Since I am ordering the show tonight, I thought I might as well give some pre-match thoughts and projections.
Royal Rumble Match
Always a good show. I am a bit wary though on the HHH show. I find his character stale and his matches generally dull. It is not that he is not a good wrestler, but he is terribly methodical. Every time he wrestles a big gimmick match you know it is going 20+ minutes. HHH/Orton at Wrestlemania does not interest me in the slightest. The only thing that m
I picked up Volume One of the Royal Rumble Anthology (1988-92) from Amazon.com. At $35 any of these sets is a great value, as each event comes out at $7 apiece. I do not know how many of you were WWF fans in the early '90s, but Coliseum Video copies of the events used to run in the neighborhood of $60. Next time your elderly neighbor complains about prices these days, remember not everything has gotten more expensive.
1988 Royal Rumble
It is harder to judge this event against the ot
Using Baseball Reference's Play Index, I came up with a list of the best player seasons by players in their final year. This list comprises players in their last season, playing 100+ games, sorted by OPS+.
1. Ted Williams
Playing in 113 games, Williams hit .316 with 29 home runs, 72 RBIs, and 75 walks (adding up to a .451 OBP). Announcing his retirement before the end of the season, Williams hit a home run in his final career at bat.
2. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
This is actual
I caught a bit of the two NFL playoff games on Sunday. (Yeah, I can dabble in the NFL if need be.) Had a few thoughts to share.
-Playing professional sport games in sub-zero conditions is fairly stupid in its own right. Players in short-sleeves and fans in body paint is downright ridiculous. I live in the Poconos, a climate that can get fairly chilly in the winter. At a certain temperature, you can deal with the chill but you don't mess around with it. It's dangerous. I can't help bu
Joe Podnanski on his blog wrote a piece about RBI opportunities. Baseball Prospectus in their book Baseball Between the Numbers wrote about worst players who drove in 100+ RBIs. I figured to take a look at guys who drove in 130 or more runners in a season, to see if anyone actually had a bad season in the process. One clearly did, Moose Salters.
Salters in 1936 drove in 134 runners with the St. Louis Browns. His numbers look superficially good, but the entire American League that season
Philadelphia Sports
I wanted to clarify my supposed Eagles hate. I don't hate the Philadelphia Eagles. If I watch a football game I cheer for them, and if they are in the Super Bowl, I will watch. (More on that later.) The problem comes from the Philadelphia fan base. In 2005, I attended a game between the Phillies and the Florida Marlins, September 9, 2005. The Phillies were fresh off a five game losing streak, and fell behind 4-1 by the third inning. Among the fans, an E-A-G-L-E-S
1976 vs. 2008
The Phillies have not seen many good teams over their history. Their greatest team is probably the 1976 squad. That team won 101 games, one of only two Phillies teams to do so. Unfortunately that Phillies team ran into a buzzsaw called the Big Red Machine, and thus failed to win the National League pennant. A Phillies player recently surmised that the Phils could win 100 games next season. If that happens, the 2008 Phillies could rank as the greatest in franchise history.
FINALS
Colorado 7
San Diego 6
WP: Manuel Corpas
LP: Trevor Hoffman
Trailing 4-3 heading into the ninth, the Padres scored three off Manny Corpas to take a 6-4 lead. Not to be outdone, the Rockies scored three off of Trevor Hoffman for the win. Brad Hawpe drove in two RBIs with a two-out, bases loaded single. A do-or-die at bat to end a championship tournament? Works for me.
Lineup: 07 Padres
B.Giles RF
M.Giles 2B
M.Cameron CF
Gonzalez
SEMIFINALS
San Diego 5
Atlanta 4
WP: Heath Bell
LP: Peter Moylan
Sv: Trevor Hoffman
Brian Giles drew a bases loaded walk in the eighth inning to force in the winning run. The major turning point of the game occurred in the fourth inning, when Josh Bard drove in two RBIs with a two-out double and Justin Germano followed up with an RBI single.
Colorado 5
St. Louis 4
WP: Jeff Francis
LP: Ryan Franklin
Sv: Manuel Corpas
Troy Tulowitzki drove in the go-ahead run in t
QUARTERFINALS
San Diego 5
Minnesota 4
WP: Greg Maddux
LP: Carlos Silva
Sv: Trevor Hoffman
Padres scored four in the fifth, including Adrian Gonzalez's two-run home run.
Atlanta 3
Chi. Cubs 1
10 Innings
WP: Peter Moylan
LP: Scott Eyre
Sv: Rafael Soriano
The Braves prior to the tenth scored just one run on 12 hits. The Cubs only managed two hits in the game. Kelly Johnson drove in he go-ahead runs with a double in the tenth.
Colorado 5
Oakland 4
WP: Josh
This is something that I had floating in my head the last few days. A lot of wrestling reviewers will give negative star ratings to a particularly bad match. Often times it is prompted not by the workers involved, but the sheer idiocy of the booking of the match. In many cases the reviewer goes into the match expecting to hate it. But what truly merits negative stars? In my opinion, it is not enough to put together a boring match. I think a negative star match must fit one of X criteria.
Since my dad sent something out on my outbox, I occasionally get emails from the HRCC of Pennsylvania. That's some Republican lobbying group. Got this one in today.
If you want to lobby for your cause, that is perfectly fine. Politics is all about that. In this case, I agree with them on the merits of the issue. I am against putting tolls on I-80. Principally, it is a national highway and if New Jersey hasn't put tolls on it, no state should. What bothers me is when they try a
http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=7338739" target="_blank">http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=7338739
Thank god Cordaro lost. Him and his Yankee-loving attitude can go fuck themselves. Instead of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, I now have the Yankees and their corporate interests grubbing every penny, catering to the well heeled and providing no excitement or incentives in return. The Yankees provided NO giveaway items this year. The atmosphere is completely dea
With the preponderance of baseball statistics on the internet, you might question the need for an annual statistics book. Certainly, baseball-reference.com provides a plethora of statistics along with sorting options and statistical splits that a printed version simply can not match. In this environment, a publisher needs to add a few bells and whistles to entice paying customers.
First off, if you feel the need for a print stat book of any kind, stop now and buy the book. That said, her
THIRD ROUND
Minnesota 4
Boston 3
Torii Hunter gave the Twins the lead in the first inning with a three run double. The Sox scored two runs in the ninth but their comeback fell short with the tying run on base.
San Diego 6
Chi. Sox 0
Jake Peavy pitched eight scoreless innings for the victory.
Chi. Cubs 4
Kansas City 2
Alfonso Soriano's three-run home run in the second inning sparked the offense for the Cubs.
Atlanta 7
NY Yankees 4
The Braves scored four runs in
SECOND ROUND
Boston 10
Nashville 2
Minnesota 3
LA Dodgers 2
The Twins scored two in the seventh to take the lead for good. Johan Santana allowed two runs and struck out eight in 7 1/3 innings pitched.
San Diego 9
Florida 2
Scott Olsen allowed seven runs (five earned) and walked five and threw two wild pitches in less than four innings of work.
Chi. Sox 3
NY Mets 2
Eight innings and two earned runs allowed for Mark Buehrle, while Bobby Jenks picked up the save. Pa
Due to the sheer number of games, no details unless necessary.
Red Sox 28
R-Phils 2
Nashville 11
Richmond 3
Minnesota 6
Indianapolis 5
Torii Hunter 3-run HR
LA Dodgers 4
Norfolk 1
San Diego 7
Round Rock 1
NY Mets 7
Charlotte 6
10 Innings
Chi. Sox 11
New Orleans 2
Arizona 13
Ottawa 9
Kansas City 5
Iowa 2
Omaha 7
Houston 5
11 Innings
Shane Costa tied the game with an RBI double in the 9th and Mike Aviles put the Wrangler
It's time for another sim tournament. The concept here is simple. The 64 best teams in organized baseball. One week, single elimination. All 30 MLB teams, all 30 AAA teams, and four AA teams. Much like the NCAA tournament, upsets galore. The basics are that there is no rest for teams. When you win, you go on to face a new team the next day. The four AA teams consist of the champions of the Texas, Southern and Eastern Leagues, plus the Reading Phillies (because it's my tournament and they
Not a live game this time but worthy of an entry nonetheless. Today the Phillies clinched the National League East on the final day of the season. I will leave the taunting for Mets fans out if this one. I grew up in a family that was not big into baseball, so I don't really remember a great deal about the 1993 season. This is the first time I have vivid memories of the Phillies reaching the postseason. For those who wonder why cheer for a traditionally failing team, here you go. I can not
A couple days off from work gave me an opportunity to catch a ballgame. Much of the local Eastern League was on the road, leaving Reading as the only local minor league team in town. Checking the Majors, I noticed the Phillies and Orioles both played home games. Running the choices by my friend, we agreed that Baltimore was a solid option as I have been to the other parks already this season. For a bit of background, I have been to Baltimore a couple times, but never to the ballpark. The la
A discussion a couple days ago prompted the statement that we can not compare Bonds' MVP awards to Ruth, because modern MVP voting did not exist until 1931. This is true. What if modern voting did exist however? I decided to come up with an MVP for each season from 1915-35, the years Ruth was active. My intention is not to demonstrate how many MVPs Ruth should have won, or deserved. Rather it is to predict voting patterns.
With that in mind, a couple notes. One, voters would likely lo
1. Raw drafts Brian Kendrick and Paul London
This draft harkens back to the memorable NFL draft of 1976 when the Minnesota Vikings drafted the entire offensive line of the University of Oklahoma with their first pick. It was a brilliant move then and a brilliant move now.
2. Smackdown drafts Kenny Dykstra
Good move drafted a pick here with a lot of upside. Kenny's name has a 2:0 K/BB ratio, a great sign for an up and coming young prospect. However, Dykstra leaves trails of tobacco
Last night Tampa Bay's Edwin Jackson lasted 1/3 of an inning, giving up five runs, five hits, two walks, and two home runs. Currently his ERA stands at 8.20 along with a gaudy 0-8 win/loss record. Anthony Reyes of the St. Louis Cardinals was also 0-8 upon his return to the minors. Four pitchers in the Majors collected ten or more wins in a season without a loss. How about on the opposite end, the pitchers with the most losses in a season without a win? Are Jackson and Reyes close?
1
Monday I attended the show live in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I've been busy recently so I have been unable to post my thoughts in full until now. I have the show recorded on DVR but I haven't watched it yet. Therefore my conception of what I watched might be slightly different than what aired on television.
Dark match: Lance Cade/Trevor Murdoch d. Cryme Time. Good little tag match.
All of the matches were good save Candice vs. Krystal. Benoit/Lashley was fun, and there was some pro-Benoit
A couple of ground-rules I'm working on for the upcoming tournament.
1. DH Rule: The NCAA, along with nearly all baseball leagues apart from the National League, uses the designated hitter. I'm thinking of adopting that for this tournament. Obviously it's bound to create a stir particularly with some regionals that have four non-DH clubs.
2. Home Era: Usually when running tournaments I would have the eras "normalized" for era, meaning if you played at the 1911 Philadelphia Athletics,
