Minnesota Twins (1961- ), Washington Senators (1900-1960) Quiz: 1) Aside from Harmon Killebrew, who did it 8 times, who is the only Senator/Twin to hit 40 home runs? 2) Harmon Killebrew has the franchise record with 140 RBI in a season, 1969. Who is the only other player to get 130? 3) Walter Johnson is first in wins for the franchise with 417. Who is second with 190? 4) Who is the last to win 25? Answers below.
Note: It’s been a long couple days. I drove to Ocean City, Maryland, on Thursday, wasted a ton of time with some hotel issues (like a room without a table and chair), wrote that other column I do on Friday, but then had a blast with friend Mark R. on Saturday as Mark showed me around the area on his boat. One place we went to was particularly cool…Assateague Island. Ironically, when I got home on Sunday I saw the Star-Ledger travel section had a story on Assateague, which was formed by two big storms, a 1933 hurricane and a northeaster in 1962, which split Ocean City at its barrier island britches, creating an inlet. It was decided later that Assateague wasn’t suitable for development so now it’s a beautiful piece of land with little more than wild horses, some 114 of them, according to the article.
Anyway, after my drive back on Sunday, not much time for Bar Chat. Thanks, Mark, for the superb hospitality.
Ball Bits
–So with the trade deadline approaching (Tuesday), the Angels went out and acquired Zack Greinke from the Brewers. Greinke was 9-3, 3.44, and is a free agent after the season, but even though the Angels appear to have given up three solid prospects to get Greinke, they feel they have as good a shot at re-signing him as anyone. [Greinke’s first effort for the Angels on Sunday was 7 innings, 2 runs, 8 Ks, but they lost 2-0.]
Greinke turned down a 5-year, $100 million offer from the Brewers and the Angels have a situation where Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson are both in the first years of their own 5-year deals worth $85 million and $77.5 million, respectively. Not sure L.A. can really pay out another $100 million+. I mean they’ve got that Pujols contract, too, you understand.
–The Mets’ Matt Harvey had quite a big league debut. The 23-year-old out of UNC struck out 11 in 5 1/3 of shutout ball, the most Ks in a debut by a Mets pitcher, plus he went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double.
And so Matt Harvey became the first pitcher in baseball history since 1900 to strike out 10 in his first game and get two hits. As Ronald Reagan would have said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’
–The Mets’ Ike Davis became the ninth player in franchise history to hit three home runs when he did so against the D-Backs in Arizona on Saturday. What’s interesting about this is all nine are on the road. Imagine, since 1962, no Met has ever hit three home runs at home.
—R.A. Dickey got back on track with a super 7-inning effort in the Mets’ 5-1 win on Sunday against Arizona, thus moving his mark to 14-2. New York is nonetheless 3-13 since the All-Star break.
–Lastly, the Mets’ Jason Bay is in a 0-22 skid taking his average down to .159 with 8 RBI in 113 at-bats. Very strong. For this he is paid $18 million this season. Easily the worst free agent signing in the history of Mankind.
–What a year for Josh Hamilton. Here are the splits.
April…9 HR 25 RBI, .398
May…12-32, .344
June…4-16, .223
July…3-10, .141
Hamilton was booed by the hometown fans on Friday and then sat out Saturday. Friday, he cryptically said, “The frustrating part is dealing with (the media) and not being able to share everything with you guys. When the time is right, you guys will be right in the loop.”
Huh? Not the best thing to say when heading into free agency. After GM Nolan Ryan said Hamilton was giving too many at-bats away the other day, it’s a certainty the Rangers will not be part of the post-season negotiations.
–Good lord. I didn’t realize just how awful the Astros have been…from 32-43 to 35-68!
–The Reds have won 10 straight…even with Joey Votto out of the lineup.
–Those complaining about the addition of a second wild-card won’t be come September.
London Calling…Olympic bits and pieces…
–It’s a cruel world. So much for his eight gold medals in Beijing. After Michael Phelps finished fourth in the finals of the 400IM (after barely making the field in his qualifying heat), the New York Post’s cover on Sunday read:
“PHLOP! Flying fish smoked on the water.”
[And then Ryan Lochte, who won the gold in the 400IM, got passed in the anchor leg of the 4X100 freestyle relay by French swimmer Yannick Angel, while Phelps ran a great second leg.]
“Troops will be drafted in to fill empty seats and more tickets will be sold to the public after many VIPs and members of the ‘Olympic family’ failed to turn up the first day of the Games.
“There were blocks of empty seats at some of the venues, including the aquatic centre and gymnastics. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, said it was ‘very disappointing’ and an urgent inquiry was underway.”
Hell, some of the events just aren’t that interesting!
–Congrats to Sun Yang, no relation to Yin Yang, for becoming the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming gold as he took the 400m free.
–More on how much some gold medals can be worth. Malaysia will pay its Olympic champions about $600,000, but if it comes in their strongest sport, badminton, they get an extra $600,000! [London Times] Italy pays about $175,000 for a gold.
The USOC pays $25,000, however, various sporting federations can add onto the figure. Like check this out. USA Wrestling tacks on $250,000! [$50,000 for silver, $25,000 for bronze.] And USA Cycling adds $100,000 for gold ($75K and $50K for silver/bronze).
I mean it’s enough to make this 54-year-old think, hey, I’m in OK shape…maybe I’ll ride a bike again. Gotta find that Stingray.
Penn State…it won’t go away…
“(No) number of docked scholarships, missed bowl trips or cash payments will counterbalance the enabling of a serial rapist of children. The NCAA has long since stopped assessing the death penalty, last used in Division I in 1987 against a recidivist SMU football program, because it believes the punishment causes too much collateral damage among blameless opponents who would suddenly lose television revenue. But with that $60 million fine, the NCAA went beyond its two typical types of sanctions, ‘corrective’ and ‘punitive,’ to a kind of reparations or community service….
“For decades the NCAA invoked ‘a lack of institutional control’ to punish programs when its understaffed and underpaid investigative teams couldn’t come up with nitty-gritty evidence. And the Penn State case seemed to be the ultimate example of absent institutional controls. Only it wasn’t really a lack of institutional control that allowed Sandusky free rein but a perverse surfeit of it held by the football program, made possible by what the Freeh Report calls ‘a culture of reverence’ – a consuming desire to protect the team and Paterno, and their braided reputations, at an almost unimaginable human cost….
“By the players’ entrance to the stadium a 69-year-old Penn State alumnus named Vin Tedesco stood alongside a life-sized cardboard cutout of Paterno. ‘For 60 years this guy lived, talked and required his soldiers to have truth and integrity,’ Tedesco said. ‘That’s why it’s hard for me to accept what’s going on here. I may sound like a stupid old man, but the Freeh Report is being used by the university as a big deal. They paid a lot to get it.’
“As Tedesco spoke, the driver of a passing car shouted out his approval.
“And then, moments later, a shout from another car: ‘F— you!’
“Penn Staters across the country are sorting themselves out alongside these poles of opinion. ‘I’ve written about sports scandals, and this is by far the worst in the history of college sports,’ says Charles Yesalis, a retired health policy, exercise and sports science professor at the school who now lives in Lynchburg, Va. ‘I’m astounded that there are going to be fans in those stands six weeks from now, or whenever the hell it is, cheering while a football team runs out on the field. That’s an embarrassment.
“ ‘Look, I love football. I’m not one of those pinhead academics who hates sports…[But] they shouldn’t play football this year. And the NCAA shouldn’t have to decide that. If Penn State really was what it’s been telling people it’s been about for all these years, they would stop the season. But they’re not, and I’m embarrassed about that.’
“Also hung from that chain-link fence outside Beaver Stadium was a sign reading NO TRESPASSING. A familiar liturgy echoes in that last word. The forgiveness that the prayer calls for – for our own trespasses and those who trespass against us – is supposed to be a prerequisite to healing. But there’s a rancor even beyond the victims, among the Nittany Lions’ faithful. Monday’s sanctions assured Penn State of a long transit through the wilderness into which its football program has led it, and that will make healing still harder to come by.”
Meanwhile, Christian Hackenberg, the top quarterback recruit of Penn State for 2013, reiterated his commitment to Happy Valley on Saturday. Tight end Andrew Breneman, the 2013 tight end from Pennsylvania who is the unofficial spokesman for the group, and who had earlier said he would honor his unsigned commitment, said “We are all 100 percent committed,” referring to the top six in the class.
On a related case, in some respects, did you know that the Univ. of North Carolina has a staff “of more than 115 full and part-time employees in the academic support program for athletes including counselors who track academic progress” for roughly 800 athletes so they can graduate while juggling their sports responsibilities?
That’s the number as related by Dan Kane of the News & Observer of Raleigh. A faculty report released on Thursday suggested the support program was confused about its role. At the end of the 13-page study, the authors asked: “Why is there a separate center for support of athletes?”
The academic scandal at UNC has included details such as the fact “football players made up more than a third of the enrollments in 54 no-show classes, all within the African studies department.” [Dan Kane]
–Jets training camp is open and it was a rough day for Tim Tebow on Saturday. Steve Serby / New York Post:
“A driving rain pelted a shirtless Tim Tebow as he sprinted off the practice field toward shelter, soaking the Jets’ Incredible Hunk. Only the most devout Tebowmaniac would suggest these were tears from God on a morning when Tebow heard several jeers from among the mesmerized crowd of 2,588 that packed the bleachers and stood three-deep along the fence.
“You hope this was no commentary on his faith, but strictly on his suspect ability as an NFL quarterback:
“ ‘Come on Tebow, get rid of the ball!’ when he held it too long.
So for one day, Mark Sanchez looked like the starting quarterback and Tebow did not. But the Internet was ablaze with the shirtless one.
–He didn’t win, but a strong second place for my college classmate, Gary Hallberg, who finished second to Fred Couples at the British Senior Open. Gary and I were not friends, though we were in a class together (I think he dropped it after two weeks…which was normally my gig). But I have a good party story from when he first hit the PGA Tour…only I can’t tell it. Phil W. knows him well, however, so I’m trying to get some inside scoop from Phil for latter “Stuff.”
ESPN did a poor job at the end of their coverage, though, when Hallberg finished up with playing partner John Cook, who gave him a warm pat on the back after Gary had shot 66. The two were big rivals in college and Cook obviously went on to have the more successful PGA Tour career but you could tell Cook, a class act, was proud of Hallberg’s performance.
–Just an update on the A.J. Allmendinger situation, he having been suspended by NASCAR for a failed drug test. A.J. agreed to participate in NASCAR’s substance-abuse recovery program rather than fight the accuracy of the test. He’s doing all he can to save his job with Penske racing.
[Jimmie Johnson dominated in winning the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.]
–The New York Post had a story on Sarah Tressler, stripper turned author, who went from earning $7.25 an hour at Starbucks to more than $100 an hour. She has a book out that is a collection of her blogs, “Diary of an Angry Stripper.” Among the anecdotes from an article by Larry Getlen:
“Another time, she approached one of her regulars to ask the innocuous, ‘How’s it going?’ only to hear, ‘They’re unplugging my mom today’ – causing her to wonder, ‘Isn’t this the one time in your life that you shouldn’t be listening to Lil Wayne’s version of ‘On Fire’ while a chick with fake t—s windmills her legs around on a stage?’”
Of her co-workers, who Tressler calls her “drunk sweethearts” (“Sweethearts who will cut a b—- if necessary,” she writes, “but sweethearts nonetheless”), Tressler recalls the co-worker “who saw a Patriots game on TV and said, ‘New England? I thought we just played the United States?’”
Top 3 songs for the week 7/29/67: #1 “Light My Fire” (The Doors) #2 “I Was Made To Love Her” (Stevie Wonder) #3 “Windy” (The Association)…and…#4 “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (Frankie Valli…always think “Deerhunter”) #5 “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” (Procol Harum) #6 “Little Bit O’ Soul” (The Music Explosion) #7 “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” (The Buckinghams) #8 “White Rabbit” (Jefferson Airplane…pssst…this is about drugs, kids…always ask your parents what drugs they did before you take any yourself) #9 “Up-Up And Away” (The 5th Dimension) #10 “C’mon Marianne” (The 4 Seasons…not one of their best)
Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators Quiz: 1) Roy Sievers is the only one aside from Killebrew to hit 40 home runs in a season with his 40 in 1957. 2) Justin Morneau’s 130 RBI in 2006 are second to Killebrew’s 140. 3) Jim Kaat is second with 190 wins (he was 283-237 for his career). 4) Kaat is also the last to win 25 (1966).
