Friday, April 6, 2007

NL Central Roundup


If 3 games is any indication of how well a team will do over the course of 162 games, and it usually is, then I proclaim the Pittsburgh Pirates NL Central championnes. Kudos to the numerous ESPN "insiders" who have predicted this outcome for each of the past 3 seasons. This "is" the year for the Pirates. Too bad Disney didn't purchase the Pirates to market their new Pirates of the Carribean movie. Instead, their "marketing geniuses" are scrambling to deal with Keith Richards and his self-purported "daddy-eightball".

For the Pirates, going down to Houston and winning some tight games says a lot about the Pirates, and even more about the Astros. But the Bucs are scoring late, and in close games, that makes all the difference. P.S. I love Xavier Nady.
Up next: CIN, Adam Dunn will go yay-yo with 7 HRs in week 1

In the #2 slot, we have a virtual tie with the Brewhaus and Reds sittin' at 2-1.

The Brew-crew almost swept the Dodgers, 'cept for Jason Schmidt pitching out of a based loaded jam in the 5th. If Ben Sheets could pitch all 162 games, the Brews should be able to overtake the Bucs. The crew have the Cubs next, which will send my beloved throughly to the bottom of the NLC standings.
On tap: CHC, Zambrano should fare better in his 2nd start, the stats prove it.

The Reds, won 1 convincing game against the Cubs, lost 1 convincingly, and was handed their second win on a Pete Rose betting slip due to gaffes by Will Ohman and Mikey Barrett.
Up next: PIT, take advantage of no Dirty Sanchez in game 1

Cubbies have 3rd place to themselves at the moment, but not for long. An always tough Brewers series looms this weekend, where the scores will range from 10-9, to 13-4, to 9-8. Most days I wish the Crew were still an AL team.
Up next: MIL, Barrett starts the season 0-44, mark my words

And holy-whoa! Houston and St. Louis are bottom feeding after they got their arses handed to them in different ways.

St. Louis got outscored 20-2 against the NL runners-up of last year, the fightin NY Mets. Their defense looks attrocious, and their pitching is quickly falling apart. I bet they wish they still had Jason Marquis sitting in the bullpen, unused, at the beginning of this season like he ended last season.
Up next: HOU, Pooholes starts to carry team on back

I mentioned Houston above, their bullpen is suspect.. especially Brad Lidge. And with no Jeff Bagwell, I don't think they can will themselves to win anymore.
Up next: STL, hit the ball to Preston Wilson, the dude can't catch

And thats your NLC roundup. Should be a fun weekend with all intra-division games going on. We are going to see pretty quickly who can run away with this division and make geniuses out of ESPN at the same time.

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