Friday, September 30, 2005
why don't you just tell me the name of the movie you'd like to see?
i saw a fascinating, and admittedly slanted, movie last nite: voices of iraq. 150 digital cameras were distributed to iraqis to basically make home movies and get insider opinion of the situation there. it definitely drives home the point that the american media focuses solely on the negative in the war.
two of the more thought-provoking moments: (1) some iraqis view americans who don't support the war as supporting genocide, and (2) a group of men tortured by saddam were basically hysterically laughing at the abu ghraib prison incident (the one where the girl just got 3 years in prison), sarcastically saying things like "it must have just been so awful to be undressed by a woman and then to have her touch your penis" and pointing out that many of the abu ghraib prisoners were saddam's henchmen. it's interesting that we never heard anything like this during the heat of the incident and were only shown pictures and reports of outraged iraqis.
and while i'm talking about things i've seen recently, how come nobody told me that show house was so funny?
i saw a fascinating, and admittedly slanted, movie last nite: voices of iraq. 150 digital cameras were distributed to iraqis to basically make home movies and get insider opinion of the situation there. it definitely drives home the point that the american media focuses solely on the negative in the war.
two of the more thought-provoking moments: (1) some iraqis view americans who don't support the war as supporting genocide, and (2) a group of men tortured by saddam were basically hysterically laughing at the abu ghraib prison incident (the one where the girl just got 3 years in prison), sarcastically saying things like "it must have just been so awful to be undressed by a woman and then to have her touch your penis" and pointing out that many of the abu ghraib prisoners were saddam's henchmen. it's interesting that we never heard anything like this during the heat of the incident and were only shown pictures and reports of outraged iraqis.
and while i'm talking about things i've seen recently, how come nobody told me that show house was so funny?
friday mlb notes
you can't ask for much more than a 3 game series to determine who wins the AL east. and since you have to assume that with the chisox resting their regulars, the tribe will take 2 of 3, there's the potential for not 1 but 2 one-game playoffs before the first round even begins (if the tribe and sox each take 2). since my predictions earlier this week were correct (yanks take 3, sox take 2), let's see if i can keep it up: yanks take 2 here. to be honest, i would rather the sox make the playoffs than the tribe, since it just wouldn't feel right without a sox-yanks alcs. here's to hoping the tribe somehow still gets swept and the sox can back in to the wildcard.
a thank you very much goes out to mr. frank catalanotto, one of my top 5 favorite players since his detroit days. he almost singlehandedly won the last 2 games of the series (5-10, 2 doubles, 2 homers, a triple, 3 runs, and 6 rbi's) for the jays and finished the 4 game set with 9 hits and a whopping 20 total bases. a fuck you very much goes out to vinnie chulk and miguel batista, who blew and lost the game in the 8th and 9th last nite for toronto. terrific effort. assholes.
trivia: who are the only two guys this year with 40+ doubles and 40+ homers? one or two more may join the club this weekend...
you have to love the exuberance of the padres clinching the (miserable) nl west on wednesday nite. almost every team in the playoff hunt expects to be there and are there virtually every year (yanks, sox, angels, braves, cards), so it's nice to see them get pumped up for reaching the postseason for the first time since tino martinez broke their hearts in game 1 of the 1998 WS (thanks to a missed third strike, not that it would've mattered much in that series). i hope they got nice and drunk, because they won't win more than 1 game in the first round.
im very impressed with the way jj hardy finished the year. personally, i think he's shoulder wasn't fully recovered earlier in the year, but he certainly didn't mail in the last month of the season after 5 ugly ones. hardy has hit more homers in september (5) than he did in april-august (4), hit .311 to raise his average almost 20 points and broke the .700 OPS mark for the first time since april 8th. with his production this month and the indication his solid bb/k ratio (44:48, but admittedly helped some by hitting in front of the pitcher), i think he's poised to have a much better sophomore year.
do the sox trade manny to the mets for carlos beltran and then try to get jim thome, who the phils are trying to unload?
the willem dafoe award (top platoon performance of the year) goes to: kenny lofton (351 ab's - .333 avg - .392 OBP - 21/24 sb's) and jason michaels (289 ab's - .304 avg - .399 OBP), who shared cf for philadelphia. 2 questions: how were these guys not batting leadoff instead of rollins (.335 OBP, manuel could've put utley in the 2 hole and dropped rollins to 6 or 7), and will they retain lofton next year? with shane victorno breathing down his back, i could easily see kenny winding up someplace like baltimore or kc next year.
who's scarier in 06:
cubs
damon* cf
walker 2b
lee 1b
ramirez 3b
nomar ss
burnitz rf
murton# lf
barrett c
zambrano
prior
wood
maddux
rusch
dempster
*yes, this is a big assumption. but the corey patterson era needs to end.
# they'd be dumb not to play this kid everyday. he's got an OPS of .940 in ~130 ab's and has taken the starting job this month. btw, he's the throw-in the cubs got with nomar.
cards
eckstein ss
walker rf
pujols 1b
edmonds cf
rolen 3b
sanders lf
grudz 2b
molina c
carpenter
morris
mulder
suppan
marquis
izzy
it's safe to say the 2004 ROY's were the right call. jason bay is putting together an even better 2nd year, while khalil greene has been derailed by injuries and a low OBP. in the AL, bobby crosby has played very well when he's been healthy, while takatsu isn't even on the chisox anymore, let alone their closer.
trivia answer: texeira and d-lee. ortiz and pujols are mighty close.
UPDATE: here's a great piece on end of the season awards by si. my favorite part, when deciding on LVP: "Picking between the Yankees' Tony Womack and the Nationals' Cristian Guzman is like eating a dirt sandwich or a side of rocks." my only beef is taking iguchi over cano for ROY. what happened to the whole "japanese players aren't really rookies" thing that cost godzilla the award 2 years ago?
you can't ask for much more than a 3 game series to determine who wins the AL east. and since you have to assume that with the chisox resting their regulars, the tribe will take 2 of 3, there's the potential for not 1 but 2 one-game playoffs before the first round even begins (if the tribe and sox each take 2). since my predictions earlier this week were correct (yanks take 3, sox take 2), let's see if i can keep it up: yanks take 2 here. to be honest, i would rather the sox make the playoffs than the tribe, since it just wouldn't feel right without a sox-yanks alcs. here's to hoping the tribe somehow still gets swept and the sox can back in to the wildcard.
a thank you very much goes out to mr. frank catalanotto, one of my top 5 favorite players since his detroit days. he almost singlehandedly won the last 2 games of the series (5-10, 2 doubles, 2 homers, a triple, 3 runs, and 6 rbi's) for the jays and finished the 4 game set with 9 hits and a whopping 20 total bases. a fuck you very much goes out to vinnie chulk and miguel batista, who blew and lost the game in the 8th and 9th last nite for toronto. terrific effort. assholes.
trivia: who are the only two guys this year with 40+ doubles and 40+ homers? one or two more may join the club this weekend...
you have to love the exuberance of the padres clinching the (miserable) nl west on wednesday nite. almost every team in the playoff hunt expects to be there and are there virtually every year (yanks, sox, angels, braves, cards), so it's nice to see them get pumped up for reaching the postseason for the first time since tino martinez broke their hearts in game 1 of the 1998 WS (thanks to a missed third strike, not that it would've mattered much in that series). i hope they got nice and drunk, because they won't win more than 1 game in the first round.
im very impressed with the way jj hardy finished the year. personally, i think he's shoulder wasn't fully recovered earlier in the year, but he certainly didn't mail in the last month of the season after 5 ugly ones. hardy has hit more homers in september (5) than he did in april-august (4), hit .311 to raise his average almost 20 points and broke the .700 OPS mark for the first time since april 8th. with his production this month and the indication his solid bb/k ratio (44:48, but admittedly helped some by hitting in front of the pitcher), i think he's poised to have a much better sophomore year.
do the sox trade manny to the mets for carlos beltran and then try to get jim thome, who the phils are trying to unload?
the willem dafoe award (top platoon performance of the year) goes to: kenny lofton (351 ab's - .333 avg - .392 OBP - 21/24 sb's) and jason michaels (289 ab's - .304 avg - .399 OBP), who shared cf for philadelphia. 2 questions: how were these guys not batting leadoff instead of rollins (.335 OBP, manuel could've put utley in the 2 hole and dropped rollins to 6 or 7), and will they retain lofton next year? with shane victorno breathing down his back, i could easily see kenny winding up someplace like baltimore or kc next year.
who's scarier in 06:
cubs
damon* cf
walker 2b
lee 1b
ramirez 3b
nomar ss
burnitz rf
murton# lf
barrett c
zambrano
prior
wood
maddux
rusch
dempster
*yes, this is a big assumption. but the corey patterson era needs to end.
# they'd be dumb not to play this kid everyday. he's got an OPS of .940 in ~130 ab's and has taken the starting job this month. btw, he's the throw-in the cubs got with nomar.
cards
eckstein ss
walker rf
pujols 1b
edmonds cf
rolen 3b
sanders lf
grudz 2b
molina c
carpenter
morris
mulder
suppan
marquis
izzy
it's safe to say the 2004 ROY's were the right call. jason bay is putting together an even better 2nd year, while khalil greene has been derailed by injuries and a low OBP. in the AL, bobby crosby has played very well when he's been healthy, while takatsu isn't even on the chisox anymore, let alone their closer.
trivia answer: texeira and d-lee. ortiz and pujols are mighty close.
UPDATE: here's a great piece on end of the season awards by si. my favorite part, when deciding on LVP: "Picking between the Yankees' Tony Womack and the Nationals' Cristian Guzman is like eating a dirt sandwich or a side of rocks." my only beef is taking iguchi over cano for ROY. what happened to the whole "japanese players aren't really rookies" thing that cost godzilla the award 2 years ago?
Thursday, September 29, 2005
a near-life experience
last saturday, following an afternoon of mini-golf and winning a good chunk of change at the sandia poker tables, nina and i went to see a friend of ours play at an open mic nite. we saw him play once at some bar in dayton, but this time he was playing at a coffee shop. we had never been there and didn't know what to expect - what we got was a really small (but awesome) place and a pretty small crowd. john, on guitar and vocals, and his bandmate drummer did a ~45 minute set of mostly originals. he has improved since we saw him last (not that he was at all bad before) and we had a good time. john has written some cool stuff.
after john's two man band finished, another guy was setting up. we contemplated just leaving at that point, but after hearing from john that this kid just graduated high school and was touring the u.s. we decided to stick around for a while.
this place seemed to be a hangout for skater/goth types (about 30 were just hanging out/loitering outside), and here's this 17/18 year old setting up his keyboard, tamborine, and lighting. by lighting i mean one of those little cubes with holes in it that project stars on the ceiling and spins them around. i think my 2 year old nephew has one in his room. immediately, i'm thinking this is going to be a simply amazing performance, but in which direction i can't yet say. nina's already getting nervously embarrassed about the potential here, but i insist we stick around.
so the kid gets up there, in front of a crowd of about 9 (john, us, 2 skater couples mostly just making out, and 2 middle aged women there for the free wifi), and says the words i'll never forget: "are you guys ready for the matt barber experience?"
what happened next is sort of a blur, and certainly an experience. remember, it's just matt up there on his keyboard, with some drum machine beats and back-up vocals programmed into his keyboard. oh yeah, and he's a 17/18 kid wearing a red t-shirt and black sport coat who classifies his style as "a mix between Barry Manilow and Frankie Valli", which couldn't be more accurate.
my favorite parts of the set were:
-the look on everyone's face during the first 10 seconds of the first song, mr. mambo (watch video here). up to this point you had absolutely no idea what the shit this kid was up to.
-when, during a pause in the lead vocals, he exclaimed "four part harmony!" to alert us of the impending section. classic call. and um, the other 3 parts were pre-recorded.
-the multiple references to his not one but TWO albums, the latter of which is titled "peaches and cream".
-the sing along section, sans keyboard, with matt rockin out on the tamborine. i made nina promise we would stick around until he unleashed that thing. i don't know how he thought any of us might know the words to his originals, but maybe albuquerque has an underground/cult matt barber following that i'm unaware of. his name was robert puls...i mean, matt barber.
-how nina was on the verge of passing out the entire performance. john was similarly hyperventilating and refused to make eye contact with either of us for 30 minutes.
-when matt asked if everyone was having a good time, and one of the skater girls yelled out "hell yes!" later, the same girl requested some tom jones. that shit had me on the floor.
with all that said, i have nothing but the utmost respect for this kid and what he's doing. he had a good voice (despite the bizarre genre) and was a solid keyboard player, and touring the country by yourself at age 17 is fucking awesome. he's out there livin' the dream man, doin' what he loves. big ups to ya, matt barber.
also - ahren, you missed him in vegas (which is where that video was from).
last saturday, following an afternoon of mini-golf and winning a good chunk of change at the sandia poker tables, nina and i went to see a friend of ours play at an open mic nite. we saw him play once at some bar in dayton, but this time he was playing at a coffee shop. we had never been there and didn't know what to expect - what we got was a really small (but awesome) place and a pretty small crowd. john, on guitar and vocals, and his bandmate drummer did a ~45 minute set of mostly originals. he has improved since we saw him last (not that he was at all bad before) and we had a good time. john has written some cool stuff.
after john's two man band finished, another guy was setting up. we contemplated just leaving at that point, but after hearing from john that this kid just graduated high school and was touring the u.s. we decided to stick around for a while.
this place seemed to be a hangout for skater/goth types (about 30 were just hanging out/loitering outside), and here's this 17/18 year old setting up his keyboard, tamborine, and lighting. by lighting i mean one of those little cubes with holes in it that project stars on the ceiling and spins them around. i think my 2 year old nephew has one in his room. immediately, i'm thinking this is going to be a simply amazing performance, but in which direction i can't yet say. nina's already getting nervously embarrassed about the potential here, but i insist we stick around.
so the kid gets up there, in front of a crowd of about 9 (john, us, 2 skater couples mostly just making out, and 2 middle aged women there for the free wifi), and says the words i'll never forget: "are you guys ready for the matt barber experience?"
what happened next is sort of a blur, and certainly an experience. remember, it's just matt up there on his keyboard, with some drum machine beats and back-up vocals programmed into his keyboard. oh yeah, and he's a 17/18 kid wearing a red t-shirt and black sport coat who classifies his style as "a mix between Barry Manilow and Frankie Valli", which couldn't be more accurate.
my favorite parts of the set were:
-the look on everyone's face during the first 10 seconds of the first song, mr. mambo (watch video here). up to this point you had absolutely no idea what the shit this kid was up to.
-when, during a pause in the lead vocals, he exclaimed "four part harmony!" to alert us of the impending section. classic call. and um, the other 3 parts were pre-recorded.
-the multiple references to his not one but TWO albums, the latter of which is titled "peaches and cream".
-the sing along section, sans keyboard, with matt rockin out on the tamborine. i made nina promise we would stick around until he unleashed that thing. i don't know how he thought any of us might know the words to his originals, but maybe albuquerque has an underground/cult matt barber following that i'm unaware of. his name was robert puls...i mean, matt barber.
-how nina was on the verge of passing out the entire performance. john was similarly hyperventilating and refused to make eye contact with either of us for 30 minutes.
-when matt asked if everyone was having a good time, and one of the skater girls yelled out "hell yes!" later, the same girl requested some tom jones. that shit had me on the floor.
with all that said, i have nothing but the utmost respect for this kid and what he's doing. he had a good voice (despite the bizarre genre) and was a solid keyboard player, and touring the country by yourself at age 17 is fucking awesome. he's out there livin' the dream man, doin' what he loves. big ups to ya, matt barber.
also - ahren, you missed him in vegas (which is where that video was from).
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
wednesday mlb notes
with boston playing a doubleheader (always hard to take both ends) the yanks blew a golden opportunity yesterday to pull a game ahead of the sox. a 4 game sweep of baltimore looked tough anyway (mediocre teams like that are not going going to lose 12 in a row that often), but it would've been nice to put the pressure on boston to win the last two of their series. good job middle relief.
guys who have a chance to bow out gracefully after 05:
bernie williams - i love this guy to death, but i think it may be time. there's no way he'll play elsewhere, and i'm not opposed to bringing him back for like $2 mil to be a 4th outfielder. but do you think he'd really want to do that?
mike piazza - his swing has always been long, but he no longer has the bat speed to make up for it. i think he'd be smart to just hang em up and get into broadcasting. his ties to NY will certainly help, and if he tries to DH a few more years in someplace like baltimore he'll lose a little in the hearts of new yorkers.
steve finley - he's had such an abortion of a year (OPS ~.620) and he's 40. i don't think LA will bring him back. but you never know with finley - he has a great ability to reinvent himself.
sammy sosa - i could give two shits if he goes gracefully, but i read something by a scout that said he may not even be able to find a mlb spring training invite. someone may take a chance with a minor league invite (no guaranteed $$) with a chance to make a roster, but i don't see a guy with an ego as big as his being able to swallow his pride as easily as the andro.
power surges of the year:
jermaine dye - 30 hr's for the first time since 2000 (33). i just don't see a repeat performance in 06 though.
cliff floyd - over 30 hr's (32) for the first time since 2001 (31). he could do it every year if he stayed healthy consistently.
griffey - over 30 hr's (35) for the first time since 2000 (40). i honestly don't think he should win comeback player of the year though. for one, he's hurt again. and two, his production in the last few years haven't been bad at all when he's been in the lineup (OPS of .936 and .864 in 03 and 04). that award has to go to this next guy.
tony clark - 30 hr's for the first time since 1999 (31). the guy hasn't been a starter for 4 years and hasn't cracked an OPS of .775 since then. this year he's at 1.023 (that's higher than both big papi and manny, and would be good for 4th in the majors if he qualified) and driven in 86 runs in only 341 ab's. sweet jebus, that's a ridiculous rate.
25 hr guys with sub-par years:
eric chavez - it should be clear to everyone now that he can't carry a club the way miggie did for them a few years back. if you're argument is that he has no protection and isn't seeing pitches to drive, then what's with the OBP of .330? that just doesn't cut it. plus he only hit .227 in september, when they needed him the most.
hank blalock - had his worst year as a regular, with only a .319 OBP. hey hank, stop talking to soriano about hitting.
top 5 leadoff hitters in the majors by OBP:
1. jeter - .393 (18 hr's) hit his 5th leading-off-the-game homer yesterday. nice way to start things.
2. roberts - .387 (18) i think he'll still be very good, but don't expect the OPS over .900 again.
3. polanco - .385 (9) career year in the OBP department helped by average in the .340's. won't repeat this in 06.
4. clark - .372 (13) yet another reason to be (very) optimistic in wisconsin.
5. delucci - .368 (28) i will now take the blue pill in order to forget the yanks had him.
note that america's sweetheart johnny damon didn't make the top 5, and with .364-10 he looks remarkably similar to david dejesus (.359-9)
worst 5:
30. izturis - .302 (2) and he was an all-star, right?
29. miles - .303 (2) hand the job over to corey sullivan. now.
29. reyes - .303 (7) christian guzman in the making?
27. russ adams - .319 (8) i like this guy anyway. give him time.
26. pierre - .324 (2) i pray the yanks don't go after him in another "we need speed" delusional witch hunt.
**update: looks like the fish have a manny in the making with cabrera.
with boston playing a doubleheader (always hard to take both ends) the yanks blew a golden opportunity yesterday to pull a game ahead of the sox. a 4 game sweep of baltimore looked tough anyway (mediocre teams like that are not going going to lose 12 in a row that often), but it would've been nice to put the pressure on boston to win the last two of their series. good job middle relief.
guys who have a chance to bow out gracefully after 05:
bernie williams - i love this guy to death, but i think it may be time. there's no way he'll play elsewhere, and i'm not opposed to bringing him back for like $2 mil to be a 4th outfielder. but do you think he'd really want to do that?
mike piazza - his swing has always been long, but he no longer has the bat speed to make up for it. i think he'd be smart to just hang em up and get into broadcasting. his ties to NY will certainly help, and if he tries to DH a few more years in someplace like baltimore he'll lose a little in the hearts of new yorkers.
steve finley - he's had such an abortion of a year (OPS ~.620) and he's 40. i don't think LA will bring him back. but you never know with finley - he has a great ability to reinvent himself.
sammy sosa - i could give two shits if he goes gracefully, but i read something by a scout that said he may not even be able to find a mlb spring training invite. someone may take a chance with a minor league invite (no guaranteed $$) with a chance to make a roster, but i don't see a guy with an ego as big as his being able to swallow his pride as easily as the andro.
power surges of the year:
jermaine dye - 30 hr's for the first time since 2000 (33). i just don't see a repeat performance in 06 though.
cliff floyd - over 30 hr's (32) for the first time since 2001 (31). he could do it every year if he stayed healthy consistently.
griffey - over 30 hr's (35) for the first time since 2000 (40). i honestly don't think he should win comeback player of the year though. for one, he's hurt again. and two, his production in the last few years haven't been bad at all when he's been in the lineup (OPS of .936 and .864 in 03 and 04). that award has to go to this next guy.
tony clark - 30 hr's for the first time since 1999 (31). the guy hasn't been a starter for 4 years and hasn't cracked an OPS of .775 since then. this year he's at 1.023 (that's higher than both big papi and manny, and would be good for 4th in the majors if he qualified) and driven in 86 runs in only 341 ab's. sweet jebus, that's a ridiculous rate.
25 hr guys with sub-par years:
eric chavez - it should be clear to everyone now that he can't carry a club the way miggie did for them a few years back. if you're argument is that he has no protection and isn't seeing pitches to drive, then what's with the OBP of .330? that just doesn't cut it. plus he only hit .227 in september, when they needed him the most.
hank blalock - had his worst year as a regular, with only a .319 OBP. hey hank, stop talking to soriano about hitting.
top 5 leadoff hitters in the majors by OBP:
1. jeter - .393 (18 hr's) hit his 5th leading-off-the-game homer yesterday. nice way to start things.
2. roberts - .387 (18) i think he'll still be very good, but don't expect the OPS over .900 again.
3. polanco - .385 (9) career year in the OBP department helped by average in the .340's. won't repeat this in 06.
4. clark - .372 (13) yet another reason to be (very) optimistic in wisconsin.
5. delucci - .368 (28) i will now take the blue pill in order to forget the yanks had him.
note that america's sweetheart johnny damon didn't make the top 5, and with .364-10 he looks remarkably similar to david dejesus (.359-9)
worst 5:
30. izturis - .302 (2) and he was an all-star, right?
29. miles - .303 (2) hand the job over to corey sullivan. now.
29. reyes - .303 (7) christian guzman in the making?
27. russ adams - .319 (8) i like this guy anyway. give him time.
26. pierre - .324 (2) i pray the yanks don't go after him in another "we need speed" delusional witch hunt.
**update: looks like the fish have a manny in the making with cabrera.
Monday, September 26, 2005
no more talky
worst two comments made on sunday nite football by the announcers while fellating eli manning (who's team lost by over 20 points and scored 2 td's in five trips to the red zone):
"eli's just so balanced. he's throwing the ball equally all over the field, making the chargers cover everywhere. look at this breakdown! 7 passes left, 10 down the middle, and 14 to the right. what balance!"
under 25% of passes to the left, but almost %50 to the right. wow. what symmetry.
"eli just knows how to use his great arm strength. just look at this pass to toomer in the endzone. he threw it so hard toomer didn't even have time to turn around!"
toomer didn't have "time to turn around" because the pass was a yard behind him as he ran to the right.
eli did have a good game, but i really can't listen to them hanging on his balls on this. and what was with that pick returned for a td being called back? juicer-turned-choir boy castillo got maybe a pinky on eli and they called a personal foul. i understand the hands to the face call, but there has to be some ref's discretion to it. manning's head didn't even move, let alone him fall down or anything. meanwhile drew brees completed 19/22 with 2 td's and no picks while leading sd to a 45 point outpouring and they don't say shit about his performance.
worst two comments made on sunday nite football by the announcers while fellating eli manning (who's team lost by over 20 points and scored 2 td's in five trips to the red zone):
"eli's just so balanced. he's throwing the ball equally all over the field, making the chargers cover everywhere. look at this breakdown! 7 passes left, 10 down the middle, and 14 to the right. what balance!"
under 25% of passes to the left, but almost %50 to the right. wow. what symmetry.
"eli just knows how to use his great arm strength. just look at this pass to toomer in the endzone. he threw it so hard toomer didn't even have time to turn around!"
toomer didn't have "time to turn around" because the pass was a yard behind him as he ran to the right.
eli did have a good game, but i really can't listen to them hanging on his balls on this. and what was with that pick returned for a td being called back? juicer-turned-choir boy castillo got maybe a pinky on eli and they called a personal foul. i understand the hands to the face call, but there has to be some ref's discretion to it. manning's head didn't even move, let alone him fall down or anything. meanwhile drew brees completed 19/22 with 2 td's and no picks while leading sd to a 45 point outpouring and they don't say shit about his performance.
monday mlb notes
i have to assume that biggio is coming back next year, and that seems fine since he's still relatively productive for a second baseman. my only point of contention is that he's no longer a 1-2 hitter. i would drop him to the 6 or 7 hole. i mean, with 38 doubles and 24 homers he could reach 40-25 this week. seems like this would do more damage hitting in situations with runners on. of course, there's no clear answer as to who would hit second instead...
give me some of what randy winn has been having. since joining the gigantes and having to deal with that monster of a right center gap, he has twice as many homers (12) as he did in seattle (6) in HALF of the games (he's sluggin .627 in 51 games with sf). with all the game tape watching and players swapping leagues so frequently, you'd think there's more to it than winn just taking advantage of pitchers who haven't seen him much or him feasting on the typically fastball oriented nl pitching. either way, he's got 18 hr's and 19 sbs on the year (could go 20-20 with a good week) and has salvaged a season that was looking pretty miserable for him in early july.
was derek lowe worth that contract the dodgers gave him last winter? he's 12-14 with an era under 4.00, but given the switch to la's park and the nl in general you knew his era would drop. the thing i'd be scared about if i was paul depodesta is the 28 hr's allowed - almost double the 15 he allowed in '04. that's a hell of a lot of gopherballs for a sinker ball guy.
is eric milton the worst "ace" ever? 6.62 era, .306 baa, 1.58 whip, and an astounding 40 homers allowed. sure he pitches a lot in the great american batting cage, but still. yuck.
no pitcher gave their club more bang for their buck this year than milwaukee's chris capuano. the duke grad is 18-10, (and has one start left). with a salary of $340k, that's under $20k a win. by comparison, kevin brown made just under $4 MILLION per win this year.
the drays have made terrific strides this year, and the top of their lineup will be pretty damn impressive next year :
baldelli cf
crawford lf
cantu 2b
huff 1b
gomes rf
i would consider (again) moving upton to third, since his bat is ready for the show but he's terrible at ss (53 errors in AAA). with that said, they won't even be .500 in 06 without improving that miserable rotation of theirs.
it's going to be a hell of a final week, with the yanks-sox, tribe-chisox, and sd-sf series to name a few. even though the yanks are on the road all week, i'd much rather be playing the slumpling o's (losers of 8 straight) than the win-one-lose-one bj's like the sox. i think the yanks will take 3 of 4 but that the sox may only salvage a split.
i have to assume that biggio is coming back next year, and that seems fine since he's still relatively productive for a second baseman. my only point of contention is that he's no longer a 1-2 hitter. i would drop him to the 6 or 7 hole. i mean, with 38 doubles and 24 homers he could reach 40-25 this week. seems like this would do more damage hitting in situations with runners on. of course, there's no clear answer as to who would hit second instead...
give me some of what randy winn has been having. since joining the gigantes and having to deal with that monster of a right center gap, he has twice as many homers (12) as he did in seattle (6) in HALF of the games (he's sluggin .627 in 51 games with sf). with all the game tape watching and players swapping leagues so frequently, you'd think there's more to it than winn just taking advantage of pitchers who haven't seen him much or him feasting on the typically fastball oriented nl pitching. either way, he's got 18 hr's and 19 sbs on the year (could go 20-20 with a good week) and has salvaged a season that was looking pretty miserable for him in early july.
was derek lowe worth that contract the dodgers gave him last winter? he's 12-14 with an era under 4.00, but given the switch to la's park and the nl in general you knew his era would drop. the thing i'd be scared about if i was paul depodesta is the 28 hr's allowed - almost double the 15 he allowed in '04. that's a hell of a lot of gopherballs for a sinker ball guy.
is eric milton the worst "ace" ever? 6.62 era, .306 baa, 1.58 whip, and an astounding 40 homers allowed. sure he pitches a lot in the great american batting cage, but still. yuck.
no pitcher gave their club more bang for their buck this year than milwaukee's chris capuano. the duke grad is 18-10, (and has one start left). with a salary of $340k, that's under $20k a win. by comparison, kevin brown made just under $4 MILLION per win this year.
the drays have made terrific strides this year, and the top of their lineup will be pretty damn impressive next year :
baldelli cf
crawford lf
cantu 2b
huff 1b
gomes rf
i would consider (again) moving upton to third, since his bat is ready for the show but he's terrible at ss (53 errors in AAA). with that said, they won't even be .500 in 06 without improving that miserable rotation of theirs.
it's going to be a hell of a final week, with the yanks-sox, tribe-chisox, and sd-sf series to name a few. even though the yanks are on the road all week, i'd much rather be playing the slumpling o's (losers of 8 straight) than the win-one-lose-one bj's like the sox. i think the yanks will take 3 of 4 but that the sox may only salvage a split.
Friday, September 23, 2005
friday mlb notes
two second basemen are getting completely overlooked this year. the first is mark ellis, who due to injury is about 40 ab's shy of qualifying for a batting title. but the guys been .327-.389-.489-.878 and has outperformed the leading candidate for the silver slugger in the al, alfonso soriano (whose SLG is .517 but OBP is .312 - what is it with the yankees developing talented 2b's who can't take a walk?). ellis has picked up the slack for kotsay and kendall, who were miserable in the 1-2 holes. i wouldn't be surprised if he's voted team mvp.
the other is nl-al cross over placido polanco. a career .300 hitter, polanco's a combined .332 with philly and detroit. he's getting the shaft as far as winning a batting title though, since he qualifies for neither league (though he would be ahead of michael young in the al by 2 points as of yesterday).
i know jacque jones has hit a couple of homeruns in the last few days (i'm sure you've seen them since he does that terrible bat flip and strut when he hits em), but it's time for the people in minnesota to realize they have not 1 or 2 but 3 overrated outfielders in hunter, jones, and stewart. hunter and stewart have career OBPs of .321 and .328 respectively and stewart posted a .323 spot this year. stewart battled injuries and this is well below his career numbers, but he just doesn't have enough pop for a dh or corner outfielder, or enough speed to make up for the that deficiency.
grady sizemore all but has the al roy in the bag, and you all know my feelings on johnny gomes, but detroit has another player getting overlooked (go figure) in rookie chris shelton. he has consistently become their 3 or 4 hitter, and with 16 homers in 97 games and an OBP of .361 there's good reason. i'm not comparing this to what sizemore, gomes or jorge cantu have done, but he's worth keeping an eye on.
kc management must be reading here, since they FINALLY brought aaron guiel up after having a phenomenal year in AAA. he's only been up a few weeks but in 24 games is OPSing in the .830's with a solid OBP. of course, kc shouldn't be patting themselves on the back since he only came up when dejesus went down and they're STILL trotting out the grossness that is terrence long everyday (and batting him 2nd!!!).
get the pee cup out for emil brown please. in the early 2000's this guy was nothing but a joey gaithright guy for the pirates - slap and run. from 1997-2001 he never slugged over .336! then he spends a few years in the minors, and comes back hitting fourth. granted the royals lineup is awful, but he either worked his ass off in the cages, got some clear and cream, or some of both.
last nite greg maddux threw 78 pitches in 8 innings, allowing only 4 hits and walking none. that's less than 3 pitches a hitter! the cubs fielders must've been in heaven - a far cry from when the big unit throws 7 dominating innings like the other nite and needs almost 120 pitches to do it. maddux needs two wins for his streak of 15 w's to continue.
random rookie stuff: the first mlber to ever come out of maui hit his first homer last nite. phil's cf of 2006 shane victorino hit a pinch hit 3 run jobbie in the top of the 9th off tim hudson (costing me some serious fantasy points). reds of chris denorfia (who terrorized MIT pitching from 99-02 - i mentioned this when he made his mlb debut two weeks ago) is holding his own so far. he hit his first career homer last week as a pinch hitter and is hitting .300 and has 5 bb's in 20 ab's.
i'm not at all a jimmy rollins fan, but i have to admit his 28 game hitting streak is impressive. it's shocking that such a typically inconsistent player can have a longer streak than teddy ballgame or wade boggs ever did. he's just ripping everything right now.
last thing - i heard some cuts on cbssportsline the other day over on slack, but they have (by far) the best game center/gamecast type thing. check it out if you're still following games on espn or si - you get pitch type and location and there's almost no time lag.
two second basemen are getting completely overlooked this year. the first is mark ellis, who due to injury is about 40 ab's shy of qualifying for a batting title. but the guys been .327-.389-.489-.878 and has outperformed the leading candidate for the silver slugger in the al, alfonso soriano (whose SLG is .517 but OBP is .312 - what is it with the yankees developing talented 2b's who can't take a walk?). ellis has picked up the slack for kotsay and kendall, who were miserable in the 1-2 holes. i wouldn't be surprised if he's voted team mvp.
the other is nl-al cross over placido polanco. a career .300 hitter, polanco's a combined .332 with philly and detroit. he's getting the shaft as far as winning a batting title though, since he qualifies for neither league (though he would be ahead of michael young in the al by 2 points as of yesterday).
i know jacque jones has hit a couple of homeruns in the last few days (i'm sure you've seen them since he does that terrible bat flip and strut when he hits em), but it's time for the people in minnesota to realize they have not 1 or 2 but 3 overrated outfielders in hunter, jones, and stewart. hunter and stewart have career OBPs of .321 and .328 respectively and stewart posted a .323 spot this year. stewart battled injuries and this is well below his career numbers, but he just doesn't have enough pop for a dh or corner outfielder, or enough speed to make up for the that deficiency.
grady sizemore all but has the al roy in the bag, and you all know my feelings on johnny gomes, but detroit has another player getting overlooked (go figure) in rookie chris shelton. he has consistently become their 3 or 4 hitter, and with 16 homers in 97 games and an OBP of .361 there's good reason. i'm not comparing this to what sizemore, gomes or jorge cantu have done, but he's worth keeping an eye on.
kc management must be reading here, since they FINALLY brought aaron guiel up after having a phenomenal year in AAA. he's only been up a few weeks but in 24 games is OPSing in the .830's with a solid OBP. of course, kc shouldn't be patting themselves on the back since he only came up when dejesus went down and they're STILL trotting out the grossness that is terrence long everyday (and batting him 2nd!!!).
get the pee cup out for emil brown please. in the early 2000's this guy was nothing but a joey gaithright guy for the pirates - slap and run. from 1997-2001 he never slugged over .336! then he spends a few years in the minors, and comes back hitting fourth. granted the royals lineup is awful, but he either worked his ass off in the cages, got some clear and cream, or some of both.
last nite greg maddux threw 78 pitches in 8 innings, allowing only 4 hits and walking none. that's less than 3 pitches a hitter! the cubs fielders must've been in heaven - a far cry from when the big unit throws 7 dominating innings like the other nite and needs almost 120 pitches to do it. maddux needs two wins for his streak of 15 w's to continue.
random rookie stuff: the first mlber to ever come out of maui hit his first homer last nite. phil's cf of 2006 shane victorino hit a pinch hit 3 run jobbie in the top of the 9th off tim hudson (costing me some serious fantasy points). reds of chris denorfia (who terrorized MIT pitching from 99-02 - i mentioned this when he made his mlb debut two weeks ago) is holding his own so far. he hit his first career homer last week as a pinch hitter and is hitting .300 and has 5 bb's in 20 ab's.
i'm not at all a jimmy rollins fan, but i have to admit his 28 game hitting streak is impressive. it's shocking that such a typically inconsistent player can have a longer streak than teddy ballgame or wade boggs ever did. he's just ripping everything right now.
last thing - i heard some cuts on cbssportsline the other day over on slack, but they have (by far) the best game center/gamecast type thing. check it out if you're still following games on espn or si - you get pitch type and location and there's almost no time lag.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
back in the spring of 2003, in our last months in florida, nina played on a women's softball team at the base. by going to most of her games i got to know the husbands/boyfriends of her teammates. that, combined with the fact that the fields were less than 1/2 a mile from our place, meant a lot of beer drinking on thursday evenings. the husband group usually rotated who would coach first for the inning, and by the end of game 2 we'd be waving runners to second on groundballs to third. definitely good times, and definitely a lot of teaching first period hungover on fridays.
fastfoward to, um, now. nina's playing in a women's softball league downtown on tuesday nites. i went to watch her doubleheader last nite, and, not sure of what to expect as far as the crowd goes, didn't bring any tall boys. this was, in the words of "duets" reggie kane, an error in judgement. the league seems pretty decent, but her teammates are mostly moms who, instead of bringing their husbands/boyfriends, tote along their 3-5 year old children and let them run rampant in the bleachers. i saw heard more screaming and crying fits in those 2+ hours than i ever have. it made reading super/system 2 between innnings a little tough, but there was one scene that made it all worthwhile. one of the little tyrants was a 5-6 year old cross between chunk (goonies) and vern (stand by me), only with a much worse temperament AND wearing a yellow belt karate uniform or whatever those white get-ups are called. this kid is going around throwing grass on other kids, crying, just being a general pain in the ass. that is, until he picked up a 95% empty bag of cheetos from under the bleachers. and ate the crumbs. for whatever reason, that shit just killed me. watching him crouched on the ground...stuffing his face with used cheetos crumbles...i'm laughing just picturing it. a different/better person would have stopped him. but not me. my list of things that will always be funny has grown: farting, seeing people get hit in the sack, hearing "mind if we dance wit cho dates?", and now, little chubby kids eating garbage.
independent of that incident, i had a good time and the weather was gorgeous. but next tuesday i'm certainly going armed with a few steele reserves. and some old pringles cans.
fastfoward to, um, now. nina's playing in a women's softball league downtown on tuesday nites. i went to watch her doubleheader last nite, and, not sure of what to expect as far as the crowd goes, didn't bring any tall boys. this was, in the words of "duets" reggie kane, an error in judgement. the league seems pretty decent, but her teammates are mostly moms who, instead of bringing their husbands/boyfriends, tote along their 3-5 year old children and let them run rampant in the bleachers. i saw heard more screaming and crying fits in those 2+ hours than i ever have. it made reading super/system 2 between innnings a little tough, but there was one scene that made it all worthwhile. one of the little tyrants was a 5-6 year old cross between chunk (goonies) and vern (stand by me), only with a much worse temperament AND wearing a yellow belt karate uniform or whatever those white get-ups are called. this kid is going around throwing grass on other kids, crying, just being a general pain in the ass. that is, until he picked up a 95% empty bag of cheetos from under the bleachers. and ate the crumbs. for whatever reason, that shit just killed me. watching him crouched on the ground...stuffing his face with used cheetos crumbles...i'm laughing just picturing it. a different/better person would have stopped him. but not me. my list of things that will always be funny has grown: farting, seeing people get hit in the sack, hearing "mind if we dance wit cho dates?", and now, little chubby kids eating garbage.
independent of that incident, i had a good time and the weather was gorgeous. but next tuesday i'm certainly going armed with a few steele reserves. and some old pringles cans.
wednesday mlb notes
the yanks are 9-3 in their last 12. in games bubba crosby has played they are 9-0 and 0-3 when he doesn't. and don't think his .393 average over that span hasn't played an important role. with the resurgence of cano lately, those two have added some spark to the bottom of the order.
aaron small is 9-0. i need jayson stark to do some research to find the last yankee minor league call-up to win his first 9 decisions. his last three starts haven't been stellar, but the key to his success is control. he's walked more than 2 batters only once (and it was only 3 then), and keeps the yanks within striking distance. seems like a pretty straight forward formula for winning games with that lineup. maybe the moose can pick up on that fact. also, page 2's comparing him to wallace, which is funny.
clearly papi and the manny show are the big threats in the boston lineup. but they've been there all year. boston's biggest acquisition-impact player, in my mind, is not johnny o but tony graffanino. talk about an enormous upgrade from bellhorn. graff is 57-182 (.313) with 15 extra base hits since joining the sox in july and is steady defensively at multiple infield positions. if the sox make the postseason, he will be this year's Pesky Red Sock hitter, replacing orlando cabrera.
without a minor league rehab assignment or anything remotely resembling spring training, barry bonds is STILL at .316-.417-.842. oh, and that last number isn't his OPS - it's his fucking slugging. i know it's basically out of the question, but how great would it be if the giants took the NL west on barry's back.
while todd jones is the comback closer of the year (37 saves, whip under 1), chad cordero with his 46 saves is obviously this year's breakout closer. but don't overlook colorado southpaw brian fuentes, who's posting a 10.9 k's/9 rate and has saved 29/32 for the hapless rockies while keeping an era in the mid 2's. i have this guy on my fantasy team (and so follow him closely), and he regularly strikes out 2 or 3 guys in his one inning saves. nor should you forget that goofy fucker in milwaukee, derrick turnbow. he's saved 32/35, striking out (almost) a hitter an inning, and keeping hitters to a sub-.200 average.
i know texas wanted to get rid of chan ho park and that the padres felt the same about phil nevin, but the situation with nevin is just weird. he has only started 3 games in september. i know the rangers are loaded with offense and he doesn't really have a position with them, but didn't they know that going in? wtf??
is matt holliday (who had jeremy burnitz as a babysitter growing up) the real deal? yesterday he went 4-5 and drove in 8 (no typo), bringing his season total to 77 rbi's. if he hadn't missed a good chunk of the summer with injury, he'd probably be around 100 - solid for a second year guy. but his home/road splits terrify me (.371 at coors & 48 rbi's, .238 & 29 elsewhere). still, if he spends his career in colorado he could become a poor man's dante bichette.
the yanks are 9-3 in their last 12. in games bubba crosby has played they are 9-0 and 0-3 when he doesn't. and don't think his .393 average over that span hasn't played an important role. with the resurgence of cano lately, those two have added some spark to the bottom of the order.
aaron small is 9-0. i need jayson stark to do some research to find the last yankee minor league call-up to win his first 9 decisions. his last three starts haven't been stellar, but the key to his success is control. he's walked more than 2 batters only once (and it was only 3 then), and keeps the yanks within striking distance. seems like a pretty straight forward formula for winning games with that lineup. maybe the moose can pick up on that fact. also, page 2's comparing him to wallace, which is funny.
clearly papi and the manny show are the big threats in the boston lineup. but they've been there all year. boston's biggest acquisition-impact player, in my mind, is not johnny o but tony graffanino. talk about an enormous upgrade from bellhorn. graff is 57-182 (.313) with 15 extra base hits since joining the sox in july and is steady defensively at multiple infield positions. if the sox make the postseason, he will be this year's Pesky Red Sock hitter, replacing orlando cabrera.
without a minor league rehab assignment or anything remotely resembling spring training, barry bonds is STILL at .316-.417-.842. oh, and that last number isn't his OPS - it's his fucking slugging. i know it's basically out of the question, but how great would it be if the giants took the NL west on barry's back.
while todd jones is the comback closer of the year (37 saves, whip under 1), chad cordero with his 46 saves is obviously this year's breakout closer. but don't overlook colorado southpaw brian fuentes, who's posting a 10.9 k's/9 rate and has saved 29/32 for the hapless rockies while keeping an era in the mid 2's. i have this guy on my fantasy team (and so follow him closely), and he regularly strikes out 2 or 3 guys in his one inning saves. nor should you forget that goofy fucker in milwaukee, derrick turnbow. he's saved 32/35, striking out (almost) a hitter an inning, and keeping hitters to a sub-.200 average.
i know texas wanted to get rid of chan ho park and that the padres felt the same about phil nevin, but the situation with nevin is just weird. he has only started 3 games in september. i know the rangers are loaded with offense and he doesn't really have a position with them, but didn't they know that going in? wtf??
is matt holliday (who had jeremy burnitz as a babysitter growing up) the real deal? yesterday he went 4-5 and drove in 8 (no typo), bringing his season total to 77 rbi's. if he hadn't missed a good chunk of the summer with injury, he'd probably be around 100 - solid for a second year guy. but his home/road splits terrify me (.371 at coors & 48 rbi's, .238 & 29 elsewhere). still, if he spends his career in colorado he could become a poor man's dante bichette.
Friday, September 16, 2005
further indications that NOLA's local government is/was pathetic:
first, a piece by reason.com about how nagin not only refused to use city buses to evacuate (instead crying for greyhound to help) but also did not attempt to move them to safety (they're all ruined now).
second, independent of katrina, the NOLA public school system RAN OUT OF MONEY!!!! school has been going on across the country for just over a month, and had the schools still been in session in new orleans, there would be no money to pay the teachers. the shitty part is that this will be completely overlooked and the federal government will probably give even more aid to solve this problem, which had nothing to do with katrina. this (public school systems running out of money) is happening more and more frequently (it happened twice in oregon in the past few years), which reinforces my belief that the education problem is our country's biggest domestic problem (katrina relief obviously excluded). and i don't think more government regulation/involvement is the answer.
first, a piece by reason.com about how nagin not only refused to use city buses to evacuate (instead crying for greyhound to help) but also did not attempt to move them to safety (they're all ruined now).
second, independent of katrina, the NOLA public school system RAN OUT OF MONEY!!!! school has been going on across the country for just over a month, and had the schools still been in session in new orleans, there would be no money to pay the teachers. the shitty part is that this will be completely overlooked and the federal government will probably give even more aid to solve this problem, which had nothing to do with katrina. this (public school systems running out of money) is happening more and more frequently (it happened twice in oregon in the past few years), which reinforces my belief that the education problem is our country's biggest domestic problem (katrina relief obviously excluded). and i don't think more government regulation/involvement is the answer.
Friday, September 09, 2005
5 completely unrelated links
tom verducci says the playoff format in beisbol makes it too easy for wild card teams.
how to get fired for eating pizza. my favorite part is that somehow people were astonished that movers having sword fights with the owners sex toys would get them axed.
for o.c. lovers - the sports guy trades emails with the producer/writer. don't talk about the season opener last nite, i dvr'd it.
an article on post-disaster cooperation and why it was awful in NOLA. make sure to note the "ultimate fitness" ad on the right. gotta love working out in spandex shorts and wrestling shoes.
this is not new, but gets me every time: the bush administration used almost $5 mil to have outside sources advocate the no child left behind plan. this is just so awful. not only do they spend money on poor ideas, they spend some more on promoting them. is it even legal to use federal money this way? how long before they take a cut of your paycheck to have "objective" experts tell us stem cell research causes cancer or that being gay is contagious? fucking assholes. also, "no child left behind" blows goats.
tom verducci says the playoff format in beisbol makes it too easy for wild card teams.
how to get fired for eating pizza. my favorite part is that somehow people were astonished that movers having sword fights with the owners sex toys would get them axed.
for o.c. lovers - the sports guy trades emails with the producer/writer. don't talk about the season opener last nite, i dvr'd it.
an article on post-disaster cooperation and why it was awful in NOLA. make sure to note the "ultimate fitness" ad on the right. gotta love working out in spandex shorts and wrestling shoes.
this is not new, but gets me every time: the bush administration used almost $5 mil to have outside sources advocate the no child left behind plan. this is just so awful. not only do they spend money on poor ideas, they spend some more on promoting them. is it even legal to use federal money this way? how long before they take a cut of your paycheck to have "objective" experts tell us stem cell research causes cancer or that being gay is contagious? fucking assholes. also, "no child left behind" blows goats.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
football and futbol
once upon a time i was a cut throat nfl fan. i remember picking every game every week against my dad (for the same huge wager that the dukes had on billy ray valentine) and poring over stats in newsday. but the last few years my interest has been marginal (i attribute this to living in central florida from 2000-2003, where all anyone ever talked about was the gators or seminoles and i didn't give a shit about college foosball back then). sure i watched games every sunday, but my heart just wasn't in it. i even started to follow college football more than before, which is the true sign that my love for pro football was waning. as far as interest level, the nfl was starting to ebb down to the nba for me.
reading some nfl previews lately, i began to feel like an outsider. it was like i was reading about hockey. so this year i've decided to dive back in. i don't have a fantasy team, but there's always the standard fall back if you want to maintain a level of intensity - gambling. thanks to Roy-o, i'm now in a weekly pool.
making my picks this morning, i felt rusty. i think it will be a few weeks until i get my feet on the ground, and once i do there's fair odds i will be looking to bet heavier on 3-4 games a week. anyway, here are my picks for the week. i know, i know - i'm going with too many teams on the road. but bear with me - i didn't even know dilfer was no longer seattle's back up until this morning.
pats giving 7.5 to oaktown
broncs giving 4.5 to miami
saints getting 6.5 from carolina
seattle getting 3.5 from the jags
titans getting 7.5 from pitt
vikes giving 6.5 to the bucs
skins giving 6.5 to the bears
bills giving 4.5 to the texans
jets getting 3.5 from kc
bengals giving 3.5 to the browns
boys getting 4.5 from sd
pack getting 2.5 from detroit
cards getting 2.5 from the ny football giants
rams giving 4.5 to 49ers
colts giving 3.5 to the ravens
eagles giving 1.5 to hotlanta
i think two of the tougher games are the giants-cards and pack-lions. the gb's d scares me, but i'm not about to bet against favre after a disaster struck his family. and after railing on eli all of last year, i don't think i'm ready to go with him. especially since this has "warner sticks it to coughlin" written all over it.
according to peter king's predictions, i'll go 12-4. which i'll take any day and (literally) twice on sunday.
and for those of you who are unaware (this is a little late), the u.s. men's squad have clinched a place in next year's world cup by beating arch-rival mexico on saturday 2-0. i watched 3/4's of the game and loved every minute. we're finally deciding to use our athleticism to our advantage instead of playing the conventional game. it reminds me of how we beat the ruskies in lake placid, by refusing to play their game. mexico apparently whined afterward about us not playing "real" soccer. i love that our boys were popping champy in the clubhouse and that landon donovan said of mexico, "they suck." gotta love adding fuel to the fire. here's to hoping america will take in interest in our national team. this guy is with me.
once upon a time i was a cut throat nfl fan. i remember picking every game every week against my dad (for the same huge wager that the dukes had on billy ray valentine) and poring over stats in newsday. but the last few years my interest has been marginal (i attribute this to living in central florida from 2000-2003, where all anyone ever talked about was the gators or seminoles and i didn't give a shit about college foosball back then). sure i watched games every sunday, but my heart just wasn't in it. i even started to follow college football more than before, which is the true sign that my love for pro football was waning. as far as interest level, the nfl was starting to ebb down to the nba for me.
reading some nfl previews lately, i began to feel like an outsider. it was like i was reading about hockey. so this year i've decided to dive back in. i don't have a fantasy team, but there's always the standard fall back if you want to maintain a level of intensity - gambling. thanks to Roy-o, i'm now in a weekly pool.
making my picks this morning, i felt rusty. i think it will be a few weeks until i get my feet on the ground, and once i do there's fair odds i will be looking to bet heavier on 3-4 games a week. anyway, here are my picks for the week. i know, i know - i'm going with too many teams on the road. but bear with me - i didn't even know dilfer was no longer seattle's back up until this morning.
pats giving 7.5 to oaktown
broncs giving 4.5 to miami
saints getting 6.5 from carolina
seattle getting 3.5 from the jags
titans getting 7.5 from pitt
vikes giving 6.5 to the bucs
skins giving 6.5 to the bears
bills giving 4.5 to the texans
jets getting 3.5 from kc
bengals giving 3.5 to the browns
boys getting 4.5 from sd
pack getting 2.5 from detroit
cards getting 2.5 from the ny football giants
rams giving 4.5 to 49ers
colts giving 3.5 to the ravens
eagles giving 1.5 to hotlanta
i think two of the tougher games are the giants-cards and pack-lions. the gb's d scares me, but i'm not about to bet against favre after a disaster struck his family. and after railing on eli all of last year, i don't think i'm ready to go with him. especially since this has "warner sticks it to coughlin" written all over it.
according to peter king's predictions, i'll go 12-4. which i'll take any day and (literally) twice on sunday.
and for those of you who are unaware (this is a little late), the u.s. men's squad have clinched a place in next year's world cup by beating arch-rival mexico on saturday 2-0. i watched 3/4's of the game and loved every minute. we're finally deciding to use our athleticism to our advantage instead of playing the conventional game. it reminds me of how we beat the ruskies in lake placid, by refusing to play their game. mexico apparently whined afterward about us not playing "real" soccer. i love that our boys were popping champy in the clubhouse and that landon donovan said of mexico, "they suck." gotta love adding fuel to the fire. here's to hoping america will take in interest in our national team. this guy is with me.
thursday baseball notes
i went to the casino last nite to play a little poker and i was greeted with a nice little surprise (other than the short wait to be seated): the YES network on the main screen. so i got to see the yanks make a great comeback despite two failed opps with bases loaded and 1 out (not that i condone it, because i think you should trust jeter to get the job done without it, but i was a little surprised they didn't try a squeeze with him in the 7th). the comebacks have been happening more and more of late, which need to happen if they are to keep up with the heroics of big papi (who despite it all should NOT win the AL MVP by the way). i obviously don't see the YES network very often, and couldn't hear the announcers, but one thing i didn't like was the graphic used for the player at bat's stats. that shit was ugly.
but the baseball coverage didn't stop there. i also caught biggio's 2-out walk off jobbie and the braves comeback against the worst closer (looper) since shawon chacon version 2004. plus i won at the tables, so it was a nice little wednesday evening.
in other baseball news, wheaton college's chris denorfia made his major league debut for the reds yesterday afternoon. after a few decent minor league seasons, he took off this year ripping through AA and AAA. that makes two NEWMAC alumni (the first obviously being zoomer) to make the majors in the past two years - that has to be some sort of division III record (2 from the same conference in 2 years), no? in other cincy news, javier valentin is putting together a fantastic season and could take the job from jason larue in 2006. more than likely, though, this season is an aberration and he would simply be overexposed with much more playing time.
lastly, i just finished reading "coach" by michael lewis (author of moneyball). it's about the influence his high school baseball coach had on his life and that of other players. this book takes literally an hour to read (and somehow costs $13) and may be interesting for comparisons to your own player-coach experiences and for anyone in coaching themselves. anyway, i liked it and thought i'd throw it out there.
i went to the casino last nite to play a little poker and i was greeted with a nice little surprise (other than the short wait to be seated): the YES network on the main screen. so i got to see the yanks make a great comeback despite two failed opps with bases loaded and 1 out (not that i condone it, because i think you should trust jeter to get the job done without it, but i was a little surprised they didn't try a squeeze with him in the 7th). the comebacks have been happening more and more of late, which need to happen if they are to keep up with the heroics of big papi (who despite it all should NOT win the AL MVP by the way). i obviously don't see the YES network very often, and couldn't hear the announcers, but one thing i didn't like was the graphic used for the player at bat's stats. that shit was ugly.
but the baseball coverage didn't stop there. i also caught biggio's 2-out walk off jobbie and the braves comeback against the worst closer (looper) since shawon chacon version 2004. plus i won at the tables, so it was a nice little wednesday evening.
in other baseball news, wheaton college's chris denorfia made his major league debut for the reds yesterday afternoon. after a few decent minor league seasons, he took off this year ripping through AA and AAA. that makes two NEWMAC alumni (the first obviously being zoomer) to make the majors in the past two years - that has to be some sort of division III record (2 from the same conference in 2 years), no? in other cincy news, javier valentin is putting together a fantastic season and could take the job from jason larue in 2006. more than likely, though, this season is an aberration and he would simply be overexposed with much more playing time.
lastly, i just finished reading "coach" by michael lewis (author of moneyball). it's about the influence his high school baseball coach had on his life and that of other players. this book takes literally an hour to read (and somehow costs $13) and may be interesting for comparisons to your own player-coach experiences and for anyone in coaching themselves. anyway, i liked it and thought i'd throw it out there.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
bottoms up or taking your top down
it's pretty obvious just about everyone is unhappy with how the crisis in new orleans was handled. it's hard to take a lot of the bitching objectively since this topic has emotions frayed everywhere, and (obviously) the best decisions/solutions are developed with as little emotion as possible.
the one thing that seems to consistent with all the finger pointing is that the government, on some level, messed up. on one blog i was reading, which was completely slanted towards the left, there was a comment thread in which everyone seemed to agree that emergency response should be developed in a top down strategy. basically i wanted to hear some more takes on this.
it seems to me that most situations (not just emergencies, or maybe even non-emergency situations only?) utilize bottom up strategies. for example, the top down strategy is akin to you having a boss that checks in with you every two seconds to make sure you are doing things right - a micromanager. the bottom up strategy is like you having a boss that is more hands off and let's you handle your responsibilities, stepping in when you make an error or need a push in the right direction. i would guess that most people prefer the latter, but i suppose each method is right for certain people.
for me personally, the bottom up strategy works best - i've always had better success with parents, teachers, coaches, and bosses that exhibited some trust in my ability to handle responsibility. that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best for our government to employ, since (theoretically) a government of the people should employ the strategy that the majority prefer.
so what's your take - bottom up or top down leadership strategy?
it's pretty obvious just about everyone is unhappy with how the crisis in new orleans was handled. it's hard to take a lot of the bitching objectively since this topic has emotions frayed everywhere, and (obviously) the best decisions/solutions are developed with as little emotion as possible.
the one thing that seems to consistent with all the finger pointing is that the government, on some level, messed up. on one blog i was reading, which was completely slanted towards the left, there was a comment thread in which everyone seemed to agree that emergency response should be developed in a top down strategy. basically i wanted to hear some more takes on this.
it seems to me that most situations (not just emergencies, or maybe even non-emergency situations only?) utilize bottom up strategies. for example, the top down strategy is akin to you having a boss that checks in with you every two seconds to make sure you are doing things right - a micromanager. the bottom up strategy is like you having a boss that is more hands off and let's you handle your responsibilities, stepping in when you make an error or need a push in the right direction. i would guess that most people prefer the latter, but i suppose each method is right for certain people.
for me personally, the bottom up strategy works best - i've always had better success with parents, teachers, coaches, and bosses that exhibited some trust in my ability to handle responsibility. that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best for our government to employ, since (theoretically) a government of the people should employ the strategy that the majority prefer.
so what's your take - bottom up or top down leadership strategy?
Friday, September 02, 2005
as the wild card races remain red hot, i'm continuing to hear that the marlins are the team to beat. it seems the reasoning is always in their staff, but i just don't see it. beckett is about as consistent as, well...um...he's inconsitent. and willis historically gets worse as the season nears to a close (though he may be finally past this trend). my money is still on houston, as i've mentioned before. their staff is just so much better than that of the fish, and their lineups are comparable (berkman, ensberg, assorted crap vs. cabrera, delgado, similar crap). the phils are much better offensively, but how far can they go with lieber as their #1? the mets are intriguing too, but their use of stop gap players is going to catch up with them in september. they have a bunch of hitters who are going to suffer due to overexposure.
aside from the wildcard races, there's some weird shit going on with some AL pitchers. david wells apologizes to selig? wha?? okay, clearly wells went into that meeting and was stepford-ized. then we have mark buehrle calling out the rangers for cheating. how long before frank robinson comes out to claim all of the rangers' stats should be erased? lastly, the o's have voided ponson's contract for being a bag of shit. it will obviously go to a settlement, but is there any doubt that if this happened two weeks ago the yanks would've picked him out of the trash compactor?
anecdote time. back in the summer of 2001 i was playing ball for the pete rose fan club (don't ask me about the name) down in melbourne, florida. the team was chock full of current and former college players (at 22 i was one of the older guys), and not surprisingly we were dominating the league. one day we show up and our coach says prince fielder is gonna play with us. and bat 13th. i wound up having a great game (including my first career grand slam), but remember just being completely wowed and upstaged by prince, who was 15 or 16 playing with guys 3-6 years older than him. he used damian easley game bats, while we used metal, and hit one ball so hard up the middle that it ricocheted off the rubber and reached the dugout on a fly. he was a super nice kid too, and way more athletic that the scouting reports indicate. fast forward to tuesday, when prince hits a walk off pinch hit homer to beat the pirates. something tells me overbay's career is flashing before his eyes. gotta love the future of the brew crew.
aside from the wildcard races, there's some weird shit going on with some AL pitchers. david wells apologizes to selig? wha?? okay, clearly wells went into that meeting and was stepford-ized. then we have mark buehrle calling out the rangers for cheating. how long before frank robinson comes out to claim all of the rangers' stats should be erased? lastly, the o's have voided ponson's contract for being a bag of shit. it will obviously go to a settlement, but is there any doubt that if this happened two weeks ago the yanks would've picked him out of the trash compactor?
anecdote time. back in the summer of 2001 i was playing ball for the pete rose fan club (don't ask me about the name) down in melbourne, florida. the team was chock full of current and former college players (at 22 i was one of the older guys), and not surprisingly we were dominating the league. one day we show up and our coach says prince fielder is gonna play with us. and bat 13th. i wound up having a great game (including my first career grand slam), but remember just being completely wowed and upstaged by prince, who was 15 or 16 playing with guys 3-6 years older than him. he used damian easley game bats, while we used metal, and hit one ball so hard up the middle that it ricocheted off the rubber and reached the dugout on a fly. he was a super nice kid too, and way more athletic that the scouting reports indicate. fast forward to tuesday, when prince hits a walk off pinch hit homer to beat the pirates. something tells me overbay's career is flashing before his eyes. gotta love the future of the brew crew.
so clearly this hurricane is a complete disaster, arguably the worst natural disaster to ever hit the ol' red, white, and blue. but i must say, it sure has sparked some charged debates and the insights into human nature are pretty interesting. most of you probably read this already, but check out the dialogue over on ace's site.
and here's a piece that i completely agree with - about how those who chose to ride out the storm took a hugely unnecessary risk and have to bear some responsibility. clearly, those folks who had the means to leave but didn't are having a waaaaay bigger impact on the situation down there than whatever is going on in washington. i also think that while it was a terrible decision for his image with the public, it's ridiculous how people are getting so mad that bush stayed in crawford. if something ever happened, the president can run the entire country from air force one, so it seems safe to say he has the means to do so from his enormous ranch. a douchey move for sure, but not one that is affecting the resolution in the big easy. also, take note because that will most likely be the first and last time i ever defend gw.
also, has anyone heard anything about international aid? i haven't read much about it, which seems typical (especially from europe where the mantra seems to be "you scratch my back and i'll pee on yours").
and here's a piece that i completely agree with - about how those who chose to ride out the storm took a hugely unnecessary risk and have to bear some responsibility. clearly, those folks who had the means to leave but didn't are having a waaaaay bigger impact on the situation down there than whatever is going on in washington. i also think that while it was a terrible decision for his image with the public, it's ridiculous how people are getting so mad that bush stayed in crawford. if something ever happened, the president can run the entire country from air force one, so it seems safe to say he has the means to do so from his enormous ranch. a douchey move for sure, but not one that is affecting the resolution in the big easy. also, take note because that will most likely be the first and last time i ever defend gw.
also, has anyone heard anything about international aid? i haven't read much about it, which seems typical (especially from europe where the mantra seems to be "you scratch my back and i'll pee on yours").
Thursday, September 01, 2005
my office has a really weird vibe. it's sort of friendly, sort of not. there are huge age gaps, which can make for really weird water cooler chats. like "did you catch that pitcher's duel last night? no? so...how bout metamucil? shit's awesome, right?"
basically i've made two pals at work. one travels all the time for work, and the other gave his two week notice last week. not good.
but i'll tell you what is good: farting in meetings. my buddy josh has a knack for this and it's awesome. my favorite part is how after he rips one, he always goes "oooo," or throws out a "sorry. sorry!" it rules.
basically i've made two pals at work. one travels all the time for work, and the other gave his two week notice last week. not good.
but i'll tell you what is good: farting in meetings. my buddy josh has a knack for this and it's awesome. my favorite part is how after he rips one, he always goes "oooo," or throws out a "sorry. sorry!" it rules.
