camclow Blog Posts

Championship Make It Happen

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:52:07 PDT

The MLB trade deadline came and went without the biggest name on the market being moved. Often times Mid-July festers numerous rumors within the Majors. The largest topic of discussion this year was Toronto ace Roy Halladay. Other notable players moved (most of them left Cleveland), but Halladay stayed.

The world series contenders before the deadline (Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, Cardinals, Phillies) made a few moves to further separate them from the teams chasing them, but neither one separated themselves from the pack of championship contenders they merely stayed with the pace at best. The game is played to win championships! So why did none of these teams pay the price for Roy Halladay and put themselves in a prime position to win.

Right Now either of these teams could win it all, but if you add Halladay to any of these rosters that team immediately becomes the favorite. Hey Yankees give up Joba the Hut and Phill Hughes and get a guy that is more than a strong arm. Hey Boston give them Clay and Bowden and whoever else they want. Hey LaRussa give Toronto Colby Rasmus and Adam Wainwright. If any of these deals had happened I would go ahead and give that team a 75% chance to win the World Series. Heck even a team that is chasing these guys could gain Halladay and contend for championship.

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Michael Vick Searching for a Home

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:56:39 PDT

Unless you've managed to live amongst wolves for the past two years you undoubtedly know about Michael Vick's dog fighting ring. Michael has been out of professional football for two whole seasons and most of that time was spent in prison. Although, an average American cannot return to his or her job after being imprisoned; Michael Vick can and he will, because he is a professional football player.
The over used argument, "If this happened to me I wouldn't get a second chance." is ludicrous. If you, like Vick, have a job that only 1% of the population can do I bet you would be allowed back under some circumstances. Most of us; however, do not have this job and we are easily replaced. NFL players are basically celebrities. One cannot expect for the same rules to apply, so don't use that as an argument to keep Vick sidelined.

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Blazers add Andre Miller Need to do more to contend in West

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:28:59 PDT

The Portland Trailblazers added free agent point guard Andre Miller to their roster this week, which undoubtedly makes them a better team. They now have Andre Miller and Steve Blake as their primary point guard as opposed to last season when they had Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez. The Blazers will definitely benefit from Miller's vocality and leadership both on and off the court and Greg Oden will appreciate his lob passes he loves to throw to his streaking posts.
This deal makes Brandon Roy happy, which is the number one goal in the Rose City. With that said this deal does not make much sense. Yes, the addition of Andre Miller makes Portland better, but it does not make them better than the Lakers, Spurs, or even the Nuggets. So it appears that Portland really isn't better in the standings. Houston will fall of next year and Portland will likely still be the four seed out west.

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Speculation Mid Season Trades

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:46:36 PDT

The Seattle Mariners picked up injured closer Chad Cordero in the offseason. Cordero was a solid major league closer with the Washington Nationals for years. Foxsports reports that the Mariners are likely to use Cordero as mid season trade bait if they are out of contention early as they are expected to be.

With that said the Brewers will need at the very least bullpen help and will likely need a closer as Hoffman is obviously not a long term solution. It's a long shot to call any mid season trade at this point, but given this information I would not be suprised if Chad Cordero was the second Cordero to close for the Brewers in recent years.

The San Diego Padres are also still trying to shop Jake Peavy. I don't see a chance at the Brewers getting him and maintaining him. It would be another CC Sabathia situation that would likely not pay off as well as the Sabathia deal did.

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Brew Crew clears spot for McGehee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:33:12 PDT

Last season in late September the Brewers picked up Mike Lamb, to be used as a pinch hitter and reserve player. Lamb went 3 for 11 during the stretch run, but was not put on the post season roster. On tuesday the Brewers decided to essenially release Lamb, by not putting him on the opening day roster. He has the option to play for AAA Nashville, but will likely hold out for another major league gig.

With this release the Brewers have likely opened up a roster spot for 26 year old Casey McGehee, who was formerly a member of the Cubs minor league system. McGehee has suprised most Brewers fans by posting a .364 batting average including six homeruns and 15 RBI's in 55 spring training at bats. I would, however, be cautious about his plate discipline as he has not been walked once this spring, where as every other Brewer with at lease thirty at bats has drawn a walk. However, he has not struck out a lot either, only four K's in 55 at bats, which is a good sign in a young player. Given the lack of walks and strikeouts tells me that he is a good aggressive begginning of the count hitter.

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Milwaukee Brewers 2009 Forecast As far as the Longball will take us

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:21:21 PDT

After playing their first meaningful October baseball games in a quarter century the Milwaukee Brewers have a tough road a head of them. They will dearly miss all 6 feet 7 inches of CC Sabathia, as well as injury plagued Ben Sheets. The 2009 Brewers will rely on young talent in their pitching staff, which is generally not a recipe for success. Maybe they should give the Rays a call.

It appears that the pitching rotation will be head lined by young star Yovanni Gallardo, who missed the majority of last season with a torn ACL. He was sharp in the beginning and the Brewers had enough faith in him last year to start him in their first playoff game. Lefty Manny Parra was solid in the beginning of the year, but as with many young pitchers faded towards the end of the season. Jeff Suppan will hopefully be a solid veteran pitcher towards the end of the rotation. Offseason acquisition Braden Looper will also have a spot in the rotation. The fifth spot is open to Dave Bush and Seth McClung and anyone else that might be able to produce. With this weak inexperienced rotation the Brewers will have to produce more runs than they did last year to have a result anywhere close to their 2008 finish. Rotation Grade: 77 C+

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Alex Rodriguez admits it Does this mean a Steroid pardon

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:56:49 PST

Alex Rodriguez could have taken the approach of baseball legends Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire, but he didn't. He took an approach similar to less notable star Jason Giambi. A-Rod honed up to the report and took the blame that he deserved. He did not claim to not know what it was, he did not play the victim. He took the high road and took responsibility for his actions.

Rodriguez is quite possibly the best player to ever play the game. He is also, quite possibly the best player to take steroids. My question is how many great players must we expose until we figure it out? Many of the great players in the steroid era took steroids. I'm afraid there are only more stars waiting to be exposed.

What do we do about it? Surely we cannot keep players like A-Rod and Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame. They would have Hall of Fame numbers if you took out there steroid years. For A-Rod he said that he was on steroids from 2001-2003, during which he hit 156 homeruns. If you completely eliminate these numbers A-Rod is at 397 career homeruns and would likely still finsih with over 500. If you take A-Rods lowest home run total after 2003 and substitute it for his steroid seasons he has 512 career home runs.

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NBA Revokes LeBron James triple double at the Garden

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:50:06 PST

The NBA reviewed tapes from the Cleveland Cavs vs. New York Knicks game the other night and they felt the need to go the extra effort to take one rebound away from Lebron James. Taking this rebound away from him turned hit historic triple double night with 52 points into a pedestrian double double.

The first point I want to make is that hours after the game nobody really cares, so why take this rebound away? Was it really crucial enough to have to review the film?

This is the first time I have ever seen something like this. Will this continue? Do we really need to review every game to down to the rebounding stats? If this is the case shouldn'e we be reviewing all games and making sure that the rebounding leaders, assist leaders, block leaders, and steal leaders are truly the leaders.

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Playoff vs Payoff

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:05:59 PST

Utah did not lose a single game. They made a mockery out of Alabama (a former no.1) and what do they have to show for it? A mediocore recruiting class and a Sugar Bowl trophy. Utah and the Boise State team of a few years back, could have been even greater stories if there was a college football playoff. Obviously momentum plays a huge role in sports and with a team that never lost a game, how can one say that they would not win the National Championship?

Granted both of these teams do not stack up to USC ,Florida, or other powerhouse teams on paper, but isn't that why they play the game? To find out who is the best, but in college football we are constantly left with questions about who the best team really is.

The NCAA is worried that they will lose much of their sponsor money if they go away from the bowl system, so what should be the solution? I say that they keep a bowl system and add an extra game on the end. Have four teams seeded #1-4 play each other (1 v. 4 and 2 v. 3) call these games whatever you like. Then keep the bowl games from the Meinecke car care bowl to the Chick Fil A bowl to the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, keep them all. But take the winner the 1 v. 4 game and the winner of the 2 v. 3 game and play one final game; The National Championship.

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Oh Manny You Make Me Sick

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:39:36 PST

Earth to Manny Ramirez, It's February and you don't have a team. I don't know if you knew this, but in order to hit 700 homeruns your going to have to play. Sorry, the homeruns that you'll be hitting on the Wii while your peers are playing will not count.

You have pulled many stunts including hiding in the green monster, which is probably the best place for you. Don't get me wrong you are one of the best hitters in the game, but I have not seen Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, or Ryan Howard act this way, so what are you entitled to?

Your acting like you won the World Series for the Dodgers. Granted you and CC Sabathia are perhaps the two best mid season pick ups in recent memory, but why are you bringing this attention to yourself. The Dodgers offered you a one year deal that would make you the second highest paid baseball player ever. Why not take it?

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