Talk about a long, long, long draining day at the ballpark.
For those who do not know, I work with the San Diego Christian College Baseball team, as statistician and in-game dj. This is great, because I love college baseball, and baseball in general but talk about a long day at the park.
The San Diego Christian baseball team plays at Stars Field/Casiono Diamond on the Barona Indian Reservation here in San Diego County. The field is nice and is very pitcher freindly (especcially when the wind blows in, like it was yesterday). The only downside to this facility is that when it is hot (+ 90F) the heat just drains all energy out of those who are at the ballpark.
The field has gone through many upgrades since I worked for the Stars, including a closed in press box (there is nothing worse then a blue tarp over your head trapping the heat in on a hot July day!). I got to the field at 11:30 for a noon first pitch (yes, late by my standards, but when you only get 4 hours sleep what more do you wnat?). I took the laptop, printer, and the other equipment that was going to be needed, including 2 waters and a gatorade to keep me hydrated (very easy to get dehydrated up there). First game was a total blowout 12-4 #4 Azusa Pacific's favor. With the game being alot more lopsided then what the score would indicate.
Anyways, so that was how my Saturday went. Love to write more, but I need to work on my term paper.
PS. Turned in my rough draft on my term paper today (4/16). It was supposed to be five pages, but I only got in four and a half pages turned in. CD
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
NL Previews
Let's get the National League out of the way here on Opening Day.
NL East -
Well, the pundits say that it is a two horse race between the Mets and the Phillies. Then you read my predictions and even thou as I write this, the Nationals are leading the division that will not last. I believe that the Braves will return to their glory and join the race between the Mets and Phillies. The Nats and Marlins I don't believe have the pitching that will be required to win the division. The Braves I believe on paper have the best rotation, but the Mets have the names in the rotation (Santana, Martinez) and the Phillies have the bats (of course when you play in a ban box such as Citizens bank, you better have the bats!).
NL East Finish -
1. Braves
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Nats
5. Marlins
NL Central -
Here is a shocker the pundits are picking the Cubs to win the Central. Here is another shocker, they won't! Why you ask, simple they are the Cubs! In the Central it might be an interesting race between three cubs, one of which you might be a little shocked with. The Cardinals will be in the race along with the Cubs, but the team that is going to surprise many (not me) will be the Cincinnati Reds. Yes the Reds will resurrect themselves and be a contender again. The Astros and Brew Crew will be in the race until the All-Star break, but that is it. The Pirates will need too many things to go their way for them to be competitive, they may have a shot at snapping the 15 year run of being sub-.500, but they won't challenge for the lead.
NL Central finish -
1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Cubs
4. Milwaukee
5. Pirates
6. Houston
NL West -
This division was considered the NL Worst just two or three seasons ago. Now, the NL West is considered the NL Best. The Padres, Rockies, and D-backs all were in the race until game 162 (163 in the case of Padres and Rockies).
During the off-season, the Padres signed Jim Edmonds, the Rockies didn't do much but the one big signing was re-signing TT (Troy Tulowitzki).
The D-backs pulled off two trades during the off-season, one good, one very puzzling. The good trade was shipping minor league talent to Oakland for Dan Haren. The puzzling trade was shipping your closer from last year to the Astros in exchange for Chad Qualls, Juan Guitierrez, and Chad Burke. So Arizona has a great one-two punch with Webb and Haren, but who do you have in the back end of the pen?
The only move that the Dodgers made in reality was signing Joe Torre, great move for the fact that Torre is a great manager, but what, maybe 6 games a year will come down to managers calls. The Dodgers certainly missed the playoffs by more than 6 games, and while looking at teams that didn't do a damn thing, San Francisco. The Giants lost Barry Bonds and replaced him with the power hitting left fielder Dave Roberts. The DR. is a great guy, and fine speed threat, but power hitter?????? I'm not so sure. The Giants will have to rebuild after spending the last dozen years or so with the biggest Steroid user in baseball.
NL West finish -
1. San Diego (Pitching, it will carry the Padres all the way back to the pinnacle of the NL West)
2. Colorado (Hitting will only get you so far)
3. Los Angeles (Torre won't get them higher)
4. Arizona (They will not repeat the overachieving that they did last year)
5. San Francisco (maybe staying there until the 2010 or 2011 seasons)
Your thoughts?????
NL East -
Well, the pundits say that it is a two horse race between the Mets and the Phillies. Then you read my predictions and even thou as I write this, the Nationals are leading the division that will not last. I believe that the Braves will return to their glory and join the race between the Mets and Phillies. The Nats and Marlins I don't believe have the pitching that will be required to win the division. The Braves I believe on paper have the best rotation, but the Mets have the names in the rotation (Santana, Martinez) and the Phillies have the bats (of course when you play in a ban box such as Citizens bank, you better have the bats!).
NL East Finish -
1. Braves
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Nats
5. Marlins
NL Central -
Here is a shocker the pundits are picking the Cubs to win the Central. Here is another shocker, they won't! Why you ask, simple they are the Cubs! In the Central it might be an interesting race between three cubs, one of which you might be a little shocked with. The Cardinals will be in the race along with the Cubs, but the team that is going to surprise many (not me) will be the Cincinnati Reds. Yes the Reds will resurrect themselves and be a contender again. The Astros and Brew Crew will be in the race until the All-Star break, but that is it. The Pirates will need too many things to go their way for them to be competitive, they may have a shot at snapping the 15 year run of being sub-.500, but they won't challenge for the lead.
NL Central finish -
1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Cubs
4. Milwaukee
5. Pirates
6. Houston
NL West -
This division was considered the NL Worst just two or three seasons ago. Now, the NL West is considered the NL Best. The Padres, Rockies, and D-backs all were in the race until game 162 (163 in the case of Padres and Rockies).
During the off-season, the Padres signed Jim Edmonds, the Rockies didn't do much but the one big signing was re-signing TT (Troy Tulowitzki).
The D-backs pulled off two trades during the off-season, one good, one very puzzling. The good trade was shipping minor league talent to Oakland for Dan Haren. The puzzling trade was shipping your closer from last year to the Astros in exchange for Chad Qualls, Juan Guitierrez, and Chad Burke. So Arizona has a great one-two punch with Webb and Haren, but who do you have in the back end of the pen?
The only move that the Dodgers made in reality was signing Joe Torre, great move for the fact that Torre is a great manager, but what, maybe 6 games a year will come down to managers calls. The Dodgers certainly missed the playoffs by more than 6 games, and while looking at teams that didn't do a damn thing, San Francisco. The Giants lost Barry Bonds and replaced him with the power hitting left fielder Dave Roberts. The DR. is a great guy, and fine speed threat, but power hitter?????? I'm not so sure. The Giants will have to rebuild after spending the last dozen years or so with the biggest Steroid user in baseball.
NL West finish -
1. San Diego (Pitching, it will carry the Padres all the way back to the pinnacle of the NL West)
2. Colorado (Hitting will only get you so far)
3. Los Angeles (Torre won't get them higher)
4. Arizona (They will not repeat the overachieving that they did last year)
5. San Francisco (maybe staying there until the 2010 or 2011 seasons)
Your thoughts?????
Sunday, March 30, 2008
I should really go Pro
I'm sure some of you are trying to figure out what the heck I mean by that title. Well, what I mean is the fact that I shold really become a professinoal horse handicapper. I say this due to the fact that I have just reciently (about two weeks ago) decided to track how well, or bad, I am doing this year as far as handicapping the Southern California horse races.
Currently, the ponies are at Santa Anita and through six cards, I have had only two marginal cards. The first marginal card, I lost $4.80 and the second card (the very next day) I won $2.20. The other four cards, I have won (on paper) at least $50.00.
I'm pretty much over the cold or whatever I had last weekend that totally kicked my butt. I will be putting up all three NL division predictions before Tuesday.
Currently, the ponies are at Santa Anita and through six cards, I have had only two marginal cards. The first marginal card, I lost $4.80 and the second card (the very next day) I won $2.20. The other four cards, I have won (on paper) at least $50.00.
I'm pretty much over the cold or whatever I had last weekend that totally kicked my butt. I will be putting up all three NL division predictions before Tuesday.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
WOW
Well, first lets start at the begining of the week. Monday, was Monday, first day back from Spring Break (which wasn't exactly a great break), and I had English & Anthro. No biggie.
Tuesday, supposed to be Public Speaking and Micro-Economics. Please noticed I said supposed to be, that is because I decided to do alittle "Independant Study" on Tuesday. I went to Barona Casino, simply because it was on my way to the SD Christian College Hawks baseball game that was played on the Barona Indian Reservation. So I placed $160 on the craps table, and after about 10-15 minutes max I had turned it into $205. I took the chips from the craps table over to the cage to change it into cash. I took $100 (which is WAY more than what I usually put into a slot) and put it into a Monopoly slot machine. After about 10-15 minutes on the machine, I turned $100 into a whopping $350. Not a bad day of "Independant Study", huh? I went to the baseball game and we won.
Wednesday, I had a paper due in English, and stayed up on Tuesday until about 2 in the morning so that I could get it done. I turned in the paper and then got my rear end handed to me on my last paper ( D ). In Anthro, again no biggie, and of course Intro to Computers where we watched "The Pirates of Silicon Valley". Kinda interesting, but nothing all that Emmy worthy. After class, I ended up going down to PB to watch this group called Steel Panther (formerly known as Metal Skool) which is a 80's cover band that Matty sees every week. I had always told Matty that I would go one of these weeks with him to see the group. All the stories he has told me about the "talent" was true, the "talent" was very high.
Thursday, I went to P.S. and Econ. Funny thing happened when I went to Econ, the teacher had put up a notice sying that she was not going to be there and then just sign the roll. The funny thing was that it was posted by a door that no one in the class uses to come into the class. So apperantly, someone had the brains to go and check to see if anything was posted, because then everyone went to go sign the roll. So after that, I decided to go to Irvine to watch the Hawks take on Concordia University. On the way up to Concordia, I got off the 5 at Camino de Los Mares to check on directions to the Irvine campus. I got back onto the freeway, and had just gotten back into the flow of traffic and passed the CA-1 connector and BANG my right rear tire blows out, I didn't first notice it because of the fact that the road in the area is very rough. I did however, pull over to the side of the road. I nursed the car to the Capastrano VW dealership, where the guys there were very kind and put my spare tire on for me without charging for it (great customer service). I then went three miles down the road to Avery Parkway to get to the America's Tire (or Discount Tire, depending on where in the country you are). I pulled in, they gave me a road
hazard credit for the blowout, and I purchased a new tire for a new set of rear tires. i got to the game about an hour late, just in time to see an 11-2 blowout of the Hawks. After the game, I decided to call Jesse up in Lakewood to see what the May household was going to be doing this Thursday night, turns out that they are doing nothing, so I decided to come and hang out with them for the night.
Tuesday, supposed to be Public Speaking and Micro-Economics. Please noticed I said supposed to be, that is because I decided to do alittle "Independant Study" on Tuesday. I went to Barona Casino, simply because it was on my way to the SD Christian College Hawks baseball game that was played on the Barona Indian Reservation. So I placed $160 on the craps table, and after about 10-15 minutes max I had turned it into $205. I took the chips from the craps table over to the cage to change it into cash. I took $100 (which is WAY more than what I usually put into a slot) and put it into a Monopoly slot machine. After about 10-15 minutes on the machine, I turned $100 into a whopping $350. Not a bad day of "Independant Study", huh? I went to the baseball game and we won.
Wednesday, I had a paper due in English, and stayed up on Tuesday until about 2 in the morning so that I could get it done. I turned in the paper and then got my rear end handed to me on my last paper ( D ). In Anthro, again no biggie, and of course Intro to Computers where we watched "The Pirates of Silicon Valley". Kinda interesting, but nothing all that Emmy worthy. After class, I ended up going down to PB to watch this group called Steel Panther (formerly known as Metal Skool) which is a 80's cover band that Matty sees every week. I had always told Matty that I would go one of these weeks with him to see the group. All the stories he has told me about the "talent" was true, the "talent" was very high.
Thursday, I went to P.S. and Econ. Funny thing happened when I went to Econ, the teacher had put up a notice sying that she was not going to be there and then just sign the roll. The funny thing was that it was posted by a door that no one in the class uses to come into the class. So apperantly, someone had the brains to go and check to see if anything was posted, because then everyone went to go sign the roll. So after that, I decided to go to Irvine to watch the Hawks take on Concordia University. On the way up to Concordia, I got off the 5 at Camino de Los Mares to check on directions to the Irvine campus. I got back onto the freeway, and had just gotten back into the flow of traffic and passed the CA-1 connector and BANG my right rear tire blows out, I didn't first notice it because of the fact that the road in the area is very rough. I did however, pull over to the side of the road. I nursed the car to the Capastrano VW dealership, where the guys there were very kind and put my spare tire on for me without charging for it (great customer service). I then went three miles down the road to Avery Parkway to get to the America's Tire (or Discount Tire, depending on where in the country you are). I pulled in, they gave me a road
hazard credit for the blowout, and I purchased a new tire for a new set of rear tires. i got to the game about an hour late, just in time to see an 11-2 blowout of the Hawks. After the game, I decided to call Jesse up in Lakewood to see what the May household was going to be doing this Thursday night, turns out that they are doing nothing, so I decided to come and hang out with them for the night.Jesse
Sports this week:
Monday Night - Cal State San Marcos defeated the SD Christian Hawks 6-5 on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth. The cool part of the game was that the Hawks doubled thier season total for home runs. This was the first night game in program history, coincidentally enough, CSU-San Marcos was also the first game that SD Christian ever played when they launched baseball last year.
Tuesday - SD Christian defeated the University of Sioux Falls (SD) by a score of 5-4. The Hawks put the game away after scoring three in the bottom of the eighth.
Wednesday - The Colorado Avalanche doubled up the Vancouver Canucks 6-3. This puts the Avalanche seventh spot two points up on Vancouver in the very tight Western Conference. With the win it also moves the 'Lanche to within 3 points of first place Calgary, with only four games remaining.
Thursday - As I stated above, the Concordia Eagles crushed the SD Christian Hawks, 11-2. The Eagles blasted two home runs to defeat the boys from El Cajon.
Friday - The Avalanche will be playing the Oilers, while the Padres are playing the first game of the year in PETCO against the Angels (so CJ & I will be talking about the game).
Saturday - The Hawks will be at home for a double header against Biola. Along with that the Padres will return the favor of hosting the Angels when the two teams play in Angel Stadium (The Big A).
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Time for the AL West prview
The AL West........ can you say its the Angels to lose?????
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near Fulleton, with extensions in Long Beach and Rancho Cucamunga, near Lakewood (of course I kid) looks to be the class of the division wihtout any question. Oakland isn't going to challenge as they are selling off their good talent. Texas, what can I say about Texas.....just like Colorado, you can never have enough pitching. Seattle, is sill rebuilding like they have been the last two or three years now.
The A's -- I don't see them any better than third in this division. Injuries, and lack of depth are goin to hurt the A's.
Rangers -- If I can say anything about the Rangers it is the fact that the Rangers have absolutely no pitching depth. If you have no pitching depth in Texas you are not going to win many games, unless you can absolutely rake the ball.
The Mariners -- Well, if everything falls into place this year, Ichiro and company might challenge for second place.
Final standings:
Angels
Mariners
A's
Rangers
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim near Fulleton, with extensions in Long Beach and Rancho Cucamunga, near Lakewood (of course I kid) looks to be the class of the division wihtout any question. Oakland isn't going to challenge as they are selling off their good talent. Texas, what can I say about Texas.....just like Colorado, you can never have enough pitching. Seattle, is sill rebuilding like they have been the last two or three years now.
The A's -- I don't see them any better than third in this division. Injuries, and lack of depth are goin to hurt the A's.
Rangers -- If I can say anything about the Rangers it is the fact that the Rangers have absolutely no pitching depth. If you have no pitching depth in Texas you are not going to win many games, unless you can absolutely rake the ball.
The Mariners -- Well, if everything falls into place this year, Ichiro and company might challenge for second place.
Final standings:
Angels
Mariners
A's
Rangers
Friday, March 14, 2008
AL Central preview
Well, after last weeks preview of the AL East, I had to take a couple of days to get ready to preview the AL Central. Last year, the Cleveland Indains won the division by 8 games over the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers were very good last year, however, against the Indians the Motown Boys went 5-12 against the Hiawatha.
To be fair to the Tigers, they were hit really hard by the injury bug, especcially in the pitching side of the game. This year, I don't believe they will have as bad of a time, of course, who the heck knows who or how bad will get injured during the season. The pitching staff for the Tigers will be very good. When you have Verlander at the top of the rotation and vetern Kenny Rogers in the #5 hole, it can't be that bad of a rotation. So the rotation will be a good one, how bout the pen? San Dieagan Joel Zumaya will be on the shelf for maybe half the season becasue of an injury that he suffered during the October wild fires. So the setup and backup closer spot will be needed to be filled until he gets back. Todd Jones will do the job well. Offensivly, Detroit should be right back up there in the upper portions of the AL. Plus when you add in the off-season Jacque Jones, it can't be all bad.
The Indians pretty much stayed pat over the off season. Of course, just like the Red Sox, when you win the division, you can keep the same lineup. Persionally, I don't think that the Indians will be in the race. I fthey are lucky imho they will be 500 at best.
The White Sox were World Champions just back in 2005. The long ride down might have finally hit the bottom as last year they finished 3 games up on the cellar. I'm looking at the projected lineup and it is not that impressive. Thome is past his prime, Dye can still run (when he gets on base), Carlos Quintin whom they got from the Diamondbacks has never faced a AL Central team. They might be up from 4th to 3rd this year.
KC didn't do anything and therefore, will still be in the cellar. Minnesota will definatly be under 500. After an off season that saw Johan Santana and Torii Hunter both leave the homer dome, there is no way that the Twins will get anywhere near 500.
Final pridected finish for the AL Central:
1) Detroit Tigers
2) Cleveland Indians
3) Chicago White Sox
4) Minnesota Twins
5) Kansas City Royals
To be fair to the Tigers, they were hit really hard by the injury bug, especcially in the pitching side of the game. This year, I don't believe they will have as bad of a time, of course, who the heck knows who or how bad will get injured during the season. The pitching staff for the Tigers will be very good. When you have Verlander at the top of the rotation and vetern Kenny Rogers in the #5 hole, it can't be that bad of a rotation. So the rotation will be a good one, how bout the pen? San Dieagan Joel Zumaya will be on the shelf for maybe half the season becasue of an injury that he suffered during the October wild fires. So the setup and backup closer spot will be needed to be filled until he gets back. Todd Jones will do the job well. Offensivly, Detroit should be right back up there in the upper portions of the AL. Plus when you add in the off-season Jacque Jones, it can't be all bad.
The Indians pretty much stayed pat over the off season. Of course, just like the Red Sox, when you win the division, you can keep the same lineup. Persionally, I don't think that the Indians will be in the race. I fthey are lucky imho they will be 500 at best.
The White Sox were World Champions just back in 2005. The long ride down might have finally hit the bottom as last year they finished 3 games up on the cellar. I'm looking at the projected lineup and it is not that impressive. Thome is past his prime, Dye can still run (when he gets on base), Carlos Quintin whom they got from the Diamondbacks has never faced a AL Central team. They might be up from 4th to 3rd this year.
KC didn't do anything and therefore, will still be in the cellar. Minnesota will definatly be under 500. After an off season that saw Johan Santana and Torii Hunter both leave the homer dome, there is no way that the Twins will get anywhere near 500.
Final pridected finish for the AL Central:
1) Detroit Tigers
2) Cleveland Indians
3) Chicago White Sox
4) Minnesota Twins
5) Kansas City Royals
Toreros getting disrespected
How in the heck?!?!?!?! Why is it that these ESPN "experts" with this bracketology having the San Diego Toreros as a 15 seed? Lets get this straight, they defeat Saint Mary's (currently ranked as a 9 seed in the West Region) in double OT. Then the following night they defeat a projected 7 seed Gonzaga. So how is it that after you defeat two teams that are a 7 & 9 seeds you get a 15 seed? HOW IN THE HELL???
They defeat Kentucky in Rupp Arena, have a top-35 SOS, finished 8-2 over their final 10 games, are an even 8-8 record on Road/Neutral courts. Grant you they are 92nd in RPI, and are 97th overall in SOS. But unlike alot of teams they are 4-6 games agaisnt the top 50 in the RPI.
Comparing the Toreros against the Gaels and Bulldogs
N-C N-C
Team SOS RPI SOS RPI
USD .5277 97 32 159
SMC .5091 38 31 16
GU .5301 30 12 27
Yes, I will grant you there is a big difference in the N-C RPI between SMC & GU but I don't believe that it should give the Toreros that big of a drop.
Your thoughts?
They defeat Kentucky in Rupp Arena, have a top-35 SOS, finished 8-2 over their final 10 games, are an even 8-8 record on Road/Neutral courts. Grant you they are 92nd in RPI, and are 97th overall in SOS. But unlike alot of teams they are 4-6 games agaisnt the top 50 in the RPI.
Comparing the Toreros against the Gaels and Bulldogs
N-C N-C
Team SOS RPI SOS RPI
USD .5277 97 32 159
SMC .5091 38 31 16
GU .5301 30 12 27
Yes, I will grant you there is a big difference in the N-C RPI between SMC & GU but I don't believe that it should give the Toreros that big of a drop.
Your thoughts?
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