By #1 Sports
Los Angeles: The Dodgers (54-50, 22-29 road) have been positively powerless with Manny sidelined, scoring a total of 31 runs over the 14 games since his return to the DL, posting a 5-9 mark with 4 of those wins requiring shutouts to get the victory. Reed Johnson, Xavier Paul, and Garret Anderson haven’t managed much platooning in Ramirez’s left field slot but the trade acquisition for OF Scott Podsednik (.309, 5 HR, 45 RBI) for the Royals for a pair of prospects should help.
By Mike Wynn Sports
With Pete Carroll departing for the NFL and USC under bowl suspension the Pac-10 looks to be a bit more wide open then its has been in recent years. USC still has a boat load of talent and will contend but last year’s conference champs Oregon and others will be in the mix. Here are my predictions for 2010 and brief look at all 8 teams in the Pac-10 conference this season.
By Razor Sharp Sports
Ok so last year was easy. We all knew that one of the BIG 3 Quarterbacks were going to take home the hardware. Heck, Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow were looking for their second Heisman and Colt McCoy may have had the best numbers of the three. So what happened?? Mark Ingram?? Who’s Mark Ingram? Alabama Running Back burst onto the scene and ran away with the top honor last year. He and his Crimson Tide surprised everyone with him winning the Heisman and Bama taking home the National Championship. So lets see, Ingram is back and all 3 of the big QB’s are in the NFL. So it is easy again this year, RIGHT? Should we start etching Mark Ingram’s name into this years top individual honor. In the word of ESPN College Guru Lee Corso, “Not So Fast There, My Friend”! Though Ingram is the odds on favorite to win this year’s Heisman again, there are still plenty of others in the hunt. Let’s take a look and see who will be the names fighting Ingram for the top honor.
By Totals 4 U
Florida: The Marlins (49-49, 21-23 road) come off a 7-3 home stand, taking series wins over the Nationals, Rockies, and Braves, and now hit the highway with RHP Ricky Nolasco (10-7, 4.50 ERA) on the mound. Known as a 2nd-half guy, Ricky’s grooved right now with 27 hits and 7 walks over his last 5 starts (3.41 ERA) compared to 42 strikeouts over those 34 1/3.
By Mike Wynn Sports
With football season just around the corner its time to start previewing some of the power conferences in college football and I thought I’d start with the Big Ten Conference. Ohio St looks to have the edge on the rest of conference again this season but they’ll have a coouple of teams nipping at their heels. So here are my Big Ten rankings for 2010 season and why.
By Huddle Up Sports
NL East
Atlanta Braves: B+. Not sure why we’re not giving them an A. We expected great pitching and that’s exactly what the produced. The hitting is a tad inconsistent, therefore the B+. We don’t expect them to falter too much the second half
NY Mets: B. Too streaky. Have handled the injuries better than expected.
Philadelphia: C. They’ll come around. Disappointed in streaky offense. With that lineup and a couple good starters, they should be in first from game one to finish.
Florida: C+. Need to play better at home. Didn’t expect much from them this season.
Washington: B+. Exceeding expectations even before Strausberg. Never thought they would have been potential buyers!
NL Central:
St Louis: B. It’s exactly what we expected. Coaching staff is worth a couple of wins per season by itself. Anything less than a playoff spot will be an F.
Cincinnati: A. Great mixture of youth and veterans. getting good pitching. Never anticipated them to be in first place at this point in the season.
Chicago Cubs: D. Will they ever put together a good season?
Milwaukee: D. Macha has to go. We knew the pitching was bad, but seriously. the only thing holding them from the F is there hitting.
Houston: C-. Didn’t expect much out the Astros this year, but 18 games below .500 is ridiculous.
Pittsburgh: C. Will always be a farm club… for some other team.
NL West
San Diego: A+. The only A+ we’re giving out. All we can say is wow. We expect them to fade a little, but the West has always been a weak division.
San Francisco: B. This was our divisional winner pick. 10 games above .500 is acceptable.
Colorado: B+. Pretty much the same boat as the Giants. Not doing anything wrong, just that SD is unconscious.
LA Dodgers: C. Although above .500, they shouldn’t use the excuse “Our pitching is young”. Also, funny how Many isn’t producing and is always injured. HMMMM.
Arizona: D+. Can’t figure them out. But should be better than 20 games below .500.
Football head coaches get all the glory, but top assistants can be extremely important in a team’s success or failure. Offensive and defensive coordinators have great influence on game plans and a unit’s effectiveness. There was no better example than former NY Giants’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, now with the Rams. He came over from the Eagles under outstanding DC Jim Johnson and was a key cog in their amazing 2007 Super Bowl run.
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By Razor Sharp Sports
OK, the Major League Baseball All-Star game is behind us, that means I can officially start talking about football without people saying, “Come On, You Can’t Talk Football Yet!” So guess what, I am going to talk football. What better way to kick things off then with a little College Football. We all know that ranking mean nothing until the end of the year, unless your Boise St and can’t move up fast enough to play for a National Championship, even though you probably deserve it. Still we need pre-season rankings so we have something to discuss and argue about until they actually get on the field. So here we go, our 2010 Pre-Season College Football Top 25!
By #1 Sports
Oakland: The Athletics (43-46, 17-26 road) open the second half 7 ½ games behind the Rangers in the West and send LHP Gio Gonzalez (7-6, 3.79 ERA) to the hill tonight. The 3rd-year starter had fine stretches in the 1st-half with just 95 hits allowed over 107 innings but racked only a single victory over his final 6 trips as the walks (21 BB over his last 34 innings) began to pile up.
By Razor Sharp Sports
We have reached the unofficial halftime of the MLB season, the All-Star Break. So lets take a look at what we have seen and what we expect to see in the future. The Current division leaders are the Yankees, White Sox and Rangers in the American League and the Braves, Reds and Padres in the National League. We really don’t have a run away leader in any of the divisions with the Rangers holding the biggest lead at 4.5 games over the Angels. The Yanks hold a 2 game lead on the Rays and the Red Sox are still in striking range at 5 games back. The AL Central is as expected, a dogfight. After the Twins held down the top spot for most of the first half, they were passed late by the White Sox and Tigers. The White Sox lead by a half game over Detroit and Minnesota by 3. Exactly what you would expect from a division that has had to be decided with a play-in game the past two years. In the Senior Curcuit there have been plenty of surprises. The Braves in the East hold a 4 game lead over the Mets and 4.5 game lead over the 2-time defending NL Champion Phillies. In the Central, probably the biggest surpirse leader is the Cincinnati Reds. They lead the Cardinals by just 2 games. The NL West is the division that is open to anyone. The shocking Padres lead the Rockies and Dodgers by 2 and the Giants by 4. So with that being said, lets give away our first half awards.