Author: Vin

Vin is a Philly boy who shouldn't be invited into your house because he'll judge you on your book and music collection. He owns Dawkins, Utley, Iverson, and Lindros jerseys, which is all you really need to know about him. He can be reached at [email protected].

Categories
MLB General

Full Count for May 1 2006: What are the Tigers doing here?



  Who knew?

1. The Tigers, dominant?: The Detroit Tigers have been one of the worst teams in the majors for a while now. Their 43-119 record in 2003 was an absolute disaster to say the least. But in 2006, the Tigers have been one of the best teams in baseball. They have a 16-9 record, the second highest win total in the major leagues. And their dominance of the Minnesota Twins was hard to believe. In the Tigers’ three-game sweep of the Twins, the combined score was 33-1, one of the 5 highest margins in the past fifty years. They completed the sweep with a 6-0 victory on Sunday, in which Kenny Rogers (4-2) continued his quiet yet effective season. The other games in the series were won 9-0 and 18-1 by Detroit, who faces the Twins two more times in the next three weeks.

2. More than a blown save: We’ve seen a lot of horrendous bullpen play this year. Usual ace closers such as Brad Lidge, Francisco Cordero, and Eddie Guadardo have each blown multiple saves. But in the Dodgers’ 10-inning loss to the Padres, the bullpen had a memorably bad outing. Los Angeles was up 5-0 in the ninth with reliever Lance Carter in, but he was blasted for 3 runs without recording an out. Danys Baez, the usual closer, was put in next but allowed two runs to send the game to extras. Baez had been a reliable closer until this point for the Dodgers, as he had a 0.00 ERA coming into the game. But he blew the save, and in the 10th inning Mark Bellhorn recorded a game-winning single to end the game. The Dodgers would have swept the Padres had they won, but thanks to the relief pitching they fell to 12-13 on the year.

3. Shilling, a loser?: Coming into Sunday’s game against the Devil Rays, Curt Shilling had had a perfect season. He was 4-0, looking to become only the third Boston pitcher ever to win 5 games in April. But the Devil Rays brought out one of their best efforts of the season to defeat Shilling and the Sox 5-4. Shilling allowed 3 runs in 6 innings, far from awful but still his worse outing of the year. He was outplayed by Scott Kazmir, who struck out 10 and allowed 2 in 7 innings. With a 5-2 lead entering the 9th, Tampa was barely able to hold on to their lead as their bullpen almost blew it. The Rays are now 11-14, still last on the AL East but only three games of the Red Sox, who are still the division leaders.

4. Victory at last: The Atlanta Braves were glad to be winners again on Sunday, avoiding their second series sweep in a row (which would be their first such streak since 1985). They defeated the Mets 8-5, and Jeff Francoeur recorded 5 RBIs and a home run for the Braves. The Mets (16-8) have never swept the Braves at Turner Field since 1996. They are 22-52 all-time at the stadium. The Braves finished April 10-14, although they seem to always have a losing record in the first few months. The Mets look to end the Braves’ remarkable streak of 14 straight division titles.

5. Ridiculous on pace numbers from April: If the season continued exactly like it has:
1. Albert Pujols would finish the season with 91 homers and 207 RBIs.
2. Jonathan Papelbon would record 68 saves without allowing a run.
3. Pedro Martinez would have a 32-0 record.
4. Miguel Tejada would break the all-time batting average record with .422.
5. Barry Bonds would have a .547 on base percentage despite a .277 batting average.

Categories
Miami Dolphins

Jason Taylor gets Paul Pierced


What exactly is going on in Florida and professional athletes? Last year, Jerome McDougal of the Eagles was shot in the stomach in Miami. Now, Jason Taylor gets stabbed in the arm in a road rage incident on his way home from church in Davie with his wife Katina. (Does anyone else thinks it’s weird that Jason Taylor married Zach Thomas’ sister and even though she’s really hot, she kinda looks like Zach Thomas?)

Luckily, Taylor was was only clipped in the arm and was fine enough to go ahead and play in Derrick Brooks’ charity golf game. Who the hell decides it’s a good idea to stab a 6’6″ 250 lb guy in the arm? We’d think that would only make him angrier. Good thing Jason has a cool head or the Dolphins would be looking at a manslaughter charge.

Links:
[Sun Sentinel]: Dolphins’ Taylor stabbed in road-rage incident

Categories
MLB General

MLB Cost Index for May 1 2006

We’ve moved the Cost Index to Mondays because what better way is there to start a week at your crappy job but to see how GMs are wasting millions of dollars on your underachieving team. (For most you anyway, both on the job and on the team.)

For non-stats geeks, just look at the right hand column. The lower your team is on the list, the more inefficient your payroll is. However, the cheap ass Marlins will be at the top and the Yankees are always going to be at the bottom because of their exorbitant payroll. Either way, they still should be winning more games. Oh, and the average cost for a win right now? $955,000; which makes the Reds and Rockies the best bargains in the league.

** all $ are in millions.

Team 2006 Payroll GP Wins YTD
Payroll 		Cost/Win
Marlins $15.0 22 6 $2.04 $0.34
Rockies $41.1 25 15 $6.35 $0.42
Devil Rays $35.4 25 11 $5.47 $0.50
Reds $59.5 25 17 $9.18 $0.54
Brewers $56.8 25 14 $8.76 $0.63
Indians $56.8 25 13 $8.76 $0.67
D’backs $59.2 25 12 $9.14 $0.76
A’s $62.3 24 12 $9.23 $0.77
Rangers $65.5 25 13 $10.10 $0.78
Tigers $82.3 25 16 $12.70 $0.79
Cardinals $88.4 25 17 $13.65 $0.80
Blue Jays $71.9 23 12 $10.21 $0.85
Astros $92.6 24 16 $13.71 $0.86
Orioles $72.6 26 13 $11.65 $0.90
White Sox $102.9 24 17 $15.24 $0.90
Pirates $40.2 26 7 $6.46 $0.92
Mets $100.9 24 16 $14.95 $0.93
Giants $90.9 24 13 $13.46 $1.04
Cubs $94.8 23 13 $13.47 $1.04
Twins $63.8 24 9 $9.45 $1.05
Padres $69.7 24 9 $10.33 $1.15
Nationals $63.3 25 8 $9.76 $1.22
Dodgers $99.2 25 12 $15.31 $1.28
Royals $47.3 22 5 $6.42 $1.28
Mariners $88.3 26 11 $14.18 $1.29
Phillies $88.3 24 10 $13.08 $1.31
Red Sox $120.1 25 14 $18.53 $1.32
Angels $103.6 25 12 $15.99 $1.33
Braves $92.5 24 10 $13.70 $1.37
Yankees $198.7 23 13 $28.21 $2.17

Categories
NFL General

Live Blogging the NFL Draft

[Latest comments will appear on top.]

– Well, this ends our live blogging of the 2006 NFL Draft. At first blush, the big winners in the draft are the Saints who somehow have Reggie Bush fall in their laps, and Matt Leinart/Arizona Cardinals. The Cards get a player they coveted last year and save a ton in guaranteed money. Leinart, on the other hand, gets to be in a great situation in Arizona with Edgerrin James, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald. Someone the Saints and the Cardinals, two of the worst franchises in the league, come out on top.

(32) The Giants immediate take Mathias Kiwanuka (a projected end of second round pick) and the Giants fans are just hearing it from the Jets fans. They waited 2 hours for this?

(31) Only two more picks left. We’re waiting for Bill Leavy to rob the Seahawks of this draft pick somehow. The Seahawks take Kelly Jennings even with Jimmy Williams left on the board. What’s wrong with Jimmy Williams? Is it the questions about his attitude?

(30) We’ve had later rounds in Fantasy Football drafts go slower than this. Tags is back at the podium announcing that the Colts take Joseph Addai from LSU who wasn’t expected to go until the mid to late second round. Indy might have been able to trade up in the second round and still get him. NFL Network just showed LenDale White and Mayock made a great point earlier that all he had to do was work his ass off for 3 months after the championship game and stay in shape to be a multimillionaire and White couldn’t even manage that.

(29) And now there is electricity in the air as the Jets are on the clock. You know Tags is secretly hoping for a Jets boneheaded pick so the crowd can go nuts. And the Jets take… Nick Mangold to replace Kevin Mawae. Jets fans are happy with the pick and we are robbed of the perennial Jets fans going nuts in disbelief.

(28) Jax takes Marcedes Lewis to complement Matt Jones, an aging Jimmy Smith, and Ernest Wilford. Very good pick by the Jaguars who have Kyle Brady (Jets fans love Kyle Brady) as their TE.

(27) Carolina Panthers take DeAngelo Williams. Remember they had basically no one at RB in the championship game against the Seahawks. Panthers shore up their RB corps with a very good pick here.

(26) The Bills trade up to take John McCargo, the third NC State D-lineman taken in the first round. Not sure about this pick – McCargo could simply have benefited from being on the same line as Mario Williams and Manny Lawson.

(25) The Steelers trade up to take Santonio Holmes, which addresses the need left by the departure of Randel-El. It’s interesting that the Giants didn’t feel a need to draft Holmes themselves to give Eli Manning another weapon and as a replacement for the aging Amani Toomer. Great shot of the Holmes draft party and one of his posse members just going nuts with joy because he’s a Pittsburgh fan. Good stuff.

(24) Cincinnati Bengals take Jonathan Joseph CB despite having the top turnover creating secondary in the league. And now the excitement is building as the NY Giants are on the clock… Just flipped over to ESPN in time to see a Giants fan flipping the bird to the camera. Klassy.

(23) Despite a need in the secondary, Chucky goes with Davin Joseph, the best guard in the draft.

(22) The Niners didn’t take much time to select Manny Lawson to fill their LB needs after the departure of Julian Peterson and Andre Carter.

(21) The Patriots taking Laurence Maroney with this pick was such a shock that the Jets fans forgot to boo. Why wouldn’t the Patriots address a need at WR when Chad Jackson and Santonio Holmes are still on the board? It’s hard to question the Patriots draft but this is a head scratcher.

(20) The Chiefs take Tamba Hali out of Penn State and Mike Mayock just said “relentless motor”. This is probably too early to take Hali. He’s a good player but not an impact DE worth a top 20 pick. After a rip roaring start in the first 10 picks, this draft has grinded to a halt and everyone is starting to lose focus. Still no WR taken yet and no RB other than Reggie Bush.

(19) The Chargers take Antonio Cromartie as expected. A very risky pick in the first round because Cromartie missed the entire 2005 season after tearing his ACL last July.

– The Chargers are taking their sweet time with the #19 pick so the NFL Network interviews Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear about the new Eagles movie about a walk on who made the team. Then Rich Eisen just made a very uncomfortable joke about Dirk Diggler and the ultimate measurables.

(18) Dallas Cowboys select Bobby Carpenter and Mike Mayock just uttered “he has a great motor”, meaning he’s probably not that good.

(17) Minnesota Vikings pick is in. Corey Chavous said they would take Chad Greenway and… the Vikings take Chad Greenway. Good work, Corey. Although it wasn’t much insight. Most folks had the Vikings taking Greenway and filling a huge need.

(16) Everyone is so surprised by the Jason Allen pick by the Dolphins that there’s complete silence. Mike Mayock just said that he might have Bo Jackson disease. We didn’t realize Bo Jackson had his own disease.

– The NFL Network is running Matt Leinart’s presser. We’re waiting for someone to ask him about waiting an extra year to come out and losing $10M.

(15) The Rams take Tye Hill. Interesting to hear Corey Chavous’ take on the Rams #1 draft choice as a player on the Rams. He seems to be happy with the pick but that could just be playing the company man.

(14) Eagles chants going off at the draft in anticipation of the next pick. There might be a riot between Eagles fans and Jets fans which would cement this draft as the wildest in history. The Eagles get a gift and get a top 10 pick at #14 with Brodrick Bunkley. Hey guess what, the NFL Network didn’t bring up the booing of McNabb.

(13) The Browns take Kamerion Wimbley which is a bit of a reach. They were probably taking the entire 30 minutes talking on the phone to trade down because Wimbley would’ve been there later.

– NFL Network’s coverage of the draft has been pretty good so far, except for this retarded Under Armor commercial. Click clack this. Hmmm… spoke too soon. The NFL just threw it back to the studio and Brentson Boogie Buckner just offered absolutely zero insight into Matt Leinart vs Vince Young.

(12) The Ravens trade up one spot and take Haloti Ngata. This doesn’t make much sense for the Browns because Ngata was a perfect fit for them. Hope they got some good picks in return from the Ravens. Although it doesn’t matter. Whoever the Browns take will end up getting injured.

(11) The Broncos just traded with St. Louis to take Jay Cutler. No pressure on Cutler being taken 11th and he’ll have a year or two to hold a clipboard while Jake Plummer infuriates Broncos fans again.

(10) The Cardinals finally save Matt Leinart from Green Room hell and this is a great pick for them. They need a QB that will last through the year and Kurt Warner isn’t it. Matt Leinart is ready to go today and he’ll fill the seats in the new Cardinals stadium. On the flip side, the Cardinals are a cursed wretched franchise so this might not be good news for Matt. By staying in school for an extra year, Leinart cost himself about $15 in guaranteed money. Ouch.

(9) The Lions take Ernie Sims, a concussion prone LB instead of a QB. So now the Lions still don’t have a franchise QB to throw the ball to the 487 WRs they’ve taken in the past 3 years. Leinart just got a call from Aaron Rogers.

(8) We have the first reach of the draft as the Bills take Donte Whitner who most people had in the 20s. Mike Mayock just said that the Bills had a lot of courage to take a guy who most people didn’t believe belonged in the top 10. Courage? Hmmm, we were thinking of another word. Matt Leinart is crying right now in the bathroom.

(7) Matt Leinart quickly becoming the Aaron Rogers of this year’s draft as the Raiders take Michael Huff to stablize their secondary. This means they actually think Aaron Brooks is their solution at QB. Al Davis must be happy to come in last in the AFC West.

(6) Vernon Davis goes to the Niners. Now, maybe Alex Smith can throw more than 1 TD this season. Again, no surprises in this draft outside of the first pick by the Texans.

(5) No surprise at #5 as the Packers take AJ Hawk. No brainer on this pick. I’m sure Brett Favre approved this pick.

(4) Jets take D’Brickashaw Ferguson over Matt Leinart and the Jets faithful are happy. It’s more fun to watch them melt down and boo.

(3) The Titans take Vince Young over Matt Leinart, which might mean that Leinart drops further into the first round because if Norm Chow didn’t want him, the rest of the teams might be wondering what’s wrong with him. Also, the Titans taking Young might just mean they overvalue their own ability to develop a quarterback. Hubris has been the downfall of many a coaching staff.

(2) The Saints take advantage of their gift from god and select Reggie Bush with the second pick. What if this makes the Saints a winning franchise like the 90’s Bulls? This is almost too surreal to be true. In his interview, Reggie Bush doesn’t seem all that excited to be part of the Saints.

-Flipping over to ESPN for a second, we hear Chris Berman on how teams think they have a shot at trading up to get Reggie Bush now: “THAT’S WHY THEY HAVE THE DRAFT.” Gee, thanks, Boomer. Can the NFL Network PLEASE somehow get Mel Kiper?

(1) There it is folks. At 12:12 EST, the Texans have made the biggest mistake in the history of the draft with Mario Williams. And that includes all the Jets mistakes. What an absolutely insane moment. Lots of boos coming from the crowd.

-We’ll live blog this thing for as long as we can take it but the ESPN intro might have been the indication that this is going to be a very short entry. It was absolutely the lamest thing we’ve ever seen. Then Chris Berman comes on and we are going to the NFL Network’s coverage. But before that, we caught Berman calling Vince Young “mercurial” – which we didn’t know meant “stupid”.
Now, as Suzy interviews Mario Williams, we know it’s time to switch to channel 212.

Categories
Houston Texans

Texans take Sam Bowie with the first pick

We’re not sure this requires another post but we are scratching our heads over this pick. The Texans arguably already have their franchise QB and RB in David Carr and Domanick Davis. It’s a stretch but we can see the argument. But why not trade the #1 pick? They could’ve at least gotten an extra pick out of this. Instead, they get nothing but ridicule.

Like Texans execs have been doing for the past 48 hours, we’re going drinking now.

Categories
Houston Texans

Report: Houston Texans will take Mario Williams #1

Confirmed: Texans sign Mario Williams

Fox Sports is reporting that the Texans have told Mario Williams’ people that they are taking him #1 overall and the two sides are hammering out a pre-draft deal.

This would be the biggest shock in the Draft since the Colts took Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams. Of course, that actually turned out well for the Colts. But answer this: who is going to pay money to see Mario Williams?

If this comes to pass, maybe we were wrong about these people. And maybe about Whitney Houston too.

Categories
General Sports

Odds and Ends for Fri Apr 28 2006: Bush house scandal getting hairier

(What? It’s Friday. We can’t make a bad joke in the headline?)

It seems that Reggie’s parents were supposed to pay $4,500 a month in rent but never paid because they didn’t have the money. Of course, no one seemed to worry about it because they knew that the $54,000 in back rent was chump change for the future #1 pick’s family. The lawyer for Michael Michaels, one of the founders of the failed New Era Sports & Entertainment has said he plans on filing a $3.2 million fraud lawsuit against Bush and his family. Concidentally, the NFLPA is investigating and extortion charge against David Caravantes, another shady figure in the whole scandal.

Meanwhile, Reggie Bush said that his family moved out not because of the Yahoo story hitting the wires but because they simply found a better place to live. We’re sure they have.

In other news…

[James Mirtle]: It’s not a cool a recreation as Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, but James Mirtle recreates Saku Koivu’s eye injury. Poor taste? Maybe. Pretty damn funny? Yes.

[Boston.com]: Keith Foulke thinks he should have the ball from the final out in the 2004 World Series. And he wants his damn shoes back too.

[AP]: Olympic gold medalist Tim Montgomery was arrested in connection with a mutlimillion-dollar bank fraud and money laundering scheme. Run Timmy run.

[USA Today]: Sometimes we wish the Sixers would do the same thing.

This isn’t real right? Right?

Real Odd of the day: 50-1 that Rafael Palmeiro confesses to using other drugs.

Categories
NFL General

Where to watch the draft: ESPN or NFL Network


The 2006 NFL Draft will be televised on both ESPN and the NFL Network this year so the big question is, where are you going to get your coverage?

On the one hand, ESPN has got 26 years of experience so they know what they’re doing. On the other, it might be time for a change. NFL Network has Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock (yeah, we couldn’t pick him out of a lineup either) and Corey Chavous. Not exactly a dream lineup but not completely terrible either. ESPN’s got Chris Berman, who, if you aren’t sick of yet, you aren’t paying attention.

At the end of the day, ESPN’s got Mel Kiper. And draft coverage without Mel Kiper is like Comedy Central without Dave Chappelle. Still, we’ll be checking out the NFL Network’s coverage just to see what they have to say. And we suspect a lot of people will as well. This could be the lowest rated draft for ESPN in years.

Links:
[Sign OnSanDiego]: ESPN loses TV draft monopoly
[NFL Network]: NFL Network’s draft coverage schedule

Categories
Miami Dolphins

Could Ricky end up in the CFL

If, as widely suspected, Ricky Williams didn’t actually fail his drug test on purpose, then his best bet might be to join the Toronto Argonauts. (Around these parts, the Argos are most known for giving Rockey Ismail the biggest salary in the history of football to lure him away from the NFL in 1991.) The Argos have put Ricky on their “negotiation list” which basically means they call dibs on the running back.

The NFL substance abuse policy has a loophole that allows suspended players to play in another league so the road is wide open for Ricky to join the Argos. And since the CFL doesn’t have a policy at all, Ricky can enjoy all the fine BC Bud he wants with the $200,000 to $300,000 (Canadian!) he could make in the CFL.

If Ricky is sincere about going back to the Dolphins in 2007, he almost certainly has to accept the offer and play for the CFL. Ricky will be 30 years old when he’s eligible to play again and not many teams will be willing to take a chance on a player out of the league for 2 (non-consecutive) seasons and has questions about his desire to play the game. Canadian winters are a far cry from South Beach but he’d be a god in Toronto.

Links:

[Winnipeg Sun]: CFL might be Ricky Williams’ best option

Categories
MLB General

Full Count for Fri Apr 28 2006: Eight is Great

1. Lucky number 8: When a team’s offense is as loaded as the Cleveland Indians’ is, every once in a while it will explode in an outburst of runs. That is what happened on Thursday night when Cleveland smashed Josh Beckett and the Red Sox in a 15-3 rout. Beckett had one of his worst career outings, allowing 8 runs in 3.2 innings pitched. On the other hand, Ben Broussard had a career-best game. He went 4-5 with 2 homeruns and a MLB season high 8 RBIs. Broussard’s grand slam in the first inning opened up the scoring for the Indians, and his solo homerun later in the game reached the upper deck. Victor Martinez also homered for Cleveland, his 5th of the year. The Indians have now regained their major league lead in most runs scored, with 142 on the year. Beckett’s loss was his first of the year, and his ERA shot up from 2.54 to 4.50.

2. Santana returns to form: Johan Santana has been way off his 2004 form so far this year. Before last night, he had yet to win a game or throw 10 strikeouts in a game. On Thursday, he accomplished both in a 7-3 Twins win over the pitiful Royals. He pitched a season-high 8 innings and allowed 3 runs. Many Royals said his pitching was particularly baffling. Manager Buddy Bell said, “We weren’t able to do anything mainly because he was pitching so well.” Unfortunately for Royals fans, that is true for almost every pitcher they face. They have the lowest runs and homeruns totals in the majors.

3. Prolific Ponson?: It seems like every pitcher in a Cardinals uniform pitches better than they would elsewhere. This is true for Sidney Ponson, who, after two awful seasons, is 3-0 with St. Louis. His win last night against the Nationals sent his ERA down to 3.13, about half of last season’s total. Ponson got some help from the Cardinals offense in the 6-2 win. Jim Edmonds, who has been silent so far this year, hit a 3-run homerun in the first. That was all the support Ponson needed, as the Cards rolled to a 15-7 record.

4. Not that this implies anything…: Barry Bonds is in a lot of trouble right now, thanks to the fact that about 99.9% of America believes “Game of Shadows” instead of him. However, he about to pass Babe Ruth on the all-time homerun list, something that will require a celebration from the MLB, right? Wrong. Selig said that the MLB “will not celebrate” Bonds breaking Ruth’s mark, saying that “we don’t celebrate anybody the second or third time in.” Or maybe this has to do with the fact that Bonds is detested by about everyone besides himself. Anyway, Barry will have to pass Aaron to get any kind of celebration from the MLB.

5. Maybe he and Ron Artest will get along: Everyone knows by now about Devil Rays minor leaguer Delmon Young throwing the bat at the umpire after striking out. We said yesterday that Young “deserves to be punished for his actions.” Well, we got our wish, as AAA suspended Young indefinitely. The length of the suspension was not revealed, but it will likely be in the territory of Ron Artest’s season-long suspension after the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl. Unfortunately for Young, he doesn’t have a rap album to promote while he is serving his suspension.