Bold Predictions

I made a bold prediction in the comments section of Eric’s post about the Brewers making the playoffs.  I’m just watching SportsCenter right now and Buster Olney, baseball expert, just made his own bold prediction on their “Bold Predictions” segment.  One might think he’s reading this blog and stealing our content, because his bold prediction was that the Brewers will make the playoffs.  Too late, Buster!  Get your own material!  Who calls themselves “Buster”, anyway?  Is that a nickname?  Is that supposed to intimidate me?  Is that a tribute to his favorite shoes he wore as a kid?  Is he a former Newsie?

Anyway.  Because there will inevitably be more ESPN talking heads who will blantantly steal my opinions without naming me as their source, I’m going to document some more Bold Predictions, if only to awe and inspire ESPN.  Also, I will be coining the phrase “BoPre”, which, in case you can’t figure it out, is my shortening of “Bold Prediction”.  I hope you all will adopt this term on this blog.

Since the first half of the baseball season literally just ended like an hour ago (with the Mets’ 9th win in a row, I might add…let’s go Mets!), I’m going to make one BoPre for each division in baseball in the second half of the season.  Here we go….wheeee:

BoPre AL East:  The Orioles will finish over .500 this season.  If you don’t think this is bold, you need readjust your antennae and attempt to tune in to this team’s last ten years.

BoPre AL Central:  This is Jim Leyland’s final year as Tigers manager.  The ‘06 WS runners up are making up some ground as of late, but they dug themselves into too big a whole and won’t get out of it.  Leyland takes the hit (or possibly dies of old age).

BoPre AL West:  Ichiro will be traded.  I have done no research to back this up.  I have no idea how viable or possible it would be for Seattle to trade Ichiro, in fiscal terms.  This is pure speculation and, basically, a shot in the dark.  But you cannot argue it isn’t bold.

BoPre NL East:  The Mets reach the World Series.  I did not make this BoPre because I am a huge Mets fan.  I am merely of the opinion that they have the best collection of baseball players on one team in the National League.

BoPre NL Central:  Carlos Zambrano win the NL Cy Young.  He does not lead any significant statistical pitching category right now.  By season’s end, he will lead many.

BoPre NL West:  The Rockies will win the division.  This reeks of straight up what-you-talkin-bout-Willis-ness.  But the Rockies have pretty much the same team as last year and everyone else in this division is craptacular.  Even though they’re 20 games below .500, they’re not that far back.  They’re also quite bold.

44 it is…..

Back in April, I thought it would be zero. In May, I was surprised, and couldn’t imagine us getting to 20. Alas, here we are in July, and it appears we have hit that magic number – a much higher number than any of us O’s fans could have dared to imagine. That’s right boys – the O’s were still a .500 ball club at 44 wins, and I don’t see us getting back there again.

Oh, how they teased us so, with their great young talent and blue collar style. We reveled in their come-from-behind victories, and were amazed by the fact that the stats just didn’t add up. How could they keep on winning with such poor numbers? Well, the day has finally arrived gentleman. Perhaps a win against Cito (yes, that guy who stiffed the Moose in the 90s – I’m still bitter) and the blue birds will push it to 45, but let’s be realistic – we have the Sox away next, and it is the All-Star break. Game, set, match – see ya in 2009, O’s.

Well, at least Mayland baseball is not as bad as those two sad, overrated teams from Ohio (sorry, Eric!)

Will the real slim shady – ergh – playoff contenders please stand up in the AL? Take a seat Rays – it has been fun, but you aren’t ready yet. Here come the usual suspects, making their move – Red Sox, Angels, Tigers (they are making their move – I can’t wait to see Guillen blow a fuse when the White Sox get knocked out), and yes, the Yankees too.

And I depart with this one request – please, please, somebody get the juice boy a razor! The ’stache must go!

Bynum Boots, O’s Lose

I just saw Freddie Bynum watch a grounder slowly roll through his legs to allow the game winning run to score in the bottom of the ninth against the Toronto Blue Jays.  It seems as though he may have been auditioning for the part of “Croquet Wicket #2″ in the Greater Essex Community Center play: Alice in Wonderland Goes to Jail.  Either that or he momentarily forgot how to see.

Whatever the case, I think this game signals the end of the Orioles’ surprising success this year and points toward getting back to the rebuilding phase of the Andy McPhail plan.  Remember, there are 3 phases to that plan:

1.  Trade best players for highly touted, young prospects

2.  Poison Peter Angelos

3.  Win World Series

As much as a feel-good story it would be for the O’s to make a run this year, it’s not worth it.  The bullpen is obviously not goint to hold up as much as it has already and the one run games are going to start to even out against the O’s.  The Rays have already taken the underdog mojo anyway, I don’t think there’s enough mojo juice to go around.  So to piggy-back off the two previous posts, the O’s should keep the plan they had in the offseason and stay the course.  Staying the course worked for George W. Bush, right?

And sorry for the 3rd Orioles post in a row.  Maybe we should have considered starting this blog back up when more than just baseball and tennis is going on.  Although, at least we’re not talking about A-Rod and Madonna, ya know?

Orioles and the Trade Deadline

The baseball trading deadline will soon be upon us and every team will have to decide if they are a buyer or a seller. For some teams this will be an easy decision. The Cubs, Red Sox, Brewers, and even the Rays are buyers this year while subpar teams like the Blue Jays, Indians, Mariners, and Padres may look to dump some pricey contracts.

We’ve already seen the first trade as Cleveland traded away their Cy Young award winner C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers for some top prospects. So what will the Orioles do? Well with a winning record, you could make the argument they could be buyers. However, this is the American League East and a winning record doesn’t mean squat.  But this would be most foolish.

The truth of the matter is the Orioles, while an improved team, will not catch the Rays or Red Sox this year. The strength of the Orioles thus far has been their bullpen, but injuries to Albers, Loewen, Bierd, and Walker have taken their toll. Sherill has seen his early success wane and the only true sure thing in the bullpen now is the surprising Jim Johnson.  With only two starters who can regularly pitch past six innings this beleaguered bullpen is going to get a severe workout and it won’t be pretty.

It’s been a nice run thus far, but it’s time to make some deals. We knew coming in this year that this would be a re-building franchise. With young players like Markakis, Jones, Scott, Johnson, and Guthrie the O’s have a good core, but hardly complete. Sure we have some talent in the minor leagues with phenom catcher Matt Weiters, first baseman Brandon Snyder, and pitchers Jake Arriata, Chris Tillman, Tim Bascom, and the surprising Bradley Bergesen, but only Weiters is a sure thing and none of the players are answers for our glaring holes in the infield.

The time to trade is now, and thanks to our hot start our players will actually be in demand. At the top of the list is Aubrey Huff. You could easily make the argument that Huff should be an All-Star this year. He’s on pace to bust 30 homeruns and top 100 rbis. That 280 average is pretty nice too. No one knows for sure if Huff can keep this up, so that’s why I think it’s time to part ways. I like the guy, but we need more young talent and getting Huff would require a team to make a significant sacrifice.

Number two on the list would be Brian Roberts. Like Huff, he’s having an All-Star year, but unlike Huff, he has stellar years every year. Roberts won’t go anywhere unless the O’s receive a package of elite prospects. MacPhail has shown he’s not hesitant to pull the trigger on such deals, and I’m sure there will be a contender itching for one of the best leadoff men in the game. The Cubs still would seem the most likely candidate, though I wonder if the Cardinals would take a shot at him. My bet is either Roberts or Huff is gone by August.

Who else may be on their way out? Probably nobody. The O’s would love to get prospects for Millar, Payton, or Mora but their performances this year aren’t going to wow many teams. There was talk earlier that the O’s would trade Sherrill given his success (and now All-Star status), but with the bullpen as banged up as it is, he’s not going anywhere.

Now the O’s will be buyers for one position: shortstop. They will likely make a deal by August but it won’t be for a superstar. It will be someone like Felipe Lopez, Juan Uribe, or David Eckstein and we won’t have to give up too much to get whoever it is. It will also be a short-term fix as the O’s will look to the offseason to find a better replacement.

The O’s gave us an exciting first half, and while it does show there is light at the end of the tunnel, the rebuilding process must go on.

A Time to Trade

The Cleveland Indians are supposedly on their way to trading last year’s Cy Young winner, C.C. Sabathia, to Milwaukee for a few hot prospects. (Ed. note…this did indeed happen).  I like this move for both teams.  The Tribe is (are?) 14 games out of the division, and what better time than now to start rebuilding?  (Side note: remember when Cleveland beat the Yankees in the ALDS last year?  Good times.)  The Brewers are 10 games over .500, with the 2nd best record in the NL behind the division-leading Cubs.  I like seeing this small-market team go for the glory and pick up one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.  Sabathia and Ben Sheets will make quite the 1-2 punch.

So…what does this mean for middle-of-the-pack teams like the Orioles?  The O’s are sitting 1 game over .500 which is good for 4th in the AL East.  Do they try to make a big move and shore up their pitching?  Or do they sit tight, play their way to another 4th place finish in the division, and do something for next year?

A few words about Wimbledon ‘08

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a fan of any sports competition played at its highest level, no matter what it is.  And yes, that even includes the WNBA.  (Well…maybe not that, but everything else, yes.)  Because of this, it would be a shame for me to not mention anything about the ridiculous match that occurred today between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, which may inevitably unlock a portal to the 5th dimension.

I played tennis for four years in high school.  I also played on the Anne Arundel County St. Andrew’s Community Pool tennis team in my elementary and middle school years.  (Mark Teixeira was on that team with me, so that makes me awesome by association).  My point is, tennis is one of the sports I can identify with as an athlete.  I understand and appreciate the nuances.  If I worked hard enough and my parents bribed enough tennis coaches, I could have played in college and, why not, maybe could have been a pro.

In my years of tennis experience, the match I witnessed today was absolutely”perfect”.  It had everything you could ask for in a tennis competition, including but not limited to: 5 sets, a huge comeback, rain delays, the two best players, rivalry, history, the threat of darkness, sportsmanship, John McEnroe’s robotic voice, capri pants, Spanish royalty, mind-boggling groundstrokes, and sobbing grown men.

The greatness level of how they played was at times unfathomable.  It was as if the game was being played in Heaven, where each point was orchestrated by God himself.  Ok, that was a little over the top.  Anyway.  Nadal especially hit a number of shots that mere mortal men should not have the capability to hit.  Try running at full sprint while slamming a 100 mile an hour backhand and hitting a target the size of a Coke can, and then stopping on a dime and doing it again.  And again.  For 5 hours straight.

I used to not like Nadal.  I’m not sure why.  Actually, it was probably because he wears capri pants.  It was too different for me to not be prejudiced against it.  But now I’m on the bandwagon.  You might see me wearing capri pants to work tomorrow.  Well, probably not, but I’m definitely on the bandwagon of more Nadal vs. Federer.  Seriously, these two guys could play each other in every major final for the next 5 years. 

This is what should have happened with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.  Someone was supposed to step up and take on Tiger’s dominance and that guy was to be Phil.  But I guess he ate a few too many cheeseburgers and didn’t take on the challenge.

There’s still no question to me that Federer is possibly the best tennis player ever to exist, but Nadal is going to give him a run for his money.  And we get to watch it.  Giggity.

Gilbert Gets his Green….

In the world of professional sports athletes, taking less money is almost unheard of.  Increasingly, athletes are shedding the idea of “team first, me second” in exchange for something along the lines of “Me First, Me Second, Me Third”.  So why this awkward paragraph musing the current condition of the athlete’s selfish persona?  I’m glad you asked…

According to this blog posting, Gilbert Arenas has accepted a deal from the Washington Wizards that will pay him $111 Million dollars over 6 years.  This deal is slightly less than the $127 Million over 6 years that he was offered by the Wiz.  He is quoted in the blog saying, “What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can’t do with $111 million?” He continues, “We have another room to add a piece.  There is a window of opportunity open for us.  Adding key pieces leads to championships and that’s what we all want.”

My response…Relief, then indignation.  Perhaps indignation is too strong of a word, but I am rather frustrated that in his view, taking $16 Million less over 6 years could possible help us add any “key pieces” as he says.   That leaves us with an extra $2.6 Million per year to sign additional players.  Perhaps I am a pessimist, but I don’t think that an extra $2.6 Million per year is going to allow us the financial flexibility to add anything significant.  It should also be considered that his contract is for more money than the contract that MVP runner up Chris Paul just received from the Hornets.

I am happy that we are keeping Agent Zero.  Before this past season where he was injured the whole time, Gilbert was one of the most dangerous offensive players in the league.  In addition, he is a fan’s player.  He knows and understands the psyche of the typical sports fan and has done loads to connect to fans, from his blogging activities on NBA.com, buying shirts for everyone in attendance at home games, jumping off a trampoline and dunking during the NBA All-Star Game, and of course, all the other wackiness that has become affectionately known as “Gilbertology“.  In addition, he has been an extremely hard worker, often staying at the gym until all hours of the night to work on his shooting.  He is an easy player to like.

But I feel like I’ve forgotten all this stuff.  Right now, in my head, Gilbert is coming off of two knee surgerys, hasn’t been healthy in 12-months, and the Wiz just had a semi-successful season without him.  The Washington DC area has been mulling whether or not we were better without him.  It could be argued that the Wiz play more cohesively without him.  Our defense was drastically improved without him on the floor.  Gilbert is a shoot first point guard.  In essence, he tends to personify the idea of the selfish athlete.

The worst part is that he acts like he is doing us and the team a favor by taking less money.  OK, he IS doing us a favor.  But I don’t think he should make a big deal about taking less money, because he did not help us that much.

I love Gilbert.  I used to have a “man-crush” on him.  I am glad we got him back.  I think we can get past the 1st round of the playoffs if we have ever have a healthy team.  Championships are another story.  I’ll hope for one, but I certainly won’t expect one.

In other Wizards news….The Wizards are probably now going to shift their attention to trying to sign James Posey of the Celtics (I think this would be an AWESOME addition).  Roger Mason is also a free agent, although the Wizards already have a lot of players at the guard position, and Mason may be looking for a bigger role.  He has drawn interest from the New Jersey Nets (soon to be the “Brooklyn Nets” (soon to be known as “the Team Lebron James plays for”)).

ok then

we’re back.  and just like joe gibbs, we might make a few playoff appearances, but don’t expect us to make it to the superbowl.  lower your expectations please.

i hope this post survives, i killed my first two posts trying to figure out how to post them.  i’m not computery.

We have switched to wordpress!

Hello All,

Given the fact that we have a readership of about 5 loyal readers (us) and that we haven’t posted anything new on our blog in months, we are switching to wordpress to hopefully re-ignite the fire that is blogging about sports in the DC area.

Here is our old blog…

Hello World! A new day has dawned!

Jim