It is now official ladies and gentlemen, whether you wanted it to happen or not. After 7 years in the making, LeBron James has finally captured that elusive NBA Championship. No more will he be grouped in with the likes of Karl Malone, Elgin Baylor, John Barry, Patrick Ewing, and Charles Barkely. Yes sir, he has the bling. Now people are asking is he going to win more rings with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, is he going to become the next big thing, will he become the next Michael Jordan? Here's my question: Did LeBron actually deserve to win this ring? Let's get this out in the open folks. I want to make it clear that I acknowledge LeBron James basketball talents. I seen what he can do. He's a dominate force at 6'8'' 275lbs and can create defensive mismatches. He's too big for a Point and Shooting Guard to defend, he's too physical for a Small Forward to cover one on one, and he's too fast for a Power Forward and Center. But that being said, he gets babied way too much. During the playoff run against the Knicks, Pacers, Celtics, and Thunder, LeBron averaged 30.3 points per game. Impressive huh? Yet he went to the free throw line on average about 10 times per game, including a laughable 24 times in Game 2 and 17 times in Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. Here's the real kicker that most people tend to overlook: LeBron averaged close to 43 minutes per game playing time during the playoff run. Yet he averaged just a little bit over 2 fouls per game. How can somebody average 2 fouls over 43 minutes? When you watch him play, on offense LeBron just lowers his shoulder and charges into people. Then when you watch him on defense, he plays very physical and grabbing onto jerseys. Both instances, those will be called fouls but the refs just held back their whistles . But just ask players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Durant how quick the refs are to blow the whistle in favor of LeBron. Pretty fast if you ask me. So how do we look at LeBron's first title? Did he win because of his talent or because he got help by the whistles? You decide. -Ryan Fox NY Times Photo The Yankees have been on fire to say the least. Wrapping up a weekend series with the cross town Mets the Yankees opened up a home stand with a sweep of the Indians. An almost effortless three games for the Bronx Bombers until today. Before today's action, the Yankees placed ace pitcher CC Sabathia on the disabled list with a strained left groin. Sabathia is currently the team leader in innings pitched, strikeouts and most importantly wins. He last pitched Sunday night at Citi Field. When the news first broke the Yankees had a contingency plan in veteran righty Freddy Garcia, the team looked like they could almost easily sustain the temporary loss. After all they still had Nova, plus Koroda and Hughes have been serviceable. Add Petite's solid arm and everything will be fine. The Yankees were feeling good about their rotation. Veteran Andy Petite threw a 62 MPH breaking ball to the Tribe's Casey Kotchman that came right back at Petite. In fact, it riccocheted off his ankle causing a fracture. You could hear the collective gasp of the Yankee faithful as the ball nailed his ankle and shot out towards third base. Yankee skipper Joe Girardi pieced together the rest of the game with five other pitchers that included Freddy Garcia. Once scheduled to pitch for Sabathia Friday, now Garcia will more than likely start in Petite's spot in the rotation. Thus leaving the Yankees without two key veterans. Even worse, these are two key lefty veterans. Petite is set to miss at least the next six weeks. Sabathia with any luck should return to action after the All-Star break. -Pal Google this: Famous Seattle Mariners. Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson and Felix Hernandez will all appear on the list. But undoubtedly, the first name you will see is Ichiro Suzuki. In 2001, Ichiro made the leap from a Japanese League All-Star to American League MVP. Since that time Ichiro has compiled a small museum of awards, 2500 hits and a career .323 batting average. A sure first ballot Hall of Famer and Seattle icon, Ichiro finds himself in an unfamiliar position, on the trading block. The Mariners have been open with their loyal fan base. Plans have been laid out to rebuild and push forward with the youth they already have. Dustin Ackley (24), Justin Smoak (26), Jesus Montero (22) and Michael Saunders (25) all have become the new Seattle mainframe. Ichiro is now 38 and has begun to slow down. Still a valuable commodity to a team involved in a post-season push. A clutch hitter who has been for years a rally starter. He is a pest to opposing pitchers. There lies the Mariner dilemma. If you polled the Mariner faithful, even the team's front office, I believe the majority would side in favor not to trade the All-Star right fielder. Baseball purists, and casual fans alike always prefer stars like Ichiro to go out with the club they came in with. Everyone remembers Babe Ruth's Yankee days where as few even acknowledge or are aware he finished his career in Boston as a Brave. Who brags of Hank Aaron's last two seasons, when he was a Brewer? Would anyone want to see Derek Jeter play his last couple of seasons say in Arizona? These days there is much to be said for the business of sports. Make no mistake about it. This is a baseball decision not a business nor financial call. Ichiro is in the last year of a 90 million dollar deal. That fact alone makes it very tempting for Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik to entertain trade offers. Think about it. To re-sign Ichiro, you're looking at approximately about 2 years at 16-20 million. If he stays healthy, he's still good for 150 plus hits and an above average on bass percentage. If you trade him, you save that money and add another piece to the new mix. In 2000 the Indians traded aged slugger David Justice to the Yanks for three players including current big league hurler Jake Westbrook. Closer Eric Gagne was sent from Texas to Boston for three prospects in 2007. David Murphy was one of those prospects. Whatever the Mariner organization decides to do, it could still be the end of Ichiro in Seattle. If there is no trade and he becomes a free agent will Ichiro stay for less money. It is unrealistic to think that a small market club the Mariners will spend top dollar to retain there star. A recent string of poor seasons and diminished attendance at the gate will assure that. -Pal The NBA finals have not been what they were expected to be from the beginning. I think everyone, myself including, thought that the Thunder were going to close this series and ultimately win their first championship under the Durant and Westbrook regime. Game 1 looked like they were on the right track, but since then everything has been going downhill for OKC. Miami came back strong in game 2 to steal one for the Heat on Oklahoma's home floor and has been rolling ever since. Miami has gone onto win the next to games on their home floor, with one more game to go in Miami. There have been many contributing factors to the Heat stunning many people and putting OKC in a 3-1 hole, which no team in NBA Finals history has ever climbed out of and came back to win the series. A huge part of the wins in games 2 and 3 for Miami is the fact that they got Durant into foul trouble in both games. This was a huge loss for OKC because of his offensive output, which won him the scoring title for the 3rd time. Forcing a player like Durant to sit on the bench and just watch as Wade and James pick apart his team must have been extremely painful for Kevin to watch. It definitely seems that Miami has found the straw that will eventually break the proverbial camel's back, and if they continue to get Durant into foul trouble then it will definitely end in disaster for the Thunder. On the other side of the coin for the Miami Heat, Wade, James, Chalmers and Battier have been spectacular to say the least. James is finally closing games when it counts most and has been ridiculous overall throughout all the finals games. Wade has fit into his role as he has throughout his career. In the earlier rounds of the playoffs he had struggled but luckily he has found his game again. Chalmers came through for the heat in the ladder part of game 4, on the way to a 104-98 Miami win. He was criticized by both Wade and James in the early games of this series for his poor play and decision making during the game, but he came through when his team needed him most. Last but not least is Battier, who is the final piece to ultimately in mind win the series for the Heat. He has been completely unconscious from behind the 3-point line and he is showing the world his spectacular defense which was always his best attribute as a player. These four guys need to stick together and they will walk away with the most coveted trophy of all. Needless to say, the Oklahoma City Thunder will most likely fall to Miami, and it will probably be sooner then later as Game 5 is on Miami's home floor. Durant wants his first championship so bad he can taste it, but Lebron has been chasing it since he entered the league in 2003. After the whole media frenzy of him "taking his talents to South Beach," he is proving to be the bigger dog in this battle, and for lack of better words, the bigger dog usually eats first. Durant, Westbrook and the Thunder will just have to keep on waiting for a piece of the pie. - Coach Every year, around this time, the same discussions begin to erupt. Who can the Sox acquire before the trade deadline to give them that final push towards the post-season. They, along with the Yankees, are always the big buyers. The goal is to lure veteran talent from struggling squads looking to shed salary in exchange for some young prospects. This year seems to be different. 65 games into the 2012 season, the Sox sit at the bottom of the AL East, and have struggled to stay healthy, cohesive, or consistent. They are burdened by terrible contracts who are not producing, or even seeing the field... this year, the Sox may be selling, instead of buying.
It has been a long journey for Carlos Beltran since 2004 since being traded from Kansas City to Houston. In eight plus seasons without so much as an at bat against the Royals, Beltran stole his 7th base of the year. That stolen base was the 300th of his career. In his first game against the club that drafted him and brought him up, he accomplished something only 7 others previously had. Swiping 300 bases and belting 300 homers. Beltran, now 35, has had an interesting ride to this point. Traded to the Astros in 2004 to help with Houston's pennant run, he was a hot commodity in the game. Many teams sought the five tool switch hitter that off-season. Beltran landed in New York with the Mets, where he would be more memorable as a ghost than the savior they ordered. A sparkling catch here a burst of power there, but the bulk of his tenure in Flushing Meadows was forgettable. While his 2006 through 2008 numbers were fairly impressive. Injuries, major or not, cut parts of five seasons short. Now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Beltran joined an elite group. Andre Dawson, Barry & Bobby Bonds, Willie Mays, Steve Finley, Alex Rodriguez, Reggie Sanders and now Beltran. Carlos is the first switch hitter in the 300 steal 300 homers club. Although a rare feat, Beltran has some work to do, as this is not an automatic pass into Cooperstown. Of this 300/300 club, only Dawson and Mays are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Nonetheless, an applause is due. At 35, Beltran is enjoying a tremendous 2012 campaign belting 19 homers to date leading the league. -Pal Here's your story... It is brief and familiar. Manny Ramirez has once again shown the world that he is in fact above the game, at least in his own mind. Ramirez had signed with the Oakland Athletics in late February, and then served his 50 game suspension for performance enhancing drugs. After hitting .302 in 17 games, Manny apparently felt rejuvenated, perhaps a little motivated , and certainly egoistic. The Athletics currently sit 8 games out of first place in the AL West. This division has recently become one of the more competitive divisions in the game. Even with their recent good play, the A's will likely be headed towards a basement finish. The addition of Ramirez would not have been enough to change that fact. Identifying this is what caused Manny to ask for his release. The Oakland brain trust undoubtedly not wanting to deal with a pouting, disgruntled Manny obliged. Leaving Manny to decide what franchise to spoil next. What race does he want to help decide? Does he want to return to the limelight? If this was just a statistical thing why not stay in Oakland where he would get the at bats? The answer is simple, much like his career, this blog, and his existence. It's just Manny being Manny. -Pal Today on Fox’s prospects, we decide to take a good hard look at one a Boston Red Sox prospect rather than an opponent’s prospect. Shocking, isn’t it. Any who, we will be taking a good look at one Ryan Kalish, an outfielder prospect that is currently playing with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
Sent from Beantown's starting five Daniel Bard arrived in Triple A Pawtucket. The purpose of this demotion to the farms was to repair mechanical issues in Bard's delivery. That is at least the illusion. Daniel Bard was once and by most still considered a potential top tier 8th or 9th inning guy. Spending the better part of the 2009 -2010 campaigns as the setup guy in Boston. The departure of free agent closer Jonathon Papelbon should have left the door open for Bard in the 9th. Then came a notion from the Red Sox brain trust that Bard could and should be more effective in the rotation. This decision all be it in foolish wasn't made in hest. Stricken with waisted big money contracts on disabled arms such as Jon Lackey, and Daisuke, Boston required an inexpensive solution. A last there stood the eager, high powered arm of Daniel Bard. The experiment has been a bust. His numbers are not grossly disgusting. They are actually slightly deciving. Either way, 5-6 with an ERA over five isn't exactly wonderful. Since joining the starting staff his fastball dropped from mid to the upper 90s to the low to mid 90s. Struggling to keep his offspeed pitches under control, he has become vunerable. In his first appearance of "operation mechanical reconstruction" Bard was wild. His first pitch hit the radar gun at 96mph his velocity dipped with every throw. His second pitch hit the batter, that event happened twice in his sole inning of work. The quick fix here is blinding. Although quality starting pitching is always at a premium, the same can be send for a strong reliable reliever. You tried. You failed. Move on. The Sox tried this same experiment awhile back with a guy named Papelbon. That did not work out so well either... and who would dare to argue that Papelbon belongs in a rotation now? -Pal |
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