The Final Quarter

I have this book which I bought at the Philadelphia Mint a number of years ago. The US Government issued new quarters for each state and territory. I have been avidly collecting them. Most were easy to locate. When I got to my last ten, the search became more difficult. As I hit the last five, I was heading to the bank for rolls of quarters fairly regularly. 

Then it became one. The US Virgin Islands. For weeks I have been going back and forth to the local bank, tearing apart the rolls and finding nothing. Until this Tuesday.

That is when I found the USVI going in the first of two rolls I had before me. Hallelujah. It was over. I had the final quarter. I felt so relieved. 

Perhaps, too, Yankees fans can relax. The team has won three games out of the last four. For this team, that is cause for cheers. 

However, the reality is that the win over Atlanta was earned by walks and wild pitches rather than timely hitting. And in the second game of the two game set, not only did the team revert to its normal ways and lose, they lost dismally and with controversy.

Shortstop Gleyber Torres, mired in a slump like the rest of his teammates, hit a slow roller in the infield. Instead of busting it down the line, Torres ran casually to first base and was out. With no real hitting prowess, every at bat, every swing is meaningful—especially the ones which are put into play. A hit here, an errant throw there, and a rally might be born. 

What Torres did was a sin. Gary Sanchez got into trouble in the past for not hustling down the line. In the post game conference, Manager Aaron Boone was not too pleased with his young shortstop and indicated that he would speak directly to him about the transgression. 

Moreover, Aaron Judge stated after the loss to the Braves that the team lacked intensity for that contest. Lacked intensity? These guys are being paid exorbitant sums of money to play on a major league level. They should play like their salaries depend upon their performances. 

Whatever Boone said, coupled with the criticism of play-by-play Michael Kay on his ESPN New York radio show as well as in the print media about the lack of enthusiasm, motivated the team as it came to play in the opener of a three game set in Cleveland on Thursday night. While down 3-0 after one inning, pitcher Domingo German righted himself and shut down the Tribe, a team in the midst of its own losing ways. Three relievers, the last being closer Aroldis Chapman and his 100 m.p.h. fastball which translated into three strikeouts to end the game, made what was an offensive surge stand up for a much needed win. 

Yankees bats erupted for 11 hits, led by that man, Gleyber Torres, with three. Judge, Clint Frazier and new first baseman Mike Ford went hitless. Judge did walk three times to go with his two strikeouts.

The second hitting star was catcher Kyle Higashioka. The recently turned 31 year old, who was thought to be primarily the backup for regular catcher Gary Sanchez, is slugging his way into the lineup while Sanchez’s average once again plummets. On Thursday night, Higgy went 2-4, with a mammoth home run. A career .199 hitter and the supposed personal catcher for ace Gerrit Cole, Higashioka is hitting a robust .353 with 3 homers. 

Manager Boone is going to have a dilemma on his hands. How to allocate playing time for his catchers. Higashioka is seemingly a lock to play every time Cole pitches (BTW-I found out that Higashioka, who is of Japanese-American heritage, speaks Spanish and can communicate with his Spanish-speaking pitcher, as evidenced by his conversation with Chapman after the last pitch). In comparison, Sanchez is hitting .200 with two home runs. 

Does Boone give the bulk of the catching to Sanchez, lest he risk losing the psyche of his Opening Day catcher if he plays Higashioka more games than he has already? And will playing Higgy sacrifice needed offense on a team struggling to find its identity?

Right now, every game has much more meaning because of the place the players have placed themselves. Maybe the road trip which began in Cleveland for three games (Saturday’s matchup is a dandy—Cole versus Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber) and then heads to Baltimore for four more games will be a catalyst to a winning season. The relief corps has shined while the bats have been largely silent—although thee was some pop in the bats on Friday night when Giancarlo Stanton hit two dingers and Rougned Odor blasted one. 

Maybe this is the time they both sync up and the Yankees become formidable. Maybe a first four weeks of bad play will translate into a better end of April and beginning of May.

Otherwise, the Yankees are unwatchable and that’s a shame. Especially with 144 more games left to play. 

San Diego and the Dodgers are in the midst of a four game set at Chavez Ravine. The Padres took the opener on Thursday night with the help of a spectacular double play to secure the victory. These teams went at it last week in an intense series won by LA, but the Padres are on a two game win streak versus the Dodgers. When I see pitching matchups like Friday’s Yu Darvish for San Diego and Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers, my anticipation level rises. (San Diego won on Friday night, too) I hope MLB Network carries all the games. 

Quietly, the teams from the Bay Area are doing quite well. The Giants are 13-7 and in second place behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Correspondingly, Oakland is 13-7; those 12 wins are part of a 12 game winning streak which arrived in Baltimore for three games. Also trending well are the Seattle Mariners, tied with the A’s for first place in the AL West. Just like the Yankees being in last place right now, the records of these surprise teams may not be indicative of how they end the season. 

Also notable was Matt Harvey’s first win for the Orioles. Matt has come back from thoracic outlet surgery and is pitching credibly. He is not the ace he was with the Mets, but he is a capable MLB caliber pitcher.

Did you see the bunt that Joey Gallo laid down against the shift. The Texas slugger took advantage of the Tampa Bay move and drove in a run. Good for him.

Corbin Burnes has a streak of 40 strikeouts while issuing no walks. No starting pitcher has ever accomplished this feat. The Brewers pitcher has an 0.37 E.R.A. thus far. Wow. I am going to track him for awhile. 

Jacob deGrom is doing it all for the Mets. On Friday night, he pitched a complete game two hit gem against Washington, fanning 15 Nats in the process. Oh, and by the way, the former college shortstop collected two hits. He is batting .545 this season and has an 0.31 E.R.A. That is impressive. (A side note—deGrom swatted his only homer in his 2010 season at Stetson off of Florida Gulf Coast University and Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year Chris Sale, now on the Boston Red Sox and soon to return from Tommy John surgery)

Checking in on the best player in baseball, I find that Mike Trout is only batting .393 with six homers and 12 RBI. He smacked a homer that left the yard at 115.5 m.p.h. and traveled a modest 449 feet. I marvel at the ability of this South Jersey phenom as he marches his way to Cooperstown.

Speaking of checking in on players, Steph Curry has come down to being only above average for a game. After monster games in Boston and Philadelphia (44 and 49 points and some highlight reel shots), he had a pedestrian 18 points (for him) in a loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Golden State does not match up well with Washington—Wizards guards Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook out dueled the Warriors in both games this season. 

While the outbursts which Curry has had in his unreal stretch may not be a common theme for the remainder of the season, he is still an incredible player to watch. Must see TV when he is on the court—and the networks know it. 

Friday night was a bonanza for the sports fan. The appetizer is the Yankees game. Then the side-to-side games were the Padres-Dodgers (a SD win) and the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic visited the Warriors GS won, with Curry adjusting a bad tape job to his ankle to erupt for 25 points in the 2nd half for a total of 32). 

A couple of other notes. The New York Knicks are on an eight game winning streak. That’s right—the Knicks are on a winning streak! Julius Randle has been a star all season. Coach Tom Thibodeau has been a steadying influence, coalescing the talents of a myriad of players into a winning bunch. 

Coach Tibs will receive some attention for Coach of the Year. As he should. My vote would go to Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz. With Monty Williams of Phoenix closely behind. How the two teams end the regular season will determine who wins this award. Right now Utah leads the Suns by 2 games as the season winds down. 

As for the Knicks—they might not be real contenders for the Eastern Conference spot in the NBA Finals—if injuries didn’t play a big part of what is happening in that conference. The Sixers are missing Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris, two exceptionally important pieces to the puzzle. Joel Embiid, as great as he is—he almost won the game against Phoenix on Wednesday night with a full court heave that went in and out of the basket—can’t do it alone. 

The Nets are dealing with another injury to Kevin Durant and James Harden, who was playing incredibly before suffering a hamstring injury, recently suffered a relapse in his rehab.  Without Harden and Durant joining Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn is not going to emerge as a winner. 

With the Bucks, Hawks (guard Trae Young suffered an ankle sprain, making him very questionable for the rest of the season), Celtics and Heat all meandering through the season, it is difficult to predict who can win in the playoffs. 

In the West, while Anthony Davis has finally returned to the Lakers lineup, Lebron James in nowhere near a recovery. No Lakers repeat in my mind. Any of the top four teams could reforest the Western Conference in the NBA Finals—Utah, Phoenix, the Clippers and Denver. 

The Play-In Tournament begins on May 18. The season is fast closing. Thankfully.

A shout out to 41 year old Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks. He broke a great NHL record held by one of the greatest hockey players. The number 2 pick of the 1997 NHL Draft has played the most games in NHL history, passing the legendary Gordie Howe, who played in 1797 games. That is some achievement. 

I am going to remind my readers that the title of this blog is RetiredLawyerSportsOp. So I am going to take off my sports hat and use my lawyer experience to opine on a subject in the news.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of all charges in his trial for the death of George Floyd which ended this week. It was the right decision based upon the excellent case that the prosecution presented, coupled with the defense being hamstrung because of the video which was key to charges being filed, an Indictment being returned and now justice being served. 

I had no doubt that the jury deliberations would turn out as they did. This was a heinous offense. 

But in a world where we have seen many other equally troubling and unfathomable things happen to people of color, I can understand both the angst before the verdict and the relief from its result. This case was a flashpoint in American society.

What I can take away from this outcome is that it is the right one in the right place at the right time. There is another tragic case which happened in the same county, 10 miles from the site of the trial. It will ultimately get the same scrutiny, yet the facts are different and could lead to a result that those invested in its outcome might be disappointed with. 

Shootings of unarmed black youth or, in the recent matter of the death of a Columbus, Ohio girl armed with a knife, present different sets of circumstances. Yet, the chorus against oppressive police conduct remains the same, with the expectations very high and the disappointments so hurtful. 

What played out in the Hennepin County Court House this week would most certainly not have happened in Alabama or Mississippi. It might not have happened in neighboring Wisconsin or Ohio or even California or New York. 

There is plenty to build on from these kinds of horrible events. Justice needs to be served much better than it was in the past. 

Police conduct and training must be overhauled. I saw it in my days in Union County where the conduct of a few “cowboys” who flaunted their badges led to unfortunate results for black and Hispanic youths. 

Even today, in Parsippany, New Jersey, there is a “G-d Squad.” The police leadership has a point system for stops and arrests which is in dereliction of their duty and contravenes established practices about quotas. These officers, in plain clothes, make pretextual stops and have developed nefarious means to meet their “obligations.,” which includes planting evidence.

Body cameras and cell phones are recording police actions. There is much more transparency. Which is good and needed. Bad cops must be held accountable. 

Defunding the police is not the answer. Neither is rioting or the inflammatory rhetoric of people like the Hon. Maxine Waters, who showed up in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota and sounded like others who recently incited a riot of epidemic proportions.

What is missing here is a clear leader to push for change. It should not be a political figure. Where I think of leadership that has made a difference for the black community, I think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His speeches and actions were what led  to the Civil Rights Act.  I am all for community activism. It must continue. What is necessary is a coalescing of the movements—a galvanizing force that can devote the time and effort to effectuate change like Dr. King did, as he spoke and prayed with the people he fought so hard for. 

Sports and entertainment figures like Lebron James and Oprah Winfrey are needed as well as political leadership in Washington that can agree on a monumental change in removing prejudice that is still evident in voting rights and other means to deprive black citizens of their rights, and enact meaningful gun reform. I pray this happens soon. 

In the midst of the pandemic, we can take pause and ask, what have we, as a society, become? And decide where can we best effectuate change to make this a better America than we have right now.