No, the bashing of Jimmy "The Mouth of South Philly" Rollins is not going to stop any time soon.
Before I get into the happy recap, a little counting help for our friends in Philly:
"thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then though shalt leave the field of play and go to thou bench."
shamelessly cribbed from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Seems our friends in Philly have a bit of a counting problem, as they lost track of the outs in the sixth inning last night.
Anyway, onto the fun. Well, most of it was fun. Three concerns from last night.
1. The continued walks from Mets starters. Yes, I know that it is cold, and finesse pitchers rely on feel to make their pitches, but this is getting ridiculous. And for that matter, I don't see it impacting opposing pitchers as much.
2. The base running of Jose Reyes. Another pick off last night, and he was caught in a rundown trying to go to third on a single by Ramon Castro.
3. PLD's injury. If he is going to miss significant time, the lineup is going to be thrown into chaos. Castro cannot bat 2nd, so it will be Wright, or perhaps 'Stache, depending on whether Endy is playing for Green or Alou.
The good from last night:
1. Tommy G working out of trouble, allowing only 1 run despite allowing 6 hits, 5 walks and hitting a batter. Win # 293 for Tommy, as he creeps closer to #300.
2. The bullpen. Pedro Dos, Joe Smith and Ambiorix Burgos, 3 innings, 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 K's. Joe Smith allowed a leadoff double to Ryan Howard in the 8th, and then a walk, but escaped. Burgos allowed a single and a walk, but pitched out of trouble. I did notice Castro telling him to ease off, as he appeared to be amping it up a bit too much (one pitch nearly got away up high and to Castro's left). The gun in Philly was off, because there was no way he hit 100, then 99, 99, 98 on consecutive pitches. Keith noted earlier that Glavine was shown to hit 92, and we all know that ain't happening.
3. Moises Alou. A nice diving catch to end an inning and take away a run for the Phillies. A nice play on a ball off the wall with his bare hand (though I'm not too sure I would want to touch the ball after that). And of course, 2 home runs, one a 2 run job in the 2nd inning to score Wright, the other a solo shot.
4. Wright. At the plate, another hit. In the field, some more good play. I am getting a little tired of some fans claiming his hitting streak is "quiet". The guy is hitting 319 with a 400 OBP. He is doing his job, though I admit his bases loaded strike out against Geary was a tad ugly.
5. Jose, Jose, Jose. He went 2-4 with a walk. He gets on base, and good things happen. Let's work on the pick offs though, mmmkay?
6. The Phillies are now 3-9, and that is good news. They are playing horribly, Howard is not hitting, their bullpen sucks, and they can't count. Good times.
Tonight, Dontrelle Willis against John Maine in Florida, so we should hopefully not hear about the cold weather affecting the pitchers.
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Other stuff.
No observations this week. I haven't had the time to write them up. In their place, some rants.
1. My gym, which made me suffer last year by not having SNY (though it did have YES), finally, as of last night has SNY, so I can now watch whilst I run. I am now happy. The bad thing is they took away ESPNNEWS. Bad form.
2. Sean Avery is a dirty rat bastard. I'm sorry, but this guy is dirty. Last night in the third period, he crosschecked Ilya Kovalchuk into the Thrashers bench, as Kovalchuck was about to be hit from another Ranger. How was no penalty called? Then, when Kovalchuck goes after him, Avery feigns dropping the gloves, Kovalchuck does, and starts to administer a beating. Another Ranger comes into the fray, which should have resulted in a 3rd man in penalty, as both players were gloveless and engaged. Don't tell me I am jealous, this guy is a dirty player, this is a well known fact in the league. I sincerely hope someone pounds him in the next game.
3. Islander fans get bashed some more, today in the NYTimes, which barely covered the team this year. George Vescey even brought up an incident from 1983. George, STFU. When your paper can actually own up to being stupid in its reporting on a host of issues, then I will respect it. Until then, GFY. Were the fans moronic, yes, but I don't need the Times moralizing about behavior. Clean up your own house.
4. Jeter now has 6 errors in 12 games, but Torre isn't worried. Meanwhile, A-Rod has 8 home runs. I'm thinking Jeter is distracted by the year A-Rod is having and is pressing. Maybe A-Rod should invite him over for a sleepover.
5. Saw a picture on channel 4 this morning of the "Naked Cowboy" with NY Rangers on his ass. Well, that fits.
6. I want Alexei Yashin gone. He has done nothing this playoff. I don't care if he comes back and dominates the rest of this series and they win. He is simply not a good player anymore, and not worth the $7.6 million he is being paid.
7. Jason Blake, there are other players on the ice, how about passing it instead of doing an Alexei Kovalev ice skating impression.
8. Charles Wang better open up the damn checkbook for Ryan Smyth. The guy is playing his ass off, and is the guy I want as my next Islander captain. Let him rip the "C" off of Yashin's jersey with his stick in the middle of the ice in front of a packed house. Heck, fans would pay $100 a pop to see it, paying off a good portion of Yashin's contract.
9. So thanks to Imus, we now are subjecting his former audience to Mike and the Mad Dog. That will show those who called for his ouster. The punishment of listening to those two gasbags will have people begging for Imus to come back.
In closing, Let's Go Islanders. Big game tonight. Let's get a win on home ice, shall we?
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6 comments:
I do not think the lineup will be thrown into "chaos." Ramon can rake. Willie will probably slide Valentin in the 2-spot.
Ramon can rake in small doses. Remember when Mike missed some time a couple of years ago? Ramon did OK at first, but then fell back a bit.
I do not like 'Stache in the #2 spot often.
Chaos may be overstating, but it will have an impact. I hope not a bad one.
Yeah, but I don't see Ramon being needed for more than a few games, so we don't have to worry about any drop-off. I'm not sure what Stache's numbers in the 2-spot were last year, but I suspect they were good.
Last night in the third period, he crosschecked Ilya Kovalchuk into the Thrashers bench, as Kovalchuck was about to be hit from another Ranger.
From what I recall, it wasn't a cross check, just a check, hence no penalty. I'll take another look at the video if I get a chance.
Another Ranger comes into the fray, which should have resulted in a 3rd man in penalty, as both players were gloveless and engaged.
It did. It was Paul Mara and he got a 10 minute misconduct penalty.
I want Alexei Yashin gone. He has done nothing this playoff.... He is simply not a good player anymore, and not worth the $7.6 million he is being paid.
I certainly agree with you on that one.
Charles Wang better open up the damn checkbook for Ryan Smyth. The guy is playing his ass off, and is the guy I want as my next Islander captain.
He's certainly done more since coming on board than most guys on the team, including Yashin.
I was surprised that they didn't re-sign Peca a couple years ago. I despise Peca and him leaving the Isles for the Oilers (at the time) was a good thing (for the Rangers). Was it just a case of insufficient points? Any insight on that one?
DED - Peca wasn't the same after the cheap shot from Tucker took out his knee. I think they wanted to move along. Can't say I blame them, as he did nothing in the regular season for the Oilers, though he did have a good playoff. I think Wang wanted to move on with Yashin as C, and got rid of Peca, who he clashed with. Bad move on that part, but good in that Peca just isn't that good anymore.
Avery hit Kovalchuck from behind in front of the bench. As he was about to be hit by/was engaged with another Ranger. It may not have been a full cross check, but it was a dirty play.
Mara got the 10, good, I missed that. I know, sticking up for his teammate, but it isn't like a goon was fighting him, it was Kovalchuk. If it was a full out goon, I could understand.
And yes, I would say the same thing if it was one of my guys. I hate 3rd man in. It is only somewhat justified if a goon is beating on a skill player without provocation.
And yes, I have a healthy distaste for Avery. He is dirty, has been for years. He's a punk.
Mara got the 10, good, I missed that. I know, sticking up for his teammate, but it isn't like a goon was fighting him, it was Kovalchuk. If it was a full out goon, I could understand.
Mara didn't throw any punches. He just tried to separate the two guys. While that's the referee's job, I thought it odd he got the misconduct. I understand though.
Yes, it wasn't like Kovalchuk is a goon. He's supposed to score goals, which ordinarily he does. I think Mara got involved because, as far as points go, Mara's worth is lower than Avery's.
And yes, I would say the same thing if it was one of my guys. I hate 3rd man in. It is only somewhat justified if a goon is beating on a skill player without provocation.
I believe you.
And yes, I have a healthy distaste for Avery. He is dirty, has been for years. He's a punk.
I know you do. I'm lukewarm to him, while my wife thinks he's great. He's a play maker, but the ends don't justify the means. He's one of those guys that, if he's not on your team, you hate him. When he's on your team, so long as he creates more points for your team with his actions than permits, people look the other way. Eventually, it'll backfire.
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