2012 MLB Playoff Predictions

I’ll admit, I haven’t followed baseball too closely this year, so this could be a trainwreck, but here goes nothing…

WILD CARD GAMES:

St. Louis @ Atlanta – I think Atlanta’s the better team and will win this one.

Baltimore @ Texas – Texas will finish the choke job that lost them the division in a sweep at Oakland and lose to the Orioles.

NLDS:

Atlanta v, Washington – I want to say Washington really, really bad, but I’m afraid that shutting down Strasburg is going to come back to haunt them. I’m going Atlanta

Cincinnati v, San Francisco – I’m saying Reds just because I hate the Giants.

ALDS:

Baltimore v. New York – The two teams went 9-9 against each other this year and I think they’re pretty even. This one’s a coin toss. My coin lands on Baltimore

Oakland v. Detroit – Detroit went 4-3 against them this year, but Oakland’s on fire right now, winning six in a row. I’m going Oakland.

NLCS: Atlanta v. Cincinnati – The Reds take this one easily. They went 5-1 against Atlanta this year.

ALCS: Baltimore v. Oakland – This is like the Oakland-Detroit series, Baltimore went 4-3 against them this year, but Oakland’s crazy hot like the Cardinals were last year and I think they’ll make it to the Series.

WORLD SERIES – Oakland v. Cincinnati – Oakland’s being hot peters out here and the Reds will win it all in what should be a pretty good series.

Things I’ve learned from this year’s NCAA tournament

Random Thoughts style:

• Don’t look at your bracket the first weekend. It’s always going to look like garbage and a lost cause. It’s just a fact of life. It’s probably a good thing I was in Vegas getting married that first weekend, I didn’t have time to check it after Thursday
• For two of the three years I’ve tried to, I’ve had a better bracket than Obama. Kansas’ win tonight locked that up for me.
• I can put together a damn good bracket. Better than some of ESPN’s analysts, at least. And I probably don’t spend more than a half hour filling it out.
• Yes, one of the regionals was in Phoenix. No, I didn’t go. I only went in 2008 (language alert) so I could say I’ve been to one. It was a blast, but the whole thing’s too expensive IMO.

I feel like I really should have more to say about March Madness, but I don’t. Maybe because I haven’t watched much. Oh well.

And remember, kiddos, baseball season starts this week! GO ASTROS AND DIAMONDBACKS!

Super bowl predictions

Yea, I know I killed off doing this last year in exchange for Super Bowl Bingo, but I decided to bring the predictions back this year.

Anyway… here goes.

The game: I’m going Steelers. It bit me in the rear two years ago when I didn’t.

The spread: The Packers are favored by 3 by bodog.com (where I’ve decided to get my numbers from this year), and since I’ve got Pittsburgh winning, I’ve got them for the spread too.

Over/Under: Bodog.om has the over/uder set at 45½. I think it’ll go over, but probably not by much.

We’ll see how this goes…

There was one thing missing last night…

There was just one thing missing from the Giants’ celebration last night: the phone call from the President:

Giants players and personnel thought they'd hear from President Barack Obama by telephone after San Francisco beat the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 to capture its first World Series title since 1954.

But Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter tells KNTV they have yet to take that call.

Come on, dude… isn’t this the one easy part of your job?

MLB playoff predictions

Here’s what I’ve got…

First round:

• Yankees v. Twins: Yankees went 4-2 against the Twins this year… I’d expect nothing but the same from them. Yankees win.
• Rangers v. Rays: Rays win… Again, the Rays went 4-2 against them in the regular season
• Braves v. Giants: The Braves are shooting to give Bobby Cox one last run, and they played better in the regular season against ‘em too… Braves win.
• Phillies v. Reds: As much as I want to say Reds because of Jay Bruce, I just can’t. Phillies are gonna mop the floor with them.

NLCS: Phillies v. Braves: This is a really tough one to call…. divisional teams that know each other all too well. But I think it’ll be the Phillies here. They had the stronger regular season in the matchup and the Phils will have home field, which doesn’t hurt either.

ALCS: Yankees v. Rays: Rays have home field and went 10-8 against the Yankees this year. I think they’ll win this one.

World Series: Rays v. Phillies: For the first time since Selig came up with that BS idea to make the All-Star game “mean something,” the NL will have home field for the series. They didn’t play each other, so there’s no way to compare them there, but I think the Rays are the stronger team, winning the toughest division in baseball and I think they’ll bring home the trophy.

I have a movie quote running through my mind here…

So, about that whole Ines Sainz being catcalled by Jets players thing…

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, addressing the alleged harassment of a female TV reporter Saturday at practice, told ESPNNewYork.com Monday that the team will begin interviewing players as part of its investigation with the league office.

[…]

The NFL is looking into a complaint made by the Association for Women in Sports Media against the Jets after Sainz [of Mexico's TV Azteca] reportedly was subjected to footballs being thrown in her direction at practice and, later, players' catcalls inside the locker room.

I’m not going to comment on this… instead, I’ll let Hyman Roth comment for me.

Baggy is back! Just not at first base, which is OK.

Berry out, Bagwell in:

The Astros have relieved hitting coach Sean Berry of his duties, general manager Ed Wade announced today.

Berry will be replaced by former Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell, who has been serving as a Special Assistant to the General Manager since his retirement in 2006. Berry, who had been the Astros hitting coach for the past five seasons, has been offered an opportunity to remain in the Astros organization.

As a few of y’all might know, Bagwell was my favorite Astro growing up, so I welcome anything that’ll get him back in an Astros uniform.

Of course, this move won’t help them this year, but I do think it’ll be of benefit to the young kids coming up to the majors.

I was going to link to the photo gallery from Baggy’s retirement, but something seems to be wrong with the gallery. Not that I ever use the gallery anymore or anything. So I’ll link to a picture I did as a Friday Photo of Bagwell catching his daughters throwing the first pitch when his number was retired.

No, Drayton, we’re not still in it…

I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Crap on this one.

Any chance that Bob McNair wants to own a baseball team along with the Texans? Because I’d be OK with that.

Dear the sport of golf…

Dear the sport of golf,

Please make the rules simple so the average Joe can understand them. If you did, I might like you a hell of a lot more.

Sincerely,
Justin

Armando Galarraga got screwed!

And here’s the photo evidence:

Is anybody still not sold on expanding instant replay after this? I sure am!

Roy Oswalt requests a trade. Can’t say I blame him.

Astros ace Roy Oswalt wants to play somewhere else:

Astros ace Roy Oswalt has asked to be traded, team general manager Ed Wade acknowledged today.

Oswalt’s agent, Bob Garber, contacted Astros owner Drayton McLane on Thursday and communicated the pitcher’s request, Wade said.

If I were him, I’d want to be traded too. Oswalt’s 2-6 on the season despite pitching nine quality starts (6+ IP, 3 or less runs) in a row. If you can manage a quality start, you should win most of the time. But the Astros’ bats suck so much that they can’t put three or four runs on the board to support him and get him a win.

Also, it’d be a smart move for the Astros. They’re sitting at 14-27, the worst record in the NL and only ahead of the Orioles (at 13-29) in the race to the first draft pick next year. Yea, I know they started at 15-30 in 2005 and made the World Series, but this isn’t the 2005 team. We all knew that they were way better than that start. This team… sadly… isn’t. It’s time for the team to look towards the future and pick up some minor leaguers to make the team better in the long run.

If only Drayton would get his head out of his ass long enough to realize it. I know it’s unlikely but I can hope. right?

Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!

The Astros have put Kaz Matsui on waivers:

The Houston Astros will ask waivers on infielder Kazuo Matsui for the purpose of giving him his unconditional release, General Manager Ed Wade announced after Wednesday night's game vs. the Colorado Rockies.

The transaction will officially go into effect on Thursday. By rule, if Matsui is not claimed by another club within two business days (by Monday, May 24), he will become an unrestricted free agent.

[…]

Matsui, who had been with the Astros since signing as a free agent on December 2, 2007, was hitting .141 (10x71) in 27 games (19 starts) entering tonight. In 630 Major League games, Matsui, 34, has hit .267 (615x2302) with 32 home runs, 211 RBI and 102 stolen bases in 120 attempts. In his first two seasons with the Astros, Matsui hit .293 with 20 steals in 96 games 2008 and .250 with 19 steals in 132 games in 2009.

Good riddance to dead weight!

Is it too early?

I don’t think so:

My Astros are sitting at 9-20 as I’m writing this, and that’s just depressing.

It figures that the one game of the series against the Diamondbacks that I didn’t watch was the one the Astros won. Ugh.

“Don’t tase me, bro!” “Then don’t be a moron!”

(See what I’m talking about)

If you run out on to the field at any sporting event, you deserve to get tased. If not worse. Like, uh, being tackled.

Also, if you don’t want to get tasered, then keep your butt in your seat.

Catching a ballgame

Apologies for the image quality there, it’s a cell phone shot.

Anyway, yesterday I took my first journey to Chase Field to watch the Diamondbacks play the Phillies.

It was a good game, close all the way, with the D’Backs eventually winning 8-6 with the save by former Astro Chad Qualls. Why did we trade him again?

Oh, yea, back on topic. It’s a nice ballpark. Definitely big, maybe a little too big, but a 48k-seat stadium’s going to look huge and empty when there are just short of 30k there.

They’ve got good hot dogs, but all-in-all (at least where I was sitting) the food selection was lacking and a bit disappointing in my book. I won’t pass final judgment on it, though, until I’ve been to some more games and had more of a chance to wander around the park.

The weather yesterday was beautiful. Sunny with a high in the upper 80’s with a nice breeze. It’s kind of weird for me to call 90 degrees beautiful, but not having humidity really does make a huge difference. The only issue was the sun. I’ve tanned some since I came here, but my legs got their first real dose of it after buying a pair of shorts last week. They’re pretty roasted.

All in all, it’s a nice ballpark. I liked Minute Maid Park in Houston or Coors Field in Denver, but beats the pants off of the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Not sure at this point when I’ll be going back, but I can’t wait to really explore the place.

Video of the day: Tiger Woods ad parody

There are a ton of these, but this one is my favorite:

"Earl and Tiger" Nike Ad Parody: The Risks of VD from Adam Cohen on Vimeo.

Bracket Update

So here’s how my bracket is shaping up:

Kansas (My national champion) is out, but Kentucky, Baylor, and Kansas St. are still alive.

Obama, whose bracket I declared a week ago that I would beat, has Kentucky and Kansas St. still alive in his Final Four, and we both have Kentucky making the championship game.

Obama has 590 points, I have 640.

But, since any points Obama scores from here on out would also score for me, it’s impossible for him to beat me.

Mission. Accomplished.

The first round is over and I’m beating Obama!

My bracket’s doing quite well. 26 of the 32 first-round games right and I’ve only lost two Sweet 16 teams, nobody I had going any deeper.

This year, I’ve only got one measuring stick. One goal with my bracket. To do better than Obama. And, so far, I’m succeeding. He got 25 of 32 and he’s lost an Elite 8 team…

Yay me!

Puma’s knee needs to be cleaned out, could miss Opening Day

Damn:

Astros first baseman Lance Berkman will undergo surgery to remove loose particles from his left knee and will miss two to four weeks.

[…]

It's unknown whether Berkman will be ready for Opening Day.

[…]

"We're probably looking at two to four weeks," general manager Ed Wade said. "Whether or not he's going to be ready for Opening Day really just depends on the healing process. They haven't even gone in yet, so it's too early to tell, but the normal timeframe would be two to four weeks. We'll see where it flows from there."

Well, at least they’re dealing with this now instead of sometime in June or July. Get well soon, Big Puma!

Reflections on Spring Training

As I’m sitting here reflecting on the tidbits I’ve heard so far from Kissimmee, the Astros are currently sitting at 3-3 through spring training. But what can I take from that?

Not much.

If they were 1-5 or 0-6 so far, then maybe I’d be concerned. I feel for the nine teams with just one win and the Nationals, who are sitting at 0-7 right now.

It’s still pretty early on in the game. Starters are throwing only two or three innings and surely don’t have their best stuff going yet. Everybody else is still shaking off some rust from the winter months. Nobody’s anywhere close to the top of their game, though I suppose hitters would have a little bit of an advantage as it shouldn’t take them nearly as long to find their groove.

There’s really not, in my mind, a huge window where you can look at teams during spring training and judge how good they’re really going to be. That window falls towards the beginning of the last week of spring training. I’d say the whole week, but the last two or three games there are players in the games that are fighting for that 25th roster spot.

So, realistically, you’re talking about a five-game window in my mind.

If they go 1-4 or 0-5 through that window, THEN I’ll be worried.