Archive for September, 2009
It seems like all the news has been about mora lately:
In any other season, this is just two less than mediocre teams playing out the string. (Yes, in Week 3.) But the Lions did not have a horrific collapse this time. Their quarterback was competent and—dare I say it?—poised. (But Matt … please don’t stick your tongue out like that again. Ever.) Their defense managed a couple of decent stops. Tackles were made, passes were not dropped and Detroit is 1-2. Huzzah! I don’t think anyone in Detroit believes that this “changes everything.” This team is still a long way from being decent. This is not the start of a meteoric rise to a Super Bowl dynasty. There will be many more setbacks before the year is out. (And William Clay Ford is not suddenly redeemed. Or “classy”.) But for the first time in the two years, the Lions and their fans can be the ones to say, “At least we’re not those guys.” (The Redskins are doing some serious soul searching today and probably aren’t finding much to look at.) The moral of the story, as always, is don’t invite Tom Cruise to hang out on your sideline before the game. It only makes your mission more impossibler. Mitch Albom: Blacked out, knocked down ⦠Lions arise! Detroit Free Press * * * * * Here are some other big winners, who did not win quite as big: Tim Tebow: Is there any way “The Immaculate Headache” doesn’t increase his legend tenfold? The man cured swine flu! TimTeblog Iowa Hawkeyes: Actually, they win any weekend where the schedule reads “Penn State.” It’s required by the Patriot Act. Black Heart Gold Pants Kevin Kolb: First quarterback in NFL history to throw for 300+ yards in each of his first two career starts. Why don’t you write a press release about that, PETA? Sporting News BCS Haters: Boise State is now ranked fifth in both polls. Paging LeGarrette Blount! USA Today Phil Mickelson: In your face, cancer. Telegraph
In sports, everybody is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like the Detroit Lions, who won the weekend by not being friends with Tom Cruise. Detroit City is fixed!
Detroit revels in rare chance to rejoice Washington Times
Lions finally get ‘King Kong’ off their back Dan Wetzel
Detroit Lions Get First Win Since 2007! Sports Climax
Washington Football: The Ultimate Story Line Victims Stet Sports
Game’s On. Will Tom Cruise Jinx it? NBC Washington
Photo via Detroit Free Press.
Thoughts?
Here’s a video of mora trying his best work:
Mora Baseball - the trailer
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News about Pie,
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Type “mets fan” into Google Images and you get a good cross-section of Mets Nation, everything from the disappointed to the dejected. A prime example: that downtrodden, scruffy-looking twentysomething with his hands held hopelessly atop his rally cap.
That man is me.
My name is Seth Fleischauer, and I am The Face of Mets Failure.
The date was Sept. 30, 2007, and Los Mets had just broken the Major League record for Piece of Shit. The next day, my face was everywhere -â the cover of the Daily News, USA Today’s sports section, AOL’s homepage, and so on. SNY interviewed me, a nameless blogger made it his personal mission to shame me, and even Regis Philbin exclaimed on his morning show, “It’s that guy again ⦠Who is this guy?!?”
Now every time the Mets fall on their collective face, someone, somewhere, uses my image. My favorite instance came on this very site when I was listed on a Mets injury report, right after Keith Hernandez and Mr. Met.
The attention has been an ego rush, sure, but the experience itself has taught me what it means to be a Mets fan. Being indelibly linked with their failure has made me appreciate the agony of it all. I get it now — we’re not the Yankees, and we never will be. We fail in new and more interesting ways all the time, and if there’s a pop fly to be dropped in the bottom of the ninth with two men on, we will find the man to do it. Part of the fun is embracing how utterly unfortunate we can be. Failing this fantastically can do nothing but make future victories all the sweeter.
Seth Fleischauer is an elementary school teacher who left New York three months ago for the comfortable vapidity of Los Angeles. His blog, with stories about teaching in New York, LA and Taiwan, is adventuresinteacherland.wordpress.com.
Photos by Becky Levitt Fleischauer
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Post your replies below.
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Ray should be traded -
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The Washington Nationals held a everything-must-go! charity auction over the weekend which included autographed baseballs from the likes of Wily Mo Pena and Ray King. NationalsEnquirer
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I bet nobody saw that one coming!
Here’s a clip of Ray:
Pete Rose Insults Ray Fosse in Cooperstown 2007
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I wonder how hill’s real fans feel -
Throughout this September, with the Cubs desperately clinging to hope of a postseason berth with a 16-9 start to the month, I kept thinking “stranger things have happened”. From time to time, as you know, I’d cite various other late-season pennant collapses or pushes, such as the 1964 Phillies or 2007 Rockies, as examples of why the Cubs could come back. Now, though, if the Cubs were to somehow pull off a miracle finish, you’d have to say “stranger things have NOT happened”. With four teams ahead of them and an elimination number of one, the race is, for all intents and purposes, over. It would, however, be fun if somehow the five teams wound up in what Baseball Musings’ David Pinto calls a “massive tie”. Today Pinto posts the way in which four teams could wind up tied for the NL Wild Card. That’d be fun to watch if only to see how Bud Selig would have to sputter his way through the method of breaking the tie. Right now the team with the best chance of pulling a “miracle” finish is the Braves, who on September 6 were seven games off the wild-card pace and who have now won six in a row and closed to within 2.5 games of the lead. Yesterday, the Cubs missed their chance to have their first-ever four-game sweep of the Giants in San Francisco, losing to the Giants 5-1. Randy Wells didn’t pitch too badly, but he kept getting nibbled at; he allowed eight singles and two RBI doubles to a backup catcher (Eli Whiteside) who was hitting .197 at the start of the game. How many times have we heard that story this year? Give some credit to the Giants’ Matt Cain, who is one of the better pitchers in the league and who tied the Cubs in knots, throwing eight shutout innings before the Cubs got a consolation run off the Giants’ bullpen. The Cubs did get enough men on base in the ninth to force Bruce Bochy to call on his closer, Brian Wilson, to finish it off. So the Cubs will come home for a season-ending seven-game homestand against two bad teams, the Pirates and Diamondbacks, with a chance to at least end the season strong. Some will say that if the Cubs win all seven (for example) and finish the year with 88 wins, that it would “fool” management into thinking there aren’t any problems. I disagree. Management clearly knows what they did wrong this year — the sending-home of Milton Bradley is evidence of that — and though this isn’t an excuse, injuries, particularly to Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano, held this year’s team back from winning more games. The first win will give the Cubs three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1970-71-72. The 82nd win will also make Lou Piniella the first Cubs manager to have winning seasons in his first three years since Charlie Grimm in 1933-34-35. That’s a worthy goal. And any baseball player with professional pride should want to win every time he goes on the field. I was trying to think of comparisons in Cubs history to the disappointment we have felt over the 2009 Cubs, and “disappointment” is the right word. This wasn’t a bad Cubs team, just one that wasn’t quite good enough. That would make a comparison to 2004 inapt, because the 2004 Cubs were tremendously talented. Their late-season collapse wasn’t in any way comparable to 2009 — the 2004 team had the wild card in its grasp and blew it. It’s not comparable to 2001, because that was a team of overachievers that probably had no business being in contention that long. That team wound up with 88 wins; the current bunch would have to sweep the homestand to do that — not an impossible task given the opposition. (We also wouldn’t want the 2010 Cubs to do what the 2002 Cubs did — lose 95 games.) It’s also not comparable to the 1977-78-79 teams, Cubs clubs that either were in first place or nearby for a couple of months each, because this team had far more talent than any of those. No, I think the best comp to the 2009 Cubs would be the 1970 edition. Similarly to 2009, the 1970 Cubs had to play after a season filled with wonders, only to have the previous year’s team collapse — 2008 in the playoffs, 1969 in September. And like this year’s team, after 1969 the Cubs made one significant change: they sent Oscar Gamble and Dick Selma to the Phillies for a washed-up Johnny Callison. Not only was Callison not nearly the player he had been three or four years before, but Gamble eventually became a productive player elsewhere. This forced the 1970 Cubs to play nonentities like Cleo James, Joe Pepitone, Jimmie Hall, a 33-year-old Jim Hickman, and even (for one game) Glenn Beckert in center field, much as the 2009 Cubs have mixed and matched at various positions. The 1970 Cubs got off to a hot start, racing out to a five-game lead by mid-June, and then lost 12 in a row. They never recovered — just as the eight-game losing streak this year put the Cubs in a spot from which they just barely got back into first place in late July before having an awful August. But also like this year’s team, the 1970 Cubs had one brief “maybe” moment in September. On September 13 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs were down to their last out trailing 2-1, when Matty Alou of the Pirates dropped a routine fly ball. Given new life, the Cubs followed with three straight hits, winning the game 3-2 and moving them to within one game of first place with 17 games left. Unfortunately, the Cubs went 8-9 in those 17 games and finished five games out of first place, the closest they would come to first place in the 1967-73 era of contention. Enough of the history lesson. Let’s hope the Cubs play some fun and winning baseball in the next week, because we will all miss baseball while it is away for the winter.
what do you think?This will be shocking news for hill fans, but some of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. hill is awesome, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.
Searching for autographed baseball memorabilia? There is only one place you can go to ensure that the signatures are real - IronClad Athetics. These guys have lots of selection, and pretty low prices, plus they have an Iron Clad Signature Authenticity guarantee, ensuring that every signature is 100% real, no imitations and no forgeries. Get great signed baseball memorabilia now.
pie is in the news again,
Rank the reasons behind the Cubs 2009 demise from most important (1) to least (10). Thanks to reader dc60124 for the idea. Your choices after the jump with explanations or just go ahead and vote.
The Bullpen - 5th most losses in the NL, 5th least amount of wins. 18 blown saves ranks in the middle of the pack. Heilman and Gregg gave up 21 HR’s between them. Carlos Marmol made Mitch Williams look like a control artist.
Lou Piniella - Started offseason by demanding a left-handed power bat that proved to be the wrong Jinga piece to move. Replaced Aramis Ramirez for 50 games with the likes of Aaron Miles, Ryan Freel and Bobby Scales while hot-hitting Jake Fox sat. Never got through to Milton Bradley. Stuck with Kevin Gregg in closer role all year, killed a pony in front of some small children….
Aramis Ramirez injury - Cubs were 6-2 in May before injury hit, went 24-26 in the 50 games he missed, actually gained a half game in the standings. They did score lowest monthly total in runs in June (3.56 R/G) than any other month, May was second worst at 4.32 R/G and just 3.95 R/G once he hit the disabled list that month.
All the Other Injuries - Zambrano x2, Lilly, Dempster, Harden, Soto, R. Johnson x2, Waddell, Guzman, Miles, Freel, Patton, C. Fox, A. Blanco. Plus non-DL injuries to Bradley and Derrek Lee along with a few others.
Milton Bradley - nutcase, combative, didn’t bring any power with him, killed 5 innocent people who looked at him the wrong way.
Alfonso Soriano - 85 OPS+, one of three worst regulars in baseball this year by Fangraphs numbers, refused to sit despite being hurt, defense made Adam Dunn go, “woah, you suck”.
Geovany Soto - looked out of shape all year, home run balls last year died on warning track this year, OPS was in the high 500’s in May, warmed up to a low 700’s by July before hitting the disabled list.
Mike Fontenot - Godenot was anything but, essentially hovering around a .700 OPS most of the season and playing most of the time due to other injuries and Lou sleeping in the dugout.
Jim Hendry - The Brown touch, almost every move turned to sh** for him this year from trading away Marquis, Wuertz, and DeRosa and acquiring Gregg and Bradley. Willfully went along with haphazard left-handed plan, then apparently did little to smooth Bradley’s transition to media-frenzy Chicago, then waited until far too late to suspend supposed clubhouse cancer. Ran over old lady outside Wrigley Field…
Sam Zell and Delay in Sale - Cubs had plenty of money to spend in offseason but rudderless ship during season made things difficult for Hendry to adapt in-season.
Honorable Mentions: Cardinals suprisingly good, the Media, the Fans, Transmission, Larry Rothschild, Scalpers, Goats, Curses, Parachat Behavior
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Thoughts?
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“ESPN’s Shelley Smith is reporting USC RB Stafon Johnson has been taken to the hospital after a bar came down on his throat in the weight room. Johnson was coughing up blood.” CBS2
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I have always been a big fan of JOHNSON, but I have to say, seeing stuff like this gives me mixed feelings.This will be shocking news for JOHNSON fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. JOHNSON is fantastic, I really hope this doesn’t affect the season.
Take a look at a vid of JOHNSON doing his thing:
Earvin Magic Johnson - Greatest College Basketball Careers
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The last time the Cubs faced Tim Lincecum, on May 5 at Wrigley Field, Lou sent onto the field a makeshift lineup that included Joey Gathright leading off in CF (the only game he started as a Cub), Kosuke Fukudome batting third, Micah Hoffpauir hitting fifth, and Aaron Miles starting at SS and batting second (surprisingly enough, he actually worked a walk off Lincecum).
I really have no idea why Lou did this; maybe he was thinking “we’re going to lose this game anyway to this pitcher, so I’ll give my regulars some rest”. And you know what, the spring training style lineup might have actually worked if Sean Marshall hadn’t given up a three-run homer to Bengie Molina in the first inning. After that, Marshall settled down and matched Lincecum well for the next six innings; each of them allowed a pair of runs between the second and the seventh.
Tonight, there will be a few sub Cubs in the lineup again (see below), but this time out of necessity due to injuries and several other factors. With Carlos Zambrano on the mound, maybe this time, the Cubs can beat Lincecum; they have done so only once before, on August 21, 2007, and that was primarily the fault of the Giants’ bullpen, though Jason Marquis matched up well with Lincecum that night. I was at that game in San Francisco; here’s the recap I wrote the next day.
There are only three visiting teams that have a winning record at AT&T Park. Believe it or not, last night the Cubs (now 17-16) joined the Dodgers (43-38) and, amazingly, the Pirates (15-14) on that very short list. (Hat tip to BCB reader bison for the link.)
Lineup via Twittermyer:
Fukudome, rf; Theriot, ss; Ramirez, 3b; Hoffpauir, 1b; Baker, 2b; Scales, lf; Hill, c; Fuld, cf; Zambrano, p
Paul Sullivan asks whether the Giants might be a good match for Milton Bradley in an offseason trade and posits whether Aaron Rowand would be a good return:
… both GMs are motivated sellers, and a Rowand-Bradley deal would not be out of the realm of possibility. Rowand has three years and $36 million left on his contract, while Bradley has $21 million and two years left on his deal. Obviously more players would have to be involved, unless the Giants were willing to pay the Cubs around half of the $15 million difference in the contracts.
Well. Rowand has had a mediocre year (and looked awful striking out against Carlos Marmol last night) and is two years removed from his fine offensive season with the Phillies. But he is an outstanding center fielder; getting him would allow the Cubs to move Kosuke Fukudome back to RF (perhaps he could platoon with Reed Johnson there?) and maybe Rowand has one more good year left in him. Maybe some of the difference in salaries could be made up by asking the Giants to take Aaron Miles in return, too. If a deal like this were made, the Giants would probably have to leave Bradley home during any series at Wrigley Field. It’s not the only option or even the best one, but it might be worth considering.
Finally, for the third day in a row, I found a fun photo for which I’ll run another caption contest. Prize again is a DVD of “Chasing October”. Previous winners can enter, but can’t win again (ballhawk and KaliCub, who won last night for this entry).
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The crack in Tim Lincecum’s armor might be his recent performance. Is he tiring at the end of a long season? In his last six starts he’s a pedestrian 3-2, 3.69 with 20 walks in 39 innings. Maybe the Cubs can wait him out and get on base via walks tonight. The more pitches you make him throw, the quicker the Cubs can get into SF’s bullpen. Derrek Lee is 6-for-16 (.375) with a pair of doubles vs. Lincecum, but he won’t be starting tonight. And maybe someday, Lincecum will look like he’s older than 15.
Carlos Zambrano hasn’t faced the Giants since 2007, when they had quite a different-looking lineup than today’s, on August 23, 2007. Z threw OK that day, but allowed his opposing pitcher, Matt Cain, to hit a two-run homer. Overall Z is 4-1, 3.40 in seven career starts vs. the Giants, and has not lost (3-0) in six road starts (2.76) since the All-Star break. Edgar Renteria (12-for-31, .387) and Randy Winn (6-for-11, two doubles, a HR) have hit Z well.
Today’s game is CSN-centric; Chicago and Bay Area. In Chicago it’ll be on CSN Plus, so “check local listings” for the channel on your system (CLTV in Chicago and 285 for the HD version if you have Comcast in the city). For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Giants site McCovey Chronicles. Grant, who runs the site, is one of SBN’s best writers.
Overflow comment threads will post today at 10:15 and 11:15 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.
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I have always been a big fan of Hill, but I have to say, seeing news like this gives me mixed feelings.How do you think this news will affect the team this season?
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News about hill:
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My how the sports writers love to speculate. They don’t start a rumor mind you, they get a few out of context quotes to make it seem like it’s from a real “the trade’s just about ready to be completed” source. We all know Captain Wrongway Phil Rogers loves to do this stuff in his Sunday ‘mlb whispers’ column. The newest wanna-be GM rumor comes from Paul Sullivan, the Cubs beat specialist from the currently bankrupt (can I count the ways) Chicago Tribune.
Pseudo GM, ‘Paul Sully-My-Reputation’ pulls out the two martini cocktail napkin and draws up trade possibilities for Milton Bradley this offseason. On a bigger picture level he categorizes two “how to unload Bradley scenerios”. Then he paints a classic bad contract for bad contract, real dollar salary swap with the Giants that oddly makes some sense (accent on odd).
Sully Scenerio #1:
A reverse salary dump or more accurately a salary eat and swallow (definitely not tasty). The team that will take on Bradley and the $20+ million remaining on his deal has no “bad” contracts of near equal value (because their inherently low payroll doesn’t have any big contracts of similar value). Kansas City and San Diego get mentions here. KC will have 2 years remaining on Gil Meche’s 5/55 deal but Meche has let everyone know he doesn’t like the big market spotlight. He was a passing consideration during the 2006 off-season where the Cubs rightly preferred to sign Bulldog Teddy Roosevelt Lilly. A deal with these teams would essentially be the Cubs unloading Bradley but still paying the rest of his contract for minimal minor league talent in exchange. I’m not sure if it’s worth discussing this since it’s probably about the same as just releasing him and eating the collard “green”(s). The Cubs have done this before and gotten Jerry Hairston Jr., Mike Fontenot and Jose Ceda level value as players on previous trades to get bigger salary players out of town. So current GM Hendry has gotten something out of that situation before with the most value extracted from the unloading of Todd Hundley’s big contract (2 years remained on a 4/24 deal) for Eric Karros and Mark Grudzielanek.
ESPN even got Padres GM, Kevin Towers to add this nearly tampering quote:
“I haven’t had any calls from Jim about him,” Towers told ESPN.com.
“But I think people kind of know what players we target. We have to take chances sometimes.”
“We took a chance on Milton the first time we had him, and he actually played pretty well before his knee injury.We could be in the market for an outfielder. I’m not saying it’s necessarily Milton. But our experience with him was rather a positive one. It wasn’t really a negative one.”
So it looks like Towers is trying to ‘target’ ex-Cubs in a paint-by-numbers fashion, starting at #22. That makes Bradley his obvious next target. I’m thinking Ryne Sandberg will be the Padres next manager based on this logic.
Here’s the inside poop from KC:
According to Royals insiders, upper management still considers Bradley a talented hitter who could thrive in a low-key environment such as the one in Kansas City.
Sully Scenerio #2:
Finding a trading partner with an ugly contract that makes a bigger financial committment than the current Bradley deal…and Sullivan seems to have found one!
So here’s the punch line:
Aaron Rowand for Milton Bradley. Doing the math it’s a 3/36 vs 2/21 swap. The Cubs would be on the hook for an albeit deferred, $15 million more. Hey, everybody likes Rowand and we all knows how laid back things are in northern California. Bradley would look a bit small (but comfy) in the Barry Bonds barkalounger. Hitting in front of happy go lucky Kung Fu Panda just might work for Milton.
If the Cubs want to swap bad contracts, as they did in the Hundley deal, the Giants may be Hendry’s best option. Center fielder Aaron Rowand has not put up the kind of numbers expected in San Francisco and has three years remaining for $36 million.
Rowand is two years removed from a 27-homer, 89-RBI season for the Phillies and would be a good fit in the Cubs clubhouse.
(addition: and Bradley would be two years removed from a 22-homer, .321/.436/.663/.999 line in Texas)
I hope that Paul Sullivan uses the napkin on that blue cheese (from the olives) dribbling down his chin. A deal like this would make Hendry’s biblical acquisitions: 3 Aaron’s and 1 Moses…shouldn’t the counter move really be a Pharoah Ramses II? That should get the Cubs a player who can really provide “protection” for the middle of the order (of course, that depends on how well the late Yul Brynner can hit).
One last thing…
As suspended Milton Bradley isn’t with the team, I’m thinking I should be looking for him under the bus. Shouldn’t players (in this case Reed Johnson) just keep their mouths shut rather than putting broken feet in them?
“Cubs fans would fall in love with him (Rowand), for sure,” Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson said. “He did well on the other side of town, and I know people … appreciate the way he plays the game.”
“But he (Rowand) takes responsibility for stuff,” Johnson said. “If you ask him, he’ll tell you he could be playing better than he is now.”
**The Grand (where’s) Waldo Hotel Bus**
Oddly, if they do get Rowand, it might just mean Reed Johnson might not be affordable as a 4th outfielder with Sam Fuld as a much cheaper option for that roster spot. With Fuld, the Cubs would be one player closer to a minyon, so that prayers for a World Series win could possibly get answered.
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I wonder how this will effect the rest of the season.
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I wonder how Ray’s real fans feel,
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Joe Posnanski writes about JP Ricciardi, again, and points out some of the contradictions in the Blue Jays GM.
�You would really like J.P. if you got to spend some time with him,� one friend in baseball told me. �He�s really a good guy and a good baseball guy.�
�You would really hate J.P.,� another friend in baseball told me. And so it goes.
The article discusses the two sides of JP, is he a “scouts guy” or not, does he embrace sabermetircs or not, can he compete on a low payroll in the AL East or not? (you have to get through the Michael Jordan stuff to get to the meat of the JP commentary).
He also adds this comment which is new to me:
On the one hand he seems a smart guy, on the other hand several people who have worked for him have told me that he does not want dissent or thoughtful dialogue in his organization, which is pretty dumb for someone trying to beat the Yankees and Red Sox.
We have discussed JP a lot on this site but I think this article lays out the enigma that is JP.
The story also discusses an interview with JP that the Canadian Press published this week where JP says that whoever the GM is in Toronto the team will have trouble competing in the AL East. On one hand you can say that is the reality of life in the AL East but several writers have taken umbrage at that statement claiming JP is reversing his opinion when he was hired. Also other writers have complained about the defeatist attitide in his comments. Competing with Boston and the Yankees can do that to you.
Peter Gammons of ESPN is sympathetic to the Jays predicament in fighting the Yankees and Red Sox for a playoff spot each season. He writes in favour of adding an extra wild card to the playoffs.
On the other hand, it would be an advantage to teams such as the Rays and Blue Jays that compete against the economic powers in New York and Boston.
Joel Sherman of the NY Post agrees with Gammons:
But I do feel for the Rays, Orioles and Blue Jays who do have to compete annually with the Yankees and Red Sox. And it is because of them that I have added another reason for an extra wild card.
Back in the eighties and nineties teams like the Jays could compete with the Yankees and Red Sox because those teams were poorly managed. However with the big dollars in baseball now, and thanks in part to Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, teams are very aware now of the importance of good management. Today it is hard to see a time when the Yankees and Sox will fall back to earth. This is not really a baseball problem but an AL East problem. But baseball could turn into a north american version of european soccer where the same teams compete for the championships every year and the lesser teams compete to finish in the top fourth of the leagues knowing the top spot is out of reach. Will the AL East become a league where the Jays consider it a victory if they finish third?
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what do you think?This will be shocking news for Ray fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. Ray is cool, I hope this doesn’t affect the season.
Find great seating options, and great prices on baseball tickets - at TicketsNow! Going to the game shouldn’t cost you a fortune, so shop the better way and compare dozens of different tickets, all guaranteed to be authentic and in your hands before game time.
If you like mora, you’ll love this,
I have been, at times, the leader of the “Trade Zambrano” bandwagon. I did so after the Z - Michael Barrett dustup in 2007, and I told him to “grow up” after the memorable meltdown with umpire Mark Carlson last May.
But there is no doubt that Z is among the most talented pitchers in baseball, and he showed every bit of that talent in shutting out the Giants 3-0 on two hits. In addition to outstanding pitching — throwing 67 strikes in 98 pitches and allowing just two singles, one by Juan Uribe and another by Tim Lincecum, and issuing a walk to Randy Winn — Z drove in two of the three Cubs runs, the first by beating a double-play relay throw, and the second with a double to the base of the wall in left field.
Really, what more can you ask of a pitcher? Z took that intensity that we often have seen explode in histrionics and focused every bit of it on his pitching. If we knew that intensity could be that channeled in every single start, not one of us would be asking for him to be sent away (I’ve even heard a rumor of a “challenge trade” where he’d be sent to the White Sox for Jake Peavy).
And on a night when the start of the game was delayed about five minutes while the Giants presented their annual “Willie Mac” award for community service to Matt Cain (and emcee Mike Krukow gave a shout-out to Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly, who won the award while playing for the Giants in 1984), Z and the Cubs accomplished all this in one hour and fifty-six minutes, the first nine-inning Cubs game finished in less than two hours in more than three years, since April 17, 2006, a 4-1 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
With Aramis Ramirez still nursing a sore shoulder (Lou didn’t want to play him on another chilly night in San Francisco) and Derrek Lee having a bit of a recurrence of his neck problems after an awkward slide stealing his first base of the year and then getting slapped on his helmet by Angel Guzman in the celebration following Jeff Baker’s homer (D-Lee says he doesn’t blame Guzman and will be back today), the Cubs put another spring-training-like lineup on the field last night, with Baker hitting cleanup and Bobby Scales again in left field. Scales played a competent LF in windy Phone Holding Company Park, and Baker drew two walks off Lincecum.
Sam Fuld had three hits, and Len Kasper pointed out during the game that he had singled off two Cy Young winners (Lincecum and Randy Johnson) in the same game. Wonder when that has happened before? The Cubs even scored a run off Johnson, something they’ve had trouble doing during the Big Unit’s long and distinguished career.
But the star of the game was Z, who now has the only two complete-game shutouts for a Cubs pitcher since Jason Marquis threw a three-hitter vs. the Pirates on May 9, 2007. Z was, in many ways, just as dominant than during his no-hitter last September 14. Though he gave up the two singles, he threw fewer pitches and had Giants hitters flailing away at a devastating slider — seven of the nine K’s were swinging.
Keep up the good work, Z, and we’ll be thrilled to see you retire as a Cub. And one more thing about recent Cubs baseball: I think I’ve enjoyed watching them play this week more than at any time all season. The 5-1 record posted since Sunday has included some fine play by just about everyone, and even the one loss was played well. Too bad we had to wait so long.
Finally, there were a lot more excellent entries in last night’s photo caption contest. There were two who played off the “Dancing With The Stars” angle, but the winner is going to be the one who posted it first (by time stamp); that would be lohroffc, who posted, simply:
Fukudome and Velez audition for Dancing with the Stars.
Send me your mailing address and I’ll send out the DVD. Today’s preview thread will be up at 1 pm CDT.
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I bet everybody saw that one coming! Thoughts?
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