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March 31, 2007
1 More Day
Highly Anticipated Opening Day is only 1 day away!
Tomorrow is Opening Day and you are talking about a comment made 3 months ago? The Mets play in 24 hours. You should be giving us a preview of the game. But no, you are dwelling on the past. I think the Cardinals/Mets rivalry is more important than the Phillies/Mets rivalry. The Cards have made the playoffs three years in a row and beat the Mets last year. THEY are the team to beat in the NL.
The Sox open the season at home on April 2nd against the Cleveland Indians. Jose Contreras will be on the mound for the Sox. Contreras is coming off a 13-9 season with a 4.27 ERA last season. He will be facing off against Cleveland's ace C.C. Sabathia.
The Sox are coming off a miserable 11-22-1 Spring Training. But winning two out of the last three, the improvement is evident. I would like to say good luck to all the baseball fans out there. To check up to the second scores around the league you can check MLB Scoreboard. Let the games begin...
Posted by adamcole at 04:10 PM
March 29, 2007
New rivalry? I like it.
The regular season hasn't even begun, and a new rivalry is already budding in the NL East. It's too bad the Twins, White Sox, or Yankees aren't involved. I'm actually going to be forced to talk trash about another team!
It all started way back in January, when Jimmy Rollins boldly predicted that his Philadelphia Phillies were the "team to beat" in the NL East. Team to beat? In January. The Phillies hadn't even begun their Spring Training! How can he make such a claim when the Phillies haven't made the playoffs since 1993? The Mets are the hottest team in the National League, and before last year, the Braves won over 10 straight divisional titles. And THE PHILLIES are the team to beat?
My man David Wright told it like it is: “The Phillies, they can come out and talk as much as they want. Until they prove it on the field, then it’s just talk. As far as throwing out predictions and talking about it, talk is very, very cheap.”
I hate Philly fans. And I can't wait until the Mets home opener on April 9th, when we can shut Rollins and the rest of the Phillies squad for good.
Posted by bryblum at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Refuting False Information
Ben, how to do you call the Twins April schedule favorable when they play 9 games against the teams that finished in the top 5 of the American League last season? That doesn't sound very favorable to me. And with a 4-4 pre-season record against the teams you play in the first month of the season (including 2 loses to the Yanks), how can you be so optimistic? Maybe they don't teach math up there in Minnesota, but a .500 winning percentage isn't going to cut it in the AL Central this season.Bryan, the only thing creepier than Justin posting on your Facebook wall is you listing "accomplishment, organized fun, optimism, and scheming " as your interests. Do you not have regular interests, like playing sports?
Getting back to baseball, the Sox took another hit this pre-season. Expected starting catcher, Toby Hall , tore his labrum which may cost him the entire season.(Article) Hall was batting .406 in the pre-season and was one of the only high points for the Sox. Add this to the miserable streak the Sox are on (1-6 in the past 7 games) and I am dreading Opening Day. The Sox are not ready yet and time is running out. With only 6 days left to work out the kinks, I am nervous...
Posted by adamcole at 05:08 PM
With opening day only 6 days away, I can smell the fresh cut field turf of the metrodome and can practically see the World Series Trophy in Johan's hands. With what is expected to be one of the most favorable April
schedules the Twins have ever received I am excited to watch them build momentum as the AL Central leaders and carry it through the season. When the Twins take the field on April 2nd in front of a sold out crowd of 43,000 against the Orioles it will be interesting to see a few new faces such as Matt Garza, who saw limited action last year,compete to fill Francisco Liriano's shoes as he recovers from his November Tommy John Surgery and was recently placed on the 60 day disabled list. Additionally, the notion that the Yankees will come in to the Dome and sweep the Twins effortlessly is ridiculous, despite our embarrassing performance in last year's AL playoffs. Justin, I expect an April 12th apology post when the Yanks get worked.
Posted by glazeben at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)
Yankees Clubhouse Update
Bryan, no denying it, the loss of Wang certainly hurts the Yankees. To be honest, I am not concerned so much with the time he misses, but rather how he rebounds from this hamstring injury. As it currently stands, Wang will likely be out for a month, meaning he will miss three weeks of the regular season and a handful of starts. In my opinion, these few starts won’t be detrimental to the Yanks, but if Wang is not able to return to his 19 game winning form from a year ago, then this could be cause for concern. Hopefully this will not be a hamstring pull that lingers all season long, but only time will tell.Opening day is just around the corner and I can’t wait. If the past few seasons are any indication, expect the Yankees to get off to a slow start. In 2004, the team finished April just one game over .500, in 2005 they finished April four games under .500 and in 2006 they were just three games over .500 after the first month of the season.
The Yankees open this spring with six games at Yankee Stadium before traveling to Minnesota to sweep the Twins. The Yanks also have six against the Red Sox in April, so it should be a very exciting first month.
Posted by schleifj at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2007
Fantasy, Facebook, Suspicion, & Pitching
Don’t get too excited, Justin. The Mets have some pretty impressive fantasy stats as well:
PLUS Reyes and Wright are both in the top 10 overall. The Yanks only have one player in the top ten.
I don’t even like using fantasy sports to gauge the talent of a team. But, I had to throw that out there to mess with Justin and make him understand that the Yanks don’t have “far away more talent than any other team”. “Far away”? That doesn’t even make sense.
Oh, and one more thing about Justin. The guy is so worried about his Yanks, that he constantly thinks about the blog and as part of an internal defense mechanism, mocks my blog posts by posting excerpts from my posts on my Facebook wall. Kinda creepy, if you ask me.
Anyway, back to baseball. The piece of news that caught my eye this week was Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa getting arrested for suspicion of drunken driving. La Russa was pulled over and blew a .093. I don’t get it. Arrested for suspicion of drunk driving? How much more evidence do you need? He was driving, and blew a .093. Guess that didn’t have much to do with baseball, but I thought it was funny. Maybe not.
Oh yeah, how about Chien-Ming Wang, Justin? Yankee’s pitchers just keep going down. Petitte, Veras, now Wang? Good luck with that.
I guess I was kind of harsh in this post. I think it’s because I have a lot of studying to do. I’ll try to be nicer next time.
Posted by bryblum at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2007
Fantasy Shakedown
For any Twins, White Sox, or Mets fan who has lost interest in baseball by midsummer, don’t fear, there is a solution, Fantasy Baseball.
There was an interesting article by Peter Gammons, ranking the top fantasy players by position. What does it all mean? Just further proof that the Yanks are the team to beat this year.
#8 overall catcher Jorge Pasada
#2 overall second basemen Robinson Cano
#3 overall shortstop Derek Jeter
#1 overall third basemen Alex Rodriguez
#4 overall reliever Mariano Rivera
This is far away more raw talent than any other team. The most encouraging news from this article has to be what the experts are saying about Alex Rodriguez. After struggling in the post season, the early word from spring training is he is back and swinging the bat extremely well.
Other exciting news is Yankees pitching prospect Philip Hughes. The guy is a beast, and is already being compared to a young Roger Clemens. “He has stuff and command, and is as legit as they come.” True quote. In 146 innings last year in Triple A, he had 168 strikeouts and just 34 walks, while holding opponents to a .179 batting average. Sure its AAA, but those numbers are ridiculous. As soon as Pavano or Igawa falters, expect Hughes to be called up.
Can’t wait til all these Yankee wins actually start counting…
Posted by schleifj at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2007
A New US Cellular Field
Renovations will allow for a better fan experience
I would like to start with a thanks to Bryan for the obnoxiously large logo.In an interview with Brooks Boyer, the vice president of marketing for the Sox, he explained all the changes that were made to US Cellular Field in the off season. The key change was angling the seat from the dugouts to the corners, so you are facing the pitching mound instead of staring out into the outfield. The replacement of all the seats was another improvement that was made (with the only exception being the landing spots of Paul Konerko's grand slam and Scott Podsednik's walk-off home run in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series). A final improvement was the complete renovation and remodeling of all suite level boxes. "I'll put our ballpark and its experience up against anyone else's. We really believe we have something for everyone," stated Boyer. Click here from a look at the stadium
As for the team, there as been a slight improvement (6-4 since the 2-9 start). With it being Spring training, this is what fans should look for. As long as the team keeps improving and fine tuning pitching, hitting, and fielding, I have no problem with the .381 winning percentage. On a side note, the highlight of today's loss to Kansas City was an in-the-park home run by Juan Uribe. As long as the Sox keep improving, I'll be happy...
A more respectable size logo
Posted by adamcole at 10:21 PM
Mets Spring Training Pitching Update
13 days. That’s how many days we have until Opening Day of America’s National Pastime. Am I excited? Very. Why? The Mets are making me excited. Remember the massive influx of starting pitching on the Mets squad at the beginning of Spring Training? Well, over the past few weeks, pitchers like Aaron Sele, Chan Ho Park, and Oliver Perez have been competing for the final two starting spots (Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernandez, and John Maine have basically secured the 1-3 spots).
Who has been most impressive? Young right-hander Mike Pelfrey, who has been in the Mets farm system for a few years, and is considered by many to have exception Major League potential. In nine innings pitched so far during spring training, Pelfrey has only allowed one run. Ever since Pelfrey was brought up from the minors last season, I’ve seen potential in the guy. I hope we give him a chance as the fifth starter.
And how about that El Duque scare the other day? While rounding first, Orlando Hernandez got tripped up and immediately grabbed his hamstring. A Mets fan would be ignorant to not immediately get flashbacks from last season, where what seemed like every Met pitcher was going down from injury.
Lastly, I’ll make a prediction for this season’s breakout player of the year. Young middle-reliever Ambiorix Burgos. The guy can toss the ball over 100MPH, and the Mets organization loves him. I would love for the Mets to finally have a solid middle-reliever to help the lackluster starting rotation.
LETS GO METS!
Posted by bryblum at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2007
Direct TV Deal DOES Benefit the Consumers! In response to Adam's post about Direct TV selling the out of market package beginning this season, I would like to say that it does benefit consumers. Although it may be expensive to get the package, people that are willing and able to pay now have a much more convenient avenue to do so.For one, the MLB Channel is going to be featured in the Direct TV Basic Package, which is already being purchased by 15 million households in the US. There would be no added expense and increased value to these baseball fans.
Additionally, I could be wrong but I don't remember a time when out of market games were readily available for people who weren't willing to pay for them anyway? Even on regular cable services the choice you have about games to watch is very limited and without cable you may not even have the option to watch local games.
Although it may be somewhat inhibiting for low income families who benefited from seeing a random out of market game from time to time on ESPN, it seems that the marginal benefit of this deal is largely outweighing the cost for many US households.
It will be interesting to see if congress steps in and argues that this $700 Million deal over the next 7 years grants Direct TV too much market power, but I think it is great for the average baseball fan who is willing to pay a small fee to see MANY more games
Posted by glazeben at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2007
Rocket Man
The Yankees continued their stellar play in spring training, starting out at 8-2. However, the question continues to be, how stable is this starting rotation? Carl Pavano has been plagued by injuries and Andy Pettitte is now 34 years old, and he too has been injury prone. With such questions looming, rumors have been flying about adding another pitcher to the Yankee roster. You may have heard of him, his name is Roger Clemens.
Although Clemens hasn’t made it clear if he is going to play this season, Yankees fans are already salivating at the thought of the Rocket returning to pinstripes. The newly acquired Pettitte and Clemens are very close friends. Recently Clemens traveled to Florida to watch Pettitte pitch, further fueling the rumors that Clemens wants to come back to the Yanks.
While many fans are eager to see Clemens rejoin the team, I am against the move. Clemens is asking for a ridiculous $24 million dollars for one year. Clemens had an ERA of 2.30 last year, but he was never able to do that with the Yankees. In five seasons with New York, Clemens had only one 20 win season, and an ERA around 3.75. Moreover, I am getting tired of his on again off again retirement. It is a distraction to the team, and I would rather see them focus on the long term future, a new concept the Yankees seem to be embracing by getting rid of aging starts Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson.
Thanks, but no thanks Roger.
Posted by schleifj at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2007
Trouble in the Pen
Off to a bad Start
I would like to start off by agreeing with Justin. Spring training is about evaluating talent and preparing for the regular season, but I am disturbed about how the Sox are playing right now. If this is any sign of how they are going to play this season, they might as well throw in the towel now. So far, the Sox are 2-6 and have been outscored 43 to 35 (if you throw out the 13-2 game against the Cubs the margin becomes 41 to 23. I am in for a long summer if improvement doesn't come fast.
I would also like to comment on Bryan's entry about the proposed DirecTV deal. It is absurd that the FCC would even consider allowing this deal. With this deal, gone would be the days of Wednesday and Sunday Night Baseball (both key match-ups shown on ESPN). Baseball would lose some of their fan base because some areas around the US don't have a favorite team and with no "market," no games would be shown. Fans would also lose interest around the league because it would be harder for them to keep up on team from other cities around the country.
With that off my back, I can finally get to the problem that seems to be plaguing the Sox: PITCHING. The Sox pitching staff boasts a pitiful 7.53 ERA this pre-season. You expect hitting to come along slowly in Spring Training because of the long lay-off, but pitching? Pitchers and catchers report a full week before the rest of the team to get the kinks out before the scrimmage games even start.
One bright spot to shine this Spring had been the development of young guns pitchers Gavin Floyd and Charlie Haeger. Manager Ozzie Guillen is very impressed and says both are expected to make the roster with one taking the 5th spot in the rotation and the other being a late reliever coming from the bullpen.
Hopefully the Sox can overcome these early jitters and rebound to have a successful Spring.
Posted by adamcole at 07:11 PM
March 05, 2007
DirecTV & MLB: Fair?
I'd like to take a moment to stray from the "baseball as a sport" conversation and discuss the "baseball as a business" topic. In the past few days, it was announced that DirecTV made a deal with Major League Baseball which would give DirecTV exclusive rights to the MLB's out-of-market games. This means that fans will only be able to enjoy the games of their local teams. The only way fans will be able to watch any games of out-of-town teams will be to buy the package from DirecTV.
What's amusing to me is that DirecTV claims that this deal will "benefit the consumers" because there will be "more content and more features". How will the consumers benefit when DirecTV is able to abuse their newly-strengthened market power and charge an arm and a leg for their package? Previously, out-of-market games were available to anyone through non-exclusive deals with cable, satellite, or telephone companies. Now, Major League Baseball is catering to those who are wealthy enough to afford an extravagant package.
Since when has baseball been a luxury? To me, baseball is America's National Pastime, a sport that all Americans can enjoy together, regardless of socioeconomic status. The MLB is allowing DirecTV to abuse their power, and I'm truly disappointed.
Posted by bryblum at 05:29 PM | Comments (0)
Pinstripe Pitching Update
Pinstripe Pitching Update
Sure it’s only spring training, but there is still plenty to talk about. The Yankees got off to a hot start, going 4-0 in their first four spring training games. Thankfully for my fellow bloggers, spring training isn’t about wins and losses, (Mets 2-4, Twins 1-4, Sox 2-4) but rather about evaluating talent. For the Yankees, the early reports are mixed.
Andy Pettitte and Chien Ming Wang retired all six batters they faced, encouraging news for any starting rotation. Along with the reliable Mike Mussina, who had a marginal debut giving up one run in two innings, expect this trio to lead the Yankees pitching staff.
The 4th and 5th starters remain a question mark at this point. Kei Igawa and Carl Pavano seem to be holding down these spots, which is enough to make any Yankee fan uneasy. Igawa is unproven in the MLB, and did not fare well in his first spring training debut. Igawa has been compared to Dontrelle Willis, but at the time he remains a question mark. And as for Pavano, the big right hander can’t seem to stay off the DL, pitching just 100 innings last year and winning only four games.
It's great to have Pettitte back in pinstripes
Posted by schleifj at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)