The Cleveland Browns travel to the big cesspool today to battle the Jets in a must win game for Cleveland playoff hopes. The Browns should win this game,but this same Jets team defeated Pittsburgh a few weeks back in this very stadium,so Cleveland cannot take them lightly. The key is being able to effectively rush young QB Kellen Clemons and stop Thomas Jones on the ground. Clemons may not have either of his regular wideouts for the game in JerrichoCotchery and LaveranusColes,so the passing game is already weakened and I expect Jones to carry a heavy load today. Our Pick:Browns 24-13
In Seattle,the Seahawks can virtually clinch the NFC West title today with a win over the second place Arizona Cardinals. A victory would give Seattle a three game lead over Arizona with three games to play. I think the Hawks will take advantage of a beat-up offense that could be missing Larry Fitzgerald and AnquanBoldin,rush the immobile Kurt Warner and win this one going away. Our Pick:Seahawks 31-16.
The New Jersey Devils attempt to continue their winning streak at Madison Square Garden vs the Rangers today at 5. This one will be reviewed on tape,as we will be watching the Browns-Jets game.
Bullpen Notes
I watched an IFC documentary on the 2004 election called "and so goes the nation" and enjoyed immensely. Well produced and I thought covered both parties fairly. Highly recommended,if you like political shows.
On the politics front,most of you that know me personally know of my dislike of Hillary Clinton and we preferred BarackObama over Mrs.Clinton. But Obama's vaunted and publicized move of traveling with Oprah Winfrey earned him no points with me. I like Hillary Clinton more than Oprah Winfrey. Does that tell you anything? Our endorsement coming soon.
Tim Tebowwinning the Heisman? I haven't seen such a sorry selection since Charles Woodson over Peyton Manning.
Floyd Mayweather kept his WBC Welterweight title with a 10th round stoppage over Ricky Hatton. Pretty much what we expected. Now count on Floyd going for an Oscar De La Hoya rematch instead of facing someone that might take him in WBA kingpin Miguel Cotto.
The Fukuoka Hawks of the Japanese Pacific Leagues signed former Pirate outfielder Michael Restovichyesterday. Besides being a former Buc,Restovich will never be forgotten here at the home office. Why? He hit the only foul ball that I ever caught at a MLB game.
Back tomorrow with game recaps from the NFL and NHL and some more info on the AAA phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
Salomon "Gas Can" Torres was peddled to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for two righthanded minor league relievers. I know that trading for minor league relievers smacks of the Captain,but at least one of these pitchers has reasonably good strikeout numbers. The Captain always used to trade for the soft tossing style to help Indianapolis out. Marino Salas split last season between AA Huntsville and AAA Nashville saving 17 games and compiling a 2.77 ERA in his 51 appearances between the two stops. But he is 26 already,so he likely was pitching below his level. The second of the two intrigues me more. Kevin Roberts,23,spent last season with High A Brevard County and struck out over a batter an inning. The bad news is that he has control issues and walks a fair amount. Roberts was a college pitcher for Houston. Roberts seems to at least have some upside and throw fairly hard,which is two things in short supply in the system. Some Pirate fans are rapping Neal Huntington for this deal and commenting that he didn't get enough in return. However,Torres is 36 ,had elbow problems last year,was not effective for the most part and is not sure that he wants to leave Pittsburgh,which is where he lives year-round. You cannot really expect him to bring much considering all that. So although,I cannot say that I love the return,I wont complain much. Now I do expect a higher return for DamasoMarte,since Marte is signed to a reasonable contract,is left handed and coming off an excellent season.
The New Jersey Devils leaped out early on the visiting Washington Capitals and cruised to a deceptive 3-2 win at the Rock to improve their winning streak to nine. The two first period goals basically slowed the Caps down to a crawl and only once would the Devils allow them to show the mildest spark. VitaliVishnevski (?) fluttered a backhanded knucklepuck past Olaf Kolzig for his first goal as a Devil and just under five minutes later on a Devil power play,DaniusZubrus knocked his 6th goal of the year past Kolzig to establish Devil dominance at 2-0. The only Capital burst came early in the 3rd as Alexander Semin's goal cut the lead to 2-1. It was only the second goal for Semin this season in what must be a disappointment for Washington fans. But less than a minute later,Travis Zajac's goal (5) put the game out of reach for New Jersey. Nice effort,if not very exciting,but great to see the unheralded guys stepping up and taking the burden for the evening. New Jersey crosses the river tomorrow at 5 to try for 10 wins in a row with a battle against the hated Rangers.
Bullpen Notes
I love XM radio andMLB Home Plate,but they have two of the most annoying and least knowledgeablehosts around in Holden Kushner and Grant Paulsen. Kushner demeans anyone that enjoys the game differently than he,yet he knows little about anything other than a few teams. Paulsen is the young man that got the publicity push a few years back for being a youth sportscaster. Kudos to his family for playing the game to get him the opportunity,but frankly he just is not that talented. One of the most frustrating things about being a parent is not having the connections or the dough to help your children out for opportunities. Excuse the sour grapes,but Ryan Heimberger forgot more baseball ten years ago than Grant Paulsen knows now and they are roughly the same age. Sorry,Ryan.
The Cleveland Indians sent a PTBNL to the Colorado Rockies for veteran utility infielder Jamey Carroll. This tell me that Josh Barfield might be wanting to rent not buy in Cleveland right now. The Indians designated pitcher J.D. Martin for assignment. Martin was a once promising prospect that has struggled with arm injuries the last few years and a good signer to boot.
Nice gesture by the NHLPA to join up with David Suzuki to help fight carbon emissions. Good job,guys!
On the signing front; Things have been slow,but did get two cards from Mike Treadwell of Chi-Sox minor leaguers Garry Bakker and ClevelanSanteliz and Boston Bruin Brad Boyes signed through the mail.
Finally,I have a feeling that yesterday's weigh-in between Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton will be more exciting than the fight for Mayweather'sWBC welterweight belt. Our Pick-Mayweather by lopsided unanimous decision or perhaps a late round stoppage on cuts.
Photo Credits Gas Can-Dilip Vishwanat-Getty Images Vishnevski-Rich Schultz-AP Photo Staredown-AFP
The Pittsburgh Pirates did actually participate in the Rule 5 Draft and used the second pick of the draft. However,the surprise was that GM Neal Huntington passed on both of the Cleveland Indian position players in outfielder Brian Barton and first baseman Matt Whitney to select Tampa Bay righthander Evan Meek. Meek spent the entire 2007 season pitching for the "Rays" AA affiliate,the Montgomery Biscuits. The 24 year old righty appeared in 44 games for the Biscuits,all in relief, and finished with an impressive strikeouts to 9 innings pitched ratio of 9.27. The knock on Meek has always been a lack of control and he seems to still have control issues,as his walks to 9 innings ratio was over 4. But his numbers in the Arizona Fall League were downright dominant. In Meek's 9 appearances,he allowed just 1 run and 3 hits over 9+ innings pitched. Surprised by the pick,but still pretty pleased,as the Pittsburgh bullpen weakness was righthanded with the exception of Matt Capps. Overall,I like it for the price that was paid to take a look. Jose Castillo was given his release to create the roster spot on the 40 man to make room for Meek. Cleveland's two position players both were selected by other teams,as Matt Whitney went to Washington with the seventh pick,while Brian Barton slid to the Cardinals at the 10th slot. Barton was thought to be the first pick of the draft to Tampa Bay and either Tampa would keep him or rumors had the Padres trading with Tampa for him. Apparently,the off season surgery to Barton's knee had scared some teams off.
The reports on the AAA phase are still rolling in,but from what I can see thus far,the Pirates selected three players and lost two. In the AA and AAA phases of the draft,you can assign the players that you take where you want and you just pay the drafting fee of 12,000 for a pick in AAA and 4,000 for a AA pick. The newest members of the Pirates organization are righthanded pitcher Josh Hill from the Twins. The 6'3 Australian native pitched at High A Ft.Myers and AA New Britain last year. Cannot say I know much about him,but he only allowed 3 homers last season between the two teams. That tells me he can at least keep the ball in the park. I will try to get some info on Hill from some Twins bloggers when I can.
Mauricio Mendez was taken from the Red Sox. The Dominican pitcher was 2-1 in 29 innings for the GCLSox,so the numbers look OK,but who really knows when the only numbers are GCL level. Mendez will likely be at State College,but a slim shot at Hickory.
The third and final selection was 27 year old lefty Corey Hamman from the Tigers. Hamman spent most of 2007 at AAA Toledo getting bombed in spot start/long man duty,but he was a Greg Smith draft pick,so maybe he is a good guy. He certainly does not seem to be a prospect,so look for him at either Altoona or Indianapolis,which ever needs what Hamman provides most.
The Pirates lost shortstop Smelin Perez to the Florida Marlins. Perez,a 21 year old from the Dominican Republic,spent last season with the short season State College Spikes. Perez hit .252 with a homer and 20 RBI to go with 11 steals. The red flag here for me was when we saw him he appeared to have a swing at most mentality and not much power.
The other player lost might be familiar to readers in righty pitcher Clayton Hamilton. Hamilton was the player that the Pirate medical staff could not figure out for a year that he had a broken rib and was told that he was healthy. Hamilton pitched for Lynchburg last year and was not a guarantee for a promotion to Altoona. Not a huge loss,but having met him-I felt bad for a good guy to get screwed over like that. Hamilton was obtained from San Diego for Bobby Hill,so his departure makes him the last link to leave from the Aramis Ramirez trade.
For the first 27 minutes,the Boston Bruins were loaded for bear and moved out to a 3-0 lead over a seemingly flat New Jersey Devils squad. After that though-all Devils domination and their never give up attitude enabled New Jersey to earn a 4-3 overtime win, keep their winning streak alive,add two points to their total in the Atlantic Division standings and move into a tie for first place in the Atlantic. The Bruins seemed motivated for their coach Claude Julien,who was making his first visit back to New Jersey since his firing late season by the Devils and their three first period goals seemed put the Devils in an almost unreachable deficit considering the play of the Bruins. But Patrik Elias started the comeback in the second with a redirection of a Brian Gionta shot that eluded Tim Thomas for the first Devil goal. The goal was the 5th of the season for Elias. The Devils managed to trim the deficit to 3-2 before the end of the period as Zach Parise scored (13) on the power play as the suddenly hot Elias picked up the primary assist. Parise's 14th goal of the year was the only goal of the year as he deflected a Sheldon Brookbank missile past Thomas to bring the game to a 3-3 standoff. Brookbank's assist was the first point of Brookbank's NHL career,but it would not be his last of the night. Boston netminder Tim Thomas fell to the ice injured with a minute to go in the contest,so Bruin backup TuukkaRask would have to shoulder the burden of stopping the Devils for the remainder of the battle. Rask was game,but was unable to stop Patrik Elias from taking a Zach Parise pass and winning the game for New Jersey with his 2nd goal of the night and 6th of the season. Sheldon Brookbank received his 2nd assist of the night with the secondary assist,while Parise finished the evening with 4 points,having had a impact on every Devil goal. What a night for Devils fans and one that should make the doubters think about counting this team out. Of course the 2 points are great,but the best thing was hanging in there and not rolling over from the awful first period. Showing great character and desire is what is going to keep the Devils near the teams with more talent. The Devils take a day off before Scott Stevens night against the Capitals on Friday. What is bad for me is that I will see none of the pre-game that will honor THE Captain because of the opponent being Washington,Center Ice will force me to have the Capital feed. So not only will I have to stomach Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin (YUCK),I will miss the pre-game.
Bullpen notes
Speaking of the Captaincy of the Devils,Brent Sutter announced before last night's game that Jamie Langenbrunner had been chosen as the eighth Devils Captain. Earlier the team had used three associate captains,but Langenbrunner's leadership apparently won Sutter over. Excellent choice and congrats to the new leader!
Andruw Jones to the Dodgers? For 2 years and 36 million? Pretty good for both sides. Jones gets some time (and decent bucks) to show that his 2007 drop off was a fluke,while the Dodgers only have his salary for two seasons in case it is for real.
Arkansas swung and missed on one ACC coach in Clemson's Tommy Bowden,but hasn't given up yet on the ACC as the leader for the Hogs job appears to be Wake Forest's Jim Grobe. Wake isn't the type of football program that can be a long-term winner due to its school size,so one cannot blame Grobe for going,if he decides to do so. But Grobe made Wake Forest football fun to watch,so he certainly will be missed at Wake and a great hire for Arkansas and in our opinion a better hire than Tommy Bowden would have been.
The Jason Bay talks with Cleveland are "dead" according to sources. The hangup was Cleveland wanted to move the salary of Cliff Lee,while the Pirates preferred to take one of Cleveland's lefty youngsters either Aaron Laffey or Chuck Lofgren. Stay in tuned,we think this still could get done eventually despite the public posturing from both teams.
Here is hoping that Neal Huntington uses the Pirates 2nd overall pick in today's Rule V draft for Minor Leaguers. Wager that he will considering that two attractive prospects that are available are from Huntington's former employer in Cleveland. Outfielder Brian Barton and first baseman Matt Whitney are both available to be selected from the Indians and one could be a Bucco by the days end. A brief thumbnail of the top players in the draft can be found here.
All for now. Could be back later,if anything interesting happens in the Rule V Draft.
Today's installment of forgotten superstars talks about someone that might eventually join the Hall of Fame in pitcher Bert Blyleven. Blyleven is now a color commentator for the Minnesota Twins and got some unwanted attention for cursing on the air during a Twins pre-game show. Blyleven pitched for 5 teams with 2 stints in Minnesota included with time with the Rangers,Pirates,Indians and Angels.
Bert was a pitching stalwart on two championship teams with the 1979 Pirates along with the 1987 Twins and ranks with some of the best pitchers in career numbers.
His 287 career wins ranks above Hall of Famers such as Fergie Jenkins,Bob Gibson,Jim Palmer and Bob Feller to name a few,while he ranks fifth on the all time strikeout list with 3,701.
Bert's 60 career shutouts is the ninth highest career total in baseball history as well.
I still rank the Blyleven curve as the best breaking curve that I have ever seen and many hitters would agree with me.
Some voters use that Blyleven fell short of 300 wins,but I would counter that with the amount of bad teams that Bert hurled for. Blyleven did not pitch on a winning team after his rookie year of 1970 until 1977 in Texas and during that run never won fewer than 13 games,including a 20 win season in 1973 for the 81-81 Twins.
After leaving Pittsburgh in after the 1980 season,he moved to the poor Indians and won 19 games in1984 for a 75 win team.
If you figure in an average year for Blyleven in 1982 (only 2 wins due to injury),he likely reaches 300 wins and already is enshrined in Cooperstown.
Using Baseball Reference's 10 most comparable pitchers to Blyleven,the omission of Blyleven from the Hall becomes even more striking as 8 of the 10 pitchers listed are in the Hall currently and the other two (Tommy John and Jim Kaat) are near misses.
With a weaker crop on this year ballot,this could be the year for Blyleven and he certainly deserves to be a Hall of Famer,not a forgotten superstar.
Bullpen Notes
Not sure on what to think about the Tigers obtaining Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins for Cameron Maybin,Andrew Miller and other prospects.
I like the fact that the Tigers are going after a title,but between this trade and the Edgar Renteria deal earlier with Atlanta,they have gutted their farm system to the point of having literally nothing there for the conceivable future.
The Tigers look to have a murderous lineup,but a caveat for them.
They already have two injury prone players in Gary Sheffield and MagglioOrdonez,so injuries could sink them with having little depth.
From the Marlins view,I like it a lot. Maybin could eventually be a true impact player and Miller adds another power arm to an organization loaded with them.
Watch for both of those two to play huge roles in Florida next year.......
Boston appears to be the front runner in the Johan Santana derby as supposedly the Yankees and Angels are balking at the asking price.
I cannot blame "New York lite" for going after the best pitcher in the game,but this screams baseball's problem loudly.
The few money teams can spend more in the draft to build up prospects to trade for players that have to be moved for salary reason or they can just sign them later outright.
Either way,the playing field isn't level and never will be until these smaller teams stand up and demand one instead of taking a small grain of salt every once in a while to shut up.
The Orioles are doing their usual shop everyone and trade no one deal again.
We hear the Birds are talking with the Cubs about Brian Roberts,the Cardinals about Miguel Tejada and the Mets (among others) about Erik Bedard.
The usual stance in talks with Baltimore is this-talk,talk,talk,get close to a deal,take the deal to owner Peter Angelos. Angelos then turns down proposed deal.
I can see deals with Tejada and/or Bedard getting done in the right fashion,but Roberts is Angelos favorite player.
That would stun me.
Speaking of stunned,how about the Nationals trade for Elijah Dukes for prospect pitcher Glenn Gibson?
Dukes,a noted character player,could compete for a starting outfield spot in Washington,if he can keep things straight.
Dukes has been suspended by Tampa many times,impregnated an underage young lady that was a foster child with a family member,threatened to murder his wife and recently walked out and quit on his winter league team.
Nice to see that Jim Bowden is trying to build a character team in DC.
Tom Boswell has a great column on the deal and Dukes in the Washington Post.
Gibson ,meanwhile,was thought to have been assigned here to the Suns for 2008.
The Pirates are shopping Jason Bay and that should not surprise anyone.
Nor should Cleveland being involved be a shock,but the names that are involved are.
The Post-Gazette is reporting the talks being Bay and Ronny Paulino for outfielder Franklin Gutierrez,backstop Kelly Shoppach and pitcher Cliff Lee,although it has been mentioned that Lee could be replaced with a pitching prospect.
I like Gutierrez a lot and Shoppach is average enough to easily replace "Loafin Ronny",but Lee has always been an average pitcher that won games with huge run support,was injured last year,had problems in the clubhouse and will be under contract for at least two years.
Plus the Pirates one strength is young pitchers with good attitudes,why gamble on Lee to ruin that?
I can see a steadying veteran pitcher brought in to help.but judging by last year's issues,I don't think Lee is the guy.
I don't really have anything against Cliff Lee,I just don't think he fits the Pirates needs very well.
Now I cannot see Cleveland putting Adam Miller into this deal,but maybe Chuck (Mr Friendly) Lofgren in the deal might work and then I would perhaps do it.
Under that deal,you add a talented MLB ready center fielder in Gutierrez,who can move to a corner when Andrew McCutchen arrives,a serviceable catcher to get you by for a while in Shoppach and a power armed lefty for the future in Lofgren.
The other two teams that are rumored to want Bay are the Padres and Rangers.
The New Jersey Devils return to action tonight at the Rock vs the Bruins at 7;00.
Coverage here tomorrow.
On a big Sunday,the Cleveland Browns fell in the land of the cacti to the Arizona Cardinals 27-21. Despite a controversial call on the games final play,the Browns really did not deserve to win. Three turnovers and an inability to stop the run make it hard to defeat any team on the road,especially the Cardinals,who seem to be a far different team at home than on the road. The Cardinals seem to do win one or two games at home every season that they shouldn't on paper,so this really is not a surprise. The loss didn't really do much to affect the wild card hopes other than allowing Tennessee,who won over Houston to get back into the race,but it did kill any slim hopes of catching the Steelers for the division title. Now for the game ending play. I did think that Winslow was pushed out of bounds and the play should have been ruled a touchdown,but I didn't think it had any chance of being overturned. The part that was the problem was that being pushed out of bounds and "projected" to be any bounds before contact is clearly a judgement call. Judgement calls cannot be reviewed and the video review was the check of Kellen Winslow's feet to be in bounds and clearly he only had one in the field of play. But what an effort for Winslow to even catch the ball. We have stated before that we don't always like the noise from K2,but we love the heart and effort that he always gives. If this game is in Cleveland-that catch is ruled a TD. Part of the home field advantage,I suppose. Derek Anderson's two first quarter turnovers that led to two Arizona TD's really allowed the Cardinals to grab confidence and made the difference in the game. Not a great performance,but liked the effort. The Browns travel to New Jersey next week for a seemingly easy win vs the Jets,but Pittsburgh thought the same way and suffered an upset loss. Cleveland needs them all,so lets hope they take this one with all seriousness.
The Seattle Seahawks meanwhile traveled east to Philadelphia for a Sleet-marred game vs the Eagles. LofaTatupu was a one man difference maker for the Hawks 28-24 win with three interceptions. Tatupu's two first half picks led to two Seattle touchdowns and the final grab was the dagger to the heart of the Eagles,as he grabbed A.J. Feeley's pass at the Seattle 4 with seconds remaining. Lofa also made 11 tackles and along with Julian Peterson,slammed the door on a 4th and goal attempt by Brian Westbrook late in the first half that might have been the biggest play in the game prior to the final interception. Shaun Alexander returned to action with a rushing TD and Mo Morris added one as well. The two combined for 120+ yards on the ground and maybe Mike Holmgren will use more of a mix for the rest of the season. Seattle moves to 8-4 with the win and holds a two game lead over the Cardinals in the NFC West. The Cardinals come to Seattle next week and Seattle can virtually clinch the division with a victory.
The New Jersey Devils won their 7th game in a row with their first shootout win on the season with a 3-2 win over the visiting Atlanta Thrashers. Sergei Brylin's 3rd goal of the year tied the game at 1-1 late in the first period and John Madden's 7th goal of the season in the second gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead after 2 periods. but IlyaKovalchuk's laser like shot beat Marty Brodeur midway through the third to give the Thrashers the tie and eventual 1 standings point. The overtime was a fun,free flowing stanza with both teams having scoring chances and Brodeur and Atlanta's Johan Hedberg both making excellent saves. After the Thrashers first two shootout attempts failed,Brian Gionta beat Hedberg from the backhand to give the Devils the shootout lead. Brodeur then equalled his battle with Kovalchuk for the night by making a snatching glove save to end the game and put in the Devils win column for two points. A fun game to watch and well played by both teams. The Devils return to action on Wednesday in Beantown to battle the Bruins at 7:00
Bullpen Notes
Whatever happened to Karel Rachunek since his child was born a few weeks back is unknown,but his play has been excellent. If this is the cause of the improved play,we hope his family has another addition soon!
The Ohio State Buckeyes caught the breaks and get their chance for the National Title. OSU will be (should be ) underdogs to the LSU Tigers,but just getting to the game in what was thought to be a reloading year is an accomplishment.
And yes,we know the non-conference schedule was weak,but we cannot blame the schedule makers too much.When Washington was put on the schedule,they were a nationally ranked team every year. Just a blip on the radar after two years of Texas and a two game series starting next year with USC. Future deals have been signed with Oklahoma,Virginia Tech and former has been power Miami.
them lightly.
titl
e today with a win over the second place Arizona Cardinals.
