Back on the Braves Bandwagon

Even though they won today, our Nats will not be in the playoffs.  Sorry if I'm the first to break that news to CHB blog readers.  At least the Nats were a little more relevant this season and finished with 69 wins.  More importantly, they avoided 100 losses.  

Instead of limping through another lost season there were some highlights.  At one point they were 20-15 and in second place.  And of course we saw the debut - and injury - of Steven Strasburg, we drafted and signed Bryce Harper, and saw serious promise in players like Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos, Jordan Zimmermann, Sean Burnett, and Drew Storen. 

Plus, we started the best brawl in baseball this season!

There is finally legitimate hope for Washington baseball.  Even without Strasburg improving to 81 wins is NOT out of the question next season.  Hopefully we resign Adam Dunn and sign Carl Crawford to protect our one legit star in Ryan Zimmerman and add to the roster of youngish talent. Then who knows?   

But progress will mainly depend on finding a legit lead off hitter, and the development of their core of young starters.  If Zimmermann, John Lannan, Ross Detwiler, Jason Marquis and Livan Hernandez can hold things together they could make a run at a .500 record in 2011.

This October I am happy to get back on the Braves bandwagon.  As many of you know, I moved to DC from Florida and was a pretty serious Braves fan until the Nats came to town in 2005. Though Chipper is out for the rest of the season I will happily root for Bobby Cox to make a deep run in the postseason.  The guys wins, and knows how to lead. 

However, it is hard to see anyone taking down the Phillies in the National League, especially with a pitching staff that will go Halladay to Oswalt to Hamels.  Their bullpen is still a little vulnerable but they have six or seven legit stars on the that team.

In the AL, the dark horse pick seems to be the Twins.  I don't know much about the American League teams; when we got the Nats I also stopped following the Orioles.  I do know the Yankees have only one reliable starter in CC Sabathia, that without a healthy Evan Longoria the Rays look vulnerable, and that Nolan Ryan is instituting some interesting changes in how the Rangers handle pitchers and train starters.  

So I guess I'm going Twins versus Phillies in a World Series that will pit America's second most obnoxious fans versus those who eat lutefisk.

A few more sports notes

• Evan and I tried to watch the Skins game versus the Eagles, and even with the drama of McNabb going back to the city that traded him that game had no zip or energy.  It was flat out boring, and we quickly went back to MLB Network's look ins to the Braves-Phillies and Giants-Padres games.  Baseball is way better than football.
• But the Heels are relevant again after dismantling ECU over the weekend.  As T.J. Yates told the News and Observer, 'we're probably the happiest 2-2 team in America.'  The Heels are getting some of their suspended players back, and despite all that off the field tawdriness it's hard to give up on the Heels.  Traditional nemesis Clempson visits Chapel Hill next week.  A win over the Tigers will even the Heels' ACC record at 1-1.
• Evan's Little League Phillies lost over the weekend but he had a nice game.  He's generally been a dead pull hitter throughout his Little League career, but he had a great at bat late in the game, taking an outside pitch - with 2 strikes - to right to drive in two runs.  Oddly enough, he has played in four games and has yet to have a ball hit to him even though he has played at third, short, first, and center field. He's played four innings at first and has not even made a put out.

Some good news for the Heels

It's not all bad news for the Heels.  It looks linebackers Bruce Carter and Quan Sturdivant have been cleared to play tonight versus LSU.  The other piece of good news is that the Tigers' offense had little ept last year, so even with a weakened defense the Heels could be okay.

On the offensive side the story is the same as last year. If QB T.J. Yates plays well the Heels should move the ball, even without Greg Little to throw to.  Besides Yates, pressure will be on third string running back Johnny White.  White has been more of a special teams player in Chapel Hill but now gets to start his last year as a Tar Heels running back as the starter.  Perhaps that Cinderella story line will result in a 100-yards plus game.  

Good news for the Heels football team but not so good news for the Hellas football team.  Playing their first game in the EURO 2012 qualifying round and under new coach Francisco Santos, Ellas could only manage a 1-1 tie against their Orthodox co-religionists from Georgia last night.  FYI, the game was moved to Pireaus to accommodate a U2 concert at the Olympic Stadium.

Greece is in a pretty underwhelming group.   Besides Georgia, Ellas is grouped with Malta, Latvia, Israel and Croatia. Israel is decent, but Croatia is good and should be Greece's only real competition.  Then again, we could only muster a tie at home.  

Croatia's talent, and the tie versus Georgia, makes Tuesday's game in Zagreb a BIG one for Ellas.  The good news is Greece thoroughly outshot and outplayed Georgia, and Santos appears to have them playing a more attacking style.  But it's only be one game.  

Stealing one on the road against their only real rival in the group will go a long way in determining if Greece will qualify for Euro 2012 in Poland/Ukraine (P/U?  Is this the 'incredible history of anti-Semitism Euro?).

•  In honor of TJ Yates' home state AND the EURO 2012 game last night this post is in Georgia font.

Cure for Car Care Bowl Fever

What a bad loss for the Heels yesterday, or as Joey Pillow texted me "that was embarrassingly awful." 


There are three things to talk about when looking back at yesterday's game: embarrassingly awful mistakes; a failure to close out games; and finally questions about when is Carolina football going to finally turn the corner?


Embarrassingly awful mistakes: quarterback TJ Yates' interception at the goal line in the second quarter; Greg Little's stupid punt after a great and super-athletic touchdown catch; Barth's out-of-bounds squib kick at the end of the first half; 12 penalties; worst of all, the offsides that allowed Pitt to kick a 33-yard field goal instead of a 47 yarder.  


That is a long list of mistakes to overcome.


Closing out games: it seems that time after time, the Heels have a lead but can't finish.  Perhaps the Heels assume their excellent defense will always rise to the occasion, and maybe we need more depth on that side of the ball to keep guys fresh for four quarters.  Or the offense needs to stay on the field longer.  For whatever reason, the defense hasn't been able to close out games against Georgia Tech, at home vs. Florida State, at NC State, and the last 2 Meineke Car Care Bowls.


Finally, when will Carolina football turn the corner? Butch Davis has tantalizingly teed up expectations by regularly beating Miami, beating Notre Dame last year, defeating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg this season.  However, the Heels can't beat NC State or Virginia.  Those wins, and Davis' recruiting prowess, have made casual football fans like me -  I can't believe I've spent so much time blogging about Carolina football - really care again.  


To finally turn the corner the Heels will need to cut down on the mistakes, especially the mental ones like Yates bad interceptions and penalties, and get over the hump by defeating teams like Virginia and particularly NC State.  Heels fans will have high expectations for next year's team, a team that will feature a more experienced offensive line, a four-year starter at quarterback, and an experienced defense that hopefully will learn to close out games.


On the other hand, maybe Carolina football has turned the corner. The Heels have gone to back-to-back bowl games, and the fact that Carolina football matters and that fans have realistic and ambitious expectations is a testament to where Butch Davis has taken the program.  Let's hope for continued progress and at least 9 wins - including a win over NC State - next year.


A Few Random Notes

• If the game had been on Dec. 26th, Evan and I would have seriously considered going. Having to travel so close to Christmas was a deal-breaker for us, and I guess for many North Carolinians as only 50,000 showed up yesterday.
• Terrible basketball games to watch on Christmas.  I like the NBA-Christmas hoops tradition, but this year's games were terrible.  I've never liked the Celtics - even though Sheed plays for them now - and liked them even less after watching Boston spend 48 minutes swarming and hacking Dwight Howard.  Ditto for the Lakers-Cavaliers game, another inelegant wrestling match of a game.  Let the players play; I wish referees would call more fouls against physical defenses.  There are too many low-scoring scrums in the post-Pat Riley NBA.
• The Wizards, in particular Gilbert Arenas, looked terrible yesterday.  I thought he was fully recovered from his knee problems and having not played basketball for two seasons, but he's not. The Wiz committed 18 turnovers in losing to Wayne Ellington's Minnesota Timberwolves.  
• Tyler Hansbrough had a double-double last night, 19 and 11, in the Pacers' loss to Marvin Williams' Atlanta Hawks.  Hansbrough played a season-high 31+ minutes and was 7 for 20 from the field.  He's having a good season now that he appears to be fully back in basketball shape but his shooting percentage continues to be in the 30s (37 percent for the season).  One reason is Psycho T continues to have a lot of his shots blocked; against the Hawks last night 6 of his shots were blocked (4 by Al Horford). Once he figures that out . . .