1. July 2008 by gchacko.

LeBron James listed New York as his favorite city on Monday, which is fueling speculation that he can end up playing there as a member of the Knicks or Nets.

“My favorite borough? Brooklyn,” James said, choosing the proposed future home of the New Jersey Nets over the borough of Manhattan, where the Knicks play their home games. “Brooklyn is definitely a great place here in New York City, and some of my best friends are from Brooklyn, so I stick up for them.

“They have a right to dream about it, and I can’t take that away from them. My friendship was way before Jay was part-owner of the Nets, and I loved the Garden way before I got to the NBA,” James said. “For some reason when I get to the Garden I always play well, so they want me to do it 41 games instead of just two nights a year.”

Posted in Misc NBA, Knicks, NBA | No Comments »

1. July 2008 by Glendo.

Last night in Florida, Rays manager Joe Maddon left the dugout to pull Troy Percival from the game. Percival waved off Maddon, then walked away from the manager towards second base. The two then got in to a pretty heated argument on the mound, in plain view for every one to see. Real immature right, but no he’s Troy Percival, so, instead, this outburst is interpreted as meaning he is ‘firey,’ such as MLB.com and other outlets labeled him, and passionate, he has heart, and all that other crap. Jose Reyes on the other hand,  after he argued with Jerry Manuel in much the same way, and threw his glove after an error, was characterized as immature and childish and compared to a Little Leaguer by so many fans, reporters and talk-show hosts. Keep doing your thing Jose.

Reyes is batting .328 in the 43 games since May 15, during which he has 20 extra base hits and a .383 OBP.

Posted in Mets, MLB | 15 Comments »

1. July 2008 by Glendo.

The Rays have the best record in baseball since April 22, 41-21. They’re No. 1 in the sport in Baseball Prospectus’ Defensive Efficiency rankings. Opponents are hitting .211 against their bullpen — which is the third-lowest average against any bullpen in the past half-century.And offensively, this team has gone from one of the least-disciplined lineups in baseball to one of the most. In case you have not noticed, Rays hitters have walked more times (300) than the Yankees (278), among other teams. They’re the only team in baseball that has swept the Angels, Red Sox, Cubs and Marlins. And they’re 40-26 against teams currently over .500. They’re 31-13 at home and 19-19 on the road, not bad when you consider only 4 teams in the majors have a winning record on the road. After beating the Red Sox last night they lead the division by 1.5 games, 3 in the loss column and 7 over the Yankees.

A lot of people have been saying its early the Rays will fall back to earth. Well there comes a point when early is no more. July 1 is when the pretenders fade and the contenders step up. I think this Rays team is for real believe it or not.

Jayso Stark debates it over at ESPN

Posted in Misc MLB, MLB | 5 Comments »