Oscar Gamble Society

Anyone see Top 10 plays of the week last night?  Barry Bonds first HR of the season was #5?!?!?!?!

Now, my hatred for Bonds is well known in this circle, but honestly this isn’t a Barry Bonds rant per se. The guy is going to break the most hallowed record in all of sports (aided by PED or not) and it certainly deserves some attention.  But this?

With the opening week of baseball (note: other games besides ones involving the Steriod/HGH One), the NCAA championship, the Masters, NCAA Hockey championship, the end of the regular season of the NHL (with all those battles for playoff seedings), and the Kobe Show…..er, the NBA…. and Bonds’s insignificant HR not only makes the list, but the freakin’ top 5????

Even more amazing - the play preceeding it at #6 features a collegiate goalie literally standing on his neck to make a game saving kick save?  Granted, MLB is WAAAY more popular than NCAA Hockey, but if both plays are going to make the list, how the hell does the Bonds highlight beat that?

Ugh.  Home Run #756 cannot come soon enough…

The NCAA crowned its 2007 Men’s Ice Hockey champion last night, Michigan State.  They almost didn’t make the tournament, but then went on a terrific run (in large part due to outstanding goaltending, usually the primary requirement for any playoff hockey run).  Boston College finished runner-up for the fourth time in the past ten years - including each of the past two years.  In the past decade, they did win a title (you’ll never see a more exciting game than that OT thriller with North Dakota) - and appeared in two other Frozen Fours as well.  Seven Frozen Fours in ten years, with but one title.  I guess they’re the Atlanta Braves of college hockey, eh?

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Julian Tavarez made his first start of the 2007 season for the Sox Saturday, in a game the Sox went on to lose 8-4.  In an earlier post, I used the extremely small sample size from meaningless Septemer 2006 games to wonder out loud if having Tavarez to start was (even a small part) of the consideration for putting Papelbon (back) into the bullpen.  Again, clearly the overriding (only?) consideration was that the Sox seemed to have *nobody* they felt remotely comfortable with as a closer - so Papelbon’s medical issues suddenly became manageable, where last year they were the reason often used for why Papelbon would be a full-time starter in 2007.  Anyhow, back to Tavarez.  It ain’t September 2006 anymore.

There are many ways to look at his inaugeral 2007 performance:

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Yes, I’m fully aware that it’s only early April and after this series there will still be 156 games left.  

However, this is an important series, IMO - Mets need to show the Braves that last year was not an aberration in what used to seem like the Braves birthright - a division title.  They need to go into ATL, which has been at utter nightmare for the Mets since the new park opened and take 2 of 3 from these guys.

I’ll be curious to see if the “good” Ollie Perez shows up tonight, or the “other” one does.  Shouldn’t matter to much, as the Mets should jump ALL OVER Mark Redmond - but that’s why they don’t play the games on paper….

Lets go Mets!

Most journalists and beat writers that cover the team don’t really add much, and therefore I haven’t been as curious to read articles on the Brewers in recent years.  Every once in a while though a gem pops up.  This is from the Journal Sentinal this week:  “I have a tremendous amount of respect for Doug Melvin and the Milwaukee Brewers but I don’t see a fit for Jose Capellan and the Brewers’ organization right now,” Rego (Jose Capellan’s agent) said when contacted at his office in Orlando, Fla. 

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Some leftover comments from Wednesday’s first loss of the season.  

Start with the good:

1) Schmidt had real good stuff early, but they were very patient and forced him to leave the game after 5 innings. Bill Hall’s first at bat was a great battle that ended on pitch #12. The plate discipline of the Brewers is far and away the best I have seen in years.

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In case you hadn’t noticed, and judging by the lack of media at the event, you haven’t (note to Danny: this is sarcasm)… Dice-K made his MLB debut this afternoon in Kansas City.  His line:  7IP, 6H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 10K, 108 pitches/74 strikes.

It was only the Royals, but I would consider that living up to the hype.

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Yes, I’m a few days late on this - but the NBA Hall of Fame (in pristine Springfield, Mass) announced its 2007 class.  Sadly, Dick Vitale was not part of that induction class.  In an earlier exchange, Tank mockingly suggested that announcers (like Dickie V) had about as much business being enshrined into the HOF as… say… referees.

Hmmm… let’s take a look at the list of 2007 inductees:

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I have completely given up on the NBA.  It is totally unwatchable at this point, and I have even turned down free tickets to see the Bucks.  It is hard to ignore, however, what is happening in Milwaukee this year.  The team has been decimated by injuries. 

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Ned Yost called opening day the best game that the team has played since he took over as manager.  You could probably extend that to the Royster, Lopes, Garner tenures as well.  The team got outstanding pitching from Sheets, solid defense, including a great catch by Bill Hall in center, and an acrobatic stab up the middle by Hardy.  They moved runners over, took advantage of Juan Pierre and Luis Gonzalez’s puss arms, and had a couple 2 out run scoring hits, including Hardy’s 0-2 single to drive in a run.  All around a great game.

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