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The Rain Maker Sports: Sports Bytes – June 18, 2010

According to Fightnews.com, 7 ft Russian giant Nikolay Valuev has been offered $1.5 million to challenge WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko. Valuev refuses to fight for less than $2.5 million. I can’t blame Valuev for holding out. If I were a below average fighter whose only advantage was my size and I were going to be punished by Klitschko, I’d want a bigger payday too. Unfortunately for Valuev he doesn’t have much negotiating leverage with Klitschko’s promoter K2 since he looked so disappointing in his last two bouts. In Dec 2008 he was given a gift decision over Evander Holyfield, and in Nov 2009 he lost to David Haye. My advice to Valuev is take the $1.5 million and run before K2 changes its mind . . .

The Ubaldo Jimenez express continues to roll through major league baseball. Yesterday afternoon Jimenez won his 13th game after surrendering only one run in eight innings to lead the Rockies to a 5-1 victory over the Twins. With the dominating performance Jimenez’s ERA has fallen to 1.15 . . .

The only downside to the excitement surrounding Stephen Strasburg is that Jimenez’s incredible season is not getting the attention it deserves . . .

Don’t think the obsession with pitch counts has become ludicrous? Here’s how Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman plans to handle Strasburg’s development: “Don’t expect to see double-digit strikeouts too often. He’s going to be more of a groundball pitcher, like Ubaldo Jimenez, than a strikeout pitcher like Roger Clemens or Kerry Wood [who both fanned 20 men in a game]. It’s better to get three outs on 12 pitches than three strikeouts on 18″ . . . Jim, don’t fix what isn’t broken . . .

Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker may want to consider making P Bronson Arroyo an everyday player. Besides only giving up one run in seven innings, Arroyo homered and assisted in three double plays to lead the Reds to a 7-1 victory over the LA Dodgers . . .

Led by Miguel Cabrera the Detroit Tigers won their sixth straight game yesterday, pounding out 19 hits to defeat the Washington Nationals 8-3 and sweep the three-game series . . . Cabrera now leads the majors in homers (19) and RBIs (59) . . .

I hope Vladimir Guerrero makes the American League All-Star team. Any doubts about whether he is still an impact player have been erased. Guerrero is sixth in the American League in hitting (.335) and second in the majors in RBIs (55) . . .

On June 5 Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman fought in the first boxing match to be held at Yankee Stadium in 34 years (1976: Ali-Norton). Today, two weeks later, the stadium’s outfield grass looks horrendous, and the damage was apparently caused by the boxing event. If hosting a fight is going to result in that type of damage, the Yankees should wait another 34 years before they allow boxing to return . . .

Speaking of the Yankees, in the last 18 innings they have accumulated a grand total of nine hits and four runs. Not surprisingly they lost two of three to the Phillies . . . This is a very important series against the Mets this weekend. As of late the Yanks have become a team that beats up on lesser opposition while playing sub-par baseball against winning clubs. Now they face a red hot cross-town rival that has won seven in a row . . . Derek Jeter is now 0 for his last 15. Yesterday he struck out twice. Talk about a swoon . . .

Newsday reports that the NY Jets appear ready to offer Darrelle Revis a $100 million contract. That’s a lot of PSLs to sell, Woody . . .

Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan says that an Albert Haynesworth trade is possible provided that a portion of Haynesworth’s bonus is returned. Don’t hold your breath, Mike . . .

About the Author

I am a PR Specialist and writer who has publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile http://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldtremblay