Morning Walk-thru - The 200th Post

What you're reading right here is the 200th post in the history of HiPlainsDrifter.com. Join me as we celebrate the bicentennial by walking through the biggest stories (to me) from yesterday...

1/1000th Better...Yes, I am proud to announce that the Cubs are your NL Central division leaders by one one-thousandth of a percentage point. By beating the Phillies in the bottom of the 9th, coupled with a Brewers loss, Chicago now leads Milwaukee .538 to .537 in winning percentage.

It wasn't a pretty win, but the win marks the second straight night the Cubs have lost a lead and fought back to wave the white flag, but that's just the beginning of how much has changed with the Chicago nine. The Cubs are making plays on defense, running the bases aggressively and getting some unreal production from role players.

Of course, I attribute this all to the fact that back in June I ordered my own authentic replica of the 1908 Cubs lid from Cooperstown Ball Cap Co. It arrived just in time to see Chicago take the top flag pole spot at Wrigley and I'm not taking it off until they lose it.

Stewart Mandel is the straw that stirs Nebraska's drink...but for the Cornhusker faithful that drink might just be hemlock.

A few weeks back, Mandel riled up many Bugeaters by defending his position on Bill Callahan. This week he's entertaining the notion of Nebraska joining the Big 10. It's purely conjecture but it is an interesting notion to consider.

With Oklahoma off the yearly schedule, do you care if Nebraska gave up the rest of the Big 12 North? Would you miss Iowa State or even Colorado?

I think I would. Colorado is so cute when they hate us but, more than that, I simply can't stomach the thought of having to watch Big 10 football for an entire year each and every year.

Learning is fun...Be sure to check out Jeffie Husker's--of Double XP fame--first column for Cold, Hard, Football Facts.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with CHFF, it's pretty much the gold standard for pro football blogs and now, behind Jeff's efforts, they're branching out into the college game. It's basically Baseball Prospectus only not about baseball.

Moving forward...I'll be off witnessing nuptial bliss the next two days so if anything major happens it will have to wait until the weekend.

Otherwise, I'll be back Monday and by then we'll be in serious college football mode. See you then...

Morning Walk-thru - Who Voted for Barry Day

So how does this work?...I'm not quite sure what to do in this situation. The Cubs had the best record of any team in June and they're perfect so far in July. They just took two of three from the Brewers, and won nine of their last 10 to close out the month. They've hit that $#%^&! groove.

Who the hell are these guys? The Cubs don't do this, win games on squeeze plays, get out hit by the best team in their division and still win. It's absurd and these last 10 games have been about as good a stretch as I can remember as a Cubs fan.

All to get to .500. One game short of the halfway point of the season and the Cubs are perfectly average. I'm not trying to be Mr. Doom & Gloom, I'm ecstatic like everyone else, but let's realize where we're at. This little surge got the Cubs back to where they should've been all season. That's all. Now we're even, and Pinella knows it.

As Sweet Lou says, "Let's see if we can extricate ourselves from the .500 mark."

I like that, a bit overwrought, trying too hard to use some of the vocabulary words, but it's effective. Let's see if the Cubs will continue to be. They've got the Senators and the Pirates before the break. Now would be a good time to make a move.

Photo: AP/Jerry Lai

So how does this work (pt. 2)?...I'm not upset at the fact that Barry Bonds will be starting in the All-Star game. Doesn't bother me that he overcame a 119,000 vote deficit to knock Alfonso Soriano from the starting line-up. I just want to know how the hell it happened.

Think of all the people you know who follow baseball, people who would potentially vote for the All-Star starters. Do any of them like Bonds? Is there a single person who could even cast a "San Francisco sympathy" vote in your five? I don't know any but apparently there are almost a million of them.

So let's make today, July 2, Who Voted for Barry Day. You don't really have to do anything different, just be suspicious. Every person you see today, ask yourself: "Did they vote for Barry Bonds?"

What you do when you come to a conclusion is up to you.

Morning Walk-thru - Faster than a cannonball

The wrecking ball that is...the Colorado Rockies just swept the Yankees. New York came to Coors as the supposed hottest team in baseball and the Rockies--winners of 7 of the last 8, 6 straight series, owners of the best record in June--laughed in their faces.

Here's a stat for you: the Rockies now have more wins against the AL East (9) than the Yankees (8) do.

Oh, and please go to MLB.com and vote for Matt Holliday. The guy needs to be an All-Star starter.

Goodnight Canada...The US slept through another Gold Cup win last night, beating Canada 2-1. They'll try to sweep North America against Mexico in the final on Sunday. (Although you could say Mexico has already won.)

I urge you to check out this wrap-up of the game by That's On Point. It's fantastic.

Hi Rob...Michael Barrett's replacement filled in admirably yesterday, going 1-3 with an RBI and two walks. Meanwhile, Barrett, batting fifth, went 0-4 with three strikeouts.

Cubs win!

Morning Walk-thru - Huh?

Cubs win again?...What's that you say? The Cubs won another one-run ballgame? This latest one a come from behind job with the go ahead RBI delivered by Cesar freakin' Izturis? You tell me that their last three wins have been by one run?!

Preposterous. But true.

Prior to this home stand, the Cubs genuinely were about 10 runs short of having a winning record and being neck and neck with the Brewers at the top of the Central. They'd outscored their opponents on the season, but when the games were tight so were the Cubs.

Maybe that's changing now. It's only four games, 2/81st of a major league season so I'm not going crazy yet, but the Cubs are 9-5 since Zambrano slugged Barrett.

And speaking of the Cubs backstop, looks like he'll be getting some time off in the next couple of weeks. Lou's saying all the right things, but privately I still think he's seething.

Blindsided...Who would've thought that Josh Becket's first loss of the season would've come against the Colorado Rockies? Not me, but maybe we should stop being surprised, the Rockies are .500 now thanks largely to going 15-6 in interleague play thus far.

Garrett Atkins is finally starting to hit, Matt Holiday has been one of the best players in the NL so far, Todd Helton has been Todd Helton, and Brad "This is Why I'm" Hawpe truly has been fly, flirting with the .300 mark.

The Red Sox on the other hand, just got rocked by the Rockies in their home park and we can keep being surprised by that because the Sox haven't been the Sox of late. (Exhibit A: Winning the Wakefield game but getting shelled with Schilling and Beckett on the bump.)

Meanwhile, the Yankees won their ninth straight. Two games over .500 and only 7.5 out. Something wicked this way comes Boston.

Oh and by the way...the Spurs are your NBA Champions. The last four minutes of last night's game were the first I made an effort to watch and I immediately regretted it. This series was sort of like watching a dung beetle do it's thing on the old Discovery channel. (When the channel was a punch line, not one of the best sources of programming on cable.)

You knew those beetles would get their shit together, literally, just like everyone knew the Spurs would get rid of the Cavs rather quickly. There wasn't any drama but there's still a bit of interest in the process. For me, that interest lasted about four minutes of the fourth quarter in game four. Then the Spurs won and the lamest championship celebration ever ensued.

Everyone just raised their hands and hugged one another. It wasn't joy, just relief. The Spurs were able to take what had been handed to them and now they can listen to dynasty talk until next October.

Mini-Morning Walk-Thru

No new post here today, due to a new post over on Bugs & Cranks regarding the cruel All-Star fate of Kevin Youkilis.

Some other links for your perusal:

The Tigers radar gun suspected of steroid abuse.

Curt Schilling is NOT on Facebook.

The Sooners are cheating again.

Summer camps represent the winds of change on the Great Plains.

It's Omaha's time to shine. Here's the all-College World Series Team.

Notre Dame stud in waiting, Jimmy Clausen, may or may not have had surgery recently.

See you later, Matt Murton.

And finally, the Cubs actually won a one-run game last night and I'm certain it was in honor of country music night at Wrigley Field.

Morning Walk-thru - Fight Songs

I'm notoriously bad at keeping up with YouTube clips...so I owe a debt of gratitude, yet again, to DoubleExtraPoint for alerting me to the fact that the latest installments of the Project Husker series from DT were available for off-season consumption.

I doubt that there's anyone who use the Internet to follow the Cornhuskers who isn't well acquainted with the series, but I've still got some things to say about them. But first, the video...


Now, I never thought I would see Nebraska highlights set to the Arcade Fire and Tilly and the Wall in my lifetime, but it works surprisingly well. Bright Eyes, Saddle Creek and the whole Omaha scene aside, who knew Nebraska was so hip?

But that's the just the first part of season four. The second is available here, and it's interesting in a musical context as well. The video features music from the Lincoln band, The Balance, which just happens to feature my good friend Brett from the dear old HC.

It's always been a dream of mine to have someone edit highlights of my own mundane life and if I'm ever in a position to make that happen, I'll tap DT to twist the knobs or whatever euphemism exists for video editing. Of course, this would be interesting only to me but that's often the case with fantasies.

So maybe it's just the dearth of football talking, but these videos might just be more fulfilling than the seasons themselves. The heartache has already been lived and anticipation is further fueled.

If you were to tell me that we could start the season tomorrow but we'd have to feature Conor Oberst at quarterback I'd say line them up.

You can find all of the Project Husker series here. My favorite is still the first.

Bugs & Crankery...Not much more to the Morning Walk-thru today due to a new post over on Bugs & Cranks. Is the Rocket ready?

(Related Note: Due to some visitors from faraway lands this week and the fact that we'll be at not one but two Yankees-Red Sox games this weekend, HiPlainsDrifter.com will officially be in vacation mode starting on Wednesday or Thursday.

After three months of daily posting, I'm pretty pleased with the growth of the site considering I have no definable niche and basically write about anything that interests me, including too much Cubs coverage.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who visits and if I survive the weekend I'll see you in June.)

Morning Walk-thru - Karma...a foul temptress

Rumors of the Yankees death have been greatly exaggerated...The Bronx Bombers took two out of three from the Red Sox, trimming their lead to 9 1/2 games with only 117 left to play. I think it's a bit ridiculous to start counting games now. The debates started on Sunday: have the Sox buried the Yankees? Can a Rocket launch even help the Yankees overcome the light-years lead?

Three short years ago, such blatant tempting of fate would've been unthinkable here in New England. In fact, it still feels like an unnecessary luxury or even like a nervous giggle right before you get the crap kicked out of you, talking about a Sox lead in May. Bad Karma!

But after the ping pong balls set the Celtics back 7 or 8 years on Tuesday night, I say tempt away. There's now way one city can be asked to stomach the death of its storied basketball franchise and collapse against their arch-nemesis in one year right? These things have to even out.

Or do they?...Sean Marshall threw 104 pretty good pitches last night, but the only one that mattered was the one that got away. The Triple A call-up was cruising through 6 innings last night, holding the Padres to two hits and nursing a one-run lead, before giving up a single followed by a 2-0 home run to Kevin freakin' Kouzmanoff and that was it: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO and another one-run loss.

It was the Cubs 10th such loss this year, a season that's quickly shaping up to be one of the worst in recent memory. Not one of the worst teams, the team is actually good--we think--but one of the worst seasons because of the disparity between talent and results.

Almost exactly a month ago, I mentioned this exact plight on this very site. This week, Jonah Keri touched on it for ESPN.com. If you take a look at the Baseball Prospectus Adjusted Standings--which factor in a lot of important metrics, formulas and corollaries, both real and imagined--the Cubs are actually ahead of the the Brewers in the NL Central.

None of this makes me feel any better as it still leads to a painful, depressing conclusion: the Cubs are losing because they're the Cubs and I'm not quite sure how to handle that. I've had years of practice at overvaluing the squad, thinking they had a shot when they really didn't. That's easy. Been doing it for years. I was even excited when Henry Rodriguez joined the squad back in the day. I was delusional.

But this might be much worse. On paper, the Cubs are a National League favorite. But on that same paper, in a different section, they're still a sub-.500 team trying to stay alive in baseball's weakest division.

Whoever the cosmic accountant is has notoriously shoddy bookkeeping.

Morning Walk-thru - Sheffield of Dreams

A revelation...At its worst, sportswriting can seem somewhat parasitic. A bunch of guys who could never hit a 94mph fastball or even get the ball across half court in an NBA game criticizing and nitpicking non-stop. I'm as guilty of it as anyone but, with the above in mind, I do try to keep the negativity to a minimum. (The Cubs bullpen being the exception.)

Which is why I'm happy to report that Gary Sheffield is a pretty good guy. I know this because I spent almost an hour (including approximately 14 minutes of actual conversation) with the Tigers slugger yesterday while he was doing a book signing at my store here in Boston.

All in all he was a laid-back, polite, easy going sort of guy. Nothing like the malcontent I'd previously thought. He posed for pictures, signed memorabilia (despite posted notices to the contrary) and answered every question posed to him. Granted an hour isn't the biggest sample size but far more serious assumptions have been made based on far less.

Two particular gems from our brief conversation:

--I asked Sheffield about facing Dice-K the night before, specifically his 7-pitch toolbox and, while acknowledging Matsuzaka's major league talent, Sheffield said he only saw four of the magic pitches last night (fastball, forkball, change, slider.) Doesn't mean he doesn't have them, but you'd think if you pitch all nine you might try every thing in your repertoire.

--Second, Sheffield's advice for preparing to face a knuckleballer (i.e. Wakefield). You don't. "Sit back and swing up." Does anyone other than Wakefield even throw the knuckler at this point? Gary and I, see we're friends now, couldn't think of anyone else.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like Sheff and I were sitting around like old teammates in just stirrups and shower shoes shooting the shit. I just saw a couple openings and got two quick questions in and it's pretty satisfying to get a major league answer to both.

Just call me Rasheed Wallace...You heard it here first, the Suns will win tonight. Sure Diaw and Stoudemire are out with b.s. suspensions and that hurts Pheonix much more than Big Shot Bob's absence hurts the Spurs, but this is just one of those sports situations that has so often defied logic that it's become perfectly logical.

Call it karma or whatever you want, but the fact is, Phoenix will play up this victim angle to the fullest. They're at home, the crowd will be out for blood from the get go, and you just don't back a wild animal into a corner, even a three-legged animal.

Steve Nash could have one of the best playoff performances you ever seen tonight. Tune in.

What is this?...You know, I would've felt much better if the Babykillers (i.e. the Cubs bullpen) had given up at least a couple of runs in last night's 10-1 drubbing of the Mets. Not that I'm getting greedy. It was nice to see the bats explode last night, but what's the point of not giving up any runs when you've got nine to play with?

It's sort of like trying to beat Sunday Tiger on Tiger Woods Golf. He's not going to make many mistakes, but when he does, when you know you're going to pick up a hole on him, there's no need to use your TigerVision. This doesn't happen often, but when it does it's okay to two-putt.

I feel like the Cubs used up an Eyre-vision last night and I promise you it will come back to get them sooner or later.

Morning Walk-thru - The Middle "Jewel"?

Poor Pimlico...I remember reading a story two years ago leading up to the Preakness saying the race might move due to the dire financial situation at Pimlico. Can't say that I was surprised. I've been by the track, although never during a race day, and it looks like most horse tracks. Run down. Shady neighborhood. Starving, basically, and constantly reaching for the mythical, magical teat that is the slot machine.

But if you don't want to take my word for it, just take a look at Preakness.com. I'm no design maven, but I know something from 2002 when I see it. To compare, here's the Kentucky Derby website. It's got so many damn bells and whistles it will likely gum up your computer. Meanwhile the Preakness site is best viewed in Netscape Navigator.

Such is the difference between the two. Kentucky has the mint julep. The Preakness has something called the Black Eyed Susan, which I'm not sure really exists. Conceivably, you could go to a good bar with real bartenders and cocktails and order a mint julep although nobody ever does. But if you try to order a Black Eyed Susan, and you're in a good bar with real bartenders and cocktails, I suspect someone, likely a good bartender, will punch you in the face. It doesn't show up in Mr. Boston and that's to alcohol what the PGA rule book is to golf.

But it's more than just Pimlico, its underpaid web designer and fake signature drink. I'm also having a hard time getting up for the race itself. I have yet to sit down and take a serious look at all the newcomers for the Preakness, but none of them really grab me at a first glance. I'd be much more interested if we just let the three Derby horses, Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin, run a three-way match race.

That's how many think the race should end up anyway, why not just cut out all the riff-raff and not afford them the opportunity to bump, grind and otherwise ruin it for the real runners?

No Mo? Could be a problem...I was a wide receiver in high school. We called it a split end, but I wore a bunch of wristbands, had a two-bar face mask and always flashed some fancy shoes so I know what it's like to line-up out wide.

(In case you didn't know, high school football is the perfect metaphor for everything: college football, pro football, thermodynamics, Dr. Mario, etc. Playing high school ball immediately allows you to intricately understand every thing. Just ask someone who did.)

Anyway, after Maurice Purify was arrested, I was a little skeptical as to how much it would hurt the Cornhuskers. Sure he's our best receiver, but he's still a receiver, ultimately dependent on a lot of factors to even have a chance to make plays.

But now I'm not so certain. Jeff at DoubleExtraPoint (who else) has an eye-opening look at Purify's contributions last year. Just look at his third-down performance alone.

Maybe I'm just not used to having game-breaking receivers at Nebraska yet, but that's basically what Mo was last year. I hope he only misses the Nevada game because we might need him down in Winston-Salem.

Somebody is taking this ball and going home...To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of interleague play, MLB has designed a special logo featuring two screaming eagles, one red one blue, fighting to wrest a baseball from the other's talons.

That Seattle-San Diego series this weekend just got a lot more intense. The fate of the West Coast, and that ball, are at stake.

A literal walk-off...For four innings last night it looked like the Cubs were going to be given a game. Of course, they ended up giving it away.

The Northsiders went up 4-0 on the Mets on three balls that could've (should've?) been caught and I was feeling good. So good, in fact, that I made a special note to be thankful next Thanksgiving because this was precisely the sort of thing I'm constantly whining about happening to the Cubs, not for them.

Then the bullpen got involved. I'm seriously considering just calling them the baby-killers for the rest of the season because it's the only thing I can think of that's more distasteful than actually watching them pitch.

The Cubs lost 5-4 when Michael Wuertz walked Carlos Delgado with the bases loaded. Freakin' walked the Big Slump. I don't care if you have to throw it underhand, get the ball over the plate. There's always a chance he'll hit it right at an overachieving Ryan Theriot. But no, Wuertz gave him one at the eyes. Game over.

That marks the tenth loss for the bullpen this season. Say the bullpen won half those games, which seems more than reasonable for a group whose job it is to get outs. The Cubs would be 22-14 and only four games back of the Milwaukee Brewers, currently the greatest team ever assembled, in the NL Central.

What's better is that there's nothing you can do about this right now. You're not trading for anyone. There's nobody down on the farm. You just have to keep trotting the same guys out there.

I love baseball season.

Morning Walk-thru - Did you take your LAX today?

LAX is coming!...I noticed this happening near the end of the college hoops season, but college lacrosse is infiltrating the airwaves. Used to be, if you were a lacrosse fan, you could count on seeing three games on television each year: the two NCAA semi-finals and the championship on Memorial Day morning.

Now it's part of the Bottom Line on ESPN. The women's selection show was covered somewhere. The mythical ESPNU has been LAX-central all spring. What gives? Is lacrosse truly growing as a major spectator sport or are we just being force fed?

As much as I enjoy watching lacrosse, I'm leaning towards the latter. A couple of years ago, when hockey was mercifully absent, the "new" sport on ESPN was college baseball. Now that air time is going to lacrosse, but the sport has some major hurdles to clear before it even gets to College World Series status. Reasons like these:

• I know that the NLL is doing pretty well right now. The league has expanded to meet the growing western demand with teams in Colorado and Arizona, but finding MLS games is easier. Without a major pro league that people can actually see, the popularity of the college game is severely restricted.
• There are still large swaths of the country where nobody plays the sport. You want kids to watch? Let them play the game.
• Finally, lacrosse still has the Abercrombie & Fitch stigma of being a rich, suburban white kids sport. Not quite sure what you do about that.

Of course, if the sport still looked like it did originally (see above photo) there's no way I'd miss it.

The Oakland Myth shattered...After last Friday's game I wasn't sure it could happen, but Golden State finally lost a home game in the playoffs last night. (Embarrassing their mothers in the process.) The Jazz now lead the series 3-1 heading back to Salt Lake.

Like clockwork, the Warriors playoff hopes are being extinguished. Almost always happens after a huge upset. It's hard to shock the world twice in two weeks, and I'm not sure there's anything Nelly, on or off the postgame wagon, could do about it.

Sure, the Warriors might say that they believed they could beat Dallas, but nobody else did. When they actually started doing just that, it became a story. Golden State's victory became every non-Mavs fan's victory and that's a lot of hope and interest to have to carry.

Utah doesn't have that because a) people would be more surprised, with T-Mac's playoff record, to see Houston here, and b) nobody realizes that Utah is only one game away from the Western Conference finals because they look like North Carolina now.

SportsCenter goes to the bench...If you happened to catch last night's SportsCenter, you probably noticed that they paired Stuart Scott with Kenny Mayne. Actually, I don't know how you couldn't have noticed. Hasn't been such a large chasm in talent (and humor) between two people since the early-90s Bulls would pair Michael Jordan with Rodney McCray in the backcourt.

Mayne's "runnin' moonshine, cockfighting in the infield" quip with his vintage NASCAR clip was probably the best SportsCenter witticism of the year thus far.

Morning Walk-thru - The Exchange Rate

Cornhuskers on the Worldwide Leader?...Now that TBS is broadcasting teams other than the Braves, FoxSports is looking for a home for its Saturday night Big 12 games. Word on the street is that ESPN (or the Deuce) is the likely home.

I, however, am still skeptical. I'm not sure what the impetus is here for ESPN. As the column notes, there aren't many TVs in Big 12 country relative to every where else. But the other thing is the Big 12 hasn't been that good lately.

Sure, Texas won the national title two years ago and Oklahoma has been a factor year in and year out, but that's about it. I don't see you're average Big 12 match-up between, say, K-State and Missouri ever outshining the usual SEC Saturday night slot.

In fact don't be surprised if the Big 12 got the ESPNU treatment, which is certainly worse than TBS, Versus or even the NFL Network in my viewing area as I'm not sure ESPNU actually exists.

Or maybe they'll get the "Semi-Circle" treatment. None of the "family of networks" will actually televise the game. Instead, you'll just get Colin Cowherd talking about the game on ESPN Radio.

Sox sack Canada...That was fun. The Olde Towne Team went north and swept the reeling Bluejays, outscoring them 26-5 in three games. Boston hit nine home runs total and only two of them came from the Dominican Death Squad.

Yep, Mike Lowell homered in each game of the series, but don't get too excited. That's only 2.69874 home runs in the US.

MLS History...The World Cup it ain't. I'm sure you noticed this morning that the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake drew 1-1 last night. (It was the featured ESPN game after all. You didn't watch?)

This is notable because both goals were own goals--a first in the dusty MLS annals--which I think should count as a loss for both teams. Forget making MLS history, let's make sports history. When you're a fledgling sports league could there be another solution?

Morning Walk-thru - Perfection, Unattainable

Cornhuskers-Rainbow Warriors almost too close to call...Athlon, seductress that she is, is slowly unveiling their top 25 college football teams for next year and Nebraska checked in yesterday at #18.

It's difficult to know what to do with this information. For one, the season is still four months away so any ranking assumes that no Cornhuskers will be felled by TVs, overzealous bouncers, academic indifference or tornados/floods/drought/etc. Anyone believe that? Me neither.

The other problem is, we don't know who's ahead of Nebraska, just the seven teams who are lower. I guess the good news is, Athlon likes us better than Tennessee (#20), Auburn (#21), and Texas Ag. & Mech. (#23). The bad news is, we're only one spot better than Hawaii. The fact that Nebraska plays its games at a civilized hour has to have something to do with that.

To summarize: Preseason rankings are crap, but they're fun to look at and I would say 18 is just about right for a 2007 starting point.

Marquis flirts with perfection, but perfection is such a tease...Jason Marquis did not throw a perfect game last night. He retired the first 16 batters of the game, flirted with her for a while before the perfect game decided she was going to throw it all away and hook up with Don Kelly. Bitch.

Not to worry, however, as Marquis didn't lose his composure. He went the distance, got the three-hit shutout and realized that the frumpy girl in his chemistry class was actually a beautiful butterfly underneath the big hair and glasses.

Marquis is now 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA, and the Cubs doubled their total number of one-run wins on the season.

Preakness field rounds out, but where's Curlin?...The challengers are lining up to take on Street Sense. Hard Spun will be there and so will Teuflesberg off his 17th-place Derby finish.

Non-Derby horses include King of the Roxy, Xchanger and the unfortunately named, Mint Slewlep. (If I never see another horse with the word "Slew" in it's name, I'll be just fine.)

Word out of the Curlin camp should come today. Not only do I expect him to be there, I expect him to win...for now.

Morning Walk-thru - We're a contender now

Mas Boxeo, Por Favor...I didn't get to watch any of the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight because boxing still refuses to operate like an actual sport, making people pony up $54.99 to see the fight that was supposed to save boxing. If you want to to be more relevant than WWE how about putting your product where people can see it? In other words, on television for free.

I did see the highlights, however, and the first thing I noticed was Mayweather's trunks. The red, white, and green motif was nice little jab below the belt at De La Hoya's Mexican heritage. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

After talking with a friend who bought the fight and searching for a bit of evidence, Mayweather's entrance was precisely why I love boxing. He entered in the get-up pictured to the right, complete with sombrero and 50 Cent rapping, live, in a similarly colored bullet-proof vest.

Is there any greater spectacle in the world than boxing? It's absolutely ridiculous in the best way possible. Watch for yourself:



Now that's an exacta...I was already convinced that you couldn't have asked for a better sports weekend than this one just past. Horse racing and boxing? It felt like it was 1954 again which is pretty much my hope for any day of the year.

But then I began to wonder, if you're a celebrity, which event would you choose? The Derby is the Derby. Can't be beat but it happens every year at precisely the same time in precisely the same way. But fight night in Vegas is supposedly unparalleled. Additionally, with the late start for the fight, you're still in Vegas and could lose your house on the Derby before the undercard for De La Hoya-Mayweather even started. This wasn't such a difficult choice after all.

Of course, being rich and famous has its privileges. Primarily, you don't have to make tough choices. Why not do both?

Michael Jordan did. Here he is at the Derby. (Pay close attention to Charles Oakley in the background. He's wearing a lime green linen suit and white fedora that would make even Andre 3000 proud. Rarely has an enforcer looked so dapper, and I love that that's still his role. Jordan's right hand man. Could there be a better job?) And here's Jordan, in the same jacket, at the fight hanging with Jack Nicholson.

How much would you have paid to be on that flight from Lexington to Las Vegas, just having watched the Derby and knowing your day of debauchery had barely started? Talk about fantasy camp, that's mine.

Do you think Jenny McCarthy (Derby, fight) was along for the ride?

Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey in May...In case you missed it, the Cubs are undefeated in May after sweeping the Nationals with a come from behind, extra innings win yesterday.

It was the Cubs first sweep of the season, their first win in extras and their first win when trailing after the 8th.

Alfonso Soriano extended his hitting streak to 15-games while Derrek Lee has hit safely in 14-straight and reached base in every single game this season.

You gotta love the NL Central. Where else can you go from last to second (at 15-14 no less) in the length of a week?

You're probably saying hold on, it was only the Nationals, you're supposed to sweep them. That's precisely the point. You are supposed to beat the Nationals at home and the Cubs did, but simply doing what you're expected to do is so often a challenge for Chicago.

They seem to be doing that...for now.

Great Hunter Shot Down? - The post Post Draw post

The NFL Draft should be so easy. In barely more than hour, using little cardboard cut-outs of jockey silks, they drew for post positions in Louisville Thursday. There were winners and losers and Mike Battaglia's morning line, all of which you'll find below.

Basically, we've got some information now so let's get started.

• I was starting to love Great Hunter (15-1). He's beaten Street Sense, the best horse in the field in my opinion, his speed figures are right there and he had an excuse in the Bluegrass Stakes. Now he's breaking from the 20th post, as poorly placed as possible. Fantastic. Thank you cruel fate.
• Stormello (30-1) was in over his head anyway, but he could've been a pacesetter in this race. His name would've been called most of the way around the track, the owner's silks would've gotten prime TV time. But now, breaking from 17, he's just another speed horse fighting to get inside.
• Street Sense is right in the thick of things, literally. He opened as the second choice at 4-1, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't end up as the people's choice.
• It might be time to reconsider Hard Spun (15-1). Sure he may have left his race on the track with his freakish workout on Monday, but out of the 8 slot he's in the right place for a big run. Now all that's left to see is the betting publics reaction to that workout. Will more people jump on or jump off?
• Oaklawn's dual champ, Curlin (7-2), drew the second post. Now, you can't discount what Curlin has done thus far this year. What you can discount is the fact that this is his only year. How will this lightly raced horse deal with starting in what amounts to the Derby's aisle seat, getting bumped and bruised in the sprint to the first turn?

So there you have it, some starting points. Talk amongst yourselves.

*UPDATE: For a my decidedly unscientific analysis of some of the contenders for FOXSports, click here.

Morning Walk-thru - She shines with her own kind of light

Live from Lincoln, it's Saturday Night! ESPN/ABC/Disney released the confirmed college footbaw games for their Saturday night primetime telecasts yesterday and it's an interesting slate. Tennessee-Cal open the season Sept. 1 in an intriguing rematch from last year. I'm sure the mustard-clad Bears will be particularly spicy considering the embarrassment they endured in Knoxville in 06.

Two weeks later, it's USC @ Nebraska and I'm already salivating. The game was already going to be big as the Cornhuskers are still looking for a marquee win that says "we're back." But when you throw Keller into the mix it gets even better. He's got something to prove after tossing 5 INTs the last time he faced the Trojans. Win that game, in what is sure to be the craziest night in Lincoln in some time, and Sam will never buy a drink in Nebraska again. (After he completes his eligibility of course. The NCAA is everywhere!)

After that it gets a bit dicier with Wazzu visiting LA the week after, followed by Notre Dame doing the same two weeks later against UCLA.

Papelbon blows it...A save that is. Sadly, he won't be perfect on the season. First Dice-K pitches like a mortal, now this. With the Red Sox payroll, is infallibility too much to ask?

Can't win for winning...Even when the Cubs are winning, they're not really winning. After fighting back valiantly to take a 6-5 lead against the Pirates in the 7th, the game was suspended due to rain.

Now all Chicago has to do is come back today, play out the rest of their game with a one-run lead, then turn around after a half-hour break and win again.

Do you think Vegas even takes bets on the odds against the Cubs winning two games in one day?

Baron & the Boys are going to regret this...For an extended amount of time last night, I really thought we were going to see the biggest NBA story unfold since Kobe's 80-point outburst last year. After going down by 21 early, Golden State climbed all the way back and looked like they were about to really beat the Mavericks. The Warriors were flying around, making threes, pounding their hearts and laughing--laughing--right in Mark Cuban's face.

But when it came down to it they couldn't, or didn't, deliver the death blow. Dirk Nowitzki realized that there was a playoff game going on around him, spurring a 15-0 run with a couple of threes to close out the game. We'll see how Golden State recovers back home.

I know one thing, I don't want this series to end. Watching games in Oakland reminds me of the good old days, and the "on-the-brink-of-the-biggest-upset-ever" tension has made even Mark Cuban speechless.

The next round fate of both teams is probably already written. Dallas survives and they can just make reservations for the conference finals. You don't survive something like this as a 1-seed and feel like you've cheated death. Meanwhile, if the Warriors win the road ends for them in the next round. You expend too much energy and emotion to keep it up.

Point is, enjoy it while it lasts.

Big in Kentucky...My recent FOXSports.com column, shamelessly linked in the post prior to this one, resulted in my first ever piece of hate mail and I couldn't be happier.

A native Kentuckian wrote to tell me she was "disgusted" by what I wrote, the whole hats and crying thing, and also assertiedthat I didn't care and/or knew nothing about the sport.

"Not everyone cares about football, basketball or baseball," she said and that was entirely the point I was trying to make.

Perhaps I should be more concerned with clarity. Nevertheless, it's always good to know someone is reading.

Morning Walk-thru - Where my dawgs at?

Unbelievable...I never thought that I would see anyone approach the level of utter depravity displayed by Lawrence Phillips, but Michael Vick might be right there with him.

Virginia police searched a house owned by Vick after arresting the man who lived there on some pot charges. While there, they found nearly 60 dogs and "items associated with dog fighting."

At this point, these are all allegations and an investigation is pending, but can it get any worse for Michael Vick? Or how about his attorney, Larry Woodward, who has had the good fortune of representing both Michael and his equally crazy lil' brother, Marcus?

The good news is PETA is now involved, urging Falcons owner, Arthur Blank to kick Vick to the curb should he be found guilty of involvement in dog fighting.

If there's anyone who can rival the brothers Vick in terms of craziness, it's PETA. Should be an interesting little episode. Can we get the South Park guys on the phone?

Sammy Sosa sets record, but still wants to win...With two home runs yesterday in a 9-4 loss to Cleveland, Sammy Sosa added Jacobs Field to the list of parks in which he has homered. It's his 44th and a new major league record. Congrats, I think.

Sammy says, "It's nice to have that record, but I would have enjoyed it more if we had won."

With both Bonds and Sosa, public enemies number one and probably three in the great steroid caper, in the top ten in their respective leagues in home runs, does this offer any sort of redemption for the pair of sluggers? Is it safe to assume that if they were juicing before, they aren't now and they're still hitting homers thereby demonstrating at least some sort of natural talent?

I'm not sure yet, but it's a question we're all going to have to ask ourselves soon enough because Bond's is breaking Aaron's record and Sosa could have 600 before June.

More on this as I sort it out.

The new NFL Draft hats are here!...You're never going to believe this, but they're awful. By my count, this marks the 37th straight hat released by the NFL and/or Reebok that's been ultimately unwearable by anyone who has any self-respect.

This year's version is mesh ('cuz the kids like trucker hats, right?), features a white bill that is guaranteed to stay clean until you try it on at the store, a team color sandwich brim and mini-bill that contains the team name, and two contrasting color stitches just because they could.

Really, how hard is this? I'm honestly beginning to wonder if these "official" NFL hats are just a cruel joke played by immaculately coifed Reebok designers on overweight, balding football fans.

Is there any other explanation for all the white and stripes and moisture-wickingness lately? Let me tell you what you need: wool, one logo or letter, two colors and if you have to have an NFL or Reebok logo, put it on the back.

Everybody's happy and they all look like Joe Gibbs.

Morning Walk-thru - Hey! Hey!

What the hell is going on here?...The Cubs finally gave Ted Lily (2.18 ERA) some support yesterday and beat the Brew Crew 9-3. The win leaves Chicago at 8-13, good enough for last place in the NL Central and the second worst record in the National League. But why have they been so bad thus far?

I ask because the Yun' Ball Coach brought up this interesting stat via email: the Cubs have actually scored more runs (97) then they've allowed (84). The only other team in the division that can make that claim is Milwaukee and they're in first place, but their run differential is a paltry one, while the Cubs have scored the second most runs in the division and given up the second fewest.

And they're in last place.

The statistical oddities continue. Below are the Cubs offensive rankings going in to yesterday's action (NL rank, Central rank):

H (2nd, 1st), 2B (1st, 1st), HR (9th, 4th), RBI (6th, 2nd), TB (4th, 2nd), BB (13th, 5th), SO (5th, 1st), OBP (9th, 2nd), AVG (3rd, T-1st).

Based on those stats, it's hard to see how the Cubs are in the Central cellar. In three of the categories (H, 2B, AVG) they're leading the league and in three of the other "good" ones they're trailing only Milwaukee. Of course, they're leading the division in strike outs and are second worst in walks, but even with that, they're still one off the lead in OBP.

Must be the pitching. Let's look at some of those numbers:

ERA (6th, 2nd), R (7th, T-2nd), HR (15th, 6th), BB (11th, 6th), SO (1st, 1st), WHIP (3rd, 2nd), AVG (2nd, 1st), OBA (3rd, 2nd), K/9 (1st, 1st), H/9 (2nd, 1st)

.

The bad stats here are pretty glaring, home runs and walks, but in every other category the Cubs are right in the mix (and nowhere near the worst team in the Central.) So, to ask the titular question, what the hell? Why aren't the Cubs at least .500?

I really don't know. I guess it comes down to the old playoff cliche: timely pitching and timely hitting. Over the long run they have been pretty good, but in the impact stats HRs and BBs they're struggling both offensively and defensively.

On one hand, this could be an encouraging sign. Eventually, these stats will have to show up in the won-loss ledger, right?

On the other, it really depresses me as it confirms something I've long suspected, the Cubs are bad because they're the Cubs.

Let's play two, dominate 90% of the statistical categories that matter, and lose them both.

WarrNuggs can't complete their waltz across Texas...After being shocked on their home floors in the respective Game Ones, San Antonio and Dallas both responded with victories.

Game Two is always the most important game in any seven-game series. It's the fan's first chance to see how players, coaches and teams respond to the information gathered from the first game, and, unfortunately for me and anyone else hoping for an upset, it went pretty much by the book.

Golden State and Denver both looked impressive in small spurts, but Dallas and San Antonio each did what they had to do. Conventional wisdom says that if you're the road team all you hope for is a split, but it still feels like the Texas heavyweights have things under control.

What fun is that?

I can't wait to read about this on 38pitches.com...Orioles broadcaster, Gary Thorne, said during last night's game that Doug Mirabelli had told him that Curt Schilling's bloody sock from the 2004 ALCS was a fake. Painted for publicity not bloodied and sodden with shear courage.

Of course, every Red Sox representative scoffed at the notion. Mirabelli called Thorne an (expletive). Theo used an (expletive). Schilling will probably never speak to a media member again.

But the solution seems pretty simple. Pull the sock out of the HOF and do some tests. This will never happen, however. The stakes are too high. The sock is part of baseball lore now, a mythic talisman commemorating the end of the Curse. What would happen if it was a fake?

Interested to see how this plays out.

Morning Walk-thru - Ouch

A-Rod hits two homers and nobody cares*...Alex Rodriguez hit his 13th and 14th home run of the season but it didn't matter as the Yankees lost to the Devil Rays 10-8.

That makes four straight for the Yankees, and, personally, I love it. Sure, they only have half a team, but it's always good to watch the "good" guys struggle.

Sawx lose, but I enjoyed it...Happened to be in the second row for the Sox loss to Toronto last night, but it was all worth it considering I was in basically the on-deck circle for the Jays. Frank Thomas is huge. Greg Zaun is not. These were more than foul ball seats, they were broken bat seats.

Can't ask for much more than that.

Cubs continue to kill me...Despite going up 4-0 on the Brewers with Zambrano on the hill, the Cubs still lost in 12 innings 5-4. I'm not sure how much worse it can get,

Of course the Cubs got their chances but two home runs by Prince Fielder, a member of the Fruit Jar Drinkers, killed the Cubs.

Someday they'll get a break, I swear. The question is: will it matter? I'm doubtful.

Coming soon...my first ever post in the Big Red Roundtable series. For those of you who are non-Nebraska fans (shame on you), feel free to skip this whenever it appears this week.

* Forgive the brevity. Today's post was severely hampered by last night's Jays-Sox over indulgence.

Morning Walk-thru - Good 4 Evil 2

Denver does San Antonio...The Nuggets beat San Antonio at home last night, to take a 1-0 lead in the opening round playoff series. The Nuggets! In San Antonio!

Denver might actually be able to make some noise this spring. They have one of the best scorers in the game in Anthony and perhaps the toughest player of the modern era in Iverson. (That's more than the Lakers can say. They have the scoring part and little else.)

Both of the Nuggets stars showed up big on Sunday with Melo putting up 31 and the Answer 30. Each of them were perfect from the free throw line.

The only thing I can see holding the Nuggets back is George Karl. Is it too late for Phil Jackson to join the Nuggets? That's basically what he does right?

With or without Jackson, the Nuggets are officially my rooting interest in the West and I'll root, root, root for the Bull-ies in the East.

Don Nelson Does Dallas...And if one playoff upset wasn't enough, Golden State beat top-seeded Dallas in one of the toughest places to play in the league. Baron Davis had 33 pts, 14 rebs, and 8 assts, and Mark Cuban had one giant puss on his face (to borrow from The Sopranos). The difference here is, as opposed to the Nuggets, that the Warrior have no chance of beating Dalls in a seven game series.

In fact, I'll be shocked if this one doesn't end up 4-1 Mavericks.

Dice-K still mortal, but that's good enough...While we're still waiting for Matsuzaka to display the sake-esque mind bending powers we all know he has, he did beat the Yankees in his first ever start in the rivalry, scooping up the first sweep of the Bronx Bombers in Fenway in 17 years.

It took the long ball, including back to back to back to back homers from Ramirez, Drew, Lowell and Varitek, but Boston completed their third straight come back win in the series. I don't want to read too much into one late-April series, but it was nice to feel like no matter what happened, the Sawx were going to find a way to get it done.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised, however, considering the current state of the Yanks. It's been a while since I've watched New York and had no idea who three or four of the players were. They trotted out a slew of average white guys with average white guy names (Colter Bean, Chase Wright, Josh Phelps), even throwing Andy Pettite in relief after he'd just thrown on Friday. They'll be back, but for now, on this rivalry weekend representing the eternal struggle between heaven and hell, it's White Hates 4 Black Hats 2, because...

The Cubs lost .667 of the games they played this weekend...With the wind blowing out yesterday, the Cubs fell in the 10th to St. Louis and dropped 2 of 3 to the epitome of evil at Wrigley Field. The fact that Chicago even got to the 10th is a minor miracle considering they went down two in the top of 9th, then lucked into two runs on a wind-aided fluke single from Mark DeRosa. Somehow the Cardinals didn't put the game away until the 10th as the Cubs bullpen, one of the only consistent areas of success for the Cubs thus far, allowed the lead-off man to reach in the 8th, 9th and 10th innings.

That eventually catches up to you. You can't give Albert Pujols too many opportunities to be Albert Pujols and he finally burned Ryan Dempster with a three-run shot to put it out of reach.

Despite all that, I don't feel too bad about the Cubs after this weekend. They've been bad, but if they can pick up a couple of wins against the Brewers they'll have survived April. Two wins and they're knocking on the door for second in the division.

This is the most optimistic I've been following a Cubs loss--to the Cardinals no less--in quite some time and I don't have a reson for that. Maybe I'm delusional.

Deep thoughts...You know what's better than seeing this guy score a 62-meter goal(that's 200+ feet, America) in the Bundesliga? German, that's what. Makes this video at least four times better.



Photo: Getty Images

Morning Walk-thru - The difference between the Red Sox and Yankees in two pitches

A Rivalry Reduced...Yesterday Alex Rodriguez hit a walk-off, three run homer to beat the Indians. This was his second walk-off of the season. Nobody's hit two game winners that fast in the past five years since the all-time MLB legend Pat Burrell who had two in the first nine games in 2002.

Good for A-Rod, but Manny Ramirez also made his first dinger of the season momentous, hitting a two out, two-run homer to tie the Jays after a solid performance out of Doc Halladay. There was a key difference, however, and it involved the post contact celebration that says all you need to know about the Red Sox and Yankees.

(I wish these clips were on YouTube, but they're not, so you'll just have to bear with me.)

Rodgriguez hit his game winner and reacted like a little leaguer, tossing his bat and throwing his hands into the air in a "Do you love me now, New York?" gesture and then tossed his helmet between third and home and did the same thing before bouncing on home plate and getting all slap happy with his teammates. (Here's the post swing photo.)

Ramirez, on the other hand, did his usual "I'll just drop the bat here and walk a few steps" before breaking into a trot. That says, "I know this makes me look like a jerk, but it's not my fault. You really shouldn't thrown a pitch right there." This has always been my favorite post-home run theatric in the game. It's no longer good enough to simply "act like you've been there before."

Not with Manny around. You have to act like you do it every damn day. That's what "the walk" says, and A-Rod looked like he'd hit the first home run of his career.

What better way to lead in to the first Yankees-Sox series of the season?

UPDATE: Bob Ryan's thoughts on the rivalry in today's Boston Globe were particularly prescient.

Hate to credit the Sooners, but this is classy!...I grew up as a Nebraska fan knowing one thing: we hate Oklahoma. My first ever Husker game was the 1987 OU-NU battle and I fear that the rivalry is lost on kids weaned on the Big XII. That said, it pains me to admit that this is probably the best thing I'll see until college football actually starts in September (courtesy of the always amazing Wizard of Odds).

Former Sooner Billy Simms, a current partner in Billy Simms Barbecue, has painted the inside of his restaurant's toilets burnt orange and affixed them with a Texas Longhorns logo. That's what college football is all about. Ridiculousness camouflaged by regional pride.

I'd like to take issue with the fact that Simms has "Mini-Huskers" on his menu but I can't really do that considering OU dominated NU while he was there.

Nevertheless, I'd probably go there should I ever find myself in Oklahoma just to piss on Bevo.

Rich Hill has been extremely lucky thus far...I don't really believe that but I've been specifically asked not to mention Rich Hill's 3-0 start or his 0.64 ERA or 0.57 WHIP for fear of jinxing the lone bright spot for the Cubs and expediting the inevitable freak elbow tightness.

As a Cubs fan, that makes perfect sense.

Who's fantasy is this?...My fantasy Fruit Jar Drinkers have had a nightmarish week. Here are four players I've lost this week alone: Vladimir Guerrero, Alfonso Soriano, B.J. Ryan and Felix Hernandez.

God, this is fun.