He came close, but Phil Mickelson ended up just short of a storybook U.S. Open Monday.  There was no shortage of support for Phil at Bethpage Black, and for Burnsy it’s a familiar sight.  Mickelson, after all, has been a favorite of Arizona sports fans for years, rivaling the popularity of some of Arizona’s most famous adopted sons.  They include Jerry Colangelo, Charles Barkley, Mark Grace, Luis Gonzalez, Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer.  Burnsy also puts Phil (at least for the time being) in his “unrippable” club, one that was started when Jeff Kent had the nerve to take a shot at Vin Scully.

It’s pretty clear that the Arizona Diamondbacks have no shot this year.  Not even if they start a winning streak, not even if their bullpen gets better, and not even if Brandon Webb makes a miraculous return.  No, it’s time the D-Backs start looking for some return on tradable assets such as Doug Davis, Chad Qualls, Jon Garland and Felipe Lopez.  Burnsy believes Qualls could fetch the most, and most feel that Davis would also have an active market.

The trade market for Shaq and Amare seems to have cooled, and now Suns’ brass is talking about standing pat with the league’s highest payroll - and the West’s 9th best roster.  Burns isn’t buying that, and addresses a few other issues in another edition of legit or lame:

The Suns could stand pat, and bring back the entire roster next year – LAME (no way they pay that much for that little)
Amare coming back – LEGIT
Amare wants to come back – LAME (don’t believe that for a second)
Shaq is garnering interest from many teams – LAME (too old, too expensive)
Shaq will be in a Suns uniform one week from now – LAME (he’s gone, likely on Thursday)
Nash really is interested in re-signing – LAME (he is in NY right now, wants to be in NY ASAP, and won’t re-sign with a team in transition)
Suns will draft with the 14th pick - LEGIT (they’re not selling anymore, and they’re probably not moving up either)
Suns will draft an impact player with the 14th pick – LAME (What do you have with James Johnson, Austin Daye or Earl Clark?  Well, here’s what you don’t have: an impact player that will take this team to the next level.)