1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Tuesday “DODGERS-PADRES–SEASON OPENS”

Posted by on March 19th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“PENNANT CHASE OPENING DAY”
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It’s a different opening day for the Padres and Dodgers.

It won’t be at 1pm in the sunshine at Chavez Ravine or in the Gaslamp Quarter, but rather  the Dome in Seoul, South Korea.

It won’t be about luring new fans to the  Stadium, selling Dodgers Dogs, or selling the flashy Padres city current uniforms to fans.

No the Blue and the Friars will play Wednesday-Thursday abroad.  It’s about selling the game further to Pacific Rim fans.

But the 2-game series features some historical matchups, big time pitching, tremendous star-studded batting orders and personalities.  Oh yes, a long time bitter rivalry too.

At 3am-Pacific on Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani makes his debut in Dodger Blue, signing the all time record 700M-free agent contract with LA.  He will be facing fellow Japanese countryman Yu Darvish.  The game features modern day Korean star Ha-Seong Kim .

The Pacific Rim media has gone crazy.  Ohtani is a rock star, every move chronicled on the field.  Darvish is legendary of the many great pitchers who have come from there to here.

MLB has saluted the two of them, for acting as Ambassadors for the game in the two countries..  They have spoken Korean to reporters in that country.  They have taken part in charitable functions.

History between the two baseball fanatical countries, has not always been friendly. Japan dominated the World Baseball Classic early on.  Bitter things were said about the the KBO and the NPB, the two leagues.  A Korean player planted his flag on the mound after a win over Japan in the WBC, leading to an eruption of dislike.

Now the festivities are complete the night before the season opener.  We get back to baseball come Wednesday morning and the newspapers and TV reporters will be filing stories about anything and everything pertaining to the players the games.

Here at home this rivalry won’t swirl aboutJapan vs South Korea but rather age-old arguments.  Compare the players, the positions, and you can decide who you like.

Pitching:  I’ll take the Padres Big 3-starters right now over whom the Dodgers will run out there.  LA will debut newly acquired Tyler Glasnow on the mound.  He’s opposed by Yu Darvish on opening  night.  Japanese rookie Yosh Yamamoto faces off against Joe Musgrove.  The Dodgers will run rookies Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone out there and will have aging veteran James Paxton to fill out the rotation.  The Friars have 3-aces in the rotation right now with the deal that put White Sox ace Dylan Cease in Brown and Gold.  For the front end of the season, I take San Diego starting over LA’s though that likely changes when the Dodgers get Walker Beuhler, Dustin May and maybe Clayton Kershaw back in June-July-August.  EDGE-Padres

Bullpen:  The off season acquisitions mean the Padres have at least 9-experienced arms available, who have all pitched to some degree of success out of that pen.  The Dodgers have experience, but what about the many back end bulpen guys coming off surgical procedures.   How long does Blake Trienen, Joe Kelly hold up?  When is Brusdar Graterol back?  The Padres can run a ton of different guys out there the next 48-hours and the first month of the season.  EDGE-Padres

LINEUP: Easy question. Who you going to pitch around in the Dodgers batting order?  Loaded, a modern days version of the old Yankees’ Murderers row.  In San Diego, there is no Juan Soto scaring people, but the likes of Machado-Tatis-Bogaerts bring credentials.  The big issue will be if the Friars batting order, all of whom had substandard seasons last year, can hit back their lifetime career averages?  When it’s Ohtani-Betts-Freeman-Muncy-Smith-Lux-Outman you have to pitch to, the Friars face a challenge. EDGE: Dodgers

DEFENSE:  A very different makeup right now.  Mookie Betts has never played shortstop in the pros.  Gavin Lux has throwing problems at 2nd base.  Max Muncy is not a good glove guy.   Changing pieces in the outfield too in LA.  Of course not all the same for San Diego.  The rookie comes off a great spring training in centerfield and now we see if Jackson Merrill can hit.  A utilityman in left.  Xander goes to 2nd.  Kim anchors short.  Machado will not play the field to start the season so rookies might wind up at the hot corner early.  EDGE: Equal.

THE RECORD:  Lots of games to be played, but on paper leads me to believe the Dodgers can go (101-61).  The Padres, if they come together and hit back to what they are capable of doing, go (90-72).

Fans have been waiting all winter for this.   Time to watch baseball at 3am on Wednesday.  Play ball.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Monday “MARCH MADNESS IS UPON US”

Posted by on March 18th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“MARCH MADNESS-A MAD BASKETBALL SEASON”
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How do you describe wild, insane, exciting, unpredictable.

All piled into one bin, it’s college basketball in 2024 and fans will see it all beginning this week with the NCAA tourney play in games.

A season led by a monster big man, a huge number of 3-point shooters, and a ton of transfers who have come in and played immediately and won a bunch of games.

How many different number 1-teams were there in the country’s rating this year?  Can you say 7…something we have not seen in a long time.

It’s the farewell year of Purdue C-Zach Erdey, all 24-points a game of him.

It’s the stunning return of UConn as a top seed, with Dan Hurley screaming, yelling, coaching his team back to the top of the polls despite losing 3-top players from last year’s trophy winning team.

It’s the revival tour of Kelvin Washington, and the blisering finish by the Houston Cougars.

it’s the steadiness of Hubie Davis and a cross section of talent at North Carolina.

The explosiveness of everything Richard Pitino runs out on the floor at New Mexico.

It’s a year where 6-Mountain West teams survived the head to head wars they had all year, to get into the tourney.  These six are probably so exhausted from playing each other, beating up each other, they’ll be glad to have to play someone else.

It’s a year with no names like McNeese State, Yale, James Madison are part of the show.

So many fun storylines to follow, so many explosive teams, this will be neat to watch when the play-in games roll out first.

And how about those first round matchups like Gonzaga-vs-McNeese…Utah State-TCU..New Mexico-Clemson…Nevada-vs-Dayton and Boise-Colorado.

Of course we can all look ahead, for a 2nd round battle that might pit the Aztecs-vs-Auburn.

Been a wild season and what happens this week will probably top what we saw all winter long..upsets galore.

And it will be strange too to not see some household names there any longer, UCLA, Syracuse, St. Johns.

March Madness has arrived and it will be maddening.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Friday “AZTECS BASKETBALL-WINNING UGLY”

Posted by on March 15th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“AZTECS HOOPS–LIVING ON BORROWED TIME”
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SDSU basketball does not have to be pretty, as long as it is a win.

And it was in that first game of the Mountain West Conference, this war of attrition with an undermanned UNLV team.

Jaedon LeDee was dazzling in every facet but one, missed free throws, but the All American Aztec carried State on his broad shoulders with a (34P-16R) outing.

State played in spurts, trailing for most of the first half.  The shooting from the floor was horrid, they started (0-8) on 3’s and shot 25% in the opening half.

But you knew things were changing and they did right at the half.  Derrion Trammel hit a long distance 3-at the first half buzzer to set the stage for the turmoil starting the second half.

Trammel rattled home 3-straight threes, Jai Pal hit 4-baskets, and the Aztecs bigs outboarded Vegas (49-30) in roaring back

But like all things Aztecs hoops, you get streaks.  An (12-0) run for State, followed up by a (12-1) Rebels run.  A 10-point lead disappeared when UNLV zoned the Aztecs into the parking lot.

And the historically best defense in the world, kept losing Vegas freshman guard Dedan Thomas, who went off for 29 and nearly hit the game winning basket.

State survived going (15-for-25) at the free throw line.  UNLV could not survive the loss of its starting center with an ankle injury and could stop LeDee who was  banging, grinding all night long.

It only counted as one win, because come Friday night they have to play Utah State in the next round, and that won’t be easy.

It’s been so frustrating  to watch Brian Dutcher’s team.  All those tough losses to Quad 1-teams.  The cold spellsof  shooting that resemble the North Pole in winter.  And wondering who will step up and get consistent to match what LeDee has become, a complete star.

Living on borrowed time-we find out when they play Utah State on Friday.

Of course there is March Madness just ahead and they will be in that tourney too.  Not living on borrowed time because what they have earned going (23-9), but not the same type of teams we saw a year ago.

It was ugly vs UNLV, but it was a win, and that’s all that counts.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “PADRES-WHEELER-DEALER”

Posted by on March 14th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“PADRES–WIN-WIN TRADE?”
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Your General Manager continues to wheel and deal.
It’s part of his addiction, part of his DNA.
AJ Preller, growing up on Long Island, must have collected baseball cards
And made alot of baseball card trades with his classmates.

I’ll give you this Yankee team card for a Mets team card and the bubble gum in the next 3-packs of Topps cards you buy.

Now the Padres have a Big 3-in their starting rotation, with the deal to bring strong armed White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease here, to get the ball after Yu Darvish-Joe Musgrove make their starts.

The cost, top prospect P-Drew Thorpe, P-Jairo iriarte, P-Steven Wilson and prospect OF-Samuel Zavela

Cease comes to San Diego with two years left on his contract and with big time credentials despite the fact the Chisox were not very good.  His stats (43-35)-3.83-ERA with 792K-658 innings.  He is a workhorse.

But there’s more to this transaction than just a 4-for-1 deal.

This deal has to include the acquisitions and then the deal that brought Juan Soto here from Washington and dispatched him to the Yankees this winter.

Preller traded 6-top prospects to get Soto and Josh Bell.  What followed was a disappointing season and then a solid season.  And a sneak preview of what could be an MVP type player.

So the Dylan Cease trade means the Friars dealt a total of 9-players to get the White Sox pitcher, plus those still here from the Yankees, Michael King, Jhony Brito, Randy Vasquez and backup catcher Kyle Higashioka.

9-players out the door, and that included MacKenzie Gore..CJ Abrams..Robert Woods..James Hassell..and Jarlin Susana…plus the 4-headed to the Chisox and Soto..

The Padres don’t have much to show for the two Soto transactions. But in this case, it could be win-win. The Sox got 4-good young players.  Just like the Nationals got 5-quality prospects, most of whom are now foundational players for their future rebuild

The Pades?  Maybe Cease will have a better impact than Soto did in terms of this team getting to post season and staying in post  season.

AJ Preller, trading baseball cards, just like trading his players.  You keep dealing hoping you get the right combo, in your collection or on your roster.

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1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Wednesday. “NFL SPENDING SPREE”

Posted by on March 13th, 2024  •  0 Comments  • 

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“NFL WILD WEEKEND CONTINUES”
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Day 2-of NFL free agency was just as wild as opening day, and teams continued to write big checks to lure players.

And other teams went the trade route to help themselves.

Who made the headlines on Tuesday?

RAVENS…They replace one stud running back with another.  Maybe an upgrade when you swap off Derrick Henry to make up for the loss of Gus Edwards.  Turner probably has 2-good years left in him, and he has a (9,020Y) on his resume of success running the ball in Tennessee.

STEELERS…Pretty good upgrade getting Ravens LB-Patrick Queen.  Steady, physical, smart, a Mike Tomlin type of player.

HOUSTON…Now this has been an off season for the Texans.  They trade for power run back Joe Mixon of the Bengals, and then land Vikings top pass rusher Danielle Hunter in free agency with a (2Y-49M) package.

CAROLINA…They have the QB-Bryce Young and now they have big play people to put around him, trading for spicey Steelers WR-Diontae Johnson, who averaged 18YPC.  They also got Rams big DT-A’Shawn Robinson.

QB MOVES…Virtually all the recognizable passers are now gone.  Marcus Mariota goes to Washington;  Tyrod Taylor, a really serviceable backup, goes to the Jets from the Giants; Remember Drew Lock, ex Broncos-Seattle, he is now Aaron Rodgers’ backup with the Jets;  Jamwis Winston winds up with the Browns; and Sam Darnold will become the starter in Minnesota, which has lost alot of people.

Keeping score at home, thru two days of dealing, 86-players have now changed teams in NFL free agency.  On we go to Wednesday, with more deals to come.

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