5 Minutes for Blogging, Jan. 5
Thanks for all of the suggestions on home remedies for this cold/cough. Some of them are, shall we say, creative. Are you trying to help me or poison me? Just kidding… I think.
Let’s begin:
1. DOES ROYCE RING QUALIFY AS LOW-HANGING FRUIT? Barely. The latest contestant to fill a LH reliever role in the Cardinals bullpen isn’t impressive on the surface. He’s got some plusses, including a decent strikeout rate. But control is this dude’s problem. Example: while LH batters have hit only .229 vs. Ring in his career, because of his walks, the LH hitters have a .350 onbase percentage against him… or roughly the same (.353) as RH batters. Also, he’s labored with runners on base, .with a .409 OBP against him. And with runners on scoring position, the OBP is .432. I won’t bore you with more stats, but when Ring gets behind in the count to hitters, they just punish him. So if pitching coach Dave Duncan is looking for ways to fix this guy, that’s where it begins: getting him to throw first strikes to get a jump on the batters. When Ring gets ahead in the count, he’s much better. I know that is true of most pitchers, but in Ring’s case the disparity is really glaring. Hard to get excited about this pickup, especially with other lefties still available. No brass Ring here.
2. TONY DUNGY AS BOBBY COX: It was another one-and-done postseason ejection for the Indianapolis Colts and their classy coach Mr. Dungy. Thus the pattern continues. The Colts are the NFL version of the MLB Atlanta Braves: a regular-season kingpin that underachieves in the postseason. And in that context, Dungy’s career roughly parallels that of the Atlanta manager, Cox. Under Cox, the Braves reached the postseason for 14 consecutive seasons, but claimed only one World Series title. In Tampa Bay and Indy, Dungy has led his team to the NFL playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, a record. But in six of the 10 seasons, Dungy’s teams were bounced in the first round. That’s happened four times in his seven postseasons at Indianapolis, including three times in the last four years. The lone exception was the Colts’ Super Bowl win over Chicago to cap the 2006 season. But then again, the Bears QB in that one was Rex Grossman. Does it count?
3. NOW THAT THE CUBS HAVE SIGNED OUTFIELDER MILTON BRADLEY, THE CEREMONIAL FIRST PUNCH WILL BE THROWN BY … From a lineup standpoint, Bradley is an excellent pickup. He has a career OBP of .370 with good power, and figures to be an ideal No. 2 hitter to set up Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Unless manager Lou Piniella wants to bat the LH-hitting Bradley fifth, which would also fit. But can you imagine this outfield defensive alignment of Alfonso Soriano (LF), Kosuke Fukudome (CF) and Bradley (RF?) Who will catch the ball? Will they need to use butterfly nets out there? And given Bradley’s (ahem) volatile and often disruptive personality, who do you think will try to punch him out first? Will it be the raging manager, Sweet Lou? My vote goes to the rock ‘em, sock ‘em starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Well, at least Cubs ownership spends money. The gap between the Cubs and Cardinals widens a bit more.
4. NON-SPORTS NOTE OF THE DAY … My five favorite albums of 2008 were: “Fleet Foxes” from the Fleet Foxes; “Partie Traumatic by Black Kids; “The ‘59 Sound” by The Gaslight Anthem; “Real Animal” by Alejandro Escovedo; and “Vampire Weekend” from Vampire Weekend.
OK, fellow Music Heads … share with us your favorite new albums of 2008. I’m always on the lookout to try things I might have missed. And all genres are welcome. Thanks.
5. RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT THE RAMS COACHING SEARCH: Green Bay Packers linebackers coach Winston Moss doesn’t have as much of a chance as some suggest… Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier has more of a chance than some suggest… how can the Rams consider Jim Fassel when he didn’t even make their list of finalists before they hired Scott Linehan? … the key question about Rex Ryan: would he be a terrific head coach or or does he follow the form of previous Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinators (Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan) by bombing out in the top job?
30-second bonus: I wanted to clarify something about a previous item: I didn’t say that Kurt Warner was a Hall of Fame QB. What I did say is that his postseason record is strengthening his Hall of Fame credentials. In other words, he’s building a case. The case isn’t finished. There’s a ways to go.
30-second bonus: About Alexander Steen, well, I hate to say I told you so, but … since the Nov. 24 trade, Steen has scored as many goals for the Blues as Lee Stempniak has scored for Toronto. And yet when the Blues made the deal, some fans and media whined so much you would have thought the Blues traded the next Mike Bossy for the latter-day Michel Mongeau, or something. Please.
Thanks.
Please leave your comments and dissent but keep it clean…
-Bernie
Bernie, love the blog man especially since your one of the very few in St Louis I care to read. With your choice of Gaslight Anthem as one of your favorite albums of 2008, your credibility with me is that much higher. I’m checking out the other two right now. Keep up the good work.
It’s hard for me to comment on Cards without getting a little annoyed, but I’m trying hard to stick by them.
As for the music choices, I know it was hard for you to choose a top 3 with so much great music out there in the last year, but allow me to add 3 of my favorites from last year, keeping with your bend towards the commercially less successful:
Rabbit Habits by Man Man
Mission Control by The Whigs (great live band)
Dear Science by TV on the Radio
Whew, that was tough!
I’m sorry - I screwed up on my favorite-album list. I left two out, so I made it my top five faves instead of three… I added Alejandro Escovedo’s “Real Animal” and Vampire Weekend’s “Vampire Weekend.” Sometimes I write too fast for my own good.
I appreciate your list of 3, Joe G!
-B
tee vee gee called me a rich hater because I said fix up the swamp before the allstar game. I apologize dewitt is quite the baseball man. jus like tvg was a qb! NOT.
Free Utah…
Royce Ring…has a nice ring to it don’t you think…and if he can “ring” up lefthanded hitters better than the Villone-Flores Project..I am fine with it…I don’t care if it is low hanging fruit or he is fruit or he chews juicy fruit…just as long as he doesn’t serve up cantalope size fastball fruit. Perhaps he can play second base as well…oh wait a minute…we have a low hanging fruit situation at second base. Nevermind!
Free Utah…
Give me Tony Dungy or Bobby Cox anyday, all day, anytime, anyplace…they are winners and that is all their is to it. On their worse days they are in the upper 1% of their respective professions…Borderline peerless in our lifetime.
Free Utah…
Not sure what the Cubs are thinking by signing Milton Bradley…he hasn’t met a clubhouse he can’t destroy…the Cubs aren’t worried about the Cardinals…they are trying to “keep up with the Cashman’s”. Yes, talent matters…they are now done with the Great Ship Edmonds and will now board the Destroyer Bradley. While the Cardinals stagnate in a prison of status quo…they at least will not have the volatile side show that the Cubs are bringing in. Cardinal Nation is awaiting the first scud. If the Cubs don’t win they have nothing to defend…The Cardinals can at least “hide” behind the economy and this great robust Camp Luhnow farm system that is going to offer up the next round of Gibson’s, Simmons’ and Hernandez’s, in defense of their current organizational malaise…right? Unfortunately, the Yankees are ruining the game for everyone, not just the Red Sox. So we all have to suffer…
Free Utah…
Were their five good albums in 2008? How about soundtracks? Juno, Tropic Thunder, The Dark Knight, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Twilight…pretty good stuff if you are into movie soundtracks.
The Rams have to hit a home run with their coaching hire…The Cardinals, The Blues and Mizzou are all front page news and the fans gravitate to them…the buzz that used to be the Rams has been squelched and the franchise is in a serious, serious bad place. What ashame a nice city like St. Louis is the black eye of the NFL…usually it is the other way around…
Alex Steen has a lot left to prove…if he gets close to his dad’s talents this will have been a good trade. He is not on the Michel Mongeau, Garry Holt, Harvey Bennett or Blair Atcheynum radar screen yet…so far Steen is a nice guy that plays hockey, but has to show up every night…the consistency isn’t there with the Blues hence it isn’t their with any of their players night in and night out…Commander Murray will stay the course.
Did I say free Utah?
13-0 and nothing left to prove…once again the BCS (Bowl Clusterf*** Series) has done it again…
Over and out
You might try these 2 from “back there”:
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain. Acoustic solo concert from 40 years ago.
The Byrds - Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1971. The great guitar duo of Mcguinn and White in action.
Or for something different:
Thomas Dutronc - Like a Manouche sans Guitar (Like a Gypsy without a guitar). The son of two French Pop singers studied gypsy guitar with Django Rheinharts brother for 3 years puts it together with pop sounds for an interesting mix.
Bernie, I liked the music I heard from the albums you mentioned. I just you tubed ‘em.
2 of my favorites from ‘08 that come to mind are:
“Tell It To The Volcano” by Miniature Tigers (The Wolf, and Cannibal Queen are good first tracks to hear)
also liked “Way To Normal” by Ben Folds. Especially the song “You don’t know me”.
How can the Rams consider Jim Fassel when he didn’t even make their list of finalists before they hired Scott Linehan?
For the same reason that Jim Haslett is being considered when he didn’t even make their list AT ALL before they hired Scott Linehan.
Someone mentioned the possibility of Albert Pujols becoming a Yankee. Not with MT signed up for 8 years and 180 million. I do not see Albert opting to be a DH. I do wonder if we will let him get away though. Cardinal brass will have to open the vault for Albert and perhaps that is why they have been thrifty this offseason.
Re: The Bradley signing and your “but who’s going
to catch the ball?” comment . . . Fukudome is
merely outstanding defensively—great range and
a strong arm. Nice to know you’re really up
on things, Bernie.