·
The biggest story of the off-season, Ryan Braun,
has for now quieted his PED critics. He
started out 0-5 on opening day, however he is 6 for his last 11, with 3
doubles, one home run, and 2 walks since.
Let’s see what happens when he goes on the road.
·
Yoenis Cespedes has come out of the gate crushing
the ball. He has 3 home runs and 7 RBI’s
through Oakland’s first 5 games. He
still strikes out a ton, but this is his first time through the league, so that
is to be expected. He has become must
watch TV for me. He has hit 2 moon shots
during night games in Oakland. This is
not a hitter’s park to begin with, especially during cold night games, and to
see where his home runs are landing are very impressive. If MLB were smart, they would invite him
right now to the home run derby this year.
I have watched every A’s game that was actually on live TV, and this guy
is something special. He has an absolute
cannon for an arm in center field and he is really fast. I can easily see 20 HR – 20 SB potential this
season, maybe even more. He did misplay one fly ball in CF, however
this is his first time playing in a multi-tiered stadium. He’s not used to the backdrop
view you get from CF in stadiums of this size and he lost the ball in the backdrop. Once this guy gets settled in, Billy Beane is
going to look like a genius from this signing.
My early comparison of Cespedes to another player is Nelson Cruz. They look alike, have similar swings, and
have so far produced similar types of results.
I’ll take that type of production out of Cespedes, especially if he can
stay healthy, which Cruz can’t seem to do yet.
·
The Yankees, Giants, Braves and Red Sox started
off 0-3, however all but the Braves earned wins yesterday. Which team should be more concerned? With the way the Red Sox bullpen has looked,
it has to be the Red Sox. One of the few
bright spots for the Sox so far is Ryan Sweeney. This guy was always a good player in Oakland,
the only issue was his health. He was
always injured. Now healthy, and hitting
in a friendly lineup where he does not have much pressure on him, I can easily
see him putting up a solid season if he stays healthy. Probably in the .280 - .290 batting average
range. He is also a fantastic defensive
outfielder. This guy was a web gem a
night centerfielder in Oakland. I can
see Red Sox fans falling in love with him.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the Yankees, Braves or Giants. How many more saves will Mo blow this
year? Over/under is 5.
·
How about those Mets! A 4-0 start and Frank
Francisco looks like the pickup of the year.
I still think this team finishes in last place, but some good signs are
that Jonathan Niese looks like a legit #2 starter and David Wright and Lucas
Duda have started out the season swinging a hot bat.
·
Barry Zito apparently forgot that it’s 2012 and
not 2003. A complete game shutout by
ZIto finally gave the Giants their first win of the season yesterday. This guy has changed his delivery so many
times since he went to the Giants that I think it’s all mental with him right
now, but at least he gave this team one complete game shutout over the life of
one of the worst contracts ever given to a MLB player.
·
A rough start to the season for 49 year old
Jamie Moyer. He gave up 2 HR’s and his
defense committed 3 errors behind him in a loss to the Astros. He allowed 3 earned runs, 5 hits, 1 walk, and
had 2 strike outs in 5 innings of work.
Not terrible, but hopefully some improvements are in his future.
·
It has been a very bad start for bullpens so
far. There have been tons of blown saves
by pretty much every team other than the Mets.
Sergio Santos and Alfredo Aceves have been the main culprits, but
Mariano, Carlos Marmol, Chris Perez, Jose Valverde, and Heath Bell have all
blown saves. It’s still early, but Sergio
Santos appears to be the first closer who might lose his job, considering
Francisco Cordero is the setup guy in Toronto and Santos is already getting
booed off the field.
·
I watched Yu Darvish’s first start last night
against the Mariners. He had a terrible
1st inning, throwing 42 pitches and giving up 4 runs. He was one more hit away from being taken out
of the game in the 1st, but he calmed down and lasted 5 2/3 innings,
earning the win thanks in large part to having the best offense in baseball. This entire team can pound the ball. Best top to bottom lineup in the game. Not one easy out in it. I know Darvish was very nervous about it
being his first start, but he really seemed to struggle, particularly against
lefties in the Mariners lineup and he was very wild. I’m sure he will get
better, but I have said all along that the Rangers would have been better off
saving the $115 million they spent on him (contract + negotiating rights) and
signed CJ Wilson. Just wait until the
temperature starts hitting 95+ degrees in the summer. I don’t think Yu has ever pitched in those
kinds of conditions before.
·
Ubaldo Jimenez just made a joke out of the
suspensions that are given out to pitchers.
MLB gave him a 5 game suspension for beaming Troy Tulowitzki in spring
training. He appealed it, which allowed
him to pitch in the 2nd game of the season. He then dropped his appeal after the game,
and will sit the next 5 games. All that
means is that he will be pushed back in the rotation one day. Wow. Big
punishment right there. MLB needs to
start coming down harder on starting pitchers when it comes to
suspensions. They only pitch every 5th
day. Anything less than a 5 game
suspension and the player misses zero playing time. Suspensions should be a minimum of 10 games
for starters. This will force them to
miss 2 times through the rotation.
Ozzie Guillen
·
The Miami Marlins have suspended Ozzie Guillen
for 5 games for his remarks he made to Time magazine in which he said he loves
Fidel Castro and that he respects him for staying in power for so long. Probably not the best thing to say when you
are the manager of a team that plays in Miami, Fl. This isn’t the first time Guillen has said
something unpopular about controversial world leaders. In October 2005, he twice appeared on a radio
show hosted by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and said “Not too many people
like the president. I do.” The White Sox didn’t do anything to Guillen
then, however the Marlins took action this time. Many people think he should be fired. I don’t, at least not yet. Yes the comments were stupid. I don’t know why Guillen said them. However, this is what you get when you hire a
guy like Guillen. This is why I would
never hire him in the first place. If
the fans really do stop coming now, and the demonstrations become larger and
larger, then yes, the Marlins HAVE TO fire him.
They do have a brand new ball park, however this is a team that usually
only had 10,000 – 12,000 fans a night in prior years. How will we know if the fans stop showing up
due to Ozzie still being employed when they never showed up to games in the
past? We’ll find out on Friday April 13th,
the Marlins next home game.
The suspension of only 5 games
is a little light as well. I was
thinking maybe 20-25 games.
Unfortunately in sports, winning usually overshadows all. If this team wins when Ozzie comes back,
these comments will be forgotten about.
If they begin to lose, the fire Ozzie chants will become louder and
louder.
On the Links…
·
Another great week for the Masters and for golf
in general. Congrats to @bubbawatson for
his first ever major victory with a very emotional win, after two sudden death
playoff holes, defeating Louis Oosthuizen.
Bubba’s second shot on the 2nd playoff hole will go down as
one of the greatest shots of all time. I
still can’t believe he hit that kind of shot from where he was and was able to
get the ball within 10 feet of the hole.
All this from a guy who has never had a swing coach and has not had a
lesson since he was 10 years old.
Unbelievable. It was also nice to
see an American take home a major championship.
It had me rooting a little bit extra considering it was an American
versus a South African, and the fact that Bubba’s father passed away in 2010
and two weeks ago he and his wife adopted a baby boy. How cool was it to see a couple young
American golfers on the 10th green congratulating him when he won
the title? I don’t think I have ever
seen anything like that before. All in
all, Easter Sunday was another great day for golf.
On the Ice…
·
A sad ending to the 2011-2012 Buffalo Sabres
season. After the victory over
Washington last week, many Sabres fans were planning their playoff schedule, I
know I was. Now, all we can do is plan
for the draft. The injuries to Myers and
Ehrhoff definitely hurt in the last couple games. News broke last week that
even if the Sabres made the playoffs, Myers would have missed at least the 1st
round with a hairline fracture in his foot.
I don’t want to blame them missing the playoffs on injuries, but it’s
hard not to when you look at how good they played when healthy. It’s no coincidence that the Rangers won the
Eastern conference and they also had the least amount of games missed by their
top 9 forwards and top 6 defensemen in the league. Injuries matter in sports. The Sabres had lots of them to key players.
Where do they go from here? Only the locker room knows what kind of
message Lindy Ruff still delivers to this team.
I’m willing to trust Pegula and his team in what to do with Lindy. If they have to fire him, do it now. Don’t wait.
If Lindy has lost all control over the key players in the locker room,
then bring in another coach. If all the
negative talk about Ruff is coming from Derek Roy, then get Roy on the first
bus out of town. His comments yesterday,
complaining that Lindy calls out his players in the media too much sounds like
Roy sees the writing on the wall this off-season for either him or Lindy. For the first time, I also wouldn’t be
against trading Vanek and a draft pick, only IF he brings back a stud offensive
player. I also would even listen to
trading Ryan Miller. I’m one of Miller’s
biggest fans, but if he is also a problem in the locker room, then let’s see
what we can get for him. His trade value
has to be very high the way he ended the season.
I don’t think a total wrecking
ball is needed with this team. Just a
few more minor tweaks are necessary in order to reach the ultimate goal of a
Stanley Cup. For the first time, I am
actually trusting Darcy this off-season to make the right moves. Ever since Terry took over, Darcy has
arguably won the two biggest days for General Managers. I think Darcy won the July 1st
free agent frenzy last year with Ehrhoff and Regehr. Yes, Ville Leino was also in there, but I expect
a big season next year from Leino. I
also think Darcy won this year’s trade deadline, getting a 1st
rounder for Gaustad and trading for Hodgson AND everyone’s new favorite d-man
Alexander Sulzer. With 4 picks in the
first two rounds, and the potential willingness to trade several attractive
players, I see the Sabres generating some more excitement in the near future.
On the Homefront…
·
I was disappointed to hear that one of the more
competitive teams in my Monday night softball league will be dropping out this
year. Hopefully Mike Colao can round up
enough players and get his team back out there.
The league is a better league when there is a lot of competition and his
team was one of the better ones in the league.
·
No update yet on construction of the “New
Rez”. We are in a wait and see mode. It sounds like the week of May 14th
is the target week to start the season.
Hopefully we don’t fall too far behind.
·
I played my earliest round of golf in Western NY
ever last week by getting in 9 holes at Hickory Stick Golf Course on Wednesday
April 4th. The greens are in
great shape, but the fairways and rough are still in need of minor repair. It was also easily the coldest I have ever
been on a golf course. I need it to be a
minimum of 60 degrees to be out there.
We were right around the 50 degree mark when we teed off and it dropped
from there by the time we got to the end.
·
A tough loss for my team in the semi-finals in
the DSC Fantasy NBA league. A finals
showdown between the College Avenue Bigshots and the most hated team in the
league, The Guru. If it weren’t for the
injuries, the Bigshots have this league locked up, but I have a feeling The
Guru is going to pull this one out. I
get stuck playing the best team in the league, Saltine Warriors in the
consolation game. I have no shot to win
unless Kevin Love and Kevin Durant take this week off.
That’s all I have for today. Until next time…
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