Weekend winners
Danielle Kang got her first career LPGA win and her first major title with a birdie on the last hole to beat Brooke Henderson at the Women’s PGA Championship at Olympia Fields.
Braves in general and Mike Foltynewicz in particular. The Braves swept the A’s over the weekend and are 40-41 at the halfway point, a record way better than most imagined. Plus, the emergence of Foltynewicz atop the rotation is arguably the most important detail of this pleasantly surprising season. Folty took a no-non into the ninth Friday night and finished eight innings, one hit and one earned in a 3-1 win. In his last 10 starts the Braves are 8-2 overall and he is 6-1, and he capped a potential career-arc-changing June with a gem. In the month of June he pitched 36.1 innings, had a 2.97 ERA and 35 Ks to only 15 walks. In truth the month was actually better than those numbers because that was with a disastrous start at Washington in which he pitched 3.1 innings and allowed eight earned runs. In his other June starts, he pitched 33 innings and allowed four earned. That’s a tidy 1.09 ERA friends.
Speaking of tidy ERAs, Max Scherzer right now is downright filthy. In his last eight starts, Scherzer has pitched 61 innings, allowed six earned runs and just 24 hits. He has fanned 87 and walked only 10 to fashion a 0.89 ERA over that time.
Bobby Bonilla. Every July 1, Bobby Bonilla wins. It’s just that simple. July 1 is Bobby Bo day as he receives a certified check from the Mets for $1.19 million. He will receive that sum every July 1 through 2035 as part of a deferred salary buyout he took in 2000.
Will Wade. The former UTC hoops boss secured a commitment from five-star point guard Javonte Smart. Wade landed a top-20 class in the 2017 recruiting cycle at LSU, and Smart’s presence means the Tigers will have another strong class in 2018. Side note: Speaking of college hoops recruiting, there are only four committed players in the top 22 of 247sports.com‘s composite rankings and all four are committed to SEC schools, and none of those are UK. No. 15 Jontay Porter is committed to Missouri; No. 18 Reggie Perry is committed to Arkansas; No. 21 Smart is committed to LSU; and No. 22 E.J. Montgomery is committed to Auburn.
Boxers Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines, second left, and Jeff Horn of Australia, second right, pose for a photo in Brisbane, Wednesday, June 28, 2017. Pacquiao, is putting his WBO belt on the line Sunday, July 2, against the 29-year-old Horn. (AP Photo/John Pye) Weekend losers
Manny Pacquiao. Dude lost to some Aussie nicknamed the Hornet despite landing almost twice as many punches (182-92). Some claimed the fix was in considering the fight was in The Hornet’s hometown of Brisbane, but the truth remains that Pacquiao is a 38-year-old fighter and looked like it Saturday night.
Charles Howell III. It’s crazy to think that Howell III, has not won a PGA event. in a decade, a streak that has reached more than 300 career starts. That monstrous streak, and one that looked to be over as his birdie on the 72nd hole on Sunday looked pure the moment it left the blade. Somehow it darted away from the cup at the last second – like it had a golf hole version of “Flubber” on it truthfully – and Chucky Triple Sticks lost to Kyle Stanley in a playoff.
“The House.” The latest Will Ferrell movie opened with a resounding thud at the box office, placing sixth in its opening weekend and making all of $9 million at the box office.
All of us in some ways. This story is bad no matter how you slice it. A family of a black student in Mississippi is suing her school because they believe she was forced to share the “valedictorian” title with a white girl because of racism. The school says each student has the same GPA and that’s why they were named co-validictorians. Either way – if the school did rig the process, or if the family sued because of racism on a normal procedure – this is an awful scene.
The Atlanta Hawks. Remember three seasons ago in 2014-15 when the Hawks won 60 games and had the best record in the East? Yep, neither do we. The Hawks have zero starters from that team on the roster for next season. Which leads us to…
Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James reacts during the second half of Game 5 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Monday, June 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) NBA free agency
We could have put LeBron James in the “Weekend Winners” and he did nothing.
But other than the Celtics, look what is happening in an and around the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks got worse. The Raptors resigned Kyle Lowry to a cap-crippling, three-year, $100-million deal. Otto Porter of the Wizards got a max offer from Sacramento, which means Washington is either going to lose Porter or have to pay through the nose to keep him.
Three guys that joined James on the Eastern Conference All-Star team last year – Paul Milsap, Paul George and Jimmy Butler have left Eastern Conference teams with .500-or-better records for the West.
Heck, James may rest for 30 games this coming season and the Cavs could go 44-38 and be no worse than the three seed.
As for the rest of the league, the Pacers got pennies on the dollar for George, considering they did not even land an extra first-round pick when they sent him to OKC, which also could make a contention for being among the weekend winners.
The Warriors also could be among the teams that were smiling through the first weekend of free agency. They bit the bullet and paid Steph Curry, resigning him to a five-year, $201-million contract. They also look to be keeping Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston as well as adding Swaggy P (aka Nick Young).
So, with all the moves and machinations in a hectic opening to NBA free agency, is there any real reason to think that in 11 months we will not have the exact same finals?
Nope. Just like there’s not any real reason to expect a different result when they face off next June.
This and that
* Baseball just closed a record-setting month for homers, and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is doing things we have really never seen before. Judge is the perfect prototype of today’s big swings + taking pitches = big homers, big strikeout totals and lots of walks, but he’s doing it at an unfathomable success rate in terms of batting average. Judge is striking out in roughly 28 percent of his plate appearances – and more than 35 percent of his actual at-bats – but is still hitting .327. That means Judge is hitting an unbelievable .505 (91-for-180) when he puts the bat on the ball.
* Tom Brady has broken his media silence and did not either confirm nor deny the concussion stuff his wife Gisele offered earlier this spring.
* Four players with local ties cashed checks at the Nashville Golf Open. Eric Axley tied for 11th ($10,921.42), Jonathan Hodge was tied for 18th ($6,694.29), Web.com-money leader Stephan Jaeger was tied for 59th ($1,430) and Keith Mitchell tied for 67th ($1,347.50)
* Thought this was very interesting and not good news for sports everywhere. Of the 24 sports surveyed by Sports Business Journal, the only fan base that did not age was women’s tennis. In fact, fewer than seven percent of baseball’s fan base is 18 or younger, and the average age of the baseball fan is 57. Football, normally the rock around which all these surveys are broken, has just nine percent of its fan base under 18 and an average age of 50. The sports with the youngest average age of its fan base are the NBA and the MLS, with an average of 40. The oldest? The PGA Tour – shocker, right? – with an average age of 64, followed by the LPGA and horse racing at 63.
* Here’s Weeds on the ongoing UTC AD search.
Today’s question
Weekend winners por favor. Also, weekend losers c’est vous plait.
As for today, July 3, well, let’s see.Tom Cruise is 55 today. Olivia Munn is 37.
On this day in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended and really turned the direction of the Civil War.
Jim Morrison died on this day in 1971.
Lou Gehrig made his “Luckiest Man” speech on this day in 1939.
We also saw this story celebrating the 25th anniversary this weekend of “A League of Their Own.”
Rushmore of female characters in sports movies.
Go and enjoy the day.