[Posted Wednesday a.m.]
U.S. Open golf quiz: Name the last five Europeans to win it. Answer below.
NBA Playoffs
—Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5 Monday and the Golden State Warriors folded like a cheap suit, losing 112-97 in Oakland as they were outscored in the second half 51-36; the team missing their leader and defensive star, Mr. Green.
For Cleveland, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 41 points, the first teammates to ever score 40 in an NBA Finals game; James adding 16 rebounds and 7 assists (with just two turnovers), while Irving was a spectacular 17-of-24 from the field.
For Golden State, Steph Curry (25) and Klay Thompson (37) combined for 62 points, but Curry was only 5-of-14 from downtown and has had subpar performances in four of the five games in the Finals. He was only 4-of-13 on his field goal attempts in the second half. Curry has denied reports he will need shoulder surgery in the offseason.
So it’s back to Cleveland for Game 6 and now it gets interesting.
–If Kevin Durant stays in Oklahoma City, perhaps Gov. Mary Fallin will have had something to do with it. July 1, Durant, a free agent, can begin talking to other teams.
But Fallin said: “If Kevin Durant thinks about leaving, which I hope he doesn’t – Oklahoma loves Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant loves Oklahoma. But if he’ll stay, I’ll make him a Cabinet person for health and fitness on my Cabinet.”
Fallin did concede the benefit “might not be as attractive as a couple of million dollars.”
I’ve written before that it seems a certainty Durant will sign a two-year contract, with an opt-out clause next summer when the NBA’s new media contract takes hold and the salary cap soars. [It rises for next season but then really takes off and the value of a ‘max’ deal will rise commensurately.]
–Milwaukee granted Jason Kidd a big three-year, $18 million contract extension that goes into effect following the 2016-17 season, Kidd earning $5 million next campaign.
MLB
–Monday, the Nationals defeated the Cubs in a preview of a highly probable NLCS matchup, 4-1, behind Max Scherzer who moved to 8-4, 3.40.
Tuesday, the Nats lost to the Cubs 4-3, while the Mets lost to the Pirates and rookie pitcher Jameson Taillon 4-0, so Washington remains a full five games ahead of the Metropolitans.
Washington 40-25
Mets 34-29
The Mets are in deep trouble. With starters David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud and Lucas Duda on the disabled list, and Neil Walker and Michael Conforto also limited by injury recently, since June 1, the Mets have scored only 35 runs, second-worst in baseball. They are hideous to watch and continue to waste solid starting pitching.
Jacob deGrom is emblematic of the situation. He is just 3-3 in 11 starts, yet has a 2.82 ERA after giving up two runs in six innings last night.
And back to David Wright, it appears he may be undergoing season-ending neck surgery for a herniated disc, though Wright is trying to avoid this.
The Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers 3-2, as Zack Greinke went up against his old team for the first time since he opted out of his contract and signed with Arizona. Greinke is back in prime form and has won his last six starts to go to 9-3, 3.75; quite a comeback from a lousy start.
—Ichiro had three hits Monday night in the Marlins’ 13-4 win at San Diego, giving him 2,977 for his career.
But if you take Ichiro’s 1,278 hits in Japan, that’s 4,255, one shy of Pete Rose’s 4,256.
Now we’ve talked about this subject before. It’s a great “achievement” for Ichiro, but he is not Baseball’s Hit King, because there is zero comparison between the Major Leagues and Japanese baseball.
For his part, Rose isn’t happy about such talk. In an interview with USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale, Rose said, “It sounds like in Japan they’re trying to make me the Hit Queen. I’m not trying to take anything away from Ichiro, he’s had a Hall of Fame career, but the next thing you know, they’ll be counting his high-school hits.
“I don’t think you’re going to find anybody with credibility say that Japanese baseball is equivalent to Major League Baseball. There are too many guys that fail here, and then become household names there, like Tuffy Rhodes. How can he not do anything here, and hit [a record-tying] 55 home runs [in 2001] over there? It has something to do with the caliber of personnel.”
Marlins manager Don Mattingly attempted to be diplomatic:
“It’s hard to compare, but it’s a lot of hits no matter how you slice it. We’ve had a number of Japanese players come over and be really successful. To say it’s minor league and major league numbers, that’s not quite fair. The fact is that he’s going to have 3,000 hits here, and to have all of those hits in Japan, too, tells you how special he is. The hits over there are hits against good quality pitching, basically major league-caliber players, so they’re legitimate for sure.”
Mark Grace, who had 2,445 hits over 16 seasons, thinks what Suzuki is doing is very, very significant.
“I cannot believe it’s not a bigger deal in Major League Baseball. Shame on us for not making a bigger deal out of it. You’re talking about breaking Pete Rose’s record. I couldn’t care less if he got some of those hits in Japan or in Antarctica. You’re getting hits at high professional levels. That’s huge. I’m in awe of the guy.”
Now I’m straight down the middle on this one. I don’t think Pete Rose should lose a wink of sleep over this. He is baseball’s hit king, period, over here. That’s all that matters.
But if Japan’s press wants to call Ichiro the real hit king, who gives a hoot.
Mark Grace, on the other hand, can’t possibly be saying with a straight face Ichiro is breaking Pete Rose’s record.
I love Ichiro. This site has covered his entire MLB career. But if we ever see an all-time hit list at the Hall of Fame, or, say on baseballreference that lists Ichiro first, that would be a travesty and I’d have to commit hari-kari, if only Johnny Mac would return my sword.
[Tuesday, in the Marlins’ 5-2 win over the Padres in San Diego, Ichiro grounded out as a pinch-hitter.]
–According to Stats LLC and Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, my Mets have six road trips comprising at least three series apiece this season, more than any other team in baseball. The average across the league is 3.7. What gives, MLB?
Granted, if you are on one of the coasts it is inevitable you will have some three series swings (and you’d want that), but at the same time Andrew Beaton points out the Minnesota Twins don’t have a single three-series road trip all season! The Astros have just one. Yet the Texas Rangers have five.
[I had to double-check the Twins…yes, not one three-series road trip. I’m amazed.]
–The other day I mentioned the fantastic start for Detroit rookie pitcher Michael Fulmer, the top prospect the Tigers acquired in the trade with the Mets for Yoenis Cespedes, Fulmer now 7-1, 2.52 ERA, but I forgot to mention he now has a scoreless innings streak of 28 1/3.
Also, in his six scoreless innings against the Yankees on Sunday, he joined Jake Arrieta as the only pitchers since 1893 to record at least six scoreless frames and give up fewer than four hits in four straight starts.
Of course the Mets have no regrets. Cespedes took them to the World Series, or at least the playoffs, before Daniel Murphy took over, and he’s on his way to a 35-100 season this year.
–I’ve also talked about Houston hurler Dallas Keuchel, last year’s A.L. Cy Young award winner, who after a 5-0 defeat against Tampa Bay on Sunday is 3-9 with a 5.54 ERA.
What I didn’t know is that Keuchel has just six quality starts in 14 outings (6 innings or more allowing three runs or less), which is just atrocious.
–52 years ago today (tomorrow), June 16, 1964, the Chicago Cubs dealt pitcher Ernie Broglio to the Cardinals for Lou Brock.
Alex Coffey of the Baseball Hall of Fame writes:
“The perspective history affords can be daunting….
“ ‘Thank you, thank you, oh, you lovely St. Louis Cardinals. Nice doing business with you. Please call again any time.’
“Such were the words of Chicago Daily News sportswriter Bob Smith, penned on June 16, 1964. The source of Smith’s gratitude? The day before, the Cardinals had dealt one of the top pitchers in the National League, Ernie Broglio, to the Cubs. Broglio had gone 18-8 the year before, and had led the NL with 21 victories a few years before that. It was a six-player deal and all it cost the Cubs was Brock, who would turn 25 years old three days after the trade.
“Little did Smith – or anybody else – know the ‘business’ Smith was so gleeful about would soon be one of the most infamous trades of the 20th century.
“ ‘They wanted to run our GM Bing Devine out of town at first,’ Cardinals star Mike Shannon told the Chicago Tribune. ‘But as players, we knew the possibility of Lou.’
“At the time, no one – not even Devine – truly knew the possibility of Lou. A .251 hitter at the time of the trade, he would hit .348 with 33 stolen bases for the Cardinals the rest of that season. But that 1964 campaign was just a precursor to a historic career – going on to join the 3,000-hit club and become the greatest base-stealer, with a then-record total of 938 thefts, in baseball history.
“Broglio, hampered by injury, would win a total of seven more games before retiring after the 1966 season….
“On his first full day as a Cardinal, Manager Johnny Keane brought Brock to left field, and told him that ‘It’s a big one and it’s all yours. If you can do what I think you can, you ought to be able to play out here the rest of your life.’
“He took Keane’s vote of confidence and ran with it, lifting his 28-31 team from eighth place in the National League to winning the 1964 World Series.”
FYI…the other four players involved in the Broglio-Brock trade – Jack Spring, Paul Toth, Doug Clemens, and Bobby Shantz – literally did nothing after. Like, really….nothing.
I do have to add that many have said of Brock that he wasn’t that great, pointing to modern metrics and, for example, a lifetime .343 on-base percentage. [By comparison, long-time Mets fans will remember Wayne “Warning Track Power” Garrett. He had a .350 OBP, but only a .239 batting average.]
But it was a different time, boys and girls, and if you’re too young to remember Lou Brock, and you’re playing sabermetrics while doing bong hits, understand one thing.
Lou Brock hit .391 in three World Series with a 1.079 OPS in 87 at bats. So there!
*Paid for by the “If you don’t think Lou Brock was great, you’re a freakin’ idiot fan club.”
–Meanwhile the field for the College World Series is set, with play beginning Saturday. It’s double elimination.
Bracket 1
Oklahoma State vs. UC Santa Barbara
Miami vs. Arizona
Bracket 2
Texas Tech vs. TCU
Florida vs. Coastal Carolina
I must say Miami vs. Florida would be a helluva final. Recall, these two have the longest streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Baseball tournament at 41 and 36 consecutive years, respectively (if my memory is right…though I might have killed that brain cell one dark and stormy night in Deadwood).
*Wrong, I was thinking Florida State.
Stanley Cup Playoffs
Game 6 was after I posted my last chat. I was preparing to watch a Game 7, but, alas, the Penguins wrapped up their fourth title in franchise history, defeating the Sharks in San Jose, 3-1, in what they say was a terrific game, but I saw none of it. [I cannot lie…I was watching “Game of Thrones” and “Silicon Valley.”]
Anyway, San Jose hung in there until the end, Pittsburgh’s third goal coming on an empty net tally with 1:02 left in the third.
Sidney Crosby was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player of the playoffs.
Interestingly, none of Pittsburgh’s four Stanley Cup deciding wins have come on home ice.
–Meanwhile, it appears the NHL is ready to expand in Las Vegas as soon as the 2017-18 season. The NHL’s executive committee was unanimous in its decision to recommend expansion ahead of a Board of Governors meeting on June 22 when the final vote will be taken. So it’s not official, but basically is a done deal.
Vegas backers apparently didn’t flinch at the $500 million expansion fee. Vegas already has the new T-Mobile Arena in place.
Once this is official I’ll get into the expansion draft rules.
Euro 2016 Championship
The Russian national team was slapped with a 150,000 euro fine from UEFA, Europe’s football authority, and told any further violence from its fans will result in a disqualification from the championship.
Next up for Russia, Slovakia today, Wednesday. [It’s early, but there has been some violence this morning involving Russian fans.]
On Monday, Italy, said by the country’s news media to have one of the worst Italian teams ever, beat one of the world’s best, Belgium (replete with Premier League stars like my man Kevin De Bruyne…my favorite non-Tottenham player), 2-0.
Tuesday, Iceland claimed a shocking 1-1 draw against Portugal and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
After the match, in which Portugal wasted a series of chances, Ronaldo told several national newspapers: “It was a little bit frustrating, we tried hard to win the game, Iceland didn’t try anything.
“They scored a goal, they created two chances in the 90 minutes and otherwise they got every player behind the ball, they put the bus in the net.
“So it’s difficult when one team don’t try, but Portugal try and play football and try to win the game.”
Ronaldo is a jerk. This game marked Iceland’s first appearance at a major tournament, and with a population of just 330,000, the country is the smallest to feature at a European Championship.
This was a titanic result!
Also on Tuesday, Hungary upset Austria 2-0, another biggie.
Copa America Championship
Quarterfinals
USA vs. Ecuador (Thurs.)
Argentina vs. Venezuela (Sat.)
Peru vs. Colombia (Fri.)
Mexico vs. Chile (Sat.)
Chile advanced to the knockout round by virtue of its 4-2 win over Panama on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Argentina beat Bolivia 3-0, with Lionel Messi playing only the second half.
Oakmont
We’ll start at the end…for my DraftKings lineup for this week’s U.S. Open at fabled Oakmont Country Club, outside Pittsburgh, Pa., the best people in the country, by the way, but I digress….I have:
Matthew Fitzpatrick, Retief Goosen, Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, Hideki Matsuyama and Louis Oosthuizen.
Yup, not one of the Big Three, but in my case it’s all about getting my $3 back. [Cough cough.]
Anyway, as I noted last time, Phil Mickelson has described Oakmont as the hardest course they have ever played. I’m guessing the scores will big-time reflect that. +4 will win it….it’s the Bar Chat Guarantee! [Angel Cabrera won at Oakmont in 2007 with a +5 score.]
Most golf fans are very curious to see how Jordan Spieth does in his first major test since Augusta and that shocking collapse.
Spieth, considered the best putter in the world, ranks only 86th this year from four to eight feet, and 115th from inside 10 feet.
–Way back in 1973, Johnny Miller shot 63 at Oakmont in the final round to win it, coming from six strokes behind. Granted it was a different course (a lot more trees, for starters), but you should be amazed as you watch that he hit all 18 greens in regulation. He missed two fairways and had 29 putts, including a three-putt on the par-3 eighth hole. As Golfweek’s Jaime Diaz noted, “Nine of his full-iron approaches (three of them 4-irons) finished within 15 feet of the hole, four of them getting within six feet. In 2014, Golf World’s David Barrett, retroactively applying the PGA Tour’s ‘strokes gained’ calculation, convincingly established that Miller’s is the greatest 18 holes ever shot.
“Similarly, Miller’s round vividly illustrated and validated the sheer challenge of Oakmont. Even in major championships, many low rounds are shot, but few are remembered. But when a course is a true beast, the ever rare near-flawless close by the winner deeply resonates. It’s why Ben Hogan’s 67 at brutal Oakland Hills in 1951 retains a mythic stature, and why Miller’s round endures. In golf, true ball-striking masterpieces are only painted against a canvas of extreme difficulty.”
–The viewing public is anxious to see how Fox Sports does with their broadcast, after a bumpy start last year at Chambers Bay. I expect Fox to do just fine, largely because Paul Azinger has replaced Greg Norman…Azinger being well-respected by all golf fans as an analyst.
And we get to see Holly Sanders again! Though this time she is in the studio, where she probably belongs, versus doing interviews.
–Will Dustin Johnson ever win a major? Absolutely. But not this time.
The winner? Retief Goosen!!!
–I was remiss Sunday in not mentioning the achievement of 18-year-old Brooke Henderson, who won the Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle.
Henderson trailed superstar Lydia Ko by three entering the back nine but the kid sank bombs of 90- and 50-feet, the first for eagle, the second for birdie, and then made a clutch par putt on No. 18 that forced a playoff with Ko, whereupon Henderson birdied the first playoff hole for the victory. Ko, by the way, is just 19. Third-place finisher Ariya Jutanugarn is 20. [I’m embarrassed…I didn’t realize Jutanugarn had won three straight tournaments before this one.]
Stuff
–Some of us wondered why Jim Grobe would want to be “interim” head coach at Baylor, replacing former coach Art Briles and having to deal with the fallout from the sexual assault scandal that cost Briles and others their jobs.
So now the story comes out that interim Baylor president David Garland (I’m assuming recent graduates received an “interim degree”) conceded there is already a movement to bring Art Briles back as football coach in 2017. Oh brother. Again, why would Grobe want this job?
USA TODAY first reported that a “small minority” of Baylor donors are pushing for Briles to serve a one-year suspension and then be allowed back.
There was supposed to be a vote Monday night with the Baylor board of regents to decide whether to bring Briles back, but then we learned a previously scheduled conference call was about another matter.
Then we learned Tuesday no vote had been taken and Briles’ future employment status wasn’t discussed.
What’s funny is that the articles I’m reading don’t mention Grobe at all. It’s as if the guy is a ghost coach.
–We note the passing of former New York Jets punter Curley Johnson, 80. Johnson punted for New York during their Super Bowl season, 1968. Johnson was selected by Pittsburgh out of the University of Houston in the 1957 draft, but didn’t make his playing debut until 1960 with the Dallas Texans.
Johnson then spent the years 1961-68 with the New York Titans/Jets, before finishing up with the Giants. He averaged a very solid 42.3 yards on punts in his career, which was excellent back in the day, and he also rushed for 209 yard and caught 32 passes for another 370.
–Daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel are in talks about a merger. Both are privately held and investors have been pushing for a tie-up, sources told Bloomberg News.
Just a year ago both outfits had valuations over $1 billion, but they’ve been battling regulators ever since to the detriment of the brand and revenues, as New York residents, for one, have been barred from entering paid daily fantasy sports contests as of March.
But at least the New York state legislature is expected to announce new regulations for the games that would allow the companies to take entries from New Yorkers again.
New York was the ninth state DraftKings agreed not to accept entries from, while FanDuel has ended activities in 10 states. [They took separate routes in Texas.]
–Tuesday night, a family of five from Nebraska was wadding in a lake near Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa when an alligator dragged their two-year-old boy away, with the father unsuccessfully attempting to wrestle his son from the gator’s jaws. More than 50 law enforcement personnel searched the Seven Seas Lagoon and found no signs of the child.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said there have been no other recent reports of similar alligator attacks at the lake.
Yes, it’s been one tough week in Orlando.
–Brad K. passed along this distressing tale from Japan and the Daily Mail.
“The body of a fourth victim suspected of being killed by a bear that’s ‘developed a taste for human flesh’ in the past three weeks was found in a forest in northern Japan on Friday, reports said.
“The badly mauled corpse has yet to be identified, but police in Akita prefecture were searching for a 74-year-old woman…who was reported missing a day earlier….
“Hunters killed a bear just 10 meters from the spot where the woman’s remains were discovered in a mountain forest….
“Last month, three men died in apparent bear attacks while out harvesting bamboo shoots in three separate incidents. The severity of their wounds have led experts to suspect bears were responsible.
“A local veterinarian said that as the attacks happened within the same area and in such a short timeframe, the same bear was likely responsible.
“ ‘After tasting human flesh, the bear may have learned it can eat them,’ said one official to Japan’s Kyodo News agency.”
The bear is thinking, “Mmmm….tastes like chicken.”
The total number of fatal bear attacks in this area between 1979 and 2015 was just eight. Now four in mere weeks.
Then again, I’m thinking it could also easily have been the work of Rodan or Mothra, who we learned back in the 60s could also be particularly vicious. [It was Mothra, in case you forgot, who had those two cute little girls that were his groupies.]
–From Fox News: “India forest officials ‘arrested’ 18 lions on Monday, including one thought to be a man-eater involved in six deadly attacks near a sanctuary.
“ ‘We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals,’ said JA Khan, a forest official in the country, the BBC first reported.
“The guilty lion will be sentenced to living the remainder of its life at the zoo; the other lions will be released back into the wild.
“The lions aren’t talking.”
—Baltimore’s National Aquarium announced it is moving its colony of dolphins from its amphitheater pool to the nation’s first Oceanside dolphin sanctuary. The decision comes after years of protests by animal rights activists.
The aquarium is exploring seaside sites in Florida and the Caribbean to create a new home for its eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins by 2020. The aquarium is looking to come up with a first-of-its-kind protected habitat where the dolphins would still be cared for by humans.
Of course unless dolphins can access the Internet, which I don’t believe they can, they won’t know what the Baltimore folks have up their sleeves.
Seems to me like they’d be pretty happy with their current existence…seafood from Philipps, cooked to order; a corporate suite for Ravens-Dolphins games; financial advice from Legg Mason….no one ever thinks of these aspects of the aquarium/zoo life.
–We note the passing of Janet Waldo, 96, the voice-over actress who played sprightly teenagers on various cartoon shows, including “The Jetsons.”
In 1962, Ms. Waldo landed her most enduring animation role, that of Judy Jetson, the teenage daughter on Hanna-Barbera’s futuristic answer to “The Flintstones.”
I had no idea the show lasted only one season; until new ones were made decades later.
Waldo also voiced Josie on “Josei and the Pussycats,” among other roles.
I’d say more about Judy Jetson but I don’t want to get fined by the International Web Site Association (IWSA).
Top 3 songs for the week 6/12/71: #1 “Want Ads” (The Honey Cone…dreadful…) #2 “Brown Sugar” (The Rolling Stones) #3 “Rainy Days And Mondays” (The Carpenters)…and…#4 “It Don’t Come Easy” (Ringo Starr) #5 “Joy To The World” (Three Dog Night) #6 “It’s Too Late” (Carole King) #7 “Sweet And Innocent” (Donny Osmond) #8 “Treat Her Like A Lady” (Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose) #9 “I’ll Meet You Halfway” (The Partridge Family…funny era…) #10 “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” (Aretha Franklin)
U.S. Open golf quiz answer: Last five Europeans to win it….
2014 Martin Kaymer (Germany)
2013 Justin Rose (England)
2011 Rory McIlroy (No. Ireland)
2010 Graeme McDowell (No. Ireland)
1970 Tony Jacklin (England)…guessing a lot of you missed this.
Next Bar Chat, Monday.
