Manchester Unites managed to keep things close in the Premier League with a win over Burnley on Saturday January 16th. The injury ridden Red Devils were in dire need of a win in order to keep themselves close in the Premier League standings, and to keep team morale high in the wake of yet another injury, this time to star defenseman Nemanja Vidic. With the 3-0 win they have managed to stay one point behind the current leaders Chelsea, and two points ahead of third place Arsenal. Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring in the 64th minutes, and 5 minutes later star striker Wayne Rooney added one of his own. Later on in the 90th minute Mame Biram Diouf netted his first goal in a United uniform and helped seal away a victory for the Red Devils. Manchester United is scheduled to play two matches in the coming week. The first match will be on Tuesday against arch-rivals Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi-finals, and the second match will be played on Saturday against Hull City.
The New York Mets are already off to a bad start for the 2010 season as pitchers and catchers haven’t even met up for spring training. Carlos Beltran had surgery on his right knee against the team wishes. Scott Boras, Beltran’s agent said “The surgery was necessary”. Beltran will now be out for the first 3-4 months of the season putting more pressure on Omar Minaya to sign a top-tier free agent pitcher such as Ben Sheets. Let’s see how it goes.
Mark McGwire finally came clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998. “You don’t know that you’ll ever have to talk about the skeleton in your closet on a national level,” he said. “I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength use.” McGwire said he wanted to tell the truth in 2005 when he testified in front of Congress but evaded questions at that hearing on the advice of his lawyers. McGwire is just one of six players in the top 15 of the MLB all time Home Run Leaders linked to performance enhancing drugs which also includes Barry Bonds (762), Sammy Sosa (609), McGwire (583), Alex Rodriguez (583), Rafael Palmeiro (569), and Manny Ramirez (546).
Stop fighting Mike Tyson. However, it has just been announced that he won’t be facing any charges with that whole scuffle he had at LAX with the photographer. I guess he’s off the hook on this one.
Pending a physical, the New York Mets have signed Jason Bay to a four year, $66 million contract with a vesting option for a fifth year which could make it $80 million.
What’s next you may ask for the Amazin’s? The Mets will now be looking to secure themselves a reliable number 2 starting pitcher to go alongside Johan Santana. For that to happen, now that John Lackey went to the Boston Red Sox, it looks like the best possible way of finding another gun would be through trade. However, here are my top 5 remaining pitchers, signed either through free-agency or trade options available for the Mets.
1. Carlos Zambrano- There are rumors out there that the Chicago Cubs are willing to part ways with their ace for the right price. What better way for the Mets to package a trade with the Cubbies involving Luis Castillo, John Maine, Jonathan Neise and Fernando Martinez for Carlos Zambrano and one or two low level prospects and then go sign Orlando Hudson at second base. Lets face it, F-Mart is solid, but he’s not going to make an impact on this team especially since there’s Kirk Nieuwenhius who looks to have a much brighter future. Jonathan Neise is an average player with an above average curveball, but that’s all he has. The Mets have a kid named Brad Holt in their farm system that projects to be a future number 2 starter with a mid-high 90’s fastball and excellent breaking pitches, which would make Neise expendable.
2. Ben Sheets – He may be coming off of surgery, but the Mets need to take a look at him because when he was good, he had electric stuff. He has a career ERA of 3.72 and a record of 86-83. You have to realize that is very impressive considering he’s been on some bad teams in the past. Maybe offering a two year, $16 million contract with an option for a third year could get the job done.
3. Erik Bedard- Very intriguing player, he has a career ERA of 3.71 with a 51-41 record on very bad Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners teams. Try signing him for a two year, $20 million contract Omar.
4. Josh Johnson- Maybe the Mets could make another trade with the Marlins for their young stud. This scenario is highly unlikely but its worth taking a look at. He has a career record of 34-16 and an ERA of 3.40 with the Florida Marlins.
5. Chien-Ming Wang- Also coming off of surgery, this is an excellent option. The Mets could look to get him cheap also because he’s coming off surgery and had a 9.46 ERA last season when he did play. He played hurt, but when he’s healthy he’s a proven winner.
Both Mayweather and Pacquiao are ordered by the Nevada athletic commission to take drug tests. They are still trying to finalize their March 13 mega-fight in Las Vegas. I am curious to see what the results will be for this test.
Former Giant Harry Carson says that the current Giants are losing their collective pride. This is true. This team has so much talent but they just aren’t showing it and it’s a shame. They are so much better than this.
Well, looks like Lebron James came out on top last night against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Coach Phil Jackson admits that it wasn’t a nice way to spend Christmas day either. Well, one of them had to lose anyway.
