Power Rankings - Week 3

Well, amazingly enough, we're already in Week 3 of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. And relatedly, isn't it convenient in baseball that we get to say it's just the "2008" season? In basketball you have the troubling "2005-06" deal, and football will say simply "2007" but in reality, the playoffs and Super Bowl are in 2008. So way to go MLB for simplifying our lives with your one year system. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that baseball is a primarily outside game requiring good weather outside of temperature and precipitation extremes. But I like to think it's so us aspiring sportswriters can easily refer to a season and know exactly which one we mean. With that blisteringly brilliant introduction, let me continue to the 2008 Major League Baseball Season Week 3 Power Rankings. As always, these are simply one man's relatively humble opinion of how the baseball season has transpired to this point, not necessarily a predictor of how the season will finish. 

1. Arizona Diamondbacks:  The D-backs are 8-2 in their last 10, and are getting a ton of hitting from their young stars. The question for them will be if their bullpen can make it through the year. 

2. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals have Braden Looper at 3-0, and apparently have someone in the rotation named Todd Wellemeyer, who may in fact set the record for most "e's" in one name. 

3. Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have won four in a row with David Ortiz hitting .104. That's worrisome for when he inevitably starts hitting. Coco Crisp desperately needs to be traded to open up CF for Jacoby Ellsbury. 

4. Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers are 8-5 without Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder playing well, and without the services of young phenom Yovani Gallardo. If Gagne proves consistent, they could be one of the best teams in the NL. 

5. Los Angeles Angels of Orange (not LA) County: The OC (don't call it that) Angels are continuing to play well without John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Joe Saunders has had a great start, Casey Kotchman seems to have turned the corner offensively, and K-Rod is dominant as always. Times are good in Anaheim (which is in Orange County). 

6. Oakland Athletics: Even with Dana Eveland's first so-so start, and Rich Harden once again on the DL, the A's seem to be ok. They won't be for very long without Harden, but as I said before, they might not be as bad as I thought they would be. 

7. Toronto Blue Jays: With a few breaks in their favor, and a successful Adam Lind callup, they could very well challenge in the AL East. The Killer M's (Marcum, McGowan), are the true anchors of the rotation at this point. 

8. Chicago White Sox: I really like Carlos Quentin as a breakout candidate this year, and John Danks has been dominant to start the season. They do have some young players with upside, the two just mentioned, and Nick Swisher as well. However, Pablo Ozuna seems to be getting playing time, which is unacceptable.

9. Florida Marlins: Their highest paid player is Kevin Gregg. Someone 80% of non-fantasy playing baseball fans would never have heard of. The starting rotation ERA is 7.17. How are they winning? Raise your hand if you think Hanley Ramirez is actually superman. 

10. Chicago Cubs: Losing Soriano for any extended period of time would really hurt. Fukudome, Soto, and Lee have all had very solid starts, but I still remain firmly unimpressed with the starting rotation. 

11. San Diego Padres: Returned the favor in LA, taking 2 of 3, despite being outscored 16-9. Bullpen seems to have settled down, and the starting pitching continues to be dominant at home. There's no surer thing in baseball than Jake Peavy going 7+ innings with 2 or fewer runs and 7-10 strikeouts at Petco.

12. Kansas City Royals: Billy Butler and Alex Gordon have gotten off to great starts, and already are giving Royals fans a glimpse of that "organizational savior" talent. Brian Bannister and Zack Greinke have been excellent, and with a return to form by Gil Meche, the Royals should be a lot closer to .500 than they have been recently. 

13. Baltimore Orioles: How much money could you have made betting that George Sherrill would have 6 saves in the first two weeks? Still don't see the Orioles going anywhere soon, but Adam Jones and Nick Markakis form a solid core around which to build a team. 

14. New York Yankees: Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have a combined ERA of over 17 to this point. Obviously, they'll need to improve on that. Believe it or not, I could see the Yankees finishing behind Toronto in the East if the pitching fails to hold up. 

15. New York Mets: Reyes finally had a good night, going 4-5, and Wright looks like he'll again put up MVP-quality numbers. The question for this year will once again be with the starting pitching.

16. Philadelphia Phillies: Scoring 4 in the 9th off Valverde has to feel good. The Fighting Phils will be best remembered this season for challenging the Royals for best uniforms. 

17. Seattle Mariners: Erik Bedard is already on the DL, which is not a good sign. They need him and J.J. Putz to be back quickly. Meanwhile, Adam Jones hits his first homer, and George Sherrill has 6 saves. 

18. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have been struggling recently, losing 1-0 to San Diego, having the bases loaded in the 9th in their 7-5 loss, also to San Diego, and then having their star closer blow a save with 2 outs in the 9th inning and lose 6-4. Those three games go differently, and they're 9-5. However you spin it though, the Dodgers are 3-7 in their last ten. Andruw Jones showing some life is a good sign, and there are positive indications that the offense is beginning to wake up. Now it's time to make sure the bullpen is awake too. 

19. Pittsburgh Pirates: Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady are tearing the cover off the ball. If Zach Duke and Paul Maholm can step it up and slot in with Gorzelanny and Snell, the Pirates will only be bad, not terrible. 

20. Minneosta Twins: The Twins have blown leads against the Tigers two consecutive nights, contributing to a three game losing streak. But Nick Blackburn and Boof Bonser starting well has to be encouraging. 

21. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers have shown signs of life, coming from behind two nights in a row, running their record to, well, 4-10. 5 homers tonight shows the offense is close to getting untracked. They desperately need Francisco Rodney and Joel Zumaya back though. 

22. Cincinnati Reds: After starting 6-4, they've lost 4 in a row. Johnny Cueto was dominant through 2 starts, then gave up 5 runs in 6 innings. Still, him, Harang, and Arroyo form a solid rotation to go with the offense. 

23. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays are 3-7 in their last 10, namely due to losing 2 close games against the Yankees. That'll likely be the story for the season, close, but not quite there. Evan Longoria already contributing is a great sign for the future of the franchise, however. 

24. Cleveland Indians: Joe Borowski is on the DL, a massive blessing for the Indians, and a chance to try out Rafael Betancourt as the closer. However, he never even had a chance tonight as the bullpen allowed Boston to break a tie. 

25. Atlanta Braves: Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson, and John Smoltz have all had great starts to the season, which is why it's surprising they're only 5-8. If they can weather the bullpen injuries, they should be fine. 

26. Colorado Rockies: The Rockies sweep Atlanta, then get absolutely dismantled by Arizona for 2 games before winning 13-5, then almost get no-hit by Randy Wolf. Huh? I guess we're in for a year of ups and downs in Denver. 

27. Houston Astros: Another week goes by in Houston and I still don't care about the Astros.

28. San Francisco Giants: After I ranked them last, last week, the Giants went out to prove me wrong. Way to go guys! 28th this week! Somebody named John Bowker has provided a spark, and Lincecum and Cain are awesome. There's a small glimmer of hope in the mine shaft of the Giants organization.

29. Texas Rangers: They've lost 5 in a row. How long is Salty going to be in the minor leagues? They have some good young players, Ian Kinsler, Hank Blalock, Josh Hamilton, even David Murphy has some potential. Why not let Salty develop with them? Help is on the way though, with a stacked farm system. 

30. Washington Nationals: After winning 3 straight to open the year, they lost 9 in a row to start 4-10. The rotation is awful, but at least Christian Guzman and Lastings Milledge are playing well. 

Well that does it for Week 3's power rankings. Thanks for reading. Also, in sports related movie news, check out "Leatherheads" starring George Clooney and John Krasinski, very good overall movie, and definitely a fun football flick as well. 

Mailbag

Well! Ladies and gentlemen, it has been far too long between posts here at Hot Ham Water. I personally apologize for this as I (and I believe my co-bloggers too) have been wrapped up in the madness that is fantasy baseball drafting season. While the season is not nearly over, today has provided somewhat of a lull in the action, an eye of the storm, if you will. Today, I would like to lovingly take a page from the Bill Simmons playbook and create my own mail bag from which to respond. As always, these are completely fake e-mails sent by non-existant readers...

Q: Ian, you know I'm completely and madly in love with you, why won't you run away with me?

--Becky Smith, Pittsburgh, PA

A: Because you live in Pittsburgh. Move to California. 

oops, sorry wrong mailbag...MOVING ON...

Q: Can Randy Moss have the same impact for the New England Patriots this upcoming year as he did last year?

--Alvin Chipmunk, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

A: Well Alvin, I don't think so. And I'll tell you why. Moss came into New England with no expectations other than possibly negative ones, which took off most of the pressure he had on him in Oakland. While he had previously handled himself like an upset 12 year old girl, the lack of pressure and possibly the calming influence of Bill Belichick allowed him to ease into the season without an undue amount of stress. Whether this is a permanent maturation, we won't know until the season starts, but my gut tells me with the now high expectations, Moss will start to revert back to his old ways. Another possible reason for the record breaking season he had last year was the fact he was playing for a contract. In fact, today Moss signed a 3 year $27 million dollar contract. With that out of the way, one would think he would possibly decline somewhat. Kind of like an Adrian Beltre decline from possibly an artificially high, high, to say a very solid level of production. Maybe something like 12 touchdowns and 1,200 yards, which would still put him among the best wide receivers, just not the end all be all at the position like he was last year. 

Q: Will Asante Samuel push the Eagles into contention in the NFC?

--Becky Smith, Pittsburgh, PA

A: Wow Becky you sure are sending in a lot of questions. Well I hope so because an Eagles-Chargers Super Bowl matchup would be fantastic for my betting career. 

Q: Will Chris Carpenter make a full and complete recovery from Tommy John surgery and be the dominant ace he once was? 

--Ron Burgundy, San Diego, CA

A: Yes Ron, yes he will. Without a doubt. Carpenter is barely older than Derek Jeter and although he has a history of injuries, he clearly will regain the form that made him a Cy Young winner. And when he does I will return to this post and point out to all of you just how right I was. 

Q: Did you know the Dodgers experimented with vest uniforms in 1999?

--Steve Carrell, Holmby Hills, California

A: I did know that Steve, but thanks for bringing it up. While I am as big a fan of the vest uniform as the next guy, and arguably more so, that was a terrible mistake. When you have a classically identifiable, traditional uniform, the best thing to do is NOT play around with it. Do you hear that Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, and Marlins?

Q: What do you think of the hit NBC show, "Chuck?" Starring Zachary Levi as the endearingly nerdy eponymous lead?

--Zachary Levi, Los Feliz, California

A: I love it, Zach. Love it. For some reason it makes me really enjoy seeing Los Angeles, and also I am a big fan of the characters and the overall tone of the show. Spy "stuff" has always interested me, and the show mixes humor, action, and emotion quite well. Keep up the good work. 

Q: Ian, is it just me or does John Travolta look startlingly good in "Hairspray?" 

--David Bergstedt, Carlsbad, California

A: Yup, these are my readers...

I know this has been painfully short for a mail bag, but duty calls. Keep sending in those e-mails and I'll get to more of them next time. 

If I Had A Nickle For Every Blown Call

Weathers has made some valid points regarding the poor officiating in the Chargers playoff games. Blown calls, no calls, phantom calls were rampant. Here is the problem, this type of horrible officiating has gone on since the dawn of sports. The Chargers played a valiant game. Injuries and poor coaching had as much, or more to do with the loss then myopic officiating. If one wishes to view a case study of bad calls look at the, REFEREE FIXED, Suns VS San Antonio playoff series. What a joke! Major sports are truly on the edge of ruin. Steroids, overpaid mediocre players, cheating officials, ridiculous seat prices, and a general mentality of "WE ARE ABOVE THE LAW" spell big trouble. Add the stock market, with more blood then Johnny Depp spills in Sweeney Todd, and you have big, negative, economic potential for sports. I love Baseball, enjoy Football and tolerate Basketball and I for one am very worried about the future of "the game".

Back to San Diego and lighter notes. Watch as spring training unfolds. I predict The Padres will sign a partial, or full retread to fill a gaping hole on the team. Said retread will do a yeoman's job of leading the "Pads" in OBP, when a lefty is pitching, after the 6th inning, in weather of less then 69 degrees, on the road, east of the Mississippi. Another meaningless stat brought to you by your San Diego Padres.

Enough for now, I do not want to tax your gray matter so early in the day.

Today's Vocabulary word is: Vulcanization.

Now you Star Trek fans relax I am not disparaging Spock.

__________has revolutionized Hockey.

Further Musings

As an addendum to Ben's post, I would like to submit for your review the following post game quote from Norv "I am terrible" Turner regarding his game ending decision to punt from the New England 37 yard line with 9 minutes left to play: "Fourth and 10? Because, again, as I said, they had a pressure package, they came off the edge, they got us on third-and-10, we made the decision with nine minutes - we had the ball against Tennessee (during the regular season) down 14 points with 10 minutes and scored twice."1 This, folks, is why Norvall will not win our Bolts a Super Bowl. I'd like to break this down for a few minutes, if I may...

Now I don't pretend to be a football play calling expert, but I believe I've watched enough to know a few things. Norvall said that the Patriots were bringing pressure, and coming off the edge. Now if you knew this, then there should have been a readily apparent play call there. A screen. When the defense brings pressure, you call a screen. Not that hard to figure out. The Chargers are lucky enough to have one of the faster players in the NFL in Darren Sproles. Give him the ball in space, and let him run. Now the argument could be made, "well, on fourth down you shouldn't throw a pass shorter than 10 yards." Fair enough. Send Vincent Jackson and Chris Chambers on 12 yard out routes and Antonio Gates 12 yards down the middle of the field. It takes them what, 3 seconds to go 12 yards? If you can't protect your quarterback for 3 seconds, you don't deserve to win the game. Now you have three options beyond the first down line. Instead Norvall (if you'll permit a blackjack reference) stayed on 16 with the dealer showing 10, and punted.

Now for the second part of his multi-faceted idiocy-laced quote. "...we had the ball against Tennessee (during the regular season) down 14 points with 10 minutes and scored twice." First of all, Norvy compared the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots, God's Team, possibly the greatest team in NFL history, to a regular season contest against the Tennessee Titans and their 21st ranked offense. There's so much wrong with this, I don't even know where to start. To coach the AFC Championship game the same way you would coach a regular season game is funny to begin with, and then to compare the Titans (!!!!111!!!) to the Patriots is pure hilarity. As the people who I watched the game with can attest to, as soon as I saw the punt I said "they're not going to get the ball back." And what do you know, they didn't. The Patriots are a professional football team. They know how to do everything well. They are well coached, they execute well, and with the punt they had all the momentum. How did Norvall think they were going to give the ball back to the Chargers not once, but twice, in a 9 minute span?

When you combine the obvious stupidity of his quote with the two blown red-zone timeouts that Ben mentioned, and the other wasted timeout late in the 4th quarter when the Chargers defense was caught out of position even after the Patriots went into a huddle (another mark of bad coaching...), you can see how Norv Turner is not a Super Bowl caliber head coach. His tenure is already reminiscent of Steve Lavin's years as UCLA Men's Basketball coach. High quality, extremely talented players, baffling losses, shocking wins, and the ability to get close (sweet 16 every year for Lavin, AFC Championship game for Norv) and then have all of the coaching mistakes show themselves in a disappointing loss. But of course, Norv, like Lavin did for quite a few years, did enough to save his job. For now. As a Chargers fan, one can only hope he decides to spend more time with his family, because as long as he continues to have teams be good and not great, his buddy A.J. will never fire him. And the less-informed of the Chargers fan base won't care.

1 North County Times -1/21/08

Musings on the game

I suppose if the Chargers had to lose today, that was a good way to go. Brady had a bad game; Rivers valiantly battled on his injured knees; the Bolts played the Pats very evenly. The Chargers were outgained by 36 yards but got one more turnover, and the Patriots also had the only fumble of the game, which they recovered. The Chargers had too many 40 yard drives with field goals or short punts, while the Patriots wisely had either short drives or long touchdown drives. Health was probably the difference in the game. A healthy Rivers could have moved around a little better in the pocket on some of those red zone pass attempts, and a healthy Gates would have been a great red zone target. A completely healthy Jamal Williams maybe limits the Patriots' rushing success in the second half. It was a good game played by both sides, particularly both defenses, and the Patriots did deserve to advance (unlike last year, when the Chargers roundly outplayed them). A great day was had by Quentin Jammer bumping receivers at the line, making the great interception, and deflecting at least one key third down pass attempt. The secondary in general played very well, and the pass rush was solid as well. Rivers played well considering the extent of his injury, and Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson were both excellent again (with the notable exception of Chambers' play on the first interception).

On less optimistic, more whiny note, Norv Turner continues to not be a very good head coach. In both halves, an early timeout was burned in the red zone, and the resulting play was unsuccessful and ugly. The decision to punt with 9 minutes left inside the Patriot 40 yard line effectively ended the game, even before the Patriots ran the remaining time off the clock. He called a few too many runs right up the gut on first down for minimal gain and not enough short passes designed to put the team in favorable second and short situations. At least there weren't any delay of game, false start, or too many men in the huddle penalties today.

Continuing the whining theme, officials need to start calling holding. I wasn't watching the Chargers' line as intently as I was watching the Patriots', so I can't tell whether or not the Chargers were taking advantage of the officials' leniency as much as the Patriots were, but the number of uncalled holds was ridiculous. Several 10+ gains on wide receiver screens and an end around were set up by holding or blocks in the back by the wide receivers. This issue isn't specific to this particular game though, as throughout the playoffs the refs have been ignoring holds. David Garrard's long run to set up the game winning field goal in Pittsburgh was set up by an obvious hold. So, yes, refs should start calling holds. That would have been helpful for the Chargers' defense today. Whether it would have been the same amount helpful to the Patriots' defense, I cannot say.

Overall, it was a good game. There's always next year. Hopefully next year they can reach the playoffs and face the best teams in the league with their three best players (Rivers, Tomlinson, Gates) healthy.

A postscript: I blame myself for the loss, as I forgot to compose tv network signs for this game. They clearly were the good luck charm that carried them to the win over Indianapolis.