MLB All Star Starters Part 2

July 2, 2008May 23, 2010Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Just about a week ago, I wrote an article about who deserves to start for the American League in the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Now I am choosing who deserves to start for the National League. The AL was actually straightforward for the most part and there were not many difficult decisions. The National League was much more difficult.

Designated Hitter: This one was tough to choose since the National League does not have a DH. The solution I came up with was to choose the best hitter who I did not select to start at any other position and I came up with Albert Pujols. He has the second highest OPS in the National League at 1.121, behind only Lance Berkman who plays the same position as him. Pujols also has hit 16 homers and driven in 43 runs while boasting a .358 batting average. He has been injured for some of the year, but has still put up excellent stats, making him deserving to start as the National League’s DH.

Catcher: This one was extremely difficult, because there are so many catchers having an exceptional years in the National League. Bengie Molina is having an excellent year, batting .313 and driving in 48 runs. Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto has a .277 average, 12 home runs, and 46 RBI, but the player worthy of starting at catcher is Brian McCann from the Braves. He has a .303 average with 14 home runs and 44 RBI, but he leads all catchers with a .921 OPS, much higher than Molina’s .787 OPS and Soto’s .869 OPS. That’s not to mention the fact that McCann has made only 3 errors all year and has the fewest passed balls in the National League (1) making him the deserving catcher to start for the NL in Yankee Stadium Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters Part 2” →

Red Sox vs Rays: Battle For The AL East

July 1, 2008May 23, 2010Danny Vinik Leave a comment

The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are currently doing battle for first place in the AL East. The Rays entered the three game series against Boston up .5 game, but things could be quite different after these three games. In game one, a late rally by the Red Sox came up short as they stranded the tying run on third in the ninth and fell to the Rays 5-4. Even though a simple flyout hit a catwalk and turned into a double and Rays’ closer Troy Percival hurt himself backing up third base, Boston could not get the big hits and could not take advantage of those strokes of luck. Unlike, previous seasons the Sox can no longer consider Tampa Bay as “Fenway South”. For the first time in their history, the Ray fans outnumber the Sox fans in Tampa Bay. The Ray fans are finally proud of their team and showing up to the ballpark. They had a record crowd yesterday and had the best ratings for Rays’ TV in their history. It’d be tough to find a person who is unhappy with Tampa’s new-found success. The team struggled for so long and they played day after day without fans and without hope, but now that they have finally broken through, I don’t seem them going away anytime soon.

They have a young pitching staff and a solid bullpen. That’s not to mention their lineup, which though not overpowering, does pack a punch. Carl Crawford is still young and his best years are yet to come, though he seems to have gotten a step slower. BJ Upton and Evan Longoria are both terrific and are extremely young. The team is inexperienced so I’m not sure they can play this well for a 162 game season or handle pressure late-game situations in September. I think the Red Sox will win the AL East eventually, but not easily. If they don’t win the AL East, the Rays have a great shot at the Wild Card. I don’t see any other non-division winner really giving the Rays a run in the Wild Card. First off though, they are shooting for the AL East and that begins with the Red Sox and this three game series in Tampa Bay. Continue reading “Red Sox vs Rays: Battle For The AL East” →

Spain Wins Euro 2008

June 30, 2008May 23, 2010Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Euro 2008 came to a thrilling end yesterday as Spain walked away with a 1-0 victory over Germany and the Euro 2008 Championship. Spain was no doubt the best team in the tournament, outscoring their opponents 12 to 3. They had not given up a goal since their final group match versus Greece and defeated the surprising Russians twice by scores of 4-1 and 3-0. Even without leading goal scorer David Villa, the Spanish still defeated Germany. Fernando Torres notched the only goal of the game on a nice through-ball from Xavi. For Torres, the goal was only his second of tournament, but could not have come at a better time. Up until Sunday’s final, Torres had struggled throughout the whole Euro tournament, missing huge opportunitiesand blowing golden scoring chances, but he came through when it mattered most. Xavi, on the other hand, had an outstanding tournament and was named best player at Euro 2008 by UEFA technical experts.

For Germany, it was a gut-wrenching loss that makes it 12 years since they last won a major title. After winning a couple of games with well-timed goals and fortunate bounces, the Germans could not squeak out a win versus Spain. It took a massive free kick from captain Michael Ballack for Germany to beat Austria and advance past group play. In the quarterfinals, Portugal had twice as many shots on goal as Germany, had nearly three times as many corner kicks (8-3), and had possession 53% of the time, but could not find the back of the net. Germany escaped with a 3-2 win in that game even though they were thoroughly out played. Then in the semifinals, it took a 90th minute goal from Philip Lahm for Germany to edge Turkey 3-2 and advance to the finals. Unfortunately for Germany, their luck ran out against Spain. German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who had a couple of good free kicks and some nice goals in previous games, could do nothing in the final. He screwed up a couple of German set pieces by blasting the ball out of play and misreading his teammates on Germany’s few scoring chances. Continue reading “Spain Wins Euro 2008” →