Oden Returning Tonight?

It looks as though Portland center Greg Oden will return to the Trail Blazers' lineup tonight against the Miami Heat after a six-game stint on the sideline due to a sprained right foot. After going through a full practice and shootaround on Tuesday, Oden declared himself fit to play tonight. The No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft missed all of last season following knee surgery and played only 13 minutes against the Lakers in his NBA debut last month.

Browns running back Jamal Lewis claims that some of his teammates quit last week in the team's loss to Denver. Apparently kick returner Josh Cribbs doesn't disagree. This is real bad news for head coach Romeo Crennel, who may be nearing the end of the road in Cleveland.

Congratulations to Tim Lincecum, who was named the NL Cy Young award winner yesterday. Despite pitching for a weak team with an anemic offense, Lincecum went 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA last season while racking up a major league-best 265 strikeouts in 227 innings. The diminutive right-hander led the NL in winning percentage and was named an All-Star for the first time.

Can Billy Beane be any more of a thief? Wow, the Oakland A's GM absolutely stole Matt Holliday from Colorado. Huston Street was no longer in Oakland's plans, Greg Smith is okay, and Carlos Gonzalez--while he could emerge as a star--is not Matt Holliday. Even if Beane ends up dumping Holliday at the deadline in July, he'll just get more young players to add to the mix in the Bay Area.

Starting Pitching Has Dodgers Primed

Twenty-five years later, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies meet again in the National League Championship Series. While the Phillies received some strong starting pitching efforts in their NLDS series with the Brewers, I give the edge slightly to the Dodgers in this series because of their own starting pitching. Derek Lowe is 4-0 in his last six postseason starts. and he was as excellent a pitcher in baseball in August and September. His hard sinker is beautiful and his slider has been on the last few months. Chad Billingsley has a moxy about him that I like, and Hiroki Kuroda was very good against the Phillies this season. And will the Phillies' offense be able to produce--Dodgers starting pitching aside?

Trail Blazers center Greg Oden made his NBA debut last night, playing his first game since the 2007 national championship game with Ohio State. Oden finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes of play and looks to finally be healthy again. I've had reservations about Oden's chances for NBA success--and I know it was just a preseason NBA game--but the kid looked good. By the way, Rudy Fernandez looked good, too. Kevin Pritchard is building a really nice team in Portland that has a lot of versatility, size and skill.