Sidelines

Andre Woodson's free fall

One glorious Saturday afternoon you are the acclaimed quarterback directing an upset victory over the No. 1-ranked college football team in the country, not to mention eventual national champs. Your name is among Heisman Trophy probables. Your NFL draft status screams first-round.

Six months later, it's a sad and lonely Sunday. You're watching the draft rounds click by -- three, four, five, six -- as your phone refuses to ring.

It had to be a hard fall for Andre Woodson, Kentucky's record-setting quarterback who saw 10 other signal-callers chosen before his name finally appeared as the 198th pick, a sixth-round selection by the New York Giants.

How did this happen?

Blame Mike Martz. Scouts were already starting to nitpick Woodson's game -- his unusual throwing motion, his lack of mobility -- when Martz, the controversial former St. Louis Rams head coach and current San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator, coached Woodson in the Senior Bowl. Martz tried to tinker with Woodson's delivery while throwing the former North Hardin star a 40-play list. The combination was a disaster. Woodson showed poorly. The scouts noticed. Woodson's star dropped.

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay wrote, "Martz and Woodson were a disastrous duo. Woodson never got comfortable in Martz's timing-based scheme and he hurried his release so much that his passes were off all week. And as he struggled, Woodson began to press and he became more inaccurate. After that week, Woodson has a mountain to climb to get back into the first round."

Few could have imagined, however, that Woodson would rock-drop below such names as Tennessee's Erik Ainge, San Diego's Josh Johnson and Oregon's Dennis Dixon, who is coming off major knee surgery.

Bottom line: The Senior Bowl cost Woodson a bundle. First-round picks get seven-figure contracts, most with guarantees. Sixth-round receive little more than a minimum salary and the tall task of making a team.

Which brings us to the team that picked Woodson. The New York Giants already have a Super Bowl winning quarterback in Eli Manning, and another ex-UK quarterback in backup Jared Lorenzen. Woodson's job will be to beat out newly-signed free agent David Carr and veteran Anthony Wright for the third qb spot. For all the disappointment of yesterday, that's certainly doable.

And, yes, there will be those Mr. Brightside's who will remind us that Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots back in 2000. Brady was the 199th pick, one choice behind where Woodson was selected yesterday.

I doubt, as Andre Woodson waited for that phone to ring Sunday, that was of little consolation.

Krivsky-for-Jocketty reaction

Two days since Big Bob Castellini sent Wayne Krivsky in the showers, and gave good buddy Walt Jocketty the big office.

Here are some reactionary links:

• Fired Krivsky blind to reality. [Tracy Ringolsby]
• Move to ax Krivsky should have come as no surprise. [Jon Heyman]
• Is Bob Castellini impatient or imprudent? [Paul Daugherty]
• Old-school Jocketty values positivity. [MLB.com]
• The Big Red Turnover Machine. [cbs.sportsline]
• "I don't know this team anymore." [On Baseball and the Reds]
• Krivsky: A clarification. [Hal McCoy]
• Jocketty should bring October baseball back to Cincinnati. [Richard Justice]
• Translating Jocketty's quotes. [Chris Sabo Goggles]
• Irony all around in Jocketty hiring. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Jasper: "I want to get closer to my family."

Derrick Jasper has spoken.

And it's not good news for UK.

The junior-to-be guard told the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper yesterday that he wants to be closer to his family so they can see more games.

"I want to get closer to my family," he told The Tribune on Thursday. "I’m kind of homesick, playing here in Kentucky, and I have been thinking about transferring to a West Coast school so that my family can attend more of my games."

Jasper said he thought Kentucky was headed in the right direction under Billy Gillispie, but, "It’s just that I want to be closer to home. Sitting out a year would also be good for my knee."

Jasper also admitted in the story that he would like to return to point guard.

Speculation has centered on Jasper landing at UNLV.

Ramel Bradley rapping tonight at The Dame

Ex-UK guard and aspiring rapper Ramel Bradley will be putting on a show, along with Jonathan Webb, tonight at The Dame in Lexington.

To promote his new CD and the local appearance, Bradley was seen outside the Classroom Building on the UK campus this week passing out fliers, and playing his music (loudly) on a boom box.

Ramel has never been shy.

More information about tonight can be found on The Dame's website.

The Dame lists the concert as appealing to fans of Jay-Z, Kanye West and Talib.

You can find out more about Ramel's rapping on his MySpace page.

The Herald-Leader's Cheryl Truman did a piece on Ramel's musical aspirations back on April 1.

The Krivsky firing

Wayne Krivsky was in a no-win situation.

When he took over as the Reds' general manager three years ago, Krivsky inherited farm system was still suffering from Jim Bowden's neglect.  The major league roster wasn't much better. So Krivsky did what he could. He wheeled. He dealed. His goal was to improve the talent without hurting the future. He traded the pipe dream that was Wily Mo Pena for Bronson Arroyo. He picked up Brandon Phillips for a song. He acquired Jeff Keppinger for next to nothing. He got Josh Hamilton and Jared Burton through the Rule 5 draft. They were improvements. Not enough to change the team's current losing course, but improvements nonetheless.

Trouble was, the man who hired Krivsky wants to win now. "No more losing," said Reds' owner Bob Castellini when Krivsky's firing was announced on Wednesday. Never mind that the Reds don't really have the talent to win now. Not big. Not enough to challenge for anything other than the possibility of a wild card spot. Maybe. If everything breaks right.

Krivsky said he was shocked, but should not have been. The day Castellini hired his old friend Walt Jocketty, the former St. Louis general manager, as special adviser, Krivsky's fate was sealed. That the pink slip was given this early is a bit of a surprise. The Reds had only played 21 games. But Castellini is an impatient man. And Jocketty has done it before, building Oakland into a contender, then guiding St. Louis to a World Series title.

Can Jocketty do it in Cincinnati? Yes, if he builds on what Krivsky started, while avoiding the mistakes. The Austin Kearns trade to Washington two years ago hasn't done much for either team. Krivsky overspent on Mike Stanton, Alex Gonzalez, Juan Castro, Corey Patterson. Hopefully, Jocketty's experience eliminates those mistakes.

Liveblog: UK-U of L baseball

From Jim Patterson Stadium:

• Final: Louisville 6, Kentucky 5

• Dominguez's single to right with two-out in the bottom of the ninth gives Louisville a 6-5 victory.

• Baber strikes out McClanahan for second out.

• Kentucky has changed pitchers. Brock Baber replaces Albers.

• Pinch-hitter Tyler Christensen walks to load the bases with one out.

• UK intentionally walks Dao to put runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

• Drew Hayne's sac bunt, on a 3-2 pitch, moves Richmond to second base with one out.

• Louisville's Josh Richmond leads off bottom of ninth with single up the middle.

• Still tied 5-5 going to the bottom of the ninth.
  • Cats go in order in top of the ninth. Cowgill struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch.

• Game tied 5-5 going to the ninth.
  • Louisville got a two-out single from Arnold. But Andrew Albers entered, and on the first pitch got Ijames to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

• Louisville's Chris Dominguez leads off with homer to tie it 5-5 in bottom of eighth.

• Cats out in order, but still up 5-4 in middle of eighth.

• Kentucky holds 5-4 lead through seven innings.
  • Cards waste a two-out single in the bottom of the inning.

• Louisville gets final out, but UK leads 5-4 at the seventh inning stretch.
  • Rose is 3-for-4 with four RBI. The redshirt freshman from New York had just one homer and 12 RBI on the year coming into the game.

• Kentucky takes a 5-4 lead with two out in the seventh.
  • Bryan Rose just knocked in his fourth run of the night. His double to left scored Sawyer Carroll from first base to put UK in front. Cats are still batting with two out.

• Tied 4-4 after six innings.
  • Louisville goes in order in the bottom of the sixth inning.
  • UK has four runs on 10 hits.
  • Louisville has four runs on four hits.
  • Attendance just announced at 3,652, largest in U of L regular-season history.

• Kentucky ties it up 4-4 in the top of the sixth.
  • Back-to-back doubles by Wade and Howe tie things up. Louisville left fielder Josh Richmond made a diving attempt at Howe's liner, but it went off his glove for the two-base hit. Wade scored to tie it.

• Louisville scores four times to take a 4-3 lead after five innings.
  • UK's wildness got the Cats in trouble. First two batters walked which set the table. Haynes drove in first run with a double. Then Dao's two-run single tied it. A sac fly by Dominguez with the bases loaded, after another walk, put U of L in front 4-3.

• Louisville has tied score 3-3 on two-run single by John Dao. Still just one out in fifth.

• After first-pitch ball to Josh Richmond, UK replaces Tilford with reliever Aaron Lovett.

• Louisville's first two batters each walk to start the bottom of the fifth.

• Cats remain on top 3-0 in middle of fifth.
  • Keenan Wiley opens inning with bunt single, but Cats retire in order after that. Even Bryan Rose goes down, bouncing out to first base. The Cards' first baseman Andrew Clark had a little trouble with the hopper in the sun, but still made the play.
  • It's a full house here, by the way.
  • UK has three runs on eight hits.
  • Louisville has no runs on two hits.

• Kentucky keeps 3-0 lead after four innings.
  • Louisville's Andrew Clark strikes out into a double play when Chris Dominguez is thrown out at second trying to steal. Cards had runners at first and third with one out.
  • Paxton was lifted after three innings. He allowed just one hit. He had started for UK last Saturday against Florida.
  • Clint Tilford pitched the fourth for the Cats.

• Wade thrown out trying to steal home, but UK up 3-0 in midle of fourth.
  
  • Wade tried to steal home but was thrown out at plate by relief pitcher Gabriel Shaw.
  • Rose had just homer on the year coming into the game. He now has three. Two have come on full-count pitches.
  • Catcher Tyler Howe was hit by a pitch for the 21st time this season, a UK single-season record.
  • Royse gave up six hits and three runs in 3 2/3 innings in his first start after 17 relief appearances this season.

• Louisville is lifting freshman pitcher Thomas Royse with two out and two on in the top of the fourth. UK leads 3-0.

• Bryan Rose just hit his second home run of the game to give UK a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

• Kentucky still up 2-0 after three.
  • Cards up and down in order in bottom of third. Paxton has allowed just one hit, a single, through three innings.
  • Louisville center fielder Drew Haynes fouled out off eight pitches in an 11-pitch at-bat before taking a called third strike for the second out.

• Wiley thrown out at plate as Louisville keeps margin to 2-0 in middle of third.
  • Wiley led off inning with a double. He moved to third on Cowgill's liner to right field. Carroll hit a fly ball to shallow left. Wiley tried to score, but left fielder Josh Richmond's throw, though a bit off line, still nailed Wiley at the plate. Neither Wiley nor UK coach John Cohen thought that catcher Jeff Arnold got the tag. The home plate ump ruled otherwise. Double play.

• Cards waste 2-out hit, trail 2-0 after two.
  • Louisville's Jeff Arnold singled off James Paxton with two out for the Cardinals' first hit. But Stewart Ijames grounded out to first to end the inning.

• UK up 2-0 in the middle of the second.
  • Tyler Howe strokes a two-out single, but Royse gets Chris Bisson to fly out harmlessly to left ending the inning.

• Louisville goes down in order in the bottom of the first. UK up 2-0.

• Kentucky leads 2-0 in the middle of the first.

• Designated hitter Bryan Rose just yanked a 3-2 pitch off Royse over the right-field fence, scoring Collin Cowgill in front of him to make it 2-0 UK in the top of the first.

• We're about five minutes from first pitch. Ex-Dunbar star Thomas Royse is the starter for Louisville. James Paxton is starting for UK.

Reds numbers

Some numbers concerning the now 8-12 Reds:

• Matt Belisle allowed 12 hits and five earned runs in his first start since being on the disabled list.

• Relief picther (for now) Jeremy Affeldt has dropped his ERA to 2.35.

• Reliever Todd Coffey has not allowed a run in his last 4 1/3 innings. His ERA has dropped from 8.00 to 5.40.

• In his first outing out of the bullpen, Josh Fogg allowed two runs in two innings. His ERA is now 12.46.

• Catcher Paul Bako has three hits in his last six at-bats.

• Adam Dunn has one two-hit game all season. Dunn has played in 19 games.

• Edwin Encarnacion has raised his batting average from .083 on April 8 to .273 after last night's game. Encarnacion is hitting .381 (16-42) over that stretch.

• Scott Hatteberg does not have a hit since April 10.

• Brandon Phillips has seen his batting average drop from .320 on April 12 to .250 after last night. Phillips has just three hits in 26 at-bats (.115) during that stretch.

• Joey Votto has hit four homers in his last five games.

Program note: UK-U of L baseball

I'll be at the UK-U of L baseball game tonight in Louisville.

If all goes well with wireless, hope to provide live updates.

If you can tear yourself away from the Pennsylvania primary coverage.

-- John

Quarterback comparison

Here's a pass-by-pass comparison of UK's two quarterbacks from Saturday's spring game:

Key
Situation is Down-To Go-Ball on (55 is opponents 45, etc.)
Descriptions
    om - over the middle
    lf - left flat
    ls - left sideline
    rs - right sideline
    spl - screen pass left         
    spr-screen pass right
    drs- deep right sideline
    dls - deep leftsideline
    dm - deep middle
    wgl - waggle left
    wgr - waggle right
    ez - to end zone
    lh - left hash
    rh - right has
Pass
    A number is number of yards on completion
    X - incomplete
    INT - interception

Mike Hartline passing

Q      Situation    Receiver    Des      Pass   Note                  
1    1-10-32    H-Mosley    om        13            
1    3- G-97    H-Nance    lf             x    drop little behind            
1    1-10-28    H-Henderson ls         x    threw it away            
1    2-10-28    H-Locke    spr           1               
1    3-  9-29    H-Long    om            x    off hands            
1    3-  3-23    H-Bogue    om         14               
1    1-10-37    H-Jones    drs            x    just missed            
1    3-  6-41    H-Smith    spr           5               
1    2-  4-54    H-Henderson   rs       x    broken up Wilson            
1    3-14-44    H-Long    spl             x    drop            
2    1-10-55    H-Lanxter    dm        INT  interception-Lentz   
2    2-  5-55    H-Wraley    rs            x               
2    3-  5-55    H-Henderson   ls        9               
2    1-10-76    H-Henderson wgl        x               
2    2-10-76    H-Mosley    rs             x               
2    3-10-76    H-Wraley    ez            x    had Lanxter open            
2    3-  5-35    H-Long    om             x    drop on target            
3    2-  4-54    H-Mosley    rs            x               
3    1-10-60    H-Bogue    ls             11               
3    3-  6-75    H-Lanxter    ez         25    TOUCHDOWN at 4:03 (16-10)
3    1-10-45    H-Hend    wgl             8               
4    2-  8-76    H-Lanxter    om          x    ez just ot            
4    3-  8-76    H-Smith    spr             x    drop            
4    1-10-57    H-Nance    om             4               
4    2-  6-61    H-Lanxter    rs            4               
4    3-  2-65    H-Lanxter    rs           30    nice throw and catch            
4    2-  9-41    H-Mosley    lh              x    low

Curtis Pulley passes

Q    Situation  Receiver  Des       Pass    Note                     
1    1-10-74    P-Lyons    ls            x    good rush Kelley
1    1-10-23    P-Lyons    rf           11   
1    3-  4-40    P-Adams    rs          x    through hands
2    2-14-31    P-Adams    lh          x    little behind at 45
2    3-14-31    P-Lyons    om        13   
2    2-  7-10    P-kdls    kd             x    knocked down at line
2    1-10-22    P-ta    ta                 x    good rush Peters
2    3-  7-41    P-Lyons    rs            x    off target
2    1-10-17    P-Cecil    lh            14   
2    1-10-42    P-Allen    spr          11   
2    2-13-50    P-Lyons    spl          5    t-McAtee
2    1-10-70    P-Locke    rs          12    stood up to rush
2    1-10-88    P-Lyons    om        12    TOUCHDOWN at 0:11 great catch
3    1-10-35    P-Adams    rs         x     thru hands
3    2-10-35    P-Cecil    ls            x   
3    3-10-35    P-Lyons    om        12   
3    2-  9-48    P-ta    rs                x     threw it away
3    3-  9-48    P-Allen    spr          x   
3    1-10-49    P-Lyons    rs           2   
3    2-  8-51    P-Lyons    rs           x   
3    4-  4-55    P-Lyons    om         6   
3    2-10-61    P-(?)                    INT    interception-Kelley
4    1-10-35    P-Adams    om        x     wide open at 65
4    2-10-35    P-Lyons    om          9   
4    2-  6-53    P-Lyons    om        23    good throw
4    1-10-76    P-Drake    om          x    broken up Cobb near int

SEC East baseball race

Kentucky's series win over Florida this past weekend put the Cats at 9-9 in the SEC, which would barely qualify for the conference tournament. The league takes the top two division winners, and the next six teams with the best winning percentage.

Ole Miss leads the SEC West at 10-8. Alabama is second at 8-10.

As for the SEC East, Georgia is way out in front at 13-4-1. But after the Bulldogs, there is just two games difference between second-place South Carolina (11-7) and last-place Kentucky (9-9).

Here's a look at the remaining conference schedules for each SEC East team, with the remaining opponents winning percentage:

    * Florida (10-8)
          o April 25-27 Georgia (13-4-1)
          o May 2-4 at South Carolina (11-7)
          o May 9-11 at Alabama (8-10)
          o May 15-17 Vanderbilt (10-7)
          o Remaining opponents record: 42-28-1
          o Percentage: .599

    * Georgia (13-4-1)
          o April 25-27 at Florida (10-8)
          o May 2-4 Ole Miss (10-8)
          o May 9-11 at Vanderbilt (10-7)
          o May 15-17 Alabama (8-10)
          o Remaining opponents record: 38-33
          o Percentage: .535

    * Kentucky (9-9)
          o April 25-27 at Vanderbilt (10-7)
          o May 2-4 LSU (6-11-1)
          o May 9-11 at Tennessee (10-8)
          o May 15-17 Ole Miss (10-8)
          o Remaining opponents record: 36-34-1
          o Percentage: .514

    * South Carolina (11-7)
          o April 25-27 at LSU (6-11-1)
          o May 2-4 Florida (10-8)
          o May 9-11 at Arkansas (7-10)
          o May 15-17 Tennessee (10-8)
          o Remaining opponents record: 33-37-1
          o Percentage: .472

    * Tennessee (10-8)
          o April 25-27 at Mississippi State (4-14)
          o May 2-4 Vanderbilt (10-7)
          o May 9-11 Kentucky (9-9)
          o May 15-17 at South Carolina (11-7)
          o Remaining opponents record: 34-37
          o Percentage: .479

    * Vanderbilt (10-7)
          o April 25-27 Kentucky (9-9)
          o May 2-4 at Tennessee (10-8)
          o May 9-11 Georgia (13-4-1)
          o May 15-17 at Florida (10-8)
          o Remaining opponents record: 42-29-1
          o Percentage: .590