Yes, I know, sorry. 33 Hours of meetings in four days, followed each night by a company outing, then coming home to a baby and a wife who was alone with that baby for four nights doesn't leave a lot of time to write semi-witty, mainly nonsensical comments about the wonderful world of sports. I would have hoped one of the other contributors to this blog would have chipped in here somewhere, but it turns out they're lame. I have some time here as I take a break from mowing my far too large lawn with my far too small mower while mom & baby are at relatives, so let's see what's what.
- First thing, the Phillies/Reds game on Tuesday was pretty good, and the only worthwhile thing that came out of the week in Philly. Griffey didn't start, and wasn't going to play, so that took some of the wind out of the sails, but he did pinch hit in the 8th or 9th. The whole crowd stood and applauded, and then my new least favorite pitcher, replacing Mark Buehrle, Tom Gordon walked him on four pitches, none of which even sniffed the strike zone. What a giant pussy. His home crowd booed him. I hope that bear from that book with his name in it finds him and eats his face off. Overall, Citizen's Bank Park was good. I wouldn't say great, there's nothing here that blows your skirt up - Player T-shirts are $25 (we got a voucher, so I picked up a Hamels shirt, but the beer flowed like wine and a good time was had.
- I suppose the biggest news is the 1-0 lead the Celts took on the Lake Show in the Finals, after Paul Pierce recieved some Bud Kilmer Juice in the locker room and came back after being carted off in a wheelchair. I LOVE the conspiracy theorists who think it was an intentional bit to fire up the crowd and the team. We didn't land on the moon either. I'm torn in this series, because I'd love for KG to win a title, but I'd hate for the Sports Guy to have another of his teams win. I guess the Kobe hatred that still courses through my veins is the big tiebreaker. I can't stand that son of a bitch. Him, Michael Jordan, and Emmitt Smith make my triumvirate of hate, and I can't think of another player in the history of any sport that I hated anywhere near as much. Minnesota athletes exempt, they are a whole different category.
- Can't Buy Me Love was a truly excellent movie. Did you know the dude who turned into Rico Suave was in this? Kenny Fisher, too.
- My golf picks for this week, which I didn't get a chance to post so you'll just have to believe me, were Brandt Snedeker and Robert Allenby. Snedeker is currently Even and in 17th, Allenby is +1 and 26th. Not bad. Does anybody want to write up a US Open preview for the site next week? Anybody? Bueller?
- I read something the other day about how Greg Maddux and Ken Griffey are the opposite of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, and I couldn't agree more. Maddux and Griffey aged, showed their age and injuries, and had some fairly poor seasons, but there isn't a question out there about if they stayed natural. Griffey is number six on the all-time homerun list, and two of the guys above him were clear Roids guys, so let's call him fourth all-time behind Aaron, Ruth, and Mays. Griffey also missed the equivalent of about three full seasons, but still managed to hit 30 home runs last season at 37 years old. Honestly, I think he is the best overall non-roided baseball player of my generation. It's between him, A-Rod, a pre-roid Bonds, and Brian Harper.
- You know who else is pretty underrated actually, at least by me: Larry Jones. I've never liked him, mostly because the guy voluntarily goes by Chipper. That's something people should call you behind your back if they don't like you, and choosing it as your moniker is suspect. But with Jones hitting .421 this season, he's been in the limelight quite a bit and in looking at his career numbers, they're pretty impressive. Career batting averge of .310, with 2208 total hits. Behind just Wade Boggs and Pie Traynor in average among third basemen, and with a total of 400 homeruns, he's behind just Mike Schmidt, Eddie Matthews, and Darrell Evans amongt primary third basemen. So I guess he's not that bad. Although Jeff Bagwell is still gay.
- Lastly, before I start the stupid mower back up, the MLB draft was this past week. The Twins had three first rounders, making two very good picks and one horrible, T-Wolves like choice. Their first pick, at #14 was high school outfielder Aaron Hicks. Hicks is known as a five-tool player, and was also a pitcher with a 90+ mph fastball in high school and has first round talent as either a pitcher or a center fielder. Rumor has it the Twins will start him off in the outfield, which is what he prefers, although many teams think his future lies on the hill. With Gomez, Ben Revere, and Joe Benson all in the system, pitcher might be the way to go. Hopefully they figure it out. He's being favorably compared to Darryl Strawberry - the hitting/fielding/running, not the partying/drinking/drugs, although if he can hit, what do I care?
- The other good pick was the awesomely named Shooter Hunt, a pitcher (naturally) out of Tulane. Baseball America ranked Hunt the #11 prospect, and the Twins got him at 31, so if he's as good as BA thinks, he's a definite steal.
- The bad pick was closer Carlos Gutierrez out of Miami, universally looked at as a horrid first round pick. Expert Keith Law didn't even have him in his top 75. He's a college closer, with a 90-94 mph sinking fastball. It's looked at as a very good pitch, but it's also his only pitch. As the 27th pick in a draft, you need to have a second pitch at a minimum, if not a third. He's probably a pretty stellar third round pick.
- That's all I have time for. Go F yourself.
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