Let the Games Begin!

Hey there sports fans,

Sorry about the long overdue of postings, but now with the baseball playoffs arriving, lets break down the 4 divisional playoff match-ups starting in the National League:

1. The Chicago Cubs vs. The Arizona Diamondbacks- This is going to be a great series largely in part to seeing how the Cubs will do being back in the playoffs since their "Bartman" collapse in 2003 against the Marlins. These two teams have very different dynamics. The Diamondbacks rely heavily on their pitching and young defense to get them through the game. The Cubs use the approach of everything needs to line-up in order for them to have success. If one part of their game is off, the Cubs seem to falter.
Why the Diamondbacks will win this series- The Diamondbacks have a great one-two punch in Brandon Webb and Livan Hernandez and Micah Owings has his flashes of brilliance with both the arm and the bat and with their closer Jose Valverde. This team plays well when their hitting complements their pitching.
Why the Cubs will win this series- The Cubs are a fairly balanced on both the pitching and hitting aspects of their team. They have a lot more pop in their lineup with guys like Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez leading the way. The real test for the Cubs is how Carlos Zambrano fairs in the series. He needs to be on his game if the Cubs want to see more October baseball.
Verdict- This will be a 5 game series and a good hard battle all around, but the Cubs offense will be too much for the starting pitchers of the Diamondbacks to handle. Cubs in 5.

2. The Colorado Rockies vs. The Philadelphia Phillies- the story of how both of these teams got into the playoffs is fantastic. The Phillies being part of one of the biggest comebacks in major league history by coming back up from a 7 game deficit in the standing with 17 games left to play. The Rockies win their last 14 of 15 games to force a tiebreaker for the wild card spot with the Padres. After 13 innings and a bit of luck, the Rockies make the playoffs for the first time since 1995. Both these teams are feel good stories and are playing hot at the right time, so who's going to continue with their good luck?
Why the Phillies will this series- this team is built on its offensive firepower. With two MVP candidates in Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley along with last year's MVP Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand in addition, this is the toughest lineup in the National League. The real question for the Phillies is can Cole Hamels win the big game and can the other pitchers on the staff and the bullpen hold it together.
Why the Rockies will win- the is came out of obscurity and has shown it can play under the bright October lights. They also have a good hitting lineup with Todd Helton, MVP candidate Matt Holiday and Rookie of the Year candidate Troy Tulowitzki, this team embodies the definition of a scrappy team. They also have decent pitching from the likes of Jeff Francis and Josh Fogg. But like the Phillies, can their staff not implode, like it almost against the Padres?
Verdict- Like the previous series, this series will also go 5 games. Though it would be amazing to see the Rockies proceed into the next round, the Phillies have too many offensive weapons for the Rockies to stop. Phillies in 5.

3. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. The Boston Red Sox- This series will be about health. Whichever team's big player is playing better during this series, will ultimately determine the winner. Both of these teams have great pitching from both starters and the bullpen along with good hitting lineups. The Red Sox come into this series winning the American League East for the time since 1995 and this will be this the 4th time in 6 years the Angels will be in the playoffs from their 2002 World Series Championship.
Why the Angels will win this series- The key for this team is to confident in playing their style of baseball, which is to slowly hurt teams with hits, stolen bases and just playing small ball along with good pitching. Vladimir Guerrero must be healthy and playing well for them to win.
Why the Red Sox will win this series- Pitching. It is scary to think that a Red Sox team is relying on pitching for once, but this team is built on its solid rotation of Josh Beckett, Dice-K, and Curt Schilling along with Johnathan Papelbon as their closer. The question is will this team's hitting look like the Red Sox of old or tend to their more current flair of sporadic hitting?
Verdict- This game comes down to whose team has the most consistent pitching and at this juncture, the Sox have the more consistent pitching. Red Sox in 4.

4. The New York Yankees vs. The Cleveland Indians- This is the final series that will be played starting Thursday. Both teams come into the post-season relatively by winning 9 of their last 13 games. The Yankees playing some of the best baseball in the second half relying heavily on their youth. The Indians relying on starting pitchers C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona.
Why the Indians will win this series- the Indians will need a solid front from both their hitting and from their pitching. Guys like Jake Westbrook, Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner all need to step up big if the Indians want to win this. The question for the Indians is will their youth help or hurt them?
Why the Yankees will win this series- this line-up for the Yankees is devastating from top to bottom. Alex Rodriquez has had a fantastic season hitting .314 with 54 home runs and 156 runs batted in. The Yankees also used rookie pitching from Philip Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. The question for the Yankees is can A-Rod and the youth movement perform in the tough spots?
Verdict- The Yankees just have too many weapons for the Indians to stop in this series. Yankees in 4.

So there you have it. All 4 series decided. We have the Cubs playing the Phillies in the National League Championship and the traditional Sox-Yanks American League Championship. I will have ALCS predictions after the ALDS. Tomorrow, a wrap-up of the NFL. Until next time kids...

Michael Vick: Why Him and Why Now

Note: this piece will be seen later this month in the September Issue of AM Word

This has been a summer of scandals. Between the NBA with referee Tim Donaghy having been implicated in fixing games for the mafia, baseball and the number of HGH cases coming out from players like Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus and football with its own HGH case and more recently, the Patriots videotaping other sidelines for defensive plays. Though the Donaghy case is the bigger detriment to its sport, the biggest scandal of the summer goes to Michael Vick and the dog fighting ring. This story received so much media coverage; it clouded the entire month of August of other sports stories, primarily the baseball playoff races. The story seemed to eat up a major chunk of airtime on both SportsCenter and sports talk shows like Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, and Jim Rome is Burning. Everywhere you turned, you could not get away from this story. Even the major news media outlets were covering this story to a good degree.

When this story first broke, everyone was up in arms over it. PETA started to form protests against Reebok, Nike, Topps and other major sports outlets to have Michael Vick removed as a spokesperson. Everyday people who might not had known who Vick was, were saying that he was a horrible person for having done these things to dogs. In response, Nike, Reebok and Topps all removed Vick from their products. The Michael Vick name was worth over $100 million dollars before Vick tainted it with this case. No one would be willing to use his name on any product. This case ruined Vick’s career not only financially, but professionally as most NFL teams will not want to pick Vick up after he serves his year in prison, assuming he is not banned from the NFL all together.

Most pundits, where they are political or sports related, feel that this case has a good deal to do with race, as Vick is African American. Race could have been a large factor in how this was handled, but there is something bigger at work here; a larger problem that most people are overlooking or don’t see all together. Michael Vick would fall in the celebrity status of our societal hierarchy. In this case Vick was not treated like was above the law. We see people like Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie commit crimes and get three weeks or less for them, but Vick loses his sponsorships, sent to prison for a year and will most likely be banned from the NFL. Even other NFL players who have committed crimes of a harsh nature did not receive such a large penalty.

Ray Lewis, inside linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, was accused and later acquitted of murder charges a few days prior to Lewis playing in Super Bowl XXXV. Lewis did not receive any punishment for this offense and ending carrying the Ravens to a victory over the New York Giants and winning Super Bowl MVP honors. So why does Vick get hung out to dry and Lewis gets a Super Bowl ring? Because we have created a double standard for the double standard we created for celebrities already. But the question now is whether the reaction to this incident is a trend towards telling celebrities that they are not above the law or a mere blip on the radar screen. In time we shall see, but if it only is a blip because of a social issue people can rally around, we as a society have our priorities mixed up. If a famous person can be accused of murder of a human being and not get much of a response from the general public, but when someone kills a dog and people go crazy and want the person removed, what is that telling us? It is a sad day to think we have more respect and desire to save a dog then a human being.

The Michael Vick scandal will hang over the entire NFL season like a dark cloud over a picnic. It is a shame when scandals ruin a season before it even starts. Sports are supposed to transcend us into another place, away from reality, not bring us further into it.

Joining the Show

Welcome to J Peck's Sports Blog. My name is Justin Peck. I am an avid sports fan who sports of interest includes baseball, football (both the pigskin and the round type), and ice hockey. The goal of this blog is to post at least a weekly recap of events that happened in these major fields of sports.

September is my favorite time of the year for sports, because both college football and professional football is just starting out and Major League Baseball is entering the final month of the regular season, where we finally find out who is going to the post-season.

Baseball:
As of today, August 4th, if the playoffs were to start today the following teams would make the playoffs. For the American League: The Boston Red Soxs, The Cleveland Indians, The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and The New York Yankees as the Wild Card. For the National League: The New York Mets, The Chicago Cubs, the San Diego Padres, and the Arizona Diamondbacks as the Wild Card. So the playoff match-ups would be Cleveland v. Boston, NYY v. Anaheim, NYM v. Arizona, and Chicago v. San Diego. These would be great series to watch because each series has a bit of a sub-plot to them.
The first series would feature a re-match of the 1998 ALDS in which Cleveland won three games to one. This would also be the first time Cleveland has made the post season since 2001. The second series would feature one of the few teams in the past quarter century to have a winning record against the New York Yankees in the Anaheim Angels. The third series would be all about the Mets and their quest at revenge from last year's surprising exit from the playoffs at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals. The last series would focus on the Cubs and whether or not they can get into the World Series and win and break their "curse". If this were to be the actual playoff scenario for next month, I would place the New York Mets after beating the Cubs in 6 game series against the LA Angels after a 7 game series with the Red Soxs. In the end, the Mets would win the World Series in a great 7 game series. But before that scenario happens, the rest of the month has to play out, so that is not my official prediction.

While surfing through ESPN.com, I found an interesting article written by Jonah Keri intitled, Anything and everything that will determine the playoffs. My problem I found with this article was his second point on momentum. Keri seemed to miss the whole idea about momentum and the post-season. What is important about momentum is how your team is playing the last few weeks of the regular season, especially this season. For some reason, no team is really pushing head of the pack and stating that they are the team to beat. The key is when your team has the late surge of momentum. If your team is going forward, meaning having a good string of wins and playing well, your teams has a really good shot of keeping that momentum and riding it all the way to the World Series, i.e. the Cardinals last year. This concept doesn't guarantee success, but is usually a good indicate of things to come. On the other side of the equation, if your team limps into the playoffs, chances are your team is not going to get out of the first round. The Tigers last year lost their last 5 games and went 4-6 in their last 10, but managed to make it into the World Series. So unlike Newton's law, baseball momentum is not always a given.

My next post will be discussing college and professional football. Until next time kids...