The Spurs & Wizards both got better with pretty significant trades completed on Tuesday.
If the NBA became a 4-on-4 competition, the Spurs foursome of Parker, Ginobili, Richard Jefferson and Duncan sure would be fun to watch. They did create a bit of a hole in the middle with Oberto, Thomas and Bowen going to Milwaukee for Jefferson, since only Duncan and the totally unproven Ian Mahinmi are bigs remaining. They could re-sign Drew Gooden or maybe re-acquire Oberto to get bigger, but while they increased their talent base, they still don't matchup well with the Lakers, which is what all teams in the West still need to measure up to.
Washington has almost guaranteed they will be the league's most-improved team next year. Adding Randy Foye and Mike Miller from Minnesota in exchange for three players they have no use for (along with the 5th pick), puts them into the playoffs for sure. While all hopes are predicated on health, Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are all all-star caliber players and Miller and Foye can both put the ball in the basket. They should finish no worse than 5th in the East if healthy.
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I've given a lot of thought to the decision Cecil Cooper made not calling for Pudge Rodriguez to sacrifice the runners over from 1st (Berkman) and 2nd (Tejada) in the 9th inning with the Astros down 2-1. It can be argued either way, it's hard to really blame Cooper for that decision, as he explained after the game, though, I do have some questions.
I think he properly assessed what Pudge can and can't do, so calling for him to sacrifice doesn't bring with it a high likelihood of success. That's really on Pudge though, not Coop. While I agree that Pudge is an "RBI guy", he is 4th on the team, but that is really no excuse for a 37-year old catcher hitting .249 not being skilled enough to be asked to bunt.
On to Coop's assessment that Matsui is not an RBI guy. If you get a successful sacrifice bunt then a single ties the game, possibly wins the game. By "RBI guy" I assume that means essentially a good hitter w/ extra-base pop. But when runners on third, there is no longer a need for an "RBI guy", but quite simply just a guy who can get a run home from third with less than two outs. They might even walk Matsui to set up the double play. I'd still take my chances at that point over what happened.
Truthfully the blame lies with Ed Wade, Tal Smith and ultimately owner Drayton McLane. How much longer do they think it is acceptable to have not one, but two backup outfielders who aren't even hitting .200? Two guys, Erstad and Michaels, both of whom have been poor defensive players this year are basically automatic outs and the season is nearly half over. That is inexcusable. A minor-leaguer making $400K can do that - and don't try to tell me they don't have anybody. It's nearly impossible to perform more poorly at the plate than Erstad and Michaels. Combined they have stepped to the plate 149 times - they have 22 hits!!!!!!!! They've hitting .158. When you throw in Jason Smith's 0-25 season and Matt Kata's 4-22, the 4 most often used bench players area combined 26-186, that's a .140 average. The Astros pitchers are hitting .144 this year. Experience and track record at this point must be cast aside, these guys are not helping the team at all.
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What do you get when you win the US Open? An invite to Letterman to mock yourself via the Top Ten List.
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I showed you the Carl's Jr ad plugging their latest burger creation with the lovely Padma Lakshmi a couple of weeks ago. Now reality celeb Audrina Patridge gets her chance to make you hot about a heaping helping of meat...and fruit.
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