Monday, October 29, 2007
Sox Sweep Series
Good morning ya’ll! I was out of town since last Friday morning so
today will be filled with a few notes from the weekend. Even thought I don’t
really like them in general, congratulations to the Boston Red Sox on their
2007 World Series championship. Although I fully subscribe to the World Series
champion not always being the best team (because of small sample size and
such), sometimes the best team does win it all, and that’s what happened this
year.
·
Gophers Football – I happened to see the bottom
line early on Saturday afternoon that showed the Gophers holding a 10-6 lead
over the Michigan Wolverines. Later in the evening, I was watching the scroll
at the bottom of the screen and after awhile, I saw that the Gophers lost
34-10. In other words, after a good start for the Gophers, reality set in and
Michigan went on a 28-0 run to end the game.
·
I was reading about how NDSU’s football team
played pretty poorly, likely a little high on themselves following their win
against the Big Ten’s Gophers the week before. I was reading an article on their game
and how disappointed they were. Finally I saw the final score. The Bison beat
Southern Utah 52-17! Yeah, they must have played horribly!
·
The
Vikings lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 23-16 yesterday in the Dome. It appears
that the Vikings have decided that Adrian Peterson is their feature or primary
tail back. Now, on the surface the move makes sense. However, I feel like I am
about the only Vikings fan that seems to believe that the team should have kept
the even ball distribution going between Peterson and Chester Taylor. Maybe I
am too much of a Twins fan and that affects my thinking, but here me out. The
Vikings are not a playoff team this year. In fact, they should get another very
early draft pick next year. So why over-use a guy like Peterson this year.
Sure, give him a good amount of touches, and get him a few more second half
touches, but don’t wear him down. It just doesn’t make sense, especially when
you have a guy like Taylor as a backup. So yes, I love watching the Vikings
every time that AP gets the ball, but as a fan of the organization, I think it
would be wise for them to continue to somewhat limit his touches.
·
The
Vikings QB situation is horrible. How hurt is Tarvaris
Jackson really? Or, has he just been so bad that they are giving him an out and
letting him watch from the sidelines? Kelly Holcombe is not horrible and has
experienced some success in the past. However, he is not young, and there is a
reason that he has never really been a starter. He doesn’t have the arm or the
legs for the position. Brooks Bollinger is a nice guy from Grand Forks, but he
was at his best in college when he could hand the ball off to guys like Ron Dayne and Anthony Davis and let them run. Yes, he did a
nice job yesterday providing a spark, but he certainly is a backup. Again,
doesn’t bode well for the team’s success in 2007.
·
Is it
just me, or has John Henry had several injections of Botox? Seriously, the guy
has pretty much no expression and looks almost ghostly.
·
The
Rockies are far better than they played in the World Series. Anyone who doesn’t
think that their eight day layoff hurt them tremendously is fooling themselves.
That’s not to say that they would be World Series champions in 2007 if they had
started right away, but I do think they would have played better. I mean, it’s
like… what if Cleveland would have had a 3-1 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS
and then for some unknown, unnecessary reason they had a scheduled off-day
between Game Four and Game Five? Of course it would have affected Cleveland’s
momentum. Wait! What? There was a scheduled, unnecessary off-day between Game 4
and Game 5 of the ALCS? Crazy! And, that’s right, that decision may very well
cost Cleveland a shot at a World Series championship.
·
So,
with the season now over, here would be my Top 5 teams in baseball in 2007:
1.
Boston
Red Sox – even without winning the World Series, I think this would be the
case.
2.
Cleveland
Indians – they were this-close to representing the AL.
3.
New
York Yankees – how scary could they be with their lineup and those young,
talented pitchers in their rotation!?
4.
Colorado
Rockies – The NL’s best team was a Wild Card winner in the league. They are a
solid team all around.
5.
Arizona
Diamondbacks – Remember they are the team that had the better record than the
Rockies in the regular season.
·
How
rich, selfish and arrogant do you have to be to turn down a deal in which you
would make about $230 million over the next eight years? Alex Rodriguez is
apparently going to opt-out of the remaining three seasons of his 10 year, $250
million contract. It is his right to do, and I can’t say I blame him. He did
all he could for the Yankees in 2007, and the fans there still don’t appreciate
him. I hope he goes somewhere and takes it out on the Yankees! That said,
seriously A-Rod (or Boras), how much money do you need? Turning down $80
million for the next three years and then $150 million over the following five
years. The Rangers are very appreciative that they don’t have to give the
Yankees another $21 million though! I am going to assume that A-Rod will go to
the Angels or the Giants. But what kind of contract will he end up with. I can’t
imagine Scott Boras would let A-Rod out of his current deal unless he is very
certain that someone will offer him more. I wonder who he is talking to
(unofficially, of course).
·
I’ve
been asked now a few times since my So… Now What? posting
came out last week about my thoughts on the Twins getting Mike Lowell for third
base. My current response, evn before he was named
World Series MVP, is that I think that the Twins have about a 2.3% chance of
landing Lowell, particularly after what he has done in the post season. I think
he’ll stay with the Red Sox, and I’m sure that that Phillies will make an offer
to up the price tag. The Twins can’t, and really shouldn’t, get into that
bidding war.
·
There
are so many similarities between Dustin Pedroia and a
young Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch was a good, team player for the first few
years of his career. Good glove. Good bat. Good on-base skills.
·
I
still think that Jason Varitek is the most overrated
player in baseball. But I wonder how much of that is because he didn’t sign
with the Twins when they drafted him. I don’t think so. I think it’s more about
how glorified he is for things that just aren’t true.
·
Let’s
please remember when people talk about how a certain player is better than
another player because “he has a ring” (namely AJ Pierzynski
to Joe Mauer), remember that Doug Mirabellie
has a ring now, so maybe he’s better than Mauer too?
·
I
thought that only veteran teams could win a title. Isn’t that what people like
to tell us? Just remember that Dustin Pedroia, Jon
Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Hideki Okajima
and Daisuke Matsuzaka were all rookies in 2007. Remember
that Ellsbury wasn’t even called up for good until
the end of August and he was more than a small part in this World Series. And
don’t forget that they shut down Clay Bucholz near
the end of the season!
·
Chris
Myers might be just as annoying a post-game interview as Craig Sager. Sager
asks dumb questions. Myers just asks a month’s worth of questions to guys that
clearly just want to celebrate.
·
The
Jon Lester story is remarkable. I know people keep saying it, but it does bear
repeating. One year ago at this time, he was going threw chemotherapy and
baseball was likely the furthest thing from his mind. He now is the winning
pitcher in the final game of the World Series. He had a good guy to be around
though. Remember that Mike Lowell is also a cancer survivor.
·
After
his home run that proved to be a needed insurance run, I fully expect Aaron
Gleeman to post some sort of comment to “Free Bobby Kielty!”
·
Terry
Francona seems to be so similar to Joe Torre in terms
of temperament and having the complete respect of his team.
·
Oh,
and the Red Sox won Game 4, a one run game, with both David Ortiz and Manny
Ramirez out of the lineup.
·
Royce
Clayton sure got a lot of air time for a guy who went 0-6 in eight September
games and wasn’t even on the post-season roster!
·
And
now the fun begins. With the completion of the World Series, the Hot Stove
League will soon begin with decisions about options and free agency names will
become official. Then the Winter Meetings. IT is going to be an interesting
offseason. Be sure to check back here frequently.
·
Oh,
and be sure to check out the Fantasy Playoff Contest, and see who the champion
was. It will hopefully be posted on Monday morning.
Thanks again for stopping by this site. If you have any
questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me.
Have a great weekend!