It’s a long way to the top.

 Acting in L.A.?: On Thursday night, DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings ripped Blake Griffin for his “acting” during their matchup that the Clippers ultimately won.  After taking some hits, Cousins accused Griffin of flopping too much and said it is part of the culture in L.A. because of Hollywood.  Hey Cousins, I know you are a rookie in the NBA, but unfortunately, flopping happens.  Remember the Eastern Conference Finals last season when LeBron James and Chris Bosh appeared hurt, only to have replays later show it was an act?  Just play through it and concentrate on what your team needs to do to win.  Interestingly, Cousins’ impact on the game was minimal and the team actually fought back from many field goals down when he left the game due to foul trouble before eventually falling 93-85.  Sacramento has proven to function better without Cousins, so he should try to keep his mouth shut like NBA rookies often do and learn a thing or two about the sport’s soft spots before trash talking other players’ Oscar-worthy performances.

Performing Magic: Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic is once again trying to make life hard for his team and fans with his latest comments.  He has openly professed to want his coach Stan Van Gundy fired.  Howard has not gotten on my Bottom 5 up to this point, which is surprising considering his constant drama prior to the trade deadline, but he finally gets here this week.  Why do you want your head coach fired?  If you wanted a change of scenery, why did you sign a waiver explicitly stating that you would sign with the Magic for next season?  Howard continues to act out, which is absurd given his enormous talent.  He is by far the best center in the league because no one has a bigger post presence than D12.

I think Otis Smith, the Magic’s general manager, wishes he had made Howard disappear when he had the chance, because Orlando is just looking to get beaten up in the playoffs by Indiana if the season ended today.  No one should expect the Magic to do anything this postseason with the in-house struggles that exist for this franchise.

Guillen Never Shuts Up: Miami Marlins skipper Ozzie Guillen just cannot man up and let bygones be bygones.  He continues to take shots at White Sox GM Kenny Williams about their incompatibility the last couple of years and recently said that Williams was not being a man in the ongoing confrontation.  That seems hard to believe, as Williams is proving to be the bigger man while moving on with his life and focusing on the upcoming 2012 campaign.  Note to Ozzie: the Marlins lost their opening game at home to Kyle Lohse, who threw a no-hitter until the 7^th inning.  The Marlins have some pressure to win games this year with all of their free-agent acquisitions, so Guillen should focus more on winning than blasting his former boss.  The White Sox may not have a good season (I’ll shed a single tear for that), but they at least have some class by leaving Guillen alone.

Trouble in Texas: Three more TCU football players have been charged with delivering marijuana.  This is terrible because university and NCAA officials try so hard to prevent student-athletes from being involved with drugs in any way, but some players simply ignore their coach’s conditioning and persist with an air of arrogant invincibility.  They get free rides to college because of their athletic ability, and in cases like the TCU arrests, their educational opportunities are wasted.  Two f the players charged could face up to 2 years in jail while a third may be facing 10 years if he is convicted for delivering in a drug-free zone.  By the way, the drug-free zone he entered with his products was the field the TCU team practices on!  Talk about thinking you’re too good to get caught.  To make matters worse for these players, they delivered the marijuana to undercover cops, so it’s unlikely they will get off with a slap on the wrist.  TCU has up to 23 players currently under investigation for dealing marijuana and 14 face serious charges.  The team is moving out of the Mountain West Conference and into the Big 12 for next season and will certainly face stiffer competition.  They cannot afford many distractions if they want to have a good season.  But what if head coach Gary Patterson has to boot most of these guys?  They’ll be depleted.  Perhaps he should reassess his recruiting practices and what kinds personalities he seeks in a recruit.

A Simpson Goes to Jail: This is not a reference to current man of incarceration O.J. or to The Simpsons cartoon show (although Homer has been to jail a number of times), but to former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson, who makes my Bottom 5 after being sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years of probation for marijuana trafficking.  This should be nothing surprising to the Bengals’ upper management, since they often seem to have numerous players with criminal backgrounds while habitually signing, drafting, and trading for players who have shady histories (Cedric Benson and Rey Maualuga, for example).  The recent sentencing has forced the team to release the troubled wide receiver and move forward with younger players at the position.  After everything Simpson has been through (quite frankly, he’s lucky to get such a light sentencing), you would think he would get his life in order.  I doubt his family or other NFL suitors approve of his actions, and wide receivers are definitely needed in the league since so many go through multiple injuries over the course of the year.

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1. Don Mattingly

• Current: Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Former: First Basemen and Outfielder, New York Yankees

Donnie Baseball was outstanding his whole career which he spent with the New York Yankees.  He had 2153 career hits with a .307 career batting average, 222 homeruns, 1099 runs batted in and a career .830 OPS (On base percentage + slugging percentage).  In 1985, he led the American League in doubles (48) and RBIs (145) while hitting 35 homeruns, scoring 107 runs, collecting 211 hits while hitting .324.  He won the American League’s Most Valuable Player, a silver slugger award, and a gold glove award at first base that season.  He had eight other gold gloves in his career, with his outstanding defense and two more silver sluggers with a total of six All Star games.  Another astonishing statistic from his great career was that he struck out only 444 times, which is on average only 40 strikeouts per 162 games.

2. Kirk Gibson

• Current: Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks
• Former: Outfielder, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates

“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened” announces Vin Scully, the famous Dodger’s broadcast commentator, after Kirk Gibson’s famous pinch hit homerun as a member of the Dodgers in game one of the 1988 World Series.  Easily, Gibson is most famous for that moment and he had a very good career to complement it.  He was a career .268 hitter with 255 homeruns, 870 RBI and 284 stolen bases, all while collecting 1553 hits and a .815 OPS.  He was the National League MVP in 1988 after hitting .290 with 25 homeruns, 76 RBI, 106 runs and 31 stolen bases.  In the postseason, he was just as good with a career .282 batting average with 7 homeruns in 78 at bats.  His play helped both the Detroit Tigers (1984) and the Dodgers (1988) to World Series Championships.

3. Dusty Baker

• Current: Manager of the Cincinnati Reds
  
• Former: Outfielder, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics

Dusty Baker made a big splash to start his career in 1972 when he hit .321 with 17 homeruns and 76 RBI in his first full season.   That season as the Braves everyday outfielder, he had an .888 OPS and it garnered him MVP votes.  He received MVP votes in 1980 (4^th in MVP voting) and 1981 (7^th).  In 19 seasons he collected 1981 hits, 242 HR, 1013 RBI, a career .278 BA, 137 SB and two All Star Game appearances, two Silver Slugger awards and a Gold Glove (1981).  He also had 164 postseason at bats and hit .282 with 5 homeruns and earned the NLCS MVP award in 1977 after hitting .467 in the series against the Phillies.  There was no doubting his talent as a player and his managing career looks just as promising.

4. Ozzie Guillen

• Current: Manager of the Chicago White Sox
  
• Former: Shortstop, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Ozzie does not get a lot of positive press these days and he receives criticism for his outspokenness as a manager.  However, he did have a great playing career and there is no doubt that he knows the game of baseball.  The 1985 rookie of the year played 13 seasons for the Chicago White Sox, two seasons with the Braves/Orioles, and finished his career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Over his career, he had 1764, hits, stole 169 bases, and batted .264 at the plate.  Like Mattingly, Guillen did not swing and miss very often; he struck out on average just 42 times per 162 games.  He went to three All Star games and won a gold glove award in 1990.

5. Mike Scioscia

• Current: Manager of the Los Angeles Angels
  
• Former: Catcher, Los Angeles Dodgers

The first of three outstanding catchers on this list is the talented former backstop and two time manager of the year, Mike Scioscia.  He had a career batting average of .259, with a.344 OBP that included 1131 H, and 68 HR.  These totals helped him to all star game appearances in 1989 and 1990.  His best season was in 1985 when he hit .296 with 7 homeruns, 53 RBI, a .407 OBP, and an .826 OPS.  Scioscia was an even more impressive contact hitter than Guillen.  Scioscia averages 35 strikeouts per 162 games for his career and in 1985 he walked 77 times and struck out just 21 times.  These totals earned him National League MVP votes for that season.

6. Joe Girardi

• Current: Manager of the New York Yankees
  
• Former: Catcher, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals

It seems like yesterday that Joe Girardi was playing on the north side of Chicago for the Cubs.  Over 15 seasons he collected 1100 hits, batted .267, hit 36 HR and went to the All Star game in 2000.  In 2000, he hit .278 with 6 HR and 40 RBI with a .714 OPS.  He also threw out 38% of attempted base stealers and had just 5 errors.  He won two World Series Championships as a player with the New York Yankees (1998 and 1999) and one as a manager in 2009.  On a stranger note, Girardi also became the first Manager of the Year to have ever been fired at the end of the award winning season (Florida Marlins, 2006).

7. Bud Black

• Current: Manager of the San Diego Padres
  
• Former: Starting Pitcher, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants

Bud Black is the first pitcher on this list after pitching 15 seasons and making 296 starts.   In 398 games he went 121-116 with a 3.84 Earned Run Average and 1039 strikeouts in 2053.1 innings pitched.  Black’s best season came very early in his career when in 1984, he went 17-12 with a 3.12 ERA and 140 K in 257 innings pitched.   Two years prior he had the American League’s lowest WHIP (Walks and Hits per inning pitched) at 1.13.  He also is a member of the exclusive club that has won a World Series as both a player (1985 with the Royals) and a manager (last season with the Giants).

8. Clint Hurdle

• Current: Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Former: Catcher, Outfielder and First Basemen, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals

Clint Hurdle played in the infield, outfield and behind the plate during his 10 seasons in the major leagues.  He only started two full seasons for the Kansas City Royals and played sparingly afterwards but put together good numbers nonetheless.  For his career, he hit .259 with 32 HR and 193 RBI.  His best season at the plate came in 1980 when he hit .294 with 10 HR and 60 RBI, with a .807 OPS.

9. John Farrell

• Current: Manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
  
• Former: Pitcher, Cleveland Indians, California Angels, Detroit Tigers

John Farrell had two great seasons that paced his career in the big leagues as a starting pitcher.  In 1988 and 1989 he had a combined 25 wins and a 3.94 ERA over 418.1 innings pitched.  For his career, Farrell went 36-46 with a 4.56 ERA and 356 K.

10. Terry Francona

• Current: Manager of the Boston Red Sox
  
• Former: First Basemen and Outfielder, Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers

Terry Francona developed in the Montreal Expos farm system before he made his Major League Debut in August of 1981.  He hit .274 in his rookie season and followed that up with hitting .321 the following season.  In 1984, he hit a career high .346 in 214 at bats with 5 walks and just 12 strikeouts.  For his career, Francona batted .274, with 16 HR, 143 RBI, and a total of 474 career hits.  He finished three seasons batting over .300 but never had the at bats to compete for a batting title (Career high: 281 AB in 1985).  In the field he was also very good with just 22 career errors in 10 seasons.

Sources:

Baseball-reference.com

Pictures:

Mattingly: http://www.sportsblink.com/product_images/don-mattingly-new-york-yankees-autographed-photograph-3357451.jpg

Baker: http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2007/05/16/5EiIQbEM.jpg

Scioscia: http://baseballislife.mlblogs.com/MikeScioscia.jpg

Black: http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/files/cache/6e3/bud-black-cleveland-indians-signed-8×10-photo-wcoa_6e337bc1e5f0dc4bd5b150e1bc93e098.jpg

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1. Fowl expletives against Selig

• Recently, Major League Baseball took over ownership of The Los Angeles Dodgers due to financial troubles plaguing the owner Frank McCourt and The Dodgers organization.  Frank McCourt has expressed some displeasure for the take-over by MLB commissioner Bud Selig and how the league is handling the situation.  The Dodgers organization were potentially discussing a huge deal with the FOX network that McCourt argues would virtually eliminate the controversy surrounding McCourt’s financial troubles and his divorce. The deal would bring close to 3 billion dollars to the organization over the next 17 years.  McCourt went on MSNBC this week and was quoted as saying, “I want to talk to Bud, and I want to know why he is ducking me!”  referring to how Bud Selig and the MLB are not trying to work with McCourt to solve the financial problem.  This is not the first time that the MLB has had to take over a team, most recently The Texas Rangers last season and the 2001 Montreal Expos which ultimately moved the team to Washington D.C.  Mr. McCourt is allegedly going to sue Major League Baseball for taking over the team.  McCourt’s fowl (great pun right?) language against Selig brings the Los Angeles Dodgers situation into our Bottom 5 for the second straight week.

2. $2, 445,680.00, is cheap according to Granger

• After the Chicago Bulls squashed the Indiana Pacers hopes of moving on to the next round of the NBA playoffs Tuesday night, Pacers forward, Danny Granger, had some choice words about big man for the Bulls, Joakim Noah.  Granger was quoted as calling Noah “cheap” and “cowardly.”  Referring to Noah taking cheap shots during the game against Pacers players such as Josh McRoberts, which ultimately resulted in McRoberts getting ejected from the game due to a retaliation.  Noah has become known for his ability to instigate technical fouls from other players due to his tough play and his demeanor during the game.  Hopefully Granger makes enough money to go and buy some tissues because after the sob fest that was his statements towards Noah, he is going to need quite a few.  Good thing the Pacers will have the entire offseason to have team therapy to blame.

3. Tweet Tweet, Shut Up!

• Todd Tichenor, home plate umpire during the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees game on Wednesday ejected White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen for arguing balls and strikes.  No big deal right?  Ozzie gets ejected all the time because of that loud, fiery mouth of his, so it should come as no surprise, but thanks to the unlimited access to the internet and social media via Twitter, Ozzie was not done.  He tweeted during the game on Twitter, “This one going to cost me a lot money, this is patetic” and “Today a tough guy show up a Yankee Stadium.”  Yes, those quotes are verbatim from Twitter and are exactly what he wrote.  Ozzie, we know you do not like umpiring when it goes against you, but if you are going to bash umpires and are going to make a rouse out of getting ejected, please, for Pete’s sake, at least use the common courtesy to spell things correctly and not look like a total idiot.  Thanks.

4. All-time Lowe

• The lowest of the low this week is just that.  Derek Lowe, opening-day starting pitched for the Atlanta Braves was arrested late Thursday night after making an illegal lane change.  The police officer that pulled him over smelled what he believed to be alcohol on Lowe’s breath so he made him do a sobriety test after Lowe refused to blow in the BAC indicator.  Any time a professional athlete is arrested for a DUI it is low, but rumors have spread since the accident that Lowe was actually involved in street racing.  Derek Lowe is 37 years old and a seasoned veteran in Major League Baseball.  It is unclear what the repercussions will be for Lowe.  This is not the way that a veteran leader like Lowe is supposed to act and that is why he breaks into the Bottom 5.  Lowe man, real Lowe!

5. Homophobic Remarks Not Just In Basketball

• According to a fan that attended an Atlanta Braves game this week in San Francisco against the Giants, pitching coach Roger McDowell made homophobic gestures and comments to heckling fans.  The content of the comments has forced the Atlanta Braves to place McDowell on administrative leave starting Friday April 29, 2011.  According to a report on AOL.com McDowell asked a group of fans in the outfield bleachers, “Are you a homo couple, or a threesome?” and then made an obscene sexual gesture with a baseball bat.  Are you kidding me? This homophobic blast from McDowell comes just barely 2 weeks removed from the controversy surrounding Kobe Bryant and his homophobic slurs directed at officials in the NBA.  Come on people, this is the year 2011, get with the program and start being more accepting

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