I haven't updated this space in a while. Not doing the radio show the other night was a huge disappointment for myself and Pratt. I hope we can do it again someday, until then the blog will have to do.
-Felix Hernandez hit a grand slam tonight off of Johan Santana in a pitching duel of maybe the two best Venezuela-born pitchers of all time. In case you were wondering Cleveland's Steve Dunning was the last AL pitcher to hit a grand slam, he did it on May 11th, 1971.
-Very excited for the NBA draft. If I had to pick the next sleeper second rounder, in the Powe/Glen Davis/Ryan Gomes mold, I'd pick Indiana's D.J. White. He has a solid, but not explosive down-low game, and he loves to chew glass. Some people might pick Joey Dorsey from Memphis, he could be an NBA contributor, but he has no offensive game whatsoever.
-Miami might trade Dwayne Wade to the Bulls for the first overall pick to go with the second-overall pick. I'm pretty sure this will never come to fruition. The pressure on the Bulls to draft the hometown hero in Derrick Rose is far too great. Miami should just select Michael Beasley. I know he doesn't really fill a need, but in the NBA draft, teams are much more successful selecting the best player available as opposed to reaching or trading down to "fill a need." The Miami front court of Marion, Beasley and Udonis Haslem will be mighty small, but they should be potent offensively. I'll write a million time over and over, if the Heat make all the right moves, they'll win fifty games next year. The roster should be pretty talented.
-The Indiana Pacers and the Toronto Raptors might swap injury-prone stars Jermaine O'Neal and T.J. Ford. I love the deal for the Pacers if Ford can stay healthy. Ford's got a strong handle, an aggressive move to the basket, and he might be single fastest player in the NBA. Jermaine O'Neal is not a good fit if the Raptors are trying to imitate the Suns' (former, now) seven-seconds-or-less offense. But this trade, coupled with the Raptors' management lack of interest in bringing in Mike D'Antoni, Marc Iavaroni, or Vinny Del Negro, means that Bryan Colangelo may be scrapping the mini-Suns plan.
-Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Deron Williams, Dwayne Wade, Carlos Boozer, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Dwight Howard and Lebron James. I've already memorized the entire roster for the US National team in the Beijing Olympics. I like it, I even love it. I don't like Jason Kidd at all, but Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski love him. So, I hope and expect that those two know a lot more about basketball than I do. I would rather see Chris Paul start, but Jason Kidd is going to start. I would have liked to have seen Tyson Chandler on the roster, but picking Boozer over him is probably fair. I just hope the team doesn't get burned for not having a true center.
-Arizona is only 3.5 games in front of the LA Dodgers. The Philadelphia Phillies have lost five straight and are now only one game ahead of the Florida Marlins. Arizona has a weak run differential of +11, but the second-place Dodgers have a putrid -1 run differential... The other NL West teams have run differentials of -58 (Colorado), -46 (San Francisco), and -67 (San Diego). I'm not sure that run differential is the best statistic ever, but in this instance it shows me that NL West is at best a two-team race. For comparison's sake, the Red Sox sport an insane +65 run differential, made all the more impressive by the extended absences for players like Ortiz and Lowell... The Phillies, despite their recent slide and Utley's current 1-27 slide have a wonderful +79 rd (I've decided to start abbreviating it). Meanwhile the second-place Marlins have continued to be more lucky than good with a +2 rd. I like the Marlins team, but they've stayed very healthy, that seems likely to catch up with them. I trust the Marlins management to make an under-the-radar and/or a surprise move to improve the team and become a more serious threat to the Phillies.
-The Atlanta Braves are wasting a solid offensive season. Mark Texiera is starting to come around as an elite power hitter. Chipper Jones, though below .400, is still having a scorching season. Brian McCann may be the best offensive catcher in baseball. Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar have been exciting for the Braves up the middle. The pitching has been injury-riddled, my lasting memory of Braves pitching this season: Mike Hampton warming up in the bullpen for his first start in over two seasons, and gets hurt again. He grabbed something. I don't know what, and I didn't care to notice at the time either. It's just pathetic. I would expect Texiera to get traded because he is a free agent this coming off-season. It will be a tough pill for John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox to swallow since they probably want to have a couple more contending seasons before they both retire.
-Shaq was recently videotaped free-styling and dissing Kobe. Shaq noted that "Just last week, Kobe didn't win without me." He also blamed Kobe for his divorce. I thought the two of them were on good terms. I mean, I don't really care, but this may prove that they might have kissed and made up just to try to get ESPN to stop baiting them into trading barbs at one another. I am sure Shaq did not know he was being filmed, but I am sure he didn't really care when found out. When asked for comment, Shaq just claimed he wasn't serious. I am sure this story will die quickly because I am sure both Kobe and Shaq will say the right things, rather than give ABC any juice to promote a Christmas Day match-up between the Suns and the Lakers. You can see the video here.
Miscellaneous Video of the Day:
Snoop Dogg Loves Hockey!
He didn't know they weren't the "Mighty" Ducks anymore...
Old School Rap Video of the Day:
Heavy D and The Boyz- Is It Good To You?
Remember when Heavy D played the guidance counselor on Boston Public? And if you don't remember that. Store it in your trivia bank.
No comments:
Post a Comment