Colby Cole's Blog

MLB Season off to exciting start

2008-04-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

The 2008 MLB season has got off to an interesting start. Lets take a look at both leagues and see how things have gone down so far.

National League

In the preseason, I personally expected the Arizona Diamondbacks to end up being the best team in the NL and end up representing the league in the world series. We're almost 3 weeks into the season, yet so far that has held true with the Diamondbacks holding the best record in all of MLB at 12-4 and that includes an outstanding 6-1 mark at home. The Diamondbacks have scored the most runs in MLB with 102 and have also allowed the least amount of runs in MLB so far with 53.

Both Justin Upton (.377, 4th) and Connor Jackson (.364, 7th) rank in the top 10 in the NL in batting average. Upton also ranks in a tie for 6th in home runs with 5 along with teammates Mark Reynolds and Chris Young. 3 Diamondbacks rank top 10 in RBIs as well, Jackson leads the way with 17 which is good for a second place tie and only one behind league leader Chipper Jones. Mark Reynolds is in 5th with 16 RBIs while Justin Upton is in a 9th place tie with 13 RBIs.

The Diamondbacks have dominated the leaderboards in pitching too with 3 starters having at least 3 wins and Brandon Webb leading the national league with 4 wins. Dan Haren and Micah Owings each have 3 wins. All 3 have ERAs of 2.29 or better.

The Cardinals are off to a good start as well with a 12-5 record which has them just a half game behind the Diamondbacks. Albert Pujols is off to an amazing start with a .375 batting average, 4 home runs, and 14 RBIs. Kyle Lohse is off to a strong start as well with a 2-0 record and a 1.48 ERA. Jason Isringhausen already has 6 saves which leads the NL. However, the Cardinals have played one of the easiest schedules so far so the jury is still out as to whether they are serious contenders or not.

The Cubs and Brewers are each 1.5 games back of the Cardinals with 10-6 records. Surprisingly, the NL East which looked to be the NL's toughest division has struggled so far with the Mets and Marlins being the only 2 teams above .500 with 9 wins a piece. The Mets have one less loss than the Marlins though, with only 6. The Phillies have struggled so far, at one game below .500 but are known for starting slow. The Dodgers are another team that has fallen below expectations, with a 7-9 mark at this point.

American League

While it isn't that shocking that the Boston Red Sox, and LA Angels are in a first place tie atop the American League the team joining them right now is a surprise, the Chicago White Sox who technically hold the best record in the AL due to winning percentage. 1.5 games behind them are the Kansas City Royals who were expected to finish in the basement of the AL. Both AL Central surprises are offset by two AL Central disappointments. The Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were both picked to be the Red Sox strongest challengers to getting to the world series. Both have struggled tremendously.

The Indians are 7-10, in a tie with teams such as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Texas Rangers. The Detroit Tigers, who had a splashy offseason and came into the season with one of baseball's highest payrolls meanwhile are 6-11 and rank last in the American League. In their defense, they have played better recently winning 4 of their last 5 and are 6-4 in their last 10 so they might be starting to catch fire. Right now though, things aren't going as planned in the central.

Another team that had a splashy offseason was the Seattle Mariners, and while they haven't struggled as mightily as the Detroit Tigers, they are just 9-9 and trailing the Kansas City Royals and Oakland A's two teams expected to compete for the AL basement in the standings right now.

While the Royals have been a big surprise of course, so have the Oakland A's. Without Eric Chavez, their best player, and Rich Harden, their best pitcher, the A's are 10-8 and just a game off of the AL leaders. Once those pieces get back, the A's might end up being serious contenders for a playoff spot. They haven't hit for a lot of power but Kurt Suzuki and Ryan Sweeney are both batting well over .300. Emil Brown and Bobby Crosby both have 13 RBIs. Dana Eveland has been a pleasant surprise, with a 2.00 ERA after 3 starts. Huston Street has 4 straight saves since blowing the season opener in Japan.

So thats my roundup for the MLB season up to this point, look forward to doing more blogging later.

Kentucky a lock? What a joke!

2008-03-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

At 18-12 overall the Wildcats have a weaker record Mississippi and Florida. In non-conference play here were some of the losses

Gardner Webb 68-84
UAB 76-79
@Houston 69-83
San Diego 72-81

That doesn't even include ugly losses to Indiana and Louisville. There was also a 41 point loss against Vanderbilt in conference play. Now in their first game of the SEC tournament, they lost to Georgia in overtime despite the Bulldogs being without their best player during that entire period.

Yeah, they have a home win against Tennessee and hung tough at Tennessee late in the season. How about several other close SEC contests though, this team easily could have lost 8 or 9 games in conference to go along with their horrible non-conference slate.

It is a joke that this team is not only being considered for an NCAA tournament bid, but are thought of by experts to be a lock. Florida gets no consideration (and they don't deserve it don't get me wrong) though they have won 2 straight national titles and have a better overall record yet Kentucky is a lock after a shitty season? In Lunardi's bracket their a 9 seed..what a joke! San Diego, a team they lost to is only a 14.

It's because of the name brand, all they see is the name on the jersey and not the actual results. Put their resume up against one of the mid-major conference teams vying for an at-large bid and cover up the names and I guarantee that the resume of the mid-major team is more attractive. Hopefully the selection committee isn't so blind!

No three-peat for Gators

2008-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

At the end of January it looked as if the Gators were a lock to getting a chance to defend their 2 consecutive national titles. They were 18-3, with a 5-1 record in SEC play and had just finished off a complete rout of Vanderbilt. In that game they went on a 23-0 run and led 34-6 at one point before winning 86-64.

Since then, the Gators have just 3 victories and 8 losses. 2 of those victories came against Eastern division cellar dweller Georgia while the other was in a close home victory over South Carolina. In that contest, the Gators thrashed their opponents 48-36 in the first half, but in the second half were just barely able to hang on for an 85-82 victory.

Even after a 3-4 February there was still hope for the Gators though. They stood at 8-5 in the SEC and already had 21 victories. Winning 2 of their last 3 would have put them in good position to get back to the NCAA tournament, winning 1 of 3 and winning a few SEC tournament games would have done the trick too.

On March 1st the Gators had a home game against Mississippi State in what was basically a must-win with tough games against Tennessee and Kentucky remaining. During the 2 year title run, the Gators were unbeatable at home. Against Mississippi State it didn't seem that way as the Bulldogs outscored the Gators 39-27 in the first half. The Gators made a run early in the second half but were unable to sustain it.

Things got off to a better start in their next game though, in what was again a must-win the Gators faced Tennessee at home. The Volunteers were ranked #4 in the nation and were 2 games removed from a road victory against then #1 Memphis. In the first half the Gators dominated, going into the half with a 55-42 lead. In the second half Tennessee surpassed 40 again, but the Gators didn't come close to dulicating their production getting outscored 47-31 in the second half and blowing their chances at locking up a tourney bid during the regular season.

Against Kentucky the Gators dug themselves a deep hole trailing 60-44 in the second half but were able to cut the Wildcats lead to 73-70. Kentucky was able to sink a couple of free throws and hold off the Gators which basically forced the Gators to win out in the SEC tournament in order to get a bid. In the first round against Alabama it was the same thing, digging a deep hole crawling back into the game only to be put away late.

Many teams started the season off with young teams, and they played tough schedules early on got trounced in a few games but as the season went on they got stronger. Florida was a freshman ridden team, but instead of gelling together in the second half of the season the group collapsed and the once confident Billy Donovan isn't too excited about the future. What many people expected to help the team, the extremely easy non-conference schedule, appears to have actually hurt the Gators.

Sure, the youngsters got some artificial confidence by trouncing a bunch of inferior teams but they also suffered losses to Florida State and Ohio State teams that are currently on the bubble. Ohio State though unlike the Gators gelled as the season went on and had a nice late season run and have a good chance at making it in. The Gators in spite of a nice record heading into February only had one real win, against Vanderbilt and in that game led most of the way thanks to that huge early run. When the team finally faced adversity they were unable to respond.

This team struggled on the road all year long, going 3-6 however they weren't exactly stellar at home either. They lost by 12 points at home to an LSU team that was just 1-7 in the SEC heading into the game and a team that had already fired it's head coach. Once Florida blew that game, the wheels appeared to come off and Billy Donovans group of freshmen slid into obscurity.

So instead of seeing the Gators try for a three-peat this March, we'll see if they can win a game in the NIT...if they get inivited. As a Gators fan I wasn't expecting another championship, but at least getting to see my team play a few NCAA tournament games this March would have been nice. Seeing them build some positive momentum for next year, instead we have an 0-4 March and doubt as to whether they will get an NIT bid. How crazy is that? Hopefully Donovan can add some top recruits in the offseason, and guys like Calathes and Lucas mature. If not, maybe Donovan's Magic ran out after flirting with the team in Orlando with the same name.

-Colby Cole