Alex Rodriguez is making headlines in New York for all the wrong reasons. This time he can thank Jose Canseco.

The NFL owners, head coaches, and Commissioner Roger Goodell met behind closed doors Tuesday for a “special privileged session” that was closed to all others.  The topic of discussion was the integrity of the game, and the primary speaker was Goodell.  However, after wrapping up his prepared remarks, Goodell turned the floor over to Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his head coach, Bill Belichick.  Kraft issued an unsolicited, heartfelt apology for the taping scandal that has marred the Patriots and hung over the Super Bowl like a cloud of smog.  Kraft’s remarks were not revealed by any of the other owners, but he was described as embarrassed that his team, and his family name have been sullied by the scandal.  In addition, he vowed that the Patriots would never again be involved in anything like that, as long as his family owns the team.  Kraft’s remarks were followed by an explanation of just what happened by Belichick.  He spoke at length about how the scandal came to pass, what was behind his thought process in ordering the taping in the first place, and then gave another round of profuse apologies to Kraft, the Commissioner, and the other teams in the league.  It marked the first time that Belichick has spoken at length about his role, and his thought process in ordering the taping.  All concerned are hoping this is the end of the matter, and many owners and coaches expressed a desire to move forward, leaving the whole matter behind.  I say, it’s about time!

The topic of Matt Walsh, and the alleged evidence he claims to have that will supposedly re-ignite the scandal, also came up at the meeting.  Though there were no public remarks from the Commissioner, or anyone else about Walsh, it sure seems as though nobody believes that he has anything that will make a difference to anyone, least of all the Patriots.  Belichick did mention that four investigators from the Commissioner’s office descended on Patriots headquarters, and conducted a thorough investigation into the taping and Walsh’s claims.  Belichick says he answered, “several sets of questions, asked several different ways, by several different people”, and that no stone was left unturned. 

It’s high time this thing went away.  The Patriots broke the rules and admitted it.  They have more than paid the price for their actions.  It cost the coach and the team a ton of money and bad publicity, and they also lost an important first round draft pick.  They clearly did not benefit from anything that was on the tapes, and, if anything, the punishment has far outweighed the crime.  Let this story die already.  It should have died a long time ago.

Jose Canseco is out on the road promoting his new book, “Vindicated”, in which he accused Alex Rodriguez of pursuing his, now, ex-wife.  At a book signing in the NY area yesterday, he apparently took that a step further, saying that he is pretty sure that A-Rod did, in fact, “have an affair “with her.  That statement ended up in a story in yesterday’s New York Post, which ran the headline; “ALEX TAGGED MY EX-WIFE: JOSE.”

I’ll tell ya, that Jose guy, he’s got class.  Sheeesh

Turning now to baseball – it’s really cool to finally have box scores to look at in the morning newspaper.  They are the best source of baseball information, and fantasy baseball information, anywhere.  So let us take a stroll through the box scores from the first few days of games and see what we shall see…

Starting with Monday night’s game between the Pirates and the Braves…it looks like this was an ugly game for both teams.  The Pirates tagged Tom Glavine and company for 12 runs on 17 hits, while the Braves scored 11 runs on 12 hits.  Wow, 29 hits for the two teams combined, and 23 runs scored, but I see that Jason Bay went 0 for 6 with a strikeout and a walk, and Mark Teixeira also went 0 for 6 with a strikeout.  Ouch!  That kind of stat line in a game like that really hurts.  Talk about starting off on the wrong foot.

It was delayed a day by rain, but Derek Jeter started his 12^th consecutive Opening Day for the Yankees at shortstop Tuesday, passing the record held by Phil Rizzuto.  Holy Cow!!

In that same game, the Blue Jays were 3 for 3 stealing against Jorge Posada, which is not surprising when you consider that only one team in the major leagues gave up more steals than the Yankees 136 last season, and Posada only threw out 21.5% of the attempted stolen bases.  By the way, Posada sat out last night’s game because of soreness in his shoulder.  Did you know that Posada has never been on the DL in his 13 year career?

Speaking of stolen bases; every Wednesday, Sports Grumblings’ Kevin Burgoyne brings you all manner of tasty fantasy tidbits about the base stealers of baseball in his column, “Burning Up the Bases” which you can find right here.  Check it out when you have a minute or two. 

Luis Gonzales hit his first dinger for the Marlins Tuesday night.  He’s going to be playing right field until Jeremy Hermida comes back from his injury.  Gonzo is the fourth outfielder for the Fish this season, and he is also the back up for Mike Jacobs at first base.  Considering how often Hermida, Josh Willingham, and Jacobs seem to get hurt, Gonzo could get himself quite a few at bats this season.  He might even be worth a look in deep NL mono leagues. 

Daisuke Matsuzaka looked pretty darn good against the A’s Tuesday.  He certainly pitched a lot better than he did last week in Japan.  Maybe he was nervous or something.  Anyway, he went 6 2/3 innings, struck out 9, walked none, and only gave up two hits.  That’s the kind of performance the Sox laid out $101 million for.  By the way, Jacoby Ellsbury was the leadoff hitter in that game, just days after Terry Francona said he did not want to put that kind of pressure on the youngster.  Yea, right Terry. 

Here’s one from the “What the hell are you thinkin’?” department; Chris Young of the Padres threw 113 pitches in his first start of the season, only lasting 5 2/3 innings.  He walked 5 and struck out 3.  Young had problems with a dead arm near the end of last season, which is why I am wondering what manager Bud Black, a former pitcher himself, was thinking.  It cannot possibly be a good idea to have a pitcher throw that many pitches this early in the season. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum; Joe Saunders needed just 80 pitches in going 8 full innings against the Twins last night.  He scattered 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 1 on his way to a 1-0 win.  Now that’s efficient pitching!  Francisco Rodriguez came in and nailed down his first save of the year, and extended the Angels winning streak when leading after 8 innings to 159 consecutive games – the longest current run in the majors.

Jair Jurrjens, the young pitcher that the Braves acquired from Detroit for Edgar Renteria, won his debut game for the Braves, but it was an ugly performance.  Jurrjens went 51/3 innings and gave up 7 hits, struck out 5 and walked one.  He needed 88 pitches to get that far into the game and was exhausted when he came out.  Jurrjens has not pitched above Double A level, and has never pitched a full season of innings.  The Braves might be making a big mistake with him.  He probably belongs in Triple A, building up his stamina.  Time will tell.

Speaking of time – mine is all gone.  I’ll be back Saturday.

Shake it easy.

If you have questions or comments, email me at TimM@sportsgrumblings.com