Thursday, July 17, 2003
Second Half Starts with Storylines Galore
Are there any worse days on the sports calendar than the Monday before and the Wednesday after the All-Star game? I'm almost embarassed to say I flipped to ESPN during a commercial break while watching Law & Order last night, and was greeted by a buxom brunette sandwiched between Al Michaels and John Madden.
They were presenting the award for "Best Play," and were uneasily fumbling with the lines coming off the teleprompter. The Monday night broadcasting booth probably never looked so good.
"Ugghh ... the second half of the season can¹t start soon enough."
Luckily, we didn't have to wait for longer than about 20 hours for the season to get going again. First game on the slate: Arizona at San Diego, which features Curt Schilling's second start since his return to the D'backs rotation. He was off in a 8-1 loss to the Giants on Saturday: 6 IP, 5 R, 6 H.
Was talking to a friend of mine on Tuesday night, and over a couple pints of Sam Adams Summer Ale and a plate of Aussie Cheese Fries, we divulged our favorites for the second half.
Mine: I'm sticking with the Cards. And, you can call me certifiable, but I'm sticking with the Twins. I know, i know; pretty lousy pix at this point. But I'm not ready to jettison my pre-season predictions just yet. That being said, I'm pulling for the Royals to close out the Central, because that would be one amazing baseball story.
His: Boston vs. Arizona. I guessed he'd pick the first one, but thought he'd go with Houston for his NL team.
Arizona is definitely a team of the moment, but I'm not convinced they're going to be able to sustain their current run. From my vantage point, Boston has as good a chance as anybody to get there. I'm convinced they're going to
do something before the deadline, and if the White Sox continue to slide out of the race, Colon could again be a possibility.
A lot of talk in the Northeast today regarding the Yankees picking up Armando Benitez. An interesting move, to say the least. There is the NY-style storyline (a whole lotta hype, a kernal of substance) that surrounds the move due to the moody reliever's rocky history with the Mets, and his past failures against the Yankees. But looking at this strictly from a baseball standpoint, this isn't a bad move for the Yankees. The bottom line is, as Chris Russo pointed out today, the Yankees have nothing to lose. The production they've been getting out of the set-up corp (Hammond, the oft-injured Osuna, Miceli, who has been effective, et al) has been so spotty, that Benitez has to be considered an upgrade even by the most jaded New Yorker.
The only real red flag in Benitez' numbers, not including the career-high 7 blown saves to this point, is his K:IP numbers. Right now, he's at about a 1:1 ratio. That continues a decline that's been occuring over the past several seasons.
1999: 78.1 IP, 128 K
2000: 76 to 106
2001: 76.1 to 93
2002: 67.1 to 79
2003: 49.1 to 50
It's something to keep an eye on.
---
With all of the fuss I've made over the Phillies' chances to catch the Braves, I have forgotten to write much about the fact that the Philadelphia is the current front-runner in the NL Wild Card race. They're two games up in the loss column over Arizona. I'm a big believer in their pitching corps now, and their offense will play better in the second half. They're not catching the Braves, but I think they'll get the extra playoff spot.
---
I like ESPN. In fact, I like ESPN a lot. There's a lot of good things about the organization. Gammons, Neyer, Miller & Morgan, NFL Primetime, SportsCenter, Big East/Big 12 Monday, Championship Week in March, The Sports Reporters, Sunday Night Football and a ton of other things that make being a sports fan more enjoyable.
But they're not perfect. And tonight's "mock trial" for Pete Rose might be the dumbest thing they've tried to do. Note to ESPN: please don't try and capitalize on the fact that some people will watch anything that advertisements tell them to, and stick to programming that doesn't sink to the lowest common denominator. Here's a concept. Instead of hyped-up nonsense, stick to broadcasting acutal games.
Are there any worse days on the sports calendar than the Monday before and the Wednesday after the All-Star game? I'm almost embarassed to say I flipped to ESPN during a commercial break while watching Law & Order last night, and was greeted by a buxom brunette sandwiched between Al Michaels and John Madden.
They were presenting the award for "Best Play," and were uneasily fumbling with the lines coming off the teleprompter. The Monday night broadcasting booth probably never looked so good.
"Ugghh ... the second half of the season can¹t start soon enough."
Luckily, we didn't have to wait for longer than about 20 hours for the season to get going again. First game on the slate: Arizona at San Diego, which features Curt Schilling's second start since his return to the D'backs rotation. He was off in a 8-1 loss to the Giants on Saturday: 6 IP, 5 R, 6 H.
Was talking to a friend of mine on Tuesday night, and over a couple pints of Sam Adams Summer Ale and a plate of Aussie Cheese Fries, we divulged our favorites for the second half.
Mine: I'm sticking with the Cards. And, you can call me certifiable, but I'm sticking with the Twins. I know, i know; pretty lousy pix at this point. But I'm not ready to jettison my pre-season predictions just yet. That being said, I'm pulling for the Royals to close out the Central, because that would be one amazing baseball story.
His: Boston vs. Arizona. I guessed he'd pick the first one, but thought he'd go with Houston for his NL team.
Arizona is definitely a team of the moment, but I'm not convinced they're going to be able to sustain their current run. From my vantage point, Boston has as good a chance as anybody to get there. I'm convinced they're going to
do something before the deadline, and if the White Sox continue to slide out of the race, Colon could again be a possibility.
A lot of talk in the Northeast today regarding the Yankees picking up Armando Benitez. An interesting move, to say the least. There is the NY-style storyline (a whole lotta hype, a kernal of substance) that surrounds the move due to the moody reliever's rocky history with the Mets, and his past failures against the Yankees. But looking at this strictly from a baseball standpoint, this isn't a bad move for the Yankees. The bottom line is, as Chris Russo pointed out today, the Yankees have nothing to lose. The production they've been getting out of the set-up corp (Hammond, the oft-injured Osuna, Miceli, who has been effective, et al) has been so spotty, that Benitez has to be considered an upgrade even by the most jaded New Yorker.
The only real red flag in Benitez' numbers, not including the career-high 7 blown saves to this point, is his K:IP numbers. Right now, he's at about a 1:1 ratio. That continues a decline that's been occuring over the past several seasons.
1999: 78.1 IP, 128 K
2000: 76 to 106
2001: 76.1 to 93
2002: 67.1 to 79
2003: 49.1 to 50
It's something to keep an eye on.
---
With all of the fuss I've made over the Phillies' chances to catch the Braves, I have forgotten to write much about the fact that the Philadelphia is the current front-runner in the NL Wild Card race. They're two games up in the loss column over Arizona. I'm a big believer in their pitching corps now, and their offense will play better in the second half. They're not catching the Braves, but I think they'll get the extra playoff spot.
---
I like ESPN. In fact, I like ESPN a lot. There's a lot of good things about the organization. Gammons, Neyer, Miller & Morgan, NFL Primetime, SportsCenter, Big East/Big 12 Monday, Championship Week in March, The Sports Reporters, Sunday Night Football and a ton of other things that make being a sports fan more enjoyable.
But they're not perfect. And tonight's "mock trial" for Pete Rose might be the dumbest thing they've tried to do. Note to ESPN: please don't try and capitalize on the fact that some people will watch anything that advertisements tell them to, and stick to programming that doesn't sink to the lowest common denominator. Here's a concept. Instead of hyped-up nonsense, stick to broadcasting acutal games.
