Baseball

All of my peeps know I am a Baseball lover. The season is drawing near, and I for one could not be happier. I have had enough of pads, helmets and face guards. Give me a good dose of leather pills, vaulting off sweet smelling, massive Hickory clubs. With that intro I am almost ready to release my predictions for the upcoming season. First I want to take a deep breath and confirm everyones fears.....The Yanks will be competitive. The Bosox will be in there. Finally, watch the Tigers, their bite is really worse then their roar.

American League East:

1 - Red Sox 95-57

2 - Yankess 94-58

3 - The Rays yes Rays not Jays 84-78

4 - The Jays 76-86

5 - The Orioles 66-96

Comments:

Yes the Chowds win again. Bolstered by tremendous pitching, solid defense and good hitting the bean town boys squeak out a win. The Yankees are finally looking to youth as a way to better their team. The Steinbrenner group refused to trade away their future for veterans that may or may not put them over the top. The Yanks have got a good mix, but in the end they still have too many questionable older players. Can Posada and Jeter keep playing at this level? Can A-Rod duplicate one of(perhaps the )greatest offensive seasons in history? Will their young pitching get them to the big dance. My answer is they fall just short.

My surprise pick of the year is the Rays....yep you herd it first here friends. The most exciting team in the AL. The Rays have this great lineup, young, quickly improving pitching and enough veteran presence to keep them in control.

Look at this line up: Iwamura, Crawford, Pena, B.J. Upton, Baldelli, Gomes, Longoria, Navarro, Bartlett.

Pitching: Kazmir, Shields, Garza, Jackson, Sonnenstein, Hammel, Niemann, Davis.... Need I say more. Tampa has 3 great arms, Two improving with flashes of brilliance arms and at least 3 close to ready AAA arms. Their Bullpen has holes, but if they are really in it they actually could make a move to improve. They won't win the division, but I like them as last years Brewers.

The Blue Jays......Yawn....Rios, Wells and the rest will make a good showing in 2008. That is their limit. The goal in the last bastion of Baseball north of the border, is to be competitive, but lets not REALLY TRY TO WIN.

Finally The Orioles.....UMM... I was generous giving them less then 100 losses. The Birds have Markakis, Roberts (MAYBE), and a group of suspects and prospects. The Cal Ripkenite's will have to wait 2-3 years before they reach 80 wins.


Since your brains are limited (like mine) I will tackle the other divisions in later posts.


Todays Vocabulary word is: pusillanimous

Hint:

The_________GM refused to pull the trigger on the right deal for Santana.