RealClearSports: Debate Rages Over Strasburg Shutdown

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — So in a while, a couple of weeks probably, Stephen Strasburg won't be allowed to pitch. But that's the future. For the present, he's still active, and today he's going for the Nationals against the Giants.

That's why Tuesday night's win by the Giants over Washington was important. "Huge,'' said Bruce Bochy, San Francisco's manager. The Nats were 4-0 against the Giants. And Monday night, they crushed San Francisco, 14-2.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

Global Golf Post: Raining, Snarling And Chomping

By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA — It was a great PGA Championship if you liked traffic jams, thunderstorms and alligators eating CBS microphones.

Maybe not quite as great for those waiting for Tiger Woods to win that 15th major, but as Woods himself said even before the first weather warning was posted, he's got another 10 years or so to catch Jack Nicklaus.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2012 Global Golf Post

RealClearSports: Daly: Memories, Regret and a 68

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — The name blows out of the past on the warm wind, whipping up memories and regret.

John Daly is high on a scoreboard in a major, and we are confronted with the joy and pain — mostly pain — of a career that spun out of control. Of a career that is a curiosity.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: Phil Bought a Team, So Will Tiger?

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Were those raindrops pounding down on the media tent, drowning out Tiger Woods' voice? Or, the way Woods rolled his eyes in bewilderment at the sound, were they coins of his realm, silver dollars, 50-cent pieces or quarters?

We had gone past Tiger’s monthly disappointments and possibilities, the same items invoked almost every time he sits down in front of the journalists and behind a microphone.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

RealClearSports: When Baseball Teams Give Up

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

It's a business. That inescapable point has been drummed into us as long as there have been professional sports. At no time, however, does the idea become as apparent as that tidy little period at the end of July, baseball's trading deadline.

Teams in contention desperately go after the player or players they believe will make them champions. Teams out of contention basically throw up their arms and throw out their stars, although nobody involved ever would concede they, well, have conceded. Even though it's obvious they have.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012