Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Our final match of the quarterfinal round is going to be a doozy. Matt Belisle, hottie starting rotation candidate for the Reds goes up against cult hero Bubba Crosby. Belisle has been a fan favorite at Red Hot Mama since he came up, but Crosby brought down 78% of the vote in the first round against Bronson Arroyo is the most heavily voted-in contest of the tournament so far.


Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 08/11/1976

Matt Belisle
ht: 6-3 wt: 230 dob: 06/06/1980
[poll=23]

I know we’ll hear about all this when we get our next weekly injury report here at Red Hot Mama, but the setbacks the Cubs are already suffering are just too much to ignore. The big news is that Alfonso Soriano broke his finger, of course, and will apparently be out for only five days while his magical cyborg bones stitch themselves back up. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Infielder Mark DeRosa is suffering an irregular heartbeat and had to be hospitalized. Pitcher Jose Ascanio got punched in an attempted robbery and has the bruises to prove it. Aramis “Mr. Boring” Ramirez has a sore shoulder.

But the pièce de résistance is Felix Pie’s twisted testicle. It’s the sort of injury that you know you shouldn’t laugh at but can’t stop guffawing, like the first time you saw There’s Something About Mary. I asked the Crack Technical Staff to find me a picture of the affliction, but after just a few seconds of Google searching, he refused, so we’ll just have to use our imaginations. In mine, it’s sort of like a slinky.

What do these three men have in common? If you said that all three suck, I understand. You’re probably a Cubs fan who remembers the time that Corey Patterson, Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Neifi Perez spent with the Cubs.

But no, that’s not the answer I was looking for. I’m afraid that what these three players have in common is the love and adoration of one Dusty Baker, current manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds signed Hairston and Patterson to minor league contracts, no doubt due to their shortage of young, talented infielders and outfielders. Patterson will contend for the starting center field position, which is great, because the Reds have no one up and coming to take that spot.

It’s hard not to laugh, so don’t hold it in. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is just the warm-up, though. I mean, Neifi Perez is available.

Tonight on the podcast we talk with Pat Lackey, writer of Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?, contributor at the Fanhouse, author of a chapter for the Hardball Times season preview, and all-around media darling. We talk about:

• The front-office changes the team has made this off-season and how long it will take for them to impact the team.
• The strengths and weaknesses of the Pirates going into 2008. Alas, mostly weaknesses.
• The likelihood of Jason Bay bouncing back and Adam LaRoche hitting over .100

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Don’t quit your day job.