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| Can Berroa get a break? Please.. |
| 04.27.05 (9:05 am) [edit] |
.589 OPS
3 BB in 80+ Plate Appearances
.218 Batting Average.
You look at all these statistics and say.. yep Berroa's ROY of the year compaign was a fluke. The sad thing is.. I've watched Berroa a lot this season and I've liked just about everything he has been doing at the plate.
Pitches/Plate Appearance
2003: 3.68
2004: 3.58
2005: 3.95
Berroa is seeing more pitches and has done an excellent job of laying off pitches out of the zone. The results haven't shown up in his BB totals but he is doing a better job at the plate.
GB/FB ratio
2003: 1.32
2004: 1.76
2005: 0.89
Angel is getting the ball in the air and hitting it hard.. The hits just aren't dropping in right now. He is also the only effective base stealer on our team, snagging 3 bags in four chances for the break even point of 75% success.
There are a lot of things that irritate me this season. Teahen getting hurt so that I had to endure Graffanino and Joe McEwing. The existence of Jose Lima. Eli Marrero. But nothing is grating on me more than Berroa's struggles despite a much improved approach at the plate. Unless he starts getting some hits he will probably go back to swinging at everything and that would be a shame.
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| God did all he could to strike down the Sox.. |
| 04.23.05 (6:23 pm) [edit] |
But apparently Mike Sweeney doesn't pray enough. Contreras was on his way to a 20+K performance when his hamstring was obliterated by a bolt of lightning. This let the Royals face: Cliff Politte, Neal Cotts, and Luis Viscaino.. against whom they did nothing. Matt Diaz was probably safe in the 9th which would have won the game.. But who cares. Burgos, Greinke, and Sisco looked great. Diaz probably doesn't belong in the OF.. I'm sorry to say. The Royals had an error.. 2 misplayed DPs, and a balk. Yeah. They also gave up a run on a stray throw in by Diaz where he missed..well everyone.
I figured the Royals had to win this one.. Just to shake things up. Pena bunted Sweeney in the 2nd inning after Dejesus hit a HR and Gotay walked on 5 pitches. He also sent Stairs once.. shock he got caught. Fire Pena..
Sigh.. Macdougal doesn't trust his fastball, though he has mastered his slider. If he can throw the heat for strikes he'll be as unstoppable as the two guys that pitch lower leverage situations ahead of him.. oh wait.
Greinke got a zillion groundballs today. He's not going to give up 1.5+ HR/9 this year so you can pencil that ERA around 3.50.
Eli Marrero is a chump.
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| NFL Draft Commentary.. |
| 04.23.05 (1:51 pm) [edit] |
Why is Alex Smith 23 picks better than Aaron Rodgers? If you ask me honestly.. both these guys are busts. I watched Utah a few times and I'm sorry but that system is unstoppable for anyone other than the New England Patriots. They had 3 backs that were equally adept at running and catching out of the backfield, they had a solid corps of 5 competent wideouts with 2 NFL draftees, and they had a QB quick enough to run the option and throw the ball out of 4 wide sets. Smith wasn't a particularly gifted QB when he first got to Utah. I saw him in a bowl game and he wasn't a good passer. The Urban Meyer system made him into a star. Just like it did with the QB's at Bowling Green prior.
Aaron Rodgers? Kyle Boller anyone? Boller was more impressive working with less talented teams coming out of school. Jeff Tedford is a QB guru.. So was Steve Spurrier, how many Spurrier QB's have panned out? Thank you.
And for the love of.. Jesse Campbell? Are you kidding me? I had a non-sexual crush on Campbell's phenomenal playmaking when they played UNC in the Peach Bowl 3 years ago. UNC had points so as long as Campbell was in the game it was over. To be fair, that was as a freshman. Unfortunately he was just as bad the next 2 years. His solid senior season came when he had the two of the top 5 players in the draft distracting the defense by running the ball. Let's see.. Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown in the backfield.. I think we will be going man on and sneaking the safety up.. umm yeah. Hello? He saw one on one coverage and had 6 seconds to throw off every playaction fake.
Picks I liked:
3. (Cleveland) Braylon Edwards: Braylon Edwards drops some passes, but for every drop he catches 2 passes that nobody else in college could even touch.
9. (Washington) Carlos Rogers: IMO, Rogers was the best CB in the draft. Pacman has speed and toughness, but how is he gonna cover the Mike Williams of this world at 5'9? Rolle? I don't like Hurricanes
10. (Detroit) Mike Williams: Slow? Slow? Take a look at what Terrell Owens did with a busted wheel in the Super Bowl. Got that.. Williams is bigger and stronger than Owens.
12. (San Diego) Shawn Merriman: Safe solid defensive pick.. Marty is great at grabbing and developing these guys.
15. (K.C.) Derrick Johnson: All he does is force oodles of fumbles and make plays. He has every physical tool imaginable and he plays smart.. He doesn't kill people? Good, I'd rather have a forced fumble than a woo-hit.
22. (Bal.) Mark Clayton: Phenomenal WR.. overshadowed by that Peterson guy.
30. (Pitt.) Heath Miller: If you could take the jerk out of Jeremy Shockey you'd have Heath Miller. He's going to be something else.
Guy I want to succeed, but won't: David Pollack, DE, man the guy never quits but he doesn't have the speed to beat the stud NFL tackles he'll see every Sunday. I think he'll be a league average DE on hustle but that's about it.. He'll never be a double digit sack guy.
Matt Jones? I loved watching Matt Jones in college but drafting him as a WR or TE isn't wise. Jones is a strider. His 4.37 speed? He's actually faster than that.. Stride runners start slower and then absolutely motor when they hit their peak. Unfortunately, the extra yards that WR's get have to do with that instantaneous acceleration after the catch. Jones doesn't have that. He could be a TE but that will take a lot of work.
Troy Williamson? Who?
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| We have to play better.. |
| 04.23.05 (1:28 pm) [edit] |
I don't want Baird fired. Pena? Sure.. Baird has learned on the job and made some nice moves. Baseball Prospectus is heating up the Sweeney trade talk. O's, Rangers, and Halos lineup as potential suitors. A bidding war between Anaheim and Texas could really benefit us. Neither team is fiscally responsible and they both have some nice prospects.
Chiefs Draft: Derrick Johnson: I've read a lot of the negative scouting reports that emphasize Johnson not blowing through blockers or laying tremendous hits. Yeah that's because he's usually trying to strip the ball. Honestly, I didn't see many players play smarter than Derrick Johnson in college. The "he doesn't lay people out" scouts remind of the same idiots that praised Roscoe Crosby & Colt Griffin in HS. Is he fast? Yes. Does he make plays? More than any LB I have ever seen. Does he make tackles? Well he made 450 over 4 years. DJ will force 10 turnovers per season by himself. His tremendous speed and good size prevent him from having to be a tremendous tackler. With the three elite corners and Merriman off the board this was a no-brainer.
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| 9-8 loss.. no analysis.. |
| 04.21.05 (12:36 pm) [edit] |
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Look to the minors.. find a hobby.. develop a fastball.. become pitcher.. win WS.
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| Give up.. Stop watching them! |
| 04.21.05 (10:14 am) [edit] |
Royals shell Gassner.. overcome 3-2 deficit after one inning.. lead 5-3.. Anderson gives up 11tybillion singles in a row.. Royals down 7-5... Botched run down.. Tony Pena.. Innings Eater.. Tony Pena.. DuckFuckwrackafracking
And the damage will commence..
The beginning of the end..
There is no justice.. there is no peace
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| Declaration of War: Twins organization. |
| 04.20.05 (8:52 pm) [edit] |
Johan Santana K'd 10 royals tonight and managed to extend his streak without losing a decision. It was noted by a certain royals fan(Rich) that Santana's location was off on a lot of his pitches despite his relative dominance(he did give up 4 runs). This can be explained by the fact that his wife gave birth less than an hour before gametime. Right.
Either:
A) Carl Pohlad is such an evil, conniving scrooge of an owner that you can't even get time off for the birth of a child.. or.
B) Johan Santana, the face of the Twins organization for the rest of the decade, is such an asshole that he wouldn't skip an April start against Jose freakin Lima to stay with his wife.
The only replies I received from Twins fans were insults in response to the question.
I hate the Twins. They despise sabermetrics and have made a living of blocking young players for seasoned veterans. The franchise has an owner who tried to kill his own team to fatten a wallet that already contained several billion dollars at an age where he should have already been dead. They play in a graveyard of a ballpark and they have been notoriously inactive during the trade deadline in an attempt to push their playoff teams over the top. This despite an embarassment of riches in the farm system at positions where they couldn't find playing time for all their chips anyways.
The royals have made bad decisions, they've drafted poorly, and they've had plain stupid bad luck. But David Glass never tried to axe his own team. Allard Baird did the best job he could with a sinking ship in 03' making a flurry of acquisitions at the deadline that exceeded those of Carl/Ryan over their years of contention. This crap over Santana is the last straw.
Take a look at how many days Pickering was out to be with his wife in the same situation. That's a guy playing for his career.. Not one paycheck of a 40 million dollar contract.
Addendum: One Twins fan chimed in that they thought she would go into labor 'tomorrow' and that Johan would have left after the game.. OK.. screw that.. you skip and stay with your wife.
Addendum Two: The Twins staff was so strapped for pitchers that they are skipping Kyle Lohse's start later this week.. Garbage.
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| Gave it a run.. 5-4 loss. |
| 04.20.05 (6:39 pm) [edit] |
Pena turned a double play groundball into a game winning single by bringing the infield in for no good reason. Camp, Cerda, and Field did an admirable job. Lima SUCKS!
The royals fought for this one.. they were betrayed by that moron of a manager. I can't be angry.. I expected us to have no chance against Santana. Well played.. tough going.
FREE MATT DIAZ!
RELEASE LIMA!
FIRE PENA!
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| Shell Santana.. too bad Lima stinks.. |
| 04.20.05 (4:56 pm) [edit] |
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Well we held a 4-3 lead for an inning.. Now Jose has loaded the bases with no outs.. I fully expect it to be 7-4 by the time I finish this post. Lima needs to be released.
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| New Pope.. |
| 04.20.05 (2:56 pm) [edit] |
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German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was declared the new head of the Catholic Church this week. He is considered a staunch conservative(anti-contrac eption, homosexuality, etc.). Shockingly he actually would have lost the vote if it had been put to his own people(germans) which is a relatively bad sign. The clincher for me anyways, was that Ratzinger was a member in the Hitler Youth in 1941 and was part of anti-aircraft battalion. He said that any resistance to the Nazi regime would have been futile and his service was required. Ok, it probably was.. But if you were ever a member of the Hitler Youth, or wore a swastika.. I don't think you should be Pope. It may not be fair but for heaven sakes if anything is a red flag.. ding freaking dong this is it.
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| Royal Finish |
| 04.19.05 (4:55 pm) [edit] |
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As unlikely a hero as anyone else in the royals lineup, Alberto Castillo nailed a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Tribe 6-5. The royals had a fairly solid approach at the plate if not on the basepaths. Bautista pitched a lot better than his 5ER in 5IP showed. He struck out five, walked two and had a GB:FB ratio of 8:2. Groundballs finding holes and the universal lack of range for the royals defense turned it into a bad outing. The bullpen looked better. Kyle Snyder wasn't particularly sharp but Macdougal managed 3 K's in the critical 9th inning without walking a batter and Cerda did an exceptional job in a tough spot.
I'm not even remotely delusional enough to view this as the halmark of a winning streak. This team badly needs an improved infield defense and more range than Stairs can provide in RF. Unless Sweeney starts drawing BB's, Huber is more valuable as a 1st basemen right now. Teahen's defense might not have been great early, but its better than Joe McEwing or Graffy at 3rd. Matt Diaz deserves a spot on the roster, he is murdering AAA proving that his numbers weren't simply a Durham mirage. Omaha is a slight pitcher's park.
Other notes:
Calvin Pickering has not had enough AB's to make any significant conclusions. However, he has been unbelievably awful. I understand K's and I understand his low batting average. What I don't understand is the high number of fastballs.. down the middle, that he is swinging and missing at. Its one thing for a slugger to rack up K's working the count deep and taking borderline pitches for called strikes. It's quite another for a hitter to miss on 3/4 of the pitches they are swinging at. Pickering has not looked good so far.. Thank god Harvey isn't exactly lighting the world on fire at AAA.
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| Greinke getting lit up.. |
| 04.18.05 (4:58 pm) [edit] |
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2 errors to start the game for the Royals defense. Grienke gave up back to back jacks.. The first on a good pitch down an in.. The second on a green lit 3-0 count. Peralta hit a triple on a first pitch down and away.. And the fourth run scored on a pass ball. This team is driving me insane. I hate baseball
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| 4-8 eh? Back to the minors.. |
| 04.17.05 (8:34 pm) [edit] |
Since the major league team kind of stinks its time to look at the future and what available parts are being honed down in the farm system.
We'll start this off with a semi-regular prospect ranking that will be affected by the performance of royals prospects in the short term
1. Billy Butler: (3B/DH High-A High Desert)
Batting well above .400 with an OPS in excess of 1.200, he's already drawn 6 BB's too. Top 50 prospect and will make a push for the best bat in the minors by the end of the season.
2. Justin Huber:(1B AA Wichita)
Huber has 12 walks in less than 40 plate appearances, he's gotten on base more than half the time and has held his own at first base as a defender.. Should be in the majors(Debatable Top 100 prospect)
3. Andres Blanco:(SS AAA Omaha)
Blanco has rocketed up my rankings by actually hitting a homerun. His overall offensive numbers aren't good but of his 8 hits this season, 3 have gone for extra bases. If he can even sniff a .400 slugging percentage he'll be a valuable regular.
4. Michael Aviles:(SS AA Wichita)
Tools, Tools, Tools.. That's what scouts are. I've seen Aviles and he is a little stocky for a SS, not particularly fast with a solid if unspectacular arm. But man does he hit. Aviles is batting .412 with a 1:1 BB:K ratio and an OPS above 1.000. He'll hit more than 40 doubles and has a shot at 50. His start at AA has been nothing short of impressive.
5. Dusty Hughes:(LHP High-A High Desert)
Hughes is classified as a finesse lefty who touches 90 with his fastball but excels at pitching inside. Up to this point in his career he had been extremely successful without striking out a phenomenal number of hitters
So far: 17.2 IP 21 K 6 BB 2 HR 3.09 ERA
The california league is a hitter's haven. Its the kind of league that eats up finesse pitchers with .300 averages on balls in play. Hughes early success and K buffet are extremely encouraging signs.
6. Ambriorix Burgos:(Relief Pitcher AA Wichita)
Burgos could be near the top if he was doing this as a starter but 12 K's in 6.0 IP with 2 BB and 0 hits allowed will do. Dominance personified. (He's being used as a 2 inning closer)
7. Donald Murphy:(2B AA Wichita)
Wichita has a lot of promising prospects, Murphy is batting .300 while drawing BB's, showing pop, and playing solid defense. He'll finish with a season almost identical to Gotay's AA campaign last year. It's up to Allard Baird to figure out what to do with these two.
8. Mitch Maier:(OF High-A High Desert)
Maier had a decent half season at Burlington and a highly disappointing 2nd half at Wilmington. A strong start and promotion to AA were crucial to keep his prospect status lofty. With 6 BB's against only 6 K's, an average of .351 and a slugging percentage above .500 he has done just that.
9. Chad Santos:(1B AAA Omaha)
Santos is 24, which is a little old, but not too old. He has performed adequately at each level while young for a lot of them. He's drawn 5 walks already and has a slugging of .714 while hitting .343. This could be his breakout season as a slugger. Then again it could be a sample size fluke. He's shown power before, if he continues to show an increased ability to draw a BB then he will have value as a platoon 1B or bench pinch hitter.
10. Billy Buckner( RHP low-A Burlington)
Buckner was the least touted of the moneyball trio including Howell & Campbell but he has had the best sabermetric start with an 11:0 K:BB ratio in 10.1 IP. He also has the best fastball touching the low-90s.. I'd like to see him promoted soon.
11. JP Howell(LHP High-A High Desert)
Howell has had an interesting start in the confines of High A. He continues to record an insane number of groundballs and has struck out 11 hitters in 10.1 IP. Unfortunately he has walked 9 guys and allowed 2 homeruns. His ERA remains strong at 3.48 but the walks have to come down and he has to limit the HR's through his groundball rate.(His ranking could go down if he doesn't improve in those areas)
12. Matt Campbell(LHP low-A Burlington)
Campbell struggled mightily in limited duty last year.. probably due to fatigue. He's flashed his big time curve with 10 K's in 12.0 IP and a 2.25 ERA
13. Chris Lubanski(High A High Desert)
With a caveat. Lubanski has hit for massive power with an ISO SLG over .300. But he hasn't hit for average or drawn BB's. This guy could go all Lastings Milledge on the minors but I'd prefer to see a more disciplined approach at the plate. At least he's not overmatched.
14. Jason Kaanoi(RHP High A High Desert)
The worm-killer continues to do that despite ugly peripherals he has a sub 2.00 ERA so far this season.
15. Mario Lisson(SS Low-A Burlington)
Lisson is a toolsy disciplined hitter.. Weird. He hasn't shown a ton of power but he's pretty young in an ugly pitcher's league. 8BB's in 32 PA's with a solid average? Good enough.
When you consider the talent that's been promoted to the show this season, you realize how productive the farm system has become.
1. Gotay
2. Teahen
3. Bautista
4. Sisco(Rule V I know.. not promoted)
All of these guys should conceivably be in AAA and would add tremendous depth to our overall minor league picture. The encouraging starts of most of our solid prospects is a definite plus. Some guys have struggled like Shane Costa but overall the system is raising its early value.
This next draft is crucial as our system is flush with contributors and regulars but short on superstars other than Butler. We need to draft an impact player at #2 and fill the lower tiers with more potential stars. Right now the royals system is in the #14-17 range in MLB. That doesn't sound great but in 2001 I'd consider us to have had the worst farm system in all of baseball or close to it. The last 3 drafts have done a lot to restock the system. One more solid draft should put us in the top 10 or possibly top 5 with solid development from this year's prospects.
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| Frustrating.. |
| 04.17.05 (10:38 am) [edit] |
Hernandez comes out.. strikes out the first two hitters, then blows away another in the 2nd. Gets derailed in the 3rd..why? Back to back bunt singles to lead off the inning.. Fucking cheap.
Again, the royals come out prepared.. performing well, and some random fucking occurance destroys everything. This season is pissing me off more than any in past memory. I want to watch the kids... Teahen is hurt.. hello Joe McEwing.
I expected to lose.. but not like this.. repeatedly.. Due to stupid dumb luck. I'm ok with the beatings we will take from good teams but the Tigers are a joke of an organization. They are second class citizens to their own owner.. And the other team isn't even in season. The wheels have come off and Hernandez has started walking people. More runs on the board due to Omar I should suck a lot more Infante. 4-0.. end of 3.
They'll proceed to swing at the first pitch for the rest of the game and give Maroth a 42 pitch shutout. I just... ugh.
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| Royals lose.. pen self destructs.. |
| 04.16.05 (10:33 pm) [edit] |
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On the bright side.. Ambriorix Burgos struck out his 12 hitter in 6 IP as a reliever at Wichita. I was against the decision to convert him to a reliever but it seems to have turned a starter with control problems into an elite fire fighter. Look for Burgos in K.C. sooner rather than later.
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| Lima is doing it on purpose.. |
| 04.15.05 (4:09 pm) [edit] |
It's time to take a page out of Dubya's handbook.. and execute him. Lethal Injection, super, hanging.. just as good.
5 batters in to Lima Sabatoge Exhibit 3, 2-0 Detroit, 1 out recorded. Stop.. 5-0.. 1 out recorded
I am so angry right now.. I mean for the love of God. A retarded rhesus monkey could have lowered his ERA after Jose's first two starts. Not Jose Lima.
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| Praise for Sheffield? |
| 04.14.05 (11:45 pm) [edit] |
Some of you may be aware of the fan that brushed Gary Sheffield's head today at Boston while he was trying to dig out a double against the wall. If you ask me he was trying to distract Gary from the ball.. It wasn't overtly malicious. Sheff fielded the ball, stopped, shoved the guy, and then threw to the infield before going back to stare at him. And Sheffield gets 'praised' for not decking the guy. I'm sorry but can't we hold multi-millionaire entertainers to a higher standard than this?
A) He should never have hesitated with a ball in play. Shoving the guy could have cost his team a base and therefore the game.. That 'reaction' is the reaction of a self-centered asshole. Its vastly different but when I played high school football I was literally strangled while going for a fumble. I was too busy trying to grab the ball while my assailant focused entirely on cutting off my air. The whistle blew and we recovered the ball. No ref made a call(because refs are all stupid assholes) but my point was made. Team first.. vendetta second.
B) You have how many million dollars? I dunno what it is about athletes.. but the more money these guys get the more thuggish they become. Would a multi-millionaire broker sock a business competitor if he spilled his drink at a dinner? I mean come on..
C) When this gets more press coverage then Tom Gamboa getting attacked by 2 guys with knifes in Chicago I hope you remember that the world revolves around Boston & N.Y. Screw the rest of flyover country.
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| Sorry for the delays.. Thesis.. Login Problems.. |
| 04.14.05 (10:56 pm) [edit] |
Well the Royals got swept
Hernandez pitched well
Greinke pitched well
The offense did nothing
The pen stunk
Lima to the rescue tomorrow/today.. Hooray for that.
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| California Dreamin.. |
| 04.11.05 (3:52 am) [edit] |
Check out the OPS of two of the top prospects on the High Desert Mavericks.
1. Billy Butler 1.458
2. Mitch Maier 1.419
Butler already has 2 homeruns. If Maier can get the shine back on his prospect status it would go a long ways towards raising the stock in our system.
Andres Blanco.. 1.134.. Wow
Michael Aviles.. 1.133
Keep swinging the bat Berroa.. keep swinging the bat.
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| Back to .500.. I didn't think we'd be .500 ever again. |
| 04.10.05 (4:57 pm) [edit] |
Check out this line
6.0 IP
5 H
3 R
0 BB
5 K
GB:FB- 7:6
That's Brian Anderson. This was a good, quality start. Really the only true mistake was a first pitch 2 run shot to Vlad Guerrero but you have to get ahead to pitch effectively.
The Royals worked Bartolo Colon to death and drew 4 walks today. Ruben Gotay went 4 for 5 with his first MLB homerun. Nate Field and Jamie Cerda combined to strand a runner on third with no outs, and Macdougal showed pretty solid control to close it out in an 8-3 win.
Don't get too excited but this offense isn't awful. Dejesus is making a run at being the best leadoff man in the league and the platoons are showing some real effectiveness(Long & Stairs especially). Mark Teahen's numbers aren't great but he struck out for only the 2nd time this season and he has been working most counts deep. For a player with Mark's skill-set, abundant K's is usually the tell-tale sign that he's overmatched. Right now he's just getting unlucky on balls in play. Factor in Gotay's breakout performance and the re-emergence of Angel Berroa as an offensive factor and you get an offense that may scrape to be league average.
The only player I've been disappointed in so far is John Buck, well and Jose Lima.
If you believe the Anderson revelation,( and he showed this in his ST starts so this is 15 very solid innings of work he's going off of) then the Royals are a Lima demotion away from having 5 legit MLB starters in their rotation for the first time in.. lord knows.
The bullpen has been very, very solid since the difficulties in Detroit when they were put in very tough situations by Lima's poor performance and Zack's injury.
Pitching staff stats through 6 road games against decent competition.
IP: 49
K: 34
BB: 13
HR: 7
H: 54
Offense
BB: 18
K: 40
HR: 6
H: 60
The biggest key to the Royals season will be those BB totals. If they somehow manage to outwalk their opponents this season I expect them to reach that 75 win plateau.
Staff ERA: 4.58(Considering Lima's hard work that's pretty good)
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| "Will no one rid me of this turbulent pitcher?" |
| 04.09.05 (7:30 pm) [edit] |
Jose Lima oh how I loath thee..
The royals have shown a good approach at the plate tonight, wearing down Kevin Gregg and fighting like they wanted to win.
Jose Lima, has pitched like a bitch. Personally, I believe that every team in the hitters league has 2 grenades that are timed to go off in their staff. They key is identifying these grenades before they can blow up too many starts. Jose Lima.. BOOM! 2 games.. 2 losses where the Royals have no chance of winning.
Let's look at the numbers..
2 starts..
7-2/3 IP
14 H
2 BB
3 K
3 HR
12 Runs allowed
Super Duper.
I'd like to see the Royals fight back.. It's 7-1 in the 5th, but as soon as they get close they are facing Krod.. and then its over.
Cut Lima.. Put Wood into the rotation. If you don't do it.. Some crazy fan is gonna charge the field and probably kick the crap out of him.. Not me.. I'm in PA so don't worry about that.
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| Minor League Report Time! |
| 04.09.05 (8:34 am) [edit] |
If you have been a diehard Royals fan for the last 20 seasons then you probably have developed an affinity for the mioor leagues in hope of better things to come. I certainly have. So without further ado.. Here's your first minor league report.
AAA Omaha
1. SP Jimmy Gobble pitched game 1 with the following line
5-2/3 IP 5 H 1R 2BB 2K
(Gobble needs to raise those K rates but still, its a promising first start.)
2. SS Andres Blanco: Blanco is 2 for 6 this season with an extra base hit! Albeit a double.
3. 1B Chad Santos, a platoon type 1B masher/PH, has hit a HR already.. (He needs to improve his BB rates, and reduce his K's to be considered a bench contributor on the big league club)
4. C Paul Phillips: The prodigal backup catcher has gotten on base only once(a BB). I'd like to see him at least put up similar numbers to last year, and take over from Alberto Castillo whenever Baird gets over his man-crush.
5. RP Dennis Tankersley had an undistinguished inning of relief allowing 3 baserunners but no runs.(Tankersley should be starting at Omaha)
6. RP Wes Wilkerson( Look out for the flamethrower in our pen, he's a little old but he really broke through in the AFL this fall), scoreless inning in relief with a K.
7. 1B Ken Harvey has drawn a walk, 50 more.. and well.. never.. Enjoy AAA
AA: Wichita
1. Justin Huber,1B, is down at Wichita because Ken Harvey was an All-star... 5 for 7 2BB, 2 doubles.. If they leave him down there he'll post an OPS of 1.200+.
2. Mike Aviles, SS: 3 for 8 with a double.. well on his way to duplicating Gotay's strong campaign for the Wranglers of 04'.
3.2B Donald Murphy, 2 walks, 2 hits, in 9 plate appearances, keep getting on base.
4. CF Shane Costa: 0 for 8, Costa is a notorious slow starter so give him a month to get going.
5. RP Ambriorix Burgos: I still don't like him as a reliever but he dusted the lineup in his first appearance striking out 4 batters in 2IP. With Affeldt's struggles his move to the pen is slightly more acceptable.
6. SP Brian Bass: Bass had a rough time in his first start, Giving up 6 runs in 4-2/3IP, he did K 4 guys though.
7. RP Ryan Braun: One of my favorites, had a bad first outing giving up a run and walking 2 batters in less than an inning of work.
A High Desert
1. 3B/1B Billy Butler: Good start, drawn a walk, hit a HR, and a double in his first 2 games.
2. OF Mitch Maier: Another good start, 1BB, 3 hits, and a double in 9 plate appearances.
3. CF Chris Lubanski: 2 for 9, needs a big season in this hitters league.
4. !B/DH K. Kaaihue: 0 for 8, the hitting will come.
5. 2B Brandon Powell: 1 for 8, rough start for this sleeper prospect.
6. SP Dusty Hughes: Great first start with 7 K's in 6.0 IP with only 2 runs allowed and 0 BB's. A favorite of scouting director Daric Ladnier, we will see if he can continue the solid results in AA/AAA.
7. RP Leo Nunez: Why? Why to relief? 2 innings of solid work, 2 K's.
8. RP Steven Bray: Another Braun like solid relief prospect, he's thrown 1.0 scoreless inning.
Low A: Burlington
1.3B Miguel Vega: 3 for 8 with a double, Vega may have the most power in the organization, he needs plate discipline.
2.OF Robert McFall: McFall was a reach in the 3rd round when the Royals drafted him 2 years ago. He showed promise with an amazing season at Idaho Falls last year but he needs to get up to at least Wilmington this year to keep the shine on his prospect status.. 4 for 7 with a BB, good start.
3. SS Mario Lisson: Supposedly ridiculously athletic, Lisson is 3 for 6 with a double and 2 BB's in the early going.
4. OF Alan Moye: 1 for 8 with 5K's... rough start for oft-injured prospect
5. 2B Irving Falu: 2 for 9
6. LHP Matt Campbell: Campbell took the loss in his first start but struck out 6 guys in 6 IP and only allowed 6 baserunners.
7. Bill Buckner: Another rough start as he gave up 11 hits in 4.1 IP, he did strike out 4 guys against 0 BB's.
That's it for the first minor league report. Most of the guys I listed should be monitored by any diehard Royals fan this season. My reports will become more in-depth as we get a relevant sample size.
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| Wow.. Talk about a nice start. |
| 04.08.05 (9:20 pm) [edit] |
Two starts from two young pitchers..
Start 1: 7.0 IP 1 Run Allowed
Start 3: 8.0 IP 1 Run Allowed
Both emphatic Wins, but that is where the comparison stops.
Runelvys Hernandez got by on guile and luck striking out 3 hitters while walking 3 against the Tigers in a 7-2 win.
Denny Bautista struck out 8 hitters, walked none, and had a 13-3 GB:FB ratio. That is dominance.
Bautista's start shows the potential that he has.. If he has some semblance of control, he's a Cy Young type pitcher. Until he shows this kind of performance consistently however, he falls into the Ramon Ortiz category of electric stuff starters.
The Royals took pitches for 2 innings and then reverted to the Dyehardfan school of golf, "Grip it and rip it." It worked, partially due to poor defense and partially because Byrd kept pounding the zone and giving up hits.
Lima starts tomorrow.. Yeah you might be able to pencil in the L now. Might.
Add on: Why do I watch Baseball Tonight? Brantley & Larry Bowa(genius!) are criticizing Bowa's replacement, Charlie Manuel for putting Aaron Fultz in the game(a lefty) to face Larry Walker(a lefty).. because Fultz gets killed by lefties.. Well...(career stats)
vs. lefties WHIP 1.18 BAA .240
vs. right WHIP 1.64 BAA .299
These two resident statheads(HA) then put up examples of 3 good right handed relievers against lefties, and 4 good left handed relievers against righties.. These 7 hand picked selections categorically prove that lefties should never face lefties and vice versa.. They criticize Manuel for not looking at the statistics..that they didn't look at.
Manuel's real problem was that in a one run game in the 8th inning with runners on base he wouldn't bring in his best pitcher, Billy Wagner, because it wasn't the 9th. This is so obvious its painful, instead tweedle dee and tweedle dum go on their adventure through statheaddom with results about as clean as a partial-birth abortion.(Yeah I said it)
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| Holy Crap.. Bautista K'd Guerrero |
| 04.08.05 (6:06 pm) [edit] |
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On three straight swinging strikes.. No.. Not Wilton Guerrero, Vlad the Impaler. Vlad, I hit homeruns on balls that bounce before they cross the plate, Guerrero.. I don't think Bautista is ever going to have good control.. but Kerry Wood has put up some good stats its debatable that Bautista has better stuff.
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| I'd encourage everyone to check out the Met's fan blog |
| 04.07.05 (3:25 pm) [edit] |
I have linked on the sidebar.
http://nittanymet.tblog.com" title="http://nittanymet.tblog.com" target="_blank"http://nittanymet.tblog.com
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| I apologize to Tony Pena |
| 04.07.05 (3:21 pm) [edit] |
Cal Pickering was unavailable due to his presence at the side of his pregnant wife. Matt Stairs was hurt, so that limited the 1B/DH combo to Marrero/Sweeney. I did not have this information and I had a kneejerk reaction.
No Pickering, Greinke out after a line drive.. whatever the Tigers gave Jobu before the game worked. Under those circumstances I'm writing off this loss. I hope the team plays well against the blahblahblah of Anaheim.. but I doubt they will.
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| Had Greinke not gotten drilled.. we probably win today. |
| 04.07.05 (11:45 am) [edit] |
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1 run off Urbina in the 8th.. 2 off Percival in the 9th I told you Johnson would shut us down.. Greinke was on pace for 7 IP.. He hadn't allowed a run.. Ugh.. Pickering should have been in the lineup.. Emil Brown hit a homerun.. Oh well
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| Tony Pena hates Mike Wood.. |
| 04.07.05 (11:09 am) [edit] |
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That's why he pulled him and wasted him in the 8th inning yesterday. Well I hate Tony Pena.
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| Pen falls apart late.. |
| 04.07.05 (11:08 am) [edit] |
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This is what happens when your starter goes down in the 3rd inning.. You can't expect your pen to throw more than 4 effective innings in any game. It's now 3-0, this game was dead on arrival. Error allows 4th and 5th run to score.. thanks for the veteran presence Graffanino..
I'm sure that we'll see Pickering and Gotay now that the game is over. Yes! Another hit! That fat bastard, Dmitri Young scores.. 6-0.. Quit Fucking.. QUIT!
This is the point in the game where I'd like to see someone thrown at. I'd personally like to thank Shawn Camp for sucking.
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| Don't work the count.. swing at every pitch! |
| 04.07.05 (10:46 am) [edit] |
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Ugh... 6 outs to score a run... 9 outs to prevent anymore.
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| Fire him.. I've had it.. |
| 04.07.05 (10:32 am) [edit] |
Tony Pena can be fired for all I care. He has the strategic acumen of a sheep. Pickering is out of the lineup.. again against a righthander.. And with Johnson obliterating us in the 7th.. 2 guys on 2 outs and right struggling Marrero up to bat.. Pickering sits on the bench..
He benched Gotay for the 2nd straight day.. And now he's benched Pickering twice and not used him in consecutive games. I can not stand this kind of brazen incompetence.. Pick up the god damn phone Baird.. and fucking tell Pena what to do.. Seperation of Powers my ass.. If Art Howe was still managing the A's you don't think Beane would be ordering him around like a puppet.
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| Line Drive hits Greinke in the arm.. Dyehardfan swears veangence.. |
| 04.07.05 (9:46 am) [edit] |
It's bad enough that I have to deal with a likely 100+ loss team, now the only bright spot of last season has to get hurt in his first start... I'll salt the freaking earth in Detroit!
It should have been Lima out there today.. It should have been Lima.
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| Somewhat surprising result Royals 7 Tigers 2 |
| 04.06.05 (11:55 am) [edit] |
Hernandez went 7 somewhat strong, somewhat lucky innings giving up only 1 run while walking 3 and striking out 3. He got a decent amount of groundball outs and didn't give up a lot of really hard hit stuff.. but he was still lucky.
Maroth got litup.. Partially due to bad luck on groundballs, partially due to the patience of Royals hitters.
Mike Wood was wasted in the 8th, with a 7-1 lead, Affeldt looked bad.. though he did finally strikeout a hitter. Berroa hit a homerun, Teahen hit a triple, Dejesus continued to be effective and patient as a leadoff hitter.
Hero of the day: Tony Graffanino 4-4 with a BB.
Final Thoughts: I thought the Royals would probably lose 8-7 or 9-8 today. I certainly didn't expect Hernandez to snag a quality start. The defense was sound nailing Guillen stretching a single early in the game. This is 'intangibles' garbage, but the Royals showed a lot to dominate today after being humiliated on national TV yesterday. The new, realistic Tony Pena may get better results with this group of guys than last year's.
After Monday's game Pena said, " There will be games like these, and worse." Damn right there will.. but the first thing you do is accept the problem, then you get to fixing it.
The true Ace of the staff takes the mound tomorrow against the Tigers.. I'd guess 7IP 2ER and a surprising number of K's. Jason Johnson starts for the Tigers.. It's feast or famine with him.. Either he get shelled or he pitches 7 strong frames. Given Greinke's luck I'd imagine it will be the later but I expect the Royals to score some runs off of Farnsworth & Percival.
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| Elvis takes the mound tomorrow.. |
| 04.05.05 (6:06 pm) [edit] |
Against Mike Maroth. The royals have had a lot of trouble hitting Maroth in the past. However, that was more or less the old-fastball first hitting royals. With guys like Buck, Teahen, Pickering, and Gotay in the lineup, I'm predicting that the Royals will tattoo Maroth(3.92 ERA in 84 IP against K.C.). It's just a theory, but I think you'll see guys take more pitches and nail hanging breaking balls late in the count. We'll see though.
As for Hernandez, I want to be optimistic but in his first start since Tommy John you have to expect a shelling.
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| I can't believe I'm listening to this.. |
| 04.05.05 (12:57 pm) [edit] |
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Around the Horn.. which is like nutmeg to heroin for PTI addicts, has Michael Smith and Tim Cowlishaw arguing against UNC's dominance last night. Tim claims that May was getting away with Shaq offensive fouls, no mention of the 50 or 60 moving screens. Illinois didn't get to the foul line.. and they shot 40 3's.. Forty.. That's not basketball.. That's J.J. Redick and I hate J.J. Redick.
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| WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! |
| 04.04.05 (7:13 pm) [edit] |
NO ROOM FOR LOSERS BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.. OF THE WORLD!
I've been saying it since the end of last season.. It's a lock. Death to Heart! All hail Talent!
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| 2nd time.. |
| 04.04.05 (7:07 pm) [edit] |
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Nance: What do you expect Billy
Packer: More of the same. They aren't calling the moving screens so you'll see that.
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| " Referees not calling moving screens so you might as well do them" |
| 04.04.05 (7:02 pm) [edit] |
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70-70.. That's from Packer himself.. Yeah. that's a middle finger to the refs. I'll be sure to throw my forearm shiver the next time I play hoops.
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| Sean May is the most unstoppable thing I've seen.. |
| 04.04.05 (6:39 pm) [edit] |
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I don't know how good he'll be as a pro.. but man he's got moves in the post.
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| Moving Screens.. |
| 04.04.05 (6:30 pm) [edit] |
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Carolina is cutting through but the Illinois post players are throwing illegal screens out the wazoo.. You have to stay stationary..
Horseshit call on May.. that was 2 points off the board for us..Even Packer said so.
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| Halftime 40-27 UNC |
| 04.04.05 (6:12 pm) [edit] |
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Illinois isn't shooting well at all. UNC is playing at about 75%.. not good, not bad.. just average. This is bad for Illinois.
If Illinois loses the blame should be squarely put on Bruce Weber's jacket.
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| 2nd foul call on Felton was BS.. |
| 04.04.05 (5:26 pm) [edit] |
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Williams dribbled into a double team at the foul line and took off.. Quentin Thomas is abysmal..
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| This game is in the bag if we just put Manuel on the bench.. |
| 04.04.05 (5:19 pm) [edit] |
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Nice pass to Deron Williams there.. way to handle it..
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| Illinois-UNC matchup.. |
| 04.04.05 (1:42 pm) [edit] |
1. McCants vs. Williams- For some reason every analyst is predicting that Deron Williams is going to somehow shutdown Rashad McCants because he shut down Garcia and Stoudamire.. no
Neither Stoudamire or Garcia are physical players, they both derive their game from outside shooting and dishing out assists. McCants, because he is allowed to travel constantly, and because he has huge biceps, simply muscles his way into the lane and scores. I've seen good defenders on him, he either draws a foul on a handcheck or bullies them into the lane.. and one.
2. Sean May vs. Augustine- May will have some problems with Augustine's height advantage. He'll get a slew of rebounds but he won't score as many points as they think.
3. Marvin Williams vs. Yeah- If Marvin Williams and May are on the court at the same time its over. May will be doubled, pass it to Williams on the back side and dunk.
4. Felton vs. Brown/Head- Production won't be as important as pace. If the game is fast paced, then the Illini are at a significant disadvantage. Illinois has to slow the game down.
5. Roy vs. Weber- Who is Bruce Weber? I'll never pick a coach who sounds like Chuck Amato.. Never.
Illinois can win if they shoot 45% from 3 point range and win the rebounding war. If they don't do both of those they will lose.
UNC can win: if they shoot 45% from 3 point range, or win the rebounding battle, or win the turnover battle, and keep Felton out of foul trouble. If Felton is on the floor and they do one of those three things.. they win.
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| It could have been worse today.. You could be a Mets fan |
| 04.04.05 (1:33 pm) [edit] |
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My roomie is a die-hard Mets fan and was full of chuckles when I left at 4:30 to grab some KFC. Pedro had pitched 6 strong innings with 12 K's, Beltran had hit a big HR, and the Mets were up 6-4 going into the 9th with the only effective holdover of their pen set to close the game. O outs and 2 HR's later Joe Randa put the game in the 'W' column for the Reds. Would I rather have Lima get predictably whipped or lose in the 9th? I'll take the first.. Our ace doesn't go till the 3rd game of this series anyways.
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| Opening Day.. Tigers 11 Royals 2 |
| 04.04.05 (11:39 am) [edit] |
Portent of things to come? Probably. This may be considered rash but I'd cut Lima right now and let Wood start. Gobble probably doesn't deserve a spot. The good news is that of the 2 dozen pitchers that Hansen claimed he tinkered with this spring, Lima wasn't one of them.
Pickering hit a homerun, Sweeney looked impatient, Gotay looked awful, Teahen has some decent AB's, Dejesus played well, Macdougal looked both wild & hittable.
UNC will make it all better in a couple of hours.
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| Brandon Inge.. Gone.. 3-0.. What the Hell is that noise? |
| 04.04.05 (9:30 am) [edit] |
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That growl? That's Penn State's growl.. not the Detroit Tigers!
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| Lima gives up homerun.. Shocked.. Really I am.. |
| 04.04.05 (9:24 am) [edit] |
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That's what happens when you fall behind 3-0.. Young, you are a fat bastard who sabotaged my fantasy team last year.
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| Terrence Long Sucks.. |
| 04.04.05 (9:19 am) [edit] |
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4 K's for Bonderman.. I'm a genius.
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| Berroa's walks.. Hmm.. Interesting... |
| 04.04.05 (9:17 am) [edit] |
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2 Men on .. 1 out.. NOT TERRENCE LONG!
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| Lima actually looked good.. |
| 04.04.05 (9:10 am) [edit] |
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His fastball has decent velocity, he painted the corner a couple of times with first pitch strikes, and he is using his slider effectively.. Hmm.. Weird.
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| Good AB for Dejesus.. Sweeney/Gotay obliterated.. |
| 04.04.05 (8:59 am) [edit] |
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Sweeney looked horrible.. Good thing Bonderman is on my fantasy team.
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| Weapons of Mass Distraction? |
| 04.03.05 (3:04 pm) [edit] |
Anybody a little curious as to how Alex Sanchez ends up the poster boy for the new steroid policy?
1. A hitter who has no power that debunks some of the home run record asterisk talk of the public.
2. A hitter who has no job as he was recently released by the Tigers and has no reason to have a job over Jonny Gomes with the Rays.. ergo no toes stepped on.
3. A hitter who has a low-profile and will be cut some slack since he was just re-united with his family in Cuba. The media won't dig into Alex Sanchez.. they don't care enough.
If you were going to pick a scapegoat and use him as a smoke screen wouldn't Alex Sanchez be perfect? If I was Bud Selig, ergo the Devil, I'd love to make this guy the example of our steroid policy working. Its very possible that Sanchez did use steroids.. but I don't trust Selig and I certainly don't trust these results.
The Baseball Tonight gang has gone all Goebbel's for Selig trumpeting this snag like they caught Jack the Ripper or something.
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| Alex Sanchez was on the juice..Yeah.. Performance Enhancer.. |
| 04.03.05 (12:33 pm) [edit] |
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4 years.. 4 homeruns.. 1400+ plate appearances.. http://www.syracuse.com/sport...;storylist=mlb Sanchez claims it was vitamins or a supplement. Whatever it was.. Sanchez should be overlooked because he stinks.
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| Royals butchering the Astros again.. |
| 04.03.05 (12:16 pm) [edit] |
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Hmm.. Its still an exhibition but its not as if the Astros wouldn't be going full bore at this point. Bautista has been dominant and Pickering hit another home run. Don't take anything from this but the Royals have been playing better as we hit the point in spring training where you actually stretch the starters out and play realistically.
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| Finally a charge.. |
| 04.02.05 (6:49 pm) [edit] |
Manuel got shoved 5 feet 3 times that possession. Better late than never. Williams ran over some Spartan.. Manuel drives and throws the ball out of bounds.. Stunned.. Really I am.
May jumper.. 75-58.. "Look at Davis taking it to him" Davis slammed into May 3 times.. didn't back him down any and then missed the shot. Thanks Billy. Manuel sits down with 5 fouls.. Packer claps. He better be careful, Stuart Scott will contract a hit on him.
Noel for three? McCants stuffed.. Marvin Williams stuffs some Spartan.. Still up 15. Izzo may be a great coach but his comeback strategy sucks. Mich St. for 3!.. 10 seconds later.. May.. and one. missed the one. Mich St. for a ridiculous 3.. 33 feet away.. Tough shot.. 77-66.
Oh.. too bad... UNC gets a loose ball call.
Packerism.."When there are comebacks, sometimes the team that gives up the lead allows the comeback." That's a six figure salary folks.
Back to back lobs for UNC 81-66.. Packer insists they should have slowed it down..
Frontcourt scoring
UNC 63
MSU 15
Umm yeah.. I was gonna pity MSU for shooting poorly, but when your guards(who aren't that great in the first place) are shooting 90 percent of your shots.. You aren't going to hit that high a percentage. Felton fumbles the ball back to himself and misses the 30 footer.. Shocked.
UNC wins 87-71.. How bout that Jinx Neil
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| Hooray for Cialis.. |
| 04.02.05 (6:28 pm) [edit] |
If you are in favor of showing boner pill commercials than you should be in favor of showing porn on network TV because these commercials disgust me a lot more than any skin flick has.
Kingdom of Heaven eh.. Orlando Bloom needs to get in the gym if he wants me to believe he's a crusader.
Sean May is getting going.. After the heels are up 11, man he's so tired right Billy.. He just looks winded.. Moron.
67-52.. UNC.. Felton seems to have realized that this is for a shot at the title. Five seconds.. Turnover.. UNC ball. 69-56.. Interesting foul Call on Michigan State.. Too bad Noel won't make the foul shots anyways.. 1 in 1.. we are screwed. Brick.. foul on UNC.. over the back.. Gimme calls are supposed to help the team that gets them.
Oh well.. Noel fouled again.. oh well here we go.. run the clock.
Michigan State is one of the worst shooting teams I've ever seen... Noel just airballed a free throw. Just throw the ball at the hoop.. Brick.. shock. Get Noel off the court.. Noel.. misses a dunk.
MSU gets assist from guy out of bounds.. not called.
May scores.. because Noel was afraid he'd miss the layup.. Ugh.. UNC 73 MSU 58
Commercials.. 10 seconds of hoops.. more commercials. Man how can they keep up this pace.. What athletes(Sarcasm)!
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| The fat Gumbel has the worst Tie-Shirt Combo ever.. |
| 04.02.05 (6:08 pm) [edit] |
Gumbel is wearing a lavender Picnic table like shirt with a matching pinkish tie. Bruce Weber has the least inspiring voice ever.. Puberty is a bitch. UNC has the worst fans. They never make any noise. You'd think people from a location as south as North Carolina would be louder. Its not like they haven't had things to cheer about for the past 40 years.. I may be the most dedicated UNC fan ever.. and I didn't even go there.
Seth Davis likes Illinois.. look at his tie. I hate interviews and I hate analysis. Gimme stats and silence.
Byron Embry got the save today.. I really liked his stuff this spring. He's probably a safer bet than Macdougal.
Seriously Gumbel.. That's a nice jacket but you f'd it up man.. You f'd it up. Cell phones are a means of controlling us.. don't you see?
I like the student athlete going pro in something else commercial.. That's good stuff. I hate cop shows. CSI gives people the same 'clever' dose in an hour that you are supposed to get from reading books.. morons.
White people shouldn't shave their heads.. Ugh its ugly. More commercials.
Man Packer hates UNC.. CBS seems to want MSU to win.. I don't know what that is all about. Is Flint a ratings haven?
Cheerleaders have never been less attractive than they are right now.
"Look at Shandon Brown altering May's shot!" UNC 3 on 1.. They scored anyways.. I'd pummel Packer.. Seriously.. MSU got lucky that wasn't a turnover.. And they are lucky McCants didn't chokeslam Ager. Turnover becomes 1.. 2 points.. sometimes its better to be lucky than good. ugh I hate Manuel. Hah.. the McCants NBA foul calls begin.. Rashad is gonna be an incredible pro effort be damned. Foul #4 on Manuel.. To the BENCH! Felton makes a wide open 3.. Good for you. These foul calls are pissing me off.. MSU is the physical team.. UNC isn't.. 11 free throws to 1 for MSU.. UNC 46 MSU 42. Had the WALK! Had the foul! God this is awful.. The mantra to beat UNC.. make the game as ugly as possible. Felton lost the ball to a post player.. And then nails a 3.. He's ghetto. 49-49
Tough shot by Jawad.. About time they nailed Davis for his thuggery in the Paint.
Rich Harden signed extension for 4 years and $9 million.. If I don't hear Greinke contract talk by the end of this season I'll be ticked.. That's all I'm saying.
Illinois vs. UNC or Illinois vs. MSU.. 54-46? That's it.. You'd rather watch two Big 10 teams? Eh, what can you expect from a populace that re-elected Dubya.
Felton with a nice change of direction. 55-49... UNC
Packer keeps insisting that UNC is tired.. except its Mich State's shots that are always short and UNC is shooting 71 percent this half. McCants for 3.. UNC 59 MSU 49.. Yeah What! What! Where's the hustle Packer! Screw hustle give me five athletes that can shoot the J and handle. Enjoy your tie ups and loose balls.
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| Manuel kicked that ball out of bounds.. |
| 04.02.05 (5:27 pm) [edit] |
What.. 10 seconds of basketball and another commercial timeout.. Screw capitalism. Prevent Taste Loss with Miller Lite? Are you insane? Miller Lite is like water with yellow food coloring.. or urine. American beer commercials should be: "cheap, stale, but it still gets you laid." Prevent taste loss? Drink a guiness!
Jay Bilas should announce ever game, he is the Kirk Herbstreit of college hoops. Oh no.. Jackie Manuel gets his third foul.. Good cuz you SUCK! I don't care about your defense.. You can't dribble, you can't shoot, you can't pass.. Some day they are going to have running commercials in the corner of your TV during the duration of every program or event. God bless Tivo. Good call by the refs, you need 2 feet in. Neither of these teams is shooting worth anything. Was that Reshawn Terry? Play him more. That was a walk.. but we got.. ANOTHER COMMERCIAL!!
The next time I run into a marketing major at a party he's getting crippled.
Royals 3-0 Middle of the 9th.. The Stros only have 3 hits.. Morgan Ensberg better be the star of their lineup today or they got problems.
Any praise of Big 10 basketball should be muted by the fact that Penn State is technically a Big 10 basketball program. Billy Packer has yet to say one positive thing about the Heels. Nice foul call, we were going to get the two points anyways.. jerk. Raymond Felton is playing horribly.. I don't know why he thinks he is J.J. Redick.
That wasn't a charge! Dribbling into a double team and then lowering the shoulder so you can pass the ball 10 feet from the hoop isn't a charge. Next time I'd bring the ball up slap the defender in the face and blow by him. Gotta love those turnover assists. Paul Davis is Ivan Drago ugly.
UNC has shot one freethrow.. despite the fact that their first 25 points were scored by the frontcourt.. Go figure.. Ass.
Royals shut out Astros.. Hell freezes over.. eh its still an exhibition. I'm glad the Mich St. students have the time to go to this game.. I'm busy on my senior thesis ya know, trying to graduate. Why are we shooting 3's 6' behind the line. I'm glad Noel wasn't fouled there. Anderson passed the ball between his legs out of bounds. Yeah I'd have punched him.
Halftime 38-33 MSU, what a crappy game.
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| Good defense? |
| 04.02.05 (5:08 pm) [edit] |
I always wondered about this concept in basketball, especially college, since reportedly they don't play defense in the Pros. The good, gritty defensive teams always seem to just hit the offensive players more.. Hand check here, elbow there, I'd have been a hell of a defensive back if I could have gotten away with that in high school, would have overcome that whole speed thing.
Stream of Consciousness: 11:02 1st half starting
The rim seems tight, the Spartans are good finishers.
If Davis isn't on May, he won't be stopped.. and one. But he missed. I've heard some things about the athleticism of the Spartans but when your point guard doesn't have the speed to get around the defensively challenged Ray Felton, I don't know how you are going to win.. McCants for 3..
Felton just spun the ball out of bounds..in the backcourt What the hell is he doing? How was that over the back on Jawad Williams.. He was inside the ball went over his head, and Davis beaned him to tip it out. That was probably goaltending on Felton's layup, yes it was.. it hit the backboard first.. You are an idiot Packer.
Melvin Scott doesn't look as slow as I remember. Umm.. A foul on a made basket, underneath, a push on a 6'1" guard.. and then they get free throws? WTF is that.. all refs will be killed in my kingdom.. and replaced with machines. The refs are trying to figure out whether they can actually do this.. They don't even know who was fouled so they are checking the TV.. after a free throw has been shot.. You people are so fucking stupid. This is a god damned Final Four game. I quit.. the game is rigged.. Magic Johnson bought off the refs.. That wasn't over the back? May for 2.. UNC 22-20.
I didn't know you could use a screen and pushoff.. Wow.. UNC is getting killed on the boards. May was just tackled. Torbert walked. The current UNC lineup reflects Roy's opinino of this game, "This is crappy basketball, save the stars for more critical times."
MSU 27 UNC 25.. Timeout.. Cheer all you want MSU fans.. You don't have the firepower. UNC is gonna score 75, you won't break 65.
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| The Royals are up 2-0 |
| 04.02.05 (4:54 pm) [edit] |
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On the Astros in the 8th today. Every pitcher was assigned one inning so far so you have to hand it to Hansen. Pickering went yard off that Clemens guy.
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| Billy Packer hates North Carolina... |
| 04.02.05 (4:52 pm) [edit] |
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The Spartans are getting away with murder foul-wise. UNC isn't. Jesus Christ.. The Spartans practically spear people for rebounds. Jawad Williams made a shot.. It's over then.
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