It’s been almost too hard to digest, all these player moves, both for baseball and football, all of them seemingly concentrated in one short week. And, speaking of “hard to digest”, there are the actions of Justin Verlander.
As for Plaxico Burress, I think he’ll be the perfect second passing option for the Jets, the first being Santonio Holmes, who was the first player the Jets went after. Burress has been working hard at staying in shape and, because he had two years rest, he’s a younger 34 than he would otherwise have been.
As for the Jets failing to sign the best available cornerback, that may also wind up in their favor, but only if they manage to re-sign Antonio Cromartie, who may have been insulted by the Jets courting of Asomuga. But what about stopping the run? Who’s worried about that? Their #3 draft choice, defensive tackle Kenrick Ellis, has some kind of deportation threat hanging over him.
The Giants have been predictably boring, like their coach and just about everything else about them. Unless you think dropping veteran offensive linemen and lying to your best pass rusher is sexy, the Giants off-season moves have been almost non-existent. And that’ll teach us to balk at ticket prices.
It’s much too early still to worry about. The Jets will be competitive at least. The Giants seem to be rebuilding. Maybe they figure the Eagles, who did get Asomugha, will be unbeatable. The Jets don’t seem too worried about the Pats acquisitions of Ochocinco and Haynesworth but I’m thinking maybe they should be.
Meanwhile, in MLB action (or lack thereof for the Mets and Yankees), some of my favorite teams made some moves that could pay off bigtime down the stretch. The Rangers got the relief pitching they desperately needed while the Pirates picked up some real live major league hitters in centerfielder Ryan Ludwick and first baseman Derrek Lee.
Meanwhile, teams I don’t particularly care for, the Phils and Cards and Braves, were also active, the Cards getting Rafael Furcal to man their shortstop position and a few relievers to help them out in the pen. The Braves picked up speedster Michael Bourne to spark their sometimes moribund offense. The Phils didn’t need much but should get more big lifts from Hunter Pence than he’s already provided.
I won’t recap all the changes though. Maybe the biggest highlights from a New York perspective were the absence of any moves by the Yankees. While everybody but the genius Cashman could have sworn the Yanks needed some starters, the Yanks are standing by their Colon, Garcia, Hughes, Burnett semi-achievers.
The Mets of course picked up nothing but cash and a pitching prospect in ridding themselves of K-Rod and Beltran, not that that kept them from playing some very decent baseball over the last five games or so. And, after I really jobbed Pagan and Pelfrey and Duda and Hairston in my last column, those guys all started to produce a little, thus proving that every dog does indeed have his day.
The most interesting baseball happening of the weekend, though, had nothing whatever to do with moves. Game action became its own soap opera in the Angels-Tigers game Sunday afternoon. It had everything you’d ever want in a baseball game and even some hockey games. And it gave me even one more player to hate, a not insignificant event.
That player, if you want to call him that, is Justin Verlander. Verlander was incensed that Angel Erick Aybar should have had the unmitigated gall to threaten his no-hitter by attempting a bunt. Yeah, he admitted later, it was just 3-nothing and it was still a game, but still…..he thinks it’s “bush”.
Well, I think Verlander is a self-important lout and moves right up there with Roger Clemens in arrogance and self-aggrandizement. I don’t care about his no-hitter. No-hitters have become a dime a dozen. People watch baseball, you giant fool of a Verlander, for the artistry and action of a baseball game.
How often has a successful bunt thrown an opposing pitcher off his game? The bunt attempt makes the pitcher move his fat butt. It throws him off his rhythm. A pitcher has to not only throw 100 miles an hour but also has to field his position. A walk’s as good as a hit and a bunt’s better than a walk when it works. That Aybar’s bunt was successful (Verlander threw the ball away) and did eventually bring the Angels within 3-2 only proves the point that Aybar was right.
I’m not much on the etymology of names, but I’m pretty sure that when northern Europeans needed a euphemism for a jackass, it was “Verlander”.
Verlander later indicated from the dugout that he’d next time plant a baseball in Aybar’s kidney. If he does carry his threat through, the gloves should come off from the commissioner’s office.
What made all this even more compelling was that Verlander’s pitching opponent was none other than Jered Weaver, who earlier had proved that Verlander would only be the second fool of the day, albeit a more disgusting one. At least Weaver had a better reason for throwing at somebody. In his mind, the Tigers were showing him up, God forbid.
Although Carlos Guillen did indeed put on a show after his home run, it was only in retaliation for Weaver’s earlier stare-down with Magglio Ordonez, who hadn’t immediately started running after his dinger. He had in fact only been watching to see if his batted ball would be fair or foul.
But Weaver gave him the long hard look that wasn’t at all appreciated by Ordonez or his teammates so, later on, when Guillen also connected, it was pretty much written in stone that he would try to rattle Weaver even further. Of course, he did, Weaver came totally undone and immediately threw one at Avila’s head.
Weaver was ejected, setting the stage for the later histrionics. But Weaver’s anger, though misplaced, was at least understandable. Verlander’s anger was just a product of enormous vanity.
Showing posts with label Angels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angels. Show all posts
Monday, August 1, 2011
Thursday, October 15, 2009
All About Expectations
What a gigantic lull in the sports schedule! It’s almost unprecedented. No baseball, no football since Monday, basketball a distant event on the horizon. If you’re not a soccer enthusiast or fanatic enough to enjoy “NFL Replay” past games, you could go absolutely bonkers.
Or maybe you’re one of those held spellbound by the side stories, Rush Limbaugh assigned to NFL limbo and Jon Gruden being considered for a couple of NFL head coaching spots. And then, of course, there’re all the side stories associated with the MLB Playoffs, the cold weather, the rain, the pitching assignments, and Mariano, Mariano, Mariano….makes a Mets fan sick!
Wasn’t it Mariano who blew the series with Boston back in 2004, a date that marked the resurgence of the Red Sox? He’s not infallible, Yankee fans. And maybe we’ll find out in this Angels series. We might find out a couple of other things too, like how stupid it was to get rid of Bobby Abreu. (A Mets fan can only hope).
The prospect of the first Yankee game Friday night seems to be casting a large shadow over the Phils-Dodgers series in the National League. There the story is, as you might expect, mostly about Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre, although you could make a case for the failures of Brad Lidge. The media loves failure, especially after a skein of successes.
So there’s really nothing happening but expectations. I had expected the Dodgers to be gone already, blown away by the Cards pitchers, Wainwright and Carpenter. That didn’t happen. Then the Phils dispatched the Rockies pretty handily, easier than I had expected given the Rockies newfound prowess in the starting pitching and relief categories.
It looked bad for the Phils in Colorado in that top of the ninth inning. Huston Street was just rolling along, striking out one batter and then getting a fielders choice grounder after a Jimmy Rollins infield base hit. He and the Rockies then just needed one more out to send the series back to Philadelphia.
Street just needed to deal with Chase Utley. Yeah, it was righty vs. lefty but still….and my recollection is that the count went to 3-2, but, in any event, Street walked Utley and then you knew he had to face big Ryan Howard, another lefty, and you started to feel a little nervous, and then, before you knew it, Howard put a big swing on a ball left out over the plate and the game was tied.
And then, just to put a punctuation point on the proceedings, Jayson Werth knocked in the winning run. Those Phillies were still the reigning World Champions, not the Yankees, not the Dodgers, but those tough guys from Philadelphia, and there were no tougher Philly batters than the ones Street faced in that fateful 9th inning.
But you don’t hear much about the Phillies. Expectations again. I guess the thinking goes, “well, the Yanks picked up Teixeira and Sabathia and Burnett and they still had Arod and Jeter and Damon and Posada and yada yada.yanka”. And for the Dodgers, it would be “their young guys like Kemp and Ethier and Loney have all picked it up in Manny’s absence and they’ve got all that relief pitching.”
Yeah, I guess so, but those Phillies sure looked pretty tough to me in that ninth inning in Denver. So I’ve changed my expectations. Until somebody knocks them out, my money (if I had any money) would be on the defending champions.
Yankee fans are probably saying that their team did the same thing against the Twins. Yeah, they did, and it was very impressive, Arod tying it up and Teixeira delivering the clincher. And they’d be right, but…..
Well, I know if I were a Yankee fan, I’d be getting just a little bit nervous about all this conjecture about the starting rotation for the next series. I mean, can they make it any more obvious that they only trust three of their starters? I guess that means they may have only three playoff-ready starters.
That’s Sabathia, Burnett and Pettite, of course. With Joba now a reliever, that leaves them with Chad Gaudin as the fourth starter. He’s been really pretty good this year too, with a respectable ERA and strong overall outings. But that brain trust is working overtime trying to figure out what the rain will do.
The rain may push back the opener but that will probably be the extent of it. The Yanks will still have to deal with using Sabathia on three days rest. Only the most optimistic Yankee forecast could expect better. You’re still left with facts. The Yanks only have three starters they trust, which means they only have three starters.
Hmm. The Angels have at least four. I say at least four, because a fella named Ervin Santana is listed at five, and he’s probably better than Chad Gaudin. The others are very respectable, John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders and Scott Kazmir. And those last two are lefties, just to change things up a little. Oh, and Brian Fuentes, their closer, is a lefty too.
Even knowing that the Yanks have right-handed batters, and guys who can be turned around, like Teixeira and Posada, it will still be helpful to throw a different look at your opponent. And Posada may not be catching all the time either. That’s another vaguely troubling thing for a Yankee fan, I would imagine. (even though I can’t really imagine the sheer horror of being one myself).
Another net difference from last year to this year is in the Yankee right field. And it’s a net loss, from Bobby Abreu to Nick Swisher. Bobby was one of those perennial .300 hitters with a hundred each year in both runs and ribbies. One thing he didn’t do in the Bronx was run into the outfield wall. Nick loves doing that, but that’s his only baseball advantage over Abreu.
You can expect a hell of a series, folks.
Or maybe you’re one of those held spellbound by the side stories, Rush Limbaugh assigned to NFL limbo and Jon Gruden being considered for a couple of NFL head coaching spots. And then, of course, there’re all the side stories associated with the MLB Playoffs, the cold weather, the rain, the pitching assignments, and Mariano, Mariano, Mariano….makes a Mets fan sick!
Wasn’t it Mariano who blew the series with Boston back in 2004, a date that marked the resurgence of the Red Sox? He’s not infallible, Yankee fans. And maybe we’ll find out in this Angels series. We might find out a couple of other things too, like how stupid it was to get rid of Bobby Abreu. (A Mets fan can only hope).
The prospect of the first Yankee game Friday night seems to be casting a large shadow over the Phils-Dodgers series in the National League. There the story is, as you might expect, mostly about Manny Ramirez and Joe Torre, although you could make a case for the failures of Brad Lidge. The media loves failure, especially after a skein of successes.
So there’s really nothing happening but expectations. I had expected the Dodgers to be gone already, blown away by the Cards pitchers, Wainwright and Carpenter. That didn’t happen. Then the Phils dispatched the Rockies pretty handily, easier than I had expected given the Rockies newfound prowess in the starting pitching and relief categories.
It looked bad for the Phils in Colorado in that top of the ninth inning. Huston Street was just rolling along, striking out one batter and then getting a fielders choice grounder after a Jimmy Rollins infield base hit. He and the Rockies then just needed one more out to send the series back to Philadelphia.
Street just needed to deal with Chase Utley. Yeah, it was righty vs. lefty but still….and my recollection is that the count went to 3-2, but, in any event, Street walked Utley and then you knew he had to face big Ryan Howard, another lefty, and you started to feel a little nervous, and then, before you knew it, Howard put a big swing on a ball left out over the plate and the game was tied.
And then, just to put a punctuation point on the proceedings, Jayson Werth knocked in the winning run. Those Phillies were still the reigning World Champions, not the Yankees, not the Dodgers, but those tough guys from Philadelphia, and there were no tougher Philly batters than the ones Street faced in that fateful 9th inning.
But you don’t hear much about the Phillies. Expectations again. I guess the thinking goes, “well, the Yanks picked up Teixeira and Sabathia and Burnett and they still had Arod and Jeter and Damon and Posada and yada yada.yanka”. And for the Dodgers, it would be “their young guys like Kemp and Ethier and Loney have all picked it up in Manny’s absence and they’ve got all that relief pitching.”
Yeah, I guess so, but those Phillies sure looked pretty tough to me in that ninth inning in Denver. So I’ve changed my expectations. Until somebody knocks them out, my money (if I had any money) would be on the defending champions.
Yankee fans are probably saying that their team did the same thing against the Twins. Yeah, they did, and it was very impressive, Arod tying it up and Teixeira delivering the clincher. And they’d be right, but…..
Well, I know if I were a Yankee fan, I’d be getting just a little bit nervous about all this conjecture about the starting rotation for the next series. I mean, can they make it any more obvious that they only trust three of their starters? I guess that means they may have only three playoff-ready starters.
That’s Sabathia, Burnett and Pettite, of course. With Joba now a reliever, that leaves them with Chad Gaudin as the fourth starter. He’s been really pretty good this year too, with a respectable ERA and strong overall outings. But that brain trust is working overtime trying to figure out what the rain will do.
The rain may push back the opener but that will probably be the extent of it. The Yanks will still have to deal with using Sabathia on three days rest. Only the most optimistic Yankee forecast could expect better. You’re still left with facts. The Yanks only have three starters they trust, which means they only have three starters.
Hmm. The Angels have at least four. I say at least four, because a fella named Ervin Santana is listed at five, and he’s probably better than Chad Gaudin. The others are very respectable, John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders and Scott Kazmir. And those last two are lefties, just to change things up a little. Oh, and Brian Fuentes, their closer, is a lefty too.
Even knowing that the Yanks have right-handed batters, and guys who can be turned around, like Teixeira and Posada, it will still be helpful to throw a different look at your opponent. And Posada may not be catching all the time either. That’s another vaguely troubling thing for a Yankee fan, I would imagine. (even though I can’t really imagine the sheer horror of being one myself).
Another net difference from last year to this year is in the Yankee right field. And it’s a net loss, from Bobby Abreu to Nick Swisher. Bobby was one of those perennial .300 hitters with a hundred each year in both runs and ribbies. One thing he didn’t do in the Bronx was run into the outfield wall. Nick loves doing that, but that’s his only baseball advantage over Abreu.
You can expect a hell of a series, folks.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
On Playoffs and Bad Football
The playoffs in both leagues start today without the Mets. Groan. I can’t help but wonder whether they could have taken the measure of the Phils or the Dodgers, Cards or Rockies, if they had remained healthy. Maybe, who knows, who’ll ever know?
These NL teams are really stacked though. It would have been tough. I think the Cards are the strongest overall with a powerful lineup and pitching to die for, especially in a five-game series with Carpenter and Wainwright sporting ERA’s of 2.24 and 2.76 respectively. L.A.’s Wolf was just 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA. Kershaw had a great 2.79 ERA but was just 8-8.
Then there’s Pujols and Holliday and a bunch of .300 hitters facing a nice lineup but not an exceptional one, not unless Manny Ramirez should suddenly catch fire. And that’s just not that likely.
In the other series, the Phillies against the Rockies, I know everybody likes the defending champion Phillies, but not me. Even if you forget about the Brad Lidge closer failures, their lineup just hasn’t performed as they did last year, when magic seemed to bloom out of their butts. They may wind up prevailing, with Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels providing a powerful 1-2 punch, but I just don’t think it’s their year.
The Rockies aren’t that impressive either really but were hotter for sure down the stretch and I like their Tulowitzki, Helton and Hawpe in the middle. The Rocks have Ubaldo Jiminez and Jorge De La Rosa too, and possess a better closer in Huston Street. Although it’s tough to pick against the World Champs, they just haven’t clicked as has that hot Denver team. Besides, my nephew likes them and he’s pretty lucky.
Over in the American League, the Yanks are just loaded. It seems almost ridiculous to even go through any analysis. They kill the Twins all the time too. So kiss it goodbye, Minnesota, maybe you should have picked up Favre. They’ll be lucky to take one game.
The other AL matchup should be a classic and I don’t even want to pick a winner as I like both teams. The Red Sox have dominated in their matchups in the past. But it’ll be a new series and, if Lester and Beckett should falter, the Angels have a shot. I love their lineup with real battlers like Figgins and Abreu at the top.
The Yanks can take everybody in either league except for maybe the Angels. So naturally I’m hoping the Angels can make it through Boston. If Figgins and the rest of the speed they’ve got can get on base, they’ll be murderous on either Varitek or Victor Martinez to stop.
So I’m hoping for Rockies-Cards and Angels-Yanks. I have to think the Cards can take the Rockies and hope for a miracle that the Angels will take the Yanks. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it would be pretty neat for the Yanks to get by. Then I can root against them in the World Series once again.
The Cards would have a shot against anybody.
Okay, that’s enough baseball for now. It’s high time to pick on the Jets. No, not really. It’s hard not to like Sanchez and he had a rough, rough day in New Orleans. The offensive line of the Jets took some hits this week and then the Jets picked up Braylon Edwards for Chansi Stuckey and some picks.
I sure hope it’ll be one of those trades that benefit both parties but Edwards can’t catch, a sure-fire weakness in a wideout. I see lots of dropped balls in their future. He sure does get open though.
Then Eli getting hurt in the Chiefs game was decidedly inconvenient. That injury sounds as if it’ll be hanging around for some time too. We have to hope it doesn’t affect Eli’s accuracy. He was having one of his better years in that respect, or is it just that his receivers are better at finding spaces and understanding the offense?
It’d be tough to get on Coughlin’s charges for anything. They didn’t miss a beat against the Chiefs, a game I expected them to win but not cover the spread. I thought they’d let down. They didn’t. With Steve Smith and Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks to throw to, you have to wonder if they just might run the table.
They seem as loaded as the Yankees are in baseball. There just aren’t any weaknesses. Of course, I said that about the Mets early this year before every Met of any consequence got hurt. I can only hope it won’t happen to the Giants. Eli’s going down, even for a little time, is not a good sign.
One vaguely upsetting thing in the NFL going forward is the weakness, especially defensively, in at least ten teams. The Chargers are one of those teams for sure after seeing their Sunday night exhibition against the Steelers, who became a great running team seemingly overnight. Then we got to witness a Packers team on Monday that couldn’t block and couldn’t rush the passer. That the passer was my least favorite person in the entire world did not make for a pleasant night, I assure you.
It was good to see that Favre is still a hot dog though, and still looks out for his interests more so than for his team’s. His stupid long pass attempt down the sideline kept Green Bay in the game, and a better team may have been able to capitalize on the opportunity.
Tampa Bay and Washington are both horrible though, Tampa on the defense and the Skins on offense. The Bills once again seem pathetic. The Rams got slaughtered by the 49ers. The Raiders are horrible under a fat and lousy Jamarcus Russell. There’s hope for the Browns as they showed against the tough Bengals but can Mangini really be expected to turn that club around?
Well, it’s just Week Five and hopefully, things only get better.
These NL teams are really stacked though. It would have been tough. I think the Cards are the strongest overall with a powerful lineup and pitching to die for, especially in a five-game series with Carpenter and Wainwright sporting ERA’s of 2.24 and 2.76 respectively. L.A.’s Wolf was just 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA. Kershaw had a great 2.79 ERA but was just 8-8.
Then there’s Pujols and Holliday and a bunch of .300 hitters facing a nice lineup but not an exceptional one, not unless Manny Ramirez should suddenly catch fire. And that’s just not that likely.
In the other series, the Phillies against the Rockies, I know everybody likes the defending champion Phillies, but not me. Even if you forget about the Brad Lidge closer failures, their lineup just hasn’t performed as they did last year, when magic seemed to bloom out of their butts. They may wind up prevailing, with Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels providing a powerful 1-2 punch, but I just don’t think it’s their year.
The Rockies aren’t that impressive either really but were hotter for sure down the stretch and I like their Tulowitzki, Helton and Hawpe in the middle. The Rocks have Ubaldo Jiminez and Jorge De La Rosa too, and possess a better closer in Huston Street. Although it’s tough to pick against the World Champs, they just haven’t clicked as has that hot Denver team. Besides, my nephew likes them and he’s pretty lucky.
Over in the American League, the Yanks are just loaded. It seems almost ridiculous to even go through any analysis. They kill the Twins all the time too. So kiss it goodbye, Minnesota, maybe you should have picked up Favre. They’ll be lucky to take one game.
The other AL matchup should be a classic and I don’t even want to pick a winner as I like both teams. The Red Sox have dominated in their matchups in the past. But it’ll be a new series and, if Lester and Beckett should falter, the Angels have a shot. I love their lineup with real battlers like Figgins and Abreu at the top.
The Yanks can take everybody in either league except for maybe the Angels. So naturally I’m hoping the Angels can make it through Boston. If Figgins and the rest of the speed they’ve got can get on base, they’ll be murderous on either Varitek or Victor Martinez to stop.
So I’m hoping for Rockies-Cards and Angels-Yanks. I have to think the Cards can take the Rockies and hope for a miracle that the Angels will take the Yanks. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it would be pretty neat for the Yanks to get by. Then I can root against them in the World Series once again.
The Cards would have a shot against anybody.
Okay, that’s enough baseball for now. It’s high time to pick on the Jets. No, not really. It’s hard not to like Sanchez and he had a rough, rough day in New Orleans. The offensive line of the Jets took some hits this week and then the Jets picked up Braylon Edwards for Chansi Stuckey and some picks.
I sure hope it’ll be one of those trades that benefit both parties but Edwards can’t catch, a sure-fire weakness in a wideout. I see lots of dropped balls in their future. He sure does get open though.
Then Eli getting hurt in the Chiefs game was decidedly inconvenient. That injury sounds as if it’ll be hanging around for some time too. We have to hope it doesn’t affect Eli’s accuracy. He was having one of his better years in that respect, or is it just that his receivers are better at finding spaces and understanding the offense?
It’d be tough to get on Coughlin’s charges for anything. They didn’t miss a beat against the Chiefs, a game I expected them to win but not cover the spread. I thought they’d let down. They didn’t. With Steve Smith and Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks to throw to, you have to wonder if they just might run the table.
They seem as loaded as the Yankees are in baseball. There just aren’t any weaknesses. Of course, I said that about the Mets early this year before every Met of any consequence got hurt. I can only hope it won’t happen to the Giants. Eli’s going down, even for a little time, is not a good sign.
One vaguely upsetting thing in the NFL going forward is the weakness, especially defensively, in at least ten teams. The Chargers are one of those teams for sure after seeing their Sunday night exhibition against the Steelers, who became a great running team seemingly overnight. Then we got to witness a Packers team on Monday that couldn’t block and couldn’t rush the passer. That the passer was my least favorite person in the entire world did not make for a pleasant night, I assure you.
It was good to see that Favre is still a hot dog though, and still looks out for his interests more so than for his team’s. His stupid long pass attempt down the sideline kept Green Bay in the game, and a better team may have been able to capitalize on the opportunity.
Tampa Bay and Washington are both horrible though, Tampa on the defense and the Skins on offense. The Bills once again seem pathetic. The Rams got slaughtered by the 49ers. The Raiders are horrible under a fat and lousy Jamarcus Russell. There’s hope for the Browns as they showed against the tough Bengals but can Mangini really be expected to turn that club around?
Well, it’s just Week Five and hopefully, things only get better.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Smart Get Smarter
Well, the Angels picked up Bobby Abreu for one year at the relatively measly price of 5 million dollars. This just proves the fact that good teams make good decisions and come out smelling like a rose more often than not. These of course are the same Angels that habitually embarrass the Yankees, the team that gets on base and then runs like the devil, the team that brings in strong relief pitching to shut down any thoughts its opponent had of coming back.
Abreu, by the way, batted .296 for the Yanks last year with 20 dingers and 100 rbi’s along with 100 runs scored. Sure, he’s a little afraid of the wall in right field, but maybe that’s why he’s scheduled to play left. Any way you look at it, this is a solid pickup for the Angels.
It’ll probably rank right up there with the Tigers signing of Pudge Rodriguez a couple of years ago.
I’m giving the Mets a pass on this missed opportunity as they do have quite a few left-handed batters already. They need a solid right-handed bat. That is, if they need another bat at all. All that pitching makes hitting almost extraneous.
Bret Favre is retiring again. What can you say? I certainly hope it’s true. The Jets, meanwhile, from Woody and Tannenbaum, have released quotables expounding on his excellent play and his humanity. Gimme a friggin break. They’re also committed to not raising ticket prices, a good thing, of course, but you’ll still have to come up with the dough for the seat license.
So, if Favre plays out this situation according to form, he’ll retire and then un-retire about every other day for a few months before signing on with some totally unexpected team. Or, who knows, he may even wind up with the Jets again, who are genuflecting themselves right into the ground.
And Miguel Tejada is scheduled to apologize today. Another non-surprising surprise is just what baseball needs right now. Let’s just pull in everybody the public has suspected anyway and get them to say “sorry”. What could be less painful than that?
Arod’s “sorry” was pretty sorry, by the way. He was young, he was very stupid, he had just made a lot of money, he felt tremendous pressure to perform, yada yada ya….sounded a lot like my fraternity brothers apologizing for unspeakable atrocities committed at open houses by saying, “Well, I was drunk”.
But that’s okay. Sorry is better than not being sorry and it’s all we’re going to get. I couldn’t help but smile though as he restricted his usage to his years in Texas. And qualified everything really by not being really precise about anything. But that’s Arod being Arod…
Hmm, sounds familiar. Manny being Manny, Arod being Arod. I read today that fans are tired of hearing about Manny. Not me. He’s the best thing that’s happened to baseball in quite a long time. If he could run the bases, there would be no God.
But geez, I wish the Knicks would win a game again. It’s been a while and D’Antoni actually made a mistake to lose that last one, the one before Jamal Crawford lit them up for Golden State.
That’s all for me today. I’m nursing an urge to accomplish something on this beautiful Spring day in February.
Abreu, by the way, batted .296 for the Yanks last year with 20 dingers and 100 rbi’s along with 100 runs scored. Sure, he’s a little afraid of the wall in right field, but maybe that’s why he’s scheduled to play left. Any way you look at it, this is a solid pickup for the Angels.
It’ll probably rank right up there with the Tigers signing of Pudge Rodriguez a couple of years ago.
I’m giving the Mets a pass on this missed opportunity as they do have quite a few left-handed batters already. They need a solid right-handed bat. That is, if they need another bat at all. All that pitching makes hitting almost extraneous.
Bret Favre is retiring again. What can you say? I certainly hope it’s true. The Jets, meanwhile, from Woody and Tannenbaum, have released quotables expounding on his excellent play and his humanity. Gimme a friggin break. They’re also committed to not raising ticket prices, a good thing, of course, but you’ll still have to come up with the dough for the seat license.
So, if Favre plays out this situation according to form, he’ll retire and then un-retire about every other day for a few months before signing on with some totally unexpected team. Or, who knows, he may even wind up with the Jets again, who are genuflecting themselves right into the ground.
And Miguel Tejada is scheduled to apologize today. Another non-surprising surprise is just what baseball needs right now. Let’s just pull in everybody the public has suspected anyway and get them to say “sorry”. What could be less painful than that?
Arod’s “sorry” was pretty sorry, by the way. He was young, he was very stupid, he had just made a lot of money, he felt tremendous pressure to perform, yada yada ya….sounded a lot like my fraternity brothers apologizing for unspeakable atrocities committed at open houses by saying, “Well, I was drunk”.
But that’s okay. Sorry is better than not being sorry and it’s all we’re going to get. I couldn’t help but smile though as he restricted his usage to his years in Texas. And qualified everything really by not being really precise about anything. But that’s Arod being Arod…
Hmm, sounds familiar. Manny being Manny, Arod being Arod. I read today that fans are tired of hearing about Manny. Not me. He’s the best thing that’s happened to baseball in quite a long time. If he could run the bases, there would be no God.
But geez, I wish the Knicks would win a game again. It’s been a while and D’Antoni actually made a mistake to lose that last one, the one before Jamal Crawford lit them up for Golden State.
That’s all for me today. I’m nursing an urge to accomplish something on this beautiful Spring day in February.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Call to Arms
Just about 24 hours to the trade deadline now, and although things seem set, at least as far as any big moves in Major League Baseball, there still could be a few surprises. The Yankees are still interested in pitchers, and sorry
At least one thing remains abundantly clear, though, as we approach the deadline. You just can't have too much pitching. Witness the Angels John Lackey no-hitting the Red Sox for 8 1/3, the Cubs Carlos Zambrano out-dueling Ben Sheets of Milwaukee and even our Oliver Perez shutting down the Marlins for most of the evening down in
The Cubs sure seem loaded with arms but they added still another one in Jeff Samardzija, last seen catching passes all over the field for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The tall, rangy Samardzija is just 23 years old but has already picked up a save for the Cubs , who are presently locked up in a death match with the Milwaukee Brewers.
World Series Champions usually wind up having a little bit of everything, or a lot of one thing, and that thing is usually pitching. At this point, it seems that the Mets and Cubs have it on the Senior Circuit and the Angels have it in the American League. Starters and relievers, they have it all.
Aaron Heilman of the Mets seemed to confirm that last night when he helped nail down the win against the Marlins by pitching two crucial shutout innings after walking the first two batters he faced in the 7th inning. And Billy Wagner had another impressive outing in the 9th.
This next week should be very revealing as to whether the Mets can overcome a couple of injuries to their staff. John Maine's MRI revealed a strained shoulder, but he may be good to go for Sunday while their old pro Pedro Martinez, who at last call was battling through an arm problem that put undue pressure on his hip. Yet Pedro will probably try again soon, and what a nice surprise it would be if he can finish up the season.
If Pedro can produce over the remainder of 2008, he would be one of the only gambles the Mets have taken on aging players that will have worked out. Luis Castillo certainly didn't help but he at least played some games. The same can't be said for Moises Alou or El Duque. And Marlon Anderson has been a disaster, depending upon one's expectations, I guess.
If
No teams in the National League can compete with that starting rotation, although the Cubs come pretty close. In addition to Zambrano and Rich Harden, they can throw three other quite capable guys at you in Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis. The Brewers come close with Sheets, Sabathia, Bush, Parra and Suppan but their relievers have been suspect.
Can anybody stay with the Angels though? In addition to Lackey, they can throw another Santana at you, a fellow named Ervin. And then there’s Jon Garland and another Weaver named Jered. Their fifth guy is nobody to sneeze at either, in the person of Joe Saunders, who is an unbelievable 13-5 with an ERA just a shade above three. Wow!
The
Of course, Red Sox fans may be wondering what’s wrong with Beckett, Dice K, Lester,
Another wildcard might be the Sox of that other color, the Chicago White Sox, who can throw Buehrle, Vasquez, Danks and Floyd at you. But their fifth starter is weak, and so is their bullpen. Aside from big Bobby Jenks, the closer, there’s really nobody else.
The perennial playoff-dwellers, the Yankees, alas, are coming up short. If the Mariners can outlast them in their bid for Jarod Washburn, they’ll be hurting with Mussina as their ace, followed by Pettite and Chamberlain, but Rasner and Ponson certainly don’t inspire much confidence.
If they can pick up Washburn though, their chances look much rosier, as they do seem to have a pretty good pen, not just Mariano but an improving Farnsworth and the hot newcomer Edwar Ramirez. Veras isn’t too shabby either.
Of course, pitching isn’t 100% of the game. There’re some other required pieces as well. But the Angels seem to have shored up their lineup by acquiring the brute first baseman, Mark Teixeira, from the Braves. And, even if he winds up just being a loaner, he’ll certainly give them confidence down the stretch this season.
So, although all you might see on ESPN this week is news and more news concerning an even more famous arm, that right arm of Bret Favre, and where it will wind up this year, the real news for me will concern pitching arms, as those more closely relate to success than do the arms of quarterbacks, who, after all, need strong performances by about 44 other big and fast bodies.
So pay close attention. Watch those arms and where they’re going. That movement will probably decide this year’s Series winners.
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