Baseball 2nd half predictions

This blog is going to tell what I think each division will do. And maybe at the end some predictions on personal awards, like triple crown, cy young, and mvp. So lets start with the National League.
NL East
This division is going to be a close one. First you have the Braves who are a great team with Bobby Cox in his last year they want him to win it with them. They have a great core of hitters and they are mostly unknown lately until this year. Then the Phillies are always dangerous. Right now they are down, but they can come back up at any point and start playing the way they should be playing. But then you add in the Mets who are having a good year for the first time in a few years. And the Marlins who won the division last year, which surprised everyone, still have a chance to win it lead by the great pitching of Josh Johnson. In the end my prediction is: the braves.
NL Central
Right now the Reds are in first place by a slightly small margin. The Cardinals are in second and I think they can take first place if all the members of their team play as well as they should and can they might be able to pass the Reds. They may need a good 6 game winning streak at some point to put them over the top and give them a comfortable lead. Just because the Cardinals can win first place doesn't mean that the Reds can't keep it. They have Joey Votto and good pitching. They can keep this lead, but in the end my prediction is the Cardinals, because the Reds just haven't had to be good in the second half for years.
NL West
This is the most hectic division. Right now lead by the Padres. The dodgers are always a threat. The Rockies have Ubaldo Jimenez. The Giants are having a good year. That is all just making this race so much more exciting. This is the division in the NL you are going to want to watch and pay attention to. Any one of these teams can win it. San Diego has not been in this situation for years. The Rockies are a usually underated team. The Dodgers are always expected to win. The Giants are having their first really good year in a while. This is the hardest division to predict. I'm going to go out on a whim and say that the Padres will keep their lead and win this division.
Now the American League
AL East
This division is always an interesting one. Probably because it is the division you see the most on TV. Ever since 2008 when the Rays became a contender this division has become more than just the Yankees and the Red Sox rivalry. Now three teams have a chance. The Yankees are in the lead right now. The Rays can win this but I don't think they will. The Red Sox are behind, but so many of their big stars and good players are injured. When all those players come back the Red Sox are a force to be reckoned with. I can tell you who I want to win this division, but I'm not so sure that they will win it. But, I'm going to go with them. I thin the Red Sox will win.
AL Cenral
The division my team is in. Right now the leader is the White sox. The Tigers are only a half game behind and the twins are only 2.5 games behind. This division is going to be down to the wire. The last two years the AL Central has had to be decided by a playoff game. This year might continue that streak. The White Sox were blazing hot coming into the All-star break, if they can continue that Detroit and Minnisota won't be able to keep up. The White Sox have a ton of games against both those teams at the end of the year. If they win many of those series' they will win. But Detroit is a great team with a lot of good players. They can win anytime, too. So this will be a close one. But I will go with my team, the White Sox.
AL West
This is the race that is the least close. The Rangers have dominated. Not many of the other teams have played well, so this division seems easy to me. The Rangers were already hot and then they picked up Cliff Lee to add to their pitching. Now they are going to win this divsion a lot easier. so I pick the Rangers.
Personal Awards
triple crown-right now Miguel Cabrera has a chance to win the triple crown. I don't think he will. There is a reason why not many people have done it and nobody recently has done it. so I think that Cabrera is a great player and a really good hitter, but he won't win this.
cy young- it looks like its obviously going to be Ubaldo Jimenez in the NL. But the AL could change. Right now a lot of people are saying David Price, but now that Cliff Lee is on a good team, he might pick up a lot of wins and just be a better pitcher. So for the AL I just can't say right now.
MVP- this is so hard to pick at the All-star break, because what makes an MVP is the second half, but I think that so far the AL mvp has been Miguel Cabrera and I think the NL should go to Joey Votto. He has the best stats and it would be great to see a guy from a team not really known until this year.

All-Star Game (cont.)

This is a longer version of the blog before about the All-Star game. (I may repeat some things but its been like 3 days. so i think you'll get over it)
10 thoughts and/or problems with the all-star game.

1. The way that they incorporate fans in the vote makes it so that tons of Yankees and Red Sox players are in and some deserving players are not. Players on teams like the White Sox, Royals, Mariners, Orioles. Just because their team may not be the most popular or the best team, doesn't mean that they are bad players. So many people are fans of the Yankees or the Red Sox that all the players from those teams always get voted in. If we have the fans vote, which I like because I can vote then the all-star game shouldn't have such big implications as home field advantage in the World Series. They should do the World Series like all other sports and have the best team getting the home field advantage. The all-star game will still be important and publicized, but the fans won't be voting blindly to have home field advantage.

2. I love the idea of the final vote. Sometimes there is a player that maybe was voted for a lot that deserved to get in, but they didn't. So, you give the fans another chance to get them in. Now in the American League there is always a yankee and a Red Sox player, but the other players have just as much of a chance. I think that even if you do take the fan vote away that they should keep the final vote in for fans. That way they don't feel completely left out in the all-star game.

3. Joe Girardi is kind of getting some crap from people for picking A-rod as his one pick over Kevin Youkalis. But, what do you think would have happened to Girardi if he had picked a Red Sox player over A-rod? Plus, A-rod had a good second half, and other than winning a championship there wasn't much reward to that. This is his reward for having a great post-season for the first time in his career. I think that Joe Girardi understood that and that is why he picked him. He probably also picked him because he didn't want to be mobbed by fans in New York.

4. Stephen Strasburg does NOT belong in this years all star game. I think that maybe next year if he plays well enough to get in he will deserve to get in. This year he just doesn't deserve to be in after only pitching six games. If he had started at the beginning of the year and kept the same pace, I think he would have been in the game, but he is new. He has only pitched SIX TIMES. Ubaldo Jimenez has more than twice as many wins as Strasburg has just starts. The point that some people try to make is that people will watch if Strasburg plays. People are going to watch anyway! They want to see the best players in the league whether or not Strasburg is there makes no difference. Yes, he is an amazing pitcher and probably exciting to watch. But, so is Jimenez. Just because Strasburg had tons of hype around him just suddenly makes him more exciting and a better pitcher. I admit that he has lived up to the hype, but that doesn't mean that he is better than Jimenez. So final answer he does not belong in the all-star game. this year. Next year is a different story.

5. Joey Votto. Yes, he is good. Yes, he got snubbed. That doesn't mean that everybody should freak out. At least he is on the final vote ballet. There is a guy that I can name that didn't make it to the all-star game and he isn't even on the final vote ballet. That is Alex Rios (more about him later). So everyone that freaked out when he didn't make it, just relax. He got so many final votes that he made it anyway. I personally did not vote for him. Not because I don't think that he is a great player. I didn't vote for him, because I picked someone who I thought deserved it.

6. This may not have that much to do with the all-star game, but the guy I'm talking about is in it. Miguel Cabrera. Yes, he is leading the AL in all three triple crown categories, but there is a reason that nobody has won the triple crown since 1967. (Jake Peavy won the pitching triple crown in 2007). Right now he is one of the best hitters, but it is hard to keep up that pace the whole year. If Albert Pujols one of the greatest hitters in this era couldn't do it, then I don't think that Miguel Cabrera will do it. He will probably get some kind of award, but I don't think that the triple crown is going to happen. If it does well then I'm an idiot, but we already knew that anyway.

7. Pauliewood. By now you cannot vote the final vote anymore, but I want to thank anyway that read my previous blog or saw my tweets and voted for Konerko. It means a lot to me. He is my favorite player and I really wanted him to get in. He deserved to get in. He carries the team and led them through a time when they were 10 games back to now they are only half a game back. Paulie is my favorite player of all-time maybe. I have a signed helmet, a bobble head, signed picture, a picture of his grand slam in the 2005 world series and a Jersey of his. Him getting into this all-star game would be just amazing to see that the white sox fans can really push their guy in if they have to. go paulie! and go white sox!!

8. The National League seems to have less controversy than the American League. They don't really have that many teams that are the "popular teams" that get all the votes and then people who's guys don't get the vote are upset. This year, though the whole Votto situation seems to be a little troubling for a usually calm National League all-star team.

9. Alex Rios snubbed! This was the biggest snub I have seen with the all-star game. Not only was he not on the original team, even though he deserved it, he also was not put on the final vote ballet. Instead, Matt Thornton, and Paul Konerko both either are on the team or have their chance. Alex Rios has been the best hitter on our team almost the whole year. He is probably going to win the comeback player of the year award. Yet, he didn't get a chance to play in the all-star game like he should have a chance. It makes me even more mad because he is on the White Sox. That would be like if I were a reds fan and Joey Votto didn't even get on the final vote ballet. It seems just ridiculous.

10. I don't really know what to say. I didn't really plan out each point. I just kind of aimed for 10 and made it, so ya. But I guess all that needs to be said now is that I'm going to watch the game, even though Stephen Strasburg isn't pitching. Number 10 is full of nothing. Yet, couldn't end on 9 because that is such a weird number with no significance. Ten is always a normal benchmark number. So, now I'm rambling just to make number 10 look like I'm talking about something important. By now you are probably bored because this is long. So you don't care anyway. So WATCH THE GAME!!

Year of the pitcher

This year has definitely been the year of the pitcher. We have already had 4 no-hitters and it really should be 5. With 2 really 3 being perfect games. Last night Edwin Jackson threw a 149 pitch no-hitter. He had 8 walks and had 9 base runners in his no-hitter. He was in a jam a few times and yet he had not given up a hit. What is more embarrassing is that the Rays are one of the best teams in baseball and in the last 365 days that have been no-hit 3 times with two of those being perfect games. The Rays were thrown 149 pitches and not one player could get a hit out of any of them. That is something you won't see very often. This year has been rediculous with all this fantastic pitching. And its only June, that is also what makes what is happening this year so special. The steroid era is over and maybe this is the beginning to the pitching era. The most amount of no-hitters in a season was 7 in 1991 and now we have 4 in june and we should have had 5. This could be the season that we break that record. If I were actually paying attention and old enough to care in 1991 i would have thought 7 was crazy, but to think that this year we might beat that. To me that is very impressive.

Ubaldo Jimenez.

This kid is amazing. Right now he has an ERA of 1.15. He also has a league leading 13 wins. He could become the first pitcher since Denny McLain in 1968 when he had a record of 31-6. Right now Jimenez has a record of 13-0. When Denny McLain did it he didn't have an amazing ERA, though. Jimenez is a very gifted pitcher. He has not been publicized a lot because he plays for Colorado where there aren't any good pitchers because of the elevation, but that's what makes this kid more special. Most pitchers that pitch in Colorado have terrible ERAs, but this guy has the best in the league and possibly could have the best ever at the end of the year if he keeps the pace up. This means that if he ever gets traded to some American League team in the midwest or east he could be an ultra awesome pitcher. Right now if he continues his pace he will get 30 wins or more. If you haven't even heard of him there is a reason. He plays in Colorado, there are so many other good pitchers getting no-hitters and perfect games. He did get a no-hitter earlier this year. Also, a young pitcher named Stephen Strasburg has stolen all the thunder for young pitchers. Just like we haven't heard very much about Lincecum anymore. Its old news now. Everything is about this new phenom Strasburg. To me, the best young pitcher in the league and maybe even the best pitcher in the league right now overall is Ubaldo Jimenez.