Pavano to start Opening Day?!

Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang continued to make progress, and tests on Jeff Karstens sore elbow were “normal,” the team said.

“Today was a better day than yesterday,” general manager Brian Cashman said.

Still unanswered: if Pettitte will be ready for the first turn of the rotation; whether Karstens will be healthy enough to fill in for Wang; and who will start Opening Day — or any day thereafter, for that matter.

“We’re a little limited right now on options for our rotation,” manager Joe Torre said. “We’ve got some of it figured out. It’s sort of like a puzzle. We’re going to have to fill in spots that we were hoping we wouldn’t have to fill in.”

While Karstens, who had to come out of his start Sunday with elbow stiffness, was undergoing an MRI and CT scan yesterday morning, Pettitte was throwing 25 pitches in the bullpen.

“I felt real good,” he said. “I’d say that was normal, pretty much, effort for a bullpen.

“I felt like I was able to throw it free and easy. That’s as good as I could expect.”

It was Pettitte’s first work off a mound since March 17 because of back spasms, and he is scheduled for another side session tomorrow. If that goes well, Pettitte could pitch in a minor-league game Friday or Saturday.

If the rest of the Spring Training rotation goes as scheduled, Carl Pavano, who last pitched in a Major League game in June of 2005, will open the Yankees season against Tampa Bay on April 2. Wow…

As for yesterday’s game:
It showed how solid a hitter Doug Mientkiewicz can be. In the 5th inning, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs, he fell behind 0-2. He fouled off several close pitches, working the count to 3-2 before lining a fastball into the right field corner for a two-run double. It gave the Yanks a 5-1 lead. It’s at-bats like his that make the difference between a win and loss; just a phenomenal situational at-bat. The idea was to at least get a sac-fly/grounder, but Dmint didn’t like the first two pitches and had enough bat control to foul off the close ones to force a full count (3-2) and find a hittable pitch to not just get the sac RBI but to get the XBH RBI.

Igawa pitched well again: 5 ip, 1 er. Again, not a great ball-strike ratio, but I’d wager without seeing the stats that he threw the most first pitch strikes today than any game to date. With improved control (and it HAS been improving every outing this spring), he’ll be a very solid ML pitcher.

The big blow was Arod jumping on a first pitch fastball and destroying it over the left field scoreboard. The inning was set up when Jeter reached on an error and Abreu worked a walk (surprise, surprise).

Matt Smith showed that the lefty-heavy Yanks will be vulnerable to lefty specialists. He pitched 1.1 perfect innings – he struck out Arod and Matsui, and induced weak pop-ups from Abreu and Giambi.

Colorado-Detroit 10 Years Later

10 years ago was a night that saw the Dertoit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche become one of the most intest rivalries in the NHL. It started as the Red Wings looking to get even with Claude Lemieux for a cheap shot the year before on Kris Draper.

It has been 10 years since Darren McCarty pummeled Claude Lemieux, Brendan Shanahan flew through the air to get after Patrick Roy, and, of course, Mike Vernon fought Roy, punches thrown wildly, with coaches screaming and fans going berserk.

Kris Draper had been on the receiving end of an ugly hit by Lemieux the season before in the playoffs, and that touched off the bad blood between the teams.

Nearly a year had passed and, in the minds of the Wings, payback came due on March 26, 1997. The game, won by the Wings, 6-5 in overtime on a goal by McCarty, was a unifying force for that team, which would go on to win the next two Stanley Cups.

Yes a fight brought the team together, not just becuase it was fight it was because they drew a line to which no one would be allowed to cross when it came to their teammates.

The Draper-Lemieux incident was on the mind of every player, coach and fan that evening. Lemieux never showed remorse for the injuries he inflicted on Draper after drilling Draper’s face into the boards.

The fact that Detroit lost to Colorado in that 1996 playoff series increased the Red Wings’ sense of urgency.

“Everyone expected (the brawl) to happen, and how we got there wasn’t good, but it was an accumulation of a lot of games,” Chris Osgood said. “It was probably more fun for the fans (than players). But it was kind of necessary. It was probably one of the last steps for us to take, to come together as a team and the fact we stood up for each other, going into the playoffs.”

The buildup heading into the game, and the war of words between the teams, led everyone to believe something memorable was going to happen.

“There was hatred between the teams,” Osgood said.

“They were a great hockey team, and we were a great hockey team, and they had the one thing that we wanted, the Stanley Cup,” Draper said.

“They had beaten us the year before, and New Jersey had beaten us in the Finals in 1995, and we had to find a way to get over that hurdle.

“That night really helped us and excited us, especially because it was so close to the playoffs.”

It was old time hockey at its best and were some of the most intense and hard fought games I have ever seen (Even more intense than when Mattias Norstrom check Peter Forsberg so hard so may times it burst his spleen).

You can find a video summary of the rivalry here.

2007 AL East Stat Projections

AL East Predictions
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

Red Sox
Projected Stats
Projected Lineup AVG HR RBI SB R
1. Julio Lugo SS .288 – 14 – 62 – 26 – 97
2. Kevin Youkilis 1B .285 – 18 – 79 – 3 – 103
3. David Ortiz DH .289 – 47 – 132 – 0 – 118
4. Manny Ramirez LF .309 – 37 – 114 – 0 – 96
5. J.D. Drew RF .290 – 24 – 96 – 2 – 98
6. Mike Lowell 3B .275 – 19 – 84 – 2 – 75
7. Jason Varitek C .260 – 15 – 68 – 2 – 59
8. Coco Crisp CF .285 – 14 – 67 – 21 – 78
9. Dustin Pedroia 2B .291 – 6 – 62 – 5 – 76

Bench
Willy Mo Pena COF .278 – 16 – 53 – 1 – 45
Erik Hinske COF/1B .279 – 10 – 42 – 5 – 44
Alex Cora INF .241 – 1 – 15 – 5 – 26

Rotation W- L ERA SO
1. Curt Schilling 14- 9 3.67 181
2. Josh Beckett 15-10 4.14 162
3. D. Matsuzaka 14- 9 3.88 179
4. Tim Wakefield 11-12 4.38 128
5. Julian Tavarez 6- 6 4.36 173
6. Jon Lester 7- 6 4.45 79

Bullpen W- L ERA SO SV-SVO
CL Jon Papelbon 4-3 2.36 69 36-41
RP Joel Piniero 3-5 4.66 59 –
RP J.C. Romero 2-3 4.33 42 -
RP Mike Timlin 4-3 3.70 46 4-
RP M. Delcarmen 3-2 3.36 56 1-

Prospect who can impact the 2007 season
1. Dustin Pedroia 2B
2. Jon Lester SP
3. Craig Hansen RP

Yankees

Projected Stats
Projected Lineup AVG HR RBI SB R
1. Johnny Damon CF .291 – 22 – 77 – 24 – 119
2. Derek Jeter SS .320 – 16 – 93 – 27 – 115
3. Bobby Abreu RF .295 – 21 – 105 – 26 – 108
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B .296 – 39 – 128 – 14 – 108
5. Jason Giambi DH .261 – 32 – 98 – 0 – 81
6. Hideki Matsui LF .297 – 26 – 104 – 2 – 93
7. Jorge Posada C .272 – 19 – 72 – 1 – 60
8. Robinson Cano 2B .309 – 18 – 81 – 4 – 85
9. D. Mientkiewicz 1B .279 – 7 – 49 – 2 – 47

Bench
Andy Phillips 1B/DH .246 – 9 – 38 – 2 – 33
Migeul Cario INF .254 – 2 – 31 – 11 – 36
Melky Cabrera OF .274 – 8 – 47 – 11 – 68

Rotation W- L ERA SO
1. Andy Pettitte 13-10 4.08 167
2. Mike Mussina 14- 8 3.69 163
3. Kei Igawa 12-10 4.28 148
4. Carl Povano 8-11 4.56 96
5. Phil Hughes 7- 5 3.48 88
6. ChienMing Wang 14- 9 3.87 73 (DL)

Bullpen W- L ERA SO SV-SVO
CL Mariano Rivera 4-3 2.16 60 35-39
RP Kyle Farnsworth 4-5 4.18 81 5-
RP Scott Proctor 5-4 3.89 73 2-
RP Luis Vizcaino 3-4 3.93 59 2-
RP Brian Bruney 1-2 4.12 42 -

Prospect who can impact the 2007 season
1. Phil Highes SP
2. Humberto Sanchez SP

Blue Jays

Projected Stats
Projected Lineup AVG HR RBI SB R
1. Reed Johnson LF .282 – 10 – 48 – 8 – 64
2. Lyle Overbay 1B .309 – 25 – 98 – 3 – 96
3. Vernon Wells CF .290 – 30 – 104 – 11 – 106
4. Frank Thomas DH .278 – 35 – 106 – 0 – 79
5. Troy Glaus 3B .257 – 36 – 106 – 4 – 105
6. Alex Rios RF .296 – 19 – 87 – 17 – 90
7. Greg Zaun C .264 – 12 – 53 – 0 – 47
8. Aaron Hill 2B .287 – 7 – 56 – 6 – 75
9. Royce Clayton SS .260 – 4 – 48 – 13 – 68

Bench
Matt Stairs 1B/COF .250 – 11 – 42 – 0 – 33
Adam Lind COF/DH .297 – 14 – 60 – 1 – 49
Russ Adams MIF .262 – 5 – 31 – 6 – 37

Rotation W- L ERA SO
1. Roy Halladay 18- 6 2.59 192
2. A.J. Burnett 14-10 3.55 190
3. Gustavo Chacin 11-11 4.30 129
4. Tomo Ohka 6- 8 4.51 77
5. John Thomson 7- 9 4.54 98
6. Shawn Marcum 4- 6 4.65 46

Bullpen W- L ERA SO SV-SVO
CL B.J. Ryan 2-3 2.06 95 37-42
RP Jason Frasor 3-3 4.02 56 –
RP Brandon League 3-2 3.32 42 2 -
RP Josh Towers 5-7 4.77 49 -

Prospect who can impact the 2007 season
1. Adam Lind COF/DH
2. Dustin McGowan SP

Devil Rays

Projected Stats
Projected Lineup AVG HR RBI SB R
1. Carl Crawford LF .311 – 22 – 86 – 52 – 111
2. Ben Zobrist SS .284 – 7 – 68 – 12 – 79
3. Rocco Baldelli CF .306 – 25 – 102 – 23 – 102
4. Ty Wiggington 1B .259 – 19 – 82 – 5 – 65
5. Greg Norton DH .268 – 10 – 41 – 0 – 38
6. Jorge Cantu 2B .276 – 23 – 84 – 1 – 67
7. Delmon Young RF .283 – 18 – 82 – 29 – 88
8. Aki Iwamaru 3B .279 – 14 – 65 – 6 – 68
9. Dioner Navarro C .271 – 10 – 47 – 2 – 53

Bench
Jonny Gomes COF/DH .266 – 26 – 67 – 5 – 62
B.J. Upton OF/INF .274 – 8 – 48 – 27 – 61
Elijah Dukes OF .277 – 7 – 30 – 9 – 38

Rotation W- L ERA SO
1. Scott Kazmir 15- 8 3.37 217
2. Casey Fossum 7- 9 4.56 110
3. James Shields 13-10 4.18 147
4. Jae Seo 7-10 4.36 93
5. Edwin Jackson , 5- 7 4.76 74
6. J.P. Howell 6- 9 4.12 61

Bullpen W- L ERA SO SV-SVO
CL Seth McClung 3-5 3.80 56 12-17
RP Shawn Camp 4-4 4.32 50 -
RP Ruddy Lugo 2-3 4.09 46 -
RP Dan Miceli 2-3 4.28 39 11-16
RP Brian Stokes 3-4 3.93 58 10-14

Prospect who can impact the 2007 season
1. Delmon Young RF
2. B.J. Upton SS
3. Edwin Jackson/J.P. Howell SP

Orioles

Projected Stats
Projected Lineup AVG HR RBI SB R
1. Brian Roberts 2B .293 – 13 – 60 – 37 – 97
2. Melvin Mora 3B .281 – 17 – 85 – 8 – 98
3. Nick Markakis RF .305 – 21 – 84 – 5 – 92
4. Miguel Tejada SS .324 – 29 – 107 – 8 – 101
5. Aubrey Huff LF .277 – 25 – 91 – 3 – 79
6. Ramon Hernandez C .276 – 20 – 79 – 0 – 60
7. Jay Gibbons DH .269 – 19 – 72 – 0 – 58
8. Kevin Millar 1B .276 – 12 – 56 – 1 – 54
9. Corey Patterson CF .278 – 18 – 67 – 43 – 82

Bench
Jay Payton OF .270 – 16 – 59 – 1 – 56
Brandon Fahey Util .272 – 2 – 32 – 21 – 44

Rotation W- L ERA SO
1. Erik Bedard 15-10 3.59 178
2. Jaret Wright 10-11 4.40 118
3. Daniel Cabrera 11-13 4.58 163
4. Adam Loewen 9-11 4.59 146
5. Steve Trachsel 10-14 4.64 89

Bullpen W- L ERA SO SV-SVO
CL Chris Ray 3-5 3.02 59 33-39
RP Danys Baez 3-4 3.56 55 3-
RP Chad Bradford 3-2 3.89 41 -
RP Scott Williamson 3-2 3.86 56 -

Prospect who can impact the 2007 season
1. Hayden Penn SP
2. Val Majewski OF

Jason Ray, Tarheel Mascott, Dies from Injuries

UNC’s mascott was struck by a car and killed.

Jason Ray, a North Carolina student who performed as a mascot for the school’s basketball team, died three days after being struck by a car hours before an NCAA Tournament game. He was 21.

Ray died Monday morning, said Steve Kirschner, the university’s associate athletic director for communications.

An NCAA official told ESPN.com that the men’s basketball tournament selection committee is discussing with the four Final Four teams to determine how they will memoralize Ray’s death prior to Saturday’s national semifinals.

Ray had been in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center since the accident Friday afternoon. He was hit from behind while walking on a highway shoulder near his Fort Lee hotel after going to a nearby convenience store.

Ray performed as UNC’s ram mascot, Rameses. He was scheduled to graduate in May with a major in business administration and a minor in religion. He was in New Jersey for the men’s game between North Carolina and Southern California.

Emmitt Ray said his son “absolutely loved” dressing up as Rameses, despite the costume’s bulk.

“It was his way of supporting the team,” the father told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “There are things you just can’t explain. He wasn’t doing anything he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He was 200 yards from the hotel.”

No charges have been filed against the driver of the sport utility vehicle. Police said the driver stopped immediately to try to help Ray and called 911. Police also said the driver had a valid driver’s license and did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Sad news.

MNF Trades Theismann for Jaworski

ESPN’s Monday Night Football is swapping Joe Theismann for Ron Jaworski.

ESPN is changing quarterbacks.

Joe Theismann will no longer be part of the network’s Monday Night Football booth and will be replaced by Ron Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback.

“This new lineup will enhance our presentation of Monday Night Football our most important property,” Norby Williamson, ESPN’s executive vice president for studio and remote production, said Monday. “Ron has covered the NFL from many different perspectives, and he is totally tied into the issues and trends from around the league.”

Theismann, a former Washington Redskins quarterback, will be offered another analyst job with the network, Williamson said.

Both men were NFC East quarterbacks in my early days as a fan. Theismann was arguably the better QB; certainly, he’s in the Hall of Fame and Jaworski isn’t. But Theismann is one awful television presence, whereas Jaworksi is a joy. (And that’s not just anti-Redskin bias on the part of a Cowboys fan. John Riggins is as good as they come, for example.)

Some disagree with the move. Deadspin, for example:

I’m not upset if it’s true that Joe Theismann’s no longer a part of the Monday Night Football booth, and if it’s true that Jaws is in, that’s good news too. But the problem in the booth was not Joe Theismann. The problem was named Kornheiser, and trying to fix the MNF broadcast team by cutting Theismann is like trying to fix the Dallas Cowboys chemistry problems by cutting Terry Glenn

Heh. I’m clearly in the minority in thinking Kornheiser is fine. I think the MNF telecast generally sucks but it’s not Kornheiser’s fault but rather a decision by the production team to treat it like the fracking Olympics, emphasizing everything but the game itself.

Peyton Manning United Way Parody SNL Video

A video of Peyton Manning on this week’s “Saturday Night Live” parodying the NFL’s ubiquitous United Way spots:

Peyton Manning United Way CHANNELSURFING
Uploaded by asdf221

The NBC-sanctioned (but not embeddable) version is here.

Classic.

via Ace and AllahPundit

North Carolina Student Mascot Dies

This is just too sad for words.

HACKENSACK, N.J. — A 21-year-old University of North Carolina student who served as a mascot for the school’s basketball team died Monday, three days after he was struck by a sport-utility vehicle while walking along a highway.

Jason Ray, who dressed up as UNC’s ram mascot, Rameses, had been in critical condition since the accident on Route 4 on Friday afternoon. He had been in New Jersey for the men’s NCAA Tournament game between North Carolina and Southern California at Continental Airlines Arena.

Steve Kirscher, UNC’s associate athletics director for communications, said Ray died at 8:38 a.m. Monday.

According to police, Ray left his hotel to go to a nearby convenience store Friday afternoon, and was walking back along Route 4 when he was struck from behind by an SUV. The driver stopped immediately to call 911. No charges have been filed.

Police said Gagik Hovsepyan, 51, the driver who hit Ray, had a valid driver’s license and did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. His son was asleep in the SUV at the time, police said.

Ray was scheduled to graduate in May with a major in business administration and a minor in religion.

Nothing but thoughts and prayers for his family and friends.

Frozen Four Field Set

On April 5th, the Frozen Four will feature Maine vs. Michigan State and North Dakota vs. Boston College. The winners will play on April 7th in St. Louis for the NCAA Title.

1st Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship	National Champion
1-Clarkson	Â	Â	Â	Â
4-Massachusetts	Massachusetts Won, 1-0 ot	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Maine Won, 3-1	Â	Â
2-St. Cloud State	Maine Won, 4-1	Â	Â	Â
3-Maine	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	4 p.m. ET	Â	Â
1-Notre Dame	Â	Â	Â	Â
4-Alabama-Huntsville	Notre Dame Won, 3-2 2ot	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Michigan State Won, 2-1	Â	Â
2-Boston University	Michigan State Won, 5-1	Â	Â	Â
3-Michigan State	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Frozen Four	St. Louis, Mo.	Â
1-Minnesota	Â	Â	Â	Â
4-Air Force	Minnesota Won, 4-3	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	North Dakota Won, 3-2 ot	Â	Â
2-Michigan	North Dakota Won, 8-5	Â	Â	Â
3-North Dakota	Â	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	8 p.m. ET	Â	Â
1-New Hampshire	Â	Â	Â	Â
4-Miami	Miami Won, 2-1	Â	Â	Â
Â	Â	Boston College Won, 4-0	Â	Â
2-Boston College	Boston College Won, 4-1	Â	Â	Â
3-St. Lawrence	Â	Â	Â	Â

Betting the house

Gilbert Arenas, star of the surprising Washington Wizards, found himself in a bit of trouble with the league.

The NBA warned Gilbert Arenas on Sunday not to repeat his actions of Tuesday night, when he said he made $10 bets with a group of fans during a game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“We spoke to Gilbert and explained the issue to him,” NBA spokesman John Acunto said. “And he assured us he wouldn’t do anything like this again.”

Arenas was being heckled by Trailblazers’ fans so he decided to put up rather than shut up and promised to make a critical shot or owe the fans (apparently he did this with two fans) $10. He was unsuccessful and the Wizards went down 100-98.

And how did he know how to pay up? He asked the fans for their e-mail addresses.

And how did the NBA find out about his antics? Arenas wrote about the incident on his blog.

I understand that leagues have to take a strong stand about betting. It may be that this was done in harmless fun and he was betting to win. But at some point once someone’s betting, the possibility that he could be compromised if he runs up too many debts becomes real. There’s a need to draw the line someplace. This case was harmless, and, frankly, probably added to the entertainment value of the fans. I understand why the league reprimanded him.

However the league has gone a step further and removed the blog entries referring to the incident from his blog. Now that the story’s all over the news, I hardly see the point to that.

Read the blog. Check out his player page.

Crossposted at Soccer Dad.