BOSTON BLOGGER: Patriots Sign OchoCinco
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- Published on Friday, 29 July 2011 11:13
- Written by Geoff Roberts
First Albert Haynesworth, then Chad OchoCinco? The Patriots have indeed made quite the early splash since the NFL lockout has been lifted. Yes, it’s true that OchoCinco and Bill Belichick have had themselves something of a public love affair since 2006. Belichick loves OchoCinco’s competitive nature and fun loving personality. OchoCinco loves that Belichick wins. As opposed to Albert Haynesworth, I’m going to go ahead and book this one as a great match.
While OchoCinco is often criticized for being a bit of a clown (he is), there is no doubt this guy loves football. He’s going to show up and compete. While his numbers have been down a bit the last couple of seasons, they’ve still been more than respectable. Now he’s got Tom Brady throwing to him, and I can’t wait to see him in the endzone for the first time as a Patriot. He’s a tough guy to root against. Now he’s just got to worry about wrestling the number 85 jersey away from Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez. It certainly looks like Hernandez will have a Rolex, a sweet ride, or a nice chunk of change coming his way. You just can’t be running around in a #86 jersey when your name is OchoCinco, can you?
While I think OchoCinco will have a nice season and compliment Wes Welker and the Patriot tight ends very well, I can’t help but smile about how he ended up in New England. OchoCinco is just another veteran player willing to restructure their deal and take significantly less money for an opportunity to play alongside Tom Brady and under the guidance of Bill Belichick. That’s a huge competitive advantage for the Patriots. And while I know OchoCinco is not Randy Moss, I also know that all of New England is smiling in response to this signing.
BOSTON BLOGGER: Digging Deeper into Derek Jeter's 3000 Hits
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- Published on Monday, 11 July 2011 11:15
- Written by Geoff Roberts
On Saturday Derek Jeter became the 28th member of major league baseball’s 3000 hit club, completely the feat in style with a 5-5 performance and his 3000th hit flying out of the ballpark. Whenever you join any club that has been around for over 100 years and only has 28 members, significant kudos are a must. I have always been a Derek Jeter fan – he’s the only Yankee that I can really say that about. He’s played the game the right way, has proven to be clutch, and is a great leader for the Yankees. The guy always says the right things, even when thrown in the midst of the circus that is the modern day Yankees organization. And the man can hit a baseball, no doubt about it. But for the sake of argument, I’m going to break down Jeter’s feat in a manner that does not resemble my dog humping my leg. PLEASE YANKEES FANS THIS IS A DISCLAIMER: This is purely for the sake of argument - but I would like to see if you see my point.
How “good” is Derek Jeter? I’ve always found it to be a very interested question to debate. I think that even as a Yankees fan, you’ve got to understand where I’m coming from with regard to statistics. I mean this guy is regarded as a God, yet frequently puts up 10 HR and 70 RBI seasons – not exactly God like. “Oh, but he’s one of the best defensive shortstops ever.” Really? Five Gold Gloves in 16 seasons and counting is very good, but again it’s not quite God-like. Jeter’s best season ever was undoubtedly 1999, when he hit .349 with 24 home runs, 102 RBIs, and 219 hits – a fantastic season any way you cut it. But his next best season does represent a significant drop off and his career average season has been .312 AVG, 14 home runs, and 77 RBIs. Jeter has a 162 game average of 206 hits, which is excellent (Ichiro Suzuki, who I am just assuming leads in this category, has a 227 hit average for comparison’s sake). But if you do dig deeper into that number, 150 of those hits are singles – a significantly higher percentage than average. So the conclusion I’m coming to is this – Derek Jeter’s 3000 hits should be celebrated for what it is – evidence that Derek Jeter is a singles hitter in the leadoff spot who should be celebrated for his longetivity.
Is that fair? Is that unfair? I want to hear your argument. It’s undeniable that a singles hitter with longetivity is extremely valuable in the leadoff spot. But I do think this was blown a little out of proportion for what it was. Now don’t get me wrong – in my eyes what makes Derek Jeter special is:
1) His leadership ability
2) His clutch postseason hitting
3) The fact that he is a tough out
That said, New York’s celebration of Jeter’s 3000th rivaled the celebration in Times Square at the changing of the millenium – and at the end of the day the celebration of Jeter’s feat was about a singles hitter with longetivity.
BOSTON BLOGGER: Are the Phillies Better Than the Red Sox?
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- Published on Thursday, 30 June 2011 13:21
- Written by Geoff Roberts
Are the Phillies better than the Red Sox? Not necessarily would be my response. In fact I’d probably still give the edge to the Red Sox. But in the course of the last two evenings, I’ve come to quite a realization: this Phillies team is built to beat the Red Sox. Here’s why.
Any legitimate baseball fan will stress the importance of pitching, but I’ve always been a person who stresses the importance of pitching that much more. And lord knows this team has one hell of starting rotation – we’re talking a rotation comparable to that of the Atlanta Braves in the 90′s. The talent aside, their starting rotation also includes two lefties – key to competing against a lefty-happy Red Sox lineup that often includes up to 5 left-handed hitters.
Sticking with the pitching theme for a moment (after all, this is what gives the Phillies the edge), the style of the Phillies starters also helps them compete with the Red Sox in a major way. All of Philly’s starters, especially Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, are the type of pitchers that pound the strike zone. While this is often true of great pitchers, there are certainly pitchers out there that have a lot of success relying on deception and balls breaking out of the strike zone. Not these guys – their gonna bring it right at you and often pitch to contact (as evident by the absurd number of double plays the Red Sox have hit into). This style is particularly effective against the Red Sox, who have long had an offensive strategy built around racking up the pitch count and getting to the bullpen early. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis have long led this charge, taking a lot of pitches, following countless balls off, and almost always running up the count. This is much harder to do when the strike zone is being consistently pounded, and thus far has resulted in a lot of quick outs for Red Sox hitters.
Finally, there is the matter of the offenses. While the Phillies’ lineup doesn’t scare me much, they do have enough pop to score some runs – and with their pitching, they don’t need many. But more importantly, any Red Sox-Phillies game played in at Citizen’s Bank Park takes the bat out of David Ortiz’s hands. Any way you cut it, that’s a big deal (imagine if you took Howard or Utley’s bat out of the Phillies lineup). Ortiz is the second biggest offensive threat on the Red Sox, and certainly has a history of being our most clutch hitter. If you don’t play him at first and move Adrian Gonzalez to right field, his bat is being replaced in the lineup by a pitcher. That lineup just does not look the same at all.
Will the Phillies prove to be the Red Sox’s kryptonite? Hopefully we’ll find out in October, but I think you can certainly make a case for it.
BOSTON BLOGGER: Heidi Watney, You're a Doll
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- Published on Wednesday, 13 April 2011 15:56
- Written by Geoff Roberts
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dreams can come true. Unicorns, sugar plum fairies, Charlie Sheen’s dignity, and pictures of me with Heidi Watney? All real. At least I’m photogenic, right?
This is what you get when you take 3/4 of a cup of bored blogger, 1 cup of Red Sox vs. Rays, and mix it with doubting roommates until a bet emerges. HowiGit’s blog 1, roommates 0. Thank you to Heidi Watney for being a good sport and staying true to her tweets — shes’s one of the few who does these days (such crazy times we live in). Thank you also to the curly haired man who I assume was NESN’s producer, for not strangling me when I decided to show up on camera waving behind Heidi as she spoke to all the NESN viewers. These two get major kudos in my book for being agreeable to the antics of sad souls such as myself.
So how did it all happen? It took about 3 innings of usher-evading, at which point I landed myself in the front row beside the press box boarding on the visitor’s dugout. The press box is about 5 feet below the front row, and Heidi was 5 or 6 people away attentively keeping score (does she really need to do that?). I was able to grab the attention of one of the NESN cameramen, who removed his headset just in time to hear me mumble, “Can you get Heidi for me? She said she’d take a picture with me on Twitter.” This cameraman found this highly amusing, but relayed my message through the NESN box until it reached Heidi. Our eyes met for one beautiful moment, I fought the fainty-naseau that surged in my stomach, and she pointed me to a front row seat directly behind her. In between the next inning, I fought my way down there and had another gentlemen in the front row snap this pic – hence the awkward angle. What a great pic. What a great gal. Thank you again, Heidi, for being game.
In the midst of the Heidi-Geoff debocle, a baseball game was being played. A pitching duel of sorts, with great games thrown by both David Price and Jon Lester. The resulting 3-2 loss was tough, especially coupled with the pitiful 9th inning at-bats of Jacoby Ellsbury and JD Drew. Lester has to be pissed — after excellent starts his last two games out, his record stands at 0-1.
Other observations from my first game of the year:
1) Carl Crawford just looks like an athlete. And a good one. I have no doubts that he’ll turn it on.
2) Dustin Pedroia looks as small, wiry, and bald as ever. How this guy hits with the power he does I’ll never know.
3) I’ll take Dustin Pedroia defensively over any second baseman in the game. His defense this year has been remarkable – I’ve never seen a player make as consistently good throws when moving away from first first base and throwing off of one foot.
4) Bobby Jenks looks large and ridiculous with his dyed blond goatee. He did pitch one hell of an eighth inning though.
5) The three new HD signboards installed in Fenway are awesome – they’re the best I’ve ever seen. Great move by the Sox.
6) Adrian Gonzalez has very black, very shiny slicked back hair. He must use Pantene Pro V.
7) I hate the general populous of the people who sit in the premo seats in the first few rows surrounding the dugouts. These types with their air of entitlement should be banned from Fenway.
Last night was a good night. A note to Red Sox fans — there’s nothing like a television cameo and a picture with Heidi Watney to pick you up after a loss.
Geoff Roberts is the Founder and Managing Editor of howiGit's Blog (http://www.howiGit.com). HowiGit is a Boston sports blog that also covers entertainment, travel, music, and humor with contributing writers in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
