The SoapBoxers

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Phil Mickelson picked up his 40th career PGA tour win this past weekend at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. He made putt after putt while pocketing a smooth $1,152,000 for his efforts.

The media has touted this as a Phil versus Tiger deal. Yes it is true that they played in the same group on Sunday. Yes it is true that Phil played a much better round than Tiger as well. Phil played better than everyone to be exact, coming from 6 shots back to win on Sunday.

Mickelson shot a 64, highlighted by two par saving bombs to keep his round going. His 64 was three shots better than any other golfer in the field on Saturday.

 Tied for 9th All-Time

Phil moves into a tie for 9th place of all time behind an extremely impressive lists of folks on the all-time wins list:

 
Phil has always been a very popular player among the golf fans. He is very outspoken, very personable and appears to be very genuine. He has done a lot of work with Special Olympics, and even brought attention to cancer when his wife Amy was diagnosed and going through treatments a couple of years ago.

The Ones That Got Away

Even with forty career wins, Lefty is more often remembered for the ones he didn’t win.

There is no doubt that Mickelson will go down as one of the most popular golfers of all time. His swashbuckling style of play over the years is part of what endeared so many fans towards his camp, but in the end that is also what ultimately may have caused him not to win a few more tournaments.

He has finished in second place at the U.S. Open an astonishing 5 times. He also has two other 4th place finishes to his credit in that tournament. He has never been ranked as the #1 golfer in the world, primarily as he has played a large part of his career during the same span as Tiger Woods.

Mickelson was selected to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this year for his career efforts. Players on tour are not eligible until they are at least 40 years of age. Mickelson turned 40 this past year and was basically immediately voted in through the selection process.

Congratulations Phil. This is a great achievement and here is hoping that you add a few more wins to your tally this year.

Augusta is just seven weeks away…..

Until next time

Stay classy Carmel, California!
 

 

Kosmo is filling in for Johnny Goodman on the sports beat this week.

The Masters

To call me a golf fan would be an absurd exaggeration. In general, I check to see home local boy Zach Johnson is doing and see who wins. This week – even with the return of Tiger Woods – it was the same drill here. Tiger fell a bit short and Phil Mickelson picked up another green jacket. I can’t help but cheer for Mickelson, who faced the dual adversity of his wife and his mother being diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

Country Joe Sings the Wrong Tune

Baseball umpire Joe West – also a country music singer – ruffled some feathers on both sides of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry by saying the two teams were pathetic because of the length of the games they played.

This annoyed me for a couple of reasons. First of all, the umpire is supposed to be an impartial observer. When he made these comments, West crossed a line. If these sorts of statements are to be made, they should come from the commissioner’s office (which later did make a comment about the length of games).

Even more annoying, though, is the continued emphasis on the length of games. One of the beauties of baseball is the fact that it is untimed. You can typically estimate the length of football of basketball games. Baseball is an entirely different beast. You can get a two hour game if the pitchers are working quickly and the batters are swinging at everything. On the flip side, you can have a four hour game if the pitchers are working slowly and the batters are patient.

In baseball, a team is never eliminated until the last out is made. This isn’t the case in other sports. You can’t make up a twenty eight point deficit in fifteen seconds in football. It’s a technical impossibility – you wouldn’t have enough time to execute the necessary players. In baseball, though, you can rally from a 10-0 deficit with two outs in the ninth. As long as you keep getting hits, the game will continues.

Have you ever been to a great rock concert and later, complained about the length? Of course not. If the experience is of poor quality, this is a problem. If it’s merely excess quantity, this really isn’t a problem.

The Resin Bag

Nationals prospect Stephen Strasburg and Reds farmhand Aroldis Chapman both began their minor league careers with strong performances. Don’t expect either of these guys to stay down very long. Once the teams are assured of having their free agency (and possibly arbitration) delayed, these guys will pop up to the majors.

Meanwhile, Mike Leake jumped into the Reds rotation without any minor league experience. If Chappy is indeed being kept down for financial reasons, then why did the Reds keep Leake with the big club to start the season? They could have delayed Leake’s free agency in a similar fashion. Any chance that the Reds will demote Leake when Chappy is promoted – for just enough time to delay his free agency?

CC Sabathia put up a strong performance on Saturday night, taking a no-hit big into the eighth inning. I love the anticipation of a no-hitter in progress and always pull for the pitcher.

On the Rockies beat, Jorge de la Rosa started off his 2010 campaign strong, tossing seven innings of one hit ball. Keep an eye on George of the Rose. He started last year 0-6 with a 5.43 ERA before rallying to finish 16-9 with a 4.38 ERA. For those of you keeping score at home, that means he went 16-3 with a 3.94 ERA from June 5th through the end of the season. The ERA might not seem dominant … but bear in mind that his home park is Coors Field.

Matt Holliday of the Cardinals is off to a hot start, with three homers in seven games (he is, of course, playing second fiddle to Albert Pujols, who has five).  I have always contended that Holliday’s bat would play anywhere.  Clearly Coors Field boosted his numbers … but not by as much as the raw home/road splits would make you think.  If you compare Holliday’s differential to those of other Rockies, you’d quickly noticed that his differential dwarfed those of the teammates.  Either the park was exceptionally well suited for him … or he’s simply the sort of player who thrives in front of a home crowd.  Hey, guess what – his home OPS was 150 points high than his road OPS last year … despite being in Oakland (bad hitter’s park) at the beginning of the year.  As a point of comparison, across baseball, the typical player has an OPS 30 points higher at home.  I’m expecting a strong season from Happy this year as well.

I made a rookie goof in fantasy baseball and neglected to pay attention to my starting lineup.  As a result, I had a sub-standard lineup in place for week 1.  My Yura Peeins fell to Johnny Goodman’s team 6-4.  I lost two pitching categories and four of the five hitting categories – nabbing the only win in steals.  Honestly, though, even with my A lineup, I would probably have lost by the same score.