Down 'N Dirty Birthdays

I just wanted to wish Dr. Jekyll and Abe a happy birthday. Dr. Jekyll's was yesterday and Abe's is tomorrow, so I thought the day in between would be appropriate. Abe is in Atlantic City because he is turning 21, so we all hope he wins tons of money.

Happy birthday guys...

NCAA MARCH MADNESS

March Madness is only a few minutes away...

Instead of taking the time that I have to type up reports of why I like which teams, I'm just going to link my Yahoo! bracket up to this site so you can look at it. Then, after this weekend's games I will criticize my picks and defend myself. And predict next weeks games and stand by any picks I still like.

Dan Rodgers' bracket

Toddy P.'s bracket

Leatherworld's bracket

Dr. Jekyll's bracket (not linked yet)

"Geargate" resolved

By Scott Antoszewski

It only took two days after hockey Canada and Reebok posted a $10,000 reward for Sidney Crosby’s missing glove and stick to be “found”. The official release stated that the equipment was misplaced, one glove was supposedly in Patrice Bergeron’s bag and they weren’t saying where the stick ended up. It just seems fishy to me. I don’t think we will ever know if the “no questions asked” reward was paid.

I did learn that a fan in the front row had one of Crosby’s gloves, as it flew over the glass during the celebration. The fan returned the glove shortly after the game. Look for that gear in the Hockey Hall of Fame in the near future.

MLB pre season peak - NL

By Dr. Jekyll

So now we move on to the National League...

NL East

Philadelphia has the best team in the league, hands down. And it’s not even that close. An absolutely lethal head of the rotation with Doc Halladay and Cole Hamels, backed up by a stud lineup. It’s almost unfair. Yet despite this, the division will probably still produce the wild card team, speaking to the strength of…

The Braves starting pitching. A top four in the rotation of Timmy Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and Derek Lowe is enough to keep them competitive in every game. That, and the fact that Bobby Cox is in the last year of his contract makes them a sympathetic playoff team. Sadly, sympathy won’t get them past the Phillies, and they’re still less pathetic than…

Your New York Mets. This team has everything on paper. Again. But the injury bug hasn’t looked too kindly on this team in awhile. Will David Wright return to David Wright of old? Will Carlos Beltran live up to his potential/ contract? Will Jeff Francoeur remember how to check a swing? Will Johan Santana be able to start 160+ games? The pieces are there, but the results will be puzzling.

The fish look to be in a very similar spot to their same state AL East pals. Decent starting pitching, good young talent, and a division that is nearly impossible to win based on the level of competition surrounding them. Any other division and they compete for the title. Here, they’ll be lucky to finish outside of the basement.

Well, maybe not that lucky. The Nationals aren’t a good team. Young players to build around like Stephen Strasburg make this a fun team to watch, but they won’t contend for a playoff spot.

NL Central

This division is loaded with power hitters to the point where it’s almost not fair. So ranking them based on pure slugging seems the right way to go. And if we’re going to do that, can anyone bet against Albert Pujols? Me thinks not.

Derek Lee comes sliding into second as far as pop at first goes. Last season he put up arguably his best stats since the 2005 year when he threatened for a triple crown until August. The Cubbies aren’t particularly strong, but they’re not lacking much. Which should be enough to finish just above .500 and place in second, just ahead of…

Cincinnati. A healthy Scott Rolen makes this a solid team in the infield. And that Joey Votto kid is an all-star in the making. But there’s not enough on both sides of the ball yet.

Milwaukee will be an entertaining team to watch so long as Prince and Ryan Braun keep the ball moving, but you know your pitching is week when the number one on your roster is Yovani Gallardo.

Houston and Pittsburgh tie here as teams going in opposite directions. Houston is bottoming out, with the careers of Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman fading away. Meanwhile, Pitt looks to the future with Andrew McCutchen, but that future is at least two or three years out.

NL West

This entire division is up for grabs, with four teams legitimately talented enough to make noise come playoff time. But the one team that would be the most threatening in October baseball? The Giants. Does anyone want to see Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain? That’s what I thought.

The Dodgers offer the most serious threat to the Giants hopes of a division crown, with a very different approach to victory. As good as San Fran is at pitching, the cluster of Andre Ethier, Manny, and this soon to be perennial all-star Matt Kemp are just as good at hitting, if not better.

Colorado has Ubaldo Jiminez, who could quickly become a dark horse Cy Young candidate by the summer. If this lineup stays healthy, they could threaten the division too.

Just as Arizona can. Standing toe to toe with Timmay and Cain in San Fran are Dan Haren and Brandon Webb in the desert. A healthy return for Webb suddenly makes this lackluster team a force.

Sadly, San Diego has no such magic. Apart from Adrian Gonzalez, this team is Triple A with very little hope.

So here’s to another fantastic season of baseball, of sinking line drives, sliders in the dirt, and dominating closers. Cheers.

This Week's Down and Dirty

By Dan Rodgers

Okay, I know it's a day late...but better late than never

Week 3:

The Down

Washington Nationals - Grapefruit League

Sure, the first thing you think to yourself has to do with it being spring training and these games being pointless. I couldn't agree more. However, I just wanted to make it known that the Nats have yet to win a spring training game. Yes that is correct; they are currently 0-10. This being in a league before the season starts in which "never-was's" are the primary competitors. Even I hope that they can pull it together and have a decent season. Good luck.

The Dirty

San Francisco Giants - Cactus League

By now, it wouldn't surprise me if you stopped reading because this is pretty much a post about spring training baseball. Well, I chose the Giants because they are in first place in the Cactus League, and the National League as well. Don't be surprised if this group of young players pulls together and has a season similar to the Rays a few years back. They certainly have pitching talent with Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, so we will see if they can compete with the rest of the division come regular season time.

Rodgers That

MLB pre season peak - AL

By Dr. Jekyll

Ah, spring training. A time of high hopes and dreams, where everyone in the Major Leagues is convinced that this could just be the year. After a five month hiatus, baseball is ready to get back in full swing. The sight of the bright lights in the stadium, the scent of freshly trimmed grass, and the sound of Ozzie Guillen enhancing the Spanish to English vocabulary of every boy and girl.

But most importantly, a time for looking into crystal balls and knowing exactly how this season will unfold. Just a quick side bit, order of appearance is order of division standing. So, without further ado:

AL EAST

The Yankees consistently find ways to upgrade what is consistently the most talented roster in baseball, and barring a slew of freak injuries look to be playing postseason baseball once again. Upgrading with Curtis Granderson and letting a struggling Johnny Damon walk. Letting Wang walk after this past season may come back to hurt the Yankees on pitching depth, but let’s be honest, as long as Mariano Rivera is closing things out, there won’t be much to fear.

The Red Sox bring arguably the strongest starting rotation in the majors to the mound, with an All-Star ageless wonder in Tim Wakefield even battling it out for a roster spot. But the hits on David Ortiz over the past two seasons have to make you wonder if a team in such a strong offensive ballpark is going to be able to keep pace with the Bombers.

The Tampa Bay Rays are one of those teams you just consistently feel sorry for. With one of the youngest and most talented teams in the league, it’s got to be frustrating being consistently stuck behind big spenders in Boston and New York. Look for Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to go off, as well as David Price to have a great season. But in this division, you need to be stacked top to bottom. Heart says they deserve a shot at the division, crystal ball says they fade all but out of the wildcard by August.

Things in Baltimore haven’t been this hopeful since Ripken Jr. retired, but unless Matt Weiters can pitch and bat for all nine roster spots, this team is still a year or two from being in contention.

As for the Blue Jays, at least they still have Roy Halladay… er, I mean hockey. Yeah, they still have hockey…

AL Central

Apart from Minnesota, there really isn’t a terribly strong team in this division. And by Minnesota, I mean assuming Joe Nathan is either able to go or they find someone else (John Smoltz anyone?) to solidify the back end of the bullpen. You can’t go against the League MVP in a division this week. Unless of course…

Detroit can find someone, ANYONE, in that lineup to hit. The Tigers have a pretty solid front side of their rotation between Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, and Max Scherzer, but they’re a bat or two short.

Chicago sits in a similar boat as Detroit, and both will be paddling upstream without a decent set of batting gloves.

Meanwhile, Zack Greinke mops in more sympathy votes after the Royals fail to put together anything impressive over the offseason. Alex Gordon isn’t ready to carry this team to anything other than a third place finish in the division at best.

Which leaves Cleveland staring up at everyone. With all of their pitching traded away, this is looking like a clear cut rebuild.

AL West

Folks in Seattle are about to see the best team this city has put together since the 2001, 116 win team. Ignoring the additions of Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman, putting Cliff Lee at the top of the order with King Felix Hernandez is a lethal one-two punch in this suddenly lackluster division.

The fact that the Rangers look to finish second in this division is more a testament to the bleeding out of their California rivals than anything remarkable that they’ve done.

And on the topic of those Angels, so long Chone, Vlad, and Johny Lackey. Staples from this team’s success have all departed the golden state, and the man to replace them? Hideki Matsui. Yeah, good luck with that. The saddest part is that with enough injuries to Seattle’s pitching staff, they could still make a push for the division.

Money Ball hasn’t been worth a dime in quite a few years, and it still looks to be another solid year for coming to fruition. A healthy Ben Sheets makes this an average team, but without him they could be looking at one of the poorer records in the league.

Look out for the NL tomorrow.

LT to the Big Apple

By Dan Rodgers

Well, first off I have to say that I'm not sure how I feel about LaDanian Tomlinson coming to my Jets. They reached a two-year agreement. I think this means that the Jets management is ready to let RB/KR Leon Washington sign with another team.

I think that is a huge mistake. Leon is younger, a better receiving threat, and a phenomenal kick returner. He wants money and I think that the release of Thomas Jones and the trade of Kerry Rhodes frees up that money for Leon. I'm curious to see what the Jets do with Leon, but hopefully they decide to keep them. I'll report back later with more if necessary.

Rodgers That