Monday, January 19, 2009
Remember my Dominican Pirates Satire??
Remember when I wrote that blog before about the pirates just going out and signing Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and Odalis Perez? I just read this article on yahoo sports, and apparently this beat writer was thinking the same thing as me! Though it's purely conjecture at this time, it is still his right.
Friday, January 16, 2009
All Things Pirates - Part 2: Monroe or Hero?
This is shameless theft from Mondesi's House, but let's see who can come up with the best caption for this photo. Mine is "Remember the first rule of baseball, do not sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The second rule of baseball, is do not sign the with Pittsburgh Pirates..."
Finally the Pirates have found the missing piece to the puzzle! Craig Monroe, who was not mistakingly left off my shatty veteran free agent list (you can't really be described as "veteran" until you're over 35, washed up, and injury/cocaine prone)
Some fun facts about our future HOFer:
- His full name is Craig KEYSTONE Monroe. Try and tell me he wasn't destined to play for the Pirates.
- His mother's name is Marilyn. Oddly enough, she also sang for the president and slept with Joe DiMaggio.
- I checked his DNA, he is not related to Raul Mondesi, Derek Bell, OR Jeremy Burnitz (collective sigh of relief).
Joking aside, this signing could be worse. We didn't give him much money, and he has shown at least a slight bit of potential. For once, I think the risk is worth the reward. Although the reward won't ever be more than .250 25 70, good enough for our RF though. News from Bradington is that Gorzo and Moss are in terrific shape, Brad Lincoln is syked to tear a vital arm tendon all over again, and no one knows where Adam LaRoche is. Maybe he's hanging from a ceiling fan after a long, cold winter of agonizing over another year with Pittsburgh.
Plenty more info from the PBC blog...
Quote of the Day comes from Cy Young qualified pitcher Paul Byrd - "I got some really nice offers," Byrd said. "That's what made it hard. [There were some] nice offers from very competitive big-time teams that just need someone to fill in at the back end of their rotation. I also got an offer or two from small-market teams that said they wanted me to come in and be their No. 1 or [No.] 2 guy." Really? What Godawful team would make a 39 year old pitcher who never had a better ERA in his career than 3.74 their No. 1 or 2 starter? Good luck finding a veteran team that will actually use you in the postseason...A-hole.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Playoffs - Round 3
I’ve already seen most your predictions and it looks like we think it will be the Steelers and Eagles. After two rounds of predictions, not a one of us got all the games right in either the first or second round. Safe to say either we know absolutely nothing about football, or parity is so high in the NFL that it’s basically 50/50 in each game, and therefore you have a 1/16 chance of guessing the outcomes of 4 games. Odds are, someone will get it right this week, but since no one voted for Ravens/Cardinals I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that’s who makes it. Let’s pray they don’t.
My playoff pick record: 3-5
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Movie Stills - Quiz 7
Jump to my blog for this week's movie quiz.
NFL Playoff post will be up tomorrow, and All Things Pirates Part 2 should be up Friday, including news of the newly signed future Pirate superstar. How is he related to Marilyn Monroe? Find out soon.
NFL Playoff post will be up tomorrow, and All Things Pirates Part 2 should be up Friday, including news of the newly signed future Pirate superstar. How is he related to Marilyn Monroe? Find out soon.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Hall of Fame
HI EVERYBODY!
I know I have not posted on here in awhile. And I really should put up a new quiz, but I honestly ran out of material. I suck. Anyways, it's 11:51 a.m. and I am still awake after working a midnight shift at Hell. So, I figured I would discuss some Hall of Fame stuff that I heard on Mike and Mike in the Morning.
Tony Dungy
The debate is whether or not he should make the HOF. I think this one is a no-brainer. He won a Super Bowl. He rebuilt the Bucs, and the year after he left they won a Super Bowl. He came to a budding powerhouse and finally won with them. Any argument you make against him seems pretty flimsy to me.
Donovan McNabb
Obviously, I hate the Eagles. However, I can respect McNabb. On today's show, they were saying how he is quietly becoming a HOFer. They tossed at a bunch of numbers, which I did not pay attention to, well except that his TD-INT ratio is really good, in fact it is much better than plenty of the HOF QBs. I say he should be in. Even if he never wins a Super Bowl.
Ricky Henderson
Okay, Ricky ended up receiving the highest percentage of votes all time or some shit like that. The big question was, "why would anyone not vote for him?" He has the SB record and the all-time Runs scored. He may have been the pre-Manny with his negative attitude, but he was absolutely amazing on that one baseball game for my Game Gear...yes, that is how I base my imaginary vote.
Bert Blyleven
Obviously I did not really see him play too much, but in his era he was a dominant pitcher. How can you not have a guy with over 3000 Ks, a career ERA of 3.31, and 60 career shut-outs in the HOF? Plenty of writers point to his W-L, but that is retarded because how can that be his fault? He played for some crappy teams and left the game with a lead, and then watched it drift away...This argument has been made all over the internet among the stat blogs, so I will not delve into it. He did have some fun stuff to say on the show this morning, mostly about how it is ridiculous that he keeps getting snubbed.
Jim Rice
I really have no pros or cons for him getting in. I just want to point out something that Mike Golic says all the time. "How can you not be a HOFer one year and then be one the next?" Rice went 14 years without getting in, but then all of a sudden his numbers looked better? Whatever, that is one of the things that annoys me about the HOF.
The 'Roid Era
Did you know that there were guys who did not vote for Cal Ripken Jr. No shit, there was some moron who said he refused to vote for anyone from the steroid era. Granted, if Ripken were on roids all those years, he most likely would have sustained a few injuries. Am I right Kern? Also, what about Clemens and Bonds? Should they get in? I say yes.
First Time Ballots
This is the one that bothers me. There are some writers who will not vote for someone if it is their first time on the ballot. How utterly ridiculous. Did you know that Hank Aaron and Willie Mays did not get 100% votes? Well obviously, since there has never been a unanimous entry.
The show then went on to ask the question, if the current system is flawed, how do we fix it? No one had a good answer, although one guy sent in an email, which I believe was intended to be funny, but was actually not too bad. He recommended a BCS type system. One-third writers, one-third computers, one-third baseball personalities.
Obviously the writers is pretty self explanatory. The morons who vote now. The computers could be a few different systems from the many different sabermetric groups out there, mainly Bill James. Allow them to come up with a few different ways to evaluate players and then rank them. The next group could be a committee of players (current/retired), announcers (Lanny! Vin Scully), and sports talk folk (Bob Costas, STEPHEN A. SMITH (just kidding))
You then take a composite of those three votes/rankings...it could work. Let me know what your thoughts are any of this...
I know I have not posted on here in awhile. And I really should put up a new quiz, but I honestly ran out of material. I suck. Anyways, it's 11:51 a.m. and I am still awake after working a midnight shift at Hell. So, I figured I would discuss some Hall of Fame stuff that I heard on Mike and Mike in the Morning.
Tony Dungy
The debate is whether or not he should make the HOF. I think this one is a no-brainer. He won a Super Bowl. He rebuilt the Bucs, and the year after he left they won a Super Bowl. He came to a budding powerhouse and finally won with them. Any argument you make against him seems pretty flimsy to me.
Donovan McNabb
Obviously, I hate the Eagles. However, I can respect McNabb. On today's show, they were saying how he is quietly becoming a HOFer. They tossed at a bunch of numbers, which I did not pay attention to, well except that his TD-INT ratio is really good, in fact it is much better than plenty of the HOF QBs. I say he should be in. Even if he never wins a Super Bowl.
Ricky Henderson
Okay, Ricky ended up receiving the highest percentage of votes all time or some shit like that. The big question was, "why would anyone not vote for him?" He has the SB record and the all-time Runs scored. He may have been the pre-Manny with his negative attitude, but he was absolutely amazing on that one baseball game for my Game Gear...yes, that is how I base my imaginary vote.
Bert Blyleven
Obviously I did not really see him play too much, but in his era he was a dominant pitcher. How can you not have a guy with over 3000 Ks, a career ERA of 3.31, and 60 career shut-outs in the HOF? Plenty of writers point to his W-L, but that is retarded because how can that be his fault? He played for some crappy teams and left the game with a lead, and then watched it drift away...This argument has been made all over the internet among the stat blogs, so I will not delve into it. He did have some fun stuff to say on the show this morning, mostly about how it is ridiculous that he keeps getting snubbed.
Jim Rice
I really have no pros or cons for him getting in. I just want to point out something that Mike Golic says all the time. "How can you not be a HOFer one year and then be one the next?" Rice went 14 years without getting in, but then all of a sudden his numbers looked better? Whatever, that is one of the things that annoys me about the HOF.
The 'Roid Era
Did you know that there were guys who did not vote for Cal Ripken Jr. No shit, there was some moron who said he refused to vote for anyone from the steroid era. Granted, if Ripken were on roids all those years, he most likely would have sustained a few injuries. Am I right Kern? Also, what about Clemens and Bonds? Should they get in? I say yes.
First Time Ballots
This is the one that bothers me. There are some writers who will not vote for someone if it is their first time on the ballot. How utterly ridiculous. Did you know that Hank Aaron and Willie Mays did not get 100% votes? Well obviously, since there has never been a unanimous entry.
The show then went on to ask the question, if the current system is flawed, how do we fix it? No one had a good answer, although one guy sent in an email, which I believe was intended to be funny, but was actually not too bad. He recommended a BCS type system. One-third writers, one-third computers, one-third baseball personalities.
Obviously the writers is pretty self explanatory. The morons who vote now. The computers could be a few different systems from the many different sabermetric groups out there, mainly Bill James. Allow them to come up with a few different ways to evaluate players and then rank them. The next group could be a committee of players (current/retired), announcers (Lanny! Vin Scully), and sports talk folk (Bob Costas, STEPHEN A. SMITH (just kidding))
You then take a composite of those three votes/rankings...it could work. Let me know what your thoughts are any of this...
Friday, January 9, 2009
All Things Pirates
It's never too early to begin the discussion of the worst team in history, so I figured I'll kick things off. FYI, this seems like the most useful site for up to the minute Pirates news. Please add anything on your mind in the comments, I'll go through a few of mine.
- The Pirates are looking for a cheap, veteran right-handed hitting right fielder. You know who fits that description perfectly? Jason Michaels at $750,000. Oh wait, we just let him go. At least we didn't waste like $2 mil a year on a player who has never finished a full season in the majors. Mr. Rocco rumors, farewell.
- Why is it even a question that Jeff Karstens should be solidly in the rotation? Sadly, he is the most exciting player outsider to come into our franchise since Bay. If he can start for the Yankees he can start for the Pirates.
- On the other hand, who is Russ Ohlendorf and why is he even considered a candidate? Maybe it's his impressive 5.02 ERA at AAA last year. On the bright side, Daniel McCuthen has had very positive minor league numbers. If only he wasn't already 26...
- Looks like Dumatrait is the most current victim of the Pirates' Pitching Injury Curse. Someone come up with a cool name for it, maybe like who was the first major pitcher to blow out his arm in our organization?
- John Russel sucks. I will never forget, one of the last Pirate games I was actually interested in last year, the moment where I lost whatever confidence I had in him, which was next to none to begin with. The details are sketchy at this point, but we were playing the Brewers and the game was tied in the top of the ninth I think, maybe bottom of the eigth, and Pirates had first and third with one out. Ian Snell is due up (probably the only time he made it 7+ innings) and is considered one of the Pirates' top bunters. It's obviously a bunt situation, so we're golden, right? Nope, Russell takes our top batter off the bench, Sanchez, a proven crappy bunter, and gives him the sign to lay one down. He proceeds to bunt 30 feet in the air, compared to a good bunt which would be 0 feet in the air, and you can guess what happens after that. In case you can't, whoever was up next made the third out, Tyler Yates came in to pitch (MATT CAPPS WAS AVAILABLE), and gave up a game winning double to Prince Fielder. The end.
- Speaking of Snell, he is apparently playing in the WBC for Puerto Rico or something. Isn't he from Rhode Island?
- Right now I have the Pirates' rotation ranked as 4th worst in the league. That's a lofty expectation, isn't it?
- The only thing worse than guaranteeing Brandon Moss a starting position is guaranteeing Andy LaRoche a starting position. Look for a severe downgrade from last year's offense, at least for the first few months. Maybe they will surprise us as they get some experience...
- I will put up odds for the Pirates finishing at or above .500 at 20/1. Anyone who wants to throw some money away, let me know.
- The Pirates are looking for a cheap, veteran right-handed hitting right fielder. You know who fits that description perfectly? Jason Michaels at $750,000. Oh wait, we just let him go. At least we didn't waste like $2 mil a year on a player who has never finished a full season in the majors. Mr. Rocco rumors, farewell.
- Why is it even a question that Jeff Karstens should be solidly in the rotation? Sadly, he is the most exciting player outsider to come into our franchise since Bay. If he can start for the Yankees he can start for the Pirates.
- On the other hand, who is Russ Ohlendorf and why is he even considered a candidate? Maybe it's his impressive 5.02 ERA at AAA last year. On the bright side, Daniel McCuthen has had very positive minor league numbers. If only he wasn't already 26...
- Looks like Dumatrait is the most current victim of the Pirates' Pitching Injury Curse. Someone come up with a cool name for it, maybe like who was the first major pitcher to blow out his arm in our organization?
- John Russel sucks. I will never forget, one of the last Pirate games I was actually interested in last year, the moment where I lost whatever confidence I had in him, which was next to none to begin with. The details are sketchy at this point, but we were playing the Brewers and the game was tied in the top of the ninth I think, maybe bottom of the eigth, and Pirates had first and third with one out. Ian Snell is due up (probably the only time he made it 7+ innings) and is considered one of the Pirates' top bunters. It's obviously a bunt situation, so we're golden, right? Nope, Russell takes our top batter off the bench, Sanchez, a proven crappy bunter, and gives him the sign to lay one down. He proceeds to bunt 30 feet in the air, compared to a good bunt which would be 0 feet in the air, and you can guess what happens after that. In case you can't, whoever was up next made the third out, Tyler Yates came in to pitch (MATT CAPPS WAS AVAILABLE), and gave up a game winning double to Prince Fielder. The end.
- Speaking of Snell, he is apparently playing in the WBC for Puerto Rico or something. Isn't he from Rhode Island?
- Right now I have the Pirates' rotation ranked as 4th worst in the league. That's a lofty expectation, isn't it?
- The only thing worse than guaranteeing Brandon Moss a starting position is guaranteeing Andy LaRoche a starting position. Look for a severe downgrade from last year's offense, at least for the first few months. Maybe they will surprise us as they get some experience...
- I will put up odds for the Pirates finishing at or above .500 at 20/1. Anyone who wants to throw some money away, let me know.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Question
This is mainly for Josh and Ryan, who are really the only ones that care as much as me about baseball....
To get the baseball preseason started (after football ends of course), I'm going to write up reviews on each division, like one a week, and talk about predictions, what teams need, weakness, etc. Would you all prefer me to do this on Pancake or my own blog? I'm very bored and have already started research...
To get the baseball preseason started (after football ends of course), I'm going to write up reviews on each division, like one a week, and talk about predictions, what teams need, weakness, etc. Would you all prefer me to do this on Pancake or my own blog? I'm very bored and have already started research...
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Playoffs - Round 2
Let me be the first to say, yesterday's (Sunday's) playoff games were perhaps the most boring, uninteresting, non-competitive, shitty games I have ever witnessed. Not only because my two least favorite teams playing, or even that my two least favorite teams won, but mostly that the games were just awful to watch. I fell asleep literally 3 times during the games, and played Wii during the second half of the Ravens game. Honestly, this is the playoffs! I've been looking forward to these games for weeks, and this is what I'm repaid with? Chad Pennington showed his true colors, that's for sure. Anyway, none of us pancakers predicted the winning pairs in either the AFC or NFC. Shows how much we know...
Round 2
San Diego @ Pittsburgh - Funny story: I felt bad I was keeping my gf from going out all weekend so we went out Saturday night while I taped the Indy/San Deggo game. I managed to not look at the tv's while we were out to eat (at Fridays...lucky her), and when we got home around 11 or so, I asked her to check NBC to see if the game was still on or not. Well she did, and says "it's over, they are just interviewing some Chargers players so the game could have gone either way." Let's just say, we didn't get along for much of the remainder of the night. So I watched the game, trying to pretend like maybe they interview losing teams every once in a while, and with about 2 mins left, I thought that the Colts might actually win. BUT, they shot themselves in the foot with penalties, and lost a coin flip, season over. Point is, as disappointed as I was with knowing the Chargers won, I was also excited to know that the Steelers would not have to deal with the Colts. True both teams are hot and on winning streaks, but who do you trust on a cold, windy day on one of the worst football fields in history? Philip Rivers and Nate Kaeding, or Peyton Manning and Adam Vinatieri? Thought so. And I think it comes down to a last second, 40-50 yard field goal to tie it. Steelers 24-21
Baltimore @ Tennessee - Both teams are similar and have QB's you can't trust in a lie contest, so I'm going to go with the home team. Also, I'd take Chris Johnson over LaRon McClain any day. True story, as I was "watching" the Baltimore game yesterday, I was also watching another McClane on TBS. That's right, John McClane in Die Hard 3...Great Movie. Tennessee 17-13
Arizona @ Carolina - If you think about it, Carolina is built very similar to Atlanta. Average to above-average defenses, terrific running game, average quarterbacks, average receivers. But, Delhomme has more experience than Ryan, obviously, and Steve Smith is better than Roddy White. I don't think Arizona is good enough to win two games against better teams in a row. Carolina 34-24
Philadelphia @ New York - Last and definitely least, we have this stinker of a game. I am sick of watching the NFC East...I may not even watch this game. The Giants are limping into the playoffs while the Eagles are playing their best, albeit not that good, football all year. Still... New York 20-17
Very original right? Going with all of the top seeds to win. Let's see if any of us can do any better this week with picks...
Round 2
San Diego @ Pittsburgh - Funny story: I felt bad I was keeping my gf from going out all weekend so we went out Saturday night while I taped the Indy/San Deggo game. I managed to not look at the tv's while we were out to eat (at Fridays...lucky her), and when we got home around 11 or so, I asked her to check NBC to see if the game was still on or not. Well she did, and says "it's over, they are just interviewing some Chargers players so the game could have gone either way." Let's just say, we didn't get along for much of the remainder of the night. So I watched the game, trying to pretend like maybe they interview losing teams every once in a while, and with about 2 mins left, I thought that the Colts might actually win. BUT, they shot themselves in the foot with penalties, and lost a coin flip, season over. Point is, as disappointed as I was with knowing the Chargers won, I was also excited to know that the Steelers would not have to deal with the Colts. True both teams are hot and on winning streaks, but who do you trust on a cold, windy day on one of the worst football fields in history? Philip Rivers and Nate Kaeding, or Peyton Manning and Adam Vinatieri? Thought so. And I think it comes down to a last second, 40-50 yard field goal to tie it. Steelers 24-21
Baltimore @ Tennessee - Both teams are similar and have QB's you can't trust in a lie contest, so I'm going to go with the home team. Also, I'd take Chris Johnson over LaRon McClain any day. True story, as I was "watching" the Baltimore game yesterday, I was also watching another McClane on TBS. That's right, John McClane in Die Hard 3...Great Movie. Tennessee 17-13
Arizona @ Carolina - If you think about it, Carolina is built very similar to Atlanta. Average to above-average defenses, terrific running game, average quarterbacks, average receivers. But, Delhomme has more experience than Ryan, obviously, and Steve Smith is better than Roddy White. I don't think Arizona is good enough to win two games against better teams in a row. Carolina 34-24
Philadelphia @ New York - Last and definitely least, we have this stinker of a game. I am sick of watching the NFC East...I may not even watch this game. The Giants are limping into the playoffs while the Eagles are playing their best, albeit not that good, football all year. Still... New York 20-17
Very original right? Going with all of the top seeds to win. Let's see if any of us can do any better this week with picks...
Friday, January 2, 2009
It's Time to Get Pey'ed
So for anyone who doesn't check sports news every 14 seconds, here are the results of the 2008 NFL MVP race. Perhaps more shocking than Peyton's 3rd win, is the #2 vote getter. Chad Pennington?! Really?!?! Over All-Day Peterson?!?! Come on...Anyway, congrats to Manning and to the 40% who predicted he'd win in our poll.
- Peyton Manning, Indianapolis 32
- Chad Pennington, Miami 4
- Michael Turner, Atlanta 4
- Adrian Peterson, Minnesota 3
- James Harrison, Pittsburgh 3
- Philip Rivers, San Diego 2
- Chris Johnson, Tennessee 1
- Kurt Warner, Arizona 1
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