Sounders and Other Random Things

On my way into work this morning I came to the realization that I am officially over the Soudners quick exit. Somehow I have totally forgotten about their playoff meltdown and am busy getting ready for next season. While I have tried to stay out of the NBA and NHL rumor mill, the MLS rumor mill is one that I love. Not only do we have an expansion draft and a college draft this offseason, but we also have the first ever Re-Entry draft in which veterans players out of contract are able to move to another team willing to pay their salary. Their is going to be a lot of movement, as well as a lot of rumors. For instance, Sounder at Heart has asked whether Guillermo Barros Schelotto might be a perfect fit for our midfield? Who knows if it will happen, but I'll say right now, if we had the chance to get Schelotto for 1-2 years I would much prefer it than Nkufo for another year. OK, ok, this post is not meant to dive into the rumors, but simply to say that I am officially back. Expect more Sounders posts over the next three weeks.

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I did want to take this opportunity to write about the OKC Thunder. In a recent post I said that I expect them to win multiple titles over the next decade -I think they are a great team. What will make them especially hard to beat is their foul shooting. Through 11 games this year they are shooting 88% as a team from the charity stripe. To put this in perspective, the second ranked team is at 81%. Beating OKC in close games is going to be near impossible because they will only miss 1 out of every 10 foul shots. Oh and it doesn't hurt that Durant and Westbrook, their two best players are shooting 93% and 92% from the line respectively. It's just amazing.

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Finally, congrats to Felix Hernandez for winning the Cy Young. He was simply dominant this year, leading the league in both ERA (2.27) and innings pitched (249 2/3) while finishing second in strikeouts (232) and WHIP (1.06). A big congrats to the voters as well who were not swayed negatively by his 13-12 record. Anyone in Seattle can tell you how terrible the M's offense was this year - win/loss should not be the sole indication of how great you were. If you switch Sabathia with King Felix he would have done no better because the M's didn't score any runs. AND if you think about, King Felix's ERA was artificially high because he didn't get the pleasure of facing the M's several times this year. to prove my point, take some time to look at Sabathia's game log. Go find what his record and ERA was against the M's this year......ok, fine, I'll help ya. Sabathia went 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA.