And we only had to part with $48 million. Not the top prospect in the farm system who is already batting .260 at the Major League level. Not to mention delivering late in games. Something it seems like the Mariners might be able to use. I have no qualms with the Mariners pitching staff. It’s just the fact that there is not one bat in the lineup that opposing clubs need to plan around (save an occasional hot streak from Rauuuuul).

Mike Morse, the Mariners right fielder Sunday, has played all over the diamond in his 4 years with the M’s. Yesterday, he proved that right field is not his home on a major league field. He misjudged or misplayed 3 fly balls in right that led to 7 runs. On the last play he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball that he should have had an easy play on. On the previous 2 bone-headed plays that led to runs, he either didn’t see the ball off the bat, or just didn’t react properly.

If the guy makes one bad play in the field, you can give him some slack, but 3 in one game, that lead to runs, that’s unacceptable at the Major League level. Morse’s poor outing in the field put spot starter Cha Seung Baek in a really bad spot. Baek actually pitched pretty well. He got into some jams, and had more base runners than you’d like, but he definitely didn’t pitch badly.

Now for Erik Bedard. It’s not serious, I know. But he’s been scratched twice already this season. I see a problem brewing. I still think Bill Bavasi made a good trade, but I’d just like to see my ace pitcher actually take the mound on his scheduled days.

When one takes a look at the Eastern and Western playoff picture, it is easy to see that there are a host of differences between them.  The end of this season will contain a wide array of games between powerhouses in the East as well as a more level playing field in the West.

West:

The West is wide open. The top 6 seeds’ records are within 3 games of each other and any one of 4 teams could still win the conference before the regular season is said and done. All current 8 seeds have winning records by 16 games or more, and Golden State, who is next in line, is also 16 games over .500.

Although there will be higher and lower seeds in the West, you can’t really base many predictions based on seeds.  Although second seed New Orleans has been solid through the season, they have also been questioned all season and conditions may be ripe for New Orleans to fall early in playoffs.  The top 7 seeds are of similar quality in the West, and the 6 or 7 seed team may be on same level in terms of talent as a a 1 or 2 seed.

East:

Meanwhile in the East, the story is a complete opposite. Teams are much more staggered, with Detroit and Boston standing a level above the rest. All but the top 3 seeds (Boston, Detroit and Orlando) are less than 10 games above .500, and Atlanta, the 8^th seed, is 6 games under .500.

Despite the atrocious nature of the Eastern Conference this year, don’t count out Boston or Detroit if they get to the finals. This year each team has had considerable success against the top 9 teams in the West. Boston is 13-5 against the 9 possible playoff teams in the west, including a spotless 2-0 record against the top seeded Lakers. The biggest obstacle in the East which may give Boston trouble would be if they played the Washington Wizards, who match up with them well and have managed to beat Boston in all three meetings during the regular season. Detroit has also has good success against the West, also earning a 13-5 record when playing possible Western playoff teams.

All this hoopla about the Kansas football team last fall, and now KU’s incredible comeback victory in the NCAA tournament, the phrase ‘Rock Chalk Jayhawk’ has been thrown around a ton.

In an effort to educate myself, I visited Wikipedia (where else would I go for that type of information?) and found that there is a lot of tradition and cool back story to the chant.

I’m still not totally sure I know what it means, or why commentators insist on show-horning it into every other sentence that deals with the University of Kansas. I’m all for school spirit but things are a bit out of whack when Jim Nantz’s championship call is “Rock Chalk Championship”.

There is some good news and some bad news.

Good news first:

• If Memphis could hit free throws, I would have locked up my second consecutive Vigilante Sports contests

Now for the Bad news:

• Memphis cannot in fact hit free throws when it counts
• Mario Chalmers can drain a prayer of 3 pointer to tie the game

All that to say (through gritted teeth), congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks who picked up the 2008 NCAA National Championship. Also congratulations to Mark Smith, who bested everyone in the 2008 Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge.

I do have to say that Mark and I both picked 45 games correctly. His counted for more and he picked up the win. I will definitely be back to bring the still non-existent trophy back to it’s rightful owner… ME!

We battled the rain, the snow, and Erik Bedard’s 5 walks, but we stuck it out for the whole game. The Mariners open the season with a 5-2 win over the Texas Rangers.

Bright spots

• Adrian Beltre - He looked comfortable hitting and if he’s hitting, the M’s have some stability in the middle of their lineup.
• JJ Putz - One of the best closers in baseball still has electric stuff

Areas of concern

• Richie Sexson - Big Sexy still can’t layoff the bad pitches. He opened the season with a walk, but proved that was an anomaly as the game progressed.
• Erik Bedard - Let’s hope it was Opening Day jitters. He look terrible. Facing the leadoff batter in the first, he was lights out. After that, he was in trouble the whole game. Let’s hope this isn’t an instant replay of Jeff Weaver. I don’t think it will be.

So, the Mariners are undefeated. Looking at their lineup, I don’t think it’ll last. Let’s just hope that they can scrap their way to first place by mid-summer and see if Bill Bavasi brings in some help at the trade deadline. They may win the weak AL West with this lineup, but they won’t get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Here’s a little preview of how I think things will end up in October.  Feel free to pick it apart in the comments.

American League East

1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

American League Central

1. Detroit Tigers
2. Cleveland Indians
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Minnesota Twins

American League West

1.  Seattle Mariners
2. Anaheim Angels
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics

National League East

1. New York Mets
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

National League Central

1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Houston Astros
5. St. Louis Cardinals
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

National League West 

1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. Colorado Rockies
3. San Diego Padres
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. San Francisco Giants

In 2008, there are high hopes. The thing that people seem to be talking about is the 100 year drought for the Cubs winning the World Series. Of course that is a big deal. Any team that has such an infamous drought is bound to draw attention, but that is really a non-issue. The World Series drought has nothing to do with this year’s team.

The Cubs spent a ton of money last off season to bring in Alfonso Soriano and locking up Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano. This off season the biggest addition was Kosuke Fukudome from Japan. Fukudome gives the Cubs a solid left-handed bat and a dependable right fielder.

The starting rotation for Cubs will be a strength again. Led by Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill, the Cubs will have plenty of starting pitching. Rounding out the rotation are former closer Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis. The bullpen should also be a strength. Jon Leiber, Sean Marshall, and Bob Howry will take the Cubs from the starters to the shut down tandem of Carlos Marmol and newly named closer Kerry Wood. If Woody can remain healthy, he will provide the Cubs a dominant closer. If he does run into some health issues, look for Marmol to slide seamlessly into the closer role, with Howry moving into the setup role.

If there is one thing that I’m a little worried about with the Cubs is depth at infield positions. If something should happen to Aramis Ramirez or Derrek Lee, I wonder about the long term back up for either position. I know Mark DeRosa can back up either 1B or 3B, but I think he’s more valuable at other spots in the infield.

I think the pitching staff looks great and the lineup top to bottom is solid. They could use a bona fide lead off man, but I think they’ll be able to get enough guys on base, and score enough runs with their lineup as is.

What do you think is in store for the 2008 Chicago Cubs? I’d like to hear your predictions.

We all remember Maurice Clarett don’t we? Today Terrelle Pryor announced that he’ll be playing football for Ohio State this fall. Pryor claimed that he thought that OSU gave him a better chance to make the NFL.

By that did he mean, “They don’t really care how long I stay here, they just want to use me for a year or two”? Or was is more like, “I see too many Michigan quarterbacks in the NFL already, I want to be the next Troy Smith, or Joe Germaine”?

It’s all really hard to tell. Pryor, by most accounts, is a prima donna, with an entitled attitude. Exactly the kind of guy I don’t want as the capstone to a new program. I much prefer that Coach Rodriguez builds the program from the ground up. Contrary to what Terrelle Pryor thinks, he’s not bigger that the Ohio State football program, and he’s certainly not bigger than the Michigan football program.

I hope the reason that Pryor chose OSU over Michigan is that Rodriguez didn’t coddle the young man and that’s what Pryor wanted or needed. It sure seems like this kid has talent, I hope, for his sake, he doesn’t blow all of that talent, but washing out at Ohio State. Granted, the prospects of Michigan beating Ohio State this fall are pretty slim no matter what. Coach Rodriguez has a lot of work to do to mold the Wolverines into his team. But when he does, I want Ohio State to be in top form. It’s just more fun to beat them when they’re ranked number 1.

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It’s Mid-March and the brackets were released today. It’s time for the Third Annual Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge. We’ve have 2 great years, let’s make it 3. Last year we doubled the amount of entries in our Challenge. Let’s do that again. If you’re interested please post a comment. It will submit your email address to me, but not show it to the public. I’ll take care of your email address (ie. not share it with anyone else). So, submit a comment and I’ll get you an invite to the greatest (or at least the most fun) bracket challenge around.

There hasn’t been any money on the line and there still won’t be… but fame and glory will be yours as you might add your name next to mine on the non-existent Vigilante Sports NCAA Bracket Challenge Championship Trophy. And that’s not too bad.

If you participated last year, you should have already received an email inviting you back.