Let's Get It Rolling...

The last week has been one of Summer Sports Shockers --large and small, good and bad. Let's take a look at them this morning...and afternoon...and...

The most shocking event was QB Andrew Luck, who was half-way to the Hall of Fame, retiring from the NFL at 29. That he retired at all --for any reason-- when, according to his owner, he might have been turning his back on >$450M in future earning, was an incredible stunner.

But what struck me hardest --and saddest, because it tells you how brutal, grinding and demoralizing NFL pain-and-injury must be-- is that Luck retired with a sprained ankle! This must set a new record for The Last Straw.

His list of injuries in his years with the Colts is long, brutal and typical of NFL QBs (and everybody else), including missing the whole '17 season. In his post-game (post-booing by Indy fans) interview late Saturday night, Luck explained that he had "made a vow" to himself that the next time he faced a long tough injury rehab --after basically enduring 4 years of 24/7/365 pain-and0-rehab-- he was going to "chose me, so to speak."

They don't make athletes much tougher, more competitive or in love with their sport than Luck.

Imagine the YEARS of grinding injury and rehab that must have led him to the point where he'd say: That is the last straw. I'm not going to live like this. As you'd expect, he's received enormous support, as well as a couple of rockhead comments.

Next, how good are the Nats!!? After their sweep in Wrigley Field over the weekend, the Nats don't look like a team the Cubs would relish playing if they meet in the WC/WC game.

In fact, NOBODY would want to play them right now --for any time since May 23rd!

This is just about the best, and longest run of excellent baseball that the Nationals have ever played. BTW, the reason nobody has mentioned "bad fundamentals" for months is because, knock on wood, that maybe the Nats biggest area of improvement. You see a lot of lazy MLB play in August --but almost none from the Nats. They are crisp day after day. They barely even waste an AB.

They could, with only a slight exaggeration, have won their last 19 straight games! They have gone 15-4. They blew two 3-run leads in the 9th inning when (imo) Davey Martinez overused Sean Doolittle when "anybody" --Hudson, Strickland, Rodney-- would have been better choices.

In the other two loses, the Nats led by one-run after 7 innings. Of course, when your bullpen ERA is still one of the worst in 50 years, then blowing a couple of games when you led by 1 after 7 innings is just part of your normal M.O.

Nonetheless, the Nats overall play for their last 80 games --almost HALF a season-- is truly exceptional. They've played like a 109-win team (54-26) for half a season. And with a stunning run differential (+147) that completely validates their W-L record.

There's a tendency for some fans/analysts to look for a hole in any hot run. For example, the Nats "must" play a weak schedule. Except that the opposite is true. This year the Nats have played 66.9% of their games (40-37) against teams that are .500-or-better (plus the 65-66 D'backs). The Nats have only played 19 games (14-5) against the five awful teams in MLB with winning percentages below .400. Contrast that with the excellent Astros who have "only" played 41% of their games against "winners." Or even the Yanks (53%). Who HAS played lots of winners (plus the D'backs who are +44 in run diff)? Dodgers (62%)and Braves (62%).

Also, since last week, we've had the bad news that Evgeny Kuznetsov has been suspended from international hockey for 4 years for testing positive for drugs and Kuznetsov (who can still play in the NHL) has issued an apology.

Your thoughts, if any?

Let's go!

The Nats pennant race is finally about to approach its hottest and the NFL season is just 10+ days away!

Let me know what you think, what you'd like to know.