MVN - Most Valuable Network

College Football Playoff? Not In Your Lifetime

There was a glimmer of hope last week that there might be some semblance of a Division I football playoff once the current BCS agreement expires. That hope was quickly extinguished. There will not be a playoff and you can pick any of the below old and tired excuses as the reason:

Academics: Three or four additional games at the end of the year would take the student athlete out of the classroom for too long. So explain to me again why we have a three week long basketball tournament in March. Let’s also not let the fact that at least two, maybe three rounds of any proposed playoff would take place during the holiday break.

Bowls: The bowls have been great to college football. Which I think translates into ‘the bowls really give us a lot of free stuff and money’. You could easily incorporate the current bowls into a playoff system, rotating the championship and semi-finals games amongst the bigger bowls. That never seems to fly with most bowls who seem to think a #1 versus #16 matchup in mid-December would generate less interest than their usual Texas Tech-Navy matchup the day after Christmas.

Season Length: Add three games and the ’season would just be too long’. I don’t get it, most bowlbound teams practice from their last game through the three or four week gap before they play in their bowl. I have yet to meet an athlete that prefers practices over games. Worried about season length? Cut out the additional non-conference game you added a few years back, subtract the bowl game and you have just two teams playing two extra games than they already do, another two playing one extra game and the other teams still playing the same amount.

The Buzz: Look at all the conversation and coverage the debate over who is number one generates. I have heard that from numerous college presidents and the like. The idea that just because people talk about something means it is good seems laughable. Communism generated a lot of buzz during the Cold War and I don’t think that meant we all needed to start wearing olive drab and quoting Lenin.

No System is Perfect: That is one of my favorites. Basically, the argument is that someone will be left out that deserves to be in. That is kind of the point of having a playoff isn’t it? It’s supposed to be hard to get in. Frankly, if you have no one complaining that they were left out of the playoff, then you are letting too many teams in. Besides, isn’t an eight or sixteen team playoff closer to perfect than 200 sportswriters and four computers deciding?

My guess is you have heard other excuses than those listed above. The bottom line is simply that there will not be a playoff for no other reason than most people really want one. Those that truly decide the issue (college presidents, chancellors and conference commissioners) are easily one of the most elitist groups of people in the world. Not only do they think they are smarter than the general population, they are pretty miffed that we refuse to agree to that premise.

As a group, they have never truly reconciled themselves to the fact that their football teams garners hundreds of times the attention that their Nobel Prize winning science professor does. They are miffed that you know the name of your linebacker coach and you don’t know their name.

Until the television networks absolutely, as a united front, demand a playoff you will not get one and the reason is mostly simply because you really want one.

Thursday’s Best - Defending Champs Defending Hornets

5. Flaring Tempers - In last night’s Seattle-Texas game, the Rangers won 5-0 and handed Felix Hernandez his third loss of the season.  King Felix gave up four runs before the third inning including a 2nd inning home run to Ian Kinsler.  In Kinsler’s next at-bat in the 4th, Felix plunked him and Kinsler postured a little before heading to first.  Then in the bottom of the 4th, Rangers pitcher Kason Gabbard threw a high pitch to Richie Sexson that to my untrained eye didn’t look particularly malicious.  But the 6-8 “slugger” charged the mound furiously anyways and benches emptied.  Somehow no punches were thrown, which I guess is typical of Mariners baseball this year.

If we’re looking at the glass half full, maybe this could be a spark for an underachieving Seattle team that is currently the worst in the American League.  Or maybe it’s the spark that causes the Mariners go the rest of the season without scoring another run.

4. D-back Pitchers - With yesterday’s 8-3 win over the Phillies, Brandon Webb became the first eight game winner in the majors.  Webb threw a complete game six-hitter and only allowed two earned runs in the ninth and five fly balls.  So far this year, he’s won every start and in all likelihood he’s probably going to win the rest of his starts too.  However, the best news of the day concerning Arizona hurlers was concerning Doug Davis.  After Davis underwent surgery last month to remove a cancerous thyroid gland, doctors have declared him cancer free.  This means on the season he is now 1-0 against cancer and 1-1 against baseball teams.  And when he makes his expected return later this month, an already strong Diamondbacks pitching staff will get even stronger.

3. The Padres 2009 #1 Draft Pick - Once upon a last year, the Padres had the best bullpen in the majors.  This year, however, San Diego has a league worst 10 losses from their relievers.  Yesterday’s 5-4 loss to the Braves was pretty much business as usual.  The Padres held a 4-1 lead into the sixth and slowly coughed it up eventually yielding a bases loaded walk off single in the bottom of the ninth.  San Diego falls to 12-23 this season  and now has a very comfortable lead in the race for worst team in the majors.  The Padres are tied with the Giants for fewest runs scored and are batting a league-low .231 as a team.  Two of the team’s top five batting averages are from pitchers Justin Germano and Jake Peavy.  And if that weren’t enough, for most of the week out here in San Diego, it’s been in the low-60’s.

2. San Antonio Strategery - The defending champion Spurs apparently weren’t keen on going down 0-3 to the upstart Hornets as evident by a 110-99 victory last night in San Antonio.  The game featured several adjustments by Gregg Popovich including playing Bruce Bowen on Peja Stojakovic and not Chris Paul and starting Manu Ginobili instead of pretending he’s more effective in fewer minutes.  San Antonio also employed an interesting strategy where instead of missing three pointers, they made them as they hit 11-of-25 after shooting only 34% in the first two games.  The Hornets, who had made 51% of their threes coming in, were held to 2-of-11.

In the loss, Chris Paul scored 35 points and had nine assists.  Throughout the series, the Spurs have talked about trying to make him more of a scorer than distributor and this was the first game they’ve really been able to do so.  Game 4 is this Sunday and I’m more than a little worried the Spurs have figured it out.  But, maybe it’s a little bit of an overreaction over one game.  After all, Chris Paul is the greatest player of all time.  Maybe that was the overreaction.

1. The Exciting Western Conference - In a largely unwatchable game for fans of neither team, the Celtics beat the Cavaliers 89-73 to take yet another 2-0 series lead that has been so popular these playoffs.  Boston played pretty well and got across the board contributions from their big three and bench alike.  Cleveland however were stifled for the second straight game by the top-ranked Celtics defense.  A game after scoring 72 points they 73 which means the Celtics could be in trouble if this series goes to a pivotal game 51.  Even worse, Lebron endured another woeful shooting performance who is shooting 19% from the field and has made only eight field goals this series.

But the news isn’t all bad in Cleveland because yesterday Papa John’s delivered on their promise to offer 23-cent pizzas to make up for their curious decision to sponsor Wizards shirts calling Lebron a crybaby.  It was apparently quite the scene as customers had to wait around 90 minutes in line for their orders and police were called to make sure pizza lovers didn’t become rioters.  Anyways, if I were a Cavs fan, a few 23-cent pizzas would probably make this loss a little easier to handle.  And hopefully, Papa John has learned his lesson and in the future will remember to never upset Cavs fans or at least ask Lebron James to change his number to 1299 before upsetting Cavs fans.  Anyways, the series shifts to Cleveland this Saturday and we’ll see what kind of adjustments the Cavs make to avoid falling to an unenviable 0-3 hole.  Even cheap pizzas wouldn’t help that.

Is anything (blow-up dolls) off-limits in MLB clubhouses? NBA protecting LeBron? More Patriots punishment coming?

With enormous reluctance, hosts Dan Benton and Brandon Rosage explore the limits of offensive clubhouse behavior following Ozzie Guilen’s White Sox locker room blow-up doll fiasco. The conversation travels from Ozzie’s seemingly ineffective sensitivity training to what is and is not appropriate behavior to whether media should be allowed inside at all.

Broadcasting live on TalkShoe, the guys also bring light to an ugly trend in MLB punditry of ripping apart relievers for giving up runs. The conversation follows panic in the Bronx after Joba Chamberlain surrendered a lead-changing three-run home run to the Tribe on Wednesday.

The show also covers the NBA Playoffs and complaints that the league is protecting LeBron James with harsher foul calls and that the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy has got to be ruled out. And the guys wrap it up with discussion about the impending arrival of former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh’s eight videotapes that show New England violated league rules by recording opposing coaches’ playcalling signals.

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Wednesday’s Best - Joe Vs. the Vottocano

5. Carloose Gomez - In a 13-1 thumping of the Chicago White Sox, Carlos Gomez became the first Twin since Kirby Puckett 22 years ago to hit for the cycle.  Similarly, I became the first White Sox fan to punch themselves in the ear in frustration since me one game earlier when Joe Mauer ruined a perfectly good no-hitter.  But this isn’t about me, it’s about Carlos Gomez, who was the centerpiece of the blockbuster Johan Santana deal.  Gomez has had an up and down season so far, but has definitely shown Twins fans flashes of his potential.  Meanwhile in Flushing, Johan has not once hit for the cycle, making this trade a clear win for Minnesota.  It’ll be interesting to see if Gomez can build off this game and become a more consistent threat at the top of the Twins lineup.  Or if next game he follows up by hitting for the elusive bicycle.

4. Joey Votto - The Reds broke out their bats yesterday afternoon in a 9-0 waxing of the Cubs.  Cincinnati enjoyed another impressive start by Edinson Volquez who despite walking six batters, didn’t allow a run in seven innings and struck out 10.  The win wrapped a three game series in which the Reds took two games and managed to score 11 of their 14 total runs off of home runs.  This includes the nine runs scored yesterday off of seven home runs, three of which were from first basemen Joey Votto who is in the midst of his first full major league season.  Between a young core of Votto, Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, and highly touted prospect Jay Bruce and a rotation with Volquez, Cueto, Aaron Harang, and Homer Bailey the Reds’ future actually looks pretty darn promising.  Assuming of course, Votto hits three home runs every game.

3. The Magic’s Healthy Hamstrings - In a must-win game 3 in Orlando, the Magic blasted the Pistons 111-86.  Rashard Lewis led the Magic with 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 5-of-6 from three and Dwight Howard chipped in 20 points and 12 rebounds and also chipped out six blocked shots.  Detroit, however, was able to overcome a 30-16 first quarter deficit and a Chauncey Billups injury four minutes into the game to close the game to four at the end of the third.  But the Magic came out of the fourth firing and used an 11-0 run out of the gate to put the game out of reach.

The story of the game will probably center around Billups’ hamstring strain and whether he’ll miss any additional time.  In his absence, Rookie Stuckey was pressed into action and though he scored 19 points he’s not yet someone who can run this team for more than a few 5-10 minute spurts.  Game 4 isn’t until Saturday, and I can’t imagine the extra rest won’t help.  Or at least help a lot more than Lindsey Hunter would.  Though, regardless of whether Billups can play, it really looks like this series is heading back to Detroit tied at two games a piece.  Unless there’s another clock malfunction and the refs decide to count the Billups three from game 2 at the end of every quarter in game 4.

2. Jazzercise - On a night where Kobe Bryant received his first MVP trophy, the Lakers beat the Jazz 120-110 to take a 2-0 series lead as before it shifts to Utah this Friday.  Interestingly, it was the first time since the year before last that the MVP trophy was awarded to a player who was still playing.  Perhaps buoyed by the honor, Kobe led the Lakers with a game-high 34 points and six assists.  Meanwhile, teammates Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom took advantage of a Utah frontcourt in foul trouble throughout the night to combine for 39 points, 21 rebounds, seven assists, and seven blocked shots.  It was a very thorough win for the Lakers who through two games look pretty strong.

However, this isn’t to say I don’t have concerns.  In two games, the Lakers have allowed 41 offensive rebounds which is a mighty high number of second chance opportunities to give up.  Also, if you’ll let me pick nits for a second, I’d be a little worried that despite big leads early the Jazz have managed to hang around late.  In game 1, with under five minutes left it was a four point game and last night, Utah only had a five point deficit with five and a half left.  I guess the Lakers could be encouraged that they eventually closed out both games, but doing so earlier would keep Utah from gaining even the slightest bit of momentum.  But like I said, maybe I’m just grasping at straws.  Either way, I’m curious to see if the Lakers can continue their play in hostile Utah or if Kobe Bryant carries his MVP trophy around with him wherever he goes.  I know I would.

1. Jet Lee - I found it interesting that in yesterday’s spate of baseball games there was a Wang-Lee pitching match up and only one of the pitchers was Asian.  It was like buying a ticket for The Forbidden Kingdom expecting Jackie Chan and Jet Li but getting Shanghai Noon only with no kung fu and a lot more pick off attempts.  Anyways, when it was all said and done, Cleveland beat the Yankees 3-0 as Cliff-Ming Lee out dueled Chien-Ming Wang.  Lee pitched seven innings, striking out seven to improve to 6-0.  In a so far inconsistent season for the Indians, Cliff Lee has been surprisingly reliable and now sports an unreal 0.81 ERA.  If he keeps this up, it’s going to get harder to tell whether we’re talking about his ERA or blood alcohol level.  Especially if he starts pitching when he’s drunk.

LeBron James: The Goat of Game One

Even the great ones have bad games every now and then.

Absolutely nothing went right for LeBron James in Tuesday’s opening game of the Cavs-Celtics series. 2-18 from the field, 0-6 from beyond the arc, 12 points, 10 turnovers. It was painful to watch.

With King James’ embarrassing performance in mind, it’s simply remarkable that Cleveland managed to stay competitive throughout the entire game. With under 20 seconds remaining, LeBron had a chance to tie the game and potentially send it to overtime — however, he squandered this opportunity by missing a layup that, on any other night, he would have converted…

Yikes. Still, there is good news for Cavs fans: There’s no chance in hell that LeBron plays like this again for the remainder of the series.

For Celtics fans nervous that the game was so competitive despite an anemic performance from James, I’d offer this piece of optimism: KG finally showed some fourth quarter assertiveness during Game One. He sunk the game-winner for Boston, spinning and forcing his way to the basket, and sealing the deal for the Celtics with a clutch lay-in.

Seriously, as a fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves, I criticized KG countless times during his 11 seasons in Minny for his unwillingness to take big shots down the stretch. Boston fans saw clear evidence of this issue with his game during their squad’s series with Atlanta.

But on Monday, we saw a different Kevin Garnett — a Kevin Garnett who isn’t afraid to take big shots in the clutch. It’ll be interesting to see if The Big Ticket continues to be a factor in the fourth quarter through the remainder of Boston’s playoff run. Personally, I wouldn’t get my hopes up for that, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’re seeing the beginnings of a new cut-throat crunch time attitude for KG.

Thanks to Odenized for the video clip.

Tuesday’s Best - That Thing You Do!

5. The Ghost of Al Capone - When NBA players Eddy Curry and Antoine Walker were robbed at gunpoint in their Chicago homes last summer, authorities determined that the two incidents were targeted attacks on professional athletes. Further proving that organized crime is more dangerous than disorganized crime, Steelers rookie Rashard Mendenhall was held up along the Chicago lakefront Monday morning. The former Illini was unharmed, but lost his cell phone and wallet in the altercation. With minicamp and OTAs on the horizon, Pittsburgh is hoping their first-round pick can shake of this incident and form a powerful backfield with Fast Willie Parker. But as long as he doesn’t go crazy and reenact the opening scene from “The Last Boy Scout”, Mendenhall should be in good shape.

4. The Houston Astronauts – Considered an afterthought in the NL Central, the Astros have quietly put together a solid start to the season. Off the strength of a 5-for-5, 4 run game by Lance Berkman, Houston won their fourth straight to post a winning record for the first time all season. With their main competition coming in the form of Chicago’s loveable losers and St. Louis’ hateable halfwits, Cecil Cooper has a decent shot at turning this team around.

Though most of the off-season trade talk centered around Detroit’s acquisitions, it should be noted that Houston gave up several young prospects for closer Jose Valverde and shortstop Miguel Tejada. And though Miguel doesn’t have as many seasons left in him as they first thought, a .344 batting average is something fans of all ages can enjoy.

3. Players Jordan Passed To – Though Steve Kerr was a terrific player for the Arizona Wildcats, he will always be remembered for hitting a game-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Now GM of the Suns, Kerr has given head coach Mike D’Antoni permission to speak with other teams regarding their coaching vacancies. Mike D has been in close contact with Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson, whose jumper in the ’93 Finals gave the Bulls their first three-peat.

For a team in need of an identity, D’Antoni would be a great fit for the Bulls. Former coach Scott Skiles wore out his welcome with most of his players, as his strict rules created problems among rookies and veterans alike. With the Suns setting in Phoenix, now might be the right time for D’Antoni to bolt for Chi town. That is, unless some team hires Jud Buechler.

2. Awful Basketball – In a game that will surely be lauded for both teams’ defensive effort, Boston defeated Cleveland 76-72. But more accurately, the Celtics were four points less awful offensively. In fact, Boston had two shot clock violations in the final four minutes. I guess they really wanted to get back on defense.

Though the Celtics held LeBron James to a mere 12 points, he still managed to come within one rebound and one assist of a triple-double. However, he did record a very interesting double-double: 16 missed field goals and 10 turnovers. But in dissecting the box score, the most glaring stat is that for the first time since his rookie season eleven seasons ago, Ray Allen did not score a single point. Coincidentally, the Celtics are 1-0 in games like this. Ride the pine, Shuttlesworth!

1. One-Hit Wonders – Scott Olsen was one out away from a complete game shutout, Carlos Zambrano didn’t allow a base runner past second, and Tim Wakefield pitched eight scoreless innings against Detroit. But none of these pitchers were able to accomplish what the 25-year-old Gavin Floyd did: allow the opposing team to score. Despite an unearned run, Pretty Boy Floyd was two outs from no-hitting Minnesota until Joe Mauer laced a double to the left-center gap. This is Floyd’s second near no-no of the season, as he carried a no-hitter through 7 1/3 against the Tigers four starts ago. At this rate, it seems pretty obvious that Gavin’s final start of the season is going to end with him pitching 15 1/3 innings of no-hit ball.

This performance comes a few days after manager Ozzie Guillen’s profanity-laced tirade against White Sox critics. I guess motivation comes in all forms, you stupid $#^@.

What is going on in the AL Central?

Coming into the year, experts and casual observers of baseball alike predicted that the A.L. Central would be one of the most competitive divisions in baseball. Those predictions, through the first 30 some odd games of the season, anyways, have been largely inaccurate. When people said the division would be competitive, they were right, but nobody thought the competition would be for who can stay at or around .500. The question that remains to be answered this season is, who will turn their year around and start playing winning baseball? Here’s a look at how the season has gone for each of the teams in this wacky division:

Cleveland Indians

The Indians had high expectations going into this season, hoping to reach that coveted “next level” status as a team that made it to the ALCS last year before falling one game short of a World Series berth. They have established veterans like C.C. Sabathia, a pitcher who is almost guaranteed to give you a quality start every time he takes the mound. After 2 full seasons in the majors, Grady Sizemore followed up two good offensive years with a great year at the plate in 2007, almost certainly his best season as a big leaguer. Along with his teammate Sizemore, Victor Martinez also had arguably his best season since breaking in to the bigs in 2002. Couple that with guys like Jake Westbrook, Fausto Carmona, Jhonny Peralta, the ever-serviceable Paul Byrd, and Joe Borowski, who had a career high 45 saves as Cleveland’s new closer last year, and you figure you’re in good shape to make another run deep into the playoffs in 2008.

Despite retaining virtually every important player from last year, however, the Indians are just 14-17 thus far in 2008, still only 2.5 games back in the standings. Who has been their best pitcher so far? Not a guy you’d expect, that’s for sure. Cliff Lee hasn’t just had the best start to the season on the Indians, he’s had arguably the best start by any pitcher in the Major Leagues. Lee is 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA so far this season. Sabathia? 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA in 7 starts. Those stats are a bit misleading though - Sabathia still leads the team in strikeouts, and his high ERA is largely the result of giving up 9 runs in consecutive starts back in April. Aside from those two terrible outings and a poor pitching performance in his debut this season, Sabathia has been solid. The Indians are missing Joe Borowski with an injury to his triceps, but he should be back within about 3 weeks or so. Jake Westbrook joined Borowski on the 15-day DL on April 22nd, and a tentative 1 month timetable has been set for his return. It remains to be seen how long it will take him to fully recover, but he could still help the Indians going down the stretch if they’re still in a race. They have almost all of the right pieces in place; now they have to figure out how to start winning more ballgames.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers were touted as one of the most explosive offensive teams in recent memory during spring training after acquiring a slew of big names in the offseason. Miguel Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, and Dontrelle Willis are the most notable new faces in the Tigers clubhouse, and although their offense is not as dominant as many thought it would be, Detroit is still 6th in the league in runs scored, on-base percentage, and home runs. The new guys, Cabrera and Renteria, have each produced, but Gary Sheffield, Brandon Inge, and Marcus Thames have all gotten off to slow starts. You have to believe that if any one of those players goes on a tear and rights himself at the plate, the Tigers offense will be near the top of the league in most statistical categories. So the offensive production has come close to meeting expectations, but the same cannot be said about their starting pitching.

Detroit Tigers 2008 Pitching Stats:

(ERA, IP, K-BB Ratio)

• Justin Verlander (1-5):

6.28     43.0     25-20

• Kenny Rogers (2-3):

6.27     37.1     19-19

• Jeremy Bonderman (2-3):

4.17     41.0     22-25

• Nate Robertson (1-3):

6.82     34.1     27-9

• Armando Galarraga (2-1):

1.88     24.0     15-8

As you can see, the Tigers have gotten sub-par starting pitching performances all season, the biggest reason for their 14-19 start. While not all on starting pitching, the Tigers have already given up 7 runs or more to their opponent seven times this season and surrendered 10 or more runs in 5 of those 7 games. Dontrelle Willis managed to make only two starts before injuring his knee and getting placed on the 15 day DL, and I’m sure the Tigers hope that when he makes his return he can restore some order to a rotation that has failed to meet expectations going into the season. They could be waiting a while, however, as Willis re-injured the knee in a rehab start last Friday, but luckily for them, everyone else in the division has been pretty static.

Minnesota Twins

Last year, the Twins marketed guys like Nick Punto, Jason Bartlett and Rondell White as piranhas - ankle biters that can get on base and play solid defense. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the piranhas batted more like goldfish, and Jason Bartlett and his league leading 26 errors at shortstop was packaged with up and coming starter Matt Garza and sent to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young. The Twins have regressed offensively as a team since their 3 straight division titles at the start of the decade, and despite Justin Morneau becoming the first Twin to hit more than 30 home runs in a season since 1987 with his MVP year in 2006, this year’s Twin’s club has almost no supporting cast. Joe Mauer is still going to be a .300 hitter, but the power still isn’t there and will likely never be a part of his offensive game. Michael Cuddyer had a good year offensively in ‘06, but he took a step back last year and is hitting .280 with 1 homer and 9 RBI in limited time this year, a result of a dislocated finger that kept him out of action in 17 games so far this year.

The Twins are not and probably will not be a good offensive team this year, but the scary thing for manager Ron Gardenhire going into the season was that their pitching situation might be even worse than their hitting. The move to trade Johan Santana looks more foolish by the day, but it’s all part of a master rebuilding process by Bill Smith, the new GM in Minnesota. The one source of hope for Twins fans going into the year was the return of rookie sensation Francisco Liriano, but that hasn’t exactly worked out so far. Liriano has already been sent down to the minors after allowing 13 runs in just 10 1/3 innings of work. Either his arm isn’t what it used to be after Tommy John surgery, or Liriano was rushed back too fast and needs more time to work on his pitching in the minors, but I don’t give the Twins too much of a chance in the long haul if he can’t be effective. Livan Hernandez has been surprisingly good this year, considering his age, but he’s pretty much just an innings eater at this stage in his career. That would be fine on a staff with 2 or 3 other legitimate starters, but the Twins rotation is comprised of Hernandez, Boof Bonser, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and…fill in the blank. The bullpen is good but faces the problem of getting overworked as the season rolls along, and even though Joe Nathan is rock solid as a closer, what’s the point of having a great closer if you don’t have the lead going into the ninth anyways because of either a lack of hitting, poor pitching, or both?

In the face of all of these issues, the Twins find themselves atop the Central with a 16-14 record. Go figure.

Kansas City Royals

The Royals opened the season with a sweep over the Detroit Tigers, something nobody in baseball would have predicted before the season began. They got off to an 8-5 start, miraculous by the standards of most Royals fans, but then things went south. They dropped 7 games in 7 days, dropping their record to 9-13, and have pretty much played .500 baseball ever since, giving them a 14-17 record on the season.

While I’d love to say that this is the year the Royals will get things going in the right direction, I don’t see any signs of that happening yet. In their rotation, they have Gil Meche, an overpayed starter who can go from looking good to bad from start to start, Brian Bannister, a pitcher who will put up respectable numbers but isn’t going to push you over the hump, and an aging Brett Tomko. They still have Zach Greinke, a guy who has filthy stuff, but he hasn’t yet emerged as a dominant force in the league or even a guy who will be able to throw 200+ innings, for that matter. Overall, the Royals’ 4.37 team ERA is 21st in the league.

Offensively, the Royals rank 29th in runs scored and home runs, 19th in batting average, 30th in total bases and are near the bottom of almost every major offensive category in the American League. When you look up and down their lineup, you see a team that resembles the Minnesota Twins, except there’s no Justin Morneau in the middle to drive in all the runs. In 2007, John Buck led the team with 18 home runs, and Emil Brown’s 62 RBI was the most of any Royals player. Buck is back this year for Kansas City, but Brown signed with Oakland. Make no mistake about it, this is not a team that hits well. Sorry Royals fans, but they’ll probably limp their way to another 70-92 or 65-97 type season.
Chicago White Sox

The Sox were a team in disarray last season. Just 2 years removed from winning 99 games and a World Series in ‘05, nobody on the team batted higher than Rob Mackowiak who had a .278 average in only 85 games. Jermaine Dye had a down year after his 2006 near-MVP year in which he hit 44 homers and drove in 120. Chicago was without Scott Podsednik for a good portion of the year because of nagging injuries, and they would have been a different team with Josh Fields on the roster for the entire season. The Sox have subsequently sent Fields back down to the minors, but there’s no doubt he has some pop in his bat and would be a good pinch hitter if not for his low average and strikeouts. (Then again, any hitter would be a good pinch hitter with a high average and low strikeouts. Touche Ozzie). The south siders scored just 139 runs as a team for all of last year and finished in the bottom third of the league in total bases, batting average (which they were dead last in), and hits (which they were also dead last in). From a pitching perspective, all of their main horses had mediocre seasons statistically. They had three guys work through 200 innings or more in Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, and Javier Vasquez, but the combined record of that group was just 35-30. And don’t forget that, through all of this, the players had to hear another one of Ozzie’s tirades on what seemed to be a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

As for this year, the Sox are a game below .500, and we’ve already seen a few outbursts by Ozzie. I’m not sure how long Sox management is going to put up with Guillen, but I can’t imagine it would be for very long if the trends from last year spill over into 2008. The White Sox are getting great production out of Carlos Quentin, a left fielder they acquired from Arizona last winter. Quentin has 8 home runs, one short of his career high for a season, and has driven in 22 runs with a .271 average. The White Sox definitely have enough meat in the heart of the order to do some damage with Thome, Konerko, Dye, Crede, and Quentin, but they still have a low BA as a team and have just 8 stolen bases on the year, 5 of them by Orlando Cabrera. On the flip side, San Fransisco already has 38 swipes this season.

Javier Vasquez is holding his own this year, but Buehrle is not the same pitcher he used to be, and Contreras has started slow as well. Bobby Jenks is still a guy who can get the job done as a closer, but nobody else in their bullpen really scares you. Even with what should be an improved offensive team in 2008, I’m not sure the White Sox are as complete of a team as either the Indians or the Tigers, and they’ll probably finish in third place ahead of Minnesota and KC.

*edit: Just after I published this article, Gavin Floyd made me pay for not even mentioning his name.  The big  White Sox righty took a no-hitter into the ninth inning with 1 out until Joe Mauer knocked one to the gap for a double.

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Well, there you have it. I expect the Indians and Tigers to both turn their seasons around by the All-Star break. The key for the Tigers will be to get their pitching situation figured out if they hope to make it out of the American League, assuming they’re lucky enough to make the playoffs. Bonderman, Verlander, and Robertson are three solid arms, but Galarraga is an unproven commodity. They’ll be able to win enough games by simply outscoring people, and Jim Leyland knows how to manage a baseball team. Eric Wedge finally got the gratification he was looking for after taking the Indians deep into the playoffs last year, but obviously the ultimate goal of a World Series is what his sights are set on this year. First, however, he has to manage his team out of a funk seems to have struck the entire AL Central. One thing is for sure: the longer the Indians and the Tigers stay right around that .500 mark, the other teams in the division are going to start licking their chops and believing they can win the Central crown.

One Final Base Hit for Cancer-Stricken Teen

Kudos to the gang at Fark for tracking down a touching story about an 18-year-old boy dying of cancer who received an opportunity to play in what could, perhaps, be his final baseball game. The article, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, speaks for itself:

He hasn’t played in a few years, but he’s called on to pinch-hit. His eyes light up at the first pitch and he puts all of his 5-foot-5, 93-pound frame into one mighty swing, making contact and sending a line drive into right field for a single — if he can reach first base. The cancer he’s been battling for almost two years has spread to his pelvis, making running nearly impossible.

The kid worries about falling as he hustles down the first-base line. When he gets to the base, he lets out with a yell. “I did it! I did it!”

Safe at first with a hit and an RBI, the kid is hugged by a crying first-base coach. The opposing pitcher takes off his glove, starts applauding and his teammates follow suit. The kid’s teammates run onto the field to celebrate.

It sounds like the climax to a heart-tugger movie. But there was no producer or film crew at the game between Freedom and Aliquippa high schools two weeks ago. The scene was as real as the tumors in John Challis’ liver and lungs.

John is a kid with cancer, a senior at Freedom in Beaver County who was told a few weeks ago by doctors that cancer was winning and it was close to the end. The disease that started in his liver was now taking over his lungs.

“They said it could be only two months,” he said, fighting back tears.

He paused before his seemingly never-ending optimism came through again.

“I told my mom I still think I can get two more years.”

John has a ton of excellent insights into life that we can all learn from. Of his quotes in the article, this one stood out to me:

“If I’m mad at anything in this, it’s that I’m not going to be able to have a son, I’m not going to be able to get married and have my own house,” he said, fighting back tears again. “Those are the things I’m mad about. But not dying.”

We throw the word “hero” around quite a bit in our world, but there’s no question about it…John could hardly be more heroic. His story reminds me of a quote from Jimmy V.’s famous speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards: “Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.”

Indeed, John’s determination and spirit are definitely things to take inspiration from; with only a few months left on this earth, he seemingly refuses to let the cancer stop him from living his life. Thanks to John for providing us with a reminder of what the human spirit, courage, and bravery truly look like.