What could be better, a nice fall day (but not nice enough to have to work too much), a personal computer, a word processing program from 2007, a fantasy football show on the tube and the prospects of watching a World Series Game 7, if Tony LaRussa can just shut up and manage like a regular human being.
And Terrell Owens is making news again. You have to admire his tenacity. And he says he likes fantasy football too and he’s got Drew Brees and Ryan Fitzpatrick as his quarterbacks. All right, T.O.!
I love these NFL replays too, best thing next to the Redzone and the mute button. The NFL Network has been showing the Jets-Chargers and now it’s the Vikings-Packers on the air. The Jets, as much as they drive me crazy with their acerbic personalities, were actually good. They ran the ball, they passed the ball, they got turnovers, they were pretty impressive.
And C, the Vikes rookie QB, was really impressive against the Super Bowl Champions. Especially his first-drive bomb to Michael Jenkins that went for a TD before the refs took it away and awarded them the ball on the 1. Do officials ever do anything that isn’t friggin’ annoying?
The Series Game 6 scheduled for tonight may not be played. That’ll be good too, providing a perfect opportunity to watch “Inside the NFL”. Besides, maybe it’ll give Carpenter a chance to pitch again. That’d be interesting. That man is tough. There’d be nobody I’d rather have going for me in a Game 7.
But will the Rangers allow it? I don’t know. Right now, in this Series, they look like the team that does it all, especially in the power department. Since they decided not to pitch to Pujols, things have been looking decidedly better for the guys in red. And you had to love Derek Holland’s impersonation of manager Ron Washington taking him off the mound after his masterly performance in Game 4. These Rangers are a team that deserves to win.
But that doesn’t mean that the Cards don’t deserve to win it. You just get the feeling that the MO, momentum, has definitely gone to Nolan Ryan’s side of the ledger. (I wish he wouldn’t hang with Dubya though). Holliday has to start making the Rangers pay for avoiding Pujols. It looks as if he’s trying too hard. But he’s come through in the past in the post-season and Lance Berkman ain’t exactly chopped liver either.
But things are setting up for the Rangers. What must the Cards be thinking? How confident do they feel after the fluky sound problems that beset them yesterday? Even if you don’t blame anybody particularly for putting in the wrong relief pitchers, it’s a pretty big gaffe for a major league team in a World Series.
Other things weigh in the Rangers favor too. Their relievers are rested, their hitters seem confident and they’ve got the hot manager now. Ron Washington has been rock-steady at the same time as he jumps up and down like a little kid. The man’s got personality. And he makes the baseball moves that regular human beings make.
But, truth to tell, more of my attention is on the football action around the NFL , if only because my fantasy team hangs on in first for one more week, this despite getting almost nothing from about six different players in the lineup. Bye weeks can be a terrible thing but Drew Brees, even for three quarters, can make up for a lot of deficiencies in other areas.
You have to be lucky though. I’ve said this before but all that stuff about making your own luck is vastly over-rated. I’ve won one weekly contest by one point and another by about 3 along with the most curious set of circumstances one could possibly imagine.
I just learned that it’s snowing in the Denver area and all that weather is heading for St Louis, and not only that, but it’ll probably be headed our way too over the weekend. I’m not quite ready for any skiing in October. Let’s at least have Halloween first.
The Football Giants should be entertaining this weekend too. They get to play the worst team in the league this week, the Miami Dolphins. They’re coming off a nice performance against Buffalo but that game followed a horrible team performance against Seattle. That’s what bugs me about football. You can get totally inexplicable game results, as was Sunday’s Ravens debacle against the Jaguars.
I was away for the Giants woes against Seattle but everything I read indicates that both Seattle QB’s had pretty good stats and Eli Manning threw 3 interceptions on the day, the last one ensuring the Seahawks the victory. The Buffalo victory, while impressive, came against a Bills defense that was all banged up.
Now they play Miami, a desperate team for a win, and, judging by their Seahawks performance, I’d say anything’s possible. But the G-Men will probably emerge victorious. It’s a really good thing too, because their succeeding six games are really tough ones….at New England and San Francisco, then home against an out-for-revenge Eagles team, then at the Saints, home vs. the Packers and at Dallas.
If they win 2 out of those 6, they’ll be lucky. I see the G-Men being at 6-6 after their game against the Packers. They’ll then have to finish strong against their division opponents, Dallas (twice) and Washington, around a home rivalry game with the Jets.
If the Giants win a playoff berth, they will have earned it. The Jets seem to have an easier road, facing the rest of the NFC East and their own division rivals. I think that if the Jets can dominate the Bills, they’re pretty much assured of at least a playoff spot. The Pats are still the favorite to win the division.
It’s the best time of the year, even if it will be the end of baseball.
Showing posts with label Cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cards. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Small-Ball Prevails in Series
It’s interesting to look back sometimes on these posts of mine to see where my mind was a week ago and where it is now. In my last column that was almost two weeks ago, I reflected on the Cards being the team to beat, that it was the Cards who had all those no-name guys who would hurt you.
Since then, the Cards did manage to make the Brewers look awful and then took Game 1 of the Series behind a lot of pitching and one of those no-name guys, one Allen Craig, who hit a little flare to right against Alexi Ogando, a Texas guy much too fond of his fastball, to drive in the winning run in the Cards 3-2 victory against the Rangers in St. Louis.
But, last night, the Rangers showed that they could play some small-ball too. Rangers second-sacker Ian Kinsler got a hell of a jump on Cards closer Jason Motte in the 9th and just got his hand in to touch the corner of the bag ahead of Rafael Furcal’s swipe tag. Cards catcher Yadier Molina made the perfect throw but it wasn’t enough to nail Kinsler.
Then, a guy named Elvis Andrus kept the line moving along with another single, sending Kinsler to third and taking second on the somewhat-muffed relay. All of a sudden, it was second and third and nobody out. Both runners would wind up scoring on sac-flies from Hamilton and Young and that was it for the day as far as scoring would go. Rangers closer Neftali Feliz made sure of that.
So the American League entry can play small-ball too. They’ve also got some guys who can hit in the clutch, some guys who can steal bases and play defense too. Their shortstop Elvis Andrus made one play that looked impossible and another that just was as fine a play as you’ll ever see.
Until that ninth inning, it looked as if the Cards would once again employ the same method of destroying an opponent’s will as they had been doing all the way down the stretch of the regular season, take the lead and trot out one fine reliever after another to shut down that opposing offense.
If Kinsler didn’t steal second, if Andrus didn’t take second on the throw, the Rangers would have been down 2-0 in games on their way back to Texas. But they put the pressure on, they hung tough, much as the Cards had been doing with regularity. The Rangers got the big hits and made the big plays. Momentum now has to favor the Rangers. They beat the LaRussa formula.
That Neftali Feliz looked so unhittable in the ninth didn’t hurt either, as far as inspiring confidence in the Rangers’ chances. Feliz was the man, not Motte. The Rangers won’t fear Jason Motte anymore.
I had been thinking the Cards still had an advantage in starting pitching, if only because they had three lefties going against all those right-handed hitters of the Cardinals, especially Pujols and Holliday. But, a quick look at the split-stats for Matt Harrison, the Rangers lefty who’ll be starting Game 3, shows that he’s better against righties than lefties, in terms of opposing batting and slugging percentages. The Rangers could easily take Game 3.
Derek Holland, Game 4’s probable Rangers lefty starter, may have a lot more trouble against that Cards right-handed lineup. I’d imagine the Cards would tie the Series up in Game 4 at two apiece. He’ll be facing Edwin Jackson for St. Louis, someone who has been effective all year but with limited experience in the playoffs. If the Cards did lose this one, they’d be down 3-1 in the Series, an event that these Cards won’t let happen.
Game 5 should also go to the Cards as Chris Carpenter is a much better pitcher than he has shown thus far in the first game. Facing C.J. Wilson again, who I thought pitched over is head in Game 1, Carpenter should send the Series back to St. Louis with the Cards holding a 3-2 lead.
Then it’ll be Garcia-Lewis again in Game 6 in St. Louis. The Rangers obviously won Game 2 with the same SP matchup so it’s not inconceivable that, with the Rangers’ backs firmly against the wall, as they were to a lesser extent last night, the Texas contingent can tie the Series at 3 apiece, setting up still another Harrison-Lohse matchup in Game 7.
Your guess is as good as mine as to which of these two tough teams will take that one. Whatever happens though, it’ll be a team that can play small-ball, good defense, steals, taking the extra base and getting tough at-bats in tough situations.
The weather has negated the power of both these teams so far, both games in St. Louis having been played in weather in the 40’s with a stiff wind. Pujols’s drive especially last night would have soared out of the park on any normal baseball night.
The Rangers definitely broke through in a big way with last night’s come-from-behind win. They beat LaRussa’s formula, they beat their feared closer, they fielded the ball better and they were better on the basepaths. They have the closer to watch out for now. They have more experience in the playoffs and they’ve had their taste of failure in last year’s World Series vs. the Giants.
That’s a lot of advantages, a lot of stuff that’s hard to evaluate. I now think that the only way the Cards win this Series is if they take 2 out of 3 in Texas, a tough test against this Rangers team that loves to play at home, a fact that I heard Josh Hamilton re-affirm today, and in just about those same words.
Of course, there’s also NFL football still rolling along. The Jets, borderline sociopaths all, will lose to the Chargers if there’s any justice in this world. The Giants should have their way with Fish.
Since then, the Cards did manage to make the Brewers look awful and then took Game 1 of the Series behind a lot of pitching and one of those no-name guys, one Allen Craig, who hit a little flare to right against Alexi Ogando, a Texas guy much too fond of his fastball, to drive in the winning run in the Cards 3-2 victory against the Rangers in St. Louis.
But, last night, the Rangers showed that they could play some small-ball too. Rangers second-sacker Ian Kinsler got a hell of a jump on Cards closer Jason Motte in the 9th and just got his hand in to touch the corner of the bag ahead of Rafael Furcal’s swipe tag. Cards catcher Yadier Molina made the perfect throw but it wasn’t enough to nail Kinsler.
Then, a guy named Elvis Andrus kept the line moving along with another single, sending Kinsler to third and taking second on the somewhat-muffed relay. All of a sudden, it was second and third and nobody out. Both runners would wind up scoring on sac-flies from Hamilton and Young and that was it for the day as far as scoring would go. Rangers closer Neftali Feliz made sure of that.
So the American League entry can play small-ball too. They’ve also got some guys who can hit in the clutch, some guys who can steal bases and play defense too. Their shortstop Elvis Andrus made one play that looked impossible and another that just was as fine a play as you’ll ever see.
Until that ninth inning, it looked as if the Cards would once again employ the same method of destroying an opponent’s will as they had been doing all the way down the stretch of the regular season, take the lead and trot out one fine reliever after another to shut down that opposing offense.
If Kinsler didn’t steal second, if Andrus didn’t take second on the throw, the Rangers would have been down 2-0 in games on their way back to Texas. But they put the pressure on, they hung tough, much as the Cards had been doing with regularity. The Rangers got the big hits and made the big plays. Momentum now has to favor the Rangers. They beat the LaRussa formula.
That Neftali Feliz looked so unhittable in the ninth didn’t hurt either, as far as inspiring confidence in the Rangers’ chances. Feliz was the man, not Motte. The Rangers won’t fear Jason Motte anymore.
I had been thinking the Cards still had an advantage in starting pitching, if only because they had three lefties going against all those right-handed hitters of the Cardinals, especially Pujols and Holliday. But, a quick look at the split-stats for Matt Harrison, the Rangers lefty who’ll be starting Game 3, shows that he’s better against righties than lefties, in terms of opposing batting and slugging percentages. The Rangers could easily take Game 3.
Derek Holland, Game 4’s probable Rangers lefty starter, may have a lot more trouble against that Cards right-handed lineup. I’d imagine the Cards would tie the Series up in Game 4 at two apiece. He’ll be facing Edwin Jackson for St. Louis, someone who has been effective all year but with limited experience in the playoffs. If the Cards did lose this one, they’d be down 3-1 in the Series, an event that these Cards won’t let happen.
Game 5 should also go to the Cards as Chris Carpenter is a much better pitcher than he has shown thus far in the first game. Facing C.J. Wilson again, who I thought pitched over is head in Game 1, Carpenter should send the Series back to St. Louis with the Cards holding a 3-2 lead.
Then it’ll be Garcia-Lewis again in Game 6 in St. Louis. The Rangers obviously won Game 2 with the same SP matchup so it’s not inconceivable that, with the Rangers’ backs firmly against the wall, as they were to a lesser extent last night, the Texas contingent can tie the Series at 3 apiece, setting up still another Harrison-Lohse matchup in Game 7.
Your guess is as good as mine as to which of these two tough teams will take that one. Whatever happens though, it’ll be a team that can play small-ball, good defense, steals, taking the extra base and getting tough at-bats in tough situations.
The weather has negated the power of both these teams so far, both games in St. Louis having been played in weather in the 40’s with a stiff wind. Pujols’s drive especially last night would have soared out of the park on any normal baseball night.
The Rangers definitely broke through in a big way with last night’s come-from-behind win. They beat LaRussa’s formula, they beat their feared closer, they fielded the ball better and they were better on the basepaths. They have the closer to watch out for now. They have more experience in the playoffs and they’ve had their taste of failure in last year’s World Series vs. the Giants.
That’s a lot of advantages, a lot of stuff that’s hard to evaluate. I now think that the only way the Cards win this Series is if they take 2 out of 3 in Texas, a tough test against this Rangers team that loves to play at home, a fact that I heard Josh Hamilton re-affirm today, and in just about those same words.
Of course, there’s also NFL football still rolling along. The Jets, borderline sociopaths all, will lose to the Chargers if there’s any justice in this world. The Giants should have their way with Fish.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
On Playing To Win
Ok, so let’s see, where are we?
The Yanks lost. Arod is the goat, of course. New York’s favorite goat, that’s Arod. No sense in whining about it, Yankee fans, you’ve got him for six more years. Sure, it seems like a lot of money, but look at the bright side.
Ummm, Arod can play his position somewhat, he probably still has the potential to hit 30-40 home runs, he still can command attention in that Number 4 spot, at least when he’s healthy. He’s taken care of most of his physical problems and he really wasn’t in a groove yet by the time the playoffs rolled around.
I hate feeling sorry for Arod. But really, he wasn’t the only Yankee not doing much at the plate. Teixeira and Swisher weren’t exactly awe-inspiring. Jeter still can hit that ball, almost well enough to put the Yanks in front down the stretch in that final game.
What the heck, Texas probably would have beaten them anyway.
I just watched a re-run of the final Brewers-D-Backs game. Maybe if the Yankees had somebody like Nyjer Morgan, they’d be a lot scarier. I felt the Yanks would lose when they didn’t send Arod home when they had the chance, then they had the bases loaded again and didn’t do anything with the opportunity.
The Yanks have no speed, none at all. Yeah, I know they have Brett Gardner and Jeter and Granderson but Jeter isn’t really a burner. He’s just a smart runner. Grandy can still turn on the burners too but he’s not as scary as, well, Jose Reyes for example. Besides, hitting in the ninth spot in the order, Gardner’s often not right in the heart of things, y’know? There’re guys who can set the table, and Gardner is one of those, but it’s just a little harder from the nine spot.
I know Jeter is after all Jeter but, really, does he have to bat leadoff more often than not? Jeter can still steal a base but the pitcher and catcher don’t get all hot and bothered when Jeter’s on first base. But a lack of speed is not why they lost. I keep asking myself how that game turns out if the 3rd-base coach sends Arod home. And I’m not even a Yankee fan.
I’d feel more comfortable with another speedy outfielder. Swisher’s a good outfielder, well, maybe a fair outfielder, and he gets some big hits during the season but not so many during the post-season. He’s not a threat on the bases at all. Since the Yanks are locked in with no speed in their infield for quite some time, I’d think that situation would demand that all the outfielders have some speed.
I love Swisher, and who’s to say he won’t become a good post-season hitter, but Nick would probably fit better on some other team, a team that already has some speed. That middle of the Yanks lineup is ponderous when you think about it, Teixeira, Arod, Cano, Swisher……there are no extra bases in the Yanks future.
But I still wish they had sent Arod. He sure was ready to go.
There are those moments in every game when it’s either won or lost. You can play like you mean it, go for the win with everything you’ve got, or you can sit back, play it safe, and hope that still one more batter will come through for you. That second option really doesn’t work as often as you might think, not in a big game when the opponent’s pitching ain’t too shabby.
Oh well, the Yanks are dead. Arod probably would have been out anyway. Right?
The Brewers won their series with the D-Backs with speed and it was a lot of fun. The Brew Crew had a speed-burner on first base and another one at the plate, one Nyjer Morgan. The burner on first stole second as the catcher, Henry Blanco of Mets fame, came up throwing before he actually had the ball in his glove. He only muffed the play because the guy on first was fast. See what I mean?
With that burner now in scoring position, all Nyjer Morgan had to do was hit a ground ball through the middle to bring home the winning run and give the Brewers their first playoff-series win since, well, a long long time ago.
The best storyline for me is that Cardinals team, if only because I’ve been watching them since spring training. Just before Game 1, I told my cousin Joey, a Phillies fan, to watch out for the Cards. They had too many players who could come up in big spots and deliver. Deliver they did and now the Cards get to face those Brewers.
While I’d been somewhat prophetic , the Cards won because of Chris Carpenter. What a great pitchers duel it was, the Cards ace against the Phillies ace for all the marbles. And it wasn’t just a match of aces. It was a matchup of good friends. You knew you were going to see a great pitchers duel and that’s what you got. You not only got the results but the anticipation as well.
I think the Cards will be too much for the Brewers. The Brewers have Braun and Fielder (and Morgan) but the Cards have Pujols and Berkman and Holliday. They also have these no-name guys who just kill you in big spots, Friese and Theriot, Schumacher and Furcal.
The Brewers have better pitching overall but so did the Phillies. It didn’t seem to matter in the end. Those guys who just battle the whole game through, who pick each other up, those guys are mostly on the Cardinals.
So it’ll be Cards-Brewers in the NLCS and Rangers-Tigers in the ALCS. I’ve seen them all play and there’s great managers all around too, La Russa (I still hate him) and Leyland and Washington, but when push comes to shove, those Cardinals are playing to win.
The Yanks lost. Arod is the goat, of course. New York’s favorite goat, that’s Arod. No sense in whining about it, Yankee fans, you’ve got him for six more years. Sure, it seems like a lot of money, but look at the bright side.
Ummm, Arod can play his position somewhat, he probably still has the potential to hit 30-40 home runs, he still can command attention in that Number 4 spot, at least when he’s healthy. He’s taken care of most of his physical problems and he really wasn’t in a groove yet by the time the playoffs rolled around.
I hate feeling sorry for Arod. But really, he wasn’t the only Yankee not doing much at the plate. Teixeira and Swisher weren’t exactly awe-inspiring. Jeter still can hit that ball, almost well enough to put the Yanks in front down the stretch in that final game.
What the heck, Texas probably would have beaten them anyway.
I just watched a re-run of the final Brewers-D-Backs game. Maybe if the Yankees had somebody like Nyjer Morgan, they’d be a lot scarier. I felt the Yanks would lose when they didn’t send Arod home when they had the chance, then they had the bases loaded again and didn’t do anything with the opportunity.
The Yanks have no speed, none at all. Yeah, I know they have Brett Gardner and Jeter and Granderson but Jeter isn’t really a burner. He’s just a smart runner. Grandy can still turn on the burners too but he’s not as scary as, well, Jose Reyes for example. Besides, hitting in the ninth spot in the order, Gardner’s often not right in the heart of things, y’know? There’re guys who can set the table, and Gardner is one of those, but it’s just a little harder from the nine spot.
I know Jeter is after all Jeter but, really, does he have to bat leadoff more often than not? Jeter can still steal a base but the pitcher and catcher don’t get all hot and bothered when Jeter’s on first base. But a lack of speed is not why they lost. I keep asking myself how that game turns out if the 3rd-base coach sends Arod home. And I’m not even a Yankee fan.
I’d feel more comfortable with another speedy outfielder. Swisher’s a good outfielder, well, maybe a fair outfielder, and he gets some big hits during the season but not so many during the post-season. He’s not a threat on the bases at all. Since the Yanks are locked in with no speed in their infield for quite some time, I’d think that situation would demand that all the outfielders have some speed.
I love Swisher, and who’s to say he won’t become a good post-season hitter, but Nick would probably fit better on some other team, a team that already has some speed. That middle of the Yanks lineup is ponderous when you think about it, Teixeira, Arod, Cano, Swisher……there are no extra bases in the Yanks future.
But I still wish they had sent Arod. He sure was ready to go.
There are those moments in every game when it’s either won or lost. You can play like you mean it, go for the win with everything you’ve got, or you can sit back, play it safe, and hope that still one more batter will come through for you. That second option really doesn’t work as often as you might think, not in a big game when the opponent’s pitching ain’t too shabby.
Oh well, the Yanks are dead. Arod probably would have been out anyway. Right?
The Brewers won their series with the D-Backs with speed and it was a lot of fun. The Brew Crew had a speed-burner on first base and another one at the plate, one Nyjer Morgan. The burner on first stole second as the catcher, Henry Blanco of Mets fame, came up throwing before he actually had the ball in his glove. He only muffed the play because the guy on first was fast. See what I mean?
With that burner now in scoring position, all Nyjer Morgan had to do was hit a ground ball through the middle to bring home the winning run and give the Brewers their first playoff-series win since, well, a long long time ago.
The best storyline for me is that Cardinals team, if only because I’ve been watching them since spring training. Just before Game 1, I told my cousin Joey, a Phillies fan, to watch out for the Cards. They had too many players who could come up in big spots and deliver. Deliver they did and now the Cards get to face those Brewers.
While I’d been somewhat prophetic , the Cards won because of Chris Carpenter. What a great pitchers duel it was, the Cards ace against the Phillies ace for all the marbles. And it wasn’t just a match of aces. It was a matchup of good friends. You knew you were going to see a great pitchers duel and that’s what you got. You not only got the results but the anticipation as well.
I think the Cards will be too much for the Brewers. The Brewers have Braun and Fielder (and Morgan) but the Cards have Pujols and Berkman and Holliday. They also have these no-name guys who just kill you in big spots, Friese and Theriot, Schumacher and Furcal.
The Brewers have better pitching overall but so did the Phillies. It didn’t seem to matter in the end. Those guys who just battle the whole game through, who pick each other up, those guys are mostly on the Cardinals.
So it’ll be Cards-Brewers in the NLCS and Rangers-Tigers in the ALCS. I’ve seen them all play and there’s great managers all around too, La Russa (I still hate him) and Leyland and Washington, but when push comes to shove, those Cardinals are playing to win.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Are Maine and Manuel Strangling the Mets?
It’s a quarter to three, yada yada yada yada dee dee dedee dee. It’s a perfect time to write sumthin’, the Yanks are outclassing the Rangers (again), the Mets are coming off a ridiculous win, and I even have the Cubs game going, from WGN. The Cubs are hosting the pitiful Houston Astros but I’m not really sure the Cubs won’t be just as bad. They often are.
The Mets play tonight, of course. And, after using up their entire pitching staff, they’re handing the ball to John Maine, with instructions to go deep into the game. It is with deep trepidation that I visualize this upcoming contest, the totally pissed-off Cardinals against John Maine on a Sunday night.
Of course, I’ve read that Maine is angry, angry at a number of things…himself, his manager, and the cruel world, I’m sure. Imagine the nerve of Mets management to question his role in the starting rotation! Sure! He had a bad spring and a couple of horrible starts thereafter but, gee whiz, three years ago, he won 15 games.
Has John Maine awakened? That’d be really nice to see. Now, please understand, I’ve mutilated John Maine in this column for quite a while now but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish him well. Nobody’d be happier than I’d be if he goes out tonight, throws bullets and violent sinkers the whole night and shuts out those dangerous Redbirds, Pujols and Holliday and Ludwick.
But it’s hard to imagine. The fatal difference between Maine and Perez is that Perez has talent. Maine just has that slow fastball, the dinky breaking stuff and well, that’s it. Perez finally showed what he could do the other night. He pitched into the seventh inning, allowing just one run over that span. He didn’t have his perpetual bad inning. He was just great.
When was the last time John Maine had a good outing? I’m looking it up right now. Omigosh! He pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball as late as October 2nd of 2009! But before that start, he pitched only sparingly and, from the beginning of June to the mid-September, he didn’t pitch at all, a victim of shoulder problems related to off-season surgery he had in 2008.
I’ve watched him pretty closely since then and haven’t seen that pitcher, the one who baffled Houston batters back in October. And, while I have some compassion for a player with a medical problem, I also understand that this is the major leagues. You need some luck and grit to withstand the rigors of a professional career.
If a player doesn’t have either, there are a lot of jobs a guy with a bum shoulder can do….insurance, beer sales and the like. I don’t need to see that guy take the mound every fifth day for the team I’m rooting for to win. If it takes anger to get this young man out of his doldrums, so be it. If even that doesn’t work, I’m sorry but see ya later. Maine’s already made a fortune. He’s listed on the roster as making 3.3 million this year. A lot of folks could live on that.
So….welcome to a sense of urgency, John Maine. Let’s see what you can do, armed with that anger and not much else to date.
Meanwhile, that 20-inning affair was pretty scary, from the standpoint of future prospects for the Mets. Their hitting was just awful, as bad as their pitching was good. Too many batters take the beautiful meatball pitches for strikes, then flail away at balls thrown in the dirt. I’m talking about Jason Bay, David Wright and Jose Reyes, but the same could be said for many other Mets, all of them really with the exception of Jeff Francoeur.
If it’s Jerry Manuel and Howard Johnson, the hitting coach, who are responsible for this “take” direction, it’s totally misguided for this particular team. These are more free-swingers. Turning free swingers into disciplined batters isn’t that easy. Somebody as smart as Manuel should realize that.
I’ve been against the tide, it seems, with respect to Jerry Manuel. Most Mets fans have had it with him, just based on his record supposedly, but I suspect they really just can’t stand his intellectual bent. And, while I still favor keeping him as manager, I am beginning to have my own doubts about his team’s demeanor in general.
If Manuel is forcing a bunch of free-swingers to show a whole lot of discipline in every at-bat, it is he who must shoulder the blame when that team doesn’t score any runs. When your most valuable acquisition strikes out four times, as Jason Bay did last night, then that is also a reflection of that batter’s direction.
Last year,from the beginning of spring training, Manuel’s thrust was towards his team hitting to the opposite field. David Wright had his poorest season ever, particularly with respect to his power numbers. Wright had just ten homers in 2009, after successive years of having had 27, 26, 30 and 33 homers.
I don’t think it was Citi Field, and I don’t think it was just an accident. I think it was an obsessive direction towards hitting to the opposite field. This year’s obsession seems to have turned towards “good” at-bats, taking pitches, as many as two strikes in certain situations. While the other teams batters get three swings each, our Mets only get one. I’m pretty sure that would affect not just their stats at the plate. That general strangulation could carry over into the field and into the clubhouse.
There are signs of a team malaise, at least at the plate. The Mets are making every opposing pitcher look like Christy Mathewson. It’s not only because they’re not good hitters. It’s getting obvious that even the good hitters are turning bad.
So get off it, Jerry, or Howard, or whoever else may be responsible for this strangling approach to hitting. Too often that first pitch is hittable.
The Mets play tonight, of course. And, after using up their entire pitching staff, they’re handing the ball to John Maine, with instructions to go deep into the game. It is with deep trepidation that I visualize this upcoming contest, the totally pissed-off Cardinals against John Maine on a Sunday night.
Of course, I’ve read that Maine is angry, angry at a number of things…himself, his manager, and the cruel world, I’m sure. Imagine the nerve of Mets management to question his role in the starting rotation! Sure! He had a bad spring and a couple of horrible starts thereafter but, gee whiz, three years ago, he won 15 games.
Has John Maine awakened? That’d be really nice to see. Now, please understand, I’ve mutilated John Maine in this column for quite a while now but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish him well. Nobody’d be happier than I’d be if he goes out tonight, throws bullets and violent sinkers the whole night and shuts out those dangerous Redbirds, Pujols and Holliday and Ludwick.
But it’s hard to imagine. The fatal difference between Maine and Perez is that Perez has talent. Maine just has that slow fastball, the dinky breaking stuff and well, that’s it. Perez finally showed what he could do the other night. He pitched into the seventh inning, allowing just one run over that span. He didn’t have his perpetual bad inning. He was just great.
When was the last time John Maine had a good outing? I’m looking it up right now. Omigosh! He pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball as late as October 2nd of 2009! But before that start, he pitched only sparingly and, from the beginning of June to the mid-September, he didn’t pitch at all, a victim of shoulder problems related to off-season surgery he had in 2008.
I’ve watched him pretty closely since then and haven’t seen that pitcher, the one who baffled Houston batters back in October. And, while I have some compassion for a player with a medical problem, I also understand that this is the major leagues. You need some luck and grit to withstand the rigors of a professional career.
If a player doesn’t have either, there are a lot of jobs a guy with a bum shoulder can do….insurance, beer sales and the like. I don’t need to see that guy take the mound every fifth day for the team I’m rooting for to win. If it takes anger to get this young man out of his doldrums, so be it. If even that doesn’t work, I’m sorry but see ya later. Maine’s already made a fortune. He’s listed on the roster as making 3.3 million this year. A lot of folks could live on that.
So….welcome to a sense of urgency, John Maine. Let’s see what you can do, armed with that anger and not much else to date.
Meanwhile, that 20-inning affair was pretty scary, from the standpoint of future prospects for the Mets. Their hitting was just awful, as bad as their pitching was good. Too many batters take the beautiful meatball pitches for strikes, then flail away at balls thrown in the dirt. I’m talking about Jason Bay, David Wright and Jose Reyes, but the same could be said for many other Mets, all of them really with the exception of Jeff Francoeur.
If it’s Jerry Manuel and Howard Johnson, the hitting coach, who are responsible for this “take” direction, it’s totally misguided for this particular team. These are more free-swingers. Turning free swingers into disciplined batters isn’t that easy. Somebody as smart as Manuel should realize that.
I’ve been against the tide, it seems, with respect to Jerry Manuel. Most Mets fans have had it with him, just based on his record supposedly, but I suspect they really just can’t stand his intellectual bent. And, while I still favor keeping him as manager, I am beginning to have my own doubts about his team’s demeanor in general.
If Manuel is forcing a bunch of free-swingers to show a whole lot of discipline in every at-bat, it is he who must shoulder the blame when that team doesn’t score any runs. When your most valuable acquisition strikes out four times, as Jason Bay did last night, then that is also a reflection of that batter’s direction.
Last year,from the beginning of spring training, Manuel’s thrust was towards his team hitting to the opposite field. David Wright had his poorest season ever, particularly with respect to his power numbers. Wright had just ten homers in 2009, after successive years of having had 27, 26, 30 and 33 homers.
I don’t think it was Citi Field, and I don’t think it was just an accident. I think it was an obsessive direction towards hitting to the opposite field. This year’s obsession seems to have turned towards “good” at-bats, taking pitches, as many as two strikes in certain situations. While the other teams batters get three swings each, our Mets only get one. I’m pretty sure that would affect not just their stats at the plate. That general strangulation could carry over into the field and into the clubhouse.
There are signs of a team malaise, at least at the plate. The Mets are making every opposing pitcher look like Christy Mathewson. It’s not only because they’re not good hitters. It’s getting obvious that even the good hitters are turning bad.
So get off it, Jerry, or Howard, or whoever else may be responsible for this strangling approach to hitting. Too often that first pitch is hittable.
Monday, December 7, 2009
On A Wacky NFL Week 13
What an NFL Sunday! The Giants inexplicably (or is it?) beat the hated Cowboys (ask Tuck), the world-champion Steelers lose once again, the Saints flash the luck of the Irish coming back to beat the tough but sorry Skins and my Niners and Singletary lose in Herm Edwards style in Seattle.
Then the Pats and Tom Brady not only lose but look bad doing so as they practically give the game away to the Dolphins in Miami. And did anybody else think the Arizona Cards would shock the powerful Vikings? I know I didn’t.
And it’s not over yet. The craziness continues tonight as the Ravens take on the Packers in Green Bay, a big game for each team that will go a long way towards determining their respective playoff chances.
The G-Men-Boyz game was classic. They looked beaten during the week. I thought they’d crumble. I thought that big lug Jacobs would give us more of the same, that their defense would even be worse than usual after having demoted Osi, and that Barber and Jones and Choice would run over them. I thought they’d be soft and fold.
Wow! It didn’t work out that way.
Jacobs actually ran hard into the middle of the Cowboys line, the offensive line gave Eli some time to throw and charged straight ahead on the runs, and then ,when it looked as if the G-Men, after playing so well all afternoon, would blow it by settling for that late field goal, Domenick Hixon finally showed some creativity, not to mention speed, by returning the ensuing punt about 80 yards to put the game out of reach.
The defense squashed the run so effectively that the Boyz just stopped trying. And Romo picked them apart but it didn’t prove fatal. The defense held. The demotions worked. The Giants coaching staff looks brilliant. And Osi came through with a big fumble recovery and runback. New blood came through as Clint Sintin, the high draft choice linebacker, came through in some big spots and Hakeem Nicks caught another touchdown pass.
The game even had a fight (what more could we ask). That nasty Flozell Adams, the same guy who hurt Tuck on a dirty play earlier in the year, seemed to think it’d be cute to push Tuck to the ground from behind. Tuck didn’t think so.
The Steelers without Polamalu aren’t the same team. After Big Ben put them ahead with time running down, they let a rookie quarterback take the Raiders right down the field…no trouble at all, thank you very much, and I guess it doesn’t matter what Mike Tomlin says. It does show how delicate the sanctity of a defense can be, even if it’s just one long-haired freak (a really good one though) who’s missing.
The Saints were just great. So were the Skins for that matter but they have a choking kicker and a safety of their own who really contributed nothing to safety yesterday. Double moves by two different Saints wideouts sucked him in totally, two mistakes that were good for 14 Saints points.
You have to wonder whether the Saints can keep winning this way though. Their secondary, that was great against Brady and New England, got torched for about 400 yards by Jason Campbell. Luckily for them, they had Brees and Colston and especially Meacham, who literally stole 7 points and scored 7 more on his double-move.
As disappointed as Skins fans may have been (after all, it’s been like this all year for them), they couldn’t have been more crestfallen than Niners fans, who could only watch as Mike Singletary mistook Alex Smith for Peyton Manning or Dan Marino, at any rate a much better quarterback (and team) than the one he had out there.
With 51 seconds left in a tie game, from deep in their own end, the Niners came out throwing. It didn’t work very well…surprise! They had to punt, and since they had left time on the clock and had given the Seahawks great field position, all it took was one nicely placed Hasselbeck pass to put the Hawks in field position for the game-winning field goal. Sickening….and season-killing.
A team has to know who they are. The Niners are, or should be, a conservative team that wins games with its strong defense, much like the Broncos, who absolutely slaughtered the Chiefs yesterday as their quarterback amassed all of 187 yards. The Niners seem to think that, since they finally signed Crabtree and since they have an All-Star tight end, they can be the Cardiac Cards from yesteryear. They aren’t. And, for the rest of this year at least, they’ll be something else…irrelevant.
When I picked the Pats to beat the Dolphins last week, I was aware that the Pats always had big trouble winning at Miami. But I told myself it had nothing to do with this game. Surely the Pats would come back strong against the Fish, after the thrashing they had taken on national TV last week against the Saints.
Once again, a team has to know who they are. The Pats seem to think they’re Tom Brady. They were ahead by 14 but twice failed to put the game away from inside the Fish 10-yard line. Last time I looked, they had a pretty fair running game. They didn’t really use it yesterday. After the game, Brady had what seemed like gall to me as he blasted his team for not fighting hard enough at the end of games. To me, it seemed as if they were trying to pad some individual stats on the way to a win they thought they had.
Last night’s game seemed to say a lot about who the final NFC Super-Bowl representative would be. I thought it would be the Vikings or Saints. The Vikes have Brett Favre and Peterson.. The Saints have all kinds of weapons. But the Cards have defense. Hmm.
Tonight we’ll see what the Pack can do.
Then the Pats and Tom Brady not only lose but look bad doing so as they practically give the game away to the Dolphins in Miami. And did anybody else think the Arizona Cards would shock the powerful Vikings? I know I didn’t.
And it’s not over yet. The craziness continues tonight as the Ravens take on the Packers in Green Bay, a big game for each team that will go a long way towards determining their respective playoff chances.
The G-Men-Boyz game was classic. They looked beaten during the week. I thought they’d crumble. I thought that big lug Jacobs would give us more of the same, that their defense would even be worse than usual after having demoted Osi, and that Barber and Jones and Choice would run over them. I thought they’d be soft and fold.
Wow! It didn’t work out that way.
Jacobs actually ran hard into the middle of the Cowboys line, the offensive line gave Eli some time to throw and charged straight ahead on the runs, and then ,when it looked as if the G-Men, after playing so well all afternoon, would blow it by settling for that late field goal, Domenick Hixon finally showed some creativity, not to mention speed, by returning the ensuing punt about 80 yards to put the game out of reach.
The defense squashed the run so effectively that the Boyz just stopped trying. And Romo picked them apart but it didn’t prove fatal. The defense held. The demotions worked. The Giants coaching staff looks brilliant. And Osi came through with a big fumble recovery and runback. New blood came through as Clint Sintin, the high draft choice linebacker, came through in some big spots and Hakeem Nicks caught another touchdown pass.
The game even had a fight (what more could we ask). That nasty Flozell Adams, the same guy who hurt Tuck on a dirty play earlier in the year, seemed to think it’d be cute to push Tuck to the ground from behind. Tuck didn’t think so.
The Steelers without Polamalu aren’t the same team. After Big Ben put them ahead with time running down, they let a rookie quarterback take the Raiders right down the field…no trouble at all, thank you very much, and I guess it doesn’t matter what Mike Tomlin says. It does show how delicate the sanctity of a defense can be, even if it’s just one long-haired freak (a really good one though) who’s missing.
The Saints were just great. So were the Skins for that matter but they have a choking kicker and a safety of their own who really contributed nothing to safety yesterday. Double moves by two different Saints wideouts sucked him in totally, two mistakes that were good for 14 Saints points.
You have to wonder whether the Saints can keep winning this way though. Their secondary, that was great against Brady and New England, got torched for about 400 yards by Jason Campbell. Luckily for them, they had Brees and Colston and especially Meacham, who literally stole 7 points and scored 7 more on his double-move.
As disappointed as Skins fans may have been (after all, it’s been like this all year for them), they couldn’t have been more crestfallen than Niners fans, who could only watch as Mike Singletary mistook Alex Smith for Peyton Manning or Dan Marino, at any rate a much better quarterback (and team) than the one he had out there.
With 51 seconds left in a tie game, from deep in their own end, the Niners came out throwing. It didn’t work very well…surprise! They had to punt, and since they had left time on the clock and had given the Seahawks great field position, all it took was one nicely placed Hasselbeck pass to put the Hawks in field position for the game-winning field goal. Sickening….and season-killing.
A team has to know who they are. The Niners are, or should be, a conservative team that wins games with its strong defense, much like the Broncos, who absolutely slaughtered the Chiefs yesterday as their quarterback amassed all of 187 yards. The Niners seem to think that, since they finally signed Crabtree and since they have an All-Star tight end, they can be the Cardiac Cards from yesteryear. They aren’t. And, for the rest of this year at least, they’ll be something else…irrelevant.
When I picked the Pats to beat the Dolphins last week, I was aware that the Pats always had big trouble winning at Miami. But I told myself it had nothing to do with this game. Surely the Pats would come back strong against the Fish, after the thrashing they had taken on national TV last week against the Saints.
Once again, a team has to know who they are. The Pats seem to think they’re Tom Brady. They were ahead by 14 but twice failed to put the game away from inside the Fish 10-yard line. Last time I looked, they had a pretty fair running game. They didn’t really use it yesterday. After the game, Brady had what seemed like gall to me as he blasted his team for not fighting hard enough at the end of games. To me, it seemed as if they were trying to pad some individual stats on the way to a win they thought they had.
Last night’s game seemed to say a lot about who the final NFC Super-Bowl representative would be. I thought it would be the Vikings or Saints. The Vikes have Brett Favre and Peterson.. The Saints have all kinds of weapons. But the Cards have defense. Hmm.
Tonight we’ll see what the Pack can do.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Over-Managing, Bad Umpiring and Week 7 NFL Picks
The Angels won despite themselves and their over-managing manager, Mike Scioscia. Taking out John Lackey in the 7th was one of the most dreadful moves I have ever seen in ANY baseball game, never mind a playoff game. And, although they wound up winning anyway, largely due to some very questionable Yankee relief pitching, the bitter taste in my mouth for over-managing in general and for Mike Scioscia in particular remained.
The Angels may have taken this series back to New York but they will never win it. They don’t deserve to win it with a manager as stupid as theirs is. The only way they can win it is if Joe Girardi, who has done some serious over-managing of his own in this series, loses it for the Yanks.
I have to admit that, prior to last night, Girardi’s moves have amused rather than upset me. As a serious Mets fan (whatever that is) and avowed Yankee-hater, I’d say, “go ahead, Joe, put in Joba, ha-ha.” But, as I now am actually rooting hard for a Yanks-Phillies World Series, if only to see those pinstriped posers get their heads handed to them, these imprints the managers of both teams are leaving on the games is beginning to get me down. It’s not as if they couldn’t affect the result.
I can see it now in my mind’s eye, the Yankees clinging to a one run lead, Pettitte cruising in the 6th or 7th, when oops, he’s thrown 100 pitches, time to bring in Joba, or let’s bring in Hughes or Aceves or whatever mediocre relief guy comes to his mind, if mind is the best word for it. Next thing you know, it’s not “Yankees win, thuhhhh Yankees WIN.” Instead, it’s “Angels win.” I refer, of course, to John Sterling’s call.
Did Baba Booey really pinch-run for Arod? See….point made. The only thing I can think of is that he didn’t want to see Arod get hurt running the bases. And I don’t think you can manage against the possibility of injury, not in baseball anyway, not unless you think the man doesn’t know how to slide. (A lot of ball players have hurt themselves sliding but I don’t think Arod has been one of them).
So, anyway, it’ll be Pettitte versus Saunders on Saturday, and God forbid, the Angels could very well win that one too. Joe Saunders is a really good pitcher. Then it’ll be Sabathia in a Game 7 and, who knows, if there is a rainout on Saturday, if Game 6 is played on Sunday, then CC will have to go Monday, and not even the big guy can go on just two days rest for the start of the World Series on Wednesday.
Not that I’m worried about the Yankees but I had been keenly anticipating a Lee vs Sabathia opener in the World Series. If they have to start with Burnett, it just won’t be the same.
Okay, enough about baseball, except for the umpiring, that is. I’ll just say this, “If an umpire is caught red-handed both not looking at the play and not asking for help, then that umpire should be removed from the umpiring ranks.” It’s just too arrogant for me. And the umpiring in MLB this entire year has been lousy. It’s almost as if they’re begging for instant replay. (As instant replay adds significantly to the length of games, allowing that much more time for commercial interruptions in highly-rated affairs, this last musing is not entirely out of line).
Okay, on to the Week 7 NFL matchups. Last week, I went 10-4 against the spread, not too shabby, after my first two weeks of going 6-8. (I only started making picks in Week 5). The ridiculous Eagles loss to the usually horrible Raiders ruined my four best bets and, once again, I lost my $10. This isn’t a game for the faint of heart, or um, wallet.
Without further ado (and there has been considerable ado thus far, I know), here’s my prognostications (no, that’s not a nasal condition) for Week 7:
Favorite Underdog Spread 4 Best My Pick Reason
GIANTS Cards 7 * Cards Cards could very well win outright
Jets RAIDERS 6 Raiders Unpredictable things happen on West Coast
SnDiego KC 4 ½ * SnDiego SD coming off tough loss to Broncos
Ind STL 13 Ind Colts are not Jaguars and coming off bye too
CIN Chi 1 ½ * Chi Bengals lost best defensive end
GrnBay CLE 7 GrnBay Home field not so hot for Browns and Mangini
PIT Min 4 PIT Polamalu’s back in time for Favre
NE TB 14 ½ NE London game and who cares?
HOU SanFran 3 SanFran 49ers off bye week and bad loss
CAR Buf 7 * CAR Bills can’t get wagons across Mason-Dixon line
NwOrlns MIA 6 ½ NwOrlns What? I should take Miami?
DAL Atl 4 Atl Boyz just haven’t shown enough
Phi WAS 7 Phi Campbell, Skins just pathetic
SD Den 6 Den Div battle will be much clos er
The G-Men will be lucky to escape with a win after demonstrating how bad their pass defense really is. Yeah, they’ll rush the passer this time (what a concept, too bad Sheridan didn’t think of it sooner). Geez, where’s Steve Spagnuolo ?
The Chargers looked good against a really tough Broncos defense. I can’t imagine how they would lose to the Chiefs, not even in Kansas City, not even with Norv Turner, not even if he never plays LaDainian. Look for Rivers to Gates quite often.
The Bengals looked flat against Houston last week. You’d look flat too if you lost your meanest guy in a fight and that’s what happened to the Bengals early on. The Bears faced Atlanta last week and lost. Cinci should be easy by comparison.
The Bills are a mess and even Delhomme will look better than did Sanchez. Home cookin’ won’t hurt the running game.
The Angels may have taken this series back to New York but they will never win it. They don’t deserve to win it with a manager as stupid as theirs is. The only way they can win it is if Joe Girardi, who has done some serious over-managing of his own in this series, loses it for the Yanks.
I have to admit that, prior to last night, Girardi’s moves have amused rather than upset me. As a serious Mets fan (whatever that is) and avowed Yankee-hater, I’d say, “go ahead, Joe, put in Joba, ha-ha.” But, as I now am actually rooting hard for a Yanks-Phillies World Series, if only to see those pinstriped posers get their heads handed to them, these imprints the managers of both teams are leaving on the games is beginning to get me down. It’s not as if they couldn’t affect the result.
I can see it now in my mind’s eye, the Yankees clinging to a one run lead, Pettitte cruising in the 6th or 7th, when oops, he’s thrown 100 pitches, time to bring in Joba, or let’s bring in Hughes or Aceves or whatever mediocre relief guy comes to his mind, if mind is the best word for it. Next thing you know, it’s not “Yankees win, thuhhhh Yankees WIN.” Instead, it’s “Angels win.” I refer, of course, to John Sterling’s call.
Did Baba Booey really pinch-run for Arod? See….point made. The only thing I can think of is that he didn’t want to see Arod get hurt running the bases. And I don’t think you can manage against the possibility of injury, not in baseball anyway, not unless you think the man doesn’t know how to slide. (A lot of ball players have hurt themselves sliding but I don’t think Arod has been one of them).
So, anyway, it’ll be Pettitte versus Saunders on Saturday, and God forbid, the Angels could very well win that one too. Joe Saunders is a really good pitcher. Then it’ll be Sabathia in a Game 7 and, who knows, if there is a rainout on Saturday, if Game 6 is played on Sunday, then CC will have to go Monday, and not even the big guy can go on just two days rest for the start of the World Series on Wednesday.
Not that I’m worried about the Yankees but I had been keenly anticipating a Lee vs Sabathia opener in the World Series. If they have to start with Burnett, it just won’t be the same.
Okay, enough about baseball, except for the umpiring, that is. I’ll just say this, “If an umpire is caught red-handed both not looking at the play and not asking for help, then that umpire should be removed from the umpiring ranks.” It’s just too arrogant for me. And the umpiring in MLB this entire year has been lousy. It’s almost as if they’re begging for instant replay. (As instant replay adds significantly to the length of games, allowing that much more time for commercial interruptions in highly-rated affairs, this last musing is not entirely out of line).
Okay, on to the Week 7 NFL matchups. Last week, I went 10-4 against the spread, not too shabby, after my first two weeks of going 6-8. (I only started making picks in Week 5). The ridiculous Eagles loss to the usually horrible Raiders ruined my four best bets and, once again, I lost my $10. This isn’t a game for the faint of heart, or um, wallet.
Without further ado (and there has been considerable ado thus far, I know), here’s my prognostications (no, that’s not a nasal condition) for Week 7:
Favorite Underdog Spread 4 Best My Pick Reason
GIANTS Cards 7 * Cards Cards could very well win outright
Jets RAIDERS 6 Raiders Unpredictable things happen on West Coast
SnDiego KC 4 ½ * SnDiego SD coming off tough loss to Broncos
Ind STL 13 Ind Colts are not Jaguars and coming off bye too
CIN Chi 1 ½ * Chi Bengals lost best defensive end
GrnBay CLE 7 GrnBay Home field not so hot for Browns and Mangini
PIT Min 4 PIT Polamalu’s back in time for Favre
NE TB 14 ½ NE London game and who cares?
HOU SanFran 3 SanFran 49ers off bye week and bad loss
CAR Buf 7 * CAR Bills can’t get wagons across Mason-Dixon line
NwOrlns MIA 6 ½ NwOrlns What? I should take Miami?
DAL Atl 4 Atl Boyz just haven’t shown enough
Phi WAS 7 Phi Campbell, Skins just pathetic
SD Den 6 Den Div battle will be much clos er
The G-Men will be lucky to escape with a win after demonstrating how bad their pass defense really is. Yeah, they’ll rush the passer this time (what a concept, too bad Sheridan didn’t think of it sooner). Geez, where’s Steve Spagnuolo ?
The Chargers looked good against a really tough Broncos defense. I can’t imagine how they would lose to the Chiefs, not even in Kansas City, not even with Norv Turner, not even if he never plays LaDainian. Look for Rivers to Gates quite often.
The Bengals looked flat against Houston last week. You’d look flat too if you lost your meanest guy in a fight and that’s what happened to the Bengals early on. The Bears faced Atlanta last week and lost. Cinci should be easy by comparison.
The Bills are a mess and even Delhomme will look better than did Sanchez. Home cookin’ won’t hurt the running game.
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.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Musials They Ain't
Although there were plenty of Musial fans in the house last night in the Cards spring home, there certainly were no Musials on the field. After two straight days of watching the Marlins though, I think they're starting to grow on me. The Marlins exude youth and enthusiasm, and compared to the Cards, they're absolutely dynamic!
The lineup starts with Hanley Ramirez, Alfredo Amezaga, Mike Jacobs and Josh Willingham. Jorge Cantu, a favorite of mine from a couple of years ago, bats sixth. He only knocked in about 97 runs in 2006. The Cards one through four last night was Skip Schumacher, Adam Kennedy, Rick Ankiel and the mighty Amaury Marti. No, really! This is on the web! How could it not be true?
The Marlins, if they can get some pitching, could be dangerous. Hanley Ramirez has already proven to be one of the best, if not THE best, shortstop in the National League. Alfredo Amezaga makes contact, is faster than a speeding bullet, and has that Jose Reyes-type of charisma about him. Mike Jacobs and Josh Willingham can both hit for power and should only get better this year.
Last night's starting pitcher, Ricky Nolasco, is shown above on the right. He can throw hard and seems to have a nice curve and slider. Their other starters, Scott Olsen, Sergio Mitre, Andrew Miller and Mark Hendrickson are all young but with a year or two of experience in the Major Leagues. Two other youngsters are injured right now, Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez, but they might be the best of the bunch.
Not too shabby. It will be the middle-relief that makes or breaks the Marlins this year, and if a couple of those young starters can be converted, the sky’s the limit for the boys in teal. (Really, their colors have nothing).
While the Cards may finish with a better record, they certainly won’t be more exciting. Albert Pujols will still be great, that is, if LaRussa plays him. (I’ll never get over the 2007 All-Star game when the temperamental genius left his best player on the bench at the game’s critical juncture). LaRussa also scared off Scott Rolen and got Troy Glaus in return, and the Blue Jays couldn’t be happier. <>
Decisions, decisions…One of the very best morning activities while down here in the
My Mets take on the Indians, which is really the premiere game today, but as it’s in
<>The Washingtonians also have an interesting pitching staff, one that has some talent but more bad luck in 2007. John Patterson had a great year in 2005 before his injuries. Jason Bergmann has shown promise and the rest of their starters bear a strong resemblance to that Marlins staff, young and feisty. Jon Rauch and Chad Cordero give them at least the nucleus of a relief corps and, all things considered, I believe they’ll be much improved in 2008.
I mean…there are a lot worse things I could be doing, like, well, having my fingernails pulled out, or listening to the sound of weirdly-angled chalk on a blackboard, or …taking in a Cardinals game.
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