Categories
MLB General

The Full Count: Carl Pavano makes how much per win?


1. Two hits, one win: The Padres offense struggled mightily against the Giants last night, but it didn’t matter. Despite only mustered two hits by San Diego, they won 1-0. Giants starter Matt Cain had six hitless innings, then gave up a sac fly in the seventh, the only run of the game. San Fran’s offense was shut down as well by Chris Young, who had seven scoreless innings and earned a win. The Giants dropped to 1-6, tied for the worst record in the majors.

2. Two years, one win: Carl Pavano’s struggles with injuries have been well-documented during his time with the Yankees. But on Monday he put out his first win since 2005, pitching seven innings and allowing two runs. He was helped out by the Yankees’ dynamic offense. Bobby Abreu drove in four runs and A-Rod hit his league-leading 5th homer of the season as the team lit up Sidney Ponson for an 8-2 win over the Twins. Amazingly, the Yanks have five players in their lineup hitting over .340, including Johnny Damon’s .556. Still, they are only 3-3 on the year.

3. Snow Day: In a maddening episode, especially for fantasy owners like me, the Indians-Mariners game was snowed out for a fourth consecutive day on Monday. For three straight days, a planned doubleheader was called off. In order for this not to happen again, the Indians moved their next home series against the Angels to Milwaukee’s Miller Park. That has a retractable roof, so the series (which starts today) will definitely occur. The games missed will likely be made up with a doubleheader on a mutual off day for both teams.

Player of the Day: Braden Looper, Cardinals: 7 innings, no runs, two hits in a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh.

Stat of the Day: The Giants only have two homeruns this season, less than seven major league players.

Categories
NBA General

Around the Rim: Suns block? SA’s building steam

1. Spurred On
Tim Duncan was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week yesterday after he led the Spurs to a 3-0 record last week by scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while dishing out five assists and blocking three shots per contest. But it was the French phenom Tony Parker who guided SA to their fourth consecutive victory by racking up 30 points on 12-of-16 shooting in a dismantling of the Trailblazers. The Spurs are getting hot at the right time but they are still sitting two games behind Phoenix for the second seed in the playoffs. However, you shouldn’t be surprised if San Antonio catches the Suns before the end of the season because they have a much easier schedule as the year draws to a close.

2. Warriors, come out and plaaay

Golden State made a serious statement last night as they destroyed the Utah Jazz by 24 points, 126-102. And thanks to a Clippers loss to Denver, the Warriors have slid into the eighth and final playoff spot in the West; for now. Home-court advantage for the entire playoffs was also determined by in the Clippers loss as Dallas won their 64th game of the season and guaranteed that they would be spending the majority of every playoff series in their gym. And at the moment, their first round opponent would be the same giant killing Warriors that ripped apart Utah last night. So, is Golden State ready for the Mavericks? Probably not, but it would more entertaining than throwing the sacrificial Clippers to Mark Cuban’s hungry lions.

3. Kobe goes cold
Like most of the great scorers in league history, most nights Kobe Bryant has got it but some nights he doesn’t. And last night was definitely one night that the league’s top scorer wouldn’t mind forgetting. Bryant was 9-of-30 from the floor in a 115-111 loss to the Nuggets that put the Lakers perilously close to sliding completely off the playoff map. Only two little games separate LA from missing the post season and regardless of what happens over the remainder of the regular season, this will be the most losses for any Phil Jackson coached team with the Lakers currently sitting at 40-38. The Mamba just couldn’t get it going as Denver’s dynamic duo torched LA for 57 points and the team’s sixth straight victory. Nobody wants to get caught playing against that level of firepower in the first round of the post season, and then you throw in a Defensive Player of the Year candidate patrolling the middle in Marcus Camby and you have a serious dark-horse just waiting to grab an early playoff upset.

Monday’s Player of the Day: Ricky Davis vs. Toronto 39 min, 28 pts (FG: 9-17, 3FG: 4-8, FT: 6-6), 3 reb, 8 ast

Tuesday’s Game to Watch: Los Angeles Clippers (37-39) @ New Orleans (36-41) With the playoffs just about two weeks away, the final three spots are still technically up for grabs but it’s really the final two that are in the most unstable condition. That’s where the Clippers and the Hornets come in. Both teams are on the outside looking in right now as they try to scratch and claw their way into the post season picture and knock the Lakers and/or Warriors out. It’s great to see this kind of late season head-to-head contests where the winner can take control of their own destiny and watch the battle of wills square off. Without getting too Bill Walton about the matter, let’s just say that it should be a good game.

Buzzer Beater: In a story that goes to show you that NBA ballers are still regular folk too, Michael Doleac’s brother ‘s Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Baghdad as he piloted the aircraft. Everyone ended up being all right but that has got to put game of basketball into perspective for Army 2nd Lt. Kenneth Doleac’s older brother.

“From what I’ve heard from him, it was he and another helicopter flying,” Doleac said. “They got hit, it was just small arms fire, and they ended up going down. He was able to put it down. A couple of his guys got hit, but no one was injured seriously. He was able to put the helicopter down. The other Black Hawk that was with him wound up coming back in a couple of minutes and picking them all up.”

“It wakes you up. You take for granted every day he’s over there flying. To hear that he got shot down was just nuts. Every time you hear a helicopter go down, it’s something bad.”

Categories
Chicago Bulls

Odds and Ends: Rugy player on the DL after tripping over daughter


This is making an early bid into our upcoming Dumbest Off-Field Injuries feature. An Australian rugby player named David Kidwell tore ligaments in his knee and will be out the rest of the season after tripping over his two-year-old daughter. The injury was caused as he fell akwardly trying to avoid crushing his daughter.

Playing 10 years of first grade and no knee problems and something like this happens at home,” Kidwell told Australian Associated Press on Monday. “That’s definitely my season. I’m pretty shattered.

In other news…

[News.com.au]:Luc Longley: Greatest Australia Hero

[DNA India]: Field Hockey player points gun at doctor in hospital over sick daughter

[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: Chuck Klosterman stealing paychecks

[Our Book of Scrap]: Finger Jousting is taking your mall by storm

[Sports Law Blog]: Why Does Tanking Occur in the NBA but Seemingly Not in Other Leagues?

And finally, just in time for the return of Entourage, a NSFW pic of Emmanuelle Chriqui.

Categories
Denver Nuggets

Melo continues the trend of disrespect between athletes and fans



Don’t let the nice smile
fool ya.

When did being a professional athlete become so stressful and difficult that a common response to their fans has become one of bitterness and violence? We’re not too sure when the exact point in time was, but it has become obvious that a disrespect of fans is now quite common.

The most recent example of this involves Carmelo Anthony’s hoodlum buddy who punched one of Melo’s fans after he asked for an autograph in front of a Denver 7-11 last month. Sure, the guy was totally out of line to get pissed because of the denial but when you’re the face of a franchise there are some things that players just have to let roll of their backs. First off, Anthony has to expect that people are going to walk up to him and ask for a picture or autograph if he’s just walking down the street. Is it really too hard to just take five seconds out of your freaking day to oblige the fan. He’ll probably rush out and buy your jersey and poster if you do.

But it’s not just Melo. Other basketball players like Zach Randolph have been flipping the bird to the crowd at rival stadiums and even an NBA referee was busted giving the one finger salute to an arena full of fans. Michael Vick showed Atlanta fans his personal interpretation of the “dirty bird” last season after being booed for a piss poor performance. Pitchers Randy Johnson and Kenny Rogers both attacked members of the media when they didn’t want to bothered. And soccer fans and players seem to have a mutual disrespect issue of their own.

Part of the job description when it comes to making a living as a professional athlete involves the ability to take criticism. Whether from the fans or the media, the majority of today’s athletes are simply not equipped with the people skills necessary to handle the pressures that come along with being permanently forced into the spotlight. Either that or there are just a lot of jerks who happen to be gifted in sports.

Links:

[RockyMountainNews.com]: Friend of Nugget Anthony ticketed in fight with fan
[TheDenverChannel.com]: Carmelo: Witness to crime?

Categories
MLB General

MLB Cost Index for April 9 2007



Larry Beinfest’s idea of a bonus

It might be a little too early to start worrying about these things but here’s the first MLB Cost Index of the 2007 season. 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.

Now, on to the analysis…

The Marlins pick up where they left off last season with a #1 ranking in the Cost Index. The other big suprise is the Pittsburgh Pirates with their four wins and $38M payroll. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Red Sox are always at the bottom of these rankings become of their astronomical payrolls. However, in the early going, they aren’t in the cellar yet, mainly because of the horrendous opening week posted by the Astros, Phillies, and Giants.

The full list of clubs and cost/win after the jump.

Continue reading “MLB Cost Index for April 9 2007”

Categories
MLB General

2007 MLB Payrolls


[ 2008 Payrolls are here ]

Another year, another summer of Yankees vs Red Sox in the accounting ledger. Once again, these two teams top Major League Baseball payroll rankings. The Yankees actually dropped a few million in payroll while the Red Sox added a staggering $23M to catch up to the Bronx Bombers. ($195.2 vs $143.5) For perspective, the entire Devil Rays payroll is only $24M this year. Next time any Red Sox fans start talking about the Yankees being the Evil Empire, tell them Boston is just Evil Empire North.

Outside of the Red Sox, the Orioles added the most in payroll this year with an additional $22.5M. Their $95M 2007 payroll puts the Orioles at #10 on the list. Total payroll for baseball is $2.5B with the top 10 teams accounting for nearly half of that number. The Nationals are expected to be the worst team in the majors this year and they trimmed a cool $23M off their payroll from 2006. They still are above the Devil Rays and Marlins though, the perennial K-marts of MLB.

The entire 2007 MLB payrolls after the jump.

Continue reading “2007 MLB Payrolls”

Categories
Florida Panthers

Ed Belfour picks a fight with a cop


There must be something in the Miami water system that makes athletes go nuts because James Posey wasn’t the only athlete to get wasted and do something stupid last night.

Ed Belfour was arrested early this morning after he refused to leave a South Beach bar and decided that he would settle the dispute in a good ol’ slugfest, just like on the ice. Belfour took a “fighting stance” and shoved the police officer who was to assist him from the club. Then the Florida Panthers goalie really started resisting.

Belfour pulled away from the officer trying to arrest him and grabbed his shirt. The hockey player then fell forward on the ground, kicking and refusing to place his hands behind his back, the report said.

The skirmish ended when the cop zapped the blitzed Belfour with a Taser gun. Very becoming, you stay classy Eddie.

Police reported that Belfour had slurred speech, blood shot eyes and smelled of alcohol and charged him with disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer without violence. Too bad there’s no “resisting an officer with a tantrum” charge on the books.

Belfour’s partner in crime was teammate Ville Peltonen who got picked up on charges of criminal mischief after snapping a pole off a fire truck. But who cares, after all he didn’t even get electrocuted.

Links:

[MSNBC]: Belfour arrested after trying to fight cop
[Local10.com]: Panther players arrested in alleged police scuffle

Categories
All Other Sports

Everyone agrees: Colin Cowherd is a douchebag


We know how boring it is when bloggers talk about other bloggers (the staggering amounts of circle jerking in the blogosphere is vomit inducing ) but this is a special case because it involves ESPN.

It’s not often that bloggers agree on things but everyone is in universal agreement that Colin Cowherd is a complete tool. (Remember, this is the professional who stole content from a blog and didn’t bother to credit them.) In case you missed it last week, Cowherd told his listeners to take down TheBigLead.com by having everyone log onto thebiglead all at the same time (audio here). Well, it worked and TBL was down for about two days.

The outrage about Cowherd’s junior high level antics forced the ESPN ombudsman to address the issue in her latest column:


The official response from ESPN’s communication department was: “Our airwaves should not be used for this purpose. We apologize.” It is the kind of bland public statement that does little to assuage the anger and distrust of ESPN’s audience over an episode like this. I could not tell from that statement how seriously ESPN regarded the offense, so I contacted Traug Keller, senior vice president, ESPN Radio, to get a clearer idea of ESPN’s reaction.

Keller responded immediately to my request for an on-the-record statement. “We talked to Colin Cowherd, and we talked to all our radio talent, making it clear that you cannot do this,” Keller said Friday. “Our airwaves are a trust, and not to be used to hurt anyone’s business. Such attacks are off limits. Zero tolerance. I can’t say it any stronger.”

Keller said that he had not formulated a policy about such attacks on Internet sites until now because he had never imagined the possibility of them.

How sad is it that a behemoth like ESPN has to tell their employees that knocking out tiny mom and pop level outlets isn’t cool. Now, if they had taken down one of the shittier sites, we probably wouldn’t care but they took down one of the better sports blogs. However, there is a silver lining for this. The Big Lead wouldn’t have been able to buy this kind of publicity; so in a way, Cowherd did them a favor. Still, Cowherd better get used to his name and douchebag being linked together on google.

Links:
[The Big Lead]: Do it Again and the Kitten Dies

Categories
Miami Heat

James Posey gets popped for DUI



Now I’ve got a pair of bracelets
to go with my ring.

So, how do you like to spend your Easter? Most people get dressed up and head to church; maybe have the family over for lunch, play some cards and so on. Well, Miami Heat forward James Posey might enjoy those same types of holiday activities, but it looks like he also likes to get plastered and talk to random people in the middle of the road.

Posey was arrested early this morning on charges of drunken driving when a Miami Beach police officer noticed Posey was stopped in the left lane and chatting it up with some passerby’s in another car. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when asked to produce his driver’s license, Posey made the drunken blunder of dropping the license as he handed it to the officer. Anyone who has ever done this knows exactly what comes after that; “Please step out of the car, sir.”

Once out of the car, Posey displayed “bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and an odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath,” the officer wrote in his report. The player also was unsteady on his feet and swayed while standing, the report said.

Turns out that Mr. Butter Finger’s ID wasn’t even valid, so he got charged with driving with a suspended license as well. Posey was booked into the Miami-Dade County clink but we figure that he’ll probably get bailed out pretty soon. After all, the guy is making $6.4 million this season.

Links:

[NBC6.net]: Heat forward James Posey charged with DUI

Categories
Golf

You almost had us Zach Johnson


Even though we root for Tiger Woods for every tournament, as soon as Tiger hit the drink on 15, we accepted and were almost happy that Zach Johnson, underdog, was going to win the thing. But then a funny thing happened: Zach Johnson pulled out his Jesus card.


Being Easter, my faith is very important to me.
I felt Jesus, I felt my grandfather, my family, everybody. So it was awesome.
…
Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God. Hopefully I did.

Jesus is totally awesome. Now we know this plays well in a lot of states around the country but athletes need to give it a rest already. Jesus didn’t help you win the Masters or the Super Bowl or anything else. Jesus doesn’t hate Tiger Woods. Look, you can believe whatever you want to believe, but the Masters is no place for your proselytizing.

Plus, wasn’t Jesus already busy considering it was Easter?

Links:
[Metronews Canada]: Winning on Easter makes Masters more special for Zach Johnson