Time to make changes to baseball

I always love whenever a proposed change to baseball comes up, it's met with such opposition from baseball "purists". Baseball is the only sport in which these "purists" are so obsessed with the game's past that they refuse to make any change that, gasp, might actually improve the game. So while the NFL is constantly making changes to make their game better, MLB is being held back because of tradition. Seriously, is Babe Ruth gonna roll in his grave because baseball adds more replay?

With that in mind, I've thought of a few things that would make baseball better, but will most likely never happen:

1. DH in both leagues
This is probably my favorite. I think it's great when people make the argument that the DH takes away from the strategy and purity of the game. When pitchers are hitting, managers have more to think about when adjusting their lineups. They have to make double switches, decide whether to bunt a pitcher or let him swing away, etc. Apparently this adds drama to the game. I think it sucks. How many times in a National League has a team started to rally in an inning, the 8 hole hitter gets a walk to load the bases...and here comes the pitcher to suck all of the drama out of the inning. Why should the pitcher have to hit? He's a completely separate entity than the rest of the team. He's judged by different stats, has a completely different mindset than everyone else. Sure, maybe having a guy who just hits doesn't make too much sense either, but it's more fun that having the pitcher hit. God forbid baseball should be more fun.
Odds of happening: 1,000,000: 1

2. More replay
Yeah, I said it. Go ahead and complain that it will make the games longer. That's a valid argument, and the only reason why more replay shouldn't happen. But for those who say, "Human error is a part of the game," no offense, but you are an idiot. Why should umpires getting calls WRONG be a part of the game? Shouldn't the game be decided by what the players do, rather than what the umpires say they did?
I wouldn't have replay on every call. That would make things way too long. Why not make a system similar to the NFL? Each manager gets two replays per game, or per series, or per week, whatever. They can challenge safe/out calls, home runs calls, catches, tags, anything like that, just not balls and strikes. So, even if there's two replays per game, say they take 7 minutes each when all's said and done, that adds 14 minutes to each game. If that's a huge problem to anyone, too bad. I would rather get things right.
Odds of happening: 10:1 of replay somehow getting expanded

3. No more All-Star game deciding home field advantage
This is a no brainer, and I imagine it will happen soon. The idea of this is to make the game more exciting and mean more and whatever. This was the fall out from that infamous tie game. Apparently that game made fans realize that the all-star game means nothing, because they didn't get that before for some reason. Honestly, the game doesn't seem anymore important to me now than it did before, and deciding home field advangtage because of it makes no sense. Just give it to the team with the best regular season record, that was easy.
Odds of happending: probably will soon

4. Less interleague play
Part of the reason the all-star game lost its appeal is because of interleague play. Before interleague, seeing AL vs NL was exciting every year because we never got to see these players on the field at the same time. It may the World Series seem more special too. But now, it seems like we get a whole month of interleague play, and it's just too much. Maybe it's because I'm a Phillies fan and they're terrible in interleague, but I think 18 interleague games a year for each team is way too much. Just have two series every year for each team, a home and home with their most natural rival, and stop it there. Mets vs Yankees every year, Phillies vs Red Sox, Dodgers vs Angels, Giants vs A's, and so forth. It would make the All-Star game and World Series a lot better.
Odds of happening: Interleague games sell a lot of tickets, so probably 0

5. Make the first round of playoffs 7 games
Here's what I don't get. The NBA, which has a shorter season, more teams make the playoffs, and what seems like two weeks between playoff games, went from a 5 game first round to a 7 game first round, just so they can have more games that no one will watch. Baseball has a longer season, only 4 teams making the playoffs, they can play every day, yet they only have 5 game series in the first round? After struggling through 162 games to make the playoffs, a team could be gone with three bad games in the first round. MLB and NBA should collaborate and trade first round series lengths. How does that not make sense?
Odds of happening: 1,000: 1

6. Move the Astros to the AL West
Doesn't really matter, but 6 teams in the NL Central, 4 teams in the AL West, Astros would make the most sense to make the move. Just saying.
Odds of happening: Probably not unless I'm the commissioner.

7. Intentional walks
This has always annoyed me. If a team wants to walk a guy intentionally, what's the point of making the pitcher throw 4 balls to the catcher. Why not just say, hey we're gonna walk this guy, and just let him go to first without having to make the pitches? I'm sure the baseball purists would love this one.
Odds of happening: same as above

Mr. Selig, I know you are a frequent reader of my blog, so please take these changes into consideration. Thanks.

Part 2- National League w/ John Kruk

I'm sure the suspense has been killing everyone, so here's my run-down of the senior circuit going into the final month of the season. There are seven teams left in the NL with a realistic shot at making the playoffs, so here they are, from worst to first:

7- Florida Marlins
If you believe in trends, the Marlins should win the World Series this year. After all, they do it every six years since the 1997 season. However, I'm going to go against fate and say the Marlins don't go all the way in 2009. Much like the Twins in the AL, the Marlins always seem to find a way to get it done with no money and few superstars, and the fact that they're even over .500 is impressive. They have a legit ace in Josh Johnson and the rest of their staff is solid. They also score a ton of runs, even if their only really great every day player is Hanley Ramirez. So yeah, good job Marlins but no playoffs this year.

6- Atlanta Braves
The Braves probably have the best starting pitching staff from top to bottom in the majors. They don't have one surefire dominant pitcher (maybe Tommy Hanson soon), but there's no easy game against this staff. However, the score about zero runs a game. If they can keep their rotation intact over the next few seasons and add a bat or two, they will be dangerous. However, they just don't have the lineup to make enough noise down the stretch this year.

5- San Francisco Giants
The Giants are very similar to the Braves in that they have great pitching and no hitting. However, I would be very very scared of the Giants in the postseason because they have two dominant starers in Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, and a guy that used to be dominant in Barry Zito. Oh by the way, they have another guy who threw a no-hitter this season in Jonathan Sanchez. So yeah, if these guy find their way into the playoffs, watch out. The problem is their lineup, or the fact that it's basically non-existant. When your best hitter is a guy whose nickname is Kung-Fu Panda, you have issues. Much like the Braves, if they add some bats, look out.

4- Colorado Rockies
Stop me if this seems familiar: The Rockies are absolutely terrible in the beginning of the season, then out of nowhere, make a turnaround, become the hottest team in the majors, and end up sweeping the Phillies in the playoffs and making the World Series. Yeah, that happened two years ago, and it looks like history may repeat itself. On paper, this team isn't as good as the NL champions of two years ago. No Matt Holliday, and although the pitching staff has been overachieving, you have to wonder how long they will last. However, there's no arguing how good they have been over the last few months, and you always go with the hot team in the baseball playoffs. They are scary, for sure.

3- Los Angeles Dodgers
They still have the best record in the NL, but this is not the same team that dominated in the first half of the season. I have two words for you: Vicente Padilla. Besides the fact that they had to sign Padilla, their bullpen isn't very good, with the exception of Jonathan Broxton, and they're just not hitting very well as a team right now. Yes, even everyone's favorite guy Manny isn't playing too well right now. The lineup is still potent, but they're going in the opposite direction of the Rockies right now, and I wouldn't be shocked if Colorado ended up catching them in the West.

2- St. Louis Cardinals
Their were two major acquistions at the trading deadline this season: Cliff Lee to the Phillies, and Matt Holliday to the Cardinals. Holliday has made the Cardinals incredibly better, and maybe even the team to beat in the NL. Chris Carpenter has quietly become the best pitcher in the NL this season, and Adam Wainwright ain't so shabby either. The Cardinals still have a few problems. Their starting rotation is very thin after Carpenter and Wainwright, and their bullpen isn't so special either. And besides Holliday and some guy named Pujols, the lineup isn't going to scare too many teams. However, Pujojs+Holliday+Carpenter+Wainwright could be enough to lead them to a World Series.

1- Philadelphia Phillies
Yes, I'm a homer, too bad. I really wish I had wrote this before the Phils lost 2 out of 3 to the Pirates, but oh well. We all know what's good about the Phils, so I'll focus on the negatives. The biggest problem right now is Brad Lidge, and if he's going to figure it out by playoff time. We keep waiting on him to run off 10 saves in a row to say he's back, but it just doesn't look like it's gonna happen. So what to do about Lidge? It's looking like a real possibility that he won't be the Phillies closer pretty soon. The other problimatic pitcher is Cole Hamels. Yes, he looked good in in last outing, but it would be great to see him put together 4 or 5 good starts to know he can be counted on in the postseason. He is the key to the team right now. If the Phils go into a series with Lee, Hamels back in form, Happ, and Blanton the way they are pitching right now, it's lights out. So yes, call me a homer, but the Phils are the favorite in the NL right now.

So, Rockies win the Wild Card, Phils beat them in the first round, Cardinals take out the Dodgers in the first round, Phils over the Cards to get back to the World Series.

That would set us up with a Phils/Yankees World Series, which I predicted at the beginning of the year. Needless to say, that series would be slightly more intriguing than Phils/Rays from last year. Here's hoping.

Breaking Down the MLB Stretch Run- American League

First of all, since I was asked to comment about it, I just wanna say that Plaxico Burress receiving a two year prison sentence for carrying a gun and then shooting himself in the leg is ridiculous. Especially when you consider the fact that fellow NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth received one month in jail for a DUI manslaughter charge. What Plaxico did was idiotic, no doubt, but no one got hurt except himself. Stallworth killed a man, and there's a very good chance it could have been avoided if he wasn't drunk and high. But whatever, trying to make sense of any of that kinda stuff these days is pointless. So enough about criminal football players and on to baseball...

American League

This has, for the most part, been a typical American League year. In the West, the Angels will have no problem winning the division again, but in typical Angels fashion (except for the 2002 season in which they won it all), they'll disappoint in the playoffs. Usually the Angels have strong pitching but a weak lineup, however it seems to be the opposite this year. Their starters' ERA is attrocious, and there bullpen's not much better. So have fun with your first round exit Anaheim or Los Angeles or whatever you are now.

In the Central, it's been a typical close race that will go down to the wire. Even though Detroit fell flat last season, you had to know they had too much talent not to improve this year. They have a great top of the rotation with Verlander, Washburn, and Jackson, so if they make it in, keep an eye out for them come playoff time.

The White Sox are just above average all-around, but that could be good enough to win this division. However, there's no way I can see this team doing any damage in the playoffs. Buehrle and Danks are a decent top of the rotation, but they they have the immortal Gavin Floyd (I know, he's better now, whatever) and Jose Contreras. Yeah no thanks, goodbye White Sox.

Then, of course, there's those sneaky Twins, now 4.5 games back despite being under .500, and you just know they're gonna end up being in this race at the end. I have no idea how, consdering Carl Pavano is their second starter right now. The Twins do this every year, and I guess having Morneau and Mauer helps. If they somehow win the Central, they're not doing anything in October with that rotation.

In the East, well, the Yankees were due. They're easily the best team in baseball right now, and they'll most likely enter the postseason as the odds-on favorites to end that dreadfully long 9 year World Series drought (poor Yankees fans). They're pitching great, their lineup has been unstoppable. Unfortunately, I have nothing negative to say about the Yankees right now. They're the favorites.

The wild card spot might be the most interesting race in the AL right now. The Red Sox are currently on top, but they have a ton of question marks right now. After Beckett and Lester, the rotation isn't looking too great right now, even when Tim Wakefield comes back. The offense should have improved with the addition of Victor Martinez, but they're still struggling. They're the de facto favorites to win the wild card, but I can't see a deep postseason run in the cards for the Sox.

Then there's the Rangers, and I'm shocked that they're still hanging around. They've always had the offense, but never have come close to having the pitching. Texas has actually put together a nice little rotation led by, yes, Kevin Millwood. I still don't know who Scott Feldman is exactly, but he's 13-4 this year. The offense is still there, and the addition of Pudge will help. I'll be surprised if they end up surpassing the Sox; the rotation has almost no late season experience, but they have the talent to do it.

Finally, the Rays are still hanging around too. They obviously have the talent to win the wild card, and make a postseason run. On paper, they're probably better than last year's team. But there just seems to be something missing from this team. They don't have an ace this season with Scott Kazmir struggling, and they just don't have the momentum they had last year. Can they catch the Sox? Sure, but I just don't see it happening.

So yeah, here's what I see going down in the AL:

West: Angels (2 seed)
Central: Tigers (3 seed)
East: Yankees (1 seed)
Wild Card: Red Sox

ALDS: Yankees over Tigers, Red Sox over Angels
ALCS: Yankees over Red Sox in 5

Yeah, boring, I know. But that's the AL, same teams, same close races every year. The NL preview will be more exciting, promise.

MICHAEL VICK AAHHHHHH OMG

Since the public outcry for an update has turned into an uproar, here you go.

As I am writing this, I realize the one great thing about the Michael Vick saga is that it pushes Brett Favre off the frontpage. Even now that the Favre rumors have started again (shocking), it is much more important to ESPN that Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick are BFFs.

I was going to write about Vick before he was signed by the Eagles. Obviously, the signing changes things a lot, especially since he was picked up by my favorite team. But I will try to convey what I was going to say before this all happened.

When watching the Vick coverage on ESPN and everything else before he got signed, it seemed that a lot of players, coaches, analysts, etc. actually felt bad for him. That he "deserved a second chance" (how many times have we heard that recently?).

Anyway, if you are one of those who "felt bad" for Vick, I have two words for you: stop talking. Why should we feel bad for him? Listen, I do not own a dog or have any emotional attachments to them. I like dogs, but who doesn't? (well, except, you know) I absolutely hate PETA. I think they are the second most evil organization in the world next to Al-Qaeda. But obviously what Vick did is deplorable, and I don't feel bad that he lost all of his money and went to jail.

I'm all for second chances in life, and sure, guys who are in prison for doing terrible things can be remorseful and change their lives when they get out blah blah whatever. But we don't have to feel sorry for these people for messing their lives up and then not being able to put it back together again. The fact is Vick would have never been able to get his old job back in any other line of work, except maybe veterinarian. So please, Andy, Donovan, everyone else, please stop talking about second chances and just talk about how he's gonna play football.

So yeah, on to the football part of it. I'm excited to see how Vick will be used with the Eagles. I mean, we just got the world's best decoy, that's for sure. I can't wait until the first time he trots out onto the field, lines up at wide receiver, the defense freaks out, and meanwhile McNabb throws it to DeSean Jackson for a 60 yard TD. I think everyone who "is not going to be an Eagles fan anymore because of Vick" will shut up. (As an aside, I really hope the Phillies sign Vick next season too so all of the fake Phillies fans go away just like the fake Eagles fans are now.)

Purely from a football sense, I think this is a good move for the Eagles. Even if he does nothing this season, they can cut their ties with him at the end of the year, and PETA will move on to be idiots about something else. If he's good, they can keep him for next season, and maybe even trade him to the Raiders for their first round pick or something.

So, in summary, I don't like Vick the person, but I can get behind Vick the player. And if you're really an Eagles fan, you will too.

2009-2010 College Football Bowl Predictions

We're a month away from the college football season, aka the official start of Fall, so naturally it would be as good a time as any to share my bowl predictions for next season. Is this too early? Absolutely. But unlike the NFL, where things that happen in the offseason actually have a significant impact on the upcoming season, we can pretty much make predictions for the next NCAA season immediately after the National Title game, and they wouldn't be much different the day before the kickoff of the first game. So unless Tim Tebow decides to become a full-time circumsizer (more on Tebow in an upcoming post), nothing that happens in the next month should matter too much.

I got a record two right last year, and I'm hoping to hit the big three this time around. Of course, these are basically impossible to predict. There are certain conference match-ups for each game (Pac-10 plays the ACC in the Emerald Bowl, for example) so it's not a completely blind guess. Without any further ado...

New Mexico Bowl- Nevada vs. BYU

St. Petersburg Bowl- UTEP vs. Louisville

New Orleans Bowl- Troy vs. Houston

Las Vegas Bowl- UCLA vs. TCU

Poinsettia Bowl- Arizona State vs. Colorado State

Hawaii Bowl- Fresno State vs. Southern Miss

Motor City Bowl- Central Michigan vs. Minnesota

Meineke Car Care Bowl- Miami vs. Cincinnati

Emerald Bowl- NC State vs. Arizona

Music City Bowl- Arkansas vs. North Carolina

Independence Bowl- Kentucky vs. Colorado

Eagle Bank Bowl- Ball State vs. Boston College

Champs Sports Bowl- Clemson vs. Illinois

Humanitarian Bowl- Boise State vs. Utah

Texas Bowl- Texas Tech vs. Navy

Holiday Bowl- Cal vs. Oklahoma State

Armed Forces Bowl- Air Force vs. Tulsa

Sun Bowl- Oregon State vs. Kansas State

Insight Bowl- Wisconsin vs. Kansas

Chick Fil-A Bowl- Auburn vs. Florida State

Outback Bowl- Michigan State vs. South Carolina

Capitol One Bowl- Iowa vs. Georgia

Gator Bowl- Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech

- This is absolutely the best case scenario for my Fightin Irish, in my opinion. People are talking about the BCS. Really? Have you been watching this team for the last two seasons? Yes, the talent is there, and that talent should equal 8, possibly 9 wins, but even that is optimistic. They still don't show up against good teams, luckily they aren't playing too many of those this season.

Rose Bowl- Ohio State vs. USC

- Rematch of these two in the Rose Bowl. USC might have a "down year", but they'll still win the Pac-10. OSU will win the Big 10, but will stumble somewhere along the way to keep them out of the title game.

Sugar Bowl- Alabama vs. Oklahoma

- Alabama is digusting on defense, but they lost a ton on offense. They'll win a lot of ugly games. Oklahoma win will the Big 12, but no way are they going undefeated in that conference.

International Bowl- Rutgers vs. Bowling Green

- Rutgers plays in Mexico North, again. Apologies to all the Mexicans out there.

Papajohns.com Bowl- West Virginia vs. LSU

Cotton Bowl- Nebraska vs. Ole Miss

Liberty Bowl- East Carolina vs. Tennessee

Alamo Bowl- Michigan vs. Missouri

Fiesta Bowl- Texas vs. Oregon

- Texas looks like a 10 win team, but I think they lose out to Oklahoma. Oregon? I dunno, kinda a left field pick, but they're talented and the Pac-10 isn't that great this year, so there you go.

Orange Bowl-Penn State vs. Pittsburgh

- An all PA battle in Miami. Penn State should finish second in the Big 10 to Ohio State, and will probably be looking at 10 wins. Honestly, you could pick the Big East champion out of a hat right now, but I think Pittsburgh has the most talent this season.

GMAC Bowl- Western Michigan vs. Wake Forest

BCS Title- Florida vs. Virginia Tech

- Florida is of course everyone's pick to repeat as national champions this season. No doubt, they are loaded, and have a great chance of running the table even in the murderous SEC. Virginia Tech is kinda a left field pick, but hear me out. Yes, they have a showdown with Alabama to start the season. If they get past the Crimson Tide, their schedule plays out favorably. Most of their difficult games are at home, with the exception of Georgia Tech (definitely a bit of a fluke last season, if you ask me) and a potentially scary game at East Carolina. But the ACC isn't anything great, and I can definitely see Va Tech running the table or finishing with one loss. Of course, they'll probably get slaughtered by Florida, but oh well.

It should be fun to look back on this post in 5 months and see how horribly wrong I was, but hey, that's what all this blog stuff is for: completely pointless, generally incorrect opinions.

First blog, and the last ever about swimming

Let me preface by saying I hate the word blog. Seriously, who thought of it and what does it mean? I think I would've started doing this sooner if there was a different word for it. Unfortunately, as an unemployed college graduate, I've been reduced to this, but hopefully at least a few people will enjoy it. Will mostly (probably only) be about sports, predictions, witty commentary, etc.

So for my first post, I'm gonna talk about...swimming. I swear it'll be the last time, unless I decide to make a last minute career change to Olympic swimmer.

Obviously the name synonymous with swimming right now is Michael Phelps. I guess winning 9083 gold medals will do that for a guy. Now, I have all the respect in the world for Phelps as an athlete; how could you not?

I'm not sure what proper blog etiquette is, but I'll just say this: my general impression of Phelps as a person is that he somewhat of something that rhymes with "frouchebag". Again, he might be the nicest guy in the world and I'm just an idiot. I suppose when you're the best in the world at what you do, you have to carry a natural cockiness along with you (see: Woods, Tiger).

Phelps just gives off the wrong vibe whenever I see him. Maybe it was that over the top celebration the US team had after they beat France in that relay race at the Olympics. I understand it was an exciting race, and I understand it's France, but that celebration took over the top, and went over that, as can be seen in above photo.

Then there's the whole bong thing. Listen, if Mikey wants to smoke it up, then go for it. But let's think for a second. You're Michael Phelps, currently one of the top 5 most famous athletes in the world. If you show up at a party, do you think some people might notice you? Do you think everyone is going to take a million pictures of you? Do you think if you hit a bong, someone might be taking a picture of it and it'll end up on the front page of everything? To quote the Barr, nice one genius.

Anyway, I got the idea for this because I watched some of the World Championships today. Before the relay race, the commentators said something astounding to me: "the US will most likely break a world record here". Is this just strange to anyone else? Has that ever been said before the start of any athletic competition? And it was just said so matter of factly, like not doing the best that has EVER been done in that race would have been a failure.

Can you imagine this in any other sport? "Ryan Howard will most likely hit 5 home runs in this game" or "LeBron getting 101 points is pretty much a guarantee here". It's just dumbfounding to me.

By the way, of course they broke the record, as did the second and third place teams. I'm pretty sure every swimming world record gets broken in every race nowadays. I think there's probably something inherently wrong with this, but I've spent enough words on swimming.