The State of Sports Dec. 15th

Football

-Patriots look for key win versus Tampa Bay
I read Dan Wetzel's yahoo article yesterday, and it made me realize...man the Pats are pretty dangerous. Brady is quoted as saying, "We are 8-5..."I dont think that anyone is too afraid of a team that is 8-5." This Pats team plays in among one of the worst in divisions in football. They have proven themselves worthy to compete in the playoffs as they are 4-0 on the season vs. division opponents. Injuries havent decimated this squad yet.

The Pats, winners of 4 of thier last 6, face Tampa Bay, winners of 3 out of their last 4. According to Head Coach Belichick:
-Tampa on offense: “Tampa is playing very well. They’ve really kind of changed their style of play the last couple of weeks, but it’s been very successful for them; won four of the last five. They’re playing very well on the road. They’re a very strong running team, they can throw the ball, they can make big plays, they have a lot of good receivers, of course, headed by [Joey] Galloway...whos among one of the best in the league."
-Tampa on defense: "Defensively, they’ve always been a real good defensive team, and that continues to be the case. They’re good against the run. They’re good against the pass. They turn the ball over. They’re good on third down. They’re good on first down. They’re pretty much good at everything, and that’s why they’re at the top of the league."

Belichick downplays a lot of things, but last weeks blow out win over Buffalo showed a spark of hope for this football squad. They now have Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk back. Both showed duribility in the snow as they combined for 27 rushes for 116 yards and a touchdown. They also had a combined 10 receptions for 100 yards. If this tandem hasnt had an opportunity to work for most of the season. Dillon has been limited since week 9, despite his 16 rushes for 60 yards, and a touchdown performance vs. the Jets in week 13. For Faulk, this was really his second good apperance since the Jets as well. He was inactive previous since week 5. The Patriots certainly look very dangerous with the tandem that performed well versus the struggling Bills on Sunday.

People arent worried yet, but seem to be in wondering about the status of Tom Brady. He went down on the injury report as questionable, yesterday. I think they have very little to worry about. Its now thursday and he should be taking it easy for now. On Saturday, he should be at practice doing a lot of things. This whole season, Belichick has been using the injury report to his advantage. Players have been going down with injuries that are legitimate, but you really arent sure whos starting and whos playing. Of the 13 players on the injury report listed as questionable, 6 of them played last week. This week they have 14 players. We will see what Belicheck decides to do.

As for Tom Brady, we hope he plays. He has been the catalyst for this New England offense, and down the strech, has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks in football. People have been talking about how Payton Manning has been brilliant in his teams 12-0 record. But what about Brady. He hasnt missed a start all season, and has been very consistent all season. He has only had two games (Jets and Pittsburg) where he hasnt thrown at least a touchdown, and has had 8 200 passing yard games, and 4 300 yard passing games. He also leads the NFL in passing yards, by 400 over Payton Manning. His performance versus the Bills was unforgetable, and he proved how durible he really can be.

According to Wetzel, "The Pats will either prove to be pretenders and beneficiaries of a weak schedule, or emerge (after Indy) as the team you least want to play in the AFC"..."Proving day comes Saturday when one of the NFC's better teams comes a-calling. It's a statement game. And the rest of the NFL had better be paying attention because the champs just might still be capable of some stunning statements."

Wetzel is right. The Pats need to make a statement. If they had beaten the Chiefs, they would have had a victory in five strait games. But Larry Johnson really is too good this second half. However, the Pats face rookie Cadillac Williams, and hes been just as deadly (at times). This is the chance for them to prove that they are among the best in the division. This will prove that the Pats really have something to prove.

A couple of other stats that Wetzel mentioned:
-The New England Patriots are 17-5 under Belicheck. In the playoffs, they are 9-0. The Pats, are certainly peaking at the right times, and look like the better team to play, at home on Sunday.

Baseball

-Random thoughts
-I like the signing of Bill Mueller to the Dodgers. He is a very underrated player, and should solve the Dodgers problems at third base. After letting Beltre go, they started 7 different players at the position, and had very little luck. This interresting platoon combined for 10 HR's, 67 RBI's, 81 Runs, .249 BA, and .332 OBP. Muellers three year average is 13 HR's, 68 RBI's, 76 Runs, .301 BA, and .377 OBP. It looks like the Dodgers have solved thier problems at third with Muellers 2-year, 9.5 million contract.

-Nomar at First Base for the Yankees? It could happen, but its very unlikely. Of the free agents on the market for a position the Yankees need to fill, he looks like a very good option. This very well could be the revival of what Nomar is looking for. It doesnt matter what he could do with the bat, its his fielding. It has always been suspect at shortstop, as he was ranked in the bottom 5 of fielders in the AL, in 2003 (by Baseball America). Reports have said that Torre is looking for him to play multiple positions. One of my Yankees fan freinds (Dino) has told me that he wouldnt mind if the Yankees signed Nomar. Hes a lot better than Giambi.
-Dino has also said that Bubba Crosby will be the opening day center fielder. According to him, Crosby should play a position at the bottom of the order in a potent offense that really doesnt need anymore pop. Crosby also really is a pretty good center fielder, and possibly better than what the Yankees have had at the position in the last 3 years. This includes the decline of Bernie Williams. For the record, in two years and 127 games (53 in '04 and 74 in 05'), Crosby has two assists and no errors in the outfield.

The State of Sports Dec. 13th

Baseball

-Conspiracy Theory?
Gerry Callahan makes lots of assumptions in his column today (if you can read it...too bad; you need a subscription). He uses an inside source and the facts to manipulate what he wants to hear. Here are a couple of quotes:
-Source quote: "One source close to the Sox front office said yesterday that Henty offered Epstien the position of 'president of baseball operations.' 2.5 weeks ago, derailing Lucchino's external search for a GM and leading to yesterdays bizarre announcement."

-Fact: "When asked about Theo's return Luccino said, 'We'd like to see it happen'"
-Assumption: "Theo is his nemisis now, the guy who ruined a good thing for Larry in Boston. He believes Theo cut him off at the knees five weeks ago, and the pain is still there.

-Fact:"As for Ben & Jed, their names are on the directory"
-Assumption: "They'll be working for theo. The plan now is for Ben & Jed to keep the lines of communications open to Epstien, who will wait"..."When the time is right Theo will return to be the boss of baseball operations"

-Assumption: "But this is the direction Henry has chosesn. he wants Theo back, but doesnt want to hurt Larry's feelings. he wants a new GM, but doesnt know who to promote."

-Fact: "'People right now are speculating about a reduced roled for Larry Lucchino dont know what they're talking about', said Henry in an AP email"
-Assumption: "Of course this is what we saw Luccino in yesterday. He was reduced to telling everyone how much he wanted Theo back and how co-GM's is a wonderful idea and if you just fell off a turnip truck, you might have believed him."

This is a conspiracy theory through and through. If you read the entire transcript of the interview you see that they are just restructuring their front office. I dont see them hiding anything. According to the transcript Jed will be working on contracts, and internal stuff, and Ben will be working on player development. They will share the same office, and basically review thier own decisions as a team, given thier backgrounds within the organization. Rather than have someone learn the new things as the franchise goes through a new transition period and have someone new screw things up, they would rather have the internal experience there. People like Eric Wilbur in his blog yesterday site that it will never work. The co-GM idea is crazy basically, and they will just point the finger around the office if things go wrong.

People think that Theo is returning. Gammons has been hinting it for 1.5 months apparently and now this Gerry Callahan story comes out. What do you want to believe? You want Theo back, because Luccino is the bad guy in all this. The Boss Tweed at the top of the pyramid who is ruthless and uncaring, and doesnt give a shit, just what he wants. And then theres the Lawrence paper column Sunday that reports :
"Overpaying for center fielder Damon is also reportedly a concernt of Epstien and his supporters, who seem to be targeting trades for Jeremy Reed and Clevelands Coco Crisp as a backup plan. Lucchino, meanwhile has been spearheading the Damon negotiations"

If you read this very line on BDD on Sunday evening you went..."Oh my god, theres some kind of problem going on in this office. " Im afraid that could be closer from the truth. If you read any report published by Edes on Extra Bases, you would see that Luccino the whole week has been talking to Boras, Damon's agent. If you put two and two together and realize that the camps are Ben and Jed, who are now the co-GMs support Theo's idea (because they both admitted in the transcript that they still talk to him, and for personal stuff and advice can be implied) which is to trade Clement away for Reed, if they dont sign Damon. This was reported in the Notes section of the Globe today.

There's no conspiracy theory, its just something that people are making up. Theo may return as an advisor to the team. Kind of the same role hes been doing all along. Who wouldnt want his expertise; after all, he did put together a team that won a World Series. I cant wait to read the crazy things people will be writing over the next few days. Just dont believe any of it.

-Edgars comments
Edgar sites that the problem with him making a lot of errors was the infield grass, at Fenway Park. Wow; This is facinating. I mean, in yesterdays Globe is he blaming the grass for his problems in getting the amount of errors he had. I dont believe this for one moment. Here's why:
-We know that Edgar played 1293 Innings at Shortstop this year, which is about 150 games. He made 30 errors to lead the league in any position.
-We also know that Mark Bellhorn played a little more than half the Innings that Edgar played at SS with 712. Bellhorn didnt get it done with the bat for three months, but did well with the glove only making 6 errors in 82 games. Midseason aquisitions to replace Bellhorn, Graffanino and Cora combined for 623 Innings (in 72 games) and made 5 combined errors. At second base in 1335 Innings (more than Renteria's) there were 11 total errors from starters, and the backup second baseman.
-We can also say that it was surprising that Bill Mueller and his backup (Youklis) combined for 154 games and 1348 Innings. Mueller made 10 errors, and Youlkis made none.
-What about average fielding first baseman Kevin Millar and former gold glover winner John Olerund? In 140 games and 1527 Innings Millar had 7 errors and Olerund had 1.
-If you add up all of these numbers the averages go like this (for the other three positions) :
-1410 Innings (compared to 1293 from Edgar) and 10 errors (compared to 30). And all 3 postitions errors added up were 29 errors, if you were counting.

Lets look at these numbers and realize that Edgars statement is a little far fetched. If the infeld grass was really that bad, then we would have seen the same kind of number exposion that we saw from Renteria. But we dont. Even when we average the other positions out with thier main starters. So it really doesnt make any sense. Not only that, but the Sox spent 2 million dollars to replace thier grass in order to put in a new drainage system in November of 2004.

Renteria also sights that he injured himself and that he does not excuse his errors for personal injuries. He played most of the season 50-60%, and not 100 percent, so this explains the bat angle. This may also explain the errors too. We just dont know about it until after the season. Maybe its a lot better that way. Renteria is quoted in todays Globe as saying, "Im not making any excuses. I always say I make errors. The field doesnt make errors." But he sited in yesterdays globe as that being the case. But, we know it certainly doesnt look that way.

Really, after all this Renteria really let us down with his actions, and not his words