The Sports Watercooler

I am going to try and give out Monthly awards as the baseball season goes on. I haven't decided if it will be a "Player of the Month" type award or more of a "If the season ended now, this is who would win stuff". Luckily for April, it doesn't matter.

And since its May 6, all stats and awards are through last night's games.

Without further ado, the American League:

The current division leaders are:
East: Boston
Central: Minnesota
West: Los Angeles

MVP: Manny Ramerez. That crazy dude has started the season on a tear. He is batting .315 with 6 HRs and 23 RBIs. He has cooled a bit recently, but he is still currently tops in the AL.

Cy Young: Amazing race here. With respect to Ervin Santana's 4-hit complete game last night, the award goes to Cliff Lee, who happens to have a 5-0 record and a .96 ERA.

Rookie of the Year: Clay Buchholz. The Sox young pitcher has started off pretty good, amassing a 2-2 record, but supplants that with 33 Ks and a 3.17 ERA.

Come Out of Nowhere Award: Carlos Quentin. He was formerly known as a Diamondbacks prospect last year, but no one expected this for him. An AL leading 8 HRs in the first month of the season in Chicago, including 22 RBIs.

National League

The current division leaders are:
East: Philadelphia
Central: St. Louis
West: Arizona

MVP: Chase Utley. A league leading 13 HRs, is accompanied by 26 HRs and a gaudy .362 average.

Cy Young: No surprise, Brandon Webb has already shown he hasn't lost a step since winning 2 years ago. He has won every game he has started, posting a 7-0 record with a 2.49 ERA.

Rookie of the Year: Giovanni Soto. The Cub's catcher is hitting .352 with 24 RBIs and 6 HRs.

Came Out of Nowhere Award: Nate McLouth. Its no secret I have a man crush on Nate. Luckily, with his stats, I am not alone. .323 average, 25 RBIs, 7 HRs and 3 stolen bases. Swoon with me.

Your Cheatin' Heart

Raise your hand if this Clemens having an affair with a 15 year old country music star frightens you. It sounds like a plot line out of a bad television show.

But really, is this even a story? Sorry for all this participation, but raise your hand if you are still surprised to read about affairs with professional athletes. When A-Rod was caught with that stripper friend last year, the media flipped out and most sports fans yawned, saw she wasn't even attractive, maybe made a quick joke, and was ready to move on.

And here again, its the perfect media cares more than us storm. It involves Clemens (yawn) and a professional athlete's love life (yawn).

People like to hear about athletes lives, they like stories like Reggie Willits, utility player for the Angels who actually lives in a batting cage. And stories like Roy Oswalt getting a Bulldozer from the owner when he won the Cy Young because he always wanted one. Fun, quirky stories are good. Hard struggle stories are good (see Hamilton, Josh). But stories we all already assume to be true, its worth a glance and its time to move on.

Clemens added some shock value with the age and profession of his mistress. But really, did anyone read any of those articles with the same attentiveness you read about a truely compelling story? One where you read the initial article, then google it to find out if there is commentary online? No.

And what's sad is, the media sees Scandal and Big Name and just assumes that we will really care about this. We care about last night's game. The scores. Who hit the big hits, who pitched lights out, and when Jorge will be back. Not retired pitchers stepping out on their wives 20 years ago.

The Sports Watercooler

A quick round-up from this weekend's sporting activities.

Apparently there was an NCAA hockey champion crowned. I don't know, I didn't pay much attention.

Baseball is getting to that point in the season where they have gone through their rotations about 3 times and the season is starting to show its true colors.

For instance, the Tigers are really bad. This should not be happening. In my preseason predictions, I talked about their loaded lineup, the pitching staff should have had 2 Cy Young contendors on it, and they brought over 2 great hitters from the NL in Renteria and Cabrera. Instead, they are getting smoked. Every facet of their game sucked yesterday. The pitching staff gave up two (TWO!) grand slams, and the hitters couldn't get anything across, and were shut out for the second time in 2 days. They have far and away the worst record in baseball right now.

Meanwhile, Baltimore still continues to surprise, as they sit at the top of the AL East. They continue to ride the hot bat of Aubry Huff, but they can't keep this up, can they?

There are some familiar names at the top of the pitching categories (Cole Hamels, Ben Sheets), and a lot of unfamiliar ones. Zach Greinke, Kyle Lohse, Brain Bannister are all off to hot starts.
Mark Reynolds leads the league in RBIs and ESPN.com doesn't even have his picture to post next to his name.

The NHL playoffs are underway. And even though the Stanley Cup playoffs feature a lot of underdog victories, this year its even more so. Only three teams have a 2-0 lead on their opponent (Dallas, Detroit, and Pittsburgh), all the other series are tied or 2-1. 2 of last nights games went to OT and a third was won when a team scored 4 unanswered to overcome a 3-0 deficit.
Trevor Illelmen won the Masters this weekend, in an almost dominating fashion, beating second place Tiger by 3 strokes.

And finally, the NBA playoffs are more or less set. All that remains is the final spot in the West. Its Denver's to lose. And if they do lose, Golden State will make it. Both teams are fun to watch and high energy, so I really have no dog in that race.

And lastly, we say good bye to this week's Bandwagon Team--The Royals. They won a series against the Yankees 2-1 and lost a series to Minnesota 1-2, finishing the week 3-3. This is a great young team, with excellent pitching. I really don't expect them to fade too far as the season progresses.

As for this week's team: lets all cheer for the Pittsburgh Pirates! They have an amazing young player in Nate MacLouth who is currently batting .400 and is in the top ten in fantasy value. Plus Xavier Nady has revitalized his career wearing the yellow and black, and is a hitting machine. Throw in young pitchers like Ian Snell and Tom Gorzallany, and this is an easy team to root for. Currently sitting at .500, this week they will face The Dodgers and The Cubs, two very good NL teams. So they will need our support! Go Pirates!

The Sports Watercooler

Well its finally here, the most anti-climactic championship in the world of sports--the NCAA basketball finals. After the best 4 days in sports, the tournament ends with a whimper on a Monday night.

Sure the matchup should be great. Kansas has arguable the most stacked line up of any team in the tournament, Memphis has the best freshman point guard who could do pretty much anything tonight and no one will be surprised.

Tonight's game should be fun though. Memphis has an exciting style of play, patterned (sort of) after the Phoenix Suns. Its fast, aggressive and fun to watch. Kansas is just straight up good. Both teams are just full of "athletes". Those types of players who can each play 2 or three positions.

On to baseball, with one week underway lets get some immediate reactions:

The Tigers and the Red Sox suck! Sitting at 0-6 and 3-4, these are two teams most picked to win the World Series. Yet they are both in the cellars of their divisions.

The Orioles are amazing! Sitting in first place in a loaded AL East, they just can't lose! All hail the power of Kevin Millar!

Speaking of hot teams right now, I present to you the Bandwagon Team of the Week!

Last week we chose the New York Rangers. The Rangers won dramatically against division leader Pittsburgh in OT on Monday, smoked the Islanders 3-0 on Thursday, but then lost to their rivals on Friday (I didn't know hockey played back to back games). And the ended their reign as the Bandwagon Team by losing a nail biter to the Devils last night.

So the New York Rangers finished 2-2, but locked up a playoff spot in the process, beat the first place team, split with their rival, and lost to a rival. Not too shabby.

This week, I would like to introduce you to the team tied for first place in the AL Central, your Bandwagon Team of the Week: The Kansas City Royals!

There is a lot to like about this team. After being one of the dominant teams of the 80s, hard times came fast. And for the last 20 years, the Royals have been somewhat of a joke. But with a new manager, a new GM and some smart moves, the Royals are closer to competing than ever before.

How are they sitting at 4-2 right now? Well their pitching staff has stepped up. People mocked the huge Gil Meche signing a year ago. Since he got his big paycheck though, the man has been producing. They also have a core of some young pitching (Brian Bannister 3 hit the Tigers last week), and a closer who will be dominant in years to come (he struck out the side against Minnesota yesterday for the save). They even got a win and a sub 2 ERA out of Brett Tomko!

The young hitters are coming into their own. Alex Gordon started the season on an All Star pace. Billy Butler is finally showing signs of his endless talent, and steady vets like Jose Guillan and Mark Grudzielanek are playing well. I believe this is the beginning of a new time for the Royals. Remember when they had an outfield that was Jermaine Dye, Carlos Beltran and Johnny Damon? I think the days of a Royal having a good year and leaving are over. Fans can embrace these players now because they will be wearing the blue and white for a long time.

The Royals have a rough week this week, and my bandwagon cheering may be hampered by the fact that they play my 2 favorite non-bandwagon teams (Yankees Tues through Thursday and Twins Friday to Sunday), but I will for sure be watching every one of their games this week, and I am pretty excited about it.

Let's Go Royals!