Go Go Ichiro

Amidst all the dirty steroid talk that hogs baseball headlines, one of the true nice guys in sport marked an exceptional milestone. Ichiro Suzuki’s line drive into left field was his 4000th hit in a career spanning both Japanese and Major League Baseball. Those Japanese League hits won’t count in the MLB record books, obviously, but it is worth noting that with the rules on international free agents what they were when he began, the American Majors were not really an option. That was until a few tweaks in the laws allowed him to sign with Seattle as a 27 year old, and Suzuki quickly established himself as one of the great hitters of the modern era. In 2004 alone he had 262 hits, breaking the all-time MLB record. He currently has 2725 MLB hits with no imminent plans for retirement.

QB Shuffles

Buffalo are in the midst of a quarterback crisis right now, with first round draft pick E.J. Manuel still out indefinitely, and backup Kevin Kolb concussed so bad he’s apparently been told to consider retirement. Matt Leinart, former Heisman Trophy winner and most recently of the Texans, has been snapped up as backup, but as it stands undrafted rookie Jeff Tuel will be starting against the Patriots next week. He’ll be the first undrafted rookie to start in week one since the common draft era began. Oh, and their top cornerback has fractured his wrist and could miss up to two months.

The New York Jets have been having quarterback troubles for a while now, but they’re only getting worse. Geno Smith started the last preseason game, and threw three picks before hardly anyone had taken their seats. He also ran out of the endzone for a safety. Rex Ryan chucked in Mark Sanchez in the fourth to take the heat of all of his other struggling QBs, and Sanchez was promptly injured. The good news is, he’s only day to day, but… no wait, that’s not good news at all!

NY Mets Ace Stuck in the Hole

Matt Harvey, who’d been having a breakout year, has been diagnosed with a partial tear in his pitching elbow. The injury will almost certainly see him miss the rest of the season, and could require Tommy John Surgery, which could mean up to a full calendar year of rehab before he can play again. Harvey is 9-5 for the year with 191 strikeouts and a 2.27 ERA in 26 starts.

T-Mac Retires

One of the NBA's true characters in recent years, Tracy McGrady has hung up his custom Adidas sneakers. T-Mac was a multiple all-star over his sixteen year season. He had great hands for a big guy, and was for a time one of the most dominant scorers in the league. Famously, McGrady never made it past the first round of the post-season until this final year of his career, where he was a late season addition for the San Antonio Spurs, though he played mostly in garbage time.  

Good Week:

• The Houston Astros – the worst team in baseball is the most financially profitable, according to unconfirmed reports from Forbes magazine. The entire Astros roster is less than Alex Rodriguez’s 2013 salary, yet thanks to that cost cutting scheme, they could be looking at potential nine figure profits. The Astros plan is to suck ass for a few years, stock up on high end prospects, then make it rain dollars on their way to the World Series.
• Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers) – I mean, goddamn. This guy’s sustained dominance is just beyond comprehension. 3 home runs in 4 days and suddenly he’s challenging for the triple crown once more. Chris Davis has 46, Cabrera has 43. Edwin Encarnacion of Toronto is next in the majors with a paltry 33. Miggy is miles ahead of anyone else in both batting average and RBI. Nobody had a major league triple crown since 1967 when he did it last year. Now he’s got a shot at doing it back to back – something nobody in the storied history of baseball has ever done.
  
  

Bad Week:

• Lamar Odom (Unattached) – Poor idiot was just days away from a new contract agreement with the LA Clippers, but with his heart set on a Lakers return, and with a pocket full of gold, he instead ran off on some kind of drug-bender crack-Odyssey. Wife Khloe Kardashian and her family claimed he’d been missing three days, and that they were worried and anxious for his return, so they could punctually dump his ass in rehab. But Lamar said no, no, no. Turns out the guys addicted to crack cocaine!

• Mike Miller, James Jones & Rashard Lewis – the three 2013 NBA title winners have been caught up in a real estate swindling which has conned numerous Florida residents out of a combined US$8m. Haider Zafar is facing 135 charges for the con, in which he claimed to be the nephew of the Pakistani defence minister and produced ‘questionable documents’ to victims who thought they were investing in Pakistani real estate which would post them enormous profits in the future. And they (allegedly) fell for it.

Player of the Week:

Clayton Kershaw (LA Dodgers) – 16 scoreless innings this week for a pair of dominating wins. Standing above Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp and the rest of his teammates, Kershaw is the star of this redhot Dodgers team. He and Zach Grienke are the best 1-2 starting pair in baseball. Undisputable. Kershaw’s 1.72 season ERA as it stands would be the best in the majors for almost 20 years. “The Claw” is a shoe-in for the NL Cy Young award, especially now that Matt Harvey is down. He may even bag the MVP.

Upcoming Dates (NZ Time)                                                 

September 6 – NFL regular season begins

September 29 – MLB regular season ends

October 30 – NBA regular season begins