The Yard has always been huge fans of The Open. St. Andrews is where it all began back in the 1500’s. While the colonies were fighting for their freedom, the Brits were sipping whiskey and playing golf at St. Andrews. St. Andrews is the origin of the rules, traditions, and evolution of golf. The Swilcan Bridge between the 1st and 18th fairways is iconic. But the Yard loves that almost every bunker on St. Andrews has a name. There are over 40 named bunkers on the links style course. A Descent into Hell is infamous just 100 yards short of the 14th green. It took Jack Nicklaus four shots to get out of the ten-foot pit in 1995. Miss Grainger’s Bosoms is a Yard favorite and apparently so was Miss Grainger in the 19th century. The bunker is on the 14th hole and identified by two prominent mounds. Cameron Smith raced past a conservative Rory McIlroy with five birdies on the back nine while Rory carded none. The last Aussie to win The Open was Greg Norman in 1993. No one remembers the Shark fondly these days. He is working with the House of Saud to overthrow the PGA. Offering guaranteed payouts with their causal 54-hole stroll and no cut, is a competitive joke. Who wants to watch this meaningless exhibition where everyone gets paid for showing up? Jim Nantz hopes an audience shows up in the next four years. Nantz burned his ships and went all LIV. Regardless, we took Cam at 18:1 in The Open, which was kind of nice.
The MLB All-Star game is the best All-Star game of all the professional sports. Professional league AS games in general are not that great but baseball was the first and still the most entertaining. Yard youth attended the 1967 AS game at Anaheim Stadium. That was back when the Angels were in Anaheim not Los Angeles by way of Anaheim. The Yard was already a maniacal baseball fan at age nine. Yard Daddio got the tickets in the left field bleachers, it was thrilling. The stars of the game played most of the game. Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Clemente all batted six times. They managed two hits. Clemente struck out four times. Juan Marichal started for the NL followed by Fergie Jenkins and Bob Gibson. The AL countered with Angel Dean Chance, Al Downing and Catfish Hunter. Brooks Robinson, Tony Oliva, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Conigliaro all got to bat six times and managed three hits amongst them. Robinson’s one hit was a homerun. The great Yastrzemski was three for four in that game on his way to winning the Triple Crown in 1967. There were 17 hits and 30 strikeouts. It was a fifteen-inning game that ended 2-1 by way of three homeruns. Don Drysdale got the win and Tom Seaver the save. We stayed until the end. I got to see all my heroes that day and still tingles to troll the memories.
Shohei Ohtani is a unicorn talent for the Angels. No player has pitched and hit like him since the Babe. And Babe did not do what Ohtani is doing. Mike Trout is arguably the best everyday player in all of baseball. Ohtani won the MVP last year and is a favorite this year. Trout won the MVP in 2019, 2016 and 2014. During this period with these brilliant players on the Angels they have made the playoffs just once. They have rarely finished above .500. Arte Moreno bought the Angels from the Cowboy’s estate in 2003. He hired Mike Scioscia as his first manager, and they went on to win the 2004 World Series over Dusty Baker and the San Francisco Giants. It was the first and only WS title in Angel history. It was the first World Series title in Southern California since 1988. It was a low period for the Blue Crew and ad executive Moreno decided to lay claim on the larger market outside of the Magic Kingdom. He rebranded the California Angels into the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, LAA. He took out billboards all over the LA metro area and let us know the Angels were taking over Los Angeles as well as the OC. Moreno jumped the shark with that attempted encroachment on Los Angeles Royalty, the Dodgers. It took the Dodgers 15 years to win their seventh title in 2020. The Angels have been hardly relevant since that 2004 title. Arte has pissed franchise money away on Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols and Anthony Rendon. He tried to bring in the Joe Maddon magic, but nothing has worked since that miracle in 2004. Arte might have sold his soul for that title. Gene Autry probably would have sold his for a title before he rode off into the sunset. Moreno bought the Angels for $184 million so we think he will be alright even if they never sniff another title. This year’s edition faded almost as fast as they started. Trout and Ohtani are wasting away in Tomorrow land.
Reminiscing about that 1967 AS game this week was fun. Recalling the 2004 World Series when the Giants were attempting to win their first title since moving to the Bay Area was entertaining. Dusty Baker’s three-year-old son almost getting run over at home retrieving a bat is a You Tube Classic. The Angels roaring back to take the title after being down 3-1 was the most I have ever rooted for the Angels ever. The Giants had their best record in 2021. Better than any of the WS title teams. They won the most games in SF Giants’ history and they lost to the Dodgers in the playoffs. It was the best series of the playoffs. This past weekend was the freshest and best memories. Thursday night, the Dodgers storm out to a 5-0 lead against the hated ones. The Giants blast back into the lead with Darren Ruff’s grand salami. Then Mookie showed why he gets $30 million a season with a soul crushing three-run stinger into the left field pavilion. When the Giants mounted a 9th inning rally Betts ended it horizontally outstretched in the RF corner. Friday night Bellinger hit the game changing slam. Saturday and Sunday, the Giants were in each game only to fail. Giants are 16.5 back and fading back to their historical levels faster than forecast. The Yard does like to kick the Giants when they are down. They hung onto their faded heroes longer than the Yard’s 501’s. With the lack of young talent, it will be a middling journey for the club the next few years. Hang in their Gabe. You look better in the dugout than Bochy. He just coached better.
Extra Innings The Baseball HOF inducted new members this past weekend. Big congratulations to David Ortiz, Big Papi. His 542 home runs were his ticket to the ball as well as his leadership. He led the Red Sox to their first titles in nearly 100 years in 2004 and then again in 2004 and 2013. He was beloved and he still is. Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, and Minnie Minoso have the Veterans committee to thank alleged PED offenders. Kaat won a respectable 283 games but lost 237 during his 25-year career. Noteworthy but HOF worthy? Tony Oliva had some quality years and 1917 hits. Noteworthy as well. Roger Clemens with seven CY Youngs and Barry Bonds with six MVP’s are still sidelined under the steroid cloud. Yard Opinion it is time to get past the sordid history and recognize them for their partially tarnished accomplishments. They competed against similarly juiced talent. Why do the baseball writers get to judge them? The fans are mostly past it. No one was prohibited from using the juice in the era. It was illegal in most places except the MLB. It seemed many were complicit, but no one was convicted. With 27 states now offering legal sports betting, do we need to keep Peter Rose out of the HOF any longer? Times are changing and so should our look back on history.
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