Trivia Answers, New Question

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Four active left-handed batters have more hits than Todd Helton. Name 'em.

Ken Griffey Jr. (2749 hits, as of Monday morning)
Garret Anderson (2,469)
Johnny Damon (2395)
Jim Thome (2129)

(Helton has 2094. Bobby Abreu's on his tail at 2080. The active leader among righties is Derek Jeter with 2701, and Omar Vizquel's 2699 leads switch-hitters)

Albert Pujols now has nine consecutive 100-RBI seasons to begin his career. There are only six active major league players, besides Pujols, with nine 100-RBI seasons in their entire careers. Name 'em.

Thome, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Chipper Jones, Carlos Delgado (Junior has 8)

Pitcher A: 141 IP, 10-5, 3.69 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 125 K, 16 homers allowed in a hitter's park
Pitcher B: 150 IP, 9-9, 3.65 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 134 K, 8 homers allowed in a hitter's park
Pitcher A makes $16.5 million this season
Pitcher B makes $750,000 this season
Name 'em.

Pitcher A is A.J. Burnett, who needs to be put in timeout along with Jorge Posada
Pitcher B is Ubaldo Jimenez, who has earned the quote from another major leaguer: "If you don't know about him yet, it's your own fault."

And now, for one more trivia question, of the tennis variety:

Name the 11 American citizens who have won a Grand Slam singles title in my lifetime, which dates back to the 1987 French Open. Hint: note the American CITIZEN part.

-AJ

Manny being...A-Rod?

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This is a funny e-mail from my uncle Dennis, a diehard Yankees fan who had an interesting take on Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension.

"Ya gotta love Manny. In one action, he has:

• Taken A-Rod off the hook...
• Ruined Joe Torre's season...
• Invalidated the Red Sox World Series wins...
• Made Bud Selig look like a bigger dummy...

Now fair is fair. Let's see if Manny takes all of the scrutiny and heat that A-Rod got. I want to see it on the news 24 hours a day for a week straight. I want the talking heads to analyze if Manny is telling the truth or lying. I want people digging through his garbage and making up all sorts of wild stories. I want to see Manny on the evening news with Katie. I want to see some over-weight bitch wanna-be journalist start making up stories and putting it in a book. I want revenge and to collect my pound of flesh. Thank you Manny and enjoy your 50-game vacation."

Very entertaining, my uncle's words. And fair points, too. Very fair. Purely in the interest of playing devil's advocate - I'm not really a Yankees or Red Sox supporter, though Uncle Den would be the first to tell you about my historical disdain for the pinstripes - I would add a couple things...

• A-Rod signed a 10-year, $252 million deal. Manny did not.
• A-Rod has an interesting off-field lifestyle, like dating Madonna for instance. Manny does not.
• A-Rod plays in New York City, home to the most vile media in the world. Manny does not.
• A-Rod can realistically break the all-time home runs record, the most hallowed mark in sports. Manny cannot.
• A-Rod had the story broken by journalists, not by a pee cup or MLB testing. Manny was the opposite.
• A-Rod proceeded to hold a press conference, make bold-faced lies to the public and then had more crap come out about him in future endeavors, thus turning the media further against him. Manny hasn't done any of those things.

So just sayin'. Manny deserves every bit of doubt about his accolades - and you betcha, Red Sox fans will take crap for having that 2004 WS being potentially tainted - but let's see how this all plays out before we sic the "overweight bitch wannabe journalist" on him.

Oh, and by the way, Bud Selig will be speaking at the University of Wisconsin's commencement ceremonies next weekend. I'll definitely report the reception he gets...I'm sure a mix of cheers and boos will result, particularly in light of Manny's suspension.

-AJ