Monday Morning Mehta 5/30/06
Edition # 164
May 29, 2006
Phils/MLB
Phillies are 3-4 since you last read about them and plenty of questions and concerns still remain about the Phillies. They finish off the homestand with 2 games versus a poor Nationals team, then hit the road for 11 games which starts on the West Coast in LA.
- Losing 2 out of 3 in New York was the real painful part of the week. On paper, it's not bad losing those games. But when you don't face Pedro or Glavine, and lose a game to somebody named Alay Solar, it's not pretty bad.
- Jon Lieber goes on the D.L. with some sort of lame groin or leg injury. Good. He needed to be benched for a few starts anyway. He's been an absolute disgrace this year, with one good start.
- I never thought I'd be happy to see Mike Lieberthal play again. For weeks I've actually wanted him back. And David Bell has been surprisingly adequate this year. My new guy to pick on was Lieber, now he's hurt. I guess Abraham Nunez is the new guy I'm going to pick on. Him and Ryan Franklin.
- This seems like a repeat of every single Jimmy Rollins year in his career. Plays well for stretches and completely disappears for weeks at a time. Here comes his hot streak.
- The Phils play the Dodgers this weekend, guess who comes off the DL and will immediately step back into the closer's role on Thursday? Yep, Eric Gagne. Why do I get the feeling he'll dominate right away?
- Why doesn't Aaron Fultz pitch in more key spots? He's earned more than a mop up role.
- There's only so many times I can talk about the same things over and over again with the Phils. I've done it for 4 years running. Time to go around the league....
Around the League
- An interesting series in Detroit this week as the first place Tigers face the Yankees. The Tigers have feasted on the bottom of the AL Central, so it will be interesting to see what they do against a some of the better teams in the league whom they'll face the next 2 weeks (13 games vs. Yanks, Red Sox, White Sox and Blue Jays). Even a .500 record would be impressive. I think they'll need some more offense to compete in the long haul.
- What's happening with the Braves bullpen is comical right now. Chris Reitsma just can't do anything right and has been unofficially officially demoted as the closer. A bullpen by committee looks to be in order with Ken Ray being the first choice lately.
- A few weeks back I stated Albert Pujols will likely cool off and slow down from his 80 home run pace. I retract that statement and beg the court for mercy. 80 home runs might be light for this guy. He's even mentally screwed up Brad Lidge which should count for extra credit points.
- I've really had enough of hearing about Roger Clemens from the media. Every one wants to be "the first" to break where he's going, where's he leaning, blah blah blah. Just let the guy makes his decision and tell me when it's official. I'm guessing Boston.
- Oh, by the way, Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth for 2nd on the All-time home run leaders. It's really a shame what has become of this. I still blame Bud Selig for this mess. Human growth and steroids have only been illegal in baseball for a season and 2 months, which is an absolute disgrace considering 'everybody' is saying they've known this has been going on since the late 80's/early 90's. Either Bonds passing a legend in Ruth should be honored and celebrated like a tremendous, once in a lifetime achievement, or there should be an asterisk put next to it. On the fence is where Selig was ten years ago, and where he still sits.
NBA - Derreck Sura
Dallas v Phoenix - Mavericks lead 2-1. Winning this series was going to be an uphill battle for the Suns at full strength, but after losing Raja Bell to a partially torn left calf muscle in game one, it's pretty much mission impossible now. Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni is still only playing seven guys. The problem that creates is by moving Leandro Barbosa into the stating lineup the Suns lose their main energy guy and top scorer off the bench. It's hard for me to believe that a team could be in the NBA Finals with a bench that consists solely of James Jones and Eddie House. Yikes!
You probably already know this, but Dallas is 23-0 this year (4-0 in the playoffs) when Josh Howard scores 20 or more points, and Josh is averaging 19 points per game in this series. The problem for Phoenix is that Shawn Marion can only guard one guy, either Howard or Dirk Nowitzki. Whichever one the Matrix is not defending seems to go on a scoring binge almost immediately. I'm not sure what that says about Tim Thomas and Boris Diaw's defensive ability, but it can't be good.
On the flip side, Mavs' coach Avery Johnson made a key defensive adjustment after game one. The Little General put DeSagana Diop on Diaw for stretches in game two, and unbelievably it has been thee adjustment of the series so far (just like inserting Devin Harris into the starting lineup against San Antonio). Boris has been hurting Dallas all series with his versatility, to the tune of 26.3 points on 53.2% shooting. Diop has proved to have just enough foot speed to stay in front of Diaw. That, combined with DeSagana's length, has kept Boris more in check.
The Suns have come back off the mat multiple times already in this post season, but it's starting to look like they have run out of miracles to me. Of course, anything is possible with a team that shoots 3's like Phoenix does, but if the Mavs are able to win game four, this series is over in five.
Miami v Detroit - Heat lead 3-1. Turn out the lights, the party's over. What happened to that famous Piston chemistry in the face of adversity? To me, it looks for all the world like Flip Saunders lost control of his team. They just look so unprepared out there at times. It also seems like Detroit has already packed it in because the player's body language on the court is just awful. Whatever the case may be, the fallout in Motown is going to be very interesting to follow.
Pistons' President Joe Dumars is in a very tough situation now. Does he resign Ben Wallace to big time contract extension this summer? Does he redo Chauncey Billups' deal before Chaunc opts of his contract after next season? The answers to these questions were no brainers around mid-season, but suddenly the future isn't as rosy in Detroit. If the team can't win it all now, that doesn't bode well for the future. The Pistons are in danger of becoming an old capped out team with little or no roster flexibility if Dumars wraps this entire squad up for the next three to four seasons. In some respects, the dye is already set in Detroit. When Joe D traded away Darko Milicic he pretty much made his bed, and the time to lay in it is rapidly approaching.
Dwyane Wade has been phenomenal this series. He's averaging 30.8 points, 6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2 steals. If all that wasn't enough, he also shooting 83% from the free throw line and an astonishing 69.5% (Wow!) from the field. That's right, D Wade is shooting almost 70% after four games against the vaunted Piston D. That's not all though. Miami is shooting 52.5% from the floor as a team. That has to be more then just hot shooting. The explanation? Detroit's defense has been exposed, plain and simple.
I guess it's still possible that the Pistons come back, but it seems highly unlikely that they could win three straight games with the way they are playing right now. The reality is that this series is all but over. After a brilliant regular season, and almost winning back to back titles last year, Detroit's legacy is now no more then that of a one hit wonder. I mean, they will still be an upper echelon team as long as this current group is together, but the days of being legitimate contenders for the crown seem to be at an end.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- This edition of NHL Week In Review is dedicated to actor Paul Gleason who passed away
yesterday. Gleason had an unbelievable run of great roles playing a soldier in "The Great Santini", a cop in "Fort Apache : The Bronx", an executive in "Arthur", Clarence Beeks in "Trading Places", he was in not one but TWO episodes of "Miami Vice", he played the greedy coach in "Johnny B. Goode", a cop in "Die Hard", he was in "Revenge of the Nerds IV : Nerds In Love", a proffesor in "Van Wilder", he was in the classic "Seinfeld" episode were George determines that his instincts are always wrong so he starts doing the direct opposite of what he thinks is right, and of course Gleason played Principal Vernon in "The Breakfast Club". That's a cinematic murder's row if I ever saw one, definitely a first ballot Hall of Fame career.
- NBC's new slogan for the Stanley Cup Finals is "No one remembers who came in second" but I think in this case no one will remember who came in first as well. The absolute worst nightmare scenario is brewing for the NHL, NBC, and OLN. Although it's not official just yet it looks like the Stanley Cup will be fought for by the smallest city in North America that is home to a sports franchise (Edmonton, Alberta) and a city were more residents can probably name the assistant to the assistant to Kasey Kahne's crew chief then can name a member of their hockey team (Raleigh, NC). I'm sure the Hurricanes will sell their games out in a total jump on the bandwagon sort of way, like the way St. Joe's basketball games were selling out a few years ago when they were good, but in reality what hockey was dying for coming off the layoff was a big market team like the Flyers, Red Wings, Bruins, Kings, or my hated Rangers to make a run at the Cup. Or even a big market Canadian team like the Habs or Leafs would have been way better. The only worse scenario I could possibly dream of for the NHL would be Edmonton vs. the Senators in the Cup finals.
I know that I may be prematurely writing off the Sabres but I watched the last game and it was an overtime slug to the gut loss were they blew three leads including 3 - 1 in the second period. I can't see the Sabres coming back and winning tonight.
Another problem with this match up is there is nothing for the NHL marketing department to grasp on to. I mean they may be able to promote Rod Brind'Amour going for his first Cup but is Rod Brind'Amour such a dynamic personality that it'll make you turn on the series? I mean check out the series for a long time, not just check out the score. I didn't think so.
- So the Oilers finally dispatched the Ducks 4 games to 1 with Oiler coach Craig MacTavish just embarrassing Duck coach Randy Carlyle. If there is one thing MacTavish knows it's defense and he had the Ducks baffled by his man to man defense during power plays. And to think MacTavish's brash, if you suck I'll let you know it, style almost cost him his job a few years ago. Now the guy looks like a genius. Of course Michael Peca and Chris Pronger waking up from their mutual season long comas to have big playoff series' always helps a coach look like a genius too.
- Think about this...Ray Shero, the son of late Flyers coach Fred Shero, was offered the general manager job at both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins. He chose to work for the Penguins. What does that tell you about the pathetic state of affairs in Beantown that a guy would rather work for the losingest franchise in hockey over the last 5 seasons then work for chronically cheap, fan base killing Bruins' owner Jeremy Jacobs? The Bruins used to be a proud, always competitive, original six franchise....now they're a joke.
- Two quick Phillies questions...1.) Is Washington Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson Larry Bowa's nephew? Because I gotta tell you the Phillies announcers only mentioned it 17,512 times since he entered the league and I'm still not sure. So is it true? And 2.) I want the Elias Sports Bureau to look this up, I want them to find the team that has cracked the most smiles and had the most guffaw laughs while on the bench or in the field while said person's team was losing at the time. I'll bet the 2006 Phillies have crushed their own record from 2005 and 2004 in that category.
- I have a message for "Hockey Night in Canada" analyst Kelly Hrudey...just shut up!!! Just do us all of us a favor and shut your mouth!! In a Howard Eskin-esque, let me just say crap that nobody with .0007% of a brain could possibly believe way, Hrudey said that hockey should eliminate the post playoff series hand shake between teams. Hrudey's supposed rationale is that the players never said anything nice to him after a hard fought playoff series. Kelly, I know you just said that to generate some headlines and it worked and I'm following suit like the sheep that I am but don't dip into the trough and become a bitter Billy Packer level moron.
- Quick Barbaro note. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that nobody beside me saw the 7th race at Monmouth last Saturday. Basically what happened was the horses were in the starting gate and the 4 horse burst through his gate before the race started a la Barbaro. Now take notice what happened next; the outriders caught the horse, the rest of the horses were taken out of the starting gate, a vet was summoned, he looked over the horse and determined that the horse may not be 100% healthy, scratched him, and the race went off without a hitch. The question is "why didn't they follow that protocol in the Preakness if that's the way they do it in a low level race at Monmouth?" The answer is, I'm not sure, but it's dirty. If I had to guess I'd say that the race was late to begin with, I'm sure NBC was concerned about how the whole thing was taking forever, and to waste another 15 minutes taking the other horses out of the gate, getting a vet etc., and NBC may have had a real programming problem on their hands. Why else wouldn't the most basic procedures be followed? So with no vet to look at Barbaro there's only one person with the authority to scratch the horse at that point, jockey Edgar Prado. He can, and I've seen it happen numerous times, jump off the horse and just refuse to ride him if he thinks there's an issue. Obviously Prado didn't do that but trust me, if he thought Barbaro was hurt he would have jumped off him if for no other reason then to make sure he didn't get killed. And please, it's not about money with the jockey because those guys aren't stupid. I'll bet Prado got a flat rate long before that race began. In closing, no matter who is to blame, that was an awful job by all considered at Pimlico that day.
May 29, 2006
Phils/MLB
Phillies are 3-4 since you last read about them and plenty of questions and concerns still remain about the Phillies. They finish off the homestand with 2 games versus a poor Nationals team, then hit the road for 11 games which starts on the West Coast in LA.
- Losing 2 out of 3 in New York was the real painful part of the week. On paper, it's not bad losing those games. But when you don't face Pedro or Glavine, and lose a game to somebody named Alay Solar, it's not pretty bad.
- Jon Lieber goes on the D.L. with some sort of lame groin or leg injury. Good. He needed to be benched for a few starts anyway. He's been an absolute disgrace this year, with one good start.
- I never thought I'd be happy to see Mike Lieberthal play again. For weeks I've actually wanted him back. And David Bell has been surprisingly adequate this year. My new guy to pick on was Lieber, now he's hurt. I guess Abraham Nunez is the new guy I'm going to pick on. Him and Ryan Franklin.
- This seems like a repeat of every single Jimmy Rollins year in his career. Plays well for stretches and completely disappears for weeks at a time. Here comes his hot streak.
- The Phils play the Dodgers this weekend, guess who comes off the DL and will immediately step back into the closer's role on Thursday? Yep, Eric Gagne. Why do I get the feeling he'll dominate right away?
- Why doesn't Aaron Fultz pitch in more key spots? He's earned more than a mop up role.
- There's only so many times I can talk about the same things over and over again with the Phils. I've done it for 4 years running. Time to go around the league....
Around the League
- An interesting series in Detroit this week as the first place Tigers face the Yankees. The Tigers have feasted on the bottom of the AL Central, so it will be interesting to see what they do against a some of the better teams in the league whom they'll face the next 2 weeks (13 games vs. Yanks, Red Sox, White Sox and Blue Jays). Even a .500 record would be impressive. I think they'll need some more offense to compete in the long haul.
- What's happening with the Braves bullpen is comical right now. Chris Reitsma just can't do anything right and has been unofficially officially demoted as the closer. A bullpen by committee looks to be in order with Ken Ray being the first choice lately.
- A few weeks back I stated Albert Pujols will likely cool off and slow down from his 80 home run pace. I retract that statement and beg the court for mercy. 80 home runs might be light for this guy. He's even mentally screwed up Brad Lidge which should count for extra credit points.
- I've really had enough of hearing about Roger Clemens from the media. Every one wants to be "the first" to break where he's going, where's he leaning, blah blah blah. Just let the guy makes his decision and tell me when it's official. I'm guessing Boston.
- Oh, by the way, Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth for 2nd on the All-time home run leaders. It's really a shame what has become of this. I still blame Bud Selig for this mess. Human growth and steroids have only been illegal in baseball for a season and 2 months, which is an absolute disgrace considering 'everybody' is saying they've known this has been going on since the late 80's/early 90's. Either Bonds passing a legend in Ruth should be honored and celebrated like a tremendous, once in a lifetime achievement, or there should be an asterisk put next to it. On the fence is where Selig was ten years ago, and where he still sits.
NBA - Derreck Sura
Dallas v Phoenix - Mavericks lead 2-1. Winning this series was going to be an uphill battle for the Suns at full strength, but after losing Raja Bell to a partially torn left calf muscle in game one, it's pretty much mission impossible now. Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni is still only playing seven guys. The problem that creates is by moving Leandro Barbosa into the stating lineup the Suns lose their main energy guy and top scorer off the bench. It's hard for me to believe that a team could be in the NBA Finals with a bench that consists solely of James Jones and Eddie House. Yikes!
You probably already know this, but Dallas is 23-0 this year (4-0 in the playoffs) when Josh Howard scores 20 or more points, and Josh is averaging 19 points per game in this series. The problem for Phoenix is that Shawn Marion can only guard one guy, either Howard or Dirk Nowitzki. Whichever one the Matrix is not defending seems to go on a scoring binge almost immediately. I'm not sure what that says about Tim Thomas and Boris Diaw's defensive ability, but it can't be good.
On the flip side, Mavs' coach Avery Johnson made a key defensive adjustment after game one. The Little General put DeSagana Diop on Diaw for stretches in game two, and unbelievably it has been thee adjustment of the series so far (just like inserting Devin Harris into the starting lineup against San Antonio). Boris has been hurting Dallas all series with his versatility, to the tune of 26.3 points on 53.2% shooting. Diop has proved to have just enough foot speed to stay in front of Diaw. That, combined with DeSagana's length, has kept Boris more in check.
The Suns have come back off the mat multiple times already in this post season, but it's starting to look like they have run out of miracles to me. Of course, anything is possible with a team that shoots 3's like Phoenix does, but if the Mavs are able to win game four, this series is over in five.
Miami v Detroit - Heat lead 3-1. Turn out the lights, the party's over. What happened to that famous Piston chemistry in the face of adversity? To me, it looks for all the world like Flip Saunders lost control of his team. They just look so unprepared out there at times. It also seems like Detroit has already packed it in because the player's body language on the court is just awful. Whatever the case may be, the fallout in Motown is going to be very interesting to follow.
Pistons' President Joe Dumars is in a very tough situation now. Does he resign Ben Wallace to big time contract extension this summer? Does he redo Chauncey Billups' deal before Chaunc opts of his contract after next season? The answers to these questions were no brainers around mid-season, but suddenly the future isn't as rosy in Detroit. If the team can't win it all now, that doesn't bode well for the future. The Pistons are in danger of becoming an old capped out team with little or no roster flexibility if Dumars wraps this entire squad up for the next three to four seasons. In some respects, the dye is already set in Detroit. When Joe D traded away Darko Milicic he pretty much made his bed, and the time to lay in it is rapidly approaching.
Dwyane Wade has been phenomenal this series. He's averaging 30.8 points, 6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2 steals. If all that wasn't enough, he also shooting 83% from the free throw line and an astonishing 69.5% (Wow!) from the field. That's right, D Wade is shooting almost 70% after four games against the vaunted Piston D. That's not all though. Miami is shooting 52.5% from the floor as a team. That has to be more then just hot shooting. The explanation? Detroit's defense has been exposed, plain and simple.
I guess it's still possible that the Pistons come back, but it seems highly unlikely that they could win three straight games with the way they are playing right now. The reality is that this series is all but over. After a brilliant regular season, and almost winning back to back titles last year, Detroit's legacy is now no more then that of a one hit wonder. I mean, they will still be an upper echelon team as long as this current group is together, but the days of being legitimate contenders for the crown seem to be at an end.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- This edition of NHL Week In Review is dedicated to actor Paul Gleason who passed away
yesterday. Gleason had an unbelievable run of great roles playing a soldier in "The Great Santini", a cop in "Fort Apache : The Bronx", an executive in "Arthur", Clarence Beeks in "Trading Places", he was in not one but TWO episodes of "Miami Vice", he played the greedy coach in "Johnny B. Goode", a cop in "Die Hard", he was in "Revenge of the Nerds IV : Nerds In Love", a proffesor in "Van Wilder", he was in the classic "Seinfeld" episode were George determines that his instincts are always wrong so he starts doing the direct opposite of what he thinks is right, and of course Gleason played Principal Vernon in "The Breakfast Club". That's a cinematic murder's row if I ever saw one, definitely a first ballot Hall of Fame career.
- NBC's new slogan for the Stanley Cup Finals is "No one remembers who came in second" but I think in this case no one will remember who came in first as well. The absolute worst nightmare scenario is brewing for the NHL, NBC, and OLN. Although it's not official just yet it looks like the Stanley Cup will be fought for by the smallest city in North America that is home to a sports franchise (Edmonton, Alberta) and a city were more residents can probably name the assistant to the assistant to Kasey Kahne's crew chief then can name a member of their hockey team (Raleigh, NC). I'm sure the Hurricanes will sell their games out in a total jump on the bandwagon sort of way, like the way St. Joe's basketball games were selling out a few years ago when they were good, but in reality what hockey was dying for coming off the layoff was a big market team like the Flyers, Red Wings, Bruins, Kings, or my hated Rangers to make a run at the Cup. Or even a big market Canadian team like the Habs or Leafs would have been way better. The only worse scenario I could possibly dream of for the NHL would be Edmonton vs. the Senators in the Cup finals.
I know that I may be prematurely writing off the Sabres but I watched the last game and it was an overtime slug to the gut loss were they blew three leads including 3 - 1 in the second period. I can't see the Sabres coming back and winning tonight.
Another problem with this match up is there is nothing for the NHL marketing department to grasp on to. I mean they may be able to promote Rod Brind'Amour going for his first Cup but is Rod Brind'Amour such a dynamic personality that it'll make you turn on the series? I mean check out the series for a long time, not just check out the score. I didn't think so.
- So the Oilers finally dispatched the Ducks 4 games to 1 with Oiler coach Craig MacTavish just embarrassing Duck coach Randy Carlyle. If there is one thing MacTavish knows it's defense and he had the Ducks baffled by his man to man defense during power plays. And to think MacTavish's brash, if you suck I'll let you know it, style almost cost him his job a few years ago. Now the guy looks like a genius. Of course Michael Peca and Chris Pronger waking up from their mutual season long comas to have big playoff series' always helps a coach look like a genius too.
- Think about this...Ray Shero, the son of late Flyers coach Fred Shero, was offered the general manager job at both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins. He chose to work for the Penguins. What does that tell you about the pathetic state of affairs in Beantown that a guy would rather work for the losingest franchise in hockey over the last 5 seasons then work for chronically cheap, fan base killing Bruins' owner Jeremy Jacobs? The Bruins used to be a proud, always competitive, original six franchise....now they're a joke.
- Two quick Phillies questions...1.) Is Washington Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson Larry Bowa's nephew? Because I gotta tell you the Phillies announcers only mentioned it 17,512 times since he entered the league and I'm still not sure. So is it true? And 2.) I want the Elias Sports Bureau to look this up, I want them to find the team that has cracked the most smiles and had the most guffaw laughs while on the bench or in the field while said person's team was losing at the time. I'll bet the 2006 Phillies have crushed their own record from 2005 and 2004 in that category.
- I have a message for "Hockey Night in Canada" analyst Kelly Hrudey...just shut up!!! Just do us all of us a favor and shut your mouth!! In a Howard Eskin-esque, let me just say crap that nobody with .0007% of a brain could possibly believe way, Hrudey said that hockey should eliminate the post playoff series hand shake between teams. Hrudey's supposed rationale is that the players never said anything nice to him after a hard fought playoff series. Kelly, I know you just said that to generate some headlines and it worked and I'm following suit like the sheep that I am but don't dip into the trough and become a bitter Billy Packer level moron.
- Quick Barbaro note. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that nobody beside me saw the 7th race at Monmouth last Saturday. Basically what happened was the horses were in the starting gate and the 4 horse burst through his gate before the race started a la Barbaro. Now take notice what happened next; the outriders caught the horse, the rest of the horses were taken out of the starting gate, a vet was summoned, he looked over the horse and determined that the horse may not be 100% healthy, scratched him, and the race went off without a hitch. The question is "why didn't they follow that protocol in the Preakness if that's the way they do it in a low level race at Monmouth?" The answer is, I'm not sure, but it's dirty. If I had to guess I'd say that the race was late to begin with, I'm sure NBC was concerned about how the whole thing was taking forever, and to waste another 15 minutes taking the other horses out of the gate, getting a vet etc., and NBC may have had a real programming problem on their hands. Why else wouldn't the most basic procedures be followed? So with no vet to look at Barbaro there's only one person with the authority to scratch the horse at that point, jockey Edgar Prado. He can, and I've seen it happen numerous times, jump off the horse and just refuse to ride him if he thinks there's an issue. Obviously Prado didn't do that but trust me, if he thought Barbaro was hurt he would have jumped off him if for no other reason then to make sure he didn't get killed. And please, it's not about money with the jockey because those guys aren't stupid. I'll bet Prado got a flat rate long before that race began. In closing, no matter who is to blame, that was an awful job by all considered at Pimlico that day.
posted by Monday Morning Mehta at 10:26 AM
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