA Championship
–Not much time left for those looking to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The top 8 as of Aug. 12 qualify and then captain Davis Love III will announce his four wild-card picks in early September.
1. Bubba Watson
2. Jason Dufner
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Hunter Mahan
6. Tiger Woods
7. Zach Johnson
8. Keegan Bradley
9. Rickie Fowler
10. Steve Stricker
11. Bill Haas
12. Brandt Snedeker
—Tony Jacklin, in an interview with Golf Magazine:
“I was at the Western Open in 1975 when lightning struck (Lee) Trevino and Jerry Heard. I was a fairway over, playing with Bobby Nichols. Bobby had a steel plate in his head. A bolt hit. He rolled over in a ball, shouting, ‘Oh my God!’ while holding his head. Something about the electrical currents in the air. I had a burning sensation in my mouth. Everyone ran to the clubhouse. It was mayhem. All part of life’s rich tapestry.”
—Grace Park, winner of six events on the LPGA Tour, including the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship, announced her retirement at the age of 33, saying, “I’m ready for a new phase in my life.”
Ms. Park is responsible for one of the better photos in sports history, but I really can’t get into it.
–Awful story at Auburn University as a dispute over a woman at a pool party at an apartment complex near the school’s campus resulted in the death of two players from last season’s Auburn football team, along with a third victim, plus three others injured, at least one of whom, yet another football player, remains hospitalized. As I go to post, the suspected shooter was on the loose.
The two football players were Ladarious Phillips, the Tigers’ only true fullback last season as a sophomore, and ex-lineman Ed Christian, who was a redshirt freshman.
Needless to say, Coach Gene Chizik was devastated, as is the community.
–Uefa (the European football association governing body) has opened proceedings against the Russian Football Union after the behavior of Russian fans in their Euro 2012 opener against Czech Republic, as Czech defender Theodor Gebre Selassie, who has an Ethiopian father, was subjected to monkey chants; Selassie being the Czech Republic’s only black player. Members of the Holland squad were earlier racially abused during a training session in Krakow. Russian fans also attacked stewards at another Polish venue.
But with play starting, I thought I’d watch Ireland’s first-round match against Croatia, Ireland’s first major international competition in 10 years, and just a few minutes into it, the Irish goalkeep made a horrible play and Ireland went on to lose 3-1.
This is a cool event, held every four years in between World Cups. 16 nations qualify out of 30 or so on the continent.
We don’t want Russia to win…that’s all I’ve got to say. I’ll root for Ireland and Czech Republic, but they both lost their openers, which really blows.
–The New England Patriots gave All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski the richest contract for that position in NFL history; a six-year deal for $54 million that includes $18.17 million guaranteed. What’s so stunning is that Gronkowski is only entering his third season, plus he’s coming off ankle surgery.
–The New York Giants gave coach Tom Coughlin a two-year extension through the 2014 season. He’ll earn $20 million over three years. Not bad for a guy who will be 68 in the final year of the deal.
–More than 80 pending concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL have been consolidated under a “master complaint” as players hope to hold the league responsible for the care of players suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s and other neurological conditions.
“The NFL, like the sport of boxing, was aware of the health risks associated with repetitive blows producing sub-concussive and concussive results and the fact that some members of the NFL player population were at significant risk of developing long-term brain damage and cognitive decline as a result,” the complaint charges.
“Despite its knowledge and controlling role in governing player conduct on and off the field, the NFL turned a blind eye to the risk and failed to warn and /or impose safety regulations governing this well-recognized health and safety problem.”
The NFL said in part in a statement: “The NFL has long made player safety a priority and continues to do so. Any allegation that the NFL sought to mislead players has no merit.”
The league says that in partnership with the NFLPA it has spent more than a billion dollars on pensions, medical and disability benefits for retired players.
According to the AP, a review of the 81 lawsuits that are being consolidated shows that they include 2,138 former players.
This is big. The NFL is no doubt scared to death not only because of the potential liabilities, but over the future of the game itself.
—South African Oscar Pistorius, aka Blade Runner due to the carbon fiber prosthetics he wears, failed to gain the Olympic A qualifying time he needs by month’s end to get into the London Games when he clocked 46.14 in the 400 meters at Randall’s Island, N.Y. on Saturday. He still has the African championship at month’s end to gain the qualifying standard, as well as a few smaller meets. [I’m against his being allowed to compete…sorry.]
–But Tyson Gay won his 100-meters race in 10.0 into a headwind, his first appearance in a year following hip surgery so he becomes another storyline for Eugene and the U.S. Trials.
–True story…from Jennifer Fermino and Frank Rosario of the New York Post.
“A nasty rat was an unwelcome commuter on a rush-hour A train yesterday morning – terrorizing straphangers during the agonizingly long nonstop ride from Harlem to Midtown.
“What started as a typical sleepy end-of-the-week ride between 125th Street and Columbus Circle morphed into an ‘urban nightmare’ when a woman listening to an iPod felt a scratching on her leg at about 8 a.m.
“ ‘I started feeling down my leg and I knew there was something furry and large crawling on my leg,’ said Ana Vargas, 40, a Times Square hotel worker from Yonkers.
“ ‘I was yelling, ‘Help me! There’s something on my leg!’ she said.
“At first people thought she was delusional – until fellow passengers noticed a huge, wiggling lump in her pants.
“No amount of yanking could loose the writhing rodent, so Vargas had no choice but to pull them down in public.
“ ‘It was the most embarrassing moment of my life,’ she said.
“The scared rat scurried out onto the subway-car floor – and pandemonium broke loose.
Upon arriving in Columbus Circle, Vargas was whisked to the hospital and given all manner of shots and pills, including anti-rabies shots, as well as being treated for several cuts from the rat’s sharp claws.
“Her psychological wounds will likely take longer to heal.
“ ‘I don’t want to ever take the subway again,’ she said.
–And here’s a fascinating little nature factoid. In an experiment by engineers and biologists at Georgia Tech, using a combination of real-time video and sophisticated math, researchers have found that a raindrop weighing about 50 times as much as a mosquito can’t down the bastard.
As reported by Michael Balter in the Anchorage Daily News, “The drop should have the impact of a bus running over a human and drive the mosquito downward at a force up to 300 times that of gravity,” but, “the pest will survive this collision.”
“All six mosquitoes were able to recover from drop impacts without crashing to the bottom of the cage. In one typical example, a mosquito hit by a water drop tumbled a distance of 13 body lengths before separating itself from the drop and flying laterally to land on the side of the arena.”
–So in a conversation with Jeff B., the late actress Margaret Hamilton came up. It seems that when Jeff was attending UConn, one of his “gut courses” was called “Children and American Literature” (aka Kiddie Lit.). Jeff says the professor would bring in guest speakers and one of her frequent guests was Margaret Hamilton of “Wizard of Oz” fame.
“She was in pretty bad shape by the time I saw her – fairly incoherent as I recall, but out of nowhere one day she blurted out ‘the cackle’ and shouted ‘I’ll get you my pretty, and your dog, too!’. The place went absolutely [expletive] and MH seemed to suddenly be 10 years younger (sort of a Benjamin Button thing).”
Well, back in June 2003 I had a blurb in Bar Chat on a list put out by the American Film Institute on top movie villains.
#1 Hannibal Lechter
#2 Norman Bates
#3 Darth Vader
#4 Wicked Witch of the West
–We note the passing of former Fleetwood Mac member and successful solo artist Bob Welch, who committed suicide at the age of 65. His wife, Wendy, told a friend that Welch had spinal surgery three months ago and doctors told him he would not get better, and he did not want her to have to care for an invalid.
Welch was a guitarist and vocalist for Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974 and then had solo hits “Sentimental Lady” in 1977 and “Ebony Eyes” in 1978.
–I didn’t know this…Dr. John tells me Jackie DeShannon wrote “Bette Davis Eyes.” I won’t hold this against Ms. DeShannon, whose 1965 hit “What The World Needs Now Is Love” is an all-time fave of mine. And who can forget in the days and weeks immediately after 9/11 how ultra-sensitive radio stations played this tune as much as any other.
Top 3 songs for the week 6/11/83: #1 “Flashdance…What A Feeling” (Irene Cara) #2 “Let’s Dance” (David Bowie…probably wrote this in two minutes…at least sounds that way) #3 “Time (Clock Of The Heart)” (Culture Club…these guys made me want to shoot myself…thankfully, I missed…)…and…#4 “Overkill” (Men At Work) #5 “My Love” (Lionel Richie) #6 “Beat It” (Michael Jackson…he’s dead, you know) #7 “She Blinded Me With Science” (Thomas Dolby) #8 “Always Something There To Remind Me” (Naked Eyes…just awful) #9 “Don’t Let It End” (Styx) #10 “Affair Of The Heart” (Rick Springfield…I don’t know how much more of this era I can take)
Houston Astros Quiz Answer: 20-game winners: Mike Hampton, 22 (1999); Jose Lima, 21 (1999); Joe Niekro, 21 (1979), 20 (1980); Larry Dierker, 20 (1969); Roy Oswalt, 20 (2004, 05); J.R. Richard, 20 (1976); Mike Scott, 20 (1989).
