Bonds
I guess it was only a matter of time before the indictment came down. Now it has. I don't like Bonds. Don't know if anyone outside of his immediate family and San Francisco does? But is it really the result of a "witch hunt" as Sir Charles claims? I don't know. I hope that he wasn't the "big fish" the government has been after, as has been discussed by guys like Stephen A. Smith on ESPN. A user, no matter how prominent, shouldn't be the big fish. The suppliers, the doctors who write bogus scripts so guys can get them -- these are the guys that should be the big fish. I'm hoping that the roll of Bond's personal trainer (as it appears) turns into Bonds rolling over on someone else, someone up the supply chain.
You know it's sad, I don't even know what the number is. In my mind it's still 755. (And 61 for that matter.)
Game 7 Tonight
Cool to see the Dropkick Murphys will be performing the anthem. I know there's no real reason to think Dice-K will be dominant tonight but there was no reason to think J.D. Drew would do anything in the first inning with the bases loaded last night either. So, yeah, I'm thinking it could still be our year, again.
Good News, Bad News. Well, the Yankees lost, which means the Indians will have to knock the Red Sox out since you can't count on the National League to do anything. In good news, C-dog and I both won our bets with Phinster in the same week. C-dog picked the Red Sox to go farther than the Yankees and I picked a ticket other than Gingrich/Rice to win the 08 election. Gingrich is not running, which will make it really hard for him to win. (That's the second bit of bad news, by the way. A Gingrich campaign would have been hysterical. Dan Quayle level of comedy. And he had no chance to actually win and damage the country. There was no downside to Newt '08 so I'm sad tonight, except for winning $20.)
Sports Night, Villians Win Edition!As both a Patriots and Yankees fan, I'm one of the few New England sports fans who is all around happy about last night. The Patriots' dismantling of the Chargers showed that to their already stacked team they have added a chip on their shoulders. (Thanks, Jets!) I have mixed feelings about cameragate. I don't think any fan knows how bad the cheating was. If the cameraman had been in the stands, would this have been legal? Don't coaches assume they're being watched when the send the signals in? Isn't this why athletes and coaches always talk through their gloves or the play sheet? Did they store this for future information or use it during a game? Part of me doesn't get the big deal. Were the Patriots just more brazen about what everyone does?
Maybe there's more. Maybe the Pats defense was illegally wired. Maybe the Jets are right and the Patriots had tapped their radios. (See and everyone wondered what Tom Brady was doing at Bush's State of the Union. It wasn't anti-steriods, it was pro-illegal eavesdropping.)
The Yankees-Red Sox game, less hyped but more exciting, changed little in the grand scheme of things. The Sox are probably winning the division with the Yanks taking the wild card. Nice to see a great Jeter HR, take 2 of 3, and wonder what Red Sox Nation means when it chants "MVP! MVP!" for Papi. "We think in other years you have played like an MVP. Is it okay if we remind you of that during this, a rather non-MVP year?" This game did matter psychologically for the post-season. The Sox have had a much better year than the Yanks. Yet the season series ends at 10-8, Yanks. The Sox have yet to prove they can really handle the Yanks, which has to hurt should they meet again.
Mo Michael Vick, Tim Donaghy, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Pacman Jones ... hard to find a story from the world of sports these past few weeks that wasn't about cruelty, corruption, cheating, or fake wrestling. Former Sox (Angels, Mets) slugger Mo Vaughn's work in Brooklyn was one of the few positive stories I saw this weekend.
In case you don't watch Sportscenter ... So Walpole, Massachusetts (representing New England) takes over the lead in the top of the 6th during a Little League World Series game over Ohio. Ohio's coming back in the bottom of the 6th (the last inning). They've brought the score to 3-2, knocked out the starting pitcher and have a guy on 3rd. The winning run is at the plate with two outs, setting up this. Watch the video that goes with the article. (Unfortunately the title gives away what happened. A better video or clip hasn't shown up on YouTube.) I happened to be watching this last inning live. It was one of those sports moments that made me - even with zero connection to either team or the league - jump out of my seat.
Spirit of '78 I have to say, I'm loving the Yankees, from the old guys like Rivera and Jeter to the young. I'm paying much more attention to baseball this season than I usually do because the Yankees were so bad and so far down. If they'd been hanging around 5-6 back all season, I wouldn't have gotten into it so much. That's how spoiled you can get as a Yankees fan. When your team is down 14, you think, "Wow, this would be a really cool way to win the World Series!"
600
Congratulations are in order, I guess. Sammy Sosa blasted his 600th HR last night and now he pretty much has to go into the Hall of Fame, right? Or not. 600 home runs doesn't mean what it used to.
He's only the fifth player to reach 600 and the first three to do it were immortals: Aaron, Ruth, and Mays. The problem is the fourth (and fifth ... though probably not the sixth*) to do it is as much the product of shady science as he is talent and effort. Hard to applaud known cheaters just because they're getting away it.
So Sosa cracks 600 and Bonds will get 756 sometime this summer ... and all I can think about is whether the records should get an asterisk next to them, or if the typographical dagger† would be more appropriate.
* Ken Griffey, Jr. will probably be the sixth and while he's played through the era, I don't think there's widespread suspicion around him. At least not as much as around A-Rod.
† Because it looks like a syringe.
Too Early to Bury the Yanks
It's tempting, and history says 6 games is usually enough by Memorial Day, but I'm not yet comfortable with our lead over the Yankees. 12 games in the loss in column over Baltimore and Toronto feels like enough. 13 games in the loss column over the Yankees ought to be enough ... but 'ought to' and 'are' are very different things.
Here's why I'm still worried about the Yankees:
They can still score a ton of runs on any given day. Their RS and RA numbers would make you think they'd be ahead of Toronto and Baltimore right now, so I think as the season progresses things'll even out and we'll see them move well ahead of those teams.
Clemens is coming. He's not going to make that much of a difference, but he will make a difference, and given that I think the numbers say their record could be better than it is, and that will start to balance out, the fact that Clemens probably pushes that RA rate down a little looks like accelerant on top of the natural corrective process.
The Big Trade. The Yankees have a way (money, lots of money) to bring in impact players, even it means paying millions well beyond that player's prime. They come in, make an impact, then get moved out later. Eg., Sheffield, David Justice, and now possibly Giambi?
The Red Sox have been injury free to this point and seem to be in great shape with Lester on the way. But one key injury could throw them off the rails. On the plus side, I don't think Manny will slump all year. J.D. Drew and Lugo also figure to bring their averages up a little. But the pitching has been even better than expected and it's hard to see all those guys pitching out of their minds all year. If the pitching comes back to earth and the injury bug bites, suddenly the objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
Finally, and I hate to mention this, but the Sox had a 14 game lead over the 4th place Yankees on July 19, 1978. It was the summer after 2nd grade. Playing ball down in the Pit, I mimicked Yaz's stance. Jim Rice was simply awesome. That summer, into the fall, at the tender age of 7, I learned what it means to be a Sox fan. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been the Brewers with Yount, Sal Bando, Don Money, (former Red Sox) Cecil Cooper and company. They were likeable. The Yankees on the other hand were thoroughly unlikeable. Billy Martin managing most of that year, Reggie (although I did like his round candy bar), Munson (I despised being called "Munson" on account of my last name), Guidry and Gossage. Couldn't stand those guys. It wasn't until the 163rd game that I had an opinion about their light-hitting shortstop, He Who Shouldn't Be Named.
So yeah, even with a double digit lead on the rest of the division, I'm nervous.
Red Sox rally to edge Orioles, 6-5 - Yahoo! News
Now that's some kind of game -- another one for NESN's "Walk Off Sox" collection. Gotta worry about Beckett's finger, but this is the kind of win, when they're already running hot, that gets the True Believers thinking it's going to be one heck of summer ... and autumn.
When I asked his teammate David Ortiz, himself a borderline folk hero, how he would describe Ramirez, he replied, “As a crazy motherf----r.” Then he pointed at my notebook and said, “You can write it down just like that: ‘David Ortiz says Manny is a crazy motherf----r.’ That guy, he’s in his own world, on his own planet. Totally different human being than everyone else.” Ortiz is not alone in emphasizing that Ramirez’s originality resonates at the level of species. Another teammate, Julian Tavarez, recently told a reporter from the Boston Herald, “There’s a bunch of humans out here, but to Manny, he’s the only human.”
TC Rotisserie Baseball 2007
It's that time of year again: pitcher and catchers have reported, baseballs are whipping around Florida and Arizona, Dice-K's having a daily press conference -- time to register for TC's fantasy baseball league. It's free ($9.99 if you decide to spring for Yahoo's Live Stat Tracker), basically the same as last year but with more moves allowed. League name is TC2007,League ID#: 90892 and the password to join is "monkey".
Fantasy Grading Part 2 | Otuska's Bazookas
Last time I reviewed league winning Meatwad's Igloos ... this time I scan the wreckage of the Bazookas from the Yahoo Private Test Monkey Attack League.
Overall Grade: F
Final result: Dead last, Borg name -- Five of Five.
Draft Assessment: Ortiz with the first pick worked out great ... but Michael Young with the 2nd?! How the heck did that happen? Only Giambi in the 5th round could be considered a steal. Garland and Buehrle were a disaster, as was Guardado, all in the first 10 rounds. My pitching was horrible. D-
Free Agent and Trade Acquisitions: Otsuka was OK. Trading Rivera for Papelbon midseason didn't do me any good, Rivera got better, Papelbon broke down. Trading away Giambi was stupid and I picked up Kenny Rogers a little late. F
Name Assessment: I changed names when I acquired Otsuka. Don't even remember what my name was originally. Just weak. F
Smack Talk: Yeah, there really wasn't much. I got out of the gate OK and may have ran my mouth a little but couldn't say much after a week or two. Other than that, the message board is basically John and Will bickering. F
I had a first place, last place and middle of the pack team this past year. Worst and first are covered, next time it's the Providence Grays to close out baseball.
Since c-dog is giving us the low-down on all his fantasy teams of various sports and leagues (which may be his way of telling us that the kids are being raised by wolves at this point) I thought I'd post the fantasy Congress league. Draft some congressmen and rack up points.
Fantasy Time
Sports. Fantasy Sports. I hate doing self-assessments for work ... but I think it's important to look for ways to improve as Fantasy GM. So, I'll do a grade for each of my 2006-07 teams and pick sets starting with the baseball teams, then moving through football, basketball, NASCAR, hockey, Premiership soccer, basketball (college and pro). I can sense your excitement at the prospect of learning from my experience, so without further ado ...
Baseball Yahoo Public 114672 - Meatwad's Igloos - Overall Grade: A+
Finished 1st of 12, coasted to victory on a 10 point cushion.
Draft Assessment: Made only 9 moves over the course of the season. Second place team, by comparison, made 28 and third place made 45. Manny, Ortiz, and Chris Carpenter with the 1st 3 picks anchored the team. Dominated, winning 5 of the 10 categories and finishing top 4 in all but SB and Ws. Beltran in Round 6 of the draft was my steal, only Kerry Wood in the 11th was a dud. A
Free Agent and Trade Assessment: Acquired Akinori Otsuka to shore up the bullpen and I can't remember what trades I made. Didn't need to do much because of the strong draft though and certainly didn't hurt my team. B-
Name Assessment. Meatwad is perhaps the most likable of the Aqua Teens, not as clever as Frylock, but without Shake's core of meanness. His ability to transform into a meat igloo made him uniquely suited to represent this team. The next most creative and intriguingly named team in the league was "ilovechicken" ... I clearly dominated in this category as well. A
Smack Talk: I routinely posted press releases and team awards but was unable to engage any of the semi-literate mouth breathers in that league in flame war. B-
Meatwad's Igloos were my success story of the '06 season, next time I'll analyze the stunning failure of Otsuka's Bazookas.
Unbelievable
This is the loudest MVP chant I've ever heard.
Ortiz just hit a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 9th to lift the Sox over Cleveland 9-8.
I grew up with Rice, Lynn, Evans, and Yaz. Roger Clemens may be the greatest pitcher I'll ever see. Pedro is right up there *and* helped win a World Series *and* had that infectious smile. Nomar was great. Big Mo Vaughn was awesome. Manny just keeps being Manny. Ted Williams gave us .406; I've read everything about him I could lay my hands on and I believe he may well be the greatest hitter who ever played the game. But David Ortiz is becoming my favorite Red Sox player.
If Papi doesn't get the MVP this year, the award means nothing.
Update: Shaughnessy seems a little starstruck this morning as well.
The Bullpen
Baseball Reference has a new wiki adjunct that covers international baseball, the minor leagues, the negro leagues, and features player bios, trivia, and a number of other topics that wouldn't fit neatly into pure stats format of the parent site. It still has that 'new wiki' roughness to it,but it looks like it should provide lots of interesting reading for baseball fans.
