The Thursday 2-Fifths

Didn't have enough time to write a full F5ive, here's a preview for the two games running on MLB Network today

1- Nationals vs. Reds
MLB Network
Hernandez vs. Volquez Interest Level:4

So, apparently the Nationals have pitchers not named Strasburg pitching for them. When Livian Hernandez got off to that scorching hot start, it was clear that it was built up with smoke, mirrors, good luck and a low BABIP. In other words, Livan Hernandez odds of that great start lasting the season had as good of a chance of surviving as that house made of straw in the 3 little pigs had of surviving the big bad wolf. As of today, his ERA stands at 3.27 and appears to be well on its way to its rightful place in the mid to upper 4 range.

The Reds counter with Edison Volquez (who despite failing a drug-test doesn't actually serve his 50-game suspension because he happened to be injured at the time....I don't see how this could be a controversy if the Reds win the division, but thats besides the point). who pitched well in his first start of 2010 and looks to give their pitching staff a much needed jolt in the arm as they battle the Cardinals for the NL Central playoff spot.

2- Royals vs. Yankees MLB Network Chen vs. Sabathia

The Royals and Nationals on National TV on the same day! This can be placed on the list of things that would never hapen on FOX or ESPN.

Anyways, the Royals are playing their normal role of also-ran, sitting at 12 games out of first (I thought it would look a lot worse for them at this point). The Royals bring Bruce Chen to the hill. Surprisingly, Chen hasn't pitched that bad this year (5-3 4.06 era 104 ERA+) I didn't say it was great but it's not bad either........it's a bit mind boggling that the dude has pitched for 10 teams in his career (including 4/5 of the NL East by the time he was 25)....considering he's left handed and only 33, he could very easily break the all-time record for teams pitched for before all is said and done.

None of this really matters as they are facing the Yankees and CC Sabathia. The Yankees are contending for a division title/world series title (as always) and a pre-requisite of that is taking care of business against also-ran teams such as the Royals.

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.

A Retro-Active Diary Of My Razzball Team

Alright, a couple weeks ago I wrote a brief post about my Razzball team where the object of the game is to draft the worst team possible and listed who I drafted but didn't get into too much detail........until now. Today, one of my fellow league members dedicated a post to doing a blow-by-blow account of the team they drafted.

Well, this inspired me to do a blow-by-blow retroactive running diary of the trainwreck that I drafted.

Round 1: Jason Kendall

Being a Brewers fan, I was way too familiar with the sheer ineptitude that is Jason Kendall. It got to the point where any positive thing he did, no matter how insignificant (i.e. NOT hitting into an inning-ending double play, hitting the ball out of the infield) was seen as exceeding expectations. In the early rounds, I was improvising but all I knew was that I was taking Kendall if he was still available. Based on his probable .240 hitting with no power and that he somehow gets to start 130 games a year and he plays for a Royals team where he will probably drive in even less runs than he did in Milwaukee, there is no way this pick can go wrong

Round 2: Bobby Crosby

After getting Kendall, my next thought was to get First Base covered as Razzball-worthy hitters become catchers and middle infielders, not first basemen. Why Crosby? Plays for a terrible team? Pirates, check. Versatility at positions associated with offense? First Base/Third Base, check. Sub-.700 OPS/Sub-.240 Average/no more than 9 homers the last four years? Check.

Round 3: Brendan Harris

Got another corner infield player on accident. I was looking towards drafting some good old fashioned middle infield ineptitude here...I was trying to avoid drafting players from teams that are generally pretty smart (Twins) but anytime you can snag some Sub .700 OPS corner infield eligibility, you have to go for it.

Round 4: Gary Matthews Jr.

Matthews Jr. has answered the ultimate question of how you can catapult one above-average season and one You Tube worthy catch into making $10 million a year and making Jeff Suppan's contract look like a wise investment......even though the Mets weren't the ones that signed the contract (this one is on L.A. of Anaheim of California of America of Earth of Milky Way) it doesn't seem surprising that a player of this caliber ended up on the Mets.

Round 5: Fausto Carmona

After going with hitters in the first four rounds, I noticed that more pitchers were coming off the board around this time and started scrambling around to get my own piece of this pitching ineptitude. And what did I come back with? A pitcher whose WHIP has skyrocketed the last two years (1.76) if i'm lucky maybe he can break the 2 WHIP barrier. 70 Walks in 125 innings, 16 homers and an ERA north of 6. The icing on the cake? Carmona is projected to be the Indians #2 starter, making it unlikely that Carmona will lose said job because of his high ineptitude.

Round 6: Bill Hall

Not sure how many ABs i'll get out of Hall but my experience as a Brewers fan tells me that he's gotten progressively worse since his career year (pretty much the hitting equivalent of Fausto Carmona), the dude swings at just about everything regardless of how close the ball is to the strike zone and assuming he gets playing time, should be a valuable source of strikeouts.

Round 7: Oliver Perez

Got myself two pitchers in a three round period that have seen their WHIP skyrocket in the last few years. An ERA that looks primed to break the 7-barrier, a WHIP that is at 1.9.....oh so close to the 2 WHIP barrier and pitching for a Mets team where he shouldn't lose his job as long as he stays healthy.

Round 8: Willy Taveras

A player who has a chance to be a star.....if they ever make it legal to steal first.

Around this time I noticed a lot of the players I was drafting or was looking to draft either play or at one time played for one of four teams (Royals, Team Formerly Known As The Expos, Pirates and Mets). Around the 7th or 8th round, I shifted to a strategy to draft only players from those four teams unless I stumbled across from a player that was such a trainwreck that I couldn't resist. I would have mentioned this earlier but i'm partially distracted by the multi-OT epic that Xavier and K-State are putting on.

Round 9: Chris Jakubauskas

Had to double-check the draft page to make sure I spelt his name correctly. Don't know too much about him but considering the Pirates deemed him worthy, he should be a good source of losses. A high risk of wasted non-talent here as it looks doubtful that he will break camp with the Pirates.

Round 10: Nelson Figueroa

Time to stock up on some inept middle reliever with a slight chance of starting. He made 10 starts last year and logically could back his way into the rotation if the Mets rotation has injury issues (a matter of when not if). Anytime I can benefit off of the ineptitude of someone who pitched 30 games in the same year that the Brewers hit rock bottom and lost 106 times, there's no way I could pass it up.

Round 11: Yuniesky Betancourt

When in doubt, see who the Royals have available. If they have a .689 career OPS a career sub .300 OPS and on a team hopeless enough that that won't necessarily be a deterrent to starting. Now just as long as those 24-run Royals game only happen in spring training, I should be good.

Round 12: Craig Stammen

Young pitcher with an ERA slightly north of 5. A little concerned about his WHIP only being 1.29 and only walking 24 in 105 innings but c'mon he pitches for the Nationals. Their best pitchers are John Lannan and Jason Marquis, how good can he be?

Round 13: Mike Jacobs

On his second stint on the Mets......played a season for the Royals (which was an epic fail) he strikes out about once every four at bats, hits for a low average and comes to Citi Field.....if it can suppress the power of players that are actually good (David Wright), I can't wait to see what this stadium does to Jacobs' numbers

Round 14: Cristian Guzman

Only in a fantasy league like this, you have to worry about your starters losing time due to incompetency. .....I was feeling better about this pick until seeing that he lost his job to Ian Desmond.....fits the profile of someone that the Mets will trade for.....just a hunch

Round 15: Jeff Karstens

Had a near 1.5 WHIP and a 5+ ERA in '09.......he was so valuable in the Razzball world that he got shipped to minor league camp

Round 16: Jeff Francoeur

Banking on him NOT hitting .311 for the Mets again. Banking on pitchers realizing that he will swing at just about anything, banking on an excellent source of strikeouts.

Round 17: Tim Redding

Another player I was excited about until he got sent to the minors today.

Round 18: Mitch Maier

On the bright side, at least I ain't losing him to the minors. On the not so bright side, he's been tearing it up in the spring and his manager is lauding him for developing really quick this spring. On the bright side, talent evaluation isn't amongst the Royals strengths.

Round 19: Evan Meek

Looking at the numbers, didn't pitch that bad last year.....picked him more to a lack of familiarity and the PIT indicating he pitches for the Pirates next to his name.....if he keeps up his 8 to 1 K To Walk ratio he has this spring, he probably won't be long for this team....however, if he maintains his 5.79 ERA, Meek will be a most valuable asset.

Round 20: Ryan Church

Drafted a few rounds below the player (Francoeur) that he got traded for last summer. I actually wrote a post arguing that the Braves got the better of the deal for getting Church. Here's to both players not playing well this year.

Round 21: Jordan Zimmermann

A case of not doing my homework, getting lured by the fact that he plays for the Nationals and not realizing that he's on the 60-Day DL....oh well.

Round 22: Alex Cora

Mets utility fielder.....fine for opening day........658 career OPS.........welcome to Razzball Mr. Cora.

Round 23: Fernando Tatis

Mediocrity+multi-position eligibility+ Round 23= Jackpot

Round 24: Rod Barajas

Pro: Mediocre Batting Average

Con: He has 20 homer power

Pro: He's playing in citi field that has sapped the power of better, more talented players

Round 25: Colin Balester

5.87 ERA in 22 career starts....now if only he can crack the rotation

Round 26: Nick Punto

Protypical dime a dozen light hitting middle infielder

Round 27: Daniel Cabrera

Another player that is too valuable in the Razzball world to make a major league team....I am holding out hope that someone will give him a few starts this year. He drew 42 walks in 51 innings and showed himself perfectly capable of rocking a 2+ WHIP.

Well that in a nutshell is how I constructed the worst Fantasy baseball team that I could construct. I just have to wait a few more days to see how this goes down.

AL Central Preview Part--Two

Time to finish off the AL Central by taking a look at the pitching.....after part one our standings are

Twins 21

White Sox 21

Indians 26

Tigers 32

Royals 35

Starting Rotation

White Sox--Jake Peavy/Mark Buerhle/Gavin Floyd/John Danks/Freddy Garcia-4.5

Twins--Scott Baker/Kevin Slowey/Nick Blackburn/Francisco Liriano/Carl Pavano-9

Tigers--Justin Verlander/Rick Porcello/Armando Gallaraga/Jeremy Bonderman/Max Scherzer 13.5

Royals--Zack Greinke/Gil Meche/Kyle Davies/Luke Hochever/Brian Bannister-18

Indinas--Fausto Carmona/Jake Westbrook/Justin Masterson/David Huff/Aaron Laffey

Cluster A: White Sox/Twins--Ultimately this comes down to a couple of areas 1) Can Jake Peavy Stay Healthy? 2) Can Freddy Garcia stay healthy and be productive? 3) Can Francisco Liriano stay healthy and be effective?

The White Sox get the nod for a couple of reasons 1) While both teams have decent depth from 1-5, the talent in the White Sox rotation is better 2) Jake Peavy looks more likely than Liriano to stay healthy and even if Liriano stays healthy it is still unlikely we are not going to see the Francisco Liriano that dominated the summer of 2006.

The Tigers and Royals are in Cluster B: Kansas City's ace (Greinke) gets the nod over Verlander however the supporting cast for Kansas City (Meche/Bannister) is not close to the caliber of Detroit's mid-rotation starters (Porcello.....tough to believe he'll only be 21 and Max Scherzer who looks primed for a breakout season.

Cleveland is projected Fausto Carmona as their staff ace.....nuff said.

Bullpen:

Twins- Joe Nathan/Matt Guerrier/Jose Mijares-4.5

Royals-Joakim Soria/Robinson Tejeda/Kyle Farnsworth-9

White Sox-Bobby Jenks/Matt Thornton/J.J Putz-13.5

Tigers-Joel Zumaya/Ryan Perry/Bobby Seay-18

Indians-Kerry Wood/Chris Perez/Jensen Lewis-22.5

Twins have the best bullpen (by far) and the best closer (Joe Nathan) by a pretty good margin. The Royals got their ranking solely based because of Soria and despite Kyle Farnsworth. The Royals aren't going to get many chances to win but Soria will do his part to squander very few of those chances. I'm not overly optimistic on Jenks having a strong year. I get creeped out everytime I see a recent ex-closer (J.J Putz) hanging out in middle relief (this combo screams a red light similar to the Fuentes/Rodney combo from Los Angeles of Anaheim).

If this was a competition of who could throw the fastest fastball or the competition of who struck out 20 batters in a game once, the Tigers and Indians would be ranked higher than they actually are.

Speaking of Kerry Wood, i'm closing this out on a rant where I tie in Kerry Wood and Al Bundy. The career of Kerry Wood and the life of Al Bundy both started pretty sweet. Kerry Wood burst onto the scene in '98 and struck out 20 in a single game. Al Bundy had a pretty sweet life in high school as he scored 4 touchdowns in the same game.

But then luck and circumstances changed things. Wood struggled with injuries for a few years but eventually bounced back and had a few gasps of brilliance (i.e the 2003 season). The struggles in Wood's career and the struggles in Bundy's life can both be placed on external sources (Dusty Baker/Peg Bundy).

Kerry Wood spent the next few years in a world of injuries, simulated games and hanging out at the disabled list before settling into the role of closer for a flailing Indians team. Al Bundy on the other hand ended up selling shoes and being perpetually unlucky. This part sort of messes up the analogy because while Kerry Wood didn't become the superstar/hall of famer everyone expected him to be, it is still 10 years later and he still has a job in the bigs which even if it's not for a great team, your still in the bigs. Sadly, Al Bundy has no shot of redemption as he's stuck selling womens shoes at the mall in syndication.

Anyway, our final rankings:

Twins 34.5

White Sox 39

Royals 62

Tigers 63.5

Indians 71

If this holds up the Twins will be fighting for their playoff lives till the bitter end for the third straight year (and being sucessful for the second straight year). I was surprised that the Royals snuck into third for these rankings but that happens to be more on the strength of Greinke and Soria and based on these rankings it in no way indicates them having any hope of contending.

AL Central Preview--Part One

Well we got through the AL West, time to move towards the Central.

Catcher:

Joe Mauer-1

A.J. Pierzynski-2

Carlos Santana-3

Gerald Laird-4

Jason Kendall-5

Joe Mauer is far and away the best Catcher regardless of if you are talking about the league or the AL Central. It's a toss-up between Pierzynski and Santana. While Santana has the highest ceiling (he is one of the hottest prospects his Minor League numbers equate to pretty solid MLB numbers but he's still an unsure thing as he's yet to play in the bigs)......at the same time, there's no way he could be any worse than Laird and Kendall.

A side note about announcers and baseball players with the same name as musicians. The one pet peeve I have after watching nationally televised Brewers games is goes as follows: Yes, I am aware the Brewers regular right fielder's name is Corey Hart. Yes, I am aware he has the same name as that guy from the 80's who sang about Wearing his sunglasses at night. No, I do not need to hear announcers make lame jokes about Corey Hart wearing his sunglasses at night. This rant has been several years in the making. Which brings me to my main point, I am already cringing at the Carlos Santana references that are inevitably going to be made (fortunately the Indians aren't going to be very good and not be on TV very often). Point being I don't want to hear about how "smooth" is swing is or how we can say "oye como va" to a ball after he hits a home run (2 cliches that took me about 5 seconds each to make up). There's about at least a dozen cheesy Sports Center made for Stuart Scott cliches that are inevitable going to be unleashed upon the public if the high expectations set aside for Santana turn out to be fulfilled.

If Gerald Laird was half as good at getting arrested at Phoenix Suns games as he was at playing baseball, he may be higher on this list. However, his career to this point indicates that this is not the case. If being a Brewer fan has taught me anything, it's that Jason Kendall just isn't that good.....in fact he's a pretty terrible ball-player. Luckily for him, the Royals have a thing for making bad baseball decisions, are one of the dumbest teams in baseball and somehow made a conscious decision to sign him to a 2-year deal to a player who hasn't even been a league average hitter since 2004. These two were made for each other.

First Base

Miguel Cabrera-1

Paul Konerko-2

Justin Morneau-3

Billy Butler-4

Matt LaPorta-5

This division is LOADED from top to bottom at 1st. Unlike the Catcher rankings which are relatively easy, the Top 3 here was fairly difficult. While there are concerns regarding how last season ended with Cabrera, the reality is he is an elite-class player. If he can get past his drinking-related problems, he looks destined to be one of the greatest hitters of this generation.

The Konerko versus Morneau was a tough decision to make. More of a hunch than anything else, I think Morneau will come back strong from his injury problems from last year but I think that Konerko is going to have a monster season in '10. Even the back end players are pretty solid, Billy Butler was one of the few bright spots not named Zack Greinke in 2009 and I see that being repeated in 2010. Just like the Catcher rankings, the last spot is taken by someone who has connections to the Brewers (while he was traded before seeing Major League action, he was a major reason why the Brewers were able to land C.C. Sabathia in 2008 and is thus made his own contribution to getting the Brewers their first playoff appearance in 26 years). Anyways, LaPorta is definitely a can't-miss prospect he looks headed in the right direction of having a long and productive career and he's going to have a solid 2010, it's just that Cabrera, Konerko, Morneau and Butler are all happen to be really, really good at baseball.

Second Base

Gordan Beckham-1

Luis Valbuena-2

Orlando Hudson-3

Alberto Callaspo-4

Scott Sizemore-5

Fairly weak at second. Beckham seems poised for a breakout season. Valbuena, while not having the high profile like Beckham is a sleeper candidate for a breakout season. O-Hud is likely to give his typical .280 average and 10 homers.....may not be exciting or stand out but it's a lot more than they would have gotten out of Punto.

Shortstop

Alexei Ramirez-1

J.J Hardy-2

Asdrubal Cabrera-3

Mike Aviles-4

Adam Everett-5

Toss-up between whether Ramirez or Hardy will have a better season. Ramirez has had a more consistent last couple years and a higher upside. J.J Hardy, was more unlucky than bad last year. Last year, it seemed like about every other day, someone was robbing J.J. Hardy of an extra base hit. Didn't really think too much beyond until I saw that his BABIP was significantly lower for him in 2009. Despite this, the Brewers still sold him for 50 cents on the dollar for Carlos Gomez. Asdrubal Cabrera is still young at this point he's Orlando Cabrera version 2 at the plate.

Third Base

Alex Gordon-1

Jhonny Peralta-2

Mark Teahan-3

Brandon Inge-4

Brendan Harris-5

A fairly close but fairly weak crop. Gordon and Peralta are probably going to produce similar numbers but Gordon gets the nod since his ceiling is higher. Nothing special about the other three.

Left Field

1-Delmon Young

2-Ryan Raburn

3-David DeJesus

4-Juan Pierre

5-Michael Brantley

Another close call. Young and Raburn are both solid candidates for breakout seasons. Young has the disadvantage of not living up to his potential (yet) Raburn has the disadvantage of being five years older. Juan Pierre has the disadvantage of it being illegal to steal first in baseball......almost put Brantley above Pierre on the sole basis of him being the Player To Be Named Later in the Sabathia deal and thus his minor part of letting me see the Brewers make the playoffs.

Center Field

1-Grady Sizemore

2-Johnny Damon

3-Denard Span

4-Alex Rios

5-Mitch Maier

This field is middle-heavy. Sizemore may have struggled with injuries last year but he should bounce back in 2010. Damon and Span are fairly interchangeable. Damon is the bigger name and still has at least a couple solid seasons in him (but don't expect a 2009-esque power burst....well unless the bring in the fences and turn Comerica park into a little league field). Span might not be the most exciting player but he can be penciled in for a .300 average 10 homers 20 steals and being more valuable to a real team than a fantasy team (or what I refer to as the Orlando Cabrera All-Stars). The only thing big about Alex Rios' game is that monster $77.5 million contract he somehow got.

Right Field

1-Carlos Quentin

2-Micheal Cuddyer

3-Shin-Soo Choo

4-Magglio Ordonez

5-Jordan Parraz

Pretty solid group from 1 to 4. It was a toss-up between Quentin and Cuddyer. Quentin has a question mark around him due to dealing with injuries pretty much every year of his career (even costing him the 2008 AL MVP).

Cuddyer also has a pretty good case for the top spot but Quentin got the slight nod as has demonstrated the ability to carry his team on his back for longer (5 months ) than Cuddyer (although his September was pretty sweet).

A random Mike Cuddyer story/anecdote/me being weird. I was rocking out to "Holy Diver" by Dio earlier today and I mentally started coming up with alternate lyrics about Mike Cuddyer's epic September.

Designated Hitter

1-Jason Kubel

2-Travis Hafner

3-Andruw Jones

4-Jose Guillen

5-Carlos Guillen

Kubel gets the nod as the question marks surrounding him are relatively smaller. For how the rest of these rankings actually go down, it will be a war of attrition of whoever gets hurt last wins.

On pure talent level, Hafner is the best of the rest but staying healthy has been a problem for him. For Andruw Jones, the problem is it isn't 2005 anymore and his peak has come and gone (though he still should be good for about a .260 average and 20 homers).

Exhibit 234 of the Royals being one of the dumbest teams in baseball: They are actually paying Jose Guillen $12 million a year......didn't realize that hitters with an OPS+ of 90 over the last two years were that expensive.

Standings at the End of Part One:

Twins-21

White Sox-21

Indians-26

Tigers-32

Royals-35

Well, the top of the division looks like a re-enactment of the 2008 AL Central. The Indians are closer than I expected them to be and the Royals are exactly where I expected them to be.

Sports/Music Crossover: Soundgarden

Well, considering it is Monday, I was going to preview the week's NBA Action. However, I totally spaced out and didn't realize that there was an NBA triple-header today. My Bad.

However, I am going to run a column whose concept has been floating around in my head for the last couple weeks. Ever since the announcement that one of the more prominent 90s Seattle Grunge Bands Soundgarden is planning to get back together after a 12 year hiatus. Time to vaguely connect some of their songs to what's going on in the Sports World.

"Power Trip"--Me being 1-0 in Vegas

Last weekend was my first time in going to Las Vegas. Normally, I don't gamble or bet on sports but under the thinking of When In Vegas combined with the Bucks playing Golden State on Friday, I decided to place a wager on the game.

It didn't look good at first considering the Bucks were giving 3 1/2 points and they were down by as many as 13 at one point. Fortunately for myself and the Bucks this ended up being a smart investment as the defense-optional Warriors folded and the Bucks won by 9, doing more than enough to cover in the process.

"Ugly Truth"--Brett Favre/Vikings

In light of the Vikings rout over Romo and the Cowboys, the Ugly Truth is that the Vikings are one win away from winning the Super Bowl and two wins away from what would be by far the worst sports fan moment in my life. To see Favre and his disloyalty be rewarded with a Super Bowl victory......Drew Brees seriously needs to step up not only for the Saints but for the state of Wisconsin as well.

"Outshined"--UC Davis Basketball

A couple weeks ago, I was randomly surfing the internet and saw that ESPNU was airing a UC Davis basketball game against UCSB the next night. Not only was it a chance to see a basketball game between colleges located in two cities that I had visited the week before, it was a chance to see the college I went to on national TV (it might have been the late game on ESPNU with like 2 other people watching...but I gotta take what I can get)

Thinks didn't look too bad in the first half as the Aggies and Gauchos were tied at halftime despite sloppy play on both ends. Then the second half happened. Then that tie game turned into a 20-point deficit. Fail.

"Rusty Cage"--Chargers

The Chargers had lots of time off between the end of the regular season and their fail against the Jets. They must have been extremely rusty since they somehow found a way to lose to what has got to be one of the worst, most mediocre teams to ever make a conference championship game.

"Half"--Tim Tebow

When will Tim Tebow's Super Bowl Ad run? First Half, Second Half or Halftime? Either way, finding out that Tim Tebow will be in a Super Bowl ad is not something I consider good news. The last time I was watching a live event involving Tim Tebow, things did not end very well for me. I thought we had seen the last of him (for now) but he gets one more high profile spot before he becomes the next Ryan Leaf. I just hope this isn't used as an excuse for announcers to replace a given team's name with Tebow on their scoreboard. I hope they don't randomly show him randomly screaming from the stands and then cutting away to someone's defense coming on to the field. I hope i'm not dumb enough to drink every time the word Tebow is mentioned......again.

"Black Hole Sun"--2010 Royals

Wow, Dayton Moore really wants to be known as the most inept General Manager in baseball. He has taken great strides to get this title with some of the players he is bringing on to his team in 2010. With stars such as Scott Podsednik and Brian Anderson I don't see how the Royals are going to take the baseball world by storm. They even signed 3-time all star Jason Kendall to a two-year contract. I don't know how this could possibly go wrong. Oh wait, yes I can.

"Never Named"--Packers-Cardinals Playoff Game

With Arizona finally having that habit of giving up 45 a game catch up to them, we should reflect on the bizarre, wild playoff game the week before and come up with a nick-name for it. Should it be the "Defense Optional" game, the "51-45" game, the "facemask-no call" game or is there a better name for it?

"Zero Chance"--Jets

Or what it looked like they had. A month back, it looked doubtful they would even make the playoffs. Somehow, they are now a win away from the Super Bowl. They catch a few breaks here, a Colts team resting for the playoffs, a Bengals team that tanked because they didn't want to face the Texans, a Bengals team that no showed in the playoffs, a Chargers team undone by some bad kicking (and the accompanying tactless Wikipedia edits) and now they face the Colts team that rested everyone early that allowed this snowball chain of events to start. But c'mon they have Mark Sanchez at QB, they still got zero chance.

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.

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.