Monday Morning Mehta 6/6/05
Edition # 122
June 6, 2005
Note: Next MMM will be June 20th.
MLB/Phils
The Phillies accomplish something they haven't done in the previous 121 editions of MMM. They had a perfect 6-0 week. By doing so they have put themselves in the thick of the divisional and wild card race.
Even so, this Phils team continues to remain an anomaly. A 30-27 record isn't exactly grounds to throw a parade, so we'll break down the Phillies using the "Is the glass half full or half empty" question.
Half full:
- The hitting has finally come around. The Phillies rank second in BA and have hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position the last 3 weeks.
- Randy Wolf is back. 5-0 in his last 6 starts.
- Bobby Abreu is having another great year. Abreu, Derreck Lee and Albert Pujols are the frontrunners for NL MVP at this point.
- Pat Burrell is quietly putting together a monster season. His 43K's to 30 walks ratio is the best of his career.
- Jimmy Rollins has been hot the last 2-3 weeks.
- Mike Lieberthal is 7 for his last 16 with 8 RBI's. He had 9 before that.
- The platoon of Kenny Lofton/Jason Michaels and Chase Utley/Placido Polanco is working out very well. Sure you'd like to see both Polanco and Bell in the lineup more but this is the glass half full portion.
- Ryan Madson has allowed one earned run in his last 15 innings.
Half empty
- The bullpen is depleted. After Madson everyone else has been very shaky. 2 setup men just isn't going to get it done.
- No starter has gone 8 innings since May 22nd. This is going to catch up to them soon.
- Jimmy Rollins "hot streak" has gotten him to a .315 OB%, still pathetic for a leadoff hitter, and not conducive to scoring runs in the long run.
- Jim Thome just doesn't look right.
- Billy Wagner just doesn't look right.
- Where is the Jon Lieber of April? He's already gotten the Kevin Millwood syndrome?
- The Phillies are still in 4th place. No matter how you slice that, it's still not in the playoffs.
- Florida and Atlanta have played their worst stretch of baseball. Odds are they aren't going to continue to play this poorly.
Well, there you have it. Where do I fall into this whole mess? Well, I'll stand by my preseason prediction of 88 games and missing the playoffs.
Around the League
I have to start with the Cubs here again who've despite all of their injuries have put together a Philliesesque streak of 9/10. They've vaulted themselves right back into contention. Getting rid of Latroy Hawkins may be the greatest move this team has ever made.
Speaking of which, Latroy Hawkins is awful. At one point against the Phillies on Wednesday night he threw 11 straight balls.
I guess it's time to take the Washington Nationals seriously? Besides trips to visit the LA Angels and Texas, they have Oakland, Seattle, Pittsburgh (not playing bad) and Toronto on the schedule this month. They may be in the race for a while...
The Marlins looked awful this weekend. They may need a shakeup there too. Mike Lowell is just not getting the job done as he hasn't hit a home run since April 12th. Juan Pierre's Jimmy Rollinsesque .311 OB% is killing them also.
The Braves are a complete mess these days. I don't even know where I'd begin breaking down their problems. Of course this is what I was saying about them this time last year.
The Yankees are in trouble also. It's nothing a few trades can't clean up, but the starters have been bad pretty much the whole year besides a 4 week stretch. They Yanks haven't won a game all year in which they didn't score 4 or more runs. No 3-1 or 2-0 victories means no playoffs if you ask me.
Minnesota and Boston are knocking on the doors of Chicago WS and Baltimore. White Sox have a tough schedule this month too.
Finally, the Texas Rangers. Alfonso Soriano, Mark Tiexeira and company have been on fire. Mark Tiexeira is probably the most underrated player in baseball right now. I doubt the pitching can hold up (how is Kenny Rogers this good?) but Buck Showalter has got to be a top 5 manager in baseball.
NBA - Derreck Sura
Detroit v Miami - Tied 3-3. Dwyane Wade's strained right rib cage muscle is the big story here. I'm sure he'll play in game 7, but I don't expect him to be even 70% effective, and probably less. For someone that relies on their quickness as much as Wade does, the only injury I can think of that would be worse is a groin pull. As is, Wade is going to feel a pretty severe shooting pain in his mid-section every time he tries to make a quick move or stretch it in any way, no matter how much novocain he's shot up with. This is very bad news for the Heat, because Shaquille O'Neal is really no more then a role playing second fiddle right now. None of Shaq's averages in this series (32.7 minutes, 19.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.83 blocks, or 58.3% shooting) are team leads for Miami, and that's not even mentioning his abysmal 44.2% on free throws. With D Wade certain to be at less then full strength, it's going to be on The Diesel to really step up his game and earn his new contract extension, if he's even able to at this point. Wade's injury makes it seem likely to me that the Pistons are going to survive their Laker-like season long intensity malaise in true Laker fashion. Detroit's run to the title last year was aided by injuries to Jason Kidd, Jermaine O'Neal, and Karl Malone, so it's only fitting that they advance to the Finals again due to another key injury. HOWEVA, I do believe that game 7 will be competitive for two reasons. First, the Heat's home crowd will give them a lift no matter who plays or how healthy they are. Second, the Pistons have played up or down to their opponent's level all year long, so I don't anticipate another blowout.
- Last Wednesday Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert gave 35 year old Pacer assistant Mike Brown a 4 year 10 million dollar contract to become the Cavaliers' sixth head coach in six years (sound familiar Sixer fans?). Brown is a 13 year NBA assistant who has spent the last two seasons under Rick Carlisle in Indiana, and has a ring (2003) from his stint as one of Gregg Popovich's assistants in San Antonio. I don't know much about Mike's coaching ability, but he is known as a defense first guy that has a knack for helping young players develop their game. Even though Brown will be the second youngest head coach in league (Lawrence Frank is 34), I like this move. In my opinion it's always better to hire an up and coming assistant over a retread. For example, would you rather be Orlando with Brian Hill back for the second time? Or Cleveland with a young guy that cut his teeth under two of the best defensive minds in the game (Carlisle & Pop) and is eager to prove himself? The only worry I have for the Cavs is how patient will LeBron James be with a rookie head man in charge that never played a game in the NBA? It's a risk, no doubt, but given Gilbert's track record so far, I'd have to say that this is his first good move.
- I'll be leaving for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on Wednesday, so there will be no column from me next week as I enjoy around the clock music in my wife's home state in the comfort of an RV. Awwwww yeah! Just in case Detroit does win to keep my playoff prediction record perfect, I like San Antonio to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy when it's all said and done, regardless of who wins the East. The Spurs are just plain healthier then Miami. I also see SA making the Pistons pay for their lackadaisical mental approach to the game. The Spurs are too good for Detroit to sleepwalk though a quarter here and there, mainly because SA's offense is far more potent then the Pistons' is. I'll even go out on a limb and say that Manu Ginobili is named Finals MVP.
NHL Week in Review By: Ed Wasser
- Nothing new to report on the NHL CBA talks. I did find something somewhat interesting, if you go to www.nhl.comyou can read the old NHL CBA. I just gave it the once over because, unless you're a nerd or a lawyer, it's tough to really understand. Probably the coolest thing available is you can download and print a real, blank NHL contract. So you can print it out, fill it out with whatever team you want with however much money you want, frame it and hang it in your house so any babes that come over will think you're a former NHL star.
- Anybody that's an Eagles fan that caught the Al Harris episode of 'Cribs' on MTV was probably ready to throw a brick threw their TV set. As the former Eagle, current Green Bay Packer, was showing the world his Bentley, Rolls Royce, and Ferrari all I could think of was the constant rain of penalty flags that followed Harris everywhere he went on the Veteran's Stadium field. Any Eagles fans out there can correct me if I'm wrong but when Harris was an Eagle and it was a third and long with the opposition throwing a long pass and a flag was thrown was there any chance that flag WASN'T on Al Harris? During the 'Cribs' episode Harris showed a picture of his son fully decked out in his pee wee football uniform and I swear I saw a yellow flag flying in the background. I was so happy when the Eagles unloaded his ass but I couldn't help but shake my head at the Packers. I mean don't they have satellite dishes in Wisconsin? Didn't they see that Harris was a stiff? First the Eagles hoodwinked the Packers by getting them to take Ray Rhoades off their hands and then the Packers signed Al Harris. Now if we can get them to take Todd Pinkston the trifecta will be complete.
- The Yankees have lost 7 out of their last 8 including a sweep to the Kansas City Royals and 2 out of 3 to the Minnesota Twins. And there in lies the problem with baseball. Teams like the Yankees, with their severely limited resources, are expected to compete with massive markets like Kansas City and Minneapolis. A few years ago MLB was trying to contract 2 teams, even though baseball never came out and said which 2 teams I'm certain the Yankees were one of them. Hopefully this league will come to it's senses and come up with a way to make sure teams like the Yankees can pull themselves up from the depths of debt to be able to beat these massive big market beasts.
- So our new horse Velocious has been having some issues with being too fat and he's also having some knee troubles. Mainly his knees are a little sore. Our trainer believes Velocious' former trainer trained him a little too hard. So he's currently on a horse farm called Our Farm in Skippack, Pa. working out in what they call an "equine pool". Last Saturday I went to check it out. First of all they call it a pool but it's actually a pond. I guess they figured they have a pool and a pond, the pond was good for us. The purpose for the swimming is to work out the horse without putting any stress on his knees. So they bring out Velocious and they lead him down this ramp into the pond. In the middle of the pond is like a wooden island and basically the horse does 3 laps around the island, gets lead out of the pond to rest for a few minutes and then he does the same thing over again. The second time Velocious went in we were all a little scared because we saw in the wooden planks of the island a water snake that, if I'm lying I'm dying, was 4 feet long. We thought if the horse sees the snake he might panic and freak out. Fortunately Velocious never saw the snake. After three times of doing three laps the horse was done. After it was done Velocious was breathing heavy and it was obvious that he was tired. After the workout we were invited to see the farms new crop of what they call 'weanlings' also know as babies. These babies were all born in March. It was pretty impressive to see these horses that are for sale for thousands, and in one case, hundreds of thousands of dollars. The woman who owns the place and was showing us the horses was going over their pedigree "this colt is from (Kentucky Derby winner) Unbridled and his mare won 3 stakes races etc., etc." Definitely an interesting experience.
Comments/Mailbag?
saurinmeht@aol.com
dsura@peacehealth.org
ewwasser@hotmail.com
June 6, 2005
Note: Next MMM will be June 20th.
MLB/Phils
The Phillies accomplish something they haven't done in the previous 121 editions of MMM. They had a perfect 6-0 week. By doing so they have put themselves in the thick of the divisional and wild card race.
Even so, this Phils team continues to remain an anomaly. A 30-27 record isn't exactly grounds to throw a parade, so we'll break down the Phillies using the "Is the glass half full or half empty" question.
Half full:
- The hitting has finally come around. The Phillies rank second in BA and have hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position the last 3 weeks.
- Randy Wolf is back. 5-0 in his last 6 starts.
- Bobby Abreu is having another great year. Abreu, Derreck Lee and Albert Pujols are the frontrunners for NL MVP at this point.
- Pat Burrell is quietly putting together a monster season. His 43K's to 30 walks ratio is the best of his career.
- Jimmy Rollins has been hot the last 2-3 weeks.
- Mike Lieberthal is 7 for his last 16 with 8 RBI's. He had 9 before that.
- The platoon of Kenny Lofton/Jason Michaels and Chase Utley/Placido Polanco is working out very well. Sure you'd like to see both Polanco and Bell in the lineup more but this is the glass half full portion.
- Ryan Madson has allowed one earned run in his last 15 innings.
Half empty
- The bullpen is depleted. After Madson everyone else has been very shaky. 2 setup men just isn't going to get it done.
- No starter has gone 8 innings since May 22nd. This is going to catch up to them soon.
- Jimmy Rollins "hot streak" has gotten him to a .315 OB%, still pathetic for a leadoff hitter, and not conducive to scoring runs in the long run.
- Jim Thome just doesn't look right.
- Billy Wagner just doesn't look right.
- Where is the Jon Lieber of April? He's already gotten the Kevin Millwood syndrome?
- The Phillies are still in 4th place. No matter how you slice that, it's still not in the playoffs.
- Florida and Atlanta have played their worst stretch of baseball. Odds are they aren't going to continue to play this poorly.
Well, there you have it. Where do I fall into this whole mess? Well, I'll stand by my preseason prediction of 88 games and missing the playoffs.
Around the League
I have to start with the Cubs here again who've despite all of their injuries have put together a Philliesesque streak of 9/10. They've vaulted themselves right back into contention. Getting rid of Latroy Hawkins may be the greatest move this team has ever made.
Speaking of which, Latroy Hawkins is awful. At one point against the Phillies on Wednesday night he threw 11 straight balls.
I guess it's time to take the Washington Nationals seriously? Besides trips to visit the LA Angels and Texas, they have Oakland, Seattle, Pittsburgh (not playing bad) and Toronto on the schedule this month. They may be in the race for a while...
The Marlins looked awful this weekend. They may need a shakeup there too. Mike Lowell is just not getting the job done as he hasn't hit a home run since April 12th. Juan Pierre's Jimmy Rollinsesque .311 OB% is killing them also.
The Braves are a complete mess these days. I don't even know where I'd begin breaking down their problems. Of course this is what I was saying about them this time last year.
The Yankees are in trouble also. It's nothing a few trades can't clean up, but the starters have been bad pretty much the whole year besides a 4 week stretch. They Yanks haven't won a game all year in which they didn't score 4 or more runs. No 3-1 or 2-0 victories means no playoffs if you ask me.
Minnesota and Boston are knocking on the doors of Chicago WS and Baltimore. White Sox have a tough schedule this month too.
Finally, the Texas Rangers. Alfonso Soriano, Mark Tiexeira and company have been on fire. Mark Tiexeira is probably the most underrated player in baseball right now. I doubt the pitching can hold up (how is Kenny Rogers this good?) but Buck Showalter has got to be a top 5 manager in baseball.
NBA - Derreck Sura
Detroit v Miami - Tied 3-3. Dwyane Wade's strained right rib cage muscle is the big story here. I'm sure he'll play in game 7, but I don't expect him to be even 70% effective, and probably less. For someone that relies on their quickness as much as Wade does, the only injury I can think of that would be worse is a groin pull. As is, Wade is going to feel a pretty severe shooting pain in his mid-section every time he tries to make a quick move or stretch it in any way, no matter how much novocain he's shot up with. This is very bad news for the Heat, because Shaquille O'Neal is really no more then a role playing second fiddle right now. None of Shaq's averages in this series (32.7 minutes, 19.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.83 blocks, or 58.3% shooting) are team leads for Miami, and that's not even mentioning his abysmal 44.2% on free throws. With D Wade certain to be at less then full strength, it's going to be on The Diesel to really step up his game and earn his new contract extension, if he's even able to at this point. Wade's injury makes it seem likely to me that the Pistons are going to survive their Laker-like season long intensity malaise in true Laker fashion. Detroit's run to the title last year was aided by injuries to Jason Kidd, Jermaine O'Neal, and Karl Malone, so it's only fitting that they advance to the Finals again due to another key injury. HOWEVA, I do believe that game 7 will be competitive for two reasons. First, the Heat's home crowd will give them a lift no matter who plays or how healthy they are. Second, the Pistons have played up or down to their opponent's level all year long, so I don't anticipate another blowout.
- Last Wednesday Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert gave 35 year old Pacer assistant Mike Brown a 4 year 10 million dollar contract to become the Cavaliers' sixth head coach in six years (sound familiar Sixer fans?). Brown is a 13 year NBA assistant who has spent the last two seasons under Rick Carlisle in Indiana, and has a ring (2003) from his stint as one of Gregg Popovich's assistants in San Antonio. I don't know much about Mike's coaching ability, but he is known as a defense first guy that has a knack for helping young players develop their game. Even though Brown will be the second youngest head coach in league (Lawrence Frank is 34), I like this move. In my opinion it's always better to hire an up and coming assistant over a retread. For example, would you rather be Orlando with Brian Hill back for the second time? Or Cleveland with a young guy that cut his teeth under two of the best defensive minds in the game (Carlisle & Pop) and is eager to prove himself? The only worry I have for the Cavs is how patient will LeBron James be with a rookie head man in charge that never played a game in the NBA? It's a risk, no doubt, but given Gilbert's track record so far, I'd have to say that this is his first good move.
- I'll be leaving for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on Wednesday, so there will be no column from me next week as I enjoy around the clock music in my wife's home state in the comfort of an RV. Awwwww yeah! Just in case Detroit does win to keep my playoff prediction record perfect, I like San Antonio to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy when it's all said and done, regardless of who wins the East. The Spurs are just plain healthier then Miami. I also see SA making the Pistons pay for their lackadaisical mental approach to the game. The Spurs are too good for Detroit to sleepwalk though a quarter here and there, mainly because SA's offense is far more potent then the Pistons' is. I'll even go out on a limb and say that Manu Ginobili is named Finals MVP.
NHL Week in Review By: Ed Wasser
- Nothing new to report on the NHL CBA talks. I did find something somewhat interesting, if you go to www.nhl.com
- Anybody that's an Eagles fan that caught the Al Harris episode of 'Cribs' on MTV was probably ready to throw a brick threw their TV set. As the former Eagle, current Green Bay Packer, was showing the world his Bentley, Rolls Royce, and Ferrari all I could think of was the constant rain of penalty flags that followed Harris everywhere he went on the Veteran's Stadium field. Any Eagles fans out there can correct me if I'm wrong but when Harris was an Eagle and it was a third and long with the opposition throwing a long pass and a flag was thrown was there any chance that flag WASN'T on Al Harris? During the 'Cribs' episode Harris showed a picture of his son fully decked out in his pee wee football uniform and I swear I saw a yellow flag flying in the background. I was so happy when the Eagles unloaded his ass but I couldn't help but shake my head at the Packers. I mean don't they have satellite dishes in Wisconsin? Didn't they see that Harris was a stiff? First the Eagles hoodwinked the Packers by getting them to take Ray Rhoades off their hands and then the Packers signed Al Harris. Now if we can get them to take Todd Pinkston the trifecta will be complete.
- The Yankees have lost 7 out of their last 8 including a sweep to the Kansas City Royals and 2 out of 3 to the Minnesota Twins. And there in lies the problem with baseball. Teams like the Yankees, with their severely limited resources, are expected to compete with massive markets like Kansas City and Minneapolis. A few years ago MLB was trying to contract 2 teams, even though baseball never came out and said which 2 teams I'm certain the Yankees were one of them. Hopefully this league will come to it's senses and come up with a way to make sure teams like the Yankees can pull themselves up from the depths of debt to be able to beat these massive big market beasts.
- So our new horse Velocious has been having some issues with being too fat and he's also having some knee troubles. Mainly his knees are a little sore. Our trainer believes Velocious' former trainer trained him a little too hard. So he's currently on a horse farm called Our Farm in Skippack, Pa. working out in what they call an "equine pool". Last Saturday I went to check it out. First of all they call it a pool but it's actually a pond. I guess they figured they have a pool and a pond, the pond was good for us. The purpose for the swimming is to work out the horse without putting any stress on his knees. So they bring out Velocious and they lead him down this ramp into the pond. In the middle of the pond is like a wooden island and basically the horse does 3 laps around the island, gets lead out of the pond to rest for a few minutes and then he does the same thing over again. The second time Velocious went in we were all a little scared because we saw in the wooden planks of the island a water snake that, if I'm lying I'm dying, was 4 feet long. We thought if the horse sees the snake he might panic and freak out. Fortunately Velocious never saw the snake. After three times of doing three laps the horse was done. After it was done Velocious was breathing heavy and it was obvious that he was tired. After the workout we were invited to see the farms new crop of what they call 'weanlings' also know as babies. These babies were all born in March. It was pretty impressive to see these horses that are for sale for thousands, and in one case, hundreds of thousands of dollars. The woman who owns the place and was showing us the horses was going over their pedigree "this colt is from (Kentucky Derby winner) Unbridled and his mare won 3 stakes races etc., etc." Definitely an interesting experience.
Comments/Mailbag?
saurinmeht@aol.com
dsura@peacehealth.org
ewwasser@hotmail.com
posted by Monday Morning Mehta at 8:50 AM
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