The opening contests of the spring sports seasons are being played out; so are the closing games of the regular college basketball season. The Cardinals are involved in problems with a handshake and a clock. The Tigers have a unique piece of Missouri basketball history to make. And history is made in NASCAR.
BASEBALL
(Cardinals, part one)—St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has triggered a controversy right out of the box in spring training by offering to shake hands with an umpire who chased him at the end of the last season. Umpire C. B. Bucknor refused to shake hands with Marmol during the lineup card exchange before Saturday’s game, prompting Marmol later to accuse Bucknor of having a “lack of class as a man.”
Major League Baseball is looking into the incident.
The pitch clock is in play now and Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos won’t be pitching until he shows he can pitch within the clock. Gallegos was recognized as one of the slowest pitchers in the game last year and the Cardinals say he won’t pitch until he has the time to learn to pitch on time. Baseball Savant rated Gallegos as averaging 25.8 seconds between pitches when nobody is on, and 30.6 seconds with runners aboard. The pitch clock demands pitchers throw the ball within 15 seconds when the bases are empty. They have 20 seconds with runners aboard. A pitcher who fails to deliver will see a all awarded to the bater.
(Cardinals, part two)—The St. Louis Cardinals are 1-1 in the Grapefruit League after outhitting the Marlins 16-6 and outscoring them 8-2. Hot Rookie Jordan Walker, normally a third baseman, is getting a full spring workout in the outfield because he’s unlikely to dislodge the Cardinals’ incumbent third baseman. Walker, who starred at Springfield in Double-A last year, ripped a 430-foot home run and made a tough catch against the center field wall.
Brendan Donovan’s two-run homer in the third inning against the Washington Nationals on Saturday gave the Redbirds a 2-1 lead but the Nationals pushed across single runs in the eighth and ninth to win 3-2.
(Royals)—The Kansas City Royals have started the spring season 3-0 in the Cactus League, beatig the Texas Rangers twice and finishing with an 8-7 win against the Seattle Mariners Sunday. The Royals got the jump with five runs in the first.
Kansas City beat the Rangers 6-5 on Friday with a ninth inning home run by Tucker Bradley, then followed up with a 10-5 win over the Rangers Saturday, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning.
BASKETBALL
(Mizzou)—The Tigers head into the last week of the regular season at 21-8, the most wins in a decade. They wrap things up at LSU Wednesday and at home against Old Miss on Saturday. The SEC tournament starts five days later in Nashville.
Dennis Gates has started his Missouri coaching career with nine more wins than his predecessor’s last year. Going back more than sixty years, Mizzou records show only Cuonzo Martin, whose first team finished with 12 more wins than Kim Anderson’s last team, has had a bigger debut—in terms of wins. Anderson had nine more wins than Frank Haith’s last team although fans will remember that Haith’s team forfeited all of its wins that year because of NCAA violations and officially ended 0-12.
Gates’ season so far is an unusual one. Unlike his predecessors dating back to Sparky Stalcup, Gates didn’t inherit much from his predecessor (for better or worse). His team is mostly transfers.
(POST-MIZZOU)—Former Tiger coach Quin Snyder has a new job. He’s been hired as the coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He’s 56 now, a veteran of the basketball wars, starting at Missouri where he took the Tigers to four NCAA tournaments and led the team to the Great Eight one year, the deepest Missouri has ever gone in the tournament. He was 126-91 at Missouri as Norm Stewart’s successor but he left under a cloud after the NCAA cited several violations.
Since then he has posted a 373-264 record as an NBA coach, all with the Utah Jazz.
RACIN’
(NASCAR)—Kyle Busch has wasted little time hanging up his first win for his new team, and a history-making win it was. Busch, who moved from Joe Gibbs to Richard Chidress Racing in the offseason, roared from the back of the field after an early-race pit road penalty, passed the dominant Ross Chastain late and beat Chase Elliott and Chastain to the line by three seconds. It’s his 61st win, ninth on the all-time list, and marks the 19th straight year he will have had at least one victory—breaking a tie with Richard Petty.
It also is the 95th Cup win for Kyle and Kurt Busch, breaking the record they had shared with Bobby and Donnie Allison for most wins on the Cup circuit by brothers.
Kevin Harvick, running his 750th consecutive Cup race, finished fourth. Only Jeff Gordon (797) and Ricky Rudd (788) have more. It was his 792nd start overall, tenth best. If he runs all of the races this year, and he fully intends to do so, he’ll finish with 826, which would put him eighth.
Busch’s win is the last time NASCAR will run on one of the drivers’ favorite tracks. California Speedway, two miles and wide enough for serious movements during races, is being torn down, perhaps to be replaced by a half-mile track, perhaps, that might not be available until 2025.
(OTHER SERIES)—INDYCAR and Formula 1 open their seasons next weekend.