Thursday, April 15, 2010

David Ortiz or David Or-Tease



This is a familiar sight for Red Sox fans the last 2 or 3 years. He looks lost, he looks old, he looks finished. But is he? Lets think about this logically:


David Ortiz was the scariest hitter in MLB for a good 3 years, possibly more. Assuming that steroids have a major impact on the player's performance I would have to say that that must have the most major impact on his decline in performance. Do i think that taking steroids makes you a better baseball player? Absolutely not. Steroids make you a better athlete however. Steroids allow you to train hard and put the rigors of a long season on your body and recover quickly from injuries and fatigue. Im sure it allows you to play harder too. Swing harder, run harder, throw harder, with significantly reduced risk of injury. If you look at Ortiz's career with Minnesota, you will see he was not very effective while playing first base full time. Why? he has bad knees. He is not the most trim and fit fellow so he couldnt go up to the plate in the late innings after playing first base all day and probably the day before and expect to put a good swing on theball. I am not a professional athlete so this is pure speculation by the way. I think I'm right though. The last year of his Minnesota tenure brought his best statistical season of his short career. Many players do this. They have a rookie contract (or regular contract for that matter) and in the last year put up huge numbers in hopes of attracting a big contract in the following offseason. Judging by his on-base-percentage (OBP) it seems like he has always had a good eye at the plate. He never really had a great offensive season in terms of HR or RBI or even batting average until he got to Boston. Fenway Park is much tougher ball park for left handed hitters than the old Minnesota (indoor) stadium was, so you can't say that he had a Mike Lowell-esque resurgence (sp?). It had to be the juice.

I'm sure having Future Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez hitting behind him helped in getting him better pitches to hit, but I really dont think it was the reason he did SO well and the reason he is no longer the feared hitter that he used to be. I mean c'mon Sox fans, do you really expect a guy with that kind of weight and poor athletic ability to keep up 45+ for more than 3-5 years?!?! Homeboy had 28 last year and basically took the first half of the season off!

Did Ortiz take steroids? yes. Did Ortiz benefit from having one of the best right handed hitters in the last 50 years (definately top 5) hitting behind him? yes. But I saw a little of the game yesterday against Minnesota that leads me to believe that Ortiz just flat out isnt the same player any more. He doesnt have the swagger, that fearlessness that he had for a couple of years. Am I saying that he cant be an effective hitter and solid hitter? NO. is he going to hit 45 homers and 100+ RBI in the #3 hole? no. Heres what I saw:
everyone knows that the way to get Ortiz out now is to pound him inside. Im not saying anything new, pitchers have seen this for almost 2 seasons. Ortiz a couple of years ago owned the inside of the plate, and you were a fool to throw anything near the plate in general. Except you had Manny Ramirez up next and HAD to pitch to Ortiz. But here is something I saw that changed my opinion of Ortiz. The pitcher (whose name I cannot remember. It was in the later innings though, 8th or 9th) left a juicy fastball right over the center of the plate. Ortiz fouled it off. I mean this was a pitch that Pedroia and Youkilis would have blistered. It happens. Hitting a baseball is hard to do and you are going to miss those now and then. I mean we are talking about a sport here that if you are sucessful only 3 out of 10 at bats, you are a freakin hall of famer (.300 batting average)!! The difference was that 4 years ago if Ortiz had fouled off that pitch he was angry. He couldnt believe that he missed it, he was livid at himself. He probably said to himself "What the fuck David, how could you miss that?!?!?!". Then got up there and said to himself "pull that shit again motherfucker and see what happens to you". and he was right. the pitcher did that again and the ball was headed into the seats faster than it had been served up to him. His demeanor yesterday told me that he was upset that he missed it, and he got up there and said "boy i hope that happens again cuz i really could use an easy pitch to hit". His swagger is gone and that same fearlessness he had in '05 is apparently lost.
Dont give up yet Red Sox fans. He still is in the last year of his current contract and we know how players perform then. We are two weeks into the season and he has gotten off to a slow start. I say put him twords the bottom of the lineup and let him feel less pressure. He will be fine. I predict a .260 batting average with 32 home runs and 94 RBI. Pretty freakin good for a #6 hitter.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Tunes, Movies, and Sliders

Awesome week for yours truely. It seemed like every night I had something going on, which is pretty rare for me. Although it differed in context, the content remained basically the same and consisted mainly of drinking, eating, listening to/playing music and hanging with awesome friends.

I obviously worked every day. I actually love my job so I never get the "Monday's" or I never think of Wednesday as "Hump Day". In fact if I ever look forward to the end of the week its because this neighborhood is swarming with young girls who like to wear very little clothing on Thursdays -Saturdays. Eye candy is always nice.

Allow me to fill you in on my post-work week:

Monday- I decided to stay in after a booze filled Easter Sunday day. I ate takeout and watched televised poker, Family Guy, and Seinfeld (my new favorite thing to watch even though I've seen every episode 94 times).

Tuesday- I also stayed in. boy so far this week is kind of boring! Give me a break it's Tuesday. If you start going out on Tuesdays you get bogged down pretty quickly, so back off.

Wednesday - I had a horn rehearsal at Jason's house (he lives very close to the office which is convenient) for our gig on Friday. It was cool to see Jason and Josh and Matt and we were able to crank out some vicious new horn lines for the show on Friday. They make me want to make the face depicted above.

Jason went to see Clash of the Titans afterwards and we started talking about movies and he found out I hadnt seen Avatar and was fairly suprised by this. He convinced me to see it as soon as possible. I am very excited about Clash of the Titans as well. The first one made back in like the 70's was AWESOME. Jason agreed and let me know later that the remake wasnt really that good, so I'm a little nervous about this.

Thursday - Now we start to pick up speed a little bit. After yet another great day at work me, John-Christian (from now on called "JC") and Thomas Kim (from now on called "TK") went to see The Bad Plus. Tim went too but he was going with his roommate. The Bad Plus are probably my favorite jazz trio of all time. They are so tight and inventive and awesome in every way. Dave King is their drummer and for me he is The Bad Plus. Here is a rad picture of him:
















He so awesome and I love everything about his playing. In fact I would probably be hesitent to see them without Dave King. Its so inspiring I actually wish I played the drums whenever I see him.

It was actually not their best show. I have definately seen them play much better together, but its still such an awesome group that even though it wasnt their best effort it was still a totally killer show. I kinda wish I went to see them again while they were here, but my schedule and other activities prevented this from happening.

Friday - I was scheduled to rock the legendary Bitter End with Jason Yudoff and the New Hotness at 10 PM that evening, so I had some time to kill before the show. What better way to spend this than consuming libations with friends? I met JC and Kristine at The Peculiar Pub located right next door to the Bitter End and I was followed shortly by Dave and Julie. We drank delicious Six Points beer out of liter mugs. I had 2 i think and was pretty buzzed, but in a fun way, not a debilitating way. The Bitter End is always running late so around 10 minutes to 10 i headed next door. It was kind of a dick move honestly, I should show up sooner but i was trying to finish my second liter of beer without chugging it and I took advantage of Bitter End's perpetual lateness issue, which again I kinda regret.

We rocked out. Jason is totally awesome and I love playing in his band. The pic above is actually me warming up at the Bitter End and here is a pic of the band backstage before the same show.










So that was a ton of fun. Since I work on Saturdays and already a little drunk, I decided it was time for me to go home after the show so I split a cab with some of my peeps to save time and money.



A great day, got home at a reasonable hour and woke up the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed for another day at the office.

Saturday- After work I walked down to meet JC and Kristine for sushi on 11th and 1st. It was awesome and super cheap. Kristine and I were contemplating ordering about 16 rolls due to the cheapness and just doggin out on sushi till we couldnt move. I'm glad we decided against it, but am I?

After sushi JC had a show with his awesome quartet Das Vibenbass down at Arlene's Grocery. A very well known music club in the city. These guys put on a hell of a show and you should totally check them out http://www.dasvibenbass.com/. After the show we drank beers and hung out and then I went finally go see Avatar. I was underwhelmed. I think its something you should see in theatres, but not for the movie, for the visuals. I found the story to be very weak and very cheesy. Visually though, especially the 3D, it was stunning.

Sunday- METS GAME. so much fun. Kristine made sliders and brought them to the game. They were so awesome! She said that there was some pork in there as well. All of them had cheese and some of them had those spicy peppers that im not even going to attempt to spell. They are in the Olive Garden salad. Elizabeth brought a backpack full of snack foods. We drank several beers and enjoyed perfect weather at a boring baseball game. The Mets are terrible.

After the game we went to a dive bar near my house where I watched the Rangers get elimated from the playoffs. It was really too bad because Lundqvist has been a stud all season and he was a total stud in their last game. He had something like 46 saves in the game, which is insane. After the game we continued to drink beer and whiskey and watched the end of The Masters. We talked about Phil Mickelson not gettin it done throughout the first part of his career and then going on a Majors tear. he has at least 4 now. I then crushed Michael T (who wear a skin tight pineapple shirt all day, which was hilarious) at a single trek of Big Buck Hunter. Then I went home and went to bed.

An awesome week! Lets see what this week has in store.

have a positive day



Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter Awesomeness, Baseball is Back, Football news

Easter was friggin awesome! The weather was beautiful and I spent the day with some great friends on their roof in breathtaking Greenpoint, Brooklyn. What a day! Kristine made an awesome Easter feast comprised of a delicious ham, garlic mashed potatoes, cheddar biscuts (thank you Red Lobster), a very tasty onion and vegetable patty thingy that was rad, vegan salsa, and a few small cheesecakes. And OH! meat pie. how could i forget the meat pie!?!?!?! I was so full, especially since i havent been eating much meat over the last few months.

I would say there were about 10 or so people there and we all had an awesome time. Basically we sat on a sun soaked roof all day and drank wine and spirits and laughed a lot. There was a game of Apples to Apples that broke out, but I am apparently not very good at this game. For those of you who know me, if i'm not good at something I either A.) obcess about it until I am a master or B.) throw a little tiny fit about it and quit. I chose the latter.

Easter was a huge hit. JC and Kristine really know how to throw a party and I am totally psyched for the next gathering at the Bockman household.

Needless to say I was a little tired after a day in the sun, especially after eating copious amounts of pig flesh and drinking more than the prefered daily alotment of delicious wine. Plus it was opening day for the Red Sox (and baseball) so it was time for the big man to get home to relax and watch some sports.

I got home just in time to see Josh Beckett give up back to back solo homers, so needless to say my attentiveness for the game took a nose dive after that. It was a fun game all in all and the sox scratched and clawed their way back, blue collar style. I think its going to be a good season:

First of all the Sox have three #1 starters in their rotation, which is totally sick. Then you basically got 3 or 4 guys in competing for the final 2 starting spots. You can never have too much pitching, especially in today's game where pitchers are always getting hurt. Their lineup is very solid too.

1.) LF -Ellsbury is an awesome leadoff hitter and I love him in left field at Fenway Park. So sick.
2.) 2B -Pedroia is a former AL MVP so we all know what to expect there.
3.) C-Victor Martinez is perenially in the top 3-5 catchers in the game offensively, but his defense is a little suspect.
4.) 1B-Youkilis I think could easily be an MVP contender this year. Homeboy is a sick defensive first basemen, and his patience at the plate forces pitchers to serve it up. He can also play great third base to get Martinez a break behind the plate and bring Variek in.
5.) RF-J.D. Drew just a solid player. Good outfeilder, and has great tools at all facets of the game.
6.) DH-Ortiz could easily be a huge wildcard this year. No one is expecting much out of him, so he has no pressure in my opinion. Plus its a contract year for him, and we all know what players tend to do when their expecting a payday. Assholes.
7.) 3B-Beltre is going to be awesome. First he's a top defender at third base and Fenway is notorious for being a very tough infield. Plus I truely think he could have a Mike Lowell-esque comeback offensively at Fenway park with the Green Monster giving him hits he normally wouldnt get. Lets face it, Beltre was on the juice when hitting 40+ homers a year. I expect a solid 20-25 homers out of him this year with a .286 average. Not bad for a gold glove infielder hitting at the bottom of your lineup!
8.) CF-Cameron I was a fan of this pickup. It was obvious he was going to play center field (3x gold glover and still lightning fast) but hes good for 20+ homers a year given his history. Combine that with some base stealing at the bottom of the lineup and you got a huge addition.
9.) SS-Scutaro love Scooter. awesome defensive SS so I dont care what he does at the plate. Move Cameron over so that when Ellsbury and Pedroia get to the plate they can get him in.

I know the Yankees are defending World Series Champs. And their team is not that different. But the sox got a really gritty hard nosed team that really wants to play. Last night is a great example. I find the Yankees relying on homeruns way too much. The sox, in my opinion, have way more ways to score and more importantly the guts to get the job done.

The last bit of sports news I actually heard this morning. The Philidelphia Eagles traded franchise quarterback (and top ten, possibly top five NFL QB) WITHIN their division to the Washington Redskins. I totally get trading McNabb, but to a rival team? aweful. Dont trade an impact player at ANY position, but especially QB, within your division.

I am very excited that they didnt trade him to the Oakland Raiders too. Partially because my man JC is a big Raiders fan and he was really excited about the possibility of actually having a QB on his favorite team. Sorry JC, you're stuck with Jamarcus Russell. HA! The main reason I'm happy the Raiders didnt get him is because the Patriots have the Raiders 2011 first round pick. A guy like McNabb makes your team instantly better, and I want to make sure the Raiders are as aweful as possible this year so the Pats have a huge first round pick to either take an awesome player or trade down for more picks or even trade for great proven player.

The NFL draft is only a few weeks away. In recent years I've become very excited about the draft. This year is an especially great draft because any college player who is ready for the NFL is going to come out now due to a possible labor dispute at the end of the year. One of the things owners want to do is implement caps on rookie salaries, so kids expecting a big payday are coming out this year, which is possibly the last year they can get that as an NFL rookie. However I'm starting to not follow it as closely as I usually do. Mainly because as you get older, sports become more entertainment than something you live by, but also because the Pats have such a strange drafting system. I NEVER question it because they always do very well, but they never seem to do what the "experts" say. So for the draft this year I may watch, but I'm certainly not going to get my hopes up about certain players or positions that I find important.

Lastly Jason Yudoff and the New Hotness is playing the Bitter End this Friday night at 10 PM! come out and hear some live music.


Thats it for now. Hope you all have a positive day!