Terps Update

Damn...The Terps almost pulled off consecutive wins versus two Top 5 teams, not to mention two of their biggest rivals! Things looked very positive for the Terps when they led by nine points at halftime. However, Duke still had 42 points to the Terps 51. If somebody had told me before the game that Duke would score 42 points in the first half, I wouldn't be thrilled. Maryland had their best offensive half of the year against Duke, but they still weren't shuttnig down the Devils. And history has told us that Duke is always capable of hitting a big shot when it counts, or more likely...getting a bogus call in their direction late in the game.

Gist and Osby were huge for the Terps down low. Duke is extremely weak in the front court, and the Terrapin seniors took advantage of that. Gist had 26 and 5 while Osby had 20 and 15 on the night. Those numbers are absolutely huge. Unfortunately Maryland didn't get much help from the bigs on their bench. Shane Walker had a rebound and Dave Neal had just a bucket and a board. This was the first game of the year that Braxton Dupree didn't see the floor, and I'm not surprised by that with Duke's type of play. BD isn't in good enough shape to run up and down the floor all night, and he isn't quick enough on defense to play against Duke's four guard lineups. Whats upsetting is that Dupree was supposed to be the 3rd big man on this team, and his minutes have been 12, 6, 8, 1, and 0 so far in ACC play. Thats not a good looking trend! He hasn't shown that he is ready to be a contributor on this team.

Despite the loss it feels better to be a Terps fan now than it was a month ago. A month ago today Maryland was 6-6 after losing to American University by eight. PATHETIC! It felt like everybody who followed Maryland basketball was ready to quit on this current team and crucify Gary Williams. In the last month Maryland has gone 6-2 with a win over the previously undefeated and #1 ranked Tarheels. Their two losses were unfortunately both in conference, but by a point to Virginia Tech and to the #3 ranked Duke. This has certainly been a good month for the Terps, and it would be for any other college basketball team too. Unfortunately the hole that the Terps are climbing out of is huge. At 2-3 in the ACC, they need to win about 7 or 8 more conference games to have any shot at the NCAA tourny. 19 or 20 wins with an upset of a potential #1 seed might get them into the tournament. However, that is still questionable with losses to teams like Ohio and American.

Like most people thought, the Terps will be a better team at the end of the year than they were to start it. However, with such an unpredictable lousy stretch to begin the year, will this team be good enough to have an overall positive season. The UNC win is certainly a highlight to be remembered for years, but will that be the only redeeming memory of this season? A win over Carolina and an extremely competitive loss to a Duke team that played well tonight give me hope that the Terps have yet to peak this season.

Terps Lose

Last night was my first opportunity to see the Maryland Terrapins this season. Thanks to their matchup with #1 UCLA, they got a nationally televised game on ESPN. I came away from that game not feeling too enthused about the team.

Maryland hoops fans have had things good for a long time. Gary Williams has done a great job of always fielding a good team. Even with some of their relative struggles over the last few years, they have still been a winning team in one of the best conferences in college basketball. However, it is hard to predict a great year from a team as young as this year's Terps. They return just 2 seniors(big men James Gist and Bambale Osby), 1 junior(Dave Neal 4.4 mpg and 1.6 ppg in 06-07), and 3 sophomores(Eric Hayes, Greivis Vasquez, and Landon Milbourne). Milbourne barely played last season and is basically a freshman in terms of experience, and Neal doesn't have much big game minutes under his belt. So basically the team is coming back with 4 proven contributors.

Williams seems to have Vasquez at the 1 with Hayes at the 2. Although Hayes is the better pure shooter, I don't think this is the best use of their combined talents. Eric played PG in high school, and seems to have that mentality. While Vasquez is a capable ball handler, his aggressive nature isn't suited for running the point full time. Both are capable players though, however neither is a true shooting guard. Vasquez is too inconsistent from beyond the arc, and Hayes doesn't have the mindset or physical ability to create his own shot. I like them on the court together, but I think they would both flourish more if the Terps had a legitimate 2 guard.

Gist and Osby look solid down low. Boom definitely improved his offensive game since last season, although he still turns the ball over way too much. I would like to see the Terps get the ball to Gist more, and for James to act quicker when he feels a double team. These two guys will be relied on game in and game out to put up solid numbers.

Watching the game last night was an introduction for me to the 5 freshman and Milbourne. What I saw from them wasn't bad, but it certainly didn't make me feel good about this season. Milbourne got the start next to the 4 players who got time last season, and he also saw the most minutes of the newcomers. He had a few promising moments, and ended up with 6 points and 5 rebounds. As the starter in the 3 spot, he should be putting up more than just 6 points. He seems like a good enough athlete to start at that spot, but I didn't witness a ton of intensity out of him. Considering that he didn't get time last season, and is still adjusting to being on the floor full time, I'll cut him some slack. However, I hope he comes out a little more determined to make plays later on this season.

Adrian Bowie had the next best showing among the new guys. He played 15 minutes, and had a solid stat sheet with 4 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. His quickness was evident the whole time he was on the court, but there were several times when it seemed he struggled to control the ball. Unlike Milbourne he didn't lack aggressiveness, but it seemed like his game wasn't quite developed enough to be a reliable weapon. I can see him having some big games off of the bench this year, and he should be fun to watch.

Cliff Tucker had just 8 minutes, and never seemed to get into the flow of the game while he was on the court. He seemed to handle the ball well for a taller guy, but that was all I noticed from him. I'd definitely like to see more of him soon.

Calvert Hall product Braxton Dupree got decent minutes against UCLA's freshman big man Kevin Love. Dupree has a body that reminds me of Lonny Baxter. He is a short, yet muscular center who will rely on positioning more so than athleticism to be successful. Love definitely outplayed him on the boards when they went up against each other. Braxton seemed to have a soft touch around the rim, but needs to work on boxing out when he goes up against other physical big men.

The last freshman to get in the game was Dino Gregory, who I only saw for the final minute when James Gist had fouled out. It looks like he may find himself outside of the main rotation right now.

Overall there seems to be some promise with this large recruiting class. However, there isn't a guy who appears ready to step in and be a major contributor yet. With the lack of experienced depth on the team, they will all see good time this season and hopefully one of them shows they are ready to step up and carry a greater load for this team. Otherwise I don't know if Maryland has what it takes to be near the top of the ACC this season.

Terps Win

Maryland needs to be thankful after Saturday that Georgia Tech wasn't lined up in the middle of the field on their last FG attempt. If GT's kicker had placed the ball just several feet to his left, then the Jackets end up with a win and hand the Terps another crushing ACC loss. Luckily though a W is all that matters at the end of the day.

The big deal coming into this week was how Chris Turner had led the Terps to victory over Rutgers, and the offense looked as good as it has all year with him at QB. Ralph Friedgen made statements during the week that Jordan Steffy will be back at starter if he is healthy, which obviously wasn't the case Saturday. I thought Turner looked good again on Saturday. He did have one crucial mistake, which was the fumble that GT returned for a TD before the half. That definitely gave the Jackets momentum and 7 points which kept it close down the stretch. However, he showed poise the rest of the game in the pocket, and made throws that I have never seen Steffy make.

I think the Fridge has a situation here that will be tough to resolve with his QBs. The traditional thinking is that players don't lose their jobs because of injury. However, do you rock the boat when things are going so well. Right now Turner has been at the helm for wins over 2 previously winning teams. If he is grading out at a high level, which I imagine he has to be, then I don't think you bring back Steffy yet. Jordan Steffy seems like a great guy and a great teammate. However, he doesn't look to me to be a great quarterback. He seems to have a Chad Pennington style of playing the position. He looks for the short easy pass and expects his receivers to do all the work. Turner is capable of making those passes, but also stretches the field. I think he makes a defense have to worry about more things than Steffy at this point.

Anyways...I don't make those decisions, and I'll support whoever the Terps have under center. Regardless of who has been playing at QB, the Terps running game has excelled, and deserves a lot of credit. Keon Lattimore and Lance Ball are a great 1-2 punch that don't get a ton of credit for how they play. Hopefully a few more wins in a row will get MD into the Top 25 and a little bit more national exposure.

Memorial Day Wrapup

Well Memorial Day weekend is over, and the summer tourist season is officially under way. The standings in baseball are beginning to separate the contenders from the back of the pack. Currently the Maryland area's 2 teams are both outside of the contender region. The Nationals have been playing their best lately, but still can't make any headway in the standings. They have won 10 of 14 games, but still find themselves last in the NL East, 12 games behing the Mets. They are also 3 games behind the Phillies for the next spot in the standings. So the Nationals right now appear to be headed to another season in the cellar. I truly hope the team is able to make some big moves this offseason in anticipation of the increased revenue from the new stadium.

The Orioles are 2nd in the AL East. The problem is that 2nd in the AL East doesn't appear to signify what it has for the last decade. The O's are 3 games under .500, and are barely performing better than the other mediocre teams in this division. Two days of play could easily put the O's last in the division. So the current 2nd place standing is not much to cheer about. The O's are currently 5.5 games back in the Wild Card after Detroit was swept by the Indians, so while they are not out of conention, they certainly have a long way to go as well.

It was a good thing to see the O's score 8 runs in 3 straight games over Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully the Royals continue to play like the Royals against Baltimore, and the O's can even themselves up in the standings this week.

Preakness

Tommorow is The Preakness, which is one of the biggest sports days in Maryland. It is probably the only time that Maryland's horseracing industry looks healthy and alive. Very little attention seems to be paid to racing the rest of the year, but the area sure gets hyped for this weekend. I like watching horseracing, but its a hard sport to follow. The viewing opportunities for a casual fan are limited to the big events, and there isn't much reported on the sport in the news.

Preakness is my favorite race to watch though, and not just because I'm a Marylander. The Kentucky Derby is great, but The Preakness creates more drama. It doesn't matter who wins the Derby. Its a huge field every year, and there are multiple horses with a realistic shot of taking the roses. The horse that does come out ahead though is automatically a hero. They will go down in history as a great horse after winning that race, no matter what else they do.
Preakness gives that horse a chance to become a legend. Especially nowadays when it has been so long since a Triple Crown winner.
I think most people would love to see a horse win the Triple Crown. People want another great horse to come along and become a legend. So Preakness is more exciting to me than the Derby because it gives the crowd a favorite to root for.

Belmont to me will become more exciting only if there is a horse that has won the first two races of the Triple Crown. At that point it becomes potentially more dramatic than The Preakness, but that doesn't happen every year. Each and every Preakness there is a Triple Crown candidate that has already been identified. Following that horse through the track is a great thrill, and there is always a lot of excitement for horse racing built when their is a potential Triple Crown winner going into Belmont. Thats what makes Preakness uniqe and exciting to me. Hopefully 2007's race provides another exciting finish on Maryland's most important day of racing.

Private School Athletic Facilities

The Washington Post had a good article in the Sports section today on DC area private high schools and the trend of building multi-million dollar athletics facilities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502035.html

I personally found the article interesting, since I was an athlete at a Maryland private school, and have witnessed the boom in development of athletic facilities since I graduated. The pictures of Georgetown Prep's new facilities are amazing. 23 million dollars is also a ton of money to spend on athletic facilities, but certainly isn't surprising knowing Georgetown Prep. However, it is probably money well spent. Prep's AD Dan Paro, my middle school English teacher for a side note, is right on when he stated that Prep isn't just doing this for what they need in the present, but for what they might need 25 to 30 years down the road. If you are going to spend big money on athletics, you definitely have to think about the long term needs of the school. Prep is addressing their needs for future generations of their athletes, and is setting a standard that will be hard to match. Its no wonder their lacrosse, basketball, and football teams have been much improved over the last decade with this type of leadership. They will definitely be able to attract top area athletes to the school with this type of dedication, and I expect them to continue to be successful with their sports.

Other schools that I have observed make improvements over the years.

Gonzaga - They have a great downtown location in DC, but that leaves them short on field space. Putting field turf on their on campus field was a great idea. Their field was always hard and short on grass when I played their, and having a low maintenance, perfect playing surface is good for the athletes, potential recruits, and the school.

Dematha - For a school with one of the best athletic reputations in the country, they have always had awful facilities. They have just started work on a new center that will change the landscape of their campus, while upgrading much of their athletic facilities. They still have a problem without a field on campus, but the article noted they might put field turf in at local fields to help their teams.

Calvert Hall - Calvert Hall made big changes to their athletic landscape by building a true football stadium...not just bleachers for their teams. Their new track is also great, and they have taken a big step in making their facilities attractive to potential students.

Loyola - The Dons created a great looking building to house their athletics. Their new weightroom is great, and their pool is amazing for a high school. While things look good they could have improved their football and lacrosse field and basketball court more. I think they lacked some of the long term thinking when it came to those two areas.

Orioles April Review

So the first month of the baseball season is complete. Despite living near DC, and having MASN on my cable provider, I still have no interest in the Nationals. I haven't watched a lot of their games, and I don't see myself doing so at this point. Following a team with the worst record in baseball and no history really isn't intriguing to me.

But apparently following a team with a losing record is fine with me if I have a personal history with them. The Orioles are struggling right now, and the only thing keeping them out of the cellar is the demise of the Yankees!

The Orioles season has been a period of streaks so far. There first streak of 3 losses to the Twins was a pathetic way to open the season. Nothing went right in that series, but the O's managed to bounce back pretty easily. In their next streak they went 11-4, and beat up on the Yankees, Jays, Rays, and Royals. Two of those four losses were to the Tigers, who definitely have the O's figured out after sweeping the O's this week. So the O's current streak has them at 1-9. Thats about as rough a stretch as you can go. The bleeding eventually has to stop.

Before the season fans would have thought a night like tomorrow was a definite Orioles win. Erik Bedard was hot in the Spring and supposed to pick up right where he did at the end of 2006. However, his ERA is at 6.09, with a WHIPof 1.53 and a .291 BAA. His strikeout totals have been excellent so far, but he has given up too many HRs, 6, so far this season. I've got a feeling he will get things under control and become dominant again, but its rough to see him struggling so far.

The rest of the O's rotation has done decently so far. Nothing spectacular, and aside from Jaret Wright shoulder, nothing terrible either. Cabrera has decent stats and has managed to keep his walk totals manageable on most nights. There is still room for improvement though. Loewen has the best ERA of the group, but has also pitched the fewest innings. His WHIP is too high, and he actually has more walks than strikeouts. When he can limit his pitches and go deeper into games, he will help this team out so much more. Steve Trachsel has proven so far he deserves to stay in the O's rotation. He isn't dominating anybody, but he is keeping the O's in every game. He is giving the O's a chance to win, and that is what should be expected of a guy in his situation.

The Orioles bullpen has been decent so far as well. John Parrish has had a great month to start the year, and most of the other regulars have been decent as well. Jamie Walker and Chad Bradford are doing exactly what they were signed for. Danys Baez has let me down a few times, but is still a decent option. Chris Ray has suffered from 2 bad pitches with the bases loaded to make his stats look worse than they are. Those two game losing grand slams were tough to take, but I still have my faith in him. The bullpen as a whole is in better shape than last year, and I'm happy with their performance through April.

Hitting has been a disappointment so far. While the Orioles haven't been really been blown out so far this year, they haven't blown out others so far either. The Orioles don't have a double digit outing yet, but I feel like thats something they need to get going. Miguel Tejada is doing what he is getting paid for. He is hitting for a great average, and despite a slow start with the RBIs, those are starting to pile up too. Melvin Mora's average is mediocre, but he has shown his power is back. Hopefully he can keep his run production up all year long. Ramon Hernandez has been hot since his return from the DL, and looks to have another solid year behind the plate. Aside from those 3, the Orioles really aren't getting things done. Nick Markakis has had several clutch moments, but he isn't making contact like he did to finish in 2006. Brian Roberts is getting on base and stealing pretty well, but his average is down as well. Jay Gibbons is looking like he shows up to Camden Yards solely for the paycheck.

While I'm disappointed with the O's record right now, I'm not down on this team yet. I think there are a lot of guys who have yet to get hot. I have faith that Ray, Bedard, Cabrera, Roberts, Markakis, and Huff will all pick things up. When that happens I don't think this team will be losing a lot of games. The team is in better shape than in previous years, and just needs a jolt from a couple of players to get them streaking back towards the win column.

Losing Streak

Have the Orioles coming crashing down to Earth this early? It seems the Orioles are always raising hopes early in the spring, only to crumble as the season goes on. Just last Sunday the Orioles were 11-7. 4 games over .500 and even ESPN was praising the birds on Baseball Tonight. Well 4 days later the O's are back to 11-11 and 3.5 games out of 1st. What is the lesson from all of this? Baseball is too long of a season to pay any mind to the standings until after the All Star break. Remember how the O's led the AL East into June of 2004. Palmeiro was chasing 3,000 and the O's were winning. It felt like '97 again for a few months. Than the ship sank. The Orioles started losing...Palmeiro tested positive for an illegal supplement, Roberts got injured, and the Orioles lost a whole lot more. That will be remembered as an awful year for the O's, but early on it looked great.
Remember that year when you judge the current team at this point in the season. I still check the scores every day to see if the Orioles win or lose, but their record won't matter for another couple of months.
Quick Pros and Cons from the most recent game.
Pro - Adam Loewen has a 3.20 era. Other teams have a lot of difficulty scoring off of him.
Con - Loewen is walking a ton of guys. He isn't letting those guys score, but it knocks him out of the game way too early.
Pro - Ramon Hernandez - Dude had a good debut with 2 hits and a walk. The O's finally played a game with their full contingent of players tonight.
Con - Chris Ray - Only been scored on twice this year, but both times were Grand Slams that blew a save and lost a game for the O's. To AL East rivals no less.

Wizards Note...They can't hang with the Cavs. Should be a lot of seats available at the Phone Booth.

Nats Note...Tied for the worst record in the league with KC. Atleast the stadium project seems to be coming along nicely.

Draft Note...Mel Kiper and other experts predict the 'Skins will take LaRon Landry from LSU. I think the Redskins need more help on the D-line than in the secondary. Okoye from Louisville is amazing. Just 19 years old and already graduated college. Not only is he a sick player, but he seems to be an even more incredible person. The type of person you want on your team. Not much excitement for the Skins after that first pick.
I don't know where the Ravens will go with their picks, but Ozzie Newsome never screws up the draft. Baltimore always finds impact players on draft day...no worries there.

Orioles Suck!

Wow...What a disappointing first series for the Orioles. I wasn't expecting perfection from the O's coming out of Minnesota, but a single win would have been nice. However, its not just the losses that are frustrating, but how they have lost.
The O's weren't shut out in any game, but only scored 8 runs in 3 games. The Orioles team batting average through 3 games is .192. The team is below the Mendoza line to start the season! Thats awful. Less then 3 runs a game won't win a lot of games.
The bright spots seem to be Miguel Tejada and Aubrey Huff. Thats a great sign to have your 4 and 5 hitters knocking the crap out of the ball. Next step for the O's would be getting their 1-3 players on the bases. I have faith that this will happen, but it doesn't look good to go into the weekend against the Yankees without any positive results so far.

My comments on some other Orioles.

Kevin Millar - 0-8 to start the year after just 3 hits in Spring Training. 2 games without a hit is nothing to worry about, but after such an awful spring it is hard to ignore Kevin Millar's production. I wonder how long he will be allowed to struggle before the Orioles make a change.

Chris Gomez - Gomez should be the O's starting first baseman with Millar struggling. Do people forget that Gomez hit .341 last year. Of course he had less than 200 at bats, but the bottom line was that he was productive when he was on the field. He also hit .279 and .282 in 2004 and 2005, so he has handled the bat well as he has gone later into his career. How about rewarding a guy that does things well, instead of marking Millar's spot in ink just because he made headlines in Boston several years ago.

Daniel Cabrera - Great start to the season on Tuesday. I know the criticism is coming in that he let the Twins steal at will, and that he still throws too many balls. However, he should be winning games when holding a team like the Twins to 3 runs. I will be very satisfied if he can give the O's 7 innings with 3 or 4 runs all year long.

Jaret Wright - I know the Orioles didn't give up much to acquire him, so you can't blame management too much for this decision. However, its frustrating to know that this guy can't go more than 6 innings max. Most likely he will be a 4 or 5 inning guy, and I don't know how long that can last on this team. Like Millar he is in his spot because of his name and not because of his recent performance. His 5.79 era in the spring is pathetic and shouldn't have earned him a spot in the rotation. Hopefully Hayden Penn will be in this spot before too long.

Lousy Opening Day

I had a lot of excitement going in to today's Opening Day of baseball. I work 2 jobs but am lucky enough to have off for both of them today. So that meant I was able to watch baseball throughout the whole day. My wife is a big baseball fan, and was excited as well. She also gets a little excited wishing that she was at a ballpark somewhere, so she had me pick up hotdogs for lunch as the afternoon games started.

So the hotdogs were consumed as the pre game shows were ending. I went with MASN for the Nationals pre game coverage for a bit, and MASN has room for a lot of improvement. The graphics, camera work, and on-air personalities are all below par. I guess that fits well with the Nationals stadium and roster.

The highlight of the Nationals game for me was seeing the 2 F-18s flyover the stadium on TV, and then heading outside to watch them fly over head a minute later. Living right up the Anacostia River I was pretty sure I would get to see them before they headed back to the airfield they came from. After that the game really wasn't worth watching. John Patterson, who is supposed to be the only decent starter for the Nats, was awful. Dontrelle Willis, who is fun to watch just like Ken Griffey Jr. was 15 years ago, pitched well for the Marlins. Throw in some great hitting from Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera, and this game soon became boring. I'm watching the Angels-Rangers game right now, and the commentators were commenting about how they can't imagine how many games the Nats could lose. Its exciting to have baseball back in DC, but ownership better make a huge effort to build a competitive team next offseason or the effect of having a new ballpark won't last long.

With a boring game on MASN, I watched a lot more of the D-Rays - Yankees game on ESPN. I was hoping Scott Kazmir would upstage Carl Pavano, but he just didn't have it today. The Yankees starting Pavano on opening day is a joke, but they still manage to pull out a win. I've been sick of the Yankees winning ways for a long time, but they are going on 9 years as AL East Champions. The last time anybody else finished in first place was 1997 when the O's went wire to wire. That has been way too long, and it pisses me off that they are so much weaker than before yet still better than anybody else in the division.

The focus of my day though was definitely the Orioles playing the Twins at 7. I didn't have high expectations for a win with Santana on the mound, but I was hoping for an upset. 4 runs in 6 innings against Santana was a great result for the offense, but unfortunately Erik Bedard let the O's down with a turly disappointing start. I know he will get it things together and have a great year, but its a downer not to have a good result on Opening Day. One of the great things about baseball though is that there isn't a lot of time to get down. There is usually a game the next day to give you new hope, and I'm hopeful that Daniel Cabrera will have a better day tommorow night than Boof Bonser. BOOF! This guy must not take anything seriously with a name like that.

Opening Day

Opening Day is tommorow for the O's and the Nats, and its still strange to have 2 teams in the area. It will be an adjustment trying to catch the O's on MASN, but atleast the Nats will consistently be on TV now as well. I don't get the chance to make it out to the games as much as I'd like, but by following the games on TV it is possible to really get a feel for the players. I've never really gotten into the Nats yet because they were never really on TV. It will be interesting to see if people start to connect to the team a little more now that they have a good TV deal in place.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about the Orioles this season. They made some improvements since last season by adding Bradford, Williamson, Baez, and Walker to the bullpen. They also added some talent to the lineup with Jay Payton and Aubrey Huff. (Note to self...Don't name your next son Aubrey.) However, when you look at the team as a whole its hard to see them being much better than last year. Will the bullpen help really lead to more wins? Its hard to judge that.
I think the most important thing for the Orioles will be how Adam Loewen and Daniel Cabrera will perform. Each had great outings last year that really made them look like potential difference makers. However, both of them could also be counted on for some off days, especially Cabrera. I think Loewen will do very well after making his debut last year. Hopefully he got a taste of what to expect, and can be trusted to go deeper into games.
Jarret Wright and Steve Trachsel are veteran newcomers, that have looked shaky in spring training. However, I have faith that they can't do worse than Rodrigo Lopez and Bruce Chen pitched last year. Hell...if either of them wins a game he will have done better than Chen!

So...the pitching looks to have improved. Huff and Payton came in to bolster the lineup, while you didn't lose much production from last year with your core guys coming back. I think a full year of Nick Markakis in RF is extremely exciting. He could challenge Miguel Tejada as the best hitter on the club in 2007. Overall the O's should be a better team. The question in my mind is how much better can they be. Will they be a more respectable 4th place club in the AL East, or can they possibly catch NY, Boston, or Toronto? I really can't tell at this point, but I'm definitely excited for the season to get started on Monday night.