SwinginSoriano

- The excuses for Sabathia have to end now. He hasn't been good at all.

- Teixera's looking terrible out there. Back in 2002 Jason Giambi's .280 batting average in april was considered a slow start in epic proportions. What's with these new Yankee players and their predictable meltdowns?

- At least the Mets are more pathetic... Not that I hate the Mets, but it stops their stupid fanbase from ripping the Yankees as bad.

- The New Yankee stadium is a joke

- My weekend sucks

- Sabbath ("Heaven and Hell") is releasing a new album at the end of the month. It's all mid-tempo stuff, probably because Ronnie James Dio's vocal range is not what it used to be and they don't want the album to be a complete studio production.

- Yesterday's Yankee game was one of the crappiest games I ever watched. Not close to the most painful, but what a shitty game.

- And Brad Lidge returns to normal!

- Soriano is having one of his typical hot starts, that way he can stop trying once it hits May!

- Can't wait to see Ichiro Suzuki hit a swinging bunt homerun at the new Yankee stadium.

And the Yankees, with Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, and Chamberlain? Not even fair by a longshot.

Seriously, I really hope so. I will really laugh my *** off when these guys mow down crappy teams like the Orioles and Royals over and over again. Realistically since they are wearing pinstripes, they are going to get injured. However, you forgot about Andy Pettitte.

In a special opening day version of 'random thoughts,' I will share some imagined quotes of fans' blind optimism for their teams and players.

What either day would the Pirates be in first place? Opening day is also a day for an extreme amount of blind optimism for their respective teams. Since Spitter.com doesn't exist anymore, here are what teams' fans are saying this year:

"If they can stay healthy, the Reds have a shot of winning the wild card."

""This year, Rich Harden will finally be healthy."

"A change of scenery will really help Milton Bradley."

"Jose Reyes will do something special this season."

"The Baltimore Orioles are better than they look."

"When will Manny Ramirez want to be traded this year?"

"I like the look of the new-look Kansas City Royals, it seems as if their young players will finally come in their own."

"The Yankees finally bought their proven big-game player."

"Mike Hampton is primed to bounce-back from his disappointing season."

"Despite no one paying any attention to them, the Minnesota Twins are my pick for winning the World Series."

"Javier Vazquez will return to form."

"If Ichiro keeps this production up until his mid 40s, he will have 3,000 hits and be a hall of fame player."

"The Mets' new closer will not blow those big saves like (Franco/Benitez/Looper/Wagner) did last year."

"Is Rudy Seanez still pitching?"

--

My "Wrong As Usual Picks" this year are:

AL East: Yankees

AL Central: Twins

AL West: Angels

AL Wildcard: Devil Rays (Easily could be Boston, it's a three-way tie almost in AL East)

NL East: Phillies

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: Dodgers

NL Wildcard: Mets

AL MVP: Matt Holliday

AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

NL MVP: Albert Pujols

NL Cy Young: Chad Billingsley

ALDS:

Angels @ Yankees (Angels win 3-1)

Devil Rays @ Twins (Devil Rays win 3-0)

NLDS:

Mets @ Dodgers (Dodgers win 3-2)

Cardinals @ Phillies (Cardinals win 3-2)

ALCS: Angels @ Devil Rays (Angels win 4-1)

NLCS: Cardinals @ Dodgers (Dodgers win 4-2)

World Series:

Dodgers @ Angels (Angels win 4-1)

What formulas are you using to evaluate major league players KG? Damn it's been a while, I'm surprised to see these rosters still going. Keep up the good work!

- Too bad YES doesn't have all the ST games on. The Mets may be a chickenshit team but they wound up with a better TV channel by far. (minus Yankeeographies of course)

- Regular baseball will be back on soon, even the Pirates are in first place for a day.

- Too many teams this year have too many holes. The Tigers lack a pitching staff, the Cubs did not improve a whole lot, the Phillies got worse, the Angels are already injured and Guerrero aged a year on top of it...

The only three teams I think are coming into this season looking good are the Devil Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees. They have well-rounded rosters with a hole here or there. Sadly they are all in the same division, something has to give.

- I have a really good feeling about the Cardinals this year, not saying they will be that good, but the Brewers and Cubs will probably be a whole lot worse.

- He's not a superstar or anything, but how's Mark Grudzielanek collecting unemployment checks while Angel Berroa or Cody "Incredibly Untalented" Ransom are going to play third base in the Bronx?

- My douchebag neighbor busted my balls that I made too much noise 'the last two hours.' Problem was I was in Danbury...

- A.J. Burnett is a good pitcher, but that contract will be a stain on the Yankees when it is all said and done.

- Winter is finally over, pretty snowy and cold.

- The economy is cold and dead and Obama's Bush style inflation tactic won't work.

- "Fatherland" was a good 1994 HBO movie. Someone loaded it up on youtube.

- This:

- The WBC is cool, caught a game last night and when I woke up. Both were laughers, but... I guess I miss baseball.

- What to do with A-Rod. the Yankees need him to compete, a 30 HR 100 RBI version of him is better than nothing.

- Sadly we got 8 more years...

- Obama is doing everything like Bush, yet people think he isn't like Bush. cult of Personality.

- Sadly we got 8 more years...

- McCain wouldn't have been any different, these two parties are complete crap.

- Ron Paul still kicks ***.

- Tesla's (Remember the song "Love Song" of twenty years ago) new album "Forever More" is a great album, and not by 'some crappy 80 band reunited and made a new album' sorta standards. It really stands up to their classic material. It's better than "Bust a Nut" and is on par with "Psychotic Supper."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmT-aQ6EOz0

- Manny on the unemployment line so far.... I really hope this lasts the season, f Manny.

- HD is overrated.

- I want Teixeira too, instead Burnett will be keeping Pavano's spot warm on the DL.

- CC will join him in 2 - 3 years

- I got some gas in Hershey PA for $1.59 yesterday, and had a picture taken of it. I have to get an IRA going and invest in oil...

- Posting this a day early because I don't know if I'll be on here tommorrow

- Cooking a "Fakegiving" dinner tomorrow. Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pies, and all that fun stuff gluten free. I did this because I was invited to a gluten-filled thanksgiving so I'll likely be hungry on Thursday. Hopefully the Cowboys lose.

- Guns N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" arrives at midnight and Axl was nice enough to have the album uploaded on his myspace. For 17 years in the making there isn't even 17 minutes of great music. The songs don't suck, but there's nothing special as evident in the leaks. The title track is nice and Shackler's Revenge is sweet but that's about it.

- Was Phil Hughes even born when "Appetite for Destruction" came out?

- Will Phil Hughes be out of baseball when Guns 'N Roses' next album comes out?

- Sabathia really does not want 140 million dollars. At least we can say he wasn't about the money. Good for him, I'm not sure he could hold up, and if he could it'd be a bitter pill to swallow to pay 23 million a year for a better version of David Wells minus the hangovers.

Finally moved into the condo I bought. :)

- Gas will go up again when people use heating oil. This happens every year guys. If I didn't sink all of my money into an apartment I would be investing in oil and doubling or tripling my money by July 4th, before the price of oil inevitably falls again.

-Bills faces the Jets today and the Giants face the Cowboys, good day for football!

Here is a long post I wrote on MotownTigers.com, enjoy!

What I think should be done to fix the World Series (and postseason):

What should definately be done

1. Move start times to 8:05 pm eastern, that way a normal game ends no later than 11:00 and 'epic' games end before midnight. I agree that pregame coverage could occur from 7-8 o'clock including introductions.

2. Move start times for all weekend games to 6:05 pm eastern. It's still nighttime in the east but it's still early enough for the whole country (and the kids!) to watch the game. Bud Selig may say crap like 'look, 2008's afternoon game had poor ratings' but this is when the Superbowl starts, and Football has no problem with ratings.

3. Start the World Series on SATURDAY again. Adding the extra off-days not only kills whatever momentum the post-season builds, but having baseball games compete with crappy TV Shows like Uglybetty, Coldcase, or whatever the hell people watch these days reduces ratings. While less people watch TV on Saturday, more people watch SPORTS on the weekend. Baseball would be the 'only game in town' on Saturday and it would piggyback football ratings with game 2 on Sunday. If the series is exciting enough, people will have no problem watching games 3,4,5 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

4. No excessive off-days. While scheduling doubleheaders would simply messup pitching rotations and bullpens and affect the pennant race, reducing regular days off would be easy. One day off in the division series, and two days off for the Championship and World series. Just like it was so long ago in 2006. Less off-days equal more momentum. Deal with the cold weather of early April and late October as it usually helps pitching. Plus if Global Warming was real we would never have to worry about this for long.

What I would want done

1. Move games back on other major broadcast networks other than Fox, just to have competing coverage. However, this is impossible due to contracts.

2. End interleague play. Other than a few actual interleague rivalries, no one gives a crap about interleague play anymore. Selig would state increased ticket sales in June but I think that's because of warmer weather.

3. Balance the schedule more. I think Teams playing each other 18 times is excessive and unnecessary, especially when these same teams may only play a team in another division 5 or 6 times that same season

4. End the Wildcard, or at least force Fox and ESPN to promote more different teams. Has anyone noticed that every postseason matchup or World Series matchup is a 'snorefest' now? Did anyone find it boring when the Braves faced the Twins back in 1991 or when the Angels faced the Giants in 2002? Hell no. Now every matchup sucks. Fox promoted baseball SO POORLY to the point that the NLCS matchup of the Phillies vs. Dodgers, the 2 and 4 media markets of the United States, was a poor draw for ratings. (Even with Manny, and two MVPS and 3 other superstars on the Phillies.) Simply, for Fox if it isn't Yankees-Red Sox or Cubs in the World Series it's impossible to get any ratings. This is something that must be stopped by 2012, or the World Series is starting after 9 PM on Cable TV before you know it. Possibly if there was no more wildcard, it would be easier to promote the front running teams. Pennant races would be straight forward again and less terrible teams (who are usually not wildcards by the way) will make the postseason. Division series games aren't even on regular TV anymore, pretty much that novelty has worn off.

5. Move the World Baseball Classic to... October. That's right, October. Put WBC games on in the afternoon in neutral sites that was the kids could watch them after school. Fill the rosters full of plays not on postseason eligible teams. Not only does this give a showcase for players on different teams, this PROMOTES the regular postseason. It's way too smart to implement. The only losers here are Japanese baseball fans. (Ruining their World Series)

What WILL happen

1. Neutral site for the World Series. When Peter Gammons discussed this, I knew it would be a matter of time sadly. As if people didn't care already.

2. More postseason games. More wildcards? Sure! Why not? People love the wildcard, and the World Series ends right before Thanksgiving! More wildcards mean that subpar Yankee-Met-Red Sox teams always make the postseason! Good for $$$$.

3. World Series on Cable. It's pretty much five years away at this point. Since baseball is such a 'burden' on Fox and the other major networks, fine cable networks like TBS, TNT, and Outdoor Sports Network will have no problem broadcasting the World Series! ESPN 1-2-3 will have Poker Shows on, so baseball would be a burden on their ratings too.

---

Seriously, baseball has to get its head out of it's *** quick, time's almost up.

- Right now I hate the Devil Rays just behind the Red Sox. Can't win a game when people ever expect them to. I want these suckers to lose 100 next season for their pathetic choke.

- Giants play the niners today, should be easy but of course the game has to be played first.

- Actually this will be the first Sunday this season that I will actually have the time to watch the Giants on TV, as I was renovating on all those other days listening to the G-Men on the radio.

- I watched baseball instead of Monday Night Football though, which goes to show how much more I care about baseball than even my favorite football team.

- None of my friends want to see Malmsteen next Sunday in NYC. Which isn't surprising because my generation doesn't know he exists.

- AC/DC's new Rock and Roll Train song sucks, don't know why people like it.

- "Would you smell Baba Booey's breath for a Klondike bar?" Howard Stern is now advertising ice cream bars, even claiming he likes the Neapolitan flavor without know what Neapolitan is.

- Team Fortress 2 is half has good as Team Fortress Classic but that's good enough. Barely had time to play that game for months anyway.

I think Wherner Klemperer wanted the Nazis to lose in every episode, and they did; so he was fine with the role.

- Hogan's Heroes is a sweet-*** show, luckily you can see episodes on TV Land's Website.

-BigRog's avatar reminds me of 8 years ago. Raditz was sweet, Cell kicked *** too then it became too much to stomach.

Since my hiatus the US government has handed out about $1,000,000,000,000 to billionaire bankers. Bailing out Freddy, Sallie, AIG, and now those pricks on wallstreet.

Welfare for billionaires. They have to get their pensions and severance packages while I have to spend $4.00 a gallon a gas and food expenses seem to rise by 10% every three months. Of course there is "no inflation" because housing prices keep falling.

Not even Alex "batshit" Jones and prisonplanet or WorldNetDaily could have made up something this stupid. The media (880 am, Fox 5, CNN, Fox News, etc.) has been beating the drum for people to feel sympathetic for the same pricks that charge us interest to get their free money no matter what poll shows that Americans are overwhelmingly against this. This country got ruined in about one year. No one gives a **** any more. Republicans, Democrats, McCain, Obama... Nothing ever changes, no one is angry. The government is turning socialist and assuming ownership over the financial industry and Americans only care about Miley Cyrus and lipstick on pigs.

This is the first time I have ever been pissed off at this country.

- Baseball

- Baseball!

- Beisbol!

- Some game with a ball and a bat

- Baseball!

That would be difficult due to managing players limits in the FA pool and filling out the teams' rosters.

Gotta deal with these crappy roster updates for the time being. :)

Ryan Howard is a fat, heavy set guy.

They should simply be crammed into the minors, but not removed as they could come back later in a dynasty.

For single season play, they can just all disappear for all I care. ;)

Our ratings are a bit different, but I guess that's why they are different rosters. Where's Cano? Sheets better than Halladay? ;)

I think the problem is that basing ratings off of 3 years, players who explode in the third year and never look back will take 3 full years from their breakout year to have their stats completely up to par.

Tell that to Brian Roberts

I am not saying it is wrong to rate that way, there really isn't a better way, but I think that is why some guys like Reyes, who had rough rookie years, aren't rated as high as they could be.

In the end consistency is good, you need to keep the same formulas for everybody, but players like Reyes get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their ratings due to breaking out.

As far as the post about Luis Castillo being the best secondbaseman in the fantasy draft, the game engine tends to overrate speed and defense. If you look at the players physical stats, they are right on line with what they should be.

While Chase Utley is the highest rated second baseman, even IMO Castillo is not better than, lets say, Robinson Cano. But, we have to remember Castillo is a 10 year vet or so with a career .300 average, scores of steals, GGs, he has had a good career. Cano has just really started in comparison. However if Robbie keeps raking things will look much different in 2008.

Very interesting, time to have to create new 'default' slots.