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MLB General

MLB Cost Index for June 4 2007

The MLB Cost Index is one measure of how well your GM did over the course of the offseason and during the season. The Index takes a look at the payrolls for each team and calculates a Cost per Win number. Pretty simple stuff right? But in the wide open world of baseball with no salary cap, it’s the best way we can think of to judge teams on a level (monetary) playing field.

We’re finally into June and after what already seems like a long grinding season, we’re starting to figure out who the chumps are. The Cubs and Lou Pinella are completely melting down and are only above the Yankees in efficiency of their payroll. Their neighbors the White Sox aren’t doing much better either. Meanwhile, at the opposite site of the spectrum are the Diamondbacks, winners of 9 out of their last 10 and sitting atop the NL West. And with a team that costs 1/4 of the Yankees’ payroll. The Angels, 8-2 in their last 10, are also make up strong push up the MLB Cost Index.

The complete Major League Baseball Cost Index after the jump.

Continue reading “MLB Cost Index for June 4 2007”

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MLB General

The Full Count: Yankees get a baby step


1. Boo Me Now: Alex Rodriguez was ridiculed by the Red Sox fans every at-bat over the weekend. On Sunday, he made them shut up by hitting what proved to be a game-winning homer in a 6-5 victory for the Yankees. A-Rod hit a solo shot off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth, his league-leading 20th big fly of the year. The win gave the Yankees a series victory over Boston, but they are still 12.5 games back and just one game out of last place. The projected pitcher’s duel between Andy Pettitte and Josh Beckett did not occur, as both aces did not pitch their best. Both teams have one more series before starting Interleague play later this week.

2. West Coast Showdown: The weekend did nothing to separate the top teams in the NL West. The Diamondbacks, Padres, and Dodgers remain tied in the league’s most heated divisional battle. The streaky D-backs have won 9 of their last 10 games, including two of three from the Mets over the weekend. Doug Davis pitched 7 2/3 excellent innings in a 4-1 win on Sunday. The Padres won as well, with David Wells picking up the win and Josh Bard driving in four runs. The Dodgers rallied in the seventh and eighth innings to beat the Pirates 5-4. According to ESPN.com, the Dodgers are 27-0 when leading after eight innings. This is a testament to the outstanding play of closer Takashi Saito, who is 16-16 on save chances and has a 1.50 ERA. All three of these teams have an overachieving offense, solid bullpen, and a capable array of starters. Though the NL West race usually doesn’t get much attention, it should this year.

3. MVP Resurgence: The last two National League MVPs, Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols, were very disappointing early on this year. However, both have picked it up in the last week or so, and they will likely return to superstardom as the year goes on. On Sunday, Howard hit his fourth homer in nine games since returning from the DL. He was one of four Phillies to go deep in a crazy 9-8 win over the Giants. Though he is still hitting just .224, Howard is still on pace for 38 homers and 133 RBIs on the year. Pujols, meanwhile, hit two homers to help the Cardinals win 8-6. He had his fifth multi-hit game in his last ten games. Neither Pujols nor Howard are atop the leaderboards like they were last year, but expect that to change very soon.

Player of the Day: Gary Sheffield, Tigers: 2-4, HR (13), 3 runs. Sheffield’s April struggles are now a distant memory thanks to 11 homers and 24 RBIs since May 2.

Stat of the Day: Giants phenom Tim Lincecum has a 9.00 ERA in two starts against the Phillies this year. In his other four starts he is 2-0 with a 2.17 ERA.

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All Other Sports

First Liddell, now Johnnie Morton. Are there any MMA heroes left?

Last week, we brought you the story of football player turned MMA wannabe Johnnie Morton and his upcoming first fight at K-1’s Dynamite!! USA.  Well, it looks like Morton’s first bout as a “professional” fighter could very well be his last after Bernard Ackah knocked him the heck out in just 38 seconds with a huge punch to the kisser.

Morton ended up being all right after he was taken to the hospital but K-1 wasn’t done delivering blows to the fallen NFLer.  Johnnie received a suspension from the fight club because he refused to take a drug test.  Man, drugs sure aren’t what they used to be if he was using `cause that was a pathetic display; even for a possibly doped up rookie.  Hopefully, this will be a wakeup call to anyone who thinks they are big enough, strong enough, fast enough or tough enough to just step into the ring with an MMA fighter; these guys are serious athletes and they have no remorse about putting guys on stretchers.  

Links:

[SI.com]: Morton KO’d, suspended
[Steroid Nation]: Former NFL’er Johnny Morton knocked cold in ring. Now the bad news: Morton stiffed too

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Atlanta Braves

Minor league manager shows why he’s in the minors

Okay, so this happened back on Friday, but you didn’t think we were gonna let this slip by; did ya?  After all, it is just one of the biggest meltdowns of all-time by a baseball manager.  C’mon, when was the last time you saw a fat guy in a Braves uniform doing a belly crawl to the mound?  Not to mention the classic grenade style toss of the rosin bag.  Jeez, Sweet Lou has got to be feeling a lot less stupid thanks to Mr. Phillip Wellman’s antics.  

But seriously, how is his squad supposed to rally behind a guy who acts like this?  That’s like asking Alec Baldwin’s daughter to have respect for her daddy after he called her “a rude, thoughtless little pig.” Some things are just impossible to forget.

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Orlando Magic

The state of Florida is split on Billy Donovan’s decision indecision



It was fun while it lasted.

What’s up with the NBA and all this flopping that’s going on?  Well, we should really be more specific about what we’re talking about; we’re talking about the flip-flopping that is going on off the court, not the kind of flopping that Steve Nash perfected when Robert Horry gave him a lil’ pop.  Turns out that Kobe isn’t the only big name in the Association to wanna weasel out of something he said.

Billy Donovan reportedly wants out of the five-year, $27.5 million deal that he signed with the Magic on Friday to return to the Florida Gators.  And it looks like he just might get what he wants.  Apparently, Donovan heard blowhards like Dick Vitale over the weekend while they flapped their gums about how Donovan could have been the next Coach K. or John Wooden but instead chose to leave his college legacy behind for the big bucks.  Or maybe he just realized that college guys don’t fare too well in the NBA.  Either way, it doesn’t really matter because the two time champion signed the dotted line at the bottom of the Magic’s stationary, putting his future in their hands.

While it would be pointless to keep a guy around if he’s not fully committed to the job, we are really hoping that Orlando forces Donovan to stay.  After all, that is how a contract works, right?  You had a good thing going in Florida Billy, you really did but when you shook the hand of the Magic’s owner and put the pen to the paper, your Gator days became priceless memories.  And anyways, how would you feel if Joakim Noah had pulled out of his commitment with Florida before ever taking to the floor for a single practice.  Well, Noah probably isn’t the best example but you get the point.

Links:
[OrlandoSentinel.com]: Orlando Magic will allow Billy Donovan to return to Florida

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MLB General

June 1 2007 MLB Power Rankings Roundup

It’s hard to believe that we’re already 9 weeks into the baseball season. The Red Sox are still the best team in the land according almost everybody and the Mets aren’t too far behind. The big gainer this week were the Diamondbacks, on a 7 game winning streak. The big loser this week were the Brewers who, after a fast start, have dropped 7 of their last 10.

Here are the major power rankings this week:

Rank Sportscolumn ESPN FoxSports Sportsline USA Today TSN.ca
1 Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox Mets
2 Mets Mets Indians Mets Mets Padres
3 Indians Indians Mets Indians Indians Red Sox
4 Angels Padres Angels Angels Tigers Brewers
5 Tigers Angels Padres Padres Angels Dbacks
6 Dodgers Dodgers Tigers Tigers Dodgers Dodgers
7 Padres Dbacks Dodgers Braves Braves Braves
8 Braves Tigers Braves Dbacks Brewers Indians
9 Dbacks Braves Dbacks Dodgers Padres Tigers
10 Brewers Twins Brewers Phillies White Sox Angels
11-30 more more more more more more

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Dallas Cowboys

Just who the hell is Tony Romo?

We’re not really sure how an athlete who botches a crucial game winning FG in the playoffs can get so much love but it seems now that Jessica Simpson is going out of her way to try to meet Tony Romo.

First, a little history. On his first MNF game, Tony Romo mentioned that his celebrity crush was Jessica Simpson. The next thing you know, there are rumors flying all over the place that he’s dating her because he left two tickets for her dad at a Cowboys game. That was pretty much gossip rag invented crap. Then, out of nowhere, he scores Carrie Underwood, the hottest thing ever to come out of American Idol and he’s judging the Miss Universe contest.

But that’s not all. Romo reportedly has dumped Carrie Underwood because she wants a commitment and he “wants to focus on football” so he needs his space. And his space includes inviting Jessica Simpson to Dallas after the Jessica Simpson camp (stupid celebrities) made a big push to get her and Romo together.

If you’re not a Dallas Cowboys fan, you’ve got to love this nonsense that’s going on here. Pretty soon, T.O. will be sick of Romo’s media coverage and do something really stupid. And that basically will be a complete blogger meltdown day. We can’t wait.

By the way, look at the two photos of Carrie Underwood and Jessica “I am going through male hormone therapy” Simpson. Is Tony Romo going blind, insane, or gay? Maybe he and A-Rod can go cruising for she-males together.

Categories
Golf

The 2007 50 Highest Paid American Athletes



Still good to be Tiger

SI has released their list of the top U.S. money earners for 2007. Of course, Tiger Woods is #1 with his $100M in endorsement money and the regular cast of characters fill out the top 10 (Shaq, Kobe, Mickelson, A-Rod, etc.) but it’s really the middle of the list that is the most interesting.

We spotted two types of athletes in addition to the genuine superstars. First, you have the washed up former superstar that is making a ton of cash on their contracts (thank you stupid GMs!) and practically nothing in endorsements. These are mostly NBA players (Michael Finley, Jalen Rose, Eddie Jones, Steve Fraacis, Grant Hill) but also includes useless baseball player Jason Giambi.

The second anomaly is the overhyped athlete that hasn’t done a damn thing but manages to get into this list by virtue of the great hype machine. Well… it’s just one person actually — Michelle Wie. With only $700k in earnings, she manages to come in at #22 with $19.5M in endorsements. What a joke.

The full list of the Top 50 earning American athletes in 2007 after the jump.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Halladay is dominating again


1. Return to Dominance: Roy Halladay hadn’t pitched since May 10, and he hadn’t pitched like himself since April 30. It didn’t take him long to return to his usual form. Halladay shut out the White Sox in seven innings, allowing six hits and no walks. He struck out seven on the last day of a horrible May for Halladay. In April, he was one of the early Cy Young favorites in the AL. But in May, he allowed 17 combined runs in his first two starts and then underwent an appendectomy that cost him three weeks. Mark Buehrle of the White Sox pitched eight strong innings himself, but he gave up two solo homers to Frank Thomas and Aaron Hill.

2. Still Rollin’: Everything about the Mets, from their starters to their lineup, is clicking right now. On Thursday, Orlando Hernandez delivered a great start in what has been a surprising season for him. El Duque allowed two runs in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 2.20. He is one of three Mets starters with an ERA below 2.80, which is quite unexpected for a staff that came into the year with numerous question marks. Billy Wagner converted his 31st straight save, his 13th on the year. Wagner is one of the more underrated closers in the majors with a 1.57 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. He has been unhittable for the last decade. Though Carlos Beltran struggled in May on offense, David Wright and Carlos Delgado broke out of their April slumps and Jose Reyes continued to be a steal machine (29 and counting). Right now, the Mets are clearly the favorite in the National League, which lacks another truly dominant team at this point.

3. Remember this guy?: Ever since breaking the single-season hits record in 2004, Ichiro has been virtually silent. This year he has returned to being a great contact hitter, with a .336 average and a 230-hit pace. He finished May with a 24-game hit streak that raised his average 76 points. He hasn’t slowed down, either, with 14 steals on the year. On Thursday, Ichiro carried the Mariners by going 3-5 with two RBIs. If he keeps hitting like he is now, Ichiro will definitely start to gain back the attention he lost after two below-average seasons for him.

Player of the Month: Prince Fielder, Brewers: Milwaukee may have slowed down towards the end of the month, but its best player continued to dominate. Fielder had four straight games with a homer to close the month. He led all major-leaguers with 13 homers in May and was tied for first with 28 RBIs. His slugging percentage was .755, which raised his season total to a league-leading .641. Fielder’s breakout is reminiscent of Ryan Howard‘s last year, when Howard hit 13 and 35 in May.

Pitcher of the Month: Jake Peavy, Padres: Many pitchers slowed down in May after dominating in April, but Peavy was not one of them. He went 4-0 with a miniscule 0.79 ERA and 39 strikeouts on the month. Peavy allowed no earned runs in three of his five starts, and the Padres won every time he took the mound in May. He is clearly the National League’s Cy Young favorite at this point in the year.

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All Other Sports

Could an out of work NFL receiver be the next MMA superstar? Oh, hell no!



There is no way this douche wins,
right?

Just when the UFC was starting to get the mainstream love that could help MMA KO boxing once and for all, Chuck Liddell went out and took the sport back about 10 years when he took a nice little nap in the center of the octagon thanks to some well placed punches by Quinton Jackson. And in less than two minutes the opportunity of a lifetime was gone and the chance to exploit some serious fight hype coming off a snoozefest between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather had vanished. And when Dana White’s golden boy lost his title, the giant that is MMA was decapitated. Well, there is the new UFC light heavyweight champion, but we don’t think anyone wants Rampage and his “humongous dick and big balls” leading the troops.

So where does mixed martial arts turn to find the new blood that can pick up the combat sport and thrust it back into the limelight where it belongs? Johnnie Morton, of course.

I am 0-0, underground, amateur and pro. Zero experience,” said Morton

OK, so maybe MMA shouldn’t look to the former 49er/Lion/Chief to be their savior just yet but he could bring back some interest in the sport when he hooks up with Bernard Ackah on June 2 at K-1’s Dynamite!! USA. C’mon, who wouldn’t pay to see Morton get Tai Kwon Do’d right into la-la land. Oh, and the fun doesn’t end there because the card has not just one, but two gimmicky fights to its credit!

In addition to wasting your hard earned cash to see Morton participate in his first professional fight, you can also throw away your “making it rain” money by watching former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in his debut bout against Min Soo Kim. But don’t get your hopes all worked up over the dream match of Lesnar/Kim just yet. While we know that Lesnar, aka “The Next Big Thing,” will be fighting, it is unsure who his opponent will be since his original opponent was denied a California fighter’s license.

This sounds like a spectacular event being put on by UFC’s rival, K-1, but here’s a little word of advice for your next big promotion. Perhaps you should get professional fighters to step inside the ring for you instead of guys who are just looking for something cool to pass the time.

I know there are other things to do, like maybe surf, golf and do things on TV, which I probably will in the future,” said Morton. “But right now, because I am still athletic, and I am still young enough to do this, this is just something I want to try in life and explore and experience. It is something I have always been interested in. At least, when I am old I can say I tried or I did it.

Links:

[MiamiHerald.com]: Former NFL receiver Morton to compete in first MMA event Saturday