i played like poop

Shelley Duncan boiled down his first start of the season to one word. "Poop," Duncan said as he fiddled with the tab of a soda can in front of his clubhouse stall after yesterday's 6-3 loss to the Rays. He finished 1-for-4, grounded out with two runners on base to end the eighth and committed a throwing error that led to two unearned runs. "I feel like I have some work to do," Duncan said. "I felt like poop a little bit. Hopefully, I can put the work in the cage and next time around I can be sharp."

As for his choice of words, Duncan said, "It just means you feel you can do a lot better, you feel you can feel a lot better. You don't feel like your swing at everything was 100 percent. That was me [yesterday]. Poop." You must give him credit for being honest. With the ground out to end the 8th, and the error in the second, fans that watched the game must agree they thought he played like "poop" too.


-Ryan

Those Pesky Blue Jays

Taking 3 of 4 fromt he Oakland A's was a nice way to start the year for the Red Sox. They were having a tough time scoring but they had two good pitching performances from Daisuke and Lester, but that momentum is gone south now that the team is north of the border. Marcum pitched well, but not that well last night to top Tim Wakefield, who for 5 innings looked like he was going to have the Cy Young sewn up by June. Even with Drew belting an improbable 3 run game tying homer, the Sox couldn't overcome the magic of Blue Jays opening night. Today was strange, but I felt the Sox were in trouble from the first pitch of "flat brimmed Opie Taylor"(Jesse Litsch).

Buchholz was good in my unhumble opinion. He attacked hitters, his curve ball had hitters off balance, his fast ball had life and when he kept his change up down it was down right unhittable, just ask Matt Stairs who whiffed on it 3 times. The turning point was Casey's error in the 4th directly after the Red Sox had taken a 2-1 lead. It opened up for a quasi big inning and the Sox just never recovered. As none of the "Question Marks" of the bullpen supplied any answers as to who is going to get sent down when Beckett is activated fromt he DL for tomorrow's start or who's going away when Mike Timlin comes back in a couple more days.

While we're here my picks for this: David Aardsma threw 11 pitches to David Eckstein last night and ended up giving him a free pass to start the 7th inning and was promptly removed. He gets my vote and my mom's too, because well, they have a history, check out my Grading the Champs piece for the reason's behind that.

I think Snyder has more upside as a long reliever, though he did walk two today. I just don't know how much faith I would have in Julian Tavarez, plus Tavarez might have some value in a trade if you throw him in with Coco. Which I guess is a forgone conclusion, as any fantasy owner with Jacoby Ellsbury hopes because the mean time is worse than tandem running backs.

Tomorrow's a new day and Beckett is hurling against Doc Halladay. It'll be a classic, if the Sox can score and keep Eckstein and some Dude named Lyle (Seinfeld Reference, look up The Dude) off the bases.

Sterling Pingree

The Road to the Playoffs

Here it is, the finale of The Road to the Playoffs special. In case you missed them, you can catch part one of the Eastern Conference breakdown here, and for the Western Conference you can see part one here, and part two here. Onward we go.

5. Washington Wizards (final projection 42-40): This team can be a dangerous team if they can put it all together. They definitely have the talent to be a contender in the East, and they have shown that they can compete on any given night without Gilbert Arenas, and with him they are that much better. Their key is going to be how healthy they truly are. Arenas has missed most of the season, Caron Butler missed significant time, and Antawn Jamison is also now hurt. If they are all healthy come playoff time they can really be a factor in the playoffs. If not, they could be a first round exit.

6. Atlanta Hawks (final projection 40-42): This is a team that has really impressed me lately. I said at the trade deadline they needed a point guard, and I think they got the best available one at this point in Mike Bibby. He is only 28, and this is a young team that can definitely challenge in the playoffs. I still think they are a year or two away, but they have a great nucleus of young talent and should at least be a very frustrating opponent for either the Celtics or the Pistons. I honestly think if they can get the 7 seed they have a legit shot of taking down the Pistons, but against the Celts they just are too young. Either way, I think they can take a game or two regardless of the opponent.

7. Toronto Raptors (final projection 42-40): I just don't see them with enough talent to get it done in the playoffs. They have a great player in Chris Bosh, and two good guards in T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon, but after that they are pretty thin. Most of the foreign players on the roster haven't played up to expectations this season, and it has hurt them. I could see them being a tough first round exit, but nothing more.

8. Philadelphia 76ers (final projection 41-41): This is a team that has overachieved a lot this season, and I don't see them winning more than one game come playoff time. They have a decent team talent wise, but they will be facing experienced teams in the first round. They do have some really raw guys that could be really good in a few years, and they have a legit superstar in the making in Andre Iguodala. I could see them making some noise in the playoffs if Louis Williams can play consistently, otherwise it could be 4 and out.

Welcome to Opening Day: Sort of

I feel like Bob Uecker’s character from Major League, Harry Doyle, these days. Remember when he is obliterated during game one of a double header against the Red Sox, and he says:
“Welcome back to Major League Baseball, sort of.”

That’s what I’m feeling like this week and really for the past week concerning the start of the MLB season. I mean really how many opening days can we really have? The season “officially” opened last Tuesday morning, stateside and then the season was stagnant until the Washington Nationals of all teams hosted Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN this past Sunday night to open their new ballpark. (More on this in a minute.) Here’s where it gets complicated, the rest of the Major’s open up the next day, Monday, and now the Red Sox are finally playing again tonight which to the best of my knowledge is Tuesday again. My question is, which one was the real opening day? I’m not here to try and answer this question, I’m going to be useless and complain about it as if Bud Selig were smart enough to read this and then smart enough to carry out my wishes. I’m going to pretend now that I’m older than I am and tell you things that I think I remember from when I was a boy.
I re
member opening day being an exciting day; you watched games because even though there were games played a few days ago, those didn’t count because nobody was really trying to win those games because they don’t count. On Opening Day they actually count and people want to watch them. If your team wins its opener people are saying things like, “just 161 to go” and fun things like this. When you team opens the season up in Japan and the first game start at 6AM EST, you get questions like, “Did you wake up for the Red Sox?”
I having conversations like the one I had yesterday with my Dad:

Me: “Did you watch the Nationals game last night?”

Dad: “I saw it for a minute, wait, was that a real game?”

Me: “Yeah that was opening day.”

Dad: “They opened with the Nationals?”

Me: “Yeah.

Dad: “And the Sox don’t play till Tuesday night.”

Me: Reluctantly, “Yeah.”

Dad: “Makes a lot of sense.”

It doesn’t make sense at all. Why on Earth are there so many different opening days? I’m not ignorant enough to not know that it has something to do with revenue, but come on the scheduling could be a little better, right? Take the Red Sox early schedule for instance. Does it seem fair or to at least make sense to anybody that the Red Sox are going to open 4 ball parks this season including their own and open ball parks in 3 different countries (Japan, Canada and USA) before they open their own? Of course not, I guess Bud will do anything but look at steroids. He’s like a teenager at this point.

Final note, I rather enjoyed watching the Braves-Nationals game Sunday night. It had a patriotic feel to it with the President throwing out the first pitch in our Nation’s Capital. I think that this needs to be a tradition, here’s what I propose to do that might keep everybody happy except for the Japanese, but we only play there every 4 years. Open up Sunday night (yes, the same night as Wrestle Mania) at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. and have the President throw out the first pitch. Then the next day have the rest of Baseball play a full schedule and the season has started. This way only two teams start early and nobody has a day like I did yesterday, where I felt like the kid Santa forgot because the Red Sox weren’t on and everybody else’s team’s were playing.


~Sterling Pingree

Sprint Cup Power Rankings - Texas

1. Jeff Burton - He's now led a lap in five of the first six races and has finished in the top-15 in each race.

2. Tony Stewart - He hasn't won yet but he's still sitting well in the standings after posting a solid finish on Sunday.

3. Kyle Busch - Two straight mediocre finishes for Busch and the momentum he had to start the season is slowly fading away.

4. Kevin Harvick - He's still moseying about quietly in the top-10.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - He's still higher in the standings than Gordon and Johnson, despite finishing worse than the two on Sunday.

6. Jeff Gordon - Gordon says he likes Texas, but his stats tell a different story. He has yet to win at Texas and has yet to post back-to-back top-10s this season.

7. Carl Edwards - It's time for another 1.5 mile track where Edwards has been head and shoulders above the rest, so far this season.

8. Greg Biffle - Well, he wasn't going to finish well in every race and his struggles at Martinsville were well-documented before the race began Sunday. Texas should be a different story.

9. Denny Hamlin - He finally got a burst of momentum he needed with a win on Sunday, but whether or not he can maintain it is another story.

10. Kasey Kahne - He's the only Dodge in the top-10 in points right now.

11. Clint Bowyer - A top-10 finish at Martinsville drops Bowyer to 10th in the points standings, oddly enough, but RCR still has all three drivers in the top-12 in points.

12. Jimmie Johnson - It was no surprise to see Johnson finish well at Martinsville but now the drivers head to another 1.5 mile track where the 48 team has struggled so far.

Aaron Larsen