Lot to cover

Before I start ranting on A-rod I want to bring your attention to something no one will because it seems to have gone by the wayside, but I was recetnley reminded of the worst baseball trade that has occurred in the last 5-10 years in the MLB. No it is not Kazmir for Zambrano as Scotty has not been all that wonderful in Tampa instead it was this deal that took place in 2005. The Rangers dealt Chris Young, Adrian Gonzalez and Termel Sledge to the San Diego Padres for Adam Eaton, Akinori Otsuka and Billy Killian. The Rangers made the deal claiming they needed good pitching at the time but if they had taken the time to put the numbers next to each other, they would have seen Young, at the time, was already a better pitcher and then to add in their best hitting prospect Gonzalez simply because they had Teixeira in front of him in the depth chart makes this trade even more absurd. Young is a future Cy Young award winner, and Gonzalez is crushing balls out of Petco that would make it seem like its easy to hit homers out of the Pads new stadium, and all Texas got was a pitcher who would get injured for the entire next season and is currently meddling in Philadelphia and a reliever, who would have made this trade a little less horrific if he did not just get replaced by Eric "lights out" Gagne who has been nothing like the pitcher he was just a few years back. With Young and Gonzalez, I woud have considered the Rangers a sleeper playoff team, but this deal set them back a good four years, and reminded everyone Kevin Towers is that good at being a GM, or maybe that Jon Daniels is that bad.


Now I am starting this blog by reminding everyone what a prick Alex Rodriguez is. It is bad enough that he swats balls out of pitchers hands, or that he slides directly into second base-man sticking his arms out to make contact with the fielder, and it is bad that he thinks it is a smart baseball play by pretending to be John MacDonald by calling for the ball while running the base-paths, yet there are those fans who will say "well it is good to see he is doing whatever it takes to win the game for his team," and I am not going to deny that. It could be taken as Rodriguez wants to win that badly, and while I do not question his desire, what I do question is the way he conducts these horribly unsportsmanlike plays. Nothing made me angrier last night then when the YES camera crew got that shot of A-rod smirking as the whole stadium showered him with boo's and A-rod sucks chants. He relished in it all, and did not respond to yelling by both the Blue Jays shortstop Macdonald and manager John Gibbons. Rodriguez stood on third base and smikred in a way that made it so evident that he loved angerging the fans and the opposing team. Was it a smart baseball play, probably, but was it a dick move from an even bigger dick, absolutely. Way to go prick, and I will wait with much anticipation for July 16th, when the Blue Jays come to New York and plunk Rodriguez, because they will not forget about this.

As for his scandalous off-field activities, there have been so many websites and paparazzi-driven magazines claiming they have inside sources that Rodriguez is the king of strip clubs. Basically they are intervieiwing strippers who have seen him in their club or presumably seen him and it is all even worse for the New York Post because, while I am sure their photographer got a huge raise, their paper looks worse then those Us and Star magazines they sell while I am paying for my groceries. Just bad journalism, and if a player brings his A-game on the field, I do not care what he does off it, as long as it is legal.

And as I have said many times before, another thing getting no media attention is he took her to a different hotel then where the team is staying meaning either Rodriguez felt the need to be separated from his team for safety or he chose to stay at a different place then the rest of his team and I am just wondering with Clemens leaving for four of every fifth day and rodriguez staying in different hotels, who enjoys actually being around guys like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon among others. What did these guys do that makes Clemens and Rodriguez not want to be a part of the team. All I can say is that is one really intricate clubhouse.

As for my team, the Mets took Wednesday off, but they should be reporting for work Thursday against an up and coming superstar in Matt Cain.

NBA Playoffs are about to get extremely boring when Detorit wins game five in the Palace and closes the door on Lebron in game six. I will take Chauncey and Hamilton over Gibson and Hughes when the game is on the line.

NHL Playoffs- It is so sad Versus ruins these Stanley Cups now because no one saw what was another superb hockey game. The excitement of these NHL playoffs are second to none, and yet no one cares and its sad because as an avid hockey fan I miss the days when hockey games meant something. I am glad NBC has picked up games 3-7 meaning the Stanley Cup will be raised by the Ducks on national TV, but this league has a long way to go before being considered a top tier sport with baseball, basketball and football.

Tennis- Clay Courts 1- U.S. Men 0, pathetic, but it is not our surface and would you be legitmately shocked if Federer and Nadal did not reach the finals because I would.

Oter MLB news- I was never on the Brewers bandwagon and would like to take this time to remind people that with one legitmate power hitter and a J.J. Hardy who is hitting out of this world, I do not see this team holding up, especially because Chris Capuano looks hittable, Sheets looks only sub-par and it is Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush. I will take Zambrano, Hill, Lilly and Marquis every day of the week thank you and pair that with Lee, Ramirez, Barrett, Soriano and you have a team, now if only Ryan Dempster could close.

- I think it is pathetic Torre has zero cahones and is protecting Clemens by not throwing him against the Sawx this weekend in Fenway. What it says is what we are all starting to realize and that is Torre views Clemens as his fourth best pitcher right now because he is unwilling to move either Pettite, Wang or Mussina (the three scheduled pitchers for the series) back a day or two. Furthermore Clemens knows this too because he has notoriously avoided Fenway since his 15-1 loss their in the 99 plaoffs as well as avoiding Shea in his career. If he wanted the ball and told Torre, "hey Joe I need the ball this weekend," he would have the ball, which says to me Clemens is not confident he could beat Boston. Ladies and Gentleman your 2007 New York Yankees.

- Want to hand out my all under-rated awards for this year:

C- Russell Martin (4 HR 36 RBI .303 AVG 32R 53H 8SB)
He is right up there with Posada and Victor but because he has 3-4 less home-runs he is flying under the radar to everyone east of Las Vegas. A great hitter, with good speed and the power will come

honorable mention (Kenji Jojhima)

1b- Justin Morneau (16HR 44 RBI .294 AVG 39R 58H 0SB)
Having an MVP like season after not deserving it last year, second in home runs to Fielder and should be right there with Guerrero and Rodriguez for midway MVP candidate

honorable mention (Carlos Pena)

2b- B.J. Upton (8HR 29 RBI .325 AVG 30R 55H 10SB)
He has done it all for the Rays who have so much young talent but between Dukes, Young and Upton, BJ has the most potential in my mind

honorable mention (Aaron Hill)

3b- Mike Lowell (10HR 41 RBI .330 AVG 28R 61H 2SB)
He has reinvented himself in Fenway and while last year he was a doubles machine he has extended his power to leaving the ballpark. While power was supposed to be a glaring weaknees for this Red Sox team at 1st and 3rd, both Lowell and Youk have combined for 18 dingers and 71 runs batted in.

honorable mention (Mark Reynolds in limited action)

SS- Johnny Peralta (10HR 33RBI .287 AVG 30R 52H 2SB)
You hear so much about the 5 or 6 grea NL SS and Jeter in the american league, but after an off year last seaosn, many people wrote off Peralta as a one-hit wonder, but check again and you will see the making of a top flight middle infielder with some pop in his bat

honorable mention (Carlos Guillen)

OF's- Alexis Rios, Eric Byrnes and Jeff Francouer
All three of these guys make the list for different reasons. Rios had a great seaosn last year and is having an even btter one this year mashing 12 homers out of the leadoff spot for the Blue Jays. Just like Rios, Byrnes has been asked to lead off quite a bit for the Diamond backs and he has performed well with 8 long balls and a + .300 avg as well. Francouer has been labeled a free swinger, and while he has not shedded that title, he has been free swinging to the beat of 7 homers 38 rbi's a .292 avg and the most 2 out-rbi's in the league, meaning he can hit in the clutch because he swings so well.

honorable mention (Mike Cuddyer, Aaron Rowand and Curits Granderson)

SP- Tom Gorzelanny (6-3 2.39 ERA 1.26 WHIP 43K)
the hard throwing south paw has established himself as the best young pitcher in the Pirates staff and has made his mark early for a team that has been rebuilding for years. He is the type of pitcher to build around.

honorable mention (John Lackey)

RP- Jeremy Accardo (5 SV 1.16 ERA .90 WHIP 24K 6BB)
I saw this guy throw two years ago as a member of the Giants and fellin love with his stuff. Then last year he was the man traded to Toronto for Shea Hillenbrand who had irked the Blue Jays organization, but I followed his career all the way until BJ Ryan got hurt and I assumed he would be the one to pick up the pieces, but he is a closer who should make J.P. Riccardi wilt at the fact he made Ryan the highest paid closer in baseball

honorable mention ("the Norfolk Express" Heath Bell, now of the San Diego Padres)