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A Couple Of Noteworthy Pitching Performances
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, Editorial, MLB,
Newly acquired starting pitcher Chris Young pitched well for the San Diego Padres in a win over the rebuilding Florida Marlins on Wednesday afternoon. Young went six innings, allowing only a double to Hanley Ramirez in the third inning, striking out six hitters and walking three. Young is a great candidate to step up his game this season after toiling in the hitter’s haven known as Ameriquest Field for his first two seasons, where surprisingly he didn’t do that badly in. Now that he’s pitching in the very spacious Petco Park and doesn’t have to face a designated hitter, Young and his flyball tendencies should do very well, especially considering his ability to make batters miss.
Baltimore Orioles pitching coach, Leo Mazzone, was supposed to bring his pitching magic that he worked so well in Atlanta for over a decade and help the young Orioles staff. The primary pitcher many thought he could help tremendously is the very talented and raw Daniel Cabrera. If you bring the meat, he’ll have the sauce as Cabrera is highly effective in whiffing batters. Case in point of his potential was today’s game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Cabrera went five frames and struck out an amazing 10 hitters, giving up only three hits and one run. However, Cabrera also surrendered a whopping nine walks as well. NINE! Photo (at right) symbolizes Cabrera’s K/BB performance. Thus far, he is leading the Majors in walks allowed as Mazzone is leading in aspirins taken.
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Houston Rockets center, Yao Ming, broke his left foot on Monday night against the Utah Jazz, effectively ending his season. This is a tough break (no pun intended) for the third year pro who was averaging 22.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks while shooting over 50% from the floor. The All-Star center had suffered a toe infection that sidelined him for 21 games earlier in the season. Before this latest injury, Ming was showing a tenacity many critics said he was devoid of. It was a big step in the development of a seemingly “soft” Ming, especially stepping up his game when teammate and perennial All-Star, Tracy McGrady went down to injury himself, a back injury in March that also ended his season.
Ming will have surgery this weekend, which will take about four to six months to heal. His participation in the basketball world championship hosted in Japan to begin on August 19 is in doubt.
Well this is somewhat of a dubious award, sort of like having the all-time HR record for a minor league baseball player like Crash Davis, Kevin Costner’s character in Bull Durham. Getting called up to the big show and getting send back down back and forth is not the career former lottery pick Marcus Fizer had in mind, when he was the #4 overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. Did Fizer ended up being a bust? Sure. Did the Bulls blow the pick by selecting Fizer at #4, well they did over-looked Mike Miller at #5 but well not exactly. This must be one of the worst drafts in NBA history. Out of the entire draft class, there have been a total of three all-star appearances by every one of these players from the 2000 class. Number one pick Kenyon Martin, pick #19 Jamaal Magloire was a default Center selection for the Eastern Conference one year, and Michael Redd, who amazingly slid to the second round had one appearance each. Never-the-less it’s not cool to be the basketball equivalent of a “4A player” (AA, AAA, Majors).
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| NBA.com
Considering Carmelo Anthony is a NCAA champion who put his team on his back, led the Denver Nuggets to the post season in all three years since he has joined the team, he doesn’t get much recognition for his accomplishments. This has been a rough year for Carmelo, he got snubbed out of the All-Star game, the 2003 NBA Draft is being known now as the Lebron/Wade draft rather than the Lebron/Carmelo (let’s laugh at Darko) draft, and Lebron is getting all the attention for MVP consideration. Lebron is leading the Cavs to the Playoffs for the very first time this year in a much weaker Eastern Conference, while Carmelo has led the Nuggets into the post-season for three consecutive years in the much tougher Western Conference. If you need anymore proof of which conference is stronger, the New York Knicks were in the playoffs in 2004. For the entire duration of his career, Carmelo has done this without a remotely decent two-guard, and now with banged up front court. Nene has been out since opening night, Kenyon Martin is a shell of the player he once was, and Marcus Camby is always good to miss at least 10 games a year. Yeah I’ve kept this bottled up for a long time, but it had to come out now that the Lebron James for MVP debate is raging on right now.
Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin Is Sixth Rookie to Score 100 Points
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Kudos, NHL, Scoreboard,
Alex Ovechkin scored the game winning goal for the Capitals last night in OT and made history at the same time by scoring 100 points in the season. With 49 goals scored this season and four games left to play, Ovechkin has a chance to join Teemu Selanne as the only NHL rookies to score 50 goals and 100 points in their season. With 100 points, he is joining a list of greats including Joe Juneau, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Ovechkin was the #1 overall pick in the 2004 draft but is debuting this year because of last year’s season long lock-out. Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have been rookie sensations and have generated a little bit of new life into the NHL.
Read More | ESPN
Brett Favre’s Indecision Causing Anger in Fans
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Editorial, Front Office, NFL,
A number of fans have been criticizing Brett Favre for his indecision whether to retire or return to Green Bay for another season. Others see his actions as selfish and he is essentially holding his team hostage, because they cannot make major personnel decisions - including whether to draft a quarterback - until they get the Favre situation squared away. I am not one of the people who feel this way. It looks to me that the Green Bay Packer organization is looking to rebuild, and they are not going for the big-time free agents in order to win now. Favre doesn’t deserve to be criticized, he just wants to go on top just like John Elway did. Favre has never demanded a trade or has given the team an ultimatum, he is just confused regarding the direction of the team. We see this all the time in the NBA, the star player is unhappy, forces the teams hand and trades him away for .50 cents on the dollar, sometimes even less. Look at the Vince Carter trade to the New Jersey Nets, the Raptors got nothing in return for the guy. Favre tried to be too polite and not step on anyone’s toes by not criticizing the organization but the time for that has past and now he is being blasted for his indecisiveness. Favre earned the right and should be able to go out on his own terms, even though he is not the player he once was.
Phil Mickelson Wins The Masters
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Championship, Golf, Kudos,
Phil Mickelson won his third major (2 Masters ‘04, ‘06, PGA ‘05) of his career, firmly putting to rest the notion of being the solid player who can’t win the big one. After his dramatic ‘04 Masters win, where it seemed like everyone was pulling for Mickelson, this year’s Masters was more about not making mistakes and not letting anyone else catch up with Micekelson, another words it was a snooze-fest. Mickelson can now be known as the guy who is 3-9 in majors since 2004, opposed to being the guy who was 0-42 prior to his win in ‘04.
Read More | Travel Golf
Professional Athletes are Just Born with Talent: Plain and Simple
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, NBA, NCAA, College Football,
After watching the Detroit Pistons versus Miami Heat match-up last night, I learned an interesting fact about PG Chauncey Billups. He is actually related to potential first round draft pick running back Lendale White from USC. That is some scary talent in their family’s gene pool. The most potent family duo has to be Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady; they must have just destroyed their friends and kids in the park when they were youngsters. After watching the NCAA tournament and seeing a number of impact players being second generation stars, such as Joakim Noah be the best player in the tournament, his dad is ex-tennis star Yannick Noah. Joakim’s Florida teammate, Taurean Green is also a second generation basketball player, his dad is ex-NBA player Sidney Green. For all you aspiring ball players, if you find yourself falling short on the playground, I feel for you - maybe you just weren’t born with it.
After having right elbow surgery last year that effectively ended his 2005 season, Los Angeles Dodgers closer, Eric Gagne, is scheduled to go under the knife again on Friday to remove a nerve just under the skin on the same elbow, which happens to be his pitching elbow. Never a good thing. There is no timetable as to when Gagne will return, and he will be out indefinitely. Once thought of as the most intimidating closer in all of baseball, Gagne has definitely lost some of that luster thanks to his recent injury woes the past couple of seasons. Who knows if he’ll ever be the same again. Just like L.L. Cool J said back in the day - “Don’t call it a comeback!” At least for now.
Read More | Forbes
Oh man, there is nothing more entertaining than watching celebrities and athletes falling from grace. The thing that people most will remember Derek Lowe for is celebrating after his Game 5 save in the 2003 ALDS series and making a grabbing the crotch gesture and his affair with Fox Sports reporter Carolyn Hughes that went public. Now Lowe takes another low blow with the addiction stigma as reports indicate he has been taking ritalin for his attention deficit disorder. Manager Grady Little is going to have a fun time in Dodger land this season, with Nomar Garciaparra going on the DL and Eric Gagne not at full strength - and now this.
Read More | ESPN
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