Wednesday, January 05, 2005
SNOOZ
Yeah, I fell asleep at the keyboard again. But I was able to crank out most of this pretty quickly, I was kind of surprised.
Another thing, don't click here unless you can get away with being completely unproductive for the rest of the day.
MARINERS
The Seattle media sifts through the Pokey Reese signing. Reese can probably thank his audition role as Nomar Garciaparra's stand-in last year for getting him this contract, and he can probably thank Mike Cameron as well, who made quite the pitch, telling his ex-teammate (and they share the same agent), saying Seattle would be "the best thing that ever happened to [him]." Agent Mike Nicotera said that, "For a guy no longer there, he's certainly one heck of an ambassador for the Mariners and the city of Seattle." I sort of interpret this as "the guy wouldn't shut up about Seattle." Just reading how Nicotera's remarks came out in print makes me think he was tired and/or bewildered by Cameron trying to sell Seattle on one of his other clients. Of course, the whole possibility of starting had something to do with it as well. Bret Boone didn't hesitate on his assessment of the new infield, saying that the Mariners are now the proud owners of "the best defensive infield in baseball." I thought the 2002 infield was really good; we'll have to see how this one stacks up, though I like the early returns. The contract details are at the end of the Stone article (one year, team option for a second). Yes, we realize that this signing and the selling of Jolbert Cabrera's contract (he'll be more than doubling up in Japan) opens up more playing time for a certain someone whose name we won't mention because his bad juju cannot interfere with Seahawks Week. But the Mariners apparently "will continue to look for an accomplished backup," according to John Hickey. That's encouraging news.
And yes, we can all cross Odalis Perez off the Mariners' list, unless they somehow swing a trade. They won't be able to work Paul DePodesta a second time unless they have some trade savvy.
SEAHAWKS
I've said it many times here, and many more since Sunday, but I'm tired of Koren Robinson being handled with kid gloves. Koren practiced yesterday and met with Holmgren. He didn't say anything to the media, though he apparently wasn't allowed to do so (ref. Times article). He's been absent for six of the past seven games, but he's not calling an afternoon press conference to say he's sorry for breaking the league's substance abuse policy and breaking a bunch of team rules. Holmgren says there are some "complicated issues" unknown to the public and media, though apparently sources say it's psychological. Two things would make this situation a lot easier. The first? If he makes all the meetings, catches balls, and then runs for a long way on Saturday. The second? Sit him for the rest of the season. Holmgren has sought the opinion of the players' committee, and I hope they decide on the latter.
Holmgren says he didn't even think about Shaun Alexander being a yard short when he heard that the Seahawks were within inches of the goal line on Sunday. There's also a little blurb in there about Michael Boulware starting, something that Jeremy has pointed out in this here weblog many times. Imagine that...the Seahawks are 3-1 with Boulware in the starting lineup. It's as much Boulware starting as it is the non-Bierria factor. I watched Mark Schlereth on ESPN yesterday using highlights and spot-shadows to show the Rams torching the Seattle secondary, and Schlereth saying "the Rams can exploit this," etc. I swear to you, Terreal Bierria was involved in EVERY ONE of those plays that Schlereth used on the video reel.
David Locke chimes in on the secondary. I'd have to say I think I'm placing a lot of faith in the non-Bierria factor. I hope it makes a lot of a difference. What shouldn't be lost on any of us is that the Seahawks have a plus-3 in takeaways against the Rams this year, and that the Rams are one of the worst teams in the NFL this season when it comes to turnovers. I remembered the plus-3 stat from SportsCenter yesterday, but I think the Rams were something like minus-23 in their non-Seattle games this year.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels have the work week off before conference play starts in the Dean Dome against Maryland on Saturday.
Huskies
The Huskies go to USC on Thursday and UCLA on Saturday. Here's an article about Mike Jensen losing a close friend. There's a tiny blurb tacked onto the end about Lorenzo Romar and the brass pounding out a contract extension.
Bulldogs
Gonzaga is off until they travel to Santa Clara to open West Coast Conference play on Thursday. They'll also be at Saint Mary's on Saturday.
Sonics
Lon Babby, agent of Ray Allen, will be at the game today with Rick Sund. With Sund only saying that they'll talk (topic unspoken), speculation goes straight to contract extension talks for Ray Allen. Regardless of whether he signs here or somewhere else, I'd have to say he's only helping himself when it comes to the kind of money he'll be able to demand and get.
As for today's game, the Sonics started the season by using the same starting lineup for 29 straight games. That streak will be broken tonight because Reggie Evans is having some trouble with his GI tract. The short piece in the Times (not credited to any particular writer) said that Danny Fortson "would likely start" in place of Evans, but the Danny O'Neil piece says that Nick Collison will start tonight. It's quite a feat that Evans was able to get his two points and eight rebounds against Miami with the condition affecting him during that game, and I was wondering why he'd only played 14 minutes in that game. I guess we know why now. I said before the Miami game that the Sonics would have to use Vitaly Potapenko for at least a few minutes to soak up some fouls. He didn't play at all. With Evans now out, I actually think Vitaly just might get five minutes or so out of this. But I won't be surprised if he doesn't set foot on the floor without warmups either.
Also, there's still some rumblings over the thought of extending the hotel-motel, car rental, restaurant, and sales taxes. The word "indefinitely" doesn't appear in this article as it did in the Times article on the same topic yesterday.
Upcoming...
Today at Orlando
Tomorrow at Washington
Sunday vs. Miami
HOCKEY
A big hand to the Everett Silvertips. They're drawing SRO crowds at the Everett Events Center, and that's good news for everyone. Not bad for year number two in existence. Now if they just played with more offense than defense (at least more than they do now), I'd think the team was incredibly cool.
Kamloops beat Everett, 4-2. Karel Hromas opened the scoring almost three minutes into the contest, giving Everett an early lead. The first period ended tied at 1-1. In the second period, Derek Lewis sandwiched an Everett goal in between a couple of Kamloops goals, and the Blazers led 3-2 after two periods. Roman Tesliuk put the game away for Everett with a power-play goal just short of the six-minute mark in the third. Kamloops outshot Everett 22-16. Mike Wall stopped 18 for the Silvertips.
Vancouver beat Moose Jaw, 4-1. Adam Jennings fell 5:27 short of a shutout for the Giants. Cody Franson and Paul Albers scored the first and last goals for the Giants, and did so in the first and third periods, respectively. Adam Courchaine and Tim Kraus have a lot of goals to their credit this year, and they both scored in the first half of the second period. Matt Robinson and Gilbert Brule had two assists each as well. Vancouver badly outshot the Warriors 43-18. Jennings stopped 17 in the Vancouver net. Vancouver goalie Marek Schwarz, coming off of playing the World Junior Championships for the Czechs, will probably start Friday or Saturday.
Manitoba beat Cleveland, 3-2 (video). Moose goalie Alex Auld piloted the Canadian team to a third-place finish at the Spengler Cup against a slew of other European pro teams, and there were some NHL players in the opposition. Manitoba held the Barons to just 19 shots in the game, and only 3 in the first period, which ended scoreless. The Barons killed off a penalty in the second period and Jim Fahey made good on a one-timer to give the Barons an early lead. Christian Ehrhoff chipped in a goal in the last minute of the period to stake Cleveland out to a 2-0 lead heading into the third period. Then came the onslaught. The Moose tallied three goals in the span of 3:52. Lee Goren scored off a rebound with just under six minutes to go in regulation. Ryan Kesler tied it at 2-2 with just over three minutes left. Finally, Josh Green made sure it didn't go to overtime, scoring with 2:04 left to get Manitoba its first and only lead of the night. Manitoba outshot Cleveland 31-19. Alex Auld stopped 17 for the Moose.
Tonight: Seattle at Spokane, Vancouver at Prince George, Cleveland at Manitoba
Friday: Kelowna at Seattle, Spokane at Everett, Portland at Saskatoon, Vancouver at Prince George, Puget Sound at River City
Saturday: Tri-City at Seattle, Kamloops at Everett, Portland at Prince Albert, Vancouver at Kelowna, Edmonton at Manitoba, Puget Sound at River City
Sunday: Edmonton at Manitoba
It's all over at the 2004 World Junior Championships and all the hardware was handed out last night.
Czech Republic beat United States, 3-2 in overtime for the bronze medal. The Czechs scored right out of the gate in the first period, and Michal Polak came through after Casey Borer drew a slashing penalty. The USA tied it with under four minutes to go in the first when Kevin Porter cashed in toward the latter end of a boarding penalty on Petr Vrana. The teams traded goals again in the second period, with Michael Frolik and Drew Stafford (power play) involved. The teams held each other scoreless in the third period, with only one penalty being called; the USA outshot the Czechs 14-11 in the third period. In overtime, Vrana got past USA defenders and put in a good shot on Alvaro "Al" Montoya that found the back of the net. The Czechs outshot the USA 37-35. Marek Schwarz (Vancouver/WHL), named the tournament's top goalie, stopped 33. Al Montoya stopped 34 for the United States, who failed to medal one year after taking the gold in this tournament.
Canada beat Russia, 6-1 for the gold medal. Ryan Getzlaf (Calgary/WHL) and Danny Syvret scored in the first eight minutes of the game to get Canada up 2-0. Alexel Emelin cut the deficit in half on the power play with only 32 ticks left in the first period. Then Canada scored four goals in the second period (two on the power play) and that was all she wrote. Canada outshot the Russians 32-19. A combination of Andrei Kuznetsov and Anton Khubodin stopped 26 for Russia, and Jeff Glass (Kootenay/WHL) stopped 18 for Canada. From the moment this Canadian team clobbered the team from Finland, I knew that it would be an upset of epic proportions if the Canadians didn't come out with the gold medal in this tournament. They were no doubt buoyed by the fact that the NHL is not active right now (they definitely wouldn't have tournament MVP Patrice Bergeron playing for them; the lack of NHL is also keeping some junior players from getting called up), but they were clearly the best team in the tournament, and they never lost. All you need for evidence of their dominance in this tournament: Canada never trailed, they outscored their opposition 41-7 in six games, and only three of the seven goals they gave up were even-strength.
---
It's the middle of your work week. Your reward? Well, these games are kinda weird. But they can kill time all the same.
Another thing, don't click here unless you can get away with being completely unproductive for the rest of the day.
MARINERS
The Seattle media sifts through the Pokey Reese signing. Reese can probably thank his audition role as Nomar Garciaparra's stand-in last year for getting him this contract, and he can probably thank Mike Cameron as well, who made quite the pitch, telling his ex-teammate (and they share the same agent), saying Seattle would be "the best thing that ever happened to [him]." Agent Mike Nicotera said that, "For a guy no longer there, he's certainly one heck of an ambassador for the Mariners and the city of Seattle." I sort of interpret this as "the guy wouldn't shut up about Seattle." Just reading how Nicotera's remarks came out in print makes me think he was tired and/or bewildered by Cameron trying to sell Seattle on one of his other clients. Of course, the whole possibility of starting had something to do with it as well. Bret Boone didn't hesitate on his assessment of the new infield, saying that the Mariners are now the proud owners of "the best defensive infield in baseball." I thought the 2002 infield was really good; we'll have to see how this one stacks up, though I like the early returns. The contract details are at the end of the Stone article (one year, team option for a second). Yes, we realize that this signing and the selling of Jolbert Cabrera's contract (he'll be more than doubling up in Japan) opens up more playing time for a certain someone whose name we won't mention because his bad juju cannot interfere with Seahawks Week. But the Mariners apparently "will continue to look for an accomplished backup," according to John Hickey. That's encouraging news.
And yes, we can all cross Odalis Perez off the Mariners' list, unless they somehow swing a trade. They won't be able to work Paul DePodesta a second time unless they have some trade savvy.
SEAHAWKS
I've said it many times here, and many more since Sunday, but I'm tired of Koren Robinson being handled with kid gloves. Koren practiced yesterday and met with Holmgren. He didn't say anything to the media, though he apparently wasn't allowed to do so (ref. Times article). He's been absent for six of the past seven games, but he's not calling an afternoon press conference to say he's sorry for breaking the league's substance abuse policy and breaking a bunch of team rules. Holmgren says there are some "complicated issues" unknown to the public and media, though apparently sources say it's psychological. Two things would make this situation a lot easier. The first? If he makes all the meetings, catches balls, and then runs for a long way on Saturday. The second? Sit him for the rest of the season. Holmgren has sought the opinion of the players' committee, and I hope they decide on the latter.
Holmgren says he didn't even think about Shaun Alexander being a yard short when he heard that the Seahawks were within inches of the goal line on Sunday. There's also a little blurb in there about Michael Boulware starting, something that Jeremy has pointed out in this here weblog many times. Imagine that...the Seahawks are 3-1 with Boulware in the starting lineup. It's as much Boulware starting as it is the non-Bierria factor. I watched Mark Schlereth on ESPN yesterday using highlights and spot-shadows to show the Rams torching the Seattle secondary, and Schlereth saying "the Rams can exploit this," etc. I swear to you, Terreal Bierria was involved in EVERY ONE of those plays that Schlereth used on the video reel.
David Locke chimes in on the secondary. I'd have to say I think I'm placing a lot of faith in the non-Bierria factor. I hope it makes a lot of a difference. What shouldn't be lost on any of us is that the Seahawks have a plus-3 in takeaways against the Rams this year, and that the Rams are one of the worst teams in the NFL this season when it comes to turnovers. I remembered the plus-3 stat from SportsCenter yesterday, but I think the Rams were something like minus-23 in their non-Seattle games this year.
BASKETBALL
The Marvin Williams Watch
The Tar Heels have the work week off before conference play starts in the Dean Dome against Maryland on Saturday.
Huskies
The Huskies go to USC on Thursday and UCLA on Saturday. Here's an article about Mike Jensen losing a close friend. There's a tiny blurb tacked onto the end about Lorenzo Romar and the brass pounding out a contract extension.
Bulldogs
Gonzaga is off until they travel to Santa Clara to open West Coast Conference play on Thursday. They'll also be at Saint Mary's on Saturday.
Sonics
Lon Babby, agent of Ray Allen, will be at the game today with Rick Sund. With Sund only saying that they'll talk (topic unspoken), speculation goes straight to contract extension talks for Ray Allen. Regardless of whether he signs here or somewhere else, I'd have to say he's only helping himself when it comes to the kind of money he'll be able to demand and get.
As for today's game, the Sonics started the season by using the same starting lineup for 29 straight games. That streak will be broken tonight because Reggie Evans is having some trouble with his GI tract. The short piece in the Times (not credited to any particular writer) said that Danny Fortson "would likely start" in place of Evans, but the Danny O'Neil piece says that Nick Collison will start tonight. It's quite a feat that Evans was able to get his two points and eight rebounds against Miami with the condition affecting him during that game, and I was wondering why he'd only played 14 minutes in that game. I guess we know why now. I said before the Miami game that the Sonics would have to use Vitaly Potapenko for at least a few minutes to soak up some fouls. He didn't play at all. With Evans now out, I actually think Vitaly just might get five minutes or so out of this. But I won't be surprised if he doesn't set foot on the floor without warmups either.
Also, there's still some rumblings over the thought of extending the hotel-motel, car rental, restaurant, and sales taxes. The word "indefinitely" doesn't appear in this article as it did in the Times article on the same topic yesterday.
Upcoming...
Today at Orlando
Tomorrow at Washington
Sunday vs. Miami
HOCKEY
A big hand to the Everett Silvertips. They're drawing SRO crowds at the Everett Events Center, and that's good news for everyone. Not bad for year number two in existence. Now if they just played with more offense than defense (at least more than they do now), I'd think the team was incredibly cool.
Kamloops beat Everett, 4-2. Karel Hromas opened the scoring almost three minutes into the contest, giving Everett an early lead. The first period ended tied at 1-1. In the second period, Derek Lewis sandwiched an Everett goal in between a couple of Kamloops goals, and the Blazers led 3-2 after two periods. Roman Tesliuk put the game away for Everett with a power-play goal just short of the six-minute mark in the third. Kamloops outshot Everett 22-16. Mike Wall stopped 18 for the Silvertips.
Vancouver beat Moose Jaw, 4-1. Adam Jennings fell 5:27 short of a shutout for the Giants. Cody Franson and Paul Albers scored the first and last goals for the Giants, and did so in the first and third periods, respectively. Adam Courchaine and Tim Kraus have a lot of goals to their credit this year, and they both scored in the first half of the second period. Matt Robinson and Gilbert Brule had two assists each as well. Vancouver badly outshot the Warriors 43-18. Jennings stopped 17 in the Vancouver net. Vancouver goalie Marek Schwarz, coming off of playing the World Junior Championships for the Czechs, will probably start Friday or Saturday.
Manitoba beat Cleveland, 3-2 (video). Moose goalie Alex Auld piloted the Canadian team to a third-place finish at the Spengler Cup against a slew of other European pro teams, and there were some NHL players in the opposition. Manitoba held the Barons to just 19 shots in the game, and only 3 in the first period, which ended scoreless. The Barons killed off a penalty in the second period and Jim Fahey made good on a one-timer to give the Barons an early lead. Christian Ehrhoff chipped in a goal in the last minute of the period to stake Cleveland out to a 2-0 lead heading into the third period. Then came the onslaught. The Moose tallied three goals in the span of 3:52. Lee Goren scored off a rebound with just under six minutes to go in regulation. Ryan Kesler tied it at 2-2 with just over three minutes left. Finally, Josh Green made sure it didn't go to overtime, scoring with 2:04 left to get Manitoba its first and only lead of the night. Manitoba outshot Cleveland 31-19. Alex Auld stopped 17 for the Moose.
Tonight: Seattle at Spokane, Vancouver at Prince George, Cleveland at Manitoba
Friday: Kelowna at Seattle, Spokane at Everett, Portland at Saskatoon, Vancouver at Prince George, Puget Sound at River City
Saturday: Tri-City at Seattle, Kamloops at Everett, Portland at Prince Albert, Vancouver at Kelowna, Edmonton at Manitoba, Puget Sound at River City
Sunday: Edmonton at Manitoba
It's all over at the 2004 World Junior Championships and all the hardware was handed out last night.
Czech Republic beat United States, 3-2 in overtime for the bronze medal. The Czechs scored right out of the gate in the first period, and Michal Polak came through after Casey Borer drew a slashing penalty. The USA tied it with under four minutes to go in the first when Kevin Porter cashed in toward the latter end of a boarding penalty on Petr Vrana. The teams traded goals again in the second period, with Michael Frolik and Drew Stafford (power play) involved. The teams held each other scoreless in the third period, with only one penalty being called; the USA outshot the Czechs 14-11 in the third period. In overtime, Vrana got past USA defenders and put in a good shot on Alvaro "Al" Montoya that found the back of the net. The Czechs outshot the USA 37-35. Marek Schwarz (Vancouver/WHL), named the tournament's top goalie, stopped 33. Al Montoya stopped 34 for the United States, who failed to medal one year after taking the gold in this tournament.
Canada beat Russia, 6-1 for the gold medal. Ryan Getzlaf (Calgary/WHL) and Danny Syvret scored in the first eight minutes of the game to get Canada up 2-0. Alexel Emelin cut the deficit in half on the power play with only 32 ticks left in the first period. Then Canada scored four goals in the second period (two on the power play) and that was all she wrote. Canada outshot the Russians 32-19. A combination of Andrei Kuznetsov and Anton Khubodin stopped 26 for Russia, and Jeff Glass (Kootenay/WHL) stopped 18 for Canada. From the moment this Canadian team clobbered the team from Finland, I knew that it would be an upset of epic proportions if the Canadians didn't come out with the gold medal in this tournament. They were no doubt buoyed by the fact that the NHL is not active right now (they definitely wouldn't have tournament MVP Patrice Bergeron playing for them; the lack of NHL is also keeping some junior players from getting called up), but they were clearly the best team in the tournament, and they never lost. All you need for evidence of their dominance in this tournament: Canada never trailed, they outscored their opposition 41-7 in six games, and only three of the seven goals they gave up were even-strength.
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It's the middle of your work week. Your reward? Well, these games are kinda weird. But they can kill time all the same.
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