Pollack not expected to play in 2007

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said that despite showing great progression while recovering from a broken neck, David Pollack is not expected to play in 2007.

While golfing in Georgia, Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis paused before one of the holes, and provided a health update on LB David Pollack, who played his college ball for the Georgia Bulldogs. "This year, David probably will not be able to play football this season but they haven't ruled out football in David's future," Lewis said. Pollack broke his neck in the second game of the 2006 season, missed the rest of the year, and required surgery to repair the damage. Fortunately, the Bengals 1^st Round pick in 2005 was not paralyzed in the collision, and there's still a chance he might return for the '08 season. "At some point, he'll have a decision to make whether to continue his football future. But right now he's progressing great, working out like a maniac about 20 hours a day, so he's doing great."

I won't go into detail again with this subject, I've made my feelings felt many times before, but all I will say is keep getting healthy David and I hope to see you on the field soon enough.

Braves activate Chipper Jones from the DL, but still lose

The Atlanta Braves activated third baseman, Chipper Jones from the disabled list. Jones was originally put on the DL after a nasty collision on May 11th with Pirates' third baseman, Jose Bautista. Jones landed hard on both wrists and his shoulder and was down for some time, but he was able to stay in the game. He didn't play much after that and the Braves were eventually forced to put him on the DL with bruised wrists.

In his place, rookie Yunel Escobar shined and really upped his trade value, if we are to trade, which many people believe we are. Chipper was activated today and was in the lineup against the Minnesota Twins. Bobby Cox decided to let Chipper DH that way he could rest and still keep his bat in the lineup.

Chipper was great as he went 3-4, but sadly the Braves as a whole were not. We lost to Carlos Silva, who just became a father, and the Twins, 6-0 and it will be awfully difficult to avoid the sweep as the Twins will have Johan Santana on the mound tomorrow, but luckily we have Tim Hudson so hopefully he's the good Huddy and we don't get swept.

More tragedy strikes Denver

Just last Saturday night, Denver Nugget's guard, J.R. Smith along with two of his friends were involved in a serious car accident in which Smith and and his friends were thrown from the vehicle. Smith was able to escape the accident with minor injuries, but sadly Andre Bell didn't.

Bell, 21, was sitting in the backseat of Smith's SUV when Smith ran a stop sign and collided with another car causing them to flip the SUV at about 5:30 pm. Smith and another friend, like I said escaped with numerous bruises and cuts, but Bell was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center and was listed in "critical condition". Bell went into a coma and tragically passed away earlier tonight because of serious head injuries.

It was also reported by police that neither Smith nor his passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of impact, I guess it goes to show, seat belts do save lives.

They just don't understand, it's impossible to cover 85

According to ESPN's Len Pasquarelli, Cincinnati Bengal's cornerback, Johnathan Joseph will be out until the start of training camp due to a foot injury that he sustained Saturday at the Bengal's minicamp.

Joseph, who was the team's first-round choice in the 2006 draft, will undergo surgery on Monday for what is believed to be a minor fracture to his left foot. His foot will be either in a cast or a walking boot for at least a few weeks following the surgery.

Joseph injured his foot while trying to cover Bengal's wide receiver, Chad Johnson, which everyone knows is impossible, in a one-on-one drill Saturday. He was able to get up and move gingerly on the foot, but a subsequent examination indicated the need for surgery.

Joseph is fully expected to make a full recovery by time the season starts and will be the teams starting cornerback. Joseph will be taking over the duties that were once held by Tory James, but James now plays for the New England Patriots. Delta O'Neal and our 2007 1st-round selection, Leon Hall are expected to fight it out for the second starting position.

Chipper Jones placed on the DL; Smoltz's start pushed back

Well today was the deadline for the Atlanta Braves and Chipper Jones on whether or not to put him on the disabled list. And they have decided to go ahead an place him on the 15-day DL and call up Yunel Escobar to replace him. Jones has been diagnosed with a bone bruise near the base of his thumbs, but Jones is more concerned there might be some ligament or other damage, especially since the pain had begun raidiating down into his wrists. X-rays were taken last week and they showed no breaks or other structural damage. This will be Jones' fifth trip to the DL in the past three seasons and it's obviously frustrating him.

"I have absolutely no idea," he said of the next course in treatment. "I don't know what to do. We?re doing everything. I'll try to strengthen the wrist, and hopefully the bone bruises will heal in this down time."

His replacement will be Yunel Escobar, who is more of a shortstop, but has experience at thirdbase. Escobar was hitting .333/.379/.456 with 2 HR, 29 RBI's and 7 stolen bases in 46 games. For his complete statistics, here's his profile page. He is expected to arrive in Chicago in time for tomorrow's game and possibly start at third, this in all likelihood will be his major league debut.

More injury news, John Smoltz scheduled start this Sunday is probably going to be pushed back until Tuesday in which the Braves' have a double-header scheduled against the Florida Marlins. Smoltz's shoulder is still a little sore when he threw this morning after tweaking it on a warmup pitch before the fourth inning last Saturday at Milwaukee. He had previously dislocated his pinky again in that game but he said it didn't bother him when he threw Friday in a bullpen session at Wrigley Field. It looks like Buddy Carlyle will be starting the series finale against the Chicago Cubs this Sunday.

I'm torn with the "Chipper to the DL" thing, I mean Chipper is my favorite player and I never want to see him get hurt, but if he is hurt--and he is--I want him to take as much time as he needs so his season isn't full of injuries, and on another plus side we get to see Escobar play who is most likely one our top "trading pieces". As bad as it sounds, there is just no where for him to play and if he continues his hot hitting, he could fetch us another pitcher.

[Photo of Chipper(1st pic) is from May 11th when he collided with Pirate's third baseman, Jose Bautista, that was when he first injured his wrists.]

Mike Gonzalez needs Tommy John Surgery

I know i'm late on this, seeing as how news of Mike Gonzalez requiring elbow surgery was broke two days ago but according to AtlantaBraves.com and AJC.com, left-hander Mike Gonzalez will be requiring Tommy John Surgery on his throwing elbow. He will likely miss 12-16 months meaning he could miss a big part of next year.

When team physicians informed Bobby Cox on Friday that Mike Gonzalez was going to need season-ending Tommy John elbow ligament transplant surgery, it didn't really surprise the Braves skipper. For most of the past week, he was fearfully expecting this revelation.

Every time Gonzalez indicated that he wasn't feeling any pain in his left elbow, Cox thought back to 1999, when John Smoltz was saying the same thing. By the time Spring Training rolled around the next year, Smoltz found himself undergoing the same surgical procedure that awaits Gonzalez.

"All of the symptoms in my mind were sort of there because [the velocity] dropped off and there was no pain," said Cox, who removed Gonzalez from a May 15 game against the Nationals because his normally lively fastball was topping out at 84 mph.

Some may remember that Gonzo's health was a concern back when the Braves traded for the light's out closer in exchanger for power-hitting first baseman, Adam LaRoche. But he was cleared multiple times by doctors and he passed all physicals. Also included in that deal was top ten prospect for the Pirates, Brent Lillibridge, who is a year maybe two away from the big leagues. And with LaRoche struggling mightily in Pittsburgh it would seem as though the trade seems like a wash right now. I was in huge favor of the deal and I still am, before the elbow complications, he was pitching lights out, 2-0 1.59 ERA 2 SV's 1.59 WHIP, and seeing as how most people who come back from Tommy John Surgery throw harder, I think he'll be fine. I'd rather him have the surgery now, since we have two guys that can close out games(Soriano and Wickman) this year as oppose to next year when we may not have Wickman for much longer, we should be fine.

Morneau breaks his nose by a bouncing ball

During the eighth inning of the Twin's eventual 8-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers, the reinging MVP, Justin Morneau, was hit in the face by a bouncing ball. Morneau's nose broke when his teammate, Nick Punto attempted to turn a double play after he had caught a line-drive but his ball was thrown poorly and it took a big bounce hitting Morneau square in the nose.

"Just tops it all out," said Morneau, who had his nose reset and planned to play on Sunday.

The Minnesota Twins will try to stop the bleeding as they try to avoid the sweep later today when they play the Tigers again. The Twins have Boof Bonser starting and Detroit have Virgil Vasquez making his major league debut and also his first start.

It really sucks to be Carl Pavano

I'm sure everyone can agree with me when I say that Carl Pavano is an idiot. Is it because he fired his agent, Gregg Cliffton after he failed to get Pavano the 4-year $40 million contract he promised him? Oh and for the record, Pavano signed a 4-year $39.5 million deal with the Yankees in '04. No, I mean sure $500,000 is a lot of money to most of us, but when your making as much as he is, i'm sure it's not that big of deal. But that can be dismissed I suppose, I mean the guy could've been a complete jackass and he did pinkie swear. Is it because in his entire three-year career in New York he's only played in a combined 19 games, that's including missing all of 2006 and is a combined 5-6 with a 4.75 ERA and has allowed 17 homeruns? Hey, you know, injuries are a part of the game, maybe he's just had bad luck, that or Jesus hates you(i'm beginning to think it's the latter).

There are ways that you can get him off the hook for any of those examples, but I simply CAN'T seem to comprehend why, he would cheat on Gia Allemand. Now, I know i'm a little late, ok a lot late on this news but Allenmand was just featured again in Maxim and Pavano is hurt, again. Do you see how I put two and two together? Anyway, like I was saying, Pavano is a fucking idiot. Not only is he most likely going to be having Tommy John surgery to try and save his career, plowing this every night wasn't enough for him. Yeah, next you're probably tell me that someone would cheat on Halle Berry....wait what?





Side Note: More pics of Gia Allemand are on Maxim. And another sidenote, just in case you were wondering about Pavano's desicion making skills, he also broke up with Alyssa Milano.

Special thanks to WithLeater for finding these pics.

Alexander: Foot still broken? I'll never tell.

Apparently Shaun Alexander's foot may still be broken. He wouldn't go into that many details but he did say that he might have played the final four months of the season while his foot was still cracked and it may still be cracked heading into the 2007 training camp.

From ESPN:

"I don't even want to get another X-ray until after this camp," a smiling Alexander said after his fourth consecutive day of occasionally carrying the ball during no-contact, no-pads drills. "If the X-ray shows it's still cracked, it's like, 'OK. What does that mean?'"

Last winter, it meant team doctors finally clearing him to play because they deemed remote the risk of completely breaking through a crack in the fourth metatarsal. He sat out seven weeks because of an injury that began as a severe bruise sustained when a Detroit Lions tackler fell on it during the season opener.

In his second game back, Alexander plowed through the snow for 201 yards on a Seattle-record 40 carries against Green Bay. He averaged 112 yards per game over the final six weeks of the regular season, and finished the year with 896 yards rushing and seven touchdowns in 10 games.

Yeah, I know all about his 2006-07 "performance", I was the idiot that took Alexander number one overall in one of my fantasy drafts instead of LaDaianian Tomlinson, who I think I heard he might have had a pretty decent season. That is a decision that gets me mocked to this very day. And of course I came in second to last in that league.

Zumaya won't be throwing for awhile...out 12 weeks

When Detroit's flamethrower, Joel Zumaya felt a pop in his pitching hand while warming up Saturday, he thought he might have cracked his middle knuckle but after the team trainer rushed out to him, it was expected to be a dislocated right middle finger. He said he felt a "shocking pain" in his hand and was rushed down to the Tiger's locker room.

"I thought maybe my knuckle cracked," he said Saturday. "I went to a curveball and I couldn't even grip the ball. I threw another fastball and it popped again, and a sharp pain ran through my finger. I called down and said, 'I need a trainer quick.'"

Well the news today is worse, after being examined by Dr. Charles Melone in New York today, he found out that he ruptured a tendon in his middle finger and will be scheduled to have surgery on it this Thursday.

Zumaya has a fastball that has reportedly reached in upwards of 103 mph and he had thousands of shirts made in his honor. He is being replaced by Aquilino Lopez in the Tiger's bullpen.

David Pollack wants to play some football

All credit goes to Ryan Wilson over at the AOL Fanhouse for finding this one.

According to the Dayton Daily News, David Pollack of the Cincinnati Bengals, is aiming for a return to the NFL. I've posted many times about Pollack being my favorite defensive player on the Bengals and how devastated I was when he broke is neck in week two of last season against the Cleveland Browns.

Talking publicly for the first time in nearly four months, Bengals linebacker David Pollack said Wednesday night he is hoping to make a full recovery from a broken neck and return to the playing field.

I would be beyond thrilled if he returns to Cincy in '07, he's a great football player and an even better person. He's the type of guy that can command respect in the locker room with out saying a word, even despite his young age. He would go a long way to help veterans like Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson(yes, Chad, as much attention he gets, he's a good character guy) get control over this team. With guys like Odell Thurman, Chris Henry, Frostee Rucker to name a few, get their shit together and stay out of trouble.

"Absolutely that's what I want," Pollack said while signing autographs at the conclusion of the festivities. "If I get cleared to play football, I'm going to play football.

"There is no Plan B," Pollack continued. "It's all Plan A right now. If I get detoured from Plan A, then I'll start thinking about something else."

"I know there are plenty of other things to do out there," Pollack said. "But I'm a football player. And I want to play again."

As much as I want Pollack to play, we have to remember, he broke his neck. And the risk of him breaking it again is a lot higher. If he's cleared and doctors say the risks are minimal to him returning, then great, we have a great linebacker that would instantly be the best pass rusher on the team. But the risks of him breaking it again aren't worth him not being able to walk again or maybe even worse. He and his family have a very tough decision to make in the near future.

News Flash: Mark Redman still sucks

I could honestly finish up this post in very few words, "Mark Redman sucks and he cost the Braves yet another win" and be done with it, but I don't think I will, because a lot of huge story lines emerged from this game. The first major story line happened in the second inning, when Rod Barajas' backswing hit Brian McCann's catching hand and knocked off his glove. He tried to walk it off and return to the game, but he was forced to leave shortly thereafter because he couldn't hold onto Redman's pitch and let it get by him that led to the Phillies first run. Brian was taken to get x-rays on his hand, which were negative, he is currently listed as day-to-day with a bruised left ring finger, the same finger he injured against the Met's last week while trying to put down a bunt. And then again, more bad lucked struck in the top of the ninth inning when Braves back-up catcher, Brayan Pena was struck in the back of the head off another Phillie backswing, this time by rookie, Greg Dobbs.

"You need your fingers to catch a baseball," McCann said. "When one of them is giving you trouble, it's tough to do your job."

It isn't known right now if Brian McCann or Brayan Pena will be able to play tonight against the Freddy Garcia and the Phillies. If neither are able to catch then that could mean, Blue-Chip prospect, Jerrod Saltalamacchia, would be making his major league debut. Saltalamacchia, or "Salty" is currently hitting .309 with 6 homeruns, 7 doubles 13 RBI's and 13 walks in 22 games while in AA Mississippi. If Salty isn't brought up then it would most likely be Corky Miller who is in AAA Richmond or Craig Wilson, who is on our 25-man roster would get the start tonight.

For the Phillies starter, Cole Hamels, he started off really bad giving up three runs in the first inning, but he settled down very quickly. He ended up going 7.1 innings while giving up four runs, all of which were earned, he gave up nine hits, walked three batters and struck out six. Not his greatest performance, but it was enough to hold off the Braves and get the Phillies first win against the Braves.

There was some good parts of this game though, for instance Chipper Jones became the League Leader in homeruns by hitting two last night. His first was a two run homer in the 1st inning and then again in the eighth inning, both came off of Hamels. He passed up Phillies shortstop, Jimmy Rollins who has nine homers, Chipper now has ten. The other good news was our bullpen. They were forced to pitch over seven innings and only allowed two runs, Villarreal went 2.1 innings allowing one run and striking out four, Peter Moylan went three innings allowing one run, a homer to Barajas and striking out one and then Chad Paronto and Steve Colyer both went one inning apiece.

Mark Redman was about as effective as this guy in life. It was thought that his starts couldn't get any worse, I mean the guy was sporting a 10.16 ERA before the game, but somehow he found a way to suck even worse. First of all, he only went 1.2 innings, he gave up 4 runs, struck out one and walked three. And he injured one of our best players, McCann, if Brian wouldn't have had to stretch out his arm to catch the 69 MPH heat Redman was throwing, maybe he wouldn't have been injured. Hopefully he'll get busted for picking up and undercover cop, looking for a good time or something and never has to disgrace the Atlanta Braves uniform again by wearing it.

WP: Cole Hamels(3-1)
LP: *Mark Redman(0-4)
SV: Tom Gordon(5)

HR: ATL- Chipper Jones,2(10) PHI- Rod Barajas(2)

The next Braves game is tonight against the same Phillies, we have Chuck James going and they have Freddy Garcia pitching. The game starts at 7:35 PM ET and it's going to be on ESPN.

*= Fuck that guy

Bob Wickman to the DL.

Well it now makes sense on why Bob Wickman has been struggling recently. He's been injured. The Atlanta Braves have placed closer, Wickman, on the DL and have activated Chad Paronto from the DL.

From AJC:

The Braves have placed closer Bob Wickman on the disabled list and activated reliever Chad Paronto.

Wickman struggled in three appearances the past five days, blowing leads Wednesday against Florida and Sunday against Colorado. He also had to be removed in the ninth inning Friday night against Colorado.

The veteran righthander has allowed five hits, six runs and six walks in 1 2/3 innings in his past three games.

More details on the injury and the amount of time he will be missing aren't out yet, but I will update as they are released.

Torn side muscle looks to sideline Hampton for months.

During his third and final session of batting practice Wednesday, Mike Hampton swung and then dropped to his knees in pain. Hampton is just now finishing his 18 month recovery from Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss the whole 2006 season and the end of the 2005 season and now he is expected to miss at least a month or more with an apparent torn side muscle, most likely an oblique.

"The sad thing is he was feeling great the last two times - he felt normal," manager Bobby Cox said. "This is going to set him back quite a ways."

Exactly how long Cox didn't want to speculate. "It'll be a while," he said.

"He was just getting his arm strength back to normal and now he's not going to be able to throw at all," said Cox, meaning when Hampton's side heals he'll have to start over again to get his arm in pitching shape.

Hampton left Braves camp on Thursday morning to see Braves team orthopedist Norton Baker in Orlando.

Hampton was expected to be the Braves 3rd or 4th started this year and was one of the main reasons the Braves were quickly looking like one of the top teams in the National League. Last season the Braves came in 3rd place in the division with a record of 79-83, this was the first time Atlanta failed to win the Division in the past 14 seasons. The 14 straight division championships is a record that may never be reached by any team and with the return of Hampton among others, it seemed as though the Braves had an extremely good chance to return to the Post-Season.

Atlanta should be able to weather the storm until he returns again, with Kyle Davies and Lance Cormier. Hopefully he returns sometime in May or early June and the Braves are still in contention for a division crown.