Father time
Question for the group: Is Father Time undefeated?
In life he is because, technically, in the end, he gets all of us.
But in terms of our sports stars, is Father Time truly undefeated? I know a lot of the talking heads who live in or near Connecticut are quick to remind us of the Geno Auriemma-level of dominance FT has.
And, it appears he's turning some close games against some future Hall of Famers in baseball one-sided of late and making a late run against an NBA all-timer in recent weeks.
As for the overarching question, Father Time in the sports world may be undefeated, but he has a tie on the résumé at least with Gordie Howe, and I think we all agree that FT currently is facing a two-TD hole against TB12, no?
But in terms of the recent rallies for FT, well, it's gotten ugly in Detroit and twice as not-so-nice in L.A.
With the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera has been one of baseball's best hitters for most of the last two decades. He broke in full-time with the Marlins in 2004, and hit .290 or better in 14 of his first 15 seasons. He's a career .312 hitter with a .928 OPS who is 11 homers short of 500 and he's 23rd all-time with 1,734 RBIs. He's an all-time great hitter by every measure.
He's also 0-for-his-last-22 with 12 Ks and through the first quarter of this season hitting .105. Heck, he's at .405 OPS - that's on-base percentage plus slugging percentage - and it wasn't that long ago that there were multiple months his average would be higher than that.
Then, head to the coast and Tuesday was the shortest outing in Clayton Kershaw's career. He lasted one inning, allowing four earned runs and six bases runners. Yes, Kershaw's ERA is respectable on the season, but the 33-year-old left-hander has completely overhauled his approach, he's more DQ soft serve than Mickie D's hard and fast, and when your fastball's up and your curveball's hanging, well, in the Show they are going to rip you.
The L.A. offering is Mr. LeBron James, who continues to battle the fallout from the high ankle sprain he suffered in the A-T-L earlier this spring. After missing six weeks after rolling the ankle - and high ankle sprains are no joke - James will sit back-to-back games this weekend at least.
Yes, James is only 36, but considering all those playoff runs deep into June, those are basketball years more suited for the canine calendar. And considering the tanking ratings for the NBA so far this year, a Finals without LeBron could be a problem for the league.
Seriously, who's here for Jazz-Nets? Not many. (Now if Mader's Hawks find a way into the Finals, then deal us in.)
Speaking of MLB
OK, we have fawned over the way Ronald Acuña plays the game with the perfect combination of joy and arrogance. He's the most charismatic baseball player since Big Papi, and I'm here for all of it.
And we have been humbled by the Ruthian skills of Shohei Ohtani, the Angels pitcher/slugger who is among the league leaders in fastball average and exit velocity, which is nuevo-baseball chatter for dude is turning the MLB into his personal Little League All-Star sub-state tournament.
Well, the two merged a bit on Tuesday.
Ladies and gentleman, let's enjoy the early marvels of the exploits of Huascar Ynoa, who has stepped into the massive void atop the Atlanta rotation and is swatting big flies.
Or as Drew Newman noted on Twitter, "Is Ynoa the National League Shohei Ohtani? JK. Maybe."
Ynoa certainly did not carry Ohtani's lofty pedigree at the plate. Heck, before this year, Ynoa had three professional at-bats - all in the minors - and whiffed in all three.
Now, he's the right-handed Shohei, at least on paper, in a very limited sample size.
But that sample is dang-nabbing impressive. Check the totals after last night's crazy stat line of seven innings pitched, four hits, no runs and maybe most importantly of all, just two walks. And before we get to his grand slam homer - seriously - the conversation about control is paramount.
Ynoa has lights-out stuff. Mid-to-high 90s heat with a plus slider in the low-90s and enough other junk to keep hitters off balance. to that end, he's averaging better than a K an inning in his seven appearances this season. He walked more hitters last year (13) in 21 innings than he has this year (8) in 34.1 innings.
The win last night boosted him to 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA and a very impressive 0.90 WHiP. And Ynoa's pitching success was made much more relaxing because of Ynoa's hitting success.
With the Braves nursing a 2-0 lead - part of that was on Ronald Acuña's solo homer, more on that in a moment - Ynoa crushed a 427-foot grand slam to dead center off a 95-mph fastball.
It continues his red-hot streak with the stick, with some of these numbers to ponder:
> In the last 15 days, Ynoa is 5-for-8 (.375) with three extra base hits, two homers and six RBIs; in the last 15 days, Braves left-fielder and 3-hole hitter Marcel Ozuna is 8-for-52 (.154) with two homers and seven RBIs. (And we all know who has the better throwing arm.)
> Ynoa is the third player ever to have back-to-back starts in which he allowed no earned runs and hit homers. The other two are Don Larsen (1958) and Rick Ankiel (2000).
Wowser.
Rigged election?
See, voter fraud is a big deal.
No, not the Arizona shuffle or the Georgia new voting laws or even the damaging claims from the Trumpers about the election being stolen.
No, this time it's serious, and the offenders could face 16 years in prison. Yeah, hard time.
That's what's on the line when Emily Grover and her mother, Laura Carroll, will face the music for stealing an election in Florida.
What was at stake? State house seat? A federal gig in the judicial system? Dog catcher in Daytona Beach?
Nope, the Grover-Carroll gang hijacked the homecoming queen election for Emily at Tate High School in Pensacola.
She Carroll was an assistant principal at another school in the Escambia County School District and used the computer system to cast more than 246 votes for Emily from her phone and personal computer.
On a semi-serious note, Carroll had accessed the records and files of 339 of Tate High School students even though she didn't work there. And there is cause for punishment there.
Still, this feels more like slackers, than hackers, no? And 16 years for tilting the homecoming count? Wow.
This and that
- Among the most overused 'new' clichés in my view is the "Playing chess, playing checkers" back and forth. Whatever. But know this Nick Saban is so thorough and good at his job that this headline should not have surprised any of us. "Alabama becomes latest school to launch program assisting student-athletes with personal branding" was the title for a CBSsports.com story. Of course Alabama is among the leaders in the initiative. FSU was apparently the first to enact this NIL needed, important and leading - program for the looming NIL circumstances. It will be commonplace among the big boys; heck it will be needed as much for the schools as the stars considering the uncertainty and unknowns caused by the NCAA's continued inability to get its bleep together. But of course Alabama is up and running before almost everyone else. Saban, man. Saban.
- Speaking of Acuña's solo homer, well, let's have a chat. First, depending on where you live you have access to a number of legal online betting services, and that decision is completely up to you. But I will start doing a better job of sharing some cool betting options or promotions in this space from all the platforms. On Tuesdays during the MLB season, FanDuel offers a Tuesday homer promo. Bet at least $25 on any player to leave the yard on a Tuesday night game, and you get $5 in site credit for every homer hit by any player in that game. So, for example, if a long-haired country boy with a five-days-a-week family-oriented, interweb-based sports conversation that his the webs around, say 10 a.m. each workday, put a little coin on any player to leave the building Tuesday night in the Braves game, which player would you guess it would be? And yes, that Ynoa knock was worth an extra $5.
- Love this. Big Mike Visacki, who Monday qualified for the Valspar and went viral with a video of his phone call to tell his dad, got a sponsor exemption to the Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. Good times.
- Hate to see this for anyone, but especially for a guy like JaWuan James, the former UT standout. James tore his Achilles, and according to this story, will miss the season, which could cost him $10 million.
- So Joe Biden is aiming for 70% vaccination by our nation's birthday. I hope we gets there, but I'll take the under.
- So the Donald was denied a return to Facebook. OK. Not on the Facebook, and never will be to be honest. And to tell the truth, I don't really care in terms of Trump, but I do believe the ever-moving goal posts and the completely uncontrollable realm that his social media make it a very difficult place to uphold any type of consistency in terms of what is acceptable and what isn't. But again, I don't know anything about Facebook.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way -
Which non-hockey player has had the sports world's best mullet of the 2000s? Asking for a friend.
Which number will be closer to the vaccination rate of American adults by July 4 - 50%, 60% or 70%?
Which genre of food goes best with a cold CoCola, because back in the day, I could be known to kick back a few on Cinco de Mayo?
Which brings us to the day, Cinco de Mayo.
If we are talking only sports-related, what's the Rushmore of '5' and be creative?