It was a great night at Progressive Field for Indians fans last night, as the Tribe thumped the Detroit Tigers 10-3 behind a 5-5 night from Jason Kipnis and a stellar home debut by Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenez looks dominating when you see him in person as I did last night.

The Indians took a real gamble by sending two #1 picks to Colorado for Jimenez, but so far he looks like the real deal. With Justin Masterson, the Indians now have two front-line starters at the top of the rotation, with a very capable Josh Tomlin as the #3 starter. Then you have an inconsistent but sometimes dominating Fausto Carmona and several young starters like Carlos Carrasco and David Huff.

The offense is also starting to heat up, with young players like Kipnis providing a spark. Kipnis reminds me of a young Lenny Dykstra. The Indians are now within two games of the Tigers after taking the first two games of this series. Shin-Soo Choo should be back soon, and possibly Grady Sizemore as well. They definitely need Choo to come back strong and Sizemore would be a bonus.

Former Mets and Phillies star Lenny Dykstra was jailed Monday on grand theft auto and drug-possession charges after being accused of using bogus information to lease a car from a Southern California dealership. The New York Times has the rest of the details.

Dykstra, 48, was charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft and other crimes, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He faces up to 12 years in state prison if convicted.

His accountant and a friend were charged in connection with the suspected auto theft but not with drug crimes, Robison said.

Prosecutors contend that the three men tried to lease high-end cars from dealers this year by providing phony information and claiming credit through a phony business called Home Free Systems. Two dealerships rejected the lease applications but a third allowed the men to drive off with three cars, according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.

According to the report, the police who arrested Dykstra found cocaine, Ecstasy and synthetic human growth hormone Somatropin at his San Fernando home on April 14.

Just to be clear, these charges are separate from his arrest for bankruptcy fraud. How this guy has avoided jail time up to this point is one of the greater mysteries of our society.

While appearing on WFAN’s Boomer & Carton radio program on Tuesday, former Mets pitcher Dwight “Doc” Gooden said that Lenny Dykstra tried to break him out of rehab during the shooting of Season 5 of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s “Celebrity Rehab” television show.

From Flopping Out.com:

“Actually, Dykstra came to visit me on ‘Celebrity Rehab,’” Gooden told WFAN’s Boomer & Carton on Tuesday. “I’ll tell you what, it was crazy. He thought that I had been hypnotized and (Dr. Drew) got me in there and was holding me hostage. He tried to come in with two guys to get me out of there” [Gooden on WFAN this morning].

“So they come in. I’m talking to him, he wanted to talk, ‘Doc, I don’t like this.’ So we go out on the patio, me and him and the two guys are sitting there, we’re talking.

“He said, ‘you sure this is what you want?’ I go ‘yeah.’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, I don’t feel good about this … let me take you bags and if you don’t like it, you call me.’ I was like, ‘trust me, I’m cool.’”

“This is not part of the show. This is real stuff,” said Gooden. “Whether they got it (on video) or not, I’m not sure.”

I’m sure they caught it on film and will be airing the scene so they can cash in on the exposure. If not, then Dr. Drew needs to hire a new director and production crew to shoot his shows.

Tell me a collaboration piece on Dykstra, Gooden and Darryl Strawberry from their days with the Mets wouldn’t be an absolutely fantastic read. You can’t. You can’t tell me that that wouldn’t be one of the most interesting reads of the decade.

Lenny Dykstra has had a rough go of things since he officially retired in 1998 at the age of 35. He’s been arrested for sexual harassment of a 17-year-old female, has been accused of using offensive terms when speaking about Blacks, women, and homosexuals, was also accused of sexual assault, credit card fraud, writing bad checks, was named on the 2007 Mitchell Report and yes, is now being charged with bankruptcy fraud.

According to a report by the New York Post, the former Mets and Phillies star was charged with bankruptcy fraud for allegedly selling items from his $18-million mansion without permission. After filing for bankruptcy in July of 2009, Dykstra apparently destroyed and sold property that was part of the bankruptcy estate without the permission of the trustee.

Apparently the items he was selling ranged from sports memorabilia to a $50,000 sink. Now, I’m no financial whiz but I would assume if you’re having issues with debt, buying a $50,000 sink probably isn’t the best idea. I mean, a quick Google search resulted in this $342.48 Moen 22356 18’ Gauge Single Basin Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink, which includes free shipping. Me thinks $50K is a little much for one sink.

If you read through his Wikipedia page, it’s a wonder how this guy hasn’t spent serious time in jail. Seems like a real shady character to me. And when I say “shady,” I mean he likes to partake in illegal things and somehow evades punishment.

Lenny Dykstra, self-proclaimed financial guru, has filed for bankruptcy. He was once hailed by Jim Cramer as “one of the great ones,” and he wasn’t talking about Dykstra’s baseball career.

It’s all too much for Jon Stewart, who has a field day with this one.

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies’ baseball star Lenny Dykstra has filed for bankruptcy.

The 46-year-old has no more than $50,000 of assets and between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities, according to a petition filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California.

Jonathan Hayes, one of Dykstra’s lawyers, had no immediate comment.

Dykstra’s filing comes in the wake of some 20 lawsuits he faces tied to his activities as a financial entrepreneur, including The Players Club, a glossy magazine he had helped launch, according to published reports.

The bankruptcy petition shows several banks among Dykstra’s largest unsecured creditors, including units of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N).

Known as “Nails” and “The Dude,” Dykstra played for 12 years with the Mets and the Phillies before retiring in 1996 with a lifetime .285 batting average and 81 home runs.

It’s amazing how sometimes these former athletes wind up with no money after years of making millions. It doesn’t make any sense, but then again, most of these guys aren’t getting sound financial advice from the get-go so maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising.

Far more than the moments any DVD could ever capture, my memories of Shea Stadium run much deeper than that. I grew up on Long Island, and my dad and brothers and grandfather influenced me at a young age to root for the Mets, which can be thrilling and heartbreaking at different times, sometimes at the same time.. I suppose that’s the case with any pro sports team, but the Mets and Shea always had some sort of magical undertone going on.

Which is why it’s incredibly sad that yesterday, the last regular season game at Shea clinched nothing more than a ticket home for the players and coaching staff. As I texted my buddy Dave and his kids during the game (they were there in person to experience the heartbreak), I watched the game and had some awful memories come flooding back—the collapse of this year equaling the collapse of last season. I also felt the familiar disappointment that was a little more pronounced in the 2006 NLCS, as Yadier Molina clubbed a two-run homer the inning after Endy Chavez made one of the most spectacular plays you’ll ever see. Chavez did it again yesterday, and then the Marlins hit two home runs in the following inning off of a Mets bullpen that was overmatched pretty much all of 2008, but more so since Billy Wagner went down with a season-ending elbow injury.

But, well, we can’t change fate. And while the Brewers and Phillies play in the 2008 postseason, and Shea Stadium gets ready to be torn down for good, I’d like to share a few memories that stand out in my mind Read the rest of this entry »