Notes from Big Ten media day

Our day started with a video reviewing the officiating points of emphasis. This year, they will be focusing on targeting defenseless players and hitting with the crown of the helmet.

Also, the horse collar tackle is now illegal, but only if the player is brought down immediately with the play. They showed an example where a defender caught the guy behind with the horse collar, but it took him a few steps to get him down. That is not supposed to be a penalty. I think that's an odd line to draw.

And, as usual, there is an emphasis on unsportsmanlike conduct. In short, just about any individual celebration of a play is going to get flagged. Anything remotely choreographed will get flagged. Any goose-stepping, flying leap, or other gyrations into the end zone will get flagged. It won't be long before bands get flagged for playing the fight song. Some probably should.

I hope to as Dave Parry, the coordinator of officials, about some of these things tomorrow when he is available.

There is one other rule change that got a lot of mention today. There is now a 40-second play clock that begins when the previous play ends. That figures to speed up the game a bit. Also, when a player goes out of bounds, the clock will now start when the ball is "ready for play" instead of at the snap, except in the last two minutes of each half.

Gone is the 5-yard incidental face mask penalty. Now, only the 15-yard variety gets called. Face masks must get twisted, turned or pulled to get the flag. Also gone is the sideline warning. Now, the sideline just gets penalized for delay of game. There's no warning.

The top three teams predicted by the media are Ohio St, Wisconsin and Illinois. The preseason offensive player of the year is OSU RB Beanie Wells, and on defense, it's James Laurinaitis.

Generally, everyone in the media agrees that it's OSU and everyone else fighting for second. Penn St, Michigan, Michigan St and even Purdue are teams mentioned as possible runners up. Iowa and Northwestern are considered dangerous as well. Indiana and Minnesota bring up the rear, but neither is truly horrible.

Illinois coach Ron Zook spoke first. Like everyone (except Joe Tiller), he's excited to be here. That's because he hasn't lost yet. He is focused, as are his players, on making sure that last year wasn't a fluke. He thinks his defense could be very good, but his team still has questions. For example, who will replace Mendenhall and Leman?

He was asked about the biggest difference between playing Missouri this year and playing them last year. Zook said that last year, the coaches were still trying to teach the team how to win. This year, they know they can.

Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald was next. He spoke about how there were some positives last year, but that they were not satisfied with a six-win season. He compared it to how things were 13 years ago when he came to NU as a player. Back then, "if we would have had six wins, we would have had a parade down Central Street, shut it down and had a purple party here in Chicago. Things are changed and I'm excited about that."

There are a lot of new faces around Fitzgerald. He has new coordinators on both sides of the ball, and a new boss in AD Jim Phillips, who Fitzgerald called "a great role model for sleep deprivation." But QB CJ Bacher and RB Tyrell Sutton are back, so NU figures to score a lot of points.

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema was having a good time. He talked about looking forward to back-to-back night games at the Madhouse saying, "Hopefully Wisconsin fans, if they have a couple more hours to relax in the stadium parking lot, we'll have a festive environment."

On Michigan's conspicuous absence from the media top three, he said it was a "misprint." After two more questions about Michigan, he chuckled and said, "it's good to be at a Michigan press conference."

He also patted himself on the back for picking Illinois as last year's conference sleeper. He hedged when asked this year, but came up with Michigan St or Indiana.

Tiller spoke next. He pointed out that 15 probable starters missed all or most of spring practice, so he knows less about this team than usual. That makes fall training camp even more important. He's glad to have a QB as experienced as Curtis Painter, so at least he doesn't have to worry about that.

He said that having his successor on the staff (OL coach Danny Hope) is not a distraction at all because Hope was an assistant to him before and because they get along so well.

He was asked about some of his most endearing relationships with coaches on his staff or other at other schools. He said that he generally gets along well with pretty much everyone. "I like to think that if you can't get along with Joe Tiller, there's something wrong with you." He singled out Penn St coach Joe Paterno, "probably because I'm the closest one to his age."

He also felt that the one thing he'd miss is the camaraderie with his coaching staff. He said that they "gen-u-ine-ly" like each other and said that how well a guy might fit in with the group is at least as important as skills when he hired assistants.

Jim Tressel hasn't read Carson Palmer's grade-A trash-talk yet, but he said things like that don't bother him. He also hasn't seen Terrelle Pryor practice yet, so he hasn't figured out how he'll be used.

He said (facetiously) that the fact that OSU is the overwhelming favorite does concern him because he thinks these picks haven't always been accurate.

Indiana coach Bill Lynch now carries the mantle of dullest speaker now that Lloyd Carr is gone. He did hint that Kellen Lewis' return to the team from a suspension doesn't mean he's a given to start at QB. He really likes backup Ben Chappell, who is more of a drop-back style QB.

He also said now that they have accomplished the goal of Play 13, the next goal is to win that game.

Lynch was also asked, given that IU plays eight home games this year, if they gave any thought to playing one of those games up in Indianapolis, where the questioner said they have a "tremendous fan base."

He said that they want to play all the games in Bloomington they can, so they aren't considering playing in Indy. However, the correct answer is that they have a tremendous basketball fan base in Indy. IU fans still don't really care about football and don't sell out their own stadium, so why play in an even bigger stadium in Indy?

After Lynch (and lunch) was MSU coach Mark Dantonio. His 15 minutes can be described by only one word: Outstanding. He used it 13 times to describe everything from his recruiting, to his schedule, to his tie. OK, I made up the bit about the tie.

When someone asked him about being the sleeper, he said his team expects to win every time they take the field and that their goal is to win the league. If they pull that off, it would be, um, outstanding.

Tim Brewster of Minnesota has figured out how to keep the media from asking him stupid questions. He doesn't leave them any time. The format of this event is that each coach has 15 minutes for some opening remarks and then some questions. Brewster is so wired that caffeine would probably bring him down. He started talking. And talking. And talking. By the time he stopped for air, almost ten minutes of his time was gone. He only had time for four media questions.

The short version is that he feels that they have to get a lot better on defense if they're going to have any success. That happens not with better schemes, but with better players.

JoePa was next. He dispensed with the opening remarks, so we all asked him Minnesota questions.

No, I'm kidding of course. We all asked him, over and over, when he was going to retire. This was after he said he got tired of answering that question because he doesn't know too many ways to say "I don't know." At one point, he got frustrated and spelled out "I D O N T K N O W"

He also chastised one writer for asking him how Terrelle Pryor would impact Ohio St. "That's a dumb question, even though you're a Penn St grad. You should ask Tressel."

He also felt honored to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, but said, "when you've been around as long as I have, they gotta do something with you."

Iowa's Kirk Ferentz started by talking to us about the weather damage in Iowa this summer and how that has affected everyone there. Reporters were more interested in the sexual assault scandal going on there.

You can see the story here.

He did say that he hopes to hire a life skills adviser, or what he called a "Player Development Coach," to help players make better decisions.

He was also relieved that former Indiana WR James Hardy is now gone. "He doesn't have a brother or cousin there (at IU) does he? No? Good. We didn't cover him for three years. It was like he had poison ivy."

Finally, it was time for the new guy, Rich Rodriguez of Michigan. He said he was sorry he missed Tiller because he had "a new concoction of snake oil to show him."

Mostly, people wanted to know about the goings on with West Virginia. He said that they settled the lawsuit because it needed to be put to rest so everyone could just go forward. He also said that he was sorry he didn't get his day in court to clear some things up.

There were three recurring themes that most coaches were asked to address.

What do you think of the perception that the league is down based on BCS results of the last two years?

In general, the coaches all feel the league is very competitive top-to-bottom. No surprise there. Tressel in particular felt it was unfair to paint the whole league because if his team's performance in the title game the last two years.

Why do you think the spread offense is so popular?

It's gives defenses trouble because it spreads the field. It also forces them into basic packages because you can just as easily run a four deep pattern as an option out of the same formation. You can also use it with almost any personnel. Although many run it with mobile quarterbacks, Purdue, for example, uses it with pro-style QBs.

What is retiring Purdue coach Tiller's legacy?

Zook: "He's a great football coach, he's been around and won an awful lot of games, and the things he's done with the Purdue program speaks for itself. Tiller's has come in and put Purdue in the upper echelon in the Big Ten, not once in a while but consistently. To be honest with you, I'm glad we don't play them this year"

Fitzgerald: "I think Joe Tiller will always be looked at in the Big Ten as an innovator on the football field. He'll be looked at, I believe, within our coaching ranks, as someone who has never changed who he is, his personality has always been the same, a tremendous sense of humor, and I'm very excited to have Coach Tiller move into retirement. (He's) been a tough on us at Northwestern against him. Just look at our record. I'm honored to call him someone I've had a chance to be a colleague with."

Bielema (who wasn't asked): "I'm a big Joe Tiller fan because he can walk in here without a tie. If I got up here without a tie, I'd get heckled, so I admire a guy going into his last year and can wear what he wants and no one is going to say anything."

Tiller: "I think number one, a number of people are still curious about me. Some
of the comments I've made, I'm coming here, by the way, from Wyoming and I'm going back to Wyoming to finish a little more trout fishing here before we head back to West Lafayette. I think the fact that when I went to Purdue they had 12 non-Bowl seasons and maybe 11 of the 12 had been losing seasons, what have you, to the fact where we've been competitive every year and will be once again this year, probably that's what most folks will refer to I suppose."

Paterno: "He brought in a whole new concept of what you could do, and he did it with a lot of class. I'm very fond of Joe. I'm sorry he's leaving."

Commissioner Jim Delany capped off our day. He was pretty sick with the flu, but if you only listened and didn't see him, you wouldn't know.

The one interesting thing he said was about the BCS meetings where the discussion took place as to whether or not to look into expanding the format. He said that two conferences were in favor of examining the idea - not in favor of expansion - just looking into it. He said they weren't really committed to expansion itself, at least not yet. The other five parties (four conferences and ND) weren't interested. The whole discussion took about two hours. He said that the Big Ten and Pac 10 have been taking all the heat for blocking a playoff, but really, there isn't a big movement anywhere for one. It's not just them.

More tomorrow.

Big Ten Media Day Live Blog - cancelled

It turns out that once again, internet access does not exist in the interview room. I'll post something at the end of the day. I might also get something up during lunch.

The order of the speakers today is:
Ron Zook
Pat Fitzgerald
Bret Bielema
Joe Tiller
Jim Tresssel
Bill Lynch
(lunch break)
Mark Dantonio
Tim Brewster
Joe Paterno
Kirk Ferentz
Rich Rodriguez

They start at 10:30 and go until 2. At 2, Jim Delany takes the floor for about an hour.

You can also watch all of this on Big Ten Network.

Brees gets another weapon

The Saints traded a couple of future draft picks to the NY Giants for TE Jeremy Shockey, giving Drew Brees another weapon in the Saint offense.

Brees has always been good to his tight ends. He helped make Tim Stratton at Purdue a Mackey Award winner and an all-American. He and Antonio Gates had a good thing going in San Diego as well. So Shockey can expect to get the ball if he gets open, which is what he does best.

Shockey was moved because of an attitude problem in NY. With the Saints, he's reunited with coach Sean Payton, who was his offensive coordinator his rookie year, which remains his best season, statistically. The Saints are counting on a change of scenery creating a change of attitude, and a very productive year.

Another Uggly loss for NL

Some thoughts and notes from the all-star game.

It took a record-tying 15 innings, but the AL finally pushed the NL off the Lidge (Brad, the losing pitcher) for a 4-3 win.

In terms of time, it was the longest game ever.

Every available player on both rosters got in the game.

Winning pitcher, Scott Kazmir of Tampa Bay, wasn't supposed to play, but manager Terry Francona ran out of arms.

JD Drew was the MVP, and he deserved it.

Dan Uggla was easily the LVP, and turned in quite possibly the worst performance ever by an all-star. He was 0-4 at the plate with three strikeouts and a double play. On the DP and one of the strikeouts, he had a chance to give the NL an extra-inning lead by driving in a runner from third with less than two outs. He also made three errors, all by failing to field a ground ball cleanly. He fumbled another grounder as well, but still managed to get the out. Two of the errors came in one inning, but none of them led to a run.

It was a rough night for some others too. The umps blew calls on at least two tag plays, one at second and one at home. Even announcer Joe Buck made three silly mistakes, like miscounting hits and confusing positions.

Honoring the Hall of Famers is nice, but MLB went overboard. It took longer to announce the starting lineups (and not even in order) than to play the first four innings of the game.

Tim Lincecum of the Giants missed the game because he had been hospitalized that morning with flu-like symptoms. Still, I thought they should have "introduced" him with the rest of the NL reserves, and announced why he wasn't there. Instead, they just skipped him entirely, like he wasn't even named to the team.

The locals had kind of hit-and-miss games. Kosuke Fukudome, Geovany Soto, Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede were a combined 0-9. Aramis Ramirez batted once and walked. He immediately came out of the game for a pinch runner (who was caught stealing). The pitchers fared better though. Carlos Zambrano faced six hitters in two innings. He got a double play after giving up a hit in the third, and picked off a runner in the fourth. He was in line to pick up the win for the NL before Drew's HR tied the game. Ryan Dempster struck out the side in the 9th and Carlos Marmol struck out two of the four hitters he faced in the 13th. The only runner against Marmol reached on an Uggla error.

Washington SS Cristian Guzman played 3B for the rest of the game after pinch running for Ramirez, even though he has never played the position in the big leagues.

Colorado pitcher Aaron Cook pitched three adventurous innings, but didn't get scored on. In the 11th, he faced five hitters, the first four of which reached base. One was wiped out on a caught stealing and another was thrown out at home. Both of those calls were questionable.

Pretty bold of Budweiser to go on with the ad campaign referring to Bud as the Great American Lager, don't you think?

I could go the rest of my life and never hear another word about Yankee Stadium. And I like the place.

Billy packs it in

Billy Packer is gone from the airwaves of college basketball. CBS and Packer mutually agreed to end their relationship, and Packer will not broadcast ACC games on Raycom either. Packer says he is working on other college basketball projects.

Presumably, that will not involve learning about the tournament selection process. For a guy who was supposedly intelligent, that was a subject upon which he was woefully ignorant. I suspect that was by choice. I used to dread the part of the selection show where he would get to interview the selection committee chair because he would usually beat the drum for some completely irrelevant cause. My favorite was a couple of years ago when he whined ad nausem about the selection of several non-major at-large teams instead of middle-of-the-road ACC teams because the ACC had a better tournament history. As if that had ever mattered.

I have to say, I never really enjoyed listening to him call games either, mostly because he didn't seem to enjoy it. He seemed to be knowledgeable on the air, but there was no joy in his work.

Fortunately, I didn't watch him much because I have been to the last several Final Fours in person.

You may have noticed that I said he seemed knowledgeable "on the air." Off the air was different, and I say that from personal experience.

I met him when I was working at Michael Jordan's charity golf tournament in Chicago the summer before Glenn Robinson was to start playing for Purdue. I asked him if he thought the addition of Robinson would make Purdue a contender in the Big Ten and he said, and I quote, "I don't know. I never watch Purdue." He was a bit surly about it too.

I was floored. He has a reputation for being unpleasant off-camera, and he did not disappoint in that regard, so that's not why I was surprised. I could not believe a major national basketball analyst like him would admit to knowing nothing about Purdue.

I suppose he could have just been blowing me off, but it's not like I asked him about Prairie View A&M. You know, as annoying as Dick Vitale can be at times, he could tell you something about Prairie View. He has a passion for the college game. I just never got that from Packer - on air or off.

He'll be replaced by Clark Kellogg, who will be an improvement. Kellogg has always been one of my favorite analysts and it will be great to have him back courtside. Not that he was bad in the studio, but he should be doing games.

Team charter gets no break

The Cubs added a NL record-tying eighth all-star to the roster today when recent whipping boy Carlos Marmol was selected to replace Kerry Wood, who will miss the game with a blister.

Marmol was selected because he had the highest vote total among relief pitchers on the players' ballot. He is the only pitcher on either roster who is not a starter or a closer.

The last team with eight all-stars was the 1960 Pirates. The 1958 Yankees had nine. Of course, two Cubs will not play because of injury (Wood and Alfonso Soriano) and a third, Ryan Dempster, may not be available because he pitched today.

The Cubs go into the break with a 4.5-game lead over St. Louis in the division and are tied with the Angels for the best record in baseball.

Oh, and let's not neglect the White Sox, which are also in first. They have a 1.5-game lead over the Twins at the break after both teams lost today.

It's the first time since 1977 that both teams were in first at the all-star break. Neither team made the playoffs that year. Here's hoping both teams get it right this time.

Cub All-star count falling

Cub All-stars are dropping like flies hit to Brant Brown.

Alfonso Soriano was officially replaced on the roster this week by Mets' 3B David Wright after Wright failed to win the final fan vote. Colorado's Matt Holliday will take Soriano's spot in the starting lineup.

Now, Kerry Wood has a blister on his finger and won't be able to play. He has not been replaced on the roster yet because the injury was only discovered yesterday.

By the way, that does not excuse Lou Piniella for leaving Carlos Marmol in to blow a five run lead against the Giants in the ninth inning yesterday. When Marmol is good, he's unhittable, but when he's bad, nobody is safe out there. Not the hitter, not the catcher, not the umpire, not even the guy in the on-deck circle. It's not hard to tell when Marmol is off his game because he misses the plate by feet, not inches.

Marmol hasn't been good much lately, and yesterday was no exception. Piniella did have the sense to get Sean Marshall up in the pen, but even after Marshall was ready, he left Marmol in to implode. Marmol's last outing was the other night against Cincinnati. He had a four run lead when he took the mound in the ninth. After getting the first two guys out, he lost it. He gave up a hit, threw a wild pitch, and walked two more before Wood came in and got the third out. This time, Lou didn't pull the trigger, and the lead went away.

That poor decision cost Rich Harden a win in his debut with Cubs. He pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10. It was a hot, humid day and he threw 96 pitches, so that's why his day was a little short.

The Cubs did come back and win in the 11th with a rally started by a lead-off single by Marshall, so the only victim of Piniella's slow hook was Harden.

However, Marmol's ineffectiveness has to be a concern going into the break. In his last 12 appearances, dating back to June 19 at Tampa, Marmol has retired every batter he has faced only four times. Keep in mind that he rarely pitches for more than one inning. In the other eight trips to the mound, he has given up 14 runs, 13 earned, 11 hits, 10 walks, 4 hit batters, and has watched his ERA balloon from 2.09 to 4.13.

Probably no Cub needs the all-star rest more than Carlos.

Decluttering my life

I haven't written for a few days because I have been very busy preparing for, then executing, a garage sale.

There are two parts to a garage sale, deciding what to sell, and pricing it. Deciding what to sell is pretty easy for us. With four kids, and no more expected, we can try to get rid of clothes, toys and other things our youngest has outgrown. We also have a lot of furniture that we have acquired over the years, so we put the stuff sitting in my basement out as well. And then we grabbed a handful of things that we no longer used out (ok, junk) to see if we had any takers.

Pricing things is harder. Some of our furniture came from my grandmother and is pretty old, if not outright "antique." Some of it is in better shape than others. Some of the things we wanted to get rid of pretty badly, and some we wouldn't be disappointed to keep.

We ran our sale for six hours each on Friday and Saturday, and I was surprised that we made about the same amount of money each day. I thought Friday would be slower because it was a work day, but it was just as busy as Saturday. We did not sell any of our larger furniture items (couch, dining room set), but we did dispose of a dresser and some smaller tables and chairs. We were also able to find a home for a lot of our baby items, including a crib, bassinet and pack 'n' play.

And, amazingly, just about every knick-knack and piece of junk we were hoping to get rid was sold. We got rid of things like an old shake machine, a stationary, recumbent bicycle, and a couple of plastic, indoor trees.

One of the things I was least looking forward to was haggling, but even that wasn't too bad. Sometimes, people would ask if I would take a specific lower price for something (which I would accept or not based on how badly I wanted to be rid of the item), but most people just payed whatever I asked, or left it.

My expectations for this experience were pretty low. I didn't think I'd move very much. I didn't think I'd make enough money to make it worth my time. I was leery of having so many strangers traipsing about my place, even on the outside. I have to say though, it was a lot better than I thought. I can't say that I was "hooked" and that now I'll become one of those garage sale junkies, like the people down the street from us who have garage sales almost every week. I will probably try another one though. Just not this week. I need a nap.

Cubs answer Milwaukee

The Cubs went out and got one of the top starting pitchers in the AL when they acquired Rich Harden from Oakland.

The right-handed Harden is 5-1 with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts. He has 92 strikeouts and 31 walks in 77.2 innings. He missed most of April with an injury, and that's the rub with Harden. He seems to be a bit fragile. He has not made more than 12 straight starts since he did that in 2005. That might concern the Cubs a bit since his current streak is 11.

The good news about his injuries is that he hasn't had surgery. Yet. But when healthy, he's been one of the best in the American League.

The Cubs also got Chad Gaudin, a righty who made six starts early in the season, but has been in the bullpen ever since. He is 5-3 with a 3.59 ERA.

Gaudin will probably be middle relief/setup, a similar role to that of Bob Howry and Scott Eyre. Obviously, he could spot start as well.

The Cubs gave up Sean Gallagher, a young guy who could have a promising future. They also gave up journeyman OF Matt Murton, OF/2B Eric Patterson (the Cubs also traded his brother Corey a couple of years ago), and minor league C John Donaldson, who is expendable because of the emergence of Geovany Soto. Donaldson played Ryne Sandberg at class A Peoria.

Harden, by the way, is from Canada. One of the Cubs best pitchers ever, Fergie Jenkins, is also Canadian. He will make his Cubs debut Friday or Saturday against San Francisco.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better top three starters than the Cubs have in Zambrano, Harden and Dempster.

The Cubs have also reportedly signed their top draft choice, TCU P Andrew Cashner.

Cubs better watch their backs

The Brewers picked up CC Sabathia from the Indians (for a ton of minor league talent) yesterday, sending a message to the Cubs and Cardinals that they intend to be in the Central race for the long haul.

Sabathia and Ben Sheets become one of the best 1-2 starter combos in the league. They're right up there with Brandon Webb and Dan Haren of Arizona, and the Cubs' Zambrano and Dempster.

There was talk that the Cubs would be in the market for Sabathia, but the Brewers made them an offer of minor leaguers that the Indians couldn't refuse and that the Cubs likely wouldn't have matched. The big name going to Cleveland is AA star Matt LaPorta, who already has 20 homers and 66 RBIs this year. LaPorta was Milwaukee's first round draft choice last year.

The Indians also got two other minor leaguers and a third as a "player to be named."

Real All star rosters

The all-star rosters have been announced, and there were a couple of surprises.

The AL starters held form. David Ortiz was voted as the starting DH, but because of injury, was replaced in the starting lineup by Milton Bradley of Texas, who was elected to the roster by the players.

Other AL reserves elected by the players include:

C: Jason Varitek, Bos (.218, 7 HR, easily the worst player elected by either fans or players - quite possibly the worst player ever selected as a reserve)
1B: Justin Morneau, Min
2B: Ian Kinsler, Tex
SS: Michael Young, Tex
3B: Joe Crede, Chi
OF: Carlos Quentin, Chi
Grady Sizemore, Cle

The players also selected pitchers Roy Halliday (Tor), Scott Kazmir (Tam), Cliff Lee (Cle), Jonathan Papelbon (Bos), Mariano Rivera (NY), Joakim Soria (KC), Frankie Rodriguez, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders (Ana).

Francona had five choices, but had to pick players from Baltimore, Detroit and Oakland, who were not represented among the players chosen by the fans and other players.

He picked Orioles' P George Sherrill, P Justin Duchscherer of the A's and Tigers' OF Carlos Guillen. He also picked Tampa's C Dioner Navarro and Twins' closer Joe Nathan.

So, five of the 24 players I would have chosen as pitchers/reserves were not among the 23 chosen on the AL squad today. I had AJ Pierzynski, who isn't terribly popular among players, Placido Polanco as the Detroit rep, Dice-K, Sox OF Jermaine Dye and Tampa 3B and desperate housewife Evan Longoria.

Longoria and Dye still have a chance. They are among the five "final vote" candidates. Fans can vote at mlb.com for one last player. The other candidates are Jason Giambi of NY, who will win, Baltimore 2B Brian Roberts, and KC OF Jose Guillen. I would vote for Dye.

In the NL, a last minute race between Kosuke Fukudome of the Cubs and Milwaukee's Ryan Braun for the final starting spot in the outfield ended up securing both of them spots and knocking out Cincinnati's Ken Griffey, Jr. In fact, Braun ended up the leading vote-getter at the position. So instead of Fukudome getting left off for the Cardinals' Ryan Ludwick, it was Junior who didn't make it.

The other NL starters were the same as the week before.

The player-elected reserves are:

C: Russell Martin, LA
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD
2B: Dan Uggla, Fla
SS: Miguel Tejada, Hou
3B: Aramis Ramirez, Chi
OF: Matt Holliday, Col
Nate McLouth, Pit
Ryan Ludwick, Stl

They also elected pitchers Aaron Cook (Col), Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood (Chi), Brad Lidge (Phi), Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson (SF), Ben Sheets (Mil), Edison Volquez (Cin), Brandon Webb (Ari).

Clint Hurdle's picks were SS Cristian Guzman, Washington's only representative, Atlanta C Brian McCann, pitchers Dan Haren (Ari) and Billy Wagner, the lone Met so far, and two guys that I cannot believe were not elected otherwise, Albert Pujols of St. Louis and Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs.

I missed on six reserves for the NL (counting that I mentioned I would take Ludwick if a spot opened for him). Two of the guys I missed, OF Carlos Lee (Hou), who gets my vote, and Pat Burrell (Phi) are among the five last chance finalists. The others are NY 3B David Wright, who will win, OF Aaron Rowand (SF) and OF Corey Hart (Mil).

One of those guys may get added when it is finally determined that Alfonso Soriano can't play. That's not official yet.

A couple of Cubs all-star notes. Soto is the first rookie to be elected to start as the NL catcher ever. He is also the first Cub catcher to get the honor since 1937 (Gabby Hartnett). Ryan Dempster's last all-star appearance was as a starter in 2002. He's a starter again, but last year, he was the Cubs closer. Kerry Wood's last all-star appearance in 2003 was also as a starter, but now he's the Cubs closer.

There are seven Cubs on the squad (even without Derrek Lee), and no other NL team has more than two. The Red Sox also have seven all-stars.

All-Star Rosters

Not that Clint Hurdle and Terry Francona asked, but here's who should make the MLB All-Star teams, which will be announced tomorrow.

Note that I am listing 32-man teams, but only 31 get picked tomorrow. The fans then vote on each league's 32nd player, and that winner is announced July 10th. Also, each team has to be represented. Actually, I'm listing 33 because each team has a player who will be voted as a starter that will miss the game with an injury.

Kosuke Fukudome may not make the team if he doesn't get voted on. He's the only player among the likely starters in that position. If he doesn't make it, I would expect Ryan Ludwick (Stl) to take his place.

*- Likely starter

AL
C: *-Joe Mauer, Min
AJ Pierzynski, Chi

1B: *-Kevin Youkilis, Bos
Justin Morneau, Min

2B: *-Dustin Pedroia, Bos
Ian Kinsler, Tex
Placido Polanco, Det

SS: *-Derek Jeter, NY
Michael Young, Tex

3B: *-Alex Rodriguez, NY
Evan Longoria, Tam
Mike Lowell, Bos

OF: *-Manny Ramirez, Bos
*-Josh Hamilton, Tex
*-Ichiro Suzuki, Sea
JD Drew, Bos
Jermaine Dye, Chi
Carlos Quentin, Chi
Grady Sizemore, Cle

DH: *-David Ortiz, Bos (Inj)
Milton Bradley, Tex

SP: *-Justin Duchscherer, Oak
Roy Halladay, Tor
Scott Kazmir, Tam (L)
Cliff Lee, Cle (L)
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos
Ervin Santana, Ana
Joe Saunders, Ana (L)

RP: Joe Nathan, Min
Mariano Rivera, NY
Francisco Rodriguez, Ana
George Sherrill, Bal (L)
Joakim Soria, KC

By team (starters): 7-Bos(4), 4-Tex (1), 3-Ana, Chi, Min (1), NY (2), 2-Cle, Tam, 1-Bal, Det, KC, Oak (1), Sea (1), Tor

NL
C: *-Geovany Soto, Chi
Russell Martin, LA
Brian McCann, Atl

1B: *-Lance Berkman, Hou
Albert Pujols, Stl (DH)
Derrek Lee, Chi
Adrian Gonzalez, SD

2B: *-Chase Utley, Phl
Dan Uggla, Fla

SS: *-Hanley Ramirez, Fla
Jose Reyes, NY

3B: *-Chipper Jones, Atl
Aramis Ramirez, Chi

OF: *-Alfonso Soriano, Chi (Inj)
*-Ken Griffey, Cin
*-Kosuke Fukudome, Chi
Xavier Nady, Pit
Carlos Lee, Hou
Pat Burrell, Phi
Ryan Braun, Mil
Matt Holliday, Col

SP: *-Brandon Webb, Ari
Tim Lincecum, SF
Ben Sheets, Mil
Dan Haren, Ari
Edison Volquez, Cin
Carlos Zambrano, Chi
Johan Santana, NY (L)
Aaron Cook, Col

RP: Kerry Wood, Chi
Brad Lidge, Phi
Billy Wagner, NY (L)
Jon Rauch, Was

By team (starters): 7-Chi (3), 3-NY, Phl (1), 2-Ari (1), Atl (1), Cin (1), Col, Fla (1), Hou (1), Mil, 1-LA, Pit, SD, SF, Stl (1), Was

Falling off the mountain

Last year, Dario Franchitti was on top of the racing world. He won the Indianapolis 500, only the second Scot to do so, and followed that up with a IRL series championship as well. He did all that as a member of Andretti Green Racing.

He saw that as an opportunity to follow the money to NASCAR. He signed with Chip Ganassi's team to drive the #40 car, becoming the first European to drive on the good ol' boy circuit. Things have not gone well for Dario since.

As of now, he is 41st in the point standings. That has him just above the Kyle Petty line (the NASCAR equivalent of baseball's Mendoza line). He has only started 10 races out of 17 and has finished in the top 30 only twice. His best finish was 22nd at Martinsville at the end of March. He missed the entire month of May with an ankle injury suffered in a NASCAR minor league race at the end of April. Two weeks ago, he failed to qualify at Sonoma, and had another DNQ earlier at Texas.

In racing though, all of that is forgivable as long as the sponsors are happy. But, in Franchitti's case, he didn't have a sponsor. He was running on Ganassi's dime and yesterday, Ganassi decided it was time to cut his losses. He announced that he was shutting down the #40 car for the year.

All this just 13 months after taking a sip of milk at Indianapolis.

Don't feel too bad for Franchitti though. At least he's still married to Ashley Judd.

Sign of the day

"Get Fireworks Here!" outside one of the 100,000 fireworks shops in Dyer, IN. The thing that made this one different is that it was hung on the side of an ambulance.

Minor league umps who belong there

I was gone camping last weekend with my son's Cub Scout den, so I missed most of the Cubs-Sox rematch, which ended up a Sox sweep (payback's a pitch). However, I did get to watch some of the Sunday night game, during which two minor league fill-in umps showed why they are still in the minors.

The trouble started pretty quickly. In the bottom of the second, Joe Crede tried, but failed, to check his swing on what would have been strike three, except that home plate ump Rob Drake didn't call it a swing. On the appeal, first base ump Chad Fairchild also blew the call.

That set Lou Piniella off. He came out of the first base dugout and took a few steps toward Fairchild, and yelling at him about the call. Fairchild held up his hand and told him not to come out. Piniella stopped, and slowly headed back toward the dugout, still yelling at Fairchild.

Meanwhile, Drake moseyed over from home plate and threw Piniella out of the game - while Piniella had his back turned to him. In fact, Piniella never said a word to Drake, and didn't even know he had been ejected. Drake had to give him the thumb at least twice because Piniella didn't see it the first time. That really set Piniella off. He got right in Drake's face and gave him the business, following him all the way back to the plate. The third base ump finally came in to intervene and break things up.

Not a whole lot went right in this situation. Both umps blew the call. You're not allowed to argue balls and strikes (something the announcers overplayed), but debating whether someone swung the bat is different that arguing pitch location. It's more like arguing whether a ball is foul or fair. Piniella should get some leeway to debate that, and Fairchild - correctly - seemed ready to give him a smidgen.

Drake was way out of line ejecting Piniella. If anyone was going to do that, it should have been Fairchild. Drake wasn't even part of the discussion. It's one thing to have your partner's back, but at least wait for him to need the help. Fairchild isn't a baby. I'm sure he can take care of himself. In fact, he seemed to have the situation quite under control. Not five seconds had elapsed between the time Piniella came out of the dugout and Drake's ejection.

Later in the game, Fairchild blew another call on a play at first. Ronny Cedeno beat a throw, but Fairchild called him out. Manager pro tempore Alan Trammel came out to argue, and once again Drake moved into position to interfere, but Trammel finished before Drake could scratch that itchy trigger thumb.

Rough night for both guys (and I haven't even talked about Drake's strike zone yet). It was the kind of performance that gets you optioned back to AAA.

Marmol finally gets hit

I was watching the Cubs last night when Carlos Marmol came in to pitch the eighth inning. Marmol was greeted with a leadoff single to right, which prompted Cubs announcer Len Kasper to point out, "that's the first hit he's given up since June 8th."

Of course, that doesn't mean he'd pitched well. In fact, he had been stinking up the joint lately. He hadn't given up any hits because he wasn't throwing strikes. He made seven straight hitless appearances before last night, and the first four of those were solid. But, last week against Tampa, he walked the first two batters he faced, then hit the next two, plating a run. Scott Eyre then came into the game and gave up a granny to Carl Crawford, so Marmol was charged with four runs, even though he didn't allow a hit.

In his next outing against the White Sox, he walked the bases loaded before allowing a run on a wild pitch. He did manage to get out of the inning unscathed otherwise.

Finally, in the first game against Baltimore, he seemed to have settled down some. Although he did hit another batter, he didn't allow anything else.

So, in three outings totaling two innings, he walked five, hit three more, threw a wild pitch and gave up five runs.

But no hits.

There's no need to fear, Wonderdog is here!

Fresno St won the College World Series 6-1 over Georgia last night, capping a remarkable postseason run.

Fresno entered the tournament with an RPI rating of 84, which basically means they only got into the NCAA tournament because they won their conference tournament.

Like basketball, the baseball tournament is a 64-team field. OK, technically, the men's basketball tournament is 65, but set that aside for the moment. In baseball, teams are broken into 16 regionals with the teams seeded 1-4 in each region. Fresno was a 4-seed in their region. That makes them roughly the equivalent to a 13-14 seed in the basketball field. So, Fresno winning the CWS is like Valparaiso winning the men's basketball championship.

Not just making the final four. Winning the whole thing.

For some perspective, when George Mason made the basketball Final Four in Indy three years ago, they were a 11-seed.

Oh, and the Bulldogs did all this without their best starting pitcher, Tanner Scheppers, who missed the CWS with an injury. Scheppers was the second round choice (48th overall) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wonderdogs, indeed.

For more coverage of this event, check out Eric Sorenson's Extra Innings blog.

Gorilla Ball

Rule #1 of attending a game is, "never leave your seat." That comes from when I took a friend of mine to his first Cubs game back in 1984. He got up in the bottom of the sixth to get a beer, and while standing in line and watching on TV, he saw his empty seat during the seventh-inning stretch as they showed our sheet sign, and then he saw it again a couple of batters later when a Cubs home run hit two rows below us in the right field bleachers. That was it for the Cubs offense in the game, and he missed it in the beer line. At least the Cubs won.

Apparently, this applies to watching on TV also. Last night, I was watching game two of the College World Series final between Georgia and Fresno St. I got to it a little late because of eating dinner, and when I turned it on, it was 5-0 UGa, withe Georgia still batting in the top of the 3rd. A few minutes later (now bottom 3rd), I had to put the little kids to bed. That only took 10-15 minutes, and when I came back, Georgia was up again in the 4th, but the game was now tied at 6. At the end of that inning, I went out to put up my grill - a relatively short task, but when I got back to the game, it was 8-6 Fresno. Runs were being scored at will, but only when I was away from the television.

I did manage to catch the last 15 runs of the game though, a 19-10 Fresno win that extends the series to a deciding game tonight. Pitchers, especially Georgia's, were hiding in the clubhouse, hoping not to get called into the game.

Check out my friend and CSTV colleague Eric Sorenson's coverage on his Extra Innings blog.

Not quite the big time

We had a chance to go see the Gary/South Shore Railcats on Saturday night. The Railcats play in the independent Northern League, with teams from Joliet and Schaumburg, IL, Kansas City, Fargo, and Winnipeg.

This is an interesting level of baseball. Most of these guys are minor league rejects. Some are local guys who tried out and latched on. A few are former major leaguers.

We saw Gary take on the Schaumburg Flyers, who has former Pittsburgh Pirate Jermaine Allensworth playing center field. Allensworth (who is from my wife's hometown of Anderson, IN and a fellow Boilermaker), played a few years in the bigs, kicked around the affiliated minors for a few more, and has been in the Northern League for the last five season. He played two years for the Railcats.

Guys like Allensworth stand out. He's better than everyone else. He never blows the routine play in the field. He has a polished swing. He doesn't make the silly baserunning error. You can tell he played pro ball once. He's just not good enough to anymore.

The rest of these guys might not be good enough to play on the teams I watch in the College World Series. There is a fair amount of slop (the home pitcher, warming up right before the start of the game, threw a wild pitch and the catcher overthrew second base by 30 feet on the throw down). The players play hard though, so it's fun to watch. They certainly aren't playing for the money. They get paid, but nobody makes a living.


Put me in coach!

Gary plays at the US Steel Yard, which is a nice, relatively new minor league joint. It seats about 6000, but almost none of it is in the outfield. There are a few seats near the RF line, and a hot tub section next to that, but otherwise, all the seats are in foul ground.

Like most minor league parks, there is a lot geared toward the kids. They even have a playground behind the hitting background in CF. There is also train tracks that run just past the left field wall, so we'll get a train going by every once in a while that gets every kid's attention. There are also not one, but two mascots, Rusty and Rascal. Rusty was my two-year-old daughter's favorite. They have kids competing for prizes between almost every inning. They also get to run across the outfield during one inning break.


My daughter's first crush

I missed quite a bit of this game (Gary won 6-5). I had the longest wait ever in a concession line - and I have been in a lot of concession lines. The line itself was short, but the guy right in front of me was ordering dinner for his family of six. It took the dimwitted woman trying to process this almost twenty minutes. Just waiting on this one guy, I missed the last two batters of the top of the fourth, the entire bottom of the fourth, and the first four batters of the fifth. I also spent an inning with my kids in the playground.

The game is almost besides the point though. The point is for the family to have a good night out without going broke, and we managed that.


We were all a little bleary-eyed when it was over

RIP George Carlin

He was one of the funniest [several words you can't say on television] comics ever.