A COUPLE OF LISTS & A FOOL

***TOUGHEST SCHEDULE***
Buster Olney of ESPN, has ranked the schedules of all 16 AL teams, based on last years W/L record. The two toughest schedules. belong to the Twins and the Orioles. Well, of course. the main reason being, they don't get to play the Twins and the Orioles.
The easiest schedule belongs to the Indians, who benefit greatly from playing all those games in the piece-of-cake AL Central.

***THE BEST UNIFORMS***
This one is a little tougher (and arguable) because it's strictly opinion. Jim Caple is the author of this one and he does try to defend his choices. The top three:
#1) Los Angeles Dodgers
#2) St. Louis Cardinals
#3) New York Yankees
The three worst:
#30) San Diego Padres
#29) Cleveland Indians
#28) Tampa Bay Rays
The Red Sox are in the middle of the pack at #16, suffering from the fact, I'll bet, that Bobby Valentine is wearing one of the uniforms.

***SPEAKING OF VALENTINE***
He's the third item in today's posting, winning his spot with his ridiculous jabs at the Yankees. First, he says he's "proud that Varitek beat up A-Rod." I'm sure Varitek considers that his crowning achievement in baseball. Then Valentine says Jeter was out of position during the famous Giambi tag in the playoffs and the nobody practices that play as Jeter claims. Even some members of the Red Sox had to step in and say that it's true, Bobby, the Yanks do practice that, as do other teams, even though Valentine says he's never seen anybody practice that.
He also claims the Jeter was grandstanding, that the throw was right to Posada and they would have gotten Giambi without Jeter's help. Apparently Valentine has never seen the replay of that incident, either. I guess this is what we're going to have to deal with. Valentine making a bunch of wild statements without having the facts get in his way. Both Jeter and A-Rod refused to get involved with any of this. They just laughed it off.
Terry Francona may have been a little too lax with the players when he managed the club, but he knew baseball and he respected the game and he respected his opponents. He was class all the way. Unfortunately, Bobby Valentines fails in all these aspects.

***BRAUN STILL LOSING ***
Buster Olney reports that a lot of players are furious that Braun had his drug suspension overturned. Not because he beat it, but because he won on a technicality, claiming improper handling of the samples. They feel that all Braun did was impugn the sanctity of the testing and that in the long run, no one will trust the testing. I don't think this is what Ryan had in mind when he appealed the results.

***AROUND THE HORN***
## AJ Burnett has hit himself in the face while attempting to bunt during a drill yesterday. He fractured an orbital bone in his right eye and will need surgery.
## Johan Santana (remember him?) threw 43 pitches in a simulated game in spring training. The reports say he did well, but remember, he was pitching against the Mets.
## Here's a headline nobody ever expected to see: STEINBRENNER PLANS TO LOWER PAYROLL. It's actually George's youngest son, Hal, of course, and he means it. "I'm looking at it as a goal," he said, " but my goals are normally considered a requirement." Now THAT sounds like George.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Mario Andretti turned 72 on Tuesday. In lieu of a birthday cake at the restaurant, he did donuts in the parking lot." -- Dwight Perry
"I went to the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans broke out." -- Dan Daly
--and a couple from Brad Dickson:
" Omaha police cited a man for driving while under suspension for the 28th time. I feel sorry for his attorney. "Your honor, my client will never do this again."
"Passengers left behind $409,000 in loose change at TSA checkpoints in 2011. In an effort to reduce this amount, TSA is considering a proposal to stop dangling passengers upside down by the ankles to shake loose their nail clippers." -- Thank you, Brad
"Stanford women closed out their basketball home season with a 76-52 win over Seattle. The Cardinal shot 13-13 from the free-throw line. See, boys? It’s possible." -- Janice Hough
"The sensation over New York Knick, Jeremy Lin, Linsanity is sweeping China. To show you how crazy it is, millions of young Chinese children spend so much time watching Lin, they're worried there could be a Nike shoe shortage." -- Alex Kaseberg

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