I know what you're thinking - DWG doesn't cover football after TRE quit like a little girl. And you're right, we generally don't and that's only because I don't know what I'm talking about - not really. The only football preview I think I've ever written here was this year's Iowa game and that's because I was feeling all #HATEWEEK-y and then I didn't even watch the game because I was at a Meat Raffle in Aitkin. But this week I stumbled into some tickets and will be taking my son to his first Gopher Football game (he's 3 so he won't remember it anyway) but since I'm going I'm also going to write some kind of a short preview because then I will at least know more players on Nebraska than just Taylor Martinez who is actually hurt according to the internet so that sucks I guess.
Despite the Martinez injury which sounds made up, the Huskers are still an eleven point favorite even on the road against your favorite team. That's because even without Martinez they've been killing teams - really bad teams (So Dak State, Illinois, and Purdue) - but even so killing is killing as Jason Voorhees always says. Mainly they've been able to kill teams because they have an awesome rushing attack and they have two back-up QBs who can both play. Looks like the Huskers generally just play both until they figure out which one sucks and then they let the other one finish out the game. And again, it doesn't really matter who is at QB because they're just going to give the ball to one of their three awesome RBs over and over again. The Huskers are like the Gophers in that they want to run the ball like, all the time, and only pass when absolutely necessary, except the Huskers are the varsity version of that while the Gophers are the junior high squad.
And.......I'm already bored with this. I hope the Gophers win but they probably won't because Nebraska is a lot better even without their QB. I think I heard Leidner has a tummy ache so that means Philip Nelson will start which is probably good because even though Leidner is like giving the ball to an alligator Nelson is better thrower guy which the Gophers will need against Nebraska. Probably. I don't know. I'm more of a David Cobb guy. Starting to look awfully shifty out there. Is he the next Gary Russell? Yes, clearly.
- Real quick, the Cardinals are looking an awful lot like the 2006 Tigers tonight. You remember 2006, a magical season when Justin Morneau won the AL MVP, and how the Tigers looked to have the World Series wrapped up before it even started. St. Louis snuck into the playoffs with just 83 wins but then outlasted everybody else to make the World Series while the Tigers won 95 games and went 7-1 against two other 93+ win teams to make it and looked poised to stomp the Cards. Then the games started (because they aren't played on paper you know, nerd) and then in the five games the Tigers made at least one error in every game and had two games with 2 or more errors, throwing the ball all over the place, giving easy runs to the Cards, and ended up losing to an inferior team by playing like idiots.
Now the Cards have already made two errors with plenty of other mistakes including a pop-up that didn't make the pitcher's mound that fell in for a "hit." It's a total repeat of 2006 except instead of a somewhat likeable team being the beneficiary of the meltdown instead this time it's Satan's team.
Even better? In 2006 I bet on Detroit. In 2013? I bet on St. Louis. Gambling is so stupid and I hate it and you and your family.
Showing posts with label Cardinals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cardinals. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Monday, October 15, 2012
These MLB Playoffs are Pretty Neat, Guys (+ new Gopher BBall Commit)
Taking a break from the NCAA Hoops Previews to weight on on the baseball playoffs, an awesome collection of series so far. I'm enjoying the hell out of this, and it helps that I have a ton of money down on futures (Tigers to win AL, Cards to win both NL and World Series not to mention loads of props on every game). Seriously, it would be great if there was some kind of player rewards card for people who make way too many bets.
Speaking of, check out this information for more on players reward card. Before I talk hardball, however, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention that the Gopher hoops team picked up another recruit for 2013 in power forward Alex Foster, joining Alvin Ellis as a future Gopher. Foster is a 6-8 skinny kid from Chicago who was thought of as one of the best players in Chicago way back when he was in 8th grade, but who has since tailed off a bit and is ranked by ESPN as a middle-of-the-road 3-star recruit (his other offers were from Tennessee and Nebraska, again according to ESPN). The good news here is that he is super athletic, and with that pedigree (yes back to 8th grade but still) offers considerable upside. Like Ellis he has been a target of the Gophers for quite some time, which means that even if Tubby isn't signing the greatest players he is at least able to get the guys he really wants to sign here. Good, not great, signing, but at least things are moving in the right direction again, not to mention setting up a regular pipeline to Chicago (Ellis is also a Chicago kid) can only be a positive.
Also, quick, the reports on my new favorite Gopher Charles Buggs are in from the "Midnight" Madness scrimmage last Friday and by all accounts HE. IS. AWESOME. Led all scorers with 10 pts on 4-4 shooting including 2-2 from 3 and grabbed 2 rebounds, plus was apparently one of the more impressive dunkers in the dunk contest? Are you kidding me? He's everything I always knew I always wanted. I seriously can't wait. We goin' Sizzla.
Ok, now on to baseball and I'll start with the Wild Card. From day one I was in favor of the change to two wild card teams per league with a 1-game playoff and I'm pretty sure I'm right. I understand the criticisms many people had such as complaining that they were just trying to manufacture drama, that anything random can happen in a 1-game series so it was meaningless, and so on. But the fact is, winning the Wild Card the last few years was basically the same as winning your division. Other than not having home field advantage (and one division winner wouldn't have it anyway) and playing the best team (if that team happened to not be from your division) what was the difference? Basically nil. Now? Winning the Wild Card puts you at a drastic disadvantage compared to a division winner because if you get hit with a bad call (Atlanta) or run into a hot pitcher (Texas) you're done. I think it's awesome and if you don't I hope you get a stomach parasite.
The sucky thing about the Division Series is we lost all the interesting teams. Only Oakland, Baltimore, Cincy, and Washington haven't been regular playoff fixtures in recent times, and all four lost. I was glad, actually, to see Washington get bounced just because their decision to shut down Strasburg irked me so irksomely, but I would have loved to see Baltimore, Cincinnati, and/or Oakland advance just because it's more interesting than watching New York and Detroit again. That being said, how great was it that every single series went the full five games? And it wasn't just that they went down to sudden death, but how it all happened. If even one of these scenarios happened this would have been an awesome round of the playoffs:
Now I can see this series going one of two ways. The best way would be that Justin Verlander completely shuts them in game 3 in near no-hitter fashion, they continue to desperately scramble at the plate and resort to crazy tactics (such as hit-and-running with Raul Ibanez and his Matthew LeCroy like speed) to try to score any runs at all and they end up getting swept while the world rejoices. Or, because the Yankees are some evil demon and everyone knows that demons are notoriously hard to kill, they will somehow manage to destroy Verlander and end up winning this series in 7 games. I know that would suck, but in another way it would be good to get to root against the Yankees for another series. I'm still rooting for them to get swept here though, because they are dicks.
As for the NL, how freaking sweet must it be to be a Cards fan? All they ever do is win. In 2006 they won just 83 games but played in a crappy division so they won a playoff berth where they managed to beat two superior teams, setting up a World Series against the massively favored Detroit Tigers. Naturally the Cards won by somehow getting the Tigers to make 8 errors in 5 games and holding them to a .199 batting average despite pitching dudes like Anthony Reyes, making them the worst team (record-wise) to ever win a World Series. In 2011 they again made the series against the Rangers after qualifying for the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season and fell behind 3-2 and were twice down to their final strike before rallying to win and then won game 7 to take another World Series. Now they were basically about to be eliminated by the Nationals but somehow turned it around to win that one as well.
I mean, enough is enough, right? Stop rubbing it in, guys. They're like the anti-Twins with their postseason play, not to mention that they lost the best hitter of the last 10 years to free agency, lost their starting first baseman (Lance Berkman) and starting shortstop (Rafael Furcal) to injury, and got just 20 starts from Jaime Garcia and 3 from Chris Carpenter, yet here they are. I like the Giants and all, even without the usual Lincecum, but how can anybody fight that Redbird mojo? It's a true law of nature like water or dinosaurs. Sorry Giants, but you can't fight against dinosaurs.
Speaking of, check out this information for more on players reward card. Before I talk hardball, however, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention that the Gopher hoops team picked up another recruit for 2013 in power forward Alex Foster, joining Alvin Ellis as a future Gopher. Foster is a 6-8 skinny kid from Chicago who was thought of as one of the best players in Chicago way back when he was in 8th grade, but who has since tailed off a bit and is ranked by ESPN as a middle-of-the-road 3-star recruit (his other offers were from Tennessee and Nebraska, again according to ESPN). The good news here is that he is super athletic, and with that pedigree (yes back to 8th grade but still) offers considerable upside. Like Ellis he has been a target of the Gophers for quite some time, which means that even if Tubby isn't signing the greatest players he is at least able to get the guys he really wants to sign here. Good, not great, signing, but at least things are moving in the right direction again, not to mention setting up a regular pipeline to Chicago (Ellis is also a Chicago kid) can only be a positive.
Also, quick, the reports on my new favorite Gopher Charles Buggs are in from the "Midnight" Madness scrimmage last Friday and by all accounts HE. IS. AWESOME. Led all scorers with 10 pts on 4-4 shooting including 2-2 from 3 and grabbed 2 rebounds, plus was apparently one of the more impressive dunkers in the dunk contest? Are you kidding me? He's everything I always knew I always wanted. I seriously can't wait. We goin' Sizzla.
Ok, now on to baseball and I'll start with the Wild Card. From day one I was in favor of the change to two wild card teams per league with a 1-game playoff and I'm pretty sure I'm right. I understand the criticisms many people had such as complaining that they were just trying to manufacture drama, that anything random can happen in a 1-game series so it was meaningless, and so on. But the fact is, winning the Wild Card the last few years was basically the same as winning your division. Other than not having home field advantage (and one division winner wouldn't have it anyway) and playing the best team (if that team happened to not be from your division) what was the difference? Basically nil. Now? Winning the Wild Card puts you at a drastic disadvantage compared to a division winner because if you get hit with a bad call (Atlanta) or run into a hot pitcher (Texas) you're done. I think it's awesome and if you don't I hope you get a stomach parasite.
The sucky thing about the Division Series is we lost all the interesting teams. Only Oakland, Baltimore, Cincy, and Washington haven't been regular playoff fixtures in recent times, and all four lost. I was glad, actually, to see Washington get bounced just because their decision to shut down Strasburg irked me so irksomely, but I would have loved to see Baltimore, Cincinnati, and/or Oakland advance just because it's more interesting than watching New York and Detroit again. That being said, how great was it that every single series went the full five games? And it wasn't just that they went down to sudden death, but how it all happened. If even one of these scenarios happened this would have been an awesome round of the playoffs:
- St. Louis falls behind 6-0 in the third inning of Game 5 and are down to their final strike twice before rallying for four in the ninth to win their sixth straight elimination game.
- The underdog Orioles refuse to die and push the hated Yankees to the final game with two games going extra innings (back-to-back 12 and 13 inning affairs) and three total one-run games.
- Oakland scares the crap out of Detroit by winning games 3 & 4 after having been down 2-0, leading to Justin Verlander throwing one of the best games in playoff history (in Oakland no less) to advance the Tigers.
- The Giants lose the first two games at home, then win the next three in Cincinnati to knock out the Reds.
Now I can see this series going one of two ways. The best way would be that Justin Verlander completely shuts them in game 3 in near no-hitter fashion, they continue to desperately scramble at the plate and resort to crazy tactics (such as hit-and-running with Raul Ibanez and his Matthew LeCroy like speed) to try to score any runs at all and they end up getting swept while the world rejoices. Or, because the Yankees are some evil demon and everyone knows that demons are notoriously hard to kill, they will somehow manage to destroy Verlander and end up winning this series in 7 games. I know that would suck, but in another way it would be good to get to root against the Yankees for another series. I'm still rooting for them to get swept here though, because they are dicks.
As for the NL, how freaking sweet must it be to be a Cards fan? All they ever do is win. In 2006 they won just 83 games but played in a crappy division so they won a playoff berth where they managed to beat two superior teams, setting up a World Series against the massively favored Detroit Tigers. Naturally the Cards won by somehow getting the Tigers to make 8 errors in 5 games and holding them to a .199 batting average despite pitching dudes like Anthony Reyes, making them the worst team (record-wise) to ever win a World Series. In 2011 they again made the series against the Rangers after qualifying for the Wild Card on the final day of the regular season and fell behind 3-2 and were twice down to their final strike before rallying to win and then won game 7 to take another World Series. Now they were basically about to be eliminated by the Nationals but somehow turned it around to win that one as well.
I mean, enough is enough, right? Stop rubbing it in, guys. They're like the anti-Twins with their postseason play, not to mention that they lost the best hitter of the last 10 years to free agency, lost their starting first baseman (Lance Berkman) and starting shortstop (Rafael Furcal) to injury, and got just 20 starts from Jaime Garcia and 3 from Chris Carpenter, yet here they are. I like the Giants and all, even without the usual Lincecum, but how can anybody fight that Redbird mojo? It's a true law of nature like water or dinosaurs. Sorry Giants, but you can't fight against dinosaurs.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Week in Review - 3/5/2012
So MLB in their infinite wisdom has decided to add a second wild card team beginning this season whereby the first round of the playoffs will consist on one game in each league between the two wild card teams, in an attempt to cash in on the excitement the Game 163s have generated the last few years in a move that was almost certainly driven by the almighty dollar.
That being said, I like it. Not only does it give more teams a chance to be relevant late into the season (which, face it, as a Twins fan is a big selling point) but it finally gives a meaningful advantage to the teams that win their division over the Wildcard winner. Before the only difference was home field advantage, now winning a wild card means you play one game for your playoff life while the division winners know they have a full series coming up. I'm 100% on board, thanks for asking.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Chip Armelin. I know the clearest sign of a terrible college season for a team is to start evaluating players in terms of their futures before the year is even over, but here we are, and Armelin played a great game against Nebraska. It was nice to see a player actually attempt to score, not to mention that scoring seemed to be the #1 thing on his mind - a true rarity on the Gopher teams of the Tubby Smith era. He even took a heat check after he made those three treys, and as a huge fan of the heat check it was nice to see because nobody else ever does it on this team. I'm not exactly sure how to project him going forward (assuming he stays with Minnesota) but with him, Dre Hollins, and Joe Coleman the team at least has three guard types who are aggressive with the ball and aren't afraid to attack the rim and attempt to score. For now, at least, until Tubby beats them into submission and they start being afraid to drive.
2. Colonial Conference. Well, the Colonial teams did what they were supposed to do. The CAA had two teams in the mix for an at-large bid in VCU and Drexel, and both made it through to the CAA Final this week. Obviously whichever team wins gets the auto-bid and the other will have to wait for Sunday and hope they get called, but they've done what the both needed to at this point. Both are so on the bubble that it's really tough to say if they'd get in with a loss and might need to catch a few breaks but with Murray State and Creighton getting autobids that's two at-larges that are safe. I'm hoping the committee does the right thing and let's them both in over crappy big 6 teams like Arizona, Seton Hall, or Miami, but that big conference bias has reared it's head in the past, so I'm skeptical at best. [NOTE: VCU ended up winning, and even though it was a close game that pretty much went down to the wire I came away less impressed with Drexel than I was the last time I watched them. I still think they're a good, tough mid-major but I no longer think it'll be a travesty if they don't get a bid. They'll probably just beat the Gophers in NIT round 1.]
3. Indiana Hoosiers. When Indiana started out the year hot I wasn't buying it. Then they beat Kentucky and Ohio State and I was like ok maybe. Then they lost three straight including a home loss to the Gophers and on the road at Nebraska and I was like ha ha I knew it. Then they just kind of did what decent big ten teams always do (win at home, lose on the road, beat who you should, don't get upset, blah blah) and it was boring, but this week might have won me over. The beat both Michigan State and Purdue handily and as everyone who was talking about anything about basketball last week made sure to let you know that's three top-five teams they've now beaten this year. What really won me over was in watching good size chunks of both of those games they're more athletic than I thought. They still won't be confused for Kentucky, but guys like Sheehey and Oladipo are really good athletes, and Hulls and Watford move around better than I remembered. I still don't think they can get any further than the Sweet 16, but not long ago I was penciling them in as being upset in round 1, so they've made me rethink things a bit.
4. Cincinnati Bearcats. Well that's certainly how you make a run when you're stuck on the bubble come late February. The Bearcats beat Marquette and Villanova this week (at Nova) to finish the regular season with five wins in the last six including wins over three teams in the top 56 RPI and the only loss to South Florida on the road (RPI 45). You still can't quite guarantee they're in because that horrendous strength of schedule (#321 non-conference SOS with 9 games against sub-200 RPI teams) and the ugly loss against Presbyterian (RPI 246) which has a good chance to be the worst loss by any tournament team this year, but they're now up to 5-4 against the RPI Top 50 and 7-5 road/neutral and they simply just belong. Their RPI is held back by that SOS and is shaky at 66 right now, but a few weeks ago they were in the mid-80s, so this is a solid run that's kind of inspiring in the same way the Gophers falling from solidly in to no shot in one short month is inspiring but the opposite.
5. North Carolina Tar Heels. Ruh roh. I think everybody has known all year the Heels were behind only Kentucky in pure talent, but for whatever reason seemed to not quite be able to put it together and kind of drifted along, as double digit losses to UNLV and Florida State attest to. I mean sure, they won lots of games and all, but they were definitely not living up to their talent level. And then Duke won in Chapel Hill. And something snapped. The Heels have won their last seven, including absolutely crushing Duke's soul in Durham and easy road wins against three possible tournament teams in Virginia (lock), Miami (likely), NC State (very unlikely). I was hoping they wouldn't figure it out so I could trust them to lose early, but looks like no such luck, and Kendall Marshall was just snubbed for ACC first team so, well, yeah, there's that. And keep in mind that Roy Williams has no interest in conference tournaments so if/when UNC flames out early in the ACC tourney don't let that affect your NCAA picks. Or let it. More sweet sweet delicious sexy money for me sex.
WHO SUCKED
1. St. Louis Cardinals. Lemme get this straight. First, you lose your best player, maybe the best player of his generation and the face of your franchise because you can't afford to pay him. Then you turn around and give your catcher $15mm per year? So let's see. Pujols got 10 years, $240 million from the Angels for an average salary of $24 million each season. From what I can find, the biggest offer the Cardinals put on the table was 9 years, $205 million - or $22.78 million per. You're telling me you couldn't take a few extra million you offered Molina and use it to re-sign Pujols and then offer Molina $13 per instead of $15? You're telling me he wouldn't take that? Seems like knee jerk reaction to make sure you don't lose your second most beloved player after botching it on the first. Then again, my favorite team gave their catcher 800 bajillion dollars to sit on the bench, so who am I to talk.
2. Wichita State. Losing in the semis of a middle tier conference tournament to a non-descript Illinois State team is never a good thing, but in this case it doesn't really bother me nor my love for the Shockers (the team, not the act). First of all and most importantly they're already guaranteed an at-large bid thanks to a very good resume, so this loss doesn't knock them out. Some people will say they'll be more rested but I don't really care about that because a couple of days doesn't make much difference to a 20-year old college athlete, but what I really like is this will knock their seed down a peg. If they're a 5 or 6 instead of a 3 or 4 fewer people will pick them to make the sweet 16 and even fewer will pick them to make the Elite 8 so when I do and they do I will be the winner and the money will be mine all mine oh sweet money yes I want the money oh yes.
3. The Pac-12. I'm starting to think they should just go ahead and not invite anyone from the Pac-10, including the conference winner. Arizona starts to look like they're in decent shape and they lose to atrocious Arizona State (RPI 248) to knock them out of the running for a bid. Washington starts to look like they could maybe get comfortable and they lose to UCLA (RPI 112). Cal nearly has a bid completely sewn up, but they lose to Stanford (RPI 95), and suddenly nobody is anywhere near a lock. If Cal and/or Washington get to the Pac-12 final they're probably ok, especially with all the chalk winning the conference tourneys so far, but if they come up short this might really be a one bid league. At this point the right move might be to just give it to Oregon, because they at least seem like they want to make it and have won four straight. Don't be shocked if the Ducks end up taking this tournament and the only Pac-12 bid this year.
4. Iona Gaels. Well shit. I couldn't be more bummed about the Gaels losing in the quarters of the MAAC Tournament, because this is a really good, fun, dangerous team and suddenly they're probably not going to get a bid to the NCAAs. That loss (to Fairfield) gives Iona they're fourth loss to a sub-100 RPI team with two of those teams being sub-200, and that's not going to help, especially considering there's only one win over a top 50 team (Nevada). They 5-3 record over the Top 100 is fine and the RPI is ok at 46, but there's an awful lot of questions about the profile here. If they had made the conference final and lost to Loyola (RPI 85) they'd be in a lot better shape, but if ifs and buts were candy and nuts every day would be Erntedankfest.
5. Seton Hall Pirates. As much as Cincinnati might be the poster team for doing things the right way to get a bid, Seton Hall might be your classic team that does something awesome to make their fans think they're going to do it and then fuck it all up, or as I like to call it, "pulling a Gopher." Really though, since beating Georgetown and making everybody say "well shit this Seton Hall team might be the goods" the Pirates have lost to Rutgers (RPI 153) and DePaul (RPI 193) which is like LOL. They play Providence tomorrow (today, if you're reading this instead of doing work) and although the Friars aren't exactly good or anything like that, they do own wins this year over Louisville and UCONN so it's not like they're a piece of crap. Plus I'd rather have Providence win so we can forget all about this shitty team who sucks and maybe they can get Iona in there instead. Do it for the children.
And with that I'm out of here. Off to the great state of Florida with the family to be closely followed by a trip to Chicago to watch the NCAA Tournament with Bogart, Dawger, and Snake. Probably drink some beer, some vodka, some redbull, and eat a few wings, too. So I have no idea if/when I'll be posting again. I'll try to get something up when I'm in Florida, but god willing I'll be too busy. Then again, the whole family will be there so maybe I'll have to pretend to "work" and blog it up. You hope.
Lastly I want to mention that I won our Big 10 Fantasy League, beating Bogart in a thriller in the championship and a big thank you to Drew Crawford. Dawger finished dead last.
That being said, I like it. Not only does it give more teams a chance to be relevant late into the season (which, face it, as a Twins fan is a big selling point) but it finally gives a meaningful advantage to the teams that win their division over the Wildcard winner. Before the only difference was home field advantage, now winning a wild card means you play one game for your playoff life while the division winners know they have a full series coming up. I'm 100% on board, thanks for asking.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Chip Armelin. I know the clearest sign of a terrible college season for a team is to start evaluating players in terms of their futures before the year is even over, but here we are, and Armelin played a great game against Nebraska. It was nice to see a player actually attempt to score, not to mention that scoring seemed to be the #1 thing on his mind - a true rarity on the Gopher teams of the Tubby Smith era. He even took a heat check after he made those three treys, and as a huge fan of the heat check it was nice to see because nobody else ever does it on this team. I'm not exactly sure how to project him going forward (assuming he stays with Minnesota) but with him, Dre Hollins, and Joe Coleman the team at least has three guard types who are aggressive with the ball and aren't afraid to attack the rim and attempt to score. For now, at least, until Tubby beats them into submission and they start being afraid to drive.
2. Colonial Conference. Well, the Colonial teams did what they were supposed to do. The CAA had two teams in the mix for an at-large bid in VCU and Drexel, and both made it through to the CAA Final this week. Obviously whichever team wins gets the auto-bid and the other will have to wait for Sunday and hope they get called, but they've done what the both needed to at this point. Both are so on the bubble that it's really tough to say if they'd get in with a loss and might need to catch a few breaks but with Murray State and Creighton getting autobids that's two at-larges that are safe. I'm hoping the committee does the right thing and let's them both in over crappy big 6 teams like Arizona, Seton Hall, or Miami, but that big conference bias has reared it's head in the past, so I'm skeptical at best. [NOTE: VCU ended up winning, and even though it was a close game that pretty much went down to the wire I came away less impressed with Drexel than I was the last time I watched them. I still think they're a good, tough mid-major but I no longer think it'll be a travesty if they don't get a bid. They'll probably just beat the Gophers in NIT round 1.]
3. Indiana Hoosiers. When Indiana started out the year hot I wasn't buying it. Then they beat Kentucky and Ohio State and I was like ok maybe. Then they lost three straight including a home loss to the Gophers and on the road at Nebraska and I was like ha ha I knew it. Then they just kind of did what decent big ten teams always do (win at home, lose on the road, beat who you should, don't get upset, blah blah) and it was boring, but this week might have won me over. The beat both Michigan State and Purdue handily and as everyone who was talking about anything about basketball last week made sure to let you know that's three top-five teams they've now beaten this year. What really won me over was in watching good size chunks of both of those games they're more athletic than I thought. They still won't be confused for Kentucky, but guys like Sheehey and Oladipo are really good athletes, and Hulls and Watford move around better than I remembered. I still don't think they can get any further than the Sweet 16, but not long ago I was penciling them in as being upset in round 1, so they've made me rethink things a bit.
4. Cincinnati Bearcats. Well that's certainly how you make a run when you're stuck on the bubble come late February. The Bearcats beat Marquette and Villanova this week (at Nova) to finish the regular season with five wins in the last six including wins over three teams in the top 56 RPI and the only loss to South Florida on the road (RPI 45). You still can't quite guarantee they're in because that horrendous strength of schedule (#321 non-conference SOS with 9 games against sub-200 RPI teams) and the ugly loss against Presbyterian (RPI 246) which has a good chance to be the worst loss by any tournament team this year, but they're now up to 5-4 against the RPI Top 50 and 7-5 road/neutral and they simply just belong. Their RPI is held back by that SOS and is shaky at 66 right now, but a few weeks ago they were in the mid-80s, so this is a solid run that's kind of inspiring in the same way the Gophers falling from solidly in to no shot in one short month is inspiring but the opposite.
5. North Carolina Tar Heels. Ruh roh. I think everybody has known all year the Heels were behind only Kentucky in pure talent, but for whatever reason seemed to not quite be able to put it together and kind of drifted along, as double digit losses to UNLV and Florida State attest to. I mean sure, they won lots of games and all, but they were definitely not living up to their talent level. And then Duke won in Chapel Hill. And something snapped. The Heels have won their last seven, including absolutely crushing Duke's soul in Durham and easy road wins against three possible tournament teams in Virginia (lock), Miami (likely), NC State (very unlikely). I was hoping they wouldn't figure it out so I could trust them to lose early, but looks like no such luck, and Kendall Marshall was just snubbed for ACC first team so, well, yeah, there's that. And keep in mind that Roy Williams has no interest in conference tournaments so if/when UNC flames out early in the ACC tourney don't let that affect your NCAA picks. Or let it. More sweet sweet delicious sexy money for me sex.
WHO SUCKED
1. St. Louis Cardinals. Lemme get this straight. First, you lose your best player, maybe the best player of his generation and the face of your franchise because you can't afford to pay him. Then you turn around and give your catcher $15mm per year? So let's see. Pujols got 10 years, $240 million from the Angels for an average salary of $24 million each season. From what I can find, the biggest offer the Cardinals put on the table was 9 years, $205 million - or $22.78 million per. You're telling me you couldn't take a few extra million you offered Molina and use it to re-sign Pujols and then offer Molina $13 per instead of $15? You're telling me he wouldn't take that? Seems like knee jerk reaction to make sure you don't lose your second most beloved player after botching it on the first. Then again, my favorite team gave their catcher 800 bajillion dollars to sit on the bench, so who am I to talk.
2. Wichita State. Losing in the semis of a middle tier conference tournament to a non-descript Illinois State team is never a good thing, but in this case it doesn't really bother me nor my love for the Shockers (the team, not the act). First of all and most importantly they're already guaranteed an at-large bid thanks to a very good resume, so this loss doesn't knock them out. Some people will say they'll be more rested but I don't really care about that because a couple of days doesn't make much difference to a 20-year old college athlete, but what I really like is this will knock their seed down a peg. If they're a 5 or 6 instead of a 3 or 4 fewer people will pick them to make the sweet 16 and even fewer will pick them to make the Elite 8 so when I do and they do I will be the winner and the money will be mine all mine oh sweet money yes I want the money oh yes.
3. The Pac-12. I'm starting to think they should just go ahead and not invite anyone from the Pac-10, including the conference winner. Arizona starts to look like they're in decent shape and they lose to atrocious Arizona State (RPI 248) to knock them out of the running for a bid. Washington starts to look like they could maybe get comfortable and they lose to UCLA (RPI 112). Cal nearly has a bid completely sewn up, but they lose to Stanford (RPI 95), and suddenly nobody is anywhere near a lock. If Cal and/or Washington get to the Pac-12 final they're probably ok, especially with all the chalk winning the conference tourneys so far, but if they come up short this might really be a one bid league. At this point the right move might be to just give it to Oregon, because they at least seem like they want to make it and have won four straight. Don't be shocked if the Ducks end up taking this tournament and the only Pac-12 bid this year.
4. Iona Gaels. Well shit. I couldn't be more bummed about the Gaels losing in the quarters of the MAAC Tournament, because this is a really good, fun, dangerous team and suddenly they're probably not going to get a bid to the NCAAs. That loss (to Fairfield) gives Iona they're fourth loss to a sub-100 RPI team with two of those teams being sub-200, and that's not going to help, especially considering there's only one win over a top 50 team (Nevada). They 5-3 record over the Top 100 is fine and the RPI is ok at 46, but there's an awful lot of questions about the profile here. If they had made the conference final and lost to Loyola (RPI 85) they'd be in a lot better shape, but if ifs and buts were candy and nuts every day would be Erntedankfest.
5. Seton Hall Pirates. As much as Cincinnati might be the poster team for doing things the right way to get a bid, Seton Hall might be your classic team that does something awesome to make their fans think they're going to do it and then fuck it all up, or as I like to call it, "pulling a Gopher." Really though, since beating Georgetown and making everybody say "well shit this Seton Hall team might be the goods" the Pirates have lost to Rutgers (RPI 153) and DePaul (RPI 193) which is like LOL. They play Providence tomorrow (today, if you're reading this instead of doing work) and although the Friars aren't exactly good or anything like that, they do own wins this year over Louisville and UCONN so it's not like they're a piece of crap. Plus I'd rather have Providence win so we can forget all about this shitty team who sucks and maybe they can get Iona in there instead. Do it for the children.
And with that I'm out of here. Off to the great state of Florida with the family to be closely followed by a trip to Chicago to watch the NCAA Tournament with Bogart, Dawger, and Snake. Probably drink some beer, some vodka, some redbull, and eat a few wings, too. So I have no idea if/when I'll be posting again. I'll try to get something up when I'm in Florida, but god willing I'll be too busy. Then again, the whole family will be there so maybe I'll have to pretend to "work" and blog it up. You hope.
Lastly I want to mention that I won our Big 10 Fantasy League, beating Bogart in a thriller in the championship and a big thank you to Drew Crawford. Dawger finished dead last.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
World Series Game 6 (plus Tyus Jones and fantasy college basketball updates!!)
Watching Game 6. Typing stuff. Let's go.
- Game update - It's 2-2 in the 3rd. Nick Punto recently tried to kill Chris Carpenter by throwing his bat at him. No big deal though, he threw it in a gritty way.
- So the big news in Gopher hoop news is that Tyus Jones, the all-world 10th grader who is ranked as the 5th best sophomore and #1 point guard in the country according to ESPN, came out in an interview and didn't mention the Gophers. This is, of course, big news because keeping instate recruits, especially at this level, and raising the level of talent coming to Minnesota was supposed to be one of the reasons Tubby Smith was hired, and because Jones would likely be the most important commit in Gopher history if Tubby was able to secure it. A few points, if I may:
- Dropped pop-up by Holliday after a miscommunication with Furcal. You know who doesn't miscommunicate there? Nick Punto.
- Napoli knocks him in. Of course he does. I never realized how good a hitter that guy was. He snuck up on me, just like that little sister of the girl you went to high school with and knew really well and she was always your little buddy and then all of a sudden it's the summer before your senior year and she's going into 10th grade and she comes into Blockbuster where you work and it's all BAM! boobs and the hotness and it's weird and sweaty. I've heard.
- Throwing error on St. Lou's pitcher. Looking like we might be witnessing the implosion to end the season. Stay tuned.
- Or not. 3-2 Rangers.
- Oh, right. You wanted to know how my Fantasy College Basketball Draft was going. Well here she is:
- A 4-pitch walk, and then Andrus throws the ball about 200 feet too high trying to turn the double-play. What an ugly game. It's like watching the Twins play the Twins.
- Top 5, now a 3-3 game and David Freese drops a pop-up. He drops a pop-up. He. drops. a. pop-up. So bizarre right now. Nobody wants to win.
- Aaaand I just missed a shitload of the game because my daughter is a psychopath. It's now the bottom of the sixth, we're tied 4-4 with the bases loaded and one out, and Nick Punto is up. I'm not going to lie to you, I totally have an erection right now.
- Matt Holliday picked off third. Wow. And according to the inning summary Michael Young made another error as well. Pretty good chance this is the worst played world series game in history. Of course Nick Punto was involved.
- Alexi Ogando just walked Punto to re-load the bases, which means if Matt Holliday didn't have his head up his ass (note: that is valid for this entire series) the Cardinals take the lead. Instead the bases are loaded for Jon Jay. If I'm the Rangers I like my chances here. Of course, Nick Punto just walked for like the 8th time this series, so whatevs.
- Jay grounds out to the pitcher. Colored me shocked. Which would probably be some shade of blue.
- Beltre goes yard to lead off the 7th, giving Texas teh lead and winning a bet for me. Nice.
- Cruz home run, which probably loses a bet for me. The lord giveth and he taketh away. But at least he digs gambling.
- Nice work Lance Lynn, by the way. I'm just stunned someone with your name is a terrible pitcher. It's such a manly name you'd think you'd be throwing gas in the upper 90s and mixing in some filthy breaking stuff. Instead it's like watching Jamie Moyer but if he never changed speeds. I'm pretty sure Lance Lynn is the worst pitcher and person ever. I heard he likes to torture kittens and kick babies.
- Jesus christ there are five minutes left in this Houston/Rice football and Case Keenum has 483 yards passing with 8 TD passes. Yes 8. Houston is just ridiculous. I don't know that it's even football they play, but they've perfected it. Sure, there are wannabes like Texas Tech, but nobody has been able to perfectly copy whatever Houston's system is. Both Andre Ware and David Klingler? And now this Keenum cat? Not to mention Kevin Kolb who is heading in that direction. Just brilliant. And all this with Donnie Avery being the only WR of note there ever, and I'm not even sure he's of note but I've heard of him because of my unhealthy love of Sam "Six Killer" Bradford. Also this is way too long of a paragraph talking about a Houston QB. I miss Rodney Peete. Who has nothing to do with anything. I really don't know where that came from.
- I got to see the new Muppet movie last night as a sneak preview (comes out in a month). WonderbabyTM liked it and so did I. It was weird because the whole message of the movie was pretty much "Hey you've forgotten about the Muppets but they were a huge part of you life and guess what they're still awesome" and that's pretty much exactly how I felt. I didn't really even realize how big they were in my own life, but watching this movie I remember every character, every bit, and every joke and when Kermit and the gang sang "Rainbow Connection" it was, no kidding, totally awesome. Especially when Animal rocks out. It was just so much fun.
- AAAAAH Derek Holland's mustache is back! Also is Mike Adams dead?
- Allen Craig goes yard here in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 7-5 ball game, filling in for the "injured" Matt Holliday. Injured? Well considering how lost he's looked at the plate, in the field, and on the base paths he better be injured and hopefully for him it's some sort of brain injury. He's been absolutely terrible.
- Tivo'd the new Beavis and Butthead tonight. Gotta at least give it a shot, right? For old, awesome times, sake?
- Weird play, but I guess it's fitting with tonight's theme of sucky plays. Daniel LaRusso hits a routine grounder to Andrus who looks at second (runner on 1st) despite it being a pretty easy out, double pumps, throws it in the dirt to first and even though it's cleanly picked LaRusso beats it out like he beat up Johnny Lawrence. Runner safe. So weird.
- Base knock for Jay, bases loaded. Molina, of course, couldn't score because he's slower than dirt and he's still on the base paths because LaRussa will never, ever, take him out because of his defense. Also the music guy at Busch is playing a little House of Pain here so I'm pretty sure Furcal's clearing the bases here.
- Groundout to the pitcher. Might as well have played a little Dido.
- My favorite part of this World Series is now when Tim McCarver said, "A home run doesn't tie it" when there was nobody on base and the Cardinals were down by two. You can't pay for that kind of insight. And Pujols just doubled with one out, so now a home run does tie it. I think. McCarver hasn't weighed in yet. He's pretty much a slightly younger, more well-paid Sid Hartman, right?
- Walk. Things are interesting.
- Feliz just froze Craig for strike 3. And that pitch was a hanging slider. Should have smoked that one. Now just one out to go.
- I have a feeling Freese wants to walk here. Looks like he has a giant Louisville Slugger in his rectum. Also I hardly knew 'em.
- Shows what I know because Freese just smoked one to the wall to tie the game and now he's sitting on third - the winning run. Luckily Nelson Cruz's athleticism is approaching Manny from Modern Family levels.
- We're going to extras. And I'm supposed to go watch Parks and Rec. Hold on, brb.
- That is definitely the best show on tv. And now I get to watch the rest of the game in speeded up time.
- With one out Andrus singles, and McCarver can't hold himself back from talking about stealing bases. Honest to god it's some sick sort of obsession. It's all he ever talks about. If we could find stats on this I bet 70% of the sentences he's said in this series have revolved around stolen bases or "sending the runner" which is extra creepy when you think about how often there has been nobody on base when he talks about it.
- Hamilton with a moon shot and the Rangers are up 2. Again. Did that HR hit a fan in the head and kill him? Seems likely.
- He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghosts.
- LaRusso leads off with a knock for the Cards. They certainly aren't going away. Although Jon Jay is up, so that's pretty much an automatic out. The Cards should consider this a win if this isn't a double play.
- Texas-Leaguer, base hit for Jay. 2-on, nobody out, and we have a pitcher pinch-hitting for I assume a pitcher but I can't look it up because I'm on tivo and looking it up means I see a box score which means I learn stuff I don't want to. And the pinch-hitter edwin jackson is pulled and now it's Kyle Lohse. Former twin. Up in a huge spot and being asked to bunt. And since he's a pitcher the corners are going to be way in and if he gets the bunt down they'll get the out at third. Same thing happened to Colby Lewis earlier.
- Well he gets the runners over but only by making an absolutely horrendous bunt, which just happened to find an open area and was actually closer to a hit than an out. Now Ryan theriot is up with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. I think they should walk him and pitch to Pujols.
- Ground out to score a run by Theriot (best case scenario if you're st. louis). Tying run on second, Pujols up. Do you walk him and put the winning run on base? Tough call, but the Rangers are going to do it. Single by Berkman ties it, double wins it, out ends it. It ain't game 7, but there's some high drama here tonight.
- Jesus christ. Berkman singles to center to tie the game. Winning run now on third. I'm so tired and excited.
- We're going to 11 folks.
- I fast forwarded through the top of the 11th to get live. Nothing happened.
- Home run David Freese, and of course Buck steals the "we'll see you tomorrow night" line. Great series. Calling it now: Pujols at least 3 hits tomorrow, and probably 2 home runs. Book it.
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- Game update - It's 2-2 in the 3rd. Nick Punto recently tried to kill Chris Carpenter by throwing his bat at him. No big deal though, he threw it in a gritty way.
- So the big news in Gopher hoop news is that Tyus Jones, the all-world 10th grader who is ranked as the 5th best sophomore and #1 point guard in the country according to ESPN, came out in an interview and didn't mention the Gophers. This is, of course, big news because keeping instate recruits, especially at this level, and raising the level of talent coming to Minnesota was supposed to be one of the reasons Tubby Smith was hired, and because Jones would likely be the most important commit in Gopher history if Tubby was able to secure it. A few points, if I may:
- First thing, ignore the sensationalist headline and keep in mind that when he mentions "Arizona, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Duke" as the schools he's seriously considering he's not just talking about himself. He is talking about the schools where he and fellow sophomore Jahlil Okafor, a center from Chicago who is ranked #3 by ESPN, are looking at attending together. It isn't his "official" list.
- There have been a lot of these "we're going to play together" deals, especially when kids are younger like Tyus and Jahlil. Rarely do they end up happening. I'd give you an example but I can't think of one. In any case, Tyus could certainly still consider the Gophers as a strong possibility for himself if he goes his own way from Okafor.
- All that being said, Jones has never come out and said Minnesota is a leader and he's never given me the feeling that he's even seriously considering the U, so it shouldn't exactly be a surprise that the Gophers aren't high on his radar. Once teams like Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, etc. come calling, the Gophers don't look all that attractive even to many home town kids. It's a sad reality, but it's a reality. Remember Naadir Tharpe? Not a hometown kid, but a kid who had narrowed his choices to Minnesota or Rutgers. When Rutgers secured a commitment from a different point guard and it seemed inevitable he was going to be a Gopher. At the last minute Kansas got involved, and like 2 days later he committed to the Jayhawks. The power programs are power programs for a reason.
- Tubby HAS reversed the trend of the best Minnesota kids leaving the state. Going back to 2006 the biggest recruits in the state were Isaiah Dahlman, Cole Aldrich, Jon Leuer, Jared Berggren, and Jordan Taylor, and to the best of my knowledge none of them even considered Minnesota. Since 2008 the top kids have been Royce White, Rodney Williams, and Joe Coleman - all Gophers. One miss does not mean he's not doing his job. By all accounts Tubby has been after Tyus hard.
- But no matter what you do, once a kid hits that level of accomplishment, that level of stardom, and starts receiving those kinds of accolades and has his pick of schools, he will nearly always go to a premier program rather than stay home to try to revive his home town school. Looking at the Rivals top 10 from 2007-2011 , the only kids I found who actually stayed home were kids whose home town school was a national powerhouse and/or "premier" programs (Sullinger to Ohio State, Bullock to UNC, Holliday to UCLA, Mullens to Ohio State, and Gordon to Indiana), There were only three exceptions - Perry Jones to Baylor (although technically he lived closer to SMU), Derrick Favors to G-Tech, and Demar DeRozan to USC. So out of five years and 50 kids, only 3 stayed home to help their hometown school - this was a long shot to begin with.
- A lot can change in the next couple of years, and maybe Tubby will re-energize the program, finally, and maybe Tyus will catch the fever and decide he wants to be a Gopher (and bring his buddy with him). But I wouldn't consider it likely. No matter who the coach is, Minnesota isn't the kind of school that gets these kids. It just is what it is. Tubby needs to get good, talented kids he can coach up, freaking keep them, and hope that every few years lightning hits and the Gophers are a Sweet 16 team with possible upside. That's the reality folks. Learn it. Live it. Love it.
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| This is GOLDEN. GOPHER. BASKETBALL. (Get it. You want it to be really good but it's just mediocre but you keep watching because you really hope it's going to get better and maybe they'll be a sweet dinosaur that shows up. |
- Dropped pop-up by Holliday after a miscommunication with Furcal. You know who doesn't miscommunicate there? Nick Punto.
- Napoli knocks him in. Of course he does. I never realized how good a hitter that guy was. He snuck up on me, just like that little sister of the girl you went to high school with and knew really well and she was always your little buddy and then all of a sudden it's the summer before your senior year and she's going into 10th grade and she comes into Blockbuster where you work and it's all BAM! boobs and the hotness and it's weird and sweaty. I've heard.
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| Like this, only if instead of it being school it was Blockbuster and if the girl was way hotter |
- Or not. 3-2 Rangers.
- Oh, right. You wanted to know how my Fantasy College Basketball Draft was going. Well here she is:
- ROUND 1 - TREVOR MBAKWE, F, MINNESOTA: When you're in a college basketball draft with bunches of players who you might not even see on TV this year and a hometown boy should go somewhere near where you're picking, you take him. I picked 9th, and after what I thought was a clear top 5 (Tu Holloway, Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, Terrence Jones, and Jordan Taylor) it's pretty wide open after that. Mbakwe is somewhere on that second tier, and with a legit chance to put up 18-12-2-1-2 with 60% shooting this year, I had to take him.
- ROUND 2 - DEE BOST, G, MISS STATE: Bost managed to average north of 6 assists per game last year while scoring 15 points per contest. His shooting percentage is a atrocious, but he's going to dominate the ball and put up some serious numbers.
- ROUND 3 - DREW GORDON, F, NEW MEXICO: I love this pick. He was the Mountain West newcomer of the year last season and is the front-runner for player of the year this year. He could easily put up the same numbers as Mbakwe, but I got him three rounds later.
- ROUND 4 - JOSH SMITH, C, UCLA: He slimmed down a bit and he's also had the talent, hopefully he's a little more motivated this year - and that weight loss is a good sign. I'm a little bit nervous because the Wear twins are there now and he could end up losing playing time, but he was good last year with the talent to be great, and we start 3 centers so they're at a premium with 13 teams in the league.
- ROUND 5 - ALLEN CRABBE, G, CAL: Team was looking a little bit too front-court heavy, so I went with an all-around guard who can help out in most categories. I regret this one a bit and am thinking I should have gone with Ramone Moore from Temple, but they're pretty similar statistically.
- ROUND 6 - ANDREW SMITH, C, BUTLER: I considered Smith a nice sleeper at C, but a huge run on the position caused me to move earlier than I wanted to. Remember we start 3 centers, and in the last 10 picks prior to me going here Augustus Gilchrist (So Fl), Ralph Sampson (lol), Kenny Frease (Xavier), Reggie Johnson (Miami), and Greg Echenique (Creighton) - all centers - were taken. I expect Smith to see a nice jump in production with Howard gone, and it was either get my 2nd center here or just forget about it altogether. I still have some nice sleepers I can't mention here because stupid TRE reads this blog and is in the league, but I feel much better with 2 solid centers on board.
- A 4-pitch walk, and then Andrus throws the ball about 200 feet too high trying to turn the double-play. What an ugly game. It's like watching the Twins play the Twins.
- Top 5, now a 3-3 game and David Freese drops a pop-up. He drops a pop-up. He. drops. a. pop-up. So bizarre right now. Nobody wants to win.
- Aaaand I just missed a shitload of the game because my daughter is a psychopath. It's now the bottom of the sixth, we're tied 4-4 with the bases loaded and one out, and Nick Punto is up. I'm not going to lie to you, I totally have an erection right now.
- Matt Holliday picked off third. Wow. And according to the inning summary Michael Young made another error as well. Pretty good chance this is the worst played world series game in history. Of course Nick Punto was involved.
- Alexi Ogando just walked Punto to re-load the bases, which means if Matt Holliday didn't have his head up his ass (note: that is valid for this entire series) the Cardinals take the lead. Instead the bases are loaded for Jon Jay. If I'm the Rangers I like my chances here. Of course, Nick Punto just walked for like the 8th time this series, so whatevs.
- Jay grounds out to the pitcher. Colored me shocked. Which would probably be some shade of blue.
- Beltre goes yard to lead off the 7th, giving Texas teh lead and winning a bet for me. Nice.
- Cruz home run, which probably loses a bet for me. The lord giveth and he taketh away. But at least he digs gambling.
- Nice work Lance Lynn, by the way. I'm just stunned someone with your name is a terrible pitcher. It's such a manly name you'd think you'd be throwing gas in the upper 90s and mixing in some filthy breaking stuff. Instead it's like watching Jamie Moyer but if he never changed speeds. I'm pretty sure Lance Lynn is the worst pitcher and person ever. I heard he likes to torture kittens and kick babies.
- Jesus christ there are five minutes left in this Houston/Rice football and Case Keenum has 483 yards passing with 8 TD passes. Yes 8. Houston is just ridiculous. I don't know that it's even football they play, but they've perfected it. Sure, there are wannabes like Texas Tech, but nobody has been able to perfectly copy whatever Houston's system is. Both Andre Ware and David Klingler? And now this Keenum cat? Not to mention Kevin Kolb who is heading in that direction. Just brilliant. And all this with Donnie Avery being the only WR of note there ever, and I'm not even sure he's of note but I've heard of him because of my unhealthy love of Sam "Six Killer" Bradford. Also this is way too long of a paragraph talking about a Houston QB. I miss Rodney Peete. Who has nothing to do with anything. I really don't know where that came from.
- I got to see the new Muppet movie last night as a sneak preview (comes out in a month). WonderbabyTM liked it and so did I. It was weird because the whole message of the movie was pretty much "Hey you've forgotten about the Muppets but they were a huge part of you life and guess what they're still awesome" and that's pretty much exactly how I felt. I didn't really even realize how big they were in my own life, but watching this movie I remember every character, every bit, and every joke and when Kermit and the gang sang "Rainbow Connection" it was, no kidding, totally awesome. Especially when Animal rocks out. It was just so much fun.
- AAAAAH Derek Holland's mustache is back! Also is Mike Adams dead?
- Allen Craig goes yard here in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 7-5 ball game, filling in for the "injured" Matt Holliday. Injured? Well considering how lost he's looked at the plate, in the field, and on the base paths he better be injured and hopefully for him it's some sort of brain injury. He's been absolutely terrible.
- Tivo'd the new Beavis and Butthead tonight. Gotta at least give it a shot, right? For old, awesome times, sake?
- Weird play, but I guess it's fitting with tonight's theme of sucky plays. Daniel LaRusso hits a routine grounder to Andrus who looks at second (runner on 1st) despite it being a pretty easy out, double pumps, throws it in the dirt to first and even though it's cleanly picked LaRusso beats it out like he beat up Johnny Lawrence. Runner safe. So weird.
- Base knock for Jay, bases loaded. Molina, of course, couldn't score because he's slower than dirt and he's still on the base paths because LaRussa will never, ever, take him out because of his defense. Also the music guy at Busch is playing a little House of Pain here so I'm pretty sure Furcal's clearing the bases here.
- Groundout to the pitcher. Might as well have played a little Dido.
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| My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why-y-y, we traded for Fur-cal. |
- Walk. Things are interesting.
- Feliz just froze Craig for strike 3. And that pitch was a hanging slider. Should have smoked that one. Now just one out to go.
- I have a feeling Freese wants to walk here. Looks like he has a giant Louisville Slugger in his rectum. Also I hardly knew 'em.
- Shows what I know because Freese just smoked one to the wall to tie the game and now he's sitting on third - the winning run. Luckily Nelson Cruz's athleticism is approaching Manny from Modern Family levels.
- We're going to extras. And I'm supposed to go watch Parks and Rec. Hold on, brb.
- That is definitely the best show on tv. And now I get to watch the rest of the game in speeded up time.
- With one out Andrus singles, and McCarver can't hold himself back from talking about stealing bases. Honest to god it's some sick sort of obsession. It's all he ever talks about. If we could find stats on this I bet 70% of the sentences he's said in this series have revolved around stolen bases or "sending the runner" which is extra creepy when you think about how often there has been nobody on base when he talks about it.
- Hamilton with a moon shot and the Rangers are up 2. Again. Did that HR hit a fan in the head and kill him? Seems likely.
- He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghosts.
- LaRusso leads off with a knock for the Cards. They certainly aren't going away. Although Jon Jay is up, so that's pretty much an automatic out. The Cards should consider this a win if this isn't a double play.
- Texas-Leaguer, base hit for Jay. 2-on, nobody out, and we have a pitcher pinch-hitting for I assume a pitcher but I can't look it up because I'm on tivo and looking it up means I see a box score which means I learn stuff I don't want to. And the pinch-hitter edwin jackson is pulled and now it's Kyle Lohse. Former twin. Up in a huge spot and being asked to bunt. And since he's a pitcher the corners are going to be way in and if he gets the bunt down they'll get the out at third. Same thing happened to Colby Lewis earlier.
- Well he gets the runners over but only by making an absolutely horrendous bunt, which just happened to find an open area and was actually closer to a hit than an out. Now Ryan theriot is up with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out. I think they should walk him and pitch to Pujols.
- Ground out to score a run by Theriot (best case scenario if you're st. louis). Tying run on second, Pujols up. Do you walk him and put the winning run on base? Tough call, but the Rangers are going to do it. Single by Berkman ties it, double wins it, out ends it. It ain't game 7, but there's some high drama here tonight.
- Jesus christ. Berkman singles to center to tie the game. Winning run now on third. I'm so tired and excited.
- We're going to 11 folks.
- I fast forwarded through the top of the 11th to get live. Nothing happened.
- Home run David Freese, and of course Buck steals the "we'll see you tomorrow night" line. Great series. Calling it now: Pujols at least 3 hits tomorrow, and probably 2 home runs. Book it.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday Musings (World Series, Vikings, Billy Beane, Racism in football, etc.)
I'm watching the World Series right now (currently 2-0 St. Louis in the 3rd) and watching the Rangers work on imploding, which is exactly what Detroit did to hand the Cards their last World Championship, when they were once again a substantial underdog. So far C.J. Wilson has walked Lance Berkman after being ahead 0-2, and Berkman then advanced to third on David or Daniel Murphy's error on a single to left (which scored Holliday), and then scored when Keith Moreland's kid booted a ground ball. C.J. Wilson also threw a Furcal bunt away, but was able to pitch out of it. And now Moreland just hit a Thome-sized home run. Looks like a ball game. I'm not going to live blog it like, but I'll just do that thing where I type whatever comes into my head about whatever. I guess that's what I usually do. Whatever. Shut your big fat face.
- So I suppose, for the first time in two years, there's something worthwhile to talk about with the Vikings. Of course, this is only because they have clearly jumped into rebuilding mold and Ponder gave everyone hope, but despite being impressed with Ponder I'm not exactly looking forward to the next couple of years.
Here's your problem - too old and/or too bad. What do you have? Well you have a good start because you have one bona fide superstar on each side of the ball (AP and Jared Allen), both of whom will probably be able to give you 3-5 more years at a high level. That's an excellent start, and far better than a lot of teams can build around. But from there it's tough.
Ponder looked very good for it being his first start. He made his mistakes, misjudged just how fast even an old cornerback is in the NFL, and made some interesting decisions, but he also made a lot of good throws, showed a lot of poise for a rookie, and never seemed rattled. I don't know what exactly his upside is, but, at the very least, he looks like a young QB the team can build around. It's been a long time since this team has had that (Culpepper), and I'd say Ponder's downside is as a middle of the pack type starter. That's very, very good.
But what else do you have? Nothing. On offense the only other person who has big-time potential is Percy Harvin, but it's hard for me to see him as anything more than a kick returner slot receiver type. I think his absolute upside is the kind of guy who can have a 5 catch-180 yd-2 td day and then follow it up the next week with 1 catch for 8 yards. Who else is there? Kyle Rudolph I guess, but I'm pretty sure everybody loves him because he's white and he's best friends with Ponder who, it turns out, is also white and everybody loves. We'll see.
The real problem here is that there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, on that offensive line. There is not one single player who starts on that line who would start for any other team in the league with the possible exception of Steve Hutchinson, but that doesn't matter because he's too old to matter when this team is 2-3 years away at a minimum. Loadholt I suppose has some potential and I wouldn't exactly give up on him, but he's not nearly as good as I had hoped and the rest of these guys are fuckin' clown shoes.
And the defense? Who, outside of Allen is remotely interesting? Greenway is alright and Robison is fine as long as you're ok with a mediocre DE2, but that's it. E.J. Henderson? Please. Guy is so overrated and still can't move around correctly. Maybe after another year of healing he'll be ok but I'm not betting on it. Kevin Williams is done, I have no idea who the other DT or LB is, and the only half-way decent defensive backs are a guy who has had 2 knee surgeries and a guy who is currently in jail. Antoine Winfield is one of my favorite players ever but he's pretty much done unless he can move to safety which they should definitely try because Hussain Abdullah's one skill seems to be allowing the big play and also because he's probably a terrorist.
The good news is there are some legitimately nice players here - AP, Allen, Harvin, Ponder, and Greenway are all quality players. The bad news is this isn't baseball or basketball and you can't just trade veterans from prospects and/or picks. It's unfortunate, because guys like Winfield and Hutchinson would be perfect trade bait in other sports, but not the NFL so their kind of stuck. So I guess my point is that the Vikings will be bad for a while but should at least be fun to watch. So I guess that's something. The Gophers are going to be terrible and no fun to watch, so I guess point NFL.
- You know what I'd rather watch than that Captain America movie that's coming out on DVD tomorrow? Anything.
- You know what I do like though? Walking Dead. Very good show so far. Not exactly the most realistic, but if you're looking for realism in a show about zombies I contend you're kind of lost already.
- Last time Pujols came up there as a runner on third with 1 out and they walked him. Holliday grounded into a double play. Now there are runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. They're walking him again. The intrigue is so thick you could cut it with a spoon.
- Ground out to short. Holliday is terrible. Billy Beane was right again.
- Know who the A's got for Holliday? Shane Peterson, Clay Mortensen, and Brett Wallace. Mortensen was then traded to the Rockies for Ethan Hollingsworth, Wallace was shipped to the Jays for Michael Taylor, and Peterson is still in the minors (along with Hollingsworth and Taylor). And Beane originally had to give up Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, and Greg Smith to get Holliday. So essentially he flipped a superstar outfielder (down year notwithstanding), a still capable closer, and a young starter who is already in the majors for three minor leaguers, only one of which (Taylor) is considered a top 20 prospect in their system. I guess Joe Morgan was right, moneyball schmoneyball.
- So not only am I playing in the fantasy Big 10 hoops league with my friends (Snacks, Dawger, Snake, Bogart, Optimator, Elk, and Grandslam), but I'm playing in a bigger college hoops league as well, similar to the won I played in - and won - 2 years ago. We've got 13 teams and we're using the Big Six leagues plus the meaningful outliers (UNLV, BYU, New Mexico, Memphis, Gonzaga, etc.). It's a lot harder, and I wish I could talk about it more in depth but unfortunately TRE from Still got Hope? (which if you don't read you should) is also in the league, so I can't divulge my secrets. We fire up the draft tomorrow and it's slowish style so I might get like 2 picks per day. I pick 9th, and I'll give you a hint (and also TRE picks after me) - if he's there I'm going to go with a guy whose name rhymes with Shumbakwe and probably has a huge crank.
- That "huge crank" talk is probably inappropriate but I'm going to leave it in there because it's just going to help the google search results. Also megan fox lesbian kiss midget vagina fart ass sex nick punto.
- Speaking of Nick Punto vagina farts, he just struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs. Big spot there. Punto's definitely the guy I'd want up in that situation.
- Adrian Beltre just hit a home run on a lollipop curve ball from his knees. No lie. That was pretty weird and impressive. Now 2-2. This has been a great series.
- So this morning before work one of our Direct TV remotes stopped working. It had been going and even when we switched batteries it didn't get any better and today it was just done. So I looked it up on their website and I can get a replacement remote for $15. I figured cool, that's a reasonable price and I'll swing by the nearest retailer to my house and see how much more it is, thinking I'd be willing to pay $5-$10 to have it tonight rather than waiting for it to ship. So I get home from work, grab my damn wiener kids so Mrs. W can do her Tae Bo or yoga or whatever it is tonight, and run up to said retailer. Almost immediately find the remote. It's priced at $44.99. Forty. Five. Fucking. Dollars. Naturally I walked out without it and am now watching the game with no ability to flip channels on the commercials or mute Tim McCarver, but I'm sure as shit not paying 200% more than I have to. I'll wait a couple days, thanks.
- Top 7, tie game. Allen Craig or someone with a name like that, walks with one out and then tries to steal second and is out by two billion feet. And now they're walking Pujols. And guess what they would have done if that steal would have been successful? Yep. Walked him. Since he's nearly as likely to hit an XBH as get a single, maybe you just stay put on first, ok? I get the stolen base and it certainly has it's place, but these two managers both seem to be way to obsessed with it and have both screwed their teams over in this series. Also let's see if Holliday can go 0-3 after getting slapped in the mouth.
- Hey a base hit! Way to go little buddy! And thanks to a whole bunch of thrown the ball around-itis, we're at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. 20 bucks says Berkman strikes out for the 3rd time tonight.
- I missed what happened with Berkman but the bases were loaded when David Freese struck out so I assume they walked him.
- By the way you should probably ignore everything I wrote about the Vikings above. I made most of that up.
- Bottom 7, 1 out, Kinsler on first. 20 bucks says they send him here.
- Nope, but Elvis Andrus struck out on 3 pitches. God they'd be so much better if they hit Napoli or Cruz or even Beltre second. But of course, Ron Washington can't do that. You gotta have a guy there who can handle the bat, right Gardy and every other manager in the stupid world. And Dawger.
- Ever want to combine racism with football? Go nuts.
- After a leadoff hit by Yadier Molina I'm pretty sure the Cardinals just pinch hit for Skip Schumaker with Ryan Theriot just so he could sac bunt. You're telling me a dude named Skip can't bunt? You might as well tell me that sliding into first doesn't get you there faster. I can't believe it. I won't.
- Punto blows it again, striking out in a still tied game with a runner on 2nd and 1 out. Takes a special kind of guy to constantly disappoint two franchises.
- In one fantasy league I'm in today I was offered Cam Newton and James Starks in exchange for Hakeem Nicks and LaSean McCoy. So that was pretty fun.
- Bases loaded. One out. Bottom of the 8th. 2-2 game. Mike Napoli up. A hit, and particularly an extra-base hit, would help my bank account tremendously. Na-Po-Li. Na-Po-Li. Na-Po-Li.
- Double, scores 2. Damn dude, shit never works out like this for me.
- That message board I posted earlier really thinks Peyton Hillis is being held down because he's white. Why can't they just accept that he's terrible at football? Probably a good blocker though.
- I couldn't tell you one thing about Lance Lynn. Well, other than he's a pitcher for St. Louis who is about to come into a high leverage situation in the World Series.
- Your name is Lance Lynn and you're gonna roll out the perm? Interesting choice. Also he just intentionally walked Ian Kinsler and then got yanked. Looks like LaRussa has his overmanaging pants on again.
- Feliz now in for the ninth and he gets 2 strikes on Craig and then plunks him right in the back shoulder on a pitch that was so zeroed in on him that there was no way Craig could've gotten out of the way even if his life was on the line. Pujols up. Tying run, can't walk him. Nice.
- Jesus Pujols has a great eye. Now at 3-2. Laid off three close ones but were clearly balls. He's really good at hitting stuff. Not unlike Chris Cook, I suppose.
- Strike 'em out throw 'em out. Pujols whiffs on a pitch that was ball four and Craig is tossed easily and I have no clue why they sent him. I know Albert doesn't strike out a ton, but you just took a runner out who, really, didn't matter. If he gets to second and scores on a single who fucking cares, you're still down by a run. Stupid play. Tony LaRussa outsmarted himself here tonight. I hope Holliday hits a home run here.
- Holliday walks. Will probably get thrown out stealing. Stay tuned.
- Berkman whiffs. Texas wins. Pretty sure we're going 7 folks. Adios and good night.
- So I suppose, for the first time in two years, there's something worthwhile to talk about with the Vikings. Of course, this is only because they have clearly jumped into rebuilding mold and Ponder gave everyone hope, but despite being impressed with Ponder I'm not exactly looking forward to the next couple of years.
Here's your problem - too old and/or too bad. What do you have? Well you have a good start because you have one bona fide superstar on each side of the ball (AP and Jared Allen), both of whom will probably be able to give you 3-5 more years at a high level. That's an excellent start, and far better than a lot of teams can build around. But from there it's tough.
Ponder looked very good for it being his first start. He made his mistakes, misjudged just how fast even an old cornerback is in the NFL, and made some interesting decisions, but he also made a lot of good throws, showed a lot of poise for a rookie, and never seemed rattled. I don't know what exactly his upside is, but, at the very least, he looks like a young QB the team can build around. It's been a long time since this team has had that (Culpepper), and I'd say Ponder's downside is as a middle of the pack type starter. That's very, very good.
But what else do you have? Nothing. On offense the only other person who has big-time potential is Percy Harvin, but it's hard for me to see him as anything more than a kick returner slot receiver type. I think his absolute upside is the kind of guy who can have a 5 catch-180 yd-2 td day and then follow it up the next week with 1 catch for 8 yards. Who else is there? Kyle Rudolph I guess, but I'm pretty sure everybody loves him because he's white and he's best friends with Ponder who, it turns out, is also white and everybody loves. We'll see.
The real problem here is that there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, on that offensive line. There is not one single player who starts on that line who would start for any other team in the league with the possible exception of Steve Hutchinson, but that doesn't matter because he's too old to matter when this team is 2-3 years away at a minimum. Loadholt I suppose has some potential and I wouldn't exactly give up on him, but he's not nearly as good as I had hoped and the rest of these guys are fuckin' clown shoes.
And the defense? Who, outside of Allen is remotely interesting? Greenway is alright and Robison is fine as long as you're ok with a mediocre DE2, but that's it. E.J. Henderson? Please. Guy is so overrated and still can't move around correctly. Maybe after another year of healing he'll be ok but I'm not betting on it. Kevin Williams is done, I have no idea who the other DT or LB is, and the only half-way decent defensive backs are a guy who has had 2 knee surgeries and a guy who is currently in jail. Antoine Winfield is one of my favorite players ever but he's pretty much done unless he can move to safety which they should definitely try because Hussain Abdullah's one skill seems to be allowing the big play and also because he's probably a terrorist.
The good news is there are some legitimately nice players here - AP, Allen, Harvin, Ponder, and Greenway are all quality players. The bad news is this isn't baseball or basketball and you can't just trade veterans from prospects and/or picks. It's unfortunate, because guys like Winfield and Hutchinson would be perfect trade bait in other sports, but not the NFL so their kind of stuck. So I guess my point is that the Vikings will be bad for a while but should at least be fun to watch. So I guess that's something. The Gophers are going to be terrible and no fun to watch, so I guess point NFL.
- You know what I'd rather watch than that Captain America movie that's coming out on DVD tomorrow? Anything.
- You know what I do like though? Walking Dead. Very good show so far. Not exactly the most realistic, but if you're looking for realism in a show about zombies I contend you're kind of lost already.
- Last time Pujols came up there as a runner on third with 1 out and they walked him. Holliday grounded into a double play. Now there are runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. They're walking him again. The intrigue is so thick you could cut it with a spoon.
- Ground out to short. Holliday is terrible. Billy Beane was right again.
- Know who the A's got for Holliday? Shane Peterson, Clay Mortensen, and Brett Wallace. Mortensen was then traded to the Rockies for Ethan Hollingsworth, Wallace was shipped to the Jays for Michael Taylor, and Peterson is still in the minors (along with Hollingsworth and Taylor). And Beane originally had to give up Carlos Gonzalez, Huston Street, and Greg Smith to get Holliday. So essentially he flipped a superstar outfielder (down year notwithstanding), a still capable closer, and a young starter who is already in the majors for three minor leaguers, only one of which (Taylor) is considered a top 20 prospect in their system. I guess Joe Morgan was right, moneyball schmoneyball.
- So not only am I playing in the fantasy Big 10 hoops league with my friends (Snacks, Dawger, Snake, Bogart, Optimator, Elk, and Grandslam), but I'm playing in a bigger college hoops league as well, similar to the won I played in - and won - 2 years ago. We've got 13 teams and we're using the Big Six leagues plus the meaningful outliers (UNLV, BYU, New Mexico, Memphis, Gonzaga, etc.). It's a lot harder, and I wish I could talk about it more in depth but unfortunately TRE from Still got Hope? (which if you don't read you should) is also in the league, so I can't divulge my secrets. We fire up the draft tomorrow and it's slowish style so I might get like 2 picks per day. I pick 9th, and I'll give you a hint (and also TRE picks after me) - if he's there I'm going to go with a guy whose name rhymes with Shumbakwe and probably has a huge crank.
- That "huge crank" talk is probably inappropriate but I'm going to leave it in there because it's just going to help the google search results. Also megan fox lesbian kiss midget vagina fart ass sex nick punto.
- Speaking of Nick Punto vagina farts, he just struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs. Big spot there. Punto's definitely the guy I'd want up in that situation.
- Adrian Beltre just hit a home run on a lollipop curve ball from his knees. No lie. That was pretty weird and impressive. Now 2-2. This has been a great series.
 |
| Big fuckin' deal, Beltre. I could've done that do if that dickhead Veeck would've let me swing. |
- Top 7, tie game. Allen Craig or someone with a name like that, walks with one out and then tries to steal second and is out by two billion feet. And now they're walking Pujols. And guess what they would have done if that steal would have been successful? Yep. Walked him. Since he's nearly as likely to hit an XBH as get a single, maybe you just stay put on first, ok? I get the stolen base and it certainly has it's place, but these two managers both seem to be way to obsessed with it and have both screwed their teams over in this series. Also let's see if Holliday can go 0-3 after getting slapped in the mouth.
- Hey a base hit! Way to go little buddy! And thanks to a whole bunch of thrown the ball around-itis, we're at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. 20 bucks says Berkman strikes out for the 3rd time tonight.
- I missed what happened with Berkman but the bases were loaded when David Freese struck out so I assume they walked him.
 | |
| Let me guess, you were expecting a picture of Arnold as Mr. Freeze? You probably don't even know who this is, do you you unoriginal bastard? |
- By the way you should probably ignore everything I wrote about the Vikings above. I made most of that up.
- Bottom 7, 1 out, Kinsler on first. 20 bucks says they send him here.
- Nope, but Elvis Andrus struck out on 3 pitches. God they'd be so much better if they hit Napoli or Cruz or even Beltre second. But of course, Ron Washington can't do that. You gotta have a guy there who can handle the bat, right Gardy and every other manager in the stupid world. And Dawger.
- Ever want to combine racism with football? Go nuts.
- After a leadoff hit by Yadier Molina I'm pretty sure the Cardinals just pinch hit for Skip Schumaker with Ryan Theriot just so he could sac bunt. You're telling me a dude named Skip can't bunt? You might as well tell me that sliding into first doesn't get you there faster. I can't believe it. I won't.
- Punto blows it again, striking out in a still tied game with a runner on 2nd and 1 out. Takes a special kind of guy to constantly disappoint two franchises.
- In one fantasy league I'm in today I was offered Cam Newton and James Starks in exchange for Hakeem Nicks and LaSean McCoy. So that was pretty fun.
- Bases loaded. One out. Bottom of the 8th. 2-2 game. Mike Napoli up. A hit, and particularly an extra-base hit, would help my bank account tremendously. Na-Po-Li. Na-Po-Li. Na-Po-Li.
- Double, scores 2. Damn dude, shit never works out like this for me.
- That message board I posted earlier really thinks Peyton Hillis is being held down because he's white. Why can't they just accept that he's terrible at football? Probably a good blocker though.
- I couldn't tell you one thing about Lance Lynn. Well, other than he's a pitcher for St. Louis who is about to come into a high leverage situation in the World Series.
- Your name is Lance Lynn and you're gonna roll out the perm? Interesting choice. Also he just intentionally walked Ian Kinsler and then got yanked. Looks like LaRussa has his overmanaging pants on again.
 |
| Oh hello. I pitch for the Cardinals. |
- Jesus Pujols has a great eye. Now at 3-2. Laid off three close ones but were clearly balls. He's really good at hitting stuff. Not unlike Chris Cook, I suppose.
- Strike 'em out throw 'em out. Pujols whiffs on a pitch that was ball four and Craig is tossed easily and I have no clue why they sent him. I know Albert doesn't strike out a ton, but you just took a runner out who, really, didn't matter. If he gets to second and scores on a single who fucking cares, you're still down by a run. Stupid play. Tony LaRussa outsmarted himself here tonight. I hope Holliday hits a home run here.
- Holliday walks. Will probably get thrown out stealing. Stay tuned.
- Berkman whiffs. Texas wins. Pretty sure we're going 7 folks. Adios and good night.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
World Series Game 1
Man I love the stupid World Series. Even when it's Texas vs. St. Louis and I can't even decide who I'm rooting for until I put money down on Texas. I watched the top of the first while folding clothes and drinking a Hamm's and saw Texas kill its early momentum by being too obsessed with running. Seriously, McCarver and buck suck and are prone to hyperbole, but Yadier Molina really is that good when it comes to throwing out base-runners so here's a tip - don't freaking run on him. I mean jesus christ Ron Washington, you were on the Oakland A's staff in the salad days of moneyball, did you learn nothing? I guess that's why you never trust a crackhead manager.
7:17 - Furcal walks to start things up for St. Louis. Tonights' action: Rangers to win, over 7.5 total runs, David Freese no RBI, Adrian Beltre YES Hit, Nelson Cruz YES to strikeout, Mike Napoli to have more total bases than Yadier Molina, and Furcal no RBI. They all matter, but that Furcal no RBI is a monster wager. We need that one.
7:19 - I think Tim McCarver is watching a completely different game than everybody else. It's either that or he's completely insane.
7:24 - Michael Young weakly grounds to 2nd and I'm reminded that I hate him. Throughout the ALDS, which was not a bastion of profit, whatever I bet he did the opposite. Bet on him to K before he gets a hit, he gets a hit in the first inning. Bet on him to get a hit, and he goes 0-4. I think I was like 1-5 wagering on him. I hope he dies.
7:25 - Base knock for Beltre, a double down the line. I always like winning those bets on the guys first time up. Now maybe Nelson could whiff here for me.
7:27 - Joe Buck just said, "It's now 2-1 to a guy who is 31." What kind of weird ass sentence is that? What's next, "Here comes the pitch from a guy who really, really digs pine nuts in his salad."
7:28 - Cruz apparently didn't wear his chasing pants tonight because Cruz walks after completely refusing to chase Carpenter's slider which he threw low and away four times. I'm pretty sure Cuddyer took a swing at his TV there at least twice.
7:30 - That's the second time Carpenter's thrown one in the dirt and yelled "God damn it" loud enough for the camera mics to pick it up. Pretty sure little Joey Buck's ears are bleeding. Also DP by Napoli.
7:36 - Lance Berkman, fourth all-time in home runs amongst switch hitters. That seems odd for some reason. FUN FACT: Former Twin Chili Davis is fifth and former Twin Ruben Sierra is 8th, and right up until this very minute of my life I had completely forgotten Sierra played for the Twins.
7:41 - FUN FACT #2 - Roy Smalley holds five of the top 10 HR hitting seasons by a switch-hitter in Twins history. Of course, it's not a very distinguished list considering Bobby Kielty is in 6th place and Cris Guzman is top 10, but still.
7:45 - Uneventful inning. But that reminds me that you wanted to know why I was drinking Hamm's. It's because the local liquor store had it on sale for $11.99 for the 30-pack. How could I not buy it? I mean, it's from the land of sky blue waters (waters). And I have to admit, it is the beer refreshing.
7:47 - What a quaint little story by McCarver. Turns out C.J. Wilson, get this, even though he's a pitcher, you're not going to believe it, but he considers himself a hitter. OMG that's so crazy! He's such a unique snowflake with his California surfer attitude and his really unique necklace that every god damn pitcher in the league wears.
7:53 - Nick freaking Punto with a base hit to lead off the bottom of the third. Not only is this annoying because he's Nick Punto, but it sets up a sac bunt by Carpenter and then Furcal can get an RBI with a hit AND THAT CAN'T HAPPEN. Also I'm pretty sure Punto slid into first even though he lined it into center. They didn't show or anything, but I can just feel it.
7:55 - Carpenter strikes out, which is good. Still need no extra base hit from Furcal here. Or maybe an xbh but then Punto slides head first into third instead of scoring. Because he's so gritty, you see.
7:57 - Furcal whiffs on a pitch that barely crossed the plate in the air and was missed by at least 2 feet. Now that reminded me of Twins baseball.
8:04 - Tim McCarver is interviewing Ron Washington. This is like Richard Dawkins interviewing Stephen Hawking, only the exact opposite.
8:06 - Another 1-2-3 inning. Glad Snacks convinced me to take the over.
8:13 - Punto hit by a pitch, Holliday double, and Berkman scores them both home by not being able to catch up to a pitch and fisting it into right. It counts, I know, it's just blah. I remember the last time these guys were in the Series (I think) and the Tigers should have smoked 'em but they have some kind of jedi mind shit over teams. It's happening again.
8:14 - I just realized I typed Punto when I meant Pujols. HE'S IN MY HEAD, MAN!!!
8:18 - With Berkman on 2nd and 2 outs they intentionally walk Punto, and yes this time it is Punto, and that has got to be the first time that's ever happened. Checking Baseball Reference, and Punto has actually been intentionally walked 9 times in his career (3 this year, 1 with the phils, and 5 with the Twins). How could he possibly have been IBB'd as a Twin? Gotta be interleague, right? I mean it has to be. I need to figure this out.
8:26 - Carpenter strikes out Cruz with Beltre on 2nd. The important thing is that that's another bet won.
8:28 - Napoli with a monster shot to right to make it a 2-2 game. That also gives him a 4-0 advantage in total bases over Molina.
8:30 - This infrared shit might be literally the gayest thing I've ever seen. McCarver, "This is weird to me, I don't know how you do that." With infrared cameras you dumb fucking hick. I swear to god I'm going to find out where he lives and stab him in the tongue with a crocodile.
8:31 - "That camera reminds me of The Thing." - Tim McCarver. I'm 99.9% sure he means Predator. It seems weird to hate someone you've never even met and who is mostly harmless, and yet here we are.
8:38 - A Furcal walk (with no RBI) and then a sac bunt and we have a fast runner on 2nd, representing the go-ahead run, with one out and Albert Pujols up. Looks like this is where we find out just how valuable he really is oh wait no I guess we don't because they're walking him. Damn it I wanted to see this. Now I'm going to have to watch Matt Holliday ground into a double play.
8:39 - McCarver, "Pitchers really struggle to pitch around batters because they're trained to throw strikes and when you ask them not to they can't make that adjustment." I'm now thinking some kind of garrotte. Or maybe just C.J. Wilson's cool hip California style necklace.
8:41 - I love it when I call things. Double play for Holliday. And that shit rhymes, homeslice.
8:44 - Kinsler with a nice texas leaguer into right for a knock to lead off the sixth. Hopefully the Rangers don't do any kind of running here. I could accept a sac bunt from Andrus, if need be.
8:46 - Sac bunt down, now time to see if Hamilton can be a hero or if he's really just a fan murderer. McCarver, "This is a really evenly matched World Series." Well, Tim, actually the Rangers are fairly heavy favorite and would likely be almost 1-2 to win if they had home field advantage, so once again you're wrong. I'm not entirely certain McCarver could outwit a briefcase full of crackers.
8:48 - McCarver: "as a pitcher you have to have complete confidence in your catcher where you can throw the ball in the dirt with a runner on third." He said this after a pitch that was at the batter's knees. Also no run scored.
8:56 - Freese with a double with one out (which is fine because there was nobody on base). With Molina up followed by Punto and pitcher why not just walk Molina? Punto is terrible and since he already has a hit tonight you know he can't possibly get another one, then the pitcher in which case you force the Cards to pinch hit and get Carpenter out of the game. Win win win.
8:58 - Wild pitch moves Freese to third. Looks like Wilson can't trust Napoli. Probably because he's Sicilian. I kind of wish I hadn't used my Vezzini picture already.
9:00 - Wilson whiffs Molina on a huge, huge pitch. All he had to do was put that ball in play and St. Louis takes the lead, instead there are 2 outs and it's up to Nick Punto to get the runner home. Watch, that little dick is going to get a hit now too, just to eff with me.
9:03 - They walk Punto non-intentionally but intentionally to get Carpenter out of the game. Makes sense, but now you're facing a legit major league hitter when you could have faced Punto, one of the worst hitters in the history of the game. Tecas countering with Ogando. Good move here. Good game for Wilson, but it's time go get the Ogandonator in there. I just made that up.
9:08 - And THAT's why you pitch to a shitty hitter like Punto when you have a chance. Craig, the pinch-hitter for Carpenter, singles to right to score the go-ahead run.
9:09 - Oh shit that means Furcal is up with a runner on third. God please just bean him or something.
9:11 - Furcal hits the shit out of it but thankfully he's a little noodle-armed weiner and it dies at the warning track. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm pretty sure I just made some pants chocolate.
9:12 - These Chili-Lime almonds are really the cat's pajamas.
9:15 - I wonder if this Fernando Salas character is at all related to former Twin Mark Salas. I kind of doubt it because he's not a big fat pile of goo. Still, I'll always have a soft spot in my hard for Mark Salas because his was the first autograph I ever got. It looked like M-scribble S-scribble, but it's a nice memory. Not like that fuckface Jeff Reardon.
9:20 - I stopped paying attention for a minute but now the Rangers have 2 on and 1 out and Mark Salas is out and the guy with the weird polish name is in.
9:26 - Polish guy strikes out Dennis Nedry in a huge spot, which once again validates the Colby Rasmus trade because polish guy was one of a couple of relievers they picked up. Rangers have one more shot, but they're pinch hitting with Esteban German so they might as well not have pinch hit.
9:29 - Polish guy whiffs German, which is no surprise. Slightly more surprising is after that when McCarver says, "It's a five-letter word, S-T-R-I-K-E." Now, the fact that it's a six letter word isn't even the least bit surprising at this point because it seems like exactly the kind of thing McCarver would say. Better, though, is that he never follows up on it. That's his entire point. He says nothing else, there's awkward silence, and then we cut to some army dude singing. So bizarre. I assume twitter must be blowing up about this. I'd check it, but I'm about 20 minutes behind due to tape delay so I don't want to spoil anything.
9:34 - McCarver, "By the way, I figured out between innings that strike has six letters, not five." I'll give it to him, I never expected a classic doucher like McCarver to admit his own error.
9:43 - No runs scored, and we go to the 8th. I seem to be getting a bit sleepy. Damn Hamm's.
9:45 - So I went to the Gopher tip-off deal last Friday night with WonderbabyTM, and it really didn't go all that well. They started late, I assume because the autograph part of it went long, the intros took forever since they introduced like 30 alumni who were there, and then they ended up skipping the skills competiton for current players (although we did get to see Abdul-Shamala and Brent Lawson win for the alumni). Then they went to the halfcourt shot thing, which was really stupid because nobody made one so it was really boring. Then my lovely daughter had finished her popcorn and mello yello and was pretty bored because "nobody's even playing, daddy" and it was almost 2 hours past her bedtime so we left. Which means other than the half-court shot I didn't see any current players do anything outside of warmup. Still kind of excited for the year though. I'm kinda dumb that way.
9:53 - no runs again, despite the Rangers getting a shot at the world's oldest lefty Arthur Lee Rhodes. We go bottom 8, still 3-2 National League.
9:57 - I miss Derek Holland's mustache.
9:58 - Berkman with an infield hit to open the bottom of the 8th, which seems weird when you think about how he's 800 years old and kind of fat. The good part of this is, by the way, is that it seems David Freese is out of the lineup and I didn't even know it. His replacement tosses down a nice sac bunt, setting things up for Molina, Punto, and pitcher's spot. A true murderer's row. Although compared to Repko, Butera, Tolbert......I'm just sayin'.
10:01 - IT'S ALL UP TO PUNTO
10:03 - There's not a lot of meat in these gym mats.
10:04 - Punto whiffs. I laugh.
10:07 - Looks like Jason Motte is the closer tonight. I can't keep up. I do know that I don't like him because I took him like 2-3 years ago late in a fantasy baseball draft because a friend of mine told me he was a "great sleeper" because nobody really knew him and he was assured to win the closer role. Which he did, but then he pitched as if he was throwing BP and lost the job and my heart.
10:09 - Tim McCarver is definitely retarded.
10:12 - they get all the outs and the Cardinals win. This game got kind of boring. Needed more Punto.
7:17 - Furcal walks to start things up for St. Louis. Tonights' action: Rangers to win, over 7.5 total runs, David Freese no RBI, Adrian Beltre YES Hit, Nelson Cruz YES to strikeout, Mike Napoli to have more total bases than Yadier Molina, and Furcal no RBI. They all matter, but that Furcal no RBI is a monster wager. We need that one.
7:19 - I think Tim McCarver is watching a completely different game than everybody else. It's either that or he's completely insane.
7:24 - Michael Young weakly grounds to 2nd and I'm reminded that I hate him. Throughout the ALDS, which was not a bastion of profit, whatever I bet he did the opposite. Bet on him to K before he gets a hit, he gets a hit in the first inning. Bet on him to get a hit, and he goes 0-4. I think I was like 1-5 wagering on him. I hope he dies.
7:25 - Base knock for Beltre, a double down the line. I always like winning those bets on the guys first time up. Now maybe Nelson could whiff here for me.
7:27 - Joe Buck just said, "It's now 2-1 to a guy who is 31." What kind of weird ass sentence is that? What's next, "Here comes the pitch from a guy who really, really digs pine nuts in his salad."
7:28 - Cruz apparently didn't wear his chasing pants tonight because Cruz walks after completely refusing to chase Carpenter's slider which he threw low and away four times. I'm pretty sure Cuddyer took a swing at his TV there at least twice.
7:30 - That's the second time Carpenter's thrown one in the dirt and yelled "God damn it" loud enough for the camera mics to pick it up. Pretty sure little Joey Buck's ears are bleeding. Also DP by Napoli.
7:36 - Lance Berkman, fourth all-time in home runs amongst switch hitters. That seems odd for some reason. FUN FACT: Former Twin Chili Davis is fifth and former Twin Ruben Sierra is 8th, and right up until this very minute of my life I had completely forgotten Sierra played for the Twins.
7:41 - FUN FACT #2 - Roy Smalley holds five of the top 10 HR hitting seasons by a switch-hitter in Twins history. Of course, it's not a very distinguished list considering Bobby Kielty is in 6th place and Cris Guzman is top 10, but still.
7:45 - Uneventful inning. But that reminds me that you wanted to know why I was drinking Hamm's. It's because the local liquor store had it on sale for $11.99 for the 30-pack. How could I not buy it? I mean, it's from the land of sky blue waters (waters). And I have to admit, it is the beer refreshing.
7:47 - What a quaint little story by McCarver. Turns out C.J. Wilson, get this, even though he's a pitcher, you're not going to believe it, but he considers himself a hitter. OMG that's so crazy! He's such a unique snowflake with his California surfer attitude and his really unique necklace that every god damn pitcher in the league wears.
7:53 - Nick freaking Punto with a base hit to lead off the bottom of the third. Not only is this annoying because he's Nick Punto, but it sets up a sac bunt by Carpenter and then Furcal can get an RBI with a hit AND THAT CAN'T HAPPEN. Also I'm pretty sure Punto slid into first even though he lined it into center. They didn't show or anything, but I can just feel it.
 |
| God Damn that Punto gives me a boner |
7:57 - Furcal whiffs on a pitch that barely crossed the plate in the air and was missed by at least 2 feet. Now that reminded me of Twins baseball.
8:04 - Tim McCarver is interviewing Ron Washington. This is like Richard Dawkins interviewing Stephen Hawking, only the exact opposite.
8:06 - Another 1-2-3 inning. Glad Snacks convinced me to take the over.
8:13 - Punto hit by a pitch, Holliday double, and Berkman scores them both home by not being able to catch up to a pitch and fisting it into right. It counts, I know, it's just blah. I remember the last time these guys were in the Series (I think) and the Tigers should have smoked 'em but they have some kind of jedi mind shit over teams. It's happening again.
8:14 - I just realized I typed Punto when I meant Pujols. HE'S IN MY HEAD, MAN!!!
8:18 - With Berkman on 2nd and 2 outs they intentionally walk Punto, and yes this time it is Punto, and that has got to be the first time that's ever happened. Checking Baseball Reference, and Punto has actually been intentionally walked 9 times in his career (3 this year, 1 with the phils, and 5 with the Twins). How could he possibly have been IBB'd as a Twin? Gotta be interleague, right? I mean it has to be. I need to figure this out.
8:26 - Carpenter strikes out Cruz with Beltre on 2nd. The important thing is that that's another bet won.
8:28 - Napoli with a monster shot to right to make it a 2-2 game. That also gives him a 4-0 advantage in total bases over Molina.
8:30 - This infrared shit might be literally the gayest thing I've ever seen. McCarver, "This is weird to me, I don't know how you do that." With infrared cameras you dumb fucking hick. I swear to god I'm going to find out where he lives and stab him in the tongue with a crocodile.
8:31 - "That camera reminds me of The Thing." - Tim McCarver. I'm 99.9% sure he means Predator. It seems weird to hate someone you've never even met and who is mostly harmless, and yet here we are.
8:38 - A Furcal walk (with no RBI) and then a sac bunt and we have a fast runner on 2nd, representing the go-ahead run, with one out and Albert Pujols up. Looks like this is where we find out just how valuable he really is oh wait no I guess we don't because they're walking him. Damn it I wanted to see this. Now I'm going to have to watch Matt Holliday ground into a double play.
8:39 - McCarver, "Pitchers really struggle to pitch around batters because they're trained to throw strikes and when you ask them not to they can't make that adjustment." I'm now thinking some kind of garrotte. Or maybe just C.J. Wilson's cool hip California style necklace.
8:41 - I love it when I call things. Double play for Holliday. And that shit rhymes, homeslice.
8:44 - Kinsler with a nice texas leaguer into right for a knock to lead off the sixth. Hopefully the Rangers don't do any kind of running here. I could accept a sac bunt from Andrus, if need be.
8:46 - Sac bunt down, now time to see if Hamilton can be a hero or if he's really just a fan murderer. McCarver, "This is a really evenly matched World Series." Well, Tim, actually the Rangers are fairly heavy favorite and would likely be almost 1-2 to win if they had home field advantage, so once again you're wrong. I'm not entirely certain McCarver could outwit a briefcase full of crackers.
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| The battle of wits has begun |
8:56 - Freese with a double with one out (which is fine because there was nobody on base). With Molina up followed by Punto and pitcher why not just walk Molina? Punto is terrible and since he already has a hit tonight you know he can't possibly get another one, then the pitcher in which case you force the Cards to pinch hit and get Carpenter out of the game. Win win win.
8:58 - Wild pitch moves Freese to third. Looks like Wilson can't trust Napoli. Probably because he's Sicilian. I kind of wish I hadn't used my Vezzini picture already.
9:00 - Wilson whiffs Molina on a huge, huge pitch. All he had to do was put that ball in play and St. Louis takes the lead, instead there are 2 outs and it's up to Nick Punto to get the runner home. Watch, that little dick is going to get a hit now too, just to eff with me.
9:03 - They walk Punto non-intentionally but intentionally to get Carpenter out of the game. Makes sense, but now you're facing a legit major league hitter when you could have faced Punto, one of the worst hitters in the history of the game. Tecas countering with Ogando. Good move here. Good game for Wilson, but it's time go get the Ogandonator in there. I just made that up.
9:08 - And THAT's why you pitch to a shitty hitter like Punto when you have a chance. Craig, the pinch-hitter for Carpenter, singles to right to score the go-ahead run.
9:09 - Oh shit that means Furcal is up with a runner on third. God please just bean him or something.
9:11 - Furcal hits the shit out of it but thankfully he's a little noodle-armed weiner and it dies at the warning track. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm pretty sure I just made some pants chocolate.
9:12 - These Chili-Lime almonds are really the cat's pajamas.
9:15 - I wonder if this Fernando Salas character is at all related to former Twin Mark Salas. I kind of doubt it because he's not a big fat pile of goo. Still, I'll always have a soft spot in my hard for Mark Salas because his was the first autograph I ever got. It looked like M-scribble S-scribble, but it's a nice memory. Not like that fuckface Jeff Reardon.
9:20 - I stopped paying attention for a minute but now the Rangers have 2 on and 1 out and Mark Salas is out and the guy with the weird polish name is in.
9:26 - Polish guy strikes out Dennis Nedry in a huge spot, which once again validates the Colby Rasmus trade because polish guy was one of a couple of relievers they picked up. Rangers have one more shot, but they're pinch hitting with Esteban German so they might as well not have pinch hit.
9:29 - Polish guy whiffs German, which is no surprise. Slightly more surprising is after that when McCarver says, "It's a five-letter word, S-T-R-I-K-E." Now, the fact that it's a six letter word isn't even the least bit surprising at this point because it seems like exactly the kind of thing McCarver would say. Better, though, is that he never follows up on it. That's his entire point. He says nothing else, there's awkward silence, and then we cut to some army dude singing. So bizarre. I assume twitter must be blowing up about this. I'd check it, but I'm about 20 minutes behind due to tape delay so I don't want to spoil anything.
9:34 - McCarver, "By the way, I figured out between innings that strike has six letters, not five." I'll give it to him, I never expected a classic doucher like McCarver to admit his own error.
9:43 - No runs scored, and we go to the 8th. I seem to be getting a bit sleepy. Damn Hamm's.
9:45 - So I went to the Gopher tip-off deal last Friday night with WonderbabyTM, and it really didn't go all that well. They started late, I assume because the autograph part of it went long, the intros took forever since they introduced like 30 alumni who were there, and then they ended up skipping the skills competiton for current players (although we did get to see Abdul-Shamala and Brent Lawson win for the alumni). Then they went to the halfcourt shot thing, which was really stupid because nobody made one so it was really boring. Then my lovely daughter had finished her popcorn and mello yello and was pretty bored because "nobody's even playing, daddy" and it was almost 2 hours past her bedtime so we left. Which means other than the half-court shot I didn't see any current players do anything outside of warmup. Still kind of excited for the year though. I'm kinda dumb that way.
9:53 - no runs again, despite the Rangers getting a shot at the world's oldest lefty Arthur Lee Rhodes. We go bottom 8, still 3-2 National League.
9:57 - I miss Derek Holland's mustache.
9:58 - Berkman with an infield hit to open the bottom of the 8th, which seems weird when you think about how he's 800 years old and kind of fat. The good part of this is, by the way, is that it seems David Freese is out of the lineup and I didn't even know it. His replacement tosses down a nice sac bunt, setting things up for Molina, Punto, and pitcher's spot. A true murderer's row. Although compared to Repko, Butera, Tolbert......I'm just sayin'.
10:01 - IT'S ALL UP TO PUNTO
10:03 - There's not a lot of meat in these gym mats.
10:04 - Punto whiffs. I laugh.
10:07 - Looks like Jason Motte is the closer tonight. I can't keep up. I do know that I don't like him because I took him like 2-3 years ago late in a fantasy baseball draft because a friend of mine told me he was a "great sleeper" because nobody really knew him and he was assured to win the closer role. Which he did, but then he pitched as if he was throwing BP and lost the job and my heart.
10:09 - Tim McCarver is definitely retarded.
10:12 - they get all the outs and the Cardinals win. This game got kind of boring. Needed more Punto.
Friday, September 30, 2011
MLB Playoff Preview
When TRE, from the latest and greatest Gopher blog Still Got Hope? reached out to me to ask if I wanted to do a co-MLB playoff preview with him my first though was "jesus that sounds like work." Then I remembered that I've seen TRE in real life and he's a gigantic monster man who would probably rip my arms out my sockets and beat me over the head with them wookie-style if I angered him, so I figured I better do it.
So here's the protocol - I'm previewing the AL, he's previewing the NL which works well for me because my knowledge of the NL is on par with Super Sioux Fan's knowledge of cooking - NOT ALL THAT MUCH. Then we'd each write a paragraph in response to the other's original paragraph.
Will we agree? Disagree? Fight? Will we come to blows? TOO SOON TO TELL. But it should be exciting. My pants are already half-off in anticipation.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TEXAS RANGERS vs. TAMPA RAYS
DWG: Classic match-up here of momentum vs. unstoppablenessittude. The Ranger offense is really good at hitting and scoring, much like Bobby Brown, and really has no holes. But that's the fun thing about good pitching, it creates those holes. Tampa has the two best pitchers in this deal in Shields and Price, and in a short series sometimes that's all you need. Evan Longoria is looking sexy and mashing baseballs, and the Rays have heaps of karma from playing the role of Will Hunting to the Sox Carmine Scarpaglia, and saving the world from the hoards of Boston douchefans that always come out of the woodwork for the playoffs. THAT ROBAHT ANDINO IS WICKED GOOD! This should be a dogfight, but I give the edge to pitching and karma. Rays in Five.
TRE: Evan Longoria is as good a hitter as he is a dreamboat. On Wednesday he basically willed the Rays into the playoffs and it was amazing. TREbro cried like a river when the Sox missed the playoffs. (he's a longtime fan, don't try and make sense of it) TREbro's wife bombarded facebook with Red Sox propaganda too. None of that could make Carl Crawford not suck extremely hard.
The Rays and Rangers did this dance last year and it took five games for the Rangers to take them down. They're a year wiser and a year better. Rangers noob Napoli had a monster second half (.383 AVG, .706 SLG) and co-noob Adrian Beltre has returned from the hamstring injury and has destroyed in September. (Player of the Month I guess!) Tampa may have a slight edge in starting pitching, but Texas has a TRE's head sized edge in the bullpen. Especially with Ogando and Holland joining the pen for the playoffs.
DWG is right that the edge should go to pitching, but wrong in choosing Tampa for having the edge. This series goes to the Rangers. Ron Washington will do a head spin on that bald pate of his afterwards. Verdict: Rangers in four.
NEW YORK YANKEES vs. DETROIT TIGERS
DWG: Obviously nobody likes the Yankees, that's a universal law like water or dinosaurs, but the question is do the Tigers have enough to knock them off? Both teams have a stone cold ace at the front of the rotation and a bunch of question marks to follow so game 1 is even more important than it usually is in a 5-game series. Just like the Death Star, Justin Verlander has one weakness, and his is giving up home runs. If that comes into play with the 230 foot right field fence in Yankee Stadium and a bunch of power-hitting lefties the Tigers could get shoved in a hole they can't climb out of, especially since Jim Leyland has already said he won't pitch Verlander on short rest in Game 4 even if Detroit is facing elimination (Sabathia is already slated for Game 4) which makes so little sense to me I'm convinced Leyland was replaced with Ron Gardenhire. Easily the most difficult series to pick. It's either Yankees in four or Tigers in five. I say Detroit gets two wins from Verlander and squeaks one out somewhere else. Tigers in five.
TRE: I love Verlander and think he's the best pitcher in baseball. All of the cool kids are saying that now, but if you ask Doctor Detroit, I've been saying this for awhile. I get this feeling though that the Tigers believe too much. Fans think Doug Fister is the new Bob Welch. A lot rides on CC Sabathia. Can that big SOB that was somehow robbed once on the street get the best of Verlander? If he does, it's freaking over. Doug Fistplay will curl up into the fetal postion. The bad news for the Yankees is they're not playing the Twins. Since 2002, they're 12-2 in ALDS games against the Twins and 5-12 against everyone else. Last time I checked though, former Twin Delmon Young was batting in the 3-hole. Even Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia can get Delmon out. The Tigers are ready for this. They're going to join the Twins in the slop bucket of AL Central victims by leg sweep. Verdict: The Jeterses in three.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ST LOUIS CARDINALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
TRE: The Cards snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the season. They were down 8.5 games from Atlanta on September first, but went 18-8 in the month and watched Atlanta piss the bed. The Phillies get an opponent that they struggled with in 2011; going 3-6 against them. It sounds like we'll see Roy Halladay against Kyle Lohse in game 1 and Cliff Lee against Edwin Jackson in game 2. So, that's basically 2-0 Phillies. Since this is a best of 5 series, the Cardinals are pretty much screwed at this point. I assume they'd throw Chris Carpenter in game 3 against Cole Hamels; perhaps on short rest. That might get them a win, but then they'd lose to Roy Oswalt in game 4 against Jaime Garcia. Matt Holliday has an injured hand/wrist and is unlikely to start the series, but Allen Craig has played well of late. In my opinion the Cardinals lineup just doesn't stack up with the Phillies. It's basically Pujols and The Big Puma and pray for HBP. The Phillies have a lineup that's solid from top to bottom and they even have some decent depth on their bench. I suppose that explains the franchise record 102 wins. Verdict: Phillies in four.
DWG: Ok great, the Cards went 6-3 against the Phillies this year. That's awesome and everything but I mean, come on. Nobody really thinks the Cardinals can win, do they? It's taking every ounce of restraint and personal responsibility I have to not put the largest wager of my lifetime down on the Phils to win this series at -300. Then again, the last time I discounted a Cardinals team this badly they ended up winning the World Series after the Tigers pitchers took turns playing the smash hit game "Throw the ball into the dugout." Still though, the Phil's worst pitcher (of four) is better than the best St. Louis can trot out there and outside of Pujols their second string offense might be better than the Cards' starters. Phillies sweep.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
TRE: This is an intriguing series and sadly will probably be the least watched due to market size. The Brewers have a solid lineup headed by my NL MVP choice Ryan Braun. Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks all bring a lot to the table as well. Casey McGehee took the year off, but I give him a break because he's bald and ugly like me.
DWG: I agree that this will be an interesting series because these teams are pretty evenly matched. Milwaukee has more star power with Braun, Fielder, Greinke, and Weeks and seem more glamorous, or at least as glamorous as annything from dirty, dirty Wisconsin can be, but Arizona is a surprisingly good, and complete, team. Kennedy, Hudson, Collmenter, and Saunders might not sound like much, but they're one of the best starting groups in the NL. I know, I didn't believe it either, but every single one of them has an ERA under 3.70 and a WHIP under 1.32. Not really a true ace in the group, sorry Kennedy but I'm not buying it yet, but that really plays well for them. They can reasonably expect to hold Milwaukee to 3 runs per game, so all they have to do is score 4 runs three times in five games. They have one of the highest scoring offenses in baseball, so that shouldn't be a problem, and Justin Upton is the Patrick Jane of baseball. D-Bags in five and TRE is an idiot and a traitor.
So here's the protocol - I'm previewing the AL, he's previewing the NL which works well for me because my knowledge of the NL is on par with Super Sioux Fan's knowledge of cooking - NOT ALL THAT MUCH. Then we'd each write a paragraph in response to the other's original paragraph.
Will we agree? Disagree? Fight? Will we come to blows? TOO SOON TO TELL. But it should be exciting. My pants are already half-off in anticipation.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TEXAS RANGERS vs. TAMPA RAYS
DWG: Classic match-up here of momentum vs. unstoppablenessittude. The Ranger offense is really good at hitting and scoring, much like Bobby Brown, and really has no holes. But that's the fun thing about good pitching, it creates those holes. Tampa has the two best pitchers in this deal in Shields and Price, and in a short series sometimes that's all you need. Evan Longoria is looking sexy and mashing baseballs, and the Rays have heaps of karma from playing the role of Will Hunting to the Sox Carmine Scarpaglia, and saving the world from the hoards of Boston douchefans that always come out of the woodwork for the playoffs. THAT ROBAHT ANDINO IS WICKED GOOD! This should be a dogfight, but I give the edge to pitching and karma. Rays in Five.
TRE: Evan Longoria is as good a hitter as he is a dreamboat. On Wednesday he basically willed the Rays into the playoffs and it was amazing. TREbro cried like a river when the Sox missed the playoffs. (he's a longtime fan, don't try and make sense of it) TREbro's wife bombarded facebook with Red Sox propaganda too. None of that could make Carl Crawford not suck extremely hard.
The Rays and Rangers did this dance last year and it took five games for the Rangers to take them down. They're a year wiser and a year better. Rangers noob Napoli had a monster second half (.383 AVG, .706 SLG) and co-noob Adrian Beltre has returned from the hamstring injury and has destroyed in September. (Player of the Month I guess!) Tampa may have a slight edge in starting pitching, but Texas has a TRE's head sized edge in the bullpen. Especially with Ogando and Holland joining the pen for the playoffs.
 |
| Oops |
DWG is right that the edge should go to pitching, but wrong in choosing Tampa for having the edge. This series goes to the Rangers. Ron Washington will do a head spin on that bald pate of his afterwards. Verdict: Rangers in four.
NEW YORK YANKEES vs. DETROIT TIGERS
DWG: Obviously nobody likes the Yankees, that's a universal law like water or dinosaurs, but the question is do the Tigers have enough to knock them off? Both teams have a stone cold ace at the front of the rotation and a bunch of question marks to follow so game 1 is even more important than it usually is in a 5-game series. Just like the Death Star, Justin Verlander has one weakness, and his is giving up home runs. If that comes into play with the 230 foot right field fence in Yankee Stadium and a bunch of power-hitting lefties the Tigers could get shoved in a hole they can't climb out of, especially since Jim Leyland has already said he won't pitch Verlander on short rest in Game 4 even if Detroit is facing elimination (Sabathia is already slated for Game 4) which makes so little sense to me I'm convinced Leyland was replaced with Ron Gardenhire. Easily the most difficult series to pick. It's either Yankees in four or Tigers in five. I say Detroit gets two wins from Verlander and squeaks one out somewhere else. Tigers in five.
TRE: I love Verlander and think he's the best pitcher in baseball. All of the cool kids are saying that now, but if you ask Doctor Detroit, I've been saying this for awhile. I get this feeling though that the Tigers believe too much. Fans think Doug Fister is the new Bob Welch. A lot rides on CC Sabathia. Can that big SOB that was somehow robbed once on the street get the best of Verlander? If he does, it's freaking over. Doug Fistplay will curl up into the fetal postion. The bad news for the Yankees is they're not playing the Twins. Since 2002, they're 12-2 in ALDS games against the Twins and 5-12 against everyone else. Last time I checked though, former Twin Delmon Young was batting in the 3-hole. Even Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia can get Delmon out. The Tigers are ready for this. They're going to join the Twins in the slop bucket of AL Central victims by leg sweep. Verdict: The Jeterses in three.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ST LOUIS CARDINALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
TRE: The Cards snuck into the playoffs on the last day of the season. They were down 8.5 games from Atlanta on September first, but went 18-8 in the month and watched Atlanta piss the bed. The Phillies get an opponent that they struggled with in 2011; going 3-6 against them. It sounds like we'll see Roy Halladay against Kyle Lohse in game 1 and Cliff Lee against Edwin Jackson in game 2. So, that's basically 2-0 Phillies. Since this is a best of 5 series, the Cardinals are pretty much screwed at this point. I assume they'd throw Chris Carpenter in game 3 against Cole Hamels; perhaps on short rest. That might get them a win, but then they'd lose to Roy Oswalt in game 4 against Jaime Garcia. Matt Holliday has an injured hand/wrist and is unlikely to start the series, but Allen Craig has played well of late. In my opinion the Cardinals lineup just doesn't stack up with the Phillies. It's basically Pujols and The Big Puma and pray for HBP. The Phillies have a lineup that's solid from top to bottom and they even have some decent depth on their bench. I suppose that explains the franchise record 102 wins. Verdict: Phillies in four.
DWG: Ok great, the Cards went 6-3 against the Phillies this year. That's awesome and everything but I mean, come on. Nobody really thinks the Cardinals can win, do they? It's taking every ounce of restraint and personal responsibility I have to not put the largest wager of my lifetime down on the Phils to win this series at -300. Then again, the last time I discounted a Cardinals team this badly they ended up winning the World Series after the Tigers pitchers took turns playing the smash hit game "Throw the ball into the dugout." Still though, the Phil's worst pitcher (of four) is better than the best St. Louis can trot out there and outside of Pujols their second string offense might be better than the Cards' starters. Phillies sweep.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS vs. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
TRE: This is an intriguing series and sadly will probably be the least watched due to market size. The Brewers have a solid lineup headed by my NL MVP choice Ryan Braun. Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks all bring a lot to the table as well. Casey McGehee took the year off, but I give him a break because he's bald and ugly like me.
The Brewers led the NL in homeruns and did it while posting a decent average, OBP and a relatively low strikeout total. They also brought in some pitching that doesn't blow goats. Shawn Marcum and Zack Grienke joined with Yovanni Gallardo to provide a solid top 3. Lefties Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson round out the rotation. They also have a solid bullpen with Saito and K-Rod joining Axford for the late innings.
Arizona also packs a pop with Justin Upton, Chris Young (the black one, not the tall dork from Princeton) and Miguel Montero being the core run producers. They also have a solid top 4 starters with Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Josh Collmenter and Joe Saunders. This is a five game series to me. Kennedy went 21-4 and will likely start the series against Gallardo. I really dislike that the Diamondbacks abbreviate themselves with "D-Backs". That's a little too close to d-bags. Verdict: Brewers in five.
DWG: I agree that this will be an interesting series because these teams are pretty evenly matched. Milwaukee has more star power with Braun, Fielder, Greinke, and Weeks and seem more glamorous, or at least as glamorous as annything from dirty, dirty Wisconsin can be, but Arizona is a surprisingly good, and complete, team. Kennedy, Hudson, Collmenter, and Saunders might not sound like much, but they're one of the best starting groups in the NL. I know, I didn't believe it either, but every single one of them has an ERA under 3.70 and a WHIP under 1.32. Not really a true ace in the group, sorry Kennedy but I'm not buying it yet, but that really plays well for them. They can reasonably expect to hold Milwaukee to 3 runs per game, so all they have to do is score 4 runs three times in five games. They have one of the highest scoring offenses in baseball, so that shouldn't be a problem, and Justin Upton is the Patrick Jane of baseball. D-Bags in five and TRE is an idiot and a traitor.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
MLB Preview - National League
I'm trying not to think about how we're about to lose Tubby Smith, so instead I'll turn my attention elsewhere so I don't break down and cry. With just five days until opening day and the first day of being sick and tired of the Yankees/Sox media barrage it's time to roll out the baseball predictions. I'm breaking this into National League and American League posts, one today and one tomorrow, because I'm way too lazy to it all at once. I'm also starting with the National League - just to piss you off.
NL EAST
1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Take the same team that won the Series in 2008 and finished runner-up in 2009 and add the best (possibly second best) pitcher in baseball. Yeah, I think they're going to be pretty good. Look for Hamels to regain his 2008 form and J.A. Happ to get even better in his second year and they're likely going to be the team with the most wins in baseball. I'm fully expecting Halladay to win 25 games.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES. They're getting a lot of preseason heat as a possible sleeper team, and it's not all that far-fetched. Tommy Hansen is a stud, and there's good pitching behind him in the rotation, especially if Tim Hudson is back to top-of-his-game form like all the preseason crap is saying. And this Jason Heyward hype has officially surpassed Wieters-levels. If he isn't built like Deebo while hitting like Roy Hobbs and running like Willie Mays Hayes I'm going to be disappointed.
3. FLORIDA MARLINS. Outisde of pimp-daddy Hanley and alleged NL Rookie-of-the-Year Chris Coghlan there are plenty of questions about the lineup, but that rotation should be pretty rock solid. At the very least Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are going to form a very nice 1-2 punch at the top. I'm very interested in seeing what Cameron Maybin can do with a full season of at-bats as well.
4. NEW YORK METS. I know you're thinking it's crazy to have the Mets in fourth, but go ahead and check out their team for a minute and then tell me they're good. Wright has regressed, Reyes has some mystery ailment, their right-fielder was basically cut by Atlanta, and I've never even heard of their projected starting catcher. Perhaps most damning of all, however, is that they STILL start Luis Castillo and bat him second. Oof. And that rotation is a nightmare behind Johan. Oh, by the way, Johan. How many postseason games have you played in since you forced the Twins to trade you?
5. WASHINGTON NATIONALS. At least they have Strasburg so there's a reason to watch beyond watching Adam Dunn put everything he's got into every swing. What's that? They're starting him in the minors despite some truly sick Spring stats? I hope it's worth the minimal savings you'll get by keeping his clock from running right away. Seriously, who runs this team, Brad Childress?
NL CENTRAL
1. ST LOUIS CARDINALS. Although the Phillies should win more games, the Cards will probably win their division by the widest margin because after them this whole division should be thrown in a garbage dumpster. It's basically Pujols and friends going up against five teams of Cleveland Indians. I suppose I should predict something for this team, so I predict that Brad Penny will have one of his best ever years. I also predict Ryan Franklin loses his closer job to Jason Motte.
2. MILWAUKEE BREWERS. All because Carlos Gomez came aboard? Maybe. We still have to see if he's continued to learn plate patience (you might not have noticed, but he was better last year). The Brewers have the best lineup of the rest of the central teams and will be getting Rickie Weeks back. There's a lot to like about the lineup here, and Gallardo gets any help behind him they could be in line for a Wild Card spot. Ugliest part? They still start Jeff Suppan, and LaTroy Hawkins is their top set-up guy. Ouch.
3. CINCINNATI REDS. I'm giving a lot of credit to some young guys here, but I'm a big believer in most of these guys. Injuries have derailed Homer Bailey before, but he finally hit his stride late last season and him and Cueto join veterans Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo to give Cincy's rotation a nice mix of young and old. The lineup will need guys like Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson to live up to their potential, but I say they do and make the Reds a dangerous team.
4. CHICAGO CUBS. Aramis is a walking injury, Soriano looks like he's basically done, their big free-agent signing was Marlon freaking Byrd, and their middle infield consists of that wiener Ryan Theriot and a cast-off from the Rockies. Yuck. The rotation is mostly brutal as well, and you can go ahead and pencil in Carlos Marmol for a complete meltdown as a closer right about mid-June. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Cubbies this year.
5. HOUSTON ASTROS. This is the most boringest team in all of baseball. Their big free-agent splash was signing Brandon Lyon. Yawn. Also, nice shitty signing, that guy sucks. They should have two mid-teen game winners in Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, assuming Lyon doesn't blow every game.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES. I really didn't want to pick Pittsburgh to finish last because I'm starting to really like what their front office is doing (it's a new front office the last year or two), but I just can't quite yet. They're moving in the right direction. If Lastings Milledge has finally figured it out he and Andrew McCutchen make up a nice start to the outfield, and when Jose Tabata finally gets up that's going to be a very fast outfield.
NL WEST
1. COLORADO ROCKIES. If Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart can raise their averages even a little this going to be a dangerous team because the lineup is loaded, and even if they don't they are still solid players because they walk a lot. A good but not great rotation should be enough to win the West, assuming Franklin Morales doesn't blow it while he fills in for Huston Street. Troy Tulowitzki is a complete and total stud, and if Albert Pujols didn't exist he'd have a shot at an MVP.
2. LOS ANGELES DODGERS. James Loney is kind of a lame-o and Blake DeWitt hasn't worked out, but the Dodgers hit home runs with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who are a hell of a 1-2 punch. Kemp looks like a good bet to go 30-30 and Ethier has the look of a career professional hitter. The rotation is pretty thin, but Clay Kershaw at the front is a sure-fire Cy Young candidate, and will probably be for years to come.
3. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS. They'd be a bit easier to place if I knkew what was going on with Brandon Webb, but in reality they probably couldn't be better than the teams above them and definitely couldn't be worse than the team's below them. Like Kemp, Justin Upton has a shot at 30-30 this year, and is just an incredible hitter for his age - kind of like what everybody wanted Delmon Young to be just shoot me right in the face.
4. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS. They get to finish fourth based solely on their pitching staff, because Lincecum and Cain are studs, Baumgartner and Jonathan Sanchez are potential studs, and everybody in the lineup sucks other than Pablo Sandoval (aka the black Billy Butler) and possibly Nate Schierholtz. They also have Buster Posey, who has a super sweet name is is supposed to be a pretty big stud with the stick. He better be, because their isn't much of a lineup here and there isn't much coming soon.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES. Holy god this lineup is depressing. How depressing? Kevin Kouzmanoff hits clean-up, David Eckstein hits in the upper half, and I haven't come even close to hearing of their 7th or 8th batter. The rotation isn't that much better, but at least there's some hope with guys like Clayton Richard, Mat Latos, and star of "The Last Best League" Tim Stauffer. The bullpen is decent, but they'd really be better served trading Heath Bell for prospects (as well as Adrian Gonzalez) because they aren't going anywhere as currently constructed.
NL Wild Card - L.A. Dodgers
NL Pennant - Philadelphia Phillies
MVP - Albert Pujols (runner up = Kemp)
CY YOUNG - Roy Halladay (runner up = Lincecum)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jesus Heyward (runner up = Posey)
AL preview should be coming tomorrow, assuming Tubby doesn't leave. I mean by tomorrow, because I know he's leaving I just don't know when.
Suck.
NL EAST
1. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Take the same team that won the Series in 2008 and finished runner-up in 2009 and add the best (possibly second best) pitcher in baseball. Yeah, I think they're going to be pretty good. Look for Hamels to regain his 2008 form and J.A. Happ to get even better in his second year and they're likely going to be the team with the most wins in baseball. I'm fully expecting Halladay to win 25 games.
2. ATLANTA BRAVES. They're getting a lot of preseason heat as a possible sleeper team, and it's not all that far-fetched. Tommy Hansen is a stud, and there's good pitching behind him in the rotation, especially if Tim Hudson is back to top-of-his-game form like all the preseason crap is saying. And this Jason Heyward hype has officially surpassed Wieters-levels. If he isn't built like Deebo while hitting like Roy Hobbs and running like Willie Mays Hayes I'm going to be disappointed.
3. FLORIDA MARLINS. Outisde of pimp-daddy Hanley and alleged NL Rookie-of-the-Year Chris Coghlan there are plenty of questions about the lineup, but that rotation should be pretty rock solid. At the very least Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are going to form a very nice 1-2 punch at the top. I'm very interested in seeing what Cameron Maybin can do with a full season of at-bats as well.
4. NEW YORK METS. I know you're thinking it's crazy to have the Mets in fourth, but go ahead and check out their team for a minute and then tell me they're good. Wright has regressed, Reyes has some mystery ailment, their right-fielder was basically cut by Atlanta, and I've never even heard of their projected starting catcher. Perhaps most damning of all, however, is that they STILL start Luis Castillo and bat him second. Oof. And that rotation is a nightmare behind Johan. Oh, by the way, Johan. How many postseason games have you played in since you forced the Twins to trade you?
5. WASHINGTON NATIONALS. At least they have Strasburg so there's a reason to watch beyond watching Adam Dunn put everything he's got into every swing. What's that? They're starting him in the minors despite some truly sick Spring stats? I hope it's worth the minimal savings you'll get by keeping his clock from running right away. Seriously, who runs this team, Brad Childress?
NL CENTRAL
1. ST LOUIS CARDINALS. Although the Phillies should win more games, the Cards will probably win their division by the widest margin because after them this whole division should be thrown in a garbage dumpster. It's basically Pujols and friends going up against five teams of Cleveland Indians. I suppose I should predict something for this team, so I predict that Brad Penny will have one of his best ever years. I also predict Ryan Franklin loses his closer job to Jason Motte.
2. MILWAUKEE BREWERS. All because Carlos Gomez came aboard? Maybe. We still have to see if he's continued to learn plate patience (you might not have noticed, but he was better last year). The Brewers have the best lineup of the rest of the central teams and will be getting Rickie Weeks back. There's a lot to like about the lineup here, and Gallardo gets any help behind him they could be in line for a Wild Card spot. Ugliest part? They still start Jeff Suppan, and LaTroy Hawkins is their top set-up guy. Ouch.
3. CINCINNATI REDS. I'm giving a lot of credit to some young guys here, but I'm a big believer in most of these guys. Injuries have derailed Homer Bailey before, but he finally hit his stride late last season and him and Cueto join veterans Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo to give Cincy's rotation a nice mix of young and old. The lineup will need guys like Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson to live up to their potential, but I say they do and make the Reds a dangerous team.
4. CHICAGO CUBS. Aramis is a walking injury, Soriano looks like he's basically done, their big free-agent signing was Marlon freaking Byrd, and their middle infield consists of that wiener Ryan Theriot and a cast-off from the Rockies. Yuck. The rotation is mostly brutal as well, and you can go ahead and pencil in Carlos Marmol for a complete meltdown as a closer right about mid-June. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Cubbies this year.
5. HOUSTON ASTROS. This is the most boringest team in all of baseball. Their big free-agent splash was signing Brandon Lyon. Yawn. Also, nice shitty signing, that guy sucks. They should have two mid-teen game winners in Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, assuming Lyon doesn't blow every game.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES. I really didn't want to pick Pittsburgh to finish last because I'm starting to really like what their front office is doing (it's a new front office the last year or two), but I just can't quite yet. They're moving in the right direction. If Lastings Milledge has finally figured it out he and Andrew McCutchen make up a nice start to the outfield, and when Jose Tabata finally gets up that's going to be a very fast outfield.
NL WEST
1. COLORADO ROCKIES. If Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart can raise their averages even a little this going to be a dangerous team because the lineup is loaded, and even if they don't they are still solid players because they walk a lot. A good but not great rotation should be enough to win the West, assuming Franklin Morales doesn't blow it while he fills in for Huston Street. Troy Tulowitzki is a complete and total stud, and if Albert Pujols didn't exist he'd have a shot at an MVP.
2. LOS ANGELES DODGERS. James Loney is kind of a lame-o and Blake DeWitt hasn't worked out, but the Dodgers hit home runs with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who are a hell of a 1-2 punch. Kemp looks like a good bet to go 30-30 and Ethier has the look of a career professional hitter. The rotation is pretty thin, but Clay Kershaw at the front is a sure-fire Cy Young candidate, and will probably be for years to come.
3. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS. They'd be a bit easier to place if I knkew what was going on with Brandon Webb, but in reality they probably couldn't be better than the teams above them and definitely couldn't be worse than the team's below them. Like Kemp, Justin Upton has a shot at 30-30 this year, and is just an incredible hitter for his age - kind of like what everybody wanted Delmon Young to be just shoot me right in the face.
4. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS. They get to finish fourth based solely on their pitching staff, because Lincecum and Cain are studs, Baumgartner and Jonathan Sanchez are potential studs, and everybody in the lineup sucks other than Pablo Sandoval (aka the black Billy Butler) and possibly Nate Schierholtz. They also have Buster Posey, who has a super sweet name is is supposed to be a pretty big stud with the stick. He better be, because their isn't much of a lineup here and there isn't much coming soon.
5. SAN DIEGO PADRES. Holy god this lineup is depressing. How depressing? Kevin Kouzmanoff hits clean-up, David Eckstein hits in the upper half, and I haven't come even close to hearing of their 7th or 8th batter. The rotation isn't that much better, but at least there's some hope with guys like Clayton Richard, Mat Latos, and star of "The Last Best League" Tim Stauffer. The bullpen is decent, but they'd really be better served trading Heath Bell for prospects (as well as Adrian Gonzalez) because they aren't going anywhere as currently constructed.
NL Wild Card - L.A. Dodgers
NL Pennant - Philadelphia Phillies
MVP - Albert Pujols (runner up = Kemp)
CY YOUNG - Roy Halladay (runner up = Lincecum)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - Jesus Heyward (runner up = Posey)
AL preview should be coming tomorrow, assuming Tubby doesn't leave. I mean by tomorrow, because I know he's leaving I just don't know when.
Suck.
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