Sport Talker

Projected Standings:

1) Detroit Tigers
2) Cleveland Indians
3) Minnesota Twins
4) Chicago White Sox
5) Kansas City Royals

Actual Standings:

1) Chicago White Sox
2) Minnesota Twins
3) Cleveland Indians
4) Kansas City Royals
5) Detroit Tigers

Roger Clemens testified before Congress today that the only injections he received from Brian McNamee, his former trainer, were the vitamin B-12 or the pain reliever Lidocaine. McNamee, on the other hand, insisted before a House panel that that he injected Clemens with only testosterone, the steroid Winstrol or human growth hormone. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, stated the obvious by saying, “Someone isn’t telling the truth.”

McNamee’s allegations originally surfaced in ex-Senator George Mitchell’s report to Congress on the state of steroids in Major League Baseball. Also named in the report, from McNamee’s allegations, were Clemens’s former teammates, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte. Both Pettitte and Knoblauch have acknowledged that the allegations about them were true.

Pettitte, Clemens’s good friend, who has played with him since 1999 for either the New York Yankees or Houston Astros, weakened Clemens’s credibility by testifying about a time several years ago that he recalled that Roger mentioned taking human growth hormone. Clemens dismissed Pettitte’s testimony saying he must have misheard the remark.

Projected Standings:

1) Milwaukee Brewers
2) Chicago Cubs
3) St. Louis Cardinals
4) Houston Astros
5) Cincinnati Reds
6) Pittsburgh Pirates

Projected Standings:

1) Boston Red Sox
2) New York Yankees
3) Toronto Blue Jays
4) Tampa Bay Rays
5) Baltimore Orioles

Projected Standings:

1) New York Mets
2) Philadelphia Phillies
3) Atlanta Braves
4) Florida Marlins
5) Washington Nationals

Erik Bedard’s trade to the Seattle Mariners seems to have finally been completed. This deal has been in talks for a couple of months now and has been announced as on & off several times. The Orioles are expected to acquire Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler for Bedard. Bedard took and apparently passed his physical Thursday, so an official announcement should be coming shortly.

Bedard is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but will turn 29 years old before Opening Day, has yet to throw 200 innings in a season and can become a free agent following the 2009 season. He’ll form a fantastic one-two punch atop the Mariners’ rotation alongside Felix Hernandez, but Seattle paid a huge price to acquire him and may regret the move if they aren’t able to sign him to a long-term contract extension. The move to Seattle’s pitcher-friendly ballpark should help Bedard and with Johan Santana gone he’s now the top fantasy pitcher in the AL. Bedard’s arrival knocks Horacio Ramirez out of the rotation and makes it likely that Brandon Morrow will remain in the bullpen.

In one of the most significant upsets in Super Bowl history, the NFC champion New York Giants (14-6) defeated the AFC champion New England Patriots (18-1) by the score of 17-14.Had the Patriots won this game, they would have completed a the first perfect season in the NFL since the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season in 1978.

The game was a rematch of both teams’ regular season-ending game on December 29, 2007, which the Patriots won to finish the regular season 16–0, with a score of 38–35 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

New England opened the bye week as 14-point favorites, but dipped to 12-point favorites by kickoff. In the end, after falling behind late in the fourth quarter, the Giants won 17–14 on a final-minute touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress. Manning was named the Most Valuable Player and the Giants became the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl.

The telecast was the most-watched Super Bowl in history, with an average of 97.5 million viewers in the United States. A record 148.3 million total viewers tuned into the game. It was also the second-most-watched TV program in the United States, behind the 1983 M*A*S*H series finale.

After months of discussion about whether or not the Minnesota Twins would trade the highly sought after ace, Johan Santana, and if so, where would he land, the New York Mets landed the south paw. The Mets and Twins agreed to swap Santana for outfielder Carlos Gomez and minor-league pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. Gomez, who batted .232 for the Mets in 58 games in his debut season, will look to replace Torii Hunter in center field for the Twins. Humber, who seems to have the most promise of the new Twins, was selected as the 3rd overall pick by the Mets in the 2004 amateur draft. Santana, who currently stands to become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2008 season, and the Mets need to agree to a contract extension within a 72-hour window to complete the deal.

This deal slides the Mets into the driver seat in the National League East. This trade should put last year’s catastrophic collapse to lose the NL East Title to the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Brave’s previous stranglehold atop the division in the past for Met’s fans. A potential 1-2 punch of Johan Santana and Pedro Martinez (barring injuries) could propel even a poor offensive team to many victories. Though with a strong lineup including Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and Carlos Delgado, Willie Randolph should pilot the Mets to an easy first place finish and compete for a World Series.

Despite quarterback Tom Brady, 2007 NFL MVP, throwing three interceptions Sunday in the AFC championship game against the San Diego Chargers, the New England Patriots squeeked by with a 21 – 12 win to move on to the Super Bowl XLII. Running back Laurence Maroney carried the ball 25 times amassing 122 yards rushing and a touchdown in the win. Kevin Faulk caught 8 receptions for 82 yards as well.

San Diego certainly had an uphill climb against the undefeated Patriots. A crushing blow was losing running back LaDainion Tomlinson for the game after the first two series to a sore knee. Tomlinson carries the ball just twice for 5 yards and caught one reception. Quarterback Philip River’s sprained right knee didn’t keep him sidelined, but he certainly wasn’t at 100% and that showed with a two interception performance.

The Patriots will attempt to cap off their season of perfection with a Super Bowl win in Arizona. They will face off against the winner of the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the NY Giants.

As we approach the completion of May, Major League Baseball completes the first third of the 2007 season. Lots of baseball remains, but yet the standings are beginning to shape up and we begin to see who are contenders and who aren’t.

In the American League East, the Boston Red Sox are in control and hold a 11 1/2 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles. Though Red Sox ace, Josh Beckett, is mid-way through a DL stint for blister problems on his throwing hand, he still is close to the major league lead in wins with 7, just trailing Los Angeles Angels’ John Lackey who just won his 8th game.
Yankee third baseman, Alex Rodriguez’s hot April, where he hit a record tying 14 home runs, didn’t lift the team as high as he would have hopes. Though the Yankee’s will vastly improve their rotation with the addition of aging ace, Roger Clemens, who may start as soon as June 4th against the Chicago White Sox.

For Baltimore, Erik Bedard has been brilliant, racking up 83 strikeouts in only 68 innings pitched. Poor run support and a poor bullpen has been costly for Bedard, who’s record is a dismal 3-3. Baltimore, 11 1/2 games back from Boston, is holding onto second place in the division by a mere half game over Toronto.