"U"-n-"bald"-evable

Ubaldo Jimenez is dominating the National League right now with the Colorado Rockies. I go to school at Utah State so during the end of a school year and also the beginning of the next they are my "local" team being in Colorado so I watch a lot of their games. I would consider myself a moderate Rockies fan if and only if my Mariners and Cubs are out of it, which toward the end of the season they usually are. Ubaldo Jimenez has got to be the most unheard of great pitcher in the major leagues.
Jimenez has got to be the front runner to become the National Leagues Cy Young winner this year, I know its early but this guy is absolutely amazing so far. Ubaldo Jimenez so far this year is 9-1 with a 0.88 ERA so far. That is not a typo or his WHIP, that is his ERA through ten games. That is unheard of at this point in the major leagues. Last year Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young with only 16 wins. Jimenez is on pace to do that by the all-star break. This can be a season to remember for Ubaldo, who by the way maybe has the best first name in all of baseball too, which makes him fun to follow.
The thing that is so great about this run the Ubaldo is putting together is that he is doing it in a hitters paradise in the thin air of Coors Field in Colorado. This would be impressive if it happened in a pitchers park like Petco in San Diego or Safeco in Seattle or even AT&T Park in San Francisco but to put this kind of start together at at Coors is something special. It is very rare for a pitcher to continue this way throughout the year as good starts usually fade into just a pretty good season. I have a feeling though that this is going to stop, I'll be watching every time Ubaldo takes the hill as I am predicting this streak to continue. The number that is considered amazing for a starting pitcher throughout a year is a 2.00 ERA and I am predicting that Ubaldo does that and more this season. The reason why I think it will happen is because he is doing in the right way. He is not some phenom pitcher who nobody can figure out because he is new. He isn't getting lucky by putting this together. He is a pitcher that has been solid throughout the past couple years, he is in this thing for the long haul. He has worked through his kinks in the last couple years to get to be the pitcher he is now. I think with his 97-100 MPH fastball that moves more than John Candy's belly while doing jumping jacks, it is not unreasonable to assume an ERA under 2 and 25+ wins. I think Ubaldo will continue to be "U"-n-"bald"-evable, and will cruise to the National League Cy Young award this year.

Soggy Superbowl XLVIII

Tuesday the NFL finalized their plans to have the 2014 Superbowl in the new Stadium in the New York Area. The new stadium is going to be shared by the New York Jets and New York Giants. The New Meadow Lands Stadium will host Superbowl XLVIII. This is the first time that a cold weather winter city will host the Superbowl in an outdoor arena ever in the NFL.
Didn't we see enough of this a few years back when the Colts played the Bears at Miami's Dolphin Stadium? Did anyone really enjoy watching that game as it rained all game long and made the field soaking wet? At least in that one there is nobody really to blame because you can't expect that type of weather in Miami, but if you put the game in New York you have to expect cold weather and potentially rainy or even snowy conditions. There are two sides of the argument here. Some people think this is a good thing because football should be played in all weather conditions while others think that the biggest game of the year should not potentially favor one team over another team due to weather conditions. What if Green Bay and Miami get to the Superbowl in New York, then what happens? Would that give Green Bay an unfair advantage because they have played in the cold all year long? I would argue that it wouldn't because its not like the guys that are playing for Miami are Miami natives, and the same holds true for the players on Green Bay. So in my mind that part of this debate is not the problem. The part of this that nobody is talking about, and is the biggest problem to this idea is this, what about the fans? Does the NFL think that the fans are going to want to be spend the week in New York where it is freezing all week and then go to a cold weather game? I don't think so. I am a Seattle guy, a fan of all the Seattle sports teams. I bring this up because when the Seahawks went to the Superbowl in Detroit I had a friend that made the trip out there to go cheer on the Hawks. He mentioned how miserable the weather was the whole week in Detroit that week and that if he had to do it again he would fly in the day of and leave the next morning. Fans don't want this game in a cold weather environment. Fans want to take a week off of work, go to some nice warm climate and golf with there buddies leading up to the Superbowl. They want to go to all of the Superbowl festivities during the week and not have to wear a parka outside to keep warm. This is a bad idea by the NFL.
The other side of this if a cold weather city like New York can get this big game, then what is stopping it from going to Seattle in February, or Denver, or Green Bay, or even Chicago which clearly is a big market. Now one could imagine that New York has more to offer to the every day Joe than a place like Green Bay but where is the line drawn? The taxpayers in Seattle raised enough money to build the beautiful Qwest Field, why does New York get this game and not Seattle? The NFL, for a long time, answered that question by saying that the weather is better, but now with them giving the game to New York there appears to be no excuse anymore. Well see how it all pans out, but if I am the owner of any of the teams in a cold winter environment I am going to be on the phone to Roger Goodell tomorrow morning asking when my city gets the big game.
All of this probably will not matter a whole lot though. I have a feeling that after all the sports writers and football purist and sports radio host and angry and happy fans all voice how they feel, the game will end up being played in a nice sunny mediocre day in New York and there will be no chance that either team could blame the weather for a loss anyway. Well see how it all goes down, I hope that there will be no problems with the weather on that day. I don't want a team to have to be whining about how they got screwed like when the refs blew the game for the Seahawks at Ford Field. I'll never forget that one. Goodbye for now everybody.

The Clock Strikes 23 for Mike Brown

The Cleveland Cavaliers let go of their Head Coach Mike Brown today to avoid having to pay him his whole year of his contract next year for $4.5 million dollars. Are the Cavaliers fooling anybody here? I mean isn't it pretty clear that they are only firing Mike Brown in hopes of getting a great coach in there and in turn hope to be able to resign Lebron James? As everybody knows, the Lebron James Sweepstakes are well under way and the Cavaliers are hoping to be able to resign him just as the rest of the teams in the league are. How much more can Mike James do? The guy had more wins that any Cavaliers coach ever in just five years as the head coach. Yah, so he never won a championship, but he did help create one of the best atmospheres in the NBA for a home game. Most would argue that the atmosphere was created by a superb athlete in Lebron James, and so would I, but he may have been the very guy who made the call to fire Mike Brown.
This leaves a very interesting scenario for the Cavaliers. With free agency starting on July 1st, that means that unless they have somebody in mind before then, the Cavaliers could be going into free agency without a coach when they try and re sign Lebron James. So it begs many questions, first, do the Cavs already have a coach in mind that may be more of the liking to Lebron, and if so, does Lebron know about it? I have a hard time believing that the decision is not entirely Lebron's decision. But lets just say that Cavs owner, Dan Gilbert, and Lebron James go into Gilbert's office and talk about a potential coach, and when I say talk I mean Gilbert saying, "Hey Lebron, who do you want me to hire to be the coach of your team? Lets say Lebron says, Joe Smoe. Now because Lebron James is still an employee of the Cleveland Cavaliers then he cannot contact any other team until that day. What if on July 1st, the Chicago Bulls hire Coach John Calipari and go after Lebron? Lebron and Calipari are great friends apparently, and would that offer be too hard for Lebron to turn down? That would leave the Cavs with the aforementioned Joe Smoe, and Lebron would land in Chicago with his pal John Calipari. That would be quite the story line for the NBA and quite a problem for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I think Cleveland made a mistake by firing Mike Brown because they need to have a coach in place come July 1st to be able to throw as much money and love to Lebron as they can. Here is a thought though, what if, in that closed door meeting between Dan Gilbert and Lebron James, James decides to take a run at John Calipari? There is a two month window to try and pry Calipari from his "dream job" at Kentucky. What a storyline that would be.
Sorry about you luck Mike Brown, the clock has struck 23 for you. Lebron is clearly more important that you in this scenario, as wrong as that may sound. Mike Brown was a solid coach an one day he should get another chance with an NBA team. And with a chance to run it his way, you never know what he could do with a solid group of talent to coach for himself, and not have to worry about a superstar who gets to call the shots.

Toss Out the Sleeping Speculation

The Seattle Mariners had a get away day game on Thursday against the BlueJays. With the Mariners only mustering up just one run through the first 8 innings of baseball it seemed as though they were gonna lose another close low scoring game, as they have gotten used to this season. The Sports media and fans had given up on the season because the Mariners were so bad at hitting, and already 12 games under .500 that it seemed that there was no hope in Seattle for the lowly Mariners. But on the day in the bottom of the 8th inning lightning may have struck and woken this team up.
Mike Sweeney is at the plate with two outs and Ichiro on first base, the Mariners are down 3-1. The ironic thing about this is I cannot foresee a scenario where Ichiro should be trying to steal a base with two outs and the aging 36 year old body of Mike Sweeney at the dish who will get thrown out on any ground ball anyway. I guess Don Wakamatsu was trying to take a force away from a ground ball, but I still don't it. Getting a guy into scoring position means nothing because you are down by two runs, why would you run the chance of getting thrown out and take away the chance to tie the game with a long ball. But either way, on the first pitch of Sweeney's at bat there goes Ichiro to controversially get thrown out at second base, and here comes Mr. Wakamatsu out of the dugout to argue the call. This team needed a spark, they needed something to get their adrenaline going again after having such a bad start to the season. Don Wakamatsu got tossed out of the game by the second base umpire and as he walking into the dugout to go hit the showers the fans in attendance gave Wakamatsu a standing ovation. Now I am a sports guy, and I've had coaches that have been animated and others that have been very quiet and mundane. The debate is whether or not Wakamatsu getting tossed out rallied the Mariners or not. I have a slightly different take on that, I grew up playing hockey mostly, and while I don't know for sure if the actual fact that he got tossed matters, but I do in fact know that when a coach stands up for his team and shows a little emotion when things are not going well, then the players can rally around that. I think it was very important to the M's making the comeback that they did.
On a day that seemed to be like any other Mariner game, Wakamatsu made it exciting, and it could not have ended any better. After the Mariners plated two runs already in the ninth to tie the game, up to the plate came pinch hitter Ken Griffey Jr., the man who "built" Safeco Field essentially. "The Kid," who apparently was acting like a kid when he was said to be sleeping in the dugout a couple weeks earlier during a game, silenced his critics for one day at least, and hit a walk off single to score Milton Bradley from second base. Griffey was wide awake on this day and was smiling from ear to ear after the big base hit with that famous Griffey smile that captured the hearts of so many in the city of Seattle.
I admit that I am an optimist but when I was work digging a ditch at some construction site and I listened to Wakamatsu get tossed, I had a feeling it could be a turning point. The manager gets excited and gets ejected from a game and then the team who doesn't score any runs scores 3 in the ninth to win. You can just sense the excitement in the stadium and with the players. Its a long long long season but for one day the Mariners were fun to cheer for. I called it, that the next game that the Mariners play in, which was Friday against the Padres they were gonna break out and they did. They won that game 15-8 and are starting to roll maybe. With their pitching being very very good, their hitting only needs to be decnet to put something together here. It could be the start of a very fun summer in Seattle. Go M's baby!!