Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Ok, so I lied. This ain't gonna be any return to the good old days. I've flittered away my time,and now I'm forced to bang out a quick update, along with my NFL picks. HEll, I don't even know how I did last week. Dammit all to hell, this was the last thing I wanted to do when it came to my picks.
OK, enough bitching.
Last weeks's results:
7-7
Yearly Results to date:
38-21.
Meh. Hardly a great record,a nd a pretty bad week for predictions, but predicting NFl games is so damn tough from week to week. Every Sunday has become "Any Given Sunday", where just about anyone is capable of winning. Unless you're the Dolphins this year, that is.
Let's get to the predictions.
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Cleveland is a mystery to me, since I don't watch them at all. Pittsburgh is
Detroit at Atlanta
Miami at New England
Minnesota at Houston
N.Y. Giants at Dallas
Oakland at Indianapolis
Tampa Bay at New Orleans
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets
Jacksonville at San Diego
Arizona at San Francisco
Carolina at Denver
St. Louis at Seattle
Baltimore at Washington
Monday, Oct. 11
Tennessee at Green Bay
Well, I was planning on typing everything previous to this in and commiting it on Saturday, but plans got in the way, and while I could cheat and post it anyway, it's beter to be honest with my audience. I even have the wife to vouch for me that I had made my picks prior to any of the football action taking place on Sunday. But to be as honest as I can, I'm going to fall on the sword and take an 0-13.
That puts my record at 38-34 for the year. Htems the breaks for not getting my predictions in on time.
Which really sucks, because I had the Titans game called correctly. Ah well. We'll try better next time.
Twins Season Over
After battling against a foe who has $130 million dollars in payroll to spend more than us, the Twins are looking at another 6 month wait before they're able to play ball again. In that time, we're certain to see the departure of a few of our players, since we have a rather limited budget to work with. And yet, that same limited budget allowed us to make some rather wise decisions. If we had the money, we most likely never would have traded for Joe Nathan, who dfeveloped into a better closer than Eddie Guardado, who had some problems with the Mariners before he suffered a season ending injury. Nor would we have as much incentive to develop such a strong farm system capable of providing such players as Lew Ford, Jason Kubel nad Terry Tiffee, who were all able to step in and make contributions throughout the year.
It'll be sad to see some of our favorite guys go, like Jaque Jones and Luis Rivas, and quite possibly Corey Koskie. I always liked Jaque, and when he first came up, there was some question if he or Torii Hunter would be the center fielder of the team. As time went on, Torii became the dominant fielder, but Jaque was no slouch. He's been great at getting some big clutch hits for us. He is emotional and fiery, and adds that dimension to the team. He so desperately wants to be the hero of the moment, and it's admirable, but it hurts him as much as it drives him. In so many instances, he is so busy swinging for the home run, he strikes out, or ends up grounding out. His stats prove that, as he has 24 home runs, but he also led the team in strike outs with 117 and an overall average of only .254. He had 2 home runs in the post season against the Yankees, but also 6 strike outs in 20 at bats. Game 1 was a perfect example or microcosim of his tenure with the Twins. 1 home run, which was balanced with a strike out,a ground out, and a fly out. His intangibles are great, but not enough to keep him on the team, especially with Lew Ford, Json Kubel and possibly Michael Restovich waiting to take over in right field. Like A.J. Pierzinski before him, we enjoyed our brief time with him as a Twin and hope to see him again whenever we face his National League Team in the World Series.
Luis Rivas was probably the most fearless second baseman I've seen in some time, in standing in thre and taking the charge on relay feed on a double play. His speed and range were assets in years past, and he looked to have a bright future. But this year he plateaued and didn't provide much of anything this year, beyond a Denny Hocking like contribution. That's ok, but most utility guys can give us what he did.
Corey Koskie is tough and dependable, and a good glove on the 3rd base side. He is known to get hot for small stretches before some injury knocks him out of action, and he cools off, seemingly taking a month or 6 weeks to warm up yet again. And I can't blame the Twins for going either direction, whether it be to re-sign him or to let him go in free agency. He led the team in home runs, and he provided solid defense at 3rd throughout his career in MN. Yet he only hit .251 for the season, and there are some decent prospects to take over for him at 3rd base. Corey was a fixture in the community and had been embraced by the same community when his family suffered a mis-carriage. Twice. Certain things go beyond baseball, and Corey proved to be a player we all could be proud of. But as a ballplayer, it's too tough of a call for me to make. Which would be why I'm not the general Manager of the Minnesota Twins.
Tomorrow:
A food review! Those are always popular! this is one of Beach House Grille and Bar, located within the pleasant confines of one Grand Rios RESORT and Water Park.
OK, enough bitching.
Last weeks's results:
7-7
Yearly Results to date:
38-21.
Meh. Hardly a great record,a nd a pretty bad week for predictions, but predicting NFl games is so damn tough from week to week. Every Sunday has become "Any Given Sunday", where just about anyone is capable of winning. Unless you're the Dolphins this year, that is.
Let's get to the predictions.
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Cleveland is a mystery to me, since I don't watch them at all. Pittsburgh is
Detroit at Atlanta
Miami at New England
Minnesota at Houston
N.Y. Giants at Dallas
Oakland at Indianapolis
Tampa Bay at New Orleans
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets
Jacksonville at San Diego
Arizona at San Francisco
Carolina at Denver
St. Louis at Seattle
Baltimore at Washington
Monday, Oct. 11
Tennessee at Green Bay
Well, I was planning on typing everything previous to this in and commiting it on Saturday, but plans got in the way, and while I could cheat and post it anyway, it's beter to be honest with my audience. I even have the wife to vouch for me that I had made my picks prior to any of the football action taking place on Sunday. But to be as honest as I can, I'm going to fall on the sword and take an 0-13.
That puts my record at 38-34 for the year. Htems the breaks for not getting my predictions in on time.
Which really sucks, because I had the Titans game called correctly. Ah well. We'll try better next time.
Twins Season Over
After battling against a foe who has $130 million dollars in payroll to spend more than us, the Twins are looking at another 6 month wait before they're able to play ball again. In that time, we're certain to see the departure of a few of our players, since we have a rather limited budget to work with. And yet, that same limited budget allowed us to make some rather wise decisions. If we had the money, we most likely never would have traded for Joe Nathan, who dfeveloped into a better closer than Eddie Guardado, who had some problems with the Mariners before he suffered a season ending injury. Nor would we have as much incentive to develop such a strong farm system capable of providing such players as Lew Ford, Jason Kubel nad Terry Tiffee, who were all able to step in and make contributions throughout the year.
It'll be sad to see some of our favorite guys go, like Jaque Jones and Luis Rivas, and quite possibly Corey Koskie. I always liked Jaque, and when he first came up, there was some question if he or Torii Hunter would be the center fielder of the team. As time went on, Torii became the dominant fielder, but Jaque was no slouch. He's been great at getting some big clutch hits for us. He is emotional and fiery, and adds that dimension to the team. He so desperately wants to be the hero of the moment, and it's admirable, but it hurts him as much as it drives him. In so many instances, he is so busy swinging for the home run, he strikes out, or ends up grounding out. His stats prove that, as he has 24 home runs, but he also led the team in strike outs with 117 and an overall average of only .254. He had 2 home runs in the post season against the Yankees, but also 6 strike outs in 20 at bats. Game 1 was a perfect example or microcosim of his tenure with the Twins. 1 home run, which was balanced with a strike out,a ground out, and a fly out. His intangibles are great, but not enough to keep him on the team, especially with Lew Ford, Json Kubel and possibly Michael Restovich waiting to take over in right field. Like A.J. Pierzinski before him, we enjoyed our brief time with him as a Twin and hope to see him again whenever we face his National League Team in the World Series.
Luis Rivas was probably the most fearless second baseman I've seen in some time, in standing in thre and taking the charge on relay feed on a double play. His speed and range were assets in years past, and he looked to have a bright future. But this year he plateaued and didn't provide much of anything this year, beyond a Denny Hocking like contribution. That's ok, but most utility guys can give us what he did.
Corey Koskie is tough and dependable, and a good glove on the 3rd base side. He is known to get hot for small stretches before some injury knocks him out of action, and he cools off, seemingly taking a month or 6 weeks to warm up yet again. And I can't blame the Twins for going either direction, whether it be to re-sign him or to let him go in free agency. He led the team in home runs, and he provided solid defense at 3rd throughout his career in MN. Yet he only hit .251 for the season, and there are some decent prospects to take over for him at 3rd base. Corey was a fixture in the community and had been embraced by the same community when his family suffered a mis-carriage. Twice. Certain things go beyond baseball, and Corey proved to be a player we all could be proud of. But as a ballplayer, it's too tough of a call for me to make. Which would be why I'm not the general Manager of the Minnesota Twins.
Tomorrow:
A food review! Those are always popular! this is one of Beach House Grille and Bar, located within the pleasant confines of one Grand Rios RESORT and Water Park.
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