More Randomness

by SonDog

-- Raja Bell's impact on the Phoenix Suns this postseason reminds me to a degree of the impact Doug Christie had on the Kings when Sacramento had its two/three year run in the Western Conference. Bell doesn't necessarily do anything great, but he does a lot of things well, and his ability to fit in with his team's style while providing tough defense is something that Christie did to perfection. Also, Bell has a tendency to get under the proverbial skin of other players, which Rick Fox would say Christie did very well.

-- Matt Morris better start pitching like a $27 million man. To this point, he's been a fourth starter at best. Here's a scary thought though: Since the All-Star break last year, Morris has the following numbers: 5.35ERA, 7-14, 26 starts, 153 innings (5.2 innings/start), 180 hits, 45 BB, 23 HR, 75 K, 1.47 WHIP.

To put it another way, there was another Giant last year who had similar numbers, and he's now pitching for the Dodgers. His name is Brett Tomko.

-- Are the Kings seriously going to hire John Whisentantneltlels? Did the Maloofs get together and say to each other, "You know, experience as either a player or a coach in the NBA is highly overrated. No, what we need is a guy who's primary experience is winning the championship with our WNBA guys...er, we mean gals." Has Geoff Petrie just been castrated in this entire process or something? Where's his input? Has he taken a moment to say to the Maloofs, "Wait... You want to do WHAT?!"

On a side note, I'm picturing a tractor-trailer with Harley Davidson tail flaps and the license plate TruWarrior running over an innocent jack rabbit by the name of John Whisenant on Interstate 5.

-- Roger Clemens has agreed to return to the Astros, which brings up an interesting question: Does anybody outside of Houston care?

-- How has Miami made Detroit look so terrible in the Eastern Conference Finals? If I'm Joe Dumars, I call Minnesota this off-season and offer Rasheed Wallace, Teyshaun Prince and a first-round pick for KG. Probably wouldn't work, but Detroit needs a superstar in order to get some calls. I'm not saying the officials have leaned towards Miami in this series, but I think they called a foul on Chauncey Billups a couple of nights ago for failing to indicate with his turn signal while turning onto 7th Ave. in South Beach.

-- Noah Lowry, Matt Cain, Brad Hennessey, Kevin Correia, Jeremy Accardo, Brian Wilson, Johnathan Sanchez = The face of the Giants' franchise in the post-Bonds era.

In related news, Jack Taschner is pitching well in Fresno (2 BB, 19K's, 15.2 innings) while Merkin Valdez is struggling again (5.50+ ERA).