King of the Abreus

That's right, it's time for another edition of G:TB's half-cocked and completely contrived faux name game...

Winston Abreu - First on the list is the righty reliever of the Washington Nationals. Winston has been around forever, seemingly in every minor league in the country, finally reaching the bigs last year, where he tossed 8 forgettable innings for the Orioles. Manny Acta doesn't exactly have a lot of choices in that bullpen of his, so Winston might get to stick around for a little while, though his 5.89 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and .307 BAA say otherwise.

Francesco Abreu - Hey, the U.S. Open starts today. And hey, Francesco never played in one...though it appears he was an adequate golfer on the European Tour, winning the German Open in 1973 and the Madrid Open in 1976.

Bobby Abreu - Full name is Bob Kelly Abreu. Did not know that. And in Venezuela he's lovingly known as "Comedulce" (the candy-eater)? Also interesting. But even more interesting is that, after taking April and May off, Bobby decided to stop being a pansy and start producing, and whaddya know, his recent tear has coincided with the Yankees rise from the ashes. Since June began, Bobby is 21-for-46 with 11 walks, 3 SB and 12 RBI (he's got a 12 game hit streak as well). His resurgence, along with some decent starting pitching (finally), has me feeling good about the Yanks postseason chances (for now, we'll say Wild Card...but perhaps Rob and I will be discussing the division come September). I think most folks remember Abreu's time in Philadelphia, but did you know both the Astros and Devil Rays completely gave up on him? Hell, the D-Rays traded him to Philly for Kevin Stocker. There are some out there that might also know Abreu because of his ex-girlfriend, former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. She of course decided to go on the Mexican reality show "La Granja" and bang a dude who looked like an extra in a Sergio Leone western. On camera. Huh, don't remember? Well, thank god for the interweb...the real fun starts at the 3:12 mark...Needless to say, Bobby ended that relationship soon after this clip emerged/word got out she was the Spanish Trishelle.

Dennis Abreu - Nondescript minor league OF in the Cardinals organization. But what you might not realize is this minor league utility guy is actually G:TB's infamous Dennis. That's right, three goofy white dudes from America's second oldest university have made random acquaintances with a 24-year-old Venezuelan minor leaguer who now chooses to pop-in periodically here at G:TB when not being tortured by 8 hours bus rides and Motel 8 accommodations. Pretty weird, huh?

Tony Abreu - Called up about a month ago by the Dodgers because Wilson Betemit and Andy LaRoche have been about as effective as Bert and Ernie trying to man 3B for L.A. Unfortunately for Tony, he is mired in a terrible 6-for-35 slump and it looks like Betemit might take his job back (which is fine by me since Betemit is on my NL-only team). It also doesn't help that Tony is the Butcher of Bakersfield at the hot corner.

Manuel Dias de Abreu - Anytime an actual thing or procedure is named after you, you get to participate in the name game (plus, there's less Abreus out there than you'd think). Manuel was a Brazilian physician and scientist and the inventor of abreugraphy, a rapid radiography of the lungs for screening tuberculosis. Exciting stuff, right? Well, unfortunately/tragically/ironically (pick one), Manuel died in 1962 from lung cancer, probably caused by his long habit of smoking.

And your winner: Bobby Abreu, King of the Abreus...really, never any doubt here, given his play of late and and it's direct effect on the Yanks current 8-game winning streak. Though a few votes were cast for Dennis Abreu, mainly by Dennis himself.