 Sunday, October 28, 2007
Rockies on The Ledge
The Red Sox have taken a commanding 3-0 game lead in the World Series, making them look like the next champs. Colorado has a very large hole to try to pry itself out of. This plays into the Tank's theory that the Rockies were cold waiting 9 days to play the World Series after winning the NLCS.
After two years in a row of teams that were on a roll stalling in the Fall Classic since they had to wait, maybe MLB will finally change the dates around of the playoff schedule.
Part of me wants the Red Sox to win, mostly to enhance the Yankees' Rivalry. If the Sox win, it is the Red Sox that have won more World Series this decade than the Yankees. As much as the Yankees hate to admit it, it is good for the rivalry. Before the recent Red Sox revival, it was just the Yankees always winning, not much of a rivalry.
Posted by Steve in New York.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
NFL Week #8 Picks
Last Week: I was 2-1 in last week's picks and 8-4 on the season.
This Week's Fearless Picks:
Barring jet lag and a bad batch of fish and chips, the Giants will destroy the winless Dolphins in London.
The Jets beat the Bills in a close game at the Meadowlands. Is it Chad Pennington's last game as a starter? Will Kellen Clemens relieve him part way through the game?
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Friday, October 26, 2007
College Football Week #8 Picks
Last Week: I was 4-0, touch wood. I am 18-8 on the season.
This week's fearless picks:
#1 Ohio State wins at #25 Penn State.
#4 Arizona State beats #21 California.
#8 USC wins at #5 Oregon in a barnburner.
#10 South Florida wins at #23 Connecticut.
#11 Florida beats #18 Georgia at Jacksonville.
Local Teams:
Sorry Kathleen, #6 West Virginia wins at Rutgers.
Syracuse has a bye this week.
Posted by the Tank in NY.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Too Much Rest?
Last week on Steve and the Tank, Steve argued that rest is a good thing and the Tank said that too much rest will cool off a team. Well, the Rockies clinched the NLCS via a sweep, following a sweep in the NLDS after winning like 15 out of 16 games at the end of the season. To say they were hot was an understatement. But they had to wait 9 days to play the Red Sox. The Red Sox got hot at the end of the ALCS and are going into the World Series on a roll. The Red Sox won last night 13-1, giving evidence, like Detroit last year, that winning the LCS too early can be a liability, not an asset. MLB needs to revamp the schedules so if a team sweeps the LCS they are not waiting around 9 days to play their next game. Posted by Steve in New York
Rudy Guiliani Must Hand Over His Primo Tickets and Fan-In-Chief Title to the Tank
I was shocked and dismayed to learn that former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani said that he would root for the Red Sox in the World Series while campaigning in Massachusetts.
I understand that he is from an older generation who are loyal to their respective leagues. I remember Linda telling me that her Mom roots for the National League team in the World Series even if it isn't the Mets. For instance, after the Mets lost to the hated Braves in the 1999 NLCS, she rooted for those very same Braves who were thankfully swept by the Yankees. (Full Disclosure: I was at Game 4 of the Sweep.)
Even if you have a gun to your head, a Yankees fan can't root for the Red Sox. (The only possible exception of Ronjon. Happy Birthday Ronjon!)
As for Mayor Guiliani, he lost many friends (and possibly votes) in NY and elsewhere. There are many Yankees fans in swing states like New Jersey and Florida. We'll see what affect that has next year.
Contrast Mayor Guiliani with his possible general election opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton. Senator Clinton claims to be a "Yankees fan" but grew up a Cubs fan.
Finally, current NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg may run as an independent in 2008 for President. He grew up a Red Sox fan and has diplomatically eluded the issue.
These politicians need to get with the program and be with the people.
Bottom Line: The USA and NYC are doomed unless you vote SteveAndTheTank.com as your presidential ticket. Steve is 35 and I am 37 so we are constitutional eligible to be Vice President and President, respectively. I ask for and hope to have your support. Go Rockies!
Posted by the Tank on the road to the White House.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
World Series Predictions
Tonight the World Series kicks off and most analysts are predicting the Red Sox. Of the 10 ESPN analysts predictions, only 2 are going for the Rockies. There are many reasons to choose either way so I am going to stake my ground with the Rockies: Rockies 4- Red Sox 2. It will be fun seeing the Rockies light up Dice-K. Some bad news for the Red Sox, 17 game winner Tim Wakefield is being left off World Series roster due to shoulder issues. Posted By Steve in New York
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
What about the Red Sox? The Rockies? The Mets?
The back page has been dominated by the Yankees in the last 10 days. The headline the other day: "Steinbrenner picks his nose, by the way, the Red Sox force Game 7." Do the Yankees do this on purpose? I actually think that to some degree they do, but for the most part it is just that their season is over and it is time to make some moves. (Mets fans usually hate when the Yankees do this but they are happy to have the attention focus on the Yankees problems since misery loves company.) To contribute to the media feeding frenzy, S&TT will contribute some more fodder: Joe Girardi has been interviewed, spending 6 hours yesterday in Tampa. Don Mattingly is to be interviewed today, and Tony Pena (because you always need to interview at least 3) is up tomorrow. Expect fast movement on this issue, before the end of the World Series so they can negotiate with their 3 big free agents: ARod, Posada, and Riveria. Make no mistake, the Yankees will be a different team next year, a new manager, a new pitching coach, and there is a good chance that they will lose 1 of the three players to free agency. (My money is that ARod will jump ship.) The first days after World Series + 10 will be fun to watch, maybe even more exciting than parts of the actual season. Posted by Steve in New York.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Why are we waiting 3 days for the World Series?
Last night the Boston Red Sox routed Cleveland to take Game 7 and go to their second World Series in the last 4 years. A week ago tonight the Colorado Rockies cliched a four game sweep and have been waiting. Why do we have to wait until Wednesday for the World Series to start, three days after Boston wins and eight days after Colorado? If the Fall Classic goes into seven games, it will end on November 1st. November? Sure Derrik Jeter is "Mr. November" for his home run after midnight on 10/31/01, but we had baseball in November only after 9/11 when we had a week of the regular season delayed, and the last two games of that series were played in Arizona. There is too much time between the Division Series and the League Championship Series and thus the World Series. There should be only 1 day between the end of the Division Series and the League Championship Series and only 1 day between the LCS and the World Series, and have less days in-between the games during the series, only 1 day off after game 2 and 1 day off after game 5 should be allowed. This series with the Red Sox and Indians seemed to drag on forever. For example, the Indians went 4 games in the ALDS to defeat the Yankees and still had to wait 4 days to play the Red Sox, who had to wait 5 days after sweeping the Angles. The Rockies and Arizona both had to wait 5 days after sweeping their respective teams in the NLDS. Even without a sweep, they would have had to wait too many days. There have been arguments in some quarters that the Rockies are now cold and stale since they have had 8 days off. I am not so sure that I buy that, after 162 regular season games, the 1 day playoff, the NLDS and the NLCS, a few days off is great, and the extended days off can be used very wisely by the coaches with simulated games, batting practice, etc. We'll see, if the red-hot Rockies go down fast like the hot Tigers did last year, maybe MLB will start to listen to our complaints. Posted By Steve in New York
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The End of the Torre Era
My friend and former colleague weighed in on the Yankees' past, present, and future in the following post. Thanks and take it away Otto!
Well, my Friends!
All good things have to come to an end. But let's face it the Yankees are a team in transition whether Torre stayed or not. This is a team that has serious issues that need resolution. They can be competitive and they can make the playoffs but it is highly unlikely that they can advance to the world series and win it. Consider for a moment the 1998-2000 Yankees (I know it's not fair to compare any team to that team but it will illustrate a point). Every player in that lineup and you know them well: Girardi, Martinez, Knoblauch, Jeter, Brosius, Curtis, Spencer, Williams, O'Neil, Davis and Justice could hit, field and run the bases intelligently. Today I see a lineup that top to bottom has defects. I'm not asking for 9 DiMaggios but the late 90s squad did everything right - not spectacular but right. In short they played fundamentally sound baseball which I have not seen from this team since 2001. Consider:
Catcher: Posada - great year but definitely aging, can't run bases at all and can't catch up to hard fast balls especially late in the year.
1st Base: Mientkiewicz - great fielding can't hit for average or power but good bunter. Giambi - steroids, injury, no fielding and I'm being generous.
2nd Base: Cano - great hitter but God almighty has there ever been a 2nd baseman who "just misses" ground balls like this guy. Am I the only one who noticed this. His range seems to be good enough to just miss balls. On top of that he makes many errors and sometimes plays too nonchalantly.
SS: Jeter: great hitter - but let's face it ZERO range at shortstop, especially to his left and since 2002 his playoff performances have left a lot to be desired.
3B: A-Rod - no point in discussing - the stat machine is a head case in October. Maybe leaving NY is best for him.
OF: - Matsui: solid hitter and fielder, Cabrera: good field - no hitting, Abreu patient at the plate, good arm but slow in the field and virtually no power from a power position and Damon - solid but aging.
And I did not address patient hitting (taking balls and swinging at strikes). Not swinging at every pitch may have been a death-penalty offense where Cano and Cabrera are from and Jeter strikes out way too much for a 2 or 3 hitter.
The Yankees have a lot to address and the most serious has to be defense up the middle. I wonder if Jeter is at the beginning of the end of his time at SS. If his range decreases any more it's something that has to be considered. Cano may simply be too big to be a second baseman. His "just misses" may be a product of being unable to get down fast enough for some of these hot grounders. But the Yankees are building for the future with one of the finest crops of young pitchers I have ever seen: Hughes, Joba, Kennedy and other in the minors. And if they are building on pitching then they need defense, especially up the middle. They need to get better defense and they need consistent hitters who don't get streaky. I'd rather have a consistent .280 25 HR hitter than a streaky .320 54 HR hitter (anyone we know?). And now there is the question of Mariano. Do we keep him? Who do we have who could close? The Yanks have some work to do so let's hope for the best.
Otto
Written by Otto and Posted by the Tank in NY.
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