In case you didn’t already hear, this weekend is going to be huge for college basketball. It is coming down to the wire, with only 9 days left until selection Sunday. Some teams need a nice boost while others look to hold on to their number 1 seeds while playing other ranked teams.
*Click on any blue links below to see a small preview about their team!
#18 Louisville vs. #2 SyracusePick: Syracuse
#6 North Carolina vs. #3 DukePick: UNC (I hope they both lose) #12 Georgetown vs. #7 Marquette Pick: Georgetown #4 Kansasvs. Texas Pick: Kansas #10 Baylor vs. Iowa State Pick: Baylor (gonna be close)
Sunday
#1 Kentuckyvs. #13 Florida Pick: Kentucky #11 Ohio State vs. #5 Michigan StatePick: Michigan St
Now I usually don’t believe that the number 1 seed is always the best team, but in this case it’s hard to against Kentucky. Especially with the way they went off against Georgia during their senior night on Thursday. I really feel like they are the toughest team in the league and should run right over Florida.
UNC and Duke is going to be the game of the year. After their last game, which was like an NBA game, you can expect the very best from both teams.
Today, I will conclude my rankings of all the players in each teams’ starting batting lineups. This will be the easiest ranking for me to do in terms of evaluations, considering it will be solely based from an offensive production standpoint, rather than offense and defensive skills like the other positions. The Red Sox DH position was one of the question marks over the offseason. After David Ortiz’s contract was up at the end of the 2011 season, Big Papi made several remarks about how he’d like to join the Yankees to leave all the drama in Boston. During the offseason, he was constantly working with the Red Sox for a new contract and finally settled on a 1-year contract for $14.58 million to avoid arbitration. I’ll be the first to say the Sox paid too much for the greedy Ortiz here, who wanted $16.5 million, a significant bump up from the $12.5 he received in 2011. Despite paying too much, the Red Sox were basically forced into needing the 36 year old Ortiz in their lineup because they wouldn’t have been able to find anything close to a replacement in the free agent market this year.
Just as a quick update on Spring Training, Varitek is set to retire at 5:30 today and the Sox are getting prepared for their first “game” vs Northeastern at 2:35 in Fort Myers on Saturday. This game will be the first leg of a double header, with Boston College playing the night cap.
Anyways, here are the rankings:
(Once again, for previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF–CF–RF)
1. David Ortiz, Red Sox
2. Raul Ibanez, Yankees
3. Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays
4. Luke Scott, Rays
5. Wilson Betemit, Orioles
Ortiz has surprised many fans in Red Sox Nation that were ready to kick him out of town in 2009. After struggling the two years after the Sox second championship in four years, Big Papi has revitalized his career. He has hit 61 Home Runs with 198 RBI’s in the last two years combined. The biggest turnaround was his .309 AVG last year. It looked like Papi had no idea how to hit against the shift, but last year was a great sign for him. Adrian Gonzalez was said to give Ortiz a lot of confidence in hitting the ball with power to the opposite field, instead of trying to pull it to the right field or finnessing it against the shift, as Ortiz had tried in years prior. I’m predicting another solid year from Papi, but a little bit of dropoff considering his age. I’m thinking a .285/27 HR/ 95 RBI line from Ortiz in possibly his last year in a Red Sox uniform.
Next up is the massive upgrade from the Yankees. Jorge Posada was a great catcher throughout his career for the Yankees, but they were hurting from the DH spot last year. When the Yankees dumped AJ Burnett’s salary a month ago, they were able to sign Raul Ibanez to be their Designated Hitter and backup outfielder. Although Ibanez at 39 years old is nearing the end of his career, he is a very big upgrade from Eduardo Nunez, the Yankees other apparent option for the DH spot. Assuming Ibanez can get his AVG back up to career norms (.270-.280) from last year’s .245 average, he should be able to provide consistent pop (20 HR, 84 RBI last year) in the back end of the Yankees lineup.
Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays is the third ranked DH. Last year, Encarnacion made big strides at the plate, showing much more consistency with a .272 BA (.244 in 2010, .225 in 2009). Edwin will most likely hit around his usual 20 HR, but his main issue since 2007 has been his ability to hit with runners on base. Every year since 2007, he AVG has dropped significantly with runners on base, hovering around the Mendoza line (.200) each year. This has been the main reason for his low RBI totals and he needs to improve this AVG to contribute more to the Blue Jay lineup.
Luke Scott is known by many Sox fans for being an outfielder/DH for the Orioles, but he upgraded this year and switched over to the Rays. Scott had his season cut short last year and underwent shoulder surgery to fix a torn labrum. If Scott can return successfully to his numbers of 2010 (.284/27/72), he could end up ahead of Encarnacion and Ibanez in these rankings, but I don’t see that happening. That year was a career year for Scott and I see him returning to a .250 BA with around 15 HR and 60-70 RBI’s.
Last in the rankings is Wilson Betemit of the Orioles. Wilson’s now joining his 7th Major League team and is mostly remembered by Red Sox Nation for his forgettable years with the Yanks. Not much needs to be said about Betemit, although he was fairly successful in limited AB’s in the past two years. At 30 years old, Betemit has never had a season with more than 412 AB’s. If he can provide numbers similar to his .297 AVG of 2010 and .285 AVG of 2011, he should be able to get a full time shot for the Orioles this year.
Stay tuned for pitching analysis throughout the next two weeks.
For previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF–CF–RF
Now that I have concluded all offensive output for the AL East teams, I want to leave the readers with this question:
As questionable as Chiarelli’s “depth” (rather than scoring) moves were I was glad to see Brian Rolston come back to Beantown. Back in the late 90s, early 00s Rolston was one of my favorite Bruins players. He was a great two-way forward, a leader, and was able to stay injury-free. However, my favorite part of his game was his short-handed skills. When he saw significant time on the penalty kill he had a knack for coming up with some shorties. From 2000-2004 (with the B’s) he had 16 short-handed goals, a pretty impressive number which included 9 SHG in the 2000-2001 season. (Enjoy the throwback pic: Rolston with former Bruin Eric Weinrich)
Rolston, 39, began his career with the New Jersey Devils during the 94-95 season where he was a member of that Stanley Cup team. He has also been a part of three U.S. Olympic teams which sort of explains why he was the captain of the Minnesota Wild after he left the Bruins. No doubt Rolston brings hardened veteran experience to the team. Hopefully he is a positive influence in the locker room during these inconsistent times for the Bruins. Given that he was just on the Islanders one of the cellar dwellers of the NHL, he can provide some perspective for these guys.
Just as I did the past few months, I am going to ask the tough question. Who should be crowned College Basketball Player of the Year? A few of the big preseason names have fallen off in the past few months. Therefore, the race is basically down to two people: Anthony Davis (See team preview here) and Thomas Robinson (See team preview here). Head to head, this pick is going to be a tough one. In fact, some ballots will be conducted next week on this subject, but we still won’t find out for a while. Here are some stats for ya:
Anthony Davis Freshman Kentucky Wildcats Team Rank: 1/1 PPG: 14.3 SPG: 1.5 FG%: .658
APG: 0.9 BPG: 4.8 FT%: .717
RPG: 9.8 TPG: 0.9 MPG: 31.4
They average the same exact minutes per game and their stats are very close. Even in the ballots conducted every week, they are within 3 points of each other (Davis is ahead). I feel like Anthony Davis has a better team around him but at the same time, that should make it even tougher to put up numbers like he has since they have more than one or two stars on their team. What do you guys think?
The USA came out with a 1-0 victory over the Italian side today for the first time in the United States history. Clint Dempsey scored the game winner in the 55th minute after Jozy Altidore took down a cross from Fabian Johnson and laid it off for Dempsey to slot it under two Italian players in the bottom left corner. The goal was Dempsey’s 25th career goal for the national team and one of his biggest all time. He is the 4th all team leading goal scorer for the United States. But while Dempsey is going to get all the praise, Tim Howard showed why he is one of the world’s most respected goalkeepers. He kept the United States in it in the first half with his big saves, and made a few more late as the Italian side never stopped pressing. He had seven saves overall.
The United States looked the best they have looked in the Jurgen Klinsman era. They were tight as a group defensively and put together passes better than they have in any other game thus far. A lot of credit goes out to Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu for holding down the middle of the field and controlling play. Andrea Pirlo is a master with the ball and found time to pick out his players, but Bradley and Edu played as well as you can expect. Bradley especially came up with big tackle after big tackle and proved his worth to Jürgen in the middle. Jonathan Spector also had a huge game after he came on as a substitute for Fabian Johnson in the 77th minute. He got in the way of shot after shot of the Italians and came up with a few more crucial tackles. Jozy played extremely well tonight as a hold up player and Terrance Boyd made the first appearance of what will hopefully be many more.
Italy has to be frustrated as they were caught offside 9 times by the referees. They also have to be kicking themselves because they also had 19 shots during the game, 8 corner kicks, and over 60% of time of possession. Sebastian Govinco was extremely dangerous to the United States when he wasn’t being caught offside as he kept using his quickness to get behind the defense.
Starting Lineups for the US (4-4-2)
G – Tim Howard
D –Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Clarence Goodson, Fabian Johnson
M – Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Brek Shea, Daniel Williams
F – Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore
Subs Used:
Jonathan Spector, Sasha Kljestan, Terrance Boyd, Edson Buddle
The United States next three games are all friendlies against Scotland (5/26), Brazil (5/30), and Canada (6/3).
In other soccer news, Spain beat Venezuela 4-0, Netherlands beat England 3-2, France beat Germany 2-1, and Argentina behind 3 goals from Lionel Messi beat the Swiss 3-1.
Leap Day. That magical day that disappears for three years before coming back. Besides the fact that most people don’t understand the point of it nor care to, it could mean good news for the Celtics’ second half of the season. Celtics Blog ran an article about this during the lockout, so I figured what better time to relive that article than on Leap Day itself. Introducing, the Leap Year Rule. This rule is strictly for Kevin Garnett. During his tenure in the NBA, KG’s career has followed an odd 4-year pattern of success, with the 4th year being a Leap Year. Let’s break it down.
1996 – Leap Year #1: Kevin Garnett Becomes KG – Drafted by a losing Timberwolves organization at the beginning of the 95-96 season, Garnett stepped into the NBA limelight. Coming off the bench during the first half of the season, Garnett began putting up all-star numbers and was inevitably put in a starting position during 1996. Oddly enough, his struggling Wolves started to win.
2000 – Leap Year #2: KG Reaches All-Star Status – With the turn of the millennium, Garnett led the Timberwolves to their first 50-win season in team history. He was named to his first career 1st Team All-Star position, as well as runner-up for the league MVP title. Oh, and just to put the icing on the cake, he went on to win a gold medal as a part of the 2000 US Olympic Team.
2004 – Leap Year #3: Garnett Continues to Rise – KG led the T-Wolves to their best season in team history, landing the #1 seed in the Western Conference. Despite his team getting knocked out in the Conference Finals, Garnett was the near unanimous vote for league MVP, with Shaq in 2000 being the only player to receive a higher percentage of votes for MVP.
2008 – Leap Year #4: KG Helps Raise Banner 17 – If I have to explain the year 2008 then you probably shouldn’t be reading this blog anyways. Joining Pierce and Allen, KG helped bring glory back to Boston for the first time since 1986, as the C’s trumped the Lakers to win the NBA Finals. Garnett was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year en route to reminding us that “Anything is Possible.”
2012…
I’m not making any promises, but the facts are laid out on the table. Something memorable is going to happen in KG’s career this season. I have two predictions and it’ll either be one or the other. My obvious prediction is that KG is going to help raise another banner in Boston this year. As unlikely as most would say that is, the underdog victory is no new feat in Boston (see New England Patriots circa 2001-02). On the other hand, as much as I want to say the C’s will win the championship, my second guess is that KG will retire. Another huge move in his career, although not exactly what we’ve had in mind. Now maybe both my predictions will come true and KG’s final Leap Year in the NBA will be his most memorable. It might sound crazy, but hey, it’s Leap Day!
The Celtics (16-17) are looking to start another winning streak as they take on the Milwaukee Bucks (14-20). The Celtics are now tied for seventh place in the eastern conference with the Knicks and are 2.5 games ahead of the Bucks in the race for the 8th spot. The Celtics are coming off of a 86-83 win against the pesky Cleveland Cavaliers where the Bucks are coming off the a 119-118 win over the Washington Wizards.
Brandon Bass came back from his injury and hit his first five shots for the Celtics last night. It was pretty promising as both he and Wilcox looked healthy. Wilcox grabbed 11 rebounds. The Celtics were led by Ray Allen who looked fresh after having the All-Star break off as he went for 22 points. Pietrus also had his biggest dunk of the season with that surgically repaired knee starting to look real good. Finally my man Avery Bradley played well again going 3-5 from the floor with 3 assists and no turnovers.
The Bucks are being led by Brandon Jennings as he is averaging 18.2 points per game and 5.3 assists per game. Last night Mike Dunleavy came off the bench to score 28 points. The Celtics have to be careful with the ball tonight because the Bucks scored 26 points off of 15 turnovers. The Celtics also have to watch out for Ersan Ilyasova who has been a beast on the boards this season. He has 4 double-doubles in his last five games including a 29-25 game against the New Jersey Nets 10 days ago.
Keys to the Game
Turnovers
As it has been all season the Celtics have to keep the turnovers down to a minimum. Pierce and Rondo had 11 turnovers. As the Bucks turn a lot of turnovers into points, the Celtics are going to need to take care of the ball if they’re going to want to get the winning streak to 2.
Rebounding
As I mentioned earlier Ilyasova is a beast. He has been killing teams on the boards this year. And the Celtics have been getting killed by everyone on the boards. They need to box out and go after rebounds defensively and offensively. It’s not a you-take-it kinda deal. I want to see them fight for rebounds and stop giving up easy second chance points.
Excluding the Designated Hitter, we are now at the last matchup for position players. Just a quick update on spring training. Everything is going well so far, but Bobby Valentine and Varitek have been the hottest topics of conversation. I discussed my thoughts on Varitek in yesterday’s article: O Captain! My Captain! Varitek set to Retire Thursday. As far as Bobby V goes, it seems like there might be a year long bout between him and Terry. With Terry taking a role at ESPN, he is commenting and criticizing every single move by Bobby. Bobby isn’t cutting himself short in the media circle either though. He has been trying to ignite a fire into the Yankees-Sox rivalry ever since he took the job and I love it. I think the boneheads on our team need someone like Bobby to get them fired up and perform up to their abilities. It should be very interesting to see how the players react to his different coaching style this year.
For previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF–CF
Back to the rankings:
1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
2. Matt Joyce, Rays
3. Nick Swisher, Yankees
4. Nick Markakis, Orioles
5. Cody Ross/Ryan Sweeney, Red Sox
Jose Bautista is the real deal. He answered every question about whether he was a fluke in 2010 when he came back in 2011 with an even stronger campaign. Bautista has been in two consecutive All-Star games, received two consecutive Silver Slugger awards and he was 4th in the MVP vote 2010 and 3rd last year. With 97 HR’s in the last two years, Bautista’s power stroke will not be going anywhere, but I do see his .302 BA from last year dropping back down closer to his career norms. I’m expecting a .275/46/115 line for Bautista this year, which should keep him in the MVP race again this year.
Next up is 27 year old Matt Joyce for the Rays. Although Joyce cannot hit lefthanders at all (.217 BA last year, .196 Career), he responded very well to his first season in which he received regular playing time. The Rays also have the luxury of using Ben Zobrist to fill in for Joyce against lefty’s, so that he doesn’t hurt their lineup. Joyce brings good power to the plate for the Rays (19 HR’s in 462 AB’s), but also displayed solid baserunning skills last year (13 SB’s, 1 CS). He also maintained a good average and had a great OBP. His overall ability gave him the edge over the older Markakis and Swisher.
Nick Swisher got the slight edge over Orioles 28 year old Markakis. Swisher’s output this year is essentially already established. We can expect 25-30 HR’s out of Swisher, coupled with a low batting average (.254 career) and a much higher OBP (.374 last year, .360 career). I’m not expecting much of a difference in Swisher’s production considering he is only 31 and his role with the Yankees doesn’t look like it will be effected. Markakis has been a very durable player for the O’s since he joined their big league squad six seasons ago. Despite this, Markakis had surgery in January on a torn abdomen, which might hinder his ability at the beginning of the season. Markakis looked primed to be the savior of the Orioles franchise after a .300/23 HR/ 112 RBI line with 18 SB in his sophomore season, in which he was just 23 years old. That season turned out to have career bests in steals, home runs, and rbi’s. Markakis is still a solid player, just not the type of player Orioles fans around the country once wished.
Last up is the Red Sox rightfielders, Cody Ross against Lefties and the occasional righy, and Ryan Sweeney matching up against mostly Righthanded pitchers. I think Ross will be a great clubhouse guy and provide another guy with some postseason success. Ross is .261 career hitter and his career highs in HR’s and RBI’s were 24 and 90 respectively, with the Marlins in 2009. Ross has the capability to be a full time rightfielder for the Sox if he can rediscover the bat he had in 2009 with the Marlins and in the 2010 postseason with the Giants. Sweeney on the other hand has been atrocious vs lefty’s in his career(.233 career BA, .159 last year), making him at most a platoon player. Although he doesn’t provide much power, he will maintain a good average for the Sox and get on base at a solid rate (.342 career OBP). With Sweeney’s limited production, I see Ross getting the majority of the starts in Rightfield throughout 2012 for the Sox.
For previous positional rankings click here: C–1B–2B–3B–SS–LF–CF
Senators goaltender Robin Lehner (20 years old) made himself known to the Bruins faithful last night when he registered 32 saves and his first career shutout. Young defenseman (21 days younger than me, hard to believe) Erik Karlsson tallied the only goal for Ottawa on a gift powerplay. Tyler Seguin was called for a phantom interference penalty which ended up costing the B’s the game. Although, the Bruins did not exactly play their best in the first two periods (more like terrible) they came out strong in the third, but playing catch-up hockey is not this team’s strength. They are dominant when they score first, so these sluggish starts are killing them. Not to take anything away from Lehner, but the Bruins should have buried the puck on a couple of chances. Even though Lehner was great in net, guys like Bergeron and Marchand need to finish strong. After posting five goals on these guys a couple of nights ago on the road, it’s kind of unacceptable to come home and get shut-out considering Ottawa has sneakily crept up to within one point of the Northeast division leading Bruins. Ottawa has won six of seven and the B’s have lost four of six. The Bruins have a game tomorrow vs. the Devils and Saturday vs. the Islanders before a big showdown with the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon. I would like to see this team get a little momentum heading into a potential Eastern Conference finals matchup, by winning these next two by reestablishing their checking game, outskating their opponents, and causing turnovers. When they stick to this formula, its plain and simple, they win games.
So, since I decided to make a big deal about how I thought #5 Michigan State should be a #1 seed during March Madness in yesterday’s post, they decided to lose their game against #20 Indiana. They didn’t just lose, they got killed. Although Draymond Green scored 29 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field (3 for 6 three-pointers), he could not help the Spartans out of this one. He also grabbed 8 rebounds. However, he did commit 6 turnovers that turned out to be quite costly. Unfortunately, no one else on his team was able to score more than 8 points.
The Hoosiers were able to pull this one off led by stand-out freshman forward Cody Zeller (to the right). Zeller only committed 1 turnover and scored 18 points. Junior forward Christian Watford was able to record a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds during a team high 33 minutes of floor time.
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