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That's Giants owner Peter Magowan with steroid legend Barry Bonds. We've got a pair of tickets to see all 3 games between the Dodgers and Giants this weekend at the Ravine for the person that comes up with the best caption to this photo. If you want a chance to win the tickets, you MUST enter your e-mail address. You can also Text us at 4-0-7-0-5.
At this moment, I believe that the Angels are the favorites to win the World Series. The addition of Mark Texiera is a game-changer, because LA can bat Vlad-Texiera-Torri Hunter 3-4-5. And, the power arms in the bullpen - Kevin Jepsen-to-Jose Arredondo-to-Scot Shields-to Frankie is the very best in the game. Yesterday, Hall of Famer Peter Gammons joined us on the Mason & Ireland show, and he has an excellent appraisal of the Halos along with some good news for Dodger fans. (It is funny that Peter dwells on the Dodgers a little more, and is sucked in by the Joe Torre managing Manny Ramirez storyline over the Angels, who have the best record in the American League.)
What is it about Gammons? When I hear his voice, whether it's on Baseball Tonight or ESPN Radio, I perk up. I just believe that he knows more about baseball than any analyst out there. We've got a lot of great ones at ESPN with Tim Kirkjen, Steve Phillips, Rob Neyer, Jason Stark, Buster Olney and on and on, but, "In Pete, I Trust."
Also Tuesday, K-Rod's agent Paul Kinzer told us that he expects Frankie Rodriguez to get the biggest contract in history for a closer. If I'm the Angels, I let him leave. The saves record is pretty spectacular, but with Shields, Arredondo and Jepsen in the pen, he can be replaced. What if Frankie leaves, and the Angels cannot re-sign Texiera? (Don't expect them to keep both because owner Arte Moreno said this week that his unofficial salary cap for 2009.)
Here's who they are locked into for 2009.
Vlad Guerrero - $15M option to pick up
Garry Matthews Jr. - $10M (and 2 more years after that)
Torii Hunter - $17.5M
Garrett Anderson - $14M or $3M buyout
Kelvim Escobar - $9.5M
John Lackey - $9M option to pick up
Scot Shields - $5M
Justin Speier - $4.75M
Here are the Angels free agents.
Chone Figgins (best case $6-$7M)
Jon Garland (best case $10M)
Juan Rivera (best case $3M)
Darren Oliver ($2M or $250,000 buyout)
Frankie Rodriguez
Mark Texiera (5 years $100M)
If the Angels buyout Garrett Anderson, which I think is a very good idea, is that would but the Halos at $74M, and let's call it $82M is you throw in all the young guys. Using Arte's $120M budget, that's $38M left to build a roster.
I say, let KRod and Garland go. Try to sign Texiera, but he'll probably wind up with the Yankees. Re-sign Rivera and Figgins. Chase Adam Dunn for first base and CC Sabathia to join the rotation. That would give the Angels Matthews, Hunter and Vlad in the OF and Rivera at DH with Dunn at 1B. Their rotation would go Sabathia, Lackey, Saunders, Weaver, Santana and maybe Kelvim Escobar comes back and you've got an arm to trade.
John Ireland's friend Megan has Cystic Fibrosis. She is a finalist
in an essay contest that would award her a scholarship if she gets the
most votes. John asks that you click on this link and vote for Megan.
You can vote once a day through October 15.
Click on this link to vote and help her win.
I had an incredible time at the USC/Ohio St. game. Anyone that thinks LA is a laid back sports town should try a big-time college football game at the Coliseum. I was on the field in the corner of the end zone, and there was a lot of star power there. I snapped some photos with my IPhone. I got to watch the game with Ronnie Lott, Marcus Allen, Nick Lachey, Henry Winkler, Jerry Bruckheimer and even Oscar winner Denzel Washington showed up.
The new videoboard is spectacular.
Stanley Havili scored his TD right in front of us on a pass from Mark Sanchez.
Ohio St. deep in their own territory. Cute sound girl, but I asked her to hold that big plastic thing down so I could see the game.
Bruckheimer is the guy dressed in all black.
Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott.
Denzel Washington at halftime.
Marcus Allen was pretty excited to meet Denzel.
Chicks were crawling all over Nick Lachey throught the whole game.
Start of the 2nd half.
The Fonz showing his colors.
There was some poor kid from Columbus on the sidelines today. He was wearing an Ohio St. jersey and a string of buckeyes around his neck, and he was very optimistic when his favorite team took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. He thought his beloved Buckeyes had a chance. By the end of the 3rd quarter, he was about as sad as 14-year-old could look.
The security guys roped us off so that Traveler could gallop into the endzone, and we were all packed on either said of the path that the horse would take. As we waited for the big white horse, somebody said, "Watch this kid. It's cooler than anything you'll ever see in Ohio." We all got a good laugh. Thankfully, the little buckeye didn't cry.
Although Ohio St. has a 25-4 record since the start of 2006, those 4 losses are very telling. In the 2006 BCS championship game, the Florida Gators destroyed the Buckeyes 41-14. In 2007, LSU coasted to a 38-24 win in a second straight BCS title game disaster. Now, USC crushed Jim Tressel's program 35-3. During that stretch, OSU's only big non-conference win was over Texas in 2006, and the Longhorns went on to finish the year at a good not great 10-3. They also notched a win over Washington last year, but the Huskies were a 4-9 team. The Buckeyes' non-conference wins have come over Northern Illinois, Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Youngstown St. (twice), Akron and Ohio University.
Gotta be honest about Ohio St. after seeing them up close. Todd Boeckman is a very ordinary quarterback. A big stiff really. He's a statue in the pocket and his decision-making is questionable at best as he threw 2 picks today, including the one that Ray Maualuga took to the house. Boeckman's quarterback rating at the Colliseum was a meager 34.7. In short, he's not a big-time quarterback. Granted, he didn't have top weapon Beanie Wells who didn't even dress for the game, but still, he had a bad, bad day.
The OSU defense was good...in the first quarter. I'm sure that they are loaded with future NFL talent. LB James Laurinaitis has a chance to be an Urlacher-like force at the next level. LB Marcus Freeman and DB Malcolm Jenkins are also going to be good pros. The Trojans just have too much speed and too much talent on the offensive side of the ball. And, Mark Sanchez may be the best quarterback in all of college football.
In a way, I feel bad for Laurinaitis, Freeman and Jenkins along with O-Lineman Alex Boone and WR Brian Robiskie. They all decided to return for their senior year because they didn't want to end their college careers without a national championship. They passed up the chance to get to a higher tax bracket early as first or second round NFL draft picks. But, I don't really feel bad because I'm a Trojan fan.
There will be no BCS title game this year, even if Ohio St. runs the table...and they very well may with their extraordinarily weak schedule. But, poll voters now know that this program is not "for real."
We've always had some very creative listeners, and they come up with some really funny material whenever we do a listener voicemail contest. This week, we offered a pair of tickets for Ohio St. vs. #1 USC at the Coliseum, and the final 5 got played at 3pm on our Friday show.
There was a riff on Oklahoma St. football coach Mike Gundy ("I'm a man! I'm 30!"), something nutty from a guy named Enrique Melo, a riff on Eric Carmen's cheesy song "Hungry Eyes" (re-named "Sad Buckeyes"), an impression of Keanu Reeves in character as former Ohio St. quarterback Johnny Utah from the movie Point Blank and our winner doing an impression of the guy singing the Free Credit Report song. Hear the whole goofy segment at this link.
It is unusual for a college football coach to do an interview on the Friday before a big game. So, John and I were surprised that we got Ohio St. head coach Jim Tressel joined us today. Amazingly, I know less about Ohio St.'s game-plan now than I did before the interview.
He's proven to be a master of the run-up to a big game. For 2 weeks, he's been saying that Heisman candidate Beanie Wells will play....until yesterday, when he called him doubtful. He hardly played true freshman quarterback Terrel Pryor against Ohio U last Saturday, and I would've thought that the kid wouldn't see meaningful touches....until yesterday, when Pryor reportedly received half of the reps in practice.
Listen to the conversation, and see if you can figure out the Buckeye game plan for tomorrow at the Coliseum. I'm confounded. For the record, as of 12:30p Friday, he still called Beanie doubtful.
A. Martinez is very good at his job. But every once in awhile, something goes wrong.
If you're new to the show, A. Martinez goes a long way back with John and me. He was a board-op for the old morning show on XTRA back in the mid-90's. We were doing "The Big Show" at the Woodland Hills Mall, high above the Hot Dog On A Stick. It was truly a dive. From there, the show moved to the CNN building on Cahuenga in Hollywood, much nicer digs, and A. came with us. At this point, he wasn't on the air. His responsibilities included playing commercials, turning our mics on, stuff like that.
Then, A. made a radical career move. He came to work for me. At that time, I owned the Hawthorne Plaza 6 Movie Theatres, and Martinez left board-opping for a big-time Assistant Manager gig. He made popcorn, sold tickets, cleaned theatres and was a part-time projectionist. If you listen to the show regularly, you can tell A. loves movies. He sees virtually everything - from indies to blockbusters (he recently gave a rave review to Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona and called The House Bunny "fun").
After I closed the theatres in Hawthorne, he went back to radio - his true calling. He has worked his butt off and made his bones covering the Dodgers. We're lucky to have him at 710 and as part of our show. He does a mean update.
With that all said, listen to this unedited blooper during an A. Martinez sports update last week.
"Disturbed" is the word in Columbus, Ohio. Tom Rinaldi from ESPN joined us from the heart of Buckeye country yesterday, and the vibe is that Ohio St. could be in real trouble Saturday at the Coliseum against #1 USC. Ohio St. couldn't run the football. Their defense, which includes all-world linebackers James Laurinitis and Marcus Freeman, was very quiet. In fact, Ohio U was able to run the football (and keep in mind that it was Ohio U's backup quarterback).
One thing that Rinaldi says is that Beanie Wells, the Heisman Trophy candidate and star running back for Ohio St., has been seen wearing that protective boot on his injured foot in the past few days, but that he had a series of nagging injuries last season and played throuygh them. He described Beanie as "a tough customer." That's one perspective, but Rob Oller, a Columbus Dispatch sports columnist who joined us Friday for Beanie Watch, intimtated that Beanie has a low pain threshhold. He even used the word soft.
Everyone seems to be expecting that Beanie will play on Saturday, but nobody knows for sure. Getting information out of Tressell and the OSU athletic department is like trying to get information out of the Kremlin. If he is limited, it doesn't seem like Terrell Pryor, the uber recruit All World freshman quarterback, will be ready to contribute. He was 0-2 passing against Ohio U and ran 5 times for about 30 yards with limited touches against Ohio U.
As for Ray Small, the mouthy punt returner who busted the Ohio U game open with a 70-yard scamper to the house in the 4th quarter, he has made a critical mistake. I gotta believe that Jim Tressell has "read him the riot act." Here's exactly what Small said about the Trojan program:
"As I took my visit to USC, I'm like, 'How are they successful?
They're not even serious about the game. Before the game, they're all going crazy. Me and [Buckeyes defensive
end] Rob Rose was on the visit and I'm looking like, 'Wow.' And then
the coach said, 'You better get out of here. It's 'bout to get hectic.'
"And then I come [to Ohio State] on the visit and before the game, it's all quiet, everybody getting taped, coaches talking. It's the total opposite."
"It's more of a class thing. We took what [former USC quarterback] Carson Palmer said. I don't think somebody from Ohio State would have ever said that remark. Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man. There, it's just all about football."
Although Coach Pete Carroll may not react directly to the Ray Small comments in his press conference and 1pm interview on Mason & Ireland today, I've gotta believe that he will use it with his team this week and especially on Saturday.
