Happy Tuesday!
It’s a Happy Tuesday for me because after checking out a BUNCH of work at Artscape Sunday; I think I’ve decided what I’m going to purchase. I Twitpic-ed some of these the other day.
Apparently Robert McClintock is originally from Wilmington, Vermont. Somehow he might be even more Charm City than any of the rest of us. I’ll be purchasing BOTH his American Visionary Art Museum and Brewers Hill prints…
And I don’t know too much about Robert Florio, but I know I’ll be picking this piece up from his last game…
Let’s see what everyone has to say…
1. The AP’s David Ginsburg says Wade Davis cruised as Rays topped Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Once again, I find myself saying “at least they didn’t bother wasting too much energy in this one.”
Of course, they could have had the decency to get it over quickly-instead of forcing the handful of folks who bought tickets to stick around awhile.
Chris Tillman nearly no-hit the Texas Rangers before the All-Star Game. What a weird weekend that was in Arlington. I’m surprised they didn’t have an earthquake in The Lone Star State themselves instead of it happening in Germantown.
Miguel Tejada and Adam Jones combined to go 0-8 and left a combined 7 men on base. You could have checked the box score (coming up next) to get that info, but we all know I’m going to re-direct you to an attractive gal instead.
Matt Albers and Cesar Izturis were kinda okay last night. So we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice…
Is this the part where we stop praising Juan Samuel for the fact that the players looked like they were playing harder for him? Or do we keep going with that?
Hell, is anyone even paying attention at this point?
2. The AP/WNST.net provide numerical evidence of loss
Scott Moore scored the Orioles’ lone run last night if you’re intersted. I don’t think you are, but I guess you never know.
Obviously you don’t want to look at this.
Instead, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley snapped some new photos for Victoria’s Secret before she appears in Transformers 3. Go look at those. We’ll talk after. (Thanks Guyism!)
3. Carroll County Times’ Josh Land says Luke Scott called back up, Frank Mata sent back down
I can’t believe SportsCenter lead with something else!!!
The O’s roster will be in flux for the next couple of weeks, with plenty of decisions to be made. Following Scott; the Birds expect to get Mike Gonzalez, Brian Roberts, Kevin Millwood and Matt Wieters back in the semi-near future; and Jim Johnson could return just after that.
Josh Bell figures to be a roster casualty at some point; but others on the team will either have to be traded or released to make room for everyone. There’s a few guys on the team I might even be willing to consider pitching in and helping them pack their bags.
Speaking of guys who might be traded…
4. SNY’s Matthew Cerrone says New York Mets checked out Jeremy Guthrie
Which was first reported via Twitter by Fanhouse’s Ed Price. I usually try to stick to reporting things like “they’ve got really good paella at Artscape” on Twitter myself (you can follow us @WNST).
Earlier this season, the Orioles gifted the Mets INF Justin Turner-but I doubt they’d be willing to do with Guthrie. I’ve heard Ruben Tejeda’s name thrown around in trade rumors thus far by a few folks. Tejeda is hitting .212 this season with 4 doubles and no home runs. Don’t we already have him on the roster?!?!?
If I’m Andy MacPhail, I’m more than willing to consider any trade offer for Jeremy Guthrie at this point. I’m just also reasonable in my understanding that I’m not fleecing ANY team in MLB for Guthrie.
Unless of course it’s Woody Guthrie; as the ability to trade a man who died 43 years ago would probably be enough to get an impressive trade return. Plus…I mean…he did “This Land Is Your Land”…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s[/youtube]
5. The Sun’s Dean Jones Jr. says Brian Roberts 2-5 with a double in first rehab start for Bowie Baysox on farm
And before we move on from the Orioles, a few things worth pointing out…
-The Birds are back in action tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays; as Jake Arrieta faces Matt Garza at OPACY. First pitch on MASN2 is at 7:05pm. Matt Garza looks a lot like Greg Maddux every time he faces the Orioles, so I don’t have too much hope.
-Michelle Obama is going to throw out the first pitch tonight. The Orioles have sent out a bunch of security notes about getting to the stadium early. Do they think people are actually going tonight? I know it’s Jason Berken t-shirt night, but I’m pretty sure that even with heightened security there won’t be too much trouble getting into the stadium.
-If you missed Rays PBP voice Andy Freed (a Towson native) this morning on “The Morning Reaction” on AM1570 WNST; make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today here at WNST.net to check it out. Also on the show this morning, we took a look around Major League Baseball with Newsday’s Ken Davidoff; and we were joined in-studio by Fearon Wright of the undefeated Baltimore Mariners-as they prepare for the AIFA Championship Bowl Sunday at 4pm against the Wyoming Cavalry at 1st Mariner Arena. They’re both in the Audio Vault as well.
Fearon was smart to turn around his Yankees hat before posing…
6. BaltimoreRavens.com’s Ryan Mink says Ken Hamlin to wear #45, Marc Bulger #9, Walt Harris #38
…at least for Training Camp.
Marc Bulger wore #10 with the St. Louis Rams; but Troy Smith will be wearing that number at McDaniel College. I’m not saying Bulger will be “stalking” the number; but like The Miz told Sheamus last night on WWE Raw (Edit from GMC: Yeah, I watched…and it was actually pretty good last night); “Every beath you take, every move you make, I’ll be watching you.”
Bulger knows that Troy Smith could be dealt or released before the Monday Night Football opener at The Meadowlands; which would allow him to re-take the Number 10 from the former Heisman Trophy winner.
On the flip side, I don’t think there’s a scenario where Ken Hamlin gets his number back from Dawan Landry. Unless maybe he has a spare DeLorean lying around to offer in exchange…
(Edit from GMC: There was a DeLorean at Artscape. Had Doc Brown showed up and asked me to roll out with him, I would have been GONE…)
7. USA Today’s Jarrett Bell says Joe Flacco becoming ‘leader’ of Ravens team with Super Bowl aspirations
A lot of folks were worked up by the comments Joe made about Marc Bulger after his autograph signing this weekend. I wasn’t.
One of the reasons I said I WASN’T over the moon about the Ravens acquiring Bulger was because I didn’t think it was the right thing to do for the team’s chemistry and establishing Flacco as “the guy.” Most NFL players would probably tell you that salary isn’t relevant; but in this case-I don’t think it is EVER okay for a team’s backup QB to be making more money than the team’s established, unquestioned starter.
I know for certain that Joe Flacco, Troy Smith and John Beck had a VERY good working relationship. Does that mean Marc Bulger can’t step in and also be part of that? Not necessarily, but it isn’t a guarantee he will be either. He said the right things in his conference call last week, but this is still a guy who has been a Pro Bowl QB during his career and will bring a ton of pride with him to Owings Mills.
I think things will be fine. As I’ve said before, they’ll be especially fine if Marc Bulger never takes a regular season snap in purple and black. Had Kyle Boller been so fortunate, he’d have been remembered in a much better light in town.
8. The Sun’s Jamison Hensley says Antwaan Randle El considered signing with Ravens before signing with Steelers
In a related story, before I ever got together with “The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet”, I considered dating Behati Prinsloo (Thanks Totally Crap/Busted Coverage!)…
Oh, and Antwaan Randle El-you’ve played for the Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers in your career. I’m glad you didn’t come to Baltimore. It would have been more difficult to root for you than it is to root for the Orioles.
9. WNST.net’s Ryan Chell says Kurt Warner expects Anquan Boldin to “bring an amazing leadership, competitiveness, and toughness to the football field” with Ravens
If you missed Rex Snider’s TREMENDOUS chat with the future Hall of Fame QB Saturday night during WNST’s “Curing Cancer One Call At A Time” marathon to raise money for the Cancer Center at Harbor Hospital; make sure you head over to the BuyAToyota.com Audio Vault today to check it out.
I’ve spent the better part of the 2 years since I moved back to Baltimore from Phoenix extolling the virtues of Boldin; who has absolutely TREMENDOUS for the Arizona Cardinals during his career. If you didn’t listen to me, I’d hope you would listen to Kurt Warner. I know I always did.
There are a slew of other interviews from the marathon this weekend in the Audio Vault; including Ravens LB’s Dannell Ellerbe, Tavares Gooden and Jameel McClain; Ravens exec Eric DeCosta, as well as Olympic figure skater Kimmie Meissner, ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, former tennis star Zina Garrison, former Terps guard John Lucas and former Governor of the Old Line State-the great Robert Ehrlich. All of those interviews (and more) are also available in the Audio Vault.
10. The Daily Record’s Liz Farmer says ticket sales slow for Inter Milan-Manchester City match at M&T Bank Stadium
This is BAD news. I knew ticket sales were slow; but having only around 30,000 tickets sold at this point is really dreadful.
It would be okay for there to be empty seats in the upper deck when this game happens next weekend; but to have the majority of the stadium empty would reflect poorly on the city’s hopes to get World Cup matches as part of the USA bid for 2022 (or 2018).
I sat in a mostly empty RFK Stadium to see Team USA face Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier last fall. I’m well aware that not every soccer match in every city is going to be sold out-but some cities have a better soccer pedigree to fall back on. DC is one of them. Baltimore is not at this point. We need to build the evidence that we are. The atmosphere for Chelsea-AC Milan last year started that, but there needs to be more.
An empty stadium to see the UEFA Champions League winner face another major European power will not be compelling evidence that the city is ready for the biggest sporting event in the world. Hopefully there will be an uptick in the next 10 days, but I have a bad feeling here.
11. Washington Post’s Mark Giannotto says former Terrapins DL Dean Muhtadi has chance to make Arizona Cardinals roster
This is a great read about how Muhtadi was given a chance to work with Cards DL Darnell Dockett, Minnesota Vikings TE (and former Morgan State Bears star) Visanthe Shiancoe and former Philadelphia Eagles RB Brian Westbrook this offseason thanks to a recommendation from Cardinals strength coach John Lott. It looks it could pay off in Muhtadi getting a real look at making the roster when the team reports to Flagstaff for Training Camp later this month.
I’d really encourage you to read this story today. In fact, if I could encourage you to do any two things today, it would be to 1-read this story; then 2-figure out ways for me to get Caitlin Hixx’s attention (Thanks NextRound.net!)…
12. The Sun’s Jeff Barker says Jeff Hathaway’s selection as NCAA basketball chair for ’11-’12 clouds his candidacy to replace Debbie Yow in College Park
Folks whose opinions I value seem to split on exactly what this means as far as Hathaway’s likelihood for staying at UConn. Should he leave UConn, he’d have to give up his spot-which is considered one of the most prestigous gigs for an Athletic Director to get. Should he stick in Connecticut; he’d likely have to wade his way through sanctions (and considering what happened at USC they could well be major) surrounding Jim Calhoun and the Huskies’ basketball program.
It’s certainly a 50-50.
We discuss potential sanctions for a bunch of schools (including North Carolina and Florida) during this week’s D1scast, which is available now in the Audio Vault. A quick plug for my buddy Patrick Stevens-whose site is now JUST D1scourse.com; having got rid of that pesky “Typepad” that made introducing him quite the mouthful.
And finally, I leave you with this.
This week’s “Greatest Song of All Time This Week” is a bit off the map. I hadn’t heard of Chiddy Bang before this weekend; but apparently they blew up thanks to “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory”, a show I will admit to enjoying the time or two I’ve still poked over to MTV. The song is a cover/sample/interpretation(?) of MGMT’s “Kids”…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5151GwT-DSI[/youtube]
Flexing my mic muscles since 1983…
-G
