The Final Score

OK, baseball picks. First, Jim’s repeated from last Friday, then Anthony’s.

AL EAST
Jim: Yankees
This is more a vote against the Red Sox as it is for the Yankees. I think the Red Sox pitching staff will suffer a letdown from last year and I also think it will take them time to recover from the Japan trip. Meanwhile, I'll say the Yankees win 94 and the Red Sox win 91.
Anthony: Red Sox
I agree, Jim, that the Red Sox’s staff will suffer a letdown, but the Yankees staff is more likely to suffer a meltdown. It’s hard to win with young pitchers, even young pitchers who all seem like they have a chance to be very good. It just doesn’t happen overnight. The Yankees will be better in ’09, but the best they’ll do this season is a wild card.

AL Central
Jim: Tigers
Yes, their pitching has problems, but how about that lineup! Their offense will win them 96 games.
Anthony: Yup.
I agree. I also agree with Jim that the Tigers’ pitching problems, especially in the bullpen, will stop them from making the World Series (he picks the Yankees to win the AL below. They won’t).

AL West
Jim: Mariners
I like the Angels on paper better, but the injuries to Escobar and Lackey scare me.
Anthony: Ditto.
This is how you know we’re not just planning to disagree all the time like some idiot radio talk show hosts who make a lot more money than we do. Of all my AL picks, this is the one I’m least sure of, though, just because Mike Scioscia is such a good and underrated manager and Seattle’s John McLaren is an unknown. But pitching rules the day and the Mariners have more of it.

AL Wild Card
Jim: Red Sox
Anthony: Yankees
Well, I didn’t say the Yankees were going to be gosh-awful. They still have a terrific lineup and Mariano Rivera and one of the kid pitchers will probably break out this season. That’s enough for the wild card. But not enough to make it out of the first round. Again.

AL pennant
Jim: Yankees
Let's say they beat the Red Sox in the ALCS in another classic.
Anthony: Let’s not
Sorry, Jim, you’re going to have to live with Red Sox-Tigers in an exhausting ALCS. And the Boston mojo will work in seven games and The Nation will brace for back-to-back crowns. But Red Sox fans will be disappointed by an old nemesis who now toils in the NL.

NL East
Jim: Mets
Santana is the best pitcher in the league, and will dominate. He'll win 22. I also believe the 2-3-4 of Pedro, Maine and Perez is better than anyone else's 2-3-4. Good enough for 42 more wins right there. Injuries are a concern, offensively, but I like their pitching a lot.
Anthony: Mets
Interesting. All six of Newsday’s baseball experts picked the Mets to win the East. Ken Davidoff and David Lennon picked them to win the World Series. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but the Mets will get to the NLCS – one round better than the Yankees.

NL Central
Jim: Cubs
I wanted to go with the Brewers, but at the last second decided to go with the Cubs. I'm already regretting it. This race goes down to the last few days, for sure.
Anthony: Cubs
All six of Newsday’s baseball experts picked the Cubs, too. I picked them to win the World Series last season. I won’t get fooled again! But they win the division. The Brewers don’t have enough arms.

NL West
Jim: Diamondbacks
How can you argue with Webb and Haren at the top of their rotation. They could both win 20, without question.
Anthony: Snakes it is
Wouldn’t shock me if the D-Backs had the NL’s best record, setting up Snakes-Mets in the first round because the NL wild card is also going to come from the West. Mets win in four to make the NLCS.

NL Wild Card
Jim: Padres
What fun is making predictions if you don't go out on a limb? I know this isn't too crazy a pick, but it means the Phillies, Braves and Brewers don't make the playoffs. Whatever. I like the Padres, and maybe the midseason acquisition of Bonds puts them over the top. :)
Anthony: Dodgers
No smiley faces, please, Jim. Not on my watch.
Joe Torre has been in the playoffs 12 straight seasons! You think he can’t get this underachieving but talented bunch a berth in the ridiculously weak NL? Yes he can! And more! And exclamation points trump smiley faces!

NL pennant
Jim: Diamondbacks
They beat the Mets in the NLCS. Haren and Webb combine for the four Arizona wins.
Anthony: Dodgers
Torre returns to New York to beat the Mets in six while the Yankees are sitting at home and Hank Steinbrenner fumes. But that’s not Joe’s last laugh . . .

World Series
Jim: Diamondbacks
In a repeat of the '01 World Series, the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. And Randy Johnson refuses to make the trip to New York for Games 3, 4 and 5 to avoid the NY media.
Anthony: Dodgers
The Red Sox are the heavy favorite, but the Dodgers ride that Torre magic to a surprisingly easy World Series win in five games. Hank Steinbrenner begs Torre to come back. Torre says he is insulted by the offer until Hank doubles his Dodgers salary. Torre accepts because he loves green even more than Dodger blue.

Feel free to add your two cents below. Next week we'll debate something else. Thanks to this site for the photo.

…Have nothing to do with this blog.
Happy April Fool’s Day.

If you’ve found us for the first time, and you’re a sports fan, then stay a while. If you’re a Jim Baumbach fan from way back (like, months ago, when he started this blog), then welcome to the new Final Score.
Baumbach built this blog (and Newsday’s Yankees blog before it) from the sweat of his sports writer brow, and he’s been kind enough to let me, Anthony Rieber, join in. The idea, as Jim explained in a post last week, is to keep the conversation going since no one can blog 24 hours a day. Jim and I actually spend a lot of time doing other things for Newsday, like writing articles for the web site and newspaper, and we don’t want you to miss even one day of our take. And we don’t want to miss one day of hearing what you think about what we think or what you think about something we didn’t even think about (got all that?).
We’re going to debate stuff, like our predictions for the baseball season (see above, or below, depending on which side of the equator you’re on), and Jim is going to continue to do stuff like flying in blimps and working out with disgraced trainers and carrying a chain at a Dragons game and just being his usual irrepressible self.
One new feature on the Final Score: I’m going to answer baseball questions that have been stacking up in my “Ask Anthony” mailbag. “Ask Anthony” has gone all-video this season, but it’s hard to do too many of those for logistical reasons you need not concern yourself with, so I’m going to answer some questions here in a timely fashion to complement the videos. Look for that later this week.
(If you saw the first video “Ask Anthony” that Jim and I did, all I can say is I’m sorry. I’ll get better. I’m a writer, not a talker. We’ve got a really cool idea for the location of the next one, and if all goes well it’ll be on Newsday.com within a week. My promise: It can’t be any worse!)
So we hope you check us out a few times a day since we plan on doing a lot of updating of this thing. Comment, ask questions, chew us out, suggest topics you want us to tackle, make fun of Jim’s smile or my scowl in our blog photos.
We can take it.
Thanks to this site for the poster.

Taking my cue from Ken Davidoff, here are the Opening Days that I have attended.

April 9, 1985: Mets 6, Cardinals 5, at Shea Stadium.
I was 6, so I don't remember much. I believe it was cold and rainy, and I recall going to the bathrooms because there was heat there. We left early, but the weather cleared up and we returned to the stadium and they let us back in. Different world then.

April 5, 1993: Mets 3, Rockies 0, at Shea Stadium
The Rockies' first game ever. My parents took us out of school to witness history. I remember sitting in the leftfield upper deck watching David Nied face Dwight Gooden. Retrosheet tells me Yankee manager Joe Girardi played for the Rockies that day.

April 3, 2005: Yankees 9, Red Sox 2, at Yankee Stadium.
What I remember from this game is that Randy Johnson pitched well, and we all thought that was the start of what would be three dominating years from Johnson. Whoops.

April 3, 2006: Yankees 15, Athletics 2, at McAfee Stadium
What an outburst of scoring - I believe there was even a grand slam by Alex Rodriguez. Then the Yankees went kaput for the rest of the cruel season-opening West Coast trip.

April 2, 2007: Yankees 9, Devil Rays 5, at Yankee Stadium
The day of A-Rod: he screwed up a pop in the first, left runners on base, was booed. Then he hit a big home run late, setting the stage for his big year. But what I remember most was Steve Swindal, who was being divorced out of the family, showed up. After the game he spoke with me and three other reporters. I asked where he watched the game. "Up in the suites," he said. Doubt it was GMS's suite. We haven't heard from him since.

If Billy Crystal can get an at-bat for the Yankees in spring training, then I can carry the chains at a Dragons game! Yeah, that sounds about right... LOL.

Anyway... I asked the Dragons if I could be a part of the chain crew for a story and they obliged. But never did I imagine how much work it would be.

You can read about it here or watch this video of me trying not to trip.

I was just inside The Sports Authority and came across a rack of Roger Clemens Yankees jerseys and t-shirts.

The sign on the top of the rack said "All Roger Clemens tees, jerseys 50 percent off."

Hmmmmm.

I wonder why.

I remember reading a story about this clearance sale after the Mitchell Report was released. But it was funny to see in person. And it's even funnier that three months have passed and still no one's buying 'em.

Newsday's baseball preview section was unveiled today -- here's the link -- and on one of the last pages we were asked for predictions.

Following the lead of my colleague, Ken Davidoff, I'll post my predictions here with explanations after the jump.

Continue reading "Friday morning wakeup call: MLB predictions" »

Jason Fraser, formerly of Amityville now living in Brentwood, says he correctly predicted his alma mater Villanova to make the Sweet Sixteen.

But now we'll see how good Fraser is at making predictions: he says the 12th-seeded Wildcats will pull off the upset of the tournament and beat top-seeded Kansas tomorrow night.

As for Fraser's career, he still has NBA ambitions despite his ongoing knee problems.

He's one month into a three-month rehab program in the city and is still in contact with some NBA teams about his progress.

So he's still holding out hope.

Spoke to my where-are-they-now subject for 20 minutes last night. I'm going to post the story today, instead of tomorrow, just because. How's that for a reason?

Here's my hints:
** A former Long Island high school star.
** Played hoops at a school still alive in the NCAA Tournament.

This shouldn't be too hard.

In the meantime, here's our past Where Are They Now participants:
Ron Hunt ... Walt Szczerbiak ... Davey Johnson ... Brian Mahoney ... Mike Stanley ... Matt Bahr ... Jeff Hostetler ... Leonard Marshall ... Y.A. Tittle ... Ottis Anderson ... Barry Lyons ... Bruce Harper ... Mackey Sasser ... Ken Phelps ... Kenny "Sky" Walker.

Juan Gonzalez, one of several Mitchell Report players in Cardinals camp, did not make the team. The main reason was an injury.

Anyone see that coming?

Nahhhh.

This St. Louis Post-Dispatch story says Gonzalez had an abdominal strain that the team couldn't treat, limiting him to being used only as a designated hitter. Obviously, that won't work in the National League.

The story also says the Cardinals placed Gonzalez on the 'temporarily inactive list,' which means they keep his rights.

Just in case the NL goes to a DH.

You've had enough of Jose Canseco and books, and Alex Rodriguez, too. But one more question from me: Why hasn't A-Rod denied Canseco's claim that he introduced A-Rod to a "known steroids supplier?"

A-Rod has now had two opportunities with reporters to do so. The first time he said he had no reaction and then yesterday he said he would not discuss it.

If A-Rod truly did not do steroids - which he has said - but did meet with a steroids supplier, there's no harm in admitting that. If anything, it makes him look human, like the rest of us. All he has to do is say, "Listen, guys, what Jose says is true, I did ask him about the effect of steroids. Who didn't wonder about that? So many guys were doing it. I did meet with his guy, but then, before anything happened, I decided this wasn't for me. I'm glad I made that decision. And that's all there is."

Of course, that would work ... if that's what happened. Who knows? For now, because of Canseco and because of A-Rod's lack of a reaction, we can only wonder...

Also, I wonder if A-Rod is getting his advice on handling this from this guy.