Just a quick FYI

Just so you all know, I got a job at CBS Radio. I will at various points get to hang out with players and radio personalities, and I plan on posting some of that on here for all of you.

Not much else to say, just something cool that you might like to know. Since I'm in Baltimore and working for 105.7 The Fan, the players will obviously be from the Baltimore Ravens. I hope I have something cool to give all of you soon.

Rodgers That

Rounding the bases

By Dr. Jekyll,

A weekly feature on the good, the bad, and the ugly happening around the diamond.

Single: Ichiro Suzuki is the most overlooked future hall of famer in major league baseball. The most consistent hitter of our generation is once again doing just fine, thank you for noticing. He currently sports the 4^th highest batting average in baseball and leads the league in hits. Just another day at the ballpark for Ichiro.

Double: A double is what you expect off the bat of a power hitter. Consistent, nothing special, but you’re just where you thought you would be. Your 2010 Philadelphia Phillies, baseballs most average great team. They give you nothing special, and they’re a no-nonsense club that just comes in every day and delivers. No glaring holes, just great talent. This team has nothing to write about, other than run of the mill dominance. Like the late ‘90’s Yankees, this is a phenomenal club.

Triple: As in triple play. Like the one started by the New York Mets Angel Pagan (take a minute and soak in how great a name that is) against the Nationals and Livan Hernandez. Not only did he start the triple play, he also homered in the game. But his unconventional inside the park round-tripper made him the first big leaguer since 1955 to accomplish both feats in the same game. It’s nice to see someone on that team still showing up.

Home Run: The San Diego Padres were no ones pick to do well this year. With a lineup with no feared hitter besides Adrian Gonzalez, they looked like they’d be lucky to finish any higher than 3^rd in the NL West. But behind their absolute dominance of the Giants, the Pads are just a half game shy of the best record in the entire league. They’re doing all of this despite hitting an abysmal .240 as a team, thanks to their out-of-this-world 2.74 team ERA. The chances of keeping up that kind of a stat line are slim, but for now, the Padres are putting together an impressive run heading into the summer.

Strikin’ them out: Looks like Justin Verlander has gotten himself back on track in a hurry, putting together back to back wins against the Yankees and A’s, including 4-hitting the Athletics in a complete game against last week’s talk of the down Dallas Braden. The Tigers will need Verlander to keep this up if they’re going to stick with the Twins again in the AL Central.

Popping Up: Closers everywhere. Specifically, three of the biggest names in the game with Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, and Trevor Hoffman all struggling tremendously. First an uncharacteristic grand slam given up by the Sandman himself, then Papelbon giving up four runs of his own to the tune of two two-run homers. Then Mo coming back the next night and blowing it. Meanwhile, the formerly ageless wonder Trevor Hoffman has now allowed more runs this season than he did all of last year. Yikes.

Caught Looking: Me. At Theo Epstein at a Pearl Jam show. Why worry about your .500 ballclub when you can rock out? I kid. Only a little.

Bmore Fan Post: Wizards from Baltimore?

By Dan Rodgers

Yesterday I posted something on Bmore Fan and I am curious what you guys think about it. Are the Wizards the team you root for if you're from Baltimore? I mean, they are from Washington.

Rodgers That

Wizards to pick first

By Dan Rodgers

Well, the NBA Draft Lottery is over the even though it started out chalk, there was a ton of excitement.

The Wizards (10.3%) won the first overall pick. A fairly large surprise considering there were four teams with better odds then them. Behind them, an even bigger surprise, the Philadelphia 76ers (5.3%) with the second pick. The team with the best chances, the New Jersey Nets (25.0%) received the third pick of the draft.

The rest of the board is as follows:

(1) Wizards 10.3 %
(2) 76ers 5.3 %
(3) Nets 25.0 %
(4) T-wolves 19.9 %
(5) Kings 15.6 %
(6) Warriors 10.4 %
(7) Pistons 5.2 %
(8) Clippers 2.3 %
(9) Jazz 2.2 %
(10) Pacers 1.1 %
(11) Hornets 0.8 %
(12) Grizzlies 0.7 %
(13) Raptors 0.6 %
(14) Rockets 0.5 %

Personally, unless I am in desperate need of a franchise point guard, I want to second overall pick. John Wall will most likely be the first pick, and Evan Turner will be second. So unless you need a point guard, picking second and taking Turner ensures that the team made the right selection. We'll see what happens in the draft in about a month.

Rodgers That

NBA Draft Lottery tonight

By Dan Rodgers

This is just going to be a quickie. Apparently, John Wall is going to be the consensus number one overall selection of the NBA draft. Personally, I prefer Evan Turner, who did win the award for the best player in the nation. I think Evan Turner is going to be a better NBA player and he is a more all-around player.

Chance to win first pick:

Nets 25.0 %
T-wolves 19.9 %
Kings 15.6 %
Warriors 10.4 %
Wizards 10.3 %
76ers 5.3 %
Pistons 5.2 %
Clippers 2.3 %
Jazz 2.2 %
Pacers 1.1 %
Hornets 0.8 %
Grizzlies 0.7 %
Raptors 0.6 %
Rockets 0.5 %

Enjoy, hopefully we will see something interesting and not just the teams in order.

Rodgers That

History will be made

By Scott Antoszewski

That is the slogan the NHL is using for this year’s playoffs. I though it was an interesting slogan, if not a tad unoriginal because history is made in the playoffs every year. The magnitude tends to vary from year to year, but you can safely say that something historic happens during the playoffs each year. I’m sure the marketing folks couldn’t be happier with the events of this years playoffs, especially in the Eastern Conference.

The Philadelphia Flyers made the greatest comeback in team history to beat the Bruins in game seven on Friday night. I was at the Greene Turtle in Columbia watching that game with players from my beer league team, two of which are huge Flyers fans. I found it interesting, that even when the B’s were up 3-0, (that’s right, Philadelphia came back from down 3-0 in game 7) the Flyer fans, like the team, weren’t panicking, and their confidence was rewarded. The comeback wasn’t stirring, or dramatic, the Flyers just kept pushing and getting the dirty goals they needed to get even. Simon Gagne capped the comeback with one of the prettiest goals you will ever see, and the bar erupted in cheers. It was a seriously fun evening.

I find it even more entertaining that the Flyers now get to take on the eighth seeded Canadians. Never in the history of the current eight team per conference playoff format, have the seven and eight seeds ever met.

The Habs are another team that people are referring to as a “team of destiny” after eliminating Washington and Pittsburgh. Hopefully the remaining games of this series will be more entertaining that the Flyers 6-0 thumping of the Canadiens last night. Montreal had to see this coming as the Flyers were on a serious roll, and Halak was well overdue to lay an egg. Game two will tell a lot about how that series goes.

Lastly, don’t overlook the Sharks. San Jose is also looking to get into uncharted territory by getting to the Cup finals. The Blackhawks will make it very difficult, which will make for a fun series. The ‘Hawks took Game one in San Jose 2-1 yesterday afternoon.

Keep watching, who knows how much more “History Will Be Made”.