You know how they call extra innings "free baseball?" Well what do you call it when your favorite team goes into extra innings while you have a free preview of the MLB Extra Innings package? Stealing? Manna from heaven? I don't know.....but I do know that Vladimir Guerrero just swung so hard his helmet was knocked akimbo. The Black Genie is trying to conjure up some voodoo mojo right now.
I had my job interview today...if you can call it that. (The Genie just struck out. Fortunately I have two more wishes.) Basically I went in there, she had a single sheet of paper with about 6-8 questions on it. Some guy that looked to be roughly my age, probably younger, was in the room too, but he didn't say a single word the entire time. She asked me these six questions. All of them she asked me a month and a half ago when I interviewed the first time. My answers hadn't really changed since then, so it was basically a review session. I made sure to let her know that she shouldn't view my lack of experience as a reason not to hire me....I said "give me a week, and you'll think I've been doing it for a year." (Garret Anderson flied to left...one wish left) Then she said thank you, handed me a benefits package, told me what the dress code was, and said "thanks for coming in." Whole thing took about 15 minutes. Ridiculous. Guy who doesn't say a word shows me out. (Rivera grounds out to first....on to the 11th.) They said they'd let me know by Friday. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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The rest of this post is really for Joel's benefit only. Don't read it unless you really, really, really like baseball. You'll be bored.
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So Joel thinks he knows the way the baseball season is going to go down. I'll humor him. I've got my own picks. I'm sure Joel did a little more research than I did, (who in the blue hell is Gabe Gross?) but I've watched more baseball than should be allowed this week.
NL
Playoff teams
Marlins (They have a perfect offense...speed at the top, power in the middle, and solid guys at the bottom. Pierre and Castillo will be on all the time, and then you've got Cabrera, Delgado, and Lowell to knock 'em in. Scary. They hung 5 on Smoltz in the first inning. Their pitching is solid too, pretty close to what they had when they won it all a few years back.
Cardinals - No reason to think they won't make the world series again this year. Pujols is an absolute monster. Joel's right, he very well could win the triple crown this year, especially with Bonds' health already a question.
Padres - Really I think anyone can win the NL West. They'll beat each other up all year. But I like the Padres simply because a lot of their players played in Portland over the past few years.
Mets (Wild Card) - At some point the Braves will start to drop off. I think this is the year. Aside from Andruw Jones, nobody in their lineup is really scary, except for maybe Furcal at the top. I saw him bunt a ball with one hand today....on purpose. It was amazing. But the Mets are the team. If Pedro goes out to prove he's worth what they paid him....he's a definite Cy Young Candidate, and Beltran might be the most complete player in the game. And I really mean that.
MVP - Pujols. With the lineup around him, they can't walk him. He'll put up huge numbers this year. He didn't strike out once during spring training....when hitters timing is supposedly "off."
Cy Young - Jake Peavy. I took the safe pick with Pujols, so this is my "What?????" pick, akin to having Murray State in the Elite 8 a few years back. I always have one, wouldn't be Andy if I didn't.
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AL
Playoff Teams
Red Sox - I know Joel's down on the team this year, and I agree that they might not be as good as they were last year, but they have one thing the Yankees don't.....chemistry. For whatever reason, chemistry is the way to go the past few years in all sports. You look at the teams that should've won the past few years, your Kobe-Shaq Lakers, the 18-headed monster of the Yankees, The Greatest show on turf St. Louis Rams......and they're losing to teams with no real superstars like the Marlins, Angels, Pistons and Patriots. The Red Sox all like each other, which is way more than you can say about the Yankees right now. I think it's pretty evident that A-Rod is not a likeable guy, for whatever reason. There's bound to be some grumblings that Rivera is finished after his 4 straight blown saves. So the Sox get the nod here. They basically gave up Pedro for Wade Miller, David Wells and Renteria. I think just about anyone would make that trade. There is the threat of them basking in the afterglow of banishing the curse, but I still think they beat the Yanks. The only other team with a chance in the East is the Orioles, but any team with Sammy Sosa is destined for nothing. He's an idiot.
Tigers - Yes the Detroit Tigers. Everyone's hyping the Twins, but I think the Tigers have a more complete lineup. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau might be real good players, but they're still very young. The Tigers have a veteran lineup top to bottom and include Pudge, Dmitri Young, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Rondell White. That's some serious pop. Their pitching staff is young, but they've been getting better every year. Remember when Mike Maroth lost 20 games two years ago? Last year he was around .500 and lowered his ERA by 1.25. I think they win by a game or something over the Twins.
Angels - Yes I'm a homer.....but they're good too. (They're going to the top of the 12th right now) I like their pitching staff, and for the most part I like their new additions. I was sad to see Eckstein, Glaus and Percival go, but I think you can justify all of their leaving. Cabrera is one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, Glaus does the same thing every year: Lights it up in April and May, gets hurt in June and limps home. Plus Dallas McPherson is supposedly ready. And Percy was good, but K-Rod has earned the closers role. Would've been nice to see Percy end his career as an Angel, but he still wanted to be a closer, so off to Detroit he went. He can still get it done too....he's got more saves
Sorry, I've got to take a break. Soriano just hit a solo homer into the first row....and Guerrero just kind of trotted over and watched it go into the stands. I'm not saying he would've caught it, but he didn't even hustle over to make an attempt. This is why I don't really like the black genie....I think he's so talented, he doesn't work as hard as he could, except when he's batting.
Ok back to Percival....he's had 30 or more saves in each of the past 6 seasons....he's still good.
The wildcard will likely go to the Yankees...they're the best team in baseball top to bottom, but they don't have that chemistry thing.
AL MVP - David Ortiz....that guy just keeps getting better. Every year his batting average goes up along with his HR and RBI totals. He's a beast.
For the World Series I'm going to say Cardinals over the Angels.
Angels are down to their final out after Vlad swings from his ass yet again on the first pitch and comes up with a tapper back to the pitcher. All or nothing with that guy. Garret just lined out and that ends the game. Damn.
Enjoy your day.....sorry for you non baseball fans. That was really a "for Joel" post.
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