John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo/Al Behrman)

Yes, Drew Stubbs hit the walk-off homer in the ninth that gave the Reds that 4-3 win over Atlanta on Sunday, his second career walk-off blast. But the most impressive part of Stubbs’ night was the fact he did not strike out, the second consecutive game in which the center fielder has not fanned. It had been July 6-7 since Stubbs had gone consecutive games without striking out.

The Reds are now three back of the three-way tie that is Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Milwaukee. Pittsburgh travels to Atlanta for a four-game set, which starts tonight. St. Louis could make some hay as the Cards play host to dreadful Houston for a four-game series. Milwaukee is off tonight, then welcomes the lowly Cubs to Miller Park for a three-game series. Cincinnati opens a four-game series with the New York Mets tonight at GABP.

Dontrelle Willis did not pitch badly, giving up six hits and three runs over 6.1 innings. He seemed to be bothered by a cracked fingernail. Willis may need to pitch well as Edinson Volquez pitched a complete game for Louisville his last start.

Continue reading ‘After Drew Stubbs’ walk-off, Reds look to get on a roll’

(AP photo)

Monday morning notes and links:

- Congrats to ex-UK golfer Russ Cochran on winning the Senior British Open.  The 52-year-old Cochran picked up a check for $310,000 for his third Senior Tour win. The Paducah native is the eighth American in the last nine years to win the Senior Open Championship.

- News that John Calipari is organizing an exhibition game for his Dominican Republic National Team against UK legends was the highlight of an otherwise quiet Sunday for UK sports. WKYT reports that Joe B. Hall has been contacted about coaching the Kentucky team.

- The Los Angeles Times climbs aboard the Shabazz Muhammad bandwagon, profiling the Las Vegas star. Some believe that UCLA is the leader for Shabazz’s services, but Muhammad says he will bring his trademark gold shoes to Lexington to visit UK’s facilities at some point.

- Gary Harris, the top Indiana prep player in the Class of 2012, put on a show at the AAU Super Showcase in Orlando, reports Jody Demling of the Courier-Journal. Kentucky appears to have some interest in the muscular guard, who also likes football. But Louisville and Indiana are both targeting Harris.

Continue reading ‘Russ Cochran, Shabazz, Joe B. and Monday morning notes’

A source tells Kentucky Sports Radio that Kentucky coach John Calipari is organizing an exhibition game between his second team, the Dominican Republic National Team and a group of former UK players. The game is tentatively set for August 15. It is not being sponsored by UK.

Calipari officially agreed on May 5 to coach the Dominican team, which has never qualified for the Olympics in basketball. The UK coach said he would spend six weeks coaching the team from August through mid-September. The Dominicans will play in the Tournament of Americas, which will be held in Brazil. The Dominican team is expected to practice at the UK facilities in the Joe Craft Center.

Al Horford, Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva are listed on the roster of the Dominican team, though tryouts are expected for the upcoming tournament. UK backup center Eloy Vargas is expected to be a part of those tryouts. The team finished fifth in the FIBA Tournament of Americas in 2009.

Continue reading ‘Report: Calipari planning UK legends-Dominicans game’

(AP photo/Al Behrman)

In preparation for tonight’s 8 p.m. ESPN matchup with the Braves at GABP on Sunday Night Baseball, Cincinnati finally broke out the firepower on Saturday, whipping Atlanta 11-2. The scoring outburst marked the Reds’ best single-game run production since beating Pittsburgh 11-2 at GABP way back on April 16. It was just the eighth time all year that Dusty Baker’s club has scored double digits in a game, the last time being a 10-5 win at Baltimore back on June 25. The Reds are 8-0 in those double-digit games, by the way.

It was the second time the Reds have scored double-digits for a Homer Bailey start. The first time was a 10-4 win over visiting Houston May 5. Bailey needed a season-high 109 pitches to get through six innings. Bailey threw 53 pitches in the first two. But he gave up just two earned runs on the day. Since a dreadful six-inning, five-run start at Milwaukee on July 7, Bailey has allowed but three runs over 13.1 innings in his last two starts. His ERA sits at 3.67, which is second among Cincinnati starters behind Jonny Cueto’s 1.98. (Mike Leake is at 4.11; Bronson Arroyo is at 5.56; Dontrelle Willis at 3.37 but has made just two starts.)

Brandon Phillips broke out of his slump, stroking three hits on Saturday. Phillips’ average jumped from .278 to .282.

Maybe Edgar Renteria’s bat is heating up with the weather. The old-timer has five hits in 13 at-bats over his last four games. He drove in a season-high three runs on Saturday, his highest total since last year’s World Series when he played for the Giants.

Continue reading ‘As bats wake up, Reds ready for Sunday Night Baseball’

(AP photo/Dave Martin)

Big Blue Links for Sunday:

• UNLV thinks it has a shot at landing hometown hero Shabazz Muhammad, writes Gary Bedore of the Lawerence Journal-World. UNLV’s new coach, Dave Rice, is the older brother of Muhammad’s high school coach.
• Muhammad’s focus and effort are just as impressive as his talent, writes Mike DeCourcy for Sporting News. The Class of 2012′s No. 1 player toughed it out through a foot injury in Las Vegas.
• Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports says most everyone believes Andre Drummond will find a way to skip college.
• Joker Phillips will live up to his name at the UK women’s football clinic, says Jen Smith of the Herald-Leader. “It’s like the coaches’ inner comedian comes out,” said one UK official involved with the event.
• A former UK quarterback, Andre Woodson, has taken the current UK quarterback, Morgan Newton, under his wing, writes Smith of the H-L. Woodson is a grad assistant with the football staff this year.

Continue reading ‘BBL: UNLV has shot at Shabazz; Drummond to skip out?’

Alshon Jeffery (AP photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

SEC links for Sunday:

• Documents lay out how it was Bruce Pearl’s lie that dunked the Tennessee coaching staff, reports Andrew Gribble of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. One of Pearl’s lies came when the former head coach said he could not identify a picture of the wife of one of his assistant coaches.
• When it comes to Alabama-Auburn, not all hate is created equally, writes Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News. SEC rivalries are one thing, Tide-Tigers is quite another.
• Joe Medley of the Anniston Star writes that Mike Slive has a leg up on SEC coaches. The commissioner proved that in the spring meetings when he coaxed the presidents into voting down the coaches’ proposal to keep oversigning.
• SEC Media Days may be over, but the discussion is not, says Seth Emerson of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. Then again, college football is a 365-day season in the south.
• Alshon Jeffery might be the SEC’s best player, writes Jordan Conn of SI.com. The success especially sweet considering Jeffery is playing for his home-state school in South Carolina.

Continue reading ‘SEC: Pearl’s lies doomed Tennessee; Slive tops coaches’

Renardo Sidney

In his five for the weekend column, CBS Sports’ Garry Parrish expresses some doubt on the subject of Renardo Sidney and Mississippi State.

After all, it was announced this week that the troubled big fellow would not be joining the Bulldogs on their overseas pre-season trip. Then again, Sidney managed to get himself into trouble — i.e. a fight in the stands with a teammate — the last time Rick Stansbury’s team left the main 48.

Parrish excerpt:

3. So will Sidney play for Mississippi State this season?

According to Stansbury, that’s still the plan. But at this point it’s reasonable to be skeptical. The whole Sidney-to-Mississippi State story has been a circus from the start and there’s no reason to think it won’t end that way, too. Put another way, it won’t end well. That’s my prediction. It just won’t end well and Stansbury will end up regretting ever enrolling the troubled prospect — that is if he doesn’t regret it already.

Mark Fox

Mark Fox is trying to get some momentum back, after losing Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie to the NBA draft. The Georgia coach has picked up a commitment from the top point guard prospect in the state of Georgia, and the 88th best prospect in the nation, according to ESPNU.

Charles Mann, who had been offered by Connecticut, Florida State and Georgia Tech, picked the Bulldogs for 2012. The 6-foot-5 guard said his decision came down to Georgia and Florida State.

Rivals has Mann ranked at No. 140 overall.

Reds lost to the Braves 6-4 last night during a night in which visiting Atlanta cranked out four home runs. Justin Heyward hit his 11th. Brian McCann hammered his 17th. Martin Prado belted his 10th. And pinch-hitter Dan Uggla smacked a two-run homer in the top of the ninth off reliever Nick Masset to ultimately give the Bravos the win.

The first three homers came off Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo.

The right-hander has now allowed 29 homers this season, matching his total from all of last year. If that didn’t tell you that Arroyo is having a sub-par season, then maybe his 5.56 ERA should be the tip-off. The 34-year-old Arroyo has now gone five straight games without a quality start. He’s given up 26 earned runs in 30 2/3 innings over that time. Plus, he’s allowed 12 homers during those five starts.

Continue reading ‘Bronson Arroyo and giving up the dreaded gopher ball’

(AP photo/Dave Martin)

SEC and Big Blue Links for Saturday:

John Calipari and Jerry Tarkanian take in a little basketball in Las Vegas.

Shabazz scores 38 with Calipari looking on, writes Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Muhammad listed off, in order, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, Memphis and UNLV as schools he’ll focus on. The A&M choice, I believe, is a relatively new one. From what I gather, there’s an assistant at the school who’s close with Muhammad’s father.

Muhammad also said his shooting is now the top priority for him. Said he’s taken the criticism of his jump shot seriously and will continue to work to improve it diligently. He really couldn’t have been more impressive. And best of all, he’s a good kid. Everyone says that about him. Grounded, intelligent, tempered and talented.

Continue reading ‘Shabazz shines, Tennessee self-imposes, Bama rules’