MySports Today

The Chicago White Sox declined to exercise the $16.5 million option on outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. for the 2009 MLB season. Griffey is now eligible to file for free agency. The White Sox acquired Griffey on July 31st right before the trade deadline. The Griffey experiment was largely unimpressive in the 41 games he played with the White Sox. Griffey hit .260 with 3 home runs and 18 RBI’s. Although the White Sox did make the playoffs, the Rays ousted the White Sox in 4 games in the ALDS. Griffey got 2 hits in 10 at-bats in the ALDS. Griffey received arthroscopic surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus and torn cartilage in his left knee. He is hoping that the surgery will help him regain some of his power numbers that left him in 2008.

Griffey will sign on with some team in 2009. He is currently 5th on the all-time home run list with 611 home runs. He is also 18th on the all-time RBI list with 1,772 RBI’s.

The New York Mets exercised the 2009 club option on 1st baseman Carlos Delgado. Delgado started off the season in a major slump, but redeemed himself through the final 3 months of the season to finish with 38 home runs and 115 RBI’s. Delgado even got his average up to .271. In the final 84 games of the 2008 season, Delgado clubbed 27 home runs and drive in 80 runners, while hitting a torrid .308. The Mets hope they see more of the 2008 2nd half of the season Delgado when they open play in their new stadium, CITI Field, in April 2009.

The New York Mets also inked 33-year old clutch hitter Fernando Tatis to a 1-year contract worth $1.7 million. Tatis was out of baseball in 2004 and 2005, and found himself in the Mets minor league system in May 2008. When injuries struck the Mets outfield, Tatis got the call delivered clutch hit after clutch hit all season long. For the season, Tatis hit 11 home runs, drove in 47 RBI’s and compiled a .297 batting average. He missed the last 2 weeks of the season after he separated his right shoulder in a 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals. The Mets rewarded Tatis with the big contract, and do not expect the late-season injury to hamper Tatis at all in 2009.

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in Game 5 of the World Series to win the World Series Championship. Game 5 had been suspended on Monday, October 27th and the teams resumed play with the score tied at 2 in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Phillies took a quick 3-2 lead on an RBI single by Jayson Werth with 1 out in the bottom of the 6th inning. The Rays tied the game at 3 in the top of the 7th inning on a 1-out solo home run by Rocco Baldelli. But the Phillies answered right back in the bottom of the 7th inning with an RBI-single by Pedro Feliz. That put the Phillies back up for good with a 4-3 lead. Phillies reliever J.C. Romero worked 1 1/3 innings of relief to pick up his 2nd win of the World Series. Phillies Closer Brad Lidge pitched a stressful 9th inning in which he allowed a Rays runner to get to 2nd base with only 1 out. But Lidge kept his season-long perfect save streak alive and preserved the win by retiring the final 2 Rays hitters to give the Phillies their first World Series title in 28 years.

Phillies dominant starter Cole Hamels was named the World Series Most Valuable Player. He started 2 games for the Phillies, allowing only 4 total earned runs in 13 innings of work. He won Game 1 of the World Series and took a no decision in the decisive Game 5. Hamels was 4-0 in 5 post-season starts.

After being swept out of the playoffs by the wild card Colorado Rockies in the 2007 NLDS, the Phillies felt like they had something to prove in 2008. The Phillies clearly used that 2007 playoff experience to their advantage during the 2008 playoffs. The Phillies went a perfect 7-0 at home at Citizens Bank Ballpark, and lost only 1 game in each series, compiling an 11-3 record. The Phillies used solid starting pitching and a stifling bullpen to finish off their opponents when they got the lead. The city of Philadelphia had not experienced a championship team since the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA World Championship, and they had not experienced a World Series title since the Mike Schmidt-led Phillies won the World Series in 1980. The long wait was worth it for Phillies fans. They will be celebrating this special World Series Championship for a long, long time. Broad Street will be rocking on Halloween on Friday, October 31st when the city plans to honor the 2008 World Series Champion Series with a long-anticipated victory parade.

In a 20-minute ceremony before the Celtics opened up the 2008-9 NBA season against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2007-8 Celtics Championship team was honored as the 17th NBA Championship Banner was raised to the rafters of the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The emotional ceremony actually brought NBA Championship Series MVP Paul Pierce to tears as he accepted the championship trophy from Celtics’ Hall of Fame legend John Havlicek on behalf of his teammates. Pierce was the captain and longest-tenured member of the team, and helped lead the players in the hoisting of the banner to the rafters.

After the pre-game spectacle, the two teams got down to business, although it was all Cavs early on. The Cavs rode LeBron James’ team-high 22 points to build a 50-43 halftime lead. During halftime, the Celtics were finally able to forgot about the pre-game ceremony and face the task at-hand. The Celtics outscored the Cavs 24-13 in the 3rd quarter (11 points from Pierce) and then finished off the job with a 1-point advantage in the final quarter to win 90-85. Paul Pierce was the man once again – 27 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Kevin Garnett added 11 points and 6 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo added 14 points and 6 assists. Ray Allen played the most minutes of any Celtics player (just under 41 minutes), but he did not have a great game – 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers. Off the bench, Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers got quality minutes from Leonard Powe (13 points and 2 rebounds) and Tony Allen (11 points and 3 rebounds). For the Cavs, Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributed 15 points and 8 rebounds, while newcomer Mo Williams added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in his Cavs debut.

Next up for the Celtics – another home game against the Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls on Friday October 31st. The Bulls defeated the Bucks 108-95 in their home opener on Tuesday night with strong performances from #1 overall pick Derrick Rose (11 points, 9 assists), Luol Deng (21 points) and Tyrus Thomas (15 points, 10 rebounds).

As for local celebrities, Red Sox players Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis were in attendance to cheer on the Celtics Championship team, as were Red Sox Owner John Henry and Red Sox President Larry Lucchino. Those guys know something about Championships having won World Series titles in 2004 (all but Lowell) and 2007.

The San Francisco 49ers had a loud awakening following the team’s 34-13 humiliating loss to the Seattle Seahawks on their own home turf. Before all of the players had even made it through the tunnel into the locker room, Mike Singletary let his players have it loud and clear. What got Big Mike so hot? – poor execution on both sides of the ball, an atrocious interception by Quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan that the Seahawks returned for a touchdown, and a porous defense that allowed Seahawks’ fullback Leonard Weaver to be “King for a Day” by taking two short receptions 43 yards and 62 yards, respectively, for touchdowns in the 2nd half to add insult to injury. The disastrous day concluded when Singletary sent Tight End Vernon Davis to the locker room late in the 3rd quarter. Singletary felt like Davis was putting his own interests ahead of the team when he committed a personal foul penalty after he was shoved out of bounds and insulted by a Seahawks’ player. When Davis wouldn’t listen to Singletary telling him that the team couldn’t afford sloppy mistakes like that, Singletary had had enough, and he decided to send the $3 million, 2006 1st round pick player to the locker room to think about his actions.

To sum it up, in Singletary’s first ever post-game press conference, Singletary emphasized that he only wanted to play with individuals who wanted to win as a team. If a player didn’t have that commitment to the team, Singletary didn’t want that player to suit up for him.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The 49ers are a bad football team. At 2-6, the 49ers stand little chance of being able to right the ship in time to make the playoffs. 49ers management felt like former Head Coach Mike Nolan had lost the team and many players echoed those sentiments after Singletary’s tirade. According to many reports, Nolan let the “inmates run the asylum” and a lot of players were sick of it. Singletary made it clear in his head coaching debut that those kinds of actions would not be tolerated under his regime. With today’s egocentric, “Show me the Money” players, this type of coaching style doesn’t always work. There are a few current coaching examples which demonstrate that it can work – Tom Coughlin with the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants (although he had trouble implementing his harsh style at the start), Bill Belichik with the 3-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots, and a few years out – Bill Cowher with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Bill Parcells with the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys – but these are the exceptions to the rule. I applaud Singletary for his honesty and his drive. He is only trying to instill the old-school attitude and respect for the game that made him an NFL Hall of Fame Linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Because he’s been there and devoted his entire career to professional football and the NFL, he should have a lot of supporters in the locker room. But those aren’t the players he’ll need to get – if he can win over the leaders on the team and a few of the “trouble-makers” along the way, I see good things from the 49ers behind a proven leader. If not, it could be a long rest of the season for the 49ers and a short off-season for Head Coach Singletary.

World Series game five is tonight at 8:00PM Phillies are up three games to one. Is tonight the night they finsh off the Rays? Or will the Rays hitting come back to live another day? Should be a great game.