UWM vs. Boston College- 1st Half

UWM vs. Boston College- First Half

We're coming to you live from my parents' house in lovely West Bend, Wisconsin. I am joined by fellow blogger, Justin Garcia. We are both enjoying Corona cervesas as the game starts.

4:31

Boston College gets the first points of the game. A quick start for the Eagles won't be good for UWM. As Garcia has stated, UWM won't shoot 50% from 3 again, so the Panthers need to stay close. By the way, go Utes! As with the last time I did a game, I will break it down into 10 4 minute periods, whoever wins the most of those, will win the game.

4:33
18:10

0-2 from three already and down 6-0. Justin's keys to the game:
1. Don't suck.
2. Try and shoot 70% from three point range again.
3. PRESS ALL THE TIME.

4:35
16:59

Just wanted to mention we really have top-notch announcers for this game (Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel). By the way, I haven't even had a drink of beer yet and it's 11-0. We have set the over/under of times the announcers tell us that Bruce Pearl is a BC alum at 3.5, Justin takes the over and predicts we will hear that stat 7 times.

4:38
16:20

The Panthers will score on this possession after a BC turnover. I'm writing it now so I can prove I made the prediction. UWM is about to go on a 7-2 run.

4:39
15:59

Panthers get a bucket, just as I predicted, and they got a turnover, do I smell a run? Anyway, BC dominated the first four minutes. UWM was 1-6 from the field and 0-3 from behind the three point line. The Eagles haven't done much wrong, although the press may get to them, we'll see.

4:45

CBS is experiencing technical difficulties. We have a black screen, 4 seconds of Utah/Oklahoma, black screen, okay, we're back. What a crack staff they have working over at CBS 58.

4:47
13:53

Ed McCants hits a deep three to bring the Panthers within 3. By the way, UWM is on a 9-1 run, so I guess I was wrong about the 7-2 thing, but I'll take this instead. Obviously UWM needs McCants to play like the conference player of the year to win this game. More shots like that and UWM will be tough to beat.

4:49
13:28

After a stupid Panther foul, the BC player airballed his free throw, one of the greatest sights to see in basketball. The press seems to be working also, as it causes another turnover.

4:51
12:27

Yet another turnover forced by the UWM press. The game is tied at 14, so a 14-3 run by UWM. Early game jitters by UWM are gone. One thing though, I don't like the timeout call in a situation where a player doesn't think they have anywhere to go. Especially in the first half where you have plenty of time to make any mistakes up, you shouldn't waste timeouts.

4:52
12:17

UWM takes the lead!

4:53
11:15

UWM dominated that four minutes even more than BC dominated the first. The Panthers are on a 19-5 run and have a three point lead. The press is working quite well, and like Justin asks, "Why don't they press all the time?"

5:00
8:57

We have reached the inevitable time during every tournament game where we discuss how our brackets are looking. Mine are okay, Justin had some of his big teams lose, however, so his aren't looking that good. If Arizona loses to UAB today, I fear for his life.

5:04
6:53

UWM also wins that four minute period in our opinion. 28-23 and UWM is frustrating BC with this press. Also just checked in MTV Spring Break to see 50 Cent preforming, simply outstanding.

5:10
6:04

Ed McCants just gets called for a technical foul for pushing Dudley in the back. UWM cannot afford to lose McCants for anytime. UWM needs to maintain right now and not let this bit of misfortune be a momentum swinging time in the game.

5:11
6:01

The first reference to 1981 BC graduate, and former BC mascot, Bruce Pearl.

5:13
4:53

Reference number 2, we've almost reached the 3.5 over/under.

5:15
2:57

I will have to give that period to BC simply because of the 6 point trip, going on an 8-0 run to take the lead at 31-30 and having the lead right now at 34-33. Momentum has switched a bit, but UWM has held fairly strong. Remember, they spotted BC 11 points to start the game.

5:21
1:43

DON'T SHOOT THAT ADRIAN!!, or shoot it; says Justin, as he hits a three to make the lead 41-34.

5:22
:39

Justin and I seriously have no idea what just happened. We were discussing jersey chacers. After seeing the replay, the BC player who threw a forearm into the throat of Pancratz's throat should have been thrown out of the game. It was a flagrent elbow, which should have been called, and all the announcers can say is, "Ooh, sending a little message." Are you kidding me?!?!

5:25
Halftime

Justin wants me to refer to Pancratz as MK from now on for "momentum killer". Also, I asked the question before the game if BC is the new Cincy. Big players who are punks, look like thugs, and beat the crap out of you. Justin said the only way to tell will be the graduation rate at BC. Another question is, why doesn't the top seed in the tournament play the play-in winner? Can anyone tell me this? Oh yeah, UWM wins that period, and the half. Strong/ physical play and the press had the Panthers thinking Sweet 16 as they lead 41-37 at the half. See you after the second half.

-Until next time...

UWM vs. Boston College- 2nd Half

UWM vs. Boston College Second Half

Welcome back to the UWM/BC game. I hate Elvis, just thought I'd throw that in there.

5:44

Our spectacular announcers come back to give us analysis of the first half and tell us what needs to happen in the second half. This begs the question, what do these guys do during the rest of the season? Are they actual regular announcers, or do they just get called upon for the big stage? I need to know this answer.

5:46

Uh-oh, Milwaukee undefeated when leading at the half, 19-0, are we in trouble? Ed McCants says no as he hits a three to bring the lead to 44-37.

5:50
16:57

At this point, if I was Bruce Pearl, I may just tell my players to let Jared Dudley simply go to the hoop uncontested as he is 12-13 from the charity stripe.

5:51
16:05

I'm not even going to try to explain what just happened. A foul after a three, this time an intentional. Whatever.

5:53
15:52

I am defering this decision to Justin and he says BC wins this period due to their ability to get another technical/intentional foul charged to UWM. It was close, but we're going with the Eagles.

Hey, did you guys here that this year during Spring Break, it's "Sharks Gone Wild"? Wow, television is getting great.

5:56
15:52

Reference number 3 to Bruce Pearl formerly being of Boston College. One more, and those of you who took the over are winners.

6:00
14:00

After another three by UWM, I want to know if Bruce Pearl just rolls out three racks of balls during practice, and says, "Okay, shoot threes, I'll be in my office. Don't leave until you each hit 30 shots". Someone find this out for me. By the way, UWM is up 55-51.

6:02
13:14

What is the record for most free throws attempted by a single player in a single game in NCAA tournament history? Right now Jared Dudley is 13-15 as BC has cut the lead to 55-52.

6:05
11:32

Well, BC has taken the lead at 56-55. UWM will be on the line to shoot 2 free throws. They are 7-7 from the line for the day. This needs to continue for the Panthers to have a chance. Obviously BC wins this period. Hard play and the lead again. Things are starting to get out of hand for the Panthers, so this time-out comes at a great time. Right now the Eagles lead periods 4-3, with 3 to go.

6:14
9:20

Sorry, we are watching people getting seriously injured on Maximum Exposure's countdown of the worst wipeouts of all time. using picture-in-picture. UWM has kept composure here in the last few minutes and are up 7 right now, 65-58. UWM is on a 10-2 run at the moment, playing excellent basketball.

6:19
7:07

UWM was simply outstanding in this period. Up 7, hitting shots they need to hit, and playing the up-tempo, suffocating defense they have become known for. Even though BC is going to the line again, UWM has taken some semblance of control in this game.

6:27
5:44

With 5:44 left in the game, BC is going to shoot 2 free throws for every UWM foul from now on. Since they don't miss many of them, Pearl should shoot the next Panther player to foul someone.

6:31
3:30

Seriously, what was Ed McCants thinking with that shot? How about they try to work the ball around and get a good shot, and then press? Whatever, BC wins that period because UWM didn't put it away, 72-69 UWM, though. I probably won't say anything until after the game, and here's what I think, BC by 2. Garcia doesn't feel good about this either.

6:50
9.4

I said I wasn't going to post until the end of the game, but it's over. Hello, Sweet 16 for UWM. They played very well down the stretch including the last 9 points of the game. Great work by the Horizon League champions. I am glad I was wrong about my prediction. Well, that's about it. The game's over.

-Until next time...

NCAA and WIAA

It's good to be back on the blog after about 5 days without a post. It's been a hectic week in both the basketball world and with me personally. I just finished watching the Gonzaga/Texas Tech game and am preparing to watch Washington take on Pacific while checking in on the WIAA Division 2 Championship game every once in a while. After Randolph won in Division 4, my picks to win each division championship are still applicable. I have Racine St. Catherine's in D2 (although they are losing to Seymour right now), and later today I have Whitefish Bay Dominican and Milwaukee Vincent in D3 and D1, respectively. I will tell you that the D1 game tonight should be an outstanding game. Madison Memorial and Vicent may give us one of the best championship games in recent memory. If you can, check it out.

As I am preparing for the UWM game (after which you will read my diary of the game), I can't help but wonder who came up with the schedule for games today on CBS. We saw the Gonzaga/Texas Tech game in its entirety, but no other game will be on today without another game starting during it. Couldn't the NCAA have scheduled the games to start at 12:20 when they did, and have another game start at halftime of every game afterwards, wouldn't this have been a better idea to maximize viewership for the eight games? Oh well.

The upset of Gonzaga was a continuance of what we saw at the end of last night. People actually believed in Gonzaga this year, so it is surprising to see them out of the tournament this early. Even though last season some analysts had Gonzaga in the Final Four or even winning the whole thing, most of those predictions were taken with a grain of salt. However, this season Gonzaga wasn't really talked about as a National Championship threat for most of the season, but were very impressive none-the-less. They have a tough team and a great inside-out combo in Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison. Morrison is the kind of player who can take over a game when needed (see 10 straight Gonzaga points today), but unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it still wasn't enough. Maybe the Big 12 was tougher than we all thought it was...

...What? Kansas lost?!? Wait! Wasn't Kansas playing a 14 seeded Bucknell team which had never won an NCAA tournament game before, and came from a conference which hadn't won a single tournament game before (0-14)?!? Kansas, a team which was ranked number 1 in the country earlier this season, lost to a team which had to rent (for $150 for pizza and tee shirts) the Northern Iowa pep band because it doesn't have a pep band itself? But, the Jayhawks had three great seniors who had played in two previous Final Fours and three Elite Eights, they can't be out. Oh, but they are. It was a great game and ended with a Christian Laettner-esque shot, except Wayne Simien forgot to do the most important thing, and make it. I'll be completely honest, I'm cheering for Bucknell against the Badgers. I'll take all the crap people want to dish out, but I'm cheering for the biggest underdog since Hampton in 2001, and the first 14 to still be playing since 1999. I won't be disappointed if the Badgers win, but I am cheering for Bucknell. Plus, I still have UWM to cheer for (and will still have them to cheer for after today). One final note on this game. I was thoroughly disappointed that CBS did not switch coverage to this game until there was just over 1 minute remaining in the game. I had to watch Michigan St. and Old Dominion for most of the Kansas/Bucknell thriller. Although the St./Dominion game was close for awhile, you could tell that Michigan St. was about to pull away, and it was a number 3 seed losing to a 14 in one of the other games. I understand that CBS wants to show us games of teams from our region (Michigan St.), but wouldn't it be more of a concern of theirs to show us teams from our regional, especially when Wisconsin is playing the winner of the other game (Kansas/Bucknell)? Why wouldn't we be more interested in seeing the team which we are going to play in the next round, even if the game isn't close and isn't the biggest upset in 4 years? I don't understand this.

Syracuse also went down in round one, losing to Taylor Coppenrath and Vermont last night. I didn't see much of this game becuase, well, I fell asleep. All I have to say is that I won't sleep on the Cattamounts again. While this game wasn't quite as shocking as Kansas going down, it was still an upset. Syracuse was a team which many people thought could make a run back to the Final Four and possibly even win the title. I guess they were wrong. On a side note, I want Gus Johnson to do commentary on my life. I wonder how much it would cost to have him follow me around every day just announcing every thing I do. Man, that would be great!

By the way, here are the conference standings (at least the conferences I care about):

ACC- 5-0
Big 10- 3-2
Big 12- 4-2 (5-2 including the T. Tech win today)
Big East- 4-2
C-USA- 3-1
Pac 10- 2-2
SEC- 3-1

Is there a reason why the ACC is always considered the premiere basketball conference in the nation?

-Until next time...

30 Teams in 30 Days: San Francisco Giants

If ever a team were built to win now, it would be the 2005 San Francisco Giants. Of all the position players on the roster, only two are under the age of 30 (Pedro Feliz 29, and Yorvit Torrealba 26). The average age on the Giants starting lineup is 36. If they can stay healthy, this could be a very dangerous team.
The Giants three biggest needs on offense were addressed in the off season. They upgraded at catcher by bringing in Mike Matheny and letting A.J. Pierzynski. Matheny is a very good clutch hitter, but his strength lies in defense and calling a game. He will undoubtedly do wonders for Jason Schmidt and Kirk Rueter, but more importantly for young Jerome Williams and Noah Lowry.

Another need addressed was the shortstop position. Devi Cruz got a lot of playing time there last year, and performed admirably, but Cruz is a guy better suited to be a utility guy. Looking to upgrade mainly defense, the Giants inked former Mariner and Indian Omar Vizquel. Vizquel still can be a very dangerous two hitter and is still a gold glove caliber fielder who will fit in nicely with this veteran club.

The last spot addressed was right field. For years the Giants relied on guys like Michael Tucker, Dustan Mohr and Jose Cruz Jr. The Giants now have another veteran guy in Moises Alou. Alou continues to put up very solid numbers offensively, and will finally give Barry Bonds someone in the lineup to take pressure off of him. Something the Giants haven’t had since they lost Jeff Kent.

Rounding out the starters are Ray Durham at second, Edgardo Alfonzo at third, J.T. Snow and Pedro Feliz platooning at first, and Marquis Grissom. Michael Tucker is the fourth outfielder and may essentially become an everyday player by frequently relieving Bonds, Grissom and Alou. Devi Cruz and Feliz will serve as the utility infielders and Yorvit Torrealba will be the backup catcher.

The pitching staff looks much the same as it did a year ago. Jason Schmidt is back as the staff ace, and Kirk Rueter is the second man on the staff. Brett Tomko and youngsters Noah Lowry and Jerome Williams round out the staff. Brad Hennessy will probably begin the season in AAA, but will have a shot to crack the rotation as well. In the bullpen, former Brewers Wayne Franklin and Matt Kinney will compete with Jeff Fassero and Brandon Puffer for the long relief spots. Tyler Walker, Jim Brower, Jason Christiansen, David Aardsma, Scott Eyre, Jeremy Fikac, Al Levine, Armando Almanza and last years closer Matt Herges will all be in competition for probably five set up jobs.

After going without Rob Nen last year and relying on young Matt Herges, the Giants now have a proven closer in Armando Benitez. In Florida last year, Benitez appeared in 69 innings, striking out 62 batters and compiling an era of just 1.29. He earned 47 saves and went 2-2, making a serious improvement on his past few years. By all accounts, Benitez has looked great in the spring, and could have one of the better years of any reliever this year.

5 Burning Questions

Much like I did with the Diamondbacks, I am going to combine all five into one here again.

5-1. Can the Giants stay healthy?
This is a very old team (average age 36) and unless Pedro Feliz beats out J.T. Snow, every position player will be older than 30. The outfield is a huge question. Michael Tucker, Barry Bonds, Moises Alou and Marquis Grissom are 33, 40, 38 and 37 collectively.

Fearless Predictions

Pedro Feliz will beat out J.T. Snow for the first base job.
Barry Bonds will win the MVP and break Hank Aaron’s home run record this year.
Jason Schmidt will have another Cy Young type of season.
Armando Benitez will get the most saves in baseball.
The Giants will win the NL West

30 Teams in 30 Days

The Dodgers decided to shake things up this off season, despite a successful year in 2004. Their formula for winning last year was great pitching, good defense and timely hitting. This year’s Dodger team will focus more on offense and increasing their run total.

The outfield has gone through some changes. David Roberts was traded to the Red Sox around the trading deadline, and Steve Finley was brought in. After Steve Finley signed with the Angels in the off season, the Dodgers found themselves without a centerfielder. Filling that void in center will be free agent acquisition J.D. Drew. Drew is naturally a corner outfielder, but the Dodgers think he can make the adjustment. If he can’t, look for Milton Bradley to move into that spot. Drew is a guy who has always had a ton of potential, and finally started to show it the last two years in St. Louis and Atlanta. Playing right field for the Braves last year, Drew batted .305 with 31 home runs and 93 RBI. The afore mentioned Milton Bradley is once again patrolling rightfield, but the leftfield spot is up for grabs. The job right now is a three man race between journeyman Ricky Ledee, Jason Werth, and Jason Grabowski, although the Dodgers have toyed with moving Grabowski to catcher.

Two very good defensive infielders were allowed to leave in the off season. Alex Cora, who struggled offensively but was one of the best defensive infielders in the big leagues signed with the Indians. Adrian Beltre had an MVP type season last year. Was it because it was a contract year, maybe but Beltre had the tools offensively and is one of the better defensive third baseman. In a very questionable move, the Dodgers allowed Beltre to leave through free agency and sign with the Mariners. The move was questionable because for nearly identical money that Beltre was given by the Mariners, the Dodgers signed J.D. Drew. If you’re going to spend that much money on someone, why not just put that towards keeping Beltre. Replacing Beltre at third will be Jose Valentin. Valentin is a guy many of our readers will be familiar with, spending time with the Brewers and White Sox. Jose Valentin is a guy who is clearly in the twilight of his career. He batted only .216 in a lineup with a lot of protection last year, but did hit 30 homeruns. He’ll hit 20-30 homeruns a year, but he is going to commit a lot of errors and strike out a lot. The other big name they brought in offensively was Jeff Kent. Kent is still a very good offensive player, but his range is gone and he is at times a liability at second base. Shortstop Cesar Izturis made strides offensively last year and continues to be one of the better defensive shortstops in the National League and he joins first baseman Hee Sop Choi and catcher Dave Ross as the Dodgers returning starters.

The pitching staff lost Hideo Nomo, which may not be that much of a loss. Their were rumors and efforts by the Dodgers last trading deadline and over the off season to acquire Randy Johnson, but those efforts fell short. The Dodgers were involved in the Randy Johnson deal, but they moved Shawn Green and brought in Dionner Navaro in part of that three team deal. Brad Penny was acquired at the midpoint of the season last year, and only appeared in one game before missing the rest of the season with an arm injury. Penny will be counted on to be the ace of the staff this year. He has the stuff to do it, but health is a huge question. The new face on the pitching staff is Derek Lowe. Lowe is a very good third man on a staff, which is the role he will play here again. The only question I have is this. Lowe is a sinkerball guy who gets a lot of groundball outs, which would have fit in perfectly with last years Dodgers. This year the infield defense is a bit shaky. Odalis Perez, Kaz Ishii and Jeff Weaver return to a rotation. By the way, I don’t think it was just a change that Weaver needed to finally become the pitcher he should be. He’s already gone through two.

The bullpen is usually the strength of this team, but this year it doesn’t look to be on that same level. Eric Gagne is the best closer in the league, but showed signs of being human last year, and has already had injury concerns in spring training. Guillermo Mota, arguably the best set up man in the league is gone, and so is Tom Martin. Giovanni Carrara and Duaner Sanchez are the two best set up men on this team. Darren Dreifort and Elmer Dessens will serve as the long relievers, and young Yhency Brazoban will get a shot at winning a middle relief job. The names and talent just aren’t there. I’m not sold on this bullpen holding leads for Eric Gagne.

5 Burning Questions

5. How much will the Dodgers miss Adrian Beltre?
He was a cornerstone of the franchise and a guy who played great defense at third and finally started to blossom offensively. You’re replacing him with Jose Valentin?

4. Meltdown Bradley
When will Milton Bradley go through his first incident of the season, more importantly how many times will he. With an already shaky outfield the Dodgers can’t afford to lose Bradley to suspension.

3. Is this bullpen good enough?
Who do the Dodgers have in their bullpen that stands out as a potential good set up guy. Duaner Sanchez may be that guy, but has mainly been used as a situational lefty.

2. Who is the Ace?
Brad Penny, Odalis Perez, Derek Lowe. Who is going to step up and be the ace of the staff. There’s no doubt Penny has the stuff, and is the guy the Dodgers would like to be their ace, but he has performed much better in the past as a two or three.

1. Should we worry about Gagne’s health?
Is he going to be the same pitcher he was this year? He did show signs of being human and breaking down last year, granted even with that he was still arguably the best closer in the league, but now he has injury worries.

Fearless Predictions

This bullpen will blow a lot of leads.
Edwin Jackson will be one of their five starters.
Eric Gagne will be healthy and once again the best closer in the league, but won’t get used as much.
Milton Bradley will…is this even really worth writing, of course he’ll have another blow up.
Jeff Kent will start to slow down and not put up the same offensive numbers.
Jose Valentin will be the most hated Dodger in recent memory.
The Dodgers will struggle to reach .500

30 Teams in 30 Days: Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks had a confusing off season. Are they rebuilding, or are they trying to win? They allowed Richie Sexson to leave, and moved Randy Johnson and Steve Finley (last year), so all signs pointed towards rebuilding. They looked like they were going to turn the team over to their young players last year, and got some younger guys in the Randy Johnson deal, but then spent a whole lot of money in the off season on older guys. Questionable moves to say the least.

The offense stalled last year when Richie Sexson was lost for the year early in the season, and Luis Gonzalez struggled with a torn shoulder. Because of those injuries, and injuries to Roberto Alomar, Scott Hairston, Alex Cintron, Matt Kata and Chad Tracy got a lot of playing time. All four of those players played fairly well when called upon, and looked to be guys the D’backs would build around, but then came the off season. The Diamondbacks let Shea Hillenbrand leave, and elected to sign free agent, and oft-injured third baseman Troy Glaus. And sign him to a huge deal. That’s just head-scratcher number one.

After making a deal with the Dodgers, the opening day right fielder for the Diamondbacks is now Shawn Green. First of all Shawn Green is not the player he once was. Secondly he cannot effectively play the field anymore. Head-scratcher number two. In a combined effort, the third questionable move they made on offense was bringing in Royce Clayton, Craig Counsell and Tony Clark. First of all, why? And Secondly, Why? Counsell and Clayton both struggled last year, and are showing signs of getting older. The Diamondbacks have a glut of middle infielders. Why not allow those guys to play? And Tony Clark. Is Tony Clark going to help you that much? The other move they made on offense was adding Jose Cruz Jr. Cruz Jr. was a projected five tool guy as a prospect with the Mariners, but never lived up to that potential. Can he be a good player, sure. Is he better than anything they had at centerfield, absolutely, so this move isn’t all that bad.

The pitching staff hasn’t been the same since the World Series team in 2001. Brandon Webb is back, and one of the better young pitchers in the NL. But along side Webb are some question marks. Big money was spent in the off season on two guys. Russ Ortiz and Shawn Estes. Ortiz is an innings eater, and has won 20 games in the past, but he can’t be the guy to anchor your staff. Estes is nothing more than a fourth of fifth starter, and wouldn’t even see that much playing time if he wasn’t left handed. Brad Halsey and Javier Vazquez were both acquired from the Yankees in the Randy Johnson deal too. Halsey isn’t projected to be anything higher than a 3 or 4, but Vazquez is interesting. He was dominating for a stretch in Montreal, and just all of a sudden lost it last year. He says it was his delivery and mechanics, so if he can adjust that he may be a top tier pitcher again.

The Bullpen is shaky to say the least. Greg Aquino and Jose Valverde will compete for the closers job. Don’t feel too embarrassed if you’ve never heard of these guys before. Mike Koplove, Oscar Villarreal, Lance Cormier, Jose Jimenez, Randy Choate, Mike Fetters, really the list goes on of unimpressive guys competing for a job. I shouldn’t say they are all unimpressive. Valverde and Aquino both looked good last year, and Valverde had a very good year in 2003. One other name to keep an eye on is Casey Daigle. He could potentially win a job in the starting rotation, and make a name for himself other than Mr. Jenny Finch.

5 Burning Questions

I am going to lump all 5 into 1 here.

5-1. What are the Diamondbacks doing?
Seriously, make up your mind. Rebuild and go with the youth movement, or go all out on the free agents. They decided to go halfway on both fronts. If you are going to try and win now, pony up and resign Richie Sexson, bring in some bullpen help, and add another Marquee pitcher. They let Sexson go and thought “Oh well, lets try and win anyway with older second tier guys.” I don’t get it.

Fearless Predictions

Javier Vazquez will pitch very well (I would pick 15 wins if the bullpen didn’t suck).
Casey Daigle will crack the opening day rotation.
Luis Gonzalez and Shawn Green will have down years again.
Troy Glaus will play in 100 games.
Oscar Villarreal will win the closers job.
The Diamondbacks will disappoint and finish only ahead of the Rockies in the NL West.

NL West

I will start this post by saying that this week's posts are going to be very short, and there may not be many of them. I have finally convinced someone to hire me and I start working on Wednesday, so it is going to be (and has already been) a hectic couple of days. For my NL West preview you are just going to get my final standings prediction. For this I apologize, but if you want detailed previews of each team, read Garcia's analysis, or wait for mine which will eventually come. At any rate, here is how the NL West will finish.

Note: Last season's record for each team will be in parenthesis.

1. San Francisco Giants (91-71)- 93-69
2. San Diego Padres (87-75)- 91-71
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69)- 72-90
4. Colorado Rockies (68-94)- 67-95
5. Arizona Diamondbacks (51-111)- 60-102

-Until next time...

30 Teams in 30 Days: Tampa Bay Devil Rays

I have to admit, I’m not too enthused about writing this team report, and should probably title it “Does Anyone Really Care?” but nonetheless here is the 2005 preview of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Tampa Bay is a bit of an intriguing team. They have a lot of good young players either on the roster or about to come up to the majors. Carl Crawford is one of the best unknown guys in the league, as is Aubrey Huff. The Devil Rays have a good nucleus of young guys, and did a good job of filling in veterans around those young players.

The outfield looks to be very solid. Aubrey Huff will transition from the infield to left field until Rocco Baldelli is back. Baldelli tore his ACL in November and is not expected back until June or July at the earliest. If Huff can’t handle the move to left, Carl Crawford will shift back to left and young Joey Gathright will be the starting leftfielder. Carl Crawford is an excellent defender and good leadoff hitter, and Danny Bautista gives the Rays a veteran slugger in right field.

The Rays have two young infielders who have a chance to play every day in Jorge Cantu and prized prospect B.J. Upton. Cantu played in 50 games last year, collected 52 hits and batting .301. As an insurance policy, the Devil Rays inked future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar to mentor Cantu. Unless Cantu has a spectacular spring, Alomar will win the starting job at second, I don’t see Robby Alomar coming off the bench. If Aubrey Huff isn’t in left he’ll be the starting first baseman, otherwise that job will go to Travis Lee. Lee has a good glove, but is no where near the player he was supposed to be coming up in the Diamondbacks system. Alex Gonzalez was signed as a free agent, and will move from shortstop to third base. The shortstop job will be the other battle on this roster. Julio Lugo finds himself in a battle with B.J. Upton. Lugo has always had a ton of potential, but a ten cent brain. Upton has a ton of potential and looked alright in limited time last year. Rounding out the infield is the catcher Toby Hall.

The Devil Rays have a young ace in the making in Scott Kazmir. Two or three years down the road we are going to wonder why the Mets gave up Kazmir for Victor Zambrano. Other than Kazmir, the rotation really lacks any notable pitching. Hideo Nomo and Denny Neagle were both non-roster invitees to spring training, and will both probably crack the opening day rotation, or at least see extended looks during the regular season. The strength of the pitching lies in the bullpen.

Danys Baez did a good job closing games for this team last year, ending up with 30. 30 saves for a team that didn’t win that many games means virtually every time he was called upon he did the job. Surrounding Baez are Lance Carter, Jesus Colome, Travis Harper, and lefty Trever Miller. All four of those guys had an era under 4.00 last year, with Carter and Harper proving to be the workhorses of the staff pitching in over 79 innings a piece. This bullpen is quietly one of the best in baseball, and if the starting staff can pitch well enough to give the bullpen leads, the Rays will win a lot more games this year.

5 Burning Questions

5. Where will Aubrey Huff play?
His success hinges on where he plays, and more importantly stays. I don’t think Huff will have a successful season if he gets shifted around from position to position.

4. Will Center be Rocco’s place?
Will Rocco Baldelli be back at all this year? The absolute earliest you can expect him back is June, even so you’ve got to expect him to be rusty. If Baldelli can come back it adds a totally different element to this team that could possibly propel them into the middle of their division.

3. Youth Movement
Will Jorge Cantu and B.J. Upton beat out veteran players Roberto Alomar and Julio Lugo to win a starting job? If the Devil Rays want to sell tickets, yes. If they want to win now, maybe the answer is still yes.

2. Kazmir and……
Who is going to round out this pitching staff. Dewon Brazelton, Mark Hendrickson and Doug Waechter just don’t do it for me. Will Hideo Nomo and Denny Neagle win spots in this rotation?

1. Is he ready
A lot is going to be expected of Scott Kazmir this season. Is he ready to be the ace of the pitching staff already? The Devil Rays will at least need him to make strides towards it this season.

Fearless Predictions

Hideo Nomo will win a job in the rotation.
Aubrey Huff will play a majority of time in left field.
Roberto Alomar will beat out Jorge Cantu.
B.J. Upton will beat out Julio Lugo.
The Devil Rays will once again have one of the better bullpens in the AL.
Rocco Baldelli will miss nearly the entire season.
The Devil Rays not finish in last place in the AL East.