Clarion Content

As we hit the top of the stretch run in baseball, and before we do our NFL preview the Clarion thought it only fair to recap our preseason baseball predictions. If only, to tell you just how big a brick of salt to accompany the NFL preview with.

In the N.L. East we had both the Mets and the Phillies making the National League playoffs. We picked the Phillies to win the division. All three of those things are still possible, though increasingly unlikely. Looks like the Mets who have been in first place wire to wire will hang on. The Phillies are now four back after losing two of three to the lowly Florida Marlins this weekend. They are three behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Wild Card race. The Phils could still sneak into the post season. But the odds are, despite their tremendous young line-up, Rollins, Utley, Howard, (3 MVP candidates) they will come just short. A lack of starting pitching will do them in, the Mets, have had a similar issue all year. They sure could have used the traded Brian Bannister. Glavine and El Duque have been tremendous, Oliver Perez has had brilliant moments and unbelievably awful innings. It has been just enough to beat back the Phils and the Braves, who only have two legitimate starters. Now Pedro will return in Cincinnati, how much can he give off of shoulder surgery? The Clarion stands by our preseason prediction the Mets will be the N.L. playoff representative.

In the N.L. Central, the Clarion let emotion and personal preference rule the day. Long a Cincinnati Reds sentimentalist (save for the Marge Schott era) the Clarion had them winning what we projected as the crappiest division in baseball. It was there for the taking, if you had told us Aaron Harang would crush the way he has, 14-3, we’d of been sure we were right. But they couldn’t find enough pitching. This despite a terrific offensive season from Brandon Phillips and all the dingers from Dunn and Griffey. (By the by, if you want a note on just how awfully the Ken Griffey Jr. signing has worked out for the Reds, if he can get to 100 RBIs this year, and he has 86, it would be the first time in 7 seasons with the Reds that he has had a 100 RBIs. He has been so frequently injured that he has only had one 90 RBI season.) Another one of the Reds downfalls, too many strikeouts. Yes they play in a bandbox of a stadium, but they need to take more pitches and more walks.

The Clarion let our vitriol for Bud Selig allow us to pick the Brew crew last. Hmmm, that isn’t happening, but looks like they are going to fade after a long run in first. Again, the common thread not enough starting pitching. Terrific offensive seasons from Prince Fielder, somewhat predictably, and Ryan Braun, out of the blue. Their young corps of position players should have them in contention for years to come. Ned Yost is going to be an excellent manager, this year might be the seasoning and motivation they need for next year.

The Cubbies, lovable losers that they are, the Clarion picked’em third. They have gotten the most starting pitching in the division by far. It has served them well. It looks like they may pull away down the stretch. The dislikably obnoxious and volatile Lou Pinella has done it again. They will lose in the first round of the playoffs. All of their starting pitchers are mental, and Pinella’s act will wear thin even faster than Ozzie Guillen’s has on the other side of town.

The Cardinals are pretenders. The paradigmatic example of why the diluted playoffs are a joke that will hurt the game.

In the N.L. West the Padres are the Clarion’s sentimental fave and now the actual favorites, as well. For some now long forgotten reason the Clarion picked the Dodgers at the beginning of the season. They do have a lot of veteran offense, but it looks like they won’t quite be able to pull it together this year, despite super seasons from pitchers Brad Penny and second year sensation Chad Billingsley. The Padres have the one-two punch to match in Cy Young favorite Jake Peavy and too tall, Chris Young. The Rockies and the Diamondbacks are fading, don’t be duped. Totally, totally forgettable squads who will only tarnish the game if they back into the expanded playoffs. Name four players on either roster. Name more than one player on either roster who could have made a 1970’s All-Star team. Brandon Webb and? Matt Holiday and? Forget about it.

In the A.L. East the Clarion predicted improvement from the bottom feeders Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa Bay. Meh. The Jays are within percentage points of last year’s .537 pace. Baltimore is on pace to finish one game better than last year. In fact, it is the Devil Rays fresh off taking two out of three from the Yankees who are on pace to make the biggest leap, five games better than last year’s 61 win pace. Stellar. The thing of it is all three of these squads have held their own against the Yankees, costing the Bronx Bombers tremendously. Baltimore is actually leading the season series against New York, 8 to 4. And while Boston has gone 9 up and 3 down against the Devil Rays, the Yankees are only 8 and 7. Excuses, excuses. The Clarion picked the Yanks to win the division.

In the A.L. Central the Clarion had our best calls. We had the Tribe winning the division and losing in the first round of the playoffs, a stance we still like. We predicted the Tigers slipping off of an awful World Series. We had the White Sox as getting worse. Though we picked them fourth, even the Clarion didn’t see Jerry Reinsdorf’s boys sucking quite this bad. The Royals have surprised us with more pitching than we thought they had. However, when fourth place and on pace for 73 wins is a decent season...no words for that...

In the A.L. West the Angles have truly surprised us at the Clarion. A tip of the hat to Mike Scioscia for a team that always hustles, always takes the extra base, finds the gritty way to gut one out, moving runners over, good defense, they execute all the fundamentals. Vladimir Guerrero was always going to be Vladimir Guerrero, a five tool basher. But who ever heard of Reggie Willits, and we said Gary Matthews, Jr. couldn’t do it again. We were wrong. Plus, he is a superb denfensive outfielder. Orlando Cabrerra has been a hoss, too, good defense, 76 RBIs, some steals, some extra base hits, a .311 average. The A’s moneyballers finally let too much of their vaunted pitching go. Unlike most, the Clarion had the Mariners coming, we loved their every day line-up. Of course, never ever could have predicted Grover getting fired midseason and things going up, up, up from there. They are in a slide at the moment, but if they can take two of three in New York this week, the Mariners will be neck and neck with the Yankees and Tigers the rest of the way.

There you have it, a very mixed bag of predictions at best. If you let us pick again from here the Clarion would take an 1986 redux, Mets versus Red Sox, with the Mets winning in seven. See how wrong we were? Fills one with confidence doesn't it? Bet you can’t wait to get our NFL preview this week, right? Looking forward to your feedback!

Labels: baseball, Predictions, sports