This blog edition will feature the Central divisions from both the AL and the NL. The champions of each division last year were the Minnesota Twins after an amazing tiebreaker game with the Detroit Tigers, who then fell to the New York Yankees in a series which featured some of the worst calls in recent playoff memory. In the NL, it was the St. Louis Cardinals who fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. Will there be different champions this year? Read on and find out.
AL Central
Minnesota Twins
Who's in:SS J.J. Hardy, RP Clay Condrey, DH Jim Thome, 2B Orlando Hudson
Who's out: RP/SP Boof Bonser, OF Carlos Gomez, UTIL Justin Huber, SS Orlando Cabrera, 3B Joe Crede, C Mike Redmond, OF Jason Pridie, RP Bobby Keppel
While you may think of the Twins as a "small" market club with a payroll down in the lower third of the league, they are certainly not that anymore, as they went out and signed some good, quality veterans and also inked MVP and hometown boy Joe Mauer to the richest contract in history for a catcher.
The Twins may have lost a few pieces in Cabrera and Crede, they just traded for Hardy to solidify the position both defensively and offensively, provided he can stay healthy. As he has not completed an entire season in his career. But, if he does stay healthy, the Twins can expect 20 homers, 75 RBI and less than 15 errors in the field from him. As for third base, they simply move Nick Punto from second to third who should not suffer a big falloff in fielding as he has played third before. They have improved in the DH department by signing Thome to a one-year deal and he will provide a little bit more pop in the lineup. Then, there is the MVP Joe Mauer, who, without having to worry about a contract extension should put up MVP type numbers again in a full season. As, you may recall, he was out for all of April last year.
Then, there is the starting rotation which has everyone back and should be a strong point in new Target Field, which should be fairly balanced as a hitters and pitchers park. The biggest question with the rotation is Francisco Liriano. Can he perform to his filthy good 2006 season before falling into arm trouble? My bet is yes, he still has the stuff to fool hitters and it's been a few seasons since Tommy John surgery.
But, the biggest question mark of them all is who is going to close for this team, as Joe Nathan, one of the more dominant closers in the AL went down for the season with elbow problems. As his replacement, the Twins signed Joe Rauch, who had 17 saves for the Nationals as recently as 2008. Rauch will have a tough task, but since he has had some experience closing, he should be able to handle the job as the Twins repeat.
Prediction: 1st
Detroit Tigers
Who's in: RP Jose Valverde, OF/DH Johnny Damon (OF), RP Phil Coke, RP Max Scherzer,RP Daniel Schlereth, RP Brad Thomas
Who's out: OF Curtis Granderson, SP Edwin Jackson,2B Placido Polanco,1B/3B Aubrey Huff,RP Brandon Lyon,RP Fernando Rodney,RP Freddy Dolsi,SP Jarrod Washburn,RP Nate Robertson
The Tigers almost singlehandedly brought fans in to the ballpark, and into the city of Detroit even as the automakers were begging Washington for bailouts last season. They were doing so very well until the final four days of last season, as they blew a 3 game lead with four to play. Reference 2007 New York Mets for choke artistry at its finest. They still had the chance to win the division outright with a one game playoff at the Minnesota Twins, but lost it in heartbreaking fashion 6-5 in 12 innings. To add insult to injury for the Tigers, they traded away arguably their best all around hitter and arguably their best starting pitcher for mainly prospects. But, there is reason for hope still for the Tigers, as they can still hit, and they can hit a lot of homers. They still have Magglio Ordonez, who, while coming off the worst season of his career, does have the potential to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs. The other guy that can do the exact same thing is Miguel Cabrera, who made a smooth transition from third base to first last season. There is some downside in that there is no quintessential leadoff hitter, the best they have is Austin Jackson, who is a solid .300 hitter and has a lot of speed with an anverage of 20 steals the past two seasons. But, he must cut down on his strikeouts, which he had plenty of in the minors.
The rotation looks very good, as Justin Verlander has Cy Young award winner written all over him, now that Roy Halladay is in the NL. Verlander can strike out 200 in a year and provide a lot of innings. Then, to replace Edwin Jackson, they have young Rick Porcello, who finished third in the rookie of the year voting last season, and for good reason, as he had 14 wins and a sub-4 ERA, which is superb in the AL. In place of Washburn, who they picked up from Seattle in a deadline deal, they have Max Scherzer, who is a flame thrower and can strike out 200 men. The biggest questions will come at the back end of the rotation with Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis who have struggled mightily in the past few seasons. My guess is that one of them will take off and improve and the other will continue to struggle.
The bullpen looks to be the best part of the team, with Jose Valverde providing a very good closer and Schlereth and Coke will be solid set up men.
Prediction: 2nd.
Chicago White Sox
Who's in: 3B Mark Teahen, SS Omar Vizquel, OF Andruw Jones, RP J.J. Putz, OF Juan Pierre
Who's out: OF Jermaine Dye, OF Dewayne Wise, OF Scott Podsednik, RP D.J. Carrasco, RP Octavio Dotel
The White Sox have a lot of talent, especially the starting rotation, which has amazing pitchers Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle, who threw a perfect game last year. Peavy was also the prize of the trading deadline last year, or was supposed to be until he got injured. Now, the White Sox are hoping he has fully healed and can return to Cy Young type form. Then, they have three other solid pitchers in Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Freddy Garcia, who all should put up double digit wins and sub 4.5 ERAs.
The lineup then looks very experienced. But, with experience comes age, and with age comes slow declines in numbers. That is what this lineup is, comprised of veterans who may or may not produce. I think they should have some good years, but expect each number to go down around 5 homers, and 10 RBI on the average for each veteran player, with Gordon Beckham, entering his second season and first full year picking up 5 homers and 10 RBI and the same goes fro Alexi Ramirez who should continue to improve.
Finally, Bobby Jenks should continue to perform well in the closers role.
But, they really are on par with the Tigers, and should compete for the division title with them and the Twins.
Prediction: T-2nd
Kansas City Royals
Who's in: OF Rick Ankiel, OF Scott Podsednik, C Jason Kendall, 2B Chris Getz, UTIL Josh Fields, OF Brian Anderson, RP Edgar Osuna, RP Gaby Hernandez
Who's out: OF Coco Crisp, C Miguel Olivo, 1B Mike Jacobs, C John Buck, 3B Mark Teahen, SP Bruce Chen, RP John Bale,RP Doug Waechter, SP Jamey Wright
As mentioned before with the Orioles, the Royals used to be a proud franchise, but have struggled mightily with the exception of 2003, when they had a winning record under Tony Pena. There is a ray, possibly 2 of hope for the Royals with Zack Grienke, the AL Cy Young award winner last year who gives them a bonafide ace every fifth day. The other possible ray of hope comes from oft-injured third baseman Alex Gordon who hopes to brwak out into a 35 homer 110 RBI type guy, or at least that's what the Royals are hoping for. The Royals will need them to perform incredibly well, and have Ankiel be a 25 homer man, and have first year start Billy Butler also be a very good power hitter for them to have any chance of competing in the division.
Prediction: 4th, unless everything goes well, they'll lose 90 games.
Cleveland Indians
Who's in: 1B Russell Branyan, C Mike Redmond, SP Mitch Talbot, OF Austin Kearns, 2B Mark Grudzielanek, OF Shelley Duncan, 3B Brian Buscher, RP Saul Rivera, RP Jamey Wright, RP Jason Grilli
Who's out: INF Jamey Carroll, C Kelly Shoppach, SP Jose Veras, RP Tomo Ohka, RP Zach Jackson
It is so hard to believe that the Indians were 1 win from the World Series in 2007. My how much has changed in the 29 moths since. Cleveland is in full fledged rebuilding mode now, as they are trying to salary dump anybody they can. In 2009, they traded away their best pitcher, Cliff Lee in exchange for some pretty good Phillies prospects. Then, they also lost a few role players in Ben Francisco, Mark DeRosa, and Ryan Garko. Cleveland may trade away Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore for more prospects which they can pop in right away and develop down the road.
The rotation is also a work in progress with the only proven starter being Jake Westbrook, who is coming off Tommy John surgery and is a questionable at best "ace".
The bullpen doesn't look any better with injury prone Kerry Wood as the closer. The Indians will struggle all around, but they do have a manager who knows how to deal with losing in Manny Acta, who has managed the Nationals in the past.
Prediction: 5th, and will stay there for at least 2 years.
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals
Who's in: IF Felipe Lopez, SP Brad Penny
Who's out: 3B Mark DeRosa, SP Joel Pineiro, SP John Smoltz, IF Joe Thurston, 3b Troy Glaus, OF Rick Ankiel, RP Todd Wellemeyer, RP Brad Thompson
The biggest splash the Cardinals made in the offseason was the hiring of new hitting coach Mark McGwire, who admitted he used steroids during his playing career. Who would've guessed that? But, supposedly McGwire has worked with Matt Holliday and Albert Pujols in the past and is a very good hitting coach, let's see if that proves true.
The spectacular Pujols and Holliday provide the majority of the power on this team, while everyone else is essentially role players. There is speed here, and that will come from Skip Schumaker and Colby Rasmus. But, this will again be a solid lineup with a tough out no matter where you look.
The pitching along with Pujols and Holliday looks to be the strength of this team. The starting rotation has 4 really good starters who are all capable of getting 15 wins and getting sub 3.5 ERAs. But, they look to be the most stable team of the division.
Prediction: 1st
Cincinnatti Reds
Who's in: SS Orlando Cabrera, LHP Aroldis Chapman
Who's out: OF Willy Taveras
The Reds are a shocking pick to see here I'm sure, as they haven't had a winning record since 2000, but they do have some good players, who just need to live up to their full potential. They have a very good manager in Dusty Baker, and they only changed very slightly, as seen above by bringing in veteran shortstop Orlando Cabrera and Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman.
The lineup looks to be very good and balanced with a good mix of speed and power. The only question looks to be in the outfield, as only one of the three, Jay Bruce looks to be a lock in right field. The rest of the outfield looks to be fairly uncertain with Drew Stubbs and Jonny Gomes as the favorites in center and left respectively.
Chapman looks to be like Joba Chamberlain with the Yankees, starting out in the pen while slowly moving into the rotation and he has looked spectacular in the Spring, throwing fastballs over 100 while mixing in a devastating curve. The starting rotation should eat up a lot of innings with Aaron Harang looking to bounce back to his 2008 form, and Bronson Arroyo looking to be good as well, and having 12 wins as a realistic goal.
Finally, the bullpen looks good with Francisco Cordero holding down the fort for the closers role.
Prediction: 2nd
Chicago Cubs
Who's in: CF Marlon Byrd, 1B Chad Tracy, OF Xavier Nady, RP Jeff Gray, RP Carlos Silva
Who's out: RF Milton Bradley, SP Rich Harden, RP Kevin Gregg, IF Aaron Miles, IF Jake Fox, OF Reed Johnson, RP Aaron Heilman
The Cubs had a down year in 2009, as they did not win their third straight division title, and they did not look good until the second half of the year.
The Cubs look very good again, and should contend for the division and wild card, but they aren't called the loveable losers for nothing, hence the third place prediction. The lineup and defense look very good, with Derrek Lee having his perennial gold glove year at first, while hitting 35 homers last year. Then, with Geovanny Soto behind the plate performing well again, just as he has since his rookie year in 2009. Then, they have Kosuke Fukudome who really hasn't had the amazing success here as he did in Japan.
Chicago's bullpen looks solid with Carlos Marmol looking to have another 35 save season, and the starting rotation essentially has 3 number 3 starters and a number 4, and someone from Pittsburgh who will probably succeed, as anywhere other than Pittsburgh someone succeeds. The 3 number 3 starters are: Ted Lilly, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano. The reason why Zambrano is considered a number 3 starter for me, is that he just has lost some stuff, and he'll still win about 12 games.
Prediction: 3rd
Milwaukee Brewers
Who's in: C Gregg Zaun, CF Carlos Gomez, SP Randy Wolf, SP Doug Davis, C George Kottaras, IF Joe Inglett, OF Jim Edmonds, RP LaTroy Hawkins
Who's out: C Jason Kendall, 2B Felipe Lopez, SS J.J. Hardy, CF Mike Cameron, SP Braden Looper, C Mike Rivera, OF Frank Catalanotto, RP David Weathers, RP Seth McClung
As with the Cubs and Rays, the Brewers did not achieve the postseason as they did in 2008, due mainly to the loss of CC Sabathia and a rash of injuries to their starting rotation. But, the core of the team remains intact from that 2008 wild card team. The only big change is that they traded J.J. Hardy for Carlos Gomez. On paper, it looks to be a very even trade, as you trade players who play up the middle and hit and field about the same, so that's a wash. Plus, they have high hopes for young Alcides Escobar, who they hope will be the rookie of the year at short. They still have Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, and it will be imperative for the Brewers to try and sign both of them to long term deals. If they can't, then they will need to trade one of the two, especially if they find that they are out of the race by the deadline. Both Braun and Fielder should put up excellent numbers once again and combine for most of the offense.
The starting pitching looks good, but not overwhelmingly great, as each of the five starters is going to keep them in a game, and probably have a quality start, as all of them are veteran pitchers who can get the job done fairly well. They signed Davis and Wolf to do exactly that, be innings eaters and give up 3 ER or less each game to go along with their "ace" Yovani Gallardo who simply couldn't handle the pressure of it last year as Sabathia left for New York.
But, the problem I see is that the division is just too balanced from top to bottom, hence why the fourth position, but the top four teams will only be separated by 10 games tops.
Prediction: 4th
Houston Astros
Who's in: 3B Pedro Feliz, SP Brett Myers, RP Brandon Lyon, OF Cory Sullivan, RP Matt Lindstrom
Who's out: SS Miguel Tejada, SP Mike Hampton, RP Jose Valverde, C Chris Coste, OF Darin Erstad, RP LaTroy Hawkins, RP Doug Brocail
The biggest reason for Houston being in the middle of the pack each year and not contending for the division every year like they were in the late '90s and first half of this decade is because of their GM, Ed Wade who grabs mediocre players, mainly from his old stomping grounds in Philly and transplants them here, making it essentially Phillies of the South.
A prime example of that philosophy came this offseason when Wade brought in Myers and Feliz to take over the 3rd spot in the rotation and give Feliz the third base job over Geoff Blum, who handled it well offensively, but defensively is definitely an upgrade as Feliz provided gold glove caliber at the hot corner for the Phils in his three seasons there.
The Astros will again hover around the 75 win mark, because they are just mediocre at every position. Lance Berkman is still productive, but at 34, he's getting older and less productive, Kaz Matsui is an average second baseman defensively who puts up very average numbers, and the list goes on, hence why they are just average here.
Starting pitching is better than average, but not much better, as Roy Oswalt is not the pitcher he was in 2005, and Wandy Rodriguez is still developing, and Brett Myers is average, why do you think the Phils let him go?
Prediction: 5th
Pittsburgh Pirates
Who's in: RP Octavio Dotel, UTIL Bobby Crosby, 2B Akinori Iwamura, RP Chris Jakubauskas,RP Javier Lopez, OF Ryan Church, RP D.J. Carrasco, RP Brendan Donnelly
Who's out: RP Jesse Chavez, RP/SP Phil Dumatrait, RP Matt Capps
Basically, all you need to know is that the Pirates finally signed everyone they think will be good to long term deals and Andrew McCutchen will be the All-Star representative for this team many years in a row starting now. Otherwise, don't look for much from the Pirates anytime soon.
Prediction: 6th, maybe lose 100 games.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
NL and Al East Preview/Predictions
After another long offseason, we are now in the latter stages of Spring training for all clubs and the first game is the classic Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees rivalry to begin another 162 games of excitement culminating in the fall classic, World Series. The 2009 affair was won by the aforementioned Yankees over the 2008 world champion Philadelphia Phillies.
The offseason was scattered with a few trades here and there, but the two biggest ones involved both the Yankees and the Phillies. First, with the Yankees, they picked up a solid leadoff hitter in Curtis Granderson to make their hitting better, and Javier Vasquez, who pitched for them previously, in 2004. Then, the Phillies brought in Roy Halladay, the premier pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays in the past decade in exchange for Cliff Lee, who led the way in their only two World Series victories last season.
This blog will focus mainly on what the team brought in and what the team lost in the past offseason. Then make a short preview and prediction of where that team will finish in the division.
NL EAST
Philadelphia Phillies
Who's in: SP Roy Halladay, 3B Placido Polanco, RP Jose Contreras, RP Danys Baez, C Brian Schneider, IF Juan Castro, Util Ross Gload
Who's Out: SP Cliff Lee, RP Scott Eyre, 3B Pedro Feliz, SP Brett Myers, RHP Clay Condrey, INF Eric Bruntlett, SP Pedro Martinez, RP Chan Ho Park
The Phillies have a very good lineup, with up to 7 players hitting 20 homers or more, the lone exception being catcher Carlos Ruiz. They also have some speed in the lineup with center fielder Shane Victorino, right fielder Jayson Werth, and shortstop Jimmy Rollins providing that. Then, with defense, they are very solid at all positions except for maybe third base, with Polanco. Polanco has not played there since 2002 and he's 34 years old, so you wonder what kind of range he has.
Finally, the pitching, Starting Pitching looks to be good, not great. They have Halladay, who will be the solidified ace, as he has won at least 12 games in 7 of the past 8 seasons. Then Cole Hamels, who will try to return to his dominant form in the 2008 postseason, where he was named MVP of both the NLCS and World Series. Joe Blanton will probably put up his requisite 12 wins and 10 losses, J.A. Happ who will try to improve upon his 12-4 rookie season. Finally, the fifth starter will fall to 48-year old Jamie Moyer who will baffle hitters with his stuff and they'll get 5-7 innings out of him every start. The big problem is the bullpen. The problems are they only have one left hander, and will Brad Lidge be dominant again? Finally can they stay healthy? My answer is they won't remain entirely healthy, but they have enough depth to hold off the Braves.
But, with all that being said, they will still probably come out with 90 wins and their 3rd straight division title.
Prediction: 1st
Atlanta Braves
Who's in: RP Billy Wagner, OF Melky Cabrera, RP Scott Proctor, RP Takashi Saito, RP Jesse Chavez, 1B/3B Troy Glaus, RF Eric Hinske, INF Joe Thurston, RF Jason Heyward
Who's Out: SP Javier Vazquez, LF Garret Anderson, OF Ryan Church, RP Mike Gonzalez, RP Rafael Soriano, 2B Kelly Johnson, 1B Adam LaRoche, 1B/OF Greg Norton, SP Buddy Carlyle, RP Boone Logan
With this being manager Bobby Cox's final season with the team before taking an advisory role with the team, the team will probably help try to make him go out a winner. The problem with that is that there are many questions with the team. Will Jason Heyward be the superstar he is projected to be? Who will be the closer? How will Troy Glaus do at first base? Will everyone stay healthy? Those are all things that need to be answered throughout the season. My personal feelings are the following on each of the questions are as follows. Yes, Heyward will be a superstar, he will have the following stat line: .273, 28 HR, 88 RBI and rookie of the year honors. The closer role will be split between Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner, as neither of them can pitch every day as they are older, but should get about 15 saves each. Troy Glaus will have his issues, but will be ok at first, both defensively and offensively. Glaus will have about 10 errors at first while hitting 20 HR and driving in 85 runs. Everyone will not stay healthy, as inevitably there will be injuries and at least one of those will be catastrophically bad. Glaus, Chipper Jones, Saito or Wagner will all go down on the DL for at least 1 stint, but one of them will go down as a season ending injury. But, the lineup looks to be good.
The starting pitching is probably the best in the division with Lowe, Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, and Kawakami.Each pitcher is capable of a sub-4 ERA and getting at least 12 wins each. The relief pitching is a question mark, as they are old in the bullpen, but should be ok. But, the Braves will pull through and get the wild card in the NL with 88 wins.
Prediction: 2nd, but Wild Card
Florida Marlins
Who's in: RP Jose Veras, RP Seth McClung, INF Hector Luna, INF Mike Lamb, INF Brian Barden
Who's out: RP Scott Proctor, 1B Ross Gload, RF Jeremy Hermida, 1B Nick Johnson, RP Brendan Donnelly, RP Kiko Calero, RP Matt Lindstrom, OF Alfredo Amezaga
The Marlins have a very good young core of players led by Hanley Ramirez, 2009 Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan, Jorge Cantu, and Dan Uggla. All of those players are very good defensively and offensively both with speed and power. Ramirez, Uggla, and Coghlan are all capable of 20/20 seasons. Meaning, they can hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases.
Then, the starting rotation is led by Josh Johnson, who just received a contract extension. Then there is some other young starters in Anibal Sanchez, who already has pitched a no hitter, Ricky Nolasco and Chris Volstad. All four of those pitchers should be able to post ERAs of under 4 and produce about 20 quality starts each. (Q.S. is 6IP with 3ER or less).
The questions are at the corner infield spots and the bullpen. The questions at first base seem to be answered by Gaby Sanchez, but he is essentially a rookie coming in. Then in the bullpen, the closer situation is not a good one. They do not have a chosen closer and it will probably be a revolving door and see who pops out first. Their youth and inexperience is why I've chosen them to finish narrowly behind the Braves for the wild card.
Prediction: 3rd
New York Mets
Who's in: LF Jason Bay, CF Gary Matthews Jr., RP Ryota Igarashi, C Rod Barajas, RP Kelvim Escobar, INF Alex Cora, C Henry Blanco
Who's Out: 1B Carlos Delgado, RP J.J. Putz, LF Gary Sheffield, C Brian Schneider, RP Brian Stokes, SP Tim Redding, OF Cory Sullivan, OF Jeremy Reed, RP Lance Broadway
The Mets tried to get better via free agency, but it did not work out too well, as the only big time player they landed was Jason Bay, who will be somewhat of a bust. The reason why is because he's going from a pretty good hitters park to a big time pitchers park in Citi Field. My prediction is he will hit .275 with 25 homers and 90 RBI. Then the lineup looks very good, with Bay, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Luis Castillo being the core of it. The combination of Bay, Wright, and first basemen Daniel Murphy should provide a lot of power, with each hitting about 25 home runs. They have the speed with Castillo and Reyes as well.
Then, the starting pitching has a solid ace at the top with Johan Santana, but after that it falls off into oblivion with John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jonathon Niese. That does not scream amazing in a park built for pitching. Maine and Perez looked to be solid 4th starters in 2007, but they have not been doing too well since.
Finally, the bullpen looks to be good, with Francisco Rodriguez looking to be very good again, as he had 83 saves over the past 2 seasons and then Pedro Feliciano will return as the setup man to K-Rod. The biggest question will be can they stay healthy? As previously stated, no, and the Mets have had more than their share of injuries over the past few years. They have already had trouble with Jose Reyes, their star shortstop had thyroid inflammation. The Mets will again have trouble with health and it will go prevent them from succeeding.
Prediction: 4th
Washington Nationals
Who's in: C Ivan Rodriguez, SP Jason Marquis, SP Chien-Ming Wang, RP Brian Bruney, RP Tyler Walker, 2B Adam Kennedy, OF Willy Taveras, SP/RP Miguel Batista
Who's Out: RP Mike MacDougal, OF Austin Kearns, 1B Dmitri Young, C Josh Bard, RP Saul Rivera, RP Ron Villone, OF Elijah Dukes
Everyone in the know with baseball knows that the Nationals are going to struggle, and struggle mightily to not lose 100 games for the second straight season. The biggest thing for Nationals fans is wondering when number 1 pick Stephen Strasburg is going to come up from AA Harrisburg. The lineup will have 2 big boppers in Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman from the corner infield positions. They will combine for at least 70 homers for the Nationals. To complement the power from Zimmerman and Dunn, the Nats have plenty of speed with Nyjer Morgan, Willie Harris and Adam Kennedy who are all capable of stealing 20 or more bases.
They brought in Ivan Rodriguez who will provide stability for the starting rotation, which will need a veteran catcher like Rodriguez because they will struggle mightily. The reason the rotation will struggle mightily is because of their youth. There are 2 veterans on the staff in Marquis and the ageless Livan Hernandez. But, mainly they have some good young talent with John Lannan, J.D. Martin, and Craig Stammen. Then the bullpen doesn't look to be good either. Does Matt Capps sound like a quality closer to you? Finally, they will be horrifically bad because of their defense, which led the majors in errors last season with 143. Dunn had 8 of them in just 67 games last season.
Prediction: Last
AL East
New York Yankees
Who's in: OF Curtis Granderson, RP Chan Ho Park, OF Marcus Thames, OF Randy Winn, 1B/DH Nick Johnson, SP Javier Vasquez
Who's Out: OF Johnny Damon, RP Phil Coke, DH Hideki Matsui, SP Ian Kennedy, RP Chad Gaudin, OF Melky
Cabrera
The defending World Series champs look better than last year, if that can be believed, even as they lost Johhny Damon, the World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, and Melky Cabrera. But, they improved at each position, no Damon, bring in Curtis Granderson, one of the premier leadoff men in the AL. No Matsui, bring in Johnson who knows the Yankee system, as he was there before. No Cabrera, bring up Brett Gardner. Then, they improve their starting pitching by getting Vasquez, a solid number 2 for most teams, but a number 4 pitcher here. The Yankees starting pitching is loaded with talent from top to bottom. They have CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettite and Phil Hughes. It's insane how much they have. Compliment that with an outstanding lineup which has both Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, wow. Finally, they have one of the best closers ever in Mariano Rivera. It's a lock for them to win this division again and move forward from there.
Prediction: 1st
Boston Red Sox
Who's in: SS Marco Scutaro, OF Jeremy Hermida, SP John Lackey, OF Mike Cameron, 3B Adrian Beltre, UTIL Bill Hall, IF Kevin Frandsen
Who's Out: C George Kottaras (C); SS Alex Gonzalez (SS); RP Takashi Saito (RHP);RP Billy Wagner (LHP); OF Jason Bay, 1BCasey Kotchman, SS Nick Green, OF Rocco Baldelli, SP Paul Byrd
The Red Sox probably have the best rotation in all of the majors with former World Series winners John Lackey and Josh Beckett anchoring it at the top, followed by young guns Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester, and as the five guy Daisuke Matsuzaka who has never fully lived up to his potential here in the U.S. The Red Sox also have a fairly good lineup, much like the Phillies. The Sox lineup consists of speed with Scutaro, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and to a lesser extent Mike Cameron who is still speedy but not as much at 37. They also have power with Cameron, Kevin Youkilis, Victor Martinez, J.D. Drew, Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz. The Sox also have a solid bullpen with Jonathon Papelbon as the closer and Hideki Okajima and Daniel Bard being very serviceable setup men.
Prediction: 2nd, but with wild card.
Tampa Bay Rays
Who's in: RHP Rafael Soriano, C Kelly Shoppach, RHP Joaquin Benoit
Who's out: 2B Akinori Iwamura, OF Gabe Gross, RHP Chad Bradford
The Rays slipped a little bit from their 2008 form when they made a spectacular run to the World Series to 84 wins in 2009 and no postseason. But, they still have the vast majority of that 2008 team still intact and they still got a boatload of young talent, beginning with the starting pitching. All five of the starting pitchers are no more than 28 years old, and all but Wade Davis, who came up late last season had at least 8 wins last season. The problem with the Rays last season was that their bullpen was crushed by injuries, most notably to closer Troy Percival who never came back and they had to settle for J.P. Howell as their closer who did not perform up to Percival's level. The lineup again looks to be good and loaded with power, as every person can hit 20 homers. The biggest problem for the Rays is that they cannot realistically compete for the division or wild card because the Yankees and Red Sox are just much more talented than they are, which is unfortunate.
Prediction: 3rd, falling 2 games short of the wild card.
Baltimore Orioles
Who's in: SP Kevin Millwood, 3B Miguel Tejada, RP Mike Gonzalez, 3B Garrett Atkins,OF Joey Gathright
Who's out: RP Chris Ray,3BMelvin Mora, RP Brian Bass ,RP Danys Baez
The Orioles are in a class with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals where they have had a recent history of losing, and losing a lot after glory days in the 70s through about 1996, when the Orioles last had a winning record. There is some hope in Baltimore though, as they are developing younger talent while trying to balance it with some older, yet still capable veterans. The young talent comes from Matt Wieters, a Joe Mauer type catcher who has all the tools to be great. Wieters is home grown and has a lot of hitting for average and power, a good feel for the pitchers and a strong arm. Their is outher Young Talent with Brian Roberts who is a pheonomenal second baseman who can cover a lot of ground and hit for .300, 20 homers and 90 RBI every year. Finally, their is Adam Jones, who came over from Seattle for Erik Bedard a few years ago. Jones has very similar talent to Roberts, but with more speed.
The O's weakest area is pitching though. Their ace is Kevin Millwood who should provide a lot of stability and innings for a very young staff who need a mentor. Millwood will provide the lowest ERA and the most amount of wins, followed by promising Jeremy Guthrie. The closer is former Braves setup man Mike Gonzalez who will get 30 saves because even a bad team normally gets 30 saves out of their closer.
Prediction: 4th, but may surprise with 80 wins.
Toronto Blue Jays
Who's in: C John Buck, SP Dana Eveland, OF Jeremy Reed, SP Brandon Morrow, RP Kevin Gregg, C Jose Molina, SS Alex Gonzalez
Who's out: SP Roy Halladay,RP Brandon League, DH/1B Kevin Millar,C Rod Barajas,C Michael Barrett, RP Joe Inglett, RP Brian Wolfe, SS Marco Scutaro
As Jayson Stark put it: "it's year one A.D. "After Doc" in Toronto" after trading away their best pitcher ever in Roy "Doc" Halladay to the Phillies. The Jays will not contend for a little bit, say 5 years after this season as they will try to reduce their payroll even more for more prospects. The leading candidates for trade are: Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, and Kevin Gregg. Their is hope for the Jays now though. Gone are the years of overspending on lesser free agents, finishing 3rd and being around .500 for the year. They are now trying to develop home grown talent and hope for success.
While they are trying to rebuild, prepare for a long season in Toronto with 100 losses.
Prediction: 5th
Note: some info was obtained from :http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=mlb/news/indexsn.aspx?sport=AA
Look out for my NL and AL central preview/predictions for later in the week.
The offseason was scattered with a few trades here and there, but the two biggest ones involved both the Yankees and the Phillies. First, with the Yankees, they picked up a solid leadoff hitter in Curtis Granderson to make their hitting better, and Javier Vasquez, who pitched for them previously, in 2004. Then, the Phillies brought in Roy Halladay, the premier pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays in the past decade in exchange for Cliff Lee, who led the way in their only two World Series victories last season.
This blog will focus mainly on what the team brought in and what the team lost in the past offseason. Then make a short preview and prediction of where that team will finish in the division.
NL EAST
Philadelphia Phillies
Who's in: SP Roy Halladay, 3B Placido Polanco, RP Jose Contreras, RP Danys Baez, C Brian Schneider, IF Juan Castro, Util Ross Gload
Who's Out: SP Cliff Lee, RP Scott Eyre, 3B Pedro Feliz, SP Brett Myers, RHP Clay Condrey, INF Eric Bruntlett, SP Pedro Martinez, RP Chan Ho Park
The Phillies have a very good lineup, with up to 7 players hitting 20 homers or more, the lone exception being catcher Carlos Ruiz. They also have some speed in the lineup with center fielder Shane Victorino, right fielder Jayson Werth, and shortstop Jimmy Rollins providing that. Then, with defense, they are very solid at all positions except for maybe third base, with Polanco. Polanco has not played there since 2002 and he's 34 years old, so you wonder what kind of range he has.
Finally, the pitching, Starting Pitching looks to be good, not great. They have Halladay, who will be the solidified ace, as he has won at least 12 games in 7 of the past 8 seasons. Then Cole Hamels, who will try to return to his dominant form in the 2008 postseason, where he was named MVP of both the NLCS and World Series. Joe Blanton will probably put up his requisite 12 wins and 10 losses, J.A. Happ who will try to improve upon his 12-4 rookie season. Finally, the fifth starter will fall to 48-year old Jamie Moyer who will baffle hitters with his stuff and they'll get 5-7 innings out of him every start. The big problem is the bullpen. The problems are they only have one left hander, and will Brad Lidge be dominant again? Finally can they stay healthy? My answer is they won't remain entirely healthy, but they have enough depth to hold off the Braves.
But, with all that being said, they will still probably come out with 90 wins and their 3rd straight division title.
Prediction: 1st
Atlanta Braves
Who's in: RP Billy Wagner, OF Melky Cabrera, RP Scott Proctor, RP Takashi Saito, RP Jesse Chavez, 1B/3B Troy Glaus, RF Eric Hinske, INF Joe Thurston, RF Jason Heyward
Who's Out: SP Javier Vazquez, LF Garret Anderson, OF Ryan Church, RP Mike Gonzalez, RP Rafael Soriano, 2B Kelly Johnson, 1B Adam LaRoche, 1B/OF Greg Norton, SP Buddy Carlyle, RP Boone Logan
With this being manager Bobby Cox's final season with the team before taking an advisory role with the team, the team will probably help try to make him go out a winner. The problem with that is that there are many questions with the team. Will Jason Heyward be the superstar he is projected to be? Who will be the closer? How will Troy Glaus do at first base? Will everyone stay healthy? Those are all things that need to be answered throughout the season. My personal feelings are the following on each of the questions are as follows. Yes, Heyward will be a superstar, he will have the following stat line: .273, 28 HR, 88 RBI and rookie of the year honors. The closer role will be split between Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner, as neither of them can pitch every day as they are older, but should get about 15 saves each. Troy Glaus will have his issues, but will be ok at first, both defensively and offensively. Glaus will have about 10 errors at first while hitting 20 HR and driving in 85 runs. Everyone will not stay healthy, as inevitably there will be injuries and at least one of those will be catastrophically bad. Glaus, Chipper Jones, Saito or Wagner will all go down on the DL for at least 1 stint, but one of them will go down as a season ending injury. But, the lineup looks to be good.
The starting pitching is probably the best in the division with Lowe, Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, and Kawakami.Each pitcher is capable of a sub-4 ERA and getting at least 12 wins each. The relief pitching is a question mark, as they are old in the bullpen, but should be ok. But, the Braves will pull through and get the wild card in the NL with 88 wins.
Prediction: 2nd, but Wild Card
Florida Marlins
Who's in: RP Jose Veras, RP Seth McClung, INF Hector Luna, INF Mike Lamb, INF Brian Barden
Who's out: RP Scott Proctor, 1B Ross Gload, RF Jeremy Hermida, 1B Nick Johnson, RP Brendan Donnelly, RP Kiko Calero, RP Matt Lindstrom, OF Alfredo Amezaga
The Marlins have a very good young core of players led by Hanley Ramirez, 2009 Rookie of the Year Chris Coghlan, Jorge Cantu, and Dan Uggla. All of those players are very good defensively and offensively both with speed and power. Ramirez, Uggla, and Coghlan are all capable of 20/20 seasons. Meaning, they can hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases.
Then, the starting rotation is led by Josh Johnson, who just received a contract extension. Then there is some other young starters in Anibal Sanchez, who already has pitched a no hitter, Ricky Nolasco and Chris Volstad. All four of those pitchers should be able to post ERAs of under 4 and produce about 20 quality starts each. (Q.S. is 6IP with 3ER or less).
The questions are at the corner infield spots and the bullpen. The questions at first base seem to be answered by Gaby Sanchez, but he is essentially a rookie coming in. Then in the bullpen, the closer situation is not a good one. They do not have a chosen closer and it will probably be a revolving door and see who pops out first. Their youth and inexperience is why I've chosen them to finish narrowly behind the Braves for the wild card.
Prediction: 3rd
New York Mets
Who's in: LF Jason Bay, CF Gary Matthews Jr., RP Ryota Igarashi, C Rod Barajas, RP Kelvim Escobar, INF Alex Cora, C Henry Blanco
Who's Out: 1B Carlos Delgado, RP J.J. Putz, LF Gary Sheffield, C Brian Schneider, RP Brian Stokes, SP Tim Redding, OF Cory Sullivan, OF Jeremy Reed, RP Lance Broadway
The Mets tried to get better via free agency, but it did not work out too well, as the only big time player they landed was Jason Bay, who will be somewhat of a bust. The reason why is because he's going from a pretty good hitters park to a big time pitchers park in Citi Field. My prediction is he will hit .275 with 25 homers and 90 RBI. Then the lineup looks very good, with Bay, David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Luis Castillo being the core of it. The combination of Bay, Wright, and first basemen Daniel Murphy should provide a lot of power, with each hitting about 25 home runs. They have the speed with Castillo and Reyes as well.
Then, the starting pitching has a solid ace at the top with Johan Santana, but after that it falls off into oblivion with John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jonathon Niese. That does not scream amazing in a park built for pitching. Maine and Perez looked to be solid 4th starters in 2007, but they have not been doing too well since.
Finally, the bullpen looks to be good, with Francisco Rodriguez looking to be very good again, as he had 83 saves over the past 2 seasons and then Pedro Feliciano will return as the setup man to K-Rod. The biggest question will be can they stay healthy? As previously stated, no, and the Mets have had more than their share of injuries over the past few years. They have already had trouble with Jose Reyes, their star shortstop had thyroid inflammation. The Mets will again have trouble with health and it will go prevent them from succeeding.
Prediction: 4th
Washington Nationals
Who's in: C Ivan Rodriguez, SP Jason Marquis, SP Chien-Ming Wang, RP Brian Bruney, RP Tyler Walker, 2B Adam Kennedy, OF Willy Taveras, SP/RP Miguel Batista
Who's Out: RP Mike MacDougal, OF Austin Kearns, 1B Dmitri Young, C Josh Bard, RP Saul Rivera, RP Ron Villone, OF Elijah Dukes
Everyone in the know with baseball knows that the Nationals are going to struggle, and struggle mightily to not lose 100 games for the second straight season. The biggest thing for Nationals fans is wondering when number 1 pick Stephen Strasburg is going to come up from AA Harrisburg. The lineup will have 2 big boppers in Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman from the corner infield positions. They will combine for at least 70 homers for the Nationals. To complement the power from Zimmerman and Dunn, the Nats have plenty of speed with Nyjer Morgan, Willie Harris and Adam Kennedy who are all capable of stealing 20 or more bases.
They brought in Ivan Rodriguez who will provide stability for the starting rotation, which will need a veteran catcher like Rodriguez because they will struggle mightily. The reason the rotation will struggle mightily is because of their youth. There are 2 veterans on the staff in Marquis and the ageless Livan Hernandez. But, mainly they have some good young talent with John Lannan, J.D. Martin, and Craig Stammen. Then the bullpen doesn't look to be good either. Does Matt Capps sound like a quality closer to you? Finally, they will be horrifically bad because of their defense, which led the majors in errors last season with 143. Dunn had 8 of them in just 67 games last season.
Prediction: Last
AL East
New York Yankees
Who's in: OF Curtis Granderson, RP Chan Ho Park, OF Marcus Thames, OF Randy Winn, 1B/DH Nick Johnson, SP Javier Vasquez
Who's Out: OF Johnny Damon, RP Phil Coke, DH Hideki Matsui, SP Ian Kennedy, RP Chad Gaudin, OF Melky
Cabrera
The defending World Series champs look better than last year, if that can be believed, even as they lost Johhny Damon, the World Series MVP Hideki Matsui, and Melky Cabrera. But, they improved at each position, no Damon, bring in Curtis Granderson, one of the premier leadoff men in the AL. No Matsui, bring in Johnson who knows the Yankee system, as he was there before. No Cabrera, bring up Brett Gardner. Then, they improve their starting pitching by getting Vasquez, a solid number 2 for most teams, but a number 4 pitcher here. The Yankees starting pitching is loaded with talent from top to bottom. They have CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettite and Phil Hughes. It's insane how much they have. Compliment that with an outstanding lineup which has both Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, wow. Finally, they have one of the best closers ever in Mariano Rivera. It's a lock for them to win this division again and move forward from there.
Prediction: 1st
Boston Red Sox
Who's in: SS Marco Scutaro, OF Jeremy Hermida, SP John Lackey, OF Mike Cameron, 3B Adrian Beltre, UTIL Bill Hall, IF Kevin Frandsen
Who's Out: C George Kottaras (C); SS Alex Gonzalez (SS); RP Takashi Saito (RHP);RP Billy Wagner (LHP); OF Jason Bay, 1BCasey Kotchman, SS Nick Green, OF Rocco Baldelli, SP Paul Byrd
The Red Sox probably have the best rotation in all of the majors with former World Series winners John Lackey and Josh Beckett anchoring it at the top, followed by young guns Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester, and as the five guy Daisuke Matsuzaka who has never fully lived up to his potential here in the U.S. The Red Sox also have a fairly good lineup, much like the Phillies. The Sox lineup consists of speed with Scutaro, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and to a lesser extent Mike Cameron who is still speedy but not as much at 37. They also have power with Cameron, Kevin Youkilis, Victor Martinez, J.D. Drew, Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz. The Sox also have a solid bullpen with Jonathon Papelbon as the closer and Hideki Okajima and Daniel Bard being very serviceable setup men.
Prediction: 2nd, but with wild card.
Tampa Bay Rays
Who's in: RHP Rafael Soriano, C Kelly Shoppach, RHP Joaquin Benoit
Who's out: 2B Akinori Iwamura, OF Gabe Gross, RHP Chad Bradford
The Rays slipped a little bit from their 2008 form when they made a spectacular run to the World Series to 84 wins in 2009 and no postseason. But, they still have the vast majority of that 2008 team still intact and they still got a boatload of young talent, beginning with the starting pitching. All five of the starting pitchers are no more than 28 years old, and all but Wade Davis, who came up late last season had at least 8 wins last season. The problem with the Rays last season was that their bullpen was crushed by injuries, most notably to closer Troy Percival who never came back and they had to settle for J.P. Howell as their closer who did not perform up to Percival's level. The lineup again looks to be good and loaded with power, as every person can hit 20 homers. The biggest problem for the Rays is that they cannot realistically compete for the division or wild card because the Yankees and Red Sox are just much more talented than they are, which is unfortunate.
Prediction: 3rd, falling 2 games short of the wild card.
Baltimore Orioles
Who's in: SP Kevin Millwood, 3B Miguel Tejada, RP Mike Gonzalez, 3B Garrett Atkins,OF Joey Gathright
Who's out: RP Chris Ray,3BMelvin Mora, RP Brian Bass ,RP Danys Baez
The Orioles are in a class with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals where they have had a recent history of losing, and losing a lot after glory days in the 70s through about 1996, when the Orioles last had a winning record. There is some hope in Baltimore though, as they are developing younger talent while trying to balance it with some older, yet still capable veterans. The young talent comes from Matt Wieters, a Joe Mauer type catcher who has all the tools to be great. Wieters is home grown and has a lot of hitting for average and power, a good feel for the pitchers and a strong arm. Their is outher Young Talent with Brian Roberts who is a pheonomenal second baseman who can cover a lot of ground and hit for .300, 20 homers and 90 RBI every year. Finally, their is Adam Jones, who came over from Seattle for Erik Bedard a few years ago. Jones has very similar talent to Roberts, but with more speed.
The O's weakest area is pitching though. Their ace is Kevin Millwood who should provide a lot of stability and innings for a very young staff who need a mentor. Millwood will provide the lowest ERA and the most amount of wins, followed by promising Jeremy Guthrie. The closer is former Braves setup man Mike Gonzalez who will get 30 saves because even a bad team normally gets 30 saves out of their closer.
Prediction: 4th, but may surprise with 80 wins.
Toronto Blue Jays
Who's in: C John Buck, SP Dana Eveland, OF Jeremy Reed, SP Brandon Morrow, RP Kevin Gregg, C Jose Molina, SS Alex Gonzalez
Who's out: SP Roy Halladay,RP Brandon League, DH/1B Kevin Millar,C Rod Barajas,C Michael Barrett, RP Joe Inglett, RP Brian Wolfe, SS Marco Scutaro
As Jayson Stark put it: "it's year one A.D. "After Doc" in Toronto" after trading away their best pitcher ever in Roy "Doc" Halladay to the Phillies. The Jays will not contend for a little bit, say 5 years after this season as they will try to reduce their payroll even more for more prospects. The leading candidates for trade are: Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, and Kevin Gregg. Their is hope for the Jays now though. Gone are the years of overspending on lesser free agents, finishing 3rd and being around .500 for the year. They are now trying to develop home grown talent and hope for success.
While they are trying to rebuild, prepare for a long season in Toronto with 100 losses.
Prediction: 5th
Note: some info was obtained from :http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=mlb/news/indexsn.aspx?sport=AA
Look out for my NL and AL central preview/predictions for later in the week.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday thoughts/Friday's sweet 16 picks
OK, I know the late games aren't over yet. But, I nailed it on Butler winning, not so much with Washington, their cinderella dreams have disappeared like fairy dust in the wind. Butler is continuing to prove that it's not necessarily a "mid-major" because it beat Syracuse, granted it was without Onuaku, but it was still a quality victory over a number one seed.
West Virginia then destroyed Washington with a strong performance by hurt guard Da'Sean Butler, who was playing hurt with a hand injury and he put up 14 points along with 7 rebounds. West Virginia mainly destroyed Washington in the second half, when they exploded for 42 points compared to Washington's 27.
Friday's Sweet 16 matchups look to be fairly competitive, with a possibility of all four lower seeded teams advancing.
Starting off with the early games, Ohio State/Tennessee looks to be a good one, as Tennessee really has come together after star guard Tyler Smith was kicked off the team in January and is looking for it's first ever final four appearance. Ohio State though, does have their own star guard in Evan Turner, who leads them in all three categories. rebounds, assists and scoring. The guy is probably better than John Wall, who many consider to be the freshman of the year. So, Ohio State is going to roll with Turner at the helm.
Saint Mary's/Baylor: Baylor seems to have the poise and play of a champion thus far, as they have won both games by single digits, and they are just continuing to play as a team, no star player emerging from the starting five. While Saint Mary's has busted some folks brackets to shreds as they have beaten Richmond and final four contender Villanova, again by single digits. St. Mary's is also coming out of the shadow of Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference and they are going to continue to be like Gonzaga by winning again.
Northern Iowa/Michigan State: Without Kalin Lucas, Michigan State is done, and I just want to continue to say Ali Farokhmanesh for another round.
Purdue/Duke: I've picked Purdue to lose an each round thus far, because they don't have Robbie Hummel, and will continue to do so, not only because Duke is better, but also because hoping reverse psychology works. Duke is too talented and skilled and experienced to not win this game and go on to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004, when they went on to the Final Four.
Look out for my Elite Eight predictions on Friday night/Saturday.
West Virginia then destroyed Washington with a strong performance by hurt guard Da'Sean Butler, who was playing hurt with a hand injury and he put up 14 points along with 7 rebounds. West Virginia mainly destroyed Washington in the second half, when they exploded for 42 points compared to Washington's 27.
Friday's Sweet 16 matchups look to be fairly competitive, with a possibility of all four lower seeded teams advancing.
Starting off with the early games, Ohio State/Tennessee looks to be a good one, as Tennessee really has come together after star guard Tyler Smith was kicked off the team in January and is looking for it's first ever final four appearance. Ohio State though, does have their own star guard in Evan Turner, who leads them in all three categories. rebounds, assists and scoring. The guy is probably better than John Wall, who many consider to be the freshman of the year. So, Ohio State is going to roll with Turner at the helm.
Saint Mary's/Baylor: Baylor seems to have the poise and play of a champion thus far, as they have won both games by single digits, and they are just continuing to play as a team, no star player emerging from the starting five. While Saint Mary's has busted some folks brackets to shreds as they have beaten Richmond and final four contender Villanova, again by single digits. St. Mary's is also coming out of the shadow of Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference and they are going to continue to be like Gonzaga by winning again.
Northern Iowa/Michigan State: Without Kalin Lucas, Michigan State is done, and I just want to continue to say Ali Farokhmanesh for another round.
Purdue/Duke: I've picked Purdue to lose an each round thus far, because they don't have Robbie Hummel, and will continue to do so, not only because Duke is better, but also because hoping reverse psychology works. Duke is too talented and skilled and experienced to not win this game and go on to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2004, when they went on to the Final Four.
Look out for my Elite Eight predictions on Friday night/Saturday.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday's Sweet 16 Picks
Sorry for the lateness of this blog posting, thought I would've had time earlier, but I did not. I promise a more comprehensive preview and predictions on Thursday night before the Friday games tip off.
Thursday predictions
Butler/Syracuse: Butler has proven me wrong before and without Onawaku, 'Cuse is done.
Washington/West Virginia: Washington has a hot strwak going and they have fallen into a great situation as West Virginia's starting point guard, Darryl Bryant is done for the tournament with a broken left foot. Washington moves one step closer to its first final four in over 50 years.
Xavier/Kansas State: Kansas State will not stop scoring, and it should be a close one, but Kansas State pulls it out.
Cornell/Kentucky: UK routs Cornell in front of a home crowd normally the size of Kentucky's. I'd love to see tiny Cornell pull it out, espescially when their team is not getting scholarships.
(Some info provided by ESPN's Pat Forde)
Thursday predictions
Butler/Syracuse: Butler has proven me wrong before and without Onawaku, 'Cuse is done.
Washington/West Virginia: Washington has a hot strwak going and they have fallen into a great situation as West Virginia's starting point guard, Darryl Bryant is done for the tournament with a broken left foot. Washington moves one step closer to its first final four in over 50 years.
Xavier/Kansas State: Kansas State will not stop scoring, and it should be a close one, but Kansas State pulls it out.
Cornell/Kentucky: UK routs Cornell in front of a home crowd normally the size of Kentucky's. I'd love to see tiny Cornell pull it out, espescially when their team is not getting scholarships.
(Some info provided by ESPN's Pat Forde)
Friday, March 19, 2010
2nd round predictions/preview & my final 4 picks
I've heard some of you complain about me not mentioning my final four picks in this blog from the start of the tournament. Here they are without being altered: Kentucky, Baylor, Ohio State, Kansas. Championship game: Kentucky over Kansas and Kentucky will look brilliant for hiring John Calipari and bringing in the 2 most dynamic freshmen this season: John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins.
With the final four being picked, here is my preview of the second round. But, first, wow what a first round. Plenty of close games, and overtime games. You could feel the tension in those games. So close. Reviewing my bracket, I went 21-11, not bad for a guy who isn't that interested in college basketball. But, I also lost six of my sweet 16 teams. Thankfully I have not lost any of my final four teams though. There was one upset which I regretted making, but thank you Godfor heping me with, Ohio pulld off a stunning upset of Georgetown in the frst round. There was one otherupset which mny folks thought woud happen and did, with Murray State upsetting Vandy. The other upsets were relatively minor, with Cornell beating Temple, Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State, Mizzou over Clemson, and Old Dominion over Notre Dame.
Moving on to the second round preview. There are sme very intriging matchups in Kentucky-Wake Forest, Texas A&M-Purdue, and BYU-Kansas State. The reason why these are intriguing is because Wake Forest has always been a solid team from a very good ACC, but rarely have broken through agaist an inexperienced Kentucky team. Then, there is Texas A&M versus a Robbie Hummel-lessPurdue team to see if Purdue can keep winning without Hummel, their leader. Finally, there is BYU-K-State to see if Jimmer Fredette can continue his high scoring ways against a very defensive minded KSU team.
Finally, the predictions.
MIDWEST
Kansas vs. Northern Iowa: Kansas and their experience leads the over the Missouri Valley.
Michigan St. vs. Maryland: Michigan State will come to play as theynearly lost to New Mexico State, but Maryland pulls it out.
Tennessee vs. Ohio: Ohio pulled the miracle outof their hat once, but they ca't do it again, go with Tennessee.
Georgia Tech vs. Ohio State: Evan Turner leads Ohi State big.
WEST
Syracuse vs. Gonzaga: Another one of those very intriguing games. You wish you could pic Gonzaga, but 'Cuse has too much exprience and leadership.
Butler vs. Murray State: Butler gets number 22 in a row.
Xavier vs. Pittsburgh: Looks like an amazing game on paper, and will be, go with Pitt and its stifling defense.
BYU vs. K-State: K-State pulls it out withtheir superior backcourt play.
EAST
Kenucky vs. Wake Forest: Wall and Cousins continue their march top the fnal four.
Wisconsin vs. Cornell: Ivy League stops hereversus Wiscosin's stiflng defense.
Washington vs. New Mexico: Without Darington Hobson, UNM's best player and leading scorer, Washington will continue their hot treak and advance to their fist Sweet 16 since 2006.
Mizzou-West Virginia: WVU rolls past Mizzou with Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones leading the way.
SOUTH
Duke vs. Cal: If this was Louisville playing their A game versus Cal, I'd tae them, but Duke pounds a weak Cal team, who looked good versus a C Louisville team.
Texas A&M vs. Purdue: The Boilermakers cotinue to play well as a team and move to the Sweet 16.
Old Dominion vs. Baylor: Tweety Carter and the Bears size are too much for ODU.
St. Mary's vs. Villanova: Villanova rebounds from a very shaky performance versus Robert Morris.
With the final four being picked, here is my preview of the second round. But, first, wow what a first round. Plenty of close games, and overtime games. You could feel the tension in those games. So close. Reviewing my bracket, I went 21-11, not bad for a guy who isn't that interested in college basketball. But, I also lost six of my sweet 16 teams. Thankfully I have not lost any of my final four teams though. There was one upset which I regretted making, but thank you Godfor heping me with, Ohio pulld off a stunning upset of Georgetown in the frst round. There was one otherupset which mny folks thought woud happen and did, with Murray State upsetting Vandy. The other upsets were relatively minor, with Cornell beating Temple, Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State, Mizzou over Clemson, and Old Dominion over Notre Dame.
Moving on to the second round preview. There are sme very intriging matchups in Kentucky-Wake Forest, Texas A&M-Purdue, and BYU-Kansas State. The reason why these are intriguing is because Wake Forest has always been a solid team from a very good ACC, but rarely have broken through agaist an inexperienced Kentucky team. Then, there is Texas A&M versus a Robbie Hummel-lessPurdue team to see if Purdue can keep winning without Hummel, their leader. Finally, there is BYU-K-State to see if Jimmer Fredette can continue his high scoring ways against a very defensive minded KSU team.
Finally, the predictions.
MIDWEST
Kansas vs. Northern Iowa: Kansas and their experience leads the over the Missouri Valley.
Michigan St. vs. Maryland: Michigan State will come to play as theynearly lost to New Mexico State, but Maryland pulls it out.
Tennessee vs. Ohio: Ohio pulled the miracle outof their hat once, but they ca't do it again, go with Tennessee.
Georgia Tech vs. Ohio State: Evan Turner leads Ohi State big.
WEST
Syracuse vs. Gonzaga: Another one of those very intriguing games. You wish you could pic Gonzaga, but 'Cuse has too much exprience and leadership.
Butler vs. Murray State: Butler gets number 22 in a row.
Xavier vs. Pittsburgh: Looks like an amazing game on paper, and will be, go with Pitt and its stifling defense.
BYU vs. K-State: K-State pulls it out withtheir superior backcourt play.
EAST
Kenucky vs. Wake Forest: Wall and Cousins continue their march top the fnal four.
Wisconsin vs. Cornell: Ivy League stops hereversus Wiscosin's stiflng defense.
Washington vs. New Mexico: Without Darington Hobson, UNM's best player and leading scorer, Washington will continue their hot treak and advance to their fist Sweet 16 since 2006.
Mizzou-West Virginia: WVU rolls past Mizzou with Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones leading the way.
SOUTH
Duke vs. Cal: If this was Louisville playing their A game versus Cal, I'd tae them, but Duke pounds a weak Cal team, who looked good versus a C Louisville team.
Texas A&M vs. Purdue: The Boilermakers cotinue to play well as a team and move to the Sweet 16.
Old Dominion vs. Baylor: Tweety Carter and the Bears size are too much for ODU.
St. Mary's vs. Villanova: Villanova rebounds from a very shaky performance versus Robert Morris.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Midwest and West Region 1st round predictions.
As mentioned in my post on Monday, the number 1 seeds will go on because there will be no competition from the 16 seeds. In fact, in the past 25 years, there have been 100 games between the 1 and 16 seeds, and the closest anyone has come is 13 points, which is still a blowout loss for the 16 seed. In the midwest and west regionals, Lehigh faces a huge uphill battle versus probably the favorite in Kansas, so that's a loss. Then, in the West, where Syracuse is because of rule regulations, they face a completely overmatched Vermont team, another loss, but that will probably be the closest of the 4 this year.
The top seeds in both regions face stiff tests in their second round games no matter who goes on, in my bracket, it's Northern Iowa, who won the second best mid-major conference in the Missouri Valley. UNI would face Kansas in the second round.
Syracuse would face always scrappy and every year since 1999, when Gonzaga jumped on the national radar to stay. But, I will not move past the second round, as that's another blog coming on Friday night after midnight.
Now, onto the picks.
MIDWEST
1Kansas vs. 16Lehigh: Kansas
2Ohio St. vs. 15 UC-Santa Barbara: Evan Turner leads the Big Ten tournament champs to huge blowout victory.
3Georgetown vs. 14Ohio: God hlp me on this pick, as I picked the MAC champs to advance aganst a perennial Big East contender. Can't go against my locked ESPN Tournament challenge picks.
4Maryland vs. 13Houston: Maryland big over a way overmatched Houston team who ran a host strea to win the C-USA tourney title.
5Michigan State vs. 12New Mexico State: Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen roll past the WAC champs easily.
6Tennessee vs. 11San Diego State: After being on the bubble the past 2 years, San Diego State proves why it is in the big dance with a close victory over the Vols.
7Oklahoma State vs. 10Georgia Tech: James Anderson and is pinpoint accuracy wins a game winner for the Cowboys.
8UNLV vs. 9UNI: See above
WEST
1Syracuse vs. 16Vermont: 'Cuse
2Kansas State vs. 15North Texas: Kansas State lets North Texas go home again without a turnament victory.
3Pittsburgh vs. 14Oakland: While Oakland is a street ad neighborhood in Pittsburgh, it's not going to be enough versus the size and depth of Pitt.
4Vanderbilt vs. 13Murray St.: 13 is becoming the new 12, as I've picked 3 of the 4 number 4 seeds to go down in the first round. Vandy goes back to Nashville.
5Butler vs. 12UTEP: While UTEP is not goin to have the magical run it did in 1960, it will beat the team with the longest winning streak in the nation in the first round.
6Xavier vs. 11Minnesota: Minnesota continues its hot streak in the big ten tournament to beat Xavier.
7BYU vs. 10Florida: Jimmer Fredette will continue his high scoring against Florida and beat them.
8Gonzaga vs. 9Florida St.: See above, Gonzaga advances.
Be sure to check back Friday night after all the games are done for a full second round preview/predictions for all 4 regions.
The top seeds in both regions face stiff tests in their second round games no matter who goes on, in my bracket, it's Northern Iowa, who won the second best mid-major conference in the Missouri Valley. UNI would face Kansas in the second round.
Syracuse would face always scrappy and every year since 1999, when Gonzaga jumped on the national radar to stay. But, I will not move past the second round, as that's another blog coming on Friday night after midnight.
Now, onto the picks.
MIDWEST
1Kansas vs. 16Lehigh: Kansas
2Ohio St. vs. 15 UC-Santa Barbara: Evan Turner leads the Big Ten tournament champs to huge blowout victory.
3Georgetown vs. 14Ohio: God hlp me on this pick, as I picked the MAC champs to advance aganst a perennial Big East contender. Can't go against my locked ESPN Tournament challenge picks.
4Maryland vs. 13Houston: Maryland big over a way overmatched Houston team who ran a host strea to win the C-USA tourney title.
5Michigan State vs. 12New Mexico State: Kalin Lucas and Chris Allen roll past the WAC champs easily.
6Tennessee vs. 11San Diego State: After being on the bubble the past 2 years, San Diego State proves why it is in the big dance with a close victory over the Vols.
7Oklahoma State vs. 10Georgia Tech: James Anderson and is pinpoint accuracy wins a game winner for the Cowboys.
8UNLV vs. 9UNI: See above
WEST
1Syracuse vs. 16Vermont: 'Cuse
2Kansas State vs. 15North Texas: Kansas State lets North Texas go home again without a turnament victory.
3Pittsburgh vs. 14Oakland: While Oakland is a street ad neighborhood in Pittsburgh, it's not going to be enough versus the size and depth of Pitt.
4Vanderbilt vs. 13Murray St.: 13 is becoming the new 12, as I've picked 3 of the 4 number 4 seeds to go down in the first round. Vandy goes back to Nashville.
5Butler vs. 12UTEP: While UTEP is not goin to have the magical run it did in 1960, it will beat the team with the longest winning streak in the nation in the first round.
6Xavier vs. 11Minnesota: Minnesota continues its hot streak in the big ten tournament to beat Xavier.
7BYU vs. 10Florida: Jimmer Fredette will continue his high scoring against Florida and beat them.
8Gonzaga vs. 9Florida St.: See above, Gonzaga advances.
Be sure to check back Friday night after all the games are done for a full second round preview/predictions for all 4 regions.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
East and South First Round Winners/Preview of March Madness
Hey everyone, it has been a very uneventful few weeks in the world of sports, as far as anything big happening. Yay for MAAC, NEC, Big Sky, and SWAC title games! (Note the sarcasm)
Now for the actual big dance, which has a few surprise teams in it, like Houston, who knocked off UTEP in the C-USA title game, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the big dance for the first time ever. But, the big thing to note is that there is no Arizona, which snapped its 25 consecutive years of dancing. Also of note is that there is no Connecticut, North Carolina, UCLA, or Indiana for the first time since 1966, or since Lydon Johnson was president. Says something about how bad those teams were this year and about the parity involved in college basketball in today's era.
Now, for all the talk of expanding the tournament to 96 or 128 teams, STOP IT!!!!!!!!!! The field is great as it is, there is no need to have the NIT champion in the field, because they have no more of a shot of winning it than Wofford. I love the tournament the way it is because it allows for talk of bubble teams and it allows small schools like Oakland to play on national television and get great exposure.
Finally, the picks for the east and south regions in the first round. I will give a reason for each team winning, except for the 1 vs. 16 matchup. The reason for each number 1 seed winning is as followws: no 16 seed has beaten a number 1, and there is no reason to see why that trend will stop this year. I also do not know a whole lot of college basketball, so I may just pick winners and not give a reason. This is all in fun anyway, let's just see how bad my picks are.
EAST:
1Kentucky vs. 16East Tennessee State: Kentucky
2West Virginia vs. 15Morgan State: West Virginia won the Big East conference tournament, arguably the toughest in the nation.
3New Mexico vs. 14 Montana: New Mexico is senior laden and had best season this millenium.
4Wisconsin vs.13Wofford: Wofford is proven, and Wisconsin tumbled down the stretch.
5Temple vs. 12Cornell: Temple is from Philly, and I'm a homer.
6Marquette vs. 11Washington: Washington went far in the Pac-10 tournament, and they are deep.
7Clemson vs. 10Mizzou: Mizzou
8Texas vs. 9Wake Forest: Wake Forest, as Texas stumbled down the stretch big time, losing 8 of 14 games after starting the season 18-1.
SOUTH
1Duke vs. 16Winthrop/Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Duke
2Villanova vs. 15Robert Morris: Villanova, barely, as they also really stumbled down the homestretch, but do not be surprised if an upset occurs. 3Baylor vs. 14Sam Houston State:Baylor is in my final 4, so I cannot bail on them.
4Purdue vs. 13Siena: Purdue has lost their best player Robbie Hummel with a torn ACL, and Siena has proven itself in the dance 2 years straight, no reason to see why they'll stop here.
5Texas A&M vs. 12Utah St: Utah State, as they were ranked most of the season, and 12 over 5 happens all the time.
6Notre Dame vs. 11Old Dominion: ND went far in the Big East tournament, ad they have been going strong since former all Big East player Luke Harangody went down, but ODU just has something for me to go with the upset.
7Richmond vs. 10St. Mary's: Richmond, as SMU has not won a game in their past 7 tries.
8Cal vs. 9Louisville: Louisville can be a strong team, and that's exactly what can make them beat Cal and Duke inthe first two rounds.
Midwest and West region previews come Wednesday.
Now for the actual big dance, which has a few surprise teams in it, like Houston, who knocked off UTEP in the C-USA title game, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the big dance for the first time ever. But, the big thing to note is that there is no Arizona, which snapped its 25 consecutive years of dancing. Also of note is that there is no Connecticut, North Carolina, UCLA, or Indiana for the first time since 1966, or since Lydon Johnson was president. Says something about how bad those teams were this year and about the parity involved in college basketball in today's era.
Now, for all the talk of expanding the tournament to 96 or 128 teams, STOP IT!!!!!!!!!! The field is great as it is, there is no need to have the NIT champion in the field, because they have no more of a shot of winning it than Wofford. I love the tournament the way it is because it allows for talk of bubble teams and it allows small schools like Oakland to play on national television and get great exposure.
Finally, the picks for the east and south regions in the first round. I will give a reason for each team winning, except for the 1 vs. 16 matchup. The reason for each number 1 seed winning is as followws: no 16 seed has beaten a number 1, and there is no reason to see why that trend will stop this year. I also do not know a whole lot of college basketball, so I may just pick winners and not give a reason. This is all in fun anyway, let's just see how bad my picks are.
EAST:
1Kentucky vs. 16East Tennessee State: Kentucky
2West Virginia vs. 15Morgan State: West Virginia won the Big East conference tournament, arguably the toughest in the nation.
3New Mexico vs. 14 Montana: New Mexico is senior laden and had best season this millenium.
4Wisconsin vs.13Wofford: Wofford is proven, and Wisconsin tumbled down the stretch.
5Temple vs. 12Cornell: Temple is from Philly, and I'm a homer.
6Marquette vs. 11Washington: Washington went far in the Pac-10 tournament, and they are deep.
7Clemson vs. 10Mizzou: Mizzou
8Texas vs. 9Wake Forest: Wake Forest, as Texas stumbled down the stretch big time, losing 8 of 14 games after starting the season 18-1.
SOUTH
1Duke vs. 16Winthrop/Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Duke
2Villanova vs. 15Robert Morris: Villanova, barely, as they also really stumbled down the homestretch, but do not be surprised if an upset occurs. 3Baylor vs. 14Sam Houston State:Baylor is in my final 4, so I cannot bail on them.
4Purdue vs. 13Siena: Purdue has lost their best player Robbie Hummel with a torn ACL, and Siena has proven itself in the dance 2 years straight, no reason to see why they'll stop here.
5Texas A&M vs. 12Utah St: Utah State, as they were ranked most of the season, and 12 over 5 happens all the time.
6Notre Dame vs. 11Old Dominion: ND went far in the Big East tournament, ad they have been going strong since former all Big East player Luke Harangody went down, but ODU just has something for me to go with the upset.
7Richmond vs. 10St. Mary's: Richmond, as SMU has not won a game in their past 7 tries.
8Cal vs. 9Louisville: Louisville can be a strong team, and that's exactly what can make them beat Cal and Duke inthe first two rounds.
Midwest and West region previews come Wednesday.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Winter Olympics Review/Other stuff I may have missed.
Sorry for the hiatus followers, just didn't decide to blog for the past month. But, now, I'm back, and back with a very long post concerning the Olympics, and all surrounding the Okympics, including NBC's coverage of it, and what I thought of it. Also, I'll talk about Tiger's "apology", and some other stuff.
First, let's start with the Olympics. They started off very badly with the death of the Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili because of an insanely fast track and no padding on the steel pole he crashed into. This will be remembered by many, and will caution other future Olympic sites not to build tracks so fast and so dangerous.
Before the death of Kumaritashvili ever occured, the concerns surrounded the weather, and it being too warm, while most of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were freezing and digging out from a massive snowstorm. The committee did a very good job though, of shuttling snow in from the mountains and getting everything ready to go at Cypress Mountain, where the moguls, aerials, and some snowboarding events took place.
Then, there were the Opening Ceremonies, which were cool, because they were indoors for the first time ever, and the stands were in the design on each participating nation's flag. But, there was a flaw, in that the 4th arm of what was supposed to be the Olympic cauldron didn't function properly, and it just seemed awkward for a few moments. kudos to the Canadians for allowing the greatest player from their sport, Wayne Gretzky, light the Olympic Cauldron, both indoors and out.
Then, in the following two weeks was pure awesomeness of sport. The Canadians did very well, erasing the memories of the past 2 Olympics they hosted, by winning 14 Gold medals, the most of any nation. They erased the memories by winning a gold medal in the first Olympics they hosted. They also won the one they wanted the most, in hockey. they started off sluggishly, beating the surprisng Swiss 3-2 in a shootout, and losing to the USA 5-3 in the preliminaries. The loss to the Americans was probably the best thing that could've happened to the Canadians as they then thumped the Germans, the Russians, and thoroughly outplayed the again surprising Slovaks to get to the gold medal game against the Americans, which gave them one heck of a fight for the gold. The aforementioned Russians were probably the biggest disappointment, as they really didn't do much in the tournament, and they will hope to play a lot better when they host the next Games in 2014.
The Russians were not only disappointed in hockey, but all around, as they hoped to win a mind boggling 40 medals in Vancouver, but only came away with 15 medals, good for 6th place. Not very good, maybe in Sochi they will fare better.
The Americans won the most medals of any nation, with 37, and came away with the most medals in any Winter Olympics. An American also became the most decorated Winter Olympian ever, that being Apolo Anton Ohno. The thing with Ohno is though, he only won 2 gold medals of his 8. But, winning 1 medal is something very few people get to do, so instead of ridiculing Ohno for "only" winning 2 golds, he should be applauded for his dedication to the burgeoning sport of short-track speedskating thanks to him, and for his work ethic in the sport.
The most hyped person coming into the games by NBC was Lindsey Vonn, who coming off of consecutive world cup titles in skiing, was expected to medal in all 5 Alpine Skiing events. She did get a gold in the downhill, and a bronze in the Super-G. She did very well, facing a shin injury which was excrutiating, and she suffered a broken pinkie in the slalom as well, so congrats to her.
Another person facing adversity of a different kind though, was Joannie Rochette, who skated just hours after her mother had passed away from cancer. She did this on pure adrenaline, and came away with a bronze medal in the ladies' figure skating program. She put on a great show, and I hope she may continue to remember her mother fondly and dedicate everything she does to her, who put her in figure skating and more importantly, life. Rochette also probably received a lot of support from the hometown crowd surrounding her.
The person NBC hyped a ton in 2006, in Torino, Bode Miller, didn't come away with anything there, but he came away with 3 medals in Vancouver, showing a ton of maturity in just four years. He didn't win any in 2006 because of partying in and around the Italian city. Miller also scaled down his mouth in 4 years as well, because he was known for making outlandish statements, now not so much.
In figure skating, Evan Lysacek leapfrogged Evgeni Plushenko in the long program to take the gold, which he deserved, because of his presentation of the program, and his skills in the program. His fellow American, Johnny Weir also deserves praise for his wit and wisdom concerning negative comments made about him by foreign press. As for the women, both American women gave it a good run at the bronze, but Rochette deserved it for the reasons stated above.
Other notes concerning the Americans: Steve Holcomb drove amazingly well down the toughest track ever constructed on the way to the first USA gold since 1948 in bobsled. Holcomb overcame a degenerative eye disease to win it as well, which is great. Then, the Americans did well in Nordic Combined, winning the first medals ever in that event. Hopefully this trend continues in the 2014 games.
NBC's coverage was pretty good, I just didn't like all of the promos for their new shows at 10 p.m. If they didn't have that, it would've been excellent coverage. The only other thing is that I think they should've showed more stuff online, like they did in 2008 in Beijing, where they showed obscure stuff like team handball online. It was great stuff. I think they should show some more curling online, because who couldn't use more curling?
Tiger's statement was much ado about nothing for me. He didn't really give insight to anything new, and he was a robot throughout the entire speech! Tiger knows he did wrong, but I think a little bit more insight into what he was thinking while committing infedilty would've been helpful, as well as letting the press ask questions as to when he's returning and such. Also, I don't think that it should've been broadcast over 12 networks. People, he's a sports star! It doesn't matter what he does in his personal life! Don't broadcast a statement over 12 networks! 12!
Finally, congrats to the New Orleans Saints and their victory in the Super Bowl, they played a complete game, and shut down Peyton Manning.
Next: a March Madness preview in approx. 2 weeks.
First, let's start with the Olympics. They started off very badly with the death of the Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili because of an insanely fast track and no padding on the steel pole he crashed into. This will be remembered by many, and will caution other future Olympic sites not to build tracks so fast and so dangerous.
Before the death of Kumaritashvili ever occured, the concerns surrounded the weather, and it being too warm, while most of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were freezing and digging out from a massive snowstorm. The committee did a very good job though, of shuttling snow in from the mountains and getting everything ready to go at Cypress Mountain, where the moguls, aerials, and some snowboarding events took place.
Then, there were the Opening Ceremonies, which were cool, because they were indoors for the first time ever, and the stands were in the design on each participating nation's flag. But, there was a flaw, in that the 4th arm of what was supposed to be the Olympic cauldron didn't function properly, and it just seemed awkward for a few moments. kudos to the Canadians for allowing the greatest player from their sport, Wayne Gretzky, light the Olympic Cauldron, both indoors and out.
Then, in the following two weeks was pure awesomeness of sport. The Canadians did very well, erasing the memories of the past 2 Olympics they hosted, by winning 14 Gold medals, the most of any nation. They erased the memories by winning a gold medal in the first Olympics they hosted. They also won the one they wanted the most, in hockey. they started off sluggishly, beating the surprisng Swiss 3-2 in a shootout, and losing to the USA 5-3 in the preliminaries. The loss to the Americans was probably the best thing that could've happened to the Canadians as they then thumped the Germans, the Russians, and thoroughly outplayed the again surprising Slovaks to get to the gold medal game against the Americans, which gave them one heck of a fight for the gold. The aforementioned Russians were probably the biggest disappointment, as they really didn't do much in the tournament, and they will hope to play a lot better when they host the next Games in 2014.
The Russians were not only disappointed in hockey, but all around, as they hoped to win a mind boggling 40 medals in Vancouver, but only came away with 15 medals, good for 6th place. Not very good, maybe in Sochi they will fare better.
The Americans won the most medals of any nation, with 37, and came away with the most medals in any Winter Olympics. An American also became the most decorated Winter Olympian ever, that being Apolo Anton Ohno. The thing with Ohno is though, he only won 2 gold medals of his 8. But, winning 1 medal is something very few people get to do, so instead of ridiculing Ohno for "only" winning 2 golds, he should be applauded for his dedication to the burgeoning sport of short-track speedskating thanks to him, and for his work ethic in the sport.
The most hyped person coming into the games by NBC was Lindsey Vonn, who coming off of consecutive world cup titles in skiing, was expected to medal in all 5 Alpine Skiing events. She did get a gold in the downhill, and a bronze in the Super-G. She did very well, facing a shin injury which was excrutiating, and she suffered a broken pinkie in the slalom as well, so congrats to her.
Another person facing adversity of a different kind though, was Joannie Rochette, who skated just hours after her mother had passed away from cancer. She did this on pure adrenaline, and came away with a bronze medal in the ladies' figure skating program. She put on a great show, and I hope she may continue to remember her mother fondly and dedicate everything she does to her, who put her in figure skating and more importantly, life. Rochette also probably received a lot of support from the hometown crowd surrounding her.
The person NBC hyped a ton in 2006, in Torino, Bode Miller, didn't come away with anything there, but he came away with 3 medals in Vancouver, showing a ton of maturity in just four years. He didn't win any in 2006 because of partying in and around the Italian city. Miller also scaled down his mouth in 4 years as well, because he was known for making outlandish statements, now not so much.
In figure skating, Evan Lysacek leapfrogged Evgeni Plushenko in the long program to take the gold, which he deserved, because of his presentation of the program, and his skills in the program. His fellow American, Johnny Weir also deserves praise for his wit and wisdom concerning negative comments made about him by foreign press. As for the women, both American women gave it a good run at the bronze, but Rochette deserved it for the reasons stated above.
Other notes concerning the Americans: Steve Holcomb drove amazingly well down the toughest track ever constructed on the way to the first USA gold since 1948 in bobsled. Holcomb overcame a degenerative eye disease to win it as well, which is great. Then, the Americans did well in Nordic Combined, winning the first medals ever in that event. Hopefully this trend continues in the 2014 games.
NBC's coverage was pretty good, I just didn't like all of the promos for their new shows at 10 p.m. If they didn't have that, it would've been excellent coverage. The only other thing is that I think they should've showed more stuff online, like they did in 2008 in Beijing, where they showed obscure stuff like team handball online. It was great stuff. I think they should show some more curling online, because who couldn't use more curling?
Tiger's statement was much ado about nothing for me. He didn't really give insight to anything new, and he was a robot throughout the entire speech! Tiger knows he did wrong, but I think a little bit more insight into what he was thinking while committing infedilty would've been helpful, as well as letting the press ask questions as to when he's returning and such. Also, I don't think that it should've been broadcast over 12 networks. People, he's a sports star! It doesn't matter what he does in his personal life! Don't broadcast a statement over 12 networks! 12!
Finally, congrats to the New Orleans Saints and their victory in the Super Bowl, they played a complete game, and shut down Peyton Manning.
Next: a March Madness preview in approx. 2 weeks.
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