Sunday
How!? How!? How!?
Down five runs, Ryan Free gets picked off. I have NEVER seen a team get picked off as many times as the Reds. It's staggering.
***
Things heard
Hal McCoy, of the Dayton Daily New, reports Duane Shaffer, Mariners Special Assistant to the Executive VP, Player Personnel, is at Shea Stadium. He is there for the sole purpose of watching Ken Griffey Jr.
Marty to Hal, during 2nd inning on WLW: "Do you think they'd trade Jr before he hit #600?
Hal: "Yes, the organization doesn't seem to be making a bid deal out of it anyway"
***
Riddle me this Batman
IF Jay Bruce is the RF of the future...then why has he only started 8 games in RF?
Bruce starts this year:
CF 17
RF 8
LF 5
**
One girl wins team state title in track
ESPN
Richardson was the only Rochelle athlete to qualify for the state meet and stunningly won the team title. University Interscholastic League officials said it was the first time they can remember a single athlete winning a girls' team title.
***
Lorenzen shocked by Woodson pick
Lexington Herald Leader
"This is for a job," Lorenzen said. "This is your livelihood. At Kentucky, I knew if I lost the quarterback job, I had a chance to win it back. But this is all about your career, your future, and taking care of your family."
***
Big night for Bruce, really bad night for Bailey
Louisville Courier Journal
Lost in the hitting heroics for the Bats was starting pitcher Bailey's worst game in two seasons playing Triple-A. He allowed six earned runs, which tied the number he allowed against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 12, 2007.
***
Kelch gets the call to Reds radio booth
Louisville Courier Journal
"It's very emotional because I've done this for 25 years in the minor leagues and done a handful of major league games," Kelch said. "As many years as I've done it, I still have the vision of working full time in the big leagues. I look at it as an opportunity to show them that I'm good enough to do it."
***
Clones win again!
CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Cyclones exploded for four third period goals, to
erase a three goal lead and force overtime against South Carolina Saturday
night. Thomas Beauregard's goal 4:52 into the extra session gave the Cyclones a
5-4 win. The triumph was the first three-goal come-from-behind win in the two
seasons that Chuck Weber has been Cincinnati's coach.
Beauregard re-directed a Barret Ehgoetz feed from behind the net for his eighth
goal and league-leading fourth game winning goal to end the game.
The win gives the Cyclones a two games to none lead over South Carolina in the
best of seven American Conference championship. The winner of this series will
advance to the Kelly Cup Finals which will begin Memorial Day weekend. It is
the eleventh time in the Kelly Cup playoffs that a team jumped to a 2-0 edge won
the series in nine of the previous
A crowd of 4853 watched the contest at U.S. Bank Arena -the second-largest
playoff crowd in Cyclones history, behind Friday night's throng. The weekend had
10,063 fans checking out Cincinnati postseason hockey.
The third game will be Wednesday night at South Carolina
Saturday
Credibility check
We will see how much this organization wants to win by what they do with Matt Belisle and Corey Patterson. Neither helps this team...at all. Dusty wanted Corey. Bob told Wayne to make it happen. Patterson is a disaster. They made a 3-million dollar mistake. Time to eat the contract. Belisle has used up all nine lives. No team, serious about competing, sends him out every 5th day. Walt's move.
***
For Griffey, the road not taken
NY Times
Given Griffey's head start, should this be regarded as the baseball equivalent of Secretariat's tripping on his final furlong? Perhaps not. Baseball players are human beings, and they cannot often be counted on to maintain the same pace once they enter their 30s, and the ravages of tens of thousands of innings played begin to take their toll.
***
Nice story on Haruki
Baltimore Sun
(Getty Images)
"When I watched him play, he was always moving, always in motion, always getting in the film," Carrier said. "I've always told our guys: 'Don't be last getting on the film.' He plays with a sense of urgency. I just love watching the kid play."
***
Thanks again
Thanks for taking topics and running with them this past week. A couple of the topics weren't planned...just things mentioned that you jumped in on...even better. It's a nice change of pace from Reds and Bengals.
1. DangerousGolfer.com.....the website for bad and dangerous golfers. I'm still getting stories about your play and your shots.
2. The Ice Cream Dipper: Kelly's $12, warm to the touch, dipper seems to be the topic you took home for discussion
3. Cool, odd, bizzare nicknames...and how they came about.
4. Vision Quest: Remembering an underrated movie. My movie store in Independence didn't have it Friday night.
5. Wimp: A-Rod's wife called him a wimp for passing out in the delivery room. You had some great stories of being a wimp yourself at times.
6. Greatest single day athletic accomplishments
Keep the ideas coming.
***
Clones win in front of record crowd
The Cincinnati Cyclones turned a four goal second period into the springboard for a 6-2 win over the South Carolina Stingrays Friday night at U.S. Bank Arena. David Desharnais had two goals and two assists and Matt Macdonald had a goal and two assists to pace the offense. Cedrick Desjardins stopped 25 shots to register the victory. A club record crowd of 5210 was on hand to cheer the home team to its third straight postseason victory.
The win gives Cincinnati one game to none lead in the best of seven series for the American Conference championship. The winner of this series will advance to the Kelly Cup Finals which will begin Memorial Day weekend.
Game two of the series is at U.S. Bank Arena on Saturday night at 7:30pm. Tickets will be available at the door. Hot dogs are the specialty item of the night and fans can purchase them for just one dollar each all night.
Friday
Live and learn: This is not Matt Dillon.
Michael Schoeffling was Jake Ryan in 16 Candles and "Kuch" in Vision Quest.
23 years later I learned that on Friday.
****
Blind bowler scores perfect game
"I can't see the lane or the pins and have a heck of a time finding my ball sometimes," Davis told The Times.
***
Potential MLB free agents after this season
***
Here it is....
The $12 Ice Cream Dipper Kelly purchased at a Pampered Chef gathering
***
Most Reds near expiration date
John Fay, Enquirer
"It's something we've discussed in the overall picture," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. "We have to determine what makes the most sense. Do we try to resign them, trade them or let them go and get draft picks?"
***
Reds news
The Reds today placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Tuesday, LHP Kent Mercker (lower back pain) and recalled from Class AAA Louisville LHP Bill Bray (#45)...will be Bray's second stint with the Reds this season...from 4/28-5/4 he didn't allow a run in 4 apps for Cin...overall at Louisville Bray went 0-0, 3.00 with 1 save in 9 relief apps (9ip, 6h, 3er, 5bb, 15k, 1hr).
****
Websites for teams/schools with cool, strange, bizarre nicknames
High School
Yuma Criminals
Jordan Beetdiggers
Hoopeston Cornjerkers
College
UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs
Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys
Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes
Minor Leagues
Montgomery Biscuits
Batavia Muckdogs
***
Show preview
Guests
Leon Hall, Bengals CB
Topics
Reds
Cyclones: Home playoff game. Going? Tell the city why they should.
Nickname It: What is a Hoya? How about a Billiken? A look at team nicknames. What are the best team nicknames? Do you know the history of a team's nickname? Plus the best squad/unit nicknames. We will save player nicknames for another day.
Image Makeover: Athletes that took the PR hit and overcame them....anyone do it better than Kobe?
Vision Quest: I heard Madonna's Crazy For You yesterday...made me think of one of the best, most underrated movies ever. Great scene, great scene , opening credits What a soundtrack.
****
I'm wired
Dang...C. Trent was right...HBO's The Wire is very good. We are headed to episode 11 of 13. Love the character development. Can't wait for season 2.
***
Catching nostalgia
Bengals.com
The man who once dared Paul Brown's iron fist has moved on to much more dangerous heights. While treating his granddaughters to Dunkin' Donuts after their soccer games, Trumpy lets them have the right side of the menu even though their mother says, "No."
***
Classic Charles Barkley
TNT
Charles will read anything you put in front of him
***
Alexander meets with Saints, Henry would like to
Times Picayune
It's unclear how serious the interest is from either side. Alexander, who was released by the Seahawks last month, has just started to test the market. He visited Cincinnati on Sunday and Monday before flying to New Orleans.
***
Best reason to watch Red Sox baseball
NESN
***
Maxim Hometown Hottie
Careful opening at work
****
Here's the list!
We did this topic a couple of weeks ago...The Esquire Magazine 75 Skills Every Man Should Master
**
Depressing thought of the day
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb moved to 8-0 with a win yesterday. The Ashland/UK product was drafted by Arizona with the 249th pick overall, in the 8th round of the 2000 draft. The Reds first three selections that year were:
23rd pick David Espinosa
34th pick Dustin Moseley
46th pick Dane Sardinha
The Reds made 10 selections prior to Arizona selecting Webb.
***
You go Jeter...Yanks SS has dated 6 of Top 100
Newsday
Derek Jeter is known as a player in every sense of the word, and Maxim's upcoming Hot 100 list reflects that sentiment.
***
Youkilis has deep impact
Boston Herald
You can call Kevin Youkilis a good hitter. You can call him a good defensive first baseman. You can call him a good guy for all that charity work he does in and around Boston.
Call him a die-hard Bengals fan. Call him "Youk!" If you're one of his old college buddies and you need tickets for the next Red Sox -Yankees game, call him on his cell phone. Just don't call him a home run hitter.
***
11 undeniable reasons to go see Clones tonight
Paul Daugherty, Enquirer
10: Average player salary is $500 a week. The weekly payroll is $10,550. Carson Palmer cleans that from his pockets.
***
Stats show Reds fielding flaws
Columbus Dispatch
Using the revised zone rating, the only Reds regulars who rank among the top half of players at their respective positions are center fielder Corey Patterson and second baseman Brandon Phillips.
***
Huggs ok after misstep at airport
The Charleston Gazette
"The doctor said my face would look a lot better," Huggins said, "if I didn't fall on it so much."
***
Bengals sign WR
The Bengals today signed rookie WR Maurice Purify of Nebraska to a two-year contract. A college free agent, Purify (6-3, 224) participated in Cincinnati's May 2-4 rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.
Sept. '07 Plea deal for Purify Purify's attorney, Jon Braaten, said in a statement that his client entered a plea of no contest to an assault involving another man. He also pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and hindering arrest arising out of the same incident.
June '07 Callahan: Purify can rejoin team "I met with Maurice Purify this afternoon and I believe that he has made a sincere effort to redeem himself and move forward in a positive direction," Callahan said in a news release.
******
Thursday Part 3
Stat of the day
From Mark Wagner
Players w/3+ HR, 1+ BB, & 1+ SB in a Game, Since
1956
Joe Carter, Cle 7/19/1989 at Min
Barry
Larkin, Cin 6/28/1991 vs Hou
Jose Valentin, Mil
4/3/1998 at Fla
Joey Votto, Cin 5/7/2008 vs ChC