Monday Morning Mehta 7/25/05

Edition # 125
July 25, 2005

NEXT MMM WILL BE AUGUST 8, 2005

Phils/MLB - NFL - NHL (This time, really, we talk NHL)

Since the last edition of MMM the Phillies are 13-10, coming off of a sweep versus the struggling San Diego Padres. The Phillies now hit the road for a majority of the next month, including a very interesting series with the red hot Houston Astros to start the road trip. After Houston they travel to Colorado for a 4 game set. 4-3 would be awesome, 3-4 is probably realistic for this road trip.

Phillies Positives:

- Chase Utley is playing everyday and turning into the teams best hitter. I've only been asking for Utley to play since spring training of last year! He's still has to show it for a few more months and show consistency, but Bobby Abreu's title as the teams best hitter is in serious jeopardy. Utley seems to come up with clutch hits often as well. The # 3 spot in the lineup may be Utley's to keep for a long time.

- Ryan Howard has shown flashes of brilliance. If and when Jim Thome returns, he better be back to his 2003 form. Howard is also becoming a fan favorite.

- Robinson Tejeda & Vicente Padilla. The Phils have actually gotten some solid outings here.

- Everyone else around the league stinks. The Nationals have been awful the last 3 weeks or so. The NL West is atrocious, and the bottom of the NL Central is awful. A couple games over .500 puts you right in the thick of the races.

- Ugueth Urbina hasn't allowed a run in his last 10 outings (was lucky on Friday though). Phillies need Urbina in the worst way to be dominating.

Phillies Negatives:

- This team has gotten an attitude, for what reason I'm not sure, but become impossible to root for. I really hate this team. Ed Wade whose never sniffed the playoffs in his tenure talks as if they've accomplished something and/or they're the only ones in the majors with injuries. They continue to play terrible fundamental baseball, and are clearly heading towards a bullpen/pitching meltdown. If anyone has confidence Ed Wade will pull off a 'difference making' trade that will vault the Phillies to playoff contention, they're on crack.

- Cory Lidle has been getting shelled lately.

- Rheal Cormier is a useless pitcher.

- Kenny Lofton has come back down to Earth in a big way.

Overall, I still don't know what to make of this team. It seems as though falling short of the playoffs is the likely scenario, but unlike last year, I don't think they'll collapse in August. They'll be in it the whole way only to lose out to Houston. Don't count Florida out either.

Around the MLB

I mentioned the Houston Astros as being possible contenders for the Wild card in the last edition, I just didn't think they'd do it so quickly. Morgan Ensberg is having a monster year, Lance Berkman seems recovered from off season ACL surgery, and the pitching has been great. Expect them to be big buyers at the trade deadline looking for a bat (Mike Sweeney? Jeff Kent returns?). The Astros tried to get Adam Dunn but the asking price was too high.

As crazy as this will sound, I now expect the Astros to make a charge at the division leading Cardinals. The Cards pitching has been phenomenal, and if Chris Carpenter continues to pitch like this, it'll be lights out. But history shows that Jeff Suppan, Chris Carpenter, and Mark Mulder all fade in August & September. Scott Rolen is injured and his effectiveness the rest of the way is in question. Larry Walker has showed his age. I never have liked this team for some reason, and I certainly don't like the way they've been playing lately. The travel to the West Coast to SD & LA this week, will be very interesting to see how they do.

Clearly the Atlanta Braves have stepped on the accelerator and started to play. Rafael Furcal has finally awakened and started playing this year. Youngsters like Ryan Langerhans, Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur and Andy Marte have filled in nicely while the Braves have had injuries and ineffective play (remember Raul Mondesi & Brian Jordan were the OF's here in April). Andruw Jones has been on fire the last 6-8 weeks and has carried the offense at times.

The Yankees just can't beat the LA Angels of Anaheim, and I love it.

How about the Oakland A's? Possibly the hottest team in baseball the last month or so, they've vaulted from the basement to the Wild Card lead, and right in the thick of the division. Billy Beane is clearly the best GM in baseball...segway...

I've never read a book in my life. But I've heard so much about this book "Moneyball" which is about the inner workings of Oakland GM Billy Beane and their front office philosophies. So I decided to pick it up a few weeks back, and I love it. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes baseball.

Trades/trade rumors will be rampant this week. The non waiver wire trade deadline is Sunday night and with many teams still in the race, it will be very interesting to see what happens. Teams like San Francisco are only 7 games out of the division lead and Barry Bonds likely returning in about 3-4 weeks. I also expect the Mets to make a big splash.

NFL/Eagles

Training Camps are opening all around football in this week, with the Eagles being one of the latest to open camp next week. The Terrell Owens frenzy has continued all offseason. The legions of MMM fans have been wondering what is my take on the whole situation. I think this whole thing is completely overblown. If he misses any of the last two preseason games, I may be a little bit worried. If he misses a regular season game, I'd be shocked. People freak out about these threatened holdouts, make ridiculous comments like "I'll never root for T.O. again", and make rash judgments. It's a business and this is the business side which we should not get caught up in. Forget Drew Rosenhaus. Remember when Duce Staley held out two seasons ago? People said very similar things, until Staley came back halfway through camp and became a fan favorite again by Week 1.

Overall, I'm just tired of speculation, and more so the word IF. IF Owens misses camp, it'll might this. IF he reports, it could do this. IF he demands this...whatever. As Ed Wasser likes to say "IF my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle". All this Owens madness could also come to an end with a TD reception on Monday Night Football the first game of the season in Atlanta. Who knows, I'm tired of speculating though I know that much.

Quick Golf note: Gotta give credit to loyal MMM insider Frank Tang, who picked Tiger to win the British (nothing big there) but had Colin Montgomerie (2nd place) as his long shot. Tang is showing how reading MMM religiously can .

NHL Week in Review By: Ed Wasser

- This just in...the NHL has moved their offices to a secret mountainside lair. Commissioner Gary Bettman has shaved his head, he's taken to wearing a silver suit, continuously pets a bald cat, and busts out in occasional maniacal laughter while putting his pinkie to his mouth. With the new CBA Gary Bettman has officially lost his domo arigato Mr. Roboto persona and morphed into Dr. Evil. To say the players were crushed by Bettman and the owners would not even begin to capture this defeat. The players were bludgeoned, torn limb from limb, pulverized, then thrown in a pile of horse manure were the owners then pulled out their collective tallywhackers and peed on the smoldering carnage. Yes, the players were beaten that soundly. The players didn't want a salary cap...it's there. And the cap is a paltry $39 million. The players didn't want salaries attached to league revenues...it's there. The league wide salary roll back is 24%. 24%!!!! That will cost someone like Jaromir Jagr around $2,300,000. Not only should NHLPA president Bob Goodenow be fired, he should be shot and his dead carcass should be hung in front of a bar a la Ned Logan from 'Unforgiven'. The reason Goodenow should be a bar decoration is not just because he did a dreadful job by way of the players, but because it was reported by ESPN.com that he left the lion share of the face to face bargaining to NHLPA Senior Director Ted Saskin and Trevor Linden. (WHO!?!? Wait a minute...isn't Trevor Linden a player?) Yep. (What the hell was he doing at the bargaining table? Is he a lawyer? Does he have collective bargaining experience?) Nope. (Are you kidding me? Is Linden at least college educated?) Nope. (WHAT?!?!? I'm almost afraid to ask but does Linden even have a high school diploma?) Well...I'm not sure. He played Junior Hockey for the Medicine Hat Tigers as a 16, 17, and 18 year old so he probably attended classes with the Western Hockey League tutor so I assume he got the Canadian equivalent of a G.E.D like most Canadian junior hockey players, but I can't guarantee it. (And that's why the NHL is the NHL) You're right. Anyhow, Gary Bettman has just stolen the title from the NFL for the best ownership labor deal in pro sports history.

- People occasionally argue whether golf is a sport. Same thing with horse racing. I mean can something be a sport when one of the major participants (namely the horse) doesn't know he's playing? I can see both sides of the sport, not a sport argument in golf and horse racing. But right now it's the July 4th and on ESPN they're showing the Nathan's hot dog eating contest from Coney Island and on ESPN 2 they're showing the National Scrabble Championship. Well, here's my rule of thumb for whether something is a sport....if you can weigh 375 lbs, be 70 years old, and wear glasses while participating in your activity and still win, it's probably not a sport.

- Quick observation about an Indian wedding. When eating, if you see what appears to be a hot pepper, chances are it's hot. Chances are it's really, REALLY hot. In fact after you eat it you will probably spit fire like Gene Simmons in concert at the end of 'Rock and Roll All Night And Party Every Day'.

- So now that the NHL lockout mess is over with the search for a national TV contract is now being actively sought out. It looks like Comcast will get the contract. It makes sense for both sides. It makes sense for the NHL because...well...what other choice do they have? Telemundo? The Lifetime Network? And it makes sense for Comcast because they're looking to grow their business to someday compete with ESPN. It seems like a good idea for Comcast to start small. If you remember, when ESPN started out they mostly showed college sports, Sportscenter, and well...anything they could get their hands on. Their motto was "If you gotta a tape, we got the time". Of course those were the days before you could sell time to infomercials. When ESPN was bought by the ABC Network they finally had the dough to make a splash, which of course they did. Comcast as a company started out with astronomically more money then ESPN did so they didn't really need to broadcast Australian Rules Football but they also don't have the cache or the number of subscribers for something like the NBA, MLB, and I should even dignify the obvious fact that the NFL doesn't need Comcast? So the NHL would be a nice fit for them.

- The main thing that gets me mad about José Canseco is that he stole my idea. I wanted part of the title of my autobiography to be 'Wild Times and Rampant Roids' but he stole my idea. DAMMIT!!! I mean 'Wild Times and Rampant Roids' just sums my entire elementary school life!! I guess I'll have to back to the original plan of calling my autobiography Diary of A Mad Man II.

- You gotta love the guys at The Hockey News. Three weeks ago they had nothing to report; the CBA talks had stalled, the draft was non-existent, minor league, junior, and European hockey were all over with...these poor guys didn't even have free agent signings to report. But they had to put out an issue. Man, what to do? I just imagine a meeting of The Hockey News powers that be desperately wondering what the hell to write about. All of a sudden it hits them...A SWIMSUIT ISSUE!!! As not to blatantly steal the swimsuit issue idea from Sports Illustrated they chose to have an issue with the hottest wives in hockey in a spoof on Terrell Owens' favorite TV show Desperate Housewives. For the record the wives were Brandy Blake (Lanche defenseman Rob Blake's babe), Dina Arnott (Stars forward Jason Arnott's lady), ex-Baywatch babe Angelica Bridges (married to Hab defenseman Sheldon Souray....ironically Bridges is the least good looking of the bunch despite the Baywatch connection and being the only one with no children), and the scorching hot Stacia Robitaille (queen to King Luc Robitaille). Even if you couldn't care less about hockey, a malaise which seems to be gripping the nation, this issue would get your attention.

- Brett Farve is tackling an issue that has plagued millions of Americans. With the help of Sensodyne toothpaste Farve recently officiated over an ice cream eating contest to bring this nations attention to the horror that is sensitive teeth. (Wiping away tears) Hello, my name is Ed...and I'm a sensitive teeth suffer. Sensitive teeth has often brought upon premature brain freeze, coffee getting cold before I can finish the entire cup, and making eating Italian water ice a virual impossibility. While others waste time bringing attention to such unworthy causes such as cancer, heart disease, and AIDS Brett Farve takes on the true controversial illnesses. Bless you Brett! BLESS YOU BRETT!!!!

- Tim Brown recently signed a one day contract with Oakland so he would be able to retire as a Raider. Brown first start negotiating the contract in May, he held out for the month of June, and finally came to terms with the Raiders' brass a few weeks ago.

- Good news, bad news, and so-so news from the world of Baba Boom Racing. First the good news. Clemente ran in a 7.5 furlong allowance race on the turf on July 4th with Rodrigo Madrigal in command starting from the 5th position. Rod's instructions were to jog Clemente for the first part of the race trying to keep him lying around 4th or 5th before they turn for home then turn on the gas. The race began and Rod had Clemente 4th for pretty much the entire race. When they made the turn for home Rod went to the whip and turned on the juice. Clemente finished 2nd, but it was a solid 2nd. Now the bad news. Velocious ran July 18th. It was a 5.5 furlong race on the dirt with David Mello in the cockpit. If you remember, Velocious was having a lot of knee problems and was trying to rectify that problem with swimming therapy. Everything seemed to be better; the swelling had disappeared and he seemed to be sound. During the race Velocious was never a factor, he finished 5th but right after the race Mello jumped off Velocious because he could tell something was up. Velocious' knee was giving him major problems again. It looks like Velocious' knee is an incurable problem. The powers that be within Bada Boom Racing have decided to retire Velocious and donate him to the Thoroughbred Racing Retirement Foundation. This organization finds homes for horses that can not race anymore. Most become riding horses for spoiled punk kids, some become jumping horses because for some reason that is not as tough on their knees. Why? I have no clue. Some of the horses become police horses and some just live out their days on the farm. Unfortunately for Velocious the only male horses excepted into the retirement program are geldings so within the next week or so Velocious will have to get snipped. We'll have another horse probably in a week or so. Now onto the so-so news. Clemente ran again yesterday. A mile and a sixteenth on the turf with Rodrigo Madrigal again in the irons. Clemente was having trouble in the paddock. For some reason Clemente was just on edge, he bucked at one point and was a little psycho after the saddle was put on. When the race started Rod was doing what's called "fighting" with Clemente. Basically that means that he was trying to keep Clemente from just running like crazy, he needed Clemente to pace himself because there was no way, none, that he would have had enough gas to go full out for a mile and a sixteenth. When they turned for home Rod had Clemente up against the rail with nothing between him and the finish line but grass. But Clemente just didn't have it, he finished 4th. This sounds stupid but I know it's true....if an athlete is overly nervous before a game he won't have his A game. The same with an actor before a play or a singer before a concert. And if a horse is nervous and jittery before a race, like Clemente was yesterday with his bucking, then he won't have an A race in him. No way.

Comments:
saurinmeht@aol.com
ewwasser@hotmail.com