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This whole feud between Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke and Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe just will not go away…

The question at stake is basically:

Can you justify taking a second year, unproven player from a salary of $400K to $4.25 Million?

I think in Kevin Lowe’s situation you can. Let me explain.

When you’ve whiffed on the other major free agents of that off season and your team is expecting you to bring in some offensive fire power then yeah I can see him taking that gamble.

And please Lowe doesn’t need anybody telling him that he’s taking a gamble on Penner.

But that’s also what backers of Burke are overseeing… what if Dustin Penner can continue his offensive production?

Lowe’s a genius right?

Credit Kevin Lowe for having the balls to pay Dustin Penner $4.25 million a year… he obviously thinks he’s worth it.

And it’ll be his ass if he’s not!

But please no more whining from Brian Burke…

You didn’t have the money to match the offer and someone slipped a player out from underneath you. Happens sometimes in business, you know.

But be a grown up a bout will you, Burke?

Lowe will have to take his medicine or be proclaimed a genius soon enough…

One thing is clear after one game of this years playoff series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels…

John Lackey is a good pitcher but Josh Beckett is playing out of this world right now and the Angels figure to lose every time that Beckett takes the mound.

You did see what Beckett did to the Angels the other night right? Guys pitching out of his mind and he’s not at all fazed by the lime light of the playoffs… been there already got a World Series ring.

That being said… the Angels need Kelvim Escobar to pitch a big game tonight. He goes against Dice K Matsuzaka tonight and in game 3 the Red Sox are throwing Curt Schilling gainst the Angels Jered Weaver.

Now who knows what the youngster (Weaver) is going to do against the Boston Red Sox but I’m leaning towards he’s going to pitch an average to bad game… let’s just say I’m not expecting great things from him to put it mildly. And Curt Schilling… well unfortunately we all know what he’s capable of in big games and in big spots…

The Angels need a big game out of Kelvim Escobar tonight… Let’s hope he can deliver.

Two things were apparent last night in the Ducks loss to the Detroit Red Wings…

1. The Ducks are lacking a dynamic offensive threat. i.e. someone who can create offensive shots at the net from pretty much nothing. You know someone like Teemu Selanne…

True they signed Todd Bertuzzi to assist offensively but he’s the kind of guy that scores off of rebounds and basically sits in front of the net and waits for the puck to come to him.

He’s not going to create offensive opportunities for you on his own.

They need a game breaker because right now, they don’t have one.

2. They miss Scott Niedermayers’ ability to move the puck out of the defensive zone…

The Red Wings were taking all kinds of shots at Ilya Bryzgalov and to his credit he only gave up 2 goals in regulation and over time but the Ducks just couldn’t keep the puck out of their defensive zone last night.

Chris Pronger is a huge hulking presence in the Ducks defensive zone but the Red Wings forwards were just too quick for him and the entire Ducks defense.

Those are 2 issues they’re going to have to address if they plan on being a championship caliber team this year.

They’re a great club but in the playoffs those weaknesses are the types of things that get exposed… and they have plenty of time in the season to address those issues. And money with the apparent retirements of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne.

Chivas USA has turned the table on their once dominant counterparts here in Los Angeles.

Last night, Chivas USA dominated the Los Angeles Galaxy in pretty much every facet of the game.

Chivas USA scored 3 goals on a two-time goalie of the year in LA Galaxy Goal Keeper - Joe Cannon and was mostly due to the effortless play of the defense in front of the keeper.

The Los Angeles Galaxy came out tired and uninspired.

David Beckham, in particular, looked like he had no business being on the field and was basically immobile for the last few minutes of the game no doubt due to the 90 minutes he played the day before for England’s national team.

The LA Galaxy is basically out of the playoff hunt now and it was painfully evident last night that the Galaxy are still in need of a top-flight scoring talent to team up with David Beckham’s passes.

It’ll be interesting to see what the attendance is like at Galaxy games now that they’re really out of the playoff hunt.

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On a positive note for Chivas USA, Maykel Galindo continues to impress and scored 2 goals las night (he now has a total of 10 in his rookie campaign). The combination of Maykel Galindo and Ante Razov up front give the Chivas a formidable scoring duo that I would match up with any other in the league.

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Recently acquired Ramon Nunez played in extended minutes for the first time in last night’s match and right away you can tell that this is the kind of guy that isn’t afraid to challenge defenders and try to make things happen on the field.

Look forward to seeing his progress and to seeing what Chivas USA can do in the playoffs.

I’ve been saying all along that the Los Angeles Dodgers needed to pick up David Wells and now that they have picked him up I am guaranteeing that he WILL make the difference in either the National League West Race or the Wild Card Race.

I’m listening to Sports Radio 570 right now, specifically Fred Roggin and TJ Simers, and they both think that this move is “desperate and embarrassing.”

They’re idiots.

The LA Dodgers needed to have someone to replace Brett Tomko in the starting rotation because he was and is a joke and he never gave the Dodgers a chance to win a game when he started.

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers desperate?

Maybe. Possibly.

But they needed to do something and they did.

I think at the very least the Dodgers have more options now.

The trade deadline is August, 31 (next Friday).

Some fans may feel that DJ Houlton may deserve a shot at the starting rotation and I wouldn’t argue with that. But you still need to sign someone before the trade deadline in the event that DJ Houlton does worse then even Brett Tomko since the Dodgers have made it abundantly clear that they don’t plan on bringing up any of their young arms.

I think it’s great that David Wells hasn’t pitched in weeks.

I also think it’s great that he has a 7 game suspension to serve.

My rationale being that all of this rest should have done and will do his old arm some good.

The guy is 44 years old but if we’ve learned anything from Roger Clemens, it’s that you can still be effective at 40+ years of age when you’re only pitching a portion of the season .

My prediction: The Los Angeles Dodgers will win the National League West or the Wild Card.

Everybody’s saying that the Dodgers need to get the young guys some playoff experience and I agree.

And David Wells is going to help get you there.

And once the Dodgers make it to the playoffs, I think David Wells is going to give them a great lefty out of the bullpen.

Detractors of this trade are saying that David Wells is done.

I think he was bored in San Diego.

David Wells may be 44 years old but I can guarantee you that he still likes to party and he’s coming home to party central.
If Grady Little knows what he’s doing, he’ll place a 6-pack in David’s locker before every game.

My bad. This is Boomer.

Better make it a 12-pack.

Let the fun begin.

The Los Angeles Galaxy takes on Chivas USA in SuperClasico # 3 tonight at 7 PM (PST) and I’m looking forward to it.

David Beckham logged a full 90 minutes in England’s friendly against Germany and is listed as “questionable” for today.

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of all of this drama from David Beckham.

I think LA Galaxy fans should feel short-changed tonight if we don’t see a full 90 minutes from David Beckham.

My prediction: Chivas USA wins tonight particularly if Abel Xavier isn’t able to go for the Galaxy tonight. The LA Galaxy defense is already decimated and without Abel Xavier they’re really hurting…

At the end of the day, Chivas USA will just have too much offense for the injury plaqued defense of the Galaxy…but it should be a great match!

Yeah I know the Los Angeles Dodgers won last night but I still can’t get over the loss the previous night…

I hate to say I told you so but I told you that Brett Tomko was going to live up to his 5.80 era.

Tomko very rarely gives the Dodgers a chance to win a game and the LA Dodgers are short changing Dodger fans by keeping him in the starting rotation.

David Wells is still out there…Joe Kennedy is out there…and while either one of these guys could potentially turn out to be just as bad as Brett Tomko, I think Dodgers Brass owes it to the fans to put a starting pitcher out there who’s going to give the team a chance to win. And frankly you don’t have a chance to win when Brett Tomko is on the mound.

I’m hearing that David Wells is done and that’s the same damn thing I heard last year when they signed Greg Maddux last year.

Was he done?

David Wells isn’t done, he just needs some new scenery and a 6-pack before every game.

OK I admit it was nice to see Los Angeles Dodgers rookie pitcher Eric Stults earn the home team a much needed victory the other night in Colorado but dodgers fans that all of a sudden feel the Dodgers no longer need another arm in the starting rotation have lost whatever was left of their already deteriorating minds…

Need I remind you that in their next game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to start Brett Tomko. Brett Tomko of the 2-10 record and the astronomical 5.67 era!

As long as Brett Tomko has a spot in the rotation, GM Ned Colletti and Owner Frank McCourt have given up on the LA Dodger’s chances of winning the National League West…

In my opinion, Dodgers fans deserve a better product on the field.

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It was admirable for Brad penny to go out yesterday, pitch on 3 days rest and put together a gutsy performance to give the Dodgers a much needed victory but LA skipper Grady Little is pushing this team to it’s limits and it’s too early to be doing that.

Pitching Brad Penny on 3 days rest against the Rockies with 38 games to play?

I say Little is pushing this team too hard but I don’t blame him…

I think he sees that the Dodgers are on the verge…

They’re on the verge of blowing this season and Little is doing whatever he can to keep this team from falling part.

Point is he shouldn’t be having to work this hard. The LA Dodgers need another starter in their rotation because Tomko isn’t going to cut it and I’m not betting the season on one good night by rookie Eric Stults.

Sure you can blame this season on injuries to Jason Schmidt or Randy Wolf but these are the friggin’ Los Angeles Dodgers and when a player goes down you replace him (with someone competent). It’s that simple. Or at least that’s how it used to be before Frank McCourt showed up.

I don’t care what you think about David Beckham and his ability (or inability) to play Soccer.

It is a fact that he has improved this Los Angeles Galaxy team (and admittedly that’s not saying much) AND that he has drawn a lot of attention to Major league Soccer.

Case in point: 66,237 fans showed up in New York to watch the New York Red Bulls in a match against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

To my dismay 9 friggin’ goals were scored in an extremely entertaining match and this was also the first chance I had to see Red Bulls Star Juan Pablo Angel and he didn’t disappoint either scoring a game-winning goal with less then 3 minutes to play.

The defense obviously wasn’t there for the Galaxy and with Abel Xavier, Chris Albright and Troy Roberts already injured, the injury to Ante Jazic in the 17th minute made for an even more porous defense and the Red Bulls took advantage…

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Although David Beckham scored 2 assists he was unable to get the futbol off the ground and over the (Red Bull human) wall on 4 free kicks and I anticipate he’ll have some problems with free kicks on artificial turf…

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Carlos Pavon scored 2 goals for the Los Angeles Galaxy and finally displayed some of the talent that Galaxy fans have been desperately waiting to see.

His second goal was a fabulous diving header assisted by a corner kick by none other then David Beckham and although I haven’t been watching soccer for a long time, it’s the best goal I’ve ever seen.

Pavon has scored 41 goals in 67 games for Honduras and the LA Galaxy is going to need more of the same from him if they expect to have any chance at making the playoffs.

Although Chivas USA doesn’t have a player with the fanfare of a David Beckham, there is plenty of talent on the club to get excited about (Ante Razov, Claudio Suarez, etc.) and after Saturday’s match with Toronto FC, I’m really starting to get excited about rookie, forward Maykel Galindo.

Scoring in the 56th minute of the match on a crisp pass from mid-fielder Jesse Marsch, (which was David Beckham-esque by the way) Galindo flashed incredible speed and a powerful and accurate left foot in scoring his team leading 8th goal this season.

This guy has the speed to break away from defenders in the open field and he obviously has the ability to score in an instant.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of player the 26 year-old turns out to be after Saturday’s goal.

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Chivas USA also announced last week that they had signed former FC Dallas mid-fielder Ramon Nunez for a 2009 SuperDraft selection…

The talented Honduran had a falling out with FC Dallas and should offer Chivas USA Coach Preki some flexibility in the mid-field since he can play on either side of the mid-field or in the middle.

Nunez was a reliable scoring option while with FC Dallas, scoring 3 goals in 10 starts this year.