Thinking Out Loud

Taking in a few different things on this Friday night....

Kyle Hudson has three hits for Aberdeen tonight. The Oriole draft pick was quite the collegiate athlete. Played center field and safety for the Illini. There was never any doubt that his future remained in baseball. Be interesting to watch him develop in the O's chain.

Another former Big Ten baseball player is starting to get hot for the Orioles minor league system as well. Matt Angle has really turned it on of late in Delmarva. I still have hopes for him to maybe someday be a major league outfielder. Angle picked up another 3 hits tonight, including two doubles.

Alexi Casilla injured his middle finger in the matchup between Milwaukee and Minnesota tonight. The Milwaukee announcer said it was fitting to have a middle finger injury in the border war.

The Brewers keep playing well. They keep winning ballgames and they might get another win tonight, as they lead the Twins 6-5 in the sixth. But the Twins have a man on and Joe Mauer at the plate. Mauer is still my vote for AL catcher. Back to Milwaukee, they sit in third in the NL Central, but you've got to think they are real contenders for at least the NL Wild Card.

Looks like the Yankees are going to get the split in the Subway Doubleheader. The Mets won the opener at Yankee Stadium 15-6, but the Yanks lead 6-0 at Shea tonight.

Great to see Jake Arrieta named to the US Futures Team yesterday. I hope he ends up on the Olympic squad later this summer. Arrieta has pitched well at High-A Frederick and seems to be a real prospect for the Birds. He may get a promotion to AA-Bowie later this summer. But I think for now the O's want to make sure he is fully recovered from the back injury that bothered him earlier this summer.

I still like Spain in the EURO Final on Sunday. The Spaniards were somewhere around 5 1/2 to 1 before the start of the tournament. Just saying.

Some good college hoops matchups became known this week. Syracuse plays at Memphis on December 20th, the Mount plays at Georgetown the same day. Texas and UCLA will hook up again this year, but this time in Austin. Meanwhile A&M will host Arizona, which has both Lute Olson and Chase Budinger coming back. USC plays at Oklahoma and Washington State travels to Baylor. Arizona will also face Kansas again this season.

Syracuse picked up a commitment for Iowa State transfer guard Wesley Johnson. The All-Big 12 rookie selection should help the Orange when he becomes eligible in November of 2009.