June 2008 Archives

On Pardon The Interruption, what seems to be an annual vacation during the month of July for hosts Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon appears to have begun this week, starting today June 30. While there is no official word that the two regular hosts usually take most of the month of July off, I’d be surprised to see them together again for another four or five weeks. I hope that Bob Ryan can continue to fill in and that they don’t have to resort to using Patrick McEnroe like they did last year.

The hometown Nationals appear to only play two ways. Win late or lose. They won last night, 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Catcher Jesus Flores, after going K, K, groundout, K, finished the night 1-5 with a single that scored Elijah Dukes.

Normally you don't hear "...that's all I need - 4 runs" uttered by a pitcher in a positive manner. We know we've heard that a few times from Nationals starting pitchers, but usually with some of those 7 words the late, great American Philospher George Carlin said. But Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners did say those words, after hitting a grand slam against Johan Santana.

In the battle of teams with managers fired last week, the Mariners beat the New York Mets and their ace Santana, with Hernandez's base clearer contributing 4 runs in the 2nd. Too bad he later got injured, putting a damper on what would have been a night to remember. It still is, as it is the first home run hit by a pitcher in Mariners history.

This reminds me of some better days in Baltimore, when Mike Mussia was their ace pitcher. The Orioles actually put him on the depth chart as an emergency outfielder on his non-starting days. I remember a two week stretch in the late 90's when the Orioles were down a couple of outfielders due to injury, Mussina was the 4th outfielder ahead of Harold Baines. I don't know if it was more that Moose was such a great hitter and the arm to send a hit back into the outfield quickly or that Baines' knees were held together with scotch tape, so they couldn't trust him to chase down a turtle.

In a game that ended sometime last night, thankfully before midnight, the National defeated the Texas Rangers 4-3.

Elijah Dukes had a 5-6 night including the tying and the game winning hits. Not to be dismissed was his excellent fielding as well.

The apocalypse must be around the corner. The New York Yankees signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league contract. Desperation has set in after the loss of Chien-Ming Wang. Granted at least they were intelligent enough to put him in the minors first.

Tiger Woods has opted to get surgery again for that tricky left knee. After the stunning 18-hole playoff that ended in a tie with Rocco Mediate in the U.S. Open and the ensuing 19th hole of sudden death, Woods won the Open. Some including Tiger, have described the win two days ago as his best major win ever.

There's never really a time when sports can't permeate its way into your viewing pleasure. Never was this more apparent than when Big Money Tony and I caught up and watched Vacancy. It's more of a scary suspense rather then a true horror movie. Now for those that don't wish to know how the movie plays out this is your opportunity to wait like the Olympic Results during the news and for all other please feel free to click below.

Last Thursday McDonalds gave away their new McChicken sandwich for free with purchase of a drink. I stopped by for lunch near where I work. I couldn't help but think how professional athletes have had run ins with the law and even brandished a weapon in the back of McDonalds. I'm happy to report that I didn't bump into Marcus Vick or Maurice Clarett.

In the era know as the Tiger Woods Dynasty, occassionally we get a good playoff showdown. Tiger vs. Phil, Tiger vs. BJ Singh, Tiger vs. Rocco. Wait, what was that last one?

Tiger Woods vs. Rocco Mediate. You know, I watched from about 7 until 9 on and off, but did see Tiger's last 2 shots on 18. I'm still not sure how to pronounce "Mediate".

But those last two shots by Tiger should not have been necessary for a playoff. They should have been icing on the cake for the Open. Tiger never loses when leading on Sunday, so having to come down to 18 needing a birdie to tie it was a surpise to those of us who hadn't watched all day.

Also heartbreak for Lee Westwood, a relatively unknown English golfer, who was in the exact same position as Tiger coming to 18, needing a birdie to tie. His birdie putt went wide, causing him to take third in the Open and going home again, winless in a major championship.

I have seen one or two of these 18 hole playoffs, but can't recall seeing one with Tiger. I hope it's a good one, so I can see it off the DVR tonight.

Alex Ovechkin. In last night's NHL awards, the Capitals MVP became league MVP. He also won the Lester B Pearson Award to show that he's the Most Outstanding Player in the NHL as chosen by players. MVP and MOP. Hard to beat that.

In the dog days of summer, baseball is the go to sport. But we can only take so much Nationals losing. So we'll need to expand our geographical boundaries a bit and see other things going on in sports.

Apparently the Bears don't need a running back. Interesting, I can't pull their quarterback roster off the top of my head, so I thought running backs are important to them. Apparently Cedric Benson is not, as he was cut by the Bears. BTW - after a quick look at the roster, it's Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton as the dynamic duo of QB's on the Bears.

I was never a Cedric Benson fan and was even less of a fan of his predecessor, Thomas Jones, as my fellow fantasy football team owners can attest to. But without waiting for the long arm of the law to come down, Chicago gave up on him. So running is now up to Matt Forte, one of Chicago's draft picks, and the other Adrian Peterson.

I'll admit, my Redskins haven't gelled together ever under the Dan Snyder dictatorship, but let's just say the Bears don't exactly scare me.

In case you hadn't noticed, the Cincinnati Reds called up top prospect Jay Bruce from the minor leagues last Tuesday. In the 7 days he's been in the big leagues, Bruce has only gone 15 for 25 with three homers, seven RBIs, and six walks. That gives him a batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage of .577/.667/1.038. That's a slugging percentage of 1.038, not an OPS. That gives him an OPS of 1.705. All that adds up to one of the best debut weeks that I have ever seen in Major League Baseball.