Great Games – Not So Great Endings

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The Padres are just (1-3) out of the gate, this first week of the baseball season.
 
All the things we thought might happen, have so far, against the Dodgers and Giants, some good, some not so good, some expected, some not expected.
 
They are hitting, no doubt.  They are a team that can hit the ball out of the park with the likes of Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Derek Norris at the plate.  We hoped that would be the case.
 
Yonder Alonso is healthy and is hitting, and that is a real plus.  What is not, is the continued struggles of 2nd baseman Jed Gyorko, coming off last year’s sophomore slump season, and the surprise sub-200-average of Wil Myers.
 
And there was an edginess to it all last night.  A Craig Kimbrel first pitch fastball was up and in to Angel Pagan; and that led to words; stares-glares, and an umpires warning to both benches, and it wasn’t even a bean ball.  Just a little hate out there for the renewal of this rivalry. 
 
What everyone feared would be part of this new-look Padres team, is right there infront of us.  Lots of strikeouts, nearly 10-per game so far.  And last night alone, they rapped into four double plays, left 10-on base, and stranded six at third.
 
And then there is the defense.  Some flyballs that turn into adventures in the outfield, near collisions, and then last night’s drop that cost them the Giants game.  Communication is a bit of an issue right now.
 
The stunner, and it is a small sample size, is the shakiness of the bullpen.  Nick Vincent has given up runs in each of his three outings.  Joaquin Benoit has given up a homer and has put men on base too.
 
The Friars don’t need another pitching injury, but they have one, in Ian Kennedy, limping off the mound last night early with a hamstring.  The insurance policy Odri Despaigne now moves into the rotation, after a sparking 4.1-no hit innings last night.
 
The Padres have played 3-exciting games against the Dodgers and Giants this first week.  The crowd for the home opener was electric at Petco.  For the first time in a long time, there wasn’t very much orange (Giant fan) in the building with a crowd of (45,150).  And the fans were into it.  They booed the Giants, booed the umpires who were struggling with balls and strikes, even booed the home team with all the double play balls.
 
These battles vs the Dodgers and Giants have almost had a playoff-atmosphere tinge to it.  The Stadium is roaring right now, much like it has for Chargers home games when the team was really good just a few years back.
 
This is an interesting weekend ahead of us.  Three more large crowds expected.  What the town needs is a little winning streak to make sure this group of fans, wearing Padres blue, and throwback brown, keep coming back.
 
A little bit of everything in week one of the season, just not many wins, yet.

Masters Era Over

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They tee off early in this slice of Americana, the Masters Golf Tourney at Augusta National.
 
There are so many storylines starting with this first round, and the spotlight is not on the hottest golfer this weekend, but rather the one who has been hurt.
 
Yes this tourney will be about the greatness of the young gun Rory McIlroy, going for his 3rd major in a row..  It will be to track the growth of another young star, Jimmie Walker.  It will be to see if Jason Day is ready to make the jump and win a major.  We will watch to see if Bubba Watson and his long game can defend the title.  Or if Jordan Spieth is ready for stardom.
 
That would be a golf bag full of great stories, but no, all that is surpassed by Tiger Woods return, once again, from the calamities of his life.  And it is also about whether “Lefty can get it Right”, Phil Mickelson’s attempt to stop the erosion of a great career, with just 2-top 10-finishes in his last 33-tourneys since winning the British Open a couple of years back..
 
For Tiger, stalled in his chase of Jack Nicholson’s mighty grand slam record, his career knocked off track by a fire-hydrant and a messy divorce; a forever stained personal life because of his philandering ways, blockaded by injury after injury, and detoured by coaching and club changes.
 
Some will say his life as an icon forever ended, when the lies in his life surfaced, that Thanksgiving weekend.  Women, strippers, porn stars, waitresses, blonde trophy prizes.  End of marriage, end of endorsements, end of image.
 
But the real end was on the course.  The broken leg, the Achillies injury, the calf problems, the injured elbow, and then the back surgery.
 
The stare and glare may still be there; the fire still burns, but that seems all that is left.
 
9-weeks ago he walked off the course at Torrey Pines, his game broken, his body battered, and his spirit doused.  He hasn’t played in 9-weeks, though he shot some decent practice rounds in Georgia leading up to today.
 
Since January 2014, Tiger Woods has played just 10-tournaments in 15-months, has completed only three.  There was a 35th place finish, a 69th finish, a round of 82, and a flurry of missed cuts, and withdraws because of bad aches and pains, and bad scorecards.
 
He carried the sport for decades, as he tees off in his 20th Masters.  He was good for the tour, brilliant for television, and a salesman extraordinaire.  But all has since changed.
 
The European invasion no longer feared him on the course.  He was mocked off the course for his messy marital affairs.  He lost legions of fans and millions of dollars from virtually all his sponsors.  No one was willing to buy the lie of the man, family man, great golfer, when they found out who he really was, a sex addict, a cheat,and a condescending creep.  The old ‘money and power corrupt syndrome’ had overtaken him.
 
Now we watch the golfer to wonder if he can make a rush back, recapture his game and his celebrity status.  Respect maybe for the comeback of the player, but doubts the rest of the world will ever respect him, the man.
 
In a strange sort of way, he has become a sympathy case, an example of one who had it all, and lost it.  Is his game gone forever?  Will he ever remake his image?  Does anyone feel sorry for him?  Is this more of a pity party than rooting for a pro? 
 
It will be a fun four days at Augusta beginning this morning.  Watching the leaderboard, and wondering what kind of statement weekend it is for Tiger Woods.  A jumping off point for a comeback, or a fall-off-the face of the earth weekend, end of a career episode,  if he shoots horrible golf again.
 
So many storylines to pay attention to, great golfers coming, and watching a once-great golfer too.

Murder in Massachusetts

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It may not be as riveting as the OJ Simpson trial in Los Angeles, because that player was a Hall of Famer, and this one appears to be a Hall of Shamer.  But the testimony has been riveting in this murder trial of the former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.
 
Closing statements have been made, and the the jury will begin deliberations now in the case of Hernandez, charged with the execution death of Odin Lloyd in New England.
 
The Prosecution paraded up 125-witnesses to testify, including Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a former friend of the player, Hernandez fiancée, and a group of police and forensic experts.
 
The Defense had just 3-witnesses and hardly fought thru any of the damning testimony.
 
So the jury goes behind closed doors now to evaluate all the information presented; the only thing missing, no murder weapon.
 
But if you connect all the dots, you have everything but the Glock Gun used in the killing.
 
As Jack Webb on the old TV show Dragnet would say, “Just the Facts”
 
Police found empty shell casings with Hernandez DNA on them beneath the drivers side seat of his SUV, the one he was driving with Lloyd and 2-friends, just hours before the killing.  The casings match the 6-bullets in Lloyd’s body.
 
They have a marijuana joint with Hernandez DNA found next to the body.  They found the player’s shoe prints next to the body.  Tire tracks from the SUV too, right next to the body.
 
Police have video of Hernandez strolling around his house, with his friends,  just hours before the killing, with a glock gun in his hand.  They have the player, and 2-accomplices back in the house within 20-minutes after the killing.
 
There’s video of Hernandez breaking up his cell phones, then his home video system.  Video of the player, 2-members of his posse, and the victim, getting into a car after leaving a bar.  Within a half hour, Hernandez and his two friends returned to their house, but without Lloyd, all on video..
 
His fiancée testified Hernandez texted her and told her to remove a 35-pound safe box from the basement, hours after the shooting.  There’s video of her hauling what appears to be a heavy box in a black trash bag to her car, hours after the killing.  Conveniently she  testified she forgot what dumpster she threw the garbage in.
 
She said there was a Glock gun in the family kitchen the day before the murder, and the gun disappeared the day after.  She admitted the player smoked marijuana and was drunk the night of the incident.
 
She had already been indicted by a grand jury for perjury, and was granted immunity to go on the stand.  Aside from what she saw, she said the Pats players denied he killed the man in his car.
 
There’s phone company records of the Patriots player making 13-cell phone calls to his posse-car partners,within 2-hours of the shooting.  And a text message with Hernandez telling one of his posse ‘say nothing’.
 
Another friend of Hernandez testified the player showed him a Glock gun in a hotel; and said the player told him he stored the gun in a basement safe.
 
Two maids testified they found 3-hidden guns in the house, the week of the murder, but when called the day after the murder, all the weapons were gone.
 
And there’s video timelines of the four at the bar, at a gas station, at a toll booth on the turnpike, near the murder scene, and within minutes only 3-coming back to the player’s house.
 
The jury has lots of evidence to connect the dots, linking Hernandez to the crime, especially with his DNA everywhere, but they don’t have the weapon.
 
It was surprising that the co-conspirators in the case were never called.  You would assume they might have testified in some of type of plea deal,  unless one of them was the triggerman.
 
Still out there are pending murder charges of two other men, gunned down at a stop light, and the charges Hernandez was involved in that case too.
 
Lots of circumstantial evidence in that Fall River courtroom, but maybe not enough for Hernandez to be found guilty and take the fall for the crime.  A couple of interesting days for the jury for sure.

March Madness in April

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Royalty won again in the NCAA tournament last night, as Duke claimed another basketball title for legendary coach Mike Kryzewski, his fifth ring.
 
It wasn’t easy, this come from behind victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, but it was typical old school basketball by the Devils.  They turned the corner with defense, and came back thanks to outside shots and gutsy drives to the basket.
 
The things that made Wisconsin so good this year, went away from them in the final 15-minutes of the season.  Their vaunted three point shots disappeared, and 7-foot-center Frank Kaminsky was pushed far away from his spot on the block, and he hit just 1-basket over the final 15-minutes.
 
It was a Wisconsin team that had scoring spurts of (9-2) early and then (16-6) late, and then had its offense go MIA at the end.  Was it them, or was it the enemy wearing white?
 
The young guys saved old school Duke.  Freshmen guards Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen went wild in the second half.  Allen, a bruiser of a big guard, fired away at will, reeling off 6-points in a row when things looked darkest for Duke.  Then Jones, his fellow rookie running mate, slashed to the basket, stood outfront and buried shots, and put 19-points more in the books in the final 20-minutes to help the Devils pull away.
 
If you would have said before the game, Duke would go 26-minutes without a basket from 6-11 Jahlil Okafor, you would have thought they would have lost.  If you had said Okafor and Justise Winslow would be bench-ridden by personal fouls, you would not have thought it possible the ACC team would be there at the end to put on the championship shirts and hats.
 
But the kids rallied the team back when the bigs got in trouble, and Coach K’s relentless defense just would not back down, in helping the team climb up the hill, and out of the hole they were in.
 
Wisconsin took out (38-0) Kentucky, but the things that got them the victory, were never really part of the Monday night game.  Maybe fatigue.  Maybe just too much Blue Devil, but over the final 20-minutes, Wisconsin looked like Michigan State looked in the semi-final game on Saturday, just ordinary.  
 
Nothing to be ashamed of though, a 34-win season in spectacular, and the Badgers did it with a very different type of kid, not many McDonald All Americans.
 
Duke has always been class.  Coach K has always been great.  And for a program that got knocked out of the tourney a year ago, and lost a game to somebody called Mercer, this was quite a turnaround..  
 
They grew together, peaked at the right time, and did all the right things at the end.  Raise the trophy, cut the nets down, and prepare to party at the Cameron Indoor Arena.
 
Duke did it.  The best team won.

Play Ball!

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It’s here, opening day for the Padres, and the Dodgers and Giants and the rest of the National League West too.
 
There is so much anticipation and now expectation for this Padres franchise, after years of penny-pinching, front office discord, bad draft picks and injuries-surgeries.  It’s been replaced by bold trades and an exploding payroll that is close to 110M-as of this morning.
 
The franchise hasn’t really been the same since the spectacular run they had with Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti, both now deceased, both whose lives were taken from us by disease.  Gwynn to cancer, Cammy to substance abuse.  It is odd to walk up the tunnel from the Padres dugout, to see pictures of both side-by-side.
 
It is indeed a new year, with new faces in new places, and new expectations in the Padres clubhouse.  It may be a different-and-difficult year for Dodgers and Giants fans too, with the erosion of some of the core players.
 
And if December, and the Winter Baseball Meetings did not create enough excitement with all the AJ Preller trades, then the Easter Sunday gift, the 7-player Braves trade that brought closer Craig Kimbrel here, may put the team over the top.  San Diego got an ace in the bullpen, and moved contracts they really did not want, Carlos Quentin-Cam Maybin.  
 
Hail Matt Kemp and Justin Upton and their big bats to the middle of the Padres lineup.  It will be better, has to be better than the team that set the disgraceful all time record, by hitting (.177) in July last season.
 
Kemp, Upton, Wil Myers and Will Middlebrooks have hit, and hit well in the past.  They should make Jed Gyorko and Yonder Alonso and others better in this lineup.
 
Good pitching beats good hitting most times, and San Diego is loaded.  Might be as good a starting rotation as anybody in baseball, from the Washington Nationals to the Detroit Tigers.  And the bullpen, based on how they have pitched last year, is a Gold Star combo of power arms, surpassing everything dating back to the ‘Hells-Bells’ Trevor Hoffman days.
 
It has not been a good spring for the Dodgers, as they take the field in LA today against the Friars.  The starting rotation is shaky with health issues to Hyun Jin-Ryu, the concern over the elbow issues to Zach Greinke, and a terrible siege of injuries to a shaky bullpen.   Clayton Kershaw cannot pitch every day, and the add-on starters from the offseason, Brandon McCarthy-Brett Anderson drag injury baggage with them in their careers.
 
Of course, LA is sales pitching Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick, 1-year rentals,s both with great credentials, and age.  But I believe they will miss Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon’s bats, and explosiveness, as the seasons goes on.
 
The Giants have won those rings, and great credit to Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, both who got 4-year contract extensions over the weekend.  But San Francisco’s starting staff, aside from Madison Bumgarner, does not look the same as in years past.  
 
The lefty threw (270-innings) last year, and one wonders if that will take a toll on him.  Tim Lincecum is no longer trust-worthy in the rotation, and Matt Cain, coming off elbow surgery, is trying to work his way back from minor setbacks, and has piled up lots of innings in his career..  
 
And the once proud bullpen, started to spring leaks last year, and you have to consider the wear and tear on Sergio Romo, the closer.
 
The Panda Bear is gone, and though much was made of Pablo Sandoval’s battle with weight over the years, you cannot argue productivity and leadership, and power.  Hunter Pence will be out for a couple of months after getting beaned.  There is no Mike Morse home run power off the bench.  San Francisco just is not the same time.
 
Feel bad for Rockies superstar Troy Tulowitzki, the last man standing from their playoff days.  He is healthy, coming off hip surgery, but not much else is good in that lineup.  Yes, Justin Morneau is worth watching swing the stick, but Carlos Gonzalez has had all types of hand-knee issues, two years running.  It’s always been tough to pitch at Coors Field, and now it’s even worse, when you look at the rag-tag rotation the Rockies will send out.
 
Arizona has new leadership and will need time to develop arms.  They do have bats in Paul Goldschmidt and the return to health of Mark Trumbo, but Cuban rookie Yasmani Tomas, who got a 60M payday coming off the island, is starting the season in Reno.  GM-Dave Stewart comes with a great resume, but he cannot pitch for them, and it will take time to find enough arms.
 
Once upon a time, this was a team that had Justin Upton, Steven Drew, Mark Reynolds and Chris Young as their cornerstone players.  All are gone, and so is the Snake’s ability to challenge for a pennant.  The Randy Johnson-World Series ring era seems a long time  ago.
 
So the stage is set.  Predictions?  
 
San Diego (90-72) with the new leaders and fiery personalities of James Shields and Matt Kemp.  The Dodgers to finish second, missing some bats, and lots of questionable arms.  The Giants come home third because they have not replaced whom they lost.  The Rockies and Diamondbacks, might combine to lose 170-games without arms in the rotation.
 
Everyone starts even on opening day, but the truth is there is a big difference in San Diego than in years gone by, and the others are not what they used to be.
 
Can you say Dodgers-Giants, “Good Night now”.
 
Play ball.