Dog Days

The Other Day the LA Dodgers claimed both Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett of waivers from the Red Sox and Boston agreed to trade Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford, who just had Tommy John, to LA.  With this trade the Red Sox have officially thrown in the towel, and now have a lot more salary space to maneuver as they unloaded over $200 Million in salary.  This move makes the dodgers contenders if not this year certainly next, Magic Johnson and their new owners are really pumping money into that franchise.
As we near the end of August, the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff races are heating up.  In the American League, (AL) every division and the Wild Card are going to go down to the wire.  In the East the New York Yankees who have been in a bit of a tough stretch with 20 games in a row, lead both the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays by 4.5 and 4 games respectively.  CC Sabathia looked good in his DL comeback on friday and Andy Pettitte is scheduled for a September return, as they have an always explosive offense and looked primed to win the division.  Tampa and Baltimore won't go away, Tampa has great pitching and Baltimore just made another move to sure up there pitching.  In the Central the Chicago White Sox have a 2 game lead on the Detroit Tigers.  The Chicago White Sox looked good (when the Yankees were in Chicago) behind a good offense and the pitching of Chris Sale, Detroit has had an up and down season.  In the West the Los Angles Angles have made multiple moves to compete but those moves have not paid off, Albert Pujols is injured and Zach Grienke hasn't done well.  Texas has a lot of pitching and behind Josh Hamilton and look poised to win the West, currently a 6 game lead over the Oakland A's.  The Wild Card standings are interesting with Baltimore, Tampa and Oakland (a real surprise with a mix of kids and veterans) all tied, with a half game lead on Detroit.  To pick the playoffs in the AL I would go with the Yankees, White Sox and Rangers, for the Wild Cards Tampa and Oakland. (just have a feeling about the A's)
With the second Wild Card this season more emphasis is being put on winning your division because you want the off days before you start, you don't want to have to play in that one game playoff, where anything can happen.
In the National League (NL) Washington and Atlanta are fighting it out in the East, I like Washington but how far they go depends on how big a lead they have when they shut Strasberg down and where do they go without him.  In the Central it looks like the Cincinnati reds, who may become better when Joey Votto comes back.  The NL west has the best race with the Melky Cabrera less San Francisco Giants holding a 2 game lead on the improved LA Dodgers.  I am going to go ahead and say the Giants hold on.  In the Wild Card the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis cardinals hold a 1 and 2 game lead on the LA Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.  For the playoffs in the NL I'll go with Washington, Cincinatti and San Francisco, for the Wild Cards I'll go with St. Louis (after last year I believe) and the LA Dodgers.                                    

Steven Strasburg

The Washington Nationals have said repeatedly that they will shut down the young righty Steven Strasburg, who is recovering from Tommy John Surgery.    It is common practice to limit the innings of pitchers coming back from Tommy John, there is medical evidence to back this up.   First it was 160 innings now its closer to 180 innings before the organization stuts Steven down.  Steven has pitched 145 and a third innings to this point, and will have about eight starts remaining (he will be shut down before) in the rotation this season (plus possible playoffs) he is going to get to his innings limit before the end of the season.  (at 6+ innings a start he has about 5 or 6 starts left)  Their has been the thought that the Nationals shouldn't shut Steven down in the middle of a playoff race.  Shutting Strasburg down and not letting him start in a playoff games is not be a popular choice.  You can't really argue with what the Nationals are steadfast on doing, except for the fact that they are in all likelihood going to be a playoff team, and they won't be letting their young ace take the ball.  What I would have done, is I probably would have left him down in spring training a little longer (a month) and not brought him north with the team right away that way you get another four or so starts out of him.  The problem is that the Washington Nationals didn't know they would be this good and on the verge of the playoffs, if they had left Steven in spring training for an another month they might not have been good and pressured to bring him up of they may have not gotten to his limit.  One way or another National fans might have been disappointed, he doesn't start the season or your good and now he won't pitch in the playoffs.          

Little League World Series

Every august I like to watching some of the Little League World Series, mostly because the kids are so passionate about it.  These 11 to 13 year olds are all about having fun and playing for the love of the game.  This tournament which is held every august, in Williamsport Pennsylvania  reminds us that games are fun and pure and played for nothing but fun and pride.  There is no money involved, everyone including the umpires volunteer their time.  The kids on the teams from the United States and the World have a great time together, and will build friendships that might last a lifetime.   When you hear one of these kids interviewed their just happy to be there, they talk about how nice the stadium is and how green the grass is.  This year is especially nice because there is a team from Africa, Uganda that came from nothing to make its way here.  Little League was the springboard to the Majors for guys like Lastings Millage, Gary Sheffield, Jason Marquis, Charlie Hays and Lloyd McClendon.    

Red Sox last stand

The Boston Red Sox did not get off to a good start tonight, in their series opener with the New York Yankees.  Boston doesn't have much of a shot at the postseason anyway but they need to start winning series and a few sweeps would help out.  Being 13 and a half back at this point (8/17) in the season gives them no shot at the division, if they were to take two of three this weekend, maybe they could still entertain thoughts about a wild card in which they are only six and a half out.  Not only are they these many games out of the playoffs but they have more than one team to jump over.  The Red Sox collapsed and did not win the wild card last year, since then they seem to have lost confidence and are only 15 games over .500 since.  I am not sure Bobby Valentine was the right fit, up in New England but their hands were sort of tied at the time as the other managing candidates were scooped up before they decided.  Bobby has never really been able to gain the trust of his whole team or the boston media.  In the Red Sox defense they did have a lot of injuries to key players this year, Carl Crawford, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Andrew Bailey but every team in the AL east has had to over come key injuries, the Yankees lost Mariano Rivera, Brett Gardner, Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte.  Baseball is a long season and sometimes its about managing injuries and who can do the best job.  With Boston it's not only Injuries Beckett and Lester, two of their stars are a combined 12-20, eight games under . 500 from those two.  Going into this season I was questioning the Red Sox depth, especially at pitching and its landed them at fives games under .500 with 42 games remaining.  Its been interesting to watch Bobby Valentine age during this trying season.  I've noticed Bobby V's hair getting a lot more grey since his introductory press conference.                

Replacement Officials

Week one of the NFL preseason started on Thursday, with replacement officals patrolling the fields.  The league was unable to come to an agreement with their officials this year, the officials want their benefits and vacation like everybody else.  After awhile these new officials who have come up from college and other lower level leagues will be serviceable, teams and the league want their normal officials back.  Officials are like players in that you scout them in order to tell your team about certain crews who have a tendency to make a certain type of call.  The NFL is committed to these replacement officials until at least the second week of the preseason.  Hopefully by the third week the regular guys come back, and they can knock the rust off in time for the regular season.  Officials need some time to practice making calls in game action, to get back int the swing of things.        

Dwight Howard

The Dwight Howard saga is finally over, with a trade to the Los Angles Lakers last night.  I would say this was a good trade, not a great trade.  All the Laker fans who are declaring themselves the NBA champions, are looking at the names, not the broader landscape of the NBA.  Yes, the Lakers can put Kobe, Nash, Gasol and Howard on the floor all at once.  Now they have multiple play makers and Kobe says this is his team, so I don't think he'll tolerate the offense going to someone else. (will Kobe and Howard clash, at some point)  Howard has always seemed selfish and hard to coach to me.  The Lakers have also not gotten any younger or athletic, Steve Nash is past his prime and Kobe's not getting any younger.  The Lakers are now most likely the favorites to make a long playoff run, but I think both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat are still better.  I am not bashing the Lakers but I don't think this trade is as glamorous as all their fans are saying, the Heat have better shooters and the Thunder are more athletic.          

Yankee line-up

The Yankees had a chance to come back last night against the always erratic Jose Valverde, but Curtis Granderson who is in a slump struck out to end the game.  I don't believe to Yankees are in danger of not winning the division.  With A-Rod out probably another 3-4 weeks I would tweak the line-up a bit.

1. Jeter
2. Swisher
3. Cano
4. Teixeira
5. Granderson
6. Ibanez or Jones
7. Chavez
8. Martin
9. Ichiro

I like Ichiro in the nine spot for a double lead off.  Ichiro's on base percentage is not good enough to hit in the top of the order, but the double lead off enables you to do things such as hit and runs and steals.  The double lead off also stretches the line-up.  

Blade runner

Some say that Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee from South Africa has an unfair advantage because he is running on carbon-fiber racing blades.  The South African who had his legs amputated shortly after birth, qualified for the Olympics and is running against able bodied runners.  I do not believe that Oscar has an advantage, its leaving the playing field in a way.  While he is running in carbon-fiber blades he does not have the best training and the best coaches and scientists to study and dissect video.        

MLB trade deadline

Earlier this week the (MLB) Major League Baseball trade deadline came and went.  Some teams solidified themselves for playoff runs and others started selling key pieces of their teams.  Both the Los Angles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants got stronger for their National League west battle.  Both NL west teams received a Philadelphia Phillie outfielder with Hunter Pence going to the Giants and Shane Victoriano going to the dodgers, the Dodgers also got former Miami Marlin Hanley Ramirez.  Things haven't gone according to plan for the Miami Marlins in the first year with a new manager, new stadium and a new name.  From the first day of the season things have gone wrong in Philadelphia, first it was injuries to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard so the offense suffered and Cliff Lee has one win to his name.  Now the Phillies have traded two thirds of their outfield and have over $100 million committed to four players for next year so it doesn't look like a quick fix in the city of brotherly love.
In the American League the Anaheim Angels and Texas Rangers made the big moves.  Both Teams added to there pitching staffs.  The Angels now have 5 top flight starting pitchers with their acquisition of Zach Grienke, The Rangers who had a pitching void created by injuries have filled there pitching need with Ryan Dempster.  The New York Yankees made some moves to add depth to their roster, by getting Ichiro it enables them to put Andrew Jones and Raul Ibanez back at the dh, they also added some depth on the infield with a utility player.