I’m Miles Miller!

Tennis is the most boring sport to watch.  This was my opinion as recently as a year and a half ago.  After hearing about this phenom Roger Federer who never lost, I tuned in to a match of his.  Unbelievable!  For the first time in my life, watching tennis was entertaining.  I’ve never seen such a graceful, easy-looking, completely dominating player in any sport since like Michael Jordan. 

Roger has been the World #1 player for a record 233 straight weeks (going back to early 2004).  His 2007 was one of the most dominating years in any sport.  He won the Australian Open without dropping a set.  He had a winning streak of 41 consecutive matches.  This year is a different story.  After a couple disappointing tournaments it was discovered he had mono.  He battled some minor injuries.  Along with this, Nadal is in his head.  Rafael Nadal has beaten him four straight matches.  They met in arguably the greatest tennis match of all time a couple weeks ago at Wimbledon, where Nadal won in 5 sets.

Nadal is #2.  Federer is #1.  Nadal has beaten Federer 4 straight times.  Is there something I’m missing?  Especially after Federer’s second straight loss, today’s second round match at the Rogers Cup, a change needs to be made at the top.  Nadal deserves to upseat Federer and be the new king of the hill.  While this would end his record time at #1, Roger is going nowhere.  Dropping down to #2 would aleve the pressure and allow him to regain his stature.  Give Nadal his turn in the light.  It wouldn’t last long, and Federer would regain the top position and begin a new record reign.

Bird vs. Magic, McGuire vs. Sosa, Brady vs. Manning, Obama vs. Hillary, step aside.  The sports world needs to recognize that Federer vs. Nadal is the best rivalry in sports and will continue to entertain and draw my interest.  My father wouldn’t believe that I want to watch tennis.

I believe in accountability. Since we are here at the Midseason Holiday, let’s look back at how I’ve done so far:

Accurate picks:

Okay, so I wasn’t very close on many of them. I picked Boston to be within a game of first and currently they are within a game ahead. I picked the Tigers to blow everyone away and they are barely above .500. I picked the Mariners to win 93 and they are currently on pace to win 63, worst record in the American League. The DBacks are definitely in first, and they are definitely under .500. Until their recent streak, the Mets were looking extremely mediocre and anemic.

That’s why they play 162 games.

1. The word of the first have is “INJURY”. David Ortiz, Alfonso Soriano, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Eric Byrnes, Eric Bedard, Scott Kazmir, Chien-Ming Wang, Hughes and Kennedy, Liriano, Fausto Carmona, Chris Young, JJ Putz, Adam Wainwright, and Dontrelle Willis have all spent quality time on the DL, just to name a few.

2.Teams that should be worried right now:

a. Chicago White Sox. Detroit will score some runs. They are starting to heat up a little. That lead is 7 games, but I bet the Tigers catch them and take the division lead BEFORE September 5^th.

b. New York Yankees. That’s right, my heart and soul. Chien-Ming won’t be back until mid-September at the earliest. Hideki Matsui is contemplating season-ending knee surgery. Damon is hurt (but returning soon). Bullpen guys Albaladejo and Brian Bruney are out for the year. Posada hasn’t been healthy all year. That’s a lot of injury concern to get over for a team in 5.5 games away from 2^nd place.

c. Arizona Diamondbacks. They have been free-falling lately. The Dodgers are only one game out and they have Joe Torre coaching. I look for the Dodgers to build a lead in the division by the month’s end.

3. Tampa Bay Rays are in a pretty good situation. The Yankees have some magic to make, and the Red Sox, while in first place, are doing so with little to no help from Big Papi, Manny, Beckett, Varitek, Lugo, bullpen guys not named Jonathan Papelbon, Colon, and Buchholz. Tampa Bay could win the division with only 88-89 wins.

4.Prediction: Josh Hamilton, home run derby’s greatest non-winner story, won’t hit 12 home runs the rest of the season.

5. Prediction: the NL Central will be a 3-team race the whole way through, but the Cubs will pull away in September and win out by 4 games.

6. Prediction: Chase Utley will win the National League MVP.

7. Prediction: Ryan Howard will strike out 200 times.

8. Prediction: KRod breaks the season-saves record.

9.Prediction: Chicago Cubs will go to the World Series.

This baseball season is truly flying by. It’s hard to believe it is officially at the halfway mark.

First off, in case you missed the All Star Game, or the last 8 innings of it, you missed the unforgettable performance of Dan Uggla. First off, where the heck does the name Uggla come from? Have you ever met another person surnamed Uggla? What is it, Polish?

Some of you may be unfamiliar with this man from Kentucky. Now in his 3^rd season with the Florida Marlins, a team with a total payroll of $6mil less than Alex Rodriguez, Dan takes a $0.4mil cut from that. Uggla landed on his 2^nd All Star team after he had a monster month of May, hitting 12 homers and 11 doubles. Uggla is a K machine, averaging more than 1 strikeout per game for the second straight season. He has had a pretty good season with the glove, only committing 6 errors (compare with Ian Kinsler’s 16 at the same position).

All that came undone last night under the lights on national television, as he enjoyed one of the worst single-game performances in sports history. Dan struck out with the bases loaded in a tie game, struck out two other times and hit into a double-play with a runner on 3^rd in the 10^th inning. Most famously, he committed 3 errors, count ‘em, 3 errors, an All Star Game record (thank you Joe Buck). It’s hard to think how it could have been even worse. Every opportunity he had to blow it, he did. Frankly, it was Dam Uggly.

It made me think of other terrible games in important situations. One that comes to mind is Charles Barkley during the 1994 (?) Western Conference Finals against Houston when the superstar shot 0-10 and scored 0 points as his team got blown out by like 40. Or Phil Mickleson, who lost a tournament last year that he led by like 3 strokes going into the last hole. Let me know if any other bungles jog your memory.

Overall, the Game was one of the most exciting All Star Games I can remember, with lots of great pitching (including Aaron Cook somehow saving the day 3 straight innings), displays of power from JD Drew and Matt Holliday, 4 or 5 plays at the plate, pickoffs at first and caught-stealings at second, lots of boo’s directed at the Red Sox players, a lot of bad fielding, and a game winning hit in the 15^th inning.

One adjustment I suggest: I’m glad that Bud Selig expanded the rosters to allow a zillion pitchers. Previously, an All Star Game could never make it this long because major league pitchers aren’t used to throwing 3 innings. However, last night we were stuck with watching the reserves trying to put together rallies and field ground balls and it made those extra innings a little less exciting. No offense to Ryan Ludwick, Dioner Navarro, Christian Guzman, Corey Hart, and Carlos Quintin, but I would rather see some more Albert Pujols, ARod, Lance Berkman, Josh Hamilton, or Chase Utley in those tight situations, especially, after Group A already had their 3 obligatory at-bats. Since it’s an exhibition game, I propose a rule adjustment: beginning in the 10^th inning, each team can substitute 2 players who had previously been taken out, per inning. Not only would it make the game more exciting for fans, offering more opportunities to see our favorite players again, but it would keep the game from going so long. The pitching dominates the late-innings when you have 1 on, 1 out in the top of the 11^th for Christian Guzman and Corey Hart against the Royals’ Soria? Or Uggla with the bases loaded in the 12^th? Guillen, Sizemore and Longoria trying to start a 14^th inning rally against Brandon Webb, the league’s leader in wins? Bring back Jeter, bring back Ichiro, bring back Pujols, bring back Holliday. There is no need to keep it so rigid.

By the way, for someone earning $27M this season, shouldn’t ARod be in the Home Run Derby? Bueller… Bueller?