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!