EVIL~! alkeiper

The SI curse is nonsense. Sports Illustrated prints 52 issues a year. Of course some of the athletes and teams featured on the cover will fall to some misfortune. And considering the Patriots opened as favorites anyway, its hard to blame an Eagles loss on the SI curse.

OSIcon, don't forget John Maine. I saw him pitch in Scranton in August, and he looked fairly good.

PHILLIES C- Mike Lieberthal/Todd Pratt 1B- Jim Thome/Jose Offerman 2B- Chase Utley/Placido Polanco SS- Jimmy Rollins 3B- David Bell/Tomas Perez LF- Pat Burrell CF- Kenny Lofton/Jason Michaels/Marlon Byrd RF- Bobby Abreu SP- Randy Wolf SP- Jon Lieber SP- Vicente Padilla SP- Brett Myers SP- Cory Lidle CL- Billy Wagner RP- Rheal Cormier, Tim Worrell, Ryan Madson, Amaury Telemaco, Terry Adams People are down on the team, but there are no holes from one to twenty five on our roster. Ryan Howard and Gavin Floyd also provide some depth on the squad. If Brett Myers and the rest of the staff takes a step forward, I think this squad can win the NL East.

A few non-fiction History books I've enjoyed recently... April 1865, by Jay Winik Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis Triangle, by David Von Drehle Moneyball, by Michael Lewis I found Triangle particularly enjoyable.

Let's take a short review of the Marlins' offseason... 1. Re-sign Paul Lo Duca, a 32 year old catcher, to a 3 year, $18 Million contract. Meanwhile, block Josh Willingham, who posted a 281/449/565 line in AA, and whom Baseball Prospectus projects to be the best catcher in the National League RIGHT NOW. 2. Sign Carlos Delgado to a four year, $52 Million contract. Block Jason Stokes, who slugged .513 in AA at the age of 22. 3. Sign Al Leiter to a one year, $8 Million contract despite his declining K rate and rising BB rate. Next season, A.J. Burnett and Juan Pierre will likely leave the team via free agency. When they lose them, remember that the Marlins could have kept these good, young players, but instead blew money on players they really didn't need.

He probably found a 24 hour buffet.

Tyson and Holyfield were both WELL past their primes when Lewis beat them. Tommy Morrison? Joke Razor Ruddock? Ditto Hasim Rahman was a one punch bum who got lucky once. David Tua showed promise early in his career, now? Joke. Andrew Golota? Captain Nut Punch/Horrendous fighter. Frank Bruno? Just an awful fighter. I like Lewis and think that he's a pretty good fighter, but that list of opponents sort of weakens him in my eyes. What a horrible bunch of fighters. I personally think that Tyson and Holyfield, in their primes, would have destroyed Lewis. Remember when people were arguing that Tyson might have beaten Ali (not that I think that btw)? Ali would have toyed with Lewis... First off, I think Lewis would give any heavyweight trouble, because of his unique size and ability. I don't know if Lewis could have beaten Ali (I doubt it), but he could've stood there and jabbed, and made a go of it for 12 rounds. As for Tyson, Lewis is actually a year older. For the point that Lewis didn't beat great fighters, he beat the best available. Besides, you can make a similar point about MANY heavyweights in history. Who did Jack Dempsey ever beat? Either untalented palookas, or blown up light heavyweights. Other than Ali, Joe Frazier doesn't have any other really impressive wins on his resume. The only HOFer Sonny Liston beat was Floyd Patterson. Other than a washed-up Jim Jefferies, Jack Johnson never really defended the title against anyone in his class. For the fighters you mentioned, you fail to give them due credit. Razor Ruddock was a very dangerous fighter at the time, having taken Mike Tyson the distance when Tyson was still a good fighter. Morrison was a great fighter in his day. Rahman has more on his resume than just the Lewis KO. Tua knocked out John Ruiz in 19 seconds, and had only a loss to Ike Ibeabuchi on his record at the time of the fight. Lewis's fight against Golota was Golota's first bout since the Bowe fights. And even that's far from a comprehensive list of Lewis' opponents. Even if they did have problems, you can't hold it AGAINST Lewis for defeating them.

That might have relevance if TO bitched about that at all this season.

You do know that the baseball team named themselves after the football team, right? [edit] Wait, I checked their history. I was wrong - got the Browns and Cardinals all mixed together. Shut up, Starvenger.[/edit] Anyways, change the logo all you want. It means nothing if your team still sucks. I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the St. Louis Browns preceded the St. Louis Cardinals. The St. Louis Brown Stockings first appeared in the National Association in 1875. The current Cardinals were actually the former Browns until 1898, when they changed their name to the Perfectos for one season, and then to the Cardinals in 1900. The team commonly known as the Browns debuted in St. Louis in 1902, before moving to Baltimore in 1953. The football Browns first appeared in 1950, and my guess is that they were named after Head Coach Paul Brown. The football Cardinals of course are one of only two teams that have played in the NFL since its inception. They started in Chicago, moved to St. Louis in 1960, and moved to Phoenix in 1988.

I'd use Charlton Heston. "You can have my love gun, when you pry it from my cold dead hands!"

Does the PWI Almanac carry that information anymore?

My god he's right. We all suck!

The last time the gal and I did it was when she was inspired by Jayna Oso and Roxy Jezel in Weapons of Ass Destruction 3.

Momentum and confidence may play roles in sports, I really don't know. But all too often, they are simply terms sportswriters throw about because its easier than actually sitting down and making an objective analysis of the game. Did the team come back from 21 points down because they made adjustments, or because they had "momentum?" Which one is easier to explain in a column? Confidence? When exactly is the more talented team the less confident one? That's a VERY obscure explanation for anything that happens, and I don't buy it.

This line of reasoning is silly. If Lewis knew he was going to get creamed by Klitschko in the re-match, why the heck should he take a fight solely to get his head knocked off? Many fighters walk around today, if they're lucky to be walking, with mental and physical deficiencies due to the beatings they've absorbed as fighters. In many cases, it was because they stuck around long after their primes. I'd rather see a fighter retire a fight too early rather than a fight too late. I think Lewis deserves to rate among the great heavyweights myself. He beat Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Tommy Morrison, Razor Ruddock, Hasim Rahman, David Tua, Vitali Klitschko, Andrew Golota, Michael Grant, Oliver McCall, and Frank Bruno. Other than Riddick Bowe, who ducked him, and George Foreman, who never took a fight he couldn't win after 1994, there isn't really a name heavyweight that Lewis did not defeat in our era. The fighters Lewis defeated as champion are as good a group as nearly any heavyweight champion has defeated, with the exception of Muhammad Ali.

Can't say I'm surprised. His performance suffered last season.

Looking at the Mets trade, the Red Sox picked up A-ball prospect Ian Bladergroen. Bladergroen hit .342/.397/.595 in the Sally League last season. Baseball America rates Bladergroen as the fourth best player in the Mets farm system. Along with the bat, he features a good glove. His season ended with a wrist injury, so it remains to be seen how he recovers. With his bat, its no wonder the Red Sox desired him.

The simulation is only as good as the statistics you give it. I used a statistical projection for Cabrera that looks at his age and statistics, and compares them to similar players to estimate his statistics for 2005. The projection I used sees him hitting 307/376/543, with 31 HRs and 119 RBIs. He did. But I do think Mitre will pitch better in the future. He's put up terrific minor league numbers, and he's just 24.

Remember this does not take into account the games the Braves and others will play against the Reds, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Rockies, and other bad teams. I doubt the division winner will claim just 85 wins. Its just a product of the simulation techniques. And remember there is a significant margin of error involved. The result can EASILY swing 10-15 wins.

The biggest losses were in the pitching staff. Millwood missed 7 starts, Wolf missed about 10, and Padilla missed about 12. That's almost 30 starts missed from the top of the rotation. 10 of those starts were filled by Paul Abbott (1-6). Take 30 starts away from your 6th and 7th best pitchers and replace them with better starters, and you can see an improvement fairly quickly in your club.

I also didn't sort the averages. The Phillies are tied with the Mets, if you look closely.

They also fell below .500. It's certainly not out of the ordinary to think the Phillies can win the division. They were slaughtered by injuries last year.

I completed the NL East Sim. Basically, it consists of a 162 game schedule, with each team playing its NL East opponents 40-41 times each. So this only accounts for games within the division. I ran the simulation five times... Sim 1 Phi 88-74 Fla 86-76 NYM 86-76 Was 73-89 Atl 72-90 Sim 2 Atl 90-72 NYM 83-79 Fla 81-81 Phi 79-83 Was 72-90 Sim 3 Phi 96-66 Fla 88-74 Was 75-87 Atl 75-87 NYM 71-91 Sim 4 NYM 88-74 Phi 84-78 Atl 82-80 Fla 81-81 Was 70-92 Sim 5 NYM 95-67 Atl 82-80 Fla 80-82 Phi 76-86 Was 72-90 AVERAGE Phi 85-77 Fla 83-79 NYM 85-77 Was 72-90 Atl 80-82 You probably noticed alot of the results are all over the place. That's the random nature of the game. The fact that most of the averages fall around .500 indicate that this could be a tight, four team race. I do think the Phillies are the favorites, because they have a complete team from one to 25. The Mets, Marlins and Braves are weak on the bench, and in the bullpen. I would note that the Nationals are consistantly bad.

On the team, probably Victor Diaz. Of available players, I would be inclined to say John Olerud or Lee.

Normally I'd mock this, but the Yankees' greatest need was outfield defense. Glanville may hit for shit, but he is truly an excellent defensive player. If used correctly, as a defensive sub or pinch runner, he can benefit the Yankees.