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May 10, 2007
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LONGSHOTS: The Rocket lands in Gotham during Monarchs’ playoff break Here are a few (hundred) thoughts that have piled up on the inside of a cluttered brain while I’ve been patiently waiting for game three in the Monarchs and Bruins series to finally arrive. It’s the longest stretch between non-earthquake cancelled playoff games in my memory since I think 1962. The good thing is the loooong break between games two and three gave Jason LaBarbera time to get healthier. He looked a little slow to my eye in allowing five goals in just 28 shots in the M’s 6-3 opening loss to Providence. To my memory it’s the longest inactive period in a playoff series since there were five days of rain between games five and game six in the 1962 World Series between the Yankees and San Francisco (Baseball) Giants that had my Giant-loving, insurance mogul friend Dick Lombardi on the edge of his seat when he was just a young’n Sports 101 - How did game seven in that series end and why would it NEVER happen like that today? Back to the M’s for a second. Two things from game one stand out. Not that I’m Andy Bathgate or anything, but I’ve never seen more shots hit defenders on their way to the net than that night. I’ve also never seen a team dominate a period and head back to the locker room down 2-0 as they did. That’s why no game is more frustrating than hockey. Much to Dan Shaughnessy’s dismay 86.6 percent of the voters in a Boston.com survey said they were in favor of the deal that brought Randy Moss to the Patriots. With all due respect to the Nobel Prize Tom Brady was nominated for, for restructuring his contract to allow Randy Moss’s humongous Oakland deal under the salary cap: He got the same money either way, and once Moss’s smaller, cap-friendly deal was in place Brady could’ve gotten the old one back. So hold the parades. Was it a typo, or did Mike Reiss say in the Globe’s Football Notes column on Sunday that Harvard defensive lineman Mike Berg would be trying to make the NY Giants as a fullback? What comparable skills do a D-lineman and fullback have? It has been done before in reverse, however, when all-time fullback Bronco Nagurski came back to the depleted Bears after several years in retirement as a guard during World War II. Are those out there who said, before every seeing him pitch, that Dice-K would win 20 still thinking he will? I had him for 15, but with an ERA over 5.00 I’m worried about that. If you think Dice-K is off to a rocky start in a new home, Seattle must be saying Oy vay over signing Jeff (blood and cuts) Weaver, who is 0-5 with an ERA of 15.35. I’m still sticking with my prediction that Josh Beckett would be the number one pitcher and win 20 — not that I like to pat myself on the back or anything. How many out there know only Roy Oswalt has won more games in the majors the last five years than Derek Lowe? In case you’re interested Alex Gonzalez started the week at an even .300 with four homers, 11 runs scored and 12 RBI. Julio Lugo was at .221, with one homer, 17 runs scored and 13 RBI. Each had four errors. Mark Loretta was hitting .396 on Sunday. Did you know Loretta and Gonzalez collectively make less than Dustin Pedroia and Lugo? Which combo would you prefer? Given how thirsty you can get playing sports, my favorite name among the Manchester Wolves is that of massive Maurice (water) Fountain for obvious reasons. Anybody know why there are twice as many pitchers as hitters among the nine New Hampshire guys playing in the minors? And apparently there’s a power outage among the hitters as in 111 at bats between Concord’s Matt Tupman, Durham’s Sam Fuld and Londonderry’s Mike Chambers they don’t have a homer. And here’s one of those baseball-is-a-funny-game kind of stats: Litchfield’s Kyle (hit the road) Jackson is 2-0 for Portland despite a 7.20 ERA, while Memorial alum Chris (leg of) Lambert is 0-2 with a more palatable 3.42. Jackson’s ERA is a bit skewed as he’s pitched just 10 innings when he’s struck out 12 guys. My must-read in the NH Sunday New Sports section is the column Kevin Gray (or is it Grey? I can never remember) does with Matt Bonner. It’s interesting, informative and funny. I always read it. And speaking of Bonner, thought he’d see more PT in the playoffs. He got just three minutes in the Denver series and got a DNP in the bloody Sunday opener with the Suns. Sports 101 Answer: The Yankees won game seven 1-0 in 1962. What will never happen again: starting pitcher Ralph Terry was still on the mound to record the final out despite the fact that there were two men on and Hall of Famer-to-be Willie McCovey was at bat. In today’s lefty-righty specialized crazed baseball, the odds in Vegas would probably be 1 million to one that a right hander pitcher like Terry would face any lefty in that situation, let alone a mammoth one like McCovey. Stat of the Week: If you think great pitching ALWAYS wins, what happened here? Pittsburgh won the 1960 World Series with an astonishing team ERA of 7.11. They lost three times by a margin of 38-3 and gave up nine more to the Yanks in game seven, but won anyway on Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off in the ninth. The pitcher who threw the pitch Maz hit was the same guy who faced McCovey with the winning run on second — Ralph Terry. Yet two years later, Ralph Houk still let him pitch to the big fella, who hit a scalding line drive right at second baseman Bobby Richardson to end it. Here’s how Roger’s return to the Bronx plays out. The man just ahead of him on the all-time win list is Warren Spahn. His greatest season arguably came in 1963 at age 42, when he was 23-7, with a 2.60 ERA in 256 innings. In ’64 he lost it overnight going 6-13 with an ERA over 5.00. Roger’s 45. Sooner or later he’s got to lose it. I say it’s this year and Roger wins just eight games If you say the potent Yankee hitting will save him, consider the fact that providing the support for Spahn in 1964 were Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews (512 homers) and a catcher by the name of Joe Torre, who hit .321 and drove in 109. It’s karma for Joe to see both greats fade. Dave Long is host of Home Team Saturday with Dave Long and Company, 10 a.m. to noon each Saturday morning on WGAM (1250 AM in Manchester and 900 AM in Nashua). |
5/3/2007 Raiders say "No Moss" in fight with talented wideout 4/26/2007 A little history on the ancient Sox and Yanks rivalry
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