Probably cuz Ms. Upton isn't around to keep his digits moistened anymore?

The "Wooden Era" was "helped" along by a booster named Sam Gilbert... Jerry Tarkanian at Long Beach State and UNLV, reknowned for benefiting from similar aid and constantly in trouble with the NCAA for same issues, once remarked that the only basketball team with a higher payroll than UCLA was the Lakers... It has been widely reported, little acknowledged, and anyone who thinks that Alcindor or Wicks or Lowe or anyone else sporting new clothes, eating out or driving new cars did so because of their parents largesse or pushing brooms in the gym is a fool... Wooden knew, and he turned a blind eye, and justified it to himself and others by saying that everyone was doing it... Which was largely true, but the NCAA lacked the moral courage to call out Wooden while singling out folk like Tark cause he and his teams were a little poorer, a lot rougher, and not so clean cut...

Thanks for the memories, but $8.5 million to cheer a second title from the dugout is a solid parting gift...

Film and scouting have little to do with it. He's getting shelled because of his off-season fitness regimen. He dropped more than 30 (!!!) pounds in weight with a healthy diet and swimming and came to Spring Training "fit" but with little pop, his mechanics out of whack and everything off kilter... He has had trouble hitting his spots all season.

Hitters have no reason to swing at a slider with no bite that is seldom in the strike zone, and he seldom threw a fastball for a strike anyway (Look back at the WS against the Rangers and you seem him at his best, strikes whenever he wanted and utterly confusing hitters that whiffed on chin-high FBs or breaking stuff in the dirt...)

He was already losing speed on the FB even then, but with the weight loss, he's down 5mph from his career peak. With little oomph from the loss of bulk, hitters are sitting back and waiting for a change that they can tee off on (403 BABIP/801 OPS!!!, as opposed to to 193/403 a year ago...)

For now, though, Bochy and Sabean would be better off with Zito... A consistent junkballer is a lot better than a mediocre, unpredictable batting practice pitcher... He's still got great stuff but only for a few innings at a stretch. Five runs on either side of, or in the middle of, five lights-out innings is hardly a recipe for success for a team one year removed from a pop-gun offense...

He needs a good off-season to bulk up and get some more muscle (not there is much frame to hang it on) and next season should be (could be?) a lot different... Or he might be done...

When Pedro became a "thrower," he began a long, slow, steady slide through injury and declining win percentage to retirement... One does not "adapt" to a drop from high nineties to 90 (or less)... One gets rocked and released... Timmy is 28, with fewer ML innings on his shoulder than Pedro had at the same stage of his career. They are the same height, with effectively the same playing weight. BUT, they have COMPLETELY different throwing motions... Timmy has so many different quirks in his that any ONE twitch and he's giving up five in an inning. His off-season weight loss probably didn't help, either.

Long and short, he is NOT coming back to form IN SEASON... He is worse than a replacement level pitcher and should be shelved... If they can afford to write off Zito over the last few years, they can send Timmy to Fresno to sort himself out... His starts are L's waiting to happen and the Giants have almost caught the Dodgers IN SPITE of Lincecum...

The dude is a "gamer" - plays wherever assigned, fights for everything, gung ho and upbeat, but he's fast approaching 35, hasn't hit over the Mendoza line in five years, has had only one productive year at the plate during that same period (but in an incredibly inefficient fashion), and needs to take his own advice...

Saw him give an interview last season where he talked about his plate struggles (mighty struggles, indeed) and he said that he just kept on fighting through it to set an example for his kid(s?). Time to sit down with the young one(s?) and teach them about the inescapable effects of Father Time. If he plays his cards right, Leyland might just give him another job - as a coach (though preferably not a hitting coach...) He certainly seems to have that love of the game...

Maybe she threatened to give him the std he supposedly didn't give to/get from Jessi, Mari, Scarl, Jessi2, etc? Man can only take so much abuse, no?

Or maybe he tried to take his new punch-n-judy plate approach with him?

Or maybe she got tired of him taking his viagra only before games? The BA has been up for awhile now... Maybe he's been striking out at home instead...

Long live the "McCourt Era" in Dodgertown... I can't think of a franchise that deserves it more!

Go Giants!

It's a heck of a world we live in... Jamie does the limo driver on a grand tour of the Mediterranean and gets half of baseball franchise for her efforts...

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving organization, though... Go Giants!!!

Imagine what the Lakers might have done if Bynum hadn't postponed knee surgery until training camp so he could go off on "vacation" last summer... He might be a key part of the Lakers' puzzle, but he is still a bum.

This will be Lee's last significant contract. Though he has come up big in big games in the postseason (until this year, that is), his reputation is vastly overstated. He is a power pitcher who relies overly on his fastball, along with his ability to stay over the plate. His K-BB ratio is spectacular, but his dependence on blowing past people means he is going to give up a lot of HRs if he stays in the bandbox which is Arlington. He looked very good in Seattle - pitcher's park - but look what happened when he got to Texas - 40% more hits, twice as many HRs, his ERA ballooned, and all in front of a superior Texas defense.

I think his real value for Texas is in cache - if he stays, he gives the rest of the team a boost in terms of a public commitment to competing for and in the post-season. Don't look for 18-20 wins with half his starts in Arlington - ain't gonna happen.

For the Yankees, he will be more productive with that offense behind him, and with a park that is more friendly to pitchers than Arlington. But he isn't going to carry anyone and though he will be a lot better than Burnett, and maybe a little better that "Slow-start" Sabathia in terms of whole-season competitiveness, this feels more like addition by substraction - taking him off the team that knocked out the Yankees in order to advance in the 2011 post-season. Lucky he is coming on the market now - he'll get $20 million a year, but I would not want to be the one to sign those checks 2-3 years down the road...

Except that the 'net has been filled with "Lee has never pitched on three days rest" stories and Game 2's post-game interview with Washington effectively ended with someone asking if Lee had refused - or might refuse (with reference to his pending free agency) - and Mr. Ron actingly like the reporter was crazy.

In the end, the bigger question is "Which Jonathan Sanchez will show up for Game 3?" The guy with a no-hitter on his resume? Or the head-case from Games 3/6 of the NLCS? And what's up with Tim McCarver, who dismisses Sanchez as having "small hands" that give him control issues? He kept going on about it during the NLCS and I kept looking, but Sanchez doesn't look anything like Kristen Wiig's "Tiny Hands" character... How about a Xanax, Mr. Sanchez?

If the "Real J. Sanchez" shows up tonight, then Cliff Lee may as well stay home for Games 4 AND 5. I think his wife could use a hosing off after their trip to Yankee Stadium last week. She's gonna need to look her best for the signing ceremony in the Bronx next month...

Go Giants!

With the money they're paid, they should've clinched back in April...

Irrelevant story about an irrelevant team. I live here in Dallas and I fail to understand the hype over a team that has been NOTHING BUT hype for a decade? Tony Romo? Give me Danny White! Wade Phillips? Give me Bum Phillips! Jerry Jones? I'd rather listen to Tom Jones... Nowhere issue for a team built to disappoint, going nowhere fast, AGAIN!

She doesn't need Miles Austin for a lovely pair...but she's still a ho... Besides, what is this anyway? TMZ? Let's hear some more about how the Cowboys are gutless and ringless since Jimmy J. left town...

If $2.5 million is not enough to cover his dailies, he should call Tiger and ask for Elin's number. I hear she might be getting a little extra spending money pretty soon...