Better options than Brian Fuentes:

1.) Fernando Rodney
2.) The Aflac duck (or Gilbert Gottfried)
3.) John Lackey's wife
4.) My 16 year old cat
5.) Jerry Orbach (yes, he is dead)

Inning summary:

- R. Willits at designated hitter

- B. Fuentes relieved F. Rodney

- G. Kapler struck out swinging

- W. Aybar homered to deep left

- J. Bartlett singled to right center

- C. Crawford flied out to shallow right

- B. Zobrist walked, J. Bartlett to second

- E. Longoria doubled to left center, J. Bartlett and B. Zobrist scored

- C. Pena hit by pitch

- E. Longoria to third, C. Pena to second on wild pitch

- J. Jaso lined out to right center

- End of Inning (3 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) And thus, Fuentes surrenders a 4-1 lead in the ninth. This team will not win 1-run games as they usually do while Fuentes is still on the roster.

Kaz and Hud

Hudler: Dude, this is some primo shit. Lemme get another hit, haha.
Kazmir: ...
Hudler: You know dude, I used to, like, play baseball once.
Kazmir: ...
Hudler: They called me the Wonder Dog...hahaha Wonder Dog...that's some crazy shit, man.
Kazmir: ...
Hudler: You know what I've always wanted to know? Why Physioc bleaches the tips of his hair. I mean, like, he's not like, haha, 20 anymore, you know, and like, he's on the radio with me most of the time anyway, and like, hahaha, you can't, like, see people on the radio, you know? Right? Hahaha.
Kazmir: ...
Hudler: Oh yeah, check this out. Here's the extra camera footage from our last game. You're gonna, like, love the chicks out here in Anaheim, man. Silicone, you know what I mean, yeah, haha, look at this guy! Look at this guy! Haha dude lemme get another hit.
Kazmir: ...
Hudler: This one time I was smokin' a bowl, right, and like, you know, I dropped it, and it, like, sucked, you know, because it was my favorite bowl, haha, and like, I named it Merlot Starburst 7, haha, and like, well, that was a pretty sad day, you know? Right? Right?
Kazmir: WHERE THE FUCK AM I

Honestly, I don't know why I see Kazmir as a stoner. I'm pretty sure I've seen it over at DRaysBay, but more than that, look at the guy. He just looks like the kind of guy who'd be wearing a NORML shirt under his jersey while he's pitching, or the guy who cringes when he sees a German Shepherd, or maybe that guy who tries to sell weed to cops through his dorm window.

If the trade goes through, I like it a lot. His tRA was 3.46 just two years ago, and it's not like he's old enough for me to be really concerned about any sort of major age-related losses. The Angels are giving up two mediocre prospects for a fifth starter who used to be a staff ace. Even if his future performance is down the middle of his numbers from this year and 2007, he's going to put up good numbers for a fifth starter, although he will be hugely, massively overpaid. But hey, it's not my money.

EDIT: And just like that, nope.

Angels and Hockey

Quick note: For those of you who read this on Facebook, a lot of formatting gets screwed up...click on "View Original Post" if you care about things like that.

Yes, my room's a mess. Yes, it's finals week.

If you've never tried on hockey goalie pads, it's really something worth doing. It really helps you appreciate the game from both a shooter and a goalie perspective. The pads are huge, and it's tough to move around. This, of course, is added to the fact that you're on ice and skates, and the ball is a tiny piece of frozen rubber shooting around at 120 mph. And forwards have a tough time because these pads are enormous. I'm not a particularly big guy...I'm about 5'10", but I weigh around 150 pounds, so my frame's pretty wiry, but these pads allow me to fill up most of the goal. I now understand why Thiessen looked so small in Wollaston's but so huge on the ice.

I've made no secret of my desire to play hockey for the last year or so, and this upcoming semester is really my last chance to do it. Northeastern has an intramural ice hockey league, so I'll need to assemble a team. Most certainly, Jeff will play, but finding others to play an incredibly dangerous game without any sort of formal training or equipment is going to be difficult. On the bright side, playing goalie ensures you've always got ice time.

I bought this chest protector on eBay using funds I acquired by participating in an asinine study at MIT. Sadly, without getting paid for my last co-op, this is what it's come to. I've got another study on Friday where I'm watching football for three hours to make $50, which doesn't seem too bad, but jeez, I'd just like my earned salary, please. With any luck, my loving parents will contribute to a real goalie helmet and the ever-important goalie jock.


Angels

"Do you want to know the terrifying truth? Or do you want to see me sock a few dingers!?"

Side note: Talk about weird. So much irony and foreshadowing in that quote. There's a lot of baseball references in the Simpsons, but seeing Mark McGwire in there much before the whole steroid controversy was pretty interesting.

Following the Angels this year has been unbelievably weird. I was convinced they were a third-place team for the first month of the season. I was convinced they were the best team in the AL after the All Star break. I lost confidence in their ability to win thanks to crappy pitching. And now I'm beginning to think they're the class of the AL. Again.

Sweeping Tampa isn't really the same as sweeping the Yankees, but it's still a nice way to round out a homestand. Moreover, the offense seems to have woken up, and Ervin Santana had a hell of a start. I will note, however, that his fastball velocity was up in the 95-97 range in the first and then 92-94 the rest of the way through. That's not ideal.

Trevor Bell made the start this afternoon. I napped through part of his start, but he looked more reliable than his line score indicates. 4 ER in 5.1 innings is kinda bad, but the 4 K's are encouraging, much as the 3:2 groundball to flyball ratio. He's not a future David Price, but it looks like he'll manage league-average numbers at the league-minimum salary. Boom.

By the way, I noticed this over at the site for the Salt Lake City Bees. Yes, Eric Maynor of VCU basketball, throwing out the first pitch. I heckled this guy like it was my job when he showed up at Matthews. It's strange when sports intermingle like this.

Fish from downtown!

Lakers 99, Magic 91 (OT)

I just love looking at the box score for this game. Kobe Bryant goes 11-31. Trevor Ariza goes 6-14. Lamar Odom goes 4-10. You see Dwight Howard with an almost quadruple double, 16 points, 21 rebounds, 9 blocked shots, and 7 turnovers. Turkoglu went 8-13. Then you see Derek Fisher went 2-7 from behind the arc.

And somehow, after all that, those are the only numbers that matter. Two shots, two threes, those six points transforming the Lakers from treading water at 2-2 to dominating a series 3-1. And I sit back, and I wonder aloud about all those times I've talked about how Derek Fisher needs to be on the bench, about all those questionable lineup decisions from Phil Jackson, and about Fisher's "defense."

And all those problems still exist. They just don't matter anymore.

Fisher nailed a three over Jameer Nelson with 4.6 seconds left in regulation. He drilled another one with 36 seconds left in overtime. The first shot tied the game, and the second iced it. Derek Fisher's Twitter just reads "3-1."

Jameer Nelson's failure to foul Fisher with 4.6 seconds left and a 3 point lead is representative of the countless blown opportunities for the Magicians. Hedo Turkoglu shot 8-13 from the free throw line. Dwight Howard shot 6-14. Those aren't just Shaq numbers, those are Shaq-at-the-beginning-of-the-season-when-he's-still-fat-and-lazy numbers. And they should be embarrassing. Dwight, this is the backboard. Backboard, Dwight. If you two work together, you'd shoot 95% on free throws. Hilarious, but my goodness, embarrassing.

Rashard Lewis was pretty much a nonfactor, outside another ridiculous falling away three that he always seems to hit in the fourth. Despite this, the Lakers still managed to win without playing any sort of defense, perimeter or interior, and it's frustrating to watch. But hey, they won.

And now they need one.

Oh, and I almost forgot: The officiating was atrocious, with the Magic shooting 17 free throws in the fourth to 0 for the Lakers.


Angels 1, Tampa Bay 11

It would be hard for me to care any less about this team than I currently do. They are managing to do absolutely nothing correctly. They can't hit, they can't pitch, and they can't field. About the only thing they can do right now is hover at .500.

You'll get better Angels analysis once the Finals are over, and better still once they call up Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez.


Miscellany:

• Tonight, I'll be one of seven viewers watching the Stanley Cup Finals. Go Pens!
• I'll be in LA from the 19th through the 27th.
• I'd like to hop in net sometime before I leave...roller hockey, anyone?
  

Jered Weaver is probably a decent goalie

Angels 4, Tampa Bay 3

I didn't catch this game, like, at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a win (and a Rangers loss). Goodness, Weaver is pitching well. 4 walks in 6 innings, which isn't great, but he only gave up 2 runs, a deficit the Angels "offense" is occasionally capable of overcoming. Of course, they led the whole game, so that's irrelevant.

Jeff Mathis is not good at baseball and shouldn't ever play.

Also, the seventh inning:

- D. Oliver relieved J. Weaver
- J. Dillon hit for R. Brignac
- J. Dillon hit by pitch
- B.J. Upton flied out to deep center
- C. Crawford hit by pitch, J. Dillon to second
- J. Dillon to third, C. Crawford to second on wild pitch
- E. Longoria intentionally walked
- C. Pena lined into double play, E. Longoria out at first

Um...yeah.


Lakers 104, Orlando 108

The Magic won by 4 points despite shooting a ridiculous 63%. Kobe missed 5 free throws and had a critical final possession turnover (again). You'd think they'd call a timeout when Gasol is lying on the ground clutching the ball...but you'd be wrong.

I'd be more concerned if not for the unlikelihoods that won this game for the Magic. The Lakers need to win one in Orlando and win the title at home and I won't whine. I still say Lakers in 6.


Jeff's Team 4, The Force 8? 9?

By far our best game, and by far my best game. We actually led 4-3 at one point in the second, but a couple softies and a couple nice shots ended that pretty quickly. Before the game, Jeff hit me right in the crotch on a shot behind me, which probably ended up helping. I've been playing like a hockey goalie...that is to say, I've been on my feet and dropped for shots. That hasn't really been working, and after writhing on the ground a little, I decided I wasn't gonna risk it again and stayed dropped down for most of the game.

Surprisingly effective, for the most part. I felt a little more comfortable with the pads from a lower position, and overall it just felt a lot more like broomball, which I am less terrible at. This strategy works better at preventing the crappy five-hole goals and tight angle shots, like those off faceoffs, but really sucks at defending a breakaway. I only bit hard at a deke once though, which was nice.

In other news, I have absolutely no use for my glove. I might as well just play with that arm tied behind my back, for all the good it does. I'll have to learn how to use it, because all it did today was deflect a single shot into the net and cover up anything on the ground.

I also seem to play better when I'm talking, which seems to be well in line with the rest of my life.

Here's a shot of my most raised stance. Without skates/ice, it's hard to drop down, so generally won't come up higher than this. I'm typically using a goalie stick as well, which puts my blocker in a better position, but this was a surreptitious photo on an illegal cell phone camera after the game.

A frightening scowl, indeed.

...and this picture below is a representation of my typical net coverage. Note the floating glove and the puck in the back of the net.
I give goalies a lot of crap for five-hole goals, but they are surprisingly difficult to defend. My employer currently owes me about 8 grand, some of which could go to goalie pants/jock, a helmet, and real chest protector, all of which are pointless at the floor/roller level but kinda important when you hit the ice.


Miscellany:

• The Pens won 2-1, forcing the Cup Finals to a decisive 7th game. Interesting note: The Red Wings have never played a Game 7 in the Finals in the years they've won.
• Should the Pens win, I'm going to petition Brad Thiessen to bring the Cup to Matthews Arena on the day he gets it. I figure maybe the guilt of his leaving would let me touch the Cup here at NU.
  
• I still can't get this bike out of my head. Belt drive! Apparently they're also near impossible to get. Trek makes a cheaper, 8 speed model as well. It'd probably look nearly as good if you replaced the rims with yellow/neon green deep vees, and maybe some matching handlebar grips.
  
• Tomorrow, MLB draft discussion, and a recap of my desire to strangle Jeff Boras with Manny's dreadlocks.
  
• If any of you read this on Facebook, do me a favor and leave a comment...my traffic figures are already at least one person higher than I thought.
  

Delayed World Series Celebration?

It seems a little late, but I guess all the Boston fans just figured out the Phillies beat the Rays for the World Series. They're all outside chanting something like "Oh-Bah-Maddon" or something...maybe they're poking fun at Joe Maddon's team losing? Either way, they're really loud and I feel like this is something they should've celebrated a week ago.

Weird.

Today's post goes in order of national importance

Phillies 5, Rays 4
Phillies 10, Rays 2

Color me surprised. I really didn't think the Phillies had much of a chance against the Rays' starting staff, but they sit one win away from capturing a World Series.

Saturday's game featured a five-man infield in the ninth, an exciting gimmick that typically doesn't work. The Phillies scored on a fielder's choice swinging bunt to Evan Longoria. He made a good effort to get to the ball but then underhanded it into the stands, and that was that.

Tonight's game had two things I did not expect at all.

1.) A good pitching performance from meatballer Joe Blanton.
2.) A home run from pitcher Joe Blanton.

The Angels regularly faced Blanton while he was with Oakland. He was not good. Frankly, he still isn't good, but he managed to keep men off base when the Rays homered and did a good job creating some offense for himself. Plus, you've gotta love when former A's win while the current Oakland club is rebuilding...again.

Philadelphia sends out heartthrob Cole Hamels to face Scott "Stoner" Kazmir tomorrow evening. As the sun rises on William Penn, the sun sets in St. Petersburg.


Patriots 23, Rams 16

I do not subscribe to the school of thought which states a midseason coaching change can make a real difference. The Rams are still bad, newfound "fire" and "desire to win" aside. The fact remains that the Patriots are a very average team who still beat St. Louis thanks to solid field position and excellent special teams play.

Cassel had a better game than the 2 interception linescore shows. The first interception was a weird bounce off a defender, and the second was the result of Wes Welker being on the ground instead of finishing his route. It happens. Matty C also threw a touchdown pass to Randy Moss which Moss promptly dropped, although he had a pretty solid game with 106 receiving yards.

New England is now 5-2 and tied for first in the AFC East as Buffalo lost to Miami (!) today. Miami is not good, but they're sure as hell better than they were last year.

The Pats play in Indy next week. The Colts will be on a short week as they play unbeaten Tennessee tonight on Monday Night Football. The Titans are the worst 6-0 team of all time, except for, perhaps, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Going undefeated against crappy teams does not a great team make. And Mercury Morris needs to go away.


Huskies 5, Maine 0
Huskies 2, Maine 1

A weekend sweep in Orono is about as unlikely as Matt Cassel beating an NFL team. Which is to say, considerably more likely considering the level of competition. Maine is absolutely horrendous this year, with neither goalie filling the void left by 6'7" Ben Bishop. Bishop, incidentally, just got his first NHL win as the starting goalie for the St. Louis Blues. The Blues' usual starting goalie Manny Legace was injured on a carpet intended for Sarah Palin.

I'm not even going to touch that.

Friday night's game was not as lopsided as the score suggests, but the Huskies did get contributions from 5 different players. Freshman Alex Tuckerman notched his first collegiate goal, and Rob Rassey scored in his first start this season. The Huskies also got goals from Mike Hewkin, Chris Donovan, and David Strathman.

Saturday's game was stolen by NU in the third, with Rassey getting his second goal and IPNO favorite Ryan Ginand netting the gamewinner on a nasty backhand wraparound. Northeastern was badly outshot yet again, this time 27-13. This isn't a huge concern as they're obviously making their shots count, but I'd like to see them throw the puck at the net a little more often, particularly on the power play.

Brad Thiessen. Still awesome. That is all.


Wildabeasts 3, Kappa Sigma 2

I told Jeff before the game I'd need 3 goals to win. And even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.

We tripled our career-best goals/game against a mediocre team, but we probably could've scored a couple more minus some bad bounces. The W sure looks nice now, though, as we're 2-1-1 with one game left. A win probably puts us in the playoffs.

As far as my actual play, I got to the arena about an hour early and tried to do the whole athlete thing, complete with heavy metal-laden iPod and hooded sweatshirt. I have to say, I was definitely more focused at the onset of the game, but I was feeling unusually tired even early in the first. As a result, I wasn't popping up quickly enough and was leaving way too much of the net open.

The first goal I allowed was an absolutely unacceptable squibber through the five-hole. I almost let in another but finally closed it up, making the save with my calves and the ball behind my body. I don't know what my deal is, but I just wasn't squaring up quickly enough the whole game.

The second goal was more respectable, although frankly still a shot I should've saved. They had a 2 on 1 breakaway, but I decided to stay deep in the net because I forgot that passing is damn near impossible. So instead of challenging the guy with the ball, I sorta stayed back and a shot flicked up over my weak side foot. I got a piece of it, but not enough, and had I come out and gotten closer I would've cut the angle and possibly even been able to poke it away. It didn't end up mattering, but that was not a fun goal to surrender.

My third period was generally solid. I had a sorta cool save where a liner hit me in the chest and popped up, so I sorta swatted it away with the stick with a forward incoming. It looked cool, although the right choice would've been to pull the glove over and pull it out of the air entirely. My last save was a nervous one on a high shot that I knocked down and then had to dive on. My teammates look nervous about those, but I can guarantee I'm more nervous about letting one of those squirt away onto the stick of an opponent.

The next game's not for a couple weeks, so I'll need to find a way to stay focused and maintain my mechanics.

World Series Game 2

Rays 4, Phillies 2

As I predicted, the Phillies can't keep up with Tampa Bay's starting pitching. Brett Myers was average, maybe below average, and Jason Werth made a bad error in right that allowed the Rays two score two runs on groundouts in the first. James Shields, on the other hand, was nigh unhittable, with the Phillies scoring their only runs off David "Nastyman" Price in the eighth and ninth.

Jaime Moyer will lose to Matt Garza because Matt Garza is a good pitcher and Jaime Moyer is old, at best.

The more I watch them, the more the Rays remind me of the 2002 Angels. Young, stud arm out of the bullpen (Frankie--Price), relative unknowns contributing big hits (the Rays roster--the Angels roster), and losing the first game of a series only to come back. The primary difference? The Rays are younger and have much, much better starting pitching. Granted, they aren't playing in the middle of the steroid era, either.

More analysis post-FEA test.

Belated World Series Preview

This World Series will be a refreshing date with baseball where I don't actually care who wins. It's markedly more fun to watch baseball when you don't hate either team playing. Here's what I think is going to happen in Games 2-7, after a brief discussion of tonight's 3-2 Philadelphia victory.

Phillies 3, Rays 2

Scott Kazmir made one bad pitch to Chase Utley in the first inning and BJ Upton hit into a pair of rally killing double plays, one with the bases loaded. That's really all you need to know about this game. Cole Hamels is a good pitcher, but not great, and got out of jams with the aforementioned Upton double plays and a weird strike zone.

This game should concern Phillies fans. Why? Sure, they won, but they only scratched out 3 runs against Tampa Bay's worst starter this postseason. Shields, Garza, and Sonnanstine are all more reliable than former staff ace Kaz, and the Phillies don't have a single starter other than Hamels who doesn't, well, suck. Joe Blanton is absolute crap, and the Rays have seen him before while he was with Oakland. Jaime Moyer would not be a major league starter in the American League at this point in his career. Brett Myers is a below-league average pitcher who got rocked by the Dodgers in his last start.

The Rays obviously aren't happy about tonight's loss, but I have a hard time seeing Philly win any game not started by Whole Camels-sorry, Cole Hamels. Their offense is mediocre with a visibly struggling Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins has done absolutely nothing in the postseason thus far.

Rays in 6.

Also, let it be noted that umpires have no idea how to call a balk. At all. Carlos Pena was erased on a pickoff play that was clearly a balk, as Hamels dropped his foot three-fourths of the way towards home and threw to first. We need a line on the mound.

ALCS Musings

All right, so it's now finally time for me to become an impartial observer on the world of baseball. The Angels are out, the Red Sox are vanquished, and all that's left are two teams which I like more for who they beat on their trip to the Series than who they are themselves. The Phillies spared me from Dodger fans, and the Rays ended the Red Sox's season in a humiliating, painful way, guaranteeing a quiet winter from the pink-hatters out here in Boston.

For the next week or so, I get to watch baseball without caring who wins. It's a nice feeling.

That said, I hope the assholes at ESPN and other national media outlets have learned something from what is sure to be a poorly rated World Series. From the first day of the season, the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs got countless more hours of footage, analysis, and hype than any other team. The networks played off the success of Fever Pitch and quite literally marketed a team to the general public while ignoring perfectly capable ball clubs on both coasts and towards the middle of the country.

Now, they reap what they've sown.

Two unheralded teams are going to play for baseball's biggest trophy, and neither of these teams saw half the analysis on ESPN as the Red Sox. Hell, Manny Ramirez was a bigger topic of conversation than either the Rays or the Phillies for the second half of the season. One player. Over two teams playing for the World Series.

I want to believe that the networks have learned something from this. Maybe they've learned that it makes more sense to cover teams that are playing well, regardless of their clubhouse makeup or past success. The Yankees were irrelevant for months before the playoffs, but they received more press coverage than the Angels who were quietly assembling MLB's best record. The clear and obvious bias has to stop or the executives at ESPN, FOX, TBS, or whoever, can expect consistently bad and declining ratings for each playoff series.

Also, I would immediately fire national broadcasters who openly root for teams. For example, Chip Caray. When Joe Morgan sounds impartial, you know something's wrong. What would be nice would be a dual-audio format, where the SAP button uses one team's usual announcers and the main audio uses the other team's announcers. At least this way, the bias is obvious instead of being hidden behind the supposed neutrality of new announcers.

Finally, I think the playoff format is dumb. Baseball has a massively long season which rewards day-to-day consistency in a way no other sport really does. And yet, at the end of this season, the playoffs commence with a 5 game series that has like a million off-days between each game. My opinion? Every series is 7 games long and there are no off-days. Period. Make it like the regular season. Force teams to use five starters just like they did all season. This makes it more likely that the deepest team wins, not a team with two hot starters. Reward consistency, not streaks, just like the regular season.

Carbonated Beverages + Computer != Fun

Posting to this blog is obviously going to slow down a little now that the Angels' season is over, but with college hockey, the NFL, the NHL, and soon the NBA, I really don't have a good excuse.

First, a casual note about playing with racquetballs indoors: it's dumb. I tried to swat a ball away from my roommate, hit the open, full Coke on my desk, and knocked it directly onto and into my PC through the conveniently located fan grille on top. The machine instantly hanged, and naturally the vent holes were directly over my PCI slots, dousing my video card, TV tuner card, and motherboard with delicious syrup.

Amazingly, all that really got destroyed was my network port. Everything else works, so I've installed a PCI network card and everything seems to be working fine. While I was cleaning the residue off the board, you could see where the acidic Coke etched away parts of a few traces near a chip. Unbelievable. This is why I can't have nice things.

Anyway, here's some brief recaps before I start looking at some homework.


Northeastern 4, Alaska-Anchorage 2

I'm in a little pool with the guys over at DHD, with my sponsored players being Ryan Ginand and JP Maley. For every game the Huskies win, I donate $5 to the program for each goal one of those players scores, $2 for an assist, and a $5 bonus for the gamewinning goal. Naturally, Ginand had two goals, including the gamewinner, in Northeastern's second and final game in Alaska.

The game had online video, so I got to watch the Huskies in action for the first time. Joe Vitale had a quiet series, which is unusual for him, but Ginand and McCauley had two goals each for the weekend, Thiessen looked solid between the pipes, and the freshmen, Quailer in particular, didn't look lost and seemed to fit into Cronin's system. The first home game is Saturday vs. BC, so I'm both excited and nervous.


Patriots 10, San Diego 30

Look, the Patriots can't win if they don't have an effective pass rush, and they didn't. Phil Rivers had hours in the pocket to go deep to a few different receivers, so the loss here doesn't surprise me. Frankly, one of these two teams needs to make it to the Super Bowl, so I'm not opposed to the Chargers beating the Pats.

Matt Cassel looked like crap, which is generally what happens when the other team knows how to pass rush and your team doesn't. This game, again, not Cassel's fault.


Rays 9, Boston 1

The Rays, America's new favorite team, took a 2-1 series lead by beating Jon Lester. Finally. I don't care what the statistics say. Jon Lester is not a #1 starter, and that he's pitched like one all season just shows how novelty can affect opposing lineups. This is the first year Lester's really had the opportunity to show himself to the whole league, and he introduced a new pitch. His stats will regress next season, and I look forward to it.

Also, I think Lester believes this more than anyone: He's not just a kid who beat cancer anymore. Cancer shouldn't define him. He's past it, it's done, respect the guy for his accomplishments and stop talking about his cancer every time he shows up on TV.

Evan "Wunderkind" Longoria and BJ Upton both had homers in the third, and it just kept piling on from there. I thought the Rays were dumb when they gave a rookie a big, long contract, but clearly they knew what we all now know. Go Rays.


Phillies 7, Dodgers 5

The Dodgers have no chance in this series after losing the first two, but I'm not sure I really care anymore. It's hard to root for a team whose fans threw full beers at me at a Dodgers/Angels game. It's also hard to root for the Phillies, since I hate Philly fans (at least Eagles/Flyers fans), and a small part of me still likes the Mets.

Either way, Cory Wade, who's really been quite good lately, gave up a 2-run dinger to Victorino to tie the game, and it was pretty much all-Phillies from there. The Dodger bullpen is looking like a very soft spot in the neck of the franchise.

Bullets from JFK Airport

I'm headed home to LA after finally polishing off Fluid Mechanics, hopefully for good. The final was, surprisingly, not miserable. We'll see.

• The Angels finish their series with the Rays tonight. They've lost their first two already and got swept thaeir last time at the Trop. Anyone who thinks homefield isn't important clearly hasn't looked at the Rays home vs. away W/L record. Sure, the Angels are a great road team, but everyone else in the AL absolutely struggles away from home. Without homefield, the road to the World Series is going to be a complete nightmare, 8-1 versus the Sox or not.
• Lots of folks are predicting an Angels/Dodgers World Series. For some reason, the addition of Manny Ramirez has really messed up some brilliant baseball minds. The Dodgers aren't good, and they play in the crappiest of divisions. Even if they make it out of the NL Worst, they're going to have a tough time getting past the Cubs. Also, the Angels are a team I like, so they're guaranteed to fail.
  
• Nasty Nastia got screwed, but it's really what she gets for competing in a sport where you peak at 14. Essentially, the tiebreaker they used took away the highest score each individual had, and since Nastia's was higher, she lost. No, it doesn't make sense, and yes, you should be able to tie for medals. And no, gymnastics isn't a sport, nor is anything else which requires judging. But don't worry Nastia, you're still hot and, thankfully, legal.
• A big congratulations to Dan Walsh, a former Husky who picked up a bronze for the US in the heavyweight eight. Rowing is one hell of a sport, one which I considered before trying to row for a mere 15 minutes. It's, like, really hard.
  
• The Patriots are playing some absolutely terrible preseason football. Apparently, most sport spundits fail to recognize the significance of the NFL preseason-or, more succinctly, the preseason doesn't mean anything. Without Tommy Brady, though, the Pats are probably not even a .500 football club. Anyone still have Testaverde's phone number?
  
• Bit of trivia from Conor's trivia night. I happened to know this and got it right...the silhouette which makes pu the MLB logo is modeled after the late, great Harmon Killebrew.
• If Greg cooperates, I should be making my clay court debut tomorrow. Everyone likes to play in the dirt. This will also afford me a chance to use the new Babolat against someone actually better than I am.
  
• Dear previous WVC 516 residents: You are all disgusting. There is not enough baking soda in the world to remove the stench you've left in that room.
  
• Bud Light Lime...surpsingly good. Note: I am clearly not a beer snob. I also lack respect for beer snobs who put down macrobrews just because they're macrobrews while simultaneously drinking absolute crap out of some Finnish microbrewery.
  
• Cell phone speaker interference is the biggest engineering obstacle of our time. It must be fixed. I have a hard time beliving high-end noise-cancelling headpohone manufacturers can't figure out a way to isolate the damn driver.

I'll be home around midnight.

Cheering for both teams

Olympic Basketball

I woke up early (well, early by collegiate standards) this morning to watch the United States Olympic men's basketball team take on Yao Ming and China. The game started with one of the more resonant shots of the last few years, a Yao three pointer which opened scoring and gave China their only lead of the game. The place went nuts, but basketball in China is unique. The fans would cheer for Chinese scores but also cheer for Kobe dunks and LeBron alley-oops. I have to imagine it was a very special game for both teams, with Yao doing some impressive cheerleading as the clock wound down to zero.

The US won 101-70, but honestly, you have to feel good about international basketball after a game like that. Hopefully, China will leave Yao alone and let him become the superstar he can be. Also on display during the game: now-Laker Sun Yue. He looked good, although without figuring out his number until the third quarter, I probably missed a lot of his play.

The team plays Angola on the 12th, I believe.


Series Recap: Angels 3, Yankees 0

Another sweep of another overrated AL East opponent. And my, oh my, did we get some offense this weekend. Without delving too deeply into details, particularly at 12:40 AM, the Angels outscored the Yankees 25-12 over the three game series, with 8 of those runs coming in the eighth inning of Saturday's game. Somehow, the Angels broke a 3-3 tie with 8(!) runs in the bottom half of the inning, with the RBI-fest starting with Vlad's homer and ending with his single to left. Yes, Vlad went 2 for 2 in the inning, finishing 2-5 overall in a game where every Angels starter had a hit. It was a remarkable game.

The Halos managed to pull off the sweep today thanks to Joe Girardi's inexplicable choice to bring in Mariano Rivera in a non-save situation. Without the S statistic in play, Mo's been downright mortal, giving up 7 ER in 21 innings, as opposed to 1 ER in 29 innings with the save on the line. It's weird, but it's something to look at. He probably got screwed by an exceedingly lazy play by Cano, who looked like he had a real chance at Chone Figgins' game winning RBI single to right in the bottom of the ninth. Erick Aybar, though, didn't seem to mind as he flung his bat into the air as Howie scored the winning run. It was pretty funny to watch.

Jose Arredondo did his best recreation of a Frankie inning, allowing Alex Rodriguez to double with one out in the eighth. Thanks to a great throw by Mike Napoli and bad positioning by the third base ump, A-Rod was called out at third attempting to steal, although replays showed he was safe by a couple inches. Jose got out of the inning, and such is baseball. Regardless, the strike zone was a fluid concept this afternoon, reminding me again why umpires need to be replaced with pitch tracking systems as soon as possible. I swear, Derek Jeter gets a strikezone the size of a shoebox. It's ridiculous.

This sweep logged a couple milestones for the Halos, one of which demands reflection back to 2002, the last time the Angels were 30+ games over .500. 2002 was a good year for the franchise.


Miscellany

• Amanda's in another tournament, this time the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Unlike her other tournaments thus far, this is a WTA event, so it's worth $175,000 in prize money. She plays #31 world ranked Katarina Srebotnik tomorrow.
• The Rays won their 71st game this season, breaking their former franchise season win total with 45 games remaining. Bravo, Tampa Bay.
• Olympic sports that are not sports: badminton, beach volleyball, diving, "equestrian," gymnastics, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, and weightlifting. Not sports. Sorry. I'm not trivializing the athletes, just the dumb games they play.
• A small part of me feels bad for sweeping the Yankees and making life easier for Boston, but then I remember: I hate the Yankees also.
• Kira sent me an interesting link about why I should've chosen athletic training over mechanical engineering. Even so, fuck ESPN.
  
• Firefox 3 is a worthless piece of shit. I'm going to downgrade to a functional browser in the next couple hours. Whoever is responsibly for the asinine URL bar needs to be fired and/or shipped to Apple.
  

Sasha and Vlad

Good night for sports in LA, at least with regard to teams I like.


Kings fire Crawford

The Kings, who managed to finish second to last and therefore (presumably) missed out on Steve Stamkos, have fired Marc Crawford with a year still left on his contract. GM Dean Lombardi claims it was a "gut call," but it probably has something to do with the legacy of underachieving which permeates the franchise. I've said it before and I'll say it again: AEG is not a suitable team owner, in any sport, and I'd like someone along the lines of Mark Cuban to buy the team and turn it into a contender.

I'm not sure Crawford was the problem...when you lose 43 games, the bigger problem is the players. The Kings haven't really had a legitimate goalie since Potvin left, but the prospect of Bernier making it to LA soon is promising. Also, look for Hockey East alums F Brian Boyle (Boston College...BC sucks), F Teddy Purcell (Maine), and possibly G Jon Quick (UMass) to see some time at Staples. Boyle has been given plenty of ice time and has, surprisingly, excelled, so expect to see him starting on the third or fourth line at center. What a goon, though.

If I had to choose a coach, with my relatively limited knowledge of the NHL, I'd look outside the organization at this point. Unless we can get Luuuuuuc to coach, I don't see any reason why the Kings should be trying to find and internal solution, particularly with the relatively disconnected ownership.


Angels 6, Rays 1

6 runs?! That's as close to the 10-run Hooters wings promotion as the Halos have gotten in a month. Jered pitched one hell of a game, going 8 innings and surrendering the only Rays run on a Gabe Gross homer with two out in the eighth. I only caught snippets of this game, between the Lakers and competitive drinking games, but I did observe the aforementioned Gross homer, along with the first inning two run bomb to right from Garett Anderson and the fifth inning Vlad blast. Speaking of Vlad, he went 2-4 with a pair of RBI's, so his average is slowly creeping back up to what we all know and love.

James Shields gave up 6 runs on 10 hits while striking out 9, pitching 8 innings. It's an unusual line score, but I don't have a whole lot more insight beyond that. Usually with strikeout totals you expect at least one walk, but he was facing the Angels, so walks are a rarity. This was also the first time Shields pitched after the brawl in Boston, and he was probably a little amped up during the four-run first inning.

Scot Shields pitched a scoreless ninth for the Halos, striking out the first two batters he faced before getting a groundout to third to end it. Scot's probably my favorite reliever of all time because, well, the guy makes millions of dollars and still drinks Bud Light.


Lakers 87, Celtics 81

There are eight million game recaps out there for this game, so I won't bother. But I will say this. The Lakers could have won this game by 20. They could have lost this game by 20. Three reasons for both scenarios:

• Free throws
• Pau Gasol
• Lamar Odom

Free throws in the NBA have always pissed me off. But first of all, the moving screen needs to be allowed, because every screen in the NBA is a moving screen. Either call it every time, or don't call it at all. And getting hit in the face, for some reason, apparently isn't a foul, but tripping over your own feet is. The officiating was bad this game as well, but slightly less bad than previously, and bad in a way which, for the most part, helped the Lakers.

Free throws. FREE throws. The first word is important. They're free. FREE POINTS. If you're the league MVP, you shouldn't miss free throws. Ever. Not one. Especially not two in a row. And don't you dare miss 7 of the 18 FREE points the refs try to give you. As far as I'm concerned, if you can't shoot at least 80% from the line, you have no business driving into the lane. Hell, you have no business playing in the NBA. It's pathetic. It was kinda cute when Shaq would walk to the line, sweating profusely into his own eyes, and then miss free throws on shots which looked more like straight lines than rainbows. But it's not cute anymore. The Lakers gave away a collective 13 points on FREE points last night.

Pau Gasol. Pau, oh Pau. We all love you, but this disappearing act needs to stop. If you're gonna get into the paint, FINISH. And if you get fouled, make your god damn FREE THROWS. Seriously. Pau missed 5 of his 8 attempts at free points. He also went 3 for 9 from the field. Unacceptable.

Lamar Odom. Lamar didn't do anything this game. He also has an incredibly creepy vein in his right shoulder. I swear it looks like somethings gonna pop out of that thing and start consuming Jack Nicholson.

But, as always, Kobe. And Sasha Vujacic? Are you kidding me? The Lakers don't even get close to winning this one without The Machine, and man, was he fun to watch. Sasha finished with 20 points, going 3 for 5 from outside the arc and 7 of 10 overall. Kind of a big deal.

Game four is Thursday at 9:00. Pierce, Garnett, Fisher, Odom, and Gasol should all play better games, mostly because it would be difficult to play any worse.


Game Preview: Rays at Angels, 3:35 PM EST

Whoever wins this game wins the series...I've never been partial to the term "rubber game." Should be another excellent pitching matchup, with John Lackey facing off with Scott Kazmir. Vlad is heating up, hitting five homers in the last 14 games and raising his average to .270, while Maicer Izturis has a ten game hitting streak thus far.

Honestly, the Angels suck against Kazmir, but Lackey's been so good lately that I see them pulling out a 2-1 or 2-0 win. Either way, losing to the Rays is no longer an embarrassing admission, and that's something every baseball fan can appreciate.

100 degrees

Angels 4, Rays 13

Clearly not a well-pitched game for the Halos. Outside the first inning, Hokie Joe Saunders had a tough time dealing with the Rays lineup, and frankly it's a little past-due. Each of the last two seasons he's pitched, he's pitched better earlier in the season. A day's rest also had the effect of dropping his ERA well over a point, as I recall, so stamina's been a problem for him, and I think he's going to need a couple days off here and there to keep up his performance.

That said, last night's game involved a second inning where Longoria, Aybar, and Navarro hit consecutive home runs to roughly the same part of the park. Joe managed to recover, but the pitches he expended that inning were likely the reason the wheels fell off in the fifth.

The Angels managed to take the lead on a Torii bomb (the 200th of his career) to center in the fourth, but the fifth was an inning Saunders probably wants to forget. A pair of doubles and a single led to four Tampa Bay runs, and Arredondo allowed a single to force another run across before getting out of the inning.

Arredondo was the only major league caliber pitcher the Angels used, as the newly-recalled O'Day and still-old Oliver combined to give up another five runs in the last three innings.

Regardless of the outcome, last night had some definite positives, including 4-4 nights for both Vlad and Matthews. I've never been a fan of the GMJ contract, but even though he's not a .300 hitter, he's not a .210 hitter, either.

Tonight is Weaver vs. Shields at 10:05 EST. If Jered pitches like himself and not his brother, the Halos have a chance against a recently shaky Shields. Just don't charge the mound...Shields said this after the brawl in Boston:

"“We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and it isn’t going to happen anymore...when a guy comes after me, my dad always told me, ‘You’d better knock him out.’"

Game Preview: Celtics at Lakers, 9:00 PM EST

Three game sweeps in the middle set of the 2-3-2 format have occurred just twice in twenty years, as I recall. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen again this year. Game two's fourth quarter was an example of what the Lakers can do, and with the home fans and an undoubtedly irate Phil Jackson, I see the Lakers heading back to Boston with a 3-2 series edge. At the very least, they need to win one so I'm the hell out of this city if they lose.

The playoffs are, mercifully, on a real network again. TNT and TBS are the worst channels for sports, with the possible exception of Versus.


Misc: Heat

No, not the Miami Heat. Here in Attleboro, it's a pleasant 95 outside. At my desk, it's a balmy 102 right now with the temperature and humidity rising at will. Two window air conditioners do not provide the necessary BTU's to cool a room this large. It probably doesn't help that there are eight furnaces, all over 1000 degrees, about ten feet below my floor. To those of you seeking a satisfied employee base with your company: this is incorrect.

Donaghy Lives

Here's a couple game recaps for you to enjoy. Later on I'll be complaining about how MLB.tv is just another way for Selig to extract money from your pockets without putting a better product on the field.

Angels 3, Athletics 7 (12 innings)

An interesting pitcher's duel between Santana and Harden, with both starters racking up 9 strikeouts. Harden would start the game with a 9 pitch, 3 strikeout performance in the first, a surprisingly rare occurrence, less surprising when you look at the Angels lineup as of late. Santana had a slight edge, giving up 2 ER in 6.1 innings, with Harden allowing 3 ER in 6 for a quality start. Two of those runs came on a surprising two run shot from Vlad, although he proceeded to finish 1-5 on the day. I refuse to believe this season-long slump is merely aging...his LD% shows that his BABIP is a little unlucky/low, and I remain convinced he's hiding an injury.

Darren Oliver proceeded to give up the tying run while retiring only one batter in the seventh before giving way to Shields, who pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. Surprisingly, Justin Speier pitched three scoreless innings and may be looking to reclaim his late inning relief role. If Jose Arredondo weren't pitching so well, I'd expect to see Speier more often, but bullpen logjams are always a good thing.

Then, of course, came the 12th, after seemingly endless missed opportunities for the Halos on the offensive end. Chris Bootcheck, whose Baseball Reference page I sponsor, rewarded my $20 investment with an inning in which he allowed three hits and a walk, with the last of those hits being a walk off grand slam to Mark Ellis, yet another player on the A's who I barely consider to be major league caliber. Whatever. A 5-1 road trip and the best record in the AL are nothing to complain about, even if you won't see any coverage on ESPN.


Lakers 102, Celtics 108

Earlier this season, Northeastern played Maryland in College Park, losing 74-72 in overtime after Baptiste Bataille accidentally made a free throw he was trying to miss. The game came on the heels of a close loss at Illinois and just before the first win of the season against Boston University.

The most notable thing about the NU/MD game was the free throw disparity. The Terps took 46 free throw attempts, including 20 in the first half, while the Huskies took just 13 attempts total, 2 in the first half. There is no way that a properly officiated game has a free throw disparity that large, and while NU coach Coen is too much of a class act to admit it, the Huskies played well enough to win that game with mediocre, even bad, officiating. But the refs were bad enough to steal the game.

Fast forward to last night. 38-10. 38 free throws for the Celtics, 10 for the Lakers. It's hard to overcome that kind of "quality" refereeing, but the Lakers refused to quit, cutting 22 points of a 24 point lead in the last eight minutes before finally succumbing to youth when Sasha managed to miss a wide open Kobe as the last couple seconds drained away. Tim Donaghy was not, in fact, calling this game, but he might've been. Phil Jackson, always good for a hilarious post-game, had this much to say:

"I've never seen a game like that in all these years I've coached the Finals. Unbelievable."

With that said, a 2-0 series hole is a pain in the ass to climb out of. While only a couple teams have swept the 3 game set in the current 2-3-2 Finals format, few teams are as good as the Lakers, who emerged from a brutal Western Conference while the Celtics were struggling with the Atlanta Hawks. The Lakers are a team built to win for the next five years, and any success they're having now is basically a bonus. But Boston has had more than its fair share of championships in the last ten years, and it's time for it to end.


Game Preview: Tampa Bay @ Los Angeles, 10:05 EST

The Rays have quickly become everyone's favorite AL East team, with the Red Sox/Yankees "rivalry" basically expired. It doesn't hurt that they have Northeastern alum Carlos Pena playing first, although he's been out for some time with a broken finger, so he'll miss this series with the Halos.

The Rays managed to sweep the Angels earlier this season, and in fact are the only team that has a winning record vs. LA of A. Tonight's starters are Hokie Joe Saunders, the current AL wins leader, and Edwin Jackson, a former Dodger farmhand who was sent away to be useful with another franchise. That seems to be a hallmark of the Dodger organization.

Expect, as usual, a solid start from Saunders, although he's clearly overachieving right now, I don't foresee a serious decline until after the all-star break. The Angels haven't seen Jackson this year, missing him in the first series at Tampa Bay, but he's got something like a 6.00 ERA against the Halos, so I feel pretty confident about this game.

Return to Blogging and Various Sports Miscellany

It's been a while since I've tried blogging on a regular basis. Generally, I get lazy about it and then slowly lose interest, eventually giving up altogether. Either way, I'm back to write about sports, although you'll likely see a fair deal of complaining about Northeastern and/or work, as time permits.

Regardless, here's a couple recaps from a few games from Thursday the fifth.

Boston Red Sox 7, Tampa Bay Rays 1

My roommate was kind enough to offer me the second ticket in a pair he won at work. Our seats were probably the best I've had at Fenway outside the Baseball Beanpot, as we were sitting in the infield grandstand just underneath the Northeastern sign on the third base line.

James Shields had a pretty poor first inning, hitting Pedroia and giving up a double to JD Drew before Ramirez knocked one well over the Monster. He eventually got out of the inning, but the game was starting to look a lot less like the pitching duel I had been expecting.

Of course, the previous evening, the game got a little chippy when Crisp took out Iwamura while trying to steal second base. Apparently Shields remembered and proceeded to drill Crisp in the thigh as he was leading off the bottom of the second. Crisp took about three steps towards first and then charged the mound. The ensuing brawl, complete with streams of relievers coming in from the bullpens, took about 10 minutes before the umps got complete control, at which point they spent another 20 minutes figuring out who to toss. Crisp and Shields were thrown out pretty quickly, but it took the umpires a while to also toss Gomes, the only Rays player who would end up with an RBI that evening.

As fate would have it, Ellsbury, after moving to center to replace Crisp, managed to injure himself on a nice diving catch. He took a backasswards route to the ball and ended up diving and rolling over his wrist, forcing him to leave and Drew to move to center. I don't think I've seen Drew in center since his days in LA, but he didn't get a whole lot hit his way the rest of the game.

After the fight, the game got pretty boring, with the occasional "Beat LA!" chant rising from the outfield grandstands. I left the game in the middle of the eighth to go watch the Finals, but Timlin and Aardsma pitched the last 2.2 innings without event.



I'm usually okay with outbursts of physicality during any sporting event, but the bench-clearing "brawl" is the stupidest event in baseball. First off, it ruins the strike zone (which, I might add, is crappy enough without any help) for the rest of the game, as the umpires tend to move the zone more outside to keep things from escalating further. Moreover, an interesting Shields/Lester matchup turned into Lester vs. Rays Long Relief, also known as "boring." My biggest issue, though, is that these players make too much money to screw around like this. They're walking around on millions of dollars, some of which I supply through my ticket and merchandise purchases, and if I have to miss seeing Vlad because some idiot charges the mound, I'm going to be incredibly pissed.

It's also worth it to note that baseball players are embarrassingly bad fighters. If you want fights, watch hockey.


Boston Celtics 98, Los Angeles Lakers 88

No recap from me, but I will say this much: Anyone expecting Kobe to shoot 9 for 26 again is an idiot and has probably never actually watched basketball. The entire fourth quarter, it seemed like every shot from the Lakers rattled out. If the Celtics are banking on their defense to keep Kobe shooting 34%, then they're in bigger trouble than they can handle.

Expect Odom and Gasol to wake up, as well.

Paul Pierce's "injury" and subsequent return were the smartest thing the Celtics have done this postseason. Unfortunately, that only works once. The 2-3-2 setup for the Finals is a huge advantage for the Lakers who, still, have not lost at home in the playoffs. I'm gonna say the Lakers take the game on Sunday and sweep in LA, just in time for me to get back and head to the parade.


Game Preview: Angels at Athletics, 10:05 EST

The A's are a better team than expected, which is basically the same thing everyone says about them every year. I'm not convinced that Beane is the genius that Oakland fans claim him to be, but he's clearly a step above your average GM.

Tonight is a nice Lackey vs. Blanton matchup. Blanton's not very good, but neither is the Angels offense, so the game will probably rest on how well Lackey pitches. If he keeps pitching like he has been, I'm not worried. Expect to see Vlad back in the lineup.