I knew the Hornets were going to give the Spurs a run for their money. It's obvious because of the age difference in the two clubs. The Hornets can run up and down the court all day long against the Spurs. They out hustle, out gun and out shoot the Spurs. The Spurs definitely cannot keep up the pace of the first three games and hope to win the series.
They were absolutely run off the court in the first two games by a younger team that shows no fear of the four time champions. The Spurs aren't exactly the fastest team in the NBA but they've shown in the past that they could run and gun when they had to. Not this time around. The Hornets made the Spurs look like they were stuck in mud on top of a swamp. Game three does offer some hope that the Spurs can win the series but they need to slow the pace down.
The Hornets have shown proven they can hang with the big dogs. Can they deliver a mortal wound or do they let the Spurs right back into this series? If San Antonio wins on Sunday, they have new hope. The Hornets need to finish them off and the sooner the better. The Spurs aren't four time champs for no reason.
Well, I looked up long enough from the NBA playoffs to see what the Astros have been up to. Good Lord, they are playing .5oo ball. That's a lot better than I'd expected. As of tonight, Lance Berkman has been on a torrid place. I lifted this fact from Jose de Jesus Ortiz's Houston Chronicle blog. Berkman was coming into Saturday night's game batting 18 for 24. If he got a hit on his first at bat, he would have a 19 for 25 stretch for a .720 average. He ended up going 2 for 3 against the Dodgers tonight putting his average to .808 (21 for 28). Even if he doesn't get a hit, he's still getting on base. In his last 32 plate appearances, he's reached base 25 times. That's just a blazing pace.
I tried finding other stats that are driving the current Astros .500 ball pace. It definitely isn't the pitching. They are ranked 11th out of 16 in the National League ERA. They've given up more hits than anybody except the Pirates and the Rockies. They also have one the highest batting average against. They aren't shy about giving up homers either. The Astros lead both leagues in serving up the long ball.
So what's driving the Astros' march to mediocrity? The hitters offset some of the pitching woes. The batters like hitting home runs as much as the pitcher like giving them up. Batting average, RBIs and runs scored rank in the middle of the league. They just look like they are plodding along.
The Astros don't stand out in any one category. Other than Berkman's streak, the Astros seem to be just about average. It definitely shows in the .500 winning percentage.
As long as the Cubs don't win the World Series, everything will be right in the baseball universe.
With the NFL draft out of the way, you'd think I'd put football on the back burner for a while. Not a chance. Minicamps and organized team activities (OTAs) are in session or will be soon for most teams. Just like the real football GMs, fantasy football geeks like myself start paying attention to players, injuries and trades. Also I try to guess which rookie running back is going to make a splash. Last year I hit the jackpot in taking Adrian Peterson in the fourth or fifth round. I knew he was going to be good but I had no earthly idea he was going to go off like he did. Then again who did? He did well enough to propel me into third place in the Chem Plant league.
The Chem Plant league is a keeper league. What that means is you can carry over players from the previous season. The only rules are the players must be from different positions and a two year limit on a player. You can keep a player a third year but you must surrender a first round draft pick. For me that's too high a price for one player. Donovan McNabb and Rudi Johnson were my holdovers from 2006. I can't keep McNabb without giving up my first round pick nor do I want to. The other backs I have on my roster are batter than Johnson. It's a no brainer to keep Peterson.
So it comes down on whether to keep TJ Houshmandzadeh or Brandon Marshall. Both had excellent years but barring injury I'm going with Houshmandzedeh. If Chad Johnson holds out or is traded by the Bengals, that gives more opportunities for Housh. There is a flip side to Johnson's absence. Defenses will be able to key more on Houshmandzadeh. Marshall is coming off injury and doesn't have the past production that Housh has either.
It's a long way off but I just can't help thinking about next fantasy football season.
P.S. - I won the Spin Doctor's League thanks to a late season charge. I barely made the playoffs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment