August 26, 2005

Link-O-Rama

  • Francisco Liriano at Triple-A last night: 
     IP     H     R     ER     BB     SO     HR
    7.0     8     2      2      0      9      0

    He struck out nine, walked none, and gave up two runs in seven innings, yet his ERA actually went up. Liriano is now 9-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 102-to-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 13 starts at Rochester.

  • FoxSports.com (*PLUG ALERT*), where you can find my "Daily Dose" column on the MLB page six days per week, came out with their Top 200 College Football Players for 2005. The first three names on the list are familiar ones -- Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, his USC teammate Reggie Bush, and the best running back in the country, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson.

    According to FoxSports.com (via College Football News), the fourth-best player in the entire country is none other than the University of Minnesota's own Laurence Maroney. Maroney is an amazing player about to have an incredible junior year now that he's the Gophers' featured running back, but it seems strange that he's suddenly being talked about as one of the top players in the country. He's deserving, of course, but he was just as deserving last year.

    YEAR     CAR     YARDS     AVG     TD
    2003     162     1,121     6.9     10
    2004     217     1,413     6.2     12

    The Maroney bandwagon went from zero to sixty awfully fast recently, when it should have been cruising along at a pretty nice speed for the last two years. Incidentally, Marion Barber III, who left school early rather than spend his senior season splitting time with Maroney, is going to make the Cowboys as a special teams player and third-string running back after Dallas took him in the fourth round of the draft.

  • Speaking of football, Rotoworld's K.C. "The Football Scientist" Joyner was recently hired by ESPN.com to join their NFL coverage. Since ESPN.com is now hiring from Rotoworld, one can only assume that I'm next. (Note: In this context, "next" means "never going to be hired by ESPN.com.")
  • I came across the following image while finding San Diego Chargers news for my Rotoworld gig earlier this week. It is by far the funniest thing I've seen this month:


    The guy on the left at least looks the part, whereas the guy on the right just looks creepy. Also, I'm fairly certain the world could have gone on without a replacement for Siegfried and Roy, especially considering the original version was forced into retirement when a tiger nearly ate one of them.
  • Happy anniversary to the Stick and Ball Guy, who celebrated one year of blogging Monday. SBG and I have exchanged several billion e-mails about the Twins over the years and have even hung out in person a few times, so it was interesting to read about how he gradually gained readership (especially since he had some nice things to say about me). If you haven't already, check out his one-man "online magazine."
  • On the long list of bad ideas involving young, millionaire athletes, taking a group of them to Las Vegas for a "bonding session" has got to be near the top. My favorite part:

    [Timberwolves general manager Jim] Stack said they are planning a few events away from the court, including a team dinner and possibly a bowling trip, to try and bring the team closer together.

    Yes, because nothing beats bowling in Las Vegas.

  • This may come as a huge shock to everyone, but Lawrence Phillips is in trouble again:

    LOS ANGELES - Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips, who was wanted by police for domestic violence, was arrested Sunday after allegedly running his car into three teenagers who argued with him during a pickup football game, police said.

    That is such a wonderful paragraph on so many different levels. Can you imagine playing a little football with a few of your buddies and having a former NFL running back show up to play? Beyond that, trying to run people over in your car is never a good idea, but if you're wanted for "domestic violence" already wouldn't you think about keeping a low profile?

    But wait, here's the kicker:

    The car was reported stolen in San Diego last week.

    You'd be hard-pressed to make up a story that is more ridiculous than a former NFL running back wanted on domestic violence trying to run over three teenagers after a pickup football game in a stolen car. It's like Law & Order: Mad Libs. (Which I'm copyrighting just in case NBC tries to steal it for their fall schedule.)

  • Finally, if you haven't been checking out my "Daily Dose" columns at FoxSports.com on a regular basis and you're interested in reading them, here are links to the columns from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

    • Today at The Hardball Times:
    - The Curious Case of Emil Brown (by Dan Fox)

    Today's Picks (92-79, +$1,170):
    Cleveland (Sabathia) -145 over Toronto (McGowan)
    Kansas City (Wood) +300 over New York (Johnson)

    Saturday's Picks:
    Cleveland (Millwood) -150 over Toronto (Downs)


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