I’m back from Phoenix, where 9 days in baseball heaven has me even more pumped for June 17th than I already was.  I wrote a very long post Monday afternoon about everything I encountered at Papago Park and everything else baseball, and then when I hit Submit my computer froze.  Give me a couple more days when I have an hour or two to write it up again, and I will.

It’s getting old, very old:

Remember a few months ago when I ranted about how the Kane County Cougars are holding their breath as to whether or not Shane Keough, ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’ star, will join their team or not?  This is after he told all of America he plays for the Midwest League affiliate of the A’s in January. 

With my weekly subscription to the Cougars online newsletter this morning, I got a notice from the front office staff.

REMINDER: Will Shane Keough from the "Housewives of Orange County" be part of the 2008 Cougars roster?  One of the stars from the Bravo TV show is drawing a lot of interest among curious Cougars fans.  Check out www.kccougars.com for the latest details.

Talking to Rick Magnante last summer I got the feeling that Shane gets a bunch of 20-year-old girls following him in the States (on the road), but this is just insane.

On the website there’s someone to email if you want to get an answer on where Shane will play as soon as Kane County knows.  Well, he might not be a big-leaguer, but Shane Keough has certainly made it big.

And yes, I’m still getting 10-20 incoming people on my other blog who all searched for ‘Shane Keough 2008 Kane County Cougar star’.  That’s one way to get traffic.

Harden near perfect in Tokyo:

After dropping Game 1 of the Tokyo Opening Series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday morning (thanks Emil Brown), the Oakland A’s wanted revenge in the final game of the series, sending ex-Canadian and Victoria native Rich Harden to the hill, to encounter with last year’s World Series Game 4 pitcher Jon Lester.

Harden, who has been hampered with injury troubles over the last few years, struck out nine opposing Red Sox batters through six innings, giving up just three hits, one run (on a Manny Ramirez blast to left field), and three walks while picking up the win.  Nine strikeouts, for a guy who last picked up an MLB win (as a starter) 12 months ago!  Let’s just say all Canadian baseball fans should be proud right now.

The A’s won 5-1, and were helped by a three-run home-run by Emil Brown (yesterday’s goat), to go along with a 2-3 night by 2004 C’s catcher Kurt Suzuki.  Travis Buck continues to slump at the dish, going 0-5 (he’s hitless on the year), while leaving five runners left on base.  The only other ex-C who has participated in the series is Santiago/Jairo Casilla/Garcia, who pitched an inning today, striking out two and giving up a lone hit.

Oakland now returns to the Bay Area for a pair of exhibition games against the San Francisco Giants, before continuing their regular season series against the Red Sox a week from yesterday.  Joe Blanton and Harden will each pitch the remaining two games against the ‘Sox.

Get your brackets out:

Have you had a tough March Madness, with your favourite college basketball teams getting knocked out early?  I hear you Duke fans, but here’s your chance to redeem yourself.  May I present, the alternative March Madness edition of Canadians Bracketology:

Rob Fai and the Canadians are looking to the fans to decide who is the all-time greatest hitter and pitcher in Canadians history.  There are two parts to it, one for hitters, the other for pitchers.  In each part, it is the ‘Elite 8′ meaning there are eight players to choose from, with four going on and so on.

The two choices I’m stumped on, are whether Travis Buck is better than Nick Swisher, and if Javier ‘Roids’ Herrera can beat out Andre Ethier.  We shall see, but in the mean time get your picks int to Rob Fai, by following the link.

Side note: Minor League Baseball is having their own March Madness theme, by getting fans to decide who has the best name in Milb.   So far,  2007 Canadian Dusty Napoleon has moved onto the 2nd round, where he is facing  Woods Fines.  Dusty is, so far, winning.  I don’t know what will happen if he moves on, however, because he’s going up against guys whose names are, Smelin Perez, Gonzalo Gonzalez, Tagg Bozied, Benito Beato, Keltavious Jones, Rocky Roquet, Rowdy Hardy, Cirilo Cumberbatch, Brock Bond, Henry Henry, Tobi Stoner and my personal favourite, Winter Polo.  Good luck Dusty.