Who's Hot Who's Not
Who's Hot
PURPLE CLIPS
For his wedding, Vikings DE (and Cubs first-pitch tosser) Jared Allen lopped off his mullet, which he'd once cited as the Samsonesque source of his sacks. It has also been a draw for Allen's free iPhone app, which lets users dummy in their pics with the 'do. "The things men do for love," said the groom-to-be.
PAPI, BACK AS BILLED
May flowers indeed: After batting .143 in April, David Ortiz hit .363 and dinged 10 homers in May, career highs for the month. Now the Boston strongman is taking time to smell the infield grass. According to wezen-ball.com, Papi has five of the six slowest HR trots in '10.
MR. MET
New York's mascot must be queasy from this roller-coaster ride of a season. Going up! Last week the Amazin's swept Philly, pitched 35 straight scoreless innings and unearthed a solid starter in 35-year-old rookie Hisanori Takahashi.
REDS IN FIRST PLACE!
It's been four years since Cincy last topped the NL Central this late. So how'd the unsung Reds of shortstop Orlando Cabrera (right) reach 30 wins faster than any other NL club? Start with the big bats, which went 18 games smashing at least one round-tripper.
Who's Not
PURPLE KICKS
Those Easter-egg-like cleats Team USA wore against Turkey are part of a new Nike line aimed to "improve on-field visibility." Also putridly purple were the kicks the Suns' Jared Dudley wore when he accidentally stepped on SI photographer John McDonough's neck. Our man was O.K., if a tad purple.
PHILLIES UNFULPHILLED
Even allowing for Saturday's perfect game, what did Philly have last week? Two wins and four runs in six games. On May 26, in the midst of a 30-inning scoring drought, one team blogger began a hunger strike till his team plated a run. He broke his fast 48 hours later.
MR. T
When Rampage Jackson decided to play Mr. T in The A-Team movie (June 11), MMA head Dana White fumed, "If you'd rather be on The A-Team, you don't belong in the Octagon." White was a prophet: Last Saturday, Jackson (far left) lost to Rashad Evans. We pity the fool!
RED IN THE FACE
A busy week for NCAA disciplinarians: The list of alleged or suspected troublemakers included such powers as Michigan football (excessive practicing) and the hoops programs at Kansas (ticket scalping), Kentucky (academic fraud) and UConn (recruiting).
SI PLAYERS MLB POLL
WHICH OUTFIELDER HAS THE BEST ARM?
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners RF 47%
Jeff Francoeur, Mets RF 9%
Rick Ankiel, Royals CF 8%
Jose Guillen, Royals RF 4%
Nelson Cruz, Rangers RF 3%
FAST FACTS
Ichiro has won a Gold Glove in each of his nine big league seasons.... Francoeur leads the majors in assists over the past five years, with 62; this season's leader, Astros centerfielder Michael Bourn (seven), got no votes.... The website fangraphs.com ranks Rangers leftfielder Josh Hamilton as tops in ARM, a statistic that reflects outfielders' efficiency at keeping runners from advancing. Hamilton got two votes.
Based on a survey of 338 MLB players
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JERRY LAI/US PRESSWIRE (ALLEN)
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MITCH STRINGER/CAL SPORT MEDIA (ORTIZ)
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JON KOPALOFF/ZUFFA, LLC/GETTY IMAGES (MMA)
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MARK LYONS/EPA (CABRERA)
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PETER AIKEN/CAL SPORT MEDIA (ICHIRO)
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WILL SCHNEEKLOTH/SOUTHCREEK GLOBAL MEDIA (FRANCOEUR)
