Humiliation nation: Your Washington Nationals

Where do you start with the Washington Nationals? It is not enough that they are, without doubt, the worst team in Major League Baseball (yes, even the Mets are superior). It isn't enough that they actually took the field earlier this season with some players wearing jerseys that misspelled the team name on them (we're not even making that up). Now they are holding yard sales.

Seriously.

The Washington based paper that has reported on this, who you would assume actually likes the Nationals, candidly remarks;

''We'll refrain from calling it a firesale of memorabilia from the crappiest players in team history''

Some of the game used baseballs sold at $5 a piece, which of course is a little odd as Major League baseballs have a resale tag of $15. Perhaps they were figuring in the devaluing effect of Nationals players having handled the goods.

Two items not mentioned in the article;

• The Elijah Dukes' "mint condition/no usage" anger management coursebook.
• Special National offer: For only a one time payment of $15, Elijah Dukes will record a threatening voice mail message for you or a loved one!

Of course, we have to end with a tip of the cap to the New York Mets. It just wouldn't be the 2009 baseball season without one. Mets fans may recognise the two names on the boxes of balls in this picture. The former Nationals players mentioned are both now in the Mets organisation.

All together now, Mets! Mets! Mets!

...and then there were eight: World Series betting reviewed

The bookmakers have spoken. Yes there are, ostensibly, some pennant and Wild Card races ongoing, but to all intents and purposes the runners are riders for the '09 World Series chase have been whittled down to the final eight.

Here is how one bookmaker has the race for the title marked up this morning (this list echoes most of the other bookies odds for same)

1. 15/8 New York Yankees
2. 5/1 Boston Red Sox
3. 11/2 Philadelphia Phillies
   
4. 6/1 St Louis Cardinals
5. 15/2 LA Dodgers
6. 8/1 LA Angels
7. 12/1 Colorado Rockies
8. 16/1 Detroit Tigers

That list appears to be split into four distinct groups

• The favourite.
• The chasing pack.
• The dark horse.
• The outsiders.

No prizes for guessing the favourite.

The favourite.
The New York Yankees at a restrictive 15/8. Where's the value in that? You walk into a bookmaker and place 100 units of currency on them and if they win, you go back into that same bookmaker and you take out just under 290. Not exactly value. Of course, those of you reading this from the States can't go into a bookmaker, can you? You can buy a gun, but you can't place an adult wager. And you wonder why I live in Ireland...

Back to the Yankees, here's the problem. Sure, they are putting up some magnificent numbers in their little stadium (little as in, not a pitchers ball-park, enough said), however they also have a host of questions that will be thoroughly examined by superior pitching in the playoffs. Outside of Big CC Sabathia and the regal Mariano Rivera, who are opponent batters going to be afraid of? Burnett? This would appear to be a 50/50 option, he is either going to walk nine batters and lose or strike out nine and win, even the most ardent of Yankee fans couldn't be too comfortable with the potential of AJ Burnett v John Lester in the ALCS, for example. 'Jibber Jobba The Headhunter Chamberlin'? That young man is being lit up like a Christmas tree the last few weeks of regular season action. He appears to be going through a 'chuck-and-duck' stage, where he throws a pitch, and then dives out of the way as it is laced right back up the middle.

Quick, name four Yankee relievers out of their bullpen, without saying the words 'Mariano Rivera'. Not so easy, huh? Put it this way, you knock a Yankee starter out early, they are in big, big trouble. Phillip Hughes aside, that 'pen is weak.

Big lineup, big stars, big names. Questionable starting and relief pitching.

We haven't even touched on one if the main reasons you really should think twice about putting your hard earned cash money on the New York Yankees. There is a player on their squad who is such a bad team mate, and such an anti-clutch performer, that his former team-mates on the Texas Rangers dubbed him 'The Cooler'. Much like mythical Casino 'Coolers' A-Rod has the ability to bring any winning streak, any playoff run, to a crunching, crashing halt. The man has never won a title. Never. He was a major part of the incredible Yankee collapse in 2004 and continues to be a gigantic albatross hanging around the neck of the New York nine.

You want summer bombs against Kansas or Cleveland? Not a problem. You want some hits in the playoffs, in clutch situations? Problem! A-Rod just does not do playoff success. 'The Cooler' . I didn't make that up, his own team-mates! Imagine!

Is that A-Rod or William H Macey, I can't tell?

Tread carefully, basically. No value to be had there.

The chasing pack.
There are four teams in the chasing pack, and you can make strong arguments for and against all four. What is interesting is that three are from the NL whilst just the one is from the AL. The way the betting is made out, it would appear the bookies are saying;

Basically, whoever wins the ALCS, which should be between Boston and New York, will win the World Series, over any one from Philly, St Louis or the Dodgers.

The one that jumps out at you here is obviously the Philadelphia Phillies, or, the 2008 World Champion Phillies. It is not often you can back a returning champ, in reasonably good shape to defend his title, at 11/2. Such is the dramatic effect the Yankees are having on the betting. The Phillies have a little bit of everything, pitching, relief pitching, big bats and defence, not to mention an eye for the clutch hit and the dramatic. They do have some lingering questions hanging over them though. Their closer situation is a straight up old fashioned shambles. Brad Lidge is leaking live a sieve and the knock on effect on their late inning relief has been hairy lately. If they make the Series, they will once more be a few batters short against the power packed AL lineups. In '08 they took advantage of a rookie Tampa team to take the title, could they do it twice in a row against a superior, more veteran than Tampa, AL lineup? That might be asking too much.

Still, 11/12, that's not bad for a team that has been there and done it as recently as '08.

Can lightning strike twice for the Phillies? 11/2 against.

The St Louis Cardinals are an intriguing prospect. Have you ever seen Adam Wainwright pitch? He is the real deal, and he isn't even their ace, that's Chris Carpenter, who is an absolute stud. The 'Cards have a pen, a decent lineup and some punch, and, to give him his full due, the greatest living hitter in the game, one Mr Albert Pujols.

At 6/1, you can see where the value is in that.

How do you evaluate a team like the LA Dodgers? Their 'ace' is a guy who has been lit up a few times in '09 (Chad Billingsley) and does not appear to have an Ice Cold playoff demeanour. That's not arbitrarily knocking the guy, I have watched him pitch live four or five times in '09 and he just does not look like a front line ace to me, too easily rattled. Their lineup is an odd collection of diverse talents, led of course by Manny Ramirez. The dreadlocked one, whatever you want to say about him, gets the job done, and done well, come playoff time. After that? Kemp, Martin, Loney and Ethier, all talented young dangerous hitters, however, would you argue with me vociferously if I hinted that it is a lineup you could get some swings and misses out of? Can't you see the Dodgers failing to hit in the playoffs? I can see it. And I just do not like their chances, 15/2, you can take it or leave it, I don't want any part of it.

The last of the chasers, the Boston Red Sox, will live and die on the backs of four young men. It's pretty clear cut. If Lester, Beckett, 'BulletHoles' and Dice-K pitch anywhere close to their standard, particularly the first two of those guys, the Red Sox will win the World Series. As that crazy Meerkat on TV says, 'Simples'. If you think there's a good chance of that happening, 5/1 is pretty tasty.

The dark horse.
Ah the dark horse, what's not to love about the dark horse. At a relatively astonishing 8/1 the Anaheim Angels of California or whatever name they are trading under these days, are superb value. There is no doubt about it. They can pitch, they can hit, they have a decent 'pen, and they run the bases very well. The way they play the game of baseball, you could imagine them absolutely destroying a NL team in the World Series. They play a fearless NL brand of baseball, moving the runners over, clutch hits and great base running, but have a ridiculous lineup that very few AL, let alone NL, teams can match. One slight snag. The Red Sox and Yankees both stand in their way. Maybe one of those teams will trip over its own feet, but, both? Still, 8/1, pretty tasty none the less.

Big Bad Vlad

The outsiders.
Finally, the two 'dogs, the outsiders. The Rockies and the Tigers. Both of these guys share common features, if you think they can become contenders, their double figure prices are super value. They are both relatively young, and both have decent man-managers who should get the most out of their squads. The Tigers have one of the best fireballing, no, actually, infernoballing pitchers in the game, let alone the playoffs, in Justin Verlander, and a very good late inning bullpen. Do they have the lineup and the defence though to survive a first round in New York? If they win their home games, anything could happen. Great value for a small bet at 16/1, if they win, you look (and feel) like a genius, if they lose, the damage is limited and hopefully you still get a run for your cash money.

Something about this version of the Rockies smells like one-and-done. It looks to me like they are surviving on smoke and mirrors, a decent lineup and reasonably okay pitching, can you honestly see them slipping past the Dodgers, Cards or Phills? Neither can I.

So there it is. The 'value', for what it's worth, has to be The Angels and Tigers from the AL, and the Cardinals from the NL.

God I love playoff baseball.

Can't come fast enough.



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'I am glad the fields are being used'.

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Wanted to get into this with the Irish Baseball League 2009 playoffs starting this coming weekend. When the first pitch is thrown on Saturday morning around 11am, it will be done so at a purpose built, beautiful baseball field. Want to know how that happened? Well, let's find out.


I only knew the basics on the man who brought 'the' baseball field to Ireland, until I got into conversation with Brent Shyer, the webmaster for Walter O'Malley's website. Through a friendly back and forth with Brent I have started to learn more about the history of the Dodgers and the involvement of the O'Malley family with same.

Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was basically an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. Calling him a baseball executive, however, is not paying him anything close to his full due, he is a Dodgers legend. The Dodgers were initially successful under O'Malley's leadership, winning National League pennants in 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956. In 1958 he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to LosAngeles. They remained successful on the field, winning the World Series in 1959, 1963, and 1965.

On March 17, 1970, Walter turned over the presidency of the team to his son Peter. Peter O'Malley held the position until 1998 when the team was sold on. In that time he became friendly with Anne Murphy, Mike Kindle and Mick Manning of Baseball Ireland. Peter generously funded the construction of the O'Malley baseball Fields at Corcaigh Park in Clondalkin, West Dublin in 1998 and those fields have been the home of Irish Baseball ever since. The majority of league games are held at the fields along with Ireland National Team games and practice sessions.

I while ago I was sent a really interesting looking book on the history of the Dodgers, sent on by Peter O'Malley via Brent Shyer of the Walter O'Malley website. Inside was a short, friendly letter from Peter himself. Just an amiable hello, which ended with a typically modest, understated line that reads as such;

'I am glad the fields are being used'.

I actually laughed to myself a little on reading that, and I thought, 'Really, Peter, if only you knew.' The fields have certainly been in use. They have been the scene of the majority of Irish league baseball games since their opening in 1998. Merely saying 'the fields are in use' though is like saying 'The Red Sox winning the World series in 2004 was a reasonably big deal to the people of Boston'.

Take this coming weekend for example. Amongst the Irish league playoff games is a huge clash between the Dublin Spartans and my club side, the Dublin Hurricanes. I can say, assuredly, it will be a quality encounter played by some of the best players in Irish league history. Here's the thing. I know Darran O'Connor, the Spartans and Ireland veteran, is already thinking about this game. I know Spartans and Irish centre fielder John Dillon is thinking about this game, as he works away in his 9-5 job. I know my Hurricanes team mates and superb infielders Steve Divito and Andy Martin are thinking about this coming weekends game.

I definitely know my long term friends and Hurricanes and Irish team teammates Chris Foy and Tom Kelley are thinking about this big game. I know that because I am. I can't wait for Saturday morning and the chance to play baseball at Corcaigh Park. I can't wait to travel there amongst friends. I can't wait for the good natured banter before the first pitch. I can't wait to kick the dust on the mound and look up at the blue Irish sky before the start of the game. And yet none of this would be possible without the marvelous backdrop of the O'Malley fields, born of the O'Malley family's generosity.

You know, too often in life we move on and forget the simple things. Simple things like how in 1998 Peter O'Malley saw fit to give Ireland two beautiful baseball fields, side by side. Since then, simply put, thousands of moments and memories have been born at that field, quite literally hundreds of great games of baseball have been played there. Peoples lives have been elevated by those fields.

Peter the fields aren't just in use. Every weekend they are part of the dreams and hopes of dozens of peoples lives here in Ireland. Play ball.

A rare Lorcan Sherlock sighting (grey hoodie) amongst his 'Canes brethren

Links:

• Everything you needed to know about Baseball Ireland
• Click here for details on how to get to the O'Malley fields at Corcaigh Park.

If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link.


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Did you mean; ''Black people stole my car''

Well, should be interesting to see how Google explains this one! There are reports doing the rounds that when people searched for "white people stole my car," Google returned with "Did You Mean: black people stole my car?"


More on same;
Real or fake?
Mystery exlained
Funny crave and google trends

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Act like you have been here before.

A friend of mine sent me a brilliant text message last night, as Brady’s last chance chuck-and-duck heave fell flat on the Meadowlands turf last night.

The phone beeped almost the same time the pigskin hit the turf.

It simply said;

‘’I guess they won their Superbowl’’

Those six little words summed last night up perfectly. Even as a Patriots fan, you would like to be able to tip your cap to a better opponent, say, ‘well done’ and get on with things. However last night’s game was always going to be unusual, after the week long carpet bombing like propaganda campaign the Jets waged fanatically. The game almost seemed like an after-thought, after a week of inane comments from Ryan, Rhodes, Jenkins and company. At the end of the day, the Jets certainly did back up all their childish trash talking, there is no doubting that, but, at what cost?

They have already won their Superbowl, what now?

Will the Jets be able to maintain that level of Nazi-rally like fanaticism at home games against Miami or Buffalo? Is their head coach going to take a time out from trips to McDonalds to leave voice mails at season ticket holders before every game?

We are two games into the NFL season, and the Jets have now won their Superbowl. Not my words, theirs. Their own players declared this game, this second game of the season as their Superbowl. You can see how much it meant to them, players whooping it up after the failed fourth down. Players jumping up and down like excited twelve year olds, climbing on sideline furniture to wave towels and scream. Great stuff, probably pretty invigorating if you are a Jets fan. Only one problem. We aren’t even in October as yet. The Boston Red Sox and New York Mets are still playing baseball (well, the former anyway, you could argue the latter isn’t doing that right now). The leaves have as yet to start changing colour. Week two and the Jets were celebrating like, well, like they had just won the Superbowl.

It will be rather interesting to see if they can maintain that level of competitiveness throughout an entire NFL season, not just past week two.

Heads down, bowed, faces dejected and disappointed, the Patriots players slipped quietly into the dressing rooms as the Jets players partied like it was early 2010. The problem for the latter, we have a long, long way to go before wins really mean anything.


In 1998 the Irish National Baseball team was two years old. We were playing in our second European Championships, very raw, very eager. We came out of the gates fast and managed a surprising opening fixture win against Lithuania. In retrospect, we celebrated too vigorously. It was innocent enthusiasm, but definitely over the top. I doubt Lithuania enjoyed it, for example. In our second game we stood on the verge of victory in the 9th inning. Our coach, the brilliant Rick Steen, gathered us together for a quick talk. With the win almost in the bag he gave us a simple and yet meaningful instruction. ‘’Guys’’ he said, looking each of us in the eye ‘’when you make that final out, do one thing for me, act like you have been here before.’’

Sure enough, we pulled off the win to start the tournament 2-0, however this time we celebrated in a vastly more dignified manner. At least until later that night, but as far as our opponents are concerned we were a class act. Good thing they didn’t see us around 4 am that night.

Act like you have been here before.

Might be something the Jets might want to look into. Probably should check into it before November 22nd. Just saying, that's all.


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Oh, we're going down that road again?

Dear oh dear, what on earth are the Jets doing? The New York free safety Kerry Rhodes has come out and said he wants to "embarrass" the Patriots this Sunday. Perhaps Rhodes forgets the last time a secondary player from an opposition did pretty much the same thing, remember poor Anthony Smith of the Steelers? Remember the trick play the Patriots humiliated him with, the flip to Moss, to Brady, then 50 yards over Smith's noggin for a touchdown? 'Member? Well, apparently Kerry Rhodes doesn't.

Watching the talk shows last night, what came across was that most pundits agree Rhodes was foolish to bring attention on himself and his team mates, particularly when the Jets don't even hold half a candle to the 2007 Steelers.

Sadly for Rhodes, the cold facts though are that the Patriots have completely owned the Jets this decade.

In 2002 the Pats and Jets split 1-1 however not without New England putting a serious 44-7 beat down on the hapless Jets in week 2. In 2003 the Patriots went 2-0 against the Jets without breaking sweat. In 2004 2-0 again, with the Jets scoring an absolutely pathetic 14 points in the two games combined. 2005 and the Patriots again cruised to two easy wins over the keystone cop like Jets.

Getting the picture, Monsignor Rhodes? Between 2002 and 2005 you managed to go 1-7 against the Patriots. That's not very good.

In 2006 the Jets finally managed to get a win against their (apparently) hated rivals. Splitting 1-1 that season must have felt like a huge deal to Jets fans and Rhodes. Sadly for them, in 2007 normal service was resumed, the Patriots went 2-0 against the Jets including a 38-14 laugher in week one. You probably remember the second game in 2008, a brilliant 31-34 Jets in in OT, where both teams played out of their skins. Earlier in the season the Patriots took game one 19-10 though producing a 1-1 season split.

Long and the short of it? Since 2002 the score between the Patriots and the Jets is 11-3, New England.

The following is best said in Stewie Griffin's high pitched voice (try it!).

''Not really much of a rivalry now, is it? Kinda one sided, no?''

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The strike zone: a brief study

And so yet again those cry baby Angels from California are whinging like a pack of five year olds about those big bullies the Boston Red Sox beating them up in the play yard.

We have seen this before, in fact this is the third time that the Angels have complained bitterly about how they lost to the Sox. Maybe eventually they will start looking at themselves for the answer as to how their season always seems to come to an end at the foot of Mount Red Sox. Look, if you are going to rely on a 'closer' who has blown a stack of saves, and was getting slapped around last night, well, you are often going to have an unhappy ending to your stories.

The focal point of the Angels collective whine is the ball that was called on Tricky Nicky Green allowing the Sox to score the tying run. First off, let's have a look at the Major League strike zone.

As you can see from the above, the stike zone starts at the knees, anything below the knees is not a strike, or, a ball.

Now let's have a look at the pitch in question. As you can see from the below screen capture, the pitch from the human batting practice machine Fuentes, is below the knee. Or, a ball. This was correctly called by the blue.

With that settled, all this fussing and whining from the Angels, would it not be more pertinent for them to maybe ask questions as to why their left fielder decided not to dive for the baseball as it dropped in front of him for the winning runs? How on earth can you not go all out for that ball?



At the end of the day, it would appear easier for the cry baby Angels to point fingers at others rather than take a long, cold, hard look at themselves and ask why their left fielder doesn't have the courage to go after a fly ball, and as to why their so called closer can't get any outs.

If they got the answers to those questions maybe they would be partially on their way to stopping rolling over for the Sox.

Until then, whine away Angels, whine away.




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So much to do, so much to see; Wednesday morning sports news

There is a lot going on out there for a Wednesday morning.

How about Dice-K's start last night? The much maligned Red Sox starter looked absolutely fantastic against one of the best lineups in the Majors. You can't stress that enough. Dice-K completely sliced through what might be the most dangerous lineup one-through-nine in the entire Major Leagues. What I mean by that is, although the Yankees might have more power, and the Sox more patience in their lineups, the Angels have a very tough combination of power, average and terrifying speed combined with a strong, willing to gamble skipper, that is not matched in Major League Baseball.

That all combines to make what Dice-K did last night all the more spectacular.

Pretty good bench clearer in the Jays v Yanks scrimmage. Loved A-Rod's quote on the incident.
"It got pretty heavy and pretty thick pretty quickly, I think we're all fortunate and glad no one got hurt." A-Rod said, from the safety of the Yankees bench! Watch the video, he is nowhere to be seen mid brawl!

Great to see the umpire call out Posada. "As he ran past Carlson, he gave him a little shove with his elbow. It was very unsportsmanlike," Joyce told a pool reporter. "It was a cheap shot."

Finally, you stay classy, New York;''The game was interrupted for about 10 minutes. When play resumed, there were only three umpires on the field. During the fight, third base ump and crew chief Derryl Cousins was hit in the knee by a bottle full of soda that he said was thrown from the stands.''

Rough week so far for Leodis McKelvin. First he coughs the ball up against the Patriots, then some clown destroys his lawn. You stay classy, Bills fans!

Has anyone else noticed that Barry Zito is very quietly rediscovering himself as a dominant starting pitcher? It's always fun to have a pop at highly paid athletes when they are on a downward spiral, somehow it isn't as news-worthy when they start to put things back together again. Zito is 4-2 in his last 9 starts and has brought his ERA down a full point.

Finally, how funny was Suzy Kolber's breathless chase of Tom Brady post game on Sunday? You can re-live all the action here.


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About last night, baby..

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And so that is why we watch sports. What. A. Night. Sensational finish. Did you know it was actually the Patriots kicker who eventually got credited with the fumble recovery? Watching the play (and I will watch it again a few times later too!) after he kicked off, I noticed Gostkowski get away from a half hearted Buffalo block and join in the scrum when it developed. Pretty cool that it was he who finally grabbed the rock. Not sure what that says about the Bills, however!

Mental note to self: Must ask friend who picked Gostkowski way, way too high in our fantasy draft if he got any points for the fumble recovery..

Unlikely hero

Lots of Patriots fans seem unhappy with the win, one friend posted on his Facebook wall, ‘Must do better!’ I will politely disagree. As the head coach would say, ‘it is what it is’ and that is, an amazing come back win. Here’s the knock, the Patriots ‘are what they are’, they may as well be walking around with a bull’s-eye on their jersey as they are going to get the best, or close to the best of each team they face in ’09.

Last night the Bills played almost flawless football for 58 minutes. They played completely out of their skins, I would hypothesize that the Bills will not play that well in half of their upcoming fixtures. Clearly they were trying to get the massive 300lb Gorilla in the form of the Patriots off their back. They almost did too.

No reason to do anything other than tip your flat cap to the Bills and their feisty display, they almost pulled off a huge shock. Their motivation (having not beaten New England since 2003, being written off by everyone and their dog) was strong, and they rode it to a good display against a rusty team.

What it comes back to is, that game was a great example of why we watch sporting events. Personally, I haven’t got that excited about a play in sports for a while, when Merriweather ripped the ball loose and the Patriots grabbed it. What a crazy moment. What was the poor Bills return man thinking?! Goodness gracious he is probably getting destroyed by the Buffalo media today.

He shouldn’t take all the blame though, breathtaking final couple of drives from New England to seal the deal but where was the Bills coverage? Maybe there is nothing they could have done though, that final touchdown from Brady to Watson was in heavy traffic, just a beautifully thrown laser of a ball.

Phew!

If this is what the 2009 NFL season is going to be like, sign me up.



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There's a lot going on out there today...

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Almost too much to keep up with!

Where to start, how about Serena Williams' completely asinine, chidlish and spoilt outburst at the US Open? How delusional has this brat become?

In case you missed it, the basics;

''Kim Clijsters moved into the US Open women's singles final in controversial circumstances as the defending champion Serena Williams picked up a point penalty for a second code violation on match point. Williams was a set and 6-5 down when she foot-faulted on a second serve to hand Clijsters match point.''

Then, this happened..






Williams is on tape saying the following to the bemused line judge who was just trying to do her job;

"I swear to God I'm ... going to take this ... ball and shove it down your ... throat, you hear that? I swear to God,"

You stay classy, Serena. You can take the girl out of Saginasty, but you can't take the Saginasty out of her. Maybe Serena will make like Le Bron Bron and run around collecting up all the video tape of the event.

How far from reality has this spoilt, enabled, rich-girl brat fallen when she actually has the gall to say, 'I didn't threaten anyone'?

This was one of only two completely wack-O superstar meltdowns over the course of the weekend. Coming in a very close second to serene Serena was the self titled superstar of rap, Kanye West. West, the subject of the greatest South Park episode of all time, rushed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech during the MTV VMA awards, proclaiming;

"Taylor, I'm really happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time,"

Funniest aspect of this? The backlash from his peers. There are a gallon of funny quotes doing the rounds on the Internet today but final word has to go to Pink, who 'tweeted';

"Kanye West is the biggest piece of sh1t on earth. Quote Me."

No, seriously, tell us what you really think, Pink!

445,000 + people 'follow' Pink on twitter: The new Messiah?

So, can we just take Kanye, Serena and Emmanuel Adebayor and put them as the first members of the new Big Brother house? Even I would watch that one!



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How to spend 24 years rooting for the Patriots (from over 3,000 miles away) - version 3.0

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If you had gone back in time, to a period where the Patriots were, well, awful, and if you had looked me straight in the eye and told me that the Patriots would be one of the most hated and most successful teams in the NFL from 2001 onwards, I would have looked at you as if you had four heads.

Then I would have exclaimed, ''Wait a second, you say they get good eventually?!''

How fast people forget. The Patriots are now in a position the 49ers and Cowboys were in during the eighties, there is a large group of clowns who hate them for no other reason than their recent success.

The Patriots have been a big part of my life since roughly 1984, I fell for them then, and followed them through thick and thin. It was, and is, a passionate long distance relationship. They have been a part of some awful nights, personally speaking, and a part of some of my best memories. They are also the feature aspect of one of the strangest nights in my life.


At the turn of the year, 2008, I found myself in Mexico, in a large, dark theatre with a huge screen for the game, settling in for the Superbowl. There were hundreds packed into the theatre and there was a fantastic atmosphere. Amazingly, I was the only person rooting for the Patriots in the entire building. To my left there were a group of Jets fans, completely understandable that they would root for the Giants, on a couple of levels. Behind me was a raucous group of Dallas Cowboy fans.

Seriously, I have absolutely hated the Dallas Cowboys ever since. Not just for the fact that they are a joke of a team. A spineless, bad joke who will never see any success in their current make up, but mainly because that night, those Dallas Cowboy fans showed me everything I needed to know about their ilk.

First things first, how can Cowboys fans root for the Giants? It just does not make sense. They hate each other! This group though, this group of brainless Seal like gimps, you would have had to have seen them to believe them. There were about twenty of them. Half of the guys were wearing beige slacks and had their cell phones clipped externally on their belt, you know, in case something important came up during the superbowl, obviously. Their fake blonde, fake breasted and learning-disabled wives formed the single most annoying group of women I have ever seen. Clearly their two Coors Lites had gone to their heads, as they 'whooped it up', screaming, shouting all game long. One of them kept drunkenly screamed 'Go Cowboys!' every few minutes until she finally went outside to vomit, I assume, never to re-appear.

That night, that game, had such a surreal 'feel' to it. As Tyree caught the ball against his head, as Manning threw that final touchdown pass, the night started to spin for this Patriots fan. I started looking for the exit as fast as I could, only to walk into two of the group of Cowboys fans. They started teasing me and I 'lost the head' as we say here in Ireland, screaming expletive laden abuse at them, to the point where a hotel staff member had to ask me to leave. As I slipped out into the inky black Mexican night, I heard one of the Cowboys fans mumble in an injured tone, 'Man, what's his problem, it's only a game!'


See that's the thing, it wasn't only a game. It was decades of watching an awful team turn into a great team, turn into a dynasty team, and watching as that team slowly became hated by so many. It was watching the incredible '07/'08 run come to a crashing halt against a mediocre team that hit the right note at the right time. It was having to listen to Dallas Cowboy fans rooting for a team they would hate 364 days of the year.

Maybe it had to happen thought. Maybe that loss, that night, followed by Brady getting injured last season, followed by a major house cleaning of defensive veterans, maybe all that had to happen so we could reach this point, and, basically, start again.

It kind of feels like the Patriots are starting over tonight against Buffalo.

Taking a step back, what does it actually involve? Supporting a team from the distance of Ireland to the United States. Well, first of all it involves spending fifteen years of your life supporting a team that seems like it is going nowhere slow. Try that and see how you like it. The Patriots were so, so, so bad for most of the eighties and nineties. Functionally speaking, in the days before the Internet it involved snippets on late night English sports shows, which graduated in the early nineties to flashy reports off the new fangled Internet, and the new glossy Sunday night coverage on Sky Sports TV. Now It involves daily visits to the Boston Globe for the latest news on the boys from the Razor, and wearing a throw-back 'Grogan' jersey to the cinema on a Friday night before a big game on the forthcoming Sunday.

It all started in 1985. I was on holidays with my parents and my Aunt from Connecticut, Essie, and she gave me a present of a stat book from the '84 NFL season. It wasn't much to look at, small, red, with a picture of a San Francisco player on the front, but it was stacked full of statistics, results and hundreds of pages of ways of clogging up my fertile teenager's imagination.

Old Football books (and cards) are cool

I devoured it. I would check every statistical category and hope that a Patriots player was in the top ten. Having been actually born in New England they were the obvious choice of teams to root for, and besides, I kind of liked their logo, Pat the Patriot, and they had cool players like Steve Grogan, Mosi Tatupu and Stanley Morgan.

The old Patriots logo, 'Pat the Patriot', doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of opponents, but looked pretty cool to a 13 year old..

Mosi Tatupu became something of a legend even after his career with the Patriots was over. Always a charismatic, interesting guy, he achieved global notoriety status when his name was invoked by some South Pacific tribes peoples on the Simpsons. I remember I was watching a video of the episode when I heard one of them shout 'Mosi Tatupu, Mosi Tatupu' and I rewound a few times wondering if I was hearing things.

'Mosi Tatupu, Mosi Tatupu!!'

Sure enough Tatupu was mentioned on the The Simpsons during Treehouse of Horror III. His name, said twice, was intended to be translated "The blue-haired woman will make a good sacrifice!"

They were a hard nosed, working class team and had a good '85, a time when American Football was covered pretty comprehensively by the new, chic, Chanel 4 of the UK. C4 had lots of new drama and some pretty controversial shows, you were pretty much guaranteed a couple of topless shots in some show or another late at night, which, at the time, caused pickets in Ireland with people protesting that C4 was allowed on Irish TV.

Sunday night C4 had highlights of the early games, extended highlights of one game and some decent commentary and analysis. It was exciting stuff, long before the Internet, WAP. Long before sitting at dinner on a Sunday night following the Patriots on wap with a phone hidden between my legs, watching every play in text format.

At mass in my early years I would close my eyes and visualise Tony Eason dropping back to throw a touchdown. I would construct whole drives in my head, then dash home to see if the Patriots could do it that night.

Along came the '86 season, and the wonderful Patriot's run to the Superbowl. They were underdogs every week but the Patriots won three road playoff games on their way to Super Bowl XX and a date with the Bears.

Everyone knows what happened next. It was, at the time, the worst Superbowl loss ever.

The team then floundered a good bit, splashing around uselessly for a few years, years where Chanel Four lost it's right to cover the game to then new station 'Sky' (Think Fox, slightly less inane) which in those days was essentially pay per view.

Working in Cape Cod for the summers of '93-'95 I got a first hand look at the rebirth of the Patriots, after the drafting of the amazing Drew Bledsoe. People are so quick to forget. Bledsoe was basically the catalyst that gave birth to these new Patriots that all of New England loves and calls their own. He was a superb passer and a class act to boot. The Superbowl run of '96 was a lot of fun

Bledsoe - The good times get started in New England

I'll never forget what Bledsoe did for the Patriots.

One of my favourite Patriots memories was the AFC Championship game in '01 where Brady, the new guy at the time, twisted his ankle and Bledsoe came off the bench to quite literally lead the Patriots to the Superbowl, throwing two touchdowns, one an absolute beauty. And that was all she wrote on the Bledsoe era. With the incredible drive to set up the winning field goal Brady announced his arrival.

I was watching the Super Bowl in Dublin at home with my brother and Father, and best friend Paul, the same people I watched the 1986 slaughter with. I'll never forget watching as Brady spiked the ball with just a few seconds left, it was like it was all in slow motion, the ball bounced back up, he twirled it on his finger for a second and flipped it to an umpire. How unbelievably calm and poised for, basically, a rookie.


As the winning field goal split the uprights my brother and I literally jumped off he sofa and hopped around the living room hugging. The unbelievable, upset win over the Rams in the 2001 Superbowl was the first Championship any team I had supported in my early teens, from 1987, to adult life had won. I simply had no clue how good that felt!

That signalled a bizarre period of five years leading up to today where the Patriots suddenly became the class of the NFL. Winners of three Superbowls and the team no one ever wants to cross paths with.

Brady just gets the little things, like turning up at several Red Sox games and wearing the cap to press conferences. Basically he knows how to appeal dorks like me who should know better. Call him the 'anti LeBron'

Brady completely epitomized this sudden transformation from also rans to NFL Champions. The best part was he did it the hard way and the right way. From a difficult College career where he had to share time with a lesser player because of shady insider team politicking, to standing on the sidelines his first NFL season, to being the first player at training every morning Brady became the hard working face of the Patriots. Coach Bill Belichick awards a prime parking spot to the player who is most dedicated to the offseason conditioning program. Brady has earned that coveted piece of real estate in all five years since the Patriots moved to Gillette Stadium. Call him the anti T.O.



Allot of Brady's appeal is he is not a incredible athlete like Michael Vick, he doesn't have Brett Favre's arm, but he has a little bit of all the good qualities that make a terrific Quarterback and he has something 80% of them don't have, the most unbelievable will to win. This guy just despises losing. His focus is shockingly concentrated.

Brady throwing a golf club after a bad drive. School report: Possibly too competitive, may struggle to make it in future life

I will never forget settling in to watch the 2004 AFC Championship game, having been reading the last couple of days that Brady had a debilitating flu, and watching the Patriots slide from 3 to 5 point underdogs going into the game against the powerful Steelers. The pundits said Pittsburgh were going to get revenge for 2001, the Patriots, with their QB sick and probably wishing he was in bed, would be swept aside.

As Brady stepped under centre I saw it immediately. The same look Ali had the night he beat Foreman. The same look Wade had against Dallas. The same look David Callaghan had against Serbia in the 2004 European Baseball Championships. He just was not losing that game. Flu be damned.

''Brady played his best game of the year in Pittsburgh despite requiring IV treatment the previous night when he had a temperature of 103 degrees.'' The Patriots torched the Steelers 41-17.

Back in '01 Brady was the darling of the NFL. Now, on the cusp of the new season, what is he? Adored still by Patriots nation, he has become hated by a large portion of 'the masses', somewhat in the same way Bono is hated in Ireland, for being too successful. Begrudgery, I believe it is called.

When I first wrote this piece a few years ago, I wrote;

Just remember though, before you label the Patriots boring and call them the new Yankees. This didn't come easy, all this success. There were plenty of sour years before the sweet. Go easy on us Patriots fans. We had dozens of years in the wilderness before we could enjoy this, this absolute steam train that's rolling through the NFL right now.

That rings very true right now, I am guessing if you polled 100 people what their least favourite NFL team was, 80% at least would say the Patriots.

Now, at this stage, that has simply become part and parcel of being a Patriots fans. People, like those imbecilic Cowboys fans that night in Mexico, love taking shots at them. That's just how it is. It means nothing to them that ten, fifteen years ago Patriots fans were wondering if they would ever come close to touching success, even for a day. We imagined a sneaky Superbowl success which we would have gladly taken. Then came the three championships, and everything changed.

Now, more so than ever, the Patriots stand at an unusual cross-roads. And for that reason most of all, amongst the dozens of others, tonight's game is going to be absolutely fascinating.




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Some snaps from wet and windy Corcaigh Park

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Some pictures we at Boston Irish took back in July before the Irish Baseball League game between the Dublin Hurricanes and the Belfast Northstars. The Hurricanes held on for a 4-0 win in terrible conditions, heavy rain and wind played out on a field already soaked from the rain the night before.



You can have a look at these pictures by clicking into this slideshow. Enjoy.
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More on Corcaigh Park

• Directions to the O'Malley fields at Corcaigh Park
• The Dublin Hurricanes on wikipedia
• Understated Dodger legends (Peter O'Malley and the fields @ Corcaigh park)

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By the numbers: The Dublin City Hurricanes '09 league statistics

The Dublin Hurricanes wrapped up their regular season campaign with an 8-7, come from behind victory over the Greystones Mariners last Saturday at Corcaigh Park. The ‘Canes will now face either the Blacksox or Spartans in the first round of the playoffs. The Hurricanes are the number one seed on the back of taking the ’09 League title with a banner 13-3 record.

That 13-3 record didn’t create itself, some hard work, heavy lumber and glove work went into it. The Hurricanes end of regular season statistics reflect just that. The ‘Canes 13-3 campaign was built on super team-work and every single ‘Cane contributed to that. Certain players stood out even further still.

First mention has to go to Hurricanes veteran Tom Kelley. TK played in every single Hurricanes game in ’09.and amassed a whopping 64 plate appearances. After a slow start he got his average up to a very respectable .260 but perhaps most impressive is his .420 OBP. TK led the ‘Canes in both plate appearance and at bats. He also played some of the best center field defence ever seen in the Irish baseball league. In fact, we are going to just come right out and say it, TK’s incredible collection of athletic catches in center field make his ’09 easily the single greatest defensive center field display in Baseball Ireland history. Yes, even more so than the time that Dave 'Sweetness' McDermott caught a fly ball with his teeth.

There is little doubt who the two offensive forces behind the Hurricanes were, Eric ‘Vegas’ Valkys and Andy Martin. Valkys, the greatest red head to ever play baseball in Ireland, led the ‘Canes in batting average and stolen bases, and was tied for the lead in hits (16). Amazingly Eric batted an even .400 for the Hurricanes, with a tremendous .520 on base percentage. He also stole 9 bases, and was only caught twice.

To give Eric’s numbers a bit of flavour, if you divide them by 15 (games played) and multiply by 150 (an average Major League players number of games in a given season), well Valkys had 150 base hits and a sensational 90 stolen bases!!

The stand out offensive performance of the Hurricanes ’09 season was, as it often is, Andy Martin’s amazing season with the lumber. Once again Andy was a terror to pitching all around the league, leading the ‘Canes in hits, runs, walks, doubles and OBP. Andy knocked 16 base hits, crossed home plate 20 times, walked 18 times and cracked 7 doubles. Andy’s on base percentage was a simply sensational .581, meaning he reached base in almost 6 out of 10 plate appearances. You can’t make that kind of stuff up.

Andy would be amongst the league leaders in all offensive categories, if we had league leaders, the Irish League hasn’t kept statistics since the 2005 season. The Hurricanes keep their own statistics, however.

If you project Andy’s numbers as we did with Eric’s above, you get pure All Star figures. 150 base hits, 200 runs, 180 walks (wow!) and 70 doubles.

Apart from TK, Vegas and Andy, another player who had a great ’09 at the plate was Hurricanes skipper Steve Divito. Steve not only led the team in RBIs with 15, he also hit one of the few home runs managed in the Irish League in ’09 – perhaps the only one, we’re not even sure as, once again, not to beat a dead horse, but for whatever reason the league doesn’t keep statistics!

Steve and TK were absolute RBI machines for the ‘Canes in ’09, driving in 29 runs in total between them, in only 15 games (the ‘Canes benefited from one walk over victory in ’09).

There were other interesting figures amongst the final statistics.

Mike Johnson, the ‘Canes fiery Canadian, was hit by a pitch 6 times, earning 6 free passes for same. What this says about Mike, we are not sure, although to be hit 6 times in less than 10 games might say everything!

Jose Gomez, who loves to hit, drove in 8 runners in only 27 at bats. The man was probably born with a maple bat in his hand.

Chris Foy, Andy Martin, Tom Kelley and Dioni Guerra spent the season wearing opposition pitchers out, with a whopping 57 walks between the four of them, or an average of 14.25 each.

Finally, Hurricanes pitching wasn’t completely horrible in 2009. The Hurricanes main starter managed an 11-1 record with a 2.33 ERA. Those numbers portray most of all the impressively high level of defence the Hurricanes played in the ’09 league campaign.

And so that was the numeric description of the 2009 Irish Baseball League campaign for the Dublin City Hurricanes. Now the second season starts, as the Hurricanes join three other teams in the quest for the ’09 Irish baseball Championship.


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The best and worst in the Majors in payroll value

Once you have finished reading this report you will want to give the front office of the amazing Florida Marlins a big pat on the back. You will also feel like laughing (or shouting, if you are a fan) at the front office of the New York Mets.

Whatever about who is going to win what in ’09, there are some MLB teams doing a fantastic job on shoestring budgets, whilst there are several that are blowing through cash harder than Mike Tyson or MC Hammer. Actually, MC Hammer might run the Mets better than the current incumbents, and look more stylish doing so. That’s how bad things are for the ‘Amazins’.

There is a very straight forward way of telling what MLB teams are getting the most out of their payroll, and on the flip side, those that are getting the least out of same. If you take the payroll for ’09 for each team and divide it by the number of wins they have to date, what do you get? A dollar amount on each win for that team in the ’09 MLB season.



No prizes at all for guessing who came out last. Probably none for guessing who came first either. The Florida Marlins are really incredible. On a paltry ’09 total salary figure of $36M the Fish have managed a superb 72 wins. What that means is every win has cost the Marlins $.50M. Now that is serious bang for your buck.

The worst team is of course none other than the New York Mets, and they are worst by a long distance too. The ’09 Mets cost $149M to ‘put together’ (I use the inverted commas as it’s hard to believe there is a plan to the ’09 Mets, and the phrase ‘put together’ implies planning) and have to date ‘amassed’ 62 wins. This means each of those precious wins has cost the NY Mets $2.40M. Incredible.

The best and worst in the Majors

So on one hand you have a well run, massively cost efficient, young, talented team with a huge upside and on the other you have, well, you have the New York Mets.

Other teams worthy of credit are Tampa, Texas, St Louis and Colorado. All of those teams have produced high win totals on low budgets, in fact all of the above have a win average of less than $1M for the ’09 season, truly commendable. Tampa’s figure of $.88M per win is particularly of note, as their 72 wins have come in the ‘Group of Death’ otherwise known as the AL East. Their figure will come down drastically next season, with Scott Kazmir off the books, of course their win total might come down too, sadly.

Tampa - getting the job done

The above commendation of Tampa only shows just how incredible the Florida Marlins really are. Tampa have almost double the Marlins budget (63 against 36) however both teams have the same win total (72).Someone needs to study how the Marlins are running their ship, and pass that information on to some of the teams that aren’t exactly being fiscally sound in their team building.

The list is fascinating.

There are a group of teams in the top ten of lowest dollars spent against wins that you would think are doing a good job, however when you see how low their win totals are, all they are doing is basically treading water. San Diego, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Oakland all have really low budgets, and very low dollars per win totals, but they also have pathetic win totals. This means that although the front offices of those teams are doing a good job keeping costs down, a great job in some cases, their win totals are so low that, really, what’s the point?

These guys might be the worst offenders of the lot. At least the Mets are so bad they are entertaining. What exactly is the point of the Padres, Pirates, Twins or A’s? There is no point in these teams crying foul in that they have such low payrolls they can’t put a competitive team on the field, the Florida Marlins are a dramatic and comprehensive rebuke to that hypothesis.

There are a stack of teams idling along in mid pack with dollar per win totals in the $1M to $1.4M mark, some who are actually doing pretty well considering low-ish payrolls against admirably high win totals. The LA Dodgers are one, with a dollar to win average of only $1.23M. They are a good example of a big market team that is still getting the job done at the front office level. Take Manny Ramirez out of that payroll and the job they are doing gets even better.

There are four power-house teams that are all paying relatively high (in the $1.4M to $1.5M range) for their wins, however they can all argue convincingly that their high win totals, in aggressive, competitive divisions, are worth it to their rabid fan bases. Those four are Anaheim, Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston.

Team	wins	Payroll	average per win
Anaheim	81	113	1.40
Philadelphia	77	113	1.47
Boston	79	121	1.53
Tigers	75	115	1.53

Finally, on to the dead beats.

The following teams, with one slight exception, should all be ashamed of themselves. First to the possible exception. The New York Yankees have the second highest dollars per win average, trailing the pathetic New York Mets by only $.09M, at a whopping $2.31M per win. Putting that in prospective, the next highest dollars per win of a successful team are the Tigers and Red Sox at $1.53M, an almost unbelievable $.78M less than what it costs New York for almost the same result. Yankees fans will argue, however, that the total is the cost of staying ahead in the super competitive (with the exception of the awful Orioles) AL East. They will argue, with some merit, that the big lead they are enjoying over Boston and Tampa is absolutely worth an enormous $2.31M per win.

There are no excuses for the following pack of chug monkeys.

Someone in the front office of the Cubs, the Astros, the White Sox and the Royals needs to come out and explain to the respective fan bases what exactly they are playing at. The Cubs have a whopping $1.97M per win, their win total of 68 doesn’t compute once put alongside their $134M ’09 payroll. They, in particular, are only saved by the sheer magnificence of the keystone cop like front office of the worst team in baseball.

The New York Mets are in a whole category to themselves.

Their ineptitude simply has no peer.





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About last night, darling: How quickly we forget the .168 that turned into an AL MVP

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The scene was set late last night. In a big September game with playoff ramifications (of course you wouldn't have known it if you had gone by the pathetic Rays attendance) the Boston Red Sox were behind 5-4 but with two runners on and only one away it seemed as if it was written, the surging Sox were taking this one off the Rays.

Due up was light hitting, defensive wizard Alex Gonzalez. With several sluggers on the bench (Mike Lowell foremost in peoples minds) the world and his dog assumed Sox manager Tito Francona was going to call Gonzo back and have someone else with more pop in their lumber bat in his place.

Instead Gonzo got his at bat and struck out flailing.



Naturally, the keyboard genius managers out there are bashing Tito today for not pulling the trigger and putting Lowell in to bat.

The thing is, imagine Gonzo got a big single in that situation? Tito looks like an absolute genius, right? Instead Gonzo struck out, as did Ellsbury immediately after him. They weren’t facing scrubs, they were facing one of the Rays top relief pitchers. Sometimes Major League players strike out, it happens, look it up.

Francona explained his decision saying Gonzo had been on a tear since coming to Boston (true) and he felt it was the right time to leave him in, get him the feel for a big, tight situation. Brilliant move as far as I am concerned, or, non-move, either way you look at it. Okay, Gonzalez struck out, but he now knows he will get a chance in tight situations, he isn’t just a human vacuum cleaner, here in Boston to scoop up ground balls.

How anyone who knows anything about the Red Sox under the reign of Tito can act surprised at last night is a shocker in itself. Francona is one of the more loyal managers you will find. Remember how mightily Dustin Pedroia struggled in his rookie season? The first few months out of the gate, the future AL MVP couldn’t hit the back of a barn door with a Scud Missile, at a range of three feet. With Pedroia batting .168 well into May the brain-box Red Sox blowhard section were calling for Alex Cora to be inserted full time into the Sox lineup.

Tito stuck loyally to Pedroia at second base, and we all know how that worked out for the Boston Red Sox.



Look, let’s face it, sometimes many, many Boston fans, including myself, are an awful pain in the backside. They think they actually know more than a brilliant manager who has taken two World Series titles in the last five years. Any sign of weakness, perceived or real, and they jump all over it like a bad rash.

To read some of the clowns today, chastising Tito for allowing a Major League players to bat in a certain situation, you kind of remember how good it is to not be around people sometimes. Get a little space. Walk the dog in a nice quiet, person free atmosphere. Dive into a good movie or get lost in a good book.

The moral of the story? People really are clowns sometimes, and thank goodness we can avoid each other now and again. Thank goodness also for Tito Francona and his immense character in doing the job the way he sees fit, the way he knows works, and the way he knows his players will love him for.

Hopefully, and the guess is here he is not losing any sleep over it, but hopefully Francona isn’t bothered by some of the more inane, acerbic criticism being thrown his way today. Hopefully he sees it for what it is, noise, nothing but noise.




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Let's all make fun of the New York Mets!

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Has anyone told the New York Mets there is still, more or less, a complete month of baseball yet to be played? They way they are capitulating, caving, flailing towards the finish line, it would appear they think they are headed for the golf courses in a week or so, not in a month.

Hey, at least they lead the Majors in contrived, boring and lengthy hand-shakes.



This could go down as one of the worst seasons ever for any Major League Baseball club. Okay, so the Mets are probably 'only' going to lose 90 games (only!) and plenty of teams are going to touch 100 (We're looking at you, Crumby Kansas, Brutal Baltimore and Pitiful Pittsburgh). However, when you consider that many sports media entities actually had the Mets to challenge for the '09 World Series, their sad demise is all the more shocking.

Basically, anything that could happen to the Mets, happened to them in '09. Through a combination of inept management, shoddy play and, well, just plain old bad luck, the Mets are an absolute laughing stock.

Where to start?

First things first, the Mets can not blame poor luck on all their troubles. Their GM is a clown of Village Idiot proportions. He 'assembled' a squad for close to 200 million dollars, the second highest payroll in all of baseball other than the $$Yankees$$ and then sat back and watched as it crumbled to the floor.

How can you look your fan base in the eye and tell them that the heart of their lineup as it stands right now is; the punchless Daniel Murphy, free swinging, oft striking out Jeff Francoeur and C-level fill-in Cory Sullivan? That has to be one of the worst 'hearts of an order' not only in '09, certainly in this decade, and maybe, maybe in all of MLB history. The Pirates would be embarrassed of that 'heart'. Diseased heart, maybe. Pathetic.

This is what happens when you throw millions of dollars at a few guys and surround them with $0, C-List 'talent' as their depth. When the big guys go down through injury or lack of interest (how long has Jose Reyes been 're-habbing'?!) you are left with the immortal 'Murderers row' of Murphy, Francoeur and Sullivan.

As for the pitching. Good lord almighty. Right now, at time of writing, Mike Pelfrey is the Mets ace. I wish I was kidding, for the sake of those friends of mine who hopelessly root for the Mets, I wish I was joking. Sad, but true.

They can't even catch a break when it comes to Sporting Karma. Do you imagine Carlos Beltran (wherever he is right now) would like to take his early-season comments back in regards the Phillies and Cole Hammel? Beltran eloquently said - "Hopefully we kill him, and then he'll have to deal with the situation."

Beltran has been on the DL for ten weeks and counting. He will make $19 million in '09.

The Mets play in the field has been horrendous of late, but really it has been shoddy all season long, as far back as May for example. On May 18th the 'Amazins' committed a whopping five errors against the Dodgers, the game ending when Jeremy Reed threw the ball away attempting to force out the winning run at home plate. Stylish.

At least the Mets fan base can look forward to a bright future, a team led by a clever, well balanced front office who always get the job done. Take for example Oliver Perez, who is in the first year of a three year and $36 million contract, and had a 7+ ERA and 2+ WHIP, with two DL stints and season ending surgery. The future is so bright, one should have to wear shades.

David Wright getting plunked square in the noggin, while hopefully not something that leads to long term issues, may have been a personal 'plus' for him, perhaps the knock erased the memories of what has been a squandered season for the '09 Mets.



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Tamps Bay Devil Rays '09 postmortem

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The Tampa Bay Devil Ray fans voted with their feet last night. Or their backsides, either way you look at it. By way of their backsides remaining on their sofas, and not at the ball game.

In what you would have to think was the Rays most pivotal series of the season starting last night they didn't even manage to half fill their vacuous stadium. Think about it, if the Rays had swept Boston (not going to happen now thanks to Johnny Lester) they might have had a shot making it into the playoffs through the Wildcard. Relatively disappointing season be damned, they would have started with a clean slate and their young, fast lineup would have terrified everyone in the AL, even the $$Yankees$$. It would not be completely insane to imagine the local fan base would turn up in their thousands to roar the team on in game one of the series last night, right?

Wrong.

Gone are the thousands of bandwagon fans from the failed playoff run of '08. No more painted faces, no more painfully starchy handpainted signs, and considerably less fresh, newly purchased Rays jerseys with the tag and shiny MLB logo still on them.

In what you could argue was the biggest game of the Rays season last night a pathetic 17,692 showed up. According to ESPN the Rays stadium was a meagre 49.1% full. Less than half full, for the biggest game of their season so far.

Of course, you can't just blame those part-time, bandwagon fans that turned up in droves for the '08 playoff run, weren't they adorable. Last night Scott Kazmir should have taken the hill for the Rays. He hasn't had the greatest of '09s so far yet had definitely turned a corner post All Star Game and would have scared the red dye out of the Sox last night, no doubt.

The big winner in all of this - Kazmir doesn't have to worry about facing the Sox, $$Yanks$$ and even Blue Jays 20 times a year, his E.R.A thanks the Rays cowardly, stingy ownership!

However he will be plying his trade for the Angels for the rest of the '09 MLB season and into the playoffs too (The Halos are a lock for the playoffs).

This was an ugly, cowardly cost/salary saving exercise, the Rays basically raising the white flag and saying 'we will ride them while they are young and cheap and then give up on them when they cost too much to keep'.

Before you feel sorry for the 'small market' Rays, can you imagine how much cash-money they made during last seasons playoff run? Millions upon millions of dollars in tickets, merchandise and other revenues. Are the Rays ownership going to put that back into their team? No, they will be taking the money and running, thank you very much.

Instead of building on the success of '08 the Rays ownership are cowardly bowing out of the '09 MLB playoff chase by starting the slow dismantling of their team.

It didn't start with Scott Kazmir either. Edwin Jackson is having an insane season for the Detroit Tigers, who are probably playoff bound, in no small amount thanks to Jackson's terrific season to date. He was a Rays player until they cut him loose post '08 season, citing a depth in pitching. Of course, it didn't hurt their ownership that this would mean one less 'mouth to feed' in terms of salary.

A serious, aggressive ownership keeps Jackson and indeed Kazmir and rides a pitching strong team into the playoffs. A bunch of greedy, cowardly clowns jettisons both for flotsam and starts whinging about being a small market team. Of course you are, Tampa, and you always will be, as long as your ownership keeps thinking and acting like one.

I actually feel sorry for those Rays fans this morning, the 17,000 that showed up last night. They care about their team, possibly more so than the suits that run it.


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English Premiership transfer deadline day - feel the vibrations

Today is the final day that English Premiership clubs can buy, sell or trade players. With that in mind, the Guardian online is running a pretty funny minute-by-minute, blow by blow account right here in this blog.

Excellent stuff, worth following just for the jokes.

On a somewhat related note, what does it say about your mental stability that every time you say, hear or read the phrase 'minute-by-minute' you immediately think of the Doobie Brothers song of the same name? I do not know, but, it can't be good, right?