88 in for $55,000

After complaints of small crowds from Evan Longoria and David Price, the Tampa Bay Rays are giving away 20,000 tickets to tonights game. Get the feeling it won't matter, and they'll still have under 20,000 in attendance?  I suppose the fact they clinched a playoff spot last night won't help the cause, although the AL East remains up for grabs.

Had some suggest the crack about "Thank you Cito" night seeing the giveaways extended into next season was a bit out of line, and you're right. There's a good shot they get 35,000 tonight. After all, the Yankees are in town, although they'll be likely playing a heavily loaded with back-ups squad after clinching a playoff spot last night and no doubt tearing it up.  In news relating to the playoff spot, Losers are mobilizing to simultaneously cheer on seven teams.

If ML$E thinks those empty seats at Toronto FC's Champions League game are about a cool, rainy day, they're begging.  John Molinaro at the CBC says they've reached the crisis stage.

Finally Delonte West asked about sex with LeBron James' mom and he said he absolutely didn't sleep with her because they were up all night.  Something like that..And for all the times LeBron has talked, how is it that not once has he referenced his former teammates in any way?  Doesn't that strike you as odd?


In retrospect, guessing Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant is going to wish he carried Roy Williams pads when asked at camp a couple months back.  Why?  Seems RW goes his revenge, as instead of just having DB pay for a dinner for the team's offensive players, RW invited the defense as well to a swank steakhouse.   The bill?  $55,000.  Ouch.

What a turnaround for Michael Vick. After an off-season shooting at his birthday party that almost saw him off the Philadelphia Eagles and out of the game, he's not only starting for the Eagles and playing as good as ever, but he's also selling a pile of jerseys.  Vick will face Donovan McNabb and the Washington Redskins this weekend. No storylines there.

The Jacksonville Jaguars appear to have picked up Buffalo Bills castoff Trent Edwards. Yeah, that'll fix it.


Check out this shizophrenic split for AJ Burnett that happened in early May:  "through May 6 — six starts — Burnett was 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA. His strike out totals — just 28 in 40.2 innings — were down, but he was keeping both runners off base and the ball in the park. Just one of the first 164 batters to face him homered. Since then, Burnett has, with the exception of a few good starts in July, been utterly abysmal. He’s 6-15 over his last 26 starts, and he’s averaging just over 5.1 innings per start. After [Monday's] 2.1-inning, seven-run fiasco, his ERA over those 140 innings is 6.30, and he’s allowed 23 home runs and 64 walks while striking out just 111 guys. Opponents have an OPS against him of approximately .860. In other words, A.J. Burnett’s opponents are putting up better offensive numbers than Mark Teixeira."  Ouch.

Have a great Wednesday.

Arshavin goes off for four

Another Tuesday gone by, another electric game for Liverpool as they played to a 4-4 barnburner with Arsenal. Arsenals' Andrei Arshavin scored four for the Gunners, who had a winner denied in the dying moments from Cesc Fabregas. Amazing, and more goals scored than any of the five NHL games last night. The result opens the door for Manchester United to widen the gap as they face Portsmouth today, one of two games in hand for United...last nights save by Mariano Rivera for an Andy Pettitte win tied the MLB record at 57, held by then Oakland A's Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley...with all the empty seats, clearly the Yankees overestimated the draw of a new stadium and their team, and underestimated the economic climate...a recent SI article (March 23rd) says that within two years of being retired, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce. Within five years, 60% of NBA players are broke. Those are staggering numbers...while you've been reading today's entry, Roberto Luongo made six more saves. The Vancouver Canucks punched their ticket to the second round with an overtime win over the St. Louis Blues...it is only today, two days after Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo's year end presser, that I'm able to see straight after my eyes got locked into a rolling position after he declared this year's edition of the Raptors the best he's assembled. He was far more credible when he was killing them for being soft and lacking in pride...more on the homer debate at new Yankee Stadium where 20 home runs were hit in four games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there were eight four-games spans of 20 or more homers at the old Stadium, some of them overlapping, including 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2007. So maybe what we saw on the opening weekend at the new park was just an anomaly? Further, given the homers launched for years out of Camden Yards in Baltimore, Minute Maid Park in Houston, Citizens Bank Park in Philly, and others, seems like a bit much right now. By the way, there was only one last night, off the stick of Johnny Damon...NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says Michael Vick will have to show signs of "serious remorse" if he is to be reinstanted to the NFL. Question: how is Goodell qualified to judge him that way?...Goodell might want to keep tabs on a potential far more explosive situation. Seems Mrs. Tom Brady - Gisele Bundchen - has won over $1 million betting on Inter Milan this season. If she starts hammering wagers in the NFL, there's going to be no media outlet not interested and that's something the NFL, which benefits from gambling despite pretending it has nothing to do with it, cannot afford...going into last night's action, the Toronto Blue Jays were 61-41 since Cito Gaston took over, the third best record over that time behind the LA Angels and Chicago Cubs...the way that PTP has gone of late after a smoking hot start - isn't that the way? - I'm looking for a can't lose proposition. And I've got it in Chivas USA, who visit a Dwayne DeRosario-less Toronto FC tonight. At +114, tough not to like them in any event, and hey, if I'm wrong, my boys win...have a great Wednesday.

Cutting bait

So if Matt Cassel costs a second round draft picks, how is Jay Cutler and a fifth round draft pick worth Kyle Orton and a pair of first rounders, plus a third from the Chicago Bears? And here I thought Denver was in a tough spot with the trade demands and need to trade so obvious...Michael Kay of the Yankee Network on Derek Jeter batting leading off: "That's 162 at bats that Jeter won't hit into a double play." Ouch. The bloom is falling off the rose more everyday when guys like Kay are cracking like that...Peter Gammons lists the three best teams in baseball as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. The AL East is going to be scary if that holds true...that eerie silence you hear in the Toronto area is the calm before the storm that is going to hit BMO Field tomorrow when Toronto FC make their 2009 home debut. Cannot. Freaking. Wait. Coverage is on CBC at 4pm for those not able to get in or further away...North Carolina guard Ty Lawson is already a winner at the Final Four, winning $250 at a Detroit casino last night. The rest of his teammates were down about the same in Windsor area peeler joints. I'm only guessing on the latter. Also in that article is the lame revelation that Caesar's in Windsor is suspending wagering on the Final Four this weekend at the request of the NCAA...the normally mild mannered Cito Gaston went off over revelations that Roger Clemens had a hand in having him fired, calling him an asshole among other things. Sure he may have had a hand in Gaston's dismissal, but Clemens performance in Toronto is the only thing that made keeping him a possibility...in Germany's World Cup qualifier Wednesday, striker Lukas Podolski got into it with captain and all-round douche-bag and perennial second place man Michael Ballack. There's video below of how that went. Of course, the German camp says all is fine...the New York Yankees will open their new palace tonight against the Chicago Cubs. You can watch here at 7:05 tonight, and check out pics of this incredible new building here, and video here, and finally, panorama shots here...what do the LA Lakers, Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards have in common? They're the only teams to beat the Cleveland Cavs twice this season...some curious jersey's here. Including the obligatory clowns with #69, you get a Carolina Hurricanes jersey with a Hartford Whalers logo. Hid. E. Ous...the English Premier League is back in action tomorrow after the international break. Will Manchester United take the defibrilators to their title chances and down Aston Villa Sunday? Should be a great one...back with your PTP later.

Germany's Lukas Podolski does what everyone in the world wants to do to Michael Ballack...