Larry Brown Sports

C.J. Wilson is dating model Lisalla Montenegro (Pictures)

By Steve DelVecchio | July 13, 2012 - Posted in Gossip, WAG

The past couple of years have been pretty good to C.J. Wilson. Losing back-to-back World Series had to be painful, but inking a five-year deal with the Angels worth $77.5 million had to have helped ease the pain a bit this past offseason. So far, Wilson has earned his paycheck. He has a 9-5 record on the year to go along with an impressive 2.43 ERA that landed him on the AL All-Star roster. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also spotted with a gorgeous model at the All-Star red carpet event on Tuesday. This model, Lisalla Montenegro, is Wilson’s new girlfriend.

“Damn you, Jimmy, for digging this up,” Wilson told Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks. “She’s a great influence on me and we have a lot of stuff in common. We keep to ourselves. And the only thing I have to say about this picture is that it was very windy that day and my hair was too dry.”

Considering he was cruising along in the back of a Chevy with Montenegro proud by his side, there’s wasn’t really much to dig up. If that was my girlfriend, I wouldn’t be hiding it either. Heck, C.J. could even stick with his no TV routine and still be perfectly content.

If Wilson is looking to keep this thing private, he has gotten some help this week from Tigers ace Justin Verlander. If Verlander is actually dating who we think he’s dating, that’s the relationship everybody wants to talk about.

C.J. Wilson thinks Josh Hamilton might break Barry Bonds’ home run record

By Larry Brown | May 13, 2012 - Posted in Baseball

Josh Hamilton has hit nine home runs this week, including one on Saturday off ex-teammate and current Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson. Wilson went five and two-thirds allowing just two runs against his former team, which also boasts the best offense in baseball. He tweeted after the game that he thinks Josh Hamilton might break Barry Bonds’ single-season home run record.

I know a lot of people might want to pitch around hamilton, but their lineup is too good.He might break bonds record this year, no joke

— C.J. Wilson (@str8edgeracer) May 12, 2012

Wilson is in a good position to make such an assessment for two reasons. One, he spent the last few seasons with the Rangers, so he knows how good the lineup is. Two, he was Hamilton’s teammate the last four years and knows what he’s capable of.

The truth is Wilson is right.

Mike Napoli is very unhappy over C.J Wilson tweeting his phone number

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By Steve DelVecchio | March 19, 2012 - Posted in Baseball

Over the weekend, C.J. Wilson decided it was a good idea to play a prank on former teammate Mike Napoli. The prank was a cruel one. Wilson took to his Twitter account and pretended he was tweeting out his phone number and asking people to give him a call, but the number was really Napoli’s. As expected, Napoli’s phone was flooded with calls and voice mails, and was likely forced to change his number.

Since the two are former battery mates, most of us assumed Napoli would laugh it off and vow to get Wilson back. That does not seem to be the case, as Napoli sounds pretty furious about the whole thing.

“I don’t even know why he did it,” Napoli said according to the Star Telegram. “You don’t do that. I am not taking it as a prank. You know, I haven’t even talked to him since the end of last season. We don’t have that type of relationship.”

C.J. Wilson pranks Mike Napoli by tweeting his cell phone number

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By Larry Brown | March 18, 2012 - Posted in Baseball

C.J. Wilson must have been feeling pretty saucy on Saturday, because he decided to prank his former catcher Mike Napoli. Wilson sent a tweet with his supposed new phone number, telling Napoli to call him.

Wilson knew most people would figure the phone number was sent by accident — a message intended to be private — and that they would probably call thinking it was Wilson’s number. That’s the best part about the prank — the number was Mike Napoli’s, and the 714 area code was from Mike’s Anaheim day’s. Calling the number took you straight to voicemail where Napoli’s voice was on the answering message and you were told his mailbox was full. The prank clearly worked.

Wilson later deleted the tweet and sort of apologized, saying “Okay I think we’ve all had a good time, I’m even with mike for saying he can’t wait to hit homers off me.”

Hey, no biggie, Napoli can always change his number. That’s probably what Mike Trout had to do last spring.

UPDATE: Napoli is pissed at Wilson over the prank.

Angels would not confirm to C.J. Wilson that they were pursuing Albert Pujols

By Steve DelVecchio | March 1, 2012 - Posted in Baseball

Signing a player to a $250 million contract is not something that just comes together overnight. Very few of us thought of Los Angeles as a potential landing spot for Albert Pujols this past offseason, but the Angels had to have been planning it all along. Considering we are living in an era where Twitter and other forms of social media prevent anyone from keeping a secret, the Angels did a tremendous job of keeping their intentions under wraps. In fact, they even kept C.J. Wilson in the dark about it when they were courting the left-hander.

“I personally found out about the Albert Pujols thing via twitter,” Wilson said during an interview with ESPN Los Angeles. “(Angels GM) Jerry Dipoto was sitting in my agent’s hotel suite and we were sitting their talking to him and he said look I don’t mean to be blunt, but if there is a paper that walks in here I am going to have to divert my attention to that because there is something else going on. I was like what the hell is this guy talking about right now? It is 3 in the morning. Either he has had too many beers or something. We were all kind of loopy at this point.

C.J. Wilson hasn’t watched TV since November, not even the Super Bowl

By Larry Brown | February 16, 2012 - Posted in Baseball

C.J. Wilson isn’t your typical ballplayer (or person, for that matter). The new Angels pitcher talked about his personal life and many of his hobbies during an appearance on the Hot Clicks Podcast. One of Wilson’s stunning revelations is that he hasn’t watched TV since November.

“I remember I sat down and watched TV at one point in November, and since then I haven’t watched any TV for any reason at all,” he told host Jimmy Traina.

Asked if he’s tuned into ESPN or MLB Network for sports news, Wilson said no because he already knows most of the baseball news, and in many senses, he is a big part of the news. Wilson says he likes television and regrets he hasn’t watched more Lakers games, though he’s planning to try and attend one of their games.

What was pretty shocking is that not even the Super Bowl got him to turn on the TV. Instead, he says he drove from LA to Orange County to throw, then he went to the gym, made a steak for lunch, did some laundry, and worked on some photos.

Wilson, who is an aspiring professional photographer, said his one indulgence since signing his six-year $77.5 million contract with the Angels was a $6,000 lens for his camera (the lens was used and regularly $12,000). C.J. had good insight on Josh Hamilton’s alcohol relapse and Rob Gronkowski partying. As for his TV admission, I’m impressed. I watch all day to do work on the site, but I know I wouldn’t last long without it even if it were just for pleasure.

The entire interview is worth a listen.