Latest Gear Live Videos
New York Yankees Outfielder Hideki Matsui Out For At Least Three Months
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Editorial, Injuries, MLB, Scoreboard,
Hideki Matsui broke his left wrist while trying to make a sliding catch last night. With right fielder Gary Sheffield already out with an injury the Yankees may look to a trade possibility for help in the outfield. The Yankees ended up losing the game 5-3, being undone by a throwing error by Derek Jeter which brought home the winning run. Boston took two out of three in the series at Yankee stadium. The Yankees threatened in the bottom of the eighth inning by a lead-off double by Bernie Williams, but Jorge Posada couldn’t advance the runner by popping out, followed by a grounder by Cano and a strike out by Cairo to end the inning. This is what really lost the game, the Yankees inability to play small ball and the reliance on the three-run blast. Perhaps with Bernie Williams and Bubba Crosby in the lineup, the Yankees will start to play a little bit more “small ball”, or National league style baseball, with the emphasis on advancing the runners, more sacrifice bunts and hit and run plays. This injury could actually be a silver lining and can actually help the Yankees in the long run.
Advertisement
We’re back again this week for another dose of point/counter-point and this week, Dennis and I are going to argue whether Albert Pujols has what it takes to be the new single season HR champ. I say yes, 73 is a realistic goal, because believe it or not, we haven’t even seen the best of Albert Pujols. Pujols who still is only 26 has yet to reach his prime. Some may say, Pujols’ previous career high was only 46 HR’s, how can he make such a huge jump for a new career high? Barry Bonds had a career high of 49 in 2000 before hitting 73 in 2001. If you need any more proof of astronomical career highs, Brady Anderson went nuts one year hitting 50 home runs with a previous career high of 21 HR’s four seasons earlier.
Pujols has been a career work-horse, hardly missing a game. His career low is 154 games in 2004. Bonds accomplished hitting 73 home runs in 153 games and an amazing 177 walks. Pujols is not going to miss as many opportunities at bat, because pitchers will throw more aggressively towards Pujols than they used to towards Bonds. Pujols has been on such a tear this season, even better than previous years and is partially due to the return of Scott Rolen in the line-up. The St. Louis Cardinals once again have an even more potent line-up this season than they did last year. The guys behind Pujols in the batting order are Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Juan Encarnacion. One of if not the best middle of the order line-up in the major leagues. There is no sense of walking Pujols in front of the batters behind him. What would be a more harmful situation to their opponents, a solo blast by Pujols or putting men on base and creating a potentially long inning? With their lead-off and number two hitter, a much lesser threat, Pujols is normally batting in the first inning with two outs and no runners on. This is the best opportunity to go ahead and pitch to Pujols without endangering your team to too much damage. The worst that can happen is a solo shot, and being down 1-0.
On the technical side of Pujols’ greatness we look at the lefty/righty match-ups. This point is moot as well from 2003-2005; Pujols is batting .353 versus lefties and .336 towards righties. All other variables make no difference, the man is a machine. His home average is .343, away is .337, during the day ball games he hits.333, night he hits .340. There is no way getting around the guy, he is going to get his pitches and put his mark into the record books.
Long (Realistically Short) Ass Thread Thursday
Posted by Dennis Velasco Categories: Athletes, MLB,
Okay, folks, we’ve been HORRIBLE in having this work. So, I’m giving this one last chance before I modify it… so COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT!!!
Gonna bring some focus here and talk homeruns. To copy from the fine people at Deadspin.com, which pitcher(s) will Barry Bonds hit his 714 and 715 homeruns?
And how many dingers do you think Albert Pujols will hit for the season?
Want to talk about anything else… go ahead and comment!
Seattle Seahawks Shaun Alexander Has the Madden ‘07 Curse
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: NFL, Video Games,
The immensely popular Madden football game franchise will be released on all major systems in August 2006. The “Madden curse” has been well-documented by both NFL fans and video game fanatics. Usually, a player with an outstanding year the season befoehand is selected and honored to be on the cover of the game for it’s newest edition. For the most part, each player that has been on the cover had suffered a career low in performance, mostly due to injury. Is it just coincidence or is the Madden curse legitimate? Well, for the most part we can bet on Shaun Alexander having a bad year and taking the Seahawk offensive attack with him. So it bears the question of which NFC team will be top dog this upcoming year? Most preseason picks have the Carolina Panthers going back to the Super Bowl, but we will wait and see. With the NFL draft over and a better sense of your team, give us your thoughts on why your NFC team is the team to beat or any other Madden concerns.
Read More 
| Gamefeed
After being ousted from the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs, the Kings have decided not to renew Rick Adelman’s contract. The owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof brothers have been unhappy with Adelman for the last couple of years, for not bringing home a championship. Adelman was hired prior to the 1998-99 season, and lead the Kings resurgence to respectability and to a playoff contender. The moves including trading for Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, the signing of Vlade Divac and drafting Peja Stojakovic turned the Kings into a championship threat. Adelman also had a successful stint as the head coach for the Portland Trailblazers, including two trips to the NBA finals during the Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter era. Adelman shouldn’t have much trouble finding a new head coaching position in the future. The Kings have been speculated to be interested in former NBA head coach Don Nelson.
Read More | ABC News
Anaheim Mighty Ducks Take A Commanding 3-0 Series Lead
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: NHL, Playoffs, Rumors, Scoreboard,
Quack! Quack! Quack! The Mighty Ducks hockey team is on a roll and coach Gordon Bombay couldn’t be happier. The Ducks won in overtime defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-3. The Ducks can close out the series on Thursday night with a win in Colorado. In the unpredictable NHL Playoffs, all four lower seeds advanced to the Western Conference semi-final round. The Ducks play is led as usual by long time star Teemu Selanne, but what sparked them this season was the off-season signing of premiere defenseman Scott Niedermayer. The Ducks had perks the New Jersey Devils couldn’t provide, such as great weather and the opportunity to play with his brother Rob. Niedermayer signed a 4 year, $27 million dollar contract, and was later named team captain. Niedermayer has the championship experience and gave Calgary Flames captain, Jarome Iginla fits throughout their first round match-up.
Read More | George Johnson
New York Mets Victor Zambrano Out For the Season: Is Barry Zito Coming to Town?
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Editorial, Front Office, Injuries, MLB,
You can never please Mets fans. The average Mets fan always thinks he can do a better job in the front office than the guys in charge. They always think they can do better than the current managers, always second-quessing pitcher use, the rotation set-up, pinch hitter use, etc. Now Mets fans need to lay off Victor Zambrano. It has finally been revealed that Zambrano has been pitching hurt since the day he got here. That’s why he’s been stinking up the joint, the blame should go to the General Manager who was in charge of the deal, Jim Duquette. Duquette traded prospect Scott Kazmir for damaged goods. Now looking back at the last few years, you have to admire Zambrano’s guts for pitching while injured. Mets fans should stop complaining and instead pool their resources and buid a time machine to prevent the trade from happening. For now, we can countdown the days until Lasting Milledge trades his Mets uniform for an Oakland A’s jersey. What are your thoughts on what the Met front office should do? Hold on to Milledge? Who looks like a future star. Give Jose Lima another shot? Put Aaron Heilman in the rotation? Clone Pedro Martinez through stem-cell research? Or go for broke an shop for another starter?
EndScore was lucky enough to have an audience with SI.com’s Adam Hofstetter to talk about his weekly column, Uncommon Sense, which publishes every Wednesday. If you want to read a different slant on the sports landscape, Adam’s weekly is a must!
EndScore: Can you tell me about your SI.com column, Uncommon Sense, and how it came about?
Adam: I knew one of the other columnists, who told me that SI.com was looking for a new columnist for the Scorecard section. I sent the Managing Editor a brief bio explaining my expertise and experience, and I also wrote a sample column. I figured that instead of submitting previously published writing samples, I was better off giving him a taste of what my column would be like if he hired me. I guess it worked, because I got offered the job a few days later.
EndScore: Can you tell me what you wrote about as a sample or is it a trade secret?
Adam: I knew they were looking for something humorous, and I wanted to be original. It was the week before the Super Bowl, so I wrote a column about how the Lingerie Bowl is a good idea in theory but there’s no way I (or anyone else) would ever get “permission” to watch it.
EndScore: (Laughing) Good stuff! So, you’re telling me your wife was looking over your shoulder as you wrote it?
Adam: (Laughing)
EndScore: Can you tell me about your previous sports writing experience?
Click to continue reading EndScore Interview: SI.com’s Adam Hofstetter
So this is how the sports writers and broadcasters make up for not giving Chauncey Billups the MVP award. Ben Wallace wins the award for the fourth time in five years, which shows how dominate and consistent Ben Wallace has been. Wallace learned to play well because his older brothers never passed him the ball and had to steal and block shots to get any of the glory. So if you want to train your kids to be defensive hounds when they grow older, just torture them by never giving them the ball or the opportunity to shoot. I kind of noticed that Wallace looked pretty bummed despite the fact that he just won the award, the Pistons have been on a roll all season, and they look like they are going to crush the Cleveland Cavaliers this series as well. Keep in mind that Wallace has been unhappy with the touches he has been getting from coach Flip Saunders; when Larry Brown was coach, he used to appease the big man with a couple of plays designed for him in the early minutes of each game. Wallace is a free agent after the season, it will be an interesting summer to see if Wallace feels he has been slighted for his great play the last few years and signs elsewhere.
Read More | Associated Press
Kobe Bryant Haters Rejoice
Posted by Jeff Chan Categories: Athletes, Editorial, NBA, Playoffs,
I felt Kobe Bryant was in need of aid and support these days, after getting knocked out of the Playoffs by the Phoenix Suns. No matter what he does, or how he plays Kobe Bryant will always be criticized and ridiculed. All the talk now is how Kobe didn’t have a good second half in Game 7 which led to the Laker demise for this season and that a Michael Jordan led team would never play like that. Why can’t fans just enjoy watching guys like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James for who they are right now, and stop making comparisons to Michael Jordan? Why do fans have to compare every remotely decent-athletic two guard to come out of college the next Michael Jordan? Everyone is their own player in their own circumstances of their careers. Kobe Bryant never had the opportunity to lead a team in his career until now, because the Lakers always had Shaquille O’Neal as their main weapon. I don’t understand the criticism he has to endure or where the venom comes from. Last time I checked the Lakers were the inferior team and were the seventh seed, while Phoenix is the number two seed. So what the Kobe haters are saying is that it’s Kobe’s fault the Lakers lost because Kwame Brown turned back into the same old lottery disappointment, that Smush Parker couldn’t keep Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa out of the paint? Yeah Jordan never lost a 3-1 series lead, but I don’t see Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman wearing a Lakers uniform either.
Advertisement
© Gear Live Media, LLC. 2007 – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.