Thursday Brain Dump

Ok, I'm back and have a lot on my mind. Let's not waste any time and get straight to it.

• Let's start with talking about the Mets. First on the docket - RA Dickey. He was an amazing story last year as he went 11-9 for the Mets with a 2.84 ERA. In the off-season they rewarded him with a 2 year $6.5 million contract (with a club option in 2013 for $5 million). We all knew he wouldn't be able to repeat last year, but still expected good things from him. At first he looked like a disaster as he sat at 1-5 with a 5.07 ERA as of May 14. Since then he is 7-6 with a 3.13 ERA, which is much more inline with a normal bump from last year. He will certainly end the year with a losing record, but I don't think there is one Mets fan who loves him any less. In Dickey We Trust.
• The Mets called up two new arms as of September 1. The first, Chris Schwinden gets his first major league action against the Braves on Thursday. The second, Josh Stinson has been lights out through his first 4 games, having not given up any runs in 5 2/3 innings. It is hard to tell whether he will be a long-term part of this team but so far so good. (Of course, we need to remember that Pedro Beato gave up 0 runs in his first 18 2/3 innings before being hammered for 12 runs in his next 7 2/3.) Let's hope for similar success from Schwinden.
• Finally, let's talk some Lucas Duda. He now has 17 doubles, 9 HR and 46 RBI in 86 games...extrapolate that to 150 games and it comes to 15 HR, 30 doubles and 80 RBI. Now take it a step further and take the 76 games after being re-called on June 10 and it would extrapolate to 18 HR, 33doubles and 91 RBI. I know that might be a little high, but even 80 RBI would be awesome when combined with what Wright and Davis could contribute (I'm not even mentioning Bay in this sentence).
  
• Moving on, this just in: Doug Fister loves being out of Seattle. Ok, I didnt really talk to him, but I assume such. Let's go over the numbers. In Seattle he had a very solid 3.33 ERA, but only got 2.33 runs of support when he started (1.8 if you exclude the 13-3 win over Oakland in April). This led to a 3-12 record. Since coming to Detroit he has a 2.64 era and has received 4.3 runs in support. This has led to a 4-1 record.
• I listened to an ESPN podcast with Taylor Twellman and J-Will's favorite, Alexi Lalas. Twellman made an interesting suggestion - play both Donovan and Dempsey up top. His reasoning - we have enough depth at midfield with Bradley, Jones, Edu, Holden, Torres and even Shea AND we already play them there late in games when we need goals. To him, they should just play there all game since Altidore is not ready to be a loan forward yet. I have to say - somehow I have never thought about this, but really, really like it.
• I did not get to see the US game versus Belgium, but was very happy with what I saw against Costa Rica in the first half. In reading most of the reports, journalists seem to be giving Klinnsman a pass as he looks for new players to play an important role in the team. We know about Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley and the rest, but I am hearing that Brek Shea, Timmy Chandler and Jose Torres were the most promising. I am not a huge Shea fan (well, because I think he is a punk with a horse haircut), but if he can put it all together, he is going to have a great career.
• Reports out of Mexico have former US Bob Bradley interviewing for the vacant Santos Laguna head coaching position. Am I the only one who is shocked by this turn of events? I mean, I understand the interest in the Egypt job, but how the hell does he have any respect in Mexico? I know the US team had some success against the Mexicans during his tenure, but this is the US we are talking about. I guarantee no one has any respect for American soccer minds - certainly not enough to trust them as to be their manager. Respect to the owner if he does hire him and props to Bradley if he takes the challenge.
• By now, you have probably seen the new Maryland football unis. If not, here are some pics...anyways, I might be in the minority, but I really like them. The thing I don't get is why Maryland is sooo proud of there flag. I honestly have never seen one state use there flag more as a symbol than Maryland. can someone help me understand...?
• Justin Verlander won his 22nd game on Wednesday. He has at least three starts left (4 depending on whether they need him to pitch on the final day of the season) meaning that he could easily get to 25 wins on the year (remaining schedule: at CHW, at OAK, vs BAL). Twenty-five wins would be the most since Bob Welch (27) for oakland in 1990. Since then, Randy Johnson('02) and John Smoltz ('96) are the only guys with 24. (more on Smoltz below)
• Any one else excited to have Strasburg back? Ok, maybe I'm not excited for this season - they really had no reason to bring him back - but I am stoked for next year
• Reading Don Banks bold predictions piece from SI, I learned that the Atlanta Falcons have never had back-to-back playoff appearances. That is a really really interesting stat and one that likely will come to an end this year.
• For the 3rd time in the last 4 co-ed soccer games, I got accused of diving. It really pisses me off. I mean, I'm 31 with a kid, playing in an over-30 league where half of the guys are lucky to be able to run around...why would I intentionally want to fall down and get rubber pellets in my shorts? Anyways...I figure there are three possible things going on here: 1. I am diving but just don't realize it. 2. I am a pussy who is just falling over at the slightest contact. 3. The other team is a bunch of idiots who don't know anything. Fuck off if you think #1 or #2 are the case.
• I listened to Grantland podcast with Jonah Keri and he said that Ryan Howard's contract extension doesn't kick in until NEXT year. Sure enough, he is right (never had any doubt in my mind)...Howard will get $20m in 2012 and 2013 and then $25 from 2014-2016. I know the guy is a home run and RBI machine, but wow that is a huge contract for a guy who hasn't hit over .280 in 5 years and has averaged 180 strikeouts during that same period. With the rest of the offense crumbling around him, his contract might become an albatross pretty soon.
• I really love what Steve Sarkisian is doing with this Huskies team. Good piece by Steve Kelly on how he is purposefully using the media to call out his team's lack of effort against Eastern.
• Speaking of the Huskies, I am very very excited for the game against Hawai'i this weekend. I really love watching the Warriors fling the ball around on offense, but am very scared of what they might do to the Huskies this weekend. I mean, the Huskies gave up 475 yards passing against a lower division team last week...and while Hawai'i QB Byran Moniz only threw for 178 yards last week against Colorado, he was the nations leading QB last year with a whopping 5040 yards and 39 TD's.
• I won't be able to watch the Huskies game because I'll be at Qwest for what should be the MLS match of the week between the boys in rave and Real Salt Lake. RSL is currently below us in the standings, but even with the season long loss of Javier Morales, I think they are one of the most talented teams in the league. What I am interested in seeing is how the Sounders respond to having 11 days without a game, 5 of which were spent without practice. Long-term having the guys have a vacation was the smart thing to do both mentally and physically, but I have a feeling it might make them ripe for the picking on Saturday.
• Speaking of the Sounders, four stories are worth mentioning. First, Roger Levesque cut his hair. This is hardly a style blog, but Roger cutting his hair needs to be reported on. Second, our newest striker, 24 year old former US U-20 player Sammy Ochoa is in camp training with the guys. I don't know what he will be able to contribute this year or moving forward, but it is nice to see that they did at least sign someone who may or may not be able to score goals. Third, James Riley had a 7v7 youth tournament and both Jeff Parke and Mauro Rosales showed up to support him and sign some autographs. Great job by both of those guys considering it was the day after a game. Finally, Terry Boss suffered a concussion while playing for Puerto Rico (yes, he plays for Puerto Rico - google for more info) and his season looks to be in jeopardy.
• Not sure if anyone saw, but Andy Roddick recently lashed out at Chris Fowler and tennis commentators in general (check out 2:17 of the clip). I have long been a Roddick guy, but it definitely came off as sour grapes. I have read that he is a good guy who just got caught up in the moment (hell, he didn't even shower before doing the interview), but come on man, you can't have such thin skin. The worst part was that he directed it towards Fowler, who I think is the man. Maybe it's just because he has the dream job (tennis, college football, soccer analyst), but Fowler can do no wrong in my book.
• Reports out of St Louis indicate that Albert Pujols turned down a 9-yr, $195 million contract last winter as he was searching for a 10-yr, $230 million contract instead. This is simply amazing to me and one of the reasons why I respected what Jared Weaver did a few weeks ago. I understand that Pujols is more valuable and deserves more than Joe Mauer for what he has done over the past decade, but the amount given for someone who is successful in 1 out of every 3 attempts is astonishing.
  
  
• OK, now I want to spend a little time looking at some stats for two different Hall of Fame worthy pitchers. First, I noticed that John Smoltz will be eligible for the Hall in 2014. In my opinion, he has to be a first ballot guy. Sure he only had 210 wins, but he is the only guy with 200 wins and 150 saves. He sat out the entire 2000 season with arm injury and then from 2002-2004 he averaged 48 saves. If you turn his 4 years of relief duty into time as a starter and have him average 15 wins a season, that brings him to 270 wins. That is not quite the magical 300 number, but good enough considering his strikeout rate. If you assume he never got hurt, its 285 wins then. The crazy thing is that in 1996 he was the BEST starter and then he transformed himself into the best reliever from 2002-2004. No one, not even Dennis Eckersley cane ever say he was the best starting and relief pitcher during his career. When he jumped back into being a starter, he went 44-24 from 2005-2007 as a 38 year old. Simply put, he has one one of the most deserving Hall of Fame credentials.
• When you look at baseball reference, you see that they compare Smoltz to Curt Schilling, who will be an interesting decision in 2012. Schilling only has only 216 wins and never won a Cy Young. However, he was the best player on 2 World Series winning teams including the one that brought Boston the title in 2003. Need I say more than 'bloody sock'? Given that this was the steroid era and numbers don't mean as much as they once did, shouldn't something as subjective as his leadership be enough? For me, I think it does. For the voters, I'm less convinced. [An aside - Schilling he did have three 20 win seasons and struck out 300 batters thrice.]