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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

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Monday Morning Musings: Morning after McIlroy Edition

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There was very little science to watching Rory McIlroy dominate the 111th U.S. Open. With every twirl of the club, viewers at home knew the shot was pure. He took control of the tournament on Thursday and didn’t bother to look back. The most impressive aspect of McIlroy’s performance was how effortless he made everything look. Perhaps this will all change with age but for right now at least, he does not look like a golfer consumed by the “process”.

Other golfers, like Tiger Woods, are consumed by their “swing plane” and “hip rotation” that they stop trusting their instincts. Rory is blessed with so much natural ability that he can just see it, hit it and and believe in the results. In this the day and age of the swing coach, it’s refreshing to watch a golfer believing in himself like McIlroy did at the U.S. Open. Perhaps a lesson to all aspiring major champions.

A Quick Trip Around the Bases

1B – Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. First Carl Crawford. Then Clay Buchholz. And now Albert Pujols. I’m sure the Red Sox can survive for a short while without the services of Crawford and Buchholz but what in the wide wide world of sports are the Cardinals supposed to do without King Albert if his sprained wrist keeps him on the sidelines for any extended period of time? I’m sure manager Tony La Russa will come up with something “inventive” like perhaps batting the pitcher 3rd or playing with two first basemen.

2B – I would feel much worse for the Florida Marlins and their fans if they actually had any fans. How dysfunctional is a team when their manager, Edwin Rodriguez, resigns after 71 games? Los Fish are losers of 10 in a row and have know slipped to last place in the NL East while their owner, Jeffrey Loria sounds about as fun to work for as Bill Lundberg. And now, the Marlins are poised to hire 80 year old Jack McKeon as interim manager to finish out the season. Question is, why would McKeon be interested in the job? At his advanced age he ought to more concerned with counting the lumps in his oatmeal than thinking about filling out a lineup card.

3B – Interleague play continues Monday with several marquee matchups including the Baltimore Orioles visiting the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, maybe not this particular series, unless we were somehow miraculously transported back to the mid ’70s, but there are several other intriguing pairings this week like Rays/Brewers and Twins/Giants. I for one can do without Rockies/Indians, Angels/Marlins, A’s/Mets, and Astros/Rangers. Price you pay for interleague play.

HR – Justin Verlander really is a throwback to the days where there were no bullpen specialists to speak of and starting pitchers were expected to go deep, if not finish ballgames. Including yesterday, Verlander has thrown 4 complete games this year, matching his total for the entire 2010 season. Pretty impressive stuff for a guy who is still bringing triple digits in the 9th inning.

Fielder’s Choice – And lastly, in regards to the season 1 finale of The Killing on AMC, what the heck was that? After last night it feels like I wasted 13 hours of my life on this show. Following the web this morning, it’s clear that I am not the only one who felt betrayed by the season finale. Who killed Rosie Larson? As of this morning we don’t know and frankly, don’t care.

view from atop the St. Louis Gateway Arch courtesy of @mattwettersten

Balk Walk-Off or a Walk-Off Balk

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Just when you think the New York Mets are about to cross over the .500 mark, and in the process sweep a three game series with the Atlanta Braves, D.J. Carrasco balks in the walk off run in the 10th inning. To be fair to Carrasco, it was a poor play by 1st baseman Lucas Duda that allowed the Atlanta runner to move up to 3rd base thus leading to a run scoring on the balk. Even still, balks are fairly uncommon in MLB, but a balk to end the game? I can’t remember seeing that before.

Heartbreaking loss for the Mets who continue to rise above uncommonly low expectations and play some surprisingly scrappy baseball. But what to do about Jose Reyes? As Buster Olney tweets, the Mets SS is on pace for a remarkable statistical season and will likely command Carl Crawford money, in excess of $140 million over 7 years, this offseason. Can the Mets really afford NOT to resign Jose Reyes? If you don’t resign Reyes you are sending the message to your fans that you aren’t willing to spend the money necessary to compete and this will hurt a franchise already dealing with attendance issues at Citi Field.

Trade Beltran. Trade KRod. Do everything you can to resign Jose Reyes – unless he pulls another hamstring between now and the end of the season.

view from Turner Field courtesy of @cdryan

Monday Morning Musings: Mavericks Edition

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Congrats to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks for ending our season long nightmare by defeating the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. LeBron James will have to wait at least one more season before claiming his first championship. On the ABC postgame, Jeff Van Gundy tossed out the notion that the Miami front office would possibly entertain the idea of trading LeBron or Dwyane Wade for either Chris Paul or Dwight Howard this offseason because, in his mind, the pieces just might not “fit” as currently constituted. Don’t you have to wait at least one more year before blowing the whole thing up?

For me, the arithmetic just doesn’t add up on this one. LeBron will be back. Dwyane Wade will be back. Even Chris Bosh and Coach Spoelstra will return for another season in South Beach which is what we should all want, another opportunity to root against the Miami Heat.

As the curtain falls on an incredibly entertaining NBA season, and the Stanley Cup Finals stare down a Game 6 tonight in Boston, MLB is about ready to take center stage for the long summer months. And who knows, if the billionaires and millionaires that operate the NFL don’t get their s*#$ together soon, we could be looking at nothing but baseball chatter for the foreseable future.

A Quick Trip Around the Bases

1B – I guess we all spoke too soon about the Cleveland Indians. Losers of 9 of their last 10, the Tribe are starting to play like the team we all thought they were going to be before the 2011 season began. And now here come the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox ready to make a race of the AL Central. Two questions: can the Indians hold on a little longer, say until the all star break or are they in the midst of a total free fall? Second, the Twins have won 8 of 10 and sit only 9 games out of the division lead. With a healthy(?) Joe Mauer returning behind the plate this week, does Minnesota make their traditional run to the top of the standings or are they simply snake bitten this season?

2B – Good for you Atlanta! At least we have one team willing to hang in there in the NL East and not allow the Philadelphia Phillies to sit back and map out their postseason pitching rotation starting in August. Is Brian McCann the best catcher in baseball right now? With Posey and Mauer both injured, and my main man Matt Wieters quietly emerging but not quite yet ready for prime time, McCann is probably the gold standard right now.

3B – The Chicago Cubs are not a good baseball team. Whenever Lou Montanez is batting 3rd in your lineup you know you have issues. Not only are the Cubs struggling on the field but now Peter Gammons, MLB columnist and baseball emissary especial, has called Wrigley Field a “dump” and mentioned how the new ownership group in Chicago, the Ricketts family, is not prepared financially to handle the cost of essential ballpark renovations.  Of course, take anything the Boston based Gammons writes with a grain of salt. If Larry Lucchino or Theo Epstein were to go to the bathroom in the middle of Boston Common Gammons would find a way hail the masterpiece as an important work of impressionist art.

HR – Derek Jeter is now 7 hits away from 3,000 and unfortunately for Yankee fans it doesn’t look like the Captain is going to reach this milestone in Yankee Stadium. I guess it’s possible, 7 hits in 4 games at home this week, but in all likelihood Jeter will reach 3K in Wrigley Field over the weekend in front of 40K over served Chicago Cubs fans. Ahhhh the memories.

view from American Airlines Arena courtesy of @marcus_hammond

Even Baseball Players Perspire

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We’re having a heat wave. I’m mean it’s hot, dang hot. The kind of heat where it doesn’t cool off even after the sun goes down. Last night, I sat on the couch to watch a few minutes of the Bruins/Canucks and was seated for a total of five minutes before sticking to the fabric. Not pleasant. I had to spend the rest of the evening pacing back and forth in front of the television.

Later, I was able to catch a few innings of the Red Sox/Yankees game from the steamy Bronx and I noticed that Alfredo Aceves was having a difficult time “managing” his perspiration. The YES Network cameras were able to pick up a considerable amount of sweat dripping from his saturated cap. It looked liked he was having a tough time picking up the signs from Jason Varitek. I’m not even sure how he was even able to hold onto the ball. Didn’t seem to affect his performance however as Aceves was able to get Derek Jeter to ground into a crucial double play in the 6th.

Heading West on I-80, Andrew McCutchen’s walkoff propelled the red hot Pirates past the visiting Diamondbacks by a final score of 3-2. Pittsburgh is at .500 in June for the first time since the days of Bonds, Bonilla, and Van Slyke.* I really want to like this Bucs team and could be persuaded to purchase a McCutchen #22 tshirt jersey. He’s seems like an absolute star in the making and I don’t know when his contract is up but can only hope that Pittsburgh is able to lock him up long term.

*I made this last part up but it really does feel like a long time since the Pirates had their heads above water this late in the season.

view from PNC Park courtesy of @MalloryCowell

 

Monday Morning Musings

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A Quick Trip Around the Bases

1B – Memo to the Chicago Cubs pitching staff, with the game on the line don’t pitch to Albert Pujols. He will beat you silly and steal your lunch money. The more I think about it, Pujols is Mongo from Blazing Saddles. But instead of shooting him, better not hang a breaking ball or leave a fastball middle in because you’ll just make him mad.

2B – Can the Mets really trade Jose Reyes this summer? I know they CAN but should they is the question. True, he is having a tremendous year and the Mets probably can’t afford a Carl Crawford like ransom for him when he becomes a free agent at the end of the year but if you get rid of Reyes, and then Carlos Beltran after that, you might as well invite the entire Buffalo Bison Triple A team down to Citi Field. Talk about attendance issues, Queens is going to be a ghost town come August. There will be more people watching US Open tennis at neighboring Arthur Ashe Stadium than there will be at the baseball game.

3B – At some point, MLB should consider using a lottery to determine draft order because who wants to see the Pittsburgh Pirates picking 1st again this week? Top draft picks haven’t helped them over the last decade and a half so what’s to think it’s going to help this year. (In the sake of full disclosure, as a Baltimore Orioles fan the same should be said about my team too.)

HR – Non baseball musing of the morning, The Killing, what the heck was that? SPOILER ALERT!!! It’s episode 11 of 13 of a season long search for the killer of a teenage girl and you decide to spend the entire hour focusing on the missing son of one of the lead detectives? Now is not the time for character development. Please don’t tell me we are going to wait until season 2, if there is even going to be another season, to find out who killed Rosie Larson.

view from Busch Stadium courtesy of @Corinn_Dixon