Name:
Location: Vienna, Virginia, United States

A graduate of Dartmouth College (2005) and Washington and Lee University School of Law (2010). These are my personal blogs, and the musings expressed on them do not reflect the positions of my employer. They do reflect my readings, thoughts, and aspirations, which I figure is good enough.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

First things first

Someone at Fanball.com needs a swift kick in the junk for this headline -

Cardinals: Prince Albert connects on his 26th long ball


And someone at Yahoo! needs a beating for letting that headline through.

Moving right along, I'd like to take a look at my baseball predictions from a while back:

What I said: 1) It would be so cool if the Washington Nationals, after realizing that they were playing in front of real crowds, turned in a stellar season and got into the playoffs. I mean, it would be poetic justice if they beat the Braves, seeing as how the Expos last contended and were in first place during the 1994 strike season. But even if they don't, I hope the Mets keep building (David Wright, MVP, 2006, you heard it here), the Phillies choke, and Josh Beckett erupts in blisters. The Nationals deserve it. I mean, I know they're millionaires all, but it must be depressing to play in front of empty stadiums all the time.

Maybe they'll draw big crowds and then Jose Vidro will sparkle. And Livan Hernandez will be the horse he is and throw 200 innings again. Maybe Brad Wilkerson will drive in 100 runs when he's not hitting all his home runs out of the leadoff spot. Maybe Vinny Castilla and Christian Guzman won't be one of the worst 5-6 men in the MLB. That last one is kind of the deal-breaker, I suppose.


What has happened: Well, the Nats were the talk of the town for a while, but now it looks like Livan is hurting, or just insane, and the team is sputtering. They're still drawing large crowds too. Chistian Guzman has literally turned in one of the worst seasons by a player not named Tony Womack, too.

What I said: I actually want Jason Giambi to hit 40 homers next year. I know, steroids, blah blah, whatever. They help you heal, prolonging your career while turning you into a mongoloid psycho.

What has happened: Giambi, after a piss-poor start, has come around lately and has found his power again. Who knew?

What I said: I wish the Oakland A's would get to the World Series after stomping the Yankees in the ALCS. I want Zito to throw knee-buckling curves all year. I want Rich Harden to pitch like Mark Prior is supposed to pitch. I want Joe Blanton and Dan Meyer to be rookie of the year candidates, and Jason Kendall to be the man that makes it all happen, a la Pudge 2003. I want all those guys that rip Billy Beane for having the Big Three to be shut up once and for all.

What has happened: After being out of the race early, the A's have ridden Rich Harden and Barry Zito to a great June and July, and are now closing in on the Angels for the division lead. Can they make it hold up? Only time will tell.

What I said: It might be argued that Beltran has more upside since he's the better athlete. But then again, Lee is also a young player with his best years ahead of him. Lee doesn't have the basepath instincts or speed that Beltran does, but 30 steals a year is not worth 10 million dollars.

What has happened: I'm very proud of this one - I wrote on Jan 6 (before he was signed by the Mets) that Beltran wasn't worth the money, and compared him to another Carlos, Carlos Lee. This season, Beltran has hit badly at Shea and been slowed by a quad injury, while Carlos Lee has been an RBI machine.

What I said: ALDS -

Yankees over Texas - Alfonso Soriano goes hitless as Texas gets swept. Chan Ho Park takes a no-hitter into the eighth before allowing 3 runs and blowing the game. New York Post's prematurely printed papers with the headline "Chan Ho No-No" become an instant EBay seller. Along similar lines, after Hideo Nomo's bid for a comeback fails, the pitcher returns to Japan and the New York Post runs the headline "No-mo Nomo".

What has happened: I believe Nomo is gone, but Texas's chances for the playoffs don't look too good. I also said that the Yankees would bow out of the playoffs with their pitching in shambles, but I was only partially correct on that, since the Yankees pitching is already in shambles.

I'll stay away from the rest of my playoff predictions, mostly because they concern the Twins. Oops. I'll also stay away from whatever I may have said about Nomar, JD Drew, and a couple of others. Double Oops.

I'm still standing by my wacky prediction for the World Series though - A's over Braves in 7.

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