Sunday, January 09, 2005
COMING DOWN
(final content posted ~1:40p)
Okay, I fell asleep multiple times in front of the keyboard for this one, so it's late as hell. All this staying up late might have finally caught up to me, who knows. Naw...staying up late won't catch up to me until I have a job.
MARINERS
Our good friend and friend of the Mariners blogosphere, Jim Thomsen, has his piece running today in the good ol' Bremerton Sun. The topic? Willie Bloomquist. I'll link it whenever the hell they manage to put it up on the Sun's site, but it's a really great piece which takes up about one-third of page C2 in today's sports section. The most complicated stats in there are range factor and zone rating, but other than that, it's basic on-base percentages and slugging percentages, along with an all-out assault on the small sample size that was the 33 at-bats that Bloomquist had at the Major League level in September, when a lot of teams are calling up guys from the minors and giving them some time on the mound. If you want to read the article which Thomsen was responding to, it's here (you might want this for your assistance). It looks like a Pulitzer to me, Jim!
SEAHAWKS
For my in-game take on the game yesterday, scroll down three posts or click here if you're in the archive.
For my postgame take on the article, well, I should have something later today trying to reflect on it all.
Carpenter thinks Hasselbeck has to be re-signed. He's had the fate of two playoff games go down on the last play, and it's gone the other way both times. However, could you imagine how different this team would be if there were no Hasselbeck next year? I think it'd be a couple years of 7-9 and 8-8 if a new starting quarterback came into Seattle.
In case you weren't clear about it already, Steve Kelley has it in for Shaun Alexander. He doesn't block and hinders the passing game, according to Kelley. Boy, you wouldn't even know he was the NFC's freakin' rushing champ. He only ran for 1696 yards, for God's sake. Good luck replacing that.
Romero documents the semi-spirited comeback that got the Seahawks a temporary lead. Does anyone enjoy how confident Mike Holmgren seems about having his job next year? Did he even have to answer any questions about it?
Romero's also got more on The Incomplete Pass. The final fate of B-Easy made me B-Queasy.
Does anyone realize how close Bob Whitsitt might be to wrecking this football team just like he did the TrailBlazers?
Read on as a fan of the Rams is corrected in Bob Sherwin's piece. Hey, the fan was only off by 10 in his misstatement.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's mind-blowing 109-75 stomping of #22 Maryland yesterday, Marvin Williams scored 12 points off the bench in 22 minutes and also had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor, 1-for-2 shooting from downtown, and 3-for-4 shooting from the free throw line.
This week, the Tar Heels are home against Georgia Tech on Wednesday, and are at Wake Forest on Saturday.
Huskies
The Seahawks still can't win a playoff game, and the Huskies still can't win at UCLA. Amazing. They blew a lead of 21 in their 95-86 loss to the Bruins.
This week, the Huskies have two home games against Oregon (Thursday) and against Oregon State (Saturday).
Bulldogs
Gonzaga didn't have a good night either. The Bulldogs lost at Saint Mary's 89-81 thanks to a school-record 16 three-pointers. That'll do ya. It was the Gaels' first win over the Bulldogs since Januaey of 1998. Five Bulldogs were in double figures, and Adam Morrison scored 20.
This week, Gonzaga has home games against Loyola Marymount on Thursday and Pepperdine on Saturday.
Sonics
You know, Blaine Newnham's best line in this article is the one where he says he can't believe the Kingdome lasted only 25 years and that this new KeyArena is being rendered obsolete after a life half as long as that of the Kingdome. Of course, this is in a decade where the Phoenix Coyotes (America West Arena) and the San Antonio Spurs (Alamodome) moved out of their fairly new arenas into even newer ones. To assess the situation across the nation as of last winter, look at the little school project I did. Of course, the thing about KeyArena is that the renovation into its current form was made with private money. But now that it's going under, they're asking for public money. If the Sonics really want to pursue this hard, they better have the best PR people they can possibly find, because this has all the potential to blow up in their faces, especially after the controversy over the first two publicly-funded stadia.
Tonight vs. Miami
Tuesday vs. LA Clippers
Wednesday at LA Clippers
Friday vs. Golden State
Let's hope Reggie Evans is back to form tonight because this team really sucked without him. It's disturbing to me that they sucked that badly without him. I didn't think they could possibly crap the bed to that extent just by missing Reggie Evans. God forbid anyone on this team gets injured, then they'll probably miss the playoffs. How can I think otherwise after seeing just one player get hurt and have to sit for a game?
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Tri-City 4-2. Thanks to the game listed after this one, the Thunderbirds have opened up a division lead of 9 points over Everett. This was the T-Birds' fifth win over the Americans this year. Matt Hansen opened the scoring on a power play in the first period. Nate Thompson scored with just under six minutes remaining in the second period. Tri-City manage to score twice to tie the game at 2-2 with 2:54 remaining in regulation. But Yashar Farmanara scored with 2:04 left, and it held up as the winner. Derek Couture sewd up the victory with an empty-netter with 18 seconds remaining. Seattle outshot Tri-City 34-29, and Bryan Bridges stopped 27 for the Thunderbirds.
Kamloops shut out Everett 4-0. Devan Dubnyk of the Blazers netted the shutout in this one. Roman Tesliuk and Ray Macias scored in the first period, Kris Hogg scored in the second, and Kalvin Sagert iced the game with an empty-netter in the third. Everett outshot Kamloops 35-27, and Leland Irving stopped all 14 shots he saw. Mike Wall was pulled, having given up three goals on 13 shots.
Portland beat Prince Albert 3-1. The Winter Hawks scored once in every period and never trailed in this one. Cody McLeod scored Portland's first and last goals, with Brandon Dubinsky scoring the middle goal on a power play. Portland outshot the Raiders 33-19, and Dustin Butler stopped 18 in his 24th straight start in the Portland net.
Kelowna beat Vancouver 5-3. Marek Schwarz stopped 33 inhis first game back with the Giants after spearheading the Czech Republic's bronze-medal effort in the World Junior champnioshipts. While the radio crew liked what Schwarz did, the Rockets managed to win. The Giants were able to hang with the Blazers for much of the game, but three third-period goals did them in. Schwarz stopped 33 of 37, and the Giants were outshot 37-19.
Edmonton beat Manitoba 3-2 (video). Amazingly, these two teams have met each other five times this year and the road team has won all five games. Another weird note is that there were only four penalties in this game, and two of the five goals scored came on the resulting power plays. On the first power play of the game (almost eight minutes in), Lee Goren came through on a power play in front of the net and chipped in the puck for the early Moose lead. The Road Runners tied it in the first period and got another goal in the second period for the lead on a power play when Raffi Torres (who saw significant time with the Oilers last year) put in a rebound. Only 73 seconds later, Jeff Heerema knotted the game again, but that tie only lasted for a little under five minutes, as Tony Salmelainen scored what held up to be the winner for Edmonton. No scoring occurred in the third period. Wade Flaherty had a shutout streak of 139:23 until Edmonton's first goal. The Moose outshot Edmonton 36-27. Wade Flaherty stopped 20 of his 23, and Alex Auld stopped all four that he saw in the third period.
Puget Sound beat River City 8-2. The Tomahawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and quickly answered both goals that the Jaguars managed to get. Luke Winkleman had a hat trick. Mike Truex and Chase Ambuter had three points each, and Travis Cottom and Chris Takla combined for 41 saves on 43 shots. The Tomahawks have a HUGE two games next weekend with Portland, who probably won last night. Portland is one point back of the Tomahawks with a game in hand.
Tonight: Edmonton at Manitoba
Tuesday: Seattle at Tri-City, Kootenay at Everett, Portland at Regina, Prince George at Vancouver, Manitoba at San Antonio
Wednesday: Kootenay at Seattle, Portland at Brandon
Thursday: Manitoba at San Antonio
Friday: Everett at Vancouver, Seattle at Tri-City, Portland at Moose Jaw, Manitoba at Houston, Puget Sound at Portland
Saturday: Vancouver at Everett, Portland at Kootenay, Puget Sound at Portland
---
Try to have a decent Sunday, everyone.
Okay, I fell asleep multiple times in front of the keyboard for this one, so it's late as hell. All this staying up late might have finally caught up to me, who knows. Naw...staying up late won't catch up to me until I have a job.
MARINERS
Our good friend and friend of the Mariners blogosphere, Jim Thomsen, has his piece running today in the good ol' Bremerton Sun. The topic? Willie Bloomquist. I'll link it whenever the hell they manage to put it up on the Sun's site, but it's a really great piece which takes up about one-third of page C2 in today's sports section. The most complicated stats in there are range factor and zone rating, but other than that, it's basic on-base percentages and slugging percentages, along with an all-out assault on the small sample size that was the 33 at-bats that Bloomquist had at the Major League level in September, when a lot of teams are calling up guys from the minors and giving them some time on the mound. If you want to read the article which Thomsen was responding to, it's here (you might want this for your assistance). It looks like a Pulitzer to me, Jim!
SEAHAWKS
For my in-game take on the game yesterday, scroll down three posts or click here if you're in the archive.
For my postgame take on the article, well, I should have something later today trying to reflect on it all.
Carpenter thinks Hasselbeck has to be re-signed. He's had the fate of two playoff games go down on the last play, and it's gone the other way both times. However, could you imagine how different this team would be if there were no Hasselbeck next year? I think it'd be a couple years of 7-9 and 8-8 if a new starting quarterback came into Seattle.
In case you weren't clear about it already, Steve Kelley has it in for Shaun Alexander. He doesn't block and hinders the passing game, according to Kelley. Boy, you wouldn't even know he was the NFC's freakin' rushing champ. He only ran for 1696 yards, for God's sake. Good luck replacing that.
Romero documents the semi-spirited comeback that got the Seahawks a temporary lead. Does anyone enjoy how confident Mike Holmgren seems about having his job next year? Did he even have to answer any questions about it?
Romero's also got more on The Incomplete Pass. The final fate of B-Easy made me B-Queasy.
Does anyone realize how close Bob Whitsitt might be to wrecking this football team just like he did the TrailBlazers?
Read on as a fan of the Rams is corrected in Bob Sherwin's piece. Hey, the fan was only off by 10 in his misstatement.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
In North Carolina's mind-blowing 109-75 stomping of #22 Maryland yesterday, Marvin Williams scored 12 points off the bench in 22 minutes and also had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor, 1-for-2 shooting from downtown, and 3-for-4 shooting from the free throw line.
This week, the Tar Heels are home against Georgia Tech on Wednesday, and are at Wake Forest on Saturday.
Huskies
The Seahawks still can't win a playoff game, and the Huskies still can't win at UCLA. Amazing. They blew a lead of 21 in their 95-86 loss to the Bruins.
This week, the Huskies have two home games against Oregon (Thursday) and against Oregon State (Saturday).
Bulldogs
Gonzaga didn't have a good night either. The Bulldogs lost at Saint Mary's 89-81 thanks to a school-record 16 three-pointers. That'll do ya. It was the Gaels' first win over the Bulldogs since Januaey of 1998. Five Bulldogs were in double figures, and Adam Morrison scored 20.
This week, Gonzaga has home games against Loyola Marymount on Thursday and Pepperdine on Saturday.
Sonics
You know, Blaine Newnham's best line in this article is the one where he says he can't believe the Kingdome lasted only 25 years and that this new KeyArena is being rendered obsolete after a life half as long as that of the Kingdome. Of course, this is in a decade where the Phoenix Coyotes (America West Arena) and the San Antonio Spurs (Alamodome) moved out of their fairly new arenas into even newer ones. To assess the situation across the nation as of last winter, look at the little school project I did. Of course, the thing about KeyArena is that the renovation into its current form was made with private money. But now that it's going under, they're asking for public money. If the Sonics really want to pursue this hard, they better have the best PR people they can possibly find, because this has all the potential to blow up in their faces, especially after the controversy over the first two publicly-funded stadia.
Tonight vs. Miami
Tuesday vs. LA Clippers
Wednesday at LA Clippers
Friday vs. Golden State
Let's hope Reggie Evans is back to form tonight because this team really sucked without him. It's disturbing to me that they sucked that badly without him. I didn't think they could possibly crap the bed to that extent just by missing Reggie Evans. God forbid anyone on this team gets injured, then they'll probably miss the playoffs. How can I think otherwise after seeing just one player get hurt and have to sit for a game?
HOCKEY
Seattle beat Tri-City 4-2. Thanks to the game listed after this one, the Thunderbirds have opened up a division lead of 9 points over Everett. This was the T-Birds' fifth win over the Americans this year. Matt Hansen opened the scoring on a power play in the first period. Nate Thompson scored with just under six minutes remaining in the second period. Tri-City manage to score twice to tie the game at 2-2 with 2:54 remaining in regulation. But Yashar Farmanara scored with 2:04 left, and it held up as the winner. Derek Couture sewd up the victory with an empty-netter with 18 seconds remaining. Seattle outshot Tri-City 34-29, and Bryan Bridges stopped 27 for the Thunderbirds.
Kamloops shut out Everett 4-0. Devan Dubnyk of the Blazers netted the shutout in this one. Roman Tesliuk and Ray Macias scored in the first period, Kris Hogg scored in the second, and Kalvin Sagert iced the game with an empty-netter in the third. Everett outshot Kamloops 35-27, and Leland Irving stopped all 14 shots he saw. Mike Wall was pulled, having given up three goals on 13 shots.
Portland beat Prince Albert 3-1. The Winter Hawks scored once in every period and never trailed in this one. Cody McLeod scored Portland's first and last goals, with Brandon Dubinsky scoring the middle goal on a power play. Portland outshot the Raiders 33-19, and Dustin Butler stopped 18 in his 24th straight start in the Portland net.
Kelowna beat Vancouver 5-3. Marek Schwarz stopped 33 inhis first game back with the Giants after spearheading the Czech Republic's bronze-medal effort in the World Junior champnioshipts. While the radio crew liked what Schwarz did, the Rockets managed to win. The Giants were able to hang with the Blazers for much of the game, but three third-period goals did them in. Schwarz stopped 33 of 37, and the Giants were outshot 37-19.
Edmonton beat Manitoba 3-2 (video). Amazingly, these two teams have met each other five times this year and the road team has won all five games. Another weird note is that there were only four penalties in this game, and two of the five goals scored came on the resulting power plays. On the first power play of the game (almost eight minutes in), Lee Goren came through on a power play in front of the net and chipped in the puck for the early Moose lead. The Road Runners tied it in the first period and got another goal in the second period for the lead on a power play when Raffi Torres (who saw significant time with the Oilers last year) put in a rebound. Only 73 seconds later, Jeff Heerema knotted the game again, but that tie only lasted for a little under five minutes, as Tony Salmelainen scored what held up to be the winner for Edmonton. No scoring occurred in the third period. Wade Flaherty had a shutout streak of 139:23 until Edmonton's first goal. The Moose outshot Edmonton 36-27. Wade Flaherty stopped 20 of his 23, and Alex Auld stopped all four that he saw in the third period.
Puget Sound beat River City 8-2. The Tomahawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and quickly answered both goals that the Jaguars managed to get. Luke Winkleman had a hat trick. Mike Truex and Chase Ambuter had three points each, and Travis Cottom and Chris Takla combined for 41 saves on 43 shots. The Tomahawks have a HUGE two games next weekend with Portland, who probably won last night. Portland is one point back of the Tomahawks with a game in hand.
Tonight: Edmonton at Manitoba
Tuesday: Seattle at Tri-City, Kootenay at Everett, Portland at Regina, Prince George at Vancouver, Manitoba at San Antonio
Wednesday: Kootenay at Seattle, Portland at Brandon
Thursday: Manitoba at San Antonio
Friday: Everett at Vancouver, Seattle at Tri-City, Portland at Moose Jaw, Manitoba at Houston, Puget Sound at Portland
Saturday: Vancouver at Everett, Portland at Kootenay, Puget Sound at Portland
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Try to have a decent Sunday, everyone.
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