RichRod vs. Kiffin

News came out of Ann Arbor on Saturday that Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez is working his "student-athletes" too hard, exceeding the maximum hours a player can spend -- around 20 -- with the program during the off-season.

The Detroit Free Press interviewed a handful of players who spoke about the allegations upon a promise of anonymity.

According to the report, "Players on the 2008 and 2009 teams described training and practice sessions that far exceeded limits set by the NCAA, which governs college athletics. The restrictions are designed to protect players’ well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage."

Sounds like sour grapes to me. All Division I football programs have their kids spending more time than allowed during the off-season, spread among weight lifting, meetings and reviewing tape. But RichRod didn't make the friendliest exit from his last stop at his alma mater West Virginia, where he allegedly shredded the files of several prospective recruits on his way out.

He also convinced Michigan's boosters to pay $2.5 million of his $4 million buyout to leave West Virginia at the time, and chased several recruits out the door upon his arrival.

The Free Press report also laid this out: "Players spent at least nine hours on football activities on Sundays after games last fall. NCAA rules mandate a daily 4-hour limit. The Wolverines also exceeded the weekly limit of 20 hours, the athletes said."

OK, that's a bit much. Most programs let their kids come in and lift weights and review tapes, but a nine-hour Sunday is a little overkill.

The Robin to RichRod's Batman is Tennessee's Lane Kiffin, a popular subject on Benched Press. Kiffin has already committed a handful of minor recruiting violations, including mentioning a recruit by name on a radio station, accusing Florida coach Urban Meyer and Georgia coach Mark Richt of cheating. He also told a recruit from South Carolina that if he chose to go play for Steve Spurrier that "he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina."

So here's the question: your son has Tennessee and Michigan recruiting him the hardest. It's down to those two schools. Where do you want your son to play?

US Open preview

The men's side is a one man show, and that man, Roger Federer, is seeking his sixth straight US Open title. Fresh off his French Open and Wimbledon wins, R-Fed's chief competition are the American Andys -- Murray and Roddick.

Federer may have to get past Rafael Nadal, who admitted that his knee tendinitis is still bothering him, despite taking two months away from the sport to rest up.
Bottom line: Everyone's chances of making noise in the Open depends on when they face Federer in the bracket.

On the women's side, the primary reason for watching the US Open this week is to drool over the eastern European eye candy. Dementieva, Cibulkova, Kirilenko, Ivanovic, Dokic, Hantuchova and Sharapova.

It doesn't make women's tennis much more tolerable to watch, but at least the hot women makes it less painful than watching the WNBA.

In reality, Serena and Venus are the two favorites. Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters both bring interesting Brett Favre-like stories to the table. Both retired from the sport before having a change of heart and coming back. Thankfully there have been no tears to my knowledge, though that would still be more acceptable than watching Favre choke up at yet another press conference.

Bottom line: Yeah, OK, it's going to be one of the Williams sisters, but at least you can enjoy some hot European tail in the process.

No shirt, no shoes, no game

NCAA Division II member St. Paul's College got its season off on the wrong foot this week, canceling its first game because their helmets and pads didn't show up.

The Tigers athletic department ordered new equipment, but it hadn't arrived in time for their game on Saturday against West Virginia Wesleyan, so they panicked and canceled the game.

Wesleyan athletic director Ken Tyler told the Associated Press that he was "flabbergasted" with the decision, which came less than 24 hours before the Bobcats traveled to South Hill, Va. for the game. Or maybe the "flabbergasted" was because he booked his team flights to St. Paul, Mn., not some town in the backwoods of Virginia.

St. Paul's graduated cornerback Greg Toler, who the Arizona Cardinals drafted in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft, which is essentially the only reason I have ever heard of either of these two teams.

From the looks of the picture, the Tigers could have just gone to Modell's or Dick's Sporting Goods and bought a bunch of Cincinnati Bengals uniforms, anyway.

Former Terp walk-on challenging for starting spot

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Moise Fokou hasn't had a traditional path to the NFL, much less a possible starting role.

The 23-year old Cameroon native started his career off at the academically-minded Bullis School in Potomac, Md., where he earned second-team All-Met honors from the Washington Post as a senior.

His impressive senior season only netted an offer to play football at Division III Frostburg State, where he played for a season before taking a walk-on spot at the University of Maryland.

From there, he turned heads, earning a scholarship as a sophomore in 2006, where he competed as a reserve linebacker behind Minnesota Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson.

Fokou became a full-time starter in 2007 and 2008, when he led the Terps in sacks (five) and was fifth on the team in tackles (77), earning an invitation to play at the 2009 Under Armour Senior Bowl just months after passing his U.S. citizenship test.

Determined to play football for a living, Fokou attended the NFL Combine, where he ranked 31st out of 195 outside linebacker prospects, measuring in at 6-foot-1, 233 pounds, and clocking a 4.75 40-yard dash. His performance at the Combine led to the Eagles taking a late round flier on Fokou with the 21st pick in the seventh round.

Most seventh round draft picks are never heard from again. Some are lucky to ever make it onto the active roster. Others are thrilled just to make the practice squad.

Not so for Fokou, who had an impressive camp as a middle linebacker, a position he never played prior to joining the Eagles. Fokou turned enough heads to earn some reps with Philadelphia's first team defense, and may even start tonight for the Eagles, who play host to Jacksonville tonight at 7 p.m.

How many football players took that route to the NFL?

Athletes are much, much richer than us

The Wall Street Journal published a story today reminding me how poor I am. The WSJ broke down how quickly an athlete makes $100,000, and it's sickening how easy it is for some athletes.

• It takes New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez six pitches to earn $100,000. He earns "roughly $15,856 every time he sees a pitch."
  
• Last year, it took Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger just 3.6 snaps to earn $100,000. Not bad for a three-and-out.
  
• PGA Tour golfer Tiger Woods makes $100,000 per every 11.2 holes he plays. That's a good couple hours of work, though. What a peasant. Then again, he makes $2,329 for every swing he takes. That includes putts.
  
• Cleveland Cavaliers star forward LeBron James earns $100,000 for every 21 minutes he stays on the court, on average. That's a little over $200,000 a game for King James, who plays around 45 minutes per game.
  

And me? Well, I get paid $100,000 per word I write, so I'm doing pretty well right now, thanks for asking.

Michael Beasley needs Dr. Drew

Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley went all Lindsay Lohan on us and checked himself into rehab last week in Houston.

The move came just before a photo of himself sporting a new -- and incredibly lame -- tattoo appeared on Twitter. Sweet new ink, Beas. Too bad you didn't move your dime bag of weed out of the picture's view.

Beasley must have been depressed, as he wrote on his Twitter account: "Feelin like it's not worth livin!!!!!!! I'm done" and "I feel like the whole world is against me I can't win for losin" before his account was deactivated on July 27th.

Let's not forget that Beasley is 20 years old. He followed his AAU coach Dalonte Hill from UNC Charlotte to Kansas State, put up ridiculous numbers for a year and then bounced to the NBA.

As a rookie, Beasley was fined $50,000 at an NBA rookie symposium after rent-a-cops smelled weed in the room he was in.

Nobody knows how long Beasley will be in rehab, but the Heat start training camp on September 28th. Sad stuff from the kid who grew up just up the road in Frederick, Md.

What was Jerry Jones thinking?

The brand new Cowboys Stadium cost a cool $1.2 billion to build, so it's no surprise that Dallas owner Jerry Jones put up a monstrous Noah's Ark-sized jumbotron over the field.

Too bad he didn't bust out the tape measurer.

During a preseason game last night, Tennessee Titans backup punter AJ Trapasso bounced a punt off the gigantic screen. Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher called for a challenge, though the play was not reviewable.

"I hit it probably a dozen times in pregame," said Titans punter Craig Hentrich. "If it's not raised, [punters would] just be nonstop hitting it. ... I guess they should have tested things out before they put that thing in place."

Jones defended the video board, saying he built them to league specifications. It's 90 feet tall, five feet higher than the league minimum, though both team's punters showed the ability to smack the world's largest high definition screen.

Really. $1.2 billion, and nobody bothered to check beforehand if a routine punt would smack the hovercraft, which looks a little like the Goodyear Blimp got stuck inside the dome. To lift the screen would cost approximately $2 million. Just a drop in the bucket after putting $1.2 billion into the stadium, don't you think?

As of now, the league will consider any punt that hits the screen a "do-over". No, I'm not joking, and no, this isn't pickup football in my backyard, either.

Oddest NCAA violation ever

The NCAA is clearly anti-Semitic. The league's newest rule changes include the banning of cream cheese and butter to schools' student-athletes. Bagels are still OK, but no cream cheese or butter.

George Mason basketball coach Jim Larranaga tweeted the following on Wednesday:

Compliance meetings begin tmw for the new year. New NCAA rule allows us to provide players bagels but no cream cheese or butter. Love it!

The league actually has some reasoning behind the seemingly random rule. Coaches are either allowed to give their players a set breakfast, lunch and dinner, or they are allowed to give them $15 in per diem.

South Carolina's basketball team reported a handful of violations in July, including providing bagels outside of the rigid three meal schedule. The Gamecocks won't be losing any scholarships over it, but the NCAA is actually imposing these rules.

Bagels without cream cheese or butter is like getting a new car but no keys. It's like getting a gorgeous Playboy model naked in your bed only to realize that you're a eunich.

Well, at least 20 years from now when my son asks me why I never played sports in college, I'll be able to tell him it's because college coaches couldn't promise me bagels and cream cheese.

It's a he, it's a she, it's a he-she!

South African teenager Caster Semenya heard the question that every 18-year old female dreams of being asked: "are you a boy or a girl?"

Except, the question didn't come from some booger-eating five-year old kid in an elevator. It came from South Africa's track and field federation, which is requesting a gender test to prove that Semenya is in fact a woman.

What, that raging six-pack, lack of chest protrusion, bulge in the pants and distinct Adam's apple didn't give it away yet?

The controversy started when Semenya ran a blistering 800 meter race in 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, a full 2.45 seconds better than the defending champion.

IAAF spokesman Nick Davies assured fans that the reason for the test is "a medical issue, not an issue of cheating." I guess the thought is that Semenya could have been born a man and had a sex change to become a woman and dominate the Olympic competition.

Yeah, that makes sense. Hey doc, give me a quick snip so I can go run laps around these ladies in the Olympics. OK.

The gender test requires the following: a physical medical evaluation, reports from a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist, an internal medicine specialist and an expert on gender, according to ESPN. Cue an old man sitting on a porch in a rocking chair saying that in his day, to figure out if someone was a boy or a girl, you'd just goose him/her.

Favre unretires...again

For the second time in two years, veteran quarterback Brett Favre retired. And, for the second time in two years, he unretired.

Favre signed a two-year, $25 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings yesterday that essentially guarantees him the starting job ahead of quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.

Two years is just long enough to chase both Jackson and Rosenfels out of town. Jackson thought he had the gig but got injured and is apparently now on the trading block, according to ESPN Insider's rumors.

Personally, the signing disgusts me. Not because Favre signed with a long-time in-division rival, but because he's going to need a respirator by the time his contract is up in 2011.

Packers fans are outraged that Favre betrayed them by signing with the Vikings. Jackson said, "It's not a good feeling, but you have to take it for what it's worth and try and get better from it."

Rosenfels echoed the sentiment: "It's something that wasn't a total shock. ... This has been [going on for] three months, and an ongoing thing. For me, personally, this isn't what I was hoping for. I tried to get traded here [before Favre signed]."

It's a bad move for head coach Brad Childress, who will either see both Rosenfels and Jackson demand trades, or he'll be stuck with a pair of quarterbacks to whom he lied before ultimately signing Favre.

The Vikings aren't a favorite to win the Super Bowl by any means. Hell, they aren't even my favorite to win the NFC North. A 40-year old quarterback recovering from shoulder surgery throwing to an average receiving corps doesn't scream "championship" to me, but maybe I'm alone there.

With training camp in the rearview mirror, it became so obvious that Favre only retired from a summer of hard practices. Instead, he spent the summer fishing on a boat back home in Hattiesburg, Miss., knowing he'd sign to play with the Vikings right after camp ended.

Fans are arguing that Favre had a bad record at the Metrodome and won't be able to win there. It's true that his record there is unimpressive (6-10 as a starter with 24 touchdowns to 18 interceptions), but consider that he was the away team (and a divisional rival) for all of those games -- until now.

Paulus named starting QB for Orange

The guy on the bottom of the teabagging pictured to the left was named the starting quarterback for the Syracuse Orange this season. As someone who hates Greg Paulus with a fiery passion, this brings me great pleasure.

If it was a publicity stunt, it sure worked. How the hell else would Syracuse football convince me to tune into a game? Put a guy who cringes upon contact (and sometimes without even being touched) at quarterback, and instead of 6-foot-7, 202-pound small forwards bumping into him, he'll have 6-foot-3, 270-pound linemen looking to take his head off.

I can't wait.

Syracuse coach Doug Marrone said that Paulus has instincts "that are hard to teach," despite not playing football for more than four years since being a senior in high school.

Marrone further justified his position, saying, "If you had ever met Greg Paulus, you'd understand and I wouldn't get a lot of the questions that I get."

I have no idea what the hell that means, but I assume it means that if you met Greg Paulus, you would want to send him out to get destroyed by linebackers and defensive ends, too.

The Paulus news must bring tears of joy to sophomore Ryan Nassib's eyes. Nassib was named the starter in the spring after beating out senior Cam Dantley, but Paulus came in and took the job from him within a week.

So set your DVRs for September 5th, when Syracuse takes on Minnesota in the Carrier Dome. Hint: take the Golden Gophers and the points.

Hey rookie, welcome to the league

Redskins running back Ladell Betts got a not-so-warm welcome to the 2009 NFL season on Thursday in Baltimore. Haha rookie, the equipment managers screwed up your jersey! You aren't Jerome Bettis!

Oh wait, he's not an undrafted rookie trying to make the team? Wait, he's not a rookie at all? He was the team's second round draft pick in 2002?!?!

Please, forgive the managers. Betts is a really tricky name. There's that silent second T and everything.

Betts didn't seem to notice, or care, about his jersey. According to the DC Sports Bog:

"I didn't know," running back Ladell Betts said after the game. "I don't think anybody noticed it until about midway through the first quarter. I had no idea. Somebody came up to me with a jersey and said, 'We need to change your jersey,' and I was like, 'What's wrong?' I thought maybe my jersey was ripped."

"Your name's wrong," he was told.

"How is my name wrong?" he asked. Then he found out.

"Actually, I do like Jerome Bettis, but I don't prefer to have his name on my back," he said. "I wasn't upset or anything. I think the equipment people felt bad, but I wasn't mad at them."

At least he can laugh it off. And it's not exactly the first time this has ever happened to a pro sports player. In fact, it's not even the first time it's happened in Washington this year. Check out the Washington Natinals!

Reason no. 3,747 why infielders should wear a cup

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 307,171,892 people living in the United States as of August 14th at 10:55 a.m, which means that approximately 307,171,891 people had a better Thursday than Adrian Beltre (pictured).

Guys, you better sit down for this one.

In the ninth inning, White Sox batter Alexei Ramirez hit a ground ball that took an ugly hop, hitting Beltre in his goods. As Beltre later found out, this is what cups were made for.

Beltre clearly does not believe in wearing a protective cup.

Unfortunately for Beltre, Podsednik went head-first into Beltre's groin, and today he appears on Yahoo! with the following: Injury Note 15-day DL as of Aug 13, 2009 (Severely contused right testicle).

Oh. Dear. Lord. While getting hit in the groin is usually one of the funniest things ever, learning that Beltre's testicle is severely internally bleeding is a real Debbie Downer on the situation. Then again, it's pretty stupid for an infielder to not wear a cup, knowing that an occasional stray ball might kill your ability to father children for the rest of your life.

And, not only is getting hit in the nuts (much less on cable TV) one of the most embarrassing things ever, but now the Seattle newspapers are reporting that he could be out for the season with the... contusion. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Coach Don Wakamatsu said that Beltre might need surgery due to... internal bleeding. If he needs surgery, he might need several months of sitting on a couch with a bag of frozen peas.

Hokies' rusher out for season

It wasn't the best timing for Virginia Tech when starting running back Darren Evans went down with a torn ACL earlier this week.

With spring ball in the rearview mirror and zero running backs on the roster who have taken a snap in college, it would seem that the Hokies would be derailed from their hopes of capturing another ACC title.

Not so fast.

A look back at Evans' production last year (287 carries for 1,265 yards and 11 touchdowns) looks pretty impressive until you take out his one unbelievable performance against Maryland's swiss cheese defense. He absolutely torched the Terps for 253 yards on 32 carries, but if you take that out, his stats don't stand out nearly as much; he ran 255 carries for 1,012 yards and 10 touchdowns in 11 games. Meh.

Meanwhile, the word out of Blacksburg is how impressive redshirt freshman Ryan Williams (pictured) has been, as well as true freshman David Wilson. Some are saying that a tandem of Williams and Wilson, despite the lack of gameday experience, could be an upgrade over Evans.

Williams went off in the Virginia Tech Spring Game, earning MVP honors for his 10 carries for 85 yards and two catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Those yards came off runs of 8, 9, 9, 12 and 36 -- not exactly one run for 60 yards and a bunch of two-yard gains.

Maybe losing your starting running back three weeks before the season opener isn't such a bad thing after all.

Fight!

Out to eat last night, one of my buddies shouted, "Oh, $h!t!," reacting to a baseball clip on a TV screen far away. Naturally, I caught just the tail end, and missed the actual set-up of what turned out to be a pretty one-sided brawl between Detroit Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello drop Boston Red Sox batter Kevin Youkilis like a bad habit. Luckily, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I was able to find out what actually happened. I was also able to relive that fight about 275 times.

Searching for this video, I stumbled across a pretty sweet anti-Kevin Youkilis blog, entitled "Fack Youk," in which the author wrote this gem: "For a guy that has been hit by 52 pitches in his career and hangs over the plate like he's drunk at a urinal, Youk sure takes getting hit pretty personally." Awesome.

Sidenote: Now seems an appropriate time to plug my other blog, which is dedicated to betting on college football. I figure that most of my readership isn't big into sports betting, so I decided to start another one to keep that stuff from cluttering this blog. If you're interested, it's available at http://www.insidecfb.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Fridge becomes Mini-Fridge

It's been an ongoing story since October: Terps football coach Ralph Friedgen is dieting. Again. Friedgen, or "Fridge" as he is often referred to, has shed many pounds in past off-seasons, but always seemed to put them back on during the season.

That's not surprising considering the dietary habits of most college football coaches go out the window during the season. It didn't help that Friedgen was the head coach and the offensive coordinator before hiring head coach in waiting James Franklin.

Now that the media is seeing Fridge on a regular basis again, the questions keep coming up about how much weight he has lost. In fact, Washington Times Terps beat writer Patrick Stevens inked a story about Friedgen a month or so ago -- though the link now escapes me. Right around the same time, the Washington Post's Steve Yanda wrote about Fridge's 86-pound weight loss as of early May.

Altogether, Fridge has lost 105 pounds, transforming from literally being the size of a refrigerator to a much more reasonable moniker: Mini-Fridge (copyright pending!).

The Associated Press poked a bit of fun at him in its recent story, saying that "Friedgen knew it was time to get rid of the two extra chins and the massive belly that was making it difficult for him to walk without losing his breath."

Har har. In reality, a Terps fan named Paul Intlekofer, the executive vice president of marketing at Owings Mills-based Medifast, approached Friedgen in October. The two met at an Outback Steakhouse -- go figure -- and talked about a meal plan to help Fridge shed those pesky pounds.

According to Yanda's story, Friedgen lost 16 pounds in the first week, thanks to Medifast's prepackaged meals that saved him multiple trips to the grocery store.

Just 10 months later, Fridge has lost 105 pounds, the equivalent of a 15-year old human being. He says he wants to shed 45 more pounds, an admirable goal for a coach who was riding around campus in a golf cart this time last year.

Harrington chokes, Tiger wins Bridgestone

Heading into Sunday's final round at the World Golf Championships' Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger Woods needed to play catch-up as Padraig Harrington held a three-stroke advantage. It was the same storyline we've seen time and time again.

Golf fans wanted it to go to the wire between the two. Maybe a few playoff holes. Tiger had other ideas. After four holes, Harrington's three-stroke advantage was gone. Harrington went par-par-par-par, while Woods went par-eagle-par-birdie. And just like that, the two golfers were tied.

It looked like Tiger might take a commanding lead and shake Harrington after that. Woods held a two-stroke lead at the halfway mark, but bogeyed back-to-back holes on 13 and 14, while Harrington birdied 11. Suddenly, Harrington was back in the lead.

The pair entered the 16th hole, which Arnold Palmer once nicknamed "The Monster". Woods reached the fairway of the 630-yard hole, and Harrington hit into a sand trap. Woods hit it to 178 yards away. Harrington hit a shot over the green and into the rough. Woods hit an incredible iron shot that rolled within a foot of the hole. Harrington hit it into the lake. Woods tapped in. Harrington took a drop, hit it over the green, chipped onto the green, and sunk the putt.

Tiger, 4, birdie. Harrington, 8, triple bogey. That's all it took as Woods picked up his 16th WGC trophy and 70th PGA Tour win. Thanks for playing, Padraig!

Crazy old man running for Congress

Former South Carolina football coach and general nutjob Lou Holtz is considering running for Congress in Florida as a Republican, ESPN reported last night.

Holtz, or Holtzsch as he pronounces it himself, is the author of several ESPN halftime speeches, such as the one in the video below, where he dresses up in a basketball jersey and gives the Knicks a halftime speech. Truly moving stuff.

For my own selfish entertainment, I am praying that this happens. Not only are his ESPN speeches absolutely hysterical -- unintentionally -- but they don't even make an ounce of sense, either. Sure, he is the only college football coach to ever get six different teams to a bowl game, but his patented Lou's Pep Talks were clearly designed to make the average sports fan laugh at him, not with him.

Even better, the cameraman will need a squeegee every time Holtz pronounceth a word with an eth in it.

Holtz has been with ESPN since 2004 after retiring from coaching the Gamecocks for five years. Though he has no actual ties to the state of Florida, he is 72 years old, putting him just under the average age of a Floridian.

He also has no political experience, but the people of Florida are still trying to recover from the Hanging Chad Debacle of 2000.

Pistons rookie challenges porn star

DaJuan Summers wants more followers on Twitter. Ashton Kutcher publicly challenged CNN to see who could get to 1,000,000 followers first, which turned out to be a gigantic publicity stunt that netted the douchey actor a lot of face time on the news.

So the 21-year old Pistons rookie did the only thing that made sense: he challenged a porn star.

And not to 1,000,000 followers, either. Only 4,000. Insert some cliche about shooting for the moon and falling among the stars here.

Summers sent the challenge out to porn star (is she really a star if most people haven't ever heard of her?) Valerie Luxe, to see who could get to 4,000 followers the quickest.

"I have just been challenged by @ValerieLuxe to race to 4,000 followers, so you guys cant let me loose.. I NNED HELLLP! LOL," the tweet reads. Actually, it looks like you NNED a proofreader.

According to the back-and-forth tweeting, Summers will get a massage from Luxe, who starred in such cinematic gems as: Face Full of Diesel 6, The Beast Is Back! 5, All Up in Her Grill 2, Fresh Out the Box 10 and Work It, Work It, Get It, Get It 2, among others. A list of Oscar nominees is what that is.

Apparently if Luxe wins, Summers has to take her to a water park. Presumably, that is an actual water park, like Water Country USA, and not a metaphoric water park. OK, that's enough dirty innuendos to last this blog for a while.

In case you're wondering, as of 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Summers holds a slight edge 3,152 to 3,147.

O's to call up Matusz

Despite not even whiffing the playoffs for the 12th straight season, the Orioles are expected to call up rookie hurler Brian Matusz from double-A Bowie to start tonight against the Detroit Tigers.

Matusz (pronounced MAT-iss) has shown tremendous promise in Bowie and single-A Frederick, combining for an 11-2 record with a 1.91 ERA and 121 strikeouts to just 32 walks in 113 innings pitched. Basically, sheer dominance.

More impressively, in his last seven starts, Matusz has given up just eight earned runs in 46.1 innings -- six of which came against the Akron Aeros. Take out that bad start and Matusz is 6-0 with a 0.43 ERA.

If all goes according to plan, Matusz will start for the Birds tonight at 7:05 p.m., completely bypassing triple-A Norfolk and hopping straight into the big leagues. Matusz's numbers appear ready for the leap, and despite being a rookie, the 22-year old lefty wasn't taking geometry class at this time last year like many members of his fellow draft class.

The promotion wasn't likely to happen this season, but O's starter Brad Bergesen got hit in the leg with a line drive last week and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Matusz joins promising rookies Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters as the core of the future, competitive Orioles. On Monday, rookie pitcher Chris Tillman, whom the Orioles acquired in the Bedard-to-Seattle trade, got called up to pitch against the Tigers.

Despite a sub-par pitching rotation in the major leagues, the Orioles are stocked with pitching talent in their farm system. President of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has made a name for himself with trading Bedard to Seattle for five prospects (including 2009 All-Star Adam Jones and former closer George Sherrill, who was recently traded).