Archive for June, 2005

There’s that saying, something about 90% of all accidents happening within 10 miles of the home, and it certainly applies to the Mariners. The Mariners utterly stink within their own division. Only two teams in the bigs have a worse record in their own division, the pathetic Royals and Rockies. Here are the six worst teams in baseball within their own divisions:

AL East: Yankees, 12-20, .375
AL Central: Royals, 5-22, .185
AL West: Mariners, 7-14, .333

NL East: Phillies, 13-21, .382
NL Central: Reds, 11-21, .344
NL West: Rockies, 8-21, .276

All the other splits you can look at — day vs. night, grass vs. turf, 1-run games, extra inning games, interleague, etc. — those aren’t the Mariners problem. It’s the Angels, A’s, and Rangers. Actually, at the moment it’s just the Angels and A’s. The M’s are 1-4 this year against Anaheim and 3-7 against Oakland. (They’re 3-3 vs. Texas.)

I have no explanation for it, aside from the obvious: the Angels, A’s, and Rangers are all better than the Mariners.

Anyone up for divisional realignment?

The conventional wisdom is that Nate R. would’ve been better off if the Suns had kept him and not dealt him to the Knicks. The Suns play an up-tempo, aggressive, high-flying style of basketball where Nate would, as I heard Lenny Wilkens says on FSN Live tonight, fit in very well.

I don’t buy into the conventional wisdom.

In Phoenix, Nate might’ve been just another body, another pair of legs to throw in to the game when Steve Nash needs a quick breather — an interchangeable part providing very little that someone else couldn’t also provide in that system. In New York, Nate has an opportunity to be unique, to be a difference-maker. Sure, he’ll be spelling Stephon Marbury. But even then, he can come in and turn the tempo up to a new level — in short, he can give them something they haven’t had. So I’ll go on record thusly: if Nate gets the playing time needed, and that’s always a big “if” for a rookie, he can be more valuable to the Knicks than he would’ve been to the Suns.

This is nice. FO’s Michael David Smith saves you some money by reviewing the five major NFL pre-season rags. Heck, if all you care about is knowing who gets picked to win divisions, make playoffs, etc., the article has everything you need. Good stuff. FO rocks.

Thx to Phil for pointing me toward this SI.com feature, Inside the Sonics’ War Room. Scout Steve Rosenberry (never heard of him) shares what a typical year is like in the final 48 hours before the draft. Couple things stand out from reading it:

1. He starts with, “At this point, 48 hours before the draft, we’ve got a pretty good grasp.” So, why are they still having several meetings a day that, the way he describes them, seem geared toward changing their player rankings? Methinks they do a bit too much last-minute tinkering. What can you possibly learn about a guy at this point to make you move him up or down your board? Sure – you suddenly discover he’s got a rap sheet or some medical problem, move him. But you’re not learning anything about his game at this point. You’ve worked him out, you’ve interviewed him, you know his strengths and weaknesses … or you should. I’m surprised at the number of references to “juggling of names” and such.

2. It sounds as though Nate McMillan is heavily involved in this process, and recent Seattle newspaper articles confirm that, even though he’s a free agent head coach. David Pendergraft said on the TV a couple nights ago that the assumption and belief is that Nate will be back, so that’s how they plan to draft — for his system. So … how about signing him already??

On the flip side, Nate seems to want to see what’s out there. So why such confidence that he’ll be back? If I’m the Sonics, and my coach obviously wants to play the free agent market, I’m concerned — probably to the point of wanting him signed before the draft. Maybe they have some verbal agreement we don’t know about….

3. Interesting to see the reference to watching what Portland does at #3 … and the suggestion that they’ll deal the pick. To Utah? Yep. Already happened a couple hours ago.

4. As for the Sonics’ approach, the most noteworthy stuff is at the end:

“We feel confident we’re going to get a good player at 25. In fact, we think our No. 48 pick definitely has a chance to make the team next year, and maybe 55 as well. It all depends on our free agents, and how many of them we can re-sign.”

That runs contrary to what Percy Allen suggests in the Times today, that the Sonics free agents would provide better bang for the buck than anyone they could draft. If Rosenberry is being honest about expecting to pick 3 guys tonight that could make the team, you can read right between those lines that the Sonics are well aware of how many free agents they’ll be letting go this off-season.

Those of you living outside the n’west didn’t get a chance to relive 1995 for a few hours tonight like we did. FSN Northwest replayed the Greatest Game in Mariner History — i.e., that 11-inning, Game 5 come-from-behind-three-times 6-5 win over the Yankees (Team Choke) in the ALDS. Oh, man … what a game. That was the summer and fall that forever weaned me off my hometown Phillies and made me a Mariner For Life.

Anyway, famous last words from ABC analyst Jim Kaat in the top of the 11th. The Yankees are up 5-4 at this point. Jack McDowell — who Kaat and Musberger had told us far too often earlier in the broadcast would be available “for an inning in an emergency” — had already pitched the 10th. You’d think Buck Showalter would bring in closer John Wetteland, but Wetteland had been rocked hard already in this series. Kaat tells us that Buck has no confidence in Wetteland, and….

“As gritty as McDowell was in the 10th, he [Showalter] has complete confidence in him to get through the heart of the Mariner lineup this inning.”

Of course, McDowell would go on to face Joey Cora, Junior, and Edgar … and didn’t record an out while the M’s rallied for the win.

Great fun to watch the broadcast again. I actually found myself wishing that Lookout Landing or USS Mariner would have done one of their regular “game posts”, with people posting as they watched at home. That would’ve been fun for a 10-year-old game we’d all seen and loved before….. next time guys, alright?

How cool would it be for Jeremy Bonderman to make the All-Star team this year with the game right there on his home field in Detroit? He had a chance to all but lock up a spot on the AL team yesterday, but got blitzed by the D’backs. That leaves him at 9-5 with a 4.30 ERA, which is very good but is it enough to make the AS team? He’ll get some home-town/sympathy votes, but I think he has to win his next start to guarantee it.

Meanwhile, M. Lake’s Ryan Doumit was 0-1 in a pinch-hitting role yesterday for the Bucs. He’s at .239 for the year, which includes only 3 for his last 18.

And Jason Repko hasn’t played since Friday for the Dodgers, and is down below Mendoza at .186 for the year.

The local paper (Times and Democrat) went so far as to send out a reporter and photographer for Chuck Darby’s football camp appearance yesterday. The article covers the camp, and some NFL-level comments from one of the newest Seahawks.

“Our offense is hitting on all cylinders,” he said. “Our defense has to step it up. Our defense was ranked 25th, 26th. That was the most important part. That’s the gap we’ve got to fill in because the special teams is there and the offense is there. So, we’ve got to go out there and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback because we didn’t really have too many good pass rushers down there. Once we open it up, good things are going to happen.”

If nothing else, he seems well aware of the situation out here. Now to help do something about fixing it.

(Can you tell I’m Jones-ing for football season? Every so often I switch the TV to ch. 215, the “Order NFL Sunday Ticket” channel on DirecTV, just so I can see the little message at the bottom: “You are authorized for this program.” Yes I am…….)

Michael Boulware teaches camp
Originally uploaded by Matt McGee.

(I remember going to a couple basketball camps when I was a kid back in Philly, and I’m pretty sure that Rollie Massimino spoke at one of them. This was before Rollie led Villanova to the NCAA Basketball Championship in the Greatest Upset in Sports History, so it may not have had the same “cool” factor as it would’ve after that win. Anyway…….here’s the 4th update on what some Seahawks are doing this summer.)

Safety Michael Boulware (pictured at right) is teaching at the Woodson/Fabini Football Camp at Lane Middle School in Fort Wayne Indiana. The local paper there has a nice write-up about Boulware here, which is where I’ve unashamedly sourced the photo.

Also…..

New Seahawk DL Chartric “Chuck” Darby is hosting a day-long football camp at his old high school in South Carolina today. That’s at North High School in (I’m not making this up) North, South Carolina.

And yesterday, Shaun Alexander showed up for something — the groundbreaking of the Alexander Community Center in Florence, Kentucky. Shaun and his brother, Durran, are renovating an old YMCA which should re-open by November.

Three of the big pre-season NFL magazines like the Seahawks to win the division this year: Athlon, Street and Smith’s, and Pro Football Weekly. Those first two — Athlon and Street and Smith’s — both correctly picked the Patriots to beat the Eagles in last year’s Super Bowl.

Two other mags aren’t too hot on the Hawks’ chances: Lindy’s like the Rams and the Sporting News likes Arizona.

My take? There oughtta be a law banning NFL predictions until after baseball’s all-star break…..

This is the 3rd in our ongoing updates of what the Seahawks are doing in the off-season.

Isaiah Kacyvenski is at this very moment taking part in the Don Hengel Memorial Sports Classic golf tournament at Traditions at the Glen in Johnson City, NY. The event is a benefit for Broome County Catholic Schools.

He’s playing with other stars such as NY Rangers goalie (remember hockey?) Mike Dunham and former NC Tar Heel point guard King Rice (remember him!!???).

Aren’t you glad you know these things?

How many days til training camp starts? Seahawks.com says it’s 37,812 days away, but that can’t be right.