I finally have a chance to sit and watch a Twins game in peace and to completion, and on an actual TV with actual sound instead of on the computer, so why not live blog it? Of course, it's already the bottom of the seventh and the Twins are down 2-1 to the Yankees, but still. It's a real TV with actual sound. Which could definitely be a negative. Whatever. You suck.
8:08 - Delmoney! Just as I sit down to watch, Delmoney hits one about 390 off the wall to tie the game at 2-2. So runner on second with one out. I would be willing to bet any amount of money that they don't get that run home.
8:10 - Like clockwork, Hardy bounces it right back to Pettitte who catches Delmon too far off the base and he's erased. The ghost of Lew Ford strikes again. Now it's a runner on first with Harris up and two outs. I would now be willing to bet any amount of money x 2 they don't take the lead.
8:13 - Maybe Delmon would be a good name for a boy (Baby Boy W = 11 weeks from arrival and counting). Or do I go with Delmoney? Or just Delmon, but call him Delmoney? Man, there are so many decisions you have to make with a kid on the way.
8:15 - Guerrier is in. I kind of hope he ends up facing A-Rod. Just because he can't possibly give up another home run, can he? It's not like we're talking Jesse Crain here.
8:17 - A quick box score check shows A-Rod made the last out in the last inning, so this is definitely the safest time to put ole Matty Yardball in the game.
8:18 - Francisco Cervelli. That's just fun to say. And have you seen some of these guys on the Yankees now? Juan Miranda. Ramiro Pena. Damaso Marte. Alfredo Aceves. Boone Logan. Sergio Mitre. They're like a linguist's dream. And also sound like the roster of the Puerto Rican team from the World Baseball Classic.
8:21 - He walks Cervelli. Walks will haunt.
8:25 - Butera just hit the ball as far as he can, which was really just in the gap, and it was still almost caught by Gardner, but just went off his glove. First career extra base hit. Congrats. Way to only get a double, slow ass.
8:26 - Hold up. Why the mother hell isn't Gardy pinch running here? I know Mauer is DHing so if you pinch run and he moves to catcher you lose your DH. But it's the 8th damn inning in a 2-2 game. Guess what you do here? YOU PINCH RUN GOD DAMMIT! It's the 8th! Odds are that spot won't even come up again. And if he's trying to sac bunt - which he is with Span - even if you get Butera to third you'll have to hit it very deep to get him in. This move makes zero sense at all. None. Zero.
8:28 - Awesome. Span makes a bad bunt, Butera freezes at second, but A-Rod boots it and it's now first and third and nobody is going to say a word about not pinch running. Bert and Dick haven't even hinted at it. God this is annoying. I hope Butera gets tossed out tagging on a medium deep fly ball.
8:29 - Line out. 1 down. Mauer up. This is screaming 4-6-3.
8:29 - Serious, Gardy makes more game mistakes than anybody I've ever seen ever, but this crap always happens and nobody ever calls him on it. I have no problem granting that he is clearly a good manager in terms of managing people/egos/whatever, but his game management skills are worse than Dawger trying to manage a fantasy football team.
8:34 - My bad. It was 6-4-3. What a waste of an inning. I wish I could blame this on Gardy somehow. That was still a really stupid non-pinch run, even though it ended up not mattering. It will at some point. I often wonder if the Twins would make it further in the playoffs with somebody who understood basic strategy. I bet he loses to kindergartners in checkers often.
8:36 - That GB Leighton song is brutal.
8:40 - Swisher with a monster blast off of Rauch. Mariano is about to get two saves in one day. Sweet. I'm so glad I'm watching.
8:41 - I really liked the Lost finale, by the way, if you're wondering. And I'm sure you are.
8:42 - Cuddyer has a pretty good arm, throwing out Tex going for two on a ball hit into the corner. I'm still depressed.
8:45 - So Pettitte warms up, but then before Morneau gets to hit they pull him and bring in Rivera. So clearly the whole point of having Pettitte warm up was just to stall. Doesn't seem legal. Dick and Bert are saying it's supposed to be against the rules, so that basically guarantees it's completely legal, but it seems like it shouldn't be. If I cared I'd be outraged.
8:49 - Cuddy lines one into the dugout. I'll bet anything he was trying to take out Gardy. I now approve of Cuddyer.
8:52 - Three weak grounders and we're done. And if you thought this blog post was boring, the game was ten times worse.
Will the fourth quarter of the Eastern Conference Finals be any better? I'm guessing no.
9:41 - I took a short break to watch Above the Rim before I remembered this game was on. How can you not love a basketball movie with 2-Pac, Marlon Wayans, and a guy who plays basketball against an imaginary opponent with no ball. Plus, Bernie Mac back when he was funny before he got all popular and then sucked. GET OFF OF ME!!!!!!!
9:42 - I don't know what happened, but Big Baby apparently got clocked in the head and is quite a bit disoriented right now. So disoriented, that he basically sprinted right at the ref, who to his credit didn't get out of the way. I don't know about you, but if a big black man is sprinting towards me with a crazed look in his eye my general strategy is to throw my wallet at him and run.
9:44 - Oh, and by the way that whole sequence was ten times more fun than the Twins game. He went down like Zach Galifanwhatever when Tyson decked him in The Hangover. Great movie.
9:46 - We're heading to the fourth with the Tragic up 9. Let's hope for a little entertainment here.
9:47 - When you go to put in labels for the posts (the little tags below each post), as you are typing tags you've used in the past with the same letter combinations popup. When I was typing "Orlando Magic" in there, "Magic Taco" popped up. I have zero idea what this could be referring to.
9:50 - Jason Williams is still playing, by the way, and after toning down the And 1 Mix Tape Tour crap he's actually a really solid back-up point guard. It's kind of tough to get past the "White Chocolate" nickname, though. Plus how he framed Randy Moss back in high school for all the issues he had. It wasn't moss, it was Whitey Chocolate holding him down. I'd mention his high school transgressions here, but for the life of me I can't remember what any of them were or why he ended up at Marshall. I think he might have punched out some dumb white hick at a bowling alley, but that might have been Allen Iverson.
9:53 - Speaking of And 1, did anybody ever watch that show on MTV from like seven or so years ago, where it was basically Top Chef but instead of cooking it was basketball? And instead of basketball it was street ball? And Magic Johnson hosted? And some white guy won? It was so, so awesome. I need to find a way to watch it again. Plus, not working from home anymore I can't get my And 1 Tour fix on ESPN2 from noon - one every afternoon. At least they're bringing back NBA Jam. I love fake basketball.
9:56 - Oh my god. Tell me Rico Tucker wouldn't be a dominant force on the And 1 Tour. I should shoot him a message on facebook and tell him. We're friends, so he wouldn't mind.
9:57 - Rashard Lewis has 12 points tonight. I think that is what he had in games 1-4 combined.
9:58 - So I just checked, and it turns out Snacks put us down for the Magic to outscore the Celtics from the 12:00 mark to the 6:00 mark of the fourth quarter, and for the 6:00 to 0:00 half-quarter as well. I didn't even know you could bet half quarters. I think one of us has a problem.
10:00 - So it seems Kendrick Perkins was ejected for getting two technicals, and now Big Baby is down with a dented forehead, so guys playing relevant minutes for the Celtics include Nate Robinson, who is a good dunker for a midget and good in an uptempo game - the opposite of what the Celtics do, Marquis Daniels, who has been a third-stringer for like 10 teams in 10 years, and Michael Finley, who actually makes the Celtics average age increase by coming in the game.
10:02 - I haven't looked this up to verify or anything, but when Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Finley, and Rasheed are one the floor together, which they haven't been all night, their combined age is 207.
10:05 - Orlando is up 13 with 7:24 left. Why is everything so boring tonight? I actually have full control over the TV, and I'm bored out of my mind. Watching Bernie Mac and that kid from that movie play one-on-one for Boomps is the most entertained I've been. I wish I had a White Men Can't Jump DVD here.
10:08 - In case you were wondering, Rasheed can still shoot. Also in case you're wondering, it would be pretty damn funny if the Celtics blew a 3-0 lead in the same year the Bruins blew a 3-0 lead. I only know that because I heard it on the radio. No, I don't watch hockey. I'm not some kind of mouth-breathing cretin.
10:12 - The lead is now 18. This is really fun.
10:16 - Marquis Daniels ended up leaving with a concussion at some point when I wasn't paying attention. That explains everything.
10:18 - Lot of effort out there on both sides. It's just a battle. You got to love this passion and drive. This is why the NBA is so much better than college, nobody is out there just going through the motions. So much love for the game.
10:25 - Just realized that Kendrick Perkins is now automatically suspended for game 6 since he got ejected in game 5. He's super, super important for the Celtics because he's basically the only one who can guard Howard. And the play he got his second tech on was pretty bad, like NBA the fix is in bad. Except I'm pretty sure the NBA wants Celtics/Lakers, so expect them to change the rules to get Perkins back in there.
10:27 - Game over. Post over. What a waste of time this all was. Although if I wasted just one other person's time reading this, then I've done my part.
Showing posts with label Orlando Magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orlando Magic. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Week in Review - 5/24/2010
How weird is it that in my very last post, the one about Justin Cobbs, I referenced 'Lil Romeo and his career at USC, and now news is breaking all over the place that Romeo is leaving the program. Some people just report the news. I create it. With great power, comes great responsibility.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Kobe Bryant. I'm pretty sure anybody arguing that Kobe isn't the best player in the NBA at this point is either retarded or a moron, and it absolutely kills me to compliment him. It's impossible not to after the games he's put together against the Suns this week. Game 1: 40 points on 13-23 shooting, 5 assists, 5 boards. Game 2: 21 points on 8-18 shooting, 13 assists, 5 rebounds. And he was masterful. Took over scoring in Game 1 when the Suns single-covered him, and then became facilitator when they doubled him in Game 2. If he played like this all the time, he'd be the clear-cut best player in the NBA (he also had 36-11-9 in Game 3 but I didn't watch it because I was watching Lost so I can't comment). Plus, he made an appearance on the awesome awesome Modern Family for their season finale, and actually seemed somewhat likable. Or at least he didn't rape anybody. That I know of.
2. Dice-K. Matsuzaka almost pitched a no-hitter on Saturday night, going 7 and 2/3 before giving up a soft single to Juan Castro (yes, THE Juan Castro) to break it up. And why wouldn't he? I mean he came into that game with an ERA of 5.97 and WHIP of 1.3, and had only made it 7 innings in one of his four starts since returning from injury, so it was obvious a game like this was coming. Seriously, what is the deal with Boston and pitchers? It's like anybody who goes there suddenly has these random unhittable nights. Lester and Buchholz have no-hitters in the last couple of years, and now Dice-K with this masterful performance out of nowhere. I'd be fascinated by this and look up who the pitching coach there is, but I hate the Red Sox with all my heart so I'm not going to waste any more time here.
3. Bryce Harper. I suppose it's gotten to the point where I can't really ignore Harper anymore, especially since he's going to be the number 1 pick for the Nationals in the upcoming amateur draft, and helped propel his JC team to the JuCo World Series. How did he lead them to the NJCAA Western Division Championship? Simply by hitting for the cycle on Friday and then following that up with a 6-6 game with four home runs and ten RBIs, going 12 for 13 in the last two games. They hype on this kid has been ridiculous, but it's looking like he might actually be able to live up to it. More background here if you're interested, but in case you aren't familiar with him a quick summary is that he's a 17-year old catcher who dropped out of high school to attend the College of Southern Nevada after his sophomore year, taking the GED in order to get eligible to play and will now be eligible for the draft despite not being able to vote yet. Basically his whole life has been geared around being a professional baseball player. When this burn out comes, it's going to be spectacular. You know those repressed kids who get to college and just go insane with freedom? Like that x100.
4. Edwin Jackson. You remember this guy. Big-time prospect for the Rays, who was then a big-time prospect for the Tigers, who was then shipped to the D-backs for Max Scherzer. So far this season, it had looked like there was a reason he'd been on three teams in three years, racking up a 7.43 ERA in 8 starts, allowing 60 hits in 46 innings, and walking 18 with just 32 strikeouts. Suddenly this week, however, things look like they might be turning around. On Monday he went 8 innings, allowing 4 hits and no runs while striking out 12 and walking just two. Then on Saturday, he followed it up with a 7 and 2/3 inning performance, allowing six hits and five runs. That Saturday outing may not sound that great, but he struck out 9 and walked none, and had allowed just one run through seven innings before giving up a couple of homers in the 8th. He may very well go back to sucking, but that 21-2 K/BB ratio in his last two starts says he may have turned a corner.
5. Justin Morneau. Good god. Completely ridiculous. You know how a lot of people say Ted Williams was the best hitter ever? And others go with Ruth, or Bonds, or maybe Ty Cobb? Clearly all those people are idiots, because it's obvious Morneau is the best hitter ever. I haven't looked this up, but I'm pretty sure his line drive % this year is 100%. Or maybe like 75%, with 24% being home runs and 1% being ground balls that are hit so hard infielders are jumping out of the way. Seriously, remember how amazing Joe Mauer's season was last year? And yeah, it was pretty incredible, but this year Morneau is better than him in every single statistic. 18 points higher in batting average, 53 points higher in OBP, and 114 points better in slugging, and he's on pace to hit 15 or so more homers and walk about 60 more times. Just crazy numbers. Let's put it this way. Morneau is about 30% better this year compared to Mauer last year if we use OPS+ as our guide. To put that in perspective, last year Mauer was about 30% better than Michael Cuddyer last year. That's how good Morneau has been.
WHO SUCKED
1. Orlando Magic. There is just so much to choose from here. What's your favorite part? Vince Carter's Dajuan Wagner impression at the end of game 2? Getting smoked in an absolute must-win game by 23 in a game that wasn't nearly that close? Letting Rasheed become a major factor? Letting Big Baby become a major factor? Dwight Howard being dominated in two of the three games by a combination of Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed? Rashard Lewis taking three games to finally surpass his season per game average in scoring, and only surpassing it by a single point thanks to his 6-24 shooting? Or maybe watching as KG and Ray Allen, who had looked pretty broken down at times this season, suddenly dominating like it was 2002. Just a whole lot to love here. I suppose I could give credit to the Celtics, but that's not nearly as fun, and it's really been pretty pathetic. Orlando Tragic, indeed.
2. Tommy Hanson. There's nothing quite as exquisite as watching someone I've pimped on the record completely flame out. Except instead of exquisite I mean whatever is the exact opposite of that. Hanson is having an excellent year thus far, and will likely continue to have an excellent year, and will probably have a very good career, but for one afternoon he was doing a hell of a Jesse Crain impression if Crain was a starter. On Thursday against the Reds, Hanson couldn't even get out of the second inning. He faced a total of 16 batters, and got less than a third of them out, giving up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 8 earned runs in just 1 and 2/3 innings. Ouch, Tommy. Ouch. I feel betrayed. Like Caesar. Or the Cherokee.
3. Rickie Weeks. Once a top prospect, Weeks struggled for his first four seasons a bit, being about a league average hitter and below average fielder. Then last season, he seemed to be putting it together, adding some power to his already always impressive on-base percentage, hitting 9 home runs in his first 37 games, and looked like he might fault towards the top of the second-basemen rankings if such a thing existed. Unfortunately, an injury derailed the rest of the season and he missed the rest of the year. He started off this season again like gangbusters and was kicking some ass, but the last couple of weeks he's fallen off the face of the planet. He went 3-18 this week. When added to his 3-24 week the week prior, you can see why his average has dropped from the .330s where it was earlier this season all the way down to the .230s. His power is also gone (slugging .382, lowest of his career), and he's already made five errors - which I think is more than the entire Twins team. I think his window has pretty much closed, and he's never going to end up living up to his potential. It's probably the dreadlocks.
4. Kerry Wood. Remember when I mentioned that Wood would probably be a pretty sought after closer around the trade deadline this year assuming he got healthy? Well, he got healthy. Too bad he sucks. On Friday he pitched an inning against the Reds, giving up a home run, and actually lowered his ERA by more than two runs. That's because on Wednesday he pitched against the Royals, and only managed to get one out. While trying to get that one out, he walked two batters and gave up four hits, allowing five runs to score. He did pitch a scoreless inning Sunday which lowered his ERA to 13.50 and WHIP to 2.63, and might end up being good again, but he certainly didn't get himself off to a good start.
5. Channing Frye. As far as NBA players go, Frye is not a particularly good one, although he's not terrible either. He does have one particularly valuable skill however, and that is being 6-11 and being able to make three-pointers. In fact, he made them at a 44% clip, good enough for 6th in the league, was in the All-Star 3-point contest, and takes more than half his attempts from behind the arc. He's basically a more accurate Rick Rickert, except in the NBA it's a valuable skill and doesn't necessarily mean you're a big baby who is afraid to play inside. Anyway, when a guy with one skill can't pull off that skill in the Western Conference Finals, it ain't pretty. Through three games he's 1-14 from three, and 1-20 overall from the floor. Somehow, the Suns are only down 2-1 despite this. Just a brutal choke job. Also, can somebody please tell Jared Dudley to stop cheering for himself so hard every time he makes a shot? It's really irritating. Like watching some chowder at open gym who finally hits a shot after clanging ten in a row off the side of the backboard.
Special mention for suckitude to Todd Coffey. What a spaz. I'm surprised they don't make him wear a helmet out there.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Kobe Bryant. I'm pretty sure anybody arguing that Kobe isn't the best player in the NBA at this point is either retarded or a moron, and it absolutely kills me to compliment him. It's impossible not to after the games he's put together against the Suns this week. Game 1: 40 points on 13-23 shooting, 5 assists, 5 boards. Game 2: 21 points on 8-18 shooting, 13 assists, 5 rebounds. And he was masterful. Took over scoring in Game 1 when the Suns single-covered him, and then became facilitator when they doubled him in Game 2. If he played like this all the time, he'd be the clear-cut best player in the NBA (he also had 36-11-9 in Game 3 but I didn't watch it because I was watching Lost so I can't comment). Plus, he made an appearance on the awesome awesome Modern Family for their season finale, and actually seemed somewhat likable. Or at least he didn't rape anybody. That I know of.
2. Dice-K. Matsuzaka almost pitched a no-hitter on Saturday night, going 7 and 2/3 before giving up a soft single to Juan Castro (yes, THE Juan Castro) to break it up. And why wouldn't he? I mean he came into that game with an ERA of 5.97 and WHIP of 1.3, and had only made it 7 innings in one of his four starts since returning from injury, so it was obvious a game like this was coming. Seriously, what is the deal with Boston and pitchers? It's like anybody who goes there suddenly has these random unhittable nights. Lester and Buchholz have no-hitters in the last couple of years, and now Dice-K with this masterful performance out of nowhere. I'd be fascinated by this and look up who the pitching coach there is, but I hate the Red Sox with all my heart so I'm not going to waste any more time here.
3. Bryce Harper. I suppose it's gotten to the point where I can't really ignore Harper anymore, especially since he's going to be the number 1 pick for the Nationals in the upcoming amateur draft, and helped propel his JC team to the JuCo World Series. How did he lead them to the NJCAA Western Division Championship? Simply by hitting for the cycle on Friday and then following that up with a 6-6 game with four home runs and ten RBIs, going 12 for 13 in the last two games. They hype on this kid has been ridiculous, but it's looking like he might actually be able to live up to it. More background here if you're interested, but in case you aren't familiar with him a quick summary is that he's a 17-year old catcher who dropped out of high school to attend the College of Southern Nevada after his sophomore year, taking the GED in order to get eligible to play and will now be eligible for the draft despite not being able to vote yet. Basically his whole life has been geared around being a professional baseball player. When this burn out comes, it's going to be spectacular. You know those repressed kids who get to college and just go insane with freedom? Like that x100.
4. Edwin Jackson. You remember this guy. Big-time prospect for the Rays, who was then a big-time prospect for the Tigers, who was then shipped to the D-backs for Max Scherzer. So far this season, it had looked like there was a reason he'd been on three teams in three years, racking up a 7.43 ERA in 8 starts, allowing 60 hits in 46 innings, and walking 18 with just 32 strikeouts. Suddenly this week, however, things look like they might be turning around. On Monday he went 8 innings, allowing 4 hits and no runs while striking out 12 and walking just two. Then on Saturday, he followed it up with a 7 and 2/3 inning performance, allowing six hits and five runs. That Saturday outing may not sound that great, but he struck out 9 and walked none, and had allowed just one run through seven innings before giving up a couple of homers in the 8th. He may very well go back to sucking, but that 21-2 K/BB ratio in his last two starts says he may have turned a corner.
5. Justin Morneau. Good god. Completely ridiculous. You know how a lot of people say Ted Williams was the best hitter ever? And others go with Ruth, or Bonds, or maybe Ty Cobb? Clearly all those people are idiots, because it's obvious Morneau is the best hitter ever. I haven't looked this up, but I'm pretty sure his line drive % this year is 100%. Or maybe like 75%, with 24% being home runs and 1% being ground balls that are hit so hard infielders are jumping out of the way. Seriously, remember how amazing Joe Mauer's season was last year? And yeah, it was pretty incredible, but this year Morneau is better than him in every single statistic. 18 points higher in batting average, 53 points higher in OBP, and 114 points better in slugging, and he's on pace to hit 15 or so more homers and walk about 60 more times. Just crazy numbers. Let's put it this way. Morneau is about 30% better this year compared to Mauer last year if we use OPS+ as our guide. To put that in perspective, last year Mauer was about 30% better than Michael Cuddyer last year. That's how good Morneau has been.
WHO SUCKED
1. Orlando Magic. There is just so much to choose from here. What's your favorite part? Vince Carter's Dajuan Wagner impression at the end of game 2? Getting smoked in an absolute must-win game by 23 in a game that wasn't nearly that close? Letting Rasheed become a major factor? Letting Big Baby become a major factor? Dwight Howard being dominated in two of the three games by a combination of Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed? Rashard Lewis taking three games to finally surpass his season per game average in scoring, and only surpassing it by a single point thanks to his 6-24 shooting? Or maybe watching as KG and Ray Allen, who had looked pretty broken down at times this season, suddenly dominating like it was 2002. Just a whole lot to love here. I suppose I could give credit to the Celtics, but that's not nearly as fun, and it's really been pretty pathetic. Orlando Tragic, indeed.
2. Tommy Hanson. There's nothing quite as exquisite as watching someone I've pimped on the record completely flame out. Except instead of exquisite I mean whatever is the exact opposite of that. Hanson is having an excellent year thus far, and will likely continue to have an excellent year, and will probably have a very good career, but for one afternoon he was doing a hell of a Jesse Crain impression if Crain was a starter. On Thursday against the Reds, Hanson couldn't even get out of the second inning. He faced a total of 16 batters, and got less than a third of them out, giving up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 8 earned runs in just 1 and 2/3 innings. Ouch, Tommy. Ouch. I feel betrayed. Like Caesar. Or the Cherokee.
3. Rickie Weeks. Once a top prospect, Weeks struggled for his first four seasons a bit, being about a league average hitter and below average fielder. Then last season, he seemed to be putting it together, adding some power to his already always impressive on-base percentage, hitting 9 home runs in his first 37 games, and looked like he might fault towards the top of the second-basemen rankings if such a thing existed. Unfortunately, an injury derailed the rest of the season and he missed the rest of the year. He started off this season again like gangbusters and was kicking some ass, but the last couple of weeks he's fallen off the face of the planet. He went 3-18 this week. When added to his 3-24 week the week prior, you can see why his average has dropped from the .330s where it was earlier this season all the way down to the .230s. His power is also gone (slugging .382, lowest of his career), and he's already made five errors - which I think is more than the entire Twins team. I think his window has pretty much closed, and he's never going to end up living up to his potential. It's probably the dreadlocks.
4. Kerry Wood. Remember when I mentioned that Wood would probably be a pretty sought after closer around the trade deadline this year assuming he got healthy? Well, he got healthy. Too bad he sucks. On Friday he pitched an inning against the Reds, giving up a home run, and actually lowered his ERA by more than two runs. That's because on Wednesday he pitched against the Royals, and only managed to get one out. While trying to get that one out, he walked two batters and gave up four hits, allowing five runs to score. He did pitch a scoreless inning Sunday which lowered his ERA to 13.50 and WHIP to 2.63, and might end up being good again, but he certainly didn't get himself off to a good start.
5. Channing Frye. As far as NBA players go, Frye is not a particularly good one, although he's not terrible either. He does have one particularly valuable skill however, and that is being 6-11 and being able to make three-pointers. In fact, he made them at a 44% clip, good enough for 6th in the league, was in the All-Star 3-point contest, and takes more than half his attempts from behind the arc. He's basically a more accurate Rick Rickert, except in the NBA it's a valuable skill and doesn't necessarily mean you're a big baby who is afraid to play inside. Anyway, when a guy with one skill can't pull off that skill in the Western Conference Finals, it ain't pretty. Through three games he's 1-14 from three, and 1-20 overall from the floor. Somehow, the Suns are only down 2-1 despite this. Just a brutal choke job. Also, can somebody please tell Jared Dudley to stop cheering for himself so hard every time he makes a shot? It's really irritating. Like watching some chowder at open gym who finally hits a shot after clanging ten in a row off the side of the backboard.
Special mention for suckitude to Todd Coffey. What a spaz. I'm surprised they don't make him wear a helmet out there.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Weekend Review
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Jason Kubel. He had this spot locked up after hitting for the cycle on Friday, but decided to declare his awesomeness even further by collecting four more hits on Saturday. For the weekend he helped the Twins sweep the stupid Angels and stupid Torii Hunter, going 8-15 with five runs scored and seven driven in, but that two game stretch may have been the most dominant by a Twin since Kirby destroyed Milwaukee. Honestly, despite Kubel being awesome and my boy and all, he's one of the last Twins I'd pick as "cycle possible" due to his being slower than Kent Hrbek - and I mean Kent Hrbek right now. I'm not 100% sure that triple was legit, but what the scorekeeper says goes, so congrats to Kubel on being a total stud, and the clear third-best hitter on the Twins.
2. Zack Greinke. For those of you with long memories, and I'm guessing many of my long time pain-in-the-ass readers remember, I once downplayed Greinke as nothing more than a #3 starter. Well, if nothing else, at least I am willing to admit when I am wrong as I seem to be doing over and over again lately. Greinke won again on Saturday to run his record to 3-0 for the Royals by shutting out Texas, giving up seven hits and striking out 10 while walking nobody. He's been unhittable this year, with 20 scoreless innings to start the season, piggy-backing on his fourteen scoreless innings to end 2008. He's a big reason the Royals are suddenly on top of the AL Central. Did you know the Royals tried to make him a reliever in 2007? Good thing they changed their minds - for them, bad news for the division. He's going to be good for a long time. I definitely whiffed on this one.
3. Derrick Rose. Who holds the record for most points by a rookie in their playoff debut? Yep, Rose, who scored 36 in the Bulls OT upset win over the Celtics, which tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record. Rose was completely unguardable, and abused Rondo like most Big Ten players abused Travis Busch, even passing up open jumpers in order to cross Rondo over like a bitch and get to the rim. Rose didn't just score 36 points, he did it efficiently by shooting 12-19 and contributed eleven assists in one of the more dominating performances I've seen, stealing home court advantage from the favored Celts. A couple of other interesting things from this series are the fact that Ray Allen wears TWO shooting sleeves, and apparently Vinny del Negro is an actual NBA coach. TWO SHOOTING SLEEVES.
4. Jeremy Hermida. The Marlins keep winning, and they keep finding different heroes. Opening week, it was Emilio Bonifacio, with Josh Johnson pitching like a Cy Young candidate. This weekend Johnson again took the hill, but didn't have his A game this time, giving up six earned runs in six innings pitched, and the Marlins headed to the ninth down three to the Nationals. No matter, as Jeremy Hermida decided he'd be the big nuts this time, and took world's shittiest closer Joel Hanrahan deep with two outs and two on to tie the game. A couple of innings later with the score still tied, Hermida came up again with two men on, and again went deep to give the Marlins a 9-6 lead and finishing the day with three hits and three runs to go with his six RBI, raising his season average to .316. Hermida had a very good year in 2007, but dropped off in 08, so far at least he's looked closer to his 2007 form, and has helped the Marlins to the best record in the bigs at 11-1, currently riding a seven game win streak. The best part of this, however, was the Nationals bullpen cleaning following the sweep, with them jettisoning three of their relievers, calling two washed-up retreads from the minors and signing Kip freaking Wells. Ouch.
5. Glen Perkins. Which Twins' pitcher did you really expect to take a big step forward this year? Probably Slowey or Liriano, maybe Baker? A few people I know really like Blackburn, but I don't know anybody who saw this coming from Perkins. I always thought he was more of a place holder for Mulvey or Swarzak or somebody, and was destined for the bullpen but, once again, it's looking like I'm wrong. Perkins has been incredible this year, going eight innings in all three starts so far, and hasn't given up more than two runs in any start, including yesterday when he went eight, giving up just four hits and one run - and actually looked even more impressive. It seems Perkins has learned how to pitch, and is currently leading Twins' starters with a 1.50 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. Little known fact: his middle name is Weston. Littler known fact: I actually know one other person with that middle name.
WHO SUCKED
1. Chien-Ming Wang. Yes, he's here again. I don't mean to keep writing about Wang, and I would be able to ignore it if he was just consistently bad, but he is somehow finding a way to get worse and worse with each time out, this time giving up eight runs and eight hits in just one and a third innings, and inflating his ERA to a stellar 34.50. None of the Yankee relievers who followed him were able to do much better, with Cleveland putting up 22 runs when the slaughter was over, but Wang's season has just been special so far. In his three starts, he's pitched a total of just six innings and has given up nearly five baserunners per inning with opponents hitting .622 against him. That's a .622 batting average, not slugging. This is, without question, one of the most stunning disintegrations I've ever seen. And I can't look away.
2. Jim Furyk. I am stunned that Furyk missed the cut this week at Harbour Town in the Verizon Classic, seriously stunned. Everything was setup for a Furyk win this week. He was coming off a good finish at the Masters, finishing in a tie for tenth, which showed he was playing good golf. He has a good track record at this course, with two runner-ups, a fourth, and a tenth in the last five times he played it. So what happens? He doesn't break 70, finishing at +3 thanks to a 74 on Thursday, and misses the cut. Makes no sense. Brian Gay, whose only career win was at the Mayakoba when all the good golfers are busy at the WGC Match Play, dominated this course with his worst round being a 67 and finishing at -20 for a win by 10 strokes. Washed up Lee Janzen put up a 65 and never-will-be Tim Petrovic managed a 68, but Furyk can't even last to the weekend? I don't get it.
3. B.J. Upton. My big breakout pick this year (I actually picked him as my AL MVP) Upton has, well, not really been around. He started the season on the disabled list recovering from shoulder surgery, and then yesterday he left the Rays' game after the second inning due to tightness in his quadricep. In between, he managed to squeeze in all of 23 at bats, picking up 5 hits (.217 average) and knock in one run. He still manages to tantalize, picking up six walks as well (.379 OBP) and steal three bases without getting caught. Upton is an epic talent, but this is starting to look like a possible modern day Mark Prior situation. I hope not. And yes, this is another player I told Bogart to draft in his fantasy draft. Sorry again good buddy, sorry again.
4. Arizona D-Backs Offense. It really reminds me of the Twins, but the D-Backs played three games against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend, and managed to score 0, 2, and 0 runs in the three games. Yes, a grand total of two runs in three games. They did face Tim Lincecum, maybe the best pitcher in baseball, and that's the game they got two runs (against the Bullpen, of course). Against fifty-year old Randy Johnson and someone named Jonathan Sanchez, they couldn't do anything, with RJ actually taking a no-hitter into the seventh. Details? Ok. Conor Jackson was 1-11. Mark Reynolds was 1-9. Stephen Drew was 2-12. Chris Young was 1-10. It seems losing Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn has had a minor effect on a team that was already slightly offensively challenged last year. Even at 4-8 I still think they'll win their division, but then again, I'm still waiting for Justin Upton to break out, so what do I know?
5. Orlando Magic. I generally don't like the NBA. I get a little bit excited for the start of the season, but am bored by game #3 and honestly didn't watch a single game this year. But the playoffs are different. I actually like watching the playoffs, because the teams seem semi-interested and the quality of play goes way up. It was interesting watching the Magic blow an 18-point lead, including being up by 14 at the start of the fourth, to the Sixers, who won on an Andre Iguodala jumper with 2.2 remaining. It was just like watching a college team panic with a lead. The Magic saw the game slipping away, and instead of going to what works - getting the ball to Dwight Howard, they started chucking jump shots. Notorious ballhog Rashard Lewis chucked up a bunch of bricks. Hedo Turkoglu was just 2-8, and I think most of those misses were in the fourth. Skip to My Lou and Courtney Lee couldn't hit anything either. Meanwhile Dwight Howard, who was 11-13 on the game, got all of two shot attempts in the fourth, as the lead dwindled and dwindled and was ultimately lost, along with the game and home court advantage. Just like a panicky college team. Not like a college team: Orlando Magic Cheerleaders.
1. Jason Kubel. He had this spot locked up after hitting for the cycle on Friday, but decided to declare his awesomeness even further by collecting four more hits on Saturday. For the weekend he helped the Twins sweep the stupid Angels and stupid Torii Hunter, going 8-15 with five runs scored and seven driven in, but that two game stretch may have been the most dominant by a Twin since Kirby destroyed Milwaukee. Honestly, despite Kubel being awesome and my boy and all, he's one of the last Twins I'd pick as "cycle possible" due to his being slower than Kent Hrbek - and I mean Kent Hrbek right now. I'm not 100% sure that triple was legit, but what the scorekeeper says goes, so congrats to Kubel on being a total stud, and the clear third-best hitter on the Twins.
2. Zack Greinke. For those of you with long memories, and I'm guessing many of my long time pain-in-the-ass readers remember, I once downplayed Greinke as nothing more than a #3 starter. Well, if nothing else, at least I am willing to admit when I am wrong as I seem to be doing over and over again lately. Greinke won again on Saturday to run his record to 3-0 for the Royals by shutting out Texas, giving up seven hits and striking out 10 while walking nobody. He's been unhittable this year, with 20 scoreless innings to start the season, piggy-backing on his fourteen scoreless innings to end 2008. He's a big reason the Royals are suddenly on top of the AL Central. Did you know the Royals tried to make him a reliever in 2007? Good thing they changed their minds - for them, bad news for the division. He's going to be good for a long time. I definitely whiffed on this one.
3. Derrick Rose. Who holds the record for most points by a rookie in their playoff debut? Yep, Rose, who scored 36 in the Bulls OT upset win over the Celtics, which tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record. Rose was completely unguardable, and abused Rondo like most Big Ten players abused Travis Busch, even passing up open jumpers in order to cross Rondo over like a bitch and get to the rim. Rose didn't just score 36 points, he did it efficiently by shooting 12-19 and contributed eleven assists in one of the more dominating performances I've seen, stealing home court advantage from the favored Celts. A couple of other interesting things from this series are the fact that Ray Allen wears TWO shooting sleeves, and apparently Vinny del Negro is an actual NBA coach. TWO SHOOTING SLEEVES.
4. Jeremy Hermida. The Marlins keep winning, and they keep finding different heroes. Opening week, it was Emilio Bonifacio, with Josh Johnson pitching like a Cy Young candidate. This weekend Johnson again took the hill, but didn't have his A game this time, giving up six earned runs in six innings pitched, and the Marlins headed to the ninth down three to the Nationals. No matter, as Jeremy Hermida decided he'd be the big nuts this time, and took world's shittiest closer Joel Hanrahan deep with two outs and two on to tie the game. A couple of innings later with the score still tied, Hermida came up again with two men on, and again went deep to give the Marlins a 9-6 lead and finishing the day with three hits and three runs to go with his six RBI, raising his season average to .316. Hermida had a very good year in 2007, but dropped off in 08, so far at least he's looked closer to his 2007 form, and has helped the Marlins to the best record in the bigs at 11-1, currently riding a seven game win streak. The best part of this, however, was the Nationals bullpen cleaning following the sweep, with them jettisoning three of their relievers, calling two washed-up retreads from the minors and signing Kip freaking Wells. Ouch.
5. Glen Perkins. Which Twins' pitcher did you really expect to take a big step forward this year? Probably Slowey or Liriano, maybe Baker? A few people I know really like Blackburn, but I don't know anybody who saw this coming from Perkins. I always thought he was more of a place holder for Mulvey or Swarzak or somebody, and was destined for the bullpen but, once again, it's looking like I'm wrong. Perkins has been incredible this year, going eight innings in all three starts so far, and hasn't given up more than two runs in any start, including yesterday when he went eight, giving up just four hits and one run - and actually looked even more impressive. It seems Perkins has learned how to pitch, and is currently leading Twins' starters with a 1.50 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. Little known fact: his middle name is Weston. Littler known fact: I actually know one other person with that middle name.
WHO SUCKED
1. Chien-Ming Wang. Yes, he's here again. I don't mean to keep writing about Wang, and I would be able to ignore it if he was just consistently bad, but he is somehow finding a way to get worse and worse with each time out, this time giving up eight runs and eight hits in just one and a third innings, and inflating his ERA to a stellar 34.50. None of the Yankee relievers who followed him were able to do much better, with Cleveland putting up 22 runs when the slaughter was over, but Wang's season has just been special so far. In his three starts, he's pitched a total of just six innings and has given up nearly five baserunners per inning with opponents hitting .622 against him. That's a .622 batting average, not slugging. This is, without question, one of the most stunning disintegrations I've ever seen. And I can't look away.
2. Jim Furyk. I am stunned that Furyk missed the cut this week at Harbour Town in the Verizon Classic, seriously stunned. Everything was setup for a Furyk win this week. He was coming off a good finish at the Masters, finishing in a tie for tenth, which showed he was playing good golf. He has a good track record at this course, with two runner-ups, a fourth, and a tenth in the last five times he played it. So what happens? He doesn't break 70, finishing at +3 thanks to a 74 on Thursday, and misses the cut. Makes no sense. Brian Gay, whose only career win was at the Mayakoba when all the good golfers are busy at the WGC Match Play, dominated this course with his worst round being a 67 and finishing at -20 for a win by 10 strokes. Washed up Lee Janzen put up a 65 and never-will-be Tim Petrovic managed a 68, but Furyk can't even last to the weekend? I don't get it.
3. B.J. Upton. My big breakout pick this year (I actually picked him as my AL MVP) Upton has, well, not really been around. He started the season on the disabled list recovering from shoulder surgery, and then yesterday he left the Rays' game after the second inning due to tightness in his quadricep. In between, he managed to squeeze in all of 23 at bats, picking up 5 hits (.217 average) and knock in one run. He still manages to tantalize, picking up six walks as well (.379 OBP) and steal three bases without getting caught. Upton is an epic talent, but this is starting to look like a possible modern day Mark Prior situation. I hope not. And yes, this is another player I told Bogart to draft in his fantasy draft. Sorry again good buddy, sorry again.
4. Arizona D-Backs Offense. It really reminds me of the Twins, but the D-Backs played three games against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend, and managed to score 0, 2, and 0 runs in the three games. Yes, a grand total of two runs in three games. They did face Tim Lincecum, maybe the best pitcher in baseball, and that's the game they got two runs (against the Bullpen, of course). Against fifty-year old Randy Johnson and someone named Jonathan Sanchez, they couldn't do anything, with RJ actually taking a no-hitter into the seventh. Details? Ok. Conor Jackson was 1-11. Mark Reynolds was 1-9. Stephen Drew was 2-12. Chris Young was 1-10. It seems losing Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn has had a minor effect on a team that was already slightly offensively challenged last year. Even at 4-8 I still think they'll win their division, but then again, I'm still waiting for Justin Upton to break out, so what do I know?
5. Orlando Magic. I generally don't like the NBA. I get a little bit excited for the start of the season, but am bored by game #3 and honestly didn't watch a single game this year. But the playoffs are different. I actually like watching the playoffs, because the teams seem semi-interested and the quality of play goes way up. It was interesting watching the Magic blow an 18-point lead, including being up by 14 at the start of the fourth, to the Sixers, who won on an Andre Iguodala jumper with 2.2 remaining. It was just like watching a college team panic with a lead. The Magic saw the game slipping away, and instead of going to what works - getting the ball to Dwight Howard, they started chucking jump shots. Notorious ballhog Rashard Lewis chucked up a bunch of bricks. Hedo Turkoglu was just 2-8, and I think most of those misses were in the fourth. Skip to My Lou and Courtney Lee couldn't hit anything either. Meanwhile Dwight Howard, who was 11-13 on the game, got all of two shot attempts in the fourth, as the lead dwindled and dwindled and was ultimately lost, along with the game and home court advantage. Just like a panicky college team. Not like a college team: Orlando Magic Cheerleaders.
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