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“Game On—The NHL Is Back”

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It’s the opening weekend of the NHL season, and it seems it was just days ago the surprising St Louis Blues were hoisting the Stanley Cup, upon completing their rise from last place to the Center Ice Cup presenation.

Lots of new faces in new places.  A look at Hockey Storylines on opening night.

KINGS….GM Rob Blake has his hands full.  Lots of age, lots of big contracts, lots of problems.  Anzi Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Drew Doughty, Jon Quick.  That’s it, that’s the core of this roster.  Stuck with bad contracts for aging players Dustin Brown and Ilya Kovalchuk, and with a lot of plug-in players across the rest of the roster, this might not be enough for a good season.  Who is going to score goals?  They had just 2-players pot more than 20-goals last season.  And the new goal scorers they brought in, Russian-Nik Prokhorkin and junior star Jarret Dolan, have already been dispatched to the AHL.  And the defense was poor all year too.  What a challenge for incoming coach Todd McLellan.

DUCKS..A team in transition is what new coach Dallas Eakins inherits.  He has a team that didn’t score goals last year, just 1-20-goal scorer.  They have star goalie John Gibson, captain Ryan Getzlaf, and the foreign legion led by Jakob Silfverberg and Rikard Rakell.  They won’t have the leadership though of Ryan Kesler, veteran wing Corey Perry, or Patrick Eaves, gone by virtue of injury-illness-free agency.  What they do have will be 5-high draft picks, all who played well for the San Diego Gulls.  We now await the jump of Troy Terry, Sam Steele, Max Jones, Maxime Comtois and Issac Lundestrom.  All made the opening night roster.  Are any of them ready for the NHL?  Gone are 3-other young defenseman many thought would be the foundation of the team going forward.  They traded away Shea Theodore, Brandon Montour and Marcus Pettersson.

Around the  NHL, plenty of storylines to watch from the teams who will be in the playoff hunt:

BLUES…Vlad Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly and rookie goalie Jordan Binnington are the stars, but the team chemistry was what got them to raise the Stanley Cup.  They added blue liner Justin Faulk to the group.  A 1-year fluke or a really good team coming together?

TAMPA BAY…Scored all those goals last year then got run out of the playoffs in the opening round.  Lots of firepower in Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov-Brayden Point-Tyler Johnson and now they add Patrick Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk.  They are on a mission.

TORONTO…Time to win, since it’s only been 1967 when the richest team in hockey won the Cup.  Mitch Marner-John Tavares-Auston Matthews lead a brigade of goal scorers.  Added to the defense, Tyson Barrie and a full year out of ex-King Jake Muzzin.  This could-should be their year.

SAN JOSE…The era should not be over, for they look to be the complete team.  A healthy year from Erik Karlsson is a must, but they are rock solid with Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture, Timo Meier and Brent Burns.  Gone however is sniper Joe Pavelski and winger Gavin Nyquist and their 50-goals. A cup finalist, definitely.

DALLAS…They had goal scorers last year and now they add gifted veteran Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry.  Last year goalie Ben Bishop was brilliant…can he repeat?  The Stars could be there too.

LAS VEGAS…The core group is ready for year three, and they have goal scoring and veteran goalie Marc Andre Fleury still together.  Now they get Mark Stone for a full season to make a difference.  A thin line between very good and great.

NASHVILLE…All they do is win, though last year was a bit of a setback.  Now they add high priced goal scorer Matt Duchene.  The Predators are in the mix.

BOSTON…Really good, really gritty but starting to stockpile a lot of age and miles on their scoring lines.  Ten guys who scored double digit in goals.

CAROLINA…They battled to keep young goal scorer Sebastian Aho, have snipers and defense, but you wonder about goaltending?

COLORADO…They’ve been building for sure, and they bring in feisty Name Kadre, from the Leafs,  and rookie 1st round pick Cole Makar to add something to the Nathan McKinnon led team.  Goalie Philip Grubauer takes over between the pipes.

CALGARY…The Flames have firepower with Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Matt Tkachuk, Matt Giordano.  Now we see if old dog veteran Milan Lucic can find the fountain of youth and contribute goals and toughness.

EDMONTON…So much talent around Connor McDavid, but the Oilers just have not won.  Veterans James Neal and Markus Granlund come on board to see if they can push this team deep into the playoffs.   They need steady goaltending and they have not had that recently.

NY RANGERS…They won the off season bidding war for free agent Artemi Panarin, and they have the 1st round pick Kaapo Kakko on the number one line, and they signed free agent D-Jacob Trouba.  Could be good rather than be an underachiever.

PITTSBURGH…Hard to believe any team that has Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin upfront would be struggling to make the playoffs.  But the Penguins have salary cap and depth problems.

CHICAGO…Such a good run with all those Stanley Cup rings, but they got old and have not added much.  Toews-Kane and Crawford are all that are left from the glory years.

WASHINGTON…Tough year last year for Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Kuznetsov, getting ousted from the postseason.  The top six goal scorers and top four defenseman are back, as is goalie Brayden Holtby.  Can they bounce back?

WINNIPEG….They solved the contract mess with Patrick Laine and Kyle Connor, but the cap issues and personal problems have cost them four defenseman, including Dustin Byfuglien.  This is a team at a crossroads.

ARIZONA…Young team of unknowns, now adds veteran goal scorer Phil Kessel to the roster.  Might make a playoff push.

MONTREAL…The Habs have been building, but the health of goalie Carey Price will likely be the difference between being in or out of the playoffs, after a near miss last year.

NEW JERSEY…The Devils had the busiest off season of all, adding hot draft pick Jack Hughes, trading for defender PK Subban, and gritty free agent Wayne Simmonds.  Waiting in the weeds out there at the Meadowlands, this team bears watching.

VANCOUVER…Spent big money a year after the Sedin twins retired.  Three great young players upfront in Elias Peterson, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat.  Now we see if JT Miller-Michael Ferland-Tyler Myers-Jordie Benn make a difference.

NY ISLANDERS…A superb season with a group of unknowns last year, as Barry Trotz’s team outworked everyone, but they did not add much in the off season, and likely won’t ambush anyone this winter. But a group of hard-workers for sure.

BUFFALO…Jeff Skinner and Jack Eichel scored goals, but did not have enough around them.  We see if all these young draft picks, led by Rasmus Dahlin and Rasmus Ristolainen are ready to be stars.

MINNESOTA…Too much front office turmoil, and doubts about old school coach Bruce Boudreau.  Who knows about Zach Parise-Ryan Sutter and friends.

PHILADELPHIA…The Flyers have a star in the making in goalie Carter Hart, and they have people to put the puck in the net, in Courterier, Vorachek and Giroux, but do they have enough? It has been a strange struggle over the past couple of seasons.

COLUMBUS…Coach John Tortorella doesn’t like losing, so you can imagine his demeanor after watching three top free agents exit I big money deals.  His favorite phrase ‘are you all in’…..now replaced by ‘they’re all gone’.

DETROIT…Made the Wings famous by mining Europe for all those years, but now everyone goes there.  The best player might be their GM-Steve Yzerman, so that’s not good.

FLORIDA…Mediocre was not very good, so they bought themselves a big time goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky.  New coach Joel Quenneville inherits high scoring Aleksander Barkov and three other snipers, but he will have to mandate better play from his defense infront of that new goalie.

OTTAWA…New coach DJ Smith comes in with a very young roster.  The rebuild is going to take time.  Pity the heart and soul of the team, goalie Craig Anderson.  You wonder how long it is before Owner Eugene Melynk sells the team.  It’s never been the same since the passing of GM-Coach Bryan Murray.

Drop the puck, let’s go play….Game On !

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“Charters–No Luck-Bad Luck”

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If they didn’t have bad luck, they would have no luck at all.

The NFL injury report for the coming weekend goes are due out on Wednesday, and you wonder how much longer this can go on.

Philip Rivers is still standing at quarterback for the Chargers, but finding enough healthy people to put around him remains a challenge week-by-week.

The Bolts get a winless(0-4) Denver Broncos team this weekend at home, but you just wonder how many more injuries this team can take before it all collapses around them?

The siege of major injuries started in preseason camp, with the revelation of the blood clots plaguing LT-Russell Okung.  Season threatening, it has now become career threatening, as to whether will ever play again.

Then FS-Derwin James went down with a fractured foot, necessitating surgery, that will keep him out till at least week eight, if not the rest of the season.

Starting corner Trevor Williams never got healthy in camp from knee problems, and is gone on season ending IR.

Safety Adrian Phillips, their top nickel back, is gone with a broken forearm.

And oft injured LB-Denzel Perryman is hurt again, this time with a concussion.

His running mate, fellow LB-Jatavis Brown, can’t stay on the field. This time, anon going ankle injury.

Rookie safety Nassir Adderly, the second round draft pick, got hurt in OTA workouts, is just back, but yet to crack tq play with any regularity.

All that on the defensive side of the football.

And now the injury bug has gone across the hallway into the meeting rooms of the offense.

Hunter Henry, the young star TE, cannot get out from the injury clouds that have impacted his career.  A fractured kneecap will take him out till mid season, if not longer.

His backup Virgil Green has been dry docked for weeks with a groin.

And now the third TE in the group, Sean Caulkins, is gone with a ruptured Achilles, on a fluke play, going down untouched after catching a pass, turning up field and then going down.

Mike Williams had a knee injury and now a back injury, and just cannot stay on the field.

The third wide receiver Travis Benjamin has another nagging injury for the their year in a row, this a hip pointer.

Veteran journeyman WR-Donnie Inman came here, caught a few passesandnow has a quad injury.

The young power running back Justin Jackson, productive in cameo appearances, is down with a calf injury, things that do not heal quickly.

And who knows when we will see kicker Michael Badgley, groin injuries being what they are, slow to heal..

Add it up, and that’ 16- significant injuries, and we are just four games into the 2019 NFL season.

The Bolts are losing a quality player a week, and there just aren’t enough players around to step up and replace those going down.

They are struggling to find the right mix of “43” players to suit up on game day.

Here comes Denver, and their season is going down the drain too, with lots of ailing players.

Just think of the body bag count with the Chargers, and think of the absurdity of the new proposal made by the owners to the Union, increasing the schedule to 17-games next year.  Does anybody think this is a good idea?

The Chargers can’t, shouldn’t, and likely won’t support that move.  But money talks, and people walk, and change their votes.  The added dollars to each club can’t on the field and play.

The Bolts have the teeth of the schedule ahead of them yet.  You wonder when the weight of the injuries, will cause the team to fall down completely.

If the Chargers didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all.

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“Baseball’s Wild Season”

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Baseball’s 2019 season will go down as bizarre.

 

The question now, can Baseball’s 2nd season, the post season, top the regular season?

 

Things happened here you would have never expected.

 

4-teams won over 100-games.  4-teams lost over 100-games.

 

The Houston Astros continued their fabulous five year run of star powered baseball, grabbing 107-wins.  The Dodgers made it 7-straight first place finishes, doing what no Dodgers team ever did before, winning 106-games, surpassing the record originally set in 1953 in Brooklyn.  The Yankees, who spent most of the year without their star players on the disabled list, put together an incredible 103-win campaign.  And the lowly Minnesota Twins arose from the abyss, to get 101-victories this year.

 

At the bottom of the standings, there was lots of bad baseball.  The Tigers finished with a horrifying 114-losses.  The Orioles plunge took them to another hundred loss season, this one worth 108-losses.  Miami’s Marlins wound up losing 105.  And Kansas City plunged back got the norm, with a 103-loss campaign.

 

Some of baseball’e elite failed to get back to postseason.  The former World Series champion Cubs did not make the playoffs.  Ditto for the staggering Red Sox, who wasn’t play games in October.  Cleveland, for all its small market success, missed by 1-game getting into post season.  And Colorado, its pitching staff destroyed, failed to get to postseason.

 

What a year for records.  An all time high (6,776) home runs were knocked out of the park this summer, busting last year’s home run high record.

 

The Twins and Yankees both set records, crashing 307-and-306 home runs this year.

The woeful Orioles pitching staff erased the record book, with the Birds hurlers allowing a record 305-bombs.

Mets phenom Pete Alonso set a rookie record, hitting 53-bombs, making people forget Aaron Judge.

 

The games were wild, the crowds disappointing as MLB finished with its lowest attendance in 16-years, drawing 68.4M fans to MLB stadiums.  In fact baseball ticket sales plunged, dropping 14% from the high set in 2007.

 

The attempts by Commissioner Rob Manfred to speed up the game have failed.  Last yar games lasted 3-hours even.  This year, with home run balls, pitching changes, and lots of big innings, games went (3:05:35), much to the chagrin of baseball leadership.

 

The playoffs now open, with teams with loaded pitching staffs.  The Astros trio of Justin Verlander-Zach Grienke and Garrett Cole, had a combined record of (59-16).  Pick your poison, you want to have them beat you to death with their batting order, or just strike you out inning-by-inning…with Verlander and Cole combined for 626-K’s this season.

The Dodgers front three starters, Clayton Kershaw-Hyun Jin-Ryu and Walker Beuhler went a combined  (44-14), and they have a batting order and a bench that wears you out.

The Twins earned accolades for an amazing season.  No one gave much credit, but that was another 90 win season by the small market Athletics.  Low budget Tampa Bay is back with its small payroll, and even fewer recognizable names.

Yankees baseball could ber about hitters hammering homers, but it’s also about a depleted-inquired-starting rotation trying to stay afloat.

Milwaukee survived the loss of Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun to get a wildcard spot.  Washington overcame a horrible start to earn a chance in a wildcard game.

St. Louis hasn’t been what it was in the past decade, but still good enough to get back to postseason.  Atlanta was red-hot but not right now, and a bit banged up too.

We’ll see what the playoffs bring starting with the the Tuesday night wildcard games.

A bizarre season will get better now that all the really good teams are ready to square off.

Prepare for a wild ride again.

So despite the good-the bad-the ugly of a regular season, we now embark on the best time of the baseball year, the post season.

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“Monday Morning Memos”

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Take a memo to the teams in town.

PADRES….There has been a lot of bad baseball played here over the decades of the Friars, but more than anything else, has there ever been such a bad letdown as we have just experienced.  The sad-sack season, the one the started with great expectation is over, and how big a disappointment was this?  Last place baseball, big money players who became underachievers, too many kid pitchers all on the roster at the same time.  The manager lost his job, the coachi9ng staff will likely be the next to go, and major decisions away when it comes time to post the 40-man protected list for the Winter Meetings.  There will be changes, have to be on this roster.  You wonder whom they hire as manager next.  I would have never ever believed, after all the signings of talent, the ranking of the farm system, that this team would wind up in last place, but that’s what happened by season’s end.  15-losses in the final 17-games.  Discouraging to say the least.

CHARGERS..The record stands at (2-2),but the Bolts have not played a quality 4-quarters of football yet.  Sunday’s game saw Miami rise up to the challenge and put a scare into the Chargers for at least a half, and had Miami not committed 4-self destructive major penalties in the first half, they might well have had the lead, and kept the lead.  Lots of football to be played, Melvin Gordon will likely play next week, but the injury toll on the roster keeps climbing.  Seven starters missed practice this past week leading into the Miami game, and 3-more starters suffered injuries win the win over the Dolphins.  Oh by the way, they start playing real people, real quick on this schedule.

AZTECS…SDSU football comes off the bye week and moves back into conference play next weekend at Colorado State.  SDSU is (3-1), but is coming off the surprise loss to Utah State.  The bigger surprise story is how many Mountain West teams have posted wins over Power 5-Conference schools this early season.  Keeping the Aztecs healthy will be the difference maker between a strong bounce back season, or another disappointment.

AZTECS…Pre season basketball practice has begun, but nothing feels the same up on the Mesa.  All the skill talent of the past couple of years are gone, missing the NCAA tourney again was a disappointment, and there are empty seats lots of places in Viejas Arena.  There will be a truckload of transfers on the floor this year, and it remains to be seen how quickly they all jell.  You get the sense the program has slipped off the town’s radar, for the buzz is gone.

USD…The tiny, yet very successful 1-AA program, continues to be a power in the Pioneer Conference.  In what was supposed to be a rebuilding season at the skill position, the Toreros appear to have a gem in senior QB-Reed Stinnett, who waited his turn.  His numbers thru the first month of the season are impressive, and if he throws the ball the next 6-weeks like he did the first 3-weeks, this could be a playoff team again.

USD…That was a nice run they had in basketball thanks to the transfer Isaiah Pinero and others.  Now Pinero is headed to the Sacramento Kings-NBA camp, and four starters in all are gone.  Big challenge for the coaching staff to find the next wave of talent to keep this team on the radar in the West Coast Conference.

GULLS…A do-over, a rebuild, a new look coming to the AHL team.  At last check 9-key players from last year’s team have departed.  Some will be with the parent NHL-Ducks in Anaheim, a number have moved on to other NHL teams.  New coach Kevin Dineen will almost be starting from square one, compared to what former coach Dallas Eakins had to work with, all those high draft picks the Ducks selected.  Too early to say it will be a long season, but it will. be a different season for sure.

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“Padres–Disappointments Never End”

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It’s almost over, the conclusion of another disappointing summer.

Not the hot-humid  weather that has engulfed San Diego on a yearly basis for the last decade or so, but rather, another disappointing non playoff summer for the Pades, that has now reached over a decade in a row..

They are not going to finish (81-81) as I had projected in the spring.  Instead we are on the brink of another 90-loss season, and 90-losses is 90-losses, regardless of how many promising young pitchers the Padres have unveiled this summer.

Progress, yes some with this franchise, especially the flashes on the mound.  Despite all the high ERAs they take with them on this final weekend of the season, there have been a lot more good outings than there have been bad innings for all those young arms.

Compare San Diego to the awful set of stats compiled by the Orioles or Royals or Tigers pitching staffs, and you have to have a positive feeling about going forward.

The recovery from Tommy John surgery by Garrett Richards and Dinelson Lamet means the Padres could have as many as 9-potential starters by he time they go to the Cactus League next February.  That plus the group of 100mph relievers who learned on the job thru good and bad outings in the bullpen.

But the feel good segments of the season are off set by the failures of the highest paid players in the everyday lineup.

Not so much Eric Hosmer, who had a solid bounce back season after his 2018 disappointment.  Of course the real story is who and what Fernando Tatis became till he went down with a back injury.  All that from someone just over 20-years of age.

But if you look at the other established players, you have to be upset, disappointed, maybe even resentful.

Manny Machado faded so badly the second half of the season, it was stunning.  He didn’t look like the same player we saw in the first 3-months.  For someone making 30M a year, he did not display very much fire.

Heading into the past Dodgers series, Machardo was hitting (.191) since August 1st.  Quit being excited about his 30-home run season, what about this (33-172) slide, fraught with strikeouts, and an apparent devil-may-care attitude around the plate.  Add to that, this apparent lack of emotional leadership in the clubhouse, and you ask was he really worth a 10Y-300M deal

Baltimore beat writers didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about his Camden Yard stay, not so much the stats, but the person.  Just think, the Padres have 9-more years of this to come.

Slump ridden Will Myers, about to embark on a 20M per year payday starting next spring, has given the Padres 2-and-a half summer of streakiness.  He’s never been the same guy as the one who slugged his way to the All Star Game at Petco Park a couple of summers ago.

He doesn’t have a lot of fire in his belly.  He doesn’t have a lot of consistent defensive play to deliver either.  And as we entered this Padres-Dodgers final series at home, Myers was hitting (.211) over the last 3-and-a half months.

So tell me how this number (20M) per yer looks next to these numbers (29-for-135) since June 17th.  That’s what Myers wears around his neck heading to the off season.

Hunter Renfroe looked as if he arrived at mid-summer, his defensive play sparkling, his average up, and his home runs.  And then it all stopped.  Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was this nagging ankle injury, maybe they pitched around him.  Since July 1st, Renfroe has a (.181) mark, with his name next to the line that reads (35-for-193).

Austin Hedges, a Gold Glove catcher with bat full of holes, has a (.179) batting average for the season.

Once promising Manny Margot has a (.236) mark.  Supposed super utility man man Ian Kindler was hitting (.217) before he got hurt.

I don’t know how you can expect to vault to a wild card status team next season if you bring the same cast of characters back en-masse.  You are not dealing Machado.  I doubt anyone wants Myers and his impending contract.  Maybe Hedges becomes a decent bargaining chip.  Everybody has utility men, no one needs Kinsler.

And to complicate it all, the Padres do have a lot of players they must account for when they have to turn their 40-man winter roster in.  They have 61-veteran players and another 10-hot prospects that must be accounted for.

So while they celebrate fan attendance that bumped up to 2.3M this year, and the fun that Don Orsillo and Mud Grant had nightly on TV, or the honors given to 40-year broadcaster Ted Leitner, or all the cheerleading columns in the newspaper about all these prospects, let’s be realistic.

90-plus losses is 90-plus losses and the Padres have two things for certain.  Lots of young talent here and coming, and some bad contracts they are responsible for.

Padres baseball = Summer disappointments.  Again.

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