The Beauty of the Wild Card

The wild card race for Major League Baseball is always one that comes down to the wire. Last year, the National League witnessed the tightest battle, with the Rockies and the Padres fighting it out in a one-game winner take all to get to the post season. The amazing story is that the Rockies not only won, but won their way through the divisional series, and the championship series to gain a berth to the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, if we all remember, the story ended there, with four quick games and a sweep by the Red Sox for their second title in the last four years.

Nearly half way through the 2008 season, the National League again remains another close race, but just between two teams, St. Louis and Milwaukee. The real race that we will see come September will fall in the American League with 4 teams, if they keep the pace they're at. The unbelievable Rays, the untimely A's, the no wonder Yankees, and the up and coming Twins. A betting man would say the Yankees will blow the other three out of the water and win the wild card for the second straight year, but fans here in Oakland say the A's will give it the best shot they've got. The Rays will have to continue to play well and it's a very young team, which results in the classic "choke" come crunch time. The Twins will have the toughest time, mainly because no one is really hitting for them, and the pitching staff is is left with all the pressure.

I believe the ticket to the post season will be punched for the team who makes the best trades come July 31. The Yankees, being the team with the most leverage, but smart GM's can come up big. My question to the readers out there, is who will win the Wild Card?? Here are my picks as of June 26, 2008.

National League: It'll be close, but I'm going to go on a limb and say the Brewers will beat the Cards out in a one game playoff.

American League: As much as it pains me to say it, the Yankees will go on a tear in the second half and clinch the A.L. spot.

America's Tournament

One of the greatest smells in the world comes around 7 a.m. on any golf course in America. It's the smell of fresh cut grass, giving the course a fresh look for that hungry golfer looking for birdies.

This week the grass that gets cut out at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, will lay at the feet of some of the best golfers in the world for the 108th meeting of the U.S. Open conducted by the USGA. Some of golf's greatest memories have happened at the U.S. Open. The putt in 1999 by Payne Stewart out at Pinehurst No. 2, to last year's winner Angel Cabrera lighting up a cigarette to calm the nerves on number 18 at Oakmont Country Club.











Just as in any other tournament he plays in, all eyes are on Tiger Woods to win his third U.S. Open in the last eight years. The hot story is if he will be the Tiger we all know after recovering from knee surgery in April. This will be his first tournament back since the surgery. Tiger says the knee is a little sore, but I'm sure a guy like him will play through the pain. So far, Tiger is 0 for 1 in majors this year, so we'll have to wait another year to see if Tiger can be the first person to win the Grand Slam of golf in the same year.

Day 1 is filled with great groupings, of course headlined by the group of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott. Mickelson is ranked #2 in the world, and is still seeking his first U.S. Open championship. Other notable groups on Thursday are Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia, and Vijay Singh, followed by Mike Weir, and the last two years' Master's Champions, Trevor Immelman and Zach Johnson.

It's America's tournament and ultimately, any member of the USGA has a chance to play. The field is always littered with a few players who have played their way through qualifying rounds to buy themselves a spot to play in the U.S. Open.

Players to watch: Jim Furyk (runner up in the 2007 U.S. Open), and Segio Garcia (a.k.a El Nino) winner of this year's Player's Championship in search of his first major of his career. Garcia finished second to Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship in 1999.

The Dreaded A.L. West and the downfall of the Seattle Mariners

Something unnatural seems to be taking place this year in the A.L. West division of Major League Baseball. The Angels have won the division 4 times in the last 5 years, and look to be the team to beat again this year. The A's are the surprise team of the division, keeping up with the Angels and somehow beating teams they shouldn't. Just yesterday they completed a 3-game sweep of the World Champion Boston Red Sox who brought the best record in the major leagues with them.

The Rangers are just as surprising, with a guy like Josh Hamilton on your team, you can win ball games. The pitching staff won't hold for a post-season berth, but they are still winning games nonetheless.

Then we arrive at the Seattle Mariners. A team that most baseball analysts expected to be over .500 at this point in the season. They added tremendously to their pitching staff by picking up Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva, to compliment the young fireballer in the likes of Felix Hernandez. Problem is, these guys aren't doing much for the team. Bedard (3-3, 4.70). Silva (3-4, 5.14). And Hernandez, who has lost 4 of his last 5 starts since the last time I wrote about him when he was then 2-0, is now 2-4. The problems are everywhere. They can't pitch and they can't hit.

Even Ichiro, the guy who is expected to give you at least 200 hits a year and a 300 average is batting only .289. Close but no cigar. The Mariners are hurting.

I think Richie Sexson knew something else when he charged the mound and threw his helmet at Texas' pitcher Kevin Gabbard. He knew the once worst team in the west was now better than they were. Any matter, Sexson is batting .197. Somehow the guy has 9HR. Whoopity do. They guy needs to go back to Milwaukee, they only place he did any good for the game.

So as the season drags on in the A.L. West, there are new faces vying for the top spot. But one team surely isn't. The Seattle Mariners.

Cashed Out Charles - Sports Headlines?

If you haven't heard, Charles Barkley is calling it quits when it comes to gambling. According to reports, Barkley failed to pay the Wynn casino on four $100,000 markers, that he took out on a loan in October of last year.

Barkley is no stranger to gambling as most of us know, but the guy who "hates the whole city of golden state", says he's going to put the dice aside for at least a year or two.

Is it just me, or are more things happening to athletes that aren't sports related these days? I can think of tons of examples. You've got OJ Mayo accepting thousands of dollars in high school and in college to keep him happy while busting 3-pointers. Jason Taylor, the one-time defensive player of the year for the Miami Dolphins, is more concerned with his acting career and a win on 'Dancing with the Stars' than his future in the NFL and the Dolphins organization.Bonds get his 4 counts broken down into 14 separate counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in the BALCO case. I'll reference the book that I'm reading once again, "Game of Shadows" and once you read it you will both hate Barry Bonds and appreciate the research these reporters did. Once the fastest woman in the world, Marion Jones, is in jail for six-months and boyfriend/runner Tim Montgomery will be joining her for fraud.

Don't even get me started on Clemens. The guy is going to jail.

Tons of NFL players not reporting to camps, and holding out on contract deals. The list goes on and on. The idea of having professional athletes as heroes for kids is quickly diminishing. As sports fans we all want raw, solid playing on the field, coupled with a life off the field that is respectable for all those millions they are making.

Give me a guy like Jon Lester. The man recovers from cancer, and pitches a no-hitter a year and a half later. These are the types of stories that guys like me want to write about. There is no end to these tales, and I'm sure the future holds just as much terrible stories about these athletes as we have been seeing recently. Just plain ridiculous.

Cycle for Gomez

In the box score, it doesn't look that hard to do. Most players get at least four at-bats a game, especially those who are the leadoff hitters. The cycle consists of every hit a player can get in a single baseball game. A single, a double, a triple, and of course the home run. Since the start of major league baseball, it has only happened 277 times. Given the talent that has been capable of accomplishing the feat in the history of major league baseball, this is a small number.

There is such a thing called the 'natural cycle', when the player hits the single, double, triple and home run in order in the same game.

To this day, there has never been a player who has hit for the cycle in a post-season game.

On May 8th, Carlos Gomez became the 277th player to add his name to the list who can say they've hit for the cycle in the major leagues. There's a lot to be said about Gomez. After a short stint with the Mets last season, he was traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal. The Twins are reaping the benefits in picking up a solid defensive outfielder with speed, who will hit for average and touch em' all every now and again. Gomez hit the cycle against the divisional rival Chicago White Sox and I wouldn't be surprised to see him in an American jersey come the all-star break. Hats off to Carlos Gomez.

The More You Read, The More You Know

I've recently taken an internship with a pre-game radio show for the Oakland Athletics. I work with a guy named Marty Lurie, who broadcasts before every game on 1550AM out of Oakland. There is a pre-game show that is done by the same guys who do the play-by-play, and this is the show that is directly before that.

I wanted to convey the crazy amounts of knowledge that these guys know about the game of baseball. Not only are they on the up and up with their team, they know every player, where they've played, big stories about them, and have their own opinions about how their career will pan out in the big leagues. My hat really goes off to these guys because they clearly know more about the sport then I do.

The amount of preparation that goes into each game is just plain dirty. Besides reading the sports page from every team's home city in the major leagues, these guys look at countless stat sheets, read the media guide and pick anything they can up from the stuff that they read. It's completely fair to say that MOST broadcasters know exactly what they are talking about. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on just so I don't look like a fool in the press box. So my posts are becoming less consistent, but you know what I'm doing now. Besides the text books I have to read and stories to shoot, edit and write, I'm reading an insane amount.

Undying Hatred = Bandwagon Hornets Fans

On Tuesday night, the playoff hopes of the Phoenix Suns, and the hopes of NBA playoffs fans spanning 49 states, died. The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Suns in game five of their first round series in the Western Conference playoffs.

I haven't seen this much hatred towards a particular team since the Yankees were actually good. Wait a minute, people still hate the Yankees. No matter, the Spurs flipped the 'most despised team in the NBA' switch after the win tonight. Polls coast to coast of sports fans have suddenly become enormous Chris Paul fans, and who can blame them? It's not hard to like a team lead by the great Byron Scott, who knows exactly what its like to make a push through the playoffs and win an NBA title.

Something that will definitely start to be talked about, is the Tony Parker vs. CP3 matchup. Third to King James and Kobe 'I've decided to change my number' Bryant, Parker is right in the thick of things when it comes to points per game. Whoopity Do. Now that Nowitzki is gone, Paul is in the top five as well. All the more reason for him to step up on defense and shut down Mr. Eva Longoria.

The Spurs and Hornets will hit the hardwood and start their semi-final series to get to the Western Conference Championship. I think it's pretty clear who the nation is rooting for. But my question to you is who will win it, and in how many games?

On another note: There are two possible game seven's lurking. Detroit leads Philadelphia three games to two, but game six is in Philly, and my boy Iggy is heating up for the Sixers. I like this series going to a game seven. The other is the refusing to say die Houston Rockets vs. the Utah Jazz. Utah leads the series, and game six heads back to Utah. I like Utah closing out the series back in SLC.

One more note: a city softball team in Alameda, CA called "Boom Goes The Dynamite" is playing Thursday night, hoping to get a win streak going, after coming back last week in the top of the seventh inning to beat Otaez 9-7. Wish them luck.