Monday Morning Coffee

April 12, 2021

I’m not going to be that guy. I’m not going to be the guy that sits here and tells you that the Lakers are that much better than the Nets because they blew them out without AD and Lebron. I’m not going to tell you that because the Nets were missing their own top 10 player, and had their best player on a minutes restriction. However, it’s encouraging to see the Lakers treading water without their stars. They’ve slipped to 5th in the West, but if they beat the Knicks tonight, they’ll improved to 6-6 without their two stars, which is way more than anybody could have asked for. I’m still super nervous about the two of them getting fully healthy again, but if they do, you have to like their chances in the playoffs against anybody. On a different note though, I have no idea what NBA referees are thinking. They’ve been ejecting players left and right for the past week like it’s Major League Baseball. We’ve reached the point where star players are getting ejected for some minor trash talking, and during nationally televised games? Apparently nobody has told these clowns that the ratings are down.

Meanwhile, the Clippers are winning but they have their own set of injuries they have to deal with. Serge Ibaka is still out of the lineup, and now Patrick Beverley is missing with a broken hand. Beverley and Rajon Rondo need to be in bubble wrap for the rest of the regular season to preserve them for the playoffs. These guys just can’t keep themselves healthy for an extended period of time. However, their effectiveness will solely be judged by how they perform in the playoffs. The same can be said for Paul George, who is tearing it up again for the time being. This team will only go as far as Paul George and Kawhi Leonard take them. Charles Barkley is apparently not a believer in them though. Barkley is wildly entertaining, but he could probably only say this kind of stuff on TNT, or else he would get fired at a place like ESPN.

To baseball, where the Dodgers swept the Nationals over the weekend. They are off to another great start, but their closer role remains a puzzling issue. Yesterday, Jansen looked as dominant as three years, shutting down the Nationals on 8 pitches in the 9th, and throwing up to 95 MPH to get the save. Coming into Sunday though, Kenley Jansen had appeared in only 3 games, and given up one run, with one blown save. After that one blown save, it felt like Dave Roberts was doing everything he could to tactfully divorce himself from having Jansen as his closer. Every word that came out of Roberts mouth sounds like a guy who is trying to break up with his long-time girlfriend. Pretty soon he’s going to be saying “it’s not you…..it’s me.” Yesterday showed us that the Dodgers shouldn’t write off Kenley yet, but I also think they need other options in their back pocket. I don’t buy that those options are Corey Knebel, Blake Treinen, or Victor Gonzales. Those guys are nice back end bullpen arms, but not closers. If they aren’t going to make one of their young arms a closer, by the trade deadline, the Dodgers might need to go get themselves a proven one.

As for the Angels, it’s only been a week, but I’ve been impressed with their pitching. Although Jose Quintana got bombed on Saturday night, nearly every game they’ve played in this season has featured a quality start. Tough news for Dexter Fowler that he’s out for the season with a torn ACL. He’s older, but glad to hear he sounds determined to come back strong and resume his MLB career. Also, a savvy move by Joe Maddon getting ejected on Saturday. He probably just wanted to see the 3rd round of the Masters in the clubhouse while his team was getting blown out. It’s that kind of work life balance we should all strive to achieve.

It’s been a week since UCLA basketball was eliminated in the Final Four, but the city is still buzzing over the Bruins. Gonzaga ended up losing to Baylor in the Finals, but let’s be real. It was really UCLA that defeated The Zags, because they had nothing left against the Bears. Meanwhile, Mick Cronin is worried the team is going to lose some toughness because some guys are posting photos on IG of their puppies. Don’t worry Mick, I think your guys won’t ever lose that with you coaching the team. Cronin got a well-deserved extension last week. Now his challenge is going to be finding enough minutes next season for a team that could potentially return everybody, plus add two more five-star freshman. That’s an embarrassment of riches, but also makes me think a few of these guys won’t come back because they know there aren’t enough minutes to go around. In any case, the Bruins should be really good next year, and they reminded us that they can still captivate Southern California. Now if only Martin Jarmond can fix the football program.

On the other side of town, the USC Football team had an imposter attending it’s spring football practices up until recently. A homeless man snuck into USC practice, then posed as a football player for several days before being arrested. The imposter even shared a jacuzzi with players, and a team meal, before he was caught trying to field punts. How did this guy make it past security? This was truly a “Catch Me If You Can” moment. As I’ve tried to tell you guys for years, anybody can get into USC! If the homeless guy was really sharp though, he would have tried to impersonate Clay Helton. Nobody can tell the difference between him and a guy who knows nothing about football.

Finally, congratulations to Hideki Matsuyama on winning the Masters yesterday. He’s the first Japanese player to win a major tournament. The man was so dominant, he made the entire weekend boring, with the exception of the last couple of holes. The drama ended though when Xander Schauffle collapsed on the 16th hole. Makes sense…..these kinds of implosions only happen to San Diego, which is where he’s from.
Will Zalatoris looks like the caddy in Happy Gilmore. He even got some well wishes from Adam Sandler on Twitter because of the striking resemblance. No matter how hard you try to sell it, the tournament just isn’t the same without Tiger Woods. Golf can try to sell us Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, or Dustin Johnson all the want, but it’s just not the same. Here’s to hoping we’ll see Tiger back on the course at some point captivating us.

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