(Baseball)
...The skidding Padres are not happy being in last place, and not happy with the abuse future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman took last nite, viciously booed off the mound, after giving up homers on back-to-back pitches in the 9th inning, in the gut-wrenching loss to the Minnesota Twins. Hoffman goes to (1-5) this season with 4-blown saves. Ace Jake Peavy and Manager Bud Black called it disheartening and classless for the fans to heap abuse on the reliever. Hoffman had gone 10-straight appearances without giving up a run until the 9th inning failure last nite.
...Josh Banks starts tonite for the Friars; the Padres have lost 7-of-8 ; and are (32-46) and in last place. The Twins have now won 7-in a row.
...Padres General Manager Kevin Towers is headed to San Antonio to scout the Padres top 2-minor league pitchers. Will Inman and Jonathon Ellis are a combined (16-6) with a 2.75-ERA. The 2-pitchers have 133-strikeouts in 126-innings for the Missions in the Texas League.
...Trade rumors are swirling out of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia involving the Padres. Rumors are the Padres are discussing moving Chase Headley to 3rd base, opening the way for a Kevin Kouzmanoff trade for Jason Bay of the Pirates. The Padres are also dangling lefthander Randy Wolfe and a minor leaguer, to try and acquire 300-hitting Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino or outfielder Jason Werth.
...The woeful Dodgers, just (2-8) in interleague play, host the White Sox again tonite.
...Erwin Santana (9-3) starts for the red-hot Angels in Washington. The Halos are (4****), have won 10-of-11 on the road, and are (26-12) away from home this year, the best in baseball.
...Arizona Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall says there will be no shakeup, no panic, in their clubhouse. After a (21-9) start, the D-backs have gone (18-29) but are still in lst place.
...The Phillies have stopped hitting; they have a 6-game losing streak and have scored just 11-runs in 6-nites, hitting .170.
...Washington Nationals catcher Paul LoDuca was hospitalized overnight with heat exhaustion.
...Washington lst baseman Nick Johnson is out for the year; doctors found a torn ligament in his wrist during surgery.
...Phillies reliever Tom Gordon is out of action with shoulder soreness.
...The Yankees are without both Johnny Damon and Hidecki Matsui; Damon has arch problems, Matsui a bruised knee.
...Astros infielder Kaz Matsui has gone on the DL with a strained hamstring.
...Texas slugger Josh Hamilton, who has 76-RBIs, is out with a swollen knee with fluid building.
...Detroit put DH-Brandon Inge on the DL with a ribcage injury.
...Boston slugger David Ortiz, with wrist problems, still has major soreness after taking 25-swings, and could be out another 4-weeks.
...Commissioner Bud Selig says baseball will start testing and measuring maple bats and invoke safety codes. The thin-handled Maple bats are shattering at an alarming rate; an umpire was cut in the face last nite by a splintered bat. The Red Sox says 1-out of every 3-Maple bats used this year have broken. Selig wants the thickness of the handles increased to the same dimensions of the Ash bats.
...San Diego State Aztecs ace Stephen Strasburg, the lst team All-American, has been named to the USA National team that will play in the Netherlands and Germany this summer.
...Fresno State, known as the Wonderdogs, plays Georgia tonite in the 3rd and final game of the College World Series, after scoring 15-runs in 3-innings last nite to beat the Bulldogs to force a championship game in Omaha.
(Basketball)
...The NBA Draft is 24-hours away and rumors are rampant the Miami Heat may be attempting to trade out of the 2nd slot on the draft board, bypassing Kansas State star Michael Beasley, and instead looking to trade down. Miami reportedly brought in OJ Mayo and Jerryd Bayless for separate 90-minute secret workouts last nite.
...Reports say Miami and Memphis are discussing a deal that would send the 2nd pick to the Grizzlies with the Heat getting the 5th choice and guard Kyle Lowrey..
...Miami is also talking about trading the 2nd pick to Seattle for the 4th pick and forward Chris Wilcox.
...NBA trade rumors also say the Heat would deal the 17-million dollar expiring contract of Shawn Marion, and that Miami has contacted the LA Clippers about a Marion-Elton Brand deal; a Utah trade-Marion for Carlos Boozer; or a Lamar Odom-Marion trade with the Lakers.
...The Chicago Bulls, likely to take Memphis guard Derrick Rose, are preparing to move a guard via trade. They have Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, Ben Gordon and Thabo Sefolosha already on the roster..
...Toronto continued trade talks with Phoenix about a TJ Ford--Boris Diaw deal.
...Toronto's attempts to package Ford in a 3-for-1 deal with Indiana for center Jermaine O'Neal have stalled over the 44-million dollars owed the Pacers center.
...The New Orleans Hornets today dealt the 27th pick in the lst round to Portland for a trade exception contract, giving them more cap space.
..Golden State guard Baron Davis says he will not opt out of his contract, and will play for 17.8-million dollars next season.
...Tasteless, crude, rude. That is the response in Phoenix to Suns center Shaq O'Neal's rap song ripping into Kobe Bryant over the weekend. Shaq dropped F-bombs, told Kobe to perform a sex act on him, and blamed Bryant for the breakup of his marriage for ratting him out in the Colorado court case.
...76ers legend Julius Erving says Kobe Bryant says nationwide criticism of the Lakers star is justified. Dr-J said you cannot deny Bryant's talent, but he does not do enough in the community, is flippant with the media, and his work off the court is still undone.
He says Bryant the star player, needs to be a better person.
...Dennis Rodman, battling alcohol problems and domestic abuse problems, has been ordered to pickup garbage on a hiway work crew for 45-days as part of a plea bargain agreement.
...San Diego State has gone the transfer route to pick up another Big 10-player; 6-11, 260-pound Brian Carwell, whose career at Illinois was marred by a car accident-concussion, and a torn knee ligament, is enrolling with the Aztecs. He will petition the NCAA to allow him to have 3-years of eligibility left.
(Football)
...Las Vegas police say Javon Walker purchased 13-thousand 500-dollars worth of champagne, over 9-hours, to spray crowds at a strip club the night he was mugged and robbed of 103-thousand dollars of cash and jewels. A Las Vegas man, with a rap sheet a mile long, is being held on 160-thousand dollars bail on 3-felony counts in the case. Arfat Fadel has outstanding arrest warrants in 4-other states.
...Coronado police officer Aaron Mansker said he felt his life was being threatened when 6-4, 260-pound Chargers linebacker Steve Foley stalked him, and appeared ready to pull a gun out of his waistline, the night of a drunk driving shooting that ended the players career. Mansker admitted he made a mistake getting out of his car; but said on 2-other occassions, where he followed drunk drivers, backup help arrived to make the arrest.
...Calvin Schmidtke, the top quarterback recruit, who had his scholarship revoked at Washington State, is transferring to Division 1-AA Indiana State; Schmidtke was bounced out of the Pac-10 school when the Cougars found out he had been ticketed 11-times in 18-months in Tacoma for drinking, fighting and drug use.
...The LA Avengers, Arena League team, which fired its coach Ed Hodgkiss last nite, with just 1-playoff win in 7-years, has now fired his entire coaching staff and its front office player personnel staff.
(Hockey)
...Scotty Bowman, the legendary Montreal-Detroit-St-Louis and Buffalo coach, has reportedly been offered the President of Hockey Operations job by the troubled Chicago Blackhawks.
...The Tampa Bay Lightning, which hired Barry Melrose as coach yesterday, today fired Director of Scouting Bill Barber.
...The Edmonton Oilers have hired Kelly Buchberger as an assistant coach.
...The buyouts of NHL-veteran players continued today. The Toronto Maple Leafs will pay 6-million dollars to get rid of winger Darcy Tucker.
...Calgary has opened buyout talks with veteran forwards Owen Nolan and Craig Conroy.
...Vancouver has acquired veteran center Kyle Wellwood from the Maple Leafs.
...The Russian based KHL-Continental League has offered a 12-million dollar contract to New York Rangers free-agent Jaromir Jagr. They have also signed ex-Ottawa center Alexi Yashin, Flyers goalie Robert Esche, San Jose defenseman Andrei Zyuzin, and NHL tough guy Chris Simon.
(General)
...Another shocker at Wimbledon. 3rd seed Novak Djokovic was hammered in straight sets by Marat Safin today, losing a 2nd eround match. Struggling with hi-cross winds, he double faulted twice in a row and lost all momentum.
...Top ranked Ana Ivanovich struggled to save match points but won her second round match. Serena Williams coasted to a victory.
...Controversial trainer Rick Dutrow, who handled Big Brown, has been suspended again, 15-days, and fined 20-thousand dollars, for giving hi-amounts of steroids to a horse that won at Churchill Downs the day before the Kentucky Derby. The horse had 2X-the legal limit the day it ran. It is the 76th time he has been disciplined in horse racing.
...In auto racing, Lalitta Motorsports, headed by driver Doug Kalitta, says it will run this weekend in the NHRA-Toledo event, despite the death of longtime Top fuel star Scott Kalitta, who burned to death in an accident in New Jersey last weekend.
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