Trevor Bauer to make major league debut

Former Bruins ace Trevor Bauer. (Don Liebig / UCLA / June 27, 2012)

Little more than a year after being selected with the third overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft, 21-year-old right-hander Trevor Bauer is scheduled to make his big league debut Thursday night in Atlanta when he pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Braves.

Everything about the former UCLA All-American is quirky, including his decision to skip his senior year at Newhall Hart High to play college baseball; his unorthodox training routines; and his YouTube channel, where he shows video in super slow motion of his delivery.

"He deserves everything he gets for being independent-minded and achieving at the level he's achieved," said Jim Ozella, Bauer's high school coach. "He's done it his way with his style. Have you seen any other Trevor Bauers in the baseball world?"

Eric Sondheimer

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Bauer throws a variety of pitches for strikes and uses a variety of contraptions in training and to help him warm up. He will be the first player from the 2011 draft to make his major league debut. In 2011 at UCLA, he had a 13-2 record with a 1.25 earned-run average.

"He's very competitive and very smart and knows what he's doing," UCLA Coach John Savage said. "He knows the setting. He's going to know how to act and how to handle things."

The Diamondbacks are calling up Bauer from triple-A Reno to replace the injured Joe Saunders and start Thursday against Jair Jurrjens (1-2, 6.75 ERA).

Bauer was a combined 11-1 with a 2.23 ERA with Reno and double-A Mobile (Ala.).

His former teammate at UCLA, right-hander Gerrit Cole, is not far behind.

Cole, the No. 1 pick in last year's draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game. He was 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA for Class-A Bradenton (Fla.) before being promoted to double-A Altoona (Pa.). Since his promotion, Cole has pitched six innings, giving up 10 hits and five runs. He was also struck in the face by a batted ball in his last outing, Wednesday.

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Mets come undone in sloppy loss to lowly Cubs

CHICAGO — Hiccup, hiccup, hiccup.

Last night, that was the sound of a sluggish team that may have inhaled too much chicken over the weekend. Mets manager Terry Collins even saw this coming, citing the “hoopla” and “adrenaline” of the Subway Series as a potential obstacle as his players prepared for the scuffling Cubs.

“We’re not going to let [Sunday’s] game or the chicken or anything else stand in the way of getting ready to play this series,” Collins said before a 6-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. “Because this is where you can have a real hiccup, and we’re going to try and avoid that.”

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NOT SO WRIGHT: David Wright fails to make a catch on a routine pop fly during the seventh inning of the Mets’ 6-1 loss to the Cubs last night. The error was one of three in the inning.

BOX SCORE

The chicken, of course, referred to Tim Byrdak’s team mascot — which has since been sent to an animal sanctuary — that arrived in the clubhouse after Frank Francisco called the Yankees “chickens” in The Post. Maybe now the Mets are facing the chicken’s revenge.

“The adrenaline can knock you out for a while — and the fact they only got five or six hours of sleep didn’t help either,” Collins said after the Mets lost their third straight.

Nothing suggested that more than a lethargic seventh inning in which David Wright misplayed a routine popup near home plate into a three-base error before Lucas Duda butchered a pop to right field moments later — for another three-base error — and Ronny Cedeno mishandled a grounder for the inning’s third error. It left the Cubs with four gift runs and a 6-0 cushion.

Collins said he addressed his team about not getting complacent following a 12-13 stretch against playoff-caliber teams. Then came last night’s flop against a last-place team.

“They’ve played their hearts out and gotten us where we are, but they can’t stop now,” Collins said. “We can’t just sit on the last 25 days and the fact we have played all these teams that are in playoff contention. We’ve got to take a deep breath, reach inside, grab some energy and finish the first half strong.”

Lefty Travis Wood (2-3) handled the Mets over seven shutout innings in which he allowed five hits and walked one. The Mets got their only run on Ike Davis’ homer in the ninth.

“You get emotionally charged for the Subway Series and you have to try and bring that same intensity before it and after it and we didn’t do that today,” Wright said.

Johan Santana (5-4) had a second straight solid start, allowing a two-run homer to Joe Mather over six innings. It followed six shutout innings by the lefty to beat the Orioles last week at Citi Field.

“It was a tough night,” Santana said. “It was a little windy, I tried to get a feeling for the ball, it was a little dry, but other than that just trying to battle and trying to keep the ball down. It came down to a couple of pitches that changed the whole ballgame for me.”

The Mets’ chances unraveled in the seventh, with Jon Rauch on the mound. The inning’s leadoff hitter, Adrian Cardenas, hit a pop-up near the plate that Wright got under and completely missed. The ball rolled toward the backstop and Cardenas raced to third. Then, with one out, Darwin Barney hit a pop to right that Duda mishandled, bringing in the run and sending Barney to third. With the infield drawn in, Starlin Castro hit a chopper off Cedeno’s glove for the inning’s third error and second run. Jeff Baker added an RBI single later in the inning and Geovany Soto’s RBI fielder’s choice made it 6-0.

Santana was cruising until the fourth, when Mather hit his blast that put the Mets in a 2-0 hole. It was the ninth homer of the year surrendered by Santana, but his first since allowing four at Yankee Stadium on June 8.

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Richards-Ross clocks Giant win

EUGENE, Ore. — Right before Sanya Richards-Ross got into the blocks for the U.S. Olympic Trials 400-meter final, her husband — former Giants cornerback Aaron Ross — looked her in the eye and offered one vital piece of advice: execute.

Then she went out and did just that, with a world-leading time of 49.28 seconds that stamped her ticket to London.

“There’s something so special about competing in Hayward Field. You really feel the importance of the moment. I stayed focused and tried to stay with the plan,’’ Richards-Ross said. “All I kept thinking about the last 40 [meters] was I was going to have a chance to go back to my third Olympics. I’ve been dreaming about it.“My husband really balances me out. I’m really high-strung, bouncing off the walls. He just looked me in the face and said, ‘Execute.’ I thought about that before I got in the blocks and just calmed down and ran my race.’’

Richards-Ross — who also has the world’s best time this season in the 200 and will run those heats on Thursday — put that speed to good use. She let Francena McCorory take the early lead, then with 120 meters to go pulled away from the field as Dee Dee Trotter ran second (50.02) and McCorory third (50.43).

“I’m fine as long as her mind is alright. If she gets her mental game right, her execution is the key thing,’’ said Ross, who won two Super Bowls with Big Blue and now is with the Jaguars. “If she goes on the racetrack and is executing all three points [in the race] and of course having her mind right, I’m never nervous as long as she believes she can win.’’

LaShawn Merritt won the men’s 400 in a world-leading 44.12 ahead of Tony McQuay (44.49) and Bryshon Nellum (44.80), who survived several gunshot wounds in 2008.

Rochester’s Jennifer Suhr won the pole vault at 15-1. NYAC’s Reese Hoffa, Ryan Whiting and Christian Cantwell made the team in the shot put. Stephanie Brown Trafton, Aretha Thurmond and Suzy Powell-Roos qualified in the women’s discus.

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Fourth BlackRock exit

Robert Capaldi, who served as senior client strategist for BlackRock Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Laurence Fink, has left the firm, a source familiar with the move said yesterday.

His departure on June 1 marks the fourth senior executive to leave BlackRock this month. With $3.7 trillion of assets under management, BlackRock is the world’s biggest fund manager.

Capaldi’s position in New York will not be filled, according to the source who declined to be identified.

Capaldi headed BlackRock’s US and Canadian institutional business until November 2010.

He joined BlackRock in 1997 from consulting firm RogersCasey, where he was director of fixed income research, according to a BlackRock biography.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment.

Capaldi is one of a number of executives to leave BlackRock during the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, the New York-based asset manager said Robert Doll, chief equity strategist at the firm, will retire at the end of the month.

On Wednesday, the firm said BlackRock founding partner Susan Wagner was retiring as vice chairman.

And on Thursday, Blackrock said portfolio manager Daniel Rice was leaving, citing the appearance of a potential conflict of interest involving his family business and holdings in the firm’s energy mutual funds, which he co-managed.

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Stage set for Lin, Novak return but NBA will appeal

The union won and so did the Knicks.

In a bonanza to their free-agent summer, Jeremy Lin and Steve Novak have been granted their “early-Bird rights” by an arbitrator, giving the Knicks more financial flexibility this summer, allowing them use of their mid-level exception on a free agent.

Arbitrator Kenneth Damm’s ruling in the case against the NBA means Lin will be able to re-sign with the Knicks with the Bird exception. Novak was also granted early-Bird rights, giving the Knicks the clear edge in re-signing him, too. Without a union victory, Novak was as good as gone.

Anthony J. Causi

RIGHT ON! While the NBA will appeal a ruling giving Jeremy Lin early-Bird rights, it looks like the Knicks will have a clear path to negotiate with the point guard.

Nevertheless, within an hour of yesterday’s ruling, the NBA issued a statement saying it will appeal. If that spills over past July 1 free agency, it could create a delay in the Novak/Lin negotiations.

Union attorney Ron Klempner said he believes the appeal will be resolved by then. Asked if Lin and Novak will have Bird rights by July 1, Klempner said: “Yes.’’

Novak wants to remain a Knick and attended the hearing 1 1/2 weeks ago.

“Can’t tell you how great it is to have my Bird rights preserved,’’ Novak tweeted. “A lot of hard work was put in to making it happen.’’

By not having to waste their $5 million mid-level exception on Lin, the Knicks can use it to lure a veteran point guard of stature. The Knicks, however, may decide to spend $3 million of the $5 million exception to keep them away from hitting the $74 million cap number, an important threshold to avoid.

Steve Nash leads the cast of point guard candidates but he’s a long shot, especially at $3 million. Nash said earlier this week he would listen to a Knicks offer, but a Nash confidant said he doubts he would consider the Knicks for less money because he feels they are not close enough to a championship and wasn’t happy with the team’s treatment of Mike D’Antoni, Nash’s former coach in Phoenix.

But there are point guards the Knicks may be in the market for even at $3 million — including Jason Kidd, Jameer Nelson, Andre Miller, Ramon Sessions, Raymond Felton, Louis Williams. Also, shooting guard Ray Allen is a free agent and has some interest.

Lin is a restricted free agent, so the Knicks can match any offer sheet for him. With the union win, Lin’s early-Bird rights contract with the Knicks can be longer and more lucrative. Lin now can sign a four-year Knicks deal at $24.5 million. The Bird-rights starting salary would be $5.5 million, according to a source, with 7.5 percent raises each season.

No other team can offer Lin more than the $5 million mid-level in the first two years under the Gilbert Arenas Rule. Nevertheless, there is a scenario where the Knicks could get “punked’’ by another club in a back-loaded deal that would be the third-year poison pill. A club under the cap could offer Lin a three-year deal with the third year at the maximum — $15 million. The Knicks still can match the offer, but they would put themselves in a luxury-tax nightmare.

Toronto and Phoenix are the two teams most likely to execute that sort of offer sheet. The Raptors also have interest.

The victory was not unexpected after arbitrator Damm heard the case 10 days ago. The Post reported a source saying the union had a “50-50’’ shot despite commissioner David Stern’s boasts.

“We only brought this proceeding because we felt this would be the right result,’’ Klempner told The Post. “We’re really pleased. This was the spirit of the rule.’’

The union argued players claimed on waivers should keep their Bird rights just as players who are traded. The battle hinged on the word “trade’’ in the 2005 CBA agreement. In the 1995 agreement, players claimed kept their Bird rights, but the 2005 language was fuzzier

The union’s winning argument, according to the decision, was if the NBA intended to have claimed players lose its Bird rights, it would have used language to specify it.

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Twitter blames global outage Thursday on 'cascading bug'

SAN FRANCISCO -- After nearly a year without any significant periods of downtime, using Twitter was almost nothing like the early days of being on the service. So when Twitter went down Thursday for a period of more than an hour, it was something of a shock to its regular users.

After nearly six months of site reliability above 99 percent, Twitter was unreachable across the web and mobile devices multiple times over the course of the day, with intermittent periods of uptime and downtime.

Twitter representatives offered little initial explanation for the outages until around 1:00pm PDT, and only in short, 140 character bursts of information via the company's official Twitter account. It was not until about 4:30pm PDT that Twitter offered a lengthier explanation of the day's events.

"It's imperative that we remain available around the world, and today [Thursday] we stumbled," Twitter Vice President of Engineering Mazen Rawashdeh wrote in a blog post Thursday explaining the outages. "Not how we wanted today to go."

The problem, Rawashdeh explained, had to do with what is called a "cascading bug" -- a term that quickly spawned its own parody Twitter account -- in one of the company's infrastructure components. That bug was not confined to an individual element of the company software, so it created a cascading effect, spreading to other parts of the software and affecting Twitter's 150 million-plus users.

Twitter's explanation came after a day of speculation that ran the gamut, ranging from purported DDoS attacks, to potential problems in Twitter's recent physical headquarters relocation, and even to the farfetched positing that a trend of animated GIF avatars could have caused the widespread outage.

Mundane as the cause may have been, it was an unwelcome reminder of the site's unreliable history. There was the "fail whale" of the early days, a cutesy cartoon that slowly grew as irksome as the "Blue Screen of Death" the more ubiquitous it became. Back then, site-wide outages were hardly newsworthy events, common enough that early adopters grew accustomed to them over time.

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Grand Street star Ratley commits to C.W. Post.

Quanisha Ratley didn’t care about the number next to the school.

“It doesn’t matter what division it is,” the Grand Street Campus star said. “As long as you fit there and get along with the coaching staff, why not?”

That’s exactly the type of environment the super athletic 5-foot-10 wing found at C.W. Post, which is why she committed to play women’s basketball at the Division II Long Island school on Tuesday. It was never about chasing a Division I dream for Ratley, who will receive a partial scholarship.

She never felt the urge to go to a junior college or prep school in order to further raise her stock after a big summer with the Baseline AAU program. She chose C.W. Post over Southern Connecticut State, Adephi and a host of Division III schools.

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Grand Street Campus' Quanisha Ratley has committed to C.W. Post.

“You are there to get an education,” said Ratley, who wants to study business. “That’s the biggest goal.”

She visited the Pioneers in the early part of the spring and left with a positive vibe from the coaches. Head coach Deirdre Moore and her staff were friendly and Ratley believed they have her best interest in mind. C.W. Post’s up-tempo style appealed to the way Ratley like to play -- fast -- and it made her feel like it was the right match.

The Pioneers went 21-10 last season, 11-5 in the ECC, and lost in the first round of the Division II NCAA tournament. Post also has fellow New York City players Nijah LaCourt (Manhattan Center) and Nicole Marciniak (Archbishop Molloy).

“She fit their system,” Grand Street coach Corey McFarland said. “They needed a wing player.”

Ratley spent the summer expanding her game, particularly her jump shot, with Baseline. She was their best player at times, which translated into a strong senior season with a young Grand Street team. Ratley averaged 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds and her leadership role expanded.

“Schools in the city, they know what type of player she is,” McFarland said. “She’s put up some big numbers since she was a sophomore.”

Ratley is happy to be accomplishing this at Grand Street. McFarland, likewise, credited her with sticking with him and his staff, as she also did with Tomas Baez and Baseline. It led her to a school where she is comfortable, will get a sound degree and be in a system that could allow her to thrive.

“It’s the best feeling,” Ratley said. “I’ve been working so hard for four years. I achieved my goals.”

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