Kristin > LC or LC > Kristin?

Good evening folks, fetch here. Roman has the night off. Tonight could very well be my last MLJ post for awhile (unless of course I decide to run with the award winning Hotties of the Women’s College World Series post) so let’s make it good.

Today was one of those days here at MLJ that makes you go, “Why can’t I get Hosticant’ed more often?” “Damn I am lucky to be here” I mean this is analysis you can’t get anywhere else. Assuming you call comparing bands to baseball teams and calling a fanbase gay analysis. Oh well, at least our comments have .gifs in them. Suck it.

There was a scintillating day of baseball today including the Red Sox beating the Twins behind a stellar performance by Josh Beckett*

There’s no hockey on tonight, but let’s see what we have going on:

Magic v Cavs: Can the Cavs climb out of a 3-1 hole? Given the fact that they have the best player on Earth, I’m still putting my money on the Cavs.

Detroit at Baltimore: Matt Weiters tomorrow! OMG!

Dodgers at Cubs: Minor league OPS leader Jake Fox makes his 2009 debut for the Cubs. He’s 26, don’t get your panties in a bunch Cubs fans.

Have a good Thursday everybody.

* May or may not have happened, seeing as I wrote this before the game was over

Hi LC. Let's have sex.

Good morning jerks. Yesterday I had a one day mini-vacation as my family (my real family, not blogging family) went out to my lake cabin to do some work and clean up the yard and such in preparation for the summer. Also exciting is that this is the first year in the last half dozen or so where we actually have a full lake. The past couple of years the water level was dangerously low, but this year we are full to the brim. I cannot fucking wait to take the Sea Doos out and go nuts. And you’re all invited if you want to make the trek.

Anyways, I fucking hate to write lead-ins for Quality Start, so let’s just get to the scores, shall we?

Blackhawks something, Red Wings 1 more than that: The Blackhawks played like absolute donkey shit before last night’s game, but Cristobal Huet put in an effort that was not quite good enough as the Wings scored in OT. This sets up a rematch of last year’s Cup Finals. The Pens have improved immensly from last year and the Wings are, at best, equal to where they were last year, but will it be enough? The Wings should be better rested as they got to play the 7, 8 and 4 seed on the way to the Cup finals, but then again the Pens just got done with a sweep. It will be a matchup of contrasting styles as the Pens play a more free-flowing game while the Wings like to lock down their opponent. Whichever team succeeds in imposing their style should be able to lift the cup.

Baltimore 12, Toronto 10: Adam Jones is good. Matt Weiters tomorrow. Get ready bitches.

Dodgers 8, Rockies 6: The NL West is craptastic. Worst division of all time in anything ever.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Memphis made some NCAA violations when John Calipari was coach. The Earth has stopped rotating in absolute shock.

Greenville

Participants: 1. East Carolina, 2. South Carolina, 3. George Mason, 4. Binghamton

Players to Watch: ECU 2B/P Ryan Wood (.387/.497/.647, 13 HR, 14 SB, 0.00 ERA (4IP)), South Carolina 3B Nick Ebert (.332/.475/.741, 22 HR), George Mason 1B/OF Scott Kreiger (.378/.466/.780, 20 HR), Binghamton P Murphy Smith (7-2, 2.41 ERA, 2.19 BAA)

Many people (including myself) thought that South Carolina was going to host over East Carolina, especially due to the huge ballpark (more $$) and sparkling facilities. When the sites were announced I thought either Virginia or South Carolina would be the #1 seed here. Whoops.

East Carolina has had a good season, and became the first team other than Rice to win Conference USA since Rice joined the league. Although their at home, I don’t think they win the regional. South Carolina doesn’t have the big boppers they did last year like Justin Smoak and Reese Havens, but they are deceptively deep on the mound and their lineup will be good enough to get through the regional.

Chapel Hill

Participants: 1. North Carolina (#4 National Seed), 2. Coastal Carolina, 3. Kansas, 4. Dartmouth

Players to watch: North Carolina 1B/OF Dustin Ackley* (.399/.505/.759, 20 HR, 46 BB, 29K), North Carolina RHP Alex White (7-4, 4.13 ERA, 92K), North Carolina RP Brian Moran (7-1, 2.09 ERA, 3 SV, 82K, 8BB), Coastal Carolina P Nick McCully (7-1, 1.92 ERA, 60 SO), Kansas 3B Tony Thompson (.374/.430/.730, 19 HR, 168 TB), Kansas RF Brian Heere (.363/.463/.528, 38 BB) Dartmouth OF Nick Santomauro* (.365/.445/.603, 8HR)

North Carolina was my preseason national champion pick, but let me play homer for a second. North Carolina is a very lefty heavy team who sometimes struggles against good lefties (except Dustin Ackley of course), and if Kansas can get by Coastal they have a shot as they presumably would save lefty Shaeffer Hall (who threw a no-hitter earlier in the year). Kansas also has a good offense, and one of the best 3-4-5 in the country in RF Brian Heere, C Buck Afenir and should be Big 12 POY 3B Tony Thompson.

All that said, Carolina has Ackley and one of the deepest staffs in the nation. Alex White is rumored to be a top 10 pick, Senior Adam Warren has middling stuff but experience and good numbers, and Sophomore Matt Harvey is an early favorite to go #1 overall in 2010. In the end I think Carolina has too much depth on the mound and will win the regional.

*Denotes conference player of the year

Tempe

Competing Teams: 1 Seed Arizona State (#5 national seed), 2 seed Oral Roberts, 3 seed Cal Poly, 4 seed Kent State

Players to Watch: Arizona State P Mike Leake (14-1, 1.24 ERA, 128 SO, .170 BAA), Oral Roberts P Mark Serrano* (9-0, 2.42 ERA, 119 SO, .190 BAA, Cal Poly1B Adam Buschini (.412/.478/.723, 11 HR), Kent State P Andrew Chafin (4-1, 1.26 ERA, 8 saves)

Although Oral Roberts is a good team and shouldn’t be overlooked, their getting a #2 seed baffles me. Their RPI isn’t terrible, but looking just at the RPI is an extremely lazy way to identify good teams. The Eagles beat Rice at the Houston College Classic, and beat Wichita State twice in a down year, but those are the only two regional teams they beat all season. They won the regular season and post-season titles in the Summit League, but the Summit League is an extremely weak league.

Arizona State, after losing to eventual champion Fresno State last year, lost a lot of firepower off last year’s squad, especially Brett Wallace and Ike Davis. Pitcher Mike Leake has stepped up bigtime this year, and was recently named the Academic All-American of the year. He is a bulldog type guy on the mound who just comes right at you. The Devils face Kent State, who they may need to use Leake on. If they can get by the Flashes without using Leake they should win the regional easily. Read the rest of this entry »

The NCAA baseball tournament begins this Friday at sites all across the country. 64 teams split into 16 regionals will compete to try to become the final 8 teams to advance to the CWS in Omaha. MLJ will be previewing all 16 regionals this week.

Gainesville

The Participants: #1 Seed Florida (#8 national seed), #2 seed Miami, #3 Seed Jacksonvile, #4 Seed Bethune-Cookman

Players to watch: Florida closer Billy Bullock (2-2, 2.06 ERA, 11 saves), Miami OF Chris Hermann (.343/.466/.520, 8 HR), Jacksonville C Jeremy Gillan (.396/.484/.673,  11 HR), Bethune-Cookman P Ali Simpson (9-2, 2.70, .234 BAA)

Last year’s #1 overall seed Miami gets end on the road to Gainesville in the all-Florida regional. Florida getting the 8th national seed was a bit of a surprise. This basically comes down to Florida and Miami, as Jacksonville doesn’t have the bats to compete and Bethune-Cookman has the worst record of any team in the field.

Miami swept Florida in their only series this year, in Gainesville. But it was in the second weekend of the season, so it’s tough to draw many conclusions from that. Miami has had to replace nearly their entire team that went to Omaha last year, and Junior SS Ryan Jackson has not responded to the hype placed on him, having a disappointing season. I’m taking Florida, because I think having home field advantage will give them the boost they need.

Atlanta

Participants: 1 seed Georgia Tech, 2 seed Elon, 3 seed Southern Miss, 4 seed Georgia State

Players to Watch: Georgia Tech 1B Luke Murton (.363/.496/.721, 18 HR), Elon 3B Chase Austin (.369/.447/.709, 22 HR, 77 RBI), Southern Miss SP Todd McInnis (8-4, 2.76 ERA) Georgia State C Marc Mimeault (.394/.461/.665, 14 HR)

Led by Luke Murton (brother of Matt) Georgia Tech packs a ton of power. But they’re not even the most powerful team in this regional. Elon leads the nation in homers. However, they play against decidedly worse competition than the Ramblin Wreck, and their ballpark helps a bit.

I don’t want to be dismissive of Southern Miss and Georgia State, but they really don’t have a chance. This regional actually shakes up fairly well for Elon, as they could get into a slugging match with Georgia Tech and perhaps hit their way through the regional. However, I am taking the Jackets in this one

The NCAA baseball tournament begins this Friday at sites all across the country. 64 teams split into 16 regionals will compete to try to become the final 8 teams to advance to the CWS in Omaha. MLJ will be previewing all 16 regionals this week.

Austin Regional

The Participants: #1 national seed Texas (41-13-1), #2 seed Texas State (41-15), #3 seed Boston College (33-24), #4 seed Army (34-19)

Players to watch: Texas SP Chance Ruffin (9-2, 2.96 ERA), Texas State 1B Paul Goldschmidt* (.353/.475/.679, 17 HR), Boston College C Tony Sanchez (.355/.455/.640, 14 HR), Army 1B/P Kevin McKague (.400/.472/.535, 6 HR, 3.66 ERA, 5 saves) Read the rest of this entry »

Hey Jerks, fetch here. As you may or may not know, we are in the midst of conference tournaments in the college baseball world, so I just thought I’d update you on all the goings-on around the nation.

Starting in the mid-major ranks, there was a major upset in the CAA as top seed George Mason was upset by Georgia State and UNC Wilmington, knocking them out of the double elim tournament. Fear not though cbh, although they are not a lock I think George Mason will get into the field of 64.

In the Ohio Valley Conference, top seeded Eastern Illinois was knocked out of their tournament by Murray State. The OVC was definitely going to be a one bid  league, but Eastern Illinois has a decent chance at an at-large. As of now they are 56th in the RPI, are 36-13, won their regular season title, and have some key non-conference wins including Oklahoma, South Florida and Indiana. The inclusion of Eastern Illinois and George Mason likely bursts the bubbles of teams like Troy, College of Charleston, Illinois and Duke.

But not so fast, says Duke. The Blue Devils beat Clemson earlier in the ACC Tournament and with a win over Virginia coupled with a UNC loss would have Duke winning the pool and would send them to the ACC Title game where they would (obviously) be a win away from an automatic bid and could get there as an at large.

Speaking of unlikely at-large teams from the ACC, congrats to Boston College who likely earned themselves a spot by beating Georgia Tech and waxing Miami at the ACC tournament. It would be their first NCAA bid since 1967.

In the Big 12, Kansas State and Texas play today to decide the winner of Pool A. KSU foolishly wasted Big 12 pitcher of the year AJ Morris against 8 seeded Baylor, so I expect Texas to win that one. Pool B is an absolute mess that I’m not even going to try to decipher. I think Oklahoma will end up winning the pool because the second tiebreaker is higher seed and OU is the highest seed in the pool.

And as a reminder, MLJ will be previewing all 16 regionals coming up this week, in addition to having a bracket challenge where you can all pick your 8 CWS teams and national champion. Winner gets a sweet prize.

Good evening jerks. After a spectacular week that featured, among other things, the return of Joe Mauer and the return of the Better Know a Prospect series, we come to UTL Friday. Yesterday, Spencer and I (and others) had a lively debate over whether or not boxing is a sport. My reasoning is of course it is athletic. It takes tremendous skill, physical fitness, strength, etc. but the sport is scored by judges. Anytime there is an argument over who won I can’t support calling that a sport. Dancing With the Stars might as well be a sport.

But that led me to an interesting thought: which is more of a sport, boxing or golf? One is decided by judges, the other takes no physical fitness to play. It is quite the conundrum. Feel free to think of your arguments while we peruse some sports on tap tonight:

Brewers at Twins: The Twins put up a 21 spot against the White Sox yesterday, meaning they will undoubtedly put up either a 2 or a 1 spot tonight.

Baltimore at Washington: Two awful teams, but they are moving in opposite directions.

Pittsburgh at Chicago White Sox: It is rivalry week, so naturally this matchup needs to be highlighted.

Rays at Marlins: How many people will show up? 15?

Red Wings at Blackhawks: Biased people call it smart, defensive hockey. Unbiased people realize it is reminiscent of the New Jersey Devils trap which ruined the NHL. Or a 2003 ECAC Hockey game.

As a writer for MLJ there are two things I love: community participation, and being lazy. Today, we get to experience both of those things. Commenter mrejr + a bunch of numbers is here to give us a post for today. It’s MMA heavy, and I have no idea what half that stuff means, but less work for me is awesome.  This was originally going to be a QS but things happened and now it isn’t.

And the Joe Mauer picture? Well let’s just say his suggestion wasn’t MLJ friendly. If you want to see it though, wait to get home as it’s NSFW, and go here

Without further ado…
Good morning jerks! It is I, mrejr234. Today’s Quality Start topic will be UFC 98. The  main event consists of two guys who have never suffered a loss in the Octagon, “Sugar” Rashad Evans and Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. This fight will determine who Quinton “Rampage Jackson gets to fight for the lightheavyweight title.

The rest of the card looks like this:
Main Card:
Middleweight bout:Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam
Middleweight bout:Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen
Lightweight bout:Sean Sherk vs.Frank Edgar

Preliminary Card:
Welterweight bout: Brock Larson vs.Chris Wilson
Heavyweight bout: Patrick Barry vs. Tim Hague
Lightweight bout: Phillipe Nover vs.  Kyle Bradley
Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Andre Gusmao
Welterweight bout: Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Brandon Wolff
Lightweight bout: Dave Kaplan vs. George Roop

p.s. i hope i didnt step on CRM’s toes with the mma post.

Just kidding. I’m not going to waste an hour or so of my time writing a post that will get bumped to the afternoon anyways and 4 people will read and 2 people will care about.

Instead, there is some day baseball on. Currently the Twins are playing very un-Twins like against the White Sox, Cleveland and KC are going at it (Greinke edition ) and Detroit is playing. All AL Central teams, look at that.

Discuss those games, and tell jokes or whatever. Or go check out the return of the PM Roundup.