Feliz Cinco de Mayo

Aparentemente Ozzie Guillen sabe bien de lo que habla.

En honor del Cinco de Mayo, voy a escribir un poco en español sobre el experto instigador Ozzie Guillen.

No es nada nuevo, pero Guillen es una persona absolutamente absurda.  El mánager de los White Sox nunca se edita–deja que lo hagan los editores.  Hace pocos años el dijo que Jay Mariotti, un periodista bien establecido en Chicago y nacionalmente, era un “maricón.”  Después él dijo que en su país maricón no necesariamente quiere decir que un hombre es homosexual, pero es poco hombre (ironía alerta!).  Esto es sólo verdad a medias: en Venezuela cosas son diferentes, sí, pero Guillen ya había vivido en los estados unidos por décadas cuando usó esa palabra.  Por eso usaba una excusa fracasada.

Es posible que ayer Guillen superara qualquier cosa inoportuna que ha dicho hasta este momento en su carrera.  En una explosión fenomenal, Ozzie refirió al infamoso ex-mánager de los Cubs, Lee Elia, quien en 1983 llamó a los fanáticos de los Cubs “mamavergas sin trabajos”: 

“How about the Cubs celebrating that Lee Elia bull[bleep]? How many times do I curse people out? I will make a lot of money with my [stuff]. I have to keep going because in the future Ozzie will need money, and I can say, ‘Here, give me money, here’s the 10-year anniversary of my time I called [Jay] Mariotti stuff and the time I went on the radio and cursed out Mike North.’ “

Durante la misma pre-partido entrevista el maldijo infinitas veces, diciendo que Chicago amará siempre a los Cubs sin prestar atención a lo que hacen los White Sox y que todos se estaban aterrando sobre una sola semana mala. 

Despues de perder 5 partidos consecutivos, su equipo actualmente resida en la segunda posición en su división central, 1.5 partidos detrás de los Minnesota Twins con 14 victorias y 15 derrotas.

Robando un poco de la franqueza que a Guillen le encanta utilizar, yo diría que la persona aterrándose más que nadie es, de hecho, nuestro favorito pequeño Napoleón.

Wake Up Call or Curtain Call for Doc?

A win Sunday in Boston means Rivers lives to coach another day.  A loss should mean time to turn the reigns over to top assistant Tom Thibodeau.

Doc Rivers, you’re officially coaching for your job.

Rivers has done two things extraordinarily well this season: unite a roster that could have gone sour, but had every reason to come together, and allow defensive specialist Tom Thibodeau to run the less glamorous side of the ball, a move that would be difficult for most head coaches to stomach–this isn’t the NFL after all, there are no coordinator positions.  His substitution patterns haven’t been perfect–far from it, in fact–but his poor in-game management is nothing new.  While much of the media has given Rivers a break because most of his Celtics squads have had less talent than Paris Hilton, Bill Simmons has led the fire Doc bandwagon for years due to his inability to nail down a rotation or communicate simple strategies and concepts in the waning moments of close games.  The Atlanta Hawks have successfully illuminated all Rivers’s blemishes during the series’s three contests in his former hometown.

Fortunately for Jeremiah Rivers’s father, the former coach of the year’s weaknesses have been sufficiently masked for most of the season.  He was handed a roster tailor-made for him: the starting five set, and few legitimate options off the bench.  However, as the season progressed the team evolved.  A short bench became one of the deepest in the entire association. 

Herein lies the problem.  Given this surplus of talent, Rivers has faltered.  P.J. Brown, a late-season pick up more for his wisdom than ability, has played more than Tony Allen, the team’s best defensive shooting guard, a guy who should have been developed all season for the purpose of guarding someone like Joe Johnson.  For some reason, Brown has been the one on the court in crucial situations laboring to even find energetic, athletic youths like Josh Smith and Al Horford in order to box out.  By the time his failing, elderly vision allows him to locate the high-flying Hawk big men, it’s too late.  He’s a relic. 

Atlanta’s biggest strength thus far has been its ability to convert via the offensive glass, as evidenced by big fourth quarter rebounds Friday night with the game on the line.  Allowing Ludacris’s favorite team second and third chances resulted in the Hawks scoring on an incredible sixteen consecutive possessions in game six.  Banner seventeen will be lifted from right under the Celtics’s noses if they don’t lock down their bedroom window.

The solution?

Play Leon Powe more; in his last two appearances The Show has netted 19 points and grabbed 11 boards in 38 minutes.  Sit P.J. Brown and hope you’ll need his wily, physical play in future matchups with heftier big men.  Utilize Tony Allen’s abilities rather than watch ex-Celtic Joe Johnson abuse Tony’s namesake for 48 minutes.  Play Sam Cassell sparingly–he was brought in as a security blanket, not as the furnace.  Tap Eddie House on the shoulder earlier and more often.  Bibby’s brother-in-law played a pivotal role during the Celtics’ 66 regular season wins, and shouldn’t be forgotten. 

Oh, and while you’re at it, give the team some direction at the end of games.  I’m thinking Rajon Rondo forcing a three at the buzzer wasn’t the plan.  I’m also thinking that playing Rajon when the team was trying to score quick baskets in the final two minutes might have been a good idea, and inserting Eddie House when down by three in the game’s final seconds might have prevented an ill-fated, forced fade away out of the hands of a career 22.9% shooter from profundity.

Many, including Doc Rivers himself, have used officiating as a crutch for Boston.  This is nonsense.

The refs have been questionable.  Paul Pierce’s sixth foul was comedic.  The 47-25 disparity between free throw attempts in Atlanta is discouraging.  But when one squad finishes the season with 29 more victories than its counterpart, none of this should matter.

Go back to the basics, Doc.  Watch tape of the regular season.  Follow those substitution patterns.  Do some thinking during the final moments of game seven.  Because should Sunday afternoon provide us with a finale worthy of such a shocking series, it could be your last at the helm of basketball’s most storied franchise.

The Rays ARE Contenders

Despite now being D-less, the Rays are off to a hot start.

The Tampa {(Bay) Devil} Rays are currently allowing 4.0 runs per game!

This should be headline news because it’s quite a change from recent, and past, and the team’s entire, history.  Last season the Rays gave up a breathtaking 5.8 each contest.  Those nearly two runs a game the Rays have netted themselves have converted an MLB-worst .407 winning percentage into a nice .571 mark heading into the weekend’s matchup with the first place Red Sox, who rest just one half game ahead of these pesky sea creatures from the south.

While most will call Tampa’s early start a fluke, the team is not playing significantly above its collective head.  Last season the Bay Bashers scored 4.8 runs per game; they’re plating 4.8 thus far in 2008.  Furthermore, TB’s early season production shouldn’t drop significantly with Carl Crawford and Carlos Peña underperforming even their lowest expectations and the failure up the middle of Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura, as well as the imminent return of the promising Rocco Bald…well, nevermind on the last one.  While Eric Hinske will surely tail off, he remains the lone Ray performing above his ability offensively.  The difference has clearly been the pitching–and there’s no fluke here either.

I guess it’s not so bad being a Rays fan after all.

The pen has been excellent, which is likely to change considering the nature of its make-up (mostly above-average vets pitching out of their minds), but excellent should merely fade toward quality.  The starting rotation has been mostly solid, highlighted by James Shields’ 2.54 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 39 innings pitched and Edwin Jackson’s surprising 3.86 ERA in 30.1 innings.  This is a staff sure to face some growing pains–that’s what happens when James Shields is your rotation’s elder statesman at only 26. 

But, while regression can be expected from individual starters, there is reason to believe collective regression will not occur.  Scott Kazmir is set to make his first start of the season this weekend against Boston, whom he has routinely baffled, Matt Garza has missed signicant time and underperformed when on the mound, and a slew of pitching prospects continue to develop their repertoires in the minors (Jake McGee, Wade Davis, Jeff Niemann, David Price, et al).  

This year’s version of the AL East’s perennial doormat is fully capable of staying in the hunt until September, most likely ending the season between 80-85 victories and finishing third in the division.  But with the struggles in New York and Toronto, along with the inevitable fall from grace in Baltimore, Tampa could even sneak as high as second, finishing in the top half of baseball’s richest division for the first time in the team’s history.

Couple Tampa’s current success with impending arrivals of young talent the Mickey Mouse Club would envy (including the number one overall pick in the draft this summer), a stylish new ballpark on the horizon, and pillars entrenched at first, third, left, and center, and you’ve got yourself quite a future.  Now if they could only get this name business straightened out.