1. Kobe Bryant now has 8 of the top 16 games in NBA history in terms of Field Goals Attempted. He also has just 7 of the top 100 games in NBA history in terms of field goals made.
2. This:
Showing posts with label R.A. Dickey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R.A. Dickey. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Merry Xmas
Merry Christmas, nerds. Two things:
1. Kobe Bryant now has 8 of the top 16 games in NBA history in terms of Field Goals Attempted. He also has just 7 of the top 100 games in NBA history in terms of field goals made.
2. This:
1. Kobe Bryant now has 8 of the top 16 games in NBA history in terms of Field Goals Attempted. He also has just 7 of the top 100 games in NBA history in terms of field goals made.
2. This:
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday Musings
Are you in the mood to read 1,537 words? Actually more now since I'm writing this introduction? You are? Oh good. Because here they come.
- We've written about the Span trade, the Revere trade, and the Correia signing here already so I suppose I should put something to figurative paper about the Mike Pelfrey signing but I am struggling so hard to care.
I guess I'm in favor simply because it's mirroring what my strategy would be with this team: trade everyone with value, get as many prospects as you can, fill holes for this year with short, cheap contracts, and plan for 2014. Signing Correia and Pelfrey does that, although giving Correia a second year is pretty mind-boggling. Pelfrey should be a better pitcher than Correia (not saying much), but he's coming off Tommy John surgery so your mileage may vary.
Pelfrey is a former first round pick who has been thoroughly mediocre in his career (similarity scores at his age - 29 - put him like a Carl Pavano or Jake Westbrook at that age: ok, but not necessarily good. A one year, $4 million dollar contract is a pretty good deal for him, especially because he's coming off Tommy John surgery which these days seems to make players better. If he can get back to his mediocre ways or even slightly better - put up like a high 3s/low 4s ERA - he could end up being a good piece to trade at the deadline. I'm realizing now I'm pretty obsessed with trading anything and everything of value and throwing in the towel this year. And it's December. Gonna be a fun season. I do like the Rule 5 Ryan Pressly pick-up though. Probably I could write about that and actually sound positive, but I'm not going to. Although I will mention that I saw on MLB.com where they list each team's top 20 prospects that Pressly slots in at #17, so that's probably good, right?
- What in the world is going on with the value of top prospects these days? The Phillies send their #1 prospect to the Twins for Ben Revere. The Royals send their top prospect (and #3 in all of baseball) away for James Shields, while the D-Backs ship out their #1 (and #5 overall) for good fielding no hitting shortstop prospect and a middle reliever. Now the Jays are trading their #1 (#11 overall) and #3 (#83) for R.A. Dickey who, rumor has it, is 38. It's starting to look like teams are looking more or more for when they have their "window" and just going for it, and since it's not just one team but multiple this may be the new trend. The Phillies will have Revere for a while and the D-Backs got back a guy they hope is their SS for many years, but both the Royals and Jays are clearly going for it now, acquiring players who won't be on the team in 3 years.
The famous Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz trade worked out well for both team's and I'm guessing both organizations would do it again if they traveled back in time, but generally there's a pretty clear winner and loser in these types of deals. If the Jays and Royals can get back to the playoffs for the first time in 20+ years even once you can probably say they made the right move, if not they payed an awfully steep price for the same results they'd have gotten anyway, but with a dash of disappointment mixed in. That is, of course, assuming the prospects work out which is pretty much a given since they always do.
- Speaking of baseball transactions the one time that isn't doing anything that baffles me is the Baltimore Orioles. Yeah, there was an awfully lot of luck on their side to make the playoffs, but they made them and clearly needed to make some upgrades if they want to get back, but they aren't doing much of anything. So far their biggest moves are claiming Alexei Casilla, trading Robert Andino to Seattle for Trayvon Robinson (note: I have no idea who this is), and re-signing Lew Ford to a minor league deal. They need a corner OFer, a 1B after letting Mark Reynolds walk, a second baseman since Brian Roberts is always hurt and I'm pretty sure Casilla isn't the answer, and starting pitching help because Chen/Hammel/Gonzalez/Tillman/Britton is not going to get you into the playoffs again. Also I just noticed that their designated hitter right now is Wilson Betemit - I mean these guys need some help.
I have no idea why they aren't after Swisher or LaRoche, not to mention Edwin Jackson or trying to at least work a trade with somebody like the Dodgers who have too many pitchers or figuring out something at 2b, even if it's just signing someone shitty like Kelly Johnson (he's better than Casilla). Then again who knows, maybe they're smarter than me and waiting for the market to settle a bit and going after bargains. They have plenty of young arms that could get decent pieces back to plug into the roster, but they've barely even been mentioned in rumors as far as doing anything that a whole bunch of waiver claims and minor league deals and getting rebuffed by Nate freaking Schierholz. I don't get it. If Baltimore's front office thinks they're in a place to compete again this year they're in for a big ole face slap. Prime candidate to take the UNDER on wins once those wagers are released.
- You know how two of our reader's (Loretta08 from Sippin' on Purple and Bear) hate hate hate Kevin O'Neill and consider him bar none the worst coach in NCAAB? I agree he's pretty awful, but without question Bruce Weber is the worst. The dude did nothing but underachieve at Illinois (after finishing national runner-up with Bill Self's players), including famously refusing to recruit a point guard instead content to force shooting guards to play out of position (first Demetri McCamey, then Brandon Paul) with mostly disastrous results and now he's screwing up Kansas State as well. The Wildcats made the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year under Frank Martin and have basically the same team back. They were ranked 37th in the AP Preseason Poll and 30th in the ESPN poll, while the Big 12 coaches picked them to finish 5th in the conference and I ranked them as the 33rd best team in the country. So decent.
Now I readily admit there's nothing particularly damning here at 7-2. Their only two losses are to Michigan and Gonzaga (and Gonzaga just killed them), but looking deeper it's just empty. They barely beat a bad Delaware team and a horrible George Washington team, and two of their wins are over a non-D1 team and USC Upstate who is basically a non-D1 team. They still might end up in the race for an NCAA bid because don't forget these are Frank Martin's players, but the end for this program is on the horizon. Mark my words, in 2-3 years this program will be back in the depths of anonymity because BRUCE WEBER IS AWFUL. Truth.
- It feels a bit weird writing all these words and not talking about the Gophers since I'm supposed to be a Gopher blog, but I live-blogged the last game so every thought I had that night (and many I didn't) has already been written. Instead, real quick, I wanted to take a look and compare this year's Gopher team to the one from 1996-1997 which made the Final Four (yes, they did).
Both teams were coming off NIT seasons with minimal personnel losses from the prior year (1996 team lost only David Grim) and nothing in the way of impact freshmen coming in (that was the Loge/Sanden/Archambeau class - thanks dick). Both had success in an early season tournament. Both came into Big Ten play with just 1 loss (1996 loss was at Alabama, a team that would fail to make either the NIT or NCAA Tournament). That team was ranked in the top 10 for the first time following the January 11th game against Michigan. That year's Big Ten was much weaker than this year's version, with only Indiana (x2), Michigan (x2), and Illinois ranked at the time the Gophers played them and none ranked higher than 15th. The Gophers were clearly the class of the league in 1996 as shown by winning the conference with a 16-2 record. This year's team is going to be in a much tougher conference. I remember thinking that team was special after the win @ Indiana, and I'm already thinking this year's team is special. Seriously, I can barely handle waiting for that New Year's Eve day game. We're going to learn so much.
- Since I know you're dying for an update I made the semi-finals in both my important Pretend Football leagues and lost both, despite having the highest scoring team in both leagues this year, by scoring the fewest points either team put up all year thanks to having Ray Rice, Demaryious Thomas, and Hakeem Nicks in both leagues. I hate that stupid fake sport. I quit.
- We've written about the Span trade, the Revere trade, and the Correia signing here already so I suppose I should put something to figurative paper about the Mike Pelfrey signing but I am struggling so hard to care.
 |
| This adequately expresses my feelings. |
Pelfrey is a former first round pick who has been thoroughly mediocre in his career (similarity scores at his age - 29 - put him like a Carl Pavano or Jake Westbrook at that age: ok, but not necessarily good. A one year, $4 million dollar contract is a pretty good deal for him, especially because he's coming off Tommy John surgery which these days seems to make players better. If he can get back to his mediocre ways or even slightly better - put up like a high 3s/low 4s ERA - he could end up being a good piece to trade at the deadline. I'm realizing now I'm pretty obsessed with trading anything and everything of value and throwing in the towel this year. And it's December. Gonna be a fun season. I do like the Rule 5 Ryan Pressly pick-up though. Probably I could write about that and actually sound positive, but I'm not going to. Although I will mention that I saw on MLB.com where they list each team's top 20 prospects that Pressly slots in at #17, so that's probably good, right?
- What in the world is going on with the value of top prospects these days? The Phillies send their #1 prospect to the Twins for Ben Revere. The Royals send their top prospect (and #3 in all of baseball) away for James Shields, while the D-Backs ship out their #1 (and #5 overall) for good fielding no hitting shortstop prospect and a middle reliever. Now the Jays are trading their #1 (#11 overall) and #3 (#83) for R.A. Dickey who, rumor has it, is 38. It's starting to look like teams are looking more or more for when they have their "window" and just going for it, and since it's not just one team but multiple this may be the new trend. The Phillies will have Revere for a while and the D-Backs got back a guy they hope is their SS for many years, but both the Royals and Jays are clearly going for it now, acquiring players who won't be on the team in 3 years.
The famous Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz trade worked out well for both team's and I'm guessing both organizations would do it again if they traveled back in time, but generally there's a pretty clear winner and loser in these types of deals. If the Jays and Royals can get back to the playoffs for the first time in 20+ years even once you can probably say they made the right move, if not they payed an awfully steep price for the same results they'd have gotten anyway, but with a dash of disappointment mixed in. That is, of course, assuming the prospects work out which is pretty much a given since they always do.
- Speaking of baseball transactions the one time that isn't doing anything that baffles me is the Baltimore Orioles. Yeah, there was an awfully lot of luck on their side to make the playoffs, but they made them and clearly needed to make some upgrades if they want to get back, but they aren't doing much of anything. So far their biggest moves are claiming Alexei Casilla, trading Robert Andino to Seattle for Trayvon Robinson (note: I have no idea who this is), and re-signing Lew Ford to a minor league deal. They need a corner OFer, a 1B after letting Mark Reynolds walk, a second baseman since Brian Roberts is always hurt and I'm pretty sure Casilla isn't the answer, and starting pitching help because Chen/Hammel/Gonzalez/Tillman/Britton is not going to get you into the playoffs again. Also I just noticed that their designated hitter right now is Wilson Betemit - I mean these guys need some help.
I have no idea why they aren't after Swisher or LaRoche, not to mention Edwin Jackson or trying to at least work a trade with somebody like the Dodgers who have too many pitchers or figuring out something at 2b, even if it's just signing someone shitty like Kelly Johnson (he's better than Casilla). Then again who knows, maybe they're smarter than me and waiting for the market to settle a bit and going after bargains. They have plenty of young arms that could get decent pieces back to plug into the roster, but they've barely even been mentioned in rumors as far as doing anything that a whole bunch of waiver claims and minor league deals and getting rebuffed by Nate freaking Schierholz. I don't get it. If Baltimore's front office thinks they're in a place to compete again this year they're in for a big ole face slap. Prime candidate to take the UNDER on wins once those wagers are released.
- You know how two of our reader's (Loretta08 from Sippin' on Purple and Bear) hate hate hate Kevin O'Neill and consider him bar none the worst coach in NCAAB? I agree he's pretty awful, but without question Bruce Weber is the worst. The dude did nothing but underachieve at Illinois (after finishing national runner-up with Bill Self's players), including famously refusing to recruit a point guard instead content to force shooting guards to play out of position (first Demetri McCamey, then Brandon Paul) with mostly disastrous results and now he's screwing up Kansas State as well. The Wildcats made the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year under Frank Martin and have basically the same team back. They were ranked 37th in the AP Preseason Poll and 30th in the ESPN poll, while the Big 12 coaches picked them to finish 5th in the conference and I ranked them as the 33rd best team in the country. So decent.
Now I readily admit there's nothing particularly damning here at 7-2. Their only two losses are to Michigan and Gonzaga (and Gonzaga just killed them), but looking deeper it's just empty. They barely beat a bad Delaware team and a horrible George Washington team, and two of their wins are over a non-D1 team and USC Upstate who is basically a non-D1 team. They still might end up in the race for an NCAA bid because don't forget these are Frank Martin's players, but the end for this program is on the horizon. Mark my words, in 2-3 years this program will be back in the depths of anonymity because BRUCE WEBER IS AWFUL. Truth.
 | |
| She hates Bruce Weber too I would assume. |
Both teams were coming off NIT seasons with minimal personnel losses from the prior year (1996 team lost only David Grim) and nothing in the way of impact freshmen coming in (that was the Loge/Sanden/Archambeau class - thanks dick). Both had success in an early season tournament. Both came into Big Ten play with just 1 loss (1996 loss was at Alabama, a team that would fail to make either the NIT or NCAA Tournament). That team was ranked in the top 10 for the first time following the January 11th game against Michigan. That year's Big Ten was much weaker than this year's version, with only Indiana (x2), Michigan (x2), and Illinois ranked at the time the Gophers played them and none ranked higher than 15th. The Gophers were clearly the class of the league in 1996 as shown by winning the conference with a 16-2 record. This year's team is going to be in a much tougher conference. I remember thinking that team was special after the win @ Indiana, and I'm already thinking this year's team is special. Seriously, I can barely handle waiting for that New Year's Eve day game. We're going to learn so much.
- Since I know you're dying for an update I made the semi-finals in both my important Pretend Football leagues and lost both, despite having the highest scoring team in both leagues this year, by scoring the fewest points either team put up all year thanks to having Ray Rice, Demaryious Thomas, and Hakeem Nicks in both leagues. I hate that stupid fake sport. I quit.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Weekend Review - 8/16/2010
Seriously folks, if the crowd can walk in it, it's not a bunker.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Brian Duensing. I don't think anyone is exactly shocked or anything since Duensing has looked like a very good pitcher since he was called up last year, but it was awfully nice to see him put up a 3-hit shutout so soon after joining the rotation. I wouldn't expect this out of him regularly (his BABIP and strand rate are pretty much unsustainable), but he's shown himself to be a good middle-of-the-rotation type who throws strikes and induced groundballs - so he's your typical Twins pitcher. He'll get knocked around some, and he doesn't miss a ton of bats, but he's much better than Nick Blackburn, even if that isn't really saying much. So now they can just cut Blackie - except, of course, for the $13 million they owe him over the next three years. Awesome contract.
2. Kevin Slowey. I suppose if I'm going to highlight Duensing here I should throw some props at Slowey as well since he just went out and threw 7 innings of no-hit ball on Sunday. I guess I'm just much more impressed with Duensing's outing because we've seen this brilliance from Slowey before, and he can't ever sustain it - maybe Duensing can. And I'm fine with Slowey getting pulled after 7 innings even though he had a no-hitter going. It was a 1-0 game, and at this point in the pennant race winning the game is more important than getting Slowey some personal glory. Additionally, he was over 100 pitches already and they just had to skip a start of his due to a sore elbow, no sense in risking re-injury. I disagree with just about every game decision Gardy makes, but I'm with him on this one.
3. The PGA Championship. Now that was one fantastic tournament. Sure, there were parts that sucked pretty bad: Nick Watney's collapse (more on this later), Dustin Johnson's ridiculous penalty that knocked him out of the playoff, Bubba Watson's dumb decision that lost him in the playoff, and the fact that Martin Kaymer won despite a bogey on the last hole. Overall though, this was great. There were 10-20 different golfers that could have ended up winning on Sunday with just a couple of different shots so there was drama all the way to the end, and any tournament that ends up with a playoff is a good one. Perhaps the best was the way the course played (outside of sand traps that aren't sand traps, right Dustin?). There were opportunities to make shots and grab birdies, but there were also plenty of ways you could screw yourself with a poor shot or poor decision. Unlike some of the other majors that are set up where par is a major achievement, this course was set up with the perfect combination of risk/reward. Just a fantastic tournament and a great, great venue. Hard to believe it was in that shithole of a state, Wisconsin.
4. R.A. Dickey. You ready for this one? R.A. Dickey threw a 1-hit shutout on Friday. Yes, R.A. Dickey. And not against some crap team, but against the Phillies. You want to know why he's good all of a sudden? He's basically given up on everything else and is only throwing knuckleballs. He used to throw the knuckler about 2/3rds of the time, but this year he's thrown it 83.7%. He's also given up on throwing a curve, slider, or change, because his fastball makes up the 16.3% of his pitches. The results of this change have been an increase in ground balls and fewer of the fly balls going over the fence, mainly due to getting batters to chase more pitches out of the zone. So, yeah. That'll do it.
5. Cole Aldrich. My sources tell me that Cole was in town this weekend. My same sources also tell me he's a pretty nice guy.
WHO SUCKED
1. This Justin Morneau situation. I won't even say Justin Morneau sucks any more, just that this whole situation sucks. Supposedly he's getting better, but still can't make it through an entire day without showing symptoms, and as such was unable to travel with the team to Chicago because apparently airplane travel makes people who have had recent concussion's heads explode like that dude in scanners. Instead, he stayed home and didn't get better, and is still unable to play. In fact, he's unable to play so hard that there is officially no longer a time table for his return, which is causing all kinds of speculation that he won't be back this year. Which would suck pretty bad. This team might win the division without him, but they aren't going any farther. So if he can make it through the day I say the get him in the lineup. If he's walking around at home after the game and keeps bumping into things because he's all dizzy, well, I'm sure he can afford to replace whatever knick-knacks and porcelain dolls he breaks. The team needs his bat, because he's not a pitch man.
2. Nick Watney. As I mentioned above, Nick Watney had a pretty epic collapse on Sunday. After shooting the first three rounds all in the 60s, and being the only player to do so, Watney went into the final round with a 3 shot lead, only to double bogey the first hole to cough that up, tripled seven, followed that up with back to back bogeys, and then after a par tossed up another double, this time on a par 5. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a good round. That sucks too, because Watney has been one of my favorites and the reason is he seems to always be cool, always keep it together no matter what, so I was more that a bit surprised he went off the deep end here and ended up shooting an 81 to end up in 18th place. I guess he's like every other golfer (other than Tiger and Louis Oosthuizen) and can't handle the pressure of being the leader after 54 holes. Sucks, man.
3. Memphis basketball. Do you guys remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how Will Barton, Memphis's #1 recruit for this year and #11 on the Rivals150, wasn't going to be playing this year due to academic issues? Well it seems that isn't the only issue the Tigers are going to have to deal with this year. It also turns out that neither Chris Crawford (#72 Rivals) nor fellow freshman Hippolyte Tsafack have been cleared by the NCAA to play yet. Finally, it turns out Jelan Kendrick (#15) didn't travel with the team on their Bahamas trip this weekend, dealing with "personal issues" and their are now rumors that he might not rejoin the team. So Memphis had one of the best recruiting classes this year, but nobody can play. I guess Pastner didn't learn enough tricks from Coach Cal. Of course, they still have Joe Jackson (#18) and Tarik Black (#54), so I think they'll be just fine. Unfortunately.
4. Tim Lincecum. It's not like he's been awful this whole season, and his numbers are ok overall (2nd in strike outs, 3.62 ERA) but after dominating to start the year he is fading and fading hard, and was knocked out in the fourth inning Sunday against the Padres. And this follows up his last start when he didn't make it out of the fifth. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but this Giant team is winning with their pitching, and even though Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner are all very good, Lincecum is obviously the most important member of that staff, and they aren't going anywhere if he doesn't get it together. This could just be a blip, but he's lost a full MPH off his fastball from last year and is 3 off from 2 years ago, and his curveball seems to have lost some of its effectiveness. Stay tuned. Or don't, it's just the stupid NL after all.
5. J.J. Putz. When your closer is Bobby Jenks you're pretty much screwed. And since Jenks has been little more than a fat batting-practice pitcher they turned to J.J. Putz. Putz had been lights out as a set-up guy all year, and was a dynamite closer a few years ago when he was with Seattle. Seems like it would make sense that he'd be pretty good closer for the Sox, right? Wrong. First on Saturday night he came into the game against Detroit in the top of the ninth with the Sox up 2-1, gave up a 2-run homer to Alex Avila, and walked away with the loss. Then, Sunday afternoon, he came into the game in the top of the 8th, the Sox leading 7-6. A single, triple, and error by Andruw Jones later and the Sox were down 9-7 and on their way to their sixth lost in their last 8 games. Awesome.
Also Happy Birthday to The Bear. Way to be born, douchebag!
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. Brian Duensing. I don't think anyone is exactly shocked or anything since Duensing has looked like a very good pitcher since he was called up last year, but it was awfully nice to see him put up a 3-hit shutout so soon after joining the rotation. I wouldn't expect this out of him regularly (his BABIP and strand rate are pretty much unsustainable), but he's shown himself to be a good middle-of-the-rotation type who throws strikes and induced groundballs - so he's your typical Twins pitcher. He'll get knocked around some, and he doesn't miss a ton of bats, but he's much better than Nick Blackburn, even if that isn't really saying much. So now they can just cut Blackie - except, of course, for the $13 million they owe him over the next three years. Awesome contract.
2. Kevin Slowey. I suppose if I'm going to highlight Duensing here I should throw some props at Slowey as well since he just went out and threw 7 innings of no-hit ball on Sunday. I guess I'm just much more impressed with Duensing's outing because we've seen this brilliance from Slowey before, and he can't ever sustain it - maybe Duensing can. And I'm fine with Slowey getting pulled after 7 innings even though he had a no-hitter going. It was a 1-0 game, and at this point in the pennant race winning the game is more important than getting Slowey some personal glory. Additionally, he was over 100 pitches already and they just had to skip a start of his due to a sore elbow, no sense in risking re-injury. I disagree with just about every game decision Gardy makes, but I'm with him on this one.
3. The PGA Championship. Now that was one fantastic tournament. Sure, there were parts that sucked pretty bad: Nick Watney's collapse (more on this later), Dustin Johnson's ridiculous penalty that knocked him out of the playoff, Bubba Watson's dumb decision that lost him in the playoff, and the fact that Martin Kaymer won despite a bogey on the last hole. Overall though, this was great. There were 10-20 different golfers that could have ended up winning on Sunday with just a couple of different shots so there was drama all the way to the end, and any tournament that ends up with a playoff is a good one. Perhaps the best was the way the course played (outside of sand traps that aren't sand traps, right Dustin?). There were opportunities to make shots and grab birdies, but there were also plenty of ways you could screw yourself with a poor shot or poor decision. Unlike some of the other majors that are set up where par is a major achievement, this course was set up with the perfect combination of risk/reward. Just a fantastic tournament and a great, great venue. Hard to believe it was in that shithole of a state, Wisconsin.
4. R.A. Dickey. You ready for this one? R.A. Dickey threw a 1-hit shutout on Friday. Yes, R.A. Dickey. And not against some crap team, but against the Phillies. You want to know why he's good all of a sudden? He's basically given up on everything else and is only throwing knuckleballs. He used to throw the knuckler about 2/3rds of the time, but this year he's thrown it 83.7%. He's also given up on throwing a curve, slider, or change, because his fastball makes up the 16.3% of his pitches. The results of this change have been an increase in ground balls and fewer of the fly balls going over the fence, mainly due to getting batters to chase more pitches out of the zone. So, yeah. That'll do it.
5. Cole Aldrich. My sources tell me that Cole was in town this weekend. My same sources also tell me he's a pretty nice guy.
WHO SUCKED
1. This Justin Morneau situation. I won't even say Justin Morneau sucks any more, just that this whole situation sucks. Supposedly he's getting better, but still can't make it through an entire day without showing symptoms, and as such was unable to travel with the team to Chicago because apparently airplane travel makes people who have had recent concussion's heads explode like that dude in scanners. Instead, he stayed home and didn't get better, and is still unable to play. In fact, he's unable to play so hard that there is officially no longer a time table for his return, which is causing all kinds of speculation that he won't be back this year. Which would suck pretty bad. This team might win the division without him, but they aren't going any farther. So if he can make it through the day I say the get him in the lineup. If he's walking around at home after the game and keeps bumping into things because he's all dizzy, well, I'm sure he can afford to replace whatever knick-knacks and porcelain dolls he breaks. The team needs his bat, because he's not a pitch man.
2. Nick Watney. As I mentioned above, Nick Watney had a pretty epic collapse on Sunday. After shooting the first three rounds all in the 60s, and being the only player to do so, Watney went into the final round with a 3 shot lead, only to double bogey the first hole to cough that up, tripled seven, followed that up with back to back bogeys, and then after a par tossed up another double, this time on a par 5. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a good round. That sucks too, because Watney has been one of my favorites and the reason is he seems to always be cool, always keep it together no matter what, so I was more that a bit surprised he went off the deep end here and ended up shooting an 81 to end up in 18th place. I guess he's like every other golfer (other than Tiger and Louis Oosthuizen) and can't handle the pressure of being the leader after 54 holes. Sucks, man.
3. Memphis basketball. Do you guys remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how Will Barton, Memphis's #1 recruit for this year and #11 on the Rivals150, wasn't going to be playing this year due to academic issues? Well it seems that isn't the only issue the Tigers are going to have to deal with this year. It also turns out that neither Chris Crawford (#72 Rivals) nor fellow freshman Hippolyte Tsafack have been cleared by the NCAA to play yet. Finally, it turns out Jelan Kendrick (#15) didn't travel with the team on their Bahamas trip this weekend, dealing with "personal issues" and their are now rumors that he might not rejoin the team. So Memphis had one of the best recruiting classes this year, but nobody can play. I guess Pastner didn't learn enough tricks from Coach Cal. Of course, they still have Joe Jackson (#18) and Tarik Black (#54), so I think they'll be just fine. Unfortunately.
4. Tim Lincecum. It's not like he's been awful this whole season, and his numbers are ok overall (2nd in strike outs, 3.62 ERA) but after dominating to start the year he is fading and fading hard, and was knocked out in the fourth inning Sunday against the Padres. And this follows up his last start when he didn't make it out of the fifth. I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but this Giant team is winning with their pitching, and even though Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner are all very good, Lincecum is obviously the most important member of that staff, and they aren't going anywhere if he doesn't get it together. This could just be a blip, but he's lost a full MPH off his fastball from last year and is 3 off from 2 years ago, and his curveball seems to have lost some of its effectiveness. Stay tuned. Or don't, it's just the stupid NL after all.
5. J.J. Putz. When your closer is Bobby Jenks you're pretty much screwed. And since Jenks has been little more than a fat batting-practice pitcher they turned to J.J. Putz. Putz had been lights out as a set-up guy all year, and was a dynamite closer a few years ago when he was with Seattle. Seems like it would make sense that he'd be pretty good closer for the Sox, right? Wrong. First on Saturday night he came into the game against Detroit in the top of the ninth with the Sox up 2-1, gave up a 2-run homer to Alex Avila, and walked away with the loss. Then, Sunday afternoon, he came into the game in the top of the 8th, the Sox leading 7-6. A single, triple, and error by Andruw Jones later and the Sox were down 9-7 and on their way to their sixth lost in their last 8 games. Awesome.
Also Happy Birthday to The Bear. Way to be born, douchebag!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Six Very Important Things this Morning 7.30.2010
1. I'm unsure about this. Big move down Twins way, moving Wilson Ramos for Matt Capps, a deal that I now Super Twins Blogger Aaron Gleeman hates already, thanks to the miracle of twitter. I don't hate it, but I also don't love it. Kind of like the show Big Bang Theory. I'm not a fan of trading Ramos in a trade that isn't really the kind that will put you over the top, but Capps is better than Rauch, even if it's not a huge upgrade, he was absolutely lights out from 2006-2008, and he has significant closing experience. Maybe it's the last little bit of the nerd in me holding on to something old school but I believe there is value in having closing experience. The downside, of course, is that they traded their top prospect (top 3 at worst) for a rental, because Capps is a free agent after this year, and it makes me a bit queasy to trade a top young guy for a reliever. I need more time to really digest this, but I think I kind of like it but don't love it. Of course, I'm also a huge lover of trades because they're fun, so that bumps it up a notch.
2. A few other trades went down yesterday. The most high profile was Roy Oswalt to the Phillies for J.A. Happ and a couple of mediocre prospects, a steal for the Phillies since the Astros are paying $11 million of his salary next year and they didn't have to guarantee his 2012 option. This now gives Philly a 3-man playoff rotation of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Oswalt, and I think we have a Miami Heat situation brewing in the NL. Other trades include the shell of Miguel Tejada to the Padres for a middling minor leaguer, Jorge Cantu to the Rangers for a couple of promising pitchers even though Texas is broke, and an odd swap of minor leaguers between the Astros and Blue Jays involving one of the prospects the Astros had received just hours earlier in the Oswalt trade and a guy the Jays got in the Halladay trade last year. So basically the market for starters is crap, but the Twins overpaid for Capps. Awesome.
3. Sticking with baseball, we need a moment of silence. Stephen Strasburg is dead. Well shut down and on the DL, retroactive to his last start so he'll be back in about 10 days. But still. Apparently he's basically just got a sore shoulder with a little inflammation and it's not really a big deal, but because the Nats are going nowhere and Strasburg is basically Sidd Finch with a golden arm, there's no reason to put him at even a minuscule risk of further injury. Now if only they could find a team to give up a top prospect at a tough position to fill, like catcher, for a pretty decent but overvalued reliever. Oh, and you can also read how Jim Bunning is batshit insane if you follow that link.
4. R. A. Dickey is really starting to piss me off. He continues to somehow pitch well, so well in fact that the article title after his start tonight was "Dickey Dominates." After taking a 3-hitter into the ninth before running into some trouble and getting yanked, Dickey is now 7-4, but more importantly is sporting a 2.32 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP; ace-like numbers. That ERA is less than half his career number, his WHIP is almost a half base-runner per inning better this year, and for a guy who has only been a part-time starter in his career he's been able to go at least 6 innings in 12 of his 14 starts this year. And, in case you're wondering, his BABIP is right where it should be, so there's no reason to expect him to suddenly start to suck. Seriously, this is so far beyond a career-year that we need a new word for it. This is his Brady Anderson year.
5. The Jeremy Tyler saga continues. You might remember Tyler as one of the top incoming recruits for the class of 2010, who had signed on with Louisville and Rick Pitino. Then he decided the best move for him would be to leave high school after his junior year and play professionally in Israel until he became eligible for the NBA. He then quit after just 10 games (averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 7.6 minutes) after a series of issues including leaving a game at half time in protest that he wasn't getting enough minutes. He's now hooked up with a team in a Japanese League, and will presumably play over there next year unless he quits again. He will be eligible for the NBA Draft next season, so we'll find out if it was worth it. Pretty much a toss up right now between living in a land where you don't know the culture or the language, not getting along with teammates, and high levels of frustration versus being a star and banging a different coed every night. Tough call.
6. Northwestern's NCAA cherry takes a hit. This happened a few days ago but I haven't commented on it and I think it's big enough that I should make sure to mention, but Kevin Coble has decided to hang 'em up and has left the Wildcat basketball team. It's unfortunate for Northwestern, because between him and John Shurna they would have had two big weapons who could score from inside or outside, and with Michael Thompson and Drew Crawford back and highly rated freshman Jershon Cobb joining the team, they were looking very good for their first ever NCAA bid. They will still be good enough to make a run, but it will be tough without Coble, who led the team in scoring and rebounding all three years of his career, but was sidelined by a foot injury last year, and left the team to focus on his academics and get his degree. Just goes to show you can't trust a nerd.
I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on the Capps trade. Stay tuned.
2. A few other trades went down yesterday. The most high profile was Roy Oswalt to the Phillies for J.A. Happ and a couple of mediocre prospects, a steal for the Phillies since the Astros are paying $11 million of his salary next year and they didn't have to guarantee his 2012 option. This now gives Philly a 3-man playoff rotation of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Oswalt, and I think we have a Miami Heat situation brewing in the NL. Other trades include the shell of Miguel Tejada to the Padres for a middling minor leaguer, Jorge Cantu to the Rangers for a couple of promising pitchers even though Texas is broke, and an odd swap of minor leaguers between the Astros and Blue Jays involving one of the prospects the Astros had received just hours earlier in the Oswalt trade and a guy the Jays got in the Halladay trade last year. So basically the market for starters is crap, but the Twins overpaid for Capps. Awesome.
3. Sticking with baseball, we need a moment of silence. Stephen Strasburg is dead. Well shut down and on the DL, retroactive to his last start so he'll be back in about 10 days. But still. Apparently he's basically just got a sore shoulder with a little inflammation and it's not really a big deal, but because the Nats are going nowhere and Strasburg is basically Sidd Finch with a golden arm, there's no reason to put him at even a minuscule risk of further injury. Now if only they could find a team to give up a top prospect at a tough position to fill, like catcher, for a pretty decent but overvalued reliever. Oh, and you can also read how Jim Bunning is batshit insane if you follow that link.
4. R. A. Dickey is really starting to piss me off. He continues to somehow pitch well, so well in fact that the article title after his start tonight was "Dickey Dominates." After taking a 3-hitter into the ninth before running into some trouble and getting yanked, Dickey is now 7-4, but more importantly is sporting a 2.32 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP; ace-like numbers. That ERA is less than half his career number, his WHIP is almost a half base-runner per inning better this year, and for a guy who has only been a part-time starter in his career he's been able to go at least 6 innings in 12 of his 14 starts this year. And, in case you're wondering, his BABIP is right where it should be, so there's no reason to expect him to suddenly start to suck. Seriously, this is so far beyond a career-year that we need a new word for it. This is his Brady Anderson year.
5. The Jeremy Tyler saga continues. You might remember Tyler as one of the top incoming recruits for the class of 2010, who had signed on with Louisville and Rick Pitino. Then he decided the best move for him would be to leave high school after his junior year and play professionally in Israel until he became eligible for the NBA. He then quit after just 10 games (averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 7.6 minutes) after a series of issues including leaving a game at half time in protest that he wasn't getting enough minutes. He's now hooked up with a team in a Japanese League, and will presumably play over there next year unless he quits again. He will be eligible for the NBA Draft next season, so we'll find out if it was worth it. Pretty much a toss up right now between living in a land where you don't know the culture or the language, not getting along with teammates, and high levels of frustration versus being a star and banging a different coed every night. Tough call.
6. Northwestern's NCAA cherry takes a hit. This happened a few days ago but I haven't commented on it and I think it's big enough that I should make sure to mention, but Kevin Coble has decided to hang 'em up and has left the Wildcat basketball team. It's unfortunate for Northwestern, because between him and John Shurna they would have had two big weapons who could score from inside or outside, and with Michael Thompson and Drew Crawford back and highly rated freshman Jershon Cobb joining the team, they were looking very good for their first ever NCAA bid. They will still be good enough to make a run, but it will be tough without Coble, who led the team in scoring and rebounding all three years of his career, but was sidelined by a foot injury last year, and left the team to focus on his academics and get his degree. Just goes to show you can't trust a nerd.
I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on the Capps trade. Stay tuned.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Week in Review - 6/28/2010
You know what's awesome? Scottie Reynolds. Undrafted. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Sweet.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. The World Cup. I'm not a soccer fan, not really at all, but I really, truly dig the World Cup. All these countries, battling to be the king of the most popular sport in the world, and the more I watch, the more I understand. I now know the difference between a good, legal tackle and a foul. I now know a lot of the strategies involved, including the cross and various versions of the give and go, and I knew enough to know that once Ghana scored it would be very difficult for the U.S. to tie it up, so when they did on Landon Donovan's penalty kick I knew enough to know it was pretty incredible (and on a related note, I also now know why a commenter on this blog who posted a lot about soccer used the handle "L. Cakes.")
Will I continue to be interested in soccer after the World Cup is over? Almost certainly not. Will I keep watching even though the U.S. has been eliminated? You bet. I'm even at the point where I understand all that passing around the mid-field area. Seriously, if you can't enjoy the World Cup, you might want to re-evaluate yourself as a sports fan. And probably as a person, too.
2. Carl Pavano. At the time when the rest of the Twins' starters are pitching as if they've gone retarded, creepy mustachioed man Carl Pavano is coming to the rescue, much as Super Mario comes to the rescue of the Princess whether she has been kidnapped by a giant, barrel throwing, mechanically inclined monkey or a giant, fire-breathing, axe-wielding turtle dragon. A nice little complete game shut-out on Saturday to stop the season death-spiral of doom was just what Dr. Mario ordered, and is the second complete game he's spun in a row. Pavano actually has shockingly good numbers this year. His ERA of 3.33 is 16th in the AL, and his WHIP of 1.03 is second behind just future Twin Cliff Lee. I'll do a more thorough breakdown of why Pavano is so frickin' good and if I think it will continue or is just fluky in a future post, but for now I suspect he either ate a mushroom or some kind of fireball flower.
3. Edwin Jackson. It doesn't really matter that he walked 8 guys, and it doesn't matter that it took 149 pitches, a no-hitter is a no-hitter. And a no-hitter against the Rays is an awfully nice feather to place in one's cap, if one was so inclined. I've featured Jackson on here before for being awesome, and he's just been out of this world lately. After running up a record of 3-6 with a 6.03 ERA during the first two months of the season and causing people such as myself to wonder if he was a lost cause. Well, now in June he's , all topped off by this no-hitter.
Of course, 149 pitches is ridiculous, and now he'll probably get lit up like a Blackburn the next couple of times out. Then he'll be put on the 15-day DL with "arm soreness" or "dead arm." He'll come back and get lit up again, and then will be shut down for the year. Then it will come out that he needs offseason surgery on his arm and he'll miss a full year. Then when he comes back his fastball will have lost about 5 mph and he won't be an effective starter. He'll reinvent himself as a mediocre middle reliever and hang on for a couple years before ending up in the Northern League for a couple years. But hey, at least got the no-hitter. Sweet.
4. R.A. Dickey. What the hell? I mean seriously, what is going on? Dickey, after tossing eight shut-out innings on Wednesday against the Tigers, is now 6-0 with an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 1.29 since joining the Mets rotation in mid-May. Carlos Silva is 8-0 for the Cubs with an ERA of 3.01 and a WHIP of 1.05. Livan Hernandez is 6-4 with an ERA of 3.10 and a WHIP of 1.28. What do these three have in common, other than their ex-Twinness? Well, for one, they are all three putting up better numbers that Matt Garza so far (8-5, 4.10, 1.31), the only ex-Twin starter I thought I would miss. For two, they'd make a better 3-4-5 than Baker, Slowey, and Blackburn right now, and it's not even close. I still believe these guys are going to regress, and regress hard, but I've been believing that for two months. For now, I'll just say this is a bunch of crap, but it doesn't change the fact that Baker/Slowey/Blackburn suck. We need some kind of nickname for these dickfors. Like, the Sucktastic Three or something.
5. White Sox. I know I mentioned them in this space last week, but the run continues and they are suddenly just X.X games out of first place. Last week you could chalk up to a scheduling fluke since they swept the Pirates and Nationals, but this week included a sweep over the Braves, and that's no joke. A joke would be "A woman goes to check out at the Super Market, and puts a carton of eggs, a package of bacon, a gallon of milk, and some butter on the conveyor. The checkout guy looks at her groceries, looks at her, and says with conviction, 'You're definitely single.' She looks at the guy and says, 'Wow, you could tell that just from four items I bought at the grocery store?' He replies, "No, it's because you're f*cking ugly."
Anyway the Sox pitching is suddenly really awesome (particularly Peavy) and they're probably going to win the division after they end up trading for Prince Fielder.
WHO SUCKED
1. Twins. Really no other way to say it, these guys sucked balls this week. A 1-5 road trip against a couple of middling National League teams? Ugh. And with the Tigers still playing well and the Sox nearly as hot as Alice Eve, we've got yet another three team barn burner in the central. I really wish you could point to just one issue, but suddenly it's everything. The pitching is completely mediocre, but giving up an average of 5.5 runs per game should lead to more than one win if you have a good offense - but suddenly they don't, scoring an average of just 2.5 runs per game themselves.
Getting shutdown by Yovani Gallardo is one thing - it sucks, but it's acceptable - and I guess Pelphrey has somehow become decent, but Manny Parra? Jon frickin' Niese? Special shout-out to Cuddy Bear for hitting .167 this week with no power and 3x as many strikeouts as hits. Although to be fair, that might not be Cuddy's fault, since there was apparently a mandate that came down from high against hitting with any kind of power, since nobody bothered to this week unless they were going against Johan. Apparently unless Carl Pavano comes to the rescue (see above comparison), this team is screwed. Might as well not even bother trading for Lee. Just becoming sellers and pick up some prospects.
2. Timberwolves. Seriously, what the hell? The more I think about this draft the more upset I get. Wes Johnson is fine and was the obvious and necessary pick at #4, but after that they end up with another wing who has been in the league for five years and proved himself to be pretty mediocre, an undersized power forward, and two Euros? Euros never work out, everybody knows this. The success rate is like 4%. How would this have sounded instead: Johnson, James Anderson, Jordan Crawford, Soloman Alabi, and Derrick Caracter? Or Johnson, Anderson, Hassan Whiteside, Terrico White, and Gani Lawal? Either of those scenarios could have happened last night, with the trade of pick #23 or not. Instead they got the ball rolling with the insane trade of Luke Babbitt and Ryan Gomes for Martell Webster, and just kept doing baffling things all night. Gomes' contract is a valuable asset because it isn't guaranteed, why thrown him in on a deal that's probably already slanted against you? Why I expected anything more, I have no idea.
3. Tommy Hanson. There are bad games, and then there are epic bad games (hi Nick Blackburn). Hanson's outing on Tuesday was essentially the quintessential definition of "getting the shit ripped out of him." Three and two-thirds innings pitched, 13 hits allowed, 9 runs allowed. 13 hits. An average of more than three per inning. Nick Blackburn's worst outing was nowhere near this bad. "But wait!", you say, "Blackburn had back-to-back crappy outings, surely he is worse than Hanson." Not so fast my uninformed friends. Hanson pitched again on Sunday, and again lasted just three and two-thirds innings, this time surrendering six runs on eight hits. An improvement. At this rate he might last past the fifth inning by sometime in August. It's a deadheat betwixt him and Blackburn for the Livan Hernandez award for worst starter who keeps getting the ball (a fluky Livan year does not change the name of the award.)
4. Italy (and France). Defending champions? Ousted. Dirty frenchies? Heading home in complete disarray. No, I'm not an expert or even a novice when it comes to soccer analysis so I can't and won't really try to break down any of this, but these teams were both expected to, at the very least, advance to the knockout stage. But they didn't, with France losing to both South Africa and Mexico and Italy losing to Slovakia and tying Paraguay (ok) and New Zealand (mind-boggling) to finish last in their group. Seeing how soccer is the #1 sport over there, and the World Cup is the by far biggest event, I'm guessing there are a lot of wine drinkers not very happy right now. Seriously, in Italy they have taps for wine right next to the beer taps. Crazy.
[UPDATE: I'm going to go ahead and throw England in here too, since I'm watching them get destroyed by Germany in the first knockout round. Good god, they play defense like the Golden State Warriors.]
5. A.J. Burnett. At this point we almost have to assume he's actively trying to sabotage the Yankees, right? In his two starts this week, Burnett lasted just seven combined innings, giving up 15 hits and 13 earned runs with an 8-to-9 walk-to-strikeout ratio. And he certainly didn't waste any time setting the tone for the week, giving up three home runs in the first inning of his first start (against Arizona). He's striking out about a third less batters this year than in previous years, giving up about 25% more home runs, and allowing batters to hit about .030 higher. Oh, and he's lost a full mile per hour off his fastball, and it's by far his worst pitch, but since he's lost confidence in his curve for some reason he's throwing it far more often. Which would explain why he continues to get hammered. That's four out of five starts where he's given up at least six runs, three straight where he's pitched four innings or less, and a season ERA of 5.25, which ranks 51st out of 56 pitchers in the A.L. who qualify (Nick Blackburn is last), and a WHIP of 1.54, which is 49th. Oh, and he's still owed $66 million over the next four seasons. And THAT my friends, is really a joke.
Lastly, I need to make a very, very strong movie review and I'm telling you to go rent She's Out of My League. Funny throughout with several laugh out loud moments ("I'm sorry, are you a plane doctor?") and really hilarious scenes (bowling), to go along with a super hot chick. Very strongly recommended. The anti-Scottie Reynolds of movies, if you will.
Plus, this:
Sweet.
WHO WAS AWESOME
1. The World Cup. I'm not a soccer fan, not really at all, but I really, truly dig the World Cup. All these countries, battling to be the king of the most popular sport in the world, and the more I watch, the more I understand. I now know the difference between a good, legal tackle and a foul. I now know a lot of the strategies involved, including the cross and various versions of the give and go, and I knew enough to know that once Ghana scored it would be very difficult for the U.S. to tie it up, so when they did on Landon Donovan's penalty kick I knew enough to know it was pretty incredible (and on a related note, I also now know why a commenter on this blog who posted a lot about soccer used the handle "L. Cakes.")
Will I continue to be interested in soccer after the World Cup is over? Almost certainly not. Will I keep watching even though the U.S. has been eliminated? You bet. I'm even at the point where I understand all that passing around the mid-field area. Seriously, if you can't enjoy the World Cup, you might want to re-evaluate yourself as a sports fan. And probably as a person, too.
2. Carl Pavano. At the time when the rest of the Twins' starters are pitching as if they've gone retarded, creepy mustachioed man Carl Pavano is coming to the rescue, much as Super Mario comes to the rescue of the Princess whether she has been kidnapped by a giant, barrel throwing, mechanically inclined monkey or a giant, fire-breathing, axe-wielding turtle dragon. A nice little complete game shut-out on Saturday to stop the season death-spiral of doom was just what Dr. Mario ordered, and is the second complete game he's spun in a row. Pavano actually has shockingly good numbers this year. His ERA of 3.33 is 16th in the AL, and his WHIP of 1.03 is second behind just future Twin Cliff Lee. I'll do a more thorough breakdown of why Pavano is so frickin' good and if I think it will continue or is just fluky in a future post, but for now I suspect he either ate a mushroom or some kind of fireball flower.
3. Edwin Jackson. It doesn't really matter that he walked 8 guys, and it doesn't matter that it took 149 pitches, a no-hitter is a no-hitter. And a no-hitter against the Rays is an awfully nice feather to place in one's cap, if one was so inclined. I've featured Jackson on here before for being awesome, and he's just been out of this world lately. After running up a record of 3-6 with a 6.03 ERA during the first two months of the season and causing people such as myself to wonder if he was a lost cause. Well, now in June he's , all topped off by this no-hitter.
Of course, 149 pitches is ridiculous, and now he'll probably get lit up like a Blackburn the next couple of times out. Then he'll be put on the 15-day DL with "arm soreness" or "dead arm." He'll come back and get lit up again, and then will be shut down for the year. Then it will come out that he needs offseason surgery on his arm and he'll miss a full year. Then when he comes back his fastball will have lost about 5 mph and he won't be an effective starter. He'll reinvent himself as a mediocre middle reliever and hang on for a couple years before ending up in the Northern League for a couple years. But hey, at least got the no-hitter. Sweet.
4. R.A. Dickey. What the hell? I mean seriously, what is going on? Dickey, after tossing eight shut-out innings on Wednesday against the Tigers, is now 6-0 with an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 1.29 since joining the Mets rotation in mid-May. Carlos Silva is 8-0 for the Cubs with an ERA of 3.01 and a WHIP of 1.05. Livan Hernandez is 6-4 with an ERA of 3.10 and a WHIP of 1.28. What do these three have in common, other than their ex-Twinness? Well, for one, they are all three putting up better numbers that Matt Garza so far (8-5, 4.10, 1.31), the only ex-Twin starter I thought I would miss. For two, they'd make a better 3-4-5 than Baker, Slowey, and Blackburn right now, and it's not even close. I still believe these guys are going to regress, and regress hard, but I've been believing that for two months. For now, I'll just say this is a bunch of crap, but it doesn't change the fact that Baker/Slowey/Blackburn suck. We need some kind of nickname for these dickfors. Like, the Sucktastic Three or something.
5. White Sox. I know I mentioned them in this space last week, but the run continues and they are suddenly just X.X games out of first place. Last week you could chalk up to a scheduling fluke since they swept the Pirates and Nationals, but this week included a sweep over the Braves, and that's no joke. A joke would be "A woman goes to check out at the Super Market, and puts a carton of eggs, a package of bacon, a gallon of milk, and some butter on the conveyor. The checkout guy looks at her groceries, looks at her, and says with conviction, 'You're definitely single.' She looks at the guy and says, 'Wow, you could tell that just from four items I bought at the grocery store?' He replies, "No, it's because you're f*cking ugly."
Anyway the Sox pitching is suddenly really awesome (particularly Peavy) and they're probably going to win the division after they end up trading for Prince Fielder.
WHO SUCKED
1. Twins. Really no other way to say it, these guys sucked balls this week. A 1-5 road trip against a couple of middling National League teams? Ugh. And with the Tigers still playing well and the Sox nearly as hot as Alice Eve, we've got yet another three team barn burner in the central. I really wish you could point to just one issue, but suddenly it's everything. The pitching is completely mediocre, but giving up an average of 5.5 runs per game should lead to more than one win if you have a good offense - but suddenly they don't, scoring an average of just 2.5 runs per game themselves.
Getting shutdown by Yovani Gallardo is one thing - it sucks, but it's acceptable - and I guess Pelphrey has somehow become decent, but Manny Parra? Jon frickin' Niese? Special shout-out to Cuddy Bear for hitting .167 this week with no power and 3x as many strikeouts as hits. Although to be fair, that might not be Cuddy's fault, since there was apparently a mandate that came down from high against hitting with any kind of power, since nobody bothered to this week unless they were going against Johan. Apparently unless Carl Pavano comes to the rescue (see above comparison), this team is screwed. Might as well not even bother trading for Lee. Just becoming sellers and pick up some prospects.
2. Timberwolves. Seriously, what the hell? The more I think about this draft the more upset I get. Wes Johnson is fine and was the obvious and necessary pick at #4, but after that they end up with another wing who has been in the league for five years and proved himself to be pretty mediocre, an undersized power forward, and two Euros? Euros never work out, everybody knows this. The success rate is like 4%. How would this have sounded instead: Johnson, James Anderson, Jordan Crawford, Soloman Alabi, and Derrick Caracter? Or Johnson, Anderson, Hassan Whiteside, Terrico White, and Gani Lawal? Either of those scenarios could have happened last night, with the trade of pick #23 or not. Instead they got the ball rolling with the insane trade of Luke Babbitt and Ryan Gomes for Martell Webster, and just kept doing baffling things all night. Gomes' contract is a valuable asset because it isn't guaranteed, why thrown him in on a deal that's probably already slanted against you? Why I expected anything more, I have no idea.
3. Tommy Hanson. There are bad games, and then there are epic bad games (hi Nick Blackburn). Hanson's outing on Tuesday was essentially the quintessential definition of "getting the shit ripped out of him." Three and two-thirds innings pitched, 13 hits allowed, 9 runs allowed. 13 hits. An average of more than three per inning. Nick Blackburn's worst outing was nowhere near this bad. "But wait!", you say, "Blackburn had back-to-back crappy outings, surely he is worse than Hanson." Not so fast my uninformed friends. Hanson pitched again on Sunday, and again lasted just three and two-thirds innings, this time surrendering six runs on eight hits. An improvement. At this rate he might last past the fifth inning by sometime in August. It's a deadheat betwixt him and Blackburn for the Livan Hernandez award for worst starter who keeps getting the ball (a fluky Livan year does not change the name of the award.)
4. Italy (and France). Defending champions? Ousted. Dirty frenchies? Heading home in complete disarray. No, I'm not an expert or even a novice when it comes to soccer analysis so I can't and won't really try to break down any of this, but these teams were both expected to, at the very least, advance to the knockout stage. But they didn't, with France losing to both South Africa and Mexico and Italy losing to Slovakia and tying Paraguay (ok) and New Zealand (mind-boggling) to finish last in their group. Seeing how soccer is the #1 sport over there, and the World Cup is the by far biggest event, I'm guessing there are a lot of wine drinkers not very happy right now. Seriously, in Italy they have taps for wine right next to the beer taps. Crazy.
[UPDATE: I'm going to go ahead and throw England in here too, since I'm watching them get destroyed by Germany in the first knockout round. Good god, they play defense like the Golden State Warriors.]
5. A.J. Burnett. At this point we almost have to assume he's actively trying to sabotage the Yankees, right? In his two starts this week, Burnett lasted just seven combined innings, giving up 15 hits and 13 earned runs with an 8-to-9 walk-to-strikeout ratio. And he certainly didn't waste any time setting the tone for the week, giving up three home runs in the first inning of his first start (against Arizona). He's striking out about a third less batters this year than in previous years, giving up about 25% more home runs, and allowing batters to hit about .030 higher. Oh, and he's lost a full mile per hour off his fastball, and it's by far his worst pitch, but since he's lost confidence in his curve for some reason he's throwing it far more often. Which would explain why he continues to get hammered. That's four out of five starts where he's given up at least six runs, three straight where he's pitched four innings or less, and a season ERA of 5.25, which ranks 51st out of 56 pitchers in the A.L. who qualify (Nick Blackburn is last), and a WHIP of 1.54, which is 49th. Oh, and he's still owed $66 million over the next four seasons. And THAT my friends, is really a joke.
Lastly, I need to make a very, very strong movie review and I'm telling you to go rent She's Out of My League. Funny throughout with several laugh out loud moments ("I'm sorry, are you a plane doctor?") and really hilarious scenes (bowling), to go along with a super hot chick. Very strongly recommended. The anti-Scottie Reynolds of movies, if you will.
Plus, this:
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Completely Random Wednesday Thoughts
- Francisco Liriano sucks. I can't recall watching a pitcher so terrified to throw the ball over the plate.
- Is it just me, or does Justin Morneau swing at every single breaking pitch from a lefty? He's not nearly as bad as Cuddyer, because with Morneau most of them are at least near the plate and he can foul it off if he has two strikes, but still. I swear he swings at every slider. Of course, as I type this he takes a fastball right down the middle for a called third strike with two on and nobody out.
- I am going to be playing in a college basketball fantasy league this year. The rules aren't set yet, like I don't know which stats we are using and I don't know what kind of restrictions on conferences, if any, will be in play, but it sounds awesome and it also sounds terrifying. It also doesn't help that I can't find any websites with any kind of lists that help. So far I think my list goes
1. Luke Harangody, even though I hate him
2. Cole Aldrich
3. Craig Brackins
4. Sherron Collins
5. Kalin Lucas
6. Evan Turner
7. Devan Downey
8. Greg Monroe
9. Kyle Singler
10. Manny Harris
That's about as far as I can get. When do I take Ralph Sampson do you think? Round 2? Round 3?
- Does anybody else just turn the game off when R.A. Dickey makes an appearance?
- Who's more disappointing than Grady Sizemore (on my fantasy team) this year? Not counting guys who have been injured almost the entire season like Jose Reyes (on my fantasy team). Career lows this season in average, on-base pct, and slugging, including a huge drop in doubles and home runs.
Check this. Career: .281/.372/.496, OPS+ of 126 (equivalent to Justin Morneau in his career)
This year: .227/.326/.433, OPS+ of 96 (equal to Nick Punto last year)
I might be crazy here, but I'm going to go ahead and toss out the steroids card.
- Correct me if I'm wrong, but last year didn't Gardy throw a fit about how you couldn't blame Guerrier for melting down at the end of the season because he was overworked? And, once again this season, there is essentially nobody who is good in the bullpen, to the pathetic point that Guerrier is actually important again. So, tell me why, oh why oh why you put Guerrier in when you are down 8-1 in the 8th inning?
- I know I've bashed Shark Week on here more than once or twice, and yes, once again this year it is pretty week, filled with 90% shark attack reenactments which are a complete waste of time, but I did find a big ole gem. The show is called Deadly Waters, and it's exactly what Shark Week used to be; cool new footage with some science mixed in. It's beautiful. It's everything I want out of my shark week. It's straight up awesome. They are replaying it on Discovery at 5pm on Saturday. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
- Direct quote from Dusty's Facebook page, "Toughen up??? I was born tough!"
- Is it just me, or does Justin Morneau swing at every single breaking pitch from a lefty? He's not nearly as bad as Cuddyer, because with Morneau most of them are at least near the plate and he can foul it off if he has two strikes, but still. I swear he swings at every slider. Of course, as I type this he takes a fastball right down the middle for a called third strike with two on and nobody out.
- I am going to be playing in a college basketball fantasy league this year. The rules aren't set yet, like I don't know which stats we are using and I don't know what kind of restrictions on conferences, if any, will be in play, but it sounds awesome and it also sounds terrifying. It also doesn't help that I can't find any websites with any kind of lists that help. So far I think my list goes
1. Luke Harangody, even though I hate him
2. Cole Aldrich
3. Craig Brackins
4. Sherron Collins
5. Kalin Lucas
6. Evan Turner
7. Devan Downey
8. Greg Monroe
9. Kyle Singler
10. Manny Harris
That's about as far as I can get. When do I take Ralph Sampson do you think? Round 2? Round 3?
- Does anybody else just turn the game off when R.A. Dickey makes an appearance?
- Who's more disappointing than Grady Sizemore (on my fantasy team) this year? Not counting guys who have been injured almost the entire season like Jose Reyes (on my fantasy team). Career lows this season in average, on-base pct, and slugging, including a huge drop in doubles and home runs.
Check this. Career: .281/.372/.496, OPS+ of 126 (equivalent to Justin Morneau in his career)
This year: .227/.326/.433, OPS+ of 96 (equal to Nick Punto last year)
I might be crazy here, but I'm going to go ahead and toss out the steroids card.
- Correct me if I'm wrong, but last year didn't Gardy throw a fit about how you couldn't blame Guerrier for melting down at the end of the season because he was overworked? And, once again this season, there is essentially nobody who is good in the bullpen, to the pathetic point that Guerrier is actually important again. So, tell me why, oh why oh why you put Guerrier in when you are down 8-1 in the 8th inning?
- I know I've bashed Shark Week on here more than once or twice, and yes, once again this year it is pretty week, filled with 90% shark attack reenactments which are a complete waste of time, but I did find a big ole gem. The show is called Deadly Waters, and it's exactly what Shark Week used to be; cool new footage with some science mixed in. It's beautiful. It's everything I want out of my shark week. It's straight up awesome. They are replaying it on Discovery at 5pm on Saturday. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
- Direct quote from Dusty's Facebook page, "Toughen up??? I was born tough!"
Friday, December 26, 2008
You're a Dickey
Sitting here, the night after Christmas watching Step Brothers and thinking about the newest Twin, the Minnesota version of CC Sabathia if you will, R.A. Dickey, and as you might guess, I have some thoughts.
- First the movie review of Stepbrothers. It's not over just yet, but I like it. Not love it, but like it. Snake told me it really sucked, and he's an idiot, so I figured it would be pretty good. Some pretty legit laugh out loud moments, and a not overly horrid story - thin as it is. The movie is basically just an excuse for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to both act like Will Ferrell for 90 minutes. Actually, now that I think about it, if I wasn't drunk off my ass I'd probably hate this.
- Drinking Red Stripe and Newcastle - both X-mas gifts from the wife along with a Gophers' shirt and Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. I got her an Ipod and a Coach Purse. I think I'm lower maintenance.
- So back to the awesomeness that is Robert Allen Dickey, the newest Minnesota Twin baseball thrower guy. He's a knuckleballer, which automatically means he's an awesome dude. But instead of just taking my first impressions, based on nothing more than his knuckleballness, I should probably break down what up with this guy.
Honestly, this isn't a very exciting signing. Dickey is pretty much the definition of mediocre - and boring. He's played for the Rangers and Mariners for the past six years, but only pitched as much as 30 innings in 2003, 2004, and 2008; all as a part-time starter, part-time reliever. None of these years were very good, the best being in 2003 with a 5.09 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP, last year he posted similar numbers with a 5.21 ERA and 1.56 WHIP. More interestingly and less compellingly, he never really even put up good numbers in the minor leagues. His best minor league season was 2007, when he pitched 169 innings at triple A in 31 games (22 starts), posting an ERA of 3.72 with a 1.29 ERA - decent numbers, but nothing that will blow you away, especially considering his poor major league numbers.
What you're going to hear alot of, and I already have, is that he put up "great" numbers in relief last season, a 2-0 record and a 2.00 ERA. Yes, he was better in relief, putting up a 1.11 WHIP, .205 OAV, and a .594 oOPS compared to a 1.77 WHIP, .316 OAV, and .892 oOPS when starting. Which, hey, maybe he really is that good as a reliever but to me it sounds basically like a huge fluke and this is a completely retarded waste of a signing, except for the whole knuckleballer thing. His BABIP (opponent's batting average on balls in play) as a starter was .322 as a starter, and just .226 in his 36 innings of relief. His career number is .314, which means his performance as a starter was pretty much in line with what you would expect, but his reliever numbers were so many standard deviations from what you would expect that they can not be trusted as being indicative of future performance.
But wait, WWWWWW, he's a knuckleballer, that's a weird pitch. Maybe he does much better when batters don't get to see him much. I thought maybe that could be something positive, but alas, no such luck. Two of his worse three innings last season were innings 1 and 2, and actually in the first three innings of a game his opponent's line read .300/.373/.518. Oof. Worthless.
- How fluky was that .226 BABIP by the way? Not a single pitcher in the major leagues with 100ips or more beat that number. And actually, only 1 pitcher (Carlos Marmol) with more than 65 innings beat that number. I'm very skeptical of this pick up. And bored.
- The movie got worse, too. So I switched to Vodka/Cranberry. Bogart introduced me to the art of putting a lime in these, and it's rocked my world.
- We are watching Made on MTV now, and it's about some gay drama kid who wants to become a varsity baseball player and she's not buying it when I try and tell her baseball would be the hardest sport to get good at if you've never played before. I'm right, right? Of course, they're in Boston and keep saying Vah-sity instead of Varsity. I don't get how that happens. I mean, you know you're completely butchering a language and sound like a bunch of uneducated douche bags, right? And yet you take pride in this? It's like that overstated accent they use for Minnesotans in Fargo which drives every actual Minnesotan crazy, but if we were proud to sound like and intentionally wanted to.
- You know how people are all pissy because the Yankees signed Sabathia, Burnett, and Texeira? Well calm down. First of all, the Yanks lost $88 million off their payroll from last season with Mussina, Abrea, Giambi, and others coming off the books so technically they are actually paying less this coming season compared to last season right now. And there is no guarantee they are going to be any kind of good team. Texeira is the only really great signing in there. Sabathia is an injury risk or a "get fat" risk, and Burnett is pretty much guaranteed to get hurt next year, considering he's only had 3 season's out of 8 where he stayed healthy, and last season was one of the good ones - he's pretty much Carl Pavano version 2.0. Their catcher is like, 50 years old and fading and the backup is a Red Sox reject. Jeter is losing the minute amount of range he ever had over at short as well as his power and should probably be moved to second base at this point. Their outfield is probably going to be one of the slowest in the majors, the starting pitching is a massive question mark, and short of Mariano Rivera there isn't a single decent reliever in the group. So no worries. Twins will win more games than the Yanks, I mean, they have R.A. Dickey now.
- Billy Bean (not Billy Beane) just appeared on this Made episode to pump up the gay kid since he's gay too. Too bad Bean sucked ass as a hitter (career OPS+ = 55).
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