They all recorded six hits before they got their first single.

Damn, that Pizzaboy is good!

The first round of the 2005 MLB draft may go down as the best ever. It has already provided Justin Upton (1), Alex Gordon (2), Ryan Zimmerman (3), Ryan Braun (5), Troy Tulowitski (7), Jay Bruce (12), Jacoby Ellsbury (23), Joey Devine (27) and Clay Buchholz (1st round-supplemental). Others may soon join them.

Attaboy, pizzaboy. I thought you'd nail it.

I got an awesome Notre Dame Football Hat for about $2 yesterday...guess I'll have to start rooting for them now.

It says IRISH then football underneath it. 2 things I like

I saw on the ESPN scroll that Dontrelle Willis was sent down by the Tigers to their single A farm team.

How the mighty have fallen. I thought he would come in and light up the AL for the first half of the season. This guy was dominating just 5 short years ago.

*****************

The NBA will have a major black eye if this ends up being true:
Donaghy docs allege refs altered games, broke league rules

Dontrelle seems to have fallen the way of Prior and Wood. They're great when they first start but never live up to the potential. He hasn't been that great all season.

I wouldn't say Willis has been through what Prior & Wood experienced. The latter two had unlucky and continous injuries. I think Willis is getting fat and lazy. No major arm/elbow surgeries (I could be wrong about that).

I always thought that Willis has been overhyped throughout his career. He won 22 games in 2005 even though he was less effective in the second half of the season. He has been mediocre, at best, and sometimes painful to watch. His walks have gone up in the past few seasons, and his WHIP has been very bad.

I knew when the Marlins put him on the block, somebody was going to overpay for him.

i believe that once he straightens out his mechanics in the minors, he'll return to the staff as an average pitcher. He'll throw a gem now and then, but he'll just as likely get lit up as well.

My eldest son has started playing golf at school!

I never heard of kids playing golf at school before....

Times change eh?

I'm very excited for Father's Day. My wife & I are taking our two kids, ages 4 and 2, to their first ever MLB game. The Indians are playing San Diego. Not sure how much baseball we'll actually watch, but I am going to be smiling the entire time. There is just something undeniably right about a dad taking his kids to watch baseball.

Good for you Goombah!

Sounds great

Enjoy the day, goombah. I hope the Indians win big. It'll be a treat for the kids even if they lose interest in the game. There's plenty of entertainment in the ball park for them, plus there's a lot of ice cream, soda, hot dogs, souvenirs,etc, so the only one, who may not be happy, will be your wallet.

Taking your kids to the ball park on a Sunday afternoon is outstanding, and Jacob's Field is a great park.

I too will be watching baseball on Sunday. My 13 year old son has a game at 4pm about 20 minutes away. The field is next to a pizzeria that makes delicious brick oven pizza, so we may stop there afterwards.

US Open, a Father's day tradition!!

I'm in the minority rooting for Tiger, and not Phil. For some reason, Phil has always struck me as a phony.

I thought this was odd:

In games where they score exactly 5 runs this season, the Baltimore Orioles are 5-5. When they score exactly 6 runs, they are 9-0. In fact, when they score 6 or more runs in a game, they are 20-0.

I'm a Tiger guy too, but out of curiousity, what lead you to believe that we're in the minority?

Only because Phil's the hometown favorite this week. Torrey Pines is the course he grew up on.

The team with the worst record this season in 1 run games is the Atlanta Braves. The best record in these games belongs to the Brewers at 13-6.

If the Braves went .500 in their 1 run games, they'd be leading the NL East with a 39-27 record.

Cubs win! Cubs win!

Ooooooh

Get me one of those please LN?

Pretty,pretty please?

The Pittsburgh Pirates came into Baltimore for the first time since the 1979 World Series. I actually went to one of those games. I don't remember which one, but I know it wasn't the last game. Maybe the next to last. I sat next to an obnoxious Pirates fan. My big gulp size soda just "accidentally" made it's way to his lap. It's nice to do those things when you're a geeky 15 year old. Now the guy would probably punch me out.

The park relived the old "Orioles magic" theme. Back when the team was actually good.

O's remember 1979 Series with Pirates
Baltimore brings back Weaver, other stars for Inter league game
By Amanda Comak / MLB.com

BALTIMORE -- The lifers in baseball have waited a long time to see these two uniforms on opposite sides of the diamond again. The Pirates on one side, the Orioles on the other -- it's a matchup 29 years in the making.

And taking a glance at the field Friday night at Camden Yards surely would have brought many fans back to a cool October night in 1979.

It was Turn Back the Clock night in Baltimore, as the Bucs and O's met for the first time since Pittsburgh took the '79 World Series in seven games.

In honor of the celebration, the Orioles donned throwback jerseys and paid tribute to members of those 1979 teams on the field prior to the game. In attendance for the Orioles was former manager Earl Weaver, pitcher Scott McGregor and third baseman Doug DeCinces. The Pirates were represented by Grant Jackson, the Game 7 winning pitcher.

Weaver recalled the series as if it happened yesterday, describing specific plays, pitches and events with startling clarity. He also noted that even 29 years doesn't ease the pain of losing in Game 7.

"Yes, it does [still hurt]. I don't think there's any doubt about it," Weaver said. "I still don't see how things went wrong, not with the pitching I had to throw at 'em."

The 1979 season was the start of what fans in Baltimore fondly call "Orioles Magic," a term coined after DeCinces hit a game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on June 22 of that year. The homer sent the Memorial Stadium faithful into a frenzy and gave the Orioles a come-from-behind win over the Tigers, spurring their run to the World Series.

"I think what happened was the fans started sensing that we were good, but we were a team where the game was never over until it was over," DeCinces said. "It was just a special experience that night. I remember being at home plate and the fans were standing and clapping and anticipating me doing something.

"It was a great time in the city of Baltimore to be a fan. I remember them calling me back out onto the field, and the game was eight, maybe 10 minutes over, and I came back out and all these people were still there cheering. And the next night, we came back and we did it again, and from that point on, nobody was leaving the game in the seventh inning, because we always had a chance."

The magic simply ran out on the Orioles that season, as the offense went silent after taking a 3-1 series lead, and the Pirates countered in the final three games on the back of slugger Willie Stargell.

"All of a sudden, we just couldn't score any runs," DeCinces said. "Weather had a lot to do with it. They didn't score a lot of runs either, but Willie Stargell got extremely hot."

Stargell hit .400 in the series, smacking three homers and knocking in seven runs -- not to mention the effect the affectionately nicknamed "Pops" had in the clubhouse.

"We were down 3-1 [in the series] and Willie Stargell just said, 'Lets show them how the Pirates play baseball,'" Jackson said.

Looking at the Orioles nearly 30 years later, a lot has changed since the '79 season, and although time may not have eased the pain, it also hasn't tainted the memories.

"I get people all the time that come up to me and say, 'I was there,'" DeCinces said. "It was one of those experiences that, as a fan, you have forever."

I remember those games well, Beth. My brother is a huge Pirates fan and I love the Phillies. Those teams were the biggest NL East rivals of the era, and he and I battled each other every baseball season. I really admired that Pirate team, and was rooting for them, but couldn't let my brother know.

That was the
"We Are Family" Pirates. Manny Sanguillen was an over-the-hill bullpen catcher, who came out of the pen to deliver a game winning hit in one of the games (Maybe 6).

Tiger's 30 on the back 9 yesterday was one for the ages. I mean, a friggin 30, under U.S. Open conditions. The guy ain't human.

I'm just sayin . . .

He's without peers. I'm no golfer by any stretch, but his shot from the walkway onto the green was exceptional. He does with a golf club what daVinci did with a brush.

I was a young kid at the time, but I remember that series well. I was rooting for the Orioles and was surprised that they blew the 3-1 series lead. I remember my cousin, who was rooting for the Pirates, sitting on the steps watching with me, his dad, and my dad. He was too afraid to root for the Pirates in front of us, who were all pulling for the O's.

At least, Beth E., your team avenged that loss in 1983 with a WS championship. I have waiting for an Indians title beyond my lifetime, as they have been 60 years between titles now and seem hell-bent on making it 61 this year...

I just love this commercial.

http://raisethewflag.blogspot.com/2007/10/aquafina-commercial-featuring-lou.html

Me too. Throwing third base is the cherry on the Sundae.

Bud Lite (I think) had a similar spot where the manager appears to be arguing with the umpire, but is inviting him and his wife to his home for dinner.

Dunno if anyone else is watching the U.S. Open (golf), but today is the final round and Tiger Woods is due to tee off. He's currently leading the pack BUT he's been playing in terrible pain (due to recent knee surgery). Can this god-of-a-golfer hold on to win the tourney??

If he does (and I think he will), it will be his finest hour. I know that's saying a lot, considering his prior accomplishments, but come on . . Ten weeks off, serious knee pain and he still wins?

The best ever. Period. Sorry, Jack. You'll always be my golfing idol, but Tiger is Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan rolled into one.

I hope he does (win); there's nothing I'd rather see. I'm just fearful that his knee won't hold out.

I hope his first two shots aren't a foreboding of what is to come.

This is gonna sound extremely dumb, but as someone who knows nothing about golf, when a golfer hits a ball at a far distance how do they know where it lands?