FALCON POINT
Fred Faour: This is about Tiger Woods, so you will probably click on it
Aug 13, 2018, 7:17 am
Tiger Woods might officially be back. Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Tiger Woods will never win another major.
-- Me, sometime after he got hit over the head by a golf club and before every major since.
Well, Tiger Woods came really close to finally proving me wrong on Sunday, finishing second in the PGA Championship, two shots behind Brooks Koepka.
Brooks Koepka, winner of two majors this year and back to back U.S. Opens. Who knew? Well, hardcore golf fan. The general public has no idea how good he is, because Tiger's shadow continues to dominate golf coverage.
USA Today might as well be Tiger Today as much as it is a PR tool for Woods. Every story on every golf tournament is about what Tiger did. The headline on their main story Monday? "Even Tiger haters should appreciate his results in this year's majors."
Um, no. That is a wee bit over the top. If you hate Tiger, you aren't going to appreciate anything. Nice try.
But USA Today is merely overdoing what any media outlet would do -- focus on the guy who gets clicks.
Even now, Tiger moves the meter unlike few athletes in any sport. When he started making his move Sunday, my phone blew up. Twitter blew up. The sports world stopped to see what would happen.
Not a single person outside the Koepka family (and those alleged Tiger haters) was rooting for anyone but Tiger, including me. The energy down the stretch was palpable. For a moment, I had hope that my tongue-in-cheek prediction was about to come crashing down.
Instead, as good as Tiger was, the winner was better. But Tiger brings ratings. Page views. Interest. So every story is about Tiger, including this one. Sorry, Brooks, but Tiger brings in people who don't watch golf.
The greatest ever?
Woods, by his own standard, remains well short of Jack Nicklaus' record for majors (18 to 14). He will be 43 next year, presumably healthy, and if his injuries hold off could have 3-4 more years of competitive play. I am no longer willing to joke that he won't win another. Four, though, seems highly unlikely.
But judging the greatest needs to come at the end of a career, and Tiger is not there yet. He still has a shot to take that title.
One thing he definitly is -- the most relevant golfer to ever play the game. When he is in contention, the world watches. He became a star -- and a fallen one -- during the social media age. We love to see excellence, then revel in failure, but love it even more when someone rises again. Tiger has been the perfect example of that, which is why we all watch. It's why we all tuned in Sunday, and will do it again if he is in the hunt for any majors next year.
Would I have tuned in if it was Koepka and Adam Scott dueling down the stretch? Nope. I have Netflix. It may have been amazing to watch, but to quote Pulp Fiction, "Sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie but I will never know since I wouldn't eat the ------."
But with Tiger? Absolutely. Count me in. Koepka may have the trophy, but Woods beings the viewers. And if he keeps playing like this, he always will. And maybe that prediction of mine will come crashing down.
I really hope it does.
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How Astros advanced metrics tell puzzling story about Houston's start
Apr 17, 2025, 5:21 pm
Major League Baseball’s regular season is 162 games long. You can think of 18 games as the first inning of the season, 18 times nine equaling 162. While the Astros 8-10 record is not good, it’s far from disastrous. Think of it as them being behind 1-0 after the first inning. It is pretty remarkable that they have yet to win consecutive games. Even during last year’s 7-19 stink bomb of a start the Astros twice managed to win two in a row.
The Astros’ offensive woes are plentiful. Oddly enough as impotent as they’ve been, the Astros have yet to be shutout. But in half their games they have scored exactly one or two runs. Basically, most of them stink thus far. Exemptions go to Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes, but it’s not like either of them has been outstanding. It’s still early enough that one big series can dramatically alter the numbers, but the Astros badly need Yordan Alvarez to pick up his production. Yordan enters the weekend batting just .224 with a .695 OPS and just four extra base hits. Yainer rhymes with minor. As in minor leagues, where Diaz belongs at his current level of performance. That is not saying Diaz should be sent down, just that any random AAA catcher called up couldn’t have done much worse to this point. Diaz isn’t hitting Altuve’s weight, a woeful .130 with seven hits in 57 at bats. Diaz simply remains too undisciplined at the plate swinging at too many balls. He’s drawn three walks. And now to Christian Walker, who thus far has delivered return on investment for his three year 60 million dollar contract about as strong as the stock market’s performance in Tariff Time. Walker’s .154 batting average and .482 OPS are very Astro Jose Abreu-like. Walker’s23 strikeouts in 65 at bats jump off the page. He has often looked befuddled in the batter's box. Walker is definitely pressing and frustrated, wanting to perform better for his new team. Jeremy Pena goes into the weekend batting .215 and has one hit in 13 at bats with runners in scoring position. Brendan Rodgers, Jake Meyers, and Chas McCormick all have weak stat lines, with little reason to expect quality offensive output from any of them. Cam Smith is at .200 with a yucky .591 OPS but he’s obviously a young stud work in progress thrown into the deep end of the pool.
All batting orders are top-heavy, the Astros’ on paper more so than many. As I set forth on one of our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts this week, the first inning should be a team’s best offensive inning. It’s the only frame in which a team gets to dictate who comes up from the start with the batters lined up just as the manager slots them. Add to that, the first inning is a good time to get to a starting pitcher before he settles in. The Astros have scored a pitiful three first inning runs in 18 games, and in two of the games they pushed one across in the first, it turned out to be the only Astro run of the game. Improvement needs to come internally from the big league roster. It’s not as if the Astros have a meaningful prospect at AAA Sugar Land who looks ready to help. Entering play Thursday the Space Cowboys’ team average was .186. Second base hopeful Brice Matthews is nowhere close, batting .180 and striking out left and right. Outfielder Jacob Melton opened three for 17 following the back injury-delayed start to his season.
As exasperating and boring as the offense has been for so many, grading needs to occur on a curve. So, while the Astros’ team batting average is a joke at .216, know that at close of business Wednesday the entire American League was batting just .232. The American League West-leading Texas Rangers scored eight fewer runs over their first 18 games than did the Astros, though that is skewed by the Astros’ one 14-run outburst against the Angels.
Familiar faces return
This weekend the Astros play host to the San Diego Padres at Daikin Park. The Friars are off to a fabulous start at 15-4. The Padres being here creates a mini reunion as both Martin Maldonado and Yuli Gurriel are on their roster. In a telling fact, Maldonado would have the third-highest batting average on the Astros if on the team with his current numbers. Maldonado is hitting .250 with seven hits in 28 at bats. The last season he finished above .200 was 2020. The only season in his career Maldonado topped .234 was his rookie season with a .266 mark in 2012.
Gurriel was last good in 2021 when he won the American League batting title at .319. He fell off a cliff from there, though perked up to have a fine postseason in the Astros’ 2022 run to World Series title number two. “La Pina” is batting .115 with just three hits in 26 at bats. Gurriel may be released soon, and approaching his 41st birthday June 9, that would probably be the end of the line. Short-timer Astro Jason Heyward is also on the Padres, and batting .190.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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