David Stern b-slaps Jim Rome

I've never paid much attention to Rome.  Listened to his radio shtick a handful of times.  It's tiresome, boorish, and (IMHO) second-rate.

So I can't say it didn't make me smile to read this transcript, where David Stern basically turns the tables on him and walks away unscathed, while Rome fumes.

Pitchers down on the farm

Here are our top prospects, all 3 of whom could be with the big league club by the end of the year:

Zack Wheeler
Matt Harvey
Jeurys Familia

Also, Jenrry Mejia is apparently healthy, and has been moved back to the pen at AAA to get him ready for a bullpen assignment with the Mets.  The story linked above has a good synopsis of Mejia's career to date, which may well be the poster child for mismanaged young talent (and apparently we can thank the Gangsta for that one).

Wilmer Flores

Our 3B of the future--or perhaps just trade bait--is having a breakout year in St. Lucie this year.  If you'd like to hear a bit more about him, try this link.

Another commit for the Johnnies

Chris Obekpa from the Island, a top-75ish player, will be playing for SJU next year.  Here's the story.

Kudos to the Yanks

After blitzing an obviously affected Santana, they eked out a couple of good wins by getting the key hits and key outs they needed late in games.  That's what makes 'em the Yankees.

Looking forward to round 2 in Citi.

Olney: Lots of good OF Free Agents this Fall

From ESPN:

Josh Hamilton: He'll be the most prominent name on the market, and nobody doubts his talent -- least of all the Rangers, who look at him as a game-changer. But what's the proper level of investment, given the risks suggested by his personal history? If Hamilton is going to be in line for a deal over $100 million, which teams, exactly, are going to compete with the Rangers?
The Yankees are now bumping up against their budget and already have other pressing needs -- most notably Robinson Cano's impending free agency in the fall of 2013 -- so it's highly unlikely they'd get involved. The Red Sox already are overstocked with big contracts. The Angels are loaded with outfielders. The Cubs are rebuilding from the ground up, so it might make little sense for them to throw out a huge deal to an over-30 outfielder when they're burdened by Alfonso Soriano's deal. The Mets have to deal with David Wright's situation first.
Baltimore could an interesting option, one GM mused. "But I don't think he's got a lot of places to go," in light of what his salary will be.
The big question about the Rangers' offer to him is going to be how many years will they guarantee. Two? Three? Four, with a lot of vesting options attached? We'll see.
Hamilton intends to use his free-agent dollars for philanthropic purposes, writes Randy Galloway.

Michael Bourn: He is having an excellent season, hitting .305 with a .357 on-base percentage, and he's on pace for a season of 210 hits, 117 runs and 43 stolen bases. And he's a center fielder.

Andre Ethier: Other Dodgers felt like he came to camp with a renewed sense of purpose, and it's showing: He's been mashing, hitting .305 with 48 RBIs, and is in line for a lot of top-10 MVP votes.

Melky Cabrera: He's a wild card, because of his explosive emergence as an elite outfielder the last two seasons. He had 201 hits for the Royals in 2011, and Kansas City, looking to free up center field for Lorenzo Cain, swapped him to San Francisco -- and Cabrera has generated more of the same, with a .403 on-base percentage and 25 extra-base hits among 87 hits. He left Thursday's game with a hamstring issue.

Shane Victorino: The Phillies' Gold Glove center fielder was offered a three-year deal in the offseason, and he's looking for five years. So far this year, he's hitting .249 with seven homers.

B.J. Upton: There has always been a sense among evaluators that Upton was capable of doing more than he's done. Still, he has hit 20-plus homers and stolen 30-plus bases and played an outstanding center field, and he's just 27 years old.

Carlos Quentin: Rival officials believe he could be the first prominent hitter dealt this summer, and he's been crushing the ball since being activated off the disabled list. But with the Padres' ownership in a state of flux, the team could look to slow-play this situation, and give the incoming owners -- whoever they turn out to be -- a chance to bid on him before he hits the market place. There are no ongoing talks, but some officials guesstimate that Quentin could be in line for a deal in the range of four years, $48 million; that could climb to
Jason Bay territory (4/60) if Quentin stays on the field and keeps hitting.

Nick Swisher: He's hitting .250, with eight homers and 35 RBIs, but typically, he has been an on-base percentage machine. Swisher is 31 years old.

Torii Hunter: He's reached the age at which he's not going to get a huge deal, but he's in great shape and is a nice alternative on a short-term deal.

Angel Pagan: He's hitting .321 this season.

Game over

Just when I thought Mets management couldn't get any worse... Maher joins the d-baggery and raises it to an entirely unprecedented level.

Put It In The Books!!!

I am almost without words. Thank you, Johan--you have lifted a terrible burden off of us all. As far as I'm concerned, you earned every single cent of your contract tonight.

RaeKwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... top 500 album of all time...

Top 500 yo, f' real

French Vanilla Butter Pecan Chocolate Deluxe

You rollin like Trump, you get your meat lumped

AK's black bust back like seventy Macs

NSFW- language.
Unless you work in the Shaolin son.

The metties....

Have a better record than the jankees. Suck it janks fans.

D. Right

Just logged onto espn.com and checked out baseball stats. Wow is wright killing it. Number one in BA and OBP by a mile. On a related note, not killing it: Jose Jose Jose.

Jets' Cromartie, wife expecting twins

Spreading his seeds...

Re: Previous Post--No Douchebags Here

As one of the biggest David Wright fans on the planet, I have to say I was utterly amazed (and thrilled) to see his reaction to being pulled from the game against the Brew Crew on Tuesday night. No one has ever questioned Wright's love for the game or willingness to play as hard as diamond--he's been borderline reckless with his health and well-being on numerous occasions that have put him on the DL in the past. But he has never displayed the fire that raged when Collins benched him to avoid David being the target of beanball retribution. Granted, I totally understan why Collins did it--Wright is the central cog and an early MVP candidate who has a penchant for getting his damn fool self busted up a few times a season on his own. So why risk him being sidelined due to some potential douchbaggery? However, this is exactly the kind of stuff Wright seems to live for--it's almost like he wanted to go out and get plunked... He was PISSED. And justifiably so. The team looks to him as a leader, on the field and off, and I give him a lot of the credit for the team's early success. He did everything right in the situation, saying he would not stand by and let someone else take a bullet meant for him, if they want to hit someone it should be him since Braun was the Brewers' victim. Not blinking when he knew what was coming and standing up for his guys. And even better, once the inital dust settled and he made his point in the dugout, Wright once again was classy. He supported Collins and did not try to subvert his authority by saying that he was pissed and did not agree with the decision but understood what his manager was doing to try to protect the team. Extend this guy's contract immediately--why are we even screwing around with it?

Where have all the douchebags gone?

With apologies to Paula Cole, they've up and left.

No Delgado, no Beltran, no Reyes, no Luis Castillo, no K-Rod, no Oliver Perez, no Sheffield.  Guys who couldn't be bothered to act like they cared, or else acted like fools or a-holes.  

Instead, we've now got a team of guys with a lot less talent and a lot more guts.  Not surprisingly, I heard on the SNY broadcast yesterday that Nickeas was saying that the guys on this team feel like have an unusually close team for the MLB level.  Everyone genuinely cares and roots for each other.  I don't find that surprising, not with young players like Murphy, Ike, Duda, Tejada, Nieuwehuis, Thole, Gee, and Niese who are not phenoms, but dedicated, hard workers.  And coachable.

Talk about addition by subtraction.  No one doubts Reyes was an irreplaceable talent, but he was a very replaceable teammate.  Without him around gathering all the attention and de facto leader status, and with Delgado and Beltran out the door, Wright is now the clear veteran leader on the club.  It suits him well.  He's off to a huge start.  And his younger teammates have a great example of a veteran who always plays to win and gives 110%.

Alderson deserves a lot of credit for putting together a bunch of pieces that are more in sum than individually, and Terry Collins has been superb.  He's got to be in the running for manager of the year at this point.  He gets his guys to bring it every day, and get over a tough loss, which isn't easy for a young team.

What happens when the guys believe in each other, and never say die?  They value every out.  Guess what that leads to?  A team that leads the NL in comeback wins, BA with 2 outs, BA with 2 outs and RISP, and 2 out runs.

Everything SHK has always loved about the Mets.

Let's be honest, based on the starting pitching and general talent level, this team can't really be counted on to challenge for a playoff spot.  But even if they were 4-under and not 4-over .500 as they are right now, I'd still say "Thank you" to Collins and Alderson for giving me baseball I can enjoy watching again.

Kings of Pain

The '94 Chargers that overachieved all the way to the SuperBowl have had more than their fair share of tragedy.

"Not again," former Chargers running back Natrone Means said to the San Diego Union-Tribune after one of the deaths in 2008. "It's crazy, just crazy, that we've had so many guys who have fallen. I can't make any sense of it. I've given up trying. You just hope you quit getting these random messages out of nowhere that another teammate has passed away."

The tragic list includes:

-- In 1995, about five months after the Chargers lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, linebacker David Griggs died in a car crash. He was 28.

-- In May 1996, running back Rodney Culver died in a plane crash. He was 26.

-- In July 1998, linebacker Doug Miller died after being struck by lightning while camping. He was 28.

-- In May 2008, center Curtis Whitley was found dead of a drug overdose. He was 39.

-- In October 2008, defensive end Chris Mims died of complications from an enlarged heart. He was 38.

-- In February 2011, defensive tackle Shawn Lee died of a heart attack. He was 44.

-- In December, linebacker Lew Bush died of a heart attack. He was 42.

Then Wednesday, tragedy hit the team and the NFL community again when Seau was found dead in a bedroom of his Oceanside, California, home. A handgun was found near his body. He was 43.

RIP #55... a clip of JR...

Two weeks ago. #55

Let's be honest...

The Jets have totally jumped the shark. Revis threatening another holdout and saying the locker-room is in disarray. Santonio being brought back despite quitting on the team when all the chips were down. Undercutting the franchise QB for some cheap pub. Talking about trading up to the #3 pick to get a RB (never a good idea on football grounds), just to get people talking about anything but the cheap publicity (Tebow) they just bought a few weeks ago.

There is no long-term plan in place here, no disciplinary control of the team by the coach, no accountability of Rex to T, and an owner who seems to be the second coming of Steinbrenner (the bad one who could never win).

The Jets brought in a lot of talent when Rex came, added that to a solid core, scared opponents with a blitzkrieg style of D, but still needed to get better.

That will not happen under this regime. Period. In fact, chances are, they will start to get worse--quickly.

Woody's got to clean house, then remove himself from football decisions. He's a good owner from a resources standpoint, but better realize that what he's doing right now is not working, and will not work.

Add Phil Humber...

...to the list of former mets pitchers who pitched a perfect game or no hitter, just not on the mets.

.156, .211, .196

What are the averages of the 4, 5 and 6 hitters in the New York Mets lineup, Alex?

Met fans... remember Rick Ankiel???

Happy for the kid... his yips were over 12 years ago...

Break up the Mets

Or don't.  Either way I like beating Los Bravos.  If we can reel off 47 more in a row, we'll be even-Steven for the past 20 years.

Rockin' the stache

and having a superhero name. Bravo, Cal Clutterbuck:

How to choose a cigar... O/U Wins for Yanks / Mets?

I have 78 for Mets- one more than last year
I'll go a whopping 101 for Yanks on the heels of that Kentucky win... good things happen in Yankee land when Kentucky wins the National Championship!

How to choose a cigar.

Back to basics

Mets baseball!  Reviewing our spring stats thus far, Lucas Duda is killing it: .325 w/ 4 HR in 40 ABs.  Nice start.

Murph is over .300.

Ike is scrapping.  Stuck at the mendoza line with 1 HR in 45 ABs.

Jason Bay looks like he's up to his old tricks.  .229 w/ no HRs.

Justin Turner has 8 hits in 53 ABs, a sweltering .151 pace.  Looks like he should pay the role of Tim Bogar convicingly.

Who the heck is our CF?

I am SHOCKED!!!

Where is the love for Tebow-mania???

Wait...you guys aren't excited by this?

You mean this was a horrible mistake that will make what was looking like a bad season completely awful?

You think Sanchez will throw himself off the GWB after he throws his first pick of the season and the "We want Tebow" chants destroy his fragile psyche?

Hmmm...I guess you're right. This probably isn't worth getting excited about...unless you're a Fins fan--BOOYAH, SUCKERS!!!

BWAHHAHAHAHAHA!
P.S.--What's the over under until Cromartie tries to shank Tebow in the locker room? I give it 6 days into training camp...

One of my favorite YouCon moments

As if you needed another reason to root for Duke,

try this one on for size:  Obama roots for the Holes, and dislikes Duke.  From Mike Corey's blog, The Devil's Advocate:

Q: Obama filled out his tournament bracket with Andy Katz again this week, and once again picked UNC to win at all and chose Duke to lose earlier than we Duke fans might have hoped. As a longtime political writer, why do you think Obama–and politicians generally–engage sports like this? How successful do you think it is from a political perspective? And with Obama, how genuine do you think it is–or how genuinely does it come across to voters? 

Harwood: Obviously basketball has been really important in Obama’s life and still is. So no doubt he enjoys it (with help from Reggie Love, as you know). But showing that enjoyment is a good way for politicians to connect with voters on a personal level on topic THEY really care about. BTW, I interviewed Obama very soon after Duke won the 2010 championship. I asked him for a congratulatory high-five and he pulled his hand back at the last second. He later sent the WH photo of that moment with the inscription: “I rarely high-five Duke people.”

Bold is my emphasis.

Fab Melo out for 'Cuse

per the interwebs, their star frosh sophomore (my how the time flies) C will not be able to play in the NCAAs due to eligibility problems. For the record, I had them losing in the second round WITH Melo.

NCAA Tourney

Weird year this year.  With the exception of Kentucky, lots of parity.

UK seems head-and-shoulders above the field, much like Duke 99 or Houston 83 (two teams, incidentally, that failed to win the natty).   Will UK fulfill Calipari's NC dream this year, at least temporarily?  Looks to me like U Conn and Baylor are the toughest teams in their way, at least until the final game.  The odds seem ever in their favor.

Meanwhile, the continued exodus of NBA talent from high major programs (except at Carolina) seems to have caught up with a lot of schools: parity is the word.  After Butler making two final games in a row, and VCU And George Mason going to the FF in recent years, I do not have a hard time believing that  schools like Xavier, New Mexico, UNLV, St. Mary's or Gonzaga could make a deep run.  Or that teams like Belmont, Harvard, or Davidson could win a game or two.   You cannot convince me that, say, Cincinnati is head-and-shoulders above San Diego St.  Just b/c Cinci plays in a high major gives them little.  I'm not convinced the level of play in Big East (after 'Cuse), ACC (after UNC), or B10 was much better than the Missouri Valley, A10, or Mountain West this year.

Anyhow, I hate to admit it, but this is the first year I haven't had Duke in the winner circle on my bracket.  I've always felt like they had a chance, even in the "down" years (by Duke standards).  This year, I don't see any chance.  Getting by X or ND is just a 50-50 proposition, and this team will not beat Baylor.  No chance.  Only way Duke gets to a FF is if UNLV takes out Baylor AND Conn takes out UK.  Slim, slim, odds--basically zero.

So who do I like this year?

I like the South bracket.  UK is the prohibitive favorite, IMO, and their loss to Vandy in the SEC tourney final was probably the last piece of the puzzle they needed.  Their young arrogant team may now have just enough incentive to listen to Cal and avoid getting sandbagged on the road to N'Awlins.

If it's not UK, I like Baylor second best to win the tournament.  That regional final could be an epic game.

Out of the West, I'm pretty chalk.  While Mich St. is probably not a 1-seed most years, they have Izzo, and that's usually worth 2 tourney wins on its own. And their region is pretty soft.  I like Mich St. to win the region, but Mizzou and 7-seed Florida are real threats as well.  I like 13-seed Davidson as the lowest seed to make the Sweet 16.

The East will be a bracket buster, IMO.  I like 8-see Kansas St. to take out 'Cuse early (again).  I'm going with Wisky in round 1 but Montana could upset them.   I like FSU to make the regional final in the bottom half of the bracket, and I like Vandy in the top half of the bracket.   I'll defer on picking the winner--get back to me if the game materializes.

UNC drew an absolute cakewalk through 3 rounds in the Midwest.  I could easily see Creighton beating Bama (score another one for mid-majors), and Temple getting past Cal or USF.  A second round Temple-Michigan game would be one to watch.  Ultimately irrelevant, as neither team can get past UNC (assuming Henson plays).  In the bottom half of the bracket, G'Town looks good for another early departure (doubt they'll see S16), and Kansas should roll into the Regional Final as well.  UNC-Kansas, in St. Louis, should be the other epic regional final (along w/ Baylor-UK), and I like Kansas to win.  They have the size to neutralize Zeller, and the better coach.

So my FF picks: UK, MSU, Vandy/FSU, Kansas.

Best chance to make FF from each power conference:

ACC: UNC
Big East: Marquette ('Cuse got a murderous draw)
SEC: UK (not an easy draw, but they can handle it)
B10: Mich State
B12: Mizzou (like their odds slightly better than KU at making FF b/c of the weak West regional; even though I've got KU and not Mizzou getting to FF)
PAC 12:   Whatever team can scream "Noonan" in unison.

If you've got any ideas how the PAC 12 could improve their odds, please let me knwo.

Harkless entering the NBA Draft

Money based decision, obviously.  Still, I think this kid is doing himself a disservice.  You have 3 years to show you deserve a big second contract.   Mo is going to need to add a lot of muscle to succeed at the next level.    Hope it works out for the kid, but I think he's making a mistake.