#stjohn's

A few friends and I packed our bags and went on a week long roadtrip across Eastern Canada. I wanted to share some photos I captured along our sunset and sunrise hikes on our last stop in St. John's, Newfoundland. 

Just some more photos of the St. John's area of Portland in the fog. Taken this morning (christmas eve)

Buy a print: http://500px.com/scottmay

Before I can get into my NL Central Preview, I have to comment on the absolute mess that was the finish to yesterday's St John's Rutgers game. If you didn't see the end of the game, I posted a video of it right above this post, you have to see it to believe it. I don't think I've ever seen 3 referees just start walking off the court like that, it's a total joke.  The Big East released a statement that basically said yes the refs missed the traveling and stepping out of bound calls, but you can't review those types of infractions. I think that is total bull, this wasn't a turn over in the middle of the game it was at the end of the game and could change the outcome!! The Big East could of reviewed it under the guideline that it could change the outcome of the game, looked at the video, then obviously overturn the call that the game was over, and give Rutgers the ball with 1.6 seconds left. The game was over around 4:30pm the next game wasn't till 7pm so it wasn't like they needed to rush off the court.  The Big East really blew this, tainted a really exciting game, this year's Big East tournament, and in my opinion all their future tournaments as well. You can bet the house that from now on any Big East Tournament game that is coming down to the wire, they will do a flash back highlight to this play, it will become the Scarlet Letter that the Big East Tournament committee will have to bare. 

Ok let's get to the NL Central Preview:  

Pittsburgh Pirates: Hey the Pirates have a really beautifully ball park, and that big parrot mascot looks like he can be very entertaining so they got that going for 'em, that's something right? Ugh,  look this team is not good, and it's been a long time since they were good, in fact they haven't even sniffed .500 since 1997!  I like that they brought in Clint Hurdle, and if they keep them Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alverez are two guys they can build a team around.  The Pirates big problem is pitching, it was very bad last year ranking dead last in the NL, and I'm not so sure Maholm and Ohledorf can turn things around.  You can probably pencil them in for a low to mid 60's win total, and another rough year for a fan base that really deserves better.

Houston Astros:  If it wasn't for the Pirates, I would of picked the Astros to finish last, but I guess they will just have to settle for 5th place.  The Astros are six years removed from being in the World Series but it might as well be 60.  Gone are Oswalt, and Berkman, and to make matters worse the team is up for sale so don't expect them to be making any big moves any time soon, except maybe unloading Carlos Lee.  Houston is trying to build around solid young players like Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence with even younger prospects Brett Wallace and Chris Johnson. The pitching staff with Myers, Happ, and Wandy Rodriguez are good but are not strong enought to carry an offensive that is dependent on so many young guys. Watching these guys grow up could be exciting for Astros fans, but going young comes with growing pains. I expect Houston to struggle, and maybe end up with a win total in the low to mid 60's.

Chicago Cubs:  2010 was a year to forget for the Cubs and their fans, with the only bright spot was they might have found a manager for the future in Quade.  With Quade back for a full year, and the additions of Caros Pena at 1st and Matt Garza to the rotation, the Cubs should be a better team, but how much?  Pena is coming off a so-so year so you have to hope the friendly confides of Wrigley Field will help rejuvenate him. Starlin Castro looks like a star on the rise, and Marlon Byrd has turned into a very dependable starter, but after that you have a lot of ifs and hopes, in players like Ramirez, Fukudome, and Soriano to just name a few. As far as the rotation it's also filled with questions, yes Garza will help but will Zambrano be like the pitcher he was in the 2nd half of the season or the 1st half? Also can he keep his cool or will he blow up again? Speaking about blowing up, will Silva's spring training fight with Ramirez be his only contribution to the team?  Can they keep Wood healthy?  I look at the Cubs on paper and its sort of like ok not bad team,  yeah maybe they could make a run at the playoffs, then you look at the Cardinals, Brewers, and Reds, teams they would have to leap frog to do that, and I start to think yeah that's probably not gonna happen. So yes the Cubs will be better then last year, I say probably around an 83 to 85 win team, but unfortunately that won't be enough to get them into the playoffs.

 St. Louis Cardinals:  Coming into spring training the big story for the Cardinals was, can they sign Pujols? Then Adam Wainwright went down for the season and the story became, how can the Cards replace Wainwright's 20 wins, and will that hurt them in trying to sign Pujols?  It's easy to see even though Albert put a deadline on negotiations in hopes that when the season started the will he or won't he stay story would fade away, it's going to just hang over the club all year, and that can have a real negative effect on a team that's trying to get back to the playoffs. The Cardinals needing to save money for Pujols big pay day, didn't add a big bat to help improve  an offense that was down last year, but instead took flyers on cheaper players like Lance Berkman and Nick Punto, so they are still going to the problem of finding a major run producer after Pujols and Holliday. Here's an interesting fact from the Cardinals 2010 season, they were 37-23 against teams with a .500 or better record and 51-54 against teams with a .500 or worse record.  For a team that wants to contend you can't lose 54 games to sub 500 teams, and to make matters worse with out Wainwright you have to assume this year they will lose more games against teams with a winning record. Unless Dave Duncan can wave his magic pitching coach wand and turn Westbrook or Kyle McCleallan into a 20 game winner, I don't see how the Cards can improve from last year, and are going to end up with 86 wins again.

Milwaukee Brewers: A lot was made about players on the Reds celebrating when Wainright went down for the season, but the Brewers are the ones that will truly benefit the most.  I really liked how this team looked, and they were going to be my dark horse to win the NL Central and go deep into the playoffs. So why do I have them 2nd?  Well anytime you trade for a guy to be your ace and he breaks a rib playing basketball that's a bad sign, and could be a potential problem that lingers through the year.  Let's say the Grienke injury is just a hiccup, he comes back after a quick 15 days DL stint, and is good to go, well then Milwaukee will have 3 stud pitchers, in Gallardo, Grienke and Marcum.  Grienke was the 09 AL CY Young Winner and in 2010 Marcum posted a 3.64 ERA in a very tough AL East, these two will absolutely tear up the NL, and have fun doing it.  They have a good bullpen and an up and coming closer in Axford, and even though after the top 3 the rotations takes a bit of drop off in talent, the Brew Crew can make up for that, and bash their way to wins with a very potent offense.  Prince Fielder is in his walk year and is set to have a monster season. 2 all stars in Ryan Braun and Corey Hart, and two more guys that in 2010 hit over 20hrs in Casey McGehee and Rickie Weeks surround fielder. Brewer fans can expect to see Bernie the Brewer doing a lot of homer slides out in left field this year.  So if Grienke's rib is really just a blip on the radar rather then just the tip of the iceberg, then the Brewers win total will be around 87 to 90 wins this year, they will give the Reds a run for their money for the NL Central title, and will definitely be a contender for the wild card.  

  Cincinnati Reds:  Last year everyone kept waiting for the Reds to fall back to the pack and then realized wow this team is actually good, and you know what? They are going to be good again this year.  Reds fans have to be happy that the team gave extensions to Arroyo, Bruce and Votto showing they are committed to winning. Votto the reigning NL MVP and Bruce are the keys to building the Big Red Machine 2.0, that last year scored the most runs in the NL.  If you want to nit pick at the offense you can question if Rentiera was a smart signing, and will Scott Rolen repeat last years 20 homer season or 2009 3 homer season, but other then that this team is stacked offensively and should continue to score a lot of runs. Arroyo, Cueto, and the return of a now healthy Volquez, anchor the pitching staff. Mix in 3 promising farm guys like Travis Wood, Mike Leake, and Homer Bailey, and the Reds have a solid rotation.  They did lose Arthur Rhodes in the off season but when you have Arlodis Chapman a.k.a the Cuban Missile sitting in your bullpen you have a great bridge to your 40 save closer Francisco Cordero, or if Cordero slips Chapman can step in and be a dominant closer himself.  One thing that does bother me about the Reds is while they feasted on bad teams going 74-38 against teams with a sub .500 record, they struggled against teams that were .500 or better going 20-33.  So I decided to look at their 2011 schedule and beside a trip to the AL East I see them playing a lot of games verse teams like the D'backs, Pirates, Astros, etc so looks like they will once again feast on bad teams and who knows after getting a taste of winning maybe they improve against winning teams this year. I see the Reds winning 92 to 94 games, winning the NL Central, and could be a serious contender to reach the World Series.

 Ok tomorrow I finish the National League with a look at the NL East.