MLB Notes: It's hard for them to say they're sorry

By Matt Smith

It’s no secret that we live in a country that is very forgiving, especially when it comes to celebrities. Sports fans might even be more guilty of forgiving their heroes when they screw up than, perhaps, a music fan or a movie fan when an artist or an actor they like gets caught doing blow, or found with a stripper or doing both at the same time.
That is why the baseball players who took HGH, steroids or another type of performance enhancing drug, have a great opportunity.
We are ready to forgive you. We are ready to cheer for you the very first time you step onto the field. We are ready, once again, to welcome you back into our family.
So when you get players who the general public assumes are guilty, but yet continually make themselves look even more so with every move the make, it seems even more baffling because all we want is an apology and we’re ready to move on. We know a lot of people did it, and we aren’t about to disillusion ourselves and say it was just Barry Bonds.
Most baseball fans assume Roger Clemens and Jack Cust juiced, it’s as if they can feel it in their heart of hearts and even if some fans want to believe them, they look worse and worse in the court of public opinion with each day that goes by.
Guys like Andy Pettitte, F.P. Santangelo, Paul LoDuca, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons and Matt Herges (just to name a few) have done the right thing by admitting usage and apologizing publicly. These guys are now back in the circle, according to most fans.
You still have a few guys with work to do, like Jose Guillen and Eric Gagne, who have basically acknowledged that they made a mistake, but they didn’t apologize specifically. Still, it’s a start and once they say “I did it, I screwed up and I am sorry,” the slate is clean with most fans.
With Spring Training less than a week away, fans are ready for this to be over. We want a clean slate as much as the players who used PED’s do.

The Cards are gonna party like its 2005: Well, not exactly…… The Cardinals sure wish it was 2005 because three of their big named pitchers would be busy combining for 50 wins, if they were all suiting up for the Red Birds then.
St. Louis wishes it could have a time machine and have Chris Carpenter, Mark Mulder and Matt Clement all at once during that season. Carpenter won 21 games, Mulder 16 and Clement 13.
In 2008, you can count on them combining to win zero games for at least the first couple of months, maybe until at least July. Last year, they combined to win zero games as Carpenter and Mulder missed most of the year for the Cards. Clement missed the whole season with the Red Sox, yet the Cards opted to bring him in and join the other two former aces in the infirmary.
The Cardinals have a history of reclamation projects when it comes to pitchers, but they are counting on three guys whose careers are in jeopardy, to make comebacks and be successful at the Major League level.
Cards fans should brace for having Braden Looper and Joel Piniero in their rotation for 2008, and they should hope the pixie dust that most Cardinals pitchers get for a season or so, doesn’t wear off.
Speaking of pixie dust……well, this is kinda like wishing upon a star. The Cardinals are hoping another player can make a comeback and that is Juan Gonzalez.
The former slugger hasn’t played a full season in the bigs since 2001, he is injury prone and now he is 38, going on 39.
So the St. Louis is hoping he can provide them with a bit of a spark, and that is all fine and dandy, but it forgot that it is a National League team and he will have to play somewhere on the field. Yikes.

Winner, winner, really expensive dinner: Players were 0-for-5 in arbitration cases heading into Ryan Howard’s case, but now you can make that 1-for-6. A big 1-for-6.
Howard received the highest payday of any arbitration case that has ever been won, matching Alfonso Soriano’s figure from 2006, winning $10 million, which is considerably higher than the $7 million the Phillies were offering.
I guess it pays to have hit 105 home runs over the last two seasons, while driving in 285 runs. Who cares that the guy is averaging 190 strikeouts over those two years?
If you break it down in by HR’s and K’s, he will get paid approximately $2.8 million for all his home runs ($56,000 per) and 7.2 million for each strikeout ($37,895 per).
Speaking of the Phillies, can anyone else wait for Apr. 18, when the Phightin’ Phils take on the New York Mets?
All the smack talk, all the drama from last year’s pennant race…..it just makes for good television and let’s hope it makes for good baseball.
I do have to say that Carlos Beltran has a point because Jimmy Rollins is forgetting that Pedro Feliz and Geoff Jenkins were there big pickups of the year while the Mets landed the best left-handed pitcher in the world.

The only Barry in town: With the surname Bonds being gone, Barry Zito is now the biggest Barry in San Francisco, and fans are hoping that this leads to him bouncing back and actually earning his millions upon millions of dollars.
Zito has the ability to be great, he obviously won a Cy Young in 2002, but he is throwing slower than ever and is not locating.
Last year he tied his career high in losses (13), he pitched fewer innings than he ever had in a full season (196 2/3) and struck out a career low (131). He also had a 4.53 ERA, which was the highest of his career.
The alarming thing is this came after a switch to the National League where he remained in a pitcher-friendly park.
This is a big year for both Zito’s psyche and the for the Giants front office after giving him $136 million.

NBA Notes: Trades aplenty in the West

By Mike Walsh

FINALLY! A team made a trade that makes sense for both teams. One team gets the type of player they have been in need of for years while the other gets much needed cap relief and more direction for the future. Of course I am talking about the Jazz picking up Kyle Korver from the Sixers. What? Not the trade you thought I was talking about? With the flurry of trades and signings in the West, which one made more sense than the Jazz picking up Korver? None. None trades.
As much as I hate to admit this, the Korver trade sets the Jazz up to match up against any opponent and to cause match-up problems for all opponents. Deron Williams is an emerging star at point, Carlos Boozer is a beast down low with a soft touch from 12-15 feet, Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko can step outside or take their man off the dribble and now they have Korver, a proven shooter who can close games out from the free throw line as well. With the trade deadline coming Thursday it will be interesting to see if any other teams try to load up for what looks to be a wide open race for the Western Conference Championship. The West is going to be fun this spring.
The Lakers are disqualified from this discussion because that trade was ridiculously one sided. I have no idea how Memphis pulled the trigger on that trade. The Lakers seem to have the injury bug this year, but they have to be considered a top three team in the west for the rest of Kobe’s prime with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum down low. I’m angry.
The Mavericks countered by acquiring Jason Kidd, who is shooting 36 percent from the floor this season. Also, he’s 35…and he isn’t nearly the defender that Devon Harris is… and Devon Harris is much quicker off the dribble and was coming into his own this season. I mean I’m glad this trade happened because I am pretty sure it made the Mavericks worse. Devon Harris frustrated opposing point guards with his quickness and flopability, which is a word I just made up. It best describes someone like Harris who has almost perfected the defensive flop and the ability to fall down just as or just before actual contact from the offensive player you are guarding and get calls when refs anticipate fouls. Flopability. Write that one down. The Mavs also sent Diop East, which gives them one less giant human to fill in the center spot. Erick Dampier is not the answer. The person this trade benefited the most is Van Horn, who stands to make about four million dollars for what will amount to playing basketball for a month.


Warrior, Suns 411: The Warriors got a gloomy prediction from Marc Stein of ESPN.com as he predicted that they would finish with 48 wins…and not make the playoffs. 48 Wins! 48!!! That would be a great accomplishment for the franchise and yet the season would have to be looked upon as a disappointment. With Baron’s impending free agency, missing the playoffs would be bad. If Baron ends up wearing purple and white next season I will quit the NBA.
(note: I will not quit the NBA. That was hyperbole. I will, however, be outraged for a long time. And if any of my friends buy me a Baron Davis Kings jersey I will light it on fire while wearing it.) My beloved Warriors signed Chris Webber who, as my friend Caroline pointed out, “Couldn’t guard a sleeping baby.” Not exactly high praise. In turn, after the Suns traded away a top 25 NBA player for Shaq I quipped that they picked him up to guard Webber in the post. No one in their right mind can think that Shaq will fit in with the Suns. If the Suns slow down to accommodate him it will hurt guys like Stoudemire and Barbosa who thrive in the open court, “don’t let the other team get set on ‘D’ ” environment. Someone tell Steve Kerr that it’s not 2002 anymore.

Dunk Contest regains momentum: After a nine-year hiatus, the Dunk Contest has returned with a vengeance. This year’s contest had creativity with Dwight Howard’s Superman costume and Gerald Green’s candle dunk, as well as controversy with Howard’s Superman dunk not really being a dunk. Although he did throw the ball down into the hoop like he was an NBA Jam character. Don’t even get me started on Howard’s “off the back of the backboard, windmill dunk-while his head was still behind the backboard” dunk. If you don’t think that was a top 10 dunk of all time, you’re crazy. We can look forward to more creativity in the years to come, as long as the league allows it. According to ESPN, Howard was denied when he requested that the hoop be raised to 12 feet for one of his dunks.

Different look in the East: The Eastern Conference will look different after the all-star break as well. The Bulls and the Hawks look poised to take the 7th and 8th playoffs spots from New Jersey and Philadelphia. The Hawks seem determined to make a playoff push as evidenced by picking up Mike Bibby. While Matt likes to joke that Bibby couldn’t guard me, he does bring leadership and crunch time scoring to a team desperately in need of both. He just might be what the ATL needed to get over the hump in the East. Meanwhile Chicago is a team that had high hopes coming into the season. I picked them to win the East! If they get hot and start playing like every analyst thought they would they will be a tough match up for one of the top three in the East.