Out of sync

Is the playing-injured James Yap
hurting/helping his team?
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Should someone make a quick call to the conspiracy theorists behind the whole "only two of the three San Miguel umbrella teams can have winning records per conference" schtick? Because the way things are going, the San Mig Coffee Mixers are bound to be left off the PBA Philippine Cup title hunt.

How else can you explain the Mixers' paltry three wins in ten games predicament despite having a souped-up roster?

Granted, the Mixers were bit by the injury bug with stars Joe DeVance, PJ Simon, Marc Pingris and 2x former PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap all sitting out games early in the conference. But ten games in, with the stars all back, and still a losing record?

Something's amiss.


Don't blame rising point guard Mark Barroca for the Mixers' losses. The former Far Eastern University stalwart has moved heaven and earth if only to keep the team afloat while working with 2013 PBA Draft 2nd overall pick Ian Sanggalang and a hobbled Pingris. It's easy to pin the losses on players (such as Yap who seems to be bent on shooting his injured elbow off in games, taking about 15 shots only to make five or six), but the reality is that these guys are injured coming off a PBA Governor's Cup championship.

They are spent, tired, hurting, fatigued and so on.

But don't ask them that.

Lack of effort? Lack of hustle, fire and what not? Even the most hard-working beast out there (which in these parts is named Marc Pingris) eventually burns out. They're only human.

So no, please do not buy into the conspiracy theorists (however entertaining their ideas seem to be from time to time, this writer included). The Mixers are not losing on purpose to give way to sister teams Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Petron Blaze (which are both atop the standings).

And no, it's a tad bit too early to be tanking for the Sinag Pilipinas boys headlined by no less than Bobby Ray Parks, Jr.

The Mixers are just a battered and bruised team, that's all.

They'll be okay once everyone gets their mojos back and learns to play together.