Who's Hot, Who's Not

TSF hasn't done it's 'Who's Hot, Who's Not' post for quite sometime so I thought this would be a great time to do so...

Who's Hot

Chase Utley
The Phillies 2nd basemen is 15 for 34 his last 9 games with 7 HR, 20 RBI, and 10 R. He become only the 4th player ever to have two five-game home run streaks in one season.

Jay Bruce
Bruce is 18 for 29 in his first 8 games as a major leaguer with 3 HR, 7 RBI, and 12 runs scored. Said Bruce to the AP, "It's been a lot of fun."

Chicago Cubs
Could this be the year? The Cubs have currently won 8 straight games through June 3rd, winning their first road series since the beginning of the season.

Road to Omaha
With super regionals starting this week, college baseball is heating up. The top search of the month on ESPN was College Baseball. We will have a new champion as Oregon St. is out. All baseball fans love watching games with aluminum bats, the fun has just begun.

Who's Not

Alex Rios
Currently his 27-for-115 (.234 BA) is on a nosedive. Rios has dropped 52 points off his batting average since May 1. His sluggish power (9 HR, 69 RBI) and strikeout rate ('07 K%: 16.0, '08: 23.5) have raised some flags about his patience at the plate.

Paul Konerko
His current stat line is: .206 BA, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 18 R, 1 SB, and a 33/27 K:BB ratio. Can you say slump?

Seattle Mariners
The M's are now 21-38 and are 14.5 games behind the Angels and 8.5 behind the mediocre Rangers. Pitching has been a huge problem for them. Seattle starters are now 15-28 with an ERA of 5.23.

Miami, FLA- Kimbo Slice primetime fight
Yawn. Miami was home to the debut of mixed martial arts fight and Kimbo Slice on primetime television, which aired on CBS last Saturday evening. The night was full of horrible referring and boring fights. Slice didn't live up to the hype as he was embarrassed and knocked out by James Thompson.

MLB Predictions: American League

East
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

The Red Sox should be one of the top teams in the MLB. They still have a dominant line up with David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, plus Jacoby Ellsbury will be a great leadoff man. The starting pitching rotation is solid with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester leading the way and the bullpen remains one of the best with Jon Papelbon and Hideki Okajima. The Yankees will obviously fight for the top of the division but their pitching staff isn't that strong. Also, watch out for the Blue Jays they may finally get into the playoffs if they stay healthy.

Central
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Kansas City Royals

The Tigers have a very potent offense with Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, and Miguel Cabrera. They should have no problem putting up runs. The pitching staff is even better now with the addition of Dontrelle Willis. I don't know how much longer Todd Jones can be the closer they may need a new one soon. The Indians should be a great ball club again as well, their pitching staff really came on last season.

West
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Oakland A's
4. Texas Rangers

Look for the Angels to win the West once again. They should have a great offense and the addition of Torii Hunter will help, especially in the OF. The pitching staff looks good again but with Kelvim Escobar out that could hurt quite a bit. The bull pen is solid as well. The M's could fight for the division too. They have a young line up and their staff is as good as it's been in awhile.

Playoffs:
ALDS:
Tigers over Yankees in 5
Red Sox over Angels in 5

ALCS:
Tigers over Red Sox in 7


World Series predictions & NL Preview tomorrow!

Who's Hot, Who's Not

HOT
Seattle Mariners
They continue to surprise a lot of people and make a nice push in both the AL Wildcard and in the AL West. The Angels better not get too comfortable!

Tiger Woods

In the final event before the final major of the year, Woods buried Rory Sabbatini and the rest of the field Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational for an eight-shot victory, sending his confidence soaring Sunday as he left for Southern Hills and the PGA Championship.

Matt Murphy

Interesting story....So he's delayed in SF trying to travel from NY to Australia with some friends and he throws on his Mets jersey and heads out to AT&T Park and basically wins the lottery. Got his face scraped up a bit but I'm guessing it was totally worth it. Kind of interesting that of all the Giant fans at the game dreaming of the ball a kid in a Mets jersey catches the ball and will split the profits with his friend (who was at the game in an Arod jersey!). I'm interested to see what he ends up doing with the ball.

Arizona Cardinals

With Matt Leinert learning and improving everyday, the Edge in the best shape of his life, and the superstar Fitzgerald continuing to improve his route running the Cardinals look like they could make a serious run at making the playoffs this season. And with the great young core of superstar talent they have they should be around for a while....especially once the defense improves.

NOT
Milwaukee Brewers

Tough pill for me to swallow here but things have not been good. A four game losing streak puts the beermakers in first by a mere half game. On the bright side there is the Soriano injury!

Rory Sabattini

Made the whole, "Tiger's more beatable than ever" comment and then went ahead and squandered a 1 shot lead to lose by 8 and at one point was shaken to the point that he ordered a fan removed from the course by security for some relatively funny/ironic, yet completely harmless interjection made at the turn. He basically made himself look retarded.

Bud Selig

Selig made himself look like an idiot in the last week or so. He trudged around behind Bonds for 9 games and then what Bonds tied the record the commish stood with his hands deep in his pockets and looked very disgruntled. He then declined to be present when Bonds broke the record. Hate to break it to you Bud, but all eyes are on you right now and you're making yourself look like a fool!

Obafemi Ayanbadejo

He has a cool name but the NFL suspended him for the first four regular-season games without pay for violating the league's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances on Thursday. He claims to not have knowingly infringed upon the rules and will pursue civil action against the makers of the product Max LMG.

Who's Hot, Who's Not

The Sports Flow has added a new topic to it's blog, titled: "Hot or Not". I (Stefan or even Joe) will be giving you a "Hot or Not" list once a week; and to help us out you can suggest some athletes or teams, for that matter, of your own who have been on a hot streak. Leave your suggestions here if you'd like for future reference: thesportsflow@hotmail.com

Hot
Seattle Mariners
The M's have won 10 of their last 11 games and are currently on an 8 game winning streak. Seattle is catching up and starting to give the Angels a run for their money in the AL West. Also, how about sweeping the majors best Boston Red Sox to go along with the streak.

Chone Figgins
Figgins had at least one hit in 24 of 25 games in the month of June, 51 altogether; not bad at all...

Dario Franchilli
Franchilli has 8 straight top finishes to go with his 3 victories. The reigning Indy 500 champ was dominant for the second week in a row, leading all but eight laps Saturday night - a series record - to win at Richmond International Raceway.

Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers made a wise choice with their number one pick selecting Greg Oden and also got late round steals in Rudy Fernandez and Petteri Koponen. Josh McRoberts is a good pick in the 2nd round as well. Even with trading Zach Randolph, they saved about an estimated $30 million in salaries.

Not

Tampa Bay Devils Rays

The D-Rays have lost 14 of their last 18 and are currently on a season high 7 game losing skid. Tampa Bay hasn't helped their pitchers cause with the lack of run support. Plus, it doesn't help at all with B.J. Upton being banged up.

Morgan Ensberg

In the month of June Ensberg was 7 for 47 and recorded a hit in only 6 of 18 games. Ensberg has seen less and less playing time after the recent quality play of Mike Lamb.

Aric Amirola
After leading the Busch series race last Saturday (and technically winning) Amirola was pulled after teammate Denny Hamlin showed up late and took the checkered flag. Almirola drove the car in practice and qualified it on the pole, but was never supposed to drive it.

Charlotte Bobcats

I completely agree with Stephen A. Smith and incompletely agree with Complete Sports on the Bobcats draft. This team is trying to rebuild, and they send a stud versatile forward in Brandan Wright to Golden St. for Jason Richardson? Wright may be a few years away, but he has great upside, he played just up the road at Chapel Hill under Roy Williams and once his weight catches up to him, he'll be a great player. In my eyes, Wright is a great talent to build around. J-Rich is an overplayed player and wasn't even the best player on the Warriors. He played for himself and was pretty inconsistent at times; he is not a franchise player. This move will cost Charlotte a ton of money and will pay for it.