Home Run Derby

I have been accused by my good friends at the Nationals Enquirer of being a “pathological Nats-hater” but I must say that the Nationals are my second favorite team.  Well, at least for this weekend anyway.  They get the honor of filling in the blank of my regular quip:

“My two favorite teams are the White Sox and whoever is playing the Cubs”

Of course, not expecting any chance of a win this weekend at Wrigley for the Worst Team in Baseball, I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see this team clobbering the Cubs 10-5 in the 9th.

No wait, 13-5!!!  And to make it even better, ex-White Sox Willie Harris (you know the man who scored the final run of Game 4 in the 2005 World Series) jacked 2 Home Runs and knocked in 6 runs.  Wooo Hoo!!!  Go Nats.

Wait…Willie Harris has 12 Home Runs this year. Tied for the TEAM lead.  OK, it is official.  The Nats are not only the Worst Team in Baseball…They are the Worst. Team.  EVER.  Willie Harris leads the team in Home Runs.  You got to be kidding me. 

Yet, It’s a final…they just be the Cubs!

God, I hate the Yankees.  This latest reason is courtesy of Hank Steinbrenner:

I think it’s very simple, we’ve been devastated by injuries. No team I’ve ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team. Imagine the Red Sox without [Josh] Beckett and [Jon] Lester. Pitching is 70 percent of the game. Wang won 19 games two straight years. Chamberlain became the most dominating pitcher in baseball. You can’t lose two guys like that.”[emphasis added]

OK, we know what Erin Andrews thinks of Joba(/snark), but is there anyone who truly believes he is the “most dominating pitcher in baseball” with his 89 innings pitched this season and 113 innings in his career?

Really, He’s better than Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb? or CC Sabathia or Roy Halladay? or Carlos Zambrano or Jake Peavy? He’s not even better than two Red Sox pitchers mentioned by Hank himself. Hell, he’s not better than John Danks and about 30 other pitchers.

Yes, Hank…Joba is good. Really good. In fact, he may be an all-star one day, but can we save the hyperbole? You made your point, the Yankees had a lot of injuries. Problem was, they were having a hard time competing before the injuries. God forbid that the Yankees are….wait for it…..a mediocre team. *Gasp* That can’t be!

And, what’s with the name Joba anyway? Nice little story on wikipedia there, Justin! Boy, if I changed my name to one of my nicknames growing up, I would be Chewbacca the Greek!

Better yet, Chewy the Greek. My wife would love that! Gotta go, I heading to the courthouse right now.

Texas Rangers’ relief pitcher C.J. Wilson is headed to the Disabled List and possibly the DFA list.  Supposedly for “bone spurs in his left elbow.”

Bullshit.  It’s because Wilson’s not effective as a pitcher (recently removed from the closer’s role) and even worse - he’s disrespectful towards his manager and his team.

Last night, Wilson entered the game in the top of the eighth inning with the Rangers holding a six-run lead over the visiting New York Yankees.

Wilson threw 22 pitches … and was not impressive.  He walked Bobby Abreu, hit Alex Rodriguez, struck out Xavier Nady, walked Robinson Cano, and then, with a 0-1 count, served up Richie Sexson’s 15th Career Grand Slam.

And then it got ugly. 

(more…)

I know the Twins are a good team, but anyone who thinks they have a shot at the AL Central is insane, and it has nothing to do with four of their starting pitchers never pitching 200 innings in a season (Blackburn, Baker, Perkins, Slowey - Hell, Baker is the only one with 100 IP in the Bigs prior to this season). 

Nope, like most things in this country, you can blame the Republicans.

Check out the Twins’ Schedule from August 21st - September 21st.  It is a nut buster. 

Starting August 21st, they go on the road for 15 straight in 16 days (LA, Oak, Sea, Tor) because of the GOP convention (Sept 1-4), then get to come home for 6 games (Det, KC) before heading out for another 10 games on the road in 10 days (Bal, Cle, TB).  That is 25 road games in a span of 33 days with only two days off with six days at home.

So blame the Republicans, Twins fans. 

Unless you are up 5-6 games by August 21st, chances of holding the division will be poor.  This team (like most) is below .500 on the road.

Everybody remember that old SNL feature back in the 90’s, Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.  My favorite went something like…”I think it would be funny that if you were skydiving and your parachute didn’t open that you pretend that you were swimming.”

Anyway, since it seems like I don’t have the time to be too creative or lengthy in my posts, I figure I could at least put a thought or two down for people to ponder.

As a follow up to my Washington N-ASS-ionals post from Thursday, This week’s ESPN’s Power Rankings hit the nail on the head when they ranked Washington dead last.

“Here’s all you need to know about the Nats: Austin Kearns is hitting cleanup, with a .297 slugging percentage.”

Yep, that confirms it, the Nationals suck.