ESPN Poll Stupidity: Part I

Poll

Outside the Lines asks: Who is your pick for NL MVP?

Lance Berkman
Carlos Delgado
Albert Pujols
Manny Ramirez
C.C. Sabathia

Wow... What's even more depressing are the results. Sabathia is currently leading, with Pujols close behind and Delgado in third--and Lance Berkman in last! Obviously this could soon change, but as of the first 14,500 votes that's where we stand.

How much you wanna bet that almost every single person that voted for Sabathia believes that he should win the MVP but not the Cy Young? I'd say 99%

Why does the MLB even play the first three months of the season? Because according to this poll--as well as an increasingly large number of media outlets--it is completely unnecessary.

Someone explain this to me.

These people look like the exact same person to me. They're both under-sized, scrappy, over achievers full of heart and grit. They go from one team to another and fulfill a role. They are both clearly albinos and have high pitched voices.

What's weird to me is that one is constantly overrated and adulated to a nauseating degree. The other is consistently underrated and people can't wait to replace him.

What's going on here? Are they not the same person? Why aren't they treated the same?

Unfortunately...

No SNB live blog tonight. Due to circumstances beyond my control (iffy internet connection of late, a certain someone with the remote), I will not be able to provide commentary on tonight's Phillies-Mets game. The Hamels-Santana is a great matchup and I'm betting that the word "changeup" will be said 50 times through the game. If anyone can keep count, that would be great. :) I may be able to do a delayed one if I feel like it but there are no guarantees and if it does happen, it will be much briefer than usual.

For some reason, the "I need to write this fast and get dough" nature of AP articles give me a little chuckle. For the most part, expecting the same in-depth detail about the subject of an AP article one would in a typical column is a bit of a fool's errand given the different nature of each. That said, I would guess that one would expect more than this found via Indystar.com:

Helio Castroneves won today’s PEAK Indy 300 race in Joliet, Ill., but New Zealander Scott Dixon won the season’s IRL championship.

Dixon also won this year’s Indianapolis 500 in May.

In the first 16 races this season, Dixon had a record-tying six victories and 13 finishes of fifth or better. But he had three finishes of 11th or worse, too.

Other racers in the 28-car field included Danica Patrick and Milka Duno.

That's it. The whole race summed up by info I could find on Wikipedia. Money well spent! Then you add the token mention of drivers who were previously involved in an overly publicized spat and you get a deep look into the abyss. If you're going to mention them, why not add where they finished? Why does poor Sarah Fisher get left out? Don't leave me hanging!
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Fine! Just for that, I shall subject you to this:


I am still embarassed that he's associated with the series.

NFL Week 1 Live Blog

All week I was trying to think of some creative prose to write in this space yesterday. I couldn't think of any, so I thought it best not to try.

This blog is primarily baseball interest, but for me, this day largely kills the MLB season until October. It doesn't help that the Rangers have been done for a while. The first Sunday of the NFL season has become, to me, though, what Christmas Day was when I was little. I want to get up early and take it all in, I can't wait for it to come, and all day Saturday has that feeling of a magic event coming when the calendar turns. I get Sunday Ticket, and some time in August the channels for the games start appearing, and it's like when the presents started being placed under the tree when I was younger.

And just like when I was a kid on Christmas Eve, I have trouble sleeping. Though now it's more because I'm used to staying up late, the effect is now that I'm tired.

I was hoping to live blog through the pre game shows, but I might need to catch another hour or two of shut eye before the games start. I'll definitely be in here and blogging the events I catch by then, though.


-- I have to say something that will probably make 99% of our target audience hate me: I like Chris Berman's nicknames. I certainly don't like Boomer, but I think his nicknames are catchy, harmless and they've become a part of the NFL to me.

Sorry.

-- The return of NFL commercials is such a great feeling.

-- Berman is lauding Vince Young for his "clutch" and some such crap, treating his 2:1 INT:TD ratio was just a cosmetic problem. I do not get the love affair with Vince Young. 74 Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement last season was 29th in the NFL. -8.4% DVOA was 31st. Certainly he does some things that don't show up on that line, he's better than the 29th best QB in the NFL, but still. . . he wasn't very good. Get over it.

-- The NFL Network does almost everything better than everyone else. So why don't they have a pre game show? This concerns me greatly. I'm stuck with the overblown human interest stories and empty rhetoric of ESPN, the over-stylization of FOX or the all-around bad of CBS.

-- Michael Strahan just picked the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl. Allow my fan boyishness to show for a minute: that just made my ****ing day.

-- FOOTBALL MUSIC!

For the morning, I'll primarily be watching the Red Zone channel and the Seahawks @ Bills.

-- Gettin' antzy.

-- Marshawn Lynch is a full grown man. The Seattle front seven is. . . full grown. . . er. . .

-- Walter Jones is closer to perfect at what he does than any other human on the face of the planet. I'm not positive off the top of my head who the weakside end on Buffalo is, but he just got destroyed on consecutive plays.

-- I have trouble with the media obsession with Brett Favre. For instance, right now the Red Zone Channel is showing me the Jets playing (terribly) from about the 30 yard line. I know there are better games elsewhere. And I know this is because of Brett Favre.

-- It's completely unfair that someone as massive as Ben Rroeiwnsdoignsboiburger can run. He just scrambled for a first and I swear the Texans were afraid of him.

-- So Brett Favre just threw a 157 yard touchdown to Jerricho Cotchery. Maybe I was wrong about him having trouble getting in to form this year.

-- It's been more than eight minutes now and New England hasn't scored. This is very strange to me.

Brady just got taken out. Matt Cassel is warming up.

-- Consecutive sacks of Matt Schaub via the Pittsburgh front seven. I have to assume they're having their way with that Texans young line.

Touchdown McNabb to L.J. Smith as I watch.

-- Baltimore just scored the touchdown of the day. A double reverse to Mark Clayton, with Joe Flacco and Ray Rice lead-blocking. 40 yards. Awesome.

Also, Michael Turner just scored again. I believe he's already over 100 yards. 21-0 Atlanta. I got him for a 10th the price of LaDainian Tomlinson in my salary cap league for the week.

Hines Ward just had an 80-ish yard touchdown erased due to PI.

-- A full quarter has been played and the Patriots haven't scored on the Chiefs. What on earth? BUT, Matt Cassell just completed a beautiful bomb to Randy Moss, so all may be well. Or at least okay.

Randy Moss also already has his 56th career 100 yard game.

-- I know he's in a better situation, but if Matt Cassell has a good season while Matt Leinart sits on the bench, many lols will be had.

Touchdown, 7-0 New England.

-- I have a strong disagreement with the new face mask rule. Accidentally touching the face mask should not make such a game changing result as a 15-yard penalty.

Also, I disagree with how they went about eliminating the gray area of the force out. I think having safeties camp on the side line to shove an ariel receiver out instead of defending the ball is going to be ridiculous. I would have gone the other way: if you push someone out, it's a completion whether they would have come in or not.

-- People who look awesome: Lamar Woodley.

-- I expected young Matt Ryan to absolutely suck. The Lions so far are making me an idiot: 5 for 5, 82 yards, 16.4 YPA, 1 TD.

-- Q: What is the Seahawks special teams made of?

A: Fail. Roscoe Parrish just made 27 different players miss a tackle.

-- Why is it the Seahawks seem to always have so much trouble catching passes. Is it organizational? Is it something weird about Hasselbeck's passes?

-- Donavan McNabb: 14/20, 274 yards, 3 TD

-- Willie Parker might just beat the curse of 370 following a year that also included an injury. He's now surprassed his 2007 TD total in only one game.

-- Parker only had 331 carries in 2007. My bad. Still. . .

-- Andrew Siciliano, the Red Zone Channel host: "You have to wonder, if Tatum Bell really did steal Rudi Johnson's wallet, how did he have his ID to make the flight to Atlanta?"

-- So. . . two rookie QBs could win their first start in week 1 at the same time?

-- The Bengals couldn't tackle Dom DeLuise in a phone booth. Joe Flacco just ran 38 yards to make it 17-3.

-- The Patriots just escaped after playing their most embarassing game in well over a calendar year. 17-10.

-- Remember the Christmas presents analogy? It holds true this time of day. It's so bitter-sweet when the first crop of games is ending. It's like when all the presents have been opened and you look around and realize, after a year of waiting, the fun part is over. Sure, you got cool stuff/watched awesome games, but still. . . it's over.

At least for a few months there's Christmas every week.

I apologize to anyone who may actually be reading this, because in a few minutes this writer will pretty much only be watching the Cowboys.

-- Terrell Owens has now tied Cris Carter for third all-time in touchdown receptions. And immediately after was penalized for the lamest celebration ever.

If you're going to get a flag, make it worth it.

-- Well, day one is over seemingly as soon as it began. Only a night game to go. So sad. Only 16 more weeks to go.

-- One game is still going. The Panthers have fallen behind to the Chargers and are now down 24-19 and driving. A seeming catch for a first down is being reviewed. A minute three left.

-- The Panthers are now making epic catches for first downs like they're going out of style. Now at the 23.

-- Overthrow in the end zone, and 6 seconds left for Jake Delhomme to work his magic.

-- Two seconds left. Here we go. . . IT'S CAUGHT! I'll be back, watch your highlights!

-- If you didn't watch the end of the Panthers' game, I feel bad for you.

-- Time to watch Football Night in America. If I hear anything stupid, it will be written here.

-- As someone who grew up watchin The Big Show, you can imagine I geeked out when I changed the channel and heard Dan Patrick's voice. Putting him together with Keith Olberman again is awesome. Throw Dan Patrick in to that lineup and you have rare sports-panel awesome.

And Peter King has good insight, just don't let him talk about baseball.

-- One. Game. Has. Been. Played. I have the panel of ex-players telling me already that the Bills are one of the best teams in the league and the Seahawks are falling apart.

After one game. My goodness.

-- Hey, where did I see these teams again? Oh yeah, in the worst Super Bowl ever.

-- I have so very little to say about this game. Even John Madden has yet to be entertaining.

-- I'd forgotten how much I hate watching the Colts on offense.

-- Once upon a time, John Madden was not Captain Obvious. Now that's all he does. He just states what everyone understands 20 times.

-- "If the Colts want to win, they're going to have to get physical."
~ John Madden

-- John Madden has continually expressed amazement at how well a rookie runningback is playing. First off, it's one game. Second, I'm pretty sure everyone and their mothers know that runningbacks adjust to the NFL easily. How is Madden so blown away by this?

Also, I can't wait to hear someone claim this is revenge for the Bears.

-- Well, Sunday Night Football has been a failure tonight. Not enough interesting has happened to blog about.

If anyone actually read this and found it worth their while, let me know. It's hard to concentrate on football AND live blog on it at the same time. This was a trial run, if you will.

Since We're on the Subject

It seems that recently there's been a lot of MVP/Cy Young award talk going on, which makes sense as the season starts winding down; so I thought it'd be good to just let it be known what a few of ATH's picks are at this point. I'm fairly confident we all share the same opinions (having discussed this quite a few times), but I'm sure anyone who disagrees will let it be known soon enough. Here we go!

A.L. Cy Young








Cliff Lee







N.L. Cy Young








Tim Lincecum









A.L. MVP








Cliff Lee (Again)









N.L. MVP







Albert Pujols










Now, how many of these guys will actually win is another question. At this point, I'd say Lee will most likely win the AL Cy Young, but have no chance at the MVP (although he should). Lincecum has a decent shot at the NL Cy Young, but if Webb has even an okay September with 3-4 more wins I could see the voters easily giving it to him. Pujols, even though this should be one of the easier decisions, is probably a close call. He doesn't seem to be getting nearly as much recognition as he should and if his team falls out of the playoff race I could easily see it going to a David Wright, Chase Utley, Ryan Braun, or even a *gasp* Carlos Delgado. None of them should win it, but I could see the voters going that way.

There really wasn't any point to this post other than attempting to lay our picks out for scrutiny just as much as others.

One more month!

Shouldn't Be THIS Debatable

If you want to be truly frustrated by the perception that has been created throughout sports today, all you have to do is look no further than today's ESPN.com chat entitled, That's Debatable: Who's the N.L. Cy Young?
Here's some of the questions/comments from the numerous participants of the chat. I should warn you, it's pretty bad, so if you already have stress-related problems I would suggest refraining from the following. If not, have at it!

Chris (Manchester NH): I am sorry but W-L and team W-L in games you pitch are the only important categories because the name of the game is winning. I do not care if Webb finishes with 4 or 5 more wins than anyone else in his league its simple he deserves it. you play the game to WIN not have good stats.

Like I said, this is some annoying shit. I'm pretty sure playing the game to win basically means playing at the top of your game. Some people do this much better than others. Should pitchers with a better offense really be rewarded? I mean, is there anyone who really believes that Bronson Arroyo (13 wins, 4.97 ERA) is having a better season than Johan Santana (12 wins, 2.71 ERA)?

Ramo - Buffalo, NY: A month ago, this was Webb's award to lose. And guess what? He's lost it. Stark is right on, Lincecum should win it. Like Cliff Lee, he has posted the best numbers despite playing on a weak team. But here's the caveat: CC should win MVP. Why is no one discussing that option? Who has been more valuable to their team?

I really liked this guy until that last part. It would be absolutely unfathomable for a pitcher to win the MVP and not win the Cy Young. If you are not valuable enough to win the award for being the best pitcher, then how the hell can you be valuable enough to win the award for being the best player? Unless maybe you were an overly awesome hitter or something, which Sabathia is not.

Kevin Kelly (Syracuse NY): Don't get me wrong, Lincecum is incredible and his pitching is a jaw dropper (look at his stats) but as for a NL Cy Young award, i believe an award like that can only be won so far is if the pitcher is helping the team to the playoffs. As of now it will either be Sabathia or Webb. They are both helping out and giving high hopes to bring there team to a playoff but out of those two great pitchers, it can only be determined who helps the team go to the playoffs. Someday, Lincecum will have his shot and he deserves it.

When did the Cy Young also become the MVP? Team success should not be factored in for the MVP, but it ESPECIALLY shouldn't be anywhere near a Cy Young argument.

Matt (Boston): I think sabermetric guys have gone too far in de-valuing wins. If you're bullpen is blowing games for you, finish it yourself. If the offense is having a bad day, you need to pick them up. Wins shouldn't be the end all stat, but it shouldn't be discounted like has become fashionable.

1. Whether or not you finish the game yourself is entirely dependent on the manager.
2. How do you "pick up the offense"? If your team scores no runs for you, then there is nothing you can do. A pitcher's limits only reach so far, hence the term "limits."
3. I disagree. I believe they should be discounted. I don't see a single instance where they could be a good tool for evaluating a pitcher's talent. It is a team-dependent stat that should not be used for individualistic purposes.

I'm going to post Jayson Stark's answer to this question as well. Throughout the chat most of his responses are actually pretty good, but this is an exception:

Jayson Stark: I think that's a fair point, Matt. To use the example made earlier, if a pitcher went 0-20, with a 1.00 ERA, I wouldn't vote for him for the Cy Young. But there's a big difference between that extreme and a guy who is 15-3 with lousy run support and bullpen support. I don't want to eliminate wins from the conversation. I just believe in keeping them in perspective. Isn't that reasonable?

If a starting pitcher ever finished the season with an ERA at 1.00 I don't think I could see any valid justification for not giving him the Cy Young. His adjusted ERA would be somewhere in the 300's probably, how could you penalize him for having some one of the worst strings of bad luck (wins) in the history of the game? Don't you think it was probably already miserable enough?

Doug (NY): Roy Oswalt for post-ASB Cy?

This one made me laugh. Does this guy just not watch baseball at all? I think that Sabathia guy pretty much has this fictional award on lock.

Thomas Arnold (Santa Barbara, CA): First of all, baseball people like to say that the MVP is for positon players, because pitchers have the Cy Young. So, shouldn't the Cy Young be the Most Valuable Pitcher?

Whoever these "baseball people" are, I hope they have a blog, article, or some other type of sports outlet for me to get a hold of. The guidelines are pretty clear, people shouldn't try to read so deep into what isn't there.

MC (CT): I think the only way CC can win the CY is for both Webb and Lincecum to have awful Spetembers (similar to CC's April, ironically) and him to have a ridiculous month like 5-0 1.00 ERA. That being said, I think Webb wins because the CY votes are too jaded by W-L and don't look at the numbers that matter.

Thank you, sir, for summing up the ridiculousness that ensues the BBWAA and for at least partially retaining my faith in today's society.

This dude hates Billy Beane

Some days, I do too. Then I remember that my hometown team employs Ed Wade and I thank the baseball gods for tanking Billy's playing career.

The A's sent down Seagon and the Giants have Tim Lincecum!

There's just so much here to poke at I'll stick to the highlights.

We want to remind you of something. Gonzalez was the main piece in the Dan Haren trade, the jewel in the crown. Now the jewel languishes in Sacramento. What does this tell you about the A's ability to judge talent?

It's September. He's not "languishing" anywhere. He's learning how to take a damned pitch. You wonder why we haven't seen Travis Buck around! (Okay well, that's an inner ear problem.) Let's see who else was acquired in the Dan Haren trade, shall we?

• Greg Smith (LHP)
• Dana Eveland (LHP)
• Brett Anderson (LHP)
• Chris Carter (IF)
• Aaron Cunningham (OF)

Gonzalez not panning out at the age of TWENTY-TWO doesn't exactly mean Beane can't judge talent. That's just ridiculous. Is this guy serious?

We direct our remarks to A's fans who should be disgusted with the A's -- an organization that can't get it right but pretends it knows what it's doing. We direct our remarks to our loyal fans at firejoemorgan.com, who mindlessly worship Billy Beane as if Beane is the crown prince of baseball. Wake up. This Gonzalez mess should make you reconsider your position as lifelong Beanophiles. Wise up. Please join a 12-step program to overcome your Beane addiction. Please.

Well, last time I checked the A's had been to the post-season a lot in the last half-dozen years. Yeah, this year the team sucks. We got our hopes up when all the kids decided to play wayyyy above their heads in April and May. Then they came back down to earth and we saw the "rebuilding" team Billy put together to play out the games between now and when all the crazy-good kids in the minors are ready to come up.

Also, this Gonzalez situation is not a mess. It's the franchise not being afraid to demote a player who needs to learn how to take a few pitches.

I'm already in a 12-step program to learn how to deal with heartbreak induced by a Beane trade. I'm doing quite well, thank you, and as a result I follow a half-dozen teams. That makes me a better baseball fan than you, Cohn! Hah.

There's more. The A's want you to believe they're "building" in a brilliant and rational manner. Really? We here at the Zohn wonder who plays in the infield in 2009 when the team is supposed to be reconstituted and good. The A's need a first baseman. They need a second baseman because we don't believe Mark Ellis gets invited back next season. The A's need a shortstop unless you believe Bobby Crosby is the answer -- at best, he's a middle-of-the-pack kind of guy, certainly no Miguel Tejada. The A's need a third baseman. That's how bad things are, and we haven't even gotten to the outfield yet.

I've been looking a little further down the line at 2010, but I think the 2009 team could make a run at it. I mean, we DO have a crapload of young talent hanging out in Sac and Midland, it's not like we're going to trade them away for Tejada or some crazy thing like that. They'll be here.

Also, I do believe Bobby Crosby is the answer. I'm one of those people. (It's probably not logical, but hey, Cohn's setting the rules here and he has cleary thrown logic out the window.)

Like the A's, the Giants are a crummy team. No one at the Zohn disputes that. But the Giants have one thing the A's don't. The Giants have Tim Lincecum .... The A's provide a boring unwatchable team. The A's don't care about thrilling their fans. They say the thrill will come some time in Fremont, if Fremont ever really happens.

I like how he says the Giants have ONE thing the A's don't, that being Tim Lincecum. (Who's actually not a thing. But whatever.) They've also got, I dunno, Matt Cain, Barry Zito (while he's not so hot at pitching, he makes a damn good jeans model), and ... Fred Lewis? Actually, they have a whole TEAM that the A's don't have, and neither does any other team out there.

I do like Tim Lincecum. In fact, I am wearing a Tim Lincecum shirt right now, the same one I wore when he got knee-capped by an Astros batter, sending his team to be four-game-swept by Houston.

I actually kind of enjoy watching the A's. There's Huston Street who will always blow a lead (except when he's healthy), there's Brad Ziegler who didn't give up a run of his own for a helluva long time, there's Greg Smith who when he walks a guy will promptly pick him off first, even if he's not even leading off. Those are a couple "things" I enjoy watching when the A's are on. Oh, and Ryan "Man child" Sweeney is certainly entertaining.

Unless Beane impregnated your daughter, there's no reason to hate him this much. Furthermore, what have the A's done to you, Cohn?

Oh that's right. 1989. Sorry for bringing that up.