The Weekend: East vs West

Two big baseball series pepper the weekend, among others (such as LA/StL):

Mets vs Giants
Rangers vs Red Sox

Basically you're looking at East division vs West Division contenders in both cases. One NL, one AL.

Predictions: Believe it or not I'm going to select the Giants to take three of four at home. They tend to play well there, and I imagine the 1-2-3 for SF beats the 1-2-3 for NY. And looking at probables...

Dickey vs Lincecum: Are you kidding me? Timmy will dominate compared to R.A. Dickey. Dickey can barely get a wiffle ball across the plate!
Niese vs Zito: Going with the experience here. Zito is a workhorse and will keep the Giants in the game throughout. All he needs is some run support.
Pelfrey vs TBA: Well it's that always tough TBA... TBA really has a wicked curveball and an underrated slider. More importantly, Big Pelf has come apart in the last week. I think TBA will display more poise.
Santana vs TBA: No telling who Bochy will start here, but if he goes with Cain, this might be a tight, 0-0 game. But I do think the Mets gut it out to break the sweep.

For the Rangers and Red Sox:

Hunter vs Wakefield: Gotta give the edge to the youngin'. His stuff easily beats Wakefields 50/50 knuckleball. You can never tell for sure, but I'd go Hunter for the win.
Lewis vs Doubront: No idea. Not familiar with either pitcher but I imagine they cancel each other out. I'll give it to Boston on the strength of Home Field.
Lee vs TBA: Jury's still out on Lee. He *has* pitched at Fenway before, but he has a career ERA of 5.79 there with a WHIP of 1.6! Go for TBA.
Wilson vs TBA: You'd have to think the Red Sox would find a way to work in Jon Lester or possibly Clay Bucholz in this series. If either pitches in this game, I go with the Red Sox.

In total, I think both the Rangers and Red Sox split the four games.

So predictions are set... let's play ball! (tomorrow)

note: R.I.P. George Steinbrenner. He was an iconic figure and a memorable character. I don't know if he was good for the game of baseball. We'll know for sure as the years go by.

Announcer, "Number One", Mr. Bob Sheppard... "Number One"...

Rest in Peace Mr. Bob Sheppard. You've been a great longtime Yankee Announcer, have been as much a part of the tradition as the pinstripes and frieze, and we all are grateful for your many contributions. Condolences go out to the Sheppard family from all of us here at LOCKS of the Week.

The (Micro) Preview: World Cup Final -- Netherlands vs Spain

I probably know less about International Soccer than I do about any other sport, including swimming. That said, I think we're in for a real dog-fight Sunday Afternoon (Sunday Night over in South Africa)!

The Spaniards and the Dutch: Two people who have never tasted a World Cup Championship before. Doesn't it feel like Super Bowl XVI at the Silverdome? A new(ish) building, a new power, a new matchup... two teams that had never been there before. There was a lot of wonder leading up to that matchup.

Actually there were some additional firsts to that game. For CBS, it was the first Super Bowl Featuring John Madden and Pat Summerall. It was, more or less, the first Super Bowl held in a Cold-Weather City.

Today, some additional freshness and wonder evades the tip of the African Continent. For the match, I predict the Spaniards win it. For me, I hope they can pull it off. They've been to a few international events with high expectations, only to meet their demise. I do think it will go into extra time, and the goal will be scored there.

Again, I really have no semblance of expertise with Soccer, but I hope there's a great game in the making!

The final score? 2-1 Spain in the Extra Time.

Rockies/Padres Prediction (well, for two games)

Great comeback by Colorado last night! Down 8-5, a run, then a Grand Slam put the Rockies ahead 10-8, after which the lead stood up.

Today, the Rockies try to repeat the recent trend. Three of their last wins have been come from behind efforts. Hard to think that will continue. It's also hard to think the Padres will keep winning with dinks and dunks and lucky bounces.

The Rockies take one of these next two and start to put some pressure on the Padres this season. Almost everyone predicts SD will fall off, and we could be close to seeing it now.

The Prediction: LeBron James

The last two nights, the world has been lit ablaze with the prospect of LeBron James on a new team. Last night, it came to a head as Chris Broussard of ESPN leaked a detail that LeBron was "by all accounts" going to sign with the Miami Heat. He'd join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Since then I've been skeptical of that "leak." I don't even know if it is going to hold up. Tonight, the real decision begins! At 9pm ET, LeBron James will announce his intentions.

And LOCKS of the Week believes...... drumroll here please..........

LeBron is going to the New York Knicks!

--and you say "Whaaaaat?" It's true! He spends so much time there in that city that I feel like he's bound to do so. But notice he planted seeds in every town: Condos in Chicago, Hotel Reservations in Miami, a Gym Workout in Ohio, and on and on and on. But the most activity seems to have been in NYC. I think it happens. Tune in, won't you, as millions of lives are affected by this decision.

Please remember, though, it's just a game, and just a sport. Back with more predictions soon!

I'm baaaaaack

Hi everyone,

Boy am I sorry for the extremely long hiatus I've had here on the program. And wouldn't you know: the Magic didn't even come CLOSE to winning the damn Eastern Conference. Who knew???

Thanks so much for being there for the DITC podcast here on LOCKS of the Week, and now, I think I'm going to start doing some posts again.

The problem, in the past, was that I tried too hard. I wanted to do some very analytical, fact supported articles akin to those on Baseball Prospectus or other Sports Blogs. I tried to be a columnist in the footsteps of Bill Simmons or Jim Murray. Why do that? Why couldn't I do it differently??

So, I thought, instead of being some generic sports commentary site, I have determined that this blog space will now be the home for all of my crazy wacky predictions. Just as it was in the very beginning, except this time, I'll be doing predictions for sports other than football.

Let the prognostication begin!

-- and then the Magic won the Eastern Conference Finals

This morning proves once and for all the media is a widely broadcast group of bandwagoners. All month we said that the Magic would storm through the East and now because of one game against Boston suddenly the Magic are a bus full of weaklings?

How about we settle down some? Now granted, the big comeback from Orlando doesn't prove anything except Boston has the tendency to let up with a big lead.

Otherwise, you can't conclude *anything* from Game 1! Magic were rusty, Celtics happened to play very well and summoned a lot of effort despite the short rest. C's played good defense in the first half and well there you go.

so?

That's why we suddenly throw the Magic under the bus and proclaim the series over? and trust me, this isn't just Herd, Herd's just piling on. its all these other commentators and other fans who are giving up on the Magic. The same two teams met a year ago minus two players: KG and Jameer Nelson. And despite these deficiencies, the Magic won the series... and won game 7 AT BOSTON.

So it's very very short sighted to award the Celtics the Eastern Conference championship... after ONE GAME! A little early fellas...

Magic will be fine. They'll bounce back here in Game 2, and then we'll have a series.