A couple of oddbaseball notes:

Days before the Blue Jays released him, Frank Thomas had broken the record for most career plate appearances without laying down a sacrifice hit (Sac flies are a separate stat). He surpassed Harmon Killebrew. This record may be broken by Carlos Delgado in 2-3 seasons, and may then be broken a few years later by Vladimir Guerrerro.

Last night Jason Giambi hit a single. It was only his second of the season. He is the holder of the dubious (and perhaps meaningless) distinction of having the most plate appearances by a position player to start a season before recording his second single of the year.

The Cubs beat the Rockies 7-6 last night, but ended a streak of winning four consecutive games by 6 runs or more. When was the last time they had done this? Well, never before. They had, however, a more impressive stretch in June, 1930 where they had beaten Pittsburgh 16-4, and then put a licking on the Boston Braves 15-2 and 18-10 before sweeping the three game series by a score of 10-7. In their next game, the Cubs beat Brooklyn, 13-0.

Courtesy of baseball-reference.com

And Brooklyn went on to beat them 12-9 and 6-0 in the following and ending game of the series. The Cubs had some awesome hitters playing for them then. Led by Hack Wilson (batted .356 with 56 hr's and 191 rbi's) and Gabby Hartnett (.339, 37 hr's and 122 rbi's) they finished in 2nd place.

I THINK I read that the Cubs just won their 10,000th game.

(Great trivia, as usual, klydon).

I don't get why people are saying Chris Long doesn't have much upside (heard that about Peyton Manning pre-draft too) but I think this is as safe of a pick as it gets.

By any chance did you get to go to any of those games in Brooklyn, SC?

That 1930 season had to be one of the greatest ever. I had forgotten that was the year Hack Wilson knocked in 191 runs. Growing up, I always knew that record to be 190 rbis, but baseball historians verified in the 1990s that Wilson was not properly credited with an rbi in a particular game, and so it was added to give him 191.

That year the Cardinals won the NL with a team BA of .314 and every starter batting over .300, and they were beaten by the Philadelphia A'sin the Series as that team had Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons and Lefty Grove.

Yes, the Cubs won their 10,000th, but we Phillies fans know that we beat them to the 10,000mark last year. We only did it in "losses."

Wow, the Giants demoted Barry Zito to the bullpen. I really can't believe what a flop he's been so far in the NL after only more than a season under his belt.

He was a flop last year, too.

I think they put him in the bullpen to spare him the indignity of losing thirty games. He's been shelled since moving to SF. The worst part is that they owe him many millions of dollars over several years, so they can't really unload him easily.

Does anyone remember when Roger Clemens' biggest concern was about steroid and HGH involvement?

Ooooh, ooooh, oooooh.... I do!! [/Horshack imitation]

HENDRY VIII!

(It might happen, ya know.)

I see the Mavericks fired Avery Johnson. I'm kind of surprised by that. I know the Mavs should have won the '06 Finals and the past two years have lost in the first round of the playoffs but is it really all Avery's fault? I wonder if Mike D'Antoni will be next? If he is it'll be a shame. The Spurs just have the Suns number like the Patriots had the Colts for so many years.

So now with Avery available, I wouldn't mind seeing him coach the Knicks instead of the rumored favorite former Knicks point guard Mark Jackson. Anybody agree or disagree?

I don't follow the NBA closely, but I thought Johnson was one of the best coaches in the league. Dumping him certainly doesn't guarantee success in the future.

Another NBA coach, who is overlooked and not given his just due, is Maurice Cheeks.

He's doing quite well with Philadelphia winning 2 out of the first 5 games against the Pistons. I bet nobody had this series going 6. But you're right, he doesn't receive enough credit

I was surprised that the death of Buzzie Bavasi got such little coverage from the press. He was one of the greatest GMs in baseball history, a real visionary, who was a big part of the glory years for the Dodgers.

I didn't even hear he died, Klyd. He was certainly a very storied GM. Back in the 80's, when I briefly lived up in Scarsdale, his son Bill was my neighbor. Nice guy.

Bill is now the GM of the Mariners after serving as the Angels' GM in the 90s.

Avery Johnson was the scapegoat. The guy's winning percentage was above .700! In the end, he'll be glad he's out of there b/c Cuban mortgaged the team's future to get Jason Kidd (players and two #1 draft picks). The team is old and is built around Nowitski, who some think can never get the team over the hump.

Baseball Trivia

There are two members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, who were drafted in Rounds 20 or greater in their respective Amateur Draft. One went in Round 20 and the other in Round 21 (different years). Who are they?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Indianapolis Colts star receiver Marvin Harrison was interviewed by police about a North Philadelphia shooting this week.

Lt. Frank Vanore said the investigation of the shooting outside a bar Tuesday was continuing. Harrison has not been arrested or charged.

``He was interviewed,'' Vanore said Friday. ``Why he was interviewed, that is all part of the investigation. No one is a suspect.''

Radio station WIP, citing unidentified sources, reported the alleged shooting victim argued with Harrison at Playmakers bar. The victim left and headed to his car, Harrison followed and gunfire broke out, the station reported. The alleged victim was shot in the hand and did not identify the shooter, according to the radio station.

After the first day of their rookie minicamp, Colts coach Tony Dungy said he knew little more than had been reported.

``My phone has been ringing, too, but I don't have any details,'' Dungy said. ``I really don't have any more information than you do.''

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is aware of the report and is ``looking into it.'' Harrison's agent, Tom Condon, did not immediately return a call.

A source told WIP that ballistic tests showed the shots were fired from a custom-made Belgian weapon, and police determined Harrison owns that kind of gun.

Police went to a Philadelphia car wash owned by Harrison and questioned him about the gun, the station said. Harrison acknowledged owning such a weapon, but told officials it never left his suburban Philadelphia home, the radio station reported.

The source told the station a gun was discovered in a bucket at the car wash, and tests showed it had fired bullets that matched those at the scene.

Report: Kobe earns first MVP

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant has won the NBA's MVP award for the first time, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Friday night, citing anonymous sources familiar with the outcome of voting by media members.

The newspaper reported that commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant.

"We have not been told anything by the league," Lakers spokesman John Black told The Associated Press.

Bryant, who entered the season as the league's two-time defending scoring champion, was third in the MVP voting twice -- after the 2002-03 campaign, when he averaged 30 points for the first time, and again last season, when Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki won the award.

Bryant averaged 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals while playing in all 82 games despite tearing a ligament in his right pinkie finger in February. A hand specialist recommended surgery, but Bryant decided to put it off until after the Olympics this summer.

He led the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference and a sweep of Denver in the first round of the playoffs.

Bryant, second in the NBA in scoring behind Cleveland's LeBron James, will be the first Lakers player to win the MVP award since Shaquille O'Neal was a near-unanimous choice in 2000. Other previous Lakers to win the award dating to 1956, when it was first presented, were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, who each won it three times. Abdul-Jabbar also won three with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Source: ESPN

What the heck? Doesn't sound like Marvin Harrison at all...



This article tells a bit of a different story. I think ESPN put a slant on their article to make it more "interesting"

One of the horses at the Kentucky Derby went down. Was SC there?

Went down or broke down?? (there's a big difference).

I didn't see it.

I don't know the exact injury but he had to be euthanized after the derby.

Here's the story.

Is that really the story writer's name??

Filly Eight Belles breaks down after 2nd-place Derby finish
RAC.Kentucky.Derby.Eight.Belles

Track personnel try to hold down Eight Belles after the 134th Kentucky Derby...
By BETH HARRIS, AP
22 minutes ago

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The filly Eight Belles finished second behind favorite Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, then collapsed with two broken front ankles and was euthanized after crossing the wire.

The field of 20 horses was galloping out around the first turn at Churchill Downs when Eight Belles suddenly went down on both front legs and jockey Gabriel Saez slid off.

"When we passed the wire I stood up," said Saez, a first-time Derby rider. "She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That's when she went down."

An equine ambulance reached her near the second turn and tended to the filly.

"There was no possible way to save her," on-call veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage said. "She broke both front ankles. That's a bad injury."

Trainer Larry Jones and owner Rick Porter decided to run Eight Belles against the boys in America's greatest race despite her never having done so before. She brought in solid credentials with a four-race winning streak and then ran gallantly.

The dark gray filly also was entered in Friday's Kentucky Oaks for fillies. Jones, however, won that race with Proud Spell and set himself up to pull off the double.

Eight Belles was the first filly since 1999 to run in the Derby; the last to win was Winning Colors in 1988. She didn't press 2-1 favorite Big Brown down the stretch, and he drew away to a 4 3/4-length victory.

Still, Eight Belles was a sentimental pick by 157,770 fans, second-largest crowd in Derby history. She even had the support of Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton. Eight Belles repaid their faith by returning $10.60 and $6.40.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux and Big Brown galloped by Eight Belles in her waning moments.

"This horse showed you his heart and Eight Belles showed you her life for our enjoyment today," he said. "I'm deeply sympathetic to that team for their loss."

At first, Jones didn't realize anything was wrong until he began walking back to the stable area and saw Saez aboard another horse.

"There was no way to save her," a visibly upset Jones said. "She couldn't stand."

Bramlage said the fracture in Eight Belles' left front ankle opened the skin, allowing contamination to set in. At least one of her sesamoid bones was broken, too.

"She didn't have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and hauled off in the ambulance, so she was immediately euthanized," he said. "In my years in racing, I have never seen this happen at the end of the race or during the race."

Eight Belles appeared to be galloping out normally around the first turn and was headed into the start of the backstretch when she dropped without warning. The crowd was busy high-fiving and celebrating and because of the distance from the grandstand, many didn't realize tragedy had struck.

"Everyone breathed a big sigh of relief that everyone came around the track cleanly and then all of a sudden it happened," Bramlage said.

"Horses really tire. They are taking a lot of load on their skeleton because their muscles are fatigued. The difficult thing to explain with her is it's so far after the wire, and she was easing down like you'd like to see a horse slow down by that point. I don't have an explanation for it."

Poor thing. What a shame to have to kill such a beautiful creature.

That is really sad.

Clemens fesses up to "making mistakes". Why only come half clean. Spit it all out now and be done with it.

http://www.comcast.net/sports/articles/mlb/2008/05/05/20080505144058180000101/

Funny how when Clemens was initially outed as a steroid user, he swore up and down that baseball and his family mean more than anything in the world to him.

Well, he cheated on both counts.

What a creep.

It was just a year ago when it was announced at Yankee Stadium in the middle of a game that Clemens had just announced that he was returning to the Yankees, and the stadium went wild for several minutes.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.