Tuesday, July 17, 2012

It's All About Distribution...or NOT

Ah! Vacation….nothing’s better. All around me the sports world is falling apart. Lin will be gone. The Mets are reverting to form. The Yankees are killing everybody. All over baseball, the stars are getting hurt. Paterno was a bad guy. Jason Kidd is a drunk.

 But I don’t care.

Lin-sanity was cool. It was such a nice story. A Chinese kid comes out f nowhere to play with intelligence and passion and help lead the Knicks to the playoffs. But it was only for a few moments in time. Carmelo Anthony was out at the time. So was Amare but that’s really not relevant to this situation. What matters is what Carmelo thinks.

 When Carmelo returned, and Amare, and Coach D’Antoni was gone, the victim of an early Carmelo ax-job, Jeremy was less effective. He turned almost ordinary. Carmelo helped make him that way. Carmelo is all about Carmelo. And the Knicks are all about Carmelo.

 That Carmelo runs the show isn’t even that strange in today’s NBA. Doesn’t Deron Williams run the new Brooklyn Nets? Don’t Kobe and Lebron have an extraordinary influence on decisions in their cities? It’s only natural. There are only five guys on the team. And nobody calls fouls on them. Talk about the most interesting man in the world.

Even Jeremy Lin called the Houston offer sheet ridiculous, 25 million over three years for a guy who played 25 games. That it would wind up costing the Knicks considerably more than that is the Knicks fault. Lin won’t be nearly as costly for Houston. And there’s no hair on those guys managing things in Houston. So, in a way, blame the NBA, blame the union, blame Houston if you’re so inclined but don’t forget to blame Carmelo too.

 If Carmelo really cared about winning, the union of Carmelo and Jeremy would work. But Jeremy was all about distributing the ball. Carmelo doesn’t even like the feel of that word…distributing. That would imply other players getting the ball.

 That’s why he didn’t like D’Antoni and refused to play hard for him. That’s why he doesn’t like Jeremy Lin. That, combined with all the attention Lin received (and that adulation might be the primary factor), was impossible for Carmelo to take. The ridiculous financial factors just made it a no-brainer.

And isn’t it amazing that, throughout all the ins and outs of the endless discussion surrounding the Lin signing, the GM Glen Grunwald wasn’t mentioned once?
But I don’t really care that much.

The Knicks will be mediocre for as long as Carmelo is on the team. Basketball is a team game. It’s a concept unknown to Carmelo. He doesn’t care about winning. When you think about it, just who plays well with Carmelo? Certainly not Landry Fields, another guy jettisoned in the latest round of free-agent madness.

They’ll be pretty good though. Tyson Chandler is the biggest reason though, not Carmelo and not Stoudemire. If and when Carmelo ever really wants to win, that will determine how far the Knicks will ever go. What if the fans booed whenever Carmelo took a stupid shot, or passed up an opportunity to pass? What if the media just drilled him every time he did something ridiculously stupid?

 I’d love to see Carmelo change his mind set.

 That’s the only chance the Knicks have of being a champion. Besides, how cool would it be if Jeremy and Yao become the best thing in Houston since oil. And it’ll be just as interesting if they fall flat on their faces. It’s a no-loss scenario for me. But the Knicks’ll be boring, more of the same nonsense we’ve witnessed before.

 But I can just tune in to the Nets.

 The Brooklyn Nets are also largely ruled by their star, Deron Williams. But Deron is a point guard extraordinaire; he’s all about distribution. Of course he can score too but he’d just as soon get assists. And he’ll have targets too. With Joe Johnson on board to add to Gerald Wallace and Brook Lopez and with some tough guys to do the dirty work, the Nets actually look really good on paper.

 When was the last time anybody could say that? They’ll be athletic and versatile and fun to watch, the kind of team they had back when Jason Kidd ran things at the Meadowlands. It’s not so bad when your star player makes the decisions if he’s a really smart guy who wants to win. I think Deron’s doing really well so far with Billy King as his mouthpiece. And they’re over the cap and don’t care that much…..very nice.

 The Mets have been really disappointing lately. They’re playing as if they just really figured out how young they are. Even worse, their older guys, Johan Santana and R.A. Dickey, are beginning to very much look their age. Maybe the Mets will start to turn things around (once again) but I have a feeling they won’t, not this time.

 Meanwhile, my least favorite team has taken off and shows no signs of shutting down. They’re playing like all really good teams, always winning with somebody else, either Cano or Texeira or Swisher or Ibanez or Martin or Andruw Jones…it just never ends. Oh yeah, they’ve got some pitching too. And Jeter and Arod.

 But the Yanks might still be vulnerable. Facing good pitching, and a versatile team on the other side of the diamond, they can be beat. If they don’t hit all those homers, what then? Such thoughts give a Yankee-hater hope.

It is a shame though for the Reds to lose Joey Votto or the Jays to lose Jose Bautista. The races this year have really been exciting but the loss of these stars could very likely turn things around again.

 And Joe Paterno was apparently a very bad guy. Disillusion abounds. Jason Kidd drives after drinking and doesn’t always have a designated driver. I guess he’ll have to hire a limo for a while. What a shame!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Darkest Before the Dawn

The Mets are a shambles now. But it’s always darkest before the dawn. As bad as each of the Mets 3 losses against the Yanks were, there is hope in what we’ve seen in the lineup and on the field. The Mets are, after all, 32-29. They’re just 4 ½ behind the Nats and that’s after the worst stretch of injuries that anyone can remember. We mustn’t forget that the Mets had a really good stretch of wins just before their meltdown. They got great starting pitching from Johan and then Dickey and then Niese, back to back to back. Their relief pitching is almost non-existent. And they are now losing the close games they had once been winning. To me, the biggest changes from then to now are that Jason Bay came back, creating a pall around the club and taking up a roster spot, and that the shortstop position has become untenable due to injury. But that’s just in the short run. As silly as this may sound, Jason Bay may start hitting again. The change in dimensions of the fences at CitiField should help Bay more than anyone else on the roster. And there is almost no chance that any other team would give up anything of value for him. But he’s at least a power threat in the lineup and a credible left fielder. He also has speed and knows how to run the bases. The injuries at the shortstop position have been legion. No team could bounce back from losing its starter, then his replacement, and then his and so on and on. It seems to me though that the Mets could live very nicely with Quintanilla at short. He’s shown enough at the plate and in the field to become a credible presence at shortstop. Credibility is the key word to me. Especially with such a young team, it’s important to retain the look and feel of a major league club. The Mets are now losing that credibility, not because of the relief pitching necessarily but because the fielding hasn’t been major-league. Surprisingly enough, it was David Wright’s error that cost them that last game. But Wright has been magnificent. He’s been due for a letdown. It won’t happen much. Murphy at second base may never be confused with Robinson Cano but he has made some fine plays at a tough position. And it’s my belief anyway that Scott Hairston is and always will be a liability in the field and on the bases. Bay’s return gives the Mets credibility in the outfield. Jason in left, Andres Torres in centerfield and Duda in right, rotating with Nieuwenhuis at just about any outfield position gives them resiliency and it could definitely become a strength of this team, if it’ not already. Ike Davis, as bad as he has been at the plate, is a very good-looking first baseman. There’s every reason to believe he’ll shake his doldrums too, not just because he hit a double but because his at-bats have been better. He’ll be an asset very soon. I’ve been wrong before but I feel it coming. Okay, let’s return to the bullpen. The only really terrible presence there is Jon Rauch. For whatever reason, he just can’t get it done. How many times can you roll that guy out there with a lead in the critical 8th inning of games? At least Parnell has a future should he ever learn how to pitch. And the Mets must think about the future. There really can be no significant present, even in such a weak division. Just as the Mets have seen some very nice performances from position players such as Duda and Nieuwenhuis and Valdespin and Thole and now Quintanilla, there are very probably some potential gems that could be inserted into the bullpen. I won’t bore you with a real analysis but there are some good arms down there, arms that could lend, once again, credibility to a beleaguered group. The starting pitching has been very good, all in all, and, along with the outfield, is a position of strength. Parnell and Ramon Ramirez (on the 15-day Dl also) and Byrdak are credible. Batista and Hefner are not. Neither is Rauch. Neither is Elvin Ramirez. They have to go. There’s probably a kid in my neighborhood who could do as well on the mound. But surely there’s hope, maybe even more so now that we’ve seen all these replacement players than before when these young guys were all in Buffalo. Providing even more hope is the strong management from the GM Sandy Alderson to his front office staff and especially his team manager, Terry Collins. Through thick and thin, and this season has certainly had both, the management has been stable, even excellent, and more than credible. Has there ever been a manager as hard put to it as has been Terry Collins? On the 15-day DL right now are more reasons for hope, guys like outfielder Mike Baxter who had been tearing the cover off the ball until he hurt himself saving Johan’s no-hitter. Justin Turner resides there too, an all-around guy who gets big ribbies when needed. Ramon Ramirez and of course Ruben Tejada and Ronny Cedeno are two shortstops, one good and the other credible. There does seem to be a logjam in the outfield though, especially considering Mike Baxter as in the mix. Maybe Jason Bay could be traded. Somebody needs to be traded because the future outfield probably doesn’t include either Torres or Bay. <>Nieuwenhuis should play centerfield with Duda and Baxter in right and left fields. Surely Jason Bay could experience an uptick in his career anywhere else but New York. As a Met, he has provided a power threat without actually ever having been one, providing credibility perhaps but little else.The Mets need every bat they can put in the lineup and every glove they can put in the field. But it's always darkest before the dawn..

Monday, May 21, 2012

On Relievers, Colts and Riders

Okay, it wasn’t a totally perfect weekend. Anyone who has spent any time at all on the Belt Parkway will know what I’m talking about. The ride out to the Hamptons took forever and there wasn’t much on the radio either. But then there was nothing but warm weather, beautiful beaches, great food and drink and even a great ride back to Jersey Sunday afternoon, on that very same Belt. It didn’t hurt that the Mets game was coming in loud and clear the entire way either. They had lost those first two games in Toronto, one in spectacular fashion if you like lots of strikeouts by the opposing pitcher. But Dillon Gee and Frank Francisco especially wouldn’t give the Jays the hat trick, so to speak, as long as we’re talking about Canada here. Now anybody who’s been living and dying with the boys in blue this springtime knows that the last few innings are gonna be rockin’ and rollin’, and not always in a good way. Relievers Francisco and Rauch had been especially bad. Bobby Parnell had actually been the best of the pen along with lefty specialist Byrdak. Yesterday though, the pattern was turned on its head. Parnell was bad but Rauch and Francisco were awesome, at least for them. I felt sure Frank would blow a 1-run lead. Geez, if only all the opponents could be former Francisco employers. Meanwhile, the Mets keep winning by a little and losing by a lot and that’s just fine with me. They’ve really only lost a few 1 or 2-run games, which is saying a lot for a team with supposedly bad relief pitching. It seems to me that, despite averages, there have been already a lot of saves and holds in that bullpen. Another great aspect of the weekend though was the Preakness. What a great race!! That splendid I’ll Have Another not only ran down Bodemeister again but this time he did it despite the fact that Bodemeister was not tiring. In fact, Bodemeister seemed to even surge a little as the colt approached on the outside. I love those possible Triple Crown years. There have been a lot of them, eleven to be exact since 1978 when Stevie Cauthen drove Affirmed past Alydar once again for the Belmont win and the Triple. Two other horses won the last two races but lost the really big one, the Derby. A little math shows that in 13 of 34 years, one really good horse was able to win 2 legs but that third leg was just too much. The other great thing about I’ll Have Another is that he has never been favored in any race despite the fact that he’s won 5 of 7 including the Santa Anita Derby, and now the Derby and Preakness. The racing establishment doesn’t like this colt (he only cost $35,000), nor do they like his connections apparently. All I hear about the trainer is bad. All I hear about the jock is bad. That alone makes me want this horse to win three Saturdays from now. Almost nobody wants this horse to win it. He’s not owned by the Mellons or powerful Arabian princes. He’s not trained by Lukas or Baffert or Stevens or anybody anyone has ever heard of. He didn’t run much as a 2-year old but did win his maiden, then finished first in a Grade 2 before finishing sixth in his first Grade 1 race but it was on a sloppy track. The finishing time of 1:55.94 was not great but not bad either, especially considering the easy fractions Bodemeister was setting. The mile time was 1:38.69, which means the final 3/16 of a mile was run in a little over 17 seconds. Consider that Secretariat’s finishing quarter in the Belmont was 25 seconds after having run the first mile and a quarter in 1:59. Sure, it might be a bad analogy as the races weren’t the same distance but it does show that this horse can really turn it on in the stretch. If you were thinking your eyes were deceiving you, if you were thinking Bodemeister had slowed down even if it didn’t appear that way, if you were thinking the jock on Bodemeister was relaxing on the lead, the fractional times tell a little different story. I’ll Have Another’s rider is Mexican and nobody had ever heard of him either. He was young, sure, he’d been riding in Canada, it’s true, but I can’t help thinking that his being Mexican added to the general consensus that this kid couldn’t get it done. The “what-ifs” before the race related to what Gutierrez would do if the fractions were slower than in the Derby, what would he do if he had to rate his mount, what would he do if he didn’t get the perfect trip he had in the Derby? All he did was answer all those questions. The fractions were slow, the leader was strong at the end, but Gutierrez had the big chestnut right there, so to speak, all the way. He once again had a pretty perfect trip but that’s no accident to my mind, especially for a horse coming out of the 9- hole. This Mexican chatterbox is young and strong and smart and hungry and seemingly humble too. He’s not likely to get full of himself. He’s not likely to get into any bad racing luck, he’s not likely to let anything affect him on his way to the wire. It’s a long way, the Belmont, a mile and a half, the longest race any American horse will ever be asked to run. Bodemeister, as of now, won’t be there. Yes, there will be other horses, fresher horses, more expensive horses with richer riders sitting on top. It says here there won’t be better horses. There won’t be better jockeys. This colt won’t tire, this colt won’t break down, this colt won’t get into trouble; this jock won’t let him.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Speaking of Old Guys...and Hamilton

My last column extolled the virtues of teamwork. The Mets, stocked with so many minor leaguers who had played together in places like Buffalo, seemed to pull for one another , especially in the clutch, leading to victory after victory. What I had said was true then and, even after two total breakdowns by free agent Frank Francisco and the rest of the bullpen, it is still true now. Francisco has been a mediocre closer at best. He always has been mediocre. He’s got a good fastball. He’s got other pitches he hasn’t used very much. That’s what you get these days for 6 million. He’s not the brightest light in the box either. Showing up umpires, as Francisco did yesterday, practically guarantees that the corners of the plate will never be kind to him. And I miss that older guy, a guy named K-Rod… Go back to the well, Mets. It was a good idea, it really was, to improve the pen. You just didn’t hit on the right guys. You can’t quit now. Get another guy who can close, maybe one of those older guys, a seasoned guy, somebody who won’t scream at umpires, as much as they might deserve it. It won’t be as if it’ll be money down the hole. Francisco can be a 5th inning guy, you know, the guy you put in when the opponent has just scored 7 runs on the starter. He’s a big strong guy. He could probably be a great innings-eater, like a Pelfrey but in middle relief. Then you can go get a closer, maybe an older guy. Speaking of old guys, all the Pettitte hoopla really mystified me. I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. To my mind he was a good pitcher but not a great one. Upon closer inspection though, Andy Pettitte was 240-139 in wins-losses for his career, not too shabby. Whitey Ford only had 236. That old Andy averaged a 14-8 record per season for 16 seasons. His career ERA was 3.88. His playoff record, a very extensive one, was 19-10 in 42 post-season starts. Pettitte was a horse for the Yanks for all but three of those sixteen years. Pettitte was even good in 3 years in Houston. The reason, I suppose, that he never stood out to me, other than playing for the Yankees and having so many “t’s” in his name, is that he wasn’t a perennial All-Star, wasn’t really a strikeout guy, averaging about 132, and didn’t have a string of 20-win seasons. But Pettitte did have two 21-win seasons, in 1996 and 2003, and had a 19-win season and an 18-win season. Now that I’m thinking about it, how many pitchers have multiple 20-win seasons? In the modern era, there are names such as Tom Seaver and Jim Palmer, Warren Spahn and Bob Lemon. Roger Clemens had five seasons of 20 or more. The great Nolan Ryan only had two 20-win seasons. Greg Maddux had just two 20-win seasons in a magnificent career that included 355 wins. Some of my personal pitching favorites haven’t pitched as well as Pettitte either. Don Drysdale had two 20-win seasons, Sandy Koufax had three 20-win seasons. How about some Yankees like Ron Guidry or Whitey Ford? Lightnin’ had 3 while Whitey had just 2. Long story short, Andy Pettitte is in some elite company. I guess the hoopla is justifiable. Meanwhile, there are some great baseball stories this year, some involving an old guy, an especially loveable Mets guy, a guy named Carlos Beltran. Carlos has already belted 13 homers for the Cards with 32 ribbies and 28 runs scored. K-Rod, another old Met, is just starting to hum for the Brewers as their 8th-inning guy. K-Rod is still the single season save leader with 62 saves. But the season has been more about younger guys, as things should be, guys like Josh Hamilton and a few really young players, Bryce Harper, Steven Strasburg and Mike Trout. Josh Hamilton has to be my personal favorite. His 18 homers in 32 games projects to about 85 homers for the season. His 44 ribbies projects to about 200 rbi’s. Hamilton did win an MVP two years ago, after having played in only 132 games. Conservatively, I’m projecting a Triple Crown win for Hamilton, with 64 homers and about 150 rbi’s…not too bad. He’ll bat around .360. The last Triple Crown winner was Carl Yasztremski in 1967. Mickey Mantle’s great 1956 Triple Crown season included an average of .353 with 52 homers and 130 rbi’s. As for season home run leaders, if you throw out the juicers, Bonds and McGwire and Sosa, the single season record is still Roger Maris, with 61 in ’61. Hank Aaron had several 40-homer seasons but never exceeded 45 in one single season. Meanwhile, Francisco is on the mound again as this is written. He just struck out Conrad of the Brewers for the second out of the 9th but there are two on base and a run has already scored. Frank is throwing gas but I don’t really have much hope. Once again, the umpire is giving him nothing close. But a drive to the gap from the next batter is tracked down by Duda for the successful close. Maybe this result will give him the confidence he needs to continue as the Mets closer after all. The Celtics have lost Game 2 to the Sixers. That series is now tied 1-1. I’ve been rooting for these older guys, Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen to have one last hurrah. This loss in Boston is not a good omen. But it would be great to see them in the East Final against Miami. There would be passion in those Final moments. Ripe old Martin Brodeur will face the Rangers . The Yanks lead the Orioles, 7-5 in the 8th. I’m wondering who we’ll see on the mound in the 9th. It won’t be Mariano, speaking of old guys.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Can't Overplay the "Team" Stuff

Sometimes with these Mets you can watch the ugliest baseball you’ve ever seen. Pitchers slide on the grass. Batters swing at pitches that hit them when they’re not watching perfect strikes to the outside corner. These Mets can’t run either. But, before you can say “Jordany Valdespin”, they manage to come out with the win. The sliding pitcher tonight was Bobby Parnell, a guy I hate watching just in general. He is one of the Mets I’d like to see join some other team. I’ve just never seen a player, pitcher or position player, have worse baseball instincts. But Parnell managed to get out of two jams he put himself into and the Mets lived on. Ike Davis is another guy that hasn’t been able to hit a thing since his injury last year. He starts his swing as the pitcher unwinds. When he has finished swinging, the ball is just approaching the plate. Nobody you’ve ever seen since Little League has worse timing at the plate….but not this night…not in his last at-bat anyway. Reserve catcher Mike Nickeas, who had to relieve Josh Thole late in the game after Ty Wigginton tried to take his head off at the plate, usually can’t hit a lick. And this night he was only facing Jonathan Papelbon, Philly’s elite closer. You can see where this is going. Nickeas had one of the best at-bats ever versus the big right-hander. Even with Davis on third and Nickeas on second, it was still easy to figure that, with Valdespin at the plate and two outs, it was still looking pretty good for Philadelphia. But Papelbon grooved a fastball that Jordany was waiting for. Bang…zoom…the ball rocketed into the night. The Mets took the lead, 5-2. Frank Francisco, the Mets closer, almost always looks confused. He’s a guy with all the talent in the world but his talent is matched by his insecurity most nights…just not this night. Francisco looked confident and he proved it by making a great play on a Rollins bunt before blowing away the next two batters and the Mets had beaten Roy Halladay and Papelbon. You can’t overplay this “team” stuff. But what a way to start a road trip! These Mets came to play baseball and when Thole got hurt, they really got fired up. I think a lot of guys took issue with Wigginton’s shoulder to Thole’s head. I know I did. I’m hoping for a nice high hard one tomorrow when Wigginton steps up to the plate. These Mets may be short on talent but they’re a real team. There was good baseball all around. Murphy’s tough at-bats and Ike’s slap tag on Rollins, Turner’s turning that double play despite Victorino’s interference, Wright’s two ribbies early and Torres’s tough at bats all night long. So where are they tonight? The standings always really tell the story as to how good a team really is, or has been anyway, and the Mets are in third place in the NL East behind the surprise Nationals and the Braves, two teams that aren’t all that perfect either. It’s such a long season though. The Nats will be without Jayson Werth, a bigtime hurt, but now it looks as if The Mets will be without Thole and Tejada, for a little while at least. The Braves have Chipper to keep healthy and the Marlins in 4th are just a game behind. The Fish have finally begun to play like a team themselves. They may have finally incorporated Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, and Giancarlo, formerly Mike, Stanton and even Carlos Zambrano. The Fish will be moving on up. But, I’m telling you, this “team” stuff can’t really be over-rated. You can see it and feel it. The Mets may not be the best all-around talent but they do seem to play tough one-run games, always historically an indicator of a good team. They’re tough in the late innings, as the Indians were tonight sweeping the Pale Hose. Even the Knicks showed some of that “team” stuff in that win over Miami in Game 4. Amare melded with Carmelo, finally, and Bibby, of all people, made a huge shot from 3-point land. This is a team that’s fated to play without a strong point guard, it seems, but five guys playing as a team can overcome the obstacles and look for opportunities to win. For one night, the Knicks were able to overcome adversity and play as a team. You see the San Antonio Spurs playing team basketball, and the Celtics too, the Bulls not so much. The Rangers in the NHL and the Devils too must be doing something right, and I guarantee you they’re both playing as teams. All those line changes in hockey demand a team concept by definition. Back to baseball though, you see that camaraderie among teams that have played together for a long time, that easy and happy feeling that carries onto the field. You see it in these Mets, you see it in Texas, you see some of it in Cleveland now, and Baltimore too, a bunch of minor leaguers all coming together in the major leagues. The Yankees? I’m still undecided on them. But most Yankees are free agents when you think about it but there still are Jeter and Cano who came from the minors. There had been Mariano too, and that catcher too…..yeah, you know who. Don’t think their loss doesn’t have some affect on that team feeling. In the final analysis, though, winning is a combination of talent and teamwork, especially in baseball, given the length of the season. The finals always match this talent and teamwork versus that talent and teamwork. Invariably too, there are usually one or two guys who inspire the rest of the team to heights unknown. The Rangers have Hamilton and Kinsler and Young, the Knicks have Pierce and Garnett and Allen, and maybe even Rondo. The Spurs have Duncan and Ginoboli. The Mets have Wright.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Baseball and the Derby Too !

You can imagine my embarrassment. My last column was entitled “When the Mets Take First”. At the time they were just a series win from the top spot in the NL East. They were facing the Houston Astros, the perennially weak, some would say pathetic, Astros. But since the game they’re playing is baseball, naturally the Mets got swept in convincing fashion and now they’re a little closer to last place. That’s baseball. I won’t re-hash the proceedings there in Minute Maid Park as almost nothing that happened there was memorable. It seemed that the park itself haunted the visitors. Nothing worked. That’s all I remember. No hitting, no pitching, no nothing. Really the only bigtime recollection is of that Pelfrey replacement, a fellow named Schwinden who seems to be making a case for not pitching. Geez, that was awful baseball. Houston fans are wondering how their terrific baseball team could have lost all those games before the Mets came to town. If most Mets fans are anything like me, they’re wondering if that series won’t prove to be a harbinger of even worse times to come. But the name of the game is baseball after all. In all probability though, things may get worse before they get better. I’d sooner believe Dillon Gee will have another lackluster effort tonight than that the D-Backs new lefty phenom, Wade Miley, will somehow falter against a mostly lifeless Mets roster. Then it’s another lefty named Patrick Corbin for Arizona against our ace, Johan Santana. We have a chance in that one for sure if all those lefties in the Mets lineup don’t totally fold. Then we get a righty but it’s a guy named Trevor Cahill, a good pitcher, versus the so-far middling R.A. Dickey. Given that the D-Backs have a lineup that includes Justin Upton and Miguel Montero and Jason Kubel, I’d have to say the D-Backs will probably get their share of big hits against the likes of Gee and Dickey, and even Santana if he’s not locating as he usually does. Thank the baseball gods, Chris Young, the pretty great centerfielder for the D-Backs, will remain on the DL for this series. But still, the Mets would seem to be out-gunned. Yes, the Mets have David Wright and Lucas Duda and Ike Davis, all capable of putting the ball into the seats but they haven’t done too much of that lately. Watching Ike at the plate has been a fate worse than death for me. And, collectively, the lineup’s chock full of lefties, and lefties that aren’t that accomplished at hitting lefties. In fact, even most of the righties can’t hit lefties. As much as I hate to admit it too, Mike Pelfrey’s injury may have had an unsettling influence on the team. Pelfrey was the horse, Pelfrey was the iron man who never went down. Pelfrey, as bad as he had been earlier this season, seemed to be hitting his stride right before his arm problem and I have to think his loss had an immediate impact on the Mets young team. But the Mets are coming home. And this game is baseball. And this team they’re facing ain’t the ’27 Yankees. It’s just the D-Backs without Chris Young. As a fan, I’d just like to see some fight from these guys, starting with the power hitters like Ike Davis and Lucas Duda. Even if they lose two of three, I’d like to see a team with heart, something the Mets did not show in Houston. Maybe I should just start thinking about the Derby tomorrow. It looks to be a very competitive race tomorrow and one that’s well nigh impossible to handicap. There’s Bob Baffert coming off a heart attack with the favorite, a colt named Bodemeister after his son. D. Wayne Lukas will be there with a longshot and the second-favorite, Union Rags, many think should be the favorite. And there’s a weirdly white horse too that has a good chance, a colt named Hansen, whose owner is a little strange himself, a fellow named Hansen who wanted to dye the colt’s tail blue but was turned down. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have this outrageously-white colt leading the charge around the final turn for the wire? Shades of the Lone Ranger! And there could be really good horses to his left and right, starting off with Union Rags and Bodemeister but also including 6-1 Gemologist and 12-1 Creative Cause, and several other legitimate nags, like 20-1 Daddy Long Legs who has actually won more money this year, 1 mill two, than any other contender. Luckily for the Mets, there are any number of things for New Yorkers to think about right now besides them. The Knicks, um, I mean Carmelos, continue to stink it up at the Garden, which, though not surprising to anyone who follows basketball even remotely, has seemingly surprised some observers who apparently attached some super-hero status to the coach-killing Anthony. The Rangers and Devils both are making tough Stanley Cup runs and now the beloved Mariano Rivera has gone down to an ACL fielding a fly ball as has been his routine for a zillion years. Now there’s a hero for you, Mariano. That’s a mouthful for a Yankee-hater, believe me. But Rivera has always been a humble guy, a happy guy and a real baseball player, a guy who always fielded his position and in fact wanted Girardi to give him a shot in centerfield someday. You’ve got to love a guy like that. The Yankees certainly do. If Pelfrey’s loss had a bad impact on the Mets, you can only imagine the potential impact of Rivera’s loss to the Yankees. Pelfrey was a well-meaning plugger. Mariano was an All-Star, and everybody says he’s the greatest closer of all time. Meanwhile, there’s the Derby and the rest of baseball. I’m watching Bobby Abreu as a Dodger now vs. the Cubs at Wrigley. Ya gotta love it.

Monday, April 30, 2012

When the Mets Take First!

Every once in a while you’re sure a win is in the bag. When you’re a Mets fan, you can’t think that way. Just get a pitcher in there who looks as if he doesn’t want to be on the mound, as Jon Rauch looked yesterday, and all bets are off. Then again, with Wright on 3rd base and just 1 out, and knowing that all the batter has to do is make contact and the run will score, you feel confident again. But not when the batter is not that bright, or not that caring. His name of course is Hairston, a name of great renown in baseball circles, but we have the least of them in Scott. Hairston swung for the fences for strike two and just watched a fastball right down the middle for strike three. That at-bat, combined with his poor attention to baserunning, makes me want him off the roster. With so many eager young kids just itching to play in the bigs, why should the Mets care about a guy like Hairston? What’s he bring to the table? Can he swing a good bat once in a while? Yes. So do a lot of guys. Hairston can’t do anything else. And there are no shortage of relievers who can enter a game and give up three walks in a row as Rauch did. Was the umpire calling a narrow strike zone? Yes, undoubtedly. But most relievers would have figured that out after the first walk. In any event, it was a win that felt like a loss. I would hope to see no more games like that one. Francisco, the closer, was anything but last night, giving up the tying dinger to Carlos Gonzalez in the 10th before David Wright and Ike Davis bailed him out in the 11th. Wright was especially impressive by going first to third on Lucas Duda’s single up the middle before Ike Davis’s seeing-eye single through the left side. And, although Ramon Ramirez picked up the save, the likes of Marco Scutaro drove one to the wall before Hairston finally did something right by squeezing the ball into his glove for the last out. The Mets now take on Houston in Minute-Maid Park, finding themselves much in contention for the NL East lead. The Nationals looked awful out in San Francisco thus dropping into a tie for first with the Braves while the Mets are just a game back of the leaders. The Astros are one of several teams doing dreadfully, including the Marlins from the NL East. Since the Braves will be playing the Pirates and the Nats have to play a much tougher team in Arizona, either the Braves or Mets may find themselves leading the division by the end of the week. The fly in the Mets ointment can be the return of Andres Torres to centerfield. Nieuwenhuis was doing better than fine in center while Torres was hurt while taking a decidedly bad route to the ball and then having to turn on the speed to catch up to a ball that got by him. Meanwhile, Torres will bat seventh rather than first in the lineup, seemingly trashing the reason for his acquisition in the first place. Hopefully, the Torres addition will be a positive one but I wouldn’t bet on it. The more likely happenstance is that the speedy Nieuwenhuis will collide with Torres on at least one line drive in the gap, hurting either or both of them in the process. Meanwhile, the Carmelos will meet the Heat in Game 2 without any semblance of a point guard. The Carmelos will go down in four straight. Maybe Carmelo can find another team next year. I certainly hope so. Then I can become a fan again. Imagine a starting five of Lin, Shumpert, Fields, Chandler and Stoudemire. Imagine getting anything in return for the coach-killer. Try to imagine an offense running through a point guard and shots that go to the open man. Meanwhile, the NBA has become a joke, evidenced by Rondo in Boston pushing a referee and getting thrown out while in Memphis, the ridiculous Grizz gave up a 27-point lead to the visiting Clippers. How do you spell ignorance? I can only wish I had followed hockey all year. The Rangers and Devils are playing hard. Meanwhile, in the NFL Draft, my dreams came true. I had hoped for a running back for my Giants and they seem to have picked up a good one, a scatback too, one that can lend a little pizzazz to an offense that can seem very humdrum almost all the time. I can see the incumbent Bradshaw becoming the back everybody thought Brandon Jacobs would become, i.e. a straight-ahead runner, while David Wilson, the Virginia Tech scatback, gives the Giants a dimension the Giants haven’t had since Tiki. Hopefully, Brandon Jacobs will find a taker for his services. I understand the NJ State Troopers may be fielding a team. The G-Men also picked up a corner and a wideout, two positions a football team in today’s NFL can’t have enough of. The Jets disappointed me somewhat by not doing anything really stupid, at least nothing that hits you in the face. While their first pick was for a defensive end who only supposedly tries once in a great while, that lackadaisical attribute should let him fit in well with the rest of his teammates. Maybe he can get a locker next to Santonio Holmes. But nobody really knows how a draft will turn out. Some things will stand out though, such as Dallas moving up to grab a corner they desperately needed and the Eagles fortifying an already pretty strong defense. I’m pretty sure the G-Men will have their hands full next season. But enough about those secondary sports, let me get back to baseball and wonder when Cano will start hitting again and when Matt Kemp will stop. And when the Mets will take first.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sports Light Up a Dreary Day

It’s another gray dreary day. I almost wish it was sultry. But so far the Mets are lighting up the Fish in this 1 o’clock game so that’s good anyway. The new kid Nieuwenhuis opened things right up with a triple to right-center and later scored. And later on I can watch the NFL Draft and wonder what the Jets will do to embarrass themselves further. Then the Rangers will try to get past the first round of their playoffs as the Knicks get ready for their first round matchup with Miami. So it’s going to be a hell of a day. Dreary weather do your damnedest!! So far Jonathon Niese is rolling along. If he can stay the course, that’ll make 3 quality starts in a row after the debacle doubleheader of the other day into night. (God I hate that Geico gecko)! First Santana set them down, then Dickey was Dickey and now Niese has gotten thru two innings unmolested and you can’t deny it’s been of great import indeed with the way the Mets have been hitting. But I really like this Nieuwenhuis kid. He swings the bad awfully well and is really athletic, even if he does outrun a fly ball every once in a while. When Torres comes back from his injury, he’ll lead off but he’ll have to show me something to make me think he should ever displace Nieuwenhuis, who catches a break with Jason Bay’s injury as it gives either him or Torres a slot in left field. Oh well, Gaby Sanchez just crushed one to left off Niese to tie the game. But I really like watching this young team, Duda, Davis, Tejada, Thole, geez, I hope I feel the same way in September. And Collins is doing a good job too. He definitely picked up some points with me when he took Ike Davis out of the lineup the other day. And now he’s moved him down in the lineup, another move that was absolutely called for. If Ike wants to bat 4 or 5, let him earn it. And what a Division the NL East will be this year!! The Phillies would currently be in last place if not for the Marlins playing so badly while the upstart Nationals are in first place. The Braves are holding down 2nd for now but I suspect that could change anytime soon. How ironic is it that last year’s division leader and this year’s favorite for division leader are 4th and last respectively in the standings. I still think the Marlins will come back. But their hitters have been cold, their fielding has been very spotty and their pitching has let them down in big spots too. Their manager didn’t help them out by aggravating the Cuban community either. But all those things can be fixed and I suspect we’ll be hearing from them before the season’s all over. I was totally disappointed by the lack of fanfare attending the return of Jose Reyes to CitiField. Why anyone would boo is just beyond me. The man didn’t get an offer! Maybe most Mets fans deserve whatever they get. They’re too stupid for words. Not me of course. Jose has been doing almost nothing for the Marlins and, as good a sport as Hanley Ramirez has been about moving to third base, that good attitude hasn’t done anything to make him a good third baseman. He’s been barely adequate thus far. Come to think of it, he plays third much as Daniel Murphy plays second. Mets catcher Josh Thole just keeps rolling along, hitting the cover off the ball in the seventh spot and today another new guy, Jordan Valdespin, is batting 8th. He just knocked a pitch about 400 feet into deep centerfield. So things are looking up for the guys in blue and white. It’s really nice to have an afternoon game too, especially since that’ll allow more time to watch the NFL draft tonight, uninterrupted by switches off to the baseball game. Not that there’s any angst at all over who the top two picks will be, the two QB’s Luck and Griffin going to the Colts and Redskins of all people. But that just shifts the attention downward to pick # 3 and there is quite a lot of question about what the Vikes will do with that pick, either move down or take the best player, and who that will be. I’m curious about how many defensive linemen will be taken early, as strength at that position has helped the Giants win two Super Bowls in the last few years. Secondarily, I worry about the Giants picks but they’ve been so good at picking since Reese has come on board as GM that I’d rather just sit back and enjoy the ride. Meanwhile, I’ll hold out hope that they can somehow make a deal for Osi Umenyiora, maybe packaging him off to some other team as part of a deal to move up from 32. Although it was Osi’s bad judgment to sign that long-term contract, his impact on those two Super Bowls should be somehow acknowledged. I may switch over to the Rangers game from time to time. There’s not much to beat a Game 7 in the NHL, even if you don’t pay attention during the long season. The Devils are still alive too but even they don’t seem to think they’ll advance. The Jets will do something asinine. They have a knack for it. If they don’t improve that offensive line, I’ll know for sure that Sanchez won’t be the #1 QB for too long. His body just won’t take the pounding while Tebow could flourish under the same set of circumstances. Then there’s the NBA nonsense where I should care about the New York Carmelos but I just can’t get into it. And the Nets are off to Brooklyn, leaving New Jersey and that early Jason Kidd 2000’s team as my only pleasant memory.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Baseball's Right Around the Bend

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jeremy Lin, omigosh!

I hate being so cynical. I can’t even stand myself. Furthermore, I’m probably as happy as anyone over our new point guard’s prowess on the court. Just to recap his game for the un-Lin-itiated, he dribbles, he sees the court, he drives and he scores. Let’s see…what else is there? Oh, he steals the ball a bit too.

But is it possible that all this hoopla won’t go to the man’s head? And can we just let things happen instead of predicting what kind of legacy he’ll have before his career is over? How great will he be? Why did everybody pass on him? Is he like or unlike Tebow? Will Carmelo’s return surely doom our local heroes?

Give the guy a break. Let him just play. Things are hard enough. After all, it took the man an awfully long time to get here. He shouldn’t be burdened by all these predictions. Besides, there are some other Knicks playing very well too and the ink runs out before anybody gets to them. And this is a team game after all. Just ask Carmelo.

Okay, this wasn’t meant to be all about the Knicks but what else is there?

Well, it’s hot stove season but I think all the cooking is pretty much done by now. Baseball will resume in a few weeks in Florida and Arizona and it looks as if the Yanks, Rangers and Angels and Phillies and even the Marlins are going to be much better. My Metsies are going to need a lot of luck. The waste of resources known as our legal system will pretty much make sure that the Mets will be in limbo for ages.

The saddest part of this off-season to me is that Justin Turner, the only Met who could drive in runs when it counted, and a guy who ably manned both second and third bases, is no longer being mentioned at second base. Nothing makes me sadder than a guy who outperforms expectations and then is seemingly punished for it. Turner is currently listed as the backup third baseman behind David Wright. Geez, maybe they really will trade David.

On the Yankees front, I hated to see them trade Montero. While I realize that the pitcher they picked up, Michael Pineda, is one of the best young pitchers out there, Montero could’ve hit 40 homers at Yankee Stadium. They seem to be getting away from their Bronx Bombers persona. It looks as if it’ll be still one more year of the pitcher. I can’t say it makes me happy.

All baseball needs to do to end this ridiculous pitchers dominance is enforce the strike zone. As long as the worst umpires in the world are allowed to call strikes 6-inches outside the corner of the plate, the pitching dominance will continue. And all the Jamie Moyers of the world (43-44 years old)will keep getting contracts.

I’ll be making my spring training pilgrimage once again so the Mets will be hearing from me early and often. I may even wear my Johan Santana shirt. If Santana can come back as strong as ever, the Mets might even contend.

One good thing, by the way, about the Mets failure to offer Jose Reyes a contract is that Jose can never be blamed for leaving New York because of money. Jose will always be a hero at Citifield. And I can imagine some big, big performances from Jose each and every time the Marlins face the Mets. In 18 games, Jose will hit ten triples and steal 20 bases. And he’ll be gunning down Mets baserunners with regularity.

We can look forward to loving and hating Bobby Valentine in Boston. We can root for Joba to come back from the knife and throw the way he used to. And yeah, Santana will make some headlines one way or another. Jason Bay might finally relax. I wonder if Granderson and Cano can do what they’ve done once again.

Yeah, I know, it’s just baseball. You have to admit though, that it’s a pretty interesting game. And it’s perfect for television. There are natural breaks between innings for commercials, ample time to pick up a bag of chips and a Coke, and some ice in a nice tall glass.

And there’re games going on every day. There’s no need to build up the next game as in football. Before you can say “Jackie Robinson”, the next game is upon you. If you play fantasy baseball, you’ll have something to look forward to every day, and, inevitably, some regrets for that bonehead pitching move that not only didn’t get you the win but also lost you the battle for ERA and WHIP.

So, while most New Yorkers are probably thinking about Jeremy Lin, and rightfully so, this fellow wil be thinking about baseball and, more specifically, the Mets. Having just heard Francesa’s interview with Sandy Alderson, I’m even more psyched up. With any luck at all, the Mets should be better. The starters will be more experienced, the relief acquisitions should help and the lineup should have a good deal of power.

And Sandy hasn’t forgotten about Justin Turner after all. But he is a little worried about defense. Some of the better hitters on the squad may be giving some runs back somewhere along the line. The pitching depth isn’t where he’d like it to be but he is hopeful of picking up some quality as spring training moves along.

If you would have told me last year that we needed to just worry about pitching depth, I think I would have danced a jig, or maybe even a salsa, as just one more honorarium to Victor Cruz. But that’s where the Mets are today.

Yeah, the Giants were great…. and lucky too. And the Knicks may be the most exciting team in basketball. But I’ll feel a whole lot better when April rolls around, spring is in the air and baseball is right around the bend.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Dink, a Dunk and a Funk

Dink, 5-yard completion, Brady to Welker….dunk, completion for 8 yards to Hernandez, just short of a first down….whoa….16 yard completion to a wide receiver for a first down. Seriously, they ain’t so baaaad. The longest Pats reception was for 21 yards to, of all people, Ochocinco. The Pats didn’t really stretch the field. They really couldn’t scare anybody with that popgun offense.

Eli and the rest of the red, white and blue didn’t really have to do too much. If they had to do more, they probably could have done more. And yes, the Pats receivers dropped a few passes and Gronk was playing hurt, but still, Brady and the Pats ain’t scaring anybody.

The Pats couldn’t really run the ball either nor show me an inspiring runner on that team. Woodhead was their biggest running threat and he did pretty well but he scored when Brady had just oodles of time for some reason, probably just that Fewell out-thunk himself. Why they dropped their best pass rushers into coverage makes no sense to me.

I’m happy the Giants won but, aside from the Manning to Manningham connection, there weren’t really any scintillating plays, or calls for that matter. The game was played like a championship game by two coaches who knew each other better than anyone else on the field. It was a game for football aficionados.

Not that it wasn’t an interesting game if you like that kind of thing but, really, I would’ve welcomed a few chances taken somewhere along the line. Surely one or two shots down the field wouldn’t have hurt anything. But that’s not who the Giants are these days, nor Eli either.

Eli’s great at that QB position. He’s all grown up. But he had just enough pizzazz when he needed it in that fourth quarter with time winding down. That pass to Manningham was perfect. That’s all you can say. And he wasn’t about to give anything away. Eli did a pretty good job of dinking and dunking himself.

But there was no pass rush as there had been in early ’08. I kept wondering how many sacks Rex Ryan would’ve got out of that group of the G-Men. It was a very conservatively-played defensive game too. The Giants played it as if they knew they were the better team and, if they just didn’t give anything away, they would win the game.

But they really shouldn’t have been so sure of themselves. Once again, I thought the Giants got lucky. How many Giants fumbles didn’t amount to anything? There were at least two, one by Cruz on which New England had too many men on the field and one by Nicks that got covered up by Hynoski.

But it all counts. Hynoski got there first by paying attention and running like hell after the ball. And procedural-type penalties happen to even the best of coaching staffs. All in all though, when you consider the New England drops, the meaningless fumbles and the Brady safety on the Pats first play, the Giants had good fortune lined up on their sidelines that Super day.

The 49ers game was scarier than the Super Bowl. But brain farts and fumbles won it for the Giants that day as well. It wasn’t just Eli and that defensive line that won this championship. It was truly everybody and yes, it was everybody just doing their job, as every Giants player seemed to mention in the aftermath of things.

And, speaking of aftermath, was there ever a more gracious winner than these Giants? Eli, Justin Tuck and just about every Giant was classy in their commentary about the game, about the season, and about their opponents. One notable exception was Brandon Jacobs’ harangue after the game but I’ll forgive him for now. After all, it was the “best of all time” Tom Brady and the brainiac Belichick that the G-Men beat on Sunday.

It’s unfortunate that so much time was devoted to whether Eli is truly an elite quarterback or not. Happily, Eli backed himself up by winning this game. God knows what things could’ve been like around here if the Patriots beat him.

For now, everybody’s happy, even me, but it wasn’t long after this game was in the books that all the prognosticators came out with all their prognostications. Who’ll be dropped next year, whose contracts are expiring, which teams will the Giants have to look out for next year?

I know two guys who’ll be coming back. They’d be Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz. Would the G-Men be here today without either of them? I don’t think so. They were both great, not just great for a rookie but truly among the best in the league. And they came out of nowhere, just like these Giants.

I hated that the Giants let Steve Smith and the tight end Boss go. I hated that they couldn’t have given in to Osi a little bit. But, in the final analysis, Jerry Reese, the GM, is the man, once again, maybe even more so than he was in 2007.

It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken. Despite all the injuries these Giants suffered through this year, Reese’s players emerged as the best. Look around the roster, there’s that punter Weatherford and that Ballard tight end and that center wasn’t too shabby either. How about Devin Thomas? Oncce again, the man seems as if he knows something the rest of us just don’t.

I guess, like the rest of his team, Jerry Reese was just doing his job. But he really did one hell of a job….twice. This Super Bowl is as much his as anybody’s. Coughlin doesn’t have very many bad alternatives on that bench, or on specials, or anywhere.

But now it’s all over for 2011-2012. Now this amazing season and Giants run-the-table finish has run its course. Soon it’ll be just a memory, even if it will be one of the best ones ever.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Look to the Little Guys

This is the longest week in the sports calendar. It must be. I even turned on a minute or so of the Pro Bowl. There should be some form of punishment for that, if the game itself isn’t penalty enough. Unless you’re a madman or Super Bowl trivia expert, this is a week for that ski trip you always wanted.

Oh yeah, there’s basketball. Right. The Knicks traded their way out of contention and nobody wants to play for the Nets. Seton Hall was exciting for a brief while but those heady days appear to be over. The Australian Open was great, I must say, especially the Men’s Final between Djokovic and Nadal but that’s all over.

Oh yeah, there’s baseball hot stove stuff. Every other team in the world is doing something interesting but if you’re a Mets fan, you have to be happy with less. For Mets fans, this is the beginning of the beginning if you’re an optimist. It’ll be a year of hoping a team plays over its head….constantly.

I’m not into hockey but this week I actually wish I was. For a guy who’s never really skated, it’s tough to follow hockey. There is some Rangers buzz though and how often does that happen? Okay, I’m done, what else is there? Oh well, it’ll be a good week to hit the gym a lot. Geez, maybe I can even start following the Republican nominees around. That’s at least nasty.

I know this would probably be a good time to do a nice lengthy analysis of Giants-Pats but geez, it seems I’ve covered the Giants side of things enough already. I’ve maintained they’d need the best defense in the league to even get this far. That has proven true. But they also seem to have a little luck going for them lately, most notably against San Francisco.

I mean, really, how often is the return guy going to let the ball hit him in the knee? And how often is the same guy going to fumble? That’s what makes me nervous going into Indianapolis. It would seem that maybe the G-Men’s good luck is due to turn. I don’t want to put the horns on them but, really, will the Patriots give the ball up that easily?

I don’t think so. Plus, there’re all those characters you’ve heard about before. Yeah, yeah, Bellichick. Yeah, yeah, Brady. And now, yeah, yeah, Gronkowski. But maybe the big scary tight end will have no wheels for this game. That sure sounds like more good luck to me.

The question for me is whether or not the Giants can beat that Pats team without getting ridiculous breaks. It is possible, I think. But it’s also possible that Bellichick will come up with something weird. For this game, if I were him, I’d use the formula that won me a Super Bowl for the Giants against the Buffalo Bills back in 1991.

That day, Bellichick’s Giants defense decided to let the Bills QB Kelly complete short passes in front of them and then proceeded to knock the ever-loving hell out of the receiver. Before you knew it, the high-flying Bills were doing nothing and the Giants were just pounding the ball on the ground, keeping that Bills offense off the field. Before the Bills figured out that the G-Men were letting them run, it was almost too late.

I say “almost” because the Bills actually did finally run the ball into scoring position with a chance to win. But Scott Norwood was wide right with his field goal attempt. It was too late for the Bills only because Norwood missed. All of Bellichick’s scheming could have gone out the window. Luck showed its ugly side to the Bills that day.

But the circumstances between that game and this one are similar. The Giants have a running game for sure but the real threats are in the passing game and lots of yards after the catch. Why not sit back and blast the hell out of Nicks and Cruz and Manningham? Why wouldn’t the Pats force the G-Men to beat them on the ground?

On the other side of the ball, the Pats would try to run the ball as O.J. Anderson did that January day in 1991. That will really be the challenge for the Pats. But, even if they can just get a few yards now and then on the ground, it’ll enable Brady to dink and dunk them to death with Welker and Hernandez, their other tight end and jack-of-all-trades. A ground game will also tire out those animals on the Giants defensive line.

If the Pats can do all those things, pound the Giants receivers, run the ball successfully, and dink the Giants to death, they could easily win this game. Incredibly enough, the betting line currently says the Pats are favored by 3; the over-under at 54 ½. Vegas thinks it’ll be somewhere around 29-26 in the Pats favor.

No two teams know each other better than these Giants and Pats, having played once this season already, and both head coaches coached together under Bill Parcells. When there are no surprises, the team with the better talent will tend to win the game. You couldn’t convince me that the Pats have the better overall talent.

With a healthy Gronkowski, the Pats may be more talented. But a slowed-down Gronk makes a big difference. He’s been Brady’s favorite receiver. Even a big guy has trouble playing with pain. And a high ankle sprain presents a nice target for further injury. I’d expect some low tackles on Mr. Gronkowski.

This game is too hard to predict really, but, especially if both teams neutralize the perceived power on the other side, I’d think this will be a game of unlikely heroes, maybe a Patriots running back or a Giants tight end. I don’t think the “usual suspects” will have a chance.

Look to the little guys in this one. Definitely.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Yes, the Best Defense in the League!

Since Saturday night, all I’ve been hearing is that Aaron Rodgers had an uncharacteristically bad day. Otherwise, they seem to say, the Giants could’ve lost their battle with the #1 seed and 15-1 Green Bay Packers. They outline each and every time Rodgers missed a pass or one of his receivers dropped a ball.

I say “bullshit.”

Rodgers missed the passes because he was out-of-synch all game long. The best passer in the world was only normal when he had pass-rushers up his butt all afternoon. His receivers got a little jumpy when they had defensive backs and linebackers growing out of their backs. Packer running backs found a lot of tough going and every Packer had to make sure they held onto that football.

Pressure. That’s what stopped the Packers. Relentless all-day-long hits and eleven guys paying attention, an offense the Packers kind of knew they couldn’t stop, a quarterback named Manning making all the throws and making all the right calls. The combination of all that was just too much for the green and gold, even at home.

There would be very few leaps into the stands that day.

I had called it exactly right. I had said that it would take the best defense in the league to stop Aaron Rodgers and all those nifty receivers, Finley and Jennings and Jordy Nelson and Donald Driver. And it did take some really great defense to do it. I think the Giants have the best defense in the league. Who’s better….the Ravens?

I don’t think so.

Not the guys from Baltimore, not the 49ers and certainly not the New England Patriots. The Giants are the best defense in the league. The 49ers will have something to say about that this weekend but it wasn’t the Niners defense that won their game against Drew Brees and the Saints, although for almost 3 quarters, they showed they were awfully tough.

In the final quarter, the Niners were getting picked apart. It was an almost miraculous performance by the Niners offense that saved the Niners day. Alex Smith and Vernon Davis saved the Niners. The Saints defense couldn’t stop a perfectly-thrown goal line pass to Vernon Davis. They couldn’t stop Alex Smith running with the ball. The Saints dared Alex Smith to beat them and so he did.

The Niners may beat the Giants but it won’t be their defense stifling Manning and those wide-outs. They may stop the run pretty well but the Giants should get their points. Hell, they may even be able to run the ball, though the wise would be wise to not count on such a happening.

Even Eli and all his weapons will have trouble penetrating that sure to be pumped-up Niners defense in San Francisco. But I think they eventually will. It’ll probably come late in the game, after having pressured that Niners secondary all day long.

The G-Men will eventually take the lead and hold it. Alex Smith and Vernon Davis won’t beat these Giants. The home field of that City by the Bay won’t beat them. After all, they’ve already come through that gigantic structure in Dallas and that frozen tundra in Green Bay. Those la-la Niners fans won’t shake them. It’s not likely anyway.

What might be likely is a bit of a Giants letdown. They’ve been through a lot of pressure themselves. This will be their umpty-ump must-win game in a row. And it’ll be the first time in these playoffs that they won’t be facing an acknowledged defense-killer at quarterback, no Romo, no Rodgers, just a guy named Smith.

And they’ve faced these Niners before. To a man, they think they should have won that game. That previous experience can do two things. It can build up confidence or it can lead to a little bit of complacency on the field. After all, it won’t be Rodgers guiding those Niners….just Alex Smith.

Our heroes will also be facing arguably the best head coach in the league. Jim Harbaugh doesn’t make mistakes. He’s no Mike Smith, the Falcons head coach, the 4th and 1 wonder. He’s no Jason Garrett either. He’s probably on a par with that Green Bay head coach who won 15 games this season.

Harbaugh will keep that team motivated. He’ll probably figure a way of getting to Eli. Harbaugh will likely find some chink in that Giants armor. It’ll probably be centered around the Niners running game and that horse Frank Gore.

But the Falcons had a horse of a runner in Michael Turner. He didn’t do much. And the Falcons had a great receiving corps…Julio Jones and Roddy White and that venerable Tony Gonzalez at tight end. That contingent scored zero versus the Giants. Sure, Mike Smith was a handicap but even the best head coach would’ve had trouble with the Giants that day.

The Niners though have some Smiths of their own, some formidable Smiths, not just Alex but also Aldon and Justin in that steely Niners front seven. Justin is especially scary. Anybody who witnessed him charging through that Saints offensive line won’t take anything for granted this weekend. The Harbaugh Niners are really tough and play really hard.

Unlikely as it seems to me, the Giants are currently the underdog in this matchup by 2 ½ points, no doubt due primarily to hosting the game in San Fran. The over-under is currently 42. That means the rest of the world thinks the Niners will come out on top by a score of 22 ¼ to 19 ¾.

I don’t think so. Yeah, I know all about the brilliant Niners coaching and their terrific kicking game and their stingy defense but the Giants ain’t chopped liver either. Harbaugh acknowledged as much the other day. He seemed to be of the same mind as Green Bay when they decided to on-sides kick in a tie game, that they would need an extra possession to win.

If the better team prevails, it’ll be the Giants game.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Best Defense in the League?

What an NFL Wildcard Weekend!!

I had thought this past weekend might be one of those yawners that seem to happen now and then. The matchups certainly didn’t lend themselves to one’s thinking that it’d be great entertainment, especially not the Broncos-Steelers game. I’d been looking forward to the Giants-Falcons, of course, but the other games didn’t send me, except for maybe the Bengals against the Texans. I thought the Bengals had a great chance.

Wrong, wrong, wrong!!

The Texans were off and running early. JJ Watt, a lineman for Pete’s sake, made a reaching stab of a Dalton pass to the flat and that play pretty much was a harbinger of things to come. There’d be no Dalton dramatics, there’d be no stopping the Texans running game….it was a pretty routine win for the contingent from Texas. For one more year, it’d be a shame to be a Bengals fan.

That Saturday night, the Saints-Lions was on the schedule. Nobody in their right mind thought the Lions would be able to stop Drew Brees but they actually did pretty well through the first half before utterly crumbling in the second half. It was like a snowball rolling down the hill. But, if you like watching a good quarterback work, Drew Brees is one of the three quarterbacks in the league that can absolutely destroy a defense.

One of the other two, of course, Aaron Rodgers, is unfortunately facing our Giants this weekend. His Packers have lost just once this year and Rodgers has been a huge part of the reason. The man is as accurate as anybody who’s ever played. He rolls around in the pocket and will take off running when the opportunity presents itself. The man just rolls.

Yeah. That’s true. But what about the Giants defense? Won’t that pass rush get to Rodgers? I certainly hope so but that Pack OL ain’t chopped liver and I’m not so sure the Falcons OL had one of its better days against the G-Men. But, statistically, as I can recall, the Falcons OL was pretty high in the rankings.

What I’m trying to say is that, if the Giants defensive line is the best in the league, if they can get to any quarterback in the league, then Rodgers might find himself running around a bit more than he is used to. I’ve already heard the Giants have a puncher’s chance and that’s as good an analogy as any, I suppose.

The trouble is that even a Rodgers under pressure is going to be pretty damned good. He’ll roll around and get rid of the ball when he must but most of the time, he’ll just find those receivers in perfect stride. Or, if they’re covered, he’ll just do that back-shoulder routine that’s so impossible to stop. Rodgers throws to everybody and he throws on the run probably better than anybody. So, even if he’s running, that doesn’t help the opposition as much as you’d think.

When the Giants beat the Pats in early 2008, Brady was the QB and, at the time anyway, Brady was considered the best quarterback ever. As things turned out, the Giants did indeed get to Brady and the pressure affected him bigtime. But Brady is a statue compared to Rodgers.

The aforementioned Brady is still in these playoffs, of course, and his Pats should have another reasonably good time against the Broncos. All I can say about that one is Tebow, Tebow, Tebow, Tebow. Watching Tebow running that Denver offense, when it’s all working, is a thing of beauty. What’s he going to do? Well, he could run himself, he could simply hand off or he could run to the edge and pitch it, or he could just wing it down the field, that last being the least likely of all.

That is, until Sunday afternoon. After Sunday’s game, the defense will have to figure against the Broncs passing game as well. Tebow’s 316 yards passing and two touchdowns, and another one rushing, pretty much killed any thoughts that the Broncs were only 3-dimensional. Any more dimensions, of course, would be out of this world, by definition, and that’s exactly what most Broncos fans are thinking about their quarterback these days.

After the Giants crushing of the witless Falcons, I would’ve been happy with the day as it was. I didn’t really need a great Broncos game, even if the Broncs opponent was the hated Steelers, the hated Ben Roethlisberger, that stupid Kiesel beard, that bully Harrison, and Mike Tomlin just out-thinking and out-motivating everybody else on the sidelines.

The way Denver went about their business was special. That first half was especially good, watching the Broncos not only take the lead with a beautifully-thrown Tebow pass that went the distance, but then adding insult to injury by just piling up some more points. And when hated Big Ben took the Steelers all the way back to inevitably tie the game in regulation, one had to think the worst. But Tebow’s on-target dart to Demaryus Thomas on the first play of overtime was just great. There would be no Steelers victory that day. Tebow to Thomas took care of that.

Saving the best for last, the Giants game proceeded pretty much as I had expected. The game started slowly, both teams did nothing and then things heated up quickly. But I’d thought both teams would have some success through the air. I’d thought Falcons head-man Mike Smith would ultimately blow the game. As things turned out though, Smith took his team out early with badly-run quarterback sneaks while the ponderous Michael Turner watched from the bench.

And the Giants defense stopped everything the Falcons could muster.

But Rodgers will be doing the mustering this week and their head coach isn’t Mike Smith. The G-Men need to bring their best game. If they truly have become the best defense in the league, as it certainly appeared on Sunday, they could even win this thing.