After failing to sign David Lee and Paul Millsap, the Portland Trail Blazers finally made a splash in free agency by acquiring All-Star point guard Andre Miller. The two sides have agreed on a deal worth up to $21 million, $14 million of which is guaranteed with a $7 million team option.
Miller was offered a one year contract by his former team the Philadelphia 76ers, but reneged because he desired a long term deal above the league’s mid-level exception. Miller has found a team with a core of young talent that will help extend his career.
In Miller, Portland found the veteran point guard they have been looking for over the past few seasons. After missing out on Jason Kidd, Kirk Hinrich among others, the Blazers have found the anchor to their team. Miller will undoubtedly provide leadership off the court and rare toughness on the court.
Miller has played in a NBA high 530 straight games missing only three games throughout his career. His ability to play through the grind of the season year after year will help educate Portland’s young talent on how to play through pain. Miller will also help the Blazers take further steps away from their dark past filled with drugs and legal problems.
While the signing of Andre Miller will make the Portland Trail Blazers a playoff contender, it is highly unlikely they will be able to match up with other Western Conference powerhouses like the Lakers and Spurs.

One of the rare feats in baseball has just been achieved in Chicago. All-Star pitcher Mark Buehrle has just completed a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Part of the story here is Dewayne Wise's catch in the ninth inning. Great stuff.

Buehrle becomes the 24th pitcher in baseball history to throw multiple no hitters, joining recent pitchers such as Randy Johnson and Hideo Nomo, (Buerhle threw his other one in 2007).

I would never admit to being a supporter of the New York Mets (it's a long, complicated story). That said, it would take only the obvious for me to declare this team dead and out of things completely. Well, the obvious has happened and this team is finished.

Omar would be wise to start selling whatever he can. Unfortunately, anything worth selling is on the disabled list. Gary Sheffield is an obvious candidate, but he isn't even healthy enough to get on the field, thus eliminating any value at the moment. There are reports that the Mets have received several phone calls about Pedro Feliciano, who would be someone where it would make sense to move.

Younger guys like a Mike Pelfrey defintely have trade value, but for the Mets, they see themselves as getting back into things right-away next season, so trading a young pitcher with that much upside is not the route to go.

Bottom line, Omar and the Mets are in a complicated situation. They should sell whatever and whoever they can for the right deal. Their minor league system needs a complete overhaul and it needs to be run by someone other than Tony Bernazard who just continues to look like the biggest jackass in all of baseball these last few days...

Despite earlier reports, Minnesota’s first round pick, Ricky Rubio will not be staying in Spain for an additional year even if he and the Timberwolves are unable to reach a contractual agreement. Immediately after the draft, Rubio believed that he would be forced to stay another year in Spain because of his inability to pay the $8.2 million buyout.

Rubio was projected to be the second overall pick, but as he fell to number five he lost millions, making it more difficult to escape the contract with Joventut.

Almost two months after the draft, Ricky Rubio is still not pleased with the way his Spanish club has handled the situation, so Timberwolves’s GM Davis Kahn flew to Spain in an attempt to help settle the dilemma. According to NBA rules, Minnesota can only contribute $500,000 to the buyout, so the two sides have been not been able to come to a resolution.

Rubio’s future remains unclear, whether he will sign with the T’wolves, be traded to another NBA team or possibly sign with another Spanish ball club like Real Madrid or Barcelona.


To read the full story...

It is being widely reported that the Red Sox have landed 1B Adam LaRoche from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for two minor leaguers.

After falling out of first place for the first time in about two months, this move helps bring in another bat to the lineup but more importantly protects the team against any major setbacks that the injured and struggling Mike Lowell may have for the rest of the season.

With the addition of LaRoche, it looks like Kevin Youkilis will see some more time at third base.

The post All-Star break magic continued at Yankee Stadium earlier tonight as it was Hideki Matsui's turn to play the role of walk-off specialist.

In what was a carbon copy of yesterday's win over the Detroit Tigers, the Yankees relied on stellar starting pitching (Andy Pettitte) and two solo home runs (Eric Hinske & Hideki Matsui). These close wins that the Yankees have been having can have a bigger impact on the team as a whole than winning by landslides. There is something to be said for hard-fought victories.

With some bad news coming out of Chien-Ming Wang's side session, Sergio Mitre could give this team a real shot in the arm with a decent performance tomorrow night. In Triple-A Scranton, Mitre was 3-1 with a 2.42 ERA.


Meanwhile in our Nation's Capital, Livan Hernandez finally got back on track and gave the Mets his first decent outing in almost two months. The banged up Amazins' beat the Nationals 6-2 but were not able to gain any ground on the scorching-hot Phillies, who blew out the Cubs in Philly tonight.


---Anyone catch the T.O. show tonight on VH1? I am very proud (or ashamed) that I was able to stomach about five minutes of it before I HAD to turn it off. I don't know what Terrell Owens is worse at; being a good teammate or acting. Either way, those are five minutes I will never ever get back.

Photo Courtesy: Reuters


The story of the day as far as the New York sports scene is concerened is defintely Joba's tremendous outing and the Yankees completing the sweep of the Tigers on Old Timer's Day. A quick turn-around it must have been for Mike Mussina, as a year ago today, he was in the middle of a 20-win season and now he is considered an Old Timer.

Today's formula for success was simple:

A-Rod + Mark Teixeira + Joba Chamberlain + Mariano Rivera.

The Yankees continue their home stand against the Orioles this week.


Now for that other team...Add Fernando Nieve to the unbelievably long list of injured Mets. It has become quite the trend for the Mets to not only lose games, but lose players as well. Nieve had to be carted off the field with an apparent quad injury. His injury almost certainly buys more time for Tim Redding to be with the team, as most thought he would be released by the end of the weekend.

After losing three-out-of-four to the Braves this weekend, the Mets are nine games out of first place, and at this time, really have to be thinking Wild-Card, although that may become a distant thought within the next week or two.

During this horrid series in Atlanta, the Mets also lost Gary Sheffield. He hasn't been placed on the DL, but has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury.

The Mets are off to Washington for a mid-week series against the Nationals. With the lineup the Mets are throwing out each day, even a series against the Nationals can't be an easy one.


OTHER NOTES:

---After giving up an early run to the Red Sox, Roy Halladay was lights-out in the Blue Jays' 3-1 win. Aside from the Yankee fan dreaming of Halladay doing that in a Yankee uniform, it also helped them get within a game of Boston for first plcae in the AL East.


---Was really pulling for Tom Watson to pull off one of the great sports stories in recent memory but it just wasn't to be. Stewart Cink beat out Watson in a four-hole playoff to take the British Open. You still have to admire and give all the credit in the world to Watson for being that close to winning a major championship at the age of 59.


---It's unreal what ESPN Reporter Erin Andrews is going through. Not going to give this story any more attention. All I will say is that the party(s) responsible belong in jail.


---Enjoy the ESPY's

A busy Saturday in July...


The Yankees and Tigers are locked in a great pitchers duel at the moment as CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander have not disappointed.

Happy Anniversary to David Cone; It was on this day ten years ago that he pitched his very memorable perfect game against the Montreal Expos on Yogi Berra day. I can remember the game like it was yesterday...Don Larsen threw out the first pitch before the game as well as David Cone dropping to his knees in disbelief after the last pitch. What I think adds to the lure of his perfect game are the stories in Joe Torre's book, 'Yankee Years,' about that great day.


---Sergio Mitre will make his season debut with the Yankees next week against the Orioles as the team's fifth starter. Suffice to say Phil Hughes has undoubtedly cemented the role of the eighth inning guy after six strikeouts in two innings of work last night, which along with Mark Teixeira's huge home run, helped lead the Yankees to a 5-3 win.

---There are unconfirmed reports that Jose Reyes suffered a setback in his rehab in Florida while running drills. This can't come as a surprise to Met fans who have to be numb to any kind of injury news with this team at this point.


---The amount of stories giving up on the Mets in the local newspapers is on a sharp incline. There may be something to this idea, especially after an 11-0 loss last night. It may be a very quiet and lonely August and September in Queens. Anyone know how many days are left until the start of Jets & Giants Training Camp?

Prized Mets OF prospect Fernando Martinez will be out of action at least 6-8 weeks after needing surgery on his torn meniscus. Just another injury in his short-unproven Major League career.

Other injury updates for the Mets:

Carlos Beltran's bone bruise has not improved or gotten worse. No time-table for his return.

Carlos Delgado seems to be on pace to return in early August. He has been able to swing the bat as well as take ground balls.

Jose Reyes apparently had a very good day in Port St. Lucie and may finally be able to return to the Mets by the end of this month.

John Maine is on track to return to throwing within the next 10 days.

Well in what has been one of the worst kept secrets in sports recently, the NHL announced that Boston's Fenway Park will play host to the league's third outdoor game in North America, (fourth if you count the one in Edmonton).

The Bruins will take on the Flyers in this up and coming New Year's Day tradition.

With Wrigley and now Fenway being done, one must think that either Citi Field or Yankee Stadium is next. I personally think it will be Yankee Stadium, only because it would be more fitting for the Rangers to play there than in Queens (which is Islander country) plus the Yankees and the NHL have already had discussions about having a Winter Classic back at the old stadium.


Along with news of the Winter Classic, came the league and NBC's extension of their agreement for two more seasons. A rendering of what Fenway will look like for the game is below, thanks to Totalprosports.com