June 2, 2013
A little French this morning?
Well, in honor of the French Open I got myself and my poor vision up at just after 2 a.m. PST to watch a little open French Tennis. Something just kind cool about those orangish clay courts. I saw a couple of high ranked Eastern European ladies take care of business, Russian Maria Kirilenko and Victoria "The Grunter" Azarenka of Belerus. Listening to the interesting commentary Pam Shriver and Chris Evert made me think--I wouldn't mind sitting in a booth with Bud Collins, Dick "Oh My" Enberg, and my favorite tennis gal, Lindsay Davenport. Guest appearances by John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters would all be grand, except I would be pretty nervous will all of them for various reasons! Of course I would also want to meet and greet with my man the Fed. Years, and I do mean years ago, when I worked for the Sacramento Capitals, Davenport made quite a positive impression on me. Davenport was a competitor, could mash, and also frequently interacted with the crowd flashing some humor and personality. As I am writing Sharapova and young American phenom Sloan Stephens are battling it out to make the Final 8 on the women's side.
The .333 pole.
With just about 1/3 of the season gone in the MLB, things look kind of interesting. If the playoffs started today, in the AL it would be Boston, Detroit, Texas, with Oakland and the Orioles as the Wild Cards. In the NL, it would be the Braves, Cardinals, and DBacks, with the Reds and Pirates as the Wild Card.
AL WEST: The A's are on a bit of roll, taking 14 out of the last 16. Josh Donaldson has been mentioned lately as a possible all-star candidate, but I believe three others should be in the conversation as well: Jed Lowrie, Grant Balfour, and Sean Doolittle. Lowry can hit, with a slash line of .314 batting average, .392 on base percentage, and .441 slugging. His OPS, which is batting + slugging sits at .833. Balfour has 13 saves with a 1.48 ERA, and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of 1.15. Doolittle has been untouchable until this last week, still he maintains a WHIP of .75, and has fanned 24 batters in 25 innings. Texas is off do a great start, with Yu Darvish looking like an Elite arm. We will just see if last summer's Texas two step into second place is lingering in the back of their minds. The Angels, man I just can't figure these guys out. The Astros just took 3 in a row from the Halos, in Anaheim! Oh well. I just hope Arte Moreno, the Angels owner never picks up a copy of Moneyball!
AL CENTRAL: Cleveland is a great story, but I see the Tigers just sitting there waiting to pounce. If these Tigers acquire any good relief pitching at the trade deadline, then the AL banner will once again go through the Motor City.
AL EAST: The beast. The Rays and Yankees each have 31 wins and are sitting tied for third. The Red Sox have the touch middle of the order with Dustin Pedroia, Big Poppy, and Mike Napoli. Pedroia and Napoli literally have no strike zone, and how in the world do you pitch to Poppy? The Yankees were supposed to be banged up, but they just kept on rolling. I fear the trading dealing, when the all these teams plus the Orioles start looking for arms. Hopefully there will be a trade embargo put on the AL EAST and the Tigers.
NL WEST: Oooh, very interesting little division. The World Champs are "scuffling" to coin a Zitoian phrase, the Dbacks and Rockies are scrapping, and even the Padres of Petco are hanging around at 6 back. "Oh My" how about them Padres, and Mr. Enberg even calls their TV games! Did I mention the "Can't buy me Love" Dodgers? I don't know for sure but I am thinking the baseball gods don't like an association guy, that is the National Basketball Association, "Showtiming" around in the MLB. Hey don't blame me Dodger fans, Mark Ellis photo is up on my wall. You heard it here first, Tony LaRussa will be the next manager of the Dodgers.
NL CENTRAL: The Cardinals, Reds, and Pirates are sitting less than 3 games apart. The Cardinals have been on fire, and nipping at their heals are the Pete Rose's and Willie Stargell's. The MLB network does a pretty good job of showing all of the teams, and it sure looks like those 3 teams have great parks! Any one with a an "Ame" is pulling for the Pirates.
NL EAST: The chop don't stop. The Braves just keep on keeping on. The added the uptown Uptown brothers and things just keep rolling in Coca Cola City. I am thinking the baseball gods were not happy with the way the Nats handled ace Stephen Strasburg last year, in particualar the way they shut him down at the end of the seaon. Ponder this one for a minute, the Nats lose a heart breaker--an epicheart breakers-- to the Cards in Game 7 of the LDS last year, and now they are floundering. Some have said the Nats were a little arrogant in holding him the big righty out of the postseason last year. The Giants loved it, the baseball gods, well, I just hope for Washington DC residents that RG3 gets healthy!
Roadtrips of the future: The trip to Milwaukee and Chitown would be fun! Beer, Bratz, and Deep Dish!
Tonight, June 3: Can Bron Bron and the Heat make it to San Antonio?
On Deck: Lots of great drama to be written in the Sports World this week, with the Stanley Cup playoffs, the MLB Draft, the French Open, and even the Belmont on Saturday. If you were thinking about updating Dad's TV to a more Man Cave friendly size, 55 inches or more, than now is the time!
Here is a noteworthy "Grey" tidbit worth reading. There is a story in SB Nation that Colin Kaepernick, the beloved 49er QB, was on Al Davis' radar before the 2011 NFL Draft. Raider radar, hee hee.
No comments:
Post a Comment