The St. Louis Cardinals suffered a huge setback today after Albert Pujols strained his right oblique muscle. The injury occurred in the second inning today against the Chicago Cubs when Pujols was chasing a pop fly ball off the bat of Aramis Ramirez. Pujols will be reevaluated tomorrow, but is expected to go on the DL and could be gone for up to six weeks. Pujols is having a MONSTER year with 25 home runs and 65 rbi’s to date. It’s a shame this had to happen because I want so bad for someone to break Bonds home run record and Albert is just the man who could concur such a record. Hurry back Albert!

Roger Clemens just hit black gold aka Texas tea yesterday with the Houston Astros. The two came to an agreement for Clemens to pitch the rest of the year for $22 million. I was shocked initially because he didn’t sign with the Red Sox or Yankees, but more shocked at the price tag. The Astros do NOT have a chance at the World Series and in my opinion will be lucky to make the playoffs. Their offense is down right atrocious and they have marginal picthing at best. I know Roger is the biggest thing going and he will help the Astros, but the cost to get him and supporting cast around him do not add up. Clemens will be very happy with his bank account after the season and that will be about it! The Astros on the other hand will regret making this deal in the long run.

The hullabaloo over Barry Bonds hitting his 714th career home run and tying Babe Ruth is now over. This will only lead to even more build up for him passing Ruth and moving into second place all alone, but not here at Sports Underground. I only want to point out, as I like to do every chance I get, what a classless act Barry Bonds is and will continue to be. A 19 year old young man named Tyler Snyder was the person who caught Bond’s homer yesterday in Oakland. Snyder quickly left the game with his souvenir because I’m sure he was worried about someone attempting to take the record tying ball. When Bonds was told Snyder is an A’s fan, he cracked back with: “I, um, forgive you. If he doesn’t like me, give me the ball.” Another wonderful example that Barry Bonds is the equivalence of pond scum!

All the talk in the baseball world has been about Barry Bonds and his attempt to pass Babe Ruth’s home run record. Stonecoldjz hit on this earlier in the week, and for the most part, I agree with him. Let’s forget about the fact that it’s not even the MLB record. Instead, let’s talk about the ball itself. MLB has made it crystal clear they have no intentions of making a big deal about it if and when Bonds passes Babe Ruth. As a matter of fact, until today, there were no plans to even put special markings on the ball to verify it’s authenticity. But Bob DuPuy, MLB’s chief operating officer, decided there was no good reason not to add the markings to the ball. So today, a shipment of balls will arrive in Philadelphia and the officials will use the balls when Barry comes to the plate.

The only good reason I can come up with to use these balls is to keep there from being a controversy after the ball goes into the stands. And with controversy, comes even more media coverage. To be honest, I’m tired of hearing about it. So I’m all for getting the special balls in play. When Bonds moves into SECOND PLACE, NOT FIRST, the clowns in the stands will be able to identify the ball, and sell it for an unreasonable amount of money. It’s SECOND PLACE PEOPLE!!!

“Until Barry or anybody else gets close to Aaron, I think that’s really going to be the big thing. … Nobody remembers who finishes second,” Al Kaline, who hit 399 career homers, said before teeing off Friday.

I wonder what the other real Hall of Famers think about this. Well, Harmon Killebrew, #8 on the HR list, and others are fairly uncomfortable talking about it.

“If they’re doing something that is an illegal situation, that’s different,” Killebrew said Friday. “That’s why I say there’s a cloud over baseball right now. You hate to point any fingers at anybody because you don’t really know for sure.

So I guess until he breaks the SECOND PLACE record, I’m just going to have to deal with it. Crap!

I was really hoping this day wouldn’t come, but the train is coming down the tracks very quickly.  Barry Bonds currently has 712 home runs and needs two to tie Babe Ruth and three to pass the ultra legend.  The man is one helluva a baseball player and always has been well before the steroids era.  I know there will always be a huge cloud over all the records Bonds will or has achieved due to roids, but I hope more than anything else people remember the magnitude of his awful personality.  Barry is an absolute 100% A-HOLE and no matter what he does I will always tell my kids that he was VERY overrated and not worth his salt.

In a matter or hours the Houston Astros can begin negotiations with Roger Clemens again. Under MLB rules, teams can re-sign their former players who became free agents through December 7th or January 8th if offered salary arbitration and again starting May 1st. Clemens agent said Roger is willing to listen, but don’t count on him pitching until June at the earliest. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers are also interested in talking with the baseball icon. When it comes time for Roger to make his decision you can bet your bottom dollar he will end up pitching for the Boston Red Sox. They have the best chance to win a World Series and they are already discussing the idea of retiring his jersey at the end of the year should he come back.

Albert Pujols broke the record for most home runs in April yesterday in a win over the Washington Nationals.  In the eighth inning Albert blasted his 14th home run in April and put the Cardinals in the lead for good 2-1.  The St. Louis slugger hit the 411 foot bomb off Jon Rauch.  Pujols also tied the St. Louis team record for April with his 32 major league leading RBI’s.  Call me crazy, but I suspect Albert will hit another bomb today against Zach Day to further enhance what has been one hell of an April.

Delmon Young, outfielder for the Durham Bulls, decided he had had enough on Wed. night. When called out on strikes (the nerve of an umpire to do that!), Young threw the bat at the umpire. Seriously. What in the world could be going through your mind to make you want to do something like that. Young is one of the better minor league players, as he was the first pick in the draft in 2003 and won the Baseball America minor league player of the year in 2005. His older brother is Dmitri Young of the Detroit Tigers. Now, I know what you’re thinking…it was a replacement ump….a scab (the regular minor league officials are on strike…nothing good ever comes from strikes). BS! You throw a bat at someone, you should have charges brought against you and you should be suspended for the very minimum of a year, maybe even two. The spoiled brats are going to have to get it into their tiny little minds that you DON’T rule the world and that the world DOESN’T cater to you and only you. Throw the book at him!

Four times out to the mound this year so far for Greg Maddux and four times now he has won. Maddux threw seven scoreless innings today against the Cardinals in the 7-3 Cubs win. Maddux is the only 40-plus right-handed starter in MLB yet he is still at the top of his game. He threw a season high 93 pitches and lowered his ERA 34 points to a league leading 0.99. Maddux beat the Cardinals for the second time this year and helped the Cubs avoid a three game series sweep.