Sports comments...
--- The match today between the 15 year old tennis prodigy Coco Gauff and a veteran of the women's tour who I had never heard named Paloma Hercog was entertaining, although not so riveting always such that breaks were not taken here. Tennis can be such a mental game at almost any level above general competency and Gauff is an incredibly quick player who already seems to be a mental savant of the game. Being 15 may help, as who thinks then.
---Hercog was strangely deficient for such an experienced player. She is over 6 feet and uses that as leverage for a powerful serve. Her second serve is a twist that can have a massive jump, one of the best remembered among those in the women's game. What's amazing are two deficiencies. She, at times, makes no attempt to bend her knees adequately on ground strokes and does not seem to know how block and direct volleys. She chips.
---Coco's intensity is real. She took advantage of these shortcomings. She never looked like she was going to stop, but there were a few times mid-match when I wondered...
---It's another classic Mets season. They are good enough to be competitive with anyone but are held back by weaknesses. They have may have the best starting pitching staff in baseball, but among the worst relief corps. They have some capable hitters but most are not fearsome. Their overall defense is mixed, but they have what I think must be the worst shortstop in baseball, Ahmed Rosario. He does not have many errors because he never gets to the ball to make them. He has no intuitive positioning. He glides back away from balls he is moving toward, heroically getting his glove on the ball and his uniform dirty. At such a key position, it is impossible to see why he is there.
---Before yesterday's Mets game, their incredibly capable utility player as well as batting average leader Jeff McNeil went to the Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog eating contest and was interviewed there. He was not a contestant, but is said to be a connoisseur of franks, and has one at every stadium before every game. It's an American game.
---Hercog was strangely deficient for such an experienced player. She is over 6 feet and uses that as leverage for a powerful serve. Her second serve is a twist that can have a massive jump, one of the best remembered among those in the women's game. What's amazing are two deficiencies. She, at times, makes no attempt to bend her knees adequately on ground strokes and does not seem to know how block and direct volleys. She chips.
---Coco's intensity is real. She took advantage of these shortcomings. She never looked like she was going to stop, but there were a few times mid-match when I wondered...
---It's another classic Mets season. They are good enough to be competitive with anyone but are held back by weaknesses. They have may have the best starting pitching staff in baseball, but among the worst relief corps. They have some capable hitters but most are not fearsome. Their overall defense is mixed, but they have what I think must be the worst shortstop in baseball, Ahmed Rosario. He does not have many errors because he never gets to the ball to make them. He has no intuitive positioning. He glides back away from balls he is moving toward, heroically getting his glove on the ball and his uniform dirty. At such a key position, it is impossible to see why he is there.
---Before yesterday's Mets game, their incredibly capable utility player as well as batting average leader Jeff McNeil went to the Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog eating contest and was interviewed there. He was not a contestant, but is said to be a connoisseur of franks, and has one at every stadium before every game. It's an American game.
posted by John Borden at 5:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home