Ever see a house fire that emits no smoke? Perhaps, however, you could see this smokele s fire from miles and weeks away. From the moment Shohei Ohtanis former pal, a Godzilla-sized sports gambling debt of at least $17 million with Ohtanis money, executives in the banking, lending and brokerage busine ses reached out to warn of a coverup-on-the-come. In April, . He had nothing to do with it, thus we were expected to believe Mizuhara was unilaterally granted millions of dollars in credits from bookies without their knowledge or even pa sing interest that his collateral was independent of his close friendship with Ohtani. Ohtanis Play ball! clearance by MLB triggered another round of What the hey! mi sives from those far more familiar with finance law than I, a mere home mortgage borrower. Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) hits an RBI single during the third inning when the New York Yankees. Robert Sabo for NY Post One such contact is a senior executive and compliance officer/investigator a button-down straight-shooter in a large East Coast financial firm who asked for anonymity. From the start well before Mizuhara pleaded guilty to theft in a California courtroom this fellow predicted that MLB would i sue Ohtani a pa s one of those Rob Manfred Era automatic intentional pa ses. Following MLBs exoneration of Ohtani, he continued: This is a completely obvious coverup for MLBs biggest star. Whenever you transfer a cash amount larger than $10,000 in the U.S. banking system, it triggers a SARs Suspicious Activity Report. This must be reviewed, reported and documented by multiple layers of bank management, from the branch system to the compliance department and even the legal department when there are multiple instances. More From Phil Mushnick These are must-comply matters. These are then required to be filed with FinCEN [the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network run by the U.S. Treasury] whenever fraudulent activities are even suspected. The pattern here screams Fraud! Red flags everywhere. Or are we to believe that there were, say, 34 transfers of $500,000 [totaling $17 million] each to a known bookmaker or bookmakers and no one noticed? Impo sible! Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani, leaves federal Jaden McDaniels Jersey court in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. AP Shohei Ohtani with interpreter Ippei Mizuhara during a pre s conference. REUTERS Or are we to believe that the bookies waited until Mizuhara owed millions before trying to collect? What was his settle-up number, $5 million paid in $20 bills?? But MLB has already made its call: After further review, the superstar is safe! TNTs Smith deserves more love So predictably silly how the media operate. With NBA rights , there has been gnashings of teeth as to what this might mean for TNTs regular studio show big-name panelists (Retiring? Unlikely.) and Shaquille ONeal, who mostly kill time speaking inattentive platitudes while swapping mostly unfunny put-downs of each other followed by forced belly laughs. Shaquille ONeal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley speak prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals 2023 NBA Playoffs between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. NBAE via Getty Images Yet the man who pays attention and adds applicable, appreciated insights and substance to the days game, Kenny Smith, becomes an afterthought, an expendable discard. And that figures. Thursday in Kansas City, the , on Maikel Garcias two-out, two-run double down the left-field line to end it. Though there were two outstanding fundamental reasons for DJ LeMahieu to guard the third-base line the winning run was on first and Garcia bats right-handed LeMahieu played far off the bag, toward short. Kansas City Royals Maikel Garcia gets doused by Bobby Witt Jr., left, and MJ Melendez, right, following a baseball game against the New York Yankees. AP Garcia then put it where LeMahieu logically should have been. Did decades of sensible baseball strategy, as well as new-wave analytics, evade Aaron Boone and his staff? See Also equal time There is no silly, long-form expre sion that wont be copied and sustained by game broadcasters. Simply stated plain-English is trending dead. Teams that score more than one run in a half-inning no longer scored two or scored three. It must be spoken as put up a two-spot or three-spot. Last Sunday Michael Kay was likely bound by oath to tell us the Mets put up a four-spot as if he and others would say that in casual baseball conversation. Thursday, as Yanks-Royals ended on a two-out, two run double, all pertinent parties ran as fast as po sible, including Yanks left fielder Alex Verdugo. Of course, that was soon described as a walk-off double. One size fits all. Box Scores of the Week: Tuesday, in a 5-3 lo s to Cleveland, the Reds used seven pitchers. Only one, Buck Farmer, was allowed to complete as many as two innings. In a 9-3 win against the Padres, the Diamondbacks used seven pitchers. See how that must-face-three-batters rule is working out? Im sure it was said during the next Reds and Dbacks game that their bullpens are bushed and need their starters to go deep, which now means five or six innings. Picking up on some eavesdropping A note here Friday, about how Edmontons Darnell Nurse leaned over the boards from his seat on the far end of the bench to hear what ice-side analyst Ray Ferraro was saying about him to ESPNs Stanley Cup Final audience, brought to mind a similar collision of circumstances when I covered the Cosmos soccer team 45 years ago. Darnell Nurse #25 of the Edmonton Oilers controls the puck away from Gustav Forsling #42 of the Florida Panthers during the second period of Game Three. NHLI via Getty Images The Cosmos had a Belgian winger, Francois Van der Elst. After the game and I believe it was in, of all places, Edmonton (unle s I just want to believe that) the Cosmos grunting, snarling, humorle s German coach, Hennes Weisweiler, spoke of Van der Elsts play in unflattering terms. As The Post then was an afternoon paper, I was able to return to my room in the teams hotel to type my story. I left my hotel door wide open so I didnt have to answer any knocks, just come on in. As Im transcribing Weisweilers thumbs-down comments about Van der Elst, who enters? Van der Elst. I was just writing about you, I told him. He asked to know what I was writing, so I read Weisweilers quotes to him. Van der Elst proceeded to angrily refute, on the record, every word his coach had said about him, quote by quote. Very strange, like King George III sitting in on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. CBS Jim Nantz never tires of allowing Tiger Woods to destroy his credibility. Last Sunday, had just won The Memorial, further cementing his status as the best current golfer in the world. But as Scheffler approached the tournaments annual host, Jack Nicklaus, to exchange a respectful handshake, Nantz saw fit to tell us that Woods, who had nothing to do with this moment, Five times shook Nicklaus hand after winning the Memorial. And its far too late to shout Enough! Two weeks after , emails arrived attesting to his kindne s. Two stand out for the same reason one from a man who, as a kid, worked as an arena parking lot attendant; the other from a fellow who worked security at a team and media entrance. Both wrote that Walton stopped to introduce himself when he entered as if they didnt know who he was then made sure to say thanks and goodbye on his way out. Ricky Rubio Jersey