25 October 2011

Cross-Sport Power Rankings

I got this idea from ESPN, but they don't do a very good job. Cross-Sport Power Rankings are essentially a list that ranks players from different sports in terms of how well they are playing at the time I write the post. ESPN does like 500, I think I'll stick to a top 10.

1. Aaron Rodgers
He has a season Passer Rating at 122.4, second place is Tom Brady with 104.8. He is the only player in NFL history to have a passer rating of above 110 in 5 straight starts, he has done it in 7, and counting. He has a completion percentage above 70 percent and is averaging almost 10 yards a pass. He has already thrown for 17 touchdowns and rushed for 2, that gives him more personal touchdowns than 24 NFL team's have scored with their whole offense. He has thrown 3 INT's, and his team is 7-0. MVP, here we come, back to back Super Bowls? Why not.

 2. Mike Napoli
Napoli joined Mickey Mantle as the only player to have multiple RBIs in 4 World Series games. He made two game winning plays last night (he hit a two-run double to go up 4-2, and threw out Allen Craig at 2nd for the second last out of the game,)and who knew that was even possible!

 3. Phil Kessel
Maybe a little biased.. but he is leading the NHL in goals and points, and leading the leafs to a 5-2-1 start. I BELEAF

 4. Derek Holland
I am going to try to fit as many baseball players in here as possible because it is their last chance to be here until April. Either way, Holland deserves to be here. 8.1 innings of shutout ball against a team that had erupted for 16 runs the previous night. If this series goes 7, because of the off day, I would bet Holland will be the starter.

 5. Drew Brees
 31/35, 5 TDs, 325 yards, 0 INT's. Automatic? Unfair? Yup. The Saints are 5-2 and look like the early favourites to win the NFC South, and it is all to do with Drew Brees. He has only thrown under 320 yards once and has thrown for at least3 TD's in four of his seven games.

6. Johnathon Quick
Quick is 5-0-1 with a microscopical 0.81 GAA and a save percentage of .972. In six games, he has three shutouts. Dallas will not be able to keep up their hot start and the Kings will win the Pacific conference, and (Prediction) make it to the Stanley Cup Final.

 7. Neftali Feliz
This guy is so much fun to watch. He throws almost 100 MPH and walks enough guys to at least make his saves interesting. Other than the walks, though, he is lights out. In 3 appearances (2.2 innings) he has given up no hits and struck out five. He has walked one player in each appearance, but stranded them every time. Going against my previous prediction (sorry) Feliz will throw the last pitch of the 2011 World Serires.

 8. Albert Pujols
Ok, you must have noticed by now, I love Pujols. He probably doesn't deserve to be on the list given the last two games when he has been really quite. But three days ago he became one of three players to hit three home runs in a World Series game. Joining arguably the best clutch hitter of all time, Reggie Jackson, and dis-arguably the best hitter of all time, Babe Ruth. Pretty good company.

 9. Sergio Aguero
This guy plays soccer for Manchester City, they just beat Manchester United 6-1! I didn't know you could score 6 goals in a match. Well Sergio is leading he Premier League in goals with 9 in 8 games... keep it up!

 10. Dirk Nowitski
I miss the NBA, but i bet Dirk is still on fire.

 Just missed: Adrian Beltre, Nikolai Khabibulin, Allen Craig, Brodie Smith #21, every college football player.

Until Aaron Rodgers is the QB of the Toronto NFL team,
- Riley

22 October 2011

Soccer: A Cute "Man's" Sport

I went to a soccer game yesterday but, surprisingly, I had a lot of fun. Now I am not sure how this happened. The game ended in a 0-0 tie and the teams didn't actually start shooting until around the 85th minute (for those of you that know nothing about soccer, they play 90 minute games.) Probably the coolest thing about soccer is the section of fans that is never sitting down and singing songs the whole time, and I was sitting close enough to that section that I was able to have a good time. I went to the game with soccer fans and they all said that the game was boring, so why did I have so much fun? There are a few reasons. I must be going through some type of sports withdrawal. I haven't seen a live sports game since early September and I haven't even watched one on television since the beginning of October.

Another reason is the atmosphere.When you go to a baseball game you can have a "good crowd" i.e. one that boo's an opposing team's player simply because he is the best player out there, but at a soccer match you always have the fans that are into the game for the full 90 minutes. Pretty cool. The key point there though is that the game is only 90 minutes, what a perfect segway into why soccer has never really appealed to me.

Soccer games are two 45 minute halves with around a 20 minute halftime, the game is too short. I was in the stadium for a total of 2 hours and that is simply not long enough. Yes, they play for 90 minutes and basketball and hockey only play for 60, but the amount of time in a soccer game that is wasted by the two sides being absolutely boring and passing it backwards towards their goalkeeper legitimately cancels out about 20 minutes.

The second reason why soccer has never been a favourite of mine is the type of people that play soccer. Every single soccer player in the world thinks that soccer is the best sport in the world. They all think that they are above everyone else. But really, of that 90 minute game only two or three people on either team is actually running for over 75% of the match. That isn't to say that these players aren't in good shape, but if you were to ask them they are in the best shape out of any professional athlete.

This results in soccer players trying to be cute. As a hockey player, I try my best to stay away from anything affiliated with the word cute. Even in the crappy Australian league where players from the MLS go to retire (the MLS is the American/Toronto league where European soccer players go to retire) the players try to score highlight reel goals and be "cute" until the last five minutes, when it was actually fun to watch. Obviously throughout the game both teams had opportunities.. but overall it was pretty boring.

When I get home I am going to go to a TFC game to see if I can actually stand them, and I will be sure to sit as close to the rowdy fans as possible. I just wish soccer players didn't try to be so cute.

Until soccer players grow a pair,
- Riley

17 October 2011

World Series Preview




Texas Rangers vs. St Louis Cardinals.... really? Who even plays for Texas?

The Texas Rangers are in the World Series for a second straight year... and if they aren't the definition of "behind the scenes," then I really don't know what is. They made an improbable run at the Series in 2010 when they beat Tampa in the ALDS then won three straight games at Yankee Stadium to beat the Yankees in 6, only to be thwarted by the powerhouse that was the San Francisco Giants (haha.) Well, anyway, they are back and better than ever! Well, that is sort of a joke too. They lost their ace to free agency in Cliff Lee during the 2010-2011 offseason as well as Jeff Francoeur, nobody expected Josh Hamilton to have another MVP type season and although their bullpen looked promising, everyone was young and they weren't expected to make another run at the Series. But oh boy, did they prove us wrong.

As i mentioned earlier, they did so very quietly. Coming off his AL MVP Josh Hamilton was injured to start the season, and, although they aren't MVP numbers, he bat .298 with 31 doubles, 25 HRs and 94 RBI's... in only 120 games.The Rangers also actually had 5 people with over 85 RBI's, 2 with over 30 HR's and as a team they scored the third most runs in the majors this season and finishing with a league best team batting average of .283... who knew?

Also, after going 1 for 15 in the ALDS, Nelson Cruz had the best playoff series in the history of baseball. 8 for 22, 6 HR's, 2 doubles (all his hits for extra bases.) 13 RBI's Two straight games with extra inning home runs, including the first ever playoff walk off grand slam. (Well, officially. In 1999 Robin Ventura hit the "Grand Slam Single" he hit the ball over the fence in the bottom of the 15th with the bases loaded, but never rounded second because he was mobbed by his teammates, extra cool fact: Octavio Dotel was the winner in that game, he will win a game in the 2011 World Series.) Anyway, Cruz set multiple records for a playoff series and hopefully, for the Rangers, he will continue his tear.

While everyone, including myself, was in awe by what was happening to in the Wild Card situation (I will talk about the Cardinals later, and the Rays really let us down) the Rangers cruised through the AL West going 19-6 in September... a record that was narrowly better than the team with the second best record in September at 18-7, and you guessed it (hopefully,) it was the Cardinals.

Let me walk you through what it has been like for the Cardinals since September 1st.

September 1st: St. Louis is 10.5 games out of the playoffs. Fans are thinking: Too bad we are out of the playoffs, but wow I better get to a game, Pujols may not be playing for us next year!
September 7th: 20 games left, 8.5 games out. Fans are thinking: "I don't want to cheer for Milwuakee in the playoffs... maybe the Braves?"
September 23rd: 5 games left. 3 games out. Fans are thinking: "How did we lose to the Mets and the Cubs?!?! We were so close to one of the greatest comebacks in history!
September 28th: 0 games left. Cards win 8-0.. Braves lose in extras, 5th straight loss, Cardinals win the Wild Card! Fans are thinking: "...what?"
October 7th: Game 5 vs. Phillies. Halladay vs. Carpenter. Halladay: 8 IP, 6 H, 1ER, 1BB, 7K's. Carpenter: 9 IP, 3H, 0ER, 0BB, 3K's. Cardinals win 1-0! Clinch NLCS vs. division rival Milwuakee.
October 16th: Game 6, Cardinals up 3-2 in series. David Freese hits 3rd HR of series, Cardinals beat Brewers 12-6. CARDINALS WIN THE PENNANT!!
Sidenote, feel free to comment: Is Shaun Marcum a bum?


If you have been following along with my posts you will have read a previous post about how Albert Pujols is the best player in the Major Leagues. Well, if you can believe it, I was right! And I have stats to prove it. How does a playoff .419 batting average sound? I would also take 7 doubles, 2 HR's and 10 RBI's... I guess. He did all this, and didn't even win the NLCS MVP? Well, believe it or not, the Cardinals do have other offensive weapons, and no, I'm not talking about Matt Holliday or Lance Berkman, I'm talking about David Freese! Who? You may ask. I did too, but now I am expert on him, so haha, read up suckers! Anyway, Freese batted .545 with 3 HR's, 3 doubles, 9 RBI's and 7 runs scored. Pretty damn good.

So who is going to win? They are both high-powered offenses... so who has the pitching edge? As we are all going to see in this series, pitching is not going to matter much. Obviously there will be that one game where there is a total of 8 hits and the final score is 2-1 (the Rangers will win that one) but the games will be decided by offenses and the bullpen. Very cool stat alert!  In the NLCS the Cardinals' bullpen retired more outs (86) than the starters (73). Pretty weird.

PREDICTIONS:
Cardinals in 6.
I want it to go 7 games, who doesn't? But the reality is that the Cards will win. They are too hot. Chris Carpenter is lights out, Octavio Dotel (former Blue Jay) and the rest of the Cardinals bullpen are just too good. Josh Hamilton is awesome, C.J. Wilson is awesome, but the Cardinals are too hot.

World Series MVP: Albert Pujols
If you haven't noticed by now, I love Albert Pujols. He is awesome to watch and is just a level above everyone else. Anyway, he loves the playoffs and he is on fire just like the rest of his team. He will have at least one of those "Albert Pujols Ridiculous Games." He may not continue to hit over .400, but he will hit over .300 and will win World Series MVP.

I guess I wont the Cardinals to win because it may be Pujols' last time in a Cardinals uniform (he will be traded to the Jays for Jose Molina, most likely) and Lance Berkman will never hit 15 Home Runs again, this is their year, and they are not going to let this chance slip away.

16 October 2011

Wait... You're Supposed to Skate?

In a previous post I said that Phil Kessel was due to score 40 goals, I am now revoking that statement and saying that Phil Kessel is due to score 50 goals, IF he is able to keep his feet moving. Now for those of you that do not play hockey you may think that that is pretty much a gimme... why would you ever be standing still? As a lazy forward (yes, P-Kess is lazy at time) I can vouch for him that often it feels like you are in the right spot and that you should stay there, at least for a few seconds, for your teammate to find you. This is often not the case and, especially in the NHL, you have to make your own goals sometimes. That is exactly what Kessel is doing.

I was able to find an online stream of the Calgary game and right as I turned it on I saw 2-1 Calgary and they were on a 3 on 2... awesome. Then I make the game fullscreen, it buffers, and we score! I am sitting there wondering how it happened, it buffers some more, and I saw something beautiful. Kessel used his quickness, and his speed to blow past the Clagary "Defender" (sorry Clagary fans you won't win 35 games this year) then used his true scoring ability to slip the puck bye Mikka Kiprusoff for the tying goal. Yes, Kessel did get off two a fast start last year (3 goals in first four games) only to cool off to a brutal 7 combined goals in October and November, but I do believe that somebody in the Leafs organization finally got to Kessel and made him realize how good he can be.

Not every goal you score can be picture perfect though. And as any hockey coach/player/announcer would say all you have to do is put the puck to the net and good things will happen. That's how Kessel scored his 2nd goal of the night, it bounced off of former Leaf Lee Stepniak and trickled barely over the line... but it turned out to be the game winner. He now has 5 goals, 3 assists, 11 shots on goal and is +7(?!?...he finished -20 last year). Also, for those fantasy owners he got 2 PIM minutes in last nights game, so it's good to see him getting down and dirty in the corners. Kidding, he got a delay of game penalty for shooting it over the glass... but thanks for the 0.5 fantasy points anyway!

If P-Kess is able to keep his legs moving, stay healthy and have his line mates continue to feed him the puck, and have Optimus Reim save 30 shots a game all season (that is for another post, no pun intended) then the sky is the limit for Phil this season.

Until Kessel scores an "Ovechtrick"
-Riley

11 October 2011

Yes, He is Still The Best

In Mark McGwire's final season with the Cardinals he said to manager Tony La Russa at the end of spring training: "If you don't put this guy on the roster for the 2001 season, it might be one of the worst moves you make in your career.'' This guy was Albert Pujols. 11 years later, Pujols has put La Russa and the Cardinals one step closer to the World Series. 


I love Albert Pujols. I love Albert Pujols so much that I paid 10 dollars in my fantasy baseball league, on top of the 10$ entry fee, to my friend who had the #1 overall pick just so I could have Pujols. Last night, or last afternoon for me, Albert Pujols had one of those "Albert Pujols ricidulous games" as Sports Writer/PTI "host" Mike Wilbon likes to call them. He went 4/5 with a home run and three doubles!! He drove in 5, scored three runs and was 3/3 with runners in scoring position....wow. I was not sure whether I wanted to see what Ryan Braun would be like under pressure or to see if Pujols still wanted to win for the Cardinals, now I know... Go Cards!


For those of you that don't follow the National League or aren't really baseball fans at all, consider this. Pujols has been an allstar for every season he has been in the Majors except one (he finished 2nd in MVP voting that year and hit .314 with 34 HR's and 127 RBI's). He has been the NL MVP 3 times and finished 2nd three times, twice to a juiced Barry Bonds and the other to Ryan Howards ridiculous 58 Home Run season, but still then, Pujols' WAR* was 3 points better. And yes, he plays first base but he has only had a fielding percentage below 96% once and that year it was 94%, and all the lefties that were pulling it were juiced anyway. He doesn't fold under pressure either, he is a career .323 hitter in the playoffs and his swag even moves up a couple levels, who even thought that was possible?!


Some people could say that he had a bad season and that his career is on the decline or that he gets injured too easily now, or anything along those lines, us real baseball fans know that this is far from the truth. Yes, this was the first time he didn't hit .300 (he hit .299) and yes, this is the first time he didn't drive in 100 runs (he drove in 99) and yes, he didn't hit 30 doubles but you guessed it, he hit 29. So don't believe everything you read (except me, of course) because he set the record with 10 straight seasons, starting with his rookie season may I add, where he hit .300, 30 HR, 30 doubles and 100HR's. Sadly, we must remember that he is human and he is bound to have below average seasons. By that I mean below average for him, three quarters of the NL should still bow down to him even though this was his worst season to date. He led the NL in home runs with 37. He also stole 9 bases which was his 4th best total so we don't have to worry about his legs giving out.


I do attribute some of this to the whole thing with Pujols not knowing where he is going to play next year, that can be really hard on a player. Would I love for Alex Anthopolous to trade Lind and Drabek for Pujols and Adam Wainright? Yes, but that will not happen. Whether Pujols is playing in Chicago, St. Louis or Guatemala next year, he will win another MVP. Oh, and if he hits 30 HR's 5 more times, (he's 31) he'll be in the top 5 all time. Either way, enjoy Cooperstown Mr. Pujols. 


Until Pujols wins World Series MVP as a Blue Jay
-Riley

5 October 2011

Can You Say: Due?

The last time the Leafs were in the playoffs, i distinctly remember where I was, if only I knew that i wouldn't have That Thrillfor a very long time.


Let us start with the obvious. The leafs are one of two teams to have not made the playoffs since the lockout (yes, now we are being compared to that sorry excuse for a franchise in Florida.) In total, that would be six straight seasons. We are due for the post season.

A Hart Trophy candidate. Every other team has had one in the last decade... why can't we? It is about time Phil Kessel starts playing like the superstar we all know he can be, whether he has a centre that can set him up or not, he should have more of an impact on the game at both ends of the ice. Yes, it would be awesome to see Naz on the first line with Phil and Lupul, but that won't happen until Tim Connoly fractures a finger or rolls his ankle getting out of bed (for those of you that don't follow Buffallo the Leafs acquired a human feather in Tim Connoly.) But basically,Phil Kessel is due to score 40 goals.

A good goaltender. A good goaltender has not been in Toronto since Eddy the Eagle, and he was really only good in 02-03. However, last years late "playoff" push brought us James "Optimus Reim" Reimer, and boy was he fun to watch. He was called up J.S. Giguere was suffering from "I'm playing in Toronto, do i have to try" syndrome and Jonas Gustavsson was complaining that his pads were made of trampolines that aimed the puck onto the oppositions sticks and that his chest protector actually had holes in it? Anyway, Optimus Reim went 20-10-5 last season with 3 shutouts, a 2.60 GAA and a .921 save percentage, it would be pretty awesome if he could keep that up for a whole season. The Leafs are due for a top 10 goaltender.

A highlight reel goal from Nazem Kadri. Come on Naz!! You have all of these preseason and Junior dangles, why can't you do it in the show? Oh yeah, 10 goals would be nice too... Naz is due for a few beautiful goals.

A whole season without heartbreak. Oh, wait, nevermind...

Anyways, the Leafs lead off the season tomorrow against the Canadians. I won't be able to watch the game because I will be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, which may be a good thing because if you recall the Leafs went 4-0 to start the last season... and we all know how that turned out. A good start would be nice, but in the long run it doesn't mean much.

GO LEAFS GO