Moving house

Time came to integrate my rants into one single place, so for those interested, please go to my site for more up to date (barely) posts.

Parity or moneybags?

Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue made the word “parity” into a mantra, while fans of European football are normally realistic enough to admit that before a single ball has been kicked in anger only a handful of teams will in earnest compete for the title.

In the NFL, with the enforced balance of free agency, revenue sharing, salary cap (re-introduced with the newly minted CBA after the uncapped 2010) and the draft system, gone are (mostly) the days of the dynasties of the past. The way the Steelers, 49ers and Cowboys dynasties in the 70s, 80s and 90s respectively were constructed would not be possible in today’s regulatory system.

Since the introduction of the free agency in pro football in 1992, the Super Bowl has seen 13 different champions, with only Dallas, Denver, Green Bay, New England and Pittsburgh winning more than once during the 19 Super Bowls of that era.

13 teams have gone from last in their division in one year to first in the next and since the re-alignment to 8 divisions in 2002 and in 1999 St.Louis Rams went from 4-12 to 13-3 and Super Bowl Champs behind a former shelf-stocker from Iowa.

Green Bay, the only top league team in the world owned completely by its fans, is the pundits’ favourites for a repeat Super Bowl ring but without revenue sharing, the little city in Wisconsin (pop. 104,057 though roughly 300k in the metropolitan area) would not be able to compete with the large market teams.

The MLB has less of a complete parity mainly due to the salary luxury tax instead of a fixed cap and very limited revenue sharing, but even the World Series has seen ten different winners since the 1994 strike year with only the Yankees, Marlins(!) and the Red Sox winning more than once in the last 16 years. Small-market teams like Oakland and Tampa have showed that with shrewd scouting, drafting and trading you can still compete, although only for a shorter period until your star players hit the money years.

The current MLB season has been a slight shift back towards big money power with the top three teams in baseball (Philadelphia, Boston and NY Yankees) occupying the top three spots in the salary table ($173m, $162m and $203m respectively) as well.

Still, teams like Milwaukee ($85m), Atlanta ($87m) and Arizona ($53m) are in the running for post season spots while money whales like Cubs ($125m) and NY Mets ($118m) are showing that money doesn’t solve everything.

The window for small market teams exist, but as Tampa have found out after a few years at comparatively stratospheric levels, that window is small and closes pretty fast.

Time, the great equaliser

The baseball season is 162 games and has been since 1961 in the AL and 1962 in the NL. It stretches from early April to late September and usually sees canyon deep slumps and stratospheric streaks, sometimes from the same player or team. Yet despite that, every year we see the same doomsday prophets or championship crowners less than a quarter into the season.

The Red Sox spent more money in the off season than any previous year with a combined $296m invested in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and were considered by all pundits and fans to be serious contenders not only for the AL East but also for a third ring in eight years. On the other side of the spectrum the Cleveland Indians set a historical precedent when they in consecutive years traded away the reigning American League CY Young winner, CC Sabathia to the Brewers in 2008 and Cliff Lee to the Phillies in 2009. In 2010, the purge continued when they traded star catcher and slugger Victor Martinez to the Red Sox and the Tribe finished fourth in the AL Central with a 69-93 record.

Going into 2011 with a roster filled with occasional greatness (Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore), surprising imports (Shin-Soo Choo), promising talent (Carlos Santana, Asdrúbal Cabrera) and trade bait (Justin Masterson, Andy Marté) not many believed this was the year of the Indians, as the 200-1 odds for a WS win indicated. Yet Cleveland opened the season with an 18-8 April , leading to optimism on the reservation as Cabrera showed his sensational defense, Grady Sizemore led a surprisingly potent line up to a league third-best 34 homers in their first month and Masterson showed the potential that had him highly rated as a Red Sox prospect.

The Red Sox on the other hand started 2-10 and limped into May in last place in the AL East with a 11-15 record, “led” by Crawford’s .155 average – so far below the Mendoza line you’d need a ladder to see it. Naturally the experts were wondering if either side would sustain their fortunes, or lack thereof, although some corners saw several nay-sayers already closing the book on the Sox. As we know, the Red Sox has gone 14-6 in May, including winning 8 of their last 9 and sweeping division rivals Yankees in the Bronx and are now only ½ game out of first place. The Indians young squad has continued riding their wave of success and with a 11-7 May (up to the 23rd of May) now have an AL best 29-15 record.

Elsewhere in the MLB, Pittsburgh is still close to .500 with signs of their young squad finally threatening to end decades of futility, Tony La Russa has somehow managed to steer the Cards to the top of the NL Central despite Pujols longest HR drought ever and losing his ace pitcher Wainwright only days before the season and San Fransisco is riding high on the Beard and the 2010 WS win, leading the NL West by 3 ½ games.

Will all these standings remain?

Will the same teams win again and again?

Of course not.

History has shown us that even though market size and subsequent purchase power does influence some aspects, the ten different champions since the 1994 strike season is a spread fans of equality dream about.

One of the greatest appeals of baseball is that the number of games guarantees only one thing; (almost) anything can happen.

Perfection

On to Outside the Lines on ESPN, where Amy K. Nelson follows up on Jim Joyce, who umpired first base in a Tigers game in June.

"I think about it still, almost every day," Joyce says. "I don't want to be known as Jim Joyce, the guy that blew the perfect game. But I think that's inevitable."

Why?

"Because I'm Jim Joyce," he says, "the umpire who blew the perfect game."

I do hope that he get's to a point where it's not an every day presence in his mind. It might takes some time though...

Arms race

Batting wins games, pitching wins championships

It's an old chestnut, but it's never been more true than now. And right now the road to the 2011 championship must go through Philadelphia.

With the scary R2C2 rotation (Roy & Roy and Cliff & Cole, geddit? No, I did not come up with it), the Phillies have arguably the best rotation in baseball. Some pundits are already calling it the best in history...I'd rather wait and see.

The Yankees have now missed out on Lee twice, first in the 2010 trade period where he ended up leaving the Mariners for the Rangers and now when choosing Phillies over the Yankees.

Whilst it's refreshing to see that on the surface a player chose factors other than money, it's not quite true. Lee's contract per year with the Phillies is actually approx $1-2m more than the Yankees apparently offered, although 2 years shorter.

However, it is interesting to see the other factors influencing Lee. Did the clash between fans and Mrs.Lee during the ALCS have an impact?

Did Lee's relationship with Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies catcher influence the decision? Tim Kurkjian certainly thinks so.

Seth Livingstone of USA Today goes through some of the reasons Lee ended up in Philly and not Texas or New York.

The Red Sox rotation is one of the few, if healthy and playing to potential, that could compete with the Phillies. Lester remained at the ace level in 2010 and Clay Buchholz approached it. John Lackey has yet to warrant his $82m contract and Josh Beckett had a horrible year after signing a contract extension.

Daisuke showed on occasion brilliant form, such as his flirt with a no hitter in Philadelphia in May, and sometimes horrible form, as when giving up 6 earned runs in less than 5 innings in Baltimore....also in May.

If Lackey can show his Angels form and Beckett can have an average career year (15 wins w a sub 4 ERA) then the Sox rotation would be close to the Phillies.

However, and this is for a later post, in the field and at the plate the Red Sox have taken a massive step up.

Finally, on a different note, for every Cliff Lee there are many, many Robert Pearsons.

The Gap

Divorce is never an easy "out", regardless of the alternatives. Whether it's in our personal life or a divorce of less intimate proportions, a departure will always create a gap.

Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies fame decided 18 months ago, together with the rest of the band members I presume, that it was time to depart from a 20 year relationship. Steven's life had taken many turns over the previous years; he had left his family, moved to upstate NY, found a new partner, lost a substantial amount of weight and finally gotten caught by the local law enforcers with banned substances.

One would suspect that the turmoil that was Steven's life led him to the conclusion that a clean break would be the best solution.

Sadly that's only in the movies. No option is an easy one when it comes to a big life decision.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing BNL perform at the Hammersmith Apollo. This was the 4th or 5th time I'd seen the band live, but the first time without co-founder Page.

Whilst the show was very enjoyable, funny and nostalgic (If I had $1m automatically takes me back to freshman year at University), you could both see and feel that the band was trying to find out how to fill the void left by Page.

Initially you can't, but with time it gets easier and easier.

Football, Umpires and other whines

The NFL is back, the MLB is in the middle of the pennant race (although my Red Sox have a 1.7 % shot at making the playoffs after tonight's win against the Rays) and the Premiership is in week 3.

This is truly the time of year when the sports fan needs more than 24 hours in the day. At least if he or she wants a decent nights sleep and a semblance of a social life.

Shockingly one NFL pundit has my beloved 49ers as the Super Bowl XLV (is that a shirt size?) winner in Arlington. I'm not sure I'll go that far, but the NFC West should be theirs for the taking.

As usual, the Niners fortunes rests on the shoulders of the QB. Alas, a team spoiled with not one, but two HOF QBs in the last 20 years now has to rely upon the last chance saloon member Alex Smith.

Yes, Smith played in an offence at Utah that highlighted his skills and diminished his flaws, but I am one of the few supporters around, or at least that's what it seems. When he replaced Shaun Hill in week 7 last season it brought a new dimension to the Niner offense. Obviously Hill's strenghts did not include a rocket arm, but his intangibles allowed opposing defenses to put 8 in the box and dare Frank Gore to run against them. With Smith, Vernon Davis and Crabtree they have to balance out the defense and protect against the deeper pass.

With a much improved o-line, stability with the offensive co-ordinator (Smith went through 4 in his first three seasons in the Bay Area) and one of the better supporting casts around plus a defense led by Patrick Willis the Niners might cause a few upsets this year.

The Seahawks are aging and under new leadership in Pete Carrol, the Cardinals lost not only Kurt Warner but also Anquan Boldin (welcome to triple coverage Fitzgerald!) and the Rams are....well, the Rams. Bradford will help them, but not this year.

Super Bowl champions might be a stretch and the road to Arlington clearly will go through Green Bay or New Orleans. An injury to Brees or Rodgers and the picture changes markedly....

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For years I've been complaining about the standard of refereeing in the Premiership (and in this years WOrld Cup!), but sadly the MLB is doing its best to catch up. CB Bucknor in last years ALDS, Joe West's need to be centre stage, a myriad of minor league call ups who struggle and finally one of the worst umpires of all time, Bob Davidson. Although I'll freely admit that my 7+ years of following baseball pales in significance with many fans, at least I can say that I have rarely seen a more arrogant, obstinate and incompetent umpire than Davidson.

Jim Joyce robbed the Tigers Galarraga of a perfect game earlier in the season when he blew an obvious call at first base. What did Joyce, who is considered one of the best, if not the best umpire in the league do? He almost broke down when he realised his mistake.

Davidson ruled a ball fair ball foul that lost a game for the Marlins, and in the process of backing his call changed the rules of physics. Video replay show that the ball bounced fair approx 3 feet in front of the third base bag and again bounced fair another 3-4 feet past the bag. What did he do? He went the other way from Joyce and said after the game:

I was right on top of it and it was wide of the bag, that's all. I had it foul," Davidson said. "In my opinion, where it goes over the bag, you can't tell. After a bounce, it came an inch or two on the fair side, but ... it was very close. But I'm right there. I know what I saw.

So the ball is fair, then in mid air shifts 3 inches into foul, passes the bag foul and then curves back to land fair? Both Barry Zito and Albert Einstein would have been impressed with those physics...

You can see for yourself here:

"Balking Bob" (for the frequent balks that only he sees) is down right horrible and if the MLB had any guts they would kick him out now.

After being ejected by Davidson in a 1993 game, Philadelphia catcher Darren Daulton said of the ump: "He's one of those impact umpires. In my opinion the game was on ESPN and he couldn't wait to suit up and make an impact. He's one of those guys where you go into his house, there's lots of pictures of himself and none of his family."

I think that pretty much sums it up. When I took my umpire certification the instructor told us: "The best umpires are the ones nobody remembers". I suspect Davidson and Joe West never heard that.

As a counter point, Ed Hochuli, voted as the best referee in the NFL, famously blew a call in a 2008 game between the Chargers and Broncos when he ruled a fumble by Jay Cutler an incomplete pass, which ended up costing the Chargers the game.

Hochuli responded to the situation, writing,

Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection – I failed miserably.

Apparently he also replied personally to each of the myriad of complaints he received from aggreived fans.

If a player or a coach screws up, he'll possibly find himself in the minors or fired. If a MLB umpire screws up, he'll just ump the next game as if nothing happened. There needs to be some accountability among the men in black too...

Of course now we'll just wait for the next blown call in the Premiership and start the whining again....

Witnessing history...pt 2

Yet again Lady Luck gave me her blessings and I managed to stumble upon history in sports terms for the second time. No, not another no-no, but this time the major league debut of a certain 100 mph+ phenom.

On yet another visit to the girl, now in D.C, we experienced a very cool VIP treatment at Camden Yards as the Lester led BoSox crushed the increasingly hapless Orioles.

Camden Yards was the 7th MLB stadium I visited (after Fenway, Old Yankee Stadium, Old Tiger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Citifield and Oakland Coliseum) and I must admit after Fenway probably my second favourite (Wrigley was prior to me knowing anything about baseball, so I probably didn't appreciate it the way I would if I was to return...).

With a pretty decent fanbase and a glorious stadium it is a shame to see the product Peter Angelos puts out each year. Some people think Showalter might turn them around, but I think there has to be a change of ownership before that will happen.

We also had one spare evening in DC, and on a whim I'd bought some cheap (compared to Fenway) tickets for me and the Girl to see the Nats. I'd looked at the rotation and the schedule and was hoping for a miracle.....

...and we got it!

A jam packed stadium and Stephen Strasburgh striking out 14 Pirates was as good as it gets in the nation's capital in terms of baseball!

Amusingly, the electronic scoreboard's K counter only goes to 12.....not that the Nat's had been close to using that prior to Strasburgh!

Time

Again time has been my enemy. A summer filled with World Cup, injuries, baseball and other events have yet again prevented me from posting with any semblance of regularity.

As usual I hope to do better....

World Cup

Well, what can you say? Opening game was magnificent with the Vuvuzelas creating a massive sound wave....and quickly turning incredibly annoying.

The Jabulani ball was hardly the best product Adidas has produced. I can't remember more than a handful of decent free kicks on target but a massive amount of wild kicks reminding me of the Fulham song....(to the music of That's Amore) "If the ball hits your eye and you sit in row Y, that's Zamora..."

Talking about Zamora, it was indeed a shame his injury prevented him from playing for England - I doubt he would have done worse than any of the so called England "strikers".

Hand on heart, only two or three England players could leave the tournament with their heads held high; Ashley Cole (as much as it hurts me to admit that), James Milner (excluding his first 35 mins) and possibly Steven Gerrard...although even Stevie had some sub-par performances.

For all the talk of the South American revolution, Brazil were dire, Argentina realised they needed defenders as well and only Uruguay performed well above expectation - although I personally think that Suarez foul should not result in a penalty kick but an automatic goal. Ghana played with technique, passion and flair and deserved to go through, despite the fearsome pairing that was Forlan and Suarez.

Obviously France and Italy need to completely re-build, as do England. Germany seem to always manage to do their rebuilds inbetween tournaments. Clearly there is a difference of priorities between the Premier League and the English national side with none of the current top three goalkeepers being starters in the Premiership.

Thankfully football won over hooliganism in the final, although this time on the pitch. The Dutch for all their technical players should not whine about Howard Webb's performance, instead they should be happy that they weren't the first ever finalist to have 3 players sent off. Both De Jong and Van Bommel should have had early showers on the day.

Baseball

There have been many parallels between my personal baseball ventures and the Red Sox 2010.

I've missed all but parts of 5 games due to three different injuries (although I was able to manage my team to the pennant and the top seed going into the playoffs!), at the same time the Red Sox have had a throw back year. As in throw back to 2006 with a myriad of injuries.

This year Ellsbury (twice), Beckett, Wakefield, Dice-K, Cameron (twice), Varitek, Martinez, Pedroia, Youk (season ending), Lowell, Hermida (DFA after DL), Delcarmen, Okajima have all spent some or considerable time on the DL. (Did I miss anyone?)

It's actually easier to count the starting position players not to go on the DL; Beltre, Scutaro and (shock!) Drew.

We've had such world renowned players as Kalish, Nava, Hall & McDonald roaming the outfield and Hall, Cash, Molina (not one of the famous trio of brothers) and a finally healthy Lowrie in the infield and behind the plate.

That the Sox are still only 3 1/2 game out of the wild card is astonishing. With Ellsbury, Pedroia and Varitek back over the next few days (or week) and the rotation starting to pick up, the Sox have a decent shot at making the playoffs.

Oh, and my post in May about Dice-K? This season he's 8-3 with a 4.09 ERA and since July he's 3-0 with a 3.53 ERA. More importantly, he's becoming more economical with his pitches, having gone into or completed the 8th inning 4 starts this year.

As witnessed in his most recent start, he does have a tendency to start nibbling if he gets hit well as he was by Snider, causing him to become more passive. Hopefully he can continue to be the aggressive pitcher he can be, forcing batters to swing instead of walking them. Still, he's got an almost 1.78 K to BB ratio this year and a career second best 7.8 hits per 9 innings in 2010. His WHIP has dropped from 1.87 to 1.33.

One more game against the Jays, then off to a tough Texas trip.

There's still hope....

Bikkuri pt. 2

I admit, I've always had a soft spot for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

I loved the acquisition in 2007, and while he could be frustrating to watch as he tried to nibble the corners when he lost confidence in attacking the batters, I liked his stutter-step delivery.

Naturally I was as frustrated as all other Red Sox fans when he blew the 2009 season due to overuse in the WBC and his subsequent lying about his injury. However, having a decent idea about the Japanese mentality of pride and performing through pain, I never thought of him as selfish, quite the opposite.

Many a times have I gotten very riled up by so-called Red Sox "fans" posting one mindless comment about him after another;

"$100m? Waste of money"

"Trade him, he's useless"

or my personal favourite;

"Release him, we can do better"

Ok, let's take a look at Dice-K in a Red Sox uniform:

1. Myth no. 1 - "He's paid $100m". Actually, no. Red Sox paid Seibu Lions $51.11m for the posting rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka and the son of Satan...eh, Scott Boras. As much as Boras wanted to keep the posting cost and the contract separate, Epstein and co played hard ball and ended up with a contract paying Dice-K $52m over 6 years, an average of 8.6m per year. Compare that to Jeff Suppan, who was signed 3 months prior to Dice-K, and would also be considered a no.3 pitcher, who is on $10.5m per year (and has performed much, much worse.
   
   
2. Myth 2 - "He's useless, trade him." - In the two year span of 2007-2008, Matsuzaka went 33-15 with a 3.72 ERA, second best in wins in the AL after Roy Halladay (and one more win than Josh Beckett over those two years). Clearly Dice-K is not a no.1 starter, he simply does not pitch enough innings for that, averaging 186 innings over those two years, but to make a fair comparison 2009 has to be removed from the equation - obviously partly because of Dice-K's own actions, but many pitchers have lost seasons and effectiveness due to injury. After his DL stint in 2009, he went 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA in four starts in September and October.
   
   
3. Myth 3 - "Release him". See, this is the one that irks me the most. Why would the Red Sox release an at least serviceable pitcher? For those "fans" who make such statements, releasing a player does not mean the team stops paying him. If Dice-K was released, any other team with the best waiver position could pick him up and only pay him the league minimum. The Sox would still have to pay more than $8m per year until 2012. Despite John Henry's obvious wealth, even the Sox wouldn't do something as stupid. And remember, his salary would still count against the luxury tax, even if he was released. (See Kei Igawa being stuck in AAA for the Yankees).

Dice-K started well for 5 innings in his season opener against the O's until he unravelled in the 6th inning. Another poor one inning, this time the first inning, against the Halos in his second start put a black stain on his record, but he buckled down and managed to pitch 5.1 innings for the win.

Yesterday he showed signs that his mechanics and perhaps more importantly his mental approach is getting close to top form as he allowed 1 run, 3 hits and no walks in one of his best starts ever against the Blue Jays.

Whilst he still has to prove through consistent performances that he's back in good form, I predict he'll win 15 games for the Sox with a 4 ERA. A hell of a lot better than you'd get for pretty much any pitcher on the market for that money.

Last chance saloon

David Ortiz's struggles were well documented in 2009, both on this blog, and in mainstream press.

The normally restrained Boston press has now of course started with their campaign again after Big Papi's poor start to this season.

Whilst he clearly needs to perform consistently over a longer period, like the Indians in Major League, he's threatening to climb out of the cellar.

After an abysmal April (.143 avg/.238 OPB/ .286 SLG), he's actually shown signs of heating up.

He can now turn on mid 90s fastballs, as shown by the ground rule double off Burnett's 95mph pitch against the Yankees on Sunday, and that two of his four home runs have been to left-center. In the past, when he kept his weight back and his hands inside he was able to drive towards the Green Monster, something that he was completely unable to do in April.

Whilst it's a small sample, his May so far reads much happier;

25 AB, 7 hits, 1 double, 3 HR for a .280/.321/.680

This is about .100 pts higher slugging than Youk, showing signs of the power the team has been lacking.

If he can continue this for another 2-3 weeks he might not be released or taken off the 25 man roster in June...and it seems I'm not the only one to think so.

Finally, Dallas Braden, the A's pitcher with the 17-23 lifetime record, a high 80s fastball and 4.5 ERA is known for something else than calling A-Rod a douche.

On Sunday he pitched the 19th perfect game in baseball history. 27 batters, 27 outs. No walks, no hits, no reached on error. Not one baserunner all game.

This is as rare a feat as you'll see in baseball. Compare to the 672 triple plays and 289 times a player has hit for the cycle, you realise how incredibly difficult this is to do, as you have to rely on 8 other players to play a perfect game too.

Congrats to Dallas, now take the high road and shut up about A-Rod.

Decade

It's been a very long time since my last post....for my limited number of readers, I apologise.

Although we're technically not in the new decade (for the more detail oriented minority), we can still take a look at the decade.

Sports and life wise this was a mixed decade for myself and my favourite teams.

The Boston Red Sox entered the Noughts 82 years removed from their last championship and came out the other side with two championships in four years. After decades and decades of futility, the club finally had owner, a front office and players to consistently contend year after year. Sure, they'd been close before, in '86 and '78, but winning years were often mixed with years of missing the playoffs. The foundation was built before the current owners, with Pedro and Manny coming under the managerial reign of Dan "Twilight years" Duquette, but the home grown talent and missing pieces came with Epstein, Henry and co.

Even though the Rays have taken a monumental leap up and now look like they have at least another year or two of strong performances in them before they might struggle to keep key players, they draft and develop young talent very well.

Liverpool entered the decade ten years removed from a title and despite winning the Champions League in one of the best ever football games in 2005 and several domestic cup wins, they still search for that first ever Premiership title.

Sadly, compared to the Red Sox, the LFC front office situation is very unstable. Two American owners sinking in debt, an uncertain future both for the manager, Rafa Benitez, and the two star players, Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard makes for an uncomfortable summer and a very poor outlook on the next season.

San Francisco 49ers entered the decade having seen their 16 year division title streak come to an end the previous year and a very uncertain ownership situation as Eddie DeBartolo had been suspended by the NFL for ties to gambling companies in Louisiana.

Now owned by DeBartolo's sister Denise, and run by her husband Dr.John York, the Niners started the decade ok. With the retirement of Hall of Fame QB Steve Young, the Niners under coach Steve Mariucci had a successful 2002 campaign with Jeff Garcia as the starting QB, only losing to eventual SB winners Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship game.

However, that would be the final post season game of the decade for the Niners and the final game in charge for Steve Mariucci, who for reasons only known to "Dr" York was deemed no longer suitable.

3 coaches and numerous co-ordinators later the Niners finally seem on the verge of playing competitive football again, now under the helm of no-nonsense coach Mike Singletary, HOF linebacker with the 1980's Chicago Bears.

And I have tickets to see them at Wembley on October 31st!

As for me, my decade was probably as tumultuous as the teams I follow. Post-grad degree, house purchase and multiple life changing events put me at a similar position of the Niners - after years of turmoil I look forward towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

Turn the page

Now that we're well into year '10 instead of '09, we can look forward to yet another opportunity of a fresh start.

As I wrote about a year ago, we can all look forward to new personal, professional and sports fan opportunities. But, and there's always a but in there, whilst some things change, some others stay the same. Cash rich clubs in whatever sport will always have an advantage over lesser blessed competitors. Also, stability usually brings more success even when there is cash available (see: Raiders, Oakland and Dame, Notre).

The shrewdest operators find a gap and exploit it. After years of big signings, the Yankees think that tweaks are enough (and they might very well be right) to go for 28 championships. The Yankees drained their farm system in the eternal chase for the next WS title, but ended up with a high priced ageing team on the decline (think Roger Dorn) and no prospects.

Brian Cashman then decided enough was enough, kept his talent while spending wisely on the high price agents available, such as Mark Teixeira (surely $10m would not have hurt Mr. Henry in the long run...), creating a second coming of the Yankees of the 90s with Joba, Cano and Hughes creating a young foundation of home grown talent to build upon.

The Red Sox have gone the same route with Pedroia, Youk, Lester, Bard and Ellsbury (with Anderson and Kelly soon to take the leap from the Minors), but some of their recent free agent acquisitions have left a little bit to be desired. Whilst Lackey was a solid purchase, the jury's still out on Beltre and Cameron.

This was, according to a sloppy quote from Epstein, a "bridge year", but now that the RSN have tasted sweet victory, the patience among fans is short.

However, as for my beloved LFC, this might not be the year when the Sox lift the WS trophy. Time will tell

Balance

Always captivating Gregg Easterbrook, aka TMQ on ESPN.com writes in his article about the manic coach firings in College Football:

a university exists to educate; winning football games is a secondary concern

Probably a sentiment that make BCS officials choke on their breakfast, but an important point nevertheless.

College football is now completely removed from the "amateur" status - in 2007 Forbes calculated the Notre Dame football programme's financial worth at $91m. ND receives $9m annually from NBC alone, far more than any other programme, and of course amplified by ND's independent status, allowing them to keep their income for themselves and not revenue share with other conference teams.

Clearly that financial issue, combined with ND being 21 years removed from it's latest national championship caused Charlie Weis, the former Patriots co-ordinator, to walk the plank after 4 years. Weis' first season (9-3) was a moderate success, but after a 10-2 second season his bck to back 6-6 seasons were not enough to save him.

However, Notre Dame's academic standards have also been considered markedly higher than other school, prompting Easterbrook to point out:

Notre Dame was among the few prominent holdouts, insisting its football players be students too. This generated a recruiting disadvantage -- and a recruiting disadvantage caused by high standards, not Weis suddenly forgetting how to coach, is the reason for the recent records of Notre Dame football. Notre Dame alums and boosters should have been proud that high standards keep the school from going 12-0!

With more than 10000 players in the NCAA div 1 and only 256 players drafted by the NFL each year, the odds are better than winning the lottery....but not by much.

As entertaining and as passionate college football is, shouldn't the universities be able to strike a better balance between academics and sports?

If not, isn't it time to start paying the "student-athletes"?

Hot Stove...

...lukewarm Niners (picture of Alex Smith from sfgate.com) and a pretty ice cold Liverpool.

That's probably an accurate snapshot of the current sports situation for Mr.N personally.

The Red Sox shored up their troublesome SS position by signing Mr. Utility - Marco Scutaro, formerly of the Blue Jays. Since Nomah led the Sox from the SS position as one of the three best shortstops in the league from 1997 to 2003, the Red Sox has essentially treated the position as a revolving door. Since mid-2004, 7 players have manned the position for the Bostonians. (Well, 6, but Alex Gonzalez did it in 2006 and again in 2009.)

Now they have one of the best fielding shortstops in the league when healthy (he suffered from a nasty case of Plantar Faciitis last season), he's played more than 115 games in 5 of the last 6 seasons since becoming a full time player with Oakland in 2004. Even with his foot injury last year he only played on less game than 2008, his first year with the Jays (144 vs 145 games.)

What's more interesting is, as Peter Gammons mentions in his column, Scutaro's performance at the plate has gone up more or less every year. From an OBP of .297 in 2004 to a respectable .379 last season. Something that must have made the Red Sox FO salivate with glee is also his ability to wear down pitchers, as he lead all MLB shortstops in pitches per at bat in 2009.

2 years and $11 million gives the Red Sox solidity to a position that could almost become a strength for the team if Jed Lowrie can get healthy and assume a super utility role.

Obviously the Red Sox have some outstanding issues, such as a big bat (Bay or M. Holliday...or Adrian Gonzalez?), Ortiz's rapidly declining skills, Lowell's health concerns and possibly another starting pitcher or two. Whether the last issue is solved by a monster trade for Doc Halladay or a more buy low option of a Ben Sheets type pitcher remains to be seen.

We haven't even gotten to the winter meeting yet! So far no sign of the Yankees trying to continue their plan of buying every player in the world - although clearly Cashman's strategy worked last year. On occasion I can't stop thinking what the outcome would have been with Teixeira at 1B and Youk at 3B for the Sox if Henry and the gang had upped their bid by 5%....

Pigskin times

As for the NFL, we're in week 13 and we have 2, count 'em two, teams still undefeated; the Saints and the Colts. Theoretically we could have two 18-0 teams in Miami in January. Wonder what the 1972 guys will think then.

The Niners might actually have a shot at the post season for the first time since the Mooch era, with a pretty manageable schedule up to Christmas. Only Philly and possibly the Cardinals look like nail biting games, especially with an (almost) dominating defense and a resurgent Alex Smith at the helm of the offense.

Of course they'd have to navigate the Vikings, Saints and Dallas (plus two wildcards) in the playoffs if they get there, but in all honesty I'd be ecstatic by just a return to January football this year.

There's always next year...

Seems to be the mantra in Liverpool. Now out of the Champions League, with a shaky ownership and already 15 points behind the league leaders, 2009 seems to be a season that before Christmas has gone from "This is the year" to "well, maybe next year".

What's clear is that Liverpool's squad is paperthin compared to Chelsea's and ManU's. Without Gerrard and Torres Liverpool was as potent as a paper tiger, and now languish outside the top 4.

I still think they'll finish in a CS spot, but this season is not one for the ages.

Finally

The best pop culture v sports comparison of the day goes to Bill Simmons (again), as he compares the Cavalier's Shaq with a bald Aretha Franklin. I recommend reading his entire column, especially the dire look at the city of Cleveland's fortunes.

What now?

With only half an eye on the CS, I struggle to justify staying up to 5am to watch the Angels, Yankees, Dodgers or Phillies.

I've frantically been searching for an article breaking down which of the teams in the CS a Red Sox fan should support, but essentially the conclusion is the Phillies or the Angels.

While we're on the topic of the Phillies; the Red Sox sign John Smoltz and get a pale replica of the once great pitcher. The Phillies sign Pedro and get 7 innings of 1 hit pitching. Against an almost equally flawless Vincente Padilla. Yes, the Vincente Padilla who was tossed from both the Phillies and earlier this year the Rangers.

The discussion of the level of play between the NL and the AL has been going on for years, nay decades, but take a look at Smoltz and Padilla:

Smoltz:

BOS (AL): 40.0 IP, 59 Hits, 8 HR, 9 BB, 8.32 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, .343 BA against

STL (NL): 38.0 IP, 36 Hits, 3 HR, 9 BB, 4.26 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, .248 BA against

Padilla:

TEX (AL): 108.0 IP, 4.91 K/9 ip, 4.92 ERA, .286 BA

LAD (NL): 39.1 IP, 8.69 K/9 ip, 3.20 ERA, .252 BA

This is not just a question of an improvement due to change of scenery. The NL is bordering on being Quadruple-A.

As for Pedey, last night was a superb display from a pitcher who has realised age has caught up with him and has had to change game plans. The frustration among the Dodger hitters was palatable, as Martinez "pounded" the strike zone with pitches varying from 65 to 91 mph. Even his curve varied by as much as 8 mph.

So, with the CS analysis out of the way, what's next? Seeing if the 49ers can get some use out of Crabtree after his less than brilliant plan of holding out? Watching Liverpool, with more losses through the first half of October than the entire 2008 season, to see if they can finally win the Premiership (I'm not holding my breath...)

Or simply a slight pause from sports?

Nah, didn't buy that myself.

Although my life will probably be a little bit more balanced as I actually finished the Royal Parks Half Marathon last weekend. (In 2h16mins, not as fast as I wanted, but as it was my first 13.1 race, I'll take it).

Here's to an interesting off-season.

Halos Redux....again. Or not.

Here we go, here we go, here we go....again....

Like an old vinyl record with a scratch in it, returning the track to the same starting point again and again.

That was the start of my pre-ALDS post, which got lost due to time constraint. Alas, as we now know, history did not repeat itself.

After treating the Halos as their personal bitch (in the post season only of course. during the regular season the Angels owned the Red Sox) for about a decade, going 9-1 in the last 3 post season series, Grumpy finally got one over Tito. The Angels swept a thoroughly un-impressive Red Sox team that played like a team that finally got caught by the findy-outy-police.

The heart of the order; Martinez, Youk and Ortiz (although Bay and Ortiz swapped 5th & 6th spot in game 3) had a total offensive production of.......4 for 35, or a .114 average in the series.

The Red Sox bullpen, previously considered one of the better 'pens in the league imploded. Papelbon, who hadn't allowed a run in 26 post season innings, allowed 3 runs to score on 4 hits in game 3 - all with 2 outs.

Simply put, and to stop this from being a complete recap of all stats, the Red Sox did not show up. The batters didn't...well, bat. The pitchers gave the Angels plenty of straight down the middle pitches - and walks - lethal against a speedy team. All in all, the Angels were much better.

Sooo.....

What does this mean for the Red Sox?

Well, to start with, I suspect (with sadness, albeit with inevitable acceptance) that we've seen the last of our Captain. At least as a starter (well, that's a given). There is no way the Red Sox will pick up their $5m option on Varitek, although he of course has a $3m option himself.

The question for the Sox is what would benefit the team more in the long run; Varitek as back up and teacher to Martinez for a year or bringing up another catcher to develop.

Other obvious question marks are Bay (probably the best free agent hitter available this off season), Lowell (will he be productive and healthy for one more year?) Ortiz (which one will show up in March, the Ortiz of April-May 2009 or the June-Sept Big Papi) and the never-ending search for a short stop.

This period (and the end of July) is why they pay Theo the big bucks. Over to you Mr. Epstein.

Priorities

So, you are a valued employee, perhaps one of the key members of staff.

You're coming up to the biggest deadline you've had for many years, literally a make or break project for your company, and your bosses rely heavily on you to deliver your very best with this project.

How do you prepare? Study the parameters of the project, run through different scenarios and prepare to the very best of your ability, and then get a good nights sleep so that you can truly shine and deliver the next day?

Not if you're Miguel Cabrera.

His team, the Detroit Tigers, for so long in complete control of the AL Central but now hobbling towards the finishing line ferociously chased by the resurgent Minnesota Twins, went into the last 3 game series of the regular season against the White Sox 2 games ahead in the standings on Friday.

After a dismal 0-4 performance in game 1, where he left 4 runners on base, did Miguel, in all his wisdom, decide that the best preparation for the incredibly crucial game 2 (as the Twins had won their first game it was now a 1 game lead in the AL Central) was to take extra BP and some film studying of next game's opposing pitcher, the rejuvenated Freddy Garcia who had re-discovered his lethal forkball?

Ehh, no.

He thought the best way to prepare was to go to a nearby hotel, where some friends were staying. Friends who happen to play for the WHITE SOX, the series opponent and the team standing between the Tigers and a playoff spot.

He staggered in to his Detroit house at 5am the next morning, talking so loudly on his mobile phone that he woke up his young daughter and wife Rosangel. Rosangel was understandibly less than impressed, and heated tempers on both sides ended up with Miguel being picked up by Detroit's finest.

You see, not only did he fraternise with the opposing team, he also decided that his preparation would be best suited by getting ABSOLUTELY HAMMERED. After making his way home, having a row with his wife, dealing with the police and transported to the station, he was then finally tested for blood alcohol level. A guess is that this happened probably at least an hour after he finished drinking, assuming that he left after he finished his last drink.

So, around 6am, 13 hours before probably one of the most important games in his career and certainly the most important one since becoming a Tiger, Cabrera has a blood alcohol level of .26.

To put that into perspective a little, the legal limit to drive in Michigan is .08, the same as in the UK. In Sweden the legal limit is 0.03, whereas the limit for Drunk Driving (the more serious offence) is .1.

Michigan police has a policy to send anyone to the hospital if they test at 0.35 or higher. Considering that rule of thumb is that you sober up by 0.01 per 40 mins after you stopped drinking, Cabrera probably was very close to this level during his night of "celebrations".

As the cherry on the pie, Cabrera, who wasn't arrested but merely removed from his house at his and his wife's request, finished the evening (or in this case morning) by being picked up by the Tigers General Manager Dave Dombroski. That must have been a pleasant ride.

Despite all his pre-game preparation, amazingly Cabrera did not raise his game against the White Sox, finishing game 2 with another 0-fer game, this time leaving 6 runners on base. He also managed to kill the best chance the Tigers had, when 3 runs behind in the 7th and 2 runners on when he meekly hit into a double play.

Cabrera, who is a catholic also practices a religion called Santería, and he became a high priest, or a Babalao in 2006. Babalao roughly translates to "wise man".

Time to hand back that robe, Miguel, wise man you are not.

Now, if I showed up to my office on one of the most important days of the year still drunk and blowing a presentation for a big deal, I'm certain that would possibly endanger my future employment with my company. Then again, Miguel is guaranteed $150m over the next 5 years, so I guess the incentive might be a little bit less for him. Although you have to wonder what his team mates, front office and fans think about him.

Finally, as if Miguel's behaviour couldn't be more exemplary, another story has emerged today. Apparently Cabrera, in a previous incident at the same hotel as Friday's "prep-fest", taunted a 15 year old boy about his weight issues and then challenged the boy and the people around the table to "take it outside".

Now, here in the UK there's a chant used on the football terraces whenever the opposition has a somewhat less than athletic looking player:

Who ate all the pies?

Cabrera has eaten more than his share of pies over the years, in fact so much that the Tigers moved him from third base to first as his range had diminished to the point where he was a big liability defensively.

In 2007 the discussion in the majors was if Cabrera could join A-Rod in the $200m contract club, but one AL Executive said:

His weight is a major issue

Clearly Miguel has worked at losing a little of his voluminous body, but only in a world of 400 lb people would he be called slim.

In tonight's one game pennant play-off at the Metrodome, I'd say that my heart lies with the Twins, but I also know that the Tigers would probably put up a better challenge for the Yankees.

Miguel, you have one shot tonight. Time to put up or shut up. Or to quote Marshall:

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

The ball's in your court.

15 mins that shook the world

The most important half time talk ever....

2005 redux

After watching Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, it was time to revisit the other top sporting moment of my life...