The Giants opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a lead off infield single by Emmanuel Buriss off of A’s starter Tyson Ross. Manager Bob Melvin elected to have Ross pitch to Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong and on the first pitch that is when the drama unfolded. Ross threw a 93 mile-per-hour  fastball up and in to Vogelsong who was attempting to bunt and the fastball was heading directly towards his chest, so Vogelsong brought the bat back to his chest and the baseball instead wentfoul for what should have been strike one.

Yet, that was not the call on the field; Hoye ruled that Vogelsong had been hit by the pitch. Melvin immediately went out to argue the call and even got Hoye to discuss what happened with Joyce, who had the better view of the play.  To the dismay of Melvin, the ruling on the field stood even though it was clearly a foul ball and it wasn’t a difficult one to make. If Vogelsong had been hit with a 93 mile-per-hour he would not have got up as quickly as he did and he definitely would have shown the effects of a pitch that hit him, a ball hitting the bat makes a much different sound than when it is a hit by pitch and lastly if the ball had hit him in the chest the baseball would not have rolled as far as it did.

It is now time for MLB to take action; it has already this week suspending Bob Davidson for how he acted towards PhiladelphiaPhillies manager Charlie Manuel who was also suspended one game. Laz Diaz after the A’s finished their series with the Texas Rangers called Melvin after blowing a call, A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy was furious with the call as Diaz ruled that McCarthy on a squeeze play had trapped the baseball instead of catching it, which allowed the Rangers to score a run instead of the A’s having a double play with no run scoring.

McCarthy after his spat with Diaz created a blog about the situation and continues to show why he’s one of the more respected players in MLB and as a reminder here’s a story from what he had to say about kiss cams.

Yet, in the case of Joyce and Hoye missing  the call, a big inning for the Giants resulted and no one knows what would have actually happened if called correctly. There’s a big difference between having runners on first and second with no outs to being an o-1 count with a runner on first. Hoye’s view was more difficult from being behind the plate, he still should have been able to figure out that the ball hit the bat by the sound and Joyce should have been able to make the correct call because he was looking directly in and easily determined the ball hit the bat.

With MLB refusing to put in the fix to an issue like this by implementing instant replay, MLB has to start holding umpires accountable for their blown calls that make an impact on the game. That means suspending umpires who get calls clearly wrong. In this case both Hoye and Joyce blew the call and each receiving a suspension for at least five plus games for both of them with Joyce getting a few extra games because he had the best view and could have easily overturned the call and made it right.

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Tonight Inge made his home debut for the A’s and was slotted into the fifth spot in the lineup and on the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays was Ricky Romero who has dominated the A’s. Jarrod Parker got the start for the A’s as Brandon McCarthy who was scheduled to pitch the game was moved back to Saturday due to shoulder soreness. Both Romero and Parker struggled to find the strike zone with the two combining for 10 walks, yet each pitcher was able to minimize any damage due to the walks.

Each pitcher did give up a two-run home run, Parker to Kelly Johnson and Romero to Josh Reddick. Parker went seven innings and Romero six innings and the game became interesting in the ninth inning. Grant Balfour who has struggled of late gave up a leadoff triple to Eric Thames, the A’s then brought the infield in and Balfour was able to get Brett Lawrie to ground out to Jemile Weeks for the first out, Balfour struggled to find the strike zone with Colby Rasmus and walked him on four pitches, Omar Vizquel pinch hit and for some inexplicable reason he bunted the ball up in the air which was caught for the second out of the inning. Johnson then ripped a single to right field to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead and Balfour was able to get Yunel Escobar  to ground into a fielders choice to end top of the ninth inning.

Francisco Cordero was brought into close the game out for the Blue Jays and Michael Taylor was the first batter he faced and Taylor was able to take an offspeed pitch down the right field line for a double, Weeks then sacrificed putting Taylor on third base with one out. Cliff Pennington came through with a single and then got into the head of Cordero who was constantly throwing over trying to keep Pennington close, yet even with the throws to first base it didn’t work as Pennington easily stole second, Reddick ended up walking, after a passed ball in the dirt to Jonny Gomes the A’s had runners on second and third, so Gomes was walked as well.

So, Inge who had struck out twice, grounded out, grounded into a double play, had a chance with the bases loaded and one out. The Blue Jays brought in Jose Bautista from the outfield and had five infielders, all Inge had to do was get the ball into the air and now that fifth at-bat will now be etched in the memory of A’s fans. Inge not only got the ball in the air, he also hit the ball over the fence for a walk-off grand slam! Inge now joins Mark Ellis, Mark McGwire who did it twice, Gene Tenace and Tony Armas as the only other players who have hit walk-off grand slam for the franchise in Oakland.

While history has shown with Inge he isn’t going to hit for a particularly high average he has come up with a number of big hits in the handful of games he’s been with the team. He now has two home runs two home runs and nine rbi since joining the team and so far the signing has worked out great for the A’s.

May 8th is also an important date in Athletics history as well as Catfish Hunter in 1968 threw a perfect game.

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According to the grades given out by Sports Illustrated for the draft the San Francisco 49ers got the worst grade in the NFC West with a D and the St. Louis Rams received a B+ for their drafting effort, also the Seattle Seahawks received a C and the Arizona Cardinals received a B for their drafting.

Yet, cannot agree with the D grade for the 49ers nor the B+ grade for the Rams. The Cardinals are the losers in the 2012 NFL draft. While the selection of Michael Floyd out of Notre Dame in the first round was great and gives the Cardinals another weapon at wide receiver, the Cardinals had to wait until the third round before making another pick. This time it was  Jamell Fleming which was a good move, yet following that pick the Cardinals did not draft a running back which is a necessity for the team as Beanie Wells has underwhelmed since being taken with the no.31 pick in 2009, Cardinals could have also used help at the tight end position and even though the defense improved mightily from the start of the season the Cardinals lack a pass rusher.

No running back, tight end or defensive end/outside linebackers were taken  in the draft. Instead the Cardinals drafted three offensive linemen in Bobby Massie, Senio Kelemete and Nate Potter, drafted Justin Bethel a cornerback and Ryan Lindley a quarterback. There’s no questions the Cardinals needed to upgrade their offensive line as Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Richard Bartel were sacked a combined 54 times and even though Wells broke the 1,000 yard mark, he only averaged 4.3 yards per carry.

Three offensive linemen may have been a bit much since the Cardinals re-signed Levi Brown to a contract five-year extension and signed free agent guard Adam Snyder. Which, means that at least one or two of the later picks in the draft could have gone towards another need for the Cardinals.

For the NFC West the best draft was by the 49ers a team that made seemingly a surprising selection with the drafting of A.J. Jenkins as the 30th pick and then taking LaMichael James with the 61st pick in the draft. Jenkins will be used to stretch the field for the 49ers and is immediately in competition with Kyle Williams and Randy Moss who came out of retirement to join the 49ers and Jenkins also provides depth because he can be used as a return man.

James was one of the most exciting players in college football while at the University of Oregon and he is the change of pace back the 49ers have been looking for. There’s not a player on the current 49ers roster that can match the speed of James and now quarterback Alex Smith has a player he can just swing the ball at too and watch him take it in for a big gain on a screen play. Also, like Jenkins, James can be used on special teams as well.

Being shrewd the 49ers made a few trades and didn’t have another selection until the fourth round where Joe Looney was selected, the next pick for the 49ers was Darius Fleming, Trenton Robinson, Jason Slowey and Cam Johnson. Looney and Slowey are both offensive linemen, Fleming is an outside linebacker, Robinson is a free safety and Johnson is a defensive end and each of those selections filled a need for the 49ers.

With the 49ers basically drafting for the best player available and making smart trades, the 49ers are the winner from the NFC West, followed by the Seahawks and Rams.

Now the tweeter Jason Petrie may have been able to get out of the mess he created by removing the offensive tweet and apologizing immediately and that did not happen, instead he chose to defend himself with a number of ridiculous tweets. He has made  a tweet apologizing for his actions, yet it’s too little too late.

Whether or not Petrie meant to be tongue and cheek about his comments it still doesn’t excuse it. Making a tweet about an injury as serious as Rose’s on the basis that it was because he chose to wear Adidas over Nike is absurd. Even if another tweet by Petrie said this.

One question that comes to mind seeing to that tweet and is how else did he think Rose’s fans and Bulls fans would take it? Did he actually believe that those fans would be laughing it off and taking his tweet as tongue in cheek like Petrie suggested? That’s not a difficult question to answer either, it’s a resounding no!

What Petrie should have done right away is delete the tweet, apologize for it and explain he wasn’t thinking when he made the tweet in hopes Nike would be lenient in doling out the punishment that he will be most likely be receiving. Yet, instead he attempted to defend himself and pretty much continued to dig himself into a deeper hole with no way to climb out. The tweet about taking it too seriously and then saying he hopes “Drose comes back stronger than ever, he’s too good” still shows he doesn’t grasp the scope of how foolish his tweet was and in the end Nike should be letting Petrie go.

For more insight on the injury to Rose take a look at Alejandro Aviles’ great article.

The Bulls obviously play well with the system that Tom Thibodeau has employed and still should be able to knock of the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round as there is a reason why the Bulls are the no.1 seed and the 76ers are the no.8 seed. Finding a way to replace the production of Rose beyond the first round will be more difficult. C.J. Watson is a capable scorer, yet plays more like a shooting guard and struggled this season to find his jumper as he shot 36.8 percent from the field.

Veteran point guard Mike James who played in only 11 games for the Bulls this season is the only other point guard on the Bulls roster.

In the absence of Rose, Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng will become the primary offensive weapons for the Bulls and those two will certainly need help from Taj Gibson, Kyle Korver, Joakim Noah and Watson to get by the 76ers and to be competitive in the next round of the playoffs. This was hardly the start to the first round the Bulls envisioned, yet now have the opportunity to show how well the team can overcome adversity with their star player injured for the remainder of the playoffs.

For more about what the injury means for the Bulls check out this article by Ryan Wooden and this article by Dave Daniels.

In somewhat of a surprising move the San Francisco 49ers with the 61st selection of the 2012 NFL Draft chose LaMichael James a junior out of the University of Oregon. James was considered as being one of the better backs in the draft and offers tremendous speed. James will likely be used primarily as a third down back and James provides depth as he can also return kicks for the 49ers, which is great news for the 49ers because the team now has a backup to Ted Ginn in case of injury.

James will join a running back group consisting of Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, recently signed Brandon Jacobs and Anthony Dixon and this definitely provides competition in training camp for a spot on the active roster.

As for what James did at Oregon he produced from the moment he arrived on campus. As a freshman he carried the ball 230 times for 1,546 yards, a 6.7 yards per carry average and 14 touchdowns, sophomore year he carried the ball 294 times for 1,731 yards, a 5.9 yards per carry and 21 touchdowns and in his junior season which was his last and even after battling some injuries he carried the ball 247 times for 1,805 yards, had a 7.3 yards per carry average and 18 touchdowns.

In total he carried the ball 771 times for 5,082 yards and 53 touchdowns.

The knock on him is his size he’s 5’8″ and 194 pounds, so durability is a concern. He is a similar player to Detroit Lions running back Jahvid Best a first round pick in the 2010 draft out of the University of Calfornia. Besides those two concerns on the football field the one thing that James will need to prove that he can do is catch the football as he only averaged 17 receptions per year.

Yet, James throughout his career put up impressive numbers he had a career long of 90, eight games of three touchdowns, seven games of over 200 yards rushing with a high of 288 yards.

With the pick of James showed that the 49ers were willing to go after the best player available and it certainly will provide some entertaining battles when training camp begins.

Thank you JonathanSchmidt1 for the video

Here’s who the 49ers selected in the first round and a recent story of mine in regards to the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The San Francisco 49ers first pick in the 2012 was at no.30 and their selection was A.J. Jenkins a wide receiver out of the University of Illinois. While the selection of a wide receiver was not surprising, the pick of Jenkins was.  At the combine according to NFL.com Jenkins had a vertical jump of 38.5″, ran a 4.37 40 and measured in at 6’0″ and 190 pounds.

He played all four seasons at Illinois with his Junior and Senior seasons being his best years. In total he caught 167 passes for 2,432 yards and 19 touchdowns. Included is the video of his career day against Northwestern in his senior year and in a come from behind victory he caught 12 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. The totals for his senior season he caught 90 passes for 1,276 yards and eight touchdowns and in his Junior year Jenkins caught 56 passes for 746 yards and seven touchdowns.

In the offseason the 49ers also signed Superbowl hero Mario Manningham and Randy Moss and with Jenkins it allows for the 49ers to stretch the football field. That was something that did not happen in the NFC Championship game where only one pass was completed to a wide receiver for three yards.

More importantly according to that same article is that he has quickness off the ball, he has the ability to separate from defenders and has the ability to catch the ball in the middle of the field. One weakness that really stands out for Jenkins is that he can become predicable with his go-to move which means a cornerback can knock him of his route.

For more on the 49ers offseason feel free to check out the re-signing Alex Smith and Smith also helping with a search for a missing California teenager.

Today an article came out by Eric Olson of the Associated Press about Nebraska Cornhuskers assistant football coach, Ron Brown spoke at a Omaha City Council meeting for three minutes denouncing a anti-discrimination ordinance that would extend protections to transgenders and gays.  Brown “challenged ordinance sponsor Ben Gray and other members to remember that the Bible does not condone homosexuality. He told council members they would be held to ‘great accountability’ for the decision you are making.”

On May 7th Lincoln will also attempt to pass a similar measure and Brown said that  ”he is praying about speaking in opposition if his schedule allows.”  What makes his comments worse is that he “acknowledges that he uses his position as a platform for his ministry. He sprinkles in football metaphors during his many speaking engagements and sometimes references the players he’s coached”

Since Brown uses Nebraska as his crutch it’s definitely understandable that a number of groups have called for his firing  and the reality is the person who should be firing Brown is head coach Bo Pelini. According to Pelini though he won’t do it  and he said in that same article that ”I hired him because he’s a good football coach. He’s trustworthy. He has a lot of integrity. I hired him because I believe in him as a football coach and a guy who has positive impact on kids.” While that’s very admirable of Pelini, the reality is Brown should not be using his affiliation with Nebraska to further his own personal agenda.

Pelini should give Brown an ultimatum and put a stop to this once and for all and if Brown chooses not too, then he should be fired. Brown is certainly entitled to his own opinion, there’s no arguing that, yet when he is employed by a public university he does need to censor his comments and distance himself from the university. Brown is a molder of young men and he should be teaching them the value of respecting others regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation.

For Brown he certainly is entitled to his opinion and has the ability to express them, just because he can doesn’t mean he shouldn’t suffer the consequences especially when Brown is fanning the seeds of hatred and ignorance and that is why Pelini should be firing Brown or maybe Brown could actually learn something like Tim Hardaway did after he had made homophobic comments about John Amaechi. It’s really simple though a person should be treated with respect and should be not be discriminated based on sexual orientation and it’s a shame that someone in Brown’s position would actually attempt to speak out against something like that.

Unique is one word to describe the batting stance of Coastal Carolina’s designated hitter Alex Buccilli and yet even with that stance he is able to produce for Coastal Carolina and according to the schools official site, Buccilli currently ranks second on the team in home runs with three, ranks third on the team in doubles with eight and average at .313 and ranks fourth on the team in hits (36) and rbi (20).  Buccilli is a redshirt junior who sat out the 2011 season after transferring from the University of Oregon and started his college career at Frederick Community college before arriving at Oregon for the 2010 baseball season.

According to Yahoo Sports article by Kevin Kaduk, Buccilli says “”At first they’re like, ‘What are you doing? You need to go see a chiropractor. Is your butt itchy? I hear a lot from the fans and stuff, but it’s all process and routine.” That process and routine has certainly helped him to have a solid season so far.

While Buccilli may lay claim to one of the most unusual stances there’s also been a number of current and former Major League Baseball players who have had an unconventional batting stance. The names include Phil Plantier, Kevin Youkilis, Jeff Bagwell, Craig Counsell, Ichiro, Carl Crawford, Nomar Garciaparra,  Aaron Rowand and Munenori Kawasaki come to mind when describing unique stances. Yet, it’s not just batting stances that can be different, a pitchers windup can also deviate from the norm.

Some examples currently in MLB are Tim Lincecum, Johnny Cueto, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Brian Fuentes and Jason Isringhausen.

Yet, out of all those stances and windups, Buccilli may have the most unique stance that baseball has ever seen.

The Magic have already lost a superstar center before in free agency in Shaquille O’Neal and from what it appears Howard will be on his way out as well via trade. Unlike when O’Neal left, the Magic do not have the talent to remain in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference next season. Only one scenario that may work out well for the Magic would be to trade Howard and acquire the no.1 pick year’s NBA Draft. Most NBA Draft experts are indicating that Kentucky’s Anthony Davis will be the no.1 pick.  Yet, Davis could still take a number of years to develop and would not make sense for the Magic with Howard already being a proven commodity.

So, what should the Magic do? Keep Howard happy! It really is that simple.

For the Magic the first step would be to let go of Van Gundy as it is never a good idea to choose a coach over a star player. The Golden State Warriors franchise found out the hard way why that is the case. At the time Nelson was the coach and he was not getting along with star forward Chris Webber and instead of telling Nelson to take a hike, the Warriors traded Webber to the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and he didn’t even last a full season with the Warriors and was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Donyell Marshall.

After letting go of Van Gundy the Magic should consider replacing General Manager Otis Smith only because he has not been able to bring in players that can take the pressure off of Howard. Right now the Magic roster is filled with role players some good, some not so good. It also didn’t bode well for the Magic that Howard’s season ended early due to a back injury that required surgery, so far Howard has missed 10 games this season and in the games without him the Magic are just 3-7.

Position upgrades at point guard and small forward are a necessity as Jameer Nelson is a decent point guard and Hedo Turkoglu continues his decline and really should be coming off the bench. The bench consists of Glen Davis hasn’t been as effective as he was as a member of the Boston Celtics and J.J. Redick has been the only consistent scoring threat off the bench.

If the Magic are able to bring in a new coach, make the change at GM,  and upgrade at least two of the starters and the bench as well it will show Howard that the organization is dedicated to keeping him happy and giving him the best chance at winning a championship. With the roster at the moment it’s really not surprising that Howard has flip-flopped and is not too happy with the organization.