The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

I give up...

Quick Thoughts while awaiting the beginning of football season...

So, here's the thing. Back when the season started, I said that this year could go one of two ways for the Red Sox. "Either they’re a powerhouse team and roll to the top of the A.L. East, or they’re a lot worse than people imagine, and fall to third in the division." At the time, I decided that the first scenario seemed more likely. Sure, Schilling, Wakefield, Wells & Timlin were all staring at the wrong side of 38+ years old. And yes, the kids like Lester, Papelbon, Hansen and DelCarmen were completely unproven. But we still had the best 3-4 lineup combo in the majors, we still had a bonafide ace and an up and coming ace for the future, and the defense behind them was as good as it's ever been.

Well, it's the middle of August. There are less than 40 games to go in the season. And a loss today will drop the Red Sox (once seven games up in the division) down to 6.5 games out of first place with only four games head to head with the Yankees left in the year.

In other words, a loss today, and it's O-V-E-R. Done. Fin. A loss today, and it's officially Patriots' season. I'll come back next week with predictions and thoughts on the preseason Super Bowl lines, because the baseball season will effectively be toast.

Sure, I'll keep watching. I'm a Red Sox fan - it's what I do. But will I have any expectations at all about the rest of the 2006 season? Nope. If they go on a 25 game winning streak to end the year and back into the playoffs, I'll cheer. I'll watch. Hell, - I might even pony up the dough for playoff tickets. But I'll do so with absolutely no expectations at all.

And there's the problem. After 2004, every Red Sox fan's expectations were actually raised. Terms like "Back-to-back" and "dynasty" were actually thrown around as though there were any chance in hell that the Red Sox would recapture the magic that got them through the playoff run in 2004. Christ, even I predicted a back-to-back championship in my 2005 MLB Preview. I was still so elated over '04 that I neglected to account for the fact that the pitching has never been the same since Pedro walked off the mound in Game 3 of the World Series, or since Keith Foulke grabbed the one-hopper from Renteria back up through the box.

So, like I said - I'll watch the game today. I fully expect David Wells to cough up a couple of gopher balls. I expect Tito to go to the bullpen and bring in Julian Tavarez in the wrong situation. If we're lucky, we might even get to watch Mike Timlin calcify on the mound again. And when it's all said and done, the Red Sox will be pushed off the back pages.

After all, it's football season.

Ah - remember the good ol' days?

Other thoughts...

n The Mets are in trouble if Tom Glavine is done. With Petey already nursing various injuries (which is just his way of resting up for the postseason), Steve Traschel is now the #1 starter. New York is lucky that they have such an obscene lead in the division - 14 games as of this moment. But if Glavine can't throw in the playoffs, a 1-2 of Pedro & Traschel might get them through an NLDS matchup with the likes of San Diego or Cincinnati, but they will have their lunch handed to them by the Dodgers or even the Cardinals.

n I've gotta tell you this... I was at the Sox/Yanks debacle on Saturday. My buddy Tim managed to score centerfield seats with StubHub, so I sat in straightaway centerfield watching Josh Beckett implode with 9 walks in 5.2 innings. But even I, the eternal optimist, managed to find a silver lining during the course of that game. See the "Quotes of the Week" for more... The best part of the game was during the 6th inning, when the people in my section pleaded with the bullpen guys to let one of us come in and throw an inning. Hell, we couldn't have been any worse...

n The only thing worse than watching the Red Sox collapse is going to be my trip to New Jersey for the annual Labor Day blowout / Fantasy Football draft. With 1/2 of the people in attendance Yankees fans, and the other half Mets fans, I'm going to have to listen to haughty New Yorkers / New Jersians for four straight days. And you know what's the worst part about that? I won't have any type of tangible comeback. I'm just going to have to stand there and take it. So load up your best shots guys, I've got nothing.

n I'm hugely impressed by the Reds' ability to hang around in the NL Central. OF course, it's the National League, so it doesn't really matter. But with zero pitching (let's face it - as much as I'd like him here as my #4, Bronson Arroyo is not a #1 starter...), the Reds have managed to stay within 3 games of the Cardinals for most of this year. They just need one little mini-run to catch up and make September very, very interesting.

n I can't believe I'm about to type this, but Derek Jeter is the AL MVP right now. David Ortiz, as heroic as he's been, has fallen off after carrying the team for two solid months. And with Manny Ramirez heating up and stealing votes, right now the ballot looks like this: 1) Jeter 2) Ortiz 3) Ramirez 4) Mauer 5) Dye. God I feel dirty...

n Stat of the weekend. Just heard it on the radio - in the first 4 games of this series, Red Sox pitchers have thrown 814 pitches. 814!?! 203.5 pitches a game? And we wonder why the bullpen is burned out?

That's it. I'm finished. Two things before I sign off.

First - random programming note. I'm going to type up a short fantasy football preview this week and next, but I'm not posting it until after I hold my fantasy football drafts. I don't want to give away my formula for success just yet...

And of course, the Quote(s) of the Week:

First, from my eternal sense of optimism. During Saturday's game, in the 6th inning, Red Sox pitchers had walked in two straight runs with the bases loaded before Jorge Posada's bases-clearing triple. Which prompted the following out of me:

"Well, at least we can't walk in any more runs..."

The sad part of it is, I was being completely serious.

And second, from my never ending quote well, my mother.

She read my last post (The End is Near), and when I spoke to her the next night, she felt compelled to correct a couple of historical inaccuracies in my statements...

"David, I was reading your last post... you know that Nostradamus never predicted that the Red Sox would get swept by the Royals, right?"

And she was 100% serious. I think she was actually worried that I might have gotten my facts wrong, rather than realizing it was a complete joke. Wow.

Lata.

posted by Big D @ 8:54 AM 0 comments

It's the end of the World!

Guys, I'm scared.

Seriously, I'm worried. I fear that the world may be coming to an end, and it might be happening in the very near future.

The Middle East is stuck in two different wars, with a third one looming on the horizon. Terrorists are plotting to bring the transportation industry to its knees.

But the most ominous sign of all? The Red Sox just got swept by the Kansas City Royals, in the process of losing five out of six to two teams (KC & Tampa Bay) with a combined winning percentage of .384. .384!!!

The Royals sweeping anybody is like the first horseman of the Apocalypse. Nostradamus once predicted that "within three weeks of the American baseball team hailing from Kansas City completing a sweep of a team with a .575 or better winning percentage, the world would come to a cataclysmic end..."

That Nostradamus... pretty smart guy. I'm already stocking up on canned goods, bottled water, and I'm thinking about building a bomb shelter in my back yard, just in case. You can never be too prepared for a Nostradamus prediction to come true.

I guess there's only one thing left to do in the meantime...

Quick Thoughts while waiting for the end of the world...

n First things first, the 2006 World Series of Poker is (finally) over. It ended just before 7:00 AM EST this morning (4AM in Vegas). If you want to know who won, click here. If you prefer to wait for the edited down Main Event coverage on ESPN that begins in two weeks, then don't click. Simple as that. I'll refrain from spoiling the surprise for those that want to watch the month-old tape delay, like I did the past two years.

n On a personal note, I'm going for it next year. I'll explain that in more detail over the next few months...

n Some reaction to the MLB deadline deals (and the few that have occurred in the waiver trading process), since it's been two weeks, and that's enough time to make snap judgments...

o The Yankees fleeced two teams, and that's pretty damned hard to do. No one wants to be the team that helps the Yankees win another title, but at least in the past, other teams have demanded top prospects (or at least, some prospects) in return for their talent. This season, New York made two deals that were essentially salary dumps for the other side - hell, Pittsburgh willingly took Shawn Chacon (Shawn Chacon!) in return for Craig Wilson. Not even a minor league prospect to trot out for their deprived fans as something to look forward to. At least Philadelphia took four prospects, albeit not very highly regarded prospects, for their two albatross contracts.

o Doug Melvin, Brewers' GM, might be one of the most underrated GMs in the entire game. He knew he wasn't going to be able to retain Carlos Lee after the year, so he flipped him to Texas for three pieces that can contribute immediately, and that the Brewers have financial control over for years beyond 2006. The Brewers aren't quite dead yet in the unbelievably poor NL Wild Card race, and that's pretty amazing.

o I know I was killing Wayne Krivsky and the Reds for their deal shipping Felipe Lopez & Austin Kearns to Washington for a washed-up journeyman utility infielder and a couple of bullpen arms. And it may be so, considering that one of those arms might have been damaged goods before the deal. But you can't deny the fact that Cincinnati is sitting atop the NL Wild Card pile, and is somehow still in contention for the outright NL Central crown. The deal might hurt them in the future, when Jr. retires and Adam Dunn walks and they need more offense, but for now, they got the help they needed to go for it in '06. If nothing else, it gave their fan base some hope that the organization actually does care about wining, and not just lining their pockets.

o For as much as the Yankees were the big winners at the deadline, The Red Sox (along with the Astros) were easily the biggest losers. Boston proposed so many trades with so many teams that eventually everything just fell apart. To be fair, two of the biggest deals were scuttled when the third team changed their minds (whether it was the acquisition of Miguel Tejada to flip to Houston, or Andruw Jones to flip to Houston, either one for Roy Oswalt or maybe even Roger Clemens). But with that many propositions on the table, and with as many needs as the team had (right fielder, starting pitcher, middle relief, and now a catcher), for them to get nothing done is a huge, huge loss. A Wild Card berth would be a massive coup, if they manage to actually pull it off.

o The Dodgers three acquisitions - Wilson Betemit, Greg Maddux and Julio Lugo, all looked to have immediate impact, vaulting L.A. back into the NL West race. Well, they have, but looking more deeply at the trades, they all seem a little strange. The Maddux deal with Chicago made the most sense for LA (and absolutely NONE for the Cubs). The Dodgers added a starting pitcher who still had something left in the tank, while shipping out a decent but injury-prone infielder coming up on his walk year. But the deal for Lugo was downright strange. Now that Jeff Kent and Nomar are back, Lugo doesn't have a home. He's a shortstop who's being asked to platoon at third base (with Betemit). He has already declared his intent to file for free agency after the season. And for this, the Dodgers gave up two pretty highly regarded prospects to Tampa Bay. Sure, he's got a good bat. But when it's only in the lineup for half of the games, how effective can it be?

o Somehow, and I have no idea how, the Royals actually made a good trade at the deadline. They managed to dump Jeremy Affeldt & Danny Bautista on the Rockies for the Rockies' top prospect, Ryan Shealy. If Colorado truly thinks they can make a push for the NL West, then this deal might help them do it. But if not, then they've got no one to step in for Todd Helton when he invariably breaks down, or when they finally find a taker for his gigantic remaining contract.

n I'm looking forward to the Patriots first exhibition... I mean "Pre-Season" game tonight. It will be good to get back into the football season once again. Besides, this means only four more weeks until I get to pore over fantasy football and the Mirage spreads for four straight months. It's the most wonderful time of the year! And even moreso this year, since I now have my new toy to watch the games on…

OK, that's it for today. In two or three weeks, (just before my annual Labor Day excursion to the Jersey Shore), I'll put up my 2006 NFL Preview and Predictions, and maybe even a post dedicated to the first two rounds of everyone's fantasy draft. But, until then,

posted by Big D @ 10:48 AM 0 comments