Big Fat JaMarcus

I have spent the good part of my last 15 years watching Georgia football on Saturday evenings in the fall. While I won't claim to be as hardcore as those who live in the South, I do think I know a thing or two about the SEC. That is why I was so shocked when the Raiders selected Big Fat JaMarcus with the first pick in the draft three years ago.

I never thought he was any good. Never. It was hard not to be impressed by his collegiate performance - 67.8% completion pct, 3129 yards, 28 td, 8 ints during his Senior season. He topped it all off with an impressive Sugar Bowl performance where he shredded the Notre Dame defense for 332 yards and 2 td's. I'm a statistician and I know it is easy to lie with numbers. Simply put, his numbers didn't give the whole picture. While he had great arm strength, I questioned his decision making and his size, even back then. (I know it is easy to say all this now, but this is the one pick in recent history I knew was going to be a bust). He reminded me of Byron Leftwich, not because of his skin color, but because he was a 6'5, 248lb QB with great arm strength. Let me tell you - if you are a 250 lb QB coming out of college, you will probably be a 260/270 lb QB after you graduate unless you have a great work ethic. Hearing what is coming out of Raiders camp - that Big Fat JaMarcus slept through team meetings - it is no surprise that he is out of shape and totally lost as a NFL QB.

He ended his tenure with a 7-18 record and had more than 250 passing yards in a game once. The look on his face always portrayed the same though - "Holy shit! I am totally lost out here." I There will be some team who takes a chance on him because every NFL coach is arrogant enough to think he is the one to be able to turn this guy around. But it won't work - JaMarcus is the biggest NFL punchline since Ryan Leaf. That does not exactly lead to confidence.

Is there any hope?

Here is a sobering thought for my fellow Mets fans - Roy Halladay will be in our division for 3 more years. Stupid Philly making that trade. Damn them.

Anyways, I decided to look at some data to determine if there is any reason for hope. So far in his first 7 starts, Halladay is 6-1 with a 1.45 ERA and 6.9 k's/game. Interestingly, last year Halladay was 8-1 after his first 9 starts with a 2.78 ERA and 6.3 k's/game. He ended the season 17-11 with a 2.79 ERA and 6.5 k's/game. There is good news and bad news in thsse data. Good news: He went 9-10 in his last 24 starts. Bad news: His stats were essentially the same as the first 9 starts meaning his team was partially at fault for the sub-.500 winning pct.

Since 2002, he has had two seasons where he lost part of the season with injuries. Even if we include those, he has averaged 213 1/3 innings pitched a year and nearly 6 complete games. Obviously all these data are while going against superior lineups in the AL. What he is going to do in the NL is downright scary. This is not going to be fun for the Mets, Braves, Marlins and Nationals who should get to see him at least 4 times a year.

(Oh, and one side note, since 2002, the Mets have averaged 4.6 complete games a year)

Thursday Night Brain Dump

It's beautiful weather here in Seattle today and I am outside mowing the lawn (well, not right now because I am eating and typing). It is perfect. A lot of things happening around this great country of ours - nothing so seismic that I have to write a whole blog entry so this will have to do.

• Giants great Lawrence Taylor was arrested today and charged with 3rd degree rape. This is just a sad story and one that I think most Giants fans are not surprised with. LT was an amazing player and one of the first true sports stars I knew growing up. His subsequent downfall after his playing career was an unfortunate one, but news of his sobriety and changed lifestyle was a welcome one. I don't know if he is innocent or not - that obviously will be determined by the legal system, but it is a sad day when one of your sports idols is linked to something like this
• What's up with Lebron? Has this guy ever played with an injury? If it is as minor as Cleveland is making it out to be, then why does he seem so bothered by it? Cleveland better watch itself - if they lose tonight they could be in a world of hurt. Boston is one of those teams you need to put down early because they will gain their swagger back if given the chance
• A buddy of mine asked today if I thought Ubaldo Jimenez is the best pitcher in baseball. I said that Lincecum and Halladay are in front of him, but I'd be hard pressed to think of another one. Maybe Sabathia or King Felix, but not too many
• I am 100% in favor of that kid getting tasered in Philly. We are given an amazing opportunity as fans to be allowed to sit within arms reach of players and coaches when we're at the ballpark. Let's not mess it up. Now, I know that running on the field has been going on for years, but lets face it, the world is different today. Security at ballgames is very light - most places want to look in your bag and that's it. I always wonder if there needs to be more. Someday what appears to be an 'innocent' streaker could be someone who poses a security risk. I know a lot of media members are saying it was a teenager being a teenager - I just wonder if he wasn't a white boy how it would be perceived.
• While I'm on my soapbox, I'd like to congratulate the Suns for taking a political stand and wearing the Los Suns jerseys in Game 2 the other night. this is not supposed to be a political blog so I won't give my thoughts on it besides saying I am impressed to see a sports team take such a stand.
• Looks like the Flyers are in crap load of trouble. I love it
• Sounders - LA this weekend. Man I hope we can get it done. I don't need to give a preview - stopping LA is as simple as stopping Donovan and Buddle (I know he has 9 goals, but Landy's name still needs to be listed first). If El Presidente is up for the job and if LA is unable to handle the 4-3-3 then a good result is possible.
  
• Manchester United is playing the MLS All-Stars this July and then are going to Philly to take on the Union. Not sure what to say about that one besides, hope you enjoy the experience and the money, Philly.
• World Cup getting ever so close....

That's all for now. Back outside I go.

End this misery

Memo to the Mets Management from its fans: Please release Gary Matthews. Eat his contract. Bring up Cris Carter or someone that can hit. He is terrible.

I will be the first to admit I was intrigued by the deal they got from the Angels. LA ate all of his remaining salary except for $2 million. The Mets had a short-term fill-in for Carlos Beltran. In his free agent year of 2006 he hit .313 with 19 hr, 79 rbi, 102 runs. If he could be half of that it could be viewed as a positive considering we only gave up Brian Stokes for him.

He is terrible. I can handle Catalanotto hitting .136 on the year. At least he has value as a utility infielder even though he isn't hitting. But giving Matthews at bats is terrible. Even worse is that we kept him on the roster long enough for the Reds to see how terrible he is. There is no way they even consider Matthews for Arroyo now like they had earlier in the spring. I'm not saying bring up F-Mart, but how about Carter or even Nik Evans? Just do it.

This is why we are hated...?

The other day I received an email from my cousin (who happens to have a high quality blog View from the Couch) with the subject line: "See Seattle fans, this is why we hate you". Apparently some Seattle bloggers are not happy with the choice of Celtic and Boca Juniors as our friendly opponents this year, which has led other supporters to believe we are all arrogant up here. In particular, he points me to one posting by Sounder at Heart which says that Celtic is disappointing given last years opponents. Now I have read this article and agree that it does give the perception that the Sounders are too good for Celtic; that we should be having Barca and Chelsea every year. I won't mince words here - considering last years opponents, this DOES feel like a step down. There is no way around it - Barca won the Champions League while Chelsea made the semi's. Celtic finished last in their group. There is no debating those stats - Celtic was not as good as Chelsea and Barca last year. PERIOD. But in no way am I too arrogant to say that we are too good for Celtic. They are a great team with great history who play in the Champions League year in year out. And if this match had meaning, Celtic would probably paste us 3-0 minimum.

Now that that is out of the way, I wanted to discuss friendlies in general. We all know that soccer remains a foreign concept in the US. Casual soccer fans in America don't understand the idea of international competitions like the Champions League that occur during the season. They don't understand a single table concept. And they don't understand friendlies. Now I can defend the first two because they are brilliant. Let me tell you, if there was a single elimination competition that the Mets could compete in during the month of August, I would be all for it because they will most likely be out of the playoff push by then.

But friendlies? I don't know, they just leave a bad taste in my mouth. I get that they are critical for the financial health of MLS teams. But when we consider what the players are getting out of it, I think the pros outweigh the cons. I went to both games last year and I have to say that the second halves were the most boring 45 minutes of soccer I saw all season. It was great that Terry Boss, Lamar Neagle and Mike Fucito got once in a lifetime opportunities to play against Messi, Lampard and the likes, but at the end of the day, what did it do for the team? MLS teams are not deep - one injury can cripple a team. There are no national team players battling for playing time who can step right in. If Freddie Ljungberg gets hurt, we will have Stephen King as our starting midfielder (no offense to Stephen who I hear is a nice dude) for the rest of the season. So Sigi plays his guys for 45 minutes and thats it. As for Barca and Chelsea? They are all in pre-season form. Now maybe this is good for the scoreline (Seattle was luck to have lost both 4-0), but I want the guys to compete against the best in their top form.

Bottom line, I want a competitive game. I am not saying I will forfeit my tickets to the games. Seeing Messi work his magic (even in preseason form) was amazing. But the game was a glorified scrimmage at best and we got nothing out of it besides tired legs (in fact, we got 1 point out of 3 games after Chelsea left town and 3 points out of 3 games after Barcelona left town) and a whole lot of revenue. Competively, I would rather see a match against Club America or Saprissa or some mid table Euro squad like Sunderland or West Ham. The risk of injury would be the same, but at the end of the day it would be a competitive match that could help define us as a franchise.

We get one more friendly from our season ticket package. While it will be less sexy, I am hoping its the play-in game for the CONCACAF Champions League against an unknown team from Belize or Panama. But hey, I'm just one person. Please don't judge your opinion of Sounder Nation by what I have to say.

Reader's Choice

This is a new feature to JerseySounder where one of my loyal readers get to choose a topic for me to discuss. This weeks entry comes from my good friend T-Gasp (not to be mistaken with WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard) who is quite fired up over a recent botched suicide squeeze.

I am unable to find video of the entire at bat, but here is the situation. The M's, losers of three gut wrenching defeats the weekend before, played the Rangers, a team they will most likely be battling for first all season long, at home on Friday night. After nine innings the game remained tied 0-0. In the bottom of the 11th with the bases loaded and one out, Eric Byrnes stepped up to bat.

Before I get to Byrnes' at-bat, allow me to play a little Monday Morning QB. What do we know? Well, we know that Eric Byrnes is an above average defensive outfielder who, when signed, seemed to fit perfectly with the M's philosophy. He was meant to be a situational outfielder and nothing more. Yet here he was with the bat in his hands when the game was on the line. Let's look at his average yearly stats - 88 games, .258 average, 10 hr, 36 rbis. Nothing spectacular. Here is the most damning stat of them all - in 11 years he has attempted 9 sacrifice bunts. For you math majors, thats less than 1 a season.

This is what I have a problem with. You have to know your personnel as a manager. You have bases loaded with Ichiro on third, one out and a guy who never bunts at the plate. A fly ball to anywhere in the park will probably bring home the run. A ball on the ground is no automatic double play because Byrnes has some speed. Yet Wakamatsu pretends that he is in the NL and bunts with Byrnes at bat. I'm sorry, I just think its a terrible call. Let him swing. I know no one has scored to that point and that the bases were left loaded in the 10th, but seriously, only the Mets screw up like this.

Ok, that being said, you're a major league hitter and the manager tells you to bunt. You have to get it down. At least foul it off, but don't let it get past you. There is a 5% chance Ichiro scores on the play if you miss the ball. By now you know what happened. Watch the beauty right here. Yeah, it was terrible. I just have to wonder if Byrnes is the M's scapegoat for a 11-12 start amidst all of the heightened expectations. After all, Wakamatsu was partially to blame.

Of course that's just my opinion. T-Gasp had the following to say: "I was watching live and cussed so much that I got in trouble with the wife." He called Byrnes a "So. Cal surfer looking douchebag" and was not encouraging of his future with the M's, noting that "Someone needs to take away his glove, uniform and 'man-card' and never allow him another shot at bat in the big show." well, T, The M's cut him on Sunday so may never have to look at him again.

To help ease the pain, I offer this video on how to properly perform the squeeze.

I Love Canada...

...Vancouver specifically, since I have never been to Toronto or the other major cities. The wife and I were up there over the weekend and I love their passion for the Canucks. All the local bars had their doors open and you didn't have to watch the game to know what was going on. There was honestly a collective uproar after every goal. Everyone is diehard. I even saw to guys in front of me stop a moving police car to tell them the score of the game. Hockey is life. Eight pages in the local paper. One in five cars flying a flag. GO CANUCKS GO on bus billboards. Love it all and am sad that Seattle is not a hockey city. It still amazes me that cities like Phoenix, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami and Columbus can have teams but there are none in the US Northwest. I know all Rangers fans love to rip on the Devils for not having a real fan base, but at least its better than Seattle. Hockey is no where to be seen and it brings a tear to my eye.

And now a few other comments from the weekend:

• After another mental letdown seconds before the half, I think we can see what type of team the Sounders are. They are a talented bunch that don't have their heads on. We dominated the first half and I mean dominated. I can't say it enough. And yet somehow they allow the Crew to score on their one opportunity all game.
  
• Loved the 4-3-3 and hope Freddie stays in the middle in the future. He looks great. I also like Ozzie out wide and was praying for this shot to hit the net
• I think there is something up with Johan. Philly should win 2 out of 3 at home, but we had them where we wanted them and Johan gave it up. The fact that he is relying on two pitches is disheartening. Overall, we got 1 of 2 but in addition to Johan, Pelf also got shelled. These are the times when Pelf has needed a shrink in the past - hopefully the one he hired over the winter has worked his magic.
• I know I am in no position to criticize Philly sports, but $12.25 million for Kevin Kolb?? This has to be a mistake.
• In case you hadn't heard, the Big 10 and Pac-10 are considering adding teams which could send shockwaves through college athletics. Great 'what if' article in SI which I can't find online, so here is Stewart Mandels' FAQ's on the subject. Love to hear your thoughts (John especially) on Utah and Colorado going to the Pac-10