One of the mysteries of the first two months of the baseball season was the inability of Grady Sizemore to get things rolling. The Indians' centerfielder is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the majors, and, with a batting average hovering around .250, he was performing at a level far below expectations.That's changed of late, and, with it, so have the Tribe's offensive fortunes. He's not alone in picking things up, of course. Ryan Garko, Jamey Carroll and Casey Blake have shown important signs of life as well, to go along with the solid hitting of Ben Francisco and Shin-Soo Choo.
But as Grady goes, so goes the Tribe, and his hot streak continues of late, just as -- no coincidence here -- the Indians have won two consecutive series. His batting average has gradually climbed to .266, and his 17 home runs (five in his last five games) rank second in the American League.
Baby steps, to be sure, but Sizemore must continue to sizzle if the Indians are to climb back into contention in the A.L. Central.
Playoff classic
When we last wrote about the U.S. Open, Tiger Woods had just climbed back into contention after a remarkable finish to Saturday's third round. It's no surprise that he sank a putt to tie Rocco Mediate and force an 18-hole playoff, and no surprise that he won that playoff to claim his 14th major victory.
But what a great story. Mediate was Everyman for a day, if not for a weekend, and twice almost pulled out the victory -- once on Sunday, and again on Monday. His engaging demeanor and the way he handled the spotlight with such optimism and grace made the golf world fall in love with him, and, truth be told, root for him to win the first major of his career. Mediate has 15 PGA Tour victories, so he's no slouch, but he's also 45, and only the Nicklauses of the world won majors that late in their career. Well, maybe until Tiger is that age.Mediate battled Woods tooth-and-nail throughout the day and actually led the playoff by one stroke heading to the 18th hole. But he drove his tee shot into a bunker and opened the door for Woods to tie it up, which, of course, he did. No one handles the pressure of the big stage better than Tiger Woods. One extra hole was all that was needed for him to wrap up his 65th career win, which, oh by the way, moved him past Ben Hogan for third place on the all time list, eight behind Jack Nicklaus and 17 behind Sam Snead.
An honor for C.C.
Amidst all the contract talk -- will the Indians trade him or keep him? -- C.C. Sabathia was honored as the A.L.'s Player of the Week Monday, after winning a 1-0 complete game victory over Minnesota last Wednesday and outdeuling Greg Maddux and the San Diego Padres on Sunday. He issued only one walk in 17 innings in the two games, while fanning 15 to pass Charles Nagy on the team's all-time strikeout list. Sabathia leads the A.L. with 97 strikeouts in 99-1/3 innings pitched (also a league best).
2 comments:
Knowing what we know now about Tiger makes it more amazing that he did what he did. Felt bad for Rocco, but it was an epic.
Tiger is the best ever. Maybe in any sport. Modern golfers are better than the old golfers from the 40's and 50's and 60's. Just like baseball, basketball or football players are bigger, faster and stronger than the old-timers. Today's golfers hit it farther and are way better putters. Just watch old film or old TV shows on the Golf Channel. Golfers used to hit stubby putts and settle for being close to the hole. Today there are tons of 20 and 30 and 40 foot putts made. Sometimes it's on really fast greens, too. Tiger made a 70 foot putt during the Open and nobody was surprised. He does everything well and is way better than anybody who has ever played. He beats better players and he makes them look silly. He better get young kids really excited so there's somebody to replace him when he is gone, because golf wouldn't be the same without him. He's the biggest name in sports.
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