12/21/24
March 30, 2003
Today: is opening day!!! Check out ESPN's 2003 preview or play a bit of Supreme Court baseball. Will the Angles repeat? When will Sosa hit number 500? Is David Wells done? What about that Cone guy? What is to become of the Yankees and the Braves? Will Godzilla destory America? So many stories, only 162 games. Remeber, it's baseball and you're an American. (Ok, well not everyone here is a American and not all American's like baseball, today is one of my favorite days of the year and can't help but to love bunting.) There is always cricket, but today is the day for baseball.
OK, I'll take a swing at the NL. AL East Standings Atlanta Braves Philadelphia Phillies Florida Marlins NY Mets Puerto Rico Expos NL Central Standings (the closest division) Chicago Cubs Houston Astros St. Louis Cardinals Cincinnatti Reds Pittsburgh Pirates NL West Standings Los Angeles Dodgers Arizona Diamondbacks SF Giants San Diego Padres Wild Card: Arizona Diamondbacks NL Cy Young: Kevin Millwood NL MVP: NL Rookie of the Year: NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker NL Batting Champ: Barry Bonds NL Home Run Champ: Barry Bonds NL Wins Leader: Kevin Millwood NL ERA Leader: First NL Manager Fired: Biggest Surprise: Chicago wins division Biggest AL Disappointment: Tom Glavine struggles mightily in NY
posted by trox at 08:54 AM on March 31, 2003
oops... hit post by mistake. Here's the rest: Rookie: Horacio Ramirez ERA: Curt Schilling First Mgr Fired: Ned Yost World Series: Oakland beats Chicago in 5.
posted by trox at 08:56 AM on March 31, 2003
Oakland? Oakland?! I think you meant San Francisco.
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:39 AM on March 31, 2003
So excited about Opening Day! It is just 11 days away from the big opener at Fenway and it's snowing out today in Boston. If this keeps up, looks like I'll be sporting mittens and a scarf next Friday. On the Red Sox front, Rob Neyer from ESPN picks Boston to win it all. Everyone seems to have the Sox at least in as the wild card. I get a little teary eyed with all this Red Sox optimism. From past experience, I am sure it won't be the last time the team brings tears to my eyes this season. meanwhile, I'll fidget nervously until I hear the team has picked up Pedro's extension. and I'm in second place in the fantasy baseball league! (Sorry, this may be my only gloating opportunity!)
posted by jerseygirl at 10:10 AM on March 31, 2003
I just came across this site via Instapundit. Baseball Musings. At first glance it looks like a pretty good blog. I'm not going to make any predictions, because I am always, always wrong, but I will say if the Diablos don't shore up our pitching staff a bit (our ace is having arm problems, and he seems to be concealing the serious nature of them, and he hasn't thrown more than 50 pitches once this spring training) we are looking at the second division. Baseball been very, very good to me.
posted by vito90 at 10:32 AM on March 31, 2003
Grum, really ... the Cardinals third in our division? Even Tony LaRussa can't screw this team up that badly to make us finish behind the Cubs! Here are a few guarantees: 1) Boston doesn't win the East. The Yankees take it by at least five games, the Red Sox get the wild card ... and then out in the first round. Sorry, jerseygirl. :( 2) Your hot dog will be more delicious, your beer will be colder and your butt will be more tolerant of a hard seat. Why? Because you're at a baseball game, baby! 3) Dusty Baker improves the Cubs by 15 games. It ain't enough to make the playoffs, but next year, watch out. 4) Anaheim sucks. Didn't they have some pitching last year? If they finish .500 and the Rally Monkey doesn't bolt for Fox, they'll be lucky. 5) Someone holds up a sign during a game that says "Sportscenter is Next!" Frank Miller and Joe Morgan act like it's never happened before. I throw up. 6) The Phillies win the NL East. The Braves have finally come to the end of their string, mainly because they have some serious health issues on their pitching staff. Horatio Ramirez is going to be the freaking bomb ... but Hampton's just gonna GET bombed. 7) Hideki Matsui succeeds. He's the AL Rookie of the Year, and a possible 30-110 guy. Doesn't anyone in Japan have an ugly batting stroke? 8) In a replay of this offseason, around July or August, the Red Sox need another pitcher. One becomes available ... and then the Yankees sign him away. Boston fans then start bitching about New York and George Steinbrenner. ACTUAL small-market teams like Minnesota and Pittsburgh throw up, then send representatives to Fenway to beat the crap out of whiny Red Sox fans. 9) Tampa Bay finally starts turning it around. I'm saying here the Devil Rays win 70 this year and hit the .500 mark next season. Lou Pinella might be an intolerable jackass ... but I wish he was MY intolerable jackass. 10) The Yankees beat Arizona in the World Series. Everyone throws up.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:33 AM on March 31, 2003
wfrazerjr: I only did the AL picks. Go yell at trox. But I agree with him anyways. :) 7) If Matsui doesn't win the AL Rookie award, it'll be either Mark Teixeira in Texas. But Matsui is the HUGE favourite since there is a very good chance he'll be a top-5 OF in the AL by the end of the season. 9) Tampa is bad. I mean REALLY bad. There is a phrase in sports called "replacement level". A team composed entirely of "replacement level" players (AAA guys who come in for injuries) is expected to win about 30-35% of their games. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are actually WORSE than replacement as they have players that don't deserve to be in the major leagues. Period. If they get 60 wins, it's a victory for them. I just wonder if Pinella is going to kill someone before the end of the season. (I picked them to finish ahead of Baltimore before I saw what they did after they released Greg Vaughn. They've actually gone and gotten WORSE players to replace him. Seriously.)
posted by grum@work at 01:10 PM on March 31, 2003
1) Boston doesn't win the East. The Yankees take it by at least five games, the Red Sox get the wild card ... and then out in the first round. Sorry, jerseygirl. :( I can't agree. It goes against my pre-season misguided Red Sox optimism. 10) The Yankees beat Arizona in the World Series. Everyone throws up. Apparently, it's the 100th Anniversary of the Yankees franchise. If they win it all this year, look for the team (and Steinbrenner) to be even more insufferable than ever.
posted by jerseygirl at 01:33 PM on March 31, 2003
Good call on Texeira as a potential runner up (dark horse) for AL rookie of the year. As for my NL picks, the NL central is the hardest division to handicap. It has 3 or 4 legitimate contenders, depending on who you talk to. My thoughts. Chicago: Dusty Baker may shake their moribund butts our ot their complacency. If Wood and Prior stay healthy and don't pitch too many innings (someting Baker is not renowned for) and the big IF, if Moises Alou provides Sosa some protection, they are a legitimate threat. Besides, if Grum can pick the Red Sox, I can pick the cubs. Houston: They were close last year. They got better adding Kent. Their young pitching is great. St. Louis: I like this team. I really do. I almost put Matt Morris as the Cy Young, but they didn't get that much better over the off season like the two above them. Cincinnatti: Too many ifs to rank them higher. Pittsburgh: uh, they still play baseball there? Milwaukee: I left them out altogether. That seems about right. Also, they've been saying the Braves were done for the last four years. Ain't happened yet. Granted, Philadelphia looks like their biggest rival in the division for quite some timw ('93 anyone). I don't pick against them until they lose. They can survive Hampton getting rocked a couple of times because they have a lot of young arms almost there (see Horacio stepping up big time). You think Hampton can play third base instead of Vinny (actually, I think DeRosa gets significant playing time)?
posted by trox at 01:55 PM on March 31, 2003
I'd probably get a lot more excited about today if the game was on TV in my area. But for fun, here are my American League predictions (I'm not as big a fan of the NL, so I don't know it quite as well): AL East Standings Boston New York Toronto Tampa Bay Baltimore AL Central Standings Minnesota Chicago Cleveland Kansas City Detroit AL West Standings Oakland Texas Seattle Anaheim Wild Card Team: New York Yankees AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez AL Rookie of the Year: Hideki Matsui AL Manager of the Year: Buck Showalter AL Batting Champ: Hideki Matsui AL Home Run Champ: Alex Rodriguez AL Wins Leader: Pedro Martinez AL ERA Leader: Roy Halladay First AL Manager Fired: None Biggest AL Surprise: Toronto comes THIS close to making playoffs Biggest AL Disappointment: Anaheim Angels - from World Series to last in the division.