Month: April 2006 (Page 16 of 20)

Bill Simmons argues for Kobe Bryant to win MVP

I think LeBron James should win it, but Bill Simmons makes a case for Kobe (he has LeBron at #2). Along the way he covers all the possible candidates and has some fun with the question:

In a weird way, Kobe ended up getting what he always wanted: The Lakers completely revolve around him. He gets to shoot 25-30 times per game. He gets to take every big shot at crunch-time. He gets all the credit. Nobody else on the team dares to challenge him. And even better, because he lucked out with the only possible coach who could make this cockamamie situation work, his supporting cast kills itself to make him look good.

Basically, he’s Elvis and everyone else is Joe Esposito. And it’s working! That’s the crazy thing.

He might be Elvis, but LeBron is the King! I’m sticking with King James.

Meet the new Babe

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo has as many home runs as the following sluggers:

Carlos Beltran
Carlos Delgado
Troy Glaus
Ken Griffey Jr.
Carlos Lee
David Ortiz
Alex Rodriguez
Scott Rolen

He has more home runs than:
Jason Bay
Miguel Cabrera
Jorge Cantu
Jason Giambi
Vladimir Guerrero
Todd Helton
Paul Konerko
Aramis Ramirez
Richie Sexson

Sweeeeet.

MLB Week One: Rust belt renaissance

The Detroit Tigers are going to the World Series. Okay, so maybe they’re not going to the World Series, but they got off to a smoking hot start, winning their first five games and hitting a staggering 17 home runs (their opponents have only mustered four). Chris Shelton’s OPS is a ridiculous 2.074 right now. Yikes.

The Twins look even worse than I thought they’d be. Their team batting average right now is .225 (Detroit is batting .308), while teams are batting .333 against them, and that includes two starts from wonderboy Johan Santana. When I gave them the theme song “Sugar, We’re Going Down,” I had no idea how right I would be.

The biggest disappointments so far, though, have to be Philadelphia and San Diego. The Phillies have managed only six home runs and two stolen bases in six games, and their park is supposedly a bandbox. The Padres, meanwhile, just gave up over 30 runs to the Colorado Rockies, a team that supposedly can’t hit away from home. They hammered Jake Peavy for eight runs. Don’t they realize that they’re the Colorado Rockies?

The Yankees are off to another slow start, but they also had to open the season against Oakland and Anaheim. Give them time, they’ll be right back in it. The Cubs just swept the Cardinals for the first time in five years, thanks to a dramatic Grand Slam by Michael Barrett last night, which will give the fans just enough hope to have their hearts broken one more time. And how about those Brewers, baby! They aren’t exactly winning pretty, but they’re winning, keeping opposing hitters to a .203 average. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, might unseat Kansas City as the worst team in baseball. Jim Tracy has a long year ahead of him.

Couch Potato Alert

As the regular season winds down, there is a good slate of NBA games this week, highlighted by the Cavs/Pistons game on Wednesday and the Mavs/Suns game on Thursday. Two game of the Phillies/Braves series will be shown on ESPN and ESPN2.

NBA
Mon, 10:30pm: Dallas @ LA Clippers – local
Tues, 10:00pm: Phoenix @ Sacramento – local
Wed, 8pm: Cleveland @ Detroit – ESPN (HD)
Wed, 8pm: Washington @ Milwaukee – local
Wed, 10:30pm: Dallas @ Golden State – ESPN (HD)
Thurs, 8pm: New York @ Cleveland – TNT (HD)
Thurs, 10:30pm: Dallas @ Phoenix – TNT (HD)

MLB
Mon, 7:05pm: Philadelphia @ Atlanta – ESPN (HD)
Wed, 7:05pm: Toronto @ Boston – ESPN2 (HD)
Thurs, 7:35pm: Philadelphia @ Atlanta – ESPN2 (HD)

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