1. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a truly awful team right now. Incomprehensibly bad. Like Oakland Raiders bad. They are theoretically rebuilding, but the signs of progress are slim right now. Their top two goalies are hurt, most of their offense is either hurt or benched, and coach Ron Wilson seems to have a tenuous grasp on the team. Incredibly ugly.
Each year in the second-half of the MLB season, some teams take off while others seem to simply falter. We’re now about 100 games into the season with 62 left to go. Here’s what’s happening in the AL.
Here we at the end of month three of the 2009 Major League Baseball season with about 75 games played and 87 to go. There’s been some movement, drift and milestones In the American League as the West is in flux, the Central is looking a tad odd and the East looks like it can change at any moment. Let’s take a quick look at each division.
Here are some what I find to be surprising (sometimes pleasant, sometimes perplexing and sometimes funny) developments in the world of sports.
Stanley Cup Game 7
I honestly thought that the Penguins would be out by now, but they made is a real series. Can Hossa come through for Detroit? Can Crosby take the trophy for Pittsburgh? It has been a home series. Neither team has been able to steal one when visiting. In goal, Osgood had outperformed Fleury. In the playoffs, Osgood has a better save percentage and goals against average. But in the last game, Fleury gave up just one score, notching a .962 SV%, while Osgood gave uo two, earning a .935 SV%. It is gut-check time at the Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit. It should be a great one. There’s nothing like a game seven for the Stanley Cup.
1. There’s an article today on ESPN that suggests that Notre Dame is going to go 11-1 and return to the BCS this year. Apparently they aren’t kidding, either. I’m not sure I have ever read anything more stupid. They are returning a bunch of players and all, but it’s not like they are returning BCS caliber players or anything. Experienced garbage is still garbage. Eight or nine wins is believable, but 11 is a joke – even against the puffball schedule they have given themselves this year.
It’s about freaking time that the Lakers looked like the Lakers. If it took them that long to get their act together this time, though, then I really have to wonder how they will fare against a tuned up and focused Denver team. They still obviously have to be the favorite, but the margin of error is much smaller than it has been so far, and they have been far from powerful up to this point.
Day one of the post-Manny world was rocky for his Dodgers. The good news was that they scored nine runs. The bad news was that that was only against the lowly Nationals, and it wasn’t enough runs to win. There’s not much in that game that can be blamed on the loss of Manny directly, and we didn’t learn that much, but losing to the Nats is never a good thing.
The Major League Baseball season is more than a month old. Here’s what’s happening with just 136 games to go in the season.
Humanly Possible?
The MLB season is a month old. Let’s take a look around the league.
Red Sox and the AL East
After a slow start, the Boston Red Sox have gone 12-13 and taken over first in the AL East. That record includes sweeps of Baltimore, Minnesota and the New York Yankees. The Red Sox beat the Yanks every which way, including hammering them, in extra innings and simple eking out runs. Once again for the Yanks, their biggest problem resides in their pitching staff. Their other problem is associated with the age of the club. Most of these guys are injury prone. Nothing seems to be working for the Tampa Bay Rays. They are bedeviled.
For the next two weeks I’m going to be away from my computer and out of town. That means that I have pre-written the stuff you will read for the next two weeks, and that in turn explains why it won’t be nearly as news-driven or current as it usually is. Hopefully, though, it’s still going to be interesting and worthwhile. I’ll be focusing on two main events – the NFL Draft the first week, and the Kentucky Derby the second week – and I’ll throw in some other stuff as well.
