Tuesday, August 11, 2015

WHERE HAVE ALL THE HITS GONE?

It hasn't been a very happy place in Picasner's neighborhood the last few days. I've seen hot streaks like the Blue Jay's latest run and cold streaks the Yanks are suffering through. When these streaks match up like this past weekend, everything becomes magnified. When the Yanks offense is in gear, the 3rd Army couldn't beat them, but when they cool off, the Oswego JV team will give them a hard time.
New York is in Cleveland for three games before they head into Toronto for the 2nd series between the top two AL East teams. The Jays look in good shape with three games against the Oakland A's, the American League doormat.

A few points to ponder:
-- New York has been through some slumps before, but they can break out with a vengeance.
-- Things might not be as rosy as it looks for Toronto. Bad teams have a way of spoiling things for good teams.
 -- Baseball is cyclical. I've said this before. Annie-O wears her heart on her sleeve and it's hard for her to buy into this.
-- Toronto's powerhouse lineup wasn't as dominant as the 3-game sweep would have you think. In the last three games, they scored 10 runs on 20 hits. Throw out Smoak's grand slam and you're down to 6 runs. If the Yanks had won all three games, analysts would be saying that NY shut down the Jays.
-- There's still 52 games to go (49 for the Jays), so no one should start printing World Series tickets just yet.

## Detroit manager Brad Ausmus says Johnny Cueto's delivery is illegal because he pauses in his delivery but the umps won't call it. Where is 'Balkin' Bob Davidson when you need him?

## David Schoenfield says the Yanks "old guys" won't hold up for the stretch run and the Blue Jays are unbeatable. Schoenfield is as big a front-runner as there is, so I don't put a lot of stock in his predictions.
 
## For all the talk about the weak AL East, Kansas City leads the AL Central by 12 games, a lead helped in no small part by the fact that no one else in the division has a winning record.

## After a Blue Jays homer, a fan threw the ball back onto the field, hitting left fielder Brett Gardner in the head. And you thought Philadelphia fans were tough.

***THEY SAID IT***
"The New York Knicks are finalizing a deal for Thanasis Antetokounmpo. All that’s left is to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. I mean that literally. It’ll take five days to dot the I’s and cross T’s in “Thanasis Antetokounmpo."  -- Brad Dickson
"QB Geno Smith, booed by NY fans at the Jets’ first publlc scrimmage, says he “thrives on adversity.”. If true Smith should have been the NFL MVP by now."  -- Janice Hough
"If Jason Pierre Paul doesn’t sign with the Giants, he should call Green Bay. Even with a missing finger he’d be an upgrade to the Packers’ hands team"  -- RJ Currie
"Rapper 50 cent is bankrupt. He will now change his legal name by just removing the “5”.  -- TC Chong
" And we don’t think professional athletes have problems. Josh Smith, who just signed with the Clippers for the veterans’ minimum, talking about his finances: “At the end of the day, you know, I do have a family. So it is going to be a little harder on me this year. But I’m going to push through it, you know.” Smith will make $6.9 million this year."  -- Janice Hough
"A recent analysis of water quality for the Olympic Games in Rio has dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria. The IOC says it will be safe for the athletes because sharks or any type of marine life won’t swim or survive in it. -- TC Chong
"We need a border fence with Canada to stop the Blue Jays from taking all of our best baseball players."  -- Sportspickle.com

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