Lot of chatter about the future of San Francisco starting pitcher Justin Verlander, who fell to 0-8 on the season after giving up four runs in 2 2/3 innings during a 4-0 loss to Toronto Friday.
The 42-year-old pitcher has made 16 starts this season and is still looking to add to his win total of 262. Of those starts, half have been no-decisions. Many will point out that the Giants simply don’t score enough runs during his starts.
Part of it is simply the vagaries of sports, in general, and baseball, in particular. Verlander certainly has had starts this season that warranted wins. He’s come out of a handful of games with the lead, only to see the bullpen blow it.
But that goes both ways. Yes, the Giants haven’t given Verlander much run support. But given that, Verlander hasn’t held up his end of his $15-million bargain, either, with an ERA just a tick under 5.00. That’s not winning baseball.
When he gave up those four runs Friday, I basically turned off the game because I knew it was over. As we’ve seen this season, the Giants have struggled mightily trying to score even three runs. A four-run deficit might as have been 40.
The Giants haven’t won a Verlander start since the middle of May and have lost each of his last six outings. So what do the Giants do? There’s not a lot of help waiting — and more importantly, ready — in the farm system. Do the Giants’ brass simply try to move him for a change of scenery for another arm that could slot into his spot?
Right now, about the only thing to do is keep running him out there every five days, because there are really no other options. It’s got to break Verlander’s way at some point, but when does the San Francisco’s need to make a playoff push become more important than pitching a guy who is at the end of his career?
Not that there was a lot of question about, but Scottie Scheffler cemented himself as the No. 1 golfer in the world, and right now, it’s not even very close. Scheffler has been so dominating, in fact, that he is drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods.
Scheffler finished off a methodical, boring dismantling of the field in winning his first-ever British Open championship Sunday to go along with the Masters title he won in April and his fourth in the last four years.
An interesting stat put up by NBC Sports as Scheffler was closing in on the title was the fact that both he and Woods needed the exact same amount of time from their first major to their fourth — 1,197 days.
But in one way, Scheffler might even be better than Woods because Scheffler goes out and buries his opponents in the final round, while Woods would simply wait for the competition to wilt.
Scheffler is so boring because he is so good. He rarely finds himself scrambling, so miracle shots are not necessary. Compare that to Woods, a known grinder who would get the lead, make a slew of crazy shots, play par golf and let the rest of the field fade away.
Scheffler, on the other hand, beats the field. He had a four-stroke lead starting Sunday’s final round and he still went 3-under — his worst round of the tournament. Meanwhile, no one really challenged or pushed Scheffler in that final round.
While Scheffler is not a fan of the Woods comparisons, “I think they’re (comparisons) are a little silly. Tiger has, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got a quarter of the way there,” Scheffler said during his post-round press conference.
But other tour players are putting Scheffler in the Woods conversation.
Xander Schauffle, who won the 2024 PGA Championship and British Open, told CBS Sport after his seventh-place finish Sunday: “When you see him (Scheffler) at the top of the leaderboard, it sucks for us.”
I don’t pretend to be a WNBA fan. I’ve watched bits and pieces here and there, but would not consider myself a fan.
And just to get it out of the way: it has nothing to do with women’s sports. I challenge you to find someone who watches more female sports than I do. I’m just not of a fan of leagues anymore. I watch the Golden State Warriors, but I’m not an NBA fan. I watch the San Francisco Giants but am not fan of MLB.
But the biggest problem with the WNBA is the constant off-the-court drama, which seems to be have increased 10-fold with Caitlin Clark entering the league. I try not to pay attention, but when the drama is constantly front and center, it’s hard to avoid.
As far as I can tell, Clark is the most hated player in the league and that was further illustrated by Los Angeles Sparks star Kelsey Plum, who may be Clark’s biggest hater.
After the WNBA all-stars took the court prior to the all-star game wearing “Pay us what you owe us” t-shirts, Plum later was doing a podium interview.
“The t-shirt, this united front was determined this morning, that we had a meeting for,” Plum was quoted as saying. “And not to tattletale, but zero members of Team Clark were very present for that.”
Sabrina Ionescu, who was also sitting at the podium, chimed in with, “Not really needed to be mentioned.”
So Plum doesn’t want to be a “tattletale” and then proceeds to tell stories out of school. Real classy.
Clark is the WNBA’s golden goose and the previous generation of WNBA stars don’t like that, especially Plum, who has become Clark hater No. 1 — a title she shares with recently retired Diana Taurasi.
And I just don’t get it. Here is this generational talent that is bringing all kinds of eyes to a sport that is still propped by the NBA. Supposedly, Plum was joking around. Oh, just like the “joke” she made to a fan a couple weeks ago? Plum told the fan before a game she wasn’t “allowed” to wear a Clark jersey at a Los Angeles game. Plum did give the fan a Sparks’ t-shirt, but again, it just comes off as super petty and mean-spirited.
Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.