October 2010

…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

2010 ALCS vs Rangers…Game 6

Yeah, Im a bit late, who cares…

Yankees did a lot of things right in this series:
-Give the ball to Wood and Mo
-CC pitching at home
-Anytime Cano got to hit
-Convincing Vazquez the Yankees were playing the Angels in the ALCS and sending him on a 1-way plane to Anaheim while everyone else went to Texas.

…and they did a lot of things wrong:
-Burnett ever pitching
-Everytime Robertson came in to pitch
-Posada falling for a double steal
-Did I mention Burnett?

Girardis pitching rotation for this series was a joke.

Girardis rotation:
1-Sabathia
2-Hughes
3-Pettitte
4-Burnett
5-Sabathia
6-Hughes
7-Pettitte

The problem there was there wasnt enough Pettitte and too much of Hughes and Burnett.

My, better, and Yankee winning rotation:
1-Sabathia
2-Pettitte
3-Burnett
4-Sabathia
5-Hughes
6-Pettitte
7-Sabathia

Sabathia on short rest (works), Pettitte earlier and twince on normal rest, Hughes only once and at home, then be available in the pen the rest of the way (also a bullpen option for game 1)…and Burnett pitching in game 3 where it wouldnt matter how well he pitches cuz the Yankees were losing that game anyway.
Yankees wouldve won games 1 and 2, Rangers win game 3…game 4 would be ours, game 5 would be up in the air but Pettitte wouldve won game 6. Game-set-series-and Yankees go to California.

…just saying

 

….Im actually glad the Giants won. Joe Buck now doesnt get to talk about dynastys…Im alos gonna root for the Giants in this series, if only to prevent Ron Washington from doing lines of coke off the trophy.

2010 ALCS vs Rangers…Game 5

Life boats are filling fast in NY. Teixeira is out for the year…and the way things are going, that might be for about 1 more day.

Burnett ptched last night and did what many of us thought: prepare the white flag….actually, Girardi prepared the white flag simply by pitching Burnett, then did his usual bullpen dance and allowed a tsunami of runs to score after Wild Thing left.

So now weve got CC Sabathia pitching for us with our backs against the wall…the last time we were this close to elimination, we managed to prolong our existence by 1 day against Cleveland in 2007…we were never even close to elimination in our 09 championship run…

But Sabathia isnt a stranger to these types of games. He dealt with that kind of pressure every start (on short rest no less) during his breif stint in Milwaukee, Weve got a bit of a bonus of having him on regular rest…so yeah…

but even if we were to win today and force this thing back to Texas, we still need to never lose again, which means we’d potentially have to deal with a certain someone in game 7…

 

Speaking of the 07 playoffs, after dispatching the Yankees, the Indians went on to blow a 3-1 ALCS lead…so its not over till its over Texas…

2010 ALCS vs Rangers…Game 4

I really dont feel like adding a whole lot to the whole AJ Burnett pitching thing…besides, one of my previous posts still sum everything up nicely on the matter. That being said, unless the Yankees win tonight, the season is already over.

Pitching Burnett with his terrible season, and terrible performance in his simulated game earlier is an insult to the year the Yankees have had up until this point. Tonight is a chance to even up the series, and keeps those slim hopes alive that we can avoid a Cliff Lee encore, and instead of pitching Sabathia (or anyone else for that matter) Girardi goes with the most unreliable pitcher on rotation?

Either Girardi knows something the rest of us dont and is throwing in the towel in 2 losses early…or he knows something the rest of us dont and knows Burnett has the mother of all aces up his sleeve and will pitch an absolute gem…

 

Whats the big deal with tonight?

If Burnett does what Burnett does best…
The Yankees than fall into a 1-3 hole in the series, which would guarentee a Cliff Lee game in game 7…if the Yankees even make it that far. It would force all our starters to be perfect from here on out, when only Pettitte has even been close to good so far. It would be a steep, not insurmountable, battle and forces the Yankees to try to pick up the slack for AJ again.

If Burnett shocks the world and wins…
As inprobable as it seems, Burnett has a history of showing up in October…the moments are rare, but they exist. But if Burnett was to turn everything around tonight, it might inspire the rest of the team to start playing like defending world champions too. then we head into a game 5 with everything tied up 2-2 against the Rangers with a fully rested (but not over rested) Sabathia and all of a sudden there seems to be hope. Actual, tangable hope-not only to win this thing, but to win it in 6 games, thus rendering Cliff Lee useless.

We need 2009 World Series game 2 AJ Burnett tonight…not Wild Thing Burnett…

 

 

 

…no one will judge you for not holding your breath though…

2010 ALCS vs Rangers…Game 3

So we’re tied 1-1 and things look bad for the defending world champions for the next couple games…we’ve gotta face Cliff Lee for game 3, then we march Burnett out for game 4, and he has this habit lately of bringing a gas can out with him instead of a glove…

Ill say this now, if we lose tonight, go down 1-2 in the series and Girardi still lets Burnett pitch, then we lose. Period. DONT do it, Joe. Hell, even if we beat Lee, DONT do it. Sabathia has made a career out of winning on 3 days rest and I doubt hes too tired after pitching only 4 innings in game 1.

 

Speaking of which, Ill just be happy if one of our starters pitch 5 innings. Be a nice change of pace. Either way, the Yankees-Rangers series can go either way still. Lee may have beaten the Yankees twice in last years world series, but Andy Pettitte beat the Phillies twice as well in that series….and the Phillies are a far superior lineup to the Rangers. So just because Lee is pitching doesnt mean an automatic win for Texas because remember: CJ Wilson was also suppose to be an automatic win as well and we got to him too.

Look at it this way, if the Giants found a way to beat Halladay after pitching a no hitter, than no “ace” is untouchable in the postseason.
Its time for Pettitte to show why hes won more postseason games than any other pitcher.

Year of the Pitcher Continues

Holy F’n sh!t! Look at all this kick *** pitching for the ALCS and NLCS game 1s…except for Texas…

for the NL…

In the red corner, for the NL east champion Philadelphia Phillies, with 21 wins, over 200 strikeouts and comming off a freakin no hitter in his last start…Roy “Doctor No” Halladay!!!

And in the blue corner, for the NL west champion San Francisco Giants, with back to back Cy Young awards, +200 strikeouts this year and a complete game shutout in his last start…Tim “The Freak” Lincecum!!!

 

meanwhile in the AL…

In the red corner, for the NL west champion Texas Rangers, uh…well…he beat the Rays in game 2 of the ALDS though his resume againt New York is a bit lacking…Christopher John “Not Cliff Lee” Wilson!!!

And in the blue corner, for the 27 Time Defending World Champion New York Yankees, with 21 wins, a Cy Young award on his resume, the last remaining AL Cy Young nominee in the playoff run and the defending ALCS MVP…Carsten Charles “CC” Sabathia!!!

 

 

…oh yeah, predictions. I wish I could predict the NLCS, but the pitching matchups are too good. I hope they both go with 3 man rotations because Halladay-Oswalt-Hamels vs Lincecum-Cain-Sanchez would make one bad *** match, and 4th starters on either side would only water it down.

…In the ALCS, Im goin Yankees in 6. Once again, I think the lack of faith in a 3 days rest Cliff Lee will cost the team facing the Yankees since the Yankees are too good to assume you can make it to game 7. Rangers will beat Burnett, and Cliff Lee might beat the Yankees, but beyond that, youll need more.

Uh oh, Burnett to join the postseason rotation?

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….if CC wins game 1, Lee/Price wins game 3, then Burnett would get the ball in a 2-1 situation. Either way we’re giving the ball to the most unstable player on roster in what could be the most crutial point in the series. hell, when is game 4 NOT a big deal? Either its 3-0 or 2-1 and the series could either end, go 3-1 or get tied and make it a best of 3 series…

Seriously, whats wrong with the 3 man run? CC is clutch and is just fine on short rest, Pettitte is clutch and could probably use the extra work after his 2 month vacation, and I trust Hughes on 3 days over a rested Burnett any day.

I know Burnett has had the occasional flash of brilliance on his resume, and world series game 2 last year was his greatest moment…but 2010 has been a dismal year for AJ. He started great, then hit a wall and died. The 2nd half featured no redeeming starts for him….and is the postseason really the time to prove your usefullness?

And even if he goes out a pitches a freakin perfect game, I still dont trust him for his next start because he might fall apart in the next start, because thats the story of AJ Burnett.

Hell, lets go over last years postseason for AJ…

ALDS Game 2: Doesnt count because its the Twins. I could beat the Twins in October.
ALCS Game 2: Shakey at best. He got wild and let the Angels storm back in the game.
ALCS Game 5: Terrible. Angels had batting practice off him before out #1. Pitched well afterwards, but pitching well AFTER allowing a sh!t load of runs isnt saying much.
World Series Game 2: A gem? Where did that come from?
World Series Game 5: Back to the old AJ. As a result, series goes to game 6.

 

If the Yankees take a 3-0 lead, I might be inclined to let AJ pitch….but only then…

History Repeat

Yup…so including last year, Ive accuratly called the last 4 Yankees post season series (Sweep Twins-beat Angels in 6-beat Phillies in 6-Sweep Twins) so I cant wait until the ALCs begins.

History may be repeating for the Twins, but theyre also making history in the process.
They now have a 12 game losing streak in the postseason, thats 2nd all time, behind the biggest postseason losers of all time: the Boston Red Sox (13 strait losses)

They also set a different record, the 8 previous losses against the Yankees were games in which they had led and STILL lost, which is a record…but they finally snapped that streak when the Yankees scored 1st and never looked back tonight.

…I bet Joe Mauer feels real good about being locked into Minnesota for the rest of his life. “Best” catcher in baseball…and leader of the 2nd worst playoff team in history. Too, too bad.

…To be fair, 9 of the 12 strait losses have come against the Yankees…but theres no excuse for the 3 losses against the Oakland Athletics, who before that series had lost 9 strait series clinchable games.

 

…Not all there is left to do is sit back, relax, and watch the Rays and Rangers beat each other up….hopefully Cliff Lee trows his arm out tomorrow…

2010 ALDS vs Twins…Game 3

Blah blah blah…Phil Hughes goes tonight as the Yankees aim to sweep the Twinkies…see you in the ALCS…

 

-Texas failed to sweep the Rays, meaning Cliff Lee will have to finish the job for the Rangers…yeah, 0 pressure there…kinda like if the Reds win tomorrow, Roy Halladay is waiting for the Phillies…and no matter what happens for the Braves/Giants, Tim Lincecum is pitching game 4, so the Giants are loking good too….kinda like how Sabathia is in wait for the Yankees just in case…

 

…So the Phillies, Giants, Rangers and Yankees are all gonna advance because of their Cy Young pitchers…wow…not exciting right now, but just wait until the LCS where its gonna be Halladay vs Lincecum and Lee vs Sabathia…Daaaaaaaaamn,

2010 ALDS vs Twins…Game 2

Yankees beat the Twins in the playoffs, Roy Halladay dominated NL hitters and Cliff Lee pitched well in October…

…in other news, the sun rose this morning and has plans to set in the evening.

Yankees follow Pettitte into battle today while the Twinkies counter with Carl Pavano, who as many astute Yankee fans remember, all but robbed us when he pitched for us by never stayin healthy and still got paid…so its a wet dream to make him pay for that by beating him whenever he pitches against us…
…again, this series is a bit of a bore to cover since the same matchup happened a year ago.

 

Out in Tampa, all 1000 Rays fans witnessed another weak and powerless Rays performance as Texas took a 2-0 series lead. 2-0 and the series heads to Texas. Nice.

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