Posts
AL East Preview
First of all, I would like to introduce my partner in crime for this post, Luke. He’s going to be contributing on baseball stuff with me, as well as anything else we deem funny enough to publish. The format of the previews is as follows. We will each pick a different team that we think will win the division and list their strengths and weaknesses. Then we will pick who we think is going to be the MVP of the division. After that we will argue until we are no longer humorous.
I’ll go ahead and let Luke bat lead off.
Tampa Bay Rays
The defending AL Champs should be even better this year, but then again so should everyone else in the division. Tampa’s key to maintaining their divisional edge will be the continued development of their young staff. David Price is the best left handed pitching prospect since –well ever. As a starter this year he’ll be able be able show off an assortment of tools matched only by a young Jenna Jameson (pre-cock free on film). The rest of the staff should continue to get better. Kazmir should soon be considered a perennial Cy young candidate-Victor Zambrano should not (way to go Steve Phillips)!
Evan Longoria is an absolutely filthy stud. In my humble opinion the only thing Mike Schmidt had over him was his glorious female tickling porn-stache. Don’t be surprised to see him win his first MVP this year. Yes, I have a huge man crush. Pat Burrel has the greatest follow thru in baseball-which Rays fans will get used to seeing after one of his 150 strikeouts. I don’t think this is as big a pickup as many think. The key to solidifying their lineup will be the development of RF Matt Joyce. A young bat with huge upside that should produce 20hr/80RBI. BJ Upton is good and has a Mohawk that makes him even better.
Joe Maddon has a Mohawk too, but he is old and not as good a manager as Upton and his Mohawk are as a player. Seriously, I could manage their pitching staff. We’ll see how he does this year trying to juggle their inept bullpen. The names Isringhausen and Percival don’t exactly exude confidence or talent anymore. Howell and Wheeler each throw about as hard as Freddy Prinze Jr. What I am trying to say I guess is that their bullpen sucks and could ruin their season. By the way as I am writing this paragraph I just used the phrase “Stedman is a horse” So, yes my focus is strong right now.
In conclusion there’s no way the Rays should not continue to thrive and win another AL East crown. The team formerly known as the “sweaty nut-sack of the AL East” has now handed that moniker off to the Orioles and given hope to cellar dwellers everywhere.
My Turn
Well done Luke, I am big fan of the Jenna Jameson reference, but Matt Joyce and huge upside probably don’t deserve to be said in the same sentence. Yeah it’s possible he hits 20 hr and 80 RBI’s, but seriously RBI’s are probably the overrated useless stat in the history of statistics, really it’s right up there with errors, not good Luke. While I think the Rays have a great shot I’m going to go with the New York Yankees. The Yankees spent as much as the federal government did in the stimulus package this offseason and they should actually see legitimate results this time around. While I am not as high on the AJ Burnett pickup as some, I do believe he will provide a very solid contribution to the staff. Not much needs to be said about Sabathia and Teixeira, they are huge upgrades and perennial all-stars. Word has it Sabathia is in much better shape, I doubt that, he is a fat lard, but he is still frickin’ nasty. The starting pitching is obviously the strength of the team with the top three pitchers in the rotation are Sabathia, Wang, and Burnett. The former two have both won Cy Young awards in the past and Burnett definitely has the stuff, but a questionable makeup and injury history. The fourth and fifth starters could be Andy Pettite, who is passed his prime, but certainly a serviceable 4/5 starter, and either young Phil Hughes or Joba. I think they will use Joba in the set up role and Hughes in the 5 spot, which will add strength to a weak bullpen.
The middle of their lineup is a strength as well. They have Tex and Juice-Rod batting 3 and 4, two of the best hitters in the game. Jeter will get on base in front of them and they have Posada back who is a huge upgrade over the anemic combo of Molina and Pudge. Swisher had a bad year last year, but he will definitely be closer to his 2007 stats barring injury. Nady is an average corner outfielder, but he does bring some power to the table. Also, look for Cano to be better than last year; he played way below his abilities, kind of like Greg Norman in the final round of a major.
The 2009 version of the Yankees is not without weakness. Their infield and outfield defense will be bad. When your first baseman is your best infield defender then there is a problem. And don’t get me started on Derek “gold glove” Jeter’s ineptitude at shortstop. He has less range than Shaq does on his jump shot. Seriously, I think it’s more likely that Shaq makes a three than Jeter actually makes a play to his left. A-Rod is average at third, at best, and if he keeps that orange tan then look for him to be even worse. This defense will be very discouraging to the talented pitching staff, but the offense should score enough to make up for it and win the division.
Luke’s MVP: First of all in case all of you haven’t picked up on this fact. Corey is a huge Cardinals fan and completely incapable of being unbiased. Anyhow, without further ado your AL East MVP….Matt Joyce. Just kidding, how could I go with anyone else besides Evan Longoria. Seriously, he has the talent, the body, the contract, and yes I love him.
Corey’s (AKA Thackzilla) MVP: Yes I am biased, but I still think the Yankee’s pitching and offense will be strong enough to cover up their defensive inadequacies. But I have to agree with Longoria for MVP. He won’t put up A-Rod numbers offensively, but he’ll be close and he plays the best defensive third base in the AL. He’s a close second in the entire league behind Zimmerman defensively.
Alright we were going to argue our choices, but Luke had to mention Jenna Jameson, so that gave me a new idea. Let’s pick our favorite porn stars. Mine has to be Miko Lee, I have a thing for well-endowed Asians, and she is certainly that.
How about you Luke? What was that chicks name from family matters? Corey: I don’t know be she can choke one down, phenomenal throat.
Alright this is getting way too x-rated and I’m starting to get excited. We’re out. Enjoy and leave comments.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tiger Woods Defeated
Tiger Woods lost in the second round of match play on Thursday, to Tim Clark. Obviously, Tiger isn't quite up to his own lofty standards just yet. But his return this week has made me ponder something about him and the PGA Tour in general. Is Tiger's dominance good or bad for golf? Yes, when he plays and when he plays well ratings are higher for the events and the galleries are much bigger. Everyone wants to see how often Tiger can win and how much he can win by. I believe that this isn't necessarily a bad thing for the sport, in actuality Tiger has made the sport bigger than it has ever been, but there is a way it could get even bigger. If someone rises up in the sport, like Anthony Kim or Camillo Villegas (no, not Sergio), and is capable of challenging and beating Tiger on a more frequent basis, then more people will be entertained. While Tiger's recent dominance over the field is always going to be a storyline, I think that if he has a true rival, like Jack did in his heyday, then the sport will become massive. And his rival can't be someone that has already tried and failed, they are old news. So, Phil and Ernie you're out. Sergio Garcia seems completely incapable of being a force in major tournaments, I'm not saying he won't win one, but he will never be anything close to Tiger in terms of what he does in the majors. It has to be a young, fearless player who has the determination to take the leap. It needs to be someone like Anthony Kim, Villegas, or even young Rory Mcilroy. But I wouldn't expect any of this to happen, Tiger is just that much better.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Led Zeppelin Top Five
So I have been listening to Led Zeppelin a lot lately which has prompted me to do a top five list of my favorite Zeppelin songs. Here we go.
1. Since I've Been Loving You- The bluesiest song by them is extremely powerful and emotional. You can hear the pain in Plant's voice. And then you get an amazing solo by Jimmy Page, what a song.
2. When The Levee Breaks- It starts out slow and the first few times I listened to it I didn't finish the song, but near the end there is a killer hook. It's the epitome of a rock song.
3. Over the Hills and Far Away- One of the best opening guitars ever.....no more needs to be said.
4. Achilles Last Stand- Completely different than anything by them. I thought it was Rush the first time I heard it. One of the best progressive rock songs ever, by a regular rock n' roll band, it just shows their versatility.
5. The Rain Song- Again this shows how versatile they were. They were able to make one of the best love ballads ever, even though that type of music is not their MO.
Any thoughts? Please post your list.
1. Since I've Been Loving You- The bluesiest song by them is extremely powerful and emotional. You can hear the pain in Plant's voice. And then you get an amazing solo by Jimmy Page, what a song.
2. When The Levee Breaks- It starts out slow and the first few times I listened to it I didn't finish the song, but near the end there is a killer hook. It's the epitome of a rock song.
3. Over the Hills and Far Away- One of the best opening guitars ever.....no more needs to be said.
4. Achilles Last Stand- Completely different than anything by them. I thought it was Rush the first time I heard it. One of the best progressive rock songs ever, by a regular rock n' roll band, it just shows their versatility.
5. The Rain Song- Again this shows how versatile they were. They were able to make one of the best love ballads ever, even though that type of music is not their MO.
Any thoughts? Please post your list.
Monday, February 23, 2009
In a sport shrouded in scandal, who will rise above and become the symbol of baseball's current generation?
All I can hear right now is sprinkler heads watering the green grass, the pop of a baseball hitting a mitt, and the sound of a wooden bat cracking a ball in batting practice. Spring training has started, which means that the next season of our great pastime is just around the corner.
Unfortunately, the stories that surround our fabled sport are primarily negative. This era of Major League Baseball has been tainted by the so-called steroids epidemic that is supposedly running rampant in the sport. While I don’t doubt that many of our favorite players have been in some way involved with performance enhancing drugs, I believe that the current media circus is taking away from what we love. Do I think that the negative news has to come to an end, NO, but our media has to find something more than just the steroids problem to write about.
Baseball is starting to lose its title as America’s Pastime, because of the nature of the news that is being reported. We no longer have the fabled heroes of the past like Mickey Mantle, Joe D, and Stan Musial (to name a few). Is it because of the sportswriters, or is it simply the nature of our populace. The truth is negative news sells. This is true in every section of our society, politics, business, and especially sports. To be more forthright about the situation, baseball players are no longer seen as great outside of the game, we can no longer see our favorite players as “bigger than life” simply because of the fear that they were doping or they are criminals. What I am proposing is that we continue to publish these stories, but also there needs to be more of an emphasis on the great things that some of our baseball icons do, not just the bad.
In baseball’s earliest days we had protagonists and antagonists of the game. Babe Ruth was the quintessential heroic athlete of the time. He was the best player of his era (probably ever too) and the American public followed his every move outside of the game. I love to see the documentaries that show just how much of a celebrity Ruth was. Sure, he wasn’t the exact guy that you wanted your children to idolize, because of his vices outside of the game. He was more than likely an alcoholic, a glutton, and a womanizer. None of these traits are the most admirable, but I don’t believe any one at the time characterized him as a bad person. He was noted for his reckless drinking binges, but at the same time he was a well-known philanthropist. Babe was a celebrity on the field and off, but it wasn’t simply because of his tumultuous lifestyle.
Ruth’s antagonist at the time would certainly be Ty Cobb. Cobb was a player that everyone hated. He was one of the greatest ever, but he was a dirty player and a dirty person. I doubt there were any positive things said about Cobb outside of his play on the field. He was the player everyone wanted to hate and everyone wanted to love Babe Ruth. We don’t have any stories like that today.
In a different era Stan Musial was a player that you didn’t hear much about off the field, Mickey Mantle was definitely the man that takes that title. But Musial’s exploits didn’t go unnoticed. Musial’s career statistics show that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game. He’s also recognized as one of the best sportsman to play, he won “Sports Illustrated’s” sportsman of the year award in 1957. He never argued a call and never complained. Former MLB Commissioner Ford Frick said about Musial, “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.” There are numerous stories about Stan Musial’s ideals, personality, and just his honest hard-working spirit that the players of today should take note of. He has never been thrown out of a game. When his numbers started to decline as he got older, he asked Cardinals management for a pay cut. In 1951 he went as far to help an opposing player, Chuck Conners, of the rival Chicago Cubs, with his swing. This is the type of man, hero, that we as a people need to start noting and writing about.
In hearing these great stories of past heroes, who do we, as sports fans, believe should be anointed as our great generational hero? Considering his current circumstances it is surely not Alex Rodriguez. Albert Pujols has been noted for his generosity with charity and there is no argument that he plays the game the right way. But, with the steroids situation, almost everyone out there is probably skeptical about his history with PED’s. I firmly believe that he is clean, but there will always be skepticism. Media and common fans alike have a guilty until proven innocent attitude when it comes to players with great hitting numbers, especially home runs. That leaves out power hitters like Pujols and Ryan Howard, so who can be our hero? One player that immediately comes to mind for me is Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox. The youngster threw a no hitter last year and was dominant from the end of the season on. And he did all of this after recovering from cancerous lymphoma in 2006. He was awarded with the Tony Conigliaro award in 2007 for his amazing recovery. In my opinion a player like this, who overcomes adversity and does great things is the type of player that needs to be talked about more often than the scandals that run through the media. Jon Lester is not a hero on the level of Babe Ruth, but he is the type of player that our media and fans need to look at for inspiration. We don’t have a true knight in shining armor for our generation, but it is up to our media to find someone that can be a hero, then the people will ultimately follow. Who would your hero be?
Unfortunately, the stories that surround our fabled sport are primarily negative. This era of Major League Baseball has been tainted by the so-called steroids epidemic that is supposedly running rampant in the sport. While I don’t doubt that many of our favorite players have been in some way involved with performance enhancing drugs, I believe that the current media circus is taking away from what we love. Do I think that the negative news has to come to an end, NO, but our media has to find something more than just the steroids problem to write about.
Baseball is starting to lose its title as America’s Pastime, because of the nature of the news that is being reported. We no longer have the fabled heroes of the past like Mickey Mantle, Joe D, and Stan Musial (to name a few). Is it because of the sportswriters, or is it simply the nature of our populace. The truth is negative news sells. This is true in every section of our society, politics, business, and especially sports. To be more forthright about the situation, baseball players are no longer seen as great outside of the game, we can no longer see our favorite players as “bigger than life” simply because of the fear that they were doping or they are criminals. What I am proposing is that we continue to publish these stories, but also there needs to be more of an emphasis on the great things that some of our baseball icons do, not just the bad.
In baseball’s earliest days we had protagonists and antagonists of the game. Babe Ruth was the quintessential heroic athlete of the time. He was the best player of his era (probably ever too) and the American public followed his every move outside of the game. I love to see the documentaries that show just how much of a celebrity Ruth was. Sure, he wasn’t the exact guy that you wanted your children to idolize, because of his vices outside of the game. He was more than likely an alcoholic, a glutton, and a womanizer. None of these traits are the most admirable, but I don’t believe any one at the time characterized him as a bad person. He was noted for his reckless drinking binges, but at the same time he was a well-known philanthropist. Babe was a celebrity on the field and off, but it wasn’t simply because of his tumultuous lifestyle.
Ruth’s antagonist at the time would certainly be Ty Cobb. Cobb was a player that everyone hated. He was one of the greatest ever, but he was a dirty player and a dirty person. I doubt there were any positive things said about Cobb outside of his play on the field. He was the player everyone wanted to hate and everyone wanted to love Babe Ruth. We don’t have any stories like that today.
In a different era Stan Musial was a player that you didn’t hear much about off the field, Mickey Mantle was definitely the man that takes that title. But Musial’s exploits didn’t go unnoticed. Musial’s career statistics show that he was one of the greatest to ever play the game. He’s also recognized as one of the best sportsman to play, he won “Sports Illustrated’s” sportsman of the year award in 1957. He never argued a call and never complained. Former MLB Commissioner Ford Frick said about Musial, “Here stands baseball’s perfect warrior. Here stands baseball’s perfect knight.” There are numerous stories about Stan Musial’s ideals, personality, and just his honest hard-working spirit that the players of today should take note of. He has never been thrown out of a game. When his numbers started to decline as he got older, he asked Cardinals management for a pay cut. In 1951 he went as far to help an opposing player, Chuck Conners, of the rival Chicago Cubs, with his swing. This is the type of man, hero, that we as a people need to start noting and writing about.
In hearing these great stories of past heroes, who do we, as sports fans, believe should be anointed as our great generational hero? Considering his current circumstances it is surely not Alex Rodriguez. Albert Pujols has been noted for his generosity with charity and there is no argument that he plays the game the right way. But, with the steroids situation, almost everyone out there is probably skeptical about his history with PED’s. I firmly believe that he is clean, but there will always be skepticism. Media and common fans alike have a guilty until proven innocent attitude when it comes to players with great hitting numbers, especially home runs. That leaves out power hitters like Pujols and Ryan Howard, so who can be our hero? One player that immediately comes to mind for me is Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox. The youngster threw a no hitter last year and was dominant from the end of the season on. And he did all of this after recovering from cancerous lymphoma in 2006. He was awarded with the Tony Conigliaro award in 2007 for his amazing recovery. In my opinion a player like this, who overcomes adversity and does great things is the type of player that needs to be talked about more often than the scandals that run through the media. Jon Lester is not a hero on the level of Babe Ruth, but he is the type of player that our media and fans need to look at for inspiration. We don’t have a true knight in shining armor for our generation, but it is up to our media to find someone that can be a hero, then the people will ultimately follow. Who would your hero be?
MLB Divsional previews
I am coming out with previews for each division in Major League Baseball. I will pick division winners, division MVPs, and I will give a complete breakdown of the team I think wins the division. It will all start on Friday February 27, with the monstrous AL East. The schedule is listed below.
Feb 27-AL East
Mar 1-NL East
Mar 3-AL Central
Mar 5-NL Central
Mar 7-AL West
Mar 9-NL West
I am so excited about baseball season.
Feb 27-AL East
Mar 1-NL East
Mar 3-AL Central
Mar 5-NL Central
Mar 7-AL West
Mar 9-NL West
I am so excited about baseball season.
Braves sign Anderson
Ok, terrible signing number 2 in the last week. The Mariners signed Griffey Jr. last week and I think that was terrible, but the Braves signed Garrett Anderson, wow good move. Last year Anderson's BA was .293, I hate to use batting average, but it was his best statistic last year. His OBP was only .325 and he slugged .433. These numbers are not good enough to be a regular on a major league ball club and he is more than likely going to regress even more this year.
I am certain that some of the big network analysts will call this a good move, primarily because they will consider Anderson a "veteran presence" that will add "clubhouse leadership." Horse poo. I don't even think he is capable of playing an average left field. He's done.
Another reason this is a terrible move is because you are going to block a very good prospect in Jordan Schafer for a guy who is going to be a below average corner outfielder in all facets of the game. If they use him as a platoon guy or a pinch hitter then fine, but don't take at bats away from the young guys. The organization needs to understand that winning this year is not priority as their farm system is stacked and 2010/2011 are years that it is more likely for them to be successful. Another bad deal for a "crafty vet." Jesus, how overrated is that whole veteran presence/leadership thing, isn't that what you hire good managers for?
I am certain that some of the big network analysts will call this a good move, primarily because they will consider Anderson a "veteran presence" that will add "clubhouse leadership." Horse poo. I don't even think he is capable of playing an average left field. He's done.
Another reason this is a terrible move is because you are going to block a very good prospect in Jordan Schafer for a guy who is going to be a below average corner outfielder in all facets of the game. If they use him as a platoon guy or a pinch hitter then fine, but don't take at bats away from the young guys. The organization needs to understand that winning this year is not priority as their farm system is stacked and 2010/2011 are years that it is more likely for them to be successful. Another bad deal for a "crafty vet." Jesus, how overrated is that whole veteran presence/leadership thing, isn't that what you hire good managers for?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)