Random Rants Loosely Based Around Padres-Rockies Game

Alright......the blacked out you can only see 1 game portion of the Saturday MLB schedule and off to 5 PM Pacific Time on Saturday when you can watch several games at once. A few games tonight with fantasy implications for myself that will get primary focus (Padres-Rockies, Pirate-D-Backs, Angels-A's).

Still sorta waking up a bit as I took a lovely 2-hour nap that took me to about 15 minutes before first pitch.

Just realized Doumit is up right now....he's worked the count against Haren to a full 3-2. Showed lots of promise in 2008......off to a solid start....now its a matter of maintaining said start and staying healthy....and not striking out very often like he just did to end his teams half of the first.

Padres-Rockies game playing on the laptop right now. Gonzales is up right now, Blanks is on deck and Tony Gwynn Jr. is trying to argue his way out of a call that got him picked off from second. Gonzales strikes out to end Top of the first....looks like I have to wait a bit longer for Blanks to come up.

Blanks...sees ball....hits ball.....to short for a harmless groundout...the early season slump continues.

In other stuff going on in the bigs........Milton Bradley is in mid-season form as he flipped off some Rangers fans (c'mon Miton we aren't even a week into the season). Bradley has all the talent in the world but c'mon you can't be doing that stuff especially in your first week on a new team when you are 1 for 17. Even with this, he's still better for this team than Carlos Silva.

Speaking of Milton Bradley & The Rangers this reminds me of an incident back in September of 2008. I ended up taking in a Rangers-A's game towards the tail end of what has been Bradley's best season to date. Anyways, somewhere in the middle of the game (4th ish inning) Milton Bradley has one of his standard temper tantrums and gets himself ejected.

At this game, I happened to be sitting in the left field bleachers which gave me a straight view of the Rangers dugout which was on the first-base side and thus a clear view of the tunnel Bradley would be walking towards to get back to wherever ejected players go. The one thing that stuck out ion Bradley's walk was he knew exactly where he was going. This obviously wasn't the first time he got kicked out of a game and from the way he was walking it was obvious this was a walk he's taken mid-game many times before....it was almost like he went on auto-pilot when he got kicked out.

The Rockies-Padres game flashed back to a home run Ian Stewart launched off of Yovani Gallardo on opening day. If his series against the Crew is any indication, my prediction of him struggling this year could turn out to be horribly wrong.....at least the Brewers took 2 out of 3 in the series.

In the I guess it serves me right having a Yankee on my fantasy team department: In the random CBS League, I had been getting pretty good production from my starting pitchers.....then Vasquez made his start Friday....pitched bad enough to get negative points and was one of the catalysts from going from a 30 point cushion I had going into Friday to being down 20 points to my opponent for the week in one day...Seriously I got outscored by something along the lines of 60-8. Obviously it takes a whole team to fail epically like that but giving up 8 runs in 5 innings doesn't help that any......an early indication to not expect the crazy production he gave during 2009.

Just noticed Doumit is up and that he's behind 0-2 in the count. Again, Doumit strikes out to end the inning. A bit creepy how that sequence parallels the sequence from about half an hour ago in the first inning.

It took till the 3rd inning but Chris Ianetta ends Mat Latos' no-hit bid by taking him yard. Just stumbled across a Forbes special report about The Business of Baseball. My take on this, is time for me to give some input on the Randy Levine controversy going on right now. Mark Levine pretty much told Brewers owner Mark Attanasio to stop complaining about the salary mis-balance in baseball.

Needless to say, Randy Levine is not my favorite person right now. Taking a look at the Forbes make it even clearer that Levine is acting like a grown bully. The current value of the Yankees is almost twice as high as the next closest team (Red Sox) and about 5 times higher than the Brewers which obviously makes it a bigger deal for the Brewers to dish out an A-Rod/Jeter type salary than it would be for a team like the Brewers. It's also easier for the Yankees to do this when their revenue runs circles around teams like the Brewers (441 million to 171 million) and runs circles around the next closest team (Mets-268 million) ....To recap, teams from massive markets like New York are easily able to generate revenue and pay players to more lucrative contracts and Levine is ready to taunt anyone who calls out the mis-balances of this system.

Whew, that was a long rant. Time to watch Blanks go to the plate and hit. Blanks finally manages to get on base as he just got hit by a pitch. Will Venable: Clutch Hitter....first Padres at-bat with the bases juiced (according to their announcers) Venable turns a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead within seconds......also Angels-A's are underway as well....despite no fantasy implications, i'm anxious to see how Ben Sheets does in his start tonight.

I guess the Angels had seen enough out of Wood for now to not put him in tonight's line-up as Izturis gets the start tonight. The Ben Sheets era starts out good enough for Oakland as he has induced a harmless line out to second.

What in the name of Billy Beane is going on? The Fox Sports West broadcast just showed a brief capsule of the A's of Low Payroll (What else is new) Young deep pitching rotation (Hudson, Zito, Mulder: The Next Generation) and Small Ball (Small Ball ???!!!!!! your talking about small ball....dude your Billy Beane...the same Billy Beane that tought us about how small ball was a waste out of outs....i don't care how many bases Ricky Henderson thinks Rajai Davis can steal......Jack Cust is still a more valuable offensively player because hey hitting home runs leads to more runs than stealing bases (oh wait--that's right Jack Cust just got DFA'd right before opening day).

It looks like we have a potential Coors Field slugfest on our hands as Hawpe just went deep to pull the Rockies within 4-3. Your classic Coors Field home run as the Hawpe home run has initiated a discussion about how they thought it was just another fly ball that the ball park was going to contain.

Going to the 5th in the Padres-Rockies game...Gwynn, Eckstein, Gonzales due up......another chance for Blanks if one of the above gets on base. Get to see Ben Sheets try to pitch his way out of some trouble as the Angels have runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 gone and and Kendrick coming up the answer to that...so far so good as he induces a fielders choice....good to see Sheets off to a good start.

Tulowitzki is doing his part to postpone Blanks' next plate appearance to the 6th as he makes a nice catch. That's followed by David Eckstein getting the ball out of the infield (good) which led to a running catch by Gonzales (bad).....Padres go down in order......we play the waiting game for the next Kyle Blanks at bat.

Just looked at the interface for my CBS league team and saw Ryan Doumit struck out a 3rd time for the night. This week, my team has struck out 45 times in 171 At-Bats.

A sign that your team isn't contending this year: The broadcast team speculates about your team's chance of being respectable....not good...not contenders....but respectability.

Latos has a nice 1-2-3 fifth....induces a couple of strikeouts leaving us a commercial break away from Kyle Blanks next at-bat.......the cold stretch continues as he strikes out.

Off to the Pirates-D-Backs game as Doumit is on deck......Pirates looking in position to win as they have a comfy 6-0 lead aided by a Kelly Johnson falling asleep on defense....Hideki Matsui welcomes Ben Sheets to the American League by driving in a run to put the Angels up 1-0

Doumit.....racks up his 4th strikeout of the game....back to the Padres-Rockies game which has proven to be much more entertaining......wasn't on the Pirates-D-Backs game very long but long enough to get the quote of the night from one of the announcers "you can train a chimpanzee for 2 weeks to do this job"........classic.......it may have been said as a joke but sometimes it seems there is a kernel of truth considering the following situation has gone down several teams.....Cheddarhead is watching random baseball game on TV and the conversation turns to some observation about the game going on......only to hear the announcers say the EXACT SAME THING pretty much verbatim about an inning or two later

Hawpe just hit another homer to tie it at 4-all during the middle of the previous paragraph.

Sorta spacing in and out of these games Padres-Rockies go into the 7th inning stretch tied.....Angels just broke a tie with the A's---wandering around aimlessly through ballhype looking through what else is going on. Luke Gregerson coming into pitch for the Padres......appearantly the dude was awesome at Petco.....terrible outside of Petco (according to the graphic they just showed).

Tony Gwynn Jr. is doing his part to help Gregerson improve on the road as he just made a really good catch. Looks like Ben Sheets first A's start isn't looking as good as a couple innings ago as he has fallen behind 3-1 and has runners in scoring position.......but he manages to get out without digging into a deeper hole.

The Rockies end the 7th without going deep or scoring a run......bad news which means no free Whoppers for people in the Denver area.

Betancourt comes in for the Rockies. According to the graphic shown on TV, he's pretty good against the Padres. If anyone gets on base for the Padres, we'll get another Kyle Blanks plate appearance. David Eckstein just "grounded out" on a pitch that hit the bottom knob of his bat (below his choked up hands). So let me get this straight, in addition to not being very good at hitting he somehow manages to botch a routine HBP........wow.....

Gonzales rips a single to right.....can Blanks improve on his .062 average now.....stay tuned to find out.....while Blanks attempt to go yard was unsuccessful...he did rip a double to get runners in scoring position for Headley......i'll take it as progress. Headley strikes out.....on a pitch that goes in the dirt......the Padres have a 4th out to play with...bases loaded....Venable gets a chance to make a further dent in the game.....Venable drops to a .500 average with the bases juiced as he strikes out to end the inning......

Even though there are fantasy implications with the Pirates game and the Ben Sheets storyline in the A's game......at this point i've gotten heavily engaged in the Padres-Rockies game and the A's-Angels game has taken a background role.........Mike Adams now in the game for the Padres with Ben Sheets already pitching, Adams is the second injury-prone ex-Brewers player to pitch in a game in the last couple of hours.

Starts off strong as he strikes out Fowler. This shouldn't be shocking as the dude has struck out 9.1 batters per 9 innings in his career. According to the broadcasters, the Rockies are 0 for 16 against Adams so the fact that he's put down the first two hitters should not be a surprise. For a moment, it sounded like Tulowitzki changed that to a 1 for 17 with a homer......however, the ball harmlessly lands in Kyle Blanks' glove instead.

The Rockies are handing things over to Franklin Morales. The in my best interest scenario involves the Padres scoring 1-3 runs in the top of the 9th and Heath Bell coming in to get a save.....will this happen....we'll know for sure fairly soon. The Padres pinch-hit one junior (Tony Gwynn) for another (Jerry Hairston)......I wonder what the single season record for one junior pinch-hitting for another is........regardless the Rockies get out of the 9th and get an opportunity to win in their last At-Bat.

Cesar Ramos' turn to keep this game a 4-all affair. A tall order considering he is making his 8th career appearance. Appearantly Ramos is the Padres LOOGY as he strikes out a couple of lefties and is promptly pulled from the game. It may be the 1st week of the season but this game has a semi-epic intense feeling to it. With this change, it's up to Mujica to force some extra frames. He may not have the best body of work (career 83 ERA+) but he gets the job done.

EXTRA INNINGS!!!!!! Extra Innings De-neh-nuh-nuh-neh. Also, Blanks is due up 3rd....could he be the one to get a game winning hit here.....stay tuned to find out. It also looks like the 4K game by Doumit is official as the Pirates game ended with the Pirates winning 6-3

Matt Daley takes the hill to start the 10th. A couple quick ground outs bring us to another Kyle Blanks plate appearance..with my fantasy team down 22.5 points....a home run would help a lot. Gets a basehit.....that brings him to 2 for the game.....more encouraging in the long term that possibly the slump he's in is relatively short lived.....also has a chance to score the winning run as he moved to 3rd on a Headley single......only down by 21.5 points now.....speaking of right now.....another pitching change.....the Rockies counter with their LOOGY Randy Flores.....again Venable is up with a chance to do some serious damage.....for the second time in 3 innings....Venable is unable to replicate his 4th inning appearance as the Padres squander another opportunity for Blanks to score a run and Bell to come in and get a save.

Jason Giambi is up pinch-hitting.....just realized that he looks pretty old.......old enough to not bite on any pitches not even close to the strike zone.....and promptly gets pulled for a pinch runner.........Giambi getting some pretty intense high fives for standing there and drawing the walk...almost as if he had gotten a game winning hit.....the pinch-runner strategy turned out to be a pretty big fail/non-factor as an inning-ending double play was induced.......11th INNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt Belisle gets handed the task of keepin it at 4-all. I can't tell if the Padres are looking to score runs or if they're trying to engage Brad Hawpe in a game of pepper. Matt Stairs pinch-hitting....let me re-state that; Professional Hitter Matt Stairs.....Stairs penchant for going for the home run swing gets the best of him as he strikes out chasing a pitch out of the zone.........speaking of Matt Stairs....the Padres are team #12 he has played for........my take is that he should just go all in and try to play for all 30 teams before he retires....sure age isn't on his side (he's 42)....but c'mon for that shot of immortality it's worth the shot.

Tim Stauffer's turn to extend the game. Ouch, dude just got slammed by the broadcast team for not having the career of a 4th overall draft pick. File that under signs that things have not gone as planned. His career may not have gone well but he did his part to force a 12th inning.

For what seems like the umpteenth time tonight, Blanks is due up fourth in this inning. In all this focus on the Padres-Rockies game has completely obscured the fact that the Angels and A's are tied in the 9th. Gonzales is getting the intentional pass......Blanks gets a chance to hit with two runners on.....Yes!!!!!!

Kyle Blanks swung at 2 pitches outside the zone and racked up another K........No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a fan of leaving things hanging like a Lost episode but the reality it's pushing 9 pm on a Saturday Night.....I got places to be................

Brewers-Rockies Preview: First Series of the Decade

With the 2010 season rearing and ready to go, we finally begin to get the questions answered such as can the Brewers return to the playoffs, can their pitching staff actually get anyone out this year so on and so forth.

Monday

Jiminez vs. Gallardo

For several years, I was reluctant to play Fantasy Baseball because of the situations where I would have to pick between the Brewers and the fantasy team. I can't even get past the first game of the season without getting into this situation as Jiminez is a key member of Cheddarhead. I have decided to rationalize this by thinking "it's ok if he pitches well all season but he can feel free to give up 8 runs in 2 1/3 against the Brewers, he has 30-plus starts to actually pitch well"

For the Brewers, Yovani Gallardo will be making the 1st of what should be several opening day starts. If nothing else, at least theres no way he could be worse than last years opening day starter (Jeff Suppan). As the only Brewer pitcher to pitch well last year, it's good to see him leading off the season, now if only he can lay off on the walks.........

Tuesday

Smith vs. Wolf

The Rockies are giving Greg Smith the start on Tuesday. He pitched fairly well in '08 but didn't see any big league action last year. The most interesting things that can be said about him is he's good at picking off runners and he ended up being one of the players that went to Colorado for Matt Holliday.

This is an important game for the Brewers as this is Randy Wolf's first start as a Brewer. On Tuesday, we begin to find out whether Randy Wolf is a good investment or if he is Jeff Suppan Version 2.0. Since Wolf has spent time pitching in the NL West, he should be fairly familiar with most of the Rockies hitters. A few positive indicators here:

1) Some of the Rockies projected regulars have struggled against Wolf (Helton, Tulowitzki and Barmes).

2) In the glass half empty/glass half full line of thinking: He's given up plenty of homers to current Rockies players (9 in 122 at bats) but at the same time they've hit .205 off him.

Wednesday

Cook vs. Davis

The Rockies are bringing Aaron Cook to the hill for Wednesday's MLB Network national broadcast. A fairly steady-slightly above average pitcher--pitching half the games at Coors, no small feat. Out of current Brewers, Counsell, Gerut & Fielder have struggled pretty bad against him but Jim Edmonds has pretty much owned him. If Edmonds is getting any starts this year, Wednesday should be one of those games. Despite Edmonds strong track record, it could be a long day for the Brewers as Cook has pitched fairly well against the current Brewers.

Another day, another first start for a Brewers off-season acquisition. Doug Davis starts his second stint as a Brewer with this start on Wednesday. Doug Davis is the reigning National League leader in Games Started and Walks. Looking at his past performance against the Rockies does give some cause for concern. Both Tulowitzki and Helton have hit him well and amongst current Rockies, they have tagged Davis to the tune of an .880 OPS....ouch.

NL West Preview Part II

So after the first half, the NL West power rankings are as follows

D-Backs 17

Dodgers 22

Rockies 25

Giants 26

Padres 30

Starting Pitching

Giants-4

Dodgers-8

Rockies-12

D-Backs-16

Padres-20

The Giants rotation is the class of the division/league. The concept of scoring runs may be foreign to them but the concept of preventing runs from scoring is something they have a knack on. Tim Lincecum has already won the last two Cy Young Awards and is looking to rack up a third one. Matt Cain looks to build upon his breakout year and continue his ascent towards the leagues elite pitchers. Sanchez and Zito aren't going to win any awards but both will have their moments of brilliance.

The Dodgers don't have any pitchers in the neighborhood of Lincecum/Cain (right now). Kershaw is on the cusp of a breakout season (he needs to stop walking people all the time) and Billingsley should bounce back from his 2009 season. Charlie Haeger is a nice sleeper candidate in the back of the rotation. He had a couple nice starts with the Dodgers after getting called up....his track record in the minors doesn't indicate it but with the knuckleballers, you never really know.

The Rockies have a solid front 3 of Jiminez, Cook and De la Rosa (two of which are members of Chedderhead). On talent alone, the D-Backs should be at least #3, maybe higher but that would hinge on Brandon Webb staying healthy (already not off to a good start). The Padres, they have some young pitchers with potential. They have a possible sleeper pitcher in the back of the rotation in Clayton Richard (part of the package they got from Jake Peavy) but overall, not that impressive.

Bullpen

Dodgers-4

Padres-8

Rockies-12

Giants-16

D-Backs-20

Pretty solid crop of closers/bullpens in the division. Broxton looks to be the most likely to replicate his success. He's still young (26 in June), overpowering 114 Ks in 76 innings and he's proven to be effective at closer. The Padres lost Trevor Hoffman to the Brewers in '09 but Heath Bell made sure the bullpen remained a strength in San Diego......and gained my respect for calling out ESPN for only caring about the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets .

Close call between the Rockies and Giants. Huston Street looks to have another solid year (which should be a given as he's one of two closers for Cheddarhead). Brian Wilson should rack up some more saves and possibly set a single-season record for saves recorded after loading the bases. The D-Backs aren't in terrible shape with their bullpen provided Chad Qualls stays healthy......their bullpen would rank higher in another division but with the depth in the NL West, someone has to be last.

And now our final standings:

Dodgers-34

Giants-46

Rockies-49

D-Backs-53

Padres-58

Nothing like doing the second half of a divisional preview to course correct the projections. While the Dodgers had an inactive off-season, they still have a pretty strong team and should 3-peat in the west. The Giants are on the upward swing but inept offense is going to do them in (again). I've had a sinking feeling that the Rockies aren't going to be as good as most people think so i'm not shocked to see them in third. The questions surrounding the Arizona pitching staff moved them down to a realistic 4th place finish. The Padres, the only reason to pay attention to them is A-Gon (until he's gone) and the newest member of Cheddarhead (fresh off the waiver wire) Kyle Blanks.

NL West Preview Part I

Off to the NL West....the division I see the most of (outside of Brewers) because why? They show a lot of Dodgers games on TV where I live. Time to see how the West is going to be won:

Catcher:

1-Miguel Montero

2-Chris Ianneta

3-Buster Posey

4-Russell Martin

5-Nick Hundley

Toss-up between Montero and Ianneta for the top spot. Montero a better source for contact/average, Ianneta a better source of power....factor out the Coors bump and he goes in second. Buster Posey was the hardest one to project. According to the Baseball Forecaster, his Minor League numbers equate to a .836 OPS. With those numbers over a full season, Posey has an argument for being 1 or 2 but with the learning curve to adjust to Major League pitching and the likeliness that the Giants will insist he needs some time in Fresno to develop his game (say till late-May/Early June....regardless of whether or not said time to develop is needed).

First Base

1-Adrian Gonzales

2-Pablo Sandoval

3-Adam LaRoche

4-Todd Helton

5-James Loney

As usual, a deep position. Gonzales gets the nod for now (Sandoval will probably get bumped to first when NOT if A-Gon gets shipped out of San Diego). I see Pablo Sandoval having a nice breakout season.......he was THIS close to being a member of Chedderhead but Ryan Zimmerman got the pick instead with the deciding factor being Pac Bell Park. Few things in life are guaranteed Death, Taxes and LaRoche struggling in the first half, surging in the second half and ending with a .270 average and 25 homers. Unlike Sandoval, LaRoche is a member of Chedderhead as he got drafted in the second to last round.

Second Base

1-Freddy Sanchez

2-Clint Barmes

3-Ryan Roberts

4-Jamey Carroll

5-David Eckstein

The wasteland. Clint "Sub .300 OBP" Barmes, Ryan "Didn't Get A Chance Till 28" Roberts and The King of Grit himself David Eckstein. Interesting thing about Barmes......it took me a few years of him in the bigs to realize that his last name was Barmes not Barnes. There were countless times where I would think things like why does Clint Barnes last name look different, why that n looks like an m and finally realizing that oh his last name is Barmes not Barnes.

Shortstop

1-Troy Tulowitzki

2- Stephen Drew

3-Rafael Furcal

4-Edgar Renteria

5-Everth Cabrera

Tulowitzki graduated from promising young player to Star last year. Stephen Drew has shown flashes of promise and hopes to join Tulowitzki at the top of the class in 2010. Furcal and Renteria are interchangeable 30-somethings who have seen better days and Cabrera is in last because I don't care for light hitting middle-infielders regardless of how many bases they steal why? Because you are more likely to score a run when you hit a home run than when you steal second.

Third Base

1-Mark Reynolds

2-Casey Blake

3-Mark DeRosa

4-Chase Headley

5-Ian Stewart

Like Tulowitzki, Reynolds graduated to the top of his class at his position last year. Casey Blake and Mark DeRosa are interchangeable players that will give you between a .265-.275 average and 15-20 homers a year. The musical equivalent is Nickelback. They've been releasing the same album for the last decade with the same songs under but with only slight variations. This applies here because Casey Blake and Mark DeRosa are the same player with slight variations. The tie-breaker....Casey Blake is on Chedderhead so if he does better than expected, that would contribute to Chedderhead's inevitable title while DeRosa playing better than expected won't impact my life what so ever. Why is Ian Stewart last? Well when factoring in MLE equivalent numbers in the Forecaster, his contact rate has dropped 16 percent and in 3 straight years.......he doesn't strike me as a breakout candidate, he strikes me as a candidate for the Bill Hall All-Stars.

Left Field

1-Manny Ramirez

2-Kyle Blanks

3-Carlos Gonzales

4-Conor Jackson

5-Eugenio Velez

Well, Manny Ramirez may be a bit older his bat may be a bit slower after going on a 50-game maternity leave and Manny is still Manny which still means expect Manny to put up some crazy power numbers. Kyle Blanks....well he was the one that got away from Chedderhead. If it weren't for the fact that Chedderhead was drafted while I was hungover and functioning on 3 1/2 hours of sleep, we would have realized he was available in the last round and given him Mike Cameron's position instead of feeling like a complete idiot when he got picked a few picks later. We were even discussing using a pick on Blanks the night before when we were discussing who we wanted, who we didn't want and who we liked but knew they were going to get picked at least a few rounds earlier than we wanted to pick them....point being Blanks has 35-40 Home Run power written all over him.

Center Field

1-Matt Kemp

2-Chris Young

3-Scott Hairston

4-Aaron Rowand

5-Dexter Fowler

Matt Kemp has graduated to the top of the class in 2009. OMG did you hear he's dating Rihanna. In a related story, TMZ needs to go away. Nothing about Young and Hairston inspire me too much. Dexter Fowler gets hype for having a breakout season coming up. I'm not one of those people.....not sure if his high BABIP from last year is sustainable, he could be in for a long year.

Right Field

1-Justin Upton

2-Andre Ethier

3-Brad Hawpe

4-Nate Schierholtz

5-Will Venable

Look for Upton to break into the elite players section this year. Look for Andre Ethier to show that his career year in 2009 was no fluke. Look for Hawpe to quietly go yard 20-25 times this year.

Standings At The End Of Part I:

D-Backs 17

Dodgers 22

Rockies 25

Giants 26

Padres 30

Just finished doing the NL Central preview that produced some unconventional results. After the first half of this preview we have a team (Arizona) on top that absolutely nobody thinks has a chance. Is this just a fluke of being early in the process or am I about to make another risky this may make me look like a complete moron type pick? If i've learned anything from being a fan of Lost, its to leave questions unanswered and to just end

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.

Division Series Preview Part 3: Phillies-Rockies

Now for post #3 of the division series preview. This match-up places the 2009 version of Rocktober versus the defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Catcher:

Carlos Ruiz .255/.355/.425 103 OPS+

Chris Iannetta .230/.344/.463 105 OPS+

Not the strongest point of either team. The only thing really standing out about Ruiz is he hit a career-high in homers (9) this year.

Iannetta didn't have the greatest year but he has the greatest upside. Iannetta is one of many Rockies players that has recently helped them find ways to win games. Whether this happens in the playoffs is yet to be seen, but I like his chances over Ruiz.

Advantage: Rockies

First Base

Ryan Howard .279/.360/.571 139 OPS+

Todd Helton .325/.416/.489 132 OPS+

Ryan Howard might strike out too much but since he also led the NL in RBIs his strikeouts are not a big deal.

Todd Helton is holding down first base in Rocktober. While he isn't the same hitter he was during his peak, he's still a great hitter and an asset to this squad. Still, Ryan Howard has established himself as one of elite first baseman today and he gets the nod here.

Advantage: Phillies

Second Base

Chase Utley .282/.397/.508 135 OPS+

Clint Barmes .245/.294/.440 86 OPS+

Chase Utley is one of the best second baseman in baseball today period. Also, for what its worth he's led the league in getting hit by pitches for 3 years in a row.

Clint Barmes may have made a clutch catch against St. Louis last Sunday (or at least that's how it got counted) but i'm not quite sold on him. While he has pop in his bat, he is portrayed as a better hitter than he actually is. Clint Barmes Fun Fact: He has yet to have a season where he has even been a league average hitter (his career high OPS+ is 99)

Advantage: Phillies

Shortstop

Jimmy Rollins .250/.296/.423 85 OPS+

Troy Tulowitzki .297/.377/.552 135 OPS+

J-Roll has definitely had better years. He is a much more talented player than his 2009 stats indicate. The last time these teams faced off in the NLDS, Rollins won an MVP...this year he had his least productive season at the plate since 2002.

Troy Tulowitzki is a rising star in this league and he showed why in 2009. He bounced back big time from a sub-par 2008 and season and barring injury, he could be one of the best shortstops of this generation

Advantage: Rockies

Third Base:

Pedro Feliz .266/.309/.387 80 OPS+

Ian Stewart .228/.322/.466 100 OPS+

Pedro Feliz seems like a pretty good major league hitter....well unless you've never looked up his career stats. Feliz has filled the Clint Barmes role of being capable of going yard 20 times a year and still being a below average hitter.

Ian Stewart may be lacking in the batting average area but makes up for having more power. He's still 24 and getting better. He has the potential to be a star but he isn't quite there yet. However, he's at least better than Feliz and he has the edge here.

Advantage: Rockies

Left Field

Raul Ibanez .273/.348/.553 131 OPS+

Seth Smith .293/.380/.511 126 OPS+

When Raul Ibanez wasn't missing time due to injury and accusing all bloggers of living in their mom's basement he was crushing the ball and proving he was worth the contract that he signed.

2009 was the first chance for Seth Smith has gotten significant playing time and hes made the most of it. He may become a better player than Ibanez at some point but that time isn't now.

Advantage Phillies

Center Field

Shane Victorino .291/.357/.444 108 OPS+

Dexter Fowler .263/.362/.401 96 OPS+

Shane Victorino is a good player but overrated. He has proven to play well in the off-season (his grand slam off of C.C. Sabathia last year is still fresh in my memory).....but being voted in the All-Star game over Pablo Sandoval is a pretty good argument against letting fans vote for the All-Star team.

Dexter Fowler is another player who got his first shot at significant playing time in 2009. He has speed, a good eye and lots of potential....but he's running into too many outs by getting caught stealing and his 2009 numbers are too "scrappy" for my comfort. I'm not the biggest Victorino fan but he gets the edge here.

Advantage: Phillies

Right Field

Jayson Werth .268/.373/.508 127 OPS+

Brad Hawpe .283/.382/.511 127 OPS+

Jayson Werth has revived his career since coming to Philly and this as culminated in his career-year where he went yard 36 times and become an All-Star for the first time.

Brad Hawpe has put in another productive year at right field for the Rockies. He's a player that can be penciled in to hit around .280 hit 20-25 homers and hit 20% above league average.

This match-up is too close to call so past post-season performance is used as a tie-breaker. Werth (.292/.386/.597) gets the nod over Hawpe (.282/.404/.410).

Advantage: Phillies

Starting Rotation

Ubaldo Jiminez

Jason Marquis

Jorge de la Rosa

Jason Hammel

vs.

Cliff Lee

Cole Hamels

Joe Blanton

Pedro Martinez/J.A. Happ

For the Rockies, Ubaldo Jiminez has moved deeper into ace-status territory this year. I'm not quite sold on the rest of the rotation as Marquis is decent but there are better #2 pitchers and no matter what Jorge de la Rosa does, to me he's still the pitcher who posted a WHIP of almost 2 when he pitched for the Brewers....he's about reached his peak.

The Phillies have a strong rotation. Cliff Lee has been an impact player in Philly and been the ex-Indians pitcher to help a NL playoff contender this year. Hamels has had a down season but he has proven to be clutch in October. Joe Blanton has put in a solid but not spectacular season as the #3 man..like Hamels, he also has been a proven commodity in the post-season. And how could I discuss the rotation without discussing Pedro Martinez. He is the wild-card in this equation. He may not be as dominant as he was 10 years ago and he may have struggled in his last couple starts. However, he has been through the post-season many times and knows what it takes to win in October. If the Phils get their backs against the wall and need a clutch start..Pedro would be a very good choice to make that start.

Advantage: Phillies

If the game is on the line, these pitchers are likely to appear

Brad Lidge/Ryan Madson

Chad Durbin

Clay Condrey

vs.

Huston Street

Matt Daley

Franklin Morales

The Phillies may need their pitchers to go the distance a couple times because their bullpen is not amongst their strengths. Regardless of whether they keep Madson in the closers role or if Lidge gets his 5th second chance to get things right, the bullpen situation leaves a lot to be desired.

For the Rockies, closing out games is not as tenuous as Huston Street has been one of the best closers this year.

Advantage: Rockies

X Factor:

The Phillies are the defending World Champs until they get knocked out. They have a chance of winning two years in a row and making a case for being a dynasty. They have the post-season experience as this is their 3rd straight playoff experience.

The Rockies are attempting to replicate their '07 miracle run in Rocktober II: Tracy's Redemption. This team was left for dead/written off a couple months into the season. They fire Clint Hurdle when they are 18-28 and in last place, they hire Jim Tracy who had gotten fired from two managerial jobs in the last five years ('05 in L.A. '07 in Pittsburgh). What happens when a manager on his last chance inherits a team going nowhere.....they start winning games left and right...nearly take over the NL West and get back to the playoffs. Over/Under on a when a movie loosely based on this years Rockies gets made: 3.5 years.

Advantage: Rockies

Final Tally: Phillies 6 Rockies 5

The Rockies may be the hotter team but the Phillies are the better team overall. As long as Charlie Manuel is smart enough to not bring in Brad Lidge with the game on the line, we're getting a rematch of last year's NLCS.

Prediction: Phillies in 5

A Fan of Close Pennant Races? Tuesday was not your lucky day

As the title indicates, Tuesday did nothing to ensure that this year's pennant races would go down to a photo finish.

It didn't look that way initially as the Twins were able to squeak out a win over the Tigers in the first game of their double-header. However, in the second game the Tigers were able to stretch their lead back to 2 games as Justin Verlander pitched just well enough to let the Tigers hold on to beat the Twins.

The Twins still aren't out of it yet. If they can pull out victories tonight and Thursday we will be going into the weekend with a tied AL Central. Personally, i'm indifferent towards who wins the AL Central, I just want to see an interesting last weekend in baseball.

In the NL Wild Card race, things didn't go so great on Tuesday. The Braves ended up losing a close one to the Marlins 5-4. Meanwhile, the Brewers went into Colorado with a chance to make an impact on the race and keep it close. Unfortunately, they played more like the 77-80 team that they are than a team with any sense of motivation.

While it's nothing more than a consolation......they at least forced extra innings. The Brewers went into the 9th down 5-2 and tied it on wait for it.........(a Jason Kendall three-run homer).....and no that's not a typo.....Jason Kendall actually did something productive offensively by hitting a game-tying home run.

However, this being the Brewers and all, they found a way to not win last nights game. For this, they turned to veteran reliever Dave Weathers who gave-up the walk off home run to Chris Iannetta.

Well what does this say for todays game? For the Twins, it's pretty much a must-win game tonight against the Tigers. While losing tonight won't equate to mathematical elimination, tonights pitching match-up favors the Twins and if they lose tonight they'll likely be dead-team walking tomorrow.

For the Braves, they are more or less in win-out or else mode. For the Rockies, well they tend to find new ways to win games and they get a chance to tee-off against Jeff Suppan so all they need to do is continue what they are doing.

Brewers-Rockies Preview: Last Chance to be Spoilers

So the Brewers haven't played as well as expected. Things didn't quite go as planned and they've seen themselves fall to the middle of the pack. Still, they have a chance to do something truly great this week. That being to make the NL Wild Card chase much closer and more interesting and to make the last weekend of the baseball season exponentially more relevant.

And what can we attribute this to? Well they have a three game set coming up against the NL Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies. As of today, they lead Atlanta by 2 1/2 games. The Rockies just finished beating the Cardinals 2 out 3 including a thrilling win this afternoon. Will the Brewers play over their heads and bring the Rockies down with them? Or will they play like a team that is 77-79 after 156 games?

Brewers 77-79 vs. Rockies 88-68

Tuesday

Narveson 2-0 3.82 era 110 ERA+ vs. Marquis 15-12 3.98 era 113 ERA+

The Brewers start Chris Narveson who's really only had a chance to start games in September. So far he's made the most of it. Narveson seems perfectly suited to play the spoiler role. He's been back and forth between Nashville this year, he struggled horribly his first time up and he's pitched his best ball in September. He's coming off his best start this year where he struck out 10 Cardinals.

The Rockies counter with Jason Marquis. He's a solid pitcher having a slightly better than average season. However, he's struggled in his career against the Crew going 5-8 with a 4.50 era in his career. Also, Craig Counsell has hit relatively well against him in his career. Does Marquis rise above this less than inspiring track record against the Crew or does he rise to the occasion and inch the Rockies closer to another playoff bid?

Wednesday

Suppan 7-11 5.04 era 84 ERA+ vs. Hammel 9-8 4.30 era 105 ERA+

If there's one Brewers pitcher who does not have it in him to rise to an occasion it is definitely Jeff Suppan. Allegedly he got paid a bunch because he got lucky and had a couple good weeks in the 2006 playoffs. Well, that Suppan didn't show up last year when he went 0-for september. His playoff expertise no-showed last year when he got rocked by the Phils. And it definitely didn't show up Thursday night when he was a batting practice pitcher for the Phillies. Point being, if there's one pitcher in this series least likely to contribute to the Brewers playing the spoiler role, it is Jeff Suppan.

The Rockies counter with Jason Hammel. Hammel got traded from the Rays straight up for a minor leaguer in April and has made the Rockies look smart by solidifying the back of the rotation. This is Hammel's first year pitching in the NL. It's tough to say much about how good he is against the Brewers (since he's only had one start....which he won). However, it doesn't matter too much since he's matching up against Jeff Suppan and therefore doesn't need to pitch that good to win this game.

Thursday

Parra 11-10 6.16 era 68 ERA+ vs. TBD

If anyone's been the biggest embodiment of the Brewers struggles in the starting rotation this year, it's been Manny Parra. However, he also has the highest career ceiling amongst all starters not named Yovani Gallardo. If there's one Brewers pitcher who's just as likely to pitch a gem as they are to give up 10 runs in a game it's Parra.

Point being, Parra could go a long way to diminish the bad memories of this season by stepping up and putting a dent in the Rockies playoff hopes.

While this series would be a lot more fun if the Brewers were actually playing for something other than pride, if the Brewers play well in this series at least they can say that they had some impact on the playoff race by making the last weekend of this season a lot more interesting than it looked like it was going to be.

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.

Top 100 Lists/Sports Crossovers: Totalfilm.com

Alright, so i'm chillin watching Terminator 2:Judgement Day [the best of the Terminator movies] on Bravo and was looking at the Wikipedia page for the movie. While doing this I stumbled across a 100 Greatest Movies of all Time from totalfilm.com, released in 2006.

With this in mind, I decided to see if I could use the titles of some of these films and connect them to the sports world, and the results are as follows.

1-Star Wars Episode V-The Empire Strikes Back----Yankees

Or you could go with Baseball Wars episode 161---the Yankees strike back. Even though my Brewers don't play in the AL anymore and haven't played in the same division as the Yankees since 1993....the Yankees have always been one of those teams I've loathed and seen as the bad guys. Their strategy is outspend everyone else and leave the little guys in the dust. In 2008, they fell to third in the AL East behind a surprising Rays team and their long-time rivals, the Red Sox. Well, what did they do. They struck back by throwing bags of cash at CC Sabathia and Mark Teixiera and going into September they have the best fantasy team that money can buy in first place. Well it sucks now, but it will make it all the more amusing when they inevitably stumble in the playoffs

14- Raiders of the Lost Arc----Oakland Raiders

Or you could go with Raiders of the lost mind, decade, etc...........

The Raiders have definitely become the punch-line of the NFL. Since their Super Bowl loss to Tampa, everything this team has done has been terrible. Whether it was losing games by the bunch....throwing money at the wrong players....letting Art Shell coach them (again).....how they handled the Lane Kiffin situation....hiring Tom Cable (whose prior coaching experience was going 11-35 for the University of Idaho)...to Cable punching one of his assistant coaches and fracturing his jaw.......Classy.........

24-Die Hard----- Texas Rangers

This is a team that has refused to fade away. When the Rangers started strong due to their improved pitching, it seemed a given their pitching staff would regress as they had for much of the past decade. However, this is a team that has kept with i, kept pitching well (seriously pitching coach Mike Maddux is a genius.....even Derrick Turnbow had a year-long flash of brilliance under his watch) and as we go into labor-day are only 2 games out of the wild card position.

33-T-2: Judgement Day-----Dodgers

In 1991 and 2009 Movies in the Terminator series were released. In 1991 the Dodgers lead the NL West by as many as 6 games and spent 135 days in first place only to lose the division. This year, the Dodgers have spend 147 days in first place, had a once insurmountable lead of 9 1/2 games but surges by the Giants and Rockies have made the Dodgers not winning the NL West not as certain as previously thought. Does history repeat itself and complete this parallel Terminator movie/Dodgers baseball rant? Or do they hold on and make me look like an idiot? Check back in about a month.

46-The Good, The Bad And The Ugly-----Phillies, Royals, Mets

Teams I pulled off the top of my heads. The Phillies are a good team headed into the playoffs, the Royals are a bad team (more about them at the bottom of this post) and the Mets are an ugly team in an ugly new stadium.

60-The Silence of the Lambs--Mets/Mike Lamb

So, Mike Lamb had 11 uninspiring plate appearances for the Brewers towards the end of 2008. It struck me that I hadn't heard anything about him since. Did he go into coaching? Did he leave baseball? Nope.....apparently Lamb's bat has been silenced to the point that even with their whole team injured, he wasn't good enough to even play for the Mets (he's played 118 games for their Triple-A, and having an awesome .666 OPS. Still, he is one of only five players with the last name Lamb to appear in the bigs, so he can hang his head up high on that (cause trying to do that with the 63 OPS+ he had in the bigs last year is probably a bad idea)

65- The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl--Pirates

Or Pirates of the NL Central--The Curse of the fire sale. I know I jumped on them a while back with their fire sale but seriously.....they play in the NL Central but they're so inept I can't muster enough strength to hate them.....for the good of baseball.....at least try to act like your trying to field a competitive team.

71-Rocky-Rockies

Rocky a rags to riches story of a fighter in Philly. The Rockies were pretty much afterthoughts (the rags of baseball) for a couple months. Hire Jim Tracy who is on his third (possibly last chance) as a baseball manager.....the win a lot of games and have a chance to compete amongst the riches of baseball (playoffs).

85-The Wizard of Oz--1975 White Sox

So I was wandering aimlessly on baseball-reference and decided to put oz into the search term, just because I could. Well apparently there was a pitcher named Ozzie Osborn who pitched 24 games for the 1975 White Sox only to never appear on a Major League roster again. I know it's not an exact to the rock star but it's the closest any major league team has come to riding the crazy train.

98- This is Spinal Tap- Royals

Spinal Tap is a tale of a satirical rock band that makes a mockery of rock stardom. The Kansas City Royals are a satirical baseball team and a mockery of major league baseball. Despite having the best pitcher in baseball on their team, they are 51-85. Ever since the onion reported they were unable to find themselves in the standings, they are 35-74.

The (Late) Weekend Preview

Well , it's coming a day later than usual.....but the weekend preview is here....as always games are ranked on a scale of 1-5.....and with that.....let the games begiiiiiin

Dodgers [Haeger] vs. Reds [Maloney] Saturday FOX =2

These teams have had very opposite seasons. Despite their recent struggles, the Dodgers are still the team to beat in the NL West and start the weekend with a 4-game lead. The start knuckleballer Charlie Haeger who pitched very impressively last weekend against the Cubs, getting his first win of the season. The Reds [despite their sweep of the Brewers] are still a team going nowhere and nowhere fast....despite playing well enough to be within striking distance in the first half of the season....they still sit a whopping 16 games under .500.....they counter with rookie Matt Maloney who is making his fourth start and still seeking his first ML win...thus far his closest claim to ML fame was being traded for Kyle Lohse in 2007.....another fun fact is if you look up Matt Maloney on wikipedia it defaults to the ex-Houston Rocket of the same name.....

Mets [Parnell] vs. Cubs [Dempster] =2---Saturday FOX

A match-up between two teams who have played worse than expected this year. The Mets have been decimated by injuries and start Bobby Parnell who has pitched primarily in the bullpen this year. The Cubs counter with Ryan Dempster.....who has regressed back to his career averages...not the best way to follow-up a career year and the ensuing contract extension.....

Rays [Price] vs. Tigers [Robertson] =3.5 Saturday FOX

Not the most exciting match-up...but it gets bumped up a point since there are playoff implications. The Rays are sitting 3 1/2 games out of the wild-card starts David Price. The Tigers are up 4 games in the AL Central and they are giving Nate Robertson his first start of the season...

Giants [Zito] vs. Rockies [Marquis]---Saturday MLB Network =4

Easily the best game on TV this weekend. The Giants and Rockies are in a battle for the wild card spot. As of this writing, the Rockies are up 3 games. It will take a lot to out-do the series they had last week culminating in a 14th inning grand slam.

White Sox [Garcia] vs. Yankees [Chamberlain] = 2 Sunday TBS

This game gets a point knocked off because the Yankees are involved. The White Sox despite struggling this year are still only 4 games behind the Tigers. They trot-out injury prone Freddy Garcia who is making his 3rd start of the season. The Yankees trot out Joba Chamberlain.....who is definitely gets more hype/publication than than he would if he didn't play in New York.....but hey not if you lead the league in hit batsmen....well i can't think of anything else significant he's done this year

Braves [Jurrjens] vs. Phillies [Blanton] = 3.5 Sunday ESPN

A Solid NL-East battle to finish off the weekend. The Braves bring in start Jurrjens who has pitched much better than his 10-8 record. The Phillies counter with Joe Blanton...a very prototypical mid-rotation pitcher....the Braves need to take at least 2 of 3 this weekend as they are sitting 7 back in the NL East and need to go on a tear to make a deeper impact on the wild card..........

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.

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 Weekend Ahead: Unlikely to top Buerhle

Before I get started on the weekend preview I would like to take some space to congratulate Mark Buerhle on his perfect game and DeWayne Wise for making this catch

With that said lets the games begin.........

As always games are rated from 1 to 5 with 1 being borderline-unwatchable and 5 being must-see tv.....i've also added a new feature to this the expect/don't expect a good game out of feature......these predictions are based off of players career numbers against the starting pitchers....this info is found on baseball-reference.com


Saturday---FOX

Cardinals (Lohse) vs. Phillies (Lopez) =3.5

Possible playoff preview as both teams are in first place. This game is definitely more important for the Cards than the Phils since they have the Brew Crew, Astros and Cubs are chomping at the bit for their spot at the top while the Phils have gotten a comfortable distance from the rest of the NL East.......Rodrigo Lopez has been pitching suprisingly well this year and provided he's able to pitch around Pujols the Phils should win this one

Expect a good game out of: Ryan Howard
Don't expect a good game out of: Jimmy Rollins

Twins (Blackburn) vs. Angels (TBD)= 3.5

Another possible (but not) likely playoff preview. Blackburn is having a nice year but he has two things going against him. 1) The Angels are the better team 2) The Angels hit very well against Blackburn

Expect a good game out of: Chone Figgins
Don't expect a good game out of Nick Blackburn

White Sox (Floyd) vs. Tigers (Jackson) =4

This is bound to be a good game. Both teams come into this weekend tied for 1st place with each other....I could easily see either team winning....the Tigers because they always have a chance to win with Edwin Jackson winning but i'm picking the White Sox here since I see them carrying the momentum from Buerhle's perfect game through at least the weekend.

Expect a good game out of: Jim Thome
Don't expect a good game out of: Miguel Cabrera

Saturday night MLB Network--

Giants (Sanchez) vs. Rockies (De La Rosa)= 4

Another close intense match-up. The Rockies currently lead the Giants in the wild card by a game so this series could be the difference between the playoffs and no playoffs this year. This one could go either way because I don't like Jorge de la Rosa (having a 6.23 ERA in 61 career games for the Brewers will do that)

Expect a good game out of: Chris Ianneta
Don't Expect a good game out of: Aaron Rowand

Sunday TBS

Phillies (Blanton) vs. Cardinals (Wellemeyer) =3

Decent match-up......possible play-off preview....Phils win this one

Expect a good game out of: Mark DeRosa
Don't Expect a good game out of: Jimmy Rollins

Sunday Night Baseball

White Sox (Danks) vs. Tigers (Porcello) =4

Good Pitching Match-Up....Two teams fighting for first.....couldn't ask for too much more...if it was later in the season this would have been bumped to a 4.5 or 5....Sox win this one

Expect a good game out of: Magglio Ordonez
Don't expect a good game out of: Curtis Granderson

Weekend Preview: The Pre All-Star Edition

It's Thursday.....which means it's time for my post previewing the games on tap for this weekend...the last weekend before the all-star exhibition game.... As always the games are rated from 1(yawn inducing) to 5 (must-see) and with that said.....let the games begin

Saturday FOX Regional Action

Yankees (Pettite) vs. Angels (J.Weaver) = 3

Potential playoff preview that got knocked down a point solely because I dislike the Yankees and they're on TV too much. With that said, this should be a good match up. The Yankees are making my prediction of their 3rd place finish looking worse by the day and are creeping up on the Red Sox (which will inevitably lead to ESPN slobbering over the next Yankees-Red Sox match-up more than usual...if that's even possible)......the Angels are in a tight race with the Rangers in the AL West....Angels will probably be playing with a chip on their shoulder since they're coming off being schooled by Andruw Jones and the Rangers.....Angels win this in a close one

Cardinals (Carpenter) vs. Cubs (Lilly) =3

Another compelling game that I don't have interest in since I do not like either team (not to the game....I just don't like them)....the Cards are coming off winning 2 out of 3 in Milwaukee(grrrrr.......) and they have Chris Carpenter who has returned to form since returning from injury.....the Cubs are lurking at 3 1/2 games out of first and 101 years since their last title....they have All-Star Ted Lilly going to the hill....should be a low scoring affair and a good pitching match-up........if there was a way for these teams to lose to each other....that would be awesome but since someone has to win it will probably be the Cards (writing those words makes me nauseous)

Saturday night MLB (The most awesome channel ever) Network Game


Braves (Jurrgens) vs. Rockies (Marquis) = 3.5

Not the most compelling match up at first sight but it gets more interesting when looking at it at a closer level. The Braves have been hovering at or a couple games below .500 all season but are only sitting four games back. Playing in an underachieving NLeast if they get hot for a few weeks they could get themselves into first place. With a rotation headed by Jurrgens and Vasquez, that's not out of the question.

Speaking of teams who struggled for a couple months than got it together, they are facing the Rockies. Six good weeks and a managerial change has transformed the Rockies from NL West bottom feeders to fighting the Giants for second place and the wild card. The Rockies have an over-supported and decent (but not 1o-wins great)(wins and win-loss records are such over-ratted stats btw) Jason Marquis going for them Saturday.

Sunday TBS Game

Dodgers (Kershaw) vs. Brewers (Gallardo) =4

Another possible play-off match up (well if the Brewers ever start winning more than one game per series). The Dodgers have young pitcher Clayton Kershaw pitching for LA on Sunday. He pitched against the Brew Crew in a sunday afternoon game last year....don't remember the exact statistics but I do remember he pitched impressively..he was in line to get the win but the Brewers tied in it the ninth on a Braun homer only for Carlos Villaneuva to give up a game-losing home run in the bottom of the 9th....

Speaking of pitchers pitching well but not getting the wins to show for it, the Brewers have Yovanni Gallardo (who ironically is the one Brewers starter who's pitched well all-season) going for them......this dude has cy-young award potential, should been an all-star and has gotten zero run support in his last two starts (including an electrifying 12-K performance against the Mets)...my call is that the Dodgers will be lookin ahead...the Brewers offense will show up for Gallardo's start (for once) and the Brewers grad some momentum going in to the break.


Sunday Night Game

Cardinals (TBD) vs. Cubs (Zambrano) =2

While ESPN does get well-deserved flak for showing too many Sox-Yankees game.....they do find time to over-do the Cards-Cubs as well (this I can at least tolerate since as an off-shoot they've shown more Brewers games when they play either team)....hard to get excited for this end-of weekend match-up. Zambrano pitched seven strong innings the last time I watched him pitch (last Friday vs. the Brew Crew)....despite his struggles he'll probably show up and pitch another strong game against another division rival...... I really wish these teams could lose to each but since someone has to win...... it will probably be the Cubs win this one (it makes me naseous to type that statement)