Predictions !

Saturday August 11th 2007. The New York Yankees are currently tied for the AL wild Card with Seattle. They are also only 5 games back of the Boston Red sox. Everyone seemed to count out the Yankees all year long. Questioning that they are too old and don’t have enough pitching. Even questioning Joe Torre as a manager. Saying he is too old and cant get the job done anymore. The Yankees sure are showing everyone. Since the all star break the Yankees have been by far the best team in baseball. If you count the suspended game against Baltimore the Yankees are 22-8 since the All Star break. I wrote an article on July 11h predicting how the Yankees would turn their season around and have a huge second half. I predicted the offense to become hot and take the lead for most runs in the league. Since we have seen an offensive explosion. I said the pitching would come around. Since the pitching has been phenomenal. I predicated them to make the Playoffs at a point when they were 8.5 back of wild card and 10 of the division. Since then they have cut the division lead to 5 and are tied for the Wild Card. Now that we are getting closer to the playoffs I have some new predictions.
Their will be a great race for the AL East. The Yankees and Red Sox and the Two best teams in baseball who happen to be in the same division. As for the Yankees, although they have had an offensive explosion winning the division is still a very hard task. Don’t forget they aren’t just chasing any first place team they are chasing the team with the best record in baseball. With the Yankees hitting and new addition to the bullpen Joba Chamberlin plus the now healthy Phil Hughes it is very possible for them to win the division. However ,Boston has great pitching and they only play 6 more times this year. Even if the Yankees don’t win the division they will definitely win the wild card. Seattle’s line up is not that strong. Their bullpen might be great, however their starting pitching isn’t very strong. As for Cleveland and Detroit I believe Detroit will end up winning the Central. They are a much more talented team then Cleveland. The Angles will win the West. Yankees win the East and Boston wins the wild card. The Yankees and Red Sox could be flipped around, but any way you look at it the four teams who will make the playoffs in the AL are the Red Sox, Tigers, Yankees, Angels. They are the four best teams in baseball and are all in the AL.
The National league is very hard to predict. So many teams are so close to each other. In the West alone 4 out of 5 teams are fighting for the division. In the East 3 out of 5 and the Central 3 out of 5 as well. I definitely believe the Cubs are going to catch Milwaukee and take the Central. The Cubs have a great line up and are now only .5 back for the division lead. I wouldn’t be surprised in Milwaukee had a complete collapse and even the Cardinals pass them. The west is wide open. Arizona San Diego, LA, and Colorado can all capture the division. I Don’t think Arizona is good enough to win it. Amazingly, they are 14 over .500 but have been out scored this year by 21 runs this season. San Diego has great pitching but not enough hitting to make the playoffs. Colorado can definitely score runs but their pitching is probably the worst in that division. I believe the race will be very close all year with the Dodgers coming out on top winning the division. However, that division is definitely up for grabs. Any team can run away with it. The East is also very complicated. With Mark Teixeira coming to the Braves they dramatically improved their offense. Philadelphia despite injuries all season has been staying in the race. The Mets are on top of the division by 3 games. I predict 2 out of 3 teams will make the playoffs in the NL East. Wild Cards in both leagues coming from the East. Although Atlanta has a great line up I don’t believe they have enough starting pitching to make it to the post season. Besides Smoltz and Hudson they pretty much have no one. In a shocking upset I predict Philadelphia to somehow win the East and Mets win the Wild Card. My NL Playoff teams are Philly’s, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers.

Overshadowed

Last night Barry Bonds broke what many call most prestigious record in all of American Sports. In his third trip to the plate already 2-2 with a double and single Bonds blasted his 756th Home Run into the night time sky at AT&T Park off of Washington Nationals starting pitcher Mike Bacsik. This is a moment that will always be remembered. However, unlike when Hank Aaron hit 755 Bonds home run is overshadowed by steroids. Many people have many different feeling towards Bonds. Some were excited to see him break the record, some think no matter what he isn’t the legit Home Run king. No matter what people think last night August 7th 2007 Barry Bonds became our new Home Run king.
Although Bonds has always been a great play through out his entire career when we look at his numbers clearly something doesn’t make sense. Bonds hit 445 home runs in his first 14 seasons. That is an average of 31.78 a season. Then Bonds turned 36 a time when most baseball players either retire or play a much smaller roll on a team Bonds then became a home run machine. He hit 49,73,46,45,45. From the age 37-41 he won 4 consecutive National League Most Valuable Player awards. In an HBO interview a BALCO chemist Patrick Arnold claimed he and BALCO founder Victor Conte provided Barry Bonds with a Steroid called the clear that was undetectable in tests. Arnold claimed this steroid would not only make a player hit more Home Runs but, their entire game would improve. From Average, RBIS, Slugging Percentage. Everything would be improved after taking this steroid. From physical appearance alone you can tell Bonds had to have taken a steroid. His body changed dramatically over the years. Looking at Barry bonds you can understand why he took steroids. He has always had an ego to be the best and he was watching other players such as Mark McGwire take steroids and blast Home Run after Home Run.
The biggest shame in this entire scandal is Commissioner Bud Selig. Selig wasn’t even their last night when Bonds broke the record. Selig hasn’t been the biggest supporter of Bonds as he has been going after history. Isn’t It funny that Bud Selig now seems to have a problem with someone using steroids but didn’t when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought back the popularity of baseball using steroids during the summer of 1998 when they chased Roger Maris and baseball history .Selig should be blamed more then anyone. He looked the other way back then and so did baseball. Almost 10 years later we are finally finding the skeletons in baseballs closet. The problem with the “Steroids Era” is baseball is Americas past time. The game has been around since 1845 when Alexander Cartwright wrote the rules of the game. In 1871 the first professional league was created. By the start of the 20th century almost every large city in the eastern part of the United States had a professional team. The game of baseball is different from the other four major professional sports in the United States. football, basketball and hockey because baseball is Americas pastime . The game should be respected and players should be honored for their accomplishments . The biggest shame of the steroid era was a game that started over 150 years ago is being disrespected. Many of today’s athletes have forgotten about the past and history of the game and only care about their own accomplishments and mostly about making a lot of money. Bonds isn’t the only one to blame for doing steroids because it was a time when many players were taking steroids and it was being over looked by all of baseball. The problem begins with Baseballs testing policy.
Baseball has a very weak steroids testing policy. Although they have made some improvements they still need to be stricter. They don’t test very often and especially not in the off season in which players are most likely to “cycle.” Under today’s policy if caught a player would be suspended for 10 days. Second time offenders are suspended for 30 days. Third time offenders a 60 day suspension and fourth time a year. I believe this policy isn’t strict enough. Testing should be more frequent and punishment more harsh .
Bob Costas said it perfectly “I regard him as one of the greatest players of all time who got an inauthentic boost and then became a superhuman player.” Bonds was a bound for the Hall before he took steroids. Before the 1999 season he won MVP in 1990, 1992, 1993 and Gold Gloves in 90,91,92,93,94,96,97, and 98. When he started taking steroids his numbers became ridiculous however, many players have taken steroids and not one player has had the numbers Bonds has. I believe if Bonds didn’t take steroids he would of never broken the record and Hank Aarons 755 home runs as well as hit 73 home runs in a single season. The facts show it all his numbers got better dramatically better at a time when most players are on the decline of their career. Any way you slice it like bonds or not he is our home run king for now. I believe in around 5 years we will see Alex Rodriquez ( A-ROD) or as I like to call him A-GOD break Bonds record and possibly even reach 800 home runs without ever putting a steroid in his body.

Bad Boys: What ya gunna do?

I have held my tongue for too long about the NFL “Bad Boys,” but that stops now. Over the recent months since the NFL season has ended we have seen many altercations involving NFL superstars. These people are morons, to quote Tom Hanks in “A League of Their Own,” use your head its the lump three feet above your ass.

The first on the list and maybe the one that has the most spotlight right now is Michael Vick, or as some of you may know him as Ron Mexico. If you have been living under a rock for the past few months and do not know what is going on, first lift the rock, second Vick has been accused of having dog fighting on his property and killing dogs as well as transporting dogs across state lines to participate in other fights around the country. As of now the total years in jail if convicted of all counts is 6 years. However, recently after one of Vick’s “boys” pleaded guilty there seems to be another count bigger than the other two that will be released in August. Vick’s “boy,” in my opinion the smart one in this moronic tribe decided to take a plea bargain and plead guilty on these two counts as to not be involved of the other count. I am pretty confident that the deal the government made with this guy was for him to take the plea and help catch the bigger fish in this situation Vick. Mr. Vick is going to be found guilty and if not our society has gone to hell, I am a dog lover as much of America is, how do you drown, electrocute, and smash dogs into the floor until death. What goes through someone’s mind when they are doing this? I have never been a Vick fan, basically I thought he was overrated but now its much bigger than that. This man should be thrown in jail and in his cell have 20 hungry pitbulls waiting for him. See how much he enjoys a real dog fight. I applaud Roger Goddell who is doing a fantastic job and who put his foot down telling Vick not to report to camp. My Bad Boy rating and Idiot Rating are out of 5 and Ron Mexico get a 5 and if found not guilty probably a 4 cause we all know he still did it.

Second on my “Bad Boys” list is Pac Man Jones. Is this guy out of his mind? Now I enjoy strip clubs as much as the next guy, in fact if anyone is ever in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side there is a place called Sundowners do yourself a favor and check it out, but Pac Man you are a moron. You have millions of dollars, if you really want to go to the clubs that bad I have an idea, send one of your “boys” to the club have him pick you out 10 girls and bring them back to the hotel and bring the club to you. This way you do not have to bite anyone, or pull a gun on anyone. The best part of all of this is that the night before you are going to meet with Mr. Goddell you are found in a strip club, and what a surprise causing a scene. You are an idiot, you are about to be suspended for multiple games and yet you decide hey lets start some havoc, they wont find out. Do you realize how lucky you are and that anyone reading this would kill to be an NFL superstar? Yet you are a menace to society and ruin your dream. I don’t know about you but if I accomplish my dream there will not be any chance I go out of my way to fuck it up. Bad Boys Scale-3, you’re not really bad you’re a moron. Idiot Scale-5, also change your name your ruining the name of a classic video game that this man loves.

Next Tank Johnson: I actually do not feel as much negativity towards him as I do with Pac Man and Vick. You are just a putz, do you think it is necessary for one person to have that many guns. Where do you think you live, and if you live in that bad of a neighborhood move! You have the money. I hate these people who think they are in a gang and need to be “strapped.” You are an NFL player stop fucking around, you get paid millions of dollars to destroy quarterbacks not shoot up the 7-11. On the bad boy scale you’re a 2, because anyone who needs that many guns is compensating for something. On the idiot scale your also a 5, if you have that many guys register it you fucking asshole.

Lastly lets move to Chris Henry, well I guess we can include the entire Bengals team. Ok this is a joke already, about 4 or 5 years ago the Bengals could not win a game and Leno bashed them one night. That weekend they won their first game and someone on the team called Leno out. Well now Leno has a lot more material, this team cant stay out of jail. It reminds me of the scene in “The Replacements” when the whole team gets arrested and sing in the jail cell. Maybe this is what the Bengals like to do on the weekends. I feel bad for the good guys of this team Chad Johnson is raising money for charity all the time, Carson is a class act and so is Marvin Lewis. The management needs to get rid of all the cancers and let this team get to a superbowl. I feel bad for the fans, the ones who have been here from the beginning when they couldn’t win a game. At least during that time they could respect the players on the team, now it’s a joke. The whole Bengals team gets a Bad Boy rating of 4 and an idiot rating of 4 as well.

In Closing, I give a salute to Roger Goddell, I was a big fan of Tagliabue but you have filled his shoes incredibly. I like the way he is punishing players and not letting them get away with this nonsense. We need these players to remember that they are the luckiest people in the world. They get to do what most of us wish we could do and they get paid millions, I would do it for free. If you want to take advantage of your money and power then you do not deserve the respect that the rest of the NFL gets. Why cant we have more players that are class acts, what happened to the Emmitt Smiths, Steve Youngs, Johnny Unitas, Dan Marinos. We need more of those guys now, the youth of America need real sports heroes. Posters of class act athletes on their wall not Vick and the rest of the thugs and bad boys of today. Anyone who owns a Vick jersey burn it or put it away, that goes for any other merchandise. Everyone stay classy and lets hear what you have to say.

MLB - Milestone Extravaganza

Tonight truly could be one of the most memorable nights in MLB history, as 3 future Hall-of-Famers attempt to reach 3 tremendous milestones only achieved by the greatest of players. Tonight, Alex Rodriguez attempts to reach 500 home runs, Tom Glavine goes after win number 300, and Barry Bonds looks to tie Henry Aaron's all-time home run mark at 755.

Let's start with A-Rod. If there was any doubt as to who was the best baseball player in the world, Alex Rodriguez certainly put those doubts to rest. Tonight, A-Rod will return to the Bronx and try to become only the 22nd player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs. Oh, did I mention he is only 32 years old. When A-Rod hits number 500, he will also become the youngest player to reach that milestone. Regardless of what Bonds does this season, or next for that matter, A-Rod is beyond pace to become baseball's all-time home run king.

Watching A-Rod this year and comparing it to last year has shown the world how great A-Rod can be when he is on his game. That is not to say that last year A-Rod had a poor season. It was just a poor season for A-Rod. Last year A-Rod hit a shabby 35 home runs, a mark he is currently at in 2007 with 2 full months of baseball left to play. All this means is that A-Rod can have 'off' years and he can have 'on' years. But even if he racked up 8 more 'off' years, he will still break Bonds' eventual home run mark.

Tom Glavine. Not only one of the best pitchers in MLB history, but one of the best all around athletes to ever take the mound. Originally, Glavine planned to be a hockey star--he was chosen in the 4th round by the Los Angeles Kings in 1984. He was even drafted ahead of superstar left-wing Luc Robataille. However, Glavine went with baseball, a decision he surely doesn't regret. Glavine is a tremendous fielder and is the all-time leader among pitchers with 209 sacrifice hits.

When Glavine does win his 300th game he will be only the 23rd man in MLB history to accomplish such a feat. Even more astonishing, when Glavine notches number 300, it will tie him with Lefty Grove for 4th all-time in wins amongst left-handed pitchers. 4th! Glavine, the recipient of 2 Cy Youngs, rejuvenated his career as a member of the New York Mets. He is undoubtedly one of the good-guys of baseball and deserves all the recognition that is to come his way after win number 300 is out of his way.

Bonds, Bonds, Bonds. Where do we even begin? Bonds was a surefire Hall-of-Famer even before he cracked Mark McGuire's brief home run record by hitting 73 home runs in one season. Bonds was an MVP, a gold glover, and an all-star long before his face and neck began to resemble that of a hippopotamus. But everyone knows something is up with Bonds. Yet, I also know that it will surely be exciting when Bonds does break Aaron's record.

Many baseball fans are horrified at the thought of a "cheater" breaking the greatest record in baseball. Well all I can say to ease your pain is "patience is a virtue." For in time, somewhere between 7-10 years, Bonds will be dethroned when Alex Rodriguez hits number 800 and stands a top the world as the all-time baseball home run king. It should be worth the wait.

Luis Castillo- The New Mets 2nd Baseman

Yesterday Omar Minaya made his move before the deadline and acquired Twins 2nd baseman Luis Castillo. For the 3 time All-Star he gave up Double-A catcher Drew Butera and Single-A outfielder Dustin Martin. There is only one way you can look at this trade......as an absolute steal for Minaya and the Mets. Minaya got Castillo for 2 prospects who are not even projected to make the major leagues. This fact is unbelievable in itself. I have heard some fan complaints about this trade because they wanted to stick with Ruben Gotay and the occasional platoon with Damien Easley. All I can say to this is that I have been pushing for Gotay to start pretty much out of spring training but I cannot deny the upgrade Luis Castillo brings to the Mets.

Castillo does not have the pop in his bat like Gotay's potential shows but he brings so much more. He is a 3 time gold glove winner and has the third best fielding percentage among second baseman in baseball this year. Castillo also adds another switch hitter into the lineup and a consistent .300 batting average to an already potent Mets' lineup. This trade also stabilizes the everyday lineup that Willie Randolph can put out there with Castillo hitting in the two spot where he hit during his best days with the Florida Marlins. Him hitting in the two spot will also help Reyes get better pitches and help Beltran because he should see more runners on base when he comes up to the plate. Castillo adds to the team's speed, defense and clutch hitting without subtracting anything away. This trade also makes the bench better by having Gotay and Easley being used as pinch hitters and replacements late in games.

Luis Castillo might not be the huge name that Mark Teixeira is but this is a great move by the New York Mets and really should help their defense and definitely offense. I do love Ruben Gotay like many other Mets fans but this move gives us a veteran with a World Series ring which is what we all want for the Mets. However, the one thing I will say is that Ruben Gotay should be the starting second baseman next year after he works on his right handed hitting and defense in the off-season, signing an aging Castillo to a contract extension would not be a smart move unless he plays out of his mind for the next two months. Ruben Gotay is 24 years old and I still view him as the future at 2nd base for the New York Mets. There are still close to 5 hours of the trade deadline left so now its time to play the rumors game for the rest of the day to see if Minaya will strike again with a trade deadline steal as he has done time and time again with Castillo this year and Oliver Perez last year.

NBA - Power Shifting?

With the Kevin Garnett trade to the Boston Celtics nearly complete, one can only wonder how this will effect the balance of power between the Eastern and Western conferences in both the long and short term. Don't get me wrong, the Western conference is by far much more powerful than the Eastern conference. With major stars in Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Baron Davis, Tony Parker as well as the first two picks from this years draft in Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, the west is stacked with young grade A talent. This does give the advantage to the Western Conference as of right now.

But with Kevin Garnett most likely changing his address from Minnesota to Boston, could change the power from the west back to the east. The star power is not nearly as deep as the west but the potential is clearly there. To go along with Garnett; Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Shaq, Dwight Howard, Gilbert Arenas, the Chicago Bulls College All-star squad, Chris Bosh, Chancey Billups, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter all call the Eastern conference home. More interesting is the willingness of Eastern Conference teams to break the strangle hold the west has had on the league since Shaq moved from Orlando to LA.

With many big names hitting the free agent market in the next few years, it will be interesting to see if some of these names stay or move. Also while the Western stars are more established in their careers, many of the stars in the East are still learning how to play the game as well as how to develop their own games to reach their highest potential. With the Celtics trading for Ray Allen, deciding not to part ways with Paul Pierce and also trading for Kevin Garnett, it's clear that at least this Eastern Conference team has decided to actually try and win an NBA championship, who would join both the Pistons and Heat as the only true contenders in the Eastern Conference. Yes, Lebron led his team to the finals last year but the way in which they lost shows you that both Lebron was the only true big time player on that team and that it was probably more of a fluke then it was a team effort to reach the finals.

The financial situation of many teams in the Eastern conference also favors the 'stealing' of names from the West to come East. One of the teams with a potentially favorable cap situation is the Knicks. With a few heavy contracts expiring within the next few seasons, the Knicks who play with monopoly money could be heavy players in the free agent market in the upcoming seasons. Also, with Shaq retiring in probably a season or two, the Heat could be a player as they will look to find a wingman for Wade. If the Cavaliers can convince Lebron to stay in Cleveland, they too could hitting the free agent market to actually build a team around the NBA's self proclaimed King.

We can only wait and see how the trade of Garnett to the East will effect the balance of power between the conferences. If the Eastern conference franchises play their cards correctly, the balance of power could be switching back to the east.