My Pick for the NBA Finals

The Lakers and Celtics meet tonight in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Right now the Celtics have won 17 Tittles and the Lakers have won 15 Times, However The Celtics have a huge advantage going into this year with the Celtics Defeating The Lakers 9 of 11 times in the Finals, The Next Biggest Dominance in Sports is the Yankees winning 8 of 11 Times vs The Dodgers

So this brings us to tonights game. The Lakers are Home and in Game 6 Dominated the Celtics, But History shows us that it means nothing. The Home Team usually wins game 7s at home but Celtics have won Game 7s on the road including 1969 when The Lakers had the Best Player in the NBA (Jerry West) and the Celtics were old and no one thought they had a chance to even be in the finals.

With the injury to Kendrick Perkins it looks like it is a severe blow to Boston as there really is no one to match up with Pau Gosal, However I see something here that may, just may bode well for Boston, In Game 5 of the NBA Finals in the middle of the Game The Lakers were playing the New York Knicks with the series tied 2 games each, In the middle of game the Knicks center Willis reed went down with a severe injury and with the Lakers leading in the game and the Knicks not having a true NBA Center to go against the Dominant Wilt Chamberlain all hope appeared to be gone (I cried and went to bed giving up hope, but had the game on the radio) and something happened, The Knicks used a combination of Dave Debusschere, Dave Stallworth and Cazzie Russell, none of whom were over 6'8" tall combined to slow down Wilt and even with the Best player in the NBA Jerry (The Logo) West the Knicks were able to come back and defeat the Lakers in game 5 and take a 3 games to 2 lead.

The Celtics have alot of crafty never say die veterans who have faced enormous pressure before and they have been a very good road team. This Laker team (Kobe and Fisher) and as a matter of fact as a coach Phil Jackson has never coached in a Game 7 NBA Finals , in his life.

So the Celtics just might have a slight edge there.

So who is going to win? I picked the Lakers in the Preseason, I picked the Lakers in 6 before the finals started, But I really have a strange feeling that even though the Lakers have the best player on the planet it could come crashing down on them and The Celtics can rule again and keep the history of winning like the Yankees own history in Baseball,

The personal, taking in to account the age of the Celtics and Perkins injury say the Lakers shoud rout again, BUT that ain't going to happen, This will be a very close game, Maybe OT or even Double OT, and when the road team keeps it close who knows, But in the end the ball will be in Kobe Bryants hands with the Lakers trailing by 1 or 2, and the defining moment of Bryants career will be on the line, Will he be in the Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson legend or will he be in the Jerry West (Just 1 Tittle) legend.

The Game ends with Kobe nailing a 3 pointer in Double OT to stun the Celtics

The NBA Champions will be the Los Angeles Lakers

We now know who Joba Chamberlain is.

I have been watching Joba Chamberlain since he came up with the Yankees

When he came up every Yankee fan said "ooooh" and "aaaah"

Then the Yankees started trying to make him a starter then back in the bullpen,

However Joba struggled and he continues to be terrific one day then awful another day,

So I have one question,

Is Joba the real life Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh aka Meat.

Has anyone ever seen them in the same room at the same time?

If only the Yankees had Thurman Munson to tell him

"You just got lesson number one: don't think; it can only hurt the ball club".

"You have a million dollar arm and a ten cent head”. .

"You got a gift. When you were a baby, the Gods reached down and turned your right arm into a thunderbolt. You got a Hall-of-Fame arm, but you're pissing it away."

Sad Day in Baseball--Ernie Harwell passes away at 92.

One of the great broadcasters of all-time has passed away, Ernie Harwell passed away today at age 92 after a year long battle with cancer,

Harwell is one of the last of the Legendary Play by Play men that generations of Tiger Fans grew up listening to. He was to Detroit to what Vin Scully is to Dodger fans, Harry Kalas was to Phillie fans and several others (Bob Uecker, Jack Buck, Marty Brennaman, Harry Carey, Skip Carey, Jack Brickhouse, Mel Allen, and Red Barber just to name a few.

Here is the Famous Baseball is Essay that Ernie Harwell that he gave when he was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1981.

http://www.entertonement.com/clips/ytwhqvrsyk--Ernie-Harwell-Essay-That's-baseball-mlb

Here is the Detroit Free Press Story of the Passing of Harwell.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100504/SPORTS02/100504087/1321/Ernie-Harwell-voice-of-Detroit-dies-at-92

This day In Yankee and Baseball History

This Day in Yankee History 1951..Yankees get a new P A Announcer (The Voice Of God) Bob Sheppard makes his debut. First Batter he announces is Dom DiMaggio.

Also making his Major League Debut in 1951..Some Guy named Mickey Mantle makes his Major League debut. (Whatever happened to that guy)

Other Notes..1955 Roberto Clemente collects his first hit

1964 Shea Stadium opens up to the 1st of many games where the Home team pitcher does not throw a no hitter

1969 Montreal Expoes in their 10th ever game Bill Stoneman throw a no hitter (Mets still has not had any)

1976 Mike Schmidt hits 4 home runs in a game at Wrigley field in a gane which the phils were down by 11th and came back to win 18-16

2010..Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies throws a no hitter, the first no hitter in Rockies History

2010--The New York Mets extend their number of games without throwing a no hitter to 7655 Games!

"The Expert" Predictions 2010 Baseball

1st-Going out on a limb..UCONN wins NCAA Womans Tittle

2nd--Want Butler but DUKE is too dominant and wins NCAA Mens Tittle

Now for the real thing..

1st Review of 2009 Picks..

AL East--Bost--WC--Yankees--AL Central--Twins--AL-West--Angels

NL East--Phillies--NL Central--Cubs--WC--Reds--AL West--Dodgers

World Series Reds over Red Sox--(oops)

2010--Comments

Lots of questions all around,

Yankees are minus Matsui and Damon but gain defensivly with Granderson...Starting should be stronger with Vazquez as a #4..Age can be a question, especially at Catcher with Posada,

Red Sox--Power Hitting is very suspect, Not too sure if Beltre and Cameron will help or hurt. Beltre can be a Head case, Piching can be a huge strength, (If they stay Healthy) But Beckett has not proven to stay Healthy, Dice-K does not stay Healthy, Wakefield is 300 years old, and even Lackey is 8 years removed from Dominating the Yankees in the 2002 ALCS, But Jon Lester is a Solid Pitcher so if the Sox stay healthy they will be tough to beat.

Rays--Lots of Potential, If the Starters return to the 2008 form the Pitching will be as good as any team, Lots of terrific players throughout the lineup. They want to prove that 2008 was not a fluke, (However) They will not be able to add pieces in July and if they fall off the pace they will be dumping of Crawford (To The Yankees), Pena (Red Sox?)

Other Teams--Twins will miss Nathan. It will cost them bigtime. Tigers might have a Big year left with Damon and addition of Austin Jackson. White Sox are poised to make a run.

Mariners have alot of additional weapons but I think Milton Bradley will implode the Clubhouse,

Angels have replaced Vlad with Matsui, They will miss Figgy but they have a great manager.

NL--Phils are very strong, but lots of injuries right now, They need a closer, Lidge is hurt and even when he was throwing reports said he was throwing at 85 MPH, (he is done).But they are loaded..Braves are set to return to Contention Marlins are lurking, Nats might move to 81 wins..Mets will lose 100 games.

Cards should repeat in Central, Cubs has alot of talent but the Clubhouse my Implode. Maybe the Reds can Contend for a Wild card,

NL West..Dodgers added nothing, Manny can and will be a distraction, Joe Torre will not be able to keep his magic going.--Rockies look like they can return to playoffs and the Giants might be able to shock everyone, D-Backs will miss Webb to start and they do not have depth.

Here we Go

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL East

Yankees

Red Sox

Rays

Orioles

Blue Jays

Al Central

Tigers

White Sox*

Twins

Indians

Royals

AL West

Angels

Mariners

Rangers

Athletics

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL East

Phillies

Braves*

Marlins

Nationals

Mets (100 Losses)

NL Central

Cardinals

Reds

Cubs

Astro's

Pirates

NL West

Giants

Rockies

Dodgers

D-Backs

Padres

AL PLAYOFFS

White Sox over Angels--4

Yankees over Tigers--4

ALCS--Yankees over White Sox--6

NL Playoffs

Phillies over Giants--3

Braves over Cardinals--5

NLCS

Phillies over Braves--6

WORLD SERIES

YANKEES OVER PHILLIES IN 7 GAMES

The Yankees Worst Year Ever, or Maybe it was the Best.

Here is an article written in 2005 from Henry Frommer..He has good facts on what happened in 1990, Now I will argue that because of 1990 the Yankees changed the way they did The Buisness of Baseball, and the result has been shown from the 1994-2009 season and beyond,

1990

HARVEY FROMMER ON SPORTS

The Worst Yankee Team (or is it)

With the horrific start the New York Yankees have gotten off to in 2005, there is cheering in Boston and wherever haters of Steinbrenner's guys exist - and that's a lot of places. The current team is old, brittle, over-paid and over-rated - that's the gleeful line put out there by legions of Yankee haters.

The whole scenario conjures up the memory of what many feel was the "worst Yankee team" - the 1990 edition.

The Yankees began their season in New York. Billy Martin's son threw out the first ball to the cheers of 50,114. By day's end the Yanks had a 6-4 win over the Indians. It was Luis Polonia's hit that broke a tie to put the Yankees ahead. No gratitude, though. Two weeks later he was traded to the Angels for Claudell Washington.

The 1990 Yankees were relatively young, average age 28.2 years. Bucky Dent had been on the scene as manager from August 18, 1989. On June 6, 1990 with the Yankees in seventh place at 18-31, Dent got the axe and was replaced by Stump Merrill up from the Columbus farm team.

"Here we have a fellow who doesn't come with a whole lot of glamour," George Steinbrenner smiled as he said it. "For the first five years I knew him I kept calling him 'Lump.' He was madder than hell." There were lots of times through the 1990 season and also 1991, Stump's last a Yankee pilot, that he was "madder than hell."
The 1990 Yankees scored 603 runs but allowed 749 runs. Their pitchers didn't lead the league in any category except for Tim Leary who had the most losses - 19.

The hitters were even worse. As a team the Yankees batted an American League low .241. Bragging rights for the team's best player belonged to 30 year-old Jesse Barfield, .246 average, 25 homers. He also struck out 150 times becoming the first Yankee to earn that dishonor. It was partly due to Jesse that the Yankees came within sixteen strikeouts of their worst ever total, 1,043 in 1967. Roberto Kelly, who would not walk, had the best batting average (.285). But he fanned 148 times.

The catching position was woeful. The full time catcher was Bob Geren, .213 average, never a full time catcher again. His backup was Matt Nokes (eight home runs, .238). His backup was Brian Dorsett who had five hits in 35 at bats.

The best Yankee starting lineup most of the time that season featured Geren at backstop. Don Mattingly played first base, sometimes. He complained of a bad back, got into only 89 games, batted .256 with just 5 homers and 42 RBIs. Steve Sax 2B (who made the All Star team wound up with a .260 average, 43 stolen bases), Randy Velarde, .210 average, was at third base a lot. Shortstop Alvaro Espinoza finished the season with two home runs and 20 RBIs.

The starting outfield was Mel Hall (12 homers, 46 RBI), team batting champ Roberto Kelly (.285, 42 stolen bases), and Jesse Barfield. Oscar Azocar also played the outfield and in 214 at-bats, walked twice. He never saw a pitch he didn't like. He batted .248.

Other non-pitchers taking up roster space included: rookie utility man Jimmy Leyritz (.257, 5 home runs) and Dave Winfield who hit .213 in 38 games before he was traded on May 11th to the Angels for Mike Witt. The lanky and controversial outfielder at first balked at the trade and then realized the Yankees were doing him a favor. Five days later he reported to the Angels.

On August 2, rookie first baseman Kevin Maas hammered his 10th home run in just 77 at bats. It was the quickest any player reached that mark. But predictably, the Yankees lost another tough game, 6-5 in 11 to the Tigers. Maas wound up with 21 round-trippers in 254 at-bats and writers raved about his sweet lefty swing, just made for Yankee Stadium's short right-field porch. He fizzled, but at least he flamed for a while which was not what could be said about a lot of the other 1990 Yanks.

There was also Steve (17 homers but only a .192 batting average) "Bye Bye" Balboni, Matt Nokes, Rick Cerone, Mike Blowers, Deion Sanders, Hensley Meulens, Claudell Washington, Wayne Tolleson, Luis Polonia and Jim Walewander.

The only Yankee starting pitcher to win more than seven games was nine game winner Tim Leary. But he also lost 19 before Stump Merrill showed some pity and took him out of the rotation.

Other starters were Dave Lapoint (7-10) Chuck Cary (6-12), Andy Hawkins (5-12) who did get everyone excited on July 1, 1990
when he threw and lost a no-hitter, 4-0, against the White Sox, Mike Witt (5-6). Steve Adkins made his debut on September 12, 1990. He didn't allow a hit but he walked eight batters in just 1 1/3 innings. The 25-year-old rookie was 1-2 with a 6.38 ERA in five starts and never pitched again in the Majors after 1990.

Others who took the ball to the hill with not that much success for the Bombers included: Greg Cadaret, Eric Plunk, Jimmy Jones, Alan Mills, Dave Eiland, Mark Leiter, Clay Parker, Lance McCullers, Pascual Perez, John Habyan and Rich Monteleone and Jeff Robinson. One of the few bright spots on the pitching staff was closer Dave Righetti who had 36 saves. Lee Guetterman went 11-7.

On June 30, George Steinbrenner was banned by Commissioner Fay Vincent from the day-to-day operations of the Yankees because of his alleged dealings with a known gambler. "The Boss" became the first American League owner ever to be removed by disciplinary action. Then Steinbrenner resigned as managing general partner of the Yankees and watched from the sidelines the miserable season finally ended.

The hapless New Yorkers finished 21 games behind Boston in the AL East, the first time during the Steinbrenner era that the Yankees finished in last place.

# # #

You can reach Harvey Frommer at: Email: harvey.frommer@Dartmouth.EDU About the Author: Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 40 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next. Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed. FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~frommer. Harvey Frommer along with his wife, Myrna Katz Frommer are the authors of five critically acclaimed oral/cultural histories, professors at Dartmouth College, and travel writers who specialize in cultural history, food, wine, and Jewish history and heritage in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Other Predictions and Comment

Bleacher Report has one persons Predictions, I will post some of those and Comment about them..

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/370332-50-bold-predictions-for-the-2010-mlb-season#page/1

Ryan Howard Wins Second MVP------Very good Chance

Not One MLB Hitter Will Surpass 40 Home Runs-----There will be at least (3) 40+ HR Guys

The Giants Win the Division, the Marlins Grab the Wild Card----Maybe, West is wide open, Marlins are good, But I think it will be the Braves as the WC

Jerry Manuel Becomes the First Manager To Get Fired--By May 1st

Milton Bradley Does Something Stupid--By March 31st..

Move Over New York and Boston, Tampa Is Taking Over--No One thought it could happen in 2008, It Could happen, But if the rays start off slow, They will sell off 3to 5 key players and could threaten for 5th place.

Cubs Finally Win the World Series--There is a song about when this will happen..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uw7phR9ucA

Angels To Finish Last in Division--I don't think they will contend, But Oakland will finish last

The Mets Also Finish Last----100 Losses (Will Clinch Last by Labor day)

Roy Halladay Wins NL Cy Young Award-----Duh...25 Wins..

The Nationals Finish over .500--May contend for a Wild card, (This Years Rays?)

No Pitcher Will Reach the 20-Win Mark in 2010---See Roy Halladay

Albert Pujols Will Also Not Hit 40 Homers----He is among the 3 who will hit 40+

Ryan Howard Also Wins Triple Crown--Maybe, He and Pujols both have a chance

Cole Hamels Set To Have Bounceback Year and Return to '08 Form--Phillies need it, He will either be Very Good or very bad.

Beckett Will Decide To Test Free Agency--But will get very few if any offers after 8 win season

Tampa Will Trade Carl Crawford by July--If Rays fall behind he will be gone, (To Yankees)

Joba Chamberlain Will Not Start for the Yankees----May be traded (For Crawford)

Cubs Make History with Instant Replay--Poster says it will win World Series, (It will cost them in game 7 of NLCS)

Cleveland Surprises Everyone by Winning AL Central---There is a song about this one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYojs78Tf9Y

Dice-K Ends Upin the 'Pen by June----More like the Disabled List

Bobby Abreu Has First Season Under 100 RBI in Seven Years--Not his fault, Angels have nothing around Him