This column, and the ones that follow, will serve as obituaries for the teams likely to be mathematically eliminated from postseason contention during the week. Each team will be identified and their deathwatch number will be written in parenthesis next to their name (deathwatch number will be as of the previous day’s games).
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2). The Angels spent most of last offseason unsuccessfully trying to find another big hitter to pair up with Vladimir Guererro. They couldn’t swing a trade for Manny Ramirez or Miguel Tejada and they were rebuffed in their attempts to sign Paul Konerko as a free agent. So they went into 2006 knowing that their offense probably wasn’t going to be good enough to make it through a 162-game season and that their rotation and bullpen would have to be their strength. The Angels predictions were pretty much on the money as John Lackey and Ervin Santana anchored one of the better rotations in the league and F-Rod, Shields, and the crew in the bullpen did their jobs as well as could be expected. One wonders if things might’ve been different had 2005 AL Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon been healthy this season...
2. Houston Astros (5) and Cincinnati Reds (4). Amazingly these two teams lasted a week longer than expected, in large part due to the Cardinals’ recent struggles. I still predict their demise some time this week, for the reasons mentioned previously.
3. Chicago White Sox (E) and San Francisco Giants (E). These two teams keeled over so suddenly from last week’s column that I wasn’t even able to give them a proper post-mortem. I won’t digest their seasons now that they’ve already expired but neither team pitched well. The White Sox played in a surprisingly competitive division but nevertheless squandered a career year from Jermaine Dye, the likes of which no White Sox fan will see again (1.008 OPS in 2006; .825 career OPS). The Giants just sucked and were dragged down by all the negativity surrounding Barry Bonds. The real question is if Barry Bonds will be back in San Fran for the 2007 season. All baseball fans should hope that Bonds retires and is then eaten by a pack of hungry hippos.
Note #1 – The remaining teams, the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers are locked in extremely tight division races with the current division leaders (Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres, respectively). It’s impossible to predict who will end up on top; hence I cannot list them on the deathwatch at this time.
Note #2 – In a particularly strange series of events, the NFL and MLB merged yesterday afternoon and the New York Football Giants were added to the deathwatch. The Giants’ season ended yesterday about eight minutes into the first quarter when they trailed the Seattle Seahawks 21-0. There are 13 games left on the schedule for the Giants, all of which will be meaningless. They are the Chicago Cubs of pro football – horrendous on every level, from management, to coaching, to attitude of the players, to on-field performance. At least the Cubs have a nice stadium, however; the Giants share a building with the 2-1 Jets.
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2). The Angels spent most of last offseason unsuccessfully trying to find another big hitter to pair up with Vladimir Guererro. They couldn’t swing a trade for Manny Ramirez or Miguel Tejada and they were rebuffed in their attempts to sign Paul Konerko as a free agent. So they went into 2006 knowing that their offense probably wasn’t going to be good enough to make it through a 162-game season and that their rotation and bullpen would have to be their strength. The Angels predictions were pretty much on the money as John Lackey and Ervin Santana anchored one of the better rotations in the league and F-Rod, Shields, and the crew in the bullpen did their jobs as well as could be expected. One wonders if things might’ve been different had 2005 AL Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon been healthy this season...
2. Houston Astros (5) and Cincinnati Reds (4). Amazingly these two teams lasted a week longer than expected, in large part due to the Cardinals’ recent struggles. I still predict their demise some time this week, for the reasons mentioned previously.
3. Chicago White Sox (E) and San Francisco Giants (E). These two teams keeled over so suddenly from last week’s column that I wasn’t even able to give them a proper post-mortem. I won’t digest their seasons now that they’ve already expired but neither team pitched well. The White Sox played in a surprisingly competitive division but nevertheless squandered a career year from Jermaine Dye, the likes of which no White Sox fan will see again (1.008 OPS in 2006; .825 career OPS). The Giants just sucked and were dragged down by all the negativity surrounding Barry Bonds. The real question is if Barry Bonds will be back in San Fran for the 2007 season. All baseball fans should hope that Bonds retires and is then eaten by a pack of hungry hippos.
Note #1 – The remaining teams, the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers are locked in extremely tight division races with the current division leaders (Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres, respectively). It’s impossible to predict who will end up on top; hence I cannot list them on the deathwatch at this time.
Note #2 – In a particularly strange series of events, the NFL and MLB merged yesterday afternoon and the New York Football Giants were added to the deathwatch. The Giants’ season ended yesterday about eight minutes into the first quarter when they trailed the Seattle Seahawks 21-0. There are 13 games left on the schedule for the Giants, all of which will be meaningless. They are the Chicago Cubs of pro football – horrendous on every level, from management, to coaching, to attitude of the players, to on-field performance. At least the Cubs have a nice stadium, however; the Giants share a building with the 2-1 Jets.
No comments:
Post a Comment