Sonny Gray and the A’s beat the Texas Rangers Saturday night, 5-1. Sonny went 6.2, giving up one earned run, on seven hits with four walks and five strikeouts in the seriously hitters friendly Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Tx. Sonny was bringin’ it 94-95 and the curve was really clicking, as usual. Would like to see him go deeper in games, but that should come as the season matriculates into August. Sonny threw 106 pitches, 66 for strikes, with 40 balls. Overall, nice performance by Sonny. The A’s hit four home runs Saturday night. They just do it all. They beat the Rangers again yesterday, 9-3, to move to 65-39 on the season, but still are only two up on the LA Angels. Angels playing good ball as well. They swept the Tigers over the weekend at home.  The A’s @ Houston tonight through Wednesday, then get a day off Thursday, before hosting the KC Royals over the weekend. Sonny on the hill Friday night at the O.Co. Coliseum vs Jeremy Guthrie of the Royals. Guthrie is 6-9 with a 4.70 ERA. In his last start against Cleveland on Saturday night, Guthrie went 5.2, gave up 10 hits, five earned,  with two walks and four K’s. The Royals won over the Indians, 7-5. He’s a righty. Sonny now 12-3 with a 2.65 ERA. He has issued 49 walks and struck out 121. Having a stellar year. Outstanding competitor on the hill. Sonny picked off Elvis Andrus at first Saturday night. He has a lightning fast move to first and he fields his position extremely well. Just having an amazing year as is his team. The Angels, after an off day today, are @ Baltimore tomorrow (Tuesday )- Thursday, then head to Tampa to face the Rays this weekend.

Mike Minor had a good afternoon on the hill for the most part yesterday and the Braves and Mike got a much needed victory over the San Diego Padres, 8-3. Mike moved to 4-6 with a 5.23 ERA, going 6.2, like Sonny, giving up eight hits, three earned, with one walk and six K’s. Good walks to strikeouts numbers. He did give up a couple of long ones, but overall battled hard, and got the job done. Mike threw 110 pitches, 70 for strikes with 40 balls. Justin Upton and Chris Johnson both had two-run doubles for the Braves, which took two of three over the weekend from the Pods.  Braves now 57-48, a game and a half behind the NL East leading Washington Nationals. The Braves do play the Padres again  today with the game on right now. Ervin Santana on the hill for the Braves. He’s 9-6 with a 3.85 ERA. He’ll face Jason Lane of the Pods, who has only pitched 4.1 innings this season and gave up a hit with no walks and four K’s. He’s usually a relief pitcher, but the Padres are going to start him.

Braves go to the LA Dodgers tomorrow (Tuesday) through Thursday, with a classic Thursday night as Julio Teheran (10-6, 2.71, 31 walks, 132 K’s) of the Braves  faces the seemingly indomitable Clayton Kershaw (12-2, 1.76 ERA,15 walks, 141 K’s) of the Dodgers. Kershaw pitched a complete game shutout over the Giants Saturday night at San Francisco, going nine, giving up three hits, no runs with one walk and seven K’s. Should be a classic. Maybe the Braves can do enough to get it done. Start time is 10:10 PM ET on SportsSouth (9:10 PM CT). Might have to stay up for that one. Mike on the hill Friday night @ San Diego and Eric Stults (3-13, 5.32). Stults took the loss yesterday against Mike. Mike now has issued 27 walks and struck out 86.  Good numbers. He has given up 16 homers. The situation with Mike is much  like the one with Dave Price, who has given up 20 long ones this season. They’re both so accurate that hitters are expecting strikes and can guess right sometimes on what pitch is going to be thrown. Still, David is all-world, and Mike had a good day yesterday, and is a very good pitcher. I’ll take their strike throwing all day. That’s where it all starts on the mound, and both of those guys have that down. Washington Nationals @ the surprising Marlins today through Wednesday, and then host the Phillies from Thursday to Sunday.The Marlins are 51-53 and very competitive. Braves could possibly get ahead this week.

Pedro Alvarez and the Pirates won yesterday, 7-5, in a much needed victory over the Colorado Rockies, after they had been crushed by the Rockies at Coors Field in Denver the first two nights of the series. Pedro was one for four, and committed his 23rd throwing error of the sesaon. He’s a really good third baseman, just having confidence issues right now with his throws to first. It was a big win for the Bucs though. They needed it. Pirates are three back of the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, which are @ 59-47. Bucs @ 55-49. St. Louis Cards in second @ 56-49. The Brewers lost to the Mets yesterday, 2-0, and the Cardinals beat the Cubs, 1-0. Pirates @ San Francisco tonight through Wednesday, then go to Arizona for a four game set beginning Thursday. The Brewers are actually @ the Rays tonight through Wednesday. The Rays could help their own cause, and the Bucs cause, if they can at least take two of three from the Brew Crew and maybe sweep’em. Dave Price on the hill Wednesday for the Rays vs. Yovani Gallardo (5-5, 3.57, 34 walks, 100 K’s) of the Brewers. David now 11-7 with a 3.08 ERA with 21 walks and a major league leading 183 strikeouts. Phenomenal. Need another epic from David on Wednesday with first pitch at 12:10 PM ET/ 11:10 AM CT. Rays need to focus on highly used, but very true cliche one game at a time to keep gaining ground. After the loss  to Boston yesterday, the Rays are seven and a half back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, and 4.5 back in the American League wild card; behind second place Toronto. They really need to keep playing well. They HAVE to. Lost a tough one to the Sox, 3-2, at Tropicana Field in Tampa yesterday. “Big Papi” hit a three run shot for the Sox. The Braves are tied with the Giants for first place in the NL wild card and the Pirates are 1.5 back.

Brandt Snedeker finished tied 25th at the RBC Canadian Open yesterday. Brandt  shot a 69 yesterday, -1, on the Par 70 Royal Montreal course. Brandt had a good tournament shooting 69-69-67-69, Thursday through Sunday, and finished six under. Tim Clark won it with eight one putts and a 30 on the back side, to shoot a 65 and claim a one shot victory over Jim Furyk. He sank a clutch 16 footer on 17 for birdie when his playing Furyk, who was one back at the time, had six feet for his birdie. Then Clark sank a six footer for par on 18, to finish -17, and win it. But I like the way Brandt played. I imagine Butch Harmon is keeping it simple in his coaching with Brandt. Harmon is a fantastic coach, and Brandt is a quick study, and already has a terrific game, so maybe this week at the World Golf Championships- Bridgestone Invitational Brandt will put it all together. Brandt now 83rd in the Fed Ex Cup Standings and 27th in the Ryder Cup Standings. Needs a good week this week at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, and next at the PGA at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Great tournament this week with a fantastic field. Next week of course is totally epic.

Luke List finished tied for 24h yesterday at the Midwest Classic in Overland, Kansas on the Web.com tour. For new readers, the Web.com tour is the Triple A of professional golf. Luke is now at No.111 on the 25 money list. The top 25 money winners automatically qualify for the PGA next year. He will play at the Stonebrae Classic in Hayward, Caly, this week. Luke needs a good week this week to gain a lot of ground. Luke shot 70-66-69-71, to finish -8 on the Par 71. Zack Sucher, who played at the University of Alabama @Birmingham, shot -19 to win it. Wow, you’ve got to go off to win these things. You do on the big tour as well. Doesn’t get any easier that’s for sure. Jon Curran is now No.7 on the 25 after missing the cut this past weekend. He is not playing this week. Jon’s been struggling lately, so maybe a week off with practice will help him gain his earlier season form when he won in Brazil. There will be four more regular season tournaments  on the tour, which will give Luke four more chances to get in the 25 with Jon, and at least get in the top 75 to make the Web.com playoffs which start August 28th @ the Hotel Fitness Championship in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Luke playing well right now though. This could be his week at the Stonebrae.

Brandt will play this weekend at the Bridgestone at the Firestone Course, then next week, of course, at the PGA, then the following week at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. Brandt won the Wyndham n 2007, his rookie year, a year  in which he was the rookie of the year on tour. He always plays well there. I expect a good three weeks from Brandt as he postures himself for the Fed Ex Playoffs and the Ryder Cup, and starts winning himself some tourneys!

Nothing on that four-star running back who visited this weekend Ke’Shawn Vaughn. 247 sports has crystal balled him to Vanderbilt. Seven writers on their staff did, so hopefully Ke’Shawn pops soon.  Looks like a special running back. Maybe we made a good impression with that five star defensive end, Byron Cowart, too. He’s the number one player in the country by Rivals.com and the No. 3 player by 247. Might as well get’em both.

Also, the Chicago Bears are crankin in camp right now. Expect a big year for Jay and the Bears with the addition of some key players on defense, particularly all-world defensive end Jared Allen. Jared has brutalized the Bears offense for years as a Minnesota Vikings and is a constant All-Pro. Incredible player. Maybe he and some others can give defensive coordinator Mel Tucker what he needs to have a big season on defense. The offense will be exceptional. Tucker’s defense was destroyed by injuries last year. We’ve beefed back up the defense and have guys back healthy. I’ll be interested to watch our linebackers this August and see how they develop. We’ll have the awesome Lance Briggs back, but some other guys need to step it up. Jay, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, Matellus Bennett, Matt Forte and a strong o line will have the offense clicking under the terrific play calling of coach Marc Trestman. Looking for a big year from the Monsters of the Midway.

Preseason opens a week from Friday, August 8th, @ 8 PM ET/7 CT @ Soldier Field, as the Bears host Jordan Matthews and the high flying Philadelphia Eagles. TV only in Chicago for this one, but I have a package I bought on my computer that allows me to watch all the preseason games, so will have a report. Would love to see JMatt have an excellent game for the Eagles. Have mixed emotions about this one. Bears have been my team for a while, but JMatt is one of my all time favorites along with Jay. I’ll pull for the Bears, but hope JMatt has a huge game and the Eagles have an excellent season. The Bears open the season Sunday, Sept. 7th,  @ home against the Buffalo Bills @ 1 PM ET/noon CT on FOX.

David Price has become the Vincent Van Gogh of pitching in Major League baseball. Like the beautiful Impressionist artist, David paints a masterpiece every time out. The latest in his epic collection this season was against the stellar Jon Lester, David “Big Papi” Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and the Boston Red Sox last night.

Before 23,136 fans at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, who sounded like 50,000–it was electric in the Trop, David went eight innings, gave up eight hits to a pretty good hitting Red Sox team, allowed three earned runs, with no walks and 1o strikeouts. It wasn’t as totally dominating as he has been, but it was pretty darn good work of art by the maestro. David threw 114 pitches, 84 for strikes with 30 balls. Almost a 3:1 strike-ball ratio, which is outstanding; 2:1 is very good. Dave and the Rays beat the Sox, 6-4, behind stellar pitching and a key three-run double by Evan “Longo” Longoria in the bottom of the seventh. Longo has been struggling with the bat this year, only hitting .259 with his homers and RBIs down from the last several years, but I’m hoping that hit could really spark the heart and soul of the team, who along with David, are the Rays spiritual leaders. Despite the fact that Longo hasn’t hit like he usually does, he has played spectacular defense and has literally won games for us during this blazing hot stretch we’ve had with his incredible defense at third base.

David moved to 11-7 on the season and now has a 3.08 ERA. In his last six starts, David is 6-0 with a 1.31 ERA. Again, the strikeouts to walks numbers are off the charts. David has walked 21 and struck out 183 batters. That’s an 8.7:1 strikeout to walk ratio, which is Hall of Fame good. David has everything clicking pretty well last night. He gave up a homer to Shane Victorino in the top of the second and Big Papi singled home a run against him, but David  battled and was dominant for a lot of the game. His fastball was 93-94, his curve was pretty special, and his cut fastball was outstanding. For new readers, his cut fastball moves in on right handers and away from left handers. Dave’s not only got great stuff, he has great location of his pitches. The hitters just can’t get good wood on his pitches if they can even hit them at all. He’s unhittable at times.

For those of you who are just starting to read the blog, David was the first player selected in the draft in 2007 out of Vanderbilt University,  and had led our team to the SEC championship that year. We had the best team in the country that year, in my opinion, but, as can happen in the NCAA tournament in both baseball and basketball, we met up with a red hot Michigan team, which beat us in the NCAA regionals in Nashville. On that team we had David, Pedro Alvarez (third pick overall in the 2008 draft by the Pirates and starts for the Pirates), Mike Minor (Atlanta Braves starter right now) and Ryan Flaherty (started for the Orioles last night at third base). It was a special team. Maybe our most talented under Corbs, though I’m not going to take anything away from this “Dreams do come true!” team this season, which captured VU’s first ever national championship in a major sport. This group was totally special this year; they had hearts of champions, and were the national champions beating an outstanding Virginia team to win it all. Will never take anything away from this special group, but that 2007 group was pretty spectacular too.

Anyway, David is all time good right now. He’s looking like Sandy Koufax. For the younger readers, maybe the greatest left hander of all time, Koufax pitched in the 60’s for the LA Dodgers. Steve Carlton of the Phillies belongs on that list of leftys too. Carlton is a Hall of Famer along with Koufax. Carlton pitched in the 70’s. I’ll put David and the amazing Clayton Kershaw in that company. Kershaw, the 26-year old pitcher of the Dodgers, is Hall of Fame, world series type of dominant pitcher like David. The pitching this year is all time good stuff.

David and the Rays have now won eight in a row and 19 of their last 24 to move 7.5 back of the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, and 4.5 back of the Yankees for the second wild card spot in the American League. David’s not getting traded before the deadline if  the Rays can keep this up. The trading deadline for non-waiver players, meaning guys you can just trade straight up without any issues, is July 31st. David wants to be a Ray and the Rays want David to remain a Ray this season. I’m sure of that. If we can keep playing like this, David is not going anywhere. It’s just fun watching this team play. They play exciting baseball. They’re pitching superbly, they’re hitting extremely well, though they need  to hit a little better with runners in scoring position, and they’re playing stellar defense. They’re just playing Tampa Bay Rays baseball which we’ve seen over the last six seasons.  I picked the Rays to win the World Series this year over the St. Louis Cardinals, so hoping that prediction comes to fruition. More than that, I’m a passionate David Price/ Rays fan, so that, on top of my prediction, are the reasons for these Rays’ soliloquies. Thanks for bearing with me.

Sonny Gray (VU, 2011, World Series team) on the hill tonight for the Oakland A’s against the Texas Rangers.The A’s actually lost last night to the Rangers, 4-1. They fell to a paltry 63-39. They’re pretty special. Amazingly, they are only two games ahead of the strong Los Angeles Angels in the AL West. The Angels  are at 61-41. So there is a lot of work left for this outstanding baseball team. Right now, I’d say the A’s and the Rays are the best two teams in baseball. It makes sense. Their two general managers, Billy Beane of Oakland and Andrew Friedman of the Rays (Executive Vice President), are the best in the business. Oakland is 25th out of 30 teams in team payroll for this season at $83.4 million, while the Rays are 28th @ $77.1 million. To put that in perspective, the LA Dodgers are the highest payroll team at $235.3  million, while the Yankees are second @ $203.8  million. That’s a huge disparity. You’ve got to be smart to have a low payroll– relatively speaking– and win like the A’s and the Rays do. You’ve got to balance the budget, being constantly aware of salaries and contracts, and you’ve got to be a supreme talent evaluator. It’s a tough job. There’s been a book written about Beane and his excellence, Moneyball, by the great Michael Lewis, and Friedman is right there with Beane in excellence. Friedman came from Wall Street with Rays owner Stu Sternberg, where both were highly successful investors. It’s a pretty amazing story in Tampa. The Miami Marlins and Houston Astros are 29th and 30th in payroll at $47 and $44 million, and both have struggled, though they’ve been pretty competitive this season actually, particularly the Marlins-ask the Braves– and Houston is building. It’s tough in these small market organizations to win with no salary cap in baseball, which allows teams like the Dodgers and Yankees, with their seemingly unlimited wealth, to buy a World Series title. So the savvy of guys like Beane and Friedman who have their teams in the thick of the the World Series hunt, is phenomenal really. Neal Huntington of the Pittsburgh Pirates is another who does a sensational job. The Pirates are 27th in payroll at $78 million and are three games back of first in the NL Central after making the playoffs last season. He’s really good too.

OK, back to Sonny. Sonny is 11-3 with a 2.72 ERA, with 45 walks and 116 strikeouts. Sonny’s  been superb this season. Sonny’s curve ball is as good as anybody’s in baseball along with Clayton Kershaw, and his fastball is clocking at 94-95. Sonny’ll face Nick Tepesch of the Rangers tonight. Tepesch is 3-6 with a 4.87 ERA. Mike Minor (VU ’09) on the hill for the Braves tomorrow night against Eric Stults of the Padres. Mike now 3-6 with a 5.32 ERA with 26 walks and 80 strikeouts. He needs a good outing tomorrow night. Stults is 3-12 with a 5.00 ERA. The Braves lost to the Padres last night, 5-2. The Braves are now 55-48, 2.5 back of the Washington Nationals. The Rays are now 50-53. A month and a half ago, they were 18 games below .500 and written off.

Pedro Alvarez is day to day with a knee injury right now for the Pirates. The Bucs lost to the Colorado Rockies last night, 8-1. Pedro could be available tonight. The Pirates are 54-48, three back of the National League Central leading Milwaukee Brewers, which are at 58-46. The Cardinals are tied with the Bucs in second @ 54-48.

Interesting visitor on campus this weekend for football. 5.7 three star by Rivals and 92 four-star running back by 247 Ke’Shawn Vaughn (2015) from Pearl-Cohn High School in Nashville is on campus today. For those unfamiliar with the star system in recruiting rankings, 4-stars are potential first round NFL draft picks when they come out for the draft. Their talent is that superior.  Ke’Shawn is 5’10”, 199 and has offers from Kentucky, Purdue, Illinois and Louisville among others. He is outstanding. Watched film of Ke’Shawn this morning. When he gets past the first line of defense, he’s gone. Beautiful running back. Looks like a 4.45, 40 guy . He’s tough too. I watched him run into the middle, get caught up in a logjam of about six tacklers, break out of it  and take it to the house 60 yards. He’s totally special. Saw run after run of long distance, take it to the house- TDs. It was incredible really. Chris Smith of 247 sports has crystal balled Ke’Shawn 100% to VU. Ke’Shawn’s  commit could be coming this weekend or early next week. Would be huge! Also, the number one player in the country, according to Rivals, for 2015, defensive end Byron Cowart, is on campus today as well. He’s got everybody after him. Florida, Oregon, Auburn and Alabama are after Byron hard, so it’ll be tough, but we have him on campus, so who knows? It could be a longshot, but we should always shoot for the stars. Corbs has proven we  can do it in baseball, our previous guy who is in the same state as Pedro now, did well with recruiting in football, and Kevin has certainly recruited well in basketball. So we just need to go for it. Derek is such a great person, that players should gravitate to and want to come to VU, work under a terrific coaching staff, get a world class education, and make incredible friends for life. Derek runs a class outfit; maybe Byron will see that, and we’ll pull the upset. As Derek says, we’re not educating you for 4 years, we’re educating you for 40 years. Committed and trained.

Brandt -5 overall and -3 today through 13 holes at the RBC Canadian Open at Royal Montreal Golf Club. B has four birdies and a bogey today. Sounds like the putter is in good shape. I watched B yesterday afternoon and he was pretty good overall. Must be putting it together today. Brandt birdied No.’s  two, three and four, all par fours, and No.6, a par five. Jim Furyk and Tim Petrovic are leading at -10. Furyk and Petro have not teed off yet. Looks like the Harmon effect is coming together for B. That was a very smart decision for Brandt to move to Butch Harmon as his coach. It was tough because he was close to Todd Anderson, but Brandt made a tough call and it’s going to work out well for him.

Luke List is -6, seven back of leader Zack Sucher, who is -13 at the Midwest Classic on the Nicklaus Course in Overland, Kansas. Luke tees off at 2:10 PM ET/1:10 PM CT today. Luke averaging 327 off the tee. The average for the tournament is 298. Luke’s large. His driving accuracy and putting, which are keys to Luke’s success, are at 60.71 (driving accuracy) and 1.625 putts per hole average. The tournament driving accuracy average is 66% and the putting average is 1.759. So his accuracy is better and his putting is good. Yesterday, in round two, Luke had eight birdies, one eagle, on the par five third hole, a bogey and one costly triple bogey on the par three fifth. If Luke can play like he did for most of the day yesterday and just avoid those big numbers, he can really do well this week.

Luke at No.117 on the 25 list. He needs a good week this week, but he’s just getting better and better. Jon Curran, who is no.5 on the 25, did not make the cut. Jon needs to get his game going again. But both players play every week. They are dedicated to making it onto the PGA tour. There are four regular season tournaments left before the Web.com playoffs start pitting the top 75 players on the Web.com tour and numbers 126-200 on the PGA tour competing for 25 spots on the PGA tour next year. There are 50 spots available, but the 25 top money winners on the Web.com tour at the end of the regular season are automatically in. So it’s basically 225 players (probably more like 250, there are some exemptions that get players in the playoffs) competing for 25 spots on the tour. Luke really needs to excel this weekend and in the upcoming weeks. He is playing next week in the Stonebrae Classic in Hayward, California ,which he should. He needs to play every tournament.  Jon is taking the week off. At number five on the 25, Jon is basically in, but I’d like to see him play the last three events before the four tournament playoff begins. The 25 top money winners on the Web.com tour will play in the playoffs to get seeded for next year’s events on the PGA tour. The top guys in the playoffs get priority in the events next season. Not the majors, but the regular events. The 25 pretty much get to play in every regular season event. They would have to win this next season, which begins in October, to qualify for a major, the Masters being the first in April.

Will be in touch with any commit news, Sonny, Mike, Pedro, and Flaherty intel.

Where to begin with these incredible things going on for Vanderbilt athletes. Very exciting times. Will start with baseball, then roundball, football and golf.

David Price just keeps on truckin. Dave led his Rays to a 5-1 victory over the Twins Saturday night at Target Field in Minneapolis by going 8.0 innings, giving up only four hits, no runs, with zero walks and nine K’s. It was another beauty by the best pitcher in the big leagues, though I know the Clayton Kershaw advocates would have a beef with that. He’s exceptional too. Will post Kershaw’s numbers after focusing on Dave.

David moved to 10-7 on the season, has won his last five, going 8.1 innings vs. the Bucs (a 5-1 victory), 7.0 @ the Yankees (a 2-1 victory), 8.2 @ Detroit (a 7-3 victory against some serious bats), 8.0 against Toronto (a 3-0 victory against some more bats) and the Minnesota game this past Saturday night. Dave’s numbers are out the roof. His ERA is 3.06 now and it was over 4.50 about a month and a half ago. His ERA the last five games is around 0.50. Astounding really. He has given up 19 homers in 155 innings, but none in his last two starts. DP has given up 141 hits in 155.2 innings, and the most amazing stat of all, he has walked only 21 and struck out 173. This is Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson and Clayton Kershaw stuff. Kershaw is in that company as well. Unreal. He leads the big leagues in strikeouts. If the Rays will just keep him; that’s the $64,000 question everybody in baseball is asking.

The key suitors right now are the Cardinals, the Dodgers and the Mariners. If you put David on the Cardinals or the Dodgers, you have the instant World Series favorite, as the Cardinals have the awesome Adam Wainwright (12-4 with a major league leading 1.83 ERA, 27 walks, 115 K’s) and a good team around Wainwright with pitching, defense and pretty good hitting. If David were to go to the Dodgers, he would join Kershaw (11-2, 1.92 ERA, 14 walks, 134 K’s), and their high-priced, talented team ($235 million,  tops in the majors; Yankees second @ $203 m). Both those teams would be favorites to win it all. The Cards are a half game back of the Brewers in the NL Central. Cards at 54-45. The Dodgers are tied with the Giants for the lead in the NL west @ 56-45.  The Dodgers have three, 11 game winners on the mound in Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu, who beat the Bucs last night, 5-2 @ PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

The Mariners would be interesting, too, as Dave would join the great King Felix Hernandez, and a team that is 53-46 and 8.5 back of the AL west leading Oakland A’s,  an incredible team assembled by the great Moneyball general manager Billy Beane. KIng Felix is third in the big leagues in ERA @ 2.02, he’s 11-2 and has walked only 29 and struck out 163. He’s something else too. The Rays actually face Wainwright and the Cards tonight in St. Louis with the young talented Jake Odorizzi going for the  Rays.

But this is not a done deal by any means. Personally, I want David to remain a Ray as long as the Rays have a shot at the division or the wild card. They just swept the Twins and have now won five straight. They’re 47-53, eight back of AL East leader  Baltimore, which won last night over the Angels, 4-2, on two Adam Jones long ones, and they are only 6,5 games back of Seattle for the second wild card spot. So Executive Vice President Andrew Friedman and principal owner Stu Sternberg are probably going to wait this out longer. Friedman and Sternberg want to win it all in Tampa and if they see they still have a shot in the next week, they hopefully will keep DP a Ray for the rest of the year. It’s really a day to day thing for Dave and the Rays right now as the non-waiver trade deadline approaches July 31. I would love to see Dave as a Cardinal if he’s not a Ray. I like their organization. Dave would fit in well with a solid group of guys and a solid organization. But if the Rays are still in it as next week unfolds, Friedman and Sternberg may want to keep him and make that run. I picked the Rays over the Cards in the World Series on my regular blog the day the season started , so I’m hopeful Dave will remain a Ray. Pull for Dave either way though. Dave faces another stellar guy Friday night @ home in the Trop as Jon Lester and the Red Sox come to town. The Red Sox have won seven of eight and are looking good again. Lester is 4-0 over his last seven starts with an 0.85 ERA with 47 K’s and eight walks in 52 2/3 innings. He’s 10-7 overall with a 2.50 ERA with 31 walks and 142 K’s. The pitching is something else this year. So that’ll be huge Friday night.

First, though, the Rays need to get it done in St. Louis as they play the Cards tonight and tomorrow night. The Rays will throw Alex Cobb, a young stud against Lance Lynn (11-6, 3.13 ERA) tomorrow night. Odorizzi is 5-8 with a 4.01 ERA, but is 24, and has shown flashes of brilliance this season. I believe in him. Cobb, who has been hurt some this year, is 5-6 with a 4.08 ERA, but he’s a very good young pitcher at 26 years old. Alex will bring it tomorrow night. So a big week for the Rays and Dave with the Cards tonight and tomorrow night, an off day Thursday, and the Sox in Tampa for the weekend. Curt Casali (2011 VU College World Series team) was called up by the Rays Friday from Triple A Durham and played Friday night and Sunday. Curt is going to get a shot with an injury to one of the Rays’ starting catchers. He was one-for-nine at the plate with some strikeouts, but hit  a single to left in his first plate appearance, and hit some balls hard that just missed being doubles. Curt did an incredible job behind the plate, calling an excellent game, blocking ball after ball, and playing very solid defense. Curt has a good future in pro baseball. Would love for him to stick with the Rays. Jose Molina, one of the co-starters along with Ryan Hanigan– who is hurt–is 39, so he’s close to calling it a career. So Curt could be with the Rays to stay. If not this year, next.

Sonny is also on fire. He went 6 2/3 vs the O’s Sunday, giving up two hits, two runs, with only one earned, walked two and struck out 9. Sonny won the game, 10-1,  and is now 11-2 with a 2.72 ERA. He has walked 45 and K’d 116. His fastball is coming in @ 94-95 with great movement and location, and his curveball is as good as there is in baseball. Maybe not quite as good as Kershaw’s yet, but very, very close. It’s dynamite. Dave was bringing it 96 at times on Saturday night for the Rays. He has four out pitches. Sonny has four as well; his high velocity fastball, his slider, his change-up and his electric curve. Dave uses his high velocity fastball located exceptionally well, his cut fastball, or cutter, which moves in on right handers and away from leftys, his curve, which is getting better and better every outing, and his change-up, which is becoming a pretty effective pitch for him. Sonny and Dave have electric stuff. Sonny pitches Saturday night @ Texas. He’ll be facing Rangers’ right hander Miles Mikolas (1-2, 7.48 ERA). The Rangers are really struggling at 40-59, but they have been besieged by injuries. Texas manager Ron Washington’s seat may be pretty hot right now. It might be kind of unfair, but unfortunately,  that’s life in the big leagues. Winning is paramount for the owner, the general manager, and the fans. The A’s are excellent @ 61-37, but in the tightly contested AL West, they are only two ahead of the LA Angels which are 59-39 after last night’s loss to the O’s. The Mariners are good too @ 53-46, but they’re still 8.5 back of the amazing A’s. The A’s can do it all. If they can avoid any major injuries, this could be their year. I picked the Rays to beat them in the AL championship series.

Mike Minor is on the hill tonight for the Braves @ home vs the Marlins at the Ted. Mike is 3-5 with a 4.86 ERA with 24 walks and 79 K’s. He needs a good outing. He won his last start, 11-6, over the Cubs, giving up 11 hits, six earned runs with one walk and five K’s. No home runs though, and Mike actually went yard himself. It was a beautiful stroke that left the park. I still believe in Mike. He’ll get it together. The Braves have major problems with the Miami Marlins for some reason. They lost last night, 3-1, in 10. Mike will need to be a stopper tonight. He’ll face Jacob Turner, a righty, who is 2-6 with a 6.22 ERA, so Mike and the Braves have an opportunity to turn things around tonight. The Braves are 54-45 and one game back of the Nationals. They’re playing well. They  play the Marlins tonight, tomorrow night and Thursday night, then host the San Diego Padres this weekend. The Braves really need to figure out how to beat the Marlins.

Pedro and the Bucs are doing pretty well. They did lose to the Dodgers last night, but swept the Rockies over the weekend. Pedro hitting OK average-wise at .237, not great,  with 15 homers and 47 rib-eyes (as Joe Maddon calls them), but would love to see him get on a tear, as I’m sure manager Clint Hurdle and his Pirate teammates would. Pedro needs to get better on his throws to first also. It’s a little bit of a confidence issue for him right now. He’s got a cannon and is a good defensive player and great athlete, so he’ll get through it. Bucs @ 52-47, 2.5 back of the Brewers and two back of Cards. Brewers @ 55-45.

Ryan Flaherty got a start at second on Sunday for the O’s. Ryan went 0-for-4 against Sonny and the A’s and their bullpen, but hit it hard. He just needs more opportunities. I said I was going to go off on Buck Showalter a couple of weeks ago for not playing Ryan, but, like Andrew Friedman, I’m going to see how things develop. Ryan moved over to short late in the game and made a nice play to throw out a runner at first. The guy who is starting ahead of Ryan at second is Jonathan Schoop, who is hitting a sparkling .216. He was 0-for-3 last night with a K. How much more do you need Showalter to decide you need to give Ryan a real shot at second? Don’t get me started. Ryan needs a shot!

Also, Drew Verhagen (VU 2012) started for the Tigers last Saturday against Cleveland. Drew did well for his first start. The 25-year older went five, gave up five hits, three earned with three walks and four K’s. Drew got through the first four innings well before giving up three runs in the fifth, as the Tigers lost 6-2. Drew was a spot starter as one of their starters, Anibal Sanchez, has been hurt. Not sure when he’ll get another opportunity, as Sanchez is back, but he showed promise. He’s not in the rotation now according to the ESPN schedule.

As far as our present team goes, we lost all our left handed pitching commitments for 2014 to the pros, which hurts a little, but we’ve still got some solid leftys in Ben Bowden and John “Kilo” Kilichowski for next year. We still have a solid 2014 class coming in. We lost four guys to the majors out of the ’14 class. Baseball America will have their rankings for ’14 out in the fall. Perfect Game has us at number two in their rankings for ’14. The ’15 class is rated numero uno by Perfect Game. Best class in the country. With the success we’ve had and are having, we’re going to get the best players in the country coming to us, and we may inevitably lose some. But we’ve got some other leftys on the roster right now. And we’ve got Carson and Walker coming back next year for our weekend rotation. Will need to develop some other starters and our bullpen, but there are arms all over the place on this baseball team. Sorry we didn’t get any leftys in this class, but there are some others on the team who will develop. With Dansby moving over to short as Vinnie Conde signed with the Yankees, either Ro or Tyler Campbell will move to second. Would love to see Ro there and Tyler at third. Not sure what’s going on with Xavier Turner as far as his status goes, but will try to find something out. But I love an infield of Zander Wiel at first, Ro at second, Dans at short and Tyler at third. We’ll have an awesome outfield with Bryan Reynolds in left, Johnny Norwood in center and the awesome Rhett Wiseman in right. There is awesome starting talent and there is high quality depth. I look at guys like Zander, Rhett, Johnny and Reynolds to hit more homers next season. I expect that will happen. There will be a new ball in play in college baseball, the minor league ball will be used, and it is expected to have a lot more carry than the ball that has been used lately. Should help our guys who are already powerful enough to hit it out to begin with. Our pitching should keep the opposing batters in the park as well. We’ve got a shot to go the distance again, but as Corbs says, let’s just get better every day. It’s the process that counts. The results will come. Pretty fired up about this group. Tony Kemp is now in double A for the Astros. The Astros have a stud second baseman, All-Star Jose’ Altuve, but Tony is hitting .307 for the Corpus Christi Hooks and playing second base. Tony is so versatile, the Astros may want to put him in the outfield at the end of this year, and he could be a starter next year.

Basketball looks very exciting for next year and the future. Dai-Jon is on the roster. Hopefully, Dai-Jon kept his act together and he’ll be playing on our ’14-15 team. He was awesome at the end of last season and would hate to see him mess up a promising senior season. Not sure about Kedren. Kevin has made it sound like Kedren and Dai-Jon will both be back. I hope so. They would make this team instantly special. With Damian Jones (potential All-American, 6’10”, 240)  and Luke Kornet (7″0″, 220)  manning the middle along with hopefully a healthy Josh Henderson (6’11”, 245), the highly athletic James Siakam (6’7″, 220)  and Shelby Moats (6’8″, 225) and the scrappy Nathan Watkins (6’5″, 215) , and a highly talented freshman class with two four-stars and three high three-stars coming in, this team could be terrific. And I can’t forget the awesome Carter Josephs. Carter is such an awesome team player. He came in last year when Kyle struggled some at point guard and did an excellent shot. Carter is a tremendous student, exceptionally smart, and a very good assist guy who never turns the ball over. If he can develop a shot, Carter can make an impact this season. If Kedren isn’t back, feel pretty good about Carter and the freshmen.

This season, if Kedren and Dai-Jon are back, and Josh is healthy, could be special. I told a friend of mine we could be a second weekend tournament team if things shake out right for these players who are trying to make it back. And you never know from there is you get in the Sweet 16. Heck, you never know once you get in the tournament. We’ll have a really good team. We might be pretty good without Kedren and Dai-Jo, but would love to have them back if they acted right.

And the future looks incredibly bright. I love our new assistants, Adam Cohen and Derrick Jones. Derrick is in his very early 30’s and Cohen his late 20’s. They’re young hungry, and ready to take this team to new heights with Kevin and the cagey veteran coach, Tom Richardson. Adam is from Harvard where he worked under the highly successful Tommy Amaker, and Derrick just finished work at La. Tech, where he was part of a program that won 27 games last year, though they didn’t make the tournament. But that’s very good at La. Tech. Derrick specializes in big men, so he’ll be good for Damian, Luke, Josh and our other guys. Both look to me to be stellar recruiters who will work tirelessly for Kevin to put this program at an elite level. Dan Cage is our director of basketball operations and Julian Terrell is our video coordinator. Excellent players for us, Julian in 2005 and Dan in 2007. Julian was a very good big man and Dan was a sharpshooter on our special 2007 team that was within a Georgetown walk of going to the Elite Eight. Great group Kevin has in place.

Four of our five  freshmen, Wade Baldwin (6’3″, 185, four- star), Matthew Fisher-Davis (6’5″, 175, high  three-star), Riley LeChance ( 6’2″, 170, high three-star) and Shelton Mitchell (6’3″, 185 four-star) can all light it up from outside. Excellent shooters. They’re great kids apparently too, who want to be great. They’re very athletic, physical players too who will do the lunch pale work of defense and rebounding along with their offensive prowess. We can really get some rebounding out of Fisher-Davis, Baldwin and Mitchell, which will help Damian, Luke, Josh and the other guys inside. Our fifth freshman, Jeff Roberson, is a solid three-star who is 6’6″, 210 and is a physical/athletic guy who can score. We already have two commits for 2o15 in sharpshooter Camron Justice (6’2″, 175 high three-star) and four-star small forward Joseph Toye (6’7″, 200). We also have transfer Nolan Cressler from Cornell on the team. Nolan will sit out this year and have two years of eligibility left. Cressler is a shooting guard who lit it up for Cornell last year. He will be a key member of our 2015-16 season. He was a 40 percent three point shooter for Cornell last year and he played a lot of minutes and took a lot of threes. That’s exciting for 2015-16. Our future is unlimited with these guys coming in. This year’s team, with Dai-jon and Kede back, could be really special. We’re in it for some other guys in ’15 as well, some bigger players.

Football moving along well. Wide receiver and qb will be the positions of keen interest this summer. Defense, to me, should be as good as anybody in the SEC East,  if the players can get down Derek and Coach David Kotulski’s system. I think they will and we’ll be a physical, playmaking unit on D. We could be top four in the SEC along with Alabama, Florida and Auburn. It’ll be a day-by-day process on our starting quarterback when practice commences  Aug.1. Very exciting possibilities there. I like our running backs, tight ends and love our offensive line. We’ll be strong up front on both sides of the ball. Recruiting going very well. There are some guys who are closer to pulling the trigger for us. Some very good players. Derek is getting good players who are high character kids. Can’t wait for the season opener against Temple on Aug. 28th @ 9:15 PM ET/8:15 CT on the SEC Network. Temple is pretty good. I watched some of their spring game and they have some talent and they’re physical. This will be a major test for us. We need to be ready or this team could knock us off. They’re pretty solid.

Brandt had an OK British Open, finishing three over, T-58. He will be defending his title at the RBC Canadian Open this week, He is 86th on the Fed Ex Cup rankings and 28th on the Ryder Cup list. He needs to turn it up beginning this weekend. He’ll have this week, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational next week, then the PGA to get back to where we’re used to seeing Brandt. Brandt changed coaches going to Butch Harmon from Todd Anderson. That had to be an adjustment last week. Butch Harmon, to me, is the best coach in golf, so Brandt made a very savvy move. Harmon’s tutored a lot of great ones. He has Phil now and Rickie Fowler among others, and he’s done a stellar job with Rickie as Rickie finished top 10 at the Masters, second at the U.S. Open, and second at the Open last weekend. So the future looks bright for a tremendous player in Brandt who is still trying to put it together this season. Brandt is 68th in driving accuracy, which has been one of his strong suits over the past couple of years along with his putting. And he is 152 in greens in regulation. His strokes gained putting is 23rd, so that’s still pretty good, but he just needs to solidify his game. That could very well happen this weekend.

Jon Curran is fifth on the 25 money list on the Web.com tour, and if he makes some more cuts, he will be on the PGA tour. He may already be solidly in the 25 and assured of a PGA card. Luke List is 117 on the money list, but he’s moved up from 139 after finishing tied for 20th at the Albertson’s Boise Open last weekend. Luke shot -14.The winner, Steve Wheatcroft,  shot -24 and won in a playoff. These guys just go off. If Luke can get a win this season, and there a good number of tournaments left, he’s right there in the 25 that qualifies automatically for the PGA. But if he can’t make the 25, he needs to get in the  top 75 of the money list, so he can make the Web.com playoffs, which is a series of four tournaments in September consisting of the top 75 Web.com players and numbers 126-200 on the Fed Ex list of the PGA tour. The 25 top money winners on the Web.com tour automatically qualify for the PGA tour, so the four tournaments are for placement for them next year on the PGA tour events. So there will be 25 spots available for PGA membership among the rest of the players. Like what Luke is doing now, so he’s got a good shot. Luke and Jon both in the Midwest Classic this weekend at the Nicklaus Golf Club in Overland Park, Kansas. Luke leading the tour in driving distance at 317. This is pretty amazing. Luke’s longest drive is 362 yards, which is only tied for 75th as the longest drive on the Web.com  tour. Brad Schneider hit the longest one at 396.That’s incredible.

Will check in later in the week. Thanks.

Four-star linebacker Josh Smith out of Murfreesboro, Tn. has committed to Vanderbilt! This is a huge pickup. Josh, a 5.8 four-star by Rivals and a 91 four-star by 247, picked us over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, State, Penn State  and that school in the eastern part of the state among many others. Josh’s older brother, Emanuel, is a four-star signee who is an incoming freshman defensive back-cornerback. Watched film on Josh and loved it. Josh closes deals on tackles. He hits you, you’re going down. He’s 6’4″, 219, and I saw him on film playing mainly in the middle; but Josh said that Derek has told him he’ll play inside and outside linebacker in our 3-4 defense. Outstanding pickup here.