I’m Miles Miller!

Here’s how my picks went (against the actual results of the 1st round):
Lakers in 5 (Lakers in 5), check
Nuggets in 4 (Nuggets in 5), close enough
Mavs in 5 (Mavs in 5), check
Blazers in 7 (Rockets in 6), incorrect
Cavs in 4 (Cavs in 4), check
Celtics in 5 (Celtics in 7), Bulls put up a bigger fight than I expected, but close enough
Magic in 4 (Magic in 6), close enough
Hawks in 7 (Hawks in 7), check

So my first round picks went 7-1, which means my credibility has improved!

Baseball is heading into the second month of the season so things are taking shape.  Hot surprises are coming back to reality and expectations can be properly evaluated.

Dodgers are 10-0 at home.  Billingsley is 5-0.  Manny is hitting like Manny.  The rotation is rather shallow so I don’t expect to see them maintain this hot playing.

Cardinals looked like the best team in the league until they played the lowly Nationals.  Sunday’s rainout came at a pretty good time before they could blow another stinker.  Pujols is playing like an MVP.

Continuing last year’s rivalry dominance, TB Rays are 5-2 against the rival Red Sox.  Against everyone else they are 6-13.

Pirates’ pitching has the best ERA in baseball, but it doesn’t matter if they can’t score any runs.  They’ve been shutout 3 out of the last 4 games.

Speaking of the Pirates, they have lost 18 straight games at Milwaukee.  Yikes!

The Blue Jays have lots of problems in the rotation but this team is scoring a lot of runs.  And what’s most surprising is that it ain’t coming from Wells and Rios.

Phillies: Ibanez and Utley are killing the ball, but Rollins and Howard haven’t done much.  Have you seen Howard bat?  He swings at more bad pitches than any player I’ve ever seen.  You would think that improvement would be on its way after a 199 K season, but he is only getting worse.  But anyway, this team is in real trouble until it gets the starting rotation figured out.

No lead is safe against Boston; huge comebacks are a regular occurrence.

Yankees:  Everyone remembers every highlight against them but Cano, Swisher, Melky, Posada and Damon are lifting this team, and wait until ARod returns to the lineup.  Yankees have the #2 offense in baseball even without him.  Hughes looked great in a tough season debut in Detroit.  Let’s see what he does against the Red Sox.

Brewers.  After a dreadful 4-9 start, they are 9-3 in the last 12 games.

The Mariners’ rotation is looking very strong with King Felix, Bedard, Washburn, and Silva.

Royals: Everything is about Zach Greinke right now.  This team’s pitching is great, so why is Sidney Ponson still getting starts?

Mets lead the league with 12 triples.

The Diamondbacks played only one road series in April and finished the month 4 games under .500?  That along with no Webb means more trouble to come.

Athletics: New additions, same result: only Kurt Suzuki is hitting over .270. 

The last-place Nationals have some good hitting with Zimmerman (21 game hitting streak), Dunn, Johnson, Flores and Dukes hitting well.  More errors committed than games played.

Royals, Mariners, and Marlins are all still in first place.

So I just did a blog the other day but I have lots of time and there is lots to talk about.

It is refreshing to see the Spurs out of the playoffs and the Heat on the brink of elimination.  Can you tell I’m a Mavericks fan?

The Nuggets laid a whuppin’ on the Hornets in the first round, outscoring New Orleans by 121 points.  Meanwhile, if you take out that Game 3 Boston victory the Bulls and Celtics are even, including four overtimes.  Michael Wilbon calls it the best playoff series he’s ever seen.  Meanwhile, the Heat/Hawks is probably the worst series we’ve ever seen: all five games have been blowouts. 

By the way, that foul from Rondo at the end should have been called a flagrant and the Bulls would have had a chance to win.  If it happened the other way around, Brad Miller would have been kicked out of the game.

Nobody gave the Jazz a chance in the series but give them credit, they never lost by 15 or more points.  That happened to the Hornets four times, Pistons twice, Heat and Hawks twice, and most of the others once.

The Yankees have been beaten around, we know.  But this week they put up a 10-run inning on Tuesday and a 7-run inning on Wednesday against the Tigers. 

The Red Sox had their 11-game winning streak come to an end when reliever Javier Lopez dropped a soft-toss from Kevin Youkilis with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  That really sucks. 

I thought we had seen the end of Julian Tavarez last year when he was cut by the lowly Pirates, after finally getting cut by the Red Sox.  But as fate turns its ugly head, his name appeared again as he picked up a save for the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.  He’ll probably blow the next chance.

Speaking of the Pittsburgh Pirates, they now have an 18 game losing streak on the road against Milwaukee.  That extended Wednesday when the Brewer’s Gallardo pitched a shutout and hit a home run to score the game’s only run.  Impressive!

Zach Greinke is now 5-0.  I believe I picked him before the season to be the best pitcher in the Central and he is well on his way.

Beware, streaking in Florida: 7 game winning, 7 game losing, currently 2 wins in a row…

Graduated last week, lots of packing, moved out of my apartment, so a couple deserved days late here.

The biggest news of the week was The First Series of the season, where the Red Sox swept the Yankees in Boston, all in dramatic fashion.  On Friday, Jason Bay hit a two run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 9th off the great Mariano Rivera, and Kevin Youkilis hit a walk-off dinger in the 11th.  The Red Sox came back from 6-0 and won 16-11 on Saturday in the wildest game you’ll ever see.  Jacoby Ellsbury stole home in the 4-1 win on Sunday.  I do have a problem with the game Saturday: Ellsbury stole 2nd in the bottom of the 8th in a 12-11 game but he was clearly out at 2nd.  They went on to score 4 that inning, and it should have gone to the 9th in a one-run game with the top of the Yankees order against Papelbon (they did get two baserunners).  Oh well, Red Sox got their way.

Red Sox have now won 11 in a row after a 2-6 start. 

Marlins were a hot 11-1 last Sunday after winning 7 in a row, but didn’t win a game all week.  Now at 11-8 they are tied with the Phillies, who have won 5 in a row. 

In the offseason, the Cubs signed Milton Bradley to give them some offensive strength.  He is batting .042 this season (1 for 24).

Zach Greinke is now 4-0 with 0.00 ERA (allowed only one unearned run) and has 36 strikeouts.  Roy Halladay, Joel Pineiro, and Chad Billingsley all have 4 wins too (Billingsley going for 5-0 tonight). 

Rockies rookie Dexter Fowler had 5 stolen bases off Chris Young yesterday.

Albert Pujols is leading the NL in home runs, RBI, and runs, has a nice .333 batting average and even has 3 stolen bases.  Ian Kinsler is still rolling for the Rangers with 7 HR, 7 SB, and a nice .341 avg. 

What a wild week.  Here are some of the highlights.

Three cycles!  I can’t tell you three players who hit for the cycle in the same season previously but Orlando Hudson, Ian Kinsler, and Jason Kubel all hit for the cycle in the same week. 

Zach Greinke of the Kansas City Royals has not allowed a run this season.  Dating back to last season, he is riding a 34-inning scoreless streak.  The one I’m impressed with is his game Saturday where he shut out the Rangers in Arlington, a notorious hitter’s park where the home team scored 19 a couple days earlier.  Roy Halladay is also 3-0, as is Chad Billingsley and Padres bullpen vulture Cla Meredith.

The Marlins are 11-1, Blue Jays, 10-4, and Mariners 8-4.  Yes yes, I know it’s early in the season and those runs are unlikely to continue.  However, the Marlins are for real.  They have a great lineup and a great rotation.  I predict the Marlins will win the AL East.  (Every six years they win the World Series.  This would be the next year #6.  Just saying…)

The team I am most surprised with is the team in Canada.  I thought this team had one of the weakest lineups in the league but so far they are leading in runs, home runs, and batting average.

How about this?  Dan Haren is 0-3 with an ERA of 1.89.  His team has given him 1 run of support total in 3 games. Other aces without a win include Tim Lincecum, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and Francisco Liriano.

I confess; I was wrong.  Nationals did win a game this week.      Don’t get too used to it (the latter).

Seven teams threw shutouts on Saturday, the most in one day I can remember in a long while.  The Indians helped averaged things out with a 22-run drubbing in the new Yankees Stadium.  Chien-Ming Wang, my preseason pick to win 20 games couldn’t make it out of the 2^nd inning for the second straight time.  He was bad but frankly it didn’t matter who was on the mound.  The Indians got 14 runs after Wang was pulled.

There will be a million balls that fly over the right field fence in Yankees Stadium this year.

Yankees vs. Red Sox begins next weekend in Boston.  Between moving and graduating I hope I can catch some of the action.

Scroll down for my preview and picks of the Western Conference. 
The East has the Cavs, Celtics and Magic, and then 5 average teams that don’t have much of a shot.  Contrast that with the West, where any of the eight teams could reasonably get to the Finals.

Cavaliers vs. Pistons 
This is the biggest rivalry in the East over the last few years, bringing back memories from that series a couple years ago where LeBron took over in games 6 and 7.  But this is a different year and different situation.  No longer are the Pistons on top of the hill, they are over the hill.  This is the LeBron Show.  Leading his team (best in NBA) in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocks, and field goal percentage, there’s no question that King James is the MVP.  And this year he has a strong supporting cast around him.  They lost only 2 games at home this year, one being a garbage game a couple days ago without LeBron, and the other one was to the Lakers (what happens next time?). Cavs in 5 (or 4).

Celtics vs. Bulls
Lots of drama in B town with Garnett done and Danny Ainge in the hospital. This team isn’t the defensive powerhouse without KG, but don’t forget that Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are teammates, and Rajon Rondo has played great at point guard.  Eddie House is a great range shooter off the bench that defenses can’t fall asleep on.  Bulls took advantage of an easy schedule to make a good run into the playoffs after the Bobcats threaten to replace them.  Ben Gordon could win a game for the Bulls.  They could upset the Celts but not without Luol Deng.  Celtics in 5.

Magic vs. 76ers
I’ll be honest: I can’t more than two players on the 76ers and one of them I can’t spell his name.  Dwight Howard is a 20-20 machine and will win Defensive POY. He has a good team around him.  His poor free throw shooting might cause a bump in the road but this series should be a blowout.  Magic sweep in 4.

Hawks vs. Heat
DWade is having a terrific year.  He has a few good guys around him: Haslem, Chalmers, and Jermaine O’Neal.  They had an impressive bounce-back from last season’s disaster.  But I like the Hawks.  They don’t lose at home.  Joe Johnson is the quietest superstar in the NBA, and Bibby and Al Horford are good complements.  Last season’s playoffs were a good experience for this club.  Hawks in 7.

Second Round:
Cavs over Hawks 4-0
Magic over Celtics 4-2
Eastern Conference Finals:
Cavs over Magic 4-2

Preliminary NBA FINALS PREDICTION
CAVS over Lakers in 7

Welcome to the second most-exciting basketball playoffs of the year.  The Western Conference run went all the way to the last game of the last day of the season.  The West is the Lakers and then everyone else.  The East is the Cavs and everyone else.

 Lakers vs. Jazz

Jazz are falling apart heading into the playoffs, not a good sign.  But do remember, two years ago they hit a slump at the end and turned it around and make it to the Western Conference finals!  They also did beat the Lakers late this season.  But let’s be serious, Jazz can’t guard Pau, Kobe will score at will, and Fisher will break Utah’s hearts by hitting over a dozen wide-open threes throughout the series.  Jazz might win game 4 at home but nothing more.  Lakers in 5.

 Nuggets vs. Hornets

Hornets are in a tale-spin too.  Despite having one of the toughest end-of-year schedules, they also lost to the Warriors, Knicks, Suns, and Bulls down the stretch.  Big man Tyson Chandler is hurt.  Meanwhile, Nuggets are one of the hottest team in the league.  With Billups in town, Denver is actually playing defense (allowing 7 points less than last year).  Nuggets sweep in 4.

 Spurs vs. Mavericks

This is one of the best rivalries of the decade, and even though the Mavs were underachievers and inconsistent throughout the year they are absolutely rolling right now.  Dirk is shooting well, Terry is on fire, Howard is finally healthy, Kidd is getting it done, and JJ Berea is the most fun short white guy to watch since John Stockton.  This team is deep.  Spurs are old and injured and without Manu don’t have anybody coming off the bench that can score.  Mavs in 5.

 Trail Blazers vs. Rockets

Yes, the Blazers are one of the four west teams that are on a roll, probably the hottest of the group.  They’ve won like 6 games out of the last 12 by over 20.  The whole team is healthy and strong.  The Rockets have been without Tracy McGrady for a while and are winning more than before.  Yao is the most dominating offensive center in the league right now.  They are a very balanced team, but when Yao goes to the bench they will have trouble scoring.  Rick Adelman gets the most out of his team.  Blazers in 7.

Second Round:

Lakers over the Blazers 4-2.

Mavs over Nuggets 4-2.

Western Conference Finals:

Lakers over Mavs 4-1.

Season has been here for a week now.  Isn’t it exciting?  Feels like we’ve been playing for a month.  I hope to have a weekly baseball update throughout the season.

The biggest news of the early season is obvious, the tragic passing of Angels’ rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart.  Adenhart, 22, he was killed by a drunk driver hours after his season debut where he threw six shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics.  Adenhart was a member of the US Olympics Qualifying team in 2006.  He was considered the top prospect in the Angels’ organization.  He was a remarkable young man.  One of the most touching moments during the aftermath of the tragedy came Scott Boras, the “tough-as-steel” agent of Adenhart.  After beginnning a press conference address, the agent broke down into sobbing and tears and said through quivering lips, “He was a great kid. His life goal was to be a big league baseball player. He’d summoned his father [on Tuesday], telling him ‘You better come [to Wednesday's game]. Something special’s going to happen.  After the game, he was so elated. It was tremendous fun. A great moment for all of us, seeing a young man take a huge step.”  The Angels postponed their Thursday game and honored Nick before Friday’s game.

I like this comment from a random writer about the event:  “It is times like this that all have to remember all choices have a consequences. Five hours before this happened, a 22 year kid was living out his dream. His family and friends cheering him on. Excited and so proud of him. He had the right to be proud of himself, He had the right to celebrate is dream coming true. At the same time you have someone else making poor choices that made the two collide. Because of his bad choice four lives and four family and friends lives will never be the same. They will move on someday but it will never be the same. This driver, his passengers and all who saw him get into his car are responsible for this mess. It makes me sick to think about it. I could never imagine losing one of my children. I can only say I am extremely sad for these families. My family’s prayers and thoughts are with all four victims families.”

Source:  http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090409&content_id=4179446&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
 
Fortunately, there is other news to mention, though not as important, about the early season.

After two series, the Nationals are still winless.  They finally get to come home to play the defending champion Phillies, followed by the Marlins and the Braves again.  Good luck getting a win.  If they don’t win Monday, I predict in next week’s blog I’ll write that they still haven’t gotten into the W column. 

On a better note, Baltimore looks much better than I anticipated.  Sure it’s early, but their lineup looks very potent.  And their staff ace Guthrie has big wins against the Yankees and Rays so kudos to him.

Florida Marlins also look like they have the potential to last a long time in the division this year.  I love Josh Johnson; he has been lights out so far.  Their pitching staff is the best in the division and they have a very exciting lineup.  The season is young, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in the playoffs.

Cy Youngs Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum are both 0-2, as are Roy Oswalt, Dan Haren, and Francisco Liriano.  Brandon Webb is the fortunately the only significant injury so far.

Okay, so the season is a couple games in already so maybe you have a problem that I am putting together my season predictions and “awards” this late.  Maybe after a couple games I adjusted things.  I don’t care.

American League
New York Yankees     96-66
LA Angels of Aneheim 94-68
Chicago White Sox      85-77
Boston Red Sox           93-69

Yankees over White Sox
Angels over Red Sox
Yankees over Angels

National League
Chicago Cubs             94-68
New York Mets         93-69
Los Angeles Dodgers  85-77
Philadelphia Phillies     92-70

Phillies over Cubs
Mets over Dodgers
Mets over Phillies

Okay, I think I’ve picked a Subway Series five years in a row.  But it happened once and it can happen again.
Yankees over Mets

AL MVP: Carlos Quentin
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
AL Cy Young: Jon Lester
NL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL Batting Title:  Howie Kendrick
NL Batting Title: Albert Pujols
AL Home Run Champ: Evan Longoria
NL Home Run Champ: Ryan Howard
AL Winningest pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang
NL Winningest pitcher: Johan Santana
AL Comeback Player:  Robinson Cano
NL Comeback Player: Aaron Harang (I really don’t know who to put here)
AL Breakout hitter: Nelson Cruz
NL Breakout hitter: Daniel Murphy
AL Breakout pitcher:  Zach Greinke
NL Breakout pitcher:  Josh Johnson
AL Most Disappointing:  Joe Mauer
NL Most Disappointing:  Jimmy Rollins
AL Manager: Trey Hillman
NL Manager: Bruce Bochy
First coach fired: Jim Leyland
More home runs, ARod or Ortiz?  ARod
Higher batting average, Jeter or Pedroia?  Jeter

The National League Central division is home to the biggest division, NLs best record last year (Cubs), longest curse (Cubs), baseball’s most hopeless franchise (Pirates), THE wild card chase (Brewers, Cardinals, and Astros), and baseball’s best slugger (Pujols).  The division should be more spread out this year.

Chicago Cubs
Last year’s October disaster forgotten, there’s a lot of optimism for the 2009 regular season.  Milton Bradley was a good pickup for this team if he plays.  That moves put Alfonso Soriano, my favorite non-Yankee hitter, into the leadoff spot.  This team has a very complete lineup, maybe without the boom of the Phillies, but 1-9 consistency that rivals any team.  Plus, Zambrano is the best hitting pitcher in a long time.   The bullpen got stronger with the addition of Kevin Gregg, and the starting rotation, barring injury, is probably the most complete in the National League.  Regular season should be a breeze for the Cubs but as last year showed the pressure of history is probably too great for this team to reach the World Series.  But they are good enough.  Prediction: 94-68

St. Louis Cardinals
I’m excited for the Cards this year.  Yes, many people will laugh at the addition of Khalil Greene (and he looks like a baffoon in his St. Louis jersey), but I think he could have a breakout season.  For the time being he hits after Pujols and no one is afraid of him, so he’ll get lots of good at-bats with men on base.  Ryan Ludwick was baseball’s best player that no one talked about.  I really like Adam Wainwright pitching, Carpenter has no pressure and a chance to bounce back, and Lohse and Wellenmeyer are okay, too.  The bullpen is this team’s achilles heal, as evident in their Opening Day loss to the Pirates.  90 wins is too optimistic so they won’t keep up with the Cubs but they should keep the summer races interesting.  Prediction:  87-75

Cincinatti Reds
For the first time that I can ever remember, the Reds have a decent rotation.  Improvement is being made.  The lineup boasts the names of Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Edwin Encarnacion, not exactly The Big Red Machine.  All of which are supposed to be good but none of them have broken out yet.  The Reds will have a low team batting average.  Francisco Cordero is a very respectable closer.  They should flirt with .500 but I doubt they’ll surpass it.  If they keep the nucleus, playoffs in 2010.  Prediction: 79-83

Milwaukee Brewers
Look for Prince Fielder to find his power stroke again and if he does, Braun/Fielder will be a very intimidating duo.  The Brew Crew slipped into the playoffs for the first time in ages thanks to CC Sabathia’s incredible summer and the Mets’ collapse.  With Sabathia in pinstripes and the Mets’ bullpen secure, Milwaukee won’t be in the playoffs again in 2009.  Gallardo should be a breakout pitcher this year but the staff doesn’t have much.  The addition of saves-record Hoffman is nice but he’s old and already hurt, and their bullpen isn’t anything special without him.  His fielding stinks, but Braun has quickly emerged as one of baseball’s best hitters.  Prediction:  79-83

Houston Astros
The Astros kept fans interested last year in the Wild Card race.  Most people pick this team to take a tumble this season but as I look at the players I see a lot of good.  Lance Berkman (Puma) and Carlos Lee (El Caballo) are great hitters.  Oswalt is Mr Consistent.  Hunter Pence is an energy player.  Jose Velverde is good closer.  Unfortunately, their rotation is 1 deep and the rest of their lineup is full of below-average players.  Pudge has had a great career but he should not a #2 hitter.  The problem with this organization is once they think they are out of it they are already to abandon ship.  Prediction: 76-86

Pittsburgh Pirates
In football a team that is last place every year eventually gets better.  Not with the Pirates.  All their pitchers are below average, they have a good catcher and one good outfielder, and the rest of the lineup is below average.  Their closer is probably good but who cares?  To be honest, this is probably the best team they’ve had in 5 years but all the other underachievers in the division are still better.  Prediction: 69-93

Summary:
Cubs        94-68 *
Cardinals  87-75
Reds        79-83
Brewers   79-83
Astros      76-86
Pirates      69-93
MVP:  Albert Pujols
Cy Young:  Adam Wainwright
Most Wins:  Edinson Volquez (16)