Baseball, We Need to Talk... It's Not You, It's Me.

I wanted baseball to be innocent again.  I needed baseball to be innocent again.  I hoped that baseball was innocent again.  And eventually, I believed that baseball was innocent again.  But this week went and showed me that I had been naive and gullible once again.  I felt a small pang of the loss of innocence coming from Pujols leaving the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, a franchise he played his entire career with (including minors), to pursue greener (get it?) pastures in Los Angeles with the Angels.  But that wasn't too much pain for me, because I had already come to the conclusion before that players are not fans, their job is to play baseball and make the most money while they are at it, they are human beings and as we all know, everybody has their selling price.  Pujols happened to find an offer that he felt was best for himself and his future, and human nature would not allow him to give up his personal happiness for the happiness of others.  While I don't want to condemn Pujols for being a human, cases like this show us how precious players like Craig Biggio, Chipper Jones and Joe Mauer are playing their entire careers with a single team, and even going as far to giving their career franchises a hometown discount.  That's not what a player would do, its what a fan would do.

Human nature at it's purest.

But once I got over this and maintained a large proportion of my baseball innocence, last night dropped a megaton bomb on everything I wanted to believe, and the irony of No Doubt's song Ex-Girlfriend playing on my shuffle right now is the perfect analogy of what being a modern baseball fan is.  Being a baseball fan is the same as being a single person in the dating world, you try to keep your hopes high that the worst parts are behind you and that only happiness awaits you, but you can never be completely sure.  Let me explain.   I was a child during the steroid era, an eight year old watching what seemed to be one of the greatest baseball seasons in history as Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire battled for home run dominance over Roger Maris, I remember that summer very well and my naivety believing that the players of my time are truly some of the greatest ever.  I was 14 years old when Barry Bonds broke the home run record once again, once again sitting on the couch praying that I could witness history repeating itself, even though the allegations of PED use were starting to seep to the surface of baseball, and I was well aware of the potential artificiality of what I was seeing.  But there is also one moment of my life that I will remember forever, on my 17th birthday, I sat on my couch watching the San Francisco Giants play, I argued with myself after all my family had gone to bed about how I was going to respond when Barry Bonds broke yet another home run record, his PED use was just about as well documented as it ever would be, yet he hit his 755th home run off of Clay Hensley (who was formerly suspended for PED use in the minors) which made me feel maybe there was a level playing field.  That night I got a birthday present I will never forget, as Barry Bonds hit 756 and my reaction was to run and jump around my living room at 1 A.M.  I woke my parents, I told my father what had just happened, and in the moment it was one of the best things I'd ever seen in baseball (which included the entire 2004 postseason from the perspective of a Red Sox fan).  

Its still a powerful image to me.

When the luster of those moments wore away, I realized that what I had experienced was not completely genuine and I just didn't have enough trust to continue this relationship at the level I was currently at.  This was my first time being alone and without a sport to share my time and life with.  The end of my high school years, I had problems trusting baseball again and while I was able to still like it as a friend, I couldn't find it in my heart to commit myself again, but I was able to dabble around and try all sorts of different things out.  Following soccer for the Euro 2008 tournament was a real good diversion, but it was a hoax, not meant to be real.  I had experienced the equivalent of the first bad breakup through baseball, all the symptoms were there.  But eventually I moved off to college, I was away from home, I was alone, and baseball was there to comfort me. 

I don't want to know which one I was.

I jumped in head first, learning all the new names that I missed the last two years, and remembering all of the good times I had had with baseball in the past.  I couldn't hide it, being a baseball fan is an integral part of who I am.  I was a little hesitant to commit to any specific players again, and was able to get through the PED suspension of Manny Ramirez relatively unhurt.  As the years went on and no notable players were even suspected of PED use anymore, I learned to trust baseball once again, and more importantly the feats of individual players once again.  I was ready to dig as deep into baseball as I ever had before, learning entire team's rosters, tracking standings and league leaders by the day, subscribing to MLB.tvPED use would be regarded for the Hall of Fame as my senior thesis.  Yes, in my mind the Steroid Era was officially over.  

No image could possibly better represent innocence in baseball.

Before this season, I had never been a particularly big fan of Ryan Braun, my best memory of his existence being my disapproval of his being elected 2007 NL Rookie of the Year over Troy Tulowitzki (I really disagreed with the 2007 awards voting).  But I had looked at his statistics over his years and marveled at his consistency, and was starting to be convinced that he was the real deal.  The season went on and Braun continued to show extreme talent and I began to be very impressed with him.  Then came the playoffs, which was the first time I had been able to consistently see Braun play.  He didn't disappoint, in the two series I was able to see him play, he showed me that he had more talent than I had ever imagined, hitting homers that soared distances I would not believe by seeing him, and getting on base at an inhuman rate.  I was completely drawn onto the Ryan Braun bandwagon, I was thinking about buying a t-shirt online, I was researching the periodicity of great Jewish baseball players and I was arguing that he deserved to win NL MVP despite the fact that Matt Kemp's stats were better (but only slightly).  Braun went on to win that MVP award, and I was proud, even though I still had to argue he was deserving a few more times.  Being a baseball fan was great for me, I was identifying talent correctly, I was enjoying the subtle shifts in gameplay since my childhood and the sport was clean.  In other words, I could trust baseball.

I don't understand...

Then, yesterday happened.  It was a textbook time for a breakup to happen, I finally shed my shell protecting me and my feelings to avoid them from being hurt again, I was vulnerable.  Here is how yesterday happened, in play-by-play form.  I received a text message from a friend telling me not to look at anything about baseball on the Internet for a while, so I naturally looked immediately.  Seeing the headline caused me to fall to the ground, stunned.  I didn't know how to respond, so I told all the important people who I felt needed to know so they could soothe me and help me get over it.  I called my brother and told him the news, which was followed by no less than 30 seconds of disbelieving silence, which was then followed by a series of one word sentences.  The next few people who I talked to who had found out on their own brought it up and tried to console me.  The night ended with myself trying to drink it off with some close friends, and myself trying to avoid any analogies to what I had just experienced.  The worst part is that I still don't know how to respond, I'm holding on to hope that it was a false positive, and he will win his appeal and all will be normal again.  I want to defend Braun, I want it to work out and I want this to be a slight speed bump on the road of life.  But in reality, I know I have to acknowledge that it happened and move on with my life.  The part that bothers me the most is how I am having this strong of a reaction to the misfortune of someone I only know of because they are talented at a game.  I guess that is what being a true fan is about, and I wouldn't sell it for all the money the New York Yankees, Miami Marlins or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are willing to throw at me.  I'll be fine, but I just have to get used to slight distrust of every player in the league again.

If I need to post this picture in a Steroids column again, its over...

MLB 2011 Preview: The Rest of the League

I've been too busy actually watching baseball to write the previews for the remaining 3 divisions, so I'll just write how I think they will finish.  I will also write a very quick summary.

NL East
1. Philadelphia Phillies (Pitching)
2. Atlanta Braves (Outfielders not named Jason Heyward)
3. Florida Marlins (Mike Stanton and Gaby Sanchez)
4. Washington Nationals (Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman can be a good left side)
5. New York Mets (The player with the least DL time)

AL Central
1. Chicago White Sox (Jake Peavy and Alex Rios)
2. Minnesota Twins (Mauer is a monster)
3. Detroit Tigers (Miguel Cabrera (It's rumored he prefers Dos Equis))
4. Cleveland Indians (Shin-Soo Choo is the best player you don't care about)
5. Kansas City Royals (Kila Ka'aihue has a cool name)

NL West
1. Colorado Rockies (Are Cargo and Tulo the best 3-4 punch yet?)
2. San Francisco Giants (Matt Cain deserves his Cy)
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw)
4. San Diego Padres (So thats where Aaron Harang ended up)
5. Arizona Diamondbacks (Justin Upton has his brother's stink all over him)

This season has been so screwy that I'm not going to make any playoff or award predictions at this point because I will just embarrass myself.

MLB 2011 Preview: AL East

I'm a bit behind since I'm only one the third division and Opening Day is tomorrow, but don't worry I'll be sure to finish my preview before we get too deep into the season.  How about we look at the AL East.

Baltimore Orioles
I may be in the minority on this one, but I feel like the Orioles are a pretty good team.  Especially considering how they ended last season, where they won more games in Buck Showalter's 57 games managing the team than  the other 105 games, which may be some sign to come.  Other than whats probably a great managerial hiring, the team itself has also improved, mostly on offense.  New additions are veteran first baseman Derrek Lee, shortstop J.J. Hardy, slugger Mark Reynolds at third base, and a likely future hall of famer in Vladimir Guerrero. Unfortunately they are catching Lee and Guerrero towards the end of the careers in which last year Derrek Lee saw major drops in almost every offensive category and Guerrero reversed a downward trend in his production, but it may have served as more of a swan song than a sign of things to come.  Hardy won't be anything stunning at shortstop, but I am interested in Mark Reynolds who even though he hit below the Mendoza line last year is playing in a division that would allow him to play in Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, which are both pretty well tailored to righties who swing for the fence (ask Jose Bautista).  As for the returning starters, they have a pretty good young outfield in Luke Scott, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, the last of which I feel is not too far from super-stardom given that he can raise his power output.  The return of Brian Roberts from injuries last year should also provide a good spark as he is an above-average leadoff hitter and should be able to get on base and swipe a few bags when he gets there.  Lastly we have the so-called "Joe Mauer with power", Matt Wieters, who  isn't backing up those comments quite well thus far, if he is going to have a breakout season its probably now or never.  As with most of the lower-tier teams, they don't have too bad of an offense, but their pitching staff is abysmal, the only one worth keeping an eye on is Brian Matusz, and that is only because the analysts say he is going to be good someday, but I don't see it yet.  I think I'm going to name the Orioles my total surprise team, but don't read to much into them.

This is how you intimidate a bad team into winning.

Boston Red Sox

The offseason sure has been kind to the AL East, the moves that the I just praised the Orioles for making were mere child's play in comparison to the blockbusters the Red Sox organization pulled off.  First was the trade for Adrian Gonzalez (do I hear MVP candidate?) who is already known as an elite hitter despite playing in Petco Park his whole career, if he and his shoulder come back well this season, there really isn't a reason he shouldn't be the best player in baseball.  But I am forgetting their other move in acquiring Carl Crawford to play left field (a waste of his speed and defense in my opinion), who I never thought would come to the Sox because he has a habit of leaving every three game series against them with another 10 stolen bases.  Crawford will lead the league in triples once again, and continue to be a nearly unstoppable force.  The team also is going to see the return of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis (unfortunately not his beard though), who each missed large portions of last season and were the two best players on the team previous to the other guys coming in.  The other outfielders are Jacoby Ellsbury (stolen base fiend, but shitty fucking outfielder) and J.D. Drew, who plays baseball with the same enthusiasm of a 7 year-old eating broccoli and takes third strikes with the same enthusiasm as a 7 year-old eating chocolate cake.  Meanwhile David Ortiz will continue as the DH, and will likely continue trying to decide if he is washed up or not much like the last two years.  The last two starters are Marco Scutaro, who will hold the fort at shortstop, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia getting yet another chance to show he is capable of being an everyday major league catcher.   The pitching staff is also quite good, with the young talents of Jon Lester and Clay Buccholz (one of the two will be a strong Cy Young candidate), and the presence of John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matusaka is great in the case that any of them rediscovers the talent that brought them to Boston in the first place.  Probably the best bullpen in baseball by the way, even though I give it until May when they decide to get over their Papelboner, and get a total Bard-on.

I should try to seem less biased...

New York Yankees

It's the Yankees, and the caption to the picture above suggests that I should try to seem less biased.  So objectively speaking, the Yankees are a fantastic team just like they always are.  Brett Gardner is becoming one of the better basestealers in the game, although he does need to bring his average up a tad, Curtis Granderson annoys me because he sells himself as a leadoff hitter because of his speed, but he continues to get on base less than a third of the time, if he advertised himself differently he would be a real good player.  Nick Swisher on the other hand, he would be on the Shin-Soo Choo All-Stars of massively underrated talent (more on Choo when I talk about the AL Central), he gets on base, he hits for power and does what he needs to do on a baseball field, any other uniform on his back and I would like him.  Alex Rodriguez is still one of the best five hitters in baseball, and despite the steroid talk is one of the all-time greats (he was a hall of famer before he took steroids anyways, just as a different type of player).  Derek Jeter showed last year that he is human and that he is getting old, but I wouldn't expect that to stop him from doing anything to win a game.  Next comes Robinson Cano, who had a monster season in 2010 and in my mind is deadlocked with Chase Utley for the best second baseman in the league distinction.  As for Mark Teixeira, he is not as good as Adrian Gonzalez, and that all I'm gonna say.  Russel Martin and Jorge Posada switching off between catching and being the designated hitter was a pretty good move, especially seeing that it was basically the team's only move.  But the offense possibly will not be enough to win another World Championship for New York because the pitching staff doesn't go much deeper than C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes, and it takes more than two pitchers to win in 2011's MLB.  Lastly, we need to find out what Mariano Rivera has been doing the last three years and make a DVD of it to sell to the American public as a cure for aging.  

Will you get washed up already!?

Tampa Bay Rays

May I now show you exhibit A of why small-market teams can never become larger.  I sure hope the Rays had fun in their three year span as a legitimate contender, because sadly those days are likely gone for a little bit.  The losses of Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena may have been a kiss of death, especially considering they have been replaced with the risk of hoping Manny Ramirez or Johnny Damon will be able to hold off the effects of aging for a year so they can hopefully persuade younger players to come and take their places next year (I sure hope Manny does, I've always liked him).  The rest of their AL East champion team has returned though, especially Evan Longoria who is both the best third baseman in the league and the only player in the league who seems to be preparing himself to become an action hero after baseball (thought I was going to make an Eva Longoria joke didn't you?).  B.J. Upton has shown us before that he is capable of putting up big numbers, but has also shown us that we should keep his expectations at 40 stolen bases and let anything else be a pleasant surprise.  Most of the rest of the team including Dan Johnson, Ben Zobrist, Sean Rodriguez, and Reid Brignac shouldn't come with expectations much more than a .250 batting average, unless Zobrist's fluke season was 2010 and not 2009.  I also need to say that I like John Jaso, maybe I just have a soft spot for catchers who hit leadoff though.  Their pitching staff is no too bad, but it's nothing shocking once you get past David Price, who is one of the best pitchers in the league and the man who would have received my Cy Young vote last year if I had one.  The losses of Rafael Soriano and Grant Balfour really make a large dent in the bullpen too.

I'm still shocked Tony Parker cheated on her...

Toronto Blue Jays

Poor Blue Jays, they probably would have made the playoffs a couple times in the last five years if they were just in a better spot geographically.  This year makes it clear that the stress of keeping up with two of the highest payrolls in baseball, and they seem to have reached critical mass.  The team's star player is Jose Bautista and that is only because he likely realized last year that he will never hit .300 so he might as well go out there and try to crush every ball he sees and it worked (also using this technique is Mark Reynolds.)  Bautista is joined in the outfield by Travis Snider, who has yet to show much in the bigs, and Rajai Davis who will steal a few bases before being knocked in by a Jose Bautista homer.  A majority of their infield, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind and Yunel Escobar are players with some serious potential who seriously sputtered out of the gate in the 2010 season and never managed to catch up.  Since all of them are still young, I'll expect at least two of them to return to form this year.  The remaining infielder, Edwin Encarnacion is much like Travis Snider in that he is a below-average starter.  Their rookie catcher, J.P Arencibia has never hit above .190 in three spring training seasons and 16 games last season, which probably means Jose Molina (also known as the third best Molina brother in the MLB) will get his fair share of starts.  The remaining hitter in the lineup is Juan Rivera who has seemed to alternate between good and bad seasons throughout his career, so if trends mean anything he is due for a bounce-back season in 2011, I just don't know what a bounce-back season means.

Ever since the loss of Roy Halladay, the pitching staff hasn't been quite the same, especially with the loss of Shaun Marcum and Brandon Morrow.  I would like to predict that Kyle Drabek (the jewel return in the Halladay trade) will be the Rookie of the Year, but I'm not sure if I believe it so I'll wait on that decision.

How much do you want to bet that ball is going to left field?

AL East Final Standings

1. Boston Red Sox

2. New York Yankees

3. Baltimore Orioles

4. Tampa Bay Rays

5. Torono Blue Jays

What can I say?  I believe in Buck.  I also want to point out if any division can ever have every team finish above .500 it would probably be this division this year.  Thanks for reading, come again soon and I should hopefully have the NL East for you.  Enjoy opening day!

MLB 2011 Preview: NL Central

I'm continuing  my preview of this upcoming baseball season by moving from the smallest division in the league to the largest.


Chicago Cubs
The Cubs as of late have been a completely baffling squad, it is no secret that they have an extremely large payroll, but it really doesn't seem they have many players that would warrant large paychecks. Looking at their lineup there are three people who instantly pop out at you, and that is the left side of the field.  Alfonso Soriano comes to mind quickly because he seems like the main offender of the Cubs overspending as he is definitely not having the impact that he is capable of.  But on the topic of Soriano let me point out this one thing, his numbers would be stellar if he was still a second baseman and since Jeff Baker is Jeff Baker, it might not be a terrible idea to bring him back to his rightful place and maybe give Tyler Colvin or Reed Johnson a shot at starting.  The other players on the left side are Aramis Ramirez, who is likely the most underrated third baseman in the league when he is healthy, and the up-and-coming shortstop sensation Starlin Castro.  We can come to expect solid contributions from Marlon Byrd and serviceable numbers from Kosuke Fukudome.  That leaves us with Carlos Pena hopefully having a comeback year, and whether or not Geovany Soto proves himself to be a consistent player after pulling himself out of a sophomore slump last year.  As for their pitching staff, a perfect descriptor to use would be erratic, mainly because of Carlos Zambrano's presence.  I am a big fan of Big Z, but whenever I see him pitch I know its either going to be a shutout or a blowout, he doesn't have an okay game ever.  Matt Garza also strikes me as another erratic pitcher, he seems to get a lot of decisions, with not all of them being good.  If we also pack in Randy Wells, I think you get my point.  Lastly I would like to commend the Cubs for bringing Kerry Wood back for old times sake, but I still don't expect to see any games in Wrigley this October.

Anybody think this is a bad idea?

Cincinnati Reds

Ah, the Reds were my sleeper team to make the playoffs last year (I announced that in February 2010, no lies), and we all know how that turned out.  One playoff game without a hit, one MVP trophy, and one early exit thanks to the Phillies later we see these guys return but what do they have in store for us?  The short answer is probably not another playoff run, I'm sorry.  Joey Votto is very good, and I expect him to continue to be very good, just not as good as he was last year.  Brandon Philips will probably follow the same path he went last year, shedding a few of his power numbers to be a better run scorer now that he has a set of guys to knock him in.  I like their outfield because Johnny Gomes, Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce all have extremely similar talent levels, and should likely all put up similar numbers except Bruce will have an extra edge in the rate stats, Stubbs will steal some bases, and Johnny Gomes will do none of the above.  The rest of the offense is Paul Janish along with the Ramon Hernandez/ Ryan Hanigan duo putting up sub-par numbers and Scott Rolen failing to continue his amazing career revival.  The pitching staff is comprised of ace Bronson Arroyo (fun fact!  I believe Arroyo has the 4th most wins in the MLB since his trade to the Reds in 2006), Edinson Volquez trying to prove to Cincinnati that they didn't completely get the shaft by trading Josh Hamilton, and a trio of sophomore pitchers with varying potential.  They do have one of the few bullpens that excites me, not because of any combination or talent, but just because Aroldis Chapman can throw 104 mph fastballs.

That's what I want to see from relief pitchers

Houston Astros

When of your starting nine I have to look at the specific pages for four of your guys just to figure out what their  first name is, that's when your team may either be in complete trouble or not in a big market.  Considering Houston itself is the 4th most populated city and 6th most populated metro area in the US, I think we might have to go with the first option.  By the way the four players mentioned earlier are Humberto Quintero, Brett Wallace, Angel Sanchez, and Chris Johnson, with Johnson being the only one whom I took any interest in since he hit .308 last year.  Bill Hall is one name that I did know, which doesn't necessarily mean that he will do much more in the season than hit another home run on Mothers' Day with a pink bat.  In an attempt to not completely tear apart the entire team I will say that I love the balance of the outfield.  Mixing Carlos Lee's power with Michael Bourne's speed and Hunter Pence's uncanny ability to hit .282 with 25 home runs in consecutive years could turn out to be a small glimmer of hope in a beautiful stadium inhabited by a mediocre team.  As for their pitching staff, I can't say much more than it doesn't look to good, and that I desperately want J.A. Happ to outperform Roy Oswalt this season (not gonna happen, but a guy can dream.)

Chris Johnson... Not that one! NO not that one either! There he is!

Milwaukee Brewers

Amazingly it turns out that your team gets better after the family of the league's commissioner sells the franchise, and you might have thought that sports were fixed.  After spending most of my life in mediocrity, the Brewers have been steadily improving in the past years, and it looks like this year they have pieced together a squad that I would not hesitate to call a baseball team.  Lead by slugger Prince Fielder and overall great player Ryan Braun, this team starts out boasting an incredible three-four punch in the middle of their lineup.  Add to that the emergence of Casey McGehee and Corey Hart last year and the steady improvement of Rickie Weeks, this team has a hell of a lot of pop in the bats.  Unfortunately they won't be getting the much needed stolen base threat and overall run scorer out of Yuniesky Betancourt, Carlos Gomez or Jonathan Lucroy, so this Brewers team is going to have to win games the Earl Weaver way, with pitching, defense, and the three-run homer.  I think the last part should be no problem, and the defense doesn't strike me as anything that will lose them many games this season, so lets look at their pitching.  I think that the management thought the same way that I did, and kept together the offense from last years 77-85 team, and decided to bolster up on starting pitching for the coming year, and I sure think they did a fantastic job.  The most relevant move is to relegate last year's ace Yovani Gallardo to the second spot with the acquisition of former Cy Young winner Zach Greinke, and also bringing in Shaun Marcum to hopefully continue his success with the Blue Jays last year.  With these three and the possibility of some solid outings from Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson, I expect this Brewers team to improve their record a lot from last year.  

Pittsburgh Pirates
Could I have chosen a better segue from the Brewers to the Pirates than that video?  But anyways, anybody who has watched baseball over the last decade knows the only reason to pay attention to the Pirates is to see who your favorite team may be getting when the trade deadline comes around, which is a pity because they have possibly put together a team that could have some potential. Starting with Andrew McCutchen they have at least one elite player on the team, which is more than could be said about a couple of teams in the league. Much like the Reds pitching staff, the Pirates also have a trio of sophomores in Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker, but the difference is that all of them have what seems to be a good amount of potential.  If they decide that McCutchen could serve better as a second hitter (which I think could be a good idea with his power potential) Jose Tabata could be put into the leadoff spot and do pretty well, while Pedro Alvarez could show himself to be a hitter with true power from the hot corner, and Walker possibly showing himself as a do-it-all second baseman.  Unfortunately they also have Lyle Overbay, Chris Snyder and Ronny Cedeno starting which may offset any good the young players do, but lets try to look at the positives.  Expecting Garrett Jones will continue to do this thing and slug a few homers, we can see if the pitching can do anything to help the cause.  All signs point to no for that considering the starter with the best ERA last year was Ross Ohlendorf with an ERA of 4.07, which isn't horrible until you consider his 1-11 record.  This team is a lost cause that may threaten to barely climb out of the cellar if everything goes right.

The only guaranteed bright spot out there

St. Louis Cardinals

Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday.  I really think that is all I need to say about the Cardinals offense, except maybe a mention about the possible emergence of Colby Rasmus as a star.  As is usual, the NL Central is the Cardinals division to lose.  They have the three players previously mentioned, got Lance Berkman to add a little extra pop to the lineup, and also found Ryan Theriot to be an offensive improvement compared to Brendan Ryan last year.  Skip Schumaker comes back for another year as second baseman after a rough 2010 season, but he might be able to prove himself again by returning to his old form and hitting .300 again this year.  I am also very curious to see what this season will bring for David Freese who spent last season bouncing back and forth between the pros and AAA.  And they also still have Yadier Molina, who even though he is primarily known as the best defensive catcher in the league, is also deceptively good at the plate and is only 2 years removed from a season in which he saw himself hit over .300.  I thought a little while ago that the Cardinals were easily going to run away with the division this year like they are expected to, but then it was announced that Adam Wainwright was going to miss the season (he was going to be my Cy Young preditction), and threw my opinions off a bit.  They still have Chris Carpenter, but the drop from Wainwright to Jaime Garcia as your second pitcher is pretty devastating even though I have very high expectations for Garcia this year.  But we shall see how this season pans out.

Expect to see this a lot.

NL West Final Standings

1. St. Louis Cardinals

2. Milwaukee Brewers

3. Cincinnati Reds

4. Chicago Cubs

5. Houston Astros

6. Pittsburgh Pirates

I guess there wasn't any surprises this time (even though I did consider having the Brewers win it, but it didn't feel right).  Tune in eventually when I will have the AL East for you.

MLB 2011 Preview: AL West

Hey everyone its almost time for baseball season again!  I'm gonna start this season off right by giving a preview of each division with some things that intrigue me about the league this year.   Since I don't want to seem biased I rolled a dice to choose the first division for me, and it told me the AL West was a good place to start.  So lets go!

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
As much as it pains me to say this since I love the work Mike Scioscia has done with them over the last decade, but the Angels are no longer the powerhouse of the west.  Lets start with their offense, which is not looking very good as of now.  I like Howie Kendrick and Kendrys Morales is probably one of the more overlooked first basemen in the league, but that is the furthest extent of completely good things I can say.  Their next three best hitters are Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu, who all have one thing in common, they are all over the hill and hitting their career declines.  Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar, while both being greatly athletic on the field are not the best hitters I have ever seen, and Jeff Mathis is a career back-up who is under the Mendoza line for his career.  But there is one interesting wrinkle to this offense, and that is Peter Bourjos.  Who is Peter Bourjos you ask?  He is the man that Torii Hunter moved to right field to let play center, which even though I have never seen the young man play, should mean that Bourjos is nothing less than the next Jim Edmonds.  And he also hit .373 and slugged .588 during spring training so he may have some bat.  Since they look like they might not have the best offense, lets hope they can stop runs, and it sure looks like they can.  Boasting a top 2 pitchers of Jered Weaver and Dan Haren, they can look a little scary, and that's neglecting to mention that their other three pitchers are Ervin Santana, Joel Pinero and Scott Kazmir.  We know this team will strike quite a few people out as Weaver and Haren will probably both be in the top 5 in that category, but they won't be able to win if they don't get run support, so thats what I'm going to call the dependent factor for this team.  Either that or Kazmir getting his head out of his ass and showing us why it seemed like he had so much potential with the Rays.

The next Jim Edmonds?

Oakland Athletics

Oh my, I have to follow up the Angels with this, it must be terrible offense day.  The Athletics might have a worse offense than the Angels but there is one major difference between the two, where the Angels have the waning of good careers, the Athletics have a few up and comers.  This is a very good thing for them, because if a few guys pan out right they might be able to score some runs (or at least enough).  The offseason was very good to them too, they pulled off one of my favorite trades in acquiring David DeJesus, who is a pretty good player but nobody knows who he is because he played in Kansas City (yes, they still have a team).  The rest of their outfield serves good purpose as well, Coco Crisp is always a good stolen base threat, and Josh Willingham has been known to bop a few homers in the middle of an order.  I see potential in Daric Barton and Cliff Pennington, but not enough for them to become household names, Kevin Kouzmanoff will belt a few homers and get on base a few times, and Mark Ellis will hover around decent.  All that leaves us with is Hideki Matsui who will probably see a decline in his already declining stat line, but will serve well enough as an extra guy with some pop, and Kurt Suzuki whom I have always considered one of the more consistent and trustworthy catchers in the league.  So far you would expect I hate this years Athletics team, but you would be very wrong because their starting rotation is erection-worthy.  Of their four returning starters from last year, the one with the worst ERA is Dallas Braden, and his was 3.50.  Along with fellow lefties Gio Gonzalez and Brett Anderson, the latter of which is one of my dark horse Cy Young candidates, and ace Trevor Cahill, they have four very young and very talented starters who have the potential to do much better than each of their surprising 2010 seasons.  I expect the fifth pitcher will either be Brandon McCarthy or Rich Harden, who are both quite good at the end of your rotation.  I also need to point out that Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes and Andrew Bailey in the bullpen isn't too shabby either.  This team will be more of a surprise than their surprising 81-81 finish last year.  They are my sleeper team.

Don't you go getting hurt again Brett!

Seattle Mariners

Yikes.  The Mariners just make me sad, last year I expected them to perform very well, and they turned out to be one of the worst teams in the league.  MLB.com's depth chart for them has told me that Franklin Gutierrez has lost his starting job in center field to Michael Saunders, and I truly don't know what to make of it because I thought Gutierrez was one of their best players last year and I don't know anything about Saunders.  Milton Bradley is still starting in left, and the only thing I can predict about him with any faith is that at some point this year you will see him on Sportscenter and it will not be for his baseball-related actions on the field.  I'm happy to say they have a really good double play combination with Brendan Ryan and Jack Wilson, but unfortunately they will not be on base nearly enough as a duo to make the amazing fielding worth it.  I personally think Jack Cust is probably amongst the worst Designated Hitters in the league.  But maybe I'm being a little too critical, they do have a few things on the upside, I am willing to give Chone Figgins a mulligan on his abysmal season last year, Miguel Olivo is finally getting his long-deserved chance to be an everyday starter, and Justin Smoak was the centerpiece in the Cliff Lee trade, and is expected to have tremendous potential at first.  And lastly I must not forget Ichiro Suzuki, one of my favorite players in the entire league.  He will once again get 200 hits, hit around .340, and continue to be one of the best hitters I think I have ever seen in my life.  Beyond Felix Hernandez I really see nothing worth talking about in their starting rotation and that is a true shame.  Unfortunately the Mariners may be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their amazing 116 win season in 2001 with a season that will be quite the opposite.

A true legend of baseball, he deserves a better team around him.

Texas Rangers
Thank you Texas Rangers, I thought I would never be able to compliment an offense.  There is one true thing about the Rangers, and it is that they will score many runs.  After losing in the World Series, they have been able to bring much of their offense back, and may or may not have slightly improved on it.  Josh Hamilton has quite a good chance to repeat as AL MVP, and along with Nelson Cruz (one of the best right fielders in the game) and Julio Borbon, they have a good case for having the best outfield in the MLB.  Ian Kinsler will be one of the better second basemen offensively, Mitch Moreland will likely improve upon his numbers from last year, Elvis Andrus will continue to be a basestealer and a human vaccuum cleaner at shortstop, and Mike Napoli will definitely serve as an offensive improvement over Benjie Molina (though they may miss his veteran presence with a young pitching staff).  But this leaves me with one of what I think to be the biggest travesties of the year in baseball, that being the signing of Adrian Beltre.  Don't get me wrong, Beltre had a great year and is a good third baseman, but I would rather have Michael Young there everyday, rather than have him DH and serve as a utility man.  This is the third time they have moved Michael Young because they have obtained a "better" player, in the cases of Kinsler and Andrus it may have been justified because they at least left him with a steady place, but kicking your franchise's all time hits leader and a career .300 hitter out of an everyday spot just isn't proper.  Especially since Adrian Beltre isn't nearly as dependable or consistent as Michael Young has been.  But anyways, lets look at their pitching now, it doesn't seem to be anything special or anything too bad. I like C.J. Wilson a lot, but he isn't quite ready to be the ace of a rotation, but since none of the other guys they have are better than him they will have to work with what they got, and try to not let up an obscene amount of runs a game.  Losing Cliff Lee is seeming to be a big loss for this team, but there is still faith for them yet, if and when Brandon Webb returns he will be the X-factor of this team.  Two years and quite a few surgeries away from a three year span where he was either the Cy Young winner or runner-up, this man is very talented and if he returns to form may have Rangers fan forgetting who that Lee guy was.

I sure hope the antlers and claw come back...

AL WEST FINAL STANDINGS

1. Athletics

2. Rangers

3. Angels

4. Mariners

Yes I said the Athletics will win the AL West, I'm full of surprises.  Come on back soon to see if there are any surprises in store as the dice tells me the next division I look at will be the NL Central.

Project Yancey: Episode 25: Doug Out In Left Field

This is what I'm talking about, the episode kicks us off at a baseball stadium and Patti Mayonnaise being called to the plate.  As she apparently has a batting average of 1.000 (that's perfect for you all scoring at home), she promptly smacks the first pitch for a triple with the worst swing ever (and she also has a foot on the plate so she should technically be out.)  The next batter is Doug, who is announced to be the worst hitter in the league (the only possible parallel is they are the Rays, Patti is Evan Longoria and Doug is Carlos Pena without any power), and he shows why by missing the first two pitches for a quick two strikes.  Doug wonders why Patti only needs help with things he isn't good at when the next pitch blows by him right down the middle, we should assume he was struck out.  So now we return to real life and Doug and Skeeter are at their lockers when Coach Spitz is making an announcement on the intercom that tryouts for the softball team are open to all boys that day after school.  When they get to the tryouts they are promptly turned away along with many others for varying reasons, "negative muscle mass" for Doug and "negative brain mass" for Skeeter. He ends up giving a tryout to some kid in catcher's gear, who turns out to be really good.  When Coach Spitz tells the kid they are on the team and asks for their name, the kid pulls off the mask and reveals the face of Patti Mayonnaise underneath the mask.  Since Patti is a girl he kicks her off the team immediately by telling her to "hit the showers" which he quickly revises to "the girls' showers."  A dejected Patti goes to the bleachers with the rest of the cast-offs and decides the unite them as a team to take on the very team they were trying out for, the Honkers.  When she tells the rest of her band of misfits when practice is gonna be she tells them "I'm counting on you!" and happens to point to Doug who thinks she is solely counting on him.  Their practice the next day doesn't go very smoothly, players are complaining, Doug can't hit, and there was even a stereotypical scene where 3 players converge to catch a ball shallow in the outfield and all give way to the others causing the ball to land safely on the ground.  So after this abysmal showing Doug and Patti talk about it, and they decide they need a way to unite them all as a team.  Right on cue the ice cream man drives by and asks them if they want ice cream, and then continues to ramble about how when you want ice cream you just find someone with a Mr. Swirley uniform (the ice cream man also looks strikingly like Doug with soft serve on his head and if he lived the GTL lifestyle), which makes them think to get uniforms to unite the team.  So Doug is able to scrounge together matching Patti's Pulverizers bumper stickers to put on everyone's backs so they are dressed similarly and feel like a team.  Thanks to the power of being a team, they are able to limit the score so they are only losing 3-1 by the time Skeeter hits a 2-out double in the last inning.  This leaves Doug up with the game on the line, and in his nervousness he forgets to grab a helmet, this is when the magic happens.  Patti tosses Doug a helmet and notices him catch it with his left hand!  She then tells him since he is a lefty he should hit lefty (how did he not think of that), which causes him to hit a double as well.  So now Patti is up with Doug on second and they are losing by one.  She anticlimactically hits a ball hard which is caught on a dive by the other team's center fielder, and they lose.  Because of this showing their team is excited about how close they got, Patti turns down a chance to play for the Honkers because she loves her team and wants to challenge them to play again next week!  The End.

That is definitely GTL Doug working as a ice cream man so he can afford to party.

So this is absolute perfect timing, much like Patti's Pulverizers the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants were also a band of rejects.  Thanks to this perfect timing I am going to write a piece that I decided against when it first happened, so without further ado, I present the 50  reasons its awesome that the Giants won the World Series!
1. Brian Wilson's beard.
2. Sergio Romo's beard. (for a good view of  1 and 2)
3. Edgar Renteria being the MVP despite not starting in the NLCS.
4. Pablo Sandoval being the most popular player on the team despite being benched for most of the playoffs.
5. Buster Posey changing my mind on who the NL Rookie of the Year should be.
6. Aubrey Huff admitting that he wore a "lucky" red thong for all the games from August on.
7. Freddy Sanchez finally getting the chance to show off on the national stage making tons of awesome plays at second base by harnessing the power of a huge mole on his cheek.
8. Juan Uribe having a career year and reminding people that he exists and won a World Series before.
9. Pat Burrell being dropped from the Rays halfway through the year and then winning the World Series.
10. Aaron Rowand being the highest-payed positional player on the Giants and not getting a single start in the playoffs.
11. Andres Torres coming from nowhere and playing great all this year and setting the table many times in the series.
12. Cody Ross for being a 29 year old who is balding and hits homers all playoffs.
13. Cody Ross being the quickest I have come from hating a player (single-handedly beating my Braves) to absolutely loving him (hitting two homers off of Halladay less than a week later)  
14. The fact that Benjie Molina was traded to the Rangers to make room for Buster Posey and ended up playing against his old team in the World Series.
15. Travis Ishikawa's existence (seriously what a sweet name!)
16. Watching the Giant's pitching staff is almost as good as the Shawshank Redemption.
17. Tim Lincecum's hair.
18. Tim Lincecum's pitching.
19. Matt Cain dominating every game he pitched and finally showing everybody that he is a total bulldog.
20. Jonathan Sanchez was expected to be the breakout pitching star of the playoffs but didn't deliver.
21. Madison Bumgarner did deliver.
22. The last 4 players I mentioned will be superstars some day, and were all brought up through the Giant's organization.
23. Barry Zito being the highest-paid player on the Giants and being left off of the roster for the entire playoffs.
24. Barry Zito being reminded how good his curveball used to be whenever he had to watch Cliff Lee pitch against them, who somehow resurrected the famous 2002 Zito curve.
25. Ramon Ramirez being traded from the Red Sox to the Giants after blowing too many games and continuing to blow games.
26. I thought Mark Derosa was going to be huge when he signed with the Giants this offseason, I just remembered now he signed with the Giants this offseason.
27. Bruce Bochy has the world's largest head.
28. The World Series reminded me of 2002 when J.T. Snow saved Dusty Baker's son.
29. They lost the world series in 2002 with Barry Bonds and then won in 2010 without Barry Bonds.
30. This hopefully will mean San Francisco Giants and Barry Bonds won't be synonymous anymore.
31. Willie Mays's catch from the last time the Giants won a World Series (they were the New York Giants).
32. At&T Park is the third most beautiful stadium in sports (under Fenway Park and Wrigley Field).
33. Guys sit in canoes in the San Francisco Bay behind AT&T Park just hoping to get a chance to get a ball.
34. AT&T Park has an area where people are allowed to watch the game for free for three innings behind a chain link fence in the right field wall.
35. This probably caused the first parade in San Francisco in at least a decade that did not involve gay pride.
36. The Giants aren't the Yankees
37. The Giants aren't the Phillies
38. For the second straight year the World Series winner decline their option on the World Series MVP.
39. A Black and Orange team won the World Series the day after Halloween.
40. A team who's fans held up signs that said "fear the beard" won the World Series on the first day of No Shave November.
41. I properly used The Bad News Bears as my movie connection for them.
42. I had them ranked 5th in my playoff rankings (wasn't that bad.)
43. I wrote that I didn't understand how there offense wins games, and I'm still not sure.
44. Nolan Ryan is 63 and still throws 86 mph fastballs in a suit! (Okay sure that's about the Rangers' president but it is still amazing!)
45. Their World Series champion shirts were awesome! (see picture)
46. Nobody expected them to even make the playoffs as recently as late August.
47. They almost had to play a 163rd game to even make the playoffs.
48. They only stood a chance to make the playoffs because the Padres hit a 10 game losing streak and showed me a sports equivalent of the X-men movie trilogy.
49. Brian Wilson is now one of my favorite baseball players despite my massive bias against closers and mohawks.
50. This picture only exists because the Giants won the World Series. (see below)

Brian Wilson, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain... Magical

October Means Playoff Baseball

Hello Everybody, I'm gonna take a break from Project Yancey for a day or two because I want to talk some baseball.  If you hadn't known, the 2010 season just ended and we are heading into the postseason, which is basically the only reason (outside of Halloween) October exists.  I won't write my ideas about the season yet, I'm planning to do so after the World Series has been wrapped up, but I will say this was easily the most enticing and amazing season since 1998 which was easily the pinnacle of baseball from my childhood.  So for my playoff preview I am going to rank all of the 8 playoff teams in the order of likelihood they will win it all, and will try to relate each of the teams to a baseball movie that I may have specifically liked.  (Note: I am going to try not to put any bias into this being a Braves and Red Sox fan, but please forgive me if it gets in the way.)

Rookie of the Year
8. Atlanta Braves
See, I'm proving my lack of bias by claiming my personal favorite team has the worst chance of winning and is thus the worst of the teams.  My reasons for saying so is that I've watched them a lot and they really sputtered into the playoffs, coming down to a virtual must-win situation in game 162.  They have really been slumping lately (you really need more than one guaranteed starting outfielder to succeed in the playoffs), and had a terrible time for the injury bug to bite (breakout star infielder Martin Prado is out, and starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens is questionable).  But there are three reasons I see for why the Braves can be scary. First, they still have Tim Hudson, and Derek Lowe and Tommy Hanson have been pitching really hot lately, mixed with a very good bullpen they could do well in a short series.  Secondly, never underestimate the "do it for the skipper" psyche, with legendary manager Bobby Cox calling it quits at the end of the year.  And lastly, the reason I adorned this team with it's movie, Jason Heyward is an electric player who seems to come in in the clutch a lot, and has been playing quite well in the last month or two.  Yes, I would vote Heyward for my Rookie of the Year over Buster Posey, but I'll discuss that in the future.  Go Braves!

The Rookie
7. Cincinnati Reds
The Reds were amongst 2010's darlings, nobody expected them to do so well this year, or even challenge the Cardinals for their reign of the N.L. Central.  Except I did, I specifically went out of my way to say on Facebook on February 1, that the 2010 Reds had the talent and potential to be the 2008 Rays.  Why did I say this, they have a very good young team, with a talented outfield, and a rapidly emerging superstar in Joey Votto.  Yet they also really benefited from the veteran presence of Shortstop Orlando Cabrera (he always manages to get to the playoffs) and Third Baseman Scott Rolen.  With a starting pitching staff that I think was good enough to make it to the playoffs but not do much more, they may go home only a little later than their norm (especially since they face the Phillies in the first round).  Having said that, the 2008 Rays did have the postseason emergence of David Price, and if push comes to shove, I would watch out for Cuban defective Aroldis Chapman to come up huge with his 105 mph fastballs, much like the title character, he is a flame throwing rookie who had to go through some crazy stuff to get there.

Angels in the Outfield
6. Texas Rangers
Their angels in the outfield come in the form of Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Julio Borbon, and sometimes Vladimir Guerrero (usually the DH though).  In my mind this is probably the most frightening outfield that doesn't have anybody named Either or Kemp in it.  It is definitely an understatement to say this team can score runs, also having Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus in their lineup.  They seemed to slide quite easily into the playoffs winning the A.L. West despite having the worst record of a playoff team, albeit by only one game.  I think this team has the potential to be really good in the playoffs but theres perhaps one red flag too many.  First, I don't know what to think of their pitching staff, I love Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson, but those are easily the worst 1-2 pitchers for any team in the playoffs other than the Reds.  Second, Josh Hamilton is just now getting back to playing after missing nearly a month in September, and since he is probably the A.L. MVP, I'd like to think a lot of pressure rests on his shoulder (but probably less pressure than fighting off drug addictions and getting your life back on track to become the player people thought you were supposed to be after being a first overall pick in the draft.)  Also I don't know why, because I have never really watched them, but I feel like they are shaky defensively, and that's not good when you play the Rays.  But the Rangers are a feel-good team and I hope to see them do well.

5. San Francisco GiantsBad News Bears
I'm gonna jump to the point here, I don't understand how this offense wins games.  Their outfield seems to be comprised of guys who are playing well above their heads, and 3 of their top 4 outfielders weren't even with the club at the beginning of the year (Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Cody Ross).  The infield has seen renaissance years from Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff, but also saw a decline of their young superstar Pablo Sandoval AKA King Fu Panda AKA The Round Mound of Pound AKA this generation's potential Tony Gwynn.  In all fairness their catcher Buster Posey likely has just as good if not a better resume for Rookie of the Year as does Jason Heyward, but I'm biased and Jason Heyward is a phenom.  I will tell you why this team will in all likelihood beat the Braves in the first round though, neither have notably powerful offenses, but both have rather good starting pitching staffs.  I personally do feel that Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain (who I feel is VERY underrated), and Jonathan Sanchez are talented enough to keep them in any game, and they just seem less likely to give up runs than the Braves pitchers who are really good, but just short of that level (which is not an insult at all, Lincecum won the last 2 Cy Young awards.)  So in the end, the Giants look moderately good because the fact this is not 1998 and the MLB is transitioning into a pitcher's league once again.

The Natural
4. Minnesota Twins
I like the Twins, I like them a lot.  They have a roster that makes you sit there and wonder how good they could be, especially considering how well they played the second half of the year without former MVP Justin Morneau.  They have everything a team needs to succeed, some good young talent in Delmon Young, Denard Span and Danny Valencia, some good veteran players in Orlando Hudson, Michael Cuddyer, and Jim Thome, and most importantly arguably the best player in the league.  Joe Mauer (a bonifide natural talent) is one of the most important players in baseball, hes a terrific catcher defensively and offensively does things that catchers are never known for, consistent hitting, just for that he deserves to be a perennial MVP candidate.  Beyond that, I like their first two pitchers in Francisco Liriano and (moustache of the year nominee) Carl Pavano.  Mix that with a capable relief core, and the Twins can be extremely dangerous. Don't you dare let them sneak under the radar like they seemingly did all season.

3. New York Yankees61*
They are ranked above the Twins basically because they are the Yankees and that franchise really does have some magic for better or for worse.  The team is comprised of the whores of baseball, where money is the only important things.  The few players I feel are not whores, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Robinson Cano are really enough reason to believe a team to be good though.  Considering that the rest of the team is the best players money can buy (get it? get it?) they really are as good of a team as you can get on paper.  But note that I named this section after the movie 61* based on the 1961 season of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, which is such an endearing and great movie that my fandom to the Red Sox did not get in the way of enjoying it.  This title made sense to me beyond the fact it is a movie about the Yankees, but it relates because throughout the movie Whitey Ford is the only pitcher you notice or it possibly even mentions, that is a very good description of the 2010 Yankees pitching staff.  Sabathia is a likely Cy Young winner, but beyond him, they may need to be scoring a lot of runs.  Knowing how much pitching has always meant in the playoffs, this seems like a recipe for disaster unless something special happens, again this franchise has seen special things happen so I barely rank them above the Twins, but they are gonna play an even series.

Major League
2. Tampa Bay Rays
Major League is a movie in which the worst possible team is assembled because the owner wanted to sell as little as possible to move the team elsewhere, and when the team starts playing well they find out the team will be broken up to start from scratch the next year.  This is incredibly like the Rays, except for the worst possible team part, this team was expected to play this well, but that didn't stop Tampa fans from not showing up to games (note Florida is the world's largest retirement home so I can't blame them cause they legitimately cannot leave their rooms to go to the game), and finding out toward the end of the year their team will be broken up because the owners don't have the money.  So never underestimate the last hurrah mentality for these guys to want to win one for the memories.  Beyond that, this is a great team, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford are both incredible talents and the rest of their offense are special players for their own reasons.  They are as good as anybody at playing small ball, and that is always an advantage when you can end up in low scoring games.  I'll also point out that David Price would be my Cy Young vote, and Matt Garza is capable of winning any game, as well as the rest of their starters being very capable.  Factor in Rafael Soriano entering the "best closer in the league" debate, and Joe Maddon knowing how to manage a game, the A.L. is theirs to lose.  (Last wrinkle, they have home field advantage in the ALDS and ALCS, I shudder at the thought of a ALCS game 7 in a nearly empty stadium.  It's simply depressing.)

1. Philadelphia PhilliesMajor League 2
After the same team from the first Major League sees extreme success, and become one of the better teams in the league, they get comfortable where they are and lose track of how they got there.  This causes them to start off with issues but eventually find their stride at the end and go into the playoffs with a lot of momentum.  As scary as it is, that's a perfect description of the Phillies after being in the last 2 World Series (winning one of them).  They finished with the best record in baseball, and have virtually no weakness.  They have 2 former MVPs, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins (even though he is hurt a little), the best second baseman in baseball by a longshot in Chase Utley, and the rest of their starters are, at worst, good players.  Their top 3 pitchers Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are experienced and as good as anybody in the leagues (even though I feel like Hamels is overrated), and their bullpen is competent (okay maybe one tiny weakness).  I've watched them play the Braves in recent days and they are clutch as a team can get, and don't make mistakes.  It will take a quite good series to knock these guys off, and being a Braves fan, I hope someone does.

Movies I'm sad I didn't get to mention: Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, The Sandlot, Eight Men Out, and A League of Their Own.

Project Yancey: Episode 10: Doug, Mayor for a Day

Okay we get off this episode on a wrong note Doug, field trips are boring?  What kind of 11 and a half year old doesn't love to get a day off of school because of a random field trip, I don't care where it is it was always accepted with open arms.  But anyways Doug did like his most recent one, to go out for Student Government Day and follow a government official to see what they do.  But the drag is the part that they need to write a paper, but oh well it's a day off of classes anyways.  The government officials are chosen randomly from a box and everyone is getting jobs that they would enjoy (Sheriff Roger anyone?), but Doug is a little frightened by his, he got the Mayor.  It is true that Doug isn't exactly leadership material, but he shouldn't be so bummed, well at least not until Mr. Bone tells him his paper better be good, or else it's going on his permanent record!  Doug breaks into daydream land as a television news interviewer with the Honorable Mayor Robert "Bob" White, when he is pulled out of his trance by the Honorable Mayor Robert "Bob" White, and his first question is answered with the useless vacillation typically seen in politics.  But the cool thing is the Mayor has an awesome office.  The Mayor is a busy man as the telephone interrupts Doug's first question, "what do you do?"  After some awesome gadgetry, some more pressure from Mr. Bone, and some more daydreaming, Doug gives his interview a second chance, but the phone keeps on ringing.  It appears that Mr. Swirly from the ice cream plant has had some problems with cooling, and there will be no ice cream for Student Government Day! Gasp!  This sends a nervous Mayor White running out of the room to ask his wife's advice and Doug alone in the mayor's office.  Try as he might, Doug cannot resist the urge to sit in the big guy's chair, and even answer his phone!  It's Mr. Swirly again, the cooling fans are back on but there's a major issue, a bunch of chocolate chips are gonna crash into the fans, and he needs to know what to do!  Doug decides he should let the chips hit the fan, which turns out would chop up the chocolate chips and throw them into the ice cream, making Chocolate Swirly (Doug's favorite) and like that Doug had saved the day!  This is when Mayor White returns and the press (namely Patti Mayonnaise) follows to get a quote about Doug for saving the day.  Everything turned out well for Doug, and he even got a free box of Chocolate Swirly from Mayor White.

Tasty Chernobyl.

Oh jeez, me with responsibility and leadership?  The closest I've ever come was I was the upset winner of my middle school Vice President seat over a popular kid.  I followed this fantastic campaign (topped off by my speech being Enrique Iglesias's song "Hero" rewritten and sang by me about the Vice President race), with as my 8th grade year book says "You are the worst Vice President ever!!!" and I most definitely was.  I've also been for two years the captain of my intramural slow-pitch softball team, which basically means I send out emails of when games are.  So in neither of those situations have I actually had much decision making experience.  Even in the realms of friendly plans and relationships, I've always seemed to defer decision making to the others and just kinda go with the flow.  But there has always been one situation that I have always wanted to make the decisions, and to my memory, I've never fully had it.  Years ago when I used to play baseball I was a catcher, this was a pretty good position for me as even though I was never a big kid by any means, it was a good position for someone with a high baseball IQ.  I like to think I had(have) a pretty good baseball IQ, and I was also not too bad at calming down a pitcher when they got a little flustered.  But I never got the opportunity to call the pitches myself, I merely was the relay from the coach to the pitcher.  I want to call those goddamn pitches.  So this isn't as much of a story or an experience as it is me stating an item on my bucket list, I want to catch one more ballgame, and I want to call the pitches.  To celebrate this I'm gonna post two of my favorite catcher moments from movies Rube Baker, and below the #1, the great Crash Davis!