Cleveland leads the AL Central by a thin margin over the Royals, the pick of the American League. Texas leads over the improving Mariners and the favored Houston Astros. The old saw - "The team in first on the 4th of July, wins the league" - probably won't hold in the American League this year.
Speaking of surprises, do you believe the year 39-year old Carlos Beltran is putting together? He's on a pace to hit 40+ homers and 110+ RBIs. He's three hits short of a .300 average. The guy is a walking Geritol commercial.
A-Rod hit a home run yesterday, but I notice that his hits seem to be of the "ground-ball-finding-the-hole" variety. His power is to right field which tells me he's not really catching up to the fastball. In his last year, Paul O'Neill was doing the same thing. Unfortunately for NY, A-Rod is still about $40+ million away from the end of his contract.
The Yanks are currently playing the team with the worst record in the majors - the Minnesota Twins, a team you better be able to beat. The Twins have many weak spots, one of them being the bullpen. Here's your first clue: Their first man out of the pen is named Abad, the Yanks is named Goody. Kinda says it all, doesn't it?
This has puzzled me all year. For a non-contact sport, baseball players seem awfully fragile. We see ballplayers hurt themselves running to first, catching a ball, sliding into 2nd and diving into first. They get hurt just swinging the bat. And it's not just "Oh, he's day-to-day." It's "out for the season." Doesn't say a lot for the Strength and Conditioning coaches.
Then there's Mark Teixeira who wants to play 5 more years (He's 36), and Ichiro, who, at age 42, wants to play until he's 50. Sorry Ichiro, last I heard, they don't allow walkers on the field.
Interesting story in Dwight Perry's column.
Scottie Pippen, meet Doyle Lonnegan.
Seems Pippen got conned — just like the fictional mobster in “The Sting”
— to the tune of $100 every home game when he and Chicago Bulls teammate Michael
Jordan “bet” on the outcome of the animated bull races on the arena’s Jumbotron.
And all because Jordan arrived early one game day and saw the video technicians
at work.
As ESPN’s Amin Elhassan tells it, “Mike is watching this and says, ‘You
guys already know who’s going to win?’ And the guy says, ‘Yeah, it’s all
prerecorded.’ ”
So, Elhassan said, Jordan got the inside scoop each time and Pippen never
caught on to the con.
The 7th game of the NBA finals will be played tonight at the Chase Center Arena in Oakland. It's being hyped as the best NBA 7th game ever. For the record, Annie-O is rooting for Steph...er the Warriors, I'll...be watching a movie.
***THEY SAID IT***
"The Cleveland Indians condiments race took a turn when infielder Jason Kipnis knocked Ketchup down. Critics said Kipnis did it because he can’t cut the mustard." -- RJ Currie
" Johnny Manziel was served with legal papers outside a Los Angeles nightclub. Jeez, how did the process server know where to find Manziel? He must be psychic." -- Brad Dickson
"Some question as to whether or not Tim Lincecum was ready to face major league hitting. Looks like he was at least ready to face the Oakland As." -- Janice Hough.
"Indians third baseman Juan Uribe left Sunday’s game on a cart after a
scorching grounder hit him in the groin and left him with a testicular
contusion. Uribe, in case you missed it, is the new Spanish word for
“soprano.” -- Dwight Perry
"Indians third baseman Juan Uribe — felled by a bad-hop grounder that left
him with a testicular contusion — claimed he doesn’t wear a protective cup
because the team doesn’t have one in his size. No word on whether he was bragging or
complaining." -- Dwight Perry [and the hits just keep on coming - CP]
"Heavy favorite Exaggerator finished 11th at the Belmont Stakes. However, he told everyone he was fifth." -- Brad Dickson
" Golden State’s Steph Curry was
ejected from the game for tossing his mouth guard into the crowd in reaction to
a referee’s call late in the game tonight. For the record, “mouth guard &
LeBron James” have never been used in the same sentence." -- TC Chong
"Golden State’s Steph Curry was ejected from a game for tossing his mouth guard into the crowd. NHL star Jaromir Jagr did the same thing once — except his teeth were still in it." -- RJ Currie
"The Detroit Lions plan to add a sideline cheer staff this season because,
they say, “the Ford Family is unwavering in their commitment to improving the
Detroit Lions fan experience.” Hey, don’t laugh: It was either that or try to field a winning football
team." -- Dwight Perry
"In Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Steph Curry was ejected after throwing his
mouthpiece. The apple doesn’t fall far. The game was then delayed after
Riley Curry tossed her pacifier on the court." -- Brad DicksonCP-
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