Monday Morning Mehta 5/9/07
Edition # 203
May 9. 2007
This is a special Wednesday edition of MMM. Once in a while I like to keep the legions of MMM fans chomping at the bit so they don't take this for granted. The staff here works long hard hours and sometimes we just like to change things up a bit.
Next MMM: May 21st
www.nba-jam.blogspot.com (Daily updates on the NBA playoffs)
Phillies/MLB
Since we last spoke the Phillies went on a nice 5-2 homestand that gave the fans some hope, but since have hit the road and lost 3 of 9 games to sit at 8-8 since the last MMM and 14-19 overall.
Phillies notes:
- Ryan Howard continues to struggle and now has a nagging quad injury in which the Phillies are hoping sitting him a few days will help it heal to 100%. I'm not worried yet about Howard, but it's getting close to not being a "bad start" anymore. A hot week would cure everything for Howard. I'm no batting instructor but I definitely play one on MMM. What Howard's doing wrong to me looks obvious, and likely he's been told this. He's trying to pull everything. When Howard came up to the majors the thing that amazed everyone is how he went the other way so well with fly balls. He's not doing that as much anymore. I think he's bought into the 58 homer hype from last year. Howard should try to just hit balls to left field for a week, that'll get him off his slump.
- Tom Gordon goes onto the DL. There just wasn't something right with Gordon all year. He's no great closer but he's not as bad as he was pitching. The Phillies opening day starter now pitches 2 or 3 innings a week.
- Charlie's gotta go. He has no feel for the lineup nor his bullpen. I think those are the two biggest jobs of the manager. He trots just about the same lineup out there every night and he completely misuses his bullpen over and over again. Now he only has two guys in his pen who he's going to go to in close games and completely overuse them (Geary and Alfonseca). Yoel Hernandez, Clay Condrey (not sure why he doesn't pitch more) and Fabio Castro will hardly be used - instead we'll trot out these guys over and over again. The Phillies have let Jim Leyland and Lou Pinella slip right past them. That's going to hurt for a long time.
-
Around the MLB
- The Milwaukee Brewers are the talk of the town as they are playing great baseball right now. Do I think they can keep it up? Yes, 100% absolutely. They have solid to very good pitching that will keep them in every game. They will probably need to add one more bat to the lineup to compete with the Mets, but nevertheless they're going to win the Central. I just wish I had the gonads to pick them first in the Central and not 2nd in my NL Preview.
- The Tigers are the hot team in the AL right now as they've won 8 in a row. That's going to be a great division to watch as a hot week will propel any of four teams into the lead for the division.
- The signing of Roger Clemens to the Yankees headlines the last week in baseball. The Yankees are going to win a lot of games this year with or without Clemens. Don't let the pitching woes early fool you. They'll settle down and win a lot of 7-5 games in July & August. They just aren't winning a World Series equipped this way.
- The struggles of Andrew Dice K Matsusaka continue as his ERA climbs to 5.45. He's still going to win 15 games and be one of the better AL pitchers this year if you ask me. The Japanese signing that's most ridiculous was the Yankees signing Kei Igawa to a 4 year $20 million deal (plus $26 mill to the Japanese team for his rights).
- The Braves and Mets continue to pace the NL East and continue to play good baseball. The Mets continue to get amazing pitching from John Maine who won NL Pitcher of the Month for April and has continued his great pitching into May. The Braves have been boosted by a rejuvenated Tim Hudson who is pitching like he did for Oakland 4 years ago. If both guys have Cy Young type seasons there is no way the Phillies are catching these teams.
- The Kentucky Derby was last week and Philly Phaf will scream at me if I don't mention it. Happy?
- MMM fans around the country have been screaming for my opinion on the Eagles draft for weeks now. Well, I'll copy and paste what I wrote last year first, then edit that comment for this year:
Last year: "As for the Eagles draft, I'm not going to be one of these idiotic people who grade the draft the next day or fans that judge the draft the next day". (Now I'm paraphrasing -- the Eagles best draft in recent history was the Lito Sheppard/Brown/Westbrook draft which everyone questioned. The worst draft was Freddie Mitchell which everyone LOVED. )
So -- what does all that mean? Just wait a few years. This isn't the psychic hotline.
- Great golf tourney this week, The Players Championship. Great course, great theater, good stuff.
- I'm looking for an editor for MMM. Spell check misses all my horrible grammar. And I hate re-reading this garbage.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- The NHL playoffs are like the TV show "Ghost Whisperer", most people know it exists but I'll be damned if I ever met anyone who watches it. And now that the Rangers are out of the playoffs and one of the remaining teams is from Canada it'll only get worse. So let's review a few things...
- As I said the Rangers are done. And unfortunately they're taking those lovely crowd shots Sean Avery' girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert with them. The Rangers got beat by a far better Sabre team that played at their B level with a sub par coaching job by Lindy Ruff and still handled them fairly easily. Ranger coach Tom Renney stole the Devils defensive style in an attempt to stop the waves of offense the Sabres threw at them. It worked well at times but in the end they fell apart quicker then David Hasslehoff at Mardi Gras. Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist actually played pretty well but the Sabre pressure is relentless and he couldn't hold them off forever.
- The Senators dispatched the Devils. As I was watching the Sens and Devils shaking hands at the end of the series all I could think of was fired Devils coach Claude Julien giving Lou Lamoriello the Nelson from "The Simpson's" laugh after the game was over. Haa- haa!!
- The Ducks went through the Canucks like a chainsaw through oatmeal, winning the series 4 games to 1. And that was after Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo pretty much declared himself "unstoppable" in "The Hockey News". Ahhhhh......not so much Robby. Granted every game except one was a one goal game but the Canucks never seemed in command of anything. Ever.
- And then there's the Red Wings vs. the Sharks. The Wings are leading the series 3 games to 2 and I'm guessing that commissioner Gary Bettman is currently sacrificing a goat or asking his close personal buddy Satan for a favor to get the Red Wings in the Finals because a Stanley Cup Finals with the Ducks, Sabres, Sharks, or Senators would probably garner ratings lower then a Thigh Master infomercial.
- Since we last spoke the Flyers went into the NHL draft lottery with only an 8% chance of landing the second pick. They got the second pick. And here's a pet peeve of mine....people who give their two cents on who NHL teams should or should not pick in the draft. Nobody has ever seen any of these kids play; and a lot of them play in Europe so how can people have these dyed in the wool opinions? Anyway the NHL has this thing called the Central Scouting Bureau and I've been trying to join their website to take a look at their opinions but I keep getting denied entry. I guess my credentials as a columnist at MMM isn't as prestigious as I thought. I might try again and say I'm with the Flyers and see if I can get in. The website asks you what organization you're with. At any rate I hope the Flyers get a defenseman. God only knows what the Flyers have in Joni Pitkanen and they already have some kid in junior hockey named Jeremy Duchesne who's a goalie and he's playing great. He's in the junior hockey championships as we speak. So they have goalie covered for the future, scoring has been OK for the Flyers, they just need defensive help.
- Here's who I believe will win the end of the season awards. Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) Evgeni Malkin, Penguins (Won't even be close).....Selke Trophy (Defensive forward) Rod Brind'Amour, Hurricanes (This won't be close either).....Hart Trophy (MVP) Sidney Crosby, Penguins (First of many to come).....Norris Trophy (Best defenseman) Chris Pronger, Ducks (Another rout).....Jack Adams (Best coach) Michel Therrien, Penguins (Wins by default).....Vezina Trophy (Best goalie) Roberto Luongo, Canucks (Probably should go to Martin Broduer).
May 9. 2007
This is a special Wednesday edition of MMM. Once in a while I like to keep the legions of MMM fans chomping at the bit so they don't take this for granted. The staff here works long hard hours and sometimes we just like to change things up a bit.
Next MMM: May 21st
www.nba-jam.blogspot.com (Daily updates on the NBA playoffs)
Phillies/MLB
Since we last spoke the Phillies went on a nice 5-2 homestand that gave the fans some hope, but since have hit the road and lost 3 of 9 games to sit at 8-8 since the last MMM and 14-19 overall.
Phillies notes:
- Ryan Howard continues to struggle and now has a nagging quad injury in which the Phillies are hoping sitting him a few days will help it heal to 100%. I'm not worried yet about Howard, but it's getting close to not being a "bad start" anymore. A hot week would cure everything for Howard. I'm no batting instructor but I definitely play one on MMM. What Howard's doing wrong to me looks obvious, and likely he's been told this. He's trying to pull everything. When Howard came up to the majors the thing that amazed everyone is how he went the other way so well with fly balls. He's not doing that as much anymore. I think he's bought into the 58 homer hype from last year. Howard should try to just hit balls to left field for a week, that'll get him off his slump.
- Tom Gordon goes onto the DL. There just wasn't something right with Gordon all year. He's no great closer but he's not as bad as he was pitching. The Phillies opening day starter now pitches 2 or 3 innings a week.
- Charlie's gotta go. He has no feel for the lineup nor his bullpen. I think those are the two biggest jobs of the manager. He trots just about the same lineup out there every night and he completely misuses his bullpen over and over again. Now he only has two guys in his pen who he's going to go to in close games and completely overuse them (Geary and Alfonseca). Yoel Hernandez, Clay Condrey (not sure why he doesn't pitch more) and Fabio Castro will hardly be used - instead we'll trot out these guys over and over again. The Phillies have let Jim Leyland and Lou Pinella slip right past them. That's going to hurt for a long time.
-
Around the MLB
- The Milwaukee Brewers are the talk of the town as they are playing great baseball right now. Do I think they can keep it up? Yes, 100% absolutely. They have solid to very good pitching that will keep them in every game. They will probably need to add one more bat to the lineup to compete with the Mets, but nevertheless they're going to win the Central. I just wish I had the gonads to pick them first in the Central and not 2nd in my NL Preview.
- The Tigers are the hot team in the AL right now as they've won 8 in a row. That's going to be a great division to watch as a hot week will propel any of four teams into the lead for the division.
- The signing of Roger Clemens to the Yankees headlines the last week in baseball. The Yankees are going to win a lot of games this year with or without Clemens. Don't let the pitching woes early fool you. They'll settle down and win a lot of 7-5 games in July & August. They just aren't winning a World Series equipped this way.
- The struggles of Andrew Dice K Matsusaka continue as his ERA climbs to 5.45. He's still going to win 15 games and be one of the better AL pitchers this year if you ask me. The Japanese signing that's most ridiculous was the Yankees signing Kei Igawa to a 4 year $20 million deal (plus $26 mill to the Japanese team for his rights).
- The Braves and Mets continue to pace the NL East and continue to play good baseball. The Mets continue to get amazing pitching from John Maine who won NL Pitcher of the Month for April and has continued his great pitching into May. The Braves have been boosted by a rejuvenated Tim Hudson who is pitching like he did for Oakland 4 years ago. If both guys have Cy Young type seasons there is no way the Phillies are catching these teams.
- The Kentucky Derby was last week and Philly Phaf will scream at me if I don't mention it. Happy?
- MMM fans around the country have been screaming for my opinion on the Eagles draft for weeks now. Well, I'll copy and paste what I wrote last year first, then edit that comment for this year:
Last year: "As for the Eagles draft, I'm not going to be one of these idiotic people who grade the draft the next day or fans that judge the draft the next day". (Now I'm paraphrasing -- the Eagles best draft in recent history was the Lito Sheppard/Brown/Westbrook draft which everyone questioned. The worst draft was Freddie Mitchell which everyone LOVED. )
So -- what does all that mean? Just wait a few years. This isn't the psychic hotline.
- Great golf tourney this week, The Players Championship. Great course, great theater, good stuff.
- I'm looking for an editor for MMM. Spell check misses all my horrible grammar. And I hate re-reading this garbage.
NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser
- The NHL playoffs are like the TV show "Ghost Whisperer", most people know it exists but I'll be damned if I ever met anyone who watches it. And now that the Rangers are out of the playoffs and one of the remaining teams is from Canada it'll only get worse. So let's review a few things...
- As I said the Rangers are done. And unfortunately they're taking those lovely crowd shots Sean Avery' girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert with them. The Rangers got beat by a far better Sabre team that played at their B level with a sub par coaching job by Lindy Ruff and still handled them fairly easily. Ranger coach Tom Renney stole the Devils defensive style in an attempt to stop the waves of offense the Sabres threw at them. It worked well at times but in the end they fell apart quicker then David Hasslehoff at Mardi Gras. Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist actually played pretty well but the Sabre pressure is relentless and he couldn't hold them off forever.
- The Senators dispatched the Devils. As I was watching the Sens and Devils shaking hands at the end of the series all I could think of was fired Devils coach Claude Julien giving Lou Lamoriello the Nelson from "The Simpson's" laugh after the game was over. Haa- haa!!
- The Ducks went through the Canucks like a chainsaw through oatmeal, winning the series 4 games to 1. And that was after Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo pretty much declared himself "unstoppable" in "The Hockey News". Ahhhhh......not so much Robby. Granted every game except one was a one goal game but the Canucks never seemed in command of anything. Ever.
- And then there's the Red Wings vs. the Sharks. The Wings are leading the series 3 games to 2 and I'm guessing that commissioner Gary Bettman is currently sacrificing a goat or asking his close personal buddy Satan for a favor to get the Red Wings in the Finals because a Stanley Cup Finals with the Ducks, Sabres, Sharks, or Senators would probably garner ratings lower then a Thigh Master infomercial.
- Since we last spoke the Flyers went into the NHL draft lottery with only an 8% chance of landing the second pick. They got the second pick. And here's a pet peeve of mine....people who give their two cents on who NHL teams should or should not pick in the draft. Nobody has ever seen any of these kids play; and a lot of them play in Europe so how can people have these dyed in the wool opinions? Anyway the NHL has this thing called the Central Scouting Bureau and I've been trying to join their website to take a look at their opinions but I keep getting denied entry. I guess my credentials as a columnist at MMM isn't as prestigious as I thought. I might try again and say I'm with the Flyers and see if I can get in. The website asks you what organization you're with. At any rate I hope the Flyers get a defenseman. God only knows what the Flyers have in Joni Pitkanen and they already have some kid in junior hockey named Jeremy Duchesne who's a goalie and he's playing great. He's in the junior hockey championships as we speak. So they have goalie covered for the future, scoring has been OK for the Flyers, they just need defensive help.
- Here's who I believe will win the end of the season awards. Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year) Evgeni Malkin, Penguins (Won't even be close).....Selke Trophy (Defensive forward) Rod Brind'Amour, Hurricanes (This won't be close either).....Hart Trophy (MVP) Sidney Crosby, Penguins (First of many to come).....Norris Trophy (Best defenseman) Chris Pronger, Ducks (Another rout).....Jack Adams (Best coach) Michel Therrien, Penguins (Wins by default).....Vezina Trophy (Best goalie) Roberto Luongo, Canucks (Probably should go to Martin Broduer).
posted by Monday Morning Mehta at 12:11 PM
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