The Weekend F5ive

A look at the games getting some TV attention this weekend

1-Dodgers vs. Cardinals Saturday FOX

Kuroda vs. Wainwright

Interest Level: 5

The Dodgers and Cardinals continue with their series this weekend. My projection of a duel between Kershaw and Carpenter turned out to be horribly wrong. Carpenter did his part while Kershaw had a rough day in the office.

We're probably looking at another one-sided affair in favor of the Cardinals on Saturday as Wainwright has thus far one-upped his career year in 2009 and it appears very little is going to get in his way in 2010.

2- Rays vs. Yankees Saturday FOX

Niemann vs. Burnett

Interest Level: 7

This game gets extra interest points for fantasy purposes. On one of my teams, the starting pitching has been solid most of the year and Jeff Niemann has been one of the main reasons why...replacing Javier Vasquez with him has been one of the best decisions i've made all year.

While his strong performance has been aided by really good luck (.242 opposing BABIP). Still, he deserves credit for one of the more under-rated pitching performances of the 1st half as he's in 4th in Wins Above Replacement, 5th in WHIP, 5th in ERA+ so on and so forth....should be a likely win for the Rays in this one.

3- Rangers vs. Red Sox Saturday MLB Network

Lee vs. Lackey

Interest Level: 6

A couple things to pay attention to here. First, will the Red Sox be able to make up ground on whoever loses the Rays-Yankees game/series.

Second, OMG....the Rangers have Cliff Lee.....the Rangers traded for Cliff Lee (so who hasn't traded for Cliff Lee in the past year). In all seriousness, does Cliff Lee bounce back against an inexplicably bad start against Baltimore and take his rightful place in the role of that guy that swings a division race and leads his team to the World Series......he was that guy for the Phils last year....and with the Rangers having an 80% chance of making the playoffs....it's likely he's going to have the same role in Texas.

4- Rays vs. Yankees Sunday MLB Network

Price vs. Pettite

Interest Level: 3

While the pitching match-up is better than the rest of the series....this is where the over-exposure of this entire series being on national television and the Third/West coast bias of myself and this blog kicks in. The outcome will tweak the AL East/Wild Card standings but since both teams have at least a 75% chance of making the playoffs.....there will be more meaningful games between these two as we get deeper into the summer.

5-Phillies vs. Cubs Sunday ESPN

Halladay vs. Gorzelanny

Interest Level: 4

The only reason the interest level is this high is because Halladay is pitching. So, yeah this is pretty much a match-up of two high profile teams that have underachieved to various degrees. The Phillies have done so to a more moderate degree (that they have a 18% chance) of over-coming while the Cubs are the front-runners for the underachieving team of the year award. But the game has fantasy implications as I have Halladay which is about the only reason I personally have for paying attention.

Back From Vacation, Back To Previewing

So....i haven't written anything in a week. I was on vacation....had me a nice 4-day weekend. But now it's time to get back to business. With that......on to the games.

Phillies vs. Braves

Kendrick vs.Hanson Tuesday-MLB Network

TBD vs. Hudson- Wednesday ESPN

Interest Level: 7

This might be only the third week of the season, but this NL East match-up is still important. The Phillies have a razor-thin 1 game edge over the Braves. For the Phillies, they have Kendrick starting...he has been absolutely brutal in his first two starts.

The Braves are one of the more interesting teams in the league. Jason Heyward alone makes them worth watching as you never know what he's going to pull off. Both Hanson & Hudson are off to solid starts and if they keep it up....everyone's prediction of the Phillies running away with this division could turn out to be very wrong.

Royals vs. Blue Jays Wednesday MLB Network

Greinke vs. Marcum

Interest Level: 5

The Royals are off to a 5-7 start and considering the job their GM did in the off-season, this could pass as over-achieving. The Royals are giving reigning Cy Young award winner Zach Greinke the start. He is 0-2 this year but this can be attributed to the ineptness of the team around him and not Greinke himself as he has a respectable (though not 2009-level) 114 ERA+

The Blue Jays have gotten off to a better than expected 8-6 start. If they want to sustain this strong start or even stay above .500, they are going to need Shaun Marcum to stay healthy for throughout the season (having Vernon Wells continue to hit the cover off the ball wouldn't hurt either).

Indians vs. Twins Thursday MLB Network

Talbot vs. Baker

Interest Level: 7

A sneakingly interesting early AL Central Match-Up. The Twins have thus far taken their rightful place on top of the AL Central. This game gets extra points due to fantasy implications as J.J Hardy (hasn't done much since hitting a couple homers in the first week) and Michael Cuddyer (off to a nice start) are on my fantasy team. The Twins have Scott Baker starting...text-book definition of a solid but not great pitcher.

The Indians, expected to head straight to the cellar, have a fairly respectable 6-6 record. Speaking of my fantasy team, one player that has allowed the Indians to be respectable 6-6 and my team to be 2-0 is Shin-Soo Choo. Coming off a quietly strong 20-20 season....he's hit the ground running in 2010 and hit the cover off the ball (to the tune of a 240 OPS+!!!!). His last week was insane 11-19 3 Homers 11 RBIs 6 walks (that's a .680 OBP!!!!!!).....is it too early to talk MVP? Not according to this guy. But....one totally epic season does not win a division or allow you to be good (isn't that right Kansas City Royals?)...and some competency from the other 24 players is still needed.

The Indians start Mitch Talbot. He has 3 career starts under his belt. Two of them have come in 2010. So far, so good (1-1 3.21 era 120 ERA+). I'm not sure how sustainable this performance is but if he can continue to play fairly well and Shin-Soo Choo ends up breaking into the elite this year, the Indians could surprise some people this year.

Rangers vs. Red Sox Thursday MLB Network

Wilson vs. Bucholz

Interest Level:5

The Rangers have slogged to a 5-7 start thus far. Not too much about this team screams contender to me. The Rangers are starting C.J. Wilson in this one. Not sure how he will hold up the entire year as a starter (he spent the last 4 seasons exclusively in relief, 3 of them as a closer). One thing at least is for sure, you can't blame the Rangers slow start on Wilson (0-1 2.08 era 206 ERA+).....he even has a complete game under his belt....not bad for a player who has Ed Vosberg as his #1 comparable on baseball-reference.

I'm pretty sure not many people were expecting the Red Sox to start 4-9. Whether this is a sign of things to come or they are getting their worst stretch out of the way early, it is too early to tell. They have Clay Bucholz taking the hill for this game. Like Wilson, the Red Sox early struggles can't really be blamed on Bucholz as he has also started off well (1-1 1.80 era 242 ERA+). Are we in the middle of Clay Bucholz's breakout season? The Red Sox may need it if they want to be in contention.

Early Week National TV Baseball Preview

Time to see what's in store to start the second week of the season

Red Sox vs. Twins Monday ESPN

Lester vs. Pavano

Interest Level:6

The Twins finally get to open Target Field. It should be interesting to see how this stadium plays out in terms of whether it will be hitter friendly or not. The Red Sox come into this game at 3-3, the Twins have started 5-2 and at this point and appear to have not missed a beat despite not having Joe Nathan closing games out.

Reds vs. Marlins Monday MLB Network

Cueto vs. Nolasco

Interest Level: 4

The Reds were a lot of peoples pick to be a sleeper team in 2010. With a 3-3 start, they haven't really done anything to prove or disprove this notion. The Marlins had a nice first week going 4-2 and bring Ricky Nolasco (one of my picks to bounce back in 2010) to the hill.

Angels vs. Yankees Tuesday MLB Network

Santana vs. Pettite

Interest Level: 5

The Yankees started off pretty strong this week at a 4-2 clip. The Angels, well they have had better weeks. Hideki Matsui looks to be an excellent signing for the Angels early on as he came up clutch against the A's in last nights game. One of the few bright spots in their 2-5 week. Speaking of bright spots, Brandon Wood has been the exact opposite of this in his first week with a full time starting gig. Is this a sign of things to come or just the result of a bad week? We'll find out in due time.

D-Backs vs. Dodgers Tuesday MLB Network

Kennedy vs. Kershaw

Interest Level: 6

An early season NL West divisional battle. Not too much of a shock that one of these teams is sitting in second and one of them is sitting in fourth. The surprising thing is that the D-Backs are the team sitting in second and the Dodgers are the team sitting in 4th. One good reason to check this game out is that Clayton Kershaw is taking the hill for the Dodgers. Kershaw still struggles with bouts of wildness from time to time but has the talent/potential to be a Cy Young award caliber pitcher. Does this happen in 2010? Stay tuned to find out.

Nationals vs. Phillies Wednesday MLB Network

TBD vs. Kendrick

Interest Level: 4

The Phillies were expected by just about everyone to take the NL East so the fact that they are 5-1 and hanging out in 1st place shouldn't be shock to anyone. The Nationals were expected to drop straight down to the cellar but had a respectable 3-3 first week which was aided by random big games from the likes of Cristian Guzman and Willy Taveras (who did their part to place me in the basement of my Razzball league).

Astros vs. Cardinals

Myers vs. Penny

Interest Level:5

Another game where there isn't too many surprises about the teams respective places in the standings. No surprise at St. Louis at the top. No surprise that the Astros are at the bottom. The one surprise with the Astros is just the degree of ineptitude they have displayed in the first week of the season. They carry the title of being the only team to not win a game in 2010........ouch.

Finally.....Winter's Over....Here's some baseball games that will count

Well, it's FINALLY time for the 2010 baseball season. No more winter, no more spring training....time to see how this goes down....how my predictions (and everyone elses will stand up over the season).....and also how Chedderhead/My Razzball team and the random Cbssports.com fantasy league i'm in that I haven't talked about does.......

Yankees vs. Red Sox

Sunday (Sabathia vs. Beckett) ESPN 2

Tuesday (Burnett vs. Lester) MLBN

Wednesday (Pettite vs. Lackey) ESPN 2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 1

Like a bad TBS movie that they "give you 3 chances to watch" you get 3 chances to watch the Yankees take on the Red Sox. The Sunday game stands out because its the first game of the season that actually counts. In the context of this season, this series is fairly insignificant but i'm pretty sure ESPN is hyping it like the ALCS because to them, the other 28 teams might as well be Triple-A teams for all they care.....as evidenced by this 2007 expose by the Onion.

In all seriousness, I don't care who it is...baseball is back. You have ex-Brewer Sabathia taking the hill against Beckett who is currently in negotiations for a massive extension (will this keep him in contract year blow the world away mode?)

On Tuesday, MLB Network gets in on the fun as they show game 2 of this series. MLB Network gets a pass on the Red Sox-Yankees criticism I give ESPN as they are taking the step of showing all 30 teams within the first 30 days of the season.

Wednesday marks the first Red Sox start for John Lackey....does he justify the piles of money thrown at him last summer or not? We begin to find out Wednesday

Cardinals (Carpenter) vs. Reds (Harang) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10, my interest is: 6

A few interesting things here:

1) First look at a couple of NL Central rivals: The first look at a Cardinals team that just about everyone (except myself....and I don't see them missing by much) against a Reds team that is a perpetual sleeper in the NL Central

2) A first look at whether Chris Carpenter can replicate his strong 2009 season. Talent isn't the issue, the ability to stay healthy....well that's a completely different story......also he's one of my starters in the CBS league (Baseball, Beer and Bahkas) so i'll be a bit more interested in the results

3) Day 1 of Jay Bruce's breakout season: With Cliff Lee and Huston Street injured, someone is going to have to carry Cheddarhead on their shoulders, it might as well be Jay Bruce.

Indians (Westbrook) vs. White Sox (Buerhle) Monday ESPN2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 4

The Indians have lots of potential in 2010.....to be as bad or as worse than the Royals. If the Indians have any hope of making that last sentence sound horribly wrong, they are probably going to need Jake Westbrook to make more than 5 starts.

The White Sox on the other hand, have reasonable playoff expectations. They may not be a great team but then again they aren't in the strongest division either. Despite Joe Nathan being shelved for the season, I still think the Twins will win the division (barely.)

Another fun fact is that this game matches up 2 of the 3 pitchers who tied for the league in Hits Allowed in 2006. (The third player, Jon Garland gets the opening day nod for the Padres).

Cubs (Zambrano) vs. Braves (Lowe) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 8

Well, the Cubs are involved so if nothing else I have a team to root against. Also, with Carlos Zambrano pitching you never quite know what your getting although this tends to equal itself out over each season as his ERA+ the last few years have been eerily similar (117,118,119) Usually an interesting and harmless experience unless you happened to be dressed like a Gatorade machine and Zambrano doesn't like the umpiring on a given day.

For the Braves, the have Derek Lowe taking the hill here. Lowe is coming off his worst year as a starter but I see him coming back strong in 2010....i'm confident enough in this assertion that he ended up on Chedderhead.

Giants (Lincecum) vs. Astros (Oswalt) Monday ESPN

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a: 7

Good pitching match-up. Anytime Lincecum takes the hill, it's worth watching (right now he's my favorite non-Brewers player) because you never know whats going to happen. The Astros are looking to Roy Oswalt to anchor their staff this year.

From '01-'07 this would have been a fairly sound strategy. However, Oswalt's performance and his health have regressed a bit in the last couple years ......pretty much a microcosm of the Astors as a whole.

Twins vs. Angels

Baker vs. Weaver Tuesday MLB Network

Pavano vs. Santana Wednesday ESPN 2

On a scale of 1-10 my interest is a : 6

It should be interesting to see how the Twins come out of the gate. Will their saavy winter moves and the momentum of locking up Joe Mauer be the catalyst towards another playoff appearance. Or will the downgrade from Joe Nathan to whoever they have closing games bring them back to the pack.

For the Angels, will they rack up another AL West title or will the Mariners off-season moves allow them to overtake Los Angeles of Anaheim of North America of the Northern Hemisphere and be top of the class. To answer some of these questions but raise more questions than are actually answered, stay tuned to find out.

Brewers vs. Rockies Wednesday MLB Network

See, Brewers-Rockies Series Preview Post

AL East Preview Part II

Our Standings after the First Half:

Red Sox-18

Yankees-21

Rays-31

Orioles-31

Blue Jays-34

Starting Rotation:

Red Sox-4.5

Rays-9

Yankees-13.5

Orioles-18

Blue Jays-22.5

When I started looking at this area, I was debating between placing Boston or New York at #1 but obviously changed my mind. The Red Sox are behind at the ace spot (Lester versus Sabathia) but are stronger at the 2/3 spots (Beckett/Lackey) versus (Burnett/Pettite). The biggest question mark in the Red Sox rotation is Dice-K but I think they get more out of Bucholz than the Yankees will with whatever their 2010 version of the Joba Rules are.

The Rays don't have a full on ace pitcher (which is why they don't get the 1-spot) but they have greater depth in the back of their rotation (Davis/Niemann) who while they may not be as familiar to baseball fans as Javier Vasquez (no way he repeats his 2009 performance) and Joba Chamberlain (not sure what the Yankees will do with him this year but whatever it is is likely to backfire)

Overall, the Blue Jays/Orioles rotations are nothing to write home about. I don't see Millwood repeating his strong 2009 performance....there's no way Guthrie would be the #2 starter for a contender. On the same token, nothing really excites me about the Blue Jays rotation. The Orioles avoid the cellar because the young pitchers they have (Bergesen/Matusz/Tillman) have more talent/potential than the Blue Jays starters and there's a solid chance at least one of them (either Matusz and/or Bergesen) are on the cusp of a breakout season.

Bullpen:

Yankees-4.5

Red Sox-9

Rays-13.5

Orioles-18

Blue Jays-22.5

Who would you rather have with the game on the line.......Rivera or Papelbon? That's a very, very tough question. The Red Sox and Yankees have the back of their bullpen anchored by two of the elite closers in the game, this one is a toss-up. The arbitrary factoid that gives Rivera the nod as tie breaker: He enters the game to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. That also happens to be the ringtone on my cellphone.

Final Standings:

Red Sox-31.5

Yankees-39

Rays-53.5

Orioles-67

Blue Jays-79

AL East Preview: Part I

Time to head East to the American League:

Catcher

1-Matt Wieters

2-Victor Martinez

3-Jorge Posada

4-Kelly Shoppach

5-John Buck

Tough call at this position. Wieters had a nice finish to 2009 and all signs indicate that he'll take some significant steps forward. Victor Martinez had a solid 2009 but couldn't justify him at #1 for a couple of reasons a) His OPS was 161 points lower at Catcher than at First AND the Red Sox have openly stated they plan to use him primarily behind the plate b) Is the Victor Martinez of 2007/2009 that had 13% of his flyballs turn into home runs or are we going to see the Victor Martinez that only saw 3% of his flyballs and 2 of his 266 At Bats turn into home runs.

First Base

1-Mark Teixiera

2-Kevin Youkilis

3-Carlos Pena

4-Lyle Overbay

5-Michael Aubrey

A Toss-Up between Teixiera and Youkilis. Teixiera has the slight power edge and a right field porch more suited for Little League giving him the edge. Both Youkilis and Pena have a penchant for hitting plenty of homers and drawing plenty of walks. Youkilis has a significant edge over Pena as Youkilis is able to draw his walks and hit his homers while still hitting .300 while Pena is usually south of .250

Second Base

1-Dustin Pedroia

2-Robinson Cano

3-Aaron Hill

4-Ben Zobrist

5-Brian Roberts

An very loaded field at Second. You have tier, 1 (Pedroia/Cano) where their performance is established and you know (mostly) what you are going to get. Could see Pedroia going 20-20, I don't see Cano hitting 27 out again. You have your second tier (Hill/Zobrist) of players who had breakout seasons last year but its still unclear how sustainable their level of production is going to be. Look for these two to settle into a rhythm of hitting from .260 to .280 with around 20 homers.

Shortstop

1-Derek Jeter

2-Marco Scutaro

3-Jason Bartlett

4-Alex Gonzales

5- Cesar Izturis

While Derek Jeter is one of the more over-rated players in baseball, he's still considerably better than the rest of the field. There was somewhat of a bidding war for Scutaro over the winter, i'm still trying to figure out why. That's nice that Bartlett had a great season last year. Too bad, that his home run numbers are not sustainable based on Bartlett's past.

Third Base:

1-Alex Rodriguez

2-Evan Longoria

3-Adrian Beltre

4-Garrett Atkins

5-Edwin Encarnacion

A-Rod may be one of the more unlikable players in baseball. He's also still one of the elite hitters in baseball. Evan Longoria has been a hitting machine ever since being called up in 2008. Longoria looks to move himself deeper into the elite echelon of Third Basemen this year. There is an off chance that Beltre could have a big season considering he's playing for a contract and getting away from Safeco field but this is far from a sure thing.

Left Field:

1-Carl Crawford

2-Nolan Reimold

3-Mike Cameron

4-Jose Bautista

5-Brett Gardner

These rankings are based on a couple of hunches 1-Carl Crawford is in his contract year, a solid chance to explode beyond his baseline .300-20 homers- 60 steal baseline. Nolan Reimold had a nice rookie year and looks to be on the cusp of a breakout season.......wouldn't be surprised to see him hit .275 and 25-30 homers. Mike Cameron is still a solid player, at this point what you see is what you get.... .250 average 20-25 homers striking out every 3 to 4 at bats and multiple hot and cold streaks.

Center Field:

1-Curtis Granderson

2-Jacoby Ellsbury

3-Adam Jones

4-Vernon Wells

5-B.J. Upton

Could see these rankings go a few different directions. Moving to Yankee Stadium should be one of the best things to happen to Granderson's career. He's already shown he can hit 30 out per year and with the little league sized porch that Yankee Stadium calls Right Field should inflate his home run totals.....now if only he can figure out hitting lefties. I'm completely unmoved by high stolen base totals which prevents Ellsbury from grabbing the top spot. Not bought or sold on Jones yet he got lucky in the first half, unlucky in the second half.....Vernon Wells had a chance to hit number-1 but then I remembered there were criterion other than contract size.

Right Field

1-J.D. Drew

2-Nick Swisher

3-Nick Markakis

4-Travis Snider

5-Gabe Kapler/Matt Joyce

One through three are fairly interchangeable sources of .270-.280 average (.250 for Swisher) and 20-30 homers. On talent alone, Drew is on top but as always, there are concerns about staying healthy. Swisher has better power than Markakis but hits for a lower average. Swisher's power was too good to pass up......plus Swisher is a cheddarhead member. Travis Snider is the toughest one to figure out.....I could see anything from struggling for a month and being sent to the minors to having a breakout season similar to what I'm expecting out of Jay Bruce and Kyle Blanks.

Designated Hitter:

1-Adam Lind

2-David Ortiz

3-Luke Scott

4-Pat Burrell

5-Nick Johnson

Skeptical on Lind hitting 35 out this year but could see him hitting .280 with 25-30 homers. Ortiz has the pedigree, and more power but the way his numbers have trended the last few years is a bit discouraging. Luke Scott.....another 20 homer hitter.....Pat Burrell, after last years epic fail anything will pass as progress.....

Standings after First Half:

Red Sox-18

Yankees-21

Rays-31

Orioles-31

Blue Jays-34

A few surprises here. The Red Sox grabbed the top spot despite having less players in the 1-spot than the Yankees (2 vs. 4). The Yankees ranking was dragged down due to weaknesses in left (Brett Gardner) and DH (Nick Johnson). A bit surprised of how far back the Rays were. The O's and Blue Jays are ranked about where I thought they would be.

An Award List.....With A Twist

So, it was announced the other day that two ex-Brewers, Bill Schroeder and Greg Vaughn into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame.

This piqued my curiosity about other Major League Players to play in the Cape Cod League. It turns out there are plenty of Cape Cod League Alums playing in the Big Leagues. The most recent list of Active Players is this list from 2008 (I had no luck finding a list from '09). Anyways with many of the major baseball awards being handed out soon, I decided to do my own top 10 list for the Most Valuable Player. The one caveat for making this list is this list is limited to Cape Cod League Alums.

10- Mark Reynolds .260/.349/.543 123 OPS+

Reynolds made some major strides as a player this year. Reynolds seems destined to become the 2010s version of Adam Dunn. He re-wrote the record books as he struck out 223 times this year. Still, he had a solid year and proved to the league that he will be a force to reckon with (when he makes contact)

9-Carlos Pena .227/.356/.537 130 OPS+

The American League, injury prone equivalent to Reynolds. Despite missing the last month of the season, Pena still managed to lead the AL in homers.

8-Adam Lind .305/.370/.562 144 OPS+

The Blue Jays may have had a bad year, but without Lind it would have been much worse. 2009 was Adam Lind's first year playing full-time and he made the most of it. Lind's season definitely qualifies as one of the most secretive 30+ homer seasons of this decade.

7-Evan Longoria .281/.364/.526 130 OPS+

Longoria was able to avoid the sophomore slump and have a solid season. The only damper is Tampa Bay was not able to follow up on last years World Series appearance and leading the AL in GIDP. Still, Longoria is going to be a star for many years to come and he demonstrated why in '09.

6-Lance Berkman .274/.399/.509 139 OPS+

One of the few bright stops in an otherwise terrible year for the Astros. It should be interesting to see how long he can keep his productivity up.

5- Jason Bay .267/.384/.537 134 OPS+

Jason Bay had a strong year in his first full year in Boston. He did a good job keeping the left field spot in Boston productive. He definitely showed why hes going to be one of the most sought after free agents in the winter.

4-Kevin Youkilis .305/.413/.548 145 OPS+

Another solid year from Youk. In these rankings, Youk and Bay are fairly interchangeable.

3- Tim Lincecum 15-7 2.48 era 176 ERA+

The only pitcher to appear on this list. Lincecum had another excellent year and further cemented himself as one of the best pitchers of our generation. He already has one Cy Young Award to his name......with possibly a second one coming soon.

2-Chase Utley .282/.397/.508 136 OPS+

An elite second baseman on a Phillies team that went to a second straight World Series. Plus he was mentioned prominently in an episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia as Mac was trying so hard to meet him and hand deliver a letter to him.

1-Mark Teixeira .292/.383/.565 149 OPS+

Teixiera had a strong first year for the Yankees. As much as I don't like the Yankees, Teixiera did enough to rise above the competition from his Cape Cod League Alumni. Still doesn't change the fact that he's not going to get the actual MVP (That goes to Joe Mauer)

Hot Stove Rundown--Only 150 Days to Opening Day

So, today was the first full day of the Baseball off-season. But some baseball news did happen today

OMG!!!!! Tim Lincecum got caught with trace amounts of pot

Apparently this is a big enough story to make Lincecum #16 on Google Trends (as of 9 P.M. Pacific Time) and is splattered all over the front page of Ball Hype. Personally, I could care less whether or not Lincecum likes to smoke weed. I have a bad gut feeling that the media will try to blow this like the whole Michael Phelps picture where hes taking a bong rip. If he got caught with something like Crystal Meth, then it would be a big deal

but c'mon....its the off-season, he pitched better than everyone except Chris Carpenter in the NL in '09 and he Spring Training is still a few months away.....anyways thats my take on it...hopefully this is both the first and last day people talk about this

Jeremy Hermida traded to the Red Sox

Former First Round pick Jeremy Hermida has finished off the Florida Marlins portion of his career. As a top prospect big things were expected from him but he has been plagued by bad defense and has been an average player.

It may be speculative but I see either two motives behind this trade A) This is a minor first step for the Red Sox to re-tool after an early playoff exit and they see Hermida getting 200-300 plate appearances as either a back-up outfielder or someone to fill in at DH if Big Papi gets hurt or takes a day off B) Hermida is a stop gap option in case they are unable to retain Jason Bay and/or pick up an elite left fielder to replace Bay if they were to lose. Considering that Hermidas big league performance has been most similar to Jody Gerut and Ryan Church.......I definitely see option A is the much more likely scenario

Mark Teahen Traded To The White Sox.....maybe.....maybe not

This development has been a bit strange. First, its always odd when divisional rivals trade with each other. Second, there seem to be conflicting reports on whether or not this trade went down. If it does...it would mark another deal centered around an under performing 1st round pick.

Teahen was a former first-round pick (like Hermida) who hasn't had the greatest start to his career. Hes a versatile player with experience in both the infield and outfield. While the MoneyBall claim of him being the next Jason Giambi isn't going to come true.....his career should be rejuvenated by escaping the baseball purgatory of Kansas City.

He was traded for Chris Getz who struggled at the plate in his first full season. The White Sox also threw in Josh Fields who has gotten very little playing time since his rookie season in '07. The discussion of this trade may prove to be counter-productive if it turns out it isn't completed but its still interesting to speculate about either way.

First Impressions of This Years Playoffs

Alright, so the first three days of this years playoffs are in the books....while 3 of the 4 series have teams leading 2-0, the games have been more compelling than this may indicate....my impressions form

Rockies v. Phillies

Well, like most sequels, Rocktober II got off to a lack-luster start. The Phils have already done better in this version than they original as they've actually won a game this time. The weird thing is that while this is the only tied up series...this is the series that I haven't gotten the least into

Cardinals v. Dodgers

Prior to the series, I argued that the Dodgers would win this series due to having a better-rounded team. I also mentioned that while the Dodgers have several players who could step up on any given day...the Cardinals are revolved mostly around Carpenter, Wainwright, Holliday and Pujols.

This series isn't even over and the Cardinals have been hurt by 2 of these players not playing up to their regular season performance. Chris Carpenter did has non-stepping up on a more subtle level as he got out-pitched by Randy Wolf of all people.

Then there is Matt Holliday. Thursday started off well for him with him hitting a home run early on. However, thats not what people are going to remember. He's obviously going to be remembered for his missed opportunity to grab the final out of the game (plus getting hit in the groin with the baseball---usually you have to watch MTV for something like that...and the impending collapse that occurred afterwards.

While Holliday obviously made a crucial error, he definitely can't be blamed entirely for the loss. After this error the Cards were up 2-1 with a runner on base and 2 outs. I get the vibe that the defensive gaffe will cover-up the very non-clutch performance of Ryan Franklin.....its not like he gave up the game-tying/losing hits to the meat of the line-up...he blew this game against two players who did time on some bad Brewers teams in the late 90s (Ron Belliard and Mark Loretta).

Twins vs. Yankees

Todays match-up was a lost opportunity for the Twins. They were up 3-1 on a couple late RBI singles. A normally clutch Joe Nathan blows the game on the biggest stage.....can't capitalize on loading the bases with 0 outs and left 17 men on base...........14 of those potential runners that could have let them win this game......there are some things you can blame on payroll discrepancies...Game 2 is not one of them.........if this didn't ruin the Twins morale...the walk-off home run from Mark Teixeira pretty much finished off the job

Angels vs. Red Sox

Well, the Angels are one win away from beating the Red Sox for the first time in a playoff series. Whether they follow through on this is yet to be seen. They have to travel east to Fenway Park so anything can happen here. For what its worth out of the 4 times a team has come down 2-0 in the ALDS...the Red Sox have been the team to come back two of those times ('99 vs. Cleveland and '03 vs. Oakland)

Still, to pull this off (or win a game) they need to get their offense going. Scoring 1 run in 2 games is not a good things.

For a while this game looked like it was going to be more epic than the preceding Twins/Yankees game. Josh Beckett and Jered Weaver went blow for blow until the 7th inning until the Angels broke through for a 3-run inning.

On a misc. note, this series has allowed C.B. Bucknor has gotten his 15 minutes of shame. How hes umpring in the playoffs is beyond me. His work has been bad enough to have various edits made to his wikipedia page.

Well thats my gut reaction to the first few days of the playoffs......can't wait to see how the rest of this plays out.

Divison Series Preview Part 1: Red-Sox/Angels

Well the Baseball Playoffs are here upon us again. Like clockwork, the Red Sox and Angels are slated to face off against each other in the ALDS.....with this I will be watching TBS a lot while they try to convince us Frank Caliendo is a legitimate comedian...to breakdown the series (and make a prediction I decided to break-down these teams by starting line-up position, starting rotation, bullpens and x factors..........

Catcher:

Victor Martinez .302/.380/.476 120 OPS+

Mike Napoli .267/.344/.480 112 OPS+

The Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez down the stretch. He was about one of about 400 players the Indians have purged from their roster since almost going to the World Series two years ago. Martinez has been huge for the Sox since coming to Boston.

This is the first season where Mike Napoli has played 100+ games. He's not a bad player..he has plenty of pop in his bat..he's just not an All-Star.

Advantage: Red Sox

First Base:

Kevin Youkilis .305/.412/.550 143 OPS+

Kendry Morales .304/.353/.571 135 OPS+

Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks is a beast (well unless he's fighting Rick Porcello)...thats besides the point..he followed up a strong '08 (where he finished 3rd in MVP Voting)...with an equally strong season.

Kendry Morales is finishing off his break-out season. This is the first-season he's played full-time and he's made the most of the opportunity

First Base is a close call but Youkilis gets the nod due to more experience and a better playoff track record (.333/.407/.616 in 113 ABs over 3/13 for Morales)

Advantage: Red Sox

Second Base:

Dustin Pedroia .296/.370/.440 106 OPS+

Howie Kendrick .298/.341/.454 105 OPS+

Pedroia has been decent this year....not awesome, not terrible and definitely not MVP caliber but a solid contributor....not bad for a guy from Woodland...

You could say the same about Howie Kendrick only he played in less games and he's from Jacksonville which is more than one town over from where I went to college.

Again, another close match-up where I used post-season performance as a tie-breaker (Pedroia .262/.356/.485 119 ABs to Kendrick (.148/.143/.148 in 30 ABs)

Advantage: Red Sox

Shortstop:

Nick Green .236/.303/.366 70 OPS+

Erick Aybar .304/.346/.416 98 OPS+

Definitely not the strength for either of these teams. What a player like Nick Green is doing playing 103 games for a major league team, let alone the Red Sox is beyond me.

Aybar has been OK...i'm not one to value the "scrappy" players who have speed, defense and minimal power but he's done enough to get the upper-hand in this match-up

Advantage: Angels

Third Base:

Mike Lowell .290/.335/.475 104 OPS+

Chone Figgins .300/.399/.397 106 OPS+

This is the third infield spot with a close positional match-up. Mike Lowell hasn't done anything too noticeable (in a good or bad way).

Chone Figgins is a decent but flawed player. He hits for contact, he draws walks (he leads the AL in walks) he has speed but one flaw....he leads the lead in Caught Stealing....making outs on the basepath is sloppy baseball in my book and it costs him the match-up here.

Advantage: Red Sox

Left Field:

Jason Bay .266/.385/.538 133 OPS+

Juan Rivera .285/.329/.473 106 OPS+

Manny Ramirez pouting his way to L.A. is probably the best thing to happen Jason Bay's career. Instead of struggling away in Triple-A Pittsburgh he ends up getting a starting gig at Fenway. Jason being Jason and Baywood may not be nicknames or Fenway stadium sections but he's held his ground very well.

Juan Rivera is a decent player (when not injured). The only thing really standing out is he hit a career-high 24 homers this year.

Advantage: Red Sox

Center Field

Jacoby Ellsbury .301/.353/.414 95 OPS+

Torii Hunter .298/.364/.507 124 OPS+

He can get on base...steal lots of bases and do it efferently 68/79.......good guy to have in the line-up.

Torii Hunter may be a bit over-paid but he's still a valuable member of the Angels....he's a decent hitter...amazing defensively and has a pretty decent post-season track record (.316/.352/.510)

Advantage: Angels

Right Field

J.D. Drew .276/.391/.508 127 OPS+

Bobby Abreu .297/.394/.441 117 OPS+

Drew has been decent this year but I have a hard time taking seriously a player who doesn't seem to take the game seriously at times.

Abreu was signed for a cheap deal and its paid off handsomely for the Angels. He's the classic example of a player who does lots of things well but isn't really known for one particular aspect of his game. Going with Abreu on this more on a whim than anything else.

Advantage: Angels

DH

David Ortiz .238/.332/.463 100 OPS+

Vladimir Guerrero .294/.334/.459 104 OPS+

Definitely one of the more interesting position break-downs in this series

Big Papi has had an interesting season but not in a good way. He started off the season horribly and had to go through the controversy of the positive steroid test from 2003. However, he's gotten things together and hit the ball a lot better in the second half.

Vladimir Guerrero has also had better years. He has been limited by injury playing only 98 games. Regardless of that he still has a unique skill of being able to yard on any pitch....regardless of how far out of the strike zone it is.

This is another close match-up. Again, I used past post-season performance as a tie-breaker and Big Papi gets the Nod here

Advantage: Red Sox

Starting Rotation

Josh Beckett

Jon Lester

Tim Wakefield

Daisuke Matsuzaka

vs.

Jered Weaver

Joe Saunders

John Lackey

Ervin Santana

The Starting Rotation isn't the strength of either team. For the Red Sox they should be in good-shape with Beckett and Lester. Wakefield i'm not too sure about....he seems to never be really great...never that terrible...but since its the playoffs you need more than alright to get through. Daisuke Matsuzaka is the wild card in all of this. He's had his struggles on the mound, spent time on the DL but he's pitched much better since coming back in September. If the Angels steal a game or two Matsuzaka continuing or not continuing his strong pitching could be the difference between moving on to the ALCS and moving on to the golf course.

The Angels are arguably better in the 1-spot (Weaver over Beckett) but in general their starting rotation has left a lot to be desired. The rest of their rotation is likely Joe Saunders, John Lackey and Ervin Santana...nothing in this back 3 really inspires me.

Red Sox get the edge due to the advantage in the 2-spot (Lester over Saunders) and Matsuzaka's recent strong play.

Advantage: Red Sox

If the game's close in innings 7-9 the players you most likely will see are

Jonathan Papelbon

Ramon Ramirez

Hideki Okajima

vs.

Brian Fuentes

Darren Oliver

Jason Bulger

The set-up guys are fairly even but if the game is on the line in the 9th.....I would rather have Papelbon in the game than Fuentes.

Advantage: Red Sox

X Factor:

What do 2004, 2007 and 2008 have in common? The Red Sox eliminated the Angels in the playoffs all three years. Even if the Angels won't admit it....this is likely stirring around in their heads and places them at a further disadvantage.

Advantage: Red Sox

Breakdown Tallies: Red Sox 9 Angels 3

Final Prediction: Red Sox in 4

Baseball Weekend Preview

The second to last weekend of regular season baseball is upon us. The pennant races are not as thrilling as usual but there's still a glimmer of hope that if Detroit or Colorado struggles an entertaining week could still happen. As always, the games are ranked from 1 to 5 based on how interesting I find the series.

Red Sox vs. Yankees =1

FRI-TBS, SAT-FOX, SUN-ESPN

Lester vs. Chamberlain

Matsuzaka vs. Sabathia

Byrd vs. Pettite

There are 28 other teams that play major league baseball but these two are the only ones to get slobbering obsessive coverage from the national media. If a playoff series was at stake I could see having all 3 games on national TV but in reality this series is a play-off tune up for both teams. The Yankees have a pretty healthy lead in the AL East and the Red Sox have the wild-card more or less locked up.

Still, there are a few things to watch for this weekend. First, OMG Joba Chamberlain is starting. OMG the Joba Rules....lets see how bad we can mishandle Joba Chamberlain and how much hype we can give an average pitcher who had two really good months...back in '07. This is the real life equivalent of that South Park episode where it's revealed they build up stars at a young age only to watch them self-destruct (Britney Spears/Miley Cyrus).

Second, Can Dice-K bounce back from a bad year and be a factor in the playoffs? He's pitched better in his first two starts back. How he does against the Yankees will go a long way to determine this.

Third, will C.C. Sabathia pitch strong and strengthen his grip for the battle of who's going to finish 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Zack Greinke?

Cubs vs. Giants =3

Sat-FOX Gorzelanny vs. Zito

The Cubs playoff hopes are more or less done. However, they do have a chance to play spoiler and bring the Giants down with them. The Giants have exceeded preseason expectations all year and still have a slim hope at the wild card despite having a horribly inept offense (except for Pablo Sandoval).

The main reason to watch this one is to see if Zito can keep his hot streak alive. After signing a massive contract for the Giants, he has performed significantly worse than the contract given to him. This year he's experienced a resurgence as well and a big start from Zito would do a lot to keep the pressure on the Rockies.

Cardinals vs. Rockies = 3.5

Sat-MLB Network

Wainwright vs. Jimenez

Probably the best series of the weekend. For the Cardinals, this series serves as a play-off tune up as they've long since left the rest of the NL Central in the dust. That doesn't mean they're going to take it easy on the Rockies as they co-ace Adam Wainwright.

For the Rockies, they need to play well in this series to maintain their lead in the wild card race and to seal off their playoff hopes. The Rockies have their own developing ace, Ubaldo Jimenez taking the hill on Saturday.

In other words, expect a really good pitchers duel in this game. Also, as much as I hate to admit...the Cardinals playing well this weekend would be good for MLB overall as it would increase the chance of a thrilling end of season showdown between the Rockies, Giants and Braves.

Weekend Preview: Slim Pickins for Labor Day Weekend

So, September is upon us and in theory an exciting weekend of Baseball match-ups. But it's baseball and anything can happen so I could be totally wrong on the overall lack of excitement for these games. As always, games are ranked on a scale from 1-5......and with that let the games begin...........

Red Sox vs White Sox [Tazawa vs. Floyd]--SAT Fox [Lester vs. Danks] SUN TBS =3

This game might have ranked higher if the White Sox weren't in give up on 2009 mode. Granted, the White Sox weren't great this year but they were at least good enough to not trade Jim Thome for pretty much nothing. Still, they start a couple of decent pitchers in Floyd and Danks this weekend so they should at least be competitive in these games.

The Red Sox are looking to extend their wild card lead over the Rangers this weekend. They start Tazawa on Saturday who has struggled in the month he's been on the Red Sox roster. They start Lester on Sunday. He's in the midst of another solid season in Boston.

Rangers vs. Orioles [Millwood vs. Matusz] =2 Saturday FOX

Speaking of the Rangers, they have a game on TV this weekend too. They've managed to stay in within contention the entire season due to improved pitching and bring in solid veteran Kevin Millwood to start. They get what basically equates to a gimme series playing against an Orioles team that has given up on the season.....how they got onto TV for a September game is beyond me. They start 22-year old Brian Matusz who has an OK win-loss record (3-2) but hasn't really pitched that well......to display Exhibit 3,478 on this team giving up on the season......Matusz has been a rotation regular despite pitching in Single-A as late as June.

Giants vs. Brewers [The Brewers series preview will get posted later today] Saturday-FOX

Tigers [Jackson] vs. Rays [Sonnanstine] --Sunday TBS =3.5

Probably the best match-up out of an overall uninspiring pack of games. The Tigers send Edwin Jackson to the mound to face his old team. Jackson has been a big reason why the Tigers are in first-place and played significantly better than expected. The Rays (who probably shouldn't have traded him straight up for 11 games and 37 mediocre Matt Joyce at-bats) counter's with Andy Sonnanstine who is having a terrible season (69 ERA+)......The Rays are quickly fading from the Wild Card race and can only be wondering what if they didn't trade Jackson in the off-season.....well they did and they're not better off for it.

Padres [Stauffer] vs. Dodgers [TBA] = 1

Two teams.....two hours apart.....two contrasting places in the standings. The Padres start Tim Stauffer who despite being the #4 pick in the 2003 draft.....hasn't played well enough overall to justify such a high pick. However, he has pitched better this season [3-6 3.76 era 100 ERA+] and looks like he may be a pitcher to watch out for in 2010. The Dodgers have yet to announce who's starting the Sunday night game....but regardless of who it is the Dodgers are likely to win this one easily. For them, this is basically a gimme series against a lesser-talented team.

Well that's the baseball on TV on tap for labor day weekend. Like I said not the most inspiring-but it's a three day weekend and it gives off a calm before the storm vibe.

Weekend Preview: Yanks-Sox plus other action

The Weekend is upon us and another weekend baseball preview. As always, ratings are from 1 to 5. With that being said, let the games begiiiiiiinnnnn.


Red Sox vs. Yankees = 1 [minus 3 points due to ESPN overkill]
Saturday-FOX Sunday-ESPN

Saturday [Burnett vs. Tazawa] Sunday [Sabathia vs. Beckett]

I really want to rate this series higher than a 1. There are plenty of playoff implications. Do the Yankees pull away further, what about the Red Sox loose grip on the wild card race. While there are interesting things about this match-up [most notably Sunday's potential pitching duel]......ESPN has overkilled this series and undermined from me actually caring.

Watching MLB Network last night it is clear I am not alone.....I was watching MLB tonight and they were doing a cut-in to last night Yankees-A's game and Matt Vasgersian makes a random comment along the lines of nobody making a big deal about Johnny Damon leaving Oakland and something along the lines of it's all about the Yankees and Red Sox in a disproving matter.....God I love the MLB Network.......while Vasgersian may not be able to differentiate between Fernando Vina and Fernando Valenzuela....or refrain form dropping F-Bombs on live tv........his comment was one of those moments that made me glad ESPN actually has some competition

Cubs vs. Dodgers
Saturday- FOX [Lilly vs. Haeger] = 3

Not the best series this weekend....but still worth checking out. Both teams have struggled as of late and one of these teams will turn it around by default. The Cubs are quickly fading away from the NL Central and Wild Card race and starts their only all-star this year [Ted Lilly]. The Dodgers whose once insurmountable NL West lead has trimmed to four games counter with Charlie Haeger.

Giants vs. Rockies
Saturday-MLB Network [Martinez vs. De La Rosa] =4

This series has heavy playoff implications as these two teams are neck and neck in the NL Wild Card race. The Giants start rookie Joe Martinez while the Rockies counter with one of my least favorite pitchers in the league Jorge De La Rosa....either way this should be a really close, intense and good game

Rangers vs. Rays
Sunday TBS [Feldman vs. Price] =3.5

Another wild card battle. The Rays are looking to make a return trip to the playoffs [this year as a wild card] the Rangers are looking for their first playoff trip in 10 years around a much improved pitching staff......the Rangers resurgence is occurring in ex-Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux's first year as the Rangers pitching coach........this has a lot to do with why the Rangers pitching has helped them stay in contention and why the Brewers pitching has fallen off a cliff....but that's besides the point.......good game.....solid teams...heavy playoff implications....can't ask for much more on a Sunday morning.

The Thursday Post

Well it's Thursday and that means time to look ahead to another weekend of baseball games..........as always games are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5......and let the games begin

Phillies vs. Braves-Saturday [TBD vs. Kawakami] FOX =4
Sunday [TBD vs. Vasquez] ESPN =4

Definitely one of the better series this weekend. The Phillies have gotten a bit complacent lately letting half of their NL East lead in a recent sweep against the Marlins. The Phils have not decided who to pitch this weekend.

For the Braves, they have played some of their best ball in the last couple of weeks, breaking away from .500 land. They still have work to do as they still sit at 4 1/2 back. It will be interesting to see if Kawakami can follow up his strong start in L.A. with another clutch start on Saturday. On sunday, they bring out Javier Vasquez who is quietly having his best season this year.

Phillies win Saturday, Braves win Sunday

Giants [Cain] vs. Mets [Santana]- Saturday FOX = 3.5

This match-up gets an extra point and a half due to the pitching match-up. While the Mets have two strikes against them [they play in New York and not being good] the Mets are worth watching in this game solely due to Johan Santana getting the start.

The Giants are in a year long experiment to see how inept a team can be offensively while still making the playoffs. While Tim Lincecum has gotten his well-deserved respect for helping this cause along, Matt Cain is having a MONSTER season and has played a big part into why the Giants are within striking distance [ 1 1/2 games back] of the wild card.

Giants win this game 1-0

Indians [Huff] vs. Twins [TBD] =2

This match-up looked a lot better before the season began. At this point of the season, not so much. This is the teams first meeting after consummating that epic trade bringing Carl Pavano to Minnesota.

The Skeleton Indians start a rookie named David Huff who i've never even heard of. Looking at his stats it's easy to see since he's having by all stretches of the imagination, a terrible year [6-6 6.72 era 68 ERA+]

The Twins have yet to decide who they're starting but does it matter. While they are only 5 games back, they seem to be going nowhere and through the motions.......if they're gonna make a run...sweeping the skeleton Indians would be a good first step.

Whoever the Twins start is getting themselves a win.

Rangers vs. Red Sox [Penny vs. Holland] Saturday MLB Network =4
[Tazawa vs. Nippert] Sunday TBS


The pitching match-ups may not be top notch but this game has very heavy wild card implications. As of this writing, the Red Sox are clinging to a 1/2 game wild card lead over the rangers. The Red Sox had a terrible weekend in New York but bounced back by taking 3 out of 4 from the Tigers.

This will be a close and high scoring series. Both teams have loaded offenses and will be going up against pitchers that just aren't that good. The Red Sox will probably will do just enough pitching wise to pull out the series win.

How many transactions can I cover in one post? At least five

So today a bunch of transaction moves went down in Baseball and i'm attempting to squeeze my take on all of them into one post.


A) Indians trade Carl Pavano to the Twins for a play to be named later.

Wow....the Indians have traded away so many players that they are now down to trading players that aren't even good (Pavano) apparently just for the sake of trading players away. While it is commendable that Pavano has not been injured for 90% of the season for once......he just hasn't been that good 9-8 5.37 era 84 ERA+

For the Twins this is a low-risk/high desperation move.....this is an apparent attempt at them to strengthen their starting rotation in the hopes of winning the AL Central (they're 4 1/2 back going into today)...the only problem is that Pavano is no better or worse than the back of rotation pitchers such as Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Anthony Swarzak....it's not that I think Pavano is going to bomb out (like he did for the Yankees) I just don't see him putting the twins over the hump.

B) The possible unceremonious ending to a couple of careers.

The night after a rough outing in New York, the Red Sox pulled the cord on John Smoltz. Since coming back from injury he has had a disastarous season going 2-5 with a 8.32 era. I really hope that this isn't the end for Smoltz since he deserves to go out on his own terms and another chance to help a contending team in desperate need of pitching.......in light of his career post-season success some team may take a flier on him but after his stint in Boston, that's unlikely

Jason Giambi got released while still on the DL. This potential ending isn't too shocking since his batting average was south of the mendoza line but he still had a somewhat respectable obp of .332........he did endure controversy with his steroid use...but he taught us an important lesson....if you admit to doing something wrong, even if you don't say explicitly what that said wrong thing is......you won't necessarily be forgiven you just won't have your entire reputation tarnished.....players such as Clemens, Bonds, Sosa could learn an important lesson from this


C) Alex Rios got claimed on waivers from a team......but which team.....nobody knows?

This has been one of the more bizarre stories in a while. It seems like overkill to say that another team made a claim on him but shhhhhh.....we can't say who it is. This almost sounds like a story you'd see in The Onion...........this move will impact the pennant race in some point....assuming he got picked up by a contender.....but there's no way of knowing since his future team is some league-held secret

D) Brewers call up Jesus Colome from Nashville

Low Risk/High Reward move.....the Brewers have had success with pitchers picked up the scrap heap in recent years [Todd Coffey is a perfect example of this] and Colome does fit the example of this since he pitched bad enough that not even the Nationals wanted him.

In limited duty in Nashville, Colome pitched really well. However, it's tough to see if this will translate into big league success. On the bright side, even if this turns out not to be a genius move, there's no way he can be worse than the player he replaced [R.J. Swindle]


whew.........that was a lot to cover in the post.......back to watching more MLB Network

Weekend Preview: The Races heat up

Another weekend is upon us and thus another full slate of ballgames on the tube....as always games are rated on a scale from 1-5 based on the completeness of the match-ups plus any arbitrary standards i decide to apply.......and let the games begin!!!!!!!!


Saturday [FOX National]

Rangers [Millwood] vs. Angels [Weaver] =4

Strong AL West match-up. The Angels as expected are slowly but surely asserting themselves at the top of the AL West. The Rangers have been better than expected and are still in contention [though they are slowly but surely fading from the top]....A good pitching match-up between the veteran Kevin Millwood is finally having a season that somewhat justifies his large contract.....Jerad Weaver is having another solid season in LA of Anaheim......Angels win this one pretty easily

Red Sox [Bucholz] vs. Yankees [Sabathia] =5 for red sox fans, yankees fans and ESPN.........1 for everyone else

I refuse to give a red sox-yankees game a higher overall match up unless they are playing in the playoffs......as much as I hate the Yankees, C.C Sabathia is still the man and Clay Bucholz is likely to continue his 2009 struggles pitching at Yankee Stadium

Cubs [Dempster] vs. Rockies [Marquis] =3.5

This game got an extra 1/2 point tacked on due to play-off implications. The Cubs are fighting the Cards for the top NL Central spot and have Ryan Dempster who has regressed from his career year (after signing a lucrative extension) pitching in this one. The Rockies have Jason Marquis who has pitched a lot better than expected for them.....the Rockies have more of a need to win this series since it's going to take a lot more to win the NL Wild Card than to win the NL Central........i'm picking them based on that and I have no legitimate reason to dislike the Rockies

Sunday [TBS] Twins [TBD] vs. Tigers [TBD] =3.5

Two mediocre teams fighting for the AL Central division title. The Tigers have rebounded from a disastrous 2008 by slightly pulling ahead of the pack in their division. Despite not playing that well, the Twins are lurking at 4.5 games out of first and could possibly take the division if they got hot for a few weeks.....Not sure why but I think the Twins will win this one

Sunday [ESPN]

Red Sox [Lester] vs. Yankees [Pettite] = see above

Another arbitrary pick due to how little I care about Red Sox-Yankees regular season games (since they're shown more often than everybody loves raymond reruns)......Lester has beaten cancer and thrown a no-hitter.....Pettite pitches for the Yankees and used to be Roger Clemens' BFF........Red Sox win this in a blow-out

The W-5: 1-2 Power Duos

Last night, I had the (mis)fortune of watching a couple innings of the Brewers being ambushed by the Dodgers 17-4 {However, I did not stay up late enough for Prince Fielder's failed attempt to get into the Dodger locker room}.....point being I was watching the Dodgers broadcast (the mlb.tv was blacked out since I get Dodger games where i'm at)......on the plus side it is a good excuse to hear Vin Scully call a ballgame (i obviously couldn't care less about the Dodgers but Scully is an icon) and they did one of those interactive polls on which team has the most potent 1-2 power duo and with that.....it's time to bust out a W-5

1) Ryan Howard .261/.344/.524 123 OPS+
Chase Utley .299/.419/.541 149 OPS+

Ryan Howard is power.......he's pitched subs for subway....he's won a title with the Phils.....he strikes out about 200 times a year......yet he still hits enough bombs to make him one of the most intimidating hitters in the game....Chase Utley may not be as imposing but he does his far share as a member of this 1-2 duo.....even while getting hit by pitches more than anyone else in the NL for the third year in a row....he still has enough time to quietly put up some gaudy statistics.

2)Ryan Braun .318/.391/.567 150 OPS+
Prince Fielder .305/.421/.585 163 OPS+

Braun...the team leader on the field and off......a mainstay at the 3 spot in the Brew Crew line up.....though he does find time to let everyone know that the Brewers needed more starting pitching (like two months ago)....though this duo got dropped to #2 because of Braun's 70+AB homer less streak and the Brewers fading playoff hopes.....Prince Fielder a man who is equally as intimidating at the plate as he is trying to track down Guillermo Mota in the Dodger locker room.......i would feel bad for Mota but seriously what was he doing intentionally hitting a bitter in a 13 run game

3) Kevin Youkilis .313/.424/.581 153 OPS+
Jason Bay .252/.392/.490 121 OPS+

Youkilis has had a busy year. He's made history by working baseball's first 6-5 count.
(well according to the Onion at least....they don't call him the greek god of walks for nothing)........I saw him make a cameo on an episode of (man v. food) and he's putting up MVP numbers for a strong Red Sox team.........Jason Bay is having a nice year himself.....not quite enough to over take the Braun/Fielder duo but he's given the Sox a solid left fielder....even if he doesn't have the attitude and intimidation factor of his predecessor

4) Jim Thome .250/.390/.489 125 OPS+
Jermaine Dye .279/.352/.529 124 OPS+

Thome might not be the youngest guy in the room....but he still is an imposing player adding on to his hall of fame career......Jermaine Dye works well in the sidekick role....he's a solid player in the midst of a largely unnoticed solid career......


5) Torii Hunter .305/.380/.558 140 OPS+
Kendry Morales .296/.347/.575 134 OPS+

Hunter is having another strong year and justifying the large contract the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the West Coast of North America of North signed him too......Kendry Morales gets the distinction of being the only player to make this list in the midst of his breakout year.......this is his first year playing full time and he's making the most of it.......

Vh1s top 100 songs of the 80s--and what it says about the 2009 baseball season

So i'm flipping through the channels after watching the Brewers lose again tonight.........grrrhhhh....but that's besides the point.....i stumbled across vh1 replaying their top 100 songs of the 80s and was randomly became curious whether any of the songs connect to the baseball season or anything else sports related in general........well here it goes

3- Duran Duran "Hungry like the wolf"---the Red Sox at the trade deadline

Having tasted the success of two World Series titles since '04 and after falling short in the ALCS to the Rays in '08....the Red Sox seem hungry to get to the top again.......they've done this by building up on an already strong team...by adding Chris Duncan, Adam LaRoche (until they could get Casey Kotchman for him), and Victor Martinez...with the possible exception of the Phillies the Red Sox had the best body of trade deadline work

19- Cyndi Lauper- "Time After Time" --Brewers starting rotation

Time after Time...the starting rotation seeming finds new ways to hit rock bottom. I thought it was hit when Mike Burns got pushed around by the Pirates..........then Jeff Suppan gave up 10 runs to the Nationals (and the first of TWO Josh Willingham grand slams)........not to be outdone Braden Looper did his part to turn a 7-1 lead into an 11-7 loss..........to the worst-hitting team in the NL (Padres)..........on the bright side only about 8 more months until 2010 opening day

29- Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House" -- to the Pirates and Indians management for completely throwing in the towel

as critical as I have been about the Brewers play as of late.....at least management is trying to win.....the same can't be said about the pirates and indians.......it's actually atrocious how much talent they've given away since June.....if you assembled a team based on the players they have given away ERR....traded in the last couple months......all they would need is a shortstop, third baseman and maybe a mid-rotation starter or to to contend for themselves.

31-Queen/David Bowie "Under Pressure" -- Yankees

So the Yankees are in first place......with their fans and management.....talking about the playoffs?! is not adequate.......I mean there are 9 year old Yankees fans wondering if they'll ever see the Yankees win ERR....sucessfully buy a World Series title in their life times....they're under pressure to win it for the children (and most likely Joe Girardi's job)

47- Twisted Sister "Were not gonna take it"--Tony Bernazard--ex Mets Executive

Mets management apparent response to Tony Bernazard's behavior.....lashing out at their double A team......and at allegedly at K-Rod (their ONE large contract that's actually been worth the money).........so they got rid of him....the Mets are still a joke

51 Ratt -"Round and Round" --the Media

For discussing two of the biggest non-stories of the summer ....round and round the clock....24 hours a day........these being a) Roy Halladay's trade to, oh wait the biggest deadline trade involved Cliff Lee.....but it was a good way to fill a couple of weeks and b) Brett Favre's non-return (for now) to the Vikings......i did hear he made a pretty sweet Sears commercial where he plays a customer that couldn't make up his mind

66 Depeche Mode " Just Can't Get Enough" --me and MLB Network

So I have about 120+ channels and about 119 of them go unwatched on a daily basis.......seriously, when I come home from work the first two things I do is a) turn on my laptop to watch the brewers on mlb.tv and b) turn on MLB Network to see what they're talking about and stay up to date with everything else going on in baseball

71- Rick James "Super Freak" -- Tim Lincecum

So appearently if your 5'11'' and 160...the odds are stacked against a pitcher from being a serviceable pitcher let alone a very dominant one.....obviously Lincecum missed this memo...and baseball is the better for it........seriously it is worth paying attention when he pitches because you never know what might happen........and the scary thing is he's only 25 so he's only getting better...when it's all said and done he's going to be the most dominating pitcher of this generation

90- Tone Loc "Wild Thing" -- Daniel Cabrera

Despite not pitching in the bigs since May and pitching only 40 innings this year....he STILL ranks 2nd in the National League in Wild Pitches

95- Debbie Gibson -- "only in my dreams" to the Orioles, Indians, Royals, A's, Nationals, Reds, D-Backs, Padres and their fans

According to coolstandings.com these teams have a .5 percent chance or less to talk about the
playoffs.........unless one of their managers gives a legendary Jim Mora-esque rant about how bad their teams are.......probably shouldn't talk too much here since the Crew has a 5.5 percent playoff chance and will likely join the .5 percent or less club sooner than later


well this has been an interesting experience.........I may have been too young to remember these songs when they came out (i was born in 1983).....but not too old to use the song titles to write about some baseball

The Wednesday Five: Reactions to the LaRoche trade

Today the Red Sox made news by getting Adam LaRoche from the Pirates for a couple of minor leaguers

My five reactions to this are:

1) Which Pirates player will be openly critical of the next lopsided trade?

When Nate McLouth got traded in June, Adam LaRoche was highly vocal, questioning management's motives over trading him while the team still had a fighting chance (they were 6 1/2 games behind at the time).......i'm pretty sure if another starter got traded (i.e. Sanchez, Wilson, etc)...LaRoche probably would have vented some frustration over the trade (even though they are 10 games under .500 ...they are still only 8 1/2 out.....) who picks up this role for the Pirates? well does it matter? they obviously didn't get the memo that even if your a small-market team you can still contend if you have smart enough people running the show

2) Where is Adam LaRoche going to get his At-Bats?

On this angle, its tough to see where the trade makes sense for the Sox. Likely, Laroche would be getting his ABs from either 1st or DH..1st base seems out of the question since Kevin Youkilis is putting up better numbers than LaRoche (.303/.418/.574 150 OPS+ for Youk vs. .247/.329/.441) or DH where David Ortiz has struggled this year to .224/.313/.413 84 OPS+ but it's unlikely he'd lose a lot of playing time since Big Papi is still a more imposing and intimidating hitter than LaRoche, even though Ortiz is having a down year. Pretty much, gut instinct says LaRoche is the odd man out from this angle.

3) If something happens with Youkilis and/or Ortiz and they need him to start....this trade is going to look very good for the Red Sox....

For much of his career Adam LaRoche the 1st half hitter and Adam LaRoche the second half hitter have been two different entities... the 1st half hitter hits 12% below the league average....the second half version has an 118 OPS+ for the second half in his career (which is equivalent to what players such as Carlos Lee, Paul Konerko have done in their careers)

Point being the Sox get to skip out on the mediocre version of LaRoche and are likely to get the effective second-half version of LaRoche for the stretch run.....plus the last time the Sox got a Pirates player at the deadline (Jason Bay) things turned out pretty good for them

4) This trade is but an example of why the Sox win consistently

While the Red Sox were not in urgent need of a 1b/DH type, obviouslly they felt he could improve their team and help them between now and the end of October...while that may be in a reduced role.....he can hit and has demonstrated the ability to hit well in the post-season (albeit in a small 30 AB sample size .320/.433/.640

Pretty much, the Red Sox spent money to improve a strong (albeit struggling) team.......

5) It is also an example of why the Pirates never win consistently

The way the Pirates have been un-loading stars this year and other years explains why they consistently lose 90+ games a year. Even this year with nobody taking the NL Central by the horns and the Pirates still being less than 10 games out....the way they are trading players it is clear they are still in the middle of a perpetual rebuilding cycle......but they at least they can hang their head on taking 2 out of 3 from the Brewers (but then again who hasn't taken 2 out of 3 from the Brewers)

Weekend Sports TV Preview:

For this post, I am going to preview the baseball games being featured on national televison. Depending on how I feel about this, this may either be a one-shot deal or become a recurring feature [if this feature lives long enough, the preview will eventually cover football and basketball). Also, this is not meant to be comprehensive as I will only be highlighting the sports that I follow: (For this weekend, that would be just baseball. This means no coverage of Golf, Boxing, Soccer, etc.) Also, I will be ranking the games on a 1-5 basis as follows:

1=nap-time
2=background noise
3=i'll watch a little if I have nothing better to do
4=likely a good but not great game
5=definitely watching

Saturday:

MLB FOX Regional Coverage:

Red Sox (Wakefield) vs. Braves (Vasquez) =3

I like the pitching match-up for this game. You get two veteran pitchers both playing better than expected. Also, you get two contradictory pitching styles. On one side, you have the knuckleballer Wakefield who already has 9 wins going for the Sox. On the other hand, Vasquez who is second in the NL in K's who has pitched better than his 5-6 record indicates. While the Red Sox are the stronger team, the Braves still have a lot to play for as they are only 4 games back in a weak NL East. I think Vasquez will keep this game close but I see the Sox prevailing in this one.

Cubs (Dempster) vs. White Sox (Buerhle) =2

Not looking good for those Cubs. They are self destructing about 4 months earlier than usual. Lots of distractions in the last couple days between Soto testing positive for weed and Milton being Milton.....being on the short-end of the pitching match up does not help either....White Sox in a blowout

Angels (Lackey) vs. D-Backs ( Davis)= 2

If nothing else, at least the D-Backs can't play any worse tomorrow than they are playing tonight. The Angels have a disappointing John Lackey going for them. The D-Backs have Doug Davis, who has pitched better than his 3-8 record indicates. With Davis pitching well and Arizona likely to fall out of contention......this could be one of his last starts as a D-Back. Even though the Angels have a much better team, I see Arizona winning this one.

MLB Network:

Yankees (Burnett) v. Mets (Redding) =1

Yes, I went there, I gave the Yankees-Mets the lowest ranking possible. As a baseball fan who is not from New York, has never even been to New York and never been a fan of either team, I do feel that the New York teams get shoved down baseball fan's throats on a yearly basis......So pretty much you have a ridicuously over-paid mediocre pitcher (Burnett) vs. a journeyman pitcer (Tim Redding)....i'm not high on either team but since Redding pitched well against St. Louis on monday i'll pick the mets to win

Sunday TBS

Red Sox (Penny) v. Braves (Hanson) =4

Why does Sunday's Sox-Braves game get a higher ranking than Saturday's: Two Words: Tommy Hanson. This kid received lots of hype before even being called up and so for he's lived up to it. I haven't seen him pitch personally myself, but in his last 3 starts this kid has been lights out. (3-0 2 ER in 17 innings). Hanson definitely has the potential to be an ace pitcher in the big leagues. The Braves haven't lost any Hanson started games yet and I see that trend continuing on Sunday.

Yankees (Wang) v. Mets (Hernandez)= 1

As much as this game is a snoozer, I would like to use this space to thank Chien-Ming Wang for doing everything in his power to make sure my pre-season prediction of the Yankees finishing 3rd and missing the playoffs comes true......granted he hasn't pitched as bad since coming off the disabled list but he has an era that's higher than geovany soto (yes I went there)- Mets win this one by default.

In other words, not the best sports TV weekend. Other than sunday's Braves-Sox games, this slate is pretty uninspiring...........well at least I got mlb.tv to keep me occupied

Saturday Pick of the Day: Brew Crew over Giants

P.S. I grabbed/double-checked statistics, starting pitchers, miscallenous info from the following sites while writing this post:

mlb.com, baseball-reference.com, usatoday.com