In case you were out dressed up as Grimace to serve as a decoy for a hamburger-related heist, here's what you missed in sports on Thursday.
The Denver Nuggets stayed hot, winning their 12th straight at home, 107-92, over the Los Angeles Clippers. Denver pulled away late, despite the mind games of Blake Griffin. Nuggets forward Andre Iguodala said after the game, "Blake kept calling me the Iguanodon, which I get, but he also kept calling [Nuggets center] Kosta Koufos the Koufosaurus. I don't even think that's a real dinosaur." When asked what he was up to, Griffin responded, "I just think dinosaurs are cool," before jutting out his mouthguard and winking.
The Pittsburgh Penguins stormed back from a three-goal deficit to beat the Flyers in Philadelphia, 5-4. I'm sorry, I mean the city formerly known as Philadelphia, which is now officially Philahellphia, as the local government has been seized by enraged Flyers fans. Martial law currently reigns in the city, with sober rationality the only official crime on the books. Fortunately, this has caused nothing to change for the citizens of Philahellphia in the aftermath of this rare American coup d'etat.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Quarterback Logan Thomas led no. 16 Virginia Tech back from the brink of defeat with two key drives as the Hokies beat Georgia Tech 17-14 in overtime. Unfortunately, the celebrations on the Blacksburg campus got a little out of hand late Monday night when Virginia Tech students began throwing upholstered hay bales out their dorm windows.
Here are the most compelling matchups, stories, and personalities in Major League Baseball for the coming weekend.
Fair warning: This is going to be an overwhelming weekend. The start of college football and U.S. Open tennis join baseball in a sort of sports cornucopia. And next weekend will be even more intense, when NFL football joins the fray. Throw in the end of summer's miserable heat, and this is easily the best time of year.
10. The Red Menace (CIN-HOU)
The Cincinnati Reds are tied for the best record in baseball (OK, fine, they're percentage points behind the Nationals), and may be the most anonymous great team in recent memory. The fact is, I'm not sure the world was ready for this kind of greatness coming out of Cincinnati. There may have been a time when the Reds' success seemed like a fluke, but those days are long gone, and with 30 games left in the season, they are as good as playoff-bound. But what do we actually know about them? This might say more about me than the Reds, but when I gave myself a quiz about the Reds roster, well ... I'm not even going to tell you the results. Suffice it to say, I'm embarrassed. Especially when you study up and realize exactly how great they are. Just ask Jonah Keri, who, believe me, can name way more Reds than I can. They even seem collapse-proof at this point, with lots of remaining games against teams like the Cubs, Astros, and Phillies. Time to pay attention, America.
Coming into Monday, David Price was the leading contender for the American League Cy Young Award. His 2.28 ERA led the major leagues among qualified starters, and he'd given up just two runs over 30 innings in August. His strikeout rate was just south of nine per nine innings, above other hopefuls like Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale, and Jered Weaver, and just below Justin Verlander. He had 16 wins, the most in the league, and for better or worse, wins matter. He'd also spearheaded Tampa's August surge up the AL East leader board, another circumstantial fact that wouldn't hurt his candidacy.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Wednesday.
Oakland pitcher Bartolo Colon has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for testosterone. "Yes, I must admit, the testosterone was definitely an illegal strategy employed to help my baseball performance," said Colon, whose recent Internet history revealed an obsessive pattern of searching the phrase "how to grow a bigger penis."
The American League Cy Young race has turned into an excellent five-man duel, and four of the names are very familiar — 2011 and 2010 winners Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez, Angels ace Jered Weaver, and MLB wins leader David Price. But the fifth, Chicago's Chris Sale, is a virtually unknown 23-year-old southpaw, playing in just his second full season with the White Sox. At 6-foot-6, 180, he's not much more than a string bean, but his long arms and his swooping, jerky delivery — complete with a devastating slider — evoke Randy Johnson to an almost eerie degree. His fastball topped out at 96-98 as a reliever last season, but as a starter he lacks Johnson's velocity, settling in the high 80s and low 90s. As we'll see, though, the rest of his numbers have only improved in his first year as a starter, and a deeper look indicates that Sale has a legitimate shot at this year's Cy Young and many more to come.
Here are the most compelling matchups, stories, and personalities in Major League Baseball for the coming weekend.
10. Reality Cometh for One (BAL-CLE)
Now for this weekend’s metaphorical boxing match between two of the luckiest teams in baseball. In one corner, we have the Baltimore Orioles — 48-44, in a really good division, with a run differential of -55. In this corner, you've got the Cleveland Indians, standing 47-45 in a pretty good division, with a run differential of -36. Stick with me while I analyze these teams with some complex baseball terminology: They are total flukes. In games decided by two runs or less, the Orioles are 32-14 (first in baseball), and the Indians are 25-16 (good for fourth). But do they have great starting pitching? Nope. Do they have great bullpen pitching? Baltimore is pretty solid, but Cleveland is near the bottom. What about run-scoring from the seventh inning on? Again, average to below average for both. Average with RISP and two outs? Mediocre. All this means that both teams have been very, very lucky to stay above, and that both are due for bad times. If you get excited by regression, then you'll be riveted by this series, where cold, hard, statistical truth will dig its icy claws into temporary luck.
As we hurtle toward the second half of the season, it's a pretty sure bet that you haven't clinched your fantasy league. You're either trailing or nursing a lead precarious enough to get blown up by a couple of injuries or a few prolonged slumps. With so much baseball still to be played and so many new stories yet to be written, fortune favors the bold.
It's with that go-for-it spirit that we're unveiling our second-half fantasy predictions. But not just any predictions. These are the out-on-a-limb, if-they-pay-off-for-you-you'll-win-your-league kind of predictions. Doesn't mean you should burn your team to the ground to trade for the best of this group, or sell any of the projected laggards at 20 cents on the dollar. But with the league on hiatus until Friday and no new stats coming in, there's an opportunity to go long or sell short on these second-half movers. Here's how we see a few of these guys shaking out.
Here are the most compelling matchups, stories, and personalities in Major League Baseball for the coming weekend.
10. Jose Bautista's Incredible June (TOR-LAA)
Bautista now has 14 home runs in June, which ties the American League record from the past 20 years (thanks, ESPN Stats & Information!). The all-time AL record is held by a fellow named Rudy York, who hit 18 with the Detroit Tigers in August 1937. He was probably juicing. But Bautista is theoretically in range. Four home runs over a weekend series? Why not? Except, wait ... June has only 30 days! Injustice! Why, June, why?! That means Sunday's game won't count. But if he hits his 18th home run on July 1, I'm petitioning Bud Selig to add an asterisk to York's record, Ford Frick style.
We're five weeks away from MLB's trade deadline. Close enough to start making fantasy roster decisions with that in mind, far enough that your competition might not pick up on what you're doing.
You don't want to overreact to scenarios that may or may not happen, of course. But getting full value now for players who might be affected by pending trades (or other factors) surely beats getting next to nothing for them a month from now.
With that in mind, here are some strategies to consider as we near the season's halfway point, and the players who could be affected.
Seems like a straightforward question, right? Flip through the stats to find the league leaders. Use your eyes if you're someone who does that well.
Turns out it's not that easy. Sifting through all the available stats (basic or advanced) and trying to pick out one guy can be an enormous challenge. So can the eyeball test: Even highly trained scouts are subject to human biases … imagine how tough it is for the rest of us to get it right. So many people holding so many different opinions on the subject underscores how tough it still is to evaluate pitching, even with a million tools at our disposal. It's also a nod toward the fleeting nature of pitching success, and how quickly opinions can change. Sometimes radically.
Google "arguably the best pitcher in baseball" and you get results for the following pitchers, to name just a few.
Mailbag time! If you've got a question for a future fantasy baseball post, e-mail grantlandfantasy@gmail.com, or do as these fine folks did by tweeting questions to me here: @jonahkeri.
Where does Chris Sale rank in a pitcher-heavy 12-team keeper league? Worth keeping or trading for a first overall pick?
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
In the Western Conference Finals, Manu Ginobili's 26 points led the red-hot Spurs to a 101-98 Game 1 win over the Thunder. In the interest of full disclosure, my editors forced me to include the words "red-hot Spurs" in order to attract a growing demographic: fans of Western-themed erotic web fiction. They Google like crazy, guys. With that in mind, please feel free to skim past these next few hot-button search engine phrases: mud-caked chaps, Dirty Horse Tavern, buxom cattle wrangler, bare-chested prairie Adonis, Annie Oakley's suggestive gun-twirling, Dirty Horse Tavern, wild tobacky love, sun-bruised lips on a cruel cowboy, a demure smile beneath a lace parasol, el caballo sucio, the word "arrow" used as a double entendre, sunset desert love, horrible wagon train massacre, Dirty Horse Tavern.
