Patriots Demolish "Dream Team"

The dream is over Philadelphia.  It's time to wake up.

Yesterday the AFC East-leading Patriots rolled into the City of Brotherly Love for a rematch of the 2005 Super Bowl (when they won their most recent title and cemented their dynasty status) and handed the Eagles an old-fashioned beatdown.  New England left town with a 38-20 victory, which was more like 38-13 when you discount Philly's garbage time TD after most of the boobirds had gone home. 

Tom Brady was in peak form and pulverized the Eagle defense from the air three touchdowns (two to his former favorite target Wes Welker and one to his new favorite target Rob Gronkowski) and 361 yards on 24/34 passing.  He spread the ball around and also involved old stand-by Deion Branch, who totaled 125 yards on half a dozen catches and missed a touchdown by one measly yard.  On the ground, BenJarvus Green-Ellis scored twice to complete New England's balanced offensive attack.

New England's defense looked shaky early on and it appeared as though the Pats were due for a long afternoon.  Michael Vick was out, but Vince Young stepped up with a career best 400 passing yards in an impressive relief effort.  But the Patriots D rebounded after a rough first quarter and held Philly to a field goal and the aforementioned meaningless late game TD for the remainder of the game, allowing Brady and his boys to get the ball rolling in the second quarter and run up the score.

The Pats are now 8-3 and have the luxury of an easy schedule for the rest of the year.  This Sunday they take on the hapless/Peyton Manning-less Colts at home, where they should hand Indiana their twelfth defeat of the season.

The NBA is Back!

It looks like basketball fans, many of whom had given up hope and were fully prepared for a long, cold winter without professional hoops, have something else to be thankful for this holiday season.  After months of sparring and bickering, the NBA has finally gotten its act together.  The owners and players have reached a labor agreement that will end the lockout and save the 2011-2012 season, which should have gotten underway nearly a month ago.

The abbreviated season, consisting of 66 rgames instead of the usual 82, will begin on Christmas Day. That's still more than enough time (we don't really need a season that starts before Halloween and lingers into the middle of June anyways) to answer many pivotal questions/

Are the Celtics and their aging Big Three of sharpshooter Ray Allen, the "Big Ticket" Kevin Garnett and Captain/"The Truth" Paul Pierce washed up, or do they have one more championship run in them?  KG is no longer the dominating two-way force he once was, but he's still solid, productive, and energetic when healthy.  Allen and Pierce showed no signs of slowing down last year and are still effective players, but Rajon Rondo needs to take on more of scoring role.

How will LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh respond to their collective collapse against the Mavericks last June?  Another deep playoff run seems guaranteed, but do they have what it takes to win an NBA title?  Tell us, LBJ: what should you do?

Have we finally seen the end of the Spurs dynasty?  They should make the playoffs again, but probably.  Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker aren't getting any younger, and this squad just can't keep up with the young bucks in the Association.

How many chumps will Blake Griffin posterize this year? Can his Clippers effectively utilize their talent and take off? (Bill Simmons has his fingers crossed)

Is this the year Kevin Durant wins an MVP award? Can he coexist with Russell Westbrook? I say yes and no, respectively.  Westbrook needs to model his game after Magic Johnson, become more of a passer and less of a scorer.

How will the Lakers respond without Phil Jackson? Have we seen the end of their mini-dynasty? Can Andrew Bynum stay healthy? Does Kobe Bryant have too many miles on his knees? Has Ron Artest gone off the deep end?

And what about Dirk Nowitzki's Mavs? Any chance they can repeat?  I think they caught lightning in a bottle last season and would be shocked if they returned to the Finals.

Will we still be doing the John Wall six months from now?

Can Jimmer Fredette be an effective NBA player?  I think he'll be lucky if he winds up as the next J.J. Redick, and he will have to commit himself to improving his defense.

How will the Knicks play with a full season of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire?  They lacked offensive chemistry last year, but might gel better this season.

Can reigning MVP Derrick Rose lead Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and co. to the top of the Eastern Conference? (If the Celtics can't do this, I hope to God that the Bulls can)

Thankfully we'll have the next six months to find out.

What the Red Sox should be thankful for

1. John Lackey will miss the entire 2012 season.  Hopefully some extended time off will allow the 33 year-old to regroup mentally and come back with a clear head for the 2013 season.  He's been a colossal bust thus far in Boston, and the Sox need him to be a servicable pitcher, at the very least, over the final two years of his deal.

2. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has given this city more headaches than starts since 2009, is entering the final year of his six year, $52 million deal.

3. The bullpen has a natural replacement for recently departed Jonathan Papelbon in Daniel Bard

4. J.D. Drew is a free-agent, so Boston no longer has to pay him $14 million a year for 65 RBI and an equal number of at-bats ending in called strike threes.

5. Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Dustin Pedroia all bounced back from injury marred 2010s and seem to be fine going forward.  Hopefully the same can be said for Clay Buchholz.

6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia proved he can be a solid everyday backstop and capable replacement for Captain Jason Varitek

Braun Beats Kemp

Batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS.

NL MVP Ryan Braun rated better (barely) than Matt Kemp in those three categories this season.  In all the others, Kemp was superior.

I knew going in that the vote was going to be a toss-up between the two talented outfielders.  On one hand, Matt Kemp was clearly the best player in the National League and probably all of baseball in 2011 as the five tool stud finally put it all together in one monster season.   But Braun (20 first place votes and my preseason choice for MVP) compiled similar statistics, and enjoyed the added bonus of playing for the NL Central champions.  In the end, their teams' respective finishes determined the outcome as the voters penalized Kemp (ten first place votes) because his Dodgers were irrelevant in the NL West all year and failed to make the postseason.

I had hoped Kemp (10 bWAR, compared to Braun's 7.7) would win because he deserved it; he enjoyed the better season.  Although exceptions have been made in the past for stars like Andre Dawson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Alex Rodriguez that put up huge numbers for lousy teams, the BBWAA just wasn't willing to hand Kemp the trophy this year, not when Braun was basically right behind him in numerous categories.

But should Kemp pay the price for his team's mediocrity?  He's just one man (along with Clayton Kershaw) on a team of 25, after all, and he obviously did all he could for them while playing half his games in a pitcher's park without much offensive support.  And what about Braun, who had Prince Fielder (third place and one first place vote) protecting him in the lineup all season long and had plenty of help leading the Brew Crew into October with Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks, and a strong rotation headed by Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum, and Yovani Gallardo?  Even if Braun had missed significant time with an injury or posted more ordinary numbers, Milwaukee still would have probably won the division.

The award should go to the best player. Period. But until we have a concrete definition of "valuable," there will always be controversy.

Other notes: Justin Upton (one first place vote) finished fourth, which oddly enough feels both too high and just right at the same time. His numbers weren't anything special, but he carried an otherwise pedestrian Diamondbacks lineup to an NL West title. I'm surprised Albert Pujols still managed to finish fifth in the worst season of his career.  Just goes to show how great he is. Teammate Lance Berkman (seventh) put up better numbers and was more valuable to St. Louis in my opinion.   Reigning NL MVP Joey Votto took the six-slot between them.  Ryan Howard (tenth) finished ahead of teammate Shane Victorino (thirteenth) despite being about half as valuable according to bWAR.  I'm guessing too many voters were seduced by his 33 home runs and 116 RBI for a first place team.

The Senior Circuit ballot's version of David Robertson was Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia's catcher who amassed gaudy numbers like six home runs and a .383 slugging percentage.  Gotta love the randomness of those down-ballot votes, especially when guys like Jay Bruce, Brandon Phillips, Aramis Ramirez, and Andrew McCutchen were left off the ballot entirely.

Verlander Steals MVP

Verlander won the AL Cy Young and MVP

Justin Verlander is a great pitcher, possibly a future Hall-of-Famer, who enjoyed a great season that will probably go down as the finest of his career.

But he should not be the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player.  I said all along that Joey Bats, Grandy, or Tacoby Bellsbury deserved this thing, and that picking Verlander would be a mistake. 

I can understand why many voters were swayed by Detroit's fireballer, tabbed by many as this year's trendy pick in a race without a clear frontrunner.  He's the classic American pitcher-here's my heater, hit it if you can-who can still dial it up to 100 in the eighth and ninth innings.  He dominates batters, goes deep into games, threw a no-hitter, and gets plenty of strikeouts.  I get it.  But his season is not more special or valuable than recent years by Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy or Johan Santana, none of whom (other than Pedro, who got robbed by Ivan Rodriguez in '99 after compiling one of the best seasons by any pitcher ever) were seriously considered as MVP candidates.  Heck, you could argue that Verlander wasn't far and away the most valuable player on his own team, which had legitimate candidates in AL batting champ Miguel Cabrera (fifth), Alex Avila (twelfth), Victor Martinez (sixteenth), and I would even show some love for Doug Fister and Jose Valverde.

But alas, now he is the first starting pitcher to win an MVP since a young Roger Clemens busted out for the star-crossed 1986 Boston Red Sox.

And the argument that there was no slam-dunk candidate holds little water with me.  Runner-up Jacoby Ellsbury had a special season, socking 32 homers and knocking in 105 runners out of the leadoff spot for Boston.  Who does that?  He earned a Gold Glove in centerfield, led the league in total bases and extra base hits and ranked in the top five for almost every single offensive category, stole 39 bases, came up with big hits down the stretch as Boston choked away its Wild Card lead and most importantly, played every day.  What more could you ask for from a player?  Yet he received just four first place votes.  Same goes for third place Jose Bautista, who led the bigs in homers, walks, slugging, OPS, OPS+, and baseballs bruised but was rewarded with only five first place votes. Joey Bats was far and away the best player in all of baseball up until the All-Star break, and managed to produce despite not getting anything to hit. Curtis Granderson had a monster season in the Bronx and was basically Ellsbury with more big flies and runs/RBI but a lower batting average and fewer steals.  He picked up the slack for Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira, consistently tearing the cover off the ball while his teammates struggled and ended up with three first place votes to show for it. 

 The trouble was that Boston and New York are so talented that their stars split votes; Ellsbury probably would have won if Adrian Gonzalez (seventh) and Dustin Pedroia (ninth) hadn't been so darned productive, and Granderson (fourth) would have had a shot if Robinson Cano (sixth) didn't put up such great numbers, but that's what happens when you play for great teams.  It's a double-edged sword because they're surrounded by great hitters so their numbers look nicer, but voters give them less credit.  But Verlander seemed to escape this perception even though he pitches for a good team with a good lineup in a park with a spacious outfield, several key advantages for a starting pitcher.  His closer didn't blow any save opportunities, so most of his leads remained intact after he left close ballgames.

I just want to know who in the world put David Robertson (twenty-second with one point, tied with Josh Hamilton) on their ballot.  He had a great season setting up Mariano Rivera and rebuilt the bridge that Rafael Soriano burned to the ground, but give me a break.  I could give you a hundred guys (Nick Swisher, David Ortiz, Howard Kendrick, the list goes on) more valuable than him.

But that's MVP voting at its finest.