Penn Relays Video

I meant to post this over the weekend, but it slipped my mind . If you'd like to watch video, the website is www.flotrack.com. On the left are the links to the Penn Relays, days 2 and 3, which would cover all the high school boys stuff.

The quality leaves a little to be desired, especially if you want to focus on an athlete who's not at the front of the pack. Still, it's a nice feature and there is some good footage in there, including Forys' 4:04.4 mile split in the DMR (Day 2). The audio for the DMR is interesting as well. The two commentators declare the event a five-man race during the first leg of the 1600. At the time, none of those men included Forys, but in the beginning of the third leg, you'll hear the PA announcer start to get into it and eventually Forys coming hard on the outside.

Unfortunately, there's nothing up for Manny Mayers' 400 hurldes win, which would be a must-watch if it was there. It was a very compelling race from start to finish and the ending was bananas. I had a poor angle to view the finish, but it looked like Mayers could have won without Johnny Dutch tripping on the last hurlde. Lakewood coach Skip Edwards had a better angle, and said his guy had him, regardless of the slip-up. Hopefully, the website has that footage eventually, but with it being a 9 a.m. race, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have it.

Monmouth's 4x400 relay is the second-to-last high school boys heat. That one is good too. Charles Cox had an unbelievable last leg, which I incorrectly reported as 48 seconds. It was unofficially in the high 46-low 47 range.

I'll provide the links to each area school at some point this week to make viewing easier. Until then, do your best, or just post a question and I'll find the athlete(s) or heat you're looking for.

Enjoy.

Final Update

The day ended a little earlier than anticipated with Monmouth's relay falling just short of the finals. Jackson had a pretty good showing in the 4x800, running 7:54.71, finishing fifth and a few tenths-of-a-second shy of a school record. Like any good clean-up hitter, Monroe Kearns did the most damage out of the fourth spot, running a 1:55.9 split and turing a potential 7th/8th-place finish into a fifth-place finish.

Kingston College (Jamaica) killed the rest of the fieldm running a 7:42.45, better than five seconds faster than the second-place team from Calabar (Jamaica).

While the Jackson athletes tipped their proverbial caps at the three teams from Jamaica that finished ahead of them, they felt like they could win the race on a good day. While the times make that seem far-fetched, consider that Notre Dame (Lawrence) ran the best time in the prelims. Friday and finished 10th today.

The Story of Saturday was Manny Mayers in the hurdles, and to me, the story of the weekend was still Forys' push for first in the DMR. Had Forys actually pulled off a first place finish, he would have been the top high school story of the whole event and not just in the Shore. Even so, the Shore Conference had to have opened some eyes this weekend.

It's 5 o'clock, I'm headed home, and the first round of the NFL draft isn't even over yet. Great Success.

Day 3 Update

Looks like Monmouth's going to miss out on the 4x400 relay championship. Charles Cox ran a low 48 split to get towards the front of the pack but finshed in third place with a time of 3:10.08, .23 seconds behind the heat winner. Before the specialty 4x400's (South Jersey, Suburban Philadelphia, etc.) go off, the Falcons relay of Cox, brother Chris, Kelly Fisher, and Rashon Verrett are in ninth place.

Verrett and Fisher weren't quite as spectacular as they were last week at Holmdel, but it seemed like the reason for the .6 second time increase from last week seemed to be the difficulty to hand off in a crowd. In the relay meets they've done this year, the four Monmouth runners have been so far ahead, that the handoffs have been pretty clean. Today, it was tough for Fisher and Verrett to hand the baton off with the pack surrounding them. It's not to say the baton transfer is the achilles heel of the Monmouth relay, but it seems like the group needed a race like this as a frame of reference. I would expect them to run closer to their goal of 3:13 as the month and season progress, and not closer to the 3:18 they ran today.

No results on the high jump yet, which I watched from afar, but it didn't look like Provaznik made the finals. I'll elaborate later.

Penn Relays Day 3

Manny Mayers kicks off what could be a big day for Shore Conference with a dramatic win over top-seeded Johnny Dutch from Clayton (NC) in the 400 m hurdles. Dutch finished in the middle of the pack, but from the opening gun until the stretch run, where he stumbled over the final hurdle.

Mayers was coming on strong on the straightaway, once Dutch hit the hurdles, Mayers went for the kill. He won the race with a time of 52.81, .03 seconds shy of a personal best.

Dutch came out, guns blazing out of the blocks. He had to have been a good 10 meters ahead after the first turn, but Mayers said he was fine with that. After racing Dutch at Outdoor Nationals last year, Mayers knew Dutch liked to start fast and instead of trying to start fast with him, he simply wanted to start his push earlier.

Anyone who has watched Mayers in the event would likely agree he likes to get off to a relatively leisurely start and turn it on about 200 meters into the race. Instead of waiting until the 200-meter mark, Mayers said he hit the gas about 170 meters in, in order to make up the ground Dutch created for himself. If Dutch didn't stumble, he might have still beat him, although he probably would have had to push faster than 52.81.

I was happy for Manny, but I felt for Dutch. He ran a great race until the end and one crucial mistake killed him. Mayers might have caught him anyway, but it looked from my vantage-point that Dutch had it if he cleared the last hurdle. After watching his raw speed out of the block, I thought he was capable of winning a foot-race with Mayers.

Here's the lineup for the rest of the day:

10 a.m.: John Provaznik (Lacey) in the high jump.

9:10-11:50: 4x400 featuring several Shore teams. Monmouth - set to run in the 11:45 a.m. heat - is the only one with a really good chance to advance to the Championship heat at 5:25 p.m. Of course, anything can happen.

3 p.m.: 10th-seeded Jackson's 4x800 team (Meleo, Fenimore, Carle, and Kearns) in the 4x800 Championship.

5:25: p.m.: 4x400 Championship.

Headed over to the high jump, and hopefully that will end so I can run over and catch Monmouth's prelim. run. Back with more later.

Wow (Penn Relays Update)

Craig Forys just put on a show in the distance medley. He ran a 4:04.4 split to nearly win the thing, with his Colts Neck team settling for third.

Brenden Krewer, Evan Stivala, and Kevin O'Dowd ran great legs, and still left Forys a lot of work to do. That just goes to show you how good the field was when those three ran exceptional races and still only managed to sit in ninth place heading into the 1,600.

I estimated in the newspaper article that Forys trailed by 100 meters. I was trying to be conservative. It was one of those situations when you think to yourself, "wouldn't it be something if he cameback and won."

800 meters later, he moved into third and had a chance to win. Kyle Dawson of Coatesville (Pa.) staged a comeback of his own to win his team the race and had enough in the tank to hold off a rabid Forys.

Throughout the race, he never broke stride, never slowed down, and never changed his expression. He just looked like he was on a mission. I'm not sure if he would say "mission accomplished" with his team finishing second, but that 4:04 split would say otherwise.

Wild finish to a weird, wet day. It's going to be hard to top, but Manny Mayers has a shot to do it right off the bat by winning the 400 hurdles at 9 a.m. He's seeded third, so he should have a shot. Mayers looked to be taking it easy early on, but his times shot down against Manchester this week. They'll have to keep shooting if he's going to win tomorrow.

It's a long walk to my car and a long ride back to Princeton, and unlike Craig Forys, I don't have much gas in my tank (literally and figuratively). Hopefully, I make it back to Princeton, so I can make it back tomorrow. Until then, good night.

Shot Put Correction

I reported in an earlier post that Vinnie Elardo of Lacey finished ninth in the shot put with a throw of 53, but he actually threw 54-6. The eighth finalist threw 54-10 1/4, and the winning throw was 58-8 1/2.

The Toms River South boys, Kyle Goodman and Patrick Park, finished 10th and 16th, respectively. Goodman threw 54-3 1/4 and Park threw 51-9 1/4.

Penn Update

Just wanted to clarify CBA's 4x800 situation. Kyle Havard did indeed miss the race with an injury, one that coach Karl Torchia described as a "slight pull.'' They also reshuffled the order of the relay to try to get out in front, with Mike Slater and Brendan Pierson running the first two legs, and Christian Yuskevich and Charlie Rooney finished up. The team's reasoning was that with the wet conditions, it would be too difficult to erase any deficit, and they would rather build a lead and try to protect it.

The group was happy with its performance given the circumstances, but you have to wonder what could have been. Torchia himself said he thinks his team would have run 4-5 seconds faster without the Havard injury, which would have been more than enough improvement to propel the Colts the championship heat tomorrow.

Personally, I blame the ghosts of Franklin Field. They wouldn't take too kindly to a kid named Havard (with the Boston pronunciation too) making noise on their Penn campus.

The Distance Medley looks like it won't go off until between 8 and 8:30 p.m. With that, I'd like to propose a trade: I'll update the Penn Relays if someone gives me Bulls-Heat updates. Stay tuned.

Penn Update

Vinnie Elardo threw 53 feet in the shot put and just missed making the finals, finishing ninth in the preliminaries. Elardo was officially the No. 2 seed, but that was based on a 60-foot toss he registered indoors. Since then, he has had to recover from a foot injury and has been throwing in the mid-to-low 50s for most of the outdoor season. Elardo said he was hoping to throw 58 feet today, but with the conditions the way they were, it's easy to see why he didn't reach his goal.

No Shore Conference team came close to reaching the final heat of the 4x100, with Monsignor Donovan finishing 25th overall with a time of 43.79. The Griffins team of Chris Medina, Anthony Coppello, Nick Chiarella, and Eric Bruno also finished first in its heat.

Here is how the rest of the Shore field fared in the 4x100:

Small Schools
Holmdel 45.80 (13th in the heat/112 overall)
Lakewood 46.02 (6/123)
Manasquan 46.40 (6/135)
St. Rose 47.36 (7/170)

Large Schools
Toms River North 44.90 (3/106)
Barnegat 45.46 (5/146)
Howell 45.72 (9/161)
Manalapan 45.98 (6/176)
TR South 46.09 (7/184)
Southern 46.13 (6/186)
Jackson 46.31 (6/195)
Ocean 46.56 (7/203)

The distance medley is the last event of interest on Friday, with the Colts Neck team looking to open some eyes. The team of Craig Forys, Brenden Krewer, Evan Stivala, and Kevin O'Dowd is seeded fourth, but they'll be gunning for the top spot. We're about two hours away from the DM, so sit tight until then.

Penn Relays Update

Reporting live from Day 2 of the 113th Penn Relays, and despite what Danny DeVito might tell you, it's not always sunny in Philadelphia. In fact, not only is it not sunny, but sometime during the downpour, lightening struck and delayed the meet.

Monsignor Donovan's team of Graham Matthews, Ray Coles, Alex Periera, and George Johnson was the only Shore team to run before the hour-and-a-half delay, and they finished the 4x800 in 8:17.25, 13th in its heat.

CBA and Southern got caught at the starting line when the lightening flashed, and had to clear the track. When they made it back at 11:10 a.m., CBA ran an 8:02.90, while Southern ran what had to be a disappointing 8:25.07, almost a half-minute slower than the team's qualifying time of 7:58.1. CBA ran a decent race and was generally happy with the effort, but did not qualify for the Championship of America. Coach Karl Torchia said earlier this week team would be Mike Slater, Kyle Havard, Brendan Pierson, and Charlie Rooney, but Christian Yuskevich took Havard's place. Word is that Havard was battling an injury and the Colts went with Yuskevich as a replacement, but I'll confirm that with Torchia for the next update.

Jackson qualified for the finals with a time of 8:00.64, a little slow for the team's taste. Monroe Kearns ran a good anchor leg, coming from second place to finish first.

Dan Hitman made the finals in the javelin as a 13-seed, which he was pretty happy about. Hitman had some elbow issues during the event, but said today was one of his better days in terms of dealing with any pain. His top throw was 180-0.

Apparently the shot-put is under way, so I'm going to get on my horse and catch Vinnie Elardo, Patrick Park, and Kyle Goodman. The three battled in a tri meet this past week and are back for round two on a much bigger stage. Back with more in a bit.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

The post title is one of the many mantras of the YES Network, more specifically the YES Network describing its beloved New York Yankees. Chase Wright certainly did a lot of looking back on Sunday night, four times in a row in fact. And after the performance over the weekend and again last night vs. Tampa, the only looking forward the Yanks should be doing is looking forward to next year. Phillip Hughes may be good, but pitch counts of 80-85 won't get you through six innings.

It's really hard to get too much when it comes to sports, but this weekend was dangerously close to an overload.

Yankees-Red Sox, Mets-Braves, Cubs-Cardinals, eight NBA Playoff Games in two days, the tail-end of the Stanley Cup first round, the NFL's desperate attempt to hold an audience with meaningless draft banter, and another Rafael Nadal drubbing of Roger Federer on clay. And, on a personal note, I had the day off Monday to make up what I missed from Friday and Saturday.

While I would have loved to catch the first day of NBA Playoff action, spending the day at Holmdel High for the Homdel Relays was worth it, if only for being outside the first nice day since January. (That sentence sounds ridiculous. Thanks Global Warming.)

As far as the meet itself, the only new develpoments to make note of were Red Bank's performance in the 4 x 800 and the sprint medely relays, and Monmouth's relay team running its first real noteworthy race of the season. Everything else was pretty much what we've seen over the first couple weeks of relay meets, particularly Freehold Township's dominance.

I have to admit, I think I've missed out on the Patriots in the first few Top 10 polls. I saw them at the Rebel Relays, where it was hard to take any of the times seriously on account of the weather. I missed them last week at the Colts Neck Relays where they put on an impressive performance against a good field. They put up a decent effort against CBA on Thursday, and despite rave reviews from the CBA coaching staff, I elected against sticking them in the Top 10. The way they've performed at the big meets so far warrants much stronger consideration this week.

Red Bank is 4-0 in Class A Central and while the Bucs only finished 8th place in the Holmdel Relays Division II, they showed they're strong at the top of their track events, if not very deep. Dennie Waite had two terrific last leg 800s, running under 2 minutes in both. Waite said he had never ran under 2 minuted before, and was "shocked" when he saw his split of 1:56 in the 4 x 800. Despite the new-found prowess in the 800, Waite is going to turn his attention full-time to the mile, where he hopes to leave a mark at the Group II finals and perhaps later at the Meet of Champions.

Kerone Rhoden capped off a really nice week with a great 200-meter leg in Red Bank's sprint medley. I had him at a 22.75 split, but running down three guys in front of him was more impressive than the time.

It looks like Monmouth's relay is ready to turn it on for the stretch run, starting with this weekend's Penn Relays. They started posting the kind of times that youu might expect from a possible state championship relay, including a 3:17.8 in the 4 x 400. Rashon Verrett was the star of the day with a split of 47.1, and the other three were solid, but not spectacular. The collective group was extremely fast, but each sprinter has a faster run in him. Neither Charles Cox, Chris Cox, Verrett, nor Kelly Fisher had anyone to really push them, but Saturday will present a good test for the group.

We at the Press gave the pole vault a lot of attention early in the season, but the St. John Vianney vaulters have flown under the radar a bit the last couple of weeks, as pointed out by some of the comments on a previous post. The jumps haven't been other-worldly, no, but setting meet records is generally a good thing. Chris Favoloro and Mike Reese did just that combining for a 26-and-a-half foot jump, which was a foot higher than the 25 1/2 they jumped at Matawan the Saturday before. Favoloro looks like the best in the area right now, but there are a few guys that may have something to say about that.

If this past weekend was Ray Lewis-intense, this coming weekend is Bill Romanowski-intense, which could indeed be an overload (yes, I saw the option to use "overdose", but I'm taking the high road). Almost the exact same lineup as last weekend, plus the NFL Draft, plus the Devils and Rangers in the Conference semifinals, plus the Penn Relays.

As far as this week's Shore Conference action goes, the only meet with any major ramifications looks to be Red Bank travelling to Holmdel today (Tuesday April 24). Southern's highschoolsports.com page had their tri-meet with Jackson and Toms River North originally scheduled for Thursday and now postponed to an undetermined date. In our schedule, we have that meet originally scheduled for Monday, April 30, but now rescheduled to the following day, May 1. I'll keep you posted, but after all is said and done, it looks like Red Bank's quest for the the division title is one and only story before the Penn Relays.

I'll be in Philly for Friday and Saturday's events, giving blog updates on the action and anything else I find that's interesting. Judging by the weekend lineup, there should be plenty to talk about.

Colts Neck/Manalapan/Howell/Marlboro

For anyone looking for the results to the Colts Neck/Manalapan/Howell/Marlboro quad in Friday's paper, they weren't ready to be reported. Colts Neck beat Manalapan in convincing fashion 101-39, a bit of a surprise considering Manalapan's strong showing in a loss to CBA last week. According to Colts Neck coach Jim Schlentz, the Braves' Jack Gilburn was injured and only competed in the javelin.

It's never safe to apply the theory of relativity to dual meets, but Colts Neck has to feel pretty good about itself going into the May 15 meeting with CBA. Considering Gilburn's injury and CBA's ability to play matchups and go deep into its talented roster, they'll never be counted out, but you have to be pretty impressed with the way Colts Neck has performed.

With its quad-meet wins over Manasquan, Raritan, and RBC on Thursday, Red Bank may have effectively clinched Class A Central in its inagural season as a divison memeber. Holmdel is the one team that can spoil the Bucs division title when the two teams meet this coming Tuesday. Along with Dennie Waite doing his usual routine in the distance events, Kerone Rhoden has had two good showings so far during the dual meet season. Rhoden ran an 11.0-second 100 and 22.5 in the 200.

I'm currently pounding away at Saturday's notebook, so I'll post the top times for the week sometime tomorrow evening.

31 At Bats

A friend and I were talking baseball last night, and the subject of Milwaulkee SS/3B/CF Bill Hall came up. I, being a fan of Hall's, made the comment that not too many players can play shortstop and hit you 35 home runs. The 26 year-old's power has trended up every year, with his 2006 campaign serving as a full-fledged breakout after being given consistent playing time.

My friend responded with skepticism, saying "not this year." I inquired as to why he thought Hall was not capable of 35 home runs, and he said "look at his numbers so far. It doesn't look like he's going to hit more than 25."

It's true that Hall is off to a rough start...in his first 31 at bats. He hit his 35 home runs last year in 537 at bats with a batting line of .270/.345/.553, meaning despite the one home run and .194/.286/.387 line so far this year, he still has over 500 at bats to go. Then when you consider that he started the year 5-17 with a home run and two double, his slow start can essentially be attributed to a 1-14 slump in his last 5 games. Over the course of last season, Bill Hall had three slumps worse than the 1-for-14 drought he's in right now, and a handful of 1-for-11 type slumps mixed in. Here's a comparison of his first 31 at-bats from each year:

2006: .226 avg., .333 OBP, .483 slugging, 1 HR, 5 2B, 3 RBI.
2007: .194 avg., .286 OBP, .387 slugging, 1 HR, 3 2B, 2 RBI.

Essentially, my friend is fretting over two doubles and a walk here and there. To fret over anything from 31 AB is over-reacting but these lines suggest the same thing common sense should: it's a cold streak of 31 at-bats. Not to mention, he had the same number of home runs after 31 at bats, so that total of 35 still looks pretty attainable.

If we're going to overreact to bad ten-game stretches, here are some players to worry about after nearly two weeks of play.

Miguel Tejada - .271/.340/.333, 1 HR in 48 AB.

The power just isn't there so far, and it is more of a concern than for Hall because Tejada is on the wrong side of 30. Still, he has been a streaky hitter throughout his career, looking lost for months at a time while looking like the best shortstop in the game during others. Since he plays a demanding position, Tejada will probably hit his decline sometime soon, but he is still a sure thing to heat up along with the weather.

Man-to-Man final projection: .306/.368/.514, 26 HR.

Manny Ramirez - .194/.310/.222, 0 HR.

Believe it or not, this is just Manny being Manny. Here is the future Hall of Famers' OPS through games played on April 14th the last 5 years, along with OPS by the end of April each year:

2003 - April 15: .709
April 30: .963

2004 - April 15: 1.089
April 30: 1.095

2005 - April 15: .557
April 30: .993

2006 - April 15: .549
April 30: .865

2007 - April 15: .532
April 30: ?

Except for the Red Sox World Series year in 2004, Manny has come out of the gate slow every season in the last five. My assessment is it's an older player who likes to get away from the game in the offseason. It's taking a while to get his picture-perfect swing back, but it always does show up. Expect it to come back as soon as the rain allows him to step up to the plate.

Man-to-Man final projection: .309/.411/.598, 37 HR.

Alfonso Soriano - .233/.289/.349, 0 HR.

This is by far the worst start to any full season Soriano has had, which makes the rest of the year a question mark? His lack of plate discipline makes him a difficult hitter to predict anyway, but he can still hit anybody's fastball a mile, and he'll continue to see those in the NL. He is hard to manage because he a) doesn't have a position; and b) is a leadoff-type player, but not a leadoff-type hitter. His career on-base percentage is .325, but he is good at scoring runs once he gets on. I had him pegged as a disappointment this year, but he is too talented and the league is too mediocre for him to struggle this much,

Man-to-Man final projection: .267/.329/.502, 32 HR

Ryan Howard - .237/.463/.368.

Considering the circumstaces, I don't find this to be a troublesome start, but since ESPN is making a big deal of it, it might be worth addressing. The reason for all the fuss is a) the expectations in Philly; b) the lack of precedent for Howard; and c) the quick success he had last year. He has only had one full season, and last year there weren't all that many eyes on Howard when he was only slugging .395 two weeks into the season last year. Howard only had one homer in his first 11 games last year and that was when he was getting pitched to. Now he's getting the full-fledged Bonds treatment and learning to adjust to life only getting two good opportunities to hit per game. For anyone who doubts his ability based on his start, I invite you to look up his second-half numbers from last year. Or just remember: he wasn't an MVP candidate until August.

Man-to-Man Projection: .278/.441/.615, 46 HR

Albert Pujols - .167/.255/.357 2 HR

This is his first bad start in the most consistent carreer I've ever witnessed. His number are always so easy to predict and he always seems to be hitting in some way or another, so this is a little surprising. Still, I'm going to chalk this up to the Manny Ramirez Syndrome. This is Albert Pujols we're talking about.

Man-to-Man Projection: .320/.430/.630, 46 HR

The Washington Nationals - 3-9 record

Once Ryan Church cools down, it will probably get worse.

Man-to-Man Projection: 51-111

After all that, Bill Hall finished the game today 0-for-4, pushing his slump to 1-for-18. Uh oh. Only 502 more at bats to go.

Husk(Y) Relays

I saw some t-shirts floating around at the Husky Relays today that said "Huskie Relays." Now I may think I'm a lot smarter than I am, and being smart enough to realize just that, I double, and triple checked..."Huskie" is not a word. Maybe it's just a personal touch Matawan likes to put on the event, but I just saw it as a careless error. Whatever, I'll probably do something similarly careless in this post, and in fact have already done so in the paper (see post #1).

Edit: Yep. Huskie is a word. It's a variant of "husky." Brilliant observation twarted again.

In my defense, Google thinks it's "Husky." And when is Google ever wrong?

What the Matawan Relays lacked in mainstream spelling and grammar, they made up for in performance. I must admit, I was a little disappointed that I was missing the Colts Neck Relays (and of couse the Mariners game) in favor of the Huskies, but the field turned out to be impressive. And thanks to MLB.tv (No. 4 on my list of Top 10 Things Cooler than Crayons) I can watch the Mariners 8-3 win over Texas in all its glory.


The most impressive athlete at Matawan was indeed Manny Mayers. He didn't perform at his highest level, but I have watched enough sports to know a true talent when I see one. Everything he did was effortless - especially the 3 x 400 hurdles when it actually looked as though he could have backpedaled to victory - and making your sport look easy is the sign of a good prospect.


It seemed like the format of the hurdle relays hurt him and his Lakewood team because instead of doing the handoffs, the participants just run the race and they combine the times of the three athletes on each team. When I talked to him, he agreed, saying it's hard to push after getting so far out ahead so early in the race. He usually has to wait for the Ocean County Meet to get his first taste of competition from multiple parties.


As it was, Lakewood finished in six place in their Group, but something tells me Manny could have improved that finish if there were some jerseys out in front to run down.


The Matawan field team is superb. Eldrick Alleyne of Monmouth got a win in the throws in his team's dual meet against Matawan, but across the board, Matawan is tougher in the throws than Monmouth and just about anyone in the Shore, save Toms River South. Matawan might have more high-caliber throwers than South, but Patrick Park, Kyle Goodman, and Brian Doran are three of the best in the state at their particular events. Still, the Matawan group, with Grasso, Trolian, MacCutcheon, and Turner, are going to be too much to handle for anyone left on their schedule, especially now that they already performed against Monmouth.


It didn't get mentioned in the paper because APP sports ignores any talk of out-of-area, non-football occurences, but Piscataway and Hunterdon Central was the best matchup of the day on the boys side. I wasn't paying as much attention to it as I would have liked with all the necessary Shore coverage I had to do, but it came down to the last relay (the 4 x 400) and Piscataway won by one hundreth of a second on, I believe, Dwayne Gratz's last leg. If you go through the results in Sunday's paper, you'll see that one of those two owned the top spot in just about every event, save five events, only one of which was a track event.


Another group that didn't make the story in the paper was Marlboro's Javelin team of Nick Spinella and Ryan Jennings, which won the Group III event with a cumulative distance of 285-7.


One other understated performace was the Holmdel distance medley, partucularly George Galasso's first leg 1200, in which he outran Doug Weeks of TR East. If you'll refer to the "Weekly Best" list, Weeks was the man in the distance events, but Galasso, who hasn't run in a dual meet yet, beat him by about two or three strides (By the way, you can tell I'm new at actually covering track by my lack of a stop watch at these meets. Hence the use of "strides" rather than seconds).


Still East's relay team won its heat and Division rather handily thanks to good runs by Neil Sheridan and T.J. Bocchino. Holmdel was not in East's actual scoring division, but Groups II and III ran together to save time, which helped the Group II times out some.


The Central Golden Eagles looks like they are back. I was talking to someone in the know who thought they weren't going to be that good this year, but they showed Saturday that they might be better across the board than initially perceived. Their jumps and hurdles are strong, which is fitting given that they are coached by Michael Jordan.


Quick notes on the Colts Neck Relays (based on word of mouth because times were not made available yet): The Cox brothers were on a recruiting trip and did not attend...According to my eyes and ears at the meet, Kris Carle ran a 4:43 mile to push Jackson to a min in the distance medely. Craig Forys ran the 1200-meter first leg of the race...Everything else is pretty much what you can already read in the box score. Hopefully I'll gain some more perspective on the times when I look at them in the next couple days. If you are dying to see them, head to www. coltsnecktrack.com. They should be up on Sunday.


Well after spending the last 16 hours fixed on track, I'm beat, and I didn't even run (although I stood and walked around a lot I guess). I even have a little sunburn to show for it, something I'll cherish over the next two days since the entire Northeast is apparently going to get the Atlantic Ocean dumped on it. And since I'm tired and sunburned, my proofreading was lax if not nonexistent. So, in the spirit of criticism, feel free to find the careless errors and throw them back in my face.

Crayons?

After posting the top times/marks from this past week and the Penn Relays link, this question popped up courtesy of blogger.com:

What's cooler than a box of crayons?

According to blogger.com, the answer is choosing your own webpage layout, but it got me thinking: What is actually cooler than a box of crayons?

(Note to blogger.com: Ask random questions, and I'll give you random answers).

Crayons: Oozing Coolness

Top 10 Things Cooler than a Box of Crayons


1. Magic Markers

2. A Crate of Crayons

3. Shore Conference Boys Track (It would be number one if any of the team colors were periwinkle or thistle, both of which Crayola offers as colors)

4. MLB.tv

5. The word "thimble" (say it to yourself, and tell me it doesn't make you sound like you have a speech impetiment).

6. Nappy-headed...er, nevermind. Rutgers Athletics (The Renaissance begins when I leave, i.e. the football team, Women's Hoops, and Todd Frazier's tear through college baseball).

7. People dressed as crayons (the link doesn't work, but Google search "crayons" and you'll see what I'm talking about)

8. The Gyroball (aka a changeup)

9. Potassium (Of which Kazaksthan is the number one exporter).

10. Um, wow only nine things in the world are cooler than crayons.


Any ideas of what could be cooler than crayons? Whoever gives the best answer wins a free subscription to my blog.

On the track front, I'll be at the Husky Relays tomorrow where Manny Mayers (known by most locals as Emmanuel) is the athlete I'm most looking forward to watching. Whether or not he gets enough help to give Lakewood a win in the 3 x 400 hurdles remains to be seen, but the Piners should be give him enough to put him in position to win.

Keep an eye out for our coverage of that and the Colts Neck Relays (to be astutely observed by my compadre Josh Newman) in Sundays paper and, of course, more on the blog. I have to warn you, I'm long overdue for a baseball post. But until then, take your mark and go.

Penn Relays

The final entries will be set on Monday, although the UPenn website may not update until Tuesday. Here's the link with the Penn Relays individual entries for HS boys and girls.

http://pennrelaysonline.com/registration/hsentries.html?SPSID=22903&SPID=559&DB_OEM_ID=1700

Weekly Bests

Here are the top times and marks in the Shore Conference this week (not including weekend relay meets):

100: Chris Pellicano (Manalapan) 11.1 - vs. CBA on Tuesday, April 10.
200: Justin Cornell (CBA) 22.6 - vs. Manalapan on Tuesday, April 10.
400: David Hayes (Howell) 50.7 - vs. Freehold Twp./Colts Neck on Wednesday, April 11.
800: Craig Forys (Colts Neck) 1:58.6 - vs. Freehold Twp./Howell on Wednesday, April 11.
1600: Doug Weeks (TR East) 4:32.1 - vs. Lacey on Tuesday, April 10.
3200: Weeks (TR East) 9:51 - vs. Lacey on Tuesday, April 10.
110 Hurdles: Chris Rutherford (TR East) 15.2 - vs. Lacey on Tuesday, April 10.
400 Hurdles: Mike Goldwassar (Manalapan) 57.4 - vs. CBA on Tuesday, April 10.
High Jump: John Provaznik (Lacey) 6-2 - vs. TR East on Tuesday, April 10.
Pole Vault: Chris Wyckoff (TR East) 12-6 - vs. Lacey on Tuesday, April 10.
Long Jump: Dave Stone (TR North) 22-8 1/2 - vs. Brick Mem. on Tuesday, April 10.
Triple Jump: Stone (TR North) 43-0 - vs. Brick Mem. on Tuesday, April 10.
Shot Put: Kyle Goodman (TR South) 53-8 - vs. Jackson on Tuesday, April 10.
Discus: Patrick Park (TR South) 146-1 - vs. Jackson on Tuesday, April 10.
Javelin: Brian Doran (TR South) 178-1 - vs. Jackson on Tuesday, April 10.

B Central Preview (Sort Of)

If the season already started, can I really call this a preview? I say yes, because the three contenders for the division crown have yet to face off against one another.

Shore returns a strong core of athletes, headlined by senior sprinter Derek Schultz and is always one of the deeper teams in the division. The Blue Devils' relay team, which finished seventh at last year's MOC, lost three of its four members (Taylor Kirk, Matt Villane, and Matt Reidy) to graduation, but Schultz's return will provide Shore with some stability in the event.

Rumson looks to have the pieces in place to steal the division from the defending champion Blue Devils if everything falls into place. The Bulldogs boast a strong set of sprinters that may be able to take advantage of Shore's losses in the sprints if they can't replace the three relay members. Ryan Kirchner, John Brodsky, and Jake Hepler are Rumson's top three sprinters to start the season, and top hurdler Christian Pettineo could also contribute in sprints. Robbie Doran will be the team's top jumper and is also a sprint candidate. The Bulldogs are a confident bunch and according to coach Jerry Beaver, expect to win B Central.

The other contender for the B Central crown is Mater Dei. The Seraphs usually don't go as deep as their two division rivals, but that may not be a problem this year. Coach Mike Tursi says he has the largest team in his 18 years at Mater Dei and he believes its the most athletes on a Mater Dei track team since the 1970s. Out of the 50-plus athletes that Tursi says came out this year, there are some good ones that could go a long way in securing another Non-Public B State Championship, and perhaps a division crown. Patrick O'Boyle scored significant points at the Non-Public B Championships as a freshman last year, and Ryan Lino is likely the divisions top thrower. Mater Dei and Rumson tied last year, and when they meet on April 25, those newfound numbers will have to shine in order to beat Rumson.

Asbury Park has some hidden gems on a team that can't run out the numbers to compete with other area teams. Demetrius Barkley is one of the top hurdlers around he should do nothing to dispell his current standing. The more interesting prospect is junior Avery Taylor, who according to coach Mark Gallup, has talent comparable to that of the Cox brothers at Monmouth. Taylor can win his fair share of races on his raw speed, and a little refinement could pay dividends. But is as so often the case with Asbury Park athletes, Taylor's off-the-track situation serves as a sobering reminder that the surrounding environment can hinder an otherwise promising career.

"I just hope we can get him to come to practice,'' Gallup said. "It's been a struggle in the first two years he tried to come out, but he seems like he wants to give it a real shot this year. He's shown similar interest in the past, but the streets really pull at him.

"We're trying to tell him the opportunity he has, and if he comes to practice and buys into what we're telling him, he has a chance to become something special."

Being from Mercer County, I don't have any rooting interests in the Shore Conference. But here's hoping Avery Taylor has a brekaout year.

Potential Group/State Champions: O'Boyle (Mater Dei) - 1600, 3200; Lino (Mater Dei) - throws; Schultz (Shore) - sprints; Robert Rogers (St. Rose) - hurdles/pole vault.

B North Preview

What's in a name you ask? Not much unless your last name is Cox and you're a Shore Conference sprinter.

Monmouth was a forced to be reckoned with last season. With a lot of its key athletes back, they were already a forced to be reckoned with. Add a senior with the same last name and and bloodline as its MOC champion sprinter, and you're looking at a concensus No. 1 team in the Shore Conference.

Christopher Cox (not to be confused with his younger bother Christian of Southern) joins his brother Charles and Monmouth's 4 x 400 relay team that hopes to take home a gold medal at the MOC. While Chris is no pushover as a sprinter (a second-team All-Shore selection), his name is generating as much buzz as his 48.5 400 time. Already, the "Cox Boys" as they are unanimously referred to, are the big draw in the Shore Conference and if they live up to the hype, they'll have a lot of gold medals to show off to young Christian.

If the Falcons are the clear No. 1 in B North, then the Huskies of Matawan are the clear No. 2. The divisions' top two teams present a stark contrast in styles: Monmouth is a team built to win the sprints, while Matawan's strongest events are in the field, paticularly the weights. Monmouth's 73-67 win over Matawan on Thursday demonstrated the differences betwee the two squads, with Monmouth being strong at the top of its sprints and jumps, and Matawan going deeper and picking up points in the throws.

Chris MacCutcheon, Andy Trolian, Steve Turner, and Anthony Grasso head Matawan's class of throwers. MacCutcheon specializes in the javelin throw, while the other three will excel in the shot put and discus.

The rest of B North is will vie for a spot in third place and it's wide open. Ocean, Wall, and Freehold will go deeper than Neptune and Long Branch, but Neptune always has a few athletes that excel.

Ocean appears to have the edge over the competition. Rob Yaffe is a proven sprinter, Nick Moyle will handle the jumps, And Jeff Mansfield and John Rochford will specialize in the distance races.

Dan Hitman is not only last year's Shore Conference Champion in the javelin, but he also achors the best team in the Shore when it comes to names. There is, of course, Hitman, who has perhaps the most inappropriate last name imaginable for a javelin thrower. Why don't we just call him "Dan Humancasualties" and call it a day? Seriously though, Hitman can let the javelin fly with the best of them, and his coach Mark DeSomma believes a toss of 200 is in order this year.

Joining Hitman on the all-name team are freshman sprinter Frantz Pierre and senior transfer Freeman Quick. Not since Jean Girard took over the NASCAR circuit in Talledega Nights has anyone been able to win races while having such a stereotypically French name. Pierre is a burner and even as a freshman, will win his fair share of first places this year. With a name like Freeman Quick, do you have any choice but to become a sprinter? Quick is a transfer from North Carolina and will be among the team's best sprinters.

Freehold and Wall are both young teams, but Freehold should hold an advantage based on its strong distance group led by juniors Peter Leung and Chris Filosa.

Possible Group/State Champs: Charles Cox (Monmouth): sprints/ 4 x 400 relay; Christopher Cox (Monmouth) - sprints/4 x 400 relay; Rashon Verrett, Kelly Fisher (Monmouth) 4 x 400 relay; Eldrick Alleyne (Monmouth) - shot put; Dan Hitman (Ocean) - javelin; Chris MacCutcheon (Matawan) - Javelin.

Toms River Tri Notes

*Note: I realize this post might seem a little dated, but some technical difficulties prevented it from being posted to the website. It's been sitting here, ready to post for almost a week now, but I don't want it to go to waste.

The 2007 installment of the Toms River Tri-meet was an exciting one and the 12-inch story in the paper probably didn't do it justice as to how close it was.

In case anyone missed it, the pole vault was the deciding event and really went down to the wire to decide a close meet between both North and East and East and South. It started with 16 vaulters, and whittled down to seven at 9 1/2 feet. Two vaulters from each school cleared the bar at 11 feet, and one from each made it over the 11 1/2-foot bar, with Dan Haefeli (South), Chris Wychoff (East), and Rick Villanova (North) as the last three standing. All three made it over the 12-foot bar, but Villanova was the only athlete to make it over the 12-6 mark.

*Note: I reported in Wednesday's paper that the winning vault was 11-6, which was obviously wrong.

**Another Note: From now on, Rick Villanova will be referred to on this blog as either Rick "The Wildcat" Villanova or "Rick the Villanova Wildcat." The first one sounds like a wrestling alias (Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat comes to mind, and the the second is just a much smoother reference to Villanova University. It's nice to have options.

What stuck out the most to me was how the Villanova Wildcat looked better and better with each jump. He was nursing a pulled-muscle in his shoulder (he wasn't diagnosed, but he said he definitely pulled something), and early on, it appeared to effect a few of his failed jumps. Even at 11-6, the Wildcat barely made it over the bar, but at the next two heights, he looked like a different person. Very impressive performance.

Haefeli actually looked the best early on but just couldn't put it all together on his later jumps. On a good day, he looks like he'll jump 13 feet. Wychoff, meanwhile, was insonsistent, but he managed to clear the bar at 12 feet. He's only a sophomore, and the pole vault takes a while to master, so those inconsistencies are more growing pains than a potential problem.

Doug Weeks was a man among boys in the distance events, while the same can be said for his East teammate Chris Rutherford in the hurdles. David Stone had a good 110 hurdles race, but Rutherford beat him without much of a doubt.

Toms River North get it done this year and they look to be in good shape to compete with Jackson and Southern for the A South crown. They're balanced and like coach Matt Jelley said, they can rely on a lot of different events to come through in the dual meets. East goes deep in the distance events, but seemed top-heavy in a lot of the other events. South dominated the throws and are pretty strong in the field, in general.

That's all for now, stay tuned for the last two previews. B North will be posted soon and we'll wrap it up with B Central.

B South Preview

Here's the real B South preview, no April Fools attached. Even as I attempt to watch every baseball game being played today, I remain confident that there will be no baseball references in the following paragraphs. Here it goes...

Central and Monsignor Donovan will be the class of the division again. When it comes to the dual meet season, both teams go much deeper on talent than the other five B South teams. Both teams have their losses to cope with every year, and this year is no different, but both also reload every year (and once again, this year is no different).

Central coach Michael Jordan admits that while his team should contend for B South once again, they will have to do it much differently.

"We're going to have to rely more on our sprinters, whereas last year we relied on the weights,'' he said. "Most of our key returners are sprinters or jumpers so they'll have to go get us some points. We'll do fairly well in the other events, but we'll need some of the newcomers to step up.''
Dennis Lucey will sprint, hurdle, and jump, serving as Central's most versatile weapon. Terrance Hardy (sprints), Tim Straut (hurdles), and Steve Casagrand (hurdles/pole vault) will also be fixtures in the Golden Eagle lineup.

Donovan returns a good mix of athletes, headed by sprinters Eric Bruno and Jayce Maxwell. A.J. Coulson and P.J. Coulson (who on this blog, will be referred to as "The Initials") will highlight the weight events, while Nick Chiarella (jumps, mid-distance) and George Johnson (distance) round out a balanced lineup at the top of each event.

The two favorites will decide the division Wednesday when they meet at Central High. Once that meet is in the books, all eyes will shift to Lakewood's Emanuel Mayers, who is B South's best athlete. Mayers returns as the defending MOC champion in the 400 hurdles, but failed to qualify for the final heat of the 110 hurdles at the same meet. Mayers second-place finish in the 55 hurdles at the Indoor MOC, an impressive accomplishment considering his finish in the 100 last year, but perhaps a uneasy finish considering the high expectations for the fall season. Mayers is the best hurdler in the Shore, but his status as the state's best is still not cemented and that title give the senior something the shoot for this spring.

Manchester looked to assert itself as the third best team in the division with a win over Pinelands Monday. Lakewood may have a chance, but numbers are always an issue with the Piners. According to coach Skip Edwards, Lakewood freshman sprinter Ashton Alexander is the next Mayers and will be an immediate factor. With a two atheletes like that, Lakewood is not a team to be taken lightly.

On the lighter side, here are a few of my favorite names in B South, a category that only B North tops it in: Michael Jordan, Justin Iverson (Both from Central. That's right. Iverson and Jordan on the same team. Look out B South), Stehpon Bond (Manchester), Michael "Santa" Claus (Manchester), and Kyle Schwartz (Point Boro. South Park reference. See the picture).

This Kyle Schwartz has nothing on Point Boro's.

Potential Group/State Champions: Mayers (Lakewood) - hurdles; Raymond Coles (Donovan) - 3200.

BASEBALL/NCAA PREVIEW

As I type this sentence, we are less than four hours away from the start of baseball season, when all is right with the world for six months. Sunday isn't actually all that exciting, unless you're Mets or Cardinals fan, because it's only one game and it seems like a letdown considering the buildup to it. Monday, however, is not a letdown, and it is positively one of my favorite days of the year. Baseball from 1 p.m. until bed time, and if you need a break from the diamond, flip over to the hardwood for the National Championship game between the Odens and the Horfords.

Quick Hoops aside: I was really pulling for Georgetown yesterday. I'm a Big East guy through and through, I love wathcing Georgetown's style of play (their performance against UNC was basketball poetry), they have an actual center on the team, and Jeff Green has been underrated for what seems like his entire life. The main reason though, is that JTIII is my favorite coach in college hoops. It took him three years to turn Georgetown into a national power again, doing so by implementing the Princeton-style offense with legitimate blue-chip basketball players. There isn't a team in the country that has been able to pull this off, but Thompson Pt. 3 got his players to buy into the system and it looks great when it's going good.

And Ohio State wouldn't have it. The fatal flaw in the Georgetown offense is that against a zone defense with a dominant big man, the back door cuts are met with help underneath the basket and for the second half of that game, that help came in the form of Greg Oden. The only way to get into any offensive flow in that offense is to shoot the lights out and get Ohio State out of the zone, which isn't the Hoyas' strong point. Thad Matta kept them honest by playing a little man-to-man, but Ohio State was the wrong team at the wrong time for G-Town.

I'm not sure they're the wrong team at the wrong time for Florida (who is?), but it won't be 86-60 again. Florida really benefited from Aaron Afflalo's foul trouble, and had too much size and athleticism in their front court for a much smaller UCLA team to contend with. OSU can match the Florida front court when Oden is on his game and, more importantly, on the floor. But foul trouble will most certainly be an issue for Oden, as it's been every game during the tournament. As long as either Horford or Joakim Noah are on the floor, the Gators will stomp (or should I say chomp?) on the Buckeyes if they go without Oden for too long, just like they did to UCLA. Florida wins it again, but Mike Conley and Oden will deliver some drama.
Pick: Florida 71, Ohio State 67

That's a pretty long aside, but it's nothing compared to what's on my mind as we draw close to Chris Carpenter's first pitch tonight. I could go on and on about who will win which division, who looks good, who's better, who's worse, etc. Instead, here are the things I'm looking forward to most in 2007.

Barry Bonds passes Hank Aaron

I know I'm in the minority when I say that Bonds passing Aaron is legitimate, but I'm not going to challenge the masses on this one. At least not yet. For now, I'll just say that Bonds is the best hitter the league's ever known based purely on the numbers, and based on that, he is a worthy record holder. More than that though, the Bonds issue is still something baseball either needs to embrace or escape, and it's pretty clear MLB and its fans as a whole won't embrace it. Here's hoping Barry passes it this year, retires, and enjoys retirement. I'll be the guy that's rooting for him.

**Hopefully, people start reading this blog in the near future, in which case I'll go into detail about my feelings on the steroid issue in sports. Bonds is the face of the problem, but it's become a pretty widespread issue, at least in terms of public perception. It's especially relevant in the track world, and I'd be interested to hear what people think.

The Surprise Team

The darkhorse seemed to be exclusive to football just a few years back, but starting with the Angels in 2002, baseball has been pretty reliable when it comes to serving up Cinderellas. There's been a lot of talk about the parity in baseball and how it's matched that of the NFL. While I'm not totally sold on that premise, it seems football sleepers and their baseball counterparts have one thing in common, it's this: they are mostly one-year wonders.

That's why it surprises me when I see so many people picking the Tigers to win it all again. Those same people picked the White Sox last year, the Angels in 2003 and the Marlins in 2004. What's so hard to figure out. A team gets lucky with injuries, a couple of career years (Kenny Rogers, Jarrod Washburn in 2002, Mike Lowell, Juan Pierre, and Alex Gonzalez on the Marlins)and some kids that are fast learners (see John Lackey, Miguel Cabrera, the entire Marlins pitching staff, and Justin Verlander) and you have the recipe for a good team. The problem is always duplicating it. The Tigers have a good roster, but how is it better than that of the Yankees? Red Sox? Indians? Twins? The Sheffield addition helps, but look at the lineup around him:

Curtis Granderson - I actually like Granderson. Only Ichiro, Grady Sizemore, Johnny Damon, Brian Roberts, Rocco Baldelli, and Reed Johnson are the only better defined leadoff hitters in the AL, with everyone else being an argument one way or another or just plain worse. I don't worry about the strikeouts (an AL worst 174, 20 more than whiff-master Richie Sexson) or the relatively low OBP (.335). Sizemore is the best in in the business out of the leadoff spot and he finished third in the league with 153 Ks in 2006. Meanwhile, the OBP is bad, but the potential for improvement is there in the form of 66 walks and and a nice 80:95 walk:K rate at AA Erie in 2004 as a 23-year old. As isolated problems, they are easy to overcome, but paired together they are a little disconcerting. In order to up his OBP to a desirable level, he'll probably have to raise his average from .260 to about .290, which means fewer strikeouts. But making a concerted effort to cut down strikeouts usually ends up hurting the power numbers and even hurting the walk rate. That said, I still think Granderson has the potential to turn into a good leadoff hitter in the next couple of years, eventually getting to .290/.370/.460 line on a consistent basis. But for now, his strikeout/walk issues, couple with the fact that he can't touch lefties (.218 in 147 at bats) makes him just another piece of a questionable offense.

Ivan Rodriguez - Pudge will leadoff against lefties according to Jim Leyland, which is a welcome improvement over Granderson in those situations. Pudge hit a healthy .340 against lefties last year, with a .506 slugging percentage to boot. The issues with the future all of famer arise when a right-hander is on the mound. In 2006, Rodriguez hit .284/.310/.409 against righties, not terrible for a strong defensive cather, but not nearly worthy of your average 2-to-6-hole hitter. Given his reputation, it's hard to fathom Pudge ever dropping below the sixth spot in the order, in which case the Tigers will have to deal with below average production out of a power spot in the lineup. That's only the beginning.

Placido Polanco, Craig Monroe, Sean Casey, Brandon Inge - Not exactly murders row here. Monroe and Inge have some legitimate pop in their bats, but when they're not popping off, they're popping out. Both are out-making machines, with Monroe registering a dismal .301 OBP and Inge a similarly paltry .313. The good news is they can still hit the ball over the fence 30 times if give the at-bats, which is more than Sean Casey or Placido Polanco can say. Polanco is actually a good fit for the Tigers because he's a tough out who can take his walk just as easily as he can hit behind runners and bunt. Casey's final numbers were less than spectacular, but his production in the AL was flat-out atrocious (.234/.286/.364). Casey and Polanco represent the less than exciting hitters the Tigers have to offer, while Monroe and Inge represent the overall hack-away mentality of the lineup. There is one saving grace in that approach however.

Carlos Guillen - It pains me to think about the second-most productive shortstop in the AL last year because my Mariners gave him up for some magic beans (which promptly turned into Ramon Santiago). But Guillen was a legitmate MVP candidate last year, serving as the Tigers best offensive player by a large margin and doing so while playing a respectable shortstop. Along with Sheffield and Magglio Ordonez, Guillen will have the Tigers in contention as long as he avoids the injury bug that plagued him as a young player with Seattle. But the fodder the follows them in the lineup is no match for the Yankee, Red Sox, and Indian lineups, or the young guns joining Johan Santana in the Minnesota rotation.

Throw in Justin Verlander's low strikeout rate, Fernando Rodney's high walk rate, Joel Zumaya's heavy workload as a rookie, and Todd Jones in general, and the Tigers have more question marks than the White Sox did last year.

So after picking apart last year's surprise, who can we label as this year's? Obviously, the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Angels, A's, Twins, Tigers, White Sox, Cardinals, Astros, and Dodgers don't apply based on their recent success. Throw out the Phillies, Cubs, Giants, and Blue Jays based on pretty high expectations inside and outside of the organzations themselves. Also exclude to Braves, Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Indians because everyone and their brother like them as "sleeper" teams.

That leaves Baltimore, Tampa, Kansas City, Texas, Seattle, Florida, Washington, Cincinatti, Pittsburgh, Colorado, and San Diego as possible sleepers. While they don't really fall into any of the previous categories, the Padres shouldn't be called a sleeper if they do well. They were underrated the last two years, and this year, you can expect anything from them. They could win the World Series or finish with 70 wins. Neither would surprise me. They're gone.

Throw out KC, Washington, and Colorado on the basis that the personnel just isn't there. Tampa is a little better than those three on the strength of its young hitters, but they don't have a prayer in the AL East. Baltimore will a much improved team thanks to a nice 1-2-3 punch in Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, and Adam Loewen, who will all blossom under Leo Mazzone. They too, however, reside in the AL East, and ultimately don't have horses to hang with the Sox and Yanks.

Florida has the same problem to a lesser degree, with the Mets, Phillies, and Braves all significantly deeper on talent. Miguel Cabrera is still the next Manny Ramirez, but doesn't have the luxury of growing up in a loaded lineup like Manny did in Cleveland.

We're down to Seattle, Texas, and Cincy. The Rangers and the M's both have a chance to win the mediocre AL West, but at this point, neither really stands out. Unless Felix Hernandez is a Cy Young level pitcher this year, the M's stand out a little bit less. Much to my dismay, they're out.

We're down to Texas and Cincy. Texas has the names in the lineup, although they are just that. Mark Teixeira and Michael Young are two of the more overrated players in the AL (See Teixeira's road splits and find me another one of Michael Young's seasons close to 2005. Young also has very limited range at shortstop, which won't help a busy defense). Even so, they are both very good players, and Teixeira in particular always has the potential to put up MVP numbers. His walk rates are trending up and there is reason to believe he can carry the Rangers. The pitching is a bit of a problem again, but not as much as most people think. Kevin Millwood's ERA last year was over a run and a half higher than his league-leading 2.86 ERA in 2005, but his 2006 rate numbers (Ks, K:BB, groundball:flyball) were all basically the same as they were in Cleveland. The ERA might not even decrease, with a bad infield defense costing him a lot of singles that most infields could turn into outs, but he will pitch fairly well. The rotation is spotty behind him, but Akinori Otsuka anchors a pretty good pen that could be even better if they get anything out of Eric Gagne.

Cincinatti has power in the corner outfield spots, and a pretty good CF/leadoff hitter in Ryan Freel. Josh Hamilton is still a wild card at this point, but it's looking more and more like he will be a difference-maker at the major league level, if not a very good player. Edwin Encarnacion will have the first of many good seasons at third base, and Brandon Phillips finally started tapping into his potential last year. Scott Hatteberg will man first base for now, but 23-yearold Joey Votto is ready when the Reds are ready to give him a chance. He is an upgrade when he arrives. The bullpen has come into question, and rightfully so, but the starting pitching is a little underrated. Harang and Arroyo were excellent last year and if they can keep the ball within the confines of the Great American Bandbox, they'll have good years again. Homer Bailey will be the key for the Reds. If Bailey, arguably the best pitching prospect in baseball, puts himself in the Rookie of the Year race, the Reds will find themselves in a pennant race.

I'm going to cop out and pick both of them as sleepers since they are in different leagues, but Texas has the better chance of turning a good year into a playoff berth given the weak four-team AL West. The NL Central isn't great, but there are two extra teams to deal with and the Cardinals are always better than they appear.

The Kids

There are already a nice crop of players under 25 thanks to a great rookie class last year. The 2007 class should be similarly impressive, even if you exclude Daisuke Matsuzaka. The way people are talking about Alex Gordon, you would think Cooperstown already has his bust waiting for him when he retires. The scary thing is that the praise is warranted. Gordon is not only going to be a great player in his prime, but he immediately makes the Royals a respectable team again. He'll be a borderline all-star this year.

Delmon Young is another name that's been thrown around as an all-star-in-waiting, although he's not quite as refined as Gordon. Young hasn't shown much discipline at the plate (and that's without the bat-throwing incident), but he has shown the ability to hit just about anything near the plate with authority. He'll take a little longer than Gordon to settle into his MLB numbers, but in Young, you're looking at a Vladimir Guerrero-Ken Griffey Jr.-type talent. If that's what he's on his way to becoming, we'll know this year.

On the mound, Andrew Miller (Tigers), Tim Lincecum (Giants), Adam Miller (Indians), Yovani Gallardo (Brewers), Luke Hochevar (Royals), Bailey, Brandon Morrow (Mariners), Phillip Hughes (Yankees), and Mike Pelfrey (Mets) look ready to make an impact this year.

And Finally....

King Felix

Felix Hernandez is really the only reason to look forward to the Mariners' season. He is the youngest opening day starter in the majors since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981, but he doesn't look his age on the mound. He has the rare ability to roll up groundball after groundball, or rack up K after K. If and when he understands how to get one as opposed to the other, he will likely win a Cy Young award. Even in a bad year in 2006, Felix was among the 15 best pitchers in the League despite surrendering an inordinate amount of home runs (23) for a groundball pitcher. With a little maturation and a little bit of luck, Felix will throw his name in the Cy Young hat.

I'll have plenty on Felix, the Mets, the Yanks, the Phillies, and anything else from the baseball season worth the time over the course of the next six months. Of course, track will be the primary focus, but I'll throw some baseball in every week or so, along with other sports stuff.

The Picks

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Indians
AL West: Rangers
AL Wildcard: Red Sox
NL East: Braves
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wildcard: Mets
ALDS: Yankees over Rangers; Indians over Red Sox
NLDS: Mets over Cardinals; Braves over Dodgers
ALCS: Yankees over Indians
NLCS: Braves over Mets
WS: Yankees over Braves
AL MVP: Mark Teixeira (probably not if I had a vote, but the media loves him)
AL Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL Manager: Ron Washington, Texas
AL Comeback Player: Zack Greinke
AL Rookie: Alex Gordon
AL Breakout Player: Rocco Baldelli
AL Breakout Pitcher: Adam Loewen
NL MVP: Albert Pujols
NL Cy Young: Ben Sheets
NL Manager: Bobby Cox
NL Comeback Player: Josh Hamilton
NL Rookie: Homer Bailey
NL Breakout Player: Edwin Encarnacion
NL Breakout Pitcher: Rich Hill

Enjoy the season.

B South Preview

Happy April Fool's Day. In the spirit of the day, I was fool and left my notes in the office last night and can't really provide an educated look at the division without them. Then again, can you really use the word "educated" to describe the first three previews?

So, in lieu of a B South Preview, and for my own personal enjoyment.......