Keeping TBDS Late Night brief as changes are forthcoming.
This is audio of Phillies broadcaster, and former Cubs hitting instructor Gary Matthews Sr., who gives baseball players (and young men, for that matter) some interesting advice.
You should remember this as you pregame for what will likely be an awfully Thirsty Thursday.
Finally, I was able to get some video proof of the happenings between the Cardinals and Phillies on Saturday. Picked up the video of a disappointed Dick Stockton and Tim McCarver via The Big Lead's Yardwork. No truth to the rumor that Carlos Zambrano, Albert Pujols or Ozzie Guillen is in charge of the baseball rundown segment.
A laser pointer ... really? I expect more from a fan base that boos Santa Claus and makes it rain with D-batteries.
On a serious note, that had to be distracting. I read some Cardinals message boards of the weekend (which I refuse to link because of their ineptitude) and once I got through the rubbish, the general consensus was that it was messed up. And for once, we agree. There is so much drama in the L.B.C. U.S.A. and with the fear of terrorism always looming (not so much now compared to when G-Dubya was running things) the last thing I need at the ballpark is a sniper ... let alone some idiot with a laser pointer acting like a sniper.
They never did catch the guy (or girl) responsible for this, and they probably went home scot-free and were the toast of the town among their close friends, relatives and those of the ilk. But I'll guarantee you one thing, he (or she) didn't get laid that night.
Honestly, no one who carries a laser pointer is getting laid.
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's minor blowup Tuesday night after an extra innings loss to the Kansas City Royals doesn't even register on his scale of eruptions but the team may need a category nine explosion to liven them up.
This is starting to look like 2007 all over again.
Guillen, the cover boy of the new Sporting News Magazine, is the only one who can fix the issue right now because general manager Ken Williams doesn't appear to have any moves imminently planned outside of some internal roster juggling.
Perhaps an outburst rights the ship? It seems like about that time, especially if this short series with the Detroit Tigers goes awry.
Speaking of roster juggling here are a few things I'd do if I were K-Will.
Send Brent Lillibridge down immediately. He doesn't buy into the program, that's been pretty clear thus far.
He hits way to many fly balls despite the fact that he is a speedster with zero power. Send him down and get that straightened out. I'm confident Jayson Nix can be the utility man that Lillibridge can't be.
So who do you call up in place of him? Elder Torres.
Who?
Yeah I said Torres, big whoop right? He's hitting .299 with four steals and can play all infield spots.
If he doesn't pan out Brian Anderson will be back in a week or so anyway. So just wait that out.
Next to go? Lance Broadway your table in Charlotte is ready again.
I've seen enough of him over the years. He still doesn't have an outpitch and while he's not the key to the season I'm ready to watch someone else.
Let's go with a live arm like Jon Link, the Knights temporary closer. He has 3.08 ERA and pitched well last year in Double-A Birmingham.
If Jose Contreras gets fire-bombed again Thursday it's time to cut the cord. I appreciate his efforts to come back from injury, I really do.
But now it's time to get him upstairs and get him out of here if he can't be average.
We can give Clayton Richard a spot start and if he fails to impress call up either Carlos Torres or Aaron Poreda. Ideally, I'd give Torres the first crack because he's at Triple-A.
It's one thing one Bartolo Colon pitches like a fifth-starter (good start, bad start, repeat) but when Jose Contreras pitches like a minor leaguer, it's time to make a change.
Speaking of the rotation, I'm not sure what's going on with Gavin Floyd and John Danks.
Floyd has looked like the old-version from Philly and really has only had one good start. Danks on the other hand is coming off back-to-back clunkers but I'm not worried about either untill I see another start.
Optimists say the offense was just as terrible this time of year as it was in 2008 and that is true but at least The Carlos was carrying the load. The pitching staff was actually looking good early with Floyd flirting with several no-hitters in the early going.
So there's the logical plan.
The insane plan calls for drastic measures that I'm quite certain won't happen.
No. 1 - sign Barry Lemar Bonds as a backup plan for Jim Thome if he continues to get hurt or plays like crap. Bonds will reportedly play for the league minimum and I'm not here to talk about the past. Besides it won't be awesome to watch him and Ozzie butt heads. Or perhaps he becomes a humbled superstar and will create a platoon with all the old folks on this team?
No. 2 - sign Pedro Martinez and implement him into a three-headed monster of stars from yester-year. Martinez is my all-time favorite player so I'm biased but he has to have at least something worthwhile left in the tank. Hell you could platoon him with Contreras as the fifth starter.
No. 3 - Forget the other two moves and go young. Trade Jermaine Dye to the Reds for Homer Bailey and move TCQ to right field (his natural position), put Alexei Ramirez in center field and call up Gordon Beckham to plays shorstop. You can keep Scott Podsednik and Brian Anderson as platoon mates in left field. Send down someone out of the pen and call up Aaron Poreda and throw him into the fire as the fifth starter.
There aren't enough tracks by Kanye, Jay, Nas, Lil' Wayne (no vocoder), T.I., Ludacris or anyone else for that matter that can bring rap music back from the depths Bruce Pearl took it the other night.
ATTN: Dr. Dre: Bring me Detox, or bring Bruce Pearl death.
Future Southern Illinois Salukis sharpshooter Drew Barham and some of his buddies actin' a fool for the YouTube viewing public in a video that rivals the Bradley Shuffle in terms of ear-stabbing music and goofiness.
By the way, Barham's wearing the Vandy shirt, so can't someone get him some Saluki Maroon? How about some for AAU teammate Casey Prather, who has an offer on the table from SIU according to Rivals.com. Without committing a recruiting violation, of course.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is the last time anyone sees Barham dancing once Chris Lowery gets ahold of him. So I guess I'll give the kid some airtime while he can get it.
Been taking a break lately as work has become busy but expect some more MLB previews coming next week. I'm planning a spring training trip the first weekend of March to Tempe, Ariz.
The Bradley Braves (10-6, 4-1) currently are in a three-way tie with Drake and Northern Iowa and lead the Missouri Valley Conference apparently are not shy about boasting their confidence. To show said confidence, the Braves have remixed one of the hottest songs in America today, The Super Bowl Shuffle.
(Picks up daily paper. Reads January 13, 2009 on front page. Goes back to blog.)
There's just so much that is wrong with this video that the hip-hop fan in me wants to slash through. Lack of originality. Remixing a song none of you were probably around for. More shirtless men than women in the video, which something Vince Young, Brady Quinn or Eddie Curry might be interested in. But not me.
I can't even give a half kudos to the Braves who channeled their inner '85 Bears by not only covering their Grammy Award winning hit, but by also doing so during the season. Why? Because I don't think they're that good.
However, it's tough to give Bradley any credit for doing this, especially after laying an egg in its 73-64 loss at home to Creighton. Sure, they beat Illinois State to end their undefeated season, but in my world of six degrees of college hoops, who have the Redbirds beat of importance?
And while this video might serve as a motivating tool for the Braves to get it done like the Bears did 23 years ago, I'm not sure the rest of the Valley is amused one bit.
In fact, if I were a MVC coach I would play this video for my team if only just to aggravate them by forcing them to hear a putrid hip-hop effort generally saved for the likes of Soulja Boy.
Forward Zach Randolph was the most dominant player on the court in the match-up between the Los Angeles Clippers and Indiana Pacers. Randolph scored 34 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the Clippers' 117-109 double overtime victory. After the game, Randolph spoke with the media (including us, of course) about his performance and other things.
Los Angeles Clippers rookie guard Eric Gordon, who starred at Indiana University last season, speaks to the media after a homecoming, of sorts, for the former Mr. Basketball of Indiana. Gordon scored 15 points, including a 3-point field goal with 1:53 remaining in the second overtime which proved to be the dagger in the Clippers' 117-109 double-overtime victory.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, because of the outcome) I was unable to watch the entire Bears/Falcons game yesterday.
See, when you go to school in a college town 333 miles south of downtown Chicago, your cable provide pipes in the feed from southeast Missouri.
Needless to say, fans of a football team north of Illinois' Mason-Dixon line aren't pleased.
Anyway, since that is the case, I (and several of my newsroom buddies) were treated to Jason Elam kicking Bears fans in the collective groins with a 48-yard game-winning field goal.
Don't get me wrong, Lovie Smith still gets a lot of my wrath because of the squib kick, not being able to score from one yard out and for keeping Ron Turner employed. However, he gets a little less blame this afternoon.
"There appears to be a buzz amongst some Bears fans regarding the closing seconds in Sunday’s 22-20 loss to Atlanta. When Matt Ryan drops back to pass what would be a 26-yard completion to Michael Jenkins, there are six seconds remaining in the game. The only problem is the clock doesn’t start ticking until after Ryan is nearly fully set in his stance. And it’s a seven-step drop.
Considering Jenkins is ruled out of bounds with one second left, the implications of a late-starting clock are obviously HUGE. In this case, one second is the difference between winning and losing. But then again, it probably never should have been this close in the first place."
As much as I want to point that out as a reason the Bears lost, there are other reasons.
Bad offensive playcalling.
Bad defensive playcallling.
Bad special teams playcalling.
These all fall on the head coach. And Lovie's good, but sometimes I think there's a better option.
Lilly Robbins is exhibit A, B, C...on why the Chicago Bears should bring back the Honey Bears...or at least a cheerleading squad of equal or greater hotness than Robbins. Now I know why the Dolphins struggle, it's hard to concentrate with hotties like that on the sidelines.
Girls like her make me wish I could be a badass quarterback. I guess I'll settle for writing about 'em.
Today's shameless self cross-promotion: 'SIU stares down new competition' covers the freshly minted Missouri Valley Football Conference and a pair of new schools who are already in the Top 25.
On with the Dosage.
Sox slappin' around the M's. The Chicago White Sox's dominance over the Seattle Mariners continued Wednesday with a 15-3 whoopin' of the Mariners.
Former Mariner great Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 609th career-homer, tying him for fifth place on the all-time home run list with former Cub icon Sammy Sosa. If not for Griff's injuries, all sustained by playing hard, Junior would likely be pissin' all over the record books. Instead, he'll just go in as the Greatest Non-Steroid Using Baseball Player of this era.
Alexei Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski and Nick Swisher also homered for the Sox.
Cincy squeaks past the Cubs. Bronson Arroyo issued five walks and lived to tell about it. That's because he limited the Cubs to three hits and used a pair of double plays to help lead the Reds to the 2-1 victory.
The Reds scored their two runs on a fielders choice by Jeff Keppinger and a sac fly by Jolbert Cabrera.
Not Miguel. Not Orlando. Jolbert. Hey, you can't win 'em all, right?
Lilly struck out seven batters in seven innings of work as he moved to 0-3 against the Reds in 2008.
Quality Linkage:
Peter King is mad at Jets fans for not showing up to a preseason game [SI.com] Does PK know not everyone has an unhealthy man crush on BrettFavre?
Speaking of crushes: the competition for Erin Andrew's affection heats up [Everything Erin Andrews]
It's not fun to cheer against the Yankees anymore. [Epic Carnival] I disagree.
It's been a while since I dropped a hip-hop reference on this site, but today I found it necessary.
After a very highly publicized benching, Tampa Bay Rays center fielder B.J. Upton came out swinging Sunday against the Texas Rangers going 3-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBI.
But lolly gagging on the base paths (again!) must have manager Joe Maddon up in arms.
The box score will show Upton was tagged out as he tried to stretch a single into a double, but sometimes you must go beyond the box score. Upton was tagged out by LA Angels first baseman Mark Teixeira before reaching second base. If you rewind the tape further, you'll notice that Upton doesn't hustle out of the box after making contact. If he hustles out of the box, he's standing at second...instead, he's embarrassed again on the base paths.
This is an epidemic in the big leagues and I don't like it. Whether it's Manny in L.A., the Fonz on the North Side or B.J. the Ray, it sickens me to not see multi-millionaires not run out a double. What maddens me even more is when B.J. or Sori don't do it...these are guys with the speed to steal 30+ bases, but they can't hustle to second base on what should be a stand up double.
Gentlemen, do like Rick Ross and get your hustle on!
