Dustin McGowan

For all the promise he showed after his call-up in May of last season, could Dustin McGowan be any more ordinary this year? Sure, the Jays' pitching as a whole this season has at least allowed the team to tread water, but after his efforts towards the end of last season, McGowan left me wanting more in '08. Am I the only one that's underwhelmed?

McGowan and Shaun Marcum both turned heads last season, and of the pair, McGowan was considered a sure thing to repeat his performance. And why not? Players around the league marveled about his overpowering stuff last year, the best of which was on display when he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning against Colorado in late-June. Marcum, on the other hand, relied on breaking pitches and command, both of which seemed to fail him as the season wore on. So you'd expect McGowan to come back stronger in '08, no? Think again. After last night's loss to Seattle, McGowan sits at 6-7 with a 4.36 earned run average. Marcum? 5-4 and 2.65, the latter number amongst league leaders. Marcum, however, is beginning to show signs of wear and tear -- he was placed on the disabled list two weeks ago with a right elbow strain.

Back to our subject, though: McGowan has been strong as ever at home in '08, but a different pitcher altogether on the road. In seven home starts, he's 4-2 with a 2.20 ERA; on the road, he's 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA. Is it a mental thing, then?  That's the way it would seem.

At 26, McGowan is still young, but he's starting to show an early onset of A.J. Burnett syndrome. Like Burnett, he has electric stuff, but doesn't seem to be able to harness it. Still, with nowhere to go but up in this suddenly-hopeless season, it's worth waiting to see whether or not McGowan is all he's hyped up to be. Let's just hope he doesn't turn into another guy who gets by solely on potential. Even if he does, though, he can rest assured someone will be waiting to give him a $55 million contract.

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Calderon

With T.J. Ford all-but-officially on his way to Indiana, you had to figure it was only a matter of time before the Raptors wrapped up Jose Calderon to a long-term contract. That deal apparently was reached early yesterday, as Calderon agreed to remain a Raptor, according to the point guard’s official website. Terms of the contract were undisclosed, though it’s reported Calderon will receive around $8 million per year – not a bad deal for one of the league’s most efficient players.

Calderon averaged 11.9 points and 8.3 assists while playing all 82 games last season. His 5.4 assist-to-turnover ratio was tops in the NBA, and his play in Ford’s absence had many around the league picking him as an Eastern Conference All-Star.

Ford, of course, suffered a neck injury courtesy of Hawks’ rookie Al Horford in December. After his return in early-February, he served as Calderon’s backup before his complaining and erratic play in limited minutes eventually led Calderon to sacrifice the starting spot.

Something had to be done this off-season, and I’m certain general manager Bryan Colangelo did the right thing. By the end of the season, Ford had burned just about every bridge with teammates and fans alike, and it became increasingly evident that Calderon would, deservedly so, be the Raptors’ long-term investment at the point. It’s disappointing how quickly Ford fell from grace – he was instrumental in the team’s remarkable turnaround two seasons ago and was inspirational in his comeback this past season. Nevertheless, he’s responsible for his own falling out.

In Calderon, the Raptors have a point guard that’s improved in each of his three seasons in the NBA and should continue to do so. Aside from his assist-to-turnover ratio, Calderon’s shooting percentages (51.9% from the field, 42.9% from three and 90.8% from the stripe) were also amongst league leaders. He did, however, seem to wear down towards the end of the season – a trend he’ll have to avoid should the Raptors hope to get past the first round of the playoffs in coming seasons.

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Will Ferrell...err, Adam Dunn

By now, you’re likely familiar with the J.P. Ricciardi and Adam Dunn saga. Last week, Ricciardi told a caller on The Fan 590 the Jays weren’t interested in the Will Ferrell look-a-like, insisting Dunn “doesn’t really like baseball that much” and “doesn’t have a passion to play the game”.

 
Dunn’s response: “I know nothing about this clown. I have no idea who he is. This guy doesn’t know anything about me other than what he sees on whatever SportsCenter they have up there.”

Fair enough. Ricciardi claims Dunn doesn’t like baseball, Dunn calls him a clown. Dunn shows ignorance for Canadian sports television. What goes around comes around.

Ricciardi called Reds general manager Walt Jocketty to apologize, and eventually got a call back from Dunn on Saturday night. Or so, that was what he thought.

“If he said he talked to me, it’s a lie,” Dunn said after last night’s game at Rogers Centre.

Turns out J.P. fielded a call from a Dunn imposter. He claims it was a 519 number – the area code for a large portion of Southern Ontario. Cincinnati’s area code, on the other hand, is 513. Close. Close enough to fool the mastermind Ricciardi.

After the game, Dunn reiterated his lack on concern for the esteemed Jays’ GM.

"I'm just so sick and tired of this," he told reporters. “Again, I'm not going to go out of my way to apologize or get an apology from a guy I don't even know.”

Okay, Dunn doesn’t care about Ricciardi. The important thing, however, is that we find out who the genius prank caller was. If you’re out there, be assured that there is absolutely no shame in coming forward.

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Shaq Freestyle - (Kobe Diss)

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An offensive foul, likely...

Admittedly, I don’t follow college basketball much from April through February. From what I understood though, Andre Iguodala was a solid NBA prospect – an athletic swingman expected to go anywhere as high as third overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. So when Iguodala was still available when the Raptors chose eighth, I was excited.

It was then that David Stern delivered those fateful words: “With the eighth pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, the Toronto Raptors select Rafael Araujo from Brigham Young University”.

Sweet. I can’t believe Iguodala was still available that late. He’ll definitely help out our perimeter defense, considering Vince Carter stopped trying a couple years ago. Wait…hold on…Rafael Araujo? From Brigham Young University?

It was true, and Rob Babcock officially became “Lord of the Idiots”. Iguodala, who was drafted by Philadelphia with the following pick, led the Sixers to the playoffs last year, averaging 19.9 points and 2.1 steals per game. Araujo, in the meantime, also enjoyed his best professional season in 2007-08, averaging 11.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game – for Spartak St. Petersburg of the Russian Super Basketball League.

That answers the question of “Where is he now?”. However, in order to fully grasp how horrible of a pick Araujo was, it’s important to look at how he did with the Toronto Super Raptors of the National Super Basketball Association.

Araujo was drafted following his senior season, supposedly “NBA ready”. Ready, that is, to average 3.3 points and 2.7 fouls per game for the 33-49 Raptors. “Hoffa” took a slight step back in his second season in Toronto, averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 fouls while shooting 36.6% from the field, despite the majority of his attempts coming from within three feet of the basket.

With Babcock gone following the 2005-06 season, new general manager Bryan Colangelo was able to dump Araujo on the Utah Jazz, where he averaged 2.6 points in just under eight minutes per game. When Utah opted to fill their roster with mighty Ukrainian Kyrylo Fesenko prior to last season, Araujo signed a one-year, $500,000 deal with Spartak St. Petersburg.

I get upset every year around draft time. Still, I suppose you can’t blame Araujo – I’m sure he’s a good enough guy and I know he tried his hardest (those foul per minute numbers don’t lie). With the 17^th pick in this year’s draft, it’s unlikely Colangelo will drop the ball the way Babcock did in 2004. That is, unless he trades for the first pick and grabs an Andrea Bargnani clone.

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I couldn't agree more

No, it certainly doesn't. I've yet to find a better toupee than that in my life...

(from Deadspin via The Sports Hernia)

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O.J. Mayo

Every time I hear about the "O.J. Mayo brand", I think about the Entourage episode where Vinny fires Ari and shops himself around to other agencies: "MacDonalds...Nike...Vincent Chase." Well, I suppose Mayo's kind of like that, only he sucks. Vincent Chase is a brand name, O.J. Mayo is not.

Who cares how much money Mayo accepted at USC? His freshman year was a huge disappointment for both him and the Trojans, who he failed to put on the basketball map. The only chance he has of playing NBA basketball in Los Angeles is with the Clippers, though they may be drafting a little too high for him this year. Mayo did plenty to play himself out of the top pick (with apologies to Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, who've earned it), both on and off the court.

Personally, I'm glad Mayo is leaving USC -- Am I the only one that can't wait to see what Lil' Romeo can do? Here's hoping Master P's son doesn't accept any gifts from the school and damage his character, in case he plans on making numerous attempts at making the NBA like his old man.

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Billy Wagner

Mets closer Billy Wager did pitchers league-wide a service yesterday, ripping his teammates for dodging reporters after a 1-0 loss to the highly-competitive Washington Nationals. Though it doesn't really represent locker room chemistry, I'm sure Wagner's outburst had pitchers across the world nodding their heads in approval. Which starting pitcher isn't frustrated when he holds the opposition to one run and still gets saddled with a loss? Sure, Wagner wasn't the starter yesterday -- he didn't even pitch -- yet he's the one reporters are forced to go to for answers.

I wonder what would happen if all players spoke their minds. What if, instead of insisting, "I have confidence in the guys, they'll turn things around next time," a starting pitcher said something along the lines of "These guys suck. I pitched eight innings of one-hit ball and I still took the loss" after, well, pitching eight innings of one-hit ball and taking the loss.

Did anyone else see some of the Mets' baserunning gaffes yesterday? If I were Carlos Beltran or Luis Castillo, I may have also booked it out of Shea right after the game. Nice game, pretty boys...(insert second spitter).

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The Gambler

Yikes -- lately I've been so engulfed in the Blue Jays' great battle to score runs that I've failed to notice what else is going on around baseball. I knew the Tigers had turned it around briefly after their 2-10 start, but noticed just now they've been swept by Kansas City for the second time this season and sit at 16-25, again losers of 10 of their last 12. Luckily for them, as is the case with the Jays thus far, nobody in the American League has really set themselves too far ahead of the pack. Though they're last in the Central, the Tigers are just six games back of first place Cleveland with 121 games to play. Time to count them out? Not by a long shot...

Once again, right after John Gibbons was written off as fired by just about anybody with a pen in arm's reach, the Jays have caught fire, winners of four in a row. The great Joe Inglett was the hero this afternoon, singling home the winning run in the top of the 11th in a 3-2 win over the Twins. Again, the Jays have crept to within a game of the hallowed .500 mark (21-22) and sit three-and-a-half games back from that team from Tampa Bay that refuses to lose. Should the Rays hold off the Yankees this evening (they're up 5-2 in the seventh), New York will drop into sole possession of last place in the East. How great does that sound?

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Kobe and the Jazz fans

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