SMC - St Johns Game Recap

St Marys - St Johns Game recap

St Mary's got a nice victory yesterday morning over St. John's. I would give St Marys a B grade overall for this game. Their lack of an inside presence now that Omar Samhan is gone is very scary. Throughout the St Johns game we were relying on three pointers (like usual) but we could not get an easy bucket basically the whole game. Someone needs to step up and be a go to downlow scorer. Diamon Simpson and Samhan were go to downlow scorers and that seems to be lacking so far. Tim Williams has looked good in spurts downlow and seems to be the Gaels best chance at a big time scoring bigman. If he can develop even half of the game that Samhan possessed last year, than St. Mary's should be in good shape to make a run at the WCC title.

The Gaels guard play is going to very iffy this season, McConnell is a great three-point shooter and slightly above average passer. Dallevadova has not impressed me. He has struggled shooting the three and is not creating off the dribble. However, Dallevadova is probably the Gaels best perimiter defender that they have and with his size will be able to guard the bigger point guards in the NCAA. Clint Stemdl had a huge game shooting the three and if he can keep up the shooting will be a a very effective Small Forward in the WCC.

Overall, I have high expectations for this team. I think that, while it may take a while this season for the team to learn how to play together (Only Dallavedova, McConnell and Stemdl have ever played significant minutes for the Gaels), the young crop looks promising and seems to be the most athletic the Gaels have had in years.

Quick note on St. Johns. New head coach Steve Lavin has this St John's team playing well. They were able to compete the entire game despite horrible shooting in the second half. St Johns will struggle playing fundamental basketball (like they did in this game) but should be athletic enough to compete in games anyway. This St Johns team will definitely be fun to watch and will have it's struggles but will definitely continue to improve and be very competitive by the time tournament times comes around.

Why Ron Washington is a horrible manager: Closer Usage

Dear Ron Washington,

Hi my name is Eric and I live in New York City. I am not a Yankee fan and would love to see them lose. Your team gave me hope by taking a 5-1 lead against the hated Yankees tonight into the 8th inning. Then CJ Wilson started getting into trouble. After the Yankees got a couple of players on, you, Mr. Washington, in all your managerial decided, "hey, who cares that the best pitcher in my bullpen is Neftali Feliz, I can't use him until the 9th inning to get the save," so you brought in a bunch of other relievers who went on to give up 3 runs and give the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

Mr. Washington, knowing that your team lost the game 6-5 and knowing that you left your best relief pitcher in the bullpen, do you think that you made the right managerial decisions? Or, is the save such an important statistic in your brain that you couldn't imagine any other pitcher from your bullpen getting that capital S next to his name.

Sincerely, your biggest fan,

Eric

LCS Preview

Today after what seems like an eternity baseball has returned. This is just going to be a quick preview because I haven't had a lot of time this week and want to get this preview done before the Yankees-Rangers game begins.

Let's start with the ALCS. Looking at the pitching matchups I have to give the advantage to the Yankees. The starting rotation for the Yankees is stronger 1-2 and the Rangers are stronger 3-4, (I'm just talking about this series and for our purposes cj wilson is texas' #1 and Cliff Lee is #3. The Yankees have a stronger bullpen so overall I will give the pitching advantage to the Yankees. The lineups however are a different story. I give the advantage here to the Rangers, the reason being that the Rangers have a lot of speed and Jorge Posada is terrible at throwing runners out. I think this series, a lot like Game 5 of the Rays series, comes down to manufacturing runs. So because of the Rangers speed they will be able to manufacture more runs than the Yankees lineup will be able to. Overall in this series I give the slight advantage to the Rangers because of their speed and ability to manufacture that one run when they need it. I'm taking the Rangers in 7, with Cliff Lee throwing another series deciding complete game.

Onto the NLCS. This is a battle of the pitching rotations. The Giants have a really good rotation, Lincecum, Sanchez, Cain and Bumgarner and so do the Phillies with Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels & Blanton. I'm going to go against the grain and say that I believe the Giants have a better rotation. From 1-3 I think the Giants pitching is just as good and Bumgarner is better than Blanton. The Giants bullpen is better than the Phillies because seriously, Brad Lidge, that's all I have to say about the weakness of the Phillies bullpen. The Phillies have a better lineup when they are going good but have been struggling mightily. In the lineup category I am going to give a slight advantage to the Phillies. I think this is going to be an awesome series and I predict the Phillies in 6, with Roy Oswalt getting the W.

Baseball - The Greatest Play Ever Performed

The MLB playoffs are amazing. They are the only important games happening this month. Yes hockey and basketball are starting but it's only the beginning of their seasons. The NFL is only sundays and mondays so what are sport fans supposed to do the rest of the week to get their sports fill.

What makes the playoffs so exciting you ask? Well for starters there is baseball on for at least 6 hours a day, during the playoffs life becomes eat, work and baseball. Anytime there are 6 hours of a great sport on a day it's great. There is unrivaled drama. More drama than in any other sport, besides maybe the NHL playoffs. The NBA playoffs you don't have to watch until the fourth quarter and the NFL you only get two days of games a week.

Unrivaled drama? Eric you are insane baseball is way too long and slow to have such drama. Baseball has many flaws, it's slow, sometimes there is not a lot of action, sometimes it can lull you into complacency; however these flaws only add to the drama and here is why.

Let's say you are at a Broadway play, at a movie theater or reading a great book, do you want the entire book to be the climax, the entire story to be the one lasting event. No, mostly you want the story, the background, you want to get to know the characters but the most important part, the buildup, the anticipation. A great story, at least for me, is one where the anticipation is so intense that you almost can't handle it. You know the ending is coming but you have no idea what it's going to be. Yes you probably know all the characters and have an idea what you think the ending will be but the beauty of a story is that until you've finished it can be anything. It can be exactly what you expected or the exact opposite of what you thought. The character you knew and hated could turn out to be the hero and the villian that you prayed would ultimately fail can succeed.

A baseball game in many ways is in its essence a story. The players, coaches and increasingly the umpires are the characters and the game is their journey. Let's look at the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves game from last night to understand the baseball game to story comparison. Big time Timmy Jim Lincecum was on the mound for the Giants against Derek Lowe for the Braves. The Giants featuring rookie of the year candidate Buster Posey against the Braves Jayson Heyward their rookie of the year candidate. The starting 9 of the Giants vs. the starting 9 of the Braves, these were the main characters, the main players. The game started out with a couple of scoreless inning. They were setting the scene, introducing us to the characters and giving us their background, allowing us, the audience, to decide who we loved and hated and cheered and booed. Next came the bottom of the fourth. Buster Posey comes up and hits a single. Next up Burell, 3-2 count, Derek Lowe delivers and Posey takes off for second. With the entire stadium holding it's collective breath Burrell strikes out and McCann throws to second. The stadium is ready to erupt and everyone is staring at the second base umpire, "Safe!". The crowd goes crazy. Juan Uribe is retired harmlessly and Pablo Sandoval is intentionally walked. both are retired harmlessly and up to the plate comes Cody Ross. Everyone San Francisco Giants fan is now nervous, "here it goes again, we are going to waste another base runner in scoring position," says Little 12 year old Jimmy Sveds to his dad a lifelong Giants fan. His dad Kevin Sveds had seen this all time to many times, Giants look promising finally get to the playoffs and lose. He is part of the cursed Giants franchise which has been unable to bring home a championship to San Francisco since moving the franchise from New York. Derek Lowe gets ready and deals, Cody Ross hits it hard and singles to left, Posey scores! They have done it they broke the 0-0 tie and know that that might be all they need to win. Lincecum is just dealing, he seems only slightly hittable and seems back to his Cy young form.

Fast forward to the top of the 9th inning. The Braves have been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to score a run and are now down to their last 3 outs. No one in the stadium is comfortable, everybody is nervous. Giants fans hoping that their Cy young ace can hold the 1-0 lead and the Braves fans hoping they can miraculously score a run. (The beauty of baseball is now everyone in the stadium has a break between innings to let the emotion sink in, to increase the tension, to try to truly understand the situation and figure out what the ending is going to be. Whether they will be depressed or elated, cry or cheer.) First up is Omar Infante and he proceeds to ground out. Next is Jason Heyward the stellar rookie and he strikes out swinging. Derek Lee is up, with 2 outs in the top of the 9th, Lee is the braves last hope. Lincecum delivers, first pitch strike 1. Next pitch strike 2, next ball 1. Derrek Lee is now down to his last strike, Lincecum is ready, the crowd is on it's feet ready to go crazy. Lincecum gets set and delivers....Strike 3!

The crowd goes crazy, the game is over, the ending has been written, all that is left is tomorrow, knowing that there will be more at bats, more games, but for tonight the story is over and the ending has been written!

So until tomorrow, until the next game we can go back and analyze and try to figure out why it ended the way it did, knowing that we were all along for that thrilling ride.

Arod and The Captain - Hypocrisy At it's Finest

Tonight ESPN aired 30 for 30 "Four nights in October" and it is a pretty good documentary, nothing special but interesting enough. The documentary just showed Game 6 and the Arod play where he swatted the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove. Arod knew he was going to be out so he tried to swat the ball out of Arroyo's glove because he knew that there was no other way he could reach first base. All he was doing was trying to help his team win and he was doing anything he could to make it happen. Was it cheating? Probably, but it's the umpires job to make that call.

I would compare this type of baseball activity to the other types of baseball activities that could be considered cheating that could also be considered cheating in baseball. A catcher framing a pitch when he knows its a ball, a second, third baseman or shortstop pretending to have made a tag in time, an outfielder acting like he made a diving catch when in fact he had trapped it, and the last example is a batter pretending like a ball hit them when they knew that it hit the bat.

O yea, by the way, the last example of cheating happened this year by none other than The Captain Derek Jeter. Derek Jeter pretended that the ball had hit his hand and not his bat. After doing this Jeter's was interviewed and said that he knew he had not been hit by the ball but he figured he could get to first base if he pretended it him. After this everyone applauded Jeter for his acting and effort.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with what Jeter did, "if you aint cheating you aint trying" but I don't see the big difference between what Alex Rodriguez did and what Derek Jeter did. They both were doing everything they could to get on first base and help their team win.

MLB Playoff Preview Part II

Today friends I am going to preview the two National League Division Series. First up is the Philadelphia Phillies against the Cincinnati Reds. This one was the easiest for me to predict, Philadelphia in 4. Let's break down this series starting with the biggest difference in talent level first. The Phillies starting rotation is ridiculous, I can't think of a better way to describe them. With Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels the Phillies have three legitimate number one starters. If those three starters can pitch 7 or 8 innings they can afford to have a slightly weaker bullpen than the Reds. The Reds starters are not lights out and they have no legitimate consensus number one starter. The Reds have had bullpen problems all season just like the Phillies have. Because of both of these bullpens struggles you have to give the pitching edge to the Phillies and H20 (Holliday, Hamels & Oswalt).

Offensively I think that both of these teams are very even. The Phillies have a great lineup but Rollins and Victorino have struggled and Utley has been hurt a lot. The Reds also have had some struggles but they do have the NL MVP Joey Votto. I am going to call the offenses a wash. This wash on offense and the Phillies pitching strength are why I chose the Philadelphia Phillies to advance.

Now onto the most exciting matchup of the first round of the playoffs, the San Francisco Giants against the Atlanta Braves. The reason I say this is the most exciting is because I am one of the few people who would prefer a 1-0 game to a 10-8 game. I love low scoring pitching duels and this series will have plenty of those. Let's start with the number one matchup of this series, baseball's future star outfielder Jayson Heward vs Baseball's future star catcher Buster Posey. The two leaders by far in the NL Rookie of the year race are set to square off. Even though they are not technically matched up against each other, they are both just so much fun to watch.

Offensively I believe that neither one of these teams has an advantage. Both of these teams have terrible offenses and if either one of these teams scores 3 runs in a game that should be considered a success. Pitching will be how these games will be decided. Pitching wise, I think that the Giants rotation is better than the Braves. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, and if needed Bumgarner as a very formidable number 4 starter, is probably the second best in the national league and probably second in the entire playoffs. The Braves rotation is okay Lowe, Hanson, Hudson and if Beachy as the fourth starter. When choosing between these two rotations I would definitely take the Giants rotation. Onto the bullpens, I would say that both of these bullpens are equal. They both have a pretty good setupman and have closers who are having great seasons. Therefore, I would give the edge in this series to Giants due to their pitching strength.


Here's a quick rundown, as promised, of the rest of my picks for the rest of the playoffs. So here's the rundown:

First Round: Rays over Rangers
Twins over Yankees
Phillies over Reds
Giants over Braves

Second Round: Twins over Rays
Phillies over Giants

Third Round: Phillies over Twins

MLB Playoff Preview 2010

Last night was the thrilling end to a great regular season. The Braves and Giants both clinched playoff spots, the Rays won the east and the playoff matchups have been set. Now for your reading pleasure I present to you my officialy unofficial MLB playoff preview. So is everyone out there ready for some playoff baseball with the greatest sports announcer of all time, yes all time Joe Buck.

Let's start with the AL East Champions against the AL West Champions. The first item that should be discussed about this series is the fact that they have to play both games 1 and games 2 of this series during the day. The reason that this is important is that it shows what MLB cares about, money. Yes I know baseball is a business and that this is purely a business decision, but come on, how can you say that you care about fairness and equality when you don't even care enough about the Rays and Rangers to give them one night game during the week. I believe that Rays fans and Ranger fans want to support their respective teams but it's really hard for them to do that while they are at work in a struggling economy. Baseball should have cared about fairness here and given one day game each to each series, but hey that's just my opinion.

Now onto the actual baseball playing side of the playoffs. My prediction for this series is the Rays in 4. The reason for this is that no other team seems to be quite as good at stealing wins. The Rays have an uncanny ability to win games that they shouldn't and games where they are actually outplayed. First let's take a look at the pitching matchup between these two teams. For the Rangers it will be Cliff Lee, Mr. October who has been unbelievable in the postseason the last two years, followed by CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis in game 2 and 3 (they are not sure what order they will pitch in) and Tommy Hunter in game 4 if necessary. For the Rays it will be David Price game 1 and then James Shields, Wade Davis and Matt Garza in games 2,3 and 4 (the order has not yet been decided). For me the Rangers have a better starting rotation. The Rays however have the greater bullpen. Their bullpen looks alot like it did in 2008 when they made their World Series run. They have a young starter who they like a lot in the bullpen have solid setup guys but this year they have a great closer in Rafael Soriano. Overall I will give the pitching advantage to the Rays, the reason being that a lot of funky things can happen in the beginning of a game and so I think the Rays great bullpen and their pretty good starters overall are btter than the Rangers starter and bullpen combination.

Offensively in this series I think that from top to bottom the Rays have a better offense. Everyone in the lineup knows how to handle the bat well and make productive plays happen. For both the Rays and the Rangers their best hitters are coming off injuries. Evan Longoria for the Rays hurt his hamstring but seems to be fine and Josh Hamilton for the Rangers has been sidelined for basically all of September and is still not at 100%. OUt of these two lineups I think that the Rays offense is stronger.

Now onto what I believe is the more intriguing series. My prediction for this series, the Twins against the Yankees, is Minnesota in 5. New York's starting rotation is in shambles right now. Sabathia has pitched great this year but after that the entire rotation is a question mark. Pettitte struggled on Saturday throwing 4 innnings but needing 88 pitches to do so. After that wow! Hughes has not been pitching that well and is over his pitch limit, Ivan Nova has struggled after the fourth or fifth inning, and AJ Burnett is just terrible (the Yankees should not even consider starting him in the playoffs unless they absolutely have to). Minnesota's rotation is much stronger Liriano and Pavano have pitched very well this year. (Number 1 reason for Pavano's resurgence, Pavano's moustache, 100% the reason.) Duensing has been pitching very well also. I will give a slight edge to the Yankees bullpen because of Mr. Mariano Rivera but that advantage is not enough to make up for the Yankees abyssmal starting rotation.

Offensively the Yankees have a slight advantage overall, except for one little fact they can't hit left handed pitching right now. Considering games 1 & 3 and probably 4 they will be facing lefties I think that their offense is going to struggle mightily. On the flip side the Twins do not have a weakness in their lineup. They are solid from top to bottom and have. The Yankees lineup is struggling so I believe the three games against the lefties will be enough for them to be eliminated.

So overall for the two AL Division Series' I have the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins advancing. Tonight or tomorrow I will preview and predict the NL Division Series' and predict how the rest of the playoffs will turn out.

So until next time everyone,

Goodnight and sleep tight and get ready for some postseason baseball!

Why wins are a useless statistic for judging pitchers

Recently my roomate and I have been talking alot about Andy Pettitte and whether or not he is a hall of famer. The number one statistic that my roomate points to is his career and postseason number of wins. This topic got us into the discussion about whether or not wins are a useful statistic when evaluating a pitcher.

In my opinion wins are a useless statistic for judging pitchers performances. A win(or loss) is much more of a team statistic than an individual statistic. Wins measure whether or not your team scored more runs than you gave up. When trying to figure out whether or not we should use wins to judge a pitcher statistically we need to look at what the purpose of statistics are.

The purpose of a statistic is to evaluate a players performance, either in an individual game or over an entire season or career. Let's use ERA as an example. If pitcher A gives up 3 runs over 9 innings he has a 3.0 era; whereas, if pitcher B gives up 5 runs over 9 innings he has a 5.0 era. Looking at how many runs each pitcher gave up, an outside observer can tell that the pitcher who has a 3.0 era pitched better than the pitcher with a 5.0 era. Now lets look at the same two pitchers. Pitcher A who gave up three runs got a loss and pitcher B who gave up 5 runs got a win. Which pitcher had a better game? Which pitcher had a worse game? By just looking at who got the win or loss you would assume that the pitcher who got the win had the better game and the pitcher who got the loss had a worse game; however, you would be completely wrong. This example shows why wins and losses should not be used to judge a pitcher statistically.

The other major reason why wins and losses should not be used to judge pitchers is that the bullpen has a major effect on the second half of the game. Once a pitcher exits the game while the game is still in progress they no longer have any control over the outcome. If the pitcher leaves with his team winning and then the bullpen blows the lead, the pitcher is no longer credited with the win. On the flip side if a pitcher leaves the game with his team losing, his team makes a comeback and his team wins the original pitcher is no longer credited with a loss. This would cause pitchers who have pitched a bad game to look better and not get a loss and pitchers who have pitched a good game to look worse and not get a win.

Why Lebron James made the right "Decision"

Today at work, my coworkers and I were discussing the always entertaining topic of Lebron James. They claimed that LBJ joining the Miami Heat with Dwayne Wade was a copout and that LBJ could no longer be viewed as "the man". LBJ, according to them, is now Scottie Pippen to Wade's Jordan. In many ways I agree with them that Lebron is playing Robin to Wade's Batman, but I do not believe that that decision is the wrong decision.

In Cleveland Lebron tried desperately to win a championship. He played incredibly and was the best basketball player in league but was unsuccessful in trying to, by himself, bring the Cavaliers a championship. Lebron was sick of losing, why stay with a terrible franchise and an owner and general manager who have no idea how to put a championship team together.

On July 8th Lebron James became a free agent. Now for the first time instead of hoping and wishing that the Cleveland Cavaliers would put together a championship team Lebron looked for a better option. That option was join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and play under one of the smartest people in basketball at putting together championship teams Pat Riley.

Here's the question I pose to anyway who thinks that Lebron James took the easy way out by going to the Heat to play with Dwayne Wade. What is the difference between having a championship team built around you and going to build yourself a championship team somewhere else?

Hockey - The most exciting sport of them all?

I used to be a casual New York Rangers fan. Besides the 1993-1994 season when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, the only other good thing about hockey for me was NHL 94. The NHL was fifth on my list of major sports in the United States. Number 1 was the MLB, number 2 was the NBA, number 3 was the NFL and number 4 was NASCAR.

Then 5 years ago something changed. I began my freshman year at St. Mary's College with the no interest in watching hockey because my New York Rangers were basically never on and I could have cared less about any other hockey team. Slowly, I started to watch San Jose Sharks games every now and then and I started to like the NHL more and more each day. 3 years later during my junior year something magical happened.

It was game 6 of the NHL playoffs that pitted the San Jose Sharks against the Dallas Stars. The game was exciting from the beginning and at the end of regulation the teams were tied 1-1. For the first time since that 1994 season I was hooked on hockey again. Sudden death overtime the most exciting way to end a sporting event that there is. Three overtimes later the score was still 1-1. I was on the edge of my seat, I couldn't stop watching, no one could have scripted a more thrilling and exciting sporting event. Finally but sadly (by that point, during that one game, I had become a diehard Sharks fan), Brendan Morrow scored the game winning goal for the Dallas Stars. Thus crushing the dreams of all the Sharks fans who had expected a Stanley Cup appearance for their team.

Fast forward to 2010. The NHL playoffs have now become my nightly must watch sporting event. They have constant action, incredible intensity, violence, and lots and lots of drams. If that is not the perfect combination of attributes for a sporting event to have, then I have no idea what is.

The blog is back!

The blog is back everybody. It's been a while but since I am currently watching the greatest sports network, that not nearly enough people are watching, I felt obligated to tell the world about it.

For those of you who have yet to experience the greatness of the MLB Network, you are missing out. I turned on the MLB Network about 5 minutes ago, after watching the end of the NY Mets game. My MLB Network viewing started with the highlights of the Mets game I had just watched (which was probably being shown on every highlight shown). After watching Ike Davis' awesome catch, the MLB Network then switched to the end of the Chicago Cubs - Florida Marlins game. Once the 9th out was recorded they then went live to the A's - Rangers game, where the A's made a 9th inning comeback.

It's the year 2010, my question is why did it take us so long to have live game look-ins. We have the technology but it has never happened before. If you love baseball and I know many out there do, you must and I repeat, must, watch MLB Network's MLB Tonight Live whenever you want to know and watch what is going on that day in baseball.

It's good to be back and there will be more to come.

P.S. This is for those of you who watch lost and follow baseball but do not religiously read and listen to Bill Simmons articles/podcasts, I give you this little tidbit from Bill Simmons. Justin Smoak the rookie sensation who was recently called up to the majors may have stumbled into the greatness nickname/cultural reference combination possibly ever. Justin Smoak for now and forever will be known as the Smoak Monster. What a perfect nickname!

Derek Jeter's playoffs heroics and Cole Hamels pitching woes

After watching the first round of the MLB playoffs I was incredibly irritated. Not only did the umpires get every other call wrong, but the players made way too many mental mistakes. There were many baserunning mistakes including Colby Rasmus trying to take third, Molina getting thrown out trying to take third on a groundball to short, and Nick Punto getting thrown out because he took to big of a turn at third base. I've been trying to figure out why so many "professional" baseball players seem to making terrible baserunning mistakes that little leaguers know not make. I figured out my answer when looking at Derek Jeter's flip against the A's in 2001. Yes the play was amazing, it was a perfect flip to Posada but there is one major problem with it; Jeter was completely out of position. On that play Jeter is supposed to be covering second base so that if Terrance Long tries to take third base and goes to far he will be caught in a rundown. But, like many plays these days Jeter moves completely out of position to field the overthrow and flip it to Posada. Yes the play worked but this is not a smart baseball play. This play shows perfectly why baseball players make so many silly mistakes. The players want to make the highlight reel, they want to be the star and make the game winning play. However, baseball is won by smart baseball not bad/lucky baseball which is what the Jeter play was.

This is not to take anything away from the fact that Jeter made an amazing, perfect flip to Posada, but if he is 1/2 a second slower or it is an inch farther from Posada then it will not be looked at as a sensational play. Everyone would have been talking about how Jeter was out of position

NFL Blacking Out Games

Big news of the day is that NFL blacks out NFL games in local markets if the game does not sell out 72 hours in advance. Both Cincinnati and Arizona are in danger of having this happen to them. This rule of blacking out games if the games do not sell out is absolutely ridiculous. The NFL is basically saying that they don't care about any of the fans who want to watch their team on television but can't afford to go to see them play live. So they force their fans to have to buy tickets or else the fans won't get to see their hometown football team's game live. The fans will have to wait for the replay on live television.

The NFL needs to change this rule. In an economy like this it's unfair to try to blackmail fans into buying tickets by telling the fans that they need to sell out the game or else they won't get to see their favorite teams. This is a heartless ridiculous rule by the NFL and absolutely needs to be changed.

Alex Rodriguez

Just finished watching the epic thriller between the Red Sox and Yankees. This is just a short post since it's pretty late. Alex Rodriguez just hit a homerun to end a 15 inning game against the Yankee's arch rival. If that isn't clutch then I don't know what is.

6/26 NBA Draft Recap

Here's a quick recap of the NBA Draft.
1 - Blake Griffin - Best available player in the draft - no brainer
2 - Hasheem Thabeet - Best shot-blocker inside defender in the draft, pick makes sense in this weak draft
3 - James Harden - Very Talented but can he be a great defender considering that he has never played man defense in college
4 - Tyreke Evans- Tons of talent. Is he a true point guard?
5 - Ricky Rubio - Tons of talent. Only 18. Will probably play in Spain for 1-2 more years.
6 - Johnny Flynn - Although to many this pick does not seem to make sense and many people believe that Rubio or Flynn will be traded I disagree. I think this pick makes a lot of sense.
Here's what i think Minnesota is going to do. Let Rubio stay in Spain for this year and let him continue to improve his game. Then let Flynn play on the T-wolves and develop in the NBA. Next year re-evaluate the situation and if Rubio comes to the US then consider trading him or Flynn. This scenario is what seems to make the most sense to me
7 - Stephen Curry - Good fit for Nelson's shoot first system, however, will Ellis want out, will they trade Curry and will Curry be able to guard anyone in the NBA.
8 - Jordan Hill - Finally the Knicks didn't do something horrible with their pick. I like this pick a lot because Hill was the best available player on the board and is an uptempo forward he will be able to play well in D'antonis systm.
29 - Toney Douglas - Again the Knicks took the best available player left on the board. Douglas is a scorer who should be a nice spark off the bench for the Knicks and maybe will be able to turn into their point guard.
56 - Patty Mills - Since I went to St. Mary's I was quite nervous when Mills kept slipping farther and farther down in the draft. Good value pick for Portland. From everything I've been reading Portland will probably have Mills play overseas and then bring him into the mix next year if he plays well. They really don't have a roster spot for him and have already said that they think they'll be bringing in two rookies to camp Jeff Pendegraph and Dante Cunninhgham (Villanova).

6/25 USA All The Way!

USA 2 - Spain 0
In a shocking upset, the United States pulled of an improbable victory over Spain the #1 team in the world. Jozy Altidore scored a great goal in the first half and then Clint Dempsey added a garbage goal in the second to give the US the victory. The game against Spain was the best the US has looked in a very long time. Although Spain was on the offensive a lot, the US's defense did not crack and played extremely well. Every ball in or around the box was contended. The US proved once again that they can play with the best teams in the world and can win.

LSU 11 - Texas 4 - College World Series
The College World Series has come to an end and it was an exciting College World Series. Not too much to say about it just that this is one of the most exciting sporting events of the year and does not get nearly enough fan support.

Wimbledon 2009
Federer, Djokovic, Roddick and Murray have all advanced and are playing extremely well. Also of note Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt has struggled and contention in tennis for the past couple years and has seemed to refind his game. Hewitt played great today in his win today.

6/10

MLB Draft Continuted

  Just a quick post today. I am happy to report in Round 12 St. Mary's College's own Kyle Jensen was drafted by the Florida Marlins. Also, in the 44th round my fellow St. Mary's grad Joel Staples was drafted also by the Florida Marlins. 

MLB Draft 6/9

Today was the MLB Draft. Yes I know most of you don't care but this is important stuff people. As expected Stephen Strasburg was the first player taken in this year's draft. He's expected to get around a 50 million dollar deal, which is absolutely absurd, for an unproven player. Most experts are saying that this is the signing that will cause the MLB to completely renovate the draft process. However, i do not agree. The reason that this won't happen is because baseball's management has no idea how to run the sport, so obviously the smart idea will be thrown out and they old outdated draft will be here to say.

Interesting side note; ex yankee prospect and now pittsburgh starting pitcher Ross Ohlendorf wrote his college thesis on how to fix the MLB draft. How cool is that!

NBA Finals 6/4

Tonight is the first night of the NBA Finals. Before we get to that let's talk about Lebron James for a second.

After their final loss of the season Lebron James showed no class. First, he didn't shake hands with the other team which is completely and totally unsportsmanlike. Then he didn't talk to reporters after the game. Now for your everyday average player I probably wouldn't have that big of a problem with this, but this isn't some random basketball player, this is the one of the most recognizable basketball players in the world (who happens to be considered by many to be the best in the world). He is getting paid millions of dollars a year by advertisers but he is too good to adress the media and the general public who are the reason that he gets paid what he does. I don't understand how he can be ok with taking all of this endorsement money and then as soon as the going gets tough he suddenly doesn't want to deal with the media. When you take all the credit you have to be willing to take the criticism and right now it seems like Lebron is not willing to do that. 

5/30/09

Just a quick post today.

Stephen Strasburg struggled giving up two earned runs yesterday leading to a San Diego State showing that he is in fact human and can actually lose a gam. Also, it shows that he may in fact need the minor leagues so he can face some better competition.

Andy Roddick advanced to the fourth round of the French Open for the first time in his career. Roddick is playing great tennis and could be a real contender for the title this year.