Friday, August 26, 2011

ARod Musings...

S19 ended in such a bizarre fashion with a veteran owner, new to ARod, taking over a juggernaut team and then after leading them to a great season, getting shit-canned by WIS just before the playoffs started for some type of collusion that appears to have happened in some other world or worlds..........that said, wouldn't you know that the Ghostship he left behind, with no human help, buzz-sawed it's way to the S19 World Series title.  That team and the disgrace of the owner will never grace the hallowed pages of the Arod blog Past Champions list.

Moving on.......the excellent parity in the ARod world promises to deliver high drama again in S20.  There are at least half the teams in the league, if not more, that can make an argument for why they will be the S20 World Series champs, and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

 Musings....

1) Looking back at S19, for me personally it was disappointing....season ending injuries to two of Vancouver's best players forced management to make a decision.......blow it up and rebuild or grind it out and hope for a festivus miracle in S20------turns out the decision took all of 20 secs and the re-build was on.

2)  Boy was the blog wrong about RJ Ordonez......I truly thought we would be magically transformed back to the dawn of world Arod (or at least seasons 7-8 of Ballvalanche) and we would be witness to a season of epic proportions as "RJO" lit up the night sky over Santa Fe and their friendly confines......Don't get me wrong, RJO still had a solid season, but not quite the sure first pre-season MVP type season "guarenteed" here... :)

3)  Pedro "Hack" Bonilla laid claim to The Best Dang Hitter in the History of World ARod not named Dante Ming when he claimed his 5th MVP.....my god the computer generated guys is unbelievable with those electronic data points in his "hands".......apologies to The Big O, Omar Castillo; Roy "The Natural" Bell, Emmanuel "Little E" Aquino, Pedro "Sorano" Ontiveros, Alfredo "Say it Ain't" Sosa and Tony "RBI" Martin.

4) NL North:  Where does langer go from here?  How long can Chicago hang on with the rest of the division loading up on high draft picks and nice IFA's over the last few years?  This division is poised to break out...but when?

    NL East: The Booya are the class of the division, but that payroll is about to skyrocket........will tman go all in or will he sell off veterans ala safetyman or dengood and attempt to perpetually remain in the hunt?  The rest of the division continues to build and look forward to the day they can challenge the controversial tman for division supremacy.

    NL South:  You know it a tough division when the 3rd place team makes it to the NLCS!!!  Tampa and Iowa will be in the mix for the next few seasons, but can Frank Robbins continue to keep NO relevant?  Texas is deep in rebuild mode.
  
    NL West: St Louis is a monster with 2 World Series titles in the last 6 seasons and they aren't going anywhere.  Funhat and his bishes (what's a bish anyways?) are planning on jumping from upstart to contender while bigparb finds out what he's made of with the first rebuild of his WIS career (can he hack it?  he's a great winner but not so good with the losing stuff)....mtg will have company in the cellar and in the top 10 of the draft for the next few seasons me thinks....

   AL North:  The jewel her is Augusta with their wealth of talent....but don't sleep on kimdog and asexton....both owners seem to have a plan and should be competitive soon....

   AL East:  50below has taken over this division winning it 3 of the last 4 years....gone are the days of The Psycho's ruling with an iron fist.....gydk has never had to re-build....can he do it and re-claim the past glory?  jimmy and his Mud Hens are quietly putting together some nice young talent.....watch out in a few years......dem hens goona be trouble.

   AL South:  The best division in baseball......when barjaz and his Wichita Rocks are in last place there can be no arguement!!!.....you want hitting --see Santa Fe;  you want pitching ---- see Jackson, Charlotte and Wichita....(ok fine.....put them all in hitting too) .you want great talent battling it out day in day out....you just found it!!! 

   AL West: The Best hitting team in baseball has a new owner......what will happen?  Re-sign vets?  Let them walk and load up on draft picks?  Things gonna get expensive soon....lots of decisions....as for the rest, 40_dog and his Sundogs are in rebuild mode, but with his notoriously fickle fan base be happy with this.  Can reiny make the most of the draft this year---he needs to if he's gonna climb out of ARod purgatory.....and the blog isn't sure what mrx39 is going to do....muddle though attempting to get to .500; attempt to make some big trades (nah) or commit to the rebuild....inquiring minds would like to know....

5) Belated congratulations go out to cebola who was named the S19 ARod Manager of the Year.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Quick notes (sorry for my neglect)

1) Never have seen such a weak crop of MVP candidates as we have in the NL this year......most years even the best guy---Santiago---probably wouldn't even be in the conversation.

2) Conversely, the AL MVP crop is fantastic, sans Musial......any of the 4 guys would be the clear MVP if in the NL.  No doubt the ARod Blog season MVP award is a two man race between Dickerson and "Hack" Bonilla.

3) Can funhat breakthrough for that elusive playoff berth he would so much like?  One thing is for sure, funhat has his franchise pointed in the right direction.

4)  Congrats to tony23 for finally making the playoffs!!!  The AL South is ridiculous and I sure wouldn't want to see that lineup in the playoffs!!

5) The blog really thought that Gio Hernandaz was going to fulfill his outlandish promise with a S19 Cy Young, but another superstar, Alex Torres says its his turn.  Sorry Gio.

6)  Who says you can't go home......don't tell that to Reese Hemphill......and don't even argue with me about him winning the AL Cy Young....I don't want to hear it...................and yes, I know Sugawara and Heiserman are having fantastic seasons.......