Good Monday morning. It’s hot across the US in late July. Record high temps were recorded near and far yesterday. But, have no fear, the nuggets below are just the right temp for you to start off your week.
- Across the pond the 148th Open, held at Royal PortRush in Northern Ireland, concluded yesterday with Ireland’s own Shane Lowery hoisting the Claret Jug. It was quite the story for him, the region, and his legion of family and friends. He practically went wire to wire over the 72 holes posting a low 15 under par, six strokes better than Tommy Fleetwood’s second place finish.
- The “hometown boy made good” story was a great one, but it also was the only one NBC was able to sell in an otherwise forgettable Open. Lowery started Sunday up by four and finished up by six. How did he sleep on the lead Saturday night after he threw darts earlier that day for a 63? Does “like a big baby” sound appropriate?
- Something NBC did sell a lot of was commercials. If they weren’t going to a full commercial break every five minutes, they were going to a “playing through” split screen commercial break. Does “we are Farmer’s, dah, tah, dah, dah, DAH” sound familiar? The contrast of the NBC/Open presentation to how CBS and Augusta National insure how The Masters is viewed has a wider gap than Lowery opened over the field itself. And, we don’t need a recap coming out of the split screen view. We just saw it. Isn’t that the sales pitch of “playing through” to begin with?
- And the then there is Paul Azinger who is through playing and trying to fill the golf shoes of lead NBC golf analyst/commentators that have spoken before him. We marked down a double bogey on his card. On camera his facial expressions are curious and that’s being kind. When talking through the golf that is either about to be played or was just played he is Captain Obvious. His nasal whine on the mic reminds us of our second grade teacher explaining how verbs are conjugated. Where have you gone Johnny Miller?
- One Irish bloke put $150 on Lowery at 105-1 to win before the tournament started. He won 16 grand. Pints for all. Those odds seem high for Lowery. He entered 2019 ranked 75th in the world golf rankings and rose to 33rd entering The Open. This morning he finds himself perched at 17th.
- The Houston Astros hit back to back to back homeruns Friday night at home v. the Texas Rangers. We couldn’t find how many back to back to backs have ever been hit in MLB. But we did see that back to back to back to backs have been jacked only eight times ever. The last was in 2017 by the Washington Nationals. Todd Kalas was on the Astros call Friday night. It was three home runs on four pitches in two magical minutes. You can see it and hear his great call of the final bomb launched by Yordan Alvarez here.
- The Milwaukee Brewers are chasing the Chicago Cubs for the Central Division lead and are very much in the thick of the wild card race as well. Their chances took a hit yesterday. Their ace, Brandon Woodruff, is headed to the 10 day DL with a strained oblique. Woodruff has been Milwaukee’s best pitcher this season, earning his first NL All-Star nod. He entered Sunday’s game 11-3 with a 3.53 ERA and had allowed three earned runs in 20 1/3 innings his previous three starts. Obliques and pitchers mix like oil and water, that is, not so much.
- How fitting was it that Mariano Riveria “closed” the MLB Hall of Fame Cooperstown induction ceremonies for six former players yesterday? He finished his career with a record 652 saves. He pitched 19 seasons in the major leagues, all with the New York Yankees, and retired with 952 games finished — also a record. A 13-time All-Star, Rivera helped the Yankees win five World Series titles and seven American League pennants.
- Another closer who was finally inducted was Lee Smith. When he hung up the cleats in 1997 he was the career leader in saves at that point with 478. He brought heat for 17 seasons and was a 7 time allstar. If you never saw him pitch, think Aroldis Chapman from the right side. His fastball had purpose and an occasional brush back pitch also had a well placed purpose.
- Are you ready for some football? The NFL training camps for rookies are mostly underway and all veterans will have reported by this Friday as well. Guess who has the shortest odds to get to Super Bowl LVI? New England? Nope. They are second. The Kansas City Chiefs are +600, or six to one. The Patriots are +650 followed by New Orleans at +850. The Indianapolis Colts surprise as the fourth lowest odds at +900. Are you interested in a long shot or five? The Bengals, Redskins, Giants, Lions, and Dolphins are all +10000, or 100 to one.
Get back to work.