Miggy Comes in Second

The most dangerous hitter in the American League came in second in MVP voting.

He got better news than that, however. His team is signing a power hitting switch-hitter

to bat behind him in the lineup.

The signing of free agent relief pitching stud Joaquin Benoit last week was a major move as well.

With the loss of so many great old Tigers this past year or so: George Kell, The Bird, Mr. Harwell, and Sparky, it's good to look to the future. These are some hopeful signs in The D. Time to bounce up off that .500 season and contend. How long 'til pitchers and catchers report?

Stay Cocky, My Friend

35-21

Who Ya Got?

Every day on sports radio/ TV talking heads make bold predictions about who will win the upcoming games. Nobody can tell the truth, which is, "I don't know." Instead they have to be certain to the point of belittling anyone who picks the opposite way. It is as worthless an exercise as anything on TV and yet, as sports fans, we watch.

At the start of this baseball season I made my own bold predictions. Unlike many of the TV pickers, I will tell you how I did. It wasn't purty.

Of the eight teams going to the baseball playoffs I only picked 3 correctly.

I got the Phillies winning the NL East and the Braves taking the NL wild card right while

picking the Tampa Bay Rays to be the wild card from the AL--- they actually won the East.

My World Series contenders were Boston (winning over) St. Louis. Neither even made the playoffs. Colorado and Detroit also came up shorter than I predicted.

But my worst pick was the Seattle Mariners to win the AL West. They were eliminated sometime in the spring. Ugh-lee.

But the playoffs start this week and new hope springs eternal.

Of course, I have no idea who will win, but I'd enjoy a Giants v. Rangers World Series. The worst matchup for my interest would be New York v. Philly. So, the Yanks & Phils will probably meet in the World Series.

Belly Floppers

The first week of the NFL season ended last night and something very interesting has happened.
Four of the teams that figured prominently in pre-season Super Bowl prognostications have lost.

Looky here:
San Diego dropped by KC 21-14
Dallas flopped at Washington 13-7
Indianapolis got clobbered by Houston 34-24
The J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets l-o-s-t to Baltimore 10-9

Throw in a dark horse like SF getting their clock cleaned by the PeteHawks 31-6 and it was a bad opening week for a bunch of supposedly strong teams.

Of course two of the squads above can take some consolation in the strength of their opponents. The Texans might be very good this year, so Indy might be better than they looked Sunday. Baltimore is almost certainly a force in their conference so the Jets might not be too bad. But the Chargers can't point to a Kansas City squad and claim they're a contender. And the Cowboys failed to beat the team that will almost certainly be the doormat of their division. Key injuries on the O-line? So what. You still have to win.

"It's a long season" is a cliche because it's true. It also is something that an under performing team can't use later than, say, week 1.
----

Around here though we're concentrating on the Gamecocks being ranked 13th in the nation with the freshman sensation of the SEC, Marcus Lattimore toting the 'skin. And we're pleased that Clemson has started out 2-0. It's good to have football back.

A Normal Monday

The House of Saud has doubled its gold reserves. The Chinese are tinkering with their currency in preparation for the G-20 meeting. And Malia is still asking her daddy about the oil.

But, more importantly, The Big Ten has 12 teams, The Big Twelve has 10 teams, The Pac 10 has 12 teams and wants 16. These major institutions of higher learning apparently can't even handle first grade math.

And... I'm still waiting for ABC/ESPN ( The Worldwide Leader in Hype ) to send someone to the door with a ten thousand dollar check so I'll watch soccer. That's $10,000 just to watch a minute or two. More than that and you'll really have to pay.

It's CWS Time

The NCAA College World Series Tournament begins this weekend so over Memorial Day weekend the 64 teams and the brackets were announced. Of course, while the NCAA basketball tournament gets extensive media attention, only hardcore baseball fans followthe CWS.

Around these parts we're pretty pleased that FIVE South Carolina teams made the tournament. Throw in the state to the north of us and 8 of the 64 entries are from the Carolinas. Two of the 16 first round tourney sites are in SC: Coastal Carolina U in Conway (over near Myrtle Beach), and USC in Columbia. In fact, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers are the #4 seed in the entire tournament-- a tremendous achievement for the Chants.

Good luck to all the South Carolina teams: The Citadel Bulldogs, College of Charleston Cougars, Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers, Clemson University Tigers, and the Carolina Gamecocks.

Carolina Stadium, USC, Columbia, SC

Could've Been worse

A Major League Baseball player has been attacked and injured by the team's mascot. Sort of. It's not like Grady Sizemore was attacked by Chief Wahoo or anything. Milton Bradley wasn't slapped silly by an old sailor or a moose either. No, a Tampa Bay Ray was stung by a real honest-to-goodness swimming in the ocean ray.

He must be happy they're no longer the Devil Rays!

Charlotte Is Hoppin'

NASCAR Hall of Fame Grand Opening

The same week that the NASCAR Hall of Fame opens in Uptown Charlotte, NC the city is hosting 70,000 people for the NRA convention. It will be the biggest convention to hit Charlotte in the history of the town. Maybe the big crowd is because of the guest speakers... Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North. Maybe.

NASCAR HOF panorama from the Metrolina Disturber newspaper here.

Dale's #3

The Great Junior Johnson

Safe At Home

ERNIE HARWELL
January 25th, 1918 - May 4th, 2010

Good Luck Bob

Most folks know Bob Uecker from his TV appearances, commercials, and a certain movie about a Cleveland Indians team that couldn't win for losing. Some really lucky folks have had the pleasure of listening to Bob call Milwaukee Brewers games on the radio night after night. Perhaps it's because Milwaukee is a sort of out-of-the-way market, but Bob has never gotten the credit for his play-by-play work that he deserves. He is one of the five best p-b-p guys I've ever heard and definitely the funniest.

Yesterday Bob announced that he's going in for heart surgery Friday. We wish him nothing but the best and hope he's back callin' 'em "just a bit outside" from "the front row" soon.

Celebrating Fertilizer Friday

Tigers win to salvage a split in Anaheim.


Sharks paste the Avs 5-0 to go ahead 3-2 in the series.


And a guy with a listening audience in excess of 20 Million people sets the record straight in one of the largest circulation dailies in America.


Now, everybody who should have a great weekend take one step forward.

Not so fast there Bubba Tubbypants.

All Even

After the third game of the San Jose v. Colorado first round playoff series a locker room question to an Avalanche player went (roughly): "How does it feel to be up two games to one given that the Sharks have scored three game-winning goals?"

We wish that was a joke but it was the actual state of affairs.

Last night the Sharks evened the series 2-2 in a third straight OT contest.

An 8 seed with a hot goalie is always dangerous and hot doesn't begin to describe the Avs Anderson. He's faced 148 shots in just 3 of the 4 games.

Back to The Tank for game 5 Thursday night. Time for the Marleau-Thornton-Heatley line to get it going.

Hand me the TUMS

It's not a dog bites man story. It's not a man bites dog story.
It's an incredible snake bites shark story.
And it's giving us indigestion.

Great Monday Morning

Every now and then in sports the good guys win...

Phil? Oh, um, sure.

But we were thinking of the Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks who start their quest for the Stanley Cup Wednesday night against Colorado in the Shark Tank.

Those 4 Golds and 1 Silver don't mean a thing now, fellas.
Just like the President's Cup didn't help you get out of the first round last year.

BTW, this morning a famous national sportscaster had problems describing that reddish-brown material Phil was playing out of on #13 yesterday. First he called it, "pine grass." Then he called it "saw grass." Our climate here is pretty much the same as Augusta's and we have lots of those Loblolly pines, poplars, azaleas, dogwoods, and so on too. About 9 out of 10 homes around here use "PINE STRAW" as mulch. It's PINE STRAW, Warner. Or, if you must, pine needles. We have no idea what "pine grass" might be.

Opening Day 2010

TV sports channels constantly make predictions. Who will win? Who ya got? What are yer picks?Nobody can be truthful and say, "I have no idea."

In fact, not only must they predict who will win, they must do so in an emphatic way. "The Lobsters don't have a chance! They're goin' down this weekend to the Crabs!!"

It gets pretty tedious. But, apparently it's a path to media success. After all they do it on every sports program on TV and radio. Even the guys who still write for newspapers have to offer their "picks."

I blame CBS TV, The NFL, and Jimmy The Greek for this mess. But, as we say on Wall Street, "the trend is your friend." And... "don't fight the tape." Somehow that applies here. Maybe.

So, today we offer up our first (and almost certainly last) Dart's Baseball Season Predictions.

American League

East- Boston Red Sox

Central- Detroit Tigers

West- Seattle Mariners

WC- Tampa Bay Rays

National League

East- Philadelphia Phillies

Central- St. Louis Cardinals

West- Colorado Rockies

WC- Atlanta Braves

AL Champs- Boston

NL Champs- St. Louis

World Champions...

Boston Red Sox

Agree? Disagree? Comments? Concerns? The comment section is closed (as usual) so you can keep it to yourself.

Play ball!

On The Field of Play

Yesterday our beloved Detroit Tigers opened up Spring Training play against other major league squads with a victory over Toronto. With MLB action underway again we tip our cap to Tigers Hall of Famer, Jim Bunning.

The first Tigers team I saw play at old Tiger Stadium was the 1961 squad. For that reason, and the fact they won over 100 games, they are still my favorite bunch of Tigers-- even over the World Champs of '68 and '84. Jim was a pitching star of that team with a 17-11 record (4th best in the AL that season). He posted a 3.19 ERA over 268 innings pitched. Nobody pitches 268 innings these days but Jim's total was 3rd highest in the AL in 1961. He struck out 194 in '61 and had a 1.311 WHIP, 4th best in the league. Yep, Jim was a star on that great 1961 club that also featured Rocky Colavito, batting champ Norm Cash, Yankee killer Frank Lary, and superstar Al Kaline.

So here's a warm attaboy to 1996 Hall of Fame inductee Jim Bunning. We wish you success in all things.

Oh, Canada!

Flying moose...


Giant table-top hockey players chasing a kid dressed like a puck...


Inflated beavers gliding along...


And dancing girls dressed up as RCMP officers.

Ya gotta love Canada.

Play Ball!

College baseball opening day is here. The USC Gamecocks take on Duquesne in Columbia at 3PM and the Clemson University Tigers host Miami of Ohio at 4PM in Clemson, SC.

Clear blue skies and temperatures in the upper 50's are predicted for both games.

Now, play ball!

Destruction in Knoxville

Sometimes you just have to admit that Al Davis isn't insane.

"Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders." - Al Davis, June 8, 2009

Upset

Congratulations to coach Bobby Cremins and his College of Charleston Cougars for their upset victory over the fellows from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We don't care a bit about basketball but we do know that the Tar Heels are well regarded in that athletic endeavour and have allowed the national media to call their school "Carolina" over the years.

The report on the exciting battle is here. Frankly, we haven't read the story because, well, it's basketball. But, good job Cougars.