If There Is Gloom in San Francisco, This Must Be June

The San Francisco Giants, as a result of Saturday’s 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros, are below .500 for the first time this year. That, of course, tells you what month it is.

As catcher Bob Brenly once said: “God, I wish June and swoon didn’t rhyme. If they didn’t, no one would’ve ever heard the phrase. Instead, I have to hear it every year.”

Not every year.

Vida Blue once said: “We were dead before the June Swoon got us this year. Our ship had sunk and we were a submarine.”

After Peter Doohan knocked off Boris Becker at Wimbledon, Doohan was asked what he thought before the tournament when he found out he was in the same draw as Becker.

“I started thinking about plane reservations out of here,” he said.

Add Doohan: In 1982, when he was a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. doubles titlist at the University of Arkansas, he was eliminated in the singles by UCLA’s Marcel Freeman in the third round. The titlist was Pepperdine’s Brad Gilbert, who beat Freeman in the semifinals.

Freeman and Gilbert both have been eliminated at Wimbledon.

From Reinhard (Rhino) Schmuck, 6-foot 4-inch, 225-pound forward from Baruch College in New York, who applied for early entry into the National Basketball Assn. draft, then failed to be selected: “I’m going to be an accountant.”

Trivia Time: Baseball’s all-time leader in home run production is Babe Ruth, with 8.5 homers in every 100 at-bats. Who is second? (Answer below.)

In a story on former big league slugger Dick Allen, Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News recalled Gene Mauch’s classic line when asked if he thought Allen’s weakness was the high fastball.

“No,” Mauch said, “the fast highball.”

Said Bernhard Langer Friday after shooting consecutive 65s to take a two-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Sammy Davis Greater Hartford Open: “I like my position. I’d rather be in front because that allows me to make some mistakes.”

Saturday, he made some. Too many, in fact. He shot a 72 and trails by five strokes.

80 Years Ago Today: On June 28, 1907, New York catcher Branch Rickey allowed 13 stolen bases as the Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 16-5. It’s still a major league record.

Plugging Along: From Buddy Martin of the Denver Post: “I just know that somebody is going to write that NASCAR driver Tim Richmond, the Winston Cup point leader who drives a Folger’s Coffee Chevy, was really percolating down the backstretch last week. I was rooting for Buddy Baker in his Crisco Oldsmobile, but I suspect he spun out.

“I will leave you to decide the fates of Buddy Harrington in his Pannill Knitting Ford, J.D. McDuffie in his Rumple Furniture Pontiac and Brett Bodine in his Bull’s-Eye Barbecue Sauce Chevy. Honest, folks, I didn’t make those up.”

Trivia Answer: Ralph Kiner, with 7.1 homers in every 100 at-bats.

Quotebook

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, formerly of the Los Angeles Express and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at a showing of the 49er highlight film: “This is the first time I’ve played for a team that had a highlight film.”