In the National League, electing a few first basemen to the team will be a tough task. On the one hand, there are many great players like Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto, and Ryan Zimmerman, but there are also situations where the 1B might not be especially good, but they’re the best player on a team that will only get one all-star like Wil Myers, Eric Thames, Brandon Belt, or Anthony Rizzo. Granted, with the way Buster Posey’s hitting, Belt won’t need to be the San Francisco Giants’ only all-star, but it is a tough choice to narrow it down to merely a handful of first basemen.
A simple case can be made for each player listed, but they’ll probably only have a few. Taking into account the aspect of the designated hitter, there will probably be two first basemen and two just flat-out good hitters in each lineup. To save us some tears over missed players, let’s assume that all four spots will be filled by first basemen and make our list from there. PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT The Arizona Diamondbacks’ star has a lot to offer and is an easy choice for the starting spot, for his bat has been absolutely unstoppable this season. Batting .323, he’s acquired 65 RBIs, 18 home runs, and an unbelievable 13 steals! Goldy’s been showing off and he needs to be a part of the NL lineup for it. ERIC THAMES Batting a mere .241, all-star hopes do not look good for the Milwaukee Brewers’ first baseman. You could argue that his 20 homers are really something to write home about, but 11 of those blasts were in the first month! Unless a teammate like Travis Shaw or Orlando Arcia misses the cut, I wouldn’t expect Thames to be in Miami, this Mid-Summer Classic. JOEY VOTTO The Cincinnati Reds’ Vottomatic has had a possibly Hall of Fame career and his 2017 season has reflected that, so far. He’s clearly been the best Reds player as he has acquired a .303 batting average, 55 RBIs, and a whopping, fifth in all of baseball, 21 home runs! #19 definitely deserves a spot on the NL team, this July. BRANDON BELT The Giants’ first baseman might have had a shot at the all-star game if it weren’t for the team’s unbelievable catcher, but his stats simply don’t add up to a couple days in Miami, Florida. The lefty has batted a terrible .228, with only 35 RBIs, and 14 home runs. I’m fairly sure Eddie Gaedel might’ve had better numbers, so let’s just keep Belt in San Fran, next month. RYAN ZIMMERMAN In his 266 at-bats, this year, this Washington National has assured us that Bryce Harper won’t be the only Nat heading to the 88th Annual ASG. With 61 RBIs, he’s fourth in baseball, with a batting average of .338, he’s third in baseball, and with 19 home runs, he’s got a shot at the Home Run Derby! There’s no reason why Ryan Zimmerman shouldn’t be in this year’s National League lineup. ANTHONY RIZZO Sure, the Chicago Cubs’ first baseman has been playing well in the last month or so, but we can’t just disregard those two months at the beginning of the season. Batting .326 in the month of June doesn’t justify batting .218 in April and .192 in May, and neither does his 18 homers (six of which were hit in the last month), nor does his 50 RBIs (20 of which were in the last month). Say what you will, but one month of skill is not enough to put a player on the all-star team. WIL MYERS Okay, Myers has struggled a bit this year, but let’s face it: the San Diego Padres need an all-star. Things aren’t pretty for Myers, as he is batting just .262, with 15 homers, and 40 RBIs, but, let me rephrase: the Padres are desperate for even just one all-star. You could argue that Hunter Renfroe could make it, but he’s not doing an better than Myers, and he’s competing with Harper, Cody Bellinger, Scott Schebler, Jay Bruce, and Marcell Ozuna, so it’s safe to say that Myers will make the NL team because, again, let’s try this one more time: San Diego really, really needs an all-star. There’s a plethora of applicants for the position of first baseman in the National League lineup, but there can only be a few who actually make the team. Goldschmidt, Votto, and Zimmerman are by far the best at the job in their respective league, but there’s always a chance for maybe one more in the lineup. The other twelve first basemen in the NL, even if they weren’t listed, still have a shot. Jesse A. Cook “NL First Base Is Close To Call” June 29, 2017
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Come early April, the Florida Panthers’ Shawn Thornton famously dropped his skates in a trash bin after his final game. The two-time Stanley Cup champion retired immediately after his final April 9, 2017 game on the road versus the Washington Capitals. They beat the Caps 2-0. Thornton spent the brunt of his career in his beloved Boston with the Bruins. Known as the “Instigator,” Thornton spent 1103 of his minutes in the penalty box. He was best known for his ability to start and win fights with rival players. If you look on HockeyFights.com, 242 of their videos belong to the Instigator. Of course, a fair sized portion of those fights were in the AHL, but that still adds up to 1210 minutes, and that’s just from the videos that the owners of the site deemed worthy of recognition. Starting out with the Chicago Blackhawks, he quickly became a major “hit.” He had two points in 13 games, one goal and one assist, in his rookie 2002-03 season, but that combined with 31 penalty minutes helped start the blue collar career of the great Thornton. He spent one year in the 2006-07 season with the Anaheim Ducks when accompanied by stars Ryan Getzlaf, Scott Niedermeier, and Corey Perry he won his first Stanley Cup. Spending 88 of the minutes of the 48 games he played, it was clear to the entire National Hockey League that you didn’t mess around with him or one of his teammates without suffering the consequences of a blow to the head. The Bruins saw this in him and decided he was the right guy to defend their stars, Marc Savard, Phil Kessel, and Zdeno Chara.
Thus started the long Boston career of the beloved Shawn Thornton: they’d only miss the playoffs once in his seven year tenure and his fellow fourth linemates of Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell helped him build the best fourth line in all of hockey. When Boston won the Finals in the 2010-11 season, a major factor was how there was an unrelenting stream of skill and hard work from the first line to the fourth, mainly perpetuated by Thornton’s ethic of never quitting. The B’s relied greatly on Thornton’s veteran presence to teach the younger players and to show them the type of playing that led to a Cup win. Thornton, now a front office executive for the Panthers, decided that he would only exercise to “not get fat.” He’s officially done with skating, playing hockey, and most importantly, fighting. His second Stanley Cup winning year was his best year as he got himself 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists), and it’s safe to say that Thornton had a great career. Jesse A. Cook “Shawn Thornton: The Last Instigator” June 28, 2017 Boston Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs is now an NHL Hall of Famer… You’re probably wondering why… Well, you’re not alone.
This is not going to be an article explaining why Jacobs deserves this, but the exact opposite. There is no reason why Jacobs should be in the Hall of Fame. You could make the argument that because he was owner when the Bruins broke their 39-year drought and won their sixth Stanley Cup, he deserves some recognition, but shouldn’t Peter Chiarelli really be the one to thank for that? Yes. That entire 2010-11 team was the work of Chiarelli. You could even say that Jeff Gorton deserves some recognition, as well because he drafted a great deal of that team (Chiarelli and Gorton were Bruins general managers), but Chiarelli made the trades to make that team. Jacobs did not of that. Even if he did have some say, as hard as it is to say being a die-hard Bruins fan, but the 2010-11 wasn’t even good! Sure, Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci were all in their prime, Tyler Seguin was still showing off his skills in Beantown, and Brad Marchand was on the rise, but they got lucky in the postseason. Granted, they had a fine regular season at 46-25-11, but they were barely able to succeed. Sure, the Flyers went down easy in the second round, but they took their rival Canadiens in Round One to an overtime victory in Game Seven. The Third Round came down to one of the greatest Game Sevens in NHL history with no penalties, Thomas making the save of the century, and a late Nathan Horton goal that decided that Boston would face Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals. Along with the Canucks’ Alexandre Burrows biting Bergeron during a brawl, the Canucks’ taking the first two games on the road was not unexpected, but Aaron Rome’s elbowing Horton in the back of the head in the Boston 8-1 Game Three win was. Scraping together a Game Four and Game Six victory, along with losing Game Five in Massachusetts, the B’s brought the series back to British Columbia for Game Seven. The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada literally burned after Bergeron and Marchand scored two goals each to win Game Seven 4-0 on the road and took the Cup. The Green Guys outside the Canucks’ penalty box were two of the few fans to congratulate Vancouver native Milan Lucic on his new engraving on the Cup, but you can’t say that Jacobs won them the Cup. He was rather stern two years later during the NHL lockout, but his refusal to pay the players more money at the expiration of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement is what helped cause it. Jacobs is probably one of the most unimportant, uninfluential people in NHL history. His being in Toronto (the location of the NHL Hall of Fame) makes absolutely no sense. Jesse A. Cook “Jeremy Jacobs: NHL Hall Of Fame” June 27, 2017 Half of the best National League pitchers of 2016 have taken a hit, but the other half is still going strong. The three pitchers, Jake Arrieta, Noah Syndergaard, and Madison Bumgarner have been either hurt or terrible this year, but the other three pitchers, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, and Clayton Kershaw, have been definite all-star material. Here’s a comparison of their 2016 and 2017 seasons:
NOAH SYNDERGAARD 2016: Thor stood at third in baseball in Earned Run Average at 2.60 and brought the Mets to the playoffs. Syndergaard led the team to fantastic 87-75 and he was the bane to 218 at-bats, coming in ninth for strikeouts in baseball. 2017: Things looked optimistic at the beginning of spring training when Syndergaard arrived in the best shape he’s ever been in. Throwing faster than ever, he decided to whip the ball too hard for his own body: he tore his right latissimus and is now currently serving time on the disabled list. JON LESTER 2016: The three-time World Series champion was second in baseball in ERA at 2.44. At 197 K’s and 19 and 5, Lester helped lead the Cubbies to a 103 and 58 record and their first World Series win in 108 years. 2017: Lester has stayed strong in 2017 with the 3.83 ERA, the 97 strikeouts, and has an only 1.25 Walks and Hits over Innings Pitched. Going 5-4, Lester will clearly be a major part of the team’s future. JAKE ARRIETA 2016: With a 3.10 ERA, he came in ninth for defending his 2015 title of National League Cy Young Award Winner. With the NL pitcher’s Silver Slugger under his belt, he, alongside Lester, was essential in bringing to the Curse of the Billy Goat to its knees. 2017: Arrieta has barely shown up on the map: his ERA is high at 4.36, his strikeout numbers are low at merely 89, and his 7-5 record is deceiving. In most of his wins, the Cubs score above ten runs, but they score close to five, a usually substantial number, in most of his losses. Clearly, Arrieta is not what he used to be. CLAYTON KERSHAW 2016: The three-time National League Cy Young Award Winner absolutely dominated the Majors last year. His ERA was 1.69, struck out 172 batters, and went 12-4 in only 21 games. He missed a large part of the season and still dominated, in fact those few missed games are what most likely prevented him from his fourth Cy Young Award. 2017: Now, 11-2, Kershaw is on pace for his best season, yet. His ERA is a tiny 2.47, third in all of baseball. Kershaw is still one of, if not, the most dominant pitcher in baseball. MADISON BUMGARNER 2016: At fourth in all of baseball, the MadBum only gave up one average, 2.74 runs per every nine innings. He struck out 251 batters, which was impressive because Bumgarner became one of the few pitchers to remain dominant even after pitching a ton of innings late in the postseason. Despite going for the long haul versus the Royals in the 2014 World Series, the San Francisco ace continued his reign as the Feared Beard from the Bay in 2015 and ‘16. 2017: Well, there’s not much to say about his pitching this year, but based on his preseason incident, let’s just say he hasn’t done a whole lot. Early on in Spring Training, the Giants’ star suffered a season ending injury from a dirtbiking accident. Maybe he’ll be back to his former glory in 2018… MAX SCHERZER 2016: The blue and brown eyed 20 game winner left the world speechless when he performed brilliantly, again. With a 2.96 ERA, he led baseball with 284 K’s. These insane numbers led to his second Cy Young Award, first in the NL (he won it in 2013 in the American League with the Detroit Tigers). 2017: Despite the no-hitter that was lost by A.J. Ellis smacking a chopper off of hi glove, Scherzer leads the Majors with a 2.09 ERA. He leads the NL with 145 strikeouts, second in baseball only to Boston’s Chris Sale with 155. With the year he’s having, another great award looks to be in the near future… By all intents and purposes, without the Designated Hitter, the NL pitching stats should be better than the AL’s, but that’s not as true, now, for a fair deal of the league’s former aces. Lester, Kershaw, and Scherzer are all well on their way to coming back atop the NL. The NL’s starting pitchers have split in quite opposite directions, but the second half often brings a quite noticeable change in player’s season stats, so let’s wait and see for how the statistics look by October. Jesse A. Cook "The Rise And Fall Of National League Pitching" June 26, 2017 Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are shocking all of baseball with the insane numbers they’re putting up. The two rookies haven’t even played half the season, yet, but they’re the top two home run hitters in baseball!
Currently, my guess for the coming Home Run Derby looks as if the participants will be Giancarlo Stanton (he’s already confirmed that he’ll try to defend his title), Joey Votto, Scott Schebler, Mike Moustakas, Logan Morrison, Joey Gallo, and, somehow, Bellinger and Judge! The two lead their respective leagues and soon it won’t even be any close. The New York Yankees star rookie right fielder has been absolutely tearing up the Major League level. The Yankees have hit a small slump, but Judge cannot be to blame. Since the month of June began, Judge has hit nine homers, batted .341, had 32 hits, and 22 RBIs. The Los Angeles Dodgers star rookie left fielder has not been “out in left field.” He has been a major factor in the Dodger’s 18-5 month of June and their current ten game winning streak, having had four two home run games just in this month! Since the month began, Bellinger has hit thirteen home runs, has batted .307, had 27 hits, and 26 RBIs. On the year, apart from them being on separate teams, this race is not unlike 1961’s home run race between Yankees’ center fielder Mickey Mantle and Yankees’ right fielder Roger Maris. It looked an awful lot like one, if not both of the Bronx outfielders would break former Yankees’ right fielder Babe Ruth’s single season home run record of 60 bombs. Unfortunately, while Maris broke the record, finishing at 61, and left an injured Mantle at 54, the MLB Commissioner, Ford Frick, decided to put an asterisk next to the new record because Maris did it in 162 games, while Ruth only had 154. The only difference is that Judge has played 71 of the Yankees 73 games and Bellinger has only played 57 of the Dodgers 77 games. In 71 games, Judge has hit 26 home runs, yet in 57 games Bellinger has hit 24. That means that while Judge only averages about .366 homers a game, Bellinger averages about .421 homers a game. With those averages, assuming neither player gets injured or hits a slump, Bellinger will soon surge past Judge and into an unbeatable first place. LA has the best win percentage in the National League, second in all of baseball only to the Houston Astros, and the Yankees’ losing streak of late has allowed their rival Boston Red Sox back into the American League East picture, as they are now tied for first. It seems like this race is going to not only come out with Bellinger beating Judge, but LA absolutely crushing the NL and NY being overwhelmed by the AL. Now, we don’t know who every participant in Miami’s coming Home Run Derby will be, but we do have the general inkling that it will most likely end up as a Judge-Bellinger final bout. By the way the season has gone, so far, we do also have the general inkling that the home run race will come to a similar Judge vs. Bellinger result. Keeping in mind that no rookie has ever hit 50 homers (Mark McGwire hit 49 in his 1987 rookie year), we wish happy homers to all, especially to the two battling interleague rookies. Jesse A. Cook “The Rookie Home Run Race” June 26, 2017 Heartbreak has befallen both the fans of New England sports and the foes of it, but what are the five best moments that unfortunately still came to no avail? After careful consideration, one from each of the Boston teams was found, except two for the Patriots, totaling to five moments.
NUMBER 5: The Boston Bruins 2013 Playoffs “Bergeron! Bergeron! Bergeron!” chanted Bruins radio play-by-play announcer, Dave Goucher, as Patrice Bergeron jumped into the excited arms of his teammates after the incredible 3rd period and Overtime Game 7 comeback over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything had looked gloomy with about ten minutes left in regulation, until Bergeron’s Bruins scored 3 goals to tie the game at 4 apiece and sent the B’s onto the next round and eventually onto the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, this great upset led to no trophy for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane’s Chicago Blackhawks took only six games to take home the title over Boston. NUMBER 4: The Boston Celtics 2002 Eastern Conference Finals Versus the New Jersey Nets, the Celtics made possibly one of the greatest single game comebacks in NBA history: down 84-53 at the end of three quarters, Game 3 hopes looked grim for Celtics fans. Fortunately, Paul Pierce led his team to a 41-16 fourth quarter which ended in a 94-90 Celtics win. This was incredible, although the Nets took Games 4, 5, and 6 to win the series and head to the NBA Finals. NUMBER 3: The Boston Red Sox 1975 World Series Game 6 of the 1975 World Series versus the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine is what led to the left field pole on the Green Monster at Fenway Park to be called the “Fisk Pole.” The thriller of Game 6 began with future beloved Bruins singer of the national anthems of the United States and Canada, Rene Rancourt belting out the Star Spangled Banner, it got interesting when Red Sox’ outfielder Bernie Carbo tied the game in the eighth inning, and it ended when BoSox’ Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk swung his arms above his head, waving the ball fair, and hit a walk-off home run. The next game, Game 7, ended with Redlegs’ center fielder, Cesar Geronimo jumping in midair after catching the Carl Yastrzemski fly ball that finished the ’75 series. NUMBER 2: The New England Patriots 2015 Super Bowl XLIX When Russell Wilson tossed the ball to Jermaine Kearse, it looked an awful lot like the ball had hit the ground, but in actuality, the Seattle Seahawks receiver had kicked the ball up before taking control of it. Seattle then took the ball from the spot of the lucky grab and drove down to the Patriots’ one yard line where head coach Pete Carroll told his quarterback to pass the ball instead of handing it off to great running back Marshawn Lynch. Fortunately, this has a happy ending for the Foxboro based franchise because with about 20 seconds remaining in that quarter, which happened to be the fourth, young and unknown cornerback Malcolm Butler made the biggest play of his career and intercepted the ball in the end zone to preserve the Pats’ 28-24 lead and win the 49th NFL Super Bowl. NUMBER 1: The New England Patriots 2017 Super Bowl LI Apart from losing the 28-3 lead, the Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback, Matt Ryan, tossed a seemingly impossible throw to future Hall of Famer Julio Jones, but he miraculously caught the projectile over the out of bounds line and slammed his feet into fair territory before falling out of play having gained the dearly needed yardage. Without that highlight reel play, Atlanta would not have made it into field goal range. Once again, to the delight of all of New England, the Patriots’ opponents would befall great misfortune: after several yards lost due to sacks that would push the Falcons out of field goal range, a Matt Bosher punt to the nine yard line, a Julian Edelman catch that seemed to transcend the realm of human ability, a Danny Amendola touchdown, a two-point conversion, an Overtime period, a James White touchdown, and a Tom Brady MVP Award, with a score of 34-28, the Patriots rendered the incredible Jones play redundant and secured the greatest NFL comeback in Super Bowl history. There have been many incredible plays in New England Sports history that tragically or joyfully did not come to ultimate fruition, but these are the obvious top five. Despite the misfortune that might meet the great city of Boston, it is important to keep in mind that they did win at least one championship in each of the Big Four sports in under ten years. Jesse A. Cook “Five Heartbreaking Failures From Great Plays In New England Sports” June 26, 2017 Ultimate, otherwise known as ultimate frisbee, is one of the most fun and entertaining sports you’ll ever play or watch. Similar to football, ultimate is played on a field with two end zones, there’s a kickoff, or a “pull,” after each score, and there are quarterbacks and receivers, or “handlers” and “cutters.” There are many other intricacies to the sports, as well.
One of the most important rules of the game is not moving when you have the disc. When you have the frisbee in your possession, you can pivot with one foot (like picking up your dribble in basketball) and move your arms to throw the disc. Despite this rule, you are allowed a couple steps after a catch because you have to take momentum into account. The game, at lower, non-professional levels, is self-refereed, so “Spirit of the Game” is a huge, majorly important rule. Spirit of the Game is being honest about making the right call; there’s no real discussion over a call because a player can call a foul or say that the other player is out of bounds and if they contest the call, the play continues, if they don’t contest it, either the disc goes back to where it was thrown from or it’s a turnover, depending on the type of call. SOTG teaches young players respect and honesty and it helps the game run smoothly. Some famous players are Brandon “Muffin” Malecek, longtime leaders of the national champion Brüte Squad, Aly Heath and sisters (who are also my cousins) Shana and Sarah “Scook” Cook, world champion and husband of Shana Cook, Fortunate Mueller, and world famous trick shot and YouTube star, Brodie Smith. Muffin is renowned for his high number of hand blocks (blocking a throw with your hand while closely guarding the person currently handling the disc), Heath, Scook, and Cook have repeatedly taken home the United States title, Mueller has won multiple world championships with Team USA, and Smith has become a millionaire by posting videos of himself tossing discs into basketball hoops from crazy places like the tops of water towers. Obviously, the sport has gained a fair deal of recognition. The largest audience is high school and college athletes. With such a large audience at that level, the majority of players in the two main leagues, like Major League Ultimate (MLU) and the American Ultimate Disc League (the AUDL), are extremely young. Unfortunately, as of December 2016, the MLU shut down, so the players of their eight teams were left scrambling for a spot on an AUDL team. Of course, partnered with USA Ultimate, the program that helps fund teams of all levels, the AUDL gained a much larger audience. Fans of the Boston Whitecaps turned to the Boston Ironsides, Philadelphia Spinners fans turned to the Philadelphia Phoenix, the fanbase of the Vancouver Nighthawks started heading to Vancouver Riptide games, etc. Smith has played in the AUDL for his entire career: starting with the Jacksonville Cannons, he gained popularity from the world’s youth who saw his trickshots on YouTube. He really hit his stride in Chicago with the Windy City Wildfire and he now plays in Texas for the Dallas Roughnecks. He is one of the people who draws the largest number of spectators because everyone wants to see the internet sensation who just can’t miss. We all love watching Smith in his unbelievable clips, but, in addition to the skill of accuracy, there is a complicated strategy aspect. You’re probably wondering what the title of this article means; I mean, what does “Dump, Swing, Score” mean? Dump, Swing, Score is a drill that helps players with plays usually performed near the end zone where the handler with the frisbee will throw to another handler who cuts across the width of the field who will then throw to a cutter cutting to the nearest front corner of the end zone. It works well against a zone defense because the handler cutting across the field will draw defenders away from the end zone to leave the cutter open. DSS works well versus a man coverage, as well because the dump, the handler running across the field, is always a tough task for the defender to cover, the swing is easy because the dump will now be open, and the score will happen when the cutter is able to blow past the defender which shouldn’t be hard, for the same reason the dump can get open: they stand still in the stack (the dump doesn’t stand in a stack, usually only cutters do), and then suddenly runs with a burst of energy which will easily beat their defender. A popular defensive strategy is something called the “Cup.” How this works is three players take turns marking, the term for guarding a handler when they have the disc, and make a formation where one player marks, one guards to the side that mark is forcing, and the last player fills in the gap. These three players form a cup and their objective is to make the offense make so many throws that they eventually make a mistake. The offensive side to this works in a similar fashion: there are three handlers, a left handler, center handler, and a right handler, and they try to advance the disc down the field by breaking the cup and getting the frisbee to a cutter. The left and right handlers will try to use their ten seconds with the disc to find an open cutter downfield, but if they can’t they’ll throw to the center handler who will try to immediately throw the disc to the first open handler they see, causing the cup to run as fast as possible to the new handler. The primary objective is to tire the cup out, so they are easier to break. Why do handlers only have ten seconds with the disc? Good question; when in possession of the disc, the mark will loudly count to ten seconds, or stalls, for it is called a stall count, during which time the handler must get rid of the disc, lest they turn it over. In the case that a defender counts too fast, the handler can call a fast count where the defender must go back two stalls and then continue at a slower speed. Ultimate is more than just a game of skill, for it requires great athleticism, strength, physical endurance, and intelligence. The greats of the young sport are some of the most impressive athletes you’ll ever see and despite the financial troubles that brought an end to one league, ultimate is gaining the recognition it so dearly deserves. Recognized by the Olympic Committee as a sport, all ultimate aficionados are hopeful that the sport will be a part of the 2020 or 2024 Olympic Games. Jesse A. Cook “Dump, Swing, Score: The Great Sport Of Ultimate” June 25, 2017 Anthony Rizzo has begun leading off for the Chicago Cubs and Joe Maddon’s expert managing has led the Cubs to an insane winning streak. Rizzo, a power hitter who would usually be found in the cleanup spot,the best leadoff hitter in baseball. He’s been hitting home runs like clockwork.
Rizzo, one of the key factors in breaking the 108 year curse, became very accustomed to the role of 4-hitter until, lately when he hit a slump. He was batting under .250 all year, until June when Maddon tried something new. Now, in the last month, he’s been hitting at .356. Here’s a question: why is this working? Well, we are all sort of wondering ‘what the heck?!’ but there is an answer: As a cleanup hitter, you’re generally going to have lower pitches thrown to you because higher pitches are easier to hit farther and cleanup hitters generally hit for power. Leadoff batters aren’t trying to clear the fences with every swing, so pitchers have a better mind to throw the ball higher to force a pop-up. Low pitches to power hitters usually end up as ground balls, but they end up as singles to players who hit for average. So what does this mean for Rizzo? Good question; unable to hit the constant barrage of low pitches, he promptly and quite noticeably slumped to the worst he’s ever been, but when pitchers saw him up first and threw higher, he began to soar. In June, alone he’s hit 5 home runs, 17 RBIs, and 26 hits! The man batted only .218 in April and an atrocious .192 batting average in May. These stats convinced Maddon that the current situation was not working. Not only was Maddon’s strategy working for the cleanup turned leadoff man, but they were working for the leadoff man turned cleanup hitter. Addison Russell has also improved in the last month: in this last month, the shortstop has elevated to absolute all-star status! He’s now batting .302! Granted, he has sat out a few games due to undisclosed reasons, but he could still turn out to be the starting shortstop for the National League in Miami in the coming All-Star Game. Clearly, not only Rizzo has benefitted. In fact, in the last month, the team has been much, much better than usual, for they had a losing record at 21-27. Fortunately for the Wrigley Field Faithful, the defending World Champion Cubbies went 12-9. For those of you wondering, their winning percentage drastically went up. In April and May, they had a .438 winning percentage, however, in June, it was at a fantastic .571! Maddon’s expert managerial skills this year have thus far proved effective. Now, just half a game behind the first place Milwaukee Brewers, Maddon’s North Chicago Squad is on pace for a repeat of their previous, historic, drought-breaking year. What does this say about Mr. Maddon? Simply that his mind is incredible. In his 14 years in baseball management the man has only one American League pennant win, one National League pennant win, and one World Series win, so what makes him great? Just looking at the last month, starting Kyle Schwarber after his being out all season in Game 1 of the 2016 World Series, and inventing the shift against the greatest designated hitter ever, nicknamed the “David Ortiz Shift,” Maddon has a case for most brilliant manager in baseball history. He even out-managed the Cleveland Indians Terry Francona, who turned the 2004 Boston Red Sox into a historic, record and drought breaking, comeback-from-three-down-against-the-Yankees team and the 2016 Indians into the American League champions. The combination of where pitchers throw the ball to certain batters, depending on where they stand in the opponent’s batting order, expert managing, and the flat-out hard work of two players apparently can turn any losing team into an unstoppable monstrosity. The bats of Rizzo and Russell and the mind of Maddon have turned the Cubs back into their former glory. Obviously, October now holds a very possible promise of Banner #4. Jesse A. Cook “Anthony Rizzo Leads Off To Success” June 24, 2017 When A.J. Ellis took the bat against Max Scherzer last Wednesday night, the 36,742 Miami fans at Marlins Park stood on their feet, hoping to either win the game or witness history. With one away in the bottom of the 8th inning of the 1-0 Nats lead, the catcher, Ellis, stared down the Washington Nationals’ starter, Scherzer. With the count at one ball and two strikes, Ellis sent a tragic chopper right back up the middle.
Max Scherzer has had a possibly Hall of Fame career, but he has come uncomfortably close to no-hitters on three occasions with no results. Fortunately, almost exactly two years since the unfortunate Nats versus Marlins game, on June 20, 2015, Scherzer struck success when he beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in a no-no on home turf, and did it again later in the year on October 3 in Flushing Meadows, New York over the Mets. In both of those games, Scherzer came close to perfection. The least aggravating of the two was the latter because of how it was lost and how early on it was lost, too. Third baseman Yunel Escobar would forever regret his inconsistent accuracy after he muffed an easy throw to first base in the 6th inning. The Mets catcher, Kevin Plawecki, would be the only base runner of the entire game. Despite Escobar picking the worst time in baseball history to make an error (with the exceptions of Fred Merkle, Fred Snodgrass, and Bill Buckner), José Tabata committed a far worse atrocity to blow up a Scherzer shot at history. In the top of the 9th inning in Washington D.C., with two out and two strikes, Scherzer threw a pitch that would have caught the upper inside corner of the strike zone if it were not for the eagerness to reach base of the Pirates’ outfielder, Tabata. Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski missed the obvious call that Tabata had leaned into the pitch to breakup the perfect game, which from then on would merely allow Scherzer to achieve the lesser, but still difficult, no-hitter. The two crowning accomplishments of Scherzer’s career would be far greater if it were not for the carelessness of a fielder and the wickedness of a batter, but Scherzer can only blame his glove for absolutely losing it versus the Marlins. Ellis’s chopper back towards the mound bounced half an inch too high and nicked off of the pitcher’s glove, causing him to lose his third no-no one third of the way through the 8th inning. Unlike missing his opportunities for perfection, Scherzer could not keep his cool and let the bases loaded. Unfortunately, the man with blue and brown eyes threw a wild pitch, allowing José Urena, the pinch runner for Ellis, to score and tie the game. Giancarlo Stanton sent the next pitch into left field and took the lead 2-1; a lead which the Nationals would be unable to tie in the ensuing inning. Scherzer could blame Adam Lind for the loss as he dropped the third out of the 8th, but we still do not know how the 9th would have turned out. Nevertheless, like Dave Stieb, Scherzer has thrown at least one no-hitter in his career, but he constantly comes just too close. Hopefully Scherzer will have a long career, and if he’s lucky, maybe one long enough to finally achieve his long sought-after perfection. Jesse A. Cook “Can’t Catch A Break: Scherzer Loses It In The 8th” June 21, 2017 It’s pretty clear that the New England Patriots are much better than the Cincinnati Bengals; five Super Bowls since 2000 versus zero Super Bowls total speaks for itself, but why is New England so much more successful? It’s not just because of the expert coaching of head coach Bill Belichick and the godly athleticism of quarterback Tom Brady. So what makes them the best team in football? Their owner, Robert Kraft.
The Patriots have made several moves that have been great: picking late draft picks, cutting players, and signing different ones. The late draft picks are fairly obvious: Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Shaq Mason, and Marcus Cannon were all picked in the fourth round or later. Other teams will dismiss these late rounders, but under the steady hands of Kraft and Belichick, all players are looked after and effectively evaluated. One aspect that plays with the hearts and minds of Pats fans is how brilliantly ruthless their team management can be: on several occasions a player who was the star for a year will not be signed back, or they’ll be traded. That’s what made this off season’s ordeal with Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore so uncertain for the team. We all remember how Darrelle Revis and Aqib Talib had one great year, each of them, with the team, then left immediately afterwards. People were concerned that since Kraft had made the deal for Gilmore, Butler would be leaving without the door hitting him on the way out. Often times, players come to New England and hit their stride, then leave and are mediocre at best. Vince Wilfork might be a Hall of Famer for his career in Foxboro, but he sort of trailed off at the end with the Houston Texans. Nobody wanted to see the hero of Super Bowl XLIX leave and never be heard from, again, yet with the Pats, it often works out best for them. The one, seemingly impossible, but still daunting possibility for one of those types of deals lies with the Joe Montana and Steve Young situation. Montana spent most of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, but one day was sent to the Kansas City Chiefs to be replaced by fellow Hall of Famer Steve Young. Could that be the case with the two quarterbacks, here? When Tom Brady is nearing the end of his hopefully endless career, will Belichick and Kraft send him away to the Buffalo Bills or Jacksonville Jaguars or any other team to be replaced with the next star New England quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo? It’s possible, but if this were Cincinnati, it might be a different story. You see, it took them years to finally get rid of, the then declining, Carson Palmer and replace him with Andy Dalton. They will hold onto their players far past their prime. Andy Dalton has quite the leg up on A.J. McCarron, so that switch may never happen, which is reasonable, but what about Tyler Boyd versus Brandon LaFell. LaFell is getting older and Boyd is young, hotshot, up-and-coming second year who has a lot of potential. When it is time, will Cincinnati make the transition? With the comparison of New England and Cincinnati comes the comparison of not the type of players they sign, but the type of people: think about Vontaze Burfict versus Dont’a Hightower and how clearly Hightower is much more “down-to-Earth.” In any important game, let alone a playoff game, have you ever seen Hightower and Malcolm Butler get mad at Antonio Jones and shove him around and give the Steelers 30 yards off of penalties and put them in easy field goal range? NO! That thought doesn’t even enter their minds! However, with the brand of men on the Jungle, that happened on January 9, 2016 with Burfict and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, costing the Bengals their first shot at a playoff win since January 6, 1991 over the Houston Oilers. The team then lost in the next round to the Los Angeles Raiders. That’s how long it’s been: neither team they played in that postseason exists, anymore. Apart from the amount of time elapsed since a Cincinnati playoff win (26 years, 6 months, and 7 days), Cincy does make poor choices in the type of character they choose for their program: specifically, their recent draft pick, running back Joe Mixon. Mixon can say “I am not a crook” all he wants, but punching a woman is still punching a woman. Cincinnati has a bad history with these unstable, dangerous players. Bob Kraft and the Patriots, on the other hand, make better decisions. In 1997, when he drafted defensive tackle Christian Peter, Kraft’s wife, the wonderful, but sadly, late Myra Kraft, advised him to release the man early on because of his violent background. Peter had been accused of assaulting four women during his college career at University of Nebraska and the wise choice to discard of him led to a more disciplined Drew Bledsoe-led team that, commanded by backup Brady after the Bledsoe knee injury, won their first Super Bowl in team history five years later in 2002 with Super Bowl XXXVI. New England wins so much more than Cincinnati because they have a smarter, safer, and less erratic team. Since 2002, the New England Patriots have been the best team in football: Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever, Rob Gronkowski is the greatest tight end ever, Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach ever, and Bob Kraft is the greatest owner ever. With five Super Bowl Rings in fifteen years, it could be pretty easy to say that this team is the greatest team ever. They turn late picks into great picks, beloved New Englanders in to see ya laters, and good players who might as well be cons into players who are gone. All of these factors and more have repeatedly added up to a good, successful, and ultimately, great organization. Cincinnati hasn’t won a playoff game 26 years, 6 months, and 7 days because their organization doesn’t dare use these clearly strategically superior tactics. Aside from Cincinnati’s signature Skyline Chili possibly having a leg up on New England’s own Dunkin’ Donuts, Bob Kraft is the man behind why there’s more than one reason why the New England Patriots are constantly hot and the Cincinnati Bengals are not. Jesse A. Cook “Krafting A Team: Why The Bengals Don’t Work And The Patriots Do” June 13, 2017 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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