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Steve Harasymiak 156 days ago
This blog comes to an end today. It started eight years ago, during the Summer of Bonds. Now, my world is changing from baseball to football (new voice of the 49ers), and so it’s a good time for a change. Talent most often prevails in baseball, thus this season’s NL Central race should be a replay of last year’s tremendous Cubs-Brewers duel. A synopsis of how this race should unfold. CAN MILWAUKEE’S BULLPEN HOLD THIS PACE? Unlikely. The Brewers are holding form with their hitting, fourth in the NL. Their starting pitching has survived the double hit of the offseason loss of CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets. But it’s the bullpen that has shocked with a .215 OBA, lowest in the NL by 14 points. It isn’t just closer Trevor Hoffman, but also Mark DiFelice, Todd Coffey, Carlos Villanueva, and funky lefty Mitch Stetter, who form a stout group. How can this group maintain that pace? And when they slip, it looks like the Brewers don’t have enough starting pitching to stop a slide. ...
Steve Harasymiak 158 days ago
Six weeks ago, the NFL held its draft and no one wanted to pick in the Top 10. Too expensive, they said, were the top choices relative to their impact on a team’s fortunes. Teams actively sought to trade OUT of the top 10 and only one, the Jets, was willing to deal in. Rumor even spread that Detroit might pass on its first pick and choose later in the top 10 simply to reduce the signing bonus owed. Last week, MLB held its draft and there was no doubt Washington, picking first, would choose Stephen Strasburg even with the cloud overhead of his agent being Scott Boras. Why? Teams can’t trade picks, raising the question should they be allowed to deal? After a lot of thought and some wavering, I have settled on no. Here’s my reasons: TEAMS MUST BE FORCED TO IMPROVE. Give a weak team, or worse one unwilling to spend, an excuse to avoid top draft picks and mediocrity is encouraged. If Washington doesn’t like the negotiation with ...
Steve Harasymiak 161 days ago
The Santa Clara Swim Club has a proud history of producing elite swimmers and hosting a prestigious invitational every June. But they never had a June like this as their online ticket system crashed Saturday, lines to buy tickets snaked around the perimeter fence over an hour before Sunday’s first race, and they were forced to hire two full-time security people. All because of Michael Phelps. He is swimmer as rock star. Now, this wasn’t Charlotte, Phelps’ return meet, where the crush was both fans and media. In Northern California, excitement builds more slowly, and Friday’s opening night generated barely a ripple on the Bay Area scene. By Saturday afternoon, more than just swim heads knew Phelps was in town. And on Sunday, the interest peaked as Phelps competed twice. Phelps went 2 for 4 in his second competition since returning from a three-month suspension by USA Swimming after a photo of him using a marijuana pipe surfaced. He won the 200 butterfly on Friday ...
Steve Harasymiak 164 days ago
This week Freddy Garcia signed with White Sox, and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez signed with Texas. Both are low-risk minor-league deals. But both struck me in contrast to a visit to the Oakland Coliseum yesterday. Minnesota was in town and we all know the Twins have thrived with a “home-grown” starting rotation (Francisco Liriano was acquired via trade, but was in Double-A at the time and was developed as a Twin). Oakland has emulated that mode by remaking its rotation around Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Vin Mazzaro, and Josh Outman, all of whom spent 2008 in the minors. Add Dallas Braden, a 25-year-old A’s draftee, and Oakland has a young rotation all of its own making. With player costs escalating and the economy crashing, are we seeing veteran pitchers as fallout? Doesn’t it seem that teams no longer automatically give eighth and ninth chances to aging arms hopeful of squeezing from their career every day and dollar? Doesn’t it appear that teams will go young, ...
Steve Harasymiak 166 days ago
Is Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal the equal of or superior to the great John McEnroe-Bjorn Borg rivalry? At present, I answer no, although Federer and Nadal still have time to surpass the now three-decade old battles between the brash New Yorker and stoic Swede. How much time is very much a question for Nadal after news that he is struggling to overcome tendinitis in both knees. Nadal will travel to London next week, and he hopes the treatment he has been receiving gets him fit enough to play. Nadal says if he is not at 100 percent, he won’t play Wimbledon. Even if he does play, there are questions over his long-term health. McEnroe and Borg had the personality difference, an external reality, as the two have long been friends. But it played wonderfully in an era when tennis had a high profile. Network television was common; tennis series (paid exhibitions) were created, and general sports fans could name 8-10 players. The sport was incredibly healthy in the United ...
