Jon Lester dominated, making the most of his first appearance in Yankees Stadium by tossing a complete game shutout in a 7-0 Boston win. This triumph ended a five game losing streak in which the team had a tough time getting both solid pitching and hitting. In this contest they finally found a way to get both, as the offense came alive against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte. As Lester mowed down the Yankees, seemingly with ease, the Red Sox lineup did something New York has had a tough time doing, score runs.
Dustin Pedroia continued to be a hitting machine, starting a quick offensive attack with a single. J.D. Drew followed with a line drive single of his own, leaving Manny Ramirez a chance to drive in the game’s first run. He hit a slow grounder right to Robinson Cano, who started a attempt at a double play by flipping to Derek Jeter for the second out of the inning. Manny Ramirez was hustling down the first base line, which made Jeter’s throw that much difficult. He threw wide of the bag, allowing Pedroia to score and Manny to reach second on the error. Mike Lowell then made Jeter suffer even more for the error, as he laced a rni single to drive in Manny. It gave Jon Lester a cushion even before he went on the mound, and a lead that the Red Sox would actually be able to hold onto.
Lester got into trouble in the bottom of the first by walking the first two batters, but got out of the inning unscathed, striking out both Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi to end the threat. Boston’s offense quickly went back to work against a ineffective Pettitte, scoring two more times in the second frame on a Jacoby Ellsbury two-run double.
That support was more than enough for Lester, who continued his very solid year with this extraordinary performance. His control was very sharp, as he didn’t walk anyone after allowing two straight to start his outing. The Yankees offense mustered only five hits off the left-hander, leading to Joe Girardi, New York’s manager, holding a closed door meeting with his players following the game.
Not only was this a must win for the team to get back on track, it gave the struggling bullpen a night off (it didn’t allow relievers like Delcarmen, Hansen, Aardsma or Okajima to find a way to give up the lead). The night went so well for Boston that Jason Varitek, who has been awful at the plate so far this season (9 for his last 83 and is batting .217 overall), broke out his much maligned slump with a rbi single in the 8th to end the game’s scoring.
Though the offense woke up for the Red Sox, the night belonged to Lester, who was coming off one of his worst outings with the team (he allowed 9 hits and 6 earned runs in 5 innings in the teams’ 11-10 loss to the Astros). His fastball was lively, and his off-speed pitches were used to perfection, contributing to his 8 strikeouts. Not bad for his first trip to Yankees Stadium.
Every baseball team seems to fall into one of these phases during the duration of the season: either a combination good hitting but bad pitching, bad hitting but good pitching or the worst of all, both bad hitting and bad pitching. Boston is in the bad hitting/good pitching stage, evident in their 5 combined runs in the teams’ pivotal two straight losses to the unbelievably good Tampa Rays. The Red Sox have the big name players to muster enough runs to win the majority of the games played: Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and others. They just haven’t been able to help the team win consistently.
Ellsbury’s June was a nightmare, as he hit only .245, and only walked three times in the months’ 27 games. As the teams’ lead-off man and table setter, Jacoby needs to find a way to get on base. Since he is struggling mightily at the plate, he needs to be patient as a hitter, therefore taking pitches, and if necessary, walks. He is only 24 and part of Red Sox bright future, but he needs to be consistent enough to get Boston’s offense on the right page. In May, the former Oregon State standout was what Red Sox fans expected, as he got in base nearly 40% of the time, stole 18 bases and scored 21 runs. In June he got on base at a just a 26% clip; he scored just 13 runs; stole only 8 bases; struck out 20% of the time (20 out of 98 at bats). Every player goes through these types of stretches, but for lead-off man, it is critical for him to get back on track.
Dustin Pedroia was a rookie last year and encountered a horrid slump to start his major league career. He couldn’t hit during the first two months of the season, but the Red Sox stuck with him and it paid off (won rookie of the year; was a pivotal part of the second half of the season and the postseason). Ellsbury should learn from Pedroia’s experience and known that the team has confidence that he will hit himself out of his slump. That’s what Ellsbury should take with him heading out of June and into July. Pedroia hit like crazy in June, batting .356 with 21 runs scored, 36 hits, and only 6 strikeouts. His numbers could have been better in the month, especially in the rbi category (he drove in just nine runs in the month), if he had players like Ellsbury getting on base in front of him. Even without the production from Ellsbury, Pedroia helped relieve the pressure on players behind him like Drew, Lowell, and Youkilis. Now all those three players had to do was hit.
J.D. Drew hit .337 in June, but hit even better before he ended the month 5-31 from the plate. He was proclaimed as a savior early in the month because of his production in the absence of David Ortiz, but went down with the team over the final 10 games (the team went 4-6 in those 10 games). His .161 batting average during that stretch hurt the team considerably. Without his production the teams offense became stagnant.
Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis were very good during the month, batting .351 and .337, respectively, but without players on base their production can only do so much to help the team win. They made the most of it when Pedroia and Drew got on base when they combined for 40 rbi’s (25 of which by Lowell) and 11 homers.
With all of these individual numbers mentioned, it brings up the question: what is consistency? A players’ continuous productivity during a year? Or is it just how much the team wins? The way I see it is that Ellsbury, Pedroia, Drew, Lowell and Youkilis can put up great numbers during the course of a season, but if they don’t amount to the team winning the majority of games played, what point do they make? The main difference between the Red Sox and Rays is that Tampa Bay is doing more to win games. Maybe that is what consistency is.
LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers lone star, is already a sports icon at the age of 23. His talent is otherworldly, but his team is not, which begs the question: does LeBron opt out of the final year of his contract and go elsewhere in 2010? This will be asked and analyzed to death over the coming years, and for good reason. He, during his five scintillating years in the league, has been one of the best players in the game and has nearly single-handedly led his team to a NBA title. Playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, he has averaged 27 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds in his career, but without the right supporting cast does James feel the need to leave, move on, in the prime of his career.
Dan Patrick, who works for Sports Illustrated, brought up these questions on his radio show, sparking even more debate of LeBron’s future in Cleveland. LeBron could very well stick with his home state team in 2010, ending this debate once and for all, but still there are many ways that he could get out of Ohio. He has a friend in rapper Jay-Z, who happens to be part owner of the New Jersey, or soon-to-be Brooklyn, Nets. It so happens that Jay-Z might be interested in whisking LeBron away into Brooklyn, a borough that happens to be atop his list of favorite places.
There could be a huge road block that LeBron would have to consider before leaving, if he chose to explore his options, a problem the Patrick brought up on his show. With teams like the Nets supposedly clearing cap space with major trades (they traded Richard Jefferson, one of their main components from last season, to Milwaukee, while main star Vince Carter could find himself out via trade soon), what kind of team would LeBron go to? If the Nets, and others like the Knicks, (who can get rid of many high paid players by free agency or trade in the coming years to clear space for a contract that LeBron would command) continue to get rid of their high profile players, would their teams turn out to be duplicates of James’s current team, the Cleveland Cavaliers? If the Nets do trade Carter, as many expect, and the Knicks unload their plethora of obscene contracts, we could have a war on our hands if LeBron makes himself available.
By trading Richard Jefferson the Nets unload the remaining three years and $42 million dollars left on his contract, therefore dwindling their payroll going into the 2010 season to $43 million dollars (down from their 2008, $51 million dollar payroll prior to the trade). This gives them an upper hand on the Knicks already, because New Jersey has already started the process in the Lebron sweepstakes (their 2010 payroll would continue to drop if they traded Carter and the remaining 4 years and $66 million left on his deal).
The Knicks as well would have a drastically smaller payroll if they got rid of numerous contracts. Their current payroll ranks second in the NBA at $89 million dollars, but if they got rid of previously named players like Marbury (who is in the last year of his deal), Randolph, and Curry, they would have a much smaller payroll than the $53 million they would have going into the 2010 season. They have the reasons to go after LeBron, and if they lessen their payroll, as advised, they will have a chance to land him.
I would like to see LeBron, if he does opt out two years from now, go to the New York Knicks. He could, as he has done with the Cavaliers, resurrect a franchise in turmoil. The Knicks have started the rebuilding stage by hiring Mike D’Antoni as their head coach, a coach with an impressive resume, and a coach that runs a run ‘n gun style of offense that could be to LeBron’s liking. The Knicks have a great advantage over the New Jersey Nets by being able to clear more cap space to tempt James with a max contract. Since they have recognized that their team is horrible, and in the rebuilding stage, why not trade players like Eddy Curry (around $9 million per season), Stephon Marbury (an astounding $19 million per season) and Zach Randolph (13 million per season) while they are still pleasing to other teams’. Not only do these certain players have documented issues, none of them seem to be the types that would be part of a champion caliber team nor players that would fit D’Antoni’s style. The team has already shopped each of these players at least once (which is surprising in Randolph’s case because this last season was his first with the Knicks). If these players are traded, and depending on what the Knicks get in return, what kind of team would James be coming to? Could a team with the likes of David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari, help LeBron win a title? My safe bet is no.
The Cavaliers have struggled mightily trying to find LeBron a sidekick during his tenure with the team. It started when Michael Redd, the current star for the Milwaukee Bucks, decided to stay with the team rather than sign a free-agent deal with the Cavaliers years ago. Cleveland has tried to plug in players like Larry Hughes and Wally Szczerbiak into Redd’s would-be position, but neither has brought the team much success. So what do the Cavaliers try to do to persuade LeBron to stay in town? Throw a bunch of money at a bona fide all-star, and make the Cavaliers a true title contender. If the team wants LeBron, the cornerstone of their franchise, to stay with the team, this is what, as an organization, they have to do.
I won’t underestimate how determined the Cavaliers will be to lock up Lebron long term prior to 2010, but if talks fail and James decides to opt out, many teams, like the Nets and Knicks, will duel for one of the best players in the game.
After spending the first 10 years as an organization in the cellar of the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays are atop the baseball world. The young Rays are playing well beyond their years, and thanks to a talented core of players with a few veterans thrown in, Tampa Bay has the best record in the majors, at 49-32. The team’s success is wrapped around players like Evan Longoria, their rookie third baseman; Carl Crawford, their speedy spark-plug of a left fielder; and B.J. Upton, their talented, five-tooled center fielder. These players, at the ages of 22, 26, and 23, respectively, have built the franchise not only as a young team, but as a young, good team.
Think of their team this way: Carlos Pena, a power hitter who hit over 40 homers last year, hasn’t been much of a factor this season, Crawford, though producing, hasn’t had the same consistency this year as in past seasons, and Upton, a player that usually possess a good amount of power, only has four homers at this point in the season. With these players not playing as they are expected, the team is still as good as they are. If the team can get these players going, along with the other solid talent they have on their team, this record won’t be an admiration at season’s end.
After just being recognized as a ball-club with young talent and no ability to win, the team now has some lasting success. A veteran like Troy Percival, who is anchoring the closer’s role (18 saves), helps the team in so many other ways than closing out a win. He brings some much needed leadership to a very young team, allowing the team to mature into a contender. Eric Hinske, the teams’ designated hitter, has also provided some guidance as a six year veteran, helping the players around him not only with his bat (a bat that has produced 13 homers).
Evan Longoria, the Rays phenom, has had a very good first year, compiling 15 homers and 47 rbi’s. Despite being 22, he is one of the leaders of the team, which could be a good and bad thing. Though B.J. Upton’s power numbers aren’t there, he is doing so many other things for his team. He has 23 stolen bases, contributing to his 51 runs scored. Carl Crawford has put up similar numbers (.278 8 homers, 44 rbi’s, 53 runs, 20 stolen bases) though they aren’t spectacular, he, like Upton, makes the most of what he gets.
To go along with the flurry of gifted hitters, the Rays also have many talented pitchers that have helped make this season as successful as it has been. No matter how good the teams’ hitting can be, you’ll only go as far as your pitching will take you. What is scary about this team is that they have the pieces to go a long ways, which means a solid pitching staff. Scott Kazmir, the teams’ ace, has been superb after sustaining an injury in the beginning of the season, posting a 7-3 record in 11 starts, with a 2.38 ERA. The rest of their staff is compile of pitchers at the age of 25 or younger but all of them have made significant contributions this season despite the lack of long term experience in the majors (Andy Sonnanstine, 9-3 record, James Shields, 5-5 with a 3.6 ERA, Matt Garza, 6-4, 3.7 ERA, and Edwin Jackson, 4-6 with a 4.3 ERA).
Since the Rays have, at this point, established themselves as one of the best teams in baseball, and since they have a ton of young talent, do they go out and sign a big name player to fill out their ball-club. A player that comes to mind is C.C. Sabathia, the talented Cy Young award winning Indians pitcher who will most likely be put on the market come July if the Indians front office can’t sign him long term. The problem with going after him what the Rays would have to give up. They have a plethora of young pitchers, as previously mentioned, as well as some blossoming hitters that could be enticing to the Indians, but would they want to ruin their chemistry for a star. Baseball analysts such as ESPN’s Buster Olney have said that even with the great young pitchers they now have on their team, they have more on the way. The reason why the Rays are so good now is because they have held onto their youth and have let them mold into the current stars they are now. Why risk losing players like Sonnanstine, Shields, Crawford, Jackson, Upton, Kazmir and Garza, players have helped the team to where they are now, and overpay for a C.C. Sabathia. Even if the Rays were to go after and acquire Sabathia in a trade this season, with their payroll at the minuscule size that it is ($44 million), he would take up half of it, giving the Rays nearly no chance to sign any of their other players long term.
Even with the success the Rays have had during the first 82 games, there is a question that needs answering: how will this small marketed team full of 20-something talented players hold up come September and October, months that have never been important in their franchise’s history?
In the early 1840’s William Overton saw great potential for a piece of land that was called “the clearing,” halfway between Oregon City and Fort Vancouver, but he lacked the funds that were required to file a land claim. He struck a bargain with a partner by the name of Asa Lovejoy, of Boston, Mass.: for 25 cents he would share the 640 acres he had claimed. Overton later sold his part of the claim to Francis W. Pettigrove of Portland Maine. Now both Pettigrove and Lovejoy wanted to name the new city after their respective hometowns, which was to be decided with a coin toss. Pettigrove won in a best two out of three contest. So therefore the city was to be named Portland, forever linking the two cities.
To go along with the naming of Portland, Oregon, there is a more recent link between the two cities. Kevin Pritchard, the Portland Trail Blazers General Manager since the start of the 2007 season, has been very aggressive during his tenure as the leader of the team. His aggressiveness started even as a interim manager of the team in 2005, when he took over of a bad team after the firing of Maurice Cheeks. He spent the remainder of the season as manager evaluating talent, and in that off-season advised then-GM John Nash to select Chris Paul with the 3rd overall selection in that particular upcoming draft, but was overruled by Nash and his partners, as the team eventually traded the pick to the Utah Jazz (which they used to take Deron Williams). In the 2006 off-season, Nash was fired (probably after the team saw Paul win rookie of the year), allowing Pritchard to move on up the ladder. The team not only promoted him to the Assistant GM position, but gave him full control to orchestrate their 2006 draft, a draft in which he was very busy. He traded the teams’ fourth overall selection, Tyrus Thomas, along with Victor Khryapa to the Bulls for the 2nd overall pick, LaMarcus Aldridge, who is now a prominent part of the current team. Pritchard wasn’t done though, as he then traded the 7th overall pick (they traded Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff to Boston for the pick prior to the draft) which they used on Randy Foye to the Timberwolves for Brandon Roy (who won rookie of the year that upcoming season). Both Aldridge and Roy are currently center-pieces for the teams future, and have already gained a lot of notoriety around the league for their outstanding play in their two years in the NBA. In 2007 Steve Patterson was fired, allowing the Blazers to give the reigns to the GM position to Pritchard. He didn’t stop his aggressive play, as he not only picked Greg Oden with the top pick in the 2007 draft, but made two more significant deals. He traded Zach Randolph, who had overstayed his welcome with the team, to the Knicks and acquired James Jones, and the 24th pick in the draft, Rudy Fernandez (who is now going to be another big part of the teams’ future) for cash in a separate deal with the Suns. Every one of these moves have been very good decisions by Pritchard thanks to his aggressiveness and determination to make this team better.
Now the Blazers are the youngest team in the league, and even though their players are immensely talented, that could be a bad thing if the team wants to go deep in the playoffs as soon as next season. The good thing about the lack of experience is that from here on the players will only gain experience with every game they play, especially incoming players like Oden, Jerryd Bayless and Fernandez.
The sports are different, but MLB’s General Managers have the same task: improve the team the way you see fit, and build towards the future. This is where the Portland-Boston connection comes in with Red Sox GM, Theo Epstein. He, like Pritchard, is very aggressive when it comes to making the team better. In the 2003 off-season Boston made a huge run at one of the games best players, Alex Rodriguez. Major League Baseball wouldn’t allow the trade to be completed, but it was his aggressive mindset allowed the trade to be a possibility. His determination to get the players he saw fit continued in 2006 off-season when he spent an obscene amount of money 52 million dollars just to talk to Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom they eventually signed for 50+ more million dollars. This is how Pritchard and Epstein are connected. They have the ability to look at every possibility to make their respective teams better whether it be by trade or free agency.
What allows Epstein to be aggressive is the amount of money at is disposal. The Blazers payroll for this past season was $57.6 million dollars compared to $133 million dollars for the Red Sox. The payrolls are drastically different, but so are the yearly salaries for the players in the two sports. Though the roster size is in baseball’s favor, 40-15, the teams go about making moves in similar ways, because of the amount of money each team has available. In spite of the difference in salaries and roster size, both the Blazers and Red Sox have the same opportunities to trade for high paid players, and be aggressive in their own ways, primarily because of the difference between yearly player salaries between sports.
One thing that helps Epstein is that he has a farm system, something Pritchard and the NBA do not. Though having a farm system for the Red Sox is a luxury, it is also tough to maintain.It has produced players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Justin Masterson, Clay Buccholz, Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon, all of whom have played critical roles towards the teams’ success. A farm system for Epstein is the equivilant to draft picks for Pritchard. Some successful players in the minor leagues are trading chips for big name players in baseball, just like some draft picks are trading chips for big name players in basketball. Though Pritchard doesn’t have the advantage of having a minor league team, nonetheless four like Boston, he, and his team, still find a way to make bold trades, like the one recently to acquire Jerryd Bayless.
Pritchard’s agressiveness is shown in the trading of draft picks (they traded all five in this years’ draft) to get the right players for his team while Epstein’s aggressiveness is shown by paying high dollar for players that fit. Though the way they go by being aggressive is different, their primary goal is making their teams better not only for the present, but for the future as well.
The connection between the two cities started with Pettigrove and Lovejoy, but because of the aggressive style of Kevin Pritchard and Theo Epstein in modern time, the link continues.
Derrick Rose was selected first overall by the Chicago Bulls, allowing him to play in his hometown, Michael Beasley, after much discussion about if he would be selected number two, was by the Miami Heat and O.J. Mayo fleshed out the top three picks with his selection by the Minnesota Timberwolves, as was expected.
The one thing that has surprised me about the draft so far is that the Sonics took Russell Westbrook with the fourth pick. Two problems with this pick: you don’t take a defensive oriented guard before players like Jerryd Bayless, Eric Gordon and D.J. Augustin, who are more offensive guards, and second: he isn’t really a point guard, he is a tweener, a player at 6′3″, that is a shooting guard in a point guards body. In the NBA he could be a lock down defender on point guards, but his offensive intangibles don’t reflect that of a point guard, therefore making him a undersized shooting guard. Sure was a explosive player in college but was probably the third best player on his UCLA squad (behind Love and Collison). I thought the Sonics would go for a power forward, probably at that position in the draft, Kevin Love, despite their past poor selections of big men.
The Blazers made a play at one of the guards that the Sonics past up, Jerryd Bayless, who fell down to the number 11 pick to the Indiana Pacers. They traded Jarrett Jack, Josh McRoberts and the 13th pick, Brandon Rush, for the former Arizona guard. This is a steal in my opinion because one of the positions they needed help at was point guard, considering what they had to give up. This pick allows Brandon Roy to move over to shooting guard, if they decide to use Bayless right away. This acquisition also gives the Blazers a lot of depth at the position as they now have Bayless, Steve Blake, Brandon Roy and even Rudy Fernandez (a shooting guard who can play some point) that they can use. I am amazed, considering that Bayless was seen as a top 6 pick, that the Blazers could give up so little to get such a hot commodity and a talented player. This trade was made after the Blazers took Brandon Rush with the 13th pick, a player that I thought could help them. The reasoning behind trading Rush was that Portland already has Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez and Travis Outlaw at the shooting guard/small forward position. I think Rush will be a very good NBA player, but Bayless filled a need.
After the Draft ended the Tmimberwolves and Grizzlies made a trade of their own, sending the third overall pick, O.J. Mayo, to the Grizzlies for the 5th overall pick, Kevin Love. The Timberwolves also sent Marko Jaric, Greg Buckner and Antoine Walker to the Grizzlies for Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Jason Coliins to complete the deal. Minnesota needed a big man to go along with Al Jefferson on the front-line and got him in Love. That wasn’t the only prize in the deal for the Wolves as they obtained Miller, who is still young, at 28, and is a very good scorer. By making this trade the Grizzlies intend to play Mayo as a shooting guard, because of his size, at 6′4″, and because the team already has two young point guards in Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry. Memphis didn’t get much in return besides Mayo, but if he turns out to be as good a player as everyone expects, that’s all they will need.
Brook Lopez went tenth overall to the New Jersey Nets, while twin brother Robin Lopez was taken by the Phoenix Suns with the 15th selection. Although Brook has the better offensive game at this point, many in the NBA think that Robin will be the better player. Robin is more of a defensive specialist which could be the reason why, I guess it goes with the saying “defense wins championships.”
This draft has had it all: A surprise pick in Russell Westbrook, a surprise slip in Bayless, more aggressive moves by Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard, and a few more trades thrown in.
Complete Blazers and former Oregon Duck selections-
13th overall selection-Brandon Rush–Traded to Pacers for the rights to Jerryd Bayless
27th overall selection-Darrell Arthur– slipped considerably to this position, but has a lot of talent; traded to the Houston Rockets along with 33rd selection for Nicolas Batum (selected 25th).
33th overall selection-Joey Dorsey– has incredible altheticism, and a great defensive player; traded to Rockets as part of the deal bringing Nicolas Batum to the Blazers.
38th overall selection-Omer Asik– 6′11″ center from Turkey, don’t no much about him but he will spend time overseas after signing 5-year deal with hometown team (may never come over to the NBA).
55th overall selection-Mike Taylor–guard out of Iowa State, traded to Clippers for a conditional second round pick in 2009, as they are, now with the acquisition of Bayless, set at the point guard position
Oregon Duck selections-Malik Hairston–selected 48th overall by the Phoenix Suns. He was then traded to the Spurs along with cash and a future second round pick for Goran Dragic. Hairston could be a solid player for the Spurs, if he makes the team.
Maarty Luenen–selected 54th overall by the Houston Rockets. He could have a tough time making the team with the bundle of forwards that Houston has.
According to NBA front-office sources, The New Jersey Nets Nets have agreed to trade G/F Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. This trade will help both teams considerably, especially the Bucks who needed another piece to help Michael Redd. Jefferson was a very prominent part of the Nets organization during his 7 seasons there but his name has been in trade rumors the past few seasons. New Jersey felt they needed to go into another direction, and nabbed a young forward with a ton of potential in Jianlian. Also by doing this trade the Nets unloaded Jefferson’s enormous contract, as he was due over 12 million this season. Jefferson averaged 22 points last year, but the team was going nowhere fast. New Jersey continues to rebuild their franchise, starting the transformation with the trading of point guard Jason Kidd during this past season. Bobby Simmons will help the Nets, but I think they did this deal knowing that Yi would be involved.
The trade will seem to pay drastic dividends on Milwaukee’s side as they now have given Michael Redd, their top scorer, a much needed sidekick. This trade will give Charlie Villanueva more playing time, if they don’t decide to trade him as well. Another reason that this trade is beneficial for the Bucks is that Jefferson is still only 28 with a lot of good seasons left. The Trade for Jefferson means that the Bucks aren’t leaning towards taking Joe Alexander with the 8th pick in the draft as many people expected.
I can’t imagine that this trade is just 2-1. There has to be some draft picks involved or maybe even a third team, but I guess since it is draft day it gave the Nets and Bucks a reason to pull off this trade. Despite reports that there are no picks involved, don’t be alarmed if they add something to it.
Steve Detwiler, torn finger ligament and all, collected all 6 rbi’s in a 6-1 victory, as the underdog Fresno State Bulldogs stunned the favored Georgia Bulldogs to capture the College World Series title. Justin Wilson came up big as well, throwing 8 dominating innings, allowing just one run on 5 hits while striking out nine. He blew away hitters with a live fastball and a great assortment of other pitches to hold the mighty Georgia offense down. He finished his outing with 129 pitches under his belt, 86 of which were for strikes as he commanded the strike zone all game long.
As remarkable as Wilson’s performance was, it was Detwiler’s night, as he got the scoring started with the first of his two homers, a 2-run shot that barely cleared the right field fence. That was all the run support that Wilson would need but Detwiler wasn’t done yet as he added a rbi double in the fourth and a three run homer in the 6th. His soon to be surgically repaired finger didn’t seem to affect him much with all the success he had at the plate in one of the most improbable wins in College World Series history. He was jubilant, to say the least, after every big play he made, as he, with a little help from his teammates, carried Fresno State to their first College World Series championship.
The Fresno State Bulldogs staved off elimination six times en route to the title. They had the most losses, 31 this season, for a CWS title winner ever as well as becoming the lowest seed in any collegiate sport to win a NCAA Title. I guess the phrase underdog really does fit these Bulldogs.
Jermaine O’Neal’s tenure with the Indiana Pacers is over as he was traded to the Toronto Raptors for T.J. Ford, the rights to the 17th overall pick, and center Rasho Nesterovic. This is the first big splash of what will be a very exciting and trade-filled NBA Draft. O’Neal has been slowed with injuries the past four seasons, and is currently sporting a left knee bone bruise, which must not have been enough to stop the trade from being completed. He played in just 42 games last season, and averaged 13 points and 6 rebounds, right around his career average of 14 and 7. The upside with O’Neal is that when he has been healthy he has been a dominating power forward in the NBA, and is still young, at 29 with 6 All-Star selections. The trade can’t be fully completed until all players involved pass physicals, which could be a problem for O’Neal.
T.J. Ford has battle with injuries throughout his short career, but his have been a lot more serious than anything O’Neal has encountered. Ford, a 25-year old point guard out of the University of Texas, has suffered spinal cord injuries, most notably when he had to sit out the 2004-05 season after landing awkwardly on his neck in just his 8th pro game with Milwaukee. He has made a name for himself when he has played, using tremendous speed and quickness to garner a lot of notoriety around the league. He is obviously highly coveted to be traded nearly straight up for a veteran like O’Neal. He averaged 12 points and 6 assists last season, but like O’Neal, he struggled to stay on the court this past season, playing in 51 of 82 regular season game. Though he seems fragile at just 6 feet, 165 pounds, he is a savvy point guard with great self control, and a pretty good ability to score.
I like the deal for Indiana, because they needed something, but I don’t quite understand the move from a Toronto point of view. O’Neal doesn’t seem to be the right guy for their type of play, and they have a few capable players with his makeup already, most notably Chris Bosh. Both players are listed at power forward for a reason, because, simply put, they don’t have the right amount of size to play the center position. If Toronto does figure out a way to play both Bosh and O’Neal in harmony, I guess they could make a move past the first round in the Eastern Conference playoffs (where their season ended last year against Orlando), but I still wouldn’t understand their mindset by making the deal.
If the Pacers nab a good player with the 11th pick, and with their newly acquired 17th pick, they could be set for a long time.
As I chronicled in a previous post, I assumed Michael Beasley, with his incredible offensive upside, would go during the top two selections, ultimately battling with Derrick Rose for the top spot. Well I was wrong, as it seems that Rose has wrapped up the top position, while Miami is looking elsewhere than Beasley. Not only do they not want Beasley they would rather trade the pick altogether to move down in the draft to take a point guard. Many teams, such as Memphis, holder of the fifth pick, are quite interested in taking over the #2 spot. The problem with that particular scenario is that Miami’s asking price is way too high for the Grizzlies taste, as Memphis does not want to give up guard Mike Conley in any trade.
Portland, once again has been busy making noise as they have made it known that they would like to move up, most likely into the 3-6 range, where they could grab a point guard, specifically either Jerryd Bayless or O.J. Mayo. They have the great advantage of having a major influx of young players as well as 3 second round picks. Seemingly enough, if they put the right pieces together, to get into the top 5 position.There have also been talks between the Nets, who own the rights to the 10th pick, in a trade that would bring the that pick as well as shooting guard Richard Jefferson to Portland. This is where the second round picks and the privilege to trade Jarrett Jack or Steve Blake and Joel Pryzbilla come in, picks and players that could be included in this proposed deal. This particular trade might not go through as it is just speculation at this point but to have this type of leeway to make these kind of inquiries is a great thing to possess. With the way Kevin Pritchard and the Blazers have been invlovled in the trade market on draft night in previous years you can’t count them out of making a big splash to bolster an already remarkably talented team.
