DWG's NBA Preview (ok not really, just some stuff)

I was going to write an NBA preview, but I got bored after one division and plus I think this blog has been a bit "preview-y" lately.  Instead I'll just say that the Wolves suck but Jonny Flynn wins the Rookie-of-the-Year, Lebron just misses averaging a triple-double (something like 30-9-9) but the Cavs don't make the finals, and the remaining Nets fans (assuming there are some) revolt after they don't get Lebron despite having completely gutted their team to make a run at him.  Oh, and Magic over Spurs in the finals.

-  Since I just got back from a nice dinner with the in-laws at the 5-8 Club (Garlic cheeseburger, jojo potatoes, cole slaw, + a couple Mich Golden Draft Lights), and I have a few Miller High Lifes in the fridge, I think I will continue typing things for a little while.

-  It's finally happened.  The usually positive and upbeat Daily Gopher has cracked, with JG writing this 1,000 word rant going after Tim Brewster.  Needless to say, it's my favorite post ever.  How he was able to write that many words on Brewster and not use the word "suck" even once is a mystery to me.  If I wrote that long a piece about him, I'm pretty sure it would just be "Tim Brewster really sucks" except instead of one really there would be 997 of them.

-  Since I'm linking things, go ahead and try to read this Rick Reilly article without chocking on it's combination of sickly sweet cheesiness and irrational shitheadness.  I've written in here before, but Reilly has morphed from a pretty good, funny, and entertaininig journalist to some kind of unholy chimera-like combination of Sid Hartman, Patrick Reusse, a broken robot that only speaks in metaphor, and your upbeat super-religious aunt who has to spin everything in a positive light.  This one here might be the worst (it's the entry from 10/23, in case it's been pushed down), where he gives a whole ton of credit for the Yankees' great season to Nick Swisher - not for his play, but for his clubhouse fun demeanor, his hair styles, and his handshakes.  He actually states that the Yankees wouldn't go this far in the playoffs without Swisher.  Actually, I would have said Derek Jeter's resurgence, A-Rod not slumping in the playoffs, Jorge Posada's succesful return from injury, the best bullpen in the majors, and the additions of Mark Texeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett have a lot more to do with it, especially considering his stats are nearly identical to what Bobby Abreau put up last year in the same position.

Look, I like Swisher, really I do, and he's a good player and by all accounts is a swell guy, but this is just another example of a journalists going out of their way to write a "human interest" piece where one doesn't belong, simply because the unwashed and uninformed masses eat this garbage up because it's too hard to understand statistics.  This kind of crap actually makes me angry, second only to when sharks roar in movies.  Of course, when the article started out comparing Nick Swisher being on the Yankees to Wanda Sykes being elected to the supreme court, I should have known this wasn't going to be an enjoyable (or in any way informative) read.  And what's with the shot at Kate Hudson?  Totally worthless.

-  I made a couple of NBA bets tonight, seeing as how I'm totally into THE LEAGUE right now:  Rockets +8.5, Mavericks -8.5, Cavs -5, Cavs/Celtics OVER 183, Nowitski OVER 33.5 pts + rebs, and Clippers +12.  Right now the Cavs are up 28-21 at the end of the first quarter - sounds good so far.

-  Speaking of the Clips, that really sucks that Blake Grifin broke his kneecap or whatever.  I was looking forward to seeing what he could do - I really think he can be an all-star from day one.  And on that note, don't you find it interesting that Bill Simmons constantly writes about the Clippers Curse, but also ripped any journalist who talked about the Red Sox Curse?  Interesting.  I'm still planning on getting his NBA book.

-  Shawn Marion is on the Mavericks?  I had no idea.  That guy has been passed around like Lindsay Lohan since he inexplicably forced his way off a contending team with the perfect system for him and a point guard who loved nothing more than sharing the ball.  Seriously, Marion was in a perfect situation in Phoenix.  He had a steady diet of Prime Rib, and switched it for Dinty Moore.  Hi was vacationing in Vegas and swapped it for Detroit.  He had a PS3 and turned it in for a Turbo Graphix.  He was humping Audrina and downgraded to Spencer's sister.  And keep in mind this was all voluntary.  Basically Audrina was laying on the bed in lingerie and waiting and he jumped in the car and drove across town for Spencer's ugly sister in her sweatpants eating ice cream out of the bucket and her four cats. 

Good call Shawn.

-  We're heading to the fourth, the Celtics leading the Cavs 72-65.  Want to be Lebron goes crazy in this quarter and the Cavs end up covering the five?  I would be willing to wager that Lebron (right now with 23 points, 1 rebound, and 7 assists) ends up scoring 20 this quarter.

-  No comments about Sano and the Twins?  Really?  And speaking of no comments, where the hell has the Sidler been.  I'm a bit concerned at this point.

-  If any of you go see this Robin Williams/John Travolta horrible thing of a movie that I just saw a trailer for, we can no longer be friends.  Not even a little bit.  They should just take every theater that is showing that, and after the coming attractions, burn the place down.  It's for the best.

-  Right now we are watching the Scream Awards, which are basically the Oscars for Sci Fi and Horror films.  The best actress in a Sci Fi award was just given to Megan Fox.  Come on.  Yes, she's hot.  I have no argument with that, but this is supposed to be taken seriously, right?  Then this should be for acting ability, not just hotness.  I don't think Megan Fox would be a standout actress at a high school production of Fiddler, but now that you mention it this picture:

  I'm pretty sure just having this picture on here is going to triple the traffic I get from google image searches.

-  Well, Lebron did manage to score 15 in the fourth, but he (and the rest of the Cavs) decided not to guard Paul Pierce and the Celtics ended up winning 95-89 (which covered the over, but not the spread). It seems I may have underrated the Celtics, since they beat the Cavs with a uninspiring performance from KG, in a game that may have highlighted how bad his knees are right now (he missed a big time hammer dunk).  Obviously Boston was just fine, thanks to a big time performance off the bench by Rasheed.  I'm telling you man, that Rasheed signing might have been the most important move anybody made this offesason.  Those two can tandem at the PF so well, Boston might not have much of a fall-off, even if KG's legs are all broken and such.

-  I was going to stay up and watch the whole second game (Lakers/Clippers), but it's now 20 minutes past the starting tip time and they still haven't gotten going.  I'm a very busy man, and can't just be held up by this, so I'm gonna sign off.

Here's What Happened - 4/14/2009

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Denard Span. Don't look now, but when nobody was paying attention Span turned into the perfect leadoff hitter, or at least a pretty damn good one. He started the game with a ten pitch at bat (that ended in a groundout), then got the team's first hit and scored the first run, and later got an infield hit and stole a base. I'm just completely enamored with him right now. A .324 average, with 7 walks (to just 4 Ks) to bump his OBP to .439, with just a little bit of power and enough speed to beat out infield hits and steal bases (3 steals on 3 attempts). He's everything I ever wanted in a leadoff hitter and I just can't get enough of him. I could have gone with Crede for getting the game-winning hit to snap the world's longest losing streak, but I can't get over Span. I think I'm developing a serious crush.

2. Kansas Jayhawks. Ok, this actually happened on Monday, but I'm just now getting to it - both Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich of the Jayhawks said they are coming back to school for another season. I have seen in a couple places where Kansas is now considered the favorite to win the National Title this year, and why not? Collins and Aldrich were one of the top inside/outside combos last year, and will probably be the best this season with another year of experience. They went 14-2 in conference last year, and are losing nothing but end of the bench, Kevin Payton types. Soon-to-be-sophomores Tyshawn Taylor, Marcus Morris, Travis Releford, and Markieff Morris - all top 100 incoming freshmen last year - will only continue to get better, and the Jayhawks have two newcomers for next season who rank in the top 30 freshmen. Even without Aldrich and Collins, the cupboard wasn't going to be bare, but with them it looks like Kelly Clarkson's secret junkfood drawer at fat camp.

3. Nick Swisher. I wrote about Swishy pants in my weekend review this week, about how he's tearing up pitchers like he tears up the broads. Then on Monday, he hit another home run, his third of the year, not to mention pitching a shut out inning in relief, but I figured I probably shouldn't write about him two days in a row, at least as long as he refuses to grow back his sexy locks. Then yesterday, he hits another bomb and adds a double, raising his average to .458 and a league-leading slugging percentage of 1.208. Leading the league in slugging and sporting a 0.00 ERA? Could Swisher be the reincarnation of Babe Ruth? I think it's pretty obvious.



WHO SUCKED

1. Marco Scutaro. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Marco Scutaro has always sucked. Why is this news, assface?" Well jerk, in case you missed it Scutaro actually started out the season hot, going 10-23 and adding in a couple of home runs, and everybody suddenly decided he was the sleeper of the year at shortstop. Well guess what morons? He's a career .262 hitter with a career OPS+ of 88 and a highs of .273 and 96. Do you really think he's going to suddenly become the next Cal Ripken? Welcome back to earth Mr. Scutaro, who after going 0-4 last night is now in an 0-11 slide, bringing his average back to a normal, though still too high, .294. And no matter what Dawger says, Ripken is one of the greatest players ever - Scutaro not so much.

2. Rays Bullpen. Remember last year, how the Rays pen was so good with Balfour (that one hurts), JP Howell, and Danny Wheeler? Not so much last night, with both Howell and Wheeler blowing up to lose the game for Tampa against the Yankees. Howell, who was nearly unhittable last season with a 1.13 WHIP and 2.22 ERA, picked up the loss last night giving up two hits and a run in his inning of work and has been less than impressive this year, racking up a WHIP of 1.88 and ERA of 4.91 in his four appearances. Wheeler had been fine this season up until yesterday, when he got rocked for four hits and four runs to run his season ERA to 12.00. I wouldn't exactly panic or anything just yet, but if those two (and Balfour whose ERA is over 20 right now) continue to struggle, it's going to be a real problem.

3. Cleveland Indians. Sitting at 1-7, it's suddenly looking like the Tribe's problems are not all Cliff Lee's fault. They lost last night to the perky Royals 9-3 despite a decent outing from human disabled list Carl Pavano (longer at least than the one inning he lasted in his previous start), mainly thanks previously unhittable reliever Rafael Perez giving up three walks and four runs in just over an inning pitched. There are plenty of reasons the Indians suck this year, and Sizemore's .176 average doesn't help, but it's pretty hard to look past a league worst team ERA of 8.46 - that is not a misprint - and a team WHIP of 1.8. Think about it, that's almost two opposing runners on base in EVERY SINGLE INNING. It's early still, but it's awfully hard to think they can turn it around without a single pitcher who can throw a good game and a suddenly shaky bullpen.


Tonight I will be in attendance at the Twins' win over Toronto in Scott Baker's triumphant return. Or to see him throw 1.1 innings and leave in pain, then see Phil Humber get knocked around the yard. In any case, the daily post probably won't be up until the afternoon tomorrow, so you'll have to find some other way to get through the morning at your dead-end job. Try this article, sent to me by Snacks this morning.

Weekend Review

So who else is going to miss Travis Busch? Remember that one time when he fell on the floor? Or that other time when he ended up on the ground? Or the way he always fell down at every opportunity? Man, what a bummer. That Travis Busch, he do be hustlin.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Evan Longoria. The 2008 rookie of the year hasn't exactly slowed down, leading the majors after the first week of play with five home runs after hitting twenty-seven last year. He is also second with 10 rbi, and has blistered the ball at a .481/.481/1.185 clip - yes that slugging percentage is accurate and is also tops in the majors. In an era where it seems like more prospects flame out than produce (I'm looking your way Delmon), it's rare to see a kid like this shoot to the top of the league's best. When the Rays signed him to a lucrative five year deal when he was still in the minors it raised some eyebrows, but now it looks genius since they are only going to have to pay him $17 million over the next seven freaking years (assuming they don't re-work the deal). Seriously, he's only making $550,000 this year for that kind of production. Nice.

2. Roy Halladay. The first pitcher to get to two wins this year, Halladay shut down the Indians on Saturday, giving up just one run and five hits while striking out seven or seven innings. He was hurt by the long ball in his first start, giving up a couple of solo shots to the Tigers, which is why he has a less than impressive 3.86 ERA right now, but his 1.00 WHIP, .212 OBA, and 3-to-1 K/BB ratio says he is still a top pitcher again this year. And why not? The guy has been lights out every year he’s been healthy, finishing in the top five in the Cy Young voting the past three years and winning it in 2003 – and he had nine complete games last year, just to prove he’s a man’s man – all while playing for the crappy Blue Jays. I’m a big Halladay fan. It sickens me that he’s going to make $14 million this year and A.J. Burnett is going to make $16.5. So wrong.

3. Emilio Bonifacio & Josh Johnson. It’s ok if you haven’t heard of either of these guys, but they are pretty much the biggest two reasons the Marlins are currently 5-1 and sitting on top of the NL East. Bonifacio, who came over in a weird ass trade that the Nationals made for Josh Willingham, who is now their fourth outfielder, has absolutely been on fire and has really been a catalyst for the team. He's second in the NL in average, batting .500, and leads the league in steals with four already. He's also shown a bit of pop, with a double, triple, and inside-the-park home run mixed in there. He obviously can't keep up this pace, but if he can manage a three hundred average that trade is going to look worse than it already does.

As good as Bonifacio has been, Johnson has been even better on the hill for the Marlins. He's 2-0, and has posted an ERA of 0.57 (leading all two start pitchers) and a WHIP of 0.83. His last time out he out-dueled Johan Santana, pitching a complete game against the Mets, striking out seven while giving up just five hits and one run. Johnson returned in the middle of last season from Tommy John surgery and pitched well, coming into this season as kind of a sleeper in fantasy circles. I don't think anybody expected him to look this dominating though. With these two joining the group Florida put together, the Marlins are suddenly a threat to win the division.

4. Nick Swisher. Good with the A's, horrible with the Sox, and now suddenly Swisher looks reborn in pinstripes. He started the season as a backup for the Yanks, but after getting a start in the third game and killing the ball, he's started every game since and looks like an all-star, hitting .471/.550/1.118 with two home runs and 9 rbi. One of Swisher's best skills has always been his ability to work a count and take a walk (he's had more than 80 walks the past three years) and to hit for power, but he's never hit for a particularly high average - especially last year when he struggled to get over .200, finishing at .219 and leading the Sox to trade him. If he can add a high average to the power and the walks, look out.

5. Adam Lind. I’ve been pimping Travis Snider, who has been good at .286/.286/.643, but the real story for the Jays offense has been Lind, who is off to tremendous start in his third major league season. He leads the league in RBI with 12, and has crushed opponents' pitching to the tune of .400/.419/.767 with 3 home runs. If you hadn't heard of him that's ok, I had barely heard of. He was considered an elite prospect at one time, but failed to live up to that promise his first two years, failing to break a .760 OPS in either season. Is he now living up to the hype, or is this nothing more than a hot start that we can expect to fade? I don't know, but now he gets to come to the cozy Metrodome and face home run giving up machines Slowey, Perkins, and Baker and hit balls over the baggy, so his hot start will probably continue for at least another week.


WHO SUCKED

1. Minnesota Twins Offense. Uh oh, folks. You can’t explain all the team’s offensive troubles away by saying Mauer is missing, and it’s been ugly. Span has been awesome as a leadoff hitter (.419 OBP with 5 walks) and Nick Punto has been good (.353 BA with a .476 OBP), but that's pretty much it other than a couple of nice Morneau home runs. Delmon is hitting .133, Gomez is at .136, and Crede is at .160 as the team has more regulars hitting under .200 than over .300. Also I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but getting shut out twice in your first six games is not good. Once again, it doesn't seem to matter who is on the mound, good young pitchers (Felix Hernandez), old washed up pitchers (Bartolo Colon), injured pitchers (Erik Bedard), mediocre pitchers (Jarrod Washburn), or long-time nemesises (Mark Buehrle) they are getting shut down far too often already. Currently ranking in the bottom five in the league in average, OBP, and slugging, they will get a boost when (if?) Mauer returns, but some of these other guys need to turn it around in a hurry.

Lastly, if you saw Delmon's homerun yesterday it was a thing of beauty and a little preview into what he could become with a little more patience. He took two close pitches that were off the plate to get to a 2-0 count, and then hit the next meaty fastball over the middle out of the yard. If he can do that more often, maybe he can live up to his alleged tremendous potential.

2. Cliff Lee. Well it’s official, Cliff Lee sucks and I’m a moron – or even more of a moron than usual, I guess I should say. Lee lost again to drop to 0-2, and lost again in blowout fashion against Toronto on Saturday. Last year’s fluke pitched just five innings, giving up 7 hits and 4 walks on the way to giving up 4 earned runs. This now leaves Lee at 0-2, with a WHIP of 2.20 and an ERA of 9.90. I still don’t get it. How can a pitcher completely dominate for a full year, like Cliffy last season, and suddenly complete lose it just one year later? There’s nothing that says Lee should suck now, both his BABIP and LOB % last year weren’t fluky, completely weird numbers that deflated his ERA, but watching him pitch this year all of a sudden who the hell knows what’s going on. Glad I have him on two fantasy teams (actually, on one team my three top starters are Lee, Liriano, and Roy Oswalt – all 0-2 after this weekend). This also keeps the Indians in a bad way, sitting at 0-5 to start the year (they did win on Sunday to get to 1-5).

3. Tim Lincecum. The other Cy Young award winner from last season hasn’t had much success either. Unlike Lee, there weren't many questions about Lincecum. The only real issue was how many wins he would be able to pick up, considering the Giants are awful, but that his other stats should still be pretty good. Not the case thus far. The little guy lasted just three innings (a career low) in his opening day start against Milwaukee, giving up 3 runs, 4 hits, and 3 walks before getting pulled and looking generally unimpressive, and then followed that up on Saturday by giving up a career high 10 hits to go with three walks and four runs in just 5 and 1/3. Something is very much off right now, as he is fifth in the league with 14 hits allowed in just 8.1 innings, and has walked to many guys resulting in a 2.40 WHIP, the second worst number in the league amongst pitchers with two starts. I would expect him to rebound more than I would Lee, but neither have looked anywhere near their 2008 form thus far.

4. Cole Hamels. He’s still my boyfriend and all, but he certainly didn’t impress me in his first start since winning the World Series MVP, getting lit up by the Rockies to the tune of 11 hits and 7 earned runs allowed in just 3 and 2/3 innings pitched. He had a bit of an injury scare in Spring Training with a sore elbow, but it was supposed to be nothing more than elbow inflammation. Does this mean he’s hurt more than we think? It could be, especially since his fastball averaged just 87 mph in that game compared to his career average of 90. It’s something to keep an eye on, especially with Hamels poor history with injuries. If he’s hurt I might have to kill myself. Or just find a new obsession. Halladay looking pretty good these days.

5. Everyone in contention at the Masters. I could I suppose put Angel Cabrera in the awesome column for winning, but it really didn’t feel like anybody won the tournament as much as everybody lost it and Cabrera won by everyone else screwing up worse. The top two, Cabrera and Perry, both played half-assed throughout the tournament until Perry birdied 15 and hit an incredible tee shot at 16 to birdie again and get to -14 and a two stroke lead. He then proceeded to pull an Albany and shat all down his leg, bogeying the final two holes to drop into a three-way tie with Cabrera and Chad Campbell (who actually played at -3 on the day and based on his four days in Augusta probably should have ended up winning).

The playoff was even more of a choke-fest, with Cabrera in the woods, Campbell in the sand, and Perry chunking his approach shot. Perry and Cabrera saved par, but Campbell missed a short par putt to eliminate himself. On the final hole, Cabrera played well and Perry doinked his approach way off to the left of the green, giving Cabrera an easy win. It was pretty lame. Like watching Greg Norman and Steve Stricker battle down the stretch.

The most exciting part of the final round was watching Mickelson and Woods, who were grouped together, make a run up the leaderboard to get back into contention. Mickelson tied a Masters record with a 30 on the front side to get to -10 and just two shots back, but lost his mojo with a double bogey after hitting into the water at twelve, and ended up at +1 on the back to finish three shots back in fifth. Woods started more slowly, but turned it on after the turn, going three under on holes 13-16, also getting to -10. He then bogeyed the final two holes, however, to finish in a tie for sixth with John Merrick and Steve Flesch, and Steve Stricker.

So yeah, congrats Angel Cabrera on your second major win. It wasn’t the most impressive, but winning a war of attrition is still winning.


And that'll do it. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to attempt to do Daily Updates rather than weekly. Don't worry your pretty little head, they'll still be additional posts sprinkled throughout the week, hopefully with a little bit of Sidler Nerd Baseball talk, Dawger movie reviews and Gopher updates, and Snake hockey bits.