Bracket shot to hell!

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted....... I only ended up getting 1 of the final four teams (North Carolina) and then I had them losing in the Semi Finals, so I don't even have a finalist left.

As for who's left, I suppose you have to make Brooklyn's team the favorite although I hope they choke!

If I'm choosing a wildcard, I gotta go with Michigan State. No super stars but well coached and Izzo's been there before. They've been flying under the radar and playing great ball. I'm a UConn fan but I just would like to see the Spartans upset them. Villanova's an interesting squad also. Coming out of the Big East, they're not going to be intimidated by NC and should give them a great game, but I just feel they won't have enough to beat them.

So I'm going MSU versus NC in the final.

Bill

Sweet 16 Friday Picks

Well yesterday, I got 3 out of 4 correct but unfortunately the 1 I got wrong (Memphis) was a killer as I had them in the title game (losing to Pitt).

Time to regroup and go 4 for 4 today. 

1. Louisiville over Michigan State  - I like Louisiville a lot but I don't see them winning the tournament. However Arizona is not the team to take them out.
2. North Carolina over Gonzaga - Can we even call Gonzaga a mid major anymore? Their recruits are as good as anyones and they have their own private jet.... NC is still too much for them with too much firepower. Also I heard Brooklyn Decker is their #1 fan and wants to be their Ashley Judd... Good enough for me!
3. Michigan State takes out Kansas  - MSU gets the honor of knocking out the reigning Champion. This Spartan team is flying under the radar but are really good.
4. Oklahoma over Syracuse - If Griffin hadn't gotten hurt back in February, the Sooners are probably the top ranked team coming into the tournament. 

Good luck everyone!

Bill

Sweet 16 Thursday Picks

Some great games tonight, here are my picks:

1. UConn over Purdue   - pulling away by 10 at the end
   
2. Memphis taking Missouri   - back and forth battle with Memphis pressure "D" causing a late turnover
3. Pittsburgh destroying Xavier  - Pittsburgh finally comes to play
4. Villanova over Duke   - Villanova's inside strength too much for Duke

The Big East moves on!

Bill

ET / Northwood - Trabuco Hills / Huntington Beach

In the best match up of the year so far, the El Toro Chargers defeated the Northwood Timberwolves 3-2 in 8 innings. 

Northwood pitcher Grobberson went 4 strong innings. With his great curve and sharp control, he limited ET to 2 runs on 3 hits. 

Chargers pitcher, Jordan Wirth, matched him pitch for pitch and left the 4th with a 2-1 lead. 

In the 8th, with 1 out, Collin Parker took a fastball to right field and ended up with a triple, where Daniel Conmy ended the game with a sacrifice fly to right. 

Nick Villar continued his homerun streak hitting his 3rd in 3 consecutive games. Mitchell Tolman went 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and a single and Tyler Brashears threw 2 shutout innings for the win. 

The Chargers upped their record to 9-2 (2-0 Sea View) and come back on Friday with another Sea View opponent, Woodbridge. 

Northwood also comes back on Friday against Huntington Beach, in what should be another tough Sea View battle. 

In other Sea View news on Wednesday, Huntington Beach won a thriller against Trabuco Hills,  7-6. After being down 5-2 in the 6th, the Oilers capitilized on 4 Mustang errors to tie it up. TH went back up in the 7th but in the bottom half, HB loaded the bases and then with 1 out, used back to back suicide squeezes to push across the tying and winning runs. 

Good luck to all the teams on Friday!

Bill 

Schilling for the Hall?

With Curt's retirement yesterday, this debate started up. 

Now I'm a big Schilling fan. I think he was a helluva pitcher, great in the postseason and I'd take him on my team anytime, but If I had a hall of fame vote would he get it? I'm not sure.... 

I think it all comes down to your definition of what makes a hall of famer. I think the Hall should be reserved for people that were outstanding and dominated during their era. I dislike letting guys in that were "marginal" or were good but not great.... 

My first thought when the Schilling debate came up was "no, he's not a hall of famer". Good over many years, exceptional for a few, 3 world series rings and incredible postseason numbers, but not one of the dominate pitchers during his era. You'd have to rank him 5th (and possibly as low as 7th) behind Maddux, Clemens, Johnson, Martinez and possibly Glavine and Smoltz... Great article by Tom Verducci today in Sports Illustrated discussing his candidacy (click on title to access article).

Now how much credit and weight to his postseason career will determine whether he get's in or not,  but I did come across some other numbers that were pretty impressive:

While Schilling only has 216 career wins, he does have over 3,000 strikeouts and a phenomenal strikeout to walk ratio of 4.38 to 1 (which happens to be the best strikeout to walk ratio since 1900). 

While he never won the CY Young award he was the runner up 3 times (behind incredible years of Johan Santana and Randy Johnson twice). In those 3 years here are Schillings stats:

2001: 22-6, 2.98 ERA, 293 strikeouts.
2002: 23-7, 3.23 ERA, 316 strikeouts.
2004: 21-6, 3.26 ERA, 203 strikeouts in 226 2/3 IP

Not shabby numbers. Throw in his Postseason record - 11-2, 3 World Series rings and 1 World Series MVP, and it's easy to see why he has a legitimate chance of getting in. 

As to his 216 wins, yes it's below the magical 300, but here are some other pitchers in the Hall that fell short of that number also:

Sandy Koufax   - (165)

Bob Gibson   - (251)

Catfish Hunter - (224)

Whitey Ford    - (236)

Bob Lemon    - (207)

Don Drysdale  - (209)

Lefty Gomez    - (189)

He also has a .601 winning percentage which puts him ahead of many guys on that above list. 

After looking at all the numbers I believe the question should be not whether he'll make the Hall, but which team he's going to be inshrined with. But that's a question for another day. 

Bill

ET -10, Mater Dei -1

John Greiner and Daniel Conmy combined on a 3 hitter as El Toro took down Mater Dei.

Nick Villar homered for the second consecutive game, Byron Manzo went 3 for 3 including 2 doubles and Mitchell Tolman supplied 4 rbi's with a triple and a bases clearing double.

El Toro comes back this Wednesday at 3:15pm against Sea View rival Northwood. 

Bill

"The Frozen Four"

While all the attention is on the college basketball tournament, there is another college tournament going on that is just as exciting. 

No, I'm not talking about womens basketball, but men's college hockey, also known as the "Frozen Four".

Being a University of New Hampshire alumnus, I can honestly, and proudly, say I follow this tournament every year (not that I ever followed it when I went to school there.....).

This is a tournament that lives in the shadow of college basketball, but for sheer excitement, doesn't take a back seat to anyone. 

Games start this Friday, the 27th, and end with the "Frozen Four" on April 9th and 11th at the Verizon Center in Washington DC.

Boston University (31-6-4) is the top seed followed closely by last years runner up Notre Dame. BU enters the tournament on a 20-2-3 run and a Hockey East Championship.

Some of the players to watch are:

• Matt Gilroy   - BU
• Jacques Lamoureux  - Air Force Academy
• Brad Thiessen   - Northeastern
• Colin Wilson       - BU
• Zane Kalemba   - Princeton
• Victor Stalberg   -  Vermont
• Jordan pearce   - Notre Dame

The opening games start this Friday on ESPN, so check it out if you get a chance. You won't be disappointed!

Bill

March Madness Update

I have 11 of the 16 teams (not great, but not a killer) but still have all my Final 4 and Elite 8 teams left. 

I'm sitting well for a strong run to the finish. 

Bill

I Love LA!

This is for all you umpires....

(click on link for video)

And yes, Jerry, I expect to see you doing the moonwalk out there!

Bill

Sea View League Baseball Update

Busy week for the El Toro boys. They started off the week with back to back losses to San Clemente (10-3) and Laguna Hills (8-7), but then came on strong in the last 2 games beating Trabuco Hills (18-3) and Edison (10-0).

In the TH game, the hitting attack was led by John Greiner with a home run, triple, single and 6 rbi's. Jordan Wirth was once again dominate on the mound throwing 4 strong innings and Tyler Brashears came on to close it out. In the Edison game, the Chargers got great pitching from Shane Jones, Byron Manzo and Jake Tredwell to shut down Edison and Nick Villar supplied the power with a home run and a single.

Trabuco Hills hit a bump in the road this past week by their loss to El Toro and another loss to Millikan (13-5). They started off well in the ET game, scoring a run in the 1st on back to back doubles by Blake Consiglio and Keoni Kanahele. The Mustangs Michael Mobley looked strong early shutting down the Chargers thru 2 and a half innings but a couple walks, hit and a throwing error opened the flood gates. Dylan Churchill tried to keep TH in the game with 2 triples, but the rest of the bats of Trabuco seemed to get lost on their way down from Mission Viejo.

In other Sea View news, the Woodbridge boys look to have a high powered offense as they've beaten Loara (15-5), Costa Mesa (12-3) and Ocean View (14-8) handidly. They had a big division game with Northwood on Friday but as of deadline, the score hasn't come in. I'll post when I hear. (update - Northwood had their way in this game posting a 14-2 win).

Here's the schedule for the week:

El Toro -

M - Mater Dei - home

W - Northwood - home

F - Woodbridge - home

S - Edison - home

Trabuco Hills

M - Mission Viejo - home

W - Huntington Beach away

F - Foothill - away

Woodbridge

W - Foothill - home

F - El Toro - away

Northwood

W - El Toro - away

F - Huntington Beach home

Foothill

W - Woodbridge - home

F - Trabuco - away

HB

W - Trabuco - home

F - Northwood - away

S - JSerra - away

Most weekday games start at 3:15pm.

If you get a chance try to get out and watch some youth baseball. There is some great baseball being played and best of all, it's free!

Bill

The Yankee's Should Be So Proud!

The news on Alex Rodriguez keeps getting better and better. The latest info as reported in the NY Daily News (click title above for article), has an account of him "dating" the famous NY madam Kristen Davies (from Eliot Spitzer fame) and her account of supplying hookers for him. 

Let's go to the scoreboard here to see how good ol clean cut Alex has been doing over the past year earning that $25 million from the Yankee's:

1) Choke in the postseason?     Check

2) Be spotted walking into a Toronto strip club with a woman that wasn't his wife?   Check

3) Reported affair with Madonna?      Check

4) Wife divorces him due to infidelity?      Check

5) Admits to using steroids over a period of years?    Check

6) Publicly accuses woman reporter of breaking into his house and eventually proven wrong (and no public apology)?  Check

7) Spends at least the 1st month of season on injured reserve?  Check

8) A well known Madam discusses her "relationship" with the All American Boy?  Check

It's been quite a year for Alex! 

If you're a Yankees fan, are you proud to have A-Rod sporting the pinstripes? 

At this point, how can anyone cheer for him? 

Yankee Pride! 

Bill

March Madness

I had all these designs on doing a big write up of the tournament, but I've been time challenged lately and never got around to writing the article.

I do have my bracket and I have for my final four North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Memphis and Louisville (all number 1's except for Memphis). Finals it's Pitt and Memphis with Pittsburgh winning 50 to 47.

Some "upsets" I have along the way are VCU over UCLA, Michigan over Temple, Utah State over Marquette, Arizona over Utah and West Virginia over Kansas.

Sleeper to make final 4 would be West Virginia which is a 6th seed.

Bill

ET and Trabuco HIlls F/S Weekend games and Sea View schedules

I had a chance on Saturday to get out and catch a couple a games. 

El Toro traveled up to Santa Ana to take on Mater Dei (and giving me a chance to walk down "Heisman Lane") and came away with an 11-3 victory. 

Jordan Wirth dominated the Monarchs in the first 4 innings with an overpowering fastball and a sharp curve which left the Mater Dei batters guessing. After only giving up a run, Shane Jones and Tyler Brashears came on and closed out Mater Dei. 

The offense put up 9 runs in the 4th to break open a close game. El Toro batted through the order and used all parts of Rod Dedeaux Stadium to frustrate the Monarch pitchers. Tyler Brashears and Jayson Yano had back to back bunts which pulled the fielders in, and when Nick Villar and Mitchell Tolman hit back to doubles to left field, the hit parade was on. 

The fellow Sea View league Mustangs didn't have quite such an easy time. Due to a scheduling mishap, the Mustangs came out slowly in their battle against perenial power St. John Bosco. Several early errors by Trabuco allowed Bosco to go up 8-0 before the Mustangs woke up and played competitive baseball the rest of the way. Final score ended up being 10-5 . 

Having a nice game for the Mustangs was their number 5 batter, Kody Weil. With 3 doubles and a walk on the day, Kody cemented his status as a top hitter in the Sea View league and a player to continue to watch. 

ET's record now stands at 5-0 and Trabuco Hills drops to 3-2. 

Here is the Schedule for the week. Sea View league games start up this week so there are sure to be some great matchups: 

Trabuco Hills -           Monday - Mater Dei  - home     - 3:15pm

              Wednesday  - Millikan  - home  - 3:15pm

              Friday    - El Toro     - away         - 3:15pm

El Toro     -                 Monday   - San Clemente    - home     - 3:15pm

                     Tuesday    - Laguna Hills      - away     - 3:15pm

                     Friday      -  Trabuco Hills     - home    - 3:15pm

                     Saturday  - Edison                 - away      - 11:00am

Huntington Beach  - Monday  - Capo Valley         - away   - 3:15

     Tuesday  - Fountain Valley  - away  - 3:15

      Wednesday - Marina           - home    - 3:15

     Friday     - Foothill               - away    - 3:15

     Saturday  - Aliso Niguel      - home  - 11:00

Woodbridge  -           Monday   - Ocean View  - home  - 3:30

             Wednesday   - Tustin     - away    - 3:30

             Friday    - Northwood   - away    - 3:30

Northwood   -           Wednesday  - University     - home  - 6:00

            Friday        - Woodbridge   - home - 3:30

Foothill  -                  Monday   - El Modena               - away   - 3:00

                    Friday    - Huntington Beach  - home - 3:15

Trabuco Hills Frosh / Soph Baseball

The Mustang's have a storied tradition with a lot of talented ball players coming through their program and this year is no different.

Lead by Manager Grzecka and Coaches Roumimper and Proffitt, the Frosh / Soph team looks to be talented and a force to be reckoned with over the next couple years.

So far, the Mustangs are 3 and 1 on the season, with wins over Millikan (9-2), Kennedy (6-1) and Newport Harbor (18-10). Their lone loss came at the hands of Tesoro, in a tight pitchers dual, 4-2.

Good luck this season Trabuco!

Bill

El Toro F/S Win again

Tonight the El Toro baseball F/S went up to Cypress and took down the Centurians 11-6.

John Greiner started on the mound and while he didn't have his best stuff, he battled for 4 innings and kept ET in the game until their bats got hot.

Cypress had opened up a 5-1 lead going into the 5th, when Mitchell Tolman, Nick Villar and Byron Manzo hit back to back to back doubles to ignite the Charger attack. Seven runs later, El Toro took an 8-5 lead to the bottom of the 5th, where Jake Tredwell (Left) came in and limited Cypress the rest of the way. A few more doubles and smart baserunning gave El Toro the final margin.

With the win, El Toro is now a perfect 4-0 on the year. They have a big test coming up on Saturday, when they travel to Mater Dei and take on one of Southern California's top high school programs. Game time is 11am.

Bill

"Bracketology" and other Mad Thoughts

As we close in on selection Sunday, I say "Let the Madness Begin"!

Lot's of talk this year about expanding the tournament over 65 teams. I remember not so long ago when it was just 32.. I'm fine with the way it is now. It's not like any team not getting in is going to win it all, so let's leave the number at 65. It's already watered down with the teams that get in due to "automatic qualifiers", so you have a mix of the powerhouse programs and the smaller programs. Gives you a few chances for an upset but still let's the big guys battle it out for the championship.

Speaking of automatic qualifiers, here is who is currently in:

East Tennessee State

Portland State

Cleveland State

Northern Iowa

Radford

Cornell

Virginia Commonwealth

Robert Morris

Siena

Morehead State

Chattanooga

North Dakota State

Western Kentucky

Gonzaga

Lot's of "states" in that group. Personally I'm pulling for Morehead State but that's just me.... Always exciting to watch them play, go on a run and hear their student body chant "More Head", "More Head", "More Head"............

I'm going out on a limb here, but here are my #1 seed predictions:

West - Memphis

Midwest - Pittsburgh

South - North Carolina

East - Connecticut

I think Oklahoma will be the #2 seed in the midwest, along with Michigan State the #3, making this region the "Group of Death"!

On Monday, I'll break down the regions and give you my predictions along with a link to my bracket.

In other news - Set your DVR's for today at 6pm PT, as the long awaited battle between Mexico and Cuba takes place in the WBC. This game is for "all the marbles" of Pool "B", as the winner gets the #1 seed. This will be "mano e mano" as bragging rights of Central America will be at stake....... Some guy with a last name ending in "z" will be starting for Mexio and some guy with a last name ending in "z" will be taking the bump for Cuba! Don't miss it.........

The intensity level will no doubt be increasing 10 fold come Saturday as the 2nd round kicks in. Venezuela vs. Netherlands at 10am PT, followed by USA / Puerto Rico at 5pm PT.

Enjoy!

Bill

El Toro Frosh/Soph Baseball

Hi everyone:

Seeing as how my son Mitchell is on the El Toro High School Frosh/Soph baseball team, I wanted to give everyone a place to follow what's going on with the team and hopefully the other teams in the Sea View league.

There are 6 schools in the Sea View league - El Toro, Trabuco Hills, Huntington Beach, Foothill, Woodbridge and Northwood. I'm currently in the process of getting contact information for the high schools, so when I get that, I'll start posting updates on all the schools.

Through the newspapers and on the web, it's pretty easy to find standings and scores of the varsity teams ( try Maxpreps.com), but no one wants to post the information for the lower levels, so lucky you, you have me!

So far, The El Toro Frosh/Soph team has played 3 games and won all three. Here are the scores:

Esperanza - 8
El Toro - 10

El Toro - 11
Canyon - 3

El Toro - 18
La Mirada - 3

All 3 games are part of the Garden Grove tournament they're participating in, with games coming up this Thursday against Cypress and Saturday against Mater Dei.

League games will be starting on March 20th against cross town rival Trabuco Hills.

Led by Coach Ferrell and Coach Fiero, the team looks to have solid pitching, defense and a nice group of hitters.

Good luck this year guys!

World Baseball Classic

So is everyone following the World Baseball Classic (WBC)? Yes? Yes???

Okay, so from all reports the viewership hasn't been strong so far during the 1st round. From my standpoint, it's been hard getting information about the games and game times. I've been able to catch pieces of games when I happen to be flipping through the channels and come across it, but it's not like I've got the games listed in my iphone and I'm clearing my calendar to see them.

I did see the USA/Venzuela game which I liked and I watched the Netherlands eliminate the Dominican Republic, and Cuba beat Australia last night. Both great games. Hopefully the Netherlands game will help stimulate more interest (huge upset) as we begin to move into the second round. I'm sure a bunch of kids in wooden shoes with last names like Van Dan Sloot were celebrating late into the night after that upset!

Seriously though, I like the WBC and hope it can continue. I was speaking with my friend Julie yesterday who's a big baseball fan and she was saying she dislikes it cause of the potential damage it could cause to pitchers.... I don't know, they have pitch counts in place now (which they didn't the first time) so I don't think the stress on the pitchers arms will be much different than they would if the pitchers were throwing Grapefruits or dodging Cactuses....... My viewpoint is let them play, represent their country and hopefully they'll generate interest in baseball like the World Cup does for soccer. Admittedly I'm not a big soccer fan, but I'm fascinated every 4 years when the World Cup roles around. Love my Brazilian soccer players!

As I'm sure everyone is dying to know when the next games are, here you go:

Wednesday - Netherlands vs Puerto Rico, 2:30pm PT, Venezuela vs USA, 3:30pm PT, Mexico vs Australia, 7pm PT

Thursday - Mexico v Australia winner takes on Cuba for 1st place in the bracket - 6pm, PT

Don't forget to set your DVR's and "Viva la Beisbol"!

Bill