BIG NEWS!!!

Well, this week has been hectic. I really was hoping to get into some comparisons to write some analysis of Bonds vs. the Babe(as hitters, the Babe's pitching obviously makes him FAR superior as an overall baseball talent) and possibly into Tejada vs. Jeter.

However, tomorrow, July 1st, is my wedding day.

This week has been very full of last minute wedding plans and time spent with my soon to be wife.

But getting back to a little bit of sports stuff(just a little bit, gotta get back to work soon):

The NBA Draft.

There are three teams I want to address.

The first is my team, the Chicago Bulls. They picked up Tyrus Thomas, Thabo the Swiss league guy, and in the trade that also brought them Ty Thomas, they also brought in Viktor, the Mad Russian

They had two needs to address: A power forward with some size and a shooting guard with some size. The Bulls were badly undersized at key positions this season and Thabo addresses the need at the 2. Tyrus and Viktor don't necessarily address the need at the 4, but they give the Bulls some key pieces to either add some serious depth or make a run at a player like Kevin Garnett should be become available.

Also, with the news that the Bulls are supposedly making plans to make a run at Detroit star Ben Wallace or as a 2nd option, Portland free agent Joel Przybilla, this shows that the Bulls plan has been simply to add talent, and to worry about their size problems in free agency.

This may be an excellent strategy. Bigs take awhile to develop in the NBA typically, and a player like LaMarcus Aldridge, probably the best available player in the draft of major size at 6'11", is probably a year and 20 lbs. of muscle away from being the type of low-post bruiser the Bulls need to put alongside Tyson Chandler(who from many reports could be trade bait).

The other two teams: Portland and New York.

These are two of the most free-spending teams(along with Dallas) of the past several years. However, unless Dallas, both of these teams have seen their free spending to be entirely fruitless.

D'oh.

Ran outta time.

anyway, go to this site if you want to see how bad of shape the Knicks are.

Time for wedding/reception/beginning of the honeymoon! Will post sometime around the 10th or so.

My new hero, Pat Venditte

I have a new personal hero.

And his name is Pat Venditte.

In addition to being a pitcher for Creighton University, he's also in the CICL summer baseball league and is a member of my hometown Quincy Gems. I tend to go to one or two of these games a season, usually when my soon-to-be father-in-law gets box tickets that include free soda and hot dogs.

The really cool thing about this reliever though, is that he is a switch-pitcher. In the game we saw, he got up to the mound against a righty, gave up a hit. Then two lefties came up, he took his glove off(which apparently is a special made glove), put it on his other hand, and retired the two lefties as a left-handed pitcher. On one of those plays, it was basically a swinging bunt, and he hopped off the mound and fired a strike over to first with his left hand, so he seems fully capable of fielding his position with either hand too. Of course, on the bunt, the guy still legged it out, but it was no fault of the Venditte's throw, but rather that he was slow off the mound.


Now, the other topic of the day is how much the NL Central sucks right now. Division-leading St. Louis has taken back to back sweeps at the hands of the White Sox and Tigers. The bottom-dwelling Cubs and Pirates are 2-8 and 0-10 in their last 10 respectively, and Pittsburgh has an extra loss on there for an 11-game losing streak. Houston in their last 3 series has lost 2 games to 1, including a series loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals. Only the Reds have really survived at a strong rate recently, going .500 in the chunk of interleague time.

So the question is: Is the AL really that much better? As a whole, I'd have to think no. However, the top teams in the AL do seem to be better than the top teams in the NL. Some of this is the situation of the big market teams in the AL holding up their end much better than their NL counter-parts. The Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox are all very strong teams. Only the Angels among the big market teams are under .500. Meanwhile, of their NL counterparts, we have the Mets, who are a very good team. Then we have the Cubs who are 18 games under .500. I know that they lost a lot of players to the DL, but a team with that much payroll should have some depth to at least remain competitive with a couple key losses. Lastly, the Dodgers: They're reasonably good. At 40-35, they're 5 games over and in first in what is still a weak(but much more balanced) NL West.

If you talk about the top teams in baseball, you're talking about AL teams with the exception of the Mets and POSSIBLY the Cardinals. The White Sox, Tigers, Yankees and Red Sox make the top five with the Mets in the minds of most baseball pundits who aren't being obvious homers right now. The Cardinals, Reds and Blue Jays are probably the second tier teams right now. Again though, does this mean the AL is the automatic favorite in the all-star game and fall classic? I'd like to say no, but it seems like for some reason the AL hitters do considerably better than NL hitters against their opposing All-Star pitching staff. There are always a couple of fluke people who seem to make the NL All-Star team, who are very deserving, but maybe don't have the star punch of a Jason Varitek at what is typically a weak position like catcher. So until the NL starts competing in the All-Star game, I'll still have to pick the AL team.

But, for the World Series? It's way too early, and anyone who says differently is speculating pointlessly. In 2004, if you picked at the halfway point, any pick but the Cardinals would have been a sucker bet, with the possible exception of the Yankees. Instead the Red Sox came back from down 3-0 to win 8 straight games to beat the Yankees and Cardinals, the two best teams at midway point, to win it all. Last year, perhaps you WOULD have picked the White Sox, but you wouldn't have guessed they would have almost missed the playoffs after a late collapse that might have actually worked in their favor.

Anyway, by Wednesday, I plan to start on the Babe Ruth vs. Barry Bonds hitting comparisons, so check back for that.

State of the Rotation

For the Cardinals, in one word, the state of the rotation: BAD.

However, last night things looked up. After the Cardinals were outscored 33-11 in the front two games of their three game series with the ChiSox, Anthony Reyes, a rookie freshly called up from AAA Memphis threw a one-hitter!

... And lost the game 1-0.

The only hit he gave up was a Jim Thome home run with one out in the 7th.

The problem right now though is that Reyes really only makes it 2(questionably 3) starters the Cardinals can count on right now.

Some key stats of the Cardinals starters this year:

C. Carpenter 6-3, 2.46 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 8.04 K/9
An. Reyes 1-1, 1.80 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 6.30 K/9
J. Marquis 9-5, 5.53 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 3.75 K/9
M. Mulder 6-5. 6.09 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 4.87 K/9
J. Suppan 6-4. 5.07 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 4.74 K/9
S. Ponson 4-2. 5.30 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 4.44 K/9

Carpenter's been great. So has Anthony Reyes in his 4 starts. They're not the concern here.

Mulder, Suppan and Ponson are all huge problems right now. All 3 have winning records, but that's more a product of having a good offensive club that features Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds and has scored the 4th most runs in the National League. As you can see in the case of those three pitchers, all have ERAs above 5, all have abysmal WHIPs(Walks + Hits per Innings Pitched), and all have K/9(Strikeouts per nine innings) between 4-5, which is not good.

Due to this, Ponson has fallen out of the rotation, at least for one start, which was the start Anthony Reyes took last night. Likewise, Mulder has been put on the DL as they suspect SOMETHING must be wrong with him and that he's simply hiding whatever it is due to being in a free agent year(but wouldn't his value be higher if he had a minor injury and could get better, as opposed to just sucking and having a 6+ ERA?).

Jason Marquis is the enigma here. His statistics are roughly the same as the other three who are pitching horribly, with the 2nd worst ERA of the four and the worst K/9 rate by far. However, his statistics are slightly misleading in one big way. Two days ago against the White Sox he took a battering similar to what Mark Mulder took. However, since the bullpen had to take 5 2/3rds innings for Mulder, Marquis was asked to go out and pitch when he obviously had no control and poor stuff. If he had been pulled with say, 6 ER on his record rather than 13, his ERA would probably be south of 5(not really a noteworthy distinction, but hey, it's something).
He's also got a 9-5 record and has worked the entire spectrum from being a very good starter(having won 6 decisions in a row before the ChiSox game), but also being very bad, taking his first four losses in a row prior to the streak of 6 decisions.

The really troubling thing about Marquis is his K/9 rate. At under 4, his K/9 is horrid. Most sabermetricians(a group of writers/statisticians who look at more obscure, but often more telling statistics about a player's performance) believe it's very difficult to succeed as a pitcher over the long haul with a K/9 under 6. The idea is, to really succeed, you need to be able to get that big strikeout when you need it. If every ball is put in play, there are more opportunities for balls to find holes in the defense or for a player to misplay the ball.

Anyway, overall, the rotation is in shreds right now. Carpenter is the only of the original rotation that is succeeding. Anthony Reyes has been stellar so far and will likely be featured in the rotation at least for 4-5 more starts if not the rest of the season. However, beyond that there's little hope for the Cardinals to get a top ace pitcher. Pitchers like John Smoltz may turn out to be available, but to get someone of that quality, you have to GIVE someone of quality. The only prospects the Cardinals have at that level are Anthony Reyes and Adam Wainwright(currently pitching in the Cardinals bullpen, and doing an amazing job at it). The Cardinals probably can't afford to give up either of these two pitchers, because they'll both likely be in the rotation next year, with everyone but Carpenter being a free agent at the end of the year.

Bringing Wainwright into the rotation is the only other option to try to fix the rotation, but for many reasons, the Cardinals are unwilling to do that right now. First off, the bullpen actually has been very good, leaving out the aberration of the 20-6 loss to Chicago. A big part of this has been having Wainwright in the bullpen. At first he was expected to do mop-up work and long relief, but he's turned into the Cardinals best reliever. Because of the conditioninig right now, he's really only equipped to pitch 2 or 3 innings at a time for right now.

The other reason they don't want to move him is to avoid jeopardizing his development. For some reason, the psyche of a baseball player(and especially pitchers, seemingly) is very very fragile. Wainwright's success here is a key part of his development. Throwing him in the rotation when he's ill-prepared to make long starts could damage his development and could end up messing with his prospects of being an ace-like pitcher long-term. So instead of thinking Chris Carpenter, we're thinking maybe Rick Ankiel.

The only real hope for the rotation is that a couple of these pitchers turn things around. Marquis and Mulder need to get back on track. If for no other reason than maybe they'll become good trade bait if the Cardinals don't see them in their long-term plans. However, I can't see them letting Mulder get away, even as bad as he's been. If he continues like this, my guess would be he'd be offered a one-year deal a la Matt Morris, where he's offered a reasonable base salary and enough incentive clauses to potentially make him a 10M+ a year pitcher.

Heat win, Cards spanked

What a night for sports for me.

I was actually rooting for the Mavericks, because I really want to see Mark Cuban win a championship, and the idea of David Stern handing the trophy to Cubes really would have amused me greatly.

Having said that, Wade has really established himself as a superstar.

It's a stretch to put him in that highest level that is reserved for players like Jordan, Magic and Bird, however he is quickly putting himself in position to enter that celebrated level of people. This kid is only 24 years old. I know LeBron is younger and he's also quickly approaching that level, but Wade now has a ring and LeBron doesn't, so we'll keep this post about Wade for now.

Here's what I think is the key stat for him, not only for this season, but for his career. Shooting percentage. We have too many Iversons in the league right now. They score 30 ppg, but they do it on 42% or even 39% shooting. Dwyane Wade's shooting percentage this season was .495, almost 50% from a guard. His career shooting percentage, not much lower at .482

But it seems we finally have actual good shooting percentages in the league again, here's some of the more notable players with excellent shooting on the season:

S. O'Neal (MIA) - .600
S. Nash (Pho) - .512
D. Wade (MIA) - .495
D. Nowitzki - .480
L. James (Cle) - .480

These are some good percentages from MAJOR players. Shaq always has a high percentage, but 60% is ridiculously good for him even.

Other players

A. Iverson (PHI) - .447
K. Bryant (LAL) - .450
M. Jordan (Career, CHI and WAS, 15 seasons) - .497

So you can see, players like Iverson and Kobe, while being great players, aren't doing it to the level than LeBron and Wade and Dirk are doing it. Wade's percentage, especially for a young player, is ridiculously good. He's already the center of the team's offense, so it's unlikely to have a major drop(at least until O'Neal retires).

Anyway, on to the other topic, that I'll definitely get into more later.

The Cardinals(my team) were trounced in a ridiculous manner last night. A 20-6 loss in Chicago to the White Sox. An 11-run 3rd inning, where Mark Mulder was destroyed was mostly to blame.

Mark Mulder's 2005 stats
32 GS, 16-8 record, 3.64 ERA, 83 ER in 205 IP.

This season:
15 GS, 6-5 record, 6.09 ERA, 60 ER in 89.2 IP.

He's on pace right now to catch up to the number of earned runs he gave up in 2005 in about 33 more innings. So if that pace remains(and his ERA stays the same), he would give up his 83rd Earned Run at around 123 innings pitched on the season.

The other issue last night was of course the issue of throwing at people. This is something I don't understand. To me it's a pitcher saying, "I can't get you out, therefore I have to punish you in another way."

Ponson hit 2 people, who knows if they were on purpose, but then Ozzie ordered David Riske to hit Chris Duncan, and then both were quickly ejected. Ozzie seemed a lot more pleased than with his rookie a little bit ago who missed in 2 inside pitches.

It's one of those "unwritten rules." They're mostly ridiculous, but that's material for a future post.

Luxury Sweet, er I mean, Suite

Yesterday, to commemorate Father's Day, I spent it the way any good son should.
At Busch Stadium for my first ever game in the newest version of the stadium.

*cough* with my father-in-law, while my own father watched the game at home *cough*

The worst part is: I was the one who bought the tickets.

I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS FATHER'S DAY WHEN I BOUGHT THEM!

Oh well, next summer I'm getting my dad to go along with too(and I did afterall give him the commemorative ball that all fans got as they entered the stadium, I'm not THAT bad of a son, right?)

And on the bigger issue here: Luxury box tickets are the best. thing. ever.

All the beer we could drink, all the food we could eat in a 2 hour window, seats outside that were set down under the 2nd tier, so that when it started raining(which it did, about a 20 minute delay in the top of the 2nd), we were sitting there going "Do you feel any rain? I don't. Why are the groundskeepers pushing the tarp out?"

And besides that, access to the indoor air conditioned part of the box and closed circuit television. AND THE SEATS ARE CUSHIONED!

Now, obviously the biggest draw is the beer and food(you can also get soda). At ballpark prices, a beer is around $7, hot dog around $5, nachos around $5, and most other food is in that same ballpark(ha ha, get it?).

Considering I had 6 cups of beer(these cups were half the size of the normal ones, so figure 3 big ones), there's $21. I had 2 dogs, $10 more. One order of nachos, $5 more. I also had 3 chicken sandwiches, which I'm guessing were probably also around the same, so we'll say $15 more, and a couple brownies.

There's $51 in food easily. We also got a free pin, which we saw at the team store for a dazzlingly overpriced $7.50, so there's $58.50

Crappy seats at Busch are $35, so add that in, and we're at $93.50.

The tickets were $90 a person. Add in cushioned seats, A/C, bathrooms that were far more convenient, and all the other stuff I said earlier and if you're ready to really gorge yourself with food and drink, then those seats pay for themselves.

Now, as a teacher, I'm nowhere near the point where this is going to be something affordable on a regular basis, but this was a ballpark experience I'd definitely like to replicate once a year.

World Cup Angst

There's a very strange attitude towards soccer that you occasionally see people hold and it just seems strange to me. I'm guessing this is mostly a sign of either ignorance or immaturity, but what is with people who actively HATE soccer?

I'm not a huge soccer fan, I've watched about a total of 5 minutes of World Cup so far, and I wasn't really that engaged when I was watching. But when people get the attitude of "soccer is gay! Why would anyone watch that?" and start to actually get hostile in their defense of how stupid soccer is, that attitude is bothersome to me.

Here's a new strategy for people who maintain this type of attitude: When someone is talking about or watching something you don't care for, don't watch it and don't make yourself part of their conversation. I don't go hanging out in craft stores in the cross-stitching section berating people who do cross-stitch simply because I don't think it's very entertaining, don't enter my sports conversation and tell me how stupid sports are because you don't think it's entertaining.

This type of attitude goes outside the world of sports, and I have especially seen it in students I had in class concerning some of the most random things, so I do honestly think it's just a situation of immaturity in 90% of cases. However there are some adults out there who will get hostile and angry over something this ridiculous.

Maybe it's a by-product of a me-first society to say that if people around me are talking about something that doesn't entertain me, that I have the right to be a jerk until they change their ways. Or maybe I'm putting too much into a minority of jerks who have possibly always existed.

Mmmm..... Blogspot.....

Well, after hundreds of conversations about sports with friends online, in real life, and even people I don't necessarily consider friends, I decided to post some of my ideas about sports.

I'll probably post some things that within the context of my blog seem hypocritical, because quite honestly, we're all hypocrites sometimes. It's simply recognizing when we are and trying to unify our thoughts that matters the most.

My blog will be all things sports, but primarily will focus on sports concerning midwest teams, as I am from the midwest. My personal favorite teams include: The St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), The Chicago Bulls (NBA), The University of Illinois Fighting Illini (College Hoops), Western Illinois University Leathernecks (College football and my alma mater, although they are Div 1-AA), the St. Louis Rams (NFL), and I'm also rapidly becoming more and more of a Chicago White Sox fan so that I have an AL team, and so that when I move north to the Chicago area, I can still watch baseball and root for someone (rooting for the Cubs as a Cardinals fan is true sacrilege, as any fan of either of those two teams knows).

Rather than jumping into it too much today, I'm simply going to post some great sports reads and descriptions of the books, as I am also an avid reader(and English teacher). So check these out if you need a good sports read!

Three Nights in August by: Buzz Bissinger

A book that any baseball fan can appreciate, but especially any Cardinals or even Cubs fan can appreciate. This book covers a 3 game series between the two rivals in August when the pennant race was heating up in (I believe) 2003. This book really gets you into the minds of one of the great baseball managers of our time in Tony La Russa. The Cardinals did win the particular series that is covered, however, the Cubs did out-achieve the Cardinals that year and make the NLCS, while the Cardinals stumbled to a third place finish in the division.

The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract by: Bill James

This is about as close to the baseball Bible as I know of. Bill James is a true baseball historian and as Moneyball, the book about the Oakland A's GM Billy Beane, states, he has become a very influential voice in looking at how young baseball talent is evaluated. In this book, James looks at baseball from its earliest days all the way through the turn of the century. He's probably got a more updated version out by now, but the version I own is the 2003 edition.

Caddy For Life by: John Feinstein

This is the Bruce Edwards story. For anyone unaware of Bruce, he was Tom Watson's caddy throughout most of his career, especially during his glory years when Watson was the best golfer on the planet. Bruce eventually was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, an incredibly horrible and crippling disease that attacks the neuromuscular structure of the body. In a book that is nearly as touching as Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie, also about ALS, Feinstein really relates how close Watson and his caddy were both as partners and as friends.

Sacred Hoops by: Phil Jackson

It's been awhile since I've read this, but it was an excellent book that talked not only about the rise of Phil Jackson as a coach and the Chicago Bulls as a team during the first three years of the dynasty, but also about Phil Jackson's philosophy as a coach. It's probably very superficial of a philosophy book for people who are actually looking for a philosophy book to read, but for people who love sports and love to see sports as a metaphor for something beyond just themselves, it's an interesting read.

Anyway, anyone who is reading this first post, please check back often, I'll be hitting such topics as the conversation about whether Derek Jeter is overrated(which I believe he is, although he is still a great player), why the Cardinals are still the favorites to win the NL Central sans Albert Pujols until at least the All-Star Break, and why I would be absolutely shocked to not see the names of former Illinois standouts Dee Brown and James Augustine both called on NBA Draft night.