Quest For Perfection

By : Mike Rifkin

Wednesday afternoon future Hall Of Famer Clayton Kershaw was pulled from his first start of the season after seven perfect innings and only threw 80 pitches against the Minnesota Twins. There have been 23 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball with the last one by Felix Hernandez of the Mariners in August of 2012. 

Kershaw said after the game “ Those are selfish goals. We’re trying to win. That’s really all we’re here for. I would have loved to have stayed, but bigger things, man, bigger things.” Kershaw also said it was the right decision to pull him. Kershaw isn’t wrong for calling a perfect game a selfish goal, but it would be another feather on his plaque when he goes to Cooperstown after his career. Kershaw did miss last season’s playoffs due to left forearm discomfort. 

Now I understand both parts of the argument. On one hand he missed the playoffs with a forearm issue and this is his first start of the season, but on the other hand it is a perfect game, how can you pull a guy from a perfect game? If it was a no hitter fine Kershaw has one of those on his resume, but a perfect game is so rare that you have to let him finish what he started and if he gives up a hit or walk pull him then. The other thing is the game being in Minnesota Dave Roberts pulling him in the dugout prevents the fans from showing their appreciation for what is occurring. 

But this just shows how much the game has changed. If we go back even a decade ago Kershaw is still throwing until the perfect game is gone. I understand that the end game is that the Dodgers goal is to win the World Series, but to not let a guy continue with a perfect game seems wrong. 

Tom Terrific

By : Mike Rifkin

On Friday prior to the Mets home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks the Mets will unveil a statue of “The Franchise” Tom Seaver in front of Citi Field. Seaver was a member of the 1969 World Series Champion and 1973 National League Champion Mets teams. Seaver is the Mets all time leader in Wins ( 198), Innings pitched (3,045.2), Games started ( 395), Complete Games (171), Shutouts (44) and won three CY Youngs as a Met. After his playing career Seaver worked as an analyst for Mets and Yankee games on WPIX.  He also worked Nationally on NBC and ABC. In 1992 Seaver was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame with 98.4 percent of the vote, which at the time was the highest percent for a player to receive. Seaver threw the ceremonial last pitch at Shea Stadium in 2008 and threw out the first pitch at Citi Field in 2009.  Seaver passed away in 2020 due to Lewy body dementia and complications of Covid 19, but on Friday the man dubbed the Franchise will have be immortalized with a statue in front of Citi Field. 

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER MASTERS CHAMPION

By Ross Mazin

Scottie Scheffler is you’re 2022 Masters champion. In the second round, he took the lead over Sun Jay Im and could not be caught. Before the Master’s, I didn’t think that Scheffler would win with the talented field that was in front of him. During the final round, I honestly thought Rory McElroy would catch him. This was a well-deserved victory for Scheffler and his first Major PGA win.

This year’s Master’s was nothing short of incredible. When playing on this course in Augusta, Georgia, the weather is usually the most significant factor, especially the wind. For the first three days, the weather was windy and cool, making for tough plays on already one of the most challenging courses in the world. However, Scheffler was so focused that he didn’t let it bother him, or he didn’t show his disgust at it either.

Scottie Scheffler has been one of the more exciting golfers on this year’s tour field. He is not a very flamboyant golfer or a showboat. Scheffler is a very reserved golfer and shows it on the course. He tries to block everything out that is going on around him to focus on his round. There were a ton of distractions during the Master, from weather to fans, and he did not let that bother him one bit. Scheffler’s run to the masters is nothing short of incredible. He has quietly been climbing up the ranks in the golf world and will be at the top for a long time. I can’t imagine how he must’ve felt after winning the Masters

Scottie Scheffler grew up in Texas, and he is only the third most famous athlete to come out of Highland Park High school in Texas. The other two athletes that went there were Matthew Stafford and Clayton Kershaw. His first amateur win was in the 2011 Legends Junior Match Play Championship. His second win came in the US Junior Amateur in 2013. The third came at the Junior Innovational in 2014. His last amateur win came in 2015 at the Annual Western Intercollegiate tournament. He has been climbing the ladder fast on tour, and we expect him to be at the top for a long time.

MEGILL LOOKING LIKE DEGROM

By Mark Halpern

When the New York Mets started the limited spring training, Taylor Megill was not even a thought for the starting lineup, let alone the MLB roster. The thought was he was going to go down to triple-A ball and would probably be called up in the summer when they would possibly need that extra starter due to heat and wear and tear on a pitcher’s body. However, a week and a half before opening day, the Mets learned that DeGrom would miss at least a month with shoulder discomfort.

      Buck Showalter, the Mets manager, wasted no time and told Taylor Megill that he was getting the ball for opening day. Showalter knows what Megill did last season and said, “He deserves a shot.” Megill performed beautifully during his time with the Mets last season. He was a great surprise from his first start and was greatly cheered during his last start.

      On Thursday, April 7th Megill took the ball for the Mets during the National’s home opener. The expectations were that he would go at least four innings and possibly give up a run. That didn’t happen as he pitched five shutout innings, giving up three hits and striking out five. The Mets won that game 5-1, and Megill got the rotation off on the right foot.

    Last night Megill took the mound against the Phillies, and from his first pitch till his last, he was excellent. His fastball was topping out at 99mph. For those of you who don’t know, that is the same top speed as Scherzer and DeGrom (DeGrom can and had hit 102mph constantly.) Megill Pitched yet another brilliant game. He went again for five innings giving up three hits and struck out five batters. He also received the win making him 2-0 on the season with an ERA of 0.

   Megill has been spectacular these first two games, and we all can’t wait to see more. We know that DeGrom will be back around May, and Taylor Megill has made his case why he belongs in the current rotation. With Walker leaving with a shoulder problem, I expect Megill to be staying, and David Peterson will be kept up to help the rotation, and that is how the old man sees it.

Frank Vogel : Easy Scapegoat

By: Mike Rifkin

The Lakers fired Frank Vogel on Monday after three seasons. The Lakers missed the playoffs and playin tournament  this season with a record of 33-49. Vogel in his three seasons as the Lakers coach went 127-98 and won an NBA Championship in 2019-2020. Now Vogel was the easiest person to blame for the lack of success the Lakers achieved this season, but was it really his fault? There are a few people to blame for the lack of success of the Lakers for arguably one of the biggest disappointing seasons in NBA history. It doesn’t have to do with coaching, it has to do with roster construction.  

A lot of people deserve blame for the Lakers terrible season. Let’s start with General Manager Rob Pelinka. Pelinka put together an awful roster. The Lakers traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell -Pope, Montrezl Harrell and a 2021 first round pick for former MVP Russell Westbrook. Westbrook averaged 18.5 points per game, his lowest since 2009-10 his second season in the league. With the money owed to Westbrook, Lebron James and Anthony Davis Pelinka couldn’t put together a great roster. Once the NBA offseason begins people will watch what happens with Westbrook. Westbrook has a player option at 47 million dollars and not a lot of teams are going to be interested. The Lakers would have to probably sweeten the deal with a draft pick that the Lakers have a limited amount of based on another trade. 

Another trade Pelinka and then advisor Laker legend Magic Johnson deserve some heat for is the trade that the Lakers got star forward Anthony Davis. Everyone knew that Davis wanted to go from the Pelicans to the Lakers and the Pelicans made them pay a heavy price. The Pelicans acquired point guard Lonzo Ball who has since gone to the Bulls, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first round picks. Davis was a beast when the Lakers won the NBA title in the bubble. In the 2020 playoffs Davis averaged 27.7 points per game, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Davis was limited to 40 games this season due to injury. When healthy Davis is an elite player but the Lakers may want to focus more on the long term than the short term which might mean to consider trading Davis. 

Lebron James also draws some blame here, not for his play Lebron was the only reason the Lakers had a shot at the playoffs. Lebron deserves blame for the fact that he has to sign off on any move Pelinka and the front office make. Whoever becomes the coach will have their work cut out for them but the Lakers offseason will definitely be intriguing. But to be among the elite not just in the NBA but in the Western Conference the Lakers definitely need to reconstruct their roster. One thing is for sure Frank Vogel was an easy scapegoat.

Back In The Playoffs

By : Mike Rifkin

With their 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators the New York Rangers have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. On February 8th 2018 the Rangers front office wrote a letter to the fan base explaining that the team was going to go through a full rebuild. 

Now a lot of the credit belongs to former General Manager Jeff Gorton who put a lot of this roster together. Gorton was able to acquire star center Mika Zibanejad who the Rangers signed earlier this season to a eight year extension for Derrick Brassard. Ryan Strome who has been a big part of this team was acquired for Ryan Spooner. Defensemen Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba were all acquired via trade by Gorton. Fox, the reigning Norris trophy winner was traded from the Hurricanes for two second round picks. Ryan Lindgren was acquired in the trade that sent Rick Nash to the Bruins. Jacob Trouba was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets for Neal Pionk and a 2019 first round pick which the Rangers acquired when they traded Kevin Hayes to the Jets. Gorton also made a big free agent splash when he signed Artemi Panarin to a seven year 81.5 million dollar contract. Since signing with the Rangers Panarin has 69 goals and 238 points so far.  Gorton also did a great job drafting now part of that was luck in drafting Kappo Kakko second overall in 2019 and drafted Alexis Lafeniere first overall in 2020. Gorton also moved up in the draft to get defensemen K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider.  Gorton was fired along with team President John Davidson after the 2021 season. For more on that we did a podcast on it.

https://anchor.fm/noah-trombley/episodes/Rangers-and-Capitals-Drama-e10elol?fbclid=IwAR0RiWfDjtYuJkbsJ3ykPNF2rECWkaWrmX_fle4o1aNYR2qj9LdqMjq6DbI

The Rangers hired Chris Drury to be the President and General Manager of the team. Drury brought in Gerard Gallant to coach the team. Gallant who saw success as the head coach of the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights became the coach. The Rangers wanted to get tougher and they brought in not only tough guys but guys who could help the team win. The first move was trading for Barclay Goodrow from the back to back Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning and signed him to a six year 21.8 million dollar contract. Goodrow has already set a career high with 13 goals and 26 points. Goodrow has also been a massive part of the penalty kill and his leadership has been huge. They also traded for Ryan Reaves from Vegas Golden Knights. Reaves has three goals and 11 points in 61 games. Reaves played for Gerard Gallant in Vegas. Reaves and Goodrow both have a ton of playoff experience. 

The Rangers got off to a great start and at the trade deadline the Rangers had the most cap space of any team vying for a playoff spot. The first move was trading for Frank Vatrano from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a fourth round pick. In 13 games Vatrano has six goals and nine points. The big move Drury made was trading for Andrew Copp of the Winnipeg Jets for prospect Morgan Barron and draft picks. Copp has four goals and 11 points in 10 games as a Ranger. Other trade deadline acquisitions, defenseman Justin Braun has a goal and two points in four games and winger Tyler Motte has not recorded a point but has brought speed to the fourth line and been a spark on the penalty kill. 

For the first time since 2016-17 the Rangers have reached the 100 point mark. But the patience the Rangers showed after the letter have now paid off. No matter what happens in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Jeff Gorton deserves a lot of credit for putting the roster together. But both he and Chris Drury deserve a ton of credit because neither one was willing to spend a ton on one superstar. The Rangers are in the playoffs and their future is still very bright.

Showalter is Bucking Mad

By Mark Halpern

At the end of the 2021 season, I predicted that the Mets would get Buck Showalter as their manager. Buck is a very experienced manager and knew that he had a lot to accomplish this season. Buck brings a fire to the Mets dugout that we haven’t seen in a long time, since Bobby Valentine.
Over the first two games of the season, 3 Mets players have been beamed with fastballs that seemed way too close to be unintentional. Two of the players were hit in the face, and another right under the cheek; they were Pete Alonso on Friday and Francisco Lindor last night. Two games and 3 Mets players, HBP (hit By Pitch) and no warnings were given. Showalter showed his disgust at the umpires not warning the Nationals. Nationals pitchers claim the new balls are tough getting used to, and they got away. I don’t think we would be talking about this if the players had been hit in the leg, back, or even in the butt. Two of these players were hit in the face is the problem. Hey, I was a catcher, and sometimes balls do get away, but the Mets have a reason to be pissed.
You have to protect your team, and we all, at one time or another, have witnessed a revenge game in a sport, and we have to figure that it’s going to happen. I hope that Buck gets ahead of this and tries to control what happens on the field, but even he knows players sometimes take things into their own hands, and that is how the old man sees it.

2022 MASTERS RECAP RND 1&2

Cink Sinks one In

Tiger Makes Cut

By Mark Hakpern

Well, the 2022 PGA Masters has two rounds down and two rounds to go the herd has significantly been thinned, and many big-time players missed the cut. Augusta is known for its weather, and on days 1&2, Mother Nature showed her slip a little by producing rainy and windy weather.

    The first round went by quickly, even though the average round took over 28 minutes longer than it should. There was no absolute dominator in this round as most of the field played very safe. The par 3 fourth hole gave the most trouble first round, causing several players to take bogey or even worse on this straightforward par 3. Joaquin Neiman had the shot of the first round with his eagle on the 9th hole. I have seen balls land on the green and spin forward, backward, bounce, and stick, but his role was unreal. The ball landed about 5 yards past the pin, and when it landed, it had such a backspin that it rolled up the slope and curved it in for a beautiful eagle. Tiger had a nice round but was a shell of himself but did finish -1 on the day.

However, the player of the day was Sun Jay Im as he played a great back 9 to finish at an event leading -5. At this point, Ross and I figured the cut would be around +3 for the next day.

    Round 2 was quite entertaining, with the winds gusting between 25-30mph. The field of players would be thinned due to the cut, but some players didn’t make the cut that they should have. This is a select list because I can’t name them all, but Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Cameron Young (one of my top 5 to break top 20, too), Jordan Speith, and Justin Rose all missed the cut at +4. Every player on the course was taking blows. Tiger was at a horrible +4 but fought back, and his experience is what helped him get there. He knows this course and has played in worse weather. An interesting fact is that Tiger beat 12 of the top 20 players in the world in just two rounds. It just shows you how the weather can ruin the day.

    Now one player who didn’t make the cut was Stuart Cink, but he sank the shot of the day. On the 16th hole, Stuart was already closing in on not making the cut, but he didn’t let that get to him. The 16th hole is a short par three, but if you’re right of the slope on the green, you can run right off onto the fringe. So Cink hit a beauty to the left side of the green and landed it just a the point where the green slopes. The ball had enough momentum to slowly roll down the slope and then picked up some speed and found its way home. Cink was thrilled but not as much as his caddy, who happened to be his son. Cink didn’t care that he wasn’t making the cut cause now he was a pure part of Masters history.

     The wind made it hard for everyone, but one golfer Scottie Scheffler didn’t care about the weather. He had a look in his eyes that he would take risks and go for it as he knew what Saturday would bring. Scheffler sits at the top of the leaderboard at -8, a good 5 strokes ahead of the next person. However, this means nothing because the weather is changing and it is going to be a beautiful day. Scheffler will have to play near-perfect cause on a day like this Tiger, Im, Johnson, and even Matsuyama will have great chances playing in near-perfect weather.

      I expect an exhilarating round 3 today as we will see the best-played round of the tournament today.

The Masters Purse will be short a Mickelson

By Mark Halpern

     Over the last twenty-odd years, Phil Mickelson has played in as many masters he could attend. In his career, he has won a. Over his career, he has amassed 40+ tournament wins, and a few of the international boy’s will check-in and see whether playing is best but certainly not its worst.’ He is a legend of the game, and here is why.

     What Happened to the all-American family and great Humanitarian he is? He was near the middle east as host of one of the many Saudi princes or king’s functions talking about golf. 

· “In an apology published across his social media, Mickelson stated: “I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. “It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this”

· “They’re scary … to get involved with,” Mickelson told Shipnuck about working with the Saudis on the new league. “We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”

We have freedom of speech in America. Certain things like yelling bomb in a crowded movie theater to cause panic are not allowed. However, in the business world of sports, contracts say it all and all jibber-jabber that comes before after it. Phil Mickelson not being invited to the tour was a disgrace. If Jack Nicholas or Arnold Palmer played each other, I would come down to that final putt, and that’s how the old man sees it.    

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BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE PREMIERE OF THE 19TH HOLE DEBUTING TOMORROW AT 8 PM EST ON YOUTUBE.

Huberdeau For The Hart

By : Mike Rifkin

As we come down the stretch of the NHL season one of the most interesting debates is who should win the Hart Trophy as league MVP. There are cases to be made for a lot of players including Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers, Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs, Sidney Crosby of the Penguins among others. But the front runner should be Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers.

In what was the game of the night Tuesday the Florida Panthers came back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-6 in overtime. Huberdeau led the way with two goals including the game winner and three assists and in the process became the first Panther ever to have 100 points in a season. Huberdeau currently sits second in the NHL with 102 points only behind McDavid. McDavid has Leon Draisaitl who sits third with 101 points, Matthews who has 54 goals and 95 points has Mitch Marner who is sixth with 88 ponts. Aleksander Barkov is the next closest Panther to Huberdeau at 18th in the league in scoring. 

Something else that should be factored into Huberdeau’s case is that he has played all 70 games the Panthers have played. Auston Matthews has missed five games and the Leafs are 4-1 without him. But the most important thing is that the Panthers are in first place and if they win the Atlantic Division I don’t know how you can deny Jonathon Huberdeau the Hart Trophy.