“I think Kenny Darby played a little bit better last week,” Spagnuolo said. “Oby’ has done some good things, a good third-down back, but somebody has to surface there so in the — knock on wood — event that we need a running back we’ll have somebody to go (in).” (per Bellevue News-Democrat)

What I take from that quote is that Spags hasn’t seen a capable number two running back on his current roster. Key, being current roster. The Rams have three contenders for the position and one of them better step up tonight against the New England Patriots or the team may start scouring the waiver wire.

So who are these three contenders?

First, Kenneth Darby. He’s been by far the best of the trio this preseason, rushing the ball eight times for 25 yards. He’s averaging a hair over three yards per carry, nothing to look highly upon but like I said he’s been the best of the group to date. Over his three year career, Darby has averaged 4.9 yards per carry but that number is pretty deceiving as he’s been one of those guys who gets ten plus yards one rush, then a bunch of nothing in his others.

Darby’s does have a one claim to fame, he was the Rams player that laid out by referee Garth DeFelice in a 2008 game.

Next is “Oby”, Chris Ogbonnaya. So far Oby has rushed the ball 12 times for a whopping 20 yards. He has shown some promise as a receiving back thou catching six balls for 35 yards, which is most likely why Spagnuolo calls him a third down back. Oby was a seventh round pick in 2009 and only appeared in two games in the subsequent season, he’s young and has a lot of room to grow. I know it sounds a lot like his fellow teammates doesn’t it?

Finally, you’ve got undrafted rookie Keith Toston. Toston’s actually gotten a bulk of the carries, which isn’t a surprise as the bottom feeders do get most the playing time in early preseason outings. How’s he done? 17 carries for 39 yards, an average of 2.3 yards per carry. Nothing spectacular but when you see his competition, Spags will keep him in consideration.

So, yea where do the Rams go from here? One of these guys is going to have to step up in tonight’s game big time. If they don’t, do the Rams start looking at the free agent market for a backup? There’s not much out there but I’m sure they won’t find much worse.

All I have to say is Rams fans, I hope your offensive line steps it up big time because if Jackson gets hurt things then your team might be playing for the number one draft pick in 2011.

Don’t forget to check out our 2010 NFL Preview – St. Louis Rams.

“I think we will talk to them about that,” Castillo said. “I need to be in a different kind of situation. I don’t know what they want to do. I want an opportunity to play, and if it is here, then I am happy. If it is somewhere else, then that’s what it is.” (per NY Daily News)

Last night’s outburst was due to the fact that he wasn’t in the starting lineup after having the game winning hit the night before against the Florida Marlins. It’s common practice amongst most teams to reward players for such moments but even more so with the Mets, manager Jerry Manuel is known for rewarding players for good performances.

“I thought I would be playing tonight but I am not making the lineup. What is going on here? I don’t know what he’s doing,” Castillo said of Manuel. “All I can do is the best I can. That’s how you try to play more. … but I am disappointed.” (per NY Daily News)

I have no problems with Castillo being upset over last night’s lineup, especially if that is truly what Manuel has done all year long. What I do have a problem with is his season long performance.

Castillo has been dreadful this year, he’s currently batting ..237 (50 hits over 211 at-bats) with 20 runs scored, four doubles, two triples and seven steals. What concerns me more then his average is his inability to make things happen on the base paths. That’s what Luis’ game has always been and it’s just not happening this year.

Throughout his career he’s scored 37% of the time he’s reached base, in 2010 that number has dropped to 24%. Those numbers can partly be blamed on anemic Mets offense but a lot of that also has to fall on Castillo as that is a significant drop, in fact it’s the lowest percentage of his career.

In my opinion, that says one thing and one thing only, father time is catching up to Luis Castillo. With that being the case Manuel has to move forward and see what the Mets have in the system as a replacement, which is the reason why Ruben Tejada is the starting second baseman. Now if the kid continues flopping like he is (1-34 since August 7th) then Castillo could end up back in the lineup and attempt to prove he still has it.

I’d say the best thing for Castillo and his $6 million contract for 2011 should do in this situation is shut his mouth. I know its hard for him but it’s the best thing he could do. Show you’re a team player and give the Mets a chance to test out the youngster, when your number gets called go out and do the damn thing. If he does that the Mets may just be able to just move that bloated salary.

But again the best thing to do is suck it up and be a man about it.

“It may not be a situation he likes, but it’s a situation he’ll have to adjust to,” Manuel said of Castillo. “(Tejada) is a good defensive second baseman. I think he’s going to be a good offensive player, but it would be difficult to sit here and say, ‘He’s a better offensive player than Louie is so far.’ You have to weigh what you like better: the defense or the offense. You go with the lineup that can win.” (per NY Daily News)

Returning to the franchise is Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell. Joining them will be Kristen Bell, Hayden Panettiere, Adam Brody, Anna Paquin and Alison Brie. They’ll also be others but as you can see they’re going for the names this time and definitely going for the eye candy.

Here we decide to take a look at some of that eye candy today with Kristen Bell sprucing up our links with her image. 12 links for 15 pics, enjoy.

Midwest Sports Fan – On Jose Bautista, Damien Cox, and Double Standards
The Hoop Doctors – Did Rajon Rondo Withdraw From Team USA in Fear of Getting Cut?
Obsessed With Sports – Oakland Athletics Ball Boy Gets Girl
Josh Q Public – When You Sell Your Soul, Make Sure To Read The Fine Print

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The Attic Fan – The 10 Levels of Being an Athlete
NESW Sports – Dwyane Wade Goes Under Cover for G ( Videos )
Reds Army – Celtics bloggers are drunk on green Kool-aid
PSAMP – Camo Steelers Jerseys Are Vomit

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Unathletic Mag – Badass Chicks of the Lingerie Football League
Busted Coverage – Luis Castillo Walk-Off RBI Single Pouding Is Impressive
Camel Clutch Blog – TNA Wrestling – The joke that keeps on giving
Trojan Wire – Pat Haden on Dan Patrick Show

@ESPNJoeyMac – While Pedroia waits for results of his second opinion, surgery remains a possibility.

Now this is the first time I’ve heard the surgery word mentioned since Pedroia first injured his foot a couple months back. Hearing that word mentioned must have fans squirming in their seats. The team isn’t out of the playoff race yet but could damn well be if their prized position is out for the rest of the season.

While the surgery possibility is on the table, it in by no way means its truly a possibility. McDonald could be purely speculating here as there have been no other indications that it’s possible. The Sox could be getting these second opinions to let Pedroia know that he is getting better.

“There is no reason to push right now, because he is on the disabled list,” Terry Francona said. “I think it is just for his peace of mind and everyone’s to get more information and move forward.”

Francona mentions these second opinions are for peace of mind, could this mean Pedroia’s setback actually be mental? Could he just be doubting his health and thinking the soreness is actually something else? Not likely, but it is possible.

Terry is pulling out all the stops to put his star at ease, setting up one very important phone call. When Francona was manager of the Birmingham Barons he had a player named Michael Jordan. Jordan suffered a similar foot injury early in his career with the Chicago Bulls and asked his old buddy to speak with Pedroia.

“I don’t call Michael very much just because I know how much people bug him. But because of Pedey, I knew that Michael would enjoy talking to him, and he did. He was almost fatherly in his advice. He was like, “I went through this, it’s tough, you got to listen. Pedey was all ears and that was good. When guys like Michael Jordan talk, people are apt to listen more.”

With all that Francona is doing to help Pedroia, mentally one would have to wonder if it’s just that. After any serious injury the mental aspect always comes in to play but who knows. We won’t know till those second opinions come in.

Till then, Red Sox fans should worry that the word surgery is being thrown out there.

In his brief stint on the DL, a young rookie Lorenzo Cain has filled in for him and performed quite well. Cain is batting .314 with four doubles and a triple in just 51 at-bats, while stealing three bases.

“They know and I know that I can do the job every day,” Gomez said. “I’m the best centerfielder on the team. But Lorenzo is doing a really good job for the last two weeks and it’s not fair for me to come off the DL and take his chance. I understand … He is a really good player, but I think I’m still the man on this team.” (per Anthony Witrado of the Journal Sentinel)

Those are some pretty big words from a guy who hasn’t done much in his career. I’ll give Gomez credit, he’s a pretty damn good defensive center fielder but outside of that he isn’t that good. This season he’s batting .228 with five homers and 22 rbis, with nine doubles and three triples over 250 at-bats.

One could say he’s just having a bad season but those numbers pretty much span his entire career. Over four seasons he has a career .242 average with 17 homers and 121 rbi’s, with 51 doubles and 15 triples. Not that impressive, definitely not the numbers that should have a player popping off at the mouth like that.

Even his own manager Ken Macha finds this all interesting, “I’ll just say that’s interesting,” Macha said. “You can take that any way you’d like. I’m just saying it’s interesting.”

I will say this, if Cain keeps hitting the way he is then Gomez may never get his starting job back. If Cain proves he can handle the position defensively, while continuing to hit like he is then how can Macha justify keeping Carlos as the starter? “Let’s say we have three centerfielders right now,” Macha said. “There well could be an open competition. There’s nothing wrong with competition.”

I’d say all of this is setting up for a huge battle for the position come Spring Training. From the sounds of Gomez, I believe he’s setting himself up for one, and his future if he should lose to Cain.

“Next year, we’ll talk about that,” Gomez said. “We’ll figure out after the season if I’m going to be the starting centerfielder, the fourth outfielder or if I’ll be here (with the team). We have a lot to play still. Cain is a good player but he’s only been here two weeks, so they have to see what he is, then they’ll (determine) if he’s ready.”

If he wants to prove to Macha that he is a team player and is truly the best center fielder he’ll need to improve his game.

What that will require him to shut his mouth and play some ball, cause he’s not good enough for that tough talk.

It’s a sad story as in 2008; Volquez looked like he was on the verge of stardom then had to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2009. He’s been successful, at times. He’s been a feast or famine pitcher since his return. He’ll either give the Reds one run in five or six innings, or get hit up for four plus runs. The main culprit, like most players returning from this procedure, is his command.

So what do the Reds do? How do they fix his control problem, while keeping themselves in front of the division?

“I had (pitching coach Bryan Price) come up with two or three different scenarios,” Dusty Baker said. “Do we continue with him and hope he gets it or do we put him in the bullpen and start someone else?” (per John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer

Let’s explore the options.

First off do they stick with him in the rotation? Personally, I’d say no. I know, he’s had his fair share of good starts since his returning, but the bad far outweighs the good when your team is in a pennant race. Here’s a split of his eight starts, four “good” and four horrible. You’ll see that when he’s good, he’s just been a serviceable middle of the rotation guy but when he’s bad, boy is he BAD! He’s lucky his numbers aren’t worse in those “good” starts.

In his four solid starts, he’s given up four runs over 23 and 2/3 innings but he’s walked 13 batters verse the 23 he’s struck out, while also giving up 20 hits.
In his four other starts, he’s gone 11 and 1/3 innings with 20 runs allowed, walking 14 and striking out only 13.

With inconsistency like that I wouldn’t trust him on the rotation of a contender, so on the next option. Baker asked do we place him in the bullpen and start someone else, I feel the answer is simple. YES!

Even with his control problems, Volquez has displayed some electric stuff since his return. He’s striking out batters to the tune of 9.3 per nine innings. His walk rate is also high but as a reliever he’ll be put in positions where he can just let loose with his bread and butter, the fastball.

His fastball is only hitting 93-94 mph but batters are missing the pitch at a rate of 9% of the time they see it, the MLB average is 6%. He’s spotting it over the plate slightly below league average 58.7% compared to 60% but it’s been by far his best pitch. He’s had a lot more trouble spotting his breaking pitches. (Check out fan graphs to see more numbers, they’ve done some great work looking into this.)

So let’s see if a pitcher is making hitters miss with his fastball and can’t spot any of his other pitchers, where would you put him? Exactly, the bullpen. He could be a very viable piece out there while working on his peripheral pitchers on the side with the pitching coach. Who knows if he comes in out of the ‘pen the fastball might start hitting 95-96 instead, since he knows he’s in there for just a few pitches.

What has me curious thou, is Dusty baker says there are two or three options. I only can see two, the third would be a demotion to the minor leagues to work on his control. In my opinion, that’s not the right move as it could damage Edinson’s confidence, keep him at the major league level let him see that he can still get these guys out.

Do that and he’ll come back ready to pitch in Spring Training and fully healthy, body and mind, while also keeping the Reds in games down the stretch.

Now I know you’re thinking Ok Sasha will be the best tennis player in the NBA next season but he’s actually on a basketball court training, not the tennis court. He’s with his girl for the moral support, someone to push him harder while training. I’m sure the after practice benefits helped in making his decision.

What the media hasn’t led on too is that Maria has also decided to help train bloggers in their promotional efforts. Here’s her first attempt in seeing if her training methods work. 12 links for 12 pictures, enjoy!

Steady Burn – The Best Fringe Athletes to Follow on Twitter
PSAMP – The Juliana Theory Are Charitable
The Hoop Doctors – UK Wildcats Brandon Knight to Endure a Season of John Wall Comparisons
Total Pro Sports – Don’t Do Drugs, Do Trainers (Pics)

The Cage Doctors – Bobby Lashley Is No Brock Lesnar
Busted Coverage – Tebow Douchebags In The Wild: Dude Rocks Tebow Jersey, Yankees White Cap & Below-The-Knee Jorts
Ted Williams Head – Shaq To Marry “Flavor Of Love” Star Hoopz
Digital Sports Daily – Cliff Lee: Cowherd is a liar

Black Sports Online – Chad OchoCinco Debuts Cereal Brand: Ochocincos
Browns Central – Is Colt McCoy’s career in Cleveland over before it started?
Camel Clutch Blog – The Backlund Years – Wrestlers Who Should Have Been WWF Champion
Midwest Sports Fan – 6 Bold Predictions for the 2010 NFL Season

That’s because it appears the Vikings could be without Pro Bowl wide receiver Sidney Rice for the first half of the season. Rice, who has been sidelined since the start of training camp because of a hip injury, was at the Steadman Clinic (think Marian Gaborik) on Monday and it appears likely he will end up having surgery, according to people with knowledge of the situation. (per Judd Zulgad)

I’m sure the Vikings front office is absolutely livid with Rice right now as he injured himself in the NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints. He even visited three specialists over the off season, two of which recommended surgery. He decided against it, now he and the team should pay the price for it.

If Rice were to miss half the season then this would be an absolutely huge hit to the Vikings offense and more importantly, Super Bowl hopes.

In 2009, Rice and Favre became an instant hit together, with Rice catching 83 passes for 1,312 yards and eight touchdowns, including four more touchdowns in the playoffs. Without Rice, who becomes Brett’s go to guy now?

It appears that it will be Bernard Berrian. That’s got to make Viking fans cringe some, I don’t think many fans of any team would want him to head up their receiving unit. The Vikings have even considered bringing back another Favre go to guy, Javon Walker. We were all puzzled by that possibility yesterday, but it makes a lot more sense now doesn’t it? So yea, without Rice the unit is far less imposing.

If I was Rice, I’d be rushing to the doctors office to get this surgery done and over with. But more importantly, I’d be doing something else. I’d be heading to the locker room to apologize to my teammates, no need in adding more turmoil to a locker room that is supposedly full of it right now.

Now like I said in the beginning, don’t you think Favre is regretting his decision to return now? If Adrian Peterson doesn’t turn back to 2008 AP, then Favre might be on his back a lot in 2010.

“I really didn’t know how bad it was,” Shanahan said. “I still don’t really know how bad it is. He’s getting treatment. We’ll just kind of figure it out day-by-day.” (per Jason Reid of the Washington Post)

What worries me is head coach Mike Shanahan not really addressing the injury, he basically just shrugged it off. That could be a good thing but not really when you consider he addressed the teams other injury from that game.

Fullback Mike Sellers was also injured against the Baltimore Ravens, but Shanahan clearly addressed his injury, even saying that Sellers would be listed as questionable if it was the regular season. There was no such comment when it came to McNabb.

For the moment I’d say take Shanahan at his word, McNabb is day-to-day but if Donovan doesn’t play Friday against the Jets, I’d say its time to worry. A quarterback like Donovan needs his legs under him and if he’s already having ankle issues that’s not a good sign.

If McNabb is going to miss anytime then Redskins fans worse thoughts come true while Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles look like geniuses again.

The Broncos backfield is in absolute shambles right now. They SUCK! In two preseason games the unit has rushed the ball for only 111 yards, that’s an average of 55.5 yards per game, good for 30th in the league. Yes, I know its preseason but it’s freaking bad. In the first half Saturday against the Detroit Lions, Denver ran the ball eight times for 20 yards and that was with the starting unit playing the entire first half.

Mind you, Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter didn’t play in the game, which is yet another reason why White has a chance to make this team. Moreno has been and is out indefinitely with an injured hamstring, while Buckhalter has been missing with a lower back injury.

With those two injured, one would think Moreno would be on the field as much as possible to prove he can be a viable option once his four game substance abuse suspension is over. But nope, White hasn’t touched the field himself lately because of various leg ailments. Early on it was tightness in his thigh and hamstring, now its a sprained ankle. So basically he showed up to camp out of shape and is suffering because of it.

But still he’s got himself a job! Any other player in the league would easily be on the chopping block but you know what he’s still not quite on the roster bubble yet. The Broncos don’t have any real options should Knowshon or Correll have to miss extended time, as they have nothing but “camp bodies” on the roster.

So yeah, like I said earlier LenDale White struck gold when he signed with the Denver Broncos. He’s been able to sit back and relax with various ailments knowing he’s got a job after his suspension. I can see why no other teams were biting on this guy when he was on the market.