If you are a golf fan and weren’t tuned in late yesterday afternoon, you probably missed this year’s quota of amazing finishes. First, over there on NBC, you had Birdie Kim pull off a Bob Tway and sink one out of a trap to win the U.S. Women’s Open. In case you missed it, Kim was sitting in a greenside bunker at 18, tied for the lead but starring at bogey. Her competition, seventeen year-old Morgan Pressel, was sitting back in the fairway in a perfect spot. At this point, Pressel looks good for four and Kim is looking at five. So what does Birdie Kim do? She repeats what Tway did at Inverness and sinks the impossible sandy for three. Pressel, obviously shaken, left her second shot short of the green and that was it. While Kim’s shot was the story of the Open, a close second is the youth movement in women’s golf. Pressel is 17. Michelle Wie was on the leaderboard and she is 15. Paula Creamer is the second hottest player on tour and she is 18. When did woman’s golf become gymnastics? Should I be watching for Carly Patterson to start showing up and playing in pro-ams? A few more thoughts from the open: Dottie Pepper is fire in the booth. She and Johnny don’t pull any punches, especially when it comes to death marches. Second, I love Meg Mallon. She may be a huge slob but she shows disgust as well as any player on the men’s tour. She has a bigger set of balls then two out of three men on the PGA tour – I mean that figuratively and literally. Last thought – can someone tell me how Michelle Wie can afford to play all these events? Is she some heiress to a macadamia fortune?
If Kim’s shot wasn’t enough for golf fans, just fifteen minutes later, Padraig Harrington dropped an Irish Car Bomb on the 18th green of Westchester Country Club. Lying two, and probably needing a three to win outright, Harrington nailed a 60 foot eagle putt to snatch the tourney away from Jim Furyk. While Harrington certainly deserves some credit for that draino, Furyk deserves some scorn for a late meltdown. On a blistering day that clearly was not designed with the fair-skinned Irish in mind, Furyk just couldn’t get to the line. This was not the greatest collapse of the season – the frontrunner for that title still belongs to Darren Clarke for his work at Hilton Head - but this is up there and probably sits in third. (Jim Driscoll is probably in 2nd for missing that four footer that could have won New Orleans.)
I actually watched some of the U.S. Track and Field Championships this weekend and there were some great performances worth noting. First, The U.S. has a 400 hurdler named Kerron Clement who is simply awesome. He ran 47.2 this weekend and I have no doubt he can take out that world record (46.78) held by UCLA’s Kevin Young. Another emerging studette is Sanya Richards who ran a 49.28 in the women’s 400. She isn’t a threat to take out that juiced up record held by Marita Koch (47 and change), but if she can peel a second of her time from Saturday, she will have the cleanest 400 ever run. Look out for these two at the World Championships in Helsinki this August. Oh, but the way, keep your eyes on Justin Gaitlin, Jeremy Wariner and Allyson Felix who are all in top form right now. Warriner could be on the cusp of taking on Michael Johnson's 43.18 that was set back in 1999. It could be a nice year for U.S. track, made more so because Marion and Tim will be forced to sit and watch from the comfort of their own private pharmacy. By the way, Jones pulled out of the 100 last week with a hip flexor problem. That is what happens when you keep sticking those needles into your hip.
In Sunday’s New York Post, Steve Serby asked Bernie Williams the following question: Are you a better center fielder or guitarist? At first blush, this seemed like about as soft a softball as you will ever see, but Bernie ended up dropping this pop up much like he drops everything hit to him these days. After hearing Bernie claim he is a better center fielder then guitarist, I developed a migraine thinking of what his latest CD must sound like. I am no music critic, but I remember fourteen year olds back in Southern California garage bands that play their instruments better then Bernie plays center. I say this because there is no better monument to the decay of the Yankees then Bernie Williams. I am not saying Bernie is a bad guy because he certainly has dignity and grace. What I am saying is Bernie Williams flat out stinks. I dare anyone who watched him play center on Friday and Saturday come to a different conclusion. He isn’t bad. He is downright pathetic. It seems as if he is tortured by both arthritis and attention deficit disorder. I would call him the Tin Man, but with this rally we have had in metals, an authentic Tin Man is worth more then Bernie. Moreover, that arm is not only the worst in baseball right now – it may be the worst I have seen in 30 years and that includes historic weenie arms like Kirk Gibson and Rondell White (Question – how could a great athlete like Gibson who also weighed 230 pounds end up throwing like a little school girl?). Guys now tag on him when the ball is hit no further then 130 feet beyond second base. Before you disagree, Mike Cameron’s tag on Saturday was more like 120 feet. Watching third base coaches around the league manage against Bernie reminds me of Roy Turner in the Bad News Bears. Lest you forget the scene, Turner instructs his Yankees to run at will against the feeble Bears, knowing full well that nobody on the Bears (pre Kelly, pre-Amanda, pre-coming together) had the skill to throw a base runner out. In fact, Bernie kind of reminds me of the Bears centerfielder at this point. That gentleman’s name was Ahmad and he was the one who stripped down to his underwear and climbed a tree after the Bears were shellacked on opening day. I wouldn’t be surprised if after Saturday afternoon’s game Yankee Skip Joe Torre had to be summoned to get Bernie down form one of those tress that stand outside Yankee Stadium. I said it early in the year and I will say it again – Bernie Williams is the worst starting centerfielder in baseball. Sure, he is still good for a clutch hit once in a while, but this guy is hitting .250 with no power. When you throw in the defense, you got a guy who trails David DeJesus and Tike Redman. Bernie Williams is now longer a baseball player. He is a fossil and currently is nothing more then a symbol of Yankee decay and largess. He will be gone at the end of the season, free to pursue his love of music. Here’s hoping he finds a way to play guitar better then he played center these past three months.
It probably isn’t a great sign for Red Sox fans when Boston Globe Columnist Dan Shaugnessey predicts the Sox will now run away with the AL EAST title, but it sure looks at this time that just such an event is possible. The Sox are just screaming right now, having won seven straight, six of which came on the road. Going back further, the Sox are 12-1 since dropping a Fox afternoon debacle at Wrigley. This team is just mashing the ball right now and since that day in Chicago, the starting pitching, with a couple of David Wells exceptions, has been very good. Manram is killing the ball (also picked up his league leading 10th assist), Papi always kills the ball and even Billy Mueller is getting in on the fun. The bullpen is still a huge question mark outside of Mike Timlin and Johnny Damon’s shoulder eventually could necessitate a stint on the DL, but all in all, this team is rolling. The Sox late spring offensive comes at a time when both the Birds and Yanks are fatigued and in need of replacements. The O’s got swept down in Atlanta this weekend and its time to break out the defibrillators in Baltimore since this team is flat-lining. Losing Javy Lopez was one thing, but losing Melvin Mora is another thing entirely. They need Mel’s bat in the lineup everyday and this hammy injury could not have come at a worse time. By the way, when is Sammy going to start hitting all those bombs at Camden? Wasn’t he supposed to take out Brady Anderson’s record? For those of you not counting, Sammy has exactly two long balls in over one hundred plate appearances at Camden this year. Another telling thing about Sammy – he is slugging less than .400 against righties this year. That is more then 150 points off his rolling four-year average. Would you like to reconsider your testimony Mr. Sosa? As for the Yankees, things just got worse this weekend as they lost two of three to the Mets. We already took care of Bernie, but he wasn’t the only problem to surface this weekend. Mike Mussina got bounced around Friday night, and the defense looked horrible all weekend. Giambi looks like a juiced up Lady Liberty at first and I question whether Cano is short for Cannot, as in “I cannot field my position?” The Yanks did scare up some offense on Sunday night, but bottom line, this team’s Superstar’s don’t scare anyone. You can preach stats all you want, but at the end of the day, this offense is as shallow as Hal.
Has anyone noticed that the Oakland A’s are one of the hottest teams in Baseball, having gone 18-8 since May 30th. That followed a May in which the injury-ravaged A’s went 7-20. That dismal stretch was achieved without Nick Swisher, Rich Harden and Bobby Crosby, but with these guys back in the lineup, the A’s are a club that can pitch, catch and score at times. Danny Haren is pitching great and Kirk Saarloos is coming on strong as well. Swisher has given the lineup some pop and Eric Chavez is quietly resuscitating his year. The A’s now find themselves only five games under .500 and they have managed to climb their way back to the periphery of the wild card race. As such, I think it may be a bit premature to assume GM Billy Beane is going to toss in the towel and trade both Barry Zito and slumping center fielder Mark Kotsay. (Surprisingly, Kotasy has slumped while the A’s have surged – he is hitting only .238 in June.) The A’s do have six with the White Sox before the break, but if they can get to .500 by the break, Beane may stick with the hand he’s got and go for that wildcard spot. As such, it may not be too easy to pry Zito and Kotsay loose, at least until the end of July when Beane has a better idea of whether 2005 is a lost cause and preparations for 2006 should begin. On the other hand, if Kotsay continues to falter, Beane may peddle him while he can still get something of value in return. I suspect Beane feels Kotsay will exercise his option and walk after the end of the season, so his mid-season departure appears more likely.
Final Baseball Thoughts: I am making it official – I am getting on this Milwaukee Brewer wagon right now while there are plenty of seats available. I like this team and think it can contend in 2006. Weeks and Hall look real nice up the middle and Clark is one of my favorites in center. They need some maturity and probably another arm, but this team is not that far away. The Pirates are in a similar spot at Milwaukee, but I would take the Brewers upside right now. If you could combine these two clubs and give the franchise a $75 million dollar budget, it would win the next three NL pennants. Were my eyes playing tricks on me or was that Damian Jackson going four for four for San diego yesterday with two bombs. That can’t be the same guy who used to play in Boston. The Damian Jackson I know is delivering packages for UPS in Riverside County. I love how the picture ESPN.Com shows of Jackson has him wearing a Red Sox lid. Is that some kind of joke? Los Madres have a big series this week against the Dodgers and unfortunately the pitching matchups are abysmal. God Bless Andrew Jones. Winston Churchill was the last guy to do as much for his team when it was on the skids. A lot of pundits still say the Cards don't have the arms to go all the way but who has a better right-handed combo right now then Carpenter and Morris. Carps has given up 7 runs over his past 47 innings. That is ace-like in my book. The AL Wildcard race is looking pretty crazy right now. There are seven teams within five games of the WC. Texas is on a slide right now and Minnesota is struggling as well. Don’t count out Cleveland. The Twins are probably the conventional pick, but I wouldn’t rule out the Tribe.
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