NFL Draft Recap

By Bryan Jeon

Just to fill you in on the big names in case you had no idea the NFL Draft went on this past weekend, here are where some notable players went, with current starters in parenthesis:

1. JaMarcus Russell (Andrew Walter) – The LSU quarterback could have a ton of fun passing to a new Jerry Porter, Ronald Curry and Doug Gabriel.
4th round: Michael Bush (LaMont Jordan, Dominic Rhodes, Justin Fargas) – Even if the Louisville running back can bounce back nicely from a broken leg, he will have to compete for playing time in a very crowded backfield.
2. Calvin Johnson (Roy Williams, Mike Furrey) – Say it ain’t so, Joe. That’s right, the Detroit Lions selected yet another first round wide receiver. The Lions couldn’t resist on the most talented player in the draft yet the Georgia Tech wideout will have to begin his career in the slot position with Furrey coming off a 98-reception season and a new 3-year contract worth over $13 million.
2nd round: Drew Stanton (Jon Kitna) – The Michigan State quarterback will start out backing up Kitna.
3. Joe Thomas – The Wisconsin tackle who decided to go fishing rather than attend the Draft will be blocking for a newly acquired Jamal Lewis and possibly Brady Quinn.
22nd pick: Brady Quinn (Charlie Frye) – The Notre Dame All-American will contest Frye for the starting job.

7. Adrian Peterson (Chester Taylor) – Not so fast for the Oklahoma running back. Taylor is coming off a 1,200 yard season and Peterson, a broken collarbone. 9. Ted Ginn Jr. (Chris Chambers, Marty Booker) – Can you believe Ginn only ran three routes at Ohio State? He’s going to need to do a lot of work to accompany Chambers on the field, as the domination obviously won’t come as easy as it did in college. 2nd round: John Beck (Daunte Culpepper) – With Daunte seemingly done in Miami, the Dolphins are pressing hard to obtain the Kansas City Chiefs’ Trent Green. The 25-year-old quarterback from BYU could hope for playing time with the issues at the position. 10. Amobi Okoye – This 19-year-old prodigy from Louisville looks to play alongside 2006 1st overall pick, Mario Williams on an improving Texans team. 12. Marshawn Lynch (Anthony Thomas) – The Cal back can get a lot of work in quickly with the low competition in Buffalo. 32. Anthony Gonzalez (Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne) – The other Buckeye wideout should slide right into the slot role left vacant by the departure of Brandon Stokley. First, Troy Smith throwing to him. Now Peyton Manning? Good deal for Gonzalez. 2nd round: Dwayne Jarrett (Steve Smith, Keyshawn Johnson) – Jarrett gets united with fellow SC alum Johnson but otherwise will wait and develop before he starts receiving passes from Jake Delhomme. 2nd round: Ryan Kalil – The third Trojan selected in the 2nd round has been mentioned as possibly emerging as one of the best centers in the league. 2nd round: Steve Smith (Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer) – Smith can look to develop with the young Eli Manning. 3rd round: Garrett Wolfe (Cedric Benson) – The 5′7″, 186 lb. back averaged a leading 158.3 yards/game at Northern Illinois and could possibly take a few carries from Ced each game. 4th round: Antonio Pittman (Deuce McAllister, Reggie Bush) – The OSU running back finds himself in a crowded backfield that saw Bush have a successful rookie year that he’s going to build on. 5th round: Steve Breaston (Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Bryant Johnson) – The Michigan wideout finds himself trapped with playing time with some standout wide receivers on his team.   5th round: Justin Medlock (Lawrence Tynes) – The first of just three place kickers drafted and the only Bruin drafted, this UCLA stud has a sure foot. He can quickly kick Tynes on the street looking for a job. 5th round: Troy Smith (Steve McNair) – The Heisman winner will take a few lessons from Air McNair leading the Ravens offense. Hey, 5th round is better than not being drafted at all, which is what happened to Chris Leak despite leading the Florida Gators to the national championship.

Stat of the Day

72 – The number of consecutive victories Rafael Nadal has on clay after defeating Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-4 for his third straight Barcelona Open championship Sunday. He joins three others to win three times at Barcelona and ties Mats Wilander’s record of three straight championships. His current streak of 72 on clay dates back to April 2005 and crushes the previous men’s clay-court win streak of 53, set by Guillermo Vilas in 1977. In fact, Nadal has been so dominant that he has not even dropped a set on clay since top-ranked Roger Federer took one in the French Open final last year.

Pats Instant Super Bowl Favorites

By Bryan Jeon

There were plenty of moves outside of the draft, none bigger than a disgruntled Randy Moss heading to the New England Patriots to play alongside three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. Moss had two career-low years with the Oakland Raiders, totaling 102 catches for 1,558 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Patriots gave up a fourth-round pick in the weekend’s draft for Moss, and the Raiders subsequently picked cornerback John Bowie of Cincinnati. Moss will join Donte’ Stallworth to add major explosiveness to a weak receiving corps that lost in a nail-biter to the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championships last year.

The Raiders got a receiver back however, in Mike Williams, the Detroit Lions’ top pick in the 2005 draft. They also got veteran quarterback Josh McCown for a fourth-round pick, whom the Lions subsequently selected cornerback AJ Davis of North Carolina State. The Lions were comfortable in parting with the USC receiver who never panned out to the success expected of him with the addition of Calvin Johnson on Saturday and the success of Mike Furrey last season. As for the Raiders, McCown is to contest for the starting job with JaMarcus Russell, their first overall pick in this year’s draft.

The San Francisco 49ers finally landed veteran wideout Darrell Jackson from the Seattle Seahawks for a fourth-round draft pick, whom the Seahawks subsequently selected guard Mansfield Wrotto from Georgia Tech. Jackson had 63 receptions, 956 yards and 10 touchdowns last season but left as he felt crowded in a receiving corps that included Deion Branch, D.J. Hackett, Bobby Engram and Nate Burleson. Meanwhile, the division rival 49ers obtain a veteran number one wide receiver in Jackson to help out the corps of Arnaz Battle and Ashley Lelie.

Ultimately, the Raiders traded Moss for Williams and McCown; the 49ers got a solid, proven receiver that Alex Smith can now throw to to contest in the NFC West; and the Patriots will win Super Bowl XLII with a revived Moss. Goodnight.

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Image courtesy of AP Photo.

Lakers Now One Game Away From Elimination

By Bryan Jeon

Let me start off by saying that I am happy the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash came up just shy of the single-game playoff assist record with 23 assists – the record being shared by the Los Angeles Lakers’ Magic Johnson against the Suns in 1984 and the Utah Jazz’s John Stockton against the Lakers four years later.

With that being said, let me tell you how this game really broke down in the Suns’ 113-100 victory Sunday afternoon – stuff that you’ll never read in any major news article about this game.

• I have always hated Nash for his lack of ability to play defense when he gets so much credit for “being smart” in taking charges (as well as taking his sweet ass time at the free throw line). Oh, please. You couldn’t find a bigger flop in the game, and the only reason why Nash gets the calls is because of who he is. Just this game, I caught the guy-instead of putting his arms up under the basket for any attempt to play defense-cross his arms to get ready to flop a charge but didn’t because he felt the contact was too minimal for any dramatization that time.
• On that subject, add Leandro Barbosa to that list. The guy who I chose to be the Sixth Man of the Year and then marveled at in his Game 1 domination, I now hate because of the way he plays the game. Like Nash, he is undersized and thus feels the most effective way he can play defense is to take charges, which the refs forgivingly grant. But hey, if it works, why stop, right? On the offensive side, Barbosa has become predictible in driving to the hoop everytime and now is receiving phantom calls in his favor when he is simply out of control driving to the basket from his “blazing speed” half the time. But again, why stop what’s working?
• Kobe Bryant calls foul on every single play that doesn’t go his way, and believe it or not, he’s right almost all the time. It’s unfortunate that his constant whining makes every real foul cry wolf, as he certainly deserved to take more than 6 attempts from the free-throw line. Despite his all-around game of 31 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals and a block, his 6 turnovers were just too much for the Lakers to overcome and made too many mistakes against a running team that’ll make you pay with fast-break buckets.
• The Lakers bench stinks worse than Shaquille O’Neal’s drawers, with the only exception a perimeter-shooting Maurice Evans, who is otherwise pretty worthless when his shot’s not falling. Barbosa is single-handedly outscoring the entire Lakers bench, and that is not a pretty sight for any Lakers fan.
• Finally, it is worth mentioning two people who don’t even play – Suns coach Mike D’Antoni and referee Dan Crawford. D’Antoni is one of the coaches who complain the most, and his cherry red face when he screams is something you just want to smash the ball with. As for Crawford, what is he doing joking and exchanging ass-slaps with Nash mid-game? He gives calls the Suns’ way and seriously ruins the meaning of home-court advantage. He needs to call the game straight and stop nut-huggin’ the two-time MVP.

In the end, it was just too much Amare Stoudemire, who many believe to be the final piece of the puzzle for the Suns to win it all this year. He finished with a strong 27 points and a career playoff-high 21 rebounds, as he faced no competition in the paint on the way to too many uncontested dunks. The Lakers are going to need to play better defense than that if they want to survive any longer. Watching the Lakers really makes me empathize with their struggles and every “fuck” and “shit” that comes out of Kobe’s mouth. Oh by the way, I have Phoenix going all the way in my bracket.

The Suns now have a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is back in Phoenix on Wednesday at 7:30pm PST.

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Image courtesy of AP Photo.

Stat of the Day

22 – The overall pick Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn was selected in the 2007 NFL Draft, going to the Cleveland Browns, who acquired their second 1st round draft pick from the Dallas Cowboys – the Browns selected OT Joe Thomas with the third overall pick. Quinn, who was easily the biggest surprise of the draft in being dropped so far down, will contest Charlie Frye for the starting position from the getgo.

Bonds Homerun Tracker

Hank Aaron 755

Barry Bonds 742

Babe Ruth 714

San Francisco Giants (12-10) slugger Barry Bonds has opposing managers considering walking him early in the game again, as homerun number 742 was a two-run shot in the first inning. Unfortunately, thanks to Scott Hairston’s three-run pinch-hit homerun, the Arizona Diamondbacks (14-11) came back from a 4-0 hole for a 5-4 victory Saturday. It stopped a 17-game winning streak for the Giants when Bonds hits a homerun, as he is now just 13 shy of tying Hank Aaron’s all-time mark of 755. In the first inning, Bonds made Arizona manager Bob Melvin pay by pitching to him with first base open, launching a shot off Edgar Gonzalez (1-2) 417 feet to centerfield. Bonds finished 1 for 2 with 2 RBI and 2 walks.

For the season, Bonds is hitting .362 with 8 homeruns, 17 RBI and 19 walks.

Torre On the Hot Seat?

By Bryan Jeon

After an 11-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday, the New York Yankees (8-13) lost their seventh straight game. There are only two teams in the entire league worse than the Yankees right now. Not better, worse (the 7-16 Kansas City Royals and the 8-15 Washington Nationals). The Yankees are 0-4 against their longtime division rival this season-an extreme rarity-and the recurring story lately has been Alex Rodriguez’s hot start of 27 runs, 14 homeruns, 34 RBI and a .365 BA all going to waste with every loss.

They have given up at least six runs in each of their last eight games, and that’s something that even one of the best offenses in the league can’t overcome. You can place the excuses on the injury-plagued rotation, but explain to me why a supposedly healthy Mariano Rivera has given up nine earned runs in his last 2 2/3 innings pitched. The Yankees are the only team who have not recorded a single save this season; all other teams have at least three saves.

Yes, it’s still April, but the Yankees should have something to worry about. They sit last in the AL East, and they’re fully aware that the other teams have been doing a lot of revamping the last couple of years to be competitors in the division again. And who’s the easiest one to point the finger at? You guessed it. Manager Joe Torre.

Forget that he’s the longest-tenured manager under owner George Steinbrenner, taking over the managing role since 1995. Forget that he’s led them to the playoffs every single year. Forget that he’s led them to four championships. Forget all that. This is Torre’s last year on his contract, and you’ve got to believe Torre is in hot water to even finish out the year with the fickle fans of New York. With a major league-leading $195 million payroll (the Red Sox are second with $142 million), Steinbrenner has reason to be low on patience. What’s on his mind is that he hasn’t won the damn thing since the year 2000.

A quick recap of the activities in the past two years in the AL East is cause for concern. Teams are no longer afraid of throwing out the cash and realize it’s a necessity to grab the big players needed to compete:

• The Boston Red Sox (15-7) have been spending the most money to attempt to keep up with the team with seemingly infinite money, winning the biggest bid of the offseason, dishing out $103 million for six years on Daisuke Matsuzaka in addition to five-years, $70 million on J.D. Drew.
• The Toronto Blue Jays (11-11) two years ago acquired Troy Glaus to four-years, $45 million, A.J. Burnett to five-years, $55 million and Lyle Overbay to four-years, $24 million and Frank Thomas this year to two-years, $18 million.
• The Baltimore Orioles (11-12) spent $42 million on their bullpen alone this offseason, granting three-year deals to former closer Danyz Baez, Jamie Walker and submariner Chad Bradford. Two years ago, they snagged Kris Benson for 3-years, $22 million and this year, Jaret Wright for 3-years, $21 million.

Top AL Bullpens Record ERA Sv Red Sox 2-0 2.28 8 Blue Jays 2-4 2.86 7 Orioles (7) 4-3 3.66 6 Yankees (9) 4-6 4.13 0

Maybe this is the difference in the standings right now:

It’s evidential that the more the bullpen has needed to pitch, the more decisions they were going to record and the higher their ERA would be. To solve that though, is much easier said than done and Torre’s really going to have to pull one out of his ass this time to save his career in New York.

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Image courtesy of Getty Images.

Fukao’s Fantasy Fallout: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

By Jason Fukao

Who’s Hot

OF Sammy Sosa (Tex) – This week’s stats: 4 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 0 SB, 5 K, .381 BA

Slammin’ Sammy had a strong week reminiscent of his glory days from his time in a Chicago Cubs uniform. It seems as if he has rediscovered his stroke, reaching 7 homeruns on the year and hopefully, he can keep it up to provide some long-needed punch for that Rangers lineup.

SP Bartolo Colon (LAA) – This week’s stats: 14 IP, 2 W, 0 L, 12 K, 1.93 ERA, 0.86 WHIP

Colon posted a strong coming-out party with two strong starts. This past week suggests that he is past his injury problems that shut him down early last season.

Who’s Not

3B David Wright (NYM) – This week’s stats: 3 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, 6 K, .143 BA

Wright has only three hits in his last 21 at-bats. As a result, the Mets offense has suffered significantly, scoring a total of 10 runs in their last three games but more importantly, leaving 56 runners on base in those three games.

RP Mariano Rivera (NYY) – This week’s stats: 1.1 IP, 0 W, 0 L, 0 S, 3 K, 27.00 ERA, 3.75 WHIP

Rivera is still looking for his first save of the season. In his last appearance, the Yankees closer gave up 4 runs off three hits and a walk in only a third of an inning in a non-save situation against the Boston Red Sox. His ERA for the season currently stands at 12.15 with a WHIP of 1.95.

Stat of the Day

1 million – dollars Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling dared to bet anyone to scientifically test that the bloody sock he pitched with in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees, which is now in the Hall of Fame, does in fact, have real blood. The story has created a ton of controversy this past week when Baltimore Orioles play-by-play man Gary Thorne said on the air during the Orioles-Red Sox game that the sock was actually paint. Thorne took one right out of the Couch book in saying something so controversial. At least we don’t take back what we say.

To take you all back to that moment three years ago, Schilling had sutures stitched into his right ankle to hold an injured tendon in place so that he could pitch and repeated the procedure again in Game 2 of the World Series. Both times, what appeared to be blood seeped through Schilling’s sock, as the Red Sox became the first team in major league history to come back three games to none and win the series. They went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to win the championship with eight victories in a row.

Schilling has dared one million dollars to the charity of anyone’s choice versus the same amount to ALS – research to fight Lou Gehrig’s disease. Some millionaire just bet the guy so we could settle that the matter was paint. I mean, blood.

Sizemore’s Inside-the-Park HR Is Enough For Indians

By Bryan Jeon

It’s virtually impossible to predict an inside-the-park homerun. I’ve realized it’s rarely a ball hit in the corner that just takes the outfielder a long time to get to; rather, the outfielder usually falls in an attempt to catch the ball on the fly, leaving the ball rolling on the ground for several seconds before the neighboring outfielder can throw the ball back in the infield.

Such was the case Friday, as centerfielder Corey Patterson fell awkwardly after a seemingly possible catch at the warning track. The ball went off the wall and redirected towards leftfielder Jay Payton, who threw the ball in too late for the speedy Grady Sizemore.

The Cleveland Indians (13-7)  won their sixth straight game, edging out the Baltimore Orioles (11-12) 5-4, scoring all five runs in the sixth inning, capped by the 3-run inside-the-park homerun by Sizemore. The Orioles came right back to score three in the seventh to trail by just one but Joe Borowski would have none of it, recording his ninth save of the year (to tie the major league-lead with Francisco Cordero and Jose Valverde).

Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada played in his 1,103rd consecutive game, tying Joe Sewell for the sixth-longest streak in history.

Jake Westbrook (1-2), who signed a 3-year, $33 million contract extension on April 13, won for the first time this season, giving up 3 runs off six hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched. With a career 4.45 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, Westbrook lowered his season ERA to 7.96 with a 1.62 WHIP. How pathetic, what’s the reasoning behind granting a contract to an unproven pitcher? I guess I’ll never get it. 

Check out Sizemore’s game-winner here. Last year’s run-scoring leader is off to another solid start, with 22 runs (2nd in the American League behind Alex Rodriguez, who literally walks home half the time), 7 stolen bases (3rd in AL) and 19 walks (2nd in AL).