Nothing is more perfect than spending a hot summer night at the ballpark. We are giving you the opportunity to win a prize package that includes tickets to an Angels game, as well as a way to cool off with a tasty Carl’s Jr. Orange Cream Shake. The “Orange You A Lucky Fan” gift crate is valued at over $200.

One lucky winner will receive:

• Carl’s Jr. Orange Cream Shake Coupons
• Branded Beer Cozy (to keep your shake cold)
• 4 Angels Baseball Tickets
• Angels Bobblehead player
• Flip Video Ultra F260 Orange 60-Minute Digital Camcorder

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment here on this post and answer the question, “Who is your favorite baseball team?” Your comment will automatically enter you into the contest, which ends on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 11:59pm ET. We will draw one random winner from all the entrants to win the “Orange You A Lucky Fan” gift crate.

Cool off this summer with a Orange Cream Shake, available at a Carl’s Jr. near you.

Carl's Jr. Orange You a Lucky Fan

The Washington Nationals have a record of 1-10. They’ve been bad for as long as the Nationals have been in existence. However, they have apparently found a piece of their team that they want to stick around. Over the weekend, the Nationals gave Ryan Zimmerman a $45 million extension.

The deal is over five years and will keep Zimmerman in the fold as they try to build the team around him. On the year, Zimmerman is hitting .275 with two homers and ten RBIs. The 24-year-old out of the University of Virginia has played with Washington since 2005.

His best season came in 2006 when he hit 20 homers and collected 110 RBIs and 84 runs while hitting .287. Last season, he struggled with injury and only hit 14 homers while driving in 51 runs.

Zimmerman was originally a first round pick in 2005.

Ryan Zimmerman Video:

Jonathan Papelbon, the closer for the Boston Red Sox, let his true feelings about Manny Ramirez known during a recent interview. Papelbon repeatedly classified his ex-teammate as a “cancer” who everyone was happy to see go.

Ramirez, who was traded during the middle of the 2008 season to the Los Angeles Dodgers, helped the Red Sox win two World Series championships. However, his breakup with the team didn’t go smoothly by anyone’s account.

A free agent this offseason, Ramirez ended up re-signing with the Dodgers. His contract makes it possible to become a free agent next year if he wishes. If not, he can opt to pick up a second-year option.

Papelbon also said that no teammates have told him to stop making comments about Ramirez. If Papelbon and the Red Sox meet up with Ramirez and the Dodgers in the 2009 World Series, expect to see fireworks.

Andy Pettitte
Although Andy Pettitte reportedly turned down a one-year, $10 million deal from the New York Yankees earlier in the offseason, the two sides are still talking. The Yankees are hoping Pettitte will eventually accept a deal around the same amount of money.

Manny Ramirez
A lot of insiders have expected the New York Mets to make a run at Manny Ramirez but that doesn’t appear to be happening. The Mets instead are looking around for pitching. Ramirez looks like he has a couple suitors, with the San Francisco Giants showing the most interest. A new darkhorse? The Texas Rangers.

Ivan Rodriguez
The interesting news about Ivan Rodriguez is that there is virtually no news. The future Hall of Famer hasn’t drawn much attention from anyone and his hopes of landing a starting gig appear to be declining by the day.

Randy Wolf
Right now, it appears as if the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorites to win the Randy Wolf sweepstakes. The other team to show a lot of interest was the Mets, who might actually prefer Wolf if Oliver Perez asks for too much money.

Although other deals have been struck — such as Mark Teixeira signing with the New York Yankees — here are the baseball free agent signings that have become official to date.

CC Sabathia, SP - NY Yankees - 7 years, $161,000,000
A.J. Burnett, SP - NY Yankees - 5 years, $82,500,000
Ryan Dempster, SP - Chicago Cubs - 4 years, $52,000,000
Francisco Rodriguez, RP - NY Mets - 3 years, $37,000,000
Raul Ibanez, LF - Philadelphia - 3 years, $31,500,000
Rafael Furcal, SS - LA Dodgers - 3 years, $30,000,000
Kerry Wood, RP - Cleveland - 2 years, $20,500,000
Edgar Renteria, SS - San Francisco - 2 years, $18,500,000
Casey Blake, 3B - LA Dodgers - 3 years, $17,500,000
Brian Fuentes, RP - LA Angels - 2 years, $17,500,000
Jamie Moyer, SP - Philadelphia - 2 years, $13,000,000
Juan Rivera, RF - LA Angels - 3 years, $12,750,000
Kyle Farnsworth, RP - Kansas City - 2 years, $9,250,000
Nick Punto, SS - Minnesota - 2 years, $8,500,000
Jeremy Affeldt, RP - San Francisco - 2 years, $8,000,000
Randy Johnson, SP - San Francisco - 1 years, $8,000,000
Willy Taveras, CF - Cincinnati - 2 years, $6,250,000
Cesar Izturis, SS - Baltimore - 2 years, $5,000,000
Mike Lincoln, RP - Cincinnati - 2 years, $4,000,000
Arthur Rhodes, RP - Cincinnati - 2 years, $4,000,000
Ramon Vazquez, 3B - Pittsburgh - 2 years, $4,000,000
Felipe Lopez, SS - Arizona - 1 years, $3,500,000
David Ross, C - Atlanta - 2 years, $3,000,000
Doug Brocail, RP - Houston - 1 years, $2,750,000
Bob Howry, RP - San Francisco - 1 years, $2,750,000
Daniel Cabrera, SP - Washington - 1 years, $2,600,000
Chan Ho Park, RP - Philadelphia - 1 years, $2,500,000
Alan Embree, RP - Colorado - 1 years, $2,250,000
Mike Hampton, SP - Houston - 1 years, $2,000,000
Horacio Ramirez, SP - Kansas City - 1 years, $1,800,000
Russell Branyan, 3B - Seattle - 1 years, $1,400,000
Joe Nelson, RP - Tampa Bay - 1 years, $1,300,000
Mark Loretta, 2B - LA Dodgers - 1 years, $1,250,000
John Bale, SP - Kansas City - 1 years, $1,200,000
Adam Everett, SS - Detroit - 1 years, $1,000,000
Jorge Julio, RP - Milwaukee - 1 years, $950,000
Tony Clark, 1B - Arizona - 1 years, $800,000
Joey Gathright, CF - Chicago Cubs - 1 years, $800,000
Greg Norton, LF - Atlanta - 1 years, $800,000
Aaron Boone, 3B - Houston - 1 years, $750,000
Jason Michaels, OF - Houston - 1 years, $750,000
Trever Miller, RP - St. Louis - 1 years, $500,000
Mike Lamb, 3B - Milwaukee - 1 years, $400,000

Which players are the best of the remaining free agents? Here are the best of the baseball free agents still available.

For the latest from the world of sports, the b5media Sports Channel provides our Sports Roundup.

• Allison at BCS Frenzy offers four reasons USC thumped Ohio State.
• Tony at Dejuiced talks about the Cubs’ almost pulling off back-to-back no hitters.
• Tony also discusses the Brewers firing Ned Yost at Inside the Ballpark.
• Jodie at Gossip on Sports talks about No Jet-ribution and tells a funny story about what happened to Tom Brady.
• Jeanne at Hockey Beat discusses NHL 09 on XBOX 360 and their unreadable discs.
• Jyle at Footie thinks that some fans of the UEFA Euro 2008 have gone bat crazy.
• Over at Sneaks ‘N Gear Jyle shows us a metallic version of the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Hi Top.
• David at Every Morning Quarterback features his interview with N.Y. Jets defensive back Darrelle Revis.
• Sandy at Light the Torch shows the Paralympics have their share of star athletes, such as Sweden’s Jonas Jacobsson, who picked up his 14th Paralympic Gold Medal this week.
• At Green Posse, Sandy gives us a look at Louisville’s Valhalla Golf Club, wthe site of this week’s Ryder Cup duel between Team USA and Team Europe.
• Stephen at Hoops Fantasy talks about the 2009 NBA MVP Award Favorites.
• At Knuckle Curve, Stephen takes a look at the American League MVP Candidates.
• Jarrod is back blogging with us at Thoroughbred Fever. Stop by to check out the latest horse racing news.
• Kori at The Fantasy Kickoff talks about the top fantasy football players from Week 2.

Last but not least, we want to welcome Scott Wharton to the channel. Scott is blogging at Jab and Grapple, where he writes about MMA and wrestling. Bookmark the site and visit often!

Thanks for reading!

Photo credit: istockphoto

When it comes to sports, everyone has their favorites, right? Favorite sports, favorite teams, favorite players, favorite stadiums, and so on. Well the fabulous b5media sports bloggers wanted to talk about their favorites.

• Sandy kicks off the favorite talk with her favorite Olympic sport at Light the Torch.
• Sandy also discusses her favorite golfer - Tom Weiskopf - at Green Posse.
• Michael talks about not showing favoritism at Jab and Grapple.
• Tim talks about Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing at Do You NASCAR.
• Lyndsey tells all about being a Kansas City Chiefs fan at Girls Dig Sports.
• Tony talks about his favorite team - the Houston Astros - at Inside the Ballpark.
• Jodie tells us about favorite players, teams and more across many sports at Gossip on Sports.
• Cherie reminisces about her favorite moments as an Ohio State fan at Dejuiced.
• Stephen talks about his favorite baseball teams of 2008 at Knuckle Curve.
• Stephen also discusses his five favorite fantasy basketball players at HoopsFantasy.
• David talks about America’s favorite spectator sport at Every Morning Quarterback.
• Kori discusses her favorite fantasy football players at The Fantasy Kickoff.

Thanks for reading and hopefully you visit all the great blogs here at b5media often.

Image credit: istockphoto

I’m an admitted bandwagon baseball fan. I love the sport of baseball but I don’t love any specific team. The last team I loved was the Montreal Expos — and we all saw what happened to the Expos. However, each year I latch on to a few teams and watch those teams a little bit more. Who are my favorite baseball teams in 2008?

Los Angeles Dodgers
The combination of Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez trying to climb the mountain all the way to the World Series is a good story. Those two long-time rivals are now fighting for the same cause on the other side of the country.

Chicago Cubs
The lovable losers are actually winners this year. This is one of the best Chicago Cubs teams in a long time. If the Cubs are ever going to end their World Series drought, wouldn’t this be the perfect year?

Read more

We are giving away a copy of Haunted Baseball. This is a cool book that talks about the legends, curses, ghosts and other stories surrounding baseball. The tales are compiled from players, fans, front office staff, stadium personnel, umps and other people around baseball.

So how do you win? Well all you have to do is caption this photo of Alex Rodriguez and his soon-to-be ex-wife. (Have you heard about the A-Rod and Madonna sex tape!)

Leave your caption in the comments below and you’ll be automatically entered into the giveaway.

On Friday, August 1 at 8:00pm, I’ll do a random drawing from the entrants to determine a winner. Only enter once and leave your actual email address so that we can contact you.

Comment to enter!

Check out more giveaways going on right now at Bloggy Giveaways.

Photo credit: Newscom and Amazon

At the MLB Red Carpet All Star Parade down Avenue of Americas in New York, several top players were seen enjoying the ride and celebrating with premium Gurkha Cigars.

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, Yankees players Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, Aaron Cook from the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins players Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez all had their celebratory cigars.

Here are a few pictures:

And here’s some video from the 2008 MLB All Star Parade, showing baseball greats from the past and present:

Photo credit: Gurkha Cigars