A busted play at home
TAGG BOZIED COULD hardly wait to get home. Rounding the bases, he saw his Triple-A Portland teammates gathering, waiting to celebrate his game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth.
“It was probably the coolest moment I’ve had on a baseball field,” the San Diego Padres’ prospect said.
Then suddenly, agony hit.
Because as Bozied jumped for joy at the plate, just like the big leaguers do, he felt his left knee give way Monday night. He blacked out before landing and when he came to, there was no doubt: He was done for the year.
“It was real scary. I saw my kneecap pushed up into my quadriceps. I thought my career was over,” Bozied said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Oregon.
“To go from hitting a walkoff home run to being wheeled off the field in an ambulance, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “Guys were hitting me on the helmet, kicking me, congratulating me, and I was down in the dog pile. Then one of them saw the look in my eyes and realized I wasn’t kidding, that it was serious.”
Talk about adding injury to exult.
A bunch of can’t-hit prospects
From the Denver Post: “According to a study conducted by Baseball America, only 64.9 percent of the 774 first-rounders from 1965-95 reached the majors, and only 8 percent selected in the first 10 rounds became regulars.
“No wonder some GMs joke that there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect, while lamenting the unpredictable nature of growing seeds on the farm.”
Does the Cup get-frequent flier miles?
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ruslan Fedotenko brought the Stanley Cup to his native Ukraine on Monday.
In a ceremony at Kiev’s city hall, Fedotenko said he could not find the right words to describe how happy he was to bring the trophy to his homeland.
“Everyone strives for the most prestigious award,” he said, adding that he will “never forget the moment” when he raised the trophy over his head.
Fedotenko scored both goals in Tampa Bay’s 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals last month.
Don’t call him the ‘Big Rip-off’
The Boston Globe’s Peter May, on the uproar caused by the Los Angeles Lakers trading Shaquille O’Neal for three non-All-Stars and a draft pick:
“This is not — repeat not — a reprise of the 1975 deal that sent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. Abdul-Jabbar was 28 when he was traded from Milwaukee to L.A. for a package of good-but-not-great Lakers. He was coming into his prime. He won three more MVPs with L.A., two before a guy named Magic Johnson arrived to revive his career.
“O’Neal is 32, but it is an old 32. In the last five years, he has played an additional season-plus (92 games) in the postseason alone. He has fought off nagging injuries almost daily. Next season will be his 13th; when Abdul-Jabbar arrived in L.A., it was for his seventh NBA season.”
Last Word
“So the Vlade Flop is coming back to L.A.. This is very appropriate considering most folks expect the rest of the team, without Shaq, to flop as well.”
Los Angeles sportscaster Alan Massengale, on Vlade Divac returning to the Lakers after a stint with the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.