If Edgar had been a below average to poor leftfielder I think his outstanding offensive numbers would have gotten him in right away. But since it is a sort of referendum on whether ANY DH can be allowed in the Hall of Fame, it can’t happen right away. But if ANY DH EVER gets in, it better start off with Gar, for whom the DH of the year award is named. Career numbers over eighteen years: Two-time batting champion, five time DH of the year, three time leader in OBP. As the LA Times put it: “He's … one of eight players in baseball history to have 300-plus homers, 500-plus doubles, 1,000-plus walks, hit over .300 and have an on-base percentage of above .400. The other five on the list eligible for the Hall of Fame — Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams — are all in. The difference? Position players all, while Gar DH’ed. He will get in. He deserves it. And if he doesn’t get in I will be forced to scowl at Bud Selig next time we are in the same stadium!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Halladay, Lee deal could be done Wednesday; A's involved in trade - MLB - CBSSports.com Baseball
Is it too much to hope for? It sounds very much like the deal will be final today or tomorrow. I am imagining the Mariners tough bullpen, matched with a rotation of Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Brandon Morrow and possibly Luke French, Ian Smith, Silva, Vargas, Olson, or my favorite, Doug Fister. I’d love to see a rotation like this:
1. Hernandez – needs no explanation
2. Cliff Lee – needs no explanation
3. Rowland-Smith – pitched very well upon his return from injury.
4. Brandon Morrow – hopefully with more time throwing his new pitches, he’ll improve on an average year last season.
5. Doug Fister – I love Doug Fister’s stuff. His height gives batters a totally different angle and release point than they see normally, and the guy seems to be a very composed player.
That leaves lots of questions with Luke French and Ian Snell – both of whom may yet improve significantly under the M’s pitching and bullpen coaching -Carlos Silva, Jason Vargas, Chris Jakubauskas (who seems to pitch best in long relief, which is a great fit for this team at this time), Garrett Olson. That’s pretty good depth, and if Fister isn’t quite ready any of these guys can step in and eat some innings.
With a bullpen that was very strong last season, having a staff of starters that eat more innings, it will allow the manager to use the pen so heavily. A great strength:
Closer – David Aardsma'
Set-up – Mark Lowe
Middle Relief – White, Kelly, Corcoran
Long Relief – Jakubauskas
And if Jack Z can come up with another hitter or two, the team could very realistically contend for the division title.
Ichiro - RF
Figgins 3B
Lopez' 2B
Chavez LF
Gutierrez CF
Jack Wilson SS
Platoon DH
First Base
Rob Johnson C
The team sets up with very good pitching, excellent defense and range, and is improved on offense, though I think everyone hopes for another bat or two that can drive in Ichiro and Figgins consistently. Some have suggested Ichiro in the three hole, but I have a bias against primarily singles hitters hitting third. It might work, but I’d still rather see a powerful, speedy pair with great on-base percentages at the top of the order getting on base to set the table for the hitters in the middle of the order. I’d love to see Bay here, even though the home field wouldn’t set up well for him. He’d be excellent on the road, and can still hit doubles and the occasional homer at the Safe. So, I’d pull the trigger if we can get Bay. Nick Johnson would be a great guy at first, and if Branyan’s back is better (a big if) I wouldn’t mind seeing him back. I suppose that it is possible Bill Hall might have a resurrection season this coming year, or that Tuiasosopo or Michael Saunders might hit their big league stride, but I would really love to see the addition of the kind of player that gets the guy ahead of him some pitches to hit, and can drive in runs with decent power. Bay would be outstanding. Even Troy Glaus would be intriguing despite offseason surgery.
One thing seems certain, at least to me. Jack Z is not done adding parts to a team he has built in an amazingly rapid and brilliant way. Not wishing to overdo it with expectations, I do feel that this is now a team capable of 90-92 wins. Add some power and consistency in the middle of the order and then Mariners could be a contender for a World Series appearance. I’m not predicting that, but it feels like it is a greater possibility than for some time.
Halladay, Lee deal could be done Wednesday; A's involved in trade - MLB - CBSSports.com Baseball
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Mariners make waves: Figgins in, Lee next?
Last year, with a formula of great defense and squeezing as many runs from an anemic lineup as possible, the Seattle Mariners improved the team’s win total by twenty-four. Among the challenges faced by first year skipper Don Wakamatsu were the league’s worst on-base percentage and unreliable starting pitching after the Felix. And imagine HOW unreliable the third through fifth starters might have been without the strong defense. Already this off-season, we’ve seen Jack Z jettison underperforming, over-compensated players, freeing up room for him to make some serious moves to help the team take another step forward in 2010.
The addition of Figgins gives the team a second leadoff hitter – one who walked over a hundred times last season – to bat behind Ichiro. Some have hinted at Ichiro being moved to third with Figgins leading off, but I have my doubts as Ichiro doesn’t hit for extra bases as often as a typical hitter in the three hole. Something tells me the Mariners are not done adding bats yet, either.
Now to the pitching: With a rotation that already features King Felix and might end up with Cliff Lee as well, the Mariners remaining arms (Morrow, Silva, Rowland-Smith as well as the trade pickups at the end of the season, and even a possible return of either Bedard or Washburn), the rotation could be a real strength. And it is a helluva lot easier to attract top pitching talent to the friendly confines of Safeco Field, combined with the outstanding defense the Mariners have been playing.
Now the main question: Will the M’s be good enough to challenge for the division?
Local News | Mariners make waves: Figgins in, Lee next | Seattle Times Newspaper
Sunday, December 13, 2009
NFL GameTracker - CBSSports.com Seahawks at Houston
I was looking forward hopefully to the Seahawks game against the Texans today. Wins on the road have been hard to come by the last two years, but I was hopeful that the progress we’ve seen over the past two games would continue. Not so much. The Texans peeled off a nice 64 yard pass for a touchdown to start, then after a Seattle three and out, they popped a nice little drive for a field goal. Another Seattle three and out and the Texans drove easily for another score. Seahawks three and out and Houston has the ball back with 0:48 to go in the first quarter. The defense is in total disarray, and the offense looks like they’ve never played together before. I can’t watch this, so I have ceded control of the remote to my eight year old, and now it is iCarly on the TV, and I am following the other NFL games online. End of first quarter: 17-0 Texans. Opening the second quarter the Texans are driving already, from their thirty-five to another touchdown in five plays. 24-0 Texans, with 12:58 to go in the 2nd. Blecccchhhh!!!! Oh, and Hasselback was nailed hard three times on the next aborted drive, fumbling twice for his third fumble. Ryan punts and pins Houston on their own 3. Texas ball.
Update 1: Seahawks manage one TD drive. Matt Schaub has nearly 350 yards passing in the first half! The O line just plain sucks. Really sucks. Hard to watch sucks.
Update 2: Hasselbeck throws an out to the Texas cornerback and BOOM! 34-7. Hawks drive to the Texans ten before giving the ball back on a fourth down play. Houshmanzadeh didn’t even jump for the damn thing…then he gets an offensive pass interference. It sucks how inconsistent the Hawks are. Now Ray Willis gets his second false start, effectively killing a drive that reached the Houston ten with a first down. Ray Willis jumps offside for the third time, Now at 4th and 16 they go for it. Hasselbeck has no time and though he completes one to Forsett, it is nowhere close to a first. I’m off to eat sushi with the kids. this is too painful to watch any more.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Washington over Cal
With a resounding five touchdown performance by Jake Locker leading the way, the University of Washington Huskies pounded nineteenth-ranked Cal 42-10. The home win was a fitting capstone for a resurgent program that in no way reminds me of the shambling, disorganized, under-coached, under-recruited Huskies of recent years. Finishing at 5-7 under first-year Head Coach Steve Sarkisian, the team won its’ final two games by a combined sixty-two point margin. Locker and the offense have been solid all season, if not always consistent, but perhaps the most encouraging element of the final games was the improvement in the defense. It hardly seems possible that this is a team just one season removed from an 0-12 debacle, and an overall 11-37 record in four seasons under former Head Coach Tyrone Willingham.
Locker’s stock with NFL scouts has skyrocketed this season, and with three touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns today, Locker may find himself so highly regarded that he’ll be a very high pick in the NLF draft, should he choose to make himself available. Locker was 19-23 for 250 yards passing, and rushed for 82 yards on just 13 carries. Locker’s performance notwithstanding, the Huskies team has come together, with the defense improving and managing to stop an earlier season trend of giving up big plays. The improvement from zero to five wins in a single season marked just the eleventh time since 1945 that a team managed such a turnaround. And, if not for last-minute losses to Notre Dame, UCLA and Arizona State, the team might have managed an even greater turnaround and even earned a bowl berth. It was great to see the program improve so much in tangible results such as wins, but also in intangible ways harder to put into words, but resoundingly present. This team and program resembled a nice outboard motorboat after last year’s leaking tow man raft (with only one paddle). Not the cigarette boat fans hope to see sometime in the next few years, but an amazing and doubtless extremely encouraging improvement year-over-year as well as over the course of this season’s twelve games. Fans were heard chanting “Stay, Jake, stay” at Husky Stadium today and it sure will be fun if he does stick around for another season. Unless the Seahawks could end up with Locker via the draft (a longshot to be sure), I selfishly would love to see him play another year, and see where he might lead this team .
I recall the feeling of the eighties and early nineties under Coach Don James, and while there is a long ways yet to go before it is anything but breathless hyperbole to compare this team and program with that of the earlier era, it is clear that the team is heading in the right direction. Quickly.
Washington rolls to 42-10 romp over No. 19 Cal - College Football - Rivals.com
No. 6 Boise State completes second straight unbeaten regular season
Boise State defeated the lowly New Mexico State Aggies today by a score of 42-7 to complete the program’s second consecutive undefeated regular season.
With Florida’s poor showing against Alabama and Cincinnati’s one point comeback win over Pitt, it will be interesting to see where the Broncos wind up the regular season, having entered this week’s play ranked #6 in the national polls. In 2007 and 2008 BSU lost by a total of four points in two bowl losses, something I think has contributed along with the mediocre reputation of the WAC to the program’s difficulty in reaching the top 5 in the polls, and in gaining BCS bowl selection.
This season the Broncos may have some better arguments available to them, defeating No. 7 Oregon 19-8 in the season opener (Oregon won the Pac-10 and will play in the Rose Bowl), and a 44-33 victory last week a Nevada team that had won eight straight games. In addition, prior to today’s 42 point effort, the Boise State offense ranked second in the nation in scoring, averaging just over 44 points per game.
But how good is this program compared to the best teams in the nation? Already the winningest program in the nation over the last ten seasons (108-20), and with an amazing 38-1 record over the past three years, still Boise State was left out of the BCS bowl picture last season. Since joining the WAC in 2001, Boise State football has amassed an amazing 67-4 record. The team won the only BCS bowl to which the school has been invited (the greatest football game I have ever seen, by the way) defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 43-42 in overtime in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. I’m not sure that Boise State can ever hope to win a national championship while in the Western Athletic Conference, as the competition just isn’t as tough as in the SEC, or even the Big Ten or Pac Ten. Even with the addition of a tough opponent or two – such as Oregon this season – BSU will find strength of schedule to be a problem in even reaching BCS Bowls, let alone the title tilt. Still, it is a great program for the fan: consistent winner, powerful offense, consistency through coaches, quarterbacks, running backs, etc. And, of course, the blue turf.
http://www.broncosports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9900&ATCLID=204844817
http://www.broncosports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9900&ATCLID=847518
Sunday, October 18, 2009
NFL Update – Blowouts Galore
Though I may never again be nearly as addicted to football as I was when I was a single and childless young man, I do still geek out on football sometimes. When I can – meaning when I have time and no one else is using our television – I watch the Seahawks, and somewhat less often I watch other NFL or college games. Most often I record the game and watch it later. My favorite way to watch now includes both the television and my laptop. I like to see the action live as well as use the CBS game channel to give me up-to-the play statistics. This year I’ve also gotten used to watching baseball games this way. The user interface with baseball is nice because it shows the strike zone and a 3D graphic of each pitch as it approaches the batter.
The Seahawks played like they were down to a practice-squad left tackle on the offensive line (the first three guys at that position on the depth chart having been injured in prior weeks). That left me with a lot of time when I’d normally be flinching or cussing, but now could use the time more gratifyingly by checking in on other games in progress. There were a couple that stood out, but none more than the absolute pounding that the Patriots gave the Titans. With just under eight minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter, New England was leading 59 to zip. Tom Brady threw for 5 touchdowns in the second quarter alone. Just look at the scoring plays from the Pats up to the middle of the 3rd quarter:
TD
Laurence Maroney, 45 Yd run (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 5:51. Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards in 2:27.
FG
Stephen Gostkowski 33 Yd, 0:47. Drive: 7 plays, 63 yards in 4:10.
2nd Quarter
TD
Randy Moss, 40 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 9:56. Drive: 6 plays, 65 yards in 3:11.
TD
Randy Moss, 28 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 8:59. Drive: 2 plays, 31 yards in 0:44.
TD
Kevin Faulk, 38 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 6:20. Drive: 4 plays, 65 yards in 1:34.
TD
Wes Welker, 30 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 1:53. Drive: 5 plays, 76 yards in 2:49.
TD
Wes Welker, 5 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 0:12. Drive: 10 plays, 49 yards in 1:04.
3rd Quarter
TD
Randy Moss, 9 Yd pass from Tom Brady (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 10:13. Drive: 9 plays, 65 yards in 4:47.
TD
Brian Hoyer, 1 Yd run (Stephen Gostkowski kick is good), 0:11. Drive: 12 plays, 61 yards in 7:42.
Brady threw for six touchdowns and over 380 yards in just over a half of football. The 13-3 record posted by last year’s Titans seems much more distant than just a season, with the hapless Titans now winless in week six.
Not to be outgunned, the league’s hottest quarterback thus far in this season also threw for over 350 yards and four touchdowns against the top-ranked pass defense in the Saints 48-27 win over the previously undefeated Giants. Drew Brees has been unbelievable all year, and today was nothing short of amazing.
I kept an eye on the Redskins progress against the Chiefs, and continued to feel badly for Jim Zorn – thrust into a position he just shouldn’t have allowed himself to accept. I’ve liked Zorn since the Seahawks first season – Dad got our family season tickets and we went to see the expansion team with the unconventional head coach (Jack Patera), the mobile and exciting left-handed quarterback (Zorn) and the great Steve Largent. Zorn is funny, quirky, genuine and I can see why his players asked Redskins owner Dan Snyder to give their coach a vote of confidence. It is tough to watch the disheveled and disorganized ‘Skins lose to a previously winless team (again), and it is hard to see how Zorn could keep his job after this. I am sure he’s a good QB coach (Mike Holmgren is as good a teacher as can be found at developing QB talent, and Zorn worked for Holmgren in Seattle these past five or six years), and I was looking forward to seeing how he did as the offensive coordinator. It was likely an offer he couldn’t refuse when Snyder decided to make Zorn the Head Coach as well as offensive coordinator, but I sure wish Zorn had done so. The team looks horrible, and seems to be regressing week to week. Zorn is doing not just one, not just two, but three jobs he has never held before: offensive coordinator, head coach and offensive play-caller.
I do enjoy having a control panel that lets’ me keep real-time track of the game I am watching as well as all the other action around the league at the same time. If you want to try it out, on most sports, just follow the link below:
NFL GameTracker - CBSSports.com
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Boise State Starts Football Season with Big Win
In what will be the program’s only opportunity to face a major conference opponent this season, Boise State made a strong statement that may well boost them into the Top Ten this week. It will be tough for the Broncos to get consideration for a national championship even if they manage to go undefeated this season – their schedule won’t play well in the BCS ranking system – but they definitely did themselves a favor with a national audience, proving that last year’s defeat of the dominant program in the Pacific Northwest was not a fluke. Though the loss of temper by Oregon’s Blount will likely be the most memorable image of the game in most minds, the way the young Broncos dominated the line of scrimmage will likely help the program among voters in the polls all season long.
I thought that the way Boise State’s Haut was seen taunting Blount after the game was unsportsmanlike (though I admit to not knowing if Blount had said something to Haut before the camera caught up with them), as Coach Peterson must have thought while he was trying to pull Haut away from Blount, but there is no excuse for the sort of cold-cock punch Blount threw. Hitting a guy that isn’t even looking is always a chickenshit move, even if the guy did mouth off. I think what got Blount suspended for the rest of the year (and, in effect, the rest of his college career), was the combination of the sucker punch AND the way he went after BSU fans as he left the field. Even coming out of the locker room and apologizing was too little too late after such a prolonged and thuggish lapse. Autzen Stadium has gained a reputation among the fans of Duck opponents as a thuggish crowd – there have been assaults, vandalism of vehicles, and it has been a likely place to get beer poured on your head if you are wearing the wrong color shirt – in recent years, but this was on the field, and by a player. It may prove to be an expensive act of self-indulgence for Blount, potentially ending his hopes for being selected in the NFL draft.
The fact that Boise State dominated on defense, played pretty well on offense, but had lots of room to improve (witness the fumbles, poor special teams play and some sloppy route-running and blocking), makes them right on schedule for this point in the year – game 1. Oregon, on the other hand, found themselves dominated on the line by a WAC school, dysfunctional overall and unable to make big plays on either side of the ball. The Ducks will have Purdue and Washington State at Eugene to get early wins, with a solid Utah team, and tough games with UCLA and Cal, the Huskies and then USC rounding out the first eight games. It is not too hard to wonder if they may be 3-5 or 4-4 after eight games.
One thing I do have to say that might get me a homer charge, is that unless there was a lot more to what Haut said or did than what we saw, the main reason you hear some calling for him to be punished is simply because Blount hit him. If we kicked out or suspended every guy that trash-talked or taunted there’d be no one left to play the game (except maybe Jim Zorn and Kurt Warner). You don’t have to have played football to know how much talking goes on, simply watching from the stands or the tube will suffice. Do I think Haut was a lout for rubbing Blount’s nose in a bad performance and a tough loss? Yes I do. Do I think that justified the response (a blind-side punch to Haut, a punch to the helmet of a teammate, a struggle with policemen trying to escort him to the locker room and an attempt to get to a Boise State fan who taunted him) of Blount? No way. Nor any of the parts of his five-minute long tantrum that covered several hundred yards to the locker room. Haut’s taunting was lame and not an example of good sportsmanship. Unless there was more to it, that is all it was, and as such, it was probably one of a hundred examples of trash-talk that went between the teams. He does not deserve to be punished for his taunt simply because of the lack of self-control – the way the guy he taunted went off like a rocket – at being taunted.
Among the good articles I’ve seen on the game (and the Blount incident) this week:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilhn7WrzkOLbcgfZ56pYjlMK2kaQD9AHD9781
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/boises-win-lost-in-the-shadows/
http://www.idahostatesman.com/BSUFootball/story/889237.html
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/19688111-57/story.csp
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Coach Mora Improves in Fulfilling His Destiny and Restoring Balance to the Offense
Seahawks 14 Chiefs 10
Forgive the undertones of Anakin Skywalker and balancing the Force, but don’t you think that Coach Mora’s task this year – transforming a team that has been pass first for Mike Holmgren’s entire tenure, and more so last season than any prior years, into the kind of punishing and reliable ground assault he ran in Atlanta. The Seahawks haven't been reliable at running the ball since 2006, and last year’s squad was nearly pitiful. So, it gives me a great deal of enthusiasm-building interest to see that Hawks nearly achieve the fabled run-pass balance. Tonight, in the third pre-season game, Coach Mora got ever so close to balance, running the ball 38 times, and passing just one snap more than that at 39. Oh, so close. Who knows what sporting glory will come when Mora achieves his goal, and balance is in the offense? I think I need to tweet this!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Footnote to a Nice Little August Mariners Win
Seattle managed to salvage a win today in the fourth game of a four-game series with the Yankees at Safeco field. Rookie pitcher Doug Fister earned his first major league win with seven innings of three-run ball and the great control (no walks) he’s shown in his minor league career.
If you’re looking for signs of encouragement about the new Mariners brain trust, players…well, just about every tangible and intangible thing you can call to mind or spreadsheet is loaded with such signs. Are the Mariners developing talent better than in recent years? YES. Evaluating talent better? YES. Managing on the field better? YES. Showing better defense, situational batting (getting the bunt down, hitting it to the right side, working counts deeper)…YES. In so many of the ways baseball teams, players and front offices are apt to be evaluated and compared to give fans an idea of whether the team is getting better, the data is showing not just progress but significant progress. With the exception of offensive production, this is a team that has done a whole helluva a lot right since this time last year, starting with the hire of Jack Zduriencik, Don Wakamatsu and their respective staffs, and going right down to the players commitment to hard work, winning attitude and a great clubhouse cohesiveness. Pitching has been outstanding and the club defense has been brilliant.
Perhaps the best quick indicator of just how far this team has come in one year, is the little footnote to which I refer in the header. I witnessed win number 61 last season on the season’s final day, in a stadium full of freakish ‘local’ mascots, kids trying to figure out what sort of super hero mascot these oddballs were, and where the few people watching baseball were rooting for the Ms to lose the game in hopes of securing the top pick in the baseball draft. Alas, the Mariners won number 61, avoiding the first overall pick, my kids were able to figure out only 17 of the 20 mascots (even AFTER we read the descriptions in the program). This season, though the playoffs are a long shot for the Ms, the team won the 61st game more than a month earlier than last year, and the winning pitcher was rookie Doug Fister just one of the many stories that have made this season exciting and encouraging. Baseball is fun again in Seattle, and anyone who isn’t encouraged about the direction of the club is plain and simply and Eor (and couldn’t they have got Eor from Winnie the Pooh for mascot day last year, instead of recyclable burlap sandwich bag man, just as an example?).
I can’t wait to see how this season plays out, and I find myself calmly expecting great things from this organization over the next few years. Yep, here in Seattle, with our own Mariners.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Mariners Active at the Non-Waiver Trade Deadline
In some ways the Mariners made it easier on GM Jack Zduriencik with blowout losses to Cleveland in three straight home games, plus the first game of the Toronto series. Now 8 games back, the team had given the GM an out if he decided to become a ‘seller’ – to trade mature talent on the team for prospects or young players with good upside, and build for the future.
That’s not what has happened, though. Zduriencik managed to improve the team for next year while at the same time coming very near to holding his own for this season. First, he managed to pick up Jack Wilson from the Pirates, where he’s been an excellent fielding shortstop with respectable offensive production to boot. Much as I like Ronnie Cedeno (his attitude and effort, but not so much the batting average that makes the Mendoza line seem lofty), the player Zduriencik traded along with three lower minor league pitchers and Jeff Clement, Wilson is a better shortstop and a career .270 hitter, and will make the M’s better when he walks on the diamond. From the Mariners point of view, Clement has been a man without a home since he injured his knee and Adam Moore’s star has risen as the M’s catcher of the future.
He has moved Betancourt – an undisciplined player at the plate and in the field – as well as Vladimir Balentien, who has yet to become the sort of hitter the Mariners had hoped for, and certainly not the sort that justifies keeping his mediocre-at-best glove in the lineup. And when he traded Washburn – knowing that even if Wash wanted to re-sign, with Scot Boas as his agent it is likely he’d still go on the market as a free agent – he managed to bring in both an excellent pitching prospect for the future and a good pitcher to step into the rotation and burn some innings this season.
In every trade thus far, the Mariners new GM has managed to both improve the club for the future AND keep the team competitive this season. And, though I hate to pile on, beat a dead horse, etc., I am compelled to point out that the Mariners prior GM seldom managed to do either – let alone both.
Mariners Players Traded Players Received
Jarrod Washburn Luke French
Mauricio Robles
Vladimir Balentien Robert Manuel
Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement, Jack Wilson
Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin, Ian Snell
Nathan Adcock
Isn’t it refreshing to feel that the team is getting better for the future, and still competitive for today?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Watson Turns Back the Clock
At age 59, and some 32 years after his victory at the Turnberry course, Tom Watson shot a five under par 65 to set the pace today at the Open Championships. With a number of players still on the course, it is possible that there will be a lower total posted for the day, but probably not a more memorable round. Watson played nearly flawlessly in his opening round, with five birdies, thirteen pars and no bogies. Watson hit twelve of fourteen fairways, fifteen of eighteen greens in regulation and putted well, requiring just one putt on eight greens and two putts on ten greens. In fact, Watson compared favorably with the field to this point (3:30 PM British Summer Time) in nearly every category:
this player field average
driving distance (yards)
299 287.92
fairways hit
12 /14 8.68 / 14
greens in regulation (gir)
15 1.65
putts per round
28 30.86
sand saves
0 / 1 0.52 / 1.02
I do enjoy it when older players in any sport shake off the effects of age and even for a while return to the form they held in younger days:
- Nolan Ryan throwing his seventh no-hitter - and striking out sixteen batters - on fan appreciation night at age 44 (just one year after throwing his sixth no-hitter)
- Jimmy Connors run to the US Open semifinals at the age of 39. On his birthday, he defeated 24-year-old Aaron Krickstein, coming back from a 2–5 deficit in the final set before finally bowing in a semifinal to the reigning French Open champion, Jim Courier.
- Jack Nicklaus’s sixth win at the Masters (at age 46) came with a great late charge and is symbolized by an amazing shot at the par three sixteenth. After hitting the ball, Nicklaus quickly bent over to pick up his tee, and never did watch the ball in flight. His son, caddying for Nicklaus, uttered an encouragement for the ball to “be good” – to which his father replied, “It is.”
- Hale Irwin wining the US Open at 45.
- John Elway finally getting that Super Bowl win at age 38
- Jamie Moyer helping the Phillies in their run to the playoffs and World Series at age 45
There are many more, and I do love it when the athletes who are past their physical prime manage to set aside the effects of age for a time and give us a memorable round, or run, or even sometimes that big win or no-hitter. There’s something affirming in these feats that seems to say that we all might have our best within us yet, no matter our age. And who doesn’t want to be reminder of that, now and then?
To follow the Open Championship Leaderboard go here: 2009 Open Championship Turnberry Leaderboard
Sunshine on Discovery Bay
As always, the photos we use are either my own, or in the public domain. Please let me know if there are any errors and I'll correct them immediately.
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