Friday, November 12, 2004
MAIL IT IN
Is everyone enjoying half-assing it at work because you had the day off yesterday and now it's Friday? I thought so. Here's what I've got for all of you today...
MARINERS
Larry Stone puts the names of Delgado, Sexson, and Glaus at the top of his article. The common thread between all three? Injuries. Either lots of them, in Delgado's case, or catastrophic ones, as was the case for Glaus and Sexson.
I like Sexson the most out of these three still (surely you remember the Sexson-to-Seattle campaign we had going here last offseason), though not quite as much as before; that's what a season-ending labrum injury will do. I wouldn't mind if they somehow got him at a post-injury/hometown (sort of) discount, though the thought of giving him three years does make me cringe a bit. But you know what? I'm not sure if it makes me cringe any more than the thought of throwing money at Adrian Beltre (young as he is) and having him flop (it was only one good year) to the tune of an eight-year deal (if anyone gives him ten, that's just what Boras wants...we need tacit collusion!).
Make no bones about it, this is definitely a high-risk offseason. Of course, if the Mariners did pick up Sexson, then that'd thwart any plans to move Raul Ibanez to first base. But as I've suggested in the past, Ichiro should be playing centerfield anyway. Move Ibanez to right, and find a leftfielder, make Jeremy Reed play there, something (it's not really instrumental to the semi-point I'm about to make). Sexson and Bucky Jacobsen in the same lineup could be seen as an organizational about-face in terms of the anti-strikeout stance that most in the blogosphere thought the Mariners' people had taken over the past few years, and most notably toward Mike Cameron. I'd set the over-under on strikeouts for Sexson/Jacobsen at 275 combined over a season. The point is further illustrated when Preston Wilson's name comes up in the article (i.e., you could have kept Cameron, the defense, and the strikeouts).
Of course, Richie Sexson's agent Casey Close says there's been no contract talks with the Mariners. At least the Mariners won't be going after Sammy Sosa, though, as unequivocally stated by Bill Bavasi. The article also tells us that instant replay is dead, and it's got some QuesTec data. I've been under the assumption all year that they'd expanded it to all 30 parks, and I need to go find the article that misled me. This greatly irks me.
SEAHAWKS
Yes, it can be said that Seahawks/Rams has developed into a rivalry, and that's good since the Seahawks don't get those two games against the Broncos and Raiders (I attended two Raiders/Seahawks games, and did security at one) every year like they used to. Of course, I'll remember the game against the Rams last year where Grant Wistrom was on the questionable end of a penalty, leading to the game-winning drive for Seattle.
Yeah, I don't think Grant Wistrom is going to play on Sunday, but I've been wrong before. I just hope he doesn't get hurt even worse if he does get onto the field. But man, it'd be sweet if he played and the Seahawks had a pass rush, and sacked Marc Bulger 16 times or something crazy like that, and Bulger threw 495 interceptions. That'd be some good times right there.
It's inevitable. Of course salt is going to be poured repeatedly on the wound created by the loss against the Rams in Week 5. We're two days short of Week 10, and it's still a topic of conversation. Granted, the fact that it was the last game against the Rams has something to do with it, and so does its correlation with the start of a three-week nosedive. All said, this Sunday's game in Saint Louis is a must-win, and I've been saying it since after the game last Sunday.
For whatever reason, it appears for the third year in a row that the Seahawk offense has bided its time before kicking into full gear. Here's to hoping that keeps up and we have eight great games of Seahawk football left to be played. Can we all agree that we want a division title and a first-round bye out of this? Jeremy's suggested this before, but can we please get a home playoff game at the Q? It'd be good clean fun.
SONICS
I knew the Sonics would eventually be involved after I heard last week on KING 5 News that Seattle Center was nearly $10M in the hole. Angelo Bruscas notes that the Sonics are a part of this whole mess. Yes, attendance declines over the past four years have put the city out over $3.4M. Combine a little player personnel ineptitude on the part of Wally Walker, a somewhat quirky (and very long) lease signed by Wally Walker, and a buttload of suites opening up at Safeco and Qwest fields, and you get the situation the Sonics are in.
But who better than Art Thiel to put a majority of my thoughts into words; a slam dunk, really. KeyArena, as the Seattle Center Coliseum was renamed after it was remodeled and reopened, is apparently obsolete just nine years later?!?! Ugh. Thiel gives a five-item version of a perfect storm that has put the Sonics in their current place and suggests that Wally Walker has just been plum afraid of the salary cap.
Danny O'Neil gives Danny Fortson some ink. He's physical. He rebounds. The Sonics haven't had that in a while. He played the same position as Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, which is the reason Mark Cuban gave (quoted) in the article as to why he traded Fortson. Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bobby Huggins (watch here as David restrains himself from bashing Huggins' players' graduation rate) has nothing but a sprinkling of compliments for Fortson, saying he just gets to balls that other players wouldn't get.
The Toronto Raptors and the Sonics square off tonight at 7:30 (I'm really not a big fan of these 7:30 starts). I'm not sure if I can live with the Sonics in their current state getting beat at home by some team that has the current version of Vince Carter on it. Let's just hope the Sonics keep playing sound basketball, setting screens and picks, freeing up shooters, rebounding, etc. And by the way, thank goodness those Ray Allen-for-Vince Carter trade rumors didn't become reality. For now, thank goodness for the same for Ray-for-Peja. I'm still sketchy about that one.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Toronto at Seattle
Sunday: Memphis at Seattle
Tuesday: Seattle at Philadelphia
HOCKEY
Everett beat Brandon, 2-1. Captain Torrie Wheat scored both goals for the Silvertips, one with under a minute to go in the second period to tie the game, and another for the game-winner with 3:42 left in the 3rd period. However, Everett went 0-for-5 on the power play, making them 0-for-11 on the power play in their last two games (hey, reminds me of last year's Canucks). Mike Wall turned away 24 of 25 shots from the Wheat Kings.
Cleveland beat Manitoba, 3-2 in a shootout. The Moose scored the first goal (Kevin Bieksa), but the Barons scored goals three minutes apart before the first period ended to take a 2-1 lead. After a scoreless second period, Jason King tied the game at 2-2 on a powerplay early in the third period. Overtime got nowhere, so a shootout decided things. After nine total shots gave both teams one goal apiece, Ryane Clowe scored on the tenth shot of the shootout to give Cleveland their first home win on the season.
Here's your hockey weekend...
Tonight: Everett at Regina, Seattle at Spokane, Portland at Vancouver, Manitoba at Cincinnati, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Saturday: Vancouver at Seattle, Portland at Spokane, Manitoba at Cincinnati, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Sunday: Vancouver at Kootenay
---
Have a half-productive Friday, and if any of you are heading up to the mountains anytime soon, remember to refrain from eating the yellow snow. I've held back, and look where it's gotten me; it's not so bad.
MARINERS
Larry Stone puts the names of Delgado, Sexson, and Glaus at the top of his article. The common thread between all three? Injuries. Either lots of them, in Delgado's case, or catastrophic ones, as was the case for Glaus and Sexson.
I like Sexson the most out of these three still (surely you remember the Sexson-to-Seattle campaign we had going here last offseason), though not quite as much as before; that's what a season-ending labrum injury will do. I wouldn't mind if they somehow got him at a post-injury/hometown (sort of) discount, though the thought of giving him three years does make me cringe a bit. But you know what? I'm not sure if it makes me cringe any more than the thought of throwing money at Adrian Beltre (young as he is) and having him flop (it was only one good year) to the tune of an eight-year deal (if anyone gives him ten, that's just what Boras wants...we need tacit collusion!).
Make no bones about it, this is definitely a high-risk offseason. Of course, if the Mariners did pick up Sexson, then that'd thwart any plans to move Raul Ibanez to first base. But as I've suggested in the past, Ichiro should be playing centerfield anyway. Move Ibanez to right, and find a leftfielder, make Jeremy Reed play there, something (it's not really instrumental to the semi-point I'm about to make). Sexson and Bucky Jacobsen in the same lineup could be seen as an organizational about-face in terms of the anti-strikeout stance that most in the blogosphere thought the Mariners' people had taken over the past few years, and most notably toward Mike Cameron. I'd set the over-under on strikeouts for Sexson/Jacobsen at 275 combined over a season. The point is further illustrated when Preston Wilson's name comes up in the article (i.e., you could have kept Cameron, the defense, and the strikeouts).
Of course, Richie Sexson's agent Casey Close says there's been no contract talks with the Mariners. At least the Mariners won't be going after Sammy Sosa, though, as unequivocally stated by Bill Bavasi. The article also tells us that instant replay is dead, and it's got some QuesTec data. I've been under the assumption all year that they'd expanded it to all 30 parks, and I need to go find the article that misled me. This greatly irks me.
SEAHAWKS
Yes, it can be said that Seahawks/Rams has developed into a rivalry, and that's good since the Seahawks don't get those two games against the Broncos and Raiders (I attended two Raiders/Seahawks games, and did security at one) every year like they used to. Of course, I'll remember the game against the Rams last year where Grant Wistrom was on the questionable end of a penalty, leading to the game-winning drive for Seattle.
Yeah, I don't think Grant Wistrom is going to play on Sunday, but I've been wrong before. I just hope he doesn't get hurt even worse if he does get onto the field. But man, it'd be sweet if he played and the Seahawks had a pass rush, and sacked Marc Bulger 16 times or something crazy like that, and Bulger threw 495 interceptions. That'd be some good times right there.
It's inevitable. Of course salt is going to be poured repeatedly on the wound created by the loss against the Rams in Week 5. We're two days short of Week 10, and it's still a topic of conversation. Granted, the fact that it was the last game against the Rams has something to do with it, and so does its correlation with the start of a three-week nosedive. All said, this Sunday's game in Saint Louis is a must-win, and I've been saying it since after the game last Sunday.
For whatever reason, it appears for the third year in a row that the Seahawk offense has bided its time before kicking into full gear. Here's to hoping that keeps up and we have eight great games of Seahawk football left to be played. Can we all agree that we want a division title and a first-round bye out of this? Jeremy's suggested this before, but can we please get a home playoff game at the Q? It'd be good clean fun.
SONICS
I knew the Sonics would eventually be involved after I heard last week on KING 5 News that Seattle Center was nearly $10M in the hole. Angelo Bruscas notes that the Sonics are a part of this whole mess. Yes, attendance declines over the past four years have put the city out over $3.4M. Combine a little player personnel ineptitude on the part of Wally Walker, a somewhat quirky (and very long) lease signed by Wally Walker, and a buttload of suites opening up at Safeco and Qwest fields, and you get the situation the Sonics are in.
But who better than Art Thiel to put a majority of my thoughts into words; a slam dunk, really. KeyArena, as the Seattle Center Coliseum was renamed after it was remodeled and reopened, is apparently obsolete just nine years later?!?! Ugh. Thiel gives a five-item version of a perfect storm that has put the Sonics in their current place and suggests that Wally Walker has just been plum afraid of the salary cap.
Danny O'Neil gives Danny Fortson some ink. He's physical. He rebounds. The Sonics haven't had that in a while. He played the same position as Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, which is the reason Mark Cuban gave (quoted) in the article as to why he traded Fortson. Cincinnati Bearcats coach Bobby Huggins (watch here as David restrains himself from bashing Huggins' players' graduation rate) has nothing but a sprinkling of compliments for Fortson, saying he just gets to balls that other players wouldn't get.
The Toronto Raptors and the Sonics square off tonight at 7:30 (I'm really not a big fan of these 7:30 starts). I'm not sure if I can live with the Sonics in their current state getting beat at home by some team that has the current version of Vince Carter on it. Let's just hope the Sonics keep playing sound basketball, setting screens and picks, freeing up shooters, rebounding, etc. And by the way, thank goodness those Ray Allen-for-Vince Carter trade rumors didn't become reality. For now, thank goodness for the same for Ray-for-Peja. I'm still sketchy about that one.
Upcoming...
Tonight: Toronto at Seattle
Sunday: Memphis at Seattle
Tuesday: Seattle at Philadelphia
HOCKEY
Everett beat Brandon, 2-1. Captain Torrie Wheat scored both goals for the Silvertips, one with under a minute to go in the second period to tie the game, and another for the game-winner with 3:42 left in the 3rd period. However, Everett went 0-for-5 on the power play, making them 0-for-11 on the power play in their last two games (hey, reminds me of last year's Canucks). Mike Wall turned away 24 of 25 shots from the Wheat Kings.
Cleveland beat Manitoba, 3-2 in a shootout. The Moose scored the first goal (Kevin Bieksa), but the Barons scored goals three minutes apart before the first period ended to take a 2-1 lead. After a scoreless second period, Jason King tied the game at 2-2 on a powerplay early in the third period. Overtime got nowhere, so a shootout decided things. After nine total shots gave both teams one goal apiece, Ryane Clowe scored on the tenth shot of the shootout to give Cleveland their first home win on the season.
Here's your hockey weekend...
Tonight: Everett at Regina, Seattle at Spokane, Portland at Vancouver, Manitoba at Cincinnati, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Saturday: Vancouver at Seattle, Portland at Spokane, Manitoba at Cincinnati, Puget Sound at Tri-City
Sunday: Vancouver at Kootenay
---
Have a half-productive Friday, and if any of you are heading up to the mountains anytime soon, remember to refrain from eating the yellow snow. I've held back, and look where it's gotten me; it's not so bad.
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