Sports Extra

John Isner: Doubles Ace?

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:02:15 -0500

You may have missed it over the weekend, but Greensboro's own John Isner won his first ATP title on Sunday. Before you wonder how you did miss that, let me add that he won it in doubles, teaming with Mardy Fish to capture the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island. Not bad considering Isner and Fish had only played together once before, at last year's Newport tournament. Isner is now ranked No. 105 in the world in doubles. Pretty impressive considering he's piled up his 583 ranking points in just 15 tournaments. Last year Isner won two doubles titles in challenger tournaments. Isner and Sam Querrey reached the third round of the French Open earlier this year. Isner also won a national title in doubles his sophomore year. So clearly, Isner has a ton of potential in doubles. Not to pat myself on the back (okay, I'm giving myself a brief pat between typing letters) but as Isner was finishing up his career at Georgia, I was asked by someone about his pro prospects. "I'm not sure how he'll do in singles, but I think he could win a grand slam in doubles." Of course, a few months later, Isner reached the finals of the Legg Mason tournament in D.C. and we all forgot about the doubles thing. Now, though, I'm starting to wonder again about Isner's doubles future. I think it's as bright as he wants it to be, but there are three factors which will probably keep it in check right now.

From GSO to MLB

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:38:49 -0500

As clubs prepare to retun to play after the All-Star Game, here's your weekly runown of who's where and how they're doing. Notable addition to the group: Oroles pitcher Alberto Castillo, who defected from Cuba to Canada in 1993; went to junior college in Miami; was drafted by the Giants; wound up with the Yankees system and played here in 1998; and was claimed in the offseason this year by the Orioles.

Chris Paul talks about the Olympics

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:11:45 -0500

Chris Paul talks about the Olympics (video by Rob Daniels)

Hines in NBA Summer League

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:05:00 -0500

Former UNCG star Kyle Hines plays his third game of the NBA's Summer League at 10:30 tonight. He's coming off a seven-point, five-rebound performance in nine minutes in the team's most recent game, a 77-75 loss to the New Orleans Hornets. There isn't necessarily going to be a ton of playing time available to Hines, an undrafted free agent who can't trump first-round draftee Alexis Ajinca no matter what he does. The Bobcats have an investment in Ajinca and are using this 10-day summer session as a developmental tool. But there's still an upside to participating for Hines, who can display his talents to foreign scouts and other NBA execs and enhance his profile in the process. The Bobcats' summer team is coached by Dave Hanners, a former UNC assistant and one of the really good guys in the business. Hanners is one of several assistants on Larry Brown's staff.

Ex-Hopper Volstad promoted

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:34:53 -0500

Chris Volstad, one of the five first-round draft picks who made up the Grasshoppers' starting rotation in all or part of 2006, has become the second member of the group to make the Florida Marlins. Having been promoted from Double-A Carolina over the weekend, he joins Ryan Tucker in the club. The complete list of former Greensboro players now in the Majors can be found here. Aaron Thompson, Sean West and Brett Sinkbeil, the other first-round starters from two seasons ago, have had injury problems. Thompson and Sinkbel are in Double-A and West, who missed all of 2007, has been limited in Jupiter, the next step above Greensboro in the Marlins' system. Let's just say Sunday was a memorable and busy one for the 16th overall choice of the 2005 draft. Informed he had been promoted late Saturday night, he flew from RDU to Denver at 6 a.m. Sunday and said he barely had time to get out to the bullpen before the Marlins' contest with the Colorado Rockies. The Marlins threw him in there soon thereafter, and he picked up the win with a two-inning, scoreless performance. The team immediately said it will move Volstad, who went 11-8 with a 3.08 ERA for the Hoppers, into the starting rotation.

What's ahead for Big John

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:00:37 -0500

While the tennis world remains focused on that swank suburb in south London, John Isner is back in Tampa, getting ready for his slate of upcoming tournaments. It's an important stretch for Isner (I know, aren't they all?) because he's finally reached his one-year anniversary in pro tennis. To explain one more time, pro tennis rankings are taken from a 12-month snapshot. In other words, your ranking as of July 1, 2008 includes all your results from July 1, 2007 - July 1, 2008. A week later, it's all your results from July 8, 2007 - July 8, 2008 and so on. Up until now, becuase Isner had no past history beyond his first pro tournament, a Futures tournament in Chico, Calif. that began on June 25, 2007, Isner was only in accumulation mode. Every point he earned helped boost his ranking. Now, while Isner is still earning points with each match he wins, he's also "losing" points that he had accumulated in tournaments that are now over 12-months old. For example, Isner won that Futures tournament, earning 18 ranking points. After Wimbledon, those points will be subtracted off his total (he had 504 ranking points coming into Wimbledon). Isner got five ranking points just for making the main draw at Wimbledon, but he'll still come away with a net loss of 13 points after this week, which will probably drop him a few spots in the rankings from his current perch at No. 83. Next up though, is an opportunity for Isner to make up some of that lost ground. He's playing in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, RI on July 7. Isner has two things going for him here. One, it's a grass court tournament, so the speed of the surface is fast. Two, it's right after Wimbledon, so most of the heavy hitters on the tour will skip it. Based on the rankings of the entrants in last year's field, Isner will likely be about a No. 5 seed, the first time he's been seeded in an ATP event in his career. Last year, Isner lost in the first round at Newport, earning zero points. So if he can win, for example, two rounds this year, he'd pick up 40 points and likely bump his ATP ranking up into the 70's. After Newport, it's time to start tuning up for the U.S. Open. And it's a return to the surface that I think suits him best, American hard courts. He starts off with a tournament in Indianapolis on July 14. Isner will need sucess during this stretch, because early in August, he will reach the one-year anniversary of his run to the finals of the Legg Mason tournament in Washington, D.C. While that tournament put him on the map in American tennis, it also earned him 140 precious ranking points, which will disappear from his total the first week in August. It's a critical amount, because right now Isner is still ranked high enough to qualify for entrance to most ATP tournaments. If he drops back into triple digits, he'll have to either get a few wild cards and get hot in another tournament soon, or go back to building up his ranking on the challenger circuit. But that's still a month off. There are matches to be won, and ranking points to be earned, in the next few weeks, beginning in Newport.

More on Caroline Lind's crew

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:45:28 -0500

Is it presumptive to call it "Lind's crew"? Perhaps, but this is a Greensboro blog, so for our purposes the U.S. women's eight team will henceforth be known as Caroline's crew. Here's a look at the other rowers who will join Caroline in the boat in Beijing. Here's how they'll sit in the boat from the stern (or back) of the boat to the bow (or front). Mary Whipple (c), Sacramento, Calif., USRowing Training Center - That's c as in coxswain, as in the small person who sits in the stern call out the stroke rhythm for the squad. Whipple is competing in her second Olympic Games. She was on the U.S. women's eight that won the silver in Athens in 2004. Caryn Davies (s), Ithaca, N.Y., USRowing Training Center - Davies, like Whipple, is a return Olympian. She'll sit in the stroke seat, the rower primarily responsible for setting the stroke rhythm for the boat. Caroline Lind (7), Greensboro, N.C., USRowing Training Center - I believe you're familiar with her work. But I'll link to her bio as well. That you can find out that she finished 8th in the N.C. state in the 300 meter hurdles as a freshman. You don't often see a lot of track/rowing cross-over athletes, I'm guessing. Susan Francia (6), Abington, Pa., USRowing Training Center - Not sure if this will come in handy over in Beijing, but Francia can speak Hungarian. She also looks pretty menacing in her photo. Anna Cummins (5), Bellevue, Wash., Pocock Rowing Center - Anna Mickelson Cummins will be doubling up in the eight and the women's pair. No wonder she has her own website. Elle Logan (4), Boothbay Harbor, Maine, USRowing TC/Stanford University - Logan was Lind's pairs partner this spring and Lind raved about how calm the 20-year-old Stanford student was during their big races together. Anna Goodale (3), Camden, Maine, USRowing Training Center - Lind tells me that the 6 through 3 seat positions are known as the "engine" of the boat. That means they supply more of the power while the rowers toward the bow and the stern provide more of the technique. At least, I think that's what that means. Oh, and Goodale grew up on a sheep farm. I'm loving these personal tidbits. Lindsay Shoop (2), Charlottesville, Va., USRowing Training Center - Shoop lists her greatest sports moment as winning a volleyball match in the state quarterfinals as a junior in high school. Do you think an Olympic gold medal would be her new No. 1 if she wins in Beijing? Erin Cafaro (b), Modesto, Calif., USRowing Training Center - As Kenny Bania would say, "These personal notes are gold Jerry! Gold!" Check out this one for Cafaro ... ...Erin says she is pretty superstitious and always adds 22 seconds to any workout or warm-up...As a Giants fan growing up, her favorite player was Will Clark and the extra 22 seconds comes from his jersey number..

Madden Curse

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:21:35 -0500

That phrase is normally applied to the NFL player who graces the cover of the video game bearing the name of John Madden. Such exposure is said to presage a bad year. As far as the Grasshoppers are concerned, it fits with South Atlantic League batters who have to face Corey Madden, who has struck out 68 batters in 42 innings so far. That's 14.57 strikeouts per nine innings, one of the best such figures in all of Minor League Baseball in all of this decade. Click here to see the lists.

They don't reward "good" losses in pro tennis, but ...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:14:38 -0500

... I feel compelled to remind you that the man whom John Isner lost to in a fourth-set tiebreaker in the first round of Wimbledon, Ernests Gulbis, is no slouch. As I type this, he is on serve in the fourth set against world No. 2 Rafael Nadal. Gulbis won the first set, lost the second and then fell in a third set tiebreaker. I don't think he'll pull the massive upset, but he's really making Nadal work. So again, no shame in Isner's loss. But, unfortunately, not ranking points either.

J.J. Hickson's NBA Destination

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:39:03 -0500

Kids, don't try this at home. My head is pounding after I've spent the last three days - okay, the last hour - trying to figure out where J.J. Hickson is going to go in tomorrow's NBA Draft. Here's what I came up with ... I don't know. Bold, huh? Hey, I don't think anybody else does either. With so much uncertainty after the first two picks (and Miami may not even be a lock to take Michael Beasley with the second pick) and so many potential trades out there, it's made a mockery of most mock drafts. So instead, I've gathered some info on Hickson's possible NBA destinations. It's not sexy, I know, but it may be more helpful. And that's what I'm here for ... to help. Here's some basic background. Most of the mock drafts have Hickson being drafted in the 20's. Recently though, N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said he expects Hickson to go somewhere from 10 to 20. And Hickson said his strong workouts were a big reason why he decided to stay in the draft. Perhaps as a reflection of Hickson's stock, ESPN.com's Chad Ford has moved Hickson up from the late first round to New Jersey's pick at No. 21. That's one possibilty and one of the eight teams Hickson said he'd worked out for during his teleconference early last week. Here's a look at the others. SEATTLE - The Sonics have the No. 4 and the No. 24. Right now it doesn't look like Hickson will be around for Seattle's second pick. But the Sonics have talked about trading down from their No. 4 spot, and a deal there could land them a pick somewhere in the teens, where Hickson could be a possible choice. See why this is so hard to predict? PORTLAND - The Blazers have the No. 13 and No. 27 pick and haven't made a secret of their interest in Hickson, recently bringing him in for a second workout. But Portland, which already has LaMarcus Aldridge at the four and is expecting Greg Oden back at center, spend a No. 13 pick on Hickson? Probably not. But they might package their two picks in a deal that could net them a player and a slightly lower pick. Your head's starting to hurt, isn't it?

Isner Updates (Spoiler Alert)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:54:27 -0500

(We're tracking John Isner's match through the mind-numbing Slam Tracker, allowing you to be more productive at work. The most recent updates are at the top of the page. Scroll down to the bottom for the beginning of this blog post.) FINAL UPDATE: Well Wimbledon 2008 is over for John Isner. He fell in four very close sets to Ernests Gulbis, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6). So what does this all mean? First, clearly this is disappointing for Isner. Going back to the French Open, he's now lost in the first round in three of his four tournaments. And the grass court season that looked promising for Isner has instead ended with a 1-3 record. However (and this is going to be a big however), let me bring back Isner fans from off the ledge. It's way too early to dismiss what Isner did last summer, particularly at the Legg Mason, as a flash in the pan. One, the draws have not been kind. Radek Stepanek in Nottingham, Gulbis (who Gilbert predicted would be top 16 by the end of the year) at Wimbledon. Two, I expect Isner's results to pick up when he gets back to the hard courts. Clay was clearly a new experience for him, as it is for most Americans during their early stages of their pro careers. I'd be encouraged that a) Isner didn't worry about protecting his ranking and instead played a full clay-court season leading up to the French and b) he won one ATP level match on clay and went to five sets in the French Open. Granted that's not Nadal-level prowess on clay, but it's a start. As for grass, it's easy to think that this would be Isner's best surface, but I'd argue it's not. Hear me out. First, grass doesn't play nearly as fast as it did back in the day, when a big serve and a half-decent net game could usually get you to the fourth round or so. Some think that some hard court tournaments during the summer may actually have faster surfaces. Then there's the bounce, which is really critical. What makes grass fast in a lot of ways is that the ball skids on the surface. It's a lot better bounce than it used to be, but still not what you get on a hard court. This hurts Isner's game in two ways. Obviously at 6-9, he'd like the ball to bounce as high as possible. It's really tough for him to sustain a groundstroke rally with the high-pace and low-bounce of grass, thus making it hard for him to break serve. Plus, a true, high bounce actually helps Isner's serve. While he hits his serve with tremendous pace, what makes Isner's serve uniquely difficult are the unheard of angles he can get from his height and the outrageously high bounce he can get when he hits a kick serve in. This is really a factor on his second serve. When that serve comes in and bounces high to the backhand of a right-handed returner, it's nearly as effective as Isner's first serve. Against Gulbis, Isner won just 51% of his second serves, 31 out of 61. That's telling. So I expect Isner's game and his results to pick up once he returns to the good old U.S. of A and gets back on the hard courts. And so does Jensen, who closed out his reports from Court 15 with this: "Isner started to look better in that fourth set. I think he can carry it on to the hard court season." Isner will need to if he wants to keep his ranking up at its current level. He's now finally played 12 months on the ATP tour. That means that points he earned during his succesful summer of 2007 will start disappearing as they become more than a year old. First to go will be the 18 points he earned while winning his first pro tournament, a futures event in Chico, Calif. Looming out there are the 195 points he earned in back-to-back weeks in late July, when he won a challenger in Lexington, Ky. and reached the finals in D.C. Hopefully I can catch up with John when he comes back stateside and his cell phone starts working again. UPDATE 11:24: Well, that was sudden and final. After saving a set point, Gulbis wins his serve and then gets the final point of the match on Isner's serve. 8-6 Gulbis in the tiebreaker. He wins the match, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6). I'll have more thoughts on this up in a few minutes. Give me a second to let my eyes return to normal after being glued to Slam Tracker. UPDATE 11:22: We're on serve, which means Isner now has a set point at 6-5. UPDATE 11:20: Okay, tiebreakers are not meant for liveblogging. Minibreak regained. 4-4. UPDATE 11:19: Typed too soon. Another mini-break for Gulbis. 4-3. UPDATE 11:18: We're at the changeover. 3-3. Isner with another serve coming. UPDATE 11:17: Told you we'd be updating quickly. Isner gets a return point back. Level at 2-2. UPDATE 11:16: Uh oh. Mini-break Gulbis, 2-0. UPDATE 11:14: We're back to the tiebreaker! Get ready for fast and furious updates. UPDATE 11:11 6-5 Gulbis. Here's what I was getting at earlier. We know Gulbis has a big advantage against Isner from the baseline. But from the point when Isner went to the third-set tiebreaker with Gulbis, he's won 17 points on the big Latvian's serve, after winning just nine up to that point. So clearly Isner's not lost out there trading groundstrokes with Gulbis. Oh, and Fowler just acknowledged that Isner and Gulbis are going "back and forth" and that it's a "very tight match." Jensen though, just described the match as "choppy" and the groundstroke rallies as "just brutal." Ouch. UPDATE 11:05: Well, at 11:05, ESPN finally acknowledged that Gulbis is not, in fact, already in the the second round. They went out to Luke Jensen at Court 15 just as Isner was holding to make it 5-5 (Very, very tough game, by the way). Jensen's analysis: Isner is back in this match because he's found his first serve. But Isner's still in a lot of trouble whenever Gulbis can get his return back in play. Nothing really new there, but you get the feeling that this somehow offends the sensibilities of the ESPN folks. Or maybe I'm just being sensitive. UPDATE 10:58: Now we're in the danger zone. Gulbis held serve to go up 5-4. Any slip here by Isner and it's the match. The tension on Slam Tracker grows. UPDATE 10:52: Sign of progress or huge missed opportunity? For the first time in the match, Isner got a break point on Gulbis's serve. Two, actually. But Gulbis dug out of a 15-40 hole to hold and go up 4-3. Watching these matches on Slam Tracker, where you basically wait for the scoreboard to change after each point, is a different kind of tension. It's kinda growing on me, actually. UPDATE 10:48: Whooo boy, that was close. Isner just fought off two break points but managed to eke out another hold to knot the third set at 3-3. At this point, you're hoping he can get this to a tiebreaker again and work his magic. But remember, even if Isner does that, at some point he will have to figure out a way to break Gulbis's serve. There are no fifth-set tiebreakers at Wimbledon. On a slightly bright note though, Isner is now winning 17% percent of his return points, up from 11%. So he's got that going for him. Oh, and 28 aces. UPDATE 10:38: Isner just climbed out of a 0-30 hole to hold serve and level the fourth set at 2-2. I know Gulbis is still in control, but twice the ESPN commentators jumped the gun and talked about how difficult Gulbis will be for Nadal in the second round. That was before Isner claimed the third set. Still waiting for some backtracking. UPATE 10:25: Isner claims the third set, 7-3 in the tiebreaker. After winning a grand total of nine points in the first 18 Gulbis service games, Isner wins three of five return points in the tiebreaker. A breakthrough perhaps? UPDATE: Another minibreak for Isner! 5-2 and he can serve the set out. UPDATE: 4-2 at the changeover. Isner still up a mini-break. UPDATE: Mini-break for Isner, 2-0 in the tiebreaker! UPDATE: Okay, thanks to the wonders of DVR, I was able to surf back and find an Isner update from early in the third set. ESPN's Chris Fowler revealed that, yes, there are no cameras on Court 15 (Drat). But we got an update from Luke Jensen, who said that basically the problem has been that Gulbis is returning well, getting back more of Isner's serves than one would normally expect. Still, Isner's plugging away. It looks like we're headed to a tiebreaker in the third. That's usually Isner's territory, but man, it's been hard for him to get points off the serve of Gulbis. Yep, we're headed to a tiebreaker. Man, that was a fast service game. INITIAL POST: Here's how fast Wimbledon matches sometimes go on the men's side. You wake up, get your kids dressed, get them fed and get them into daycare and by the time you come back, John Isner is down two sets to zero to Ernests Gulbis. Right now it's 2-2 in the third set, but in the two service games Gulbis has had this set, he's lost zero points. Isner, by contrast, had to go to deuce before winning his last service game. So it's not looking good for The Big Izzy right now. It may be a case of wrong player at the wrong time. Gulbis is red hot and loaded with talent. Unfortunately, I'm having to follow Isner's match via Slam Tracker on my computer. No video. And the updates on ESPN2 are few and far between. Here's the problem, I think. Isner's on Court 15. You can watch matches on Center, Court 1, Court 3, Court 6, Court 11, Court 17 and Court 18 on Wimbledon Live on Wimbledon.org. That tells me that they probably don't have any cameras around Court 15. Thus, we don't even get the occasional live look-in you'd normally get during tournament coverage. 3-3 now, since I've been writing this.

Couldn't they do better than this?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:44:00 -0500

Sports Illustrated is reporting that HBO is producing a documentary for broadcast this February on the UNC-Duke rivalry. Its title: "Duke vs. North Carolina." That, people, is literary brilliance. My colleague Jim Young and I came up with the following suggestions in a 30-second conversation just now: "Eight Miles" or "8.8 Miles" -- Reference to the distance between the schools as the crow flies. "Shades of Blue" -- Self-explanatory. "Triangle Tradition" -- Admittedly obscure for those who don't get the geographical reference, but it's got to be better than "Duke vs. North Carolina." It's not like the people at HBO's original entertainment division are idiots. They gave us The Sopranos, Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel and plenty of other compelling programming. I'm quite confident the hoops documentary will be outstanding as well. So it stands to reason that they could come up with a slightly catchier name. They do have the creative talent.

RIP, George Carlin - sports critic

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:34:20 -0500

Back in the day when folks used to play tapes in their cars (strange, but true!) I had a couple of George Carlin tapes that got very heavy use. He was one of the few stand-up comics that I followed closely. Heck, he was even the narrator on some of my kids' Thomas the Train videos. So you can imagine that I'm bummed about news of his passing today. I'm not going to try to write out some sappy tribute. Besides Carlin was not real big on sappy, emotional moments. He was, though, a big sports fans. Thus, I provide links to two of his best sports bits. First, the legendary baseball vs. football comparison. Remarkably, the language on that first bit is entirely clean. Very rare for Carlin. The language on this next bit, umm, is not. It also contains a reference to lacrosse at around the seven minute mark that is pretty homophobic, I'd say. So I'd suggest that you listen to this on your home computer and try to enjoy the rest of the bit aside from his unfortunate lacrosse remarks. Here is Carlin's Sport, not a Sport bit.

No Isner today at Wimbledon

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:25:00 -0500

But first, a brief complaint. Those of you who know me, as well those who occasionally read my stuff, know that I like tennis. So it pains me to say this, but ... Tennis may be the worst sport in the world when it comes to finding important information about it on the web. I'm not knocking the ATP. Rather it's the individual tournament sites. The hardest thing to find, invariably, is a freaking schedule of play for the day. Fortunately, that's what they pay me the big bucks (okay, a liveable wage) to do. So after trolling around for a bit on the Wimbledon site, I found this page that gives us the order of play today. There's no John Isner on it today. That's not really a surprise in singles, for this reason. Things kicked off with Roger Federer - who won easily, who'da thunk it? You'd expect then, that Rafael Nadal would be held back until tomorrow because tournament organizers like to spread out their big-ticket attractions. Since Isner is in Nadal's part of the draw (they'd meet in the second round if both win their first matches) then you'd figure Isner will play tomorrow. Weather permitting, of course. This is England in the summer, after all. Or heck, England any time of the year. What's interesting, and actually a bit puzzling to me, is that Isner is not part of the doubles draw. The guy he partnered with at the French Open, Sam Querrey, is playing with a big Dutchman named Robin Haase, who's currently giving Leyton Hewitt fits by the way. Isner and Querrey upset the No. 15 seed at the French and lost to the No. 1 team in the world in the Round of 16. I thought the huge-serving duo would want to try their luck again on the grass. I'm not sure why that didn't happen, but I'll try to find out from either John or his family. It's a little tricky running John down these days because his cell phone doesn't work in England. (See, pro athletes are just like you and me!) Anyway, that leaves Isner with just singles to worry about. And there's plenty there to worry about, actually. Sure there's Nadal lurking in the second round, but just getting to the second round would be a pretty significant accomplishment. First, consider that Isner is not exactly coming in the Wimbledown with a ton of momentum. In his last three tournaments - the French Open and two grass-court events - he's one and three. The one win was a nice one, over South African Kevin Anderson, but it's hard to get into a groove when you've only had four matches in the last month. Second, consider Isner's first-round opponent, Ernests Gulbis. Don't be fooled by the No. 48 world ranking. The 19-year-old Latvian is considered one of the top young talents in the game. He's shown recent signs of tapping into that potential, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open. That showing helped vault him up to his current ranking area, after he'd previously been ranked down in the 80's with Isner. Here's a sobering fact: Isner hasn't beaten a top-50 player like Gulbis since he knocked off Tommy Haas in San Jose back in Februrary, and Haas was just coming back from a shoulder injury at the time. I'm not trying to be pessimistic about Isner's chances. Trust me, the Gulbis camp couldn't have been pleased when they saw he'd drawn Isner. Just trying to give you a lay of the land right now for Isner. I still think he can make some hay on grass, but unfortunately, sometimes the draw has as much say in your tournament performance as the way you're playing. One bright spot: should Isner knock off Gulbis (and he's got a great shot, despite how much I'm talking up Gulbis) he'll almost certainly get some serious tv time if he takes on Nadal in the second round. Assuming, of course, the freaking thing is televised. Curse you ESPN 360, curse you.

Ex-Hornets, Bats, Hoppers in MLB

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:11:11 -0500

Gonna try to make this a reasonably regular feature. Click here for the status and stats of former Greensboro Minor Leaguers now in the Majors. This week's Ex-Hornet-Bat-Hopper profile belongs to Jai Miller, a speedy outfielder who played two full seasons here, hitting .205 in 2004 and .207 the following year. Nothing if not consistent, right? To Miller's credit, he kept working at it and the Marlins didn't give up on him. He advanced to Albuquerque this season and got a call-up Sunday morning. He struck out to end the game, and immediately afterwards, the Marlins announced they were sending him back to Triple-A. A few hours after that, Miller's name popped up on the team's disabled list. That's a busy day. Miller now hopes he can get healthy and return to the Marlins, thereby ensuring he won't wind up on this list someday. An interesting personnel move today from the Marlins: Catcher Torrey Langley, barely hitting his weight in Greensboro, has been promoted to Albuquerque. This doesn't seem like a permanent move, but Langley is only 20 and has to be jacked for the chance.