Z.V. Sanders's Seattle Sonics fan blog

For those of you waiting for the NBA season to begin, I have something for you to do.

Have you ever wanted to own your own team? Wanted to play in the NBA? Well here's your chance. Cyberdunk is a great way to do these things. 

First, you start with your created player. You build attributes by hiring trainers, and can deck yourself out in equipment. After you earn enough "CyberdunkPoints", you can even buy your own team! With that, you can hire players and plan strategies in-game.

Its a great way to do some basketball outside of the season. To register, visit www.cyberdunk.com

Continue reading "Playing in the offseason: Cyberdunk.com"

After Ken Griffey Jr. joined the 600 club yesterday afternoon, it got me thinking about where he stands with the other members of this 6 man club. I could not honestly say that he deserves to be behind guys like Sosa and Bonds, so I did a bit of research (as usual) to determine where he stands. Lets look at the numbers.

Barry Bonds: 762 HR
AB/HR: 12.92
AB/HR before roids (2001): 15.09
HR/RBI ratio: 38%
HR/H ratio: 26%

Hank Aaron: 755 HR
AB/HR: 16.38
HR/RBI ratio: 33%
HR/H ratio: 20%

Babe Ruth: 714 HR
AB/HR: 11.76
HR/RBI ratio: 32%
HR/H ratio: 25%

Willie Mays: 660 HR
AB/HR: 16.49
HR/RBI ratio: 35%
HR/H ratio: 20%

Sammy Sosa: 609 HR
AB/HR: 14.47
HR/RBI ratio: 37%

Continue reading "Ken Griffey Junior: Ranking the 600 club"

In case you did not hear, Seattle Mariners hitting coach Jeff Pentland has been fired. The team replaced him with special assistant Lee Elia, the teams hitting coach from 1993-97. McLaren spoke to the media about Elia after the announcement.

"Lee is vocal. He can pat you on the back and cheerlead you and, if he needs to, he can get in your face and challenge you. I've seen both sides of him."

The 2008 Mariners have needed to make changes for some time now. This is a good way to do it. Start getting rid of the coaches who's specialty have been underachieving. If none of those coaching changes do anything to get the team towards the right track, then you move to the General Manager/Manager. The problem with that, is Mariners' leadership has voiced unwavering support for Bavasi and McLaren, something you never should do in a time of crisis.

Continue reading "With Pentland gone, Mariners look to start fresh"

Here I take time to answer questions sent to me, or questions posted in public forums worldwide.

Q: What does it mean when you see on the scoreboard at the park there will be a P then numbers below for each team like example 35 23 whatever

A:If its before the game: Its the starting pitchers numbers. If its during the game: The pitchers number who is currently in the game. If its after the game: Winning and Losing pitchers numbers

Q: What can save the Nationals?

A: The Nationals need some pitching. They have made great strides in acquiring young hitting (Wily Mo Pena, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes, Felipe Lopez), but have no real pitching prospects of note.

They have taken the right step however. They selected RHP Aaron Crow, a flame throwing starter that reminds me of Felix Hernandez, in the first round of the draft yesterday. He throws a 95 mph Fastball, a power slider (87 mph) and a workable change-up. He projects to be a top of the rotation starter for years to come.

Continue reading "Q&A and Random Thoughts"

Who has the best bullpen in baseball this year. Is it the Red Sox with Papelbon and Okajima? Is it the Reds with Cordero, Weathers and Bray? Here is a breakdown of the top pens in the big leagues.

#5: Cincinnati Reds:
Closer: Francisco Cordero
RH: David Weathers, Jared Burton
LH: Bill Bray

Weathers is a great setup man with closer experience. Burton has been a plesent surprise, with 31 Ks in 29.2 innings. Bray is as good as any lefty in the league (with the exception of Okajima). Cordero continues to be a force at Closer, throwing that nasty fastball-slider combo that he has dominated for the past few years.

#4: Arizona Diamondbacks:
Closer: Brandon Lyon
RH: Tony Pena, Chad Qualls, Max Scherzer

Continue reading "The Best Bullpen In Baseball"

MLB: 

Chipper Jones: .400 watch
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/05/30/braves_0531.html

Cubs make up deficit to beat Rockies
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/980331,CST-SPT-cub31.article

Clayton Kershaw struggles in MLB debut
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers31-2008may31,0,5434764.story

Joba to make first start on Tuesday
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/sports/baseball/31pins.html?_r=1&ref=baseball&oref=slogin

NBA:

Celtics Advance to NBA Finals
http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/2008_05_31_Big_3_lifts_Celtics_into_NBA_finals/srvc=sports&position=0

Detroit Pistons: Fallout from Game Six loss
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080531/SPORTS03/805310355/1048/sports

Continue reading "Link Day (5/31): From Chipper to Cubbies and Celtics"

In case you haven't been closely following the box score, you may not have noticed that Richie Sexson has not seen action in 3 straight games. Miguel Cairo has instead been taking the duties at 1B. Could it be that Sexson has seen his last action in Seattle? I believe so.

Who knows, Sexson may play a game or two this weekend, but his time is up. The Mariners have been extremely aggressive in trying to work out a deal with Scott Hatteberg, who was designated for assignment by the Reds after the call-up of Jay Bruce. I am a fan of Hatteberg. He is a good fielder, and a "Moneyball" player in terms of his approach at the plate. He would be virtually the only hitter besides Ichiro on this team with some kind of plate discipline.

Here's the kicker: Can the Mariners get any value for Sexson? The Answer: Not really. If they are lucky, they can get "a player to be named later" from a team to get them to take a chance on The Big Sexy. Otherwise, they will just outright release him, as he is not likely to accept a minor league assignment.

Continue reading "Believe It: Sexson is Gone"

Through 6 innings, the Dodgers and Starter Hiroki Kuroda felt pretty good about themselves. After all, its not easy to hold the Cubbies scoreless at historic Wrigley Field. Kuroda must have also felt good after fielding a sacrifice bunt by Theriot and throwing the runner out at second. Then, it all went to hell. Soriano singles to left and Theriot advances all the way to third. Kuroda was distraught at this point, as he was relieved by Broxton. Theriot ended up scoring on an error to tie up the game, and up Lee flew out to right field. Then, up steps Ramirez. He singles to center and scores Soriano to take the lead.

After that, the Cubs never looked back. Marmol pitched a scoreless 8th, and Wood struck out 2 of the 4 batters he faced to close it out.

A great W for the Cubs. Finishing out close games is a characteristic that all great teams have.

Continue reading "Tuesday Night Baseball: Ramirez, Error Key Late Rally as Cubs Pull Away"

Big Fat Bartolo Colon. Masterful. Two words you do not usually hear in the same sentence as of late. But alas, Big Fat Bartolo pitched 7 strong innings of 5 hit, 4 strikeout baseball on only 84 pitches to ultimately send Mariners fans home with a 7th straight loss. Colon had his best stuff against the Ms. His fastball was always around 93-95 MPH, and occasionally hit 97. His change-up was moving well and located with pristine accuracy. His slider was left up in the zone at times, but ultimately did not get punished like it should have. If you are a fantasy baseball player, take a chance on Colon. His velocity is higher than it has been since 2004.

Another key player in the Red Sox win was Dustin Pedroia. In the top of the 8th inning, with the game tied at 1-1, Pedroia hit a ground rule double to score Julio Lugo. Pedroia would later come around to score himself after getting the 4 run 8th inning started.

Continue reading "Colon, Pedroia hand Mariners 7th straight loss"

For those of you in the Seattle area who read the Times, you probably know who Larry Stone is. For those of you who don't, he is a baseball writer for the Seattle Times.

This morning, I was reading through the section, and came across an article of his titled " The Mariners could learn from the Boston Red Sox". In a way, this outraged me. I was upset enough to write him a response. Below is my e-mail to him.

Larry,

I finished reading your article about the Boston Red Sox and how the Mariners should be following in their footsteps. There is one problem however, the system from which Boston runs was taken from the Oakland Athletics.

Theo Epstein is not a baseball mind, he never played the game at a competitive level. He is however, a statistical mind. He got most of his ideals from Billy Beane. In fact, that is one of the reasons the Red Sox hired him. Right before Epstein was hired, the Red Sox had a contract all worked out with Billy Beane. In return for letting Beane take the GM job in Boston, the Sox would send 1B Kevin Youkilis, a player the Assistant and replacement GM Paul DePodesta coveted, to the A's. Imagine, Billy Beane could be running the Sox right now, and "Moneyball" would not be as obscure as it is today.

Continue reading "Mariners should emulate Athletics"