- While you see a ton of my stuff here on RotoWire, I moonlight as an occupational therapist during the day (is that possible, not me being an OT but |STAR|moonlighting during the day|STAR|)? For the record here, when I discuss any type of injury, I'm not Jeff Sotts by any stretch of the imagination but I passed gross anatomy (human dissection) and neuroscience to earn my degree. Unfortunately at times, I did not major in writing or English. Joke there. Back to my "moonlighting" job - I work with developmentally delayed preschoolers during the school year part time while playing Mr. Mom and doing work for the site the rest of the time. Today concluded my school year so from now on you'll hear me chime in more often with any of my observations from not only baseball, basketball, football but occasionally soccer and MMA. Yes, MMA is now considered a sport. A certain sports channel carries their fights for free outside the United States and they regularly show highlights come Sunday mornings.

- Wednesday night the U.S. clinched a berth in the final of the Gold Cup by beating Panama 1-0. Panama had beaten the United States in the Group stages of this tournament, which on some level is a no-win situation for the Americans. The U.S. should dominate soccer in North America as well as the Caribbean and Central America (even Cuba was involved!). So if the Americans achieve anything lower than a presence in the finals, it's considered a disappointment. The U.S. was cruising until they fell to Panama 2-1 in the group stages so Wednesday's game was something of a payback game. In the previous game (Sunday), the U.S. beat Jamaica 2-0 which was impressive considering Jamaica had not allowed a goal all tournament and the U.S. could have easily scored a few more. Jozy Altidore, who left the Jamaica game hurt, is out for Saturday's final but guess who showed up and made an impact? No one other than Freddy Adu. Remember him? The guy juggling with Pele in the Sprite commercials? Adu looked like a professional and I put both him and Altidore in the same class. Adu (22) and Altidore (21) could become world-class players if they decide to. Altidore received dumb red cards and was benched when being late to meetings in the EPL while multiple coaches have stated that Adu has to start training like a professional to take his game to the next level. Both have crazy upside; Altidore scored the first goal against Spain in S.Africa a few years ago. Ironically, both ended their seasons in Europe playing in Turkey, not the greatest level of soccer. Wednesday, Adu looked masterful and had this been hockey, he would have had the assist (the pass before Donavan to Dempsey). Later he held the ball and looked like he had skill and pace when needed. You can bet I'll be watching Saturday night to see the Gold Cup final.

- As for Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan (goal scorer and brilliant assist tonight), bring in Tim Howard and these are your three best American soccer players right now. Michael Bradley and Jermaine Jones are not far behind.

- I'm looking forward to the NBA draft now more than ever. I'm sure this could be said every year but I think we'll see some interesting developments when the draft starts. Monta Ellis doesn't appear to be playing in Golden State this coming season (making Stephen Curry a late first round pick, no?) I'd be more than willing to take him there with Ellis gone but methinks he'll be waiting in round two.

- I have a |STAR|legal|STAR| ticket in Vegas that has Jay Bruce winning the home run title this year at 30:1 odds with a $50 wager. A few weeks ago I thought this was brilliant. Now, not so much. Bruce has gone 60 at-bats since his last home run (June 1) and is batting .238 in the month of June. I'm still a believer so point these stats out to his owner and try and buy-low at this point.

- Paul Konerko, where did you have him ranked preseason? Not in the top-5 1B like my right? He totally disappointed Wednesday night, going 0-for-3 with a walk and breaking his five-game home run streak. If I own him, I'm selling high right now. He's hit 10 home runs with a 1.500 OPS for the month of June heading into this game. Captain Obvious says this isn't lasting, so sell-high and address what two categories you need to deal him. I'll be shocked if he even gets to 37 home runs this year.

- I play in a 18 and 22-team hometown leagues so a deeper look at players intrigues me, even to a fault. I've kept my eye on Will Venable and despite his early season struggles, I was surprised he was sent down. It's not like the Padres were setting the world on fire with their offense. Over his last four games of seeing action, he's gone 5-for-12 (.416) with a homer and a stolen base. He led off on Wednesday and could retain that role for time being.

- Since coming back from an eye infection, Mike Stanton is 6-for-9. No lie, I heart Mike Stanton.

- Last year I used to laugh when watching the Nationals games when they went to commercials. They actually promoted something to the effect (I'm paraphrasing here) "watch John Lannan turn two!" They would then show a bunch of double plays. Doesn't this infer he somehow let someone on? If you read anything I write, you'll know I'm ridiculously high on the Nationals going forward. I'd be surprised if they didn't reach the World Series in the next five years. Backing off my tangent and onto Lannan. He now has a 1.38 ERA over his last six starts (39.0 innings). Maybe that double-play is working…

- Ryan Vogelsong should be pitching in the All-Star Game. If he isn't, there's something wrong with the voting.

- I'd guess that if you have Joel Hanrahan you're good with saves. I'm trying to peddle him (as you should) to address other needs. Now is the time.

- Is it wrong that on occasion I catch any show with "Housewives" in the title and just root against everyone. I mean all and everyone?

- I've also watched a bunch of reality shows and am now trying to figure out if I should open a Pawn Shop or start bidding on storage facilities. Give me your opinion.

- I recently tried to do a trade in my hometown high-stakes league of giving up Cole Hamels/Chris Heisey for Nelson Cruz and John Danks (when he was 0-8). We outsource to an ("un-biased" ump) who turned this down saying the former was getting too much. Heisey didn't get the memo should have waited until Thursday to do hit three homers (see Carlos Beltran, Jason Giambi).

- Did anyone else notice the Phillies scored 10 runs on 11 hits and none were for extra bases on Wednesday?

- Has Erik Bedard given up more than three runs all season? The answer is no. He's given up three earned runs once over ten starts. He has an 80:25 K:BB ratio over 83.0 innings and plays half his game in Safeco. That's impressive.

- Nick Swisher has hit .310 with four homers and a 11:16 K:BB ratio over the month of June. The switch in the batting order seems to have helped. Remember he looks to the sky for guidance before he swings. This has helped as of late.

- My last entry in this column. Keep an eye on Clayton Richard. After a 5.19 ERA in May, he looks like he's righted the ship. He held the Red Sox to one earned run over five innings. Richard now has a 3.37 ERA over his last four starts. Plug him when he's at home, as coming into the Boston contest Richard had a 2.25/6.33 Home/Away ERA split.