Red Sox 2008 Game 40 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	1	3	0	0	2	0	2		8	15	1
Minnesota	0	5	2	1	0	0	1	0	X		9	10	1

W: N. Blackburn (3-2) L: T. Wakefield (3-2) S: J. Nathan (12)
HR ➢ Bos: C. Crisp (2) Min: C. Monroe (2) (4), A. Everett (1)

☼ Sun - Craig Monroe - 2 home runs and 4 RBI's. Which gives him 4 and 13 for the season.
☁ Cloud - Wakefield - By far Wakefield's worst outing at the HHH Metrodome. Brutal, absolutely brutal.

Game thoughts!

Absolutely brutal outing by Timmy. 2 2/3 IP with 6 ER's. This outing was so horrible that it raised his ERA in the dome by .59 and lowered his ip/g by 1/3 of an inning. Going into the game Timmy was 7-3 in 11 games at the dome and had averaged 7 innings plus per win. 8 of his 11 starts had been quality starts, so with that history I liked our chances going into this game.

Still even with the troubles of our starting pitching the Sox made this a game as they kept on putting up runs. 5-0 after the 2nd, was followed by 7-1 after 3, then 8-4 after 4, then 9-6 after 7 and the tying run was on 2nd when Manny made the final out in the 9th. This team is a battling team and no lead is completely safe until the last out is made.

Factoid -
Wakefield's numbers in his 7 wins at HHH - 2.16 ERA, 6.48 k's/9, 2.88 BB's/9, 0.36 Hr's/9, 2.25 k's/bb's and a 1.00 WHIP
Wakefield's numbers in his 4 l's at HHH - 11.42 ERA, 6.75 k's/9, 4.16 BB's/9, 3.12 Hr's/9, 1.63 k's/bb's and a 2.02 WHIP

Those numbers sum up why we love Knuckleball pitchers and why we loath them. When they are good they are borderline greatness. When they are bad though, its open up the windows and let the stink out of the building.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 08 Game 39 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	1		5	12	0
Minnesota	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		2	7	2

W: D. Matsuzaka (6-0) L: G. Perkins (0-1) S: J. Papelbon (11)
HR ➢ Bos: K. Youkilis (8), C. Crisp (1), J. Lowrie (1), M. Lowell (3)

☼ Sun - Crisp and Lowrie - Home runs in the 7th made the difference.
☁ Cloud - Home run derbies can't be relied on

Game thoughts!

More games like that are what is needed from Mr. Matsuzaka. After walking 3 batters in the first 2 innings he settled down and pitched a strong 7 innings for the win. Keep it up Daisuke!!!

First career home run for Lowrie and Coco had his first home run of the year. Keep it up guys!!!

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 39 Preview

			@
D. Matsuzaka		5-0, 2.43		G. Perkins		0-0, --- (first career start)
Red Sox		23 - 15		Twins		18 - 16

Saturday, May 10  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 7:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	23	15	-	7-3	7	4	22	16
Tampa Bay	19	16	2.5	5-5	3	4	19	16
Baltimore	18	18	4.0	3-7	8	5	17	19
New York	18	19	4.5	4-6	4	4	19	18
Toronto	17	20	5.5	6-4	4	9	19	18

ESPN.Com Preview .
Yahoo's Preview .
ESPN.Com after the game Recap.
MLB.Com Press Pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Matsuzaka did not have his best control in his last start. He allowed just two hits and one earned run in five innings, but he set a new career high with eight walks. He worked out of four two-on jams, disallowing Detroit to put a runner on third base. Matsuzaka has only faced Minnesota once in his short MLB career, but he gave up two runs on six hits in eight innings.

Twins: Following the move to put Scott Baker on the disabled list with a strained right groin muscle, the Twins called up Perkins to fill Baker'’s rotation spot. The left-hander struggled early this season with Triple-A Rochester but has settled in recently, going 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in seven appearances (six starts). Perkins pitched only 28 2/3 innings in the Majors last season after being sidelined with a muscle strain near his left shoulder. The time he’ has spent with the Twins has also been in a relief role; this will be his first career start for Minnesota.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Sox Batting vs Pettitte

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
M. Ramirez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
J. D. Drew	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J. Varitek	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
J. Lugo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	8	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.250

Not a lot of history here vs Perkins. In fact overall the team has only had 13 plate appearances vs Perkins. Not sure what to think about their chances, but at least the players have seen him before. Still it is the first time he has started at the major league level.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	1	1	0	0	8	6	2	1	2	8	2.25	1.00	8.0
Perkins	0	0	0	0	4 2/3	2	0	0	1	2	0.00	.64	0.0

Daisuke has one start, last year on 9/28/2008 vs the Twins. It was a very good outing and the Twins didn't score until the 7th inning. Can he repeat that today? I say, Daisuke makes the Twins look silly today!!!


♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Game 38 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	0		6	12	1
Minnesota	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2		7	11	1

W: J. Crain (1-1) L: J. Papelbon (2-2)

☼ Sun - Lamb - 2 out, 2 strike single scores the tying and the winning runs..
☁ Cloud - Papelbon - 2/3 ip, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB, 0 K's, 18 pitches.

Game thoughts!

Lester puts the team in a hole with a 2 run 1st and a 2 run 2nd and overall, goes 5 1/3 innings with 94 pitches thrown. Still, Lester was in position to get the win thanks to the fifth inning comeback and scoreless pitching by Aardsma and Okajima.

Now normally I'll take my chances with Papelbot in the 9th inning, but even though his Fastball was over 94 mph, everything seemed to be high to me. Including the splitter that he threw to Lamb (pitch was hit just above the knee) after the break, that pitch needs to be diving out of the zone, but it stayed high. 2 games, 2 blown saves for the bot. Not what we needed.

Factoid - since 2001 the record in Red Sox / Twins games at the Metrodome is 7-15. Surprisingly, the overall era is 4.38 for the Sox (3.22 for Twins) in those 22 games. Leading winners for the Twins, Radke 4-0, Santana 3-1 and all others only have 1 win.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Season Game 38 Preview

			@
J. Lester		2-2, 3.94		Boof Bonser		2-4, 4.29
Red Sox		23 - 14		Twins		17 - 16

Friday, May 9  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 8:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	23	14	-	8-2	7	3	21	16
Tampa	18	16	3.5	5-5	3	4	18	16
New York	18	18	4.5	5-5	4	3	18	18
Baltimore	17	18	5.0	3-7	8	5	16	19
Toronto	17	19	5.5	6-4	4	9	19	17

ESPN.Com Preview .
Yahoo's Preview .
ESPN.Com after the game Recap.
MLB.Com Press Pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Lester snapped a five-start winless streak with his second straight strong outing in a win over the Rays at Fenway Park last Sunday. After going eight innings of one-hit shutout ball in a no-decision against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays, he struggled at the start but worked six effective innings to beat Tampa Bay. He is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in his last four starts. The lefty pitched two scoreless innings of relief against the Twins in the final game of the regular season last year, his only work against Minnesota.

Twins: After a terrible first inning against the Tigers in which he threw 45 pitches and gave up six runs, Bonser turned into the hero of the game his last time out. The right-hander pitched five consecutive scoreless innings following the first. He retired 17 of the last 19 hitters he faced on just 54 pitches. He attributed it to locating his fastball and gaining control of his off-speed pitches. Bonser will face another tough challenge when he starts the opener of a four-game series against the Red Sox.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Sox Batting vs Bonser

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
D. Pedroia	6	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	.667
D. Ortiz	6	5	1	0	2	3	0	0	.833
M. Ramirez	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
M. Lowell	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Drew	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	.500
J. Varitek	4	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	.250
J. Lugo	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Totals	31	11	1	1	2	5	2	2	.355

Limited history vs these batters, but then again not bad numbers for that limited history. It should be noted that Boof's splits this year shows him doing slightly better vs right handers. Righties are hitting .255/.283/.383 while lefties are at .260/.308/.397 clips.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Lester	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.00	0.00	0.00
Bonser	2	2	0	0	12	13	5	2	2	7	3.75	1.25	6.00

Both of Booth's starts have came at Fenway, and as you can see he is 2-0 against the Sox. Could be an interesting night. Taking a look at Lester's splits I see that he is actually doing better vs right handed hitters. Overall he is .250/.351/.411, but righties are .237/.353/.398 and lefties are .280/.345/.440 this year. Let us hope that the Twins aren't looking at those splits!!!

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Game 26 of 2008 Red Sox Season Preview

Game 26 at Tampa Bay

AL East Standings  

Team	W	L	Pct	GB	X W	X L
Boston	15	10	.600	--	13	12
Baltimore	13	9	.591	0.5	11	11
Tampa Bay	12	11	.522	2.0	13	10
New York	12	12	.500	2.5	12	12
Toronto	10	14	.417	4.5	12	12

Clay Buchholz, RHP (1-1, 4.79) Red Sox (15-10) @ Edwin Jackson, RHP (2-2, 4.63) Rays (12-11)

Scouting Report: Red Sox: Buchholz pitched brilliantly in his last start, firing six shutout innings in a victory over the Rangers. He allowed five hits and struck out six. Opponents are hitting .274 against Buchholz. This will be his first career appearance against Tampa Bay. Buchholz has given up three earned runs or less in three of his four starts. Buchholz has pitched eight games in his young career, going 4-2 with a 3.12 ERA. Rays: Jackson suffered through another sub-par start Sunday against the White Sox when he allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander continues to show electric stuff, but struggles on the days when his stuff is not at its best. Jackson has worked to try and minimize the big inning, which he did not do well against the White Sox, when he allowed the White Sox to put away the game with a four-run fifth inning.

Associated links for tonights games:

MLB.coms probable.
ESPN.com preview.
ESPN.com recap.
ESPN.com boxscore.
MLB.com Press Pass.

Probable Line Up Vs Jackson

Player	PA	AB	H	2b	3b	HR	RBI	BB	K's	BA	OBP	SLG
Ellsbury	6	5	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	.400	.500	.600
Pedroia	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.667	.600	.667
Ortiz	14	9	4	1	0	1	4	5	1	.444	.643	.889
Ramirez	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Youkilis	8	7	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	.143	.250	.286
Drew	12	9	4	3	0	0	2	3	4	.444	.583	.778
Lowrie	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Cash	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Lugo	11	11	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.182	.182	.182

Totals

57

45

15

6

0

1

7

11

9

.333

.456

.533

Some pretty good numbers vs Jackson especially from Ortiz and Drew (Pedroia discarded since only 5 PA's). If I was Terry Francona though I would consider sitting Manny tonight and play Coco. In Coco's 14 PA's he is batting .308 / .357 / .462, which is better than Manny's 0-1. Still, Manny is on a roll so, it is defensible to start Manny.

Oh, even if Varitek is healthy, play Cash. At least he has no history which is better than Varitek's 0 for 7.

Pitcher Comparison

Player	GS	CG	GF	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Jackson	4	0	0	2	1	0	0	26 2/3	31	16	16	2	17	23	5.40	1.80
Buchholz	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0

As a starter Jackson has went 22 1/3 innings in 4 starts (high 6 twice, low 5) with both of his wins coming at the Tropicana field. In Tampa he has given up only 4 runs in 11 1/3 innings. So, this guy is tough at home. Very tough at home.

So, do not be surprised if Jackson is tough tonight at the Trop.!

2008 Bruins Playoffs Round 1 Game 7

Fantastic game 5, followed by a beautiful game 6 and now its time for game 7. Go Bruins!!!

Oh, yeah, I say the B's pull it off!!!

Open Thread

Is It 1967 For the Bruins?

A friend asked the following question after the Bruins made their comeback Saturday night; "Does this series at all remind you of the '67 World Series?". My immediate answer was, "Only if they win the series." Promising a recap / thought on that I have probably thought about sixteen hundred ways to make this post (ok, slight exaggeration). Herewith, are my thoughts on this Bruins team and the '67 Sox.

In 1967 I was still in elementary school in a very, very small town in the middle of Arkansas. My father was not a huge sport fan, but he enjoyed baseball and taught me how to follow teams from afar by looking at the box scores. This led to my first experience with algebra, but that is a story for another time. So, even though I remember the 1967 season and the World Series I followed that season from afar and I have to rely on accounts from friends, written stories and various shows that have high lighted the role that team had in the rebirth of Red Sox mania.

Without a doubt, that team brought the Sox back into the forefront of the Boston area. Decades had passed since the last time the Sox had made the World Series and the team was not really expected to make the series that year, but game after game the team had battled, staying in the pennant race. Yaz was having a triple crown season and late in the season seemed to come up with big hit after big hit. Still the race went down to the wire with 4 teams going into final weekend with a chance to win the division.

There was more to that season though than Yaz though. Looking at 1967 from Baseball Race you can see that on 7/9 the Sox were 6.0 games back of the White Sox, in 5th place at 41-39. The first day after the all star break they split a double header with the Orioles. The win in the first game made them 42-39, so they were on pace for an 84 win season. Nothing to really be excited about. Then the magic started to happen.

One week later the Sox were 48-40 and trailed the White Sox by 1.5 games and sitting in 3rd place. Another week went by and the Sox were at 54-41 and had trimmed the lead down to 1.0 games and were in 2nd place. The pennant race was on!

Two spectacular weeks and the Sox were on a major roll, 13 and 2 in those two weeks. That is went the excitement hit Boston. By the trading deadline, Boston was still in 2nd place 2.0 games back. By the end of August, the Sox were in first place .5 games ahead of Minnesota. From that point on, only the Angels would play better (.5 games) for the rest of the season.

Still, they needed a good finish. After splitting two games with Cleveland, the Twins came to Boston with a 1.0 game lead. Two wins later and the Sox were finally back in the World Series. Baseball was back on the map in Boston.

So, how does this relate to the Bruins?

Different level of frustration. In 1967 you had to win the American League to make the playoffs, which oh yeah, was the World Series. The Bruins had the best record of the East in the 2001-2002 season. They were the #1 seed and were set to play the #8 seed Canadians. That is a short time period, and of course they Bruins made the playoffs for the '02-'03, '03-'04, and '04-'05 seasons.

Two seasons of missing the playoffs is not the same as waiting decades.

The frustration with the Bruins has been that they kept on losing in the first round. The frustration is that the Bruins seemed to be discombobulated in the office. So, I think I will stick with my first answer, if the Bruins win this series then the magic will be back. Right now, there is excitement, but is it at the level of '67? I don't think so! No, to really get back on the map, the Bruins need to win this series, then the buzz will be about Hockey and next year the Bruins will see a return of their fans.

2008 Bruins Playoffs Round 1 Game 6

They smoked the Canadiens in game 5, can they do the same at home in game 6? Yes they can!

Bruins Playoff Round 1 Game 5

It is do or die time tonight. Personally, I think they can win this game tonight, but most likely the season will be over for the B's.

Open Thread!!!

bruins playoff game 4 vs le habs

Game 4 tonight!!!

Womens 2008 Final Four Preview

Well, the women get to play their final four games tonight. First up is the #1 Connecticut Huskies vs the #4 Stanford Cardinals. Maya Moore vs Candice Wiggins, well not really as I doubt that Moore will be guarding Wiggins or vice versa. Still it should be a very good game for oh, until about mid way of the second half, at which point I fully expect the Huskies to steadily increase their lead until the final buzzer.

The second game features the #3 Tennessee Volunteers vs the #6 Louisiana State Tigers. This will be the third game between these two conference rivals and will give one of them double bragging rights as this rivalry will continue to grow. In the past I would say that this is a slam dunk win for the Volunteers because of Pat Summit's ability to out coach her SEC rival, but not this year. This year the other coach is pretty good and I expect him to be up to the task. LSU squeezes out a victory.

2008 March Madness Final Four Games Recap

Well, that was enjoyable. Outside of World Series wins by the Sox, nothing makes me smile more than seeing North Carolina getting tarred. Both games ending up being double digit wins but seeing North Carolina down 40-12 after an 18-0 run by Kansas just made me smile. Roy Williams was again out coached, no surprise there, and again failed to win the championship.

So, we have the mid-major Conference representative, Memphis State vs the Mid Major representative, Kansas in Monday nights championship game. Must see TV for sure.
Makes me smile all day just to think about North Carolina being bounced.

2008 March Madness Final Four Games

Well it is Final Four time of the 2008 March Madness, and that means the college basketball season is down to three games, thats right, three games. Four teams left, three games and then it will be time to turn our eyes to the Celtics playoff run, the Bruins playoff run and regular season baseball.

The first game tonight will have the UCLA Bruins vs the Memphis State Tigers at 6:05 p.m. ET. Two contrasting styles as the brutal defense of the Bruins takes on the flashy offensive Tigers. In my opinion, the Tigers are getting no respect and while I believe that defense wins championships, offense wins a lot of semi-final games. I'm going with the Tigers in this game.

The second game has the UNC Tar Heels vs the Kansas Jayhawks at an approximate time of 8:47 p.m. ET. Of course the official "story line" of this game is the "Roy Williams faces his old team". While it is true that Williams did once coach the Kasas five, it is also true that was five fracking years ago, so this team is not Roy's old team but is the Bill Self team that broke the barrier allowing Self to reach the Final Four for the first time in his coaching career.

I'll admit that this game is tough for me to pick. I have an inherent hatred of UNC, I can not fragging stand the school, the team etc., but I have to admit that this UNC team is pretty good, in fact it is probably better than Kansas and should be considered the favorite, but you know what, I just can't stand Roy Williams and I hate, absolutely hate UNC. I'm going with the Jayhawks.

2008 March Madness Sweet Sixteen Day 1 Preview

Well, lets recap, round 1 I went 23-9 thanks to a lousy 9-7 record on day two of the round. In round 2 I went 9-7 thanks to Davidson, Michigan St. and West Virginia. Of course if I had been smart I would have realized that Kentucky and Baylor weren't going to win their first game let alone make the sweet sixteen. Still, I do have 3 of my four final four teams in this thing, so I am not going to be too bummed out.

So, tonight we have four games, West Virginia vs Xavier at 7:10 p.m. which I think might be a very good game. I'm going to pull for the Musketeers but do not count out West Virginia. Huggins has made this a good solid team that rebounds and plays man-to-man defense, a very tough man-to-man defense. I still give the edge to the Musketeers.

At 7:27 p.m. we get the Washington State vs UNC game. I would like to say that Washington State has no chance but they are a tough team. Still, UNC should handle the Cougars.

The 9:40 game has one of the Cinderella stories, Western Kentucky vs UCLA. The only thing that would make me smile more is to see Western Kentucky and Washington State win tonight, but UCLA will agoniziling sneak this game out in the final four minutes.

The last game has Louisville vs Tennessee. Since I have Tennessee going to the championship game, I am sticking with that initial prediction. Tennessee wins a close game but prevails to face UNC in the regional final.

Inane stat of the day - in the last 15 tournaments the two conferences that have sent the most teams to the final four (ACC - 13, SEC - 12), have only one team left in the tournament. If Tennessee makes the final four then it will be tied.

2008 March Madness Round 1 & 2 Recaps

Well that was an interesting first two rounds. Looking at my picks, well lets just say that I had the east bracket pegged, other than that, well, the only good thing to say is that I have six of the great eights still alive and three of the final four still alive. How about Davidson!!!!!

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UNC	UNC
Indiana		UNC
Notre Dame	Wash. St.
Wash St.			Tennessee
Oklahoma	Louisville
Louisville		Tennessee
Butler	Tennessee
Tennessee
Kansas	Kansas
UNLV		Kansas
Clemson	Clemson
Vanderbilt			Kansas
Kansas St.	Wisconsin
Wisconsin		Georgetown
Gonzaga	Georgetown
Georgetown
Memphis	Memphis
Oregon		Memphis
Michigan St.	Pittsburgh		Memphis
Pittsburgh
Kentucky	Kentucky
Stanford		Texas
Miami	Texas
Texas
UCLA	UCLA
Texas A & M		UCLA
Drake	Drake
Connecticut			Duke
Baylor	Baylor
Xavier		Duke
West Virginia	Duke
Duke

A lot of misses once you get past the East. Still that is what makes this tournament so much fun, even when I knew that the team I picked was going to lose, I still found myself rooting for the Western Kentucky's, Davidsons, and Siena's. Will take a look at the third round after I finish watching Opening Day in Japan and have some time to look at who is left. Chow!!!!

Update: I noticed I had Duke going out in the first round, corrected.

2008 March Madness Round 1 Recap Day 1

This right here is what makes March Madness special. A mighty fine game that went right down to the wire. Not often does a 15 seed pull the upset in the first round (1991, 1993, 1997 and 2001) being the only times in this tournament history. An ACC team seeded 2 has never lost this game. In fact there have been only six # 2 teams that have previously won by 3 or fewer points their opening round game:

1. Arkansas beat Texas Southern - 79 - 78 in 1995
2. Tennessee beat Winthrop - 63 - 61 in 2006
3. Cincinatti beat N. Arizona - 65 - 62 in 1998
4. Duke beat Murray State - 71 - 68 in 1997
5. Kansas beat Utah State - 64 - 61 in 2003
6. Wake Forest beat E. Tenn. St. - 76 - 73 in 2003

Only Arkansas and Kansas advanced past the second round, surprisingly both made the championship games, in those tournaments. All other #2's won their games by more than a basket. In fact the average score is 80.46 to 64.09. In fact only 21 times (counting last night) in 89 wins has the number 2 team not won by double digits. Just to emphasize how rare last nights game was, 32 of the 89 wins were by greater than 20 points.

Well, that is the inane statistical portion of this post. Some pretty good games yesterday. Some stinkers also, still I'll take my 14-2 record after day one of this tournament, though I have to admit, what the hell was I thinking when I picked Kentucky! Geez!

Of course I blame the coach in the Ky game. Twice Marquette made sizable runs of 12-0 and 12-2 before he called a time out. Both cases the game clock moved 4+ minutes with his team not scoring or only scoring once. You just can't let that happen in a NCAA game.

Best game of yesterday was the Duke game, but the Xavier / Georgia game was also a pretty good one to watch. Xavier played like a 14 seed yesterday for the first half, but really turned it on in the second half. Well, enough rambling for now, so we will catch you later. Go hogs!!!! Soooie, pig Soooie!!!!!
Some good games today also.

2008 March Madness Round 1

Finally!!! The best three extended weekends (thu-sun) of sports is here. Should be a good tournament and as always, I will be glued to the TV! So, before the first game tips off lets get the picks out of the way!
First lets look at the East Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UNC	UNC
Indiana	.	UNC
Notre Dame	Wash St.
Wash. St.			Tennessee
Oklahoma	Louisville
Louisville		Tennessee
Butler	Tennessee
Tennessee

Not a lot of upsets there, in fact there are none. I think this bracket does have some possible ones though. I can easily see Indiana continuing their funk and being beaten by Arkansas. It is also possible that Notre Dame gets beat by George Mason and if I was the Butler Bulldogs I would be real worried about South Alabama. Still I just don't think that the upsets will happen.

Midwest Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Kansas	Kansas
UNLV		Kansas
Clemson	Clemson
Vanderbilt			Kansas
Kansas St.	Wisconsin
Wisconsin		Georgetown
Gonzaga	Georgetown
Georgetown

The only upset here (I don't consider a 5 over a 4 an upset) is the Kansas State win. While both teams have stud freshmen, I just think that Kansas State has more players and should squeak by USC.

Other interesting games in this bracket also. The UNLV vs Kent game should be good and so will the Clemson vs Villanova game. I also would not be surprised to see a weak 4 seed lose to Siena. The Gonzaga vs Davidson should be an intriguing game also.

South Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Memphis	Memphis
Oregon		Memphis
Michigan St.	Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh			Memphis
Kentucky	Kentucky
Stanford		Texas
Miami	Texas
Texas

Upset special here as Kentucky makes a surprising run to the sweet sixteen. The other first round game that I will be watching is the Michigan State vs Temple game. Temple could pull off the upset. I would also like to see St. Mary's beat Miami, that would be so sweet after the bubble babble about the ACC only getting four teams in the tourney.

West Bracket Winners

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
UCLA	UCLA
Texas A & M		UCLA
Drake	Drake
Connecticut			Duke
Baylor	Baylor
Xavier		Duke
West Virginia	Duke
Duke

Upsets in this region - Baylor says good by to the Dave Bliss era and makes the sweet 16!!! I also think that Drake can and should beat the Huskies of UConn.

In my final four I have Tennessee beating Kansas and Memphis beating Duke. This would set up a rematch of an earlier game where #1 Memphis lost to #2 Tennessee earlier this year. This time though, I have Memphis winning! Well that is my Sheet of Integrity Bracket. Now its time to watch some Basketball!!!

2008 NCAA Seeds

Ok, lets look at the seedings!!!! This is how I would see the teams assuming no upsets by Georgia or Illinois.

Seed	Reg 1	Reg 2	Reg 3	Reg 4
1	UNC	Memphis	UCLA	Kansas
2	G'Town	Duke	Texas	Tennessee
3	Vandy	Louisville	Wisc	Stanford
4	Drake	Clemson	Pitt	Indiana
5	Xavier	Mich. St.	Butler	U-Conn
6	Oklahoma	Kent St.	Marquette	BYU
7	UNLV	Kentucky	Miss. St.	Notre Dame
8	Arkansas	USC	W. Virginia	Wash. St.
9	Gonzaga	Miami (fl)	Dayton	Illinois St.
10	St. Mary's	Kansas St.	Arizona	Davidson
11	Tex. A & M	W. Kentucky	St. Joseph's	Baylor
12	Temple	S. Alabama	Mississippi	Purdue
13	George Mason	Cornell	Belmont	Austin Peay
14	Boise St.	Cal St. Ful.	Siena	Oral Roberts
15	San Diego	Winthrop	UMBC	Portland St.
16	Miss. Val. St. Coppin St.	Mount St. Mary's	Tx-Arlington	American

Ok, if either Georgia or Illinois wins, you remove S. Alabama and place that team in that slot for the region. If both teams win then you replace Mississippi.

Note - While I was working on this they announced that Mount St. Mary's would face Coppin State in the Play in game. This is because the NCAA does not like to have two historical Black Colleges to face each other in the play in game.

2008 Mens Tourney

Well it is that time of the year again, the best three weeks of college Basketball is about to kick off. Today there are five tournaments looking to get the automatic bids while teams on the bubble sit around and root, root, root for teams that are already in the dance to win.

First up is the Southland and the ACC tournaments at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon. Basically these are meaningless games as the winners won't cause any angst among the bubbleites (is that a word?). The Southland will only get one team in the dance and both UNC and Clemson are locks for the tournament which means they are only playing for their final seeding in Clemsons case and bragging rights (UNC is a mortal lock for a 1 seed).

Next up is the Big-12 tournament game at 3:00 p.m., with both of these teams (Texas and Kansas) also just playing for bragging rights and their final seeding. With the Tennessee loss yesterday (yeah boy!!! sooooie pig sooooie!!!) the winer of this game could become a #1 seed. Look for Kansas to win this game by 4+.

The last two championships though will have the VCU's of the world though reaching for the Maalox. At 3:30 the Big-10 and the SEC tip off and both have underdogs that can cause havoc in the brackets.

Wisconsin plays Illinois in the Big-10 and the fighting Illini are not a good team this year. With a 16-18 record an upset win here would leave a more worthy team looking in instead of putting on the dancing shoes. Wisconsin will be ready though so switch the tube to ESPN2 and watch the Georgia Bulldogs play the Arkansas Razorbacks. This is the upset special of the day as the Dogs can beat Arkansas (see 1/19/2008 for the last time these two teams met). Still, the hat is ready and the beer is cold, so I am ready for this game!!!!

Who will make the cut? Well, let us look at some RPI numbers and try to make a good guess for the teams.

Team	RPI	W's	L's	Bid
Memphis	3rd	32	1	Champ
UCLA	6th	29	3	Champ
Drake	10th	26	4	Champ
Butler	17th	29	3	Champ
Pittsburgh	19th	24	9	Champ
Kent St.	23rd	27	6	Champ
UNLV	26th	24	7	Champ
Davidson	36th	25	6	Champ
W. Ky.	41st	25	6	Champ
ORU	53rd	23	8	Champ
Temple	57th	20	12	Champ
George Mason	62nd	23	10	Champ
Cornell	66th	21	5	Champ
Siena	68th	22	10	Champ
Belmont	78th	24	8	Champ
Austin Peay	84th	24	10	Champ
Cal St. Fullerton	86th	22	8	Champ
American	89th	21	11	Champ
UMBC	90th	22	8	Champ
Portland St.	91st	21	9	Champ
Boise St.	92nd	23	8	Champ
San Diego	95th	20	13	Champ
Winthrop	109th	20	11	Champ
Mount St. Mary's	160th	18	14	Champ
Miss. Valley St.	237th	14	15	Champ
Coppin St.	246th	13	20	Champ

Just looking at RPI's there are fourteen teams that are presently in the dance would not be in this thing if we went by RPI alone to decide the contestants. Ah the beauty of March Madness!

So, who then is on the bubble? Well, lets take a gander at the top 50 (the Southland will also be above 65) RPI teams . (L means a Lock, A = Auto)

Tennessee(L), UNC(L), Memphis(A), Duke(L), Texas(L), UCLA(A), Georgetown(L), Kansas(L), Xavier(L), Drake(A), Vanderbilt(L), Louisville(L), Wisconsin(L), Michigan St.(L), Stanford(L), Indiana(L), Butler(A), Connecticut(L), Pittsburgh(A), Marquette(L), BYU(L), Clemson(L), Kent St.(A), Notre Dame(L), Oklahoma(L), UNLV(A), Washington St.(L), West Virginia(L), USC(L), Gonzaga(L), Arkansas(L), Miami (FL)(L), Dayton, Illinois State, Mississippi State(L), Davidson(A), Arizona(L), South Alabama, Saint Mary's(L), Texas A & M, Western Kentucky(A), St. Joseph's, Baylor(L), Massachusetts, Purdue(L), Ohio State, Kentucky(L), Mississippi, Creighton, and Kansas St.(L). (autos and L's make for 58).

Those are some big names in that top 50 and some surprising names in that mix (South Alabama, St. Joseph's just to name two of them). Will all of these teams make the dance? Not a chance. So let's look at some other criteria to decide the teams that will be leaping for joy!

Team	RPI	W's	L's	1-100 W	1-100 L	SOS
Creighton	49	20	10	4	7	71
Dayton	33	21	10	9	6	25
Illinois St.	34	23	9	5	5	65
U-Mass	44	21	10	6	7	66
Mississippi	48	21	10	7	4	70
Ohio St.	46	19	13	7	11	10
S. Alabama	38	24	6	4	3	120
St. Joseph's	42	21	11	8	7	51
Texas A & M	40	23	9	8	9	64

That is nine teams for only six spots, so actually this isn't too bad, I only have to get rid of 3 of the top 50 RPI teams. I think we can eliminate Creighton, U-Mass and Ohio State from these teams. So based on RPI we have our 65 teams but are we missing any?

Actually I think there are a couple of intriguing teams not in the top 50 of RPI that do merit some consideration. VCU with a 24-7 record and a 56 RPI ranking, New Mexico with a 24-8 record and a 59 RPI, and Utah State with a 23-10 record and a 70RPI.

Let us look at these teams with the same additional Criteria

Team	RPI	W's	L's	1-100 W	1-100 L	SOS
VCU	56	24	17	3	3	160
New Mexico	59	24	8	6	6	169
Utah St.	70	23	10	6	4	156

Well, they are all viable, based on the W/L record you could make a case for inserting them into the table above, but I think the SOS kills them. Still, I would not be surprised if one of these three make the tournament. Later I'll have a projected seeding chart.