Tagged: John Lackey

…and the 2010 turtle-wax award goes to…

Im not the 1st to say this, and far more important people have said it, and Im sure the people at FOX are thinking it:

Giants and Rangers world series? Who is gonna watch that?
…though the 49ers and Cowboys both suck bad this year, so the respective cities care, but thats it…

So while the remaining 95% of the sporting world hit offseason mode, its time that we award the awards that need awarding…and Im still waiting on that sponsor…

Again, these are the awards you DONT want to win…

 

The “You dont belong here” award
-Awarded to 1 of the 8 playoff teams that shouldn’t be in the playoffs
(previous winner: 2009 Minnesota Twins)

The Texas Rangers

This was a tough one since the top 4 teams in each league were also the playoff teams. The Rangers pulled off a 90-72 record this year, one game better than the 89-73 Red Sox. But seeing how the Red Sox had to deal with the Yankees, Rays, Blue Jays and even the Showalter Orioles…while the Rangers dealt with the AL west, Im inclined to believe that the Red Sox’s 89 wins carry way more weight than the Rangers 90 wins. The Rangers sucked, but they played in a sucky division and had Cliff Lee. If baseball ran like the BCS, Rangers would be home, not in the world series.

 

The “Sucks to be you” award
-Awarded to the team going home with a better record than a playoff team
(previous winner: 2009 Texas Rangers)

The San Diego Padres

Do I really need to justify this? Simply put, it sucked to be a Padre this year. HUGE lead in the west, then a nasty 10 game slide, then the slow, inevitable fall into nothing. Sad…so, so sad. They finished at 90-72, same as the Rangers but the NL west was a tougher division. Again, Padres wins carry more weight.

 

The “Orioles and Blue Jays would rather play in this division” award
-Awarded to the crappiest division in baseball
(previous winner: 2009 AL Central)

The American League West Division: Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Athletics

With the Blue Jays having a good year for the first time in a while, it sure was tough for them to remember that they play in the AL east. If they played in the west, they wouldve been no brainer 2nd place finishers. Add a few more wins since theyd be playing the Angels and not the Red Sox…and the Mariners instead of the Yankees…with that math, they mightve won the west or at least give the Rangers a run for their money. Only the Rangers finished above .500 in the division. All other divisions have at least 2 teams above water. Hell, every other division was able to produce at least 2 teams with over 85 wins.
-Honorable mention goes to the NL Central since they were pretty bad too, but they had 2 teams above .500 and above 85 wins.

 

The “steroid accusation rookie of the year” award
-Awarded to the slugger who is probably gonna get accused of steroids next, if not already
(I am NOT accusing the winner of steroids. I’m just saying he’s probably gonna get scrutinized next)
(previous winner: 2009 Aaron Hill)

Corey Hill of the Milwaukee Brewers
2010 HR total: 31
Previous high: 24 in 2007

I was all set to award Jose Bautista this award, but hes already dealing with steroid b!tching, and the spirit of this award is to figure whos most likely next. Otherwise Big Floppi would win every year.
Not a huge jump for Hart, but pretty noticable since he only had 20 in 157 games in 2008.

 

The “What the hell happened to you?” award
-Awarded to the team that fell off the map when they were suppose to be contenders
(previous winner: 2009 New York Mets)

The Seattle Mariners

They had Cliff Lee, they had King Felix, they had Suzuki…seriously, what the hell Seattle? You were suppose to be the new kings of the west.

 

The “Shut your God damn mouth!” award
-Awarded to whoever apparently talked too much during spring training
(previous winner: 2009 Chicago Cubs)

MLB Network

I wanna say it was either Peter Gammons and Harold Reynolds, but I remember watching MLB Network in the spring when they were breaking down the AL east and they were all but handing the Red Sox the division because of their “amazing” focus on pitching and defense. Thats all they could talk about: The Red Sox have great pitching and defense.
Well, not only did the Red Sox not even make the playoffs, but the pitching and defense forgot to show up this year. They were a terrible team defensively and their rotation crumbled. John Lackey didnt really pan out and most starters were either hurt of useless.
Good job MLB Network, you sure did pick a winner.

 

The “This years miracle, next years Rays” award
-Awarded to the team that made a suprise playoff run this year, and will fall well short next year
(previous winner: 2009 Colorado Rockies)

The Tampa Bay Rays

I was gonna rename this award every year in honor of the team that did indeed fall short, but seeing how the 2010 Rays are a doomsday prediction in wait, I figure the name should stick for now. The Rays are gearing up for a huge budget cut…and seeing how they didnt have much of a budget to begin with should bring fears to more than a few Rays fans. the 1998 Marlins come to mind of what happens when a budget cut hits a team after a postseason run.

 

The “This years Nationals, next years miracle” award
-Awarded to the team that sucked this year, but can make a run next year
(previous winner: 2009 Chicago White Sox)

Chicago White Sox

Dont be fooled, the White Sox wouldve won the central if the Twins were playing like 2009, not 2010. I still like their chances with Ozzie at the helm. and with the Rays dying off, thats one less tought team to deal with for the playoff run.
This is probably the best award to win, and the White Sox defended it, meaning theyre clearly not doing good enough. Congrats, youre still mediocre!

 

The “AAA team is disguise” award
-Awarded to the team that might have better luck in AAA
(previous winner: Washington Nationals)

The Pittsburgh Pirates

They were out after the 1st pitch was thrown. 18 strait years of losing isnt the best way to avoid this award.

 

The “Dull knife in the drawer” award
-Awarded to the biggest mental error this year
(previous winner: Washington Nati(o)nals)

President Barak Obama

He walked out to opening day in DC to throw out the 1st pitch…sporting a White Sox cap. Pretty stupid, but forgivable if he could at least name 1 White Sox player in history. Too bad he didnt. 
I talked about this in more detail earlier in the year. Obama, you win this award for talking when you have no idea what youre talking about. Congrats, dumba$$!

 

The “Results may vary” award
-Awarded to a player/team that didnt live up to the hype

Stephen Strasburg

To a certain degree, he did live up to the hype. But seeing how the hype surrounding Strasburg was that he would revitalize a crappy DC team into pennent chasers, he didnt quite produce, especially since he wont even be pitching until 2012 at the earliest. At least he was everything and more for all those minor league teams he played for this year.

 

 

-2009 awards

Week 1 in review: I’m a psychic

Snap! First 2 series of the year, on the road in Boston and Tampa Bay? No problem! We spotted them both a 1-0 series lead before taking the next 2 games both times. So the Yankees have a nice 4-2 record in this young season while both the Rays and Red sox have to settle for 3-3 each. So if this were a preview to the season against these two “rivals” then we’re lookin good so far.
….as for the rest of our division, the Orioles are stumpling out of the gate, and its still early, but it might be Torontos turn this year to storm off to a hot start (5-1) before their eventual collapse. So we have that to look forward to.

The central has picked up right where it left off, where the Twins and Tigers are bickering over 1st place like bitter siblings. The west, meanwhile, is on its projected head with the Angels and Ms in last place.

In the NL, I am right now standing on a rock and proclaiming myself to be the next baseball psychic.

Why?
Heres a recap of a conversation I had with a friend last night…

Friend: Heyward went deep again.
Yankee Hater Hater: But they still lost.
F: Yeah, but hes off to a killer start.
YHH: That it? No more games tonight?
F: Just Cards n Brewers. Games all but over though.
YHH: My connections crap right now. whats goin on?
F: 7-4. Hoffmans pitching. Game over.
YHH: Pujols due up?
F: 4th. Someone needs to reach.
YHH: They will. He’ll go deep.
F: Yeah, sure.
YHH: The Holliday will tie it up with his own blast.
F: Wooooooow. Whatever you say.
YHH: Whats happening. Yahoo isnt reloading fast enough.
F: Pujols is up with a runner on.
YHH: Homer.
F:….wow. he did.
YHH: Now watch Holliday.
F: Son of a bitch!
YHH: Ha! I’m awesome.
F: 7-7 now. Inning over.
YHH: I forgive you for doubting my greatness.
F: Ok, mr prophet. How is this ending?
YHH: Walk off. this inning.
F: Fielder hitting it?
YHH: I want to say yes, but I wont. But someone will hit one out.
F: Fielder didnt do it.
YHH: I still got 2 outs…
F: I dont believe it. Somehow youre cheating.
YHH: How could I know that far in advance? Stop doubting my greatness!

The walk off was by McGehee, and the Brewers won a wild one. The best part was Hoffman blew another save shot. I have nothing against the guy, but Id prefer it if Rivera one day had the most saves all time, so the sooner Hoffman stops, the sooner Mo can be crowned king.

Anyway, I can further solidify my psychic status if the Giants can keep up their hot start (5-1).

Biggest Yankee Game
4/7/10 Yankees-3, Red Sox-1, 10 innings
Huge rubber game of the series. The winner would get some added momentum to the whole season. Curtis Granderson proved that offense > defense when it comes to home runs. Pettitte and Lackey went toe to toe in this one, proving that their ALCS performances last year were no flukes. Papelbon also proved last years ALDS was no fluke either and that he CANT go more than 1 inning.
The biggest story in this game was no doubt Curtis Granderson where he immediatly took his place in this rivalry when he launched a 10th inning home run that proved to be the game winner.
Yankees won the game, won the opening series (in Boston) and proved that there will be no repeat of last years season series.

 

Favorite Picture

 

Bradley.jpgMilton Bradley proved hes still the biggest assh0le in baseball with a 4th inning finger. How fun!

Fantasy
So, I had mostly a lackluster performance from my fantasy teams, but my Roid Sox team blew away the competition for an easy 237-200 victory. It was a blowout most of the week, even with Napoli doing almost nothing to contribute. I fixed that by grabbing Snyder from Arizona whos filling in for the injured Montero.

Speaking of Montero, his injury hurts a bunch of my teams that picked him up. He was catching for cpDOOM 2.0 during the 195-130 win. With him DLed, I picked up Olivo meaning along with Ianetta, I now have both Colorado catchers on roster. Im taking a chance with Olivos hot start that he could win the full time job. But nomatter who wins the regular starting job, Ill have whoever wins it.

My group-owned Showdown team took a hit on a 235-183 loss. It didnt help that I started the Angels pitching or Felipe Lopez at 2nd that week. Thats been rectified by starting the Yankees pitching this week and shifting Barmes to 2nd and starting my recent pick up Cabrera at SS. Im banking on a breakout performance from Everth Cabrera not only on this team, but on both my Yahoo fantasy teams.

The F*cking Lozers took a 9-3 spanking last week. It didnt help that Frank Francisco was a bum and Josh Johnson finally had to lose to the Mets. Good thing I dropped Francisco right before he lost his closers role in Texas. Replacing him on roster will be Phillys temp closer Madson. He’ll serve as a short term fix until a more permanent replacment emerges…I wish I won the race to Jon Rauch even more now…

The Pretenders did decent and Im still a little fuzzy on the points system in that league, but theyve got 71.5 ppoints and the leaders got 99.5…Along with Cabrera, Im also banking that Renterias hot start in San Francisco will hold up the rest of the year.

This week
The Defending World Champion New York Yankees open up the Stadium, raise their banners, get their rings and host the Angels and Rangers for 3 game sets. What will also be cool is that Hideki Matsui will be there in person to recieve his championship ring alongside the current Yankees.

Fantasy Draft #3…plus assinine suggestions

Fantasy baseball is like a drug. You cant make just one team.

Ive got multiple teams in the works this year. 1 in a money league, 1 for kicks, 1 to test a theory I have, and 1 that I created with some friends to test another theory.

This week I’m drafting my solo theory team, named “The Roid Sox” This is very simple, Im gonna draft power hitters and hope they homer me to victory. If theres a power hitter on the maket better than any of my existing power hitters, Ill aquire him….also if you use steroids, then theres a place for you on my team (Good news for David Ortiz)

…and my draft position is 11. So there goes Pujols, Tex, Fielder, ARod and Howard right from the getko. Eh, the bright side is Ive got a near end position, 11/12 meaning when I draft, I get 2 of the following 4 picks…plus Ill have more time to elaborate on my selections. Remember: home runs only, RBIs a plus, SBs dont mean sh!t here.

 

…and as I wait for the hour to pass…

Aceves pitched today, got the start even, and got shelled off his #1 position in the search of this years #5…Hughes becomes the new frontrunner. A nice 2.08 while Aceves falls down with Mitre as they jockey to keep up. Gaudin and Joba so far back in obscurity I wonder if theyre even in this race anymore.

Meanwhile Gardners average is a nice plump .281, putting him sadly way out in front in the OF race. Thames however is fighting to not get sent to AAA, and with an average barely over .100, it dont look too good.

 

……and yeah, theres also basketball going on apparently…I dont follow it much,  usually hope for Syracuse to lose and Kentucky to win. Why Kentucky? Here are the years when the Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA tourney: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998
Notice something similar?

 

Good lord, what else can I do to kill time…
oh yeah…

THIS was published. More or less highlighting changes needed to baseball.

I agree with the playoff off day shenanigans. Too many off days is annoying. Back in my day 1998, playoffs went 1-2-off-3-4-off-5 in the LDS, and 1-2-off-3-4-5-off-6-7 in the LCS/WS.
That Yankee/Angel ALCS last year? 1-2-off-3-4-off-rain-5-off-6 Thank God that the Yankees won game 6 or there wouldve been another off day thrown in there before game 7. I could care less about FOXs potential ratings. I cared more about how John Lackey was getting enough rest where he prolly wouldve pitched game 7.

Oh, and expanding the LDS to a best of 7? God no. Baseball should not be played in November. At this current rate, we’re gonna have to change the “Fall classic” to the “Late fall-early winter classic”

All Star game to stop determining home field advantage? Im sure every NL owner, fan and player would agree with that. It should go to the team with the better record. Period.

Division realignment? Pssssssssssssh. Ill touch on that in another post as to why thats a pretty dumb idea.

Shortening games? I really never had much to say for or against this. Pitchers who work fast (but not too fast) usually do well, while if someones getting rattled-it always helps to give him half a minute or so to collect himself mentally, usually with the help of the catcher/manager….but dont strictly enfore the push to quicken games…DONT fine a pitcher for “going too slow” and DONT get your panties in a knot when a game takes over 3 hours to complete.

I’d take a 4 hour victory over a 2 hour defeat any day.

 

…Im out of ideas. I’ll just sit quietly for this draft to begin…

…Wow, half the league is actually here this time…

First couple picks, M. Cabrera and Justin Morneau.
Aramis Ramirez and Adam Lind follow suit…

Draft over. You’d be suprised at how many people wanted Zobrist so bad…

anyway…projected lineup…

The Roid Sox:
C: M. Napoli
1B: M. Cabrera
2B: B. Phillips
3B: C. Davis
SS: C. Barmes
OF: C. Quentin
OF: N. Swisher
OF: A. Lind
U: J. Morneau
P: San Francisco Giants

2010

Everyone have a good christmas? Kwanza? New Years? Alrighty then…

Yankees at Fenway to begin, and end the season?
Phillies and their new ace go to Toronto?
Manny returning to Boston?
Yankees at Dodgers?
This season will have no shortage of great games to watch.

…but since at the end of the day all I care about it what the Yanks are doing, lets take a closer look at what the future holds…and some lingering questions…

Yankees vs Red Sox: opening day/end of the season.
We got spanked by the BoSox early last year right before we turned around and gave it right back to them just as hard, and took the division right in front of them…
It seems the most likely scenerio will be CC vs Beckett, then AJ vs Lackey, then Pettitte vs whatever overrated bum they have next. Either team could win any of those games and Id be an idiot to guess who would before pitchers/catchers have even reported, but there will be no sweeps…unlike last year where almost every set was a sweep.

Yankees at Dodgers
This was the dream world series matchup last postseason, even more so than the Angels vs Dodgers possibility.
Joe Torre vs Joe Girardi, Matt Kemp vs Curtis Granderson, Mark Texeira vs Andre Ethier, Derek Jeter vs Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathis vs…uh…can any Dodger compete with any Yankee pitcher?
Point is, this would be a great matchup of managers…not so much teams. Dodgers didnt do much this offseason, and if I didnt think they stood a chance against the Yankees then, then they definatly dont stand a chance against the Yankees now…

Left Field?
Damons still up in the air, and right before he signed with the Cubs, I was telling my dad about how good Marlon Byrn might be for us. The list of available fixes is growing short…
Heres a short list of people I nominate(d) to play left for NY in 2010, in order of ranking…

Damon
Holliday
DeRosa
Byrd
Dye
Bay
Cabrera
Gardner
Guererro
Hoffman

#5 Starter?
CC-AJ-Pettitte-Vazquez-???
It seems to be between Joba and Hughes…but never count out Gaudin or even Mitre.

…any hey, with C.M.Wang gone, the Yankees have a vancancy at the position of “Once a great pitcher but got hurt too much” that Ben Sheets could fill.

I gotta learn not to talk during the Hot Stove months

1st I talked about the potential Granderson deal and how it may or may not be wise…then it went through…
Earlier today I talked about how I think Halladay might not move this winter…and he just might move now…

 

While the rest of the stalkers in the sports world are following Tiger Woods and where hes been sticking his 9 iron, someone was keeping tabs on Roy Halladay and found out he went to Philly to take a physical.

…and John Lackey wants to help Boston win the wild card for the next 5 years as he seems to have agreed to a 5 year deal.

Thats a double slap to the Yankees, who wanted at least one of those pitchers. We can still stick it to Boston by picking up Jason Bay…maybe…

 

Roy Halladay a Philly? Before anyone starts, no, he wont be any help against the Yankees in the World Series. Reports say the Sillies would have to give up Cliff Lee to the Mariners (I wonder what Lee did to piss off Philly so bad) for the deal to happen. Lee was the only pitcher to beat us in the series. So Halladay would help the Phillies reach the series again in 2010, but do nothing to help them do an better against the Yankees.

So the silver lining here is that the Red Sox didnt get Halladay…but they did get Lackey…..so its Beckett/Lackey vs Sabathia/Burnett…I still take the Yankees…

ALCS blue balls

Ugh. Rain blows.

If we didnt have that useless off day between games 4 and 5, we wouldve had a chance to win it all yesterday.

And is not like the Yankees benefit from this extra day, the Angels sure do, as talk about bringing Lackey back on short rest is brought up.

But the team that benefits the most from this rain out is the Phillies. The Yankees/Angels will have 1 less day of rest before game 1 of the world series.

If the Yankees lose game 6, theyre really in trouble…against Philly. We’ll have to use CC in game 7, which would make him unavailable for game 1 against the Phills…and Burnett would hypothetically be out go-to guy for game 1…which makes me hope we win tomorrow night.

Yankees need to play game 6 like a game 7, that way CC will be set as our world series game 1 starter.

2009 ALCS vs Angels…Game 1

Enough talk…scratch that…dammit, start over

Time to talk!
Yankees are 8 wins away from 27. Do the math!
Angels are 4 losses away from their undeniable fate in this series.

No more talk about destiny from you Angels fans.
We heard talk about momentum from Twins fans and the same old PMS dribble from Red Sox fans, and both are home crying in their beers after being swept.

Time to realize what you gave up when this man…

 

Tex.jpg…went to us. Thanks to you, we got the final piece of the puzzle last winter. And we’ll personally showcase him for you in this series. Time to go to town on you bums…while the Dodgers and Phillies beat each other up!

 

Bottom 1 in New York
My ears are bleeding…it must be Joe Buck and his little cronie announcing this game…
Jeter gets a hit…not very shocking…
Damon singles, then takes 2nd on crappy Angels outfield throwing…here comes Tex!
…who makes an out and FOX idiots talk about “how big an out that was! Wow!”…s gonna be a loooooong series on FOX…
…Sac fly for A Rod!…Joe Buck didnt mention it though since he was too busy talking about A Rod’s struggles in past postseasons. FaQ Joe Buck!

…BIG ERROR! Damon scores!
…and I missed it cuz my mother called me right before it happened.
…………and apparently Matsui gets an RBI single as opposed to the error…ok, whatever…

Top 3 in New York
I’ve finally muted my TV. I lasted 2.5 innings more than I thought I’d do…
Joe Buck keeps talking about how the Yankees only got their 2nd run is because of 2 should-be errors. We all know those were bonehead plays…stop bitching about it.
…BTW, 1-2-3 inning for CC…I’m sure Joe Buck didnt notice…

Bottom 3 in New York
The other day I finally got one of those converter boxes for my TV so I can watch basic cable again…I didnt know, but I get a FOX channel that is self muted. I just found out! Its like God himself wanted me to watch Yankees games on FOX without having to endure Joe Buck’s voice!

Top 4 in New York
Jeter shows the Angels how to properly catch a pop up to shortstop…

Bottom 5 in New York
How come everytime Matsui gets an RBI tonight, it involves someone comitting a bonehead play? This time its A Rod…

Bottom 6 in New York
Captian Clutch! Jeter with the RBI! Right after Lackey throws the ball away trying to check Melky…

…So, the Yankees have capitalized big on a lot of Angel mistakes tonight…and they capitalized on a lot of Twins mistakes in the DS, so I can just hear the haters now “The Yankees only win cuz the other team screws up!”
…Well, the Yankees cant help it if another team blows it. What they can help is themselves. They DONT make the stupid mistakes. They DONT drop the 2 out fly to left…they DONT fail to catch a popup…they DONT throw the ball away when trying to check a runner…and they WOULDNT leave someone like Papelbum in a close game…

Yankees lead 4-1, 9 outs to go in game 1…

Top 7 in New York
CC has been more economical with his pitches than the government has with our money. 80 pitches in the 7th inning? Thats dominating. And he gets to pitch games 4 and 7?
With Sabathia pitching the way he does, all Pettitte and Burnett have to do is win just 1 game between them because games 1, 4 and 7 are easy wins.
And with our bullpen, no one has to pitch very hard either! I doubt CC will pitch the 8th which means 3 days rest will be plenty!

Middle of 8 in New York
CC pitched FANTASTIC! Angels have no chance against him!

Top 9 in New York
Enter Sandman…

So today I found out that my friend had failed me in getting Yankee playoff tickets. Turns out the Yankees changed things up this year and switched to a lottery system instead of the more traditional “Line the f*ck up and wait” plan…he said he’d try for world series tickets…I laughed at him.

Yankees win!

Yankees: 1
Angels: 0
7 more wins until 27