Friday, March 19, 2004
Catching Up
Man, work has been kicking my behind the past two days, and of course, I had to waste the last half hour of my day watching Dayton choke away two opportunities to win the game as time expired by going for freakin' 3-pointers when there was clearly a lid over the basket that only a dunk could get through. I believe the 1st overtime about overcame my love for March Madness. Make a free throw! Ack! If I lose my pool by 2.5 points (1 pt for first round + 1.5 pts for 10-seed beating a 7), I'm gonna make it my personal mission in life to get the Dayton coach fired.
Note to self: During afternoon games tomorrow, don't watch another horrible ad for erectile dysfunction or investment choices I need to ask my advisor (Mookie the Bookie - and don't ever try to rhyme that or you'll be eating through a straw) about. Instead watch the Mariners on ESPN againt Barry Bonds and the Giants. I think it starts at 11AM PST.
Freddy Garcia looked great again today, and gives us the most dominating #3 pitcher in baseball, Mark Mulder be damned. Its looking more and more like Mike Myers will make the team. And Terry Mulholland has been surprisingly strong, and looks like a much better choice than Kevin Jarvis at this point. Villone takes the long-relief/spot starter role, Mulholland becomes Norm reincarnated, and Mike Myers submarines his way into the LOOGY role to go with setup men Soriano, Mateo, and Shiggy. I'm pretty sure our bullpen is gonna kick some serious tail this year. Watched ESPN this morning and had a Giovanni Carrara sighting as he gave up yet another home run, this time for the Indians.
But the interesting news of the day is not our pitchers, but who is going to catch them. Ben Davis may have worked (not) and played his way out of a roster spot and we are talking about Pat Borders or reviving the talks for Jason Kendall, according to Larry Larue. By the way, Mark at Top Forums scooped this on St. Patty's morn, but I was too busy to realize it - I still want to know who your insider source is, MarinerGeek!
"Everyone likes Ben, but a lot of us are starting to wonder if he gets it," one Seattle coach said. "He said he wanted to be the starting catcher? Then earn it. Right now, he's not even on the 25-man roster." Strong words, and they better light a fire under Big Ben's Butt, or he gets to battle Wiki Gonzalez for a starting role once again... in Tacoma. C'mon Ben! I'm rooting for ya! Note that Ben went 1 for 2 today, so maybe the message was received - I'll be watching him closely on ESPN tomorrow.
I think a trade for Kendall would have to involve a LOT of money headed our way. I'm kinda intrigued by Pat Borders (who actually projects better offensively than Dan Wilson) getting a longer look, and I'm sure Freddy would love that. San Shin does an excellent job of explaining why trading for Jason Kendall would be a bad idea.
Mariners optioned RHP Cha Seung Baek, LHP Bobby Madritsch and 3B Justin Leone to Triple-A Tacoma; optioned 3B Greg Dobbs to Double-A San Antonio; and reassigned C Rene Rivera to minor league camp. Leone keeps the edge on Dobbs, but if Spring is any indication, Dobbs may get the call to the majors first, if something should befall Oly, Edgar or Spiezio (does he have a nickname - Speezy sounds like the 8th dwarf).
Fantasy baseball virgins, Sodo OhNo's John & Mike converse about the S&Bs Blogger Fantasy League. I signed up for this but may not be able to make tomorrow's draft and have not had a chance to edit my rankings, so if my team sucks you'll know why. I love fantasy baseball, but the only leagues I play for money are NL-Only leagues. As a result, I am very knowledgeable about NL players, moreso than AL players, with the obvious exception of the Mariners. Anyone who loves baseball and has never played fantasy baseball, should probably continue that trend, or risk addicting yourself to this wonderful game. I much prefer auction leagues to draft leagues just for the variety of strategies that can be employed.
The "Glass Half Full" Previews have run short on steam a bit, and for that I apologize. Work has me, and I'd rather keep up on the day to day stuff. Maybe its just writers block trying to find something interesting to say about Bret Boone's prospects for 2004. I know he's gonna be a stud, you know he's gonna be a stud, and the worst thing the pessimists can say about The Boone is that he's getting older and that the steroids might wear off. Maybe I'll just move onto shortstop, where Rich Aurilia is gonna be a nice upgrade over Carlos Guillen.
And with that, I better run. I'm giving up sleep so I can prerank 300 freakin MLB players for this fantasy draft. And I would be stunned if any other blogger drafts Scott Spiezio, Rich Aurilia, or Raul Ibanez before I do, so look for them to be on the Optimist squad. I'll have a report sometime next week. By the way, let me know if hearing about MBSBL and Blogger Fantasy Leagues bores the crud out of you, and if enough of you beg me to shut up about it, I'll tone it down.
Speaking of toned down, the Rice Owls Mens Basketball season ended with a very pathetic whimper, losing 91-63 to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Thanks though for keeping me interested all season long with a strong 22-11 season, and I'm looking forward to next year as all our stars are returning! At least the ladies won their first round WNIT game. And Nevada did the WAC proud by kicking some Spartan tail in the NCAAs. Okay, I'm going now. Really. This post is approaching Gleeman length.
Okay, one last thing. Here are the Mariner Optimist's official NCAA picks, though I used variations of this on various pool entries depending on points for upsets or competition (west coast vs texas bias).
Thursday (14-2 - very nice start) Here are the upsets I picked - Nevada over Michigan St (go WAC!). Manhattan over Florida (did anyone NOT pick this?) Dayton over DePaul (DAMMIT). Southern Illinois over Alabama (1 pt away, sigh).
Friday's upsets - South Carolina over Memphis. Western Michigan over Vanderbilt. And that's it, though I'll be rooting hard for Pacific, Monmouth, and Eastern Washington.
2nd Round upsets - Illinois over Cincinatti. Yes, its boring and there will be one or two upsets I miss (I hope), but I had no confidence in my ability to pick it to this round. I will say that the Zags better not overlook Nevada...
3rd Round upsets - Georgia Tech over Gonzaga (but I'll be rooting for the Zags). Texas over Mississippi St. Wake Forest over St. Joes
Final Four - Kentucky, Oklahoma St, Duke, Connecticut
Championship Game - Kentucky 72, Connecticut 70.
Note to self: During afternoon games tomorrow, don't watch another horrible ad for erectile dysfunction or investment choices I need to ask my advisor (Mookie the Bookie - and don't ever try to rhyme that or you'll be eating through a straw) about. Instead watch the Mariners on ESPN againt Barry Bonds and the Giants. I think it starts at 11AM PST.
Freddy Garcia looked great again today, and gives us the most dominating #3 pitcher in baseball, Mark Mulder be damned. Its looking more and more like Mike Myers will make the team. And Terry Mulholland has been surprisingly strong, and looks like a much better choice than Kevin Jarvis at this point. Villone takes the long-relief/spot starter role, Mulholland becomes Norm reincarnated, and Mike Myers submarines his way into the LOOGY role to go with setup men Soriano, Mateo, and Shiggy. I'm pretty sure our bullpen is gonna kick some serious tail this year. Watched ESPN this morning and had a Giovanni Carrara sighting as he gave up yet another home run, this time for the Indians.
But the interesting news of the day is not our pitchers, but who is going to catch them. Ben Davis may have worked (not) and played his way out of a roster spot and we are talking about Pat Borders or reviving the talks for Jason Kendall, according to Larry Larue. By the way, Mark at Top Forums scooped this on St. Patty's morn, but I was too busy to realize it - I still want to know who your insider source is, MarinerGeek!
"Everyone likes Ben, but a lot of us are starting to wonder if he gets it," one Seattle coach said. "He said he wanted to be the starting catcher? Then earn it. Right now, he's not even on the 25-man roster." Strong words, and they better light a fire under Big Ben's Butt, or he gets to battle Wiki Gonzalez for a starting role once again... in Tacoma. C'mon Ben! I'm rooting for ya! Note that Ben went 1 for 2 today, so maybe the message was received - I'll be watching him closely on ESPN tomorrow.
I think a trade for Kendall would have to involve a LOT of money headed our way. I'm kinda intrigued by Pat Borders (who actually projects better offensively than Dan Wilson) getting a longer look, and I'm sure Freddy would love that. San Shin does an excellent job of explaining why trading for Jason Kendall would be a bad idea.
Mariners optioned RHP Cha Seung Baek, LHP Bobby Madritsch and 3B Justin Leone to Triple-A Tacoma; optioned 3B Greg Dobbs to Double-A San Antonio; and reassigned C Rene Rivera to minor league camp. Leone keeps the edge on Dobbs, but if Spring is any indication, Dobbs may get the call to the majors first, if something should befall Oly, Edgar or Spiezio (does he have a nickname - Speezy sounds like the 8th dwarf).
Fantasy baseball virgins, Sodo OhNo's John & Mike converse about the S&Bs Blogger Fantasy League. I signed up for this but may not be able to make tomorrow's draft and have not had a chance to edit my rankings, so if my team sucks you'll know why. I love fantasy baseball, but the only leagues I play for money are NL-Only leagues. As a result, I am very knowledgeable about NL players, moreso than AL players, with the obvious exception of the Mariners. Anyone who loves baseball and has never played fantasy baseball, should probably continue that trend, or risk addicting yourself to this wonderful game. I much prefer auction leagues to draft leagues just for the variety of strategies that can be employed.
The "Glass Half Full" Previews have run short on steam a bit, and for that I apologize. Work has me, and I'd rather keep up on the day to day stuff. Maybe its just writers block trying to find something interesting to say about Bret Boone's prospects for 2004. I know he's gonna be a stud, you know he's gonna be a stud, and the worst thing the pessimists can say about The Boone is that he's getting older and that the steroids might wear off. Maybe I'll just move onto shortstop, where Rich Aurilia is gonna be a nice upgrade over Carlos Guillen.
And with that, I better run. I'm giving up sleep so I can prerank 300 freakin MLB players for this fantasy draft. And I would be stunned if any other blogger drafts Scott Spiezio, Rich Aurilia, or Raul Ibanez before I do, so look for them to be on the Optimist squad. I'll have a report sometime next week. By the way, let me know if hearing about MBSBL and Blogger Fantasy Leagues bores the crud out of you, and if enough of you beg me to shut up about it, I'll tone it down.
Speaking of toned down, the Rice Owls Mens Basketball season ended with a very pathetic whimper, losing 91-63 to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Thanks though for keeping me interested all season long with a strong 22-11 season, and I'm looking forward to next year as all our stars are returning! At least the ladies won their first round WNIT game. And Nevada did the WAC proud by kicking some Spartan tail in the NCAAs. Okay, I'm going now. Really. This post is approaching Gleeman length.
Okay, one last thing. Here are the Mariner Optimist's official NCAA picks, though I used variations of this on various pool entries depending on points for upsets or competition (west coast vs texas bias).
Thursday (14-2 - very nice start) Here are the upsets I picked - Nevada over Michigan St (go WAC!). Manhattan over Florida (did anyone NOT pick this?) Dayton over DePaul (DAMMIT). Southern Illinois over Alabama (1 pt away, sigh).
Friday's upsets - South Carolina over Memphis. Western Michigan over Vanderbilt. And that's it, though I'll be rooting hard for Pacific, Monmouth, and Eastern Washington.
2nd Round upsets - Illinois over Cincinatti. Yes, its boring and there will be one or two upsets I miss (I hope), but I had no confidence in my ability to pick it to this round. I will say that the Zags better not overlook Nevada...
3rd Round upsets - Georgia Tech over Gonzaga (but I'll be rooting for the Zags). Texas over Mississippi St. Wake Forest over St. Joes
Final Four - Kentucky, Oklahoma St, Duke, Connecticut
Championship Game - Kentucky 72, Connecticut 70.
