Fight picks

Almost forgot about making my picks for tonight's fights.
Miguel Cotto returns to the ring after his brutal ( and with hindsight questionable) loss to Antonio Margarito in New York against Great Britain's Michael Jennings,while the other main event comes from Youngstown,Ohio as Kelly Pavlik attempts to rebound from his loss to Bernard Hopkins with a defense of his WBC Middleweight belt against mandatory contender Marco Antonio Rubio.
Rubio is a durable guy,but Pavlik is another class of fighter altogether.

I enter the two bouts with a 1-1 record with 1 bonus point.

Tonight's selections
Cotto KO 7 Jennings
Pavlik Unanimous Decision Rubio

Photo Credit-Unknown

Devils pick up a unlikely W in Tampa

Very little to write about other than the game from Thursday,so I figured that I would wait until today to cover the Devils 3-2 shootout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Devils played an absolutely miserable first period as they fell behind two goals and seemed to be on their way to a dismal trip to Florida.
But power play goals in the second and third periods by Brian Rolston (11) and Zach Parise (35) sent the game to overtime and then the shootout.
Parise and Patrik Elias scored the winners to override Vincent LeCavalier's only Tampa tally.
The Devils are in Long Island tonight for a tilt against the Islanders and then will have five days off before their next game at the Rock against Colorado.

Hell Raisers

1) Whatever Brent Sutter used after period one,I hope he saves some for the playoffs because that was a totally different team after the first intermission.

2) Ryan Malone scored both Tampa goals and the second one looked awfully bad as Kevin Weekes looks to have just missed it,but Weekes claims that he had the puck,but his glove tore its webbing on the shot.
That works for me as an excuse....

3) Zach Parise battled through a high temperature and a case of the stomach flu (which I used to get about 4 times a year when I lived at home and haven't had since I left there) to score his goal and shootout helper.
Nice case of guts (Pun intended) for Parise to battle through the illness and play at such a high level.

4) Bryce Salvador played through the same flu against Tampa,but may have miss tonight's game with the same illness.
That especially hurts with Paul Martin being expected to miss his 4th game in a row.

5) I was happy to see Anssi Salmela being given time and not just a scratch in his recall from Lowell.I thought the Finn looked pretty sharp,especially on PP action.
Salmela is going to be a major help on the advantage in the future....

Bonus Round
Former Devil boss (and current Devils scout) Pat Burns attended the game and met the team.Burns is still scouting for the Devils and works on opposing team that come into Tampa.
Sadly,it appears that Burns knows his time is short and seems quite accepting of his fate.
Best wishes to Burnsie and the Burns family.

Bullpen Notes

In an announcement that could shake up the NFL draft,Texas Tech pass catcher Michael Crabtree will miss any further workouts/preparation for the draft with a stress fracture that will leave him out for 10 weeks.
The foot injury complicates the first round where Crabtree was graded as one of the top four picks in the draft.
Does Seattle have the guts to take Crabtree anyway despite the injury?
Or does the top wideout slide to a better team that is more willing to take the risk???

The Pirates picked up John Russell's option for 2010.
Not sure that is a good idea at this time,considering that we haven't seen anything for 2009 yet.
I am not saying that it is a bad idea,just that it seems way premature..

Battlin Bob sends us this article on prospect Shelby Ford.
Ford will likely start at AAA Indianapolis and could be up sometime during the season,especially if Freddy Sanchez bounces back and raises his trade value.

Photo Credit
Parise:AP Photo

Trying to find time...

Missing time again,this time due to work overtime and just being tired when the OT is over.
I really need to hook up with a laptop soon.

The Devils split two games with a exciting 6-5 win over the San Jose Sharks and a listless 4-0 loss to the Florida Panthers in Miami.
Since I am so far behind,I will not do a recap of the games,just add them to what should be a long post.

The loss was one that you could kinda see coming after two close and hard fought wins over the top two teams in the league.
Following those up with a road game against a team that has been playing well was going to be a tough game.

Paul Martin and Brendan Shanahan missed each of the last two games.
Shanahan is expected to return for tonight's game in Tampa,but Martin is still out and Anssi Salmela has been recalled from Lowell to take his place on the roster.

Kevin Weekes is expected to get the start tonight after two shaky Scott Clemmensen starts.
Goaltending may be the toughest and hardest position to figure out.
Clemmensen scored two shutouts in a row and then allows 9 goals in two games.

In the biggest news from the Pirates,the Pirates signed Nate McLouth to a three year extension worth 15.5 million with the standard award bonus clauses enclosed in the deal.
The contract includes a club option for a possible fourth year as well.

My take on the deal?
Well,as some of you know,I have been a Nate McLouth fan for a while.
I was boosting McLouth when many Pirate fans preferred Chris Duffy and this deal is not a bad move,but there are still a few questions.
McLouth's hitting fell through the floor after the Bay and Nady trades,is it possible that he was just getting good pitches to hit that he might be seeing as many of anymore without the backup from those bats?
Even I figured McLouth as 4th outfielder or a stopgap starter and if his first half turns out to be a fluke,the Bucs are on the hook.
On the overall,I do basically like the deal and it is not overpaying by any standard.
Plus it is such an affordable deal,the Pirates could still trade McLouth down the road and get a solid return because the arbitration time was bought out.

Another thing that I like about this contract?
It will be very nice to look at the Pirate outfield in 2010,see the starting outfield of McLouth,Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata and know that there is a good chance of seeing the same three players there in 2011 and 2012.

Our man in Japan has been very busy in his scouting of the Japanese amateur scene.
Brandon Siefken has started his own page Baseball81 (Now located in our links section) and he has become a weekly writer for JapanBall.Com.
I get their newsletter on a weekly basis and it is clearly the top source for information on the Japanese game.

If you are fan of smaller,regionally based items,try this site-Hometown Favorites.
I was tipped off to them by a reader and could be enjoying some of their items shortly.
Shipping is a little high,but unless you travel a lot,this is the best way to get your fix of items that you cannot find where you live.
I usually hit SunDrop when I am in the South and bring home Squirt from Ohio and Big Red for Ryan and none of those are available here,although I did see Squirt in Cumberland MD when I was there for the Pirate caravan.....

A few additions on the signing front
Ebay brings the legendary wrestling manager Jim Cornette,Pirate prospect Robbie Grossman and Phillies top prospect Dominic Brown,while the mail brings former CFL quarterback Tracy Ham....

Anyone out there get any of the TriStar Prospect Plus stuff???

Clemmensen stops Bruins in 1-0 win

Scott Clemmensen was outstanding in net and when Bryce Salvador's second period wrister (3) off a faceoff win beat Tim Thomas,the scoring was finished for the evening as the New Jersey Devils stopped the Boston Bruins 1-0.
The Devils are off today before hosting the San Jose Sharks tomorrow at the Rock at 3:00.

Hell Raisers

1) The shutout was the second of the year for Clemmensen and the second in two starts.
Clemmensen made 31 saves and played (In my opinion) his best game of the season.
Clemmensen has been sharp two games in a row after a run of games that looked to be dulling his edge,so this is a good sign for both the Devils now and any possible trade value at the deadline.

2) Martin Brodeur is taking shots in practice and thinks he will be making his return in a week to ten days.

3) This was a hard hitting and hard fought battle,but to be honest,the Devils may lucked out in this one.
Boston probably held an edge in play and definitely had the edge in the frantic third period,but Clemmensen and the defense (especially Bryce Salvador and Paul Martin) were able to do just enough to hold them off.

4) The Devils win guaranteed them a split of their two games against the Conference leaders this weekend.
San Jose has the top record in the Western Conference.

5) The NHL (and NBC) drops the ball again as they decided to make the Flyers-Rangers game the national telecast instead of the rare Devils-Sharks matchup.
I mean,the top team in the West against the 2nd team in the East and both teams playing well and you pick the slumping Rangers against the Flyers???

Bonus Round

Brendan Shanahan is questionable for the San Jose game with a sore ankle.
Shanahan blocked three shots in the Boston win and took two them off the same spot.....


Bullpen Notes

A commercial satellite collided with a defunct Russian satellite in low earth orbit on Tuesday and the collision destroyed both birds.
I realize that we have many problems right now and not nearly enough cash to pay for it,but space junk is an issue that needs to be taken seriously.
With so much of our technology and needs being taken care of from above,collisions of more important satellites could be devastating.
Not to mention,that some of these have nuclear reactors on board to help maintain orbit,power etc and think about possible consequences of that type of disaster.
The picture is a computer generated impression of the over 12,000 objects that are floating around our planet.
This is amazing that this is the first time that has happened and trust me, this issue is not going away.

Our friends over at BagofHealthandPolitics (To be known hereafter as The Bag) has an very interesting and thought provoking post entitled "I think God is a Pluralist).
No matter ones stance on the topic,food for thought.

Watch for posts next week about players we follow that look back on 08 and where they could be in 09,the next installment on What If and a political post as well that looks at the beginnings of the Obama administration.

Photo Credits
Hockey:AP Photo
Our Earth:Getty Images

Medals for the 2008 Minor League Season

This is WAY overdue,but I wanted to get this finished before Spring Training,so here goes.
Again with apologies to the Olympics and Keith Olbermann, here are our awards for the 2008 Minor League season.
Some categories are restricted to the South Atlantic and Carolina Leagues,while others are open to other leagues.
To win an award,you must have played/been at a game that we attended this past year.
The 2007 awards are here.

Best Prospect-SAL/Non-Suns Position Player
Gold: Dominic Brown OF Lakewood-When this guy fills out,watch out!Think Darryl Strawberry with top notch speed.
Silver:Mike Stanton OF Greensboro-Could be a legit 35 homer player down the road.
Bronze:Matt Dominguez 3b Greensboro-Talented player that needs more seasoning.

Best Prospect-Hagerstown Suns Position Player
Gold:Michael Burgess OF- Talent is there,but questions about contact,speed and makeup still plague him.
Silver:Stephen King 3b-Needs to mature on the field more,but took a step forward.Would like to see him get one more shot at SS though.
Bronze:Bill Rhinehart 1b- Hit the ball well at two levels,but have the feeling that he was just too old for the levels.2009 tells the tale....

Best Prospect SAL Pitcher
Gold:Brad Lincoln-Hickory-Destroyed the Suns in his last SAL start and showed flashes of what he could be.Needs to move quickly this season.
Silver:Julian Sampson-Lakewood-Throws a heavy ball and could be top notch prospect with some extra weight on his frame.
Bronze: Chance Chapman-Lakewood-Pitched better than Sampson last season,but lacks the stuff of Sampson.
Honorable Mention:Rob Bryson-West Virginia-Traded to Cleveland after his appearance,suffered an injury and will miss most of 2009.
Cliff Flagello-Delmarva-I don't usually like to rate relievers,but his arm shows potential to play in MLB.

Best Prospect-Suns Pitcher
Gold;Colton Willems-Nice control,but low K numbers.
Colton just doesn't miss many bats.
Silver:Tom Milone-Dominated SAL Batters,but polished college pitchers do well here.
Bronze:Bradley Meyers-Regressed from 2007.What happened????

Best Signer/Dealing with fans-Non Suns
Gold:Tyler Henson-Delmarva-Signed as much as you needed him to and talked as well.
Silver:Dominic Brown-Lakewood-Talked to me a lot and signed everything with a smile.
Bronze:Cliff Flagello-Delmarva-Always had time for signing and a quick chat.
Honorable Mention:Brian Rike-Asheville-I had a bunch of cards for him,he signed them all and was willing to talk about his college days....

Best Signer/Dealing with fans-Suns
Gold:Darnell Coles-Have the Suns EVER had a manager that was more fan friendly?
Not that I know of!
Silver:Tim Pahuta-The exact type of veteran player that you like to have at the A ball level.
Sets a good example for the younger guys in interaction with the fans.
Bronze;Colton Willems;Kinda quiet,but signs everything.


Biggest Aggravation-Autograph Division-SAL
Gold:Matt Cusick-Lexington-Never had a player pretend to be someone else in Hagerstown before!
Silver:Michael Burgess-Hagerstown-Was fine early on until a "Paid signing session". A royal pain thereafter.
Bronze:Brent Brewer-West Virginia-One card a night? You hit .220!
Honorable Mention:Bill Rhinehart-Hagerstown/Harrisburg-Liked to avoid and evade collectors.
I never did get him,someone else helped me with him,Thanks to Bill Cover!

Biggest Aggravation-Autograph Division-Non SAL
Gold:Matt Wieters-Frederick-Wieters wins this award,not for lack of signing.He was fine.
He wins it for the LONG lines that you always had to wait in line in for him to sign.
Silver:John Van Benschoten-Indianapolis-One Word-NO!
Bronze:Eric Campbell-Myrtle Beach-It takes a special player to blow people off two years in a row and become the first two time winner in a category!

Best Fan Moments:
Gold:Battlin Bob gives Matt Wieters crap after he misses one pitch-"Hey,Wieters,way to go for the fences"!
Next pitch Wieters smacks the delivery off the Washington Monument!
Silver:Karl Bolt Night-Obnoxious Suns fan rides this guy ALL NIGHT in a way that everyone in the park hears.Bolt then ties the game in the 9th with a three run homer and gives it back to the guy as he rounds first base!
Bronze:Battlin Bob runs into the man that cost him his job and months of employment at the Muni.
Guy:Hey,how's it going?
Battlin Bob:How's it goin? I have been out of work for the last few F!@#^*g months and you want to ask me how the F$%* its goin?????
Honorable Mention:Battlin Bob takes on Drew Himsworth after yet another Suns suite area fiasco....
Darnell Coles throws 2 dozen baseballs on the field after being ejected before what seemed to be 12 people in an extra inning game against Lexington.
Red Stripe Hot Dog night-on a Feed Your Face night,the Suns kept producing these bad tasting and Cardassian lookalike dogs.
UGH!

Best Autograph Park
Gold:Frederick
Silver:Harrisburg
Bronze:Hagerstown

Worst Autograph Park
Gold:Allentown
Silver:Wilmington

Photo Credits
Ryan Heimberger

Random Ramblings

Time for some random ramblings and finish the inbox cleanup.
The Devils are off tonight,so I am hoping that tomorrow can either be the next portion of What If-The Cleveland Browns or one of the two long overdue minor league baseball posts.

The Pirate family lost another one of its own from the terrific 1970's squad when reliever
Ramon' Hernandez passed away on Feb 4th.
The lefthander was often used by Danny Murtaugh in the late innings against lefthanded batters and had the "Luis Tiant" motion with the twisting,turning delivery.
Hernandez joined the Buccos in 1970 at the age of 30 and was a bullpen stalwart until midway through the 1976 season when he was sold to the Cubs.
Thanks to Vlad over at Bucs Dugout for the knowledge.

Bruce Markusen has a very nice article on Hernandez on his blog here.

The Washington Nationals signed Adam Dunn at a bargain price-two years twenty million.
Will Dunn make the Nats winners?No way,but what he will do is instantly become the most popular National as soon the season arrives and will give Washington the power hitter that they have craved since Frank Howard.

The Cleveland Browns dropped a few players a few days back.
Most notably were linebacker Antwun Peek,who missed the 2008 season due to injury,cornerback/special teamer Terry Cousin and backup quarterbacks Ken Dorsey and Bruce Gradkowski.
Peek was expected to make a impact when he arrived in Cleveland in 2007,but only finished four sacks on the year.
Cousin was a journeyman depth player and the less I can say about Ken Dorsey the better.
Gradkowski did not clear waivers as he was claimed by the Raiders,so Bruce can continue to draw a paycheck.

Yahoo writes about the downward spiral of the Maryland basketball program under Gary Williams.
I think that Williams is still an excellent game coach,but the fact is that he cannot recruit well at this stage of his career.
Like it or not,kids today are different than the players that Williams recruited at American in the 70's,Boston College and Ohio State in the 80's and even the early Maryland recruits.
Kids today just don't want to put up with the Williams treatment when they can put up with less elsewhere.
It only takes watching one Maryland game to see what is happening there....
This is similar to what happened to Bob Knight.
Times change,we don't always have to like that,but accepting it goes a long way....

Finally,check this out on the fans that are still steamed about the Seattle Sonics move to Oklahoma City and their visit to Portland for the teams first return to the Pacific Northwest.
Good stuff on the dedication and pain that loyal fans go through....

Photo Credits
Hernandez:Topps
Dunn:AP Photo

Idiots in Sports edition......

I may be back again with more stuff later,but I wanted to devote a special Idiots in sports edition to three very special someones out there that have made a royal ass (and other body parts) of themselves and give them the attention that they deserve.

Anyone else find it ironic that (arguably) the two best players of the last 15 years have both been tainted by use of performance enhancers?
Alex Rodriguez was looked at by many as the games best hope to rid the record books of Barry Bonds and gaining of the record through modern chemistry.
Now,Rodriguez admits that he too used enhancers to boost his performance when he was a Texas Ranger.
The excuse that Rodriguez used was that he felt pressure to live up to the huge contract that he signed with the Rangers and needed to add this to his regimen is a bogus one.
After all,wasn't his performance with the Mariners the reason that Texas signed him to such a big contract?
When you read between the lines here,there is one question that no one has asked of Rodriguez.
Alex,So if you needed to take these substances to maintain your status as the top player in the game in Texas,were you using them in Seattle as well?
And if you weren't using in Seattle,why did you start in Texas?
If you were using in Seattle,you were doing this for far longer than you claim.

No matter the reason,I can never understand why players such as Rodriguez,Bonds and Roger Clemens crossed this line.
They were Hall of Fame players already and money should never be an issue when you make the amount of money that each of them have made in their career.
I can see why the player that needs to hang on might give them a try,but guys with their talent and career?
I'm sorry,but I don't consider Rodriguez's admission to be either honest or courageous.
Stepping forward to accept blame without the leak of information,now that is courage.
I understand why he would not do that,but telling the truth only when forced is far from being honest.....


Our next winner is a former All-Star that is being sued for knowing that he has AIDS and refused to have protected sex and is now being sued for 15 million dollars.
Roberto Alomar goes on the HOF ballot next year and had an excellent chance of getting in,but this certainly cannot help his candidacy.
I am not really interested in either Alomar's sex life or whether he wins or loses the suit against him,but some things are starting to add up in one of the greatest sports mysteries of the last ten years.
I bet that I have had 10 "hardball talks" on the game with people on Roberto Alomar and how I could not remember a player losing his abilities so quickly.
Take a look at his numbers in 2001-.336,20 homers and 100 RBI and then the three years thereafter,average not above .266,20 homers in the final three years combined and basically finishing as a backup infielder.
The way that Alomar's career ended always was a red flag for me anyway,but assuming that Alomar does have AIDS (and that is a huge assumption) that would go a long way to figuring out how arguably the best second baseman of the last 40 years lost his skills so quickly.

So since I want to put Alomar's sex life off the table,why is Alomar an idiot?
Well,in the times that we live in and considering the travel and lifestyle of pro athletes,if you arent smart enough to protect yourself from the diseases that are so easy to catch-you are an idiot.
Robbie Alomar is just 40 years old,he could still be playing and to (possibly) have thrown it all away because you don't like wearing condoms is both stupid and ignorant.
Alomar robbed himself and baseball fans with his stupid and reckless behavior......

Our final contestant is yet another special case.
Hall of Famer hoopster Elgin Baylor is suing the Los Angeles Clippers for-firing him for Age and Race employment discrimination....
That is right,the WORST GM in basketball kept his job for 22 years,made the playoffs just 3 times,made it out of Round one once is suing because he was fired.
I could do a entire post on the baffling moves that Elgin Baylor made and try to figure out just how in the hell he kept his job for 22 years and he says he was canned due to discrimination?
I screamed about Dave Littlefield for his reign of rot and he was not running the Pirates for a third of the time that Baylor manned the Clippers ship.
My lord,when you want to talk about having a lot of nerve,think about this one!
A record of 619-1153 does not deserve termination?
What does then????
Elgin Baylor certainly cannot take all blame for the Clippers failures.
Owner Donald Sterling is reknowned for his cheapness and Baylor never had the budget that even an average NBA team has to run a team properly.
Baylor knows the game and could be helpful to a team in an advisory role even today,but this suit smacks of sour grapes against Sterling,not an actual case that Baylor has...

Here is a pic of Elgin Baylor in his regular seat at the NBA offices in Seacaucus New Jersey for the NBA Draft Lottery.