New Dawg Blog

Sir Drink A Lot, Sidney Ponson, pitches for the Yankees tonight against the Texas Rangers.

Ponson was told to leave town after being a first class jerk according to Rangers GM Jon Daniels.  Now he takes the ball tonight against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium.

This is from the the New York Daily News:

Less than a month after being cut by Texas, Sidney Ponson will have a chance to get a little payback Wednesday, when he takes the mound against the Rangers.

Although Ponson didn’t speak to New York media Tuesday - claiming that he doesn’t talk the day before he pitches - he did offer these comments to the Dallas Morning News:

“Look, they are just another team,” Ponson said. “I’ve got to try to get them out, and they are going to try to beat my brains in. I have no problem. If there is any problem, it’s for (Rangers GM) Jon Daniels or (Rangers manager) Ron Washington to answer. I’m not going to sit here and talk about what happened in Texas. That’s the past.”

I hope the Rangers light him up tonight.

For the second time this year a Texas Rangers minor league pitcher has thrown a no hitter.

Dustin Nippert threw a seven-inning no-hitter for Triple-A Oklahoma today. Nippert walked two and struck out five. He is now 6-2 on the season with a 3.98 ERA.

Maybe they really do have some arms down on the farm.  I hope they don’t trade them away.

I know Jon Daniels has given away some talent for Chuck E Cheese tokens in the past.  See Chris Young, Alfonso Soriano, Adrian Gonzalez,  and John Danks, BUT he’s better than J.P. Ricciardi, the Toronto Blue Jays GM.

The man has been on the job seven years and they haven’t done much and he hasn’t developed any talent.

He gets blasted along with 55 million dollar bust pitcher A.J. Burnett in the Toronto Sun.

My man Jamey Newberg sent out his Newberg Report today and it focused on Chris Davis.  This kid is knocking the cover off the ball. 

THE NEWBERG REPORT 

Hank Blalock didn’t play first base for Oklahoma tonight, but Chris Davis did.   

He homered again, off of former Tampa Bay hurler Brian Stokes. 

In his last 162 games, dating back to mid-May 2007 in Bakersfield , Davis has hit .327/.378/.636.

With 42 doubles.

And 49 home runs. 

And 156 RBI. 

The left-handed-hitting Davis against left-handed AA pitchers in 2007: .229/.308/.543. 

Davis against left-handed AA pitchers in 2008: .276/.276/.379. 

Davis against left-handed AAA pitchers in 2008: .286/.348/.667

The only place Davis has worn blue since high school has been in Surprise, Arizona .

The 22-year-old from Longview is playing like he misses the blue.

www.newdawg.com

Just read it and weep.  And curse then assistant GM Grady Fuson who loved Drew Meyer and drafted him.

THE NEWBERG REPORT  

You can’t win ’em all on Draft Day – nobody does – but yeah, June 4, 2002 wasn’t a real good day in Rangersland. 

(Or in Exposland, where Montreal hung out at the correct high school field but chose the wrong guy . . . or in the war rooms of nearly half the teams who had the chance to name their player before the Mets came up):

1. Pittsburgh , Bryan Bullington, rhp, Ball State

2. Tampa Bay , B.J. Upton, ss, Greenbrier Christian Academy , Chesapeake , Va.

3. Cincinnati , Chris Gruler, rhp, Liberty HS, Brentwood , Calif.

4. Baltimore , Adam Loewen, lhp, Fraser Valley Christian, Surrey , B.C.

5. Montreal , Clint Everts, rhp, Cypress Falls HS, Houston.

6. Kansas City , Zack Greinke, rhp, Apopka ( Fla. ) HS.

7. Milwaukee , Prince Fielder, 1b, Eau Gallie HS, Melbourne , Fla.

8. Detroit , Scott Moore, ss, Cypress ( Calif. ) HS.

9. Colorado , Jeff Francis, lhp, U. of British Columbia .

10. Texas , Drew Meyer, ss, South Carolina .

11. Florida , Jeremy Hermida, of, Wheeler HS, Marietta , Ga.

12. Anaheim , Joe Saunders, lhp, Virginia Tech.

13. San Diego , Khalil Greene, ss, Clemson.

14. Toronto , Russ Adams, ss, North Carolina .

15. N.Y. Mets, Scott Kazmir, lhp, Cypress Falls HS, Houston .

16. Oakland (from Boston for Johnny Damon), Nick Swisher, 1b-of, Ohio State .

17. Philadelphia , Cole Hamels, lhp, Rancho Bernardo HS, San Diego .

18. Chicago White Sox, Roger Ring, lhp, San Diego State .

19. Los Angeles , James Loney, 1b, Lawrence Elkins HS, Missouri City , Texas .

20. Minnesota , Denard Span, of, Catholic HS, Tampa , Fla.

21. Chicago Cubs, Bobby Brownlie, rhp, Rutgers .

22. Cleveland, Jeremy Guthrie, rhp, Stanford.

23. Atlanta , Jeff Francoeur, of, Parkview HS, Lilburn , Ga.

24. Oakland (from N.Y. Yankees; Jason Giambi), Joseph Blanton, rhp, Kentucky .

25. San Francisco , Matt Cain, rhp, Houston HS, Germantown , Tenn.

26. Oakland , John McCurdy, ss, Maryland .

27. Arizona , Sergio Santos, ss, Mater Dei HS, Hacienda Heights , Calif.

28. Seattle , John Mayberry, Jr., 1b, Rockhurst HS, Kansas City , Mo.

29. Houston , Derick Grigsby, rhp, Northeast Texas CC.

30. Oakland (from St. Louis ; Jason Isringhausen), Ben Fritz, rhp, Fresno State .

www.newdawg.com

Richie Whitt of the Dallas Observer has a new sports blog called Sportatorium.   He comes out swinging.

Whitt says the Rangers have a plan in place to ax skipper Ron Washington and replace him:

“The Dallas Observer– via this here The Sportatorium sports blog – has learned from separate sources that the Rangers have held preliminary – if not more serious – talks with Don Baylor, Mike Hargrove, Jim Tracy and Jackie Moore about being Washington’s successor. At least one version of the inevitable overhaul, temporarily put on pause by the team’s recent uptick, includes the firing of all assistant coaches other than hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo and third base coach Matt Walbeck.”

Man, the New York Daily News is on Roger Clemens.  They have tracked down ol boys affairs, and more than the one with country singer Mindy McCready.

This story is…..wow.  “He had chicks stashed in every city - like every athlete, you play golf, you go get drunk and [have sex],” says one source close to Clemens. “In some ways, it’s a lonely life.”

I’d hate to be him right now.  Trying explaining this stuff to your kids and wife Debbie.

Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover gal, Marissa Miller, threw out the 1st pitch at a Cubs game recently. She makes pinstripes look very good.

Since the Rangers are living in last place again, it’s time to give hard working folks a reason to come out to the Ballpark.  

Dollar hot dog days are nice, but I’d say having Ms. Miller throw out the first pitch would be a very nice gesture to the long suffering Ranger fans.