The REAL AL All Star Team

With Ichiro an Ken Griffey Jr. in the All Star Game in New York as of now I will tell you who really deserves to play at the most highly anticipated ASG EVER!

American League

Catcher: Mike Napoli ( .214 BA, 10 HR, 23 RBI's, 3 SB)

Napoli defeats Captain Jason Varitek because he leads all catchers in home runs, RBI's, and stolen bases. Also Napoli's Angels are in 1st in the West.

1st Base: Justin Mourneau (.303 BA, 10 HR, 48 RBI's, 0 SB)

What pops out at me is not the fact that he has 10 homers because 2 other good first baseman have 10 in Carlos Pena and Jason Giambi but because Morneau is batting 300 and has more than 45 RBI's which Pena and Giambi don't have.

2nd Base: Ian Kinsler ( .305 BA, 7 HR, 34 RBI's, 15 SB)

Second in stolen bases, first in RBI's and home runs along with batting average, WOW! How is Dustin Pedroia leading the AL.

3rd Base: Adrian Beltre ( .244 BA, 13 HR, 27 RBI's, 5 SB)

Beltre has a whopping 13 homers and 27 RBI's and is deserving of playing. A-Rod will win but Beltre has better stats and if he was in New York like A-Rod he would have 44 RBI's.

Shortstop: Derek Jeter (.279 BA, 3 HR, 26 RBI's, 4 SB)

Technically the best player in all of sports because he is the best leader and winner in the greatest sport. Jeter is batting under .300 but is playing well and deserves to get in.

Outfield: Josh Hamilton (.331 BA, 16 HR, 65 RBI's, 2 SB), Magglio Ordonez (.322 BA, 9 HR, 37 RBI's, 0 SB),Carlos Quentin (.293 BA, 14 HR, 48 RBI's, 4 SB)

Three spectacular players deserve it so much. Hamilton is a Triple Crown nominee, Magglio is hitting well, and Queintin is on the first place team and is hitting the ball great. This is an All Star outfield.

Designated Hitter (Now with Papi Hurt): Hideki Matsui ( .328 BA, 6 HR, 26 RBI's, 0 SB)
Matsui has been hitting the best of the Yankees. In the last 7 days Matsui has 8 hits. Hideki has such a great eye and a great glove.

Starting Pitchers: Cliff Lee( 8-1 1.88 ERA), Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-0 2.53 ERA), Joe Saunders ( 8-2 2.76 ERA), Roy Halladay (6-5 2.93), Ervin Santana( 8-2 3,02 ERA), Chien-Ming Wang (6-2 4.14 ERA)

Closers: Mariano Rivera ( 1-1, 15 Saves, 0.36 ERA) and Jonathan Papelbon ( 2-2, 16 Saves, 2.08 ERA)

National League coming soon

2008: A Milestone Year For Baseball

Starting on April 22,2008, John Smoltz joins the 3,000 strikeout club. Then on May 31,2008 Manny blasts number 500 and the struggling Griffey hit homer 599. Sooner or later he will hit 600. Then theres Gary Shefield laying at 483 and is hoping to hit 17 more. Also Delgado has 439 which will take another year or two to hit but WOW what a start. Even mini milestones happened like Richie Sexson's (not his helmet throwing) 300th home run and Jason Bay hit number 130. Albert Pujols has 296 and will probably hit 500 soon in his career but it is like the baseball gods are calling for a crazy and exciting year where Boston is knocked out of the playoffs and so are the Mets by the Marlins leaving a Florida world series. With how this year is starting there is a slight (I mean slight) chance of Barry Zito winning the Cy Young or Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain combine to be 18-0 this year. Maybe even Webb winning 20.

What hot teams will stick around?: Cubs, Diamondbacks, and Red Sox

They both have great pitching and hitting and are the three best teams in baseball.

Who wont?: Florida squared, White Sox, Mets, and Toronto

Every team except for the Mets were expected to be in last and that's how this will end. Florida squared, New York, Chicago, and Toronto are in hard divisions and they will drop to the bottom.

Eliminated!!!

After a first half lead the San Antonio Spurs have been sent packing after 5. Los Angeles ended their season in the Conference Finals just 3 wins away from going back to the Finals and showed wonderful effort as the 1st half ended. The Spurs were up 17 sometime during 1st half and LA cut it to 6.

Like I thought the winner of the Western Conference, by far the better of the two, would win it all. LA showed amazing depth. When the top three scorers, Kobe, Odom, and Gasol were sitting, Jordan Farmar stepped up and scored a few points getting the team excited.

Manu Ginobili only averaged 12.5 points a game and that hurt the Spurs. The reason why the lost the series was not because of the no-call in game 4 but because they blew big time leads like in game 1 and 5 and those were the biggest games. The Spurs need to move forward and get fresh and young legs and if they have to trade Ginobili (as much as I love Manu) and Horry for a higher draft pick instead of the 26th pick would be good. They could end up with a guy like Roy Hibbert. Also Chris Douglas-Roberts would fit in with Tony Parker's up tempo play and would be great by having the best mentor you can have, Tim Duncan. Douglas-Roberts is expected to go pick 27 to the Hornets, a team the arguably has a better point guard then Parker and a place where he can fit in with Tyson Chandler but in my opinion I would rather be in San Antonio because he would play in The City of Basketball Champions. By the way the Spurs have won every other year since 2003, could he be the difference maker?

Are The Spurs In Trouble?

The Spurs are one loss away from having their repeat dream fall short again.


Down 3-1 traveling to LA after another unlucky loss are the San Antonio Spurs. After another great night by the Spurs Big 3. Timmy D had 29 points and 17 rebounds in the Spurs 93-91. Kobe out played San Antonio at home. The Spurs would have been so much more comfortable going to LA at a tied series but instead every game is a must win.

Brent Barry definitely did appear to be fouled on the dribble by Derek Fisher just before the Game 4 buzzer sounded, which seemingly should have sent him to the line for three free throws to force overtime. When the call didn't come, Barry's hopeless heave at the horn sealed a 93-91 defeat to L.A. that edged San Antonio to the brink of elimination ... and another failure to win back-to-back championships. Barry later said,"That play was not where the game was lost." I agree the Lakers had 13 offensive rebounds where they scored some big points.

Lakers' fans must be saying that the Spurs should have this series tied and we got lucky. I have some faith in the Spurs but not a lot. "We had a hill to climb being down 0-2 and now we have Everest to climb being down 3-1." as the great Brent Barry says. Will San Antonio get to the top of the mountain for the 5th time?

The Five Best Sports States:...For Now

Here is my list of the 5 best sports states...
5. Florida

Florida has had some inconsistent teams but they find a way to win. In 2006 the Miami Heat won the NBA Finals and then this year they went 15-67. The Marlins (in 1st place now) won the World Series in 2003 and in 2004 they went 89-73. Then they went under 500 at 79-83. And Tampa Bay, WOW! The Rays went 66-96 last year and now they are 31-20 and have the best record in baseball. The Magic weren't to shabby after making 52-30 and have the reigning slam dunk champion, Dwight Howard. Don't forget the Gators who won 4 football/basketball National Titles in 2 years and the football team got to the Capital One Bowl game versus Michigan and have the Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow. The Jags went 12-6 making the postseason and Florida ranks 5th on my list.

4. Texas

The athletes of Texas are champions but not number 1 or 2 or 3. The Longhorns have won the 2005 BCS National Championships and got to the Elite Eight lead by the great DJ Augustin. The Spurs are going for their 5th NBA Finals in 10 years. They have a Triple Crown contender in Josh Hamilton leading a 28-27 Rangers team. The Houston Astros are lead by 4 men who combine for a .322 batting average, 39 home runs, and 153 RBI's. Those men who can be leading Houston back to the playoffs are Carlos Lee, Miguel Tejeda, Hunter Pence, and Lance Berkman. The Mavericks got J-Kidd and finished the season at 51-31 being eliminated by the Hornets. The Stars went 45-30 losing in the NHL Conference Finals to Detroit and the Cowboys and Tony Romo won the NFC East after going 13-3 before being sent packing by the Giants.

3. California

UCLA and Stanford were in the NCAA Final Four and Stanford lost in the finals. The Lakers are in the Conference Finals versus the Spurs. The Sparks got the amazing Candace Parker and are undefeated at 1-0. The USC Trojans speak for themselves. The Angels won the AL West last year and are looking for a repeat. Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup last year. The Oakland A's are pitching pretty well and that is why they are 2 games back from the Angels. The Galaxy behold Beckham and Donovan. The Dodgers are playing decent baseball, the Chargers have LT, and the Padres aren't looking so wonderful.

2. Massachusetts

Lets start of with the lower teams like Boston College who aren't to bad because they had Matt Ryan play there and he was the first quarterback taken in the Draft. The Bruins went 41-29 and made the playoffs with 94 points. The Celtics are in the Conference Finals with the Boston Three Party (KG, Pierce, and Allen). You have to remember the Patriots who went 16-0 and couldn't win a Super Bowl this time. And the real champions the Red Sox who went 96-66 and won baseball's World Series. Mass. isn't number 1 because Michigan is.

1. Michigan

GO BLUE! Michigan won the Capital One Bowl game over the Gators. MSU got to the Sweet Sixteen. The Lions hope for a big year from Calvin Johnson and Gosder Cherilus after going a disapointing 7-9 with high expectations after starting 6-2. The Tigers after doing some major rebuilding started off slow but will make a run with Miguel Cabrera. Here comes Titletown!!! The Detroit Red Wings, Hockeytown, are on their way to their 11th Stanley Cup after going up 2 to nada. The Pistons have fought back from going down 1 to tying the series up last night. Michigan slightly defeats Massachusetts and wins the "Best Sports State.

You can vote which state you pick as #1 under the poll section on the right of your screen.

The Liars: More Steroids Issues

Gym owner, Kelly Blair, often bragged to friends and clients who worked out at his Pasadena gym that he supplied performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes, including Jeff Bagwell, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. Jeff Bagwell immediately said, "I've never met the guy, I have no idea who he is, I've never been to his gym." If this is true Bagwell is next on the "Liar List" he has ruined his chances of making the Hall of Fame. Blair wanted to be known as the guy behind the professional athletes.

That report contradicts Blair's recent comments to ESPN.com, where he revealed he told two FBI agents he never supplied HGH to Clemens or Tom Pettitte, Andy's father. Blair also indicated he never met Clemens. Bagwell was not contacted by the Mitchell commission prior to the release of the report or ever been in any steroid discussion. Bagwell is currently employed by the Astros as a special assistant and likely would have been mandated by the team to cooperate with Mitchell investigators.

I happen to be reading Jose Canseco's book, "Vindicated" and he took steroids to fulfill a promise to his grandmother to become the best baseball player. He found any way to be the best including cheating and he told people it would make them better. Now I think guys like Bonds who would've hit 500 without 'roids are doing steroids to increase their salary. They don't care about their teammates they care about themselves. They are self centered. There are only some guys who are team players like Jeter and Tulowitzki. Steroids only kill you and hurt you, you are only good for a short time. Until you get caught and lose your respect and fans.

BAM! 7 Walk-off's In ONE Day

Evan Longoria, Elijah Dukes, Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Quentin, Andre Ethier, Dan Uggla, and Jason Bay. What do they all have in common? Hitting a walk-off hit on May 24, 2008. For the first time this year a team worked together in the game of baseball. These guys broke the record for most walk-off's in one day since May 28, 2004. Also Quentin hit his 13th and 14th home run of the year making him the AL home run leader. These walk-off hitters have 57 total home runs so far this season.

These guys are all great young prodigies. Carlos Quentin and Adrian Gonzalez have 14 homers, Dan Uggla has 16 homers, Longoria has 7, and Jason Bay has 12. Dan Uggla is beginning his prime right now. He had 31 home runs last year and I expect at least 40 home runs this year. Uggla could maybe hit 5oo and go to Cooperstown. Carlos Quentin was told by Ozzie Guillen this year he might not even make the team. The Sox were going after guys like Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter and now Quentin has 8 more home runs then them combined.

Shockingly there was a combined 66 innings. All of these guys who hit walk-off's today are going to have a 20 home run season. Especially Uggla.