End of Week Link Roundup

Two weeks worth of links so we won't cover Jim Joyce here. That's for another post (I could write an essay on it at this point). So here's your Jim-Joyce-less links for the week. Instead, I'll leave you with an AP photo of the Stadium before the Cotto/Foreman fight last night. Enjoy!

We're Talking Baseball (Yankees Baseball):

• According to Conor Orr of The Star-Ledger, Jesus Montero is a lonely man in Triple-A. Lonely can also describe the fate of the 5 player drafted in front of Derek Jeter according to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. Speaking of Jeter, within this notebook from Buster Olney of ESPN, he mentions that his early-season struggles (and that of A-Rod) will hurt Jeter's off-season contract negotiations.
• Of all the staggering things about Mariano Rivera's 1996 season, Rebecca from This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes picks out her most staggering and ESPN's TMI blog has the staggering stats of 38-year-old Andy Pettitte actually getting better as the game ages.
• Ben from River Ave Blues (rightly) blasts Yankee Stadium for being state-of-the-art yet banning technology. TheCommonMan @ IIATMS (rightly) asks if Joe West has a conflict of interest.
• The Futility Infielder, Jay Jaffe, does what every blogger should be able to do at some point: watch a game from the press box. Right next to the press box is the radio booth and John Sterling would be proud of the name of this blog: You Can't Predict Baseball
• Deadspin with two funny links: The American Idol finale and Derek Jeter. Kim Jones and a pork chop. And speaking of funny, 'Duk from Big League Stew, has pictures, quotes and videos from Target Field's first wildlife delay.
• Jason @ IIATMS takes pictures of people in his section at Yankee Stadium (it truly is the Bronx Zoo some nights) and Zell's Pinstripe Blog has a Kei Igawa sighting in the Bronx. NoMass photoshops some of the Yankees with LOST and the result is awesome.
• Joe from FanGraphs looks at catchers good enough to DH in the wake of Jorge Posada becoming the Yankees everyday DH while Marc from FanGraphs takes a look at all the top 10 prospect lists on the AL East teams. Speaking of prospects, former Yankees prospect Kanekoa Texeira is on the move again according to MLBTradeRumors.

Potent Quotables:

• The New York Daily News' Flip Bondy with a quote that made me cringe: "The DH may forever represent an unwanted demotion for older sluggers - Matsui, too, felt that way - but it is the fate of almost everyone, if they're good enough to hang around. Thurman Munson was spared this indignity, in tragic fashion, dying at age 32." Yes, I'm sure dying was so much better

Elsewhere Around Baseball:

• SI's Joe Sheehan lists the Yankees and Rays among the teams that have an unfair advantage in interleague play. Maury Brown from The Biz of Baseball writes about the Texas Rangers bankruptcy drama. ESPN's Rob Neyer writes about Ted Lilly cheating and Twitter catching him. FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal says that losing Kendry Morales isn't the Angels only problem (though they've been great since he's been out).
• Ray Glier of the New York Times writes about Mike Leake who skipped the minors and has been helping out the Reds this season. Buster Olney has more on Leake who he labels "the real rookie phenom". Speaking of phenoms, Andrew at Beyond The Boxscore has an awesome video of a nasty Ubaldo Jiminez pitch
• Speaking of the other rookie phenom, it looked like Stephen Strasburg was lined up to pitch on June 4th as Craig Calcaterra of HardballTalk writes. But then word came down from ESPN that his first start would be against the Pirates. Finally June 8th was announced as the date and The Washington Post has word about soaring ticket prices.
• FanGraphs with a great primer on UZR. Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com on who have been the best drafters. Speaking of prospects, Jon from Subway Squawkers points out the Mets traded two of the top home run hitters in the American League in the same deal for Kris Benson. Rob Neyer on the Mets' tough situation with Oliver Perez. FanGraph's Dave Cameron tells us what we learned in May around baseball.
• Jason @ IIATMS rants about Justin Morneau and other All-Star Game objections and Ben from River Ave Blues gives his own list of objections. Big League Stew's Alex Remington says that one person who won't be an All-Star is a man not pitching up to his contract: John Lackey.
• Baseball Prospects via TMI tells us that the NL's best pitchers are who we thought they were. Bill Chuck of the New York Times looks at the records of expansion teams. ESPN's TMI blog tells us who the biggest rally killers in baseball are. FanGraphs has a list of great players that got away from teams in the American League West and National League West.
• Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about the female knuckelballer making her United States professional debut. Big League Stew has Old Hoss Radbourn review a book about, well, Old Hoss Radbourn. CNBC's Darren Rovell has word of the sports toy of the year which he thinks will take on the Whiffe Ball. MLBTradeRumors looks at the 1990 Trade Deadline. MLBTradeRumors also has news about Brandeis alum and former Met Nelson Figueroa being designated for assignment.

Other Sports:

• According to ESPN, the American Needle case ended with the Supreme Court ruling that the NFL is 32 separate teams. Speaking of SCOTUS, Adam Liptak of The New York Times has a great article about the Court and their baseball allegiances. ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk has word from former Giant Antonio Pierce that Tom Coughlin is on the hot seat.
• Deadspin writes that Eddy Curry can't pay his bills (and make sure to read why) and The Indy Channel has word about another former Knick big man, Zack Randolph, who is implicated in a drug investigation. ESPN's Chad Ford writes about how the Knicks will lure LeBron and others.
• Andrew Gross of The Record writes about the Rangers and Islanders first trade since 1972.

Potpourri:

• The New York Daily News writes about Governor Patterson reenacting a scalping law in New York.
• The Sporting News has an awesome Adidas Star Wars ad
• Big props to outgoing WBRS Sports Director Adam Rosen who got big props from The Justice's Trevor Cohen. Slate interviews Joe Posnanski about getting wrong as a sports writer (H/T Jen)
• Jay passes along this blog post from Rick Green of the Hartford Courant that Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine has rated Hartford, Connecticut as one of the 10 cool cities to watch in the upcoming decade.
• AdFreak says that Victoria's Secret is a big Tranformer's 3 fan. Movieline on Holy Rollers and Ari Graynor's "quirky Jewishness". Variety on a great "save our show" protest planned for Flash Forward
• Mashable on the AP Stylebook adding 42 new guidelines for social media
• Grub Street New York says that you can now hire your own food runner to get your Shake Shack for you. Also from Grub Street New York, 2010 Summer Restaurant Week dates have been announced (H/T Sarah)
• Good news for New York commuters: Cablevision and other companies have submitted proposals to provide WiFi for Metor-North and LIRR according to Ben of 2nd Ave. Sagas
• Lastly, Sarah has some Gawker links for us: Every show on TV classified, a guide to summer TV, and Fleshbot's NSFW guide on watching TV with your pants off

Hope you've had a great weekend. More to come later!