Maddux Sports Blog

We learned  couple of things from the Home Run Derby tonight - it can incredibly entertaining, and the overall format is flawed. Watching Josh Hamilton’s tour de force was one of the coolest things I have done in a long while. The problem, though, is that no one cared about the result after that all happened. Justin Morneau is a fellow Canadian, and I am proud of him for coming through, but he didn’t deserve to win, and no one cares that he does. Instead of making it a three round contest like it is which just tires out batters and pitchers and rarely builds to a dramatic finish, it is time they tweak it a bit. They should invite a few more guys to participate, give each guy a few more outs, and just have one round. It didn’t matter what happened after Hamilton did his thing, so the format should be such that he didn’t have to do anything. The way it is now, Morneau hit fewer home runs in three rounds than Hamilton did in one, and he still won.

Interesting news out of Indianapolis today - Peyton Manning had knee surgery to remove an inflamed bursa sac. He’s been trying to recover since February, but surgery finally became the best option. He is expected back at his best in four to six weeks, and his consecutive game streak shouldn’t be threatened. It is amazing how some guys operate under the microscope while other mega-stars can totally elude scrutiny. Obviously being in Indianapolis has something to do with it - we know nothing about what Manning does when he isn’t on the field, and we knew nothing about Marvin Harrison until his alleged shooting incident in the spring (which has conveniently seemed to have gone away).

Again, I must qualify this next story by saying that summer league basketball is virtually meaningless. That being said, a couple of interesting performances came out in the first game for Minnesota and Dallas. The T-Wolves cruised to an easy win on the strength of an impressive showing by Kevin Love. The start was rocky, but he ended up with 18 points and 13 rebounds. I have reasonably high hopes that he will exceed expectations as a pro, so this was a good start. The other one to note was Dallas’ Shan Foster. The former Vanderbilt star had 17 points. Foster didn’t get the respect I think he deserved in the draft. He’s a bit one-dimensional, but he just knows how to score. He joins DeAndre Jordan and Chris Douglas-Roberts as guys who could wind up being major steals in the second round.

Strange story from the Islanders’ camp. They fired Ted Nolan today after two years as coach, citing differing philosophies between coach and management. Nolan was out of coaching for about a decade after winning coach of the year in Buffalo. He reportedly feuded with his goalie there, and many say he got his GM fired as well. In New York he got more out of the team than they deserved with the talent they had, but he reportedly feuded with his goaltender, and he obviously couldn’t get along with his GM. It will be very interesting to see if he will get another job, or if the emerging pattern will put him squarely back on the black list. Things must have been pretty bleak if they warranted his firing this long after the season ended, and this close to rookie camps and, as hard as it is to believe, the start of training camp. The new staff will be starting from behind.

Jeff Borris, the agent for Barry Bonds, says his client has not received a single offer from a team looking for his services, and that the prospects look bleak for him to play this year. I hate when bad things happen to good people.

Every year at this time I make a bunch of predictions about the baseball season as it gets underway. I focus on things that will impact the betting side of things, of course. I suppose that it is only fair to disclose that I am wrong more than I am right - predicting what will happen over 162 games is tricky stuff. Regardless, here I go fearlessly plunging into my view of how this season, which is currently in the midst of its third and final opening day of the year.

1. The Tigers will live up to expectations - The hopes are ridiculously high in the eyes of many for Detroit, but they can meet them. They have a stunning amount of power at the plate, more than acceptable fielding, and a very solid rotation. Justin Verlander is going to tear it up this year and has to be the runaway early pick for AL Cy Young.

2. Johan Santana will be all that - A lot of pitchers struggle as they move from one league to another, but Santana is not just any guy. He is an uber-freak, and he has a good team behind him (as long as they don’t face many injuries), so I expect him to pick up right where he left off. Even better, really - he’ll get the wins in solid outings that his teammates couldn’t deliver for him last year.

3. I’m not as excited about the Cubs as many are - I think that they are a solid team, but the rotation doesn’t do it for me, and the bats, though good, don’t have the long history of success that make me feel confident in their virtually certain success. They will certainly contend in their division, and the playoffs are a real possibility, but I’m not ready to give them the World Series yet like some seem to be.

4. Baltimore will be even worse than you think - They have absolutely no pitching, not much hitting, and no reason to be optimistic. Frankly, anything less than 105 losses would have to be seen as a serious victory.

5. I like Cincinnati - They would need some breaks and some quick maturity from their rotation, but they are packed with a staggering amount of talent both on the field and the mound. The upside of their rotation is as good as any in the league. Add Dusty Baker to that and you have a team that could surprise those who expect to see the same old Reds.

6. Sorry Tampa Bay, not this year - I understand the arguments that people are making about why this is finally the year for this pathetic team, but I think that it is still a year or so premature. They have some good pitchers, but they are short on depth. On top of that, their division hasn’t got any easier, and they are too young to stay strong all year. They will be better, but they won’t yet be good.

7. Seattle, Seattle, Seattle - I love this team. I loved them last year and they came through in a big way - they were the second most profitable team in the league. Many seem to think that they will take a step back, but the addition of Erik Berard and the maturity of King Felix makes me believe that the AL West is fully in their sights.

8. I still hate the Yankees and the Red Sox - Nothing short of an apocalypse will change that. I do enjoy watching Papelbon and Chamberlain pitch, though.

9. Prince Fielder may explode - I am watching the Cubs and the Brewers as I write this, and it is perfectly clear that Fielder did not spend a lot of his offseason at the gym or with Jenny Craig. Dude is enormous. I am not a tiny guy, but my wife and I could live fairly comfortably in his pants.

10. Barry Bonds will be somewhere by the end of April - He may be the worst kind of scum, but he still has a very legitimate bat and he’ll sell tickets like crazy, so someone is going to make a deal with the devil. Frankly, I don’t think that it would be a bad move.