Quick Hits: Deadline passes, United loses, football still hasn't started

Well that was anti-climactic. Alfonso Soriano AND Miguel Tejada are still with their respective teams.

Tejada told The Sun he wasn't surprised despite all the deadline rumors. Perhaps more importantly, he told Sun reporter Roch Kubatko, "This team, we can win ... I want to play baseball here."

The O's also will be sticking with Jeff Conine, Rodrigo Lopez, Javy Lopez, Latroy Hawkins and Kevin Millar, all of whom had at least some trade talks surrounding them. They can still be dealt until August 31 if they pass through waivers.

There's still some speculation that Tejada will be traded in the winter, but my feeling has always been the same. Why sign Melvin Mora and Jay Gibbons to extended deals if you were looking to rebuild? They need to keep Tejada and go out and buy up a couple big name free agents with all that MASN money that Peter Angelos will supposedly be rolling in once he gets the network on Comcast.

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As for Soriano, I don't think too many people thought that he would still be with Washington after 4 p.m. Earlier in the week ESPN even reported that Soriano to the White Sox was as good as done, but no deal ever materialized. Team President Stan Kasten told The Washington Post that the Nats would attempt to re-sign Soriano in the off-season but "if it doesn't get done it doesn't get done."

That's optimism.

I know GM Jim Bowden was adamant about getting top dollar back, but when it's pretty clear that the team's not going to be able/willing to throw a competitive offer at Soriano after the season's over, don't you have to get something in return, even if it's not full value?

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Of course, as soon as I mention D.C. United in this blog for the first time in probably 10 months, they decide to end their own unbeaten streak by tripping two Real Salt Lake players in the penalty area (not at the same time), resulting in a pair of late penalty shots that turned a 1-0 United lead into a 2-1 loss. The most frustrating part was that the second trip occurred on the end line where the offenseman had no angle to shoot and seemingly no passing options.

The second most frustrating part is that the loss and a New England Revolution tie cut United's lead in the East down to 19 points with 11 games to play. How will they ever hold on?...

D.C. United is back playing Tuesday night at 7:30 against the Columbus Crew, but not on TV and it doesn't count in the standings. It's a U.S. Open Cup match, which, as far as I can tell, is just an excuse for MLS teams to kick the crap out of a bunch of amateurs.

More exciting is this Saturday's MLS All-Star Game, in which the best of the MLS will face off against last year's English Premier League champs, Chelsea F.C., in Chicago. The game is at 5:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN.

There are seven D.C. United players on the MLS All-Star team (forwards Jaime Moreno and Alecko Eskandarian, midfielders Christian Gomez and Freddy Adu, defenders Bobby Boswell and Joshua Gros, and goalkeeper Troy Perkins). Chelsea is chock full of familiar faces from the World Cup, including Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko, Germany's Michael Ballack, Ghana's Michael Essien, Portugal's Ricardo Carvalho, and England's Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry.

One of my loyal readers (hi mom!) e-mailed me today wanting to know what the deal is with soccer refereeing, since it seems to be more uneven than the other popular American sports.

I haven't watched a ton of soccer and I'm no expert, but it seems to me to be pretty similar to basketball in that there are some things that you know are likely to get called no matter who is refereeing (like slide tackling someone in the box, D.C. United), and other things you have to feel out early in the game. Just like in basketball, refs establish early on what kind of contact will be allowed and as long as they are consistent there shouldn't be any complaints. It's probably just more noticeable in soccer because if a foul is called it could result in a goal in a low-scoring game (and in the case of a penalty kick, an easy goal in a low-scoring game) , whereas in basketball it means you go to the free-throw line for a chance at two points in a game where both teams are probably going to score at least 80.

There. Now you're informed and have no excuse not to watch the MLS All-Star Game.

That means you, mom.

Blog Quotes of the Week: July 21-28

It's almost the weekend, and since it's once in a blue moon that means it's time for Blog Quotes of the Week! (I had some time so I figured what the heck... Let's make with the funny.)

But first some stuff.

If you didn't pick it up based on my link at the end of my last post, I've become a bit of a soccer fan since the World Cup. That's right. I get Fox Soccer Channel and GOLTV and I think that makes me pretty special.

So this Saturday D.C. United puts their 14-game unbeaten streak on the line against Real Salt Lake, who is in last place in the West. D.C. United pretty much runs the joint, leading the East by 20 points. The game is at 9 p.m. Eastern on Comcast SportsNet. If you enjoyed the World Cup for more than just the violence, you should take some time to check out one of the most dominant franchises in all of sports.

Monday is the MLB trade deadline, and that could mean goodbye to a pair of the area's superstars, Miguel Tejada and Alfonso Soriano. I think for the good of the Nats Soriano HAS to go, and he has to fetch a score of hot prospects. As for Miggy, I just don't think they can get enough value to make it worth trading him when he's still locked up for another three years at what is now looking like a bargain contract. That being said, the O's do have to make some changes... We'll know on Monday.

And Roch makes this segue easy...

Roch Kubatko on the state of the Orioles:

"The more people I talk to who are close to the Orioles, the more I'm convinced that Miguel Tejada stays. And that no trades are imminent. And that it's a really, really bad idea to give up 10 runs in one inning."
-- Roch Around the Clock, July 26

Federal Baseball's Basil on Nats trades:

"When Brad Wilkerson was traded, I was sad intellectually, which might just prove I'm stupid; when Alfonso Soriano is traded, I'll be sad emotionally, which might just prove I'm human."
-- Federal Baseball, July 27

Roch (again) on the Orioles ineptitude with runners in scoring position:

"The team bus departed the stadium without Miguel Tejada. Rather than take his usual seat, he was left on base."
-- Roch Around the Clock, July 26

Capital Punishment's Chris Needham, not impressed with Nats GM Jim Bowden's one good trade:

"The man's a ham. He sees a TV camera or a reporter with a recorder and his chubby little cheeks engorge with blood like a teenager first discovering late-night Cinemax."
-- Capital Punishment, July 26

And since, as any Camden Chat reader knows, a list of funny quotes can NOT be complete without a LarryBigbie3 quip:

"The old Baltimore logo(s) kicked trucks of ass."
-- Camden Chat, July 28

So that's it. Enjoy your weekend.

And please, PLEASE if you see anything hilarious on a blog or message board about local sports, e-mail me with the quote and a link at cstone@beltwaysportsbeat.com. As always, feel free to self-nominate, you attention-craving narcissists!

Quick Hits: McNair's in, Soriano's on the way out, and Grimsley should be running for cover

The less you wear, the more you need McNair.

After much speculation -- and a couple court dates to force Tennessee's hand -- the Ravens finally acquired Steve McNair last week. I would have posted about it sooner but management locked me out of my blogging facility for fear I'd injure myself.

The Ravens apparently think they've found their top tier quarterback, as McNair is a three-time Pro Bowler who co-won an MVP Award just three seasons ago, but excuse me if I'm not jumping for joy at the news. Remember Elvis Grbac? Yeah. I've stopped being optimistic about "savior" quarterbacks for the Ravens.

The one thing that surprised me about McNair when looking at his stats, though, is that for as much as you hear about him being injured, he's played at least 14 games every year except one since the 2000 season.

When he plays, he should at the very least be a vast improvement over the tandem of Kyle Boller and Anthony Wright, who found themselves side-by-side for 29th and 30th in the league in passer rating last year.

Meanwhile, Boller just asks that Brian Billick not declare the starting job McNair's immediately. Ha!

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Nats have pick of Soriano suitors.

With more than a month and a half before the MLB trade deadline, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Alfonso Soriano won't be wearing a curly W come August.

In an ESPN.com article, reporter Enrique Rojas says Soriano doesn't see himself sticking around in D.C.

"I'll be a free agent by the end of the year," he told Rojas. "The Nationals will receive good trade offers, and I will have the opportunity to look at the best deal for me."

That doesn't sound like a guy who's getting ready to put a down payment on a house in Potomac.

But all that begs the question: Why even trade for him in the first place?

Why trade for Soriano if you aren't going to pay to keep him? Sure, they'll get a better package of prospects for him than they would for Wilky, but that's meaningless because they wouldn't have had to dump Wilkerson at the deadline!

Wilkerson's making less than 40 percent of what Soriano is taking in this season, and Wilkerson wouldn't have been impossible to re-sign. You can't tell me that a bunch of high-risk minor leaguers are better than a proven Major Leaguer who's good for an .800+ OPS when he's healthy and who should be coming into his prime. It makes no sense.

Why hasn't incoming president Stan Kasten fired Jim Bowden yet?

Fine, I guess we can wait for Kasten to officially become president. Oh, and for the new ownership group to get their first priority out of the way: hot dogs. Nice to see they've got a grasp on the pressing issues.

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If Major League Baseball was like The Sopranos, Jason Grimsley would be whacked.

Instead, the journeyman reliever has been suspended for 50 games by MLB and released from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

When federal authorities nailed Grimsley receiving a shipment of Human Growth Hormone, he started ratting people out. After admitting that he used steroids and switched to HGH when MLB started urine testing, Grimsley listed other guys who he knew were doping, including former teammates.

So let the speculation begin. Grimsley played for the Phillies from 1989 to '91, the Indians from '93 to '95, the Angels in '96, the Yankees in '99 and 2000 (no way ... I'm simply shocked ... those guys never get caught up in steroid scandals), the Royals from '01 to '04, the Orioles from '04 to '05, and the Diamondbacks in '06.

That's a lot of teammates, but luckily for every team except the O's and D'Backs, it'll be hard to pin the older players to anything since MLB and congress didn't start paying attention to all this stuff until the last couple years.

So O's fans, are you prepared for another bombshell like last season? I, for one, am living in fear.

I liked Palmeiro and thought there was NO WAY he was on 'roids, but now I feel like it could be anyone. Which of my favorite players will it be this time? The suspense is going to torture me.

Everything else has come out -- "secret" grand jury testimony has been everywhere -- so why wouldn't this? It's not "if" it's going to be leaked, it's "when."

I'll put my money on names coming out before the All-Star break, but they've got to wait for the Orioles to start playing well again. Anything less wouldn't be the proper soul-crushing that O's fans have come to expect.

I think if we get this kind of bomb dropped on us mid-season for the second year in a row, it may be time for me to start shopping for Nats gear. I hear there could be good clearance prices on Alfonso Soriano shirts and jerseys in a couple months...