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With their first-round pick, the Red Sox selected outfielder Reymond Fuentes, a high schooler from Puerto Rico. Fuentes is the cousin of Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran, meaning that the Sox have taken a player with big-league bloodlines with their top pick for the second straight year, following Casey Kelly’s selection in the first round last year. Reymond Fuentes is considered a player whose natural abilities — with tremendous speed and raw power — make him a high-upside selection.

Reymond Fuentes, 18, listed at 6-foot-1, and weighing 165 pounds - is described as raw in his offensive approach, with a need to improve his plate discipline. The Sox have not shied from such players with their top overall picks, most notably when they took Clay Buchholz in the sandwich round of the 2005 draft and Jason Place with their first pick in the 2006 draft.

Reymond Fuentes is drawing comparisons in many corners to Johnny Damon. So that would make two top Red Sox picks in the last five drafts — Fuentes and Jacoby Ellsbury — who have drawn that comparison.

This marks the third straight year that the Sox have taken a player in the draft out of Puerto Rico, following shortstop Kenneth Roque (20th round, 2007) and Christian Vazquez (9th round, 2008). Prior to Roque’s selection, the Sox hadn’t taken a player out of Puerto Rico since 1997. Reymond Fuentes is the first first-rounder out of Puerto Rico since 2000, when the Jays took Miguel Negron with the 18th overall selection.

Here is what Baseball America had to say about Reymond Fuentes:

“A relative of Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran, Fuentes is an electric, game-changing player. The (5-foot-10), (165)-pound center fielder is slender, but has wiry strength and can put a change in a ball during batting practice. Like a ticking clock, Reymond Fuentes hits line drives from foul pole to foul pole with his lefthanded swing. Reymond Fuentes also an elite runner, clocking in at just under 6.3 seconds in the 60-yard dash at Puerto Rico’s annual Excellence Tournament in early May. In game situations, Reymond Fuentes stays within himself, goes with a contact-oriented approach and lets his plus speed play to his advantage. These tools make Fuentes an ideal leadoff hitter. Defensively, Reymond Fuentes range will allow him to stay in center field as a professional. Right down to his below-average arm, he’s a similar player to the Yankees’ Johnny Damon.”

The Sox were true to their promised approach of selecting the best player available, rather than focusing on need. The Sox have a number of young athletic outfielders in the lower levels of the minors — including players such as Ryan Kalish, Ryan Westmoreland, Pete Hissey, Che-Hsuan Lin and Jason Place. Reymond Fuentes adds to that well-populated group.

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Who is Slade Heathcott? Slade Heathcott 2008 AFLAC Bowman Rookie Card

Slade Heathcott is a 2009 LHP/OF with a 6'1'', 196 lb. frame from Texarkana, TX who attends Texas. Slade Heathcott is an outstanding two way prospect. Slade Heathcott has a great pitchers build and pitches in the low 90's. Slade Heathcott locates his pitches well and has an outstanding curveball with late sharp break. His curveball was one of the best at the event. Slade Heathcott also mixed in a 78 mph change. Outstanding total package on the mound. Slade Heathcott also shows big time arm strength from the outfield and was gunned at 94 mph. Slade Heathcott has a good swing at the plate with good bat speed. Slade Heathcott drives the ball to all fields and makes hard barrel contact. Slade Heathcott looks very comfortable in the box and made hard game contact. Top level two way prospect to follow in the 2009 class.

Slade Heathcott is an enigma for scouts. Slade Heathcott is a legitimate second-round talent as both an outfielder and a lefthanded pitcher, but Slade Heathcott has DHed for most of the spring. Slade Heathcott was out until mid-March recovering from November surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, then jammed his throwing shoulder diving for a fly ball in his second game back.

Slade Heathcott was selected for the Aflac All-American Game last summer as a pitcher, and some clubs like him more as a lefty with an 88-92 mph fastball that touches 94 and a promising curveball. There's effort in his delivery because he approaches pitching like he does everything else: full speed ahead.

Slade Heathcott hasn't pitched this spring because of the shoulder injury, however. His makeup also is a concern for several clubs, so it's uncertain where he'll fit in the draft. Slade Heathcott committed to Louisiana State.

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French Open Mens Final 2009, Roger Federer has everything but he needs everything to win his very first French Open Mens 2009 title and his 14th Grand Slam title. Will Roger Federer can beat Robin Soderling in this French Open Mens Final 2009? Robin Soderling is underdog player who can make to French Open Mens Final 2009. Take a look at what each player have:

Roger Federer

2009 overall 32-6
2009 clay 15-2
Current winning streak 12
Sets lost during winning streak 7
Sets lost this week 6
Bagal sets this week 1

Robin Soderling

2009 overall 15-10
2009 clay 10-4
Current winning streak 9
Sets lost during winning streak 5
Sets lost this week 4
Bagal sets this week 0

Head to head

Overall - Federer 9-0 Soderling
2009 overall - Federer 1-0 Soderling
2009 clay overall - Federer 1-0 Soderling
Clay overall - Federer 2-0 Soderling
Total completed sets overall - Federer 18-1 Soderling

Grand Slam final performances

Roger Federer

2003 Wimbledon winner
2004 Wimbledon winner
2004 Australian Open winner
2005 Wimbledon winner
2005 US Open winner
2006 Australian Open winner
2006 French Open runner up
2006 Wimbledon winner
2006 US Open winner
2007 Australian Open winner
2007 French Open runner up
2007 Wimbledon winner
2007 US Open winner
2008 French Open runner up
2008 Wimbledon runner up
2008 US Open winner
2009 Australian Open runner up

Robin Soderling

None

Wow this is Special Edition watch for Roger Federer on sale Men's Miros Chronographe Roger Federer. And this for girls out there to wear during the French Open Mens Final 2009 match Got Federer ? Women's tee Shirt in 6 Colors Small thru XXL on sale now.

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Randy Smith, 60, apparently suffered a heart attack, while riding a treadmill at his home in Norwich. Randy Smith, Buffalo State's all-time athletic hero and one of the most popular players in Buffalo Braves history, died unexpectedly in Connecticut on Thursday, according to close friends and former college teammates.

The former NBA "Iron Man" first came to Buffalo in 1967 to compete in a state high school track meet at Buffalo State. Randy Smith won the high jump at a state-record 6 feet, 6 inches and was recruited by Buffalo State, where Randy Smith became an All-American in Division I soccer and on the small college level in basketball and track and field. Randy Smith led the Bengals to the NCAA College Division Final Four in Evansville, Ind., in 1970.

Durie Burns, a teammate of Randy Smith's at Buffalo State, told The News that he had learned of Randy Smith's death from Randy Smith's wife, Angela.

"I was shocked," said Burns, who now lives in Orange Park, Fla. "My wife and I had been with Randy Smith and his wife at Randy Smith mother's 78th birthday celebration in North Carolina not long ago."

Randy Smith was drafted by the Buffalo Braves in the seventh round in 1971. Coach Johnny McCarthy gave the rookie his first career start as a 6-foot-3 small forward against Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor and the Los Angeles Lakers in Memorial Auditorium. Randy Smith didn't shrink from that challenge and continued to excite Buffalo fans for the next seven seasons before the team moved to San Diego. By the time the Braves left, Randy Smith had scored 10,465 points, surpassing Bob McAdoo's team record of 9,434. Randy Smith averaged 24.6 points in the Braves' final season.

Over a stretch of 12 seasons - a record 906 games - Randy Smith never missed a game in the NBA. The streak began in 1973 with Buffalo and continued until the 1982-83 season during his second stint with San Diego. Randy Smith also played with Cleveland, the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks in his NBA career. Randy Smith scored 26,262 points in 976 NBA games in his career and was the Most Valuable Player of the 1978 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta after he scored 27 points off the bench.

1973-74, Randy Smith was one of several stars on an exciting Braves team under Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay.

After Randy Smith's playing career ended, Randy Smith joined the NBA front office as director of player programs. After a few years, Randy Smith left the league office to coach the Hartford Hellcats team in the Continental Basketball Association in 1995. It was a failed effort. The easy going Randy Smith just wasn't hard-bitten enough to be a coach. A year later he went to work as an executive host for the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., where Randy Smith remained until his death.

The Randy Smith League, the inner-city youth basketball program Randy Smith sponsored, carried on in Buffalo after he left the city. Randy Smith was enshrined in the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, the Hall's second class.

A native of Bellport, on Long Island, Randy Smith is survived by his second wife, Angela, two sons, Brandon and Dominique, and a daughter, Terran.

This is for Randy Smith fans Randy Smith autographed Basketball Card (New York Knicks) Grab Now....

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The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Nate McLouth to Atlanta in exchange for three prospects, according to a statement released by the Braves.

It's not surprising to see the Braves acquire some outfield help; none of their outfielders has an OPS above .700 and they're still well within striking distance in the NL East. Nate McLouth was an All-Star in 2008 and despite an oblique injury, he was off to a good start in 2009, hitting .256/.349/.470 with nine home runs for the Pirates. In addition to his offense, he won a Gold Glove last year playing center field in spacious PNC Park.

For the Pirates, this is a bit more complicated. Everyone knows their new front office is rebuilding the club, but Nate McLouth was signed affordably through 2011 and the Pirates aren't picking up either of the Braves' best prospects, Tommy Hanson, who was called up to Atlanta Tuesday, and Jason Heyward in the deal.

Pirates' GM Neal Huntington comments:
"This may be the toughest decision we have made in my time with the organization. Nate is a quality player and person but, as we have said several times, tough decisions will need to be made as we build and sustain a championship-caliber organization. Nate has worked as hard as any player to become a starting major league Player, proving wrong anyone who may have doubted him. When we signed Nate to a long-term contract, we did so with the intent on having him remain part of our core of homegrown talent. But the quality and quantity of talent we are receiving in this trade moves us closer to our goal of building that sustainable championship-caliber club and compelled us to move a very good player and an outstanding young man."

I'm naturally predisposed to be excited by these sorts of trades--I like prospects, and I don't get as attached to established players as most fans do. I'm fine with the idea of trading Nate McLouth, it makes perfect sense in terms of the Bucs' overall plan, and they should be listening to offers on other veterans too. I'm just not sure about the return. I'm intrigued, but I'm not blown away. I think the best way to explain this deal is to say that Nate McLouth probably isn't as good as most of us think he is. The Pirates, like a lot of people around baseball, have probably come to view Nate McLouth as defensively challenged and better suited to a corner, where his bat isn't anything special.

What is a 20-homer center fielder with a decent glove and good speed worth? Is it more than Hernandez, Locke, and Morton? Did Huntington sell high here, or is he shipping away a perennial All-Star? These are the real questions Pirate fans need to be asking tonight.

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DENVER -- For all the weird smack-talking from those Nike puppets, all the relentless marketing pushes by a sports-drink firm that suggests Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are on "a collision course," guess what? They might be headed for a Porsche-Hummer crash instead, which would be a colossal waste of ad-world brainpower and, when you consider the megastars excluded, our great entertainment loss in June.

No one is pondering a Denver vs. Orlando matchup, least of all ABC, which would watch in horror as a compelling postseason marked by fat cable ratings suddenly fades to black in the NBA Finals. "I'm sure the world does want Cleveland and the Lakers, the best two players in the world and the chance to see them in a seven-game series," said Nuggets star Chauncey Billups. "But I don't want to see it. And I'm trying my best to make sure it doesn't happen."

If Kobe and LeBron are the stars of the big show, they also share the same dilemma: They don't have enough help around them, unlike a team such as the Nuggets, who flashed the requisite skill, depth, energy and rebounding aggression to thrive Monday night even when their own star, Carmel-O Anthony, extended his rut to three full quarters and 11 minutes of a fourth without a basket -- an 0-for-14 vapor zone that finally ended just before halftime of Game 4. To be fair, he was dehydrated, fighting a stomach virus and playing on a sprained ankle.

"When I left my house, I felt fine. When I got here, for some reason, my stomach didn't feel good," Anthony said. "I had to get a couple of IVs, and then I wound up twisting my ankle."

Knowing how Bryant has battled through sick games -- and, of course, the incomparable Michael Jordan -- we might not want to give Anthony his own TV puppet just yet. To be a playoff legend, you don't interrupt an amazing run of five straight 30-point blitzes by stumbling for a game and a half in the biggest series of your career. Fortunately for him on his 3-of-16 night, he was bailed out by a steely coach-in-sneakers named Billups, a sizzling shooter in JR (Swish) Smith, a tattooed crowd magnet like the wing-flapping Chris (Birdman) Andersen, the mean Kenyon Martin, the serviceable Dahntay Jones and an increasingly valuable reserve in Linas Kleiza. The Nuggets were in control throughout and won 120-101, tying the Western Conference finals at 2-2 and leaving a lasting image of an exhausted Bryant resting on the Lakers bench, his head wrapped in a towel just two days after taking two IVs.

Needing seven games to vanquish inferior Houston is taking its toll on Bryant, who looks around and sees only Pau Gasol contributing regularly on a team that looks incapable of winning an NBA championship. Andrew Bynum showed up offensively in Game 4, but will he the next game? "It was a three-man show, and that wasn't enough," Nuggets coach George Karl said. Kobe seemed prepared to one-up James in the hottest national sports debate going -- who's better? -- when he gutted out a spectacular performance in Game 3. But too many of his teammates are playing close to dead, prompting the same doubts that have dogged the Lakers through the postseason: Why don't they show up for every game? Why is the collective effort so sporadic?

Or is it maybe a case of the Lakers simply not being that good?

"They just kicked our ass. It's not like we turned it on, turned it off. They whooped us," said Bryant, who scored 34 points in 41 minutes. "They whooped us on the glass, whooped us on loose balls. There was no [on-off] switch for us. They played harder. They played better.

"You've got to push through [the fatigue]. We have young guys who are tired. Maybe they're thinking, 'I don't have to go get this loose ball,' as opposed to taking every possession as if that's the last one."

Phil Jackson, meanwhile, chose the approach he has taken since his early spring times with the dynasty Bulls. When his team is struggling in a series, blame the officials. True, as Charles Barkley and many analysts have emphasized, the refs have stunk throughout the playoffs. But poor calls are not why the Lakers lost, contrary to Jackson's belief that they ignored dirty play by Jones, the Denver defender who has been wearing out Bryant.

"Basketball is a game where the aggressor gets the advantage," said the Lakers coach and worldly philosopher. "Tonight, we didn't know what a foul was or wasn't. At the start of the game, you had guy knocked around, and we thought they were gonna let these things go without being called. At the end, fouls were called all over the place. That's not how we want to play. When we're always on our heels, we're suddenly not the aggressors anymore."

Then he focused on a fourth-quarter situation, with the outcome all but decided, when Lakers reserve Luke Walton was whistled for a technical foul after complaining about his sixth personal foul. "Luke got hit in the throat by Nene with an elbow, and the ref gave him a technical, and then subsequently [the Nuggets] were given three consecutive fouls," Jackson said. "That's the kind of disparity we don't like. We want it to be fair and evenly played. There was unacceptable defense by Jones, tripping guys, playing unsportsmanlike basketball. And it's not the first time it has happened in this series. It happened in two other games."

Indeed, as Bryant was running downcourt, Jones did get a foot in the way and sent him flying to the floor. "Kobe [bleeps]! Kobe [bleeps]!" chanted the fans, who have despised Bryant since a 2004 Colorado rape case that was dismissed. Was it intentional?

"No, I just fell on my face. A klutz," said Bryant, oozing sarcasm.

Sure you want to tick off Bryant with a potential three games left?

"I don't see why not. He's another basketball player," Anthony said. "If Kobe gets mad, he gets mad."

Thing is, the Nuggets can get away with such talk because they are the better team. Whether they win the series is another story, because they're still capable of the dunderhead decisions and late-game collapses that cost them two games. "We feel like we're one of the best teams," Anthony said, "but we've got to prove that." Karl could only play dumb when it was mentioned Billups stole a fourth-quarter inbounds pass. In Denver's two losses, of course, the Nuggets had inbounds passes stolen by Trevor Ariza, with Lamar Odom guarding the passer.

"Ohhhhh ... I gotcha," Karl said. "I'd forgotten about that."

Can the Nuggets win the series? They will if Smith keeps hitting three-pointers and scores 24 points in 28 minutes. And they will if they keep winning the rebounding game by a whopping 58-40, with Andersen coming off the bench for 14 boards and two blocks and literally flapping his arms after a big early block. Birdman has a colorful history -- he lived in a children's home for three years when abandoned by both parents, and he has overcame an NBA drug suspension to become a Denver cult hero. The Nuggets have fun players who excite the crowd, but no one jazzes the fans more than Birdman. An older lady runs around the Pepsi Center in a Birdman jersey and his trademark Mohawk-like hair, and when the arena video board aired the shot, the crowd went nuts. Even Smith, after a late barrage of three-pointers, started flapping his arms.

"The rebounding excites me because that's what we're gonna have to do at Staples," said Karl, referring to Game 5 on Wednesday night in Los Angeles and a possible Game 7 at Staples Center on Sunday.

And Smith? Despite the shooting effort, Karl was ready to strangle him after he picked up a late technical foul for arguing a call. "I was yelling at him, not being nice," Karl said. "That's who he is. The technicals -- those are the things we have to grow up on and get by. His talent is obvious. He's very flamboyant and explosive, and when he makes the threes, we're a very explosive team."

So just as it's LeBron against Orlando and the world in the Eastern Conference finals -- did Mo Williams really guarantee the Cavs would win the series when he's shooting 32 percent? -- it's Kobe against Denver and the world out West.

"It's time for us to go home and take care of business," Bryant said.

I have my doubts about that. You, too?

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What we're seeing at the French Open is the evolution of sport. Rafael Nadal, Modern Tennis Man, won his 29th consecutive match at Roland Garros Sunday, breaking BjornBorg's record of 28. Nadal is going for his fifth straight French title, which would break Borg's other unbreakable record.

And this isn't a baton handoff through history as much as a climb up the evolutionary ladder. Borg is Neanderthal man. Nadal is actually the same guy, modern epoch.

These things don't take tens of thousands of years in sports. It was just 26 years ago that Borg retired at 26, and in just that time, Modern Tennis Man has not just developed some new things, but evolved entirely.

Take a look at Nadal, tall and muscular. Borg is skinny and bow-legged. Tennis Man has evolved in something much bigger and more powerful.

"I didn't play well with my legs," Nadal said after beating Marcos Daniel 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the first round. "In sports, in a tenth of a second, you have to catch the ball, and everything can change in a game. You need to be present there, on time. If you play well, you have the feeling you'll be on top of the next ball, but today I was a bit short in my shots."

He was talking about the power required in the game today with modern racquet technology, modern fitness. Nadal is saying that his legs didn't feel their best, which is already a small concern for him.

His knees were sore coming into the tournament. But on Sunday, he needed the power in his legs, and didn't feel that it was entirely there.

And that's so much more important now, in tennis' power era, than it was even in Borg's day. When your opponent is blasting the ball the way today's Tennis Man is, it takes more strength to fight back.

It's always so tough to compare between different eras in sports. But in the week leading up to the tournament, The Tennis Channel was showing great French Open matches from the past. And when they showed Mats Wilander or Ivan Lendl, it was shocking how puny they looked.

Chris Evert beat Martina Navratilova, and both players seemed so tough at the time. Back then, Navratilova was hulking. On replay last week, she looked like she was playing pat-a-cake with Evert. Navratilova couldn't compete at the top level with that body today.

After Nadal embarrassed Roger Federer in the French final last year, Borg was on TV saying he'd love to play Nadal on clay, and that his plan would be to have the patience to stay out there all day long. But that's a former champ projecting himself into the wrong era.

If you took Borg from 1981 and put him on the court against Nadal today, that match wouldn't last an hour. The thing is, Borg wouldn't look like that today. With today's nutrition and weightlifting, and with what's required to stand up to all that power from the modern racquets, Borg, I think, would look an awful lot like Nadal does. In fact, watching Borg on the senior tour, you can see how he has cut back his looping swing and added power.

Look back at old films of NFL legends, or NBA -- Bob Cousy? -- or skinny baseball players and you figure they couldn't even last today.

Remember the Fridge, William Perry? He stood out as a 300-pounder for the Chicago Bears in 1985. Today, at that size, he would be the little guy on the bench.

Nadal and Borg are the greatest clay-court players of all time, but that has to be based on how each player did in his own era.

Typically, players can be clay-court specialists or grass-court specialists. Not both. But both players won several French Opens, and both won Wimbledon. And neither won the U.S. Open on the hard court. Both hit loads of topspin and preferred going cross-court. Both had to try to find ways to add speed to their serves. Both had the best footwork on tour, maybe that was too much of an advantage for them on slick courts, whether clay or grass. Or maybe it just had something to do with the way they set up their points.

Whatever, the thing is, they are the same guy. And Borg also serves as a warning to appreciate Nadal while you can.

Borg won his fourth straight French in 1981, his sixth French title overall, and then retired by the end of the year. Surely there were personal reasons for that.

But he was 25, and Nadal is 23. And Nadal's knees have already been a problem. The beating on modern Tennis Man's body is far worse than it used to be.

Well, Nadal continues to work his way through history. But what keeps throwing me is this: Twenty-eight years from now, when The Tennis Channel shows this year's final again, will Nadal look like Neanderthal?

What will Modern Tennis Man be then?

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