Starting Five
1. Au Bon Spain
Rafael Nadal wins the French Open — on Friday. Sure, he defeated David Ferrer in straight sets moments ago, but it was his 4 hour, 37-minute five-set classic versus No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic at Stade Roland Garros (by printing it that way, you know I know my clay courts!) on Friday that clinched it. Rafi has now won a ridiculous EIGHT French Opens, a number that no male has amassed at any major. His career record at this tournament is 58-1. It’s like inserting Jadeveon Clowney into a Pop Warner game.
2. Speaking of Marathons…
The New York Mess trot out arguably the most dominant pitcher of 2013 versus the game’s worst team and, for the second time in a week, they lose (while that pitcher, Matt Harvey, gets a No Decision). This one was excrementally special, though:
–First of all, it went 20 innings at Citi Field.
–There were 28 hits, 27 of which were singles. The only extra-base hit, a double, occurred in the bottom of the second inning and plated the Mess’ lone run.
–Mess’ “reliever” Shawn Marcum, a starter, came on in the 13th inning and threw more pitches, 104, than any of the other 15 pitchers who appeared in the contest. Marcum, who retired 16 batters in a row at one point, also took the loss, moving his record to 0-7.
–The game lasted 6:25. It started five hours before the Belmont Stakes and three hours before the Yankees at Mariners, and ended after both of them.
–The Mess went 0-19 with runners in scoring position, and put the winning run at second base or third in the 9th, 10th, 11th and 13th innings.
— It was the longest game in more than three seasons. On April 17, 2010, these same Mess beat the Cardinals in 20 innings.
–The Rangers and Blue Jays went 18 innings; it’s only the second time in MLB history that two 18 inning-or-longer games occurred on the same day (August 18, 2006; both 18-inning games).
–Announced crowd was just above 20,000; by the end there were only hundreds at Citi Field. After the 14th inning the public address system played Chuck Berry’s “No Particular Place To Go” while the crowd broke into a chant of “Let’s Go Home!”
–The Mess blow. Did I say that? That was Harvey’s 8th No Decision in his last nine starts, even though he is 5-0 and his ERA is 2.10. You can’t match Doc Gooden’s 24-4 season when your lineup averages about one run per game for you.
3. Kuwait ’til Next Year!
No, it’s really not THAT cold outside.
I’m sure most of you have been avidly following qualifying for the Women’ Asian Cup, but for those of you still living in a cave (our drones will find you!), Jordan beat Kuwait 21-0 the other day (it was Jordan’s most impressive effort since Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals). The funniest part? In the four-team qualifier, Jordan trailed Uzbekistan in goal differential by 17 goals. Jordan and Uzbekistan are playing today.
4. Cullen Finnerty in The New York Times
Greg Bishop of TNYT pens the definitive “Barry Special” piece * on the mysterious death of former Grand Valley State quarterback Cullen Finnerty. Excellent reporting. Print still has a pulse.
*A “Barry Special” refers to a human-interest story that is usually miles away from the front page but that has so much pathos that it begs to be written. Named for the unsinkable Barry Werner, editor and human search engine, who once dispatched this scribe to the town of Anaconda, Montana, for one week to research the death of Wayne Estes (and I’d like to thank NBCSports.com for wiping all the stories we wrote for them off the internet so that I am unable to link to it here). Credit for coining of this term belongs, I believe, to sports editor Chris D’Amico, owner of the best head of hair of any man over the age of 50.
5. Vanderdoes Not Want To Sit Out a Year
The five-star defensive lineman from Auburn, Calif., Eddie Vanderdoes, who chose not to enroll at Notre Dame and has since enrolled at UCLA, is appealing his one-year hiatus on the grounds of “extenuating family health circumstances.” This according to the ever-awesome Bruce Feldman of CBSSports.com. As soon as Feldman wrote this report, Gregg Doyel tweeted “Shame on Notre Dame” because of course he did. All I’ll say is that UCLA is still a six-hour drive from Vanderdoes’ hometown and that the last time a five-star defensive recruit signed with Notre Dame and then was involved with a mysterious illness in California, well…
Remote Patrol
Tonight…TOO MUCH SENSORY STIMULATION!
NBA Countdown and Game 2, NBA Finals
ABC 7:30 p.m.
Tony Awards
CBS 8 p.m.
Game of Thrones, Season 3 Finale
HBO, 9 p.m.
Mad Men
AMC, 10 p.m.
“Actually, a tie is not like kissing your sister.”
As our extremely loyal commenter, Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times notes, it’s “an undercard battle of AMC (“Mad Men”) versus gay emcee (Neil Patrick Harris on the Tony Awards),” while I’d add that the main event pits KingSlayer versus KingJames Slayers.