Antonio Brown Is Being Robbed And Will Not Remember It

Antonio Brown is without question a top 2 receiver in the NFL and the league has been more pass heavy than ever. Yet he isn't even cracking 15 million/year. The NFL is easily the most violent professional sport, unless you're LeBron running on a fast break and run into a really mean Draymond. Running across the middle is child's play. Antonio Brown makes 15 million/ year while only having to deal with linebackers trying to eat his soul. 

Reggie Jackson makes 16 million/year and is mediocre at best when compared to other NBA players. This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen. If I'm an NFL player, I'm super pissed at our CBA and I'm going to lose my mind. The most vicious sport that has the shortest lifespan and they aren't making the money that basketball players or baseball players are. 

Professional football is the most watched sport, followed by baseball. Waaaaaaaaay down the list, you'll find the NBA (just behind NASCAR). It's bonkers that these salaries are able to happen. Yes, they make a ton of money and they make more in a year than I ever will in my life. I have come to terms with this, so please stop reminding me. But I'll be able to count to 5 when/if I make it to age 50, so I've got that going for me. These NFL deals coming through never cease to amaze me at the difference in them and NBA ones, but I only see the gap getting bigger in the years to come. We'll see how it goes though. Just remember Antonio, I had your back. Feel free to hook a brother up with some of that signing bonus.

All my love,

@corbeech

Jackie Bradley Jr.'s Hitting Streak Ends

The bat of Jackie Bradley Jr has been red hot in the month of May. 29 games in a row for the Red Sox outfielder. Bradley's hitting streak started in Houston back on April 24th. The Red Sox won in 12 innings, and that all came to an end May 26th against the Rockies.

What a ride this has been for Bradley. Back on April 24th, Bradley's BA sat at .233. During his streak, he was able to raise his BA up to .341.

I love watching long hitting streaks. I don't think we will see a time where someone breaks the 56 game hitting streak of Joe Dimaggio, but there is always so much excitement. I picked up Bradley on my fantasy team and he's been raking for me.

So, who's next? The player who now has the longest hitting streak is also on the Red Sox. Xander Bogaerts now has a hitting streak of 19 games. After him? Eric Hosmer of the Royals at 18.

Bautista Picked a Fight With The Wrong Second Baseman

Corbett for some reason already wrote a blog post defending Joey Bats, which is fine. I don't blame him for backing Bautista. But, I do take offense to the statement that Rougned Odor ,"punched like a girl".

I've had Odor on my fantasy baseball team this year and some of last year so I'll take my turn in defending him.
 
Here's the tale of the tape.

Jose Bautista                                                Rougned Odor
6' 0"                                                              5' 11"
205 lbs.                                                         195 lbs.

The measurables are closer than I thought. I have money that Bautista is actually 6' 4" and Odor looks 5' 1".

Before we actually talk about the slide and all that, lets get down to the fight.

Jump to :26 if you just want to see Odor clocking Bautista right to the face. KABOOM. Odor asked Bautista what's good, and then said nothing is good, you're about to get punched right in the face.

Bautista slid into 2nd base high to break up the double play. That slide is done by every single player. I hate it, but its baseball. It's like the guy who uses the noob tube in Call of Duty. It's in the game, so you can't get too mad at it, but you really hate the guy using it. That goes for every Cub player that uses it too by the way.

Bautista slid and jumped up pumping his chest. Odor didn't like that and let Joey Bats know. Bautista didn't know where he was once Odor landed that beautiful right hand. Jump to :34 to watch Adrian Beltre save Bautista from getting more punishment.

In ending, Poor Jose Bautista. I really enjoyed your bat flip. I really enjoy your play style. But Rougned Odor knocked you out.

Lone Rangers of Loser Justice

The Rangers suck. There, I said it. They wait until Jose Bautista's last at bat of the series (their last series matchup of the season) to hit him with a pitch and then a punch. Is it Bautista's fault that they threw a trash pitch that he hit to the moon in last season's playoffs? I'd argue no, but to each their own. When something like that happens, it's only fair that you toss your bat to the moon so the ball has some company.

 

This majestic hit and bat flip apparently rubbed the Rangers the wrong way. Or maybe it was the fact that they blew the lead and got sent packing after Joey Bats dropped his pants and took a dump on them. You be the judge. Slightly heartbreaking to me that Matt Bush had to be the man to hit him with a pitch, but he's on his second day of MLB baseball, so I'll give him a pass for caving into the stupid request.

 

The Rangers are dead to me and are now the softest team in the majors. Congrats boys, you sucker punched the GOAT of bat flips and still couldn't knock him down. I'd hit you with some Chumbawamba, but that doesn't even apply because Odor hits like a little girl. You want to come at the king, you best not miss. He better thank his lucky stars Beltre stepped in because when your best shot doesn't take the man down, it's time to run.

 

All my love,

@corbeech

The Large Father Was Huuuuuuge!

I'm not going to sugarcoat this one. I don't care for David Ortiz aka Big Papi. I hate the DH and think it deprives us of the beauty of having a pitcher hit. So a guy who is solely a DH is sort of no fun in my opinion. Today gave me another outlook on it. Seeing this roughly 275 pound man (his online bio says 230 hahahahaha) hustle out a triple in a do or die situation has softened up this grinch's heart.

This will likely be a short lived event, but watching this large man run like Usain Bolt in the 100s have me happiness I never knew. Don't get it twisted, I want to see pitchers hitting bombs over an actual hitter, but today was fun. He consistently came up clutch for his boys and that was the difference in winning and taking the dreaded L. The next step for him is to learn how to field. Tall order, I know. But anything is possible. If Bartolo Colon can hit a moonshot that will inspire the world, Ortiz can handle playing the field and looking semi-competent, right? Time will tell.



All my love, @corbeech

Matt Bush is Heading to Arlington

A bit of an interesting story has popped up today. Matt Bush, the #1 overall pick from the 2004 MLB Draft has been called up by the Texas Rangers from AA Frisco. Bush was selected by the San Diego Padres in what was a surprising pick at the time and one that did not pay off for them. This will serve as his MLB debut once he officially gets to play for the Rangers. Why has it taken 12 years for him to reach this point? Bad decisions. 

Bush's professional career has been marred by alcohol induced poor decisions that found him sentenced to 51 months in a Florida prison. While in the Tampa Bay organization, he ran into and over a 71 year old man on a motorcycle while sporting a .18 BAC. Thankfully the man survived the incident which included his head being ran over in the process. However, this was Bush's third DUI within 10 years, so he had sort of ruined all possible good will. Reading through his rap sheet would make you think you were screening Eastbound & Down and watching Kenny Powers in the flesh. 

Bush was released from prison just under 7 months ago and has been working his way back into the good graces of baseball in hopes of achieving the dream of being a pitcher in a major league game. It appears that dream will soon become a reality with today's call up and I can only hope that Texas will be able to keep him clean like they did for Josh Hamilton and get his life turned around to become a positive example.

All my love,

@corbeech

Thursday Morning Wake Up

 

Almost Through Another Week

And a good Thursday morning to you. This blog is almost a week old, and we are having more fun than you can imagine. Thank you so much to all of the readers who work behind the scenes to make this enjoyable for us. (Hint: Comments are welcomed and appreciated!) Let's check out what happened while you were asleep and what we can look forward to tonight.

St Louis Advances, Finishes off Dallas

St Louis absolutely dominated Dallas on their own ice. After the second period, they led 5-0. Hell, this one was over after the first when the Blues were up 3-0. Dallas played groggy the entire game. One goal in the third period doesn't even help their case. It is one thing to lose in a Game 7, but a completely different one to get pants on your own home ice. St Louis will face the winner of Thursday night's Game 7 between Nashville and San Jose in the Western Conference Finals

Toronto Takes Game 5, Leads 3-2

DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry combined for 59 points as the Raptors take down the Heat in Game 5   No leading at any point, Miami seemed out of sync from the get go. Trailing 28-18 after the first quarter, Miami had been called for more fouls (8) than made shots (6). More bad news, Luol Deng left midway through the third quarter with a wrist injury. X-Rays were inconclusive. Game 6 sees the series headed back to Miami where it's do-or-die for the Heat. 

Golden State Advances

The Portland Trailblazers are officially done. Golden State held on for a 125-121 victory last night to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year. Before the game, Steph Curry was honored as the league's MVP. However, on this night, it was another star who shined the brightest. Klay Thompson went for 33 points while shooting 13-17 from the field. He also connected on six three-pointers to lead all scorers. Golden State now awaits the winner of SA-OKC. 

Max Scherzer K's 20

20 strikeouts, are you kidding me?? That's what Max Scherzer was doing last night while you were asleep. In the first time he faced his former team, Scherzer showed us exactly why the Nats are paying him so much. He tied the nine inning record for strikeouts and now shares it with the likes of Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood, and Randy Johnson. That's pretty good company to share anything with. What might be more impressive is that of the 119 pitches he threw last night, 96 were for strikes. 

Looking toward tonight, there are two playoff matchups that you definitely should keep an eye on. The first is Game 6 between San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Spurs will look to fight off elimination with hopes of returning the series to San Antonio for a possible winner-take-all Game 7. 

The other match-up is a Game 7 in the NHL between Nashville and San Jose. The home team has won every game throughout the series, and oddsmakers are leaning toward the Sharks tonight by a large margin. Look for complete coverage of this one tonight. 

That's all for now. Check back throughout the day for updates

-Dug

@chansm1th

Late Morning Wake Up

Get Out of Bed!!

Good Morning! Yes, it's almost afternoon, but we're getting a late start today. Lot of playoff action on the table, including a pair of intriguing baseball games today. Let's get started with what happened while you were asleep. 

Pittsburgh Finishes Off Washington

The Penguins beat the Caps in overtime last night to win the series 4-2, but it wasn't easy. Pittsburgh watched as their 3-0 squandered before the Caps forced overtime. With the win, they are now 8-1 all-time in the playoffs against Washington. Next up will be the Eastern Conference Finals where they will face a Tampa Bay team that they went 0-2-1 against during the regular season. 

OKC Takes 3-2 Over San Antonio

The Spurs had lost only one game at home through the entire regular season. They have now lost two straight in a single series to the Thunder. Last night was Russell Westbrook's night. Westbrook torched the Spurs for 35 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. Game 6 sees the series return to OKC on Thursday where the Thunder will try to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2014. 

Looking to tonight, we have two Game 5's in the NBA. Miami heads back north of the border to take on Toronto while Portland limps on their last leg into Golden State. Game 7 of the NHL Western Conference second round match up between the St Louis Blues and Dallas Stars will also be on the slate. 

Looking to baseball, we have two intriguing match ups. In one, we have two undefeated pitchers facing off. In the other, opposing pitchers facing their former team. 

The Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers combined last night for 24 runs. Today, the two starters meeting are each undefeated and have a sub-3 ERA. Mat Latos (5-0, 2.62) takes the mound against Cole Hamels (4-0, 2.68) in what should be a great game. First pitch is at 2:05. 

In the night cap, we turn our eyes toward our nation's capital again for another match up between the Tigers and the Nationals. Jordan Zimmerman (5-1, 1.10) faces the team he spent the last six seasons with for the first time tonight. His opponent on the mound will be Max Scherzer (3-2, 4.60) will also be facing his former team in the Detroit Tigers. Both pitchers have recently signed huge off-season contracts with their current teams. Should you watch this game, you will be seeing a combined $320 million worth of pitching arms out of the two starters. 

That's all I have at the moment. Keep a lookout for posts throughout the day. As always, thanks for reading. 

-Dug

@chansm1th

Life as a hero

Watching the movie Chronicle today and it got my creative juices flowing. If you haven't seen the movie, I don't anticipate that this will ruin any of it that a preview already hasn't. In the movie, three young men gain supernatural powers and document their transformation. The friends include Andrew (an odd teen who is socially awkward), his cousin Matt (basically his only friend), and Steve (the popular kid in school aka Michael B. Jordan).

The thought that ran through my head was along the lines of picking out a crew of athletes that I could be a superhero with. For the sake of keeping this standardized for everyone, I'll set a couple of  rules:

1) You must pick an athlete from each the MLB, NBA, and NFL.

2) You cannot have two athletes who play for teams in the same city (i.e. no picking one city's teams and going all in)

My crew would be Kris Bryant (MLB), Willie Cauley-Stein (NBA), and Aaron Rodgers (NFL). You may ask yourself "why in the world would you get these three for your crew?" The main logic that I'm bringing is that I think they would be the best combination to have around for an extended period of time. Only Bryant was extremely highly rated out of high school, and even at that was an 18th round selection. Cauley-Stein was a top-50 prospect, but was at best a project. He developed well and found himself going #6 in the past draft. Rodgers is the biggest outlier, He did not even have a Division 1 offer out of high school and found himself at a junior college until getting the opportunity at California. He then found himself projected to go number 1 overall but falling to 24.

All of this played a role in my selecting of the three athletes. Nobody wants to be hanging out with people who have always been given everything they want. Hanging with the boys who fought their way to the top and likely do not have the diva complex of the normal stars sounds better to me. I feel like these three are cool enough to hang with that I wouldn't go insane. And if we're being honest, that's what we'd all want from our superhero crew. Just hanging with the boys, tormenting strangers, and living the dream.

 So who is in your crew? Comments are always welcomed!

All my love,
@corbeech

Did the Cubs just break baseball?

Is baseball fun if you just continue to walk? This is the million dollar question. I'm a Cubs fan, but I also like Harper. I used to be a hater, I won't deny that. However, Bryce and I have mended our relationship and are now on good terms. He likes to have fun playing baseball and I like watching baseball. You see that? We just found common ground.

As a Harper fan, I'm glad to see that I don't have to hate him because he hurt my team, but it's a two-edged sword. He didn't hurt the Cubs because they didn't allow him to. The Cubs basically said "you're not going to beat us, so take your base." This brings up the big question: Is this an okay way to handle baseball? What can be done from it?

The hot take that came to me is that they're turning Bryce into DeAndre Jordan. Basketball fans everywhere cringe when "hack a DeAndre" starts up. Strategically, it's brilliant. Your team doesn't have to exert energy on defense and you're eliminating the other team's possessions. This translates to baseball as well. You're taking the best player in the game out of the game. It neutralizes the opponent's best weapon. The glowing difference between the two is that DeAndre is being punished for sucking at free throws, something he can fix. Bryce, on the other hand, is being punished for being too good at his trade. Without question, people will turn on it and complain that it is "ruining the game" and wonder what Bryce can do to offset it.



It's mental warfare out there in the sports world and this is the ultimate edge. I always believed that teams were stupid to pitch to Barry Bonds back when he had more juice than an under-10 boys soccer team. Anytime that a pitcher would face him and not intentionally bean him, an angel would lose its wings. This is how things have turned with Bryce. He can hurt you. Pitching to him with Ryan Zimmerman sitting behind him and boasting a peasant's .236 average is borderline bonkers. Until Dusty Baker (who knew he was still alive?) adjusts his lineup or Zimmerman learns how to hit, you don't throw anything remotely close to the strike zone for Bryce.

If I'm Bryce, I try to be the biggest jerk I can possibly be out of this. If he doesn't call a pitcher a chicken to a reporter, is he really a man? You have to prod the opposing pitcher and get in his head. I'm a bit bummed out that Bryce hasn't already done this, but I'm holding out hope that in the future, that he will mix in a swing or two during an intentional walk. I'm not picky. It can even be when a ball is going through the other batter's box. It's a war out there and you're running the pitch count up. It's a bit selfish, honestly, that he hasn't done this yet. I would make the argument that he's a bad teammate for not working the count and helping out his fellow man. How funny would it be if he just takes a couple of casual chops while the pitcher is trying to walk him? If Bryce is a man of his word and truly wants to make baseball fun again, he has three options to prove himself. He can either: mock opposing pitchers in his post-game interviews, start stealing all of the bases, or take a couple of hacks at intentional walks. The ball is in your court Bryce.

All my love,
@corbeech

Kris Bryant: Utility Man?

Last year, Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs took home the National League Rookie of the Year trophy and was projected to have another huge season in his sophomore campaign.

Of course, Bryant has started off this year where he left off last year. Through 29 games, Bryant is hitting .299/.383/.504 on the year. It's the the start of another dominating season for the Cubs’ 3rd baseman.

Or is Bryant the 3rd baseman? In 2015, Bryant played a total of 165 games. 144 of those games were played at 3rd base, 19 of those were in the OF, 1 was at 1B, and 1 at DH. Bryant has started 29 games so far in 2016, 17 at 3rd, 12 games in RF or LF. This doesn't take into account the games that he has started either at 3rd or the OF and switched mid game to the other. Bryant has played 20 games at 3rd and 17 in the OF total.

Looking at his fielding, Bryant committed 17 errors in 1209.1 innings during his 2015 season. That's 1 error every 71 innings and a fielding percentage of .951. This season, Bryant has committed 3 errors in 145 innings of work. That averages out to 1 error every 45 innings and a fielding percentage of .938.

Are these stats showing Bryant has become a terrible fielding 3rd baseman? Not even close. But, he is only a 2nd year player. I'm wondering if all of that movement is necessary. Bryant is playing in the OF out of necessity. We all know of the season-ending knee injury to Kyle Schwarber, which has left a hole in LF for the Cubs, but there are several utility players on the roster than could help put a band aid over LF.

Ben Zobrist plays 2b, and has 25 RBI in the year. He played CF during his years in Tampa when Joe Maddon managed the team. Tommy La Stella plays 2nd base when Zobrist gets a day off and fills in for Bryant at 3rd when Bryant has LF duties. They have tried moving Javier Baez in the OF some, but he mostly plays at 2B. Jorge Soler is another guy the Cubs have who they have tried to put in RF and LF. His bat did not improve as much as the Cubs had hoped for to fully fill in for Schwarber.

The offense coming out of this team has been phenomenal. That's why Bryant has played in the OF. La Stella’s bat has been something of crazy coming out of the 6 hole, and that makes this whole Bryant position question easier to swallow. The Cubs have the young talent to really contend in the National League for years to come. With Bryant at 3rd, Anthony Rizzo at 1st, Addison Russel at SS, and Zobrist at 2nd, the Cubs have arguably the best infield in all of baseball.

My reason for writing this, is I hope this move is just out of necessity for offense and not something that tried to shift Bryant in the OF. I have more than total faith in Joe Maddon, and I know he’ll do the right thing with Bryant.

Alty
@ericaltenhof