Archive for the 'MLB' Category

What Skip Caray Meant to Me

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on August 4, 2008
in MLB
. 0 Comments

When I was in college, I took a sports journalism class and for my final paper, I wrote a story called, “The Video Camera of Sports.”  The essence of the story was to get at the root of that burning question that has always lingered for me: what is the root of my special connection with sports?  Much like a long-lasting friendship, I have felt a unique bond with sports that goes far beyond a simple enjoyment of the game.  It is more than that. 

In writing my story, I came to the revelation that my enjoyment of sports had as much to do with the game between the lines as it did with the memory it evoked.  Each game I played as a kid prominently featured a friend or family member.  Sports meant something to me because it framed my childhood—literally.  My childhood is in some ways a tale woven through various sporting events.  It helped connect me to what mattered most.

Today, I was reminded again of the power of sports when I learned of the death of long-time and legendary Atlanta Braves announcer, Skip Caray.  I can’t look at Skip or hear him broadcast a game without hearing the legendary call of the Braves winning the 1992 NLCS in dramatic fashion over the Pirates.

Take it away Skip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuYKTv8nqhM.

“Here comes Bream! Here’s the throw to the plate! He iiiiiiiisssssssss … safe! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! … Braves win!” 

Like many Braves fans, every time I hear that call it sends a chill down my spine, and often, a tear down my cheek.  The chill?  That can be attributed to the memory of a Braves team that fought back to win a tough NLCS with the most unlikely of heroes.  The tear?  That can be attributed to everything that goes alongside the memory of that night—namely, watching the game with my Mom.

When someone like Skip Caray passes away, all we can do as mere bystanders is remember what role he played in our lives.  In my life, Skip Caray plays a role in that tear. 

Every time I read or hear those words I vividly remember watching that game with my Mom. My brother, four years my elder, had gone to bed because the Braves had fallen behind, but my Mom and I stayed up to watch it from my parents bedroom.  Even as a 10-year old, I remember thinking the Braves’ fortunes were doomed when a relative unknown came to the plate—Francisco Cabrera.  But then the unthinkable happened.  Cabrera lined a single to left field and I leapt to my feet on my parents’ bed and plead with the painfully slow Sid Bream to score.  More than that, I remember my Mom screaming right alongside me, refusing to go to sleep until I was done watching the game.  Of course he did score, and the Braves were on their way to the World Series.  But the tear is not about the Braves, it is about the time watching that game with my Mom.    

Few memories from my childhood stand out as vividly as the one watching the Braves win the 1992 NLCS.  That is what Skip Caray meant to me.

Sunday Smattering

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on July 13, 2008
in MLB, NBA and NFL
. 0 Comments

Due to the inactivity here at “Heard in the Cheap Seats” this would probably be better suited as a 4 Sunday’s Smattering–but we’ll stick with this week for the sake of tradition.

I picked a good week to make my triumphant return with MLB trade season kicking into high gear, NBA free agency, and of course the Brett Favre soap opera.

So here it goes…

Favre Forgoes Retirement (for now): In what has become a yearly ritual, Brett Favre has once again handcuffed the Green Bay Packer organization and sent his loyal fan base into a dizzying frenzy.  The latest word is that the Packers will not honor Favre’s request for unconditional release.  And why should they?

I have great respect for what Brett Favre has been able to accomplish both as a football player and as a person.  However, this constant waffling has to stop.  He owes it to the fan base that dedicated so many years braving the frigid Green Bay winters to watch him play.  He owes it to Aaron Rodgers.  Most importantly, he owes it to an organization that was home to his storied career.

Brett: do us all a favor and have a little bit of conviction in your decisions.  It’s the least you can do.

Monkey See, Monkey Do in NL Central: In a very tight NL Central race, the Brewers and Cubs upped the ante with the additions of C.C. Sabathia to the Brew Crew and Rich Harden to the Cubbies.  With Sabathia and Sheets at the top of the rotation, the Brewers are a formidable bunch.  But does that duo top the pitching prowess of Harden and Zambrano? Each new acquisition comes with an inherent risk–Sabathia’s weight and Harden’s injury-plagued past.  But with enormous upside, these were moves the teams had to make.  From top to bottom, I still think the Cubs’ rotation is deeper and will propel them to the NL Central title.

Brand New Sixer: As a Sixers fan, this was my favorite story line of the week.  It what may turn out to be one of the biggest free-agent coups in recent memory, the Sixers nabbed Elton Brand from Hollywood when he appeared destined to five more year of Clipper futility.  Earlier this year, I wrote about how the Sixers had many of the building blocks in place to build a championship team, but that they lacked the ability to score in the half court set.  The move to acquire Brand immediately solves that need and provides some much needed front-court toughness.  Will the Sixers contend in 2009?  Probably not.  But with a dead-eye shooter and a year more maturity, 2010 is looking pretty promising.

MLB Midseason Awards

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on July 12, 2008
in MLB
. 0 Comments

First off, apologies on the near month-long hiatus here at “Heard in the Cheap Seats.” I took off for a jaunt across Italy and had a bit of trouble getting back into this blogging thing but I am ready to roll now.

To kick things off, I will put my hat in the ring for MLB midseason awards. Note: these are not predictions as to what will happen by season’s end, but who I believe deserves the award at this juncture of the season.

National League:

MVP:

As far back as May, the talk about potential MVPs had already been boiled down to three primary contenders: Chase Utley, Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman. Early in the year, when Chipper was hitting .400 and driving the ball to all fields, it looked like he would be the odds-on favorite. But injuries and a lackluster lineup in front of him have brought his power numbers back to earth a bit. That leaves Berkman and Utley. The smart money to win this award would be on Chase Utley. Utley is currently on pace to hit 43 HRs and drive in 120 runs–all for a division leading team. However, a closer look at Utley’s splits indicates he is benefiting greatly from playing in the bandbox that is Citizen’s Bank Ballpark. At home, Utley has 17 HRs compared with 8 on the road. To be fair, Lance Berkman plays in a bandbox of his own, but the HR splits for him are dead even–11 at home and on the road.

So the real question is how do you define the MVP award? Is it the best player on a team that has excelled, or is it simply the best player? If you are going with the best player, the answer is easy: Lance Berkman. As we are sitting at the midseason juncture, Berkman is my choice.

Cy Young:

The current race for NL pitching supremacy is a dead heat between Brandon Webb, Tim Lincecum, Edison Volquez and Ryan Dempster. A strong case can be made for each pitcher. Webb leads the league in wins, while Lincecum leads in Ks for a terrible team and Volquez leads in ERA. So who is the choice? Most experts are picking Volquez at this stage of the season and that is certainly a worthy choice, but my pick is Tim Lincecum.

What Tim Lincecum has done with the Giants has been nothing short of amazing. He is 10-2 with a 2.66 ERA and 126 SOs for a downright awful baseball team. In the end, his win total may prevent him from winning this award, but at the halfway point, Lincecum is the choice.

Rookie of the Year:

This is basically a 2-man race between Geovanny Soto and Jair Jurrjens. In the end, Soto will win out because he plays in a market like Chicago and his stats are even more impressive given the position he plays. Soto has certainly been a pleasant surprise this year, but it would be a mistake to overlook what Jurrjens has accomplished. When he arrived in Atlanta as the centerpiece of a deal that shipped Edgar Renteria to Detroit many questioned the decision. All Jurrjens has done so far this year is go 9-4 with an ERA sitting right on the 3.00 mark. So what is more impressive: 16 HRs as a rookie catcher or 9 wins as a pitcher? I would argue that achieving some semblanace of consistency as a rookie is much more difficult on the mound than at the plate–Jurrjens is the choice.

American League:

MVP:Everyone knows what Josh Hamilton has accomplished and the odds he has faced to do so. He deserves every ounce of praise that is being thrown his away. With apologies to Carlos Quentin and Alex Rodriquez–add AL MVP to the mounting praise. Sure, he plays in a hitter friendly park that enhances his offensive numbers, but the man is on pace to drive in 162 runs and hit 37 HRs. How can you ignore that?

Cy Young:

I guess I like to do things in threes, because I see this one as a three-person race as well between Cliff Lee, Justin Duchscherer and Roy Halladay. Although Cliff Lee has not been able to propel the Indians to the front of the division, he is the midseason choice for Cy Young. Put simply: he has dominated.

Rookie of the Year:

No argument possible here: Evan Longoria.

Sunday Smattering

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on June 8, 2008
in MLB, NBA and Other
. 0 Comments

On this toasty Sunday morning here in Boston I’d like to offer our loyal readers a tip free of charge courtesy of Heard in the Cheap Seats: Whatever you do, do NOT lock yourself out of the house on a 90 degree day and then proceed to walk to Dunkin Donuts for an extra large hot coffee.  It’s really not a smart move–a lesson I had to learn the hard way this morning.  But I digress; Sunday Smattering follows ladies and gentlemen.

  • Big Bummer for Big Brown: The horse racing world takes center stage at least once year (the Kentucky Derby) and at most twice a year when a horse is chasing the illusive Triple Crown.  As has been the case many times before, the media anointed Big Brown the savior of horse racing after a trying season and practically handed the horse the victory.  But the horse racing gods would not oblige and Big Brown delivered a clunker–finishing dead last at the most grueling race of the Triple Crown series.  Da’Tara, rode by the same jockey that spoiled Smarty Jones’ Triple Crown bid, played the spoiler once again.?

  • Tempers Flare in Beantown: On a night when the Celtics were supposed to have the limelight all to themselves, the Red Sox stole a bit of the city’s attention with two separate incidents.  First, Coco Crisp charged the mound after being plunked by James Shields.  Most baseball brawl prove rather uneventful with a whole of shoving but not much fighting.  This one was a bit different.  Shields, instead of backing off the mound and praying for the hasty arrival of his catcher, took three steps toward Coco and attempted to deliver a haymaker.  With boxing in his lineage, Coco adeptly dodged the punch and then succumbed to the pile of Rays’ players that went after him.  Later in the game, Manny and Kevin Youkilis had a small dust up.  Maybe Yuk reads Heard in the Cheap Seats and read my call to action from last week?

  •  Chipper Hits Number 400: One of my favorite baseball players of all time, Chipper Jones, reached a career milestone this week–HR number 400.  Of course, immediately after the blast, the posts came fast and furious debating his hall of fame credentials.  Let me put it this way, if he retired right now, he is easily in the top 3 in terms of switch hitters of all time.  That alone is enough to get him in.  But, Chipper himself says he would like to play another 4 years at a minimum provided he remains healthy and the Braves would like him back.  Let’s just assume for argument’s sake he sees a fairly sharp decline in his power numbers after this season and only hits 20 HRs a year (a huge stretch) for the next four years.  Assuming he hits about 20 more this season, that would put him at 501 HRs for his career.  Now, let’s look at hits.  Let’s say he finished this season with 200 hits, which would be an additional 110 on top of where he currently stands.  Then for the next four years, he sees a slight decline to 175 a year.  That would put him above the 3,000 hit mark for his career.  In terms of RBI, he will probably get another 60 this year followed by four seasons at a conservative 80 per year.  That would give him 1700 RBI for his career.  My point is this: he is already a HOFer, everything he tacks on from here on out is just gravy.
  • John Smoltz to Have Surgery: John Smoltz had to make the painful decision this week to undergo season-ending surgery, which begs the question, is this the end?  Contrary to the opinion of Jayson Stark, I simply can’t envision this being the end for Smoltz.  Before the announcement, Smoltz was making statements that would indicate if he had to endure another surgery he would retire.  But when faced with that reality, he quickly retreated from his stance.  John Smoltz is too much of a competitor to have this be the way he goes out.  He’ll be back for one more go around next season.
  • Must Win Tonight for Lakers: Is it too early to call this game a must-win?  I don’t think so.  The Lakers need to come out of Boston tonight with a split or they can kiss their title hopes goodbye. 

Sunday Smattering

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on June 1, 2008
in MLB, NBA and NFL
. 5 Comments

This Sunday morning marks the return of Sunday Smattering–the column that is my facade for not being able to narrow my ideas down to one post–so I call it a smattering and post everything. Pretty clever huh?

Without further adieu, Sunday Smattering ladies and gentlemen:

  • Lakers vs. Celtics: After all the hype, drama and predictions, the two most storied franchises in NBA history will once again meet to decide the NBA title. The story lines here are endless. As much as I loathe both of these teams, I even have to admit that this final brings a certain nostalgic feel that is a rarity in the world of basketball. My prediction? Lakers in 6. Bolder prediction? Brian Scalabrine, in his only playing time of the series, gets so overwhelmed with nostalgia he clotheslines Kobe Bryant going to the bucket to reenact the Kurt Rambis and Kevin McHale incident.
  • Taylor Wants Out: Does this really come as a surprise? Forget the fact that Jason Taylor is not a 3-4 defensive end, the preferred scheme of Bill Parcels. Forget the notion that Taylor is 34 years old. Forget all of the logical reasons why Jason Taylor and the Dolphins are about as good a match as Charles Barkley and Las Vegas. Did we really think that a guy that spent his offseason prancing around on national TV would mesh with the stone-faced, tough-as-nails, Bill Parcels? Not a chance.
  • Rookie Phenoms Rule the Week: Between the debuts of Clayton Kershaw and Jay Bruce (I’m still pissed about the walk-off last night against my Braves) two heralded rookies showed their chops right from the outset. Both of these kids have bright futures, but let’s not forget they are rookies–struggles will come.
  • Will the Braves Ever Win on the Road?: How is that the same team can be 7-20 on the road and 22-7 at home? Seriously folks, I am at a loss here. I understand that there will almost always be a discrepancy, but clearly this is a case of a Braves team that plays Jekyl and Hyde. If they don’t get it straightened out soon, they can forget about the NL East crown.
  • Historic HRs: Last night, Manny Ramirez hit number 500 for his career and Griffey hit number 599. These two could not be more different. By all accounts, Griffey is a nice guy that plays the game the right way. Ramirez on the other hand is an immature prima Dona. Why he feels the need to constantly draw attention to himself through antics on and off the field is beyond me. He is one of the greatest right-handed hitters to ever play this game–let that do the talking Manny. I don’t care if that was his 500th HR last night, if he ever posed that long and walked up the baseline like that in a game I was managing, the next fastball would be placed square between his ribs. Can we put out a referendum to the league on this? Throwing at hitters is illegal, unless it is Manny Ramirez after an unnecessarily long pose following a HR (or single for that matter).
  • Heard in the Cheap Seats Gets a Makeover: Alright, so I am not a Web designer, nor will I ever be–hence the awkward orange and green colors from our previous design. We’ve gone with a new look, albeit still not perfect. In addition, check out the About section, it now reflects our staff of two instead of our staff of one–a long overdue change.

Interleague Play: NL Rising?

Published
by
Anthony Iafolla
on May 22, 2008
in MLB
. 0 Comments

The first round of interleague play wrapped up over the weekend.  There were a total of 42 games played between the American and National Leagues.  The American League ended up on top with a 23-19 record.  In the month of June, three straight weeks of interleague play will take place.  Since 2000, the American League has won 6 out of the 8 years of interleague play, mostly by wide margins.  From 2005-2007, the American League compiled a 427-329 edge in interleague games.  In the last four years, an American League team has won the World Series three times, all three coming by dominating sweeps.  Every All-Star game since 1997 has been won by the American League, except for the infamous tie in 2002.  This has been more one sided than a sing-off between Britney Spears and Mariah Carey. 

Before this season began, most experts predicted more of the same.  Teams like the Tigers, Red Sox, Angels, and Yankees were expected to be not only the best teams in the AL, but in all of MLB.  I’m here to say that the experts were wrong. Forget about the 23-19 edge so far for the AL.  By the end of June, I am predicting the National League will come out on top.  Predicting the All-Star game and World Series winners is pointless right now.  What I believe is that the National League has finally ended the dominance of power by the American League.  Yes, it’s still early.  I’m aware of that.  However, I think there are just more quality teams in the National League.  Two of the so-called powers in the AL (Tigers and Yankees), have played terrible baseball most of the year.  Will it stay that way?  I doubt it. But, let’s look at this for a second.  The AL has 6 teams currently above .500, and the NL boasts 8. 

Forget records though, the NL is filled with teams playing good baseball, and getting it done with a young core of players.  In the AL, the Indians, Angels, and Rays fit into that category, and the Red Sox have some young arms and Ellsbury and Pedroia, but mostly these are veteran clubs.  The National League has teams like the Marlins, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers, and even the Braves (led by Chipper Jones, but filled with young up and coming stars).  This is the main trend that I think will be responsible for a shift in power back to the National League.  The young stars in baseball, the ones who you see already putting up the numbers, mostly reside in the NL.  You can throw names at me from the American League, and they absolutely exist, but just look at the stats.  Seriously, just study them for awhile.  If you go by pure numbers, the NL has not only way more young stars, but just better players overall for a change. 

There are currently 30 players hitting above .300 in the NL, compared to 14 in the AL.  Traditionally, offensive numbers in the AL are higher because there is no luxury of having the pitcher come to bat.  Even more telling though is the fact that 20 of those 30 are under the age of thirty, compared to 6 players under 30 in the AL.  The NL has 24 of the top 32 home run hitters in baseball so far.  They have a guy in Chipper Jones still hitting over .400 and another in Lance Berkman receiving talk of a possible triple crown.  So you might think all this just means that the pitching in the AL is better.  Wrong again. 

The top 10 ERA’s in baseball are split right down the middle between the leagues, and that does not even include Johan Santana, Brandon Webb, or Jake Peavy in the NL.  The top 5 in the NL are all under the age of 27, too.  Numbers are not everything, I realize.  So, let’s take it a step further.

Break down position by position, and the NL for the first time in awhile has a decided advantage.  I’m not going to run through every single name, you can look at it yourself but I’ll do some of the work for you.  If a true all-star team was picked, it wouldn’t even be close.

 1st Base- Even to be fair I will include all those DH’s in the AL that are listed as first basemen.  In the NL there is Berkman with a possible triple crown, Pujols crushing it again, Ryan Howard is the best young power hitter in the game, Derek Lee is always hitting and fielding at a high level, a Mark Teixeira, Prince Fielder, James Loney and on and on. In the AL there is Youkilis, Ortiz(shouldn’t count), Kotchman, Morneau and not much else.  Huge edge to the NL.

2nd Base- Uggla and Utley are the class of the NL here and I would say Pedroia and Polanco are the same in the AL.  You can go through the list. There are some pretty good players in both leagues.  I give a slight edge to the NL because no one is better than Utley.

3rd Base- The future hall of famer Chipper Jones leads the NL here along with David Wright, Aramis Ramirez, and Garret Atkins.  In the AL you have Chone Figgins, an out of shape Miguel Cabrera, A-Rod, Mike Lowell, and Alex Gordon.  Chalk another one up for the National League.

Shortstop- There are 7 shortstops in the NL currently hitting above .300 compared to one in the AL.  That one is Jeter so that helps the AL’s cause.  But, with Escobar, Rollins, Ramirez, Furcal, Tulowitski, Reyes, Tejada, etc. there are way too many quality shortstops in the NL to not give them the edge

.Outfield- I really don’t feel like running through every outfielder, so let’s just say that there are great outfielders in both leagues and call it draw.  Fair enough?  Too bad, that’s what we’re doing.

Catcher- The AL has young guys like Martinez and Mauer along with trusty veterans Pierzynski, Varitek, and Pudge.  The NL is led by mostly young catchers like Molina, McCann, Martin, and Soto.  I give a slight edge right now to the AL, but that will change in the next couple years.

Starting Pitcher- I will argue that the NL has way more pitching depth at this point.  If we go by this year, and in case you haven’t noticed that’s what I am doing, the advantage goes to the NL.  The American League so far has been led by Cliff Lee, Dice-K, Wang, Carmona, Grienke, and Saunders.  There are obviously other very good ones like Lackey (who has just returned), Halladay, Beckett, and Sabathia. Over in the NL, rookie phenom Volquez looks to be the real deal, along with, Webb, Peavy, Hudson, Santana, Hamels, Zambrano, Haren, Sheets, and on and on.  I will take the NL’s list over the AL any day.

Closer- I am not going to break down entire bullpens, so deal with it.  I will stick to the guys who get the limelight.  In the AL we have K-Rod, Papelbon, Rivera, Nathan, Percival, Jenks, and many other pretty damn good closers.  That is an impressive list.  A lot of World Series rings there also, so that helps.  Forget about the amount of saves, to me the 3 best closers in the NL are Wagner, Lidge, Kerry Wood.  Yes, that Kerry Wood.  Possibly joining them will be John Smoltz if he can stay healthy, but either way the American League is stronger here.   

So there you have it.  After checking out the breakdown, it seems clear that we are seeing a shift towards some National League dominance in the coming years.  This stuff usually goes in cycles.  We will see how it plays out, but one gauge could end up being the interleague records when it all shakes out.  Hey, maybe an NL team might actually end up with home field advantage in the World Series! 

Baseball Players Abide by Unwritten Rules, Why Shouldn’t Umps?

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on May 7, 2008
in MLB
. 2 Comments

Baseball is a sport full of unwritten rules–an undocumented code of conduct governs the game. Don’t bunt to break up a no-no. Don’t steal past the sixth inning of a game when your team is up by more than five runs. When throwing at a hitter, keep the ball below the shoulders. Don’t upstage the opposing team by taking a long look at your homerun.
The list goes on and on with the code of conduct a professional baseball player must follow. One additional rule the pro ballplayer will find in his fictional handbook is never show up the plate umpire, especially if you are a pitcher or catcher. At first blush, it feels like a reasonable rule. It certainly doesn’t help the cause of the pitcher to be continually bickering with the plate umpire. But more and more, I’ve been picking up on a trend that is simply ridiculous–umps showing up the player.

Point and case: I was watching the Braves play the Padres tonight. Tim Hudson had just been called for a balk that scored a run and Bobby Cox was thrown out of the game for arguing for his ace. In short, Hudon’s feathers were probably ruffled. In the following at bat, a Hudson fastball that was nearly identical to an earlier pitch called for a strike was called for a ball. In a fit of frustration, Hudson held out his arms in bewilderment, never uttering a single word. The home plate ump proceeded to remove his mask and walk half way to the mound barking at Hudson. To Hudson’s credit, he turned his back and walked away from the ump.

Granted, Hudson never should have expressed his disagreement for the entire stadium to see (after all, he must’ve received the handbook). But the nonsense with umpires riding their high horse has to stop. The ump took a simple shrug of the shoulders and attempted to make it into a full-blown argument. This is not an isolated incident. Too often, umps instigate when they should be diffusing the situation.

I am sick and tired of players having to abide by a certain code of conduct that doesn’t apply all around. Umps need to get in line and realize that just because they are behind a mask doesn’t mean they are hidden from the laws of baseball.

Since unwritten rules govern baseball, maybe it is time we unwrite a rule that says umps should never add more fuel to a potential fire.

Roundup of Predictions

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on March 24, 2008
in MLB
. 0 Comments

Man, I have really fallen behind when it comes to posts as of late. Apologies for the slow going-once again the job the pays me got in the way. Because the season is literally right around the corner, I am going to do an abbreviated post on the remainder of my predictions for the upcoming MLB season. That way, everyone can tell me how far off base I was when they all turn out wrong.

AL Central

I left off with the NL Central, so I will go across to the American League and tackle to AL Central first. I honestly believe this is the hardest division in baseball to predict, but in the end, I think the battle comes down to the Indians and the Tigers. Here’s how I think it will shake out:

1.) Cleveland Indians: 94-68

2.) Detroit Tigers: 92-70

3.) Minnesota Twins : 88-74

4.) Chicago White Sox: 85-77

5.) Kansas City Royals: 80-82

NL West

In the pitching-rich NL West, this is another division that will be tough to predict at the outset of the season. But the Diamondbacks had the best off season of any team in baseball and they appear to be in position to take the division this year. The Rockies will fall victim to a post-World Series lull.

1.) Arizona Diamondbacks: 92-70

2.) San Diego Padres: 89-73

3.) Los Angeles Dodgers: 88-74

4.) Colorado Rockies: 84-78

5.) San Francisco Giants: 78-84

AL West

Last but not be least, the AL West. If the Angles can weather the storm until their starting rotation gets healthy, they take this division fairly easily. The only team I could see making a serious charge would be the Mariners on the strength of their pitching.

1.) Los Angeles Angels: 93-69

2.) Seattle Mariners: 88-74

3.) Oakland Athletics: 81-81

4.) Texas Rangers: 76-86

So there it is; my picks in their entirety.

My World Series pick you ask? Cleveland Indians over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Enough of Spring Training already, let’s play ball!

Sunday Smattering

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on March 9, 2008
in College Sports, MLB, NBA and NFL
. 0 Comments

A smattering of sports nuggets from the week:

The top story of the past week has to be the retirement of Brett Favre. As I wrote here earlier in the week, Favre brought a passion to the game of football that will be sorely missed. That passion was again on display during his press conference. It is those times and that passion we will sorely miss.

NL Central: The Year of the Cubbies

Published
by
Chris Iafolla
on February 28, 2008
in MLB
. 0 Comments

First off, sorry for the slow going on the posting as of late (for the 10 or so people that might actually regularly read this blog)–things have been a bit nutty at my day job.

Synopsis: At first glance, it looks as though the NL Central is in tough shape this year. Last year’s surprise team, the Milwaukee Brewers, will once again field a competitive team, and the Cubs will prove competitive. But after those two teams, the division gets a bit dodgy. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see any team take the division title-unless of course that team is the Reds or Pirates.

Prediction:

1.) Chicago Cubs: 89-73

2.) Milwaukee Brewers: 85-77

3.) St. Louis Cardinals: 81-81

4.) Houston Astros: 79-83

5.) Pittsburgh Pirates: 73-89

6.) Cincinnati Reds: 68-94

Contenders:

As I mentioned above, I think most of the teams in this division have a shot to catapult to the top if all the pieces fall into place. Most will look for this to be a two horse race between the Brewers and Reds I tend to agree. I think the Brewers have made some solid moves this offseason to make another run at the NL Central crown. By adding Mike Cameron, they have a veteran presence in a lineup of relative youngins. But still, the rotation is a major question mark, even at the top with the continued health concerns of Ben Sheets. No doubt, the Brewers will field a potent offense, but I think they will see a significant dip in production from Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, Corey Hart and almost zero production from Jason Kendall.

The Cubs on the other hand made an under-the-radar move that may pay off in spades.

Early indications point to Kosuke Fukudome becoming a very solid player in the majors. If he can adapt to life in America, the Cubs may have the edge in this battle. The rotation is decent, but not elite. Zambrano is a top-flight starter if he can keep his head screwed on straight.

The Cardinals are riddled with problems, the least of which is the recent Scott Spiezo situation. Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder may not be back in the rotation until May, and the lineup is aging and will be less productive than last year.

The Astros primary move this offseason was to go out and get Miguel Tejada–just days before he was named in the Mitchell Report and stories surfaced that he will be tried for perjury by the Department of Justice. With those issues hanging over his head, you have to wonder how he will be able to perform this season. And the rotation is pretty much a crap shoot after Roy Oswalt.

The Pretenders:Both the Reds and Pirates will battle it out for the distinction of worst team in the NL Central. Both of these teams are sitting squarely in rebuilding mode. But hey, it’s not about winning this year in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, it’s about building for the future. If the Pirates decide to trade Xavier Nady or Jason Bay before the All-Star break, this team could approach record futility.

Summary:

The NL Central is a division based on mediocrity. Every team can have some hope in spring training because there is so much parity through out the league. Generally, parity is a good thing in professional spots, but in this case, parity means a whole bunch of mediocre teams. In the end, the Cubs rotation will prevail and the Cubbies will advance to the playoffs–only to be swept by the Mets in the first round.