The Sports Note

Yeah! 0-2 to start the season. Um, Mr.Cabrera? I know yesterday I asked you not to walk anyone (and you only walked 4 while striking out 9, not bad) but could you also try and not let the opposing team run wild around the bases? The Twins stole four bases off of you and (supposed) defensive specialists Alberto Castillo and thats not good, especially when two of those runners scored after stealing.

I didn’t actually watch this game so my observations are all based soley on the game story/boxscore but whats the deal with the offense? Melvin hit a HR yesterday, which is nice, but Roberts, Markakis and Millar are all struggling. Those first two are going to have to step up if we have any shot of being good this year. Not to mention I have both Roberts and Markakis on my fantasy team. Come on guys, I need you! Do it for me!

Its new Oriole Jared Wright (I remember when he was a stud with the Indians, now not so much) vs. new Twin Ramon Oritz tonight as the O’s try to avoid a depressing season-starting sweep. Oritz is weird, sometimes he can be lights out, other times he sucks. I remember going to see him last year when he was with the Nationals and he almost threw a perfect game against the Cardinals AND he hit a HR. It was crazy. Hope he sucks tonight.

UPDATE: Here’s an interesting Will Carroll thing wondering why the Twins stole so much last night.

Being the MLB commish is a pretty sweet gig for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is apparently you get paid bank:

Selig received $14.5 million in the 12 months ending Oct. 31, according to Major League Baseball’s tax return, which was obtained by the Sports Business Journal.

Thats nice work if you can get it. SI.com’s Jon Heyman put together a little All-Star team of people who make less then Selig:

Pujols $14 million, Chipper Jones $13.7 million, Carlos Beltran $13.6 million, Andruw Jones $13.5 million, Carlos Delgado $13.5 million, Roy Halladay $12.7 million, Ichiro $12.5 million, Miguel Tejada $11.8 million, John Smoltz $11 million, Roy Oswalt $11 million, Ivan Rodriguez $10.6 million, Mariano Rivera $10.5 million, Alfonso Soriano $10 million, Ken Griffey $9 million, Greg Maddux $9 million, Johan Santana $8.75 million and Barry Zito $7.9 million.

You could win a couple games with that squad.

Well the streak had to end sometime. I’m talking of course about the Orioles six consecutive wins on Opening Day which ended with yesterday’s loss to the Twins. On a night when Twins ace Johan Santana was off (4 ER in 6.0 innings), O’s ace Eric Bedard was even more off (6 ERs in 4.2 innings). Oh well, can’t win them all. Tejada had hit his first HR of the season and is now on pace to hit 162 this year, which would be a record I believe.

Tonight its young Daniel Cabrera on the mound against one of the more ridiculous names I’ve ever heard: Boof Bonser. Cabrera is 5-1 in his career against the Twins so here’s hoping he can get to 6-1. No walks Daniel, no walks!.

Also, a note to American League baserunners in general, and Justin Morneau in particular: do not run on Nick Markasis. Don’t. He’s got a cannon for an arm and he will throw you out, just like he threw Morneau out at home and at second yesterday. You’ve been warned.

Um I have no idea if this kid can even play basketball but lets put him in the NBA Dunk Contest right now. A windmill dunk OVER someone? Disgusting.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9drNlclSzE[/youtube]
(via True Hoop)

I toyed around with writing a whole 2007 season preview for the Orioles but never really got around to it. Let me just go on the record now as saying I strongly believe that we have a pretty good shot at the wild card. Lowen, Caberea and Bedard all looked good this spring and Markasis is on the verge of stardom. So you heard it here first, the Orioles are your 2007 wild card winners. Book it.

I should note that Baseball Prospectus, using their PECOTA projection numbers (via Unfiltered), has the Orioles finishing last in the AL East with a projected record of 74-88 and a 5% chance of winning the division and 4% chance of winning the wild card. So now you know how smart I’ll look when they come through.

Any chance we could rewind things to Friday afternoon and then do everything differently? Cause that was an awful, awful weekend to be a Wizards fan. First Friday night’s game against the Raptors, featuring one of the most heartbreaking plays I’ve ever watched live (I saw it on TV but it was still enough to get me to jump out of my chair and shout in frustration. To wit, Michael Ruffin screws up, as can be seen in this video right here:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_Y85Mi7Tg[/youtube]
(via Deadspin)

Now I’m not entirely sure what Mr. Ruffin was trying to do there…but it obviously wasn’t a good idea. I think he was trying to throw the ball far up in the air in sort of a half-celebration the games over, half burn the last few seconds off the clock kind of deal but the ball slipped a bit and he ended up giving it right to MoPete who ended up making the shot of his life. And I ended up spilling my drink on myself when the shot went in. And of course the Wizards then went on to lose in OT, which was to be expected after getting a stomach-punch like that.

Cut to Sunday when the Wizards, still reeling, played against the Bucks in Milwaukee. The Bucks were without Michael Redd (also no Andrew Bogut) but the Wizards have shown a distressing ability to lose to teams playing without their star players. I was fully prepared for a loss. But then I was pleasantly surprised as my Yahoo Sports scoreboard kept refreshing that the Wizards were actually winning and seemed to have the game in control. I left the house to attend a concert happy in the knowledge that my boys had picked themselves back up and won 121-107.

Little did I know that disaster had struck and my man Tuff Juice (Caron Butler) had been injured in the third quarter (broken hand) and more then likely lost for the year. Why God why?
It was the type of hustle play that summed up Caron Butler’s tenacity and unwillingness to give up. Unfortunately for the Washington Wizards, it also was the play that ended Butler’s season.

Milwaukee Bucks guard David Noel rebounded an Antawn Jamison miss in the third quarter of the Wizards’ 121-107 victory on Sunday and tossed a long outlet pass to forward Ruben Patterson. Butler could have easily let Patterson finish the routine fast break with an uncontested dunk — and perhaps he should have. Instead, Butler tried to block the shot — and failed. Worse, when Butler’s hand slapped the backboard, the pressure of the impact bent back his right index finger, causing a fracture. Butler knew the severity of his injury immediately, looking down at his hand and telling himself, “This thing’s broke.”

Snip

Butler didn’t join the team on its flight to Charlotte afterward and will have an MRI exam today in Washington. He wasn’t optimistic after the game. “Second round [of the playoffs], third round, possibly,” Butler said when asked about a possible return. “Right now, I probably won’t have a jersey on until next season.”

How bad is this? Wizards are 2-7 this year without Caron. We were already having a mediocre second half of the year and now we lose one of our Big 3. That doesn’t bode well for the playoffs, no matter who we face in the first round (please not the Heat, please). Anyway, like I said, awful weekend to be a Wizards fan.