The Final Score

Anthony is the seventh-most popular baby name, according to the Department of Compiling and Releasing Pointless Lists.

James is not in the top 10.

It's the title of a new book. Calm down.

From the AP via ESPN.com:

A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.

Here's the rest of the story.

Many Mets fans are still upset about the team essentially giving up on Jeff Keppinger when they traded him to the Royals for Ruben Gotay.

Then the same Mets fans fell in love with Gotay, but now he's with the Braves after the Mets waived him in March.

And those same Mets fans are not exactly crazy about Luis Castillo. But they better learn to love him -- Castillo somehow got a four-year contract out of the Mets.

Keppinger is now the starting shortstop for the Reds. He went 5-for-5 in the second game of last night's doubleheader. Here are the numbers of the three players going into yesterday:

Player BA HRs RBIs Age Good knees
Castillo .233 0 7 32 0
Keppinger .317 2 17 28 2
Gotay .250 0 0 25 2

Looks like Mets fans were right about Keppinger. Pat yourselves on the back if you were one of them!

UPDATE, 3 p.m.: Castillo left today's Mets game with discomfort in his right quad. Keppenger is 2-for-2 with a walk. I'm just sayin'.

If Mike D'Antoni becomes the coach of the Knicks -- wow! what a great move by Donnie Walsh.

And Donnie Walsh couldn't have made the move if he hadn't been hired by James Dolan.

And James Dolan couldn't have hired Donnie Walsh if he hadn't been sired by Charles Dolan.

Good work all around!

Give that last debate victory to Anthony. I'm going to jump off the sinking Igawa ship before it's late. Well, it is already too late.

Whatev.

I just saw a pretty cool sign on a parkway in Connecticut. It said: "Don't Stop: Correctional Facility Area." Hey, at least they acknowledge they're not too good at keeping the criminals in lockdown.

I have another favorite sign. It's on route 81 in Pennsylvania. It says, "Entering Endless Mountain Region." That's some region.

BTW, Anthony, have any problem with Joba's first pumps? I like the enthusiasm, but I didn't like Joba's reasoning that he didn't know it was Dellucci he struck out.

Baloney.

Earlier in the season I was there when someone (I think FS reader Tyler Kepner) asked him if he had ever faced Frank Thomas before striking him out this year, and he quickly mentioned the two previous times, the results of the ABs and what pitch he threw him.

So, Joba, if you're going to celebrate after striking out the guy who beat you for a home run two nights earlier, fine. But don't play dumb. We're on to you.

From ESPN.com news services:

Florida Gators safety Jamar Hornsby has been kicked off the team after turning himself in Friday to answer charges he allegedly used the credit card of a woman killed six months ago in an accident that also killed a teammate.

"He is not a part of our program," Florida coach Urban Meyer said in a news release.

Continue reading here

Jim is feeling pretty unhappy about pubilcly declaring his support for Kei Igawa. I say stay with it. Heh heh.

ANTHONY: NO WAY!

You know how I know Kei Igawa will never be an effective starting pitcher in the big leagues?

Big Papi told me.

Actually, David Ortiz told a lot of reporters this after Igawa's proudest moment as a Yankee. It was last April 28, when Igawa came in against the Red Sox in long relief and pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings in a 3-1 Yankees win. Igawa got the victory -- his second and final one of the season.

After the game, Big Papi was asked what he thought of Igawa.

"He was all right," he said. "Nothing special."

I don't think that was the usual ballplayer bravado. Big Papi was saying what we can all see with our own eyes: Igawa doesn't have the stuff to make it here. Just because the Yankees wasted $46 million on him doesn't change that fact.

JIM: DON'T GO BY BIG PAPI

I need to get Anthony one of those Magic Eight Balls and rig it so it will give him a Big Papi answer. This way, whenever we do a debate, he can shake the Magic Eight Ball and ask, "Big Papi, tell me how I should answer this Final Score debate."

Here's the thing about Igawa: forget about the money the Yankees paid. It's completely irrelevant at this point. If he allows three runs in six innings tonight, Yankees fans are not going to yell at the screen, "Yeah, but we didn't pay $46 million for just that!"

But the question here is, will Igawa be a successful major league pitcher, and I think he will be. There is reason to believe it. He posted strong minor-league numbers last season and he has done well so far this season. And while he wasn't Daisuke Matsuzaka in Japan, he did constantly lead the league in strikeouts.

Yes, he stunk last year. But there is undoubtedly an adjustment period when coming from Japan to the United States. That's by no means the reason for his struggles last year, but it has to be part of the discussion.

Tonight, Year 2 of Igawa begins. Prepared to be surprised.

For this week's where-are-they-now, we catch up with former Yankees third baseman Scott Brosius. He's in his first year as the head baseball coach of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.

That's the Division III school he played for two decades ago, and his family still lives there. So it made perfect sense when he retired to return to school, finish his degree, become an assistant coach and now the head coach. He's loving it.

Here's the Brosius story.

And here's our past where-are-they-nows:

Gary Carter ... Lake Erie Midges ... Patrick McCarthy, the boy A-Rod saved in 2005 ... Jason Fraser, local basketball star ... Ron Hunt ... Walt Szczerbiak ... Davey Johnson ... Brian Mahoney ... Mike Stanley ... Matt Bahr ... Jeff Hostetler ... Leonard Marshall ... Y.A. Tittle ... Ottis Anderson ... Barry Lyons ... Bruce Harper ... Mackey Sasser ... Ken Phelps ... Kenny "Sky" Walker.

Our hard-working Neil Best announced this morning that he is taking the weekend off from blogging.

Neil practically invented newspaper blogging, so he's entitled to some time with the Besties. He also invented Velcro, but (little-known fact) forgot to patent it. D'oh!

Jim and I will be here blogging all weekend to serve your blog needs. We never take a day off. That's a promise.

Except for later this month when we are each taking a week of vacation. So we need page views now! Tell your friends.

METS: Our hard-working David Lennon writes today about Aaron Heilman's struggles.

Mets fans need to give A-Heil a break at Shea if they want him to be more effective. Some players don't care about getting booed or even use it for motivation. I can't prove this, but I have a feeling it doesn't help Heilman for the home crowd to boo him. It may hurt him to have that distraction to deal with. Just a feeling.

YANKEES: Every time Jason Giambi hits a home run -- he has six -- it makes it less likely the Yankees will have the guts to release him, as this space says it must. Giambi is going to tease them like this all season with just enough power to make you think he's going to turn it around.

He isn't. Not to any great degree, anyway.

Our hard-working Alan Hahn reports today that Mark Jackson had a so-so interview with Donnie Walsh for the Knicks coaching job.

What does that mean exactly?

Did Jackson show up 20 minutes late and blame the "f-ing 'roids" he has to take to get started in the morning? Did he try to chest-bump Walsh instead of shaking hands? Did he answer a question with "boo-yeah!" instead of "yes"? Did he say nice things about Isiah Thomas? Did he do the helicopter and knock over Walsh's prized hummels?

Here are some actual bad interview stories from www.gradview.com:

-- Applicant stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application.
-- Applicant brought her large dog to the interview.
-- Applicant chewed bubble gum and constantly blew bubbles.
-- Applicant wore a Walkman, claiming she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
-- Balding applicant abruptly excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece.
-- Applicant challenged the interviewer to arm wrestle.
-- Applicant announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries during the interview.
-- Applicant threw up on the interviewer's desk and immediately started asking questions about the job, like nothing had happened.
-- Applicant sits down in interviewer's office, leans back, puts his feet on her desk, and proceeds to tell her why he should have her job.
-- Applicant said if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm.

Actually, that last one might work in the NBA.

Even with a ton of stuff on my list of things to do today - which won't leave much time for blogging, unfortunately ... hint, hint, Anthony - I still took time to click on the Mariners boxscore. And when I saw they only had four hits in a 5-0 loss, I figured it was another hitless day in a hitless season for our favorite hitless utility infielder.

Alas, Cairo's luck changed last night. Richie Sexson was ejected early in the game - there was a brawl - so Cairo came in. After walking in the fourth and grounding to third in the sixth, he came up with two outs in the ninth with the Mariners down 5-0.

But this guy doesn't give ABs away. He reached on an infield single to second.

So on May 8, the longest hitless streak by an active position player to start the season ended ... on an infield single to second with two outs in the ninth inning of a 5-0 loss.

I would call Cairo for comment, but it's 5:50 a.m. in Seattle right now, so this time he probably really is sleeping.

The blog Hugging Harold Reynolds posted part two of its exclusive interview with Zach Feinstein, whom you might recall from such Final Score posts as Possible First Round Pick by the Knicks Speaks and Hey, Knicks, You Should Draft This Guy.

Here's Part Two of their interview. And here's Zach's site.

One of the HHR bloggers also turned me on to this site: http://gemmintten.blogspot.com/, which is essentially Fun With Old Baseball Cards.

My kind of site. I bookmarked it.

I also told the HHR blogger about how I once applied for the New Jersey Nets' head coaching job. Did I ever tell you guys that? Well, now I have. I sent a resume and a cover letter describing how I would improve their offense, defense, etc. And I even got a rejection letter in the mail. I'm sure it's somewhere in my basement.

In the same folder as my NBA Draft application, I'm sure.

... for his usage of the word 'heavens' in this post.

I'm procrastinating from writing my where-are-they-now column to bring you a look at the notables taken in the first round of baseball's 1989 amateur draft.

1... Orioles... Ben McDonald... P
2... Braves... Tyler Houston... C
7... White Sox... Frank Thomas... 1B
10... Expos... Charles Johnson... C
12... Astros... Jeff Juden... P
13... Royals... Brent Mayne... OF
16... Red Sox... Greg Blosser... OF
17... Brewers... Cal Eldred... P
22... Dodgers... Tom Goodwin... OF
23... Red Sox... Mo Vaughn... 1B
24... Mets... Alan Zinter... C
25... Twins... Chuck Knoblauch... SS
27... Astros... Todd Jones... P

Cover your noses. What an awful draft.
(I know, I know, booooooo.)

Quick Tyler Houston story. On one of my first days on the Yankees beat in 2004, I misunderstood something Brian Cashman said about Houston being late for camp and wrote: "Utilityman Tyler Houston didn't report for his physical and likely will be cut." Cashman just said they were trying to get in touch with him, or something. But the day that ran, guess what the Yanks did? Yes, they cut him... as first reported by Newsday.

First there was this antic that was pulled by Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston and some dog.

As if being allowed to run onto the field between innings and not get arrested wasn't offensive enough, now they're after us, the people in the newspaper business.

Check this out.

Thankfully, at my home office I'm only disturbed by my barking dog.

Now I'm cranky again. I need more coffee. Decaf.

I just spoke with the guy. The story goes online tomorrow, so you have time to guess.

Here's your hints:
-a former Yankee position player.
-has a seven-letter last name with three different vowels in it.
-he hit 65 home runs during his Yankee career.

Also, a shoutout to longtime On the Yankees Beat commenter Alvaro, who will be making his second trip to Yankee Stadium later this summer. The first time was in 1999 when his most memorable moment was chatting with Luis Polonia for a few minutes.

Oh, I'll give you another hint. It's not Luis Polonia.

Oscar Gamble just pulled the lever at Yankee Stadium for the final season countdown!
His hair is much shorter now.

A disgruntled Yankee fan from Connecticut is selling his allegiance to the Red Sox (buyer beware: 2008 only). The opening bid is set at $49,000, with a buy-it-now feature for $174,999. Auction ends May 17. There have been no bids.

So this auction is for the right to purchase the following:
1) Fan rights for 2008 or forever (if the buy it now price is paid)
2) I have to wear a Red Sox jersey of every player on the roster the rest of the year.
3) When conducting interviews the alternate universe hat and Jersey must be worn.
4) I must attend 20 games during the 08 season and possibly beyond.
5) If the winning bidder is a business then I will wear Red Sox garb in any Sox ads.
6) I must go to Yankees Stadium and root for the road team.
7) A press conference with the winning bidder at the discretion of the winning bidder.
8) A legal document stating the terms of the fan hood contract.
9) I can only vote for Red Sox players in the All Star Balloting.
10) I must become an official member of the Red Sox Nation.
11) 50% of proceeds will be donated between the following charities.
ALD Foundation and the V Foundation.

Happy bidding!

Son of Darth Vader gets credit for finding this ... unless this is HIM! Dum dum dum!

If Joakim Soria pitched in a bigger market than Kansas City, he'd be a Joba Chamberlain-like star right now.

Check out these numbers:
2007: 69 IP... 75 K... 0.942 WHIP... 2.48 ERA
2008: 13 IP... 15 K... 0.308 WHIP!... 0.00 ERA

And now in Kansas City they're wondering if the Royals would be better off if he started, not relieved. Hmmm, I do believe we've heard that topic debated around here...

On a totally unrelated note, anyone else excited about another new Lost tonight?

I've read several stories this morning about how former Patriots employee Matt Walsh has handed over the tapes of other teams' signs to the NFL, but the Super Bowl XXXVI walk-through was not one of them. So what!?!?

Why does this now guarantee the Patriots didn't tape that walk-through? Are we're supposed to take the Pats at their word? Hopefully Walsh tells us what he says to the commish. Still, isn't anyone else bothered by the FACT that the greatest NFL dynasty in decades has been illegally taping other teams' signs for eight years?!?!

Then I hear Boomer Esiason on WFAN this morning saying he hopes Walsh is happy he got his 15 minutes and we can call an end to this. Huh? And don't even get me started on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell destroying the evidence...

Okay, I'm going to make some coffee. Decaf.

Thanks to enthusiastic Final Score reader Tyler Kepner, who helped me find the answer to a question a reader posed a while back: What happened to the bullpen cars teams used to use in baseball?

Tyler told me of a web site, www.uniwatchblog.com and a man named Paul Lukas. Here's a link to a story Paul wrote about bullpen cars for ESPN.com.

Bob Watson, the GM of the U.S. Olympic baseball squad, told The Associated Press yesterday Roger Clemens won't be on the roster for this summer's games in Beijing. "We don't need that type of distraction," he said. Guess that rules out fellow unemployed baseball player Barry Bonds, too...

Two other things:

*MLB execs are already busy getting ready for another World Baseball Classic, which will be held next spring training. I hope Clemens doesn't play in that either, if only because I am sick of hearing him refer to it as the "World Games."

*Someone emailed me to see if I felt any noticeable effects of the steroids in my foot. Just soreness, from the shots. Though I do find myself oddly interested in listening to a certain female country music singer this morning. Don't know what that's about.

Of course the Mets made the right move trading for Johan Santana. How can you argue it? Unless Anthony comes up with some crazy theory - which he has a tendency to do - the Mets HAD to deal Gomez, Humber, Mulvey and Guerra and then give Santana many, many, many bags with dollar signs on them.

That said, who here doesn't think Gomez is going to be an exciting player for years to come. Yes, he has an ugly .306 OBP in 121 PA, but did you see what he did last night? Cycle, baby!

Also, he came up in the ninth needing a single to complete the cycle, but with the Twins up 7-0 he did the right thing and didn't bunt for a hit. Nice job.

I have never seen a cycle or no-hitter in person. Have you?

Miguel Cairo made his third start of the season last night, but alas he went 0-for-3. Strikeout in third, foulout to first in sixth and flied to center in eight. That said, his teammates only mustered two hits against Vicente Padilla...

Cairo's resolve seems strong. Before the game he told the Seattle Times: "If you feel you're a very good player, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. I believe in myself and I know if I get a chance to play today, I'm going to do my best."

The Mariners have played 35 games. Cairo has been active for all of them. He has zero hits. Over/under, first hit by June 1. Any takers?

I guess if Cairo is really desperate, I could refer him to my foot doctor. This guy gave my left foot two more shots of steroids yesterday. And it only cost me a $20 co-pay!

My good friend Ed McNamara, who does a great job covering horse racing for Newsday, always talks about "the thing I learned today."

Well, the thing I learned today was you can shorten "whatever!" to "whatev!"

Roger Rubin of the Daily News says the fact I just learned this today means I'm old. To which I say:

"Whatev!"

A year ago yesterday Miguel Cairo got his first hit of '07. Wouldn't it have been cool if Cairo notched his first hit of '08 on the same day? If only...

Cairo led off the eighth last night after having taken over for Adrian Beltre at third base in the seventh. But poor Miggy lined out to right. Tell us, what could you have possibly done to the baseball gods?!?! He is now 0-for-10.

(BTW, if you're new to this blog and this post puzzles you... Cairo, to my knowledge, is the last position player who was on an Opening Day roster and still doesn't have a hit.)

I guess it's not really a pocket schedule. The listing says it's 4 x 10 inches. Odd size.

Those Mets, managed by the happy Joe Torre you see on the schedule cover, went 63-99.

But I don't imagine they were booed too often by the Shea Stadium faithful. They drew only 788,905 fans, which was worst in the National League.

But the sked's going for .99 - plus $1 shipping - and no one has bid. Here's your chance.

The person I was hoping to find isn't returning my messages. His loss.

So, Final Scorers, what long lost New York sports figure would you like me to find?

Why '96? Because that's the year I picked, okay? Stop asking questions.

I picked out names I recognized - not too many could be called stars. Eric Chavez at one time, maybe. A reminder that a first-round pick does not guarantee stardom.

I wonder if Newsday went nuts when a kid from West Babylon was picked fourth...

1... Pirates... Kris Benson... P
2... Twins... Travis Lee... 1B
3... Cardinals... Braden Looper... P
4... Blue Jays... Billy Koch... P
9... Marlins... Mark Kotsay... OF
10... Athletics... Eric Chavez... 3B
11... Phillies... Adam Eaton... P
12... White Sox... Bobby Seay... P
13... Mets... Robert Stratton... OF
20... Yankees... Eric Milton... P
21... Rockies... Jake Westbrook... P
22... Mariners... Gil Meche... P
23... Dodgers... Damian Rolls... 3B

Say whatever you want about Eric Duncan's disappointing career thus far in the Yankees system, but this kid is as level-headed as they come. If he doesn't eventually make it to the majors, I assure you it won't be because of a lack of effort or preparation.

I spoke to him today for my Web column. He's off to a decent start at Triple-A - hitting .270 (20-for-74) with a .382 on-base percentage. Not stellar numbers, but a significant upgrade of his previous two starts at Triple-A. Anyway, we spoke about his struggles, how he's coped, what his mindset is like right now and so on.

Here is the link to my Web column about Eric Duncan.

The blog "Hugging Harold Reynolds" must read The Final Score, because someone from their site sent me a link to their exclusive interview with Zach Feinstein, the guy whom I predict the Knicks would have taken if Isiah Thomas was still running the show.

You remember Feinstein - I wrote about him here.

Here's