6/28, the best sports day until football!

Ahh, what a day! Dbacks vs Dodgers for first in the NL West, with Randy vs Randy, Johnson making his return vs Wolf. The bullpens were spent after Tuesday's extra innings game, but Webb and Lowe produced a gem of a pitching match up tonight, with a huge Dbacks win. I am a lover of fundamental baseball, so I was pissed in the eight inning when you get a triple to lead off by O' dog and he never scores, come on! I have several other things that piss me off about the Dbacks but I will wait until they are struggling to bitch my way through another blog, I mean it is hard when they have the best record in the NL.

The NBA draft; is any more drama possible for the Suns? I have heard 7624 trade possibilities. I do not think any of them are coming true, except 29 and Kurt Thomas to the Bobcats for ..... nothing. Uh, I mean 16 million in saving for Sarver (Suns Owner and rich guy). I know for a fact that I am excited as hell to have Sarver sell the best defender we have against Duncan for money in his pocket. This is a crappy move and pisses me off. So many other opportunities to improve this team and yet we get rid of our Duncan kryptonite, brilliant! Can't wait to sit through another NBA draft where the Suns get nothing, sell one pick and then pick a Euro that we will not see for a year or two (maybe). Question, will they bring out Amare' and tell the draft crowd that he is the first round pick for the second straight year? I hope something better happens but I have my doubts at this juncture, 10:30 pm Wednesday night.

Lastly, if you can't tell we are big US Men's National Futbol fans, soccer to most of you schleps. Good luck to a very young team in South America. Playing against some of the best in the world, they are clearly bringing a very young and inexperienced team. The team will need lots of playing time together to create a real threat at the 2010 World Cup. I applaud Bob Bradley for his stance on playing the young players in this tournament and hope that they find lighting in a bottle and play well, learn to play together, and lastly find out who will be ready to play for the USA the next several years. PS- Congratulations on Winning the Gold Cup vs Mexico in a great game and good tourney. The goal by Benny Feilhaber was magnificent, the best goal I have seen in years for the USA.

Damn, only 67 days until the first big weekend in College Football and 72 until NFL. I could talk football 24/7/365, but have to survive the other seasons, NBA and Baseball. Starting in July, Lite and myself will start having blogs for every NFL teams and most major college football teams to get ready for the season. I am already starting to contemplate several of my fantasy football teams. We will be more than ready to give you all of the information that matters. Thanks and please add some comments to rile me up, I love a great debate!

The Dbacks

Normally i'll leave the baseball posts to my brother because he's a little more into it than i am, but seeing as how he's lazy and this article requires some research... well, it's me you get.

I wrote the other day about the Dbacks 'veterans' struggling a bit this year. So we thought we'd take a look at the Batting Average's between last year and this year. 2006 is first average, this year is second.

Eric Byrnes: .267 to .312 (Up)
Conor Jackson: .291 to .276 (Down)
Stephen Drew: .316 to .234 (Dropping Like a F-ing Rock...)
Chad Tracy: .281 to .289 (Up Slightly)
Carlos Quentin: .253 to .213 (Way Down)
Orlando Hudson: .287 to .296 (Up)
Tony Clark: .197 to .240 (Up)
Chris Snyder: .277 to .213 (Way Down)
Chris Young: .243 to .246 (Same)

At first glance, it's 4 up, 4 down, and one the same. But looking closer, the only person that's come up significantly is Tony Clark, who was injured a lot last year. But looking at Drew, Quentin, and Snyder... i mean come on. That's ridiculous. Snyder and Quentin are a few bad games away from the Mendoza Line. Drew has looked better of late, with some hard hit balls for doubles and triples (though nice job getting thrown out at third tonight on a blast to the corner...).

Overall, it's hard to complain about the Dbacks, seeing as how they're ten games over and 1/2 game back of the division lead. But if we can get some of these guys hitting where they're supposed to be, we could be a team to be reckoned with...

UPDATE: The Dbacks took back over 1st in the division with a win against the Dodgers tonight. Not a fantastic pitching effort, but somehow a shut-out nonetheless...

The NBA Draft!

Is anyone else as excited for the next 24 hours as i am? (This is slowly devolving into a Suns blog...). The Suns are rumored to be in about, oh, i don't know, 473 different trade possibilities. Most of them involving KG, and some of those might even be feasible.

The most common theme it seems is the Suns attempts to get into the top ten in the draft. Hence their working out of even more lottery players today (UNC's Brandan Wright and FSU's Al Thornton). Most talks are now centering around Charlotte's number 8 pick, with the Celtic's Danny Ainge saying today they are not dealing their number 5 pick.

That news also kills the the three team trade rumors with the T'Wolves, as Minnesota would most certainly be asking for the 5 pick if they were to give up KG to the Suns. However, as the day has gone on, another three team trade rumor has emerged involving the Hawks again. Once again though the Hawks are asking for Amare', and i still don't think the Suns are willing to part with the young big man.

As for me? Well, i say bring on KG. I would hate to lose Amare', but i think in the short-term you give yourself the best possible chance to win the Championship. Amare' is going to be a great player, but i don't even think you hinder the team too much long-term by trading him. You have KG for probably 5 years, which is plenty of time to draft and develop, or through free agency get another great player.

The goal of every professional sports franchise is to win a championship (Well, except for the Cardinals apparently. Oh, and the Clippers.) By getting KG, the Suns give themselves the best possible chance to achieve that goal.

The Great Suns Debate

In case you didn't notice, we now have two contributors to this illustrious site, yours truly (Smitty Lite) and my older, less intelligent brother (Smitty). I apologize in advance for his lack of writing skills, like i said he isn't as intelligent as myself. Then again, who is...

Anyway, in a surefire tactic to get him riled up and spark another debate between us, i thought i'd talk about the Suns some more, and their apparent recent attempts to move into the top ten in the upcoming NBA Draft.

It seems as though talks with the T-Wolves has cooled as of late, presumably because they want Amare' and Steve Kerr is sticking a giant finger at them (As i would also). As such, the Suns brought in several highly regarded prospects for workouts today in Phoenix, including Corey Brewer, Alando Tucker, Joakim Noah, Jeff Green, and Finland's Petteri Koponen. Also, yesterday Kerr and a couple of other Suns officials travelled to LA for a multi-team workout by China's Yi Jianlian.

All of this fuels much rumor that instead of trading for a top name player, a la Kevin Garnett, the Suns may be looking instead to trade for a high draft pick, possibly in a move to help their salary cap. While in theory this all sounds good, i still think it is a mistake.

The Suns are close, one of two or three teams set to contend for a championship each of the next two to three years. They are one piece, most likely a stud interior defender/scorer, away from being able to hold off San Antonio, and thus dispose of whatever team du jour the LEastern Conference manages to sputter out the next few years.

So why then would they turn to the draft, where in all reality no one is completely ready to play in the NBA, let alone have a major role on a contending team? Why not go after someone of KG's ilk, possibly even Zach Randolph or Jermaine O'Neal, to shore up their one hole? Yes, they may be over the salary cap (by a lot. A LOT). But, a championship more than pays off the taxes we would be forced to pay. Plus, it's a championship! How do you not go after it right now, instead of drafting a rookie and waiting for them to develop?! It makes no sense!

The Suns have gotten basically nothing out of the last two drafts, yet somehow that hasn't seemed to affect them one bit. I am fine getting nothing out of this draft as well, if we can land a big time player to bolster our interior. I think that gives us the best shot at a championship in the next three years.

And isn't that what it's all about? Winning Championships?

John Kruk is a MORON.

My obligatory daily post, even though i was busy all day and wasn't going to post at all. This, however, requires a post...

Watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN, (which, by the way, has Sucked Ass since Harold Reynolds got 'fired'), John Kruk came up with this beauty, parentheses are my own thoughts: 'Even though i picked the Dodgers to win the NL West (currently 1.5 games behind the Dbacks, even though they killed them 8-1 today), with all their injuries i'm now picking the Padres (Also 1.5 games back, and lost today to the Giants, last in the NL West) to win the NL West.

So, Kruky, let me get this straight. The team you originally picked to win the division just kicked the crap out of the division leaders, yet you decide to declare a team that just lost to the division cellar dwellers your new pick to win the division. In the immortal words of the Guinness cartoon characters, Brilliant!

Kruk is another in a long line of ESPN reporters who pick a stance to be controversial, even if that stance has absolutely no basis in truth or fact. Hey ESPN, i can make outlandish claims too, even though i don't believe them. Wanna pay me a half a million bucks?

Best record in the NL, wow

So the DBack's have the best record in the NL, wow that is very surprising. The east coast bias media, think the Mets, Braves and Philly's are always the better teams, but I think the NL West is very impressive this year. The Dodgers, Padres and the home team 9 are 9, 10 and 12 games over with the best pitching staffs in the NL. LA, SD and Phoenix are fighting for 2 playoff spots, no one in the central has a chance at the wildcard and Phily is only 3 games over while Atlanta is straight up playing .500 ball. 4 games at home against the Dodgers should be a great litmus test, and if the Dback's could win 3 of 4 then we will be buyers at the deadline instead of sellers as in the previous few years.

SO CAN THEY WIN THE WORLD SERIES? Crazy as the last sentence is to utter, they very well could. The AL has much better teams than the NL, but remember that Detroit was unbeatable last year and the Cardinals were horrible, but they were hot with the bats for the best week of the year, late October. 22 games over was the final record of the 2001 World Series Champs, and we currently are 12 over. Just food for thought, jump on the bandwagon now and start buying some tickets to the ball park.

Off Topic: US Men's National Team

That's soccer for you scrubs that don't know.

The US National Men's Team today defended their title as the Champion's of the Gold Cup, the tournament of North and Central America and the Caribbean. By winning the tournament, we are entered into the Confederations Cup in 2009. The ConFed Cup is played by the winner of the six FIFA Regional Tournaments, the World Cup winner, and the host country. The US has finished in third place twice in the ConFed Cup, in 1992 and 1999.

Now to the nitty-gritty. Through the tournament, the US looked sharp at times and a complete disaster at others. And as typical, the US was once again not sharp at finishing, which has always been our Achilles Heel. But our main problem throughout this tourney was our defensive lapses. I like Bocanegra back there, and Gooch is coming along, but anyone with speed on the wings (See: Mexico) gave us a ton of trouble.

In the Championship game, the US was playing our old rivals Mexico. Pretty much the only real rival the US has, playing against Mexico is always a big game for the US. It is, however, an even bigger game for El Tri (Mexico). So far this decade, the US is 8-0-1 on US soil against our border neighbors to the South. And going into the game Mexico had not scored on the US in 8 games.

However, in this game Mexico struck first, with a fairly easy goal from Guardado, off a pretty good run/cross from Castillo. Castillo, as would be the case most of the afternoon, was running circles around Gooch on the edge. I like Gooch and all, but dude isn't fast. There's a reason he's in the middle of the defense: He's slow and really tall. And he has a pretty big boot. (Stop snickering you perverts, it means he has a strong leg and can kick it real far. Juveniles...)

Early in the 2nd half, Brian Ching was awarded a penalty on a fantastic attempt at a turn-around shot inside the box. Landon Donovan scored on the penalty, coolly slotting it into the right side of the net as the Goalkeeper Sanchez stood frozen. The goal, Donovan's 34th in international play, ties him with Eric Wynalda for 1st all time in goals scored for the American side. Being as Donovan is only 25 years old, and is one the best players the US has ever produced, it's a safe bet he will surpass that amount. And soon.

The 2nd goal, about ten minutes after Donovan's PK, was a spectacular volley from Benny Feilhaber off a failed clearance by El Tri's defense. Feilhaber took a ball that traveled about 15 yards, and was probably 20 yards in the air, and blasted a one-timer into the top corner of the net, past the leaping GK Sanchez. It was one of the best goals i've ever seen made by a US player, and turned the tide of the game. Shortly thereafter, the Mexican goal-scorer Guardado and the US' Johnathan Spector were in a nasty-looking head-to-head collision going for a header. Guardado came back into the game, though afterwards was carted off on a stretcher with a neck brace. Spector looked completely dazed, and could barely walk or stand. I imagine he has a concussion and a pounding headache.

The combination of the second US goal and the Mexican Guardado not being the same after the collision killed any momentum El Tri had going, and in effect took them out of the game. From that point forward, until the last few minutes of the game, when Mexico was desperate for a goal, they looked out of synch and lacked the control and possession they had enjoyed much of the game. During this period, the US missed yet another chance to put away the game on a great counter-attack by Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley. In what was essentially a 2-on-0, with only the goalkeeper standing between them and the goal, Donovan played it perfectly, dribbling deep enough into the box to commit the GK, then slotting a perfect pass to Beasley on the far post from about 8 yards off. Beasley, with an open net, proceeded to clang the ball off the crossbar (A clanging noise heard often in the game from the US, with 3 balls going off posts), and rightfully so the look on his face was half disbelief and half sheepish.

Luckily for the US, the third goal was not necessary. With a 2-1 win, the US once again showed Mexico, and the World, who is the best team in their region. Mexico, for it's part, actually showed a little class and respect for the Americans. Custom after any international match is for players of the opposing teams to shake hands and swap jerseys. However, as is well-documented in the last decade, Mexico has repeatedly refused to take part in these post-game pleasantries with the US. But after the game today, there were a few Mexican players who swapped jersey's with the US, most notably Pavel Pardo swapping with Donovan. There was even, supposedly, one unidentified Mexican player who walked off the field with an American player arm around shoulder, a respect and sportsmanship not seen toward US from El Tri in many years.

Overall, it was a solid but still somehow lacking performance from the Americans. While they won, they still missed opportunities to bury a couple more goals. Tim Howard was once again nearly flawless in goal, the one goal against him was entirely the defense's fault, and not his. And he saved the Americans with a spectacular late save from point-blank range that he punched over the bar.

The US is doing as it should, kicking ass and taking names within its own region. Now they need to take that show abroad, and start showing the teams from South America and Europe that they are no longer a side to look past. While they head to South America this week for the Copa America, they are taking a very young team, with none of the traditional 'known' names in US Soccer like Donovan, Beasley, Bocanegra, Howard, Clint Dempsey, etc. I understand their want to get some rest for their main guys, who just finished winning their own tourney, but i would like to see how our new team stacks up against the likes of Argentina and Brazil.