Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Who I'll be rooting for

Here is who I'd like to see win the World Series this year.

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Milwaukee Brewers
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. Philadelphia Phillies
6. Los Angeles Angels
7. Boston Red Sox
8. Chicago White Sox

Something inside me says the White Sox will win it all. Maybe because nobody ever correctly predicts who the eventual winner will be. Take for example, the 2006 Cardinals. Everyone was betting on the Twins, Yankees, or Tigers. The Cardinals were everyone's last choice. And lots of times during the playoffs the team I am rooting most against ends up winning it all, like the '07 Red Sox or the '05 White Sox. Nobody will be giving the White Sox a chance, plus they are the team I hate most. Usually the champsionship team ends up having at least one of those two qualities, hence my prediction.

Superstitions

Sometimes I hate watching sporting events because I am so superstitious. I always end up blaming myself if the team loses. Maybe one night I'll sit with my arms folded, and them someone will do something good. But then all of a sudden that sitting position doesn't help the team. Or if I stop watching the game all of a sudden my team does good. I know I'm not the only person who is like this but I hate it especially on nights like tonight. Because of course I have no control over what happens during the game. I wonder why some people like myself think we do...

Man it would be nice if the Twins had someone with home run power. It feels like the Sox whole lineup has more HR's than Morneau. Kubel is the only other Twin in the 20's HR and Young is next with only 10. And somehow the Twins managed to score the 3rd most runs in franchise history but it is nights like tonight where it sure would have been nice to have a few big bats in the lineup. Hopefully with the new satdium team management will be able to spend some $$ on good free agents and if they do that then this team will become a real juggernaut. The season was great but boy the last month was terrible!! Thanks for the memories 2008 Twins.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Twins vs White Sox

So it has come to this. A trip to the playoffs hinges on the upcoming 3 game series that starts tomorrow at the Metrodome. Also on the line - Morneau or Mauer winning the MVP race, Morneau with the RBI title, and Mauer as batting champ. Yes Morneau is a front runner for MVP but Mauer should be getting some attention as well. Mauer is first in WPA and Morneau is 2nd. Mauer leads league in BA and among MVP contenders is first in On-Base Percentage - a much more meaningful statistic. Here is my favorite Mauer statistic - he has reached base via a walk or hit in every game except 9 this season. Now that is an offensive machine. Still, Morneau has some gauddy numbers and if he has a big series vs the White Sox, and if the Twins sweep, look for Morneau to win his 2nd MVP.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Hanging By a Thread

The Twins stand 2.5 games out of first (3 games back in the loss column). The White Sox take on the Royals and the Twins play at the Rays. It's Slowey vs Kazmir. The Twins really need a win and a Sox loss to stay alive. Luckily Slowey was injured earlier in the year and isn't at such a high innings pitched number as Blackburn and Perkins who seem to have pitched too much.

Friday, September 19, 2008

2010 Lottery/Deron Williams

As several Jazz fans are aware, Utah has the New York Knickerbockers 1st round pick in the 2010 draft. Will the Knicks be the worst team and give the Jazz the #1 pick? Obviously nobody knows. The Knicks were headed nowhere under Isiah Thomas and having a top five or top ten pick in the draft would have been almost certain had Isiah stayed in charge. But they just hired Donnie Walsh as team president and Mike D'Antoni as the head coach, not exactly what the Jazz were hoping. The Knicks have players such as David Lee, Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, and Quentin Richardson who are alright players not to mention Stephon Marbury and Zach Randolph. Luckily Marbury and Randolph are severly overpaid and the Knicks have really bad payroll issues that don't look to be resolved unless someone wants to take on a really bad contract. So the Knicks likely can't afford a big-name free agent. I think the chances are still very good that the Jazz could end up with a top 10 or 5 pick. Wouldn't it be something if they got the number one pick? For me, it doesn't need to be the #1 overall pick to make me happy I mean remember what Kevin O'Conner did last time with the high lottery pick of #6 in 2005? He traded up and got the #3 pick and took Deron Williams, the team's undisputed leader and best player. So I trust the Jazz management to get something done with a good lottery pick.




Speaking of D-Will he seems to be a genuine great guy. Williams was all over the place this summer and not because he had to. He is one of the rare athletes who lives in Salt Lake year round. He genuinely likes it here. Malone would always run off to Louisiana, Jerry Sloan goes and plays with his John Deeres, and Stockton, well we never knew what Stockton was doing because he was so private. But check out some stuff he did over the summer, and not because anybody forced him to: (from
Deseret News)


"Williams appeared at Sam's Club this summer, as a guest, not for walking-around cash (he doesn't need that with a new $70 million contract), but because they asked him. He wanted to meet the people and he did — roughly 2,000 of 'em. Not once did he roll his eyes." "He said, 'We need to do more of this.'"


" Last weekend, Williams was in Champaign, Ill., for the Fighting Illini alumni game. Williams established a scholarship foundation, and the fundraiser attracted former players such as Dee Brown, Roger Powell, Kendall Gill and Nick Anderson, as well as Phoenix Suns' chairman Jerry Colangelo, Illinois coach Bruce Weber and former coach Lou Henson. A regular Memory Lane moment. His reason for the foundation? Yup. He wanted to give back."


"He also appeared at the Carmen B. Pingree Center for Children with Autism last week to play with the kids. Really play. Because he has an extended family member who is autistic, it was something he volunteered. "I was briefing him beforehand, telling him, 'Deron, some of these kids may not notice what that gold medal is, or what it stands for. Some of them might not understand what the Jazz are,'" said Williams' marketing director, Steve Wright. "He said, 'Steve, I got it. I know. If I can touch them for even five minutes, I'm there.'" Proceeds from his celebrity golf tournament next week will go to the school."


If the Jazz end up losing Boozer or Okur or Korver next summer, (although they'd be crazy to leave) Deron plans to try to attract free-agents and show them SLC isn't such a bad place and the Jazz are one of the NBA's elite franchises. Sounds like a plan to me, who wouldn't want to play with D-Will? The Jazz are lucky to have one of the game's top 5 best young players who happens to be a great human being as well.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Darth Indians

From the Twins official website:

Why is Darth Vader on the schedule for tonight?

A Look Back at Tim's Sports Blog 2008 Baseball Predictions

With the season wrapping up I thought it would be a good idea to look at my crazy preseason predictions:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

EAST
Boston Red Sox
Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays
Baltimore Orioles

Comment: Yup I called the rise of the Rays and the fall of the Yankees. The division could end up looking just like that.

CENTRAL
Detroit Tigers
Minnesota Twins
Cleveland Indians
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
I don't think anybody thought the Tigers would be such a disappointment, myself included. I can't believe I thought the Twins would finish so high, and that they will finish so high.
WEST
Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners
Oakland A’s
Texas Rangers

ALDS: BOS over LAA
ALDS: DET over SEA
ALCS: BOS over DET

CY YOUNG: Francisco Liriano This belongs to Cliff Lee, who came out of nowhere. Liriano will win this award eventually.
MVP: Miguel Cabrera Cabrera's not in the running. Should be Pedroia, Morneau, or Hamilton.
ROY: Evan Longoria


NATIONAL LEAGUE

EAST
New York Mets
Atlanta Braves
Piladelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
Florida Marlins

CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers
St. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds
Houston Astros
Pittsburgh Pirates

WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
Colorado Rockies
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

MVP: Johan Santana
CY YOUNG: Johan Santana
ROY: Kosuke Fukudome

NLDS: NYM over ARI
NLDS: CHC over ATL
NLCS: NYM over CHC


WORLD SERIES: NYM over BOS
WORLD SERIES MVP: Johan Santana


And some Twins predictions:

HR: Morneau 45 Ouch he'd be lucky to get 30.
BA: Mauer .339
RBI: Young 121 Mauer might end up leading AL in BA and Morneau in RBI
SB: Gomez 65

Worst BA: Punto .189 Even I have to admit Punto has been okay this year.

Wins: Liriano 18 Include Liriano's AAA numbers this year and these aren't far off.
SO: Liriano 234
ERA: Liriano 2.39
Saves: Nathan 40

Liriano will stay healthy Correct!
Gomez will lead AL in stolen bases It would be easier if he had a decent OBP
Everett and Mauer will win gold gloves
Mauer, Morneau and Nathan will be all-stars Correct!
Lamb will be one of the top five hitters on Twins Embarassing!
Gomez, Cuddyer, and Young will be 1-2-3 in outfield assists.
Kubel will finally have that breakout year and hit 20 HR Might do it
Mauer will finally develop power and hit around 20 HR Might never happen
Twins will have more wins than last year Correct!

And my final prediction:
Most of the above predictions will be wrong at the end of the year.That sounds about right.

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Span Man

The Twins new baseball field will be called Target Field. That sounds better than say, Land O' Lakes field (LOL Field just doesn't look good.)
Good to see Cuddyer is finally back from the DL.
And it is great to see Morneau take over the AL RBI lead.

Now to today's main post topic. Denard Span, the Span man. I, along with most people thought Denard Span was a wasted first round draft pick. He just never really had good numbers in the minors. That is why the Twins traded for a CF in the Santana trade. But the Span man got LASIK eye surgery in the offseason and that or maybe other things we don't know about have made all the difference. The guy is one of the best lead off players in the game. He is a CF but he has been playing mainly in RF because Gomez is the best defensive CF in the game, but Span has been perhaps the best defensive RF this season. Here is what his numbers translate to over a full 162 game season:
That my friends is a quality lead-off hitter. Isn't that what you want? Someone who gets lots of walks, who gets on base at a high clip and who has some speed and steals, and a little gap power as well. I wonder who the Twins would have traded for if they knew Span was going to play out of his mind like this.
.304 AVG (15th best in league)
.387 OBP (5th best in the league)
.447 SLG
86 RBI (17th in league)
36 SB (6th in league)
122 Runs (1st)
187 Hits (3rd)
35 Doubles (15th in league)
11 Triples (2nd in league)
13 Home Runs
80 BB (7th in league)
.834 OPS (26th)