Still not much going on in off-season baseball. Unless you count the guys who are retiring but you thought they were already retired. Yes, I mean you, RHP Jeff Suppan and 1B/OF Aubrey Huff. Both had their days in the sun without really catching fire or gaining widespread acclaim. Suppan seemed to have the potential to be very good when I saw him in the minors. That potential became the ability to win 10-12 games a year seemingly forever. Huff was instrumental in bringing the first World Series championship to San Francisco, as well as being part of the Rays' growth into a contending team.
The other big baseball news seems to be that Rangers -- New York Rangers, that is -- goalie Henrik Lundqvist will be wearing a mask featuring the likenesses of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio for the Stadium Series hockey at Yankee Stadium.
The NHL will be coming out of its shutdown for next month's Olympics with a series of outdoor games, like the one that drew 105,000 people to Michigan Stadium on New Year's Day. The most exotic locale will be Dodger Stadium, which last saw ice in a cocktail glass inside a luxury suite.
Yankee Stadium just had the Pinstripe Bowl football game. Hockey is next.
Let's get with it, NBA! Schedule at game at the new House That Ruth Built. Try to make it The House That Carmelo Brought Down. A Saturday or Sunday afternoon game in April (while the Yanks are out of town) should due. That's April 2015, and not a day later.
* * *
Basketball. I'm ahead 5-3 going into the last day of this week's competition. That would keep me in fourth place. But I'm down by just two assists, so I could pick up another game and possibly move into third.
With Ricky Rubio not playing today, I decided to pick up free-agent PG Mario Chalmers. I contemplated dropping up-and-down SG Joe Johnson, but I might need him to boost my 3-point total, so I waived Taj Gibson for the second time this season. I may try to pick him up again.
Eight of my 10 roster spots are filled tonight. I figure Chalmers at least has plenty of options of people to pass to who are likely to shoot and even make some shots. If I'm really lucky, he'll be getting assists for Chris Bosh.
* * *
Hockey. Still at 66 points, and sliding slowly farther behind the second-place team, currently at 73.
The biggest chances for me to gain ground are in assists, where I'm just 8 behind the team in second; power-play points, 4 behind both teams ahead of me in the standings, and save percentage, .027 behind No. 2.
Last night's game before my very eyes was a mixed blessing. Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and was plus-2, but Brenden Dillon was minus-2. The goals weren't terribly important, because I already lead the league. Last night's plus/minus was up and down, but finished plus-1, boosting my season total to plus-19. That's still 21 points away from catching the next higher team.
My lineup for Sunday will have six skaters and possibly goalie Eddie Lack (Roberto Luongo was in goal for Vancouver Saturday).
* * *
Football. It seemed weird Saturday when I got up thinking I needed to make an 11th-hour check of my fantasy roster, then realized that I didn't have a team playing. Then as I listened to the first half of Kansas City-Indianapolis on the way to the Red Wings-Stars game, I was wondering whether I could retain RB Jamaal Charles on my playoff roster even if he wouldn't be able to play in the Divisional round.
I don't think it was just because I had the Colts in both of my playoff pools, but I found the KC radio crew very annoying. I just looked up the name of the Chiefs' play-by-play guy. He's Mitch Holthus, and he must have some following in Kansas and Missouri because he's been on the job for 20 years. The annoying part was when the Chiefs were tearing it up, he kept repeating a mantra that the Chiefs would be doing it "all day," which apparently included saying "all day" all day. He also seemed very impressed with himself for knowing the small town in Kansas where the head linesman lived, and the location of Mary Hardin Baylor University in Texas.
It wasn't until after the hockey game that I learned the Chiefs had blown their big lead and lost. All day apparently had a second half.
It didn't help the broadcast that color man Len -- turned out to be the one-time great Len Dawson -- was one of the type who pretty much agree with and parrot what the play-by-play guy says. Dawson has seen better days, and I think those are in the past. (All day.)
Anyway, in my pick-'em pool, both the Colts and Saints advanced, as I predicted, but by the skin of their teeth.
Fortunately, in my $1,000-bankroll, pick-with-the-spread pool, I "wagered" $200 on the Saints and just $100 on the Colts, who didn't cover as 2.5-point favorites. So my hypothetical bankroll is up to $1,100.
In my college pools, I don't expect I'll win anything despite picking up 28 points from Vanderbilt in the pick-winners confidence pool. I have 1 point on Ball State tonight and 5 on Florida State Monday. I'm not even sure Vanderbilt covered the spread, but going into that game I was just 11-16 in my point-spread pool.
Showing posts with label Aubrey Huff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aubrey Huff. Show all posts
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thoughts on Game 4
Thoughts on Game 4
Here’s the first thought I wrote down during the game: In the early innings, Hunter has been throwing too many pitches.
He didn’t throw too many late in the game because again he was out after four innings.
Neither of the two things happened tonight that I wrote the Rangers had to do to win.
1. Hunter did not make it through six innings.
2. Texas’ batters didn’t work counts so they could manufacture runs instead of swinging for home runs. There apparently weren’t a whole lot of home-run cuts. Maybe by Ian Kinsler with two on when he was the tying run.
The difference there was that Giants batters were able to prolong at-bats by fouling off pitches they couldn’t handle. Credit Madison Bumgarner for much of that. He lasted twice as long as Hunter, but threw just about 25 per cent more pitches.
Texas also gave Bumgarner some easy outs, holding his pitch count down.
The game’s worst play came when Josh Hamilton tried to steal second base with two out and Nelson Cruz at bat in the bottom of the fourth. The Rangers trailed 2-0 with a right-handed batter against the lefty Cruz. Sure, it would have been nice to get one run there to cut the deficit, but that was a case when a home-run swing could have been desirable. Instead, when Buster Posey threw out Hamilton, Bumgarner got an out without having to throw another pitch to Cruz that time around the batting order.
The two double-play balls also gave Bumgarner outs without having to work very hard.
Another big factor in San Francisco’s lineup was something I pointed out before the series began: DEE-fense. If there’s one area where Bruce Bochy has had an advantage over Ron Washington, this is it.
In Game 1, Washington opted for offense over defense by using Vladimir Guerrero in right field and Nelson Cruz in left. The Rangers committed four errors, two by Guerrero. In Game 4, Bochy chose defense over offense by inserting Travis Ishikawa at first base and Nate Schierholtz in right field. The benefit to taking Aubrey Huff off of first base turned out to be more on the offensive side. Unlike Pablo Sandoval, Huff has extensive experience as a DH. That might have helped; he hit a two-run homer that put San Francisco ahead to stay. The defense wasn’t hurt, either.
Already, Bochy had moved Juan Uribe from shortstop to third base and put Edgar Renteria at shortstop to improve the range but more importantly steady the left side of the infield. Renteria’s history of World Series offensive success didn’t hurt any, either.
Darren Oliver must be a good guy. He has always seemed to get a free pass from the media. This season, he has been living off his good start – which was very impressive. The latter part of the season has not been so impressive. He gave up another run in Sunday’s game.
Even though it’s a tough break for Alexi Ogando apparently to be injured, I think it’s totally wrong for the Rangers to be able to replace him for the final games. It’s just too easy to fabricate a pitching injury to help bail out a struggling bullpen. A team shouldn’t need 12 pitchers for a seven-game series with just four starters anyway.
As a side note, I’m already tired of Little Wash. That’s a sight gag that has more than run its course.
This was probably the worst day in the history of Arlington, Texas. The Rangers were only slightly better than the Cowboys. A lot of the blame, home-run swings or not, has to fall on the middle of the lineup and most notably Guerrero (three strikeouts) and Josh Hamilton (2-for-16 for the series). Others aren't doing much better, but those two are supposed to supply power and runs.
Here’s the first thought I wrote down during the game: In the early innings, Hunter has been throwing too many pitches.
He didn’t throw too many late in the game because again he was out after four innings.
Neither of the two things happened tonight that I wrote the Rangers had to do to win.
1. Hunter did not make it through six innings.
2. Texas’ batters didn’t work counts so they could manufacture runs instead of swinging for home runs. There apparently weren’t a whole lot of home-run cuts. Maybe by Ian Kinsler with two on when he was the tying run.
The difference there was that Giants batters were able to prolong at-bats by fouling off pitches they couldn’t handle. Credit Madison Bumgarner for much of that. He lasted twice as long as Hunter, but threw just about 25 per cent more pitches.
Texas also gave Bumgarner some easy outs, holding his pitch count down.
The game’s worst play came when Josh Hamilton tried to steal second base with two out and Nelson Cruz at bat in the bottom of the fourth. The Rangers trailed 2-0 with a right-handed batter against the lefty Cruz. Sure, it would have been nice to get one run there to cut the deficit, but that was a case when a home-run swing could have been desirable. Instead, when Buster Posey threw out Hamilton, Bumgarner got an out without having to throw another pitch to Cruz that time around the batting order.
The two double-play balls also gave Bumgarner outs without having to work very hard.
Another big factor in San Francisco’s lineup was something I pointed out before the series began: DEE-fense. If there’s one area where Bruce Bochy has had an advantage over Ron Washington, this is it.
In Game 1, Washington opted for offense over defense by using Vladimir Guerrero in right field and Nelson Cruz in left. The Rangers committed four errors, two by Guerrero. In Game 4, Bochy chose defense over offense by inserting Travis Ishikawa at first base and Nate Schierholtz in right field. The benefit to taking Aubrey Huff off of first base turned out to be more on the offensive side. Unlike Pablo Sandoval, Huff has extensive experience as a DH. That might have helped; he hit a two-run homer that put San Francisco ahead to stay. The defense wasn’t hurt, either.
Already, Bochy had moved Juan Uribe from shortstop to third base and put Edgar Renteria at shortstop to improve the range but more importantly steady the left side of the infield. Renteria’s history of World Series offensive success didn’t hurt any, either.
Darren Oliver must be a good guy. He has always seemed to get a free pass from the media. This season, he has been living off his good start – which was very impressive. The latter part of the season has not been so impressive. He gave up another run in Sunday’s game.
Even though it’s a tough break for Alexi Ogando apparently to be injured, I think it’s totally wrong for the Rangers to be able to replace him for the final games. It’s just too easy to fabricate a pitching injury to help bail out a struggling bullpen. A team shouldn’t need 12 pitchers for a seven-game series with just four starters anyway.
As a side note, I’m already tired of Little Wash. That’s a sight gag that has more than run its course.
This was probably the worst day in the history of Arlington, Texas. The Rangers were only slightly better than the Cowboys. A lot of the blame, home-run swings or not, has to fall on the middle of the lineup and most notably Guerrero (three strikeouts) and Josh Hamilton (2-for-16 for the series). Others aren't doing much better, but those two are supposed to supply power and runs.
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