I Am In Awe

This week has been filled with events which have left my mouth agape and my mind wondering what will happen to top the current game or action. And this is a lull period in sports, when baseball is on its break, the NBA is only playing Summer League games and football is yet to start training camps.

The first jaw-dropping event was the Home Run Derby at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the site of the next day’s 90th MLB All-Star Game. I have watched a number of these contests and they have had their moments. 500’ homers, Josh Hamilton hitting the most bombs in a round, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge validating why they are feared sluggers. 

The list of winners is a veritable who’s who of baseball and those who slug home runs. Besides Judge and Stanton, Bryce Harper, Dave Parker (the first winner in 1985), Darryl Strawberry, Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder (twice) and Yoenis Cespedes (twice) are among the notable sluggers who have won the Derby. Questionable steroid users Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi have ended up in first place. Surprise winners include Wally Joyner, Tino Martinez, Bobby Abreu, Justin Morneau and Todd Frazier. Six Hall of Fame players have walked away with the trophy: Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Cal Ripken, Jr., Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey, Jr. (three) and Vladimir Guerrero. 

The event has changed format quite a bit over the years. This year’s version pitted 8 players against each other in the first round, by seeding. The winners advanced until there was a championship round and a winner emerged. 

There are three names that stand out from this year’s version. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., the recently called up Texas Rangers rookie who is the son of a former winner and a Hall of Famer; Joc Pederson, the Dodgers’ slugging outfielder; and rookie Peter Alonso, “the Polar Bear,” from the New York Mets. They made for a trio for the ages.

Let’s start with Guerrero, Jr. This kid is built and he is strong! His first round broke the existing record for any previous round when he mashed 29 shots into the stands. On his next round, Guerrero again hit 29 homers. Which put him up against Pederson, who had heroically come back to beat his opponent with a prodigious total of his own.

The Guerrero, Jr.-Pederson duel in the semi-finals was incredible. The Texas Rangers rookie put up mind boggling numbers in his opening round. Unbeatable one would have thought. Except that Pederson matched him. They went through a couple of tie-breakers of three swings each before Guerrero, Jr. emerged the victor with 40 homers to Pederson’s 39. It was an unbelievable display of power and determination. 

Meanwhile, despite his pitcher being off a bit with his tosses, Alonso did enough to win his two rounds without extending as much energy as Guerrero, Jr. had. Still, Guerrero, Jr. stroked 22 homers in the final round. Alonso, meanwhile, still suffered with his pitcher and looked destined to finish second to his rookie peer, who had amassed an extraordinary 91 homers, smashing the previous total of Stanton, which was 61.

Except that nobody told Alonso he wasn’t supposed to win the Home Run Derby. With an amazing finish, the Mets first baseman topped his opponent with a last ditch 23rd homer to win it all. It was absolute great theater, which lasted well over 2 1/2 hours, with shots raining all around Progressive Field, which has a high wall in left field and some significant distances to its other parts of the park (the Braves’ Ronald Acuna, Jr. hit balls into the opposite field stands as had Alonso). 

A total of 312 homers were hit, obliterating the old record total. Pederson holds the all-time record for a player, with 99 homers in two years. Guerrero, Jr. is tied with Todd Frazier at 91, with Frazier having competed in 3 Derbies. Pederson is third in homers in a Home Run Derby with his 60, trailing Guerrero, Jr. and Stanton, the latter having won a title while putting 61 balls into the bleachers. Perhaps, despite the denials of MLB Commissioner that MLB didn’t order the ball to be juiced, the year of the homer was vividly illustrated in the Home Run Derby with a juiced ball.

I wonder if the founders of the Home Run Derby ever anticipated this kind of affair, laden with drama? I think not. It does not really epitomize baseball and is more like batting practice without a batting cage. But it creates stars and is a lot of fun to watch (Clayton Kershaw hurried back to the field from dinner to watch Pederson in his epic slugfest with Guerrero, Jr.). Don’t you think Guerrero, Jr. will be back next year, eager to win the Derby? To those purists who do not like the Home Run Derby, I say evolve—this should remain part of All-Star Game festivities like the 3 point shot contest that accompanies the NBA All-Star Game. For the fans love it. Which is what is most important.

As to the ASG, the American League continued its dominance over the National League, prevailing in a close 4-3 victory. NL Batting Champion Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies finally had an ASG hit, which was a home run after going 0-12 in prior games. Pete Alonso capped his great two days with a two R.B.I. hit which handcuffed the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres. That accounted for the NL scoring. Michael Brantley of the Houston Astros, a former star in Cleveland for the past ten season, hit an R.B.I. double. Joey Gallo, an emerging slugger from the Texas Rangers, deposited the first ASG pitch he ever faced into the stands for a home run. Jorge Polanco drove in Gary Sanchez from second after Sanchez had doubled. The other A.L. tally came via a double play.

Pitching was the big thing in this game. The AL hurlers struck out 16 NL batters. The Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka was the winning pitcher and his teammate, Aroldis Chapman, vilified in Cleveland with his Game 7 heroics for the Cubs in taking the 2016 World Series from the homesteading Indians, got the save. Clayton Kershaw suffered another loss in a prominent game, which is in vivid contrast to his overall consistency. The Indians’ Shane Bieber was awarded the M.V.P. for striking out the side in his one inning of relief.

Things I liked about the game included the miking up of Freddie Freeman when he faced Justin Verlander (struck out looking on a nasty curveball) and the audio between Christian Yelich and Cory Bellinger when Brantley hit his double. Same with Alonso when he stretched to take a throw at first to nip a runner. Sending out former Cleveland Indians star C.C. Sabathia in his Yankees jersey in the 9th inning with two out to “speak” with Chapman was classy and allowed the pitcher to soak up the adulation. FOX should have shown us Sabathia’s ceremonial first pitch to his former battery mate Sandy Alomar, Jr. in real time.

It was a relatively quick game with some bursts of excitement. The introduction of the lineups was as thrilling as always. And like that, we returned to the regular season on Thursday with Houston at Texas and then the remainder of the slate on Friday. 

On Friday night, something special happened. The Angels played their first home game since the tragic death of their beloved teammate Tyler Skaggs. The entire Angels team wore a “Skaggs 45” jersey in tribute to their fallen mate; Mike Trout had previously donned the jersey and wore it proudly in Cleveland at the All-Star Game. Skaggs’ mother, the long time softball coach at Santa Monica High School, threw a perfect strike in a ceremonial pitch. It was a dignified ceremony for a fine player and highly-respected teammate.

Debbie Skaggs’s perfect strike set the tone for the evening. What transpired next in Anaheim was beyond belief. Trout led the charge for the Angels with a first inning home run, going 3-4 with 7 R.B.I. The Angles won 13-0 over the Seattle Mariners. 

But that wasn’t the miracle which took place. Two Angles pitcher combined to no-hit the Mariners, walking just one batter instead of achieving a perfect game. In that kind of environment, with that kind of emotion present in the ballpark, to trounce an opponent and to no-hit them is simple beyond belief. 

TV captured the Angels team surrounding the mound after the game and removing their jerseys and placing them on the mound in a tribute to Skaggs. His picture was put there to commemorate the moment. Hugs and cheers and tears abounded. Shots of the Skaggs family in the owners box punctuated the outburst of joy and happiness in remembering Tyler Skaggs. This was one of the most remarkable moments in baseball which I can recall in my entire life. I am glad that somehow I was awake to watch this live as the whole end of the game unfolded.

On Saturday, NBC reported these startling coincidences. Trout’s home run traveled 454 feet. Tyler Skaggs uniform number is 45. The Angels put up 7 runs in the first inning and scored a total of 13 runs. Incredibly, Tyler Skaggs birthday is 7/13.  This was the 13th combined no hitter in American League history. July 13, 1991 was the last time a combined no hitter had been thrown in California. Ready for this—Tyler Skaggs full birthdate is 7/13/91. Finally, this is the 11th no hitter in Angels history. Tyler Skaggs wore number 11 in high school.  And if you hadn’t noticed, all of this happened a day before what would have been his 28th birthday.

If there is a heaven, Tyler Skaggs is a true Angel in the sky, watching over his friends and family. I hope that the Angels can ride this emotion and capture a Wild Card berth. They are only 5.5 games behind Cleveland for the second spot.

Max Kepler plays for the Minnesota Twins. Trevor Bauer pitches for the Cleveland Indians. Saturday evening Kepler hit two home runs off of Bauer in his first two at bats. That gave him 5 consecutive homers against Bauer. That tied a MLB record with two other players since the expansion era began in 1961. I bet Bauer felt relieved that Kepler went 0-3 for the rest of the night. 

One more baseball story. Home plate umpire Dana DeMuth was struck on the left forearm by a foul tip off of the bat of the aforementioned Freddie Freeman during Friday night’s game in San Diego between the Braves and Padres. His arm immediately turned black and blue from the shot and there was a small bit of blood. It was obvious that when the San Diego trainers talked with DeMuth, he was in a ton of pain and he could not grip the hand of the trainer with any strength. After an 11 minute delay, Angel Hernandez replaced DeMuth behind the plate. No further word on the extent of the freak injury. 

Just a week ago, Austin Romine of the Yankees was stuck by a foul tip on his right forearm, Romine remained in the game despite the pain and managed to get a base hit later in the contest. It is a tough and nasty job being behind home plate. It is a wonder that more injuries don’t occur from foul balls. 

The trade of two dislikable NBA superstars—Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook—made NBA headlines. The thought of the Rockets being better is true—without an aging Paul, Houston will be dramatically better in some facets of the game. In others, including shot distribution and defense, it won’t work out as well. I don’t see the Rockets better than the two LA teams, Portland and a younger, leaner Golden State team. For that matter, Utah and Denver could be better than Houston, too.

Paul may stay at OKC for one year tops. GM Sam Presti is securing a boatload of draft picks and rebuilding the franchise from the bottom. I don’t see Paul as anything more than a stopgap measure or more trade bait in a third party deal which gets OKC draft choices and sends Paul to the Lakers, Clippers or a team trying to break through like Sacramento, or a team that will stink like the Knicks?

A story I heard was that Dewayne Wade made jersey swaps over the past year with friends in the NBA as his going away gift. It turns out that supposedly 12 of 18 players he dealt with last season will not be in the same uniform as swapped. Welcome to NBA free agency. His one secure uniform swap—with a legend—was with Benny the Bull, the Chicago mascot. He will not be going free agent. Benny has been seen lately at Humboldt Park in the Windy City, searching for that elusive alligator…

Wimbledon has concluded. Through the women’s semi-finals, we were treated to Serena Williams  reaching another Wimbledon final, in search of that elusive 24th major title. Her opponent would be Simona Halep, who had won a French Open and was making her first appearance in the Ladies Championships final. The experts all thought Serena would continue to dominate and steamroller her opponent. 

That would not be the case. Halep was quicker, stronger, better prepared and dominated Serena. Williams serve, usually her weapon, betrayed her and Halep won points by outlasting Williams, provoking Serena into numerous unforced errors. Halep deserved to be the champion for her outstanding effort against a 37 year old mother and icon of women’s tennis. In the post-match remarks, Halep related how her mother told her that to be something in tennis, she had to reach a Wimbledon final. To that end, Halep positively changed her game for the grass surface. Mission accomplished.

Although their partnership only lasted three matches before they were eliminated, Serena and former Wimbledon men’s champion Andy Murray were so much fun to watch in mixed doubles. When Serena returned a 135 m.p.h. serve from a male opponent, I was dumbfounded, then only to recognize that she is that great a player. 

On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic made the finals in a four set win. The focus was on the second semi-final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the two greatest male players of this generation. They hadn’t met since an epic 2008 match on the All England Club’s famed grass courts. While this match lasted four sets, Federer and Nadal slugged it out as anticipated. Federer prevailed this time, halting the momentum of Nadal just enough and having to convert the fifth match point to finally win. For the moment there was some validation for Federer, having beaten a quality opponent and making a Wimbledon finals. 

Sunday’s Djokovic-Federer match had the trappings of good versus evil. The dark side against the hero. That is drama. So many fans, like the legions who wanted Serena to win another championship, were on the emotional side for Federer. What happened on Sunday transcended what either side’s following could believe.

I am not going to dissect this match, because it would be an injustice. Besides, how do you properly analyze a 4:57 match that brought about the first ever men’s tie breaker 5th set at 12-12? You don’t. It was marvelous, gripping tennis. One player had to win and it was Djokovic, who prevailed in 3 tie breaker sets to garner his 16th major title and Wimbledon crown #5. 

Both are physical marvels. Federer, just shy of 38 years old, didn’t look winded or exhausted. Same with the 32 year old Djokovic, who is clearly the top tennis player in the world right now—even if he eked by Federer. What they must have is nerves of steel and iron-clad concentration. Grass is a difficult surface to navigate and they did so with aplomb. Holding it together for nearly 5 hours is only for the best in the world. Which was proven on July 14, 2019 in England. 

I had breakfast and lunch during the match. I did some housework, too. I even took a nap. We made a trip to the grocery store. Yet I was able to see the final set from 1-1 to its conclusion.

At the trophy presentation, the chair umpire was recognized for his performance. To be cemented to the chair for over 5 hours is taxing. You have to be relieved when the match ends. You can now eat, go to the bathroom and revel in your part in making history.

The fans, dignitaries and those in the family boxes and in the TV booths could not move much from their seats. I don’t know how they could do it. They must be tired from the ebb and flow of watching this epic meeting. 

Both players had their opportunities to win—Djokovic fought off two Championship points to prevail. In the end, like with the Women’s final, the sentimental favorite finished second. 

What I am is in awe of the tennis on Sunday along with many of the other events I have chronicled above. This is what makes watching and writing about sports so much fun.

I think I need another nap. Plus a vacation. See you in two weeks.