Things were getting dicey heading into last week. I found myself wondering what was going to happen first — Hoagy Time breaking into the W column or somebody not named Isaac Thorn completing a CityBeat Sports Blog.
Fortunately for me, I got great pitching performances from Johnny Cueto, and my odd affinity for Randy Wolf has paid off big time, too. —-Orlando Hudson had another solid week, and my victory was only tempered by the late-week injuries suffered by Ryan "Ow My Back" Braun and Manny "See, this is why I don't run" Ramirez. Nick Swisher is also feeling a bit rubby, which necessitated my dropping Casey Blake for Mike Cameron. I hope Cameron doesn't have a 0 HR 15 K week.
I can't bench Man Ram. Too productive. He'll get mad if I do and destroy the team's building confidence. I can also afford to play him this week because my opponent is also 1-3, named the Coconut Daylights and his logo is a creepy picture of Gary "The Wizard" Majewski.
Jorge Cantu probably can't keep producing at the Hack Wilson-like pace he's been on thus far, but when he falls off we'll still be OK. I know Carlos Delgado is going to produce when healthy, but hip injuries are not the kind of thing that can usually be fixed by resting for a day or two.
Enter Hank Blalock. Amazingly, he was available on the waiver wire. I figure he's likely to get more AB's this week, and I'm going to remain quite cautious with the elderly Delgado.
Adam Dunn keeps mashing the ball, which is good. Orlando Hudson looks like he's going to hit .340. Things could be worse, I could have Oliver Perez. I've taken to listening to the Cash Money classic, "Get Your Shine On" to inspire my players, and we're 1-0 when doing so.
As far as real baseball goes, it'd be amazing if the Reds got some fans in the stands at home, and won. It's hard to understand why Laynce Nix isn't getting more ABs. He looks like he's still getting adjusted to playing, but Dickerson looks lost and Nix has the potential to hit 25 home runs.
I don't have much else to say. I hate Rajon Rondo, though. He loves playing as dirty as possible, but when you sneeze on him he crumples to the floor like some sort of lousy European soccer player.
My bold predicition is that the Rockets will beat the Lakers. It'll all come down to Rick Adelman. If he realizes that Shane Battier and Ron Artest can keep Kobe from dropping 45 on them and that Yao is the key, they can pull it off. No Laker can guard Yao. If he gets 30 touches and at least 20 shot attempts, I think you will see him put up ridiculous, efficient numbers.
That Bulls-Celtics series was good, but it makes me not like sports coverage to hear that something is the greatest of all time before it's even completed. There have been a lot of great 7-game series in the NBA's history. Games aren't great just because they go to overtime.
Speaking of overtime, that's where I feel like this diatribe is headed, so let's end this with a buzzer beating backpedaling conclusion. If the Rockets don't beat LA, they will at least make the series go six.
Thank you kindly.
