Two Names, 7 Letters, 15 Wins

Combine their last names, and you will get a total of 7 letters. They have 15 wins, are both undefeated, and both have been completely dominant in their respective leagues. Of course I am talking about the current favorites for the AL and NL Cy Young Award.

Brandon Webb has pitched even better than anyone has expected, which is incredible since is one of the favorites for this award coming into the season. He leads the major leagues with 9 wins and is the fifth starter since 1920 to win his first 9 starts of the season. Only one of those pitchers won their first 10. This guy has been crazy good, but there is someone who has been even better...

That man's name is Cliff Lee. On the 12th of May Lee pitched 9 shutout innings in the second game of a doubleheader, and did not factor in the decision. He lowered his ERA from 0.81 to 0.67. He has given up 4 earned runs in 53.2 innings, and 3 of those came in his only start against Seattle where he still won. His control has been impeccable. He has issued 4 walks in those 53.2 innings and has 44 strikeouts. Even Bob Gibson gave up more runs in his first 7 starts in 1968 where his ERA was an incredibly low 1.12. His K:BB ratio that season was only 4.3:1 - Lee's is at 11:1.

What a great story Josh Hamilton has been. After all of his problems that he had to deal with, and then being traded this offseason to the Texas Rangers, the slugging center fielder came into today ranked 7th in the league in batting average, tied for first in homers, and leading the majors in RBI. And he only turns 27 on Wednesday...

How bad did you think the Giants were going to be this year? Even though I had Tim Lincecum as my Cy Young in Waiting for this year, I was predicting 100+ losses. Sadly, they are currently on pace for 98 losses and that is good enough for 3rd in the division. Imagine them without Lincecum and his 5-1 record, 1.92 ERA and 63 strikeouts...

2008 is About to Begin!

With the 2008 Major League Baseball season about to begin, I am here to give my predictions for the upcoming season.

I will preface my predictions for this year with my boasting of correctly predicting the NL ROY in Ryan Braun. I was way off most of the others, so I need to take all the victories I can get.

NL MVP: Prince Fielder. I think they will be a playoff team this year, and having Ryan Braun behind him in the lineup, pitchers will give him something to hit. Another 50 homer season is not out of the question, and I think if the Brewers had made the playoffs last season he would have won the award.

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera. He hit .320 in a bad Florida lineup with 119 RBI. I can see 140-150 RBI in this lineup if Sheffield and Magglio don't knock in everyone ahead of him. This guy could have the best season since Barry hit 73...

NL Cy Young: Dan Haren. He was great last year for a disappointing Oakland team. Moving to the NL and a great pitcher's division will only help him.

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander. I just don't think Sabathia will have another season like last year and Beckett will have a blister problem sometime this year. Verlander is one of the best young pitchers in the game and will win plenty of these awards.

NL ROY: Clayton Kershaw. He will start the season in the minors, but if he is half as good as he has been in spring training, he will not be there past May 1st. This kid is only 19 and he could be a stud for numerous years.

AL ROY: Evan Longoria. This year's Ryan Braun. The Rays are deciding whether to wait until May to bring him up as to delay his major league clock starting, but even so he will have a monster year when he is called up.

NL Batting Champ: Hunter Pence. This guy was in line to win the ROY last year before he was injured. A pure hitter in a great hitters park with plenty around him in the lineup, he will get good pitches to hit and will jump into the national spotlight this year.

AL Batting Champ: Ichiro Suzuki. I would like to pick someone more obscure here like Robinson Cano or Howie Kendrick, both of whom I believe will win a batting title eventually, but Ichiro is just too good and continues to prove it every year.

NL Cy Young in Waiting: Tim Lincecum. Last year I put his partner in crime Matt Cain here, and I firmly believe these two will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. This year however, they will have a long season ahead with a terrible team around them.

AL Cy Young in Waiting: Francisco Liriano. Try to imagine if he wasn't thrown in the Pierzynski deal. San Francisco would have Liriano, Cain, Lincecum and Barry Zito in its starting rotation.

Now on to the predictions of standings.

NL East:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins
J-Ro, Utley and Howard will be so much offense that I could pitch and still get a victory. The Mets are aging and even though I love David Wright, I don't think they have enough to overtake the Phils. Atlanta will also be much improved, and will compete for the wild card if not the division. Florida and Washington can compete for a better draft pick next year. They don't have a chance in this division.

NL Central:
1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. Houston Astros
3. Chicago Cubs
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Brewers have one of the best lineups in baseball, and a very deep rotation to go with an improved bullpen. They lead the division for most of the year in '07 and they should make a good run in the post-season. I think the Astros are much improved offensively, and will be very scary, but they do not have enough pitching behind Roy Oswalt to beat the Brewers. The Cubs will be the Cubs this year, and St. Louis will be missing Mulder and Carpenter for a good chunk of the season to go along with their young inexperienced outfield. Cincy bolstered their bullpen with the addition of Francisco Cordero, but they didn't really do anything else to improve. The Pirates just stink. If you don't believe me, ask Jason Bay.

NL West:
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Colorado Rockies
3. San Diego Padres
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. San Francisco Giants
I believe this is the best division in baseball. I give the edge to the D'Backs because of the addition of Dan Haren. They have question marks in their lineup as do the Padres, and the Rockies have an inexperienced rotation, but any one of those three can win the division or wild card. The Dodgers should be better than last year because they will be healthier and will have a full season of Matt Kemp and James Loney, but they still have Juan Pierre (one of, if not the, most overrated player in baseball) and also have a questionable rotation. The Giants are going to be terrible aside from Cain and Lincecum.

AL East:
1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles
I like the Yankee's staff overall better than the Sox, and currently I am so tired of hearing about nothing other than Boston. I would love to see someone shove it down their throats and them not even make the playoffs (sorry Ken). Toronto is destined to be a third place team forever, and I keep thinking that this year will be the year Tampa makes it out of the cellar. It could be with the fire sale that is the Baltimore Orioles.

AL Central:
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Minnesota Twins
The Tigers probably have the best lineup in all of baseball, and with Verlander and Bonderman at the top, a very solid rotation. The Indians should compete for the division and/or the wild card this year with pretty much the same team that won the division last year. The White Sox upgraded their offense with Swisher and Cabrera, but I don't think they have enough depth or much of a rotation. The Twins should be pretty pathetic this year, and the Royals are making strides. I think they can find their way out of the cellar this year too.

AL West:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics
Seattle got Bedard, but he has not thrown 200 innings in a season in his career and wore down at the end of the season last year. I think Anaheim's lineup is way more potent and they have enough pitching to win the division again. The A's will be practicing falling down this year as they might have the worst record in the bigs. Texas will have another decent year with the stick, but their pitching staff is atrocious so there is no way they will compete.

The Playoffs:
Division Series: Tigers over Yankees, Angels over Indians, Brewers over Phillies, Braves over Diamondbacks
LCS: Tigers over Angels, Brewers over Braves
World Series: Tigers over Brewers in 6. Magglio Ordonez is WS MVP.

Ahhh the World Series

Well folks, I am currently watching game 2 of the World Series (on mute of course, but we will get to that shortly) and I thought I would jump on the soapbox and let all of my adoring fans know what is really going on in this series.

Plain and simple: the media wanted Boston to beat Cleveland. It is good for their business. If none of the Red Sox/Yankees/Mets/Dodgers are in the World Series, the ratings are not the highest, so there is panic in the media. How dare baseball have their championship decided between two of the seven lowest payroll teams in the league.

Which brings me to my next point...How can the team who has swept their way to the championship been waiting 8 days to play another game. The run the Rockies are on, winning 21 of their last 23 including sweeping the NLDS and NLCS is one for the record books, yet they had to wait over a week to possibly extend that. They do not deserve to be treated that way. First off, the ALCS played on the 12th, 13th, took a day off as usual, 15th (the same night the Rockies clinched the NL title), 16th and then TOOK A DAY OFF, played the 18th, TOOK ANOTHER DAY OFF, and then played on the 20th and 21st. Since when does the series go 2-2-1-2??? No. The 7 game series goes 2-3-2. It has been that way forever. But we have to make sure the Red Sox get a better chance of coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series. And then give them extra rest??? This is completely ridiculous.

A team who is on one of the greatest runs of all time has to waste away waiting to see if they are going to Boston or Cleveland while Boston wins the series at home, then has two days of rest - at home, no travel - and then plays game one of the World Series. Say what you want about a layoff of any time, but it messes with the hitters timing more than anything. Why else do you think Josh Beckett could come out and throw fastballs down the middle to the best hitting team in the National League? On regular rest, some of those pitches would still be going, but when a hitter has to face batting practice fastballs for eight days and then go up against a 96 MPH fastball he has no chance. Mr Selig, just give the Red Sox the trophy, and stop wasting our time.

Now you may be wondering why I am watching the World Series on mute, why I am listening to Golden Earring, Nelly Furtado, Kanye West, Britney Spears, Men at Work, any thing other than what is on my tv screen, well if you have ever watched a playoff game broadcasted on the great FOX network you will know the answer to this question. An untrained monkey could do a better job of calling a game than Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. The legendary Jack Buck was an incredible broadcaster, but apparently he was a horrible teacher. His son is terrible at calling a baseball game. Please get him off the air. Sundays for football are fine, whatever, just don't let him be on the air ruining what is supposed to be the culmination of the greatest season in professional sports.

And I would love to meet the brainiac who thought it would be a good idea to give Tim McCarver a microphone. When McCarver was catching Bob Gibson he went out for a mound visit one time and Gibson told him to get the hell away from him. Gibson asked McCarver what the hell he was doing out on the mound, he doesn't know a thing about pitching. That sentiment is even more true about play-by-play and color commentary.

And FOX might as well get rid of their version of K-Zone. Every time they show a pitch that is supposedly a strike, it is off the radar. The first batter of the series was called out on a "strike" that was in the other batter's box.

I gotta say, I now think the most hated team in baseball is quickly becoming the Boston Red Sox. The thing that gets me the most is how NONE of those people who jumped on their bandwagon when they won the series in 2004 have jumped off. Not ESPN, not FOX, none of the bobbleheads that go to college, nobody. Are the umpires on the wagon? I am not sure. Is George Mitchell? Well he is on their board...

MV-Who?

The MVP award voting will not even be close in the American League. Alex Rodriguez had this one in the bag just after the all-star break. Sorry Magglio, I know you won the batting title, and were second in the league in RBI, but nobody in baseball carried their team like A-Rod carried the sorry Yankees. This guy is so good that he should get $3o Million next year.

The National League however is completely up for grabs. Matt Holliday lead the league in two of the three triple crown categories (batting average and RBI), Prince Fielder led in home runs, and was one of the only consistant players on the contending Brewers, and Jimmy Rollins was the second this season, and third player ever in the 20-20-20-20 club and guaranteed that his team would win the division in spring training. I think Holliday will get it. Had the Brewers held on and made the playoffs, I think Fielder would have won no doubt, but with Holliday coming up big in the one game playoff and winning a batting title for a playoff team I think will put him over the top.

The Rookie of the Year in the National League is no contest. It is unfortunate for Troy Tulowitzki, because he had an outstanding season, but if Ryan Braun had not been in the minors for the first six weeks of the season, we would be putting him in the running with Holliday, Fielder, and Rollins for MVP. This guy played in 113 games and hit 34 homers and drove in 97 runs. He also hit .324.

The American League ROY is tough to pick, because nobody really stood out like Braun and Tulowitzki did in the NL. Alex Gordon and Delmon Young were two who, at the beginning of the season, would be definite contenders but both struggled this season. I suppose I would go with Dustin Pedroia of Boston for the award, since he hit .317 and led AL rookies with an .821 OPS.

In the NL, the Cy Young should go to Jake Peavy who won the pitching triple crown in the NL. Right on his tail was defending winner Brandon Webb who could sneak in if the voters put too much emphasis on Peavy's performance in the playoff between the Padres and Rockies.

I would give the AL pitcher MVP to Cleveland ace C.C. Sabathia. He had 19 wins, second only to Josh Beckett in all of baseball, and was also in the top five in the league for ERA (3.21), strikeouts (209), complete games (4), WHIP (1.14) and led the league in innings pitched (241). Not to mention he only walked 37 batters in those 241 innings.

The Playoffs are Here!

The Major League Baseball regular season has come and gone, and there was no better way to end it than an extra innings, one game playoff for the Wild Card.

The Mets and Brewers completed their monumental collapses in the past week, with the Brewers squandering a lead that was almost 10 games as early as the all-star break. And the mets are the only team in history to let a 7 game lead with 17 to go get away.

The Diamondbacks will square off with the Cubs and Phillies will have to go up against the flaming hot Rockies in the NLDS.

I don't think the D-Backs will have much trouble with the Cubs, for the simple fact that Arizona has Brandon Webb who has a chance at a second straight Cy Young (especially with how Jake Peavy threw in the play-in game). The Diamondbacks are one of three teams in history I believe, to be outscored which makes their run to the best record in the National League just that much more impressive.

The Philadelphia/Colorado series will probably be the most fun to watch if you are a fan of high scoring baseball games. The Phillies had a team ERA of 4.73, 4.32 for the Rockies. The Phillies and Rockies also scored the most runs of the National League teams.

In the American League, the Yankees will face the Indians, and Boston will have to go up against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the Southwest of United States.

I think the best team in baseball is the Angels, who are three deep in the rotation and have the speed to put pressure on the Boston defense. The lineup of Anaheim is also very deep and will have no problem scoring runs.

The Yankees were not supposed to be here. They were buried by just about everyone after the first two months of the season. Yet here we are and they are going to make life difficult for the Indians, who finished the season with the widest margin between first and second place teams in baseball. The offense of the Yanks is definitely something for the Indians to worry about, but Cleveland should not have a tough time scoring runs on the overworked Yankee pitching staff.

All in all, you couldn't ask for a much better regular season, and there is no doubt in my mind that the playoffs will be just as exciting.

All Star Thoughts

The million dollar question for Major League Baseball: Should every team be represented in the All-Star Game? The answer is emphatically YES. The problem is that Major League Baseball wants the All-Star game to mean something. If it is an exhibition match, why the hell would it matter towards anything? Especially something as important as home field advantage in the World Series.

Here's a suggestion for home field at the WS - maybe something as easy as the team with the best record. Or even the team who has the best record in interleague play. Hell since MLB wants division play to be so dang important (with the unbalanced schedules which I think need to be done away with, but that is for another day) why not the team who has the best record against teams in their divisions. There are so many ways that MLB could decide which league gets home field in the World Series, please quit with the All-Star game. If the fans decide who should start the game, then it should not matter towards anything.

As good of a player as Carlos Beltran is, this year he probably shouldn't have even been an All-Star. Matt Holliday, who could be the MVP of the first half of the season, should have been a starter in the game. Barry Bonds is a great player still, but I really think that the only reason he should have been a part of the ASG, is because it is his hometown and he definitely should have been in the Home Run Derby. People were questioning it, but Placido Polanco was the best 2B in the AL in the first half, well deserving of the start.

One omission I thought was notable: John Maine. He was tied for the league lead in victories (10) and 4th in the league in ERA (2.71). How did he prove his need to be on the roster? By giving up seven runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings on Friday. And the fans did get it right, Chris Young should've been a choice before the fans voted, but at least they put him on the roster. The league leader in ERA deserves it.

We're Back..With Predictions!

Well the Major League season is about to start and with everyone and their mothers making predictions, I thought it was my turn to do the same.

We will start off with the individual awards...

AL MVP: Grady Sizemore. It will hurt me badly trading him away in a keeper league, but if he stays healthy and the Tribe win the division, I think he will be the guy to take home the award. He's got 30-30-.300 potential and if he reaches it this year it could be award time for him.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols. I don't need to go into great depth on this one. He is the best in the bigs and will win it one of these years.

AL Cy Young: Rich Harden. When healthy, the best stuff in the game. Just gotta keep him there. Otherwise it goes to Santana by default.

NL Cy Young: Jason Schmidt. With the Dodger lineup being able to get him the run support, I see him winning 17-20 games this year and leading them to another division title.

AL Rookie of the Year: Delmon Young. Matsuzaka doesn't count in my opinion, after playing in the Japanese majors for 8 years. Young is the best position player that is gonna play the whole season. All he has to do is avoid hitting an ump with a bat and the award is all but his.

NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Braun. Ok, homer pick I know, but he has the stick. If he gets his glove in shape the Brew Crew will call him up asap.

AL Batting Champ: Ichiro Suzuki. Best average hitter in the game period.

NL Batting Champ: Albert Pujols. See NL MVP..

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Rich Harden. I have him winning the Cy Young, so why wouldn't he win this too??

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Todd Helton. I think he is back to healthy and mashing the ball. The average is still there, and the power is returning. They have a good young team so he should get plenty of RBI opportunities.

AL MVP in Waiting: Alex Gordon. There is a reason he has been voted the best player in the minors.

NL MVP in Waiting: Prince Fielder. The Brewers will be a playoff team in the next 3 years, and he is just getting better and better.

AL Cy Young in Waiting: Felix Hernandez. Great arm, getting smarter. Now they just need to let him throw the fastball...

NL Cy Young in Waiting: Matt Cain. He is a stud and now he has Barry Zito (a former Cy Young winner himself) to learn from. The NL better look out for this promising youngster.

Now for the projected division standings...

AL East
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Devil Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

AL Central
1. Minnesota Twins
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City Royals

AL West
1. Oakland Athletics
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners

NL East
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves
3. New York Mets
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

NL Central
1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Houston Astros
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Cincinnati Reds

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. San Diego Padres
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Francisco Giants
5. Colorado Rockies

Playoff Predictions...
Division Series: Red Sox over Angels, Athletics over Twins, Dodgers over Braves, Phillies over Cardinals.
LCS: Athletics over Red Sox, Dodgers over Phillies
World Series: Athletics over Dodgers.

World Series Factoids

Here may be a few little known facts about the Cardinals in the World Series...

Two former Tigers played significant roles in helping the Cardinals win the World Series - Juan Encarnacion and Jeff Weaver...

And how many of you thought that Juan Encarnacion would have two World Series rings? One with the Cardinals this year, and one with the Marlins in 2003...

Speaking of two World Series rings for whoda thunk players - Scott Spezio and David Eckstein. And is Eckstein the smallest series MVP ever?

Scott Rolen finished the playoffs with a 10 game hitting streak...

The Cardinals had 83 wins in the regular season - the lowest for any World Series champion...

The World Series was won in the first year of New Busch Stadium...

Tony LaRussa went 17 years between World Series titles, only Connie Mack had a longer time span (23 years). LaRussa is also the second manager to win a series in both the AL and NL (Sparky Anderson).

Not a Cardinal fact, but how many people remember the press conference that Ivan Rodriguez had when he signed with Detroit? I do, it was right after they lost 120 games and he said that Detroit would be a World Series team in three years. He was laughed at.

Division Races Are Over...

Wow it's been a hectic month, and here I finally have time to post another update. Here are some ramblings that I thought you all might want to ponder...

Has anyone else noticed that the Oakland A's have a 5.5 game lead over the Anaheim Angels in the AL West? I thought that this division was gonna go down to the final week of the season as it has the past two years, but it is looking more and more likely that the A's will walk away with the division crown without much of a fight.

Also consider the Boston Red Sox out of it. 10.5 games out of the division, and 8 out of the Wild Card. They don't have enough pitching, and their offense is beginning to scuffle.

I still think the Minnesota Twins will take over the Tigers for the division lead. They are getting Liriano back, and are only 1.5 games back of the Tigers.

Am I the only one who wants the Florida Marlins to win the Wild Card? I think that would be one of the greatest stories in baseball this year. Many people were expecting this team to lose over 100 games this year and finish at the bottom of the NL East, if not the entire National League. Those fans have no idea what they are missing....

A Royal Post...

The Royals signed Mark Grudzielanek to a contract extension on the 17th. There is something to be said of having a veteran presence to a young (and up and coming believe it or not) team. The Royals also get a very sure handed defensive player who can help anchor the middle of the infield and mentor the other young infielders.

Staying on the topic of KC, how hot has Mark Teahan been? He is giving the Royals a great problem to have - with his success and the uber-prospect Alex Gordon hitting well over .300 at AA and the possible promotion to the bigs next year. With Ryan Shealy at first base, and the aforementioned Grudzielanek at second, the Royals infield will be very good in the future. They also have Billy Butler producing at AA to upgrade their outfield...

Boston acquired Eric Hinske from the Toronto Blue Jays helping add to their depth. I like this for Hinske who was getting a very raw deal from the Jays after winning the Rookie of the Year in 2002. He is a guy who can play the corner infield and outfield spots and I like the move by Boston.

Robinson Cano has been tremendous since he came off the disabled list. In his last 13 games he has 4 homers and 17 RBI, to go with his season average of .330. He isn't exactly making the Yankee fans forget about Alfonso Soriano, but he is making them think that he is the long term answer at second base. Many scouts are thinking that he could compete for a batting title in the future...

Cincinnati just won't go away. Every time I think they are going to falter, they gain games on the division leading Cardinals. They still lead the Wild Card by a half game and are slowly inching towards the division lead. I picked them to finish last in the division this year...

Are the Tigers scuffling? In the month of August they are 9-9 and their division lead is down to 6.5 games. They still have 7 games remaining against the White Sox, 4 against the Twins, and 3 against the Yankees (who have the league's second best record. Who woulda thunk it?).

Does anyone else find it odd that Jeff Francis has a lower ERA at Coors Field than he does on the road? Going into tonight's start he had a 2.96 ERA at home, and a 3.75 ERA on the road. His WHIP and BAA are also down at home. The Rockies have a good young rotation for the future with Francis, Jason Jennings who is an innings eater, Aaron Cook, Josh Fogg and Byung-Hyun Kim. They also have Jeremy Affeldt who can start, but has been very good in a relief role.