In a collaborative effort with Sooze from Babes Love Baseball, we are presenting to you the Rookie Card Playoffs. Check out these current players’ rookie cards and pick your favorite. The top vote-getter of each bracket will make it to Round Two and so on, until there is only one Rookie Card Champion of the World.
There will be 8 brackets of 5 in round 1. Here are your first set.
According to the NY Daily News, Jason Giambi could have his contract terminated if it’s determined that he use performance enhancing drugs while a member of the Evil Empire.
What he says to MLB investigators will probably determine his future. The reason for the investigation stems from his comments he made to USA Today on Wednesday. Giambi hasn’t said anything about what he said since making the statement.
This would be the second time that the Yankees could try to terminate the Giambino’s contract. The first time stemmed from the testimony he gave in the BALCO scandal in 2003.
Had the Yankees tried to void his deal then, they would have faced considerable legal hurdles from the Players Association, as they would now. According to sources familiar with his contract, the deal contains language saying it can be voided if he uses illegal substances while with the club. But to win that battle, the Yankees would have to get past provisions in the collective bargaining agreement that the Players Association maintains supersedes those in a player’s contract.
It will be very interesting to see how this all pans out during the coming weeks. Giambi’s comments have created quite a stir now and it’s only a matter of time, in my opinion, before we see more big names linked to steroids.
Ho hum. Just another day in Boston, another Red Sox win. I don’t know about you. But I could get used to this. Anyways, I am digressing from the facts at hand.
Mike Lowell was 4 for 5 with 5 RBI’s and Daisuke Matsuzaka was effective for 8 innings as the Red Sox annihilated the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 today, 13-3.
Matsuzaka looked strong for the third straight outing and has not lost in over a month, dating back to April 17th in Toronto. He had allowed 5 singles in the first 6 innings before the Braves struck for 3 in the 7th. Chipper Jones hit a double and came home on a Jarrod Saltalamacchia single. Jeff Francoeur then took Dice-K deep to get the Braves within 9 runs at 12-3.
I was listening to the game on the radio on my way to my parents lakehouse and Dave O’Brien of the Red Sox radio network said that the Red Sox needed to get to Braves starter Anthony Lerew early. Well Julio Lugo must have been listening because he put the third pitch he saw out of the ballpark to make it 1-0 Sox.
The Sox struck for two more runs in the 2nd inning. Coco Crisp lead off the inning with a single and was retired on a Dustin Pedroia fielder’s choice. Lugo flew out to center field then Kevin Youkilis took a Lerew offering out of the ballpark to centerfield to put the Sox up 3-0.
Oscar Villarreal came into relieve Lerew and allowed a walk to Crisp and a double to Lowell in his one inning of work. He was basically a stop gap for an inning while Mark Redman was warming up. Redman was called up today by the Braves in case of their starters struggled.
After pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, Redman came unglued in the 5th. David “Big Papi” Ortiz lead off with a single. Manny followed him with a single. J.D. Drew, making his return to the lineup after crashing in the wall on Tuesday, hit a single to right field loading up the bases for Lowell. On only the 14th pitch of the inning for Redman, he served up a nice grand salami to Mike Lowell making it 7-0 Sox.
The 6th inning was no better for Chad Paronto and the Braves. Big Papi lead off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a Manny fly out. J.D. drew a walk. Lowell then hit a single to drive in Big Papi making it 8-0. Paronto got Varitek to fly out then Coco hit a double that scored Drew and Lowell making it 10-0. Dustin Pedroia had an infield single and advanced to second on an Edgar Renteria error. Big surprise another error for Renteria at Fenway. Lugo then laced a double to the gap in center that scored Crisp and Pedroia ending the day for Atlanta’s sacrificial lamb, Paronto.
Wily Mo Peña, who was in for Manny, then hit a shot over the Green Monster that I think is still traveling. The ball actually landed on the parking garage across the street.
All in all, the Red Sox battered the Braves 6 pitchers for 18 hits. Lowell led the way with 4 hits, only a triple short of the cycle. Big Papi chipped in with 3 hits of his own. Every Sox starter had a hit except for Varitek. Eric Hinske also didn’t have a hit in his one at-bat.
Dice-K went 8 innings, gave up 9 hits, 3 runs, walked no one and struck out 6. He looked good again except for the fact that he still doesn’t have full command of his changeup. Can you only imagine if he masters that pitch too.
Next up for the Sox is game 2 tonight at 7:35. Same announcers, same bat channel. Til then, may the schwartz be with you.
With Leather tells us that Eva Longoria is a major P.I.T.A.
Will D-Train and/or Miguel Cabrera be traded from the Marlins writes J.D. from Sportech Matter.
Babealicious Sooze over at Babes Love Baseball tells us why Kyle Farnsworth doesn’t like the Rocket.
Maureen has her own video webcasts now at Yankees-Chick.com. (Highly recommended site if you’re a Yankees fan.)
Unsilent Majority over at KSK writes about a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
Christine just had her 1st anniversary blogging over at Boston Red Thoughts.
Jason at My Baseball Bias has some questions for Jason Giambi.
Anthony tells us about the ‘Battle of the Beltway’ over at the Oriole Post.
Metschick over at Ladies… previews the Subway Series in New York.
ESPN Mobile is back according to Will over at Deadspin.
And last but not least, a look at the latest “Wicked Pissah” webcast from Fitzy at the Townie News. Video is NSFW!!!
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EPISODE 3 – Jason Giambi Said WHAT?
Get the latest AL EAST NEWS tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM EST with a brand new weekly internet radio show called “Beasts of the East – An AL EAST Radio Show†on BlogTalkRadio.com. Joining me for the hour will be four bloggers who follow their respective AL EAST team with great passion and enthusiasm.
If you’d like to call in, the phone number is (646) 478-5017 or you can send us an instant message if you use AOL IM at aleastshow.
Join us at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/beastsoftheeast at 11:00 AM EST tomorrow morning.
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WEEKLY GUEST LINEUP –
SHOW OUTLINE AND TOPICS –
I. INTRO
II. PANEL INTRODUCTIONS
III. STANDINGS OVERVIEW
IV. TOP NEWS STORIES OF THIS WEEK –
V. ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON THE TOP NEWS STORIES
VI. TEAM REPORTS FROM OUR GUESTS
VII. A LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEAD
Every show is available afterwards as a podcast or you can download it and listen to it in your free time.
Also, join Anthony, Ian and I every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. EST for the “The Hits Keep Comingâ€, also on BlogTalk Radio.
In what probably isn’t a stunning revelation, Jason Giambi basically admitted in an interview in USA Today that he in fact used steroids.
“I was wrong for doing that stuff,” Giambi told USA TODAY on Wednesday before playing the Chicago White Sox. “What we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players, ownership, everybody — and said: ‘We made a mistake.’
“We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. … Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it.”
He said Wednesday he’s thankful for MLB’s steroid and amphetamine testing program that was revised before last season. MLB does not test for HGH, but Giambi said he does not use the drug, either illegally or with a doctor’s prescription.
“Unfortunately, (the rumors) are going to be a part of it. But that’s OK. I’m probably tested more than anybody else. I’m not hiding anything,” said Giambi, hitting .273 with five homers this season. “That stuff didn’t help me hit home runs. I don’t care what people say, nothing is going to give you that gift of hitting a baseball.”
When asked, “So why did you take steroids?” Giambi said: “Maybe one day I’ll talk about it, but not now.”
I have to wonder when he apologized back in 2005, if this was the reason why. Also, when did he take them? Did he take them when Mark McGwire was a member of the Oakland A’s?
MLB is saying there was never a steroids problem. But here is basically an admission that yes, baseball did have a steroid problem.
Giambi will now be investigated by MLB for his comments but odds are he won’t be suspended.
Technorati: Jason Giambi, Steroids, MLB
We all know Ozzie Guillen is a very passionate manager for the Chicago White Sox and is usually a man of many words. Ozzie usually speaks his mind and during the Mike North Morning Show unleashed a nice profanity filled phone call.
It seems Guillen was upset with the questions that North had asked his (Guillen’s) catcher A.J. Pierszynski. A.J. had said he wasn’t happy with being left out of the lineup in today’s Cubs-White Sox game.
Here is the phone call:
[coolplayer width=”200″ height=”50″ autoplay=”0″ loop=”0″ charset=”GBK” download=”1″ mediatype=””]
Ozzie Guillen’s tirade[/coolplayer]
Technorati: Ozzie Guillen, Chicago White Sox, AJ Pierzynski
As Steve pointed out in his notes from the second game, NESN’s Jerry Remy fell down while doing an ‘air guitar’ impression before they went on the air for Thursday night’s second game between the Red Sox and Tigers.
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On a cold windy night at Fenway Park the Red Sox and Tigers battled through out the evening as the starting pitchers for both teams struggled out of the gate. But in the end it was Boston that came out of it with a 4-2 win and a doubleheader sweep. The sweep combined with the Yankees loss to the White Sox put them 9 ½ games in front of New York.
The Sox sent Curt Schilling to the hill but he was far from vintage Schilling. In the first Detroit fired out of the chute with a Curtis Granderson double off of Coco Crisp’s glove in left centerfield, Schilling then hit Placido Polanco with a pitch. Gary Sheffield would strike out looking but then Magglio Ordonez walked to load the bases with just one out. Schilling then buckled down and got Carlos Guillen to whiff but Sean Casey put a charge into one sending rightfielder Eric Hinske to the warning track in front of the bullpens to end the inning.
The Sox were actually able to strike first again getting yet another solo run in the first inning. Crisp opened with a single to right and stole second. Alex Cora, who continues to do all the little things, grounded out to Casey at first to move Crisp to third. Kevin Youkilis then singled to left to score Crisp. Manny Ramirez would strike out looking, but a passed ball charged to Detroit catcher Mike Rabelo would send Youk to second. Mike Lowell would walk giving the Sox runners at first and second but Jason Varitek would ground out to Polanco to end the threat.
Detroit would put heat on Schilling again in the second when with one out Rabelo would get a wind blown double to right that fell in front of a diving Hinske. Schilling would strike out Brandon Inge for the second out but once again Schilling would labor. He then walked Granderson and Polanco to load the bases but he would get Sheffield to ground into a fielders choice to Lowell at third to end the threat and keep the score 1-0 Boston.
Detroit which had left 6 runners on base in the first two innings got even in the third when Ordonez lead off with a double to right, Guillen followed with a RBI ground rule double into the rightfield grandstand to score Ordonez. Casey would ground out to short to move Guillen to third, Marcus Thames would strike out swinging and Rabelo grounded out to Youkilis at first with Schilling covering. Schilling was already at 70 pitches and really looking like he didn’t have it together.
For as big a struggle as it was for Schilling at this point Chad Durbin wasn’t much better. He got Manny to strike out for the second time in the third and he would give up a two out single to Varitek but would escape with no damage as Hinske grounded out to third. Durbin was at 68 pitches through 3 innings.
In the fourth the Motowners would jump out and take a 2-1 lead on a lead off solo homerun by Inge. It was originally ruled a single but replay clearly showed the ball hit above the yellow line on the Green Monster. The umpires discussed it and got the call right.
Detroit threatened again in the fifth, when Guillen lead off with his second ground rule double of the game into the bullpen. Casey would fly out to Hinske moving Guillen to third. Thames would then ground to Mike Lowell at third who got Guillen in a run down that would go Lowell to Varitek to Lowell to Schilling to Cora to Youkilis who tagged Guillen out. Thames would get all the way to second on the run down. But that rundown was no where near the play of the inning or the game. Rabelo ripped the ball into right field as the ball sliced toward the pole and the warning track of the rightfield corner Hinske laid out and made a spectacular diving catch that is surely ESPN Web Gem material to end the inning and keep the game at 2-1. Hinske was a bit a shaken on the play but did get up and stayed in the game.
Schilling would last one more inning laboring through six but holding the powerful Detroit offense to just 2 runs on 8 hits with 4 walks and 6 strike outs on 118 pitches. Durbin would also falter in the 6th inning. Granderson would rob Varitek on a diving catch in center, Hinske would get aboard on an error to Inge and when Durbin walked Pena that was his night. He would get yanked after 5 1/3 allowing 2 runs on 3 hits with 5 walks and 3 K’s on 108 pitches. Wilfredo Ledezma would come on to pitch and get Dustin Pedroia to pop out to Polanco, but then he’d walk Crisp to load the sacks and Cora would have an infield single on a chopper to second to score Hinske and tie the game at 2-2. Youkilis would then fly out to Ordonez to end the threat.
But the Sox weren’t done as they came right back at a shaky Ledezma in bottom of the 7th. With one out Lowell would single to center, Varitek would force him on a fielders choice to Inge at third and then the defensive hero would become the offensive hero. Hinske would drive a ball into the Red Sox bullpen for his first home since last October first to give the hometown team the 4-2 lead they wouldn’t give up.
Brandon Donnelly, who got the win in relief, would come on to pitch a clean seventh and only allow one hit to Rabelo to start the 8th and get Inge swinging before Javier Lopez would come in and shut the door with a 4-6-3 twin killing.
Hideki Okajima would come on to pitch a 1-2-3 ninth against the same three hitters he faced in game one to record his second save of the season as the Red Sox swept the day-night doubleheader and took 3 of 4 games in the series from the Tigers.
The Sox wrap up the ten game homestand when they start up in interleague play with a three game weekend series against the Atlanta Braves.
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