The Bits and Bites in Sports – MLB All-Star Edition

Wow. The last time I made a post on my blog, Manny Ramirez was not yet suspended, the Wizards were jockeying for the last place crown in the NBA and were terrible, and there were thousands of NFL mock drafts floating around the net.

Since then, 37-year-old Raul Ibanez has been “en fuego,” the Wizards (still terrible) and the Kings got picks outside the top three (which helps the Wiz but not the Kings), and Maryland’s own Darrius Heyward-Bey was picked NUMBER 7 overall in last month’s NFL draft.

First off, lemme get to the MLB All-Star Balloting. After two months, there are lots of surprises in who’s in for the All-Star game. Let’s start in the National League, since the game will take place in the Gateway City – St. Louis. With no surprise, Albert Pujols is leading all first basemen in votes with 1,240,395 – 713,230 votes ahead of Prince Fielder.

Likewise, Chase Utley is also winning the second base job by a large margin over Orlando Hudson. I find this surprising, since the lead between the two should be a lot less.

Based on the totals so far (as of May 30, 2009), Hudson has the better batting average, nearly double the amount of hits and more total bases. Otherwise, most of the other categories (Runs, RBI, Walks and Stolen Bases) are about the same. I would give the slightest of edges to Hudson.

For third base and shortstop, I see no complaints, other than the fact that Milwaukee Brewers fans (like Redskins fans a la 2008) are ballot stuffing. Otherwise, how are Rickie Weeks (out for season), Bill Hall, J.J. Hardy, Jason Kendall and Corey Hart in the top 10 of their positions? They are ALL having mediocre seasons, and thus shouldn’t even be in the top 10.

What also annoys me is that the Kendall and Pudge are 2 and 3 in voting for NL catchers. Both are veterans that are past their prime. To top it off, All-Star candidates Russell Martin and Brian McCann sit in fifth and sixth in voting – and they are having better seasons that either Pudge or Kendall.

Lastly in the NL are the outfielder positions. I agree that Ryan Braun – another Brewer – and Ibanez are 1-2 in the outfield. I disagree that Soriano is third and Manny – yeah, the same guy suspended for 50 games – is fifth. Soriano is having an off-year – and that could be because he’s having knee problems this month. This should be the order for the NL outfielders:

1. Braun

2. Ibanez

3. Beltran – All-Star-caliber season!

4. Shane Victorino

5. Matt Kemp – One of the main reasons the Dodgers are doing well w/o Manny

6. Adam Dunn

Now to the American League. I was listening to ESPN radio on Saturday afternoon, and I agreed with the commentator’s comments about the voting for the AL. First off, Morneau has better numbers than ALL three first basemen ahead of him – and he was AL MVP three years ago – something the top three first basemen haven’t done! Therefore, he should be starting in the All-Star game next month. I have no issues with the other infield slots – which Kinsler, Longoria, Jeter and Mauer are leading in their respective positions.

But I, once again have issues with the outfield voting. Currently, the top ten are as follows:

1. Jason Bay

2. Josh Hamilton

3. Ichiro Suzuki

4. Ken Griffey Jr.

5. Nick Markakis

6. Carl Crawford

7. Nelson Cruz

8. Grady Sizemore

9. Jacoby Ellsbury

10. Torii Hunter

I understand the history behind Hamilton, but this is not 2008! He has had a Disabled List stint, and has not put up All-Star numbers this season. The same goes with Sizemore, who is currently on the DL with left elbow inflammation. The year is 2009, not 1999, people, so why is Junior in the top five in voting? He’s doing horrible as a DH/outfielder compared to the rest of the top 10 outfielders. Markakis, Crawford and Hunter are having career years, and should definitely not be outside the top four.

So here’s my revamped AL outfielders list:

1. Bay
2. Crawford
3. Markakis
4. Suzuki
5. Hunter
6. Ellsbury
7. Hamilton
8. Cruz
9. Sizemore
10. Granderson

Now that is all said and done, here’s my revamped list for the All Star Game.

National League

Catcher: Yadier Molina

First Base: Albert Pujols

Second Base: Chase Utley

Third Base: David Wright

Shortstop: Hanley Ramirez

Outfield: Braun, Ibanez and Beltran

American League

Catcher: Joe Mauer

First Base: Justin Morneau

Second Base: Ian Kinsler

Third Base: Evan Longoria

Shortstop: Derek Jeter

Outfield: Bay, Crawford and Markakis

I hope these are the results come July 14!

Video of the Day

Shaqawockeez and Krypto-Nate

Let's recap the All-Star festivities that took place last weekend.

First, the All-Star Celebrity Game.




I watched bits and pieces of the contest. I think I saw more airballs than baskets made during the game.

Best Harlem Globetrotters Show: Handles (a Harlem Globetrotter himself), when he started dribbling like crazy at the top of the key in various ways. He even kept his dribble even AFTER the foul! I found that quite amusing.



Best Alley-Oop: T.O. and Handles near the end of the first half. On a fast break, Handles lobs the ball off the backboard and, well, you know what comes afterward.



Craftiest Move During Game: Jon Barry, the analyst during this game, was going to get drenched with Gatorade/water during a free-throw attempt. We will let you see what happens next.



Now, to the Sophomore/Rookie contest. I didn't see the entire contest (like the celebrity contest, I caught bits and pieces of this one as well), although I saw the end of the greatest scoring performance by an NBA player during an All-Star game.




Not much to say about the event, but this is the only point that I saw repeatedly.

Most Overhyped Dunk: With less than a minute left in the game, Kevin Durant notched his final basket - a reverse dunk - as an exclamation point for the game, which gave him 45 points - an All-Time All-Star-Game-High points in a game. It was the one dunk that was shown in every highlight regarding this contest.



Now, onto Saturday night!

First comes the H.O.R.S.E contest. Or should I say "H.O.R.S.E. sponsored by GEICO." But you get the point.

If you did not get a chance to see the contest, here it is in its entirety.



Best Comeback Performance: After coming to G-E-I-C, and on verge of elimination, KD took charge and blew away the competition with an array of EASY jumpers that the other two players - OJ Mayo and Joe Johnson - failed to make.

Best Starting Performance: OJ Mayo, who started off very strong, and was the last player to get a letter in the game. Although he started off hot (He made a shot from the stands at half-court), he ended with a cold streak and gave the game to KD.

Worse Performance: Joe Johnson, who flubbed spinning the ball off his finger TWICE and AIRBALLED a behind-the-back shot from the paint.

Next is the Haier Shooting Stars competition.




The contest was almost what I expected, except for the very end. Here's a recap:



Worst Ending Performance: Team Phoenix (Ex-NBA player Dan Majerle, NBA player Leandro "The Brazilian Blur" Barbosa and WNBA player Tangela Smith) made ALL five shots in FIFTEEN seconds! They had 38 seconds - an ample amount of time to make a half-court shot to win the title in the championship round. Unfortunately, the home team failed to do so and gave the title to Team Detroit.

Third on Saturday's platter is the Playstation Skills Challenge.




There is only two things to comment on in this contest. Here's a recap.



Best Performance: Derrick Rose, who did well and topped the contest off nicely with a double-clutch backwards dunk to clinch the title. But he did get the following award as well

Worst Look Receiving Trophy: As one commenter put it "Rose looked as if someone told him his mother died and was given poop to eat when he was receiving his trophy."


Your decision.

Worst Performance: Tony Parker, who flubbed his way to last place in the competition. According to NBA.com: "The Spurs' point guard now holds the dubious distinction of having the two slowest times ever recorded in Skills Challenge history. In 2003, Parker finished the course in 45.5 seconds." It was Valentine's day, so I bet he cared more about his wife, Eva Longoria-Parker.


I would do the same as well.

The fourth contest was probably the WORST I have ever seen in a LOOONG time.






Worst Performance: Kapono (Couldn't win a third straight contest), Roger Mason (I had him winning the contest!) and Rashard Lewis (How could you go into the championship round and score only 7 points out of 30?)

He Proved Me Wrong Performance: If you read my last post, I made a rant that Daequan Cook shouldn't even be in the contest. He proved me wrong Saturday night, winning the shootout easily.

Last, but certainly not least on Saturday night was the dunk contest.





Worst Use of Attempts: Pau Gasol. Had he gotten the dunk routine correctly, Rudy might have been in the finals. Because he flubbed many times, that cost Rudy possibly a trophy.

Planned? I don't think so: Many NBA fans were saying that the whole dunk contest was planned, that Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson - the two dunk contest champions - were set to meet in the final round, that Dwight Howard did not deserve TWO 50's in the first round, and that the dunks were very unoriginal. I agree with the last two comments but NOT the first comment.

Best Original Dunk: Dwight Howard's third dunk (first in the final round), where he threw the ball against the side of the backboard and dunked it in.

Worst Use of Texting: I disagree that fans should have the first and only say in the final round. I liked the dunk contests where the final round was decided by the judges. Otherwise, what are they there for? Show? I think that the judges should vote on ALL dunks, and IF there is a tie in the final round after both dunks were made, the fans should then decide.

Worst Dunk: DH's 12-foot dunk. I say this because it took 15 minutes for him to go to the "phone booth", draw another hoop out and then do a normal two-hand flush on the 12-foot basketball hoop. EASILY the worst dunk.

Best Creativity: Nate Robinson. Clever that after the first round, decides to change from his normal Knicks uniform and switch to the St. Patrick's Day jersey's, with lime-colored shoes and basketball - just to become Kryptonite to DH's Superman. He deserved to win, although there was too much entertainment and not enough dunks. After all, it's a dunk contest, not an entertainment contest, people!

Now, to the final performance of All-Star weekend, the All-Star game.




This was enjoyable, but, NBA All-Stars, lay off on the defense! Jeez! It's just an All-Star game, not the NBA Finals!

Well, here are the highlights:



Best Single-Player Introduction: Shaquille O' Neal. Or shall I call him the "Big Shaqawockee"? Excellent performance by the big man in what could be his LAST All-Star game, ever. When was the last time Shaq wasnt part of All-Star weekend?



All, in all, the All-Star festivities were okay, at best.

Grade: C+

Now for the Video of the Day. Today's video is of the Dance-off with Shaq, DH and LeBron during All-Star weekend 2007. Like I always say, Enjoy!

All-Star Awesomeness!

It's All-Star weekend, and I'm ready for the festivities! But before I go into my top events, there is other NBA news that tops this weekend's headlines.

The Marion trade finally went through! After two dismal seasons in Miami, where he was out-of-place, he goes to Canada and be part of the newest Big Three - The Matrix with Calderon and Bosh. It's similar to the trio back in Phoenix from the 2005 season, where Marion was with another premier point guard (Steve Nash) and power forward (Amare Stoudemire). Maybe that's what Toronto Raptors' GM Bryan Colangelo was thinking. After three months of waiting, the trade finally took form.

Now, back to my post on the All-Star Outlook. I'm gonna be missing the celebrity all-star game (i mean, who watches that AWFUL game???) but ill watch part of tonight's Rookie vs. Sophomore Challenge.



This will be an exciting event to watch. I got a chance to see the rosters and there was something that stood out to me: Dwayne Wade (Rookie Assistant) and Dwight Howard (Sophomore Assistant) are the coaches! How's that for entertainment purposes? Other notables to look at:

* Kevin Durant (Sophomore) vs. his teammates, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook (Rookies)

* Likewise, Eric Gordon (Rookie) vs. Al Thornton (Sophomore)

* Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez reunite (They were both on Spain's roster during the '08 Olympics)

Last year's contest was exciting as well. LeBron James' former sidekick, Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, hit 11 - That's right, ELEVEN - three-pointers as a rookie in 2008. He wan't invited this year. b/c LBJ's current sidekick - veteran Mo Williams takes his place in the All-Star festivities.



But these lineups - in 2008 and this year - do not match up with what could be the greatest Rookie Challenge lineup this decade. There was LBJ, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Josh Howard on the Rookie side - and Carlos Boozer (Who used to be LBJ's teammate once upon a time), Manu Ginobili, Nene, and Amare Stoudemire on the Sophomore's side.

Now to Saturday night.

The H-O-R-S-E challenge seems like a dud, since there are two shoot-first guards - Joe Johnson and Kevin Durant - versus a point guard/shot-maker in rookie O.J. Mayo. Like most NBA fans, we were all expecting a contest with LeBron, Wade and Kobe Bryant. Oh well. Let's see how this turns out. Only problem is that, when does the contest occur? I know that it's prior to the main events tomorrow, but at what time? I saw that it could occur at around 5:30, but I thought it will be at 7-ish. I should wait and see.

Maybe this guy should have been invited:



Next comes the Shooting Stars contest, where an NBA legend, a WNBA player and a current NBA player take part in a shooting contest against trios from other cities.



Last year's trio of Tim Duncan, the Admiral - David Robinson - and Becky Hammon are the defending champs, and i bet there will be a repeat. For one, the other teams - Detroit, LA and Phoenix - all have coaches as ex-NBA players. The Admiral is still in shape and could aid his group in yet another win.


Then there is the Playstation Skills Challenge. This year, the competitors are: Nets' PG Devin Harris, Spurs' PG Tony Parker, Bulls' rookie Derrick Rose, and Cavs' Mo Williams (Replacing Magic PG Jameer Nelson). There will be a new champion this year, since last year's champ, Jazz PG Deron Williams was not invited. Speaking of Williams, he set a record during the championship of the Challenge last year.

Here, take a look:



I hope there's a new record this year!


Fourth on the Saturday All-Star event list is the Three-Point Contest. Raptors' guard Jason Kapono is the two-time-defending champ, and looks to reclaim the crown for the third straight year. He doesn't seem to have a challenger, unlike previous years. (Spurs' guard and ex-Wizard Roger Mason could be the dark horse tomorrow night) But what shocks me was that Celtics' SG Eddie House was NOT invited and Heat guard Daequan Cook WAS invited. In one game this year, House hit a career-high EIGHT three-pointers. In SIX games this year, Cook failed to make a three-pointer, his season-high is 6 makes in a game, and his 3-point-percentage is 41.1%. House, on the other hand, has a percentage of 42.1%. EDGE, House.



I find it a travesty not to include House but include Cook in the contest.

Lastly, the dunk contest - the BEST part of the Friday and Saturday events. There's defending champ, Magic center Dwight Howard, injury replacement and former dunk participant J.R. Smith , former dunk champion ('06) lil' Nate Robinson, and rookie and not-so-great dunker Rudy Fernandez. Howard has said that he has something up his sleeve, so we'll have to wait and see.

Here's Smith's video of his last contest performance in '05:



Now, here's Robinson's victory from 2006:



Lastly, it's Superman!



To conclude, here's my Video of the Day. Since I'm in an All-Star mood, here's a clip of the BEST dunks by one player in a dunk contest. (It's in two parts)

Enjoy!

Part 1:



Part 2:

Wow... Long Time no Post!

After a 2-year-long hiatus, I look forward to posting my musings on daily sports news, such as:

* The NBA is introducing H-O-R-S-E to the All-Star festivities on Saturday, February 14 (Valentine's Day). I wonder who the three participants will be? LeBron, Kobe and Wade? Now that would be something to see. Outdoors, you say? Now, that will be a little different...

Hopefully, the event won't be this bad:



(http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/02/03/all.star.horse.ap/index.html)

* Speaking of All-Star festivities, I disagree that there was a fan vote to include a ROOKIE to take part in the Slam Sunk contest. Wasn't it the norm to have 5+ players dunk and have many rounds and no multiple trials? Now the dunk contest has a subpar dunker (Rudy Fernandez) with three superior dunkers.



This may happen to Rudy if he tries out a dunk on All-Star Saturday night.

* I like the All-Star game rosters, though I believe Allen Iverson robbed a young guard (i.e. Rondo, Mo Williams, Devin Harris... etc.) from a starting guard position. That is a travesty. I believe the coaches and players should also have a say in choosing the starting All-Star lineups.

* Speaking of the NBA, what a performance by Kobe Bryant yesterday! See for yourself:



Wowza! In addition, Pau Gasol - Kobe's sidekick - had 31 points of his own, making that: 61 + 31 = 92 points just from this tandem.

I think that one day Kobe will eclipse 100 points. It's just a matter of When.

* I was listening to the radio today (ESPN980 - Washington DC ESPN Radio) with the Sports Reporters and listened to the most BIZARRE talk about how Manny... yes, that Manny... could be going to the Nats...

HOW RIDICULOUS! INSANE! this won't happen in a MILLION years!

* What happened to the excellent local college basketball teams? Maryland (14-8, 3-5) and Georgetown (13-8, 4-6) used to have an excellent programs and above .500 conference records, and now are shriveling up! Both might be on the outside looking in come March Madness! Even teams such as Virginia Tech, Providence and Boston College have better records then these teams. I'm also hearing rumors that Gary Williams could be fired soon, but that's not likely...

* I HATE how people - commentators and columnists included - are calling this past Sunday's Super Bowl as the BEST ever. How does this Super Bowl surpass Super Bowl XLVII, with the Eli-scramble-and-Tyree-helmet-glued-to-ball play? There were WAY TOO MANY penalties, esp. holding penalties in the game. One penalty that stood out was the roughing-the-passer penalty on the Cards when there should have been an intentional grounding penalty on big Ben Roethlisberger (yay! i spelled Ben's last name correctly w/o checking online!).

Well, that's all for today. But before I'll leave, I'll include a video of the day. Today's is from the 2008 ESPY awards acknowledging the best of all sports from 2007-2008.

Enjoy!

Hopefully tonight's MLB All-Star game will not be unwatchable, but instead a hard-fought slugfest. Look @ the top of the starting lineup for the American League. They have Ichiro batting leadoff, DJ next, then the tenacious trio of A-Rod, Big Papi and Vlad the Impaler. The NL has a starting lineup of Reyes, B*nds, Beltran, Junior, Wright and Fielder leading off the game. But that is just the cream of the crop.

The AL reserves, as well as the NL reserves, are also stacked. The AL has "Hip, hip Jorge!" Posada, 2006 AL MVP Morneau, Torii Hunter - who robbed Barry Bonds of a home run in Milwaukee - and "Manny being Manny" Ramirez. The NL has Derrek Lee, "Winnie-the-Pujols", Matt "I am on a" Holliday, Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano. And i haven't even gone to pitching.

The starting pitchers are Dan Haren - who has a superb 2.20 ERA, and Jake Peavy - the best pitcher in the National League. The AL has 12-2 Josh Beckett, reliever Jonathan Papelbon, an excellent closer in JJ Putz, and two of the best in the Major Leagues, Justin Verlander and Johan Santana. The NL has Francisco Cordero, who has 27 saves, a young phenom in Cole Hamels and the #1 closer all-time in Trevor Hoffman.

I believe that the National League will come up on top, winning 12 - 9.