1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-WednesdayLee Hamilton

“GULLS HOCKEY-BETTER TIMES ARE COMING-BUT WHEN?”
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Matt McIlvane has begun his 2nd year as coach of the AHL-San Diego Gulls.
His track record as a head coach was spotless, success upon success, in Europe.
Till last year.

The San Diego Gulls, a flagship franchise in the American Hockey League, have known nothing but success.
Wins, playoff games, hot young talent, and huge crowds.
Until the last couple of years.

Culture shock for the coach and for the franchise.
McIlvane knew nothing but wins and playoff titles with Team Red Bull in the German pro league.
Last year he experienced a 13-game winless streak to start the season (0-10-3)

The Gulls have labored thru a talent-less roster two years running because of the NHL-parent Anaheim Ducks.
Gone were the wins and the massive AHL crowds, that many weekend nights when they drew 11-12,000 fans a night.
Replaced by crowds of 4,500 and plenty of empty seats and losing nights.

How bad has it been?

The Gulls last two winters have gone a combined (46-84-14).  Think about that.  A marquee top farmclub in the AHL
winning just 46-of-134 games.

Like-father-like son.

The parent Ducks, a long time ago won the Stanley Cup in 2006.  The last 4-years, Anaheim has gone (98-164-40).  Try
that number on for size, 98-wins in 242-games -played.

The fun loving nights of Gulls hockey brought fans a chance to see NHL stars of the future, like goalie John Gibson, defenseman Brandon Montour, Shea Theodore, and goal scorers like Nick Ritchie, Troy Terry and Max Comtois.  That was then, this is now.

No argument that the role of the Gulls is to develop young talent to ship up the road to the Ducks, but the new leadership of GM-Pat Verbeek took all the prospects up top, force fed them, and lost and lost and lost.

The Anaheim roster is loaded with young skaters.  You wish the fans here could have seen the likes of Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov, Jacksoh LaCombe, Trevor Zegras, Mason McTavish or the since traded Jamie Drysdale.

There will be no sighting of this year’s lst round pick Beckett Senneke, who signed an entry level contract, but was sent back to junior hockey, or the college hockey phenom Cutter Gauthier who came in a trade with the Flyers, who is wearing Ducks-Orange to start the season.

Maybe there is hope.  McIlvane took last year’s horrid start, and reinvented the team, nearly getting them back to the .500-mark before they faded.

This year’s roster features some young credentialed rookie talent.  50-goal scoring junior Yegor Sidorov, college hockey star Sam Colangelo from Western Michigan,  young goalie Callie Clang, and wide body defenseman Noah Warren, will wear Gulls colors for their first home game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Ducks have sent in 5-AHL veteran players to help stabilize the roster, led by 7-year AHL veteran goalie Omar Dansk.  They signed veteran AHL-defensemen Dillon Heatherington and Rollie McKeown, plus former San Jose Shark Ryan Carpenter and veterans Carson Meyer and Janson Hankins.

They have added 2-former NHL players to work on McIlvane’s coaching staff.

The schedule is brutal…7-of the first 8-games on the road…and a team that plays just 3-home games in the first 35-days of the AHL season.

The Ducks priority is to bring back the days of Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, JS Giguere and the Niedemeyer brothers mode of winning.  Lost in the blueprint is what they have allowed a once successful AHL franchise to become, something sinking in the Pacific.

Only time will tell how good the young talent on the Gulls roster is.  Only time will tell if the phone rings , and the caller ID reads Area Code 949-meaning the Ducks are calling to take the best players up to the NHL.

New year, new hopes, but some bad recent history that needs to change.  Friday night at Pechanga is the preview of hopefully better nights ahead.

Coach Matt McIlvane, former teacher and optimist, is ready for the challenge.
Better times have to come-we just don’t know when.
He stood on the firing line answering my Gulls-Ducks questions:
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WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN THRU THE ROOKIE CAMP AND TRAINING CAMP?

Alot of energy and enthusiasm..
Guys come from rookie camp and main camp
So need to blend everything together
Players come from Ducks veteran camp are in high gear
We have intensity workouts now
Teach them hi tempo-and be aggressive
Group is exciting
Young veterans will get leadership roles
Giant group of 2nd year players
Objective-make sure we get guys game ready for callups to Anaheim

HOW HARD WAS LAST YEAR?

Culture shock…I was ready for adjustment and transition moving to the AHL
Not ready to have 13 losses in a row
Part of it-realzing how young we were..how much had to learn
Became wiser during the season
Battling back to .500 to get plus 11-over .500 was rewarding
We had alot of 1-goal losses-no one saw progress made-I did.

HOW DIFFERENT IS THE AHL FROM EUROPE?

Young AHL  rosters everywhere..becomes a teaching league
Identity in Europe is developing players in our academy and bring them along
We had 14-young players last year on Gulls roster
Huge emphiasas on learning and development and that’s hard
Need different tone with young players on your roster
Show what performance looks like

Veteran AHL guys coming here important jobs to do
Proud 20-point different in standings from last year to the year prior
Get kids playoffs experience is huge in development-have to learn what next level is
Take a look at veteran players-want them to stabilize the team, and the room

WHAT IS TEAM CHEMISTRY LIKE IN THE AHL?

Giant emphasis on leadership with new vetrans who have AHL experience and have won
Perform on the ice and also bring young guys along
Teach them what it is like to be a pro hockey player
Goal is to get kids to Anaheim

WHAT IS THE LEARNING CURVE LIKE?

Young goalies..face giant step away from college-junior hockey
They were all best players on their teams..not so here-not in first year as a pro
Deal with adversity never dealt with before
Learning to play against men is hard-must learn to be consistent

Young players..each has an individualzied leartning curve..No 1-size fits all.
College hockey guys…played a smaller schedule…
Junior hockey players played more density games…

ADDING TWO NHL VETERANS AS ASSISTANTS?

Dave Barr..Brett Hedigan..want to surround our players with best help possible
Barr coached all over the world-knows how to blend players from all backgrounds
Brett played over 1000 games in career
For me-trying to learn and grow..they have different and more experience

THE LINK TO THE DUCKS?

Ducks rebuild goes on…I do not sdee it as hard….it is opportunnity
So much fun to see influx of youth-you see potential up there and hopefully down here
Some were ready to jump to NHL immediately
Alot of guys had to dip toes into AHL and learn
In San Diego that takes time

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“AZTECS FOOTBALL-MID YEAR REPORT”
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They are (3-3) to start the first season of new Coach Sean Lewis.
Up ahead, the teeth of the schedule, real people
.
They come off the bye week and play Washington State-Boise and UNLV over a 4-week period.

The Aztecs offense is work in progress.  The defense has carried the team.
The metrics show a hot-cold offense.  The other side of the ball has been borderline spectacular.

Lewis’ offense is averaging just (307YPG);  Hard to believe the team has just 7-TD passes in 6-games.  the offense has just 13-TDs for the season.

The QBs are completing just 59% of their passes.  Hard to believe too, just a 33%-conversion rate on 3rd downs, and a time of possession of just 26-minutes per Saturday.

They don’t turn it over, and that is huge.

That other side of the ball, the defense, 25-sacks, 9-takeaways and 42-tackles for losses. Thank goodness for that.

Lewis had lots to say about a mid season evaluation of the team, but he did not want to rate his team.

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Good road win..2-0 in conference play
Bye week gives us opportunity to get better
We met with adversity in Wyoming..guys responded to it
Special teams have really grown us

Mekhi Shaw helped us alot
Nate Bennettt embracing roles here

Coaching rates passing grade
Not as close as to where we need to be on offense
Not willing to grade team right now
Nowhere’s near where we need to be
My scoring system..is above 50-it’s an A
If it’s above 40-it’s a B
If it’s above 30-it’s a C-only a passing grade
We have had just 1-game with a passing grade
Nowhere near the grade we want

Most impressed with resiliency of the club
Slow starts..injuries..working our way thru
Most disappointed..nothing

Most challenging-learn verbiage of a new system..not many unique situations..become familiar with nuance of language of playcalls
Players come from everywhere..plays they ran might have been called an orange
Here we call it an apple
Have to get adjusted to the different verbiage

Danny O’Neill more confident-getting used to the passing windows-speed of game

Tre White-leads the nation in sacks
Has taken huge jump
You never know about kids-surprises everyday
We had inkling of his obsession
Process and patterns of behaviours-you could see that
Practice habits great
Players selected him as a captain..his rep-cred is there

Our veterans share room with young players
Jordan Napier is showing results from growth..learned alot from Poke
Teammates help him grow
Embraces work-no shortcuts to get it done..he knows it now

Marquez Cooper-carried workload and volume
Plays best ball in 4th quarter
Need to spread some of those carries to other guys
He has good sense of clock management-understand situations
Not use other players right now-do not want to slow down the tempo

WR group-grow 2nd-3rd-4th receivers
Polk-Napier provide value now at midseason
We have so many offensive weapons to come together
Marry it all together -we see flashes

Win at Wyoming is important step..earn road victory
Check the boxes-go do that at altitude
Wyoming not easy place to win..allows us to take the next step

Chunk plays will come with consistency in their plays
WRs need to know where release point is coming off line
WRs learning route trees and what to do with option routes
Nate Bennett did all things come together his big plays.

Offensive line grow..need do basics at higher level

Our breakdowns not complex..need execute fundamentals at high level
Drives go 75-yards..rythm and sync..but next series not there yet
We have had to work thru injuries and musical chairs upfront
Not strong at level one-nothing else goes
Young players need to identify what they have to do
More reps-more intentional focus for each player

Players need to obsess about the details of their craft..QB-OL-WR-how read it
Want sense immediacy
We see ‘ah-ha’ moment for these kids

Defense doing a great job…
Turnovers-tackles for losses-sacks
We need to limit explosive plays..those plays counts
As year goes along-they dig in..holding people to explosive plays
Special teams doing special job-punting-pin people deep territory

Next 6-games..we need to close talent gap with teams coming up
The conference-great league
Handled things right today..so tomorrow is better

Unique having 2-bye weeks-like 2-minicamps
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“PADRES = AUTOPSY
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Today doesn’t feel any better than Sunday, nor Saturday, nor Friday night.

The Padres should have been playing the New York Mets in Game 1-of the NLCS.

Instead they were like you and me, watching it on TV.

It was a great season that ended in great disappointment.
To use an old baseball term, ‘so close but yet so far’.
Invoking another thought, ‘good pitching beats good hitting’.

A summer of fun watching-covering-talking-writing Padres baseball.
All that ended because of a Wednesday night decision and Friday failure.

What an electric series, the Friars-vs-Dodgers Blue.
Tension filled-playoff hate
Home Run robbing over the fence catches
Bean Balls
Finger pointing
Temper Tantrums
F Bombs in the Dugout
Strikeouts
HR Moonshots
Trash Talking
Bullpen days
Managerial gambles
Fans throwing balls-debris and abuse at players
Triple Play

What an empty feeling on Sunday night, what a lost opportunity for a Padres team that was a complete roster of stars, role players and across the board quality pitching.

I could have never guessed the Dodgers, down 2-1 in the series, could win with a bullpen day.  Could get the kind of quality work out of Japanese rookie Yosh Yamamoto.  That a utilityman Keke Hernandez would be a difference maker.  That they could win when Shohei Ohtani would hit (.200) in the series.  That they could survive the ongoing injury issues with Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas.

And for the first time in a long time, Dave Roberts would hit the right ‘hot buttons’ on use of his relievers, using analytics to create the matchups that would get them the playoff series.

Equally stunning what happened to the Padres.  The MLB league leading team, that hit (.263) all year, would bat (.145) in the final two games, those (8-0), (2-0) shutouts.

That with RISP, San Diego would hit (.182).
That this lineup full of bats would go scoreless in 24-straight innings.

NL-hitting champ Luis Arraez finished with a (.182) average for the series.
The middle of the batting order (Profar-Machado-Merrill) finished (.179)

I don’t want to hear anything from Machado about the ‘back of my baseball card’ after his swing and miss (4-21) stretch when his team needed him the most

Gruesome to see the final game of the series with Dodgers pitchers retiring  19-Padres batters in a row, in what looked like Friars going to the plate with white flags rather than bats.

And I remain convinced that Mike Schildt was magnificent making decisions and changing the chemistry all year, but in the most important time of the year, a fatal choice, sending P-Dylan Cease out to the mound with 3-days rest, knowing he had never pitched in that structure in his career.  And the choice came days after he struggled thru an 82-pitch outing  and got knocked out by LA

End result a bad loss in game-four, forcing game-five in LA, and we know that end result, despite Yu Darvish’s heroics on the mound.  That Game 4-decision haunts you heading into the off season.

And sadly, the Friars now face tough economic decisions going to the off season.  Prices on Arraez-Cease-Merrill will rocket up.  Ha Seong-Kim’s price tag goes up as he opts out to go on the open market.  And with guarantees, the Padres payroll may jump from (169M) to (231M).  Asking- will ownership allow a bump up like that again?

A lost opportunity this past week.  Maybe a once in a lifetime chance for this group to get to the Fall Classic, for changes are likely coming, and a team is never the same one year to the next.

Damn, I have to hear all this talk this week, which is the best World Series matchup, Ohtani-vs-Judge..or a Subway Series (Mets-Yankees)?

Great season finishes as a Great disappointment to end to the season.

An autopsy I never expected to have to write.

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“DECISIONS-EVERYONE HAS DECISIONS”
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A big weekend ahead for alot of teams.
And big decisions to be made too.

PADRES…Yu Darvish has a history of success against the Dodgers, 17-games in his career with a (2.35-ERA)..Big issue how to pitch to Ohtani-Betts-Freeman atop the batting order.

DODGERS..Very simple but very tough call.  Do you start a combo of Yosh Yomamoto-Jack Flaherty, or do you go with another ‘Bullpen Day’ considering the 8-pitchers used in the (8-0) Wednesday win had pretty much stress free outings?  And if it is a bullpen day, what order do you use this time?

DAVE ROBERTS…If this does not end in a Friday night Dodgers win, does Dave Roberts survive, considering the past three opening round defeats they have had?  The outcry of ‘fire him’ is still out there from all the past historical post season failures under his reign.

CHARGERS..Justin Herbert will start, but how long does his battered offensive line hold up and isn’t it about time somebody from that wide receiver group step up and make plays down the field?  The offense cannot survive alone on slot WR-Ladd McConkey and his yards after catch.

DENVER..Bo Nix is getting better, week-by-week, but now he faces a big time blitz package.  But the game is in Denver and the Broncos play strong defense, run the ball better and Nix has stopped making mistakes.  Big game for both teams.

RAIDERS NATION..What a mess, at quarterback, with the Davante Adams injury-request to be traded, a battered defensive front, and a loudmouth coach who keeps spewing junk, as if the Raiders have won anything recently.

RAMS WON’T LOSE..Not this week at least, because it’s a bye week.  Sean McVay does not have enough help for QB-Matthew Stafford with all these injuries.

USC..Do like the fire in the belly of QB-Miller Moss and the toughness of RB-Woody Marks, but the Trojans defense isn’t playing very well and here comes Penn State’s toughness on defense and in the run game, and productive QB-Drew Allar.  Might be the beginning of a long season if Lincoln Riley’s guys cannot win this home game.

UCLA..Not much offense, a young quarterback, no longer a tough defense.  What a bad combination and now they face a Minnesota team in another Big 10-game.  Can you say (1-5) by Saturday night?

AZTECS..Making progress, and another win gets them to the (.500) mark, but then the schedule gets tougher after this road trip to Laramie to face a skidding Wyoming Cowboys team.

USD..Lost in everything going on in San Diego is the good job Brandon Moore has done guiding the Toreros back to playing good football.  QB-Grant Sargent competes and throws TDs.  The defense takes the ball away…but they play another 1AA team this weekend..
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“BASEBALL ON FRIDAY”
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The Dodgers gambled and it worked.
The Padres gambled and it blew up in their face.

Let me be the first in the morning to 2nd guess what the managers did.

And now this, there will be a Dodgers-Padres fifth and deciding game on Friday, after LA posted a lopsided win that silenced the 47,000-crowd and sends this series back to Chavez Ravine and the Dodgers crazies.

Mike Schildt has been brilliant this entire season.  But not on Wednesday night.

He started Dylan Cease on 3-days rest, the first time ever in his career, and he detonated like a bomb.

Item one, Cease threw 82-pitches and struggled in his last start against the Dodgers, then fell apart early in this start.

Item two, the Friars had a rested Martin Perez to start what could have been an insurance game for the team.  He has pitched pretty well since coming over in the trade deadline deal.  Why not use him, and then if forced, turn it into a bullpen day?

Even if you lost, you would have a rested Cease ready for that 5th game come Friday.  Now with Cease getting belted, in the 5th game on Friday, you now have to ask Yu Darvish to pitch on short rest in LA, and who know how Darvish copes when you change a pitcher’s routine.

Interesting storylines, Darvish-Yosh Yamamoto-Shohei Ohtani coming Friday.

Bad call though by Schildt.

For Dave Roberts, I thought bullpen day would spell trouble, considering all the problems Roberts has had with pitching in the postseason for years.

He pulled Ryan Brasier in the 2nd inning.  He went to his closer Michael Kopech early.  Ditto the same with Evan Phillip, guys you would bet on late in games.
For Roberts, he got some matchups he wanted and he found outs, but the use of his closers so early was strange.

The top of the Dodgers batting order ran roughshod in the game, getting on base 8-times, surely making a difference too.

It only counts as one win, but it prolongs the LA season into Friday night, where a rested Yosh Yamamoto will get the start, while the Padres will go with a starter on short rest again.

Hate to think this one Schildt decision could impact-end the Padres season.  It ended an (8-0) win, with 8-bullpen pitchers surviving and LA smacking 3-bombs.  You think to yourself, why was this allowed to happen?

There will be baseball on Friday night.  Winner then moves on, somebody goes home a loser.

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