Looking at the SAL Northern Playoffs

The SAL playoffs begin tonight in Charleston as the first half champion Hagerstown Suns travel to West Virginia for Game of the Northern Division variety postseason.
The second half champions are waiting for them in the West Virginia Power and this looms to be an interesting series.

Looking at the pitching matchups,West Virginia holds a huge edge in their home game with Tyler Glasnow on the mound.
Glasnow's season (9-3 2.18 ERA) has zoomed him to the top of the Pirates prospects above all,but maybe Jameson Taillon and one could argue,perhaps past Taillon.
Hagerstown responds with Austin Voth,who was quite impressive in his home debut for the Suns.
Voth,along with Jake Johansen, was part of the Auburn reinforcements brought to town to replace Potomac promotions.
Voth was strong,but one has to give the edge to the Power in this one.

Game two sees the series move to Hagerstown for the middle game,which will see one of the two teams face elimination
The Suns will throw Pedro Encarnacion (10-9 3.58 ERA) against the Power's John Kuchno (9-5 4.01 ERA).
Slight edge for the Suns here with home field,but Encarnacion has been hit hard in his final two starts,so I wouldn't recommend calling your local bookmaker.

If game three is needed to decide the Northern Division title,the Power will send Clay Holmes to the hill (5-6 4.08 ERA) and Hagerstown's Kylin Turnbull (6-5 3.58 ERA).
Holmes entered this season as a touted prospect and has been somewhat disappointing,having walked 69 and striking out 90 in 119 innings.
Holmes has alternated good and bad outings over the last month of this season,so one cannot be sure what Holmes brings to the table.
Turnbull is not a pitcher that I normally would be comfortable with in a game decider,but he has pitched very well over the last six weeks and could continue that run in the postseason.


Offensively,these are the same type of team that does not live by the long ball as only Josh Bell of the Power has double digit homers for either team.
Unless the wind is blowing out,any power numbers that can be provided might decide this series.
Walker Gourley has been a surprise with the bat for the Power after struggles in State College and Jimmy Rider has produced well since his promotion from Jamestown.
The trade of Dilson Herrera to the Mets could hurt West Virginia offensively and an injury to Barrett Barnes was not a favor either.

The Suns have no particular hitting stars,but rely instead on a balanced lineup that will consistently put the ball in play.
Tony Renda is best of the group,but this team will be in big trouble,if they get behind as they simply do not have the type of team that features one swing capability to get back into the game when behind.

This looks to be a close series and likely to go three games.
West Virginia almost has to have game one and with Tyler Glasnow on the hill,this looks to be a very tall task on the road for the Suns.
Assuming that is the case,the Suns will need to sweep at the Muni and considering the pitching matchups look to be even,that will also be a tough a task.
Normally,I would say this is a pickem series,but since I'm paid the big buck (< Get it) to go out on a limb,I'll hesitantly make a pick.
Power in three.....

Pirates trade for Justin Morneau,Indians add Jason Kubel

The Pittsburgh Pirates are fighting for a division title,the Cleveland Indians are battling for a wild card berth.
Both teams could use a jolt of offense for the stretch run and the postseason and both made final attempts to bolster rosters before the final deadline with additions of former big bats that could be huge additions for the stretch run.

The Pirates added former MVP Justin Morneau to their lineup with a trade with the Minnesota Twins that saw the price backup outfielder Alex Presley head to the Twin Cities along with a player to be named later or cash considerations after the season.
The fact that it is a player or cash makes me think that the Twins would not be receiving a top prospect in this swap,which makes the trade pretty low risk.

Editors Note: The player to be named later will be AAA reliever Duke Welker,according to Tim Williams at Pirates Prospects.
Welker is a nicer prospect than I expected,but at 27 years old,his loss is nothing to get upset about either.
Actually,my best memory of the former second rounder is his yelling at a singer in State College!

The 32 year old Morneau is hitting .259 with 17 homers and 74 RBIs in the campaign,but has hit nine homers in August and will slot in at first base.
Keep in mind that Morneau is not the MVP of years past,but with his bat heating up and the low cost of a reserve outfielder,this is not a gamble-it is more like a move that bolsters a contender.
Morneau is strictly a rental as he hits the market at the end of the season,which is why the cost of Alex Presley was the price paid.
Give Neal Huntington and the Pirates this-they are doing what their fan base wants-going for the title and yet from what they have moved,not throwing away top prospects for a run....

The Indians might have used Justin Morneau,but apparently were not interested as they allowed Morneau to clear waivers through the American League.

Cleveland preferred to add a former bomber that has struggled this year in the National League as the Indians added Jason Kubel from Arizona.
Kubel's cost was a player to be named later or cash,so adding a player that hit 30 homers just a year ago is not really risky.
The lefty swinger will play outfield,DH a little and pinch hit off the bench and the Indians hope to get Kubel back on track for a team desperate for a stick.
The Indians will hold a 7.5 million option for Kubel for 2014,which they would be unlikely to pick up unless the 31 year old really excelled over the final month.
Low risk,high reward for Kubel and I cannot blame the Indians for giving this a try,my question is that why the Indians did not try more.
If the Indians fall short of the playoffs,that lack of an attempt might be the reason why...

Buckeyes bullish on Buffalo 40-20

The Ohio State Buckeyes were a bit erratic but were never threatened as they cruised to a 40-20 win over the visiting Buffalo Bulls at the Big Horseshoe.
Jordan Hall rushed for 159 yards and two long touchdown runs, while Braxton Miller threw two touchdown passes to lead the Buckeyes.
Ohio State will host San Diego State next Saturday.

Buckeye Leaves

1) Braxton Miller's first throw was a 47-yard strike to Devin Smith for a score and showed Miller's maturity in the pocket. Throws like that will determine Miller's success this season and at the next level...

2) I have always thought highly of Jordan Hall and the biggest problem was the inability of Hall to stay on the field, not how he played on it.
Hall ripped off scoring runs of 49 and 37 yards and showed why he (in my opinion) has the most ability of the Buckeye backs and that includes Carlos Hyde.

3) Miller's throw that was turned into a Bull touchdown was a bad decision, but that happens.
Quarterbacks will do that at times and Miller just forced a throw.

4) A theme throughout the game was players leaving with leg cramps due to the hot weather.
Braxton Miller and Ryan Shazier each missed time with the issue.

5) One reason that I think next week's game will be a larger win will be the return of Bradley Roby (suspension) and C.J. Barnett (Injury).
The Buckeye secondary is the defensive strength at full health, but the depth is unproven.

6) The offensive line will need to step up their game as they allowed four sacks with new right tackle Taylor Decker allowing two.
The offensive line was expected to be strong, it was not in this game.

7) I was interested in seeing touted Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack take on top opposition and Mack looked to me to be the best player on the field -for either team.
Mack finished with two and a half sacks against Jack Mewhort, and the interception return for a TD and looked every part of a first-rounder in next year's draft.

8) Finally, this was what you could expect from an opener-mistakes and intrigue along with a victory over an overmatched foe.
There is plenty to finetune, but the Buckeyes look to be plenty strong...

Photo Credit: Marvin Fong-Cleveland Plain Dealer...

Pigskin Picking Machine

The PPM is back with college action, but two of our teams have already played.

First, we start with a new picture replacing the lottery machine.
My favorite broadcast team is the main ABC/ESPN team of folksy Brent Musburger, former Buckeye Kirk Herbstreit and our favorite sideline reporter, Heather Cox.
Heather will likely have most of the pictures from week to week, but depending on the location, the others could have some PPM time...

As I wrote earlier, both Bowling Green and Texas Tech have played with both winning as the Falcons defeated Tulsa at home while the Red Raiders dropped SMU in Dallas.
Since those games are over, I'll have a few extra picks this week to get us started.

First, it's the Buckeyes as Ohio State hosts Buffalo.
The Bulls were just 4-8 last season in the MAC and should not give too much resistance to the second-ranked team in the country.
No need to go too much into detail...

We will have three games of the week since we missed the other two games and no NFL games yet.
Number five Georgia travels to number eight Clemson in an opening week game that could knock out the loser of the battle from national title contention.
A loss would hurt Clemson more than Georgia due to schedule, Tajh Boyd of Clemson will attempt to rip up an inexperienced Georgia secondary, while Aaron Murray will lead the Bulldogs in what could be a high scoring affair.
This should be a good one and I'll definitely be watching!

LSU travels to Texas for the Cowboy Classic against TCU.
The Tigers need to replace plenty of defenders, but can the Frogs make them pay this soon?
That's the big question along with can LSU jack up a passing game that was less than average last season?

A MAACO bowl rematch as Boise State travels to Seattle for a rematch of their bowl win against Washington.
The Broncos are always a threat to run the table and crash the BCS, so this game is their tough non-conference test of the year.
Washington is still trying to rebuild a once proud program and a win here would go a long way to that build.

Picks
Ohio State over Buffalo 52-14
Clemson over Georgia 33-30
LSU over TCU 20-15
Boise State over Washington 35-26

Photo Credit: @HeatherCoxESPN Twitter

Ohio State Football Preview

Urban Meyer starts his second year at Ohio State with high expectations after an unbeaten first season,the Buckeyes are ranked second in the country and are expected to make a run at the national title.

Heisman candidate Braxton Miller leads the offense in what is expected to be more of a wide open attack this season. Miller is a better passer than given credit for and looks to refine his throwing this season.
Senior Ken Guiton backs up Miller up and is capable of keeping the Buckeyes alive as he showed last season with a thrilling comeback win over Purdue.
Freshmen Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett round out the depth chart and will battle to the heir apparent to Miller.

Carlos Hyde returns as the main man in the backfield,but an off the field incident will force Hyde to miss the first three games.
The hard running Hyde runs well between the tackles and the unexpected rest might come in handy for the Buckeyes in Big 10 play.
Jordan Hall will get plenty of carries,if the fifth year senior can stay healthy,which has been an issue throughout his career.
Sophomore Bri'onte Dunn could be the starter for the opening three games and could be a pleasant surprise and senior Rod Smith will see action as well.

The pass catchers will be key in any Heisman contention for Braxton Miller as they will need to pick their game up after an erratic 2012.
Senior Corey Brown has been the possession threat,while Junior Devin Smith has been the big play threat on the outside.
Returnees Evan Spencer and Chris Fields will get their share of chances with several newcomers attempting to break the rotation...

Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett return at tight end after moving to the top of the depth chart last year,
Heuerman will start,but both will play often.Neither are a huge part of the passing game.

Four of the five starters on the offensive line return after an unexpectedly strong campaign last year.
Jack Mewhort returns at left tackle,Andrew Norwell at guard,Corey Linsley at center and massive Marcus Hall rounds out the returnees on the line.Right tackle Taylor Decker will be the lone new starter as he replaces Reid Fragel,who was drafted by the Bengals

The defensive line features two huge pass rushing threats off the end as sophomores Noah Spence and Adolphus Washington take over.
Both could be impact players and finish with plenty of sacks this season.
Michael Bennett and Joel Hale start on the interior with freshman Joey Bosa seeing time at both end and tackle.Jamal Marcus could be a real sleeper as a pass rusher as well.

The linebackers feature Butkus candidate Ryan Shazier,who might be the best in the country.
Curtis Grant will hold down the middle with the right side open as several players are competing.
The depth is inexperienced,so someone (or two) will need to get up to speed fast.

Three of the four starters return in the secondary with the fourth starter moving up from the nickel.
Bradley Roby was an All American last year at corner and should be so again with Doran Grant starting at the opposite corner.
Christian Bryant and C.J. Barnett are back at the safeties with Corey Brown and Tyvius Powell each seeing time as the nickel and dime backs.

Drew Basil will be back at kicker and freshman Cameron Johnston will punt after being imported from Australia.

The Buckeyes went 12-0 last season and are expected to do so again.
Possible trap games for the Buckeyes are in back to back weeks with Wisconsin at home and at Northwestern with the final game against you know who looming large.
I hate to predict 12-0 because it is such a branch to climb on,but I'll do it and say 12-0 and in the BCS championship game....

On the Signing Front

A mini signing front today as we try to reduce the amount of cards sitting around.

First,a few non-baseball cards from the mail.
San Francisco Giants host Amy Gutierrez signed an old Fleer Giants logo card as well as adding a nice picture as well.
I have found those old logo stickers to be quite handy for some situations,even better than blanks at times,although I'll never be able to use them for the Marlins,Rays,Diamondbacks and Rockies.
1972 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist Frank Shorter
Singer Pat Boone
Former Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winner Jason White signed a Sooner card and completed a card of Sooner Heisman winners with Billy Sims and Steve Owens.
Very nice addition!

I had very little for the Winston-Salem Dash as their team set was not released yet.
However,I was able to get Courtney Hawkins on his Bowman top 100 card and his Carolina League top prospect cards.
Two other nice grabs were high picks by the White Sox in the 2012 draft as Chris Beck and Joey DeMichele signed their CL prospect and All-Star cards.
I also added then Frederick Key Nick Delmonico on his CL prospect card,Delmonico was always great in my dealings with him and I'll miss getting more as he was shipped to the Brewers in a trade that saw the Orioles pick up Francisco Rodriguez.

The Pirates low A affiliate cruised into the Hub City (soon to be renamed the Nub City) with the best prospect laden team in the league with the West Virginia Power.
Luis Heredia and Josh Bell each were very nice and signed all as did Barrett Barnes,who I had the most amount of cards for.
The two breakout players of the season for the Pirates each signed cards as Dilson Herrera (since traded to the Mets) signed a blue Bowman refractor and Tyler Glasnow signed his team cards.
Bet on Glasnow being in a bunch of sets over the winter.
Clay Holmes signed a Bowman silver ice as well.
Former Pirate Orlando Merced is the Power's hitting coach and many of us looking forward to adding him to our collections.
Merced was not exactly friendly,but would reluctantly sign a card before the game.
After the game was a different story as one night,he stormed from the clubhouse with a can of beer in one hand and a case of beer in the other and screamed "NO"! when asked to sign a card by another collector.
No,that wasn't me,I figured the beer was a tip off that Ol' Orlando wasn't in the mood to sign.
The biggest issue with the set was its gloss as Brandt just had too much gloss on their cards on their earlier releases.
I attempted to get them signed without "rubbing" them with an eraser,but Josh Bell's first signature "bubbled",so I had to quickly rub the cards down.
Fortunately,Brandt corrected the issue with later team set releases.

The injury plagued Wilmington Blue Rocks were in Frederick for a series against the Keys and as a result were missing many players.
2012 first rounder Kyle Zimmer was there though and signed his team set card along with his Carolina League prospect card.Zimmer's top 100 card arrived the day after the Blue Rocks left though and when they returned,Zimmer had been promoted.
John Lamb continued to be a top signer and Kyle Smith signed two cards before being traded to the Astros in a deadline deal.

The Francisco Lindor show and the Carolina Mudcats traveled through,but only for a short time.
Lindor was going to play in the futures game in New York on a Sunday,so Derreck and I figured that we had one shot at Lindor on the Friday and first game of the series.
That was not a guarantee,but the gamble paid off as Lindor was there for the first game of the series and signed one each,Rachel helped me get an extra one (for a cost) and Lindor left after the game for New York.
He would not return as he was promoted to AA Akron during the weekend.
More on Lindor with the Aeros in a future signing front.
The other two nice additions were finally getting former second rounder Alex Lavisky on five different cards and Tyler Naquin on his team set,CL Prospect and CL All-Star cards.

Thanks to Kendall Morris for helping me with three Gregory Polanco's.
Polanco has signed less since then as you will see in a future signing front!
Kendall also gave me a certified autograph of Cleveland's Carlos Santana,which Kendall reports was the second of two of the same Santana that he pulled from packs!
Pretty long odds betting on that to happen!

Thanks to Jason Christensen for a few minor league Pirates,most notably catcher Jin-De Jhang.

Thanks to Brandon Diehl,who got C.J. Edwards of Hickory after a game when I had to go to work.
Edwards was traded to the Cubs shortly after that in the Matt Garza swap.

And finally,thanks to Bill Cover,who traveled to a Dayton vs Bowling Green game and worked on much of a Bowling Green team set for me as well as some nice prospects.
The biggest addition was Reds fireballer Robert Stephenson,but other Reds included Nick Travieso and Jesse Winker,while the Tampa affiliated Hot Rods added touted hurlers Taylor Guerreri (since injured),Jeff Ames and Blake Snell along with Patrick Leonard,who was obtained in the Wil Myers-James Shields trade..

Thanks to you all!

Last regular season game at the Muni?

Last night before a larger than I expected crowd,the Hagerstown Suns might have played their final regular season game at the Muni and that brought some interesting memories.

I'm going to reserve many of those for a future column when this apparent move to Fredericksburg becomes final,but I did want to write a little about who is most to blame in the loss of professional baseball for the Hub City.
Suns majority owner Bruce Quinn is an easy target,after all,Quinn is the man that would be making the move and there is some blame to toss his way.
Quinn is the person that lined up private investors to move to Fredericksburg,did not make the same attempt for Hagerstown and he has kicked this around over for two years between Winchester and Fredericksburg,but Quinn is not the main target to blame.

I reserve that for others,such as two administrations of the Hagerstown City Council to start with.
Former Mayor Bob Bruchey and his council did a lot of legwork and might have gotten this finished had they not stubbornly stuck to the almost universally hated downtown site for the new ballpark,which resulted in three anti-stadium new members elected and Bruchey himself defeated by David Gysberts.
Gysberts also ran on an anti-stadium platform and seemed surprised with an upset win that mainly occurred due to the ramrod tactics on the downtown issue.
Gysberts was saddled with the aforementioned trio of new council members that each had their own ideas on a stadium and realized that after his election that he was going to be saddled with the title of "man that lost Hagerstown its only sports team" forever.
Kristin Aleshire had never been interested in a stadium dating back to his days on the county commissioners,but did champion a new field up the street from the Muni,which was the best location (in my opinion anyway) of those mentioned.
Don Munson,an aging career politician, was busy backtracking from his promise,wavered in every statement until finally deciding on the site of the former city hospital,which has issues with a small footprint and would be the most difficult to build at.
Munson would eventually throw his support to downtown after it became clear that the Suns preferred Fredericksburg and the council decided to pull a "Don Quixote" move late in the game.
Penny Nigh wanted a small renovation of the Muni and the Suns made it clear that they were not interested in that,so Nigh was not interested in doing anything further with a short and narrow minded agenda,Nigh's vote was never achievable.

Lew Metzner and Martin Brubaker were the holdovers and both stuck to the downtown location despite the overwhelming public outcry against it.
Metzner continued his bungling against Quinn by making various statements about finding other interested teams (Until the team actually leaves,they cannot look around) and ludicrous announcements about independent baseball teams wanting to play "at a stadium that had hosted minor league baseball for years".

However,let us not forget the hotel/motel tax that was instituted twenty years ago for a new stadium that seemed to send its funds to everyone but the task that it was intended as various non-profits stuck their hands out for not one time gifts,but expected them to be annual offerings to the point of including these in their yearly budgets.
It is ironic that in an era of politics that sees so many stadiums around the country built with money intended for other items that Hagerstown took money intended for a stadium and used it for something else.
I also could run down the city councils and county commissioners over the last twenty years,but I do not want to write for the next two hours.
All of them are just as liable as the current bunch for their inaction when they had the chance to do something.

As I watched the crowd file out (I had to leave for work in the 8th inning of a 14-1 Suns win),I thought about this-what could be hoped for to turn the tide.
One could hope for a delay in Fredericksburg with purchasing the land for the site or any other delay that could buy Hagerstown the time for a desperate rally.
The current politicians are being ripped from all sides right now and any extra time could swing the votes to get something done from politicians that want to keep their seats.
Penny Nigh is not going to budge,she still thinks that sock hops will be a big draw,but the rest are practical and may move now.
Downtown is not my preferred location by a long shot,but that is the basket our eggs are in,so I have to root for that.

The hopes are dim and the fact is that last night might have been the last regular season game in Hagerstown,but I can still hope that a miracle can happen,but things have to be happening quickly.
The time for hope is gone,now it is a prayer...